Unum necessarium, or, The great duty of a Christian: in two tracts : the one, Of adhering to God, written in Latin, by Albertus Magnus, the other, Of the love of God, written in high- Dutch, by John Staupitz / both faithfully translated into English for the promoting of primitive Christianity.

CHAP. IX. That Divine Contemplation is to be preferr'd before all other Religi∣ous Exercises whatsoever.

FOrasmuch therefore as all things be∣sides God, are the Effect and Work of the Creator, having their Power and Being, and whatsoever they are or can, stinted and limited; and as at first they were produc'd out of Nothing, so are still surrounded with nullities, and no∣thingness, and of themselves tend to no∣thing; it follows, that they must neces∣sarily, every moment receive their ex∣istence, conservation, activity, and what∣soever

else may be in them, from the So∣veraign Workman God, as being in, and of themselves, insufficient for them∣selves, and others; to whose Divine Working they being compared, have the same proportion, as Nothing to Some∣thing, or a Finite thing to that which is Infinite. Wherefore, let all our Con∣templation, Life, and Operation, be in him alone, and about him, and for him, and to him; who, with one hint of his Will, is able, and knows to produce things infinitely more perfect than those Creatures we now see. There can be therefore, neither with respect to the In∣tellect, or to the Will, any Contempla∣tion and Fruition of Love more profita∣ble, perfect, happy, and delightful, than that which hath for its Object the Crea∣tor, the true and Soveraign Good; from whom, in whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; who alone is in∣finitely sufficient for himself, and all things: Who, most simply, fully, and supereminently contains, and has concen∣tred in himself from Eternity, the Per∣fections of all things, in whom there is nothing that is not himself; with whom,

and through whom, the Causes of all unstable things have their lasting subsi∣stence, and establishment: In whom are the Immutable Ideas and Principles of all Mutable Things, and in whom the Eter∣nal Reasons of all Rational, and Irrational, and Temporal Things do live for ever; who fulfills all, and essentially fills all and every thing with himself; and who is more intimately present by his Essence to every thing, than the thing is to it self; in whom all things are united and one, and in whom they live Eternally. More∣over, if by reason of weakness, or the unaccustomedness of the understanding, any Man be oblig'd to Meditate, or Contemplate on the Creatures, then this will be the best, truest, and most pro∣fitable way for him; that at least in all his Contemplations, and Meditations, whether about Creatures, or about the Creator, a delight in the Creator him∣self, the One and Trine God, may arise within him; and that the fire of Divine Love and true Life may thence flame forth in himself, and in others, for the obtaining of Eternal Felicity. And here we may observe the difference there is between

the Contemplation of Christian Believers; and that of the Heathen Philoso∣phers: For the Contemplation of Philo∣sophers is intended only for the perfection of the Contemplator, and therefore stops in the understanding, and so their end herein, is intellectual Knowledge. But the Contemplation of the Saints, is ta∣ken up for the Love of him whom they Contemplation, that is, of God; and therefore does not stop in the Intellect by Knowledge, as in its ultimate end; but passeth over into the affection by Love. Wherefore the Saints in their Contemplation, have the Love of God for their principal end, and aim; be∣cause it is far more happy and blissful to know and have the Lord Jesus Christ Spiritually by Grace, than without Grace, corporally, or essentially. Now whilst the Soul thus abstracts it self from all things, and reflects into it self, the eye of Contemplation by this means be∣comes dilated, and raiseth it self like a Ladder, whereby she mounts to the Vi∣sion of God. From which beholding, the Soul becomes inflamed with the Love of Coelestial, and Divine Good

Things; and looks upon all Temporal Things aloof, as if they were just no∣thing. Thus, when we draw near to God by the way of Negation, or re∣moving from him all that is perceptible, or comprehensible; in the first place, we remove from him all that is Bodily, Sensible, or Imaginable; in the next place, all that is Intelligible, and last of of all, Essence, or Being it self, as it is in the Creatures. And by this means, according to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, we approach nearest to the Divine Essence, and are in the ready way of being joyn'd to him. And this is that thick Darkness, where God is said to dwell; and into which Moses entred, and through it pas∣sed to his inaccessible Light. But that which is Spiritual is not first, but that which is Animal; so that according to the natural and accustomed Order, we are to proceed from the Labour of Action, to the Rest of Contemplation; and from the Moral Virtues, to the Theorical, and Speculative. Where∣fore, O my Soul, why is it that thou busiest thy self to no purpose, about the many vain and superfluous Things where

thou art always in want? And dost not rather fix thy intention and love upon that one Best and Soveraign Good, which contains all Good, and is only sufficient for thee, and all things? Un∣happy therefore, yea thrice unhappy he, who knows, and has all things besides him, but is ignorant of him. For if a Man should be supposed to know all things, and him, yet would not he be the happier for knowing them, but him only; whence St. John tells us, and this is Life Eternal,* 1.1 that they know thee the only true God, &c. And the Psal∣mist, I shall be satisfied at the appearance of thy Glory, or accord∣ing to the Hebrew, when thy image, or likeness shall awake in me.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Joh. 17. v. 3. Psalm. 17. v. 15.