Treatise on the Love of GodBook VIII. The love of conformity, by which we unite our will to that of god, as signified to us by his commandments, counsels, and inspirations

As the good ground wherein the seed falls renders a hundredfold in its season, so the heart which delights in God cannot but seek to be the cause of delight or complacency to Him in return. We always desire to please those who please us. New wine seems cooling as we drink it, but so soon as it is heated by the internal juices with which it mingles, it heats the body, and the more warmth it derives therefrom so much the more it gives in return. True love is never ungrateful; it strives to please those in whom it takes delight, and hence arises that loving conformity which makes men grow like those they love. The great and wise Solomon became an idolater when he gave up his heart to idolatrous women, and Holy Scripture calls those men effeminate who yield themselves up unduly to the love of women, as thereby losing their manly mind and character. And just such a transformation insensibly takes place in the heart, complacence begetting complacence towards those who inspire us with it.

There is an Indian legend which tells of a little land animal which so affects the company of fish, that it swims about with them in the sea, until at length it turns into a fish, and remains there. And so by dint of delight in God man becomes conformed to Him, and his will is transformed into that of God by reason of the pleasure he takes therein. Love either finds or makes a resemblance, says S. Chrysostom. The example of those we love has a quiet and imperceptible empire over us; we cannot choose but imitate them. If a man be attracted by the scents of a perfumery, he will carry forth that sweetness when he departs, and spread it abroad wheresoever he goes. And in proportion as the heart delights in any one it imbibes his characteristics, for pleasure expands the heart just as sadness withers it; and thus we often read in Holy Scripture of the heart being “enlarged” as synonymous with rejoicing. And when the heart is enlarged by pleasure, it is easily impressed with those characteristics which please, though, verily, other and less happy images will also press in, like to him who went to the marriage-feast without having on a wedding garment. Thus Aristotle’s disciples affected his stammer, and Plato’s followers imitated his stoop. Briefly, admiration is a great copyist, and therefore complacent love transforms us into the likeness of the God Whom we love, and that the more largely as we love Him more. So saints who greatly loved have been speedily and wholly transformed into His Likeness.

It is a striking and beautiful fact that if two lutes in perfect union are laid side by side, and one be touched, the strings of the other will vibrate in harmony. We shrink from imitating those whom we dislike, even in that which of itself is good; and the Lacedemonians refused to follow the good counsels of a bad man until they had been repeated by some worthy. But we cannot help seeking conformity with those we love. It is in this sense, probably, that S. Paul says that “the law is not made for a righteous man,” since the righteous is not righteous save in that he is moved by holy love; and if he loves, he needs not the pressure of the law, for love is the most urgent of all advocates on behalf of the will and intentions of Him Who is loved. Love is a ruler who needs no officers, no force; its power lies in that, finding all our delight in God, we would fain please Him likewise. Love is an epitome of all theology which, without books or teachers, indoctrinates the ignorance of a Paul, an Antony, a Hilarion, a Simon, a Francis. In virtue of it the soul dares to say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His: my soul feeds on the delight with which He inspires me, and He in return feeds upon my love for Him.” Rest assured that whoever really delights in God desires heartily to please Him, and to be conformed to His Likeness,

We have seen how complacent love endues us with such likeness to Divine Perfection as we are able to receive, even as a mirror which reflects the sunshine, not according to the brilliancy or vastness of that orb, but according to its own length and breadth. But further, we attain this holy conformity in another way, through the love of benevolence. Complacent love draws God into our heart, but the love of benevolence casts our heart into God, and therewith all our actions and affections, dedicating them wholly to Him, for benevolence craves to render God all possible honour, glory, and gratitude, as the rightful meed of His Goodness. Now this desire is fulfilled according to the strength of our complacent love, e.g. we have greatly rejoiced in beholding the Goodness of God; and therefore we desire through the love of benevolence that all possible love may be devoted to the adoration of that Goodness. We have marvelled at the sovereign Perfection of God; consequently we would have Him praised, honoured, and worshipped above all else. We have found gladness in the thought that He is not only our First Cause but our Final End, the Maker and Preserver of all; and therefore we would have all things subject to Him in absolute obedience. We see that His Will is perfect, just and true above all things; therefore we would that it be the ruler and guide of all human wills.

Bear in mind, however, that I am not now speaking of the obedience we owe to God as our Lord and Master, our Father and Benefactor; such obedience comes of right, not of love. But were there neither Paradise nor hell before man, and were he under no manner of obligation to God (which are, of course, impossible suppositions), still the love of benevolence would move us voluntarily to offer Him all obedience, from a keen sense of love for His sovereign Goodness and pure and holy Will.

In the relations of this world we continually see women voluntarily giving themselves up to the power of a husband out of free love, and men engaging in the service of some prince, or submitting to the rule of some superior; and we do the like when, by reason of the holy love of benevolence, we place all our affections in God’s Hand, to be shaped and directed according to His Good Pleasure. And the highest point of love’s ‘obedience is when it needs no stimulant of fear or reward, no rule or law, but when it forestalls all these, submitting to God solely by reason of His perfect Goodness, which has a right to enfold and absorb all other wills within the gulf of His most perfect Will.

In while we consider God’s Will as in itself altogether holy and excellent, and it seems easy to praise, bless, and worship it, offering our own and all created wills to obey it in the petition “Thy Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.” Or again, we consider it in its individual aspect, as in the events of our own life; and lastly, we consider it as manifested in His declared plans and intentions. For though God’s Divine Majesty knows but one simple Will, we in our weakness are constrained to class and name it variously in its effects.

