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 MOST AMOVROVS IESVS KNOCKS AT the doore of the hart. (Book 3)

THE HYMNE.

I Saw a little glimps of light As I lay slumbring in the night, Vvhich through a cranny of my wal Glaunc'd on mine eyes & therewith-al, I heard one speake, and rapping hard, Vvhile al my doores were lockt & bar'd Vvith that I half awakt lookt round, And in my hart a theife I found Discouered by the light. The wals Vvere bare, & naked, while he cals Vvho stood without, more light appeares, T' augment my hopes, & lessen feares; Then, IESV, I cry'd out, come in, Here's nonght but a priuation sinne.

THE INCENTIVE.

1. HOw often hath IESVS, to enter into the Tower of thy hart, assayled it with armes, to wit, with the engines of loue; that to the Angels thou mighst I be a Paradise, to him a Heauen; if thou let him in. O iron hart? O hart of Adamant? God stil is knocking at thy Gates, and is not yet admitted in.

2. But how great is the fauour of this louing Numen? God, euen God himselfe attendes thee, pryes, and lookes about him, watching tyme and place to enter in, that he might sweetly rest with thee. But thou sticktst vpon it, while the Angelical spirits stand amazd thereat, as I may say, either at this goodness of God, or thy pertinacity, yet thou art no∣thing mooued.

3. Oh vngrateful hart! oh perfi∣diousnes! To whom wilt thou yeald them, if to so patient and sweete a louer peeuishly thou holdst out lon∣ger. If thou flyest as coylie as con∣stantly he sues?

THE PREAMBLE to the Meditation.

O Fayrest soule among the faire, awake; for what Lethean sleep oppresseth thee? Thy little IESVS, the purest ioy and delight of Hea∣uen, raps at the doore: the golden locks of his head are wet yea trickle with the nightly dewes; his singers stil the primest mirrh;a 1.1 he wholy drowned and melt with al beates at the gate of thy hart. Open then and let him in Alas how thy doores are frozen with the rock of Caucasus! How soundly thou sleepest, oh slug,

O fooslish soule! Or is it the noyse perhaps of the Ghests thou hast ad∣mitted in already, which so taked vp, and stupifies thine eares, as thou canst not heare thy beloued's voyce? Oh Ghests, or hanting Ghosts I may cal you rather! Oh sinister af∣fections! Oh inordinate appetits! What a tumult haue you made here? And thou, a stony hart! How long hast thou been so hard to heare, and deafe, as not to aduert the Spouses voyce, who to blesse & enrich thee, meerly pushed, with what winde of beatitude I know not, hath touch'd on this vnfaithful Port? Alas! stay I beseech thee, stay a-while, most radiant Sunne, nor with thy swifter steedes, make hast away; for if thou once substractst thy self, I feare thou wilt goe farre enough, and be long absent; a fauour freely offred once, and lost by a repulse, is not easily

recouered. The diuine hand pow•••• out it's benefits for a day, an hower, a moment only, it lists not alwayes to attend to worke miracles, or to be curing maladyes: the Angel mo∣ues the water of that Poole,b 1.2 but on a certaine time of the day; if thou suffrest occasion once to slide away, or be taken by another, thou art to attend the returne of another Angel-mouer. Hasten therefore, O fayrest of al beautyes; what? sleepst thou yet? shake off this sluggishnes. Is there a mutiny at home then quiet the tumults, commaund silence, bid the doore be set open. And if thy Spouse now wearied with thy de∣murrs should chance to diuert from thee, and goe his wayes, follow him at the heeles with cryes, & prayers, and trying him out-right, vrge him hard, that he would deyne to re∣turne againe to his Sanctuary. If yet

being called vpon he goe flying stil away. Like a she-Goat or nimble pricket on the mountaines of Bethel:c 1.3 double thy cryes, put out thy throat, & cry aloud, Draw me after thee and we shal ruund 1.4 my beloued. If the watch∣men of the wals lay hold on thee, and beat thee cruelly, yea take away thy cloke from thee: let al these mischiefs moue thee nothing; the prey thou huntst for with al these same, is cheap enough. Sigh there∣fore and groane the while, and pri∣uily shoot forth the fiery shafts of vehement loue; and if thou canst, wound him flying with the alluring tressese 1.5 of thy desires, with which chaines at least, so thrown vpon him, stay his flight: and when thou art so happy as to ouertake him, now grown at length more slack, through flight, thy wound, and chaines so hampering him pray en∣treat,

