inclined to vayne mirth and to talking and laughing and passing away tyme idly and such other vanityes as those and that which is worse the appetite of vayne glory is reuiued and the appetite of ambition such other things as formerly seemed to haue beene dead The Abbot Nilus sayth That Praier is to be the glasse of the religious man Nilus and in this glasse are we to view and reuiew our selues daily that at leasure that so we may come to see and know our faults to be remouing such deformityes as we shall discouer in our selues And in this glasse also are we to behold and consider the vertues which shine in Christ our Lord to the end that we may go adorning beautifying our soules by the contemplation therof The glorious S. Francis was wont to say Gratia orationis Lib. 1. Confornat p. 1. hist Miâ—â—â— c. 7. viro religioso maximè desideranda est nullus enim sine ea in Dei seruitio fructus sperari potest One of the things which the religious man were to desyre most is the grace or guift of Prayer forasmuch as without it no fruit or profit can be hoped for and by it we may hope for any thing S. Tho. â—hift S. Dominici li. 3. ca. 37. S. Thomas of Aquine amongst many other graue sentences which are related as from his mouth in the history of his life was wont to say That a religious man without Prayer was like a souldier sent vnarmed into a battayle That holy Archbishop of Valencia Thomas de Villanoua said Tho. de Villa noua ca. 13. vitae suae Note that Prayer was like naturall heate in a mans stomack without which it was impossible for the naturall life to preserue it selfe or that meate should do it any good but with that any meat is disgested concocted well and the man is well nourished and all the parts of the body are supplyed with vertue and strength for the performance of al their operations So sayth he without Prayer the spirituall life of man cannot be conserued but with Prayer it may For by Prayer the soule is refreshed and the spirit gets strength for all the Actions and Obediences which it is to performe and against all troubles and difficultyes which it is to vndergoe By the helpe of Prayer all these things grow to be disgested and made pastable prooue good bloud for the soule Finally if we make that vse of Prayer which we ought we shall find therein full remedy of all our infirmityes and meanes to conserue vs in Religion and vertue for if perhaps you forget your selues in point of Obedience obseruation of your Rules if you begin to take certaine little libertyes if that passioÌ„ which you are most subiect to should resume a litle life reflourish by laying hold vpoÌ„ the help of Prayer all these inconueniences will with the fauour of our Lord be soone checked stayed And if by chance you grow negligent euen in the vse of Prayer it selfe and should consent to some tepidityes therein yet by meanes of the selfe same Prayer you are to procure the remedy and to returne into your selues We are furnished by Prayer against all kind of inconueniences yea and euen against the defects of Prayer it selfe And therfore they do very well compare Prayer who say That it is as the hand to the body Note which is both an instrument for the whole body and for it selfe also For the hand laboureth to the end that the whole body may be susteyned for all things which are necessary eyther to the body or the soule and so it doth also labour for it selfe For if the hand be sore the hand cureth the hand if the hand be fowle it washeth it if it be cold it warmeth it in fine the hand is fit for all things and iust so it is in the case of Prayer CHAP. III. That we are much bound to God for hauing made that thinge so easy to vs which on the one side is so Excellent and on the other so Necessary IT is but reason that we consider ponder here the great and singuler fauour which our Lord God hath done vs in ordayning that Prayer being in it selfe a thing so excellent and so high and being yet so very necessary forasmuch as concerneth vs he hath yet withall made it so easy as to place it in the hand or power of vs all we may vse it at all tymes and in all places if we be disposed Apud me â—ratio Ps 41. â— Deo vitae meae Prayer is at hand with me to the end I may make it to my God who giues me life sayth the Prophet Dauid Those gates of the mercy of God are neuer shut but they stand open to all and at all tymes we shall euer find him at leasure and desirous to shew vs fauour yea and euen soliciting vs to aske it of him It is an excellent consideration which is vsually brought to this purpose If Almighty God should giue leaue for once only in the Moneth that all such as would might enter into his presence to speake with him and that then he would giue them glad and gratefull audience would grant their suites without doubt it ought to be highly esteemed since it would be highly esteemed if any temporall King should offer it But then how much more is it fit that we value it as we ought comming from the hand of God especially since he offreth it and inuiteth vs to it not only for once in the moneth but for euery day yea and many tymes in the same day Vespere mane meridie narrabo Psal 54.18 annunciabo exaudiet vocem meam sayth the Prophet imbracing all tymes by this speach of his At night in the morning at mid-day and