Letter, number unidentified. To a devout person

GOD give you Sir a good Lent, and that so you may exteriorly take ashes, in the beginning of this holy time, that the virtue of holy humility, which is signified thereby, may ever have a resting place in your soul. For to whom our Lord gives true knowledge, and grief for what he was, at that time when he went estranged from God, him hath he delivered from the dangerous blindness of pride, and him doth he make capable of all those spiritual blessings which it may concern him to have. The holy Scripture saith, The beginning of all mischief is pride, and he who is possessed by it, shall be possessed by all manner of maledictions, that is, of vices. For as kings are not wont to go alone, so is Pride accompanied with many sins. And so also on the other side, humility is never alone, since according to Saint james. God gives his grace to such as are humble, which Grace is the Mother of all virtue.

The proud man seeks after honour, and afflicts himself when he is contemned but the person who is humble, is out of countenance when he is well treated, and is glad when he is despised, because he finds that justice is done thereby, which justice he loue●, as a person who is truly Just. The proud man is ever in want of somewhat, because how much soever he have either of his own, or by the gift of others, he still conceives himself to be worthy of more, but the humble man is always in abundance, yea and in superfluity, for he acknowledges himself to be unworthy, even of the very earth whereof he treads, yea, and he esteems hell itself, to be a punishment which comes short of his sins. The proud man cannot endure nor live with any body, Noah nor even with himself, in peace. But the humble man can live with all the world, for he abases himself to all, he endures all, esteeming them for his betters, in his very hart; To the proud man it seems an unsupportable thing to obey the will of others, whether it be of God or man; but the man who is humble submitts and diminishes himself, and so is enabled to go in, by the straight gate of doing the will of others, whether it be of the Creator or of the creatures.

Great are the blessings which comes to us in these ashes of humility, and men must take heed, that they be not found without it, unless they mean to be without God. For S. Augustine saith, How high art thou O Lord, and yet ●he ●umble of hart are the house wherein thou choosest to awe●! And the holy Scripture saith. Upon whom will I look? or upon whom shall my spiri●● rest, but upon the person who fears, and trembles at the voice of my words? This humility, which makes a man think basely of himself, is fare from being abase thing, nor is it a fruit which grows on earth, but in heaven it is, and God imparts it to such as dig deeply in their own dung, raking up and ruminating upon their faults and frailties, with great diligence: for amongst those poverties and miseries is this precious jewel wont to be found. And through our sins, we have so much matter to work upon, by way of examining, and bewailing the same, that, unless it be some man who will absent his eyes from looking upon himself, there is none, who may not be sure to find cause, and cause enough, not only to be humbled, but even confounded.

Woe be to us! if we be found to be of them, of whom God saith, Thou art become as the face of a strumpet, nor wouldst thou blush. For what thing is there more deformed than the impudent boldness of such a person, as hath so much reason to be full of shame? And who is he that dares once cast up his eyes to God or his creatures, if he consider well, how he hath offended him, & made himself unworthy of them? who is there amongst us, who fails not in the perfect love which he owes to God? since we love him not with our whole understanding, believing his truth with that firm constancy which is fit; and enterteyning those considerations, those thoughts, and purposes, by means whereof, we might do him more faithful service? who is he who love's him with his whole hart, not giving any part thereof to others, yea or to himself, but only in God and for God? and who renouncing all proper interest, hath proceeded to love God, for God himself? And he who shall consider, how little he hath mortified his passions, and what a stiff war he makes against the kingdom of the love of God, will easily discern that he love's not God with all his soul? And our Lord commanding us also to love him with all our strength, we are yet content to do it, with such a deal of tepidity, as we may well desire him to pardon. For, the strength which we employ upon complying with the love of ourselves, and appetites being so alive in us, makes us mightily fail in the diligence which we own to the service of God, and to the fervour of our love of him. S. Augustine saith, that the increase of Charity in us, is the decrease of our own appetites and desires; and then will our charity be perfect, when there shall be no such desires in us at all. Now by the name of such desires, he understands that inordinate self love which every one bears to himself. And because amongst all them who descend of Adam, there is no one, (excepting only Jesus Christ our Lord, and his most sacred Mother) who hath not found in himself, some excess of this self love; therefore is there none of them, who hath not faith led somewhat of perfection in the love of God. For when the love of myself is wholly alive in me, the love of God is dead; and then is a man in state of Mortal sin. And when the love of God livens and reigns in me (in virtue of which love I fully purpose not to offend God mortally) then am I in state of grace, though I may fail somewhat, of that perfect love of God, because still I comply in somewhat with the love either of myself or of creatures. And from this want of divine love, doth grow our faultiness in our other works, because that is the life of them. From hence also proceed the faults we make in the love of our neighbours, by our not having compassion of their miseries; nor taking joy in their blessings, as concerning persons who are very straightly joined to God, and adopted in the Sacrament of Baptism for his children. And we also fail in our works towards them, because we fail in our love to him who said. That which you have done to any of my little ones, you have done to me.

