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THE 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS 
 
 OIT 
 
 PEKE GKOU. 
 
 V 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 J. T. HAYES, LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUARE; 
 & 4. HENRIETTA ST., CO VENT GARDEN. 
 
 & 0 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Qv/ 
 
These Maximes Spintuelles,'^ rough and 
 inelegant, but singularly deep and earnest, 
 are perhaps among the most valuable 
 writings of their experienced author. 
 Widely differing from the ordinary Jesuit 
 teaching of the present day, the spirit of 
 Pere Grou is almost identical with that 
 embodied in our sound old English ascetic 
 books, such as the Scale of Perfection^ 
 Sancta Sophia, etc. 
 
 The present version is slightly abridged 
 from the original, but the sixth chapter 
 contains a few supplementary pages from 
 the Interieur de Jesus, by the same writer. 
 
 S. Mabgabet’s, East Gkinsted, 
 
 Quinquagesima, 1874. 
 
SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 FIRST INIAXIM. 
 
 %}i t})t Tadtier of !)oti'm'S0 men vise and descend at 
 one and tde same time. 
 
 Noiv mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore 1 abhor 
 mysel/T 
 
 I. 
 
 OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND OF SELF. 
 
 All holiness is contained in two points : know- 
 ledge of God, and knowledge of self. Lord, 
 make me to know Thee, and to know myself. 
 The prayer is short, but its meaning is infinite. 
 Knowledge of God elevates the soul ; knowledge 
 of self, humbles it. The former lifts it to the abyss 
 of Divine perfections ; the latter sinks it to its own 
 abyss of nothingness and sin. And the great 
 marvel is, that this very knowledge of God which 
 lifts man up, humbles him at the same time by the 
 comparison of himseK with God ; and seK-know- 
 ledge, while it humbles him, lifts him up by ne- 
 cessitating his approach to God, as the assuager 
 of his misery. 
 
 IMarvellous ladder of sanctity, whereon men 
 descend while they ascend, and in the same 
 proportion ! For the true elevation of man is 
 inseparable from his true humiliation. The first 
 without the last, is pride ; the last without the 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 first, is despairing wretchedness. If self-hnow- 
 ledge did not make him little in his own eyes, 
 what would be the effect upon him of the 
 sublimest knowledge of God ? He would be 
 lost in the exaltation of his thoughts. Or what 
 would avail the knowledge of his exceeding 
 meanness and misery, if the knowledge of God 
 did not counterbalance it? He could only fall 
 into horrible despair. But this twofold know- 
 ledge tends to make him holy ; for holiness 
 requires him to feel and own that he is nothing 
 in himself, that he receives all things from God 
 in the order of nature and of grace, and that he 
 expects all- things from Him in the order of glory. 
 
 When I speak of the knowledge of God, I 
 mean no abstract, ideal knowledge, such as was 
 possessed by the disciples of Pythagoras and 
 Plato. They lost their way in vain and barren spe- 
 culations, the only effect of which was to increase 
 their pride. The Christian’s knowledge of God 
 is not an endless course of reasonings on His 
 essence and perfections, like those of a mathe- 
 matician on the circle and triangle. • Many 
 philosophers and theologians, who held grand and 
 noble ideas of the Divine Nature, were none the 
 more virtuous or holy in consequence. But what 
 we ought to know, is, what He has Himself 
 revealed concerning the Blessed Trinity, and the 
 work of each of its Persons in Creation, Kedemp- 
 tion, and Sanctification ; His power, providence, 
 holiness, goodness, justice, and love ; the extent 
 and multitude of His mercies, the marvellous 
 economy of His gra.ce, the magnificence of His 
 promises and rewards, the terror of His threaten- 
 ings and the rigour of His chastisements; the wor- 
 ship He requires, the precepts He imposes, the 
 
MAXni I. 
 
 S 
 
 virtues He sets forth as our duty, the .motives by 
 which He incites us to their practice ; we ought 
 to know, in fact, what He is to us, and what He 
 wills that we should be to Him. 
 
 This is the true and useful knowledge of God, 
 taught in every page of Holy Scripture, and ne- 
 cessary for all Christians : which cannot be too 
 deeply studied, without which none can become 
 holy, and the substance of which is indispensably 
 necessary to salvation. This should be the great 
 object of reflection, meditation, and prayer for 
 light. Let no man fancy that he can ever know 
 enough, or enter sufficiently into so rich a sub- 
 ject. It is in every sense inexhaustible : the more 
 we discover in it, the more we see there is yet to 
 be discovered. It is an ever- deepening ocean for 
 the navigator : an unattainable mountain height 
 for the traveller, whose scope of vision yet in- 
 creases with every upward step. The knowledge 
 of God grows in us together with our own 
 holiness ; both are capable of expanding in- 
 finitely ; and we must set no bounds to either. 
 
 This knowledge is not merely intellectual ; it 
 goes straight to the heart ; touches it, penetrates, 
 reforms, ennobles, and kindles it with the love of 
 all virtues. He who really knows God, cannot 
 fail to possess lively faith, firm hope, ardent love, 
 filial fear, thorough trust, and entire submission. 
 He finds no difficulty in avoiding evil and doing 
 well ; he complains of no rigour in God’s law, 
 but wonders at its mildness, and loves and em- 
 braces it in all its fulness ; he keeps the precepts, 
 and the counsels too. He contemns earthly things, 
 not judging them worthy of attention ; uses them 
 as notabusing them, and, looking not at the things 
 seen, which are temporal, passes swiftly through 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 them towards the things eternal. The sweetest 
 attractions of the world do not tempt him ; its 
 dangers do not imperil him ; nor do its terrors 
 alarm him. His body is on earth ; but his soul 
 is, by thought and desire, in heaven already. 
 
 This knoAvledge is drawn from Holy Scripture, 
 rightly studied. But many men read it without 
 understanding, or understand the letter only, and 
 not the spirit. The sacred writings are the source 
 of all that God has been pleased to reveal to us of 
 His essence and perfections, His natural and 
 supernatural Avorks, His designs regarding man, 
 the end He aaqIIs him to attain, and the means 
 conducive to that end. Therein we see that God 
 is the Beginning of all things, that He governs 
 all, and intends all for His glory, and has done 
 all for Himself, there being no other object pos- 
 sible to him. We see the plan, economy and se- 
 quence of religion ; and the close connection of 
 the rise and fall of empires with that great sub- 
 ject. To sum up the Avhole in few words : in 
 Holy Scripture, and therein alone, is to be found 
 all that man need knoAV concerning his salvation, 
 and that can fill his soul with fear and veneration 
 and love of God. 
 
 This knoAvledge is to be found, besides, in the 
 Avritings of the Saints, and in other pious books, 
 Avhich are only expansions of Scripture, and are 
 good in proportion as they express its meaning 
 Avell and explain it perfectly. 
 
 It is to be found aboA^e all in immediate inter- 
 course AAuth God, by means of prayer and medita- 
 tion. They looked unto Him, and AA^ere lightened, 
 saith the prophet. God is light, and in Him is 
 no darkness at all. His presence casts out dark- 
 ness from the soul that prays. Yes. The soul is 
 
MAXIM I. 
 
 5 
 
 better instructed concerning Divine things by 
 prayer alone, than wise men are by all their 
 study. Many simple and unlearned persons, 
 taught in the school of God, speak more fitly of 
 Him, more nobly, and fluently, and fervently, 
 than the ablest doctors who, not being men of 
 prayer, speak and write of heavenly things in a 
 dry and painful way, devoid of grandeur, warmth, 
 and feeling. 
 
 But besides this knowledge, which may be 
 called luminous, because it belongs to the mind, 
 there is another which consists in feeling alone, 
 and is the portion of the heart. This is something 
 sweeter, stronger, and deeper. It is a certain 
 sense given by God of Himself and of His 
 Pi •esence. He seems to say to the soul : Taste 
 and see how gracious the Lord is. The advan- 
 tage of this knowledge beyond the other is, that 
 it binds the will to God much more strongly. 
 Here the soul acts not at all : God acts within 
 it, and sets it aglow with a spark of His own bliss. 
 
 S. Antony knew God after this sort when he 
 complained that the sun rose too early, and put an 
 end to his prayer ; and so did S. Francis when he 
 spent whole nights repeating with wonderful de- 
 light those words: “ My God, and my All.” This 
 sense of God, this experimental knowledge, was 
 the desire of all Saints, and the fruit of their 
 union with Him. If God is thus to give Himself 
 to us, we must wholly give ourselves to Him, be- 
 cause He bestows this great grace on none but 
 His best beloved. When, like S. Francis, we 
 have given up all things, when we, too, care for no 
 one and nothing but God, then we may as truly 
 and as earnestly say : “ My God, and my All.” 
 
 It is quite impossible to explain this sense of 
 
6 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 God. What is confined to the heart presents no 
 idea to the mind, and is not to be expressed in 
 words. How could the depth of supernatuial 
 things be rendered by words, which are inadequate 
 to represent mere natural affections and feelings ? 
 But for him to call such things dreams and fancies, 
 who knows nothing of them, is all the same as to 
 deny the effect of natural love on the heart, be- 
 cause he has not felt it himself. Certainly, this 
 sense of God lifts the soul to a greater height than 
 any illuminative knowledge has the power of 
 doing, and renders it capable of heroic designs 
 and perfect sacrifices. 
 
 Self-knowledge is no less precious than the 
 knowledge of God, nor is it less necessary to holi- 
 ness. If we know ourselves, we do ourselves jus- 
 tice ; we think of ourselves exactly as we are ; we 
 see ourselves as God sees us. And what does He 
 see ? Sin and nothingness ; and no more. We 
 have no other possessions of our own : everything 
 else comes from God, and must be attributed to 
 Him. If we know ourselves thus, what must be 
 our humility, and our contempt and hatred of 
 self? 
 
 I am absolutely nothing. I'hroughout eternity 
 I was not, and there was no reason why I should 
 exist, nor why I should be what I am. My ex- 
 istence is the simple effect of God’s Will : He 
 bestowed it on me as it pleased Him. He pre- 
 serves it : if His mighty Hand were not uphold- 
 ing me every moment, I should fall back into 
 nothingness. My soul and body, the good qua- 
 lities of both, everything estimable or pleasing in 
 me, all comes from God. On that foundation, 
 education did its work ; and, all things consi- 
 dered, this very education was rather a gift from 
 
MAXIM I. 
 
 / 
 
 God, than the result of my own industry and ap- 
 plication. 
 
 Not only what I am, but what I have, what I 
 enjoy, what surrounds me, whatever I meet with 
 wherever I go, all comes from God, and is for my 
 use. I am nothing : and, except God, all else is 
 nothing. What then can I love and esteem in 
 myself or in others ? Nothing but what God has 
 given. Thence it follows, that in all which is, of 
 itself, nothing, and exists only by the will of God, 
 I must only love and esteem God and His gifts. 
 And this is a strong foundation of humility and 
 of contempt for self and created things. 
 
 But this is not all. I am sin, by my own will, 
 by my abuse of my most excellent gift of liberty. 
 What mean these words, I am sin ? In the first 
 place : that in the depths of my nature, and even 
 by my being brought out of nothingness, I have 
 the wretched power of offending God, of becom- 
 ing His enemy, of transgressing His law, of fail- 
 ing in my duty, and of falling short for ever of 
 my true end ; and this power is so inherent in me, 
 as a creature, that nothing can part it from me. 
 The power of sinning has, since Adam’s fall, be- 
 come a tendency, and a strong inclination, to sin. 
 By his fault I lost the perfect equilibrium of 
 liberty, in which I should otherwise have been 
 created. 
 
 In the second place ; that since I have had the 
 use of reason, I have actually sinned ; and have 
 1 )een guilty of a great number of offences more or 
 less grievous. Very small is the number of those 
 who have retained their baptismal innocence ; 
 and as to venial sins, which are greatly harm- 
 ful, they are prone to blemish even the highest 
 sanctity. 
 
SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 ’8 
 
 In the third place : that there is no sin, how- 
 ever enormous, that I cannot commit, if I am 
 not always on my guard, and if God does not 
 preserve me from it. There only needs an oppor- 
 tunity, a temptation, an act of unfaithfulness, to 
 induce the most fearful train of consequences. 
 The greatest Saints believed this of themselves ; 
 and we shall not go wrong in believing it of 
 ourselves, after their example. 
 
 In the fourth place : being once fallen, i am ab- 
 solutely unable to rise again in my own strength, 
 or truly to repent of my sin. If God do not open 
 my eyes, move my will, hold out a helping hand, 
 all is over with me ; 1 shall heap up sins, and 
 shun amendment, and harden myself, and die in 
 impenitence ; and I have always need to fear this 
 terrible catastrophe, no matter what pitch of 
 virtue I may have reached. 
 
 This is not all : my wretched inclination to evil 
 is united to an equal distaste for all things good. 
 
 All law is irksome to me ; it seems to threaten 
 my liberty ; every duty is unpleasant ; every act 
 of virtue costs an eifort. Besides, I am, in my- 
 self, incapable of any supernatural work, and even 
 of thinking of, or designing, any such. I conti- 
 nually need present grace, to inspire good actions, 
 and help me in their performance. 
 
 In this state, which is that of my whole life, 
 how can I think well of myself? of what can I 
 boast ? and concerning what can I not be griev- 
 ously ashamed and confounded ? 
 
 This is the self-knowledge imparted by faith, 
 combined with the testimony of my own feelings 
 and experience. The purest and healthiest of 
 philosophies would never have taught me half 
 so much. Man has ever been the chief object 
 
MAXIM I. 
 
 9 
 
 of tlie study and the consideration of sages. 
 But the most glorious genius, with all its pene- 
 tration and all its researches, can never learn 
 self-knowledge; and, to my mind, that is an 
 exceedingly humbling thing. If faith do not en- 
 lighten me, reason alone will never tell me that 
 1 came forth from nothing, and that God is my 
 (.■reator ; it never told any ancient sages that 
 truth : they were all ignorant of this primary 
 connection between man and God, which is the 
 foundation of all the rest. And how strangely 
 at a loss they were, in consequence of their igno- 
 rance respecting the origin of man ! What 
 marvellous absurdities they uttered on the sub- 
 ject ! Our modern infidels have done very much 
 the same. 
 
 As concerns tendency to evil, and repugnance 
 to good, the inherent frailty of creatui*es, the 
 nature of sin considered with regard to God, 
 and the necessity of grace ; the most religious 
 philosophy had a faint glimmering on some 
 points, and clear notions on none ; but in most 
 respects it was involved in thick darkness. 
 
 Then what did it know about the matter? 
 What no one can ignore : the troubles of life, 
 the weakness of childhood, the infirmity of age, 
 the natural defects of body and mind, the pas- 
 sions, and their tyranny and disorder, the ne- 
 cessity of death, and, together with that, the 
 uncertainty of a future state. This was a wretched, 
 miserable sort of knowledge, and made most 
 philosophers bitterly revile nature, and accuse 
 her of treating us like an unjust stepmother. 
 They were right enough, according to their 
 lights ; and the destiny of man must have ap- 
 peared the more deplorable to them, because 
 
10 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 they could find no remedy for his troubles, cither 
 in their own vain systems, or in the false 
 religion of the people. 
 
 Yet they were rather offended than humbled 
 by this knowledge, painful as it was ; because 
 it really was too imperfect, and, though it could 
 not fathom the depths of our misery, offered 
 no counterpoise to that portion which it did 
 perceive. 
 
 It is otherwise with our holy faith. Our reli- 
 gion makes man little in his own eyes, deeply 
 humbles him, reduces him to nothingness, and 
 less than nothingness, but at the same time 
 supports and comforts him, and rouses hope, 
 and shows him what great cause he has to trust 
 in God. And indeed it also gives him a high, 
 idea of himself, for it unveils his true greatness, 
 the nobleness of his faculties, his close connec- 
 tion with God, the sublimity of his destiny, the 
 fatherly care of Providence, the inestimable 
 benefit of redemption, and the price paid for his 
 soul by God Incarnate. It even teaches him to 
 reverence his body, as the temple of God, in- 
 tended one day in glorious resurrection to share 
 the eternal happiness of the soul. 
 
 This is the knowledge religion gives us con- 
 cerning human nature ; and this light is safe, 
 for it is'founded on infrangible revelation ; it is 
 bright and piercing, and perpetually increased 
 by study and the practice of piety ; it crushes 
 down human pride, and elevates the soul with a 
 Divine uplifting. 
 
 But, in addition to the motives for humility 
 furnished by study of the Gospel, and practice 
 of its precepts, God has many and many another 
 way of humiDling those whom He intends to 
 
MAXIM 1. 
 
 11 
 
 attain a high pitch of holiness. He makes them 
 feel that their light is darkness, and their will 
 weakness ; that their firmest resolutions are 
 utterly frail, and that they are unable of them- 
 selves to amend the smallest fault or perform 
 the slightest act of virtue. He allows them to 
 feel great repugnance for their duties ; their 
 pious exercises are painful, and almost intole- 
 rable, because they are full of dryness, listlcss- 
 ness, and weariness ; the passions they fancied 
 were dead rise up again, and cause them strange 
 conflicts ; the devil tempts them in countless 
 ways, and they seem given up to the wickedness 
 and corruption of their own hearts ; so that they 
 see in themselves nothing but sin and great 
 desire to sin. In the light of His infinite holi- 
 ness He shows them the impurity of their 
 motives and the selfishness of their aims, the 
 stain of self-love on their good actions and its 
 poison in their virtues. He calls to remem- 
 brance all their negligence, and cowardice, and 
 faithlessness, and self-seeking, and desire of 
 approbation and human respect ; He brings 
 them to hate and despise themselves for their 
 ungrateful abuse of all His many graces. 
 
 For their yet greater self-abasement He ap- 
 pears to turn Flis face from them, and dejDiives 
 them of all sensible gifts and graces, leaving 
 them in miserable nakedness, from the sight of 
 which they shrink, yet cannot close their eyes. 
 He seems to be angry with them and to forsake 
 them ; and, on the other hand. He allows men to 
 suspect their piety, to call it hypocrisy, to vex 
 them with calumny and persecution ; and this 
 He suffers to happen not only on the part of 
 wicked men and ordinary Christians, but also 
 
12 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 on that of virtuous persons of good understand- 
 ing and exemplary life, who, while they decry 
 and ill-treat these servants of God, fancy that 
 they are honouring the Master. Christ Jesus, 
 the Saint of saints, willed to bear all these 
 miseries and contumelies, and greater yet than 
 these ; because He made Himself the Yictim for 
 sin : and upon His own beloved friends He be- 
 stows a precious draught from the same bitter 
 cup. Thus, perfecting humility. He perfects 
 sanctity, and sets them in a safe hiding-place 
 against all temjDtation. 
 
 Then let us ascend and descend by this won- 
 drous ladder of the knowledge of God and our- 
 selves. We will mount as high and go down 
 as low as, by the help of grace, we can ; and 
 when we have done all we can, we will pray 
 that God may raise and abase us yet more, by 
 means known only to Himself. 
 
 The more a soul really ascends, the less it is 
 conscious of its ascent ; and the further it de- 
 scends the less it apprehends its descent. This 
 seems a paradox ; but it is most true. Advance 
 in the knowledge of God increases the sense of 
 unworthiness in the soul’s feelings towards Him. 
 In like manner, the deeper it sinks in self-know- 
 ledge, the more it is led to judge that it does not 
 hate and despise itself enough. Thus it becomes 
 exalted and humble, or, in other words, is an 
 unconscious saint. 
 
C 13 ) 
 
 SECOND MAXOL 
 
 Htdti to ^oD, anD toe no toiH liiit 
 
 ^'•Into Thy hands 1 commend my spiritd'^ 
 
 II. 
 
 OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY, AND OF THE ACTIVE AND 
 PASSIVE WAY. 
 
 In order to the better comprehension of what 
 I have now to say, I think best to lay down, in the 
 first place, certain incontrovertible principles. 
 
 At our creation God bestowed on us reason 
 and understanding, in order that we might know 
 and love Him; He purposed that we should eter- 
 nally enjoy this love and knowledge, and also 
 that such enjoyment should be our reward ; 
 therefore it became necessary that it should be 
 deserved. To this end he placed us on earth for 
 a certain space of time, known only to HimseK. 
 He gifted us wdth liberty; that is, with command 
 over our actions, in order that, being performed by 
 our own will, they might merit praise or blame, 
 reward or punishment. Praise and reward are 
 thus attached to the free fulfilment of the duties 
 imposed on us by God ; and blame and punish- 
 ment follow the wilful violation of those duties. 
 
 Liberty, in its abstract, hath no essential 
 power of doing good or ill ; else God, who pos- 
 sesses supreme liberty, would not be free, because 
 He can never will, or do, evil. Therefore our 
 power of doing wrong does not proceed from 
 our liberty, but from two other causes. The 
 
14 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 first of these is, that being necessarily dependent 
 on God by a moral dependence, our actions 
 ought to follow the rule of His will ; so that 
 they are morally good if they conform to it, and 
 morally bad if they do not. The second is, that 
 being defective in our very nature, it is possible 
 that our conduct may swerve from this rule. 
 From these two causes, combined with the free- 
 will which simply makes us masters of our 
 actions, arises that fatal power of sinning which 
 it would be unjust and blasphemous to accuse 
 God of having given us. It did indeed depend 
 on Him to prevent its effect, but no reason 
 obliged Him to do so ; and His supreme wisdom 
 judged fitter to permit that consequence, be- 
 cause it could not be prejudicial to His glory. 
 Unquestionably, the most perfect liberty is that 
 possessed by God, Who can will nothing but 
 what is right. Therefore, the more our liberty 
 resembles His, the nearer it approaches perfec- 
 tion ; and the more unlike it is, the more im- 
 perfect it becomes. The will to sin is a defect 
 and abuse of liberty, and the stronger and more 
 habitual the will the greater the defect. 
 
 It is quite evident that we ought to desire 
 never to abuse our liberty, but by our love of 
 right and hatred of wrong, to bring it into the 
 closest similarity wuth that of God. The greater 
 our moral necessity of doing right, the more we 
 sliall be free like Him who hath \hh necessity in 
 His nature; the greater our moral necessity of 
 ^oing ill, the more our liberty will be fettered. 
 dTerefore S. Paul says that when the will yields 
 to evil it becomes the servant of sin ; and, on the 
 other hand, that being free from sin, it is the 
 servant of righteousness. Two opposite condi- 
 
MAXIM 11. 
 
 15 
 
 tions : the first debases liberty; the second exalts 
 and perfects it ; for God Hmiself is, if we may so 
 speak, the Servant of Kighteousoess, and infi- 
 nitely more so than we can be, and in this ser- 
 vitude consists His perfect liberty. Thus also 
 Christ said to the Jews : ‘‘ He that committeth 
 sin is the servant of sin and, ‘‘ If the Son, there- 
 fore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” 
 
 But grace alone can deliver us from the 
 bondage of sin, and give us real liberty ; whence 
 it follows that the more our wills subject them- 
 selves to grace, and the more they endeavour to 
 dej)end fully and constantly upon it, the freer 
 they will become. Their perfect deliverance is 
 reserved for heaven, where they will once for all 
 be established in holiness. But in this world, 
 however thoroughly they may have submitted 
 themselves to the dominion of grace, they are 
 always liable to throw off the yoke, and must 
 always be on their guard against that risk. 
 
 That risk will be the more or less imminent, 
 according as the soul continues to be its own 
 master, or gives itself freely up to be dealt with 
 according as God wills. And so, all it has to do 
 is to lay itself in His hands, to use its activity 
 only in order to become more dependent on 
 Him ; to let grace act freely in all circumstances, 
 and to its full extent, the soul reserving no 
 power to itself except in order to thorough cor- 
 respondence with grace. 
 
 These principles being laid down, it is clear 
 that surrender of liberty is the same thing as 
 devotion to God ; because devotion is only an 
 engagement to forsake self-will, and follow the 
 will of God. This gift of liberty may be made 
 in two ways, of which one depends on ourselves, 
 
16 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 and the other on God. It depends on ourselves, 
 while retaining the exercise of liberty, to deter- 
 mine that it shall be subjected to the inspira- 
 tions of grace, and to keep to this resolution. 
 It depends on God to make Himself really 
 IMaster of our liberty, by reason of our thus 
 yielding it to Him ; to govern it Himself, and, 
 without doing it violence, to keep it captive in 
 His hand. Hence arise two methods of serving 
 God, one of which is called the Active, and the 
 other the Passive way. Both are good; bv^th 
 are agreeable to God ; both are interior ; both 
 adapted to make saints. 
 
 Following the first way, a Christian makes 
 due use of the faculties bestowed on him by 
 God — of memory, understanding, and will ; he 
 exercises them himself. Although directed by 
 grace, and fully intending to follow its direction, 
 he yet preserves his own liberty, and considers, 
 judges, and chooses, concerning all things per- 
 taining to his salvation. He meditates on the 
 truths of the Gospel; by effort of his will he 
 acquires love for them, he applies them to him- 
 self, and makes them the rule of his conduct. 
 He forms resolutions, and endeavours to reduce 
 them to practice ; he uses pious methods, and 
 holy ingenuities suggested by the Spirit of God, 
 or by good books and the examples of the saints. 
 Thus, by continual thought and perseverance, 
 together with the assistance of prayer, advice, 
 and sacraments, he succeeds in correcting his 
 faulty habits and in acquiring Christian virtuest 
 
 Most of those who are seriously working ou. 
 their salvation travel by this path, which is the 
 most common, and is that taught by most 
 popular books on devotion. This is the reason 
 
MAXIM II. 
 
 17 
 
 why we have so many methods, and exercises, 
 and practices, for learning to meditate, or for 
 hearing Mass, or for Confession, or Communion. 
 And in this way it is always necessary to begin, 
 except in peculiar cases ; and it must always be 
 persevered in, unless God Himself call us from 
 it. Let this point be remembered ; it is of the 
 greatest importance, as it destroys illusions, and 
 saps the foundations of Quietism. 
 
 We enter the passive way, when we feel 
 ourselves drawn by a strong and sweet working 
 of grace, which, in order to gain space for its 
 action, leads us to suspend our own ; wiien we 
 are inwardly moved to yield up our heart and 
 liberty and natural self-government completely 
 and irrevocably into the hands of God. Thus 
 God takes possession of the powers of the soul ; 
 acts upon them, and makes them act as He will ; 
 and man only follows, though yet freely, in the 
 path marked out for him. He holds himself 
 prepared to do at any moment what God may 
 require of him ; and God, by secret inspiration, 
 does cause him to know what He requires ; but 
 yet this inspiration never involves disobedience 
 to the Church, to rule, or to lawful authority; 
 for there are no souls more docile or submissive 
 than those which walk in this way. 
 
 Here, then, all exercise of natural liberty 
 wdth regard to interior things (for of such only 
 am I speaking) consists in seconding, and in 
 never forestalling. Divine motions. As soon as 
 they are resisted, or forestalled, the human spirit 
 is plainly at work ; but in the state of which we 
 speak the Christian lies under the hand of God, 
 like an instrument on which and by means of 
 which He works. Not, however, a purely pas- 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 sive instrument, but one which consents and 
 co-oj)erates by its own act, often with extreme 
 repugnance, and with violence to itself. Its state 
 may very well be compared to that of a child 
 writing under its master’s guiding hand. 
 
 Now it is easy to imagine why this way is 
 called passive, and wherein it differs from the 
 active way. In the latter, the powers of the 
 soul, assisted by grace, work, as it were, of 
 themselves, and by their own exertion. Like 
 the child writing from his master’s copy, under 
 his inspection, and obedient to his teaching, the 
 soul chooses a subject of reflection, ajDplies its 
 various powers to it, forms chains of reasoning, 
 produces affections, examines, deliberates, con- 
 siders what to do, weighs arguments, and comes 
 to a determination. All this, as we see, is active. 
 
 The passive way is not without activity ; but 
 then the action of God gives impetus to ours. 
 The soul remains freely attentive, supple, and 
 docile to Divine motions, as the child freely sub- 
 mits its hand to that of its master, intending to 
 follow all its movements. But in like manner 
 as the child, though able to write, waits till the 
 master shall guide its hand ; so the powers of the 
 soul, bound and suspended, only exert themselves 
 on the object to which God applies them, and in 
 such manner as He applies them. This work 
 is then more simple, more intense, and therefore 
 less perceptible ; so that the soul often thinks it 
 is doing nothing, while the case is really quite 
 otherwise. 
 
 The soul is naturally active and restless ; but 
 when subdued by that Divine attraction which 
 leads it to rest, it dwells in habitual calm. In 
 prayer, no distinct object presents itself to the 
 
MAXIM II. 
 
 19 
 
 mind ; it usually sees things in a general and 
 indistinct manner. The sense of God’s presence 
 is a peaceful and permanent feeling, not ex- 
 haled in express acts of affection. The heart is 
 filled, without effort on its own part. The lips 
 speak, the hand writes, of Divine things without 
 jjremeditation : God Himself guides all: and the 
 recollection of what has been said or written 
 remains not with the agent. There is no study 
 how to root out faults, or gain virtues by such 
 and such particular means ; but God, by Plis 
 continual action on the soul, and the practices 
 He requires of it, and the interior trials with 
 which He visits it, insensibly purifies it from its 
 faults, and impresses on it those various virtues 
 which He makes it exercise on occasion, without 
 its thinking of them, or even imagining itseK in 
 possession of them. 
 
 In this way there is more of what is infused, 
 and, in the other, more of what is acquired ; but 
 yet in such a manner, that that which is infused 
 is also in a certain sort acquired, because pains 
 are needed to preserve and to increase it. 
 
 Here I am only speaking of the ordinary pas- 
 sive way, otherwise called the way of bare faith. 
 The extraordinary way, which is very rare, is 
 that in which are found ecstacies, revelations, 
 visions, and other like favours; and in which 
 the devil troubles body and mind with vexatious 
 and divers torments. I shall say nothing about 
 that, because it ought neither to be desired nor 
 feared ; nor is it right to indulge curiosity con- 
 cerning it, nor to read books treating of it, ex- 
 cept when necessary for the guidance of others. 
 
 Such, roughly stated, is the difference between 
 the active and passive ways. All men may and 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 ought to walk in the first, by the help of ordi- 
 nary gTace ; it is for God alone to open the gate 
 of the second. Yet it is true that by their own 
 fault many souls either do not enter it, or cease 
 to walk in it. It is also true, that, according 
 to the intention of God, the first would very 
 often dispose souls to the second, if they re- 
 sponded more faithfully to grace, and were more 
 generous, and brave, and simple ; and if they 
 could make up their minds to get rid of their 
 own self-will ; and if the entrance were not 
 barred by their many mistaken notions. 
 
 But as this way is far the most conducive to 
 our sanctification, because God then undertakes 
 it and works at it without medium, it is most 
 important to put away all such notions, and to 
 neglect nothing which may open it to us ; for I 
 am persuaded that God calls more souls there- 
 unto than is supposed. The necessary point is 
 to recognise the marks of such calling, and to 
 obey it with docility. 
 
 Some persons are invited to it by an inward 
 attraction, from their earliest years ; the proof 
 of this is to be found in the lives of many Saints. 
 If this attraction were followed, if good parents 
 and instructors of youth, instead of discouraging 
 it, would favour it and carefully put aside all 
 things adverse to it ; if confessors would take 
 pains to cultivate the first seeds of grace, and to 
 develop this germ of interior life ; the number of 
 souls led by the Spirit of God would be infi- 
 nitely greater, especially among women, whose 
 quiet education, and natural disposition, render 
 them better adapted for Divine operations. The 
 innocence of childhood, when the soul is simple, 
 teachable, and unprejudiced, is imquestionably 
 
MAXIM II. 
 
 21 
 
 most favourable to perfect devotion ; and if 
 children were early guided in that direction, by 
 lessons suited to their age, and with the neces- 
 sary tact, skill, and patience, wonderful fruits 
 would afterwards result from such education. 
 
 Others, later in life, after walking for a longer 
 or shorter time in the common way, find that 
 they can no longer fix their mind on meditation, 
 nor even produce the same affections as hereto- 
 fore ; they feel distaste for the methods which 
 they have hitherto followed. Something inex- 
 plicable leads them to suspend all action in their 
 prayer: God Himself induces them to this, by 
 giving them the enjoyment of most sweet peace 
 and calm. When this state is not temporary, 
 but continues in spite of repeated endeavours to 
 pursue the former road, it is an infallible mark 
 that God wills to take possession of such souls, 
 and bring them into the passive way. 
 
 Others are prepared for it by distress, agita- 
 tion, temptation, and dejection, which they can 
 neither understand nor express. God, purposing 
 to raise a new building in their hearts, shakes 
 the former one, breaks it down, and destroys it to 
 the foundation. It is the work of an experienced 
 confessor to discover God’s design herein, and to 
 persuade those who are in this critical state to 
 make full sacrifice of self, and to yield themselves 
 thoroughly to His will. This sacrifice being 
 made, agitation ceases, the soul feels a peace 
 hitherto unknown, and enters a new region. 
 
 There are some persons who, though leading 
 pious lives, are dissatisfied with themselves and 
 with their own state, and feel that God requires 
 some other thing of them, and seek they know 
 not what. An opportunity furnished by Pro- 
 
22 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 vidence at last leads them to some person who, 
 though unacquainted with them, and without very 
 well knowing why, speaks to them at once of the 
 interior life. Immediately their uneasiness ceases, 
 and they are tranquillized and satisfied when least 
 exj)ecting it ; for they have foimd that which they 
 had long been seeking. 
 
 Not only righteous men, but sinners, and 
 great sinners too, are called by God into the 
 passive way. Some, at the moment of their 
 conversion, are suddenly transformed by grace, 
 and become new creatures, like S. IMary Mag- 
 dalene, S. Paul, S. Mary ^gyptiaca, and S. Au- 
 gustine. Others, after siieiiding many years in 
 exercises of penitence, are raised gradually to a 
 state of sublime contemplation. It is difficult to 
 believe, and yet is perfectly true, that the sudden 
 and wonderful change wrought by Divine mercy 
 in sinners, is usually more perfect and solid than 
 that wrought io the righteous. Full of the sense of 
 their own wretchedness and of God’s wonderful 
 goodness, they give themselves to Him more gene- 
 rously, are more deeply humbled by Ilis favours, 
 and bear His purifying trials more bravely. 
 
 But all, whether righteous men or sinners, 
 who have walked in the passive way, entered it 
 in no other manner than by giving up their 
 liberty to God entirely and absolutely ; saying, 
 like S. Paul, “ ‘ Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
 to do?’ lam no longer mine, but Thine.” They 
 could enter it no otherwise ; for God only takes 
 what is given Him ; the violence He does to the 
 soul at that time is always gentle, and He waits 
 the consent of the heart whereof He wills to be 
 Master. 
 
 And what cause is there for fear in thus 
 
MAXIM II. 
 
 23 
 
 yielding ourselves to God? His tender invita- 
 tions, His earnest solicitations, have no other 
 object but our good, our real good, which He 
 understands infinitely better than we do, which 
 He desires more keenly, and which He only can 
 procure. Is not our salvation incomparably 
 safer in His hands than in our own? If we 
 unreservedly trust Him with our dearest in- 
 terests, do we not preserve them from all those 
 dangers to which the devil and our own hearts 
 would expose them ? Is any power strong 
 enough to wrest our souls from God, after His 
 acceptance of them, unless they themselves are 
 cowardly and faithless enough to draw back 
 Can we more strongly induce God to take care 
 of us than by surrendering oui'selves to Him ? 
 
 If we have any faith, or if we have one spark 
 of love for God, if we have any wise love for 
 ourselves: in whatever light we consider the 
 matter, how can we hesitate ? 
 
 I say, if we have any wise love for ourselves. 
 For what is such love ? It is the desire and 
 endeavour to obtain our most perfect welfare. 
 Therefore it is the love of God, and His glory : 
 and of His interests, with which our own are 
 closely interwoven. There is no doubt that we 
 shall love ourselves in heaven. But how? Just 
 as we shall love God : we shall be unable to 
 associate any differing love with that. If we could 
 form a distinct act of love for self, we should 
 immediately fall from beatitude. 
 
 It may be objected that the passive way is 
 not open to any and every person who wishes to 
 walk in it, and that I myself have averred that 
 none must enter it till God calls them. All this 
 I grant. But I say that there are certain states 
 
24 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 of mind which prepare us for such a call, and that 
 these are in our power. And I say further that, 
 even if this call never comes, we may have the 
 merit of preparing for it. 
 
 The first thing to do is to conceive a real, 
 quiet, patient wish for living under the power of 
 grace, and to offer ourselves frequently to God, 
 that He may vouchsafe to reign in our hearts. 
 The second is to do all our good works with the 
 view of obtaining this blessing. The third is 
 to observe extreme fidelity to God, and strict 
 correspondence to all His inspirations, according 
 to our present state. 
 
 For this purpose the following prayer of S. 
 Ignatius may be used : — 
 
 “ Receive, O Lord, the whole freedom of 
 myself. Accept my memory, my understanding, 
 my entire will. Whatsoever I have or possess, 
 Thou hast of Thy bounty bestowed it upon me. , 
 All this I restore to Thee, and surrender it to 
 be disposed of absolutely according to Thy wiU. 
 Only give me love for Thee, along with Thy 
 grace, and I am rich enough ; I ask for nothing 
 more.” 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 THIRD MAXIM. 
 
 (^ra^ for a \13i0e guiOe, rolom, rolni tSou la^'t foiinD, 
 tru0t, vrtiere, and olep, 
 
 “7/ there he a messenger with him^ an interpreter^ 
 one among a thousand^ to show unto man His 
 uprightness^ then He is gracious unto him.'' 
 
 111 . 
 
 OF GOOD DIRECTION. 
 
 The chief reason which should lead a Christian 
 to devote himself to God is, that He is the great, 
 and, strictly speaking, the only Director of souls. 
 Christ is not only the AVay, which He points 
 out to us by His doctrine and example : He is 
 also the inward Guide; He is the Shepherd Who 
 gives good pasture, and, by secret motions and 
 inspirations, leads ITs sheep to find it. Never- 
 theless, according to the order of His Provi- 
 dence, He makes use of the ministry of priests 
 for the direction of souls; on that ministry He 
 bestows His grace, and through it He gives 
 advice and instruction. He is ever the Master ; 
 He and He only can speak to the heart. But 
 He speaks to it especially when His ministers, 
 in the exercise of their functions, speak to the 
 outward ear ; He wills that they be heard and 
 obeyed, as His representatives. 
 
 Therefore every one who aspires to Christian 
 perfection, if he be free to choose a director, 
 ought to seek of God, that he may be rightly 
 
26 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 guided in liis choice. And this will certainly be 
 granted if the prayer is made in real faith. 
 
 There is no point concerning which we are 
 more easily blinded, or more apt to be preju- 
 diced. Therefore we ought to lay the matter in 
 God’s hands, simply and honestly resolving to 
 take the person He points out, in spite of preju- 
 dice, or aversion, or any human feeling whatever. 
 
 The same thing must be done when there is 
 good reason for changing a director. Such a 
 change is right and desirable in certain cases; 
 as, when he is unskilful, or careless, or wanting- 
 in firmness or gentleness, or unspiritual in his 
 leading, etc. Then, having thoroughly weighed 
 the matter in the presence of God, we must act 
 firmly and put aside all unnecessary considerations. 
 
 And the choice is the more difficult, because 
 good directors are extremely rare, and the ex- 
 ternal marks whereby to recognise them are 
 very defective. Think of the combination of 
 qualities which go to form a perfect director. 
 He should be a man of an interior spirit, expe- 
 rienced in heavenly things, perfectly dead to self, 
 closely bound to God, devoid of self-will, desiring 
 neither to rule nor enslave the soul he leads ; 
 seeking in nothing his own glory and interests, 
 but in all things the interests and glory of Gcd; 
 susceptible of no attachment save that inspired 
 by charity ; exercising his ministry with perfect 
 independence ; above all method and system, in- 
 finitely pliable to the inspirations of grace ; able 
 to assume different attitudes in order to meet the 
 different needs of souls, and God’s designs re- 
 garding them ; wise with Divine wisdom, gentle 
 without softness, compassionate without weak- 
 ness, firm without rigitoy, zealous without hasti- 
 
MAXIM III. 
 
 27 
 
 ness ; making himself all things to all men ; 
 condescending, in a certain degree, to human 
 misery, prejudice and weakness; perfectly calm 
 and patient ; reproving, consoling, urging, check - 
 ing, yielding, or resisting, according to cir- 
 cumstances; sustaining, encouraging, humbling, 
 showing the soul its own progress, or else con- 
 cealing it, as may be most needful. In fact, he 
 ought to be a man who does nothing of himself in 
 the matter of direction, but who seconds the work 
 of God, without either hurrying or slackening it ; 
 following grace step by step, proceeding exactly 
 as far as, and no further than, it leads. Are such 
 men common amongst us ? 
 
 Then we cannot too earnestly pray God that 
 He would find us a director of this kind ; for ir 
 is one of the greatest graces He can bestow, and 
 one which may be the source of all others. Used 
 aright, it will surely lead us to perfection. Would 
 it not be intolerably presumptuous to fancy we 
 could make such a choice by our own discern- 
 ment ; and would it not be most dangerous to 
 look upon it in any but the highest light ? 
 
 I am well aware that all persons cannot choose 
 their own confessor, and that those who decide 
 the matter for us often do not follow out the will 
 of God. And it is undoubtedly an evil to fall, 
 consciously or not, into the hands of an ill- 
 qualified director. But then God supplies what 
 is lacking in His minister ; He takes upon 
 Himself to lead us in His ways; and He will 
 never fail us, if we are faithful to Him. So He 
 directed Paul and Mary ^gyptiaca in the desert ; 
 so, in heathen countries He directs Christian 
 souls destitute of almost all external help. So, 
 in country places, where priests are careless or 
 
28 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 ignorant, the Holy Ghost is the immediate guide 
 of honest souls, and teaches them the secrets of ' 
 the interior life. 
 
 However, we must not fail to give our thorough 
 confidence to a man whom we may reasonably 
 believe Providence to have sent us ; when we feel 
 that his words lighten our darkness, scatter our 
 doubts, wake us from languor, warm our heart, 
 and lead us to serve God more worthily ; when 
 we feel by experience that such a man is the in- 
 strument of God, really aiding the secret opera- 
 tions of grace; and especially if he leads us in the 
 the way of recollection, prayer, and interior morti- 
 fication ; for that is the touchstone of true direction. 
 
 Generally, God inspires us with the will to 
 begin by making a general confession, so as to 
 inform the priest, not only of our past faults, but 
 of the graces we have received, the dangers from 
 which we have been shielded, the inv^ard draw- 
 ings which we have neglected or obeyed, the vices 
 and temptations to which we have been most sub- 
 ject. Thus he becomes acquainted with our whole 
 life, our disposition, the usual state of our soul, the 
 various attempts of grace upon us, the obstacles 
 which stop us, the exact point at which we stand: 
 he is better able to see what God expects from us, 
 and how he is to co-operate with His designs. 
 
 Through the whole course of direction, nothing 
 ought to be kept hidden, whether as to the lights 
 given us by God, or the desires and aversions of 
 nature, or the suggestions of Satan, whose sleights 
 and artifices we cannot unravel without aid. Any- 
 thing which secret pride, or temptation of the devil 
 leads us to hide or disguise, is sure to be the point 
 which it is most important we should mention ; and, 
 however humiliating, it must never be kept back. 
 
