The young man's glean.  
GATHERED OUT OF DIVERS MOST ZEalous and Devout Fathers, and now published for the benefit of every Christian Man, which wisheth good success to his soul at the later day.  
Containing these four Subjects.  

1 Of the Mortality of man..  
2 The Poor Man's Harbour.  
3 The Mirror of Vainglory.  
4 Saint Barnard's Sermon on the passion of Christ.   
Whereunto is adjoined a most sweet and comfortable hymn, expressing the everlasting joy of a Glorified Soul.  
By R. B. Gent.  
AT LONDON Printed by john Beale, for Benjamin Lightfoot: and are to be sold at the Corner shop at Gray Inn Lane end in Holborn 1614   

TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.  
CHristian Reader( in the absence of the Author) I was moved to write something in his behalf, to demonstrate the zeal and entire affection he beareth to the Church in general, and to the comfort of thy soul in particular. But so well were his devout intentions by these his succinct labours expressed, as I took it needless to set a portal before a Building of itself so meriting, or a poem before a labour so well deserving. Great it is not, but it comprehends so much( I dare say) of spiritual consolation for refreshing the soul dejected, and motive meditations to rouse the secure and carnal soul, in the sleep of sin belulled, as an ampler Treatise may well yield to so compendious a volume. Briefly I may speak so much of it, as Cicero spoke of that sententious work of his entitled the Oratore: Est non magnus verum aureolus Libellus. Use it to thy comfort, & give thanks to the Lord, whose hand is not only the beginner, but perfecter of every good work that he in his due time may bring thee to those ineffable joys in real fruition, which whilst thou livest here thou only enjoys by contemplation. Thus recommending these meditations to thy devout consideration, Thyself to the father of all spiritual comforts, whose mercy ever shadow thee under the wings of his protection, I rest  Thy souls wellwisher, R. B.  

Works that now adays go to print: are put to a double press, Censure and Errors: for thy censure I hope it will be charitable; for these errors let them be excusable. This age like a favourable jury, acquits all errors: only they are put to their book, and that saves them.  
Errata.  
Page 19 l. 13. for despirable read despicable. p. 83. l. 14. for employed read implied. p. 87. l. 18. for pilgrimation read peregrination▪ and l. 27. for shllatory read sallatory.   

OF THE MORTALITY OF man..  
WHat art thou( O Man) and from whence hadst thou thy beginning? What matter art thou made of, that thou promisest to thyself length of days: or to thy posterity continuance. I have read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that ever breathed, and he reduceth thy days into a short number: The days of Man are threescore and ten. That reverend Patriarch jacob,( though he had lived a long and prosperous time) yet he confesseth his days to be few and evil: the life of Man( saith the Prophet) is as the grass that soon withereth: it is as swift as a Dromedary, continuing not, but passing from this pilgrimage of earth, aimeth at the centre, to which all flesh is limited, this earthly mansion from whence we had our Beginning; Homo abhumo natus. Man is borne of the earth, from whence he had his birth, and shall conclude the date and period of his days. What is it to enjoy honour upon earth, or to be graced by the royal aspect of Potentates, their majesty cannot authorize thy sins, nor exempt thee from the judgement of the Almighty. It is not the King, but the King of Kings shall judge, who holdeth his iron rod in his hand, to be avenged of him that worketh wickedness before him. He cannot endure the ways of the unrighteous, but will either look upon thee, with the eyes of his mercy, or give thee the wages of sin, to live with reprobates and sinners in the never quenched fire of his wrath, there to be punished eternally. But remember thy mortality, be not puffed up with a self conceit of thine own excellence: The Swan may not be more ashamed of her black feet, than thou of the ulcers and blemishes of thy soul distained with all impurities. It was the Philosophers saying: It were better not to be, then to be miserable, thy being is most miserable, thy state lamentable, and thy case irreparable: if thou meditate not of thy creator, acknowledge thy redeemer, and have recourse unto thy merciful protector: who preserveth thee daily with his grace, revewing in thee his Image, quite defaced and abolished by reason of thy transgressions. Wherefore as there is no moment nor article of time, wherein thou stands not in need of his providence, so ought there to be no time omitted wherein thou should not ascribe all praise, and gloie to his excellence. He created thee being nothing, he recreated thee being worse than nothing, and he prevents thee with his grace, that art like to fall again to nothing. O consider wherein thou hast offended, and how many and sundry times thou hast been pardoned for the self same sin: let thine eyes therefore be dissolved into an ocean of tears, craving remission with entire contrition. It is recorded that the tears of the vine will cure the leprosy: tears of hearty and unfeigned repentance will cure the leprosy of sin, restore thee to the Throne of grace, and in the end conduct thee to the Kingdom of glory. Thou art far transplanted from thy native Country: in a desolate and remote place: far from comfort or hope of rest, till this Tabernacle of sin shall be dissolved, this robe of flesh shall be divided from that spiritual stole of purity, whereby thou may ascend the palaces of eternal glory. There is none that liveth in exile, but would have the censure of Banishment revoked: thou art in a place of exile an inhabitant with Wolves and Tigers: for better were it( saith Diogenes) to live with Wolves, Tigers, and all savage Beasts of the Mountains, then with Sycophants, flatterers and such tame beasts in the City. Thou art environed with many sharp encounters invaded with many turbulent passions, thought▪ fear, desire, and the like: all which as so many wasps do continually infest and annoy thee. Thou art traveling a dangerous way, where many objects seem to seduce thee from the high-roadeway, to the flourishing bypaths of vanity, being never less secure, then when thou seemest most secure. Thou art sailing betwixt two perilous rocks, two calamitous shelves, Scylla and Charybdis, Presumption and Despair. Thou hadst need of an expert and vigilant Pilot to direct thee, a faithful friend to comfort thee, and a prepared mind within thee: thou fishest in a troubled stream, and many things I could caution thee of, which not foreseen may endanger shipwreck to thy crazy and surcharged Bark. Oppose not thyself to all extremes, but fix the Anchor: it would hold against all tempests, and provide a repose in time for thy poor vessel, least vanquished and oppressed with violence of Billows, and extremity of adverse waves, she be enforced to split, losing both thyself and thy freight: spread not thy sails too broad for the winds( thy violent affections) are most forced, when thy sails,( thy ambitious thoughts) are most extended. Ballast it light, lest it sink with her Burden: It is better to lose the freight then the Merchant: and the Philosopher Mymus choosed rather to lose his gold then himself. Enter not thy Bark with any profane man: if his company do not ruinate thee, it may well deprave thee: and when Bias came into any ship or vessel with a wicked man, where he was in danger of shipwreck, he would never suffer the profane man to pray, saying, take heed lest the Gods hear thee, for than we can expect for no mercy. But above all let the stern( the principal Organs and faculties of the soul) be ever with all vigilancy attended, wisely governened, and industriously employed. Thou art to sail by Sirens( those three daughters of Achelous and Callyope) a natural evitation of that which is good, a natural inclination to that which is evil, and a natural depravation of the will: reject the pernicious embraces of sin and impiety, stop thine ears to the Sirens melody, and reduce thy thoughts to that retired harbour of tranquillity, a sincere and secure conscience: it is a Christians brazen wall, it makes us secure of things past, it advertiseth us of things present, and prepareth itself for things to come: No Monument so glorious, no statue so specious: for what will curious sepulchres avail us, when infamy perpetuates the memory of us. Vita mortuorum in Memoria viventium posita est. And virtue liveth after death; The Ancient Patriarches returned to the sepulchres of their Ancestors, but that had been but little, if their virtues had not equalled their ancestors. Desirest thou to have the excellency of this painted world, the beauty of this earthly Theatre charactered and displayed to thee in her colours? Thou shalt see in her many seeming flourishes of happiness, many fair promises of a continuated eminence: but she fails in her performance: her fruits are but flowers, and her harvest soon type, and soon rotten. Sodoms' apples were fair to the eye, touch them, & they turn to dust. Painted sepulchres show much beauty, and seem as if they would outlive time, yet continuance defaceth them, remaining memorable in nothing, save that they were once memorable. Stars fixed shine the brightest: fix thy thoughts upon the morning Sun of righteousness, and like the Sun, thou shalt shine more bright at thy setting, then at thy rising, at thy death then thy birth, let thy mind be established on that which can suffice it: no terrestrial respect of earth's vanity, but an expectance of heavens eternity, to receive that Crown for which it was created, and not the wages of sin, for which she was not ordained. Thou hast many difficulties to pass in this wilderness, ere thou can see the Land of promise; Thou must thirst, hunger, and wander; thirst, but for the well of life; hunger, but for the staff of spiritual Bread; wander but at last( with the good Shunamite,) to return from the mountains of Gilboa, to the vale of Bethlem, the pool of Bethesda: to the vale of Bethlem, where thou may repose, to the pool of Bethesda, where thou may take repast: yet must thou not murmur in this long peregrination: Thou art but as thy forefathers have been: if afflicted, so was thy master Christ: if tempted, so was he: if persecuted, behold the whole College of those blessed Apostles, making their whole life a persecution, a very martyrdom to propagate their master's glory, and to perform that work for which they were sent. Thou must not make profit of thy profession with Magus, nor make sale of thy conscience with Demas, nor sell thy Saviour with judas. Thou art invested with Christ's own Garment, endued with more especial privileges, and prerogatives than many of thy brethren, boast not of that thou hast received, he that did give them thee, can take them from thee, and make thee naked, that was once garnished with such singular ornaments, bestowing them on others that shall better use them, since whilst thou hadst them, thou didst abuse them. Envy not another's gifts, but rather thank God for his ample benefits extended upon thy brother: that pernicious vice of envy is the corrupter of many singular virtues: and to describe her more perspicuously, hear the ancient fathers how they decipher this universal contagion of the world. Envy consumes all virtues: by envy was Christ crucified, the history whereof is mentioned unto thee, envy and malice above all other vices inebriate the soul. Where there is envy, there can be no Brotherly love. Who envieth loveth not: the law of the Devil is in him, because the devil by envy fell. Therefore envy is known by this, that she is never in charity. For by envy was Christ crucified, and consequently who envieth his brother, crucifieth Christ. Aug: Envy always followeth virtue: he is a valiant man that can conquer envy with humility. Hier: He is sure an envious man that taketh pleasure in seeing another man's damage or punishment: Ambros: the error of envy doth not only invade the Synagogues of the impious, but the cells of the religious. Euseb. Envy manifesteth that we have not the love of God in us. Effrem.  
It is a rare thing to want envy in prosperity. josephus: where the good man profiteth, there the envious repineth: as the Poet saith: Inuidus alterius, etc. Isidorus.  
Here thou feast envy dismasked: who ever with Ctesyphon kicketh against the Moles heels: there is no virtue can pass uncensured: no exquisite work unreproved: necesse est quôd Momum aut Mimum habet, qui vertutem amat. But run thou a religious course inclining neither on the right hand, nor on the left: on the right hand thou may be too precise in being too regular, on the left hand, insuccessive, being too sinister. The Golden mediocrity, is as good a way, and as secure as the Philosophers Galaxia, their milk way: here is true consolation in spirit: for the righteous be glad and rejoice in it: walk in this way, and the suggestions of Satan shall not seduce thee, for thou art in the way that leadeth unto life, not entangled in the Brakes of this world, but expecting the glorious possession of those joys above. Continue in perfect charity with thy brother, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fulfilling and perfecting of the Law: it reconciles us unto God, appeaseth his indignation conceived against us, and assures us of the performance of his promise, made unto us in his son. By the love of God is the love to our Neighbour engendered, by the love to our Neighbour, is the love of God nourished: here is a mutual and reciprocal love: a threefold Cord is hardly broken. But thou objectest thou hast felt the heavy hand of God, thou hast tasted of the bitter cup, and drunk deep of the Cup of affliction: what then? where is thy conclusion? dost thou reason hence that thou art deprived of the favour of God, and excluded from his sheepfold? God forbid: these afflictions do rather approve and testify his exceeding love towards thee: whom I love saith the Lord, those I chastise and correct: he is not a father, where thou art not a son, nor is he a son that is incorrigible: he must bow his neck unto the yoke, and press his shoulders with the Burden, he must not argue that the burden is heavy, or the yoke not easy: but with all patience sustain all, and support all, that God may be glorified in all. This resolution will arm thee with a serious preparation against all difficulties, calling to mind, how the Apostler( after the death and passion of Christ jesus) were as a puissant army constant amidst all tribulations. Their afflictions, their stripes, their imprisonments, were experiments to try them not affrightments to dismay them: By them they were proved and in their resolution approved, because they fought valiantly the Lords Battle, to increase the number of the faithful, to break the bread of life, to such as were appointed unto salvation: weakening the power of Antichrist, and discomfiting sin. Fight thus( dear Christian) and thou shalt reign where those victorious champions reign already: the vale of this earthly habitation shall be dissolved, and thy spiritual Temple renewed, to supplant the whole body of sin, and to receive a glorious diadem of eternity, by subjecting thyself to the material sword, to be nourished with that spiritual food of God's word unto eternal life: for whosoever will reign with Christ, must likewise suffer with Christ. He was crucified that we might be saved, and shall we be exempted from that which he suffered? No, rather let us put on the complete Armour of righteousness, with slings in our hands to wound that malicious Goliath, that terrible Philistine in the head: that is, utterly to discomfit him: that we who have received so glorious an investiture, the special endowments of his Grace, may by the operation of his spirit effectually working in us arrive at the Kingdom of glory. That what is here inchoate, may be there consummate; of Christ we are called Christians: if we be Christians of Christ, we should follow Christ: that ascending with him to the Cross on Mount Caluarie, we may likewise ascend with him to his Throne exalted with majesty.   

