of thy holy Spirit Ah my soule what doe the heauens seeme to make of vs what rate putt they vpon vs while we vnderualue our selues The holy Trinitie may seeme to be whâ—llâ— imployed to saue vs while we are b … 〈…〉 … ll our selues away for moments of â—â—â—nsitorie pleasures for vanities for lyes Our thoughtes are languishing after the hope of I know not what delightes which the world promiseth while our dearest delight ought to be to receiue in hand more then we are able to conceiue Ah my soule what dearer delight could euer mans hart wish for then to be deliciously oppressed with heauenly plentie II. POINT CONSIDER the vnspeakable honour conferred vpon man by the presence of the holy Ghost He receiues saith S. Basil a Propheticall Apostolicall and Angelicall dignitie being before but earth and ashes abiection and rottennes Yea saith he by vertue of this presence euerie holy soule becomes a God Ego dixi Dij estis I haue said you are Gods and all sonns of the highest For who adheares to God which is is done by loue in the Holy Ghost is one Spirit with him Affection Good Iesu what is man that thou dost so magnifie him or what is the sonne of man that thou dost so place thy hart vpon him What did Gods mercy discouer in our miserie my poore soule that he should honour it with a dignitie due the Prophetes Apostles Angells yea euen rayse it to a certaine vnion with himselfe For this it was that Iesus-Christ while he was yet in this world prayd so ardently to his heauenly Father I pray saith he that they his Apostles c. all may be one as thou ô heauenly Father in me and I in thee that they also in vs may be one by participation by charitie by grace by glorie O vnspeakablely deare vnion ô more then most Blessed Communion betwixt God and man THE VII MEDITATION To what end the holy Ghost comes I. POINT CONSIDER that the holy Ghost comes vnto vs to purge illuminate and perfect our soules and to reforme them to the image and likenes of God to which they were made thereby to make them partakers of himselfe He being the diuine sanctitie in this life and disposing them to a more neere and noble likenes thereof in the life to come to which euery cause striues to produce effects like to it selfe it followes then that the holy Ghost endeauours to make the soule which it doth inhabit which is the soueraigne perfection and dignity of a reasonable creature feruent spirituall holy and diuine Affection Why doe we then my soule remayne in our wonted languishments why doe we still liue in league with our accustumed imperfections making reflection what they are and how often we haue had the light to know them and resolution to amend them our luke-warmenesse in Gods seruice our impuritie of harte our ingratitude to God for his innumerable giftes and graces c. Why doe we why doe we alas resiste the designes of the holy Ghost His aymes are to purge our hartes and we remayne in our impurities To illuminate vs and we affect darknesse more then light we feare to know his will least we might be oblidged to doe it To burne our hartes and we persiste in our coldnesse To render vs spirituall holy diuine and we continue indeuoute carnall and earthly Alas my soule is not all this too too true II. POINT CONSIDER that the holy Ghost comes to be the Soule of our Soule and to furnish vs with all things necessarie to the perfection of our spirituall life euen as the soule of our bodie giues force to the great diuersitie of the functions and actions of the senses and faculties of the said soule as farre as is necessarie to our naturall life for what want wee which this Spirit brings not If light and knowledge of truth He is truth it-selfe If strength He is power itselfe If heate He is a consuming fire Are we sicke he is the Phisitian and the Phisicke Is the cause of our eternall reconcilement to be pleaded before the dreadfull Tribunall of Gods Maiestie He is our Aduocate Are we oppressed with temptations and tribulations he is our comforter our Deus omnia our God who is to vs all things Affection It is not it is not from this body of ours that the same body hath life motion action and vigour but from the soule without which it remaynes an vnprofitable bulke of corruption Nor is it from the soule that the soule liues remembers vnderstands wills but from God who is the life of the soule Nor doth it euer liue vnderstand or will any thing profitably but by his grace diffused into our hartes by the holy Ghost Come then oh come then thou holy Spirit and be our light our truth our fortitude our fire our salue our Phisitian and cure Proue our second Aduocate to the heauenly Father togeither with that deare Lord of ours who both merited thy sending and graciously sent thee Proue our comforter in our tribulations temptations c. Proue finally our God and our all THE VIII MEDITATION Of the aduantages or fruites of the Holy Ghosts Coming I. POINT CONSIDER what huge aduantages we receiue by the coming of the holy