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 TEACHETH the deuout hart. (Book 9)

THE HYMNE.

O IESV speake, thy seruant heares, But thou must find me pliant eares, For of it-self my hart and wil Is seeking drops that doe distil From a limbeck that's rais'd on high With streines of wit, which soon are dry. Oh let me heare what thou dost speake (Peace) in my hart! Ah, if it leake, As doth a vessel pierced through, It naught avails to heare. For how Can I retaine that in my breast, Except some heat of grace digest? Oh with thy lessons that impart! With thee Ile soone get al by hart.

THE INCENTIVE.

1. BEhold here my litle Doctour teaching from the pulpit of the hart. O speaches al of milk! O nectar! How affectiously the spea∣ches! With what a grace he teacheth How ioyfully the hart leaps, while it takes the words of eternal life.

2. Like Maister like Scholer; especially if he take delight to hang on the lips of God, instructing as a Maister; and with prompt and ready eares and mind but drinck his inspi∣rations. Here truly he playes not the mans, but teacheth the Angels part, yea is indeed a very Angel.

3. Diuine Doctour, teach me to doe thy most holy wil, euery, where and in al things; for I require no more. I shal sure be wise enough, when thou alone shalt tast and relish with me.

THE PREAMBLE to the Meditation.

THe tyme wil come, o delight of my soule, O Spouse of bloud,a 1.1 when mount Caluery shal be thine Accademy, thy diuine hu∣manity, thy booke; for woden Chair, the hard Crosse, where this volumne shal be laid vpon, for points, stripes, Lashes for commaes, for Auditary of so diuine a Maister, the wicked Iewes. Al men shal read in that book, and if they mark, vnderstand, how potent thou art, who canst so aptly linck togeather, things by nature so farre distant from each other; life with death, folly with wisdome, pouerty with riche, strength, with weakenes, gal with hony, high with low. Here the disciples of the. Crosse shal learn;

with what pretty slight of thy wis∣dome, the most tender wormeb 1.2 of thy humanity hanging on the line and hooke of the Crosse hath drawne out of the bowels of mens harts, that horrid and cruel fish Leuiathanc 1.3 and crushed his head: with how vnvsual an instrument, the engine of thy humility, thou ouer-threwest that mad Tower of Babel, brakest with thy meekenes the adamantin hart of the Iewes, how with thy admirable sweetnes and affability, like that worme (which seemed a prodigy to Ionas) d 1.4 thou didst so smit the root of that flowrishing iuy, as suddenly al the leaues withered, that is the cere∣monyes of the ancient Sacrifices were abolished, Altars demolished, the preistly and regal power of the Iewes, the splendour of that flou∣rishing nation, in times past, withe∣red

like a tree strooken and blasted from heauen. Lastly in this open and vnfolded book, al posterity shal acknowledge what were those an∣cient mercies, of thine,e 1.5 hidden hitherto in the immense treasures of thy bowels, and euen the Gentiles themselues whom the diuine good∣nes might seeme to haue cast off for so many Ages past, shal now behold the most abstruse secrets of the highest things, hidden heretofore. But now, [most louing Doctour) doe I see another. Schoole set open to thee, the spacious Galery of man's hart, a noble Lyceum, wherein thou Lord and Maister teachest the soule, thy disciple within and instru∣ctest her with the precepts of thy most holy wil. Speake therefore, I beseech thee Lord, the eares of my hart are open, speake O loue of my hart, for thy words are sweeter then

the hony, and the hony comb:f 1.6 milk and holy vnder thy tongue, the hony∣comb distilleth from thy lips.g 1.7 Oh fiery words of loue! Strong, effica∣tious, endles, thundring words, which impetuously throw al things to the ground, ruine Ceders, fetch vp mountaines by the root, reare the lowly hil lying in the plaines strengthen collapsed minds, dash and crush the proud: Lastly; words of a most indulgent Parent, teaching his dearest child al manner of hol∣some precepts. Lend thine eares then my hart; God is he that speaks. Heare my Child (for so IESVS aduyses from the pulpit of the hart) doe thou giue thy self to me: Let me be thy possession, thy nurse, thy food, for nothing can satiate thyne appetite without me. My Child, throw away those leekes and garlik of Egypt, turne thy face from the