THE POOR MAN'S HARBOUR.  
IN thy affliction have I heard thee and in the bitterness of thy sorrows have I attended thee: for thou descendedst down as it were into the grave, & buried thy honour in the dust. But who ever hath cried upon me, that I have not heard, or craved my help, whom I have not aided? Art thou poor, and sick, and hungry, and naked, crying for alms yet art not rewarded, for one crumb yet art not satisfied? why, what of this? if thou be poor, so was Lazarus: if sick, hungry, and naked, so was he: if despised, so was he: character what miseries soever thy miserable state is afflicted with, and thou shalt see them personated( in more ample sort) in disconsolate Lazarus; yet was not he comforted? were not his rags turned to robes, his hunger to festival honour, his pensive affliction, to extensive consolation? he was abandoned of Dives, contemned of Dives, nay reproved and shamefully injured by the servants of Dives; yet behold the exchange: Lazarus is exalted, Dives tormented, Lazarus comforted, Dives afflicted: Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, in joy for ever, Dives in the fire of hell, to be delivered never▪ O what subject of joy and comfort, what argument of divine consolation is this unto a poor distressed soul, that travels upon the pilgrimage of earth, hungry, naked, and despised? But there is a greater occasion than this for him to pull up his courage, to solace his depressed mind; and that is the very promise of God himself past( and that by a constitution irrevocable) to the poor and afflicted spirit. I look to him saith the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Esay, that is poor, that is broken in spirit, and that trembleth at my words. Here the Lord professeth himself a patron to the poor, their strength and mighty defence in the time of their necessity. He is none of our time-observing friends, our state affectors, that rather patronize our errors( to insinuate themselves in to the unstedy affections not of us, but of our patrimonies) so long professing amity till our estate( the adulterate oil of their pretended friendship) be extinguished. These are good Mammonists augmenting their means by indirect courses: running ever on the Bias of Adulation, till that clawing humour work to their unhappy friend remediless desolation. But God is faithful: and whom he once loveth, he loveth unto the end. How happy art thou( poor pilgrim) of such a lover, that erects thy drooping head, directs thy erring feet, supports thy declining faith, and placeth thee in the retired harbour of all spiritual comforts, ministering these and the like solaces unto thee. Wipe thy eyes( poor harbourless soul) complain not of times iniquity, descant not of thy penury, relate no more of thy misery: I have heard thy voice, and am come to comfort thee, I have put all thy tears up in a Bottle, and they shall remain as testimonies against those obdurate and impenitent, those remorseless and uncharitable Nabals that have stopped their ears to thy cries, their eyes to thy tears: solace thyself in me, for I will receive thee into my protection: I will shelter thee under the wings of my mercy, so as no violence shall oppress thee, no ensuing misery afflict thee, no poverty dismay thee: for why? I am rich in mercy, and will enrich thee with the comforts of my divine spirit. Who ever called upon me, and I heard him not, or powered his prayers unto me and I relieved him not? Thy poverty is no bar in my Court to hinder thy expedition: Thou beggest and surest informa pauperis, yet thou shalt find a Solicitor that will not neglect thy affairs: He it is that created thee( as well as the mighty ones of this world) and he will not suffer his Image, his similitude, his Impression to be razed, defaced or contemned. It is I that have seen thee exposed to all the miseries of earth, and I considered thy patience: for which have I accepted thy prayers which( like sweet and redolent perfumes) ascended up unto my nostrils. Be comforted, be comforted: the extent of thy afflictions is almost expired, the date of thy sorrows extended, and the period of thy miseries consummate. I will clothe thee with the Garments of eternity: Thou shalt dwell in the mansions of my glorious City, and for thy poverty, receive the rich ornaments of a celestial inheritor: and herein shall thy joys be redoubled, for thou that lived desperable in the eyes of men, shalt Triumph amongst the quires of Angels, being incorporated in the glorious society of all those heaunly Citizens which reign with me eternally. There shalt thou have for these poor rags, Garments that shall never be worn. There thou shalt feed on spiritual Manna, and Mella, there shall be no hunger, but eternal feasting, no sorrow, but perpetual rejoicing, no discord, but minds generally uniting: where fullness shall not breed loathing, nor others glory in thee repining, nor lights perpetuity obscuring, nor times eternity ending: for there will I be all unto all, to show my glory more evidently towards all. Thus will that father of all comfort, comfort thee with his divine consolations: thus will he in the very midst of thy anguishes, miraculously, infuse & instill into thy distressed soul, these & the like spiritual refections: he will anoint thee with the oil of Gilead, & put upon thee a new raiment, and on thy finger will he put a ring of pure Gold, with the seal of Arms on it: with the seal of thy election, predestined to eternal life. O meditate of this, and the like divine comforts, and the perturbations, billows and afflictions of this life, will be lightly esteemed in comparison of that exceeding measure, and quantity above all measure, of spiritual Treasures, reserved for thee in heaven. Alas thou livest here( that I may use the Greek phrase) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In the very penetrals and caverns of the earth: far removed from thy centre, far transplanted from thy native Country. O then be not so enthralled with this mass of corruption, so captivated by sin and Satan, so deluded by the vain flourishes of earth's vanities: elevate thy spirit, erect thy mind, live not so long in this dangerous Climate, as thou forget to return into thy Country. Thou hast an excellent motive( poor hunger-starved soul) not to desire thy abode or residence upon earth: sith thou feelest within thee nought but biting hunger, and without thee, nought but hard hearts, that consume their days in chambering and wantonness, in security and carelessness, respectless( heaven knows) of their chiefest good, the advancement of God's glory, the fear of his name, reverence to his ministers, or any work which might tend to the edification of faith or manners. Hinc illae lachrimae; hence comes our cause of lamenting, hence the true and efficient motives of sorrowing: But thou( poor man) that art sequestered as it were out of the world, not as much as observed with the eye of popular respect, seeing thy own contempt of one side, and the impiety of this enormous Age of the other side, hast reason with Paul not only to desire thy dissolution, but even in the meditation of it to conceive especial comfort, and delight. For the world what is it, But a cage of unclean Birds, a mass of indigestion, an indisposed frame of pollution, a sink of corruption? True was it, that that Dominican Friar observed: There was in the world at the first( saith he) conscientia, but that was altered presently and turned to scientia, and that too( by the foolish stupidity of these times) is changed into mere Entia, a poor Being indeed, when we know not the essential cause of our Being: but led away with either singular conceit of our ignorant knowledge or besotted with the present objects presented and represented to us: which so avert and distract the intellectual eye of our understanding, or so enthralled and engaged as it were to private profit, like the worldly statist, or with the itch of honour like the Ambitious Artist, or with the dispersing of our victories in foreign provinces with the insulting Martialist: that we forget( for a little worldly gain) the gain and treasure of Eternity: for a puff or blast of vain glory or ambitious honour, the Honour of God, and sacred ministers: for a soon perishing fame, the fame and reputation which we ought to purchase of our heavenly father. Dear pilgrim, thou seest these transitory and temporary delights, how soon they fade: how short their continuance is: for thou canst see further than one in higher place can see. We make the Argument infallible: for demonstration proves it: a man may see more piercingly into the beauty of the firmament within some hollow place or pit, than he can upon the even superficies of the earth. Thou art placed in this pit; retired from the world: inferior in order, bereft of the cloud of honour, nay exempted of all inconveniences which might any way seem to darken the eye of thy understanding, here thou seest the piecolored flags of vanity displayed, the poor Ostrich robbed of her tail, to fan a Lady's face. The silly worms disbowelled to clothe a case of corruption with a silken cover. Nec atriora sane vidimus peccata, quam ea quae sunt sericea; Silken sins go with a privilege: they have a good cover for deformiti, this I know( simple soul) thou seest and admirest. Then thou goes further, and thou sees seeming sanctity put on the robes of holiness: furnished with a little lip labour to mumble a few key cold devotion-lesse prayers, making his lips go as if possessed with some spirit, as indeed he is, for no spirit more execrable than hypocrisy: there thou seest halting justice; a Magistrate that goes on stilts to save his foot-cloth, he overperes a whole multitude, but taking so great pains upon his artificial legs, he must be anointed; there's no remedy, he will grow stiff else: it is a golden potion must restore him his sense of hearing which was well-nigh perished: apply but this receipt to his pulse; and the virtue is admirable, it's better than Eare-salue it will restore him the faculty of hearing instantly. There thou seest a great patron of injuries, that has erected two Sanctuaries, dedicated to two contrary Soveraignesses: Virtue, and Vice; Virtue for her name, Vice for her Nature: many such professors of virtue( poor beggar) I know thou findest, that can make external show or appearance of virtue, but hath vice to be virtues rival: virtues building is easy to be discerned: there's no superficial cost to beautify her Temple: she hath a good inside and a bare outside: vice her opponent boasts( and truly so she may) of curious edifices, rare devices, monuments of more honour and celebrity then poor virtue and all her posterity ever attained to, in the one the world's map is rightly charactered: in the other, there is representation of a more glorious palace. But I will proceed further: they have been characterised too often to be now unknown. Now thou hast seen all this( poor pilgrim) ragged virtue, and roabed vice: thou canst not be deceived in their Colours. The purple whore is easy to be discerned, me thinks thou should glory much in thy rags: seeing virtue no better clad: one better habilimented with rents than rints. God hath done well for thee to give thee so fair a pattern to imitate: nor is it disparagement to be her attendant with thine own Garment: without adorning thy outside to grace so fair an inside, for virtue is depictured the best when he is garnished the least. Thus, thus consider what thou art, and whom thou resemblest: not one undeserving because of thy wants: for the exquisitest deservings are for most part the unworthiliest recompensed: But the very Idea of imparaleld goodness, Virtue herself, she is naked, so art thou: harbourless so art thou: in herself deserving, yet desertlessly esteemed, and so art thou: your fortunes seem equal: do but match her in the minds proprieties, and thy reward shall be by so much more eminent, in regard thy estate was here depressed. I will yet draw nearer thee, thou art here placed in a desolate forest, far removed from any either internal or external comfort, save that continual feast( a sincere conscience:) Thou art without friends, and no desert more solitary no forest greater, then to be deprived of friends: and in this uncouth promontory there be many savage Beasts which seek to pray upon thee, or at least to triumph over thee: and wouldst thou not willingly retire thyself, and purchase thy own safety by a sequestered life? or if not, Semel mori melius est, quam semper moriendo vivere. Alas( dear christian pilgrim) thou art in this state: this desert is the world replenished with savage beasts, with which thou art environed: some lion like contemn thee for thy poverty, others deride thee without remorse had to thy dejected fortunes: But all triumph over thee( being made as Heluius pertinax was entitled) Pila fortunae, fortune's ball: tossed into every hazard, subjecteth to every calumny, being indeed made the very stale of disgrace: yet in all these occurrents( if thou make right use of thy poverty) thou remains free from any perturbation whatsoever: their pride makes the more humble: their ambition worketh in thee mortification: their contemning thee breedeth in thee a contempt of the world, relinquishing the garish objects of vanity to reap the harvest of heavens glory. I will now descend and that briefly to the discourse of such as conceived more entire joy and rest in their souls, by abandoning the world, giving their goods unto the poor, nay such as voluntarily became poor, that they might follow Christ, then if they had possessed the inestimable treasures of the whole Earth. The reason that induced me hereunto was: forasmuch as I know examples be of more force than precepts, the exact and as it were lively description thereof imprints in our minds an ardent desire of imitating such whose well disposed lives made their ends glorious Read but the sacred ordinances and laws of God; Thou shalt see the Apostles contemning all private respects whatsoever to taste the sweetness of the inestable love of Christ: here thou shalt see one called from the receipt of custom, a place of profit, to follow him, who had as little appearance of external happiness as might be: straight thou shalt behold another( converted from an Arch-persecutour of Christians) one that flourished in the height of honour and was chosen for a patron of infidelity, despise honour and her superficial flourishes, and consecrate himself to the supportance of truth: here another( even now a Rabbi a great Doctor of the Law, and one in especial esteem with the multitude for Christ's sake) become contemptible to taste the sweetness of Christ's love in itself inexplicable. Zacheus for this love willingly became poor, duiding his goods to the poor, and making restitution for what he had injuriously taken: for this love, and for this incomparable sweetness did the stones wherewith blessed Stephen was stoned seem sweet unto him: for this did Saint Laurence taste the Torments of the Gridiron with especial sweetness: this moved Andrew to go pleasantly unto the Cross, that he might hasten unto the divine sweetness: for this Bartholomew willingly sustained death, john drunk poison, & Peter( as one made drunk, with the apprehension of that supernal sweetness,) cried out, let us build here three Tabernacles, let us sojourn here, let us remain here, since we need nothing that is necessary for our comfort so long as we abide here. O then dear christian if the survey of these glorious professors prevail any thing with thee to distaste the bitter and unsavoury affections of this transitory life: make use of thine own poverty: thou hast no reason to stand all the day idle, but to have recourse to the spiritual vineyard. It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, for why? he must take leave of his friends and favourites, of his revenues and possessions, there be many things oppose themselves to his intended resolution. But thou that carriest all thy prefserments about with thee, having nothing at home but bare walls, appendices of ruin, thou that canst not yield nature her necessaries, being made a very spectacle to triumphing fortune: one as exposed to the inconveniences of times occurrents, so deprived of those external Blessings, by which we only seem to be and have our wellbeing: art rid of these main impediments which use to hinder the worldling from the prosecution of such affairs as might yield more perfect and accomplished content, than all the semblances of fortune, and prosperous success. O how hard hath the abandoning of the world seemed to such as have planted their affections already upon this terrestrial foundation. They could willingly serve Christ, if they might reserve( likewise) some retired hours of service & devotion to Mammon: but wholly to give up their interest in earth and earthly possessions, never more to call themselves masters of their ample and commodious inheritances: O it is an hard lesson, such a bitter potion had need of some sweet pill to season it. Thou now seest the high roade-way that leads thee to a port of secure rest: hold on( dear pilgrim) and faint not in thy journey: thou art now towards a rich inheritance, and shalt possess those true essential and real joys which with such fervency thou hast desired. But yet ere I leave thee in this Harbour, let me expostulate the cause with thee, & ask thee, why thou art dejected? why so sorrowful? thou sustainest disgrace and art called impudent Beggar; Beggar? alas what is that? who is not? do we not( even the best of us) beg from day to day for our diurnal sustenance? included in that particle: Give us this day our daily bread: but thou art impudent; with far more impudence are we branded, that are ever begging, yet never satisfied: nay more, presuming to have what we need without ask: and for thee( poor soul) necessity pleads thy cause excusable. Egenti viro pudor nequaquam est vitilis. A shamefast Beggar never gained by his profession. Grieve not thyself then at the strange language of the hard hearted miser: his own words shall condemn him when he appears( as of necessity he must) before the Tribunal of God's judgement: it's not then the awful regard of his authority( for he is then degraded) nor the abundance of his wealth( for of that he is deprived) nor the general respect had to his person( for then he is disualewed) that shall answer for his neglect: Thy hunger shall witness against him, thy afflictions shall condemn him, and those many Injuries( which with such patience thou in this life sustained) shall be recorded in those monumental leaves of eternity, and proclaim him Guilty: for doubt it not( poor wretch) though there be none now to comfort thee, but such as laugh at thy miseries, when thou shalt be let out of this poor prison of flesh, and transported to thy native country, there will be an Advocate that will plead thy cause freely, and do thee right speedily. The evil judge in the Gospel was rather moved by the widows importunity, than her causes equity to do her right. But this judge will discuss thy cause, neither drawn by importunacy, nor awed by authority, nor subjecteth to partiality: he it is that is judge of heaven & earth, extending the Heavens like a Curtain, and in mercy expressing his affections to the Children of Men. Before this judge shalt thou appear, and he that oppressed thee: he to taste the rigour and severity of justice, thou to remain in the comfortable embrace of his mercy: he to reap the fruits of his own works, to condemnation, thou to conceive the sweet and amiable taste of eternal consolation. O what difference then betwixt thy misery, and his earthly happiness? where is then that great attendance? those many superficial ceremonies of obsequiousness? vanished, vanished: his afflictions more violent, in as much his comforts in this life were more eminent. O if the Great ones of this world would consider this: how little would they esteem the insubstantial flourishes of this world? how attentively would they observe the dimensions of their life, lest the labyrinth of sin should ensnare them, the affections of earth's vanity surprise them: or the gay colours of mundane allurements captivate them. But sin is now mounted, her throne is erected, and who dare censure so general a profession? as rare is it to find vice without a champion, as to find hospitality in an ancient house, sanctity in a Monastery, religion in a house of prostitution. A man may see feasts solemnized, but the halt, lame▪ and blind, seldom or never invited; resembling those sensual meetings of Penelope's wooers, which Emneus in Homer so exactly describes, opifices Vates, Medicus seu etiam poeta qui cantando oblectet, high sane vocati sunt in orb: Egentem vero et Medicum qui sibimet est in commodo nullus vocat. None calls the beggar: his rags are not fit for festival solemnities: alas poor man, then must he feed( like Democritus) upon the smell of dainties, full services are not for a weak stomach, and yet me thinks( poor Soul) thou deservest better entertainment. Thy Image should not be so lightened. Thy natural Garment is of as pure stuff, and as curious as the perfumedst Gallant of them all: and should the cover of our shame so much transport our affections, that without respect unto the image of our Saviour, we should disvalue the instrument, and so overprize the cover▪ O no, let us not so obscure our judgements: let us rather have recourse to our beginning, and then conceive the especiallest motives wherein we have cause to glory. Sure Nature seems as if in the beginning she hated all other ornaments than such as were native: being at the first a raiment to herself, and sufficient in herself against the inclemency of heat, the violence of cold, & all distemperatures whatsoever: But when man lost himself, he desired to shroud himself against the violent assaults of a troubled conscience. Hence than we glory in our shame: for by these external habits are we put in mind of those primitive graces of which we are deprived. In this then( silly Beggar) may thou likewise be comforted: Thou seest thine own nakedness, and acknowledgest thy sin: But the fine creatures of this world imitate the Pagan idolaters, they hang vales over their deformities; making their worst part the most precious. Poor vessel of corruption what needs all this bravery? what makes thee set out thy enemy so gorgeously? she seeks thy ruin, lays continual battery at the fortress at the fortress of thy soul, environs thee with hostile and fatal affections, and yet thou pamperest her up still, strengthening thy own forces against thee. O madness! O exceeding frenzy, dost thou not( or is it wilful blindness) perceive with what violence this morsel of flesh which thou bringst up and nourishest so carefully, suggesteth into thy mind poison? making the labour of an incurable contagion, even the lethargy of thy soul; and wilt thou cherish yet this Snake in thine own Bosom? wilt thou raise so glorious an Image for so corrupt a Trunk? Surcease, surcease: Thou hast played too long with this enchantress: it is now high time to purchase thy liberty. After Calypso had so long time detained Ulysses in miserable servitude, at last sought means for his delivery. These bosom enemies are most dangerous, they know our constitution, and can transform themselves unto the distinct habit of every affection, to shadow their designs more covertly; they assume that form which best concord's with our Nature. This thou seest( poor man) and in this art thou eased: for this enemy of thine, thy flesh, receives more hard entertainment at thy hands. Thou keep'st her from rebelling, and strengthens thy spirit by her weakening. In this then hast thou advantage of the flesh-pampering Epicure, & therein shows pregnant testimony of thy expert judgement; for who would prefer the rind before the pith, the Bark before the medull, or core before the sap? But these do so, disesteeming the internal ornaments of the mind, the best graces that a Christian soul can appropriate to herself, exalt the outward( which God wot) like a painted Sepulchre, or Sodoms' apples be no sooner touched then to ashes converted▪ Beauty, a flourishing vanity that soon fadeth: external pomp, honour and magnificence less than bare Being's, for soon they decline and have no being. time-observing worse then either, making of times an oily Tongue the ruin of the owner. These are the scopes are aimed at: and yet what greater vanity, than the possession of such extrinsical shadows? I have oftimes seen it, and the frequency of it hath well-nigh made it a position, those which suddenly stepped to honour, by their unexpected risings, made their fall shortly to be expected: Nor did their memory die with their fall: the merit of their honour was called in question after their death, howsoever ill in them that called it in question, taking the Cynics precept for an especial caveat in all my Actions: in Sepulchra Mortuorum levius calcare. But of this digression too much: I have retired myself too long from thee( poor brother) yet I perceive my former motives of consolation have prevailed a little with thee, which I will succinctly conclude with this final comfort, that this might minister no less solace in the end than the precedent comforts in the beginning.  
I have prepared this harbour for thee( poor pilgrim,) and would have thee as one careful of thy weal, to retire thyself here, against the turbulent storms of all afflictions: that though the pomp of this world seem to persuade thee to a kind of despair in thine own estate: yet flying to this harbour, the holes of the rock( Christ jesus) thou mayst find eternal comfort: intuere rupem et erige ratem. This rock shall defend thee from all adverse oppositions either of world the flesh or the Devil: having thy habitation so firmly planted upon those future joys, that the miseries of this world may seem small in comparison, in regard of that exceeding measure of consolations prepared for thee in that Sanctuary of Eternity: where no disturbance can surprise thee, no poverty afflict thee, no care depress thee: Tranquillam sedem tenes et in ea sola glorieris. Hence mayst thou conceive perfect joy: and ruminate of those internal and etternall comforts which are promised thee if thou bear up thyself in thy adversities: the bosom of Abraham is open unto thee, and all patient men that destitute of mundan succour, retire to the sacred bowels of Christ's compassions: no affliction so great which Time will not allay: no discomfort so exceeding which the exceeding comforts of Christ's passions cannot mitigate. Time is a perfecter of all things, saith the worldling: but if this time be not employed in the exercise of Christ's passions, the distaste of times continuance affords no less bitterness, than the increment of afflictions. The tempests are well calmed: thou mayst sail without an adverse encounter of turbulent affections. Thy Pilot is skilful, for the winds and seas obey him: he is merciful, for he never forsook the poor mariner nor distressed seafaring man, till he be arrived at his port and expected Harbour.   

