euident my dearest Lord thy sorowes passe all our sorowes yet my soule it is maiestie that is thus smitten it 's innocencie which thus suffers It 's indeede the God of Gods whose immensitie cannot be comprehended whose perfections excellencies cannot be numbred whose goodnesse is boundlesse whose mercyes cannot be matched Alas my deformed hidden crucifyed Lord whither hath mercy goodnesse loue to miserable man ledd thee was it thought fittinge to this goodnesse that thy wounds should be without number as are thy perfectiōs mercyes to man soe to make an absolute demonstration that as there is noe loue soe are there noe sorrowes like to thyne Let me not liue but to loue thee suffer for thy sake THE II. POINTE. Consider further that he sufferd in all his senses by the presence of all the obiects of sorrow He saw his choysen Apostles sleeping while he was sweating bloud He saw the Trayter whom he had newly fedd with his owne blessed body bloud come in the heade of a barbarous band to apprehend him He saw the execrable crueltie of an vngratefull nation which he had alwayes oblidged and loued by preference Finally his eares were full of blaspheemies scoffes and scornes and his eyes and harte of the sorrowes teares and bloud of a God dying AFFECTION And yet my soule it is the very naturall sonne of God that suffers all this He is the splendour of his fathers glorie and the figure of his substance And shall we his poore sonns taken in by adoption onely see with drye eyes his full of teares and bloud or shall we after this sad sight permitt them any more to be filled with vanitie Shall our eares lye open to destractions adulations and found rumours which hurt our soules whyle his for our sake are filled with contumelies and blasphemies Shall we Christians pamper the rest of our senses with sweetes and delicacies while our Christs so hugely suffers in them all Ah! be it euer farre from vs to pay his loue with such intolerable ingratitude THE III. POINT He suffers in his soule But if his body vniuersally and all his senses be ingaged in the sufference is his soule at least free Ah noe it s sadd to death it s replenished vvith euill or sorrow the bitter vvaters of tribulations haue broken in vpon it The horrour of death the ingratitude of mē the scorne of Nations Pilates iniustice Herods mockerie Annas and Cayphas blasphemie the Scribes and Pharisies circumuentions the Ministers and Soldiers crueltie the peoples preference of Barabbas and their tumultuous and vniust Crucifige See then vvhether there be any sorrovv like to his sorrovv AFFECTION and RESOL. O man of dolours and accustomed to sufferances from thy youth Were not thy sorrowes and in them thy loue to man sufficiently expressed in abandonning that innocent chast and tender virginall body of thyne to the cruell persecutours wills vnlesse thou didst withall permitt the bitter flouds of tribulatiō and deadly saddnesse enter into and take possession of thy blessed soule Consider my soule and see whether their be any sorowe like to this sorrow or any loue like to his loue who gaue vp his soule to such sorrowes for thy sake If the horrour of death inuade thee thy Master went before thee waded through to death it selfe Proue friends vngratefull so they were to thy Lord. Are others of lesse worth preferred before thee but so was Barrabas before thy Master Christ Remember remember my soule that the seruant is not greater then his master c. THE IV. POINTE. He suffers vvithout a comforter Consider his body 's tormented his senses offended his soule afflicted and oppressed Is none left to comfort him Noe none relictus est solus he 's abandoned left all alone to wrastle with all the legions of sorrowes Non est qui consoletur eum There is none left to comfort him Was there euer so pittious a spectacle His Apostles are fled Peter followes a farre of and sweares he knowes him not The dolorous mother stands neere the Crosse indeed but her presence affords so smale solace that her sorrowes serue to redouble his The Angells come not neere His heauenly father abandonns him nay yet more Heauens stand amaysed at it he is euen forsaken by himselfe while he stopps the influence of his diuinitie that it flow not vpon his humanitie leauing it to suffer all alone without all comfort See then vnhether there be any sorrovv like to his sorrovv AFFECTION and RESOL. O my soule looke vpon the face of thy Christ Admire his his vn wearied suffering loue Hartily acknowledge that there is noe sorrow like his sorrow Imprint in thy harte at what a deare rate thou wast bought Ah my soule it was not with gold and siluer and such corruptible thinges but with the sorrowes and teares and bloud and death of a God-man our Sauiour Iesus With sorrowes which spredd thēselues so vniuersally ouer body