Treatise on the Love of GodBook IX. The love of submission, by which our will is united to god's good pleasure

Nothing, save sin, happens without God’s Will, which we call absolute, and His Good Pleasure, which no one can hinder, and is made manifest to us by its results.

Let us look around at all that ever has been, is, or will be, and, filled with wonder and love, we shall cry out with the Psalmist, “I will praise Thy Name because of Thy Loving-kindness and Truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy Name and Thy Word above all things. ... Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me; I cannot attain to it!” And this admiring love will be followed by the love of complacency, whereby we rejoice in God’s Infinite Wisdom, Power, and Goodness, which three attributes are specially exemplified in this our universe.

Think of men and angels with all that marvellous variety of nature, quality, faculty, affection, passion, grace, and privilege with which God’s Providence has endowed these His creatures, and say in David’s words, “My song shall be of mercy and judgment; unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.”¹

Nor can we, while contemplating His Mercy, fail to marvel at the grandeur of God’s Justice, both alike being the utterance of His Divine Power, yet the severity of justice softened as it is by the tenderness of mercy; so that amid the floods of His just wrath, the olive-branch is yet within reach of the dovelike soul which seeks the pledge of love. And so all sorrow and toil, yea, even death itself, which God has appointed as the meed of sin, are likewise by His Mercy so many ladders by which we mount up to Heaven. Blessed are poverty, hunger, thirst, sorrow, sickness, death, persecution; for, albeit the penalty of sin, they are so tempered by God’s Grace and Love, that their very bitterness becomes sweet! One can almost say that the lost themselves, but for their hatred of God, would find consolation in their flames by pondering on His Mercy. But the saints, while they exclaim, “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and true is Thy Judgment,”* cannot fail to see that even His judgments are lighter than the sins which incurred them, and that “even in wrath He remembers mercy.”

Or again, let us look at home, and consider the innumerable blessings, visible and invisible, as likewise the inward and outward trials which God in His Justice and Mercy has bestowed upon us, and let us heartily accept His Holy Will, and say from the bottom of our heart, “Thy Will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.” Yea, Lord, Thy Will be done here on earth, where no joy is unmixed, no rose without its thorn, no day without night, no spring without winter; on earth, where comforts are few and toils abound! But here, as in Heaven, Thy Will be done by us; not merely by active obedience to Thy Commandments, Thy Counsels, and Thine inspirations, but also by patient endurance of whatever sufferings or afflictions Thou mayest send us, so that Thy Will ever work in us, for us, and by us, as seemeth best to Thee.

” Ps. cxix. 137.

Suffering in itself cannot be acceptable; but if we look to the Divine Will and Providence Which ordains it, we shall welcome it. Moses’ rod when on the ground was a fearful serpent, but in his hand it became a wonder-working rod; even so afflictions, seen by themselves, are terrible, seen by the light of God’s Will they are blessings. The sick man rejects the Potion offered by his doctor, but accepts it gratefully when some beloved one tenders the cup. Verily, love either takes away the bitterness of trial, or else gives us courage to accept it. It is said that the fish of a certain river in Boeotia shine like gold so long as they are in their own waters, but take them thence, and they become like common fish. Just so with afflictions; if we lose sight of God’s Will they press upon us with all their inherent bitterness, but he who looks at them beneath the light of God’s Good Pleasure sees them glowing, gilt and precious. ©

Imagine what Abraham would have felt if called upon to kill his son apart from God’s Will! how fearful the struggle! But as yielding to God’s Good Pleasure he clasps the sorrow to his heart. How could the Martyrs have rejoiced amid the flames save for that stay? The truly loving heart desires God’s Good Pleasure, not in consolation only, but in affliction; nay, more, his love is quickened amid toil and woe for the very reason that love delights to suffer on behalf of the object beloved.

The Stoics, of whom Epictetus is foremost, confined their philosophy to abstinence and endurance, to renouncing ease and worldly honour, and to bearing injury, toil, and trouble. But Christianity, the only true philosophy, founds its practice upon three principles—self-abnegation, which is far higher than a mere abstinence from pleasure; carrying the Cross, which is higher than merely enduring it; and following our Lord, not merely in those respects, but, further, in the performance of all manner of good works. Yet even so love and self-abnegation are not so powerfully set forth in action as in suffering. Holy Scripture brings forth the Death and Passion of our Lord as the climax of His Love for us.

There are three degrees in that manner of love which we call submissive:—

I. Love of God’s Will amid consolations is a worthy love, provided it be really God’s Will we love, and not merely His consolations; but this love is easy, and needs no effort, for who could fail to love so acceptable a manifestation of God’s Will?

II. Love of God’s Will as set forth in His Commandments, His Counsels, and inspirations, is a higher degree of love, inasmuch as it requires us to renounce our own will, and to abstain from certain enjoyments not necessarily unlawful in themselves.

III. Love of suffering and trial for God’s Sake is the highest point, since therein no attraction can be found save that such troubles are His Will. Such love implies victory over natural inclination, for it means more than enjoyments renounced, it implies a voluntary acceptance of toil and pain.

The great enemy of souls was keenly alive to this fact when, God having Himself declared Job to be “a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil,”* he counted that as light when weighed in the balance of the sufferings he obtained leave to shower upon the patriarch as a test—loss of property, loss of his children, the forsaking of friends, and bodily disease of the most loathsome kind. Yet under all this accumulation of woe Job was able to say, ‘What, shall we receive good at the Hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Words full, indeed, of mighty love! and indicating that Job had learned to value the good things he received, not only because they were good intrinsically, but because they came from God’s Hand. And on the same principle, looking to God’s Hand, he could accept even afflictions thankfully, because they too come from that All-loving Source. We are all ready to accept what is good, but true love alone can accept evil thankfully, out of reverence to the Hand which inflicts it. The traveller who is uncertain of his road walks hesitatingly, and perpetually stops to make sure that he is not going astray; but he who knows his way thoroughly journeys on briskly and fearlessly. Even so love which seeks God’s Will amid consolations treads cautiously, for fear of substituting self-pleasing for God’s Pleasure; but that love which toils on amid troubles is free and bold, for no sorrow but seemeth grievous in itself, and it can only be welcomed for His Sake Who sends it.

