to the bottom the sense of his words that very great were the Vertues and highly rais'd the perfection of this excellent servant of God and by so much the more ought they to judge so as they may assure themselves that he hath not a jot exceeded in the report of the things which concern him but rather that he hath diminished them being by grace and indeed by nature also extreamly reserved and most considerare in whatsoever he said and especially in speaking of himself SECT 2. The Source from whence these Vertues flowed IF now we will examine the Principal of those Vertues and Perfections and the Well-spring whence they issued we shall finde that it was from the intimate Union which he had with the Lord Jesus Christ whereunto he alwaies above all things gave up himself His sage and illuminated Director the Reverend Father de Condrien knowing that the Union with Jesus Christ is the foundation of our Predestination Justification and Sanctification of all the grace and glory which we can ever have that Jesus Christ being the way whatsoever is out of this way can be nothing else but wandring that he being the Truth whatsoever is nor conformable thereto is nothing but lying that he being the Life whatsoever lives not by this life nor is quickned by the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not alive but of necessitie dead he did therefore that which ought alwaies to be done with great care by all Directors of souls which was to make him to know the importance and the necessity of this Unon to fix him stronglie and constanâ—lie to Jesus Christ for the Government of his Interior and Exterior to put him this Way to binde him to this Truth and to Unite him to this Life Monsieur de Renty followed exactly this conduct and therein made a great progress which he went on in perfecting to his death with marvellous improvements so that as the last touches which the Painter gives to his Picture are far different from those of the first rude draughts or as the Sun hath more of heat and light as he advanceth higher in his carreer and approacheth to Mid-day than when he but newlie riseth In like manner the applications the ties and the unions which this excellent man in his latter years had with Jesus Christ and the actions which he either did for him or received of him were quite other from those at his beginning for he was then wholie consummate in Jesus Christ he had as it were passed into him and he carried him as it were in a livelie manner in his soul in his thoughts in his affections in his desires in his words and in his works Hence it was that he had no other object before his eies but Jesus Christ that he thought not but of him that he loved nothing but him that he spake not but of him that he wrought not but for him and alwaies after his sampler that he read not but the New Testament which he carried alwaies with him and endeavoured by all means possible to engrave the knowledge and love of it in all hearts Wriâ—ing to his Director the year 1646. concerning his dispositions he sent him these words among other To speak to you of my Interior I feel my self not to will but God and in union with our Lord Jesus Christ to yield him all my homages This is the fulness of my heart and I feel this well when I sound it He said this to him in another Letter I am in great necessity of Jesus Christ but I ought to tell you by an acknowledgement of the Mercy of God by a certitude of this truth that I feel that he is more ruling in me than my self I know for all that that of my self I am but sin but withal I experiment my Lord in me who is my streâ—gth my life my peace and my All I beseech him to become our plenitude Moreover in another thus I finde my self said he much troubled what to send you because all things become raz'd out of my minde as soon as passed and I cannot retain within me anything but God and this in a kinde of a hoodowink'd blinded manner with a naked faith which faith making me know the evil bottom which is in my self gives me notwithstanding great force and confidence by way of abandoning and Self-Rejection upon our Lord Jesus Christ in God I haue found this morning a possage in S. Paul which I believe our Lord hath put into my hand to express my self by seeing it is the very â—ruth of what I experiment Fiduciam â—urem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est This boasting we have by Christ to God-wards not as if we were sufficient to think any thing of our selves as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God It is about a fortnight since these words were put upon my spirit without any contribution on my part or of any thing that might renew the Idea's of them quaere venam aquarum viventium seck the vein of living water and just as they were exprest to me my spirit like as when one comes up a River to its Spring-head was to seek Jesus Christ from the beginning of his Pilgrimage to the point of his Glory when set down in his Throne at the right hand of his Father whence he sends his spirit to animate his Church and enliven those that are his I saw that there indeed was the Source whence the springs of living waters do flow to us and that thither we were to make our addresses I could report here more such touches with which his letters to his Director were besprinkled but I believe I have given enough for the present to evidence his disposition towards our Lord and his union with him When he wrote to other persons he always insened something of our Lord to excite them to binde themselves to him and to propose him to themselves in all things as a model of their actions One while he writes thus Let us forget all to think of this faith which makes alliance between God and us through Jesus Christ who is come to publish this truth which he hath sealed with his blood and which he will consummate in his glory at that time when we shall appear to have been faithful in following his Spirit Let us go after and with Jesus Christ to God for he is our way Another while thus 'T is a thing admirable that it hath pleased God to seud us his Son to the end that we may not look on him any more as our Creator onely but also through the alliance that we have with him we may call him Father He is therefore our Father from this time forward and it is certain that he considers us as his children in the person of his Son Incarnate But the thing of importance is a firm
