Centuries Of Meditations

1 1 An empty book is like an infant's soul 2 2 Do not wonder that I promise to fill it with those Truths you love but know not 3 3 I will open my mouth in Parables 4 4 I will not by the noise of bloody wars and the dethroning of kings advance you to glory: but by the gentle ways of peace and love 5 5 The fellowship of the mystery that hath been hid in God since the creation is not only the contemplation of the work of His Love in the redemption 6 6 True Love as it intendeth the greatest gifts intendeth also the greatest benefits 7 7 To contemn the world and to enjoy the world are things contrary to each other 8 8 What is more easy and sweet than meditation? Yet in this hath God commended His Love 9 9 Is it not easy to conceive the World in your Mind? To think the Heavens fair? The Sun Glorious? The Earth fruitful? The Air Pleasant? The Sea Profitable? And the Giver bountiful? Yet these are the things which it is difficult to retain 10 10 To think well is to serve God in the interior court: To have a mind composed of Divine Thoughts 11 11 Love is deeper than at first it can be thought 12 12 Can you be Holy without accomplishing the end for which you are created? Can you be Divine unless you be Holy? Can you accomplish the end for which you were created 13 13 To be Holy is so zealously to desire 14 14 When things are ours in their proper places 15 15 Such endless depths live in the Divinity 16 16 That all the World is yours 17 17 To know GOD is Life Eternal 18 18 The WORLD is not this little Cottage of Heaven and Earth 19 19 You never know yourself till you know more than your body 20 20 The laws of GOD 21 21 By the very right of your senses you enjoy the World 22 22 It is of the nobility of man's soul that he is insatiable 23 23 The noble inclination whereby man thirsteth after riches and dominion 24 24 Is it not a sweet thing to have all covetousness and ambition satisfied 25 25 Your enjoyment of the World is never right 26 26 Theservices of things and their excellencies are spiritual: being objects not of the eye 27 27 You never enjoy the world aright 28 28 Your enjoyment of the world is never right 29 29 You never enjoy the world aright 30 30 Till your spirit filleth the whole world 31 31 Yet further 32 32 Can any ingratitude be more damned than that which is fed by benefits? Or folly greater than that which bereaveth us of infinite treasures? They despise them merely because they have them: And invent ways to make themselves miserable in the presence of 33 33 The riches of darkness are those which men have made 34 34 Would one think it possible for a man to delight in gauderies like a butterfly 35 35 The riches of the Light are the Works of God which are the portion and inheritance of His sons 36 36 The common error which makes it difficult to believe all the World to be wholly ours 37 37 The brightness and magnificence of this world 38 38 You never enjoy the World aright 39 39 Your enjoyment is never right 40 40 Socrates was wont to say--They are most happy and nearest the gods that needed nothing 41 41 As pictures are made curious by lights and shades 42 42 This is very strange that God should want 43 43 Infinite Wants satisfied produce infinite Joys 44 44 You must want like a God that you may be satisfied like God 45 45 This is a lesson long enough: which you may be all your life in learning 46 46 It was His wisdom made you need the Sun 47 47 To have blessings and to prize them is to be in Heaven 48 48 They that would not upon earth see their wants from all Eternity 49 49 The misery of them who have and prize not 50 50 They are deep instructions that are taken out of hell 51 51 Wants are the bands and cements between God and us 52 52 Love has a marvellous property of feeling in another 53 53 O the nobility of Divine Friendship! Are not all His treasures yours 54 54 He that is in all 55 55 The contemplation of Eternity maketh the Soul immortal 56 56 There are we entertained with the wonder of all ages 57 57 As eagles are drawn by the scent of a carcase 58 58 The Cross is the abyss of wonders 59 59 Of all the things in Heaven and Earth it is the most peculiar 60 60 The Cross of Christ is the Jacob's ladder by which we ascend into the highest heavens 61 61 Here you learn all patience 62 62 LORD JESUS what love shall I render unto Thee 63 63 Why, Lord Jesus 64 64 These wounds are in themselves orifices too small to let in my sight 65 65 Had I been alive in Adam's stead 66 66 But this is small 67 67 But what creature could I desire