Christian doctrine sets before us plainly the truths which God requires us to believe, the good He wills us to hope, the evil He wills us to fear, the things He would have us fear or desire, the commandments He wills us to keep, the counsels to be followed; and all these combined make what we call God’s signified Will, because He has signified and manifested that He intends these things to be believed and done. Now this signified Will being set before us as what He wishes rather than by peremptory constraint, we are free to follow His Will obediently, or to resist it by disobedience. There are three distinct acts of God’s Will that apply to this; namely, He wills us to have the power to resist, He wishes us not to resist, and yet He suffers our resistance if we will have it so. The power to resist is part of our natural liberty; if we do resist, it comes of our own malice, but that we should not resist is what God would have of us. When we do resist God has no share in our disobedience, but leaving us to our free-will (“in the hand of His counsel, if he will, to keep the commandments” )¹ He permits us to choose it. But when we obey, then He furthers us with His helping Grace.

Mere permission is a sterile passive action on God’s part; but when He desires, it is an active fertile action which moves and stimulates. So that, desiring us to obey His signified Will, God intreats, exhorts, inspires, urges, pleads with us; but when He suffers us to resist, He merely leaves us to exercise our free-will, contrary to His desire and intention. Verily, His desire is most earnest; for what can be a warmer expression of it than our Lord’s parable of the king who made a great supper, and not only invited and pressed, but constrained his guests to come and eat? ‘What more could the master of the feast do, save force the food down their throats? and such favours are offered with affection, pleading, and remonstrance, not with violence. So with God’s signified Will. He heartily desires us to do what He ordains, and He supplies us with whatever is needful to that end, urging us to make use thereof; what more could we ask? But even as the sun’s rays are not extinguished because they are rejected and shut out, so God’s signified Will does not cease to be His true Will even when it is resisted, and fails to produce the result it would do with co-operation.

Hearty conformity with God’s Will consists in willing whatsoever He has signified to be His intention-believing His doctrines, trusting in His promises, fearing His displeasure, loving and living according to His commands and warnings; and all this we continually pledge ourselves to in the various offices of the Church. Thus we stand when the Gospel is read, in token of our obedience to God’s Will as contained therein; and we kiss the Book at the open Gospel, in token that we adore His Holy Word. So saints of old have carried the Gospel in their bosom, as we read of S. Cecilia; and the Gospel of S. Matthew was found next S. Barnabas’ heart, written with his own hand. In the Councils of early times there was a custom of placing a throne in the midst of the assembled Bishops, and upon it the Book of the Gospels, as representing our Saviour, the King, Teacher, and Inspirer of the whole Church. And that noble type of the episcopal office, S. Carlo Borromeo, always studied Holy Scripture on his knees, in token of the respect with which he held it fitting to read and accept God’s signified Will.

God has made known His desire for our salvation in so many ways, that no man but must be conscious of it. It was with this design that He created us in His Own Image and Likeness, and then again took ours upon Himself in the Incarnation, yet further undergoing death that He might redeem man, with such love that, as S. Denys records, He once revealed to a holy man named Carpus that He would even die anew to save man, were it needful.

Now although all men be not saved, nevertheless it is His Will that all should be saved, working in us according to His nature and ours; for His Goodness leads Him to give us freely that grace by which we can attain to glory, while our nature requires that we have free choice left us to accept that grace and be saved, or to despise it and perish.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will require: even that I may behold the fair Beauty of the Lord, and to visit His Temple,”¹ so says David. But what is it to enjoy the fair Beauty of the Lord, save to receive and make known His Perfections to others? “His delight is with the sons of men,”i.e., to pour out His Grace upon them. Nothing is so acceptable as to effect one’s own will, and our sanctification is God’s Will, our salvation His Good Pleasure. Nor is there any difference between His Will and His Pleasure; it is good, forasmuch as it is all love and benevolence towards man.

The whole Church, militant and triumphant, sings the praise of His dear Love for us, and His Sacred Body bears the tokens thereof; therefore in “visiting His Temple,” above all other times, we realise that Love in which He delights.

Be it ours many times daily to contemplate that Loving Will, and, resigning ours wholly to it, let us cry out, “O Infinite Sweetness, Thou alone art worthy! Thou hast made me for life eternal, and Thou feedest me with the ever-flowing milk of Thy Loving-kindness! Would that I could cling more uninterruptedly to Thy Breast!”

We ought to will our own salvation, even as God wills it, and forasmuch as that is through exceeding desire, we too should earnestly desire it. Nor does God stop there, but He endows us with all the necessary means, which we should earnestly accept and use. It may be enough to say, “I desire to be saved,” but it is not enough to say, “I desire to make use of the suitable means of grace to that end ;” we must resolutely use the grace given us, or our will does not correspond with God’s Will. Real conformity of will requires that we accept and use the means He sets before us as He desires, and because He desires it.

Sometimes it may be that we seem to accept the means of salvation as a whole, and yet shrink back from the individual use thereof, just as S. Peter, who thought himself ready to die for his Master, and yet denied Him for fear of a maid-servant. We all think we can “drink the cup of the Lord,” but when it is offered us we shrink and start back. That which is actually present overpowers us. For this reason it is well to make special resolutions in meditation. David accepted troubles in detail as steps to perfection, when he exclaimed, “It is good for me that I have been in trouble, that I may learn Thy statutes.”' And in the same spirit the Apostles “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for their Saviour’s Name.”?

