Fifty Spiritual Homilies
Fifty Spiritual Homilies
continued
HOMILY V
A great difference between Christians and the men of this world. Those who have the spirit of the world are in heart and mind bound in earthly bonds, but the others long after the love of the heavenly Father, having Him only before their eyes with much desire. I. THE world of Christians is one thing—their way of living, their mind, and speech, and action, is one—and the way of living, and mind and speech and action of the men of this world is another. Those are one thing, and these another, and the difference between them is great. The inhabitants of the earth, the children of this age, are like corn put in the sieve of this earth, sifted by restless thoughts of this world, and by the ceaseless tossing of earthly businesses and desires and of tangled material notions, while Satan waves their souls about, as he sifts in this sieve of earthly businesses the whole sinful race of man, ever since Adam fell by transgressing the commandment and came under the power of the prince of wickedness. From the time when he gained this power, he does nothing but sift with thoughts of deceit and agitation all the sons of this age, and dash them on the sieve of the earth.
2. As the corn in the sieve is knocked by the man who sifts, and constantly shaken and turned in it, so the prince of wickedness holds all men by means of earthly affairs, and through these he shakes them, and agitates them, and tosses them, and knocks them on vain lines of thought, and base desires, and earthly ties of the world, constantly taking captive and agitating and alluring all the sinful race of Adam; as the Lord forewarned the apostles how the wicked one would rise up against them: Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed My Father that your faith fail not. The word spoken to Cain by the Creator, that sentence pronounced upon him with an outward meaning, Groaning and trembling and tossed shall thou be upon the earth, is a type and likeness of what all sinners undergo in secret. After falling from the commandment and entering the sinful state, the race of Adam has acquired that likeness in secret; it is tossed about with shifting thoughts of fear and terror and every kind of commotion; the prince of this world keeps each soul on the waves of all sorts and varieties of pleasure and lust, unless it be begotten of God; as corn is turned incessantly in the sieve, he keeps men’s thoughts rocking about in various directions, and shakes and entices them all by worldly lusts, and pleasures of the flesh, and fears, and commotions.
3. The Lord showed that those who follow the deceits and desires of the wicked one bear the likeness of Cain’s wickedness, when He reproved them and said, The lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. So that the whole sinful race of Adam has acquired that condemnation in secret, Groaning and trembling shall ye be, and shaken in the sieve of the earth, by Satan sifting you. For as from one Adam all the race of men was spread over the earth, so one form of evil passion sank into the sinful race of men, and the prince of evil suffices to sift them all with shifting, material, vain, troublesome thoughts. As one wind is enough to shake and agitate all the plants and seeds, or as one darkness of the night is spread over all the inhabited earth, so the prince of wickedness, who is himself the spiritual darkness of sin and death, and a wild though hidden wind, rocks the whole race of men upon earth, and carries them about with restless thoughts, and entices the hearts of men with the lusts of the world, and fills every soul with the darkness of ignorance, blindness and forgetfulness, save those which have been begotten from above, and have been translated in disposition and mind to another world, according as it is said, But our citizenship is in heaven.
4. This constitutes the difference between true Christians and the rest of mankind, and the distance between the two is great, as we said before. The Christian mind and way of thinking is always in the heavenly frame; they behold as in a mirror the good things of eternity, by reason of their partaking and having the Holy Ghost, by being born of God from above, and being privileged to be children of God in truth and efficacy, and by having arrived, through many conflicts and labours spread over a long time, at a fixed and settled condition of freedom from disturbance and of rest, no longer sifted and wave-tossed by unquiet and vain thoughts. By this they are greater and better than the world, because their mind and the frame of their soul is in the peace of Christ and the love of the Spirit. It was of such that the Lord spoke when He said that they had passed from death unto life. Not in a form or in outward figures lies the distinguishing mark of Christians. Most men think that the difference which distinguishes themselves from the world consists in a form and in figures; and lo! in mind and frame they are like the world, undergoing the same shaking, and inconstancy of thoughts, and unbelief, and confusion, and helter-skelter as all other men. In outward form and appearance they differ from the world, and in a few points of religious ordinance; but in heart and mind they are bound with earthly bonds, never having acquired rest from God and the peace of the heavenly Spirit in their heart, because they never sought it from God, nor believed that He would vouchsafe these things to them.
5. For it is in the renewing of the mind, and the peace of the thoughts, and the love and heavenly passion for the Lord, that the new creation of Christians distinguishes them from all the men of the world. This was the purpose of the Lord’s coming, to vouchsafe these spiritual blessings to those who truly believe in Him. Christians have a glory and a beauty and a heavenly wealth which is beyond words, and it is won with pains, and sweat, and trials, and many conflicts, and all by the grace of God. If the sight of an earthly king is an object of desire to all men, so that every one who sojourns in the capital desires to catch even a glimpse of his beauty, the magnificence of his apparel, the glory of his purple, the beauty of his various pearls, the comeliness of his diadem, the impressive retinue of dignities attending him—except that spiritual men think nothing of all this, because they have had experience of another glory, which is heavenly and out of the body, and have been smitten with another beauty unspeakable, and have an interest in another wealth, and have felt in the inward man and are partakers of another Spirit—when the men of this world, who have the spirit of the world, are so keenly desirous to set eyes, if no more, on the earthly king with all his comeliness and glory—because in proportion as his share of visible advantages excels that of other men, so even to have set eyes on him is a distinction and an object of desire to them all, and each man inwardly says, “I wish that some one would give me that glory, and comeliness, and magnificence,” ascribing happiness to that man, like himself, earthly, of like passions, and subject to death, though an object of desire for his temporal comeliness and glory—6.
if, I say, carnal men thus desire the glory of the earthly king, how much more are those upon whom has dropped that dewdrop of the Spirit of the life of the Godhead, and has smitten their heart with a divine passion for Christ the heavenly King, bound fast to that beauty, to the unspeakable glory, the immortal comeliness, the unimaginable wealth of Christ, the true eternal King, with desire and longing after whom they are carried away captive, and have their whole being directed towards Him, and desire to obtain those unspeakable blessings, which by the Spirit they see in a mirror; for whose sake they think nothing of all the beauties and comelinesses and glories and honours and wealth of kings and princes upon earth, because they are smitten with a divine beauty, and the life of immortality in heaven has dropped upon their souls? Therefore their longing is towards that love of the heavenly King, and having Him only before their eyes with great desire, they detach themselves for His sake from all worldly affection, and withdraw from every earthly tie, that they may be free always to cherish in their hearts that one longing, and to mix nothing else with it.
