life we did go still cancelling our passed faults without adding to them new It were a good desire but you do not only not discharge the old but continue still heaping vp new debts as long as you remaine in life wherby the account which you are to make growes euery day more heauy on your soule and so your obiection hath no force at all S. Bernard sayes excellent well Bernar. c. 2. med Cur ergo tantopore vitam istam desideramus in qua quanto amplius viuimus tanto plus peccamus quanto est vita longior tanto culpa numerosior Why do we desire this life so much in which the longer we liue the more we sinne the longer our life is the more numerous are our faults And S. Hierom writeth Hier. ep ad He. liod what is the difference do you thinke saith he betwixt him who dies yong and old no more but only this that the more aged of them doth beare the burthen of more sinnes out of the world with him then he who dyeth yong and hath more to answer and giue accompt to God Bern. de interiori domo c. 25. And so S. Bernard in this point doth take a better resolution and hath a saying of himselfe which in him was humility in vs would be but truth Vâ—uere erubesco quia parum proficio mori timeo quia non sum paratus malo tamen mori mis ricordiâ— Deime committere commendare quià benignus misericors est quà m de malà mea conuersatione alicui sâ—andalum facere I am ashamed to liue saith he because I make so litle profit I feare to dy because I am not prepared not with standing I had rather dy and commit and commend my selfe vnto the mercy of God seing he is gratious and mercifull then be the cause of scandalizing others through my euil conuersation and this is an excellent resolution M. Auila Master Auila said that whosoeuer should find himselfe but reasonably prepared ought more to wish for death then longer life by reason of the great danger in which we liue which wholly ceaseth when we come to dy Quid est mors nisi sepultura vitiorum Ambro. de bono mortis c. 4. virtutum suscitatio What is death saith S. Ambrose but a sepulcher of â—ices and a resurrection of vertues All these reasons and motiues to wish for death are passing good but that which is the most eminent in perfection of all is that which S. Paul the Apostle had to see himselfe with Christ whom he loued so teÌ„derly Ad Philip 1.23 Desiderium habens dissolui esse cum Christo ô blessed Saint what defire is this of yours why do you wish so much to be loosed from the boÌ„ds of flesh blood perhaps to auoid labour no assuredly but on the contrary Ad RoÌ„ 5.3 Gloriamur in tribulationibus your glory consists therin wherfore then to decline sinne neither is this the cause Certus sum enim quia neque mors Ad RoÌ„ 8.38 39. neque vita poterit nos separare à charitate Dei he was confirmed already in grace and knew he could not loose it and therfore in that perticular he had no cause to feare In fine what is it that makes you so much desire to dy that I may see my selfe with Iesus Christ and this purely out of loue to him Quia amore langueo CaÌ„t. 2.5 he languished with loue he sighed after his beloued and all delay seemed long vntill he might enioy his wished presence S. Bonauenture of three degrees which he makes of the loue of God placeth this the last and highest Bonau tra 6. relig c. 11.11 13. The first is to loue God aboue all other things and so to loue the things of the world as not to commit any mortall sinne for them or transgresse any of the Commandements of God this is that which our Sauiour said to that young man of the Ghospell Si vis ad vitam ingredi Math. 19 17. serua mandaâ— if you desire to enter into eternall life keepe the Commandements and this is necessary for all The second degree of loue and Charity is not only to content our selues with keeping the Commandements of God but to adde vnto them the counsells which is proper vnto Religious men who procure to do not only that which is good but also that which is better and of more perfection conformable to this passage of S. Pâ—â—l vt probetis quae sit voluntas Dei bona Ad RoÌ„ c. 2. beneplacens perfecta that you may proue what is the good and acceptable perfect wil of God The third degree of Charity saith S. Sonauenture is tanâ—o affectu ad Deum aestuare quod sine ipso quasi viuere non possis to burne with such an ardent affection and loue to God as in a nanner not to be able to liue without him And hence it is that a soule desireth so â—uch to be free and loosed from the prison of its body to be with Iesus Christ wishing its banishmeÌ„t at an end the wal of its body which seperats it from the fight of God to be disâ—olued and crumbled into dust Such as these saith he had nâ—ed of patience for to liue life being so distast full to them and death the obiect of their inflamed desire We read in the life of our B. F. S. Ignatius Lib. 5. c. 1 vitÄ™ S. P. Ignatiâ— that he desired most ardently to be deliuered from the Iaile and prison of his body and that his soule had so great a longing to see Almighty God as he neuer thought of death but his eyes were ouerflowne with teares out of pure gladnes and delicious ioy But it was moreouer obserued that he was not thus inflamed with the desire of that soueraigne good for his owne sake that he might go to rest and the ioy of that all beatifying vision but much more that he might behould that most blessed glory of the most sacred humanity of our Lord whom he did loue so desire and tenderly Like as men here on earth do vsually reioyce to see some friend whom they deerly esteem loue most cordially aduanced to some eminent dignity so did our B. Father desire to see himselfe with Iesus Christ purely for loue of him without once thinking on his owne interest and felicity which is the highest and the most perfect act of Charity which we can exercise In this manner the memory of death will not only not be bitter to vs but it will bring vs great content and delight do but ouerpasse it with your thought consider how within few dayes you shall be in heauen enioying that which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor which could euer sinke into the thought of man and so all shall be conuerted into ioy and gladnes Who would not reioyce when the terme of banishment were out
Exultate iusti in Domino Delectare in Domino dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui Reioyce in our Lord and exult ô yea iust and glory all you of a right heart Yea righteous exult in our Lord. Reâ—oyce in him and in his infinit goodnes and he will graunt you the petitions of your owne heart or rather all which you shall desire and stand in necessity of For this is a prayer by which without setting your selfe to pray you pray and God heareth the desires of your heart to shew how much he is delighted with this prayer of yours And the Apostle S. Paul writing to the Philippians saieth Ad Phil. 4.4 reioyce alwaies in our Lord Gaudete in Domino semper and thinking it not sufficient to haue said it once he adds iterum dico gauâ—ete I say againe to you reioyce And this was the ioy which informed the sacred Virgins purest heart when in her Canticle shee said 〈◊〉 1. â—â— Et exultauit spiâ—itus meus in Deo salutari meo and my soule hath exulted in God my saluation And with this ioy likewise was our B. Sauiour Christ replenished when as the sacred Euangell testifieth of him exultauit Spiritu Sansto he reioyced in the holy Ghost Luc. 10.21 And the roy all Prophet said that the ioy and contentment was so passing great which his soule receaued from the consideration of the great felicity glory of God and so becoming it was for euery one to reioyce in that infinit goodnes which is in him as euen the soules ioy out of its aboundance had influence into his body and set his flesh on fier with the same loue of God Psal 83.3 Cor meum caro mea exultauerum in Deum viuum my heart flesh haue exulted in the liuing God and in an other place Psal 34.9 Anima mea exultabit in Domino delectabitur super salutari tuo omnia ossa mea dicent Domine quis similis tibi my soule shall reioyce in God and be delighted with the Author of it saluation and all my bones shall say ô my Lord who is like to thee And because this loue is a thing so celestiall and diuine our Mother the Church directed by the Holy Ghost in the beginning of her Canonicall howers inuiteth vs by this Inuitatorium to loue out Lord in this manner to reioyce to triuÌ„ph in his endles perfection and it is the beginning of the 94. Psalme Psal 94.1 2. Venite exultemus Domino iubilemus Deo salutarinostro praeoccupemus faciem â—ius in confessione in Psalmis iubilemus ei come all and reioyce in our Lord and sing canticles of iubilation to his eternall praise who is our saluation seing he is God and a mighty Lord and King aboue all Gods veing the sea is his and he made it and his hands haue founded the dry Land Quoniam Deus magnus Dominus Rex magnus super omnâ—s Deos c. Quoniam ipsius est mare ipsâ—fecit illud aridam fundauerunt manus eius for this reason and the same end the holy Church concludeth all it Psalmes with this versicle Gloria Patri silio Spiritui Sancto Sicut erat in principio nunc semper in saecula saeculorum Amen this is that entrance into the ioy of our Lord which our Sauiour spoke of in the Ghospell Mat. 25.21 Intra in gaudium Domini tui where we are made partakers of the insinitioy of God by reioycing delighting our selues with him for his glory beauty and riches all infinit Now to the end that we may take pleasure in this exercise and endeauour to proceed alwaies therin with this cheerfulnes and ioy it will much helpe vs to consider how good God is how faire how glorious in all which he is so passing infinit that his only vision doth render those who do enioy it blessed in so much as should but the damned in hell once haue a glimps of him all their paine and torments would be turned to ioy Hell would be changed to a Paradyse Ioan. 17.3 Hâ—e est autem vita aeterna vs cognoscunt te solum Deum verum saith our Sauiour Christ in the Euangell of Saint Iohn This is eternall life that they know thee the only true God this is that which maketh them blessed and that not only for a day or yeare but for eternity in such manner as neuer to be satiat with seing God but the delight therof shall be alwaies new vnto them according to that of the Apocalyps Apo. 14.3 Et cantabunt quasi canticum nouum they shall alwaies sing as if their song were new This seemeth to me sufficiâ—tly to declare the infinit goodnes beauty and perfection of God but notwithstanding there is alwaies somewhat to adde yea infinitly more God is so faire 3. Th. 1. p. q. 26. ar 2. so glorious that euen in seing himselfe he is made happy so as the glory and felicity of God is to see loue himselfe Imagin therfore what reason we haue to be glad and to reioyce in a goodnes beauty and glory so infinitly great as to fill with delicious content the whole Citty of God rendring all the Citsens blessed who inhabit it euen God himselfe happy in knowing and louing of himselfe THE XXXIV CHAPTER How we may yeâ— farther extend this holy exercise WE may yet farther dilate and enlarge our selues vpon this subiect in descending to the consideration of the most facred humanity of Christ our Lord from the contemplation of his diuinity obseruing the great dignity and perfection therof and from thence receauing particular pleasure and delight in that the sacred humanity of Christ is so highly exalted and straitly vnited to his diuinity that it is enriched with all abouÌ„dance of grace and glory that it is the instrumeÌ„t of the diuinity to exploit those highest mysteries of the sanctification and glorification of all the elect and impart those supernaturall gifts and graces which God distributeth and bestoweth on men And finally we are to reioyce receaue exceediog pleasure from euery particular of the perfection and glory of the most blessed soule and sacred body of our Redeemer Iesus Christ insisting therupon with a truly viscerall loue delectation In such manner as the Saints do contemplate him and the sacred virgin beheld him on the day of his glorious resurrection rising from death so bright and triumphantly in fine with such affection as the holy Patriarch Iacob did declare Gen. 4â— 38 when as the scripture saieth hearing that his soone was yet liuing and Lord of all Egypt he was surprized with so excessiue â—oy that his decayed spirits being reuiued therby he said it is sufficient if my sonne Ioseph liueth I desire no more then only to go and see him and then I shall be content to dy And we may extend this exercise vnto the glory of the immaculate virgin and all the
