like may we turn thoroughout that whole book And if any one shall yet desire more testimonies let him search the holy Scriptures for it is all every where full of this doctrine that Christ and all his members even from Abel down to these times have always trod in this path If therefore any one shall thorough the grace of God believe this to him I hope this small treatise will be very serviceable and profitable But unless every one himself shall hear learn this of the Father these testimonies nor any others will never help him no not the whole Bible with all its quotations Christ crucified was always a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but to them that believe he is the power of God Blessed is every one saith Christ who shall not be offended in me Which being said I shall now put an end to this Preface O Lord who by thy grace art able to kill and to make alive to lead down into Hell or the grave and to bring forth from thence again shew to us thy mercy and grant us freely thy Salvation Amen THE SAYINGS OF Mat VVyer The First Book CHAP. 1. SUch as is the state of a Man so he understandeth the holy Scripture if he be still in nature he interprets their Meaning to be of natural things but if he is ascended Higher he understandeth them of things more Sublime and by how much the Higher he goes he finds in the Scriptures so much the more Sublime Testimonies of things Things below are the Image and Similitude of things above if therefore a Man is still in the lowest degree the Scripture propounds to him the lowest Matters but if he be got up into things above the Scriptures sheweth to him superiour Matters When Paul saith Not in riotous feastings and drunkenness not in chamberings and wantonness c. in the 13 to the Rom. 19. That concerns a man according to the various state of his Life either litterally or spiritually if he liveth carnally it is to be understood of the gross flesh but if he liveth spiritually flesh also is thereby meant but a more refined sort of flesh to which also he must die But before he can die to it it 's Necessary he should first have lived thereunto and he cannot first have lived thereunto unless first he hath died unto the more gross carnallity It is impossible for a Man to be able to understand this Sublime way of dying before he is come up unto that degreeâ— Now if any one is come up thither rather in a notional understanding thereof then in the true essence of the thing he is in very great danger of wandering into errour The spiritual Life of flesh is most cleanly expressed in that Rich man who lived Sumptuously and was cloathed in Scarlet When on the contrary Lazarus lay Poor Hungry Naked and full of Sores But what came it too the highest riches were brought unto the lowest poverty and the lowest poverty was changed into the highest Riches Christ sayeth John 12.32 When I shall be lifted up from the Earth I will draw all unto me There the Earth is Purified and Glorified and made fit for God there then a Man abides yeilded up to God and suffers all in God whatsoever he shall do in him Here therefore a Man is in a state of Passion under God but not in a state of Action and God possesseth him for his proper own And if a Man doth not yet possess God as his propriety viz. whilest he is yet alive and not when he is dead then is not the very bottom of his heart as yet purged from sin for the root of sin still is in him and is not as yet eradicated But at length this bottom is made manifest to the Man and sin is accounted and is condemned as sin When Christ is lifted up from the Earth then a man stands in death and the Judgment of God cometh upon him There the bottom of his heart is purified and the root plucked up When a Man knows that he is to omit this or that and yet Commits it his prayers for more Sublime gifts are not heard for he lifts not up pure hands Because so long as he layeth not aside inferiour things he receiveth no virtue to omit Higher things As long as he hath not as yet done or omitted that which he acknowledgeth is to be omitted or done by him so long are hid from him the doing or omitting of more Sublime things nor can they be acknowledged by him But if he hath been Faithful in lower matters he shall be advanced to higher if somethings are to be renounced by a Man and yet he will not renounce them then although he prayeth yet is he not heard but is forced to depart empty handed CHAP. II. IF a Man abstaineth from external Idolatry as also from the Company-keepings Feastings Merry-meetings and Drinkings from the proud Apparel and from all such like that spring out of sin yet is he not so to rest satisfied it 's true indeed that these ought to be so that every one should omit what are to be omitted yet this I say that however he is not to be at rest or to content himself thus For just as he who is to go to â—olen is not content to pass over the Rhine only nor stops he there but continueth on his journey until he cometh to Colen So also we must alwayes be going forward and looking still further on to internal Purification that as the external Conversation is purged so also must the inward Foundation be purged Now Christ alone affects that he cleanseth the Foundation and takes away sin and beyond all our endeavour or workings expells it by Faith only If Satan was so powerful that he could bring in sin then is Christ much more powerful and can both conquer and expell it He that experienceth the thing it self how Christ expelleth sins and purifieth a Man he only truly feels the effect thereof Before purgation sin may indeed be supposed that it shall not break forth into fruits yet is it still present viz. in the bottom and thence it must be removed and cast out if a Man would arrive at Regeneration and Righteousness be advanced in him which renders a Man inclinable and chearful to all good whatsoever but loath and heavy to all that is evil Even as before sin made the Man loath and heavy to good but ready and chearful to evil If evil is not omitted by and through Regeneration nor good by and through the same Regeneration performed all things are done forcibly with regret against our wills whatever of evil is thus omited or whatever of good is thus performed for there in that case is as yet no renewing but the old evil stock still remaines which endeavours to effect its proper works and to produce them into act and is quite contrary to the new Creature But when the Victory and Regeneration is obtained the