Very few, however, are they who supply a good beginning with a good end, and come through to the end without falling, with no love but one, for God only, and detached from all else. Many are pricked at heart, and many become partakers of heavenly grace, and are smitten with divine passion; but because of the conflicts and struggles and labours and divers temptations of the devil to be borne on the way, they do not hold out, but are occupied with divers and sundry worldly desires, because every one has some worldly thing that he chooses to love, and has not detached his affections all round, and so they have stopped short, and have been plunged in the deeps of the world, through the feebleness and slackness and cowardice of their own wills, or through some worldly affection. For those who wish really to come through to the end in good living must not willingly admit and combine any other love or affection with that heavenly one, for fear of being hindered from spiritual things, and turning backward, and at last being exiled from life. Great and unspeakable and inestimable are the promises made by God; and in proportion to them great faith and hope and labours and conflicts are required, and much trial. The blessings for which a seeker of the kingdom of heaven hopes are no trifle. Thou desirest to reign with Christ through ages without end;
wilt thou not readily welcome the conflicts and labours and temptations of this short span of life, even unto death? The Lord cries, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily rejoicing and follow Me; and again, If any man hate not father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. But most men wish to attain the kingdom, and would like to inherit eternal life, but do not refuse to live to their own wills and to follow them out. Not denying themselves, they wish to inherit eternal life; and this is impossible. The Lord’s saying is true. The men who come through without falling are those who according to the Lord’s commandment have wholly denied themselves, and have abhorred all the desires, and entanglements, and excitements, and pleasures, and businesses of the world, and who keep Him only before their eyes, and desire to do His commandments, so that each man by his own will turns away, even from a kingdom, and positively would not wish to have it, or to love anything along with that love, by being pleased with any pleasures or desires of this world, instead of keeping his whole love, to the utmost of his will and choice, fixed upon the Lord.
A single example will shew you all that I mean. Sometimes a man passes judgment on another. He knows that what he is inclined to do is wrong, but because he loves the thing, and will not deny it, he is overcome. To begin with, inwardly, in his heart, there is war, and conflict, weighing and balancing; the love of God and the love of the world are in the scales; and then the man comes forth, and passes judgment upon his brother, perhaps even to fighting and blows, saying within himself, “Let me speak; let me say it; nay, let me not say it,” because, while remembering God, he yet seeks to obtain his own glory, and will not deny himself, but if the love of the world for a moment outweighs the other and dips the scale in his heart, at once the bad word springs to his lips. Then the mind from within, like one who aims a missile, uses the tongue to shoot his neighbour, discharging the volley of unseemly words at his discretion, in the desire to gain his own glory. Then this shooting with unseemly words goes on and on, until the sin is diffused through other members, and sometimes it comes to blows and wounds, body and members against body and members, and sometimes the bad desire issues even in death and murder. See the origin and the outcome of the love of worldly glory, when it has once turned the scale in the balance of the heart in the way of self-will. The man would not deny himself, and fixed his affection on a worldly thing, and all those wrong deeds were a result.
Think in this way, I pray you, of every form of sin and of every immoral practice, which spring from the intrigues of evil, gaining over the will of the mind to worldly desires and to the deceit and pleasure of the flesh. In this way every bad deed comes about, adultery and theft, covetousness and drunkenness, love of money and vain glory, envy and self-assertion, and every other bad practice that you can name. Sometimes actions that appear good are performed for the sake of the glory and praise of men; and with God these are on the same footing as injustice and theft or any other sin. God says, He hath scattered the bones of men-pleasers. So the evil one likes to be served by things that appear good. He is versatile and cunning in the lusts of the world. By means of some earthly and carnal affection, by which a man in his natural will is bound, sin entices him, until it becomes to him a fetter and a chain and a heavy weight, sinking and stifling him in the world of wickedness, and not allowing him to come to the surface and get to God. Whatever a man has loved in the world, weighs down his mind, and holds it down, and will not let him come up.
In this balance, with its bias to the scale of evil, all mankind hangs and is tested, Christians and all, whether dwelling in cities, or in mountains, or in monasteries, or in fields, or in deserts; because the natural will of man entices him to set his affection on something, and that affection is somewhere or other tied, and is not wholly towards God. A man has set his affection, say, on property, another on gold and silver, another on the wisdom of the eloquence of the world for the sake of glory from men; another has loved power, another glory and honours among men, another wrath and anger—for yielding quickly to it is loving it—another unseasonable conversations, another jealousy; another amuses himself and seeks pleasure all day long; another deceives himself with idle thoughts; another loves to be a teacher of the law for the glory of men; another finds pleasure in sloth and heedlessness; another is absorbed in dress and clothes; another gives himself to earthly cares; another loves sleep and jesting and low talk. Whether it be a little thing of the world or a great that ties him, the man is kept down by it, and not allowed to rise. Whatever passion a man does not bravely war against, is an object of his affection; and it holds him fast, and weighs him down, and becomes to him a hindrance and a fetter, preventing his mind from going up to God and pleasing Him, and from serving Him only and thereby proving fit for the kingdom and obtaining eternal life.
The soul whose movement is truly towards the Lord, compels its affection wholly to Him, and in will and intention binds itself with all its power to Him only, and from that quarter gains the help of grace, and denies itself, and refuses to follow the desires of its own mind, because the mind deals deceitfully with us through the evil that is present with us and entices us; but surrenders itself entirely to the word of the Lord, and detaches itself from every external bond, as far as lies in the power of the will, and gives itself altogether to the Lord, and in this way will be enabled to pass without difficulty through conflicts and troubles and afflictions. Where the affection is engaged, from that quarter comes help or hindrance. If a man loves something of the world, that thing becomes to him a burden and bonds to drag him downward, not suffering him to go upwards and Godwards. If he loves the Lord and His commandments, from thence comes his help, and from thence he is buoyed up, and all the precepts of the Lord become easy to him, because his love for Him completely saves him; and it weights his scale towards the good, or rather buoys him up and makes every battle and every affliction light, and through the power of God it cuts through the world and through the powers of evil which in the world lay traps for the soul, and which use all kinds of desires to bind the soul in the depths of the world. In this way the man is disentangled from them through his personal faith and much earnestness and through the help that comes from above, and is accounted worthy of the eternal kingdom where his affection was set, and having truly loved that kingdom with his personal will, and having received help of the Lord, he does not fail of eternal life.