may haue end or which others can bereaue vs of against our wills which vnles we do we shall neueâ— be at rest nor quietnes for when those things are loued saith S. Augustin which we may loose Aug. tra 24. super Ioan. whether we will or no we must necessarily remaine miserably troubled afflicted for them it is naturall vnto vs not to depart with that without griefe which we loued whilst we enioyed and the greater our loue was vnto it whilst we poâ—est it the greater is our griefe when we are bereaued of it and in confirmation of this in an other place he saith Qui vult gandere de se tristis erit If you place your contentment in such an office or such an imploiment or are too much affected to any place or the like it lies in your superiours power at pleasure to depriue you of this content and so you will neuer liue a contented life if you take delight in exteriour things or in the satisfying of your owne desire all things of this kind are subiect vnto chaunge and although they should remaine in the same state they are yet you your selfe would be altered and be displeased with that to morrow which but to day you passionatly affected Of this the Children of Israell afford vs an exaÌ„ple who when they fed vpon Manna were cloyed with it and demaunded other meat when they saw themselues at liberty began presently to loue and desire their former bondage their wishes euen in sighes did carry them backe to Egypt againe they longed for their fare of onions and garlicke to which they had been accustomed and their supplication to reâ—urne did euen proceed to importunity you will neuer find content if you place it in any of these exteriour things qui autem de Deo vult gaudere semper gaudebit quia Deus sempiternus est but he who will reioyce in God and in the performance of his holy will shall haue perpetuall cause for to reioyce since God is eternall and aboue all chaunge and mutation vis habere gaudium sempiternum saith this Saint adhaere illi qui sempiternus est would you haue a ioy and contentment which should alwaies last adheare vnto God and set your hart on him who neuer hath an end The holy Ghost doth put this difference betwixt a foolish man and one who is wise and holy Eccles 27.12 stultus sicut Luna mutatur homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut Sol. The ignorant chaunges like the Moone which to day is in increase to morrow in the wain to day you shall see him iocant and merry to morrow sad and melaÌ„choly now in one humour presently in an other and this because he hath fastned his hart and placed his contentment in the things of the world which are still fading and euer mutable wherefore like as they say he daunceth after the musicke which they make and his chaunges are according to their inconstancy In a word he is lunaticke and like the sea dependent on the alteration of the moone but a iust and holy man remaines alwaies in one state and being like the Sunne hath no increase nor wain The true seruant of Almighty God in all his proceedings is cheerfull and content he hath placed all his felicity in God and in the accomplishment of his holy will which can neuer faile him nor any creature euer bereaue him of it It is reported of that holy Abbot called Deicola Abbas Deicol that his countenaÌ„ce was alwaies composed to smile and being demaunded the reason he answered Christum à me tollere nemo potest happen what may come whatsoeuer will there is no man can depriue me of Christ This holy man had found out perfect and true contentment since he sought it in him who could not be wanting to him nor taken away from him by any one whom if we will be happy we must imitate Ps 12.1 Basilius Exultate iusti in Domino reioyce ye iust in the Lord. S. Basil writing vpon these words obserues that the Prophet says not that you should reioyce in the abundance of your temporall goods neither in any ability learning or talent which you haue not in your health or ablenes of body not in the praise and the esteeme of men but that al your delight should be in God in the fulfilling of his blessed will for this is it alone which is sufficient to satiat and content vs all other things hauing no perfect nor true contentment in them S. Bernard in one of his sermons vpon these words of S. Peter Bernar. Mat. 19.27 ecce nos reliquimus omnia c. goes declaring of it rarely well saying anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occuparipotest repleri non potest all other things besides God may possesse the hart and soule of man but satiat them they cannot they may prouoke and set their appetits on edge but cannot satisfy nor take them downe Auarus non implebitur pecunia Like as the auaricious says the wisman hath a great thirst of gold but all which he possesseth can neuer allay nor quench it so fares it with the things of this world which can neuer satiat our soules and appetits And S. Bernard giues vs the reason do you know saith he why all the things and riches of the world can neuer satisfy you Ber. tra de dilig Deo c. 5. in fine Quta non sunt naturales cibi animae since they are not the naturall food of our soules no more then aire and wind the sustenance of our bodies and as we should laugh and hold him for a foole who being ready to die for hunger would by yawning to receaue the ayre and Cameleon-like thinke to nourish himselfe with it so says this Saint is it no lesse a folly to thinke of the reasonable soule of man which is a spirit can be satiat with these temporall and sensuall things Instari potest satiari non potest it may be puffed vp like that other with ayre but it is impossible it should be satiat with it since it is a food which hath no proportion to it giue to each on its requisit sustenance corporall food to the body and spirituall to the soule Panis namque animae iustitia est soli beati qui esuriunt illam Bern su illa verba Ecce nos reliquimus omnia quoniam illi saturabuntur the bread and naturall nourishment of the soule is Iustice and vertue and they are only happy who hunger and thirst after this Iustice because they shall be satisfied S. Augustin in his Soliloquies declaring this reason more amply Aug. c. cap 30. soliloq speaking of the reasonable soule saith Facta est capax maiestatis tuae vt à te solo nullo alio possit impleri you haue made our soules ô Lord capable of your diuine Maiesty in such manner as nothing can satisfy or fill them but your selfe When the chace or goldworke of
discours't at large vnto him on this subiect saying amongst many other things Behold my sonne when any thing chaunces among the heathens otherwise then they desire they become straight waies troubled but it becomes vs who know that God directs and gouernes all to be in continuall quiet and repose and vnderstaÌ„d sonne that this is so hapned for your greater good for if the disputation had been to morrow there had passed many things aboue your vnderstanding which now in the meane time I will so informe as you shall receaue both much content and profit when the day of disputation comes I will conclude with a domesticall example Lib. 2. c. 16 vitae P N. Ig. in vita P. Francisci Xauerij which is recorded in the life of our B. Father in which appear's most apparently this diuine prouidence wherof we speake and it is concerning the departure of S. Xauerius towards the east Indies The meanes by which he came to be designed for that expedition are most worthy of consideration Our B. F. S. Ignatius designed for that mission F. Simon Rodriguez F. Nicholas Bobadilla F. Simon as that time was much crazed with a Quartane Ague yet notwithstanding without delay he embark't himselfe for Portugall F. Bobadilla was aduertised by letter that he should leaue Calabria and repare presently to Rome he came but so weakned with the Iourney and those extreeme wants which he had suffered vpon the way and withall so ill disposed in one of his leggs that it was necessary he should remaine sometime vnder cure after his arriuall to Rome and Don Petro Mascaregna's hast calling away for Portugall S. Ignatius of necessity was to take a new resolution the Embassadour still vrging for an other Father and substitute by happy aduenture S. Xauerius in Bobadilla's place It might seem that by reason F. Bobadilla was named for that Iourney and not S. Xauerius and that he was only because of the Embassadours necessity of departure substituted into the others place that his designement for that expeditioÌ„ was by meer hazard thought vpon but there was no chauÌ„ce in it but only the particular prouidence of God which had determined to make him the glorious Apostle of those Easterne parts moreouer when they were arriued in Portugaell the Portugezi considering the great profit which they did entred vpon a resolution to detaine them both there neither could they be so wholly drawne from it as not to keepe the one whilst the other should be suffered to goe on his voyage to the Indies Looke here how things seeme to goe by chaunce neuertheles vnto God there is nothing casuall in the end the expedition to the Indies fell vnto S. Xauerius lot because the will of God had so disposed of it as a thing the most conferring to his glory and the saluation of so many soules Let men proiect and designe things as they please and take that way to effect them as they fancy best but God will make vse of those meanes which they inuent to put his owne ends in execution and order all as shall be most expedient and to his greater glory Besides these examples and others the like which the holy scripture affords vs and which we daily see and experience aswell in our selues as others it is requisit that we proceed by the way of prayer and consideration to confirme and imprint in our hearts this happy coÌ„fidence Neither are we to impose an end vnto this exercise vntill we sensibly perceaue in our hearts this familiar and filiall confidence in God And be assured that the greater this your confidence shall be wherby you cast your selfe as it were into the armes of God the more and greater shal your security be and on the contrary you shall neuer arriue vnto true peace and quietnes of mind vntill you haue attained this filiall coÌ„fidence seeing that without it there is no thing so slighâ— and little which hath not force to dismay and trouble you Let vs therfore resolue to cast and commit our selues with all speed into the hands of God and to place our assuraÌ„ce in him following that counsell of the Apostle S. Peter Omnem solicitudinem vestram proijcientes in eum 1. Petâ—i 5.7 Psal 54.23 quoniam ipsi eura est de vobis casting all your solicitude in him because he hath care of you and the Prophet says Iacta super Dommum curam tuam ipse te enutriet cast all the care of your selfe vpon God and he will nourish you O blesled Lord you haue tendred me so much as to deliuer ouer your selfe for my sake without any reseruation into the hands of those cruell tormenters for to do with thee whatsoeuer their strangly ingenious malice could inueÌ„t Iesum vero tradidâ— voluntaâ—â— eorum Luâ—â— 23. â—â— what wonder is it then if I do put and resigne my selfe intirely into those not cruell but deare charitable hand of thine for to do with me whatfoeuer thou shalt please when I am most certaine that thou wilt do nothing but what may be best and most conuenient for me Let vs become iointpartners in that contract which our Blessed Sauiour made with S. Catherine of Siena Our Lord at sundry times indeared this Saint vnto him with most sweet priuacy inriching her noble soule with many high graces and fauours among the rest one and a most particular one was that one day appearing vnto her he said filia cogita tu de me ego cogitabo continenter de te my daughter do thou thinke of me and I will haue perpetuall thought of thee O blessed accord ô happy exchaunge ô rich gaine of our soules This bargaine God is ready to make with euery on of vs do but lay aside the thought of your selfe and the solicitude of things and the more you shall forget your selfe to thinke and confide in God the greater charge and care shall God Almighty haue of you Who is there who would not with all his soule accept a condition so delicious and auailable as the Spouse in the Canticles glories to haue made with her beloued CaÌ„t. 7.10 Ego dilecto meo 〈◊〉 ad me conuersio eius I to my beloued and his regard is to me THE XII CHAPTER How great profit and perfection it is to apply prayer vnto this exercise of the conformity with the will of God and how we are so long to descend vnto particulars vntil we arriue vnto the third degree of the said conformity IOhn Rusbrock a very learned spirituall man Rusbroc in â—â—ne operum suorum writs of a certaine Virgin who in rendring an accouÌ„t of her prayer vnto her Ghostly Father a great seruant of Almighty God and a man of high contemplation with earnest desire to be instructed by him told him that her exercise in her prayer was on the life and passion of our Sauiour Christ and the profit which she reaped from thence was the knowledge of her selfe and of her