senses and soule with teares and bloud so plentifully and freely powred out with death so ignominious so deuoyd of all comfort so abandonned that it forced from the mouth of a most obedient and dearest child My God my God vvhy hast thou forsaken me Resolue firmely then that neither sorrowes nor bloodshed nor abandonments nor death it selfe shall separate vs from the loue of that dearest Lord. THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE FOVRTH DAY Of Deathe THE FIRST POINTE. Nothinge more certaine then death lesse certaine then the tyme therof COnsider and striue to imprint in our harts that which we all know yet seeme not to know it that which we all beleeue and yet as it were beleeue it not to witt that as there is nothinge soe certaine as death soe is there nothinge soe vncertaine as the houre therof Consult our owne Knowledge vppō these truthes we Know that neither Salomons witt nor Samsons strength nor Absolons beauty were founde proofe against it They were and now are not mortui sunt is certaine Consult the word of truth and we shall finde that we are bound to beleeue what we otherwise Know. Consult our selues againe vppon the vncertaintie of it and we finde that we haue Knowne many taken away when they and their freinds least feared it some by violent some by naturall deathes some in their childhoode before they well knew what it was to liue some in theire flourishinge spring when vigourous youth promised them they could not dye Some in the decline of their age while death threatned and yet was not feared soe certaine it is that the houre of death is vncertaine to all as Christ himselfe makes it sure to faith Watch saith he because you neither know the day nor the houre AFFECTION and RESOLV Dye then we must my soule thereis nothinge soe certaine departe we must out of this cottage of clay Gods iustice hath pronounced the sentence Remember man that thou art dust in-to dust thou shalt returne But when must this sentence be put in execution that
A PROPER LOOKING GLASSE FOR THE DAVGHTERS OF SION OR St. AVGVSTINES LIFE ABBRIDGED AND reduced into points of Meditation VVITH MEDITATIONS for a spirituall exercise at Clothings and Professions By THOMAS CARRE their Confessour POST NVâ— PIâ—â—â— AT PARIS M. DC LXV THE I. MEDITATION HOVV HE VVANDERED from his heauenly Fathers hovvse and by vvhat degrees I. POINT CONSIDER how their was a tyme when this great Saint himselfe confessing it being transported by the heate of youth wandered out of his Fathers house euen into a land of extreame disproportion and that by no other stepps or degrees but first by idlenes the sourse of all euills heare his owne words vvhen I grevv idle at home vvith my parents the brambles of vnchaste desires grevv euen ouer my heade Waigh in particular the euils you may haue fallen into by it secondly by ill compaignie vvhich moues vs saith he often to doe that vvhich vve should neuer doe alone but vvhensoeuer it is said let vs goe and let vs doe this or that vve are ashamed and blush if vve doe not shevv our selues to be past shame AFFECTION âh how true it is ô friendshippe that we experience thee often tymes too too vnfriendly nay euen a cruell seducer of our soules for that which the Diuell by himselfe cannot by the meanes of a friend he is able to effect That deare name of louing and being beloued carries vs quite away to perdition And idlenesse serues for nothing but onely to inuent and suggest fewell to this consuming fire Say my soule is it no so indeed RESOLVTION Neuer will I more then intertayne such or such a thing for euer I renounce you ô vaine and frutelesse thoughts I abiure you ô friuolous and detestable remembrances I forsake you for euer vnfaithfull and disloyall frindships miserable and lost seruices mispent gratifications displeasing and indeed paynefull pleasures II. POINT Consider that the third steppe to Augustines ruine was his neglect of his Mothers counsell which seemed to him but like old wiues fables which as he saith he was ashamed to follow Ponder how it is euen thus that all our miseries doe increase and ripen we first waxetepide and idle in Gods seruice we spend tyme in imbraceing a masse of vaine thoughts and extrauagances we then meete with a coÌ„panion of the same mould whose equall follie doth feede and increase our fancie and by litle and litle we are hurried on to a precipice of mischeife Parents and frieÌ„ds counsells are imployed to preuent our future woe but are reiected we are gone for euer vnlesse Gods speciall grace doe recalle vs AFFECTION Yes it is euen thus ô my soule that we run to ruine the fancies of idle houres doe truly feede and increase our miseries and what doth the communication of such fancies to others but still more and more impoyson and ripen the desease of our