The Mind’s Ascent to God by a Ladder of Created ThingsFourteenth step. CONSIDERATION OF THE MERCY OF GOD

The Holy Spirit sets forth the mercy of God in the Scripture, praising it so wonderfully that he does not hesitate to magnify it above all the works of God: for thus the prophet David sings, ‘The Lord is loving unto every man and his mercy is over all his works.’! We shall easily perceive the greatness of this divine attribute if we consider it in its width, length, height, and depth.

The breadth of the divine mercy consists in this, that God, and he alone, can take away all miseries from all creatures; and some he takes away for the love which he bears towards his creatures, not on account of their profit to himself. Certain created things take away certain miseries, as bread takes away hunger, drink, thirst, clothing nakedness, knowledge ignorance and the like; but no created thing can take away every kind of trouble. Besides, there are certain troubles so much the more serious the more secret and inward they are, for which God alone can supply a remedy: such as the assault of devils, who are very many, very crafty, very powerful, and are most wickedly disposed towards us: such also are errors and blindness of mind and

warped conscience, which things we in ourselves do not perceive, so that often we are deceived, thinking ourselves to be very sound in our interior life when in truth we are very sick. Who can snatch us from troubles of this kind but only our Almighty Physician? And since God often delivers us from this kind of trouble without our being aware of it, all men may deservedly be called ungrateful towards God, as God himself witnesses when he says that the heavenly Father is ‘kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.’ 3 For we know hardly the least part of God’s kindness, yet for that part we do not give thanks with the devotion and humility that we ought.

Next, creatures cannot take away all but only a few miseries, and not even from all persons, but from a few: but God can take away all miseries from all persons, and although he does not take away all from all, yet there is no one who is not in some way partaker of his mercy. Truly, therefore, does the prophet sing, ‘The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.’ The Church says in her collect, ‘O God, whose nature is ever to have mercy and to forgive’; 3 since it appertains to him who is free from all manner of miseries to remove them, and it pertains to him alone to take away all miseries from all men, who alone is entirely without miseries. But who is entirely free from all misery but God alone, who is pure act, and the highest good, and whose Essence is beatitude? O my soul, if by consideration thou couldst conceive what is the life of thy Lord and thy Father, a life raised above all misery, and pure and unmixed felicity, how wouldst thou sigh for thy heart to be in his bosom, that of thee it might also be said, * There shall no evil happen unto thee: neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.’4 But thou wilt say, if God can take away all trouble from all things,

St. Luke vi. 35. 7 Ps. xxxiii. 5. 3 Office for the Departed. why does he not do it, when he is the Father of mercies,! that is, a most merciful Father: whence comes it that, under the rule of the Father of mercies, so many afflictions abound amongst mankind, and why is it said, ‘The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,’ and not, on the contrary, ‘The earth is full of misery’ ? God can indeed take away all troubles, yet he takes away only those which his wisdom judges ought to be taken away, and the divine wisdom judges it inexpedient for men that all miseries should be taken away, and it is mercy sometimes not to take away some misery, that greater mercy may afterwards be shown. The Apostle thrice prayed the Lord that the thorn in the flesh might be removed from him: and he was not heard, because ‘strength was to be made perfect in weakness.’3 God did not take from Lazarus the misery of poverty and sores, that by a greater mercy he might be carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.4 And how should the rich exercise the works of mercy, if there were no poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, travellers, prisoners? And if temptations and combats with demons were lacking, where would be the triumphs and crowns of virgins and confessors? And if there were no labours and sorrows, where would be the crown of patience? And if there were no persecuted, where would be the palm of the martyr? And so in this state of exile both are true: the earth is full of miseries because our very sins alone are great miseries, and also it is true that the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord, because the conversion of sinners and the merits of the saints and other almost infinite benefits of God, both spiritual and temporal blessings, are nothing else but the great and continual mercies of God our Creator.

Let us therefore give thanks unto our gracious God, because as our tribulations in this pilgrimage abound, so also by his mercy our consolation abounds.! ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the heavens,’ saith David :2 for there shall be mercy without misery, because mercy shall take away all misery whatsoever.

Now the length of mercy is long-suffering or patience, which Scripture usually couples with mercy, as a part thereof: for thus David speaks, ‘‘The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: long-suffering and of great goodness’ ;3 and again, ‘The Lord is gracious and merciful: long - suffering and of great goodness.’ 4 Wonderful indeed is this long-suffering and patience of God our most merciful Father towards the human race, such as we do not find in a master towards his servants, nor in parents towards their children, though all are men.