Now from the defect of these two Loves, of God, and of our neighbour (which are the roots of our good works) many other imperfections grow into those very works which we do, though sometimes such works themselves, are not sins, nay being performed in the state of grace, they are meritorious of eternal life; But of such as these (if we mean to live in the way of humility and truth) we are to give the glory to God, and to yield him humble thankes, who holp us to embrace that which was good with our free will, and ordained, that it should be meritorious, by that Grace which through his mercy, he bestowed upon us.

Now we must not, upon this reason, forbear to sift out those faults with care, which we commit to these actions of ours; but it is a much more secure practice, to consider very particularly, that which is faulty in us, then that which may go for a point of virtue. And be well assured, that how much soever you shall consider, and sift, yet still there will much lie hidden from you, in regard whereof you shall have reason enough to say, with deep sighing to our Lord, O cleanse me from my hidden sins.

Hence comes it, that we love not our neighbours, in such sort, as God would have us, or at least, not so much as he would have us. Hence comes it, that we tolerate not their imperfections, nor fly from giving them disgusts. And in fine from hence grow all those other faults, which defile our souls like filth, which is ever dropping as from a sore. Our sins are greater than any thought of man is able to understand, and only he who created our hart and clearly penetrates to the bottom of it, is able to comprehend what our frailty is. And many times doth that discover itself to be filthy before his judgement, which seems, in the sight of ours, to be very perfect. Therefore as job hath showed us the way we must fear all our works, how good soever they may seem to us, and we must not take pleasure in ourselves by reason of them, nor delight ourselves therein, even in the most secret part of our hearts. For he only is pleasing to God, who is displeasing to himself; he only is Just in the sight of God who knows that grace and justice proceeds from the mercy of God. There is not a thing, from which God is more averted, than a hart which carries liking to itself. For God in such a one finds no vessel empty, into which he may pour the riches of his mercy, and so such a hart remains with the natural poverty, wherewith, and wherein it shall still continued, because it would not abase and empty itself, that so the waters of Grace might run into it, and so it might live contented in God, and might bring forth fruit, as a garden would do, wherein there were abundance of water.

All our good comes from God; & he who believes that of himself he is able even to move his tongue towards the saying so much as Lord Jesus, that person makes himself God since he attributes that to himself which only belongs to God. And God gives himself to us upon condition that we must acknowledge this truth: That in him, & of him, comes all our good, and not from ourselves. And the more good we have, the greater debtors of his we are, and so much more we have, whereof to accuse ourselves, as not corresponding to greater favours by greater services, and to greater benefits by greater acknowledgements. He who is taught by the divine truth, attributes nothing to himself, but Not being and sinning. For if we remove all that which God gave us when he created us, and which every day he conserves in us; we shall not find any being in us, but only a nothing, and that to nothing we should return, as of nothing we are made. And taking also away the favour of God which through Jesus Christ is communicated us, what should become of the greatest Saint on earth, but that which became of Peter, when he denied his Lord, and of Paul who persecuted him, that had redeemed him; and that which every one finds by experience, that himself was, before our Lord carried his hand over him, taking from him his old hart, and giving him a new one in place thereof.

