Letter 24. To a virgin

he animates her in that purpose; and shows the great blessings which she would find, both in life, and death, by the espousals which she meant to make with Christ our Lord.

Devout servant of Jesus Christ. The contentment which my soul took in understanding of the new purpose you were grown to have, of taking the king of heaven for your spouse (you who might so well have matched yourself here on earth) was so very great that I know not with what words to express it. And though when it was told me, it were new to me, as not having understood thereof before; yet neither was it wholly new; for already I had in a manner eyed you out, for that lord, who created you, and I had begged of him as a particular favour, that he would bestow you upon me, for himself. Blessed be his holy name for ever, who hath now done it so very completely, as I knew not, so much as how to wish. But that joy which your soul found before in seeing itself so disintriqued from all the baseness of this earth, and finding itself already to have received that pledge, and pawn of love from that heavenly king; what was it else, but a clear sign, that this mutation which you have made, proceeded not from any inconstancy of your humour, but from the work of God, who hath conveyed his hand into your hart, and therein hath produced that desire of heaven, which now you have. And he also gave you that great joy, as a testimony, and earnest penny of those many, and great, and pure joys, which if you prove faithful to him, he resolves to give you in heaven; the least whereof, is incomparably more to be esteemed then a husband of this world, and children, and estate, and whatsoever else the whole earth can give. O if you had but tried, how sweet God is, to that soul, which turns her back to the world, to place her eyes upon her Creator. O if you did but know, what that sweetness is, of the celestial spouse, towards the comforting of those souls, who cast all transitory delight away, and like chaste turtles refuse to take comfort upon earth; but send up sighs for love of their Lord, who is in heaven; & who are like the dove which returns home to the hand of the owner, as clean as she went forth, without touching any dead body; so much as with her feet.

What is there so flourishing in this world, which is any better than a dead, and stinking carcase? And for what then doth it serve us, to join ourselves to that which will infect us, and which may leave us thirty thousand times more disgusted with the bitterness which follows, then with the pleasure which it yielded for the present. You must render Christ our Lord many thankes, who hath given you light, whereby you know how to distinguish between that, the precious, and the base, between eternal and-temporall, between an immortal God, and a mortal man. And for having given you grace, to make so happy an election, as whereby God is accepted, and man despised; and in that for the love of that heavenly bed of state, the care of any earthly bed is thrown aside●, how rich soever it might have been. Be therefore faithful to him, who takes you for his spouse, and who will be sure to be so faithful to you, as to make you find by experience, that he is not in jest, when he calls himself the pure Spouse of pure Virgins; for you shall find the assembly of all bliss in him. Nor can it prove like the marriages which are made between flesh and blood, wherein usually the little contentment, which is had at first, is followed by the bitterness of repentance. But this work of ours gives not only contentment at the first, but the more you converse with this Lord, the better you shall know him, and the better you know him, the more you will love him. For he is not like men, who, when they are more frequented, let us easily see that they have more faults; and he who was a good husband upon the marriage day, within a year proves such, as that there is no living with him. But in Christ our Lord, you shall see nothing which may disgust you, and as little in that Blessed mother of his, who is the mother in law, to all the spouses of her son: O blessed hour wherein that good purpose was sowed in your hart, and much more blessed, will that other be, when you shall find yourself so visited by your spouse, as to make you say, O my Lord, and when could I deserve these favours of thee, that I should find this hidden treasure, for the purchase whereof, to pay the price of a thousand lives, were to buy it very cheap.