by fear and anxiety by terrours and by death for they cannot like the common sort of men spend their lives in meer pleasures but he does always detain his under a rigid discipline and many frights and makes them drink down the bitter potion of tribulations that all their internal faculties as well of spirit as of Soul may be brought under the Cross nor can they ever arrive at true peace until every one of them learns nakedly to yield up himself into the will of God and contentedly to take of the potion mixed by God and given him to drink out of meer grace and Love Now that this cup is bitter is no fault of God's but our own and that because we are contrary and enemies to what is good and cannot bear to be purged just like the vulgar people whose troubles are increased by a mixt Physick-wine For by nature a man flieth from all things which are hard and produce pains and yet there is no other way to be recovered nor to come at health then by those means by which we are always more and more adapted to Christ our head by a similitude of his sufferings death and burial that afterwards by a like resurrection also we may be taken into him and be possessed of a never-fading crown of glory For how much we suffer together with Christ so much also shall we reign with â—im not indeed in this time of temporaâ—y abode but in the truth and permaâ—ency of spirit and life in which we â—hall arise and be excited to such a likeâ—ess of Christ as consisteth not with deâ—raved Nature but is lifted up above Nature and is conformed into a spirituâ—â— eternal and immortal life Thus thereâ—â—re all and every one of them in their â—wn order may expect it will be acâ—â—rding to the measure of the divine gifts â—â—at the enemy may for the time to â—â—me have no more right nor power â—er our Souls by reason of sin under â—hich hitherto we have been bound â—â—d captivated hoping for salvation â—â—d redemption in Christ from all our internal enemys who force our Souls into slavery so that in tract of time we may in all holiness and righteousness serve the Lord as present with us all the days of our life He therefore that hath appeared on earth to preach the Gospel to the poor and to the desolate will comfort and cure our sorrowful hearts and graciously set the captives free he I say will in his own time appear gracious to thy humane weakness and will bless thy internal poverty and affliction with a greâ—â— plenty of the fruits of holiness Now thesâ— few things I was willing according to thâ— simplicity of my heart and my meaâ— gifts in the Lord to write unto thee from an earnest desire to serve thee that 〈◊〉 perhaps some means might be discoveâ—ed to thy heart thorough the diviâ—â— mercy leading to a greater proficiencâ— in the knowledge of God and thâ— thy Soul might be sealed up in eternâ—â— peace and reconciliation thorough thâ— grace of God and by his Spirit Aâ—â— 31. 1559. EPIST. V. For what end the Scripture was given and how we ought most exactly to satisfie conscience also concerning the difference between humane righteousness and that which availeth before God To U. of W. MOst dear Lady having this occasion offered I was willing to write a few lines unto thee giving thanks to you all for your friendly inclinations of heart towards us The eternal God grant that that bond in which we being bound together in him and do profess a mutuall union to the true members may become more firm and may grow in Christ our Lord according to his holy will to his glory and our death As to what concerns my condition it is indeed at present such as is tolerable to the flesh as long as it shall please God for the bond of death remains in my heart and in my members and all the rest is known unto the Lord. The Lord himself take us all into his protection that we may be preserved in his fear this dangerous time which as I conjecture cannot be done but by most hard sorrows O would to God we could at length come even unto the death of Christ and feel it in our souls which indeed is set before our eyes in the holy Scriptures yet somewhat shadowed O Lord grant unto us that life which the Scripture every where beareth witness of yet oftentimes by so frequent exercises of so many various readings a man is but kept back and distracted when as yet it 's in the first place necessary that every one should observe himself in the acts of hearing speaking thinking working and in all else where a man is busied about any other matters in things of thiâ— life and that all these be to his utmost put to the examination of his judgment and that he most exactly endeavours in all hath a care to satisfy his own conscience for so long as the accusatioâ— thereof endureth by the guilt of anâ— though the least transgression it 's impossible that peace an be found in hâ— Soul Because as long as any one does not satisfy his own conscience he is willingly kept a prisoner under sin But the difficulty of this way hindereth many as much as that which the Scripture saith that no man can stand before God in his own proper righteousness which is very true However yet if we are willing to trace thorough this most rocky way of our conscience even to its utmost limit it is necessary that at length we should come to a mortification and destruction of all our laborious endeavours and then will our own righteousness shame us On the contrary we all would dye before ever we have lived and glory that we have renounced our own righteousness when as even yet we stick in the midst of our sins breaking forth into outward acts But the matter is to be otherwise and more accurately considered if we desire to make a proficiency in the Lord for that life which we live in the flesh is dead in the sight of God nor hath no liveliness in it in his account Yea furthermore that life which our Soul enjoys whilst it confideth in and s bottomed on these or these things must also be changed for a death and it 's by no means to be permitted that the enormities thereof should rejoyce in its progress For this life which our Soul hath taken to herself after this manner springs from no where else then from out of that imaginary righteousness and holiness which we fancy is to be found in us and which tickles us with a strange kind of sweet flattery and privately is very pleasing to us yea and gives to our Souls a kind of tranquillity These things are hid so deeply in a man and deceive us with such dissimulation as if all were well with us whence it is that all things are ascribed unto Christ because the man knows that no such