In order to see by plain illustrations how many men are ruined by their own wills, and are drowned in the sea, and are carried off into captivity, imagine a house on fire, and one man, wishing to save himself, as soon as he is aware of the fire, flees out of it naked, leaving everything to its fate, and only caring to make sure of his own life is saved. Another, wishing to take some of the furniture out of the house, or other articles, goes inside to get them, and just as he takes them, the fire masters the house, and the man is caught within and burned. You see that attaching himself by his personal will to some temporal object he perishes in the fire. Or at sea, people are caught in a storm of waves and shipwrecked. One strips himself naked, and plunges into the depth of the waters, caring only to save himself; and so, though buffeted by the billows, he emerges to the top of them, because there is nothing about him to break up, and thus manages to get through the bitter sea, and purchases his own life. Another, desirous of saving some of his clothes, fancies that he can dive and get through with what he has taken and all, and the very things that he got hold of weigh him down, and sink him in the depth of the sea, and for a trifling gain he loses himself, unable to secure his own life.
You see how his personal will causes his death. Or suppose a rumour comes of the irruption of savage tribes. One man, the moment he hears of it, makes off, without wasting time, and gets away with nothing but his bare self. Another, disbelieving that the enemy are coming, or setting his heart on some of his possessions and anxious to take them with him, is slow to flee, and the foes come and catch him, and carry him captive into the enemy country, and there make a slave of him. You see how his personal will is the cause of slackness, and want of energy, and attachment to some object or another, by which he is taken away into captivity. In like manner, those who do not follow the commandments of the Lord, and will not deny themselves and set their affection on the Lord alone, but choose to be bound with earthly bonds, these, when the eternal fire comes, being tied and bound with the love of the world, will find themselves burned, and sunk under the bitter sea of wickedness, and carried captive by the savage captors who are the spirits of wickedness, and are lost.
If you please to learn from the holy inspired scripture how straight a perfected love to the Lord can go, look at Job, how he divested himself, so to speak, of all that he possessed—children, property, cattle, servants, and all that he had—how he stripped them all off and escaped, and saved himself, even letting go his bodily clothing and abandoning it to Satan, never blaspheming either in word or in his heart, nor uttering anything with his lips before the Lord, but on the contrary blessed the Lord and said, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so hath He done; blessed be the name of the Lord. Although he was reputed to have great possessions, the testing which he received from the Lord showed plainly that he had none but God. In like manner Abraham, being bidden by the Lord to leave his country and his kindred and his father’s house, immediately stripped himself, so to speak, of all—fatherland, kinsfolk, parents—and followed the word of the Lord; then, many trials and temptations befalling him in the meanwhile, his wife taken from him, living in a strange land, subjected to unjust treatment, he was proved by all these things to love God only above everything. At last, when by promise, after an interval of many years, he had gotten an only much-desired son, he was asked to offer this son in sacrifice with his own hands, and readily stripped himself of himself and denied himself, proving by the sacrifice of his only begotten that there was nothing that he loved besides God: for if he readily parted with his son, how much more, if he had been bidden to relinquish all his other possessions, or to distribute them at one stroke to the poor, would he not readily and promptly have done it!
You see the straight character of a whole-hearted and perfected love to the Lord; and those who wish to be fellow-heirs of these men must love nothing besides God, in order that, when trial comes, they may be found serviceable and true, keeping their love to the Lord unimpaired. Such can go through their conflict to the end—who have always heartily loved God and God only, and have loosed themselves from all love of the world. But few, and very few, are found who have taken up a love like this, renouncing all the pleasures and desires of the world, and enduring patiently the assaults and temptations of the evil one. If many in crossing the rivers are sucked under by the waters, are there not some who pass over the turbulent streams of the world with its manifold desires, and of the various temptations of the spirits of wickedness? Many ships on the sea are covered by the waves and founder; but are there not some that get across, and travel over the waves, and reach the haven of peace? There is need therefore of much faith, and patience, and conflict, and endurance, and labour, and hunger and thirst for what is good, and keenness, and importunity, and discretion, and understanding at all times; for most men wish to obtain the kingdom without trouble, or pains, or sweat, and that is a thing impossible.
As in the world men go to some rich person, to work at harvest or something else, in order to gain what they need for their sustenance, and some of them are sluggish and idle, not working hard or labouring as they ought, and these, who have not toiled at all nor exerted themselves for the rich man’s house, wish to receive equal pay with those who have manfully and vigorously exerted themselves with all their might, as if they too had done their work; so when we read in scripture how some righteous man pleased God, how he became a friend and companion of God, and how all the fathers became friends and heirs of God, what afflictions they endured, how much they suffered for God’s sake, how they played the man and contended, we call them blessed, and wish to obtain equal gifts and dignities with them, and covet earnestly those splendid endowments, without observing their pains and struggles and afflictions and sufferings, and earnestly wish to receive honours and dignities like those which they have from God, but their labours and pains and struggles we will not accept. But I tell you, that everyone covets and desires this—harlots and publicans and unrighteous men and all—easily and without labours or struggles to gain a kingdom.
But this is the reason why temptations lie along the road, and many trials and afflictions, and struggles, and exhausting labours, to prove, who have really loved the Lord and Him only, with all their will and all their might, even to death, and have held nothing else desirable along with love to Him. Justly therefore they enter into the kingdom of heaven, having denied themselves according to the Lord’s word, and having loved the Lord, and Him alone, more than their own breath; and their surpassing love shall be requited with surpassing gifts of heaven. In those afflictions and sufferings, in that patience and faith, are hidden the promises, and the glory, and the restitution of the good things of heaven, as the fruit is in the seed when it is sown in the earth, or in the tree when a graft is inserted into it and plastered with some degrading rotten stuff. Then they were proved to have in them the comeliness and the glory and the abounding fruit which clothes them; as the apostle says, Through much tribulation we may enter into the kingdom of heaven, and the Lord, In your patience possess ye your souls, and again, In the world ye shall have tribulation.
There is need of pains, and diligence, and watchfulness, and great heed, and of vigour and importunity in prayer to the Lord, in order to pass through the traps of earthly desire, and the snares of pleasure, and the pitfalls of the world, and to escape the assaults of evil spirits, and to know well by what watchfulness and alertness of faith and love the saints came to possess within their souls, even here, the heavenly treasure, that is, the power of the Spirit, which is the earnest of the kingdom. The blessed apostle Paul, discoursing of this heavenly treasure of the grace of the Spirit, and declaring the exceeding greatness of that tribulation, and at the same indicating what each of us ought to strive to attain in this life, says, We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We ought all, therefore, to strive and endeavour by every kind of virtue, and to believe that we shall gain possession of that house, even here. For if the house of our body is dissolved, we have no other house for the soul to turn into. If, it says, being clothed, we shall not be found naked—naked, that is, of the communion and inblending of the Holy Ghost, in which alone the faithful soul can find rest. For this reason, Christians who are Christians in truth and efficacy are confident and glad at departure from the flesh, because they have that house made without hands, which house is the power of the Spirit dwelling in them. Therefore, even if the house of the body is dissolved, they are in no fear, because they have the heavenly house of the Spirit and that incorruptible glory, which glory in the resurrection day shall build up and glorify the house of the body as well, as the apostle tells us; He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you, and again, That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, and That mortality, it says, may be swallowed up of life.
