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PART I
Translator’s Preface
Preface by the Rev. Charles Kingsley
The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler
Introductory Notice respecting Tauler’s Life and Times, by the Translator
PART II
SERMON
I. |
Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent How that we are called upon to arise from our sins, and to conquer our foes, looking for the glorious coming of our Lord in our souls. |
II. |
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent How that God is very near to us, and how we must seek and find the Kingdom of God within us, without respect to time and place. |
III. |
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent How that we must wholly come out from ourselves, that we may go into the wilderness and behold God. |
IV. |
Sermon for Christmas Day Of the things by which we become children of God. |
V. |
Sermon for Epiphany This Sermon on the Gospel for the day, from St. Matthew, showeth how God, of His great faithfulness, hath foreseen and ordained all sufferings for the eternal good of each man, in whatever wise they befall us, and whether they be great or small. |
VI. |
Second Sermon for Epiphany Showeth on what wise a man shall arise from himself and from all creatures, to the end that God may find the ground of his soul prepared, and may begin and perfect His work therein. |
VII. |
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Of the great wonders which God has wrought, and still works for us Christian men; wherefore it is just and reasonable that we should turn unto Him and follow Him, and whereby we may discern between true and false conversion. |
VIII. |
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany Of the proper marks of true humility. |
IX. |
Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday In this Sermon following we are taught how we must perpetually press forward towards our highest good, without pause or rest; and how we must labour in the spiritual vineyard that it may bring forth good fruit. |
X. |
Sermon for Ash Wednesday An Exposition of the three crosses, that of Christ, that of the malefactor on His left, and that of the malefactor on His right hand, how they are a type of the sufferings of three classes of men who are, in a spiritual sense, nailed to these three crosses. |
XI. |
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent Tells us how God drives forward some of His children by the struggle between the inward and outward man. |
XII. |
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent Of the power of the Word of God, of fiery desires, and the essence of self-renunciation. |
XIII. |
Sermon for Palm Sunday How a man ought in all His works to regard God alone, and purely to make Him his end without anything of his own, and shall freely and simply perform all these works for the glory of God only, and not seek his own, nor desire nor expect any reward. Wherewith he may do such works without any self-appropriation or reference to time and number, before or after, and without modes. How the Divine Word speaks and reveals itself in the soul, all in a lofty and subtile sense. |
XIV. |
Sermon for Thursday in Easter Week How we ought to love God, and how Christ is a Master of the Eternal Good, wherefore we ought to love Him above all things; a Master of the Highest Truth, wherefore we ought to contemplate Him; and a Master of the Highest Perfectness, wherefore we ought to follow after Him without let or hindrance. |
XV. |
Sermon for the First Sunday after Easter How we are to ascend by three stages to true peace and purity of heart. |
XVI. |
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter How the Holy Ghost rebukes the World in man for sin, righteousness, and judgment; how hurtful it is to judge one’s neighbour; after what fashion a pious man may rebuke his neighbour; further, what the Holy Ghost teacheth when he cometh to us. |
XVII. |
Second Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter Of three hindrances which resist the coming of the Holy Ghost in three classes of men. |
XVIII. |
Sermon for Ascension Day This third sermon on the Ascension tells us how man ought continually to follow after Christ, as He has walked before us for three and thirty years, passing through manifold and great sufferings, before He returned unto His Father. |
XIX. |
Sermon for Whit Sunday How God drew the Apostles unto Christ by six degrees until they attained unto union with Himself, and so likewise draweth His friends unto Himself now. |
XX. |
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity This sermon telleth us of four measures that shall be rendered unto man, and of two grades of a godly life, and how we ought to love our neighbour. |
XXI. |
Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Admonishing each man to mark what is the office to which he is called of God, and teaching us to practise works of love and virtue, and to refrain from self-will. |
XXII. |
Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Teaching us that we ought to receive God, in all His gifts, and in all His burdens, with true long-suffering. |
XXIII. |
Second Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity This sermon tells us how a man who truly loves God, whose ears have been opened to receive the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit, is neither lifted up in joy nor cast down in sorrow. |
XXIV. |
Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity This sermon forbiddeth all carefulness, and telleth in what righteousness consisteth, and rebukes sundry religious people and their works, likening their ways to simony. |
XXV. |
Sermon for St. Stephen’s Day Of three grades of those who learn to die unto themselves, like a corn of wheat, that they may bring forth fruit; or of those who are beginners, those who are advancing, and those who art perfect in a Divine life. |
XXVI. |
Sermon for St. Peter’s Day Of brotherly rebuke and admonition, how far it is advisable and seemly or not, and especially how prelates and governors ought to demean themselves towards their subjects. |
XXVII. |
Sermon on a Martyr’s Day Of three sorts of spiritual temptation by which holy men are secretly assailed; to wit: spiritual unchastity, covetousness, and pride. |
IN publishing a selection from the writings of a divine who nourished in an age and under social conditions so remote from our own as those of a German Dominican monk of the fourteenth century, it seems right to state at the outset whether the aim which has governed the selection is chiefly historical or devotional. The present work was undertaken, in the first instance, with a simply practical object. My earliest acquaintance with Tauler’s Sermons was made while hearing them read in a family service; and believing, from further study, that they contained elements of truth not often brought into sufficient prominence in these days, yet possessing a most direct and valuable influence on Christian life, I wished to compile a volume of sermons for the Sundays and Holydays of the year, such as any head of a family might read to his household, or any district visitor among the poor.
To have carried out this idea completely would, however, have
involved the omission, in many of the sermons, of passages either too
abstruse for easy comprehension, or too much imbued with references
to the Romish ritual and discipline, to be suitable for the Protestant
common people.
Among such I should reckon some tinctured with an asceticism throwing
contempt on the affections of ordinary life. Of the duties of
ordinary life Tauler never speaks disparagingly. When he says that
the inward work in the soul is more than all outward good works, it is
always the outward practices of religion of which he is
speaking—attendance in church, fasting, the repeating of prayers,
&c.; never of the exercise of active benevolence, or even the
performance of minor household duties. It is one good feature of the
school to which he belonged, that these things are restored to their
due honour, so far as that is compatible with the whole system of
conventual life. But Tauler does teach that repression of the natural
affections which is inevitable so long as the vital idea of
monasticism,—viz., the severance of the religious from the secular
in life,—is retained. That this severance is false and mischievous,
Tauler no more perceived than did the
With regard to those not included, the greater number have been
rejected simply because many of their ideas occurred in the sermons
which I have
The edition of Tauler’s Sermons which I have used for
my Translation is that published at Franks fort in 1826. Among the
numerous ancient and modern editions of these Sermons, that published at
Leipsic, in 1498, holds the highest rank as an authority; but of this,
now very rare work, it has not been in my power to consult a copy;
and of the later editions that of Frankfort is the best. It is based
upon an edition published at Cologne in 1543, and contains one hundred
and fifty-three sermons; only eighty-four of these, however, are to be
found in the mss. now extant. Many of the mss. have, indeed, only portions of these eighty-four;
but the best and oldest are also the most complete. They are two which
are in the Strasburg Library, and are most probably contemporary
with Tauler himself,—certainly not of much later origin. The
oldest printed edition, too, that of Leipsic, in 1498, has only these
eighty-four sermons. These are, therefore, all of whose genuineness we
have distinct certainty from external evidence. In an edition, however,
which Johann Rynmann published at Basle
There can be no doubt that several of these are not productions of
Tauler; and Surius, in his Latin Edition of 1548, appends the names
of the authors Eckart, Suso, Ruysbroek, in several instances where he
had ascertained them,—in which the Frankfort Editor follows his
example.
Tauler did not himself write down his discourses, but they were compiled from notes taken by his hearers, which accounts at once for the fragmentary character of the style, and for the great number of various readings to be found in the different editions. It is important to bear this circumstance in mind in judging of the style of the following sermons. It seems highly probable that the eighty-four sermons contained in the Strasburg mss. were published during his life and received his own corrections; but there appear no adequate grounds for supposing that these eighty-four are the only genuine ones we possess; for in the numerous places where Tauler preached, many of his sermons would probably be taken down by single hearers, which in those times of rare and difficult communication, were never brought under the notice of the Strasburg Collector, but, as his fame spread in after years, came to be gradually put into the hands of later collectors by their possessors, as seems to have been the case with those of which Petrus Noviomagus speaks.
The Frankfort Edition has not, however, been
The principal sources from which my sketch of Tauler and the “Friends of God” has been derived, are furnished by Professor Schmidt of Strasburg, in his Johannes Tauler von Strasburg; his essay on Eckart in the Theologische Studien und Kritiken, 1839, p. 684; and his work, Die Gottesfreunde im Vierzehnten Jahrhundert, Jena, 1855. I have, however, also to acknowledge my obligations to Wackernagel’s essay on the Gottesfreunde in the Beitraege zur Vaterlaendischen Geschichte (Basle, 1843, B. ii. s. III); to Neander’s Kirchengeschichte; Hase’s Kirchengeschichte; Milman’s Latin Christianity, &c.
Any one acquainted with the admirable Essays of Professor Schmidt, above-named, will perceive how largely I am indebted to him for the facts of Tauler’s life, and the account of Eckart; but will also observe that my theory of them is, in some points, very different from that of M. Schmidt. For my notices of the Gottesfreunde, his recent work has furnished the whole of the facts; but, again, it is only fair to state that for the light in which I regard these facts, I am alone responsible.
IT is with great diffidence that I have undertaken to furnish a preface to these Sermons. It must always be an invidious task to stand toward a far wiser and better man than one’s self in a relation which is likely, at every moment, to be mistaken either for that of a critic or that of a commentator.
The critic of Tauler, no man has a right to become, who has not first ascertained that he is a better man than Tauler.
The commentator of Tauler, no man has a right to become, who has a strong belief (as I have) that Tauler’s Sermons need no comment whatsoever: but that all which is good and eternal in them will recommend itself at once to those hearts, let their form of doctrine be what it may, who have hold of, or are seeking after, Eternal Goodness.
The historical and biographical information which may be necessary
for a right understanding of the man and his times, will be found in
the Life and the Introductory Notice which are appended to the Sermons;
while any notions of mine as to the genesis of Tauler’s views,
as to how much of
Thus, standing upon the accumulated labours of ages, we are apt
to be ungrateful to those who built up with weary labour, and often
working through dark and dreary nights, the platform which now supports
us. We complain impatiently of the blindness of many a man, without whom
we should
For the many, therefore, it will be altogether uninteresting for me to enter into any speculation as to the spiritual pedigree of Tauler’s views. How far Philo-Judæus and the Brahmins may have influenced the Pseudo-Dionysius; how far the Pseudo-Dionysius may have influenced John Erigena; how far that wondrous Irishman may have influenced Master Eckart; how far that vast and subtle thinker, claimed by some as the founder of German philosophy, may have influenced Tauler himself, are questions for which the many will care little; which would require to be discussed in a large volume, ere the question could not merely be exhausted, but made intelligible. Such matters may well be left for learned and large-minded men, to whom the development of Christian doctrine (both in the true and the false sense of that word) is a scientific study.