mynds and euen confirme our harts against that soueraigne remedie the good Counsell of superiours and friends RESOLVTION Against idlenes I will still haue in memorie that vpon the good or bad vse of the moments of tyme which we now haue a happie or accursed eternitie doth depend and that a tyme will come that a moment of tyme shall not be left to repent in Against bad companie I will remember that he vvho toucheth pitch shall be defyled vvith it and that vvith the good vve shall be good and vvith the peruerse vve shall be peruerted Against the neglect of good counsell which is a thing of so dangerous a consequence that the prouerbe assures past counsell past grace I will haue these sacred lessons deeply imprinted in my mynd Want and ignominie shall be his share vvho forsakes discipline but glorie to him vvho giues eare to one vvho doth counsell and correct Prouerbs c. 13. and Prou. 29. Soudaine distruction shall ouertake or fall vpon that man vvho vvith a stiffe necke contemnes him vvho doth reprehend him And these of S. Augustine I thought it vvas onely she vvho spoke meaning Saint Monica but her vvords vvere indeed thyne ô God and in her person thou vvast contemned by me I being old and a Bishop am readie to be taught by a child Petition Say with Salomon Giue me ô Lord a Docile hart a hart myld and supple and readie to take the good tincture of wholsome counsell THE II. MEDITATION Whither he vvaÌ„dred and vvhat miseries he mett vvithall in his vvandering pilgrimage I. POINT COnsider that he followed the stepps of the prodigall child and with him arriued in a foraine Land whither sin ledd him and putt him into so great a distance from Gods helping hand that he fell into the hands of theeues my enemyes saith he did with me what euer they pleased they beate me they stript me naked they defyled corrupted wounded and euen killed me and all this because I departed from thee and because I became a verie nothing without thee AFFECTION and RESOLVT Woe be to that audacious soule who by leauing thee ô Deare Lord dares presume to hope to find out any thing els in heauen or in Earth not onely better then thee or like to thee but euen any thing tolerable without thee Thou hast made vs to and for thy selfe thou hast endowed our soules with a capaciousnes capable of thy selfe and our harts must needs be vnquiete till they returne to thee and repose in thee Be they forsaken for euer ô Lord who forsake thee may their names be written vpon the grownd that they haue abandoned thee the veyne of liueing water II. POINT Consider that those enemyes of our good hauing maymed vs leaue vs not so but obseruing that none comes in to our succour they vilifie and contemne vs they make their vvay ouer our bellies they treade vs vnder feete and with the filth of sinne defile Gods holy Temple and leaue vs gasping vpon the ground full of desolation and worne out with sorrow AFFEC and RESOL. This sad truth Blessed Augustine feared not to publish in the eares of all the world and wee frequently fayle not to experience in owne particulars if we make reflection and yet alas we endeuour not in good earnest to flie from the face of so cruell a foe but euen without witt or feare we trudge after them being blind and naked and loaden with the chaynes of our sinns They vvounded me and I greeued not they haled and trayled me after them and I vvas not sensible of it III. POINT Consider that Augustins and our miseries find yet no periode but growe vp to a higher excesse We doe not onely by our flight from God fall into the power of our deadely foes are stript and wounded by them while yet we follow them without feare and grow senselesse but we euen fall in loue with our miserie misfortune and seruitude I vvas slaue and yet loued my slauerie blind and yet desired my blindnes In a word to me bitter scemed svveet and svveet bitter AFFEC and RESOLVT A pittifull case and yet this is
els Render me thy selfe giue me thy selfe for thee I vvish thee I seeke thee I hope for to thee hath my hart said I haue sought thy countenance ô Lord And therfore what euer my Lord God is disposed to bestowe on me let him take it all away and let him giue me himselfe THE XX. MEDITAT In vvhat manner and measure God is to be loued I. POINT COnsider that the best manner of louing God is to loue him chastly that is with puritie of intention with as litle of our owne respects and interest as may be but because he is God that is infinitlie good or infinite goodnes Let vs loue him so as that we loue no other thing besides himselfe I that we may be made worthy of his heauenly imbracemeÌ„ts let vs discharge our selues of the care of all earthly things and le ts adheare to him alone gratis AFFECTION and RESOL. Too litle he loues thee ô Lord who loues any thing besids thee yea euen