And first, God is long-suffering towards sinners, waiting for them with incredible patience, sometimes from their early youth to extreme old age, permitting them to blaspheme his Name and to neglect his law, and in the meanwhile doing good to them and giving them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness,5 as saith the Apostle. And who is there among men, lord or parent, so mild and easy, who if he sees himself despised and harmfully used by slaves or sons, and knowing that they have continued a long time in this perversity, would not at length drive them out of his house? Yet the mercy of God is not overcome by the malice of men: but he is patient, ‘not willing that any should perish,’ as Saint Peter declares in his Epistle, and

1 2Cor.i.5. 2 Ps. xxxvi.5. 3 Ps. ciii. 8. 4 Ps. cxlv. 8. Wisdom saith, ‘Thou hast mercy on all... and winkest at the sins of men.’! Moreover, patience seemeth greater in this, that many sinners by the grace of God having been drawn out of the pool of misery and the mud of pollution, and the children of darkness having been made the children of light and from guiltiness of eternal death been called to the adoption of the children of God and to the hope of heaven, again and again, and often and often slipping back to their former vileness and ingratitude, yet are not forsaken by the long-suffering of God, but are most lovingly waited for and invited to repentance, and if they truly repent are received even as prodigal sons by the most merciful Father to the kiss of peace and to their former honours and dignity.2 It was with good reason that the Lord answered Saint Peter when he asked how many times he should forgive an injury done to him by his brother, until seven times? ‘I say not unto thee, until seven times; but until seventy times seven.’ 3 What he does himself in extending pardon to the penitent, that he wills us also to do. But he himself puts no limit to reconciliation except the end of this life: as long as the sinner lives, even should he reach to a hundred or more years, rising and falling, he is received and pardoned by his most kind Father: no repentance is too late for the mercy of the Father if only it spring from a truly contrite and lowly heart.4

But no one ought on this account to abuse the goodness of God and put off conversion from day to day, since no one knows in what day or hour he will depart from the body and be summoned to the tribunal of a most righteous judge. But so much the more ought all men to be called and drawn to repentance by such incredible goodness of God, for if the Lord is so kind towards sinners who often fall back, what will be the sweetness of the Father towards those who, after once tasting the grace of God can never by any temptation be separated from it?

But there is another longanimity of God, beyond measure wonderful and lovable, which is exercised in suffering the offences of the righteous. For albeit from enemies God hath made us friends by his boundless goodness, slaves to become sons, those condemned to death to be heirs of his kingdom, yet so great is our ingratitude that daily we return him evil for good: for if the Apostle James says, ‘In many things we offend all,’⁷ what must we say, who are very far removed from the perfection of Apostles? Behold we speak with God in prayer, and forthwith, snatched away by imagination to think on other things, we as it were turn our backs on God. What master in the world would suffer his servants when standing in his presence and talking with him, to turn away suddenly and neglecting him to chat with their fellow servants? What shall I say of idle words, vain thoughts, fruitless works, excess in eating and drinking, sleeping and recreation, of neglect of holy things, of the omission of brotherly correction and of numberless other offences in which we all offend? And yet our God is “good and gracious, and of great mercy unto all them that call upon him’:? he suffers, so to speak, boorishness and impoliteness, follies and incivilities of his children which truly men will not suffer in their fellow men.

This Saint Augustine remarks in his tract on Psalm lxxxvi. on these words; ‘Thou, Lord, art good and gracious,’ where he bewails human weakness in avoiding wanderings of mind in prayer and magnifies the long-suffering of God in bearing so many injuries of his servants.

“For he knoweth whereof we are made,’ 4 and he deals with us as a mother with her babe, whom she cherishes and feeds, even if perchance she be struck by him. But although God suffers so many of our offences without breaking the bond of friendship, or removing the right of inheritance, yet he will not leave us unpunished in the day of judgement, when we shall give an account of our idle words,! unless he find them purged beforehand by tears or some other kind of satisfaction. And lest by chance thou, my soul, mayst consider thine offences light and therefore deceive thyself and neglect to amend them, hear Saint Bonaventura, writing in his life of Saint Francis, a man so greatly illuminated by divine light: ‘Greatly,’ saith he, ‘did he think he offended, if being at his prayer his mind wandered after vain phantasms. When any such thing happened, he spared no confession, but forthwith made satisfaction. This course he practised so often that seldom was he troubled with these molestations. Once in a time of Lent he had made a little basket, to pass away some short time of leisure without being altogether unoccupied: which coming to his mind when he said his Hours, did somewhat distract it: wherefore being moved with zeal in his spirit, he burned the basket, saying, I will sacrifice it to God, whose sacrifice it hindered.’ And so we see that the wandering of the mind in time of prayer and praise of God is not so light a fault as many think: but great is the mercy and long-suffering of our God, because he is not grievously wrath and does not punish us unendingly on account of it. |

