affection is not perfect and ordinarily it is given to weak and nice Souls 103. Thou wilt say that thou feelest thy self indisposed without devotion without fervour without the desire of this Divine Food so as to ask how thou must frequent it believe for certain that none of these things doth hinder or hurt thee whilst you preserve this purpose firm not to sin and your Will determined to avoid every offence and if thou hast confessed all those that thou couldst remember doubt not but that thou art well prepared to come to this Heavenly and Divine Table CHAP. XIV Pursues the same Matter 104. THou must know that in this unspeakaable Sacrament Christ is united with the Soul is made one thing with it whose fineness and purity is the most profound and admirable and the most worthy of consideration and thanks Great was the pureness of him in being made Man greater that of dying ignominiously on the Cross for our sake but the giving of himself whole and entire to man in this admirable Sacrament admits no comparison This is singular favour and infinite pureness because there is no more to give no more to receive O that we could but comprehend him O that we could but know him 105. That God being what he is should be Communicated to my Soul that God should be willing to make a reciprocal ty of union with it which of it self is meer misery O Souls if we could but feed ourselves at this Heavenly Table O that we could scorch ourselves at this burning fire O that we could become one and the same spirit with this Soveraign Lord who withholds us who deceives us who takes us off from burning like Salamanders in the Divine fire of this holy Table 106. 'T is true O Lord that thou entrest into me a miserable creature but true also it is that thou at the same time remainest in thy glory and brightness and in thy self Receive me therefore O my Jesus in thy self in thy beauty and Majesty I am infinitely glad that the vileness of my Soul cannot prejudice thy beautyâ— thou enterest therefore into me without going out of thy self thou livest in the midst of thy brightness and magnificence though thou art in my darkness and misery 107. O my Soul how great is thy vileness Job 7 Chap. how great thy poverty What is man Lord that thou art so mindful of him that thou visitest him and makest him great What is man that thou puttest such an esteem upon him being willing to have thy delights with him and dwell personally with thy greatnesses in him how O Lord can a miserable creature receive an infinite Majesty humble thy self O my soul to the very depth of nothing confess thy unworthyness look upon thy misery and acknowledge the wonders of the Divine Love which suffers it self to be mean in this incomprehensible Mystery that it may be communicated and united with thee 108. O the greatness of love which the amiable Jesus is in a small host who is there subject in some manner to man giving himself whole and sacrificing himself for him to the Eternal Father O Sovereign Lord keep back my heart strongly that it may never more return to its imperfect liberty but all annihilated may die to the world and remain united with thee 109. If thou would'st get all Vertues in the highest degree come blessed Soul come with frequency to this most holy Table for there they do all dwell Eat O my Soul of this Heavenly Food eat and continue come with humility come with Faith to feed of this White and Divine Bread for this is the Mark of Souls and from hence Love draws its Arrows saying Come O Soul and eat this savoury Food if thou would'st get Purity Charity Chastity Light Strength Perfection and Peace CHAP. XV. Declaring when Spiritual and Corporal Penances ought to be used and how hurtful they are when they are done indiscreetly according to ones own judgment and opinion 110. IT is to be known that there are some Souls who to make too great advances in Holiness become much behind-hand in it by doing indiscreet Penances like those who would sing more than their strength allows 'em who strain themselves till they are tired and instead of doing better do worse 111. Many have fallen into this Precipice for want of subjecting their judgment to their spiritual Fathers whil'st they have imagined that unless they give themselves up to rigid Penances they never can be Saints as if sanctity did only consist in them They say that he that sows little reaps little but they sow no other seed with their indiscreet Penances than Self-love instead of rooting of it up 112. But the worst of these indiscreet Penances is that by the use of these dry and barren Severities is begotten and naturalized a certain bitterness of heart towards themselves and their neighbours which is a great stranger to the true Spirit towards themselves because they do not feel the sweetness of Christ's Yoke the sweetness of Charity but only the asperity of Penances whereby their nature becomes imbitter'd and hence it follows that such men become exasperated with their neighbours to the marking and reproving much their faults and holding of 'em for very defective for the same reason that they see 'em go a less rigorous way than themselves hence they grow proud with their exercises of Penance seeing few that do after 'em and thinking themselves better than other folks whereupon they much fall in the account of their Vertues Hence comes the envy of others to see them less penitent and greater favourites of God a clear proof that they fixed their confidence in their own proper diligences 113. Prayer is the nourishment of the Soul and the Soul of Prayer is internal mortification for however bodily Penance and all other exercises chastening the flesh be good and holy and praiseworthy so as they be moderated by discretion according to the state and quality of every one and by the help of the spiritual Director's judgment yet thou wilt never gain any vertue by these means but only vanity and the wind of vain-glory if they do not grow from within Wherefore now thou shalt know when thou art to use most chiefly External Penances 114. When the Soul begins to retire from the World and Vice it ought to tame the Body with rigour that it may be subject to the Spirit and follow the Law of God with ease then it concerns you to manage the Weapons of Hair-cloth Fasting and Discipline to take from the flesh the roots of sin but when the Soul enters into the way of the Spirit imbracing internal mortification corporal chastisements ought to be relaxed because there is trouble enough in the Spirit the heart is weakned the breast suffers the brain is weary the whole Body grieved and disabled for the functions of the Soul. 115. The wise and skilful Director therefore must consider not to give way to these Souls to
perform such excesses of Corporal and External Penance to whom he moves the great love of God which they do conceive in the internal darksom and cleansing retirement of 'em because 't is not good to spend the Body and the Spirit all at once nor break their strength by rigorous and excessive Penances seeing they are weakned by internal mortification For which reason St. Ignatius Loyola said very well in his Exercises That in the cleansing way Corporal Penances were necessary which in the illuminating way ought to be moderated and much more in the unitive 116. But thou wilt say That the Saints always used grievous Penances I answer that they did 'em not with indiscretion nor after their own proper judgment but with the opinion of their Superiours and Spiritual Directors which permitted 'em to use them because they knew 'em to be moved inwardly by the Lord to those rigours to confound the misery of sinners by their examples or for many other reasons Other times they gave 'em leave to use them to humble the fervour of their Spirit and counterpoise their Raptures which are all particular Motives and make not any general Rule for all CHAP. XVI The great difference between External and Internal Penances 117. KNow that the Mortifications and Penances which some one undertakes of himself are light although they may be the most rigorous which hitherto have been done in comparison of those he takes from another's hands because in the first he himself enters and his own will which abate the grief the more voluntary it is whilst at last he doth but that which he is willing but in the second all that is indured is painful and the way also painful in which it is indured that is to say by the will of another 118. This is that which Christ our Lord told St. Peter St. John 21.18 When thou wast young and a beginner in vertue thou girdedst and mortifiedst thy self but when thou goest to greater Schools and shall be a proficient in vertue another shall gird and mortifie theeâ— and then if thou wilt follow me perfectly altogether denying thy self thou must leave that cross of thine and take up mine that is be contented that another crucifie thee 119. There must be no difference made between these and those between thy Father and thy Son thy Friend and thy Brother these must be the first to mortifie thee or to rise up against thee whether with reason or without reason thinking the vertue of thy Soul cheat hypocrisie or imprudence and putting stumbling-blocks in the way of thy holy Exercises This and much more will befall thee if thou wilt heartily serve the Lord and make thy self pure from his hand 120. Hold it for certain that however good those Mortifications and External Penances be which thou shalt undertake of thine own self thou wilt never by those only purchase perfection for although they tame the Body yet they purifie not the Soul nor purge the internal Passions which do really hinder perfect Contemplation and the Divine Union 121. 'T is very easie to mortifie the Body by means of the Spirit but not the Spirit by means of the Body True it is that in Internal Mortification and that of the Spirit it much concerns you for conquering your Passions and rooting up your own Judgment and Self-love to labour even to death without any manner of sparing your self although the Soul be in the highest state and therefore the principal diligence ought to be in Internal Mortification because Corporal and External Mortification is not enough though it be good and holy 122. Though a man should receive the punishments of all men together and do the roughest Penances that ever have been done in God's Church yet if he do not deny himself and mortifie himself with interior mortification he will be far from arriving at perfection 123. A good proof of this truth is that which befel Saint Henry Suson to whom after 20 years of rigorous Hair-cloth Discipline and Abstinence fo great that even to read 'em is enough to make ones hair stand on end God communicated light by means of an Extasie by which he arrived at the knowledge that he had not yet begun and it was in such a manner as that till the Lord mortified him with temptations and great persecutions he never could arrive at perfection his Life chap. 23. Hence thou wilt clearly know the great difference that there is between External and Internal Penances and Internal and External Mortification CHAP. XVII How the Soul is to carry it self in the Faults it doth commit that it may not be disquieted thereby but reap good out of it 124. WHen thou fallest into a fault in what matter soever it be do not trouble nor afflict thy self for it for they are effects of our frail nature stained by Original Sin so prone to Evil that it hath a necessity of a most special Grace and Priviledge as the most holy Virgin had to be free and exempt from Venial Sins Council of Trent Sess 6. Can. 23. 