then â—nto the understanding his salvation also â—n go no further then into the underâ—tanding and reason so that it must at last needs dye in that death that is so necessary to all Christians viz. wherein Reason is destroyed for in this death there remains nothing but the Soul or mind only But if it be objected that our faith and knowledge do penetrate even into the most inward regions of the Soul and mind I answer thereto That then also it is necessary that this our Soul and mind when it shall live with such an estrangedness from the flesh that it cannot but with great Nauseousness and tedious disdain bear in its self all the desires and lusts which spring from the nethermost parts of the flesh so as it would rather dye infinite deaths and to be freed from them then with pleasure even once to perform them in the verv act Behold my G. this brief proposal how every one ought to prove and try hâ—â— faith If any man believeth in Chriâ—â— from the very bottom of his Soul 〈◊〉 must need be wracked with great doâ—lours in his Soul by reason of sin so thâ— he will account of sin for the most grievous torture that can be found in all thâ— world and for his greatest enemy and how then for the sake of acting it can he enter into a friendship with it Although therefore the Vulgar knowledge of those who glory in the Gospel may say on this wise Sin if so be it is not perpetrated in the very act though it should lurk in the heart doth us no hurt yet do thou I pray hear how Christ doth nevertheless assert that he who looketh on a woman to lust after her is already guilty in the sight of God by which words surely Christ excuseth not but accuseth the lusting of a man and will really have it accounted for sin in the sight of God Dearest G. I beseech thee do not despond in thy mind because of this hard saying for all things are possible to God I only write this of purpose that thou mayest seasonably learn to judge of all things least thou shouldst consume thy youth unprofitably and that thou mayest bear fruit to God â—in thy own soul they in the mean time who are of the dregs of the Vulgar though they may have knowledge yet they lye down tired in sloth nor do they oppose sin with the least burning zeal or breaâ—â— its impetuous assaults Nor yet doth this external abstinence from sins and the debilitating of them suffice for it 's necessary to descend to the very bottom it self when even the thoughts are to be judged in the presence of God Far therefore be it from us to commit sin in the very act Also this my Letter intends this at least that thy young limbs be stirred up both night and day to the worship of God by continued prayers in temperance purity meekness of heart long-suffering lovâ— of thine Enemies as also in the Reading of Scripture in holy proficiencies anâ— in other virtues conducing to Christian discipline Concerning which thy owâ— Conscience will afford to thee a testimony all which being performed thou wiâ—â— every day rejoyce in thy great success iâ— the work of the Lord that at last wheâ— thy most miserable condition is known thou wilt be a terrour to thy own selâ— and therefore thou wilt so much thâ— more diligently call upon God for help that his most powerful right hand maâ—â— at length gratiously support thy Soul and conquer the power of the enemy in a real victory The Lord have mercy on us all and heal our diseases and effectually cause us to hunger and thirst after his righteousness least we be left naked in our own impurity EPIST. VIII How any one who is studious concerning the way of the Lord ought dayly to exercise himself MOst beloved Neece Because I understand that thou earnestly desirest such a disposition of heart as truely to walk in the ways of the Lord I could not withhold my self but must write to thee these few things for thy greater confirmation in them that thou being once entred into this way shouldest not desist from vigorously proceeding forward and to adhere to the Lord with thy whole heart together with a total suppression of thy carnal part Be therefore diligently studious that thy diligence be not tired out in reading in humanity in Silence in meekness in temperance forbearance patience and compassion also learn to exercise thy self in all studyes of virtues that thou being found faithful in little things mayest be made ruler over much greater for if thou shalt not be faithful in these few things assuredly thou wilt never be entrusted with more But I hope that thou wilt receive wisdom and prudence from the Lord that thou wilt have a care of and diligently attend unto thy own self least some bitter root should spring up in thee and so thou and thy Soul tumble head-long into destruction for the flesh doth very subtilly assault a man to beguile him and turn him away from Godliness Wherefore making a strict watch upon thy life and conversation carefully incompass thy self round having cut off the world and all wantonness of life speech and thoughts preferring every one with all gentleness and patience not only the good but also the evil and the immodest Learn also to bridle in thy self and to humble thy self being always turned to the Lord in thy heart Never let vain evil and unworthy thoughts arise in thy mind but always oppose them with great earnestness pouring out to the Lord fervent prayers and if thou gettest any spare time on holy days or otherways employ it in reading the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament or else of that little book intituled Of the imitation of Christ and in these exercise thy self and learn to ponder them often in thy mind If thou readest any thing which thou doest not understand call upon the Lord with ardent sighs and dayly tears that he would open to thee the true sense of his most holy word for to be the Necessary food of thy Soul for the more thou shalt follow the Lord the more thou shalt understand of holy Scripture and by how much the less thou art intent to wait upon the Lord by so much the less shalt thou understand Scripture Therefore let thy constant endeavours be to approve thy self faithful in these things which are viz. made known to thee in and by mortification and a continual access to God by prayer nor let any time slip by thee in vain and withouâ— thus doing If thou repliest that thou understandest not what thou readest again say that though thou mayest noâ— understand all yet is it incumbent oâ— thee to exercise thy self in the sacred word of the Lord as also to be unwearâ—edly sollicitous about it For by thesâ— exercises thou shalt sooner be amended then by idleness and these are the beâ—â— means of instituting and of exercising anâ— man