But let me express a hope, that such men will turn their attention
more and more, not merely to the works of Tauler, but to those of his
companions, and to that whole movement of the fourteenth century,
of which Tauler is the most popular and easily accessible type, as
to a most interesting and instructive page in the book of Christian,
and indeed of human, thought. I say human; for it will be impossible
for them to examine the works of such men as Erigena, Tauler, Eckart,
and Ruysbroek, any more than those of the later mystics, whether
There is another class of readers worthy of all respect, who may be
dissatisfied, if not startled, by many passages in these sermons. Men
well skilled in the terminology of the popular religion, and from long
experience, well acquainted with its value, are apt to be jealous when
they find a preacher handling the highest matters, and yet omitting
to use concerning them the formulæ in which they are now commonly
expressed. Such men I would entreat to have patience with, and charity
for, a man whose character they must so heartily admire. Let them remember
that many of our own formulæ are not to be found verbatim in Holy Writ,
but have been gradually extracted from it by processes of induction
or of deduction; and let them allow to Tauler, as far as is consistent
with orthodoxy, Christian liberty to find likewise what he can in that
Scripture, which he reveres as deeply as they do. Let them consider also,
that most of those expressions of his which are most strange to our
modern pulpits, are strictly Scriptural, and to be found in the Sacred
Text; and that no man can be blamed at first sight for understanding
such expressions literally, and for shrinking from reducing them to
metaphors. God has ordained that the Pauline aspect of Christianity,
and the Pauline nomenclature, should for the last three hundred years
at least, mould almost exclusively the thoughts of His church: but we
must not forget, that St. John’s thoughts, and St. John’s
words, are equally inspired with those of St. Paul; and that not we,
but Tauler, are the fit judges as to whether St. Paul’s
Some again, whose opinions will be entitled to the very highest respect, will be pained at the fantastic and arbitrary method (if method it can be called) in which Tauler uses Scripture to illustrate his opinions. Let them remember, that this was not a peculiarity of the man, but of his age; that for various reasons, a simple, literal, and historic method of interpretation (which doubtless is at the same time the most spiritual) was then in its infancy; that it is by no means perfect yet; and that it is quite possible that our great grandchildren may be as much surprised at our use of many a text, as we are at Tauler’s.
But there are those—and thanks to Almighty God they are to be
numbered by tens of thousands—who will not perplex themselves
with any such questionings; simple and genial hearts, who try to do
what good they can in the world, and meddle not with matters too high
for them; persons whose religion is not abstruse, but deep; not noisy,
but intense; not aggressive, but laboriously useful; people who have
the same habit of mind as the early Christians seem to have worn, ere
yet Catholic truth had been defined in formulæ; when the Apostles’
creed was symbol enough for the Church, and men were orthodox in heart,
rather than exact in head.
To such these sermons, should be, and I doubt not will be, welcome. If they find words in them which they do not understand, even words from which at first sight they differ, they will let them pass them by for awhile, in charity and patience. Seeing (as they will see at the first glance) that John Tauler was one of themselves, they will judge of what they do not understand by what they do, and give him credit for sense and righteousness, where their own intellects fail to follow him.
Especially too, if they be distracted and disheartened (as such
are wont to be) by the sin and confusion of the world; by the amount
of God’s work which still remains undone, and by their own
seeming incapacity to do it, they will take heart from the history
of John Tauler and his fellows, who, in far darker and more confused
time than the present, found a work to do, and strength to do it; who,
the more they retired into the recesses of their own inner life, found
there that fully to know themselves was to know all men, and to have
a message for all men; and who, by their unceasing labours of love,
proved that the highest spiritual attainments, instead of shutting a
man up in lazy and Pharisaic
Let such take heart, and toil on in faith at the duty which lies
nearest to them. Five hundred years have passed since Tauler and
his fellows did their simple work, and looked for no fruit from it,
but the saving of one here and there from the nether pit. That was
enough for which to labour: but without knowing it, they did more than
that. Their work lives, and will live for ever, though in forms from
which they would have perhaps shrunk had they foreseen them. Let all
such therefore take heart. They may know their own weakness: but they
know not the power of God in them. They may think sadly that they are
only palliating the outward symptoms of social and moral disease: but God
may be striking, by some unconscious chance blow of theirs, at a root of
evil which they never suspected. They may mourn over the failure of some
seemingly useful plan of their own: but God may be, by their influence,
sowing the seed of some plan of His own, of which they little dream. For
every good deed comes from God. His is the idea, His the inspiration,
and His its fulfilment in time; and therefore no good deed but lives and
grows with the everlasting life of God Himself. And as the acorn, because
God has given it “a forming form,” and life after its kind,
bears within it, not only the builder oak, but shade for many a herd,
food for countless animals, and at last, the gallant ship itself,
and the materials of every use to which nature or art can put it and
its descendants after it throughout all time; so does every good deed
There is another class of readers, to whom I expect these sermons
to be at once very attractive and very valuable; a class of whom I
speak with extreme diffidence, having never had their experiences;
and of whom I should not have spoken at all, were they not just now
as much depreciated, as they were in past centuries rated too highly;
I mean those who are commonly called “Mystics.” Doubtless, they are
paying a penalty for that extravagant adoration which was bestowed
of old upon the “Saint.” Mankind has discovered that much of what
once, in such persons, seemed most divine, was most painfully human;
that much of what seemed most supernatural, was but too degradingly
natural, the consequences of diseased brain, deranged nervous system,
or weakness brought on by voluntary asceticism; and so mankind, angry
with its idols for having a flaw anywhere, has dashed them peevishly to
the ground. Would it not have been better to give up making idols of such
persons, and to have examined patiently, charitably, and philosophically
what they really were, and what they were not? By so doing, I believe,
men would have found that in these mystics and saints, after all bodily
illusions, all nervous fantasies, all pardonable “confusions between
the object and the subject,” had been eliminated, there still remained,
in each and every one of them, and not to be explained
And when they found these persons, whatsoever might be their
“denomination,” all inclined to claim some illumination,
intuition, or direct vision of Eternal truth, Eternal good, Eternal
beauty, even of that Eternal Father in whom all live and move and
have their being; yet making that claim in deepest humility, amid
confessions of their own weakness, sinfulness, nothingness, which to the
self-satisfied many seem exaggerated and all but insincere; they would
have been, perhaps, more philosophical, as well as more charitable; more
in accordance with Baconian induction, as well as with Saint Paul’s
direct assertions in his Epistles to the Corinthians, if they
had said: “The testimony of so many isolated persons to this fact
is on the whole a fair probability for its truth; and we are inclined
to believe it, though it transcends our experience, on the same ground
that we believe the united testimony of travellers to a hundred natural
wonders, which differ as utterly from anything which we ever
And, if men are willing (as they may be hereafter) patiently to examine the facts still further, they may possibly find, in the very circumstances which now make them scornfully incredulous of “mystic raptures,” a moral justification of their reality.
It will be found that these “mystics” are, in almost every case, persons who are suffering; perhaps disappointed, perhaps lonely, perhaps unhealthy, perhaps all three at once, bereaved of all social comfort, and tortured with disease.
It is easy enough to say that such persons are especially liable to
melancholic delusions, liable to mistake the action of their diseased
nerves for external apparitions and voices; liable, from weakness of
brain, and the too intense self-introspection which disease often brings
with it, to invest trifling accidents with an undue importance, and to
regard them as supernatural monitions. Be it so. Mystics in all ages have
not been unaware of their own dangers, their own liability to mistakes;
and have tried to distinguish, by such canons as their age afforded them,
the false from the true, the fleshly from the spiritual. But meanwhile,
has this hypothesis no moral justice, and therefore moral probability
(which must always depend on the amount of moral justice involved in any
given hypothesis),—namely, the hypothesis that to these lonely
sufferers more was granted than to the many, because they needed
more? that some direct and inward “beatific vision” of God
was allowed to them, because they had no opportunity of gaining any
indirect and outward one from a smiling world,
As for the impossibility of such a direct assurance, it is an assertion too silly to be seriously answered in the nineteenth century, which is revealing weekly wonders in the natural world, which would have seemed impossible to our fathers. Shall the natural world, at every great step, transcend our boldest dreams: and shall the spiritual world be limited by us to the merest commonplaces of everyday experience, especially when those very commonplaces are yet utterly unexplained and miraculous? When will men open their eyes to the plain axiom, that nothing is impossible with God, save that He should transgress His own nature by being unjust and unloving?
But whether or not the popular religion shall justify and satisfy
the aspirations of the mystics, Tauler’s sermons will do so. They
will find there the same spiritual food which they have found already
in St. Bernard, a Kempis, and Madame Guyon; and find there also, perhaps
more clearly than in any mystic writer, a safeguard against the dangers
which specially beset them; against the danger of mistaking their
passing emotions for real and abiding love of good; against exalting
any peculiar intuition which they may think they have attained, into a
source of self-glorification, and fancying that they become something,
by the act of confessing themselves nothing. For with Tauler,
But there are those oppressed by doubts, and fears, and sorrows, very different from those of which I have just spoken, who may find in Tauler’s genial and funny pages a light which will stand them in good stead in many an hour of darkness. There are those, heaped beyond desert with every earthly bliss, who have had to ask themselves, in awful earnest, the question which all would so gladly put away: Were I stripped to-morrow of all these things, to stand alone and helpless, as I see thousands stand, what should I then have left? They may have been tempted to answer, with Medea in the tragedy:—
But they have shrunk from that desperate self-assertion, as they felt that, in the very act, they should become, not a philosopher, but, as Medea did, a fiend. Tremblingly they have turned to religion for comfort, under the glaring eye of that dark spectre of bereavement, but have felt about all commonplaces, however true, as Job felt of old; “Miserable comforters are ye all! . . . . Oh, that I knew where I might find HIM. I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I should know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me!”
To such, Tauler can tell something, though but a little, of that still waste, where a man, losing all things else, shall find himself face to face with God, and hear from Him that which no man can utter again in words, even to the wife of his bosom. A little, too, though but a little, can Tauler tell him how he may die to those whom he loves best on earth, that he may live to them, and love them better still, in the ever-present heavens; of how he may lose his life, and all persons and things which make his life worth having, that he may find again all of them which God has indeed created, in that God to whom all live eternally.
There are those, too, who have endured a struggle darker still; more rare, perhaps, but just as real as the last; men on whom the “nothingness” of all created things has flashed, not as a mere sentimental and exaggerative metaphor, but as a stern, inevitable, logical fact; who have felt, if for a moment, that perhaps they and all they see and know,—
who have hung, if but for one moment, self-poised
over the abyss of boundless doubt; who have shuddered as they saw, if but
for a moment, sun, and hills, and trees, and the faces which they loved,
and the seeming-solid earth beneath their feet,—yea, their own
body, flesh and blood,—reel, melt, and vanish, till nothing was
left of the whole universe but solitary self with its eternal malady
of thought; who have cried out of the lowest deep: “What is all
which I love—all which I hate? I gaze on it; but I see not it,
but a picture on my
That problem Tauler will solve for no man; for he will say that each man must solve it for himself, face to face with God alone: but he can tell how he solved it for himself; how he came to find an eternal light shining in for ever in that utter darkness, which the darkness could not comprehend; an eternal ground in the midst of that abyss, which belonged not to the abyss, nor to the outward world which had vanished for the moment, nor to space, nor time, nor any category of human thought, or mortal existence; and that its substance was the Everlasting Personal Good, whose Love is Righteousness. Tauler can point out the path by which he and others came to see that Light, to find that Rock of Ages;—the simple path of honest self-knowledge, self-renunciation, self-restraint, in which every upward step towards right exposes some fresh depth of inward sinfulness, till the once proud man, crushed down, like Job and Paul, by the sense of his own infinite meanness, becomes, like them, a little child once more, and casts himself simply upon the generosity of Him who made him:—
And then, so Tauler will tell him, there may come
to him the vision, dim, perhaps, and fitting ill into clumsy words,
but clearer, surer, nearer to him than
If there be any to whom these sentences shall seem merely an enigmatic verbiage, darkening counsel by words without knowledge, I can only beg them not to look at Tauler’s wisdom through my folly; his siccum lumen through my glare and smoke. As I said at first, he needs no Preface. There are those who will comprehend him without comment. There are those, also, who will rise up and follow him, and his Master.