As hounds are apt to be at fault in springtide, and continually lose scent because the fresh vegetation around overpowers the scent of the game; so amid the springtime of consolation love is prone to lose sight of God’s Good Pleasure, being distracted by the sweet savour of delight. Our Lord having offered S. Catherine of Sienna her choice between a crown of gold and one of thorns, she chose the latter, as in closer conformity with love. Willingness to suffer is a sure test of love, S. Angela di Foligni says; and S. Paul gloried only in the Cross, in infirmity, in persecution.

Love of the Cross enables men to undertake voluntary sufferings—watchings, fastings and hardness—to renounce honour and enjoyment; and such love is acceptable to our Dear Lord, But far more acceptable is a patient, loving endurance of suffering out of reverence for the Hand Which sends it. And highest of all is that love which not only endures patiently, but actually welcomes the trials which are an expression of God’s Will.

And herein assuredly the highest perfection of love is a Simple acquiescence in spiritual trials. S. Angela di Foligno describes her interior trials, likening her soul to one hanging between life and death, hopeless of aid, unable to help himself, or even to cry out for help. It is so sometimes when the soul is so overwhelmed with inward trouble that its every faculty seems crushed, without any hope of relief. Then, like our Lord, the soul is “sore amazed and very heavy, even unto death,” and it intreats that, if possible, the cup may pass away, one thing only being clear to it as it holds on to God’s Good Pleasure, namely, that it desires above all “not my will, but Thine be done.” And amid such tribulation the soul is so distraught that it is scarce conscious of its own resignation, or imagines it to be so feeble as hardly to be worthy God’s acceptance. Such resignation cannot be. joyous, it is in active opposition to all natural impulses. And then the heart seems so full it can scarce even pour forth such plaints as those of Job or Jeremiah; yet still it accepts all God sends, if not joyfully, at least bravely, and with the strength of real love. And the more

desolate and destitute that love is under such trial, the more precious its stedfastness.

This conformity to God’s Pleasure is practised by holy resignation, or by holy indifference. Resignation is an effort of submission: you would rather live than die, but God’s Will is death, and you submit. You would fain live, if it pleased God, and you would fain have it God’s Will that you should live. You are ready to die, but you would more gladly abide yet awhile on earth. Job has supplied you with a perfect act of resignation: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.” No fuller expression of patient resignation under suffering could be found.

Real zeal gives God’s Will the preference, but nevertheless it cleaves to many things besides that Will. Herein indifference is higher than resignation, for it cleaves to nothing save for the love of that Will. Of course a heart in itself most truly indifferent may cleave to some earthly affection before it realises what God’s Will is. When Eliezer first saw Rebecca, he saw that she was “fair to look upon,” but he remained passive until God made known His Will concerning her; but so soon as that was declared he hastened to give her golden ornaments. On the contrary, if Jacob had only sought alliance with Laban, according to his father Isaac’s desire, in wooing Rachel he would have been equally content with Leah, who was no less Laban’s daughter; but his own wishes were implicated also, and he only accepted Leah as a matter of resignation. The indifferent heart is not thus. It recognises suffering, although uncomely like a Leah, to be the offspring of God’s Good Pleasure, and loves it no less than what is more acceptable; nay, he may even cherish tribulation most, as altogether stamped with God’s Will. If I am athirst for water, what care I whether it be given me in a golden vessel or a common glass, since both alike are filled with water? Nay, I would even prefer the less costly glass, wherein the water itself is more clearly seen. What matters it whether God’s Will come before me in tribulation or consolation, if in both alike I seek nought save the exceeding beauty and sweetness of that Will?

What could be grander than the heroic spirit of indifference which led S. Paul to say, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”² Or S. Martin, who, following in the Apostle’s steps, nearing his end, and greatly desiring to depart, yet was willing to labour on for his people so long as his Master willed to need him.” Saints like these, who saw Heaven standing open before them, and at the same time endless calls to labour on earth, were able to feel absolute indifference, and to desire nothing save the fulfilment of God’s Will. Not even Paradise itself had greater attractions for them than this troublous world, so long as God’s Will called them to the one rather than the other. Toil was a paradise to them while His Will was toil; Paradise had been no Paradise while His Will was otherwise. Truly, they could say with David, “Whom have I in Heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison with Thee.”

The indifferent heart is as a ball of wax in God’s Hands, ready to receive any impress at His Good Pleasure; without choice, equally prepared to accept whatever is God’s Will, clinging to nothing for its own sake, but only to that Will as set forth in outer things. And therefore among several degrees of His Will the soul which is filled with this love of indifference will choose at all risks that which is closest to God’s Will. He wills both marriage and virginity; but forasmuch as the latter is His more perfect Will, the indifferent heart turns to it, as we see in S. Paul’s spiritual child S. Thekla, in S. Cecilia, S. Agatha, and many more. God wills the service of both rich and poor; but He leans most to the side of the poor, and therefore the indifferent heart chooses that service. He wills moderation under prosperity, and patience amid tribulation; the indifferent heart selects the latter, as nearest to His Will. In short, such a man has but one supreme end, God. Wheresoever he discerns Him, thither he is “drawn by the sweetness of His perfume ;” and where He is most to be found, there he lingers longest. He is drawn by God’s Will as by | a very precious cord, and, go where it may, he is ready to follow; hell were sweeter to him with God's Will than Paradise without. And were such a thing conceivable, we might even say that he would choose his own eternal loss rather than his salvation were it more conformable to the Will of God.