Ghost adn we shall finde that thereby we are taken into the participation of all the blessings and riches in some measure which our Blessed Sauiour possessed in plentitude and fulnesse The Spirit of wisdome and vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsell and fortitude the Spirit of science and pietie and the Spirit of the feare of our Lord. These are the seauen lightes or seauen Lampes by which the faithfull are enlightned wisedome is a light by which we know Superiour things Vnderstanding a light by which we discerne interior things Science a light wherby we know inferiour things Counsell a light by which dangers are discouered Fortitude is giuen to repulse and master them as Pietie to mollifie the hardnesse and Feare to subdue the pride of our hartes Affection Blessed be the Father of our Lord Iesus-Christ who mercifully sent his Sonne to saue vs sinners Blessed be his only begotten Sonne who spent his most pretious blood and life vpon the worke of Mans Redemption And blessed be the holy Ghost whose infinite loue plentifully bestowed those good giftes vpon vs which were purchased for vs by Christs merits whereby we haue light and strength to walke and without which like sensuall men not knowing what belongeth to Spirit we had wandred in darknesse without either the true knowledge of God or ourselues had quaked with feare through want of Fortitude where there was nothing indeede to be feared and for want of Councell had not feared him whom we ought to feare who can throw the bodie and soule into Hell fire II. POINT CONSIDER the excessiue loue of God to Man in the distribution of these gifts The verie same which were giuen in their full extent to that flower of the field which
his humanitie is lefte to struggle with his cruell tormentes and to satisfie for those sinnes of ours in the verie rigour of iustice But now hauing consummated and fulfilled all the figures types sacryfices prophecies and euen the whole Law and hauing punctually obserued all his fathers orders with filiall obedience and admirable humilitie euen to the last gaspe he beings to behold him as a tender and louing father and so testifies with a lowde voyce that it is into the hands of such a father that he deliuers vp his spiritt Pater in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum Affect May thy wearied soule ô my kind Pelican happily returne into its rest May thou our too too kind Prodigall ioyfully returne into thy fathers house out of this forraigne land of ours where thou hast spent all thy substance euen to the last droppe of thy pretious bloud vpon vngratfull man from whom thou meetest with noe better returnes then euill for good hatred for loue vineger and gale to drinke where thou art readie to perish with thirst Ah my soule my soule Haeccine reddis Domino Deo tuo are these the kindnesses which thou rendrest to thy Lord thy God for his loue for his labours for his bloud for his life which here he is laying downe for thee Resolution Be my afflictions neuer so many be my temptations neuer so great and importune I will appeale from a rigourous Lord to a louing father and cast my selfe into his bosome THE XXX MEDITATION 1. Point COnsider in this action of Christ where he commends his spirit or soule into the hands of his heauenly father where the true hopes of a Christian ought to be placed to witt in the hands that is in the will and disposition of our heauenly father to be dealt withall according to his good pleasure Accursed is that man who places his hopes in man or in the heapes of his riches which he must leaue behind him or in the multitudes of his merites which are none without mercy but in Gods mercy alone which is indeede our merite nor shall we euer want merit so long as we cleaue to that mercy Affect Returne into thy rest my wandering soule which is alone in the bosome of thy heauenly father and fixe thy confidence there Trust not in the sonnes of men in whom there is noe saluation noe truth mendaces filij hominum Leaue not the care of thy selfe to such as haue noe care of themselues much lesse of thee Such as thou hast found thy selfe to others such at the best will others proue to thee Our dearest friends doe easily forgett vs they will not they cannot goe along with vs. O how good it is then while we haue yet tyme to make him our friend aboue all our friends who when they all fayle hath as much power as goodnesse to make good our trust Into thy handes then ô dearest father doe I commend my soule In those mercifull hands of thyne not in my miserable ones doe I repose the whole confidence of my saluation 2. Point Consideration Well may Gods prouidence my soule which we are not able to found permitt vs to be tempted with Christ to be in agonie in our deuoutest prayers with Christ and giue vs ouer as it were into the power of darknesse with Christ Well may we suffer wronges crosses calumnies tauntes and scornes with Christ Well may our bodyes be left in