sadnes and desolation The same Prophet likewise sayes that when God sent him consolations they were as wings vnto him which made him runne and fly in the wayes of vertue and the coÌ„mandements of God Spirituall consolations do moreouer helpe very much to the breaking of our owne will to the ouercoming our sensuall appetites to the mortifying of the flesh and to beare our crosse and all aduersities which may arriue with greater constancy And therfore God vsually doth first send these spirituall ioyes and consolations vnto those whom he intends afterwards to visit with afflictions desolation the better to prepare dispose them by the one to make their good and profit of the other As we see our Sauiour would comfort his disciples with his glorious transfiguration on the mountaine that they might afterwards be lesse troubled and deiected to see him suffer and dy vpon the crosse We see likewise that God most commonly bestows his coÌ„solations vpon new beginners that they may throughly forsake the delights of the world for heauenly comforts and afterwards when he hath surely obliged them vnto him in the bonds of loue and he seeth them well rooted and confirmed in vertue then he exerciseth them with aridity that they may the better attaine the vertues of patience and humility and merit a more abundant increase of grace and glory by seruing God purely without the helpe of consolation This is the cause why some in the begining when they are newly entred into ReligioÌ„ or perhaps before their entrance when they haue but conceiued the desire do feele greater consolation spirituall delight then euer after for God then deals with them accordig to their age giuing them the milke of Infants to traine them out of the world and bring all temporall things into contempt and hatred with them but afterwards when they are well growne and fit for harder meats he giues them such food as doth become their yeares For these and other the like ends God ordinarily doth send his consolations and spirituall gusts And therfore the Saints commonly do counsell vs in time of consolation to prouide against the comming tentations like as in time of peace they vse to make the preparation for warre for the day of consotions is commonly no other then the Eue and vigill of tentation Spirituall comforts are therfore very good and profitable if we know how to vse them as we ought to do wherfore when soeuer God bestows them on vs we are to receaue them with humble thankfulnes but if any one should wholly depend vpon them and desire them only for his owne contentment because of the gust and delectation which the soule receaueth in them it were imperfection in him and disordinate loue vnto himselfe For as in things necessary to sustaine our life as eating drinking sleeping and the like if a man should make the pleasure of them his end it were a defect in him so if one should pretend no other end in prayer but these sensible feelings consolations it were a spirituall gluttony in him Those are things which are not to be accepted of or desired for any proper feeling or particular delight but only as means helping vs to arriue vnto those ends which we haue mentioned Like as one who is sicke and can indure no meat that is good for him is glad when he come to find some tast and relish in it not because it is pleasant to his pallat but because it prouokes his appetite to eate and conserues his life so also a seruant of God is not to seeke spirituall consolation as to insist vpon it but because with the heauenly refreshment therof his soule is strenghtned and encouraged to sustaine the paine and labour of the way of vertue and to go on with constancy And in this manner comforts are not desired for comforts sake but only for the greater glory of God and so farre forth as they redound vnto his honour and glory But I say yet more that one may desire these spirituall consolations in such manner for those ends which we haue said which are good and holy and yet for all this there may be excesse in it and disordinate and selfe loue may haue shuffled in it selfe among those desires as when we desire theÌ„ too importunatly with too great solicitude and greedines so as to be lesse content if we obteine them not and lesse pliable to the will of God but to remaine troubled grudging and in a painfull disquietnes This is no other then a disordinate affection and spirituall couetousnesse for we are not so to depend on these sensible feelings and to seeke after spirituall coÌ„solations with so great auidity as to hinder our peace and quietnes of mind and make vs lesse conformable with the will of God if he should please not to bestow them on vs seing the will of God alone is better and more worth then all these things together and it is more expedieÌ„t for vs to content our selues therewith And that which I say of these feelings and spirituall consolations is to be extended likewise to the gift of prayer and the feruour and facility which we desire therin as also of the internall peace and quietnes of our mind together with all other fauours graces and spirituall prerogatiues seing that we may be transported with an affection too disordinate in the desire of euery one of these as when we couet them with such impatience and anxiety as if we obteine them not to become troubled malecontent and lesse conformable to the will of God Also by these feelings and spirituall consolations we vnderstand here not only deuotion sensible feelings and spirituall sweetnesses but also the substance it selfe and gift of prayer and the facility of applying our selues vnto it and perseuering at in it with that tranquility and repose as we desire yea it is this of which for the present we principally do treat indeauouring to declare how we are to conforme our selues vnto the will of God therin and not to seeke it with to great anxiety and earnestnes for concerning consolations feelings sensible deuotions there are none who would not endure the want of theÌ„ so they might haue the substaÌ„ce of prayer and obteine the fruite therof for they know that prayer consists not in these feelings denotions and in tendernes of mind and therfore without any great vertue they may be had but for one to go to prayer and remaine there as if he were a stone with so great aridity and drinesse as if to pray were the least of his businesse for which he came it seeming to him that God hath wholly withdrawne himselfe from him barring him from all accesse vnto him that that curse is falne vpon his head which God long since did threaten to his people Leui. 26.19 Deut. 28. â—5 Dabo queque vobis caelum desuper siâ—ut ferrum terram aeneam here there is need of great vertue and fortitude indeed when
procâ—â—â— with care and diligence procuring withall earnestnes their farther progresse in spirit hâ—uing for that end frequent recourse to God whereas if they should once become familiar with vertue perhaps they would be proud and negligent and goe slowly forwards in the seruice of God imagining that they had already attained that heigth of perfection which was necessary for them would neuer put theÌ„selues to the paines of endeauouring to become more perfect theÌ„ they were All this which we haue said ought to be an incitement vnto vs to do on our parts precisely all we can and to proceed alwaies with all care and diligence to the purchasing of vertue and perfection and then to hould our selues content with whatsoeuer our Lord shall please to bestow vpon vs and not to be deiected nor disquieted for that vnto which we cannot attaine and which is aboue our reach Auila to 2 epist fol. 32. for this as M. Auila very well obserueth were no other then to afflict our selues because we haue not wings to fly in the ayre THE XXXI CHAPTER Of the conformity which we are to haue with the will of God in that which concerneth felicity and glory WE are not to conforme ourselues oÌ„ly vnto the will of God in those things which concerne grace but also in point of heauenly glory in which a true seruant of Almighty God ought to be so farre estranged from all interest of his owne as he is no farther to reioyce in it then that he seeth the holy will of God accomplished and not for any commodity 〈…〉 owne It is a high perfection saith deuout Thomas a Kempis not to seeke our owne ends neither in little nor much neither in things temporall nor eternall and giueth the reason of it in these words because your will ô Lord and the loue of your honour ought to be transcendent vnto all and it becomes vs to be more content and comforted therewith then with all the benefits which either we haue or may possibly receaue This is the content and ioy of the Blessed in heauen Tract 3. c. 14. where the Saints esteeme their happines greater in the accomplishment of the will of God then in the excessiuenesse of their owne glory they being so straictly vnited to his will that they desire not so much the glory which they possesse neither the beatitude which they enioy for any profit resulting to theÌ„ from thence neither for the content which they receaue therin but only because God is well pleased therwith and it is his will for to bestow it on them And hence it proceedeth that euery one is soe well content with that degree of beatitude which he hath as he affecteth no other neither is displeased that any one is aduanced aboue himselfe because whosoeuer enioyeth the vision of Almighty God becomes so transformed into him that he wholly leaueth of all proper will and beginneth expresly to haue the same will with God he taketh all his coÌ„teÌ„tment and delight therin in considering that it is the will pleasure of God that it should be so And we see how illustrous this vertue hath been in diuers great Saints as in Moyses and S. Paul who for the saluation of soules and the greater glory of God seemed so wholly to haue forgot themselues as they were not so much as mindfull of their owne glory Exod. 32 32. Aut demitte eïs hanc noxam aut si non facis dele me de libro tuo quem scripsisti either ô Lord forgiue these people said Moyses this fault of theirs or if thou wilt not blott my name out of thy booke of life and S. Paul Ad RoÌ„ 9.3 obtabam ego ipse anathema esse à Christo pro fratribus meis I my selfe wished to be excommunicated from Christ for my brothers sakes And S. Martin who together with many other Saints did follow the doctrine of so excellent Masters said in the article of dying Si adhuâ— sum necessarius populo tuo non recuso laborem O my God if yet it be needfull for thy people that I liue I do not refuse the labour They neglected willingly their owne repose and vnfainedly renounced all right which they had to glory when they were euen vpon the point of enioying it offering themselues afresh to more paine and labour for Gods greater seruice This is truly to do the will of God in earth as it is in heauen to cast wholly into forgetfulnes our owne commodity and repose all our content in the accomplishing of the will