is the principal and true one of which alone our Lord gave himself a samplar and of which the two other are but the effects if they be true or otherwise they are but onely shadows and phantasmes of Humility therefore we begin with that of the heart And this we say consists in the humility of the understanding and of the thoughts of the will and of the affections to be well acquainted and know truly what a man is of himself and that he is meer Nothingness and sin and in consequence of this knowledge to take up most mean and low opinions of himself to judge himself unworthy of all esteem and praise to abase himself and love his own abasement A thing most excellently performed by this perfect follower of Jesus Christ He had so low an opinion of himself that it would be a difficult thing to unfold it and although he had most rare qualities natural and supernatural yet he saw nothing in himself but as we have said the Nothingness and the sin And out of a true and sincere perswasion he thought himself the most unworthy of all men assuming that title in some of his Letters but the name which usually he gave himself was Sinner and A great Sinner which he repeated very often and with a spirit truly humbled That which I have noted in him for the space of six years wherein I have had the honour of his acquaintance said a person worthy of belief was a most profound humility which kept him in a perpetual self-abnegation before God and the creatures but after such a manner as I have never seen in any man whatsoever although I have been acquainted with most holy souls The greatness of God humbled him even to an abyss or immeasurable depth And is there said he one day to me any thing great in the presence of that Greatness I see my self there so little so little and nothing And afterwards being elevated to God in this Sentiment of littleness he said A mote in the Sun is very little but yet I am far less in the presence of God for I am not any thing Afterwards humbling himself in another sense he said Alass I am too much I am a sinner and Infidel an Anathema through my crimes And besides he wrote to the same person thus Methinks I break my self in pieces before God as when I stamp an egg in pieces with my foot upon the ground and I be spoken of that I have so much as a name is a strange thing This so exceeding base opinion which he had of himself made him say oftner than once and ready to weep that he was much astonished at the goodness of men in suffering of him and that he could not enough wonder why every where they threw not dirt at him and that all the creatures did not bandy against him This same opinion had perswaded him that it was much boldness in him to speak and that men shewed great mercy toward him in enduring his conversation which he believed was very burthensome I have seen him very often saith a person of piety that well knew him humble himself even to the centre of the earth while he spake to me of God saying it was not for a man of his condition to speak of him but that he ought rather to contain himself in silence And so he spake not of God without some particular inducement that our Lord gave him either for the necessity of his neighbour or for some other good which God would draw thence for his glory keeping a distance from this discourse out of humility as if he had not known how to speak two words of him In a Letter to another he said Let us live as we are in truth what place can we hold before God and his Saints but that of Nothing with amazement that we are endured being a Nothing of all good and a compound of all evil This humility of heart was general in him because he practised it in each thing there being not the least thing that serv'd him not for an abasement He abased himself much in the consideration of the feebleness of our nature whereof he wrote to me one day this sentiment It concerns me to tell you one thing before I end which keeps me in a marvellous disesteem of my self and makes me resent how little confidence there is to be had in man it is this that when S. Peter and the Apostles make the greatest profession of their fidelity to our Lord our Lord then mindes them of the infidelity they would commit saying to S. Peter that he could not follow him whether he went S. Peter answers him Why cannot I follow you now I am ready to give my life for you Thou give thy life for me replies our Lord I tell you in truth the Cock shall not crow but thou shalt deny me thrice S. Peter not understanding these words continues in the protesting of his fidelity and upon occasion of the apprehending of our Lord draws his sword and sheaths it not again till our Lord commands him He follows him and forsakes him not thus apprehended but yet afterward he denies him upon the bare word of a maid servant The apprehensions of these