The devout hart or Royal throne of the pacifical Salomon. Composed by F. St. Luzuic S.I. Translated out of Latin into English. Enlarged with incentiue by F. St. Binet of the same S. and now enriched with hymnes by a new hand

IESVS PVRGETH THE HART WITH expiatory bloud. (Book 7)

THE HYMNE.

OHart lie open freely take, These sprinckled drops, enough to slake The flames of lust and quench the fire, Of bel it-self, O Hart desire Thy Lord, now is he entred in, To put to flight the deuil sinn, The world th•• flesh: Behold h'is gone, Thy contrite hart▪ plow'd, harrowd, sown, May, wat••red with his heauenly dew, Spring forth, and fructify anew: To which annex some pearlik drops, That thou with ioy maist reap thy crops. Raine followes wind; sigh, teares begin, And drown as with a deluge sinn

THE INCENTIVE.

1. ALthough the hart be vn∣worthy and wholy vncapa∣ble of score of celestial graces, yet IESVS howsoeuer, of his soueraign goodnes, powrs thereon and sprin∣ckles it at least with some little drops thereof, to instil thereby into the soule the first loues of heauen, and to excite a thirst thereof.

2. Behold in IESVS absence, how dry, dul vntoward, poore, miserable the hart languisheth and pines away; how the Angels likewise scanding round about, and ful of horrour, are amazed the while, & with reue∣rence are praying to IESVS to be moued at so great a misery of the humane hart.

3. Goe to then, water, water, O most sweet IEVSV, this vnhappy

hart: sprinckle it at least with some little drop of the ful fountaines of thy sweetnes. It is now enough, sweete IESVS; for loe the hart came presently to it-self againe, as soone as it felt but one little drop of thy diuine loue to be sprīckled on it.

THE PREAMBLE to the Meditation.

MOyses, it is to no purpose to take the aspersour in harta 1.1 and with a purple thread to tye the ysop so about it; with which dipt in the bloud of the victime; thou busily purgeth the Altar, the volume of the Law, the whole people, at∣tentiuely listning to the statutes and precepts of God: this shed & sprinc∣kled bloud, wil not expiate sinnes, ror to the Tabernacle or Leuits af∣ford any sanctity a whit nor wipe a∣way

the spots of leprosy, nor cancel the stigma or seared print of sinne; vnlesse with al thou reguardst this fountaine, this bloud, which alone can wash away the monstruous sor∣didues and which shed on the tree of the Crosse yeald life to soule imparts a candour and beauty to them, and that like to the ••unne, which in the ful of the Moone, powres forth his light vpon her orbe and to sick mortals makes her more amiable. Nor truly for ought els that water and bloud so flowed from the side of dying IESVS; then to ennoble soules, being cleansed with that purple to wash their robes, to make them fit and apt, that crowned with victorious laurels they may eternally triumph, with the imma∣culate Lamb.

Take therefore O IESVS, loue of my soule, from this infinit bath

of thine some few little drops, at least, and sprinckle thy Sanctuary therewith, I say, the ample field of my hart; whose shure possessīo, thou hast taken to thy self long since. But you, O smitting Angels, goe farre away hence, the house is marked already, the signes of Tau is prin∣ted on the doores: be-gone I say; for where this marke is seen, it is a crime to enter in. Oh would to God, my IESVS dearely beloued, with Dauids feruour, I could pray and obtaine this fauour at thy hands.

Lord blot out my iniquities, wash me yet more from my wickednes, purge me of my sinne. Thou shalt, sprinckle me with ysop, and I shal be cleane, thou shalt wash me, and I shal be whiter then the snow. Turne away thy face from my sinnes; and blot out al my iniquities. Create in me, O God, a cleane hart, and renew a right spirit in my bowels.b 1.2