of God esteeming the contentment of his diuine Mâ—iestie more then all our owne profit or the possession both of heauen and earth And from hence may be clearly percâ—aued how great perfection is requisit to the exercise of our conformity to the will of God for if we must haue no regard of any interest of our owne of any spirituall good no not eternall nor what is more of blessednes its selfe to kâ—â—pe our sight more obseruant of Gods good will and pleasure how much lesse are we to care for humane respects and all these temporall things Whence also we may perceaue how far short they come of this perfection who find repugnance to conforme themselues vnto the will of God in such things as we haue treated of in the beginning as in residing here or there in liuing in this Colledge or in that in being employed in one or the other office in enioying perfect health or being infirme in being much or little esteemed by others for as we now affirme we are more to esteeme the good pleasure and will of God then all the prerogatiues which we may redound vnto vs either from our spirituall or eternall good wheras you are still insisting on these things which in â—â—parison of the other are but drosse and bâ—senes itselfe he who had but such atardent desire to please God and to accomplish his holy will as to disdaine willingly his owne glory to be contented with the meanest place not out of any â—esse desire of doing heroicall acts to coÌ„mend his seruices and labour to the highest place but only because he hath in chiefest esteemation the pleasure of Almighty God he I say shall find no difficulty in any other thing seing he hath renounced for the loue of God the highest degree of excellency to which he could arriue and this is the chiefest thing which we can depart with and leaue for to conforme our selues vnto the will of God If it be Gods pleasure that I should die instaÌ„tly and haue lesse glory I had rather do so then liue twenty or thirty yeares more although I were to merit a higher degree of glory and on the contrary although I were assured of the glory of heauen if I died at this present yet if God should please to retaine me yet longer for diuers yeares in this prison and banishment of mine in suffering many labours and miseries I should rather do it then
shall please then the which there is nothing in which he can more shew his loue vnto him seeing he freely giues and offers vp vnto his Diuine Maiestie what so euer he hath as also what so euer he can haue or may desire and that with a mind so liberally disposed as could he or had he more with the same willingnes he would depart with it THE IV. CHAPTER That this perfect conformity with the wil of God is a blessednes and a kind of heauen in earth WHosoeuer shall be arriued to this entire conformity with the will of God receauing euery thing which may happen to him as proceeding from the hand of God and conforming himselfe in all vnto his most diuine and holy will shall haue obteined here on earth a rare felicity and beatitude and enioy a wondrous great tranquility and peace with a perpetuall ioy and iubily of mind Which is that blessednes and felicity which God Almighties great and faithfull seruaÌ„ts enioy in this mortall life for as the Apostle says the Kingdom of God and the beatitude of this life is not meate and drinke nor any other sensuall delight and pleasure but Iustice peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost Ad RoÌ„ 17.14 this is the kingdom of heauen on earth and that Paradice of all delights which we may enioy in this life and which with good reason is called a beatitude since it resembles vs in a certaine proportion vnto the blessed in heauen for as in heauen aboue there is no change nor alteration but the blessed perseuer alwaies in one being in the eternall fruition of Almighty God so also they who are once arriued to this intire and perfect conformity to that place all their contentment in the contentment and the will of God are neuer troubled nor disquieted with any mutation or contrary accident of this present life in that their harts and wils are so sweetly vnited and conformed vnto the will of God that the consideration how all is proceeding from him and how his good will and pleasure is fulfilled in all makes that pleasing and delightfull to them which otherwise would be grieuous and sorrowfull and that because they desire and loue more the will of their beloued then their owne WheÌ„ce it comes that nothing is able to disturbe their peace for they reioyce and are particularly glad when they are afflicted grieued and despised as knowing it proceeding from the hand of God and there is nothing els which can disquiet them or bereaue them of the peace and tranquility of their minds And this was the cause of that perpetuall cheerfulnes and peace which those holy Saints whom we admire in story S. Anthony Dominicke Francis Lib. 5. c. 5. vitae P. N â—gnatij and others enioyed as also of that which we read of our B. Father Ignatius and ordinarily see in other great seruants of Almighty God For do we thinke that these holy Saints had no aduersity that they had not tentations and infirmities like vs that they were neuer crossed with the successe of thinges without doubt they were and that farre more then we for as much as God vses most frequently to try his Saintes and exercise them in the like accidents whence therefore comes it that they remained euer in one state of mind without any chaunge of countenance but with a ioy and serenity both in the interior and exterior so great as if they had kept perpetuall feast and iubily The cause was no other then that which we haue already declared because they were arriued to that degree of perfection to haue intire conformity with the will of God and had placed all their delight in the accomplishment thereof and so the successe of euery thing was their felicity Diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum Ad RoÌ„ 8.28 Mach. 12 21. non contristabit iustum quicquid ei acciderit all labours tentations mortifications were conuerted into a delight to them since they acknowledged in them the blessed will of God which was all there ioy and contentment They had already attained vnto the greatest height of felicity beatitude which any on could arriue to in this mortall life and so proceeded in all their actions as if they had been in possessioÌ„ of the glory of heauen Sancta Cathari de Sien en ses dialogos Herupon S. Catherine of Siena said excellently wel that the iust in this world are like our Sauiour Christ who neuer wanted the beatitude of his soule how euer great his paines and afflictions were So likewise the iust doe neuer loose that their felicity which consists in the conformity with the will of God with how many aduersities so euer they be opprest Seing that there remaines with them still that ioy contentment which they take in the will of God which is accomplisht in them This is a perfection so sublime and of so high prerogatiue as the Apostle auouches it to passe all vnderstanding Ad Philip 4.7 Et pax Dei quae exsapâ—rat omnem sâ—nsum custodiat corda vestra intelligentias vestras in Christo Iesu he calls it a peace surpassing all vnderstanding for as much as it is a gift of God so high and supernaturall that no humaine vnderstanding by it selfe can comprehend how it is possible for a hart of flesh and blood to remaine quiet at peace and comforted in the middle of those stormes and tempests raised by the miseries and tentations of this life This was notwithstanding to be be found in that wondrous bushe which Moyses saw all burning in a flame Exod. 3â— 2. and yet not consumed as also in that Miracle of the Children who at Babylon throwne into the fiery furnace remained vntoucht in the midst of such a mighty fier singing praises vnto God This is that which holy Iob mentioned in speaking vnto God mirabiliter me crucies Iob. 1â— 16. O Lord thou dost torment me after a wonderous manner signifying the great paine and torment which on the one side he suffred and on the other the vnspeakable contentment and ioy which he receaued in the sustaining them seing that such was the good will and pleasure of his Diuine Maiesty Cassian writs of a certaine venerable man who at Alexandria was incompast and hemd in by a sort of lewd Infidells who reuiled him with all the iniurious speeches as they could deuise in the meane time he remained in the middle of them like a silly lambe sustaining all and answering not a word they all made their sport with him striking and shouing him doing him a thousand other iniuries among the rest one demaunded of him in mockery what miracles his Christ had done vnto whom he answered the miracles which he hath done are that I in suffering all these iniuries and as many more as you can all inuent do take all patiently and am neither moued to anger against you nor stired vp to passion in my selfe This doubtles
the bowells of his affectioÌ„ to them is more then either of Father or Mother which vses to be the renderest of all and so the Prophet Esay says Esâ—â— 49.15 Nunquid obliuisâ—i potesâ— mulier infanteÌ„ suum vt non misâ—reatur filio vteri sui si illa oblita fuerit ego tamen non obliuiscar tui ecce in manibus meis descripsi te muri tui coram oculis meis semper can a mother forget her owne child so as not to haue pitty of the sonne of her wombe and if she should forget yet will not I forget thee for behold I beare you coppâ—ed out in my hands and your walles are alwaies before mine eyes as much as to say I do carry you euen in the palmes of my hands which do present you alwaies before mine eyes for to defend and keepe you and he declares as much by the same Prophet with an amorous comparison Esa 4â— 3. qui portamini à meo vtero euen as a woman great with child doth carry her infant in her wombe and is all in all vnto it both lodging bearer wall and nurtriture euen so saith God I beare you in my bowells And with this consideration the seruants of God do liue in such assurance and esteeme themselues so well prouided for so safe against all chaunces that they are neuer troubled or disquieted with any variety or accident of this life in tempore siâ—â—itatis non erit sollicitum Ier. 17.8 the hart of the iust says the Prophet Hieremy is neuer subiect to commotion or losse of the rest quietnes for the diuers chauÌ„ces and successes of things seeing they are assured that nothing can happen to them without the will and priuity of their Father and of his excessiue loue and goodnes they are most secure as holding for certaine that whatsoeuer arriues them is for their greater good and all which on the one side he takes away froÌ„ them he will restore on the other with aduantage and vsury From this confidence so familiar and filiall which the iust haue in God is begotten in their soules that so great peace tranquillity security which they haue conformable to that of Esay Esa 32.18 sedebit populus meus in pulchritudine pacis in tabernaculis fiduciae in requie opulenta my people shall rest in the beauty of peace and in the Tabernacles of confidence and in a riche repose Where the Prophet most â—â—tly and aptly conioynes peace and confidence together because the one is proceeding from the other for he who hath his trust and confidence in God hath nothing to feare or to be troubled at as hauing God to warrant and secure him And this is that which the royall Prophet sings Psal 4.9 in pace in â—dipsam dormiam requiâ—scam quontam tu Domine singulariter in she constituisti me in peaâ—e in the selfe same will sleepe and rest because thou ô Lord hast singularly settled me in peace and assured my life vnder the hope of thy deare mercy Neither doth this filiall confidence produce peace only but it accompanies it with a great ioy and gladnes Ad RoÌ„ 15.13 Deus autem spei says the Apostle S. Paul repleat vos omnâ— gaudio pace iâ— credâ—ndo vt abundet is in spe virtute Spiritus Sancti the God of hope fill you all with ioy and peace in your beliefe that you may abound in the hope and vertue of the holy Ghost This firme beliefe of ours that God knowes what he doth and doth all for our good is cause that we feele not those tumults troubles those