weaknesses which come to me not by search or study but by Divine enlightning and by the impression which they make in me keep me wholly in annihilation without any affiance in my self which I place altogether in God and his Son our Lord This condition would keep me in a marvellous littleness if I were faithful therein I have some instances when methinks my whole body is crush'd bruised annthilated and my interior much more To another person he wrote Pitty it is to see man and his infirmity it is sometime important that he have experience of what he is that he may neither forget himself nor the place which he ought to hold ut non glorietur omnis caro in conspectu ejus That no flesh might glory in his sight that being abased nullified and rendred as a thing that is not at all Jesus Christ may be in him the life of grace and holiness waiting for the time of our redemption that is to say the entry into his glory and as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And to another thus The state of our poverty and the sight of our miseries makes us know the need we have of grace and settles the soul upon the Nothingness of her self and the perswasion of her inability to all good and in this truth that she never hath been nor can be but retardment and diminution to the operations of God in her The knowledge of his faults and sins humbling him strangely as indeed they are the most just and greatest causes a man can have of humiliation made him write one day to me thus I assure you I lack for no matter to make me humble and to labour in good earnest to correct my self although
For these three moneths I have not it may be spent three or four hours at my prayers upon my knees together out of the Church and should I perform them at all no otherwise than on this fashion I should but very ill discharge my â—uâ—y It is certain that I have discharged it ill enough yet I understand that God is pleased in the midst of these imployments to which he hath appointed me to make me sensible of his presence and power in uniting my soul to himself by certain intimate ways and that the outward work may be performed by the hand whilst the soul solaceth herself in that real alliance of Sons with their Father by the Spirit of the Son who admitteth us into his communion together with that of the blessed Virgin the Angels and Saints yea and of the whole Heaven if you will Such a wonderful expansion of soul can our Lord give when and how he pleaseth I enjoyed at the same time such a sensible impression of God yet excelling all sense as being acted in the more noble part of the Soul viz. the Spirit that if I had been thrown like a boul I could never have lost the sight of my God All things are here transitory for our Lord turns this boul in a strange manner when it pleaseth him And these dâ—verse turnings are done for the souls advantage whereby she is fashioned for every occasion that she may do nothing for or by herself but all for God and according to him Moreover I evidently see that a person whom God employeth in these low affairs if he follow them with the same fidelity as if they were greater keeping his station by obedâ—ence and self-denial is as acceptable to him as he that is occupied in the noblest functions The work it self making not the difference but the faithful execution of it by submitting to his good pleasure Will nothing please you but to convert a thousand worlds and bring all souls to God you shall be content to carry stones and sometime to sit still and do nothing The Sâ—crifice of Patience is both well pleasing to God and comfortable to our selves And I believe it is without comparison more rare to finde a soul faithful in patience and content to do no more than God would have him than faithful in actions which appear abroad I know well that God doth all in all but this Sacrifice of Patience and of Câ—ssation is more commendable in a heart who hath the love and zeal of his honour and in pursuit hereof is hurried on to action and hath need of greater force to withhold it from doing than to incite it This kinde of Cessation seems to be nothing at all available for the nourishment of such zeal and this hunger and thirst after righteousness which would devour the four quarters of the world is reverberated like the fire pent in which circles and works about until it finde a vent by this consideration that God is all-sufficient in himself and hath no need of us for advancing of his glory that we receive more honour from our imployments than he service being so impure that we blemish every thing we meddle with and rob it of some lustre and prove often not onely unprofitable but endamaging servants I have one word more to tell you that you may direct me in it which is that I am really ashamed and confounded in my self that I do no more for God considering his dignity hâ—s love his gifts and communications by the alliance of Jesus Christ and his Spirit Which indeed together with the sense of my great imbecility for any thing that is good of my sins and miseries would work my extream torment did I not bethink my self of his all-sufficiency in himself and that he doth with us as he pleaseth in keeping us in obedience and profound annihilation Thus far his Letter wherein are many good things to be learnt CHAP. 4. The excellent use he made of all things and his application to the Infancy of our Lord for that purpose IT must needs be that Monsieur Renty made excellen use of all accidents that occurr'd to him and generally of all creatures to attain to such a height of perfection whereof this usage of them as muâ—h as