Letter 67. To a Lady, Who Had Praised the Bishop Extravagantly

EXTRAVAGANTLY.

April 22^

Very Dear Child of my Heart,

Do you know that I have a child who writes that my departure tears her asunder, that her eyes rain down tears as copious as the torrents of the skies, and similar rhapsodies! She goes further still, and says that I am not a mere man, but a divinity, sent on earth to be loved and admired, and adds that she could say yet more if she dared! What think you, my child? Is she not very wrong to use such language? Are not such words most extravagant? Nothing can possibly excuse her save her love for me, which I believe to be a holy love, although it is expressed in such terribly worldly language. Now, dear child, will you tell her that she must never, in any way whatsoever, apply the word Divine to mere weak men; and that to give way thus to unmeasured commendation shows an ill-regulated mind, or, at best, a most disorderly manner of expression. Tell her that it is even more needful to guard against vanity in words than in dress and coiffure; let her language henceforth be simple, and not frizzed out! All the same, tell her this kindly and gently, and ask her to accept this reprimand in a loving spirit, for, as you know, it comes from a heart full of fatherly love for her; she is a very dear child, and I have great confidence in her. May God ever be our chief object of affection, my very dear daughter, and may we live in and for Him eternally. Amen*

C430.] LXX.