MAXIM III. 
 
 29 
 
 Also it is necessary to be on our guard against 
 suspicions, prejudices, and fancies which cross the 
 mind, or which the devil injects in order to di- 
 minish the trust we place in our director. For 
 this is Satan’s great object ; and as soon as he sees 
 that a director is working hard for our spiritual 
 improvement, he seldom fails to inspire us with 
 feelings of distrust and alienation. We cannot 
 be too much on the watch against this danger. 
 Almost always the evils arise from allowing our- 
 selves to criticise the manner of cur direction. 
 
 Why did he forbid me that ? Why did he treat 
 me in this way?” Then we argue, and judge, 
 and censure; confidence is shaken, obedience fails; 
 we lose sight of God, and look only at man. 
 
 Here I may remark, that one of the most cer- 
 tain signs of a disposition to the interior life, is 
 that candour and lovely openness which leads the 
 soul to disguise nothing, as to defects, or faults, 
 or motives; to make no excuses; plainly to speak 
 out on subjects which may humiliate it, and may 
 lessen the good opinion of others. How rare, and 
 how precious in the sight of God is this humble 
 ingenuousness ! 
 
 But it is not enough to be open with our con- 
 fessor ; we must hear his advice and his decision 
 reverently, as if they issued from the lips of God. 
 There must be no arguing with him, nor must we 
 even mentally dispute anylJiing contrary to our 
 own ideas. In things touching the conscience, 
 we must submit our way of thinking to his ; be- 
 lieve the good and evil which he tells us of our- 
 selves ; justify nothing he condemns, nor, by 
 false humility, blame what he approves. We pre- 
 tend that we did not express ourselves properly, 
 that he does not know us, that he does not see 
 
SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 1^0 
 
 what passes within as well as we do ; but these 
 are poor pretexts, through which we assume the 
 right of private judgment. The confessor judges 
 more rightly of us, than we do of ourselves ; let 
 us hide nothing knowingly ; and then, let our 
 minds be at rest. 
 
 We know very well that we are blind as to 
 what concerns ourselves, and that God wills to 
 lead us by the way of faith and obedience. We 
 act in a manner directly contrary to His intention, 
 and make ourselves not only our own judges, but 
 judges of our leaders. The devil tries to ruin us, 
 through presumption or despair, by representing 
 us to ourselves, as better or worse than we really 
 are. These indocile and unsubmissive judgments 
 of self are always dictated by self-love : they 
 lead the conscience into error and blindness : are 
 the beginning of scruples, anxieties, and all the 
 sufPerings of the imagination : they expose the soul 
 to the most subtle snares of Satan and the most 
 dangerous illusions. 
 
 The spiritual life has its dangers, and great 
 dangers too, if it be misunderstood ; and erro- 
 neous ideas concerning it are not uncommon. 
 This evil must inevitably befal any one who pro- 
 fesses to judge concerning himself of the work- 
 ings of God or of Satan, and to distinguish by his 
 own lights as to what proceeds from nature or from 
 grace. Therefore, when we have clearly and 
 honestly set forth our internal state, we must 
 submit humbly and quietly, to the decision of the 
 director. If he were mistaken, which might be the 
 case, for he is not infallible, no harm would accrue 
 to us from his error ; GoD would yet bless our 
 submission and obedience ; He would hinder or 
 repair the effects of the mistake. He has bound 
 
MAXIM III. 
 
 31 
 
 Himself to do 5 o by His Providence, because it is 
 1 i is will that we should see Himself in the minister 
 who hlls His place. This principle is the sure 
 foundation, and only basis of spiritual direction. 
 
 I allow that it requires great faith always to 
 behold God in a man who, after all, is subject to 
 error, and not exempt from faults ; it is no little 
 sacrifice to give up our own ideas and convic- 
 tion, in the very matters which interest us most 
 deeply. But without this sacrifice, there can be 
 no obedience of the judgment, and without such 
 obedience, there is no real direction. 
 
 In the last place, we must punctually and faith- 
 fully perform all the director bids us do ; and if 
 through weakness, or indolence, or for any other 
 reason, we have failed, we must tell him so. By 
 this faithfulness alone we can advance. He will 
 often prescribe things very painful to nature ; prac- 
 tices which will humble us in the eyes of our 
 neighbour; practices of continual subjection, some- 
 times so apparently petty and minute, that our 
 pride will disdain them ; practices opposed to our 
 minds, our tempers, our dearest inclinations ; and 
 if he has the spirit of God, he must act thus, because 
 the aim of God is our mortification. We must 
 be determined to obey him in all things wherein 
 we do not perceive manifest sin ; and if we think 
 it right to offer any remonstrance, it must always 
 be subject to his decision. 
 
 It would be wrong to put before him such dif- 
 ficulties and impossibilities, as are frequently 
 imaginary, and are the effect of strong prejudice 
 or temptation. At any rate, after alleging them, 
 if he pays no attention to them, we must yield, 
 and resolve to obey. This will be easier than it 
 seems. Nothing is impossible to grace and obe- 
 
32 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 dience ; and if the victory over self require great 
 efforts, it will be all the more glorious and meri- 
 torious. Virtues are God's gifts ; He almost in- 
 variably grants them as the reward of some signal 
 effort, after which the things previously found 
 most difficult become easy. Innumerable proofs 
 of this are to be seen in the lives of the Saints. 
 
 [Subjoined are a few notes from the “ Priest's 
 Prayer Book,” which may meet some of those many 
 cases ill which the conditions of true direction do 
 not exist, and may also guard against mistaken 
 apprehension of some passages in the foregoing 
 chapter. 
 
 ‘‘'I he object of direction is to form Jesns Christ in the soul 
 (Gal, iv. 19j, and especially to give a religious tone to secular 
 life. 
 
 “Direction, therefore, is guidance in qupstions of practical 
 action, afforded to Christians in doubt or difficulty, by one who 
 is wiser in spiritual matters than they. 
 
 “ Therefore, unlike the Sacramental rites of the Church, the 
 efficacy of direction depends on the personal character and 
 aoilit es of the director.’* 
 
 For example of the fallible character of direction on the 
 part of a divinely appointed confessor, cf. 2 Sam. xii. 13, and 
 2 Sam. vii. 1-5. 
 
 “ A director should confine himself to general guidance, and 
 enter as little as possible into minute details. He should 
 endeavour rather to instil maxims and principles, than to con- 
 struct a code of minute observances. 
 
 “The director should aim at strengthening the seuse of 
 pe^rsonal responsibility in those who consult him, and at in- 
 creasing the sensitiveness and vigour of their consciences. 
 
 “ The director should therefore reserve his aid for matters of 
 real difficulty, if applied to in simple and obvious cases he 
 should rather, by appealing to the conscience of the inquirer, 
 endeavour to draw the answer from his lips. 
 
 “A constant change of directors is inadvisable ; but there are 
 two cases in which it is desirable to sever the connection 
 between guide and pupil. (1) When constraint has grown up 
 between them, and they are no longer on a footing of mutual 
 confidence. (2) When tbe pupil exhibits too blind and slavi-h 
 a compliance with the suggestions of the director, and appears 
 to be substituting his dictates for the operation of conscience.”] 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 FOURTH MAXIM. 
 
 53e mintifuK of tfte ^ot) uj^o i? pixsent cIu'ip- 
 
 totjeve, and toeHetl) in tfte fceart of tje rigfttcou?. 
 
 “ Walk before Me. and he thou perfect.'^ 
 
 IV. 
 
 OF THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD. 
 
 No spiritual exercise is more frequently recom- 
 mended than that of the Presence of God ; none 
 is more useful, or more profitable for advance- 
 ment in virtue ; in fact, it is indispensable. How 
 can you grow holy, and attain to union with God, 
 if you do not habitually think of His Presence V — 
 It* is most efficacious. If God is always before 
 your eyes, how can you help trying to please 
 Him in all you do, and to avoid displeasing Him? 
 — It is most simple ; and, in its simplicity, it em- 
 braces all other means of sanctification. God 
 present with the soul, points out its duties from 
 one moment to another. — It is most sweet. What 
 can be dearer than the continual remembrance of 
 God ? what can be sweeter to one who desires to 
 love Him and to be wholly His ? — Lastly, it is a 
 practice which the willing soul cannot find other- 
 wise than easy. 
 
 God spake to Abraham, saying, “ Walk before 
 Me, and be thou perfect.” He made mention of 
 that one point only, because it contains all. David 
 says of himself, that he had set God always before 
 him. Why ? ‘‘For He is on my right hand, 
 therefore I shall not fall.” If he had continued 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 faithful to his rule, the sight of a woman would 
 not have led him to adultery, and from adultery to 
 homicide. All Saints, both of the old and new 
 covenant, have had this practice greatly at heart ; 
 but this I need not remark, for it is well known : 
 nor need I dwell on the advantages resulting from 
 it, because they are evident to all. I shall con- 
 fine myseK to two points ; first, the explanation 
 of what is meant by walking in the presence of 
 God ; second, the indication of means to be em- 
 ployed for that purpose. 
 
 The Presence of God may be considered from 
 different points. God is present to all things by 
 His immensity. This presence is necessary, and 
 extends to the just and unjust, the lost and blessed, 
 and all creatures animate and inanimate. 
 
 God is also present to all things by His provi- 
 dence. He sees all things ; not only actions, but 
 most secret thoughts. He sees good, approves 
 and rewards it ; He sees evil, condemns and 
 punishes it; rules all, directs all, according to 
 His eternal designs; and, in spite of obstacles, 
 makes all things work together for His glory. 
 
 God is present within the righteous in a special 
 manner, by sanctifying grace. The heart of the 
 righteous is His abode, saith S. Gregory the Pope. 
 This is a presence of goodwill, charity, and union : 
 this is the beginning of our merits ; this makes us 
 children of God, pleasing in His sight, and 
 worthy of possessing Him hereafter for ever. It 
 is communicated by baptism and restored by pen- 
 ance ; it is habitual, and continues as long as we 
 preserve the gi’ace to which it is attached. Al- 
 though no righteous man can answer for this 
 presence of God within him, because no one 
 knows whether he is worthy of love or hate, yet, 
 
MAXIM IV. 
 
 35 
 
 when he has fulfilled the rules laid down for pro- 
 curing it, he may reasonably believe that God 
 has graciously bestowed it on him, and he must 
 do all that in him lies to retain it. 
 
 God is present to the soul by actual grace, 
 which enlightens the mind and attaches the will. 
 This presence has its intervals; for, although 
 grace is always offered to us, it does not always 
 act, because its action presupposes certain dispo- 
 sitions on our part. This presence acts more or 
 less on sinners ; inspiring them with a sense of 
 sin, and calling them to repent. Some are cease- 
 lessly pursued by it ; they cannot allow themselves 
 a moment for thought, without hearing the voice 
 of God, bidding them turn from their evil ways. 
 Much more does it act upon the righteous, to 
 turn them from evil, and excite them to holiness, 
 and sanctify all their works. It is the more felt, 
 and the more efficacious, according as attention 
 and fidelity are more or less perfect. 
 
 Lastly, there is a presence of God, which con- 
 sists of an habitual infused peace. This presence 
 first makes itself known by its sweetness, which 
 as S. Paul bears witness, passeth all understand- 
 ing. Afterwards, it is only perceived, without 
 being strongly felt, and at last, it is enjoyed, like 
 health, without being noticed. God does not 
 thus bless with His presence all righteous per- 
 sons, but only those of whom He takes special 
 possession, and whom He desires to place in the 
 passive state. Others only experience its tran- 
 sitory effects. 
 
 The different kinds of presence being thus ex- 
 plained, it is easy to understand what is meant by 
 walking in the presence of God. It is not merely 
 the thought of God, such as may be entertained 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 by a philosopher or a theologian, meditating on 
 Divine things, without any reference to him- 
 self ; but it is the thought of God, as connected 
 mth our habits and our conduct ; it is the de- 
 duction from that thought of moral consequences 
 and a rule of life. So that, in the exercise of the 
 presence of God, a straightforward and pious 
 will must direct the understanding, and the heart 
 must have the chief share in the whole matter. 
 
 It is an error to suppose that this practice con- 
 sists in violent efforts of the mind, striving to 
 think in God continually. That is impracti- 
 cable, even in perfect solitude and entire detach- 
 ment from earthly things ; much more in the case 
 of persons living in the world, distracted by the 
 necessities- of life, by business, family worries, 
 and other like matters. Shall it be said that 
 such persons are not required to apply them- 
 selves to the practice of the presence of God? 
 This would be true indeed, if, in order to feel 
 God present with us, we must banish every 
 other thought. But such is not the case ; no 
 Christian is exempt from this exercise on account 
 of his condition ; indeed, it is compatible with 
 the most busy and active state of life. 
 
 He walks in the presence of God, who, when 
 he can arrange his own time, uses regular exer- 
 cises to recal him to God at different hours of the 
 day : such as meditation, attendance on public 
 means of grace, devotional reading, and vocal 
 prayers ; and who, as in the sight of God, em- 
 ploys himself well and usefully, avoiding idleness, 
 and curbing his imagination. 
 
 He walks therein, who, when the day is filled 
 up by necessary work (except morning and even- 
 ing prayer, from which nothing can excuse a Chris- 
 
MAXIM IV. 
 
 37 
 
 tian), offers his principal actions to God, blesses 
 Him before and after meat, thinks of Him from time 
 to time, and frequently uses ejaculatory prayer. 
 
 He walks therein, who, like Job, takes heed to 
 all his ways, watches his thoughts, and words, 
 and works, in order to say and do nothing to 
 wound his conscience and displease God. This 
 practice is no constraint for one who fears God ; 
 still less for one who loves Him ; and it is thus 
 that all good Christians act. It is nothing but a 
 faithful preservation of sanctifying grace and of 
 God’s favour ; which is the primary duty of 
 every Christian. 
 
 He walks therein more entirely who, like Da- 
 vid, keeps the issues of his heart, in order always 
 to hearken what the Lord shall speak to him, and 
 the secret warnings He may give him: who 
 studies to correspond to every inspiration of the 
 Holy Spirit, and to perform every action under 
 the rule of grace. All interior persons follow this 
 method, which is the fittest for leading them to 
 perfection. 
 
 He, lastly, walks therein still more perfectly 
 who, having been favoured with the infused 
 peace of which I have already spoken, diligently 
 endeavours not to part from it, dwelling always, 
 as it were, within his own heart, in order to realize 
 it ; carefully putting aside all that endangers its 
 loss, and eagerly embracing all that may preserve 
 and increase it. This peace, as I have said, is 
 purely the gift of God : it does not depend on 
 ourselves whether we obtain it, but it is in our 
 power, having obtained it, to preserve it. 
 
 As to the means which facilitate the exercise of 
 the presence of God, some are general and some 
 are particular. 
 
38 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 The chief thing necessary is the removal of 
 obstacles. When they are once out of the way, 
 the presence of God becomes familiar to us, and 
 as free, and, so to speak, as easy as the act of 
 breathing. We must therefore mortify the desire 
 of seeing, hearing, and knowing things which are 
 useless or which do not concern us, and, in fact, 
 all that pertains to curiosity ; for curiosity draws 
 us out of ourselves and casts us among external 
 things, and the presence of God calls the soul to 
 dwell within. We must put a stop to that natural 
 restlessness which induces coming and going, and 
 change of place, or object, or situation. This 
 restlessness is really the effects of the uneasiness 
 which overpowers the soul when it looks within 
 itself and does not find God present. We 
 must moderate eagerness and vehemence in our 
 desires. 
 
 It is also necessary to curb the imagination, and 
 gradually accustom it to quietness. If it escapes 
 in spite of our endeavours, it must be brought 
 back gently ; we must take from it that whereon 
 it feeds, such as vain shows, exciting books, and 
 too great application to imaginative arts. Nothing 
 is more dangerous than to give imagination too 
 much of its own way, and nothing is more incom- 
 patible with the exercise of the presence of God. 
 It is true that we are not wholly masters of that 
 faculty, whose wanderings form the torment of 
 pious souls ; this is a great matter for humiliation 
 and a fertile source of scruple for those who 
 are not able to despise them. But this is in our 
 power: to refuse it those objects which it ardently 
 desires, and to which it furiously clings. Be 
 careful to maintain great freedom of heart and 
 mind, not allowing the tlioughts to dwell conti- 
 
MAXIM IV. 
 
 39 
 
 nually on the past or on the future, but rather on 
 the present, which alone is at your disposal. Put 
 aside all useless thoughts, for it is equally contrary 
 to the presence of God to think too mucii or too 
 little. Do not meddle with other people’s business. 
 Set your own affairs in order, without over-much 
 anxiety as to the result ; be reasonably careful 
 about them, and leave the rest to Providence. 
 Take not too much business upon you, and keep 
 spare moments for breathing time and for recol- 
 lection. It is right to do good to others, and to 
 attend to works of mercy, but these things have 
 their measure, and cease to be right when they 
 injure the soul. So much for liberty of mind. 
 
 As to liberty of heart, let nothing enter therein 
 which shall affect it too sensibly, and agitate or 
 vex it, exciting excessive desire or fear, joy or 
 grief : nothing in fact which may enchain it or lead 
 it away captive, or turn it aside from its one true 
 object. As this exercise is one of love, the dis- 
 traction of the heart is far more hurtful to it than 
 that of the mind. 
 
 The greater the freedom of the mind and heart, 
 the greater will be the facility of dwelling in 
 God’s presence, because God is always the first 
 object that offers itself to either, when it is 
 emptied of all things else. 
 
 The particular means to this end are, the fre- 
 quent sight of such things as may remind us 
 of God ; as, the crucifix, religious prints or 
 pictures, texts from Scripture or the Fathers ; 
 the use of the sign of the cross, (according to 
 the custom of the first Christians, who, as Ter- 
 tullian says, were accustomed to begin their most 
 trivial actions by making that sign,) and the fre- 
 quent use of aspirations drawn from the psalms 
 
40 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 or other Scriptures. If a little strictness be 
 maintained at first, these habits will become 
 pleasant and easy. If daily meditation is prac- 
 tised, the most striking thought or the deepest 
 affections may be retained in the mind through 
 the day. Every one may choose his own method 
 in these matters, and follow or change it ac- 
 cording to the benefit he derives from it. 
 
 But the chief means of acquiring the practice 
 of the habitual presence of God, is the thought of 
 Christ and His mysteries, and especially of His 
 Passion. I shall speak of this more at length in 
 the following chapter. 
 
 As to persons in the passive state, there is no 
 need to teach them any particular method for 
 dwelling in the presence of God. The Holy Spirit 
 leads them to the use of all due methods: they 
 have only to yield themselves to His guidance. 
 At their first entrance into the passive way, they 
 feel too much happiness in their secret intercourse 
 with God, to be tempted to allow themselves in 
 anything that might interrupt it. 
 
 But afterwards, when they are deprived of sen- 
 sible feeling, and God drives them, in some sort, 
 out of themselves, to prevent them from noticing 
 His work within them, they must beware of 
 seeking from any creature those consolations which 
 they no longer find in God. They would be 
 punished with jealous severity ; and if they per- 
 sisted in such unfaithfulness, it would infallibly be 
 followed by the loss of their position. Therefore, 
 without subjecting themselves to any stated prac- 
 tice, let them be faithful to those which grace 
 inspires ; laying aside, of their own will, no pious 
 exercise, labouring ceaselessly in external and in- 
 ternal mortification ; ■ and believing that, as God 
 
MAXIM IV. 
 
 41 
 
 gives more to them than to others, so He will re- 
 quire more at their hands. 
 
 The habit of the presence of God is like all 
 other habits. Difficult to acquire, but, once 
 learned, easy and pleasant to retain. The sweet 
 thought of God makes all other thoughts insipid. 
 As the soul advances, it more clearly sees God in 
 all things. The sight of things created recalls the 
 thought of their Author, and the perfection of 
 His works fills the soul with delight. In every 
 event that takes place, whether in the world or the 
 Church, whether temporal or spiritual, great or 
 small, adverse or prosperous, the faithful soul per- 
 ceives her Loed. Abiding closely at His side, her 
 glory, her interests, her will are one with His. 
 For her, time fades to nothingness, and eternity 
 begins already. Such are the effects of the exer- 
 cise of the presence of God. 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 FIFTH MAXIM. 
 
 fteep cKose to out HouD, anb tira\u true !obe from it0 
 true Source. 
 
 “ JVo man cometh to the Father^ hut hy ilie.” 
 
 V. 
 
 OF DEVOTION TO OUR LORD. 
 
 Christ is the centre, not only of our religion, but 
 of our spiritual life. In whatever path the soul 
 may be led, active, passive, ordinary, or extraor- 
 dinary, He is its One Guide and Pattern ; the 
 chief subject of its meditation and contemplation, 
 the object of its affection, the goal of its course. 
 He is its Physician, Shepherd, and King; its 
 Food and Delight. And there is none other Xame 
 given under heaven, whereby men may be saved, 
 or may come to perfection. 
 
 Therefore it is absurd and impious to fancy that 
 there can be any prayer, from which the humanity 
 of Christ is and ought to be excluded, as an ob- 
 ject not sufficiently sublime. Such an idea can 
 be nothing but an illusion of the devil. Contem- 
 plate the perfections of God, if you are drawn to 
 do so : lose yourself, if you will, in the Divine 
 Essence : nothing is more allowable or more 
 praiseworthy, provided grace gives wings to the 
 flight, and humility is the companion of that sub- 
 lime contemplation. But never fancy that it is 
 a lower course to look and gaze upon the Saviour, 
 whenever He presents Himself to your mind. 
 Such an error is the effect of false spirituality and 
 
MAXIM V. 
 
 43 
 
 refined pride ; and, believe it who will, leads di- 
 rectly to disorders of the flesh, by which God almost 
 invariably punishes proud upliftings of the mind. 
 
 Know then that, as long as the soul has free use 
 of its faculties, she must turn chiefly to Christ 
 Jesus, whether in meditation or simple contem- 
 plation. That contemplation in which the under- 
 standing alone is exercised upon an entirely spiri- 
 tual object, is too high for weak minds like ours, 
 encumbered with a weight of flesh, and sub- 
 jected in many ways to material things. So that, 
 with some persons, it is less a prayer than a Pla- 
 tonic speculation ; with others, a hollow imagina- 
 tion, in which they lose sight both of God and of 
 themselves. 
 
 Besides, this contemplation is too bare and dry 
 for the heart ; it finds no food therein. The ab- 
 stract consideration of infinite perfections contains 
 nothing that excites to virtue, or that encourages 
 in trouble. The repose obtained by this supposed 
 prayer is false, and is a dangerous quietism. It 
 leaves the soul dry, cold, full of self-esteem, dis- 
 dain of others, distaste and contempt for vocal 
 prayer (which our weakness greatly needs) ; for 
 the common practices of piety, charity, and humi- 
 lity ; and indifferent even to the most august and 
 holy of our Sacraments. 
 
 If the powers of the soul are bound at the time 
 of prayer, I can understand that it is then unable 
 to think of Christ, or of any other subject. God, 
 desiring to humble the mind, to destroy natural 
 activity, and remove from the heart its immode- 
 rate love of sensible consolations, sometimes leaves 
 the soul for many years in a void, wherein 
 neither Christ, nor any other distinct object, is 
 set before it. 
 
44 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 However, in the first place, this is not the act of 
 the soul itself, but a sort of martyrdom in which it 
 acquiesces because such is God’s will. And when, 
 during that fearful nudity, Christ is occasionally 
 restored to it, with what joy it receives Him, 
 and converses with Him during the brief moments 
 of His stay ! 
 
 “ How happy when I find at last, 
 
 How joyous when I hold Him fast !’* 
 
 In the second place, the soul thus treated en- 
 deavours to make up during the day for the loss 
 from which it suffers in the time of prayer. It 
 thirsts to be joined in Holy (’ommunion to Him 
 Who, in these seasons of dearth, is its only stay, 
 its only food. It spends itself in holy ejaculations. 
 It invents divers practices whereby to invoke and 
 adore Him throughout the day in His various 
 mysteries. It seeks Him in all spiritual reading, 
 in all visits to His holy House ; it turns to Him 
 for all grace, and in all tribulation. There is no 
 soul really and truly interior, whether passive 
 or net, but strives to live in, and by, and for 
 Christ. 
 
 How could it be otherwise ? God the Father 
 gave Him to us for this very end ; He became 
 man in order to unite us with Himself. Sin had 
 parted God and man too widely. Christ as- 
 sumed our nature in order to do away with that 
 separation. No man cometh to the Father but 
 bv Him ; no man abideth in the Father but by 
 Him. 
 
 S. Paul was not only an interior man, but was 
 in the passive state, bound by the Holy Ghost, 
 and that to a wonderful degree. Yet his epistles 
 are full of Christ. 
 
MAXIM V. 
 
 45 
 
 S. John lay mystically on Jesus’ bosom during 
 his whole life, as he literally did at the Last Supper. 
 Hut who ever reached a higher state of contem- 
 plation ? 
 
 Ye who aspire to the interior life, that is, to a 
 life of real piety, enter into Christ, as the author 
 of the Imitation advises; study to know Him 
 well ; make this knowledge the usual subject of 
 your meditation, and reading, and reflection ; let 
 everything have reference to it. Never fancy that 
 you have exhausted, or even fathomed it. 
 
 Nor let it be enough to study Christ ; lift up 
 your hearts to love Him. The love of God and 
 of God made Man are one and the same. Let 
 this be the object of all your exercises. If any 
 man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him 
 be anathema.” He who loves Him faintly, is but 
 an imperfect Christian ; the true Christian longs 
 and strives to love Him more and more, know- 
 ing that He can never be loved according to His 
 due. 
 
 But love without imitation, would be vain and 
 sterile. Therefore, be imitators of Christ. He 
 is a perfect model, perfect in every feature. A 
 model for all states and conditions. To all men, 
 in all conceivable circumstances, Christ, in His 
 mysteries, and virtues, and doctrine, gives lessons 
 and examples. And, by His grace and Sacraments, 
 He gives ample means for carrying them out. 
 
 But above all things meditate on His Passion ; 
 cling to His Passion ; copy the example that you 
 see in His Passion. Go to your prayers that you 
 may draw" love from His salutary Wounds, and 
 especially from His pierced Heart. Remember that 
 His Passion is the foundation of our whole reli- 
 gion ; that the glorious Sacrifice of our Altars is 
 
46 
 
 . SPIRITUAL Maxims. 
 
 but the memorial and renewal and extension 
 the Sacrifice of Calvary. 
 
 The Crucifix is, and always ^\ull be, the dearest 
 book of pious souls ; it speaks to the senses, to the 
 mind, and to the heart ; no other language is so 
 eloquent and touching. It is within the unc^er- 
 standing of the most simple and ignorant, and is, 
 at the same time, above the comprehension of the 
 greatest intellect and the utmost learning ; it says 
 all ; it teaches all ; it answers all ; it excites to the 
 greatest efforts ; it consoles in the most bitter 
 sorrows — nay, it changes their bitterness into 
 sweetness. 
 
 Devout soul, do you desire to attain union with 
 God, and the precious gift of His continual pre- 
 sence, making all labour light? Spend some 
 time daily in prayer before the Crucifix ; take no 
 other subject of meditation ; look at it, hold it in 
 your hands, pray to Christ hanging on the Cross, 
 that He would Himself be your Master and Di- 
 rector. Bid your mind be silent in His presence ; 
 let your heart only speak. Tenderly kiss His 
 Hands and Feet ; press your lips to the Wound 
 of His Side ; and your soul will be moved, and 
 torrents of grace will flow into it, and with joy 
 shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation ; 
 you will make progress in spiritual things, for 
 the Cross contains them all. 
 
 And say not that the sight of the Crucifix does 
 you no good, but leaves your heart cold and in- 
 sensible ; and that, however much you may try 
 to express affection, you have no words where- 
 with to do so. If you cannot speak, you can 
 listen. Stay silently and humbly at your Sa- 
 viour’s feet ; if you persevere, He will not fail to 
 instruct, and nourish, and strengthen you. And 
 
MAXIM V. 
 
 47 
 
 if you do not feel this at the time, you will per- 
 ceive it gradually in your life. We are impa- 
 tient, and want excited feelings ; and therefore 
 we leave off the most profitable practices, if they 
 do not appear to succeed at once. Persevere, I 
 say : you have greatly abused the love of Christ ; 
 let Him try yours a little , He will crown your 
 perseverance, and your reward will be the gift of 
 prayer. 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 SIXTH MAXIM. 
 
 4IBafie 0 ooti use of tftose tujo .Sacraments toSereof 
 one iinnos cleansing anti tt)e other tife. 
 
 “ Now ye are clean through the word that 1 have 
 spoken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you."''' 
 
 VI. 
 
 OF THE SACRAMENTS OF PENANCE AND THE 
 HOLY EUCHARIST. 
 
 We all know that, after Baptism, which rege- 
 nerates, but can only be supplied once, the two 
 chief springs of grace are the Sacraments of 
 Penance and the Holy Eucharist, which may be 
 renewed as often as the soul stands in need of 
 them. The former cleanses it from defilement, 
 and renders it pure in God’s sight ; the latter 
 maintains its spiritual life, by uniting it with the 
 Very Author of that life. Therefore the right 
 use of these two Sacraments greatly tends to 
 sanctification; and his salvation is certain who 
 does his best to receive them worthily, and profit 
 by them fully. 
 
 It would lead me too far, were I to treat this 
 matter at length, and my subject does not require 
 it of me. I am not now writing for those who 
 only go to Confession and to the Lord’s Table, in 
 order to obey the precept of the Church. This I 
 will say, in case my book falls into their hands : 
 as long as they do only so much as is absolutely 
 of obligation, they run a great risk of not being 
 rightly disposed lor the reception of these 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 40 
 
 Sacraments ; if they have any wicked habits, 
 it is unlikely that they will be amended, as 
 long as they receive good advice so seldom, and 
 so seldom obtain the strength of the Blessed 
 Eucharist : therefore their salvation is much im- 
 perilled. 
 
 Nor am I writing even for those who are used 
 to confess and communicate on the great festivals 
 only. Perhaps their lives may be exempt from 
 glaring sins ; but they are surely wanting in zeal 
 for their own sanctification ; and they neither 
 respond to the desire of the Church, nor to onr 
 Lord’s intention in His institution of the Sacra- 
 ments. Let me advise them to read some good 
 book on the advantages of frequent Confession 
 and Communion ; to obey the pressing invita- 
 tion of the Church, and the advice of their 
 confessor. 
 
 I write for those Christians only who, being 
 resolved to lead a holy life, and knowing that 
 frequent participation in the Sacraments is one 
 of the most effectual means to holiness, have 
 adopted the pious habit of confessing and com- 
 municating fortnightly, or weekly, or oftener, 
 according as their occupations allow, and their 
 confessor authorises. I also write for those dedi- 
 cated to God, as Priests and Peligious persons ; 
 who, by their rule, are obliged to frequent Cele- 
 brations or Communions. 
 
 And in addressing such persons only, I must 
 deal with none but the most essential points ; 
 else I might fill volumes on the subject, even as 
 many volumes have already been filled. But let 
 me give this warning : be equally on your guard 
 against books which set forth too lax ideas as to 
 frequent reception, and those which frighten 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 persons away from the Holy Table, by requiring 
 such great perfection, as can only be the result of 
 frequent Communion. And what I say of books, 
 is also to be understood of confessors. 
 
 In the ancient Church Confession was rarer, 
 and Communion more frequent. The Bishop 
 was then the only, or almost the only, confessor ; 
 and if the primitive Christians, who communi- 
 cated whenever they assisted at the Holy Sacri- 
 fice, (and in their own homes besides,) had con- 
 fessed as often as devout people do now, the 
 Bishop would have had no time to hear them. 
 Their lives were holier than ours, and yet slight 
 faults daily escaped them, which they did not 
 think needful to bring to Confession. If they 
 had aught against their brethren, they embraced 
 each other, and were reconciled before offering 
 their gifts ; and as to venial sins, they believed, 
 as S. Augustine teaches, that they were wholly 
 effaced by the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. 
 Therefore they only applied to the Bishop, or 
 his deputy, for sins of some little magnitude, or 
 concerning which they stood in doubt ; and we 
 may believe that their consciences were at least 
 as delicate as those of the devotees of the present 
 day. 
 
 As time wore on, and the number of confessors 
 increased, the facility of applying to them made 
 Confession much more frequent ; and the holy 
 custom of communicating whenever present at 
 Mass being lost, the idea took root that it was 
 necessary to receive the advice or permission of 
 the confessor: and this gave rise to regular 
 weekly (or more frequent) Confessions. 
 
 Now, these continual Confessions, when made 
 matter of obligation, are subject to abuse. They 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 51 
 
 give rise to anxiety and scruples; the penitent 
 worries himself to find something to say ; dwells 
 upon thoughts that he had better despise ; and 
 exposes himself to be wanting in contrition. Often 
 there is no matter for Absolution, and yet it 
 would be distressing if the confessor would give 
 none. The worst is, that, without Confession, 
 such persons will not go to Communion when they 
 could and should do so. No one knows what it 
 costs sensible confessors to bring some souls to 
 reasonable practice in this matter ; they take 
 fright, and are scandalised ; very often nothing 
 can be done with them ; and the confessor is 
 fain to yield to their obstinacy. 
 
 Another abuse, still greater and more common, 
 is that of believing that all perfection consists in 
 frequent participation in the Sacraments. Many 
 23ersons think themselves saints, because they com- 
 municate weekly, or daily, who yet never dream 
 of correcting their faults ; and who perhaps do not 
 even know them, because they are so blinded by 
 self-love ; they are impatient, harsh, censorious, 
 full of self-esteem and contempt of their neighbour, 
 proud of the multitude of their external obser- 
 vances, and destitute of the slightest idea of in- 
 ternal mortification. 
 
 All the fruit they derive from their Commu- 
 nions and other pious exercises, consists in 
 spiritual vanity, secret pride, and all the subtle 
 vices engendered by devotion grafted on self- 
 seeking. 
 
 A third abuse is that of treating Confession and 
 Communion as matters of routine. Those who 
 fall into this error, come to the Sacraments with- 
 out any, or with superficial, examination, and 
 because they are afraid of breaking their rule 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 and attracting observation, or because the di- 
 rector has given such and such orders ; and these 
 most holy actions are performed in much the 
 same way as the most ordinary business. 
 
 But consider each Sacrament apart. Tlie thing 
 most to be apprehended in the matter of frequent 
 Confession is, tliat either the self- examination be 
 insufficient, or else exaggerated and scrupulous. 
 Persons of a giddy, thoughtless nature, and those 
 whose devotion is cold and indifferent, are liable 
 to examine themselves amiss. Some only consider 
 their external actions, and scarcely give a thought 
 to what passes within. Others have pet sins, of 
 which they do not think at all. Others have a 
 regular form of examination, which they say by 
 heart to their confessor, generally in the same 
 order and the same words. And there are some 
 who, being habitually subject to venial sins — as, to 
 breaking certain rules — and having no wish to 
 correct them, leave them out of their examina- 
 tion and confession. In general, examination 
 is ill performed, either from ignorance, or from 
 want of watchfulness between the periods of confes- 
 sion, or from indifference to advancement in piety. 
 
 On the other hand, very timid souls, lively 
 imaginations, and little minds, are apt to examine 
 themselves too severely, or too anxiously : they 
 see faults in everything ; and these faults, which 
 are sometimes none at all, are exaggerated and 
 turned into monsters : they confuse thought with 
 consent, and confound the first involuntary move- 
 ment with the determinate act ; they perplex 
 themselves in their researches ; hours are not 
 enough for them ; they go through torments every 
 time they have to confess. This examination does 
 not only weary them at the time of Confession but 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 53 
 
 all day long ; they are perpetually searching into 
 their conciences, and do nothing hut fret and 
 dissect themselves. 
 
 I grant that it is difficult to keep the happy 
 medium between too much and too little. For 
 those persons who lead a regular life, with few 
 relations to the, external world, and uniform 
 occupations, and who make daily self-examina- 
 tion, I think that the scrutiny before Confession 
 ought to take but little time : a glance should 
 remind them of what they have done during the 
 week. Persons otherwise circumstanced require 
 more time, but such time has its limits : a quarter 
 of an hour more than suffices for a weekly confes- 
 sion ; and it is better to run the risk of forgetting 
 some slight fault rather than put oneself to torture 
 in order to omit none. 
 
 Examination should be made simply, quietly, 
 and honestly, after having asked the Holy Ghost 
 for that light on which you ought to rely rather 
 than on your own research. Do not make painful 
 efforts of memory, but pray Him to show you 
 those faults which most displease God, which 
 offend your neighbour, which hinder your own 
 progress; then think of those only which come into 
 your mind. Pay more attention to habitual than 
 to transitory faults, and to those which are in 
 any way deliberate rather than to such as are 
 simply inadvertent. 
 
 But it is more important to feel real contrition 
 for sin, and make an earnest resolution of amend- 
 ment. Such souls as I here have in view do not 
 find this difficult as regards great sins, which I sup- 
 pose they hold in habitual abhorrence. But that 
 is not the case with respect to lesser sins of omis- 
 sion or commission connected with propensities 
 
64 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 which they treat tenderly, and against which 
 they have not courage to fight resolutely ; such 
 as vanity, curiosity, laziness, self-indulgence, cen- 
 soriousness, and so forth. The mention of these 
 sins is repeated in every confession. It is very 
 difficult to feel sincere contrition, or to resolve 
 firmly not to commit them again, so long as the 
 cause is allowed to subsist undisturbed. The 
 branches merely are lopped off ; but they grow 
 again directly, because the root is spared. Con- 
 trition for venial faults, habitually and inten- 
 tionally committed, is as suspicious as that for 
 mortal sins of the same nature. Grace demands 
 their correction ; nature refuses it. 
 
 It is true that we can only attain to moral 
 certainty of our contrition ; but if there be any 
 method of quieting our minds on that point, it is 
 the formation of an earnest resolution to commit 
 no fault intentionally or deliberately, and the 
 acting on that resolution. Then nothing remains 
 but faults of impulse, inadvertence, and of simple 
 frailty, to which the will does but half consent. 
 A determination to allow ourselves in no sins, 
 readily wins from God the grace of repentance 
 for those into which we do fall. Such repentance 
 is not our own work : God grants it; and He only 
 gives it to those who make good use of His 
 other graces. 
 
 Doubt, O Christian soul, of the truth of your 
 contrition, until you have fully made up your 
 mind to eschew every voluntary sin. But, if you 
 have done so, and live accordingly, then indulge 
 in no more uneasiness about the matter. You 
 must judge of your contrition, not by the feelings 
 that you endeavour to excite at the time of Con- 
 fession, nor by the acts that you then utter, but 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 00 
 
 by your habitual hatred of sin, your degree of 
 watchfulness against it, and your efforts to conquer 
 evil propensities and habits. There is no rule but 
 this ; and this rule is safe. 
 
 You are alarmed sometimes, because you feel 
 no grief, and your heart seems frozen, and your 
 act of contrition appears to be a mere formal set 
 of words. You used to feel really sorrowful: love 
 constrained your heart, and you were even moved 
 to tears. Look well into yourself : see if you do 
 truly detest the sins you are going to confess. If 
 so, be at ease, and seek no further certainty. 
 Perhaps your state of mind is better than when 
 you were touched with sensible grief. Therefore, 
 dare boldly to cast aside all fears and doubts and 
 scruples on this subject. 
 
 Besides, we do not excite contrition, as some 
 suppose, by squeezing feelings out of our hearts, 
 or moving ourselves to tears ; but by humbly 
 praying God Himself to inspire our souls with 
 true repentance, and then simply and peacefully 
 making an act of contrition. 
 
 Then comes the accusation, and it is often very 
 defective — too much or too little detailed, by 
 reason of self-love or false shame. As to the 
 defects which result from ignorance, coarseness, 
 or narrow-mindedness, the Confessor must remedy 
 them by such questions as he shall see fit. 
 
 The accusation must be short and simple. No 
 useless details, which often implicate other persons. 
 No circumlocution. If you have to say that you 
 were impatient, or wanting in charity, or so on, 
 do not make a long story of it. Some people 
 think they should make a bad confession if they 
 did not repeat exactly all that was said to them, 
 and all that they said in reply. 
 
66 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 It must be clear and precise. No indistinct- 
 ness, no ambiguity, no disguise. Let the con- 
 fessor understand the thing as you understand it 
 yourself. None of those vague accusations which 
 merely occupy space and time. Those who wish 
 to fill their confession with many subjects, are 
 much given to the use of these. They accuse 
 themselves of self-love and of pride : those are 
 vicious habits, not sins. Or of slackness in God’s 
 service : the express point should be mentioned. 
 Or of lukewarm Communion. AVhat does that 
 mean ? 
 
 It must be thorough. No necessary circum- 
 stances suppressed. Together with the fault, 
 mention the motive which induced it, and w’hich 
 is sometimes more sinful than the act itself. Do 
 nothing in any way against your conscience. If 
 any fault is particularly humiliating, or if you 
 fear reproof for it, do not leave it to the end. 
 Really humble souls always begin by naming such 
 faults. It is also right to tell your temptations, 
 and to explain wherein they consist, although you 
 may have reason to believe that they have not 
 been yielded to. Shame sometimes leads to the 
 concealment of certain temptations ; there is 
 danger in this : it is a device of which the devil 
 makes use in order to render a fall more easy, and 
 it generally succeeds. 
 
 Lastly, the accusation must be exactly true. 
 Faults are not to be exaggerated, diminished, 
 nor excused. Call that certain which you believe 
 to be certain ; call that doubtful which you con- 
 sider doubtful. Scrupulous and tempted persons 
 are apt to say, that they have consented when 
 thtc' have not done so. The confessor should be on 
 his guard, and not take them at their word : else 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 57 
 
 lie will cast them into despair. Some think that it 
 is better to say more rather than less; they ought, 
 if possible,- to say neither more nor less. Persons 
 of strong and lively imagination ought to mistrust 
 it, when at Confession. 
 
 Early instruction on the subject of Confession 
 is exceedingly important: because, at a certain 
 age, it is almost impossible to correct the erro- 
 neous customs contracted by long habit. 
 
 Except in cases of violent temptation, etc., 
 souls in the passive way examine themselves very 
 quietly, and see the state of their conscience 
 clearly ; they neither become scrupulous, nor do 
 they slur over anything, because God never fails 
 to show them the least fault they commit ; they 
 are not uneasy about their contrition ; they ac- 
 cuse themselves with childlike candour and sim- 
 plicity. Their confessions are usually short, 
 because they contain nothing needless. Unless 
 obliged by rule, they only confess when necessary; 
 when they do so under obligation, they simply 
 St ate that they have nothing on their minds. By 
 these signs, it is easy to know whether persons are 
 ill this way, or are disposed to enter it. 
 
 Some may ask, whether it is advisable to make 
 use of those exercises for Confession and Com- 
 munion, which are to be found in all manuals of 
 devotion. 
 
 I consider them useful and necessary to those 
 who seldom approach the Sacraments. They are 
 fitted also for young people, who are trying to be 
 good, and find great difficulty in collecting their 
 thoughts. Acts, well repeated, inspire devotion 
 where it previously did not exist ; they either 
 recall the mind or prevent it from wandering. 
 