125. If when thou fallest into a fault or a piece of neglect thou dost disturb and chide thy self 't is a manifest sign that secret pride doth still reign in thy Soul didst thou believe that thou could'st not more fall into faults and frailties if God permits some failings even in the most holy and perfect men it is to leave 'em some remnant of themselves of the time that they were beginners to keep 'em more secure and humble it is that they may think always that they are never departed from that state whilst they still keep upon the faults of their beginnings 126. What dost thou marvel at if thou falâ—est into some light fault or frailty humble thy self know thy misery and thank God that he has preserved thee from infinite sins into which thou must have infallibly fallen and wouldst have fallen according to thy inclination and appetite What can be expected from the slippery ground of our nature but stumps bryers and thorns 't is a miracle of Divine Grace not to fall every moment into faults innumerable We should offend all the World if God should not hold his hand continually over us 127. The common enemy will make thee believe that as soon as thou fallest into any fault thou dost not go well grounded in the way of the Spirit that thou walkest in Error that thou hast not in earnest reformed thy self that thou didst not make well the general confession that thou hast not true grief and therefore art out of God and of his favour and if thou shalt sometimes commit again by misfortune a venial fault how many fears frights confusions discouragements and various discourses will the Devil put into thy heart he will represent to thee that thou employest thy time in vain that thou dost just as much as comes to nothing that thy Prayer doth thee no good that thou disposest not thy self as thou oughtest to receive the holy
Recollection or Acquir'd Contemplation The first is of beginners the second of Proficients The first is sensible and material the second more naked pure and internal 2. When the Soul is already accustomed to discourse of Mysteries by the help of imagition and the use of corporal Images being carried from Creature to Cteature and from Knowledge to Knowledge though with very little of that which it wants and from these to the Creator Then God is wont to take that Soul by the hand if rather he calls it not in the very beginnings and leads it without ratiocination by the way of pure Faith making the intellect pass by all considerations and reasonings draws it forward and raises it out of this material and sensible state making it under a simple and obscure knowledge of Faith wholly aspire to its Bridegroom upon the wings of Love without any farther necessity of the perswasions and informations of the Intellect to make it love him because in that manner the Soul's love would be very scanty much dependent on Creatures stinted to drops and these too but falling with pauses and intervals 3. By how much less it depends on Creatures and the more it relies on God alone and his secret documents by the mediation of pure Faith the more durable firm and strong will that Love be After the Soul hath already acquired the knowledge which all the meditations and corporal images of Creatures can give her if now the Lord raise her out of that state by stripping her of ratiocination and leaving her in divine darkness to the end she may march in the streight Way and by pure Faith â—et her be guided and not love with the scantiness and tenuity that these direct but let her suppose that the whole World and all that the most refined conceptions of the wisest understandings can tell her are nothing and that the goodness and beauty of her beloved infinitely surpasses all their knowledge being perswaded that all Creatures are too rude to inform her and to conduct her to the true knowledge of God. 4. She ought then to advance forward with her love leaving all her understanding behind Let her love God as he is in himself and not as her imagination says he is and frames him to her And if she cannot know him as he is in himself let her love him without knowing him under the obscure veils of Faith in the same manner as a Son who hath never seen his Father but fully believing those who have given him information of him loves him as if he had already seen him 5. The Soul from which Mental Discourse is taken ought not to strain her self nor sollicitously seek for more clear and particular knowledge but even without the supports of sensible consolations or notices with poverty of spirit and deprived of all that the natural appetite requires continue quiet firm and constant letting the Lord work his work though she may seem to be alone exhausted and full of darkness and though this appear to her to be idleness it is only of her own sensible and material activity not of God's who is working true knowledge in her 6. Finally the more the Spirit ascends the more it is taken off of sensible objects Many are the souls who have arrived and do arrive at this gate but few have passed or do pass it for want of the experimental guide and those who have had and actually have it for want of a true subjection and entire submission 7. They 'll say that the Will will not love but be unactive if the Intellect understand not clearly and distinctly it being a received Maxim that that which is not known cannot be loved To this it is answered that tho' the Intellect understand not distinctly by ratiocination Images and Considerations yet it understands and knows by an obscure general and confused Faith which knowledge tho' so obscure indistinct and general as being supernatural hath nevertheless a more clear and perfect cognition of God than any sensible and particular notice that can be formed in this life because all corporal and sensible representation is infinitely distant from God. 8. We know God more perfectly says St. Denis by Negatives Myst â—â— Theol. c. 1. â— 2. than by Affirmatives We think more highly of God by knowing that he is incomprehensible and above all our capacity than by conceiving him under any image or created beauty according to our rude understanding A greater esteem and love then will flow from this confused obscure and negative than from any other sensible and distinct way because that is more proper to God and abstracted from creatures and this on the contrary the more it depends on creatures the less it hath of God. Second Advertisement Declaring what Meditation and Contemplation are and the difference that is betwixt them 9. Lib. 3. de fide c. 24. ST John Damascene and other Saints say that Prayer is a sallying out or elevation of the mind to God. God is above all Creatures and the Soul cannot see him nor converse with him if it raise not it self above them all This friendly conversation which the Soul hath with God that 's to say in Prayer is divided into Meditation and Contemplation 10. When the Mind considers the Mysteries of our holy Faith with attention to know the truth of them reasoning upon the particulars and weighing the circumstances of the same for exciting the affections in the will This mental Discourse and pious Act is properly called Meditation 11. When the Soul already knows the truth either by a habit acquired through reasoning or because the Lord hath given it particular light and fixes the eyes of the mind on the demonstrated truth beholding it sincerely with quietness and silence without any necessity of considerations ratiocinations or other proofs of conviction and the will loves it admiring and delighting it self therein This properly is called the Prayer of Faith the Prayer of Rest Internal Recognition or Contemplation Which St. Thomas with all the mystical Masters says is a sincere 2. 2. q. 180. Art. 3. p. 4. sweet and still view of the eternal truth without ratiocination or reflexion But if the Soul rejoyces in or eyes the effects of God in the creatures and amongst them in the humanity of our Lord Christ as the most perfect of all this is not perfect Contemplation as St. Thomas affirms ibidemâ— since all these are means for knowing of God as he is in himself And although the humanity of Christ be the most holy and perfect means for going to God the chief instrument of our salvation and the channel through which we receive all the good we hope for nevertheless the humanity is not the chief good which consists in seeing God but as Jesus Christ is more by his divinity than his humanity so he that thinks and fixes his contemplation always on God because the divinity is united to the humanity always thinks on and heholds
and united unto him with Reverence Humility and Submission beholding him in the most inward recess of thine own Soul without Form Likeness Manner or Figure in the view and general nature of a loving and obscure Faith without any distinction of Perfection or Attribute 65. There thou art to be with attention and a sincere regard with a sedate heedfulness and full of Love towards the same Lord resigning and delivering thy self up into his hands to the end he may dispose of thee according to his good Will and Pleasure without reflecting on thy self nay nor on Perfection it self Here thou art to shut up the Senses trusting God with all the care of thy Welfare and minding nothing of the affairs of this Life Finally thy Faith ought to be pure without Representations or Likeness Simple without Reasonings and Universal without Distinctions 66. The Prayer of Internal Recollection may be well typified by that Wrestling which the holy Scripture says the Patriarch Jacob had all Night with God until Day broke and he Blessed him Wherefore the Soul is to persevere and wrestle with the difficulties that it will find in internal Recollection without desisting until the Son of internal Light begin to appear and the Lord give it his Blessing 67. No sooner wilt thou have given thy self up to thy Lord in this inward Way but all Hell will conspire against thee seeing one single Soul inwardly retired to its own Presence makes greater War against the Enemy than a thousand others that walk externally because the Devil makes an infinite advantage of an internal Soul. 68. In the time of the recollection Peace and Resignation of thy Soul God will more esteem the various impertinent troublesome and ugly thoughts that thou hast than the good purposes and high sentiments