Letter 111. To the Abbesse Angelique Arnaud

Of Port Royau

I SEE plainly what swarming ant-heaps of inclinations self-love fosters in your heart, my dearest daughter, and I know very well that the state of your subtle mind, so sensitive and fertile, contributes to increase this. But after all, my dear daughter, these are but inclinations; and, as you are conscious of their importunity, and are sorry for it, it would seem that your will does not consent to them — at all events, not with a deliberate consent. No, my dear daughter, your soul has accepted the earnest desire with which God has filled it, to be His only; so do not be ready to fancy that you are consenting to these opposing influences. Your heart may be shaken by the action of passions within, but I think it rarely sins by deliberately consenting to them. “ O miserable man that I am,'' the great Apostle exclaimed, “ who will deliver me from the body of this death? " He felt himself encompassed by a whole army of tempers,

Di gitized by-Vj O O QIC natural likings and dislikings, which warred against him, seeking his spiritual destruction: fearing them, he expresses his hatred; hating them, he suffers pain; and that pain draws forth this exclamation, to which he makes answer himself; ‘‘I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord.”* God’s Grace will deliver him, not from fear, not from terror and alarm, not from the strife, but from defeat — he will not be conquered.

My daughter, to be alive in this world, and not to feel the movement of such passions within us, are two incompatible things.

Our glorious S. Bernard calls it a heresy to say that here below we can persevere in one condition, quoting what the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of Job, “ He fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not”* I say this in answer to your complaints of the levity and inconstancy of your soul. I believe truly that it is perpetually tossed about with its own passionate feelings, and that consequently it often totters; but I believe as truly, that God’s Grace, and the resolution with which it inspires you, will continue to guard your mind, to maintain the standard of the Cross, and to enable you in firm faith, hope, and charity, to cry out aloud, “ Hail Jesus! ”

Indeed, my daughter, these tendencies to pride, vanity, and self-love, mingle with ever)rthing; they * Rom. vii. 24, 25. * Job, xiv. 2.

slip in visibly or invisibly, and take part in all we do; but all the same, they are not the mainspring of our actions. One day, some such thoughts harassed S. Bernard while he was preaching. “ Get thee hence, Satan,” he exclaimed; I did not begin to please thee, nor will I make an end for thy pleasure! ”

There is one thing I would say, my dear daughter, in reply to what you tell me about fostering your pride by affectation in conversation, and in letters. Sometimes, in conversation, this glides in so imperceptibly that one scarcely finds it out; but directly you do become aware of it, you should change your manner. In letters, affectation is rather more — I should say a great deal more — ^insupportable, because one can see better what one is about; and if you are conscious of any notable piece of affectation, you must punish the hand which wrote it, by writing a fresh letter in a different tone.

Altogether, my dear daughter, I have no doubt but that among all these numerous ups and downs of your mind, some venial faults make their way in, but being mere fleeting frailties, they do not deprive you of all the benefit of your good resolutions, though perhaps they may deprive you of the pleasant sense of being free from such infirmities.

Now, be fair; do not either accuse or excuse your poor soul without deliberate consideration; lest, if

A FRANCIS DE SALES.

you excuse it unduly, you make it presumptuous; and if you accuse it without just cause, you spoil its courage, and turn it into a mere coward. “ He that walketh uprightly walketh surely.”*

I must add on this scrap of paper one more important word of advice. Do not lay any further austerity than that which your Rule imposes upon your weak body; preserve your bodily strength the better to serve God in those spiritual exercises which we are sometimes forced to give up when we have been indiscreet in taxing the outward frame, because it must co-operate with the soul in their performance.

Write to me when you please, without ceremony, and do not let respect hinder the affection which God has called forth between us, in which I am always your very humble brother and servant, &c.

i:7»6.] CXV.