anguishes which they experience who only looke with eyes of flesh and blood vpon the chaunce of things but rather extraordinary gladnes and delight in extraordinary chaunces the more a man shall haue of confidence the more abundant shall his spiritual ioy and gladnes be for the more he shall confide and loue the greater shall his assurance be that the issue of all things will be to his auaile neither is it possible that he should otherwise perswade himselfe or els hope lesse from the exceeding goodnes and infinit loue of God This renders the Saints so vndaunted and assured in the midst of all their afflictions so as they hâ—â—e no dread of men of diuells beasts or any thing as knowing assuredly that without the permission of the will of God they cannot so much as touch them Athana and so S. Athanasius reports of B. S. Anthony that wheÌ„ one time among the rest the diuells presented theÌ„selues in most fearfull shapes and hideous formes vnto him of wild and cruel beasts as of Lyons Tygers Bulles Serpents and Scorpions all compassing him about and terrifying him with their claws teeth horns stings roaring and fearfull hissing so as it seemed they would presently deuour him what did the Blessed Saint but laugh't them all to scorne and told them if you had any vallour you would come but on at once to fight against a single man as I am but by reason that you are cowardly and that God hath depriued you of your might therefore you come such a rabble together of you that your number at least may make me affeard when your forces came not If God hath giuen you any power ouer me behold me here deuour me but if you haue no permission for to do it why do you make all this stir for nothing from whence we may â—â—early perceaue that the great peace and courage which this holy person sound with in himselfe in this occasion Greg li. 3. â—â—al c. 16 refert aliud simile exempluÌ„ Li. 5. vite P. N Ignat c. 9. lib. 2. cap. 5. was proceeding only from the well considering that they could do nothing without the will of God and the conforming himselfe vnto that blessed will We haue diuers other examples of this kind in the Ecclesiasticall hiâ—â—ory and we read the like of our B. Father S. Ignatius in the fifth booke of his life and in the second it is recounted how once as he sailed towards Rome there rose such a fearfull tempest that the Mast being split by the violence of the wind and most of the Cables and tacklings sheard and broke all the Passengers being in a mighty feare and almost dead with the expectation and the dread of death only he in so great a feare and danger as he confest himselfe was scarcely moued to any thing besides a tender feeling and sorrow that he had not serued God so truly and faithfully as he ought and for any other thing Math. 8.27 it neuer touch't the confidence of his mind quia vâ—nti mare obediunt ei for he knew that the winds and sea were obedient vnto God and without his will and permission would not lift vp a waue to swallow any one Let vs likewise study the grace of God supposed to arriue vnto this familiar and filiall confidence in God
passions and defects as also a sorrow and compassion for the paine and sufferance of our Sauiour Christ her Confessor told her that all this was good but yet on without much vertue might be liuely toucht with tendernes and compassion of the death and passion of our Sauiour Christ like as we see the naturall loue and affection which one beares an other doth make him haue a deepe resentment of his friends misery and aduersity The Virgin then demaunded of him whether the daily deploring of our sinnes were a true deuotion or no he answered it was good but not the perfectest seeing that euill naturally brings with it a hatred of it againe she asked him whether it were a true deuotion to thinke often on the paines of hell and the glory of the Blessed he answered t' was likewise good but as farre from being the best as the former was seeing that nature its selfe by a certaine instinct doth commonly abhorre and fly from all paine and torment and loues and seekes after that which may bring vs to content and glory as when you see but the picture of some faire pleasant Citty you desire presently to inhabit it This did exceedingly grieue the holy Vigin and left her much disconsolate and sad in that shee knew not which way she might best apply her exercise of prayers to be most pleasing to Almighty God Not long after there appeared to her an Infant of exquisit beauty to whom when shee had related the cause of her sadnes adding withall it was so great that none could comfort her The Child did tell her she should forbeare to say so since he himselfe both could and would comfort her therfore go said he vnto your Ghostly Father and declare vnto him that true and solid deuotion doth consist in the abnegation and contemning of ones selfe as also in an intire resignation into the hands of God aswell in aduersity as prosperity in being straictly vnited by loue to God in euery thing The Virgin with â—oyfull cheer went presently vnto her Ghostly Father to informe him of all this who no sooner heard her but he answered this this is that indeed to which you are to apply your prayer seing that heerein consists the true charity and loue of God and consequently our profit and perfection It is recounted of an other Virgin that our Lord tought her to insist long time together vpon these words Refert Bloâ— ca. 11. mon spirit O Lord your will be done one earth as it is in heauen and we read of S. Gertrude that inspired by God Almighty shee repeated without any intermission those words of our Sauiour Lucae 22 42. Not my will ô Lord be done but thyne three hundred sixty fiue times together and she vnderstood that it was a deuotion most gratfull to Almighty God Let vs then imitate these examples and directing all our prayers vnto this end go forward couragiously in this exercise Now that we may the better and with greater profit doe it we are to presuppose two things The first is that this exercise is of greatest necessity in time of aduersity and wheÌ„ we haue any difficulty to ouercome vnto the conquest whereof is required a conflict against flesh and blood for in these occurrances there is greatest need of vertue and in such times as those the loue which we beare vnto God Almighty doth more manifestly appeare Euen as a King in time of peace by obliging his soldiers by his liberality doth shew the affection which he beares to them and they in the time of warre in fighting dying for him do shew the loue and loyall respect which they haue to him So in the time of spirituall ioy and consolation the King of heauen giues vs to vnderstand how dearly 〈◊〉 tenders vs and we in the time of desolation aduersity do more shew forth our affection vnto his seruice then we are able to do whilst we are in comfort and prosperity M. Auila to 2. ep fol. 20. Master Auila says exâ—ellent well that to render thanke to God in time of consolation is common vnto all but to blesse and praise him when we are oppressed with tribulation and aduersity is only proper to the good and perfect and a most harmonious musicke to the eares of God And he adds that in the midst of aduersity only to say I render you thanks ô Lord blessed be God or the like is of more worth merit then thousands of thanks and benedictions in time of prosperity and in this sense the holy Scripture compares the iust vnto the carbuncle Eccl 32.7 Gemmula carbunculâ— in ornamento auri because that this pretious stone giues greater lustre by night then in the shining day so in like manner the faithfull and true seruant of God Almighty shines and shewes forth more clearly what he is in the cloudy night of tribulation then in the bright sunne shine of prosperity And therfore the holy Scripture praiseth holy Toby so much Tob. 2.14 for that he although God permitted him to fall into sundry calamities and lastly had depriued him of his sight yet neuer proceeded in his sadnes against Almighty God nor remitted any thing of his former fidelity and obedieÌ„ce to his Diuine Maiestie but he remained alwaies immoueable rendring equall thanks to God his whole life long aswell for his blindnes as for the faculty of sight Iob 1.21 as holy Iob in his affections had done before This saith S. Augustin is that which we are to indeauour to imitate vt in cunctis idem sis Aug ad fratres in HereÌ„ ser 4. tam in prosperis quam in aduersis that as well in prosperity as aduersity we remaine alwaies the same Siâ—ut manus quae eadem est cum in palmam extenditur cum in pugnum constringitur Like as the hand is alwaies the same as well when we span it out as when we clutch our fist so likewise the seruant of Almighty God ought alwaies to be at quiet in the interior of his soule how euer he may seeme to the exterior shew to be perplext and sorrowfull And if it be true which is reported of Socrates Socrates refert Cicero lib. 13. Tuscula questio that in the greatest diuersity of fortune he was alwaies one and that he was neuer obserued to exceed a moderation in his mirth or sorrow Nec hilariorem quisquam nec tristem Socratem vidit aequalis fuit in tanta inaequalitau fortunae vsque ad extremum vitae what extraordinary thing were it in vs who are both Christians and Religious men to indeauour to aspire to a perfection vnto which a Heathen had arriued before vs. Secondly we are to know that it is not sufficient to haue this conformity with the will of God in Generall seeing it will be no hard matter to attaine it so for who is there that will not say he desires that the Diuine will be performed in euery thing
and sanctity but the holy man had not liued fower dayes in this manner freedome but he found the tranquility and peace of his soule sensibly diminished and in lieu thereof a great lisquietnes and perturbation in his mind whereupon he went to S. Francis againe and desired him with much earnestnes that he would appoint him to liue in some certaine place Couent and not leaue him any more vnto his owne free choyce assuring him that he could find no rest nor comfort in such a wild and vnlimited obedience Good religious men ought to haue no peace and contentment in performing their owne wills and so consequently to haue no desire to remaine and dwell in this Colledge or in that in this or the other Prouince but they are to expect vntill holy obedience do take them by the haÌ„d and dispose of them according as she pleases as knowing that such is the will of God in which they are only to take all pleasure and content THE XIV CHAPTER Of that indifferency and conformity with the will of God which Religious men are to haue concerning those offices functions in which obedience shall imploy them WE ought likewise to haue this indifferency resignation wherof we haue spoken in all those functions and offices in which we may be imployed by obedience we perceaue well how many and diuers those offices and functions are in a Religious Order and each one in particular is to go considering of them vntil we haue brought ourselues vnto an indifferency for all Our B. Father says in the constitutions and we haue it likewise in our Rules that in exercising abiect and humble offices we are more readily to accept of those from which we haue the greatest auersion if it should be inioyned vs to exercise our selues in them we haue most need of resignation anâ— indifferency in point of these meaner and abiect offices by reason of the naturall repugnanâ—e which we haue against them and therefore he doth more and shewes a greater vertue and perfection who offers himselfe vnto God to performe these offices then he who should make choyce to do more high and honourable ones If one whâ— had a great desire to serue some noblemaÌ„ should present his seruice in such manner vnto him as to remaine all his life his drudge or lakie if he should thinke it fit it is most apparant that he should do more and declare a greater will to serue that nobleman then one who should make offer of himselfe to be hiâ— Gentleman of the horse or steward of his house since this is rather to demaund a benefit then present his seruice and more ouer the others affection to his seruice would appeare the more