first storme of rayne winde or flouds it is cast downe and the fall thereof is great Thy house my soule hath diuers powers and faculties as it were Chambers or parlors and if it be built vpon God as vpon a Rock that is if thou dost firmely beleeue in God if all thy trust be in God and thou be grounded in the loue of God that thou mayst say with the Apostle Who shall seperate vs from the charitie of Christ Ephes 3 Rom. 8 Then be assured that neither the spirituall wickednesse which is about thee nor carnall concupiscence which is vnder thee nor thy domesticall enemies which are on the side of thee to wit thy kinsfolkes and acquaintance shall euer by their temptations preuaile against thee Great surely is the force and subtiltie of the spirituall powers but greater is the power and wisdome of the holy Ghost who ruleth in that house which is founded on God The flesh also fighteth eagerly against the spirit and sometime ouercommeth the strongest but the loue of God doth ouercome the loue of the flesh and the feare of God doth vanquish the feare of the world Those also of a mans houshold are his enemies and with their peruerse councells drawe his soule into the company of sinners But that soule which trusteth she hath a Lord a Father a brother and spowes in heauen will easily contemne and in that respect hate her carnall friendes and kinsfolkes and say with the Apostle Luke 14 Rom. 8 I am sure that neither death nor life nor other Creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. But that soule is indeede miserable whose house being built vpon the sand cannot continue long And the fall therof will be great because it beleeueth lyes and trusteth to a staffe of Reede Whose God is the belly or money or the smoake of honour all which things passe away and perish very speedily drawe the soule which followeth them into eternal distruction It is also an other property of the earth like a good Nursse Cap. 3 plentifully to bring forth hearbes and fruites for the sustenance of men and beasts This propertie directeth vs to our maker as to our true Nursing Father For not the earth but God in the earth bringeth forth all good things So speaketh the holy ghost by the mouth of Dauid Psal 103 Who bringeth forth grasse for be astes and hearbe for the seruice of men And againe All expect of thee that thou giue them meate in season Thou giuing to them they shall gather it thou opening thy hand all thinges shall be filled with bounâ—ie And our Lord in the Gospel Math. 6 Behold the foules of the ayre that they sowe not neither reape nor gather into barnes and your heauenly Father feedeth them And the Apostle Act. 14 And truely not without testimony hath God left himselfe bestowing benefites from heauen giuing raine and fruitfull seasons filling with foode and ioy our harts Neither is that false which is said in the beginning of Genesis Gen. 1 Let the earth shoote forth green hearbes and such as may seede and fruit trees yeilding fruite after his kinde For although the earth shoote forth hearbs and fruit trees yet it is by the vertue which God gaue vnto it and God by it keepeth and increaseth them Therefore Dauid inuiting all creatures to prayse their maker ioyneth with the rest Psal 140 Fruitfull trees and all Cedars And the three children in Daniel are exhorted with all other thinges to blesse Dan. 3 prayse and magnifie him for euer And if all creatures after their manner praise God with what affection oughtest thou my soule to prayse him for all his benefites which thou dost dayly enioy acknowledging in them his fatherly loue which neuer ceaseth to prouide all things for thee But this is not much in the eyes of thy Lord God For he produceth in thee as in his spirituall field the noble branche of Charitie For Charitie is not of the world but of God 1 Iohn 4 as the most beloued Disciple speaketh in his Epistle From Charitie also as from a heauenly tree spring the white and odoriferous flowers of holy cogitations the greene leaues of profitable wordes for the saluation of Nations and the ripe fruites of good workes by which God is glorified our neighbour edified and merits increased and kept for eternall life But woe to those who after the manner of foolish beastes desire to be filled with the fruites of the earth not thinking of their giuer nor thanking him for them their soules are like the earth which God did cursse that bringeth forth nothing but thorns thistles For what do they think in whose minds God soweth not chaste intentions but of adulteries homicide sacriledge theftes trecheries and the like And what doe they speak but blasphemies periuries reproches heresies detractions contumelies false testimonies and lyes which they haue learned of their father the deuil finally what fruites do they bring forth but those whereof we haue spoken and which the Apostle calleth The workes of the flâ—sh Gal. 6 These indeed are the thornes which first pricke the minde which bringeth them forth with bitter thoughts of feares and cares And then they pricke the fame mindes and bodies of others with vncurable woundes whereby great hurt often times ensueth But leauing this my soule if thou wilt be the Garden of God take heed that thornes and thistles be neuer found in thee but with all diligence cherish the tree of Charitie the Lilly of chastitie and the Spiknard of humilitie Take heede it neuer enter into thy minde to thinke that these braunches of heaueâ—ly vertues come from thy selfe and not from thy Lord God who is the Lord of vertues Neither attribute to thy selfe the keeping increase and ripenesse of the fruite of good workes but as much as thou canst commend them vnto God There remaineth the last Cap. 4 commendation of the earth for that in her bosome are conteyned gold siluer and precious stones but truely the earth doth not by her owne vertue bring forth such precious kindes of thinges but he who by Aggeus saith Mine is the siluer Agg. 2 and mine is the gold O louer of men did it please thy goodnesse not onely to produce stones wood yron brasse lead and such like thinges necessarie for the building of houses shippes and other instruments but also gold siluer and precious stones for beauty and ornament And if thou giuest these thinges to Pilgrims on earth and often also to thy enemies which blaspheme thy name what wilt thou giue to thy friendes who shall prayse thee and raigne with thee in heauen Thou wilt giue them doubtlesse not some little peeces of golde and siluer or some fewe precious stones but that Cittie whereof Iohn the Apostle speaketh in the Apocalips when he saith Apoc. 21 And the building of the Wall thereof was of Iasper
the more he was hardened and the more Gods mercy appeared in remoouing his punishments the more was he animated to despise and contemne God But when our Lord is pleased to enkendle one sparke of the fire of his true loue in a hard heart presently it waxeth soft and melteth like waxe so that no obstinacy though neuer so continuall and obdurate can hinder it And of a heart of stone it becommeth a heart of flesh Psal 147 For when the spirit of our Lord bloweth Waters will slowe from the frozen Snowe We haue an example in the Gospell Luk. 7 of that woman that was a Sinner in the Citty whome neither the admonitions of her Brother reprehensions of her Sister honour of her Family nor her owne shame could moue to abstaine from sinne And yet one beame of Christ peircing her heart and there enkindling a sparke of Diuine loue did so strangely alter her that being a Noble woman she blushed not in a publicke Feast to cast her selfe at Christes feete All weeping with her teares to bathe them and with her haire in steede of a towell to wipe them oftentimes most louingly to kisse them and with a most precious odoriserous oyntment to annoint them signifying thereby that from thenceforth she bequeathed her selfe and all that was hers vnto the seruice of Christ Therefore she heard that saying of our Sauiour Many sinnes are forgiuen her Luk 7 because she hath loued much But it shall not be from our purpose to sett downe another example also of late time William Duke of Aquitane liued in the time of St. Bernard a man most wilfull and obstinate In defending Anacletus the Scismatical Pope against Innocentius the lawfull He banished all the Catholicke Bishops out of his Countrey and tooke an oath that hee would neuer be at peace with them and because all men knewe him obdurate in wickednesse and cruelty and terrible for his pride there was none that durst admonish him It pleased God by his seruant Bernard to visite the hard heart of this man and to kindle a great sparke of Diniue loue therein Presently of a Lyon he became a Lambe humble of proude and most obedient of most obstinate For at one onely worde of St. Bernard hee friendly imbraced the Bishop of Poyters and with his owne hand placed him in his Chaire And which seemeth to surpasse all admiration demaunding of a certaine Hermit remedy of soule for his sinnes past He was commanded by the same Hermit to weare a coate of Brasse next his skin so buckled that it could neuer be put off and presently hee obeyed and it was so donne And being sent by the Hermite to the Pope for absolution he went But the Pope suspecting that hee did not heartily repent or else desirous to try his patience commaunded him to goe on Pilgrimage to Ierusalem to demaund absolution of the Patriarke of that Citty Without delay he vndertooke that iourney and fulfilled the Popes commandement Lastly of a potent Prince he became an humble Monke So that in that age there was scarce any found to surpasse him in humility patience pouerty deuotion and piety This indeed is the change of the right hand of the heighest Psal 76 this is the force of the Diuine fire against which no heard heart can resist There remaineth the last property of the Fire which is to extenuate heauy thinges and cause them easily to mount aloft And this is the cause why men that burne not with the fire of Diuine loue are heauy of heart and to them the Prophet said Psal 4 How long are you of heauy heart Why loue you vanity and secke lying This also is the cause why The body that is corrupted burdeneth the soule as the wise man saith Wisd 9 And an heauy yoake vpon the Children of Adam from the day of their comming foorth of their mothers wombe vntill the day of their burying Eccle. 40. into the mother of al saith Ecclesiasticus And what this heauy yoake is which in this mortall body so burdeneth the soule the same Author declareth a little after when he addeth Fury Euâ—y Wauering Feare Anger and such like commonly called the Passions of the minde These so depresse the minde of Man that it beholdeth nothing but earth to which it cleaueth in such sort that it cannot ascend to seeke God nor speedily run the way of his Commondements But when the fire of God beginneth from aboue to inslame it forthwith those passions begin to deminish and be mortified and this heauy burden to wax lighter And if the heate increase it will so vnburthen the haâ—t that it may flye vp like a Doue say with the Apostle Our conuersation is in heauen Phil. 3 And being also dilated by this fire it may say with Dauid Psal 111 I haue runne the way of thy commandements when thou hast delateâ— my harâ— Truely since our Sauiour said Luk. 12 I came to cast fire on the earth and what will I but that it be kindled We haue seene many so enlightned therewith that they haue wholy forsaken the loue of honour pleasure and wealth and haue said to Christ ascending into heauen Draw vs after thee This hath caused so many Monasteries to be erected so many desertes to be inhabited so many companies of virgins to be instituted who did not onely with ease runne the way of the Commandements but also ascended into the way of Counsells To follow the Lambe whethersoeuer he shall goe Apoc. 14 O Blessed fire which giueth light and wasteth not and if it waste it wasteth but the peccant humors that lise be not extinguished thereby Who will cause me to be inflamed with this fire which with the light of true Wisdome expelleth the darknesse of ignorance and blindenesse of an erronious conscience And which changeth the coldenesse of slothe indeuotion and negligence into the heate of loue That it neuer suffer my hart to be hardened but with the heate thereof to be mollified and made deuout And that it take from it the heany yoake of earthly cares and desires that with the winges of holy contemplation wherewith Charitie is nourished and increased it may be so lifted vp that I may say with the Prophet Make ioyfull the soulc of thy seruant Psal 85 because to thee O Lord I haue lifted vp my Soule THE SEVENTH STEPP From the Consideration of Heauen to wit of the Sunne Moone and Starres WE shall not labour much in this place from the consideration of Heauen Cap. 1 to frame for our selues a Stepp to contemplate God for we haue the kingly Prophet going before vs who in the Psalmes saith Psal 18 The Heauens shew forth the glory of God the â—â—â—mament declareth the workes of his hands And because there are two seasons to wit the day night in which we may from the consideration of heauen ascend vnto God with the wings of contempâ—ation of the first he writeth
not made of any matter but created of nothing And none but God almightie can make something of nothing He therefore alone without compagnion without helpe with his owne handes which are his vnderstanding and will created thee when hee pleased But perhappes not God but creatures produced thy body that as thy soule must acknowledge God so thy body must acknowledge thy parents for authors It is not so For although God vse the means of parents to begette the flesh as inferiour workemen in the buylding of a house yet is he the cheife buylder Author and true father both of the soule and body and so would be said to be the beginning of mans whole essence For if the parēts of thy flesh were the true Authors and as it were the Cheife framers of thy body they would know how many muscelles vaines synnowes bones how many humors how many turnings and how many other things of like kinde there are in mans body all which they are ignorant of vnlesse perhaps they haue learned them by the art of Anatomie Moreouer when the body is sicke or a member withered or cut off they could certainely by the same art by which they made it againe repaire it if they were the true Authors euen as those which make clockes or build houses know how to order and repayre them But parents know not how to doe any of these thinges The coniunction also of the soule with the body which is a speciall part of the affection of mans nature can be done by none but by a workeman of infinite power For by what art but by diuine can a spirit be ioyned with flesh in so neere a bond as to be made one substance For the body hath no proportion or likenesse with the spirit Psal 135 He therefore did it who alone doth great wonders Truly therefore doth the holy ghost speake by Moyses in Deuteronomie Deut. 23 Nonne ipse est c. Is not hee thy father that hath possessed thee and made and created thee And by Iob Iob. 10 With Skinne and Flesh thou hast cloathed me with bones and Sinnowes thou hast compacted me And by the kingly Prophet Psal 118 Thy handes haue made me and formed me and againe Psal 138 Thou hast formed me and hast put thy hand vppon me And the most wise mother of the Machabaean children 2 Mac. 7 I knowe not how you appeared in my wombe for neither did I giue you Spirit and Soule and life and the members of euery one I my selfe framed not but indeede the Creator of the world that hath formed the Natiuitie of man and that inuented the origine of all Hereupon surely the wisdome of God Christ our Lord said Math. 22 Call none father to your selues vppon earth For one is your father he that is in heauen By which admonition St. Augustine said to God of his sonne Adeodatus whome he had begot in fornication 9. Confes c. 6 Tu bene seceras c. Thou didst make him well but I beside sin had nothing in that childe Goe to now my soule if God be thy Author and thy bodyes also if he bee thy Father Supporter and Nursse if what thou art is of him if what thou hast thou receiuest from him and what thou bopest thou expectest from him why dost thou not glory in such a parent why dost thou not loue him with all thy hart why dost thou not for his sake contemne all earthly things why dost thou