There follows the height of God’s mercy, which is taken from the cause moving God to pity. And this indeed is very high and above all heavens exalted, according to the Psalms, ‘Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the heavens,’ and, ‘Thy truth shalt thou stablish in the heavens.’ 2

For some men have pity on other men because they are in need of their help, and this is indeed the lowest degree of pity, since it does not rise above our convenience; and after this measure we have pity on horses and dogs and cattle. Others have mercy on others on account of relationship or friendship, namely because they are children, brothers, acquaintances, or friends, and this degree is a little higher, and begins to have the form of virtue. Certain, again, have mercy on others because they are neighbours, that is they are men as they themselves, created by the same God and of the same mould: therefore they do not discriminate between friends and enemies, good and evil, their own countrymen or foreigners, but they have pity upon all men, because they know them to be created in the image of God: and this is the highest degree to which mortal men can rise. But God hath pity upon all things because they are his creatures, and specially he hath pity upon men, because they are in his image, and more especially he hath pity on the righteous, because they are his children, heirs of his kingdom and co-heirs with the only-begotten Son. But if thou inquirest why God created the world, why he made man in his image, why he adopted him as his child and made him inheritor of his kingdom, there is no answer but this, because he so willed. And why did he will it, except that he is good? for goodness pours itself forth and communicates itself freely. Therefore his mercy is established in the heavens and from that highest dwelling, namely from the Heart of the highest Father, it came down to earth and filled it, as the prophet sings, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.’ 3 And so God finds in himself what prompts him to have pity upon us, as in us he finds matter for punishment.

Raise now, my soul, the eyes of thy mind to that most highest fountain of mercy: consider that absolute purity, unmingled with any purpose of private good. And when thou hearest the Master of all exhorting and teaching, ‘Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful,’ strive as much as thou canst, not only to have compassion on thy fellow servants, but to be merciful with that pure love with which the heavenly Father is merciful to us. If thou forgivest an injury from one who maligns or abuses thee, forgive him with a true heart and cast into oblivion every offence, for our Father forgets our offences, as Ezekiel the prophet writes, “All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him,’? and, as David says, ‘Look how wide also the east is from the west: so far hath he set our sins from us,’ 3 lest, namely, they should seek to hurt us more; if thou givest alms to the poor, understand that thou rather receivest than givest, since, ‘He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord,’ 4 and therefore give with humility and reverence, not as alms to the poor, but as a gift to a prince; if thou sufferest any inconvenience in order to be of service to a needy neighbour, think how far thou comest short of thy Lord, who to serve thee gave his life and his blood. So shalt thou, without hope of earthly reward and without any motion of vainglory, but out of the simple and pure love of God and thy neighbour, make progress in the virtue of mercy.

It remains to consider the depth of the mercy of God. As the height of the mercy is most manifest in the cause, so the depth would seem to be in its effects.

‘That mercy therefore is not said to be deep, but rather shallow, and superficial, which descends to words alone: that is deeper which raises and refreshes the unhappy, not only with consolations but with benefits: that very deep which comforts the needy not only by speech and deeds, but also by suffering and undergoing labours and sorrows for their sakes. God, whose mercy is infinite, hath pity upon us in all these ways. And first, he hath sent to us letters of consolation which are the divine Scriptures, of which the Maccabees say, * We have the holy books of Scripture in our hands to comfort us.’¹ And not in letters only, but also by sermons of preachers, ambassadors for Christ to our reconciliation ;2, and God speaks to us by interior inspirations, promising us his help and protection: ‘I will hearken,’ saith David, ‘what the Lord God will say concerning me: for he shall speak peace unto his people and to his saints, that they turn not again.’ 3

Secondly, the blessings of the mercy of God against our manifold miseries, both spiritual and temporal, are so many that they cannot be counted, for ‘He crowneth us with mercy and loving-kindness’;4 that is, he surrounds us on all sides with the benefits of his mercy.

