if compared with the Life of Christ and how as nothing his life was compared with the immence charity of Christ Great contrition and sorrow for all his sins and for all his ill spent and lost time ceazed upon him So that with his whole affection with heart and voice he said to the Lord Ah! merciful and compassionate Lord God have mercy have mercy upon me for the abiss of thy mercies sake because I am not worthy that the earth should bear me Whilest these words were in his heart and mouth being broad awake he heard with his bodily cars yet seeing nothing a voice saying unto him Now receive thy peace and put thy trust in God and take it for certain that when he lived upon earth that whatsoever sick person he cured in body the same he likewise healed in Soul Which words being ended instantly the Doctor fell into an extasie and was deprived of all rational understanding insomuch that he knew not what was done unto him where he was or whither he was snatch'd But after that he was restored to himself he found in himself in his whole nature a new and great power and vigour such as he confessed he had never in all his whole life time felt by experience before as also so clear and enlightned a discerning or illuminated reason as never was in the least known to him before that time But being amazed he wondred with himself from whence these things should so suddenly happen unto him and began to think thus with himself Certainly thou wilt never be able to clear up this matter of thy self send therefore for thy Friend to come unto thee and lay open the whole matter in order unto him And so he did The Layman being sent for readily obeyed the Doctor came to him forthwith the Doctor told him every thing in order as it happened unto him which when the Layman had beard he said How gladly even with my whole heart Sir do I hear this news I know that you have first now truly experienced the true grace of God and are now first touched in the superior powers of your mind Know also that as heretofore the Letter killed you so now the same will quicken you because all the holy Scripture proceeded and flowed from the holy Ghost Neither doubt Sir but the knowledge of the holy Scripture will for the future very much profit you now that you have been found worthy to be illuminated by the light of the holy Ghost For many things now will be made manifest to you by the Scriptures which were altogether unknown to you before For you know that the holy Scripture seemed to you and many other Theologists to be contrary to it self in many places But he who rightly knows how to look into it in the light of the holy Spirit as you hence-forward will be able to do such a one doth plainly know how that it agreeth with it self throughout Wherefore now you will begin wisely to understand Scripture and rightly to follow the true Pattern and Exempler of Truth our Lord Jesus Christ Now also you must again take upon you the care of Preaching which for some time hath been intermitted that by the Word you may edifie and instruct your Neighbours And now the time is come also that you must fetch home your Books again and fall to reading and perusing them And be certain that hereafter one Sermon of yours will be more profitable and fruitful than a hundred of your former for those that shall hear you hereafter will be profited and amended far more than they have been heretofore and that because the Word which you shall hereafter utter will flow from a clean vessel and therefore will be very grateful and acceptable to a clean mind and a lover of God Furthermore know this that as heretofore you have been by many accounted contemptible and appeared to them dispicable so now you will appear to them all an hundred times more amiable and be more acceptable than ever heretofore And now multitudes of people will begin to flock together to hear you so that it will for this cause be exceeding good for you to keep your self very humble and more carefully to watch over your self For as you know he that hath any great Treasure hath the more need carefully to guard them from Robbers And certainly those hellish Robbers the evil spirits are very much affrighted and always terrified as often as they perceive that God Almighty hath bestow'd upon any man so great a treasure And therefore be sure they will turn every stone and make use of all their strength and cunning to steal from you or rob you of this Treasure Therefore it exceedingly concerns you to keep it with all care and vigilancy But you will be able by no means better to preserve it then by a silent true and profound humility Finally as things are with you there is no more need that for the future I should converse with you as an instructer of you No verily I now exceedingly desire to be taught by you and intend here to remain so long till I have heard diverse of your Sermons And because as you have acknowledged you have felt and experienced a certain great power and such as is understood both in Nature and Grace I very much desire if the Lord permit that you would again Preach Master What advice therefore do you give me dearest Son for I have pawned several of my Books and have taken up upon them no less then thirty Crowns Layman Send some body for them and I on Gods behalf will redeem them and will give thee so many Crowns and if after you have redeemed your Books any thing shall remain you shall restore it to God so the