suffer vaine desires to ouerrule thee Lift vp thine eyes to him feare not thine enemies on earth since thou hast a father Almighty in heauen With what confidence and affection thinkest thou did Dauid say Psal 59. I am thine saue me O my soule if thou wouldest consider that the almightie and euerlasting God who wanteth none of thy goods and if thou perish hee loseth nothing turneth not his eies from thee but so loueth protecteth directeth and cherisheth thee as if thou were his greatest treasure surely thou wouldest onely hope in him thou wouldest feare him as thy Lord and loue him as thy Father neither should any temporall good or euill seperate thee from his loue Let vs come to the matter whereof man is made Cap. 3. Truely it is most base but it giueth vs thereby the greater occasion to humble our selues which is a vertue in this life very profitable and rare and therefore the more precious to be desired And surely of the matter of our soules there can be no doubt but that it is That Nothing then the which what can be imagined more vacant and vile The immediate matter of the body what is it but menstruous blood a thing so impure as our eyes refuse to see our hands to touch our mindes to thinke of The matter whereof the first man was made what was it but red and barren earth or dust slime Formauit Deus Gen. 2 c. God formed man saith the Scripture of the slime of the earth and againe God said to man Dust thou art Gen. 3 and into dust thou shalt returne Wherefore the Patriarch Abraham remembring his vnworthynesse 〈◊〉 vnto God Because I haue once begunne Gen. 18 I wil speak to my Lord whereas I am dust and ashes But yet here is not an end of the basenesse of this matter for that dust or slime proceeded not from an other matter but from nothing In the beginning God created heauen and earth and surely not of another heauen and earth but of Nothing so that whether we consider the soule or body it is reduced to Nothing from whence this proud creature Man proceeded Hee hath nothing therefore to boast of but what he receiued from God Truely the workes of Men which proceede either from witte or labour haue euer somewhat of themselues whereof if they had vnderstanding they might glory against their maker For a vessell of gold a chest of wood a house of Iuory or Marble if they could speake might say to him that made them to thee I owe my forme but not my matter and more pretious that is which from my selfe I haue then what I receiued from thee But man who hath nothing from himselfe nor is any thing of himselfe can not glory in any thing And most truely saith the Apostle Gal. 6 If any man esteeme himselfe something wheras he is nothing he seduceth himselfe And What hast thou that thou hast not receiued Cor. 4 and if thou hast receiued what dost thou glory as if thou hadst not receiued Whereunto St. Cyprian agreeth when he saith In nullo gloriandum quando nostrum nihil est Lib. 3 ad Quirinū 4. We must glory in nothing since nothing is ours But thou wilt say men do many worthy works for which they are deseruedly praised that vertue praised may increase It is so but let the glory be to God not to themselues as it is written 2 Cor. 10 He that
glorieth let him glory in our Lord. And Psal 33 My soule shall be praised in our Lord. For I aske when a man doth some excellent worke of what matter doth he make it by what vertue and by whose direction and help doth he it surely of a matter which God not man created and by that vertue which God gaue vnto him not he to himselfe by Gods direction and help also he doth it without which he could doe no good For God doth many good things in Man without Man but Man doth no good which God doth not cause Man to doe as it is said in the second Arausican Councell c. 20. God therefore doth vouchsafe to vse the ministery of man in doing good the which he could doe without him that Man may thereby acknowledge himselfe more indebted vnto God and not be proude of himselfe but glory in our Lord. Therfore my soule if thou be wise sit downe alwaies in the lowest place steale not Gods glory neither in little nor in much descend to thy Nothing which onely is thine all the world cannot make thee proud But because this pretious vertue of humility was almost gon out of the world and not to be found either in the bookes of the Philosophers or manners of the Gentiles the master of humilitie came from heauen Phil. 2 And when he was in the forme of God equall to the Father he exinanited himselfe taking the forme of a seruaÌ„t he humbled himselfe made obedient vnto death And to Mankinde he said Learne of me Mat. 11 because I am meeke humble of hart you shall finde rest to your soules wherfore my soule if perhaps thou art ashamed to imitate the humility of men yet be not ashamed to imitate the humilitie of God who deceaueth not nor can be deceaued And Who resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the humble Iam. 4. It followeth now that we consider the forme which is the third cause Cap 4. And truly by how much the matter whereof man is made is more base by so much the forme giuen to man is more excellent I omit the outward shape of his body which surpasseth all earthly liuing creatures in feature yet that is not his substantiall but accidentall Forme For his substantiall forme which maketh him a man distinguished from other liuing creatures is his immortall soule indued with reason and free will which is Gods Image made to his owne likenes For so we reade that God said when he made man Let vs make man to our Image and likenes Gen. 1. And let him haue dominion ouer the fishes of the Sea and the Foules of the ayre and the beastes and the whole earth and all creeping creatures vpon the earth Man therefore is Gods Image not because of his body but of his soule for God is a Spirit not a body Et ibi est imago dei c. Hom. in exam 10 And there is the Image of God saith St. Basill where that is which commandeth ouer other liuing creatures But man commandeth ouer beastes not by the members of his body the which are stronger in many beastes then in Man but by his minde endued with reason and free-will For not by that which hee hath coÌ„mon with them doth he rule them but by that whereby he is distinguished from them and made like vnto God Lift vp thy minde my soule to thy example and remember that the cheife commendation of the Image is to be like thereunto For although the example be deformed as the Deuil is vsually made yet the commendation of the image is aptly to represent that deformed example Therfore deformity in the example shall still be deformity but in the image it shall be beautie And if the example also be beautifull the image shall be most pretious if it imitate as neere as may be the beautie thereof the image likewise if it had vnderstanding would desire nothing more then continually to beholde the example to fashion and frame it selfe to become most like thereunto Thy example O my soule is God an infinite beautie 1 Ioh. c. 1 A light in whome there is no darkenesse whose beautie the Sunne and Moone admire That thou mayst therefore imitate an example of such beautie and desire as much as thou canst to be like him wherein consisteth thy highest perfection profit honor ioy rest and happinesse consider that the beauty of God thy example consisteth in Wisdome and Holines For as the beauty of the body ariseth from proportion of members and an amiable colour so in the beauty of the minde an amiable colour is the Light of Wisedome and the proportion of members is Iustice but by Iustice no particular vertue is vnderstood but that vniuersall which comprehendeth all vertues That soule therefore is most beautifull whose minde doth shine with the light of Wisdome and whose will is confirmed in the fullnes of perfect Iustice But God thy example O my soule is Wisdome and Iustice and therefore Beautie it selfe And because both this goodnesse is signified by the name of Holinesse in the Scriptures Isay 6. therefore in Isay the Angels crye vnto God Holy holy holy Leuit. 11 Lord God of Sabaoth And God himselfe cryeth vnto his Images Be you holy because I your Lord God am holy And our Lord in the Gospell Math. 6. Be you perfect as your heauenly Father is perfect If therefore thou desire O my soule as the true image of God to be like thy example thou must loue Wisdome and Iustice before all things It is true Wisdome to iudge of all things according to the highest cause the highest cause is the will of God or the law which doth make knowne the will of God vnto men Therefore if thou loue Wisdome thou must not in any wise giue eare what the lawe of the flesh doth teach what the senses doe esteeme what the world doth approue what thy kinds folks perswade and much lesse what flatterers propound but be deafe vnto them all and onely attend the will of thy Lord God iudging that wholy good profitable glorious and to be desired of thee which is according therunto This is the Wisdome of Saints whereof the wiseman writeth Wisd 7 Aboue health and beauty did I loue her and purposed to haue her for light because her light cannot be extinguished And all good things came to me together with her Moreouer Iustice is an other part of spirituall beautie and comprehendeth all vertues which adorne and perfect the Will but especially Charitie the Mother Roote of vertues Whereof St. Augustine in his last booke of Nature and grace speaketh thus Inohoata charitas c. De Natura gratâ—a c. 70 vnperfect charitie is vnperfect iustice Charitie increased is iustice increased Perfect Charitie is perfect Iustice For He that loueth hath fulfilled the law because Rom. 13 Loue worketh not euil And therefore Loue is the fulnesse of the Lawe as the
Rom 7 Not the good which I will that doe I but the euill which I will not that I doe And which of vs all but findeth this true by experience I would pray with attention to God and I command my imagination not to wander about and cause me to thinke of other thinges whiles I pray And yet I cannot keepe it in order but when I least suspect I finde my selfe deluded by it and omitting my prayers I fall to muse on other matters I would not be molested with lust nor angry out of reason and by Free-will I command the concupiscible and irascible powers which are in me to obey reason and not to be seduced by the bodily sences And yet reason is not obeyed nor that done which I would but that which I would not But of all other things it is most admirable miserable that the minde coÌ„mandeth the body it presently obeyeth it doÌ„mandeth it selfe it disobeyeth Lib 8. con cap. 4 Vade hoc Monstrum Whence is this strange thing saith St. Augustinâ— the minde coÌ„maâ—deth the hand to moue it doth with such speede that the comman ment can hardly be discerned froÌ„ the execution therof it is the minde the hand a body The minde commaundeth the minde to be willing and it is the same thing and yet it doth it not But it willeth not fully and therefore it doth not fully command It is not therefore any strange thing but an infirmitie of the minde whith doth â—ot fully rise being lifted vp by truth and kept downe by custome But the free will of God is ioyned with absolute power for of him it is written He hath done all thinges whatsoeuer he would And Psal 113 There is none that can resist thy will Esther 13 Wherefore my Soule if thou be wise doe not boast of the force of thy free will vntill thou come into the freedome of glory where thy Heauenly Phisition will cure all thy infirmities and fill thy desire with all good thinges And in the meane while sigh dayly and say vnto God with the Prophet Psal 26 Be thou my helper for sake me not Not coldly also for custome sake but with attention and from thy hart repeate at the least seauen times a day O God intend vnto my belpe Psal 69 Lord make hast to help me Seauenthly Cap. 7 Mans soule hath a reasonable will which not onely hath power to desire good thinges present particular and corporal as beasts doe but also good thinges absent vniuersall and spirituall which are knowne by the light of faith or reason vntill it come to the Highest Happinesse which is God This maketh the soule capable of vertues and especially of Charitie the Queene of vertues Brute beastes indeede haue the loue of Concupiscence but the loue of friendship they knowe not But thou my soule art by God made capable of Charitie the Chiefe of all Guiftes whereby God remaineth in thee and thou in him For God is Charitie 1 Ioh. 4 and he that abideth in Charitie abideth in God and God in him And if the Happinesse of a created will be so great what may we think of the Happinesse wherwith the increated will is filled Onely the will of God is capable of infinite loue wherewith the infinite goodnesse of God is worthy to be loued Neither doth his will want vertues or needeth to be directed by his vnderstanding for they are all one as Wisdome and Charitie in God is the same thing Eightly Cap. 8. the soule of Man is in the body but farre otherwise then the soules of brute beastes in their bodies The soules of brute beastes are materiall and extended according to their bodies so that a part of it is in a part of their body and the whole in their whole body But the soule of Man because it is an indiuisible spirit is after an admirable manner Whole in all and whole in euery part so that albeit it fill all the body yet it occupieth no place in the body And when the body groweth the soule groweth not but beginneth to be where before it was not And if a member be cut away or withered the soule is not deminished nor withered but ceaseth to be in that member where before it was without hurt or mutilation This is a true resemblance of Gods existence in Creatures For God is an indiuisible spirit and yet he filleth all the world and euery part thereof Neither doth he occupie any place But is Whole in all and whole in euery part of the world And when any creature is produced God beginneth to be in it and yet he is not mooued And when any creature is by chance destroyed or dyeth God is not destroyed or dyeth but ceaseth to be in it without locall mutation Thus farre then God and the soule agree but in many thinges God as it is meete doth farre excell For the soule before it can moue and gouerne the body must become the forme of the body and be so vnited vnto it that of the soule and body is made one Man But God needeth not become the forme or soule of the world Neither of him and the world is one Compounded substance made For his immencitie is such that he is euery where his indiuisible vnitie such that he is wholy euery where And his omnipotencie such that he worketh euery where Moreouer although the soule be said to be in all the body yet it is not properly but in the partes which haue life and therefore it is not in the humors in the hayre in the nayles or in dryed and dead members But God is in all thinges both corporall and spirituall without exception neither can it be that any thing exist wherin God is not The soule also is but in her owne body which is narrow and straight where all the partes are continued together But God is in this vniuersalitie of thinges although it be very great and the partes thereof not continued together but contiguous and adioyning And if more worldes were made God should be in them all for of him it is written 1 Par. 6 The heauen and heauens of heauens doe not containe thee And albeit new heauens and earthes were multiplied without end God should fill them all for no place can be where he should not be Ninthly the soule of Man beside those thinges which are said hath also in it an obscure image of the Blessed Trinitie because it hath a power to remember to vnderstand and to loue and also for that the minde doth by the vnderstanding Forme a word and from the minde and the word proceedeth loue For that which is knowne by the minde and represented by the Word as Good is forthwith by the Will loued and desired But God the Father did after a more high and diuine manner begett God the Word and God the Father and God the Word becathed our God the hâ—ly Ghost the huâ—ng Fountaine of