THE MIRROR OF VAIN GLORY.  
WHerein art thou proud O Man? or whereto dost thou exalt thyself? art thou composed of more than human substance, that thou shouldst glory in thy feature? Thou admirest thine own wisdom, and reposest more confidence in thy smooth wit and acute conceit, than Mammon's statist. Why( fool) art thou wise in thine own Imagination, & yet directest not thy ways to the square of wisdom? Thou art wise because thou canst deceive: O spiritual folly! how unhappy was Achitophel in this wisdom? how improvident & imprudent was Haman to erect a Scaffold for himself? Thou desirest some attendants( not so much to serve thee, as to look upon thee) for thou esteems not so much a serviceable fashion as thine own admiration. How foolish art thou to think the world should term thee wise that art so phranticke? purge, purge, thou hast a malady within thee will consume thee: Thou breakest the Lepers Law: they were enjoined to cry I am unclean, I am unclean. But thou that labourest of a more loathsome leprosy, will not confess thy shame: not one fig leaf to cover thy nakedness. Sin now goes with a protection, who dare reprend her? Nemo hercule, Nemo. None, none. Sins grow habiliments of Nature in which we most glory: that which shames us most, in that we shine most, boasting of our vices, as if motives of respect. All sins pass with impunity: for who will throw the first stone? what place from the highest to the lowest exempted? Sin flies for Sanctuary into Sancturays: what Time dispensed with, wherein the Creature can say, I have desisted from sin, & done that for which I was created? in what place doth not vanity represent herself? Not only in the fair Structures( wherein we glory) to leave so beautiful mansions, monuments of our care and providence to our posterity; but even in our Beds of earth, our Graves, and sepulchres. Shebna was careful of this, and yet his intentions were frustrate: for he built his sepulchre in one country, and was buried in another. Alas, why glory we so much in the cover of corruption? Tombs are not made so much for the dead as for the living: and the life of the dead consists in the memory of the living. All that was writ over that great Pompey was this: Hic situs est magnus. Alas poor Greatness, when an ambitious and incircumscribed spirit can be confined within so strait a circumference! It was Innocontius question to describe human frailty.  
Dic mihi vas cinerum, quid prodest flos facierum.  
Thou hast been present I know it, sometime at the burial of thy friend, or neighbour, where thou sawest the character or emblem, of all the sons of Adam: and yet thou art returned from his grave, this good commemoration of thy mortality,( as from the centaurs banquet) more obdurate in heart, remorseless of sin, senseless of shame, then before thou saw thy dead friend interred, O conceive remorse and live: let not the publicans and sinners condemn thee, let not pagans outstripp thee. Thou livest in the light of the Gospel: many preachers are sent thee,( take the opportunate time,) now is the harvest, labour to bring thy sheaves with thee. Qui arat, arat ut metet, qui pugnat, pugnat ut vineat. So sow, that that thou may reap plenteously; so fight that thou may be crowned after victory achieved. Cast but thine eye( dear Christian) upon all the ways & by-paths, which seem to lead us to mundane felicity: thou shalt find nothing but intricate ways, unfrequented labyrinths, which menace ruin to the passenger. Aditus prospicitur, reditum non patitur; easy is it for thee to enter, but to come forth difficult. The world is like Polyphemus cave: entering once into the pleasures of earth's vanity, thou art so enchained, so ensnared to the delights and inordinate affections, which like merry Sirens, do so solicit thee, as thou canst hardly exempt thyself from their serpentine embraces. Holy Athanasius saw in his sleep( for so the vision appeared) the whole world encompassed about with snares and nets: its true; what profession but exceedingly tempted, if not seduced? avarice, as sure an attendant upon age, as sensuality upon youth. Church usury, Simoniacal patrons, making sale of the precious things of God's temple, and who remains there to whip them out? Usury( as in itself a legal sin, because suffered), grows tyrannical: she cries not with the false mother, neither thine nor mine, but divide it: but she erects a Monopoly for herself, and will engross a grocery of souls, to enrich the palace of her father Mammon▪ O poor decrepit soul, thou that art stepping into the womb of thy mother, and carriest deaths head about thee, consider thy creation, acknowledge thy composition, weak by creation but weaker by times revolution, Seusim sine sensu sevescimus. O gather spiritual riches, provide thee a skripp that shall never be worn, but continue ever. The rich man in the Gospel gathered much, possessed much, enlarged his Granars, and promised to himself security with a retired adieu from the world, now soul take thy ease; but his Epiphonema was answered with a Threnodia; Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken away. Alas so soon? this was the first night( it seems) of his rest, and must it be his last too? yes: Esay answereth him, There is no rest to the ungodly: he is ever in discontent, seeking to quench his hydropticke thirst with getting, but is never satisfied. They which should be God's Amners to distribute to the necessity of the Saints, are oppressors, being as sponges which suck up the laborious gains of the poor. Let there not be a beggar in Israel( saith God to Moses) but these regraters, which exhaust and consume the means of the poor, make many beggars in Israel. But the Lord shall come in thunder, and root them from the face of the earth, he shall raze down their buildings▪ and make their dwelling with Ostriches. For the Lords delight is in the poor that humbles himself before him: his horn shall be exalted with honour: but for the mighty oppressors that grind the face of the poor, the Lord will chastise them in his fury, and be avenged of them in his mighty displeasure. O if the rich man knew( being God's dispensour) how soon the sith of human frailty will cut him short, he would not promise to himself length of days, but with all integrity of heart, fervency of spirit, and humility of mind fall down before the Throne of God's merry: Sicut Apes flores quaesitant, ita Sancti misericordiam Dei. The Saints of God and such as are consecrate to him, will seek the mercy of God, and with tears of entire compassion turn to the Lord, that it would please him to turn from their sins. They will not protract the time, nor take day with their sins, but with hearty contrition, speedy conversion and firm resolution not to commit the like sins again, they purchase their atonement with God, leaving off sin before sin leave them. For what is it when the Organs and natural faculties of the body through their debility have lost all power of sinning, then to surcease from sin? No, reserve the heat of the day for the Lords vineyard, let not him have the afterlings. The first fruits were in ancient time given to the Priests, and wilt thou detain thy first fruits from him which is the head Priest? O dedicate thy labours unto him, and be converted even in the maturity of thy time. Thou art now able to cope with Antichrist: to morrow it may be thou shalt be less able. A valiant captain( in the siege of any City or fortress) will apprehend every advantage and occasion of attaining his purpose: he will not intermit any time, but with all alacrity prosecute the charge he hath in hand, that his deportments may purchase him glory: Sub vexillo meret, & moeret si non mereat. Thou art in the same case: in a strait siege, beleaguered with impetuous and violent enemies. The world besiegeth thee on every side, & by those 5. Gates or breaches, viz. thy five corporal senses, eye, ear, taste, smell, and touch, he woundeth thy soul as with most venomous Arrows: so as death entereth in at the very window of thy soul. Ishmael plays with thee, and deludes thee: the flesh whom thou pamperedst rebels against thee: thy very households sins begin to wrestle with thee: and Gravis lucta grave est periculum contra domesticum hostem pugnare, saith Barnard. Thou must wrestle with sin conspiring within thee, with the flesh which environs thee, and the voluptuous affections of world's vanity that seek to surprise thee. Show thyself resolute in this encounter, fight a good fight, and with the complete Armour of a spiritual warrior raze down the tyrannical kingdom of Antichrist. Thou must pass many difficulties ere thou canst obtain the victory. Those Cyanea saxa: those rocks of peril temptations of every kind: but perseverance will make thy victory most eminent. The young man must needs take leave of his friends, before he can follow Christ. But thou must abandon friends, estate, possessions, and all encumbrances, that thou may be thought a worthy follower of Christ. Qui Christum sequi petit, equum est ut omnia relinquat, quo Christum arctius teneat. Riches were best demonstrated by the Roman word Impedimenta: hindrances indeed for our heavenly expedition: we should use them in necessary respects, not to adore them: if the price of gold had not been known, Baal's golden calf had not been erected. It is a cause of much false Adoration: and many I am persuaded( yet timorous in persuasion) worship the idol in their chest, more than their Messias in his Temple. O profanation of Times! when an external appearance of tempting vanity, can seduce an Intellectual soul from her Creator, with the desire of a bare metal ordained for the use of his creature. We are wise and understanding in chemic labours, and are profoundly read in minerals: But that only and principal good, the select treasure of the mind is as far estranged from our reading, as Demas heart was from any thing, save what tasted of the world. We can talk of eccentricke lines, bodies, motions, temperatures, & affections: but which amongst us seeks to season the ill disposed temper of our mind? O pity and great pity it is to neglect so divine a substance: let the Philosophers idle axiom alone: the body should take her temperature from the soul, and not the soul from the body. Corpus Ancilla est ut pareat, non domina ut imperet. Confusion of Governors spoil every well governed state: and those kingdoms be most happy where there be not the most but the best Kings. Thou hast a monarchy( and that's the best kind of Government) within thyself: O dispose then of thy affections like a Prince: be invested with a robe worthy an Emperor, the pure stole of integrity, thy thoughts must be elevate, not depressed down to this earthly centre. It is reported that the Emperor Augustus could see as well by night as day; thy eyes should be so; not obscured or darkened with the night of error, but ever tralucent, that if there were windows in thy heart, the splendour of thy internal man might show her own dignity. But especially let me caution thee in this: that thou be open handed, and bountifully hearted to thy needful brother: it will make thee see more clearly into the providence of God, and excite thee to an acknowledgement of his mercies; ever meditating of his bounty in bestowing, and thy immerrited service in deserving: It will inflame in thee a perfect and exact measure of charity, to give freely, because thou hast received more amply. An affectionate charity is approved by God and man: making ourselves in distributive justice Christians, and imitating the inimitable pattern of Christ, who sustained the weak, supported the needy, relieved the hungry, being all to all, that he might show his glory towards all: his humility may assuage our pride, and caution us to be humble here, that we may be exalted elsewhere. His penury may tax us of excess, that live in Epicureal riot, consuming our days in security and careless profanation of God and his sacred ministers; neither using reverence to them nor him: for in contemning them, we contemn him( as he the father of verity hath spoken.) O dear christian! we have too long dallied with sin, too long delayed the time of our conversion: Turn, turn from thy evil ways: lest thou be cut down in his fury: the vials of his wrath have been long in diffusing, but so much longer the stroke is delayed, so much it returns more violent. O let us relinquish earth's vanity, and plant our affections upon heavens beauty; why should we love such things as breed loathing: having bitterness in their taste, and producing no fruits, but the distasteful weeds of repentance? Who so is bewitched or captivated with the pie-coloured vanities of this world, deserves a pie colord coat to describe the fool in his follies. Learn to be wise in spiritual affairs, that the commerce which thou hast had with the factors of vanity, may be now disvalued, having reference to the main price of thy redemption working out thy salvation with fear and trembling. Thou seest the race thou must of necessity run, not the race of lascivious prodigals, whose exorbitance makes their house die in infamy, nor the race of the Avaricious Miser, that treasures up vengeance for himself and his posterity, making the issue of his loins the heirs of shame, nor the race of adulterers that wast their estate in the brothels of licentious delights: but the christian race, making thy beginning a hopeful poem of a successive end: thy end a happy concluder of so fair beginnings. Run thus and thou shalt obtain, not a temporal reward, but the crown of eternity: that God( who reclaimed thee from thy sin, may be glorified in thy members, consecrated to holiness and integrity▪ Meditate of this, contemplate this, exercise the faculties of thy soul in these, and the like spiritual meditations: so shall the deceits of Satan be diverted, the gracious operations of God's spirit renewed: and the promises of God to thee performed in supernal Zion.   