Books were brought and redeemed After these things the Doctor caused it to be given out and spread abroad that upon the third day after he intended to Preach which when it was heard every body much wondered and because of the novelty of the thing a huge multitude of People came together The Doctor therefore when he was come and saw so many People come together got up into the Pulpit and covering his Eyes with his hood he thus prayed to himself O Mercyful God of it may be pleasing to thee grant I may so speak and do as that thy most acceptable will may be done in me Presently after he had spoken these Words 2 pang of weeping without any endeavour of his fell upon him he shed many most sweet Tears which continued so long that the People began to be weary of so tedious expectation So that one of the crowd said with a loud voyce How long I pray Sir do you intend to keep us Now it grows late and if you will not begin say so that we may rise and go home And when the Doctor himself did take notice that the time was nigh past he said again unto the Lord. Ah Merciful Lord my God if it be
worst P Punishment and remorse for sin from whence soever it happen to you whether from God or from Creatures take it kindly and receive it with a submissive mind Q Quietly and heartily forgive all what ever they be that have offended you or done you any injury in thought word or deed R Retain with all possible diligence thy chastity both of Body and Soul S Seriously observe meekness and mildness in all things and study to be made better by all things T Take heed that without guile hypocrisie or fraud you keep your Word and observe Faith with all men and exercise your self in works of charity both bodily and spiritual according to your ability V Vigilantly take heed neither in eating or in drinking or any other matter you exceed due measure X XTS Life and Doctrine revolve always in your mind and to the utmost of your power imitate it and lead your life according to it Y Ymportune the undefiled Virgin-mother with devout Prayers that she may be assisting to you in the through learning this my Institution Z Zealously accustom your self with severe Discipline to keep under and bridle your will and sensual affections that they mildly yield to what ever God shall do with you or suffer to happen to you How the Doctor soon though not without labour truly learn'd the Alphabetical Institution How afterward the Layman taught him a nearer way to perfection Moreover how the Doctor was fain to enter upon a dying Life and therein so long exercised himself until he had overcome himself Layman GO to now Mr. Doctor receive this childish Institution from God who delivereth the same unto you by me an unworthy sinner Doctor To you peradventure dear Son this Institution seems but childish but I confess to you me thinks it is sufficiently man-like but be it what it will be I am resolved by the grace of God to take upon me the learning of it But pray tell me what time will you set me to learn it in Layman For the honour of Christs five wounds which are the signs of his immeasurable love to us take five weeks that so you may the more perfectly learn it In which time you must be your own Schoolmaster 1. Whip your naked shoulders with Rods. and enjoyn your self sharp pennance if you mistake and happen to fail in any of these Articles or to do any thing contrary to them Doctor I 'le follow your Counsel Son and undergo all your Injunctions Now when 3 weeks were near spent in this manner of living the Layman enquired of the Doctor how it was with him To whom the Doctor answered I will assure you dear Son I have in these three weeks undergone more and sharper pennance in the learning of this your Institution than in all the studies of my whole life past Layman But how is it with you now Mr. Doctor are you skilful in the Articles and Letters of the Alphabet as yet Doctor How much soever I be Master of it and by the grace of God things go well enough with me yet I would willingly more perfectly skill it But moreover I beseech you instruct me further and shew me yet more perfect things Layman You very well know Sir that in Schools they never set boyes higher Lessons till they have well learned their first Elements Doctor I confess then dear Son I should be guilty of a lye if I should say I have throughly learned your Alphabet Layman Therefore it is more advised for us to proceed no further till you have perfectly learned it Afterward when again about 3 weeks more were spent the Doctor sent a friend to the Layman to desire him to step to him who accordingly presently came and the Doctor said to him O Son rejoice with me for I suppose now through the grace of God I am pretty perfect in the Alphabet and if you please I will willingly give you an account of it Layman There is no need Sir that you should so do for I doubt not of the truth of what you say and do much congratulate you Master Truly Son with much difficulty have I learned this Institution but now I beseech you farther to instruct me Layman Take it for certa in Mr. Doctor that of my self I cannot farther instruct you but if it please Almighty God farther by me to instruct you I hope I shall not be backward to do my best endeavour and will be a willing although an unworthy instrument of his by whom he may do what he please neither shall I in the least advice you to any thing but what he shall give in and supply me with