Holy Scripture bears witness to God’s exceeding desire that we keep His Commandments, alike in the abundant rewards held out to those who do so, and the stringent punishments to those who forsake them. ‘Thou hast charged, that we shall diligently keep Thy Commandments.”3 Now the love of complacency, realising this Divine desire, seeks to please God by conformity to it; and the love of Benevolence, which would have all things to submit to God, hastens to submit our will and wishes to whatever He signifies. Thence springs, not a mere obedience, but a real love of God’s Commandments, such as is the keynote of the whole 119th Psalm: “Lord, what love have I unto Thy Law: all the day long is my study in it.”

If we would foster this holy love for God’s Law, we must consider and dwell upon its beauty. All God’s Commandments are good; but just as there are certain acts which are bad because they are forbidden, and others forbidden because they are bad, so some are good because they are commanded, and others which are commanded because they are excellent. So that all are good and excellent, obedience imparting virtue to such as are indifferent, and increasing it in those which are intrinsically good.

A benefit loses half its grace if it comes from an unfriendly hand. Thus the Lacedemonians of old would not accept even the wise counsel of an evil man until it had been taken up and repeated by one of good repute. No gift is so welcome as that of a friend, and a law appears hard or light according to the spirit in which it is imposed, just as Jacob’s seven years’ service seemed to him but as a day for the love he bare Rachel. Truly the yoke of the Christian’s law is light, laid on us as it is by so gracious a Monarch!

Some men keep the Commandments much as we gulp down medicine, more for fear of eternal condemnation than because they delight in pleasing their Lord. And just as there are people who are disgusted with remedies not unpleasant in themselves, simply because they are called medicine, so there are minds which revolt from all prescribed duties, simply because they are prescribed; as it is told of a man who had lived for eighty years contentedly in Paris, till being then commanded not to leave the town, he forthwith rushed out to see the country, for which he never cared before!

But on the other hand, a loving heart takes pleasure in God’s Law, and the harder it seems, the more such a heart delights in it, as the means of rendering Him greater glory. “My lips shall speak of Thy praise

. my tongue shall sing of Thy Word; for all Thy commandments are righteous.”' The traveller who sings on his way voluntarily makes a fresh tax on his strength, but it is one which cheers and lightens his toil; and so the spiritual pilgrim realises that nothing so relieves his weariness as the loving fulfilment of his Master’s precepts: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage”? There is a tradition that the sweetness of the fig is so heavy that cattle bearing that cargo sink under the load; a type of the unholy man, who is, “like the mule, which hath no understanding,” under the sweet Law of the Lord, which crushes him in his weakness. Another tradition tells us that the traveller who carries a sprig of the Agnus castus feels no weariness, and so those who really ‘love God find refreshment and vigour in the yoke of Christ. There is no toil in that which we love; or if toil there be, it is welcome, for toil and love combined are even more grateful to the Christian than ease. It is thus that holy love brings us into conformity with God’s Will, and teaches us to obey His Commandments because they are His, rather than out of mere mechanical obedience, turning necessity into pleasure, and hardship to delight.

God's Law expresses a stringent will on His part

Who makes it, while His Counsels do but represent His wish: the first is binding, the latter only incites compliance. Those who break the Commandments are guilty; they who neglect God’s Counsels do but fail to win all the favour which is within their reach. The first deserve condemnation, the last decrease the recompense awaiting them. There is a difference between command and recommendation: command implies authority to enforce, recommendation friendship which incites and stimulates; the one constrains, the other merely urges to that which is preferable. We obey a command, we heed a counsel; we follow a counsel in order to please, we obey a command for fear of displeasing. And so the love of complacency which leads us to please the Beloved One also leads us to follow His Counsels; and the love of benevolence, which requires all wills and affections to be subject to Him, leads us to will, not merely His Law, but that which He teaches and counsels, just as a dutiful son seeks to comply, not only with his father’s literal orders, but with his wishes and likings.

Counsel is given for the benefit of him who receives it, and for his perfection. “If thou wilt be perfect,” our Saviour said, “sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow Me.” But the loving heart does not dwell chiefly on its own advantage, but rather on the wish of Him Who counsels; and thus it seeks to discover God’s Mind therein. And He does not give His Counsels to all alike, but they are diverse according to person, time, place, and capacity, as the law of charity dictates; for charity, the queen of all virtues, commandments, and counsels, disposes them, together with all Christian graces, according to need.

For instance, when parents need their children to support or tend them, it is not the time to follow the counsel of retiring from the world; since charity bids a man rather obey the commandment, “Honour thy father and mother.” A prince, on whose posterity his country depends for good and lawful government, may not seek a life of celibacy. He who is in fragile health, needing care and comfort, has no right to seek voluntary poverty; neither is it lawful for the father of a family to sell all he has, and leave wife and children unprovided for. Counsels of perfection are given to Christians, but not all to every Christian. Circumstances make them impossible, useless, or even harmful, to certain persons, as our Lord has taught us in the words, “He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”? All the counsels of perfection are clearly not available to all men, though they may be a measure and standard to judge by. Charity moves some to poverty, and deters others; it inclines some to marriage, others to continence; it sends one to the cloister, another to the world; it is not bound to give account to any, for it has full power over the Christian law; it “can do all things.” If any one questions this, it may answer, “The Lord hath need of him,” for whatever is done of charity is done for God; all things serve charity, and it only serves its Beloved, and that as a bride, not a slave. Charity is as the sacred river which waters the Church’s soil, and while it is colourless like all pure water, it brings forth many-coloured flowers— the rose-red martyr, the virgin lily, the deep violet of mortification, the pale gold of the heart’s-ease, thus turning all counsels to the perfection of those souls which are so blessed as to live beneath its influence.