A SERMON of Saint Barnard upon the passion of the Lord.  
LEt us celebrate( dear christians) with divine honours, jesus of Nazareth, by the jews innocently condemned, by the Gentiles crucified. Let us that are Christians worship with all reverence, embrace with all ferventness, and imitate with all faithfulness( as it is meet, comfortable and glorious) the infirmities of our Saviour: for these sufferings be those instruments, by which the omnipotent power and inscrutable wisdom of God hath wrought wonderfully and powerfully the restoration of the whole world. For Christ our Lord hath so wrought for us, that he became less than Angels, to make us equal unto Angels; And who will not humble himself for Christ's sake? Christ our Lord was crucified for our sins, and hath sweetened the bitterness of the Cross, to such as love his Crosse. He died, and destroyed death, that through him we might live: and who will not love Christ our Lord? who will think much to suffer for Christ? Christ by the ignonimie of his Cross, passed to the glory of heavenly excellence, and all power in heaven and in earth is given unto him( by God his father) for his reverence: All the Angels of God do worship him, and in the Name of jesus let every knee bow of things heavenly, earthly, or whatsoever is under the earth; wherein( O Christian) canst thou glory, save in the Name of our Lord God crucified, and in the name of Christ, which is above all names, in which whosoever is blessed, shall be blessed upon earth? Glory in the Name of the Son your redeemer, and ascribe honour to your Saviour, who hath done great things for us, and magnify his name with me, saying: we worship thee O Christ thou king of Israel, and of all Nations, King of Kings, Lord of the whole earth, God of Sabboath, the most sure strength of the omnipotent God. We worship thee that art the precious price of our redemption, the peace offering, who( alone) by the inestimable sweetness of thy perfumes, hast moved thy father whose dwelling is on high, to behold the things which are on earth, appeasing his indignation conceived against us. We declare thy mercies O Christ, and we utter the remembrance of thy sweetness in abundance. We offer unto thee( O Christ) the sacrifice of praise, for the multitude of thy goodness, shown unto us, of a depraved seed, wicked and rebellious children. For when we were thy enemies( O Lord) and death had entered upon all flesh, to which all the seed of Adam became subject, by the condition of our original sin, thou rememberdst thy mercy, and lookedst down from thy high habitation upon this vale of tears and misery. Thou sawest the affliction of thy people, and being inwardly touched with the sweetness of charity, thou conferredst the thoughts of peace and redemption upon us, and when thou was the son of God, very God, coeternal and consubstantial with God the father, & God the holy Ghost, inhabiting an inaccessible light, and supporting all things with the word of thy strength; thou disdainedst not to bow down thy majesty to this frail prison of our mortality, whereby thou mightest both taste, swallow down our misery, and advance us to thy glory. It had been but little to thy charity, to finish the work of our salvation, by deputing the consummation thereof to some Cherubin or Seraphin, or one of thy Angels: but thou vouchsafedst thyself to come unto us, being commanded by thy father, whose exceeding charity we have tried in thee. Thou camest( I say) not by changing thy place, but by exhibiting thy presence unto us, by taking upon thee our flesh. Thou camest from the royal throne of supreme glory, into the womb of a Virgin, humble and abject in her own eyes, sealed with the religious vow of virgin's continence, in whose sacred womb the ineffable power alone of the holy spirit, made thee to be conceived, and to be borne in the Nature of true humanity, so as the occasion of thy birth did neither impair in thee the power of thy majesty, nor in thy mother the pureness of her virginity. O amiable and admirable humility, that being God of infinite glory, became as a contemptible worm of misery! Thou being God of all, became a servant unto all. It seemed too little in thy sight to be our Lord and father, but thou vouchsafest likewise to be our brother, and thou Lord of the whole earth, standing in need of nothing, from the beginning of thy Nativity, refusedst not to taste the inconveniences of poverty. For as the Scripture saith, thou hadst not when thou wast borne any place in an Inn, nor cradle, which might receive thee in thy tender infancy: but in the base crib of a filthy stable. Thou which containest the whole earth in thyself, art wrapped up in swaddling clouts, and placed in a desperable repose. Hence is it, that thy mother took thee from amongst the brute beasts. Take comfort, take comfort ye that live in poverty, because God lives with you in your poverty, he lies not in delicious beds, nor is he found in the ways of such as live in their delights. To what end dost thou rejoice,( O rich man) being but clay, wallowing in thy gorgeous and trim bed, since the King of Kings choosed rather to honour the straw beds of the poor with his humble repose? Why dost thou disdain hard straw, when a tender infant in whose hand are all things, preferred the hard litter of beasts before thy silks and feathers? But this thy tender and weak infancy( O Christ) was not secure from the sword of the persecutors: for whilst thou yet sucked hanging at thy mother's breast, an Angel appeared unto joseph in his sleep, saying: Arise▪ and take the child, and fly into Egypt, and abide there till I shall tell thee; for it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to kill it etc. Now from this time( O good jesus) thou beginnest to suffer sharp things: for thou suffered'st not only this vexation in thine own infancy, but) the death of those little ones, many thousands whereof by the cruelty of Herod were put to death, being rest from their mother's breasts. Having past thine infancy, thou gavest unto us an example of professing the truth with all humility: for thou sattest not with the counsel of vanity, but in the midst of Doctors, questioning, and hearing them: although thou wast the Lord of knowledge, and the wisdom of God thy Father. But thou wast likewise an example of obedience unto us, when as thou being Governor of the whole world subjecteth thyself humblely unto the will of thy parents. When the growth of a stronger age came, so as thou wast to apply thyself to more weighty affairs, thou goest forth to finish the salvation of thy people: as a mighty Giant to run the race of all our misery. And that thou mightest( in human resemblance) frame thyself like unto thy brethren, thou the innocent lamb of God,( never defiled with the least stain of sin) camest unto thy servant baptizing penitent sinners, as if thou hadst been a sinner, desiring that thou mightest be baptised: but he baptised not thee in the water, but the water in thee, sanctifying them, that they might sanctify us, by thy sanctifying spirit working in us. From Baptism by the strength of thy spirit, thou goest into the desert, giving us an example of solitary life in thee. Thou suffered'st patiently solitariness and fasting, for the space of 40. days, bitterness of hunger, temptations and illusions, to the end thou mightest make all these things more tolerable unto us. At last thou camest to the lost sheep of Israel, showing openly the lamp of thy divine word to illuminate all the world, declaring thy kingdom to all such as obeyed thy word, and followed thy precepts; confirming with signs, and showing the power of thy divinity to all that were sick, doing all things to all men freely, which might conduce to the salvation of sinners, to the end thou mightst profit all. But the fools heart is darkened( O Lord) and he hath thrown thy commandments behind him, never hearkening unto all those wonderful works which thou hast wrought amongst them: except a few very noble and stout champions, which thou hast elected out of the weak and abject things of the world, that by them thou mightst wonderfully discomfit the strong and mighty. Neither have they alone been unthankful unto thee for thy benefits: but( O Lord of Lords) they have reproached thee, and done unto thee whatsoever it liked them: for what said they when thou didst those works of God which none else could do? This man is not of God: in the Prince of devils he throws out devils, he hath a devil, he seduceth the people, he is a glutton and a bibber of wine, a friend of Publicans and sinners. Why weepest thou? why sighest thou( O man) when thou art injuriously reproached? dost thou not hear how many rebukes fell upon thy Lord and Saviour for thy sake? If they call the master of the household Belzebub, how much more his household servants? But( O good jesus) whilst they spoke these and the like blasphemies, stoning thee sometimes with stones, thou suffered'st all things patiently, and thou becamest as if thou hadst not heard, having no rebukes in thy mouth. Lastly they set thy just and undefiled blood) betrayed by thy disciple a son of perdition) at the price of thirty pieces of silver, that they might take away thy life without a cause. Albeit the treachery of that wicked betrayer was not hid from thee, when in the supper where thou washedst thy Disciples feet, kneeling down on thy knees before him, thou vouchsafedst to handle, wash▪ and wipe his cursed feet( swift to shed blood) with thy most holy hands.  
Wherefore then( O thou dust & ashes) art thou yet so proud? doth pride yet lift thee up? doth impatience yet vox thee▪ Behold thy jesus, the creator of all things, the fearful judge of the quick and the dead, the very parerne of humility and mercy, kneeling before the feet of a man, and that man a traitor. Learn, because he is meek and humble in heart, and be ashamed of thy pride, and blush at thy patience. This was also( O Lord) an especial token of thy mildness, when thou wouldst not discover that disloyal wretch in the midst of his brethren, nor publicly confound him; only bidding him do that he would do quickly. In all these his malice ceased not towards thee, but going forth he perfects his mischievous purpose.  
O Lucifer, how fellest thou from heaven, that shined before so brightly in heaven, thou that once appearedst glorious in the delicious borders of Paradise, fellow Citizen with the Angels in Heaven, and a guest at the table of the divine word: how art thou now reckoned among the children of darkness? thou that wast nourished with spices, wherefore dost thou embrace filthiness? Now is thy family( O Christ) purified, when he went into the world, leaving the Angelical society which in heaven remained. Now is that happy company made drunk with the plentiful inundation of thy divine oracles, having casten him out whom thou knewest to be unworthy of the infusion of so pure a liquor. When thou hadst given a commandment of charity and wholesome patience, and hadst disposed of thy Father's Kingdom unto thy brethren: thou goest aside with them, towards the place known to thy Betrayer: knowing all things that would come upon thee. There thou wast not ashamed to confess in the hearing of thy Apostles, the sadness of thy soul by the imminency of thy passion which voluntarily thou assumedst, as also other things which then thou suffered'st, saying: Now is my soul heavy even unto death. Also kneeling upon the ground thou fellest flat upon thy face, praying in thine agony, and saying: O Father( if it be possible) let this cup pass from me. And that bloody sweat did most evidently express the sorrows of thy heart, which all the time of thy prayer trickled down drop by drop upon the ground. O my Lord jesus, whence comes this thy sorrowful supplication? didst thou not voluntarily offer thy self a sacrifice unto thy father? even so Lord. But we suppose that thou took this upon thee, for the comfort of thy weak and disconsolate members, lest peradventure some should despair if at any time the frail flesh seem to murmur, when the spirit is ready to repel any tentation. Surely thou didst it to this end, that we might have continual motives of love & thankfulness towards thee, having expressed the natural infirmity of our flesh by these tokens in thee. By which we are taught, that thou hast truly borne our infirmities, & hast passed the pricking thorns of thy passions not without a sensible feeling of them. For that voice seemed not to be the voice of the spirit but of the flesh, in that thou addest, the spirit is truly ready, but the flesh is weak. That the spirit was ready to thy passion thou evidently demonstrated, when thou ran of thine own accord to meet thy betrayer & such men as were given to shed blood attending him, seeking to take away thy life with lanterns and Torches and weapons upon the Night: and lest they should receive any notice by the Captain of this impiety, thou manifested thyself: for thou turnedst not away from that cruel Beast coming to kiss thy most holy mouth, but affably gave thy mouth( wherein was never deceit found) unto his mouth which abounded with all malice. O Innocent lamb of God, what hast thou to do with that wolf? what concord betwixt thee and Belial? but this was O Lord thy great mercy, to exhibit all such things as might any way mollify the pertinacy of a depraved heart: for( as one not all together unmindful of ancient friendship) thou admonished him saying; my friend to what end camest thou? and willing( as it seems) to wound the heart of this impious Traitor, with the horror of his sin, thou said: judas dost thou betray the son of man with a kiss? and behold the Philistines are upon thee Samson. Neither didst thou drive them from thee intending to smite them at the hour of thy apprehension, with thy right hand, no not in defence of thyself, that the foolish presumption of man may know that they can do nothing against thee, but so much only as is permitted by thee. But who can hear without weeping how they laid their murdering hands upon thee, tying thy innocent hands with cords, sweet jesus, who like a most meek lamb speaking nothing, was carried after the manner of a thief, contumeliously to the slaughter. Neither ceasedst thou then( O Christ) to show thy mercy upon thy Enemies, & to diffuse the honiecombe of thy sweetness upon them, reproving the zeal of thy defender, and withholding him from hurting such as haled thee. Their fury was cursed because wilful, being neither moved by the majesty of thy miracles, nor the greatness of thy benefits. Thou wast brought before a counsel of wicked head-priests consulting against thee; and confessing the truth( as was seemly) thou wast adjudged to death for thy blasphemy. O loving Lord, how many unworthy things hast thou suffered of thine own Nation? men of polluted lips beslubbring with their spittle▪ thy amiable countenance, on which the Angels have desired to look, replenishing the whole Courts of heaven with joy; and unto which all the rich men in the world shall make intercession: beating it with their sacrilegious hands, and blindfolding thee in derision: and being Lord of all creatures buffeted thee as a servant most contemptuous of all others. But let us now come to their delivering up of thy soul, to be swallowed up by uncircumcised flesh. They lead thee bound before Pilate, requiring that thou mayst be crucified which knewest no sin, & that a murderer might be let loose unto them, less esteeming of a lamb then a wolf; of gold, than clay. O unworthy and unhappy merchandise! neither was that wicked Pilate ignorant, how all these things were done through envy against thee; yet for all that, he proceeded rashly in judgement against thee, filling thy soul with much bitterness without a cause; He suffered thee to be mocked, commanding thee to stand in the sight of thy mockers; nor spared he to tear thy pure virgin-skinne with most sharp scourge, cruelly inflicting stripes upon stripes, and wounds upon wounds. O thou dear child of God, what hast thou committed, that should deserve so great bitterness, so great reproach? Surely nothing. It is I, it is I, wicked man that I am, that was the cause of thy death. I( O Lord) have eaten the sour grape, and thy teeth are on edge, paying for that which thou never took. And yet the impiety of the treacherous jews is not satisfied with all these indignities done against thee: but thou art now at last delivered over into the hands of uncircumcised soldiers to be put to a most shameful death. It seemed but a little matter for those sacrilegious miscreants to crucify thee, but they must also vex thy soul with reproaches. For what saith the Scripture of them. Then all the people gathered together, and taking his own garments from him, they put upon him a purple coat, and they clothed him with a scarlet rob, and winding a crown of thorns they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and bowing unto him they mocked him saying, Hail, King of the jews: and they buffeted him and spit upon him, and taking the reed in their hands