From this first reason proceeds the secōd seeing if the progresse of the Religious consists in their first beginings and education the good of the Religion doth likewise depend theron For it is not the walles of the cloyster or colledge which makes the Religion but the persons who are cōgregated in thē and those who are now in the Nouiciat are they who are afterwards to be the body of the Religion and for this reason the Society thinkes it not enough to erect Seminaries Colledges where youth should be educated in vertue and learning together but it also designes peculiar houses for vertue only where the Nouices attend vnto nothing els then to the abnegation and mortification of themselues and to the exercise of true and solid vertue as a foundation of far more importance necessity then that of any learning or liberall science Vnto this end the Nouiciats are erected Pater Borgia in ep ad Societ which are as B. F. Borgia says like Bethleems for the Nouices which is interpreted the house of bread here they prouide them of Biscuit prouision for so long a voyage and so many daungers which do threaten them This is our haruest and our fruitfull season this those plentifull yeares during the which we must lay vp store with Ioseph for those yeares of famine and sterility to come If the Inhabitants of Aegypt could but haue appehended the necessity of making best vse of that same plentious time they would not haue so lightly exhausted their granaries of that prouision Genes 41 48. which Ioseph did so carefully buy vp If you could but imagin how much it imports you to go out of the Nouiciat well furnished stored with spirituall prouision without doubt you would be farre from being ioyfull when you were to go frō thence but rather you would be sad and much afflicted at the necessity of sending you away when you considered what small prouision of vertue and mortification you went away with al. And so B. F. Borgia was wont to say that those who desired or were glade to haue made an end of their Nouiciat did well shew that they had little vnderstanding of spiritual things and did not know the necessity which they had considering the daunger difficulty of their voyage to go out well furnished with prouision for it of how rich and well prouided of all vertue did our B. Father imagine that we should depart out of the Nouiciat 4. P. consti cap. 4.2 as he declares in the Cōstitutions he ordayns two years of probation experiment where the Nouices are to looke vpon no other booke nor attend to other study then that of their greater abnegatiō mortification and progresse in all vertue and perfection from whence he supposeth they will come out so feruent and spirituall such great friends of mortification recolectiō so addicted to prayer and to spirituall things that there would be more need of the bridle thē the spurre therfore he exhorts them when they come to Colledges to moderat their feruour during the time of their studyes and in no wise to follow its dictamen for as much as concerneth prayer and mortification as thinking that they are come out of the Nouiciat with such interiour light and illustration with such a knowledge of God and spirituall things ioyned with the contempt hatred of the world with such a tendernesse of deuotion and such exteriour interiour composition that ti was need to go by way of preuention to meet with that feruour which they were to bring from the Nouiciat with them the fruit of two complet years of probation Let vs thē procure to depart from the Nouiciat with an answerable feruour to this expectation of vs let vs make due vse of that so pretious time seeing so long as we liue we shall neuer haue the like time againe to make our profit of and to gayne store our selues with spiritual treasure let vs be wonderful wary of mispending it and letting the least moment of it be lost Eccl. 14 14. Non defrauderis à die bono particula boni doni non te pretereat One of the greatest graces fauours which our Sauiour doth to those whō he cals in their youth vnto Religion for which they are to render him infinit thankes is that it is very easy for them then to apply themselues to vertue Religious discipline The tree whilst it is yet in its first growth but a limber plant may be bowed which way you please and fashioned disposed to an excellent growth but after you haue suffered it once to grow knotted and awry it will be easyer to breake it then to straightē it but it wil remayne always as it is Adeo à teneris assuscere multum est it imports so much to be accustomed from the begining And this which is said of plantes is likewise found by experience in men who when they are young may easily be framed and fashioned to good and they come to haue a great facility in that vnto which they are trayned brought vp from their tender age and cōsequently lightly to perseuere in it as the woole which being dyed before it be wrought doth neuer come there after to loose its collour Who shall restore the wool which is once dyed scarlet to its natiue whitenesse againe saith S. Hierome and the Poet Horace S. Hier. Quo semel est imbuta recens seruabit odorē Testa diu ould vessels will tast of that liquor which they first did fill into them when they were new 2. Paras 1 34.3 King Iosias is praysed the holy Scripture for begining from his youth to serue God Cum adhuc esset puer coepit quarere Deum patris sui Dauid Humbertus a right venerable person and Master Generall in his life time of the Order of S. Dominicke doth recoūt how that one of the Religious being dead appeared som night after vnto an other Religious mā of the same Order in great brightnes and glory and leading him out of his cell he shewed him a vision of diuers persons in white resplendent habits who carying fayre crosses on their shoulders did in that manner march in procession towards heauen presently after he saw an other company but far more delightful shining with greater light then the former who bare each on a faire rich crosse in their hands and not one their shoulders as the other procession had done who went before shortly after he perceyued an other band of them shining with more admirable light without comparison then those who went before whose crosses were likewise far more riche and resplendent then any of the other which crosses they did not beare on their shoulders nor in their handes as the two other companies had done but each one of their crosses was borne by a seuerall Angell who lead them on whilest they in ioyfull manner followed after them At which vision the
THE CHRISTIAN MANS GVIDE WHEREIN Are contayned two Treatises THE ONE Shewing vs the perfection of our ordinary Workes THE OTHER The purity of Intention we ought to haue in all our Actions Both composed in Spanish by the R. F. ALFONSVS RODRIGVEZ of the Society of IESVS Translated into English Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXX THE PREFACE TO THE READER GENTLE Reader I present thee here with two excellâ—nt Treatises writtâ—â— by the R. F. Alfonsus Rodriguez of the Society of Iesus that is to say his second and third Treatise of his first part of Christian Perfection The one teacheth vs how by performing our Ordinary ActioÌ„s with due diligeÌ„ce we may become perfect in a short tyme. The other how we ought to haue our Intention Right and Pure in al our ActioÌ„s how necessary and profitable this care is Both Treatises will sufficiently commend themselues if they be read with attention and an earnest desire to profit in the way of vertue My mind was to haue added hereunto the first Treatise of the same Authour but because it is not yet ready I differre it till a longer day and in the meane tyme I present this to thy vse and benefit A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTAINED In these two Treatises Of our ordinary Actions Chap. 1. HOw all our spirituall profit and perfection consists in the well doing of our workes pag. 1. Chap. 2. How it ought greatly to incourage vs to the attaining of perfection that God hath constituted it in the performance of easy things pag. 10. Chap. 3. VVherein the goodnes perfection of our workes consists and some meanes to performe them well pag. 15. Chap. 4. Of an other meanes to do our Actions well which is so to performe them as if we had nothing els besides to do pag. 25. Chap. 5. An other means to do our Actions well which is so to performe each one as if it were the last thing we