justification is nothing else, but a resurrection of the soul which was dead in sin, and now life's by the spirit of that life, which God infused into it, by the death of his blessed son. And as that body should be both mad and foolish, which would attribute life and motion to itself, and not to the soul which dwells in it, and gives it life; so is that soul deadly blind, which esteems that the life of good works, which she finds herself to have, doth proceed from herself, and not from the spirit of that life, which was infused into her by Almighty God. And sometimes God punishes such souls as these, by taking away that which formerly he had given them, to the end, that observing that they can neither see, nor hear, nor taste, nor in fine, do that which formerly they did, it may be plain to them that it was some other, who imparted that life which was in them; and that they did but receive it; & that the soul is no other thing without the grace of Jesus Christ, than the body is when the soul departs from the same.

And therefore my friend, be sure that thou see no other thing in thyself, but faults, and know that thou hast nothing else of thine own. If our Lord discomfors thee, consider how weak and poor thou growest, and with how little conformity thou receivest that, which thou dost so well deserve. If he comfort thee, consider with how little humility thou receivest it, it being reason that thou shouldst so much the more abase thyself, as God honours thee; and that by so much more thou shouldst be confounded with shame, as thou seest, that God treats thee, as though thou wert good, when indeed thou art not so. Consider how little profit thou makest of the inspirations, and inward speeches of our Lord; and how often our Lord saith somewhat to thee, and how soon thou forgettest to put it in execution; it being reason, that every word of his, should last with thee all the days of thy life; without any need of repeating it. How often doth our Lord infuse precious liquor into thee, and thou, having a hart all full of holes, dost suffer that to be spilt; which in reason, thou shouldest keep a long time? And though it would be sit, that how much more God comforts thee, so much more thou shouldst forget and neglect the comforts of this world, and so much more unite and shut up thy soul, to the end that thou mightest again and again receive God into it, it happens sometimes, that by the comfort, which he gives us, we are made more giddy, through our own lightness, and we scatter and pour out our hearts more than before. What shall we say of our frailties, but that every thing being well examined, we find, that we do nothing right, and that it were much reason, that we should rather be confounded, by considering how faultily it is performed, then that once it should pass by the least part of our thoughts, that we had done any thing which were worth the looking on.

It is certain, that if a Page serve a king, and that he make him not due reverence, they will punish him. If he answer not, or do it not soon enough, or give not a quick account of any message, they will also punish him. And in fine they whom we serve are not contented, though we do what they bid us, but withal we must do it well, if we mean not to be reprehended and reproached.

And tell me now my friend, which of us is he, who carries such a profound reverence to our Lord as is fit? where is that adoration of such an incomprehensible Majesty, and such a profound internal kind of trembling, as they have in heaven, of whom it is said in the holy Mass, That the Powers tremble? Where is that confusion and shame; which we should have, to appear before that infinite wisdom, which well doth see what kind of things we are, & which discovers us to the very bottom? where is that so exact obedience, as that we should not need to have the same thing commanded twice? where is that discretion, wherewith we ought to serve such a thing as God? where is the gratitude which is due for so innumerable and so unspeakable benefits? And lastly where is that service both of body and soul, which is deserved by so high a lord, and so great a God?