8. Let us then strive by faith and virtuous living to gain here that clothing, that when we put off the body we may not be found naked, and there be nothing in that day to glorify our flesh. For in proportion as any one has been permitted to become through faith and diligence a partaker of the Holy Ghost, his body also shall be glorified in that day. What the soul has now stored up within, shall then be revealed and displayed outwardly in the body. As trees that have got over the winter, when warmed by the unseen influence of sun and winds, put forth from within and shoot out their clothing of leaves, and as at that season flowers of the grass come forth from within the bosom of the earth, and the earth is covered and dressed, and the grass is like those lilies of which the Lord said that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of them, for these are all parables and types and figures of Christians at the resurrection.—9. so to all God-loving souls, to true Christians, there comes a first month, a Xanthicus, which is called April. It is the day of resurrection; and by the power of the Sun of Righteousness the glory of the Holy Ghost comes out from within, decking and covering the bodies of the saints—the glory which they had before, but hidden within in their souls. What a man has now, the same then comes forth externally in the body.
This month, it says, shall be the first month of the year; this brings forth joy for all the creation; this dresses the naked trees, opening the earth; this brings forth joy for all living things; this displays mirth for all; this for Christians is Xanthicus, the first month, which is the season of resurrection, in which their bodies shall be glorified through the unspeakable light which even now is in them—that is the power of the Holy Ghost—and which shall then be to them raiment, meat, drink, gladness, joy, peace, robe, eternal life; for all beauty of brightness and of heavenly splendour will then come to them from that Spirit of the Godhead which they were privileged even now to receive. 10. How then ought every one of us to believe, and to strive, and to be diligent in all virtuous living, and with much hope and patience to look for the privilege of receiving now that power from heaven, and the glory of the Holy Ghost inwardly in the soul, in order that then, when our bodies are dissolved, we may have what shall clothe and quicken us! If so be, it says, that being clothed we shall not be found naked, and He shall quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. The blessed Moses showed in a type, through the glory of the Spirit which was set upon his countenance, upon which no man was able to look steadfastly, how at the resurrection of the just the bodies of those that are worthy shall be glorified, with a glory which even now the souls of holy and faithful people are privileged to have within, upon the inner man. For we all, it says, with open face, that is to say, in the inward man, reflecting as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory. In like manner, for forty days and forty nights, as it is written, he did neither eat bread nor drink water. It was not possible for the nature of the body to live so long without bread, unless he partook of some other spiritual food; of which food the souls of the saints even now invisibly partake by gift of the Spirit.
11. In two ways, therefore, the blessed Moses showed what glory of light and what immaterial dainties of the Spirit true Christians shall have at the resurrection, which even now are vouchsafed to them in a hidden manner, and therefore shall then be manifested also upon their bodies. The glory which the saints now have in their souls, the same, as we said before, shall cover and clothe their naked bodies, and catch them into heaven; and thenceforward we shall rest, in body and soul, in the kingdom with the Lord for ever. When God created Adam, He did not provide him with bodily wings, like the birds, but He had designed for him the wings of the Holy Ghost, those wings which He purposes to give him at the resurrection, to lift him up and catch him away whithersoever the Spirit pleases—which holy souls even now are privileged to have, and fly up in mind to the heavenly frame of thought. For Christians have a different world of their own, another table, other raiment, another sort of enjoyment, other fellowship, another frame of mind; for which reason they are superior to other men. The power of these things it is their privilege to have now within them in their souls, through the Holy Ghost; therefore at the resurrection their bodies also will be permitted to share those eternal blessings of the Spirit, and will be mixed with that glory, which their souls in this life had known by experience.
12. Every one of us therefore ought to strive, and take pains, and be diligent in all virtues, and to believe, and to seek from the Lord that the inward man may be made partaker of that glory here and now, and that the soul may have fellowship in that sanctity of the Spirit, in order that we may be cleansed from the defilements of wickedness and may have at the resurrection wherewithal to clothe our bodies as they rise naked, and to robe their uncomeliness, and quicken them, and refresh them for ever in the kingdom of heaven. For Christ will come down from heaven, and raise up all the tribes of Adam, those who from the beginning have fallen asleep, according to the holy scriptures, and will set them all in two divisions, and those who bear His own sign, that is the seal of the Spirit, He will call to Him as His very own and set them on His right hand; for My sheep, He says, hear My voice, and I know Mine own and am known of Mine. Then shall the bodies of these be arrayed with divine glory from their good works, and shall be full of the glory of the Spirit, which they had in their souls even here; and thus being glorified in the divine light, and caught up into heaven to meet the Lord in the air, as it is written, we shall ever be with the Lord, rejoicing with Him to ages without end. Amen.
HOMILY VI
Those who desire to please God, ought to offer their prayers in peace and quietness, in gentleness and wisdom, and not to give scandal to others by the use of loud outcries. The Homily also contains two questions, whether the thrones and crowns are actual created things, and concerning the twelve thrones of Israel. 1. THOSE who draw near to the Lord ought to make their prayers in quietness and peace and great composure, and to fix their minds upon the Lord not with unseemly and confused outcries, but with effort of the heart and vigilant thoughts. If some one suffering from a malady needs to be cauterized or to undergo a surgical operation, one man will bear the pain of it with courage and patience, self-possessed, and making no noise or disturbance, while others undergoing the same infliction give way under the fire or the knife to unseemly outcries, and yet the pain of the man who calls out is exactly the same as that of the man who does not—of him who makes a disturbance as of him who makes none. So are there some who under affliction and travail of the soul submit to it with dignity and make no disturbance, controlling themselves by mental reflexion, while others under the same affliction lose their power of endurance, and make their prayers with disorderly noise, so as to give offence to those who hear them. There are others again who are under no real concern, but for ostentation or singularity make use of undisciplined outcries, as if by these they could please God.
2. A servant of God ought not thus to lose self-control, but to continue in all meekness and wisdom, as the prophet said, Unto whom shall I look but unto him that is meek and quiet, and that trembleth at My words? And in the cases of Moses and Elias we find that in the appearances vouchsafed to them, although there was a great ministry of trumpets and powers before the majesty of the Lord, yet the presence of the Lord was distinguished amongst and from them all, and was manifested in peace and quietness and repose. Lo, it says, a humble still small voice, and the Lord was in it. This shows that the Lord’s rest is in peace and composure. Whatever foundation a man lays, however he starts, he will continue in the same line to the last. If he begins praying with a loud voice and noisy behaviour, he maintains to the last the same usage. Since the Lord is a lover of men, it happens that He gives succour even to such an one; so they, through the encouragement of grace, use the same ways to the last. Nevertheless we see that this is the part of the uninstructed, because they give offence to others, and at the same time are themselves in disorder at their prayers.