Know that the effort which thou thy self mayest make to resist Thoughts is an impediment and will leave thy Soul in greater anxitie The best thing that is to be done is sweetly to despise them to know thine own wretchedness and peacefully make an Offering to God of the Trouble 69. Though thou canst not get rid off the anguish of Thoughts hast no Light Comfort nor spiritual Sentiment Yet be not afflicted neither leave off recollection because they are the Snares of the Enemy Resign thy self at that time with Vigour endure with Patience and persevere in his Presence for whil'st thou perseverest after that manner thy Soul will be internally emproved 70. Doest thou believe that when thou comest away from Prayer dry in the same manner as thou began it that that was because of want of Preparation and that hath done thee no good That is a Fallacy Because the fruit of true Prayer consists not in enjoying the Light nor in having Knowledge of spiritual things since these may be found in a speculative Intellect without true Virtue and Perfection it only consists in enduring with Patience and persevering in Faith and Silence believing that thou art in the Lord's Presence turning to him thy Heart with tranquillity and purity of Mind So whil'st thou perseverest in this manner thou 'lt have the only Preparation and Disposition which at that time is necessary and shalt reap infinite fruit 71. War is very usual in this internal Recollection which on the one hand will deprive thee of sensibility to try humble and purge thee On the other invisible Enemies will assault thee with continual Suggestions to trouble and disquiet thee Nature her self apparently will torment thee she being always an Enemy to the Spirit which in depriving her of sensible Pleasures remains Weak Melancholy and full of Irksomness so that it feels a Hell in all Spiritual Exercises particularly in that of Prayer hence it grows extreamly impatient to be at an end of it through the uneasiness of Thoughts the lassitude of Body importunate Sleep and the not being able to curb the Senses every one of which would for its own share follow its own Pleasure Happy art thou if thou canst persevere amidst this Martyrdom 74. That great Doctoress and Mystical Mistriss Santa Teresa confirms all this by her heavenly Doctrine in the Letter she wrote to the Bishop of Osmia to instruct him how he was to behave himself in Prayer and in the variety of troublesome Thoughts which attack us at that time where she says 8. of her Epistolary There is a necessity of suffering the trouble of a Troop of Thoughts importune Imaginations and the impetuosities of natural Notions not only of the Soul through the dryness and disunion it hath but of the Body also occasioned by the want of submission to the Spirit which it ought to have 73. These are called drynesses in Spirituals but are very profitable if they be embraced and suffered with Patience Who so shall accustom himself to suffer them without repining will from that Labour draw vast advantage It is certain that in recollection the Devil frequently charges the Soul more fiercely with a Battalion of Thoughts to discomfit the quiet of the Soul and alienate it from that most sweet and secure internal Conversation raising horrours to the end it may leave it off reducing it most commonly to such a state as if it were led forth to a most rigorous Torment 74. The Birds which are the Devils knowing this said the Saint in the above-cited Letter pricks and molest the Soul with Imaginations troublesome Thoughts and the Interruptions which the Devil at that time brings in transporting the Thought distracting it from one thing to another and after he hath done with them attacking the Heart and it is no small fruit of Prayer patiently to suffer these Troubles and Importunities That is an offering up of ones self in a whole burnt Sacrifice that 's to say to be wholly consumed in the Fire of Temptation and no part spared See how this heavenly Mistress encourages to suffer and endure Thoughts and Temptations because provided they be not consented to they double the profit 75. As many times as thou exercisest thy self calmly to reject these vain Thoughts so many Crowns will the Lord set upon thy Head and and though it may seem to thee that thou do'st nothing be undeceiv'd for a good desire with firmness and stedfastness in Prayer is very pleasing to the Lord. 76. Wherefore to be there concludes the Saint without sensible profit is not lost time but of great gain whil'st one toyls without Interest and meerly for the Glory of God and though it may seem to be toyling in vain yet it is not so but it is as with Children who toyl and labour under the power of their Father though in the evening they receive not the wages for their day's work yet at the year's end they enjoy all In fine you see how the Saint confirms our document with her precious Doctrine CHAP. XII A Sequel of the same Matter 77. GOD loves not him who does most who hears most nor who shows greatest affection but who suffers most if he
a mind to do the divine Will with all diligence thou wilt never find the way but by the means of Obedience When a man is resolved to be governed by himself he is lost and deceived Although the Soul have very profound signs that it is a good Spirit that speaks to it yet unless it submit to the judgment of the spiritual Director let it be esteemed an evil Spirit So says Gerson Tract de dist verar. Num. 19. and many other Masters of Spirit 78. This Doctrine will be confirmed by that case of St. Teresa The holy Mother seeing that Lady Catherine of Cardona led a Life of great and rigid Penance in the Wilderness resolved to imitate her contrary to the judgment of her spiritual Father who forbid her Then the Lord told her in her Life 366. You must by no means do this Daughter the good way thou hast secure thou seest all the Penance that Catherine doth but I value more thy obedience She from that time forward vowed to obey her spiritual Father and in the 26th Chapter of her Life we read that God often told her that she must not omit to acquaint her spiritual Father with her whole Soul and the graces that she had done her and that she should always take care to obey him in every thing 79. Thou seest how God hath been willing to secure that heavenly and important Doctrine by the holy Scripture the Saints the Doctors by Reasons and by Examples a-purpose to root out altogether the deceits of the Enemy CHAP. XI When and in what things this Obedience doth most concern the interior Soul. 80. THat you may know when Obedience is most necessary I will advise thee that when thou shalt find the horrible and importunate suggestions of the Enemy greatest upon thee when thou shalt suffer most darkness anguish drowth forsakings when thou shalt see thy self most beset with temptations wrath rage blasphemy lust cursing tediousness despair impatience and desolation then 't is most necessary for thee to believe and obey an expert Director resting thy self on his holy Counsel that thou may'st not suffer thy self to be carried away by the strong perswasion of the Enemy who would make thee believe in affliction and heavy desertion that thou art lost and abhorred by God that thou art out of his favour and that Obedience is past doing thee any good 81. Thou shalt find thy self encompassed with troublesome scruples griefs anguish distress martyrdoms distrusts forsakings of the Creatures and troubles so bitter that thy afflictions shall seem past comfort and thy torments unconquerable O blessed Soul how happy wilt thou be if thou dost but believe thy Guide and subject thy self to him and obey him Then wilt thou walk safe by the secret and interior way of the dark night although thou may'st seem to thy self to live in Errour and that thou art worse than ever that thou seest nothing in thy Soul but abomination and signs of condemnation 82. Thou wilt think verily that thou art possessed by an evil Spirit because the signs of this interior exercise and horrible tribulation seem as bad as the invasions of infernal Furies and Devils Then take care to believe thy Guide firmly for thy true Happiness consists in thy obedience 83. You must consider that when the Devil sees a Soul totally denying it self and submitting to the obedience of its Director he makes a strange uproar all Hell over to hinder this infinite Good and this holy Sacrifice Full of envy and fury as he is he uses to make strife between the two inspiring the Soul with wearisomness anger aversion resistance distrust and hatred against the Guide and sometimes he makes use of his Tongue to bespatter him with many Reproaches But if this Director be an expert one he laughs at these subtle Snares and diabolical Craftynesses And however the Devil may perswade the Souls of such a state with divers suggestions not to believe their Director that they may not obey him nor profit under him yet nevertheless they may believe and they do believe enough to obey though it be without their own satisfaction 84. Thou wilt ask of thy Guide some Liberty or wilt communicate to him some Grace received If in denying thee that Liberty or rejecting that Grace that thou may'st not grow proud thou withdrawest thy self from his Counsel and leavest him it is a sign that the Favour was false and that thy Spirit walks in danger But if thou dost believe and obey although he do soundly displease thee 't is a sign that thou art alive and unmortified nevertheless thou wilt profit with that violent and working Medicine Because though the inferiour part be troubled and do resent yet the superior part of the Soul doth embrace him and will be humbled and mortified because it knows that this is the divine Will. And though thou dost not know it yet satisfaction goes on emproving in thy Soul and so doth the confidence that thou hast in thy Guide 85. The means of denying self-love and of laying down ones own judgment you must know is subjecting it altogether with true submission to the Counsel of the spiritual Physitian If he hinders you your pleasure or demands what you desire not thousands of false and idle reasons do presently get about his holy Counsel where it is presently known that the Spirit is not altogether mortified nor his own judgment blinded which are irreconcileable Enemies to a ready and blind obedience and the peace of the Soul. 86. Then 't is necessary to overcome thy self and thy quick sentiments to despise those false and lying reasons by obeying holding thy tongue and executing his holy Counsel because that is the way to root up thy appetite and thine own judgment 87. For this reason the ancient Fathers as expert and skilful Masters of Spirit did exercise their Disciples in divers and extraordinary Ways To some they gave order to plant Lettice with the leaves downward to others to Water dry and withered Trees to others to sew and unsew again many times their Cloaths all marvellous and effectual stratagems to make tryal of simple obedience and to cut by the roots the weeds of their own Will and judgement CHAP. XII Treats of the same 88. KNow that thou canst not fetch one step in the way of the Spirit till thon endeavourest to conquer this fierce Enemy thy own judgment And the Soul that will not know this hurt can never be cured A sick man that knows his Disease knows for certain that although he is adry yet it is not good for him to drink and that the Physick prescribed him though it be bitter yet is profitable for him Therefore he believes not his Appetite nor trusts in his own Judgment but yields himself up to a skilful Physitian obeying him in every thing as the means of his Recovery and Cure The knowledge that he is sick helps him not to trust to himself but to follow the wise judgment of