in the euening I will relate represent my troubles my miseries to Almighty God I am full of confidence that whersoeuer whensoeuer I shall resort to him he will heare me do me fauour God is not weary to haue vs aske of him as meÌ„ vse to be because he growes not poore by giuing as they vse to do For man how much more he giueth to another so much the lesse remaines to himselfe so that he takes from himselfe what he giues to them and he impouerisheth himselfe asmuch as he enricheth them And from hence it is that men grow weary and disgusted when they are pestered with suiters and if they giue twice or thrice with a good will they will yet be weary against the next tyme and eyther they giue no more or els they do it in such a fashion as that it may be the last But God as the Apostle S. Paul sayth Ad Rom. 10.12 Est diues in omnes qui inuocant illum he is infinitly rich since he growes not poore by giuing he is not disgusted growes not weary in being asked althogh all the
in God thou shalt find nothing of all this Si ascendero in caelum tu illic es si descendero in insernum ades si sumpsero pennas meas diliculo habitauero in extremis maris etenim manus tua deducet me tenebit me dextera tua If I mount vp to heauen thou art there O Lord if I descend downe to hell thou art also there if I take wings and passe to the extreme sides of the sea thither will thy hand carry me and there thy right hand will hold me There is no end or terme in God because he is infinite and immense Besides in fine since the Sponge we spake of is a body it cannot be wholly penetrated by the water which is another Body whereas we are in all and through all penetrated by Almighty God who is pure spirit But yet neuertheles these comparisons and the like how short soeuer they fall of expressing the thing are good and do giue greate helpe for the vnderstanding in some sort of the infinite immensenesse of God Epist 57. ad Dardanum l. 7. Confess cap. 5. and how he is present most intimately in vs and in all things And therfore S. Augustine bringeth these comparisons But yet we are to obserue in the performance of this Exercise of the Presence of God that there is no necessity to forme any conceit with the imagination or any representation at all of God feigning that he is here at our side or in any other determinate place or that he is in this or the other forme There are some who imagine eyther before themselues or on the one side that Christ Iesus our redeemer is with theÌ„ and that he goes with them and is â—uer looking vpon what they do and in this manner they euer go in the Presence of God Of these some imagine that they haue Christ crucifyed before them others that he is tyed to the Pillar others that he is sweating drops of bloud in his Prayer of the Garden others in some other part of his Passion or els in some cheerefull mystery of his most holy life euery one according to his inclination and deuotion Or els some one tyme they imagine him in some one fashion at another tyme in some other And although this be very profitable for such as know how to do it wel yet ordinarily speaking it is not that which is best for vs. Note For all these formes and imaginations of corporall things do toyle and weary men and many tymes do much trouble their heads A Saint Bernard or a Saint Bonauenture without doubt knew better how to do this then we and they found much facility and ease in it and so they would be able to go into those holes of the wounds of Christ our Lord and into his holy side and there would they find their rest their refuge and their safe retrayt esteeming themselues to heare those words of the spouse in the Canticles spoken to themselues Surge amica mea speciosa mea vent columba mea in foraminibus petrae in cauernae maceriae At other tymes they would imagine the foote of the Crosse to be fastned and rooted in their harts and that they the while were receiuing by their mouth with extreme sweetnes those drops of bloud which ran and streamed from those fountaines of the Sauiour of the world Isa 12.3 Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Saluatoris Those Saints I say did very well in doing thus and they were happy in it but if you will be going on all day in these considerations and with this kind of Presence of God perhaps that for one day or moneth which you may passe after this fashion you will loose your Prayer for a whole yeare Note For it may cost you the breaking of your braynes We may see how great reason there is why we should be carefull in giuing this lesson of caution since euen for making a kind of structure or composition of place which is one of the Preambles or Preludes of Prayer wherby we are wont to make that matter present to vs wherof we are to meditate imagyning that the matter doth really passe before vs there they who treat of Prayer are carefull to aduertise vs that we do not with an attention too much bent fix our imagination vpon the figure or representation of those corporall things wherof we meane to thinke for the danger which there is to breake our braynes and for other inconuenieÌ„ces of illusions which grow sometymes out of this roote If therfore for the making of a Preamble or Prelude of Prayer which vseth to be passed ouer so very soone and the man being at that tyme