possesse them And if any man will tell me that for the composing and moderating our passions and the affections of the minde and for the obteyning alsoe of vertue the considerations and reasons the documēts and Councells of holy Scripture are sufficient he is deceiued as S. Basill saith Is similiter facit vt si quis disceret aedificare nec vnquam aedificaret aes cundere quae didicisset ea in actum numquā educeret This would be like him whoe should learne to build a howse or coyne mony and would neuer exercise himselfe therein but that all should passe in hearing the documents and rules of arte in which case it is certaine that he would neuer proue good workeman And as little will he grow to possesse Humility or any other vertue who will not exercise himselfe therein And in confirmation heereof the Saint brings that of the Apostle S. Paule Non enim auditores legis iusti sunt apud deum sed factores legis iustificabūtur It is not enough for this purpose to heare many documents and reasons but they must be put in executiō For practise cōduces more to this busines then all the speculation in the world And though it be most true that all vertue and euery thing which is good must come to vs from the hand of God and that we cannot compasse it by our owne strength yet the same lord whoe is to giue it is pleased that we should helpe our selues by our owne endeauours Saint Augustine vpon those words of Christ our Lord Si ergo ego laui pedes vestros Dominus magister vos debetis alter alterius lauare pedes saith that this is that which Christ our Lord intended to teach vs by this example of washing his desciples feete Hoc est beate Petre quod nesciebas quando fieri non sinebas hoc tibi postea sciendum promisit Ecce ipsum est postea This is that O B. Peter which thou didst not know when thou wouldst not consent that Christ should wash thy feete He promised that thou shouldst know it afterward and now that afterward is come and now thou shalt vnderstand it And it is that if wee will obteyne the vertue of Humilitie we must exercise our selues in the exteriour acts thereof Exemplum enim dedi vobis vt quemadmodum ego feci vobis ita vos faciatis For I haue giuen you an example to the end that you may doe as I haue done Didicimus fratres humilitatem ab excelso faciamus inuicem humiles quod similiter fecit excelsus Since the omnipotent and soueraigne Lord humbled himselfe since the sunne of God abased and imployed himselfe in meane and lowly exercises washing the feete of his disciples seruing his Blessed Mother and the holy Ioseph and being subiect and obedient to them in what soeuer they commaunded lett vs learne of them exercise our selues in hūble and meane imployments and thus we shal come to obtaine the vertue of Humilitie This is alsoe that which Saint Bernard saith Humiliatio via est ad humilitatem sicut patientia ad pacem sicut lectio ad scientiam The humiliation of the exteriour man is the way and meanes to obtaine the vertue of Humilitie as patience is for the obteyning peace and reading or study for the obteyning knowledge Si virtutem appetis Humilitatis viam non refugias humiliationis nam si non poteris humiliari non poteris ad humilitatem prouehi And therefore if you will obtaine the vertue of Humilitie doe not fly from the exercise of humiliation for if you say that either you cannot or will not humble or abase your selues as little haue you a minde to obtaine the vertue of Humilitie Saint Augustine proues it very well and giues the reason why this exercise of humiliation is so vsefull important and necessary for the obteining of true humilitie of hart Cum enim ad pedes fratris inclinatur corpus etiam in corde ipso vel excitatur vel si iam inerat cōfirmatur ipsius humilitatis affectus The interiour exteriour man are soe interlaced and vnited together and the one depends so much vpon the other that when the body is humbled and abased the hart is stirred vpp towards the loue of Humilitie That humbling my selfe before my brother and kissing his feete hath some what in it that poore and meane coate that low and base office hath I know not what which goes ingendring and breeding Humilitie in the hart and if it be there already it conserues and increases it And thus Saint Dorotheus answeres this question how a man with a poore and meane coate which belongs to the body may come to obtaine the vertue of humilitie which inhabits the soule For it is certaine saith hee that the body in many cases giues a good or ill disposition to the soule And soe we see the soule hath one kinde of disposition when the body is well and an other when it is sicke O when it is full fedd and another when it is very hungry Now in the selfe same manner the soule vests it selfe with one kinde of inclination when a man is seated vpon a throne or vpon a horse richly adorned and with another when he sitts vpon the ground or is riding vpon a iade and one kinde of inclination when a man is seated vpon a throne or vpon a horse richly adorned and with another when he sitts vpon the ground or is ryding vpon a iade and one kinde of inclination it hath when he is set out in sumptuous cloathes and another when he is but couered with a poore coate Saint Basil also noted this very well and saith that as gallant and shiuing attire lifts vp the harts of worldly men and ingenders in them certaine fumes of vanitie of proper estimation and pride so doth a poore and meane habit awake in the hart of Religious men and of the seruants of God an inclination to Humility and it breedes a disesteeme of ones selfe and it makes men indure better to be despised And the saynt adds further That as wordly men desire rich and glorious cloathes that soe they may be the better knowne and the more honored and esteemed thereby so the good seruants of God and such as are truly humble desire to be poorely and meanely cladd that soe they may be valued the lesse and especially because they conceiue themselues to finde much helpe therein towards their conseruation and augmentation in true Humilitie Amongst all the exteriour humiliations that of poore and meane cloathing is one of the cheefe and for this wee finde it to haue bene soe much vsed by such as are truly humble Wee reade in the life of Father Franciscus Xauier that he euer went very poorely cladd to conserue himselfe the better in Humilitie and fearing least some little estimation or presumption might mingle and wrap it selfe vp in good cloathes as it vses to happen many thymes It will alsoe appeare by
by them and was sometymes in danger to fall and to leaue the institute of a Moncke Being then in this trouble the holy Abbott Isidorus came to him and told him on the parte of God that for that tyme forweard his temptations should cease in the name of IESVS CHRIST our Lord and soe they did and neuer sett vpon him more And the Saint by way of declaring the cause adds this that till then God had not giuen compleat victory to Abbot Moyses least he should haue growne vaine and proud as conceiuing that he had conquered by his owne strength and therefore that God had till then permitted it for his greater good Moyses had not yet obtayned the guift of distrusting himselfe and now to the end that he might obtaine it and not grow proud by confiding in himselfe God left him soe longe a tyme and he obteyned not by soe many and soe great indeauours the compleate victory ouer this passion which others by diligence had obteyned The like did Palladius relate to haue hapned to the Abbot Pacon for euen whilst he was seauenty yeares old he was very much molested by vncleane temptations and he saith that the other affirmed it to him with an oath that after he was fiftie yeares old the combat had bene soe vsuall and soe very fearce as that there had not passed either one day or night in all that tyme wherein he had not bene tempted to that sinne Hee did very extraordinary things to free himselfe from theis temptations but they did not serue the turne And lamenting one day and euen halfe fearing that our lord had forsaken him he heard a voice which interiourly said thus to him know that the cause why god hath permitted this sharpe assault to be made against thee that beene to the end that thou mightst know thine owne pouertie and miserie and the little or nothing which thou hast of thy selfe and therefore see that thou humble thy selfe heereafter and confide not in thy selfe at all but in all things haue recourse for helpe to me And he saith that he was soe comforted by this instruction that he neuer felt that temptation againe In fine the will of our Lord is that we put all our confidence in him and that we distrust our selues with all our owne diligences and meanes This is the doctrine not onely of Saint Augustine Cassian and those antient Fathers but of the holy Ghost himselfe and that in those very termes whereby we haue expressed it heere The wise man in the booke of wisedome setts expresly downe both the Theory and the practise of this pointe in theis words Et vt sciui quoniam aliter non possem esse continens nisi deus det hoc ipsum erat sapientia scire cuius esset hoc donum adij Dominum deprecatus sum illum ex totis preâ—orâ—ijs meis When I know saith Salomon that I could not be continent but by the spirituall guift of God Now Continent is heere the generall word which embraces not onely the conteyning or restrayning that passion which is against Chastitie but all the other passions alsoe which rebell against reason And that other place also of Ecclesiasticus Omnis autem ponderatio digna est continentis animae No weight of gold is able to goe in ballance with a continent sowle No pretious thinge is soe much worth as the person who is continent Hee meanes that kinde of man who intirely containes all his affects and appetites that they may not passe beyond the bounds of reason And now saith Salomon knowing that I could not containe theis passions and powers both of my body and sowle within the moderation of vertue and truth without the especiall guift of God but that sometymes they would exceede the knowledge whereof is a high pointe of wisedome I had recourse to our lord and begged this guift of him with my whole hart Soe that in fine this is the onely meanes whereby a man may become continent and may be able to continue continent to restraine and gouerne our passions and binde them to the good behauiour and to obtaine victory ouer all temptations and the perfection of all vertues And soe the Prophet vnderstood it rightly when he said Nisi Dominus aedificauerit Domum in vanum laborauerunt qui aedificant eam Vnlesse our lord build the howse he labours in vaine who desires to build it Nisi Dominus custodierit Ciuitatem frustra vigilat qui custodit cam If our lord doe not guard the Cittie he labours in vaine who seekes to guarde it It is he who must giue vs all good