THE NARROW PATH of Divine TRUTH DESCRIBED From Living Practice and Experience of its three great Steps viz. Purgation Illumination Vnion According to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures as also of Thomas a Kempis the German Divinity Thauler and such like Of the SAYINGS of MATTHEW WEYER Reduced into order in Three Books by J. Spee Unto which Are subjoyned his Practical Epistles done above 120 years since in the Dutch and after the Author's Death Printed in the German Language at Francfort 1579. And in Latin at Amsterdam 1658. and now in English London Printed for Ben. Clark in George-Yard in Lombard street 1683. A. D. To the Reader If Job and the Psalms Reader thou dost know Then the same truth these lines to thee will show God thee enlighten to sind the Cross-way out Which Christ hath trod thy way to Heav'n no doubt THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Have determined to collect and put together some of the more Notable Sayings of the Holy Scripture which make for the better understanding of this Book that whosoever shall please to consider them or such like he may be able thereby more easily and without scruple to turn over this small Treatise especially if he come to those places by which the most illuminated Matthew Wyer complained of his Inward Pains and anguish which throughout the Book he frequently did lest the Reader thereby be frighted from them or should account such Pangs and Desertions for absurd and fantastical Therefore by means of these he will remember and consider that this way of the Cross although now adaies it be almost utterly unknown and forsaken was e'n to Christ and all his true members alwaies accustomed and trod in For this is that narrow way and that straight gate by which we must enter into life yea by this same way viz. by sorrows sufferings streights and death our Fore-runner Jesus Christ thorough the whole course of his life walked even to his sepulcher and hath made it plain to and for us all whom he would have to be Imitators of himself for it behooved him to suffer and so to enter into his glory Of him Isaiah saith He had no form nor comeliness and we saw him and he was not of an aspect so as that we could be delighted in him a man despised and the least of men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity c. Observe and consider O thou devout Reader together with all those who truly love Jesus Christ and desire to be Imitators of him how narrow and sharp and how many Pangs and Desertions is this way filled with which yet Christ entred into after his last supper and has left to us for an ensample For then it was that his Soul was sorrowful even to the death then it was that for very agony he sweat drops of blood and prayed to his heavenly Father thrice that if it were possible that cup might pass from him nor yet was he heard nor wâ—â—â— any helper present with him The wine-press was to be trodden and the cup to be drunk down the flood was to be waded thorough and obedience to be yielded unto the Father even to the very death of the cross upon that he was hanged naked between two Thieeves as the incendary trumpeter of the seditious presently after they divided his Garments by lot even before his eyes many also shaking their heads at him so that nothing else incompassed him round but Ignominy and Reproach and one sorrow trod upon the heels of another Then the Waves of afflictons were so many that they entred even into his soul because he was deserted of his Father that out of meer pressures and dereliction he cried out with a loud voice My God My God why hast thou forsaken me All which are found described at large in the Evangelists Prophets and in the Psalms especially in the 22 Psalm where the Prophet complains in the person of Christ My God I called unto thee all the day but thou wouldst not hear I a am worm and no man Also in Psalm 60. Save me O God because the floods have entred into my Soul I am stuck fast in the deep mire and there is no bottom and so on to the end of the Psalm Moreover in Psalm 88. My soul is filled with evil and my life approacheth unto the grave or Hell c. By which and the like sayings expressing the torments of Christ the whole Psalter with the Prophets are perfectly filled But now if thou shalt say Christ indeed as the Scriptures do testifie did suffer all these things and fulfilled them in his example yet is it impossible that any one can imitate him in such streights and desertion it is answered Christ himself hath said He that taketh not up his Cross and cometh after me cannot be my disciple nor is he worthy of me Also Peter hath said Christ hath suffered for us leaving us an example that we might follow his steps Now if this were impossible would not these and the like Sayings read every where up and down the Scriptures be in vain But what doth Paul say I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me and Christ saith That that which is impossible with men is possible with God For he worketh in us both to wil and to do Yield thy self therefore to God and commit thy cause unto him O man and hope in him that he will perform and fulfill all things in thee for he alwaies even from the very beginning of the World even to this very day hath put an end to the combats of his Peopleâ— and he is faithful and suffereth no man to be tempted beyond what he is able to bear Never yet did such misery touch his Elect but he still together with the Temptation found out a way to escape As it is made manifest in the Example of the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles who all as also the Author of these Sayings were led through Fire and Water through miseries and streights and through a total desertion yet every one according to his measure so as they became as Gold purified in the fire and were purged from their sins Alas how vastly great was that micsey in which David cried out â—nd complained the sorrows of death have compassed me about and the torments of Hell have made me affraid the snares of death have laid hold upon me Also when Jeremiah for meer anxiety and desertion cursed the day of his nativity as we may read them in their own places And who can express in words that both internal and external misery wherewith Job was afflicted from the Lord. Who will give unto me this saith he that thou mayest cover me in Hell or the Grave My dwelling is in Hell or the grave and I have made my bed in darkness c. Also in another place by reason of his continual desertion he openly cursed the day of his birth as did Jeremiah to many more such
