forme Resolutions Yet further giue her a modell of thankesgiuing vnions and the rest In fine speake to her touching attentions Actuall habituall vertuall of distractions of want of guste of lightes visiōs with a number of other tearmes Doe you not plainely discouer that in steede of giuing her the wings of a doue to fly you lay a loade vpon her vnder which she is not able to sturre while she knowes not at what end to begin a worke so confused So that hauing at once more to doe then she is able she doth lesse then she ought But if omitting all this you would moue her to beleeue in simplicitie of hart that IESVS CHRIST was borne of the virgine MARIE * as we haue in our Creede hauing as she hath the habit of Faith this simple Act is easie vnto her Wish her to loue him who by this his birth gaue himselfe vnto her * and in himselfe whom he gaue without reserue all things * you will find her moued with this excesse of Charitie * freely to offer vp her selfe to him and perceaue her to be as it were in the verie same disposition which caused the Diuine Apostle to say I liue in the Faith of IESVS CHRIST who hath loued me euen vnto death and the death of the Crosse * Now in your aduise is not this simple and louing aspect a kind of Cōtemplation since it is made without discourse and without that multiplicitie of Actes or rather agitations of the vnderstāding and will Hence it is that simple persōs are sometymes more capable of deuotion then curious actiue reslecting and penetrating witts who make a great deale more brute but yeald lesse fruit Endeuour far more yet performe lesse Who thinke you hath more fruition of the Sunne the Rustike who hath a cleare sight to behold and cōsider its beames and brightnes or the Philosopher who is short sighted yet is able to discourse of the motions influences and effectes of that great light What man in his right witts will not preferre the Rustike before the Philosopher in that consideration Say the like of him who discourseth verie much in Meditation and yet hath far lesse taste and light in heauenly things though he towle a number of Idea's about his imagination his memorie his vnderstanding he falls far short notwithstanding of the sweet and delightfull knowledge which springs from the simple and amiable attention of Contemplation Yet doe I ingeniously confesse that this kind of simple contemplation in simple soules which forerunns meditation is but vnpolished rude and accompayned with much imperfection And that that which followes a long exercise and practise of Meditation is far more compleate and high because the soule being persuaded to heauenly Loue by force of so many considerations ratiocinations affections aspirations resolutions and other actes of Meditatiō doth with much more facilitie light and heate fall into simple actes of Contemplation hauing so frequently and so attentiuely beholden tasted and acknowledged a good Truth or a true Good and thervpon is inclyned to that loue which doth vnite the hart to God and thence is called the band of perfection * Yet this doth in no sort preiudice the proposition which I made to witt that it was easier to contemplate then to meditate whether we vnderstand that rude and vnpolished Cōtemplation which forerun's or that subtile and accomplished which followes the long vse of Meditation An Act of simple Contemplation a soueraigne remedie against temptation CHAP. X. BVT what am I to inferre out of all this THEOPISTE Marrie that if by many Actes of Faith taken out of the Store-house of Meditatiō you cannot driue away the thoughtes of infidelitie which doe trouble and disturbe you you should haue recourse to the Act of Contemplatiō which is more efficacious and lesse forced more powerfull against your aduersarie more cōfortable to your soule and fitter to fortifie her in the vertue which temptation striues to shake It is a simple and pure acte deuoyd of all composition of discourse Idea's or if it haue any mixture of any they are so subtile and delicate that they can hardly be perceaued at all For it happens often by the industrie of that wicked man who ouersowes cockle amongst the good corne * that the same actes which one would make vse of to repulse the darts of temptation do more incumber then comfort the mynd and do rather inueigle then illustrate it Be they faire and easie be they violent and rough they do often tymes equally hurt while the Diuell doth change cures into poyson and wounds vs with our owne weapons Vineger and honie though contrarie in taste yet agree in this effect that they both inflame the wound into which they are powred Euen touching and rubing of a sore doth venime it To dispute against a temptation is to irritate it To endeuour to driue it away by force of armes is to stope its departure To striue to put it out of the memorie is to engraue it therin Belzebub Prince of Flies neuer coming so thicke vpon vs as when we often strike him off If you will beleeue me therfore you shall not wearie your mynd by producing incessantly Actes of Faith to repelle those assaults but you shall practise the counsell of our Blessed Father in the 7. Cap. of the 4. Part. of this Philothee you shall vse diuersious and faire and softely taking and turning the ey of your mind off the dreadfull face of the temptation you shall simply and louingly place it