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and beseech him, by the holy Wounds of his body; For his ancient and faithful mercies sake,f 1.6 he would please to permit himself to be led back againe to his Spouses house. But see you hold him fastg 1.7 nor let him goe; he is a lightning, and passeth in an instant; he is a Sunne whose reuolution is without rest, nor euer stops but at the voyce of the true Iosue, and the couragious soule, fighting valiantly against the Gabaonites.h 1.8

This Sampsonh 1.9 carryes the ga∣tes of the Citty with him, when he feeles himself but tampered in the enemyes snares, bind him, if you catch him; tye him fast, with the triple cord of loue, for this is hardly brokenk 1.10 Lastlye if now being caught he try, as once the Angel did with Iacob, by wrasling to stru∣gle and escape away, tel him roun∣dly,

I wil not let thee goe til thou giuest me thy blessingl 1.11 But hola thou hap∣pyest of soules thou doue, thou dar∣ling, take heed thou sufferest not thy self to be ouer-seen so any more; but as soone as thy beloued's voyce shal sound the word that IESVS comes, boldly and confidently open both the leaues of thy hart vnto him, receiue him; hug him in thy armes, in thy besome, in thy bowels with thy whole hart.

III. MEDITATION.

The Preparatory Prayer.

Actiones nostras quaesumus, &c.

FIRST POINT.

THE louer IESVS, after a weary search in vayne, of a quiet place to rest in, hauing spent therein a long and tedious night a broad with his head euen hoary with the serene and nightly dewesa 1.12 knockes at the gate of thy hart,b 1.13 and be∣cause thou lockst him out; greeues and complains against. thee.

2. Point. I wil seeke out the cause of these so tedious and irksome de∣layes, or what is it that stope so our eares, that we cannot perceiue the sound & voyce of him that raps at the doore. Surely it is, because the

inordinate passions doe mutiny and tumultuate with in vs, and stirre vp, not one only, but many deafe and dismal tempests, now of anger, now pusilanimity, now self loue, and many others; iust as it happens in a wel-freqūeted Tauerne, where the Ghests make such a noyse among themselues, as one cannot heare another, that one knowes not who comes in or who goes forth, or who knocks at the gate; such a world there is of Ghests within, such a rab∣ble of al sorts.

3. Point. I wil weigh the danger, least IESVS suffering a repulse so auerted, turne a side into some by∣wayes and corners, so as after he may not be found with the misera∣ble Spouse any more; whose com∣plaints are read in the Canticlesc 1.14 in this manner. I wil seeke whom my loues soule, in the streets & lanes, saying,

Haue you seen whom my soule loues? The watchmen of the Citty, haue met with me, smit me, and wounded me.d 1.15 Which hurts, wounds, and teares, surely had not been if she had but presently set open her doores to her beloued.

THE COLLOQVY.

SHAL be framed much after the manner of the earnest instance made heretofore, by the two Disci∣ples going to Emausa 1.16 saying: Mane nobiscum Domine. Come into the secret Closet of my hart; for if thou once but turnest thy back, who can follow thee, or euer looke to ouertake thee, that Giant, who in a moment runst from Heauen to earth, like a lightning and thun∣der-bolt in an instant casts forth a

flash, and vanishest with al; aud if thou getst not a place to harbour with vs, like a nimble kid or faune, thou takest thy flight to the moun∣taynes of Bethel,b 1.17 to the hea∣uenly Quyers of blessed spirits. I know somtimes, the stormes of my inordinate concupiscences arising make such obstre perous noyse with in me, as the pulses sound without cannot be heard; but yet doe thou good IESV, through thy power, wherewith thou art able to doe al things breake the brazen bar∣res of the gate, trust back the iron bolts, and so the doores vnlockt, enter into thy house and Sanctuary.

Pater. Aue.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Cant. 5.
• b 1.2

  Probatica, Ioan. 5.
• c 1.3

  Cant. 2.
• d 1.4

  Cant. 4.
• e 1.5

  Cant. 4.
• f 1.6

  Psal. 88. Isaiae 55.
• g 1.7

  Cant. 3.
• h 1.8

  Iosue. 10.
• h 1.9

  Iosue. 10.
• k 1.10

  Eccl.
• l 1.11

  Gen. 3.
• a 1.12

  Cant. 5.
• b 1.13

  Apoc. 3.
• c 1.14

  Cant. 3.
• d 1.15

  Cant. 5.
• a 1.16

  Luc. 24.
• b 1.17

  Cant. 2.