all chasts lone And therefore the mysterie of the Trinitie doth surpasse all naturall knowledge neither can a learned Philosopher attaine thereunto without supernaturall light For the soule of Man produceth a Word and a loue which are not substances but accidents and therefore no persons But God the Father did beget the word consubstantiall to himselfe And the Father and the word breathed out the holy Ghost consubstantiall likewise to them both Therefore the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are truely three persons The soule of Man also produceth a Word which continueth not long and the Will produceth a loue which lasteth not long but God the Father did beget The Wordeternall and the Father and the Word did breath out the holy Ghost eternall For God cannot be without his Word and Spirit Furthermore the soule of Man by one Word representeth but one thing and therefore it multiplyeth the wordes not onely of the Minde but also of the mouth The will of Man likewise must produce many actes of Loue if it will loue many thinges but God with one Word speaketh all truth and with one Acte of loue loueth all good thinges Tenthly and lastly Cap. 10 the soule of man whiles it is in the body is not seene heard mooued nor scarce conceiued to be there and yet from it all good thinges are deriued to the body as sense motion speech subsistence beauty strength and the like For how could a man see heare speake walke subsist and be strong faire and amiable vnlesse his soule were in him And why doth he not after he is dead see heare speake and mooue but because his soule is departed from whence these benefites proceeded Euen so thy God O my soule whiles he liueth in thee by his Grace maketh thee to see what Faith sheweth thee and to heare what he speaketh in thee That thou mayest walke in the Way of the Commaundements towardes the Heauenly Hierusalem and speake in prayer to God and in good exhortations to thy neighbour and subsist perseuering in good workes and be strong in battaile against thy inuisible enemies and thereby become beautifull in the eyes of the inuisible God and his Angells But take heede least Gods grace departing from thee which is the life of thy soule thou fall into the losses of the First death And from it be carried to the second death froÌ„ whence is no Resurrection O that thy God would open the eyes of thy minde that thou mightest behold the beauty of a Soule that is vnited to him in Charity What place hee prepareth for it What ioyes hee promiseth it How louingly hee looketh on it And with what longing it is ezpected by the Angells and blessed Soules Then wouldest thou not endure that so great beauty should be blemished with the least spott And if it should so happen thou wouldest endeauour to wash it away with floudes of teares For so did St. Francis as Saint Bonauenture reporteth who although he could not follow the immaculate Lambe without some spot endeauoured notwithstanding to purge and clense his soule with daily shewers of teares from all spottes of offences whatsoeuer Againe if thy God would open thy inward eyes that thou mightest see the deformity of a Sinfull soule how it slinketh like a rotten carcasse and how both God and his Angells reiuse to looke thereon although perhaps it dwell in a beautifull body very pleasing to the eyes of men surely thou wouldst be so affrighted that by no meanes thou wouldest become such a one nor long continue in such estate THE NINTH STEPP From the Consideration of Angells WE are come to the highest Stepp of Ascention vnto God Cap. 1 from created substances For if wee speake onely of Naturall perfection there is no created substance higher then that of Angells First therefore we will consider Angells according to their excellency of Nature Secondly according to their sublimity of Grace And lastly according to the Offices which they execute For it is not our meaning to enter into a full Disputation about Angells but onely to touch such thinges as may helpe vs to eleuate ouâ— mindes to God If an Angell then be compared vnto Mans reasonable Soule it may fitly be called a perfect Soule euen as the soule may be called an vnperfect Angell For so of man spake the Prophet by reason of his Soule when he said Thou hast minished him a little lesse then Angells Psal 8 An Angell is a Perfect Spiritual Substance the Soule an Vnperfect Spirituall Substance because it is the Bodyes Forme and but one part of Man Therefore an Angell is all Spirit Man partly Spirit and partly flesh or partly an Angell and partly a beast As if one should say An Angell is all of golde Man partly of golde and partly of clay The Prophet then said truely Man is minished little lesse then Angells And it is also true that the soule of man because it is a part of man is little lesse then an Angell Whereupon it followeth that an Angell is more like to God then a man or his soule for God is a Spirit and not a Body or Forme of of a body And yet notwithstanding this resemblance of an Angell vnto God God is a spirit infinitely excelling the dignity of an Angel For God is a Spâ—rit vncreated eternall immense Almighty onely Good onely Wise onely High If then my soule thou wilt confesse that thou doest with reason admire the Nature of Angells How much more oughtest thou to admire and reuerence the Nature of God who without all comparison excelleth them Neither in Nature or substance onely may an Angell be called a perfect Mâ—n Cap. 2 and Man an vnperfect Angell but also in knowledge and vnderstanding For man because hee vseth the ministery of his sences and discourseth from effectes to causes and from causes to effectes vnderstandeth with lâ—bour and by degrees attaineth vnto knowledge whervpon he oftentimes doubteth oftentimes is deceiued and seldom findeth out the Truth But an Aâ—gell beholdeth aâ— once the effectes and causes together seeth the Substance with the Accidentes and spirituall thinges with corporall Man therfore whiles hee is a Pâ—grim on carth in vnderstanding is not a little lesse but much lesse then Angells So that albeit hee excell in Witt and in the study of Philosophy Yet in comparison of an Angell he may truely be accounted a Childe or sucking Infant Not vntruely therfore spake that Prophet of vs mortall Men Oâ—â— of the mouth of Infantes Psal 8 and Sucklings thou hast perfited praise Heare what the wise Salomon iudged of our Wisdome wherewith we are so puffed vp All thinges are hard saith he Man cannot explicate them in Worde Bccle 1 Bccles 3 And againe God hath deliuered the World to their disputation that man cannot finde â—he Worke which God hath â—rought from the beginning to the end If all thinges then are hard and which man cannot explicate And if man vnderstand nothing in this visible
part of it to be ours For he would giue vs his grace whereby we might worke our saluation Not that the merit of Christ suffised not but to communicate with vs the prayse and glory of our owne saluation Wherevpon it is said in the Gospell Math. 20 Pay them their hyre And the Apostle glorifieth saying 2 Tim 4 There is layd vp for me a Crowne of Iustice Lastly Gods mercie is most deepe because it exceedeth the affection of Fathers and Mothers which is the greatest we can finde on earth Heare the Prophet Isay Isay 49 Can a woman forget her infant that shee will not haue pittie on the sonne of her wombe and if she should forget yet will not I forget thee Heare Dauid psal 102 As a Father hath compassion of his children So hath our Lord compassion on them that feare him And lest thou mightest say there are some parents whose Loue sometime changeth into hacred Dauid saith further of Gods mercie and loue toward his Children The mercy of our Lord from euerlasting vpon them that feare him Of which continuance the Apostle also certifieth vs in his last Epistle to the Corinthians where he calleth God The Father of mercies 2 Cor 1 and God of all Consolation God therfore is not onely a father to those that feare him but a most mercifull Father For he taketh away such miseries and afflictions from his Children as he iudgeth expedient to be taken from them and therein he sheweth himselfe to be the Father of mercies And giueth them vnspeakeable comfort to suffer those which he iudgeth not expedient for them to be taken away And therein he sheweth himselfe to be The God of Consolation But the Apostle saith Of all Consolation for two causes First because God comforteth those that are his in al kindes of tribulations which truely the world cannot doe for oftentimes it vnderstandeth not the causes of tribulations Euen as Iobs friendes Were heauy Comforters as he calleth them Iob 16 because they knew not the cause of his griefe and therefore applyed the remedy where they ought not or els for that the tribulation is sometime so great that no earthly consolation can equall it But God the almighty and most skilfull Phisition can cure euery infirmitie and therefore the Apostle saith Who doth comfort vs in all our tribulation 2 Cor. 1 Moreouer he is called the God of all Consolation because he comforteth so fully that it were better to suffer tribulations with such a comforter then to want them both together as it happened to a young man called Theoderus a confessor in the Persecution of Iulian the Apostata who being tortured ten houres together with such crueltie and change of executioners as in no age is reported the like Sung notwithstanding all that while with great ioy the psalmes of Dauid and when it was commaunded he should be let downe he began to be sorrowfull because of the great comfort he receiued by the presence of an Angell whilest he was in torturing as Ruffinus writeth lib. 10. hist c 36 2 Cor. 7 Wherefore it is no meruaile if the Apostle say I am replenished with consolation I doe exceedingly abound in ioy in all our tribulation And in the beginning of his Epistle 1 Cor 1 Who comforteth vs in all our tribulation that we also may be able to comfort them that are in all distresse What thinkest thou O my soule of this so ample continuall pure and infinite mercy of our Lord who needeth nothing of ours and yet out of the abundance of his loue is so carefull of his seruants as if of them depended all his Happinesse What thankes therefore wilt thou giue him What canst thou euer doe not to be vngratefull to so great mercy Seeke therefore all thou canst to please him And because it is written Luk. 6 Be yee mercifull as also your Father is mercifull And Haue mercy on thine owne soule leasing God Eccle 30 Begin diligently first to finde out the miseries of thy soule For the miseries of the body are plaine to the eye so that it is needlesse to put a man in minde of them For if the body be but one day without meate and driuke or one night without sleepe or by a fall or wound be hurt it presently cryeth out and complaineth and is with great care looked vnto But the soule fasteth whole weekes from her meate and is sicke with woundes or perhapps dead and none taketh care or compassion of her Visite therefore thy soule often examine all her powers whether they be well and profit in the knowledge and loue of true Happinesse or whether they be sicke with ignorance or languish with diuers desires Also whether the minde be blinded with malice or the will infected with enuy and pride And if thou finde any such thing Crye vnto our Lord Psal 6 Haue mercy on me because I am weake Seeke spirituall phisitions and apply fit remedies Take compassion likewise of other soules whereof an infinite number perish although Christ dyed for them O my soule if thou didst truely knowe the price of soules to wit the precious blood of the sonne of God and also the great slaughter which is made of them by the infernall Wolues and roaring Lyons the Deuills Surely thou couldest not but from thy hart take pitty on them and by thy prayers to God and by all other meanes seeke to deliuer them Lastly also take compassion on the corporall necessities of thy neighbours not in Word and tongue onely 1 Ioh. 3 Math 5. but iâ— deede and truth hauing in minde the saying of our Lord Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy THE FIFTEENTH AND LAST STEPP From the Consideration of the greatnesse of Gods iustice by the similitude of a corporall quantitie GOds iustice in holy scripture is taken foure wayes Cap 1 First for iustice ingenerall which conteyneth all vertues and is the same with Sanctitie or probitie So in the psalmes Our Lord is iust in all his wayes psal 144 and holy in all his workes Secondly for truth or fidelitie So in another psalme That thou mayst be iustified in thy wordes Psal 50 Thirdly for iustice distributing rewardes so in the last Epistle to Tim thâ—e There is layd vp for me a Crowne of iustice 2 Tim 4 which our Lord will render to me in that day a iust iudge Lastly for iustice punishing sinne So in another psalme He shall rayne snare upon sinners Psal 10 fire and Brimstone and blast of stormes the portion of their cupp because our Lord â—s iust and hath loued iustice The greatnesse therefore of Gods iustice wil appeare to vs if we consider the 〈◊〉 thereof ingenerall the length thereof to wiâ— his truth and 〈…〉 the higth thereof distributing rewardes in heauen and thâ— depth thereof punishing the wicked eternally in Hell And to begin from the breadth That is called iustice ingenerall among men which
the reparation of his owne minde St. Augustine in his bookes of the Cittie of God saith 19 Ciu. 19 Ocium Sanctum quaerit charitas veritatis c. The loue of truth seeketh holy rest the necessitie of Charitie vndertaketh iust busines but neither is the delight of truth to be altogether forsaken least the sweetnes thereof being withdrawne the necessitie of busines oppresse And the same St. Augustine speaking in his Confessions of himselfe and of his frequent Meditation of God by creatures saith Sepe â—stud facio c. 10. Conf. c. 40. I often doe this It delighteth me and when I can be spared from my necessarie busines I haue recourse vnto this pleasure St. Gregorie in his booke of pastorall Charge saith 2. par Pastor 5 Sit Rector c. Let a Prelate be equall vnto any in compassion and before all in contemplation that through the bowels of pietie be may transferr the infirmities of others vnto himselfe and by the height of Contemplation in seeking after things inuisible he may exceed himselfe And St. Gregorie in the same place bringeth the example of Moyses and Christ For Moyses often went into the Tabernacle and came out He went in that he might contemplate Gods Secrets he came out that hee might beare with the infirmities of his neighbours And Christ himselfe in the day time by preaching and working miracles sought the saluation of his neighbours but the night hee passed ouer without sleepe in prayer and contemplation For he passed saith St. Luke the whole night in the prayer of God Luke 6 Many thinges also like vnto these may be read in the last chapter of the same booke Moreouer St. Bernard to admonish seriously Pope Eugenius who was sometime his scholler not to giue himselfe wholy to action but sometime euery day to recollect himselfe and to enioy holy rest and heauenly foode writ fiue bookes of Consideration in the which he doth not onely exhort him vnto the daily Meditation of diuine thinges but also doth plainely teach him the manner method how to meditate and by Meditation to ascend and by ascention to vnite himselfe vnto God in vnderstanding and affection Neither doth he admitt that excuse which he might haue pretended and which many now a dayes pretend to wit that the ouer-many businesses wherewith the office of a Bishop is accompanied would not afford him leysure enough to apply himsele vnto the mediation of diuine things For none truely ought to giue himselfe so wholy to outward businesses but that he may take sometime to strengthen his body with meate drinke and sleepe And if the body doe duely require this refection and rest with how much more reason doth the soule require her meate and rest neither can she without this refection truely execute her office by any means amidst the incumbrances of so many great affaires But the meate of the soule is prayer and her rest is contemplation by the which Ascentions are framed in the hart Psal 83 That the God of Gods may be seene in Syon as much as in this vaile of teares he maybe seene But wee mortall men as it seemeth can finde no other Ladder whereby to ascend vnto God but by the workes of God For those who by the singular gift of God haue by an other way beene admitted into Paradice to heare Gods Secrets which it is not lawfull for a man to speake are not said to haue Ascended but to haue bene wrapt Which St. Paul doth plainly confesse of himselfe when