were to doe pag. 31. Chap. 6. Of an other meanes to do our Actions well which is to take care only for the present pag. 44. Chap. 7. Of another means which is to accustome our selues to do our Actions well pag. 51. Chap. 8. Of how great importance it is that Religious men do not grow remisse slacke in the way of vertue pag. 59. Chap. 9. How much it imports Nouices to bestow the tyme of their Nouiciate well and to accustome themselues then to do their Actions well pag. 66. Of the right and pure Intention Chap. 1. THat we ought principally to shune all vaine glory in our Actions pag. 75. Chap. 2. VVherein the hurt and mischiefe of vaine Glory doth consist pag. 81. Chap. 3. Of the hurt domage which vaine Glory brings a long with it pag. 85. Chap. 4. That the tentation of vaine Glory doth not only assault those who are new beginners but also such who make progresse in Vertue pag. 93. Chap. 5. Of the particular care which they ought to haue of vaine glory who are to imploy themselues to assist and helpe their Neighbour pag. 99. Chap. 6. Of certaine other remedyes agaynst Vayne Glory pag. 105. Chap. 7. Of the good end and intention which we ought to haue in all our Actions pag. 117. Chap. 8. How we may doe our actions with great rectitude and purity of Intention pag. 121. Chap. 9. How we are not so much to lay the fault of those distractions spirituall hinderances which we find in our selues sometimes on our exterior occupations as on our not performing them as we ought pag. 125. Chap. 10. How good and profitable it is to doe our Actions in the foresayd manner pag. 131. Chap. 11. A more expresse declaration of the vprightnes and purity of intention with which we are to do our Actions pag. 139. Chap. 12. Of some signes by which we may know whether we doe our actions purely for the loue of God or seeke our selues in them pag. 150. Chap. 13. How we are to increase go forwards in vprightnes and purity of intention pag. 158. Chap. 14. Three degrees of perfection by which we may ascend and arriue vnto great purity of intention and to a high and perfect loue of God pag. 171. A TREATISE OF THE PERFECTION of our ordinary Actions How all our spirituall profit and perfections consists in the well doing of our workes CHAP. 1. IVSTE quod iustum est persequeris Deuter. 16.10 sayth our Lord vnto his people Do that wel iustly which is good and iust Our profit perfection consists not in the simple doing of the thinges but in the well doing them like as it is nothing to be a Religious man but to be a good one indeed is that to which we must all aspire S. Hierome writing to Paulinus sayth Non Hierosalymis fuisse sed Hierosolymis bene vixisse laudaÌ„dum est Paulinus had a great opinion of S. Hierome because he resided in those holy places where our Sauiour had wroght the mysteries of our redemption and S. Hierome that he might pay no esteemation to the place which was not due vnto the person sayd Not to liue in Hierusalem but to liue well in Hierusalem is worthy to be praysed which Apophthegma is ordinarily brought to admonish Religious that it is not inough for them to liue only in Religion seeing as it is not the habit which makes a Religious man so is it not the place but a good and holy life In such manner as the difficulty consists not in being Religious but in being a good Religious nor in doing the exercises of Religion but in doing them well according as we ought When that which was sayd of our Sauiour in the Ghospell Bene omnia fecit He hath done all thinges well Marc. 7.37 doth come to be verifyed in vs then we may truely be sayd to be Religious men It is most certain that all our good and ill consists in the well or ill doing of our workes for such as our workes are such shall we likewise be they speake and declare what ech one is the Tree is knowne by its fruit S. Augustine sayes That man is the tree and his workes the fruit he bears and consequently by the fruit of the workes we doe arriue to knowledge of the man And therefore our Sauiour speaking of the Hypocrits false Prophets sayd Matth. 7.16 A fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos And on the contrary speaking of himselfe The works which I do in the name of my Father Ioan. 10.15 do beare witnesse of me and if you will not belieue me belieue my workes which witnesse what I am Neither do the workes in this life only declare what each one is but also what in the other life is to become of them for such shall we be for euer in the other life as our workes haue been in this seeing our Sauiour will reward each one according to their works as the holy Scripture testifyes so often in both the
Brothers and the rest of the family the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord she came to do her workes with exceeding diligence and cheerefulnes hauing her thoughts in the middest of all the drudgeries of the Kitchin only vpon Iesus Christ her spouse Hier. super illud Isaiae cap. 38.10 Ego dixi in annidio inioying his presence alwayes and being continually in his company within that holy of Holyes in her soule And so would she frequētly afterwardes when her Ghostly Father had any iourney in hand or were otherwise much pressed with busines Greg. l. 35 mor. c. 35. super illud Iob. 42. Mortuus est Senex plenus dierum giue him the like counsaile saying Father build a cell within your selfe neuer go out of it Let vs also doe the like and we shal not find our selues distracted with exteriour functions but they will rather help vs to be euer in prayer and Meditation How good and profitable it is to doe our Actions in the foresayd manner CHAP. X. SVCH workes as we haue spoken of are called full and perfect workes and those who liue in such manner according to S. Hierome S Gregory are sayd by the Holy Scripture to be full of dayes although they haue liued but a litle tyme and dy in their young yeares Sap. 4.13 following this sentence of the Wisemā Hauing finished in a short space he hath fulfilled a long tyme. But how can a man in a short space liue many yeares Would you know how By doing full and compleate workes and liuing whole dayes Et dies pieni inuenientur in eis Psal 24.17 This second place doth explicate the first and a good Religious man and faythfull seruant of God Almighty from morning vntill night from the euening to the next morning liues a complete day of foure twenty houres since that he imployes all that tyme in the fullfilling of the will of God and he euen passes vpon the account of God Almighty his tymes of eating recreation and taking his naturall rest since he doth them not but only as they are the will of God directs them all vnto his greater glory He doth not eate for any gust or pleasure which he takes in it as the beastes do neither seeks he his own satisfactiō and content in those other thinges but would willingly be without them if it were Gods blessed will O Lord that men could but liue without eating drinking and passing sometime in decent recreation That they might alwayes loue thee without need of hauing recourse vnto these miseries of the body De necessitatibus meis erue me Psal ibid. O Lord deliuer me from these necessities and miseryes that I may be wholy imployed in louing thee that I may bestow my selfe vpon thee alone But I see well that this is not to be hoped for in this life and that the iust man ought to beare patiently though with griefe the condition of this calamitous state of ours Let vs demand of some such holy persons as Iob Dauid were how they did carry themselues in like occasions and then one wil answeare vs I sighed before I eate Iob. 3 24. and mingled my drinke with teares The other I will wash my bed euery night Psal 100.10 Psal 6.7 and will water my couch with teares And in this māner must we weep when we go to rest and say O deare Lord must I be heere so long without being mindfull of thee Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est Alas that my captiuity is yet prolonged VVhen will you recall me from this banishment Psal 119.5 VVhen will you set me free from this Captiuity Erue de custodia aenimam meam Psal 141. O my God when will you lead me out of the prison of this body that I may wholy bestow my selfe vpon you Oh when shal this be Alas why doth this houre differre to come Greg. l. 35 moral c. 15 Behold heer those full dayes and compleat workes we spake of in this manner a iust man in a little tyme liues long and makes of a few dayes of