We should seek to practise such indifference in respect to all that concerns our natural life, such as health or sickness, beauty or deformity, strength or weakness, honour, rank, and riches; so, also, in all fluctuations of the spiritual life, dryness, disease; he was despised by his dearest friends, the consolation, and the like. Job endured a loathsome was overwhelmed by mental troubles. S. Paul speaks of being “troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, in afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labours, watchings, fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the Power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”¹ Yet amid all such tribulations the Apostles stood indifferent to all save God’s Will, joyful in sorrow, rich in poverty, living in death, all alike to them, because alike was His Will. And forasmuch as patience is the promoter of all other virtues, S. Paul puts it foremost, as the token of a “minister of God.”?

To pass to the highest example of all, it was the same with our Dear Lord Himself, both in His material and spiritual life; for although as God He never could lay aside His Eternal Glory, yet in His Love for man He laid that aside, and bore all the mental as well as bodily sufferings which appertain to that Manhood which He took upon Him.

“The form of a hand” appeared to Ezekiel, taking him up by a lock of his hair, and lifted him up between earth and heaven ;3 and even so our Lord was raised upon the Cross between heaven and earth, held, so to say, by His Father’s Hand, and yet there came the time when He uttered the exceeding bitter cry, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Tradition tells us of a certain fish called the sea lantern, which when storms run high lifts its brightly-shining tongue out from the water so as to become a torch to the wave-tossed ships around. Even so our Saviour, amid the tempest of His Passion, which shrouded every faculty, lifted up His bright, clear power of Soul, which even then could not be overwhelmed—His trust in His Father’s Love: “Into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit ;” and the faithful soul which cleaves to Him will ever find that resting-place, come what may of waves and storms upon his head.

We can only distinguish what is God’s Good

Pleasure by such results as are wrought by it; and so long as these are not made plain, we must be content to abide as stedfastly as may be by what we do know. So soon as He vouchsafes to manifest His Will, it behoves us to accept it with loving submission.

Some one very dear to me, or I myself am laid low in sickness, and I know not whether it be God’s Will to send death or recovery; but I do know that while the issue is uncertain, He has signified His Will that all fitting means of cure be employed, therefore I am bound diligently to make use of all such. But if His Pleasure is that sickness prevail and death ensue, forthwith my higher mental faculties must freely accept the decree, notwithstanding the reluctance which my lower being may experience: “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy Sight.”

But if God’s Good Pleasure were revealed to me, as was the manner of his death to S. Peter, his bonds and imprisonment to S. Paul, the death of his child to David, the destruction of his beloved city to Jeremiah; in such case our part is immediate union of our will with God’s, after the example of Abraham, so that like him we may be ready even to sacrifice our son at God’s call. Happy the father who hesitated not at so great a sacrifice! happy the son who so freely submitted to God’s Will when the cost was his own life! Yet more, see how absolute the union of Abraham’s will with God’s was; for just as in obedience to the Divine command his hand was raised to slay his son, so a fresh manifestation by an Angel stayed the blow, he being alike ready to strike or not to strike. All things were as one to him, so long as he fulfilled God’s Will.

In like manner God not unfrequently trains us in holy indifference by inspiring us with lofty designs, to which He does not grant success; and in such case, just as we are bound to carry on the work bravely and heartily so long as we are able, so we are bound to acquiesce patiently in whatever issue God may appoint. S. Louis was inspired with a design to recover the Holy Land; he was unsuccessful, and submitted to his failure. Surely his calm submission was even grander than his noble plan? S. Francis went to Egypt to convert the infidel, or die a martyr’s death in pursuit of God’s Will; but that Will was that he should return, having accomplished neither one nor the other. God willed S. Antony of Padua greatly to desire martyrdom, which He willed not to grant him. S. Ignatius, after founding his Company, foreseeing the great work it had done and should do for Christ, yet had courage to vow that if it should be dispersed, great as the trial would be to him, he would accept it as God’s Will. S. John Avila had projected a Company for somewhat similar objects, but finding that he was forestalled by S. Ignatius, he stopped short at once without hesitation. Thrice blessed are such souls, ready boldly to carry out whatever God inspires, and equally ready to withdraw when He sends a check! There can be no greater proof of a very perfect indifference than readiness to stop short in a good work when that course is plainly indicated as God’s Will. Jonas thought he had good reason to murmur because the prophecy sent by him to Nineveh was not fulfilled. He did God’s bidding, but he consulted his own will as well as God’s; and consequently, when his prophecy was not carried out, he was angry, and complained. If he had had no other thought than God’s Good Pleasure, he would have seen it as gladly in the remission of punishment as in its infliction on Nineveh. We are eager for success in all we do, and forget that God is supreme. If He willed to threaten but not to destroy Nineveh, what right had Jonah to complain?

At this rate, you will say, we ought to hold to nothing, but leave everything to the course of events. Scarcely. We are bound to neglect nothing which can promote the success of whatever God bids us undertake; but on condition that, should our endeavours not be prospered, we are patient and submissive. We are hidden earnestly to seek God’s Glory in what is intrusted to us, but we are not responsible for the issue, which does not depend on us. S. Bernard points out that in the parable of the Good Samaritan it was said, “Take care of him,” not, “Heal him.” And so the Apostles diligently preached the Word to the Jews first; albeit they knew prophetically that the soil was ungrateful, and that they would have to turn to the Gentiles. We may indeed plant and water, but God only gives the increase.

The Psalmist cries out in the spirit of prophecy to Christ, “Good luck have Thou with Thine Honour; ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness. . .. Thy arrows are very sharp.”¹ Thou, Lord, as a warrior, ridest forth, wielding the minds of Thy faithful; they haste to do Thy Will, and when it seemeth Thee good, Thou stayest them in the midst of their course.