3. The true foundation of prayer is this, to concentrate attention, and to pray in great quietness and peace, so as to give no offence to those outside. Such a man, if he receives the grace of God upon his prayer, and continues to the last in his quietness, will edify other people more. For God is not the God of confusion, but of peace. Those who pray noisily are like the man who shouts to keep the rowers in time; they cannot pray everywhere, either in churches, or in villages; perhaps only in the deserts can they do it as they like. But those who pray quietly edify everybody everywhere. A man’s whole labour should be employed upon his thoughts; he must cut away the bush of evil thoughts which besets him, and urge himself to God, and not let his thoughts carry him where they like, but collect them when they wander in any direction, distinguishing natural thoughts from bad ones. Being under sin, the soul comes near to being like a great wood upon a hill, or the reeds in the river, or thickets of thorns and bushes. Those who wish to pass through the place, have to stretch out their hands, and with force and laborious effort to shove aside the bushes that beset them. So do the thoughts that come from the adverse power beset the soul like bushes. Much diligence and application of mind, therefore, is required, in order to distinguish the thoughts which are not our own, but suggested by the adverse power.
4. One man, trusting to his own abilities, thinks to fell the hills round him by himself; another, governing his mind with composure and discernment, without great trouble makes more of his work than the other. Thus there are some who at prayer make use of unseemly outcries, as if they relied upon their muscular strength, not knowing how their thoughts deceive them, and fancying that they can achieve a perfect success by their own power. Others there are who pay attention to their thoughts, and exercise all their labour within. These by their understanding and discernment are enabled to reach success, and to shake off the insurrection of the thoughts and to walk after the will of the Lord. And we find in the apostle that he calls the person who edifies others greater than he who does not. He says, He that speaketh with tongues edifieth himself, but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues. Every one, therefore, will choose to edify others, and thus will have the kingdom of heaven vouchsafed to him.
5. Question. Some people tell us that the thrones and crowns are actual creatures, not spiritual things. How ought we to understand them? Answer. The throne of the Godhead is our mind, and again, the throne of our mind is the Godhead and the Spirit. In like manner Satan also and the powers and rulers of darkness have, ever since the transgression of the commandment, seated themselves in the heart and mind and body of Adam, as their own throne. That was why the Lord came, and took His body of the Virgin. For if He had willed to come down in His uncovered Godhead, who would have been able to bear it? So He spoke to men through the instrument of the body. By this means he put down the spirits of wickedness, which had their seat in the body, from these thrones of mind and thought, wherein they dwelt, and the Lord cleansed the conscience, and made Himself a throne of the mind, the thoughts, and the body.
6. Question. What then is the meaning of the text, Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel? Answer. We find that this came to pass upon earth, when the Lord had been taken up into heaven. For He sent the Comforter Spirit upon the twelve apostles, and that holy power which came and tabernacled and seated itself in the throne of their minds. When the bystanders said, These men are full of new wine, Peter began at once to judge them, saying concerning Jesus, “A Man mighty in words and signs ye crucified, hanging Him on a tree; and behold, He there did wondrous things, rending the graves of stone, and raising the dead. For it is written, In the last days I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Many, therefore, came to repentance under Peter’s instruction, so that a new world, elect of God, came into being.
7. Do you see how the beginning of judgment appeared? A new world appeared there. Authority was given them here to sit and judge even in this world. Not but that they are to sit and give judgment hereafter, at the advent of the Lord, at the resurrection of the dead. But it came to pass here also, when the Holy Ghost seated Himself on the thrones of their minds. The diadems which Christians receive in that age are not creatures. Those who say so, say amiss. The Spirit uses them as a suggestive figure. What does the apostle Paul say concerning the heavenly Jerusalem? This is the mother of us all, in whose confession we agree. As for the garment which Christians wear, it is evidently the Spirit Himself that clothes them, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost for ever. Amen.
HOMILY VII
Concerning the loving kindness of Christ towards men. The Homily also contains certain questions and answers. 1. IMAGINE a man to go into a royal palace, and to see the portraits and works of art there, treasures kept in one place, other things in another. Imagine him to sit down to table with the king, and to have delicious meats and drinks set before him, and to be in every way refreshed with the contemplation of such beautiful things; and after that, to be hurried off, and found carried away to noisome places. Or imagine a maiden fairer, wiser, and wealthier than all others, to take for her husband a poor, lowly, ugly man, clothed in tatters; to take the filthy garments from him, and clothe him with the robes of a king, and set a diadem on his head, and enter into union with him. There comes a moment when that poor man begins to be frightened, and to say, “Am I, who am wretched and poor and mean and lowly, to have such a wife given to me?” This is what God has done to poor wretched man. He has given him to taste of another world, of other delicious food; He has shown him glories and royal beauties unspeakable and heavenly; and so the man, comparing those spiritual things with the things of this world, casts all away, and whether king, or princes, or wise men meet his eye, he turns his gaze to the heavenly treasure. For since God is love, man has received the heavenly and divine fire of Christ, and is at rest, and rejoices, and is there fast bound.
2. Question. Is Satan in the same place as God, either in the air, or in men? Answer. The sun yonder is but a creature. When it shines upon miry places, what harm does it take? How much more can the Divine Being be in the same place as Satan without being sullied or polluted? Evil, however, is darkened and blinded, and cannot see the purity and fineness of God. If any one says that Satan has his own proper place, and God His, he makes God to be circumscribed with reference to the place where the wicked one dwells. How then can we say that the good is not circumscribed or comprehended, and that all things are contained within it, and yet that the good is not polluted by the evil? What then? Because sky, and sun, and mountains are in God, and have their consistency through Him, are they then God? Created things are established in their own order, and the Creator, who is present with them all, is God.
3. Question. When sin is transformed into an angel of light, and comes to look like grace, how is a man to detect the wiles of the devil, and how shall he welcome and discern the things of grace? Answer. The things of grace are attended by joy, peace, love, and truth. Truth itself compels man to seek truth. But the forms of sin are disordered, and have nothing of love or joy towards God. Endive looks like lettuce; but one is sweet, and the other, for all its likeness, is bitter. Even in the realm of grace itself, there is what looks like truth, and there is the substance of truth itself. The ray of the sun is one thing, and the orb itself is another, and the ray does not give shine in the same sense in which the light stored up in the orb does. A lamp is lighted in the house: the ray of it which beams all round is one thing and the light in the lamp itself is another, brighter and clearer. In like manner there are things of grace, which when a man sees them at a distance, as spectacles to be looked at, give him joy even as spectacles; but he becomes another man when the power of God enters into him, and occupies his heart and his members, and makes his mind captive to the love of God. When they seized Peter and cast him into prison, an angel of the Lord came, when he was shut in, and broke his chains, and brought him out; and he, like one in a trance, thought he saw a vision.