is it to be avoided because by the help of it occult defects are discovered and the Man confesseth them to the Lord with Contrition who also is able to purge him from them As long as a Man lives he is under the Law and when by his own Endeavours he is come so far that he cannot ascend higher yet he shall get higher and be advanced But it is necessary he should put forth his hand that another may closely take hold of him and lead him into the way which else he will not find that is he must give himself up to God so as that he suffers him only to operate he himself only sitting still and Submitting himself unto God Whatever then is performed that is no longer done by Man but God himself worketh above all actions of Man or his knowledge or Power God acts and Man suffers if this be done God by such sufferings and dyings leadeth and exerciseth the Man which are matters far surpassing his strength and knowledge even as before also the thing was utterly unknown to him nor was it possible for him to undertake such a thing or exercise himself in it And in this death it is that a Man is purged and all things are taken from him all Whatever were able to hinder in him the undertaking of the true essence Then is all propriety and Nature renounced for in God is no propriety but all things ought to be of a Divine Nature nor can any other Nature be brought into God In that death the Soul is lost and when ever this is done then a Man cometh to the true essential Life of God and there Christ revealeth himself most Evidently in Man and then there is no need to search many things concerning the Place wherein Christ is to be worshipped or any other such Particulars because all these will be very perspicuous or known to our eyes The Law is fulfiled by the new Man without all dispute or Imagination Jesus hath strength enough to be able to save and Purify a Man from sin but Christ doth also anoint the Man thus purified with his Holy Spirit CHAP. XII MOre does not belong to a Man then that by God's help he may abstain from sin and that he may have the Law for a School-master for to enter into Death Darkness the Pit and destruction and to be brought from hence again and to rise again into a new Life and a new Heaven and Light belongeth only to the Lord who himself worketh that in Man without all action of the man and that out of meer grace which a man at the time of his Resurrection when that New Day-break Shineth first upon him most clearly acknowledgeth For he acknowledgeth it was the alone Mercy of God which so exerciseth him and brought him back from Death to Life which Mercy he could not acknowledge when he was still under the Law for there his Propriety and his selfness was yet present but the Commiseration of the Lord was hitherto unknown to him because he had not as yet been thus exercised by God above all Operation and Power of his own that he might come to the Denial of himself but he stood as yet under the Law being touched by no Death when he thought that a reward ought to be Given him out of Desert but not out of Grace and then it was that he sought to Establish his own Righteousness but such a Righteousness was unknown to him which above and beyond all his own Operation and Power was setled only by Faith in Christ which Faith is acquired only in Death Darkness and Hell or the Grave A Man in whom the Law hath exercised all its Power and hath slain him remains not in Death but by the Resurrection of Christ is raised up again into a New Life but is not raised up again into the Old Life for when he should hang with Christ upon the Cross and beg to be Freed that he might return again into that Life he is not Heard but he must dye then not can he ever be thus made alive again but by the Resurrection of Christ riseth into a New Life Here the matter is so carried as if the Thief on the right Hand and the other on the Left and Christ also did Hang Naked on the Cross in one Man and as if he was reviled by both of them for faith the Evengelist Which very thing also did the Thieves who were crucified with Him reproach him withal The same is here also as if the Left hand Thief was not willing to Dye yet he must Dye but the Right-hand Thieâ— yielded himself up unto Death Also aâ— if the legs of the Thieves were broken but not of Christ and here it should be considered how Christ received the Thief on his Right-hand but the left which denoteth Nature also Perisht unwillingly and shall abide Eternally in Death also how the Right-hand Thief willingly gave up himself to Death and how he shall be Raised together with Christ unto Eternal Life Christ said upon his Cross to the Thief on his Right-hand To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He did not say Thou art with me in Paradise for this could not be so long as he had not yet dyed but he said thus Thou shalt he with me in Paradise viz. When thou hast suffered Death for it is as equally Impossible that a Man who is not yet dead can be exalted in God as it is Impossible that a Hundred Pound Weight of Lead should Fly upwards unto the Sky The Thieves did not Nail themselves to the Cross but they were Nailed the Trees upon which the Thieves Hung were cut Trees and do signify the Old Man or Nature in us for we must dy in this cut Nature and afterwards be revived again in Christ All the promises of God do respect Christ but Christ denoteth all Christians of all whom there is one only Head which is Christ who is all in all CHAP. XIII GOd cometh and openeth to a Man the sence of Scripture as it were in one Moment like lightning which comes as it were in one moment and goes away again in another and then a Man acknowledgeth the sence of Scripture to be far otherwise then before when he had considered it in his own strength And thus God can effect more in one only Moment for the truer understanding of the sence of Scripture then all the Epistles which some can write to others When the Light cometh in process of time it becomes clearer and clearer and again also it is wont to return again yet more clear so that more is still discovered and Manifested to a man which before now lay hid from him If this first Claritude cometh into a man as if it were Angelical but then forward it rusheth in much clearer and so a Man gets from one degree of Angelical Claritude to another Higher degree of the same and then presently he ascendeth yet Higher until he arriveth at the