tormentes vpon the Crosse with Christ yea our poore soules suffer a strange anguish with Christ when we seeme to be forsaken by our God Yet still by adhearing to Christ and by following his foot-stepps we shall infallibly wade out of all and come to a happie consummation with him and find a louing fathers bosome layd open to receiue our soules Affect Doe not then ô my soule so much regarde what thou sufferest or by whom or how as for what for whom and with whom It is not for a smale prize thou fightest but for an eternall waight of glorie It is not for some ordinarie person but for the loue of thy Lord and Master to become in some sorte like to him Nor art thou left alone but in his companie and vnder the guidance of his grace I am with him saith he in tribulation I will deliuer him and I will glorifie him Looke ouer thy afflictions then ô my soule be they of what nature they will and with a liuely faith looke vpon Christ Iesus the Authour and Consummatour of faith who ioy being proposed to him sustained the Crosse contemning confusion It is not too much that the coheire should be treated like the true heire the adoptiue like the natural sonne Resolution Come then what will and from what hand it will I am resolued to looke vpon it as coming indeede from the hand of a tenderly louing father for my eternall good THE XXXI MEDITATION Christ giues vp his Ghost 1. Point COnsidera Christianes draw neere and see death shutt vp thy sweete Sauiours eyes See life dye see thy God dye Not that death man or diuell had right to exercise any such power ouer the Author of life who saith nemo tollit animam meam none takes away my soule or life but because he himselfe would when he pleased and as he pleased And to what end but to be the death of death it selfe ero mors tua ô mors I will be thy death ô death To ransacke Hell it selfe ero stimulus tuus ô inferne To be Iesus that is a Sauiour to man and to leaue him the greatest testimonies of loue imaginable by man or Angell And therfor bowing downe his head he of his owne accorde deliuered vp his spirit or soule Affection Ah my soule what 's this we heare The soule of thy Sauiour is deliuered vp to death In death then must we find true life with Christ Nolo viuere volo mori cupio dissolui esse cum Christo Dye dye then my soule to all thinges which are not his verie selfe Ther 's noe liuing without life Christ is my life mihi viuere Christus and my Christ being deade my life is deade and dye I must mihi mori lucrum I desire to dye that I may see my Christ I refuse to liue that I may liue with my Christ Ah my deare deade Master fcra pessima deuorauit te the worst of wild beastes hath deuoured thee Ah my soule thy sinnes haue slaine thy Master Thy enuie sought him thy auarice sold him thy Hypocrisie betrayed him thy rashnesse deliuered him vp thy licenciousnesse bound him thy crueltie whipped him thyne ambition crowned him thy sluggishnesse loaded him thy pride putt him vpon the Crosse thy irreligiousnesse taunted scorned and blaspheamed him thy vnmercifulnesse caused his thirst thy forsaking of God made him be forsaken by God thy disloyaltie disobedience hard hartednesse ingratitude for all his benefits putt him to death And thence my Sauiour dyed Nay it was God the fathers mercy which sacrificed him His
those boared hands and let the sight of them tye thy hands for euer from sowing the seedes of strife and contention Looke vpon that open side see through it that diuine hart which neuer harboured anie other then thoughts of peace and not of affliction Ah! let vs not loose that sweete inheritance of peace which that dearest Master so frequently and feruently wished vs and soe dearely purchaced for vs. Behold his hands and his side THE XIII MEDITATION What this Peace is I. POINT CONSIDER what Peace it was which our Sauiour wished his Apostles and we shall find it was no other then that which he left them that which he gaue them his owne peace the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding I leaue you my peace I giue you my peace saith he by S. Iohn before his departure My peace not that of flesh but that of the Spirit not that which is sought in sensuall ease but the peace of a good conscience which is found in the bottome of a cleane hart and is a continuall feast to the soule Affection Seeke still my soule what thou seekest and what euery man seekes for peace it is wee all seeke but seeke it not where thou art wont to seeke it where painefull experience makes vs daily feele we finde it not The world is a continuall warrefare nor can it giue what it selfe hath not The flesh is a continuall rebell and wages warre incessantly against the Spirit we can hope for no peace with it Seeke then the peace of God and the God of peace in the puritie of a good conscience and in the feare of God and much peace shall attend thee How Peace is to be found II. POINT CONSIDER that if this Peace be Gods Peace and euen the God of peace