The Mind’s Ascent to God by a Ladder of Created ThingsFifth step. CONSIDERATION OF THE AIR

If we consider the nature of the element of air we find it to be a remarkable instructor of good conduct, not only for the teaching of moral philosophy, but also in sacred theology, for the unfolding of mysteries and raising the mind to God. So let attention be given to the various advantages which, by the ordering of providence, accrue to the human race through air.

First of all, since air serves for breathing it preserves the life of animals and men upon earth. In the next place, it is so far necessary for the use of eyes, ears, and tongue, that if perchance it be withdrawn, even if we have all other things, every one would by degrees become blind, deaf, and dumb. And lastly, so greatly is air needed for the movements of men and other animals, that were it withdrawn, all movement would be hindered, and all the arts and almost all the works of men would of necessity cease. To begin with the first.

If men understood that respiration is needed for their souls no less than for their bodies, many would be saved who are now perishing. The body is in need of continual respiration, for the natural heat which causes the heart to beat is tempered by the help of the lungs which inhale the cold and exhale the heated air, so that life is maintained which without this respiration cannot be preserved; and for this reason it is a commonly accepted fact that living and breathing are one and the same, since every one who breathes lives, and he who leaves off breathing, ceases also to live. And thou, O my soul, art in need of constant respiration in order to live the spiritual life which is the grace of God, and this consists in sending forth fervent sighs to God by prayer and receiving from God fresh supplies of the Holy Spirit. And this is signified by those words of the Lord that ‘men ought always to pray and not to faint’;! it behoves thee always to be breathing and receiving the good Spirit that the spiritual life in thee be not extinguished; and this he repeats, saying, ‘Watch ye therefore and pray always.’ And the Apostle confirms this in his former Epistle to the Thessalonians, saying, ‘Pray without ceasing’;3 and the Apostle Peter is in agreement with him when he writes, “Be ye therefore sober 4 and watch unto prayer.’ 5

And it is indeed true wisdom that we who stand in need of the help of God at all times, should at all times seek it. Our Father indeed knows what things we have need of, and is ready to supply them bountifully, especially such things as pertain to our eternal salvation; but he wills to bestow them by the means of prayer, because this is more honouring to him and of more benefit to us than if he gave all things to those who sleep and do nothing. And so our most bounteous Lord exhorts and urges us to ask when he says, ‘I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’® And what that is which is specially to be asked for, and which will without doubt be given, he explains a little after, saying, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ?’! This therefore is what we must chiefly and earnestly ask for, and which will without doubt be given us, if properly sought, namely the Holy Spirit, through ‘whom we have respiration _ in God, and so preserve our spiritual life; as holy David did, who said in the Psalm, ‘I opened my mouth and drew in spirit’;? that is, I opened my mouth by desire, by sighs, beseeching with groans unutterable, and I drew in the most sweet breath of - the Spirit of God, which cooled the heat of evil desires and established me in every good work.

This being the case, who will say that those persons who spend whole days, even months and years, without sighing after God and without drawing in breath from him are living according to God? For not to breathe is a sure sign of death, and if to breathe is to pray, not to pray is sign of death. The spiritual life by which we are the children of God consists in love: ‘Behold,’ saith Saint John in his Epistle, ‘what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.’ 3 And who is there that loves and does not desire to see the person whom he loves? Who is there that desires and does not seek the object he desires from him who-he knows will give it if he be asked? He then who does not earnestly pray that he may behold the face of his God doth not desire to see him: and he who desireth not, loveth not: he who loveth not, liveth not. Does it not therefore follow that we must consider those to be dead to God, though in the world they are counted living, who do not give themselves seriously to the work of prayer? Moreover, a man who breathes and lives cannot be said to be truly praying if he pours forth prayers with the bodily voice alone: for wise men define prayer to be not the lifting up of the voice into the air, but the uprising of the mind to God.