when all exercises and all strength of our own faileth even then are these the exercises of God and his strength When all our strength is vanished away and we have so long laboured under the Law that we can do no more then is God present whether we will or no for here a man must go on nor is it permitted him to go back again for he is in the hand of the Lord into which he often desired to come and that hand will not then let him go till it hath rightly broken him in pieces by afflictions and hath tumbled him up and down thorough various cases Whence it comes that healwayes more and more loseth himself till he be freed from all his flesh and is made capable of the heavenly influence Whoever they are who are not thus exercised but abide in their own labour can never be advanced higher but stand at a stay always in the same state and if one shall return after the space of a year or two years yea of ten unto them he shall find them still as he formerly left them how much soever they exercise themselves under the Law and severity and good works and labours and fastings and abstinence c. Yet they all stop their course here being still inwardly unchanged and unregenerated and of the new creature or regeneration know nothing because they are not exercised in the hand of the Lord by means of the aforesaid sufferings for affliction alone is this way to the new Generation to Wisdom and to true Knowledge The aforesaid labour also must be under the Law yea and go before that other else we cannot arrive at the said state of suffering so that no one abides therein for the mind is not yet so purified and there still sticketh unto its bottom somewhat that is worldly though one may appear otherwise outwardly Consequently we become not in our minds partakers with Christ until being purified by that purgatory and these sufferings we are made capable of him for light and darkness Christ and Belial dwell not together Those middle things which are interposed between God and us and unto which we always remain fixedly holding our eye so as we cannot see God those middle things I say are to be removed by the means of sufferings from God if we are to be united to him If Gold could be sensible and speak it would certainly say what it should suffer before it could be purified and so the Earth would say how much it must suffer and how much it would stand in need of before the seed is produced out of its bowells When a man hath brought all his labours to an end nor cannot go on further then is the chiefest and highest work yet before his hands lying as undone If this must be perfected and done it must be done by God for it behooveth that he should accomplish these things which are impossible for a man to do CHAP. XXXII A Man who hath begged help from the Lord judges other men honester then himself for he confesses that if others had had this grace which was done to him that they had been more faithful and more honest by much then himself is Whence also he abstaineth from rash judgment and commiserates poor men because he beholds their future misery out of which he himself thorough the mercy of God without any merit of his own is snatched and therefore he cannot extol himself above others nor tax them or delude them but rather humbleth himself beneath all and burneth with a universal charity Moreover he would willingly renounce his own Salvation that others might but be saved Nor can he do otherwise because this is the property of regeneration He who hath regeneration and is arrived at the true substance adhereth to no things whatsoever he does or omits to do or eats or drinks or goes or stands whether he be with others or whether he be alone but he alwayes is free from all and uncesâ—antly beholdeth God whose he is properly and for whose sake he useth all things At what time he is rapt upwards he is put beyond himself and is without all discretion and when he is let down again from that same mountain he uncessantly looketh back upwards again The new man by a continual ascent every houer and moment goes away unto God nor doth he ever stop his course because God is unsearchable and past finding out He regards not temporals though he may seem so and though he does eat drink sleep and is cloathed for if he should regard them he would still stand in time but all the aforementioned things are snatched from him by fire that he might ascend above time and stand in God He dyed and rose again in God he fell oil from all things and perished both in Body Soul and Spirit At first every one is an infant then a youth and thence he goeth into man-hood and at length into old age then we falter and can no longer enjoy the pleasure of youth and at last we say I remember that I have been a young man but time is gone When young men rejoyce I am in sadness and whilst they live I dye CHAP. XXXIII THere is not a letter in the Holy Scriptures which ought not to be understood and interpreted concerning the body of Christ now there are many members of Christ's body that which is not in one member is in another The whole Scriptures of the Old and New Testament with all figures and ceremonies prefigure the very substance of the matter and is a type of the internal truth as the Image in the glass is the representation of the face And as the Image cannot be in the glass of whom there is no truth or substance So there is no representation of Scripture or of ceremonies or of figures to which there belongs not some truth and substance When therefore a representation or Image is true there is also a true essence or substance There is no shaddow without a body nor figure or Image without an essence The Book of Psalms begins maturely with man and continues with him unto old age and even to his end and with man it riseth up from bottom to top No Christian transcendeth the exercises of the Psalms nor can he get so high but the Psalms accompany him still and express his mind How long doth the faithful man wait for God till he cometh and when he is come he departs again and hides himself that a man cannot find him And by this very thing God will purge a man that he may learn truly to possess him without appropriation for at first he assumeth God with appropriation and this then is that same subtile flesh of hiâ— which ought to be consumed CHAP. XXXIIII FAith is a most desolate thing Juâ—â— as when many things are reachâ— out to any one and he catcheth at theâ— but then they are pull'd away again but at last a door of escape is opened 〈◊〉 him which then
