Chapter 57

That the first thing which a man must see, is himself; of the necessity which we have of this knowledge, and the inconveniences that grow upon us, through want thereof.

THOU¹ shalt therefore hold this order in looking, that first thou look upon thyself; and then upon God; and afterward upon thy Neighbours. Look upon thyself, that so thou mayst know thyself, and have thyself in small account. For there is not a worse kind of deceit, then to be deceived in oneself; and to esteem himself for other then indeed he is. A piece of dirt thou art, for as much as concerneth thy body; and a sinner thou art, for as much as concerns thy soul; and if thou esteem thyself to be more than this, thou art blind. And the spouse will say to thee, If thou dost not know thyself, O thou who art fair amongst women, go out, and look after the footsteps of thy herds, and feed thy kids, by those cottages, or tents of the shepherds. This place, I will declare to thee, according to the Greek letter and the vulgar edition, which the Council of Trent directeth us to follow,² although the Hebrew letter do carry another sense: They say therefore, according to the opinion of S. Gregory, S. Bernard, and Origen after this manner. There is nothing so much to be trembled at, as to hear it said, by the mouth of God, Go out, and see. For if the saddest word that a Father can say to a son, or a husband to a wife (whom he kept in great honour, and abundance) is to separate her from his estate and protection, by saying, Go thy ways from me, and from my house; what kind of thing shall it be, for the soul to departed from God, but to be banished from all happiness, and to fall into all miseries? Whither shall we go, said S. Peter to Christ, for thou hast the words of eternal life? Whither shall we go, for thou hast the fountain of life, and thou only hast it? Whither shall we go, O thou sweet and cheerful light, without which, all is darkness? Whither shall we go, O thou bread of life, without which all is deadly hunger? Whither shall we go, O thou most strong defence, without whom, even security itself, is but danger? In fine, whither shall that sheep go, which is all environed with wolves, if the shepherd do forsake it, and cast it off? 〈◊〉³ sad word it is, Go out, and see; and like that, which Christ hath to say to the wicked, at the last day, Go you cursed into the fire, that is prepared for you.

I say yet once again, that there is not a thing, which ought to make a man tremble more, or labour more for the avoiding of it, if he be, in the plentiful and cheerful house of God, and in the hand of his most strong protection, then to hear these words, Go out, and see. This going out, is no trifle, but the cause of all mischief. For that man who is made destitute of divine help, and left to his own strength, what will he do, as saith S. Austin, but that which S. Peter did, when he denied Christ? And that, without knowing, or repenting himself of the evil which he had done, till the divine countenance, and favour of Christ, did shine upon him, who by falling into sin, had forgotten him; giving knowledge to S. Peter of the misery into which he had cast himself; and giving him grief for the same; & letting him see, that the cause of his fall, was his having confided in himself. So that the reason why our merciful Lord groweth so rigorous, in turning his children out of doors, is because they do not know themselves; esteeming that they are somewhat, and resting so upon their own strength.

To this soul therefore, the Spouse doth say, If thou dost not know thyself, get thee out, and see the footsteps of thy herds of Cattles. Which is as much, as if he had said, that he gave her●●uer, to follow the trace, and works of sinners, who commit iniquity by troops, like herds of , one helping on the other. And⁴ so also, at the last day, shall they be tied up in bundles, to be jointly burnt in the fire of hell, who here have jointly given themselves to sin. And the spouse to such a soul doth say, Thy herds: because sin is of us, and not of God; and the good that we do, is of God, and not of us; since we do it by virtue of him. Now this, he is resolved, that we should sound know to be so; not so much for that which it importeth him, (whose glory in himself, is not increased, although he be glorified by us) but for that which concerneth us; for whose good it makes (and that greatly) to know, that the honour, of all the good we have, or do, must be ascribed to him, and not to us. And if, of that which he placed in us, for his own praise, we will erect an Idol, by attributing the glory of the incorruptible God to ourselves, who are corruptible men; he will not suffer it to pass unpunished, but will say Continue thou, with that which is thine, and perish; since thou wouldst not remain in me, who had a mind to save thee, from perishing.