life many yeares of merit Whereas he who hath liued ill and mispent the dayes of his life dyes void and empty of dayes although otherwise he were aged Iob. 7.3 and had liued long tyme. Habui menses vacuos this because he had spent vnprofitably his yeares and dayes Gen. 47.9 and therfore may say with good reason The dayes of my yeares are few and nothing worth S. Hierome vpon these wordes of King Ezechias when he was deliuered frō his sicknes by the Prophet Isaias Isa 38.10 I haue sayd in the middest of my dayes I will goe to the gates of hell obserues that the Saints and holy men alwayes accomplish their dayes as Abraham Gen. 25.8 of whome the holy Scripture sayes That he dyed in a good old age and full of dayes but that the wicked dye alwayes in the midest of their dayes yea they doe not arriue so farre Psalm 54.24 according to that saying of the Prophet Bloody deceitfull men shall not liue the one halfe of their dayes because they haue passed ouer their yeares vnprofitably And so the holy Scripture calles a sinner of a hundred yeares Puer centum annorum Isa 65.20 a child of a hundred yeares and addes that such an one shal be accurst Because a child of a hundred yeares shall dy and a sinner of a hundred yeares shall be accurst Since he hath not liued like a man but as a child Whence it comes that death alwayes cuts off the wicked vntimly as it were before they are ripe and so such at the arriuall of death do ordinarily say Oh that I had at least but one yeare more to liue for to doe pennance in and so likewise it happens with tepide negligent Religious men who although it be many yeares since they haue worne the habit haue yet but liued a few dayes in Religion 3. part l. 8 cap. 27. Hist Min. de F. Gerardo We read in the Chronicles of S. Frācis Order of one of those holy Religious who being demanded of another how long he had beene Religious answered not one minute and the other being much amazed to heare it not vnderstanding what he meant by it he tould him I know that I haue worne the habit of a Miny-brother this threescore fiue yeares but for as much as concernes the workes of one I doe not know whether I haue beene a minute God graūt that but too too many of vs may not say with truth what this good holy man said out of humility We must not make account of our long being in religion but our well liuing in it Diuers sayth Thomas of Kempis count the yeares of their conuersion but often times there is but little amendment a few dayes of a good life are more worth then many yeares of an ill and negligent For
before God there is no reconing made of the yeares of our life but of the goodnes of it neither of the loÌ„g time which we haue bin in Religion but of that which we haue spent well in Religion of which the Holy Scripture affords vs a remarkable example It is said in the first book of Kings that Saul raigned two yeares ouer Israel 1. Reg. 13.2 Saul was a child of one yeare ould when he began to raigne and raigned two yeares ouer Israel where as it is certayne that he was King forty yeares for so Saint Paul sayes in the Actes of the Apostles Act. 13.21 Afterwards they demaunded a King God gaue vnto them Saul the sonne of Cis a man of the Tribe of Beniamin for fourty yeares How comes it then that in the Chronicles of the Kings he is sayd to haue raigned but two yeares the reason is because in the Annales and records of God Almighty there is no reckoning made but of only those yeares which we haue liued well and so he is said only to haue raigned two yeares because only in those he gouerned as a good righteous Prince we read in the Euangell Matt. 20.8 that those who came to worke in the vinyard at the eleueÌ„th hower were for one howers worke preferred to those who had laboured al the day since in that one hower they had done as much of true labour as those who had wrought froÌ„ morning vnto night Let vs then cast vp our accounts according to this reckoning and see by our good workes how long we haue bin in Religion This is excellently declared by Eusebius Emissenus Eusech ho. 9. ad MoÌ„ who from a Senator was afterwards Bishop of Lions We vse to count saith he Our yeares and the space of time which we do liue be not deceaued who soeuer thou art with the number of those dayes which you haue passed ouer since in body you haue left the world make account that you haue only liued that day in the which you haue denyed your owne will in which you haue resisted your ill affections and which you haue passed ouer without any transgression or breach of your rule make account that you haue liued that day which hath bâ—n inlightned with the beaÌ„es of purity and holy meditation with such dayes as these make vp if you can your computation of yeares and by those measure the time of your being Religious and feare otherwise least that should be said vnto you which was reproached to the Bishop of the Church of Sardis in the Apocalips Angelo Ecclesiae Sardis scribe Apoc. 3.1 scio opera tua quia nomen habes quod viuas mortuus es esto vigilans non enim inuenio opera tua plena coram Deo meo I know thy workes saith God although they are vnknowne to men Apoc. 5.2 you haue the name to liue and you are dead you beare the name of a Christian the habit of a Religious man but your works fit neither of them for they are not ful before my God but empty empty of God and of your selfe too full for you doe no other then seeke your selfe in them your owne commodity your honour and esteeme Let vs therefore be watchfull and make it all our labour to do full workes and liue full dayes to the end that in a little time we may liue long and merit much in the sight of God Almighty A MORE EXPRESSE DECLARATION of the vprightnes and purity of intention with which we are to do our Actions CHAP. XI THEY giue commonly a good aduise to those who coÌ„uerse with their neighbours touching the manner of their cariage in those functions which they exercise actions which they performe by the which it may be gathered how pure our intention ought to be how free and desingaged our selues and how sincerely we are to seeke God in all occasions And it is the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church S. Hierome S. Gregory S. Chrysostome as we shal see afterwards They say that when we vndertake any action to the end our neighbour from thence may reap any generall or particular profit we are not to reflect vpon the fruit and good successe of it but only to fulfill the wil of God in doing it in such manner that when we heare confessions or when we preach or teach we ought not much to regard whither those you coÌ„uerse with all be conuerted amended or profited but oÌ„ly one our parts to do the will of God and please him in doing the bâ—st we can and for the successe of our actions as whither such an one be conuerted or profits by our sermons or becomes learned by hearing of our lessons that belongs not vnto vs 1. Cor. 3.6 but only vnto God Ego plantaui Apollo rigauit sed Deus incrementum dedit for vs saies the Apostle al that which we can do is but to plant and water like as that Iardiner doth but for to make the plants grow and the trees bring forth fruit belongs not to the Gardiner but to God the fruit of soules which is that they depart from their sinnes that they conuert themselues to God and that they go forward in virtue perfection doth only appertayne to God and the value and perfection of our Actions doth not depend vpon it This then is that purity of intentioÌ„ which we are to indeauour to haue in all our Actions that by this meanes we may attayne vnto a great purity in our intentions inioy a delitghful peace of mynd for those who do their ActioÌ„s in this manner are neuer troubled when the successe of their affaires comes by any chaunce to be thwarted or fayles of executioÌ„ or produceth not the fruits they hoped for for they proposed not this end vnto themselues neyther haue they placed their coÌ„tentmeÌ„t in it but only for to do the will of God performe al to please him vnto their vtmost Power for if when you preach heare confessions or do any other function for to helpe your neighbour you propose vnto your selfe beforehand to make great profit of it let this be your principall end in the performance of theÌ„ when any chaunce crosseth your designe in this you become troubled and disquieted And not only loose your peace of mynd but euen sometimes all patience if you proceed not further Our B. Father S. Ignatius declares this with an excellent example or similitude Lib. 5. c. 2 vitae B. P. Ignat. do you know said he how we are to carry our selues in those our functions wherein we imploy our selues vnto the helpe of our neighbour Iust so as the Angell Guardians do with those who are coÌ„mitted vnto their charge by God Almighty who neuer cease with all possible care to counsayle defend and gouerne theÌ„ to illuminate excite helpe them in all good but if through misuse of that freewill they haue they obey not to