he saith 2 Cor. 12 I was wrapt into Paradice and I heard secret wordes which it is not lawfull for a man to speake And that a man may by the workes of God that is by Creatures ascend vnto the knowledge and loue of the Creator the book of Wisdome doth teach Wisd 13 Rom. 1 and the Apostle to the Romans and reason it selfe doth sufficiently confirme since the efficient cause may be knowne by the effects and the example by the Image neither can there be any doubt but that all creatures are the workes of God and that men and Angels are not onely his workes but also his Images as the holy Scripture teacheth vs. I therefore being mooued by these reasons hauing obtained some small vacancie from publique affaires and admonished by the example of St. Bonauenture who in the like vacancie writ a booke intituled The Pilgrimage of the minde vnto God haue essayed from the contemplation of creatures to make a Ladder by the which we may in some sort ascend vnto God And I haue deuided it into fifteene Stepps in resemblance of the fifteene stepps by the which they went vp into the Temple of Salomon and of the fifteene Psalmes which are called Gradualles THE FIRST STEPP From the Consideration of Man IF any one truely desire to erect a Ladder vnto God Cap. 1. he ought to begin from the consideration of himselfe For euery one of vs is both the creature and image of God and nothing is nearer vs then our selues Therefore not without cause Moyses saith Attende tibi Attend to thy selfe vpon which two wordes Basil the great writte an excellent sermon For he that shall truly behold himselfe and consider what is within him shall finde as it were an Abridgement of the whole world whereby he may easily ascend vnto the maker of all things But I at this present intend to seeke out nothing els but the foure common causes who is my maker of what matter he made me what forme he gaue me and to what end hee produced me For if I seeke my maker I shall finde him onely God If I seeke the matter whereof he made me I shall finde it nothing whence I gather whatsoeuer is in me is made by God and the whole to be of God if I seeke my forme I shall finde my selfe to be the Image of God If I seeke my end I shall finde that the same God is my Cheife and totall happinesse Therefore I may vnderstand there is so great a coniunction and nearenesse of my selfe with God that he onely is my maker my author my Father my example my happinesse and my All. And if I vnderstand this how can it be but that I should most ardently seeke him thinke of him sigh for him desire to see and imbrace him and detest the great blindenes of my hart which so long time hath desired sought or thought of nothing lesse then of God who onely is All vnto me But let vs consider more diligently euery particular Cap. 2. I aske thee O my soule who gaue thee being when as a little time before thou wast nothing surely the parents of thy flesh begot thee not for what is borne of flesh is flesh but thou art a spirit neither did heauen or earth or the Sunne or starres produce thee for those are bodies thou without body nor yet could Angels Arch-angels or any other spirituall creature be causes of thy being for thou art
shall not be mooned Psal 103 And Thou hast founded the earth vpon the stabilitie thereof it shall not be inclined for euer and euer Secondly the earth like a good Nursse to men and other liuing creatures doth daily bring forth herbs fruits grasse innumerable things of like kinde For so God speaketh Gen. 1 Behold I haue giuen you all maÌ„ner of hearb that seedeth vpon the earth all trees that hane in themselues seede of their own kinde to be your meat and to all beastes of the earth Thirdly the earth bringeth forth stones wood to build houses and mettalls of brasse and yron for diuers vses and gold and siluer wherof money is made which is the instrument whereby all thinges necessary for the life of man are easily procured And truely that first propertie of the earth to wit to be the place in which our bodies rest and not in the water ayre or fire is an embleme of our Creator in whom onely mans soule findeth a place of rest Thou hast made vs O Lord saith St. Augustine for thy selfe Cib. 1 Confes c. 1 and our hart is vnquiet vntill it rest in thee Salomon as much as euer any king sought after rest in honour wealth and pleasure He possessed a most ample peaceable kingdome so that the Scripture witnesseth He had in his dominion all the kingdomes with him 3 Reg. 4 from the riuer of the land of the Philistimes vnto the border of Aegypt of them that offered him presentes and serued him all the dayes of his life His wealth also was incomparable so that he kept forty thousand horses for Chariots twelue thousand to ryde vpon And as we read in the same booke the Nauy of Salomon brought gold and precious stones from Ophir in such plenty that siluer was nothing worth and as great was 3 Reg. 9 10. the plenty thereof in Ierusalem as stones in the streetes So many also were the pleasures which he had prouided for himselfe that they may seeme vncredible For falling into the inordinate loue of women 3 Reg. 11 he tooke seauen hundred wiues as Queenes and Concubines three hundred as weread in the same book But let vs heare himselfe speak of himselfe Eccle 2 I haue magnified my workes saith he I haue built me houses and planted vineyardes I haue made gardens and Orchardes and set them with trees of all kindes and I haue made me ponds of waters to water the wood of springing â—rees I haue possessed men seruants women seruaÌ„ts haue had a great family heardes also and great flockes of sheep aboue all thâ—t were before me in Ierusalem I haue heaped together to my selfe siluer gold and the substance of kings Prouinces I haue made me singing men singing womeâ— and the delights of the children of men Cuppes and Gobletts to serue to poure out Wines and I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Ierusalem Wisdome also hath perseuered with me and all things that mine eyes desired I haue not denied to them neither haue I stayed my hart but that it enioyed all pleasure and delighted it selfe in these thinges which I had prepared And this I esteemed my portion if I did vse my labour Thus he who doubtlesse had as great contentment as could be had in Creatures For he neither wanted kingdomes nor wealth nor pleasures nor humaine wisdome so much esteemed And lastly he enioyed peace a long time to possesse so great happinesse Let vs see now if all these things could content satisfie the desires of his minde When I had saith he turned my selfe to all the workes which my hands had don Eccle. 2 to the labours wherin I had swet in vaine I sawe all thinges vanitie and affliction of minde and nothing to be permanent vnder the Sun Salomon therefore found not contentment in all his riches delights wisdome and honours neither could he although he had enioyed much more For the soule of man is immortall and these things are mortall and cannot long remaine vnder the Sunne neither can it be that a soule which is capable of infinite good should be satisfied with finite goods Therefore as the body of man cannot rest in the ayre although it be most spatious nor in the water although it be very deepe because the earth is the place thereof and not the ayre or water so the minde of man is neuer satisfied with ayrie dignities nor watry wealth to wit with soft and deceauing pleasures nor with the false glory of humane knowledge but with God onely who is the center of soules and their onely true resting place O how truely and wisely did the father of Salomon say What is to me in heauen Psal 72 and besides thee what would I vpon earth God of my hart and God my portion for euer As if he should haue said I finde nothing in heauen or earth or in any creature therein that can giue me true contentment thou onely art the God of my hart that is thou onely art a firme rocke to my hart for the word God in the Hebrew text signifieth a rocke in that place Thou therefore art onely a most firme rocke to my hart in thee onely will I rest thou onely art my portion my inheritance and all my good other things are nothing nor of any force to suffice me one day but thou alone wilt suffice me for euer Dost thou not knowe as yet my soule that God onely is the rocke whereupon thou must rest and that in al things els is vanitie and affliction of spirit For they are not but appeare to be they comfort not but afflict because they are gotten with labour kept with care lost with sorrow Despise therefore if thou be wise all transitory thinges least they carry thee away with them and abide in that vnitie and bond of Charitie which continueth for euer Lift vp thy hart to God in heauen least it putrifie on earth and learne true wisdome from the folly of many in whose names the wise man speaketh saying Wis 5 We therefore haue erred from the way of truth and the light of iustice hath not shined to vs and the Sunne of vnderstanding rose not to vs. We are wearied in the way of iniquitie and perdition and haue walked hard waies but the way of our Lord we haue not known What hath pride profited vs Or what coÌ„modity hath the vaunting of riches brought vs All those things are passed away as a shaddow but in our naughtines we are consumed Moreouer Cap. 2 a Rocke is also in an other respect an embleme of our Lord God as the wisdome of God did expound vnto vs in his Gospell when he said Math. 7 That a house built vpon a Rocke should remaine vnmoueable although the rayne fell and the flouds came and the windes blew But a house built vpon the sand cannot stand against any of these things but at the
stone but the Cittie it selfe pure gold like to pure glasse And the foundations of the Wall of the Cittie were adorned with all precious stone And the twelue Gates there are twelue Pearles But we must not imagin that heauenly cittie of Ierusalem is built or adorned with gold pearles and pretious stones as heere they are For the holy ghost vseth these wordes because he speaketh to vs who see no better or greateâ— things but without doubt that cittie which is the country of Gods elect doth more excell all the citties of this world then a cittie of gold or precious stones doth surpasse all country villages made of strawe and clay Lift vp therefore my soule the eyes of thy minde to heauen and thinke of what value the riches are there since golde siluer and precious stones which are heere so esteemed in comparison therof are but as strawe and clay The gold siluer and precious stones also which we haue are corruptible but those which shine in that heauenly Cittie are incorruptible But if thou wilt send thy corruptible gold and siluer by the hands of the poore vnto that heauenly Cittie which surely if thou be wise thou wilt doe then will it become incorruptible and be thine for euer For the Truth cannot lye who saith Mat. 19 Sel the things that thou hast and gine to the poore and tho shalt haue treasure in heauen And in another place Luke 12 Sel the thinges that you possesse and giue almes Make to you Purses that were not treasure that wasteth not in heauen Whither the theefe aprocheth not neither doth the Mothe corrupt O incredulitie of the sonnes of Men Man who is a lyer promiseth ten for one hundred and to repay the principall to his creditor and he is beleeued God who cannot lye promiseth to him that giueth an almes a treasure in heauen a hundred for one yea eternall life yet the couetous man feareth and cannot easily be perswaded to beleeue but had rather hide his treasure Where rust consumeth it Math. 19 and theeues breake in and steale it then lay it vp in heauen where there is neither rust to to consume it nor theefe to steale it But O vnhappy man although it chance that neither theeues doe steale nor Mothe or rust corrupt that which thou hast gott with labour and kept with care yet shall it not be thine as it might haue bin if by the handes of the poore thou hadst sent it into the heauenly treasurie For experience teacheth that the wealth which couetous rich men haue gathered commeth vnto prodigall heyres who in much shorter time waste it then their couetous parents got it whose sinne of couetousnes remayneth notwithstanding for euer Isay 66 For their worme of conscience shall not dye and the fire of hell shall not be extinguished Mar. 9 Therfore my soule let the folly of others teach thee Wisdome Heare thy Lord and master preaching See and beware of all auarice Luke 12 For not in any mans abundance doth his life consist of those thinges which he possesseth The couetous man gathereth and keepeth to haue whereby he may maintaine his life a long time but it happeneth otherwise For he dyeth when as he least thinketh thereof but his wealth couetously gotten doth ingender a worme that will not die and kindleth a fire that will not be quenched O vnhappy couetous man why haft thou so carefully scraped together money to prepare fewell for hell fire Heare St. Iames in his last Epistle go too now ye rich men Iam. 5 weep howling in your mileries which shall come to you Your riches are corrupt and your garments are eaten of Mothes your gold anâ— siluer is rusted and their rust shall be for a testimony to you and shall eate your flesh as fire You saith St Iames because you are rich are called and accompted happy but indeed ye are more miserable then the poore And yet haue great cause to lament for the great miseries which assuredly shall fall vpon you The superfluous wealth you haue kept and suffered to corrupt when yee ought to haue giuen it to the poore The superfluous garments you haue possessed and rather would haue the Mothes to eate them then the poore to be clothed with them And your gold and siluer which you would haue to rust rather then bestowe it to feed them All these things I say will beare witnesse against you at the day of iudgement and the Mothes and rust of your wealth will become a burning fire which shall waste your flesh for euer and not consume it that the fire may not be quenched nor the paine ended Let vs therefore conclude with the kingly Prophet Psal 143 They haue said to wit fooles that it is a happy people which hath these thinges that is to say great wealth but indeed Blessed is the people whose God is our Lord. THE FOVRTH STEPP From the Consideration of Waters and especially of Fountaines THe Water hath the second place among the elements of the world Cap. 1 and from it also being rightly considered a stepp of Ascention vnto God may be framed First therfore we will consider Waters ingenerall and after we will drawe a speciall Ascention vnto God from Fountaines The water is cold and moyst and hath as it were fiue properties For it washeth away spottes it quencheth fire it cooleth heate it ioyneth diuers things together and lastly it ascendeth as high as it descendeth lowe These things are manifest Emblemes and resemblances of God the Creator of all Water doth wash corporall spottes God doth wash spirituall spotts Psal 50 Thou shalt wâ—sh me saith Dâ—uid and I shall be made whiter then Snowe For although contrition Sacraments Priests almes and other workes of pietie doe wash the spotts that is the sinnes of the soule yet they are but instruments or dispositions the Author of this washing is onely God Isay 43 I am saith God by Isay I am he that take cleane away thine iniquities for mine owne sake And therefore the Pharises who murmuring against Christ sayd Who car forgiue sinnes but onely God Were not deceiued in giuing onely to God supreme power to forgiue sinnes but because they beleeued not that Christ was God and so they did both blaspheme and speake the truth at one time Neither doth God onely wash the spotts of the soule like water but also would be called water For so writeth St. Iohn He that beleeueth in me as the Scripture saith Iohn 7 out of his belly shall flowe riuers of liuing water And this he sayd of the spirit that they should receiue which beleeue in him for as yet the spirit was not giuen because Iesus was not yet glorified Therefore God the holy Ghost is liuing water and thereof speaketh Ezechiel Ezech. 36 I will poure out vpon you cleane water and you shall be clensed from all Contaminations But because this increated water doth farre excell the created water We