things and when he hath giuen them must conserne them to vs or els all our labour will be lost That Humilitie is not contrary to Magnanimity but rather that it is the foundation and cause Thereof CHAPTER XXXVI SAint Thomas treating of the vertue of Magnanimitie makes this question On the one side the Saints say yea and the holy Scripture alsoe saith that Humilitie is very necessary for vs and with all that Magnanimitie is alsoe necessary especially for such as exercise high ministeries and liue in high place Now theis two vertues seeme to bee contrary in them selues because Magnanimitie is a greatenes of minde to attempt and enterprise greate and excellent things which in them selues may be worthie of honour and both the one and the other seeme to be contrary to Humilitie For as for the first which is to enterprise greate things this seemes not to sute well with this vertue because one of the degrees of Humilitie which the Saints assigne is Ad omnia indignum inutilem se consiteri credere To confesse and hould himselfe vnworthie and vnprofitable for all things and now for a man to attempt that for which hee is not fitt seemes to be presumption and pride And as for the second pointe which is to enterprise things of honor it seemes alsoe to be contrary because the true humble man must be very farre from desiring honour estimation To this Saint Thomas answeres very well and sayes that although in apparance and by the exteriour sound of the words theis two vertues may seeme to be contrary betweene themselues yet in effect and truth one vertue cannot be contrary to another in particular he saith coÌ„cerning theis two vertues of Humility and Magnanimity that if wee will attentiuely cast our eyes vpon the truth and substance of the thing we shall not onely finde that they are not contrarie but that they are direct Sisters and depend much vpon one another And this he declares very well because as for the first which is to enterprise and attempt great things which is proper to the magnanimous person it is not onely contrary to the humble man but rather is very proper to him and he who is the one may well do the other If confiding in our owne diligence and strength wee should vndertake great things it might be presumption and pride because we
and that of others soe they lookt vpon all those guifts graces honour and estimation as things extrinsecall to themselues and receiued from the hand of God and to him they ascribed and gaue all the glory and praise thereof themselues remayning still intire in the knowledge of their owne vnworthines coÌ„sidering that of theÌ„selues they could neither haue nor doe any good thing And from thence it alsoe came that though the whole world exalted them they would neuer yet exalt themselues nor esteeme themselues one iott the more for that nor did any litle breath thereof sticke to their harts But it seemed to them that theis praises were not vttered as concerning them but some other to whome they beloÌ„ged namely God in whome in whose glory they placed all their contentment and ioy And thus it is affirmed with much reason that this is the Humilitie of great and perfect men First because it already presuposes great vertue and great guifts of God which onely makes one great in his fight and secondly because in it selfe for a man to be truly great in the sight of God and very eminent in vertue and perfection and for that reason to be highly valued and esteemed both before God and man and yet in the midst of all this to hould himselfe for little and base in his owne eyes is a great and admirable perfection And this is that which S. Chrisostome and S. Bernard doe soe much wonder at in the Apostles and others who with being soe great Saints and so richly full of graces from God and his Maiestie working such wonders and miracles by theyr meanes so farr as euen to raise the dead themselues to life and being soe highly esteemed for theis things by the whole world they yet neuertheles remayned soe fixed in their vnworthines and basenes as if they had had nothing in them and as if it had beene some other and not they whoe wrought those great things and as if all that honor and estimation and praise were belonging to others and as if they had imparted to others and not to them Saint Bernard saith Non magnum est esse humilem in abiectione magna prorsus rara virtus humilitas honorata It is not much that a man in pouertie and basenes should be content to humble himselfe for that which indeede he is helpes him to know and disesteeme himselfe but that a man should be generally honoured and esteemed and celebrated for an admirable man and for a Saint and yet remaine soe well grounded in the truth of his owne basenes and of his Nothing as if noe parte oâ— those other things were in him thâ—â— indeede is a rare and excellent vertue and a pointe of most high perfection In such men saith Saint Bernard doth the lighâ— shine before men according to the comaundement of our Lord not for the glorifying of themselues but of their Father whoe is in heauen Theis are thoâ— true imitatours of Saint Paul and of thâ— preachers of the Ghospell who publish not themselues but Iesus Christ Theis are those good and faithfull seruants who seeke noe aduantage of their owne nor ascribe any things to themselues but all and that most faithfully to God to whome they giue the glory of all And soe shall they be sure to heare from the mouth of our Lord those words of the Ghospell Euge serue bone fidelis quia super pauca fuisti fidelis supra multae te constituam Reioyce thou O good and faithfull seruant for because thou hast bene faithfull in little I will appoint and place thee ouer much The foresaid truth is more declared CHAPTER XXXII WEe haue said that the third degree of Humility is when a man hauing great vertues and guifts of God and withall being in great honour and estimation with the world growes not proud thereof but attributes and ascribes all to the fountaine thereof which is God giuing him the glory of all himselfe remayninge the while in his owne vnworthines and basenes as if he did nothing nor had nothing But now we say not for all this that we do not also worke or that we haue not a parte in those good works which we do for this were a great ignorance and errour It is euident that by meanes of our Free will we concur and worke ioyntly with God towards our good works For man giues freely his consent to the doeing of them so he comes to worke since by his proper and Free will he will what he willeth and works what he worketh it is in his haÌ„d whether he will worke or noe Nay rather this is that very thinge which makes this degree of Humilitie soe very hard to be obteyned for on the one side we are to vse all our diligences and to imploy all the meanes wee can to obtaine vertue and to resist temptations and to procure that all things may succeede well as if theis things alone were able to effect it and on the other side when all this is done we are to distruct our selues as much and to hould our selues for as vnprofitable as if we had done nothing at all and we must place our whole confidence in God as the holy Ghospell teaches Cum feceritis omnia quae precepta sunt vobis dicite serui inutiles sumus quod debuimus facere fecimus When you haue done all those things which are commaunded you he speakes not of some but of all say that you are vnprofitable seruants and to say this right you will haue neede of some vertue and not a little Cassianus saith That hee who comes to know well that he is an vnprofitable seruant and that all his owne endeauours and diligences are not able to obtaine any one good thing but that all is to flowe from the gratious guifts of Almightie God this man will not growe proud when he preuales in any thinge which he obteyned not by his owne labour but by the grace and goodnes of God Which is alsoe the same that Saint Paule â—ait What hast thou which thou hast not reâ—eiued Saint Augustine brings a very good comparison to declare this truth and saith That without the grace of God we are noe more but meerly a body without a soule So that as a body which â—s dead cannot moue or stirre it selfe soe wee without the grace of God cannot â—erforme the works of life or value in â—he sigth of God So that as that body were 〈◊〉 madd kinde of thinge which should â—ssume the acts of liueing and moueing to it selfe and not ascribe it to the sowle which dwells in it and giues it life soe were that sowle to be starke blinde which should attribute the good works which it doth to it selfe and not to God who infused into it the spiritt of life which is his grace to the end that soe he might be able to performe them And in another place he saith thas as our corporall eyes though they be neuer soe sharpe sighted yet
the onely hearing whereof is able to make men tremble from head to foote But yet our Lord whoe is soe full of benignitie and mercy doth neuer imploy this soe rigorous punishment nor this so lamentable and vnhappy remedy but after haueing vsed other meanes which were most gentle and sweete Hee first sends vs other occasions and other more gentle inducements that so wee may humble our selues Sometymes sicknes sometymes a contradiction sometymes a murmuration and sometymes a dishonour when a man is brought lower then he thought But when theis temporall things will not serue the turne to humble vs he passes on to the spirituall and first to things of lesse moment and afterward by permitting fearce and greiuous temptations such as may bringe vs so within a haires bredth and euen perswade vs or at least make vs doubt whether wee consented or noe That so a man may see and finde by good experience that he cannot ouercome them by himselfe but may experimentally vnderstand his owne misery and the precise neede which he hath of helpe from heauen and soe may come to distrust his owne strenght and may humble himselfe And when all this will not serue then comes that other so violent and soe costly cure of suffering a man to fall into mortall sinne and to be subdued by the temptation Then comes this Canterie which is made euen by the very fire of Hell to the end that after a man hath euen as it were beaten out his braines he may fall at length vpon the iust examination and knowledge of what he is and may at length be content to humble himselfe by this meanes since he would not be brought to doe it by any other By this tyme I hope wee see well how mightily it imports vs to be humble and not to confide or presume vpon our selues and therefore lett euery one enter into accounte with his owne harte and consider what profitt hee reapes by those occasions which God dayly sends for the making him humble in the qualitie of a tender harted Phisition and of a Father that so there may be no neede of those other which are so violent Chastise me O