to be which I am not made? There are Angels and Cherubim 68 68 Being made alone 69 69 O Adorable Trinity! What hast Thou done for me? Thou hast made me the end of all things 70 70 But what laws O my Soul wouldst thou desire 71 71 But what life wouldst thou lead? And by what laws wouldst thou thyself be guided? For none are so miserable as the lawless and disobedient 72 72 There is in love two strange perfections 73 73 His nature requireth that thou love all those whom He loveth 74 74 Miraculous are the effects of Divine Wisdom 75 75 Being to lead this Life within 76 76 And now 77 77 Now O Lord I see the greatness of Thy love wherewith Thou diedst 78 78 Lord I lament and abhor myself that I have been the occasion of these Thy sufferings 79 79 My Lord 80 80 My excellent friend 81 81 My goodness extendeth not to Thee 82 82 But there are a sort of Saints meet to be your companions 83 83 They will praise our Saviour with you 84 84 Yet you must arm yourself with expectations of their infirmities 85 85 With all their eyes behold our Saviour 86 86 O Jesu, Thou King of Saints 87 87 O how do Thine affections extend like the sunbeams unto all stars in heaven and to all the kingdoms in the world 88 88 O Thou Sun of Righteousness 89 89 Is this He that was transfigured upon Mount Tabor? Pale 90 90 This Body is not the cloud 91 91 O Jesu, Lord of Love and Prince of Life! 92 92 It is an inestimable joy that I was raised out of nothing to see and enjoy this glorious world: It is a Sacred Gift whereby the children of men are made my treasures 93 93 As my body without my Soul is a Carcase 94 94 Thy will, O Christ, and Thy Spirit in essence are one 95 95 O Thou who ascendedst up on high 96 96 O Thou who hast redeemed me to be a Son of God 97 97 O Jesu, who having prepared all the joys 98 98 Wisely, O Jesu, didst Thou tell Thy disciples 99 99 Wisely doth St 100 100 Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith is an Infinite Mystery 101 1 THE Services which the world doth you 102 2 If you desire directions how to enjoy it 103 3 Till you see that the world is yours 104 4 The misery of your fall ariseth naturally from the greatness of your sin 105 5 The counsel which our Saviour giveth in the Revelation to the Church of Ephesus 106 6 The consideration also of this truth 107 7 Place yourself therefore in the midst of the world 108 8 It raiseth corn to supply you with food 109 9 Did the Sun stand still that you might have perpetual day 110 10 Were there two suns 111 11 Had the Sun been made one infinite flame it had been worse than it is 112 12 Entering thus far into the nature of the sun 113 13 Could the seas serve you were you alone more than now they do? Why do you not render thanks for them? They serve you better than if you were in them: everything serving you best in its proper place Alone you were lord over all: bound to admire His eter 114 14 The Sun is but a little spark of His infinite love: the Sea is but one drop of His goodness 115 15 The world serves you 116 16 Those services are so great 117 17 Besides these immediate pleasures here beneath 118 18 You shall be glorified 119 19 They that quarrel at the manner of God's revealing Himself are troubled because He is invisible 120 20 Hence we may know why God appeareth not in a visible manner 121 21 When Amasis the King of Egypt sent to the wise men of Greece 122 22 His power is evident by upholding it all 123 23 Above all, man discovereth the glory of God 124 24 That you are a man should fill you with joys 125 25 You are able to see His righteousness 126 26 You are able therein to see the infinite glory of your high estate 127 27 As Love is righteous in glorifying itself and making its object blessed: so is it in all its dealings and dispensations towards it 128 28 But God being infinite is infinitely righteous 129 29 Love further manifests itself in joining righteousness and blessedness together: for wherein can Love appear more than in making our duty most blessed 130 30 Yet Love can forbear 131 31 By how much the greater His love was 132 32 Whoever suffereth innocently and justly in another's stead 133 33 One great cause why no Angel was admitted to this office 134 34 How vile are they 135 35 Another reason for which our Redemption was denied to Angels and reserved only to be wrought by our Saviour 136 36 Yet further, another reason why this office was delegated 137 37 Finally another reason was the dignity of our Saviour's person 138 38 How then should we be saved? since eternal righteousness must be