IN the year of Our Lord 1340, it came to pass, that a
Master in Holy Scripture preached oft-times in a certain city, and the
people loved to hear him, and his teachings were the talk of the country
for many leagues round. Now this came to the ears of a layman who was rich
in God’s grace, and he was warned three times in his sleep that he
should go to the city where the Master dwelt, and hear him preach. Now
that city was in another country, more than thirty leagues distant.
Then the man thought within himself, “I will go thither and wait
to see what God is purposed to do or bring to pass there.” So
he came to that city and heard the Master preach five times. Then God
gave this man to perceive that the Master was a very loving, gentle,
good-hearted man by nature, and had a good understanding of the Holy
Scripture, but was dark as to the light of grace; and the man’s
heart did yearn over him, and he went to the Master and said, “Dear
and honoured Sir, I have travelled a good thirty leagues on your account,
to hear your teaching. Now I have heard you preach five times,
So, when the Master had finished his sermon, he announced to the people that in three days they should come together again, for he had been requested to teach how a man could attain to the Highest and Best and nearest to God that might be reached in this present time. And when the day was come, much people came to the church, and the man sat down in a place where he could hear well; and the Master came, and thus began his discourse, and said:
In the following gracious Sermon, twenty-four
articles are rehearsed whereby a man may perceive who are the proper,
true, reasonable, enlightened, contemplative men; and what sort of man
it is to whom Christ may well speak these words: Ecce vere Israelita
in quo dolus non est—Lo! see a true beholder of God in whom is
no guile (
DEAR children, I have much to say to you in this
sermon concerning those things of which I have promised to speak;
wherefore I cannot for this time expound the gospel of the day to you
as is my wont, neither shall I speak much Latin in this sermon; for
what I have to say, I will prove with Holy Scripture [and he said]:
“Dear children, I would have you to know that there be many men,
who indeed attain to a clear understanding and reasonable judgment,
but who do this by means of images and forms through the help of other
men, and without the Scriptures. Further, there be found many who,
when they mark that something is known to them through the Scriptures,
are not therewith content. Such a man is still far from his highest and
greatest good. Dear children, if a man had broken through these things,
and was become dead to them, and had got above forty stages of
The First is given us by the highest Master of all doctors, arts and wisdom, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he says: “Hereby shall ye know whether ye be my disciples, if ye have love one to another even as I have loved you.” As much as to say, ‘Though ye should possess arts and wisdom, and high understanding, it is all in vain if ye have not withal fidelity and love.’ We believe that Balaam was so replete with understanding, that he perceived what things God purposed to do or reveal hundreds of years after his day; but it availed him nothing, forasmuch as he did not cleave with love and loyalty to the things which he understood.
The Second mark appertaining to a truly reasonable, enlightened man is that he must become empty of self; and this must not make him proud, but he shall consider how he may ever more attain to this freedom, and sit loose by all creatures.
The Third Article: He shall resign Himself utterly to God, that God
may work His own works in him, and he shall not glory in the works as
being his own,
The Fourth Article: He shall go out from himself in all the things in which he is wont to seek and find himself, whether belonging to time or to eternity, and by so doing he shall win a true increase.
Fifth Article: He shall not seek his own ends in any creature, whether temporal or eternal, and hereby he shall attain to perfect satisfaction and content.
The Sixth Article: He shall always wait on that which God will have him to do, and shall try, with the help of God, to fulfil that to the uttermost, and shall take no glory to himself therefor.
The Seventh Article: He shall daily, without ceasing, give up his will to the will of God, and endeavour to will nothing but what God willeth.
The Eighth Article: He shall bend all his powers into submission to God, and exercise them so constantly and so strenuously in God, and with such power and love, that God may work nothing in him without his active concurrence, and he may do nothing without God.
The Ninth Article: He shall have the sense of the presence of God in all His works, at all times, and in all places, whatever it please God to appoint, whether it be sweet or bitter.
The Tenth Article: All his pleasure and pain he shall receive, not as from the creature, but from God; howbeit God ofttimes works through the creature, yet he shall receive all things as from God alone.
Eleventh Article: He shall not be led captive by any lusting or desire after the creatures without due necessity.
The Twelfth Article: No contradiction or mishap shall have power to move or constrain him so that it separate him from the truth; therefore hold fast always and entirely by the same.
Thirteenth Article: He shall not be deceived by the glory of the creature, nor yet by any false light, but in a spirit of kindness and love he shall confess all things to be what they are, and from all things draw out what is best, and use it to his own improvement, and in no wise to his own detriment; for such a course is a certain sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Fourteenth Article: He shall at all times be equipped and armed with all virtue, and ready to fight against all vice and sin, and with his good weapons he shall obtain the victory and the prize in all conflicts.
Fifteenth Article: He shall confess the truth in simplicity, and he shall mark what it is in itself, what God requireth of us, and what is possible to man, and then order his life accordingly, and act up to what he confesses!
The Sixteenth Article: He shall be a man of few words and much inward life.
The Seventeenth Article: He shall be blameless and righteous, but in no wise be puffed up by reason of the same.
The Eighteenth Article: His conversation shall be in all uprightness and sincerity; thus he shall let his light shine before men, and he shall preach more with his life than with his lips.
The Nineteenth Article: He shall seek the glory of God before all things, and have no other aim in view.
The Twentieth Article: He shall be willing to take reproof; and when he striveth with any he shall give way if the matter concern himself alone, and not God.
The Twenty-first Article: He shall not desire or seek his own advantage, but think himself unworthy of the least thing that falls to his lot.
The Twenty-second Article: He shall look upon himself as the least wise and worthy man upon earth, yet find in himself great faith; and above all he shall take no account of his own wisdom and the works of his own reason, but humble himself beneath all men. For the Author of all truth will not work a supernatural work in the soul, unless He find a thorough humility in a man, and go before his doings with his perfect grace, as he did with St. Paul. But I fear, alas! that little heed is taken to this in these our days.
The Twenty-third Article: He shall set the life and precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ before him for a pattern to his life, words, and works, and without ceasing look at himself therein as in a mirror, that, in so far as he is able, he may put off everything unbecoming the honoured image of our Lord.
The Twenty-fourth and last Article is: He shall comport himself as a man of small account,—as nothing more than a beginner in a good life; and though he should therefore be despised by many, it shall be more welcome to him than all the favour of the world.
Now, dear children, these are the signs that
the ground of a man’s soul is truly reasonable, so that the image
of all truth shineth and teacheth therein:
How this pious man privately reveals to the doctor in part his own hidden holiness, and convicts the Master that he is still walking in the night of ignorance, and has an unclean vessel, and therefore is yet a Pharisee.
WHEN this sermon was ended, the man went home to
his lodging, and wrote it down word for word as the Master had spoken
it. And when he had finished he went to the Master, and said, “I
have written out your sermon, and if it be not troublesome I should
like to read it to you.” The Master replied, “I shall be
glad to hear it.” Thereupon the man read the sermon over, and then
said to the Master, “Dear sir, pray tell me if there be a word
wanting, that if so I may set it down.” The Master said, “Dear
son, thou hast written every word and phrase just as it came out of
my mouth. I tell thee, if any one would give me much money for it, I
could not write down every word so exactly as thou hast done it here,
unless I set to afresh to draw it from the Scripture. I confess that I am
greatly astonished at thee to think that thou hast been concealed from
me so long, and I should never have perceived how full of wit thou art,
and so often as thou hast confessed to me, thou shouldst so have
As the man spoke these words the Master fell on his neck and kissed
him, and said: “A likewise has come into my mind. It has happened to
me as it did to the heathen woman at the well. For know, dear son, that
thou hast laid bare all my faults before my eyes; thou hast told me what
I had hidden up within me, and specially that I have an affection for
one creature; but I tell thee of a truth that I know it not myself, nor
do I believe that any human being in the world can know of it. I wonder
greatly who can have told thee this of me? But doubt not that thou hast
it from God. Now, therefore, I pray thee, dear son, that thou celebrate
our Lord’s Death, and be thou my ghostly father, and let me be
thy poor sinful son.” Then said the man, “Dear sir, if you
speak so contrary to ordinances, I will not stay with you, but ride home
again; that I assure you.” Hereupon said the Master, “Ah,
no! I pray thee, for God’s
How God had wrought a great miracle through this pious man, and how this had come to pass because God found in him a good and thorough humility.
THEN said the Master, “I pray thee, for God’s sake to tell me how it is that thou hast attained to such a life, and how thou didst begin thy spiritual life, and what have been thy exercises and thy history.” The man said, “That is, indeed, a simple request: for I tell you truly, if I should recount, or write, all the wondrous dealings of God with me, a poor sinner, for the last twelve years, I verily believe that you have not a book large enough to contain it if it were all written; however, I will tell you somewhat thereof for this time.
“The first thing that helped me was, that God found in me a sincere
and utterly self-surrendering humility. Now I do not think there is any
need to tell you the bodily exercises by which I brought my flesh into
subjection: for men’s natures and dispositions are very unlike; but
whenever a man has given himself up to God with utter humility, God will
not fail to give him such exercises, by temptations and other trials,
as He perceives to be profitable to the man, and such as he is well able
to bear and endure if he be only willing. But this you ought to
“I will tell you how it befell me in the beginning. I was
reading the German books about the lives of the Saints, when I thought
to myself, ‘These were men who lived on this earth as well as I,
and perhaps, too, had not sinned as I have.’ And when these thoughts
came into my head, I began to exercise myself in the life of the Saints
with some severities, but grew so sick thereby that I was brought to
death’s door. And it came to pass one morning at break of day,
that I had exercised myself so that my eyelids closed from very weakness,
and I fell asleep. And in my sleep it was as though a voice spoke to
me and said, ‘Thou foolish man, if thou art bent upon killing
thyself before thy time, thou wilt have to bear a heavy punishment;
but if thou didst suffer God to exercise thee, He could exercise thee
better than thou by thyself, or with the Devil’s counsel.’
When I heard speak of the Devil I awoke in a great fright, rose up, and
walked out into a wood nigh to the town. Then I thought within myself,
I had begun these exercises without counsel: I will go and tell the old
hermit all that has happened to me. And I did so, and told him the words
that I had heard in my sleep, and besought him in God’s
How God converted a heathen in a foreign land through this pious layman, and how that the Holy Ghost still to this day displays His grace with the same power that He showed on the day of Pentecost, when He finds fitting hearts to receive Him. Further, how this pious man gives still better instruction to the Doctor in these matters, and shows him that he is a true Pharisee, and brings him to submit to be converted and amend his ways.