in quietnes and at good leasure without hauing any other thing to possesse his mind there be need of so much circumspection and caution what will there be for one who hath a mind to conserue this kind of composition for the whole day and in the middest of all his other businesse But now this other Presence of God wherof we treate excludes all these imaginations indeed is very far from them all Note For now we treate of a Presence of God as God And first we need not feigne to our selues that he is here but we must beleeue it for so he is indeed Christ our Lord as man is in heauen and in the B. Sacrament of the Altar but he is not euery where And therfore when we imagine Christ our Lord as man to be present with vs it is an imagination and a thing which we faigne to our selues But now as God he is present heer and he is within me and he is in all places he fills them all Spiritus Domini repleuit orbem terrarum We haue no cause â—ap 2.7 in this case to feigne that which is not but to actuate our minds in the firme frequent beliefe of that which is Secondly the humanity of Christ our Lord may be fancied and figured by the imagination because he hath a body and a figure but God as God cannot be imagined or figured as he is because he hath no body nor figure but is a pure spirit Nay we cannot so much as imagine an Angell no nor our owne soule as indeed it is because it is a spirit and how much lesse then shall we be able to imagine or frame a conceit of how God is But how then are we to consider that God as God is still present with vs I say there is no more to be done but only to produce an act of Fayth supposing already that God is present there since our Fayth tells vs so without labouring to know how or in what fashion that is as S. Paul affirmes that Moyses did Qui inuisibilem tanquam videns sustinuit He considered God who is inuisible and had him present still as if he had seene him But yet so as that he would not striue to know Note or imagine how
loue of God may be kindled in it a desire be produced of humility of mortification and the rest of the vertues you are not to giue ouer till you haue kindled and bred this fire Although Meditation be very good and necessary yet the whole tyme of Prayer is not to passe away in discourse and consideration of the Vnderstanding neither are we to dwell in that for this would be rather study then Prayer But all the Meditations and considerations which we are to haue must be taken but as a meanes for the awaking and kindling these affects and desires of vertue in our hart For the sanctity and perfection of a Christian life doth not consist only in good thoughts nor in the intelligence of holy things but in sound and solide vertue and especially in the acts and operations therof S. Tho. 1.2 q. 3. art â— wherin as S. Thomas sayth the last perfection of vertue doth consist and so we must principally imploy our selues and insist vpon the procuring of this in our tyme of Prayer This is therfore to be our first principle in this matter Note Yea and euen the Philosopher sayth which is alledged by Gerson Inquirimus quid sit virtus Gerson super Magnificat alphab 86. litera D. non vt sciamus sed vt boni efficiamur We go inquiring and searching after the knowing what vertue is not to the end that we may be more learned but that we may become good and vertuous Thogh the needle be necessary to sow withall yet it is not the needle which sticheth two things togeather but the thred And so should he be very indiscreet who would passe the needle in and out without thred for this should be to labour in vayne And yet this very thing they do who in Prayer attend only to meditating and vnderstanding and little to louing Meditation is to be as the needle which is to enter first but it must be to the end that the thred of loue and the affection of our will may follow after wherby he must ioyne vnite our selues to Almighty God Our B. F. Ignatius doth put vs in mind herof after a very particuler maÌ„ner After he had placed the Poynts which we are to meditate with some very short considerations vpon them he then sayth these words And I am to apply all this to my selfe to th' end that I may reape some fruite therby In this the Fruite of Prayer doth consist that men may know how to referre apply that which they meditate to themselues euery one according as he hath need Born serm 23. super Cantion The glorious S. Bernard sayth very well that as the Sunne doth not heat euery one whome it illuminates so Knowledge and Meditation althouh it teach that which is to be done yet doth it not moue all men nor breed an affection in them to do that which they are taught One thing it is to haue notice of great riches and another to possesse them That which makes men rich is not the hauing notice of riches but the possessing them So is it sayth he one thing to know God and another thing to feare and loue him and the knowing many things of God doth not make vs true Saints and spiritually rich but the louing and searing of God He bringeth also another good coÌ„parison to this purpose That as he who is hungry shall help himselfe but a little by placing before himselfe a large table full of exquisite and choyce meates if he eate none of them so he who vseth Prayer shal be litle the better for hauing a sumptuous and curious table set before him full of excellent and choyce considerations if he do not feed thereupon by applying them to himselfe with his Will That we may descend a litle more to particulers Note I say That the thing which we are to draw out of Meditation and Prayer is to be Holy affections and desires which are framed first interiorly in the hart and afterwards are put in practise in due tyme. The Blessed S. Ambrose sayth Ambros in Ps 128. super illud Et meditabar in praeceptis tuis Ezech. 