Lord with the Chastisement of a Father cure thou my pride with afflictions diseases dishonours and affronts and with as many humiliations as thou canst be pleased to send but suffer not O Lord that I should euer fall into mortall sinne O Lord lett the diuell haue power to touch me in pointe of honour and in my health and lett him make another Iob of me Verumtamen animam meam serua but permit not that he may euer touch my soule Vpon Condition that thou O Lord neuer parte from me nor permitt me euer to parte from thee what soeuer tribulation may come vpon me shall be sure to doe me noe hurt but it shall rather turne to my good towards the obteyning of Humilitie which is so acceptable to thee Wherein the discourse aforesaid is confirmed by some examples CHAPTER XL. SEVERVS Sulpitius and Surius in the life of Saint Seuerinus the Abbot relates of a certaine man who was very remarkeable both for his vertues and miracles that he gaue health to sicke persons and dispossessed men of deuills and did many other wonderfull things for which they flocked to him from all parts and he was visited by Prelates and great lords yea and they held it for a pointe of happines if they might but touch euen his cloathes and if he would giue them his benediction By the vse of theis things the Saint began to perceiue that a certaine vanity was growing to enter vpon his hart And on the one side finding that he was not able to diuert his concourse of people and that he could not on the other deliuer himselfe from those importunate thoughts of vanity which pressed vpon him he was much afflicted therewith and putting himselfe one day in prayer he besought our lord with greate instance that for the remedy of those temptations and to the end that he might be conserued in Humilitie his diuine Maiestie would permitt and giue libertie to the diuell to enter into his body for sometyme and torment him as he did other persons God heard his prayer and the diuell entred into him and it was matter of Wonder and a mazement to see him bound vp in Chaines as a franticke and possessed man and soe to be carryed to others to be exercised to whome not longe before they had bene wont to bringe possessed persons that they might be cured by him Thus he remayned fiue moneths and at the end thereof the story saith that he was cured and freed not onely from the diuell whoe had possest his body but from that pride alsoe and vanitie which had possest his soule Surius relates another example like this and saith that the holy Abbot Seuerinus had in his Monastery three Monckes who were a little high and toucht with vanitie and pride Hee had admonished them thereof and yet they perseuered in their faulte The Saynt through the desire he had to see them reformed and humble besought our lord with teares that he would correct them with some punishment of his owne hand that soe they might be humbled and reformed and before he rose vp from prayer our lord permitted that three diuells might possesse them by whome they were greiuously tormented and they confessed with loud cryes the pride and hautines of ther owne harts A punishment very proportionable to the faulte that the spiritt of pride should enter and inhabit men who were full of vanitie and pride And because our lord saw well that nothing would be soe able to humble them he suffered them to remaine soe forty dayes at the end whereof the Saynt besought our Lord that he would be pleased to free them from the diuell which he obteyned and soe they remayned sound both in body and sowle when once they had bene thus humbled by this punishment of our Lord. Cesarius writes how they brought a certaine possessed person to a Couent of the Cistertian Moncks to be recouered The Prior went out to meete him and in his company a yonge Religious man of whose vertue otherwise there was a greate opinion besides that he was knowne to be a Virgin The Prior said then to the diuell It this Moncke commaunde thee to depart darest thou yet remaine To which the diuell made this answere I feare not him for he is proud Saint Iohn Climacus relates how once the diuell began to sow certaine prayses in the hart of a most valliant Cauallier of Christ who was running on a pace towards this vertue of Humilitie But he being moued by the inspiration of Almightie God mett with a very short way for ouercominge the mallice of those peruerse spiritts and it was that he wrote vpon the wall of his Cell the names oâ— some most admirable vertues namely Perfect Charitie most Profound Humilitie Angelicall Chastitie most Pure and high Prayer and the like And when those ill thoughts of pride began to tempt him he made this answeare Let vs come to the proofe of it and soe he redd those tytles especially that of most Profound Humility and said This haue not I I would be glad that it were euen but Profound for I know not whether I be arriued to the first degree thereof Perfect Charitie Charity if you will but as for Perfect it is not very perfect For I speake sometymes quicke and Lowd to my brethrem Angelicall Chastitie No for I haue many ill thoughts yea and I finde many ill motions in my selfe Most high Prayer No for I am much distracted and sleeppy therein And then he said thus to himselfe When thou shalt haue obteyned all theis vertues say yet that thou art an vnfruitefull and vnprofitable seruant and for such must thou hould thy selfe according to those words of Christ our Lord Cum feceritis omnia quae praecepta sunt vobis Dicite serui inutiles sumus But now when thou art soe farre off what canst thou thinke of thy selfe Praysed be God and his B. Mother FINIS
THE STOOPE GALLANT OR A TREATISE OF HVMILITIE COMPOSED BY THE Reuerend Father F. Alfonso Rodriguez of the Societie of Iesus Translated into English PRINTED AT ROVEN 1631. THE PREFACE OF the Treatise of Humilitie THe fathers of the Primitiue Church are frequent in obseruing vpon the ancientes both of Greece and Rome that many of them did excell in most of the morall vertues for which they were much rewarded with temporall blessings by the open hand of almightie God but that the vertue of humilitie was soe farre from being possessed and practised by any of them as that they had not soe much as any apprehention nor did they frame any conceite at all thereof and therefore hath not this vertue any name at all in either of those ancient and learned tongues That which the fathers said of those Gentiles we their Children may in some sorte affirme of theis Protestants for as much as may concerne the vertue of humilitie For how soeuer they are acquainted with the name yea and with the nature of it too by speculation of what is said by vs touching that subiect yet in order to practise and life the two Poles are not more distant from one another then they are from this vertue For noe man either euer had or can euer haue humility of will till first he haue humilitie of the vnderstandinge and no creature can euer deuide himselfe from the Communiō of the holy Catholicke Church vpon presumption that he knowes more of God almighties minde then it but that this man must be hugely proud So that the very in trinsique forme of heresy is directly pride as on the other side a man cannot possibly be a Catholicke but with all he must infallibly be humble for as much at least as may concerne the vnderstanding part of his minde Because the very condition of being à Catholicke implyes thus much that whatsoeuer naturall repugnances he may chance to finde in beleeuing this or that he yet giues himselfe wholly into the hands of the Church and is ready rather to loose a thousand liues then to credit his owne reason against her rules But yet Good Catholickes stay not heere as if they were content to doe God homage by their vnderstanding alone but they seeke alsoe to range and reduce their will to the loue and practise of this vertue And especially this is endeauoured by such amongst vs as enioy both the name and nature of Religious men Who as they haue receiued the great honour of being drawne neerer to his diuine Majestie then the rest so God forbid but they should make it their busines to correspond with that infinite Goodnes and greatenes which can neuer be better done then by acknowledging their owne basenes weakenes Of this I present you heere with a most liuely example For this Treatise of humilitie is not soe properly a booke composed vpon that vertue as the Meditations and aspirations and instructiōs of a Religious man who was breaking and breeding the Nouices committed to his charge towards the contēpt of the world and the mortification of them selues by the imitation of our lord Iesus in that diuine vertue which himselfe in person came to plant Now this you shall finde not to haue bene done after a kinde of Protestant cutt whoe when they take vpon them to speake to men of God and good things consume their howers in generallities scratching onely such eares as itch and not passing as a man may say beyond the very first skinne of the soule And if any man esteeme me to doe them wronge heerin lett them affront me by shewing such a Protestant booke as this I meane not that they should shew me such a booke of humilitie for ought I euer heard they haue neuer written booke of that vertue but let them shew me any such booke of any vertue where the difinitiō of the thing in question is so cleere where the diuision is soe exact where the degrees are soe distinct where the authorities are soe choice where the examples are so proper where the considerations motiues are so conuincing and aboue all where the addresse exercise and practise and examination and reflection is so particular so sweete and so stronge and where the way is made soe easy and smooth for the arriuing to the most laborious iourneys end for flesh and blood which is to be found in the whole world It is highly glorious to Almightie God and it helpes more and more to Canonise the holy Catholicke Church when men see that shee hath Children who are so serious so studious and soe vigorous as that when they are shutt vp hand to hand with God and without any other witnesses then bare walls they are acquiring the highest humane perfection for themselues and imparting it alsoe to one another vpon the price of whatsoeuer flesh and blood holdes deere And for my part I shall be of the Duke of Arcos minde whoe wondring in those first beginnings of the Societie how it was able to produce such rare men whilst yet he vsed to meete them without those exteriour mortifications and austerities either of habit or dyet wherein other holy orders excell grew able afterward to make a good answere to his owne questiō when he once came to see and weigh both theis works of F. Alfonso Rodriguez and many others and by meanes thereof to consider how they are wont to breede themselues within doores and by the vse of continuall prayer and the solid and sincere practise of the most heroicall vertues to make themselues by the fauour of heauen to become as soe many vnshakē towers or rocks against the proud waues of the whole world whensoeuer there growes to be question of the greatest glory of God and the Good of man And this is most true but yet it is not all that truth which we must fetch from thence But it imports vs alsoe to consider that as Religious men are most obliged to procure Christian perfectiō in the highest degree and particularly this vertue of humilitie in regard of their expresse vocation and of the extraordinary helpes and meanes which they haue beyond secular people yet noe man who calls himselfe Christian must hold himselfe exempt from the necessitie of attending to that vertue which Christ our lord himselfe came to teach and the possession whereof will carry and conduct men vp to heauen as the want thereof did precipitate those rebellious Angells downe to hell But there is a world of other motiues besides this of punishments rewards which the discourse ensueing will declare A TREATISE OF THE VERTVE OF humilitie Of the excellencie of the vertue of Humilitie and of the neede wee haue thereof CHAPTER I. DIscite à me quia mitis sum humilis corde inuenietis requiem animabus vestris Learne of me saith Iesus Christ our Sauyour for I am milde and humble of hart and you shall finde rest for your soules Tota vita Christi in terris per