this I will do singly of the pure love of God desire of your Salvation And if it shall happen unto you as it did to the young man in the Gospel who when he heard the Counsel of our Lord to sell and leave all that he had went away sorrowful if I say it shall so fall out with you I for my part will be solely blameless Doctor Let not that Son at all trouble you for I am fully resolved in my mind not to regard at all what can in this matter befall me but purpose to follow and obey Gods and your Counsel Layman Well Sir sith you now are of so resolved and ready a mind I do in the first place out of charity and the love of God advise you that by all means you remain obedient to your Order and to all your Superiours For it cannot be but that if you enter upon the right straight and narrow way you will be grievously oppresled and vexed and that chiefly by your Order and Brethren And when this shall befall you straight-ways your subtile understanding and sensual nature will be devising many things and urging you to go to the chief Bishop or some whither and find a thousand ways whereby to avoid this Cross But herein you must take great heed and rather bear patiently what ever shall happen grievous unto you and continually persevere in humble obedience for truly the same way that our Lord shewed unto the fore-named young man that way must you go you must take up your Cross upon your shoulders and follow the Lord and Saviour and in some measure his example and that with true great and patient humility Furthermore you must renounce and deny that acute subtile and pompous understanding which you have acquired out of the Scriptures And for a while give over all reading studying and preaching And when those that used to make their confessions to you shall come again unto you to that end you must shew your self in simplicity and confession being made immediatly withdraw from them speaking nothing nor giving them any counsel but only saying I will first learn how I may counsel my self and when I have well learned so to do I will be ready to inpart advice to you And if they be inquisitive when you will preach you may without injury to the truth
impure hands fears not to handle his God upon the Altar with which he hath touched filthily a vile Harlot and kisseth her with the same mouth by which God entred and gives her his heart which he ought to devote to God alone and at last breaks his Vow and Oath which he made unto God and therewith betrayes God when he joyns himself to a woman when as he ought to be united to God onely neither doth it suffice him to do this as Judas did but once but he doth it often Truly Judas did but once receive the Lord in the Sacrament and peradventure he neither was consecrated as is the Priest nor had made a Vow of continence as doth the Priest From hence therefore do you your selves now judge Beloved whether such a Priest be not worse than even Judas himself Verily I am sufficiently afraid that many now adayes out-strip Judas But let all such I beseech them consider the frailty of their condition and uncertainty of their life and from their hearts amend their lifes which of all things doth most concern them Truly I cannot but extreamly wonder that any woman can be guilty of so much presumption as to dare to suffer her self once to be touched by any Priest But now if Secular Priests who are subject to the foresaid vices are worse than Judas the Traytor we who are called the Religious and live in Sacred Monastical Orders if we commit the like we certainly are yet far more wicked But if a Prelate commit such like his sins are yet more grievous If a Bishop he sins yet more notorious If lastly the Pope his sins of all others were the worst and most heavy For by how much the higher the station is by so much the more grievous is the fall and greater the fault But if a Virgin dedicated to God a Monastical Virgin shall commit any of these things she doth exceeding enormously sin For such a one ought both in body and Soul to conform her self according to the example of the Virgin Mother For as our Lady the Glorious Virgin brought forth her only Son without any violation of her Virginity so all the consecrated Virgins have made a Vow to follow the example of the Most Blessed Mother in all chastity that they may be the better enabled to breed and bring forth God the Son of God continually in their hearts But who is there here without sin If such a one there be let him first cast a stone at all these I have mentioned But now whilst I stay over-long in reproving onely Spiritual Persons or the Clergy you Seculars and Lay-people may suppose I have forgot you Therefore now I must bring you forth into view also For neither are you without sin but even as we so are ye in many things reproveable But there is no reason why any one should cast all that is said upon another but rather examine himself and his own heart where I believe if he do it as he ought he will find so much business at home that he will hardly be mindful of others faults But I beseech you Beloved do not take grievously those things which I am now about to speak Truly I shall begin with the Supream Judges and Magistrates of this City You therefore my Lords the Judges Magistrates if any of you be here tell me I beseech you how stands it and what agreement is there between you and God Ye your selves know that ye admit no man into your Order except he be of