earth to rayse great buildings on but notwithstanding they are the stay and foundaâ—ion of all the edifice and such vnto vs is our intention The second thing which is required to the perfection of our works is to confer all our care and diligence vnto the doing of them well and perfectly for it is not inoughe only to haue a good intention nor to say you do theÌ„ all for God Almighties sake but it is requisit that you performe your actioÌ„s with all possible diligence to render them more acceptable to God Let this then be the first means of doing our actions wel to do them purely for the loue of God wherby we shall arriue to do them perfectly and with our vtmost indeauour as doing theÌ„ for God Almighty although neither our Superiour nor any one els do looke on take account of our performance of them Our B. F. Ignatius asked a certayne brother once who was a little negligent in his office wherefore he did those things the brother answered for the loue of God whereupon our B. Father told him that if he did his things so negligently againe he would giue him a good penaÌ„ce for his payns For said he if you did them for any men the fault would not be so great to performe them with so much neglect and carlesnes but to do them in such a manner for so great a master is a negligence not to be borne with all The second means which the Holy Saints do commend vnto vs which indeed is the most effications of al is coÌ„tinually to walke in the presence of God Almighty Seneca although Heathen was wont to say that a man who was desirous to becom vertuous and to do all his Actions well laudably could arriue vnto it by no speedyer way then to imagin himselfe when he did or sayd any thing in the presence of some graue honourable person vnto whom he bare respect reuerence Sic viue tanquam subalicuius boni viri ac semper presentis oculis Now if the bare imagining ones selfe in presence of another man hath power sufficient to make him do his ActioÌ„s wel what a more efficatious meanes ought it to be to consider our selues always in the sight of God to frame an imagination of him euer present to perswade our selues that he sees all whatsoeuer we do especially seing it is no faynd imaginary thing like that other of Seneca's but really true as the Holy Scripture often testifyes The eyes of the Lord are clearer theÌ„ the sunne ouerseeing al the wayes of men Eccl. 13.18 and the deepest of the Abisse and beholding the harts of men in the most secret partes and corners of them But of this exercise of walking in the presence of God Almighty we shall treat more amply particularly here after and declare how excellent and profitable it is and with all how much praysed and recoÌ„mended by the Holy Saints and therefore for the present we will only for as much as concerns our present Argument declare in passing how much it conferres vnto the well performing of our ordinary Actions which is of such consequence that as we shall in its place declare we are not only to insist vpon that verity that we are in the presence of God but we are to serue our selues of it to do our workes the better and perfecter in such sort notwithstanding as should we reflecting on the presence of God remayne doing our actioÌ„s imperfectly and negligently it would not be a good deuotion but rather an illusion and deceyt And some ad yet further say that that presence of God Almighty which we should procure to haue and which the holy Scripture and Blessed Saints so much recommend vnto vs is this well and perfect performance of our works in such manner as they may wortihly appeare before the face of God and haue nothing in them to displease his holy eyes in briefe that they may be such as may become vs to do in the presence of so high a Maiesty And it seems that S. Iohn in his Apocalyps would haue vs vnderstaÌ„d so much from the description Apoc. 4.8 which he makes of the proprieties of those holy Spirits which he saw standing before the Throne of God readily awayting what he should command them of whome he sayes that they were full of eyes without within and round about them hauing eyes in their feet handes eares and lippes and in their eyes themselues to represent vnto vs that those who desire to serue God perfectly to appeare worthy of his presence must haue especiall regard in about euery thing that they doe nothing which may not beseeme so diuine a preseÌ„ce They are to be ful of eyes both within without to be watchfull ouer euery action to see how they goe to consider how they speake to marke how they heare to looke how they see and how they thinke how they will and desire any thing vnto the end that among all their workes there may not be found one which may be offensiue to the eyes of God in whose sacred presence we are continually This is an excellent manner of walking in the presence of God Almighty and so Ecclesiastes Gen. 5.24 Eccl. 44.16 Heb. 11. â— and S. Paul the Apostle in place of that which is sayd of Enoch in Genesis And he hath walked with God which is the same as before God and he hath not appeared because God hath taken him away doe say Enoch pleased God and was translated into Paradise declaring expresly vnto vs that to walk with God before God and to please God are but three formes of speech of one signification by their explicating the one by the other And S. Augustine and Origen after this manner expound that place of Exodus where it is sayd that when Iethro came to see his kinsman Moyses Aaron the Elders assembled theÌ„selues to eat with him before God Exod. 18.12 vt comederent panem cum eo coram Deo saying that it is not meant that they were assembled to eat before the Tabernacle or the Arke for as then there was none but that they met to feast to eat and drinke and reioyce with him with so much sanctity piety and so religiously composed as if they had beene to eat before God being exceeding wary not to doe any thing in his diuine presence which might beget offence In this manner do iust and perfect men walke before the eyes of God in the performance of all their actions euen in those which are indifferent and necessary for the sustaining of their liues as eating drinking sleeping and the like Let the iust feast sayth the Prophet Dauid and exult in the sight of God Psal 67.4 and be delighted in ioy and gladnes but all this in the sight of God and so as his holy eyes may without offence looke on nothing may be lesse beseeming his diuine presence The Holy Fathers say that in this
in ouercoming his gluttonous appetit We sayd and not without good reason that this meanes is the most proportionable to our weakenes since it goes by little and little sustayning incouraging vs to the attempt of that by little and little which all at once we should not dare to vndertake how euer if we were but feruent and couragious indeed truly inflamed with the loue of God there would be no need to entice vs on by such bayted wayes as these where all the laubour and difficulty is hid For a true seruant indeed of God Almighty neyther thinkes vpon the length of time or number of yeares but rather all time seems too short vnto him to serue God in all labour little and all difficulty delightfull and therfore there would be no feare to let such an one know vnto the full the vtmost difficulty of euery thing he did which S. Bernard excellent well declares Bernar. ep 253. ad Gar. He doth not saith he giue himselfe vnto the seruice of God for a yeare or for a certaine time like a Mercenary but for eternity without any prefixed end or reseruation with an inflamed will and affection Heare the voyce of the Iust saying Psal 118.93 v. 112 I will neuer forget your iustifications seing you haue animated me with them I haue inclined my hart to doe your Iustificatiōs for all eternity to do your will to fulfill your counsells commaundments and so for hauing taken a resolution and offred himself to serue God in an absolut