with thee which he loues not for thee for alas the innocent lambe who was slaughtered for vs is worthy to receaue glorie and honor and benediction nor that in respect of his good gifts onely but euen because in himselfe he is infinitly wise infinitly powerfull infinitly beautifull infinitly good contayning in him selfe in a most eminent manner all the respects of good by which a reasonable man can be drawen to loue Let vs loue him therfore let vs loue him euen for his selfe sake and for no other reason as farre as we are able II. POINT Consider that the best measure of louing God is to imitate his loue to vs and loue him without measure for sith the obiect of our loue is infinite should not our loue also if it were possible be infinite Thou art immense ô Lord and vvithout measure ought thou to be loued and praysed by those vvhom thou hast redeemed vvith thyne ovvne pretious blood AFFECTION and RESOLV Come le ts loue him le ts loue him he deserues all loue yea more then all for he hath loued vs to make vs he hath loued vs being made he hath loued vs first and most he loued vs so farre as to giue his son and to be readie to giue himselfe if we loue againe Ah! let vs blush and be ashamed if after all this we find our selues slowe to loue MEDITATIONS FOR SEAVEN DAYES TO BE VSED BY THE Canonesses Regulars of the Order of Sainte Augustine in the Monasterie of SION Established at Paris A. 1634. As well before their clothings and Professions os otherwise I vvill leade her into the vvildernesse and I vvill speake to her harte Osee 2. POST NVâ— PIâ—â—â— AT PARIS By GABRIEL TARGA M. DC LXV THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE FIRST DAY The preparatorie prayer shall be the Hymne Veni Creator with the prayer Deus qui corda THE FIRST POINTE. Of Gods Benefits to man in his Creation CONISDER that God who is infinitly great and infinitly and eternally happy in himselfe seeinge thinges which are not as thinges that are out of his meere Goodnesse without any neede of vs beinge neither preuented by any merits of ours nor prouoked by hopes of returnes raysed vs out of nothinge to his owne likenesse presented vs with the whole world made vs absolute Lords ouer it and ouer all the great varietie of thinges comprised in it for our vse Finally he endowed vs with a reasonable soule capable of himselfe to enioy him for euer AFFECTION Where were wee where were wee soe longe or soe longe agoe my soule where were wee and all that wee glory in while wee yet were not Ah while wee slept in our nothinge he who watches ouer Israel slept not But loued vs vvith a perpetuall loue he made a world for vs not vs for the world he made vs Lords ouer it not slaues to it He gaue vs all thinges to vse not to inioy to solace our pilgrimage not to stay vs from our contry Heauen my soule is our contry the Kinge of Heauen our possession which we are made to inioy Be it farre from vs to loue the benefits more then the bountiful benefactor or to glory in our selues or any thinge while we and they are Equally his free gifts THE SECONDE POINTE. Of mans regeneration Consider that though the benefit of creation be great yet that of regeneration farre exceeds it whereby we are borne to a new and better life life euerlastinge By that we were made and called men by this wee were made and called by Christ his owne name Christians or men of Christ By that he gaue vs power to liue and raigne ouer all the creatures by this to be little lesse then the Angells yea to be like to our creator in iustice and sanctity We were borne dead but by pure grace we were reuiued in baptisme made domestikes of his house the Catholike Church strengthened by confirmation fedd and fatned by his holy word and euen his owne pretious body and bloud Whereby wee are not onely called his seruants but are indeede his freinds nor his freinds onely but his sonns nor his sonns alone but his spouses AFFECTION If all my soule that we are be due to God for our creation by which we are all that wee either are or haue in the order of nature what will be due for our better beeinge by our regeneration which makes vs citizens of the Saintes and Gods owne domestikes his friends his sonns his spouses O what hart is able to conceaue the highth of the dignity to be made by grace of sonns of the earth the sonns of God of disloyall subiects the spouses of Christ and yet my soule such wee are which was not granted to all such wee are by his free goodnesse and mercy If therefore all that wee haue in the order of nature or grace we had absolutly from his free gift let all be employed and hartily referred to his honour THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Of the obligations vvhich vve contract in Baptisme THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that as the