Chapter X. Of the kingdom of God in souls

Article I

In what the kingdom of God consists, and its advantages, God's kingdom is threefold : that of nature, that of grace, and that of glory. The first is connected with the second, and the second with the third.

The kingdom of grace is within us, and its end is a holy beatitude. For the beatitude of man results from his union with God, which is holiness.

This kingdom, as regards its exercise, consists in two things: 1. in the government of the King; 2. in the dependence of subjects : or, to use the language of Scripture, in the ways of God towards souls, and in the ways of souls towards God, The ways of God towards souls are, justice and mercy, and a mixture of both one and the other. God has different kinds of wills. There are those of positive command and of simple permission. There are such as are evident and such as are hidden. He consoles and afflicts. He caresses and chastises. He inspires terror and excites confidence. He proceeds openly and as it were stealthily. He makes assaults and wins by sweetness, kc.

The ways of souls towards God are, dependence, humility, resignation, abandonment of all care, mortification of self-love, purity of heart. The more we possess these holy dispositions, the more is the kingdom of God established in the soul.

The excellences of this kingdom are : the wisdom of the King, His power. His goodness ; the nobility and dignity of His subjects; the peace, the security, the liberty, the goods, the pleasures they enjoy : wherein the kingdom of God has advantages infinitely above the kingdoms of the earth.

What a difference between the kingdom of grace and that of sin ! Their chiefs, their wars, their arms, their laws are different. They are both interior. Both one and the other are found within us ; the one is founded on Adam, the other on Jesus Christ. They are based on the destruction the one of the other. St. Paul sets this forth in an admirable manner. It is left to us to choose of which of these two kingdoms we would be the subjects. Salvation consists in withdrawing from that of sin and entering that of grace ; and perfection in destroying within us the law of sin and the flesh, and in living according to the law of the spirit.

Article II

Of the govemcmce of the kingdom of God, The first operation of God in the governance of His kingdom, according to St. Denis, is the purifying of souls. And for this end He puts into the hearts of His subjects the knowledge of themselves, and gives them a light which discovers to them all their most secret perversities ; and that for three reasons : 1. to shew that He is the King of the heart, seeing that He penetrates and lays open its most intricate folds, bringing to light faults which they would never have themselves perceived ; . 2. to nudntain the order He has prescribed to Himself of sanctifying men by their own co-operation, which consists in renouncing all their past infidelities — a thing they cannot do miless they have a full knowledge of them ; 3. to render His kingdom firm and enduring by means of true interior humility, which cannot be better formed within us than by an experimental knowledge of our miseries, and the horror with which we regard them. Now this serves to establish the kingdom of Grod; and without it we naturally pride ourselves on the graces which Grod bestows upon us.

This operation of God, which is the beginning of His ways, discloses to the soul : 1. the vast amount of its malice ; its refusals of divine grace ; the movements of its will, not only such as lead it directly to evil, but also such as are indirect, interpretative, and virtual, which disorderly affections commonly conceal, or which are excused on false pleas : 2. the depth and gravity of that malice, which it is most important for it thoroughly to know, that it may be solidly grounded in the spirit of humility, and correct itself effectually of its faults.

All this is accomplished by means of a supernatural ^ light, terminating finally in the light of glory. It gradually increases, until it becomes a light of contemplation, which has more power to manifest to us our sins and weaknesses than all the reflections and self-examinations we can make. The knowledge of our miseries which this light gives us serves to encourage us, and prevents our being confounded at the sight of our sins at the hour of death.

God, who is light, begins to reign in a soul by chasing away the darkness of sin. He delivers it : 1. from actual sin ; 2. from the habit of sin ; 3. fi'om the obligation of undergoing the penalty of sin ; 4. from the corruption of nature ; and at last He proceeds even to purge it more and more from the imperfection of a created being. But this is never wholly effected in this life.

The reason why God commences in this way is, that He would have His kingdom to be eternal. Now this process is necessary to render it enduring.

The second operation of God in the governance of His kingdom is, to teach souls the science of the Saints, which is the only true science. Other sciences, taken in themselves and without reference to the glory of God, lead to pride, folly, and error.

The truth of science and wisdom, says Aristotle, must be ascertained by reference to the last end. Science which is not referrible thereto is not simply and absolutely science ; it is so only in a certain limited sense, and is compatible with a state of error. The really learned man is one who knows truths which lead to happiness, and not one who knows only mere human things.

God is very different from the doctors of this world. 1. The latter do not inform the understanding. The lights they impart leave the heart cold. God is able to move the will. His light carries heat into it. 2. They impart instruction only by means of discourse and a series of propositions. God communicates truth in an instant, and by a simple view. 3. They cannot teach their doctrine to any one who is deficient in intelligence. God gives understanding to those who have it not ; and there is no mind so dull but it is capable of acquiring the science of the Saints when God is pleased to teach it.

Article III

Of the happiness of the kingdcytn of God, The subjects of the kingdom of God are truly kings.

^ FeeUH nos Deo nogtro regnufn, et regnabimut, Thon hast made us a kingdom to our God, and we shall reign.