Counsels.

Verily God’s Will is to be desired beyond all things, being as it is the law of very love itself. The Hebrews use the word “peace” as summing up all blessings, and being felicity itself; even as David says, “Great is the peace that they have who love Thy Law, and they are not offended at it.”¹ Assuredly he who was “a man after God’s own Heart” entered so thoroughly into the perfection of the Divine Law, that he could say with the fullest meaning, “My delight is in Thy Commandments.”

When the Bride of the Canticles seeks to describe the exquisite perfumes of her Bridegroom, she says, “The savour of Thy good ointment is as ointment. poured forth,” i.e. “Thou art so wholly sweetness, that Thou mayest rather be called perfume itself than perfumed.” So the soul which loves God is so transformed into His Will that it may more aptly be called His Will than merely subject to that Will. The Prophet Isaiah says of the Church that it “shall be called by a new name, which the Mouth of the Lord shall name ;”² and again, “For the Lord delighteth in thee,”? as though to show that they who are not Christians follow their own will; but the true children of Christ renounce their will, and are subject only to His sovereign Will, which rules over all; the one characteristic of Christians being that their will is merged in that of God.

Isaiah’s words were fulfilled in the primitive Church when, as S. Luke says, “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one mind;”3 not meaning thereby the bodily heart, or the spirit which moves it with mere earthly life, but that heart and mind which are the principle of one supernatural life, which is neither more nor less than the Will of od.

“In His Pleasure is life,” the Psalmist says ;4 not merely because our temporal life depends upon His Divine Will, but because our spiritual life hangs upon its fulfilment, through which God lives and reigns in us, enabling us to live in Him. But the sinner “of old time” has cast off the yoke of the Lord, saying, “I will not serve ;”5 so that God says through Isaiah, “Thou wast called a transgressor from the womb,”® and again, “Thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast set thine heart as the Heart of God,” for the rebellious mind seeks to be independent and as a God to itself. Such an one will not have God to reign over him. Yet surely we came into this world, not to do our will, but that of Him that sent us, even as the Saviour Himself fulfilled the Father’s Will from the first

I Isa. Ixii. 2. ? Isa, Ixii. 4. 3 Acts iv. 32. moment of His Incarnation: “In the volume of the book it is written of Me, that I should fulfil Thy Will, O My God... yea, Thy Law is within My Heart.” ?

And when any man loves God’s Will intensely, he is not content merely to obey it as signified in the Commandments, but he strives to follow those counsels which, as S. Thomas says, are given us for the more perfect observance of the original Law of God. He who voluntarily renounces lawful indulgences is not likely to seek forbidden pleasures, and he who embraces voluntary poverty is in little danger of coveting other men’s goods; while he who readily submits his will to human authority, the better to serve God, will scarcely persist in following his own will rather than God’s. We read of King David, when he was fighting with the Philistines who held Bethlehem, that he exclaimed longingly, “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!”⁵ Forthwith three mighty men broke through the hosts of the Philistines, drew the water, and brought it to the king, who, seeing how they had brought it, “through jeopardy of their lives, would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord.” Worthy warriors, devoted to the service of their prince, they gladly braved the extremest peril to satisfy a mere passing wish; and our Lord has given certain Counsels (such as poverty, widowhood, self-renunciation, and the like) to which what He said of perpetual virginity assuredly applies, that they who are able should receive them. And at the mere utterance of His wish many brave Christian warriors have started forth, and, boldly facing all difficulties, have attained the crown of eternal glory by their devoted perseverance in obeying their Master’s wish.

David tells us that God does not merely “hear the desire” of His faithful servants, but He furthers their merest wish; “Thou preparest their heart,”⁶ so ready is He to forward the will of those that love Him. Does it not beseem us on our part to be so jealously eager to fulfil His Holy Will as not to rest content with keeping His bare Commandments, but to study His every wish? A generous soul requires no greater stimulus to action than a knowledge of the wish of its Beloved: “My soul failed [went forth] when my Beloved spake.” ?

Contempt for the Changelic Counsels is a great N° one can question that we are bound to seek after perfection, if he will study the urgent, loving words with which our Lord has set it before us: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father Which is in Heaven is perfect ;”3 “Ye shall be holy, for I am holy ;”4 “He that is holy, let him be holy still.”5 S. Bernard says, “The righteous man is never satisfied; he for ever hungers and thirsts after righteousness.”

In temporal matters, he is never satisfied who is not content with a sufficiency, for what can satisfy endless cravings? But in things spiritual, he who is satisfied with what he has has not enough; nor is any sufficiency satisfying, because the very craving for more is an essential part of an abundance of spiritual wealth. In the creation God bade the earth bring forth the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself 30 and experience teaches us that the vegetable creation does not attain maturity or perfection until it bears seed for the reproduction of kind. Nor does virtue ever attain to fulness or perfection until it produces the desire of progress and advancement in righteousness. The spiritual ground of man’s heart is hidden to bring forth herbs yielding the fruit of good works, each after its kind, and the seeds of good desires and intentions must ripen and fructify. The virtue which bears no such seed is immature and profitless. “How now?” S. Bernard says to the slothful, “thou wilt not go on towards perfection? neither wilt thou fall backwards? What then, wouldst thou remain stationary, neither better nor worse? Verily, you ask that which cannot be. Nothing in this world abides unchanged, and of man especially it is written that ‘he continueth not.’⁴ Needs must be that he go onwards, or that he fall away.”