THEN said the Master, “If God give thee grace
to say still more, I should heartily rejoice in it, for I tell thee in
all sincerity that I have listened to thee gladly, dear son: now I beg
thee for God’s sake do not leave me, but stay here, and if thou
lack money I will not let thee want for anything, if I have to pledge a
book for it.” Then said the man, “God reward you, dear sir:
know that I need not your kindness, for God hath made me a steward of
His goods, so that I have of earthly wealth five thousand florins, which
are God’s, and if I knew where there was need of them, or where
God would have them bestowed, I would give them away.” Then said
the Master, “Then, dear son, thou art indeed the steward of a rich
man and a great Lord! I am in great wonderment about that thou saidst,
The man said, “Dear sir, I fear that I have said some things
to you which have vexed you greatly in your mind; it is because I am a
layman, and you are a great doctor of Holy Scripture, and yet I have said
so much to you after the manner of a teacher. But that I have meant it
well and kindly, and sought your soul’s salvation in it, and simply
the glory of God, and nothing else, of that God is my witness.”
Then said the Master, “Dear son, if it will not make thee angry,
I will tell thee what vexes me.” Then said the man, “Yea,
dear sir, speak without fear; I promise not to take it amiss.” The
Master said, “It amazes me greatly, and is very hard to receive,
that thou being a layman, and I a priest, I am to take instruction from
thee; and it also troubles me much that thou calledst me a
This is the golden A B C which this pious man set the Doctor to learn, for the amending of his life, and which, doubtless, it were very profitable and needful for us all to repeat many times and oft, and amend our lives thereafter.
After a manly and not a childish sort, ye shall, with thorough earnestness, begin a good life.
Bad ways ye shall eschew, and practice all goodness with diligence and full purpose of mind.
Carefully endeavour to keep the middle path in all things, with seemliness and moderation.
Demean yourself humbly in word and work, from the inward holiness of your heart.
Entirely give up your own will; evermore cleave earnestly to God, and forsake Him not.
Forward and ready shall ye be to all good works, without murmuring, whatever be commanded you.
Give heed to exercise yourself in all godly works of mercy toward the body or the spirit.
Have no backward glances after the world, or the creatures, or their doings.
Inwardly in your heart ponder over your past life with honesty, sincere repentance in the bitterness of your heart, and tears in your eyes.
Knightly and resolutely withstand the assaults of the Devil, the Flesh, and the World.
Learn to conquer long-cherished sloth with vigour, together with all effeminacy of the body, and subservience to the Devil.
Make your abode in God, with fervent love, in certain hope, with strong faith, and be towards your neighbour as towards yourself.
No other man’s good things shall ye desire, be they what they may, corporeal or spiritual.
Order all things so that you make the best and not the worst of them.
Penance, that is, suffering for your sin, you shall take willingly, whether it come from God or the creatures.
Quittance, remission, and absolution, you shall give to all who have ever done you wrong in thought, word, or deed.
Receive all things that befall you with meekness, and draw improvement from them.
Soul and body, estate and
reputation, keep undenied with all care and diligence.
Truthful and upright shall ye be towards all, without guile or cunning.
Wantonness and excess, of whatsoever kind it may be, ye shall learn to lay aside, and turn from it with all your heart.
Xt., our Blessed Lord’s life and death, shall ye follow, and wholly conform yourself thereunto with all your might.
Ye shall evermore, without ceasing, beseech our blessed Lady that she help you to learn this our lesson well.
Zealously keep a rein over your will and your senses, that they may be at peace with all that God doth, and also with all His creatures.
All this lesson must be learnt of a free heart and will, without cavilling.
How the Doctor learns this task very quickly (though with trouble), and how this layman further instructeth him in the shortest way to the highest contemplation; also how he was obliged to begin a dying life, and exercise himself therein till at last he prevailed over himself. And in this following lesson lies the true ground of almost all the sermons that stand in this book, from which lesson also this Doctor obtained his understanding of Holy Scripture, and the perfecting of his life, as shall be hereafter set forth.
NOW, dear sir, take kindly as from God, without cavilling, this child’s task, which He sets you by the mouth of me, a poor and unworthy human being.”
Then said the Master, “However thou mayst call this a child’s
task, methinks it needs a man’s strength to attack it. Now tell
me, dear son, how long a time wilt thou give me to learn this lesson?”
The man answered, “We will take five weeks, in honour of the five
wounds of Christ, that you may learn it well. You shall be your own
schoolmaster; and when you are not perfect in any one of these letters,
and think yourself hardly able to learn it, then cast aside your garment
and chastise your body, that it
Now when this discipline had lasted three weeks, the man said to the Master, “Dear sir, how goes it with you?” The Master said, “Dear son, thou must know that I have received more stripes in these three weeks about your lesson than I ever did in all my days before.” Then said the man, “Sir, you well know that no man giveth his pupil a new task before he have learnt the first lines.” Then said the Master, “If I said that I knew them, I should say what is not true.” Then said the man, “Dear sir, go on as you are doing till you know your lesson right well.”
But at the end of another three weeks the Master sent for the man, and said to him, “Dear son, rejoice with me, for I think, with God’s help, I could say the first line; and if thou art willing, I will repeat over the whole lesson to thee.” “No, dear sir,” said the man, “I will gladly rejoice with you, and take your word for it that you know it.” Then said the Master, “I tell thee of a truth it has gone hard with me. And now, dear son, I pray thee give me further instruction.” Then said the man, “I can for myself teach you nothing further; but if so be that God willeth to teach you through me, I will gladly do my part, and be an instrument in the Lord’s hand by which He may work out His purposes.
“Hearken, dear Master: I will counsel you in godly love and brotherly
faithfulness. If it should happen to you as to the young man in the
Gospel, to whom our Lord said, ‘Go and sell all that thou hast
“Nevertheless, you must know that before this can come to pass, you
must sell all that you have, and humbly yield it up to God, that you
may truly make Him your end, and give up to Him all that you possess
in your carnal pride, whether through the Scriptures or without; or
whatever it be, whereby you might reap honour in this world, or in the
which you may aforetime have taken pleasure or delight, you must let it
all go, and, with Mary Magdalene, fall down at Christ’s feet, and
earnestly strive to enter on a new course. And so doing, without doubt,
the Eternal Heavenly Prince will look down on you with the eye of His
good pleasure, and He will not leave His work undone in you, but will
urge you still further, that you may be tried and
“But when these things come upon you, be not in any wise dismayed,
but rejoice, for then your salvation draweth nigh; howbeit, no doubt,
your human weakness will shrink back in terror, and give way. Therefore,
dear Master, you must not be fainthearted, but trust firmly in God, for
He forsakes none of His servants, as you know well from the examples of
the blessed saints. Now, dear sir, if so be that you are minded to take
these things in hand, know that there is nothing better or more profitable
for you at this present than an entire, hearty, humble self-surrender in
all things, whether sweet or bitter, painful or pleasant, so that you may
be able to say with truth, ‘Ah, my Lord and my God, if it were thy
will that I should remain till the Day of Judgment in this suffering and
tribulation, yet would I not fall away from thee, but would desire ever
to be constant in thy service.’ Dear sir, I see well, by God’s
grace, how you are thinking in your heart, that I have said very hard
things to you, and this is why I begged you beforehand to let me go,
and told you that if you went back like that young
How it fared with the Doctor after this, and how he fell into great tribulation and contempt, till he fell ill thereby; and how the layman counselled him, and allowed him to help nature with some good food and spices, and afterwards departed from him.
ON the eleventh day after this, the Master sent for the
man, and said to him, “Ah, dear son, what agony and struggle and
fighting have I not had within me day and night, before I was able to
overcome the Devil and my own flesh. But now by God’s grace I have
gathered myself together with all my powers inward and outward, and set my
hand to this work with good courage, and am purposed to remain steadfast
therein, come weal come woe.” Then said the man, “Dear sir,
do you remember still all I said to you when you asked me how you should
begin?” The Master answered, “Yes, the moment thou didst
depart I wrote down all thou hadst said to me, word for word.” Then
said the man, “Dear sir, that through God you have found this bold
heart, rejoices me from the bottom of my soul, and I am as well pleased
as if it had happened to myself, so God be my witness. And now in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, set forward.” Then the man took
Now it came to pass that before a year was out the Master grew to be despised of all his familiar friends in the convent, and his spiritual children all forsook him as entirely as if they had never seen him. And this he found very hard to bear, and it caused him such grief that his head was like to turn. Then he sent for the man and told him how it fared with him; how he was ill in his whole body, and especially in his head. Then said the man, “Sir, you must not be dismayed, but you must humbly cleave to God, and put your firm trust in Him. Know that this account of yours pleases me well, and it stands well with your life, and will grow better every day.
“Dear sir, you know well that he who will walk in the right way, and tread this path, must be made a partaker of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore be not afraid, but commit yourself wholly to God. For know that the same thing happened to me also. Meanwhile you must take some remedies while you are in this state, and treat your body well with good food which may strengthen it. A box of spices was made for me, and I will have such an one prepared for you to strengthen your head. But you must know that I always gave myself up body and soul to God, that He might do with them what he pleased.”
Then said the Master, “But thou didst tell me before that I must
shun good eating and drinking.” The man answered, “Yes, sir, that was
in the first beginning, when the flesh was yet wanton, but now that it
is tamed and obedient to the spirit, we may
How Doctor Tauler was visited, touched, and illuminated after a wonderful manner by God, and how the layman came to him again, and admonished him tenderly to begin to preach afresh, and to exercise himself in the Holy Scriptures. Also concerning a strange event that befell him afterwards, whereby he was still more tried and humbled, yet not without fruit.
NOW when the Master had suffered thus for two years,
from sore assaults and temptations of the Devil, and great contempt from
all his friends, and also great poverty, so that he was obliged to pledge
a part of his books, and withal fell into great weakness of the body,
and he had demeaned himself with great humility throughout;—behold,
it came to pass on the Feast of St. Paul’s Conversion, that in the
night he was overtaken by the most grievous assault that may be imagined,
whereby all his natural powers were so overcome with weakness that when
the time for matins came he could not go in to chapel, but remained in
his cell, and commended himself to God in great humility, without help or
consolation from any creature. And as he lay in this state of weakness,
he thought of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His great
love that He had for us,
Then the Master sent for the man, and told him all that had
happened. The man said, “Dear Master, be of good cheer, and be not
dismayed at these things. The Bridegroom is wont to behave so to all
His best and dearest friends, and it is a certain sign
An excellent sermon which this Doctor delivered in
a convent after his illumination, concerning Christ the true Bridegroom
of the soul, in the which he showed how she is to follow Him in true,
shamefaced, humble, and patient resignation, and how Christ tries her
beforehand in divers ways, and at last accepts her lovingly. Taken from
these words—“Ecce sponsus venit, exite obviam ei”
(
DEAR children, it may be now two years or more since I last preached. I spoke to you then of four-and-twenty Articles, and it was then my custom to speak much Latin, and to make many quotations; but I intend to do so no more, but if I wish to talk Latin, I will do so when the learned are present, who can understand it. For this time repeat only an Ave Maria to begin with, and pray for God’s grace.
Dear children, I have taken a text on which I mean to preach this sermon, and not to go beyond it: in the vulgar tongue it runs thus,—“Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.”