O with how⁵ high Truth, are these words accomplished in proud men; and how soon do they grow from being spiritual to be carnal; from being recollected to be dissolute; from being gold, to be dirt. And they who were wont to feed upon the bread of heaven with gust, do afterwards take pleasure to eat the food of swine. And it groweth to be afflictive to them, not only to do the works of God, but even to hear men speak of him. Whence dost thou think it did proceed, that some persons who were chaste in their youth (although they were assaulted with stinging temptations) when they came into old age, have miserably fallen into such deformed vileness of this kind, as that they were amazed, and even did abhor themselves. The cause was this. In their youth they lived with holy fear, and with humility; and finding themselves so, upon the brim of falling, they called upon God, and were defended by him. But⁶ when afterward, upon a long possession of the chastity which they had, they grew to be high fed, and to confide in themselves, at that very instant were they forsaken by the hand of God, and did that, which was proper to themselves, which was to fall. And so is it accomplished, That they feed their kids; which are their light, and dishonest appetites, near the Tents of the shepherds, which are the bodies of the creatures of God; For in them they dwell, as if it were in a Tent, which is set up in a field, to be removed upon every short warning, and not, as in a house, or City of rest. And so they are said with much reason, to feed their senses upon bodies; and things belonging to the body; because, by their pride, they lost the true sense which they had; believing otherwise of themselves, than they are, (which is indeed but to be sinners, and good for nothing of themselves) and robbing God of that glory, which doth so duly, and truly belong to him, for all the good which we do at all.

Awake therefore, O daughter, and be warned by the hurt of others, and serve thyself of the threat, lest otherwise thou be put to feel the smart. And be thou like the spouse, to whom this speech was used, who hearing so sad a word (of, Go thy ways, and see) to fall from his mouth, from whom all good things proceed, she considered, and she knew herself; and she cast off certain presumptions, to which formerly she had been subject. Being thus humbled by this reprehension, the spouse doth comfort⁷ her, by saying, I have resembled thee, O thou my friend, to my troops of horse amongst pharao's Chariots, thy cheeks are fair as of a Turtle. By pride a man grows like the Devil; who as the Gospel saith, did not remain in the Truth, which is God; but did resolve to subsist in himself, and upon himself to lean, and rest, and so he fell. For a creature cannot subsist in himself, but in God. And on the other side, a man, by the humble knowledge of himself, grows like to those good Angels, who did cast themselves upon God, and untied themselves from themselves. For they saw that they were, but as a kind of broken reed; & so God upheld them, and confirmed them. And they cried out saying. Michael, which signifieth, Who like to God? Wherein they contradicted the wretched Lucifer, and his followers, who would needs make Idols of themselves, ascribing that to themselves, which did belong to God; which is, To be the beginning, and the protection, and the entiere repose of all creatures. Not as if they conceived, that this could be (they who knew themselves to be creatures) but because they took pleasure in it, as if so it had been. As proud men use to do; who although with the mouth, or understanding, they cry out, that they hold, and hope for all their good from God; yet by⁸ their will; they exalt themselves, and they vainly rejoice in themselves; as if of themselves they had that good. Confessing with their understanding, that the glory is due to God, but robbing him of it, by the will.

But those good Angels, cry out, both with the will and understanding, Who like to God? For with their hearts they did humble, and disesteem themselves; as they knew by their understanding, that they were to do. And for this, they were exalted, to the participation of God, without so much as a possibility of ever losing it. Now, to these troops of horse. which is the Angelical army that destroyed Pharaoh, and his chariots in the red sea, Christ compareth his Spouse, when she is content to know, & measure herself; & he praiseth her cheeks, wherein she useth to show bashfulness. For the spouse was ashamed of that reprehension, as having demanded higher things, than were convenient for her meanness. And her cheeks, of bold, grew bashful, and chaste, as of the turtle; which is an honest and a modest bird. And for this it was, that the devout S. Bernard⁹ said, That he had found by experience, that nothing was more profitable, for the obtaining, conserving, or reconering of grace, than ever to live in fear and holy care. When¹⁰ we want grace, we must have fear, because we are ready to take a thousand falls. When we have it, we must have care, because we are to work, in conformity of the talon which God bestoweth on us thereby; & most care of all when we lose it; because that favour went from us, by our negligence. The Scripture doth therefore say, Blessed is the man who doth always fear.

Footnotes

1. Hear beginneth a most excellent, and most profitable discourse, of the knowledge of ones self. It is made at large and deserveth to be well considered. ↩

2. The same place of holy Scripture may have diverse meanings and all of them true, as S. Augustin doth prove at large lib. 11. Confess. in many places. ↩

3. It is so, & he that doth not think so, doth not think of it, as he ought. ↩

4. Companions in sin, companions in torment. ↩

5. Read & take heed and tremble. ↩

6. The fruit of pride. ↩

7. Cant. 5. ↩

8. Note and take heed. ↩

9. S. Bern●●, was therefore no Protestant. ↩

10. A Christian must ever live with a holy kind of fear and 〈◊〉. ↩