actions be very well accompanyed and fenced by humilitie both in the beginning in the middle and in the end thereof for if we be negligent neuer soe littâ—e and suffer vaine complacence to enter in the winde of pride carries all away And it will helpe vs little that the worke in it selfe be very good nay rather in good works wee haue most cause to feare the vice of vaine glorie and pride Vitia quippe caetera â—n peccatis superbia vera etiam in vectè factis â—imenda est ne illa quae laudabiliter facta sunt â—psius laudis cupiditate amittantur For other vices haue relation to sinns and wicked obiects as Enuy Luxuriousnes and Wrath which carry a kinde of ill superscription vpon them to the end that wee may take heede thereof whereas pride is euer treading as it were vpon the heeles of good workes that soe it may destroy them Superbia bonis operibus insidiatur vt pereant A man went prosperously sayling with his hart raysed vp towards heauen because at the beginning of the action he had addressed it to the glory of God and behould when suddenly there comes a winde of vanitie and casts him vpon a rocke by procuringe to make him desire to please men and to be celebrated and esteemed by them taking some vaine contentment therein and therewith the whole busines sincks And soe both S. Gregory and S. Bernard say very well Qui sine humilitate vertutes congregat quasi in ventum puluerem portat Hee whoe assembles any other vertues without humilitie is like a man whoe carries a little dust or ashes against the winde in which case the same winde will be sure to scatter and carry it all away That Humilitie is the foundation of all vertue CHAPTER II. SAinct Cyprian saith Humilitas est sanctitatis fundamentum S. Hierome Prima virtus Christianorum est humilitas S. Bernard Humilitas est fundamenâ—um custosque virtutum They all say that humilitie is the foundation of sanctitie and of all vertue And S. Gregory in one place calls it â—he mistris and mother of all vertue and he saith alsoe in another place that it is the Roote and very of springe of vertue This meâ—aphor and comparison of the Roote is very proper and doth very well declare â—he properties and conditions of humiliâ—ie For first S. Gregory saith that as the â—oote sustaines and supports the flower â—nd when the Roote is pluckt vp the â—lower doth instantly dry and wither â—oe euery vertue whatsoeuer is instantly â—ost if it perseuer not in the Roote of Humilitie But as the Roote which lyes vnder ground and is trampled and troden vpon hath noe beautie or odour in it and yet the tree receiues life from thence iust soe the humble man is buried and disesteemed and disgraced and seemes to carry noe lustre nor brightnes in himselfe but is cast a side into a corner and forgotten and yet this very thing is that which conserues him and makes him thriue But with all as to the end that the tree may be able to growe and continue and beare much fruite it is necessarie that the roote lye deepe and how much the more deepe it is and more couered with earth soe much more fruite will the tree yeild and soe much the longer will it contineue according to that of the Prophet Esay Mittet radicem deorsum faciet fructum sursum it shall send the roote downeward and make the fruite growe vpward soe the fructisying of a soule in all vertue and the conseruing it selfe therein consists in laying a lowe roote of Humilitie Howe much the more humble you are soe much the more will you profitt and growe in vertue and perfection To conclude as pride is the beginning and roote of all synne according to that of the wise man Initium omnis peccaâ— est superbia soe the Saints declare that Humilitie is the foundation and roote of all vertue But some man will say perhaps how caÌ„ you affirme that Humilitie is the foundation of all vertue and of all spirituall building when commonly wee are taught by spirituall men that faith is the founâ—ation according to that of S. Paule Fundamentum enim aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positum est Christus Iesus To this S. Thomas answears very well Two things are necessary for the well founding of à howse first it is necessarie to open the ground vell and cast out all that wich is loose till at lengtâ— you arrive to that vhich is firme that soe you may builld afterwand vpoÌ„ it aÌ„d vheÌ„ this is done you beginne to lay the first stone which with the rest then laid is the principall foundatioÌ„ of the building After this manner saith S. Thomas doe Humilitie and faith behaue them selues one towards another in the spirituall building of vertue Humilitie is that which opens the soyle and the office thereof is to digge deepe into the earth to cast out all that which is loose which signifies the we kenes of mans force Soe that you must not lay your foundation vpon your owne strength for all this is noe better then said all this is to be cast out distrusting your selues and still you must be digging on till you come to the firme stone and the liuinge rocke which is Christ our Lord. Petra autem erat Christus This indeede is the principall foundation but yet not with standing because for the setling of this foundation there is neede alsoe of that other humilitie is alsoe called a foundation And soe hee whoe by meanes of humilitie will open the soyle well and digge deepe into the knowledge of himselfe and cast out all the saind of his owne esteemation and confidence in himselfe will arriue to that true foundation which is Christ our Lord and this man will raise a good building which will not be driuen downe though the windes blowe and the waters beate because it is founded vpon the firme rockeâ— But on the other side if hee build without humilitie the buildinge wilâ— instantly sincke downe because it iâ— founded vpon saind They are not true vertues but apparant onely and false which are not founded vpon Humilitie And soe S. Augustine saith that in those Romans and antient Philosophers there was noe true vertue not onely because they wanted Charitie which is the forme and giues life and being to all vertue and without which there is noe true and perfect vertue but besides because they wanted alsoe the foundation of humilitie and in their Fortitude Temperance and Iustice they desired to bee esteemed and to be talked of when they were dead and soe their vertues were but certaine empty things and without substance and indeede they were but shadowes or shewes of vertue And soe as they were not perfect and true but onely apparant the Saint saith that God rewarded the Romans for them with temporall blessings of this life which â—re alsoe blessings but of apparence If therefore you meane to build
they haue of this vertue whoe professe to procure the saluation of theyr neighbours sowles CHAPTER IIII. QVanto maicres humilia te in omnibus coram Deo inuenies gratiam How much thou art greater soe thou humble thy selfe saith the wise man soe much the more and thou shal finde grace in the sight of God We whoe make profession to gaine sowles to God haue the office of Grandes For wee may say for our confusion that God hath called vs to a very high state fine our institute is to sewe the holy Church in certaine ministeries which are very eminent and high to which God chose the Apostles namely the preaching of the Ghospell the administratioÌ„ of tâ—e Sacraments and the dispensation of his most pretious blood soe that we may say vith Saint Paule dedit nobis ministerium reconciliationis Hee calls the preaching of the Ghospell the dispensation of the Sacraments by which grace is communicated the ministery of Reconciliation Et posuit in nobis verbum reconciliationis pro Christo ergo Legatione fungimur God hath made vs his seruants his Embassadors as his Apostles were Legats of that cheife Bishop Iesus Christ tongues and instruments of the holy Ghost Tanquam Deo exhortante per nos Our Lord is pleased to speake to soules by our tongues by theis tongues of flesh wil our lord moue the harts of men for this haue we there fore more neede then others of the vertue of Humilitie and that vpon twoe reasons first because by how much the more high our institute and vocation is so much more hazard shal we run and so much greater will be the combatte of vanitie and pride The highest hills as S. Ierome saith are assaulted by the stiffest windes Wee are imployed in very high ministeries and for this are we respected and esteemed ouer the world We are held to be Saints and euen for other Apostles vpoÌ„ earth and that all our conuersation is sanctity and that our study is to make them alsoe Saincts Whith whome we coÌ„uerse Here is neede of a greate foundation of Humilitie that soe high a building as this may not be driuen downe to the grounde Wee had neede haue greate strength of vertue that wee may be able to beare the weight of honor whith all the circumstances thereof A hard taske it is to walke in the midst of honors and that yet noe part thereof should fasten it selfe to the hart It is not euery bodyes case to haue a head that can be safe soe high O how many haue growne giddy and fallne downe from that high state wherein they were for want of the foundation of Humilitie how many whoe seemed Zagles sowringe vp in the exercise of seuerall vertues haue through pride become as blinde as batts That Moncke wrought Miracles of whome it is written in the life of S. Pachomius and Palemon that he walked vpon