vpon the truth and assurance of the diuine Goodnes and this louing aspect being an act of liuely Faith quickened and informed by charitie and with all produced in contemplation with great facilitie and simplicitie will serue you for an impenitrable buckler against all the darts which temptation shall send out against your fidelitie O who is able to expresse vnto you how efficacious this simple aspect is when it is accompaigned by Loue and how dreadfull it is to the Diuells since it makes the soule as terrible vnto them as an Armie rancked and put in battell array because her powers and faculties being vnited in this contemplatiue acte are far more strong then when they vse their actiuitie in Meditation distinctly and separately The old Chāpions in wrastling whē they would exercise themselues therin came naked vpō the Theater and anoynted their bodyes with oyle that their antagonists might catch no hold of them And wheras temptation wherof we now speake is a spirituall wrastling against the Angell of darknes by how much more naked the soule shall be stript of all representations and actes and recollected in her selfe drawing all her forces into the vnitie of her Spirit more vigorous shall she be and lesse hold shall she afford to her enemy DAVID when he was to goe out to meete GOLIATH put off SAVLES armour which did loade and hinder him more then it was seruicable vnto him and with a poore sling and a stone slew that
Lord that I lifte vp my eyes who dost inhabite the Heauens * Alas doe not chastise me in thy fury correct me not in thine angar * And a number of others the like eleuations of of mind which the Psalmist breathes out in so many passages of his heauenly Canticles Whereby we are taught that Prayer is the towre of DAVID an Armory wherin are all sorts of armour against the assaults of temptation so that we alwayes conclude ouer prayers in those words of perfect resignation Let thy will ô Lord be done not myne * Be it done in earth as it is in Heauen * Be it done according to thy blessed pleasure not according to my guste or liking For if we desire that God should doe our will is it not most reasonable that we should submit our selues vnto his And that we should repute him our soueraigne law * put downe in the beginning of our booke * and engrauen in the midst of our hart We doe often aske and receaue not because we aske amisse * And God who is good doth sometimes out of Loue deny vs that which if he were offended with vs he would grāt vs. S. PAVLE petitioned to be freed from that shamefull temptation which did afflict him but was answered that grace did suffice him because his vertue was perfected in infirmity * So that he was heard in one sense and not in another Let vs therefore aske what we ought and as we ought and Gods promisse will neuer faile vs. For his Truth remaines foreuer and his word passeth not The word of God another Antidote CHAP. IV. BEsides Prayer there is yet another weapon very powrefull against temptations especially that with which you are afflicted THEOPISTE it is the sword of the Holy Ghost the word of God * whether it be heard for faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ * read or spoken for its redounding is the voice of thunder which doth daūt the accursed spirits The tryall of this remedie was made by our Sauiours temptation in the desert who repelled the Tempters darts with the words of life life euerlasting * The Authour of it is S. HIEROME writing to his EVSTOCHIVM deliuering her verie particular and ample documents touching it S. GREGORIE in his Moralls S. BASILE in his short Rules and CASSIAN in his twenty two Conference all who with one consent doe aduise vs to store our selues with sacred darts opposite to the vices which temptation doth suggest as with so manie sharpe arrowes quiuered vp in our memorie where of we may make vse in time of neede to beate downe all the enemys plots by a constant and couragious cōter-batterie Howbeit I must ingeniouslie confesse this remedie is not so commō nor is it vsefull for euerie one but such as are conuersant in holie write or bookes of spiritualitie And indeed THEOPISTE I speake to you as to one that knowes the law * as S. PAVLE saith that you may make vse of this weapon in this your extreamitie according to the skill you haue therat All the Holie Fathers hold it soueraigne Hence DAVID said that the arrowes of God that is of his word were sharpe headed powerfull aboue his workes fit to beate downe the enemies of the King of Glory * That melancholie is to be auoyded CHAP. V. BVT I perceaue the tempest of your mynd requiers that I should sound search your wound yet deeper and presse and prie with more diligence into your sore O God THEOPISTE take-heade least that bitternesse of mynd which doth possesse you proceeding frō the smart of your euil endured with melancholie and impatience may be worse then the temptation it selfe It is a remedie which nature without the helpe of Grace can applie vnto it selfe while yet in lieu of disengaging it selfe it inueigles it selfe in lieu of curing it impoysones its woūd in lieu of lightening it makes its owne burden more vnweldie In vaine THEOPISTE in vaine doe you striue to build your interiour house vpon a solide and sure foundation vnlesse God put his hand to the worke If God keepe not the Citie of your