with the brightnesse thereof they iudge truely of all things not searing in that Meridian light of Wisdome the darkenesse of errors blindenesse of ignorance or clowde of opinions Seeke after that happinesse and that thou mayst assuredly attaine to it loue our Lord Iesus Christ withall thy hart Col 2 In whom be all the treasures of the Wisdome and knowledge of God For he hath said in his Gospell Ioh. 14 He that loueth me shall be loued of my Father and I will loue him and will manifest my selfe to him And what meaneth I will manifest my selfe to him but that I will manifest to him the treasures of Wisdome and knowledge which are in me Truely euery man doth naturally desire knowledge and although carnall concupiscence doth now in many lull as it were this desire a sleepe Yet when this corruptible body shall be laid aside which now dulleth the soule then will the fire of this desire breake forth more then any other How great will thy Happinesse be then my soule when as thy Louer and beloued Christ shall shew thee the treasures of the wisdome and knowledge of God But lest thou be frustrated of so great hope endeauour to keep the commandements of Christ Ioh. 14 For he said If any loue me he will keepe my word and he that loueth me not keepeth not my wordes And in the meane while haue thou that Wisdome which holy Iob describeth saying Iob. 28 The feare of God that is wisdome and to depart from euill vnderstanding And what goodnes soeuer thou seest in Creatures acknowledge it to be deriued from God the fountaine of goodnesse that heere in the Riuers of Creatures thou maist begin to tast of that Fountain as St. Frauncis did Whereof read St. Bonauenture in the life of St. Francis the ninth Chapter THE FIFT STEPP From the Consideration of the ayre THe element of Ayre may be to men a notable document in manners Cap. 1 if the nature therof be considered For it not onely teacheth them Morall Philosophy but also declareth the mysteries of Diuinitie and eleuateth the minde vnto God when as the manifold commodities therof are pondered which by Gods Ordinance it affoordeth vnto mankinde First therfore the Ayre serueth for aspiration or breathing and thereby preserueth the life of man and of terrestriall liuing Creatures Secondly it is so necessarie for sight hearing and speach that without it though nothing els were wanting none could see heare or speake Lastly without ayre there could be no Motion among men and other terrestriall liuing creatures so that all artes and sciences must needs cease and haue end Let vs begin with the first part If men would vnderstand that the soule needeth her Aspiration or breathing as much as the body many should be saued which now perish The body needeth continuall breathing because the naturall heate wherewith the hart boyleth is so tempered by the longues which drawe in the coole ayre and cast out the hott that life is thereby preserued without which it could not be Whereupon it is commonly said That those thinges which breath doe liue And those things which breath not liue not And thou my soule that thou maist by Gods grace liue a spirituall life dost also want thy continuall breathing which is performed by sending forthe warme sighes in thy prayers to God and receauing from God new grace of the holy ghost For what els doe those words of the Lord import It behoueth alwayes to pray and not to be weary Luk. 18 But that thou must alwaies sigh and receaue a new spirit that the spirituall life be not quenched in thee Which thing he repeateth when he saith Watch therefore praying at all times Luke 21 And the Apostle confirmeth the same in his first Epistle vnto the Thessalonians saying 1 Thes 5 Pray without intermission With whom agreeth St. Peter the Apostle in his first Epistle when as he writeth 1 Pet. 4 Be wise therefore and watch in prayers For true wisdome willeth vs to aske Gods help at all times which at all times we stand in neede of Our heauenly Father knoweth indeede what we want and is ready to giue vs abundantly especially if it belong to our eternall saluation but he will giue it vs by meanes of prayer for that is more to his honour and our proffit then if he should giue vs all thinges when as we sleepe and doe nothing Therefore our most liberall Lord doth exhort and vrge vs to aske when he saith Luk. 11 Aske and it shall be giuen you Seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shall be opened to you For euery one that asketh receaueth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened And what is chiefely to be asked and what without doubt shall be granted he declareth a little after saying If you then being naught knowe how to giue good giftes to your children how much more will your father from heauen giue the good spirit to them that aske him This good Spirit therefore is chiefly to be daily asked which doubtlesse will be giuen vs if it be well asked whereby we may breath in God and by breathing in him preserue our spirituall life So did holy Dauid who said in the psalme Psal 118 I opened my mouth and drewe breath That is I opened my mouth crauing with vnexplicable sighes And I drew the most sweete breath of Gods spirit which hath cooled the heate of my concupiscence and strengthned me in euery good worke which being so who can say that they liue to God who in whole dayes monthes and yeares sigh not after him nor breath in him Not to breath is an euident signe of death therefore if to pray be to breath it is an euident signe of death not to pray The spirituall life wherby we are made the sonnes of God consisteth in charitie See saith St. 1 Ioh. 3 Iohn in his Epistle what manner of Charitie the Father hath giuen vs that we should be named and be the sonnes of God And who is there that loueth but desireth to see the thing he loueth who desireth any thing and asketh not when he knoweth that for asking it shall be giuen him Therefore who so doth not dayly pray to see the face of his God desireth not to see him if he desireth not to see him he loueth him not if he loueth him not he liueth not What then followeth but that we account them dead to God although they liue to the world which doe not giue themselues to prayer And yet such are not said to pray and thereby to breath and liue which with their corporall voyce pray onely For prayer is defined by the learned to be an eleuation of the minde vnto God and not of the voyce into the ayre Therfore my soule deceaue not thy selfe thinking thou dost liue to God vnlesse thou seeke God withall thy hart and sigh after him day and night Say not that
35 And then breaking in peeces the coloured spectacles of passions and taking the Chrystaline of pure Charitie he will esteeme eternall thinges great and temporall thinges small and of no moment as indeede they are Then he shall cleerely see that no created beauty is to be compared with that light of Wisdome and Truth which is God and in God So that he may crye out with St. Augustine Serote amaui Lib. 10 conf cap 77. c. Late haue I loued thee O auncient beautie but new to me late haue I loued thee And because Christ saith Yee shall knowe the truth and the truth shall deliuer you he that is so illuminated with the light of Truth and freed from the bonds of concupiscence couetousnesse ambition and other passions may reioyce with the Prophet and say Psal 115 Thou O Lord hast broken my bondes I will sacrifice to thee the Host of prayse and I will inuocate the name of our Lord. Moreouer the fire doth not onely make Iron that is black to become bright but also that is colde to become hot yea so fiery burning that it seemeth to be fire it self Great is our Lord and great is his power which causeth a man that is cold by nature and fearfull to speake or to vndertake any difficult thing So soone as he is heate with the fire of Charitie to become as bold as a Lyon that terrifieth all with his roaring and to whome nothing seemeth difficult so that he may say with the Apostle St. Paul who was greatly inflamed with this fire I can all thinges in him that strengthneth me Phil. 4 But let vs speake particularly of this efficacie of the fire And first let vs breifely treat of the efficacie of words and then of the efficacie of deedes There are at this day many preachers of Gods word in the Church and euer haue bin What then is the cause that notwithstanding the exhortations and exclamations of so many men so fewe are conuerted Truely in great Citties and Townes euery day in the Lent twentie thirty or forty Orators declame and yet when Lent is done there appeareth almost no change in the manners of the Cittizens and Townsmen The same vices the same sinnes the same coldnesse the same loosnesse is still seene I finde no other cause hereof but that for the most part learned eloquent and copious sermons are preached but the foule is wanting the life is wanting the fire is wanting and to be short that great charitie is wanting which onely can animate and quicken the wordes of 〈◊〉 speakers and inslame and change the hartes of the hearers Neither say I this but that many Preachers haue lowdnesse of voyce and action of body for Gunnes without either bullet or stone make a great noyse when they are discharged but to no purpose That which is desired is that they would shewe great zeale to God and the gaining of soules not faynedly but truely not streyned but naturally flowing from the fountaine of the hart Saint Peter was ignorant of Rhetoricke he onely was expert in guiding his Boate and in casting and amending his Nettes yet so soone as the holy Ghost descended vpon him in fiery tongues and replenished him with feruent Charity he presently began to speake so powerfully feruently and effectuously in the middest of the Citty Ierusalem that with one Sermon hee conuerted many thousands to beleeue and doe pennance Act 2 Yet wee reade not that in his Sermons he vsed much straining of the voyce or wearisome motion of the body Saint Bonauenture reporteth that St. Francis was vnlearned and that hee neuer studied the Art of Rhetoricke yet when hee Preached to the people hee was heard as an Angell from Heauen Cap. 2 vit St. Fr. For his wordes saith hee were like burning Fire inflaming the heart And as it is related in the Chronicles of the Minors cap. 30. when once after dinner he spake on the suddaine a few wordes to the people they were all so mooued to repentance that the same day seemed Good Friday Whence proceeded so great fruite from so fewe wordes Truely because that holy Preacher was Like aburning coale Eccle. 48 and his worde as a burning torch as Ecclesiasticus writ of Eltas We haue the written Sermons of St. Vincentius St. Bernardine and some other Saintes which scarce any will vouchsafe to read because of the exceeding plainnesse of Stile which is found in them And yet we knowe that by their preaching many thousands of men haue beene conuerted to God and themselues were euer heard with incredible concourse and attention because indeed their plaine and simple wordes proceeded from fiery and zealous hearts More ouer the efficacy of this Diuine fire is shewed as much in deedes as in wordes God determined by St. Peter the Apostle to subdue Rome the chiefe Citty of the Empire and Lady of Nations vnto himselfe He determined also to send the rest of the Apostles some into Ethiopia some into India some into Scythia some into the farthest part of Britany to destroy by them the Idols of the world to erect the standard of the Crosse to change Lawes and customes and to ouerthrow the tyranie of the Deuill If any one had foretolde these thinges vnto the Apostles when they fished in the Lake of Gensareth or when they fled away and hidd themselues at our Lords Passion they would haue seemed dreames or olde wiues tales And yet soone after all these thinges came to passe and by no other force but by the Fire of Charity which the holy Ghost enkindled in their heartes 1 Ioh. 4 1 Cor. 13 For Charity casteth out Feare suffereth all thinges hopeth all thinges Thinketh all thinges possible and cryeth out with the Apostle Phil 4 I can all thinges in him that strengthneth me So that we see by the worke and labour of these men onely armed with Charity Idolatry was in short time extinguished throughout the world Churches euery where founded to the honour of Christ and the Standard of the Crosse without army of soldiers or prouisioÌ„ of war erected in all kingdomes The fire also hath a property to make hard Iron so soft Cap. 4 that it may easily be attenuated and extended into plates and brought to any forme Fire hath great power ouer Iron but the power of God ouer the obstinate and obdurate hearts of men is farre greater Heer St. Bâ—rnard in his bookes of Consideration Lib. 1. c 2 Solum est cordurum c. It is onely a hard heart saith he that abhorreth not it selfe because it feeleth not What then is a hard heart It is that which is neither cut with compunction mollified with piety nor mooued with Prayers It careth not for threates by punishments it is hardened It is vngratefull for benefites incredulous to counsaile And after It is that which neither feareth God nor Man All which to be true Pharao can witnesse who the more he was punished by God
to be of their nearenesse subiection and coniunction with God the Father of Light The Moone signifieth Man the Sunne God When the Moone is opposite against the Sunne then with her light borrowed from the Sunne she onely beholdeth the Earth and turneth her backe as it were to Heauen Therfore she then appeareth very beautifull to the Inhabitants of the Earth but very deformed to those in Heauen Euen so Men when they are farr from God as that prodigall Son that departed froÌ„ his Father went into a far Countrey then doe they abuse the light of reason which they receiued froÌ„ him to behold the earth onely are altogether occupied in getting the wealth therof And then of the children of this world they are accounted wise and happy But of the heauenly Cittizens they are esteemed Poore Apoc. 3 and blinde naked deformed and miserable Againe when the Moone is vnder yâ— Sun or very near it she then shineth in the higher part and onely beholdeth Heauen turning as it were her back to the Earth vanishing from the eyes of men Euen so when a sinner beginneth to returne vnto virtue and to be truely subiected vnto God the true Sunne of Soules by Humility and ioyned vnto him by Charity then will he fulfill that which the Apostle aduiseth Col 3 Seeke the thinges that are aboue where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God and minde the thinges that are aboue not the thinges that are vpon the Eâ—rth And then shall hee be dispised by fond Worldlings and accompted a dead man For indeed he is dead to the world And his life is hid with Christ in God But when Christ shall appeare his Life Then he also shall appeare with Christ in Glory as the same Apostle saith in that place And this is the cause as St. Epist 19 c. 4 5 6 Augustine in his Epistle to Ianuarius hath noted why the Pasch of our Lord neither in the olde or new Law could be rightly Celebrated vntill the full Moone were past to wiâ—t vntill the Moone which at the full is opposite beginneth by conuersion to returne to coniunction with the Sunne For God by this coelestial Planet would shew how by the Passion and Resurrection of Christ Man that was opposite vnto God by his iniquity should begin to returne vnto God and by the merites of Iesus Christ seeke to vnite himselfe vnto his grace But thou my soule if perhapps by Gods grace thou finde thy selfe subiected in true humility vnto the Father of Light and ioyned vnto him in feruent Charity doe not imitate sooles who Are changed as the Moâ—ne Eccle 27 but emulate Wise men which remainâ— as the Sunne as Ecclesiasticus witnesseth For the Moore increafeth quickly and decreaseth But if thou be wise abandon not grace once receiued depart not from it for nothing canst thou finde better in any place Neither knowest thou hauing once lost it whether thou shalt returne to it any more for hee that promised pardon and grace vnto the penitent hath not promised the Guift of repentance or a long life vnto thee Therefore thou mayest without feare turne thy backe to the Earth and behold thy Sunne Râ—st delight and remaine in him Say with the Apostle St. Mat. 17 Peter It is good for vs to be here Epist Ad Com. And with the Martyr Ignatius It is better for me to liue with Christ then to rule the Earth Care not what they thinke of thee which loue the world for he is not approued whom the world coÌ„mendeth but whom God coÌ„mendeth