 But I think that those who enjoy the blessing 
 
58 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 of frequent Communion, ought to acquire the 
 habit of dispensing with these helps ; for, in the first 
 place, familiarity diminishes their effect. In this 
 respect particularly, novelty alone is striking. So 
 that an exercise grows wearisome when it is 
 known by heart, and leaves us cold and dry. 
 
 Another great objection is, that, when we find 
 ready-made acts of virtues in our books, we do 
 not excite our own hearts to produce them, but, 
 having borrowed the feelings of the writers, we 
 fancy that we have expressed our own. So 
 these foreign feelings leave nothing behind them 
 in our souls ; while those which are born within us 
 by the help of grace, feed and develop holiness, and 
 produce that frame of mind, which, when fre- 
 quently renewed, becomes a habit, and accustoms 
 us to interior recollection. 
 
 Nor is it to be doubted that the expression of our 
 own feelings is more agreeable to God, and belongs 
 more truly to hearty devotion. What matter to 
 Him aU those regular methodical acts? The 
 thoughts that please Him are those which He 
 breathes into the soul ; not those which the soul 
 seeks elsewhere. If they are not necessary for the 
 supply of our indigence and the fixing of our atten- 
 tion, we had better do without them, and leave 
 our hearts at liberty to pour themselves out before 
 God. Free and untutored feelings are more na- 
 tural, more lively, and more effective. 
 
 Therefore I would have you try gradually to 
 leave off using books, both before and after Com- 
 munion. Let your preparation and thanksgiving 
 be made quietly, without wearying your mind : 
 and with the alone help of God, Who is never so 
 near us as in the holiest of actions. And while 
 acknowledging the insufficiency of yoiu* own at- 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 59 
 
 tempts to receive Christ worthily, and worthily to 
 thank Him for this inestimable benefit, I would 
 wish you trustfully to ask Himself to dispose your 
 heart aright ; and then firmly believe and fully 
 expect that He will do so, and remain quietly re- 
 collected ; give Him full liberty over your heart, 
 both as to preparation for His reception, and as 
 to His taking entire possession of it. 
 
 This divine method, in which Christ would 
 give us His fulness, and we should give Him 
 simplicity, humility, faith, love, and trust, would 
 be much better than our bustle and activity, and 
 the shakings we give our souls in order to produce 
 a little sensible fervour. Its effect would be perfect 
 peace ; a sweet suspension of the powers of the 
 soul ; a loving expectation of our Lord’s coming : 
 an unspeakable blessedness in His Presence. But 
 self-love must always be busy, and so spoils every- 
 thing. It seems to fear that God cannot do as 
 well as it can itself ; and therefore, wherever self- 
 love interferes, God does little, or nothing. 
 
 For the last two hundred years there has been 
 great searching out of methods for hearing Mass 
 well, and communicating devoutly. They will 
 never be found, so long as they are sought only 
 in books. The true method ought to be in our 
 hearts ; and books are useful only while they help 
 to implant it in them. Because we begin by 
 using a prayer-book, are we therefore never to 
 learn to do without it ? The following is the best 
 method I know, and I deduce it from the very 
 nature of the Eucharist : — 
 
 Consider it as a Sacrifice, wherein Christ 
 offers HimseK to His Father, and offers us to- 
 gether with Himself. Hereby He plainly inti- 
 nates that we have only to unite ourselves to 
 
60 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Ills oblation, and to make it with the same in- 
 tentions and dispositions as He Himself does. We 
 know what these are. Let us make them our 
 own, not by a multiplicity of distinct acts, but by 
 one act very simple and intense. Let us pray 
 Him to instil them into us; then let us keep 
 ourselves in a state of recollection, and leave to 
 His grace the care of occupying our minds during 
 the celebration of the Holy Mysteries. All He 
 requires is that we should not bring with us 
 profane or idle thoughts, nor allow ourselves in 
 distractions, and, that, as far as possible, we should 
 keep our hearts quiet and our minds attentive. 
 He will take charge of the rest, if we trust to 
 Him. I know by experience that if, at the be- 
 ginning of Mass, we said simply and earnestly : 
 “ Lord, cause me to assist at Thy holy Sacrifice in 
 a manner worthy of Thee : I cannot do so of 
 myself we should feel the effects of our faith 
 and humility : Christ would act upon our souls, 
 and would keep them in a reverent and loving 
 silence ; and we should rise from our knees with 
 an impression of grace upon us which it would be 
 easy, with due watchfulness, to retain throughout 
 the day. 
 
 Consider the Eucharist as a Sacrament, wherein 
 Christ gives Himself to us with the full affection 
 of His heart. Let us give ourselves to Him as 
 thoroughly and as sincerely. He longs to unite 
 Himself to us; let us long in like manner to unite 
 ourselves to Him. His delights are to be with 
 the sons of men ; let us delight in possessing Him. 
 This must be our habitual state of mind : not 
 necessarily expressed in many words. If this be 
 not our condition, let us pray simply and quietly 
 that it may become so, and endeavour to remove all 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 61 
 
 things within us that are opposed to such a state. 
 We should be humbled and ashamed at being so 
 cold and indifferent. Such should be our remote 
 and daily preparation for Communion : it is cer- 
 tainly the essential point. 
 
 As to the proximate preparation, let it be a 
 prayer to our Lord that He would prepare us 
 Himself. Will He not do it better than we can, 
 with all our methods and exercises? ^Miy not 
 ask Him ? As to our thanksgiving, we should 
 leave Him to act within us as He pleases. If He 
 desires acts. He is fully able to suggest them. 
 I see no other to be made on our part than to 
 worship and love Him from the bottom of our 
 hearts, without saying anything to Him. But 
 we want to act and to feel, and so we hurry 
 and fidget and excite ourselves, and do not con- 
 sider that true devotion, accompanied by feelings 
 of affection, is God’s gift, which must be awaited 
 with confidence and humility, and not desired in 
 order to gratify self-love. We want to be satisfied 
 with our Communions ; and we ought only to try 
 to satisfy our Lord. In His satisfaction, we 
 should find our own, after a nobler, more solid, 
 more excellent manner than we can believe. 
 
 We wish to hear Mass and to communicate 
 with saintlike fervour. The desire is good ; but 
 then we ought to begin by living like Saints ; for 
 it is folly to aspire to their tender and intense 
 devotion, without imitating them in humility and 
 mortification ; and it is the grossest illusion to 
 suppose that books will make up for the want of 
 feelings. Love lies not in books, but in hearts. 
 
 After receiving the Blessed Sacrament, we 
 should bring away more love than we took with 
 us, and should therefore intend and resolve to be 
 
62 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 more recollected, more closely knit to God, more 
 faithful to grace, more watchful over self, more 
 loving, gentle, and patient, more careful in the 
 fulfilment of duty, more generous towards God, 
 more strong to bear the crosses of the day. This 
 is love put in practice. And by communi- 
 cating thus, and drawing these results from their 
 Communions, the Saints attained the perfection 
 of love. 
 
 I allow that this method is only fit for souls 
 which have made some progress. But there are 
 pure young hearts, ay, and hearty penitents, 
 whom God Himself soon calls to it, attracting 
 them to interior silence, and kindling them with 
 sweet peaceful love at the time of Communion. 
 Such souls need fear nothing : but at such times 
 they should leave, not only books, but their own 
 acts, and yield to the working of God. 
 
 It is true that sensible sweetness at Communion 
 has its own time — should neither be sought nor 
 clung to ; nor, when no longer imparted, should 
 it be pined and grieved for. There is much spiri- 
 tual sensuality in such conduct ; it is the love of 
 Christ, not for His own sake, but for that of His 
 consolations. When the privation does not result 
 from our own fault, the Communion is none the 
 worse, though it be devoid of comfort. Its peace 
 is imparted, whether it be felt or no : and the 
 heart is filled, however empty it may feel. Our 
 state at Communion generally corresponds to our 
 state in prayer ; and the further we advance in 
 mortification of self, the more we are weaned from 
 all sweetnesses. If the heavenly food is then less 
 delicious, it is more strengthening. The soul, 
 in its trials, needs consolation less than strength, 
 which latter is abundantly bestowed in those 
 
MAXIM VI. 
 
 63 
 
 Communions in which nothing seems to be im- 
 parted. 
 
 A Communion is not to be judged by present, 
 but by subsequent effects. God soon leads some 
 powerful, generous souls beyond sweetnesses, that 
 He may give them what is more substantial. A 
 Communion is excellent when it results in the 
 thorough determination to correct our faults, deny 
 ourselves, bear the inward and outward crosses 
 sent by God, and give Him, according to our 
 present state, due proofs of love and faithfulness. 
 Such Communions as do not produce this effect 
 are at least fruitless. Natural sensibility, imagi- 
 nation (and sometimes Satan) may have the 
 chief share in the pleasure then enjoyed, which 
 only serves to lull the vain and timid soul in 
 dangerous illusion. 
 
 As to frequent Communion, the confessor must 
 regulate that, with holy discretion. It must be a 
 gradual work, advancing in proportion to the pro- 
 gress of the soul. As soon as a Christian sets himself 
 diligently to work out his own salvation, he should 
 be exhorted to communicate every month, without 
 waiting till he is quite rid of his former habits : 
 or, rather, in order to get rid of them more easily ; 
 and there may be reasons, such as occasions of 
 strong temptations, or difficult duties, which 
 render more frequent Communions desirable. 
 
 Weekly, and more than weekly Communion 
 ought, regularly speaking, to be granted to those 
 souls only, which are not attached to any venial 
 sins, but are resolved to commit no intentional 
 fault, and to obey the will of God in all things ; 
 and who moreover devote themselves to inward 
 mortification and mental prayer, so far as their 
 condition allows. 
 
64 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Daily Communion may be allowed to the same 
 persons when it is evident that they are acquiring 
 strength in the practice of virtue, and of fighting 
 bravely with themselves; and are avoiding all 
 that might in the slightest degree draw them 
 away from recollectedness and union with God. 
 As the spiritual life has its ordinary rate of pro- 
 gress, and as an enlightened director can easily 
 perceive whether such souls are advancing or 
 falling back, he ought to diminish the number of 
 their Communions, if he perceives any laxity, 
 which continues after they have received repeated 
 warnings from him on the subject. 
 
( 65 ) 
 
 SEVENTH MAXIM. 
 
 %tt intmtion lie pure, anb telioticn ^impte ani) 
 upright. 
 
 If thine eye he sinqle, thy ivhole body shall he 
 full of light:' 
 
 VIL 
 
 OF PURITY OF INTENTION, SIMPLICITY, AND 
 UPRIGHTNESS. 
 
 All the Fathers explain these words to refer to 
 purity of intention, and understand them to 
 signify, that if our object be pure, our actions 
 will be righteous. As the eye guides, and in 
 some sense enlightens the body, so the intention 
 enlightens the soul ; it guides its actions, and gives 
 them their value for good or evil. Therefore as 
 holiness of action depends on purity of intention, 
 it is of serious importance that this subject should 
 be understood : yet nothing is more difficult. 
 
 Intention lies in the deepest part of the human 
 heart, so that, if we would unveil it as fully as is 
 possible, we must be practised in the science of 
 pondering on our own souls, examining their 
 hidden motives, and penetrating their deep re- 
 cesses. This is done by few persons, and in super- 
 natural matters it can be duly performed only by 
 the help of divine light, which must needs be 
 sought always by diligent prayer. 
 
 Our self-love endeavours studiously to hide our 
 intentions from ourselves. It does so with a 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 view to its own interests ; and succeeds only too 
 Avell. We deceive ourselves in things innu- 
 merable, and we do it, though wilfully, yet so 
 subtlely, that we scarcely perceive it. Few men 
 are thoroughly honest with themselves ; self ought 
 to be the first object of mistrust, and therefore 
 we ought to be on our guard against the devices 
 of self-love, which are more abundant in matters 
 of piety than in any thing else. 
 
 If, in order to know ourselves thoroughly, we 
 must ascertain the true motives of our actions, 
 and if, though they be deeply corrupt, we are so 
 disposed to ignore this, and dissemble with our- 
 selves, how few men are there who possess true 
 knowledge of self? 
 
 The fact is, that we are thoroughly known by 
 God alone, and that in the most essential point ; 
 namely, as to whether we are worthy of love or 
 hatred in His eyes. We cannot be absolutely 
 certain that any one of our actions is pleasing in 
 His sight. This ignorance will remain with us 
 through life, and therefore it will always be impos- 
 sible for us to pronounce with perfect certainty 
 concerning the purity of our intentions ; for, if we 
 were sure that they were pure, we should also 
 know that our actions are holy, and consequently 
 that we are in a state of grace. Therefore we 
 must always say with David, ‘‘ Cleanse Thou me 
 from my secret faults therefore we have need 
 to cry : “ Who can tell how oft he offendeth?” 
 This truth is in itself very grievous, and par- 
 ticularly painful to self-love, which is always 
 seeking for assurance ; but, according to the de- 
 signs of God, it ought to humble us, and not to 
 cast us into despair. If we cannot reach absolute 
 certainty on this point, yet by study of self, and 
 
MAXIM VII. 
 
 67 
 
 by humbiy appealing to God, we may obtain a 
 moral certainty sufficient to give us peace. But 
 then we are to neglect no means for obtaining it. 
 
 What is purity of intention ? God alone is its 
 object ; it is mingled with no self-interest. In- 
 tention may be not pure, and yet not thoroughly 
 bad ; it often happens that the chief intention is 
 good, but is defiled by an accessory intention 
 added to it. Thus a priest in his apostolic work 
 chiefly intends the glory of God, but takes plea- 
 sure in the applause of men. Tlierefore, in the 
 sight of God, the first intention and the action 
 consequent on it are not perfectly holy and irre- 
 proachable. 
 
 We may judge by this example of the imper- 
 ceptible sin which steals into almost all our 
 works. If we were fully persuaded of that, how 
 impossible would self-complacency become ! And 
 this is what God intends ; for He saves us by 
 humility, and not by confidence in our own 
 merit. 
 
 What must we do to acquire this precious 
 purity of intention ? We must continually watch 
 our motives, in order to cast aside not only the 
 palpably bad, but the imperfect. But we only 
 discern our imperfections as we advance, and as 
 our spiritual lights increase. God increases our 
 lights progressively, according to the use we 
 make of them ; He adapts them to our present 
 needs, and to the degree of purity which He re- 
 quires of us at the moment. By this means we 
 gradually discover in our intentions those imper- 
 fections which at first we did not see, and which 
 God Himself hid from us. For what beginner, 
 with how good a will soever, could bear the sight 
 of those actions which he believes to be his best, 
 ' F 2 
 
68 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 if God showed them to him such as they are in 
 His own sight ? it would be enough to cast him 
 into the lowest depths of despondency. 
 
 To make myself better understood, I will give 
 an example of this imperfect power of vision. 
 The entrance to a sjDiritual life is often strewn by 
 God wuth flowers ; He fills it with sweetness and 
 consolation, in order to detach the soul from all 
 that is not Himself, and to facilitate the exercises of 
 an interior life, which otherwise would prove re- 
 pulsive. The soul, which never before knew 
 anything so delightful, clings impetuously to these 
 new pleasures. In order to enjoy them it gives 
 up all else, yields itself to prayer and mortifica- 
 tion, is only happy when alone with God, and 
 cannot bear any interruption of communion with 
 Him. If God absents Himself for a time, the 
 soul is wretched, and cries to Him to return ; 
 seeks Him uneasily, and takes no rest till He be 
 found. 
 
 Much imperfection unquestionably exists here. 
 The motive is good : God is the object sought ; 
 but the intention is not pure, because spiritual 
 sweetness and sensible enjoyment are sought be- 
 sides. The soul does not now see this imper- 
 fection ; God Himself hides it, and it would be 
 imprudent in a spiritual director to reveal it. 
 But when the soul has for some time been fed on 
 this milk, and begins to grow strong, the times of 
 God’s absence will grow longer, and will be- 
 come habitual. Then a light will be given to 
 show the previous impurity of intention, and the 
 soul wull gradually learn to serve God for Him- 
 self, and not for His gifts. This light would 
 have done harm at first, but will be useful then. 
 And at every new step fresh light is received, 
 
MAXIM VII. 
 
 69 
 
 which reveals the imperfections of the preceding 
 state. 
 
 Therefore, instead of overwearying ourselves 
 by scanning our intentions, we need only make 
 good use of the light given by God. But, on the 
 other hand, we must faithfully consult and follow 
 that ; and must immediately reject every imperfec- 
 tion which it makes known to us. Hereby we 
 gradually attain to a purity of intention which is 
 more or less perfect, according to God’s will 
 concerning us. For purity of intention is the 
 measure of holiness, and is proportionate to the 
 degree of light communicated by God, and to the 
 faithfulness of our correspondence to the same. 
 God indeed considers, not our actions in them- 
 selves, but our motives. Therefore the slightest 
 action of the Blessed Virgin was of greater value 
 in the eyes of God than the noblest works of 
 other Saints, because her intention was incom- 
 parably pure. 
 
 Simplicity is identical with purity of intention. 
 Therefore our Loed says : ‘‘If thine eye be 
 single that is, if thy sight be directed to one 
 only object, which is God. So that I might be 
 silent concerning simplicity, and content myself 
 with what has now been said concerning purity of 
 intention. But it is desirable to show that sim- 
 |)licity, which few persons rightly understand, is 
 the root and essence of all perfection. To this 
 intent we must raifee our minds to God Himself, 
 and in the first place consider simplicity as it 
 shows itself in Him. 
 
 That only which is infinite is perfectly simple ; 
 that only which is perfectly simple is infinite. 
 .Vll things finite are manifold or complex; and 
 all things complex are finite. This rule has no 
 
70 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 exception. Therefore, perfect simplicity befits 
 God only ; and accounts for the infinity of His 
 perfections. The being of God is infinite ; be- 
 cause it is simple and all in all, without extension • 
 or division. His eternity is infinite : because it 
 is simple, having neither beginning, middle, nor 
 end, and excluding the very idea of duration ex- 
 pressed by a succession of instants ; His power is 
 infinite : because it is simple, extending to all 
 things possible, and exercised without effort, by 
 a pure act of will. His knowledge is infinite : 
 because it is simple, and consists in one idea, 
 which is the idea of God Himself, in which He 
 always sees all that has been, is, and will be, and 
 all that is to abide in the order of possibilities. 
 The very essence of God is infinite, because it is 
 simple ; in Him essence is existence, attributes 
 are one with themselves and with essence, and 
 are distinguished only by definitions conceived 
 according to our own weak imaginations. 
 
 So also with moral attributes. Though finite 
 in their effects with respect to us, they are infinite 
 in themselves, by reason of their simplicity ; as, 
 holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy. The 
 end of all God’s works is likewise infinite, because 
 simple : it is to His glory that all things must 
 concur. Minds exercised in reflection may follow 
 out the sublime theory which I merely indicate. 
 
 As simplicity is the chief characteristic of the 
 perfections, and designs, and ' works of God, we 
 cannot wonder that it is the chief constituent 
 of perfection in reasonable creatures. Being 
 finite, they are incapable of physical simphcity, 
 but not of moral simplicity ; and this they are 
 bound to make their one object. 
 
 With regard to the creature, simplicity is re- 
 
MAXIM VII. 
 
 71 
 
 duced to one point : namely, that God alone is to 
 be the rule of idea and judgment, the aim of de- 
 sire, the end of action and suffering ; all is to refer 
 to Him, His good pleasure is to be preferred to all 
 things. His holy will alone is always to be sought, 
 seen, and followed out. Much is contained in 
 this short summary. 
 
 The soul is truly simple, when it has attained 
 this single view of God, and is perfected in 
 unity. Ineffable unity, which in some sort deifies 
 us by a most entire moral union with Him Who 
 is supremely and absolutely One. “ One to 
 was the continual expression of a great contem- 
 plative. How deep a meaning lies in those few 
 words ! They express all the truth and perfection 
 of holiness, and all the happiness of which it is the 
 well-s]Dring. God is One by a unity which befits 
 Him, and Him alone. He is One, and necessarily 
 draws all things into His own unity. He is One, 
 and sanctifies all things by participation in His 
 unity ; He is One, and all creatures capable of 
 being happy are only so by possession of His unity. 
 Therefore, in order to be holy or happy, the soul 
 must be one by adhesion of mind and heart to 
 Him only, for Him only, without any turning 
 back towards self. If, besides looking to God, it 
 gazes upon self, in any way soever distinguishing 
 it from God, with a sense of ownership that sepa- 
 rates its interests from those of God, that soul is 
 no longer one or simple in mind, but double, 
 having two objects ; and as long as it is in this 
 state, it cannot possibly be immediately united to 
 God : it is not so united in this world by faith ; 
 nor will it be hereafter, till purification has burnt 
 away all its multiplicity. 
 
 Therefore, if we desire holiness and, happiness, 
 
72 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 let US aspire to simplicity and unity: study to 
 simplify our views, by accustoming ourselves 
 to look upon God alone : forget ourselves, to 
 think of Him : have no will or interest but His : 
 seek His glory alone : and find our happiness in 
 His. This is the state of the blessed. We shall 
 not be admitted to the sight and fruition of God, 
 till we attain to this mind ; let us do so on earth, 
 as far as possible. 
 
 But how can we acquire this sublime simplicity, 
 the very idea of which transcends all our concep- 
 tions ? Let us pray the JMost Holy Himself to 
 undertake the work of our simplification ; let us 
 devote ourselves to Him with this intention. Our 
 own exertions will never rid us of multiplicity. 
 But the more God acts alone in us, and the more 
 we yield to the operations of grace, the more we 
 shall increase in simplicity, without seeing, or 
 wishing to see our own progress. 
 
 Sim]3licity in understanding, from which God 
 will banish much prejudice, many uncertain opi- 
 nions, and doubts, and false judgments, substi- 
 tuting in their place most simple truth, from 
 which, again. He will put aside suspicion, mis- 
 trust, and forecastings, the results of false pru- 
 dence : and will gradually reduce our multifold 
 cogitations to a gaze of simple intelligence. 
 
 Simplicity in the will, which will own but one 
 desire, one fear, one love, one hatred, and one 
 object of affection, tending towards that object 
 with invariable rectitude and unconquerable 
 strength. 
 
 Simplicity in virtues, which will all meet and 
 mingle in charity, as far as the state of this pre- 
 sent life allows. Simplicity in prayer, which will 
 be, so to speak, one only act containing all acts in 
 
MAXIM VII. 
 
 73 
 
 tself. And lastly, simplicity in conduct, which 
 will be even, uniform, straightforward, and true, 
 arising from one principle, and reaching onward 
 towards one aim. 
 
 Uprightness is but another name for purity of 
 intention and simplicity. 
 
 As Scripture tells us, ‘‘ God made man upright 
 turned towards Himself alone, with an inward 
 yearning for nearness to, and union with Him. But 
 man had the power of turning towards himself,, 
 was tempted, and fell. Thence arose original 
 sin and its consequences, which gave prodi- 
 gious impetus to this tendency towards self : 
 to which, without God’s recalling grace, we can- 
 not but yield. 
 
 I am aware that as long as a man retains sanc- 
 tifying grace, he does not lose that essential up- 
 rightness which is necessary and sufficient for 
 salvation. But every act of self-love, of self-com- 
 placency, of seeking one’s own interest unsubordi- 
 nated to the interest of God, is a deflection from 
 that uprightness, which, however slight, may en- 
 tail most grievous consequences. dTe danger of 
 the least error of this kind is twofold : first, we 
 can never, by our own strength, regain our former 
 uprightness, however slightly we may have di- 
 verged from it ; secondly, we have no power of 
 stopping, nor of carrying our deflection to a given 
 point, and no further. These two considerations 
 ought to weigh with us so deeply as to prevent our 
 ever taking one deliberate step out of the right 
 way. 
 
 Let us thoroughly examine the character of uur 
 devotion, and ascertain whether it is pure, simple, 
 and upright. And as it is possible that we may 
 be blinded on the subject, let us pray, and ask 
 
74 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 advice, and profit by the light we receive from 
 God. If we make good use of this, we shall re- 
 ceive it more abundantly, and insensibly acquire 
 the purity of intention, simplicity, and rectitude, 
 which are now, and always have been, so rare 
 among persons professing piety. 
 
c 76 J 
 
 EIGHTH MAXIIM. 
 
 ^foHoto tit eniiobtcning .Spirit of ^Tfenst. |iai0tiu0t 
 tbe ijlintJiu'S0 anti macb^vp of natural minD. 
 
 “ Irust in the Lord with all thine hearty and lean 
 not unto thine own understanding.''' 
 
 VI II. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL SPIRIT AND THE SPIRIT OF 
 CHRIST. 
 
 Most devout persons are religious after their own 
 fashion and according to their own ideas and 
 caprices. Very small is the number of those who 
 deny themselves thoroughly, and seek to follow 
 no light but that of grace. Such a line of con- 
 duct, on which depends almost all progress in the 
 interior life, is much more difficult to men than to 
 women, because they trust more to their own 
 judgment. If it be suggested to a man full of 
 confidence in his own reason and good sense, that 
 he should give up his natural spirit in order to 
 enter into the ways of God, he does not under- 
 stand or see the necessity of the thing proposed ; 
 he has no notion that the thoughts of God are 
 higher than our thoughts, and His ways other 
 than our ways. He supposes that he has the 
 right to guide himself, and the power to guide 
 others. 
 
 What is the consequence? We are never 
 thoroughly subjected to the Spirit of God ; we 
 contradict it, and fight against it in ourselves and 
 in the souls under our charge ; we form false 
 
76 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 judgments concerning spiritual things and per- 
 sons ; we obstinately reject what is good, and ap- 
 prove what is evil, or else vary perpetually, so 
 that there is nothing fixed and continuous in our 
 principles or our direction. 
 
 But what is the natural spirit V It is human 
 reason, in so far as it professes to judge of the 
 things of God by its own light without recourse 
 to the light of grace ; it is natural sense which 
 believes itself sufiicient to set down maxims and 
 rules of conduct in these matters, both for itself 
 and others : and which forms plans and methods 
 without either consulting God, or those who are set 
 over us in His place. In order fully to under- 
 stand this, we must lay down as a first principle, 
 that supernatural light alone gives us knowledge 
 of spiritual things, and of all that pertains to the 
 operations of grace ; that our ideas on these points 
 are only correct so far as God Himself impresses 
 them upon our souls ; that by this means alone we 
 rightly understand what is written concerning 
 them in Holy Scripture, and in books treating 
 on such matters ; that without this light we can- 
 not possibly distinguish, in ourselves or in others, 
 between that which emanates from God, or that 
 which springs from other sources. 
 
 Hence it follows, that if the spirit of man is to 
 form right judgment on religious matters, it must 
 be constantly dependent on the spirit of God, and 
 fully persuaded of its own insufficiency and in- 
 capacity ; it must have incessant recourse to 
 prayer, or rather must exist in a state of habitual 
 prayer. 
 
 It also follows that a true acquaintance with the 
 secrets of the interior life is not to be acquired 
 only by reading books on the subject, however 
 
MAXIM VI n. 
 
 77 
 
 correct and profound they may be ; nor yet by the 
 mere meditation in which a man simply calls 
 his own reflections to his assistance ; but light 
 from on high must be drawn down by humble 
 prayer. Otherwise he will not understand what 
 he reads ; or, presuming that he does so, will mis- 
 understand. In general he who does not lead an 
 interior life comprehends little of spiritual matters, 
 and is unable to make proper use of the little 
 that he does grasp. And moreover, even he who 
 has an interior spirit, can only understand, in 
 books, such things as he has himself experienced. 
 All that is beyond his own state is unintelligible to 
 him, unless light be given him whereby to com- 
 prehend it. And God, leading us by the dark 
 paths of faith, will not give us that light for our- 
 selves ; but grants it to those whom He entrusts 
 with the direction of others. 
 
 This knowledge, being infused, is only to be re- 
 tained by humility, faithful correspondence to 
 grace, and continual care to advance in piety. It 
 is lost, if pride appropriates it to self, if prayer 
 and other sustaining exercises are neglected, if 
 too much scope is allowed to reasoning and curio- 
 sity, and if no curb is placed on the activity of 
 the mind, which should be passive when it is to 
 receive what God has to give. Nothing is more 
 delicate than the spirit of God : it is infinitely 
 pure, and refuses all intermixture of the natural 
 spirit. Nothing is more difficult than to receive 
 and preserve it in perfect purity, because we are 
 so much inclined to mingle something of our 
 own with it. Nothing requires more attention, 
 watchfulness, and mistrust of self. Self-love and 
 Satan make it their one business to injure and 
 quench this spirit in our hearts, turning us 
 
78 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 aside from its pursuit, and depriving us of it hy 
 secret and imperceptible devices. 
 
 A volume would be necessary for the full deli- 
 neation of the natural spirit, for the definition of 
 its distinctive characteristics, and the history of 
 its fatal effects. It is the oldest disease of the 
 soul ; it preceded original sin itself, and caused it 
 in our first parents. They would not have sinned, 
 had they not discussed the commandment of God, 
 sought out the motives of His prohibition, and 
 listened to the tempter’s suggestions on the sub- 
 ject. The natural spirit taught them to scruti- 
 nise, and led them to disobey ; to it they owed the 
 loss of their original rectitude, and of their sim- 
 plicity, and happy innocence ; and the fatal ac- 
 quaintance with evil previously unknown. 
 
 This disease is most universal, most deeply 
 seated, most inveterate, most difficult to cure. It 
 is a subtle poison, corrupting the whole substance 
 of the soul, and infecting its good qualities and 
 virtues. It is the enemy of God and of His 
 grace, forbids entrance to His gifts, or robs us of 
 them ; all sins committed by man are either its 
 effects or its punishment. Ordinary grace is in- 
 sufficient for the cure of this disease. It resists 
 the most violent remedies ; and requires that they 
 be of a special kind. Its cure demands long acute 
 trials ; and while life lasts, we cannot be certain 
 that it is eradicated ; one glance at self may re- 
 vive the malady in the noblest of souls, and death 
 alone frees them from it completely. 
 
 Self-will is another misery, which opened hell, 
 as S. Bernard says. It follows closely after the 
 natural spirit, and is, so to speak, its daughter ; 
 for our judgments precede and fix our affections. 
 If the heart clings to objects from which the mind 
 
MAXIM VIII. 
 
 79 
 
 bids it turn, or feels aversion for what the mind 
 would incline it to love, it is only when the mind 
 is guided by pure reason or by grace, and both 
 these lights come from God. So the fact remains 
 that, not only deliberate sins, but sins of frailty, 
 are all children of the natural spirit. Hence we 
 may perceive how dangerous it is, and how much 
 we ought to be on our guard against it. 
 
 The marks by which it is to be distinguished 
 would easily be recognized, if seen by other eyes 
 than one’s own. We readily perceive them in 
 others, and are but too clear-sighted about them. 
 But the signs which strike us in others, escape 
 our sight when we look at ourselves. 
 
 This spirit is confident, presumptuous, argu- 
 mentative, ready and bold in judging; holds its 
 own, and is unwilling to give way, because it is 
 fully imbued with a sense of its own correctness. 
 It always insists on seeing, and is loth to bend 
 under the yoke of authority which compels it to 
 believe. It is curious and must know everything ; 
 it does not perceive its own bounds, and, supposing 
 all things to be within its depth, ventures to 
 fathom all. It would not dare to assert its own 
 infallibility ; but it decides as positively as if it 
 did so. Confession of error is its greatest humi- 
 liation ; the more you endeavour to prove it in the 
 wrong, the more it resists conviction ; even when 
 convinced, it refuses to yield, and it usually, 
 through obstinacy, shuts its eyes to recognized 
 truth. 
 
 Moreover, its sight is imperfect, and does not 
 accept things as they are, but views them in the 
 light most flattering to itself. It is deceitful, 
 false, perverse, haughty, satirical, and contemp- 
 tuous, continually on the watch against humilia- 
 
80 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 tion, loving adulation, and always secretly adding 
 to the praises bestowed upon itself. And it is 
 mistrustful, suspicious, ready to believe e^dl, to 
 doubt good, and to give a bad interpretation to 
 the most innocent things; always self-satisfied, 
 never pleased with others, unless praised by them ; 
 always holding them to be in the VTong, as soon 
 as they begin to contradict or blame. 
 
 Such, and still more horrible, are the features 
 of the natiual spirit. It would be shocked, could 
 it see itself as it is ; but the crowning point of its 
 misery lies in that it is blind ; and its wilful 
 blindness increases by reason of its deformity. If 
 you endeavour to open its eyes you irritate and 
 excite it ; it rebels against you, and all you say in 
 order to undeceive it, merely confirms it in its self- 
 complacency. 
 
 The reason is, that, blind as it is, it fancies 
 itself clear-sighted. The more it is mistaken 
 with regard to itself, the more certain it feels 
 that it does itself a justice wliich is refused it by 
 others. Its blindness arises from the fact that it 
 sees itself only by the false glare of pride, vanity, 
 and presumption, which not only hides its vices 
 and defects, but gives them the appearance of 
 virtues. If it could consult reason, and, yet 
 rather, grace, it would know itself rightly by 
 means of the double lights ; but it never does so, 
 and inasmuch as it is a natural spirit, it is inca- 
 pable of so doing. 
 
 In these words I depict almost all men, even 
 those who profess piety and devotion, and a gveat 
 number of those who think themselves interior 
 and spiritual. The natural spirit, as regards re- 
 ligion, is the very same thing as the spirit of the 
 Pharisees, of which our Lord drew so striking a 
 
MAXIM VIII. 
 
 81 
 
 picture. He attacked it strenuously by word, 
 condemned it openly by act, and vouchsafed to be 
 its victim, in order the more thoroughly to deter 
 His disciples from it. 
 
 And yet unfortunately this spirit is very com- 
 mon among Christians, both lay and clerical. 
 Those jDriests are possessed by it who look out 
 for temporal advantage and the good opinion 
 of men; who receive the great and rich wdth 
 open arms and flattering words, while they deal 
 harshly with the mean and poor ; who exercise 
 despotic rule over men’s consciences ; who parade 
 great rigour and inflexible severity, exaggerating 
 and condemning, and discovering sin in every- 
 thing. This spirit also actuates those who are 
 slaves to external practices, knowing the letter 
 only, and not the spirit of the law ; who have 
 one set routine of prayers, and will on no account 
 sitep beyond the circle they have drawn round 
 themselves ; who think nothing right but what 
 they do, and are continually looking at their 
 neighbours in order to blame them concerning 
 every point in which they are unlike themselves ; 
 who, acquainted only with set meditation, which 
 they perform in a dry manner, in which the 
 heart has little share, condemn simple, humble 
 prayer, and call it a barren and dangerous idle- 
 ness ; who boast themselves of a strained, af- 
 fected kind of spirituality, the seat of which is 
 not in the heart, but in the proud mind and 
 deluded imagination. 
 
 In the devotion of all these people, the natural 
 spirit is substituted for the spirit of God, or at 
 any rate so mingled with it as to hinder their 
 progress, bring discredit on piety, and scandalize 
 Worthy persons, who are thus disgusted with reli- 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 gion, as if it were responsible for an admixture 
 which indeed it absolutely condemns. 
 
 The first thing to be resolved by any one 
 wdio intends to lead a thoroughly Christian life, 
 and to discard from his devotions all the faults 
 just mentioned, is, not only to mistrust his natural 
 spirit, but to study how to rid himself of it : 
 fighting with it, and hunting it down without 
 mercy. This war forms the chief part of that 
 self-denial which our Lord enjoins on all who 
 seek to follow Him. 
 
 But the natural spirit cannot fight against itself 
 because it does not know itself. Keason, unless 
 enlightened by faith and aided by grace, is but a 
 feeble weapon. There is no known example of 
 any philosopher who by his own reflections ever 
 succeeded in ridding himself of his natural spirit. 
 Ihe slight conquests won in that way, far from 
 w^eakening it, supply it with fresh strength, by 
 reason of the vain complacency derived from 
 victory. 
 
 It can b}’’ no means be overcome, except it be 
 attacked with the arms of grace, and with prayer 
 that God would aid the strife by His own 
 Almighty hand. It must be laid before God as 
 His mortal enemy, declaring that its utter de- 
 struction will be hailed as the greatest blessing. 
 If this declaration is sincere and often reiterated, 
 God will take the battle into His own hands, 
 and teach us how to second Him. He will 
 endue us with His own spirit, and we shall soon 
 feel a sense of its presence. This spirit will gra- 
 dually undermine and regulate the activity of our 
 owm. It wiU stop its discussions, quiet its agita- 
 tions, rectify its ideas, correct its malignity, beat 
 ciovvn its pride, cut away its propensity for grasp- 
 
MAXIM VIIl. 
 
 83 
 
 ing ; and bring ns by degrees to that state in which, 
 like S. Paul, we may say : I live ; yet not I ; but 
 Chimst liveth in me.” 
 
 H ow is this done ? That is one of the secret 
 things of God ; so perfectly inexplicable, that 
 the human spirit cannot unravel it. All I can 
 say is, that we soon perceive the first effects of the 
 Divine work ; we feel ourselves to be q uite different 
 persons. We know that the cause of the change 
 is an interior spirit, communicated by God : but 
 what is that interior spirit? How does it work? 
 We know not. 
 
 The change at once produced by it in the ideas 
 and affections is such, that it must have been felt 
 to be understood. Scripture speaks of it as the 
 birth of the new, inward, spiritual man, who, by 
 his gradual development imperceptibly destroys the 
 old man, and, when arrived at full vigour, slays 
 him utterly. The nourishment of this new man 
 is prayer : infused prayer, prayer never intermit- 
 ted while reason retains its sway, and resumed 
 on waking after the night’s rest ; prayer made 
 within us, yet in some sort without our own act, 
 and which, when once habitual, is maintained 
 with little difficulty. 
 
 This is the unobtrusive weapon ever acting upon 
 the natural spirit. Its work is aided by tempta- 
 tions, trials, contradictions, and humiliations. 
 God employs all means to quell so formidable 
 an enemy; even the prejudices and wickedness 
 of men, the malice of Satan, and the threatening 
 arms of His own justice. So Job says: “The 
 terrors of God do set themselves in array against 
 me.” The soul seconds God in this war by yield- 
 ing itself to His crucifying operations, and super- 
 adding the practices of interior mortification. 
 
84 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 It will be readily allowed that the natural spirit 
 is as I have described it, blind, deceitful, and 
 treacherous ; that we ought to follow after the 
 Spirit of Christ, which prevents us from walk- 
 ing in darkness, and gives us the light of life : 
 that it is the intention of all who honestly serve 
 God to follow that spirit ; but it will be asked 
 why so few do really follow it. 
 
 I make answer, that the number of those who 
 honestly serve God is not so large as is supposed ; 
 not on account of hypocrisy or an intentional de- 
 ceiving of others, but by reason of the prevalence 
 of self-deceit. If men wxre so honest, would they 
 flatter themselves ? Would they spare themselves ? 
 ^^"ould they withhold from God so many things 
 which they know He asks of them? Would they 
 turn such a deaf ear to grace, and complain of its 
 importunity ? Would they use so many little de- 
 vices for the reconciling of their own interests 
 wdth those of God ? Are they unconscious that He 
 bids Christians deny themselves thoroughly and 
 constantly? Do they do so? Honesty does at 
 least accuse itself of its own shortcomings, hum- 
 bles itself and repents, makes strenuous efforts for 
 amendment, and prays unceasingly with that in- 
 tent. And I appeal to honesty ; let it answer 
 me, or rather answer God, and that sincerely, on 
 all these points. 
 
 So, likewise, I say that the intention men en- 
 tertain of following Christ is generally vague, 
 superficial, and speculative, without determinate 
 object, not springing from the depth of the will, 
 and not maintained in practice. He who would 
 follow the spirit of Christ must needs be ac- 
 quainted with it ; but in order to such acquaint- 
 ance, it must be studied ; and in order to such 
 
MAXIM VIII. 
 
 85 
 
 study, one must enter into the mind of Jesus, 
 and search out the feelings and dispositions of His 
 soul. And who are those that dwell in the mind 
 of Jesus? Who, again, are those who put in 
 practice what they know of His mind, and are 
 determined to carry to the utmost point their con- 
 formity with the Divine model ? vSuch Christians 
 are rare. 
 
 jMost persons have not even the slightest idea 
 of the spirit of Jesus ; others are afraid of know- 
 ing too much about it, because they know them- 
 selves bound to conform their lives to it; and 
 others are willing imperfectly to imitate a few of 
 its features, but will not go so far as to attempt 
 an entire resemblance. 
 
 What really was the mind of Christ, the 
 spirit which gives us light, and guides us in the 
 way of salvation? It was a perfectly interior 
 spirit, by which He was constantly united to God 
 His Father, de sooted to His glory and His good 
 pleasure ; a spirit lifted infinitely beyond all 
 perishable pleasures, riches, and honours ; leading 
 Him to choose and embrace poverty and obscurity, 
 labour and suffering, humiliation and opprobrium ; 
 detached from all natural affections and feelings ; 
 always and in all things dependent on grace, and 
 so submissive to its workings as never to think, or 
 will, or desire, or do anything apart from it ; a 
 spirit, over which the Divinity to which it was hy- 
 postatically united exercised perfect sway, bound- 
 less authority, and constant influence; a spirit 
 Avhich maintained Him in a state of perfect devo- 
 tion to His Father’s interests, of unreserved 
 sacrifice to the claims of Divine justice, of utter 
 humility, and continual mortification. 
 
 This was the spirit of Christ, which we, as 
 
86 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Christians, are bound to make our own. In this 
 respect especially He is set forth for our pattern, 
 as Head of the elect. God willed to show us in 
 Him what we ought to be, and in order to serve 
 as an example to us, the Eternal W ord vouchsafed 
 to assume our nature. Disciples are bound to 
 tread in their ^Master’s footsteps. 
 
 Some persons excuse themselves by saying that 
 Jesus was God ; but He offers Himself for our 
 imitation, not as God, but as man. We shall 
 never attain the perfections of the Divine Ori- 
 ginal ; we are well aware of that, and it would be 
 unpiously absurd to profess to do so. But every 
 man ought to endeavour to respond to his own 
 especial grace, as Christ responded to His. God 
 asks no more, but neither does He ask less. 
 
 It may be suggested that, as Jesus w^as God, 
 all things were easy to Him. Certainly He could 
 not sin, nor could He resist grace ; nor was there 
 in Him any obstacle to any virtue soever. And 
 withal, He certainly endured a state incomparably 
 more painful than that of all Martyrs and all 
 Saints put together ; human nature was over- 
 whelmed and crushed in Him, under the fearful 
 weight of God’s vengeance on sin ; if He \vas 
 GoD-man, He certainly felt, and suffered all that 
 a GoD-man could feel, and suffer. God does 
 nothing in vain; and in the great design of 
 the Incarnation and the redemption of mankind, 
 all was ruled by infinite wisdom, and measured by 
 exact justice. That wdiich He required of Christ 
 was proportionate to the grace and strength He 
 had received. 
 
 Yet, if the sight of so perfect a pattern terrifies 
 our cowardice, let us turn our eyes on mere men : 
 on S. Paul, for instance, who called on Christians 
 
MAXIM VIII. 
 