The question may arise, If the inspired undertaking fail through fault of those to whom it is intrusted, can we still say that it is God’s Will, in which we must. acquiesce? Surely it then becomes our fault, not His Will, which is the hindering cause? Truly, thy fault is not God’s Will, He is not the Author of sin; but it is His Will that thy fault be visited by failure, for while His Goodness cannot -will thy fault, His Justice. must needs will its penalty. God did not cause. David to ‘sin, but He inflicted the punishment that sin incurred; He did not will Saul’s sin, but He willed that defeat should follow on that sin. Whensoever, then, God’s designs fail by reason of our fault, it is our part alike to abhor our sin in true repentance and to accept the penalty, ever remembering, that while the sin is contrary to God’s Will, so the penalty is in conformity to that Will.

It is God’s Will that we should do whatever lies in our power for the acquisition of all Christian virtues; but we must needs remember that though we may plant and water, God only can give the increase, and therefore we must leave the fruit of our efforts to His Good Providence. So if we do not make such conscious progress in the spiritual life as we desire, there is no need to be disturbed and anxious; better far it is to be calm, doing diligently all that depends upon ourselves, but leaving results to our Dear Lord. The labourer will be called to account for his careful cultivation, not for the abundance of his harvest. There is no need to be uneasy because we seem always like novices in holiness; in the spiritual life every one counts us a novice to the end, and all life is a probation, There is no surer token that a man is not even a novice, but worthy only to be cast out altogether, than that he esteems himself to be fully professed. For in the Rule of that Order it is not the mere solemnisation, but the fulfilment, of the vows which makes a full profession. And no vow is fulfilled so long as there remains anything to do in its observance, but the obligation to serve God and advance in His Love continues unceasingly so long as life lasts.

But, some one will say, if I know that it is through my own fault that I am kept back, how can I help being anxious and disturbed? It cannot be too often repeated, what we need is a stedfast, earnest repentance for past sins, but one free from excitement, restlessness, and discouragement. Do you realise that you are hindered in the right road by your own fault? Then humble yourself before God, ask His Mercy, confess your fault, and ask His forgiveness as proclaimed to you in absolution through your confessor. But having done this, be at rest, and while abhorring the sin, accept the humiliation of your conscious imperfection, and turn it to your, soul’s good.

Surely the souls in purgatory abhor their sins most earnestly, but they bear the time of waiting and purification before entering into Paradise in a loving spirit of humility, crying out, “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and true is Thy Judgment!”¹ Be it ours patiently to seek spiritual progress, and instead of wasting time in fretting over the past, let us strive diligently to do better in future.

Here is a man who has earnestly longed and striven to conquer his temper, and God has blessed his endeavours, for He has delivered him from the various sins which proceed from indulged temper. He would die rather than utter a revengeful word, or yield to an impulse of hate. Yet he is still subject to sundry impulses of anger, to the quick wrath of an irritable temperament such as Holy Scripture deals with in the words, “Be ye angry, and sin not;” for anger must always be liable to stir up the heart where indignation, it may be righteous indignation, is kindled. But then the point is so to control such indignation as to be angry, yet without sinning in the utterance of our anger. But although these impulses and sensations are in nowise sinful, the poor soul which experiences them is apt to be troubled and uneasy because of them, and moreover, often persuades itself that this uneasiness is God’s dealing and chastisement. But it is not so; the Love of God is only wounded by sin, and this is the uneasiness of self-love, which would fain be free from the humiliation and struggle attending upon such angry impulses. It is not really the fault which troubles us in these emotions, for there is none; it is the effort of resistance which we dislike.

All such rebellion of the earthly nature, whether in anger or desire, is permitted to try us, that we may the rather exercise our spiritual courage in conquering it. It is the Philistine against whom the true Israelite is ever bound to fight without ever wholly destroying him. He may be enfeebled, he cannot be extirpated; he lives while we live, and only dies with us. He is to be abhorred, for he comes of sin, and always tends to sin. Even as we are taken out of the dust and return again to the dust, so the Apostle calls this rebellion sin because it comes of sin and tends thither; albeit we are not made guilty thereby, unless we yield to it: “His servants ye are to whom ye obey.”² And again, he bids us beware that this manner of sin reign not in our mortal body, that we obey it in its lusts? He does not forbid us to feel the impulses of sin, but only to consent thereto; he does not bid us hinder sin from attacking us, but he bids us beware that it reign not in us. Consent is the point; sin cannot reign where it is not consented to. The physician does not forbid his patient to be thirsty, that were idle folly; but he bids him abstain from drinking what is hurtful to his disease.

S. Paul himself was molested by “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan,” which “buffeted” him, and he asked deliverance from God, Whose answer was, “My Grace is sufficient for thee,” and the Apostle goes on to say, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”³ Even in this chosen vessel natural rebellion struggled, and he could only deal with it as we must deal with ours, by prayer. Remember, too, that if our Lord suffers men to undergo such troubles, it is not necessarily as a punishment, but to set forth the power of His Divine Grace and Succour; and remember, also, that not only need we not be disturbed because of our temptations and infirmities, but we should, like S. Paul, “glory in infirmities,” that God’s Power may be seen in us, upholding us under them.

The Church has condemned the error of certain men who affirmed that it was possible to be absolutely free from the impulses of anger, lust, fear, and the like, in this life. It is God’s Will that we should have foes, and that we resist them. It is our part bravely to accept His Will in both respects, enduring assault patiently, while stedfastly watching and resisting the assailants.

God utterly abhors sin, yet in His Wisdom He suffers it in order to leave perfect free-will to His creatures, so that they who are able to offend by not offending may incur His greater favour. Be it ours to accept and bless the freedom He thus gives us; but forasmuch as while suffering sin He abhors it, let us strive to abhor it too, earnestly intreating that it be not committed, and us ing all available means to hinder its birth, progress, or triumph, even as our Dear Lord never ceases to teach, threaten, promise, forbid, GOD'S SUFFERANCE OF SIN govern and command us in order to deter us from sin, without depriving us of free-will.