himselfe according to s. Paule where are we then to seeke it but in God and from God as he is the preacher of it so is he the giuer of it too and euen the gift it selfe If we seeke that which is his and euen himselfe from any other hand then from himselfe we willfully delude our selues Affection Yes my soule it is in God alone that we ought to seeke it out of him it is not to be found He alone is the Center of our harts He made them to and for himself and so they neuer can finde peace and rest till they returne to him Many aduenturous soules haue sought it in the varietie of the creatures but in lieu of peace thy mett with warre One of the wisest of them hath left vs this assurance that the whole collection of them is but vanitie of vanitie and affliction of Spirit THE XIV MEDITATION How it ought to be conserued I. POINT CONSIDER that the true waye to conserue a constant peace is to haue a continuall care not to violate Iustice since according to the Psalmist there is such a coniunction betweene iustice and peace that they giue each other mutuall kisses and will not be separated Iustice consists in paying euery one what is due vnto them Loue to God incomparably aboue all all things Loue to our neighbour as to ourselfe and consequently an absolute hatred against sinne whereby God and our neighbours are offended iustice violated peace banished He knew it well who said My bones haue no peace before the face of my sinnes There is no peace for the wicked man Affection Is it not true my soule are we able to denie it Did we euer finde peace or quiet in the violation of either of these duties while we offend God can we hope to haue Gods peace while we most vexe others are we not more vexed and perplexed ourselues Haue we not too often been taught this truth by sensible experience So visibly true is that which truth it selfe pronounced there is no peace for the impious person Iustice and peace will not be separated they are alwayes lodged in the same breast A second meanes how to conserue the peace of Christ is simplicitie of hart hauing our eyes still turned vpon ourselues II. POINT CONSIDER that the second meanes to conserue Christian peace is first simplicitie of hart without dissimulation fiction or fraude so that there be no iarring betwixt our harts and mouthes which proues afterwards a subiect of discord amongst kindest friends and dearest brethren Secondly simplicitie in our proceedings not troubling our selues about many thinges especially such as concerne vs not but imploying most care where we owe most dutie about our owne proper actions Thirdly simplicitie of intention referring all our thoughts words and workes to the honour of God alone Affection This simplicitie my soule is that columbine vertue so often commended and counselled by my sweete Sauiour This is that wherein who walkes he walkes in confidence and assurance This it that simple eye of the soule which giues lustre and worth to the whole bodie of our actions By this we conserue a constant peace in our owne hartes peace with our neighbours and peace with God O blessed simplicitie thou great peace-Maker be thou for euer the inseparable companion of my hart THE XV. MEDITATION A third meanes to conserue Christian peace is shutting the Dores CONSIDER that our Sauiour blessed the Apostles with the gift of peace when he found them together the dores being shut The best way to conserue the peace of our owne harts amongst our bretheren is to keepe the dores of our soules that is our senses shutt Let ts shutt our eyes least they behold vanitie which will proue affliction to our hart Let vs shutt our eyes least they looke too curiously into other mens actions which concerne vs not Let vs shutt our eares against idle fables and wordly rumors which fill our harts with vaine fancies and discompose our interiour peace Finally let vs put awatch ouer our tongue least it pernitiously bable out what the eyes and eares idly tooke in Affection If we loue peace my soule and quiet of minde let ts loue and vse the meanes to conserue it If the dores lye open infallibly it will not be longe kept the enemie will enter and disorder the howse Let vs then my soule for the loue of Christ for the loue of our neighbour and for the loue of our owne quiet keepe those knowne passages of discord continually shutt What haue we euer gained by laying them open but vexation to ourselues and others and a late repentance whereas by keeping them shutt we possesse ourselues in peace and the God of peace is in the midst of vs. Amen I. POINT CONSIDER that when our dores are thus shut vp and the world by that meanes shut out from amongst vs Iesus doth more frequently and familiarly enter into our hartes for the Euangelist goes on saying and after eight dayes againe his Disciples were within and Iesus comes the doores being shut and stood in the middest and said peace be to you c. Then he leade vs as he did Thomas into the secreetes of his heauenly