 87 
 
 to be followers of him, as he also was of Christ. 
 Let us study the mind and feelings of the Apostle 
 in his Epistles, and impress them on our own life. 
 I shall be told that he was a man converted by 
 extraordinary grace, a chosen vessel, concerning 
 whom God had high designs, and on whom He 
 lavished His bounties. I make answer that S. 
 Paul was neither sanctified by his apostleship nor 
 by his election, but by his correspondence to God’s 
 calling. And in this only, in his good use of 
 God’s grace, are you asked to imitate him. Who 
 hinders you ? Was not S. Paul a blasphemer and 
 a persecutor, when God cast him down to the 
 ground? When grace appeals to you, say, as he 
 did : “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?” 
 And then, do the bidding of grace as faithfully 
 as he did. 
 
 Will you have patterns still more within your 
 reach? Head the lives of Saints. There have 
 been Saints of all ages, all ranks, all conditions. 
 Many retained baptismal innocence ; others had 
 been great sinners ; they were subject to the same 
 passions, and habits, and temptations, as our- 
 selves : and sometimes to greater ; that is, they 
 had as many or more obstacles to surmount, and 
 it is remarkable that the Church never won more 
 Saints than in those first ages when the profession 
 of Christianity was a pledge of martyrdom. 
 
 Then you will complain that they were Saints. 
 What other models would you have? Where- 
 unto are you called, save to holiness, like theirs ? 
 They were sanctified only by living as true dis- 
 ciples of Christ, and followdng the spirit, and 
 teaching, and example of their Master. 
 
 But whence do these vain objections arise? 
 From the natural spirit ; and nothing more clearly 
 
88 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 shows its blindness. In all arts the best models 
 are sought out, studied with extreme care, and 
 sedulously imitated. And shall we complain of 
 the too great perfection of our models in the 
 chief of all arts, that art which only is important, 
 the art of rightly ruling one’s life, becoming well- 
 pleasing in God’s sight, and worthy of His 
 eternal fruition? What monstrous contradiction ! 
 We refuse to put on the spirit' of Christ, be- 
 cause it would involve the putting off our own. 
 As if an artist refused to assume the manner of a 
 great master, rather than depart from his own 
 worthless style. But so long as men will not 
 give up their natural spirit, they must give up 
 the idea of being real Christians, for there is no 
 real practical Christianity, except that which 
 consists in thinking and acting according to the 
 spirit of Christ. 
 
( 89 ) 
 
 NINTH MAXIM. 
 
 (2’aftc no account of ctternat t!)in0^; ?ecTi >£ftrcnuou0i(!? 
 after tl)o^r \n]&ic!) are to lie founb toitjin. 
 
 ** Commune with your own heart and in your own 
 chamber^ and be stills 
 
 IX. 
 
 OF THE OUTWARD AND INWARD MAN. 
 
 The natural man, the old man, the man of sin, is 
 called the outward man on account of his natural 
 bias to objects of sense; and the spiritual man, 
 the new man, that man according to grace, is 
 called the inward man, because, dwelling apart in 
 himself with God, he only cleaves to things invi- 
 sible and supernatural. 
 
 Sensible objects hold a marvellous sway over 
 man. Their power begins in childhood, when 
 pleasures and pain arise from these sources only. 
 It develops with age ; the soul is keenly affected 
 by all that strikes it from without ; admiration 
 and envy are excited by those accidents which 
 raise some persons above their fellows, as, nobi- 
 lity, office, honour, and riches. Men look on 
 these things as truly good, bestow their esteem 
 and love upon them, seek only to enjoy them, 
 and believe that happiness lies in the possession, 
 and misery in the absence of these advantages. 
 
 The work of sense and of corrupt nature is 
 already far advanced, when grace comes forward 
 
90 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 to destroy it, and raise a very different building 
 on its ruins. She teaches us that we are true 
 Christians only in so far as we despise sensible 
 things, and apply ourselves to things spiritual ; 
 ceasing to be outward men, and becoming alto- 
 gether interior men ; so that the Christian who is 
 interior in certain respects, at intervals, and as it 
 were, by fits and starts, is imperfect, while the 
 perfect Christian is interior in all things and at 
 all times; and aiming at an interior life and at 
 Christian perfection are one and the' same thing. 
 
 This is a hard lesson for nature to learn. Some 
 refuse to accept it at all ; others listen with much 
 ado, resist for a length of time, put it in practice 
 as little as possible, and that with great repug- 
 nance. It is received and fully and faithfully 
 observed by very few persons, and even these 
 pass through long and painful struggles in the 
 first place. The wisdom from above is so dif- 
 ferent from the wisdom of the flesh ; it is so 
 difficult to rise to the noble philosophy of grace. 
 
 The Christian is, in this respect, a supernatural 
 being, intended, not only for immortality, but for 
 the eternal fruition of God ; and that fruition 
 passes all his thoughts, desires, and hopes, and 
 even the exigencies of his nature : it is His 
 Creator’s pure gift ; promised by revelation, and 
 known to him by faith alone. He is prepared 
 for this end by other blessings of the same order, 
 which are called graces. The chiefest of these is 
 habitual, and is called sanctifying grace ; the 
 others are actual graces, which tend either to 
 the recovery of sanctifying grace, if it be lost, 
 or to its preservation and increase. The object 
 of these graces is to give a supernatural character 
 both to the state of the Christian and to the free 
 
MAXIM IX. 
 
 91 
 
 acts by wliicli he may and must merit the fruition 
 of God. 
 
 The Christian is born into this world, and 
 dwells therein for a certain time. But he is not 
 of the world, it is not his, he is a stranger and 
 a sojourner. Present and sensible advantages are 
 not his object ; as S. Auguscine says, he may use 
 them, but not enjoy them ; that is, God grants 
 them to him for the necessities of his animal life, 
 but his heart is not to cling to them, nor to rest 
 on them as its final end. The true riches of 
 the Christian on earth are, grace, close com- 
 munion with God, and everything which fosters 
 supernatural life within him : and those things 
 only are real evils which weaken that life, or 
 deprive him of it. 
 
 External good and evil, therefore, are to him 
 properly speaking, neither really good, nor really 
 evil; but things called good may become evil, 
 and the reverse, according to the use he makes 
 of them. It is not so with interior good and 
 evil. These are essentially connected with his 
 supernatural state ; that is, with his state as a 
 Christian, and his eternal happiness or misery. 
 
 Consequently, he ought to be indifferent to 
 sensible good and evil, because in themselves they 
 are indifferent things, which are profitable or 
 hurtful to him, according to his interior dispositions. 
 And, on the other hand, the whole strength of 
 his mind and will must be devoted to the acquire- 
 ment and eschewal of such good and evil things 
 as are of a supernatural order, and which can 
 never be indifferent to him, on account of their 
 intimate connection with his last end. 
 
 All Christians are much of one mind touching 
 this great truth, as far as theory is concerned ; 
 
92 
 
 SPII^ITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 but almost all follow other principles in practice. 
 I am not alluding to those who thirst passionately 
 for riches and honours and pleasures, and consider 
 all means as lawful, whereby their desires may be 
 obtained. These are Christians only in name, 
 and as long as they continue in such a mind, they 
 they have no pretensions to being so in deed. 
 
 Bnt, among the remainder, are there many 
 who are not proud of noble birth and title ? Or 
 who, having it in their power to aspire to honours 
 and dignities, do not wish to obtain them, use 
 many exertions for the purpose, feel delighted 
 when their plans succeed, and unhappy when 
 they are frustrated? Or who do not envy suc- 
 cessful rivals ? Or who, satisfied with an insig- 
 nificant position, make no attempt to rise, wait 
 quietly till others think of them, and are not 
 annoyed at being forgotten ? Or who, in order 
 to rise in life, make use of none but strictly 
 honourable means ? Or who look on offices and 
 employments solely as concerning the common 
 weal, and not chiefly as regards private advantage? 
 
 Touching riches, I jDass over the countless 
 number of men in all ranks of life who obtain 
 them by means forbidden by uprightness and 
 true religion, and concerning which so much 
 self-deceit prevails. But I ask : Are Christians 
 often to be found, who, having wherewith to 
 support their families decently and sufficiently, 
 wish for nothing further? Are they apt to believe 
 that they do possess a sufficiency, or are they not 
 always fancying that they have not enough ? And 
 is it not true that pride accompanies opulence, and 
 that self-esteem increases in proportion to riches? 
 
 As to pleasures, even of those permissible (for 
 I speak not of others), how much sensuality is to 
 
MAXIM IX. 
 
 93 
 
 be found amongst Christians, how much care, how 
 much daintiness ! How eagerly these pleasures are 
 sought out ! How passionately they are enjoyed ! 
 How artfully they are invented, and varied, and 
 multiplied ! How careful men are to have all 
 their comforts about them, to avoid the slightest 
 disagreeables, to flatter their flesh, and bestow on 
 it all the gratification for which it is so ravenous? 
 
 People think themselves good Christians, if, in 
 all these matters, they keep within the letter of 
 the law, and run into no excess. But this is very 
 different from the mind of a perfect Christian. 
 
 He stifles every germ of ambition in his heart ; 
 he not only does not desire honours, but fears, 
 abhors, and avoids them : remembering the words 
 of the Gospel : “ That which is highly esteemed 
 among men is abomination in the sight of God.’’ 
 Positions of dignity appear to him to involve a 
 great burden for the conscience, great duties to 
 be fulfilled, and great account to be rendered. 
 If birth or Providence call him to fill such posts, 
 he appears in the simple garb of modesty and 
 humility ; he is watchful against himself and 
 against the snares laid for him on all sides ; he 
 continually examines his conduct with most 
 scrupulous attention, thinking himself answerable 
 for all the good he does not do, and all the evil 
 he does not hinder. If he is of low estate, he 
 thanks God for it, and rejoices in it, as being a 
 state more conformable to the Gospel, happier, 
 more innocent, more conducive to salvation ; and 
 he is far from making any attempts to change it. 
 He not only hates honours, but wishes for hu- 
 miliations, because he knows and feels their value ; 
 and if they befal him, he receives them as favours 
 from heaven, and thinks himself happy if de^ 
 
SPIRITUAL MAXnrS. 
 
 94 
 
 spised, cast out, slandered, and persecuted, like 
 his Master. 
 
 As to riches, the true Christian, taught by the 
 Gospel, regards them as thorns and encumbrances 
 which turn him away, in spite of himself, from 
 more important matters ; he possesses them with- 
 out cleaving to them, uses them with extreme 
 moderation, divides them with the poor, whose 
 steward he feels himself to be, and diminishes his 
 own expenses as much as possible in their favour, 
 believing that his superfluities are necessary to 
 them, and that all he can spare belongs to them. 
 If he is poor, he is glad of his poverty, pleased to 
 feel its effects, and to want sometimes for neces- 
 sary things ; he would not allow in himself the 
 least desire of greater competency. He feels it 
 too great a privilege thus to bear some resemblance 
 to his Lord, Who chose a state of poverty wherein 
 to be born, to live, and to die. 
 
 The holy severity of the Gospel is his rule in 
 the use of pleasures. He seeks out none for their 
 own sakes, and passes through natural and neces- 
 sary gratifications as through fire. In no respect 
 will he indulge the flesh ; he mortifies it ingeni- 
 ously, granting no quarter to predilections, and 
 conquering repugnances ; but all with holy liberty, 
 unaffectedly and discreetly. No Saint, that is, no 
 true Christian, ever treated his body indulgently ; 
 and it has been the general practice of such men 
 to bring it into subjection by fastings, and watch- 
 ings, and macerations, which terrify our self- 
 indulgence and cowardice. They all considered 
 it an essential duty to bear about in their body the 
 dying of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 Such, with regard to this world’s goods, have 
 perfect Christians always been, even when living 
 
MAXIM IX. 
 
 95 
 
 in the world ; for I do not limit what I have now 
 said to those who have embraced voluntary po- 
 verty and chastity, and who have altogether left 
 the world for solitary places and monasteries. 
 
 Let not those be alarmed at this picture, who, 
 as S. Bernard says, see but the cross we have to 
 bear, and see not the unction which we receive 
 withal ; let them not fancy that a true Christian’s 
 life is one of perpetual constraint and torture. 
 Lhe licentious and the impious love to depict it 
 under such hideous colours, in order to excuse 
 themselves for having turned their backs upon it. 
 But they blaspheme that which they know not ; 
 they intentionally deceive themselves, and desire 
 to deceive others. 
 
 No ; the true Christian, following out the 
 moral teaching of religion, is not constrained and 
 tortured ; he does, indeed, do violence to his na- 
 ture, but not to his mind or his heart. He is 
 perfectly convinced that he ought to do what he 
 does, and he delights to do it. Through grace, 
 he despises, hates, and avoids the sweet and 
 false advantages of which he deprives himself. 
 God has raised his soul above such things : He 
 has shown him the nature of true honours, 
 riches, and pleasures ; and that sight prevents 
 him from beholding elsewhere anything but vanity 
 and vexation of spirit. In the school, first of 
 wisdom, and then of experience, the Christian 
 learns that to serve God is to reign, that the 
 possession of virtue constitutes wealth, and that 
 true pleasure consists in peace of mind. 
 
 The Christian made this discovery when he 
 turned his thoughts upon his own soul, and re- 
 flected on past errors, and acknowledged that he 
 had never found happiness in the enjoyment of 
 
96 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 this world’s goods ; when he listened to God in 
 the silence of meditation and prayer. It was then 
 that he really saw the nothingness of earthly 
 things, and understood that they were capable 
 indeed of exciting his passions, but never of 
 satisfying his heart. Then a deep secret touch 
 of grace taught him that man’s true happiness 
 lies in God ; and that, in order to enjoy and 
 possess it, he must give up, or at least give up his 
 love for, all other joy. From that time forth, all 
 things have seemed insipid, except prayer and com- 
 munion with God ; the world has been crucified to 
 him and he to the world ; he has been attracted 
 to God alone ; he has sought Him, and found 
 Him within his own soul, which is God’s very 
 temple. 
 
 Who shall express the delight of finding within 
 ^ one's self what had vainly been sought elsewhere? 
 Of discovering the real, infinite, inexhaustible 
 treasure, the treasure wTich only is capable of 
 filling the immense capacity of the heart, or, 
 rather, for wTich the heart is too small, and 
 wherein it plunges and loses itself. After feeling 
 what this happiness is, how should he dream of 
 leaving God for created things, and forsaking 
 the fountain of living w^aters for broken cisterns, 
 wdiich can hold no water ? 
 
 It is perfectly impossible ; unless, with mon- 
 strous faithlessness, he gradually leaves the in- 
 terior path on which he bad entered. You may 
 make meditation, and even do it w^ell, and yet 
 keep up some connection with the senses and wfith 
 matters which please them ; but you cannot make 
 true contemplative prayer for any length of time, 
 without breaking off intercourse with created 
 things. For the property of such prayer is, to 
 
MAXIM IX. 
 
 97 
 
 concentrate all the affections on God, and to 
 allow ns to love nothing save through Him, in 
 Him, and for Him. 
 
 Make the attempt, Christian soul, and you will 
 see if I speak truly. If you tell me that it is not 
 in your power to enter on this path of prayer, 1 
 answer, on God’s behalf, that He is ready to 
 second your good will, and to bring you into it, 
 if you prepare for it by such means as depend 
 upon yourself. Have such a good will ; and, as 
 you cannot assure yourself of having it, ask it 
 of God : and that instantly. This very request 
 would be the beginning of it ; and how should 
 God refuse you what He inspires you to ask? 
 If few persons possess it, it is because few desire 
 it, and those who do ask it, for the most part, 
 fear to obtain it. God reads the heart ; He sees 
 whether we respond to the feelings which He 
 breathes into it, and always hearkens to those 
 who do so respond. But He hearkens to those 
 only. Others reproach Him, as if He rejected 
 their prayers : I pray in vain, they say, I ask in 
 vain for a good will ; God does not give it me. He 
 will one day show them that, if they had it not, 
 they themselves only were to blame. I repeat, 
 that a soul which co-operates to the best of its 
 power with present grace, must infallibly obtain 
 greater graces from moment to moment ; and if 
 it carries on this co-operation steadily, it will 
 certainly attain to all the holiness which God 
 expects of it. 
 
 n 
 
( 98 ) 
 
 TENTH MAXIM 
 
 Hifiten to tDf)o teach'tft fteart toit!)out 0OunD 
 of ttJovD^. Htctilie peace, and QuatO it 
 faitdfuHp. 
 
 “ 1 ivill speak to Ms heart.''’' 
 
 X. 
 
 OF KECOLLECTION, ACTIVE AND PASSIVE. 
 
 The delights of God are with man ; He loves to 
 speak to his heart ; and therefore the secret of 
 a spiritual life consists in knowing how to retire 
 into one’s own heart and dwell therein with God. 
 How does God convert sinners ? By calling them 
 to enter into their own hearts : as soon as they do 
 so, their sins appear before their eyes, and cause 
 them great remorse ; healthful thoughts arise in 
 their minds ; good feelings crowd into their souls. 
 If they do not shrink from dwelling within them- 
 selves : if they do not flee from themselves, and 
 seek relief or diversion in outward objects, a 
 change will soon take place in their lives. 
 
 If a soul is well meaning, but unsettled, giddy, 
 prone to many faults, clinging to certain venial 
 sins : or if, having once been fervent, it has fallen 
 into laxity, God makes use of these same means 
 to bring it out of imperfection, or restore it from 
 lukewarmness. He calls it into itself. There it 
 hears reproaches, and the reproaches are just, 
 gentle, and severe. If it listens with a docile 
 spirit, it improves, and if it continues thus dwell- 
 
MAXIM X. 
 
 99 
 
 ing within itself with God, it will infallibly 
 advance from strength to strength. 
 
 This turning to listen to the voice of grace 
 within the heart is called recollection. The 
 term expresses that act whereby the soul gathers 
 and collects into itseK those powers of attention 
 which had been scattered and divided amongst 
 divers objects. There are two sorts of recollec- 
 tion ; one, active : which is the work of the will 
 aided by grace ; the other, passive : which is the 
 gift of God. The latter is usually the reward of 
 the former, after that has been faithfully practised 
 for some space of time. 
 
 The first object of active recollection is the 
 custody of the senses, especially sight and hearing ; 
 which are, as it were, the windows through which 
 the soul looks out and busies itself with passing 
 matters. Whilst exclusively attentive to external 
 things, it cannot watch over itself, nor give heed 
 to the internal teacher that seeks to instruct and 
 correct it ; it cannot so much as hear his words. 
 
 Therefore it is necessary early to accustom 
 one’s self to exercise great restraint over one’s 
 eyes, so as to acquire the power of turning them, 
 not only from dangerous, but from distracting and 
 amusing objects. By staying the restless mobility 
 of the eyes, we obtain an efficacious means whereby 
 to stop the flightiness and moderate the vivacity 
 of our imagination ; to prevent the arising of pas- 
 sion, and to set the soul in a condition which is 
 very favourable to meditation, and still more so 
 to prayer. 
 
 Eagerness to hear and know everything is not 
 less fatal to solid piety; and it cannot be too 
 carefully repressed. By means of the ears, the 
 soul is taken up with a variety of things which 
 
100 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 afterwards distract, and fill it, in spite of itself, 
 even at the time of prayer. Therefore we choose 
 quiet places for meditation ; therefore the tumult 
 of cities naturally distracts the mind, while the 
 silence of woods and fields invites to recollec- 
 tion. Besides, unprofitable curiosity leads to long, 
 frequent, and uncharitable conversations, imper- 
 tinent questions, suspicions, conjectures, hasty 
 judgments, endless discussions on public and 
 private affairs ; in these things God is often 
 offended, and they are incompatible with a spirit 
 of prayer and true devotion. 
 
 So then he who would prepare himself for an 
 interior life must give up the habit of constantly 
 running after rarities of all sorts : pictures, sta- 
 tues, fine buildings, festivities, and public repre- 
 sentations, which move the soul too violently, and 
 in which many things concur to inspire false 
 pleasures or dangerous passion. He ought not to 
 l3e eager to know the gossip of a town, the family 
 affairs of others, or public news ; nor ought he to 
 occupy his time in such matters, unless obliged 
 to do so by position or personal interest. S'ot 
 that one may not casually and occasionally see 
 and hear such things without evil result, but they 
 are not to be longed for, nor clung to, and their 
 place in the mind must be kept subordinate to 
 more important subjects. 
 
 Mental curiosity is no less to be feared ; and 
 he who would attain the habit of recollectedness, 
 must learn to keep it within due bounds. By 
 mental curiosity, I mean that immoderate desire 
 of learning and knowing, which causes people to 
 study various sciences eagerly, and generally 
 superficially : to read every book as it comes out, 
 rather for the sake of showing off than of im- 
 
MAXIM X. 
 
 101 
 
 provement. Recollectedness cannot, I think, be 
 compatible with such a disposition, which rather 
 is the sign of a shallow mind. 
 
 Let us not fall into this defect ; or, if we are 
 prone to it, let us strive against it. We must be 
 satisfied with such learning as is necessary or suit- 
 able to us individually ; we must not read a book 
 simply because it is new or much talked of ; and 
 even as to religious works, those we study should 
 be few and good. We must not be like those 
 persons who want to have every book of that 
 kind, going continually from one to another, 
 without finishing any. This is not the place to 
 dwell on the manner of reading such works to 
 advantage ; I will only say that there is nothing 
 with which curiosity ought to have less to do. 
 
 There is another temperament which, at first 
 sight, seems favourable to recollectedness, and 
 yet is very adverse to it. It is that of low- 
 spirited persons. Their imagination clings closely 
 to certain objects, frames numberless -chimeras 
 from the recollection of the past, and the ex- 
 pectation of the future ; building a multitude of 
 castles in the air, with all due circumstance of 
 place, person, and situation. These romantic 
 imaginations enable their possessors to live in a 
 state of constant occupation ; they can sit alone 
 in their room, and converse with the whole 
 world. Persons of this disposition like solitude ; 
 they are silent and musing ; they keep their 
 senses under control, or rather, make little use of 
 them, for they take little heed of outward things. 
 They seem to be recollected, but are only pre- 
 occupied ; and such as these find the greatest 
 difficulty in acquiring an habitual sense of God’s 
 presence. 
 
102 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 The practice of ejaculatory prayer is an ex- 
 cellent means for the acquirement of recollect- 
 edness, because it tends to recal us often to 
 ourselves and to God. It is a very good thing 
 to bind one’s self to the custom ; but yet such 
 prayers must not be made a matter of routine. 
 They should rise from the heart rather than the 
 lips, and are best when they consist of a simple 
 turning of the soul towards God, unaccompanied 
 by any words expressed or understood. We 
 cannot take too much pains to acquire this method 
 of prayer. If it becomes daily more frequent, 
 and grows into a habit, it disposes the mind to 
 that prayer which is without ceasing. 
 
 Whether we are reading, or meditating, or re- 
 peating vocal prayers, it is good to pause from 
 time to time, and let the soul quite suspend its 
 own action to give place to the working of God. 
 If we feel at aU touched by grace at such mo- 
 ments, we cannot do better than give way to it, 
 and quietly enjoy the feelings God gives us ; and 
 when that impression has passed away, we can 
 resume our book or our prayers. 
 
 These passing touches are a small beginning of 
 infused prayer, to which we ought to correspond 
 very faithfully ; they are momentary visits, 
 wherein God communicates Himself. And, short 
 though they are, they do us more good than any 
 of the thoughts and affections wherein the soul 
 speaks to itself. Why do we read, or pray, except 
 for the purpose of attaining to union with God ? 
 So, when lie comes, and bestows on us a certain 
 secret sense of His presence, we have what we 
 desire. We should therefore yield to this sense 
 as long as it lasts. It would be irreverent to go 
 on with our previous occupation ; by so doing. 
 
MAXIM X. 
 
 103 
 
 we should deprive ourselves of the effect of His 
 visits, and should render them less frequent. 
 S. Francis de Sales strongly recommends this 
 practice to his daughters, and even bids them 
 stop the recital of their office on such occasions. 
 
 Passive recollection is not a transitory visit 
 from God, but an habitual sense of His presence 
 in the soul. We feel that presence; we cannor 
 entertain any doubt about it ; and its effects are 
 so deep and sweet, as to be plainly due to God 
 alone. The soul is filled and strengthened by an 
 indefinable calm and peace, and suspension of 
 its natural powers, with which no natural plea- 
 sure of any kind is to be compared. These feel- 
 ings are not bestowed on the soul at the time of 
 prayer only, but accompany it in almost every 
 act. Whatever may be our situation, our occupa- 
 tion, or our company, we feel, when we turn our 
 thoughts within, that God is present in our souls 
 as a faithful companion. 
 
 This is not to be treated as a dreaming fancy 
 by those who never felt anything of the kind, 
 and cannot imagine what it is : those who do so 
 would contradict the doctrine of the Saints and 
 the experience of all interior livers. Nor is it to 
 be feared that this be an illusion of Satan : for 
 that cannot take place respecting this habitual 
 presence of God, with which imagination has 
 nothing to do. 
 
 The principal effect of this recollectedness is to 
 turn the soul inward, detaching it from external 
 things, and deadening their effect. I do not 
 mean that the soul thus ceases to feel ; this re- 
 collectedness is not ecstasy, depriving it of ordi- 
 nary sensation ; but it does not pause or dwell on 
 what it feels, because it is restrained inwardly 
 
104 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 by a charm more powerful than anything that 
 would attract it from without. By this means 
 God withdraws the soul from communion with 
 creatures, and binds it wholly to Himself, so that 
 it feels itself alone with God, and pays no atten- 
 tion to any other object. This recollectedness is, 
 properly speaking, the entrance of the interior 
 life, and is the surest sign that a soul is in the 
 passive state. 
 
 It is at first such as may be felt ; because the 
 sense of it is necessary, in order to detach the 
 soul from conversation with created things, and 
 to inspire it with contempt for the pleasure de- 
 rivable from them ; but when this effect is pro- 
 duced, recollectedness leaves the surface of the 
 soul, and sinks deeper. It is no longer felt ; it 
 is only noticed, because for a time we retain the 
 habit of thinking about it ; and at last we cease 
 to perceive it, because, as we advance, we go out 
 of self and enter into God, ami are less taken up 
 with what passes within ourselves. 
 
 As this habitual presence of God is the founda- 
 tion of all the graces which He afterwards be- 
 stows on the soul, we cannot be too sedulous in 
 preserving it. The love which the soul feels 
 towards God in these early days, leads it to 
 assiduity in prayer and other ' pious exercises, 
 reception of the Sacraments, and practice of 
 bodily mortification ; but in addition to these 
 things, it is necessary to withdraw altogether 
 from created things, and have as little to do with 
 them as possible. As far as may be, it is neces- 
 sary to lay aside most of those good works which 
 would draw the soul to external interests ; for 
 the one thing needful in this state, is an entire 
 yielding of one’s self to the operation of God ; 
 
MAXIM X. 
 
 105 
 
 and this requires retirement, silence, and cessa- 
 tion from business, except such as concerns the 
 duties of one’s position, which takes precedence of 
 all other things. Such good works will subse- 
 quently be resumed, and even multiplied, when 
 God gives the signal for them, and they no 
 longer involve the risk of distracting the mind. 
 Moreover, the senses are now to be allowed no 
 liberty, no curiosity is to be indulged, all idle 
 thoughts are to be cast out of the mind, the heart 
 is to be kept free from all attachment : all things, 
 indeed, are to be put aside which may break or 
 suspend our intercourse with God. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that this is painful. As 
 long as sensible recollectedness lasts, nothing is 
 difficult: God asks of us what He wills, in a 
 manner so sweet and persuasive, that it is as it 
 were impossible to refuse; we receive so many 
 graces from Him that we feel unable to do enough 
 in return ; in fact, we are in the first fervour of 
 love, and eager to prove to God that we do love 
 Him. So that a person in the state of passive 
 recollectedness, finds those practices very easy, 
 which are difficult to observe in active recollec- 
 tion, and which are apparently and really great 
 sacrifices, on account of their continuity. Hours 
 spent in prayer seem short as minutes : the plea- 
 sures of the world taste insipid; unavoidable 
 conversations become fatiguing ; companionship, 
 formerly delightful, grows uncongenial. Such 
 a person is inclined to refuse satisfaction to the 
 absolute cravings of nature, and yields to them 
 regretfully. What has caused this wonderful 
 change? A faint foretaste of the happiness of 
 heaven. If this is the beginning of the spiritual 
 life, what will be its consummation? 
 
106 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 One word more. You want to be taught con- 
 cerning the things of God ; therefore you con- 
 sult men, and the writings of men ; and you do 
 not apply to Him Who in one moment gives 
 light to the humble soul, teaching it without 
 sound of words, and imparting more in one single 
 contemplation than could be obtained in many 
 years from the most spiritual of men. You weary 
 and worry your mind in order to be recollected in 
 prayer ; and nothing is really necessary for the 
 purpose except a good will, and the use of such 
 measures as shall prepare the soul aright : for it is 
 absurd to try to be recollected at the time of 
 prayer, if the mind is distracted at other moments. 
 You seek to make your prayer, by your own 
 efforts ; God makes it within the soul, so soon as, 
 convinced of our powerlessness, we cease from action 
 on our own part, and yield to His ; He Himself 
 calls us to this cessation, when He intends to act 
 in us. You Avdsh to enjoy peace, and you agitate 
 and distress yourself to obtain it ; you grieve at 
 not feeling it, while you are doing all that is likely 
 to drive it away ; and you do not remember that 
 the God of peace dwelleth neither in agitation 
 nor turmoil, but causes Himself to be felt like the 
 soft breath of zephyr, which is produced by, and 
 which maintains a state of, calm. 
 
 You seek self while you assume that you seek 
 God ; therefore you find Him not. 
 
 O ! how astonished some persons would be if 
 they knew how little labour is required for the 
 attainment of simple recollectedness ! But man is 
 jealous of his own powers of action, and loves to 
 attribute all things to himself. God is infinitely 
 more jealous of His, and will have all attri- 
 buted to Him. This is the cause of all mistakes 
 
MAXIM X. 
 
 107 
 
 concerning the interior life, and of the poor 
 success of our attempts. God does nothing in 
 him who fancies himself to be something, and 
 who seeks to owe all to his own labour ; but He 
 acts, well pleased, on a soul which dwells, quietly 
 humble, in His presence, attracting Him by its 
 desires, counting not on its own efforts, awaiting 
 all from His loving kindness. In the moral as in 
 the physical world, God brings all things out of 
 nothing. W'e must humble ourselves, yea, empty 
 ourselves, before Him ; and He will cause us to 
 feel the- effect of His power. 
 
( 108 ) 
 
 ELEVENTH ]\IAXIM. 
 
 tbi? ^otJ ai^ a cWlti toit!) its ^^at!)er. 
 
 “ Wilt thou not from henceforth cry^ My Father^ 
 Thou art the guide of my youth f' 
 
 XI. 
 
 OF A CHILDLIKE SPIRIT. 
 
 It should seem that nothing could be easier or 
 more usual for Christians, than to look on God 
 as their Father, and act simply and trustfully 
 with regard to Him. It is the very spirit of the 
 new covenant, and is that which distinguishes it 
 from the old. A fundamental dogma of our 
 religion is, that God the Father has adopted us 
 in His Son Jesus Christ, and raised us to the 
 supernatural position of His children. This 
 position makes us heirs of God, joint heirs with 
 Christ, and gives us a right to heaven as our 
 country, and the eternal fruition of God as our 
 inheritance. The appellation, child of God, pre- 
 supposes and recals to our minds the chief points 
 of the faith : is the foundation of hope, and the 
 paramount motive of love. 
 
 Yet nothing is rarer among Christians than 
 these filial feelings towards God : almost all are 
 more inclined to fear than to love Him. They 
 find it exceedingly difficult to practise thorough 
 confidence in Him and unreserved yielding up of 
 self. The thing least known, and least faithfully 
 
MAXIM XI. 
 
 109 
 
 observed in the spiritual life, and most difficult 
 to human nature, is the casting all our care upon 
 Him, in firm faith that nothing can be ordered 
 for us by Him, which shall not work our good, 
 unless we ourselves prevent it. 
 
 This arises from self-love, which persuades us 
 that our interests are safe only so long as we have 
 them in our own hands. We cannot make up our 
 minds to trust them to God, to look on Him as 
 our Father, and to believe in His love. We 
 think He deals with us as a father, only when He 
 caresses us, sends us sweet things, and gives us 
 all we please to ask. But when, to teach us to 
 love and serve Him for His own sake, without 
 self-interest. He withdraws the comforts of which 
 we have made ill use, refuses what would injure, 
 and offers us what is useful, but what we will not 
 accept ; then we cease to consider Him a father ; 
 we see in Him a harsh pitiless master ; His service 
 is repulsive ; we are perpetually tempted to give 
 it up ; our sj)iritual guides find great difficulty in 
 holding up our steps that they slip not ; and we 
 have much ado to obey them, when they take 
 God’s part against us. 
 
 And yet so it is, that God never shows Him- 
 self more truly a father, than in the trials He 
 sends us ; crosses are the most precious favours He 
 can bestow on us in this world ; the more He lays 
 on those who have given themselves to Him, the 
 more He shows His love towards them. Was not 
 Christ His beloved Son, in Whom He was well 
 pleased ? How did He deal with Him through- 
 out His human life? Was He less His Father, 
 when He gave Him up into the hands of wich:ed 
 men, when He seemed to forsake Him on the 
 Cross, and suffered Him to die in torture and in 
 
no 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 shame ? Surely not : and it may truly be said, 
 that if Calvary was the scene of Christ’s love 
 for His Father, it was also the place where the 
 Father’s love for His Son was the most clearly 
 proved. Judge by the consequences. Certainly 
 all the glory, and power, and blessing which our 
 Lord possesses, as man, He owes to His Cross. 
 “ Ought not Christ,” saith He, “to have suffered 
 these things, and to have entered into His glory ?” 
 His Father required that temporary proof of obe- 
 dience at His hands, that in His turn He might 
 give Him an eternal proof of His magnificence in 
 rewarding it. 
 
 Consider the education of a child. While 
 weak and tender, he is nursed, carried about from 
 place to place, petted, indulged, and soothed. 
 But when he grows bigger, he is placed under 
 rule ; he is obliged to do things which are un- 
 pleasant, and of which he does not as yet see the 
 use ; he is broken in to obedience, and habituated 
 to conquer his desire, and follow the guidance of 
 reason ; when necessary, he is treated severely, 
 threatened, and chastised. Why? but in order 
 to draw out his powers, make a man of him, and 
 prepare a useful and happy life for him in the 
 future. 
 
 God acts in the same manner towards His 
 children. He intends them for citizens of the 
 heavenly Jerusalem. When they begin to give 
 themselves up to Him, He makes the greatest 
 allowances for their weakness. He lavishes sweet- 
 ness and comfort upon them, in order to win their 
 hearts ; He makes all things easy to them ; He 
 puts temptation away ; He pleases them, and, 
 as it were, makes Himself a child with them. 
 But when they grow stronger, and are capable of 
 
MAXIM XI. 
 
 Ill 
 
 receiving soli<l lessons in the interior life, He 
 adoj^ts another plan : attacks nature, and pursues 
 all its defects and vicious propensities, sparing 
 none. He prescribes difficult duties, and requires 
 their fulfilment with extreme severity. The lan- 
 guage of grace is no longer tender and persuasive ; 
 it is strong, imperious, and threatening ; the 
 slightest resistance is rigorously punished. He 
 fits His exercises, trials, and temptations to their 
 strength and condition ; and, the more He has 
 endowed them with powers natural and super- 
 natural, the more He demands of them, till they 
 are moulded to all virtues, and have passed through 
 all degrees of holiness. And when they have 
 reached that point of perfection to which He 
 desires to bring them, their spiritual education is 
 finished ; He removes them into His kingdom, 
 where He crowns their struggles and obedience, 
 and makes them everlastingly partakers of His 
 glory. 
 
 Thus, then, the interior life, in its whole course, 
 is an education paternal and divine, inspired and 
 ruled by love. God, on His side, perfectly fulfils 
 the part of a Father. Let us endeavour to do all 
 we ought as children of such a Parent. 
 
 And let us take children for our patterns once 
 more. What are the feelings which a well- 
 disposed child entertains for his father? In the 
 first place, great simplicity, ingenuousness, and 
 candour. The child has no notion of conceal- 
 ment or dissimulation with his father : he opens 
 his heart to him, and tells him all he feels. We 
 ought to do the same with God. In fear, or joy, 
 or sorrow, we should go to Him with the open- 
 ness and simplicity of children. He knows better 
 than we do what is passing within us ; but He 
 
112 
 
 SPlKfTUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 likes US to speak to Him about it : He desires to 
 be our friend and confidant. AVe should not 
 even fear sometimes to address Him with loving 
 reproaches ; such holy liberty is agreeable to 
 Him ; and nothing displeases Him more than cold 
 reserve. 
 
 The next point in a child’s disposition is con- 
 fidence. Timid and distrustful with others, he 
 places boundless reliance in his father. He knows 
 that his father loves him, cares for him, labours 
 for him, plans for him, only, and has no other aim 
 in view but his happiness. Therefore he neither 
 cares nor troubles himself about his own welfare, 
 but simply trusts to his father, who provides for 
 his wants, and his harmless pleasures, forestals 
 his slightest wishes, and reads them in his eyes. 
 He knows, not by reasoning, but by instinct and 
 experience, that his father means everything for 
 his good: advice, lessons, correction, restraint, 
 severity, and even apparent injury. 
 
 O ! how safe we should feel, if we had but 
 equal confidence in our heavenly Father, AA^ho 
 deserves it infinitely more than any earthly 
 parent ! if we would leave to His providence the 
 care of our spiritual interests: expecting to 
 attain salvation and perfection from His grace 
 much more than from our own efforts: fully 
 convinced that He arranges and orders all 
 things for our good : whether they be commands 
 which curb our passions inconveniently, or duties 
 painful of fulfilment, or sorrows and troubles 
 sent by Him, or secret providences, whereby He 
 disconcerts our plans, crosses our designs, and 
 overthrows our undertakings. If we believed 
 these things, how much God would be glori- 
 fied by our confidence, and what peculiar and 
 
MAXIM XI. 
 
 113 
 
 especial care and protection He would bestow 
 upon us ! 
 
 Obedience is the next point in a child’s dis- 
 position : obedience, based on love, not on fear or 
 self-interest ; embracing all its father's will, and 
 not considering whether the performance of it is 
 easy or difliculfc, pleasant or disagreeable ; gene- 
 rous, ready, bold obedience, free from excuses and 
 complaints ; satisfied with the pleasure of giving 
 pleasure to a dear and respected father. 
 
 Do most Christians obey God on this wise? 
 Far from it. Why not? Because they forget 
 that God is their Father, and look on Him in 
 quite another light. Some fear damnation more 
 than they desire salvation ; because they are more 
 struck by the idea of hell -fire than by that of the 
 j oy of heaven. F ear is the root of their obedience ; 
 they look on God as a harsh master and a severe 
 judge. 
 
 Now, fear has power to keep us from evil, but 
 not to lead us to good ; it is a curb, but not a 
 spur. It is the beginning, but only the begin- 
 ning, of wisdom. God does not intend us to 
 dwell in it ; from fear we ought to pass on to love. 
 In fact, we are not fearing God when we only 
 fear His chastisement ; and we do not obey Him 
 according to His will when we only yield to His 
 warnings. So that this obedience is as imperfect 
 as its motive. It allows the full weight of the 
 yoke to be felt, and does not remove from the 
 heart a secret desire of casting it off. It limits 
 itself to the letter of the law ; and, as men 
 naturally interpret it in their own favour, its 
 obligations are often imperfectly fulfilled. 
 
 Others do indeed consider God as their rewarder ; 
 they serve Him for hope’s sake. But they care 
 
 1 
 
114 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 less for Him than for the good things He promises 
 them. In looking forward to and hoping for the 
 fruition of God, they consider their own happi- 
 ness more than they love Him. They are actuated 
 by self-interest, and think of little else. 
 
 This motive has its advantages, for it incites 
 them to well-doing ; but it is not sufficiently 
 pure ; and their obedience, having no other stay, 
 is weak and tottering, and often painful. True 
 faith, which works by love, has very little in- 
 fluence on their conduct; the good and evil 
 things of this present time weigh in their minds 
 against the sense of good things to come. There- 
 fore they find great difficulty in the practice of 
 virtue, which consists chiefiy in the contempt of 
 temporal prosperity and the endurance of adver- 
 sity ; and they are hardly proof against some 
 refined temptations, the victory over which is 
 reserved to the love of God. 
 
 Not in fear, nor self-interest, but in love, is 
 rooted the true principle of that obedience which 
 is due to God : and nothing is fitter to inspire us 
 with such love, than the paternal character which 
 God vouchsafes to assume. — From all eternity 
 He has loved me, not merely as His creature, but 
 as Ilis child : He tells me in His Scriptures that 
 though a mother may forget her sucking child, 
 yet will He never forget us ; He has adopted me 
 in Jesus Christ, His only Son, in order to make 
 me co-heir with that Son in the heavenly in- 
 heritance, and to share His own beatitude with 
 me for ever. 1 think of these things, and then con- 
 sider the wonderful economy of His fatherly love, 
 the price paid by His Son to obtain this divine adop- 
 tion forme, and the inestimable graces which accom- 
 panied and followed that merciful gift : and what 
 
MAXLM XI. 
 
 115 
 
 can I withhold from such a Father, Whose only 
 motive in all He asks of me, is the love He bears 
 me, and the good He wills to bestow on me ? I see 
 nothing in His law but the sweetest and plainest 
 of my duties : — love to Him ; for love is the ful- 
 filling of the law. 
 
 Therefore, I do not limit myself to the per- 
 formance of those things which He commands 
 under pain of His displeasure. I study what 
 may please Him ; the least sign He gives is a law 
 to me ; I refuse Him nothing, and complain of 
 nothing ; I gladly submit to all, even the most 
 painful dispensations of His providence ; for the 
 name of Father always bids me look upon them 
 as marks of His love, and trials of mine. So 
 Job felt, when, in the depth of his afflictions He 
 said : “ Shall we receive good at the hand of God, 
 and shall we not receive evil ?” and, “ Though He 
 slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” So far ought a 
 Christian to carry His confidence and submission 
 towards such a father as God. 
 
 How weak is human respect, when it attacks a 
 heart full of filial love ! The true child of God 
 is inaccessible to the attractions and seductions 
 of the world ; he neither fears its threats nor 
 its ridicule. He holds up his head, when His 
 Father’s honour is at stake, and declares his mind 
 boldly. If he hides himself from the sight of 
 men, he does so through humility, and never 
 through weakness; he does nothing in order to 
 be seen, but he does not trouble himself whether 
 he is seen or not, whether he is praised or blamed, 
 esteemed or contemned. To him, the world is as 
 though it were not ; abroad or alone, his eyes are 
 always fixed on his Father, and he is taken up 
 with Him alone. 
 
116 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 How indeed should he trouble himself about 
 pleasing the world, when he does not wish to 
 please himself ? He dreads nothing so much as 
 self- contemplation : he avoids and forgets him- 
 self, and would shrink from diminishing His 
 Father’s glory in the slightest degree by any 
 feeling of complacency ; and if he ever surprises 
 himself in doing so, he looks upon the fault as a 
 crime. 
 
 The delicacy of his love goes further still. He 
 is content to please God, .without being eager to 
 know whether he does please Him. He neglects 
 no means whereby he may be acceptable in God’s 
 sight, but He asks for no sign or assurance that 
 such is the case. His self-love might brood 
 upon the gratifying knowledge, and so his love 
 for God might lose in purity. 
 
