Book V, Chapter XIV

Great grace shall be given to those who shall have willingly subjected themselves to Thy most holy service. They who for thy love shall have renounced all carnal delights, shall find the sweetest consolations of the Holy Ghost. B. iii. c. 10 220 A spiritual letter to a lady of rank 227 THE

(On these words) — “ Great grace shall be given to those who shall have willingly subjected themselves to Thy most i holy service.” \

“ They who for Thy love shall have renounced all carnal delights, shall find the sweetest consolations of the Holy Ghost.” B. iii. c. 10.

Question. — What may he who embraces virtue hope for in this life?

Answer. — To attain the true happiness of which man is capable in this place of banishment.

Question. — Wherein consists this true happiness?

Answer. — In being united with God and full of God, in an abundance of the most desirable things in the world.

Question. — What are these good tilings more particularly?

Answer. — In the first place, that which Saint Paul, writing to the Ephesians, calls all the fulness of God. Eph. iii. 19. That is, that fulness of gifts and perfections which God pours forth on all the faculties of man, when, as a recompense for his en-

IN PURIFIED AND SELF-DENYING SOULS. 221 deavours to please Him, He thoroughly imbues him, so to speak, with Himself, and wholly fills him. In this state he possesses God; he is filled with Him, and his very body is wholly sanctified. Thus every man finds his good works abundantly recompensed even in this world, not to speak of the promise which the Saviour makes to those who persevere in His service, that after having filled them with grace in this life, He will give them also life everlasting. Of this He assures them in these words Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, <^c. for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Matt, xix. 29.

It is then certain, that the Good and Gracious God gives to those who exactly keep His Word, that is, His Precepts and Counsels, perfect contentment, and that this is the fruit of His Grace, and of the Love which unites Him closely with them; so that they may call themselves truly happy, since neither death, nor life, nor sword, nor persecution, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate them from the Love of God. Rom. viii. 38. 35. 39. Now every love is not sufficient for this it must be a love like that which burned in Saint Paul, like that of the Saints who felt God within them, and who I were so full of Him, that Grace sometimes passed 1 from the Spirit even to the flesh. Some persons,

as we have already observed, apply to this the sayj ing of the Apostle, that eye hath not seen, nor ear I heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared, not only in the future life, but even in this, for them that love Him. 1 Cor. ii. 9.

And truly, one who, in obedience to the words of the Son of God, entirely lays aside all affection for earthly things, becomes so filled with love for Him, u 3

222 FULNESS AND SWEETNESS OF GOD’S PRESENCE and so transformed into Him, that all the delights of Royalty are nothing in comparison with the happi- • ness and the sensible joys which the Presence of God produces in his soul. This is proved by many i promises of the Saviour, of which we have already I spoken. If a man love Me, says He, he will keep My Words; and My Father will love Him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. John xiv. 23. And elsewhere If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him9 and he with Me. Rev. iii. 20. And again, in another place There is no man that hath left house, fyc. for My sake, and the Gospels, but he shall receive an hundredfold, Mark x. 29, 30; that is, inestimable treasures of Grace.

Let us then figure to ourselves the richest man on earth, the most prosperous, the highest in rank. If, for the love of our Lord, he renounces his wealth, his pleasures, his honours, he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, even though he be in extreme necessity, and suffering persecutions. But what shall be given him? Though the Saviour seems to say that those things of which he has deprived himself shall be restored to him with usury, (and this does sometimes happen,) yet we must not, generally speaking, take this hundredfold literally and in the material sense, but in a spiritual sense, as denoting the inward peace which the Saints enjoy. For, in exchange for a father, a mother, a wife, a house which we leave, we must not imagine that we are to have a hundred; but we shall have perfect contentment, and abundant heavenly consolation, which will make us full amends for all things that we have left for God.

This is confirmed both by the experience of the Saints and by reason; for as God, Whose Liberality is unbounded, has given His Son to men for their

IN PURIFIED AND SELF-DENTING SOULS. 223 redemption on the Cross, and for their sanctification in the Eucharist, and has moreover sent to them His Holy Spirit, it is not possible that He should have given them these great Gifts, without desiring that they should profit thereby; but He requires that they should make themselves worthy of them, and remove the obstacles which themselves oppose His Goodness. The light is seen, as soon as that is removed which concealed it. Let us put far from us all creatures which hinder our view of Heaven; let us free ourselves from the love of earthly things, and the love of self, and immediately God will be ours. In proportion as we put away sensible objects from our mind and heart, we cause spiritual things to enter. If God is Good, He is no less Holy; and no man is worthy to receive Him who is not pure as He is. Directly the soul has purified herself, He enters, and makes His Abode there.