sufficient age and have his lawful Wife And this you do justly enough But why this is done ye do not in the mean time well understand Heretofore in old time the antient Judges did very carefully and with much prudence enact this that no young men should be admitted in their Order but such as had first arrived at a Just age that so in that time they might aâ—…ain to the knowledge of the Civil Imperial and Provincial Laws and learn the Laws of their Ancestors and Statutes of their Countrey And when they had arrived at a fitting age and had thoroughly learned all these Lawes If they were also Just men and endowed with the fear of the Lord so that they might be accounted worthy of trust and fit for such an Office then at last did the Antients chuse them and receive them into their Number That all who are of your Order ought to have lawful Wives it was therefore ordained least they should desire in their hearts or minds any other women besides their own Wives Here now I beseech you my Lords examine your selves whether you be exact Immitators of your Ancestors Truly it doth not so appear to me For you admit many into your Order for favour and affection onely and admit such to sit upon the Judgement Seat who as it is sufficiently known have no fear of God love riches and receive money where ever they can get it caring not at all whether lawfully or unlawfully But truely such gifts and rewards which are thus received whilst they are in Judgement do subvert and pervert Judgement and Justice Furthermore you receive Adulterers into your Number which yet is altogether unlawful and in special manner forbidden that such should be admitted to sit in Judgement whose lives are contrary to God and good Lawes And for this cause oftentimes false and unjust Judgements are passed which doubtless the Lord God the Supream Judge will heavily revenge at the last day upon all those who have given them For the Lord himself hath appointed Justice and Judgement is his If any one therefore turn Gods Justice into Injustice he will certainly not suffer it long to pass unrevenged Behold my Lords ye that are Judges and Rulers of the People I have chosen to begin with you because you hold the Supream Power of Judicature If you therefore reform and amend the Supream Judicatories of which ye are Presidents the inferiour will easily after your example be reformed because your Authority will sway with them and bring it to pass But if there be neglect on your part in this matter what ever is done amiss in inferiour Courts will be charged upon you as being mostly the cause of it Believe me your condition is very dangerous except you amend your lifes For doubless Justice is no small matter in the sight of God but is a business full of difficulty And we see in the Old Testament how God was wont grievously to revenge unjust Judgements Adultery and Pride And doubtless he doth the same at this day although we are grown so sottish and stupid as not to perceive it Beloved if it be not burdensome to you I will briefly tell you a strange and terrible thing namely how great mischiefs and grievous sins had their rise from one act of Adultery within these few years Neither will I tell you a Dream or a Fable but what I my self know to be true When I were in the thirtieth year of my
were sincere and simple and according to God so that I my self also did permit some to make such contracts But I will tell you upon what accompt I did it There came at that time to me certain honest men one of whom said unto me how do you advice me Sir I have bought of this man some certain Rents for my money upon his inheritance He also is come to me beseeching me for Gods sake to do this thing for him to permit that writings be made that may contain this condition that if God enable him to redeem his estate I would permit him for Gods sake so to do Having heard this I thus said to the man tell me prethee dost thou eye or intend nothing else in this matter but only to do this purely for Gods sake To which he answered Truly nothing else do I mind in this business For what else should I seek or what else should move me but only that it pitties me that this mans estate should be for ever made over to me and my Heirs otherwise I had rather possess the Goods as my own according as I purchased them In this manner Beloved I sometimes heretofore consented to redemptions but take notice I beseech you how purely how simply and according to God heretofore this was done But now in these our times we do by our pride and covetousness so pervert and corrupt these redemptions that for the most part they are more then half Usury before God the blame of which is almost mostly ours who are Confessors because we permit such things Behold I will tell you Beloved into what great misery in this age we are slidden Not very long ago there happened a certain Citizen to come to me and said to me I beseech you Sir give me some advice in a business which I shall declare to you Behold I and my Wife and my Sons have not sufficient where withal to maintain us according to the fashion of this age And therefore I have thoughts to sell my estate upon condition of re-emption but I would do nothing in it without your advice If therefore you so advice me I fully purpose so to do I made him this answer I will not in the least advice you to it but rather disswade you by all means I can faithfully and sincerely He answered me I