The Moone hath also an other property Cap 5 which God is accustomed to vse towardes his elect For the Moone gonerneth the night as the Sunne the day saith Moses in Genesis Gen. 7 and Dauid in the Psalmes Psal 135 but the Sun shineth all day long the Moone somtime in the night casteth a great light somtimes a small and sometimes none at all So God like the Sunne alwayes shineth vpon the holy Angels and blessed Soules which inioy perpetuall day For theresh all be no night there saith St. Iohn in the Apocalips but in this night of our Pilgrimage and banishment Apoc. 21 2 Cor. 5 In which we walke by Faith and not by Sight And Attend to holy Scripture as to a candle shining in a darke place as St. Peter saith in his last Epistle 2 Pet 1 God like the Moone doth sometime visite and illuminate our hearts and sometime leaueth vs in the darknes of desolation Yet thou oughtest not my soule to be too sorrowfull albeit thou enioy not the Light of consolation nor reioyce too much if shortly after thou breathe in the Light of comfortable Deuotion For God is as the Moone and not as the Sunne in the night of this world Neither doth hee onely appeare vnto vs poore and vnperfect creatures sometimes as a Moone full of the Light of Consolation and sometimes without Light leauing vs in the darke night of Desolation For the Apostle St. Paul the vessell of election who was rapt into the Third Heauen 2 Cor. 12 and heard secret wordes which is not lawfull for a man to speake saith sometimes 2 Cor. 7 I am replenished with Consolation I dâ—e exceedingly abouâ—d in ioy in all our tribulation And sometimes he sigheth and lamenteth saying Rom 7 I see another Law in my members repugning to the Law of my minde and captiuing me in the Law of sinne that is in my members Vnhappy man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death 21 Cor. 1 And in his last vnto the Corinthians We will not haue you ignorant Brethren concerning our tribulation which hath happened in Asia that we were pressed aboue measure aboue our power so that it was teadious vnto vs euen to liue And thus as St. Iohn Chrysostome noteth God dealeth with all his Saints Hom. 8 in Math. to wit not suffering them to haue continuall tribulations nor to enioy continuall consolations but in an admirable varietie of prosperitie and aduersitie to spend as it were their liues Thus much of the moone The Starres also are numbred among the ornaments of heauen Cap. 6 of which Ecclesiasticus saith The glory of the starres is the beauâ—y of heauen but he presently addeth Eccle. 43 Our Lord illuminating the world on high For all the beauty of the Starrs Sunne and Moone proceedeth from God the Father of light neither doth the Sunne by day or Moone and starrs by night giue light but it is Our Lord that dwelleth on high who by the Sun Moone starrs giueth light to the world For it is he who as the Prophet Baruch speaketh Baruch 3 Sendeth forth light and it goeth hath called it it obeyeth him with trembling And the starrs haue giuen light in their watches and reioyced they were called and they sayd here we are they haue shined to him with checrefulnesse
that made them By which words the infinite power of God is signified who did in a moment produce and cause to worke bodies so great and beautifull And to shine to him with cheerefulnesse that made them is with such readinesse to obey their maker as if in obeying him they were greatly pleased and delighted And surely it is a thing much to be meruayled that the starres moouing so speedily and continually and some performing their course so slowely and some so swiftly in their seuerall orbes yet they alwayes keepe such measure and proportion together that from it ariseth a most sweete and pleasing harmonie Wherof God speaketh in the booke of Iob when he saith Iob. 38 Who shall declare the manner of the heauens and the harmony of heauen who shall make to sleepe This is not the harmony of voyces or soundes heard with corporall eares but the harmony of proportion in the motions of the starres heard onely with the eare of the Hart. For all the starres of the firmament passe with the like speede about the whole compasse of heauen in foure and twenty houres And the seauen Planets or wandring starres are mooued some swifter some slower So that the starres of the Firmament seeme to beare the plaine song to speake after the vulgar manner and the Planets to modulate a sweet and continuall kinde of Descant But these thinges are aboue vs and this Harmony is heard onely by them that are in Heauen and vnderstand the reasons of these motions The starrs also keepe a iust measure alwayes in turning â—ound and therefore they seeme to daunce continually in â—eauen like honest virgins skilfull in that art But thou my soule ascend a little higher if thou canst and by the great brightnesse of the Sunne the beauty of the Moone the multitude and varietie of the other lightes the admirable harmony of heauen and delightfull dauncing of the starrs Thinke what it will be to beholde God aboue heaven to wit That Sunne that inhabiteth light 1 Tim. 6 not accessible to behold the virgin Queene of heauen who being faire as the Moone reioyceth the Cittie of God To behold the quires and orders of Angells which being more in number and brighter then the starres adorne the Emperiall heauen To behold the soules of Saintes among the companies of Angels as Planets among the starres of the Firmament And lastly to heare the songes of prayses and that eternall Alleluia with concording voyces most sweetly to resound in the streetes of that Cittie Then shall it come to passe that neither the beauty of heauen will seeme great vnto thee and the thinges belowe heauen which are small short and of no value will be reiected and contemned THE EIGHT STEPP From the Consideration of the reasonable Soule WE haue hetherto passed onely through corporall things Cap. 1 whiles we intended from the contemplation of creatures to ascend vnto the Creator And now we finde the soule of Man surpassing the dignitie of all bodies to be in the lowest ranke of spirituall substances betweene whom and God there are no other but the Hierarchies and Orders of Angells The soule of man carrieth such a resemblance with God the maker thereof that truely I knowe no way more easie for a man to ascend vnto the knowledge of God then from the consideration of his owne soule And therefore he is vnexcusable before God if he knewe not God since from the knowledge of his owne soule he may by Gods assistance without difficultie attaine thereunto First therefore the soule of Man is a spirit for so the holy Fathers expound those wordes of Genesis Gen 2 Our Lord God formed Man of the slâ—me of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life And that of Tobias Command my spirit to be receaued â—ob 3 And Ecclesiastes Let thedust returne into his earth Eccl 12 and the spirit returne to God who gaue it For albeit the word spirit agree also to the winde whereof it is said in the psalme The spirit of stormes Psal 148 Ioh. 3 And in the Gospell The spirit breatheth where he will and thou hearest his voyce Yet there is no doubt but that the Spirit of stormes is a body which by reason of the exceeding raritie thereof doth neerer immitate a Naturall spirit then any other body whatsoeuer but the soule of man is a true spirit not a body neither is it produced out of matter but created of God Whereof among Catholiques there is no controuersie Heere then beginneth the excellencie of the soule and her resemblance with God For God is a spirit saith our Sauiour and they that adore him Ioh. 4 must adore in spirit and veritie But although God is a spirit and the soule of man is also a spirit yet God is a spirit vncreated the soule a spirit created whereupon it followeth that there is an infinite difference between that spirit which is the soule and that spirit which is God As therefore the soule may reioyce for being a spirituall substance excelling thereby the heauens and starres in nobilitie of Nature so ought she also to be humbled vnto God her Maker because she is made of nothing and without him of her selfe is nothing Secondly Cap. 2 the soule of Man is a simple spirit and therefore immortall for it hath nothing within it selfe that can dissolue it or cause it to dye but as it hath this priuiledge aboue the soules of brute beastes which dye with the bodie so it ought likewise to admire and reuerence the excellencye of the Creator who is not onely immortall but also eternall For there was a time when the soule of man was not and by the will of God onely it tooke beginning and may likewise if God so please be reduced to nothing although in it selfe it hath no cause of corruption Therefore the Apostle said of God â— Tim. 6 Who onely hath immortalitie for he onely can by no power chance or reason be dissolued because he is the Fountaiâ—e of life Thirdly Cap. 3 the soule of Man hath the light of vnderstanding for it not onely decerneth colours senttes tastes soundes hot cold hard soft and other such like thinges which lye open to the senses of the body But also iudgeth of substances and of generall and vniversall Notions as well as of particular Neither knoweth it onely thinges present but also coniectureth of thinges to come and mounteth by discourse aboue the Heauens penetrateth the depth searcheth out causes by effectes and from causes runneth backe to effectes Lastly by the light of reason it ascendeth vnto God who Inhabiteth Light vnaccessible And of this Light St. 1 Tim. 6 Iohn saith in the Gospell Ioh. 1 It was the true Light which lightneth euery man that commeth into the World Psal 4 And Dauid in the Psalmes The Light of thy countenance O Lord is signed vpon vs. And Psal 31 Doe not become as Horse and Male which haue
no vnderstanding This is a great dignity of the soule whereby man is made like to God and vnlike to Beastes And from hence we may and ought to consider the Infinite eminency and sublimitie of God For the soule is indued with the light of vnderstanding but God is Light and Vnderstanding The soule discourseth from the Cause to the effect and from the Effect to the cause and with great labour getteth knowledge God seeth all things at once perfectly together The soule vnderstandeth thinges which are and therefore her knowledge dependeth of thinges God by his Vnderstanding causeth thinges to be and therefore their existence dependeth of his knowledge The soule in some sort coniectureth of thinges to come God seeth alwayes all thinges to come as plainly as thinges past or present The Soule wanteth many thinges to exercise the guift of vnderstanding As Obiect Species Phantasie and the like God wanteth nothing for his Essence is to him all thinges Lastly the Soule while it is in the body cannot see God nor Angels or it selfe or any substance truely though it be Corporall many thinges also it knoweth not and is deceiued coniecturing much by opinion and comprehending little by demonstration But God knoweth all thinges without coniecture or error Heb. 4 for All thinges are naked and open to his eyes as the Apostle speaketh in his Epist Heb 4 to the Heb. If man then esteem his knowledge so much that the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13 Knowledge puffeth vp how ought hee to admire the knowledge of God in coÌ„parison whereof all knowledge of man is ignorance Fourthly there is another kinde of knowledge in the soule of man Cap 4 with consisteth not in speculation but in action Whereupon so many bookes of vertues and vices so many Lawes ordinaÌ„ces Institutions exercises haue bin written by Philosophers to attaine the knowledge how to liue Well By all with an admirable light of reason is discouered to be in man wherby he far excelleth Beastes But all thesethinges are nothing in comparison of the Law eternall which liueth in the minde of God from whence as from an euerslowing Fountaine all Lawes and Ordinances haue sprung For there is one Law-maker and Iudge God saith St. Iam 4 Iames in his Epistle He is Truth Iustice and Wisdome By whom Kinges raigne Pro. 8 and the makers of Lawes decree iust thinges Thou shalt neuer therefore finde out the skill how to liue Well vntill thou be admitted into the schoole of Christ Who onely is the true Maister Mat 23 By his worde and example thou shalt learne that Iustice which aboundeth aboue the iustice of the Scribes and Pharistes or of the Philosophers the end whereof is Charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and a Faith not fained 1 Tim. 1 Fiftly the Soule of man hath a third kinde of Knowledge Cap. 5 which consisteth in making thinges ingeniously And truely Spiders know also how to make their cobwebs Birdes their nestes Bees their hony and Foxes their holes But these Creatures by Instinct of Nature doe the same thinges after one and the same manner But the soule of man by reason and iudgement hath inuented innumerable Artes by which it gouerneth ruleth by force all other liuing Creatures Neither can Birdes escape by flight Fishes by swimming Lyons and Beares by strength Horses and Mules by fiercenesse nor Stagges and Goates by swiftnesse For euen Children take birdes with snares and birdlime and Fishers with hookes and nettes catch fishes And Men by witt and art include and carry Lyons and Beares into Iron cages take wilde Boares and Staggs in Toyles or kill them with Iauelyns and tame Horses and Mules with the bridle and make them fitt to be ridden on What shall I say of the Art of Nauigation How great light of Witt shined in the soule of Man when it taught great Shipps being heauily loaden not onely to runne through the Maine with oares like feete but also to flye with Sayles like winges What of Agriculture Who will not wonder at mans witt to beholde the Corne fieldes Vineyards Orchardes Gardens Fish-ponds springes of Waters brought to irrigate and moysten them What of Architecture Who will not admire the Pallaces Temples Cittyes Arches Towers Amphitheaters Pyramides and Pillars of stone I omit the Artes of Painting and Engrauing by which the Countenances of men and other thinges are so liuely expressed in colours or marble that sometimes they are taken for true not for painted or engrauen I will say nothing of other Artes inuented by man either for necessity profite or pleasure for they are so many that scarcely they can be numbred Giue thankes therefore O my soule to God that it hath pleased him to make thy Nature so farre different from the nature of other liuing Creatures And lift vp the eyes of thy minde vnto thy said Maker in whom is the true fountaine of that Witt and Wisdome which created all thinges From thence did slow all the Wâ—tt which is deriued vnto thy Nature And if thou dost admire Mans witt because it hath learned how to tame wilde Beastes by industry and Art admire Gods wisdome much more whome not onely all liuing Creatures but also all things without life serue obey And if it seeme much to thee that Man hath inuented the Artes of sayling on the seas tilling the fieldes and building houses much more let it seeme to thee that God hath built the Heauens Earth and Seas all thinges which are in them And lastly if thou wonder at the liuely painting in colors or ingratâ—â—ing in stone Why dost thou not wonder at the skill of thy Creator who of clay made a true liuing man and of the ribbe of a man a true liuing woman Adde also that Man can doe nothing without God but God doth all thinges alone without helpe of any other Sixtly Mans soule hath Free-will Cap. 6 in which it is like to God and Angels and chiefly differeth from other Creatures This is a great and admirable excellency But the Freedome of Will in God is so great that the Freedome of the soule being compared thereunto scarce seemeth a shadow thereof The Freedome of mans will is weake and prone to choose thinges euill and hurtfull The liberty of Gods will is most strong and can neuer faile or be inclined to euill For as to dye is an Infirmity of a Mortall body and not to dye an Ability of a Glorified body So to sinne is an infirmity of Free-will and not to sinne will be an ability of the same Free-will when God shall hereafter in Heauen giue vs that by Grace which he alwayes hath by Nature Our Free-will also is free indeed potentially to will and not to will or actually to will not to will But it caÌ„not doe what it will or not doe what it will euen in it selfe and much lesse in others Heare the Apostle lamenting in his Epistle to the Romans