But if thou O blessed Soul should'st know how much thou art beloved and defended by that Divine Lord in the midst of thy loving torments thou wouldst find 'em so sweet that it would be necessary that God should work a Miracle to let thee live Be constant O happy Soul be constant and of good courage for however intolerable thou art to thy self yet thou wilt be protected inriched and beloved by that greatest Good as if he had nothing else to do than to lead thee to Perfection by the the highest steps of love and if thou do'st not turn away but perseverest constantly without leaving off thy undertaking know that thou offerest to God the most accepted Sacrifice so that if this Lord were capable of pain he would find no ease till he has compleated this loving Union with thy Soul. 41. If from the Chaos of Nothing his Omnipotence has produced so many Wonders what will he do in thy Soul created after his own Image and Likeness if thou keepest constant quiet and resigned with a true knowledge of thy Nothing Happy Soul which even when 't is disturbed afflicted and disconsolate keeps steady there within without going forth to declare exteriour Comfort 42. Afflict not thy self too much and with inquietude because these sharp Martyrdoms may continue persevere in Humility and go not out of thy self to seek aid for all the good consists in being silent suffering and holding patience with rest and resignation there wilt thou find the Divine Strength to overcome so hard a warsare he is within thee that fighteth for thee and he is strength it self 43. When thou shalt come to this painful state of fearful desolation weeping and lamentation are not forbidden thy Soul whilest in the upper part of it it keeps resigned Who can bear the Lord's heavy hand without tears and lamentation That great Champion Job even he lamented so did Christ our Lord in his forsakings but their weepings were accompanied with resignation 44. Afflict not thy self though God do crucifie thee and make tryal of thy fidelity imitate the Woman of Canaan who being rejected and injured did importune and persevere humbling her self and following him though she were treated as she was It is necessary to drink the cup and not go back if the scales were taken from thine eyes as they were from St. Paul's thou would'st see the necessity of suffering and glory as he did esteeming more the being Crucified than being an Apostle 45. Thy good luck consists not in injoying but in suffering with quiet and resignation St. Teresa appeared after her death to a certain Soul and told it that she had only been rewarded for her pain but had not received one dram of reward for so many Extasies and Revelations and Comforts that she had here enjoyed in this World. 46. Although this painful martyrdom of horrible desolation and passive purgation be so tremendous that with reason it hath gotten the name of Hell amongst mystick Divines because it seems impossible to be able to live a moment with so grievous a torment so that with great reason it may be said that he that suffers it lives dying and dying lives a lingring death yet know that it is necessary to endure it to arrive at the sweet joyous and abundant riches of high contemplation and loving union and there has been no holy Soul which has not passed through this spiritual martyrdom and painful torment St. Gregory the Pope in the two last Months of his Life St. Francis of Assize two years and a half St. Mary Maudlin of Pazzi five years St. Rose of Peru fifteen years and after such miracles as made the world amazed St. Dominick suffer'd it even till half an hour of his happy exit CHAP. VI. 47. THE other more profitable and meritorious martyrdom in Souls already advanced in perfection and deep contemplation is a fire of divine love which burns the soul and makes it painful with the same love sometimes the absence of its beloved afflicts it sometimes the sweet ardent and welcome weight of the loving and divine Presence torments it This sweet martyrdom always makes it sigh sometimes if it enjoys and has its beloved for the pleasure of having him so that it cannot contain it self other times if he does not manifest himself through the ardent anxiety of seeking finding and enjoying him all this is panting suffering and dying for love 48. O that thou could'st but come to conceive the contrariety of accidents that an inamour'd Soul suffers the combate so terrible and strong on one side so sweet and melting and amiable on the other the martyrdom so piercing and sharp with which love torments it and the cross so painful and sweet withal without ever being in the mind of getting free from it whil'st thou liv'st 49. Just so much as light and love increases just so much increases the grief in seeing that good absent which it loves so well To feel it near it self is enjoyment and never to have done knowing and possessing it consumes its life it has food and drink near its mouth whil'st it wants either and cannot be satisfied it sees it self swallowed up and drown'd in a sea of love whil'st the powerful hand that is able to save it is near it and yet doth not do it nor doth it know when he will come whom it so much does desire 50. Sometimes it hears the inward voice of its beloved which courts and calls it and a soft and delicate whisper which goes forth from the secret of the Soul where it abides which pierces it strongly even like to melt and dissolve it in seeing how near it hath him within it self and yet how far off from it whil'st it cannot come to possess him This intoxicates it imbases it scares it and fills it with unsatisfiableness and therefore love is said to be as strong as death whil'st it kills just as that doth CHAP. VII Inward Mortification and Perfect Resignation are necessary for obtaining Internal Peace 60. THE most subtle Arrow that is shot at us from Nature is to induce us to that which is unlawful with a pretence that it may be necessary and useful O how many Souls have suffer'd themselves to be lead away and have lost the Spirit by this guilded Cheat Thou wilt never last the delicious Manna Quod nemo novit nisi qui accipit Apoc. ch 2. unless thou dost perfectly overcome thy self even to die in thy self because he who endeavours not to die to his Passions is not well disposed to receive the Gift of Understanding without the infusion whereof it is impossible for him to go in into himself and be changed in his Spirit and therefore those that keep without have nothing of it 52. Never disquiet thy self for any accident for inquietude is the door by which the Enemy gets into the Soul to rob it of its peace 53. Resign and deny thy self wholly for though true self-denial is harsh at the beginning 't
nor are they equivalent to that Grace onely which he loses and which he might have had by receiving that Communion And now le ts make up this Account If Restitution ought to be as all the Doctors say conformable to the Good which was taken from one's Neighbour what can he restore which deprives a faithful Man of God himself Would it not be great want of Charity to take from a Man a Mount of Gold onely to gather up a little Grain Onely for one Grain of Mortification if yet there is any in it the Ministers do deprive a Christian of a whole Mount of Blessings which are heaped up together in the Communion If there were no other way to mortifie and try the Soul but this it ought not to be used because by this Mortification they deprive him of a greater good but there are infinite ways of proving and mortifying the Soul besides without doing it so great a Spiritual Prejudice The Blessings of this Sacrament don't end here because besides the increase of Grace it sustains and gives new strength to the Soul to resist Temptations it satisfies the desires takes away the hunger of temporal things unites with Christ and his Members who are the Just and Righteous breaks the power of Satan gives strength to suffer Martyrdom pardons the Venial Sins to which he that Communicates doth not stand affected and keeps from Mortal Sins by vertue of the aid which it doth contribute The Body of Christ says St. Bernard In Serm. Dom is Medicine to the Sick Provision for the Pilgrim fresh Strength to the Weary it delights the Strong it heals the wounded it preserves the Health of Soul and Body And whoever is a worthy Communicant is made more strong to receive Contempt more patient to suffer Reproof more fit to indure Troubles more ready for Obedience and to return the Lord Thanks St. Leo Pope de praec ser 14. de pass Domini says that when a man is Communicated Christ comes to honour him with his Presence to anoint him with his Grace to cure him with his Mercy to heal him with his Blood to raise him by his Death to illuminate him with his Light to inflame him with his Love to comfort him with his infinite Sweetness to be united and espoused with his Soul to make him partaker of his Divine Spirit and of all the Blessings which he purchas'd us by his Cross Dost thou seek says St. Bonaventure de praec where God is thou must expect to find him in this Divine Sacrament which being worthily received do's pardon Sins mitigate Passions gives light to the Understanding satiates the Soul revives Faith encourages Hope inkindles Charity increases Devotion fills with Grace and is the rick Pledge of Glory This Sacrament says St. Thomas Opusc 58. de Sacr. cap. 21. 22 23. drives away evil Spirits defends us from Concupiscence washes off the Stains of the Heart appeases Gods Anger illuminates the Understanding to know him inflames the Will to love him delights the memory with Sweetness confirms the whole man in Goodness frees him from Punishment Everlasting multiplies the merits of good Life and brings him to his Eternal Country The Body of the Lord as he pursues it cap. 24. produces Three principal Effects First it destroys Sin. Secondly it increases Spiritual Blessings Thirdly it comforts men's Souls and in Chap. 25. he says it satiates the Spirit to follow what is good it comforts and strengthens the Soul to shun what is evil it preserves the Life always to praise the Lord. As it is a Sacrifice it remits the Sins of those who are alive and lightens the punishment of those who are in Purgatory and augments the accidental Glory of those who are in Heaven Lastly the Body of Christ is called the Sacrament of Charity because it makes us partakers of the Spirit Divine of the sweet Abode of Christ himself and the rich Transformation of God. 