manner without any limit or restriction and prefixe no certayne time vnto it nor entred on the account of any yeares therefore shall his reward likewise know no bounds but be extended vnto eternity that eternall hunger of the iust is deseruing an eternall refection Bern. vbi supra Sap. 4.15 In which sence S. Bernard explicats that of the Wiseman consumatus in breui expleuit tēpora multa a good and iust man liues in the short space of time or a few dayes the life of many yeares since his desire is so great out of the ardour of his loue of God to serue him that should he liue a hundred or if it were possible a thousand yeares he should neuer be weaary of seruing him nor euer thinke his seruice great inough And so by force of this desire he comes to the merits of so many yeares since God rewards ech one acording to his good desire These are men indeed these haue truly masculine spirits these may well be compared to Iacob who for the great loue he bare to Rachel thought it a thing of nothing to serue seauen yeares for her and afterwards seauen more Videbantur illi pauci dies Gen. 29.20 pre amoris magnitudine Of another means which is to accustome our selues to do our Actions well CHAP. VII THAT auncient great Philosopher Pythagoras Pythagoras counsailed his friends disciples vnto the end that they might both become vertuous that vertue might be delightful to thē to make choice of some good course of life and go forward with it without staying at any apprehensiō of difficulty or labour which might present it selfe in the beginning for to discourage them seeing with a little vse exercise the difficulty would passe away the practise of vertue become easy pleasant to them This meanes is of much importance ought to be put in practise by vs not so much because it is comended by this Philosopher as because indeed it is deriued from the holy Scripture as we shall presently declare also very efficatious for that which we pretend We haue made choice already of a perfect manner of life or rather God of his great goodnes hath elected vs vnto it Non vos me elegistis Ioan. 15.16 sed ego elegi vos for the which grace and fauour he is to be blessed for all eternity But in this state of life vnto which our Lord hath called vs we may haue more or lesse of perfection and be perfect or imperfect Religious men according as we shall do our actions perfectly or imperfectly Therefore if you meane to make any profit in Religion and to arriue vnto perfection you must accustome your selfe to do all the Actions and exercises of that Religion with perfection accustome your selfe to make your meditation well all the rest of your spiritual exercises to be exact in poynt of obedience to obserue your rules precisely to make esteeme of euery little thing Accustome your selfe to recollection and mortification to pennance modesty silence and the like be not any whit dismayed if in the begining you find difficulty seeing with a little continuance and vse that difficulty wil not only passe away but there will succeed to it a great contētment and satisfaction and you wil not know how to make an end of rendring thankes to God for giuing you perseuerance so farre as to arriue to so much contentment and felicity The holy Ghost hath taught vs this doctrin in diuers passages of the holy Scripture as in the Prouerbes Prouerb 4 11. Viam sapientiae demonstrabo tibi I will shew you the way of wisedome and learne you to find gust sauour in the knowledge of God For Sapientia or wisedome sayth S. Bernard is quasi sapida scientia a sauorous and delightfull knowledge of God Almighty and he professeth to teach vs the way to come vnto the tast the knowledge and the loue of God I will lead thee saith he by the paths of equity into which when thou shalt once be ētred thy wayes shall not be straightned and when thou runest thou shalt haue no hindrance Now the reasō why this way of vertue is called a path is because at the first entrance of it by reason of our ill inclinations it seems narrow and not to be passed without much difficulty but being but once a little entred we find it so delightfully inlarged as we go on cheerfully runne securely without any feare of let or hinderance And by this Metaphor the holy Ghost with diuine elegance hath taught vs how vpon the apperance of any difficulty in the entrance of the way of vertue perfection we are no wayes to loose courage and be dishartened but to go on with this assurance that we shall be shorthly past all that is hard and difficile and arriue to all happinesse and delight because I haue laboured a little and I haue found for my selfe much rest Eccl. 5.35 which is agayne reiterated in the 61. Eccl. 6.20 Chapter of Ecclesiasticus there is a little labour in the worke presently thou shalt eat of its fruit Heb. 12.21 and the Apostle S. Paul doth likewise teach vs the same Al discipline saith he for the present seemes not to be plesant but rather irksom tedious but afterwards it renders by the exercise of it a most peaceable fruit of the accomplisht Iustice neyther will it become
God Almighty if they esteeme gayne piety if they conuert that to vayne glory which they haue receaued to lay out for to gayne soules to God if feeding and tasting of high things they haue not well relisht but neglected the humble Woe I say vnto them vnto whom it is giuen to apprehend and speake feelingly of spirituall things to vnderstand the Holy Scriptures and preach with great applause vnto the people if they once should wholly imploy those talents in seeking of themselues and humaine prayse which God bestowed vpon them for to winne soules to him and spread abroad his honour his glory let such feare tremble at those words of God spoken by the Prophet Oseus I haue giuen them siluer Ezeae 28. I â—aue multiplyed their gould with which they haue made their Idole Baal they haue made vse of my guifts to build vnto themselues an Idole of glory Greg. lib. 22. mor. cap. 17. 2. Cor. 2.17 S. Gregory brings vnto this purpose that saying of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians VVe are not like vnto many adulterating the word of God but out of sincerity but like as from God we speake before God in Christ on which place he makes two expositions saying that the word of God may be adulterated in two kinds The first is when one vnderstands expounds the holy Scripture contrary to its litterall sense making out of their own fancyes new coments on it contrary to the legitimate sence which the holy Ghost the authour of it hath deliuered vnto his spouse the Catholicke Church by the holy Doctors and interpretors of it The second sort of corrupting and falsifying the word of God is that which makes more immediatly to our purpose For there is this difference betwixt the lawful husband an Adulteror that the ones end is to beget children from the lawfull bed the others only to satisfy his lustfull appetit In like manner he who by the word of God and his spirituall functions seekes not to beget spirituall children to God Almighty which is proposed vnto him according to that of S. Paul Per Euangelium ego vos genui 1. Cor. 4.15 but seeks his owne satisfaction and the prayse of others is an Adulteror of the word of God And for this reasoÌ„ the holy Doctours call vayne glory a spiritual Adultery since the pleasure therof is as much greater then that of the other as the soule surpasseth the body Let vs not therefore like Adulterors corrupt the word of God nor seeke any thing in our functions besides the honour and glory of his diuine maiesty conformable to that saying of our Sauiour Christ Ego autem noÌ„ quaero gloriam meam I search nor myne own honour glory but the glory of my Father which is in heauen Ioan. 8.50 Origin well compared our good workes which are the works of God to the male children of the Hebrewes in the land of Egypt and sayes that we should be as careful not to shew them for ostentation as they were not to haue their children seene by the Egyptians least it happen to vs as it did to Moyses who being perceaued when he was an infant and taken vp was throne into the riuer of Nylus If you would appeare to be any thing let it be in the eyes of God Almighty The Holy Scripture relats an exploit of Ioab the Generall of Dauids Army most worthy of our imitation to wit that he with his Army besieging Rabat the capitall Citty of the Amonits where the King was with diuers of his chiefe Nobility 2. Reg. 