is in man is undonbredly the prinâ—ipal means to which all others are subordinate otherwise and without it unpâ—ofitable and meer hinderâ—nâ—es True it is that God hath placed in the bosom of each thing as in riches poverty honours disgrace health sickness good and evil a secret vertue and moral capâ—city to advantage us in our salvation and to be instruments of perfection even as so many cords to draw and unite us to himself but all this according to our usâ—ge of them For bâ—ing well used they produce good effects but contrarily abused instead of uniting us to God they estrange us further from him rendring us more imperfect and vicious and instead of advantages prove the instruments of our ruine Wherefore he being well instructed in this grand secret of Spiritual life imployed all his care to practise it perfectly Which that we may better understand it will not be amiss to follow it to the Spring-head The holy man had continually in his heart making it the principal conduct of his devotions as we have mentioned and may be easily deduced from the series of this History to unite himself to our Lord Jesus Christ and that upon good grounds Since out of him as saith S. Peter there is no salvation God having chosen him the sole Mediator of Redemption and the repairer of our miseties loving no creature in the world but him with a love of perfect amity Whereupon by S. Paul he is stiled the Son of his love and good pleasure and we alone are accepted in and thâ—ough him who are found beautiful and shining with glory when we are united to him and out of him we appear deformed hideous and most abominable being indeed without him filled with sin and his enemies Wherefore every man is so far dear and amiable to him as he stands united to his Son which is manifested in the Blessed Viâ—gin and his Apostles all our actions pleasing him so far as they are united to him even as each member of our body participates of life according as it is animated by our soul Having therefore perfectly learn'd this fundamental truth of Christianity his study was to unite himself to our Lord Jesus Christ and to copy him forth as his Rule and Law for the regulating of his Exterior and Interior adoring him daily under this notion applying himself with great reslection to his words actions designs and the several mysteries receiving from each of them great enlightnings Thus he writ to me one day upon the mysterie of his Incarnation I have had the grace divers times very intimately to understand that ineffable mysterie hidden with God from all ages and manifested now to the Saints according to S. Paul which is the
of a Christian life and the fulfilling of Gods will was to him after the example of our Lord as most exquisite and delitious meat and viands and when any gave him opportunity or left him to his liberty to practise this Mortification it pleased him exceedingly Often at Paris when some deed of charity had drawn him far from home that he could not return to dinner he would step in all alone or unknown to a small Victualling-house or some Bakers shop and make his dinner with a piece of bread and a draught of water and so very gay and chearfull go on with his business And what he pracrised for the mortifying of his gust was in like manner done for his other senses the sight the hearing the smell and the touch Being come to Pontois on a very cold day in winter and lodging at the Carmelite Nuns he desired earnestly the Nun that was the Door-keeper to have no fire made nor bed prepared for him and after he had discoursed with some of them he old the last that he must go make some little visits and that was to visit the Prisoners the poor that were ashamed to beg and to employ himself in some other deeds of charity which he never forgot at any time how little soever was his leisure He returned about nine a clock at night when the Nuns went to say Matins and without taking any thing to eat went into the Church to his prayers which he continued till eleven a clock and then retired into his chamber not suffering a fire to be made for him although by his own confession the cold did incommode him very much He constantly kept a vigilant eye over himself in every time place occasion and even in the meanest things for the mortifying of his body daily putting it to some hardship or at least hindring it from sense of pleasure And to that end had found out some very notable and ingenious inventions so bearing continually about him the mortification of the Lord Jesus in his body that the life of Jesus might live and shine forth in it well knowing as the same Apostle elsewhere saith That those that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust thereof And to say the truth the more a man is full of one thing the less room there is for its contrary the more one sinks into darkness the further off from light and as we said above there is nothing more opposite to the Spirit than the flesh so must we of necessity conclude the more a man pampers his flesh the more doth he indispose and estrange himself from the life of the Spirit Thus this illuminated person dealt with his body as with his enemy out of the design he had to lead a life truly spiritual Whatsoever might content and flatter his senses was insupportable to him whence it happened that one day there slipt from him this word to a confident that God had given him a great hatred of himself and this was advanc'd so far by his fervent and unsatiable desire of mortifying himself that beside the moderation that his Director was obliged to lay upon him a famous person of our days the Carmelite