they smote him on the Head, and after they had mocked him, they put his own garments upon him, to crucify him bearing his own cross; and they led him to Golgotha, giving him wine to drink mixed with myrrh and gall: and when he had tasted of it, he would not drink: then they crucified him, and two thieves with him, the one of the right hand, and the other of the left, and jesus in the midst. And jesus said: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Afterwards jesus knowing that all things might be done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst: and one amongst them running took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, and put it upon a reed and gave him it to drink: assoon as he had received the vinegar he said, It is finished: and crying with a loud voice he said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit, and bowing down his head he gave up the ghost. Then one of the Soldiers opened his side with a spear: and presently their issued out water and blood for the redemption of man. Awake O my soul, shake of the dust of sin, and fix thy contemplation upon this memorable pattern of Humanity, whom thou seest presented unto thee in this glass of God's word. Behold O my soul, who it is that cometh in unto thee, having the image of a King, and yet reproached by his most despicable servants▪ treading upon Crowns, and yet his Crown is a vexation unto him, wounding his beautiful head with a thousand pricks: he is clothed with royal purple, but in it he is rather despised then honoured: he carries a Sceptre in his hand, but with it his reverend head is wounded: they worship him with bended knees, and call him King, but presently they besmere his amiable face with spitting, dishonouring his cheeks and venerable aspect with their fists. See O my soul, how this man is afflicted and contemned of all sides. He bows himself under the burden of his Cross, & bearing that ignominy which was proper unto thee, where being brought unto the place of execution, his thirst is quenched with myrrh and vinegar upon the Cross, saying: Father pardon etc. What kind of man is this, who in all his sufferings doth not once open his mouth, or utter one word of complaint, or excuse, or of threat, or of curse against those reviling dogs: but concludes with such mild words of blessing, as have not been heard before. O my soul, when hast thou seen any one more merciful? what can be more courteous than this man? Behold him with more attention, how worthy he is of admiration, and most tender compassion. Look at him naked, and torn with whips, betwixt two thieves ignominiously nailed upon the Cross, quenching his thirst with vinegar, and after his death wounded in the side with a spear, sending out plentiful rivers of blood from those wounds in his hands, & feet, and side. O my eyes abound with tears, and O my soul be thou dissolved with the fire of compassion, in condoling so merciful a man, whom thou seest amidst so great biterness to be afflicted with sorrows. And now( O my soul) thou hast seen his infirmicies, and thou dost pity him: now thou hast looked upon his majesty, and thou dost admire him: for what saith the Scripture; From the sixth hour unto the ninth hour there was darkness upon the whole earth: and the Sun was darkened, and the vail of the Temple rend asunder from the top even to the bottom, and there was an Earthquake, and the rocks clove, and the graves opened, and many bodies of the Saints which were dead arose. Who is this, with whom both Heaven and Earth do suffer, and whose death doth raise men from death? Know O my soul, know that this is the Lord God, jesus Christ thy Saviour, the only begotten son of God, very God, & very man: who of all men under the Sun, was only found to be without sin, and behold how he is accounted amongst the wicked, and esteemed as one of the Lepars, or as an abortive birth thrown from his mother's womb. So is he thrown from the womb of his Mother, the unhappy Synagogue. He that was the fairest amongst the children of men, how deformed is he made? he was wounded for our iniquities, and broken for our sins: he was made a burnt Sacrifice of sweet incense unto thee O Father of eternal glory, to pacify thy wrath conceived against us, and to place us in the celestial mansions of glory. Behold( O holy Father) from thy Sanctuary, and from thy high habitation, behold this our holy sacrifice, which our Head-priest offereth unto thee, thy holy Son, and our Lord jesus offering himself up for our sins: and mercifully do away the multitude of our transgressions. Behold the voice of the blood of our jesus crieth unto thee from the Crosse. For what( O Lord) what is it that hangeth thereon? he hangeth even now, because things past are as things present before thee. Take knowledge( O Father) unto the coat of thy true son joseph: Behold a savage beast hath devoured him, and trampled upon his garment in his fury, staining his beauty with the effusion of his blood: behold he hath made pitiful rents in it This O Lord is the garment which thy innocent son left in the hands of that Egyptian harlot, thinking it better to lose his coat, than his honour, and choosing rather to be spoiled of the garment of his flesh, and to descend into the prison of death, then for the glory of the world to hearken unto the voice of the adulteress: to that voice I say, where it was said unto him: All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down before me and worship me, which was as if he should have slept with the adulteress. And now, O my Lord, we know that this thy son liveth, and is Governor over all Egypt, and in every place of thy dominion: for he is advanced from the prison of death and of Hell, to thy Empire, and attaining a Crown of immortality, hath changed the garment of his flesh, to reflourish within the immortality of the spirit, where thou hast received him with much honour. For he hath subjecteth the empire of Pharaoh unto him, and hath triumphantly ascended Heaven by his own proper majesty: & behold, he is crowned with glory and honour, when he sitteth at the right hand of thy majesty, mediating for us; for he is our flesh, and our brother. Behold( O Lord) the face of thy Christ, who became obedient unto thee even unto death: nor let the scars of his wounds ever depart from thy sight, that thou mayest remember the satisfaction thou hast received for our sins. I would O Lord thou wouldst but weigh our sins in a balance, by which we have deserved thy wrath, and the calamity which thy son suffered to appease thy wrath. Surely more forcible and more worthy would the cause appear to show thy mercy upon us, then by reason of our sins to power down the viols of thy Ire upon us. Let every tongue( O father) give thanks unto thee for the exceeding abundance of thy love, in not sparing thy only begotten Son: but giving him over unto death for us; that we might have him as a faithful Advocate before thee in Heaven for us. And thou O Lord jesus, most mighty & most zealous of man's salvation, what thanks shall I give unto thee, that I may give thanks worthy, being but dust and the workmanship of thy hands? for what couldst thou do for my salvation, and hast not done it? from the sole of thy foot to the crown of thy head, thou hast plunged thyself wholly into the waters of thy passion, that thou mightest draw me wholly from them: and these passions have entered even unto thy soul. For thou subiectedst thy soul to death and desolation, to preserve my soul from death and perdition: and behold thou hast bound me in a double bond unto thee. First in that thou hast given thy life for me; and secondly because my soul was given by thee, twice unto me, once in my creation, and once in my recreation; wherefore I have nothing that is fitter to give thee then my soul, which I had of thee, for if I should in recompense of thy mercy give unto thee the Heaven, the earth, and all the excellency thereof, yet surely could not I attain to the measure of that I owe thee: sith that which I owe, and that which is possible for me to give is thy gift, without which I have nothing to give. Thou art to be loved( O my Lord) with all my heart, with all my soul; with all my strength: and thy imitable footsteps are to be followed by me, because thou vouchsafedst to die for me: and how can this be done in me, but by thee? let my soul cleave unto thee, because all my power dependeth on thee. And now O Lord my redeemer, I worship thee as the true God: I put my trust in thee, I hope in thee, and with my utmost desires do I sigh after thee: help my many imperfections. I incline myself wholly unto the glorious signals of thy passion, wherein thou hast perfected my salvation. In thy name O Christ, do I reverence the royal Banner of thy victorious Crosse. O Christ with all humility do I adore and glorify the remembrance of thy thorny crown, thy red-skarlet nails besmeared with blood, thy lance drenched in thy sacred side, thy wounds, thy blood, thy death, thy burial, thy glorious and victorious resurrection and glorification. For the breath of life breatheth to me in all these: by these lively and redolent odours raise my spirit O Lord, from the death of sin: By the power of these preserve me from the subtleties of Satan, that the yoke of thy commandments may be unto me easy, and the burden of thy Cross( which thou commandest me to bear after thee) may be light: for what is my strength, that( according to thy commandment) I might be able with an invincible spirit to sustain so manifold afflictions in the world. Are my feet like hinds feet, that like a swift courser I may be able to run over the thorns and difficulties of thy passions? but hear my voice, and lay thy corsse softly upon thy servant, that cross, which is the wood of life to them that lay hold upon it: my hope is, I shall run swiftly, and shall carry as constantly the cross which is given me of my enemies, to follow thee. Lay( I say) that most divine cross upon my shoulders, the breadth whereof is charity, the length eternity, the height omnipotency, and the depth inscrutable wisdom, replenished with majesty. Nail my feet and my hands unto it, and conform thy servant, O Lord, wholly unto thy passion. Grant unto me O Lord, that I may abstain from all the works of the flesh, which thou hatest, and do those works of righteousness which thou lovest, and in both to seek thy glory. I suppose it very expedient that my left hand be nailed unto the cross with the nail of temperance, my right hand with the nail of uprightness. Grant that my soul may continually meditate upon thy law, fixing all her cogitations upon thee: and fasten thou my right foot to the same wood of life, with the nail of wisdom. Grant that the seeming felicity of this transitory life may not enfeeble the operation of my spirit with a sinister sensuality, nor that it be troubled with this present lives infelicity, but that both my right hand and left may be fixed unto the cross with the nail of fortitude; and that some appearance of the thorns which were plaited upon thy head, may be resembled in me, give unto my heart I beseech thee the wholesome compunction of repentance, & compassion of another's misery, & the prick of fervent zeal which may be found upright before thee and to turn unto thee in my affliction, whilst my head is crowned with this threefold wreath of thorns. I desire thee also to reach a sponge unto my mouth by a reed, and to minister the bitterness of gall unto my taste. I desire also that by thy Scriptures thou wouldst illuminate my reason, that I may taste and see how this flourishing world is as an empty sponge, and all the concupiscences there of more bitter than vinegar. So( my father) may that Babylonian Cup diffused upon the whole earth seem bitter unto me: not able with her fruitless flourish to seduce me nor with her false sweetness to inebriate me, as she doth those who call darkness light, and light darkness, that which is bitter sweet, and what is sweet bitter. Thy wine mixed with myrrh and gall is suspicious unto me: forasmuch as thou wouldst not drink of it, because it employed the bitterness of envy and impiety of such as crucified thee. Fashion thy servant, O Lord, after thy lively death, so working in me that I may die in the flesh, but live in the righteousness of the spirit But that I may rejoice in the carrying of the whole image of Christ crucified, express in me a similitude of that which▪ the insatiate malice of the wicked jews exercised against thee after thy death: let thy quick and effectual word more piercing than the sharpest lance, reaching even unto the division of my soul wound my heart: and produce out of it as from my right side in stead of blood and water, a love( O Lord) unto thee and to thy brethren: finally wrap my spirit in the pure syndon of my original stole of innocency, that I may rest there, going out and going in into the place of thy admirable Tabernacle, hiding me till thy fury be overpast: but in the third day after the day of my labour, the day of punishment, early in the first sabbath raise me( thy unworthy servant) and place me perpetually among thy children, that in my flesh I may see thy glory and be satisfied with the light of thy countenance. O my Saviour and my God, let the time come, let it come I beseech thee, that what I now believe, I may behold with revealed eyes; what I now hope for, I may at last obtain; that what I now desire vehemently. I may embrace really, may kiss lovingly, being plunged in the bottomless sea of mercy, O my Saviour and my God. But bless thou my Saviour O my soul, and magnify his name. O how good & sweet art thou O Lord jesus unto the soul that seeketh thee. O jesus the redeemer of the lost, the saviour of the redeemed, the hope of the banished, the strength of the wearied, refreshing to the distressed, & comfort to the desolate, a sweet repose and a comfortable to the sorrowful soul, running O Lord speedily after thee, till she oreget thee the crown of triumph, the chiefest merchandise, and the joy of all the heavenly Citizens; an ever-flowing fountain of all spiritual graces, the only child of God, and the great God: Let all things which are in Heaven above or in earth below praise thee. Great art thou, and great is thy name O thou immortal glory of the high God, and the pure majesty of the light eternal, O life that quicken'st all things; O light that enlightenest all things, O light that illuminatest every light, and conservest by thy eternal splendour: Thousands and ten thousands of lights have shined before the Throne of thy majesty from the beginning. O eternal, substantial and inaccessible, clear and delectable stream of that fountain, hid from the eyes of all mortal men, whose beginning is without beginning, whose bottom is without bottom, whose periodde is without period, whose circuit is incircumscrutable, whose purity is imperturbable. The heart of the Almighty hath sent thee( O my soul) out of his impenetrable Abyss. O life, from thee have we in all fullness received life, from thy light have we received light: thou that art eternal, hast made us eternal, thou that art boundless, hast made us boundless, making us in all things equal to thyself. For thou that art the most plentiful fountain of every perfect gift, hast vouchsafed to convey the precious River of thy seven fold graces into our hearts, to enrich us with thy secret treasures, and with the sweetness thereof to allay the saltness of this sea,( that is) of our infirmities. O thou Spring of the oil of gladness, thou river of pure wine, thou torrent of entire zeal, the holy Spirit our comforter, being sent unto the world by the Father and thee, to both he is equal in dignity of essence, filleth all things, containeth all things, being spirit of the spirit of thy Father, one of both, as the individual communion uniting both: a soldier uniting, a conjunction indissoluing, and that peace which passeth all understanding. This is the well of thy comforts, O Lord, by which thou daily supportest, and with pleasant objects most abundantly refreshest that delicate and glorious City Jerusalem is above: where those glorious and flamie Organs do incessantly sing Hymns in the voice of exultation and feasting, with the desired tunes whereof the hungry jaws of thy people in the days of this their pilgrimation crave daily to be refreshed. Suffer( O Father) the little dogs to feed on the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Send out your dew O Heavens from above, and let the clouds rain upon the righteous, him O Lord whom thou hast made zealous of thy laws. Purge we beseech thee O Lord with the sallatorie of thy word, the religious first fruits of thy people, being a testimony of our solemn celebration of this time: renew, illuminate, inflame, inspire, confirm, and unite the hearts of all believers unto thee, that they may be one, taste one, and with all unanimity require, apprehend, see, and glorify thee our only God in Zion. Let glory, thanks, honour, and power be attributed to the individual Trinity for evermore.  
Amen.   