paid for our temporal iniquity since one must suffer by His own strength on our behalf 139 39 God by loving begot His Son 140 40 In all Love there is a love begetting 141 41 Love in the fountain and Love in the stream are both the same 142 42 Where Love is the Lover 143 43 This Person is the Son of God: who as He is the Wisdom of the Father 144 44 This Person differs in nothing 145 45 How wonderful is it that God by being Love should prepare a Redeemer to die for us? But how much more wonderful 146 46 In all Love there is some Producer 147 47 What life can be more pleasant 148 48 Love is so divine and perfect a thing 149 49 Love is so noble that it enjoyeth others' enjoyments 150 50 God is present by Love alone 151 51 Love is a far more glorious Being than flesh and bones 152 52 The true WAY we may go unto His Throne 153 53 And He will so love us 154 54 Love is infinitely delightful to its object 155 55 God by Love wholly ministereth to others 156 56 By Loving a Soul does propagate and beget itself 157 57 Love is so vastly delightful in the Lover 158 58 Love is so vastly delightful to Him that is Beloved 159 59 Though no riches follow 160 60 By this we may discern what strange power God hath given to us by loving us infinitely 161 61 How happy we are that we may live in all 162 62 Love is the true means by which the world is enjoyed: Our love to others 163 63 See causes also wherefore to be delighted in your love to men 164 64 When you love men 165 65 You are as prone to love 166 66 That violence wherewith sometimes a man doteth upon one creature 167 67 Suppose a river 168 68 Suppose a curious and fair woman 169 69 The sun and stars please me in ministering to you 170 70 In one soul we may be entertained and taken up with innumerable beauties 171 71 Creatures are multiplied 172 72 Here is a glorious creature! But that which maketh the wonder infinitely infinite 173 73 Here upon Earth perhaps where our estate is imperfect this is impossible: but in Heaven where the soul is all Act it is necessary: for the soul is there all that it can be: Here it is to rejoice in what it may be 174 74 The world serveth you therefore 175 75 That all the powers of your Soul shall be turned into Act in the Kingdom of Heaven is manifest by what Saint John writeth 176 76 These things shall never be seen with your bodily eyes 177 77 Were all your riches here in some little place: all other places would be empty 178 78 The Heavens and the Earth serve you 179 79 Objective treasures are always delightful: and though we travail endlessly 180 80 Infinite Love cannot be expressed in finite room: but must have infinite places wherein to utter and shew itself 181 81 Few will believe the soul to be infinite: yet infinite* is the first thing which is naturally known 182 82 What shall we render unto God for this infinite space in our understandings? Since in giving us this He hath laid the foundation of infinite blessedness 183 83 He therefore hath not only made us infinite treasures only in extent: and souls infinite to see and enjoy them 184 84 Your soul being naturally very dark 185 85 You know that Love receives a grandeur of value and esteem from the greatness of the person 186 86 Since therefore Love does all it is able 187 87 God hath made it easy to convert our soul into a Thought containing Heaven and Earth 188 88 [This number is omitted in the original MS 189 89 Being that we are here upon Earth turmoiled with cares 190 90 We could easily show that the idea of Heaven and Earth in the Soul of Man 191 91 Once more, that I might close up this point with an infinite wonder 192 92 As it becometh you to retain a glorious sense of the world 193 93 The world does serve you 194 94 As the world serves you by shewing the greatness of God's love to you 195 95 The World serves you 196 96 The World is a pomegranate indeed 197 97 This visible World is wonderfully to be delighted in 198 98 It makes him sensible of the reality of Happiness: it feeds him with contentment 199 99 Varro citeth opinions of philosophers concerning happiness: they were so blind in the knowledge of it 200 100 Felicity is a thing coveted of all 201 1 WILL you see the infancy of this sublime and celestial greatness? Those pure and virgin apprehensions I had from the womb 202 2 All appeared new 203 3 The corn was orient and immortal wheat 204 4 Upon those pure and virgin apprehensions which I had in my infancy 205 5 Our Saviour's meaning 206 6 Every one provideth objects 207 7 The first Light which shined in my Infancy in its