The Bridegroom is our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bride is the Holy
Church and Christendom. Now
It is seemly that a faithful Bride should avoid everything that is displeasing to the Bridegroom, such as vain-glory, pride, envy, and all the other sins of this world, and all the delights of the body and the flesh, whether it be the ease and indulgence of the body, or other things which are beyond the necessaries of life. Further, it beseems a faithful Bride to be shamefaced. When this comes to pass, and the Bride, for her Bridegroom’s sake, has despised and given up all these things, then she begins to be somewhat well-pleasing to the Bridegroom.
But, if she desires to be yet more well-pleasing in His sight, she must
humbly bow down before Him, and say with heart and lips, “Ah! my
dear Lord and Bridegroom, Thou knowest all hearts. I have said to Thee,
with my whole heart, that I desire to do all that I can and may, and
to do it willingly, as far as Thou givest me to perceive through my
conscience what is agreeable and well-pleasing to Thee.” When the
Bride makes this vow to the Bridegroom, He turneth himself and begins
to look upon her.
But if the Bride be as yet unaccustomed to suffer, she will say, “Ah! dear Lord and Bridegroom, this is very hard upon me; I greatly fear that I shall scarcely be able to endure it. Therefore, dear Lord and Bridegroom, I pray Thee to make my burden somewhat more tolerable, or else to take a part of it away.” Then the Bridegroom answers, “Tell me then, dear Bride, should the Bride fare better than the Bridegroom has fared? If thou desirest to meet the Bridegroom, thou must imitate Him in some sort, and it is, moreover, reasonable that a faithful Bride should suffer somewhat with Him for her Bridegroom’s sake.” Now when the Bride heareth what is the will of her Bridegroom, and how grave a matter it is, she is sore affrighted, and says, “Dear Lord and Bridegroom, be not wroth with me, for I will gladly hearken unto Thee: appoint unto me what Thou wilt; I am willing to suffer all things with Thy help and in thy love.” When the Bridegroom heareth this, He loveth the Bride yet better than He did before, and giveth her to drink of a still better cup. This cup is that she is to cease from all her own thoughts, and all her works and refrainings will give her no content, for she can take pleasure in nothing that is her own. However good the actions may be in themselves, she is always thinking how she shall anger her Bridegroom therewith, and feareth much that she will, perhaps, have to suffer a great punishment for them hereafter. Moreover, she is derided by all, and these things are accounted her folly.
Now, children, by reason of all these things, her natural powers become wearied out and grow feeble, insomuch that she is constantly in fear lest she should not hold out to the end, but must die at last; and hereupon she is greatly terrified, for she is yet somewhat timorous and faint-hearted. Then she cries earnestly unto the Bridegroom, and says, “Ah! dear Lord and Bridegroom, how great are Thy terrors; know that I cannot endure them long: I must die.” But the Bridegroom answers, “If thou wilt in truth go out to meet thy Bridegroom, it is fitting that thou should first tread some portion of the path that He has travelled. Now whereas the Bridegroom has suffered shame, hunger, cold, thirst, heat, and bitter pains, for three and thirty years, and at last a bitter death, for the Bride’s sake, out of pure love, is it not just and right that the Bride should venture even her life for the Bridegroom’s sake, out of love, and with all her heart? Verily, if thou hadst the right sort of love and true faithfulness unto thy Bridegroom, all thy fear would vanish.”
Then when she hears these words of the Bridegroom her whole heart
is moved with fear, and she says, “Ah! dear Lord, I acknowledge in all
sincerity that I have done wrong, and I am out of all measure terrified
at it; I grieve from the bottom of my heart that I have not with a
faithful heart yielded myself up unto Thee, even unto death. Dear Lord
and Bridegroom, I here vow and promise to Thee surely that all which
Thou willest I also will. Come sickness, come health, come pleasure or
pain, sweet or bitter, cold or heat, wet or dry, whatever Thou willest,
that do I also will; and desire altogether to come out from my own will,
and to yield a whole and willing obedience
Now when the Bridegroom seeth this entire and faithful will in the Bride, and her deep and thorough humility, what does He then do? His heart yearns over the Bride, and giveth her a very costly, noble, sweet cup to drink. What is this cup? It is that she suffers yet far more from all manner of temptation and tribulation than she has ever suffered before. And when the Bride perceiveth this, and seeth the Bridegroom’s earnestness and good pleasure concerning her, she suffereth all these things willingly and gladly for the Bridegroom’s sake, and boweth herself down humbly before Him, and saith, “Ah! dear Lord and Bridegroom, it is just and right that Thou shouldest not will as I will, but I desire and ought to will as Thou wilt; I receive this gift right willingly and gladly for Thy love from Thy divine hand, whether it be pleasant or painful to the flesh, I acquiesce wholly in it for love of Thee.”
Now when the Bridegroom, in His eternal wisdom, perceives this
disposition within His humble Bride, and her thorough earnestness, she
begins to grow precious to Him, and from hearty love He giveth her to
suffer in all her nature, until the Bride is wholly purified from all
faults and stain of sin, and become perfectly fair and unspotted. Then
He says, “Now rise up, my beloved, my pleasant, my beautiful
Bride, for Thou art pure and without spot, and altogether lovely in
my eyes.” Then He looks upon her with infinite, mighty, divine
love. To this joyful high-tide
Now he only who is bidden to such a spiritual, glorious marriage-feast, and has obeyed the call, does for the first time perceive and taste the real, true, blessed, gracious sweetness of the Holy Spirit. Now is this Bride a true worshipper, for she worshippeth the Father in the Holy Spirit. In this marriage-feast is joy upon joy, and therein is more peace and joy in one hour than all the creatures can yield in time or in eternity. The joy that the Bride hath with the Bridegroom is so vast that no senses or reason can apprehend or attain unto it.”
As the Doctor spoke these words a man cried out with a loud voice, “It is true!” and fell down as if he were dead. Then a woman called out from the crowd and said, “Master, leave off, or this man will die on your hands.”
Then the Master said, “Ah, dear children, and if the Bridegroom take the Bride and lead her home with Him, we will gladly yield her to Him; nevertheless, I will make an end and leave off. Dear children, let us all cry unto the Lord our God in Heaven. For verily we have all need so to do, seeing that, alas! we have grown so dull of hearing and foolish of heart that none of us has compassion on his fellow, although we confess that we are all called brothers and sisters. There be also few who are willing to fight their way against their own flesh, and follow the Bridegroom, in order to reach a nobler joy and a glorious wedding-feast.
I give you to know that in these days those be few and far between who do truly go out to meet the Bridegroom, such as there were many in the olden time. Therefore it behoveth each one to look at himself and consider his ways with great earnestness. For the time is at hand—nay, it is already come—when it may be said of most who are now living here, that “they have eyes and see not, and ears that hear not.” Dear children, let us all strive to enter into this wedding-feast, most rich in joy, and honour, and blessedness.
But when the Bride departs from this marriage-feast and is left to
herself, and beholds that she has come back again to this miserable
earthly state, she says within herself, “O! poor miserable creature
that I am, am I here again?” And she is sad in herself; nevertheless,
she is so utterly resigned in boundless humility to her Bridegroom,
that she in no wise may think of or desire His presence, because she
deems herself wholly unworthy thereof. But the Bridegroom does not
therefore forsake her, but looketh
And now that you have heard this, let it not surprise you that I have not told you how lovingly the Bridegroom talketh with the Bride. It might well happen that none would believe me (except such a one as had tried and tasted it himself), should I tell you what strange words the Bride saith to her Bridegroom. We find, too, in the Scriptures, that the loving soul ofttimes holds such converse with her Beloved as words cannot perfectly express. Nay, does it not happen every day with earthly lovers, that a bride and bridegroom talk together in such wise that if others heard it they would declare them mad or drunk?
Now, dear children, I fear that I have kept you too long; but the time has not seemed long to me: also, I have said it all for your good, and could not well this time make my sermon shorter if I were rightly to explain my meaning; therefore receive it kindly.
That we may all become real, true, perfect brides of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may in sincere, true, utter humility and resignation, go out to meet our glorious Bridegroom, and abide with Him for ever, may God help us, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Of a great prodigy that was wrought in certain persons through this sermon, as afterwards appeared, whereby we are given to understand what great wonders God works by good instruments, that is that He will do more by one sermon of an enlightened man than by a hundred others.
WHEN this sermon was ended, the Master went down and read
Mass, and gave the Lord’s Body to certain good people; but after
the sermon the man perceived that some forty people remained sitting
in the churchyard. When Mass was over he told the Master of it, and
they went out to where he had seen the people sitting that they might
see how it was with them. But in the meantime, while the Master had
been celebrating Mass, they had risen up and gone away, except twelve,
who were still there. Then said the Master to the man, “Dear son, what
dost thou think we had best do with these people?” Then the man went
from one to another and touched them, but they lay as if they were dead,
and scarcely moved. The Master knew not what to think of this strange
thing, for he had never seen the like before, and so he said to the man,
“Tell me, what dost thou think? Are the people alive or dead?”
Then he smiled and said, “If they were dead, it would be your fault
and the Bridegroom’s; how then should you bring them round again?”
The Master said, “But if the Bridegroom be with me in this
How this holy Doctor came to his end, and afterward appeared to his dear friend the layman, and showed him the cause of his painful departure from this world, to wit that it had been his purgatory, after which he attained great joy and eternal blessedness, which were given him by God as the reward of his good and faithful teaching.
NOW you must know that the Master made progress in
the divine life, and received such wisdom, by the grace of the Holy
Spirit, that he preached both to clergy and laity, and came to be held
in such esteem and honour throughout the land, and also in that city,
that whenever the people had any weighty matter to transact, he was
called in to settle it with his wisdom, whether it concerned spiritual
or temporal affairs, and whatever he counselled them was right in their
eyes, and they hearkened unto him gladly. And after that the Master had
led this faithful life full eight years, God would not leave His servant
longer in this earthly misery, and saw fit to take him to Himself without
purgatory. Wherefore He sent His judgments upon him, and visited him with
sickness, so that the Master kept his bed for more than twenty weeks,
and his sufferings were very sore, and his pains grievous. Then
And for a space of eleven days the Master held much discourse with the man. After that, the time came that the Master should die. Then he said, “Dear son, I pray thee, in God’s name, to give thy consent to it, if God should permit my spirit to come back to thee, and tell thee how it fared with me.” The man answered, “Dear Master, if God will have it so, I am also willing.” But it came to pass that at the last the Master had a most horrible and frightful death-struggle, insomuch that all the brethren in the convent, and also other people, were greatly terrified and distressed thereat, and were sore amazed at the dreadful anguish that they saw in his death.
Now when he was dead, all who were in the convent and the city were
filled with sorrow. But when they perceived who was the man that had
been so long his bosom-friend in secret, they came and desired to show
him honour, and besought him to be their guest. But when he was aware of
their intent, he fled that same hour out of the city, and travelled home
again. And as he was on the way, the third day after the Master’s
death, at nightfall he was passing through a little village with his
servant, and seeing a nobleman go past along the road, he said to him,
“My friend, is there any inn in this village?” The nobleman
answered, “No.” Then said the man, “Then show us
the kindness, dear friend, in God’s name, to let us lodge in thy
house for to-night, and take for it what thou wilt.” Then he said,
“If you will put up with such things as we have, I will willingly
lodge you, and give you the best in my power.”