Therefore, my soul, make no mistake, and do not think that thou art alive in God if thou art not earnestly seeking him with thy whole heart and sighing after him day and night. Say not that thou art hindered by other occupations from divine converse and hast no leisure for prayer: for the holy Apostles were always occupied, and that too in the work of God and the salvation of souls, insomuch that one of them said, ‘Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not ?’;1 and yet this same Apostle, besides the frequent mention of his own prayers, writes to the Philippians, * Our conversation is in heaven,’ because even in the midst of business he was living in heaven by desire, and never forgot him whom he loved, otherwise he could not say, ‘I am crucified with Christ. I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ 2

Another property of air is that it is the medium by which the various kinds of colours reach our eyes, all manner of sounds reach our ears, and without which we could neither see nor hear and not even speak. On which account we ought first of all to thank God for that he has willed to endow our nature with so remarkable a benefit. Next it behoves us to admire the wisdom of our Creator in a work of such great subtilty and delicacy that the air has real body and is so extensive that it fills a space wellnigh measureless, and

I 2 Cor. xi. 28. 2 Gal. ii. 20.

yet it is not seen, nor is it felt, by reason of its extreme rarity. The ancient world marvelled at the fineness of one line which Apelles drew with his pencil; but that line could be seen and touched and could in no respect be compared with the fineness of this most slender veil, which surrounds all men, touches all men, _ yet by reason of its exceeding thinness is discerned by none. But our wonder is increased when we perceive that though the air is most subtile and so very fine, yet when it is cut it is with the greatest ease joined again and closed as though it had never been cut. A broken spider’s web or a very fine veil when broken cannot be so mended by any artist that the former rent no longer shows. And to this we may add, and it is a fact most worthy of admiration and proper to the wisdom of God alone, that innumerable varieties of colours pass at the same time, without mingling, through the same part of air. Who is there who when placed in an open and high spot at night and in the moonlight, can gaze at the stars in the sky, the fields on the earth filled with flowers, and at the same time see the houses, trees, animals, and many other things, and deny that the forms of all these things are contained by that part of the air which is near him and at the same time are so contained as not to intermix with one another? And who can understand, who can comprehend this ? For how can it be that a substance so very fine should contain at one time such a great variety of objects? Moreover, when at the same time and place the song of birds on the one hand, and on another various musical instruments or the murmur of falling waters are heard, is it not a matter of necessity that those various colours, those sounds and various kinds of sounds, should be received at one and the same time in that very air which receives so many forms of colours?

Who accomplishes this, my soul, but thy Maker, “who only doeth wondrous things! and if his works are so wonderful, how much more wonderful will he himself be?

But there is another use for this wondrous subtilty in the air, namely that it does not hinder, but assists the motion of all things which pass from place to place. We all know the great labour which is needed to draw ships through the water, although this is liquid and easily parted: sometimes indeed neither wind nor oars are sufficient, but it becomes necessary to use in addition the forces of horses or oxen. And if perchance roads have to be opened through mountains or hills, what great labour and what length of time are needed to open a way, however short. And horses run, birds fly, without labour, indeed with the greatest ease, through the air; darts and missiles are shot; and in their various duties men go up and down, walk about, run to and fro, move their feet, arms, hands, upwards, downwards, to the right and to the left: and the air spreading on all sides hinders them no more than if it were not of a bodily but of a spiritual nature, or even than if it were nothing at all.

Lastly, we may add that the air by nature so yields itself to everything and changes according to every shape, and suffers itself to be cut and broken through, in order to serve the convenience of man, that it seems to be given to man as a teacher of humility, patience, and charity. But, my soul, the thought that should strongly stir and kindle the love of thy Creator is this: that this very air represents the amazing sweetness and exceeding loving-kindness of the Creator towards mankind.

Collect thyself, I pray thee, O soul, and consider attentively, that thy Lord is always present in all his creatures, that he works with all, and in a manner infinitely tender, accommodates his work to the nature of each one, as if he were to say with the Apostle, ‘I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.’ With necessary agents he co-operates that they may act according to need: he co-operates with voluntary agents that they may act voluntarily: with free agents that they may act with freedom.

So he moves the fire and bids it ascend: the earth, and bids it remain beneath: water, and bids it slide along sloping places: the air, and bids it pass whithersoever it is driven: the stars, and bids them circle continually in their orbits: he bids the grass, shrubs, and plants to bring forth fruit according to their own nature; and creatures of the earth, the air, and the water, to do what their nature requires of them.

And if the sweetness of God thus so appears in co-operating with his creatures in the works of nature, what may we suppose does he in the works of grace? God indeed bestowed upon man free will, yet in such a way that he might control him by rule, terrify him with destruction, and allure him with kindness. ‘God will have all men to be saved’;2 but he wills it in such a manner that they should also will it, and therefore he sweetly goes before them, incites them onwards, leads them and guides them, in a marvellous way. These are the contrivances of the Wisdom of God, of which Isaiah speaks: ‘Declare his doings among the people.’3 And indeed at one time he greatly terrifies the wicked, at another lovingly exhorts them, now gently warns, now corrects in pity, in such a manner as he sees to be right for their mind and character.