'T would be an endless thing to relate the Blessings which according to the saying of Saints they do receive from this Sacrament who come to partake of it without Mortal Sin and of all these doth the Minister deprive a Christian when he onely forbids him one Communion But more than this deprieving 'em of the Communion he deprieves all the Saints of Heaven all the Angels the most holy Virgin and Christ himself of that accidental glory which accrues to them by every Communion received in grace If the Saints in Heaven have a special accidental glory by every good work though never so small that is done here below as many pious Authors are of opinion with how much more reason will they have it by a work so sublime as the Communion is wherein there is included an immensity of all the wonderful works of God Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum Psal 110. And if from one onely Communion there are so many blessings as are specified before to be obtained what will there be of the sacrifice of the Mass the gravest the highest work that is in Heaven or Earth And shall there then be Ministers who under pretence of Penance Mortification or the old way must hinder Priests so great so holy and so fruitful a sacrifice Saint Jerom said in Missis defunct Pavi c. 14 that at the least the Soul suffers not in Purgatory whilst Mass is said for it 't was well the Author did not point to us where this blind passage is in Saint Jeromes Works Saint Austin assures us Ballester in the Book of the Crucifix of S. Saviour f. 207. that the Divine Sacrifice is never Celebrated but one of these two things follow upon it either the Conversion of a sinner or the leting loose of some Soul out of Purgatory this is as much Saint Austins saying as t'other is Saint Jeromes William Altisiodorensis was not contented with one Soul but affirmed that by every Mass there were the Lord knows how many Souls that got away from thence Severus in Saint Martins Life gives an account that he set as many Souls at liberty with his Masses as persons assisted at the hearing of ' em Venerable Bede says that the Priest who being not lawfully hindred doth neglect to say Mass deprieves the most holy Trinity of glory and praise the Angels of joy Sinners of pardon the Righteous of grace and help the Souls in Purgatory of cooling and refreshment the Church of the heavenly benefit of Jesus Christ our Lord and the Priest himself of Medicine and help If every Mass therefore has all this of its own what Minister under the colour of zeal shall be so bold as to hinder and defraud the Trinity the Angels the Virgin the Church the Righteous Sinners the Souls in Purgatory and the Priests themselves that desire to celebrate so much glory and so much good without doubt though this be done with zeal yet 't is want of consideration and it will be well to premeditate and consider it better before any goes about to hinder it THE END THE CONTENTS CHAP. 1. No Minister ought to keep a faithful Person from the Communion that does desire and ask it whilst he doth not know his Conscience defiled with mortal Sin. Page 1 Chap. 2. Answering the Reasons which those Ministers give which hinder the Faithful from Communicating and the Priest from Celebrating having their Consciences free from Mortal Sin. Page 17 Chap. 3. Wherein are shewn some of the great benefits of which a faithful man is deprived by being prohibited the Communion when he is sufficiently disposed for it Page 31
making particularly like discourses and about the Houshold Affairs of their Penitents before they come to Accuse themselves of their Sins whereupon that little Devotion which they brought along with 'em to the Sacrament becomes cool'd and good for nothing Sometimes it happens that many Penitents are fain to wait to be Confessed who are full of business of their own and when they see such a long Demur they grow weary and sad and fall into impatience losing the actual disposition of Mind wherewith they were before prepared to receive so healthful a Sacrament whereupon the medley of these distractive superfluous and vain matters not onely makes 'em lose their precious time but also prejudiceth the holy Place the Sacrament the disposition of the Penitent who is Confessed and that of others who wait to be Confessed all of 'em considerable mischiefs and worthy to be redressed 53. For Confession there are some good but for the Government of Spirits by the mystical Way there are so few says Father John Davila that in a thousand you shall possibly find one St Francis of Sales says One among ten thousand And the illuminated Thauler says That in a hundred thousand it was a hard thing to find one expert Master of Spirit The reason is because there are so few who dispose themselves to receive the mystical Science Pauci ad eam recipiendam se disponunt said Henry Arpius Lib. 3. Par. 3. Cap. 22. Would to God it were not so true as it is For then there would not be so many Cheats in the World and there would be more Saints and fewer Sinners 54. When the spiritual Guide desires effectually that all should be in love with Vertue and the love which they have of God is pure and perfect with few Words and few Reasons he will reap a very great deal of Benefit 55. If the interiour Soul when it is in the Cleansing it self of Passions and in the time of Abstraction has not a sure Guide to curb in the Retirement and Solitude to which its Inclination and great Propension draws it it will be unable and unfit for Exercises of Confession Preaching and Study and also for those of its own Obligation State and Calling 56. The skilful Director therefore ought to mind carefully when the Powers of it begin to be employed in God that there may not be given too free access to Solitude commanding the Soul not to omit the outward Exercises of its State as of Study and other Employments although they should seem distractive so that they be not contrary to his Calling because the Soul is so much Abstracted in Solitude is so turned Inward in its Retirement and is removed to such a degree from Exteriority that if it afterwards apply it self again it doth it with toyl and resistance and with prejudice to its powers and the strength and soundness of Head which is considerable hurt and worthy the weighing of spiritual Directors 57. But if these have no Experience they will not know when the Abstraction is formed and at the same time thinking it holy Counsel will encourage 'em to Retirement and find Destruction in it O how necessary it is that the Guide be Expert in the spiritual and mystical Way CHAP. VIII Pursues the same Matter 58. THose that Govern Souls without Experience go in the Dark and arrive not at the Understanding of the States of the Soul in their internal and supernatural Operations they onely know that sometimes the Soul is Well and that it has Light other times that it is in Darkness but what the State of all these is and what is the Root from whence these Changes grow they neither know nor understand nor can verify it by means of Books till they come to find it experimentally in themselves in whose Furnace the true and actual Light is made 59. If the Guide hath not passed himself through the secret and painful ways of the interiour Walk how can be comprehend or approve it It will be no small favour to the Soul to find one onely experienced Guide to strengthen it in insuperable Difficulties and assure it in the continual Doubts of this Voyage otherwise he will never get to the holy and precious Mount of Perfection without an extraordinary and singular Grace 60. The spiritual Director which lives disinteressed longs more for the internal Solitude than the Employment of Souls and if any spiritual Master is displeased when a Soul goes from him and leaves him for another Guide 't is a clear sign that he did not live disinterested nor sought purely the Glory of God but his own proper Esteem 61. The same loss and evil comes when the Director is secretly diligent to draw some Soul to his Direction which goes under the Government of another Guide this is a notable mischief for if he holds himself for a better Director than t'other he is proud and if he knows himself to be a worse he is a Traytor to God to that Soul and to himself during the prejudice he does to the advantage and good of his Neighbours 62. In like manner there is another considerable hurt that discovers it self in spiritual Masters which is that they do not suffer the Souls Guided by 'em to Communicate with others though they are more Holy Learned and Expert than themselves all this is Interest Self-love and Esteem of themselves They do not permit Souls thus to unburthen and vent themselves for fear they should loose 'em and that it may not be said that their spiritual Children seek that Satisfaction in others which they cannot find in them and for the most part by these imperfect ends they hinder Souls from being advantaged 63. From all these and infinite other imputations the Director is free that is once arrived at hearing the inward Voice of God by having passed through Tribulation Temptation and passive Purgation because that interiour Voice of God works innumerable and marvellous Effects in the Soul which gives place to it hearkens to it and relishes it 64. It is of so great Efficacy that it rejects worldly Honour Self-conceit spiritual Ambition the desire of Fame a wish to be Great a presumption of being the only Man and thinking that he knows all Thnigs it bids adieu to Friends Friendships Visits Letters of Complement Commerce of the Creatures Interest with spiritual Children Mastership and Business it turns away too much inclination to Confessorship the Affection that is disorder'd in the Government of Souls that makes a man think he is fitting for it it removes Self-love Authority Presumption treating of Profit making a shew of the Letters which a man writes shewing those written by his spiritual Children to make known what a great Workman he is it turns away the Envy of other Masters and Teachers and the procuring more Customers to his Chair of Confession 65. Lastly this interiour Voice of God in the Soul of the Director begets a mean Value and Solitariness and Silence and Forgetfulness