stincking waters of pleasure, and put thy mouth rather to my side, the wine-cellar of graces, whence at ease thou maist draw and deriue to thy self most soueraigne and in∣comparable ioyes: For sake thy self and thou shalt find me; leaue the vayne contentments, of the senses, and thou shalt purchase to thy self the solid & sincere delights of Hea∣uē. Learne of me, child, not to build thee worlds, or frame new Heauens, nor to worke wounders,h 1.8 but learne that I am me••k & humble of hart. i 1.9 Be alwayes mindful of benefits bestowed vpon thee; for nothing so exhausts the riuers of diuine grace, as the blasting vice, of an vngrateful mind. Be present to thy self follow thine owne affairs, square al thy actions to the exact rule of reason, and perswade thy self this, and haue it alwayes in thine eyes, that thine;

and the felicity of al rests in me the only soueraigne good.

IX. MEDITATION.

The preparatory Prayer.

Actiones nostras, &c.

THE PRELVDE.

THey shal be al docible of God.a 1.10

1. Point. Consider how Al∣mighty God, from the first crea∣tion of things, hath proposed al his perfections to be openly read in the book of creatures.b 1.11 For by the ample spaces of Heauens, he hath manifested his immensnes; by the diuersity of celestial influences, the variety of his guifts and graces; by the splendour of the sunne & moone,

his beauty; by the admirable vicisci∣tude of the seasons of the yeare, his prouidēce; by the immoueable firm∣nes & stability of the earthly globe, his constancy and immutability, by the plenty of his benefits wherewith he hath most copiously endowed vs, his goodnes; Lastly in the huge vastnes and depth of the seas, he hath left the inexhaustible abysse of his essence expressed as it were in a paincted cloth.

2. Point. Consider besides by what meanes the same God heretofore hath explicated his mysteries to vs, with diuers Oracles of Prophets, & with the manifold shadowes and figures of the old law.c 1.12 So the greene bushd 1.13 vntouched in the flames, signified the virginity and ••ecundity of the Virgin-Mother. The brazen Serpente 1.14 with whose aspect, erected in the wildernes, were

cured the wounded, slung with ser∣pents, expressed the Crosse, & death of the sonne of God, to be the hol∣some remedy of miserable mortals. The mariage solemnized betweene Salomon & the Egyptian, womāf 1.15 & represented the hypostatical vnion of the eternal Word with the hu∣mane nature.

3. Point. But while these things seemed but smal to the great immen∣sity of his loue, he himself being made man, came downe vnto vs; and taking possession of the hart; and assuming to him the office of a Teatcher, instructs it, and deliuers the art, not of working miracles, nor of building new worlds, but imbuing it with new precepts and altogeather vnheard of hitherto. Learne saith he of me, because I am meek, and humble of hart.g 1.16

4. Point. I wil endeauour to giue

my mind very frequently and se∣riousl••y to learne this lesson by hart, wherein consists the summe of al Christian perfection, and I wil exa∣mine my self how diligētly hitherto I haue behaued my self therein, and what method I wil afterwards keep to be exact.

THE COLLOQVY.

SHal be directed to the Holy Ghost, most earnestly crauing him to afford me light to comprehend the diuine mysteries; a hart docile & apt to receiue such lights and mo∣tions; strength of memory, least the species of things once receiued may easily vanish away; and force suffi∣cient wherewith to execute what I shal thinke fit to be doue.

Pater. Aue.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Exod. 4.
• b 1.2

  2. Reg. 23.
• c 1.3

  Iob. 40.
• d 1.4

  Ion. 4.
• e 1.5

  Psal. 88.
• f 1.6

  Psal. 18.
• g 1.7

  Cant. 4.
• h 1.8

  Aug. serm. 10. de serm. Dom.
• i 1.9

  Mat. 11.
• a 1.10

  Ioan. 6.
• b 1.11

  Sap. 13. Rom▪ 1.
• c 1.12

  1. Cor. 10. Heb. 11.
• d 1.13

  Exod. 3.
• e 1.14

  Num. 21.
• f 1.15

  2. Reg. 11.
• g 1.16

  Mat. 11.