world from the first Creature to the last I say nothing so perfectly as that hee is able to explicate the Nature Propertyes Accidents and secret virtues thereof Into what errors shall he fall if hee vndertake to search out the thinges which are aboue Heauen Therefore if thou be Wise my soule follow the knowledge of Saluation and Wisdome of Saintes which consisteth in fearing God keeping his Commaundements Delight more in prayer then in DisputatioÌ„ and in edifying Charity then in proud knowledge For that is the way which leadeth vnto life Eternall where we little ones shal he made equall with Angells which alwayes see the face of their Father which is in Heauen Luk â—0 Mat. 18 There is also a third thing wherein Mans soule is not a litle lesse but much lesse then Angells to witt in the power and commaund ouer Bodyes For Mans soule moueth the body by commaundment of the Will but other Bodyes it cannot so moue And it moueth the body by Progressiue motion vpon the Earth but cannot suspend it vpon the Water cleuate it aboue the Ayer or carry it whether it will But Angells onely by Force of Spirit and commaundment of Will eleuate heauy bodyes and carry them whether they lift So an Angell tooke vp Abachue Dan. 14 and in a very short time carried him to Babilon to bring Daniel his â—inner recarried him again to Palistine A man also cannot fight in spirit onely with his enemies but with his handes and weapons but an Angel by power of spirit without hands or weapons can encounteâ— and ouercome a whole army of men So one Angel â—â—ew at once a hundred fourescore and fiue thousand Assyrians 4 Reg. 19 And if Angels can do these thinges what can the Lord and maker of Angels doe He truely made all thinges of nothing and can reduce all thinges to nothing Mans soule moreouer can by the art of paynting with industry and labour make the image of a man so lively that it may seeme to liue and breath But an Angell can without labour of handes or instruments almost in a moment of time assume in such sort a body Elementarie that wise men will iudge it to be the true body of a man because it can walk speake eate drinke be touched handled and washed So Abraham prepared meate for the Angells Gen. 18 and washt their feete For as the Apostle declareth Ieb 13 He receaued Angels to harbour thinking they had bene men Which also happened to his nephew Loth when he receaued two Angels as strangers into his house Gen. 19 The Angell Raphael in like manner remayned with young Tobias many-dayes walking speaking eating and drinking as if he had bene a man indeede yet notwithstanding being after to depart he said I seemed indeede to eate with you and to drinke Tob. 12 but I vse an inu sible meate and drinke and sodainly he vanished from their sight Surely it is admirable and proceedeth from great power so to frame a body on the sodaine as that it may seeme to differ in nothing from the liuing body of a Man and againe at pleasure on the fodaine so to dissolue the same body that nothing therof remayne If then the power of Angels be so great how great is the power of the maker of Angels who gaue them that power Truely as the knowledge of Angells and men being comâ—ared with the knowledge of God is ignorance and as the iustice of Angells and men being compared with the iustice of God is iniustice so the power of Angells and men being compared with the power of God is infirmitie Therefore it is truely said Rom. 16 â—uke 18 1 â—â—m 6 Cap 4. Our God onely wise onely good and onely mighâ—ie Lastly if we consider the place of Angels and of men we shall finde mans soule in that respect also Not a little lesse Heb. 2 but much lessened vnder Aâ—gells I willingly vse that word which the Apostle vâ— sâ—th For God hath appâ—inted a place on earth for the soule of man and in heauen to wit in his Pallace a place for Angels Psal 113 For the heauen of heauen is to our Lord but the earth he hath giuen to the children of men Whereupon our Lord in St. Math 24 Mathew calleth them The Angels of heauen And in St. Luke he saith There shall be ioy in heauen vpon one sinner that deth penance Luke 15 And a little after There shall be ioy before the Angels of God vpon one sinner that doth penance God also hath so tyed the soule to the body that it cannot without it remoue from place to place but Angels are not tyed to any body but haâ—e power giuen them to pâ—sse from heauen to earth and from earth to heauen or whether soeuer they will with very great speede so that Angels being next vnto God in dignitie of Nature doe also in some sort by their celerity immitate his vbiquitie For God is euery where by immensitie of Nature and therefore needeth no change of place Angels by swiftnesse of motion passe so speedily from place to place and so exhibit their presence in cuery place that they seeme after a sort to be euery where But my soule if thou wilt heare the Lord of Angels there is no cause why thou shouldest enuy that Angels haue so high a place and so vnsatigable a motion For not onely thou my soule when thou art loosed from the body shalt be equall vnto Angels but when thou shalt returne vnto thy body which Christ Will corfigure to the body of his glory Phil. 3 with that body shalt thou possesse heauen as thy owne-house it being made spirituall shall without labour or wearinesse be presently there wheresoeuer thou the soule shalt will and command it 1 Cor. 5 Thy Lord doth not deceaue thee who saith in his Gospel Ioh. 14 In my Fathers house there be many Mansions And I goe and prepare you a place And If I go and prepare you a place I come againe and will take you to my selfe that where I am you also may be Father I will that where I am Ioh. 17 they also maâ— be with me and that they may see my glory which thou hast giuen me But thou art not ignorant where Christ is and what body he hath For thou dost confesse euery day and say On the third day he rose againe from the dead he ascended into heauen thou knowest also that his body after the resurrection did sometimes enter in among his Disciples the dores deing shut â—châ—â—o Lâ—k 24 and departed from them not walking but vanishing that is he transferred his body from them so speedily as if it had beene a Spirit and not a body But if thou secke after this glory thou must first Consigure thy body Phil. 3 to the body of the humilitie of Christ And then Christ will configure thy body to the body of his glory For
without ceasing but there are innumerable Angels and holy men which heare them and are delighted therewith and they also with Hymnes and songes continually prayse their maker But to proceed The length of Gods essence is his eternitie Cap. 4 which neither hath beginning of duration nor euer shall haue end but is alwayes the same without any change Psal 101 Thou art saith Dauid the selfesame and thy yeares shall not fayle Tobyas also Tob 13 1 Tim. 6 and after him the Apostle calleth God The king of worlds because he onely was before all worlds is not subiect to worldes but ruleth and gouerneth them Other thinges haue beginning and end and neuer continue in the same state Or els they haue beginning without end or change of substance yet if their maker please they may cease to be Eternitie therfore is proper to God onely Nor was there euer any Prince so prowde that among his many other Tytles durst arrogate to himselfe the tytle of eternall except perhaps in an other seÌ„ce As Constantius who was called eternal Emperour because he was not Emperour for a certaine time but for terme of life But thou my soule mayst be numbred among both kindes of Creatures For thou hast a body which began to be when it was conceaued and borne and by degrees it grewe to that stature which God appointed then it began to decrease and shortly by death it shall cease to be Therefore it neuer wholy continueth in the same state but is euery hower subiect to change Of thy body the Prophet spake this sentence resembling it to Hay In the morning as an hearbe hee shall passe Psal 89 in the morning he shall flourish and passe in the euening he shall fall be hardened and withered For in the morning to wit in Childhood Mans body flourisheth like an bearbe and soone after followeth youth In the Noone-tyde of youth it flourisheth and soone after followeth olde age in the euening of olde age it falleth by death and in the graue it is hardened withered and turned to dust Beholde therefore O my soule how farre thy bodie is from eternitie But thou wast created in time where as before thou wast nothing and therein thou â—rt farre vnlike thy eternall Creator but being created thy duration is endlesse wherein thou dost resemble thy Creator And because whiles thou art in the body thou changest often from vice to vertue and from vertue to vice And according to the state in which thou shalt be found at thy departure from the body thou shalt be iudged either to raigne for euer with God or for euer to be tormented with the Deuill therefore thou oughtest to haue a very great care to eschew vice and to follow vertue Take heede then least thou be seduced by the allurements of thy flesh to the euerlasting perdition both of thy selfe and it Gal 5 but rather Crucifie it with the vices and concupiscences thereof that thou mayst hereafter liue eternally and thy flesh may rise in glory and in glory remaine with thee for all eternitie But although the Angells and soules of Saintes are to be partakers of eternitie in that high and happy Vnion with God by his beatifying vision and loue which vnion shall continue for euer without change yet may they alter change their thoughts affections and places after diuers manners therefore they shall alwaies reuereÌ„tly admire Gods eternitie aboue them in whom can be no change of thought affection or place for he wanteth nothing but hath all things present which in eternitie of time he might by diuers changings haue procured Therefore eternitie is a length without end no lesse proper to God then the breadth of his immensitie It followeth then Cap. 5 that we consider the Height of God of whom it is sayd Thou onely the Highest Psal 82 For God is most heigh in excellencie of Nature Other thinges are the more heigh and excellent the more pure they are and more free from matter This is euident first in corporall things For the Water is higher then the Earth because it is more pure and for the same cause the Ayer is higher then the Water and the Fire then the Ayer and the Heauen then the Fire The like also wee finde in Spirituall thinges for the vnderstanding is higher then the sence because the sence hath a Corporal organ which the vnderstanding needeth not Likewise the vnderstanding of Angels is higher then mans Because Mans vnderstanding needeth the helpe of Imagination and Phantasie which Angells need not and among Angells they are the Highest which vnderstand most by fewest Formes God therefore who is A pure Act needeth neither Organ nor Imagination nor Forme nor the presence of any Obiect without himselfe for his essence is to him all thinges Neither can he haue any thing which he hath not alwayes actually had and to haue Alwayes actually is alwayes to be a Pure and simple Act Therefore the Nature of God is most high and which cannot by any meanes haue an equall For which cause he who said I will be like to the Highest Isay 14 was suddainly cast downe from Heauen into the lowest Hell as Esay doth describe And Christ our Lord saith of him Luke 10 I saw Sathan as a lightning fall from Heauen God also is most High for that he is the first and Highest efficient exemplar and finall cause of all thinges He is the highest efficient cause for that there is no Creature which hath any working vertue but from God but God receiueth not from any other Againe no cause can worke vnlesse it be moued by God but God is mooued by no other Moreouer among Creatures such causes are said to be highest whiah are vniuersall and of whom particular causes depend As the Heauens and Angells which moue the Heauens but God made both the Heauens and Angells He therefore is the first and highest efficient cause And hee is the first exemplar cause for he made all thinges according to the Ideas or Formes which in him selfe he hath Lastly hee is also the first Finall cause For hee created all thinges for himselfe Pro. 16 to witt for manifestation of his glory as the wise man saith in the Prouerbes Moreouer God is most high because he sitteh in a most high Throne I saw our Lord saith Isay sitting vpon an high Throne and eleuated Isay 6 A seate hath two vses the one to Iudge the other to rest in let vs then consider each of them apart First God hath a most Throne because hee is the Highest Iudge For Abraham said vnto God Gen. 18 Psal 81 Thou doest iudge all the Earth And Dauid In the middes hee iudgeth goddes That is God iudgeth the Iudges themselues who in the Scripture are called Goddes And St. Iames saith plainly Iam 4 There is one Law-maker and Iudge That is to say God onely is the true Law-maker and Iudge For he onely giueth Lawes to all
whome he loueth Thus he Whereby he plainely declareth that God sheweth himselfe vnto blessed soules not as a iudging Lord but as a familiar friend And truely the familiaritie which God also sheweth in this life to pure and chaste mindes is vncredible For of him it is sayd My delights to be with the children of men Prou. 8 Prou. 3 And his talke is with the simple Hence was it that all the Saintes albeit they suffered pressures in the world had notwithstanding peace in their harts where God dwelt therefore they seemed and were indeed alwayes ioyfull and quiet For to them the Truth said Ioh 16 Your hart shall retoyce and your ioy no man shall take from you There remaineth the fourth part of dimension which is called depth Cap. 8 The depth of Gods essence is manifold First the Diuinitie is in it selfe most deepe solide and substantiall Not like a guilded wedge which hath gold onely in the outside and within is brasse or wood but like an endlesse wedge of gold or rather like a mine of golde so deepe that by digging it can neuer be emptied So is God vncomprehensible For as a Myne of gold without bottome can neuer be emptied with digging so God whose greatnesse is without end can neuer be so perfectly knowne by any Creature but that there still remayneth more to be known and God onely comprehendeth that depth who onely hath an infinite vnderstanding Depth also belongeth to God in respect of place For as he is most high and aboue all So he is most deep and vnder all Who as the Apostle saith Carrieth all thinges by the word of his power Heb. 1 God therefore is as the foundation and rooâ—e of a house Act. 17 In whom we live and mooue and be So that Salomon sayd most truely Heauen and the heauens of heauens cannot containe thee â— Reg. 8. For God rather containeth the heauens and all thinges vnder them because he is both aboue the heauens and vnder the earth Furthermore Gods depth is his inuisibilite For God is Light but vnaccessible he is truth but most secret Psal 17 Thou hast put darkenesse thy Couert saith Dauid And Isay 45 verily he is God hidden as I say speaketh St. Augustine seeking God on a time sent his eyes as messengers from earth to heauen And all thinges answered Lib. 9 coÌ„â— c. 〈…〉 lib. 10 c. 6. in psal 26. 