benefite of regeneration in Baptisme is a benefite of preference and of singular excellencie since of slaues of the Diuell it renders vs childeren of God and reintitles vs to our right in the Kingdome of Heauen so it bringes with it greate obligations to which we are all indispensably subiect We solemnely promessed therin in the face of the Church First to renounce the diuell and all his pompes wiles and allurementes wherby he endeuours incessantly to worke our eternall ruine That is to detest and flye the concupiscence of the flesh the coÌ„cupiscence of the eyes and pride of life which are the Diuells baites wher-in he insnares the whole world and inslaues it to his accursed dominion These renounciations ô my soule are the promesses we solemnely made in our Baptisme These are the christian duties to which we are all absolutly oblidged be we religious persons or be we secular according to these we shall be iudged at
shame was not to be valued She spoke not where she knew that the language of a contrite harte was better heard and her teares the while more effectually spoke her errand So that she wrought her wrothfull Iudge to turne her pious Aduocate and to pronounce a fauourable sentence for her Thy sinns are forgiuen thee AFFECTION and RESOLV These indeede my soule are the blissed dispositions which leade vs to a perfect recōcilement with God But alas who is so impertinētly proude as to presume to haue them without his gifte who commands them assuring vs by S. Iohn that vvithout him vve can doe nothinge Say there-for giue ô Lord I humbly beseech thee what thou commandest that I may loue thee as much as I desire and as much as dutie obliges me to Giue humilitie that inseparable companion of Charitie and sure Guardien of virginitie Giue finally fountaines of teares that day and night I may bewaile my offences giue them I say because without thee we are able to doe nothing Noe for if with B. Magdalene we come to Christ it is because his heauenly Father drawes vs. If the deepe inwarde sense of our crymes make vs insensible with her of all outward confusion which they bringe with them it is the sorrovv vvhich is accordinge to God and from God that workes it in our hartes If we was he his feete with teares it is God who powres downe that heauenly dewe If we loue him it is because he loued vs first And yet ô ineffable goodnesse and benignitie by these his owne gifts he drawes vs to him and then crownes the same by his free pardon saying thy sinns are forgiuen thee A Prayer Grant ô Lord we beseech thee that the worke of thy mercy may direct our hartes because with out thee we are not able to please thee per Christum Dominum nostrum Amen Other Prayers O almightie and eternall Father daigne by the merits of the life and passion of thy onely beloued sonne deeply to imprinte in our hartes true sorrow to haue offended thee meerely out of the motiues of loue for alas if we auoyde sinne onely out of feare of Hell fire we feare not to offende but to burne nor are we iustified therby since it is not feare of punishment but loue of iustice vvhich makes vs iust in thy sight ô Lord. Grant me also deare Lord a perfect detestation of sinne and a firme resolution to auoyde it here-after especially in such and such thinges which I am most subiect to and stand most guiltie of in thy sight euen purely for thyne owne goodnesse sake who art infinitly worthy of the loue of all thy creatures Grant me finally a true contempt of the world and a willing flight from it and all its pompes and vanities which are the diuells weapons to destroye vs and therby faithfully acquitt my selfe of the solemne promises made in my baptisme Amen FINIS A SPIRITVALL EXERCISE before profession THE FIRST MEDITAT The Preparitorie prayer Veni Creator and Deus qui corda c THE FIRST POINTE. CONSIDER that since now the yeare of your nouishippe or tryall is come to an end and that by Gods speciall grace and assistance to his honour and glorie and the good of your soule you haue conceiued a generous resolution to sett vpon the building of the Euangelicall Towre you are highly concerned maturely to examine how it is to be done Nor can you proceede more securely then by taking it from the mouth of Prime Truth saying which of you mynding to build a tower doth not first sitt downe and reckon the charges that are necessaire whether he haue to finish it least that after he hath layd the foundation and is not able to finish it all that see it begin to mocke him saying this man began to build and he could not finish it You ought therfor to consider the strength of your body the bent of your mynde the motiues which brought you hither that so you may discouer whether your body be not in truth too infirme your mynd too weake and wauering your motiues too light and