have not then wherewithal to live according to the custome of these times To which I answered Take it for certain if you follow that course you have told me you will grievously offend God and will commit some mortal sins For I would not have you ignorant that all contracts of buying and selling Rents or Possessions in which the buyer reserves power to himself ever to call in again when he pleaseth the principal sum all such contracts I say are not free from usury for in all those contracts in which upon loan any gain is expected by covenant or principal intention explicitly with what colour soever notwithstanding many endeavour now a dayes to excuse it in all those contracts I say for the most part there is a mixture of usury So therefore first you will make your self partaker of anothers usury if without pressing necessity you make use of a common Usurer or else you draw your neighbour who before used it not to practise usury Secondly you incur the guilt of avarice which is one of the seven capital sins whilest that moves you to do this Thirdly also you will sin by pride whilst you do this for this end that you and your wife and your children may be conformable to the luxury and pomp of the Age and be like to others Wherefore for these reasons I dare by no means advise you to it but rather with what faithfulness I can I give you this counsel That you live contented with your lot and with those goods which God hath granted you after the manner of ancient time and be thankfull to God who doubtless will succour you so doing that you shall have what is sufficient for you Certainly if you acquiesce in this my counsel and do as I tell you you shall perceive it will be profitable to you both for body and soul Then said he I give you thanks Reverend Sir for this wholsome counsel which you have bestowed on me which I fully determine to follow and let passe that which I had thought to do See now Beloved whither we are fallen Afterwards I perceived that the same honest man the same year went to a certain other Doctor who permitted it him as lawfull so that he sold all his Estate under the forementioned doubtfull condition of Redemption Plainly 't is we make for you the way too broad and yet in truth it is not so but strait is the way which leadeth to life Matth. 7. Alas which is never enough to be bewailed things are come to that passe now a dayes that there are few affairs among Christian People which are wholly just and sincere Alas for grief how many blinde guides are to be found at this day And if the blind tumble upon the blind into Hell both their conditions will be so much the worse Wherefore Beloved it very much concerns you to look to your selves for I fear that the friendship of the men of this world is too dear to many of us Confessors I will tell you something of my self and I 'le speak the simple truth but I beseech you let no man be scandalized thereat At a certain time it came very importunatly into my mind that I must go beyond the Seas and expose my body to the dangers of death and must preach the Word of God to the Pagans and try if by God's help I might be able to convert any of them to the Faith of Christ This will increased in me and waxed so strong that I were now resolved even to prepare me for the journey and did think with my self of the manner how I might come thither And when I were carefully taken up with this matter it fell out on a certain morning that when I had returned to bed and was now fallen asleep me thought I heard one speaking to me these words Whither do you intend your journey There is no need to pass the Seas to Pagans for you shall find many of them here among Christians who whilst they bear the Name of Christ live worse than Heathens When therefore you have preached so long to these till they attain to a true life and a life worthy of a Christian then at last take free leave to pass to the Saracens This admonition was given me in my sleep three times and alwayes in the same form of words from whence it came to passe that I recalled my mind from contriving to passe the Seas Hence now something should be spoken of the Merchants but I fear that I am too tedious Notwithstanding I will speak a few words concerning them There are some Merchants now a dayes who do get their
light and savour be withdrawn from them do not in any wise therefore depart from God these are the true internal ones Verily whoever after this manner now spoken of have denied themselves and with a willing mind have penetrated through the sweetnesses aswell of Spirit as of Nature and have got above them these certainly have made a profitable and fruitful thorow progress and have penetrated through more than can be spoken But afterwards such have need of very much vigilancy and watchfulness whereby alwayes they must diligently observe themselves be circumspect and careful that they may ever persevere in very great humility For their hellish enemies cease not then but continually endeavour by all means they can to draw them back Believe me Beloved profound resignation and voluntary denial of our selves through our whole nature is a certain good beginning if so be it be joyned with true humility Even as St. Peter saith Dearly Beloved humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in the time of visitation And O that we could learn how we might attain to true subjection of spirit in profound humility that when