1.8 That action is the end of Meditation Meditationis praeceptorum caelestium intenâ—io vel finis operatio est Those holy Mysterious beasts which the Prophet Ezechiel saw amongst other conditions of theirs had wings as he sayth and vnder them they had the hands of a man Et manus hominis sub pennis eorum to giue vs to vnderstand that the flying and discoursing with the Vnderstanding must be directed to working We must therfore setch from Prayer affects and desires of humility despising our selues and desiring to be despised by others Desires of suffering paine and troubles for the loue of God and being glad of such as at the present lye vpoÌ„ vs. Desires of pouerty of spirit wishing that the worst things of the house may be for vs and that something may be wanting to vs euen of those which are necessary Griefe and contrition for sinnes and firme purposes rather to burst then to sinne againe Gratitude for benefits receiued and true intiere resignatioÌ„ into the hands of God And finally a desire to imitate Christ our Lord and our Maister in all those vertues which shine so brightly in his life To this must our Meditation be addressed and ordeyned and this is the fruite which we must draw from thence Vpon this it followes Note That since we take Meditation and the discourse of our Vnderstanding for a meanes to moue our Will to these affections that this is the end of this businesse we must so far vse Meditation and the discourse of our Vnderstanding as shall be fit for this end and no further For the meanes are to carry a proportion and to receaue their measure from the end and so when we finde our Will moued and mollified with some good affection to any vertue as namely to griefe for sinnes contempt of the world loue of God desire to suffer for his sake or the like we must presently cut off the thred of the discourse of the Vnderstanding as a man would draw a Bridge from before a passenger and we must detayne our selues and pause vpon that affection and desire of our Will till such tyme as we be satisfyed till we haue drunke it deeply downe into our soules This is a very important aduise P. N. Ignatius lib. Exercitiorum spiritual addit 4. our B. Father doth place it in his booke of spirituall Exercises where he sayth That as soone as we haue found that deuotion and feeling which we desire we are then to pause and to deteyne our selues therein without hauing anxiety of passing towards any thinge els till we remaine fully satisfyed Iust so as the Garduer Note when he will water a peece of ground as soone as the water is entred in vpon it he deteynes the thred of the current and giues it meanes to
rooted in our harts we finde by experience that a man also profits much in other respects by reading these things afterward Because they hauing been a mans owne and for that he hath felt them as such they moue him afterward more then other things and he easily actuates vpon them agayne And when he findeth afterward that he arriueth not to the spirit of that he was before he is confounded to see that he is no more the man he was and that insteed of aduancing he is retired Wherby he will eyther animate himselfe to put on a pace or els he will supply by his confusion that which he shall want of perfection So that this vseth euer to be of much profit though especially it be so in tyme of the Exercises Lastly I say 3. p. tract 7. that if at all tymes it be good to giue account of a mans conscience and of his Prayer to some spirituall man in this it wil be much more fit And some because they will not humble themselues so far do not gather out of the Exercises so much Fruite as they might CHAP. XXVIII Of the Reading of spirituall Bookes and how important it is and of some meanes which may help vs to do it profitably and well READING is the Sister and a great Helper to Prayer And so the Apostle S. Paul 1. Tim. 4.23 doth counsell his disciple Timothy That he should attend to Reading Attende lectioni This spirituall Reading is of so great importance for a man that preteÌ„ds to serue God Athanasius that S. Athanasius in an exhortation which he maketh to Religious men sayth thus Sine legendi studio neminem ad Deum intentum videas Thou shalt see no body who indeed preteÌ„ds to profit in spirit who is not also giuen to Reading of spirituall books he who leaues it will quickly shew it by the state which you shall finde him in S. Hierome Hierome in an epistle to Eustochium recommending much to her that she giue herselfe greatly to this sacred Lection sayth thus Tenenti codicem somnus obrepat cadentem faciem pagina sancta suscipiat Read till sleepe take thee and when being ouercome by sleepe thy head is dropping downeward let those holy leaues receiue it All the Saints do greatly recommend this