Three things attend on royalty : dignity or splendonr, riches, and pleasures ; to possess much of these three things is to reign in the world. Now sonls in which God has established the kingdom of His grace possess these three advantages in an eminent degree.

1. Their state is one of surpassing dignity, inasmuch as they obey God immediately, and depend interiorly on Him alone. They have full liberty, a perfect dominion over the world, the flesh, and the deviL They walk with head erect ; they fear nothing ; they have a courage proof against every thing that can happen in this life. Josephus calls the government of the Israelites before they had kings a Theocracy, that is to say, a divine government. And thus also we may name the government of souls " the kingdom of grace."

2. The riches of this kingdom are incomprehensible. " Investigahiles divitias Christi, the unsearchable riches of Christ," says St. Paul, who admirably describes them in several passages of his epistles. They are of two kinds : an abundance of wisdom, science, and interior lights ; and a plenitude of exalted sentiments of God and divine things. In this kingdom souls are so filled with the fulness of Grod, as St. Paul says, that they desire no other goods. This is to be truly rich.

3. The pleasures, the delights, the sweetnesses, the consolations, the peace, which are tasted in the king- ■ dom of God, surpass every thing the heart can desire and every thing the mind can conceive.

These treasures of God's interior kingdom have two qualities which marvellously enhance their value. The first is, that they are eternal, or based on eternity ; for the splendour of the kingdom of grace is the shadow of the light of glory. The riches of grace are the earnest of glory. The delights of the Saints in the present life are a foretaste of Paradise. This is why St. Paul calls grace " life eternal." The second is, that these great goods are compatible with the opposite evils ; a peculiarity which is not found in temporal goods. The glory, the riches, the pleasures of the kingdom of God, subsist together with shame, poverty, and suffering ; and this alliance is a source of merit to the Saints.

These are the goods we may possess even in this life : royalty, boundless treasures, torrents of delights. This is what we lose for trifles that lead us to hell ; for every attachment to the things of earth puts our soul in danger of perdition.

Article IV

Of the practice of the interior kingdom of God^ or the means of establishing it vyithin v>8.

To establish the kingdom of God within us we must do three things.

1. We must banish from our heart every other dominion than that of God, and render ourselves interiorly free from those affections which subject us to creatures. Men commonly wish to join together the kingdom of grace and that of sin. They seek for accommodations by which to reconcile the laws of the one with those of the other : and self-love suggests a thousand contrivances. Hence it is that the ordinary state of men is full of disorders and greatly distracted. " No man," says Jesus Christ, " can serve two masters." God must reign alone in the heart ; He will endure no partner. Therefore to constitute Him the sole undisputed possessor, it is necessary to drive out of it the tyrants who contest with Him the sovereignty, that is to say, those objects which through an ill-regulated affection bear sway therein to His prejudice. Thd means of ascertaining them is to observe what is the point to which our thoughts ordinarily tend^ and what is the mainspring in us of the four passions to which we are most subject : joy, sorrow, desire, and fear. When we have discovered it, we must apply ourselves vigorously to dislodge it and to destroy it by contrary inclinations.

2. After having overthrown the dominion of creatures, we must attach ourselves to God's guidance by a strict dependence, which requires that we should abandon ourselves to Him without reserve and without anxiety about the future; that we should resign our affairs and our interests into the hands of God, especially in whatever concerns obedience, doing nothing of our own impulse, but letting ourselves be guided like little children ; that we should offer ourselves generously to whatever may be the future will of Grod concerning us, and submit ourselves fully to His present dispensations, accepting every thing at His hand, without complaining, and without allowing ourselves to desire any thing else.

3. In all this we must proceed in an interior way, and lead a life not merely good, but truly interior, regulating all the movements of our heart by the instinct of God. Such a principle of life comprises three acts. First, to consult in all things the interior oracle and the divine Spirit, lest the human spirit should forestall its operation. Secondly, to perform faithfully what it prescribes ; otherwise it withdraws and hides itself. Thirdly, to do every thing as in God's sight, by pajdng homage to His sovereign being and uniting ourselves to His Spirit. Unless we accustom ourselves to proceed thus, we act only on law and unmortified principles, even in the holiest actions, and ever with a view to ourselves : we seek self and find self in every thing.

Let us conclude, then, that we must devote ourselves to the interior life. "Leam," says the Book of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, "to despise exterior things; enter into yourselves, and you will see the kingdom of God come into you. " Let us be wholly God's. Live, O God ! As for me, I belong to God, let the world follow whom it will. Alas, my God, am I not Thine ? Art Thou not my king 1 And yet men desire none of Thee, and say in their rebellion, ^^Nolwmua hunc regna/re super no8. We will not have this man to reign over us." But for me, O Lord, I will say aloud, I will cry without ceasing, '^Adveniat regnwm tv/u/m, Veni, Bomine Jesu, aufer sccmdcUa de regno tito. Amen. Thy kingdom come. Come, Lord Jesus, take away all scandals from Thy kingdom.**