12.29 had so weakened it that he doubted not to take it by the next assault dispatched a Post to Dauid presently to let him know vpoÌ„ what tearmes it stood and withall to beseech him to come vnto the Army be present in person at the taking it giuing him this reason that when he destroyed the Citty 1. Reg. 12.19 the victory might not be ascribed to him This his fidelity ought we to imitate towards God in all our Actions with desire that the fruit coÌ„uersion of soules with the good and prosperous successe of our affayres be attributed to God and not to vs. Non nobit Domine non nobis Psal 113.9 sed nomini tuo da gloriam All honour belonges vnto God who is in heauen as the song of the Angells doth teach vs Gloria in altissimis Deo We read of S. Thomas of Aquin in the History of his life Luc. 2.14 that in his whole life he neuer had so much vayne glory as might arriue vnto a veniall sinne neuer the more delighted with himselfe for his great knowledge and Angelical wit nor those great guifts and graces which God had bestowed vpon him We read also of our B. F. S. Ignatius L. 5. c. 3. vitae B. P. lgn. that for diuers yeares before his death he was so entirely freed from this teÌ„tation of vayne glory he being ariued to such knowledge coÌ„tempt of himselfe by the illustration of heaueÌ„ly light that he was vsed to say he feared no vice lesse Behould heere the patterne after which we ought to frame our selues and which may make vs hartely ashamed to let our selues be carryed so away with the breath of vayne glory for euery slight paltry thing we do What should we do if we were eminent in learning famous for preaching if we made great profit in the gayne of soules and were for these things esteemed by Princes Prelats and by all the world It behoues vs euen in little things to accustome our selues to neglect the prayses of men seeke the honour and glory of God Almighty to the end that we may do the like when occasion of greater shall present it selfe Of certaine other remedyes agaynst Vayne Glory CHAP. VII S. Bernard vpon these words of the Psalmist Bern. in b. 14 super psâ— Qui habitat psal 90.11 You shall walke vpon the Aspe and Basiliske tread the Lyon Dragon vnder your feet sayth that of these beasts some there are who wound with their teeth others infect with behoulding others with their clawes and others with their hissing do affright so the Diuell in as many kinds doth inuisibly endommage men and goeth on applying the propertyes of these beasts to diuers sorts of sinnes tentations with which the Diuell makes warre vpon vs vntill comming to the Basiliske he tells of a monstrous thing which is reported of it to wit that with its only sight it poysons men to death Which the Saint applyes vnto vayne Glory according to those words of our Sauiour in the Euangell Mat. 6.1 See that you do not your Iustice before men for to be seene by theÌ„ as if he would say take heed of the Basilisks eyes But we are also to consider that as some say the Basiliske only doth poyson those whome it sees first wheras if you first looke vpon the Basiliske you are not only
far more then he if he performe that little with more loue then the other Wherein the greatnes of God Almighty doth more clearely and manifestly appeare before whome no seruices of ours howeuer great doe appeare so vnles that loue be great with which they are done he being one who hath no need of any good of ours and whose riches and all thinges els are so aboundant as they can neuer be made greater If thou dost well and iustly sayth Iob what shal thou giue him Iob. 35.7 Or what shall he receaue from thy handes That which he desires and esteemes is to be beloued and that we on our parts do as much as we are able which may appeare by those two Mites which the poore Widdow in the Ghospel offered Marc. 12.43 â—â— Luc. 21.34 our Sauiour sat hard by the Boxe in the Temple where the Iews vsed to cast in their almes and saw the Pharisies and the richer sort some casting in siluer others gold perhapes among the rest came a poore Widdow and offered two mites only when our Sauiour turning to his Disciples sayd Amen I say vnto you this poore VViddow hath put in more then all the rest for the rest haue giuen out of their aboundance Chrysost boâ— 3. ad Cor. but this out of her need hath giuen all that she had all her sustenance On which place S. Chrysostome sayes Quod in Vidua fecit idem in docentibus operabitur God will deale the like with those who preach study labour and do all other functions and ministeries not so much regarding what they doe as the will loue and diligence with which their workes are done Of some signes by which we may know whether we doe our actions purely for the loue of God or seeke our selues in them CHAP. XII S. Gregory teacheth vs a way to make a right coniecture Greg. l. 22 mor. c. 24. whether in those functioÌ„s which regard our neighbour we seeke purely the glory of God or els our selues Obserue sayth he wheÌ„ another preaches wel is greatly followed and reapes much fruit froÌ„ the good of soules whether you are as greatly reioyced at it as if your selfe had done it since if it be not so grateful to you but you do feele out some certaine grudging enuying repining at it it is an euideÌ„t signe you do not seeke Gods glory purely and as you ought And to this purpose he cyteth this passage of S. Iames Iacob 3.14 15. If you haue zeale of soules and haue contentions in your heart it is not a wisedome descending from aboue but an earthly brutish and diuellish one It is no zeale of the glory and honour of God but a zeale of your owne selfe a zeale to be honoured and a desire to be as much honoured and cheriched as that other is for if you sought only the glory of God and not your owne you would be glad that God had store of such seruants and reioyce that others could performe that in which you are defectiue and wanting Like as the Holy Scripture witnesses of Moyses who when Iosue opposed himselfe vnto some who prophesyed answeared in an offended manner Num. 11.29 VVhy are you eâ—mulous for me VVho shall do so much that all the people may prophesy that God may bestow vpon all of them his spirit And so a true seruant of God Almighty ought to say I would to God that euery one were an excellent preacher and that God would bestow his spirit plentifully vpon them that by this meanes the honour and glory of God may be the more dilated and spread abroad that he may be the better knowne and his holy name sanctifyed through euery place and prouince of the world We haue a remarkable example of this in Doctor Auila who as it is reported of him when he saw that God by the meanes of our B. Father Saint Ignatius Lib. vitae S. Ignat. cap. 27. had begun this least Society of Iesus and had heard relation of his institute sayd it was that very thing which for so many yeares togeather he had beene labouring to effect with so much solicitude and could neuer bring to passe adding that it was fortuned to him as to a little child who being at the foot of some great mountaine desirous to rowle some heauy burtheÌ„ vp vnto the top finds it aboue its forces to effect when a strong and mighty Gyant comming takes vp that burthen which the child could not lift and with ease carryes it there where the child desires to haue it Vnderstanding by this comparison himselfe the child and esteeming S. Ignatius a Gyant vnto him But that which makes to our purpose is that he was as glad and well contented in himselfe when he heard of it as if our Society had byn instituted by him because he had no other end in the desiring such a thing should be but only Gods glory the saluation of soules Such as these are God Almightyes good and faythfull seruants Ad Phil. 2.2 who as S. Paul sayes seeke not after any thing of their owne but that which is of Iesus Christ A true seruant of God Almighty ought in such manner to desire the glory of God and the saluation and profit of others soules as when God is pleased to serue himselfe therein by meanes of any other he is to be as glad and well content as if God had vsed him for his instrument And therefore it were a good manner of proceeding which we find practised by diuers great seruants or God Almighty who when they perceaue themselues vrged stroÌ„gly on with the desire and zeale of gayning soules huÌ„bly begge it of God by saying O Lord that such or such a soule might but once come to know you that such a person might be acquired to you that his fruit may be done that profit this perfectioned and all this by such meanes as you shall please for me I pretend not to any part of it Such as these walke rightly and in great purity like vnto these are we sincerely to carry our selues in the seruice of God as not to seeke any proper honour esteeme but only the greater honour and glory of God We may say the like also as well in that which concernes our owne spirituall progresse of our brethren for he who is discomfited when he sees his brother make progresse in vertu whilest himself remaines behind doth not seeke purly the greater glory of God for although it be true that a good seruant of God ought to haue a great resentment and feeling for that he serues not God so perfectly as he ought neuertheles it followes not that he should therefore be troubled and disquieted when he sees another perfecter then he but on the contrary he is to be glad of it and to giue this comfort to his grieued soule for seruing God Almighty with so great negligeÌ„ce that how euer he through his slouthfulnes be waÌ„ting in his