Or if sin has been actually committed, it is our duty to do whatever lies in our power to blot it out, remembering how our Lord revealed to one of His servants that He would even die anew to save a soul from sin. If the sinner persist, let us weep and pray for him, even as our Saviour wept, and shed His Blood. “I am horribly afraid,” David says, “for the ungodly that forsake Thy Law ;”¹ and S. Paul affirms that he had “great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart” because of the errors of his brethren.2, However persistent sinners may be, it is our duty to persist in striving to win them, if so be that they may repent and be saved. Happy they who can say with S. Paul, “IT ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. ... Wherefore I take you to record that I am pure from the blood of all men.”3 So long as the slenderest hope of repentance exists, and that is so long as the sinner lives, it is our part to pray for him and succour him, never repulsing him.

But at last, when all has been done vainly, we have the example of our Lord and the Apostles to teach us how to act: “It was necessary that the Word of God ‘should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”4 “The Kingdom of God,” our Saviour said, “shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”5 We may not lose the time that should serve to help others in fruitless mourning over those that will not be saved. The Apostle indeed speaks of his “continual! sorrow,” but he means only that he did not cease to regret the obstinacy of the

Jews.

And furthermore. we are bound to love, worship, and praise God in His avenging Justice, even as in

Ps. cxix. 53. * Rom. ix. 2. 3 Acts xx. 26. His Mercy, both alike being His Attributes. Being as He is, All-good, He in His Grace wills us to be good; in His Justice He chastens sin, which He abhors, as Supreme Goodness cannot but abhor evil. Remember that He never withdraws His Mercy save in the righteous vengeance of His Justice, as we never escape that strict Justice save by His Mercy, and whatever He does demands our submissive acceptance and worship. The righteous man praises God for such as are saved, and “rejoiceth to see His vengeance ;” the saints will accept His condemnation of sinners in the Last Judgment as well as the blessedness of the elect, and the angels beholding all things see that “He hath done all things well.” It is ours to accept the Divine Will, and alike to kiss the right Hand of His Mercy and His left Hand of Justice.

There was once a famous performer on the lute who became absolutely deaf, yet nevertheless, from long habit, was able still to sing and play upon his instrument; but being unable to derive any pleasure from his performance, he ceased ever to sing or play save when the prince who had brought him up, and whom he greatly loved, desired it, gladly exercising his art on such occasions. Now it sometimes chanced that, the better to test his love, the prince would call upon him to play, and then would depart on other concerns; yet the musician’s desire to please his master was so strong that he would go on playing, although deriving no enjoyment himself either from the music or from the consciousness that the prince was listening. ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing, and give praise. Awake up, glory; awake, lute and harp.”

Now the heart of man is the performer of all songs of praise, and he is himself the harp or lute. For the most part, he takes pleasure in his own melody, for the loving heart rejoices in the love of God, even as the newly-fledged nightingales begin to chirp out of mere imitation, but as they grow they warble for very delight. So the heart begins with a feeble love from duty, but gradually realising what Divine Love is, it takes a fervent delight therein. And so by degrees there is a danger lest a man delight more in his own pleasure than in pleasing God; lest he seek God less because it is His due, than for his own content therein. So then the musician raises his melody for his own sake, and to please his own ear, rather than God’s Ear; for the gratification he derives, more than for God’s Glory.

If the songster sing to please God only, he will select that song which he knows to be most acceptable to Divine Providence; but if he sing for his own satisfaction, that will be less the aim than the melody which best pleases himself. Of two duties, both alike acceptable to God, it may easily happen that we select one for God’s Sake, or the other for our own. Rachel and Leah were alike Jacob’s wives, but he loved the one merely because she had become his wife, the other for her own sweet sake. The song may be Divine, but it may be sung for the sake of the spiritual delight we receive thereby.

Take the case of a Bishop, whose mission it is to exercise his pastoral charge amid his own people, the

® Ps. lvii. 8, 9.

Hifirge first committed to S. Peter, “Feed My sheep ;” - and suppose him to plead that at Rome or Paris he finds greater spiritual advantages, and a more acceptable sphere of work. Surely he is seeking to exercise his holy office for his own sake, not that of God. The religious who neglects his own duties for those of a secular priest, or the married persons who seek to live as though they were religious in order to serve God | better, as they say, may be assured that it is self they are really seeking to please.

God disposes of sickness as well as health; and if man says that he desires health only that he may be better able to serve God, he deceives himself—he is seeking health in the Will of God, not the Will of God in health. It is hard to look long at a mirror without looking at one’s own image reflected therein, and that, too, with satisfaction; but there is a wide difference between the pleasure taken in looking at the mirror because it is beautiful, or because one likes to see one’s self therein. So it is doubtless hard to love God without resting in the personal satisfaction of such love; but there is a very distinct difference between the satisfaction felt in loving God because of His Perfection, and because of our own personal delight. And the Christian should aim as far as possible at loving God for Himself, and not merely in so far as He ministers to His creature’s satisfaction. He who is conscious how he is praying, is not altogether rapt in prayer, for his attention is distracted from God Whom he addresses to the form in which he prays, and it not unfrequently happens that our anxiety to -avoid distractions becomes itself the worst distraction of all. Nothing is so important in things spiritual as simplicity. . When you seek to contemplate God, give yourself up so to do; if you are perpetually investigating your own mental attitude, you contemplate yourself instead of Him. He who prays fervently is scarce aware of it, for he is not thinking about his own prayer, but about God to Whom he prays; so he who loves fervently does not weigh and measure his love, but is altogether absorbed in the Divine Object of his love. The spiritual songster is so anxious to please God that he gives no heed to his own melody save in so far as pleases Him.