If we have not those great gifts that He gives to some, the fault is in our own undeservings, we have none but ourselves to blame; for He created all men with the intention of discovering Himself and communicating Himself to them, in this world by faith, and in the other by the beatific vision. Thus all who are careful to mortify their flesh, and to purify their heart, may be assured that God is in them; that He fills all their powers, their understanding, their will, their memory, their sensitive appetite, even their flesh, and that He liberally pours forth His Gifts, which the Apostle calls the heavenly gift, and the powers of the world to come, Heb. vi. 4; in order that, thus assisted, they may live a wholly angelic life.

This, then, is the first thing that makes the happiness of souls purified by Grace. To come to more exact details, their understanding is full of light with regard to God and to themselves; their will is in-

224 FULNE8S AND SWEETNESS OF GOD’S PRESENCE famed with love for the Supreme Good; their me- mory is so occupied with the sweet remembrance of I God, that they think only of Him, and of rightly fulfilling their duties; their imagination presents to 1 them none but supernatural objects, and even natural things are depicted in it in that situation and order in which they ought to be with regard to God; their sensitive appetite is governed by the Holy Spirit, Who so regulates all its motions, that they contribute not a little to their perfection; their very body is in some sort sensible of the pleasure of the Spirit, and with it rejoices in God in short, the whole man is so amazed at the goodness which God shows him, and so charmed with His Purity, that he is enraptured and out of himself.

This is the case also with some who have not yet completed their purification, and whom God designs to raise to a high degree of virtue; but it is the ordinary disposition of those who have acquired perfect purity; and this also makes their blessedness in this world a firm and solid blessedness; for without visions, without revelations, without raptures, by a faithful co-operation with Grace, they arrive at an intimate union with God, from Whom they receive an infinite number of such good things as no man can take away therefore they may be called truly happy; and if it is objected that if that were the case, there would be many more happy people than we see, or than there really are, this is notwithstanding the order established by God; and if all do not feel its effect, it is only for want of faithfulness to the inspirations of Heaven. For as it is God’s Will generally to save all men, and yet an infinite number perish through their own fault, so many are called to perfection, and yet few arrive at it, on account of their too obstinate resistance to the Divine Call.

IN PURIFIED AND SELF-DENYING SOULS. 225

Question. — What, then, can hinder the just man from arriving at this state of perfection?

Answer. — We have shown already that the smallest thing possessed with attachment is an essential hindrance to it, as a spot before the ball of the eye is enough to hide the sun.

Question. — What is the second advantage of this state?

Answer. — It is a continual converse of the devout soul with God and with Jesus; a converse like that of a bride with her bridegroom, who never leaves her. We may say also, that the soul being detached from all, God deals with her much as a mother does with her child; she holds it by the hand, helps it to walk, teaches, warns, caresses it from time to time, and is careful of it in all its wants. Thus God, with His All-powerful Hand, supports the soul, speaks to her, teaches her what to do, gives her counsel, raises her up when she falls, and often causes her to taste His Sweetness in a way which experience alone can make known to us. The happiness of thus enjoying her God causes her infinitely more joy than a friend can have with the person he loves the best, or a king amongst his people by whom he sees that he is adored.

It is to be added, that this familiar intercourse with God and with Jesus is always accompanied with favours, gifts, caresses, and all possible tokens of affection and confidence. Having this, a man rests contented he is filled and overflowing with blessings. Is. lx. 5.

Question. — What is the third advantage of this blessed state?

Answer. — It is a thing very difficult to express.

It is an immersion (if I may use such a word) of the essence of the soul in that of God; so that the

226 JOT OP THE SOUL IMMERSED IN GOD. soul, surrounded with light and flame, plunged in an Ocean of peace, is lost in God, as the fishes are in « the sea. A fish, small as it is, has for its abode all the width and depth of the sea. There he roams where he will all is his own, and he enjoys it in perfect freedom. Thus the just soul possesses all the Immensity of God, wherein to lose herself pleasurably at all times. She sings and leaps with gladness in that abyss of joy, delight, and pleasure, loving none but God, seeing none but God, abiding in God as in her element, and finding no satisfaction but in Him. Her whole life passes in this Abode of pleasantness, and whatever happens, nothing troubles her rest. All helps her to lose herself more in God; and as fire kindled in a forest is always increasing, because material is not wanting, so the love with which she bums is ever inflaming, and she is at the same time as if enclosed in an immense furnace, and in a bottomless sea it is at once a fire which burns, and a water which refreshes her.

END OF THE FIFTH BOOK.