( 117 ) 
 
 TWELFTH MAXIM. 
 
 C5etoare of resisting tf;e tealJing? of grace : fee 
 tfeorougblp generou? in great tf)ing^ and in B'malK. 
 
 “ He that despiseth the day of small things shall 
 fall by little and littlef* 
 
 XII. 
 
 OF FIDELITY. 
 
 It is the property of grace to strive against nature. 
 Therefore we must expect that it will frequently, 
 or rather continually, demand of us such things 
 as are contrary to our vicious or imperfect incS- 
 nations ; and that, consequently, nature will 
 offer a violent resistance, and will not yield till 
 the last moment. But the intention must always 
 be on the side of grace. By the word intention, 
 I do not mean fruitless desires, or constrained 
 aversions, but a firm determinate resolution ; not 
 I ivould, but I will : triumphant over all likings 
 and dislikings. 
 
 Such a generous intention, firmly resolved to 
 follow out God’s mind in all things, is not often 
 met with, even among those who think they have 
 wholly given themselves up to Him. In periods 
 of sensible fervour, we declare ourselves ready 
 and willing for everything; we fancy that our 
 protestations spring from the depths of our will ; 
 but it is a mistake. They are only produced by 
 the warmth of grace. 
 
118 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 • When that warmth has abated, and the soul is 
 restored to itself and to ordinary grace, it is sur- 
 prised to see that all its good resolutions have 
 vanished. Or else, like S. Peter, we presume 
 on our strength ; and, so long as danger is afar 
 off, we fancy ourselves ready to confront every- 
 thing. But when the opportunity offers, we 
 yield, as the apostle did, to the slightest temp- 
 tation. There is a great difference, said a holy 
 man who spoke from experience, between sacri- 
 ficing one’s life to God in a transport of devo- 
 tion, and doing the same thing at the foot of 
 the gallows. The true disposition of the will 
 is to be judged of at the actual moment of the 
 sacrifice, when the temporary action of the 
 heavenly fire has ceased and the soul has cooled 
 and returned to a state of unfelt grace. 
 
 Therefore we ought not lightly to unagine that 
 we have this good will ; on the contrary, we 
 ought always to fear that we have it not. We 
 are not indeed to be pusillanimous ; but we are 
 bound always to mistrust ourselves, and to rely 
 only on help from heaven, surely trusting that it 
 will not fail us in time of need. We are so weak, 
 that we cannot be sure of victory beforehand ; 
 the slightest presumption renders us unworthy of 
 it, and the enemy often snatches it from us when 
 we had thought it all our own. 
 
 If we would fain never resist God, we must not 
 lose sight of that saying of our LoPtD, “The 
 spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 
 We must watch and pray, as He bids us, that we 
 may not enter into temptation. Watch, in order 
 not to expose ourselves, and give advantage to 
 the enemy ; pray, in order to obtain from God 
 that power which is wanting in ourselves. Thus 
 
MAXIM XII. 
 
 119 
 
 abiding in the wholesome fear of being unfaithful 
 to grace, God will preserve us from all evil ; or 
 if He sometimes suffers us to j)rove our own weak- 
 ness, it will never be by a deadly fall : He will 
 interpose His own hand between us and the blow, 
 to prevent it from injuring us : He will raise us 
 quickly, and we shall stand the more firmly 
 afterwards. 
 
 The fear of resisting grace may be looked upon 
 in yet another light. Such resistance is the 
 greatest evil we have to dread. When God 
 intends to take possession of a soul and rule it 
 Himself, He gives it much instruction relative to 
 its perfection ; He watches with extreme atten- 
 tion over its thoughts, words, acts, and motives ; 
 overlooks nothing, examines every action, and 
 keenly rebukes the slightest unfaithfulness. 
 
 Now, the soul cannot be too attentive to the 
 light it thus receives from God, and His secret 
 reproaches ; and it is of the greatest importance 
 to pay them fitting regard. For, in the first 
 place, if we resist God’s will, we arrest the course 
 of our own perfection ; we lay a stumbling-block 
 across our road, and shall advance no further till 
 we have surmounted it. N ot only we shall not 
 advance, but we shall fall back : for it is an axiom 
 in the spiritual life, that whoso goes not forward 
 falls backward. In the second place, graces hang 
 on each other ; one grace rightly used attracts a 
 second ; the second brings a third ; and so on : 
 and they form a chain which ends in holiness and 
 final perseverance. In the same way, one grace 
 rejected deprives us of the next, and so of those 
 which would follow : and this may be carried so 
 far, as to lead us to inevitable ruin. 
 
 Therefore it is always extremely dangerous to 
 
120 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 break this chain ; and as it is certain that we 
 shall attain the full perfection which God re- 
 quires of us, if we keep its links carefully united, 
 so it is likewise certain that we shall fall away, 
 and endanger our salvation, if we break that con- 
 nection at any point whatever. 
 
 This is particularly true of certain principal 
 graces which are, as it were, the great rings of 
 the chain, and which involve consequences of ex- 
 treme importance. Such are the grace of voca- 
 tion, attraction to prayer, and others of that kind, 
 lliey are, so to speak, the gate opening to the 
 way by which God wills to bring us to the haven 
 of salvation. If we correspond to them faithfully 
 and constanlly, we make our salvation sure ; if 
 we resist, we refuse the path which God points 
 out to us, and which is perhaps the only one by 
 which He intends to save us. 
 
 But it is right here to inform timid spirits that 
 this chain is not broken by faults of inadvertence 
 and impulse, or even of imprudence and indis- 
 cretion ; in fact, it is not severed by sins of 
 frailty, but by those committed knowingly and 
 wilfully, and repeatedly. For God is not repelled 
 by a first fault ; He returns to the charge ; His 
 patience in waiting for a soul is long in propor- 
 tion to the importance of the object; He does 
 not withdraw altogether, till He perceives deter- 
 minate obstinacy in the will. 
 
 He deals in like manner when He requires 
 certain sacrifices. Sometimes He pursues a soul 
 for whole years before He wearies, especially if 
 the sacrifice is great, and the soul feels strong 
 repugnance for it. But the moment when His 
 pursuit ceases is known to Himself alone. Then 
 such a soul drops out of the order of supernatural 
 
MAXIM XII. 
 
 121 
 
 Providence; it will probably never re-enter it, 
 and its eternal salvation is at stake. God showed 
 S. Theresa the place she would have had in hell, 
 if she had lost that which was prepared for her in 
 lieaven. There was no medium for her ; she 
 must either have been a saint or a reprobate. How 
 many souls are in this case without knowing it ! 
 
 This is one of the chief reasons why masters of 
 the spiritual life so strongly enforce the duty of 
 recollectedness and corresjDondence to grace. Our 
 Lord Himself teaches us that such attention and 
 docility are the distinctive marks of His elect. 
 “My sheep follow Me, for they know My voice.” 
 And it may be affirmed that the whole system of 
 true direction consists in moulding souls to that 
 disposition. 
 
 We ought to question God’s will in nothing, 
 whether great or small. For it is not our place 
 to decide on the greater or less importance of the 
 things God requires of us, and we are very apt 
 to run into error on such points. Besides, if 
 God signifies His will concerning any matter, 
 hovrever small, that intimation at once invests it 
 with importance : and, more than all else, we are 
 bound to consider the intention and good pleasure 
 of so great a IMaster. What, in itself, was the 
 eating or the abstaining from a certain fruit? 
 And yet the happiness of the human race de- 
 pended on the observance of so apparently trifling 
 a command. God is the absolute arbiter of the 
 graces He bestows upon us, and also of the con- 
 ditions to which He knits them. On our fidelity 
 in a seemingly trivial matter, may depend the grace 
 which Fie has prepared for us. 
 
 Opportunities of doing great things for God, 
 are very rare; but those of doing little things 
 
122 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 arise continually ; and refinement of love shows 
 itself chiefly in careful diligence concerning these 
 matters. Nothing proves the depth of our feel- 
 ings towards God, and our desire of pleasing 
 Him, more than the conviction that nothing is 
 little in His service. And how, indeed, can we 
 expect to be faithful to God in great things, if 
 we are careless of obeying Plim in small matters ? 
 These are more within our reach, more adapted 
 to our weakness ; those demand great exertion, 
 such as is beyond our strength ; and it would be 
 liresumptuous to suppose ourselves capable of 
 them. Great acts of virtue are rather God’s 
 work than ours, and the lesser in some sort belong 
 more to us, although God still has more to do 
 with them than we have. 
 
 Faithfulness is not perfect, unless it embraces 
 everything, without any exception. We ought 
 to judge of the service due to God by that which 
 we ourselves require of others. We expect it to 
 be exact, punctual, and thorough ; and we should 
 take it much amiss if our servants declined to 
 obey us, even in an inconsiderable matter. Is it 
 too much, to serve God as we desire to be served 
 ourselves ? 
 
 The practice of little things keeps up our hu- 
 mility, and does not expose us to vanity. It is 
 of inestimable value in the sight of God, if it 
 proceeds from high motives. By its means we 
 acquire that extreme purity of conscience which 
 brings us so close to God. What, indeed, is the 
 especial characteristic of His ineffable holiness ? 
 Its incompatibility with the slightest stain. And 
 such, in proportion, is the holiness of the Saints. 
 
 How mistakenly do those persons act who re- 
 serve anything from God ! who, so to speak. 
 
MAXIM XTI. 
 
 123 
 
 compound with Him ; who consent to grant Him 
 certain things, and obstinately refuse others ; 
 who watch themselves vigilantly on some points, 
 and neglect themselves entirely respecting others ; 
 who set bounds to their perfection, and say in 
 their hearts : So far will I go, and no farther. 
 Do you not see that the very thing you withhold 
 from God is that which He asks of you most 
 emphatically, and concerning which He re- 
 proaches you most keenly and frequently ? Then 
 it is most important that you should yield it to 
 Him ; for if He presses you so strongly to do so, 
 it is for your own interest, not for His. He sees 
 better than you do, rather, He alone sees what is 
 useful and necessary for your advance in holi- 
 ness ; and as He insists so much upon a certain 
 point, it is a sure sign that that point is not so 
 trifling as you think. 
 
 This is the great subject for self-examination, 
 in which nothing must be overlooked. Let us 
 search the inmost folds of our heart, and see 
 whether there is any secret reservation, any 
 robbery in our offering. And after all our inves- 
 tigations, let us pray God to bring His light into 
 every dark corner of our souls, and make our in- 
 most dispositions clear to ourselves ; to suffer us 
 not to wish to refuse Him the slightest thing ; 
 and to use His supreme authority in order to 
 deprive us of that which we might have the weak- 
 ness to hold back. 
 
( 124 ) 
 
 THIRTEENTH MAXIM. 
 
 .iFii'lier Dare to ceaj^e tfte smioale tnitl) tijat enem? 
 vdI)o line? tDitbm tf)e soul. 
 
 “ There is no discharge in that icar^ 
 
 XIII. 
 
 OF MORTIFICATION. 
 
 AVhat is that old man which S. Paul bids ns 
 crucify, and which Christ, in His own Person, 
 bound to the tree of the Cross, to teach us what 
 it deserves and how we ouglit to treat it? It is 
 the flesh ; or, in other words, it is everything 
 within us that is opposed to the Spirit of God. 
 This is the meaning of the Apostle, who, under 
 the name of the flesh, comprises those vices 
 which have the body for their object, and those 
 also which originate in the mind. All the former 
 pertain to sensuality, and all the latter to pride 
 or inordinate self-esteem. 
 
 We must look back to original sin ; and the 
 two great wounds it inflicted on us, if we would 
 lightly understand the nature of the war which 
 Christians must wage with themselves, and of 
 their two natures, spiritual and animal, whose 
 inclinations are diametrically opposed to each 
 other, and tend to mutual destruction. Thus 
 we shall obtain a correct idea of Christian mor- 
 tification ; its necessity, extent, and con- 
 tinuity. 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 125 
 
 When Adam came from the hands of the 
 Creator, his spirit was humble and subjected to 
 God, and his body was docile and subjected to 
 the spirit. So, all within him was in order, and 
 he had only to keep it in the same state. Sin 
 destroyed this order ; Adam rebelled against God. 
 His revolt arose from a principle of pride, and 
 from a foolish hope of becoming like God if he 
 ate the forbidden fruit. The rebellion of his flesh 
 was destined to humble his pride, and to make 
 him feel that the man, who, abusing his reason, 
 aspires to equality with God, deserves the punish- 
 ment of being set on a level with beasts, and 
 subjected, like them, to the empire of the senses. 
 
 Therefore, the first thing he perceived after his 
 sin, was this rebellion of the fiesh; it was the 
 indubitable sign and witness of his degradation ; 
 and, had he not been blinded by sin, that dis- 
 order, which he was ashamed to look upon, would 
 have taught him how much more disgraceful 
 and odious was the rebellion of his s^Dirit against 
 God. God must needs open his eyes, and enable 
 him to judge of the exceeding disorder of his 
 spirit, by the shame which he felt in consequence 
 of the disorder of his flesh. 
 
 W e, miserable children of Adam, are all born 
 with a fatal inclination to this twofold disorder. 
 The flesh disobeys the spirit; its appetites and 
 motions forestal the will ; the will is ready, first, 
 to consent, then to excite, and lastly to enslave 
 itself to them. Reason has the power of regulat- 
 ing the necessary appetites, as those of eating 
 and drinking, and has absolute command over 
 the others : but is weak enough to yield to them ; 
 and not only gratifies them frequently beyond 
 necessity and contrary to the Creator’s will, but 
 
12o 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 degrades itself so low as to seek only the pleasure 
 involved in the satisfaction of the senses, resting 
 therein as its final end, using its ingenuity and 
 powers to procure refined voluptuousness of all 
 kinds, even to the overstepping the immutable 
 bounds of nature, and yielding to excesses which 
 nature’s self abhors. A most humiliating state, 
 which degrades man much below brute beasts, 
 and which yet he feels so little, that he counts it 
 a merit and a glory. 
 
 The disobedience of the spirit towards God 
 goes, if possible, further still. We affect absolute 
 independence ; we consider liberty to consist in 
 our doing whatever we please, without exception ; 
 and we look on this unlimited liberty as a right 
 which cannot justly be disputed. We are annoyed 
 by the sway God exercises over us, however ne- 
 cessary, mild, moderate, and favourable to our 
 present well-being, and intending only our 
 eternal happiness ; lawful, reasonable, and wise. 
 We are continually trying to shake off, or at 
 any rate to weaken His yoke. Every law He 
 lays down for us seems a blow aimed at our rights; 
 every commandment is a burden to us ; embargo 
 laid on any matter is enough to make us desire 
 it more vehemently. This strange disposition, 
 which every one will find in himself if he will 
 look deep enough, arises from a prodigious pride 
 which knows no master, a mad idea of our own 
 excellence, and a blindness respecting self which 
 induces idolatry. 
 
 These are the diseases which the Gospel teaches 
 us to understand and to cure. For the latter 
 purpose it presents us with two kinds of mortifi- 
 cations. The aim of the first is to subjugate the 
 body to the spirit ; that of the second, to submit 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 127 
 
 the spirit to God ; in order so to restore primitive 
 order and repair the evil caused by sin. They 
 are respectively named exterior and interior. 
 
 The first degree of exterior mortification, which 
 is absolutely binding on all Christians, is, to ab- 
 stain from all pleasures forbidden by the law of 
 God ; to observe moderation in the use of those 
 which are lawful ; and religiously to observe the 
 days of fasting and abstinence prescribed by the 
 Church. 
 
 The second degree goes further. It refuses all 
 unnecessary indulgence to the senses; it allows 
 food only to hunger, drink to thirst, sleep to 
 fatigue, clothes and lodging to necessity; and 
 suffers nothing to flatter the taste, or favour effe- 
 minacy. All excessive care of the body foments 
 its rebellion against the spirit ; and experience 
 teaches us that it is always ready to make an evil 
 use of unnecessary indulgence. A mortified 
 Christian leads an ordinary life, in no way 
 singular, but simple, sober, and uniform, and 
 strictly accordant to the rules of temperance and 
 mortification. He looks on his body as a bad 
 servant who obeys grudgingly, and is always en- 
 deavouring to shake off the yoke. Therefore he 
 keeps it in strict dependence, and so subjects it 
 to the spirit, that it not only does not hinder, 
 but assists the spirit’s operations. This is God’s 
 law ; reason alone would point it out ; the Gospel 
 only presses its observance on us, and makes that 
 observance more easy. 
 
 The advantage of this moderate, but continual 
 mortification is, that it gives no room for pride, 
 is not in any way remarkable, and shields us 
 from the excesses of indiscreet fervour. The flesh 
 is mortified enough when it is reduced to mere 
 
128 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 necessaries, and deprived of all it may desire 
 besides. 
 
 However (and this is the third degree of morti- 
 fication), God sometimes inspires pious souls to 
 perform afflictive penances; and these may be 
 necessary, whether for the expiation of sin, or the 
 (juelling of pride, or the resisting of violent tempta- 
 tions. The rule is, that nothing of this kind be 
 done, without the opinion or injunction of the 
 confessor, and concerning this matter he ought to 
 act with great discretion. 
 
 Because we read in the lives of some Saints, 
 that they practised extraordinary austerities, our 
 imagination is straightway heated, and we set 
 about imitating them, with the idea that we can- 
 not grow holy otherwise, but that then we shall in- 
 fallibly do so. Wherein we are doubly mistaken ; 
 because, unless God asks these austerities at our 
 hands, they are not necessary to our hohness ; and, 
 unless ins^jired and directed by grace, they may 
 detract from it, instead of enhancing it. AVe 
 ought to admire the acts of the Saints; to humble 
 ourselves because we have neither their courage, 
 nor their love of God ; to be ashamed of doing 
 so little in comparison with them ; but, in this 
 particular respect, we ought not to copy them, 
 until God makes known to us (as He did to them) 
 His will concerning it, and until that will i& 
 corroborated by him who stands in God’s place 
 to us. 
 
 Mortification of the spirit brings the flesh into 
 subjection much more efficaciously than any 
 bodily austerity; and the reason of this is evi- 
 dent. The rebellion of the flesh against the spirit 
 is, as I said before, the consequence and the 
 punishment of the rebellion of the spirit against 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 129 
 
 God. Therefore, when we bend all our strength 
 to subject our spirit to God, we immediately 
 attack the principle of the disordered state of the 
 flesh ; and God, when He sees that the spirit is 
 subjected to Him, remits the penalty due to its 
 pride, and reduces the flesh to a state of duty. 
 The more humble we are, the less we shall be 
 exposed to the rebellion of the flesh. 
 
 Thus, then, interior mortification is incom- 
 parably the most necessary, because it touches the 
 root and source of the evil. And what is to be 
 mortified in the soul ? Everything, without ex- 
 ception. All is infected by the poison of sin : 
 passions, mind, will, yea, the very depth of the 
 soul. Such is the war of man against himself, 
 of grace against nature ; and in this war he 
 never may lay down his arms, because the enemy 
 is never wholly conquered ; and, cast down though 
 he may be, the slightest negligence on our part 
 will enable him to rise again. 
 
 As to the passions, in the first place. They are 
 not essentially evil ; but are simply the quick 
 motions of the soul, whereby it tends to unite 
 itself to good or to repel evil. Such they are 
 according to God’s primary institution and 
 intention. But since the fall, the soul no longer 
 knows either its true good or its true evil ; it no 
 longer considers the one or the other with re- 
 ference to God, but only with reference to itself : 
 it calls that good which flatters its pride and its 
 self-love, or produces a momentary pleasure ; it 
 calls that evil which humbles and thwarts it, or 
 interferes with the repose it seeks out of God 
 and in created things. The passions are born of 
 a blinded will, and guided by a darkened reason, 
 therefore they misapprehend their object ; they 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 pursue it ardently, and because its falsity renders 
 it unsatisfying, their craving increases more and 
 more : ever disappointed, they ever seek a still 
 eluding happiness. Except it be enlightened by 
 the beams of grace, the soul continues in its 
 state of delusion until death puts an end to all 
 deception. 
 
 Thus the primary duty of a Christian is to de- 
 prive the passions of food, to check their im- 
 petuosity, quench their fire, and prevent their first 
 emotions. To this end he must bring under control 
 the senses which point out the object of passion, he 
 must bridle the imagination which depicts it in 
 seductive colours, and kindles desire, and he must 
 curb every inordinate inclination. It is not 
 enough to forbid indulgence in that which is 
 manifestly criminal ; those things must be cut 
 off which are dangerous, doubtful, or in any 
 degree apparently evil. The passions must even 
 be deprived of thing's allowable and innocent, if 
 clung to violently, for inordinate attachment is 
 never harmless. 
 
 But such a war is not ended in a day : it must 
 be carried on without a pause ; no peace, no truce 
 cnn be made with such dangerous enemies. Some- 
 times the passions appear to be dead, but they 
 are only lulled : they wake as soon as vigilance 
 ceases, and kindle in the heart a fresh and more 
 mighty conflagration. Do not confine yourself 
 to the passions: attack also affections that are 
 simply natural, inclinations, repugnances — every- 
 thing that clogs the heart, and does not leave it 
 wholly free. Much more is involved than we 
 think when we determine to search ourselves 
 thoroughly, and to contend against every single 
 thing within us that opposes the kingdom of grace. 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 131 
 
 For grace purposes nothing less than the destruc- 
 tion of the natural man, and the formation of the 
 spiritual man. In whatever circumstances man 
 ought to act by reason, the Christian ought to 
 act on a principle supernatural and divine. S. 
 Paul so decides: ‘‘AVhether, therefore, ye eat or 
 drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
 God.” (1 Cor. xi. 31 .) Judge from this precept how 
 far you ought to carry inward mortification. Go 
 on beyond natural affections. Be unsparing to 
 sensitiveness, and that excessive captiousness by 
 reason of which tears are always ready to flow, and 
 one is vexed and annoyed by the most trivial 
 word, the slightest contradiction, the least ap- 
 pearance of, — not to say contempt, but — cold- 
 ness or indifference. Few are the Christians 
 in whom all sensitiveness is mortified ; who in 
 the intercourse of life exact nothing, take excep- 
 tion at nothing, and do not even consider whether 
 attention is paid to them or not. The complaint 
 is made, and not unreasonably, that pious persons 
 are more captious, harder to please, more easily 
 offended, than are other men. For the honour 
 of piety, and also for our own sakes, let us not 
 give room for this reproach. Extreme sensitive- 
 ness is an unfailing source of trouble ; it destroys 
 peace of mind ; we become suspicious of our neigh- 
 bour ; we look upon him with an evil eye ; the 
 outgoings of charity fail ; and we run the risk of 
 giving a fatal form to our feelings of resentment. 
 
 This is not enough. Even in the good you 
 have in view, moderate the vivacity of desire, 
 moderate eagerness, moderate activity. Study to 
 attain continual self-possession. Rise above im- 
 patience : stop not merely its external signs, but 
 stifle its inward movements so soon as they arise ; 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 and as soon as you perceive them, prevent them 
 from gaining the least sway over you. Complete 
 possession of self, which is the work of grace, is 
 the greatest blessing in life. It maintains inward 
 peace, spiritual joy, evenness of soul ; it edifies 
 and wins our neighbour ; dries up the source of 
 many faults ; and leaves us the free exercise of all 
 our powers to perceive and perform successive du- 
 ties as they come before us. 
 
 So much for the passions. As regards the un- 
 derstanding, how many things herein are to be 
 mortified ! It is filled from the first dawn of 
 reason with prejudices contrary to the Gospel, 
 respecting honour, riclies, pleasures, and the 
 customs of the world. AVho does not look on 
 his high birth as an absolute merit? What is 
 it in God’s sight? Nothing. AVhat is it ac- 
 cording to the standard of the Gospel? An 
 obstacle to humility. Until your mind on this 
 point is the mind of Christ, do not count 
 yourself to be His disciple. Again, who is not 
 ashamed of low birth, and sensitive to the 
 thoughts and remarks of others on the subject ? 
 Keason tells us that this is folly, but will never 
 raise us above it. The Gospel sets against these 
 ideas the choice of our Lord Himself. He ap- 
 peared on earth in the lowliest of conditions. 
 He was born of the seed of David, the man after 
 God’s own heart ; but waited till the royal family 
 had sunk so low, that an artisan might be counted 
 for His father ; and yet how hard we find it to 
 mould our mind in this respect to that of our 
 Lord ! 
 
 - As much must be said of the preference given 
 to a life of ease and comfort, rather than to one 
 of labour and suffering. 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 133 
 
 How much prejudice exists on the subject of 
 honour, deference, rank, and demeanour ! Ac- 
 quaintance with the false ideas prevalent on these 
 points is equivalent to knowledge of the world. 
 Did the primitive Christians live together on 
 this wise ? They acted as brethren, had one heart 
 and one mind, held their love-feasts together, in 
 honour preferred one another. What a forest of 
 prejudices must be hewn down before we can 
 attain to the exact practice of Christian morals, 
 and hope to see all things in the same light in 
 which our Lord Himself beholds them ! 
 
 The destruction of these prejudices is not suffi- 
 cient ; their root dwells within ourselves, and we 
 must turn our attention to that quarter ; into that 
 stronghold mortification must carry fire and sword. 
 A V here will you find the man who does not esteem 
 himself beyond his deserts? Presuming on his 
 own gifts and talents, and relying on his own 
 judgment; jealous of the success of others pro- 
 fessing the same calling, and unwilling to see 
 them preferred to himself ; dreading the shadow of 
 contempt more than death, and acutely sensitive 
 to the faintest whisper against his good fame ? 
 
 Is this the mind of Jesus? His doctrine and 
 His acts all preach humility, contempt and hatred 
 of self. He Avilled to be despised and rejected of 
 men ; He suffered Himself to be crushed like a 
 worm of the earth ; He gave Himself up to hu- 
 miliation, scorn, and infamy, even to the accursed 
 death of the Cross. He wholly sacrificed His 
 reputation, and yet, after man’s judgment, how 
 essential was its preservation, seeing that He 
 came to be the Lawgiver, the Example, and the 
 Saviour of the human race ! By that sacrifice 
 man was saved. This being so, dare we think 
 
134 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 highly of ourselves ; believe in our own worth ; 
 labour to raise ourselves in the good opinion of 
 others, or deceive ourselves so far as to believe 
 that the glory of God is always concerned in the 
 maintenance of our reputation ? Shall we never 
 think upon the truth that what Jesus our Lord 
 was, He was in our stead, to teach us what we 
 must be ? 
 
 Now do you begin to perceive the full extent 
 of inward mortification, and the series of long 
 and painful struggles that you must undertake in 
 order to be likened to your Head ? Be not weary 
 of learning your duties, nor terrified at their 
 number or difficulty. Grace is all-powerful, and 
 by its aid you will be more than conquerors. 
 
 Against your will the heaviest blows must be 
 dealt : this is the dominant faculty of the soul, 
 and the most corrupt, for in it sin takes its rise 
 and attains to perfection. The understanding is 
 often enlightened and convinced while the will 
 resists and refuses to surrender. Attack it then, 
 and determine on curbing its indocility. Deal 
 with it so that it may grow yielding and obedient 
 to God and man. It jealously asserts a right of 
 liberty ; this must not be permitted ; the will 
 must be bent by main force under the dispensa- 
 tions of Providence and the will of others. Suffer 
 it not to incline to one thing rather than to 
 another ; train it to indifference, and let its rule 
 be cheerfully to accept all vicissitudes great and 
 small as they arise. 
 
 The will must die to its own likes and dislikes, 
 must resist its inclinations and do violence to 
 its aversions. It must study to cross itself in 
 all things, and to quench its own desires. It 
 must be willing to see hope disappointed, schemes 
 
MAXIM XIII. 
 
 135 
 
 brought to nought, purposes neglected or resisted. 
 It must have no self-interest, and must learn never 
 to consider self. It must enjoy divine consolations 
 without becoming dependent on them : it must 
 bear their removal without repining. It must 
 receive crosses, and all manner of crosses, first 
 uncomplainingly, then submissively, and at last 
 joyfully. It must rise to the desire of never 
 ceasing to bear the cross, taking no step, uttering 
 no single word in order to free itself ; lying in 
 the Hands of God and of those, if any there be, 
 who hold God’s place with regard to it, like wax 
 which accepts the figure impressed on it ; like 
 water which has no form of its own and assumes 
 that of the vessel in which it is placed. Its life, 
 motion, and activity must only exist for the glory 
 and the good pleasure of God. 
 
 Oh ! death of the will, how difficult, how rare 
 thou art! What Christian, nay, what Saint 
 exists, who seeks nothing in and for himself ? 
 That is the height of perfection ; but how few 
 attain it 1 how few even profess to seek it I 
 
 The value of this death is equal to its difficulty 
 and rarity. It sets us above the events and cir- 
 cumstances of life, health and sickness, riches 
 and poverty, esteem and contempt, honours and 
 humiliations, good report and evil report ; above 
 natural friendship and aversion ; above the gifts 
 of God and the withdrawal of His gifts ; His 
 marks of favour and His trials ; above even the 
 vicissitudes of the spiritual life. IVe are hereby 
 enabled to cling only to the will of God, loving, 
 resting, and trusting in nothing beside, and thus 
 partaking of its holiness and cliangelessncss. 
 
 I shall say nothing of what I called the mortifi- 
 cation of the very depth of the soul. This is not 
 
136 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 within our scope, nor within that of ordinary 
 grace. This is the work of God alone, in those 
 whom He vouchsafes to bring through the terrible 
 trials that lead to this death. 
 
 Such is the lot of very few persons, and those 
 who are not called to it would vainly attempt to 
 understand its nature. 
 
 Have I opened a sufficiently wide field for 
 Christian conflict? Have I given some idea of 
 the war to be waged against self, the courage, 
 patience, and endurance necessary in order to 
 enter upon it, to maintain it, and to reach full 
 and perfect victory ? Do you now know what 
 is that old man on whose fall the new man is 
 to rise ? 
 
( 137 ) 
 
 FOURTEENTH MAXIM. 
 
 Wim 43oD tte lie in prater, !)umli{e 
 ?itentip Iiefove .!]iaaik'0t^, 
 
 “ Be stillj and know that I am God.’'"* 
 
 XIV. 
 
 OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER. 
 
 It is well known that there are two kinds of 
 mental prayer, Meditation and Contemplation. 
 Meditation is to contemplation what active recol- 
 lectedness is to passive. In meditation, all the 
 powers of the soul, memory, understanding, will, 
 and even imagination, have free scope, and from 
 each is drawn what is most suitable to the end in 
 view. A distinct subject is presented before the 
 mind, on which reflections arc made : affections 
 are thence drawn out, and resolutions are formed. 
 There are many good books on this matter, and 
 I shall here say little respecting it. 
 
 In contemplation, or prayer properly so called, 
 the soul neither reflects nor forms affections and 
 resolutions. Yet neither the understanding nor 
 the will are idle. For if the contemplation be 
 distinct, the understanding sees, though without 
 any chain of reasoning, the object presented to it 
 by God. If it be confused, and do not offer to 
 the soul any special object, the understanding 
 sedulously holds itself in the presence of God, 
 humbles itself before His Supreme Majesty, and 
 
138 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 listens silently to the instructions given without 
 sound or distinctness of words, which is the 
 manner in which God’s instructions are com- 
 monly given. This attention is itself an act 
 of the understanding, unperceived because so 
 simple, but not therefore the less real. The con- 
 fused, general, indistinct object, which is then 
 present to the soul, is God Himself, wrapped in 
 the cloud of faith ; whilst in distinct contempla- 
 tion God sets forth some one of His perfections, 
 or some particular mystery of religion. 
 
 We may form some idea of these two sorts of 
 contemplation, if we remember the diiferent ways 
 in which we look at things about us, sometimes 
 fixing our eyes on one certain point, but some- 
 times looking vaguely, and attracted by nothing 
 in particular. 
 
 Nor is the repose of the will in contemplation 
 to be considered as inaction. For, in the first 
 place, its freedom is continually exercised, be- 
 cause we are at prayer only because we choose to 
 be so, and frequently have to resist the temptation 
 of giving it up on account of distractions, dryness, 
 or even of evil thoughts which assail us at such 
 times. Secondly, the will is either in a state of 
 union, or constant tendency to union, with God, 
 as it practises this exercise with the one object of 
 being united to Him. In the third place, when it 
 receives a sense of Divine sweetness, peace and joy 
 are shed abroad upon it, and are gladly accepted. 
 Lastly, if the soul receives nothing, and the time 
 of prayer is a time of suffering, the will is then 
 in a state of sacrifice, accepted in submission to 
 God’s good pleasure. In that true rest bestowed 
 by God upon the soul, as in the false rest which is 
 the result of illusion, there is always some action 
 
MAXIM XIV. 
 
 139 
 
 on the part of the understanding and of the will ; 
 and the difference between real and illusive repose 
 is, not that the soul acts in true prayer and is silent 
 in false, but that in the former God is the agent, 
 while fancy or Satan acts in the second. However 
 it may be, for I do not wish to go to the bottom 
 of this matter, it would be wrong to give the 
 name of idleness to the holy repose in which God 
 holds the soul during contemplation : and no one 
 should be obliged on that account to give it up. 
 But what ought to be done is this, to examine by 
 the rules laid down by the Saints whether or not 
 this repose comes from God. If it does, who shall 
 be rash enough to dare disturb the peace of a soul 
 in which God is working? If it does not, the 
 soul must be undeceived and set right. 
 
 These rules are as follow. In the first place, 
 so long as we have the free use of our powers, 
 and can meditate with ease, we ought not 
 to leave off. But it is the advice of spiritual 
 writers, that when we have sufficiently imbibed 
 the truths under meditation, and have inves- 
 tigated them under every phase, we should 
 wholly or partly cease from acts of the under- 
 standing, and pass on to those of the will, which 
 are much more essential, and lead it to love the 
 truths it has already learned. For the aim of 
 meditation is to move the will, and rouse it to 
 avoid vice and practise virtue. 
 
 Secondly, after meditation has been practised 
 for some time, and the proper fruit has been de- 
 rived thence, it sometimes appears that God is 
 drawing the will to a peculiar state of rest ; it 
 now produces no distinct affections, or, if it de- 
 sires to do so through long habit, it is gently 
 checked and drawn to enjoy rather than to act. 
 
140 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Then the soul is entering upon the passive way. 
 God Himself is leading it, and it would hinder 
 its own advancement if it offered any resistance. 
 
 Thirdly, it is sometimes the case that a person 
 truly devoted to God, finds his efforts to me- 
 ditate all in vain : and if after many attempts 
 he is absolutely unable to succeed, whether by 
 j'eason of a simple character of mind which grasps 
 a subject at a single glance, or lightness and 
 vivacity of imagination, or any other cause, he 
 will do well, with his director’s consent, to try 
 simply to remain quiet in the presence of God, 
 entreating the Holy Spirit to teach him to pray, 
 listening like Samuel and David to hear the 
 Lord speak to his heart. And if this method 
 suits him : if he feels calm and peaceful, and 
 after such prayer loves God’s service more 
 dearly, and sets himself to his daily conflicts 
 more bravely, there is no doubt that his prayer 
 is good, and that God is acting in it : the fact is 
 guaranteed by the effects, which are peace, spi 
 ritual joy, love of God, and an effectual desire of 
 advancement in holiness, which are so many 
 fruits of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Fourthly, it may occur that when we betake 
 ourselves to our prayers we feel our powers 
 fettered, so that we cannot bring them to bear 
 on the subject proposed for meditation ; we may 
 take up a book, such as the Imitation, or one 
 of similar character, but so soon as we lay it 
 down we entirely lose recollection of what we 
 have been reading, and thus the mind remains, 
 as it were, in empty space. If this impotence is 
 accompanied by a sweet peace, which fully occu - 
 pies the soul, we may certainly believe that God 
 is placing the soul in a state of passive prayer, 
 
MAXIM XIV. 
 
 141 
 
 and we must beware of making any effort to 
 withdraw from that way. Even if this impo- 
 tence be accompanied by perplexity, darkness, 
 and temptation, yet if the soul is true and stands 
 firm against these tempests, they will' soon be 
 followed by a great calm, and may be regarded 
 as a preparation for the most signal favours of 
 God. 
 
 In the last place, the usual proof of the good- 
 ness of prayer, is the generous and constant prac- 
 tice of interior mortification. There is no cause 
 for apprehension concerning the prayer of a 
 person who is single-hearted, straightforward, 
 teachable, humble, capable of great self-control, 
 endued with a good will, cheerfully undertaking 
 every means suggested for overcoming faults, 
 acknowledging them frankly, and taking rebukes 
 in good part. If the spirit of God guides the 
 rest of his conduct, will it forsake him at the time 
 of prayer? We cannot suppose this possible. 
 
 But the application of these rules belongs to 
 the director. We should not judge ourselves, else 
 we should run the risk of self-deception. Hu- 
 mility and obedience are the two points on 
 which the interior life turns ; therefore, when we 
 believe it to be God’s will that we should leave 
 the ordinary way, we should candidly represent 
 our state to our spiritual guide, and thus enable 
 him to decide. This is the more necessary, be- 
 cause without his advice we cannot maintain 
 ourselves in the different states of prayer, and we 
 ought to keep him informed of all that takes 
 place in our souls, in order that he may shield us 
 from delusion, and strengthen us against tempta- 
 tions and trials. If, through lack of knowledge, 
 or prejudice against contemplative prayer, the 
 
142 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 director should decide mistakenly concerning our 
 state, we ought at once to acquiesce in his deci- 
 sion, and do as he desires. Thus S. Theresa 
 abstained one whole year from contemplation, by 
 order of her confessor. Yet we should feel a dis- 
 comfort, an inward constraint, which would be a 
 certain sign that he is removing us from our 
 proper position, and making us resist the work- 
 ings of God. Then we might consult other 
 persons more enlightened, and follow their advice. 
 Thus, again, the same Saint, whose contemplation 
 was condemned by the doctors of Alcala, was re- 
 assured by S. Peter of Alcantara and S. Francis 
 Borgia. God always blesses obedience and sub- 
 mission of the judgment. He will, in His own 
 way, cause the confessor to see our state in its 
 true light, or else He will direct us to some other 
 person. God alone can and may bid the reason 
 to be silent in time of prayer. He endowed the 
 soul with powers, in order that they might be 
 used so long as He grants free disposal of them, 
 and it is a false and heretical doctrine of Molinos, 
 that man ought to annihilate them himself, may 
 reduce them, that is, to inaction. Inaction, thus 
 produced, would render us a prey to every freak 
 of the imagination, and every delusion of the 
 heart. 
 
 Besides, according to the principles of true 
 philosophy, the soul cannot of itself trammel its 
 powers ; this act necessitates a superior agent, dis- 
 tinct from itself, and acting upon it with irre- 
 sistible force. For when God has so bound the 
 soul, it is startled by the power exercised on it, 
 perceives clearly that the force is from without, 
 and sometimes, but always vainly, offers extreme 
 resistance. So also when one who knows this 
 
MAXIM XIV. 
 
 143 
 
 stale speaks of it, lie says, that no effort will 
 enable him to use his memory, he cannot reflect, 
 nor waken any emotion, he must needs be, as 
 God’s Word hath it, even as it were a beast before 
 Him, as a log of wood which must wait till the 
 Hand of God shall kindle it. These are usual 
 expressions on the part of persons thus exercised ; 
 they do not place themselves in that state ; such 
 an assertion is a contradiction. Moreover, when 
 sensible tokens of grace are withdrawn, which 
 frequently happens, this state is far from giving 
 pleasure to the soul ; it is, on the contrary, very 
 painful, being absolutely counter to nature. We 
 can only continue in this condition by reason of 
 fidelity, because we cannot doubt God’s will con- 
 oerning it. If we listened to our own promptings 
 we should renounce contemplation. 
 
 A confessor who is not on his guard may be 
 deceived, and may lend an ear to the description 
 of fictitious states of the soul. But if he knows 
 what contemplation is, and if nothing is dis- 
 guised, he cannot possibly confound real impo- 
 tence with that state of inaction to which a person 
 may bring his own self. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that true contemplation 
 is an act which, being once entered on, continues 
 naturally and needs no renewal. This error, if 
 taught by any mystic, lapses into the heresy of 
 Molinos. I say, if taught, for it may well have 
 happened that those who have thought so may 
 have made a mistake, and have taken for the 
 description of contemplation, that of the act by 
 which the soul gives itself to God, and consecrates 
 itself to His service in order to fulfil His will in 
 all things. This latter act has no need of re- 
 newal so long as we are faithful to it, for it 
 
144 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 always subsists in intent and in deed. But yet it 
 is not a continuous act which nothing suspends 
 or interrupts ; it is an act transient in itself, but 
 abiding in its effects so long as it is not annulled 
 by renunciation. If 1 have formed the purpose 
 of making a journey, and have set out on the 
 road, there is no need that I should continually 
 renew my intention, so long as I advance towards 
 my journejr’s end without stopping on my way, 
 or turning aside from it. 
 
( 145 ) 
 
 FIFTEENTH MAXDI. 
 
 <rtin0 not to u'cnsiutt ^tnettnts^, anb suffer br^ne^j^ 
 ttJitb a 00 Ob brait. 
 
 Though He slay me^ yet ivill 1 tr'ust in.HimT 
 XV. 
 
 OF DIFFICULTIES IN PRAYER. 
 
 This maxim refers to conteini)lative prayer, and 
 to the manner in which they should act who 
 practise it. Its beginnings are generally very 
 sweet. God gives the soul a sense of what 
 Pie is ; He pours out His graces ; He brings us 
 into His banqueting-house, and His banner over 
 us is love. Here is a paradise of delights of which 
 we had no conception ; here we breathe afresh : 
 here we delight in liberty till then unknown. The 
 heart is too narrow to contain the blessings lavished 
 upon it. When alone, we relieve ourselves by 
 sighs and tears. This state lasts for a time. The 
 Bridegroom indeed hides Himself at intervals in 
 order to be more keenly desired. But the soul 
 calls Him back eagerly, seeks Him uneasily, 
 speedily finds Him, and derives fresh comfort from 
 His return. 
 
 AVhen God gives the soul a foretaste of those 
 pure deep joys of which He is the only source, 
 He does so in order to inspire it with aversion 
 and contempt for the false pleasures incident to 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 the enjoyment of created things. Experience is 
 a more efficacious teacher than theory. But what 
 then ? That wretched self-love, which dwells 
 within our hearts, makes an ill use of God’s 
 favours. Hardly has it tasted them, when it seeks 
 them eagerly, gloats over tliem with unacknow- 
 ledged complacency, persuades the soul to make 
 them the motive and end of its prayers, good 
 works, and contests with self ; so that heavenly 
 pleasures are sought for as ardently as the vo- 
 luptuous seek the gratifications of the world ; 
 and by means of a selfish and mercenary spirit, 
 God is loved only for the pledges of His love. 
 
 Yet tliese persons think that they love God 
 with ardent love for His own sake. But it is 
 a mistake ; in truth, selfish gratification is the 
 object that is beloved ; and this is proved by 
 the fact, that as soon as no sensible pleasure is 
 to be found in intercourse with God, the soul 
 becomes uneasy, agitated, despondent, or despair- 
 ing, and sometimes forsakes everything, and re- 
 proaches God with having forsaken it in the first 
 place. 
 