if offering himselfe vnto those humble offices he had sufficient tallent to perfâ—rme more honourable ones And it is euen so in Religion if you should offer vp your self to God saying ô Lord I desire to serue you in quality of Preacher or Diuinity Master the matter were not much seing these high and honourable offices vse for themselues to be sought after and desired and therfore you declare in this no great desire of seruing God but when you offer your selfe to serue all the daies of your life in the house of God in coÌ„temptible base offices repugnant vnto sense then you doe giue a testimony indeed of the great desire you had to serue almighty God and this desire would be the more gratefull meritorious the more sit and able you were for the discharge of higher functions And this were enough to stire you vp to the desire of humble and abiect offices and to seeke after them especially seing indeed that in the house of God there is no office which is vile and abiect for as they say commonly if in the pallace of an earthly King there is nothing accounted base but his title ennobleth all and there is great account made of seruing him in the meanest quality how much more ought we to esteeme of all things belonging to the seruice of God to serue whom is properly to raigne S. Basile to stire vs vp vnto the affectionate loue of humble and abiect offices sets the example of our Sauiour before our eyes who as we read in the holy scripture did imploy himselfe in the like offices as in washing the feet of his Apostles and not only in that but also for a long time together in seruing his most holy Mother and S. Ioseph being subiect and obedient vnto them in all whatsoeuer they commaunded him Et erat subditus illis From the twelfth yeare of his age vntill he was thirty yeare old the holy scripture makes no other meÌ„tion of him but only this that he was subiect vnto them which the holy Fathers considering do excellent well infer that in that time he serued and helped them in many lowly and humble offices as considering their pouerty we may piously imagine Ne dedignetur facere Christianus quod fecit Christus let not a ChristiaÌ„ much lesse a Religious maÌ„ thinke much disdaine to do those things which Christ hath done since the sonne of God hath not refused to imploy himselfe in these contemptible offices for the loue of vs let not vs make any difficulty to be exercised in them for the loue of him although we should continue in them all our liues But to come nearer yet vnto our purpose one of the principall reasons and powerfulst motiues which should incite vs to accept with great readines whateuer office obedience should impose vpon vs is to consider that it is the will of God because as we haue said heretofore it ought to be all our comfort and consolation in all our imploiments that we performe the will of God in doing them this is that alone which ought to suffice and content a soule it is the will of God that for the present I should do such a thing behould now you know the pleasure of God and are not to seeke after any thing besides seing there is nothing better or more sublime then the will of Almighty God Whosoeuer should go on in this manner would not esteeme it to import any thing whether they enioyned him this or that to do or imployed him in an eminent or abiect office since there would be no difference vnto such an one S. Hierome relates an example very fitly seruing for this present subiect he sayes that visiting those holy MoÌ„ks who liued in the desert he saw one whom the Superior had commaunded both for his owne aduancement in perfection as also to giue an example of obedience vnto the younger sort of Religious to carry twice a day a mighty stone three miles vnto no other end and for no other profit but to obey and mortify his proper iudgment and this had he already done for eight whole yeares together This saith S. Hierom would appeare vnto those who do not know the true value of the vertue of obedience and haue not
sufferings and that lothsome Leprosy which God sent him vnto his holy will then in all the Almes and good workes which he did whilst he was in health and full prosperity and so in like manner you shall please God more by following his will whilst you are sicke then in all which you could do if you were well S. Bonauenture says the same Iob 1.21 Bonau de grad virt c. 24. lib. de perfect Relig. c 37. hoc refert ex Diuo Gregor Perfectius est aduersa tolerare patienter quam bonis operibus insudare it is more perfection to suffer aduersity patiently then to performe good works neuer so earnestly God can well be without both you me for any profit which he intends vnto his Church ego dixi Deus meus es tu quoniam bonorum meorum non eges he is pleased for the present to preach vnto you in sicknesse and requires that you should learne patience humility out of it psal 15.2 commit all to God he knowes best what is most expedient for you and you are wholly ignorant of it your selfe if we were to desire health and corporall forces for any cause we ought to desire it the better to imploy our selues in the seruice of God and to be more pleasing to him If then our Lord is pleased more and had rather haue me exercised with sicknesse and in suffering patiently the paine of my disease his will be done it is the best for me and most conuenient Act. 2â— 30. S. Paul the Apostle and Preacher of the Gentils was by the permission of God deteined two yeares in prison in a time when the primitiue Church had so much need of him it is not much then for you if God doe keepe you two moneths or two yeares or all your life if so he pleases inthrald vnto some sicknesse who are farre from being so necessary in the Church of God as was that glorious Apostle S. Paul Others there are who when they are disabled by sicknesse or long and continuall infirmity to liue according to the community but are inforced to accept of particularities are much troubled and disquieted scarcely esteeming them selues Religious men and thinking euery one disedified with them in seing their extraordinary fare and manner of life and especially if their disease be such as extendeth not to the exterior shew when their sicknesse is only knowne to God themselues and their particularities and exemptions knowne to all to these I answere that it is a good and laudible consideration and you haue iust cause to haue resentment of it but so as not to cease in point of your sicknesse to conforme your selfe vnto the will of God and to make your benefit of a double merit by conforming your selfe on the one side entirely with the will of God in all those indispositions and infirmities which he is pleased to visit you withall and on the other by a great desire as farre as shall be possible vnto you to performe and exercise your selfe in all the functions of your Order in being heartily sorry that you cannot be imployed in that which others do and in this manner besides the merit of induring sicknesse patiently and willingly there is place in this second point of incriting as much as those who are well and lustly and actually imployed in all those exercises S. Augustiâ— in his 62 S. Augu. sermon de tempore treating of the obligation which each one had vnder mortall sinne to fast time of lent coming to speake of those who were infirme and vnable to fast says that it is sufficient for such as those to eate at least with interior griefe and sorrow sighing and lamenting that whilst others fast they are not able to beare theÌ„ company like as a valiant souldier who hauing been wounded in fight hath more affliction and griefe that he cannot go to field to do some acte worthy the seruice of his King then paine and anguish to be vnder the Chirurgions launce Euen so it is with good Religious men when they are sicke who are more troubled grieued that they cannot performe the exercises of the Religion with the rest then at the torment of their owne disease But in fine neither that nor any other thing is to be a hinderance to our conformity with the will of God in our infirmities but we are to receaue them as presents directed vnto vs from his owne hands vnto his greater glory for our greater good and benefit Hieron in vit Patrum S. Hierom recounts how a certaine Monke beseeched holy Abbot Ioannes an Egyptian by nation to cure him of a violent feuer which much tormeÌ„ted him vnto whom the blessed Saint answered rem tâ—b necessariam cupis abijâ—ere vt enâ—m corporâ— nitro vel alâ—â—s huiusmodi line amâ—ntis abluuntur à sordibus it a animae lang oribus alijsque huinsmodi castigationibus purificantur you desire to be rid of a thing which is very needfull for you for euen as we clense the filth of our bodies with sope and lie so by infirmities the like chastisements are our soules made cleane and purified THE XVII CHAPTER How we are not to repose our trust in Phisitians and Medecins but only in Almighty God and are to conforme our selues vnto his will not only in sicknesse but also in all other things which doe accompany it THat which hath been said of sicknesse is likewise to be vnderstood in matter of all other things which during our sicknesse are accidentall to vs S. Basil touching this matter hath left vs an excellent document Basil in reg Fusias disputat 55 saying that we so ought to make vse of Phisicke and Phisitians as in the meane time to place no trust in them as King Asa did whom the holy scripture therfore reprehends 2. p. 16.12 Nec in infirmitate sua quaesiuit Dominum sed magis in mediâ—orum arte confisas est he hath not sought after God so much as in his infirmity but hath rather trusted to the skill of the Phisitians we are not to attribute to them either our recouery or remaining still infirme but ought to fixe our hope only on God who sometimes is pleased to restore vs so our health by Phisicall meanes and sometimes suffers vs to receaue no good by it and therfore saith S. Basil although we haue neither commodity of Phisitian nor his drogs yet are we not to dispaire of recouering our health seeing that our Sauiour Christ as the holy Scripture testifies sometimes cured diseases by his only will as that Leaper who said vnto him Domine si vis potes me mundare Lord if you will you can make me cleane and our Sauiour answered volo mundare I will be cleane at other times he did apply certaine things as when he made clay with his spittle and annointed the eyes of the blind with it commanding him to go wash himselfe in the poole Siloe at other times