Nun of the Covent of Beaulne Sister Margaret of the Holy Sacrament who lived and dyed in a fragrant odour of Sanctity with whom he was most intimate in the bonds of grace did out of divine light she had in that matter much reprehend him for it and gave him her advice in the business whereunto for the confidence he had in her and that not without good cause being willing to yield he remitted something of his rigour although not without complaint which he testified to a person thus in writing I know not said he why one stould strive to keep in so lazy a beast that stands more in need of the spur than bridle For all he was thus held in he left not off the war which he made with his body in each thing he could but without transgressing the Orders he had received till he thereby came to such a point of perfect Mortification that his body became as it were dead and insenâ—ble in all things which now in a manner made no impression upon his senses eating without gust himself saying that all meats were to him alike seeing as it were without sight so that after he had been along time in some Churches most richly adorned with stately ornaments and those before his eyes when one asked if they were not very fine he answered plainly that he had seen nothing By reason of his Mortification he had no pain nor trouble at all from those things which make other men so fret and take on who are alive to themselves and enslav'd to their bodies neither was he onely without pain but which as Arâ—stotle saith is the highest perfection of a vertue he took great pleasure therein which came not to him so much from abundance of sensible consolations which may sweeten Austerities to an unmortified man but from the ground and bottom of vertue intirely acquir'd and possessed CHAP. 2. Of his Poverty SECT 1. Of his Poverty of spirit ONe of the most great and admirable Vertues that shone in Monsieur de Renty was this that in the possession of riches he was utterly disingaged from the love of them and possessed in a most high degree as we shall now declare the first of the Beatitudes which pronounceth Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven of grace in this world and of glory in the other A truth which served him for a powerful attractive to endeavour the gaining of this rich treasure Whereof writing to a person of Pietie he thus said I was the other day touch'd in reading the eight Beatudes and upon this word Beatitude I took notice that in effect there were no other Beatitudes but these for if there had our Lord would have taught them and therefore those ought to be our whole study But what shall I say we ground not our selves upon them nor desire the grace to do it but run after the Beatitudes of the world and our own Concupiscience quitting that which is clear and given us by our head Christ Jesus to be in a state of hurley-burley and confusion and consequently of trouble danger and unhappiness It was not to these kinde of Beatitudes that he ran but to those of the Gospel and in particular to the first concerning which le ts hear what one saith of him a person very credible and of his intimate acquaintance I never sew mâ—n said he in so perfect a poverty of spirit nor in so ardent a desire to feel the effects of it as was he And in the fervour of his desire he said to me Procure by your prayers that we may change this form of life when will you labour with God that this may be this habit and this wealth is to me most painful I have talked since his death
world that you may have no part therein And above all my children that you may live in the fear and love of God and yield due obedience to your Mother On Saturday which was the day of his death about half an hour past ten in the forenoon being newly recovered out of a violent fit of a Convulsion which had like to have carried him away looking attentively on those that were present he made signs with his hands head and eyes with a pleasant countenance for a person of quality and his intimate friend to come neer him Which being done he spake thus to him Sir I have one word to say to you before I dye then pausing a little to recover his strength he testified his affection to him but in words that could not distinctly be understood at length raising his voyce and speaking more articulately and plainly he proceeded The perfection of Christian life is to be united unto God in the faith of the Church We ought not to entangle our selves in novelties let us adore his conduct over 〈◊〉 and continue faithful to him unto the end let us adhere to that one God crucified for our salvation let us unite all our actions and all that is in us to his merits hoping that if we continue faithful to him by his grace we shall be partakers of the glory of his Father I hope we shall there see one another one day which shall never have end The party ready to reply and give him thanks Monsieur Renty stopped his mouth saying Adieu this is all I have to say to you Pray for me Some time after this and a little before his death fixing his eyes stedfastly upon heaven as if he had discovered something extraordinary he said The Holy Infant Jesus where is he Thereupon they brought him his Picture which he kissed devoutly and asking for his Crucifix took it in his hands and kissed it most affectionately Then turning himself towards death presently entred into his last agony which held not above a quarter of an hour of which he spent the most part in pronouncing the Holy name of Jesus making as well as he could acts of Resignation and commending his spirit to God after which he expired sweetly and his holy