Thirdly, the mercy of God descended by the mercy of the Incarnation, met labours and sorrows, hunger and thirst, ignominy and reproach, stripes and wounds, the Cross and death, to redeem us from all iniquity and from everlasting death, which by our sin we had deserved. Is there any greater depth to which the mercy of God could descend? Yes, indeed; for this he did, not as compelled, but of mere grace. ‘He was offered because he himself desired it.’ For who compelled the Son of God, who thought it not a thing to be clutched at to be equal with the Father, and emptied himself, and took the form of a slave,? and became poor for our sakes, that through his poverty we might be made rich,3 and humbled himself to death, even the death of the Cross, that he might give us life, and exalt us?4 Indeed, love alone forced, mercy alone constrained him.

But there is something deeper yet: for in the work of our salvation he willed to bestow on us glory and honour. Well fitting seemed that angelic distinction: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.’ 5 Glory to God, benefit to men: but the mercy of God willed all the benefit to be ours, and part of the glory to be his own, part ours. For he willed to bestow grace upon us, by which we ourselves should cooperate in the work of our salvation and truly merit eternal life, which Christ merited for us, not because the merit of Christ was insufficient, but that he might communicate to us the praise and glory of our own salvation: whence it is said in the Gospel, ‘Give them their hire,’® and the Apostle glories and says, ‘There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.’ 7

Lastly, the mercy of God towards men is most deep, especially to devout and God-fearing men, because it surpasses the affection of father or mother, which is the greatest affection we know on earth. Hear the prophet Isaiah, ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee’;8 hear David, ‘Like as a father pitieth his own children: even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him’; and the Apostle makes us very sure of its continuance, when in the second Epistle to the Corinthians he calls God: the ‘Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.’ 2

And so God is not only the Father of them that fear him, but a most merciful Father, very ready to console; for he takes away the afflictions and troubles from his children which he judges to be expedient to be taken away from them, and therefore he shows himself to be the Father of mercies: and he provides ineffable consolation for the easy bearing of those troubles which he judges expedient not to be taken away, and in this he shows himself to be the God of all comfort.

And the Apostle says ‘of all comfort’ for two reasons: first because God knows how to console his children in every kind of tribulation, which indeed the world cannot do, because it often does not understand the cause of the troubles; so the friends of Job were “troublesome comforters,’ 3 as he himself says, because they knew not the cause of his sickness, and applied a medicine which was unsuitable: or because often the trouble is so heavy that no human consolation can meet it; but God, the most wise and skilful physician, can cure every infirmity, and therefore the Apostle says, ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulation.’

Next, he is called the God of all comfort, because he knows how to console so fully and richly that it were better to suffer the tribulation joined with such a consoler than to be without both, as it happened to a young man called Theodore, a confessor in the persecution under Julian the Apostate, who for ten whole hours was tortured with such great cruelty, and with such change of executioners, that no age records the like, and yet joyfully all that time sang the Psalms of David: and when orders were given to take him down he began to be sorrowful on account of the great consolation which he received from the presence of an angel while he was being tortured, as Rufinus writes. And so it is no marvel if the Apostle says, ‘I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation’; 2 and in the beginning of the Epistle, ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.’ 3

What thinkest thou, my soul, of this so abundant and continual, so pure and infinite mercy of God, who needeth nothing of ours, and yet out of the abundance of his love is as much concerned for his little servants, as if all his own happiness depended on them? What thanks therefore wilt thou give him? What canst thou ever do not to be ungrateful for such mercy? Strive then as much as thou canst to please him, and to carry out what will please him: and since it is written, ‘Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful,’4 begin diligently first to search out the miseries of thy soul: for indeed the miseries of the body are plain, and there is no need to admonish a man to take care of his body, for if the body even for one day is in want of food or drink, or passes one night without sleep, or by a fall or wound be hurt, it presently cries out, and is attended to with great care: but the soul fasts whole weeks from her food or languishes under wounds received, or even lies dead, and no one gives a care to her, no one has compassion.

Therefore again and again visit thy soul: examine all its faculties and see if they are in good health, whether they are going forward in the knowledge and love of the true God, or whether, on the contrary, they are working in ignorance and languishing in various evil desires, or whether even the understanding is blinded with malice, and the will corrupted by the disease of envy or pride, and if thou find any such thing, cry to the Lord, ‘Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak’:! seek spiritual physicians and take timely remedies. And then, in the next place have mercy upon other souls, of which an infinite number are perishing, and yet for them Christ died. O soul, if indeed thou knewest the price of souls, namely the precious Blood of the Son of God, and at the same time the very great slaughter that is made of them by infernal wolves and evil spirits roaring like lions, thou couldst not but heartily have pity upon them and with prayer to God and in every other way endeavour to deliver them. And lastly, take compassion also upon the bodily needs of thy neighbours, ‘not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth,’ remembering the word of the Lord, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.’ 3