burning coales without hurting himselfe but he growe proud vpon that very occasion and he though a contemptuoustly of others and said meaning of himselfe that he was a Saint who could walke vpon coales without burning himselfe which of you said hee can doe so much Saint Palemon reproued him for this perceiuing that it grew in him from pride and at length he came to falle miserably and to end ill The holy Scripture the histories of Saints liues are full of such examples as this For this doe we therefore stand in particular neede to be very well grounded in this vertue for if we be not we shall runne greate hazard of being giddy and of falling into the sinne of pride yea and that the greatest of all others which is spirituall pride S. Bonauenture declaring this saith That there ar towe kindes of pride one which concernes temporall things and this is called carnall pride and another which concernes things spirituall and this is called spirituall pride and he saith that this second is a greater pride and a greater sinne then the former The reason hereof is cleere For as S. Bonauenture saith the proud man is a theefe and committs robbery for he runs away with the goods of another against the will of the owner by hauing stolne the honor and glory which is proper to God and which he will not giue away but reserue to himselfe GloriaÌ„ meam alteri non dabo saith he by the Prophet Esay and this as I was saying Doth the proud man steale from God and he runs away with it and applyes it to himselfe Now when a man growes proud of any naturall aduantage as of nobility of agilitie and strength of body of quicknes of vnderstanding of learning or the like this man is a robber but yet the thest is not soe greate For though it be true that all theis blessings are of God they are yet but as the chaff of his howse but he who shall grow proud of his spirituall guifts as namely of saÌ„ctity or of the fruite which is gathered by gayniÌ„g soules this is a great theefe a famous theefe a robber of the honor of God and who steales those iewells which he esteemes the most rith and of the greatest price and valew and which indeede were sett at soe high a rate that he thought his owne blood and life well imployed vpon the purchose thereof For this reason the B. S. Francis was full of care and feare least hee should fall into pride he was wont to say thus to God O Lord if thou giue me any thinge keepe it for me whoe dare not trust my selfe with it for I am noe better then a theefe and am still running away with thy goods And now lett vs alsoe walke on with the same feare since we haue much more reason to be afraide are fare froÌ„ being so humble as S. FraÌ„cis was Lett vs not faâ—l into his soe daungerous pride lett vs not run away with those goods of God which he hath put with soe much confidence into our hands Lett noe parte thereof sticke to vs lett vs attribute nothing to our selues but returne the whole backe to God It was not without greate mistery that Christ our Sauyour when he appeared to his Disciples vpon the day of his glorious Ascention reproou'd them first for their incredulity and hardnesse of hart coÌ„maunded them afterward to goe preach the Ghospell wee the whole world and gaue them power to worke many mightie miracles For he giues vs hereby to vnderstand that he who is to be exalted to the doenig of great things hath neede to be humbled first and to be abased in himselfe and to haue a true knowledge of his owne frailties miseries that soe though afterward he come to fly aboue the heauens and to woke miracles he may yet remaine still intyre in the know ledge of himselfe sticke fast to the vnderstanding of his owne basenes without attributing any other thing to him selfe then vnworthinesse Tâ—eodoret to his purpose notes that God resoluing to choose Moyses for the
say yet more then this Plutarch treating how it may be knowne when a man hath obteyned a vertue giues two signes thereof and one of them which the greate Philosopher Zeno left in wryting is by his Dreames If euen when you are in your dreames as you are sleeping you haue noe ill impulses or vncleane imaginations or when if you haue them you take noe gust or contentment in them but the contrary and when you resist the temptation and delight thereof euen in your dreames as if you were a wake this is a signe that the vertue is well rooted in your soules and that not onely your vill is subiect to reason but euen your sensuall appetite and imagination Iust soe as when Coach-horses are well taught though the Coachman lay the raines on their necks perhaps sleepe himselfe yet they goe on their way without making any fault Soe saith the Philosopher They whoe haue perfectly obteyned any vertue and haue totally subdued the affects and brutall appetites which repugne to it goe on their right way euen when they sleepe Saint Augustine doth also teach vs this doctrine thus Domine memores mandatorum tuorum etiam in somnis resistimus Some seruants of God carry soe greate an affection to vertue and to the keeping of God's comaundements and soe great detestation against vice and are soe accustomed and inured to the resistance of temptations when they are a wake as that they resist them alsoe euen when they sleepe Wee read in the life of Father Franciscus Xauier that in a certaine temptation or illusion which he had once in his sleepe cast vp certaine gulpes of bloud In this sorte doe some declare that place of Sainct Paule Siue vigelemus siue dormiamus simul cùm illo viuamus which imports onely that both liuing and dying wee must euer liue vith Christ vhich is the common exposition but moreouer that the zealous seruants of God must euer liue with Christ and that not onely wakeing but euen sleeping also dreameing The Philosophers goe yet further and say that the third condition or signe whereby it may be knowne if a man haue perfectly obteyned any vertue is when he performes the workes thereof Delectabiliter with delight and gust for this is the principall signe wherein the perfection of vertue consists If therefore you wil see whether you haue obteyned the perfection of the vertue of Humilitie examine your selues by that rule which we deliuered in the last Chapter and see whether you be as gladd of any dishonour and affront as wordly men vse to be of honour and estimation But besides that all this is necessary for arriueing to the perfection of any vertue there is yet another thing of very greate importance towards the contynuing and perseuering therein For in fine till wee arriue to performe the actions of vertue with gust and ioy it will be a thing of much difficultie to continue in vertue Saint Dorotheus saith that this was the common doctrine of those antient fathers Solebant patres maiores nostri firmiter asserere Quicquid animus alacriter non admittit diuturnum esse non posse Those antient Fathers were wont to say and they held it for a most certaine truth that whatsoeuer was not performed with gust and ioy could not last any long tyme. It may well happen that for some fitt you will keepe silence and liue with modesty and recollection but yet till this flow from the very interiour of the hart and till by the good custome which you vse you make it growe as it were to be connaturall to you and soe you come to performe it with swauitie and gust you will not contynue longe therein but it will passe as being affectect and forced Et nullum violentum perpetuum For this reason it imports soe much to exercise the acts of any vertue with such constancy as thereby to roote it in the soule which must euen drinke it vp in such sort that it may fall euen as it were of it selfe vpon the vertue and they may seeme to be acts of our owne nature for soe wee shall performe them with ioy and gust By these meanes we may obtaine a kinde of securitie that we shall contynue and perseuer therein This is that which the Prophett saith Sed in lege domini volūtas eius Another translation saith Sed in lege Domini voluptas eius Blessed is that man whose whole contentment ioy and gladnes is in the law of our lord and whoe make it his delights and entertainements for that man will yeild the fruite of good workes like a tree which is planted by the riuer side The perfection to which wee must procure to rise in this second degree of Humilitie is more declared CHAPTER XVII SAint Iohn Climaeus adds another pointe to the former and saith that as proud men loue honour and estimation soe much that to be the more honoured and esteemed by men they faine and pretend sometymes to certaine things which they haue not as namely more nobilitie more riches more capacitie and parts then their owne soe it is the signe of a most profound Humility when a man arriues to haue soe greate a desire to be humbled and despised that for the obteyning thereof he procures in certaine cases to faigne and to pretend to haue some defects which indeede he hath noth that soe hee may come to be lesse esteemed Of this saith hee we haue an example in a certaine father Simeon whoe hearing that the Admirall of the Country came to make him a visitt as to a famous and holy man tooke a peece of bread and cheese into his hand and sitting downe at the doore of his Cell hee began to eate thereof after such an vntoward manner as some naturall foole might vse which as soone as the Admirall saw hee despised him and the other remained with much contentment for hauing obteyned what he pretended And we read of the like examples of other Saints as namely of Saint Francis when he put himselfe to tread morter that soe hee might fly from honour and from that reception which they had a minde to make him and of Fryer Iuniper alsoe when he put himselfe to play at boyes play with Children out of the same end Theis Saints considered that the world despised the sonne of God who is the supreame and the infinite good and perceiuing the world to be soe deceiptfull and false and that is was mistaken in not knowing such a resplendent and cleare light as the sonne of God was and in not honouring him who was most true and perfect honour they conceiued such a hatred and detestation against the world and the estimation thereof that they reproued all that which the world approues and they praysed and loued all that which the world despises and hates and soe they fledd with great care from being praysed and esteemed by the world which despised their God and their lord and they held it for a particular signe