incōsiderate out of some disgust rather then a disinterrested choyce out of confidence of your owne abilitie and strength rather then Gods inspirations and dependance of his grace AFFECTION Let this be done my soule in sinceritie and truth with grauitie and care still taking your counsells with God and from God It is not a childs play you are going about but the worke of a perfect man Your choyce is not for a day but for life The consequence of it not for a tearme of some fewe yeares but for eternitie eternitie my soule In thinges in a manner indifferent the choyce is indifferent In such things of smale importance it litle importes whether this or that be done so either of them be done to Gods glorie God is pleased and we merite If we should stand a waighing Doubles saith B. Sales trading would proue too troublesome Marrie goes on the same the choyce of ones vocation the proposition of a matter of great consequence a worke of much difficultie c. deserue a serious ponderation that Gods will which is our dutie happinesse and perfection may be discerned therin And let our firme resolutions be made accordingly THE II. POINTE. Consider with what it is that this Euangelicall Towre or spirituall building ought to be built and S. Augustine will teach you that it is to be done vvith noe other treasure then the forsaking of all and follovving of Christ which he takes from Truth it selfe saying Euery one of you that doth not renounce all that he hath can not be my Disciple And the same Truth expresses what he meanes by renounceing of all in these words If any man come to me and hateth not his Father and mother and vvife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his ovvne life besides he cannot be my Disciple AFFECTION This my soule is the condition of the obligation into which we are to enter for the building of this spirituall Towre This must be performed by vs and euen by all Christians in generall at least in preparation of mynde or els in vaine doe we pretend to be the Disciples or seruants of Christ Giue all and gayne all At any lesse coste this spirituall Towre will not be finished at any lesse rate the Euangelicall pearle will not be purchaced Vnlesse all this be performed saith Christ himselfe You cannot be my Disciples you cannot be true Religious and true followers of Christ Vnlesse this generous resolution be absolutley vndertaken let our designe be absolutly forsaken To serue God by halues will proue vnprosperous tovs God desires the hart which was made by himselfe and for himselfe and he will haue it whole The virgines whole thoughtes and sollicitudes ought to be imployed vpon the thinges vvhich pertaine to our Lord that she may be holy both in body and in spirit Remember that it was S. Paule who said it THE II.
euen a good Christian It must so farre see as to be able to discerne Gods part because the Decree is without exception that vve ought rather to obeye God then men But where we doe not manifestly see that Gods right is trenched vpon or violated we ought absolutly to obeye a superiours commande in all things without reserue wherin he is superiour And this kind of obedience falls vnder your vowe and is absolutly necessarie AFFECTION and RESOLV O my soule if our owne reason were made the Rule of our obedience with what confusions and endlesse wranglings would not Monasteries be replenished They would not so much be found sacred and silent solitudes as cententious Academies It is at the death of our rebellious wills that postilent source of mans miserie and mortall poison of a sprituall life that obedience aymes which is not effected by proude disputes but by humble submissions hauing continually in mynd that all povver is from God and he vvho resists povver resists Gods ordonnance Let vs then my soule humbly and promptly obeye God in our superiours person standing alwayes in a blissed in differencie with S. Paule to heare him by their mouthes and to obeye him in their persons saying What is thy holy vvill I should doe THE II. POINTE. Of the diuers degrees of it Consider that tho necessarie obedience to which you are tyed by vowe consists in obeying Superiours cōmands according to Rule and Constitutiōs or what conduces to the due obseruance therof Yet are not the pious spouses of Christ to stoppe there but to be still striuing to emulate the better gifts and to render themselues wholy agreeable to their diuine spouse Be perfect as your heauenly father is perfect saith our sauiour by endeuouring still to obeye in the most perfect manner which that great seruant of God Ruisbrochius putts downe as followes In the first place it must be prudent and discreete 2. simple 3. cheerfull 4. prompt 5. couragious 6. deuoute 7. humble AFFECTION and RESOL. O what a blessed life is ledd where all these