4. Question. And how comes it that people who are under the influence of grace ever fall? Answer. Even pure intelligences in their own nature are liable to slip and fall. A man begins to be lifted up, to censure, to say, “Thou art a sinner,” while he considers himself righteous. Do you not know what St. Paul says, There was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure? Even a pure nature is liable to be exalted above measure. 5. Question. Can a man, by means of light, see his own soul? There are some people who do away with revelation, and affirm that it is knowledge and sense which give vision. Answer. Sense differs from vision, and vision from enlightenment; and the man who has enlightenment is greater than the man who has only sense. His mind is enlightened, inasmuch as he has received a greater portion than the man who has but sense, as is shown by his seeing within himself visions which he cannot doubt. But revelation is a further thing. Great things, and mysteries of God, are the subjects of revelation to the soul.
6. Question. Does one by revelation and the divine light see the soul? Answer. As these eyes of ours see the sun, so those who are enlightened see the image of the soul; but not many Christians have this sight. 7. Question. Has the soul any form? Answer. It has an image or form in the same way as an angel has. As the angels have an image or form, and as the outward man has his image, so the inner man has an image like an angel’s, and a form like that of the outward man. 8. Question. Is the mind one thing and the soul another? Answer. As the members of the body, being many, are called one man, so the soul has many members, mind, conscience, will, thoughts accusing and excusing, but all these are dependent upon one factor. They are members of the soul, and the soul is one, the inward man. But as the outward eyes discover at a distance the thorns, precipices, and pitfalls, and give warning beforehand, so the mind, when it is at all alert, discovers beforehand the crafts and devices of the adverse power, and secures the soul in advance. It is in fact the eye of the soul. Let us ascribe glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY VIII
Concerning things which befall Christians at prayer, and concerning the measures of perfection—whether it is possible for Christians to reach the perfect measure. 1. A MAN goes in to bend the knee, and his heart is filled with the divine influence, and his soul rejoices with the Lord, like bride with bridegroom, according to that word of the prophet Esaias which says, As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall the Lord rejoice over thee; and it comes to pass that being all day engaged he gives himself to prayer for an hour, and the inward man is rapt in prayer into the unfathomable deep of that other world in great sweetness, so that his whole mind is up aloft, rapt away thither, and estranged from things below. For the time being forgetfulness comes into him with regard to the interests of the earthly mind, because his thoughts are filled and taken captive to divine and heavenly things, to things infinite and past comprehension, to wonderful things which no human lips can express, so that for that hour he prays and says, “Would God that my soul might pass along with my prayer!”
2. Question. Can any one enter into these things at all times? Answer. Grace is constantly present, and is rooted in us, and worked into us like leaven, from our earliest years, until the thing thus present becomes fixed in a man like a natural endowment, as if it were one substance with him. But, for the man’s own good, it manages him in many different ways, after its own pleasure. Sometimes the fire flames out and kindles more vehemently; at other times more gently and mildly. The light that it gives kindles up at times and shines with unusual brightness; at others it abates and burns low. The lamp is always burning and shining, but when it is specially trimmed, it kindles up with intoxication of the love of God; and then again by God’s dispensation it gives in, and though the light is always there, it is comparatively dull.
3. To some, however, the sign of the cross has appeared in light and fastened itself upon the inward man. At another time a man at his prayers has fallen into a kind of trance, and found himself standing in the altar-space in church, and three loaves were offered to such an one, leavened with oil, and the more he ate of them, the more they increased and grew. At another time there was brought as it were a shining garment, such as there is none on earth in the course of this world, nor is it possible for human hands to make the like; for as when the Lord went up into the mountain with Peter and John, He changed the fashion of His raiment and made it to flash with light, so was it with this garment, and the man who was clothed with it wondered and was amazed. Another while, the light shining in the heart disclosed the inner, deeper, hidden light, so that the man, swallowed up in the sweetness of the contemplation, was no longer master of himself, but was like a fool or a barbarian to this world by reason of the surpassing love and sweetness, by reason of the hidden mysteries; so that the man for that season was set at liberty, and came to perfect measures, and was pure and free from sin; yet afterwards grace retreated, and the veil of the adverse power came; notwithstanding, grace still shews itself in part, and he stands on the first and lowest step of perfection.
4. There are twelve steps, we might say, which a man has to pass before he reaches perfection. For a season that measure has been attained, and perfection entered upon; and then grace gives in, and he comes down by one step, and stands on the eleventh. Here and there one man rich in grace has stood always, night and day, in perfect measures, at liberty and in purity, always captive and aloft. Well now, if the man to whom those marvellous things were shewn, of which he has had actual experience, were to have them always present with him, he would be unable to undertake the dispensation of the word and the burden of it, nor could he endure to listen to, or take any interest in, any ordinary thing, concerning himself, or concerning the morrow, but only to sit in a corner, aloft and intoxicated. So the perfect measure has not been given, in order that he may be free to take an interest in his brethren, and in the ministry of the word. Nevertheless the middle wall of partition has been broken through and death is overcome.
5. The case stands thus, as if some foggy power hangs over and forms a light screen, like a dense air, though the lamp is burning and shining all the while, even as a veil hangs over yonder light. So this man confesses that he is not perfect or altogether free from sin. He says that the middle wall of partition has been broken through and shattered, and yet at some point not wholly broken, nor at all times. There are moments when grace kindles up and comforts and refreshes more fully; there are moments when it retreats and clouds over, according as grace itself manages for the man’s advantage. But who is there that has come to the perfect measure at particular seasons, and has tasted and had direct experience of that world? A perfect Christian man, one completely free, I have not yet seen. Although one and another is at rest in grace, and enters into mysteries and revelations and into much sweetness of grace, still sin is yet present within. By reason of the exceeding grace and of the light that is in them, men consider themselves free and perfect; but inexperience deceives them. They are under the influence of grace, but I have never yet seen a man that is free. I myself at times have in part come to that measure, and I have learned to know that it does not constitute a perfect man.