1 1 Cor. ix. 22. 2 1 Tim. ii. 4. 3 Is. xii. 4.

Hear how gently the Lord dealt with the first sinner: ‘Adam,’ saith he, ‘where art thou?’ and when he answered ‘I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself,’ the Lord went on with the same gentleness, ‘Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?’ And Adam, warned by this gentle correction, doubtless repented, as the Scripture saith, ‘She’ (namely the Wisdom of God) ‘preserved the first formed father of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall.’ 2

Hear again how tenderly and sweetly he corrected by his angel, and invited all the children of Israel to repentance: an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to the place of weeping and said, ‘I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? . . . When the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim [i.e. weepers]; and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.’3 Now that the weeping was very great and universal and a sign of true penitence, is evinced by the new name given to the place, an everlasting memorial to posterity, namely that the place should be called ‘the place of weeping, or of tears.’

What shall I now say of the prophets? In all their sermons surely it is this that they proclaim, that “God willeth not the death of sinners, but that they should be converted and live.’4 ‘They say,’ saith the holy Jeremiah, ‘If a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another man’s, shall he return to her again? Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord.’ !

And by Ezekiel, ‘Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die, O house of Israel ?’ 2

But leaving aside the wicked, the greatness of the kindness and sweetness of the Lord our God towards us, more than that of a father or mother, towards those who fear him and who hope in him, can in no way be expressed. David says in the Psalms, ‘Look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth: so great is his mercy also toward them that fear him’; and again, ‘The merciful goodness of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him’;3 and in another place, ‘O taste, and see, how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man that trusteth in him’; 4 and again, ‘Truly God is loving unto Israel, even unto such as are of a clean heart’:5 that is, who can set forth the goodness, the graciousness and sweetness of God towards devout and righteous souls? The Lord also said by 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’; and Jeremiah in the Lamentations, ‘The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will | hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.’ 7

And if I wished to add what the Apostles teach in their Epistles concerning the fatherly mercies of the Lord our God towards men, I should never make an end. Let this one passage suffice for all, where the Apostle Paul writes at the beginning of his second letter to the Corinthians, ‘Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.’¹³ He does not say that God is a comforter, but the God most full of all comfort: he does not say, ‘who comforteth us in some tribulation,’ but ‘in all’: nor is it that we may comfort those who are in some trouble, but those who are in ‘any trouble’: he could not more fully express how sweet and gracious God is towards those whom he loves and by whom he is beloved.

There remains at the last to quote the words of Saint Prosper in which he declares the kindness of God not only towards the good but also towards the evil, that he may make them good.

‘Grace,’ he says, ‘is chiefly remarkable in persuading by exhortations, in admonishing by examples, in deterring by dangers, in spurring on by wonders, in bestowing understanding, in inspiring counsel, in illuminating the heart and seasoning it with the affections of faith. But the will of man acts in subordination to and in conjunction with this grace, being stirred up by the aforesaid aids to co-operate with the work of God in itself and begin to reach out to the reward, and if it fails, laying the failure to its own changefulness; if it prosper, counting the prosperity as a favour bestowed by grace. And the favour is bestowed upon all in numberless ways, some hidden, some manifest: and if many are refused it, it is owing to their own wickedness, and if many receive it, it is of divine grace and the human will.’ 2

See now, my soul, if thy Creator is so sweet and gentle towards his servants, and suffers sinners with such amazing kindness that he may convert them: and if he so consoles the righteous that he may increase their righteousness and holiness: shouldst thou not bear kindly with thy neighbours, and become all things to all men, that thou mayst win all to thy Lord and God?

Consider with thyself to what high degree of excellence the Apostle exhorts thee when he says, ‘Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.’ !

Imitate God the Father, ‘who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’ 2

Imitate God the Son, who, taking human nature for our sake, spared not his own life that he might snatch us from the power of darkness and from everlasting death.

Imitate God the Holy Ghost, who freely pours forth his most precious gifts that he may make us who are carnal to be truly spiritual.

Eph. v. 1. 2 St. Matt. v. 45.