The garden of our B. Lady. Or A deuout manner, how to serue her in her rosary. Written by S.C. of the Society of Iesus

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY, TO THE Deuout Catholike Laity of ENGLAND.

THE Beloued of the Espouse, after her many & sweet ••uitements to a Garden of ••elight, being won by her ••ire requests telleth her, I

am come into my garden,* 1.1 O m•• sister Espouse; where hauing found variety it selfe pla¦ced in the middest of spiri¦tuall delights, preferred before all those ornament which that place of plea¦sure brought forth, th•• Myrrhe, which he vouch¦safed first of all to gathe•• saying: O my sister Espouse, haue reaped my myrrhe. Sma•••• explication of these word (most deuout Catholikes is desired: yet for the mor•• generall vnderstanding o•• them, take (which the an¦cient

Fathers) the Beloued to be our Sauiour, the Es∣pouse his B. Mother, the Garden Perfection, and Myrrhe the acts of Pen∣nance.

And since you haue so ••imitated the Beloued of the Espouse, in preferring before althings his blessed choice of Myrrhe, by en∣during so many pressures, for the loue and imitation of him,* 1.2 and the defence of his Truth; (which state of yours being that of persecution, may well be

tearmed a certayne state of perfection) me thinkes I behold the Espouse inui∣ting you also to come into her Garden, knowing al∣ready your choice to be so like vnto that of her Be∣loued.

That Garden of per∣fection this small Volume resembleth, in which are with order disposed, the admirable perfectiōs both of the Espouse and her Be∣loued: & although those of her Beloued giue forth a clearer light, and are of

greater ornament to this place then those of the Es∣pouse; yet here it is the Be∣loued his will (seeking to honour her) to call this Garden hers, & by adding his graces vnto it, to make his Espouses worthines the more apparent.

Enter therfore with al confidence (being so louin∣gly inuited) into this Garden of our B. Lady, in which your interest is so great: view, and with all attention behold the natiue beauties and the fruites that are in

it so delightfull,* 1.3 see what pleasant pathes are heere plained forth, how streight they are, & without tur∣nings; at euery entrance wherof, the end is most clearly discouered. The pa∣ssages of this nature are many, and diuersly em∣ployed: in some you shall find diuine Loue leading the B. Virgin to the Tēple in Hierusalem to consecrat her selfe vnto perpetuall virginity; in others you shall behold her (condu∣cted by the same guide) go∣ing

to giue her consent to become the mother of the Sauiour of the world; here she is in her iourny to visit her Cosin Elizabeth, and by her presence to make holy the fruite of her wombe; in these pathes she reioy∣ceth and mourneth, mour∣neth and reioyceth, diuine loue producing in her pu∣rest hart diuine effects.

But besides these most euen and direct passages (Loue being the contriuer of this Paradise) there are pleasant descents, which ri∣sing

againe into mounts, keep correspondence one with the other; in these descents you may behold the Virgin as an humble handmayd going towards Bethleem, to bring forth her glorious Infant poor∣ly, flying into Egipt fear∣fully, seeking her lost Iesus amongst her kindred care∣fully, and following her tormented Iesus vnto his death most dolefully. But in the ascent or rising a∣gaine, the things you are to see are farre different:

for diuine Loue hauing out of the descent redoubled the Virgins forces,* 1.4 leadeth her vp first towards the sight of her most glorious risen Sonne, thence to the behoulding of his most powerfull Ascension, to her own replenishing with the holy Ghost, to her most happy death, to her assumption both of body and soule, and lastly to her most glorious Coronati∣on.

To giue you a full de¦scription of this Garden,

and to tell you, what Foun∣taines,* 1.5 and Tabernacles, what Houses and Towers, what Roses, what Lyllies adorne it, were neuer to end; wherfore desiring you to be curious perusers of it your selues, & not to passe any thing vnnoted, I leaue to be any longer hindrance from your entring into it. This only requesting at your hands,* 1.6 that those things in which this Gardē shall seeme pleasing vnto you, & by which your pi∣ous affections shalbe any

way moued, you would seeke by imitation to trans∣port them into your owne Gardens, wherby you shal make your entring into it, not pleasant alone, but withall most profitable.

S. C.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Cant. 5.
• * 1.2

  The reason of the de∣dication.
• * 1.3

  Our inten∣tion once rectified our end ought euer to be in sight.
• * 1.4

  The humi∣lity of the B V••rgin giueth in∣crease to al her other vertues.
• * 1.5

  Figures of the B. Vir¦gin.
• * 1.6

  The Au∣thors re∣quest.