God doth withdraw from us sensible Grace we may be able easily to resign it to him and to restrain our appetite or desire so as not willingly to cover it This is that which St. Dionysius saith When God makes his abode sensibly in my soul I am filled with such joy and it is so well with me that if he should bestow upon me such authority that all creatures that very hour should no lesse obey me than himself it would not go so wel with me as it doth by his presence only But when his sensible presence is withdrawn from me I confess then some desire of it layes hold on me But when that happens to me my weakness surely is the cause of it Seeing Solomon saith that in all the Works of God we ought to have rest and peace Behold that breathing and languishing desire holy Dionysius accounts his weakness Why so but because the holy man clearly understood that himself was not as yet fully resigned to God when as he so desired the presence of God seeing it is the greatest resignation to resign our selves to desertion and in all manner of desertion to be resigned Which thing doth chiefly belong to them who have deliciously experienced the sweetness of God It behoveth us truly Beloved so manfully to strive that we may be made so prudent in God that we may be able having divine assistance to transcend and penetrate all creatures untill we attain unto God himself There now we are taught in the Holy Ghost to tread upon by our reason and get above all natural things that we may be able with St. Augustine to say All creatures are unto us an high-way unto God So as what ever we happen to see or hear of what nature soever it be we may have the skill to bend all to our own use and turn it to the best and to draw some good out of it Certainly a Christian ought by his reason so oft and so humbly to exercise himself and so often to penetrate all creatures until he hath lost all created things and he should so strongly and manfully and that not once but many times abstract himself from all things until he find God alone the joy of his soul and the beloved of his heart of whom the blessed Apostle speaks when he saith 1 Cor. 6. Who adhereth to God is one Spirit In which transformation the spirit of such a one is transformed and is made one with the one If any one in this matter would venture himself and perfectly renounce both himself and all creatures he surely would by Gods help or by the power of God overcome all things which thing Paul witnesseth where he saith Philip. 4. I can do all things in him that strengthneth me Go to now Beloved make speed be doing hasten learn to live being also sure that a man may in this present time attain to that condition that he may experience so immense supernatural joy such as all creatures cannot afford even until Dooms-day Lastly Come on then and let us all endeavour to learn by what means we may be made true Worshippers John 4. worshipping the Father in Spirit and Truth But I fear lest I am too tedious sith those Incluses have entreated me that I would declare unto them what is the duty of a true Incluse What the Duty of Inclusis is And now this I shall dispatch in a few words and will tell what manner of one every true Incluse ought to be It belongs therefore to every Incluse that she be simple and both in mind and body that is both inwardly and outwardly to be an Incluse It doth not become her to look out at the windows and be inquisitive what is or what hath been transacted here or there it is meet that she should lead so pure so abstracted a life that if she should pour forth prayers for all the Souls that are detained in places of Purgatory she may be found worthy sufficient and able to free them all from thence Truly an Inclusory life is no small matter It behoveth plainly an Incluse so sincerely and purely to live that she may be able to obtain all that of God which the Universal hely Church by the seven told grace of the Holy Ghost doth obtain If she do otherwise she is not a true Incluse She ought also to lead such a life that if all Ecclesiastical Laws were taken away it might not at all prejudice her to God-ward The corrupt state of Incluses But alas things are now come to that pass that Incluses entertain Guests in the evening and in the morning administer to them many things which is not the Office of Incluses but of Hospitallers Incluses must keep silence And moreover it belongs to an Incluse diligently to observe silence except only upon reasonable and real necessity as also purely and earnestly to pray It belongs not to her to perform the office of an Hospitaller and to discourse with men but this rather is her duty that she perpetually persist so resolutely and immovably in true and divine resignation that she may be able even with a sensible delight and joyful consent alwaies to wait the sensible presence of God and nevertheless persevere faithful unto him and therewith to renounce all creatures for his sake To whom it belongs to serve the Poor But now you may hear some Incluses say That it is their duty to exercise themselves in vertues towards their neighbours but such ought to have betaken themselves not to an Inclusory but to an Hospital rather and there humbly exercise themselves about the Members of Christ which then had properly belonged to them as their office for this they ought faithfully to do who live in Hospitals Again others say I must serve and succour my neighbours for