duty yet there do not want those who do supply in effect yeelding in giuing prayse glory vnto God what he in wishes only proposeth to himself That sadnes repining which some are troubled with proceedeth from no other cause then from a certaine enuy and secret pride for should one but desire truly and in good earnest the greater glory of God it is most certaine he should haue a great ioy and contentment to see that others did increase in vertue and perfection howsoeur on the other side he were sorry ashamed for not seruing God so feruently himselfe The second signe is when a Religious man doth his office and those thinges which are commaunded him in such manner as not to care more whether he be imployed in this or that whether he haue that office or els be put to this and is in one and to the other content alike for it is a most euident signe that we do our thinges only for the loue of God and therefore doe we carry our selues with such equality of mind and indifference vnto all seeking nothing but to fullfill the will of God in euery thing and neuer troubling our selues with the exteriour of the thing we do wheras if we do not vndertake those offices which are humble laborious with as good a will as the easy and honourable it is a signe that we doe not performe theÌ„ purely for God Almighty but that we seeke our selues our gust and proper commodities in them Wherefore that holy man sayes well Thomas à Kempis If God were the occasion of your desire you would be glad in what manner soeuer he should dispose of thinges Thirdly it is a signe that we do not thinges purely for loue of God but out of humane respects when we desire to approue vnto our superiour all we do and that he should take notice of our paynes and publiquely commend vs or at least by some exteriour signes expresse himselfâ— well pleased and satisfyed with vs in so fare as to become disheartned and troubled when we are not so delt withall If you did your Actions purly for loue of God you would neuer regard such triffles nor seeke after them but one the contrary would blush be ashamed wheÌ„ the Superiour should expresse himselfe in any such manner towards you as knowing it done because of your weaknes and imperfection bewayling your owne infirmity would say Alas how wreched and miserable am I to be so weake and wanting in all vertue as to stand in need to be animated and incited one with such poor things as these Abbot Ioannes the younger In prato spirit Disciple of Abbot Amon serued twelue yeares togeather one of those antient Fathers in his sicknesse which said Father although he saw him with all faithfulnes and deligence labouring for so long time together did neuer yet afford him any good or frendly word but vsed him alwayes with great harshnes and seuerity this Father at last drawing towards his end diuers holy Hermits came to visit him when he before them all calling his humble and patieÌ„t Disciple to him tooke him by the hand said thrice vnto him Farwell farwell farwell afterwards commending him vnto those other holy Hermits and deliuering him ouer vnto their fatherly care he said Behould heer an Angell and not a man since hauing serued me in my sicknesse for twelue yeares together and neuer receauing one comfortable word of me he hath nothwithstanding for so long time serued me both readily cheerfully HOVV VVE ARE TO INCREASE AND go forwards in vprightnes and purity of intention CHAP. XIII OVR B. Father S. Ignatius declares vnto vs in a particuler manner how we ought to go perfecting our selues In Constit. con 17. in this rectitude and purity of intention Let euery one saith he indeauour to haue a right intention 26. Reg. 17. not only in that which concernes the state of their liues but also in all particular things seeking in them alwayes to serue and please the diuine goodnes for it selfe and for the charity singular benefits wherwith it hath preueÌ„ted vs rather then for feare of payne or hope of reward though they ought also to help theÌ„selues with these There are many wayes of seeking seruing God for to serue God for feare of punishment is to seeke God and is good and laudible for seruile feare is good and a guift of God so the Prophet did desire it of God when he sayd Psal 118.120 Confige timore tuo carnes meas But if any one should haue this mind and thought within his heart if there were no hell and that I stood not in feare of punishment I would not care to offend God Almighty The Diuines say that it were nothing worth and absolut sinne since it declare the malice of his mind but to make vse of the feare of torments of the apprehension of death and the horrour of Iudgement to serue God the better and make vs more fearefull of offending him is right and good and so the holy scripture doth often put these things before our eyes and threaten vs with them the better to keep vs from falling in sinne Secondly to serue God for recompence for the reward we hope for the glory we awayt is also to seeke God and is laudibly good and better then the former It is better to do our actioÌ„s out of hope of reward glory then for feare of hell and punishment and this motiue Moyses had as S. Paul affirmes saying Moyses growne great in faith denyed himselfe to be the sonne of Pharaoe choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God then to haue the pleasure and delight of temporall sinne esteeming the ignominy of Christ greater riches theÌ„ the treasure of Aegypt Ad Heb. 12.24 for he had regard vnto his recompence Psal 118.112 and the Royall Prophet Dauid saies of himself I haue inclined my heart to do thy iustifications eternally because of the reward which thou hast promised me All these wayes of seeking God are good and we must likewise make our vse of them But our B. Father will haue vs proceed yet further lift vp our hearts higher seeking things more eleuated and sublime Aemulat and seeke after the best guifts that are 1. Cor. 12.3 I shew you yet a way more excellent he is not conteÌ„t that we should serue God in what manner soeuer but he shewes vs yet a way more excellent and high and would haue vs seeke and serue God only for God alone purly for the loue of him and for his infinit goodnes because that God is what he is which is the highest and sublimest of all his titles The glorious Fathers of the church Basil in reg fusius disputatis in praemio Chrysâ—hom 2 sâ— per epist ad Roman Greg. l. 8. mora c. 30 S Basile S. Chrysostome and S. Gregory treat of this matter excellently well and