spirituall lection And experience telleth vs how profitable it is since we see the storyes full of great conuersions which our Lord hath wrought by this meanes This Reading is a meanes so principall so important for our spirituall good that the founders of Religious orders being rooted in the doctrine of the Apostle and in the auctority and experience of the Saints haue ordeyned That their Religious should euery day resort to spirituall Reading Vmbertus in Prolog Vmbertus sayth of holy S. Bennet that he ordeyned a set tyme for this Reading euery day And he ordeyned with all that during that tyme two of the most ancient Monkes should go about the Monastery to visite and to see if any did eyther forbeare it themselues or hinder others Wherby it may appeare how much accounte they made therof And by the way we may perceiue that these Visites which now are daily vsed in Religion at the tyme of spirituall Exercises â—re grounded in the doctrine experience of the ancient Saints For the first and second tyme that any failed herein the Saint ordeyned that he should be reprooued after a milde fashion but if he mended not with that that then they should correct giue him such a pennance as wherby the rest might be kept in feare In the Society we haue a Rule which concernes this spirituall Reading and it speaketh thus Let all men twice in the day giue that tyme Regula 1. commun which is ordeyned to the Examen of Conscience and Prayer and Lection with all diligence in our Lord. And the Superior or Prefect of spirituall matters hath care that euery one may depute some tyme to this purpose euery day And generally this is a helpe for all those who pretend to obtayne vertue and perfection And therfore to the end that they may exercise it with the more Fruite we will here say something which may conduce therunto S. Ambrose exhorting vs Ambro. li. 1. officior cap. 20. to giue all the tyme we can to Prayer spirituall Reading sayth Cur non illa tempora quibus ab Ecclesia vacas lectioni impendas Cur non Christum alloquaris Christum audias Illum alloquimur cùm oramus illum audimus cùm diuina legimus oracula Wherefore doest thou not imploy that tyme which is free from the Quire vpon Reading and Prayer Why doest thou not goe to visit Christ our Lord and both speake to him and heare him For when we pray he sayth that we speake to God and and when we reade he speakes to vs. Let this be therfore the first meanes to profit by spirituall Reading that we make account that God is speaking to vs. that he speakes euery thing which heere we Reade S. Augustine doth also speake of this helpe August Epist 143. ad Demetriad virginem Ita Scripturas sanctas lege vt semper memineris Dei illa verba â—sse qui legem suam non solùm sciri sed etiam impleri inbet WheÌ„ thou readest thou art to make account that God is saying to thee that which thou readest not only that thou mayst know it but also that thou mayst performe Note and put it in practise He addeth another consideration which is both very good and very pious Diuinoe scripturae quasi literae de Patria nostra sunt August ser 36. ad Pra. in eremo Dost thou know sayth he how we are to read the Holy Scriptures As a man would read some letters which are come to him out of his Country himselfe being then abroade to see what newes there is of Heauen what they tell vs of that Country of ours where our Fathers and Brothers and Friendes and Acquaintance are and where we would so faine be and we long and sigh to be going thither S. Gregory Greg. li. 2. mor. c. 1. treating of this pointe sayth that the holy Scripture the same we may vnderstand of any other spirituall Reading is like the placing of a glasse before the eyes of our soule to the end that we may see our inwarde man For there we come to know and playnely see the good and bad that is in vs Note and how much we profit and how far we are from perfection And sometymes there are related to vs the admirable deeds of Saints which may animate vs to their imitation and to the end that by seeing their great victoryes triuÌ„phs we may not be dismaid at our owne temptations and troubles At other tymes there is relation made not only of their vertues but of their fauls to the end that by the one we may knowe what we are to imitate and by the other what we
to weary the mind and to dry vp deuotion Hugo of S. Victor bringeth an example of a seruant of God who was admonished by Reuelation Hugo de S. Victore li. 5. erudit Didascalicae c. 7. that he should leaue the Reading of such things and should resort to the Liues and Martyrdoms of Saints and such other plaine deuout writings wherby he profitted much S. Bernard sayth further Bernard Epist seu tract ad fratrem de monte Dei. Sed de quotidiana lectione aliquid quotidie in ventrem memoriae dimittendum est quod fideliùs digeratur rursus reuocatum crebriùs ruminetur quod proposito conueniat quod intentioni proficiat quod detineat animum ita vi aliena cogitare non libeat We are alwayes to commit somewhat to our memory of what we read to the end that we may ruminate digeste it the better afterward Note and especially that which we see may help vs most and wherof we haue most need to the end that betweene the howers of the day we may go thinking vpon good and holy things and not vpon such as are