his Doctor 89. We are all sick of the Disease of self-love and our own judgment we are all full of our selves we are always desiring things hurtful to us and that which does us good is unpleasant and irksom to us 'T is necessary therefore for him that is Sick to use the means of Recovery which is not to believe our own judgments and distemper'd sentiments but the wise Judgment of the spiritual and skilful Physitian without reply or excuse despising the seeming reasons of self-love and so if we obey we shall certainly recover and this love of ours which is the Enemy of our ease and peace and perfection and the spirit will be overcome 90. How often will thine own judgment deceive thee and how much wilt thou change thy judgment with shame when thou hast trusted to thine own self If any man should deceive thee twice or thrice wouldst thou ever trust him more Why therefore dost thou repose confidence in thine own judgment which has so often cozen'd thee O blessed Soul believe it no more believe it not subject thy self with true submission and follow blindfold this Obedience 91. Thou wilt be much satisfied to have an experienced Guide and wilt esteem him a great Happiness but 't will little avail thee if thou valuest thine own judgment more than his Counsel and dost not submit to it in all truth and simplicity 92. Suppose a great man be sick of a dangerous Disease He has in his House a famous and skilful Physitian and he quickly knows the Disease the causes the conditions and the state of it and knowing for certain that that Distemper is to be treated with severe Cauteries he orders Lenitives for it Now is not this a great disorder If he is sure that Lenitives will do little good and that Cauterizing is the proper way why does he not apply it to him Because although the sick person would have his health yet the Physitian knows best and that he is not disposed to take those strong Medicines and therefore like a wise man orders him gentle Lenitives because though he may not presently get up again by 'em yet he keeps the Disease from being mortal 93. What matter is it if you have the best Director in the World if yet notwithstanding you want true submission although he be a man of skill and knows the grievance and the remedy he doth not apply the proper Physick which concerns you most to deny your Will because he knows your very Heart and Spirit that it is not disposed to let the infirmities of your own judgment be removed So you will never be cured and it will be a Miracle if he can keep you in Grace with so fierce an Enemy of your Soul about you 94. Thy Director will scorn all manner of Favours if he be a wise man as if thy Spirit may not be well grounded believe him obey him embrace his Counsel because with this contempt if the Spirit be feigned and of the Evil One the secret Pride formed by him that counterfeits these Spirits will soon be known but if the Spirit be real though thou find'st displeasure in this humiliation it will serve thee for an extraordinary good 95. If the Soul take delight in esteem and in having the favours which it receives from God made open and publick if it doth not obey and believes not its Director which thinks meanly of 'em 't is all a lye and cheat and the Devil is that Angel that transforms himself The Soul seeing that the skilful Director despises these cheats if the Spirit be evil withdraws the feigned affection which it shewed him and indeavours by little and little to get from him seeking some other that its cheats may take with for the proud can never keep company with those that humble 'em but on t'other side if the spirit be true and of God by these means the love and constancy increases by induring 'em desiring much more its own contempt from whence the soundness and sincerity of the Spirit becomes qualified without deceit CHAP. XIII Frequent Communion is an effectual means of getting all Vertues and in particular Internal Peace 96. THere are four things the most necessary to get Perfection and internal Peace The first is Prayer the second Obedience the third frequent Communion the fourth internal Mortification And now since we have treated of Prayer and Obedience it will be fitting to treat also of Communion 97. You ought to know that many Souls there are that deprive themselves of the infinite benefit of this precious Food by judging that they are not sufficiently prepared and that no less than an Angelical Purity is necessary for it If thou hast a pure end a true desire of doing the Will of God without looking at sensible Devotion or thine own Satisfaction come with confidence because thou art well disposed 98. On this Rock of Desiring to do the Divine Will all difficulties must be broken all scruples overcome all temptations doubts fears resistances and contradictions and although the best Preparation for the Soul be often Communicating because one Communion disposes it for another yet I will shew the two ways of Preparation The first for the exteriour Souls which have good Desire and Will and the second for the spiritual Ones which live Internally and have a greater Light and Knowledge of God of his Mysteries of his Operations and Sacraments 99. The Preparation for the exteriour Souls is to be Confessed and retire from the Creatures before the Communion to stand still and consider what is to be received and who it is that receives it and that he goes to do the greatest business in the World which is to receive the great God. What a singular favour is that Purity it self condescends to be received by Filth Majesty by Vileness the Creatour by the Creature 100. The second Preparation in order to the interiour and spiritual Souls must be to endeavour to live with greater Purity and Self-denial with an universal taking ones self off from the World with inward Mortification and continual Retirement and when they walk in this Way they have no need of any actual Preparation because their Life is a continual and perfect Preparation 101. If thou do'st not-know these Vertues in thy Soul for the same reason thou must often draw near to this soveraign Table to get ' em Never let it hinder thee to see thy self dry defective and cold because frequent Communion is the Physick that cures those Diseases and increases Vertue for the same reason that thou art Sick thou must go to the Physician and that thou art Cold to the Fire 102. If thou drawest near with humility with a desire of doing the Divine Will and with the leave of thy Confessor thou mayst receive it every day and every day thou wilt grow better and better Never be afraid for seeing thy self without that affectionate and sensible love which some men say is necessary because this sensible
is easie in the middle and becomes most sweet in the end 54. Thou wilt find thy self far from Perfection if thou dost not find God in every thing 55. Know that pure perfect and essential Love consists in the Cross in self-denial and resignation in perfect humility in poverty of spirit and in a mean opinion of thy self 56. In the time of strong temptation desertion and desolation 't is necessary for thee to get close into thy center that thou may'st only look at and contemplate God who keeps his throne and his abode in the bottom of thy Soul. 57. Thou wilt find impatience and bitterness of heart to grow from the depth of sensible empty and mortified love 58. True love is known with its effects when the Soul is profoundly humbled and desires to be truly mortified and despised 59. Many there be who however they have been dedicated to Prayer yet have no relish of God because in the end of their Prayers they are neither mortified nor attend upon God any longer for obtaining that peaceable and continual attending 't is necessary to get a great purity of mind and heart great peace of soul and an universal resignation 60. To the simple and the mortified the recreation of the senses is a sort of death they never go to it unless compelled by necessity and edification of their neighbours 61. The bottom of our soul you will know is the place of our happiness There the Lord shews us wonders there we ingulf and lose our selves in the immense ocean of his infinite goodness in which we keep fixt and unmoveable There there resides the incomparable fruition of our Soul and that eminent and sweet rest of it An humble and resign'd Soul which is come to this bottom seeks no more than meerly to please God and the holy and loving Spirit teaches it every thing with his sweet and enlivening unction 62. Amongst the Saints there are some gigantick ones who continually suffer with patience indispositions of body of which God takes great care But high and soveraign is their gift who by the strength of the Holy Ghost suffer both internal and external crosses with content and resignation This is that sort of holiness so much the more rare as it is more precious in the sight of God. The spiritual ones which walk this way are rare because there are few in the world who do totally deny themselves to follow Christ crucified with simpleness and bareness of spirit through the loansom and thorny ways of the Cross without making reflexions upon themselves 63. A Life of Self-denial is above all the Miracles of the Saints and it doth not know whether it be alive or dead lost or gained whether it agrees or resists this is the true resigned Life But although it should be a long time before thou comest to this state and thou should'st think not to have made one step towards it yet affright not thy self at this for God uses to bestow upon a Soul that Blessing in one moment which was denied it for many years before 64. He that desires to suffer blindfold without the comfort of God or the creatures is gotten too far onwards to be able to resist unjust accusations which his enemies make against him even in the most dreadful and interior desolation 65. The spiritual man that lives by God and in him is inwardly contented in the midst of his adversities because the Cross and Affliction are his Life and Delight 66. Tribulation is a great treasure wherewith God honours those that be his in this life therefore evil men are necessary for those that are good and so are the Devils themselves which by afflicting us do try to ruine us but instead of doing us harm they do us the greatest good imaginable 67. There must be tribulation to make a man's life acceptable to God without it 't is like the Body without the Soul the Soul without Grace the Earth without the Sun. 68. With the wind of tribulation God separates in the floor of the Soul the Chaff from the Corn. 69. When God crucifies in the inmost part of the Soul no creature is able to comfort it nay comforts are but grievous and bitter crosses to it And if it be well-instructed in the laws and discipline of the ways of pure love in the time of great desolation and inward troubles it ought not to seek abroad among the creatures for comfort nor lament it self with 'em nor will it be able to read Spiritual Books because this is a secret way of getting at a distance from suffering 70. Those Souls are to be pitied who cannot find in their hearts to believe that Tribulation and Suffering is their greatest Blessing They who are perfect ought always to be desirous of dying and suffering being always in a state of death and suffering vain is the man who doth not suffer because he is born to toyl and suffering but much more the Friends and Elect of God. 71. Undeceive thy self and