another reason that towards the purchase of Humilitie of hart or any other interiour vertue the exteriour exercise of the same vertue doth profitt much because the will is much more moued thereby then by bare desires For it is cleere that the present obiect moues vs more then the absent as we see that wee are moued more by seeing things then by hearing of them and from hence the Prouerbe came That which the eyes see not the hart rues not Soe that the exteriour thing which is put in practise moues the will much more because the obiect is there present then meere apprehensiōs and interiour desires do where the obiect is not present but onely in the cōceite and imagination One great affront well endured with a good will shall breede more of the vertue of patiēce in your soule then fower affronts will doe when you haue but the onely desire without the deede And the spending of one day in exercising some meane and lowe office and the wearing some poore and tottered coate some one day will helpe your soule more to the vertue of humilitie then many dayes of meere desires wil doe Wee haue experiēce euery day that a man hath repugnance to performe one of the ordinary mortifications which wee vse and within two or three dayes after He hath begun to doe thē he findes noe difficultie therein at all and yet before he did them he had conceiued many purposes and desires thereof and yet still they were not strōge enough to ouercome the difficulty And for the same reason doth the society vse certaine publique mortifications as wee reade to haue bene done by many SS because when once a man hath performed one of theis he getts the mastery ouer himselfe for other things wherein he found difficultie before And to this we may add that which is said by the schole-diuines that whē the interiour act is accompanied by the exteriour it is commonly more efficatious and intense So that it helpes much in all respects towards the obteyning of the vertue of Humilitie to imploy our selues exteriourly about obiects which are meane and base And because vertue is conserued and augmented by the same meanes whereby it is obteyned therefore as the exteriour exercise of Humilitie is necessary for the obteyning the vertue of Humilitie it will alsoe be necessary for the custody and increase thereof where vpon it will follow that this exercise is very important for all and not onely for beginners but for others alsoe who eare great proficients as we alsoe said when we were treating of Mortification And soe our Father in the Constitutions and Rules recommēds it much to vs all in these words Magnopere confert deuotè quo ad fieri poterit ea munera obire in quibus magis exercetur humilitas Charitas It will greately helpe that we performe those offices with all possible deuotion wherein Humilitie and Charitie are exercised most And in another place he saith Temptations are to be preuented by their contraries as when there is opinion that such a one is inclined to pride he must be exercised in such meane things as may be likely to helpe him towards Humility and soe in other ill inclinations And yet in another place As for meane and base imployments men ought redily to accept of those wherein they finde most repugnance when soeuer they shal be soe ordeyned So that finally I say that theis two things Humilitie and Humiliation must helpe one another and from the interiour Humilitie which consists in despising himselfe and desiring to be held by others in small accounte exteriour humiliation is to growe that the man may exteriourly shew himselfe to be the same that interiourly he tooke himselfe to be Namely that as the humble man is interiourly contemptible in his owne eyes and houlds himselfe to be vnworthie of all honor soe must treate himselfe alsoe exteriourly that the exteriour Works which he performes may visibly declare the interiour Humilitie which is in his harte Choose you the lowest place as Christ our Lord aduised despise not to treate with persons whoe are poore and meane be gladd of the most inferiour imployments and this very exteriour humiliation which springs from the interiour will giue increase to that very fountaine alsoe from which it springs The Doctrine formerly deliuered is confirmed by diuers examples CHAPTER XXIV PEtrus Cluniacensus recounts that in the Order of the Carthusians there was a Religious man of holy and vnspotted life whome our lord had conserued so chast so pure so intyre that he had neuer suffered any illusion euen in his sleepe But being come to the hower of his death and all the Religious assisting at the bedd side of the sicke man the Prior whoe was alsoe there commaunded him to tell them what that thing in particular was whereby he might conceiue himselfe to haue pleased our lord most in the whole course of his life Hee made him this answeare Father you commaund me a hard thing I should by no meanes tell you what you aske if I were not obliged to it by Obediēce From my infancy I haue bene much afflicted and persecuted by the diuell but according to the multitude of the troubles and tribulations which I susteyned my soule was still refreshed by those many conforts which Christ our lord and the glorious virgin Mary his most Blessed mother imparted to me I therefore being one day much afflicted and euen ouer-wrought by greate temptations of the diuell this soueraigne virgin appeared to me and vpon her presence the deuills fledd and all their temptations were at an end And after she had comforted and incouraged me to perseuer and proceede in the way of vertue and perfection she said thus to me To the end that thou maist the better doe that which I haue aduised I will fetch thee in particular out of the treasures of my sonne three wayes or exercises of Humilitie wherein if thou imploy thy selfe thou wilt highly please God and shalt ouercome thine enemies Namely that thou humble thy selfe in theis three things in thy foode in thy cloathing and in the offices or dutyes which thou art to discharge So that in thy foode thou must desire and procure the worst and in thy cloathing the most meane and course and as for thy imployments or offices indeauour thou euer to get the most base and meane esteeming it both for a great honour and profitt for thee to exercise thy selfe in such as are most refused and despised and which other men disdaine and from which they fly and hauing said thus much she vanished For my part I imprinted the power and efficacie of those words of hers in my hart that soe from that tyme forward I might doe as I had bene taught by her and my soule hath found much good by it Cassianus relates of the Abbott Paphmisius that being a moncke in Egipt and Abbot of the Monastery he was much esteemed honored by the Moncks both
when you shal be arriued soe farre as to conceiue that you beare those occasions well which vse to present them selues yet you must knowe that there are seuerall degrees stepps in the same worke whereby you must rise towards the perfection of Humilitie For the first stepp is that you exercise your selues in bearing all those occasions which may be offred for your contempt with patience wherein there will be some what to doe that perhaps for a good while After this you must passe on and not stay nor grow weary til you come to reioyce in being affronted and till you feele as much contentment gust therein as worldly meÌ„ doe in all the honors riches and pleasures of the earth according to that of the Prophett In via testimonioruÌ„ tuoruÌ„ delectatus sum sicut inomnibus diuitiis If we desire any thing in good earnest we are naturally gladd when we haue obteyned it and if wee desire it much we reioyce much and if little little Take you therefore this for a signe whereby to see whether you seriously desire to be little esteemed or no and whether or noe you goe increasing in the vertue of Humilitie and soe also in the other vertues To the end that wee may profitt the more by this meanes in our Prayer and that therein this vertue may imprint it selfe the more deepely in our harts we must goe descending to those particular and hard cases which may ocurre and we must animate our selues and actuate vpon them as if we had them present then insisting and deteyinge our selues therein till at length no one thinge may be able to putt it selfe before vs which we cannot make plaine and smooth For by this meanes vice will come to be rooted vp and vertue will be sincking and incorporating it selfe into the very roote of the hart perfecting it self dayly more and more That is a very good coÌ„parison to this purpose which the Goldsmiths vse for the refyning of God they melt it in the chrysuble and when it is melted they cast a graine of Sublimate in to it and then the gold begins to boyle vp with great heigth and fury till the Sublimate bee spent for then the gold begins to be quiet The gold smith comes againe and casts in another graine of Sublimate and the gold boyles vp againe but not with soe much strength as before and when that Sublimate is also spent the gold lyes still They cast in Sublimate a third tyme and the gold boyles againe but gently now and finally he casts in more Sublimate the fowerth tyme but then the gold makes noe noyse or alteration at all any more then if they had cast nothing in and then the gold is perfectly refined and this is the signe thereof Now this is that very thing which we must be doeing in prayer namely to cast in a graine of Sublimate imagining that such a particular mortification or contempt is then offering it selfe to vs and if it beginne to trouble and stinge vs we must detaine our selues therein till the heate and feruour of our prayer consume that graine of Sublimate and till we be able to make head against it and finde our harts quiet and reposed therein And the next day cast in another graine of Sublimate imagininge that some other matter of difficulty and of much mortification and humiliation is offering it selfe and if still your nature be troubled and offer to boyle vp detaine your selues therein till it be spent and you be quieted Then cast in another and yet another graine as occasion serues and when now the Sublimate makes noe noyse nor breedes noe trouble to you but that whatsoeuer occasion may be offered and represented to you yow still remaine with much quietnes and peace the gold is then purified and refined and this may serue you for a signe of hauinge obteyned the perfection of this vertue In what manner we are to make a particuler examination of our consciences concerning the vertue of Humility CHAPTER XXVIII THE Particular examination as we haue said already in the proper place is to be of some one onely thing for thus will this meanes bee more efficatious and haue greater force then if we carryed â—ore many things together and it is therefore called particular because it concernes one onely thinge And this is of soe great importance that Ordinarily it is necessary to take many tymes one vice which we would auoide and one vertue which we would obtaine into parts that soe by little and little we may be able to compasse that which wee desire Soe is it therefore in this vertue If you will make your particular examination about rooting vp the pride of your harte and of