impertinent and vayne Iust so as we must not eate our corporall food to the end that we may spend that tyme in eating but that in vertue of the same foode which then we take we may labour all the day Now Reading is the meat and spirituall foode of our soule because they are the words of God which we Read and we must not only Read that we may spend that tyme well in Reading but to the end that we may profit by it Note all the day after It will also be very well done and it will giue vs great help towards all goodnes that we lift vp our hart to God and desire grace of him to the end that it may be profitable to vs and that the things which we Reade may go imbruing and bathing the very rootes of our hart and that we may remayne more tenderly affected to vertue and more vnbeguiled concerning the vanity of the world resolued vpon those things which import vs most Gregorius And so we read of the blessed S. Gregory that before he went to Reade he euer prepated himselfe by Prayer Psa 118 1â—5 and vsed to say this verse Declinate à me maligni scrutabor mandata Dei mei Departe from me you maligne spirits for I will consider the law and Commaundements of my God To the end that we may more esteeme of this kind of Reading animate our selues more therunto Note the Saints go comparing it with hearing the word of God preached And they say that though Reading haue not that force which the liuing voice hath yet doth it enioy other commodityes which Sermons haue not For first a man cannot alwayes haue a Preacher at hand as he may haue a good booke Secondly the good speach of a Preacher passeth through myne ears at once workes not therfore so great effect in me But that which is well said in a good booke I may reflect vpon and reuolue it in my mind by Reading it once or twice agayne and by ruminating and pondering it and so it will grow to make a great impression in me Thirdly by Reading in a good booke I haue a free and faythfull counsellor And that other Philosopher said well Demetrius Phaler That which many times my friend or my counsellor will not venter to tell me my booke tells me plainly without feare aduertising me of my vices and defects and chiding me on the one side and exhorting me on the other Fourthly by this Reading I am conuersing with them who wrote the booke Sometymes you may go and haue a tyme of conuersation with S. Bernard another with S. Gregory another with S. Basill and you may stand hearing listning to them as truly as if you had beene their disciple of old tyme. And so they say and with great reason That good bookes are a kind of publique treasure for the great benefits and riches which we may drawe from thence To conclude the profit and aduantage which groweth vpon this Reading of spirituall bookes Hieron epist ad Damasum Papam is so very great that S. Hierome treating of that interior inflammation of the soule doth aske where this inflaÌ„mation and fire is And he answereth that there is no doubt to be made but that it is conteyned in holy Scriptures the Reading wherof inflames the soule towards God and so it remaineth purged from all vice And he bringeth for proofe of this that which the disciples said to one another wheÌ„ going to the Castle of Emans Christ our Lord appeared to them in forme of a Pilgrime and went speaking to them of holy Scripture Luc. 24.32 Nonne cor nostrum ardens erat in nobis cùm loqueretur in via aperiret nobis Scripturas Was not say they our hart all inflamed and in fire wheÌ„ he went speaking and declaring the holy Scripture to vs vpon the way And he also bringeth those words of the Prophet Eloquia Domini eloquia casta Ps 11.7 argentum igne examinatum The words of our Lord are chast wordes and pure they are as siluer purifyed by the fire And S. Ambrose affirmeth That this sacred lection is the life of the soule Ambros 15. ser by the testimony of Christ our Lord himselfe Quod autem sacrarum litteraruÌ„ lectio vita sit Dominus testatur dicens Ioannis sexto Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis Ioan. 6.64 spiritus vita sunt The wordes which I haue sayd to you are spirit life To the end therfore that we may lead a spirituall life and that we may walke euer on in true spirit be all kindled and inflamed with the Loue of God let vs giue our selues much to this kind of Sacred Lection and let vs vse it in such sorte as hath been said Now by that which you haue seene it will follow That they do very ill who as soone as they haue Read ouer any good booke do cast it into some corner and say I haue dispatched that booke A good booke is not to be read ouer only once The second tyme that you read it will profit you more then the first and the third then the second Yea and it wil be euer new to you as they finde by experience who desire to profit by Reading And it is a good custome which some haue who when they meete with any thing in any booke which moues them much and giues them particuler satisfaction do note it and set it downe to the end that they may always haue at hand some of the most substantiall things and wherein they may finde the iuyce of deuotion at more ease may haue some comfort in store for such occasions and tymes as may occurre We might bring many Examples Note in confirmation of the great benefit profit August li. 8. confess c.