Let there be no corner, I beseech thee, which thou purgest not no portion of my soule, which thou blessest not with the fruit of thy pre∣tious bloud. The swallow with her owne bloud restotes sight to her bling yong ones. The bloud of a Goat expels al manner of poyson. Againe, the bloud of doues, let forth beneath the wings, quickens the dulled species of the eyes: nor is it fit my God, nor iust that from thy precious bloud, my hart should not feel likewise the same effects. The bloud of victimes shed from the sacrificed Holocausts, bred no cor∣ruption, nor stench, nor flyes, that sordid creature, but rather eūn destroyed those importune and irk∣some things. The Sacrifice at Bethel c 1.3 offered vp by Iacob, they say, was so purely and holily performed that not a fly disquieted the Patriarch:

busy in this rites. I wil not, Lord I wil not haue my hart a Betha∣nues, or Temple of Beld 1.4 a pe∣stered with flyes, and ruining al with filthy & corrupt goare: where Belsebube 1.5 giues forth his Oracles, and exhibits himself, awful and terrible to men, in despaire of their saluation. How I hate these direful and dreadful Sacrifices, these rites! Thy bloud, O sweet IESV, is al∣wayes red with purple, and white with lylies intermixed.f 1.6 For these two colours thou affect'st, the purple red, & snowy vhite; wouldst thy Cliens, and deuotes addicted to them, and to be known by them. This bloud of thine, to thirsty soules quenches their heat, to hot and toyled spirits sends a humid breath; to broken and dismaid harts, giues fortitude and courage.

VII. MEDITATION.

The preparatory Prayer.

Actiones nostras, &c.

THE PRELVDE.

IN the midst of the Temple, was placed a huge brazen vessel, wh̄ece many channels yssued forth, apt to communicate their waters, for the vse of Preists and Leuits, where with they washed themselues when they went to sacrifice.a 1.7

Weigh the munificence of God, who thought it not enough, for de∣claration of his famous and good wil towards vs, to water the hart of man with his owne bloud, vnles he left vs also a fountaine famous for

seauen channels, from whence the guifts of graces might plentifully & prodigally flow into our minds, to wit seauen Sacraments instituted to this end, to wash vs, to expiate our sinnes, and to wipe al steynes from the hart.

2. Point. Consider the grace, which flowes from the fountaines of the Sacraments, to be a golden water, which turnes al it touches, into gold; and that so powrefully and diuine∣ly, as there is not the least action of our life (so it be sprinckled with the liquour of diuine grace) which we ought not to make more recko∣ning of, then of al the treasures and riches of the world; as meritorious and worthy of eternal happines.

3. Point. Consider now, how al graces, & merits depend of the only Sonne of God, and thence ••re deri∣ued by certaine pipes or aqueducts

as from the rock or head of these li∣uing waters: Wherefore we are most studiously to receiue and keep this liquour of grace; least any whit thereof should breake from the bancks of our hart; nor is any oc∣casion of heaping merits to be omit∣ted, which we greedily reach or catch not at.

THE COLLOQVY TO the wounds of our Sauiour.

MY soule, O God, hath thirsted after thee;a 1.8 vnles thou re∣plenish it with heaūely waters, who shal recreate or refresh it? My soule is blacker then a coale;b 1.9 who shal wash it whiter then snow,c 1.10 vnles thou powrest forth thy grace into it, which clearer then any chry∣stal, fals from the streames of thy side, hands, and feet? Oh sacred

springs of Syloed 1.11 infusing light to the blind! Oh Springs of Elun, which refreshed the heat of the peo∣ple of Israele 1.12 dying nigh with thirst, amid those parched sands of that vast desert! Oh rockf 1.13 smit cruelly with the tongue and hand of the Sinagogue! a rock, I say, not exhaling flames of fire, but powring out aboundant streames and flouds of benedictions; which with a con∣tinued course, accompanyed the pilgrime people into Palestine. Oh you holsome Iourdan waters of Naa∣man g 1.14 flow with a copious chan∣nel into my hart, that no locks or sluce at any tyme may hinder your course. But your, O you heauenly Ministers of God and mans salua∣tion diue and plunge in this foun∣taine placed in the midst of the house of God, those Ethiops our minds, I say, so vgly and defor∣med

with the wretched colour of vices; that by your meanes, being rised and cleansed once they may issue forth like doues. Amen.

Pater. Ave.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Exod. 24. Heb. 9.
• b 1.2

  Psal. 50,
• c 1.3

  Gen. 35.
• d 1.4

  Ose. 10.
• e 1.5

  4. Reg. 1.
• f 1.6

  Cant. 5.
• a 1.7

  Exod. 3.
• a 1.8

  Psal. 62.
• b 1.9

  Thren. 4.
• c 1.10

  Psal. 50.
• d 1.11

  Ioan 9.
• e 1.12

  Exod. 15.
• f 1.13

  Exod. 17.
• g 1.14

  4. Reg. 5.