Then said the man: “Dear Master, I beseech you from the bottom of my heart that when you come into the presence of God, you pray Him for me.” But whatever the man said after this, or whatever questions he put, no one answered him again. Then he would fain have slept, and turned from one side to the other; but it availed him nothing: he got no more rest that night, and could hardly wait till it was light. And at daybreak he rose up, and wrote that same hour word to the Prior and brethren of all things that the spirit had said to him, and returned to his own house, and came also to a good and blessed end.
That we may all follow the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ, insomuch that after this miserable life and this transitory world we may come to eternal and never-ending joys,—to God and His chosen and beloved friends, may He help us, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen!
Here endeth the History of the Life of the enlightened Doctor John Tauler.
JOHN TAULER, who appears as “the Master”
in the foregoing History, was born at Strasburg in the year 1290. His
father was most probably Nicolas Tauler, whose name occurs among those
of the senators of Strasburg in 1313. At all events, he belonged to a
tolerably wealthy family, and might have lived on his patrimony since
he tells us in one of his sermons: “Had I known when I lived as
my father’s son, all that I know now, I would have lived on his
heritage and not upon alms.” He devoted himself, however, in early
years to a clerical life, and entered the Dominican Order in Strasburg,
taking up his abode in the handsome, spacious convent belonging to
that Order, the church of which was consecrated in the year 1308. A
sister of his was a nun in the convent of St. Nicolas at Krautenau,
likewise belonging to the Dominican Order. In what year Tauler renounced
the world cannot be determined with precision, but there can be little
doubt that he did so at the same time with his friend John von Dambach,
in 1308. From allusions in his writings,
The University concentrated within its precincts representatives
of the varied intellectual tendencies of the age. Up to the middle
of the thirteenth century, it had been distinguished by the freedom
of thought which prevailed among its teachers, unshackled as they
were by any episcopal, almost by any regal jurisdiction over their
doctrine, and acknowledging only the authority of the Pope himself,
directly exercised. The influence of the all-questioning Abelard,
the subtle Gilbert de la Porée, the pantheistic Amaury de Bene, and
other free-thinking teachers, was not extinct, though they lay under the
censure of heresy. The works of Aristotle, condemned in 1209, had been
gradually introduced into the schools, with the Arabian commentaries of
Avicenna and Averrhoes. The Dominican Order, founded for the extirpation
of heresy, early recognised the prime necessity of providing instruction
which should purify the streams of human thought at their fountain-head;
and in spite of the opposition raised by the heads of the University,
succeeded, in 1228, in establishing theological chairs in their convent in
Paris, from which to combat the heathenising philosophers of Christendom
with their own weapons of reason; and in Albert the Great, and Thomas
Aquinas they may be said to have reconquered philosophy for the Church,
and Christianised Aristotle, who thenceforth became the established
But the colossal volumes of the schoolmen, embracing as they did
within the vast sweep of their speculation disquisitions upon the nature
of the Godhead, upon the universe of superhuman intelligence revealed
by the pseudo-Dionysius, and upon the nature of man and
matter,—while affording a tremendous gymnastic discipline to the
human intellect, were barren in actual practical results, and might
well be unsatisfactory to one whose soul craved to be something more
than a logical athlete. And it is evident that, in his later life,
Tauler did not look back upon the scholastic theology which he studied
during his sojourn in Paris as having taught him that which answered to
the needs of his spirit. Thus, in one passage of his sermons he says:
“These great masters of Paris do read vast books, and turn over
the leaves with great diligence, which is a very good thing; but these
[spiritually enlightened men] read the true living book, wherein all
things live: they turn over the pages of the heavens and the earth,
and read therein the mighty and admirable wonders of God.” He
seldom cites any of the schoolmen in his writings, with the exception of
“Master Thomas;” but he not unfrequently refers to Aristotle,
under the title of the “Natural Master,” or the “Master
of Nature.” The authors who seem to have had the greatest attraction
for him, and whom he must have early made the subject of his study,
judging from the acquaintance with them displayed in his writings, and
the little leisure which he could have had for such pursuits during the
busy activity of his later years, were the more
While the whole bent of Tauler’s mind thus appears to
have disposed him to contemplation on the great spiritual questions
immediately affecting man’s actual destiny, rather than more purely
intellectual theses, he must, on returning from Paris to Strasburg,
have come in contact with several of the mystical teachers whom we know
to have flourished there about this time, and who certainly cannot have
been without influence on the course of his mental development. The most
eminent of these was the celebrated Master Eckart, a brother of his own
Order, who, after having filled the important offices of Provincial in
Saxony and Vicar-General in Bohemia, had returned to Strasburg, where,
with the earnestness of profound conviction, he was now discoursing to
the people in their native tongue, on lofty philosophical themes, till
then only deemed fit to be treated of in Latin before learned assemblies;
and which he handled in a way that he himself confesses to be contrary
to what any of the Masters had taught hitherto. Yet it is clear, from the
accusations afterwards brought against him of misleading the vulgar, that
the metaphysical speculations which form the staple of his sermons, though
they would seem to us utterly beyond the range of ordinary thinkers, must
have touched some chords in the hearts of the multitude, expressed as they
are, not only in a sharp, clear, forcible style, but often clothed
The man himself and his doctrines were equally calculated to make a powerful impression on the mind of the youthful Tauler, already dissatisfied with the frigid subtleties of the dialecticians, and arriving at an age when he was called on to exercise his vocation as a preaching friar in times of extraordinary commotion and perplexity.
Eckart’s keen and soaring intellect had been trained by a close
study of the Fathers and the Schoolmen before he became a professor in
the convent at St. Jacques at Paris, in which position he soon acquired
no ordinary fame; being esteemed (according to the statement of the Abbot
Trithemius in his great encyclopædia of ecclesiastical writers)
“the most learned man of his day in the Aristotelian
philosophy.” The vivid remembrance of such a master would be still
lingering in the hearts of many pupils when Tauler came to Paris; though
Eckart himself must have quitted his professorship some years before,
as, on account of the severity of his morals and the firmness of his
character, he was
Eckart always endeavours to bring his speculations into combination
with the theology of the Church; but the interpretation which he puts
upon the received dogmas often deviates widely from their
After preaching some time in Strasburg, Eckart appears to have removed
to Cologne. It is not known whether or not he had found it necessary
to leave the former city; but it seems not improbable that he may have
fallen under accusation of heresy there, from the circumstance that many
of the propositions condemned, by the Bishop (John of Ochsenstein) in
1317, as the doctrines of the Strasburg Beghards, agree, often word
for word, with propositions to be found in Eckart’s writings. In
Cologne he preached publicly for a few years in the church of his convent,
and taught in the university; but he was not suffered to remain long
unmolested. The way in which his writings were used by the Beghards,
who were condemned by the Archbishop of Cologne in 1322, appears to have
drawn the attention of the latter to his preaching. He cited Eckart to
appear before him, and accused him of heresy; but as Eckart refused to
submit to his sentence, and continued to preach, the Archbishop appealed
to the Pope. His writings were at length condemned in a bull dated March
1329, from which it appears that he was then no more, as it is stated
that he had returned to the Catholic faith before his death. It seems
utterly inconsistent with the deep conviction that pervades his writings,
and the inflexibility of his character, to suppose that he should have
recanted any of his doctrines; but probably he merely expressed his
adherence to the doctrines of the Church, which he never seems to
Tauler’s influence upon his countrymen has been so much more
powerful and enduring than that of Eckart, that he has often been called
erroneously the first of the German Mystics, and Eckart represented as
his pupil. While, however, in his general cast of thought and language,
Tauler bears traces of Eckart’s influence, his views do not appear
at any period to have been identical with those of his forerunner. Though
inclined to speculation, his whole turn of mind and character was more
practical than that of Eckart, and his attention more directed to the
application of religious principles to real life. Even the sermon which,
as we have read, he preached before the remarkable change wrought in him
through the agency of the great Layman, though displaying more formality
and subtlety with less of tenderness, unction, and spirituality than
generally characterize his later sermons, is yet far
There was, however, another famous Dominican preacher at Strasburg,
in Tauler’s youthful days, Nicolas of Strasburg, who though also
a mystic, and possessing a very powerful intellect, was a man of a very
different stamp from Eckart, and who appears to have always stood in high
favour with the heads of the Church. He was the author of several works,
and was appointed by Pope John XXII. Nuncio, with the oversight of all
the Dominican convents in the province of Germany. I have not had the
opportunity of reading any of his productions; Professor Schmidt describes
his preaching as less speculative and much more popular, intelligible,
and practical than Eckart’s, and says that “his sermons are rather
mystical and ascetic than, strictly speaking, metaphysical; they breathe a
profound yearning after inward peace and a glowing love to God, but do not
display an intellect so lofty as that of the great mystic.” That he was,
however, a man of extraordinary learning is evinced by a work which he
wrote on the coming of Anti-Christ, and the second Advent of Our Lord,
in order to prove that the numerous legends and prophecies current in
that age, as in all times of great calamity and mighty convulsions, were
unworthy of credit, and that nothing positive was to be learnt from Holy
Scripture respecting the date of future events.
There were many other mystics in Strasburg at this date, of whom nothing is known beyond their names, but this very fact is sufficient to prove the wide diffusion of such doctrines in that city. The same phenomenon also meets us in a heretical guise, among the fanatical Beghards who since the close of the thirteenth century had filled the Rhenish provinces with their doctrines of the absolute freedom of the spirit, and the abolition of all distinctions between the Creator and the creature. They were denominated (most likely by the title of their own choosing) the Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit, and made proselytes equally among the laity and clergy. In the year 1317, Bishop Ochsenstein complains that Alsace was full of them, and in a circular to the clergy of his diocese, he condemns the mystical and pantheistic doctrines of this sect, whose members were given over to the secular authorities, and by them apparently punished with imprisonment. Whether or no Eckart was connected with them, they do not seem to have exercised any influence upon Tauler; for in his sermons he repeatedly inveighs against “The Free Spirits,” who he says, “striving after a false freedom, and on pretext of following the inward light, follow only the inclinations of their own nature.”