obteyninge the vertue of Humility you must not take it in hand after a kinde of generall way For Humility and pride imbrace many perticulars and if you take it but soe in grosse as to say I will be proud in nothing but humble in all things it is too much to examine your selues vpon at once and it will be more if you doe it vpon two or three vertues at once and thus in fine you will doe nothing But you are to take it into parts and to goe on by little and little Consider in what you are cheifly wont to faile concerninge Humilitie or in exercising of pride and beginne there and haueing ended with one particular thing take another to hart and then another and â—hus by little and little you will goe rooting vp the whole vice of pride out of your soules and planâ—inge the vertue of Humility in place â—hereof Let vs therefore now goe parâ—ing and deuiding theis things that soe you may the better and with the more profitt make this Particular examination concerning this vertue which is soe necessary The first shall be not to speake a word which may redound to our owne estimaâ—ion and praise For the appetite of hoâ—or and estimation is so naturall to vs â—nd wee carry it soe rooted in our â—arts that euen as it were with out â—hinking or reflecting vpon it our â—ongues runne voluntarily to say some what which either directly or indiâ—ectly may redownd to our owne praise â—x abundantia cordis os loquitur The hart 〈◊〉 wont to speake out of the aboundance of the â—outh As soone as any occasion is offred whereby honor may be gayned wee inâ—tantly come in for our parts as by â—aying I was in place I was partly the â—ause If I had bene absent I was inteâ—ested in that from the begining c. And the while I dare warrant you that if the thing had not brought honor with it you would haue bene content to hould your peace though you had bene present yea and partly had bene the cause there of Of this kinde there are other words which many tymes we obserue not till they be past and therefore it will be very well done to make a Particular examination vpon this pointeâ— that so by care
good to others but it is their pride which deceiues them for they should rather gaine it by this meanes and by the contrary of that whereby they would procure it they shall loose it Our Blessed Father Ignatius taught this doctrine very well and was wont to say that the study of true humility did more helpe to the conuersion of sowles then the being in authoritie or state which hath in it any smacke or sent of the wordly honour And he practised this not onely in himselfe but he taught it in such sort to them whome he sent to labour in the vineyard of our lord that to the end that they might succeede in the doeing of high and greate things they must euer procure to walke in the way of Humilitie contempt of them selues for then would the worke be safe as being well funded vpon Humilitie and besides for that this is the way whereby our lord is wont to doe great things And according heere vnto when our B. Father sent the Fathers Franciscus Xauier and Simon Rodriguez to Portingall he ordeyned that as soone as they should arriue in that kingdome they should liue by begging almes and soe open the way in thither for all that which might be to follow by pouertie and contempt of themselues And when Father Salmeron and Paschasiu◠went in the qualitie of Nuncioes from the sea Apostolicque into Ireland he ordeyned them to teach Children and rude people the Christian doctrine And when Father Salmeron and Father Lainez went to the Councell of Trent the first tyme they being sent thither by Pope Paule the third in the qualitie of the Theologues of his Holynes the instructiōs which he gaue them were that before they were euer to deliuer any opinion in the Councell they should goe to the Hospitall and there visitt the poore sicke people and teach Children the principles of the holy Catholique Faith and that when they should haue laid theis rootes they might passe on and declare their opinion in the Councell for that then it would be profitable and fruitfull as we know and see that by the goodnes of our lord it was And now after all this will it be fitt that we should goe doubting and fearinge and dreaming on with our humaine prudence least reputation forsooth should be lost by such actions as theis I will be your warrant neuer feare Your pulpitt will not be disauthorised by your teaching little Children the Christian doctrine nor by making spirituall exhortations in the market places Hospitalls and prisons Neuer feare that you shall loose creditt with people of qualitie because they see you attend to take the confessiōs of poore miserable people or because your selues goe clad like poore Religious men Nay this is rather the way to gaine authoritie and reputation with them and you shall thus produce more fruite of sowles for God exalts such as are humble and is wont to doe wonders by their meanes But now laying this last reason which is the cheife a side and to consider the thing in question by the way of prudēce and humaine reason you cannot employ a more efficatious meanes to gaine authoritie and opinion amongst your neigbours and to doe good to sowles then to exercise your selues in theis things which seeme poore and base to doe it soe much the more by how much the more your parts are greater The reason of this is because the world doth soe hugely esteeme of honour and estimation and of things which are high in order to that end as that the thinge of the whole world which it admires most is the man who despises that and to see that one whoe might be vsed in high and honorable imployments doth choose to passe his howers in things which are pore and meane and thus they grow to frame a great conceite and estimation of the sanctitie of such persons accept of that doctrine which they teach as if it came īmediately to thē from heauen Wee read in the life of Father Franciscus Xauier that when he was to embarke himselfe for the Indyes he would not receiue any prouision at all for his nauigation and the Conde de Castaineda who had then the office to prouide for the fleets of those parts being very earnest with the Father that at least he would take some seruant with him who might assist him at Sea alledging that it would diminish his authoritie and reputatiō with that people which he was to instruct by the way if they should see him amongst the rest of the passingers wash his owne cloathes vpon the decks and dresse his owne meate with his owne hands the Father made him this answere My lord the procuring to gaine authoritie and reputation by this very meanes whereof your Lordshipp speaks hath betrayed the Church of God and brought the prelates thereof to that state wherein now they are And the meanes whereby this reputation is to be recouered must be to wash a mans owne raggs and to dresse his owne meate without hauing neede of any other and in the midst of all this to be imploying himselfe vpon the seruice of his neighbours for the good of their soules The Conde was soe edified with this answere that he knew not what to reply By this meanes by such Humility and vertue as this authoritie and creditt is to be gayned and thus will you gather more fruite And soe wee see what great things Father Franciscus Xauier did in the Indyes by teaching Children the Christian doctrine and by goeing about and ringinge his little bell by night to gett the sowles in Purgatory prayd for and by seruing and comforting the sicke and in fine by imploying himselfe in such low and meane actions as theis And by this way came he to be a man of soe much reputation and authoritie that he robd all men of their harts and drew them towards him and they esteemed him and called him the Holy Father This is that kinde of authoritie whereof men haue neede that soe they may be able to doe good to sowles this is the estimation opinion which followes hūble men and belongs to Saints and Euangelicall preachers and this in a word is that which we are to procure For as for those other authorities and reputations and puntilies which carry a smacke and sauour of the world with them they doe great hurt and they disedifie our neigbours very much as well them whoe are a broade as vs whoe liue at home within doores Vpon those words of Saint Iohn Ego autem gloriam meam non quaero est qui querat iudicet I seeke not mine owne glory it is my Father who takes account thereof a doctour saith thus very well Since our heauenly Father procures and seekes our honor and our Glory our selues haue noe neede to take care thereof Take you care to humble your selues and to be such as you ought and as for any such estimation and authoritie whereof you thinke you may haue neede
window and soe we doe not onely see not the moates which are our lesse deffects and imperfections but we are soe short sighted or rather indeede soe very blinde that we scarce discerne our greater sinnes To this it may be added that God loues Humilitie in vs soe much and it is so very pleasing to him that we should hould our selues in no accounte and conserue our selues therein that in order to this end he is wont many tymes in the case of his greate seruants to whome he imparts many high benefitts and fauours to desguise his guifts and to communicate them in such a secret and straunge manner that euen the man himselfe who receiues them doth not throughly comprehend them and thinks they are nothing Saint Ierosme saith Tota illa Tabernaculi pulchritudo pellibus tegitur ciliciis All that beauty of the Tabernacle was couered with the skinnes of beasts And soe vseth God to conceale and couer the beautie of mens vertues and of his owne graces and benefitts by permitting variety of temptatiōs yea and sometymes of some errours and imperfections that soe they may be the more safely conserued as burning Coales vnder ashes might bee Saint Iohn Climacus saith that as the diuell procures to lay our vertues and good works before our eyes that soe we may grow proud because he desires our ruyne soe on the contrary side our lord God because he desires our greater good giues more particular light to his seruants that soe they may see their owne faults and imperfections and he couers and disguises his guifts and graces to thē that euen the man himselfe who receiues them may not be able expresly to vnderstand them And this is the common doctrine of the Saints Saint Bernard saith Nimirum conseruandae humilitatis gratia diuina solet pietas ordinare vt quanto quis plus proficit eo minus se reputet profecisse nam vsque ad supremum exercitij spiritualis gradum si quis eo vsque peruenerit aliquid ei de primi gradus imperfectione reliquitur vt vix sibi primum videatur adeptus To conserue Humilitie in the seruants of God his diuine goodnes disposes things in such sort as that the more a man profitts the lesse he