Quaedam sententiae, eaeque vere Aureolae, ad humanae mentis intimam devotionem inflammandam, excerptae.  
Qui de se humiliter sentit, haec legat.  
CHristus qui pro nobis passionem sustulit, in fructus passionis nos promovebit: ut sicut spinarum coronâ tempora eius figebantur, gaudiorum mercede mentes nostrae illustrentur. Hic viximus in dolore, illic afficiemur Honore: Honore dei, qui mundano Honori maxime adversatur, ille enim a christianis( qui sub vexillo suo meruerunt) possidetur, Hic autem ab Ethnicis( qui eorum famam auxerunt) petitur. O quam incundum est in domo tua( domine) habitare? ubi nullo metu, nulla cupiditate, nullo motu distrahimur! videntes vero faciem tuam meridiana luce multo clariorem laeitia vultus tuisatiamur. Hic dilectus est meus, quem quaerit mens mea: quaeret nec desistet donec cum quaerendo inveniet.   

A MOST DEVOUT MEDITATION of Saint Barnard entreating of the misery of man, and examination of the last judgement.  
TOuching the outward man, I descend from those parents, who( ere I was borne) made me forlorn. Sinners beget sinners in their sin, nourishing them from sin unto sin: miserable man hath brought his miserable issue to light: from my parents I have nothing but misery, and sin, and this corruptible body which I carry about with me. And to them I hasten who are departed hence by the death of their Bodies: whose sepulchres when I behold, I find nothing in them but dust and worms, filthiness, and horror; what I am, have they been: and what they are, I shall be. What am I( miserable man?) engendered of liquid humour, at the time of my conception I was conceived of human seed: which seed afterwards growing thick by increasing little by little, became flesh: whence weeping and shrieking, I was exposed to the exile of this world: and behold now I die, being full of iniquities and abominations. Even now shall I be presented before a fearful judge, that will take an exact account of all my works. Woe is me wretch that I am; when that day shall come, and those books shall be opened wherein all my actions and cogitations shall be rejected in the presence of God; O then shall I stand fearful before the Lord in judgement, hanging down my head and confessing my shame, remembering the offences I have committed, and the sincerity of a pure conscience which I have defiled: and when it shall be said of me, behold the man and his works: then shall I set before mine eyes all my sins, and transgressions: for it will come to pass( by a certain divine instinct) that all our works both good and evil, shall come unto our remembrance, and by the piercing sight of the mind shall be apprehended by a wonderful quickness: to the end knowledge might accuse or excuse conscience, and so all universally and every one distinctly might together be judged, each man shall give account, what he hath done of all, to all, how ended, how begun: for what we are now ashamed to confess privately, shall be then manifested publicly: and what we now seek to shadow by dissembling, shall be discussed by the fire of revenge ever burning. Swift flaming fire shall scorch with boundless rage: and by how much longer God hath expected our amendment, by so much more severely will he punish us, because we were negligent. Why therefore do we so greatly desire this life, wherein the longer we live, the more we offend: for by how much our life is longer, by so much be our offences more. For daily are evils increased, but goodness diminished: daily is man changed, by prosperity and adversity, yet knoweth not he when he shall die: for as a glittering star coasting swiftly in heaven, suddenly vanisheth: or as a spark of fire is quickly extinguished, and turns to ashes: so soon the dissolution of man's life: for whilst man soiorneth willingly and joyfully in this world, & promiseth himself to live long, disposing many of his affairs for succeeding times, suddenly is he surprised by death; & unawares is his soul taken from his body: yet with great fear and unmeasurable grief is his soul separated from his body. For the Angels come to take it, and bring it before the Tribunal seat of that fearful judge: where remembering his evil works,( nay his most impious works) which he hath committed night or day, he trembleth, seeking to fly from them, and to take truce with them, saying: Give me one hours respite. Then his works( as if speaking together) shall answer him and say: Thou madest us, we are thy works, we will not leave thee, but abide ever with thee, and attend on thee to thy judgement: his vices also with divers and manifold criminations shall accuse him, and shall find many false testimonies against him, albeit one were sufficient to condemn him. Nay, the devils with a terrible countenance, a dreadful aspect, shall terrify his soul, persecuting her with implacable fury, seizing on her so terribly, and so horribly, as they seem willing to detain and take possession of her, if there were none to deliver her. Then the soul finding her eyes shut, her mouth & all other senses corporal by which she used to be delighted, in these outward things stopped, shall return to her, self; where seeing herself desolate & naked, she shall be exceedingly amazed languishing through despair in herself, & falling below herself. And because she relinquished the love of God, for the love of this world, and the satisfying the pleasures of the flesh, shall be miserably forsaken of God, in that hour of necessity, and shall be delivered over to the devils to be tormented in hell. So shall the sinful soul in the day which she knoweth not, and in the hour of which she is ignoant, be taken away by death, separated from her body, whence she goeth on( full of misery, anguish, and fear) where having no excuse which she can justly show for her sin: she pineth, languisheth, and grows afraid to appear before God; she is surprised with great horror, and tossed with the sundry billows of discomforting passions: the dissolution of the flesh enforcing her, and all means of assistant comforts leaving her, she considers her end appproching, and after a little revolving, she finds that in this perpetual state to which she hastens, there is no changing, she plainly considers with what severity the eternal judge will come, and before the severity of such justice what reasons can she produce to qualify his justice? for if all the works( which she may consider in herself) either committed or omitted had been by her avoided: yet she is in fear, there will such works come before the terrible judge which she never apprehended: her fear increaseth when she conceiveth how she could in no wise pass the ways of this life without sin: nor that part of her life which seemed most praise worthy could be exempted of guilt, without recourse had to God's mercy. For who can duly consider or exactly number the evils we have committed in every moment, or what works we have neglected? for as sin is the committing of evil, so is sin the forsaking of what is good. A great deprival of sanctity( sure) when we neither do good, nor think that is good, but permit our hearts to wander by vain and unprofitable things. It is to difficult a thing to restrain thy heart and preserve it from every unlawful thought. It is also a matter of too great difficulty to employ ourselves in terrene affairs without sin. Wherefore I conclude that none can perfectly comprehend and judge himself, but being occupied with many cogitations, he must of necessity remain in something ignorant to himself, as not knowing what he doth altogether tolerate in himself: wherefore near his end, he is terrified with a more serious and retired fear, because that albeit he never remembers himself to have omitted anything which he knew, yet he fears himself to have neglected many things which he knew not.  