conditions meete O what a Heauen appeares in earth where earthly Angells thus liue Let this be our cheife endeuour my soule as it is the happinesse securitie and ornament of a religious life Let vs with prudence and discretion discerne Gods will by our superiours mouth and whether we be commanded to watch to fast to pray or worke c. or els vpon occasions at their pleasure to leaue them off let it be done simply and with assurance that by how much more simply by so much the more fruitfully and excellently it s done Let that discreete simplicitie be secōded with quicke and cheesfull execution for God loues a free and merrie-harted giuer If the thinge commanded appeare hard yet imbrace it with a manly courage heauen is worth more and he who gaue the commande can giue strength to performe it Finally let all this be done with humilitie and deuotion not so much to please men as that our heauenly father may be glorified THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 6. DAY Of the excellencies of Obedience THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider with deuoute Ruisbrochius that obedience is a vertue of so great excellēcie that the verie least worke be it of what kinde it will being done by vertue therof is much better and more acceptable to God then euen other geate workes done without it as for example hearing of Masse reading praying contemplating or any other worke you can thinke of Which lesson we are yet taught by a greater Master Kings 1. 15. Will our Lord haue Holocausts and victimes and not rather that his voyce should be obeyd For better is obedience then victimes and to harken rather then to offer the fatt of rammes Because c. it is as it vvere the vvickednesse of Idolatrie to refuse to obey AFFECT and RESO It is not so much the greatnesse of the thinge then my soule we ought to looke vpon as the greatnesse of the obedience with which we are to performe it Commandes of great and herociall actions rarely occurre wheras obedience may be daylie exercised and merite increased in a number of smale matters Nor is it easily to be conceiued what riches are to be treasured vp for heauen therby Deuoute obedience knowes how to render the poore widowes myte a gratfull offering Industrious obedience negotiates vpon trifles and yet like the honiebee stores her hyue with huge riches Many other vertues daughters of Charitie gather maine heapes of treasure togeither yet obedience so farre outstripps them all that she makes her selfe more gratefull to God then a sacryfice THE II. POINTE. Of vvhom vve ought to learne Obedience Consider that we ought to learne this best of morall vertues of the best of Masters of moralitie Iesus Ch. Who is as well the Master as the Disciple of it He was the Master of it at his coming into the world while he liued in it and at his departure out of it At his coming S. Paule tells vs in his person in the heade of the booke it is vvritten of me that I should doe thy vvill then said I behold I come that I may doe thy vvill o God His whole life was spent in the doing the will of his heauenly father who sent him and in obeying his mother S. Ioseph and euen all creatures for his sake At his departure he vvas obedient euen vnto death and the death of the Crosse And he was the Disciple of it too sithens as S. Paule affirmes though he were the sonne of God he learnt obedience by the thinges vvhich he suffered and vvas made the cause of eternall saluation to all that obey him AFFECTION and RESOL. O what an excellent lesson of obedience hath the sonne of God left for the sonnes of men to imitate He who as God could be obedient to none being God-man be comes obedient to all men for his heauenly fathers sake All his life was a cōtinued obedience till by his painfull death he consummated the great worke of mans redemption for which he was sent Father I haue consummated the vvorke vvhih thou gauest me to doe saith that intirely obedient sonne The worke which we are to doe my soule which is as it were our whole businesse is to obey God in our superiours commandes and by such submission and their care to secure our blessed eternitie By their eyes we best discerne By their iudgements we most wisely iudge by their directions and orders we most surely walke to mans beatitude THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 6. DAY That Charitie must be the roofe of this spirituall building THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that be the foundationes neuer so deeply digged be the walls neuer so firme and confirmed and the interior partes neuer so fairely adorned yet if the roofe be not sutable to the rest and be not established aboue the rest it lyes but vselessely open to receiue winds and shewres and is vnfitt for the vse of man being indeede noe perfect