believe that in order to thy Soul 's being totally transformed with God it is necessary for it to be lost and be denied in its life sense knowledge and power and to die living and not living dying and not dying suffering and not suffering resigning up and not resigning up it self without reflecting upon any thing 72. Perfection in its followers receives not its glories but by Fire and Martyrdom Griefs Torments Punishments and Contempt suffered and endured with gallantry and courage and he that would have some place to set his feet on and rest himself and does not go beyond the reason of reason and of sence will never get into the secret cabiner of knowledge though by reading he may chance to get a taste and relish the understanding of it CHAP. VIII Pursues the same Matter 73. YOU must know that the Lord will not manifest himself in thy Soul till it be denied in it self and dead in its senses and powers nor will it ever come to this state till being perfectly resigned it resolves to be with God all alone making an equal account of Gifts and Contempts Light and Darkness Peace and War. In summ that the Soul may arrive at perfect quietness and supreme internal peace it ought first to die in it self and live only in God and for him and the more dead it shall be in it self the more shall it know God but if it doth not mind this continual denying of it self and internal mortification it will never arrive at this state nor preserve God within it and then it will be continually subject to accidents and passions of the mind such as are judging murmuring resenting excusing defending to keep its honour and reputation which are enemies to Perfection Peace and the Spirit 74. Know that the diversity of states amongst those that be spiritual consists only in dying all alike but in the happy which die continually God hath his honour his blessings and delights here below 75. Great is the
him at least in a found intention Who therefore would be angry with a man of good intention 116. So much nay more doth false humility displease God as true pride does because that is hypocrisy besides 117. The truely humble man though every thing falls out contrary to him is neither disquieted nor afflicted at it because he is prepared and thinks he deserves no less he is not disquieted under troublesome thoughts wherewith the Devil seeks to torment him nor under temptations tribulations and desertions but rather acknowledges his unworthiness and is affected that the Lord chastises him by the Devil's means though he be a vile instrument all he suffers seems nothing to him and he never doth a thing that he thinks worth any great matter 118. He that is arrived at perfect and inward Humility although he be disturbed at nothing as one that abhors himself because he knows his imperfection in every thing his ingratitude and his misery yet he suffers a great cross in induring himself This is the sign to know true Humility of heart by But the happy Soul which is gotten to this holy hatred of it self lives overwhelmed drowned and swallowed up in the depth of its own Nothing out of which the Lord raises him by communicating Divine Wisdom to him and filling him with Light Peace Tranquility and Love. CHAP. XII Inward Solitude is that which chiefly brings a Man to the purchase of Internal Peace 119. KNow that although exteriour Solitude doth much assist for the obtaining internal Peace yet the Lord did not mean this when he spake by his Prophet Hos 2.14 I will bring her into solitude and speak privately to her But he meant the interiour Solitude which joyntly conduces to the obtaining the precious jewel of Peace Internal Internal Solitude consists in the forgeting all the Creatures in disengaging ones self from 'em in a perfect nakedness of all the affections desires thoughts and ones own will. This is the true Solitude where the Soul reposes with a sweet and inward serenity in the arms of its chiefest good 120. O what infinite room is there in a Soul that is arrived at this Divine Solitude O what inward what retired what secret what spacious what vast distances are there within a happy Soul that is once come to be truly solitary There the Lord converses and communicates himself inwardly with the Soul there he fills it with himself because it is empty cloaths it with light and with his love because it is naked lifts it up because 't is low and unites it with himself and transforms it because it is alone 121. O delightful Solitude and Cifer of eternal Blessings O Mirrour in which the eternal Father is always beheld There is great reason to call thee Solitude for thou art so much alone that there is scarce a Soul that looks after thee that loves and knows thee O Divine Lord how is it that Souls do not go from Earth to this Glory How come they to lose so great a good through the onely love and desire of created things Blessed Soul how happy wilt thou be if thou do'st but leave all for God! seek him onely breathe after none but him let him onely have thy sighs Desire nothing and then nothing can trouble thee and if thou do'st desire any good how spiritual soever it be let it be in such a manner that thou mayest not be disquieted if thou missest it 122. If with this liberty thou wilt give thy Soul to God taken off from the World free and alone thou wilt be the happiest creature upon Earth because the most High has his secret habitation in this holy Solitude in this Desart and Paradise is injoyed the conversation of God and it is onely in this internal Retirement that that marvellous powerful and divine Voice is heard 123. If thou would'st enter into this Heaven of Earth forget every care and every thought get out of thy self that the love of God may live in thy Soul. 124. Live as much as ever thou canst abstracted from the Creatures dedicate thy self wholly to thy Creatour and offer thy self in Sacrifice with peace and quietness of Spirit Know that the more the Soul disrobes it self the more way it makes into this interiour Solitude and becomes cloathed with God and the more lonesome and empty of it self the Soul gets to be the more the Divine Spirit fills it 125. There is not a more bessed life than a solitary one because in this happy life God gives himself all to the creature and the creature all to God by an intimate and sweet union of love O how few are there that come to relish this true Solitude 126. To make the Soul truely solitary it ought to forget all the creatures and even it self otherwise it will never be able to make any near approach to God. Many men leave and forsake all things but they do not leave their own liking their own will and themselves and therefore these truly solitary ones are so few wherefore if the Soul does not get off from its own appetite and desire from its own will from spiritual gifts and from repose even in the Spirit it self it never can arrive at this high felicity of internal Solitude 127. Go on blessed Soul go on without stop towards this blessedness of internal Solitude See how God calls thee to enter into thy inward center where he will renew thee change thee fill thee cloath thee and shew thee a new and heavenly Kingdom full of joy peace content and serenity CHAP. XIII In which is shewed what infused and passive Contemplation is and its wonderful Effects 128. YOu must know that when once the Soul is habituated to internal Recollection and acquired Contemplation that we have spoken of when once 't is mortified and desires wholly to be denied its appetites when once it efficaciously embraces internal and external Mortification and is willing to dye heartily to its passions and its own ways then God uses to take it alone by it self and raise it more than it knows to a compleate repose where he sweetly and inwardly infuses in it his light his love and his strength inkindling and inflaming it with a true disposition to all manner of Vertue 129. There the Divine Spouse suspending its powers puts it to sleep in a most sweet and pleasant rest There it sleeps and quietly receives and enjoys without knowing it what it injoys with a most lovely and charming calm There the Soul raised and lifted up to this passive State becomes united to its greatest Good without costing it any trouble or pains for this union There in that supream Region and sacred Temple of the Soul that greatest Good takes its complacency manifests it self and creates a relish from the creature in a way above sense and all humane understanding There also onely the pure Spirit who is God the purity of the Soul being uncapable of sensible things rules it and gets the mastership
what it doth know although it understands it all In a word the men who are scientifical entertain themselves in the knowledge of the things of the world and the wise live swallowed up in God himself 161. Reason enlightened in the Wise is a high and simple elevation of spirit whereby he sees with a clear and sharp sight all that is inferiour to him and what concerns his Life and Estate This is that which renders the soul simple illustrated uniform spiritual and altother introverted and abstracted from every created thing This moves and draws away with a sweet violence the hearts of the humble and teachable filling them with abundance of sweetness peace and pleasantness Finally the wise man says of it that it brought him all good things at once Venerunt mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa Wisd 7.11 162. You must know that the greatest part of men lives by opinion and judges according to the deceivableness of imagination and sence but the man that 's wise judges of every thing according to the real verity which is in it whose business is to understand conceive penetrate into and transcend every created being even to himself 163. 