Otherwise, so soon as the sweetness of prayer intermits (as it is sure to do sooner or later), and dryness supervenes, he who was so warm will grow slack and cold. Yet God is no less the Object of prayer than before. No, but that man was seeking his own consolation, not the God of consolations. These are souls which, like children, suck the honey off their bread and then throw that away; they care far more for the sweetness than the love, and readily turn away from God’s Love when it is not mingled with their own gratification. Verily, such men are exposed to a great risk, either of falling away when spiritual sweetness fails them, or of mistaking their true bliss, and accepting the false for the true.

That musician before mentioned had no enjoyment in his music after he became deaf save that of seeing that his prince cared for it. And blessed indeed is the heart which loves purely to please God without any intermingling of self-seeking. Yet this pleasure in pleasing God is not, strictly speaking, Divine Love, but one of its fruits, which may be separated as we separate a fruit from the tree which bare it, even as the deaf musician, who sang on, incapable of himself enjoying his music, and often deprived of the pleasure of actively pleasing his prince, when the latter left him alone.

So long, my God, as I behold Thy Gracious Counte-

nance accepting my love, what can exceed my bliss? But when Thou hidest it, and I am no longer conscious of Thy acceptance, verily, my soul is sore troubled; yet none the less will I love Thee still, and cease not in my song of praise, not for the pleasure which fails me, but for pure love of Thy Will.

A sick child will take the nourishment it loathes to please its mother; but supposing some such child to take that food from some stranger's hand merely because its mother sent it, the love shown would be greater. Watching, toil, and hardship become easy beneath the eye of some one we greatly love for whom they are borne; but it is hard to slave for an unconscious or indifferent master, and in such case love must needs be strong indeed to bear on without any encouragement.

So at times we have no delight in our devotional exercises, not even hearing our own voices, but rather distracted by the tumult which the Enemy raises to disturb us, and his suggestions that we are unacceptable to our Master, our love unprofitable. At such seasons, realising no gain to ourselves, no satisfaction to Him, our toil indeed is hard.

To increase the evil, it may be that the highest, reasoning power of the soul fails to help, being itself overpowered and disheartened, so that even hope seems lost. Faith may promise that there will be an end to our troubles, and that rest will come; but its | whispers are for the time wellnigh drowned, and the soul questions whether it can ever again be happy? At such a time nothing can help save a boundless trust in the Saviour, serving Him out of love of His Will; not merely amid the absence of satisfaction, but, amid sorrow, desolation, dryness, and fear, even as His Blessed Mother and S. John did during His Passion, watching Him on Calvary when no ray of light or hope appeared, when on all sides, natural or spiritual, nought save darkness and terror surrounded them.

Death. TO SELF-WILL 3°07

As S. Peter was on the eve of martyrdom, the Angel of God came, filling his prison with light, and, waking the Apostle, bade him rise up and take his garments, and led him without the city into freedom. S. Peter, though perfectly awake, did not suppose that what the Angel did was real, but thought he saw a vision. He was awake, but did not know himself to be so. He had put on his garments without knowing it; he was delivered, and did not believe it, and that because the deliverance was so marvellous that it absorbed his mind to the point of making him unable to realise the verity of all he did. And while he clearly saw the Angel, he took him for a vision, and therefore he was unable to derive any joy from his deliverance until at last “he came to himself,” and burst forth with the cry, “Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent His Angel, and hath delivered me.”

Now the case of a soul heavily burdened with inward trouble is somewhat parallel; for while fully able to believe, hope in, and love God, and practically doing so, it is not uncommonly too feeble to perceive that it is so. Trouble so possesses the soul that it is unable to investigate its own condition, and it imagines itself the victim of mere phantom virtues, instead of the abiding realities. Any violent passion is apt to produce this effect, and when subject to it men act as though in a dream, and cannot believe that their surroundings are real and tangible. Thus the Psalmist describes the overflowing delight of the Jews on their return from the Babylonish captivity by saying, “Then were we like unto them that dream,”' or, as it is in the Vulgate, “as consoled.”² They were so overwhelmed by the greatness of the deliverance that they could not believe it to be more than a dream. So the soul which is distraught by spiritual trials experiences a very pure, unalloyed love; for, being deprived of all joy in its union with God, it is bound to Him in heart and will without any intervening circumstances. The poor suffering soul looks around, and believing itself to be loveless, feels forsaken. There are no signs of love visible to it in outer things, and the imagination and reason are harassed by endless vague fears. ‘Then the soul seeks for Divine Love in its higher mental region; and though, verily, love is there, it is so veiled amid darkness and sadness that the seeker perceives it not, or rather beholds without realizing, “like unto them that dream.” It was in such a mental phase that Magdalene, meeting her Lord in the garden after His Resurrection, knew Him not, but supposed Him to be the gardener.

What can the soul do when in such straits? Nothing save give itself up unreservedly into God’s Hands, even as our Dear Lord, Who, having drained the bitter Cup set before Him to the dregs, cried out, “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit,” His last crowning token of boundless Love of the Father. So when all things fail us, and our troubles have reached their climax, we must take refuge in this thorough resignation of self into His Hands Who can never fail. The Son commended His Spirit into the Father's Hands, and we, prostrate, and unable to bear up any longer against our manifold spiritual trials, can but commend our spirit into His Hands Who is indeed our Father, and bowing the head in absolute submission to His Good Pleasure, resign our will wholly to His.

The French language uses a specially significant word in speaking of death and the dead, “trépas,” “trépassez,” thereby indicating that death is but a passage from one life to the other, and that death is but “overstepping” the limits of this mortal life into that of immortality. The will can no more die than the soul, but it can overstep the ordinary trammels of this life, and live solely in God’s Will. And this it does when ceasing to will anything; it gives itself up unreservedly to God’s Divine Providence, so mingling with His Will and Pleasure, that it ceases altogether to appear, and is “hidden with Jesus Christ in God,” so that it “lives no more,” but God’s Will lives in it.

