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The order of God's Providence maintains a perpetual vicissitude in
the material being of this world; day is continually turning to
night, spring to summer, summer to autumn, autumn to winter,
winter to spring; no two days are ever exactly alike. Some are
foggy, rainy, some dry or windy; and this endless variety greatly
enhances the beauty of the universe.
And even so precisely is it with man (who, as ancient writers
have said, is a miniature of the world), for he is never long in
any one condition, and his life on earth flows by like the mighty
waters, heaving and tossing with an endless variety of motion; one
while raising him on high with hope, another plunging him low in
fear; now turning him to the right with rejoicing, then driving
him to the left with sorrows; and no single day, no, not even one
hour, is entirely the same as any other of his life.
All this is a very weighty warning, and teaches us to aim at an
abiding and unchangeable evenness of mind amid so great an
uncertainty of events; and, while all around is changing, we must
seek to remain immoveable, ever looking to, reaching after and
desiring our God. Let the ship take what tack you will, let her
course be eastward or westward, northern or southern, let any wind
whatsoever fill her sails, but meanwhile her compass will never
cease to point to its one unchanging lodestar.
Let all around us be overthrown, nay more, all within us; I
mean let our soul be sad or glad, in bitterness or joy, at peace
or troubled, dry and parched, or soft and fruitful, let the sun
scorch, or the dew refresh it; but all the while the magnet of our
heart and mind, our superior will, which is our moral compass,
must continually point to the Love of God our Creator, our
Saviour, our only Sovereign Good. "Whether we live, we live unto
the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live
therefore or die, we are the Lord's. Who shall separate us from
the Love of Christ?" (1) Nay, verily, nothing can ever separate us
from that Love;--neither tribulation nor distress, neither death
nor life, neither present suffering nor fear of ills to come;
neither the deceits of evil spirits nor the heights of
satisfaction, nor the depths of sorrow; neither tenderness nor
desolation, shall be able to separate us from that Holy Love,
whose foundation is in Christ Jesus.
Such a fixed resolution never to forsake God, or let go of His
Precious Love, serves as ballast to our souls, and will keep them
stedfast amid the endless changes and chances of this our natural
life. For just as bees, when overtaken by a gust of wind, carry
little pebbles to weight themselves, (2) in order that they may
resist the storm, and not be driven at its will,--so the soul,
which has firmly grasped the Unchanging Love of God, will abide
unshaken amid the changes and vicissitudes of consolations and
afflictions,--whether spiritual or temporal, external or internal.
But let us come to some special detail, beyond this general
doctrine.
1. I would say, then, that devotion does not consist in conscious
sweetness and tender consolations, which move one to sighs and
tears, and bring about a kind of agreeable, acceptable sense of
self-satisfaction. No, my child, this is not one and the same as
devotion, for you will find many persons who do experience these
consolations, yet who, nevertheless, are evilminded, and
consequently are devoid of all true Love of God, still more of all
true devotion.
When Saul was in pursuit of David, who fled from him into the
wilderness of En-gedi, he entered into a cave alone, wherein David
and his followers were hidden; and David could easily have killed
him, but he not only spared Saul's life, he would not even
frighten him; but, letting him depart quietly, hastened after the
King, to affirm his innocence, and tell him how he had been at the
mercy of his injured servant. Thereupon Saul testified to the
softening of his heart by tender words, calling David his son, and
exalting his generosity; lifting up his voice, he wept, and,
foretelling David's future greatness, besought him to deal kindly
with Saul's "seed after him." (3) What more could Saul have done?
Yet for all this he had not changed his real mind, and
continued to persecute David as bitterly as before. Just so there
are many people who, while contemplating the Goodness of God, or
the Passion of His Dear Son, feel an emotion which leads to sighs,
tears, and very lively prayers and thanksgivings, so that it might
fairly be supposed that their hearts were kindled by a true
devotion;--but when put to the test, all this proves but as the
passing showers of a hot summer, which splash down in large drops,
but do not penetrate the soil, or make it to bring forth anything
better than mushrooms.
In like manner these tears and emotions do not really touch an
evil heart, but are altogether fruitless; --inasmuch as in spite
of them all those poor people would not renounce one farthing of
illgotten gain, or one unholy affection; they would not suffer the
slightest worldly inconvenience for the Sake of the Saviour over
Whom they wept. So that their pious emotions may fairly be likened
to spiritual fungi,--as not merely falling short of real devotion,
but often being so many snares of the Enemy, who beguiles souls
with these trivial consolations, so as to make them stop short,
and rest satisfied therewith, instead of seeking after true solid
devotion, which consists in a firm, resolute, ready, active will,
prepared to do whatsoever is acceptable to God.
A little child, who sees the surgeon bleed his mother, will cry
when he sees the lancet touch her; but let that mother for whom he
weeps ask for his apple or a sugar-plum which he has in his hand,
and he will on no account part with it; and too much of our
seeming devotion is of this kind.
We weep feelingly at the spear piercing the Crucified Saviour's
Side, and we do well,-- but why cannot we give Him the apple we
hold, for which He asks, heartily? I mean our heart, the only
love-apple which that Dear Saviour craves of us. Why cannot we
resign the numberless trifling attachments, indulgences, and
self-complacencies of which He fain would deprive us, only we will
not let Him do so; because they are the sugar-plums, sweeter to
our taste than His Heavenly Grace? Surely this is but as the
fondness of children;--demonstrative, but weak, capricious,
unpractical. Devotion does not consist in such exterior displays
of a tenderness which may be purely the result of a naturally
impressionable, plastic character; or which may be the seductive
action of the Enemy, or an excitable imagination stirred up by
him.