in his sight Iust so he who hath bestowed his heart one God and banished from him all affection of creaturs although he should be incompast with the world in the middle of all its pleasures and delights would yet still continue in an inward quiet solitude as taking no pleasure in any of those things nor so much as regarding them hauing his heart rauished and drowned in contemplation of his beloued They saith S. Gregory who are arriued to this do inioy a great repose traÌ„quility in their soules nothing being forcible inough to molest or disquiet them no aduersity can make their quiet lesse nor any prosperity their ioy greater vaine glory no humane excellence can bring them acquainted with but as they are affectioned vnto no earthly thing so are they not troubled nor intangled with the succese of any but reckon them as thing which do concerne theÌ„ nothing Would you know saith this Saints who hath ariued to this perfection built himselfe this Hermitage solitude The holy Prophet Dauid where he sais Psal 26.4 I haue demaunded one thing of our Lord this I shall beseech that I may inhabit in the house of our Lord all the dayes of my life There is nothing els in heauen and earth that I desire besides your selfe O God And now what is my expectation Psal 38.8 is it not our Lord The Blessed Abbot Siluanus was arriued to this to whom when he came from prayer all the world seemed such a wretched thing as lifting vp his handes through admiration shutting his holy eyes he would say with great disdaine Close vp your selues myne eyes close vp your selues and do not vouchsafe to looke abroad vpon the creatures those wordly thinges since in all the world there is nothing worthy the behoulding Lib. 1. c. 2 vitae S. Ignat We read also of our B. F. S. Ignatius that when he eleuated his mind to God and his eyes to heauen he vsed to say Oh how foule and vgly the earth doth seeme to me when I do but looke on Heauen The second degree may be that Bern. trac de dilig Deo cap. 6 7. which S. Bernard proposes in his treatise of the loue of God which is wheÌ„ we do not only wholy forget all exteriour thinges but also our selues louing our selues no otherwise then in God by God and for God and we ought so wholy to be plunged in this forgetfullnes of our selues to be so free from al particuler interest of our own and to loue God with a loue so pure perfect that we are to reioice be no otherwise taken with those graces which we receaue from his all giuing hand neither with that heaueÌ„ly glory which we hope for then so farre as his will and pleasure appeareth in them without regarding our owne profit in them In this manner the Blessed in heauen reioice in their felicity not because they are exalted to such heigth of glory but because it is Gods pleasure that they should be so and they seeke God with a loue so refined and pure are so straictly vnited and transformed into his blessed will that they desire not so much the glory which they possesse nor their felicity for their owne ioy and happines nor for the wondrous content which they do take therein as because it is the pleasure and the will of God We ought sayth S. Bernard so to loue God as that holy Prophet did who sayd Let vs confesse vnto our Lord because he is good he sayd not because he is good to me but only because he is good He did not prayse nor loue God only because he was good to him Psal 117.1 as this other did of whom it is writen He will confesse to thee when thou shalt haue done well vnto him but he loues and glorifyes God because he is good in himselfe because he is what he is because his goodnes is infinite S. Bernard sayes that the third and the last degree of the perfection of the loue of God is VVhen one now doth come to doe his actions not so much to please God as because God delighteth him or because that which he doth is pleasing and acceptable vnto God Whereby a man becomes to haue no other solicitude or thought but only how to delight and please Almighty God without thinking any more vpoÌ„ himselfe then if there were not or euer had beene such a creature in the world and this is a most pure perfect loue of God This loue sayth the Saint is a mountaine and a high mouÌ„taine of God a rich fertill mountaine full of all exquisite perfection By a mountaine of God is signifyed nothing els then a heigth and abstract of all greatnes and excellence VVho shall ascend into the mountaine of God who shall giue me winges like a Doue Psal 231.3 Psal 54.7 and I will fly away and go to rest Ah miserable as I am sayth this glorious Saint that I cannot wholy forget my selfe during this banishment Rom. 7.24 Oh me vnhappy man who shal deliuer me from the body of this death Isa 38.14 Oh Lord I suffer violence answere for me Blessed Lord when shall I wholy dy vnto my selfe and only liue to thee Oh woe is me for that my pilgrimage is prolonged Psal 119.5 41.3 when shall I come appeare before the face of God! Oh when shall I be deliuered from this woefull banishment When shall I be wholy vnited and through loue transformed into you O Lord When shal I be intirely free and quit of all remembrance of my selfe by being made one spirit one thing with you So as I may not hereafter loue any thing in me froÌ„ me or for me but that all which may haue any part of my affection may be in you by you for you only to loose thy selfe in a certaine maÌ„ner Bern. de diligendo Deum c. 7 as if thou wert not at all to haue no sence no feeling of thy selfe so wholy to depart from all thou art as for to leaue no memory that thou euer weart this would haue more of heauenly conuersation then any humayne affection Such perfectioÌ„ is rather heauenly then of earth and sauours more of our owne country then of this dungion of our banishment Psal 70.10 The Prophet likewise saies I wil enter into the mightines of my Lord O Lord I will remeÌ„ber only thy Iustice. When the good and faithfull seruant shall be so rauished drowned in the ioy of his Lord and inebriated with the aboundance of his loue then he shall be so absorpt and transformed into God to haue no remembrance of himselfe When he appeares we shall be like vnto him Ioan. 3.2 because we shal see him as he is we shall be theÌ„ like vnto God and the Creature shall haue a kind of proportion with his Creatour for as the holy Scripture sayes euen as God hath created al thinges for himself to his glory so we shal theÌ„ loue God withall purity not louing our selues nor any thing els but only in him He shall truely reioyce Matth. 25 21. not so much for being aboue all necessity nor for inioying all felicity as for to see his holy will in vs and of vs fullfilled all our ioy shall not consist in our ioy but in the ioy of God and his delight Intra in gaudium Domini tui This is to enter into the ioy of God Bern. de dilig DeuÌ„ cap. 7. S. Bernard breakes forth into an excellent exclamation saying O holy o chast loue o sweet o sugred affection of pure o refined intention of the will the more pure and refined the lesse mixture it hath of ought that is its owne the more sweet more sugred the more it partakes of that which is al diuine Sic affici deificari est It is a deifying to be so affected like as S. Iohn sayes then we shal be like to God S. Bernard to explicate the manner of this deification transformation into God brings three similitudes Like as sayth he a droppe of water let fall into a whole tunne of Wine presently looseth all its qualityes and properties and becomes perfect wine both in colour in tast like as the Iron when it is through hot glowing in the forge appeares not to be Iron but al fire and as the Ayre when it is fully inlightned with the rayes of the Sunne is so transformed into brightnes that it seemes to be but one light with the Sunne so sayth he in that eternall felicity we loose all humane faculties and become deifyed and transformed in God All that we shall loue there wil be only for God and that is only God for otherwise how shall he be all to all 1. Cor. 15.28 if any thing shall remaine in man of man There shal be nothing there which is our owne since all our delight and glory shall be no other theÌ„ the pleasure and glory of God Psal 3.4 Thou art my glory and the lifâ—er vp of my head then we shall not care to repose nor sustain our selues with our owne happines since all our felicity and rest shal be in God But although whilest we are in this valley heere we caÌ„not arriue vnto the sight of this yet are we at least to bend our eyes that wayes since the neerer we shall come to the sight of it the more perfect vnited shall we be with God Bern. l. 2. de amore Dei cap. 4. And so this blessed Saint concludes This is o heauenly Father the will of thy Blessed Sonne in vs this is his prayer for vs to thee his Father and God I will that like as I and you are one so that they should be one in vs and we with him through the vnion of perfect loue to wit that they may loue thee for thy selfe not themselues but only in thee this is the end this is the consummation this the perfection this the peace this the ioy of our Lord this is the ioy in the Holy Ghost this is the silence which is in heauen This is the vtmost ayme of all our thoughts the end of our Pilgrimage and the last degree of perfectioÌ„ to which we may attaine FINIS