S. Bernard says not, neither would I say, that not to follow the Counsels is sin, as indeed the very difference between commandment and counsel is that the first constrains, while the latter only invites. Nevertheless it is sin to neglect Christian perfection, or our Lord’s call thereto; still more to despise those means which He points out as the way to attain it. It were a grievous error to say that our Lord’s Counsels were not good—it were blasphemy to say like the wicked to God, “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways ;”? but it is also a fearful irreverence to reply to His loving call that we care not for holiness, nor desire to follow His Counsels, nor to advance towards perfection.

Not to comply with these Counsels is not in itself sin; as, for instance, he who has not courage to sell all and give to the poor, he who has not strength of will to abstain from marriage, or who loves some one too well to do so—these men sin not. But he who deliberately rejects all Christ’s Counsels, who rejects them as unprofitable or worthless, not because he is personally moved to some other course in any special matter, but out of contempt—that man despises Christ Among men it is possible to despise advice without despising the giver, because all men are liable to err; but no one can reject or despise God’s Counsel save from contempt of the Giver, which is blasphemy, as though He were not All-wise and All-good. Neither can the precepts of the Church be lightly despised, because the Church is guided and governed by the Holy Spirit, Who “guides it into all truth.”

While, then, every Christian neither can nor ought to be bound by all the Counsels, every one is bound to respect them all. There may be many things good and excellent in themselves, although not adapted to every one. You would not question the sweetness of a perfume because it chanced to be unacceptable to you who have a headache? or the richness of a garment of cloth-of-gold because it does not become you? or the value of a ring which does not fit your finger? Even so let us admire and prize all our Lord’s Counsels to men, for He is the One True and Mighty Counsellor, and as Solomon says, “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.”¹ What a friend, what counsels have we in Christ! Truly His Word is sweeter than the honeycomb; it giveth light and understanding to the simple!

Again, when we see others rising up to the Counsels which are above us, we should further them in all possible ways, whether by practical help or by prayer; for charity bids us seek not our own welfare only, but that of our neighbour.

The best proof of our respect for all Christ’s Counsels is a devout observance of those which are suitable to ourselves; for just as he who holds one article of faith because God has revealed and taught it through His Church cannot reject the other like articles, or as he who observes one commandment out of love to God will observe the rest as occasion offers, so he who loves and venerates any one evangelic counsel because God has given it, will assuredly love and venerate all the others which come equally from God. No one can follow all the Counsels at once, but we may live in continual practice of one or other, for God has purposely made them numerous and diversified, and the willing heart will find daily opportunity for practising one or another.

You who contemplate the religious life, does charity require you to remain at home and minister to your parents, do so in a loving spirit, while cherishing the thought of self-devotion when your filial mission shall no longer claim you. Or you whose vocation is married life, live therein in all purity and honour. When you cannot do everything, do what you can heartily. You may not be bound to seek reconciliation with one who has sinned against you, it may be rather his part to seek you; yet, nevertheless, remember the Saviour’s Counsel, and render him good for evil; heap coals of fire on his head in love, burning up all ill-will and constraining love. You may not be bound to give to all the needy whom you meet; nevertheless follow your Saviour’s precept, and as far as possible relieve the wants of all who come across you. You are not bound to take any vows upon you, but if there be any specially calculated to forward your soul’s progress, as advised by your spiritual guide, do not hesitate. You are free to use wine within the limits of temperance, but bear in mind S. Paul’s counsel to Timothy, and take no more than is requisite for health.

There are different degrees of perfection even in the Counsels, e.g. lending to the poor is one step in almsgiving; it is a higher step to give; higher yet to give all a man has, and the highest of all is when he gives himself to their service. Hospitality is a counsel; to receive strangers is one step thereof; to go and seek them like Abraham is higher, and to devote one’s self to a life of hardship and peril, amid perpetual snow and tempest, as our countryman S. Bernard de Mention did, living upon the mountainside to succour the traveller, is the highest form of hospitality. Visiting the sick who are not in extreme necessity is a counsel, better still it is to minister to them, while to devote one’s self to their service like the Hospitallers, or Sisters of Charity, is highest of all: ‘Whatsoever ye have done unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.”

All virtues are elastic, and generally speaking we are not bound to strain them to the utmost; enough if we go so far as we are able. But those who can carry them to the highest perfection follow Christ’s Counsels. It may be that there are rare occasions when some extraordinary effort is necessary for a man to keep hold of God’s Grace; as, e.g., the sentinel at Sebaste, who, beholding how one of the forty prisoners about to suffer fell away from his martyr’s crown, hastened voluntarily himself to take the place, and so filled up the ranks of the Lord’s true soldiers. Or S. Audactus, who, seeing S. Felix led to martyrdom, cried out of his own accord, “I am a Christian, even as he!” and embracing the martyr, he went forth with him, and shared his death. Many early martyrs did the like, and when it was perfectly justifiable to avoid death, they nobly chose to suffer through exceeding love. Martyrdom, when the only alternative is denial of the faith, is truly a very admirable and worthy token of love and strength; yet we must grant that there is more generosity and heroism in a voluntary martyrdom for love’s sake. And there is no way whereby we can so closely imitate our Dear Lord as by heroic acts of virtue, all His Graces being, as S. Thomas says, heroic from the moment of His Conception, and even higher than heroic, inasmuch as He was not man, but God. °

How to conform to Gon's Will, as signifier be Juspiras lion, and of the various means by which ©on go inspires us. A® the sun’s rays give light and heat simultaneously, so the heavenly rays of inspiration not only light our path and make it plain, but kindle vigour in our heart to follow on.