What becomes of the stars’ light at sunrise? Assuredly it is not extinguished, but rather absorbed and overpowered by that all-powerful sunlight in which it is lost. Even so man’s will when wholly given up to God; it is not extinguished, but so plunged and lost in God’s Will that it is no more seen, and has no existence apart from Him.

Had S. Louis’s devoted queen been asked, when following him to the East, whither she went, doubtless she would have replied, “Whither the king goes;” and were further inquiries made, she would have answered, “I care not so long as I am with him.” “Have you no personal aim in the journey?” “None save to be with him—Egypt, Palestine, all are alike to me, if I may but rejoice in his presence. It is not I that go, I do but follow.” The servant in attendance upon his master would not say that he was going hither or thither, but merely that he followed his master, for he goes nowhere after his own, but according to his master’s will. And so the will which is truly given up to God has no individuality, but only follows His Will. A man in a ship moves onward, not of his own spontaneous motion, but borne on by the movement of the vessel; and so the heart which has given itself up to God’s Good Pleasure is content to be carried along in that stream without any independent action. And then the heart ceases even to say, “Thy Will, not mine, be done,” for there is no more will to resign; but it says, “Lord, I commit my will into Thy Hands,” implying that the very will is no longer an independent existence, but is merged in God’s Providence. Herein we perceive that the simile of a servant following his master fails; for although the journey is undertaken according to the master’s will, his servants exercise their own will (albeit a subject will) in following him, so that as master and servant are two, so there are two wills concerned. But the will which is dead to itself to live in God becomes altogether transmuted and absorbed in His Will, like a child which has developed no power of choice or desire beyond its mother’s breast, and which makes no effort to adapt itself to her will, because it is part and parcel of her, and is unconscious of any will apart from hers, on which it depends wholly.

The highest perfection to which any human will can attain is to be thus united to the Will of One Sovereign Good, like the Saint who said, “Thou, Lord, hast led me in Thy Will,” as though he said that he had not exercised his own will in the way he went, but had simply given himself up to God’s Guidance.

We can easily believe that Our Lady rejoiced so greatly in bearing the Divine Babe in her arms, that she either felt no weariness, or else took pleasure therein; for if the traveller who bears a branch of the Agnus cast us tree knows no weariness, how must it have been with her who bore the Very Lamb of God Himself? And surely if, as the Babe grew, she sometimes suffered Him to walk, leading His tottering steps, it was not but that she loved better to bear Him in her arms, though she sought to train Him to walk and go alone. And so we, like babes, as we are, of our Heavenly Father, go beside Him in two ways, first using our own will in conformity with His, holding His Hand by obedience to His heavenly designs, and following Him wheresoever He signifies it to be His Will that we go. Thus God has signified it to be His Will that I sanctify His Day of Rest. In that He wills this, He also wills that I should wish to do it, and for that I must exercise my own will in conformity with His. But there is a second way by which we go with our Lord without any will of our own, merely letting ourselves be carried, like a babe in its mother’s arms, by a certain happy consent which may be called union, or more properly unity of our will with God’s. And this manner of conformity to the Will of God is specially acceptable to Him, because the results of that Will proceed purely from His Providence, and we have no power over them. We can certainly desire that all things may happen according to His Will, and the desire is a good one; but we can also accept the results of His Heavenly Will and Pleasure in the simple tranquillity of an unquestioning will, which, laying aside all voluntary action, is content to acquiesce in whatever God chooses to do in or with us,

Had the Holy. Infant Jesus been asked as His Mother bore Him whither He went, would He not have said, “I go nowhere; My Mother bears Me, and I go whither she goes”? And had it been rejoined, “But at all events, Gracious Babe, it is Thy Will to be borne thus by Thy Mother?” He might have answered, “Nay, I exercise no will, I leave it to her to come and go as she pleases; I move with her movements, and will with her will. I have no volition beyond that of cleaving to her breast as a fruit hangs from the > tree.” ‘Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, O Holy | Child Jesus, and the paps which Thou hast sucked!” Our Blessed Lord had full exercise of His reasoning powers from the moment of His Conception, as had S. John Baptist from the day of the Visitation; yet. although capable of willing for themselves, both the | Redeemer and the Baptist submitted their wills in| infancy to their parents, and gave themselves up to. their care. This is what we ought to do, striving to be as wax in God’s Hand; not trifling away our time in wishes and desires, but leaving all to God, to do as seemeth Him good: “Casting all our care upon Him, for He careth for us.” “All our care,” both as to such matters as do not depend upon us, and as to things which we have power to will or not to will, for He will watch over all that concerns us, and do whatever is best.

Be it ours to bless God for whatever He does, saying with Job, “The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!” Lord, I will wish for nought; I will leave all to Thee, | and bless Thee because of Thy Gracious Will. There is no exercise of will so safe as when we will to have no will save God’s Good Pleasure, and to praise and bless Him for whatever it works in and for us.