 Not thus does God will to be loved and served. 
 In order to attract and win the soul. He vouch- 
 safes to give it some slight foretastes of its pro- 
 mised happiness, but will not allow us to cling to 
 them, nor to make them our motive and aim. 
 Certainly man is born for happiness, but its enjoy- 
 ment is reserved for the next life ; this life is the 
 season for trial and for acquiring merit. God 
 only prepares crosses for His friends on earth, 
 and, in order to dispose them for receiving such 
 from His hand. He begins by rendering that hand 
 dear to them on account of the blessings it sheds 
 upon them. In proportion as these sweet blessings 
 
MAXIM XV. 
 
 147 
 
 are delightful and absorbing, we must expect the 
 following crosses to be rough and overwhelming. 
 1 would therefore say to those wliose state I am 
 describing : gratefully receive these first favours ; 
 fear not to enjoy them simply; they are “milk for 
 babes,” food suitable to weakness. If a director 
 sought to deprive you of them, and ordered you to 
 give them up, he would take away your necessary 
 support and deprive you of the heavenly dew 
 which is required by your soul in its present 
 state. But then you ought skilfully to profit by 
 the short occasional hidings of God’s face, in 
 order to persuade you to bear such privations 
 quietly : the Bridegroom Avill return, but you 
 must learn to wait quietly for His own time, 
 and not attempt to regulate it according to your 
 impatience : let Him open your eyes gradually 
 to the meanness of self-love, inspire you with 
 generous disinterestedness, and lead you to feel 
 that He is infinitely beyond His gifts, that He 
 ought to be loved for His own sake, and that 
 His will, and the fulfilment of His will, are the 
 paramount objects of His servants. 
 
 Thus a spirit of detachment will gradually be 
 formed in your minds, and you will be prepared 
 to accept, without terror or danger, the time of 
 weaning from sensible sweetness, when God is 
 about to give you more solid nourishment in the 
 exercise of bare faith. 
 
 By bare faith, I mean that state in which we 
 serve God without any pledge or assurance of 
 acceptance. This state is extremely painful to 
 self-love ; and so it must be, because it is intended 
 to undermine it imperceptibly, and at last to 
 destroy it as far as is possible in this life. If we 
 entered suddenly and unpreparedly on a state so 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 crucifying to nature, v/e should soon be repelled 
 and give up all idea of leading an interior life. 
 Therefore God with infinite wisdom provides for 
 the difficulties of the advance: He does not wean 
 the soul until it has attained a certain growth, and 
 although He may afterwards keep it in a habitual 
 state of privation, He yet tempers its rigour by 
 frequent tokens of His love. The soul, on its 
 side, long remembers the first graces bestowed on 
 it by God, and this remembrance serves as a 
 support in times of destitution. Besides, this 
 state of bare faith has its degrees, the last of 
 which is not reached till after the lapse of many 
 years. 
 
 Yet, in spite of this wise economy of grace, few 
 persons overcome these first difficulties. iMost are 
 so soft, sensual, and self-seeking, that they cannot 
 resolve to give up the happiness of the infancy 
 of their spiritual life. They do their utmost to 
 retain it, and when deprived of it for a length of 
 time, they think that all is lost. But God dis- 
 regards their alarms ; when once He has with- 
 drawn these sweetnesses. He restores them but 
 temporarily and at long intervals, and appears 
 chary of them in proportion to the eagerness with 
 which they are desired. 
 
 Alost persons therefore, seeing that these priva- 
 tions last longer than they like, lose hope, give 
 up the practice of contemplative prayer, under 
 the plea that the attempt is mere waste of time ; 
 they grow .unwatchful, allow their minds to be- 
 come distracted, and, despising their Creator, 
 turn back to created things. It is well if they 
 fall not even below what they were when God 
 took them in hand, but merely resume the former 
 practices which they ceased in order to follow the 
 
MAXIM XV. 
 
 149 
 
 leadings of grace. For they commonly become 
 worse than they were before, either as a punish- 
 ment from God or in consequence of their own 
 secret vexation, pride, and despondency. They not 
 only give up the interior life, but sometimes re- 
 linquish pious exercises altogether ; the senses and 
 passions resume their sway; less strength is forth- 
 coming to resist them. Those who knew such 
 persons in their time of fervour are startled and 
 scandalized by these falls, which are unjustly at- 
 tributed to the practice of contemplative prayer, 
 as if it were responsible for the errors consequent 
 upon giving it up. The salvation of these per- 
 sons runs most imminent risks. 
 
 Therefore it is important, that those who are 
 called by God to an interior life, should know 
 that bare faith is, strictly speaking, the essence of 
 that life; the pleasant state in which they are first 
 placed, is only the prelude and preparation for it. 
 This bare faith glorifies God most, because He 
 is hereby served in a manner worthy of Him- 
 self, which yields no pleasure to self-love, and 
 wherein we in no wise seek ourselves, but practise 
 self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice, and give our- 
 selves over to bear all such rigour as it shall 
 please a merciful justice to exercise upon us. 
 If, as S. Paul teaches, the elect are those whom 
 God has predestined to be conformed to the 
 image of His Son : if their holiness increases in 
 proportion to such conformity ; if the interior 
 life is that which most resembles the Divine 
 Pattern ; then those who by God’s special favour 
 are intended for this life, must expect that, 
 while on earth, He will treat them as He treated 
 His only Son, on account of the great scope of 
 His designs regarding them, the glory He intends 
 
150 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 to derive from them, and that other glory where- 
 with He wills to crown them. 
 
 Therefore the sweet peace of a hajDpy prayer 
 will be succeeded by long periods of distaste, 
 dryness, or weariness, which will render the exer- 
 cise of prayer as painful as it was pleasant in 
 times past. Perplexity, darkness, and terror, 
 will take the place of light, joy, and confidence. 
 We shall feel ourselves the sport of temptations 
 with regard to purity, faith, or hope. A Ve shall 
 continually fancy that we have yielded, and no 
 power will avail to assure us of the contrary. . 
 Thus we must long go on blindly, led by obedience, 
 hoping against hope, loving God without know- 
 ing that we love Him or are loved by Him, but 
 feeling ourselves rather the objects of His dis- 
 pleasure ; and not till we have passed through 
 utter darkness, shall we find ourselves born again 
 to a new life which will be the precious pledge 
 of our eternal happiness. 
 
 All interior souls do not pass through trials of 
 the same length, or involving equal suffering. God 
 regulates the measure for each as He wills ; but 
 all do go through trials ; all pledge themselves to 
 do so, and long for them more than they dread 
 them ; fear belongs to their nature only, but 
 desire is in their will. For the love of crosses 
 is one of the first feelings that God implants in 
 their hearts, and that love • is always on the 
 increase. 
 
 You then, who are entering on this state of 
 bare faith, must gird yourself up bravely to 
 endure the first occasions of your Lord’s absence, 
 'so as to win His own support when you are 
 suffering under the weight of His rigour. Be 
 sure that, if you are faithful. He will lead you as 
 
MAXIM XV. 
 
 151 
 
 far as you can go, and Avill lay more crosses upon 
 you than you will ask for. lie tries those 
 severely who love Him, in order that they may 
 love Him more. But at the same time He com- 
 municates to them an unseen strength. It is 
 scarcely credible, though certain, that, in pro- 
 portion to their suffering, their souls enjoy a peace 
 which passeth all understanding. Besides im- 
 parting support, God inspires them with words 
 which have power to support other souls weaker 
 than their own ; as S. Paul bears witness: Who 
 comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may 
 be able to comfort them which are in any 
 trouble.” 
 
 Do you dread trials? They are indispensably 
 necessary for your admission to heaven. The 
 willing accejDtance of them will make them sweet. 
 You do not appreciate the all-powerful operation 
 of grace, and the wondrous changes which it 
 brings to pass in the mind and heart. Yield 
 yourself up to it, and have no uneasiness con- 
 cerning your OAvn infirmity. You will be Aveak 
 only so far as you rely on yourself ; but if you 
 place your whole confidence in God, you will be 
 able to say with S. Paul : can do all things 
 
 through Christ Which strengtheneth me.” 
 
 You may ask me : ^Vhy must we bear so many 
 internal and external trials? Can Ave acquire 
 holiness at no less price? No ; the Gospel affirms 
 that holiness is only to be attained by suffering, 
 or at least by the aauII to suffer. Holiness con- 
 sists in readiness to embrace all the crosses that 
 it may please God to send us. God does not bid 
 us to forestal crosses, but it is His Avill that Ave 
 should stand firm to receive them, and that Avhen 
 they are laid upon us we should accept them 
 
152 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 bravely. He who shrinks away will never be 
 holy. 
 
 I)o you say : At this cost I will consent never 
 to be holy, provided I can be saved? Fool! you 
 open your eyes only to the fleeting ills of this 
 life, and close them to the exceeding weight of 
 glory and happiness which awaits you ! Niggard 1 
 you w’ould buy heaven at the lowest possible 
 price, fearing to pay too highly for it ! Base and 
 sordid soul ! you consider only your own gain, 
 and would do nothing for God ! See what your 
 salvation has cost your Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 complain, if you dare, of what it costs yourself. 
 All you ask is bare salvation ; but how can you 
 count even on that, if you refuse to be made 
 holy? How can you be sure that you will do 
 enough, and no more than enough, to assure your 
 salvation ? Ought you not rather to fear doing 
 too little than too much ? 
 
 Besides, supposing that you should attain sal- 
 vation, shall you escape suffering? Is there no 
 purgatory ? And for whom is it reserved, if not 
 for you? Shall you go to heaven without the 
 puriflcation of that tire which must consume all 
 that remains in you of self-love? I cannot insist 
 too much on this point, because to the eyes of 
 faith it is conclusive. 
 
 I have a few more words to say on the subject 
 of dryness. Those who suffer from it are very 
 subject to distracted thoughts; indeed they are 
 inevitable, and they torture many good souls 
 who fancy them wilful, and yet cannot defend 
 ' themselves from their attacks, however strenuous 
 their efforts may be. For the comfort of such 
 persons, I would beg them to notice, that no 
 distraction of thought is sinful unless it arises in 
 
MAXIM XV. 
 
 153 
 
 the will, and is fostered in the heart. AVe are 
 not distracted at prayer, if, contrary to our will, 
 the mind admits a different object to that on which 
 we wish to dwell. AVe go to prayer, intending to 
 worship God and unite ourselves to Him, when 
 the imagination suddenly strays off to a mul- 
 titude of different subjects. If we feel this to be 
 troublesome and uiijDleasant, and if, as soon as 
 we perceive it, we quietly recal our thoughts to 
 the subject of our prayer, or to the simple con- 
 templation of God, then we are not distracted in 
 will, because our intention of prayer and union 
 with God remains unbroken ; and even if such 
 distractions should last during the whole time of 
 prayer, it would be none the worse for them. 
 
 We are not responsible for the thoughts which 
 enter our minds, but it depends on our own will 
 whether we entertain them or not, and also on the 
 general disposition of our minds at other times. 
 If we grant too much freedom to the fancy and 
 senses, if we allow the mind to be excited by all 
 sorts of subjects, if we waste our energies by the 
 exercise of foolish curiosity or by frivolous con- 
 versation and idle thoughts, and if ^ve are not 
 careful to keep our heart free from all desires and 
 undue attachments, it is not surprising that at 
 the time of prayer we should find a habit of re- 
 collection difficult to acquire, and that we are then 
 disturbed by those things to which we usually 
 devote our time. For such distractions we are 
 responsible, even if, at the moment, we yield no 
 consent to them ; because we have drawn them 
 upon ourselves. 
 
 But if, in the course of the day, we keep a curb 
 on our fancy and our senses, if we are only at- 
 tentive to the duties of our position, if we suffer 
 
154 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 nothing to divert us from the sense of God's pre- 
 sence which ought to occupy our heart : then we 
 may disregard all distractions that intrude upon 
 our prayers, provided we do not consent to them. 
 Moreover, it may be assumed that we do not con- 
 sent to them in any wise, if- we live in a state of 
 habitual recollection. These rules are simple and 
 adapted to set aside scruples with regard to atten- 
 tion at prayer, whether it be vocal or mental. 
 
 Usually we bring to our prayers the same state 
 of mind in which we are accustomed to live. 
 God will not work a miracle to keep us recollected 
 then ; and we shall vainly endeavour ourselves to 
 be so, if at other times we suffer our mind and 
 heart to wander at their will. 
 
 With regard to souls raised by God to a state 
 of passive prayer, and in a state of dryness, some 
 points should be observed. First, that in this state 
 it is impossible to secure freedom from the vagaries 
 of the imagination. God inspires no thought on 
 holy subjects, and kindles no feeling in the heart ; 
 therefore the soul feels, as it were, cast into space, 
 and the imagination takes free wing. But if we 
 take good heed, we shall see that our wandering 
 thoughts are vague and unconnected; they do 
 not touch the will, they leave no trace behind 
 them ; so that afterwards we should find it very 
 difficult to recal them, which is a plain sign that 
 we did not intentionally allow our minds to dwell 
 on them. 
 
 In the second place, these distractions, far from 
 being hurtful, are useful to the soul, because they 
 try it and accustom it both to feel its own misery 
 and to bear it patiently. It is very painful for a 
 pious soul to become the sport of imagination and 
 its follies ; it is distressing to lose our recollected- 
 
MAXIM XV. 
 
 155 
 
 ness and to think vain thoughts during prayer ; 
 but these things humble us, by teaching us what 
 we are, and proving that our own endeavours can- 
 not obtain us one good thought or feeling. Self- 
 love steals in everywhere. If we feel any sen- 
 sible emotions during prayer or communion, we 
 are apt to grow self-complacent, to rest on them, 
 and so defile the purity of our intention. In a 
 state of dryness, self-love has no support, and is 
 therefore startled and hurt. But we must despise 
 its complaints and grumblings, and the false rea- 
 sonings whereby it endeavours to perplex us. The 
 proof that this aridity is profitable to our spiritual 
 advancement is, that under its action nature 
 suffers, and is gradually consumed and destroyed, 
 while the life of grace spreads and gains strength. 
 
 In the third place, these distractions form a 
 part of God’s design. He makes use of them to 
 hide His workings from the soul, which is thus 
 deterred from self-contemplation. When it enjoys 
 a state of peace and calmness, it is sure to dwell 
 upon it with feelings of too strong attachment 
 and pleasure ; and this is not pleasing in God’s 
 sight ; therefore He gradually removes all that 
 induces this condition, and allows the soul to be- 
 come apparently a prey to distractions, while He 
 works within it hiddenly and unknown. 
 
 Beware then of losing patience or hope when 
 imagination thus runs wild. Do not suppose that 
 your prayer is worse or less pleasing to God. Do 
 not listen to self and Satan, who would induce you 
 to give it up as waste of time. Do not take up a 
 book for the purpose of occupying your mind. 
 Directors should never recommend such a practice 
 to souls in this state ; it would be leading them 
 back to meditation from which God calls them to 
 
156 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 cease. Neither should you strain yourself or weary 
 mind and body to repel these distractions : such 
 efforts are useless ; far from calming the imagina- 
 tion they do but irritate and excite it the more, 
 as flies perpetually driven away do but return more 
 obstinately. Despise these things ; leave them to 
 drop naturally, without exciting yourself to beat 
 them down ; content yourself with mentioning 
 them to your confessor ; do not speak of them as 
 sins, and do not labour to find out whether you 
 have consented to them. 
 
 If thus you keep your mind at rest in times of 
 mere distraction, you will have grace to do the 
 same in the midst of temptations, when God 
 allows them to besiege the soul and to assault it 
 violently in time of prayer, which is the time 
 generally chosen by the devil for this purpose. If 
 you act as I have just advised (for the rules 
 concerning temptations and distractions are nearly 
 identical) you have nothing to fear ; the devil will 
 be beaten; his attempts to turn you out of the 
 right way will only cause you to cleave to it more 
 truly, and to advance in it more surely. But 
 the matter of temptations deserves a separate 
 maxim and explanation. 
 
( 157 ) 
 
 SIXTEENTH MAXIM. 
 
 (€\)t tempter Ijfenbj? cunm'n0 anb In'olence ; trie must 
 meet I)im mitfi praper anb matcbfulnesB. 
 
 “ The battle is not yours, but God'sT 
 
 XVL 
 
 OF TEMPTATIONS 
 
 The devil has little hold upon souls which devote 
 themselves to prayer and mortification. Common 
 temptations do not concern them, because they 
 allow them no entrance ; if they happen to be 
 occasionally surprised by them, it is a matter of 
 little moment, and has no evil consequences. 
 Moreover, the devil does not generally originate 
 these temptations : “ But every one,” says S. James, 
 “ is tempted when he is drawn away of his own 
 lust and enticed.” Therefore such souls are usu- 
 ally exposed to such temptations only as God 
 permits to exercise their patience, deepen their 
 humility, increase their merit, and add brightness 
 to their crown. Of these temptations only I am 
 about to speak. 
 
 In the first place, I think that they are too 
 greatly dreaded. It would be presumptuous to 
 defy the devil, but it is weak to be afraid of him. 
 As S. Augustine says, he is a chained dog, who 
 can bark and tease, but cannot bite if we keep 
 out of his reach. Such strong apprehension may 
 
158 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 arise from many different causes. The imagina- 
 tion often has much to do with it. Struck, in 
 reading the biographies of some Saints, by the 
 account of temptations to which they are said to 
 have been subjected, a fanciful person imagines 
 himself about to pass through the same phases, 
 and, like them, to be driven to extremities. Take 
 comfort, timid soul ! great temptations are in- 
 tended only for brave hearts. Be not vain enough 
 to suppose that God will deal with you as He has 
 dealt with certain, among His elect, whose number 
 is very small. 
 
 In some cases, this fear arises from a faint and 
 craven spirit. Such hearts are narrow, unge- 
 nerous, incapable of great sacrifices ; they shudder 
 at the least danger; if piety is to suit them, it 
 must be moderate, easy, tranquil, sheltered from 
 storm or tempest. No sooner do the winds blow, 
 and the skies gather blackness, and the thunders 
 roll, than they think the whole spiritual house is 
 about to fall. Coward soldiers ! you would fain 
 conquer without fighting ; victory is theirs only 
 who resist unto blood ; but the mere sight of the 
 enemy puts you to flight. 
 
 So, too, this fear springs from want of con- 
 fidence in God. If we felt Him to be all our 
 strength we could not be overcome ; for what has 
 he to fear who has God Almighty on his side ? 
 
 The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom 
 then shall 1 fear V The Lord is the strength of 
 my life, of whom then shall I be afraid ? Though 
 an host of men were laid against me, yet shall 
 not my heart be afraid; and though there rose 
 up war against me, yet will I put my trust in 
 Him.” 
 
 But, instead of looking to the Lord, we look 
 
MAXIM XVI. 
 
 159 
 
 only to self, measuring our strength against that 
 of Satan ; and, as we see that we are hut weakness, 
 we lay down our arms and turn our back before 
 the battle begin^. We pretend that this is hu- 
 mility and just distrust of self. Not at all ; it is 
 self-love and presumption, which professes that 
 success depends only on our courage, instead of 
 awaiting it from God alone. In our blindness, 
 we do not consider that the due time of God’s 
 help is the very time of contest ; that before that 
 time it would be useless and dangerous to think 
 ourselves strong, as S. Peter did ; but that when 
 the time has come, God will help us, and will do 
 so the more, the more we put our trust in Him. 
 
 And why should we fear temptations ? Do we 
 not know them to be necessary for us, because 
 without them we can make no progress in the 
 way of perfection? Yes: they are necessary to 
 strengthen us in the very virtues which they 
 assail. Never will you reach a high degree in 
 purity, faith, hope, or love of God and of 
 your neighbour, unless you are strongly tempted 
 with regard to these virtues. Our LoFvD teaches 
 us that storms prove the stability of the house ; 
 the temptations by which the devil seeks to rob 
 us of our virtues, render those virtues dearer to 
 us ; constrain us to greater efforts for their reten- 
 tion, and quicken and multiply our prayers that 
 it may please God to save us from suffering the 
 loss of them. 
 
 Trials are necessary to self-knowledge. “He 
 that hath no experience, knoweth little,” saith the 
 son of Sirach. We must have faced the enemy, 
 and that more than once : we must have often 
 known ourselves in danger of falling : in order 
 truly to appreciate that we can do nothing with- 
 
160 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 out God, and can do all things through Him. 
 Before the contest we are either cowardly or pre- 
 sumptuous ; only in the very time of the struggle 
 we learn to judge ourselves rightly. If con- 
 quered, defeat brings humility ; if, despite all 
 resistance and foresight, we are on the point of 
 perishing, we feel the greater need of crying to 
 God for help ; if, just when we give ourselves up 
 for lost, God suddenly delivers us from danger, 
 the very risk we have run forces us to feel that 
 it is to Him we owe the victory. 
 
 Trials are necessary to make us put aside all 
 self-conlidence. When the violence of tempta- 
 tion is extreme : when strength is exhausted 
 through long resistance : when we know not 
 whither or how to escape, and nothing seems left 
 but surrender : then, giving up all hope in self,, 
 and having nothing more we can do in our own 
 defence, we must needs cast ourselves into the 
 arms of GoD. This is the moment for which 
 God is ever on the watch ; now we shall be most 
 certain to receive His help. He shows us how 
 inevitably we are about to fall, in order that we 
 may grasp the conviction that He alone can hold 
 us back on the brink of the precipice, can stay 
 our fall and lift us up, when to all appearance we 
 really have fallen. He loves to bring us uj) from 
 the gates of death, as it is written : “ The Lord 
 killeth and maketh alive ; He bringeth down to 
 the grave and bringeth up.” 
 
 In the last place, trials are necessary to bring 
 us into closer union Avith God. When do Ave 
 call on Him more fervently than Avhen “ our feet 
 are almost gone, and our treadings have Avell- 
 nigh slipt?” When do Ave hide in His bosom 
 if not Avhen the enemy threatens to deprive us of 
 
MAXIM XVI. 
 
 IGl 
 
 the life of grace ? In a state of apparent safety 
 we forget to think of God ; temptation calls us 
 back to Him and binds us to Him indissolubly. 
 
 As for those whom God intends for the guid- 
 ance of others, temptations are essential to them. 
 There is no better teacher than experience. Know- 
 ledge of temptation teaches them to feel more 
 compassion for those who are tempted, and to 
 attend to them with more charity. They under- 
 stand the tactics of the devil ; they neither dread 
 his deceits nor his open attacks ; they know with 
 what weapons to oppose him, and how to prevent 
 and frustrate his plans. They are in a position 
 to encourage others, and to giveHhem profitable 
 advice. A director who has not passed through 
 similar trials has not the same advantage. He is 
 timid, hesitating, and uncertain how to decide ; 
 he bewilders those who apply to him, or, what is 
 worse still, he misunderstands their condition and 
 judges them harshly ; he mistakes the manner of 
 dealing with them, repels them, and drives them 
 to despair. 
 
 You- fear temptations, but “God is faithful 
 Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye 
 are able ; but will with the temptation also make a 
 way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 
 
 Let us reflect on these words. 
 
 God is faithful. His promises fail not. It is 
 His will that His children’s love should be 
 tried. He permits the devil to assail them. But 
 still the promise of His help stands firm. How 
 can hell itself avail to hurt us, if God is on our 
 side ? In time of need let us turn confidently to 
 Him. We must not be ready to forsake Him, 
 and then He will never forsake us. The devil’s 
 intention is to injure and ruin us ; the intention 
 
 M 
 
1G2 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 of God is to strengthen onr virtue, and save iis 
 by those very things in which He allows him to 
 tempt us. Satan can. do nothing of i himself, and 
 if we give him no opportunity for tempting us, 
 he will only do so by God’s permission, and must 
 keep within its limits. But God will not sutfer 
 yon to be .tempted above that ye are able. His 
 justice, His faithfulness, His loving-kindness for- 
 bid His doing so. Therefore, before He allows 
 temptations to assail us. He Avaits till our virtues 
 have attained some degTee of strength. 
 
 He does not bring us face to face with our 
 enemies at the beginning of our course, when we 
 are still timid and tottering, easily startled, and 
 ready to fall. But He prepares us for the strife, 
 and renders us strong and fit for war before He 
 brings us into the presence of the enemy. 
 
 Besides this. He gives ^us present help always 
 in proportion to the attack : He is beside us. He 
 inspirits us to fight, and moreover fights with us. 
 The gTace we then receive is always such as to 
 •render us superior to our enemies, and is sufficient 
 to ensure victory. 
 
 I.et me add, that so great is the goodness as 
 well as the power of God, that He wills to make 
 our very falls turn to our spiritual advantage, 
 provided that Ave turn to Him AAuth that hearty 
 and loving penitence to Avhich He calls us by the 
 strongest pleadings and most urgent motives. 
 Thus, even the falls of DaAdd and S. Peter, being 
 turned to good account, contributed to their 
 sanctification, 
 
 AV^hy then need you fear temptations, if your 
 trust in God is such as it ought to be? Tou 
 complain that they beset you during prayer and 
 Holy Communion, and that the devil chooses these 
 
MAXIM XVI. 
 
 16b 
 
 very times to attack you. Say rather, that God 
 chooses for your exposure to temptation, the 
 period when you are best prepared to resist evil ; 
 when your immediate intention is to unite 
 yourself to Him, when Christ, present in your 
 heart, will Himself repel the assaults of the 
 enemy. 
 
 “But this deprives me of peace in prayer!” 
 Very probably your soul may then be stirred and 
 troubled on the surface ; but it depends on your- 
 self whether its depths are calm. It is not in 
 the devil’s power to touch that depth of the soul, 
 which is the true seat of peace. You lose the 
 sense of calmness, but that does you no harm ; 
 you may, if you choose, retain the reality. 
 
 “But it debars me from Holy Communion!” 
 By no means. You have only a more urgent 
 reason for partaking of it. The devil insinuates 
 the feeling w'hich keeps you away, only because 
 he knows wTat strength you obtain from it, and 
 how certain is his defeat, if you meet him in that 
 strength. In fact, the most violent temptations 
 subside and fade away, the moment we receive 
 the adorable Body of Christ. I do not know that 
 it ever happened that immediately after Holy 
 Communion any soul, tormented by frightful 
 thoughts till then, did not find itseK relieved from 
 them. 
 
 But the devil suggests pictures, thoughts, 
 desires, that fill my mind with horror!” So 
 much the better, if his suggestions do fill your 
 mind with horror ; for it is a manifest proof that 
 you reject them, and that God rejects them in 
 you. Do you know that our Lord said, “ Out 
 of the heart proceed evil thoughts ; ” that is 
 to say, our thoughts are not evil, except in so 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 far as the heart conceives and encourages them ? 
 How then should those thoughts be evil, which 
 your heart detests ? Sin lies, not in having the 
 object present to the mind, or impressed upon it, 
 but in the consent given by the will ; and nothing 
 is more contrary to this consent than the state of 
 mind in which you are. 
 
 “ But I seem to have no strength whatever to 
 resist such temptations!” Since they fill you 
 with horror, and you would rather die than 
 encourage them, you do resist, and that with all 
 the force of your will. It may well be that you 
 do not perceive this force ; but it is none the less, 
 nor the less active ; and you may judge by the 
 result. God has His reasons for removing this 
 sense of resistance, though you really continue to 
 resist. It is His will that you should not attri- 
 bute the victory to your own exertions, and grow 
 vain and self-complacent on the strength of it. 
 Is it not well, that the honour should be given 
 where it is due, and that God should place you 
 in happy inability to rob Him of it ? 
 
 “ But I believe I do yield my consent I” On 
 what grounds? Because the temptation lasts a 
 long time? That is no valid reason; it only 
 proves that the struggle is long. Or is it be- 
 cause the ideas which are intruded into your mind 
 cause it a sense of pleasure? There is an in- 
 voluntary delectation, an impression on the senses, 
 which is the natural effect of certain temptations. 
 This may be caused by a heated imagination, or 
 by Satan himseK. But, in themselves, such feel- 
 ings have nothing in common with consent. Do 
 not decide for yourself in this matter; in your 
 present state of agitation you are unfit to pass 
 judgment on yourself. Beware of even think- 
 
MAXIM XVI. 
 
 1G5 
 
 ing of temptation, when once it has passed away, 
 and do not attempt to trace its progress from 
 the beginning. This is very dangerous, and all 
 masters of the spiritual life forbid it. Refer the 
 matter to your confessor; and when he shall 
 have given a general decision and confirmed it 
 repeatedly, trust to it without demur. 
 
 The Christian’s arms against Satan are watch- 
 fulness and prayer. “Watch and pray, that ye 
 enter not into temptation.” It is impossible that 
 the soul of man should escape temptation. There- 
 fore He said not, “ Watch and pray, that ye be 
 not tempted,” but, “that ye enter not into temp- 
 tation i.e., that ye fall not under temptation. 
 
 We must needs watch against an adversary who 
 is both subtle and violent, and who, “ as a roaring 
 lion walketh about, seeking whom he may de- 
 vour.” Watchfulness is necessary for all men, 
 how holy soever they be. Any one who is not on 
 his guard, is, for that very reason, in danger from 
 the devil ; the danger is greater for a righteous 
 man who presumes on his strength, than for a 
 sinner who dreads the result of his weakness. 
 Remember our Lord’s words : “ What I say 
 unto you I say unto all. Watch !” 
 
 AVatchfulness consists, in the first place, in shun- 
 ning occasions of temptation. We must never 
 wilfully expose ourselves under any pretext. In 
 the second place, it consists in a humble distrust 
 of ourselves. “I was in misery,” [I humbled 
 myself: Vulgate “and He helped me.” He 
 cannot utterly fall who is lowly in his own eyes 
 and leans only on the Lord ; he who trusts in 
 himself cannot but be overcome. Victory itself 
 is fatal to him. 
 
 Do not confound (as is often the case) mistrust 
 
166 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 of self with faint-heartedness. The faint-hearted 
 looks no further than himself, and, comparing his 
 danger with his weakness, turns to fly when he 
 ought to fight. The truly humble Christian looks 
 at once on his own weakness and the might of 
 God. 'When bidden to the strife he fears nothing ; 
 on the contrary, the more he feels his own in- 
 ability to resist, the more he trusts that Almighty 
 strength will sustain him. ^^’hen I am weak 
 then am I strong. I can do all things through 
 Christ 'Which strengtheneth me.” 
 
 Watchfulness consists moreover in unshaken 
 faithfulness. Hold fast to the practice of con- 
 templative prayer and interior mortification ; 
 follow out minutely all the guidance God may 
 have given you. Observe every particular of the 
 rule which you have laid down for yourself, or 
 which has been prescribed for you. Allow your- 
 self in no wilful breach of duty, and the devil 
 will be powerless against you ; all his assaults will 
 turn to his own confusion. 
 
 Take great care never to be agitated by the 
 onset of temptation ; do not let your mind dwell 
 on what is passing within you ; do not argue with 
 the devil. You will only be entangled in your 
 own thoughts, and he will wrap his nets about 
 you. Hide beneath the wings of God, and let the 
 cloud pass over you. Disquiet and brooding- 
 thoughts only increase and prolong the storm, and 
 draw it more fiercely down upon your head. '\Yhen 
 it has spent itself, go quietly on your way, without 
 searching to discover whether you took pleasure 
 in the temptation, or yielded consent to it. 
 
 To watchfulness our Lord bids us add prayer, 
 and both mmst be constantly persevered in ; for 
 He taught that “ IMen ought always to pray and 
 
MAXIM XVI. 
 
 1G7 
 
 not to faint.” This continual prayer is, as has 
 been said elsewhere, the direction of the heart 
 towards God : the hidden invocation of His help. 
 How can the devil injure a soul thus disposed, and 
 thus covered by the buckler of prayer ? 
 
 But beside the general attitude of prayer, from 
 which the soul should never cease, it is a good 
 practice, when temptation arises, to take refuge, if 
 possible, in your closet, or in the presence of the 
 Blessed Sacrament ; or, if that be impracticable, 
 have recourse to ejaculatory prayers, which are so 
 many arrows wherewith to wound the foe. And 
 let these prayers be quickened by confidence ; let 
 them be calm and submissive. Do not ask im- 
 patiently for the withdrawal of the temptation. 
 Such petitions often arise from self-love. You 
 are cast down at being subjected to such horrible 
 thoughts, and you seek freedom from that humi - 
 liation. But humiliation is one of the best effects 
 of temptation, and therefore God permits it. 
 Yield yourself wholly to God, and suffer temp- 
 tation so long as shall be His good pleasure. He 
 only knows what good is wrought by temptations; 
 He has set a fixed time for their removal ; it will 
 take place the moment you have profited by them 
 as fully as it is God’s will you should. 
 
 Temptations are the counterpoise of graces 
 received; and our graces are always the exact 
 measure of our temptations. We delight in graces 
 which raise us up ; and we fear temptations which 
 abase us. But such abasement is the effect of 
 grace, yea, of greater grace than that we pre- 
 viously enjoyed, for it shields us against those 
 dangers to which other graces expose us. 
 
 However horrible and humiliating may be your 
 temptations, never hide them from your director ; 
 
168 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 but open your heart to him, and let him know all 
 you feel. God blesses such a disclosure, which 
 is in itself a great act of humility. He always 
 connects many graces with it, and inspires your 
 director to strengthen and encourage you as He 
 sees best. But the devil strives by all means to 
 silence those he tempts : he is confident of success, 
 if only he can persuade them to keep obstinate 
 silence. 
 
 By means of your appointed guide you will 
 receive peace, light, and strength. His decisions 
 will tranquillize, his counsels wiil enlighten, his 
 exliortations will quicken. But then, after having 
 fully explained yourself, rely wholly on his deci- 
 sions ; do not allow yourself to judge otherwise 
 than he has judged, even in thought. Do not 
 say : “I did not rightly explain the true state of 
 things;” or, “he did not understand me.” It 
 would make matters interminable, and you would 
 never be persuaded that he is in the right. Ac- 
 quiesce and submit ; and moreover be most sedu- 
 lous in using all such means as he directs, whether 
 for prevention or abatement of temptation, or for 
 gaining victory over it. 
 
( 169 ) 
 
 SEVENTEENTH MAXIM. 
 
 of j^eif-tone, tfee ritial of tf)e loVte of 43oD. 
 
 “ I icill go forth in the strength o f the Lord God^ 
 and will make mention of Thy righteousness 
 onhj:^ 
 
 XVI 1. 
 
 OF SELF-LOVE. 
 
 Nothing better marks the character of self-love, 
 or should make it more hateful to us, than this 
 title : Rival of the love of God. “ Our loves 
 form our manners,” says S. Augustine. We can 
 bestow our whole love on but one only of two ob- 
 jects : God or self. To set God above all things, 
 and refer all to Him, is to be actuated by charity : 
 divine love, rendering us good and pleasing in llis 
 sight, imparting to our actions a value above 
 their desert, and perfecting us in proportion to 
 its purity and simplicity. To refer all things to 
 self, is to be filled with self-love ; a love vicious 
 and inordinate, utterly displeasing to God, vi- 
 tiating actions otherwise most holy, and rendering 
 us more and more wicked in proportion to the 
 sway it exercises in our hearts. 
 
 These two loves are entirely contrary to one 
 another ; not only rivals but enemies, disputing 
 the possession of the same heart. No comjjact 
 can exist between them. They hate, attack, and 
 persecute each other to the death. The perfect 
 
170 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 extinction of self-love, either in this world or the 
 next, opens heaven for us, and ensures our 
 blessedness. The extinction of the love of God, 
 when we pass out of this life, sinks us into hell, 
 and constitutes our eternal misery. 
 
 So soon as a Christian really gives himself to 
 God and to His service, divine love takes posses- 
 sion of his heart, sets ujd its throne within it, and 
 forthwith proceeds to drive out self-love. Then 
 self-love endeavoui’s to maintain itself intact •; if 
 driven from one quarter it takes refuge in another ; 
 and so retreats from hold to hold, till it hides in 
 the inmost recesses of the soul. This is its last 
 refuge, and it is very difficult to tear it thence. 
 '[ here is no device by which it does not endeavour 
 to injure and weaken the enemy, and to lessen, if 
 it cannot prevent, its victory. It is always dan- 
 gerous, even after defeat ; and often, when we 
 think it crushed to the earth, it arises more formid- 
 able than ever. 
 
 Such is the enemy, which we have to fight with 
 the aid of grace. An enemy born with us, and 
 in some sort a part of our very selves. Age, pas- 
 sions, habits, thoughts, good qualities, and some- 
 times even virtues, contribute to strengthen its 
 hold upon us. We so confuse it with ourselves 
 that it seems impossible to disentangle it, and the 
 idea of destroying it involves apparent danger to 
 our very existence. 
 
 How powerless must we be against an enemy 
 so well-beloved, and holding so powerful a posi- 
 tion? The saddest thing is, that it blinds us, 
 and deprives us of all power of perceiving it. We 
 can only discern it by the light of grace, which 
 unveils its devices, opens our eyes to its im- 
 pending strokes, teaches us to ward them off, and 
 
MAXIM XVII. 
 
 171 
 
 strengthens us to fight against it. If we pay no 
 heed to this light, or lose it by our own fault, we 
 are left wholly defenceless, unable not only to 
 conquer, but even to resist ; unable to see our 
 enemy, and incredulous of his being such. Our 
 blindness, on the contrary, is so gross, that it • 
 leads us to take him for a friend and confidant 
 most dear and hearty. 
 
 This wretched blindness is the common disease 
 of Christians, and even of the more devout. It is 
 the more baneful because unperceived and unsus- 
 pected, and thus there is exceeding difiiculty in 
 convincing the mind of its existence and presence. 
 We are mostly more or less in the condition of 
 the Pharisees, who, with regard to our Lord, 
 were blinded by arrogant self-love, and yet fan- 
 cied themselves clear-sighted. He said to them : 
 
 ‘Ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth 
 and by your wilfulness ye fill up the measure of 
 that iniquity which ye should rather abhor. 
 
 W e may assume as a fact, without fear of mis- 
 take, that we are blind on many points concerning 
 our perfection, and, perhaps, salvation. We should 
 continually pray that God would enlighten us, 
 either directly by His Spirit, or indirectly by the 
 advice of friends or the censure of enemies. In 
 whatever way light may come, it is a blessing sent 
 by God. We ought to welcome and receive it 
 gratefully, encourage others to offer it, and ne- 
 glect nothing that may lead us to profit by it. 
 This is a tone of mind most earnestly to be 
 prayed for, and one to which most of our natural 
 tendencies are directly opposed. We must be on 
 our guard (I will not say against flattery ; I 
 assume that directors and spiritual friends are 
 incapable of offering that for our acceptance — 
 
172 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 but even) against acts and words of respect and 
 consideration ; especially if our rank, or age, or 
 temperament seem to exact them. AVe ought 
 to take it for granted that our faults are passed 
 over, or made light of, by the discretion or kind- 
 heartedness of those with whom we have to do ; 
 that we are praised, not for what we are, but for 
 what we might be. When we are blamed, let 
 our own hearts add to what is mentioned as 
 blameworthy. When we are praised, let us men- 
 tally deprecate our right to the praise bestowed 
 on us. Thus we may keep watch against our- 
 selves and our bosom enemy, self-love. 
 
 We will now look more closely into the various 
 devices used by self-love for the corruption of 
 true piety. Its chief aim is to appropriate the 
 work of grace, and rob God of the glory of good 
 actions, or claim a share in such glory ; thus 
 robbing us of all merit, for that is based wholly 
 on humility. So S. Philip Neri said to the 
 Lord : “ Beware of me, as of a great robber.” 
 Self-love is jealous of the property of God, and 
 endeavours to rob Him of it. This property is 
 the glory which belongs to God alone, and which 
 He cannot give to another. He allows us to 
 make use of His blessings, but all glory must be 
 rendered back to Him. This is exactly what 
 self-love desires to appropriate, prompting us to 
 glory in ourselves, against the express precept of 
 the Apostle * “He that glorieth, let him glory in 
 the Lord.” 
 
 But when it would enrich us at the expense of 
 God, self-love makes us poor indeed. For there 
 is no merit, nor reward, nor blessing, except for 
 those who, owuing their spiritual poverty, attri- 
 buting nothing to and appropriating nothing to 
 
MAXIM XVII. 
 
 173 
 
 themselves, render thanks to God for all the good 
 that is in them, and refer all to Him from Whom 
 all proceeds. God is jealous, and the chief effect 
 of His jealousy is that, as every good gift pro- 
 ceeds from Him, so it is His will that man should 
 render homage for it, and acknowledge that he 
 holds all from the hand of God. A pauper, ad- 
 mitted by God to share His riches, must never 
 forget his intrinsic poverty and the free bounty 
 of his Benefactor. If he becomes puffed up and 
 self-complacent, he deserves to lose all. 
 
 Self-love is mercenary ; in the service of God 
 it looks to its own interests, without rising to 
 higher considerations. A soul tainted with this 
 poison, desires holiness as an embellishing orna- 
 ment and distinguishing perfection. It desires to 
 be pure, but only in order to contemplate its own 
 purity ; it fears sin, less as an offence against 
 God than as a spot on the brilliancy of its own 
 beauty. It is more astonished than abashed by 
 its faults, scarcely conceiving how it was possible 
 for it to fall ; its repentance savours more of 
 vexation than of regret ; and what it believes to 
 be an act of contrition and love of God, is 
 merely an act of inordinate self-love. 
 
 Self-love is greedy of consolations ; it seeks 
 them from God and from men ; enjoys them 
 with clinging eagerness, regrets them bitterly 
 when removed ; and, if the privation lasts too long 
 for its fancy, it relaxes its fidelity, complains 
 and murmurs and threatens to turn back from 
 all good living, as if God were worthy of being 
 served only for His gifts. And all this time it is 
 artful enough to persuade us that we are gener- 
 ous, disinterested, and actuated by the purest love 
 of God. 
 
174 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Self-love is vain and presumptuous in time of 
 abundance and spiritual prosperity ; at such times 
 it leads us not to calculate our real strength, but 
 imagines itself capable of anything : it broods 
 over the promises and declarations which it offers 
 to God ; and though they be but vain unfruitful 
 words, it leads us to regard them as solid proofs 
 of our own devotedness. But in dearth and ad- 
 versity it is cast down, despondent, and incapable 
 of the slightest effort. 
 
 It loves a sort of holiness that is quiet, com- 
 fortable, and easy-going, involving no suffering 
 for mind or body, and few or no obstacles to be 
 overcome ; such holiness as may be acquired 
 quickly and cheaply, is to be had for the wishing, 
 and (to use an expression of S. Francis de Sales) 
 may be slipped on like a dress. That is to say, 
 self-love evokes an empty phantom of holiness, 
 wishing to be holy without taking any steps to 
 become so. Therefore it is soft, indolent, lazy, 
 full of unfruitful desires, impatient, repelled by the 
 slightest dilhculties, weary and exhausted as soon 
 as the first step has been taken. No mention 
 must be made of steep ascents ; self-love requires 
 a road either level or of easy acclmty. So long 
 as nothing unpleasant occurs, it advances readily ; 
 but if called on to contradict a favourite inclina- 
 tion, overcome a repugnance, or meet a temptation, 
 it straightway loses courage, stops short or turns 
 back. 
 