soule in vaine doe you stand sentinell in vaine you walke the round of the walls * Vnlesse that strong armed keepe the Fort you are neuer to hope for Peace * If he awake not if he speake not the storme will not cease * the calme will not come * If you thinke to find out the meanes in your selfe whereby to conserue your Faith against the powers of darkenesse * you seeke for birds in the sea fishes on the drie land you looke to finde out fountaines of liuing water in broken cisternes and in Nature fruites not to be found in her garden effects that are beyōd her reach Yes for Faith being infused into our hart by a diuine and supernaturall way she will not be stayed there By humane meanes nor by our endeuours strife alone If you thinke by your owne endeuours to quite your selfe of the assaultes which are made against you you shall neuer be freed from them because this buckler is not of a temper strōg enough nor is this armour proofe The more that you drinke of the water of your Cisterne * the more you demand the more you are inflamed the more your thirst is augmented and your melācholie will increase by the very meanes you vse to remoue and put it away It is as oyle cast into the fire which in steede of extinguishing doth kindle it Haue recourse therefore to God in this behalfe in him you shall find Peace and repose for he assures vs that his yoake is sweete and his burden light * But that I may no further dilate my selfe vpon this remedy I referre you not to the bare reading but to the diligent and faithfull practise of the eleauenth and twelueth Chapter of the fourth part of our B. F. his Philothee where he speakes of vnquietnesse saddesse There you shall find soueraigne receptes for your desease and in the storme wherein you are tossed the Seagalls calme In fine that Peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding and all humane conceipt That we are in no wise to omit the ordinarie exercises of our vocation CHAP. VI. ABOVE all things THEOPISTE be ware that this affliction of mynd which doth crosse you doe not delay you as an importune Remora in the course of your nauigation that is in the exercises of your vocation For as the Crampe-fish hauing takē downe the fishers baite sends out by the line such a mūnesse into his arme that he is forced to lett all goe so the Angell of darknes who striues still as the Prouerbe goes to fish in troubled waters perceauing him selfe not able to staggar a soule by temptation takes pleasure at least to put him out of the racke or path of his dutie casting woode on his breade * as well as snares in his way * that he may forget to eate that or at least stumble at this He thinkes he
dreadfull Giant who in his brauadoes threatened to make him haulkes meate I doe not affirme that the Actes of Meditation are not good weapons weapons as S. PAVLE saith of our spirituall warefare able to ouerthrow the enemy * But as it happens often that those that are ouerburthened with too heauie armour doe fall downe vnder the waight of them and are lesse able and actiue in the fight thē though they were but armed with light armour so in spirituall Combates the multiplicitie of actes contrarie to the vice wherwith we are tempted doe more oppresse then succour the soule and with the simple acte of Contemplation it giues a more victorious blow then with the varietie of others All those litle Actes are like vnto the dew dropes or perles which the nighte's freshnesse vpon the Aurora's approach doth spread ouer the face of the earth wherwith it is but superficially watered but the act of Contemplation resembles a full flood which ouerflowing it's bākes doth throughly water the whole feilds and sinkes euen into the tree rootes The Father of a possessed person as S. MARKE doth teach vs in his Ghospell brought his sōne vnto our Sauiour beseeching him to deliuer his child from the wicked spirit which did torment him and said vnto him I beleeue ô Lord helpe myne incredulitie This word of Faith inuoking the Diuine assistāce inuited our Sauiour's sweetnesse to be mercyfull vnto him If you could but once THE OPISTE recollect all the powers of your soule in the vnitie of your spirit and with a louly and louing aspect expresse before God this onely word I beleeue with as much heate of the will as light of the vnderstanding I doubt not but ether this Spirit of Blasphemie would depart frō you or if by the Diuine permission he should persiste to persecute you it would be to bring the verie vertue which he seekes to ruinate to a greater perfection in you Exercise your selfe therfor with care and attention in this interiour recollection and in this act of simple Contemplation which is that eye of the doue washed in the milke of meekenesse and mourneing ouer the floodes of afflictions and you shall see God will restore you your wished Peace and will place you in a plentifull deepe repose * calling you into the holes of the rocke into the holow places of the wall An act of Contemplation CHAP. XI BVt what is this holow place Marrie Contemplation but in a higher degree then the former and which doth extend it selfe not to the hight of passiue Contemplation which depends not of him that doth plante and water but of the onely mercy of God * who giues that grace to whom he pleaseth the Spirit being free to blow whet it will * a hight which