primitive and innocent clarity was totally eclipsed insomuch that I was fain to learn all again 208 8 Had any man spoken of it 209 9 It was a difficult matter to persuade me that the tinseled ware upon a hobby-horse was a fine thing 210 10 Thoughts are the most present things to thoughts 211 11 By this let nurses 212 12 By this you may see who are the rude and barbarous Indians: For verily there is no savage nation under the cope of Heaven 213 13 You would not think how these barbarous inventions spoil your knowledge 214 14 Being swallowed up therefore in the miserable gulf of idle talk and worthless vanities 215 15 Yet sometimes in the midst of these dreams 216 16 Once I remember (I think I was about 4 years old when) I thus reasoned with myself 217 17 Sometimes I should be alone 218 18 Sometimes I should soar above the stars 219 19 In making bodies Love could not express 220 20 The excellencies of the Sun I found to be of another kind than that splendour after which I sought 221 21 His Power bounded 222 22 These liquid, clear satisfactions 223 23 Another time in a lowering and sad evening 224 24 When I heard of any new kingdom beyond the seas 225 25 When I heard any news I receivd it with greediness and delight 226 26 ON NEWS 227 2 As if the tidings were the things 228 3 What sacred instinct did inspire 229 27 Among other things there befel me a most infinite desire of a book from Heaven 230 28 Had some Angel brought it miraculously from heaven 231 29 This put me upon two things: upon enquiring into the matter contained in the Bible 232 30 Upon this I had enough 233 31 This taught me that those fashions and tinseled vanities 234 32 In respect of the matter 235 33 Had the Angels brought it to me alone 236 34 To talk now of the necessity of bearing all calamities and persecutions in preaching is little 237 35 You will not believe what a world of joy this one satisfaction and pleasure brought me 238 36 Having been at the University 239 37 Nevertheless some things were defective too 240 38 The manner is in everything of greatest concernment 241 39 The best of all possible ends is the Glory of God 242 40 It is the Glory of God to give all things to us in the best of all possible manners 243 41 Many men study the same things which have not the taste of 244 42 By humanity we search into the powers and faculties of the Soul 245 43 In Divinity we are entertained with all objects from everlasting to everlasting: because with Him whose outgoings from everlasting: being to contemplate God 246 44 Natural philosophy teaches us the causes and effects of all bodies simply and in themselves 247 45 Ethics teach us the mysteries of morality 248 46 When I came into the country 249 47 A life of Sabbaths here beneath! 250 48 Thus you see I can make merry with calamities 251 49 Sin! 252 50 THE RECOVERY 253 51 I cannot meet with Sin 254 52 When I came into the country 255 53 And what rule do you think I walked by? Truly a strange one 256 54 Besides these common things I have named 257 55 That anything may be found to be in infinite treasure 258 56 Therefore of necessity they must at first believe that Felicity is a glorious though an unknown thing 259 57 Two things in perfect Felicity I saw to be requisite and that Felicity must be perfect 260 58 In discovering the matter or objects to be enjoyed 261 59 The Image of God implanted in us 262 60 This spectacle once seen 263 61 The Image of God is the most perfect creature 264 62 Upon this I began to believe that all other creatures were such that God was Himself in their creation 265 63 To be satisfied in God is the highest difficulty in the whole world 266 64 Neither is it possible to be otherwise 267 65 With this we are delighted because it is absolutely impossible that any Power dwelling with Love should continue idle 268 66 Little did I imagine that 269 67 There I saw Moses blessing the Lord for the precious things of Heaven 270 68 I saw moreover that it did not so much concern us what objects were before us 271 69 In Salem dwelt a glorious King, 272 70 When I saw those objects celebrated in his psalms which God and Nature had proposed to me 273 71 That hymn of David in the eighth Psalm was supposed to be made by night 274 72 His joyful meditation in the nineteenth psalm directeth every man to consider the glory of Heaven and Earth 275 73 Ye that fear the Lord 276 74 The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof 277 75 By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made 278 76 All my bones shall say 279 77 