againe he would leaue the sicke in their infirmities and not suffer them to be cured although they euen wasted their whole substance in procuring helpe at the Phisitians hands so in like manner God sometimes restores vs to our health againe without helpe of Phisicke by only willing it at other times he sends it vs by the meanes of Phisitians and sometimes notwithstanding the consult of Doctors and applying of many soueraine remedies God will not recouer you to teach vs to confide our whole trust on him and to lodge no hope in any humaine helpe As King Ezechias did not attribute his cure vnto that lumpâ— of figs which Esay applyed to his impostume 4. Reg. 20.7 but only to Almighty God so must not we acknowledge the recouery of our health to any medecine or Phisitians but to God who cures all our infirmities Sâ—p 16.12 Etenim neque herba neque malagma sanauit â—os sed tuus Domine sermo qui sanauit omnia for neither hearbs nor plasters haue healed them but thy word ô Lord the generall cure of all neither when we are not cured are we to lay the fault on the Phisitians but acknowledge God in it whose will is to leaue vs in our sicknesse and afford vs no redresse so likewise when the Phisition is ignorant of your disease or is mistaken in his iudgment of it which is an ordinary thing euen with those who are best skil'd and practised and in the behalfe of honourable persons you are to accept of this mistake of theirs as also any negligence or fault of the Infirmarian as a thing expresly so ordeined by God and therfore by no meanes ought to say your feauer is returned vnto you againe through an others fault or want of taking heed but you must receaue all as sent vnto you from the hand of God and say it hath pleased God that my feauer should increase and that such an accident should happen to me for it is most certaine that how euer in regard of those who are to tend you and looke vnto your health a fault may be coÌ„mitted yet notwithstanding vnto God it is a premeditated thing vnto whom nothing is by chaÌ„ce or casuall Do you imagine it an accidentall thing that the Swallous flying ouer Tobies head should dunge into his eyes and depriue him of his sight assuredly it was not but done with deepe resolution and by the particular will of Almighty God to giue vs therby an exaÌ„ple of patience in him equall to that of holy Iob and so the sacred Scripture testifies hanc autem teÌ„tationem ideo permisit Dominus eueâ—ire illi Tob. 2.12 vt poster is daretur exemplum patientae â—ius sicut Sancti Iob and the Angell said vnto him afterwards Quia acceptus eras Deo necesse fâ—â—â— vt teÌ„tatio probaret te Iob. 12.13 God hath permitted this tentation for your proofe and tryall We read in the liues of the Fathers how Abbot Stephen being sicke Abbas Stephanus refert etiaÌ„ Dorot doctri 7. his coÌ„panion would needes make him a cake and thinking to bake it with good oyle he mistoke made it with lintsead oyle which is exceeding better and so gaue it him to eate Stephen hauing tasted of it eate a litle and put away the rest without saying any thing An other time he baked him an other in the same fashion and hauing brought it him when he saw he would not eate he tooke a peece of it himselfe to prouoke him vnto an appetite and tasting of it said pray Father eate the cake is very good but finding the bitternes of it and his mistake with great affliction of mind he cryed out and said I am a butcher and murtherer of men wherupon the good Father answered sonne doe not trouble nor disquiet your selfe if God had not been pleased that you should mistake the one oyle for the other it had neuer happened We likewise read of diuers other Saints who suffred with great patience and equality of mind the cures which others prescribed them for their sicknesses although they knew them wholly contrary to the nature of their disease and in this manner are we to beare the faults and negligences aswell of the Phisitian as Infirmarian and neither complaine of the one nor lay the blame vpon the other It is a circuÌ„stance in which a mans vertue is discouered and seene the best and therfore a whole house is edified by seing a sicke Religious man take all that comes with an equall countenance and with the same cheerfulnes as coÌ„ming all from the blessed hand of God and suffering himselfe to be ruled by his Superiors and the Infirmarian as if the remembrance and care of his owne selfe concearned him nothing S. Basil saith you haue trusted your Superior with your soule why therfore do you not trust your body to him you haue put your eternall wellfare into his hands why do you not aswell commit vnto him your temporall health seing our rule doth exempt vs at that time froÌ„ the solicitude of our body and coÌ„maunds it also why do we not make vse great account of a priuilege so much to our aduantage and behofe On the contrary the sicke Religious man who is too scrupulous of his health who is to exact and precise in euery thing which is administered to him and in the manner of taking it and the time and who if all things be not done as he would haue them can lightly complaine of it and murmure at it too disedifies very much all who conuerse with him Cassian says excellent well that the infirmity of the body Cassian li. de institut renuÌ„t c 7. is no waies hindering the purity of the mind but much conferring to it if men but make their vse of it as they ought but take heed saith he that the infirmity of the body doth not passe vnto the soule if any one so behaue himselfe as to make vse of the occasion of his sicknesse to do what he thinks best and is not tractable nor obedient this mans corporall sicknesse hath extended it selfe vnto his soule and the Superior will haue more to doe to prouide remedies for this spirituall disease then for his corporall A man for being sicke is not to cease and neglect to appeare and to be Religious neither to imagine that he is not obliged as then by any rule and that he is to make it his only care to looke vnto the recouery and cherishing of himselfe without once minding his spirituall progresse or looking after it Reg. 50. SuÌ„marij He who is sicke saith our B. Father in the Constitutions is to indeauour no lesse in time of his sicknesse to edify others by shewing his humility and patience then whilst he was in health S. Chrisostome on these words of the Prophet Chrisoâ—â— Psa 5.13 Domine vt sâ—uto boâ—e volunt at is tuae coronastinos â— Lord you haue crowned vs as with a sheeld
to haue kept it still but the holy soule asked it earnestly againe and shee no sooner had it restored vnto her but it turned into a worme as it was before and shee reposed it in her breast againe where it had been bred and nourished before thereupon S. Dominicke praying for her and blessing her with the signe of the holy Crosle left her and went his wayes but he was not gone downe the stairs of that Tower wherin shee liued when those cancorous and wormy breasts of hers fell from her and sound flesh by litle and litle swelling in their place within short time she was entirely cured and remained declaring vnto all that woÌ„drous miracle which God had wrought in her by means of his holy seruant S. Dominicke In the same Chronicle is likewise recounted how Fryer Reginald whilst he was suing to S. Dominicke to take the habit of his order and his entrance into the ReligioÌ„ was concluded of was forced to keepe his bed through the violence of a continuall feauer which the Phisitians iudged to be mortall S. Dominicke toke his sicknes much to hart and prayed vnto God continually for his health the sick-man likewise no lesse solicitous for his owne health did with great feeling and deuotion inuocate the helpe of the glorious Queene of heauen whilst both of them were iointly directing all their prayers vnto this end the B. Virgin entred the chamber of the sicke encompassed with a most resplendent light accompanied with two blessed Virgins which seemed to be S. Cecily and S. Catherine Martyas who attended on the glorious Virgin vnto the bed where the sicke Religious lay whom as a Queen and soueraigne Mother and Mother of pitty shee comforted and said what doe you desire that I should doe for you I am come on purpose to heare your petition present it to me and I will graunt it you Whervpon Reginald much troubled and abashed transported with so diuine a vision was in great perplexity what he should do or say when one of those holy Virgins of her traine to free him from his anxiety said vnto him commit your selfe entirely into her hands for shee knowes better what to bestow vpon you then you to aske the sickman tooke this counsell which was giuen him with so much prudence and discretion and answered in this manner to the B. Virgin Gloriouâ— Lady I require nothing of you but like as one who hath no other will then what is yours doe remit my selfe entirely vnto you and resigne me ouer into your blessed hands Hereupon the B. Virgin extending of them forth and taking from her Virgins an oyle which they had brought for that effect annointed him with it in the same manner as they vse to those who are annealed and the touch of her sacred hands had such excellent force that he was presently deliuered from his feauer and restored to as perfect health as if he neuer had been sicke and what is yet more strange besides this so great benefit of his corporall forces he receaued in his soule a farre more singular one in that he was neuer from that howre forwards in any place time or occasion touched in his person whilst he liued on earth with any sensuall or dishonest motion We read in the Ecclesiasticall History Hist Ecc. p. 2. l. 6. c. 2. how among other men who flourished in that age one Bentamin was of great renoune and fame vpon whom God had bestowed the gift of healing all diseases with no other medicines then the bare touch of his hand or with chaffing them only with a little oyle and praying ouer them This holy man together with this great grace and priuiledge of restoring health to others was so miserably vexed with the dropsy himselfe as he came to be so mightily swolne that he could not go out of his cell without vnhinging the dore to make him larger passage and in this manner continued he in his cell for eight months together vntill he dyed sitting on a wide settle and curing many diseases of other men with out so much as once complaining or being troubled that he could not apply a remedy to his owne and those who pittied him he comforted and said pray vnto God for my soule and take no thought for my bodies infirmity which euen when I was well did serue me to no vse In Pra. Spirit c. 10. Pratum spirituale there is made mention of a certaine Religious Monke who was named Barnaby this hauing a great splinter of wood as he went vpon the way runne vp into hâ—â— foot would not draw it out nor suffer it to be cured for many dayes that he might haue more occasion to suffer for the loue of God and he said vnto those who came to visit him the more the exterior maÌ„ suffers is mortified the more the interior maÌ„ is streÌ„gthned and enabled Surius in the life of S. Pachomius writeth of a certaine Monke called Zacheus Surius in vita S. Pachomij who although he had the falling sicknesse did notwithstanding neuer remit any thing of his accustomed abstinence of feeding only with bread and shalt neither did he omit any of those ordinary prayers which the others Religious who were in health did vse to make but was still present and assisting at mattins and all the other howers All the time which he had vacaÌ„t from his prayer he imployed in making matts baskets and cords and he had so galed his hands with drawing bulrushes and the stalks of hempe that they were alwaies rawe and full of chaps at night before he gaue himselfe to sleepe he vsed to meditate vpon some point of the holy Scripture and afterwards making the signe of the holy Crosse ouer his whole body he would repose himselfe vntill the hower of Mattins vnto which he would rise with the first and be present at all the other howers as hath been said and this was the distribution of time the ordinary exercise of this holy sicke Religious man It chanced that a certaine Monke came once to visit him and seing his hands so sore and full of chaps he told him that if he annointed them with oyle he should allay the paine and smart of them Zacheus was swayed by his counsell and anointed them with oyle but the paine did not only not asswage but it increased excessiuely more in so much as he was inforced to go to S. Pachomius to declare his griefe vnto whom the Saint answered do you imagine sonne that God doth not see all our infirmities and thar he cannot cure vs if he please Wherfore then do you conceiue that God doth it not but suffers vs to be afflicted as much as seemes good to him but only to induce vs to leaue all care of our selues to him and in him to repose all our confidence besides it makes for the good and profit of our soules he augmenting afterwards our reward and eâ—ernall recompence in an infinit proportion to these short and