was daily with him so that as there was occasion he heard his speeches with his friends and familiars that came from several places to visit him as also such discourses as he frequently had with himself All therefore what ever he had heard being well imprinted upon his mind and memory when the discourse was ended he in his own chamber faithfully committed it to writing nor did he in the least acquaint any one with them even to his last breath But then when he was about to die he discovered to his friends who stood by that he had privily committed those sayings to writing as they would find them amongst his written-papers Now why that treatise of his sayings was divided into three parts the reason was because the aforesaid John Spee by reason of his own private affairs went away twice and consequently had ordered according to each space of time a part distinct by it self even as they were afterwards kept divided and are here printed But the distinction or distribution into Chapters and Verses was done by another for the Readers sake that by the guidance of a Table every particular point might be the more conveniently inquired after and be found out Moreover as to the forementioned John Spee This may be said of him He was an unmarried Young Man descended of a Noble Family very pious and having a manifest warmth and Zeale This man seeing he was blessed of the Lord with the true knowledge of the most holy Gospel having bid adieu to the world dayly studied and searched into the Holy Scriptures being with all his might intent thereon so that he might but arrive at the true knowledge of himself And when he saw that youthful lusts according to the flesh did strive to get dominion over his soul and upon all sides rushed in upon him he began to exercise himself with all his utmost endeavours in watchings and fastings dayly and both night and day tiring himself out with prayers that he might resist those invading lusts and cast a bridle over them And when he observed that sin did not yet cease from his Soul and mind he entred into a more hard or strict course of life with all severity which he continued even to his death out living the most pious Matthew eleven Months only for he then died and was carried into the true rest from all his labours on the second of March 1561. May our merciful Lord and God grant to us all his compassion and graciously help us that we may in his good time be set free from alâ— our erroneous waies and thoughts and from all our faults and blemishes Amen THE EPISTLES OF Mat. VVyer EPIST. I. By what means we may come to the clear perception of divine Grace To G. of F. WHereas I certainly find in thee a desire greatly enflamed and that thy soul even burns with a thirsty longing after the gaining the most clear perception of true divine Grace manifested by Christ our Saviour I could not rest contented until taking this matter in hand I should endeavour briefly to shew to thee what that is that can conduct or lead thee thereunto whereby those things may be the better discovered to thy sight which are here a hinderance to thee so that they being rejected thou mayest with fear beware of what hides thy light with thick darkness For it is impossible whilst there yet remains but one only yea though it be the least root of sin in which a man still persists that he can ever arrive at such a degree of Grace because at the time that Regeneration is perfected when by that clear light above nature manifested to and in a man by the holy Spirit that same enmity that is interposed between him and God is represented to him no iniquity nor any accusation of conscience ought to be found in him Yea so pure must that regeneration be that that man as far as he is conscious to himself should have nothing either in Heaven or in Earth which he shall not have already resigned up so as to be ready with a most ardent zeal to forsake all things for the sake of God Yea he shall never have need further to sustain even the least check of conscience but shall have beaten back all by a most invincible perseverance in fighting and shall have supplanted all whatsoever may disturb his conscience insomuch that by these means his soul may at last arrive to have a conscience in full peace and void of all accusations For often times a man thinks that he is come to the cutting off many wicked inclinations and that then he is in little or no want and that chiefly because that which is the quite contrary whereby it 's possible for him to be corrupted is not manifestly made known to him whereas if all that was a little more clearly manifested to him he would certainly then very readily apprehend that he was yet at a far greater distance from that degree of a more purified conscience Seeing therefore this is the condition of man that his unrighteousness and wickedness is greater then he can know therefore all such things as fall within his sight are alwayes to be by him sedulously cut off for he neither can sooner be able to perceive those sins which are unknown to him or shall he observe depravities which were not before understood but by thus doing For so long as a man liveth slothfully in known sins the sins that are unknown will not shew themselves whence it comes to pass that a man living at this rate commonly remains in darkness and the light never comes to shoote forth it's beams manifestly in him For when he shall have rooted out those sins that dayly rack his conscience there presently will arise in their stead another new accusation of his conscience which was till now unknown to him seeing that same field of accusations will never be barren even to the last moment of the combate Wherefore the aforesaid vices are not laid open even to the very bottom of his nature unless they shew their faces by degrees and that even from the very first entrance into the combate to the very point of time when the strivings with the accusing sin are finished by afflictions and through the cross the Soul at last gaining her freedome from and becoming conqueress over them all in a conscience truly pure and throughly purged apprehending nothing at all either within or without her self as far as it is truly possible for a man to see and know after a most exact scrutiny made by the power of God which she hath not fully resigned up and denied herself in And to declare it in short upon this very point turns the hinge of the matter and unto this ought all such as earnestly endeavour after the attainment of rest and peace with their utmost diligence to reach after it with their whole heart and to Institute their lives accordingly thereunto unless they are willing to