soul as we have good cause to believe departed to its place of rest Thus lived and dyed Monsieur de Renty one of the most glorious lights that God hath bestowed upon his Church in this age and one of the greatest ornaments of true devotion that hath appeared this long time He died at Paris the 27 year of his age the 24 of April 1649. about noon neer the time of our Saviours elevation on the Cross of which a certain person having a particular knowledge in his prayers applied the merits of this passion to him at the instant of his death in such sort that this application together with his own acts of resignation and annihilation which he had made and with which he both honoured and embraced the Cross are piously believed to have perfectly purged his soul and put it into a condition of entring into its beatitude and enjoyment of God at the instant of its dissolution There are reports of several Revelations and Visions concerning his state of glory and how at the instant of his death a Globe of light was seen ascending from earth to heaven Certain miraâ—ulous cure are also related to be done by his intercessions and spiritual relief supernaturally afforded to several devout persons by his admonitions which things will not seem incredible when we consider his holy life and heroick vertues rendring him one of the miracles of our age Yet since I have not the like assurance of these as of what I have already written and that true Sanctity and Châ—istian perfection consists not in suâ—h things which are not at all imitable I shall not insist upon them I onely adde by way of conclusion that we have great reason to admire the secret counsels of God in taking out of the world a man so useful who being in his full strength and flower of his age and in such an eminent degree of credit reputation and capacity might wonderfully have advanced the honour of God and good of his neighbour But when I say it was the hand of God all things are therein concluded And hereby he is pleased to let us know that he hath no need of us for the advancing of his glory the execution of his designs which he can bring about without us and when he is pleased to make use of us his instruments therein we are to behave our selves with great humility in his presence He hath translated him to another place where he glorifies his Majestie with greater perfection to a place and state that truly deserves the name of glory and that not onely in consideration of what the Saints receive but of what they render to the King of glory Moreover we may affirm that these holy men great pillars of the Church and comforts of the faiâ—hful are frequently taken away before their time as a just punishment upon us for the little use and benefit we make of their conversation and example And truly when first I heard the news of his sickness and the danger that he was in I could not but make this reflection that considering so solid and compleat a vertue notwithstanding that great need the world had of him and the exceeding great good he might still have done in it it was very likely he might dye as being a fruit ripe for heaven even as fruit in its maturity is ready to be gathered and takes hurt by being plucked too soon or too late Thus did God gather this good man in the maturity of his graces and perfection of his vertues as a man perfect and compleated to place him in heaven there to receive his just reward where he waits for us to adore and glorifie and love together with him in all perfection God the Father the Son and H. Ghost to whom be Honour Praise Benediction and all sorts of Adoration and Service now and for ever Amen THE CONCLUTION OF THE WORK How we ought to read the Lives of Saints TO conclude this work and render it more useful to the Reader I think it will not be amiss to afford him some instructions how to read the Lives of Saints and Histories of persons eminent in vertue to the end that that fruit may be reaped by them for which they were compiled These eminent souls then are to be considered two several ways 1. As they have relation to God 2. As to our selves For the first as they relate to God it is certain that these Saints and Persons famous for Piety are the greatest Master-pieces the richest Ornaments the most precious Jewels the choicest Works and the greatest Instruments of Gods Glory that are upon earth For if the meanest righteous man is incomparably more noble and honourable than all sinners put together since
these are the very slaves of the Devil and enemies of God even the greatest Kings and Monarchs of the Universe according to the estimate that truth it self makes of them ignoble and infamous whereas the other is a servant friend and child of God whose service is perfect freedom how much more honourable and glorious are the Saints and the Persons of such heroick Vertue because they possess such justice and vertue in a more high degree have a greater abundance of gifts and graces partake more fully the perfections of God are more lively images of him and enjoy a neerer alliance and resemblance with our Saviour Jesus Christ and are his richest conquests and his choicest workmanship Tertullian considering Job in the thickest of his bad news posting from all quarters in the height of his afflictions and most sensible pains free from all impatience and murmuring not opposing the least word or repining thought against Gods sacred counsels but continually blessing God for all and looking upon him fallen from the height of happiness upon his dunghill where he lay stripped of all but sores and scabs spread from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot enduring all this extremity with invincible patience he breaks forth into this expression Quale in illo viro feretrum Deus de Diabolo extruxit quale vexillum de in mico gloriae suae extulit cum ille homo ad omnem acerbum nuncium nihil ex ore promeret nisi Deo gratias What a Trophie hath God erected to his own honour in the person of Job by his patience able to encounter the Devil what a Banner hath he set up what a Victory hath he obtained by him over that enemy of his glory These words and considerations are applicable to all his Saints of whom we may say that they are the great procurers of his honour and by their Faith Hope Charity Patience Fortitude Humility Obedience Chastity and other Vertues like so many high-sounding Trumpets do make the earth echo with his praises We ought therefore to have a high esteem of all the Saints and persons of signal Vertue we are obliged to a particular veneration of them praising and loving and honouring them and our Saviour Christ in them and for them for undoubtedly Mirabilis in Sanctis Deus as David saith God is most admirable and to be praised loved and feared in his Saints We ought to admire his power in their miracles the might of his grace in their heroick actions we ought to hope in his mercy on the consideration of those happy changes he wrought in them and to fear his justice when we consider those severe chastisements which he inflicted upon their smallest faults and love his bounty and goodness in those demonstrations of his mercy and benignity which he hath shewed to them Where it is to be observed that as we are not to credit lightly all that is said or written of their Visions Revelations and extraordinary graces and favours which God hath bestowed on his Saints when not approved and authorized by the judgement of his Churâ—h because herein a man may easily be deceived and the Devil much craftier than we knowing our cuâ—ious and ambitious nature apt to be taken with sublime novelties can disguise himself in several shapes and be transformed as saith S. Paul into an Angel of light So neither on the other side ought we to be too incredulous or rash to condemn since it is certain that there ever have been and ever will be true miracles nor is it just for us to measure the power and goodness of God by our reason nor limit his bounty by the narrowness of our hearts Since the great mysteries of the Incarnation and of the H. Eucharist together with what God hath wrought in the beginning and continues working every day for man whereof we can raise no doubt there is nothing that can seem incredible in the Graces and favours of God communicated to a soul since nothing herein can be paralell'd with the former Our Saviour testifies greater love to weak man giving himself to him more miraculously and in a more transcendent manner in one Communion than he ever manifested to all his Saints in those extraordinary Communications of his graces and favours to them Moreover what bounty what compassion and tenderness did he exercise towards men whilst he lived amongst them What did he not for them in his life what did he not suffer for them at his Death after his glorious Resurrection when he was in a condition so far above them what familarity and intimacy did he shew to his Disciples visiting them frequently disguised in divers shapes appearing visibly to them appointing several meetings with them talking lovingly with them suffering them to touch him and eating with them These familiarities are very wonderful and withal very certain we may truly affirm that the love of God to mankinde and particularly to pure and innocent souls is unconceiveable Cum simplicibus sermocinatâ—o ejus His Secret is with the righteous We see how Fathers though never so grave and ancient delight themselves in their children even often to play with them insomuch that that renowned great Captain and King of Sparta Agesilaâ—s surprized by a friend riding upon a stick with his little son and observing him astonished at the action asked Whether he had any children Who answered No. Then said Agesilaus wonder not at what I do you must be a father to be capable of these tendernesses and to come to these forgettings of your self We must not therefore think it strange if God who is truly a Father to mankinde and so far transcends in paternal affection all others that in comparison of him they deserve not the name of Fathers hath such tender bowels and amorous affections to the Saints who are his dearest children which he expressed often with unconceiveable intimacies and caresses that whoso will judge of the reality of them must first be possessed with the same love that God bears in his eternal bosom some glimpse whereof we may conceive by considering the embraces and kisses and welcomes that passed betwixt the Prodigal Son and his Father in the Gospel Luke 15.20 Here therefore according to the observation of the Ancients Ne quid nimus let there be nothing done too much let there be neither too much facility nor too much difficulty to believe what is said of the graces done by God to holy souls But let us balance our selves equally between the one and the other weighing and examining things in the scales of Divine Prudence not of Humane Reason And thus much for the first consideration as they relate to God Concerning the second as they relate to us Saint Gregory the great hath an excellent Note Homil. 34. in Evang where he saith That God hath not lighted more Torches in the heavens to guide and direct our steps on earth than he hath set us here below to conduct and shew us