All nature is benumbed by the winter’s cold, but the first return of vernal warmth restores life and motion to the world; the birds sing, and vegetation bursts forth. So without the help of inspiration our souls would remain passive and dull; but so soon as these heavenly rays touch us, we feel light and warmth, which rouse the will, kindle the understanding, and give us strength to seek and to do that which is profitable to salvation. ‘The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul,” ix. a soul which imparted life, movement, and action to the body. This same Eternal God breathes the breath of eternal life into our souls, so that, as S. Paul says, we gain “a quickening spirit,” ? ¢.e. a spirit which enables us to live, move, and act according to grace; so that He Who first gave us being gives us likewise our spiritual being. The breath of man has had power to animate—witness the Shunamite’s child, whose “flesh waxed warm” when the Prophet Elisha breathed upon it3 But the Breath of God not merely animates, it gives perfect light, for the Spirit of God is very Light Itself, Whose life-giving Breath we call inspiration. and it is by this Spirit that He breathes into our soul His Own gracious desires and intentions.

Various are the ways by which He inspires men. External objects were made channels of inspiration to S. Antony, S. Francis, S. Anselm, and many others. One ordinary means is by preaching; but as there are often those who do not profit by the Word, sorrow and reproof “beget understanding.”² S. Mary of Egypt was inspired by the sight of a picture of Our Lady; S. Antony by hearing the Gospel read at the Altar; Francis Borgia, Duke of Candia, by seeing the dead body of the Empress; S. Pachomius by a work of charity; S. Ignatius Loyola by the lives of the Saints, S. Cyprian (not of Carthage) by the devil’s confession that he could not touch a soul which trusted in God. :

When I was a lad in Paris, two students (one was a heretic) had been spending the night in drinking, when suddenly the bells rang out for matins from the Carthusian convent in the Faubourg S. Jacques, and, talking about it together, “How different,” the heretic exclaimed, “such a life from ours—as wide apart as angels and brutes!” The next day he visited the church, and was. so struck with the sight of the fathers, motionless as statues in their stalls, absorbed in devotion, that he resolved then and there to become a member of the Church of Christ, a resolution which he did not fail to carry out. ;

Thrice blessed they whose hearts are ever open to God’s holy inspirations; they will never lack all such as are needful for their guidance and preservation. Just as God gives every animal, in the order of nature, such instincts as are necessary for its preservation, so in the spiritual life He gives to all who resist not His Grace such inspiration as is requisite thereto. Remember the {faithful Eliezer, how he prayed, “Behold I stand here m; the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. Let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also, let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac.”³ Eliezer asked only for water for himself, but Rebecca, inspired of God, offered to water the camels also, and thus she became Isaac’s bride, and ancestress of our Saviour. Verily, those souls which do not rest content with doing that which their Heavenly Bridegroom requires of them, but are quick to obey His every inspiration, these are they which the Lord chooses to be the brides of His Beloved Son. And forasmuch as Eliezer was unable of himself to discern which maiden was destined for his master’s son, God made it known to him by inspiration. When we know not what to do, and human counsel fails to relieve our perplexity, then God will inspire us, and if we obey Him in all humility He will not suffer us to go astray.

I have spoken still more fully concerning inspirations in the “Devout Life,” and need say no more now.

Perseverance in Vocation a first Gest of Inspiration. [HERE is a certain series of inspirations which chiefly tends to extraordinary perfection in the discharge of ordinary Christian duties. Charity towards the sick is an ordinary practice among real Christians, but it was fulfilled after an extraordinary manner by the great self-devotion of S. Francis and S. Catherine of Sienna, or by the royal S. Louis, who is described to us by a certain Abbé of Citeaux as kneeling bareheaded before a poor sufferer, whose terrible cancerous wounds he was reverently dressing. So was it an extraordinary devotion which led the same monarch to wait upon the poor he fed, and afterwards himself to eat their leavings. When S. Jerome received the pilgrims who fled from the Goths in his hospital at Bethlehem, he was not content merely to wash their feet, but he washed and groomed their camels also. S. Francis carried evangelic poverty to the highest perfection, and no less the grace of simplicity. Thus we read of his buying a lamb that was to be slaughtered because it was a type of our Lord. He reverenced all creation, remembering the Hand Which framed all things, and might be seen lifting up worms from off the road and placing them in safety, because the Lord had likened Himself to a worm. He was wont to call all living creatures his brothers and sisters, being the offspring of the same Maker with himself.

S. Alexis, a noble Roman, carried personal abnegation so far as to remain for seventeen years in his father’s house unrecognised save as a poor pilgrim. But the practice of any such extraordinary matters requires great discretion and judgment; nor should they be hastily undertaken, lest the enemy of souls turn them into a snare, and the soul should rather lose than gain. He is very apt to prompt us to begin some good work which we are not likely to follow up, and so be the more readily discouraged and fainthearted. It serves his purpose only too well when men make beginnings, so long as they accomplish nothing. Just as Pharaoh of old heeded not how many sons the Hebrew women brought to the birth provided they did not live, so is it with men’s good resolutions in his eyes; whereas, as S. Jerome tells us, the best beginnings are unimportant unless they are brought to a good end. Food does not nourish if a man takes more than his digestion can assimilate. The deceits of Satan would keep us lingering amid the promises of spring; but God’s Holy Spirit teaches us to think of our good beginnings only as a step towards a better end; and the ripe fruit of autumn is the true test of spring flowers and their value.