A Meditation of the short life of man, extracted out of the devout and zealous meditations, of that mellifluous Father Saint Barnard.  
THe days of man are as a shadow upon earth, there is no stay, for where we seem to stand, it is in effect nothing. Why therefore doth man so heap up treasure upon earth, sith he must pass without delay, both that which is gathered, and he that gathereth it? And thou( O man) what fruit dost thou expect in this world, whose fruit is destruction, and whose end is death?  
I wish thou wouldst be wise, and understand, and discreetly provide for the day to come. I know one, who( for many years) hath lived familiarly with thee, hath sitten at thy table, taken meat from thy hand, slept in thy bosom, hath conferred with thee when so ere he would, being thy servant by way of inheritance. But because thou hast pampered him delicately from his youth up, and hast spared the rod, he is become stiffnecked, he hath lifted up his heel against thy head, and hath brought thee into slavery, and tyrannically triumphs over thee. Peradventure thou wilt ask me who this is? It is the old man who treadeth underfoot thy spirit: who little or nothing esteems the desires of this earth, because it tasteth of nothing but the distastes of the flesh.  
This man was blind, deaf, dumb, & inveterate in evil from his nativity, a rebel to virtue & truth, an enemy to the Cross of Christ, deriding the innocent, & simple man, & walking in great and wonderful ways, far above his apprehension or conceit. His pride exceeds his strength, he reverendeth none: saying in the foolishness of his heart, there is no God. He repineth at the prosperity of others, he fattens himself with the adversity of others: he is fed with beastly and sensual cogitations, nor is he wearied with them▪ transgressing securely even to the end: he consumeth and scattereth his own estate like a prodigal, he desireth and devoureth other men's estates like a covetous miser: under pretence of dissimulation he gathereth to himself shame and ignominy, and subtly provoketh the wrath of God.  
This man was wholly borne in sin, and so nourished, and brought up with the fiends of iniquity, the children of death, vessels of wrath, created for dishonour and perdition. And yet this man being such( as you hear) declareth the judgements of God, and taketh the testament of his word into his mouth, he hateth instruction, he casteth God behind his back: when he sees a thief he runs with him, and divideth his portion among adulterers, he asperceth reproach upon the child of his own mother, and heapeth up the treasure of ire against the day of wrath upon himself, he would gladly take thy inheritance from thee, and quite root thee from of the earth. And thou revengest not so great an injury done against thee, but dissemblest it, thou speakest not one hard word unto him, nor showest any discontent in thy countenance, but smilest at him flattering thee, playing with a deceiver. Thou art ignorant how it is Ishmael that dallies with thee. Nor is this play of his to be imputed to childishness; simplicity, or innocency, for it is the very illusion of the soul, persecution, death, throwing thee headlong into the ditch he had made for thee. Now art thou become altogether effeminate, now art thou pressed down with the yoke of most miserable bondage, being trod under his feet miserablely and vildly. O wretched & miserable man, who shall deliver thee from the bonds of this enthrallement? let the Lord arise, & let this armed man fall before him, let this man( greatest enemy to man) fall, & be confounded, since he is a contemner of God, a worshipper of himself, & his own illimited affections, a friend to the world, & a servant to the devil. How dost thou think of it? if thou think rightly, thou wilt say with me, he is guilty of death, let him be crucified. Do not therefore dissemble, do not differre, do not spare, but with celerity, magnanimity, and instancy crucify this man. But so, as with the Cross of Christ, wherein there is salvation & life: for whosoever shall call on Christ intentively, & incessantly, shall presently have his crucified old man, inviting him with all benignity: and Christ answering with as much mercy: To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. O the exceeding mercy of Christ! O the inopinate salvation of the wicked, made righteous by Christ! So grateful and approved is the love of God, so admired is his sweetness, so unexpected his lovingness, so immerited his mercifulness, that whosoever crieth to him, is heard of him, for the Lord is merciful, and calls to mind how he made him. O how great is the mercy of God, how ineffable the compassion of the right hand of the almighty? yesterday was I in darkness, this day am I in light: yesterday in the mouth of a Lion most bloody, this day in the hand of my mediator full of mercy, yesterday in the gate of hell to be tormented for ever, to day in a paradise of perpetual pleasure. But what do these letters of admonition profit, unless thou wipe from thy conscience those letters or characters of death? what do these writings profit, what do they both read and understood avail, unless thou both reads and understand thyself? apply thyself therefore to inward reading, that thou may read, conceive and apprehend thyself: so read as thou may love God, that thou may fight, and by fight vanquish the world, and all thy enemies therein: that thy labour may be converted into rest, thy lamenting into rejoicing, and after the darkness of this life ending, thou may see the rising of that morning sun of righteousness ever shining, where thou may likewise see that meridian sun of eternity, in whom thou shalt see the Bridegroom with his bride, one, and the same Lord of glory, who liveth and reigneth for evermore.   