'T is a great property of a wise man to do much and say little 164. Wisdom is discovered in the works and words of the wise because he being absolute master of all his passions motions and affections is known in all his doings like a quiet and still water in which wisdom shines with clearness 165. The understanding of mystical truths is secret and shut up from men who are purely scholastical unless they be humble because it is the science of Saints and none know it but those which heartily love and seek their own contempt Therefore the Souls who by imbracing this means get to be purely mystical and truly humble dive even to the profoundest apprehensions of the Divinity And the more sensually men do live according to flesh and bloud the greater distance are they at from this mystical Science 166. Ordinarily it is seen that in the man which hath much scholastical and speculative Knowledge Divine Wisdom doth not predominate yet they make an admirable composition when they both meet together The men of Learning who by God's mercy have attained to this mystick Science are worthy of Veneration and Praise in Religion 167. The external actions of the mystical and wise which they do rather passively than actively though they are a great torment to 'em yet are ordered prudently by 'em by number weight and measure 168. The Sermons of men of Learning who want the Spirit though they are made up of divers stories elegant descriptions acute discourses and exquisite proofs yet are by no means the word of God but the word of men plated over with false Gold These Preachers spoil Christians feeding 'em with wind and vanity and so they are both of 'em void of God. 169. These Teachers feed their Hearers with the wind of hurtful subtilties giving 'em stones instead of bread leaves instead of fruit and unsavory earth mixt with poisoned honey instead of true food These are they that hunt after honour raising up an idol of reputation and applause instead of seeking God's glory and the spiritual edification of men 170. Those that preach with zeal and sincerity preach for God. Those that preach without 'em preach for themselves Those that preach the word of God with Spirit make it take impression in the heart but those that preach it without Spirit carry it no farther than to the ear 171. Perfection doth not consist in teaching it but in doing it because he is neither the greatest Saint nor the wisest Man that knows the truth most but he that practices it 172. 'T is a constant Maxim That Divine Wisdom begets Humility and that which is acquired by the Learned begets Pride 173. Holiness does not consist in forming deep and subtle conceits of the knowledge and attributes of God but in the love of God and in self-denial Therefore 't is frequentlier observed that Holiness is more amongst the simple and humble than among the learned How many poor old women are there in the World which have little or nothing of humane Science but are rich in the love of God! How many Divines do we see that are over head and ears in their vain wisdom and yet very bare in things of true light and charity 174. Remember that 't is always good to speak like one that learns and not like one that knows Count it a greater honour to be reputed a meer Ignoramus than a man of Wisdom and Prudence 175. However the Learned who are purely speculative have some little sparks of Spirit yet these do not fly out from the simple bottom of eminent and divine Wisdom which hath a mortal hatred to forms and species's the mixing of a little Science is always a hindrance to the eternal profound pure simple and true Wisdom CHAP. XVIII Treating of the same 176. THere are two ways which lead to the knowledge of God. The one remote the other near The first is called Speculation the second Contemplation The Learned who follow Scientifical Speculation by the sweetness of sensible Discourses get up to God by this means as well as they can that by this help they may be able to love him But none of those who follow that way which they call scolastical ever arrives by that onely to the mystical Way or to the excellence of Union Transformation Simplicity Light Peace Tranquillity and Love as he doth who is brought by the Divine Grace by the mystical Way of Contemplation 177. These men of Learning who are meerly scolastical don't know what the Spirit is nor what it is to be lost in God nor are they come yet to the taste of the sweet Ambrosia which is in the in-most depth and bottom of the Soul where it keeps its Throne and communicates it self with incredible intimate and delitious affluence Nay some there are which do e'en condemn this mystical Science because they neither do understand nor relish it 178. The Divine who doth not taste the sweetness of Contemplation has no other reason to be given for it but because he enters not by the Gate which St Paul points to when he says Siquis inter ves videtur sapiens esse stultus fiat ut sit sapiens 1 Cor. 3.18 If any one among ye seem to himself to be wise let him become a fool that he may be wise let him shew his humility by reputing himself ignorant 179. 'T is a general Rule and also a Maxim in Mystick Theology That the Practice ought to be gotten before the Theory That there ought to be some experimental Exercise of supernatural Contemplation before the search of the knowledge and an inquiry after the full apprehension of it 180. Although the mystical Science does commonly belong to the humble and simple yet notwithstanding that men of Learning are not uncapable of it if they
nakedness finds in its superiour part a profound peace and a sweet rest which brings it to such a perfect union of love that 't is joyful all over And such a Soul as this is already arrived to such a happiness that it neither wills nor desires any thing but what its Beloved wills it conforms it self to this Will in all emergencies as well of comfort as anguish and rejoyces also in every thing to do the Divine Good pleasure 207. There is nothing but what comforts it nor doth it want any thing but what it can well want To dye is enjoyment to it and to live is its joy It is as contented here upon Earth as it can be in Paradise it is as glad under privation as it can be in possession in sickness as it can be in health because it knows that this is the will of its Lord. This is its life this its glory its paradise its peace its repose its rest its consolation and highest happiness 208. If it were necessary to such a Soul as this which is gotten up by the steps of annihilation to the region of peace to make its choice it would chuse desolation before comfort contempt before honour because the loving Jesus made great esteem of reproach and pain if it first endured the hunger of the blessings of Heaven if it thirsted for God if it had the fear of losing him the lamentation of heart and the fighting of the devil now things are altered and hunger is turned into satisfying the thirst into satiety the fear into assurance the sadness into joy the weeping into merriment and the fierce fighting into the greatest peace O happy Soul that enjoys here on earth so great a felicity Thou must know that these kind of Souls though few they are be the strong Pillars which support the Church and such as abate the divine indignation 209. And now this Soul that is entered into the heaven of peace acknowledges it self full of God and his supernatural gifts because it lives grounded in a pure love receiving equal pleasure in light and darkness in night and day in affliction and consolation Through this holy and heavenly indifference it never loses its peace in adversity nor its tranquility in tribulations but sees it self full of unspeakable enjoyments 210. And although the Prince of Darkness makes all the assaults of Hell against it with horrible temptations yet it makes head against 'em and stands like a strong Pillar no more happening to it by 'em than happens to a high mountain and a deep valley in the time of storm and tempest 211. The valley is darkned with thick clouds fierce tempests of hail thunder lightning and hail-stones which looks like the picture of Hell at the same time the lofty mountain glitters by the bright beams of the sun in quietness and serenity continuing clear like heaven immovable and full of light 212. The same happens to this blessed soul the valley of the part below is suffering tribulations combats darkness desolations torments martyrdoms and suggestions and at the same time on the lofty mountain of the higher part of the soul the true sun casts its beams it enflames and enlightens it and so it becomes clear peaceable resplendent quiet serene being a meer ocean of joy 213. So great therefore is the quiet of this pure foul which is gotten up the mountain of tranquility so great is the peace of its spirit so great the serenity and chearfulness that is within that a remnant and glimmering of God do redound even to the outside of it 214. Because in the throne of quiet are manifest the perfections of spiritual beauty here the true light of the secret and divine mysteries of our holy faith here perfect humility even to the annihilation of it self the amplest resignation chastity poverty of spirit the sincerity and innocence of the Dove external modesty silence and internal solitude liberty and purity of heart here the forgetfulness of every created thing even of it self joyful simplicity heavenly indifference continual Prayer a total nakedness perfect disinterestedness a most wise contemplation a conversation of heaven and lastly the most perfect and serene peace within of which this happy soul may say what the wise man said of wisdom that all other graces came along in company with her Venerunt mihi omnia bona paritur cum illa Wisd 7.11 215. This is the rich and hidden treasure this the lost groat of the Gospel this is the blessed life the happy life the true life and the blessedness here below O thou lovely greatness that passest the knowledge of the sons of men O excellent supernatural life how admirable and unspeakable art thou for thou art the very draught of blessedness O how much dost thou raise a soul from earth which loses in its view all things of the vileness of earth thou art poor to look upon but inwardly thou art full of wealth thou seemest low but art exceeding high in a word thou art that which makest men live a life divine here below Give me O Lord thou greatest goodness give me a good portion of this heavenly happiness and true peace that the World sensual as it is is neither capable of understanding nor receiving Quem mundus non potest accipere CHAP. XXII A mournful Exclamation and lamentable Moan to God for the small Company of Souls that arrive at Perfection the Loving Union and the Divine Transformation 216. O Divine Majesty in whose presence the Pillars of Heaven do quake and tremble O thou Goodness more than infinite in whose love the Seraphins burn give me leave O Lord to lament our blindness and ingratitude We all live in mistakes seeking the foolish world and forsaking thee who art our God. We all forsake thee the Fountain of Living Waters for the stinking dirt of the world 217. O we children of men how long shall we follow after lying and vanity Who is it that hath thus deceived us that we should forsake God our greatest good Who is it that speaks the most truth to us Who is it that loves us most Who defends us most Who is it that doth more to shew himself a Friend who more tender to shew himself a Spouse and more good to be a Father that our blindness should be so great that we should all forsake this greatest and infinite goodness 218. O Divine Lord what a few Souls are there in the world which do serve thee with perfection how small is the number of those who are willing to suffer that they may follow Christ crucified that they may embrace the Cross that they may deny and contemn themselves O what a scarcity of Souls is there which are disinterested and totally naked how few are those Souls which are dead to themselves and alive to God which are totally resigned to his divine good pleasure how few those who are adorn'd with simple obedience profound knowledge of themselves and true humility How few those