S. Thomas says it is inexpedient to make excessive delays and seek various counsel in deciding upon a true vocation, but having once decided on good grounds, whether in this or any matter having reference to God’s service, a man should be firm, and not suffer himself to be unsettled by any seemingly better suggestion; because, to quote S. Bernard, the devil often tries to divert men from one good deed under pretext of somewhat better, until he succeeds in hindering them from any stedfast, persistent work.

S. Anselm compares the soul which is fickle in its pursuit of good to an oft-transplanted shrub, which takes no root and bears no fruit. The sacred living creatures described by the Prophet Ezekiel “went every one straight forward; whither the Spirit was to go they went, and they turned not when they went.”' So we must needs go whither God’s Holy Spirit sends us, turning neither backward nor aside, but going straight on, as He appoints. Let him who is on the right road keep to it; men are too apt to leave what is good to seek what is better, whereby they often lose one without finding the other. Better a small but certain possession, than great expectations of what may never be. That is a suspicious inspiration which moves a man to peril an unquestionable good for a possible something better.

We read of a young Portuguese who was making great progress in spiritual things, as also in preaching, under S. Philip Neri, in the Oratory at Rome, until he fancied himself inspired to leave that Society for the Dominican Order. S. Philip, assisting at his reception, wept sorely, and being questioned as to the reason, answered, “I weep to see so many virtues - t-Ezek. ira.

® There is an. old saying, “Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.” thrown away.” And indeed this youth, who had been so devout a member of the congregation, fell away, and was the cause of serious scandal to the Order he had joined.

When the plover sees a sportsman approach her nest, she hovers before him, making believe to be lame or wounded; then, taking flight, she will drop as though exhausted, in order to lure her enemy to follow her, and so distract his attention from her nest, until, having beguiled him afar off, she takes to the wing and escapes. Just so when Satan sees any one using God’s inspirations, and seeking to lead a devout and holy life, he tries to tempt him hither and thither, in pursuit of this or that supposed advantage, until at length he succeeds altogether in diverting him from the attainment of perfection. A young hound will continually follow some fresh scent, but old dogs which know their business are never misled, steadily following on their original track. Let it be the aim of every one, having found what is God’s Will as to his vocation, to persevere stedfastly therein, as in those duties and practices which are most conformable to it, seeking to be discreet, as well as zealous in pursuit of perfection. ,

Droinarp Laws. Peace ann Dutet a second Test of Inspiration. SUCH inspirations as the above are extraordinary only inasmuch as they incite men to seek a more than ordinary fervour and perfection in the performance of common duties. There is another class of inspirations, which not only urge the soul beyond ordinary limits, but which incite it to deeds which are intrinsically opposed to the Church’s laws, and which are more subjects for marvel than for imitation. Such is the tale we read of Eusebia, who left her native Rome disguised in male attire, only resuming her proper dress later on, when the Bishop of Mylassa took her under his guidance, until after a while she founded a monastery, and died at length in the odour of sanctity, although her first steps seem inconsistent with Christian modesty.

Again, we read of a certain youth who, having kicked his mother, was smitten with overwhelming repentance, and coming to S. Antony of Padua with his grief, the Saint said, meaning to express his strong sense of the crime, that the offending member deserved to be cut off! Whereupon the youth went home, and, acting on the words, cut off his foot. We should be tempted to count this as a temptation but for the miracle by which S. Antony healed the foot. Again, S. Paul the first hermit, S. Antony, S. Mary of Egypt, and others, surely did not bury their youth in the wilderness, far from Sacraments and outward help, without powerful inspiration. Who could approve a life so impossible to any one unassisted by Heavenly inspiration as that led by S. Simeon Stylites? or the conduct of S. John the Silent, who forsook his diocese and concealed himself in a solitude? or S. Paulinus, who sold himself to redeem a widow's son, a thing he had no right to do, belonging as he did to his Church and people in virtue of his episcopal consecration? Or again, certain women, who in times of persecution disfigured their faces to defend their honour, were they not committing an unlawful deed?

Now one of the surest tests of the truth of any extraordinary inspiration is whether the heart receiving it be calm and peaceful, for God’s Spirit is ever soft and gentle, albeit vigorous. It may come “like a mighty rushing wind,” but it does not overwhelm or terrify; and the fear which came upon the Apostles was followed by great peace when the cloven tongues of fire “sat on the head of each of them.” Our Dear Lord is called the Prince of Peace, and the Bride of the Canticles a Sulamite, i.e. “the daughter of peace ;” for the Voice of her Bridegroom, which was the Voice of God’s Spirit, neither troubled nor dismayed her. Her soul melted within her, but with sweetness, not with terror; and even amid “the company of two armies ”² she was at rest. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were inspired of God beyond most men, were peaceful and quiet in their lives; Moses was “the meekest of men ;” David was noted for his gentleness. But on the other hand the evil spirit is restless, turbulent, aggressive, and they who are led by his infernal instigations may generally be recognised by their proud, perverse, unquiet ways, upsetting all order under a pretence of zeal, criticising, offending everybody, intolerant of all save their own self-love, which they disguise beneath the name of jealousy for God’s Honour.