O how happy and prosperous is this marriage to be, and of how excessive joy, both to heaven and earth. God the Father is pleased to see, that there be souls on earth, who love his only begotten son so well, as that for his love, they leave the loves of flesh and blood, not only those, which are forbidden by his law, but even those of marriage which are lawful. For it is a sign of greater love, when for his sake, we forbear that which we might lawfully use. The son is he to whom the soul is espoused; and for this he died, that he might have some souls which would love him at least with spiritual purity; and others who might do it not only spiritually, but even with the body also untouched. The holy Ghost is most pure, and fare estranged from flesh, and when he finds a soul which resolutely despises carnal delights, there doth he lodge his eyes; and fills them with spiritual comforts, and will never permit that the soul be empty, which shall refuse to feed upon carnal food. Our Blessed Lady is the mother of the spouse, and they are very like one another, for she also is all amiable, benign, a beginner, a protector, and an advocate of virgins, and she highly rejoices that there is virginity upon earth, for that is the flower which she planted. There want not pages to give attendance at this marriage, for the Angels are servants to the king of heaven, and ready for all that, which the spouse shall need. Neither yet is there want of children which the world is wont to desire so much; and they come without throws of travail, and without pain in bringing up, and without that grief which grows, when either they live not well, or dye too soon.

The children of this marriage are good works, which be rightly called a man's or woman's fruit. What comfort will he feel, when for the love of Christ our Lord, he conceives a good purpose, to give an alms, or some such other thing; and when afterward he shall put it in execution, what pleasure will he take by the birth thereof? These children give both ease, and honour to their mother. This Spouse hath no need of a dowry, for the children which she brings, will bring it; and that so richly, as wherewith she may gain, and purchase heaven itself. And they make their mother live in so perfect ease, that I give you my word, that when you compose yourself to sleep at night, you shall find yourself in greater peace, and rest, then if you were Mistress of the whole earth, and whatsoever can be desired therein.

And tell me now what can be thought of in this world, which may arrive or even approach to the least of these advantages? For if there be any little paltry pleasure here, every hour of such pleasure carries with it the counterpoise of more than a hundred hours of grief and pain. And if here there be any pleasure without pain, it will at last have an end, and either the spouse will dye before her fellow spouse, or else he before her, and so all proves pain. And besides the death of children, it is a grief to a mother to part from them, even upon other occasions, in such sort, as that they enjoy not one another.

But rejoice you O virgin in Christ our Lord. For your spouse shall never dye. And when you die you will be hemmed in by your children, which are those good works that you have wrought; and they will not put you to pain by your leaving them, for they go with you, into the other world; and they accompany you even to the very throne of God, and they will plentifully repay all the labour and charge, which you have been at with them, and the mother shall be made happy for the love of the children. More over death makes no divorce in this case, but rather puts the spouse, and her fellow spouse together. And he shall deliver us, for he is the Lord of life and death. And no devil shall presume to steal her away, whom God hath taken under the protection of his favour; and hath honoured with the name of his spouse. Then will the Angels come and serve, and present her before Almighty God, singing praises to him, and pouring forth benedictions upon her, and saying to her after this manner. Come O spouse of Christ, receive that crown which is prepared for thee by our Lord. The virgin mother will not then absent herself, being accompanied with a world of other virgins, who have done in this world that which you are doing now, and are fare from repenting themselves thereof. In fine you shall go out of this world, in company of your Peers, where our Lord hath already prepared that celestial bed of state for you, that you may eternally be full, and rich, and royally provided for, in the house and presence of our Lord God, contemplating that infinite beauty of his, from one moment to another, one hour whereof is so high a reward, that by way of recompense it fare exceeds the proportion of what you suffer, yea and all those afflictions which all the men of the whole world did ever suffer, in time past, or can ever suffer, in time to come.

There shall you possess all good, and there shall you have obtained all that, for which you were created, and you shall be so very full of God, as that it cannot be expressed nor so much as thought. For there shall you find the whole bosom of your soul, even to regorge with joy, like one who were ingulfed into a whole sea of unspeakable sweetness, whereby he were environed on all sides. Then shall you see, and exclaim, and enjoy, and possess the Lord of all things, and say, whom I have loved I have obtained; and whom I have sought I have found; and he for whom I left the world is grown my pay, and my reward, and him will I praise, and love, through the eternity of all eternityes. Amen.