But besides the Beghards, there were still lingering in Southern
Germany and Italy, remains of the Albigenses and Waldenses and Manichean
Cathari,—reverers of the Abbot Joachim’s Eternal Gospel
But within the Orders themselves had soon sprung up the old strife and
division that seems to threaten the life of all spiritual organizations
in the second generation, arising from the innate antagonism between
the self-indulgence, prudence, and acquisitiveness inherent in human
nature, and the pure but unreasoning spiritual impulses to which they
have owed their existence. The Dominicans, with their characteristic
address, retained the conflicting elements within their own bosom,
and equally availed themselves of fervent piety or worldly power. The
Franciscans, more enthusiastic and less far-sighted, divided into two
parties,—those who consented to hold property in trust for the See
of Rome, and those termed Spiritual Franciscans, who adhered rigidly to
the literal interpretation of their rule of absolute poverty. From the
latter sprang numerous spiritual and mystical sects, differing in their
tenets, but all coinciding in their fervid faith and their inculcation of
poverty and asceticism, all democratic as regarded hierarchical authority,
and many involving all the wealthy and noble in their hatred to wealth
and power. Doctrines of this kind were indeed sure to
The Pope now ruling had, however, put himself in opposition with
those of the Spiritual party who remained within the bounds of their
Order, and were guilty of no heresy but that of asserting the absolute
poverty of Christ and His Apostles. He deposed the General of the Order,
and caused the inmates of many convents to be persecuted for maintaining a
doctrine which struck at the root of the Papal authority. In return, they
boldly denounced the Pope as a heretic, and became important auxiliaries
to the Emperor Louis IV. in that long struggle which occupies the period
we are considering. They found powerful coadjutors in the profoundly
learned and able politicians,—William of Ockham and Marsilio of
Padua, whose writings taught men to investigate the origin of the Papal
power. But not only from the princes with whom the Pope interfered,
and the miserable populace whose passions were at the mercy of fanatical
preachers or demagogues; from the burghers in the cities there also arose
a strenuous opposition to the outrageous claims and the arbitrary
With the double election of Frederic of Austria and Louis of Bavaria,
who were both crowned on the 25th of November 1314, at Aix-la-Chapelle,
began a desolating warfare, which lasted for eight years, till the
Battle of Muehldorf in 1322 left Frederic a prisoner in the hands of
Louis. Strasburg was divided between the rival Emperors. The Bishop and
the important family of the Zorn were adherents of Frederic; but the no
less important family of the Muellenheim declared for Louis; and the
latter had the greater part of the citizens on their side. Thus, when
Frederic ascended the Rhine and arrived in Strasburg in January 1315,
he was not received as their sovereign by the citizens, but merely
treated as an illustrious guest; while, on the contrary, the Bishop
and clergy paid him regal honours, which procured them various proofs
of his favour. Louis, on hearing in his camp at Spires the conduct of
the citizens, confirmed the liberties and privileges of the city. When,
five years later, in August 1320, Louis came with his army to Strasburg,
the burghers solemnly tendered him allegiance in the cathedral, in
return for which he again confirmed their privileges; but the clergy
had suspended the offices of public
After the famous meeting of the Electoral College at Rhense, near
Coblenz, in July 1338, had declared
Great was the impression made by this bold Edict upon the German
people, who rallied more and more universally around the Emperor who
thus defended his own rights and the honour of the Empire. But concord
was banished further than ever, for the clergy in many cases resisted
the Emperor’s command to resume the services which had been so
long suspended, while the citizens, who had borne with impatience
their terrible deprivation of the sacred rites, now on the strength
of the Edict issued orders that all the clergy who refused to perform
service should be banished. Many priests left their churches and removed
into other provinces, numerous convents stood empty of their inmates;
still in most places there remained a sufficient number of priests and
monks to fulfil the duties of their vocation. This
The Dominicans in general quitted the city, and Koenigshofen relates in his Chronicle, that they left their convent standing empty for more than two years; but no doubt many of the democratical Franciscans, who had always supported the Emperor, remained behind. They were, however, as we shall see, exceptions in these Orders to the general rule, which shows to how great an extent the brethren must have been guided by their individual conscience rather than their corporate organization.
Such were the scenes amidst which Tauler was
called to labour as a Christian minister and Dominican monk. Of the
manner in which he fulfilled his work, and the vicissitudes of his
personal career, history has preserved but a small number of facts,
but these, though few, are significant. All the testimonies that have
come down to us respecting him,
But the most remarkable trait in this period of Tauler’s life
is that he not only, unlike most of his Order, sided with the Emperor in
his whole contest with the Pope, but did not suspend his activity when,
in 1338, the great struggle came between the absolutely contradictory
commands of his temporal and spiritual lords, and, as we have seen,
his brethren quitted the town, and left their convent deserted for
two years. By the departure of nearly all the clergy from Strasburg,
Tauler found a still wider field of labour; and from allusions to him
in letters of his contemporaries, it appears that he did not confine his
exertions to that city, but preached from time to time at various places,
from Cologne to Basle. Before the close of 1338 he seems to have made a
somewhat lengthened visit to the latter city, where the state of things
was very similar to that in Strasburg. The Bishop of Basle belonged to
the opponents of Louis
In Basle, Tauler met with an old friend, Henry of Nordlingen, from
whose letters most of the scanty notices of Tauler during this period
are derived. He was a priest from Constance, which city he had been
obliged to leave on account of his refusal to preach; for though a
Bavarian by birth, and intimately connected with Tauler and others of
similar views, he did not recognize Louis as the lawful Emperor. He is
principally known by his correspondence with a very remarkable woman,
Margaretha Ebner, a nun at the Convent of Maria Medingen, in the diocese
of Augsburg. Her sister Christina was Abbess of the Convent of Engenthal,
near Nuremberg. Both were distinguished by their mental endowments as
well as their earnest piety, and were evidently held
Tauler occasionally visited both these nuns, and was in correspondence
with Margaretha
When the Pope allowed public worship to be celebrated for a year
at Basle, Henry’s friends, without his knowledge, procured him
permission to preach, and give a forty days’ indulgence; and he then
ventured to appear in public, encouraged by Tauler’s influence
and counsel. Thus he says:—“Afterwards I came to Basle, to my
and thy dear faithful Father Tauler (who was with me at thy house), and
he helped me in every way he could with all fidelity.” He then writes:
“The great mercy has been granted us that we may celebrate mass in
By the persuasion of Tauler, Henry appears now for a time to
have preached even in places which still lay under the Interdict,
but afterwards, terrified by the violent censure of the clergy for his
conduct, to have submitted again to the papal prohibition, and resumed
his wanderings. Tauler, on the contrary, waited for no papal permission
to do that which he considered to be the bounden duty of a clergyman,
and after his visit to Basle it appears from Henry’s letters that
he travelled more than once as far as Cologne. In this city, where Master
Eckart had spent the latter years of his life, numerous preachers had
gone forth from his school, who continued to promulgate his doctrines
with more or less ability and originality. Nicolas of Strasburg, too,
was at this time lecturing at Cologne, probably driven from Strasburg
by the troubles to which his papal politics would expose him at this
period. This was the case also with Tauler’s old friend, Johann
von Dambach, who had not only declared that during the Interdict it was
the duty of a pious Christian to submit unconditionally to the Church,
but even composed several tractates to prove the justifiableness of
the Interdict from the Canon Law. Yet, as we have seen Tauler and the
Ebners in undisturbed friendship with Henry of Nordlingen, in spite of
differences which entered so deeply into the life of those times, so,
notwithstanding Dambach’s antagonistic opinions, and his removal
to the distant
We now arrive at the date when that great change was produced in Tauler with which the foregoing “History” has acquainted us. Till recently, little was known of the “History,” beyond the fact that it was found attached to some mss. of Tauler’s sermons, and many have doubted of its genuineness. Quétif and Echard, for instance, have treated it as a mere allegory. By dint of laborious researches among the old mss. of the libraries of Strasburg and Sarnen, and ingenious combinations of the results thence obtained, Professor Schmidt has not only established, in a way that it seems to me must be satisfactory to any one who goes through the evidence, that this Tractate is a perfectly genuine and truthful production, the work of the layman who professes to have written it, but also has succeeded in identifying this layman with a mysterious personage, called the Great Friend of God, in the Oberland, the head of a secret religious association; and the latter again, with a certain Nicolas of Basle, whose name, however, only occurs twice; once in the account of his own martyrdom, once in that of one of his disciples.
The most important of the mss. examined by
Professor Schmidt is a large folio volume, only recently discovered in
the archives of Strasburg, and formerly belonging to the Convent of the
Knights of St John
From these documents we are able to obtain a general idea of the
character and work of Nicolas, though the actual course of his history,
especially during the earlier part of his life, is still almost entirely
shrouded from view. All that we can discover respecting the commencement
of his career is, that about the year 1328 or 1330, he was a youth of
good family at Basle
The title of “Friends of God” is one which meets us
continually in the writings of those who are termed mystics in the
fourteenth century, and is used in various connections. Sometimes it
seems to denote those who were partakers of a spiritual in opposition
to a formalistic piety; sometimes to denote the members of a particular
body. Among those called “Friends of God” we find the names
of individuals widely differing from each other in rank, vocation,
opinion, and career; for they counted among their members Dominicans,
such as Eckart, Tauler, Suso of Constance, and Henry of Nordlingen,
and Franciscans, such as Otto of Passau; Knights married
It is at all events clear that their union for common action was
utterly independent of the attitude they assumed towards the great
conflicting questions of
But the greater the sinfulness and deadness to religion in a particular
age, the more strongly marked must be the line of demarcation between
the careless and the earnest; for the religious are thus obliged to
But while this principle, which surely we must recognize as that which does really constitute the friends of God in all ages, was brought out into peculiar prominence by these German Gottesfreunde, their views could not fail to be coloured by the modes of thought and the circumstances of their age. Thus, in order to this entire devotedness to God, we find a renunciation, so far as may be, of all earthly cares and ties recommended by them; thus, too, we see that their faith in God’s direct, personal dealings with the individual soul is apt to be accompanied by a superstitious regarding of insignificant phenomena, or even the mere effects of an over-active fancy, as a positive intimation of His will. Some of us, too, would be inclined to think that their continual insisting on the duty of passively yielding up the soul to divine influences, and their exhortations to take all outward things as from God, would involve a danger of falling into an indolent quietism. But the fact, far from justifying our expectations, would afford another proof that when we leave off trying to do the work that God will do Himself, we shall find our energies all the more vigorous to accomplish that which He has set us to do; for instead of regarding the events around them with passive indifference, like many of the earlier ascetics, they believed themselves called to exercise a very positive influence on the course of events.
This was in a special sense the case with Nicolas of Basle and
his immediate companions, whom we find, from the recently discovered
documents, to have entertained plans for the extension of religion and
From hints of such private schemes scattered in the writings of Rulman
Merswin and “the Layman,” it was formerly imagined that the
latter at any rate was a secret Waldensian; but this idea is not confirmed
by more extended research; on the contrary, the importance which he and
his friends attach to the rites of the Church,—to obedience to
ecclesiastical superiors,—their belief in transubstantiation and
purgatory, &c., are quite inconsistent with it. Indeed, the views
of Nicolas seem to have been much more in unison with the doctrine of
the Church than those of Eckart and his school. The only peculiarity of
his belief, that I can discover, is his strong confidence in the
reality of the visions and miraculous revelations imparted to himself
and his friends; and it must be remembered that even this peculiarity he
not only shares in common with the great Luther, who lived two centuries
later, and with the liberal and sagacious Wesley, almost in our own days,
but that his spiritual childhood had been nurtured on
The crisis which Nicolas was the means of bringing about in
Tauler’s life is commonly termed a conversion; but from all that
we have read of his previous life, it seems clear that it cannot be
regarded as what is ordinarily meant by that term. Before it took place
Tauler was already a sincere, God-fearing, active Christian minister, and
recognized as their “Father” and leader by the “Friends
of God” scattered up and down Switzerland, Bavaria, and the Rhenish
states. Neither can I discover any conversion, properly speaking, in point
of doctrinal opinions. Nicolas agrees to all he taught as very good, and
blames, not his preaching, but his life. Surely, therefore, this notable
change is to be regarded in the light in which Tauler himself regarded
I will not mar the impression of the touching narrative given by Tauler himself by translating the story it relates into any weaker words, but leave it to make its own way to the heart of those who have hearts to understand it. There may be some who are unable to find within the range of their own experience and observation any key which can make it sound to them like reality and common sense, yet considering the practical energy and clear judgment of Tauler in other parts of his life, it may surely be worth their pains to study what he considered of so much importance with reverent and self-distrustful diligence, rather than reject it at once as the mere product of a heated fancy.