Humility is the inseparable adjunct of peace and gentleness. But there is a spurious humility, consisting in words, gestures, and outward obeisance, which easily exists where there is no interior consciousness of abjection, and no reverence for others. All this is mere trifling, a mere phantom of humility. But on the other hand there is a generous, practical humility, which makes a man docile, and ready to receive advice or admonition. When S. Simeon Stylites was a novice at Toledo, he was so self-willed in his voluntary asceticism, that he was dismissed the monastery. But he conquered this, and became so spiritually submissive, that when the hermits from the deserts of Antioch sent to inquire wherefore he had chosen to follow a manner of life so unheard of on his column; bidding him come down and live like other men, he yielded, and was about to descend; whereupon the pious hermits resolved that such ready obedience was a token of God’s inspiration, and they bade him forbear, and abide on his column, for he was surely fulfilling God’s Will thereby. And indeed he received grace to persevere in that wondrous life for thirty years. Whatever is done in an obedient spirit is trustworthy; whatever sets that at defiance is suspicious.

The heart which is inspired of God will first and foremost be inspired to obey; of which S. Paul is a remarkable instance, for was not the chief feature in God’s message to him a command to go to the city ‘and learn from Ananias what he should do? Ananias being, as S. Dorotheus has said, the Bishop of Damascus. Be sure that any man who professes to be inspired, yet refuses submission to his rightful superiors, is an impostor. All Divinely-inspired prophets and preachers have been faithful to the Church’s teaching, conforming to her doctrine, and diligent in affirming that “the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth’? And thus all irregular, self-reliant inspirations can but be treated as illusory. There is no other way whereby Moses and the Prophets can agree. S. ‘Francis, S. Dominic, and others, were raised up for the service of souls by God’s extraordinary inspiration; but none were ever more dutiful sons of the Church. In short, the three surest tests of true inspiration are perseverance as opposed to levity, calm and quietness as opposed to restlessness, and humble obedience as opposed to self-will and obstinacy. :

In the world of nature we find many flowers which turn round with the sun as it runs its course; but the sunflower, specially so called, moves not its corolla only, but the whole plant.’ Even so all God’s elect turn their hearts in obedience to His Will as signified ‘by His Commandments; but those souls which are specially filled with Divine Love are not content with mere obedience, but, by total union of all their affections, of their whole being, they follow the Sun of Righteousness throughout His course, keenly alive to every counsel or inspiration, without any exception. So that they may truly say with the Psalmist, “Thou hast holden me by my right hand; Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory.” And again, “I was as it were a beast before Thee;” for as a well-trained horse is guided, turned hither and thither with the lightest touch of his rider, so the loving soul is absolutely led by the Hand of God, sensitive to His every movement and Will.

It is made clearly known to us by His commands or precepts, which leave us no alternative; but there are other matters in which we are left free to choose our own course, always bearing in mind that all things lawful are not always expedient, and that

* This tradition concerning the sunflower, or Girasole, gave rise to those lovely lines—

‘¢ Oh, the heart that once truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close,

As the Sunflower turns her last look when He sets

To her God, as she turned when He rose.”

the assistance of a wise spiritual guide is often necessary to help us in deciding our course.

Meanwhile, beware of one harassing temptation with which Satan often hinders souls which are earnestly set upon doing everything to the utmost in accordance with God’s Will. This is the raising of scruples as to whether a man had better do one thing rather than another in some trifle—whether he shall join some social gathering or not, whether he shall observe certain days rather than others, indulge in some innocent amusement, or the like; and while he is fidgeting and fretting over his scruples as to what is best, he loses the opportunity of doing some unquestionable good deed, which would be more to God’s Glory than all this weighing of scruples.

Men do not weigh the current small coin; it would take too much time to be perpetually testing our pence and farthings. Nor, in the spiritual life, have we time to be for ever debating and comparing the merit of every trifle; indeed, such scruples are apt to become simply superstitious, and that is no faithful service which wastes half its time in resolving what to do, instead of doing what is requisite. The consideration given to any work should be measured by its importance; there is no need to make as weighty preparations for a day’s journey as for a long voyage. When it is a question of choosing a vocation, of coming to some important decision, undertaking some lasting responsibility, or some vast expenditure, of a change of abode, of permanent association with others, or the like, we must, indeed, bestow serious consideration to ascertain what is God’s Will in the matter; but in ordinary daily life, where the alternative is comparatively indifferent, there is no need to be full of restless scruples and consultations. Why should I make myself anxious as to whether one set of devotions will be more acceptable to God than another, when there is really no very great difference between them? or whether I had better go to church or visit a hospital, or go to one service rather than another? There is nothing worthy of scruple in such matters as these, and it is best to be simple and straightforward about them, doing whatever seems best without worrying ourselves, losing time, and incurring the danger always attending on scruples. Of course this only applies to things which are really indifferent, and where there is not more duty on one side than the other.

Even in matters of greater weight we need to be humble, and mistrustful of self, not thinking to discover God’s Will by our own cleverness or quickness of perception. After seeking light from the Holy Spirit, and diligently employing our own faculties to know God’s Will, and after consulting our spiritual guide, (or others, if need be), it is best to decide on our course, as in God’s Sight, and then not to look back or admit doubts as to our decision, but to persevere steadily, quietly, and trustfully. Even if difficulties and temptations, which are common to all beginnings, should lead us to question the wisdom of our choice, it is best to be firm, and not dwell upon the doubt, but to bear in mind that, had we decided differently, we might have been still worse off; not to say that it may be God’s Will to try us by consolation or tribulation, by peace or by war. Once having taken a resolution on right grounds, never look back; if the principle was right, so will the work be, and any other course is merely an indication of self-will or folly.