6. Question. Tell us, if thou wilt, what measures thou art in? Answer. After the sign of the cross, grace now acts thus. It calms all the members and the heart, so that the soul, for much joy, appears like an innocent child, and the man no longer condemns Greek or Jew, sinner or worldling. The inner man regards all men with a pure eye, and the man rejoices over all the world, and desires that all should worship and love, Greeks and Jews. At another moment, like the king’s son, he is as bold in the Son of God as in a father, and doors are opened to him, and he enters within to many mansions and the further he goes in, doors are again opened in progression, a hundred mansions leading to a hundred beyond, and he is rich, and the richer he is, other new wonders are again disclosed to him, and he is entrusted, as a son and an heir, with things that cannot be told by mankind or put into syllables by mouth and tongue. Glory to God. Amen.
HOMILY IX
That the promises and prophecies of God are accomplished through manifold trial and temptation, and that those who cleave to God alone are delivered from the temptation of the evil one. 1. THE spiritual influence of God’s grace within the soul works with great patience, wisdom, and mysterious management of the mind, while the man for long times and seasons contends in much endurance; and then the work of grace is proved to be perfect in him, his free will and choice being proved by much trial to be well-pleasing to the Spirit, and the man having displayed thoroughness and perseverance for a good length of time. We will illustrate this law of action from plain examples in the inspired scriptures. 2. What I mean is well exhibited in Joseph. What times and seasons it took to accomplish the predestined will of God concerning him, and to fulfil his visions. By what pains and afflictions and distresses he was first proved, and endured them all nobly, and was found in them all a thorough and faithful servant of God, and then became a king of Egypt, and nurtured his family, and the prophecy of things unseen was accomplished, and the will of God received its predicted end after long time and much management.
3. So with David. God anointed him king by the prophet Samuel, and when he was anointed, he fled from Saul, who pursued him to destroy him. Where then was God’s anointing? Where was the promise, so far as the immediate future was concerned? After his anointing, he was grievously afflicted, wandering in desert places, and destitute even of bread, and taking refuge among the heathen because of Saul’s designs against him. Such afflictions encompassed the man whom God had anointed to be king. Then after long trial, and affliction, and temptation, and patience, having once for all believed God, and assuring himself, “What God did for me by the prophet’s anointing, and what God said should come to pass concerning me, must without doubt come to pass, even though long patience be required,” at length the will of God was done, and David reigned after all his trials. Then the word of God was manifested, and the anointing at the hands of the prophet was shewn to be sure and true.
4. So with Moses. God having foreknown and predestined him to be the ruler and deliverer of the people, made him to become the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and he grew up to kingly fortune and splendour and luxury, being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and when he reached man’s estate, and was become great, he refused all those things, choosing rather the suffering affliction and the reproaches of the Christ, as the apostle says, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He became a fugitive from Egypt; and how long did that son of a king, who was bred up to such enjoyment and royal luxury, spend in the labours of a shepherd! Then at length, being approved to God and found faithful through much patience, because he had endured many temptations, he became the deliverer, the ruler, the king of Israel, and was addressed by God as a God to Pharaoh. Through him God smote Egypt with plagues, and displayed through him great wonders upon Pharaoh, and finally drowned the Egyptians in the sea. See, after what length of time the will and purpose of God was declared, and after how many trials and afflictions it was fulfilled.
5. So again with Abraham. How long beforehand God promised to bestow on him a son, and yet gave him none there and then, but for how many intervening years trials and temptations befell him! But Abraham patiently endured all that came upon him, and was fully persuaded by faith that He who had promised, and could not lie, would fulfil His own word, and so being found faithful he obtained his promise. 6. In like manner Noah, being commanded in his five-hundredth year by God to prepare the ark, and warned that He would bring a flood upon the world, which was not brought until his six-hundredth year, waited patiently for a hundred years, nothing doubting whether God would do what He said or not, but being once for all fully persuaded by faith that what God had spoken must assuredly come to pass. So, being found approved by resolution and faith and endurance and much patience, he alone with his house was saved, having kept the commandment in purity.
7. We have alleged these scriptural grounds to show that God’s grace in man, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is vouchsafed to a faithful soul, proceeds with much contention, with much endurance and longsuffering, and temptations and trials, the man’s free will being tried by all manner of afflictions. And when it does not grieve the Spirit in anything, but is agreeable to grace through all commandments, then it is permitted to obtain freedom from passions, and receives the fulfilment of the Spirit’s adoption, spoken of in a mystery, and of the spiritual riches, and of the intelligence which is not of this world, whereof true Christians are made partakers. For this reason they are for all purposes superior to all the men of prudence, intelligence, and wisdom, who have the spirit of the world. 8. For such an one judgeth all men, as it is written. He knows each man, from whence he speaks, and where he stands, and what measures he is in; but not a man of those that have the spirit of the world is able to know and judge him, but only he that has the like heavenly Spirit of the Godhead knows his like, as the apostle says: Comparing spiritual things with spiritual; but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him: but he that is spiritual judgeth all men, yet he himself is judged by none. Such an one looks upon all things that the world holds glorious, its riches, its luxury, and all its enjoyments—yea, and even its knowledge—and all things belonging to this age, as loathsome and hateful.
9. As one that is possessed and burning with a fever loathes and rejects the sweetest food or drink that you offer him, because he burns with the fever and is vehemently exercised by it, so those who burn with the heavenly, sacred, solemn longing of the Spirit, and are smitten in soul with love of the love of God, and are vehemently exercised by the divine and heavenly fire which the Lord came to send upon the earth, and desire that it should speedily be kindled, and are aflame with the heavenly longing for Christ, these, as we said before, consider all the glorious and precious things of this age contemptible and hateful by reason of the fire of the love of Christ, which holds them fast and inflames them and burns them with a Godward disposition and with the heavenly good things of love; from which love nothing of all that are in heaven and earth and under the earth shall be able to separate them, as the apostle Paul testified, saying, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? and what follows.
10. But it is not possible that any one should obtain the possession of his own soul, and of the heavenly love of the Spirit, unless he makes himself a stranger to all the things of this age, and gives himself up to seeking the love of Christ, and his mind stands clear of all material cares and earthly distractions, in order that he may be wholly occupied with the one aim, directing these things by all the commandments, in order that his whole care and seeking, and the engrossment and business of his soul, may be about the search for the immaterial substance, how the soul should be adorned with the commandments of the virtues, and with the heavenly adornment of the Spirit, and with the fellowship of the purity and sanctification of Christ—so that having renounced all, and having cut himself free all round from the hindrances of earth and of material things, and set himself clear of fleshly love, whether it be the affection of parents or of kindred, the man may not permit his mind to be busied or distracted with any other thing, such as power, glory, honours, or fleshly friendships of the world, or any other earthly thoughts, but his mind may wholly and entirely take upon itself care and pains for the seeking of the immaterial substance of the soul, and may wholly and entirely endure in expectancy and waiting for the coming of the Spirit; as the Lord says, In your patience possess ye your souls, and again, Seek the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you.