thing can be attained to but by Christ These are those things whereof the Scripture maketh so often mention viz. our own proper righteousness our own proper works our own proper holiness and all such like viz. if we trust too much to any of these means which were granted unto us from the Lord and stick rather unto them then to the only loâ—e God For to love God is no other thing then most accurately to do that which he willeth not for the hope of any salvation or of any good things whatever for the Love of God it self thus puts a man on that he cannot do otherwise And here it is that we are able to search into the most inward corners of our hearts whether or no we seek ourselves else where either in Soul or body and whether we serve God and love him for this end that our souls may gain salvation But here for the most part it will be answered that whatever things are done are done only for love yet nevertheless men do perform these things out of the terrour and the impulse of their own conscience as the scripture witnesseth I say not all this because I would detract in the least from good works set light by them but rather that we should go on further not to rest here nor am I willing we should sit down in a private kind of peace of having gained some steps only before we be come unto the end nor till the scope for whose sake all this is done be duly attained And though there be others behind us who follow up after us being yet a great way off yet it is incumbent on us because of our greater knowledge received to put out this our talent to the highest interest we can possibly that in us may be found constant perseverance if so be at length we can arrive perhaps to a true dying having no need more to reiterate so often our renewing of death so that all may together and at once remain buried also in Christ's death eternally a more certain essential sort of death as I may so say following us into that better state or condition Most beloved Lady receive I pray thee these my letters kindly if perhaps they may prove to be of any use to thee in thy holy endeavors and that we may come at length to the total renouncing our flesh that then we may be judged according to the rule of righteousness which the Law requires by Christ For in Christ sin is utterly condemned to death and as much as we are planted together with him in the likeness of his death so much also shall we thorough his resurrection be received into the newness or the Spirit who then performs in Man the office of a Governour and is to him in the stead of his life whose place before this our flesh supplied all that is beyond this the Lord himself will manifest to us when we come thither If therefore we have our inward senses rightly exercised by the Lord and do firmly adhere to him with continued prayers then will he kindle in thy heart some living light which my dead writings can never effect by means of which being inflamed with a greater zeal to renounce all flesh we shall be able to offer to the Lord our hearts emptied and set free by a meer and pure submission unto and a firm purpose of remaining and persevering in his will so will the thing prosper and our work will more happily succeed But why this work will succeed with so much difficulty and with such a length of time this is the reason because somewhat still will stick close to the heart which we cannot wholly renounce for when but one half of the heart is yielded up the offering remains impure nor is it accepted whence it is that the Scripture commands us to have a great care of or to watch such a heart which seeks double ways and carrieth upon either shoulder and halts on either leg c. For we cannot at the same time satisfy the flesh conscience hindering us and conscience too the flesh hindering us therefore it is necessary that we yield our selves up wholly as a pure offering and grateful to the Lord for such a one is received by the Lord and blessed of him that thenceforth he may bring forth fruit and at length that thence may arise the righteousness that is available before God Unto which may the Lord promote us and keep us by his infinite mercy in Christ our Lord and Saviour The Lord preserve us that we may persevere in his grace according to the tenour of his most holy Will EPIST. VI. Being a Christian exhortation which containeth many points very useful and profitable to all Christians To the same Lady MOst beloved Lady seeing that there remaineth no more time to me in this life as far as by my uttmost capacity of sense and reason I am able to judge or is to me known I am constrained of my self freely to open and more and more to unfold my mind to you Yet the true fruits of proficiency in the Lord are not attained to by my leters nor by our mutual converse appointed in the Lord of purpose but only and alone by the grace and mercy of God For that the same dependeth only on the meet divine commiseration he best knoweth yet only in Soul and conscience who himself is exercised in the very work oâ— the Lord. In the first place therefore it behooâ—â— is diligently to beware that we be not 〈◊〉 our lusts driven to that pass as to think that God is the cause of sin whereas the night can sooner be made the day then he be any such thing Because in God there is no darkness at all but meer light and whosoever would come to know this work of God thorough his mercy they must begin this knowledge with sincerity of mind which seeks nothing else but God alone whosoever proceedeth with a double heart is an abomination to the Lord. Now doubleness of heart consists in this when we are not with out whole heart Soul and thoughts given up and wholly left to the Lord also when we pour out our prayers before him with a heart divided in two whence â—lso it is that we are not heard according â—o our desires For the Lord loveth us â—ore then we our selves do love our â—elves inasmuch as he is averse to our estruction and always freely bestoweth 〈◊〉 us that which is most useful and â—ost profitable for our happiness which â—â—deed is that which at first is unâ—â—own 〈◊〉 us but is at length made known 〈◊〉 us though by and thorough great afflictions because that we were so far falen into our desires and into that evil which we call our Propriety that we must first be subjected to great anguishes and griefs before we can become submitted to the will and obedience of God which is that which can be never done without a spiritual death and the