 Self-love does not affect such virtue as is 
 humble, obscure, unobserved of men : still less, 
 despised, spoken against, and persecuted. Good 
 deeds done in secret, with no sounding of trum- 
 pets, are not to its taste ; it loves to show itself 
 in full daylight ; it seeks display, consideration, 
 
MAXIM XVII. 
 
 175 
 
 esteem and applause, which it secures artfully 
 invites deprecatingly, and receives hypocritically. 
 In these things it delights, while it pretends to 
 reject them ; if the world withholds them, it 
 supplies itself with them in secret. 
 
 It hates simplicity and common every-day life ; 
 it affects singularity, and defines holiness as con- 
 sisting, not in the perfect performance of ordinary 
 actions, but in a course of extraordinary conduct. 
 Nothing in its habits is regular, sustained, or 
 constant; all is fanciful, capricious, and changeful. 
 
 It is always wishing to make sure that it has 
 done well, that its conduct is approved by God, 
 and still more by the director ; hence arise ever 
 repeated introspections, with uneasy and scru- 
 ])ulous testings of motives and intentions ; and an 
 unceasing exacting of testimonials, from consci- 
 ence, from God in prayer, and from the director in 
 the confessional or elsewhere. All this, so it as- 
 serts, is done in order to gain firmness, support, 
 and encouragement. This is a vain pretext It is 
 with the purpose of finding occasion for self-gratu- 
 lation, food for vanity, or at least an assurance of 
 progress made, and the comfort of some light on 
 the weary darkness of a way which provides no 
 visible support. 
 
 Self-love is ever occupied in comparisons : ex- 
 ulting in superiority, or vexed and annoyed if 
 forced to yield to others. It blames all conduct 
 but its own : its own way of prayer must be the 
 best ; or else it envies souls which it supposes to 
 be more advanced and more favoured of God. 
 It notes the faults of others, criticises actions, 
 judges and condemns motives, and ever whispers 
 to itself : “I would not have acted thus ; I 
 would not have spoken thus, under the same cir- 
 
176 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 cumstances.” Its most terrible characteristic is the 
 spiritual jealousy, which gnaws and tortures it. 
 Persons thus affected think that their director 
 never pays them sufficient attention ; they are 
 neglected, while all care is lavished upon others. 
 AN' hen others were spoken to, when written to, 
 when and how often visited — all this they pry 
 into and complain of ; and if these complaints do 
 not receive all the regard supposed to be their 
 due, which is a thing impossible, then the anger 
 of the aggrieved passes all bounds. The miser- 
 able effects of this jealousy extend to God Him- 
 self ; He is sometimes, forsooth, accused of 
 showing more favour to those than to these : who 
 set forth to Him how innocent have been their 
 lives, how excellent their exercises and austerities ; 
 and, like the prodigal’s elder brother, they re- 
 proach the Father with the welcome given to 
 those who have not served Him as they have 
 done. 
 
 Self-love accustoms the soul to claim as its own 
 those gifts and graces with which God endows 
 it. Therefore it is very impatient of God’s 
 seeming withdrawal of them ; clings to them 
 passionately, and is perfectly miserable when ap- 
 parently deprived of them. Not that God does 
 actually remove His gifts, for He always leaves 
 the roots of virtue in the soul ; but He acts in 
 such wise that it no longer perceives their pre- 
 sence, in order that it may cease to look on them 
 as its own ; and to this end He allows tempta- 
 tions contrary to these virtues ; feelings of dis- 
 taste and repugnance with regard to them ; up- 
 heavings of passion in the lower nature, to which 
 the soul never really consents, although it seems 
 to itself to do so ; and He withdraws all power of 
 
MAXIM xvir. 
 
 17 ? 
 
 self -appreciation, even to the perception of vir- 
 tuous acts performed. 
 
 Lastly, God is the true centre of the soul ; self- 
 love robs Him of this right, and fixes the centre 
 in the soul itself. This is what may be called ap- 
 propriation, a deep-seated, radical vice, which has 
 become so much a part of man’s nature, that he 
 has much ado to perceive it, understand its mis- 
 chievous character, and consent to be delivered 
 from it by God. However advanced a soul may 
 be, it would never give up this secret reference 
 to self, which leads it to consider both its perfec- 
 tion and its blessedness from a selfish point of 
 view, not subordinate to the glory and will of 
 God : this renunciation would never be made, 
 unless God exerted the constraining and absolute 
 control over its free-will, which the soul has 
 already surrendered into His hands. That is 
 self-love’s last stronghold, and its last and deepest 
 working place, with reference to which S. Francis 
 de Sales said : “It would be well if this vice died 
 in us a quarter of an hour before we die our- 
 selves.” 
 
 Self-love is the one source of all illusions in 
 the spiritual life. By its means the devil exer- 
 cises sleights, leads souls astray, drags them some- 
 times to hell by the very road that seems to lead 
 to heaven. We long eagerly for spiritual de- 
 lights : the devil gives false pleasures, which feed 
 vanity and sensuousness; we wish ardently for 
 extraordinary favours : the devil transforms him- 
 self into an angel of light, and counterfeits the 
 Divine operations. We question God curiously 
 on our own state and that of others, and on secret 
 or future events : the devil causes us to hear an 
 iuAvard voice, which we mistake for an answer from 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 heaven. Then we fancy ourselves the recipients 
 of peculiar light, and grow Avilful, obstinate, and 
 deaf to good advice ; we shake off the yoke of 
 authority, and, under the deceitful guise of sane- 
 ity, conceal the pride of Lucifer. 
 
 I have only set forth the perversions and 
 disorders introduced by self-love into devotion. 
 AVhat if I Avere to speak of those Avliich creep, by 
 its assistance, into • the exercise of the most 
 sacred offices, such as the preaching of God’s 
 A vord and the direction of souls ? I do not allude 
 to those ministers Avho regard a pious Avay of life 
 as a means of acquiring reputation or riches, and 
 assume the duties of preaching the gospel and 
 spiritual guidance through interested motives. 
 •Such moth^es are so gross, and so plainly repro- 
 bated in Holy Scripture, that no one can cheat 
 himseK respecting their sinfulness. But Avho can 
 enumerate the miserable littlenesses and rivalries 
 Avhich beset some preachers and confessors, who are 
 oiherAvise pious and estimable men ? We Avill not 
 dAA^ell on a subject which can only be a scandal and 
 a stumbling-block. But I may say, that no man 
 can examine himself too strictly on this point, 
 nor be too careful in investigating — not whether 
 in the discharge of duty he sometimes feels natural 
 Aveaknesses ; none, alas ! are free from them : but — 
 AAdiether, by reason of these infirmities, he humbles 
 himseK before God, and diligently strives to 
 resist and overcome them. 
 
 I shall not enter upon the discussion of the 
 specious reasonings Avitli which self-love skil- 
 fully conceals itself. It is too wary to appear in 
 its true colours ; it would then inanKestly be too 
 despicable, too odious. One Avould blush to giA^e 
 ear to it. It assumes the fairest colourings, and the 
 
MAXIM XVII. 
 
 179 
 
 most seductive guise. Its motive is always zeal 
 for God’s glory ; its aim is the perfection of one’s 
 own soul, or the spiritual welfare of others. Its 
 true purpose lies hidden in the depths of the 
 heart ; it professes other objects which are good 
 and holy, adroitly intermingles them with its 
 views, and deceives by means of the admixture. 
 
 The remedy for so great an evil in the practice 
 of devotion, is to allow ourselves to depend on 
 nothing that we feel or even see, but to rise 
 higher, and cling to God alone, and His good 
 pleasure. We are always safe while we consider 
 piety, not as it concerns self, but wholly as it 
 concerns God. Therefore, the way of bare faith, 
 in which we walk, as it were, blindly, without 
 evidence or assurance, shelters us from all illusion. 
 Therefore, too, God so carefully hides His work 
 from us, and forbids us to pry into it. Self-love 
 wushes to take part in everything, to see all, in 
 order everywhere to find material to feed on : and 
 therefore God conceals everything from it. 
 
 Then let us cease from uneasy consideration of 
 self, and never look at ourselves from motives of 
 curiosity, complacency, or selfishness. W e should 
 forget ourselves, and rest wholly in God, putting 
 in practice the exhortation given by our Lord to 
 S. Katharine of Sienna : “iMy daughter, think of 
 hie, and I will think of thee.” This short but 
 pregnant expression comprises all perfection ; and 
 shows that God is busied with our true interests 
 in proportion as we are busied with His. All 
 faults committed in the inner life, all hindrances 
 and obstacles encountered, all uneasiness and 
 misery, arise only from this reason, that we look 
 at and think of self, instead of thinking of God, 
 and trusting His goodness, wisdom, and love for 
 
 K 2 
 
180 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 all things. I am awaie that perfect forgetfulness 
 of self is attained only by slow degrees ; but it 
 must be our continual intention, and we must 
 practise ourselves in acts of that virtue at every 
 opportunity ; and such opportunities are of con- 
 stant recurrence, because we are so near to our- 
 selves. “ Wherever you find yourself,” said the 
 author of the Imitation, ‘‘there leave yourself.” 
 The practical application of this precept is un- 
 limited : it is utterly grievous to self-love, and 
 therefore infinitely profitable to the soul. It em- 
 braces everything, and excepts nothing : “ Wher- 
 ever you find yourself.” Measure your progress 
 by your fidelity in following this rule ; or rather, 
 if you possibly can, be faithful to it without 
 thinking that you are so. 
 
 “ Love to be unknown and to be made of no 
 account.” This is another counsel given by the 
 same author. Self-love intensely dreads obscurity, 
 it is tenacious of being seen, known, and esteemed. 
 Do not allege duty to God and to men. Seek 
 to be hidden. God will be able to find and use 
 you when needful for His glory and the salvation 
 of souls. But as far as you are yourself free to 
 choose, always avoid such positions as are likely 
 to involve publicity and notice, and then pub- 
 licity will do you no harm when, in spite of 
 yourself, you are exposed to it. When you are 
 no longer likely to be injured by temptations to 
 vanity, and when reputation for holiness will be 
 no snare for you, then God will make use of you, 
 and produce you before the world. 
 
 Be glad that God Himself should treat you as 
 unknown and of no account. Love to see His 
 consolations and favours bestowed on others, while 
 hardness and loneliness are your portion. After 
 
MAXUI XVII. 
 
 181 
 
 all, what are you? What do you deserve? And 
 what should you desire, but that God should deal 
 justly with you in this world by treating you as a 
 sinner and a thing of nought ? 
 
 In the last place, be sure that “ you will advance 
 only in proportion as you do violence to self.” 
 Allow no quarter, no forbearance to self-love ; 
 you must pursue that criminal to the death, and 
 ceaselessly ask his destruction at the hands of 
 God. “Burn, cutolf on earth,” as S. Augustine 
 said, “if only Thou grant me mercy in eternity.” 
 This seems barbarous and horrible to nature, but 
 in practice it is sweeter than men suppose : here 
 the eoul finds peace and happiness. The more 
 self-love is brought under control, the greater i3 
 our freedom, independence and serenity. 
 
 Then let us boldly go out to battle against this 
 foe to peace and holiness. Let us carry our 
 attacks to the greatest possible extent, pray- 
 ing that God Himself will deal the final blow ; 
 we may hasten the end, but complete victory lies 
 in God’s hands alone. 
 
( 182 ) 
 
 EKmTEENTH MAXIM. 
 
 quii'tl)? at tome; requKate pout Dap, anDvoaste 
 no time. 
 
 “ Study to he quiet^ and to do your own business” 
 XYIII. 
 
 OF A RETIRED LIFE. 
 
 Love of retirement and solitude disposes the soul 
 peculiarly for the practice of an interior life. 
 “I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak 
 comfortably unto her.” When a man is alone 
 A\dth his own soul, and undisturbed by the excite- 
 ment of external things, unless he is beset by 
 violent passion, his reflections naturally turn first 
 to himself and then lead him back to God. 
 
 I do not mean that persons living in the world 
 should lead a life of retirement, such as is practised 
 in convents and hermitages. Living at home, going 
 out merely as duty requires, is living in retirement. 
 Having no dealings with the world, but such as 
 are required by necessity or charity, is living in 
 solitude. He who loves to be alone with God, 
 and, amid the turmoil of business, longs for the 
 time when he may hold free converse with Him, 
 has already, or soon will have, entered upon the 
 interior life. 
 
 Take advantage then of all the leisure your 
 affairs allow, reserve some part of every day to 
 be spent in the consideration of eternal things. 
 These are most valuable moments, which, if used 
 
MAXIM XVIII. 
 
 183 
 
 aright, will enable you to sanctify the rest of the 
 day. 
 
 Another holy practice, which draws down many 
 graces, is that of yearly setting apart one week as 
 a time of retreat, spent in undisturbed meditation 
 on the truths pertaining to salvation, and in 
 serious examination of the state of the soul ; 
 setting it in order, and making thorough and 
 earnest preparation for the future. This prac- 
 tice was formerly common, but has fallen into 
 disuse; much of the interior spirit has departed 
 with it. 
 
 Silence is one of the first fruits of a retired life ; 
 it conduces greatly to collectedness and prayer, 
 and its practice cannot be too strongly urged. 
 The interior spirit reigns, or soon will reign, in 
 every community where silence is stedfastly 
 observed. Fidelity to that rule is the safeguard 
 of all others. Laxity and disorder gradually 
 creep into convents where it is disregarded. 
 
 In the world it is not easy to fix certain hours 
 for silence, because occasions for speaking occur, 
 when least expected. But the spirit of silence is 
 kept, if we only speak as is opportune and neces- 
 sary ; if, in company, without affecting ill-placed 
 taciturnity, we listen rather than talk ; and if, 
 when we talk, we keep vivacity in due bounds, 
 and use that reticence which is inspired by the 
 Spirit of God. This reticence is one of the 
 marks by which our Lord was to be known. 
 “ He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice 
 to be heard in the street and, among pious 
 persons, those who cultivate the inner life are 
 readily distinguishable by this sign. Their con- 
 versation is not therefore less natural ; it is only 
 more pleasant and interesting ; and, though 
 
184 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 tempered by a certain reserve, it is neither dull, 
 cold, nor constrained. 
 
 When the soul is in its first religious fer- 
 vour, it needs no exhortation to retirement and 
 silence ; it is naturally inclined to seek them. 
 The loss of spiritual delights is then too much 
 dreaded, the secret brooding over them is too 
 sweet, to allow any wish for distraction from 
 without. Intercourse with worldly persons is 
 oppressive ; it seems merely a painful void, and 
 is carefully shunned, and perhaps too much so 
 to meet the demands of our position, and those of 
 Christian charity. 
 
 But a fault then imminent is that of bestowing 
 indiscreet confidence on persons with whom we 
 are intimate, of pouring out our feelings too 
 freely, and telling them of our own happiness 
 in the hope of bringing them to God. W e feel 
 unable to contain the grace that fills us, and 
 find comfort in sharing our secret with others. 
 But we should do better in keeping it to ourselves, 
 and mentioning it only to our confessor. The 
 inner workings of grace are not to be divulged ; 
 they must be kept hidden, and we are not to 
 pretend to the apostolate, while we are as yet 
 but weak neophytes. 
 
 But when spiritual spring-time is past, and 
 dryness has succeeded to refreshment, there is 
 reason to fear lest we give up our retired life and 
 ~ seek intercourse with created things. This natu- 
 ral inclination must be resisted as a most dan- 
 gerous temptation, which exposes the rising struc- 
 ture of our perfection to imminent ruin. Though 
 we then no longer feel the presence of God, He 
 yet is present with us more deeply and ineffably, 
 and in a manner which we can easily apprehend, 
 
MAXIM XVJII. 
 
 185 
 
 if we be extremely careful to retain it. All volun- 
 tary distraction of mind aims a blow at this real, 
 but unperceived recollectedness ; it leaves impres- 
 sions on the imagination which are revived during 
 prayer ; and the more easily, because in a state of 
 dryness the soul is empty of ideas and feelings. 
 Prayer thus becomes a continual distraction, which 
 is sinful (at least in so far as we have brought it 
 on ourselves) ; and besides, as we already find 
 contemplative prayer difficult, receiving, as it 
 seems to us, no help from God, it is soon given 
 up. With it we give up the inner life. 
 
 It is not enough to stay at home, quiet and 
 silent, we must also arrange our time, and so 
 distribute the occupations of the day, that every 
 duty shall have its apiDointed time, and every 
 hour its duty. AVe shall thus avoid listlessness, 
 wearied want of employment, and the consequent 
 temptations. 
 
 The chief point is to fix the hours for rising 
 and going to bed, for on that the rest depends. 
 Then we must distribute our devotional exercises, 
 — mental prayer, church services, reading, vocal 
 prayer, and other pious practices — in such wise 
 that some may be given to the morning and some 
 to the evening, and no long period may elapse 
 without religious acts. The time which remains 
 at our disposal should be devoted to work, and to 
 the requirements of our condition in life. 
 
 However, as God desires that we should be 
 slaves only to His love and His will, which is 
 above all other rule, and many accidents may 
 derange the regulation of our day, we must bend 
 to the disposal of His Providence, and not re- 
 proach ourselves with omissions which it was out 
 of our power to avoid. We are faithful, if we are 
 
186 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 as faithful as we are able to be. Exactness with 
 regard to God, lies less in the fulfilling of the 
 letter than in the disposition of the will. To 
 break the rules of charity, propriety, and cour- 
 tesy, in order to observe our rule of time, would 
 be a want of fidelity to God. True piety is in 
 no wise opposed to the fulfilment of the duties of 
 society ; it sanctifies our relations with our neigh- 
 bour, even when they seem most trifling, and 
 are only dependent on custom and politeness ; 
 it does not require us to renounce them, nor does 
 it even allow us to neglect them. 
 
 Therefore, in the first place, we must so arrange 
 our rule that we may be able to observe it 
 habitually ; not overburdening it with practices, 
 nor multiplying them excessively ; this fetters the 
 spirit and enslaves the soul ; we must consider our 
 health, position, occupations, and the persons on 
 whom we depend, such as a mother or husband ; 
 to which persons we owe the greatest deference. 
 Next, when interrupted, whether by unforeseen 
 business, letters, or visits to be paid or received, 
 we must not scruple to give up the devotional 
 exercise assigned to the time thus engrossed, 
 but resume it at some other period, if possible ; 
 we must not make ourselves odious or ridiculous 
 by mistimed exactitude ; nor show by our air and 
 bearing that we are disturbed, and had other 
 things to do ; but gracefully lend ourselves not 
 only to friends, but to troublesome and impor- 
 tunate persons. God permits these little crosses 
 for the breaking of our will, and in order to give 
 us free and pliable devotion, like that of S. Francis 
 de Sales ; and to lead us to the practice of many 
 virtues, which have no place but under such 
 circumstances. 
 
MAXIM XVIII. 
 
 187 
 
 In the last place, for the prevention of all 
 scruples, we must distinctly and carefully decide 
 as to what does and what does not depend upon 
 ourselves ; what we are at liberty to do, and what 
 would annoy those whom we are bound to con- 
 sider. We must distinguish such practices as 
 maintain us in a state of holy freedom, without 
 trenching on the bounds of true fidelity, from 
 such as breathe the spirit of bondage and involve 
 constraint, hair-splitting, and exaggerated stiff- 
 ness. If we are honest with ourselves and 
 with God, we can always decide easily whether 
 or no we are to blame for any non-observance of 
 our rule. 
 
 Such regulations can of course only be made by 
 those whose time is chiefly at their disposal. But 
 other persons, if earnestly desirous to advance in 
 holy living, will make use of all spare moments, 
 and carefully husband the time they may call 
 their own, in order to employ it in prayer and 
 holy reading. They must not complain of the 
 hardship of their position ; it is ordered by Pro- 
 vidence, and will not hinder their advance, if 
 they are drawn towards an interior life. God 
 Himself will more than make up to them for the 
 want of ordinary means, and perhaps their busy 
 hampered condition will tend more to their sancti- 
 fication than a state of perfect leisure and inde- 
 pendence. There are no obstacles for those who 
 are determined to love God. 
 
 Many reasons should induce this regulation of 
 time, when practicable. First, the absolute and 
 universal duty of sanctifying our actions. Now 
 we already begin to sanctify them, if we order 
 them by a fixed rule reasonably suj)posed to be 
 according to God’s will, and if we then perform 
 
188 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 each at its own hour, as if at the very summons 
 of God. 
 
 Next, when exercises of . piety are ordered by 
 rule, they are less easily forgotten and sooner 
 become habitual. The very hour reminds us of 
 our duty, and also frequently gives occasion for 
 some act of self-denial in laying aside what we 
 are about, in order to obey our Lord’s will. 
 
 Then, we avoid idleness, which is a great temp- 
 tation for those whose time is at their own 
 disposal. We are all naturally inclined to repose 
 and laziness. But there is no fear of indolence 
 for those whose time is all marked out ; imagina- 
 tion is not on the stretch as to what shall be done 
 or left undone ; every hour has its appointed 
 task, and the different occupations which continu- 
 ally succeed each other do not allow the spirits to 
 flag. Thus we are delivered from ennui, the 
 terrible scourge of an unoccupied life. 
 
 And if protected from indolence and ennui, how 
 many temptations are shut out from the soul! 
 How many occasions of sin are shunned ! 
 
 What I have now said refers to all Christians 
 in general, according to their various circum- 
 stances. But as to those who lead an interior 
 life, tb. ey are more inclined to regulate their time 
 than others, and they observe their regulations 
 more faithfully. The Spirit of God, in Whom 
 they live and by Whom they are led, suffers them 
 no indefl-nite course of life, and demands a strict 
 account of all their time. But their rule is not 
 changeless ; it must alter according to the various 
 stages through which they pass. Practices which 
 are useful at first, are not afterwards suitable. 
 The Spirit of God sometimes forbids what at 
 other times He commands. Exercises proper to 
 
MAXIM XVIII. 
 
 189 
 
 retirement should occupy the first years. After- 
 wards God leaves them more at liberty to mix in 
 external matters for the benefit of others. At 
 one time, those practices are necessary which lead 
 to introversion ; at another they ought to do such 
 things as draw them out of themselves and render 
 self -forgetfulness obligatory. In times of peculiar 
 and violent temptation, a wise director will allow 
 amusements and innocent diversions, which are 
 then necessary, and which he may have rightly 
 forbidden in other circumstances. I say no more 
 on this point, because I am not writing for ad- 
 vanced souls, but for beginners. 
 
( 190 ) 
 
 NINETEENTH MAXBI 
 lltt cbaritp and picti? Iic0in at dome. 
 
 He hath showed thee^ 0 man^ what is good; and 
 lohat doth the Lord require of thee^ hut to do 
 justly, and to love mercy, and to ivalk humbly 
 iclth thy Godf^ 
 
 XIX. 
 
 OF DISCRETION. 
 
 Neglect of business and domestic duties, un- 
 der a pretext of piety, is common enough. De- 
 votees, especially of the female sex, often fall 
 into this error, and so give scandal even to 
 sensible and reaUy religious persons. Yet devo- 
 tion is not herein to blame, but rather that 
 self-will which is followed instead of the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 Many have no sooner undertaken the prac- 
 tice of piety, than they begin to neglect their 
 homes, their children, and their servants ; 
 they spend the day in going to church, run 
 after popular preachers, attend every rehgious 
 meeting and special festival, and undertake 
 all manner of good works. They are to be 
 found everywhere excepting at home, but they 
 leave that as early, and return to it as late, as 
 possible. 
 
 Meanwhile all is disorder in the household; 
 
MAXIM XIX. 
 
 191 
 
 every one does as he pleases while the mis- 
 tress is away ; children are left to the careless 
 hands of those who themselves need watching, 
 or are dragged about, especially if girls, from 
 service to service ; they are wearied out and dis- 
 gusted, and soon learn to dislike religion. The 
 husband justly complains, but his words are un- 
 heeded, and are secretly attributed to a want of 
 religion. 
 
 And thus it is also with many men, who are 
 .active, bustling, busy-bodies ; meddling in every- 
 thing under pretence of serving God ; fancying 
 that the whole Church depends on them, while 
 they scarcely ever give a thought to themselves. 
 Many priests are not irreproachable in this re- 
 spect. They have zeal, but not according to 
 knowledge. They yield unreservedly to natural 
 activity ; and, because their ministry really em- 
 braces many objects, they intrude beyond their 
 province, and imagine that everything is in their 
 hands. They will recommend husbands, or sug- 
 gest vocations for young women, arrange money 
 matters between disputing parties, and act as 
 registry-offices for servants out of place. They 
 must manage all good works, or success is not to 
 be expected. They pry into family secrets, even 
 in the confessional. They govern the households 
 of their penitents, regulate their ex23enses, manage 
 their estates, attend to their lawsuits, and draw 
 up their wills. They are for ever, and every- 
 where, coming and going. The day is not long 
 enough for all they have to do ; they must needs 
 borrow from the night, and have scarcely time to 
 say their own office. 
 
 I do not mean to criticise ; nothing is further 
 from my inclination and the intention of this 
 
192 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 book. But how can I do otherwise than lament 
 over an evil such as this, which is so harmful to 
 religion ? I do not blame the intention, I believe 
 it to be right and pure ; nor the object, which is 
 good, because it concerns the worship of God 
 and the welfare of men. But who can love to 
 see the order of duty reversed, and works of 
 supererogation taking precedence of obligatory 
 duties? Who can excuse the mistaken piety 
 which looks merely to externals, and counts the 
 inner spirit as nothing, but neglects God’s pri- 
 mary laws? 
 
 The spirit of the inner life follows another 
 course, and inspires very opposite ideas. It 
 teaches all who yield to its guidance, that their 
 primary duty is the sanctification of their own 
 souls, and that the holiness of a Christian 
 consists chiefly in the fulfilment of the duties 
 of his station. These are indispensable : the 
 very end of devotion is the obtaining of such 
 graces as are necessary for their fulfilment. It 
 can therefore never be a reason for neglecting 
 them ; on the contrary, true piety allows that 
 time only for prayer which can lawfully be 
 spared from imperative duties ; and bids us in 
 all religious exercises, not of strict obligation, to 
 accommodate ourselves to the wishes and weak- 
 ness of those whom we are bound to consider^ 
 and, for peace’ sake, to sacrifice our own tastes, be 
 they never so pious. 
 
 The spirit of true religion teaches ministers of 
 the Gospel, that the care of souls ought to 
 be limited to things spiritual, and it only 
 allows interference in tern poral matters when 
 charity requires it of them, and then with much 
 reserve and circumspection, both lest they should 
 
MAXIM XIX. 
 
 193 
 
 injure themselves, and lest they should lessen in 
 the minds of others the reverence due to their 
 office. 
 
 These things would be taught by the spirit of 
 the inner life, if men sought its guidance with a 
 pure heart. Thus it taught Ambrose, Augustine, 
 Chrysostom, Borromeo, Francis de Sales, and 
 every other Saint and Doctor of the Church. 
 
( 194 ) 
 
 TWENTIETH IMAXIM. 
 
 corDi'aK lanti ftinti, oentlt' anD (ottJi? ; tenDer to 
 pour nci0f)fcour5, aiiD tavD upon pouvsdf. 
 
 “ Above all these things put on charity^ which is 
 the bond of perfectness^ 
 
 XX. 
 
 OF INTERCOURSE WITH OTHERS. 
 
 Virtue is essentially lovely. Where it is not so, 
 it is imperfect ; and its imperfection is due to 
 self-love and self-esteem. When humility has 
 dried up these two sources of all our shortcomings 
 and evil habits, then virtue shows herself in 
 full loveliness, and all must do her homage, even 
 though unavowed. For virtue obliges us to 
 transfer to others the feelings we have entertained 
 for self ; so that the sentiment which, when 
 directed towards ourselves, was unrighteous self- 
 love, is transformed into righteous charity when 
 bestowed on others. It leads us to do as we would 
 be done by ; to think, and speak, and endure 
 with regard to them, as we would have them do 
 with regard to us. Certainly no one could refuse 
 the tribute of love to virtue like this ; and, if all 
 men were virtuous, love would be universally re- 
 ciprocal. 
 
 Thus, then, true piety inspires all loveliness, 
 and its first sign is gentleness. A true servant of 
 God is austere towards himself only, and that 
 
MAXIM XX. 
 
 195 
 
 according to discretion. But towards others he 
 is kind, easy, and yielding, so far as his conscience 
 will allow. If sometimes forced to be severe, 
 charity is the rule of such severity. When we 
 intend to live religiously in the world, we mistake 
 the line we ought to take, if we break olf all 
 social relations, and devote ourselves wholly to 
 pious exercises. Because we belong to God, is it 
 any reason that we should have no friends, if our 
 friendships are not in themselves of a repre- 
 hensible character? Why deprive ourselves of 
 the pleasure of society ? Why should courteous 
 visits be a weariness to us ? Why not even put 
 up mth such as are useless or tiresome? What 
 can the world think of devotees who shut them- 
 selves up at home, deny themselves to every visitor, 
 and show a repulsive or embarrassed face to all 
 who accost them ? By thus withdrawing from all 
 social intercourse, we make piety odious, and 
 give the impression that its practice is impos- 
 sible ; we deprive ourselves of many opportunities 
 of exercising virtue ; we contract evil habits, and 
 a turn of mind alien to true religion. 
 
 Undoubtedly it is well to fix hours for our re- 
 ligious duties, and, as far as possible, to discharge 
 them faithfully ; but then they ought not to be 
 so numerous as to leave us no time to bestow on 
 our fellow-creatures. Besides, charity skilfully 
 accommodates itself to circumstances, and at fit- 
 ting times gives up devout exercises to the cour- 
 tesy due towards others. 
 
 Moreover, true piety shows much gentleness 
 in the exercise of authority over children, ser- 
 vants, or dependents ; it is not rigid, imperious, 
 and exacting ; not severe in rebuke ; it does not 
 take notice of every trifling offence ; it is ready 
 
 0 2 
 
196 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 to forgive ; tlircats are not always on its lips, nor 
 chastisement in its hand. It especially avoids 
 outbursts of impatience and anger, hard words, 
 reproaches, and all that mortifies and offends with- 
 out helping to correct. It seeks after good, but 
 not harshly, and does not expect perfection to be 
 attained in a moment. It waits patiently, and 
 returns again and again to the same point ; it 
 consoles, encourages, has a good word for good- 
 will, and praises slight efforts in order to induce 
 greater. 
 
 But the especial point which the practice of piety 
 corrects in our social character is querulousness. 
 '\^"e all understand the term, though it may perhaps 
 be impossible to define it. It is laid to the charge 
 of devout persons more than of other men ; mis- 
 taken devoutness often gives occasion for its 
 display. The cross humour to which I allude 
 does not spring from a root of wickedness ; it is 
 not the failing of the bad and crafty, but on the 
 contrary of the frank and straightforward. But 
 it causes many misdoings of which one is heartily 
 ashamed when the fit has passed, and it is insup- 
 portable in society. Politeness teaches us to check 
 it in the presence of strangers and persons whom 
 we respect ; but it is amply indulged before inti- 
 mate friends and at home. And those who yield 
 to it are the first to suffer from its effects. 
 
 Nothing is more difficult to extirpate than this 
 cross temper, because it is not excited by any 
 particular reason nor by any recognized moral 
 cause, and it depends in great measure upon 
 physical causes ; besides, it forestals preparation, 
 and its fits come on when least expected. What 
 hold can the will effect on such disease when 
 middle life has been attained ? I know but one 
 
MAXIM XX. 
 
 197 
 
 remedy : the practice of the presence of God 
 and of contemplative prayer. The presence of 
 God awakens attention to the first stirrings of 
 cross humour, and checks them ; prayer gradually 
 fixes the mind in a state of evenness, keeps im- 
 agination in bounds, lessens sensitiveness, and 
 puts low spirits to flight ; and these, I think, are 
 the chief springs of ill humour. Indeed, it is 
 plainly to be seen that persons who lead a life of 
 prayer are not subject to this disease ; and so 
 much cannot be said of others. 
 
 dlie gentleness imparted by virtue, differs from 
 that which is merely natural. Those who are 
 gentle by nature are often weak, soft, indifferent, 
 apathetic, and excessively indulgent. But those 
 wJiom virtue renders gentle, are well braced, firm, 
 quick, and deep in feeling, touched by good and 
 by evil, indulgent when they ought to be so, but 
 without breaking the rules of duty. He who is 
 naturally gentle, dares not reprove, lest he should 
 become excited and lose his balance ; he who is vir- 
 tuously gentle, reproves energetically, but always 
 with self-possession. One dissembles through 
 timidity, the other sj)eaks by the promptings of 
 charity ; one often runs the risk of failing in 
 duty on this point ; the other will always fulfil it 
 faithfully without human respect ; one spares 
 others in order to spare himself : the other does 
 so only for God’s glory, and as the highest duty. 
 But as to that gentleness which is merely politic, 
 all real piety abhors the vice. 
 
 Cordiality is another produce of true religion. 
 It was banished long ago from worldly intercourse, 
 and its place was taken by politeness, which 
 resembles it externally, dissembles its feelings, 
 and affects those which it does not possess. 
 
J98 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 These demonstrations 'psi&s, current ; they are 
 received and paid back in the same coin. But 
 in reality no reliance is placed upon them, and 
 they deceive no one who has the least experience. 
 The first lesson taught by the world to its votaries 
 is this : appear candid, but never be cordial. And 
 the term itself is almost as little used in language 
 as the thing signified, in society. Polite inter- 
 course is reduced to vain and frequently derisive 
 compliments ; offers of service, the acceptance of 
 which would be annoying ; unmeaning promises, 
 easily to be eluded at the time of fulfilment; 
 assurances of good-will which ahvays end in 
 declarations of inability ; and demonstrations of 
 interest in others’ concerns that are apparently 
 vivid, but really cold, and often perfectly false. 
 
 How different is this external affectation from 
 the cordiality of real Christians ! Charity never 
 fails in the requirements of true courtesy, but with 
 them it combines frankness and candour ; expresses 
 only what it feels, and that,’ simply, unaffectedly, 
 and persuasively. Xo evasion, no reticence, no 
 affectation, all is thorough ; love prompts speech, 
 or discretion checks it. Sweet and safe and satis- 
 fying is intercourse with minds governed by 
 charity. The multitude of the first Christians 
 were ‘‘ of one heart and of one soul,” because 
 they considered themselves members of one body, 
 joined to one Head. 
 
 This unity is divine. Our Lord asked it from 
 His Father in the night of His Passion : That 
 
 they all may be one ; as Thou, Father art in Me, 
 and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us ; 
 that the world may believe that Thou hast sent 
 Me.” It is our Lord’s will that the divine origin 
 of His religion should be known by this sign. If 
 
MAXIM XX. 
 
 199 
 
 unity reigned on earth, happiness would reign 
 here likewise ; and it was our Lord’s mind that 
 it should begin here and be perfected for ever in 
 heaven. But where is it to be found now ? In 
 the hearts of a very small number of Christians, 
 more rarely to be met with than is supposed. 
 Generally the union of hearts is crossed by petty 
 views of self-interest and self-seeking, which 
 chill and hamper love, though they may not de- 
 stroy its existence. Kindliness combined with 
 cordiality, the disposition to take all in good part, 
 which puts the best construction on everything, 
 is not apt to take offence, not captious or sus- 
 picious — this state of feeling is not usual among 
 persons professing devotion ; they are often more 
 inclined than others to judge severely, because 
 they understand more, both about good and evil, 
 and are endowed with more light to discern both 
 in others. 
 
 Another fault common to such persons is that 
 of esteeming themselves above others. Self- 
 esteem and spiritual vanity are among the most 
 dangerous snares which beset the entrance of the 
 interior life. No sooner have you given yourself 
 up to God, and fancied that you perceiv^e a notable 
 improvement in yourself, than you look at your 
 neighbour, and measure yourself by him. You 
 examine him from head to foot ; you compare his 
 conduct with your own ; and what a wonderful 
 difference you find! He has some fault from 
 which, thank God, you are free ; he does not 
 practise some exercise which is habitual to you ; 
 he is not in the right way, where you fancy your- 
 self to be walking almost alone ; he runs into 
 extremes, or is narrow-minded, or scrupulous. 
 Y^our heart is fain to echo the words of the 
 
200 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 Pharisee in the Gospel: ‘‘God, I thank Thee, 
 that I am not as other men are.” 
 
 These feelings are generally enhanced if any 
 sensible sweetness has been felt at Communion ; 
 if emotion has wrung forth a fevr tears, then the 
 soul fancies itself lifted altogether above this 
 world, and gifted with eagles’ wings for the loftiest 
 of nights. 
 
 This is a subtle temptation, which it is difficult 
 wholly to avoid, if God does not give a helping 
 hand, by raising up some matter for humili- 
 ation, or by withdrawing His misused consolations. 
 Spiritual pride is incomparably more to be feared 
 than any other, because its objects are incomparably 
 more excellent ; therefore God visits those who 
 yield to it with utter blindness, and its victims are 
 exposed to certain ruin. 
 
 Those directors who have not the Spirit of 
 God are thus apt to presume on their gifts, fancy- 
 ing themselves more enlightened than others : 
 endued with a singular talent for the guidance 
 of souls, which others understand nothing about. 
 They are proud of the number and quality of 
 their penitents ; they use secret devices to increase 
 their number. If they are not continually boast- 
 ing of 1heir own powers, that work is done for 
 them by other lips. They express pity for those 
 who apply to other priests, and imply that it is 
 matter for regret that persons so well disposed 
 should not have fallen into better hands. There- 
 fore their first business, when a person submits to 
 their direction, is to destroy the work that has 
 been done by others, suggesting new methods, 
 and insisting on the adoption of a different style. 
 Directors of this kind have an intense spirit of 
 domineering, and exercise despotic sway over 
 
MAXIM XX. 
 
 201 
 
 souls. They do not bring them into subjection 
 to grace, but to their own notions. They never 
 tell them to hearken to the voice of God speaking 
 in their own hearts; God is supposed to speak 
 through their instrumentality alone, and any in- 
 ward inspiration, not in accordance with their 
 views, is to be treated as an illusion. I pray you, 
 devout souls, to avoid these tyrants, and seek 
 such persons as will watch the operations of grace 
 in your soul, and conform their advice to it ; 
 their only method consisting in the lesson of 
 attention and docility to the voice of the Good 
 Shepherd. 
 
 The overlooking of our neighbours’ faults is a 
 fundamental rule of charity ; severity with our 
 own is the first principle of intoior mortification. 
 But many professed devotees assume the contrary 
 as to both points. This always has been, and 
 always will be, matter for regret. 
 
 How easy is that devotion which consists in 
 blaming and critizing other people, sometimes 
 with intolerable sharpness, sometimes with affec- 
 tation of pity ! Is that charity which can endure 
 nothing, but ridicules all that we dislike, and is 
 utterly intolerant with regard to manners, dis- 
 positions, and natural human imperfections ? You 
 need not flatter your neighbour on his unpleasant 
 or reprehensible qualities ; but you ought to bear 
 with him, and not allow him to perceive that he is 
 disagreeable to you. 
 
 With whom are you to live, if you will consort 
 only with those that are faultless ? By what rule 
 of equity is it that you wish, not only that others 
 should bear with you, but take pleasure in your 
 company, and bend to your peculiarities, while 
 you look upon your neighbour’s as heavy burdens 
 
202 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 that you seek to shake off : complaining to one of 
 the faults of another, and sparing nothing in any 
 one ? Do you think yourself faultless ? If you 
 feel that you need indulgence, be indulgent to 
 others. Of all faults, intolerance to those of 
 others is the most disagreeable. 
 
 “ Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil 
 the law of Christ.” This is a great art, most 
 necessary in society, most conducive to the plea- 
 santness of life. 
 
 S. John seems to reduce his whole system of 
 morality to brotherly love and all-enduring 
 charity. In extreme old age, when unable to 
 preach at any length, he would cause himself to 
 Ije carried into the congregation, and say only 
 these words : “ Little children, love one another.” 
 .Vnd when it was complained that he always 
 repeated the same thing, he made answer : ‘‘ It is 
 the Lord’s commandment, and if this be fulfilled, 
 it is sufficient.” Now, of all the duties involved in 
 this precept, the most essential is patient endu- 
 rance, because its practice is continually needed, 
 and the results are of the utmost consequence, 
 whether it be fulfilled or neglected. Moreover, it 
 is exceedingly difficult, because it demands con- 
 tinual care and unwearied efforts to subdue our 
 own temper. Bearing all from others, and letting 
 them have nothing to bear from us, is a mark 
 of very great virtue. 
 
 But in order to reach this point, what a deadly 
 war must be waged with our personal faults, and 
 the self-love in which they are rooted ! Say what 
 we will, the true reason which makes us so fasti- 
 dious with regard to our neighbour, is our own 
 excessive self-love and self-esteem. The more we 
 spare ourselves, the less we consider him. The 
 
MAXIM XX. 
 
 203 
 
 blinder we are to our own imperfections, the more 
 clear-sighted are we to those of others. The great 
 and only means of becoming charitable, is the 
 earnest practice of interior mortification, the 
 application of knife and cautery to our own 
 wounds, and the uprooting of the very feeblest 
 fibre of unacknowledged self-complacency. As 
 self-love dies, so will brotherly love be quickened. 
 
 But men will not receive this doctrine ; interior 
 mortification is most distasteful to nature. The 
 devout are ready to overload themselves with 
 austerities, and pine for those they do not under- 
 take ; they will fast immoderately, set about all 
 practices of devotion, and spend many hours 
 every day in prayer ; but few can make up their 
 minds to repress ill-humour, stifle over-sensitive- 
 ness, check false suspicions, malicious curiosity, 
 rash judgments, unjust prejudices: in fact, to 
 make war against all bad habits ; and of those 
 who do undertake this hard struggle, still fewer 
 have the courage to carry it through to the end. 
 
( 204 ) 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST MAXDI. 
 
 ^0 straigbt on ; mim stop ; neticr looli tiach : 
 gncOe for sin, out nrorr ^ose couragr. 
 
 “ Forgettuig those things which are hehind^ and 
 reaching forth unto those things v:hich are 
 before^ I press toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus^ 
 
 XXI. 
 
 OF mOGRESS. 
 
 All is not accomplished, when we have entered 
 upon the ways of God ; we must walk in them, 
 and go ever onward ; a refusal to advance is a 
 consent to fall back, for it is impossible to stand 
 still. God Himself sets us in the path of the 
 inner life, regulates our speed, and causes some 
 to advance more rapidly, and others more slowly. 
 Our part is, in no wise to oppose Ilis urging hand, 
 or to retard our progress. 
 
 N ow this progress is retarded, or wholly stopped 
 in many ways, and by various causes which it 
 is well to explain. It is retarded by cowardice, 
 downheartedness, faithlessness, inconstancy, and 
 many venial sins which show themselves in those 
 who are not duly watchful. 
 
 Progress is altogether arrested by those who 
 act like a traveller, who, instead of looking 
 straight on, allows himself to be attracted by the 
 objects that appear to right and left, and stands 
 
MAXIM XXL 
 
 205 
 
 still to look at them. Observe, I do not mean 
 that he leaves the road for the sake of such 
 objects ; that would be much worse, especially if, 
 ill order to enjoy them, he gave up the previous 
 aim of his journey. Then we should not say 
 that he stopped, but that he left his road alto- 
 gether. I take it for granted that he remains in 
 the right path, and that he intends to do so; but, 
 fascinated by the beauty or novelty of the sights 
 .presented to his vision, he slackens his speed, or 
 stops altogether in order to enjoy them at leisure ; 
 for while he gazes at them vaguely or slightly, 
 without fixing his eyes or his mind upon them, 
 the sight of them does not hinder his progress. 
 This similitude is easy of application. 
 