Hearken, O Daughter 280 78 There is a river 281 79 O clap your hands 282 80 As in the former psalms he propeseth true and celestial joys 283 81 Hear, O my people, and I will speak 284 82 Are not praises the very end for which the world was created? Do they not consist as it were of knowledge 285 83 Of our Saviour it is said 286 84 An enlarged soul that seeth all the world praising God 287 85 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance 288 86 My soul thirsteth for Thee 289 87 Make a joyful noise unto God 290 88 God is my King 291 89 In the 78th psalm 292 90 In the 84th psalm he longeth earnestly after the Tabernacle of God 293 91 Among the Gods there is none like unto Thee 294 92 In his other psalms he proceedeth to speak of the works of God over and over again: sometimes stirring up all creatures to praise God for the very delight he took in their admirable perfections 295 93 In our outward life towards men the psalmist also is an admirable precedent: In weeping for those that forget God's law 296 94 There are psalms more clear wherein he expresseth the joy he taketh in God's works and the glory of them 297 95 His soul recovered its pristine liberty 298 96 He saw these things only in the light of faith 299 97 By this we understand what it is to be the Sons of God 300 98 This greatness both of God towards us 301 99 This sense that God is so great in goodness 302 100 To enjoy communion with God is to abide with Him in the fruition of His Divine and Eternal Glory 303 1 HAVING spoken so much concerning his entrance and progress in Felicity 304 2 He thought it a vain thing to see glorious principles lie buried in books 305 3 He thought that to be a Philosopher 306 4 This last principle needs a little explication 307 5 In distinguishing of Christians we ought to consider that Christians are of two sorts 308 6 Furthermore doth not St 309 7 This digression steals me a little further 310 8 Philosophers are not only those that contemplate happiness 311 9 Once more we will distinguish of Christians 312 10 He that will not exchange his riches now will not forsake them hereafter 313 11 That maxim also which your friend used is of very great and Divine concernment: I will first spend a great deal of time in seeking Happiness 314 12 Happiness was not made to be boasted 315 13 One great discouragement to Felicity 316 14 In order to this 317 15 In order to interior or contemplative happiness 318 16 Of what vast importance right principles are we may see by this 319 17 If God be yours 320 18 All these relate to enjoyment 321 19 The world is best enjoyed and most immediately while we converse blessedly and wisely with men 322 20 He from whom I received these things 323 21 He thought within himself that this world was far better than Paradise had men eyes to see its glory 324 22 He generally held, that whosoever would enjoy the happiness of Paradise must put on the charity of Paradise 325 23 To establish himself thoroughly is this principle 326 24 He thought the stars as fair now 327 25 But order and charity in the midst of these 328 26 He thought that men were more to be beloved now than before 329 27 He conceived it his duty and much delighted in the obligation 330 28 He thought that he was to treat every man in the person of Christ 331 29 He had another saying?He lives most like an Angel that lives least upon himself 332 30 I speak not his practises but his principles 333 31 I heard him often say that holiness and happiness were the same 334 32 If he might have had but one request of God Almighty 335 33 The desire of riches was removed from himself pretty early 336 34 After this he could say with Luther 337 35 He desired no other riches for his friends but those which cannot be abused 338 36 He thought also that no poverty could befall him that enjoyed Paradise 339 37 Tis not change of place 340 38 Love God 341 39 Thus he was possessor of the whole world 342 40 He had one maxim of notable concernment 343 41 Having these principles nothing was more easy than to enjoy the world 344 42 One thing he saw 345 43 O Adorable and Eternal God! Hast Thou made me a free agent! And enabled me if I please to offend Thee infinitely! What other end couldst Thou intend by this 346 44 This he thought a principle at the bottom of Nature 347 45 This principle of nature 348 46 O the superlative Bounty of God! Where all power seemeth to cease 349 47 You may feel in yourself how conducive this is to your highest happiness 350 48 By this you may see 351 49 It is very observable by