2. Nevertheless these tender warm emotions are sometimes good
and useful, for they kindle the spiritual appetite, cheer the
mind, and infuse a holy gladness into the devout life, which
embellishes all we do even externally. It was such a taste for
holy things that made David cry out, "O how sweet are Thy words
unto my throat, yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth." (4) And
assuredly the tiniest little comfort received through devotion is
worth far more than the most abundant delights of this world.
The milk of the Heavenly Bridegroom, in other words His
spiritual favours, are sweeter to the soul than the costliest wine
of the pleasures of this world, and to those who have tasted
thereof all else seems but as gall and wormwood. There is a
certain herb which, if chewed, imparts so great a sweetness that
they who keep it in their mouth cannot hunger or thirst; even so
those to whom God gives His Heavenly manna of interior sweetness
and consolation, cannot either desire or even accept worldly
consolations with any real zest or satisfaction. It is as a little
foretaste of eternal blessedness which God gives to those who seek
it; it is as the sugar-plum with which He attracts His little
ones; as a cordial offered to strengthen their heart; as the
first-fruits of their future reward.
The legend tells us that Alexander the Great discovered Arabia
Felix by means of the perfumes carried by the winds across the
ocean upon which he sailed, reviving his courage and that of his
comrades. And so the blessings and sweetnesses, which are wafted
to us as we sail across the stormy sea of this mortal life, are a
foretaste of the bliss of that Ever-blessed Heavenly Home to which
we look and long.
3. But, perhaps you will say, if there are sensible
consolations which are undoubtedly good and come from God, and at
the same time others which are unprofitable, perilous, even
harmful, because they proceed from mere natural causes, or even
from the Enemy himself, how am I to know one from the other, or
distinguish what is most profitable even among those which are
good?
It is a general rule, with respect to the feelings and
affections, that their test is in their fruits. Our hearts are as
trees, of which the affections and passions are their branches,
and deeds and acts their fruits. That is, a good heart, of which
the affections are good, and those are good affections which
result in good and holy actions. If our spiritual tenderness and
sweetness and consolation make us more humble,--patient,
forbearing, charitable and kindly towards our neighbours,--more
earnest in mortifying our own evil inclinations and lusts, more
diligent in our duties, more docile and submissive to those who
have a claim to our obedience, more simple in our whole manner of
life,--then doubtless, my daughter, they come from God.
But if this sweetness and tenderness is sweet only to
ourselves, if we are fanciful, bitter, punctilious, impatient,
obstinate, proud, presumptuous, harsh towards our neighbour, while
reckoning ourselves as half-made saints, indocile to correction or
guidance, then we may be assured our consolations are spurious and
hurtful. A good tree will bring forth none save good fruit.
4. If we are favoured with any such sweetness, we must humble
ourselves deeply before God, and beware of being led to cry out
"How good I am!" No indeed, such gifts do not make us any better,
for, as I have already said, devotion does not consist in such
things; rather let us say, "How good God is to those who hope in
Him, and to the souls that seek Him!" If a man has sugar in his
mouth, he cannot call his mouth sweet, but the sugar; and so
although our spiritual sweetness is admirable, and God Who imparts
it is all good, it by no means follows that he who receives it is
good.
Let us count ourselves but as little children, having need of
milk, and believe that these sugar-plums are only given us because
we are still feeble and delicate, needing bribes and wiles to lead
us on to the Love of God. But, as a general rule, we shall do well
to receive all such graces and favours humbly, making much of
them, not for their own importance, but rather because it is God's
Hand which fills our hearts with them, as a mother coaxes her
child with one sugar-plum after another.
If the child were wise, he would prize the loving caresses of
his mother, more than the material sugar-plum, however sweet. So
while it is a great thing to have spiritual sweetnesses, the
sweetest of all is to know that it is the loving parental Hand of
God which feeds us, heart, mind and soul, with them. And, having
received them humbly, let us be diligent in using them according
to the intention of the Giver.
Why do you suppose God gives us such sweetness? To make us
kinder one to another, and more loving towards Him. A mother gives
her child a sweetmeat to win a kiss; be it ours reverently to kiss
the Saviour Who gives us these good things. And by kissing Him, I
mean obeying Him, keeping His Commandments, doing His Will,
heeding His wishes, in a word, embracing Him tenderly, obediently,
and faithfully.
So the day on which we have enjoyed some special spiritual
consolation should be marked by extra diligence and humility. And
from time to time it is well to renounce all such, realising to
ourselves that although we accept and cherish them humbly, because
they come from God, and kindle His Love in our hearts, still they
are not our main object, but God and His Holy Love;--that we seek
less the consolation than the Consoler, less His tangible
sweetness than our sweet Saviour, less external pleasure than Him
Who is the Delight of Heaven and earth; and with such a mind we
should resolve to abide stedfast in God's Holy Love, even if our
whole life were to be utterly devoid of all sweetness; as ready to
abide on Mount Calvary as on Mount Tabor; to cry out, "It is good
for us to be here," whether with our Lord on the Cross or in
glory.
Lastly, I advise you to take counsel with your director
concerning any unusual flow of consolations or emotions, so that
he may guide you in their wise usage; for it is written, "Hast
thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee." (5)
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