Letter 44. To his disciples at Écija

THE peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be ever with you Amen. Since I parted from your presence, I have ever had you all present with me, in my memory, for the love I bear you, permits me not to do otherwise. Give your selves still to God, since you once gave yourselves to him, and I was a witness thereof, nor will I by any means, that you repent the having offered yourselves to him, since he offered himself to death for you. You shall be sure to have battles, and those sharp enough: for our enemies are in great multitude, and full of rage. Be not therefore negligent, for if you be, you are instantly undone. If they who watch best, have enough to do, to defend themselves; what do you think will become of wrechlesse persons, but that they should entirely be overcome?

Remember that the pleasure which sin presents is small, filthy, and short; and the sorrow which it leaves behind is very great, and the misery which grows to us thereby, is incomparably greater. What sorrow (how great soever it be can equal that which we ought to conceive, upon our loss of Almighty God? O misery, which should make us tremble, even in hearing it named! For if we delight in sin, we shall have no part in God. Let us therefore consider, how we live, for we shall shortly be led before the Throne of God, to give account of ourselves. Let not the uncleanness of the flesh, nor the vanity of the world, nor the subtlety of the devil, deceive us. But let us behold Christ our Lord, upon the Cross; and we shall see him tormented in his body, & dishonoured by the world, & that so he subdued the devil.

Who ever looked towards Christ our Lord, and was deceived? Infallibly there was never any. Let us therefore never draw our eyes of from him, unless we mean to turn blind. Let it never seem to him, that we value his love so little; as that, although he died for us, we cannot find in our hearts, so much as to be looking towards him. For he died for this, that we by looking up to him, might strive to dye to our sins. Let therefore our old man die in us, since our new man, who is Christ our Saviour, died for us upon the Cross. Let us approach towards his wounds; for by his, we shall be cured of ours. And if we think it a heavy thing, to part from our sins; it was much more hard, and heavy for his soul to part from his body, when he died, to the end that we might ever live.

Let us therefore go on apace, & take hart to follow such a captain as this; who leads us the way not only in doing, but in suffering Let us crucify our flesh with him, that now we may no longer live according to the desires of the flesh, but of the spirit. If the world shall persecute us, let us go hide ourselves in his holy wounds; and there we shall find those injuries, as delightful to our hearts, as any music is sweet to the ear. And so rude stones will be to us, as precious jewels; and prisons, will be palaces; and death itself, will be converted into life. O Jesus Christ, and how strong is that love of thine? and how truly doth it convert all things to our good as S. Paul saith; Infallibly that man shall never die of hunger, who is fed by this love of thine. He shall feel no nakedness, he shall never find want of any thing, which this world can give. For, possessing God by love, no good thing can be wanting to him.

Let us therefore, O my beloved brethren, be taken with a great desire of going to see this vision, of the bush, which burns and yet is not consumed. That is, how they who love God, suffer injuries, and yet feel them not; how in the midst of hunger, they are full fed; how they are cast of by the world and yet afflict not themselves thereat, how they are assaulted by the fire of fleshly appetites, and yet they are not scorched by it. They are trodden under foot, and yet they stand fast upright; they seem poor, and they are rich. They seem deformed, but they are full of beauty. They seem strangers, but they are citizens. They are not known to men, but they are familiarly acquainted with Almighty God. All this, and more, is brought to pass, by the noble Love of our lord Jesus Christ in the hart where it is lodged. But no man can arrive unto this, unless he put of his shoes▪ that is to say, his unmortified affections, which spring up out of ●●lselou●. For this is the root of death, as the love of God, is the cause of life. A life, which is spiritual & holy, admits to wear a●e ●h●es, that is to say no desires of se●feloue. He who love's Christ our Lord, must abhor himself. He who will not be cruel to Christ our Lord, let him not be compassionate to himself. They who dandle themselves, show unkindness to Christ our Lord, and they who take so much care of themselves cannot make God their business.¹

Let us therefore give, our All that which we are (which God knows is but a little All) for that other great All, which is Almighty God. Let us give over the following of our own proper will, and let us betake ourselves with diligence, to follow the will of God. Let us esteem all things as mere dung, that so we may possess that precious pearl which is Christ our Lord. And to the end that we may see him, in his beauty and glory; let us here be content to embrace dishonour, & labour.

