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

THE PREAMBLE TO THE first Meditation.

WHo shal seuer vs from the cha∣rity of Christ? (exclaymes that great Apostle) tribulation? or distresse? or famine? or nakednesse? peril? perse∣cution? or the sword? Sure I am, that death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Princi∣pa••es, nor vertues, nor present, nor future things, nor fortitude, altitude, nor depth, nor any other creature, can seperate vs from the charity of God, which is in Christ IESVSa 1.1. This is the fire, which gliding from heauen consu∣mes al things, burnes al things; yea enkindles such flames as euen the Ocean of euils, wherewith the

flowes, & aboundes, c̄a not quench∣it. This subtil, actiue, spreading, and deuouring flame, takes force & vigour euen from very crosses and torments themselues, surmounts al things, cleaues to one God, and with an inextricable knot is vnited with him. Whether it be the fire, which alwayes suffers some-what, or actu∣ates this or that, I know not; this I am sure of, that the liuelyer it puts forth the force it hath, the lesse it yealds to the enemy, and is the hardlyer ouer∣come. This fire, when once it takes on the litle furnace of the hart, good God! what strange, and how many heates, of loue enkindles it there! They only know the excesses of this vnquiet feauer, who loue IESVS dearely indeed, & passionately thirst after him.

Now shal you see this languishing hart breake out into frequent, ab∣rupt,

and interrupting sighs, and now and then heare certayne briefe interiections withal, cast forth here and there by the poore soule, lique∣fying with a sweet extasy of loue: Tel my beloued, o blessed spirits, that I languish al for loueb 1.2 and that vn∣les with the prop of his golden scepter he come, as once Ass••erus to Hesterc 1.3 & powerfully susteyne & hold vp my fleeting soule, I shal faint at his feet: for now the vne∣qual and feeble pulse euen mortally beates, and now my face is fouly dight with an asky and deadly co∣lour, the extatical heat now wholy wastes the marrow, so as now re∣maynes in me nothing which suffers not of this fire.

But anon you wil wonder to see that hart excited with the same loue of God, resuming as it were new strength, to be sodainly caryed and

snacht with violence into the thing beloued. I wil rise, said the Spouse extreamly enamoured with her be∣loued, I wil compasse the Citty, through streets and lanes, I wil seeke whom my soule louesd 1.4; nor wil I giue ouer til obteyning my desire I take hold of him. I wil enquire of created things, & aske them, where is my God? I wil seeke and perticularly demand of al; nor wil I truely rest satisfyed finding some image only of God in them su∣perficially shadowed, or discouering but a glimmer only of diuine perfec∣tions, for these wil but excite my thirst, not quenh it wholy; but I wil hunt further and constantly seeke him, whom my soules louese 1.5. For the hart enflamed with loue, conti∣nually machinates & workes some∣thing; nor hath diuine loue lear∣ned to be idle: it is alwayes in action, and stil proceedes from vertue to

vertue, and if it rest at any tyme, and seeme but to sabothize, it is no longer diuine louef 1.6.

Amidst these symptomes of this disease, the mind obteynes three things, and proues them in it-selfe: for first, how much soeuer it occu∣pyes it-self in difficult things, and seriously attends, to its owne abase∣ment, to a perfect cont̄ept of world∣ly things, to represse vntamed and vnbridled appetites, yet al these acts, most worthy and heroical, it puts in the last place, yea when it workes and effects the most, thinks it hath done as good as nothing, and lastly accounts the tyme so long spent in the lists of vertue to be ex∣ceeding short, which euen the sacred Scriptures record of the Patriarch Iacob, whom the beauty and loue of the faire Rachel had so taken & en∣veigled, as he reckoned yeares very

tedious for toyles, as weekes for dayes, dayes for momentsg 1.7. I haue yet said but litle: The hart which is enamoured with IESVS, thinks it cannot be broken or tamed with anything, and therefore dares pro∣uoke euen death it-self, & chalenge it to a single fight, as not his match, to scorne its weapons, and not so only, but insolently to insult vpon this pale Goddesse, who yet is she which tramples the Crownes and Scepters of Kings and Caesars, sub∣dues the armed Sampsons and layes them at her foot, forbids the Alexan∣ders, not satisfyed with one world, to spread their Ensignes any further; lastly, puts the Hel••n••••s, as deformed, vnder a base yoke. What more? This hart is so impatient of rest, delayes, al things, as while most ardently it loues and seekes the onelie IESVS, and groanes after him, it holds a mo∣ment

for a yeare, regards not any thing els, nothing likes, nothing pleaseth, nothing satiates or recrea∣tes a whit, as to whom, besides IESVS, al things are nauseous and but drea∣mes vnto it. Lastly, for his sake, af∣ter whom it sighes and languishes with the heat of thirsting loue, scor∣ning the stinking lakes of wordly pleasures, and the filthy mire of the Aegyptian bogs, like a Stag nigh pe∣rishing with thirst and deadly wounds, with a rapid course and willing mind, rushes through the brakes and craggy rocks of precipi∣ces, and hastes to the founteynes of endles waters, to God the liuing springh 1.8.

Oh inexhaustible spring of loue, quench this thirst, satiate this hun∣ger! O beauty so antienti 1.9 and so yong! take here possession of the hart deuoted to thee. Be this I pray a

Temple, a Chapel, an Altar conse∣crated to the true and only Godhead. Admit the incensek 1.10 in an odour of sweetnes, which shal hereafter fume from this golden table, nor euer suffer, o God of my hart, the place thus duly dedicated to thy honour and loue, to be euer once defiled with sordityes or crimes, but rather may it euer and euer stand in∣uiolable and vntouched.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Rom. 8.
• b 1.2

  Cant. 5.
• c 1.3

  Ester 15.
• d 1.4

  Cant. 3.
• e 1.5

  Cant. 1.
• f 1.6

  Greg. Hom. 30. in Euang.
• g 1.7

  Gen. 29.
• h 1.8

  Psal. 41.
• i 1.9

  August. Conf. lib. 10. cap. 21.
• k 1.10

  Exod. 37. & 40.