A Meditation of Saint Barnard wherein he describes the method of prayer, and how a zealous Christian should pray.  
Have mercy on me( O Lord) for I sin there the most, where I ought to reform myself the most for in the private Monastery, oft times whilst I pray, I give not attention to that I pray: I pray with my mouth( and implies thereby a lip labour) but my mind is wandering abroad, and therefore am worthily deprived of the fruit of my prayer: in body I am inward, but in heart outward, and therefore I lose the benefit of my speech: for little avalleth it us to sing only with the voice without the pure intention of our heart: wherefore it is great perverseness, nay, great madness, when we presume to talk familiarly with God in our prayer, being of so exceeding Majesty, sencelessely to divert our minds from him, and prostitute our hearts to I know not what folly. Great madness is it likewise( & greatly to be punished) when vile dust and ashes composed of nought but sin, disdaineth to hear the creator of this universe speaking unto him. But ineffable is the humility of his divine goodness, daily beholding us( unhappy wretches) turning our ears, hardening our hearts, yet vouchsafeth he incessantly to cry unto us, saying, return you that be of an uncircumcised heart▪ behold and see I am your Lord and God▪ God speaketh unto me in a Psalm, and I unto him, neither yet when I say the Psalm do I consider whose Psalm it is: therefore do I a great injury unto God, when I desire him that he would hear my prayer, which I, when I power it before him, do not hear myself.  
I beseech him to incline his ear unto my prayer, but I incline mine ear neither to myself, nor to my prayer, but which is worse, by meditating of unprofitable and sensual affections, I oppose a most filthy and horrible corruption, in the consideration of my heart's pollution, before the eyes of his all-seeing Majesty.   

A very profitable prayer taken out of Saint Barnard, entreating of the form and manner, how every one ought to consider himself, no less sententious than zealous.  
IF I behold not myself, I know not myself: but if I behold myself, I shall not endure myself: because I find so many things in me no less worthy of reprehension, than confusion and shame: so as by how much more exactly and seriously I examine myself, so many more abominations do I find in the corners of my heart. For since the time I first began to sin, I could never pass one day without sin, neither as yet do I cease from sin, but from day to day add sin upon sin, which though I have them before mine eyes, and consider the exceeding measure of them, yet do I not lament them. I see sins in me to be ashamed of, yet am not I ashamed: I behold sins to be sorrowed for in me, yet am not I sorrowful: which is an evident sign and token of death and damnation, for that member which feeleth not pain is dead: and a disease insensible, is incurable.  
I am sensual and dissolute, neither yet do I correct myself: but daily reiterate those sins which before I confessed, neither am I aware of the ditch, into which( miserable soul that I am) I have fallen, or made another to fall, or seen him falling. And whereas I ought to deplore my sins and( with instancy of supplication) pray for remission of them( to wit) for the evils which I had committed, and the good which I had neglected and omitted: woe is me, I did the quite contrary, for first I grew lukewarm, and after chill-could in the fervour of my prayer, and now I remain key-could, without any sense or apprehension of sin: and therefore cannot bewail the sin committed by me, because the grace of tears and remorse is departed far from me.   

That sin is not to be excused.  
Where I ought to have amended my sins, I added sin upon sin: when I was accused of them▪ I either in a sort excused them, or wholly denied them, or which is worse, I defended them, and with impatience answered for them, whereas there was no sin, with which I was not defiled, or might have been defiled. It is fit therefore, that all occasion of delay set apart, I promise amendment of all sides, or by whomsoever I am accused: to the end I may be delivered from the servitude of sin by me committed, or which might be by me committed.  
Qui ver saturin atrijs Dei, oret & deploret: oret, ut peccata eius remittantur: deploret peccata que committuntur: speret in Deo ut possideat Deum in quo speravit. Ibid.    

A Glorious Hymn of an ancient Father, expressing the Harmonious union of the heavenly Citizens.  

SAcred powers united ever,  
Which no discord can dissever,  
So enriched by the heavenly giver,  
As empoverishd are you never.   

Concord's perfect joys uniting,  
To melodious feasts inviting,  
Where all objects be delighting,  
No dark clouds, your day benighting.   

What one hath is not so private,  
But his friend may likewise have it,  
And suppose he should not crave it,  
Yet united loves receive it.   

There's no light that moon doth borrow,  
All's one day, there's no morrow,  
Perfect solace free from sorrow,  
Year by year contented through   

No Eclipse of Sun or Moon,  
Neither of their lights be shown,  
Heaven has tapers of her own,  
Which to heavenly saints are known.   

Fruits so mellow, full of pleasure,  
Sacred mounts replete with treasure,  
Of which saints have perfect seizure,  
Reaping them at their best leisure.   

There the Cedar and the Pine,  
Fruitful olive, braunchie Vine,  
Peaceful Myrtle, Myrrh divine,  
There the Rose and Eglantine.   

Every flower in seemly order,  
Stands to beautify her border,  
More than Art could ere afford her,  
Since divinest powers have stored her.   

There loves bird sits on a spray,  
Chanting out her roundelay,  
Glorious souls their joys display,  
Every saint keeps holiday.   

Clad they be in golden clothing,  
Ophir gold to that is nothing,  
Full of joy, yet without loathing,  
time-observing without soothing.   

There the Topaz, Emerald,  
And the Diamond, that's called  
The world's beauty: Cities walled  
Round with gold: with gems empalld.   

There is that Bethesdas pool,  
Which refresheth every soul,  
There the books which do enroll  
Such as laugh, and such as howl.   

None must in that camp appear  
Conquerors, but conquered here,  
Such as past their days in fear,  
To be crowned for ever there.   

Let us fight, that we may win,  
Mastery over death and sin,  
That after life we may begin  
To renew our life with him.  
Who has mercy still in store,  
And doth live forevermore.   
FINIS.