 Those also stop who are perpetually looking to 
 see where to set their foot; always trying to 
 choose the best places, and going far round about 
 to avoid awkward spots, instead of walking straight 
 on, and running the risk of getting rather muddy. 
 Nothing is more common than such precautions, 
 hesitations, and deliberations in the path of the 
 interior life. The pilgrim seeks certainty in 
 order to avoid making any false step ; wants to 
 see where he is, fears over-fatigue, and is afraid 
 of falling and getting a little soiled ; he turns 
 aside from difficult and slippery places, and from 
 those that seem to threaten any danger. But 
 grace says, Fear nothing, but go on ; else the road 
 will be lengthened, and perhaps the end will 
 never be attained. Daintiness, cowardice, too 
 great fear of the slightest falls, and of the least 
 tarnishing of that purity of conscience which gra- 
 tifies pride, cause disregard to the directions of 
 grace, and prevent the soul from going on its 
 road with full confidence in God, without in- 
 
206 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 specting it too narrowly, or taking such circuitous 
 paths. 
 
 In a path so rough and uneven, with difficult 
 passes scattered here and there, and precipices on 
 both sides, why should we be so fearful of fahs, and 
 of the danger of soiling ourselves ? when we ought 
 to walk blindly under the safe conduct of faith, 
 when such falls can only be slight and involun- 
 tary, and have only the effect of humbling us ; 
 and when God’s Hand is always ready to raise 
 us again? Fear of death or of wounds never 
 made a good soldier. We have a Physician Who 
 can and will heal and quicken us. Why so 
 greatly fear to expose ourselves by His orders, 
 and under His mighty protection ? 
 
 Again, the pilgrim stops, when, having acci- 
 dentally fallen, instead of rising immediately, 
 and setting forth with renewed energy, he lies 
 stretched out on the gTOund, distressed, miserable, 
 desponding by reason of his fall, and making no 
 effort to rise ; or again when, after having risen, 
 he investigates the cause of his fall at great length 
 and with inquisitive uneasiness, under the pre- 
 text of guarding against a similar accident on 
 future occasions. This conduct implies great self- 
 love, false discretion, and self -confidence. 
 
 He who walks on rapidly, or, still more, he 
 who runs, is not so careful to see where he sets 
 his foot ; he climbs over all obstacles ; he goes on 
 deliberately, whether his path be impeded with 
 ruts, or mire, or be overflowed with water ; what 
 matter to him that he is splashed, or muddy and 
 wet, provided he makes progress ? He is willing 
 to expose himself to a few falls, in spite of wffiich 
 he leaves others far behind him. These accidents 
 which he neither seeks nor fears, and are only 
 
MAXIM XXI. 
 
 207 
 
 caused by the impetuosity of his progress, never 
 have any bad effect, but on the contrary, double 
 his ardour ; he rises quickly, and does not brood 
 over his fall. God, towards Whom he is hasten- 
 ing, union with AVhom he is eagerly seeking, is 
 too merciful and too righteous to lay those faults 
 to his account which are occasioned by the exces- 
 sive confidence of entire surrender of self to Plim, 
 and of love for Him. 
 
 But all this is to be understood only of truly 
 interior souls, of whom God has taken full and 
 perfect possession, who are acted upon and urged 
 by His Spirit ; who abhor the least intentional 
 fault, and the slightest resistance to grace, and 
 who, moreover, have great courage, and are re- 
 solved on the most generous sacrifices. It would 
 be wrong to apply this doctrine to ordinary 
 souls, who, assisted by ordinary grace, advance 
 by their own efforts in the path of virtue. These 
 must always use prudent, though not anxious 
 •circumspection, they must keep an attentive watch 
 over their steps, and be on their guard against all 
 falls, and the more carefully, because their falls 
 generally are wilful in a greater or less degree. 
 
 But, it will be said, how are we to make sure 
 that we are advancing? You are to seek no such 
 certainty ; it is enough to know that you are not 
 stopping, and this may be known by the witness 
 of a quiet conscience, or by a peculiar peace, 
 which in such a case is always present, even 
 though unnoticed. In time of perplexity and 
 darkness, this assurance is conveyed through the 
 director, who answers to us for our own safety, 
 soothes us, and bids us go on our way, leaning 
 only upon faith and obedience. 
 
 I allow that faith is dark and obedience blind, 
 
208 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 and that the assurance derived from them does 
 not destroy the contrary impressions produced by 
 imaginations and feeling. I grant that this as- 
 surance is neither bright nor absolute, nor does it 
 bring with it a comforting conviction on which 
 the soul may rest. But it is a kind of assurance 
 which suits the trial ; and while the trial lasts, no 
 other must be expected, unless at few and momen- 
 tary intervals. 
 
 AMiat would be painful in this path if the soul 
 were always certain that it was pleasing in God’s 
 sight ? What sacrifice would there be ? What 
 proof would be given of trust and self-renunciation? 
 
 So then continual progress signifies that we go 
 straight on, impelled by grace, and directed by 
 obedience, knowing neither the road we tread nor 
 the end to which it leads us ; unconscious whether 
 every action is pleasing to God, or will meet with 
 reward. We must think of none of these things 
 by our own free-will, and be simjDly absorbed by 
 consideration of God’s good pleasure and study 
 of His wdll, which we may be sure of fulfil- 
 ling if we do not fulfil our own. 
 
 But what is to be done, when instead of advanc- 
 ing we seem to be falling back ? In this matter 
 we must not defer to our own judgment, because 
 there comes a time in the spiritual life at which 
 the soul does not know its own state, and must 
 not know it. This is the period in which we sup- 
 pose ourselves yielding to temptation. We think 
 ourselves cast off of God by reason of our sins, 
 and imagine sin in every action. Are we there- 
 fore falling back? Far from it, we never were 
 advancing more truly. Then we act with greater 
 purity of intention ; we intend self in nothing ; 
 we seek our own interests in no wise, either from 
 
MAXIM XXL 
 
 209 
 
 creatures or from God. Then the most fatal 
 blows are dealt to self-love, and it is reduced to 
 the hardest straits; then we offer to God the 
 sacrifice that glorifies Him most. 
 
 But we are not aware of our progress ; every 
 step seems to lead us toward the loss of all, and 
 in a certain sense we verily lose ourselves ; but we 
 shall find ourselves again and for ever in God. 
 This most blessed loss would never take place if 
 we knew beforehand how it is to end. Therefore 
 the experienced director of a soul in this state, is 
 careful not to assure it of its safety with the 
 desire of giving comfort. He emboldens it to 
 self-sacrifice, but does not unveil the mystery of 
 that sacrifice, nor the exceeding blessedness which 
 will be its result. By doing so, he would hinder 
 the work of God, and the perfection of the 
 oblation. 
 
 This is the reason that, when this point is 
 reached, God takes all means to prevent the 
 thwarting of His work. Perhaps He removes 
 the director, and sets in his place a person who 
 understands nothing about the case ; or, if He 
 retains him, He closes his lips, and suffers him 
 not to express what mistaken pity would have 
 led him to declare ; or He allows him to be pre- 
 judiced, to turn against this soul and condemn it, 
 and thus slay the victim with his own hands. 
 These ineffable secrets of grace are known only 
 by those who have experienced them, or are 
 enlightened by God for the direction of others. 
 
 We will return to our maxim. It forbids us 
 to look back. We look back when we regret 
 what has been left for God’s sake, like the 
 Israelites in the wilderness, who regretted the 
 flesh-pots of Egypt, and loathed the manna 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 which fell from heaven. In this sense onr Lord 
 declares : “ man having put his hand to the 
 plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom 
 of God.” Even among men, regret for or re- 
 sumption of a gift is looked on as contemptible, 
 and only pardonable in a child who does not know 
 what he is doing. 
 
 AVe look back when we retrace our steps in 
 thought, and recal the past, in order curiously to 
 scan the course of our religious life and the 
 operations of the Spirit ; which S. Paul condemns 
 when, speaking of himself, he says: “This one 
 thing I do ; forgetting those things which are be- 
 hind, and reaching forth unto those things which 
 are before, I press toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 
 
 AVe look back, when we are so attached to 
 various means of perfection as to cling to them 
 obstinately, or regret them inordinately, when it 
 pleases God to deprive us of them ; or when we 
 cast longing eyes on a past state, preferring it to 
 our present condition, in which nature has more 
 to endure. 
 
 Again, we look back, when we are continually 
 turning our head to see whether we are ad- 
 vancing, and have made much way. For as we 
 do not see the goal before us, we can only judge 
 of our progress by looking back to the point 
 whence we started. Self-love inspires this cu- 
 riosity, which does not obtain trustworthy in- 
 formation, and is followed by vain complacency, 
 or else by despondency. The only effect of these 
 considerations and retrospections, is the slacken- 
 ing or suspension of our progress, if indeed they do 
 not cause us to turn back altogether. 
 
 ]Many souls are subject to this fault. Many 
 
MAXIM XXI. 
 
 211 
 
 wish their director to teil them continually that 
 they are going on well, and that he is pleased 
 with their improvement. They say they do this 
 in order to be strengthened and encouraged to 
 greater efforts. Nonsense ! Let them leave their 
 director to tell them these things when he sees 
 fit ; for there are some times when he ought to 
 keep up their courage. But generally they had 
 better keep quiet, and believe that aU is going on 
 well, so long as they are not told the contrary. 
 
 Another fault, no less common and no less con- 
 nected with self-love, is the being subject to un- 
 easiness and distress at the slightest fault that 
 escapes them, or the faintest proof of their own 
 weakness. Those are masters of a great secret in 
 the spiritual life, who know how to act aright 
 with regard to the venial sins into which they 
 fall, and how to turn them to account. We will 
 consider this subject at some length. 
 
 I take for granted, in the first place, that a 
 firm resolution has been made against the deli- 
 berate commission of any fault, however slight. 
 A contrary mind seems incompatible with true 
 devotion. By deliberate faults, I mean such as 
 are committed habitually, consciously, without 
 wish of correcting them, and without compunc- 
 tion, or without yielding to that contrition which 
 grace excites in the soul. I am now speaking 
 of none but venial sins, and want of responsive- 
 ness to grace. Now, the first thing that God 
 puts into the heart of those whom He calls to the 
 interior life, is a faithfulness which thoroughly 
 follows out the inspirations of grace, and never 
 intentionally acts contrary to the warning of 
 conscience. And they very rarely commit such 
 faults as these ; if they did so they would soon 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 fall from the state in which God has placed 
 them. 
 
 Those faults, then, to which they are subject, 
 are passing things, savouring of faint-hearted- 
 ness, human respect, vanity, or curiosity ; or else 
 faults of quick temper, giddiness, inadvertence, 
 indiscretion, peevishness, or impulse, which are 
 rather imperfections of nature than decided 
 faults. 
 
 The first counsel given on this subject by 
 masters of the spiritual life is — never to be dis- 
 couraged, whatever fault may have been com- 
 mitted, because self-inflicted discouragement 
 arises only from self-love. We are startled at 
 having fallen ; we did not think ourselves capable 
 of such a fault ; as if a human being, who is 
 nothing but corruption, weakness, and wicked- 
 ness, ought to be surprised at his own lapses. 
 Astonishment involves unacknowledged vexation, 
 despondency, and a temptation to give everything 
 up. Saints are humbled, but not discouraged, 
 by their faults ; they are not astonished at them ; 
 they would rather wonder that they commit no 
 worse, knowing themselves to be what they are ; 
 and they constantly thank God that His good- 
 ness has so kept them aloof. 
 
 We partly cause this discouragement by al- 
 lowing the imagination to brood over the fault 
 committed ; we magnify and exaggerate it, and 
 make it into a monster, though it may be a mere 
 trifle. Satan often interferes, too, in order to 
 break down our courage, and induce us to miss 
 our Communions, and cast us into perplexity. 
 
 To obviate these exertions of the imagination 
 and their consequences, the second counsel is, to 
 repent immediately on becoming aware of a fault. 
 
MAXIM XXI. 
 
 213 
 
 and then to dismiss it from the mind until the 
 time for confession. Some persons think it right 
 to be always thinking of their sins, carrying 
 them about with them everywhere, keeping them 
 constantly before their eyes. They are wrong. 
 Such continual remembrance of their faults is 
 only calculated to weaken and sadden them, and 
 to hinder the proper discharge of their ordinary 
 duties. They grow scrupulous, and are con- 
 tinually worrying their confessor. 
 
 The third counsel (and it is given by S. Francis 
 de Sales) is to grieve for our faults with regard to 
 God, Who is offended by them, and to rejoice 
 over them on our own account, by reason of the 
 humiliation they produce. By acting on this 
 counsel, which pertains to great perfection, we 
 should derive from our falls all the profit God 
 intends when He permits them. According to 
 the design of God, our daily offences are, so to 
 speak, ingredients in the composition of our 
 holiness. To the same end, when He wills, God 
 makes use even of crimes and the greatest irregu- 
 larities ; as in the cases of Davir" Mary Magda- 
 lene, Mary Egyptiaca, and many other noble 
 penitents. And why should not venial sins pro- 
 duce the same result, if we make use of them to 
 acquire a knowledge of self, which is the most 
 necessary of all knowledge, next to that of God ? 
 
 Let us reserve the working out of this great 
 truth for the next chapter. 
 
( 214 ) 
 
 TWENTY-SECOND MAXIM. 
 
 IBfien uje ftnottj our oron m frarn to 
 
 unliergtanti t!)e liaUie and efficacy of grace. 
 
 When I am weak, then am 1 strong." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 OF THE LIFE OF GRACE. 
 
 God’s first aim in man’s sanctification is His own 
 glory. Although He commands us to do all that 
 depends on us, He would have us acknowledge 
 that we can do nothing of ourselves, that our 
 attempts are vain, and our best resolutions fruit- 
 less, unless His grace prevent and follow all our 
 good works ; and that it is useless to try to build 
 the temple of our holiness, except God begin 
 and continue and finish the work, with our co- 
 operation. Moreover (and this is S. Paul’s express 
 teaching) we are not able even to think a good 
 thought ; we have no idea of holiness, nor of what 
 must be done to acquire it. 
 
 God is jealous of His glory, and He is minded 
 that all true Christians shall learn these truths by 
 their own experience. Thus they acquire humility, 
 which is the mother of all other virtue, and with- 
 out which virtue would but add to their condemna- 
 tion, because tainted with pride. I say that these 
 things are to be learned by experience ; for what 
 would it avail us to know that they are points 
 of faith, if we had not an intimate sense of them 
 
MAXIM XXII. 
 
 215 
 
 which can be acquired by practice alone ? And 
 ■what would humility be, were it not rooted in a 
 deep conviction of the soul arising from continual 
 exj^erience of its spiritual wretchedness? 
 
 God’s dealings in this respect assume a more 
 especially defined form Avith regard to those 
 persons who lead an interior life. Of these He 
 takes particular care, and is the more jealous con- 
 cerning them, because they belong to Him by an 
 unreserved donation and consecration. He leads 
 them by the direct influence of His Spirit, He 
 Himself assumes the task of their sanctification, 
 He gives greater graces to them than to others ; 
 and therefore He Avould also have them learn 
 more thoroughly that they are nothing, and can 
 do nothing, that He provides for all things, works 
 all good in them, and requires of them nothing 
 but submission and obedience. 
 
 But how does He lead them to that sense of 
 absolute and total powerlessness, and that perfect 
 dependence on grace ? First, He takes possession 
 of their faculties, and does not allow the free use 
 of them in spiritual matters. They feel as it 
 were bound, and unable to exercise memory, 
 understanding, or will, on any particular subject ; 
 He allows them no perception, no plan; if they 
 conceive any design otherwise than by His in- 
 spiration, He disconcerts it. He takes from them 
 every method and practice of their own choosing : 
 He forbids every effort of their natural powers ; 
 He does not even permit them to endeavour, as 
 others do, to acquire such or such a virtue, nor 
 to use the ordinary means for that purpose. But 
 He Himself assumes the task of governing and 
 sanctifying them as He will, prescribing in due 
 measure what they are to do or to avoid, infusing 
 
216 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 into their souls the habit of virtues, so that they 
 cannot flatter themselves with the idea that they 
 have in any degree attained them by their own 
 exertions : they do not even know themselves to 
 possess such virtues, and yet they act conformably 
 to them in such circumstances and by such means 
 as He pleases. This state is excessively annoying 
 and humiliating to nature, very mortifying to 
 self-love, and demanding, on the part of him who 
 endures it, such fidelity as can only be maintained 
 by great love and dauntless courage. 
 
 Secondly, He humbles them by the faults into 
 which He suffers them to fall, particularly when 
 He sees them relying on themselves, when they 
 have made some good resolution on which they 
 depend. These faults, indeed, are merely weak- 
 ness ; but it is just their own weakness of which 
 He desires to make them conscious. Like a 
 mother, who purposely leaves her child to him- 
 self, and lets him fall harmlessly, that he may 
 understand his need of her, and learn to cling 
 closely to her, because he cannot take a step alone 
 without falling, nor rise alone after the fall. 
 
 These faults of pure frailty become more 
 frequent, and apj^arently more considerable, in 
 proportion to the progress made. Such or such 
 a fault appeared to be cured, it now seems more 
 dominant than ever ; passions appeared to be 
 overcome and brought under control, they are 
 now violently rebellious. ‘‘ The good that I 
 Avould, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, 
 that I do. I delight in the law of God after the 
 inward man ; but I see another law in my mem- 
 bers, warring against the law of my mind, and 
 bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.” 
 After so many favours received from God, after 
 
MAXIM XXII. 
 
 217 
 
 SO many protestations made to Him, this condition 
 arouses deep shame in the soul which finds itself a 
 prey to such misery, and it despairs of ever being 
 able to conquer and correct itself. 
 
 In this sharp internal war between the old 
 man and the new, in which the new man is 
 apparently worsted, the soul is fain to cry : O 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death ?” By this death is 
 understood this present life, which causes torture 
 worse than death, and which is assumed to be a 
 continual death to the life of grace. ‘‘All the 
 violence I have used against myself, all my 
 prayers, fastings, watchings, and austerities, have 
 been of no avail against my enemy. Who then 
 shall deliver me ? It is out of my own power ; 
 I can add nothing to what I have done. The 
 grace of Jesus Christ my Lord will set me 
 free.” Nothing else has the power to work so 
 great a marvel. 
 
 To this confession of the power of grace and 
 the pow^erlessness of the human will, it is God’s 
 intention to reduce the soul. It is His will that 
 His deliverance should be acknowledged as a free 
 gift, with which it has had nothing to do except 
 to wait for it trustfully. Thus God glorifies 
 Himself in such a soul, leaving it no support in 
 its own strength, and, by the sense of its suffer- 
 ings, and its vain efforts to rid itself of them, 
 obliging it to acknowledge that the cure is due to 
 the heavenly Physician alone. 
 
 Therefore let us accept God’s will concerning 
 us ; and let us cause our faults, and temptations, 
 and the sense of our own wretchedness to redound 
 to His glory, by the humiliation they bring upon 
 us, by the acknowledgment of our powerless- 
 
218 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 ness, and by perfect confidence in His loving- 
 kindness. We will grieve, but not despond. 
 Sorrow comes from God : despondency arises 
 from self-love. We will humble ourselves, 
 patiently, quietly, placidly. We will despair of 
 ourselves ; but we will expect everything from 
 God. He will come and help us; but not till, 
 weary, exhausted, and convinced of the futility 
 of all else, we turn to Him alone. 
 
 Ordinary Christians do feel the value of grace; 
 but as they superadd their own ingenuity, and 
 God blesses their labour, they do not feel its full 
 value. In like manner, when they commit any 
 fault, they are humbled ; but at the same time they 
 are aware that it was in their power to resist ; they 
 bear witness to themselves that they fought first, 
 and yielded afterwards. Therefore their falls are 
 quite voluntary ; and they see that it depends on 
 themselves to rise, that grace presses them to 
 do so, and that they do not heed, because they 
 will not heed ; and so they have not a perfect 
 knowledge of their own weakness. How should 
 they, when they are always conscious of their 
 active strength, even in their very falls ? These 
 are men who have the free use of their faculties. 
 
 It is not so with interior souls, when they have 
 entered tlie passive way ; these are absolutely 
 children, to whom God allows no feeling but 
 that of their own weakness, and who are strong 
 only in His strength. But it must be remembered 
 that this point is only reached after their ac- 
 tive strength has been exhausted in all manner 
 of practices, internal and external. For it would 
 be a great illusion to imagine that God shows 
 the slightest favour to laziness, indolence, and 
 inaction. 
 
]*IAXIM XXII. 
 
 219 
 
 In Itiis state of infancy, if they act aright, grace 
 so acts with them, that there is no sensible labour 
 on their part, because they are deprived of all 
 natui*al activity. Yet they do co-operate, but 
 with a co-operation, as it were, imperceptible to 
 themselves, the principle of which lies in their 
 having yielded up their free will to God, to be 
 disposed of according to His will. They are 
 borne onwards in the path of perfection, as a 
 child is carried in its mother’s arms, but not till 
 after they have voluntarily cast themselves into 
 the arms of God, from Whom they would not 
 part for worlds. They do not use both sails and 
 oars, as others do; the wind alone fills their 
 sails and drives them on; this comparison is S. 
 Theresa’s. Now, he who rows, contributes to his 
 progress by his own labour, and has a right to 
 attribute it, in some part, to himself. But he 
 who is carried on by the wind alone, cannot 
 doubt that he is wholly indebted to it ; all he has 
 to do is to unfurl the sail, to catch the wind, 
 and allow himself to be driven unresistingly. 
 Thus, in the passive state, the full value and 
 efficacy of grace are more truly appreciated. 
 
 Souls in this state have likewise a keener and 
 deeper feeling of their weakness in the faults to 
 which they give way, because they do give way 
 through weakness only. They do not choose to 
 commit such faults ; they make the most earnest 
 resolutions against them ; they multiply prayers 
 and austerities ; and yet they fall ; and God only 
 suffers it in order to humble and annihilate them 
 in their own eyes. Let me repeat that I do not 
 speak of great faults : a soul that falls into such 
 sins, must previously have withdrawn itself from 
 God. But as long as they faithfully continue 
 
220 
 
 SPiniTUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 yielded up to Him, as long as they do not inten- 
 tionally allow themselves in the slightest imper- 
 fection, and relax no exercise of piety, their falls 
 are inconsiderable in themselves ; they are exterior 
 and apparent only ; for the will has no share in 
 them. They may say, like S. Paul : It is no 
 more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” 
 And that root of sin, which they unsuccessfully en- 
 deavour to destroy, fills them with shame, and with 
 a holy horror of self, especially as they suppose 
 themselves to consent to what passes within them, 
 though they are very far from doing so. And 
 God does not place them in a state so humiliating 
 and crucifying to nature, until they are far 
 advanced, and their will is, so to speak, confirmed 
 in well-doing by long practice. 
 
 Among interior persons, nothing is more real, 
 nor more common than this state, though it be 
 inexplicable ; and if directors do not understand 
 it, they are liable to make great mistakes, which 
 may cast such souls into a state of despair. They 
 certainly do not wish to sin, and they do all that 
 in them lies to avoid sinning ; and yet things 
 escape them which are apparently sinful; they 
 reproach and accuse themselves of these things, as 
 of so many sins. If the confessor, then, impru- 
 dently agreed with them, and declared that they 
 had sinned, he would distress them, drag them 
 down to despair, and cause them to run the risk 
 of losing their senses, or of destroying themselves. 
 JSad examples of this kind have been known. 
 
 What then must he do ? He must enter into 
 the intention of God, Whose will it is to slay 
 self-love in these souls, and to let them find no 
 help in themselves, either for doing good, or 
 avoiding evil. They may declare that their con- 
 
MAXIM XXI I. 
 
 1^21 
 
 sent was given to sin : but the confessor must be- 
 ware of giving credit to their asseverations ; for 
 some time he should tell them boldly that they did 
 not consent : he should then reduce them to simply 
 saying what they have felt, without allowing 
 them to call it sin; and oblige them to submit 
 their judgment to his, and to draw near the holy 
 Altar, in spite of repugnance and terror. Never 
 were such souls more pure, than when they thus 
 think themselves covered with sins: never were 
 they more humble, obedient, dead to self-will, 
 diffident concerning themselves. There are so 
 many certain marks upon them of God’s guidance, 
 that a man must be very enlightened if he does 
 not acknowledge them, or very timid and irreso- 
 lute, if he does not yield to them. In such a 
 case, it would be his plain duty to give up the 
 task of directing such persons, and to advise their 
 applying to some other priest. 
 
( 222 ) 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD MAXUL 
 
 HoliE i? ouv (atD ; 43 oD 10 our portion: f)zxt Ijg faitf); 
 tbrre Ij} 0igf)t. 
 
 Now ohideth fciitJi^ hope^ charity^ these three; hut 
 the greatest of these is charity. Charity never 
 faileth. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 OF LOVE. 
 
 The Christian law is a law of love : it is all com- 
 prised in the love of God. We are bound to 
 love Him for Himself, and to love ourselves in 
 Him, and our neighbour for Him. God is the one 
 principle, and aim, and end of all; and love, 
 says S. Augustine, is the only worship He exacts 
 and accepts. Faith, alone, does not honour Him : 
 the devils believe and tremble. Hope without 
 love is insufficient, because it pauses at God’s 
 promises without advancing to Himself. Charity, 
 only, reaches Him, is united to Him, and rests in 
 Him as in supreme Good. What avails the prac- 
 tice of exterior works, if not animated and 
 quickened by the heart ? Men pay attention to 
 demonstrations, and judge of the heart by them, 
 because they cannot look deeper. But God 
 looks upon the heart : and according to the state 
 of the heart He values all things else. 
 
 Love is the only feeling which makes our 
 Lord’s yoke easy to us, and His burden light. 
 
MAXIM XXllI. 
 
 223 
 
 Fear causes us to feel the whole weight of the 
 law : hope lightens it but in part : love alone bids 
 it disappear. Who loves, labours not,” says S. 
 Augustine. Love always fears not doing enough, 
 counts what it does as nothing, and aspires to do 
 more. Love knows no bounds ; it is always sus- 
 ceptible of increase, especially if its object is 
 infinitely lovely. Love of such an object is at 
 once a motive and a means for loving it more. 
 The more it is beloved, the better it is known : 
 and the better it is known, the more one would 
 fain love it : so that knowledge and love increase 
 each other to infinity. 
 
 The soul enjoys the true liberty of the sons of 
 God, only in so far as it loves. Love,” says 
 S Augustine again, “ and do what you will.” 
 You will never will anything contrary to love, 
 nor, therefore, contrary to a law wholly based on 
 love. S. Paul speaks in this sense when he says 
 that the law is not made for a righteous man. 
 Wherein does he need an external law? Its pre- 
 cepts are all written on his heart. There he 
 finds not only the law, but the perfection of the 
 law. For love suffers him not to stop short at the 
 things God commands : it urges him on to those 
 which please Him, and which He counsels, with- 
 out expressly commanding. Love is his rule, his 
 bias and his measure ; and in obeying it he does 
 simply what it would grieve him not to do. There- 
 fore, he is thoroughly free : for liberty consists in 
 doing what we will, and in willing what we do. 
 
 This love is purer, in proportion as the heart 
 becomes more detached from its own interests, and 
 tends towards the object it loves, without looking 
 back on itself. This purity of love is the point 
 to which God continually strives to raise the soul 
 
224 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 that has given itself to Him : favours, and trials, 
 and sacrifices, all combine to purify its love, and 
 cleanse it from all alloy : so that the interior way 
 may be defined as a state, not of pure love, but of 
 continual tendency towards pure love. 
 
 It may be said that the tending towards pure 
 love is also the aim of the ordinary way ; and I 
 am willing to allow it. But pray observe the 
 difference. In the ordinary way, man retains 
 the command of his liberty, and mingles his own 
 action with the operation of God ; which hinders 
 that operation from producing its full effect ; but 
 in the passive or interior way, man having yielded 
 to God all right over his own free will, God acts 
 upon him more powerfully ; nothing clogs or 
 restrains His operation, and therefore it unfolds 
 its full efficacy. It is difficult, not to say impos- 
 sible, for this difference to be understood by those 
 who are not in the passive way, however perfect 
 they may be in other respects. But it is none the 
 less real ; and it would be presumptuous to doubt 
 the word of Saints who have spoken on this 
 matter from their own experience. 
 
 Moreover, we are not to take fright at the 
 mention of pure love, as though it were contrary 
 to Christian hope. Those who have so vTitten 
 as to give rise to this idea have expressed them- 
 selves incorrectly or been misunderstood. In this 
 life charity does not, and never can, exclude hope. 
 As long as we do not possess the thing we love, 
 we desire to do so ; and not only desire it, but 
 hope for it, in virtue of God’s promises ; and we 
 count it a duty to hope for it, by reason of the 
 express command He lays on all His children. 
 
 Charity, on earth, always implies the two other 
 theological virtues; and, far from destroying 
 
MAXIM XXIII. 
 
 225 
 
 them, perfects them while it perfects itself. 
 Anything, destructive of faith or hope, Avould be 
 still more destructive of charity. So that it is 
 absurd to suppose that trials whose object is to 
 purify love, can in the least degree weaken 
 hope. Faith, hope, and charity abide in the 
 greatest Saints till the end of their pilgrimage. 
 Then faith ceases, because they no longer believe, 
 but see ; hope fades out, because they possess, 
 or are certain of possessing ; charity reigns alone, 
 because in heaven there is scope for charity only. 
 This is S. Paul’s teaching, and it is grounded on the 
 very essence and definition of the three virtues. 
 
 Nothing contrary to this is proved by the 
 sacrifices to which God moves the soul in a state 
 of extreme trial. By such trial. God does not 
 intend to purify love to the detriment of hope ; 
 in so doing. He would be acting contrary to 
 Himself ; but, while j)^ii‘ifyhig love. He intends 
 at the same time to purify hope, and to lead 
 the soul to set His will and His glory above 
 all selfish interest ; and this does not require 
 the soul to renounce happiness, but to make it 
 duly subordinate to the good pleasure of God. 
 
 Perhaps it would have been better if no one 
 had treated of these matters. They are extremely 
 delicate, and it is very difficult to set them forth, 
 or even to understand them, with perfect 
 cision. It is not necessary to be acquainted with 
 them beforehand, because God calls very few to 
 such great sacrifice; and those whom He does call, 
 are then in such a state of perplexity and dark- 
 ness that they can make no use of previous know ■ 
 ledge. As to the directors of such souls, God 
 never fails to teach them the right method of 
 guidance, provided they consult Him in prayer ; 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 and the best books would be useless to them, if 
 they did not learn to understand them by their 
 own union with God. But, as this subject, 
 which is the highest of all relating to the interior 
 life, was much brought into notice about the be- 
 ginning of the last century, and, inconsequence of 
 a very just condemnation, many persons became 
 prejudiced against things understood by few, I 
 have thought fit to explain the matter briefly, 
 in order to correct false impressions, and to dis- 
 pel prejudice. 
 
 The great and priceless advantage of love is, 
 that it leads us to the eternal possession of God ; 
 and this is the privilege of love alone. Faith and 
 hope cannot open the gate of heaven, if charity 
 be not joined with them. Even during this life, 
 love enables us to possess God, in a certain sense; 
 for loving Him is the beginning of possessing 
 Him. We may love any other object without 
 possessing it, or possess it without loving it. But 
 God, the Supreme Good, has this especial attri- 
 bute : that His love cannot be separated from His 
 fruition, nor His fruition from His love. 
 
 Of course such fruition is imperfect on earth, 
 because it takes place beneath the veil of faith. 
 But the heart delights in God, and is filled with 
 Him, and contemns everything else ; and if it have 
 yet any desire left, it can only be that of a fuller 
 and surer en j oyment. Y es : when the love of God 
 reaches a certain point, it stills all the agitations 
 of the human heart, even in this life ; it brings 
 peace, which cannot be broken, so long as that 
 love subsists which gave it birth. 
 
 But who are those in whom love rises to such a 
 degree as to give them in their exile a foretaste of 
 the happiness of Home ? Chiefly interior souls ; 
 
MAXIM XXI II. 
 
 227 
 
 those who are especially sous of God, because 
 led by His Spirit, and who, as sons, already have 
 some share in their Father’s inheritance. Others 
 share His gifts and graces ; these enter on an an 7 
 ticipative fruition of the Divine Essence. Having 
 given themselves wholly to God, God gives Him- 
 self likewise to them ; He binds them to Flimself ; 
 He communicates to them the changelessness of 
 peace and rest which He hath in Himself. 
 
 And the proof of this is, that no earthly events, 
 whatever, cause them joy or sorrow; they accept 
 all things with an even mind, and though some 
 slight agitation may take place on the surface, 
 the depth of the soul is always imperturbable. 
 1 appeal to the experience of the Saints. Were 
 souls ever seen more calm and well balanced? 
 Look at their serenity in the midst of torture. 
 Is it the effect of their reflections, and of efforts 
 for self-control made at such moments ? No : they 
 owe it to the possession of God, Who so fills 
 their hearts, that He leaves no access for alien 
 feeling, or for any thought of self. 
 
( 228 ) 
 
 TWENTY-FOURTH MAXIM. 
 
 %tt prap that tE|5jSfon0 map rcDounti to t^je 
 Ortater oiorja of ^ob,anb t^)E 0teatet F{e^i5Etint'>5^ 
 of our oujn souts. 
 
 “ Thus have 1 looked for Thee in holiness^ that 1 
 might behold Thy power and glory; for Thy 
 loving -kindness is better than the life itself, '''' 
 
 XXIY. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 
 
 The words which form the heading of this 
 chapter are not shaped as a maxim ; but yet they 
 contain three great truths, by the explanation of 
 which I intend to close this volume. 
 
 The first is, that by prayer we may attain to 
 be numbered amongst interior souls : the second, 
 that such souls glorify God more than others : 
 the third, that they are by far the most happy. 
 
 I suppose myself addressing one, who, having 
 read or heard somewhat concerning the interior 
 life, feels a keen longing to live that divine life. 
 The longing manifestly comes from God, and is 
 itself the beginning of that which it seeks. Keep 
 the spark a-light by fervent assiduous prayer; 
 offer yourself heartily to God, not once in a way, 
 but every day, and many times a day ; pray Him 
 to open the way to that promised land ; with the 
 end of obtaining this grace, communicate, do good 
 works, fulfil the duties of your station, suffer its 
 
MAXIM XXIV. 
 
 229 
 
 troubles ; and you surely will obtain your request. 
 l''or (xOD does not plant such a desire in a Chris- 
 tian heart, to leave it unfruitful ; if you are eager 
 in the pursuit of this blessing, God is the inspirer 
 of your eagerness ; if you do all in your power to 
 obtain it, God is stirring you up, and giving you 
 courage and perseverance. Therefore you will 
 obtain what you ask, provided you go on asking, 
 and faint not. Could God reject a soul that 
 desires to be all His own, and that only desires 
 this so far as He gives it the good will ? 
 
 But yet be careful not to heat your imagination, 
 and not to be impatient and excited in your pur- 
 suit ; pray peacefully, and peacefully await the 
 effect of your prayer. God has fixed His time 
 for answering it ; seek not to hurry His work. 
 
 On the other hand, coldness, and negligence, 
 and indifference in prayer, would prove that you 
 neither knew nor desired the blessing you asked. 
 
 But if you pray aright, God will take pos- 
 session of your soul at last, either suddenly, or 
 gradually. If suddenly, you will feel at that 
 moment a perfect assurance of it, by reason of the 
 immediate change which will take place in you. 
 If gradually, then follow the workings of grace 
 step by step, and be extremely faithful ; for all 
 depends on that. Once in the way, you have but 
 to walk in it, directed within by the Spirit of 
 God, and without by your spiritual guide. 
 
 iMost Christians receive some touch of the 
 interior life ; when, for instance, they return to 
 God, after going astray, it may be, for a long 
 time ; grace always tends to that aim. If they 
 could or would nourish that spark : if directors, 
 themselves interior, would take the pains needful 
 for its development, the effect of such efforts 
 
230 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 would soon be seen ; and there would so be very 
 little difficulty about the matter, in its first be- 
 ginnings. Most obstacles arise from false or im- 
 l^erfect ideas of a devout life, which is supposed 
 to involve many practices, and methods, and 
 much activity, and a great deal of self and self- 
 will. I’hey arise, too, from habits of serving 
 God according to a fixed plan, which restrains 
 the operations of grace ; (and it is scarcely pos- 
 sible for persons of mature age to overcome such 
 habits :) from prejudices against the interior life, 
 which is held to be an extraordinary and dan- 
 gerous way, liable to many illusions. And lastly, 
 from directors themselves, who, for these reasons, 
 or to save themselves trouble, or for fear of losing 
 reputation, bar the entrance of the interior life 
 from those who are under their guidance. 
 
 If all these persons were actuated by zeal for 
 God’s interest, they would think very differently; 
 for it is certain that we cannot glorify Him more, 
 than by dedicating ourselves completely to Him, 
 that He may lead us as He will. Indeed, God 
 then glorifies Himself, in the soul wherein He 
 finds no resistance. And shall we doubt that He 
 glorifies Himself in the most excellent manner, 
 and according to the whole scope of His designs, 
 so soon as the creature offers no opposition? Will 
 and power are both His own : nothing but human 
 liberty can impede the working of His power ; 
 and that impediment ceases to exist, when liberty 
 is freely yielded up into God’s hands. 
 
 Moreover, the glory of God lies in the 
 free subjection of our will to His. Therefore, 
 if that subjection is absolute, extending to all 
 points, continuous and never broken, the glory 
 God derives from it is as great as is possible for 
 
MAXTM XXIV. 
 
 231 
 
 it to be ; for His creature can offer Him nothing 
 beyond ifc. 
 
 God is glorified by our sanctification. The 
 more He acts in a soul by grace, the more that 
 soul is sanctified. But, in what soul does God 
 act more freely, more efficaciously, and more in- 
 dependently, than in that which has constituted 
 Him ruler of its faculties, keejoing them continu- 
 ally submissive to His will, and only reserving for 
 itself a constant attention to His guidance, and 
 an exact fidelity in following it? If it persevere 
 to the end in this disposition, is it not clear that 
 God will raise it to that degree of holiness which 
 He intends for it, and that He will derive all the 
 glory He requires from it ? 
 
 Moreover, they glorify God, who see Him alone 
 in everything ; who refer all to Him ; look to His 
 interests only ; consider their own as subordinate ; 
 receive good and evil at His hands Avith an even 
 mind, and bless His Name for all things. But 
 this is done by a soul which leads the interior 
 life. Its eye, that is, its intention, is single, pure, 
 ever turned towards God ; no loAA^er view or in- 
 terest defiles it. Such a soul is in a state of holy 
 indifference respecting Avhat befals it ; all that it 
 receives from God is Avelcome, because sent by 
 God : it is as Avell contented to bear all manner 
 of crosses and trials, as to be loaded with good 
 things ; because the only thing it holds to be good, 
 is the will of God. 
 
 Last of all, the glory God derives from these 
 souls in heaven, is proportionate to that which 
 they have rendered Him on earth. Then, per- 
 fected in love, rapt in the vision of Him to AVhoin 
 they gave themselves, when as yet they knew 
 Him but by faith, they Avill for ever offer Him an 
 
232 
 
 SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 unimaginable tribute of adoration, thanksgiving, 
 praise, and love. As their sacrifice of themselves 
 was peculiarly conformed to the sacrifice of 
 Christ, so God will thence receive an especial 
 glory, of the same kind as that which He re- 
 ceives from the sacred Humanity of His Only 
 Begotten Son. We may be sure of this, that 
 there will be no comparison between this glory 
 and that which He will receive from the rest of 
 the elect. 
 
 But the glory rendered by the creature to its 
 Creator, is the rule and measure of its own 
 felicity. Judge then, if it be possible, what 
 beatitude will be the portion of these souls in 
 heaven. All I can say is, that God will give 
 Himself to them as they gave themselves to Him. 
 But they gave themselves to Him without any 
 reserve, with the whole of their heart. Therefore 
 God will spare nothing in rewarding them. 
 They gave themselves to Him, weak, poor, im- 
 perfect creatures : He will give HimseK to them, 
 Almighty God, infinitely great, and generous, and 
 glorious. They loved Him but as creatures, 
 and according to the narrow capacity of their 
 hearts ; He will love them as God, with a love as 
 far beyond their own, as the Uncreated Essence 
 is beyond the being formed from nothing. If I 
 dare say so. He will be devoted and dedicated to 
 them, as they were to Him. He will render them 
 all for all : an unbounded, infinite All, for an all 
 lunited and finite. Others among the blessed 
 ones gave with measure, and will receive with 
 measure. These gave without measure, and will 
 receive without measure. Merciful justice will 
 regulate the reward of the former: pure, ge- 
 nerous, lavish love will rule the reward of the 
 
MAXIM XXIV. 
 
 233 
 
 latter. Its profusion would exhaust tJie riches of 
 God, were they not inexhaustible. Such happi- 
 ness aw^aits them in heaven. 
 
 ^Vho shall doubt that these souls, while yet on 
 earth, are happy, so far as the conditions of this 
 life allow ? \Vhat is happiness, but the love and 
 possession of sovereign good? But they do love 
 sovereign good : even in this life they possess it 
 according to the full capacity of their heart : God 
 fills it, and leaves no room for any other desire. 
 They are neither attracted nor flattered by earthly 
 honours or gratifications ; they enjoy a blessing 
 which leads them to despise all things else. Does 
 this blessing consist in the gifts and favours of 
 (tOD ? By no means. They receive them grate- 
 fully, wTen it pleases Him to bestow them ; but 
 they do not long for them, nor cling to them, nor 
 do they fret at being deprived of them. The 
 blessing they possess is God Himself, and He is 
 infinitely beyond all His gifts. 
 
 Again : what is happiness ? Peace of heart. 
 But such peace is always theirs. . Intense, change- 
 less, untouched by feelings, independent of vicis- 
 situdes both of the natural and spiritual life ; 
 abiding in the depth of the heart, despite all trial 
 and temptation ; bound up with the very crosses 
 which they bear, and without which they would 
 not wish to live. This is past all understanding, 
 but it is true. 
 
 Would you know wdiether these souls are 
 happy ? Ask them if anything in the world 
 would induce them to wish themselves otherwise 
 situated, to desire alleviation of their sufferings, 
 to move from under the rule of the Divine will : 
 if they even wish God to relieve them and end 
 their pain. They will answer. No; they are sa- 
 
SPIRITUAL MAXIMS. 
 
 2t4 
 
 tisfied, and their desires are fulfilled, provided 
 God glorifies Himself in them as He will. Show 
 me any other hapx)iness on earth to be compared 
 with this. There is none. That of innocence is 
 great ; that of true, loving penitence is great 
 likewise; that of ordinary Christian hohness is 
 still greater. But that of souls sanctified by God 
 HimseK in the interior way of bare faith and 
 self-abnegation is above all. We must needs be 
 in that way, in order to believe this ; but when 
 we have advanced some distance in it, we doubt 
 no longer. 
 
 I 
 
M] 
 
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