28 We are not him whom thou seekest but he made vs. Wherefore not finding God by Ascention through outward thinges he began to Ascend through inwrard thinges and from them he learned that God was more easily to be found for he knewe that the soule was better then the body and the inward sence then the outward sence and the vnderstanding then it Whence he gathered that God who is more inward then the vnderstanding was better then the vnderstanding Therefore whatsoeuer we vnderstand or conceaue is not God but some other thing lesse then God for he is better then we can conceaue Goe too then my soule if thou art better then thy body to whome thou giuest life because it is a body and thou a spirit and if the eye of thy body cannot see thee because it is without and thou within So thinke likewise that thy God is better then thou art because he is a spirit more high and inward then thou For thou dwellest as it were without but he resideth in his most profound and secret Tabernacle But shalt thou neuer be admitted thether God forbid Thy Lord doth not lye who saith Math 5 Blessed are the cleane of hart for they shall see God Nor his Apostle who sayd We see now by a glasse in a darke sort 1 Cor. 13 but then face to face Nor St. Iohn the Euangelist who writ We knowe that when he shall appeare 1 Ioh 3 we shall be like to him because we shall see him as he is How great then will thy ioy be when in that secret and sacred Sanctuary thou shalt see and enioy that light beauty and goodnesse it selfe Then shall it plainely appeare how vaine transitorie and of small moment the goods of this earth are wherewith men being inebriated forget the true and euerlasting But if thou thirst indeed after the liuing God And if thy teares be breades vnto thee day and night whiles psal 41 it is sayd where is thy God Be not slowe to cleanse thy hart whereby thou mayst see God Be not weary to dispose ascentions in thy hart vntill the God of Goddes shall be seene in Syon Psal 83 Neither waxe thou colde in the loue of God and thy neighbour 1 Ioh. 3 nor loue in word and in tongue but in deed and truth For that is the way that leadeth to life euerlasting THE ELEVENTH STEPP From the Consideration of the greatnesse of Gods power by the similitude of a corporall quantitie GReat is our Lord Cap. 1 and there is no end of his Greatnesse For he is not great onely because Omnipotencie is his higth infinite wisdome his depth incomprehensible mercie his breadth iustice like a rod of yron his length but also for that these Attributes are infinite in breadth length higth and depth And to begin from his Power or rather his Omnipotency The breath of Gods power consisteth in extention to infinite thinges First it is extended to all thinges made for there is nothing from the greatest Angel to the least Worme or from the highest Heauen to the lowest Hell which was not made by the power of God Ioh. 1 All things saith St. Iohn were made by him and without him was made nothing And after The world was made by him Secondly it is extended to all thinges that shal be made For as nothing hath bin made but by him so likewise nothing shall be made but by him So speaketh the Apostle Rom. 1. Of him and by him and in him are all thinges Thirdly it is extended to all thinges that may be made So speaketh the Angel There shall not be impossible with God any worde Luk. 1 And our Lord himselfe saith Math 19 With God all thinges are possible Fourthly it is extended to the destruction of all thinges made For as God could by a floude of Water destroy at once all men and other liuing creatures vpon earth except a few which it pleased him to preserue within Noahs Arke So be can by a floude of Fire at one time destroy not onely all Men and other Creatures found liuing at the lâ—st day but also all Trees Cittyes and other thinges vpon Earth The day of our Lord saith Saint Peter the Apostle in his last Epistle shall come as a Theefe 2 Pet. 3 in the which the Heauens shall passe with great violence but the Elements shall be resolued with heate and the Earth and the workes which are in it shall be burnt Great surely is the breadth of Gods Power and
as may seeme vncredible God dealeth like a learned and gentle Phisition who tempereth his medicines in such sort that the Patients may receaue them not onely easily but also willingly For meates doubtlesse are Medicines which vnlesse men receaue often they cannot escape death But God our most louing and skilfull pâ—isition hath first giuen a taste vnto meates that they may be taken with delight then he hath multiplyed them with infinite variety to take away yerksomnesse And lastly after diuers alterations in the mouth stomach liuer and hart he changeth the meate into so thinne a iuyce that it passeth without sâ—ission or paine through all the veynes and pores of the body vnto all the partes of the flesh bones and synnowes euen when we sleepe and feele it not The Philosophers wonder at the Wisdome of Nature when they consider these thinges But what Wisdome can there be in thinges without life sence and reason Therefore not the wisdome of nature bur the wisdome of God is to be admired who made nature and found out the way how these merueilous thinges might be done Heare the wisdome of God speaking in the Gospell Math 6 Consider the Lillies of the field how they growe They labour not neither doe they spinne and God doth so clothe c. Therefore not the wisdome of Nature but God maketh the Lillies to growe and as it weare clotheth them with so comely garments Which also may be said of the nourishment and growth of all liuing creatures as the Apostle witnesseth saying 1 Cor 3 Neither he that planteth is any thing nor he that watereth but he that giueth the increase God And if the Wisdome of God doth feede nourish and preserue Plantes and Beastes in this mortall life after so admirable a manner thinke if thou canst O my soule how God doth feede the mindes of Angells and Men in eternall life For on Earth wee are fedd with earthly meates albeit they are seasoned by Gods Wisdome But in Heauen Wisdome it selfe is the meate and drinke of those that liue for euer O Happy shouldest thou be if thou couldest throughly vnderstand what it is God shall be all in all 1 Cor 15 what I say it is that God the chiefe Happinesse shall be to all the Saintes meate drinke cloath life and all thinges whatsoeuer Surely thou wouldest loathe all thinges present Coloss 3 and onely Minde and seeke the thinges that are aboue But let vs proceed It also resembleth a Miracle that for the preseruation and continuance of Mans life God hath giuen to very small thinges a very long and continuall motion without intermission Men take great paines to make the wheeles of a Clocke runne by force of weights foure and twenty houres How great then is the Wisdome of God who causeth the nourishing Facultie to worke without ceassing so long as men beastes or trees doe liue And the longues and pulses to mooue continually seauenty yeares and more For of necessitie the â—ourishing facultye must worke and the longues and pulses must mooue from the first entrance into life vntill the end thereof Those therefore that liue vntill sourescore or ninetie yeares of age must of necessitie haue their longues and pulses mooue all that while And before the sloud when men liued nine hundred yeares their longues and pulses which are thinges very small and soone out of temper wrought nine hundred yeares without rest or intermission Truely they that wonder at these thinges and doe not reuerence and adore Gods Wisdome in them are doubtlesse depriued of all light of Wisdome Moreouer albeit Gods Wisdome can without the labour of men and beastes and without the ministerie of the Sunne or other secondary causes produce and preserue herbes and trees so that all liuing creatures might haue meate in readinesse yet it pleased him to vse the seruice of secundary causes and the labour and industry of men and of beastes that none might be idle but that euery one might exercise their strength He would also that among men some should be rich and some poore that they all might haue occasion to loue vertue and to be tyed together in the bond of Charity For the rich may therefore vse Mercy and Liberality and the poore Patience and Humility The Rich also need the labour of the Poore to till their fieldes to feede their Cattle and by diuers trades to prouide such things as euery one hath neede of The Poore againe want the helpe of the Rich to giue them money and meanes to prouide for themselues meat drinke cloath and other necessaryes Neither is there any canse why the poore should complaine of Gods Wisdome For God who knoweth all and loueth all hath giuen to euery one what hee fore-saw to be most conuenient for them to obtaine euerlasting life As earthly Phisitions commaund some of their Patients to be let bloud others to drinke wine eate flesh and vse recreation Many poore folkes doubtlesse shall now be saued who if they had bin rich had perished eternally And although the rich may also be saued if they seeke to be rich in Good workes and giue that willingly which they receiued of our common Lord not to hide but to bestow Yet it cannot be denied but that pouertie is a safer plainer and shorter way to heauen then wealth Our heauenly master doth not deceaue vs who saith Amen I say to you Math 6 that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdome of heauen And againe Blessed are yee poore for yours is the â—ingdome of God Luk. 6 and woe to you that are rich because you haue your consolation Neither doth the Apostle deceaue vs who in his first Epistle to Timothie saith 1 Tim 6 They that will be made rich fall into tentation and the share of the deuill and many desires vnprofitable and hurtfull which drowne men into destruction and perdition And what our Lord and his Apostles taught by word they confirmed also by example For our Lord saith of himselfe Luk. 9 The Foxes haue holes and the Foules of the ayre neastes but the Sonne of Man hath not where to repose his head And the Apostle saith of himselfe his fellow Apostles Vntill this houre 1 Cor 4 we doe both hunger and thirst and are nâ—ked and are beaten with buffets and are Wanderers That is haue no bouse of our owne Neither ought we to doubt but that the wisdome of Gods Son of his Disciples chose the plainest and safest way vnto life But because Eccles 1 the number of fooles is insinite Few choose this way willingly but many declyne from it with all their affection and power Lastly the length of Gods wisdome is seene in that as it is it selfe eternall so it hath engrafted in all thinges a most liuely instinct to preserue themselues and to prolong their life and being as long as they can Wee see men when they perceaue themselues to be in danger of their liues endeauour
thinke hee offended if being at his Prayers his minde wandered after vayne phantasies When any such thing happened hee spared not Confession but foorthwith made satisfaction This course hee practised so often that seldome was he troubled with those molestations Oâ—ce in a time of Lent he had made a little Basket to passe away some short vacation without being altogether vnocupied which comming to his minde when he said his Houres did somewhat distract it Wherefore being mooued with zeale of Spirit hee burned the basket sâ—â—ing I will sacrifice it to God whose Sacrifice it hindred Therefore distraction of minde in time of Prayer and praising God is not so small an offence as many imagine but great is the Mercy and Longanimitie of God in that hee is no more angry nor presently punisheth vs therefore Next followeth the Height of Gods Mercy Cap. 3 which is taken from the cause moouing God to mercy And truely it is most High and exalted aboue all the Heauens according to that of the Psalmes Lord thy mercy is â—n Heauen Psal 35 And Mercy shall be built vp for euer in the Heauens â—sal 88 Some men haue mercy of other men because they need their helpe and this indeed is the lowest degree of mercy for it goeth not beyond priuate commodity After which manner we also haue compassion of our Horses Dogges and Cattle Others haue mercy by reason of Consanguinity or friendship to witt because they are their Children Brothers Familiars or Friendes and this degree is a little higher and beginneth to haue the Forme of a vertue Lastly others haue mercy because they are their neighbours to wit men as they are made by the same God and of the same molde And therefore they respect not whether they be their friends or enimies good or euill country-men or strangers but they take compassion of all whom they know created according to Gods Image and this is the highest degree of mercy to which mortall men can ascend But God hath mercy vpon all thinges because they are his Creatures and especially vpon men because they are his Images And more especially vpon the righteous because they are his Children heyres of his Kingdome and coheyres of his Onely begotten Sonne But if thou aske why God created the world Why hee made man to his likenesse Why he iustifieth the wicked and adopteth them to be his Children and heyres of his Kingdome Nothing can be answered but because he so would And why would he so but because he is Good For Goodnesse is liberall and doth willingly bestow it selfe Mercy therefore is built vp in Heauen Psal 88 and from a most high habitation to wit from the Heart of the Highest she descended to the Earth and filled it as was foretolde by the Prophet Psal 32 The earth is full of the mercy of our Lord. Lift vp now my soule the eyes of thy minde to that most high fountaine of mercy Consider the absolute purity thereof not mixed with any intention of priuate commodity And when thon hearest the Maister of all exhorting and saying Luk. 6 Be yee therefore mercifull as also your Father is mercifull endeauour all thou canst to haue compassion of thy fellow seruants with that pure affection wherewith thy Heauenly Father hath compassion of vs. If thou forgiue an iniury forgiue it with a true heart and commit to perpetuall forgetfulnesse euery offence For Our Father forgetteth our offences as the Prophet Ezechiell writeth Ezech. 18 And As farre as the East is distant from the West Psal 112 doth he make our iniquityes farre from vs as Dauid speakteh If thou giue an Almes to the poore make account thou dost rather receiue then giue Because hee lendeth our Lord that hath mercy on the poore Pro. 19 Giue it therefore with humity and reuerence not as an Almes to the poore but as a guift to a Prince If thou suffer any discommodity to benefit thy poore neighbour thinke yet how sarre thou commest short of thy Lord who to benefite thee gaue his bloud and life So shalt thou without hope of earthly reward without any motion of vaine glory meerly for the loue of God thy neighbour profite in the vertue of mercy It remaineth that we consider the Depth of Gods mercy Cap. 4 For as the height thereof appeareth chiefly in the cause so the Depth thereof is seene especially in the effect That mercy therefore is not said to be deepe but rather shallow and superficiall which descendeth but to wordes onely That deeper which comforteth the needy not onely with wordes but also with deeds That most deepe which not onely with wordes and deedes conforteth them but also endureth laboures and dolours for their sakes God therefore whose mercie is infinite hath beene mercifull vnto vs after all these manners For first he sent vs letters of comfort to wit the holy Scriptures whereof the Machabies speake Mach. 12 We haue for our comfort the holy Bookes that are in our handes Neither doth he speake to to vs by letters onely but also by the Sermons of Preachers Which are Legates of Christ 2 Cor 4 and by inward inspirations promising vs his helpe and protection I will heare saith Dauid what our Lord will speake in me Psal 84 because he will speake peace vpon his people and vpon his Saintes and vpon them that are conuerted to the hart Secondly the benefits of Gods mercies against our manifold miseries both spirituall and temporall are so many that they cannot be numbred For euery where He crowneth vs in mercie â—sal 102 and commiserations That is he compasseth vs about euery where with the benefits of his mercie Thirdly Gods mercie deseended by the mysterie of the holy Incarnation to labours and dollours to hunger and thirst to ignominyes and reproches to stripes and woundes and to the death of the Crosse to redeeme vs from our sinnes and from eternall death due vnto vs therefore Is there any greater depth to which Gods mercy did descend Yes surely For he did all these thinges not of dutie but out of Loue. Iay 53 He was offered saith the Prophet because himselfe would For who compelled the sonne of God Who thought it no robbery phil 2 himselfe to be equall to the Father but â—e exiranitâ—d himselfe taking the forme of a seruant 2 Cor 8 To be made poore for vs that by his pouerty we might be rich Phil 2 â— To be humbled vnto death euen the death of the Crosse to exalt vs Truely loue onely compelled him mercy onely constreyned him It also descendeth yet farther For he would in the worke of our saluation bestowe on vs honour and glorie That diuision which the Angels made seemed very fit Glory in the highest to God Luk 2 and in earth peace honour be to God and profit to men But Gods mercie would haue all the profite to be ours and part of the glorie to be his and