I will in no sort striue to touch THEOPISTE but such an one as will beare you vp vpon the wings of the Doue * that is of Grace to the highest point to which that actiue Contemplatiō can raise a truely faithfull soule one that is holily inamoured of the soueraigne good * Now which is this high point this supreame degree but that whereof the diuine S. DENIS the Areopagite the Apostle of France speakes in these tearmes to the Bishope of Ephesus TIMOTHEE in the first Chap. of his booke of misticall Diuinity As for you my deare Timothee applying your selfe with an attentiue and recollected study to misticall speculations forsake both sense and intellectuall operations all sensible and intelligible things all things that are and those that are not too and after an vnknowen manner rayse vp your selfe words that doe point out an actiue Cōtemplation proceeding from our owne endeuours assisted by Gods grace without which we are able to doe nothing rayse vp your selfe as much as you can possibly to his vnion who is beyond all essence and knowledge for being disintangled from your-selfe all things all which you haue forsaken and cleared your selfe of with a purely free issue you shall be carried vp to the super-essentiall raye of the diuine darknesses * Hitherto are the words of this great Sainte whom all the misticall diuines behold as their light Words of gold and which would not onely merit to be written in marble but vpon the harts of all those that make profession of a spirituall and contemplatiue life Here is no place to explicate them I doe but onely represent them to your eye or rather to your mynd THEOPISTE to th'ēd that you might note by the way the high and inaccessible couert or hole where you are to take vp your refuge if your desire with the doue to saue your selfe from the Hawkes tallon which by the tēptation of infidelity doth so eagerly pursue you You shall find out this refuge if during the storme renoūcing all the operations of your sense reason of the inferiour superiour part of the soule as well sensitiue as reasonable you retire and betake your selfe into your inmost chāber the Center bottome point and vnity of your Spirit into the essence of your soule for all these termes signifie the same thing amongst the misticall Diuines And there in the high silence and repose of all your exteriour and interiour faculties you be quiete see that God is God* you taste and see how sweete he is * And if in a close vnion you adheare to him by a liuely faith this adhesion will make you one same spirit with him according to that of the Apostle he that adheares vnto God is made one spirit with him * Thus shall you imitate the shells of the Sea which that they may not be the billowes game cleaue to the Rocke as soone as they perceaue the tēpest approch remaining there immoueable and vnuariable and you shall cleaue to God you shall hold him and not let him goe like to the Spouse in the Canticles you shall tye your selfe to the pillar firmamēt of Truth * the holy Church which doth propose vnto vs his oracles a pillar against which all the Gates and Powers of Hell shall neuer be able to preuaile * This is that secrete to you * or rather which is in you wherof the Prophete speaketh whither you may retire your selfe neere vnto God who is present to the most inward corner of your hart as all the Contemplatiues hold in a most peculiar manner This is the couert of his countenance vnder which we may shelter our selues frō the violence of contradictions and temptations no otherwise then litle sucking children who doe thrust into and hide themselues in their mothers bosome whē any thing feares them This is the denne where DAVID persecuted by SAVLE hidde himselfe and where his very enemy fell into his power This it that great City of Refuge that Sanctuary where you may free your selfe from your inuisible enemies and where they are not permitted entrie This is that high place that sharpe toppe of the Rocke where the Eagles build their nest * as IOB saith And that most high
sublime refuge whereof the Psalmist makes mention to which no euill come nor shall any scourg approch T' is the Desert where the woman in the Apocalipse saued her selfe least the dragō should haue deuoured her fruite These are the wings of the doue which the Psalmist wisheth for to fly vp to his rest * It is in this high degree of Contemplation that he compares himselfe to a Pelicane in the wildernesse a night crow in the house and to a sparow solitary in the house toppe A Practise of this Act. CHAP. XII YOu will perhaps aske me what that happy shelter is that you may spring away towards it as a Hart dead run by the hounds his breath and legges failing him who rūs himselfe into some thicke Groue as into an vnpregnable Fort or into some holow denne in the side of some high Rocke according to the Psalmists song that the high moūtaines are for the Heart 's the rocke a refuge for the Iechins * I did point it you out in S. DENIS his words THEOPISTE which if you find somewhat obscure I will here a litle illustrate them by an explication fitted to your pourpose Know then that if all the remedies which I haue prescribed be not able to worke the cure and if you find not your hart deliuered of disquiete by the diuers considerations and practise of so many vertues different Actes you are to