Exterior Troubles of Life, when the Will is dead to Self. Undoubtedly it is a most pious mental attitude to bless and thank God for all that His Providence may ordain; but if, while leaving God to will and do whatever He pleases in us, we, indifferent to all surroundings, could devote our whole heart and mind to His Boundless Goodness and Mercy, blessing them, not merely in their appointed results, but intrinsically, this would assuredly be a higher spiritual exercise. During the siege of Rhodes a certain painter named Protogenes, who dwelt in the suburbs, continued to work so calmly and uninterruptedly, that, even while his life seemed hanging on a thread, he completed a chef-d’œuvre representing a satyr playing on the flute. Happy those souls who, come what may, cleave with undivided trust and love to God’s Eternal Goodness! The daughter of a famous physician fell ill, and amid her fever told her friend that she asked nothing save to leave all care for her treatment to her father, without anxiety as to her recovery, having an unbounded trust in his affection and his skill. So she lay passive in his hands, and who but must feel that such confidence was the surest proof of her love? “Mine eyes are ever looking unto the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”? Hast thou fallen into the net of adversity? look not upon the peril, but look to Him Who will defend thee: “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee.”* Wherefore shouldest thou trouble over the changes and chances of this world, since thou knowest not what it were best to desire, whereas God will not

fail to send that which is fittest for thee without any intervention of thine? Wait calmly upon Him, and let His ever-blessed Will be sufficient for thee. It was said to S. Catherine of Sienna, “Think thou of Me, and I will think for thee.”

It is difficult precisely to define the absolute indifference of the human will when once it is thus buried in God’s Will; we can scarcely say that it acquiesces in that Will, because acquiescence is a voluntary act of consent on the soul’s part. Neither can we say that it accepts or receives God’s Will, because acceptance and reception are, so to say, passive actions, by which we take and embrace that which is sent. Neither can we say that it permits God’s Will, for permission is an exercise of will, although it may be of a passive kind, which does nothing itself, but yields to what may happen. The most correct definition of an indifferent will is perhaps to say that it is in a state of simple, universal expectation, the rather that the attitude of waiting implies no action, but merely a disposition to receive whatever is sent. But this disposition, though passive, is altogether voluntary. When the events God appoints have occurred, expectation becomes consent or acquiescence; but beforehand it is simply waiting upon God, indifferent to whatever it may please Him to ordain.

The Prophet Isaiah, speaking in our Lord’s Name, describes the perfection of a human will, as submitted to that of God, in the words, “The Lord God hath opened mine ear,”—i.e. hath made known to me the sufferings He wills me to bear,—“and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” What is meant by not turning back but a state of simple expectation, ready for whatever God may appoint, even as he goes on to say, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair”? So, again, when our Blessed Lord had offered His prayer of total resignation in the Garden of Olives, and had given

‘Himself up into the hands of His enemies, He further gave up His Soul and His Will to His Father by perfect indifference. For although, that we might realise the intense bitterness of His Anguish, He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” that was in no degree inconsistent with the holy indifference which He displayed a few brief moments later in the solemn words, “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit.”

Let us dwell awhile upon our Dear Lord before

Pilate, where for love of us He suffered the soldiers to strip and scourge Him; think upon His Death, His glorious Resurrection, and His reappearance for man’s salvation and God’s Glory. It was love which worked all this; and even so when love takes possession of a soul it strips that soul of all earthly longings and self-conceit, which cling as closely to our mental being as the skin to the bodily frame, till at length it is despoiled even as to the most lawful affections, such as spiritual consolation, or that delight which the devout soul naturally takes in religious exercises and the perfection of virtue. Then indeed the soul is prepared to say, “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither.” The Lord gave me many holy desires, the Lord has taken them away; blessed be the Name of the Lord! Yes, verily, that same Lord Who in our first beginnings taught us to long after all that is virtuous, and to practise it, He Himself later on deprives us of those very longings, in order that we may more calmly and simply cleave to nought save His Own Good Pleasure. Like as Judith had all her festal garments laid by, never wearing them during her widowhood till such time as God sent her forth to overcome Holofernes; so the Christian soul may be in possession of spiritual exercises and virtues which it has no right to practise unless God calls them forth. And as Judith always wore her mourning habit save on the one solemn occasion when God bade her resume her gorgeous attire, so it beseems us to abide meekly in the humiliation of our imperfections and weakness till such time as it may please Him to call us to the performance of some great thing.

But since it is not possible to remain long despoiled of all affections, S. Paul bids us “put on the new man,” Jesus Christ; for, having renounced all, even holy desires and thoughts, while God wills it, we must put on new affections, which practically are but the same, only renewed in their nature and character, inasmuch as they now have reference solely to God, not to ourselves.

When Eliezer went forth to seek the bride God had prepared for his master’s son, he took all manner of | new raiment and ornaments for her; and so nothing old beseems the bride of Christ. The soul which has stripped itself of all old ties, “forgetting its own people and its father’s house” for Him, must take new ties, no longer according to earthly considerations, but because the Heavenly Bridegroom has willed it so. Having laid aside the old clinging to spiritual consolations, to devout practices, to the exercise of virtues, even to progress in spiritual perfection, the soul must needs “be clothed” with new affections, no longer caring for all these graces and heavenly favours because they are an adornment and perfecting of self, but because thereby our Lord’s Name is sanctified, His Kingdom increased, and His Will glorified.

Thus it was that S. Peter put on his garments in the

\ prison, not by his own choice, but at the Angel’s bidding—his girdle, his sandals, and the rest of his raiment. Thus S. Paul exclaimed, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”? ze. “To what shall I cleave, seeing Thou hast put to death my own will?” Lord, let Thy Good Pleasure take its place: “Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my God.”? Surely he who has left all for God ought to take nothing back save at God’s bidding; he will but cherish his body that his soul may better serve God; he will seek only to promote the good of his neighbour and of his own soul; he will strive even to do right, not because he likes so to do, but because it is God’s wish.

The Prophet Isaiah was hidden of God to go naked and barefoot,3 and he did so for a certain time, at the end of which, equally at God’s bidding, he resumed his garments. Just so it behoves us to lay aside all affections, great and small, frequently examining our heart whether it be ready, like the prophet, to strip off all its raiment, and then again to take them up when charity commands; so that, having hung naked on the Cross with Christ, we may rise to the new life with Him. “Love is strong as death,” to make us leave all; it is glorious as the resurrection, to clothe us with glory and honour.

* Acts ix. 6. * Ps, cxliii. 10. 3 Isa. xx.