what small principles infusing them in the beginning God attaineth infinite ends 352 50 That I am to receive all the things in Heaven and Earth is a principle not to be slighted 353 51 Man being to live in the Image of God 354 52 Thus you see how God has perfectly pleased me: it ought also to be my care perfectly to please Him 355 53 If you ask 356 54 It was your friend's delight to meditate the principles of upright nature 357 55 He was a strict and severe applier of all things to himself 358 56 No man loves 359 57 Nevertheless it is infinitely rewarded 360 58 Shall I not love him infinitely for whom God made the world and gave His Son? Shall I not love him infinitely who loveth me infinitely? Examine yourself well 361 59 Is it unnatural to do what Jesus Christ hath done? He that would not in the same cases do the same things can never be saved 362 60 Here upon Earth 363 61 Since Love will thrust in itself as the greatest of all principles 364 62 These two properties are in it--that it can attempt all and suffer all 365 63 Whether Love principally intends its own glory or its objects 366 64 God doth desire glory as His sovereign end 367 65 How can God be Love unto Himself 368 66 He from whom I derived these things delighted always that I should be acquainted with principles that would make me fit for all ages 369 67 Were not Love the darling of God 370 68 Shall it not love violently what God loveth 371 69 To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious 372 70 Now you may see what it is to be a Son of God more clearly 373 71 To sit in the Throne of God is the most supreme estate that can befall a creature 374 72 To sit in the Throne of God is to inhabit Eternity 375 73 If anything yet remaineth that is dreadful 376 74 But what is there more that will more amaze us? Can anything be behind such glorious mysteries? Is God more Sovereign in other excellencies? Hath He showed Himself glorious in anything besides? Verily there is no end of all His greatness 377 75 The Supreme Architect and our Everlasting Father 378 76 |O Adam 379 77 |O infinite liberality of God the Father! O admirable and supreme Felicity of Man! to whom it is given to have what he desires 380 78 This Picus Mirandula spake in an oration made before a most learned assembly in a famous university 381 79 Neither is it to be believed 382 80 By choosing a man may be turned and converted into Love 383 81 Nazianzen professed himself to be a lover of right reason 384 82 The abundance of its beams 385 83 Whether it be the Soul itself 386 84 That God should love in the Soul is most easy to believe 387 85 That the Soul shineth of itself is equally manifest 388 86 Here upon Earth souls love what God hates 389 87 In the estate of innocency the love of man seemed nothing but the beams of love reverted upon another 390 88 It is a generous and heavenly principle 391 89 This estate wherein I am placed is the best for me tho' encompassed with difficulties 392 90 Knowing the greatness and sweetness of Love 393 91 That a man is beloved of God 394 92 Knowing myself beloved and so glorified of God Almighty in another world 395 93 Our friendship with God ought to be so pure and so clear 396 94 Having once studied these principles you are eternally to practise them 397 95 It is an indelible principle of Eternal truth 398 96 To be acquainted with celestial things is not only to know them 399 97 General and public concernments seem at first unmanageable 400 98 Because the strength of the soul is spiritual it is generally despised: but if ever you would be Divine 401 99 The reason why learned men have not exactly measured the faculties of the soul 402 100 Upon the infinite extent of the understanding and affection of the soul 403 1 THE objects of Felicity 404 2 The Infinity of God is our enjoyment 405 3 Creatures that are able to dart their thoughts into all spaces can brook no limit or restraint 406 4 Were it not for this infinity 407 5 Infinity of space is like a painter's table 408 6 One would think that besides infinite space there could be no more room for any treasure 409 7 Eternity is a mysterious absence of times and ages: an endless length of ages always present 410 8 Eternity magnifies our joys exceedingly 411 9 His omnipresence is our ample territory or field of joys 412 10 Our Bridegroom and our King being everywhere 413 NOTES AND REFERENCES 414 Notes on The First Century: 415 Notes on the Second Century 416 Notes on the Third Century 417 Notes on the Fourth Century 418 Notes on The Fifth Century