11. So may it be, that one who thus strives, and at all times takes heed to himself, whether in prayer, or in obedience, or in any kind of work done according to God, should be able to escape the darkness of wicked devils. The mind that is never off the search of itself and the quest of the Lord avails to gain possession of its own soul—the soul that was in the perdition of the passions—by always bringing itself into captivity to the Lord with main force and earnestness, and by cleaving to Him only, as it is said, Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; that by means of such striving and longing and seeking the mind may attain to become with the Lord one Spirit of the gift and grace of Christ, resting in the vessel of the soul, which has prepared herself for every good work, and which does no despite unto the Spirit of the Lord by its own selfwill, and by the wanderings of this world, its glories, powers, self-determinations, or fleshly indulgences, and the companionships and society of evil men.
12. Lovely it is, when the soul, devoting herself wholly to the Lord, and cleaving to Him only, and dwelling mindfully in His commandments, and worthily honouring the Spirit of Christ which has come upon her and overshadowed her, is permitted to be one Spirit and one composition with Him, as the apostle says, He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. But if a man gives himself away to cares, or glory, or power, or human honours, and seeks after these things, and his soul is mixed up and enters into composition with earthly considerations, or is bound and held by anything belonging to this age, and if such a soul longs to transfer itself and escape and get away from the darkness of passions, in which it is held by the evil powers, it cannot do so, because it loves and does the will of darkness, and does not perfectly hate the practices of wickedness.
13. Let us therefore prepare ourselves to travel to the Lord with an undivided will and purpose, and to become followers of Christ, to accomplish whatever He wills, and to think upon His commandments to do them. Let us sever ourselves altogether from the love of the world, and attach our souls to Him only, and keep in mind Him only as our business and care and quest. If we have to be somewhat busied also in body, with the business laid upon us, and with obedience for God’s sake, let not the mind be parted from its love and quest and longing after the Lord; so that striving in such a mind, and journeying along the way of righteousness with an upright intention, and always taking heed to ourselves, we may obtain the promise of His Spirit, and may through grace be delivered from the perdition of the darkness of the passions, by which the soul is exercised, that we may be made meet for the eternal kingdom, and permitted to enjoy all eternity with Christ, glorifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.
HOMILY X
By lowliness of mind and earnestness the gifts of the Divine grace are preserved, but by pride and sloth they are destroyed. 1. SOULS that love truth and God, that long with much hope and faith to put on Christ completely, do not need so much to be put in remembrance by others, nor do they endure, even for a while, to be deprived of the heavenly desire and of passionate affection to the Lord; but being wholly and entirely nailed to the cross of Christ, they perceive in themselves day by day a sense of spiritual advance towards the spiritual Bridegroom. Being smitten with the heavenly longing, and hungering for the righteousness of the virtues, they have a great and insatiable desire for the shining forth of the Spirit. Even if they are privileged through their faith to receive the knowledge of Divine mysteries, or are made partakers of the gladness of heavenly grace, they put no trust in themselves, thinking themselves to be somewhat, but the more they are permitted to receive spiritual gifts, the more insatiable they are of the heavenly longing, and the more they seek on with diligence. The more they perceive in themselves a spiritual advance, the more hungry and thirsty they are for the participation and increase of grace; and the richer they spiritually are, the more do they esteem themselves to be poor, being insatiable in the spiritual longing for the heavenly Bridegroom, as the scripture says, They that eat Me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink Me shall yet be thirsty.
2. Such souls, which have the love of the Lord ardently and insatiably, are meet for eternal life; for which reason deliverance from the passions is vouchsafed to them, and they obtain perfectly the shining forth and participation of the unspeakable and mystic fellowship of the Holy Ghost, in the fulness of grace. But as many souls as are feeble and slack, not seeking to receive here on earth, while they are still in the flesh, through patience and longsuffering, sanctification of heart, not in part, but perfectly, and have never hoped to partake in the Paraclete Spirit in perfection with all conscious satisfaction and assurance, and have never expected to be delivered through the Spirit from the passions of evil; or having at one time received the grace of God, have been deceived by sin and have given themselves over to some form of carelessness and remissness; 3. these, as having received the grace of the Spirit, and possessing some comfort of grace in rest and aspiration and spiritual sweetness, presume upon this, and are lifted up, and grow careless, without contrition of heart, and without humility of mind, neither reaching the perfect measure of freedom from passion, nor waiting to be perfectly filled with grace in all diligence and faith, but they felt assured, and took their repose, and remained satisfied with their scanty comfort of grace, the result of which advance to such souls was pride rather than humility, and they are at length stripped of whatever grace was vouchsafed to them, because of their careless contempt, and because of the vain arrogance of their self-conceit.
4. The soul that really loves God and Christ, though it may do ten thousand righteousnesses, esteems itself as having wrought nothing, by reason of its insatiable aspiration after God. Though it should exhaust the body with fastings, with watchings, its attitude towards the virtues is as if it had not yet even begun to labour for them. Though divers gifts of the Spirit, or revelations and heavenly mysteries, should be vouchsafed to it, it feels in itself to have acquired nothing at all, by reason of its unlimited and insatiable love to the Lord. All day long, hungering and thirsting through faith and love, in persevering prayer, it continues to be insatiable for the mysteries of grace, and for the accomplishment of every virtue. It is smitten with passionate love of the heavenly Spirit, continually stirring up within itself through grace an ardent aspiration for the heavenly Bridegroom, desiring to be perfectly admitted to the mystical, ineffable fellowship with Him in sanctification of the Spirit. The face of the soul is unveiled, and it gazes upon the heavenly Bridegroom face to face in a spiritual light that cannot be described, mingling with Him in all fulness of assurance, being conformed to His death, ever looking with great desire to die for Christ, and trusting with assurance to receive by the Spirit a perfect deliverance from sin and from the darkness of the passions; in order that having been cleansed by the Spirit, sanctified in soul and body, it may be permitted to become a clean vessel to receive the heavenly unction and to entertain the true King, even Christ; and then it is made meet for eternal life, being henceforward a clean dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost.
5. For a soul to reach these measures, however, does not come all at once, or without trial. Through many labours and struggles, and long time, and earnestness, with trial and manifold temptations, it gains the spiritual increase and advance, even to the perfect measure of freedom from passion, in order that willingly and bravely enduring every temptation with which it is plied by evil, it may then be privileged to obtain the great honours, and spiritual gifts, and heavenly riches, and thus become an inheritor of the heavenly kingdom in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and might for ever. Amen.