conceiues himselfe to profitt and when he is arriued to the highest degree of vertue Almightie God permitts him to be subiect to some such imperfection as concernes the first degree to the end that he may conceaue himselfe not to haue fully obteyned so much as that and of the same doth Saint Gregory speake in many places For this doe some very vell compare Humilitie and say that it respects other vertues as the sonne doth other Starrs and that for this reason as when the Sonne appeares other starrs lye hidden and are concealed soe when Humility is in the sowle other vertues are not seene and the humble man conceiues that hee hath noe sollid virtue at all Saint Gregory saith Boni soli bona sua non vident qui in se videnda omnibus ad exempla praebent Their vertues being manifest to all men onely themselues see them not The holy Scripture recounts of Moyses that when he came from speaking with God he carried a great brightnes in his face which the Children of Israell saw but for his parte he saw it not Ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies eius ex consortio sermonis domini So the hūble man sees no vertues in himselfe all that which he sees seemes faults and imperfections to him Yea and he further beleeues that the least part of his miseries is that which he knowes and that he is ignorant of the greater and now in the middst of this it will be easy for him to esteeme himselfe below all and for the greatest sinner of the whole world It is most certaine to the end that we may conceale nothing that as there are many seuerall wayes whereby God is wont to conduct his elect soe that he leades many by this way whereof we haue spoken namely of concealing his guifts from them soe that themselues may not see them nor conceiue that they haue them but he manifests them to others and makes them know them to the end that they may esteeme his seruants be pleased in them And se saith the Apostle Saint Paule Nos autem non spiritum huius mundi accepimus sed spiritum qui ex deo est vt sciamus quae à Deo donata sunt nobis We haue not receiued the spirit of this world but the spiritt of God that we may know the guifts and graces which wee receiue from his hand And the most sacred Queene of the Angells did very well both know and acknowledge the great graces and guifts which she possessed and had receiued frō Almightie God Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est as she saith in her Canticle My soule doth magnifie and exalt our Lord because he who is omnipotent hath wrought mightie things in me And this is not onely not contrary to Humilitie and perfection but it is accompanied with an Humilitie soe very much eleuated and soe high that for this reason the Saints are wont to stile it the Humilitie of great and perfect men But yet heere theere is a great errour and daunger whereof we are aduertised by the Saints and it is when some thinke of them selues that they haue more graces of God then indeede they haue In which errour was that miserable creature to whome God commaunded this to be said in the Apocalipse Dicis diues sum locupletatus nullius egeo nescis quia tu es miser miserabilis pauper caecus nudus Thou sayst that thou art rich and that thou hast neede of nothinge but thou dost not vnderstand thine owne case for thou art miserable and poore and blinde and naked In the same errour was that Pharise who gaue God thanks that hee was not like others beleeuing of himselfe that he had what indeede he had not and that therefore he was better then other men And sometymes this kinde of Pride steales in vpon vs so secretely and with such disguise that almost before we knowe where we are we growe very full of our selues and of our owne estimation And for this it is an excellent remedy that wee euer carry our eyes open towards the vertues of others and shutt vp towards our owne and so to liue euer in a holy kinde of feare whereby themselues will be more safe and the guifts of God be better kept But yet in fine for as much as our Lord is not tyed to this he conducts his seruants by seuerall wayes Sometymes as the Apostle Saint Paule saith he will do his seruants the particuler fauour of makeing them know the guifts which they haue receiued from his hand And in this case it seemes that the thing in question hath more difficultie Namely how theis Saints and spirituall men who know and see in them selues soe greate
purpose they bring that which Saint Paule said of those Philosophers whome for theyr pride God deliuered ouer to the desires of their harts In immunditiam vt contumelijs afficiant corpora sua in semetipsos in passiones ignonimiae They came to fall into vncleane sinnes which were most filthy and not to be named God permitting it soe for their pride to the end that they might be humbled and confounded when they saw themselues turned beasts with the harte and conuersation and custome of beasts Quis non time bit te O Rex gentium Who will not be afraide of thee O thou king of the Nations who will not tremble at this punishment which is soe great as that there is none greater out of Hell Nay sinne is euen worse then Hell Quis nouit potestatem irae tuae prae timore tuo iram tuam dinumerare Who O lord hath knowne the power of thy wrath or who is able to relate it through the great feare which ought to be had thereof The Saints note that God in theis cases is wont to vse two kindes of mercy towards vs a greater mercy and a lesse The lesse mercy is when he succours vs in our lesse miseries which are the temporall and such as onely concerne the body and the great mercy is when he succours vs in our great miseries which are the spirituall and which iâ—â—ort the sowle And soe when Dauid sâ—â—â—â—â—selâ—e in his great misery of beinge abandoned and dispossessed of God by the adultery and murder which he had committed he cryed out and beggs the great mercy of God Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam They say alsoe that there is a great and a little anger of God The lesser is when he punishes men heere in the Temporall with aduersities in losse of goods of honour health and the like which onely concerne the body but the great anger is when the punishment goes soe farre that it arriues to the interiour part of the sowle according to that of the Prophet Ieremy Ecce peruenit gladius vsque ad animam And this is that wich God saith by the Prophett Zacharie Iramagna ego irascor super gentes opulentas I will be angry with my great Anger with that Nation which is proud and puffed vp When God forsakes a man permitts him to fall into mortall sinnes in punishment of his other sinnes this is the great anger of God theis are wounds which are giuen by diuine indignation they are not as of a father but as of a iust and rigorous iudge Of which wounds that of the Prophett Ieremy may be vnderstood Plagainimici percussi te castigatione crudeli I haue wounded thee with the wound of an enemy with a cruell punishment And soe alsoe saith the wiseman Fouea profunda os leoenae cui iratus est dominus incidet in eam The mouth of a lewd woman is a deepe ditch and he with whome God is angry shall fall into it Finally pride is soe wicked a thing and soe much abhorred by Almightie God that the Saints say that sometymes it is good for the proud man to be thus punished by Almightie God that soe he may come to be cured of his pride Soe saith Saint Augustine Audeo dicere superbis esse vtile cadere in aliquod vitium apertum manifestumque peccatum vnde sibi displiceant qui sibi iam ceciderant I presume to say that it is profitable and good for proud men that God permitt them to falle into some visible and externall sinne that soe they whoe were very well satisfied and pleased in themselues and were already falne though they perceiued it not may soe begin to know and to humble and distrust themselues according to that of the wiseman Contritio praecedit superbiam ante ruinam exaltatur spiritus The same doe Saint Basill and Saint Gregory affirme Saint Gregory by the occasion of the sinne of Dauid why God permitts that the elect and such as he hath predestinated to aeternalle life and on whome he had heaped vp his graces and guifts should fall sometymes into carnall and filthy sinnes and he answeares that the reason of it is because sometymes they who haue receiued great graces fall into pride and they haue it soe rooted and euen wrought into the most intimous parte of the hart that they themselues vnderstand it not but are soe well pleased and confident of themselues as to thinke that God and they are all one As it hapned to Saint Peter the Apostle who conceiued not that those words of his had flowed from pride when he said Though all men should be scandalised yet will not I be scandalised but he thought that it had bene courage in him and an extraordinary loue which he carryed to his Master Therefore to cure such pride as this which lyes so close and is soe disguised as that a man is already falne though himselfe perceiue it not our lord permitts sometymes that such persons falle into certaine manifest exteriour cornall filthy sinnes to the end that soe they may know themselues better and looke more exactly in to their sowles and may soe come to perceiue their pride which they beleeued not to be in them before and whereof they looke for noe remedy would so haue come to perish but now by meanes of such grosse falls they know it and being humbled now in the sight of God they doe penance both for the one and the other and soe meete with remedy for both their miseries at once as we see S. Peter did who by that visible aparant fall of his came to know that pride which lay soe secretly within and he grew to lament it and to doe penance for them both and thus was his fall good for him The same hapned also to Dauid whoe therefore saith Bonum est mihi quia humiliasti me vt discam iustificationes tuas O Lord it hath cost me deere I confesse it but yet vpon the whole matter it hath bene good for me that I haue bene humbled that soe heere after I may learne to serue thee and know how to abase my selfe as I ought And as the wise Phisitian when he is not able to cure the malady out right and when the peccant humour is soe rebellious and maligne that he cannot make nature digest and ouercome it procures to call and drawe it into the exteriour parts of the body that so it may be the better cuâ—ed iust soe for the cure of certaine haughty and rebellious sowles doth our Lord permitt them to fall into greiuous exteriour sinnes to the end that they may know and humble themselues and by meanes of that abasement which appeares without the maligne and pestillent humour may be alsoe cured which lay close within And this is a word which God works in Israell which whosoeuer comes to heere his very eares shall euen tingle for meere feare theis I say are those great punishments of God