euen the heauen seemes to them to be made of Iron and the earth of brasse seing that not a dropp of water raineth downe on them to soften these hearts and produce that fruite which should maintaine their spirituall liues but they remaine in a perpetuall sterility and drouth neither is it this aridity which only tormenteth them but there rusheth vpon them sometimes such variety of thoughts and wild distractions and they perhaps so filthy vilanous as they seeme to haue come vnto prayer vnto no other end then to be troubled vext and assaulted with all sorts of tentations If you tell them there best way is then to haue their thoughts on death or on our Sauiour crucifie◠which is an excellent remedy indeed they answere you that they haue tryed it but found no fruite in it for could they do that what should they desire for more Sometimes one shall be so ill disposed and dry in his prayer that he cannot so much as thinke vpon it or if with much force difficulty he hale his thoughts vnto it it is in such a manner as he is neuer moued with it nor rendred any whit the more recollected or attent but they passe it ouer without leauing any impression in the soule and this is that which we call properly spirituall desolation aridity or drines and defection of mind and herein it is necessary that we conforme our selues vnto the will of God This is a point of greatest consequence it being on of the commonest complaints and wherwith they are most contristated who giue themselues to the exercise of prayer for they sigh and weep when they find themselues in this manner whilst on the one side they heare so much said in the praise of prayer and of the good therof and how according as that passes so the daies and liues of spirituall men do passe whilst they likewise vnderstād that it is one of the principalst meanes as we haue as well for our owne particular profit as that of our neighbour and on the other side see themselues so farre in their opinion from making any good prayer this this grieueth this afflicts them much this maks thē thinke that God hath forsaken thē thinks no more vpon thē this maks thē feare they haue wholly lost his fauour and are falne into his displeasure and disgrace seing it seemes to them that he cuts them of from all refuge all recourse vnto him And this tentation is farther augmented when they see the great progresse which others make in prayer in a few daies exercise almost without any paine at all whilst they although they labour more then their force can beare are nothing profitted From whence are begotten other tentations yet worse then these as to make their complaint sometimes of our Lord himselfe for dealing with them in such a rigorous manner and they begin to thinke of leauing of their exercise of prayer imagining it a thing vnfit for them seing it succeeds in no better manner with them And all this is made farre more and worse by the diuels vexing them with that vnquiet thought that themselues alone are in the cause of all that for their owne fault God deales so harshly with them and therfore some do liue in great discomfort comming out of their praier as from some racke or torment sade melancholy and both intollerable to themselues and to all those with whom they do conuerse Wherfore we will now by the assistance of the grace of God both answer and satisfy this tentation and complaint THE XXV CHAPTER An answer vnto the complaint of those who are troubled with aridity and desolation in prayer FIrst I do not say that we are not to reioyce when we are visited and comforted by God for it is manifest that there is none so stupid but would be glad and delighted with the presence of his beloued neither do I say that we are to haue no recentment of his absence from vs when he punisheth vs with aridity and tentations for I see it is impossible to do otherwise Our Sauiour Christ had feeling himselfe to be abandoned by his heauenly Father when hanging on the crosse he vttered these mournefull words Math. 27 46. Deus meus Deus meus vt quid dereliquisti me my God my God why hast thou forsaken me but that which is intended and desired is that we should know how to make our profit of this distresse and experiment by which God commonly doth try his elect and with a vigour of mind put our selues vnder the protection of the will of God in saying Math. 26 39. Veruntamen non sicut ego volo sed sicut tu ô Lord be it not as I will but as thou wilt seing especially that sanctity and perfection consists not in consolations neither in hauing of high and excellent manner of prayer and that our profit and perfection is not measured therby but by a perfect loue of God which is not comprised in any of these things but in a conformity and entire vnion with the diuine will as well in bitternes as in deliciousnes aswell in aduersity as prosperity and therfore we ought with the same equality of mind to receaue from the hand of God aswell the crosse and to be spiritually forsaken as any ioy or cōsolation giuing him thākes for the one and the other alike If you will haue me in darknes be you blessed if you will haue me in light be you also blessed if you will comfort me be you blessed if you will afflict me be you likewise blessed And so S. Paul doth counsell vs In omnibus gratias agite Thomas a Kēpis hae◠est enim voluntas Dei in Christo Iesu in omnibus vobis rēder thanks for euery thing 1. ad Thes 5.17 for such is the will of God in Christ Iesus in all of you If then this be the will of God what can we desire more my life is giuen me to no other end then to please God with it if then he please to direct the whole course of it by these darke troublesome and vneasy waies why should I seeke wish for paths more lightsome pleasant God would haue such an one go forwards in that way which he seeth which he receaues gust in and loues and leads me through this gloomy wildernesse I will not chaunge my barrennes for his fertility neither my frights for his security this is the language of those who haue their eyes open to see the truth and with this they maintaine themselues in cōfort M Auila audi filia c. 26. Master Auila saith excellent well If God would but vnuaile our eyes we should behould more cleerly thē the day that all things in earth and heauen are to little and base to be desired or possessed by vs if you but seperat them from the will of God and that there is nothing how little or bitter so euer it be which would not be of great value
in the world in whom was to be found two things so passing opposit as was in him first to fall so often into imperfections and continue so ingratfull to Almighty God and on the other side to receaue so great and continuall fauours from his Almighty hand Blosius writeth of a certaine great seruant of God Almighty Blos c. 10. mon. spirit vpon whom our blessed Lord had bestowed many graces fauours giuing him great illustrations and communicating to him in praier high admirable things this holy soule out of his profound humility did begge of God if so it might stand with his better will and pleasure to take from him that his abouÌ„dant grace and our Lord at his petition for fiue yeares together left him without all consolation in greeuous tentations in great anxieties and afflictions and when once whilst he bitterly wept two Angells presented themselues to coÌ„fort him he told them that he requested no consolation of them but he should be aboundantly satisfied if the most acceptable will of God might be effected in him The same Blosius relateth how our Sauiour once said vnto S. Brigit why my deare daughter are thou so troubled and solicitous vnto whom shee answered Ibid. c. 4. because I am afflicted with diuers vaine and euill cogitations of which I can by no meanes rid my selfe and the feare of thy Iudgment doth much disturbe my soule this is exact iustice answered our blessed Lord that as thou hast been formerly delighted on the vanities of the world against my will so now against thy will thou shouldest be troubled with as many various and wicked thoughts therof Neuertheles feare my iudgment with moderation and discretion firmely euer confiding in me who am thy God for thou art to hold it for most certaine true that such euill cogitations which the mind striueth against and doth abhorre both purify and crowne the afflicted soule if thou canst not auoid them beare them patieÌ„tly and keepe thy will resoluedly bent against them And although thou dost not consent vnto them notwithstanding feare least thou become proud therof and so come to fall for whosoeuer stands is supported with the only force of God Taulerus saith and Blosius recouÌ„teth it in his CoÌ„solation of the Pusilanimous that there are diuers who wheÌ„ they are vexed with any tribulation do vse to say vnto me Tauler Father I am much afflicted all goeth very ill with me for I am greatly pestered and perturbed with many afflictions and much griefe and sorrow and I tell them that it goeâ—â— well with them then they will reply ô Sir but my fault is only the cause of it to whoÌ„ I answere againe whither your fault be cause of it or no beleeue neuertheles that it is a crosse of affliction imposed by God vpon you rendring thanks vnto him suffer it patiently and resigne your selfe vnto him Then will they tell me oh but I euen internally pine away with that great aridity and spirituall obscurity in which I liue vnto whom I finally reply beare it patiently my deare child and it will be more for your soules good then if you were in neuer so much and great sensible feeling of deuotion We read of a great seruant of God Almighty who said it is fourty yeares since first I serued our Lord and haue been conuersant in prayer and yet I haue neuer knowne what sensible feeling or consolation was but only this I haue found that daie when I haue duely made my prayer I am much streÌ„gthned enabled to go thorough with the exercises of vertue wheras if I euer omit it or performe it tepidly I am so infeebled that I cannot raise my selfe on wing to do any thing which is good and vertuous THE XXX CHAPTER Of the conformity which we are to haue with the will of God for as much as concerneth the distribution of others vertues and supernaturall gifts LIke as we conforme our selues vnto the will of God in what manner so euer he shall dispose of vs in prayer so also are we to do in all other vertues gifts of God and in all spirituall fauours and prerogatiues it is good to haue all vertues in desire to aspire vnto them and indeauour to attaine them but we are in such manner to desire to become better and to go forwards and increase in vertue as not to be disquieted if we obteine not that which we desire and to conforme our selues vnto the will of God and place our whole contentment and delight therin If God be not pleased to bestow vpon you an Angelicall purity but would haue you suffer in that kind violent tentations it is farre better for you to haue patience in it and to accommodate your selfe vnto the will of God in this tentation and extremity then to disquiet and trouble your selfe with bootlesly lamenting of your case that you cannot attaine vnto that purity and candour of the blessed soules in heauen if God be not pleased to bestow vpon you so profound a humility as S. Francis had neither a mildnes answerable to that of Moyses or of Dauid nor in fine so great a patience as that of holy Iob but letteth you experience the contrary motions appetits your best course were to humble your selfe and to embrace the shame which may giue you occasion of hauing your selfe in a more vile esteeme which will not be effected if you remaine troubled with it and spend your selfe in silly complaints and lamentations because God hath not indowed you with an equall patience vnto holy Iob or such a humility as S. Francis had We must conforme our selues vnto the will of God euen in such things as these or els we shall neuer enioy true quietnes M. Auila saith excellent well Auila c. 23. Audi filia I do not belieue saith he that there hath euer been Saint in the world who desired not to become better then he was but that notwithstanding did not hinder quiet of mind since they desired it not out of any cupidity of their owne for that is insatiable neuer cryeth enough but only for God with whose distribution they should haue been content although he had giuen them lesser then they had esteeming it the part of on who loueth loially and truly indeed to content himselfe with that which is giuen him rather then to desire more how euer selfe loue may preteÌ„d that it is to be able to serue Almighty God the better But some will say that our speech seemeth to tend to this that we should not be very forwards and feruent in desiring to be more perfect and vertuous then we are but that we ought to remit ourselues wholly vnto God as well in matter of soule as of our body and from thence they may imagine that we may giue occasion to some of becoming more tepide and negligent and neuer to striue to become perfect or make progresse in vertue This point is well to be heeded seing it