imitate the Prophete IEREMIE The solitary shall sit and hold his peace and afterwards he shall rise aboue himselfe Endeuour then following this aduise to settle your thoughts entring into your selfe and to hold your peace that is to silence all the noyse of your exteriour or interiour senses of all your passions to depriue your imagination of all the shapes of created things to stripe your memory of all the Idea's of creatures sciences not to permit your vnderstanding to discourse no not to appease the motions and boylings of the will which is to sing to God the Hymne of sacred silence in the Hierusalem or City of Peace of our hart to throw downe vpon the ground or rather to throw out all naturall light admitting onely into the Sanctuary of the bottome of our soule the simple abstract pure vniuersall ray of a liuely Faith exempt from all discourse representations and actes and in this louing submission or assenting quiet of mind in this setled attention in this inward vnion by so much the stronger as it is lesse perceaued so much more exquisite as it is lesse sensible keepe your selfe neere vnto God cast your selfe into this sacred blindnesse clearer-sighted then all sight into this night which is brighter then the day into this darkenesse clearer thē the light into that resplendant cloud so much celebrated by the mistikes and as another MAGDALENE set at our Sauiours feete remaine inuariable and immoueable without euer regarding the spoyles which the temptation seemes to make in all the partes of your soule whether it be sensitiue or reasonable so it be inferiour to the highest point of your spirit For as long as that shall say no let the flesh be moued let the diuell rage you can neuer be vāquished God can take you vp by this haire out of these troubles as well as the Angell took ABACVC by one of his and as long as this haire remaynes intire you shall neuer loose your interiour strength And though we apprehend that the inferiour portion of our reasonable part is disloyall and impious yet feare not the highest point of your spirit like another MOYSES is with God in the clouds vpon the toppe of the mountaine he will appease his wroth against Israel who below eates danceth playes and then adores the golden Calfe Though all your senses passions and powers should be troubled and disordered by temptation and as it were should liue in a kind of impiety and idolatry so that you sticke and adheare to God in the toppe of your spirit it is enough to warrant you from his wrath and the dread of his Iustice And though you seeme to be forsaken of God vpon this Crosse and that malice seemes to be consummated in you that is accomplished in a highest degree yet as long as in the botome of your hart you are able to say vnto God ô heauenly Father I cōmend my poore soule into thy hāds * you are still in good estate Your lot is assured in such hāds * out of which no power can beare you away by force * till by your free consent you take your selfe out of them God neuer forsaking any but such as forsake him An Eleuation towards the toppe of the Spirit CHAP. XIII THe wise-man saith that it is in vaine to set snares for birds alreadie flying * because a man is not able to force them from the wing and indeede we neuer reade that the bird of Paradice is caught nor is she euer found in earth but when death makes her tumble downe for hauing no feete she keepes continually in the open aire where she doth feede and repose The same may be said of soules which doe soare aboue all sensible and intelligible things yea euen beyond themselfes towards God In vaine doe the diuells set trappes for them while their eyes still turnd and sett vpon God doe neuer sleepe the sleepe of the death of sinne * The litle flies once inueigled in the Spiders netts sticke therin the great ones doe burst and breake them Temptations are true Spiders-webbs which doe scarcely euer catch those soules which doe soare aboue created things which entertayne thoughtes of God more dearely then all other thoughtes and are more sensible of his touches then all other feelings Thunders winds stormes hayle rayne and the rest of the impressions of the aire doe onely beate vpon the midst and the foote of the Mountaine Olympus whose toppe enioyes so constant and continuall a calme that that which one writes therin in the dust remaynes still in the same estate neuer being touched with the least breath of wind And though the midst and lowest part of our soule be weather-beaten with the tēpests and stormes of temptation yet it is in our power with the assistance of God's grace to maintayne the toppe of it in a constant peace and serenitie by so much the greater by how much it is lesse knowen and by so much more solide by how much it is lesse sensible In two parts of the Tabernacle of the Iewe's Temple there was nothing seene but fire flames flesh blood sacryficed victimes sacryfices nothing heard but the brute of beastes which were slaughtered and the harmonie of the heauenly Hymnes and prayses But in the SANCTA SANCTORVM nothing was felt but parfumes and the High Preist who alone carried them thither adored God onely in a high silēce It is into this misterious silence of the Sanctuarie of the botome of your hart that I inuite you to enter THEOPISTE neuer taking notice of the noyce and rustling outrages of your