Certainly he who hath eyes to see, will never discover in himself any thing else, but a profoundity of miseries and faults. And when in the evening he takes account of himself, what kind of man he hath been all that day, he finds nothing, but errors which he hath committed, in thinking, speaking, and doing, and he finds diverse good works which he hath failed to do, by not having loved and being thankful to God, and by not having loved and not having supported the weakness of his neighbour as he ought to have done, besides innumerable other things, which he should have performed, and hath omitted. And if with the favour of our Lord, he have done any thing which was good, he sindes that he spotted it with pride, or vain glory, or tepidity, or with not answering God as he was bound to do, or with two thousand other faults which God makes him know, and with two thousand others which yet he is not able to discern, but yet he believes that there they are; and for so wicked doth he esteem himself, as that the least part of his sins he holds to be that, which he discovers. For as he knows that God is more good, than he is able to conceive, so also doth he believe, that himself is more wicked than he can arrive to understand. And though God do him favours, yet doth he not attribute to himself any part thereof, but only the faults which he committed, in not answering, and profiting thereby, as he should have done.

And this is to walk according to truth, giving that to God which is his; That is to say, all manner of good, without the least mixture of any ill. And by this consideration being rooted well in the bowels of a man's hart (as a truth which were delivered by the very mouth of God) a man rises, from leaning upon himself; as from some broken reed, and he ever goes leaning upon him, who uphoulds all things. He behoulds himself, and he sees nothing, but that which is to be lamented; and he behoulds God; in whose goodness he confides; without any fear to be forsaken. And for as much as God is so faithful, as that he never leaves them who go to him, and for that he hath so great care of them; as that infinitely sooner, there will be want of water in the Sea, and of light in the sun, then of mercy in him; therefore do they run, and fly, because God carries them, and they fall not, because be sustains them, and they wander not, because he directs them, and they shall not be condemned, because our Lord gives his kingdom to such as become like little children.

Be therefore sure, my friend, that thou understand thyself right, since our Lord doth so much expect it of thee. And of all that which passes in thee, lay the glory aside for God, and take the shame and dishonour to thyself. And place thy hope, of being able to proceed, as thou hast begun, in that Lord who put thee in the way; with no meaning, I assure thee, to leave thee in the midst thereof, but to carry thee on, to enjoy the society of his spouses in heaven. There doth he intent to do thee extraordinary honour, and therefore procure not thou to be honoured here. For being taken by the sent of such an excellent feast as that, it is utterly against all reason, that thou shouldst glut thyself, with the baseness of any thing, which this world affords. For there is nothing upon earth, which can savour well in his mouth, who hath tasted, though but a little, of that celestial food. Turn thy back to all things, which thou art soon to leave, & place not thy hart on that, which is so instantly to pass away. It is very little, which here thou art able to endure for God, yea though thou alone shouldest endure all that, which can be endured here. For considering hell, which thou hast deserved, and heaven with which he means thou shalt be rewarded (since he hath placed thee in the way thither) and again, weighing that which here he hath endured for thee; it is not to be accounted of, Noah nor so much as to be greatly considered, which thou either dost, or mayest endure for him.

Esteem thou God for so precious a thing, that whatsoever he grows to cost thee, thou mayest still believe it to be very little; yea though he cost thee thy life, yet dost thou buy him very cheap. In the next world, thou shalt see, that thou wert not deceived, in the exchange which thou hast made, but finding them to be treated like mad fools, and miserable persons, who lodged their hearts, and besotted themselves, upon this present world, and forgot the promises which God made concerning the future, thou wilt give praises to our Lord, in that thou being once deceived, he vouchsafed to undeceive thee, and whilst thou wert casting thine eyes down to earth, he was pleased to raise them up to heaven; and thou being a slave to vanity, he made thee a son of his own; and when thou wert living without any hope of divine promises, he grew to place thee in that way, wherein thou mayest hope, that he will help thee now to live well, and afterwards to dye well. And that when this exile is ended; he will conduct thee to the land of the living; which is the clear fruition of the face of God. Where thou shall enjoy so great happiness, that it belongs to God alone to know it perfectly, as to him alone it belongs, both to be able, and to be willing to give it. And this will our Lord do, not for thy sake, but for his own, because he is good, and his mercy endures for ever. To whom, for all, and of all, and in all, be glory and praise, for all eternities of eternities. Amen.