Infallibly, he shall never find himself deceived, who makes such an exchange as this. But when God shall come with his Saints, and shall come to reward every one according to hi● works, then will that appear to have been foolery which now is held in so great account; and than it will be their turn to lament, who now shall have spent their mortal lives in delight. And he only will be avowed by Christ our Lord, who shall have lived; according to his holy will. O how great, shall the joy of good men be; at that day, when receiving high honour at the hands of God, they shall be seated upon those thrones which were prepared for them from all eternity; and when in society of all the quires of Angels they shall sing praises to their Lord, and their God? O how great will their joy be, who shall behold the king in his beauty. In the contemplation whereof, they will be so happy, that no one of them shall be without even regorging, through his being so full of that precious liquor, and that sovereign Balsamum; which created all good things. In comparison of this, all beauty is deformity: & the very brightness of the sun itself is direct downright darkness, & the very top of other delights, is the very bitterness of gall. And, in fine, (that I may not reckon up every particular thing by itself) in comparison of this beauty, all the things of the whole world put together are not to be esteemed for any thing at all, neither are they any thing in very deed. O eternal God, thou who art all things, and yet who art none of these things, and when shall that day arrive, wherein we may be so happy as to see thee? when is this earthen pot to be cracked, which shuts us up, from enjoying so great a good. When shall these chains be broken, which hinder us from flying up to thee, who art the true repose, of such, as are to repose indeed? Let us not, my Brethren, look any other way but only upon Almighty God. Let us call upon him, in our hearts, and let us keep him close embraced by us: that so he may never part from us. For woe be to us, wretched things; what shall we be able to do, without him, but only to turn again into our nothing. Let us, now at last, cast this world behind us, which yet, we carry before our eyes; and let us, at last begin to try, how sweet our Lord is. Let us run after him, who came running down towards us; from heaven itself, that he might carry us thither. Let us go to him, who calls us; and who doth it with so much love, from the top of that Cross; with his flesh all torn, and even as it were broiled with the fire of love, to the end that it might be more savoury to our taste. O that we might feed thereon? O that we might even consume thereby? O that we were all transformed? O that we could grow, to be one, and the selfsame spirit with God.

Who is he that detains us? who is he that hinders us? who is he that deceives us so, as that we cannot persuade ourselves to draw near to God? If it be our goods, let us cast them away, if they be in our power, if they be not, let us keep them, though only as so much dung, which may be laid up with diligence, for good uses: but yet still without any love at all to the thing itself. If is be our wives, S. Paul lets us know, that we must have wives, as if we had them not. If it be our children let us love them, but for the love of God. And let us even out of water be able to kindle a fire, whereby all that may be burnt up, which shall pretend to divide us from Almighty God. Let the tears of grief wash us; and the fire of love consume us, and so we shall grow to be those holy creatures which were offered up to God with fire.

O eternal God, who consumest our coldness; and how sweetly, dost thou burn, and how dear dost thou inflame, and how delightfully dost thou consume us? O that we all might altogether burn with thee? Then would all our powers cry out, and say: O Lord who is like to thee? For whosoever he be, that saith he knows thee, and yet love's thee not, is a liar. Let us therefore love thee, and let us also know thee, since love grows from that knowledge. And afterward make us able to possess thee; since they who possess thee, are so rich, and possessing thee, let us be possessed by thee, and so let us employ ourselves, in praising thee; since all the powers of the heavens confess and praise thee, for God Trine and One, the infinite king, wise, powerful, good, and beautiful, the pardoner of them who are converted towards thee, & the uphoulder of them who approach to thee; & the glorifier of them who serve thee; & that God, of whose perfection there is no end For thou surpassest all tongues, and all understandings; and thou art only known in perfection, by thyself. To thee be glory, through the eternities of all eternities. Amen.

Footnotes

1. Exod 2 ↩