It seems most likely that the attention of Nicolas had first been
drawn to Tauler during the stay of the latter with Henry of Nordlingen,
in Basle, in 1338; for, according to one of the best mss. of the “History,” the Layman says,
“I have heard much of your doctrine in my own country.”
Considering what we know of his previous history, and the accusation
of Nicolas that he relied too much on his scholarship, it seems highly
probable that Tauler may hitherto have been somewhat influenced by the
cast of thought derived from his master Eckart, in whose writings the
power of Knowing is so highly exalted that it sometimes is made to take
precedence of the faculty of Love. That Nicolas should, after hearing
Tauler preach a few times, have been able to penetrate his spiritual
condition and detect its great imperfection, would not appear
The two years of silence, which must have been such a terrible
trial to Tauler’s faith and obedience, were compensated, not only
by inward growth, as is always the case with such trials, but by the
evident increase of his outward usefulness, so that he found the truth
of Nicolas’ assurance, that one of his sermons would bring forth
more fruit now than a hundred had before. His preaching is distinguished
from that of most of his brethren among the “Friends of God,”
by its more searching application of religious principles to the moral
questions arising in the various emergencies of inward experience and
outward life. How much more widely still must it have differed from
that of the ordinary preachers, who sought to captivate the educated
by the refinements of scholastic logic, employed on questions of no
use but to display their own ingenuity, or to entertain the vulgar by
marvellous stories of wonder-working saints or demons,—when in
simple earnest language
But that which seems to me the most striking characteristic of
Tauler’s sermons is his profound sympathy with the spirit of
Christ’s life, especially with his infinite sorrow over the sins
of others. This is, indeed, a characteristic of the “Friends of
God” in general, but is expressed with greater force and beauty
in Tauler than in the other writers of the same school. In this sense
they specially deserve the title which they assumed; for, more than
any other class of religious writers with whom I am acquainted, do they
seem to have entered into that intense appreciation of the evil of sin,
mingled with endless grief and compassion
It is true that a large proportion of his sermons are addressed to the inmates of cloisters, and have special reference to their peculiar requirements and dangers. But we must remember that he lived in an age when the social relations were in a state of disorganization; and in those times of general distress and perplexity, when the outward ministrations of the Church and the means of obtaining religious instruction were often cut off for long together, the number of those who retired into convents had become very large. There were great numbers, too, of laymen and women, who, without entering any Order, withdrew from the world and formed communities or unions (called Sammenungen), dwelling together without any monastic rules, yet differing little in their mode of life from the regular monks. Tauler often refers to these communities in his sermons. Their members generally chose Dominicans or Franciscans for their confessors, and a great number of this class appear to have attached themselves to Tauler. They found in him, however, a severe censor of the faults to which their recluse life rendered them peculiarly liable,—the relying on outward acts of piety, despising those who are outside, killing the body, which is God’s instrument, with austerities, or allowing themselves to waste their time and fill their minds with trivialities, while imagining the fact of their being “religious” to make them safe.
He is said by Specklin to have made the reformation of the lives of
the clergy a special object of his efforts. The statutes passed for the
regulation of
Tauler’s denunciations of this class brought him, of course,
many enemies among the clergy, who hated the strictness of his principles
and conduct; and they strove in various ways to distort his words,
in order
Meanwhile, however, Tauler’s efforts for their amendment were
not wholly fruitless, for it is recorded that through him “many
priests became quite pious;” while by the people at large he was
revered and affectionately beloved, and “whatever weighty matter
the people had to do, he was called
After the death of Benedict XII., Clement VI., the most inveterate
opponent of Louis IV., was elected Pope, and he had hardly ascended
the throne when he renewed hostilities against the Emperor with
greater vehemence than his predecessor. The most awful anathemas were
launched against Louis, which again proved themselves by no means
inefficient weapons of attack. Many ecclesiastics, secular no less
than regular, who had been performing divine service in the cities
that acknowledged the authority of the Emperor, now turned to their
bishops, humbly beseeching them for absolution for their disobedience,
which petition was not rejected; for in many places they obtained it
without difficulty on payment of one florin! Bishop Berthold, too,
whose outward reconciliation with
To these political and ecclesiastical disturbances were added
still worse miseries. The land was desolated successively by tempests,
earthquakes, and famine, and at last, in 1348, the Black Death came to
fill up the measure of the people’s woe. This plague continued
to rage through Southern Germany and France until the following year,
bringing in its train the usual accompaniments of frantic terror, and
the dissolution of all social bonds. In Strasburg sixteen thousand
persons fell victims to it; and it is calculated that in Southern
France two-thirds of the population perished. All these convulsions of
the natural and social world struck terror to men’s very hearts;
bewildered and beset, they knew not which way to turn. Then appeared the
ghastly processions of the Flagellants, who traversed the country half
and gathering round them all who would join, after service
in a church, threw themselves on the ground, confessing their sins
aloud, and then scourged each other till they were exhausted. In some
places the popular fanaticism accused the Jews of causing the plague by
poisoning the wells; and the multitude, in their fury, setting fire to the
Jews’ quarter, burnt thousands of the wretched creatures in their
houses. Numbers of the lower classes hoped for a Messiah in the person of
the great “Priest-hater,” Frederick II., who, according to an
old saying now expanded into a distinct prophecy, was in the latter days
to rise again from the dead, to render justice to the widow and orphan,
to punish and humble the Clergy, to constrain monks and nuns to marry,
and then to sail over to the Holy Land and lay down his crown on the Mount
of Olives.
His own life was consistent with his teachings. When the Black Death
came to Strasburg, he devoted himself to administering the sacraments
and carrying
The following
extract on this subject is given in Professor Schmidt’s Tauler
(p. 53), from Specklin’s Collectanea:— “Specially were those two Articles, which were quoted,
forbidden and declared to be wholly heretical. The First was, that
seeing that many persons, young and old, rich and poor, men and women,
innocent and wicked, when they came to their death-beds, lay under
the ban on account of the Emperor Louis, they had put forth a Letter to
all priests, bidding them, when they should visit the sick and dying,
to comfort the sick with the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ,
who had therewith made satisfaction before God, not for their sins only,
but for the sins of the whole world, and had opened heaven, and reconciled
us all to God. And the Pope had no power to shut heaven against poor
sinners who had innocently fallen under the ban. Therefore, when one
should confess his sins and desire absolution and the holy sacrament,
they ought to give it unto him and comfort him, for heed should be
given rather to the Word of Christ and His Apostles than to the ban,
which proceeded of envy and lust of worldly power. . . . The Second was,
that they put forth a general epistle (not among the common people,
but among the clergy and the learned fathers), saying that there be two
swords, the spiritual sword, which is the Word of God, and the other,
which is the secular government, and the one had nought to do with the
other. But since they are both of God, they cannot be contrary the one
to the other; but the spiritual shall be diligent in its office and in
the Word of God, and defend the Government; and the Government shall
defend God’s laws and the pious, and punish the wicked. But since
the pious who preach the Word of God ought, by God’s ordinance,
to be defended by the secular power against the wicked, wherefore, then,
should the Government be condemned by the spiritual power? for then should
God condemn His own work. But when a secular Head sins, it behoves the
spiritual Head, with great humility, to point out unto the sinner the
right way, and with the rest of the clergy to entreat God day and night
with tears, that the sinner may turn again from his way, and come to a
true knowledge of his sins; for God desireth not the death of a sinner,
but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. “But Christ, and the Apostles, and the Church command that, if the
sinner, after much admonition, will not be turned from his ways, he be
excommunicated till such time as he shall be converted and turn again
and amend his life; and then he shall be again received unto grace. “Much less doth it behove a Christian shepherd, if one be deserving of
excommunication, to condemn and excommunicate without distinction innocent
persons, who perchance have never known or seen the guilty man,—nay,
whole lands, cities, and villages; the which is not commanded by Christ,
nor the Holy Apostles, nor the Councils, but Cometh of a self-usurped
power. For it is the office of the Pope to point sinners unto the true
way of salvation. “But that all those are heretics who will not kiss the Pope’s
foot, or that to do so should be an article of faith, and that he is
an apostate from the Church who takes the name and fulfils the office
of King or Emperor, on being duly appointed thereto by the Electors,
or that all who render obedience to him, as to their ruler ordained
by God, sin against the Church and are heretics, cannot be proved by
Holy Scripture. “The Government is a power ordained by God, unto which obedience
ought to be rendered in worldly things, even by spiritual persons, be
they who they may. The Emperor is the highest magistrate, wherefore
obedience is due to him; if he doth not govern rightly, he, and not
his poor subjects, must give account thereof to God; and even as God
will not call the poor innocent subject to account for his evil ruler,
so ought not man to condemn and excommunicate the poor innocent subject
for the sake of his ruler. Moreover, they who hold the true Christian
faith, and sin only against the Pope’s person, are no
heretics; but he were a heretic who, after much admonition, should
stiffneckedly disobey the Word of God, and would not amend his life;
for not even a murderer, a rogue, a thief, or an adulterer, who should
ask pardon through Christ with true penitence and contrition, and amend
his life, can be cast out of the Church. “Hence it is concluded, that all those who unjustly and
innocently have come under the Ban, are free before God, and their curse
will be turned into a blessing, and their ban and yoke of oppression
will God lift off; even as Christ did not set Himself against the secular
power when He said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world,’ even
as He was obedient to the Government, though He was the Son of God,
commanding men to render to God the things that be God’s, and to
Cæsar the things that be Cæsar’s. Now our souls belong
to God; our bodies and goods unto Cæsar. All this was much better
set forth in more words.”
What impression these free-spoken writings made upon the clergy is
not known: it is only recorded that, through the exertions of Tauler
During the time of their seclusion, Strasburg was visited by the
Emperor Charles IV., who was making the circuit of the Rhenish cities, to
induce the citizens to acknowledge him as King of Rome. Bishop Berthold
had already conjured the members of the Rhenish Estates assembled at
Strasburg, for the sake of the public peace, to do allegiance to the
Emperor whom they despised. Charles was therefore received with royal
honours, and invested the Bishop with the imperial fief, after receiving
his solemn homage; but he was obliged to promise the citizens that he
would procure the removal of the Interdict, for only on this condition
would they acknowledge him. From Strasburg Charles proceeded to Basle,
where he met the Pope’s Envoy bringing a commission to the Bishop of
Bamberg to absolve the cities that should acknowledge the Emperor. But
the terms of the Bull to this effect, in which Louis was called a
heretic, and the cities were required to express their contrition for
their fidelity to him, irritated the burghers to the highest degree,
and they refused to swear to the formula of absolution when it was read
to them. Nevertheless, as the Emperor stood in need of their services,
the Interdict was removed. The Bishop of Bamberg next repaired, in
his quality of Papal Legate, to Strasburg, to proclaim the Absolution
there. The citizens were assembled before the Cathedral, then rising in
its new glories. From the steps of the western door the Legate read the
Bull in their ears, and then asked the Senate and commoners if they
During the visit of the Emperor to Strasburg he heard much talk of
Tauler and his friends, and their free opinions, and sent for them to
hear their defence. They read before him their confession of faith, and
unshrinkingly declared their adherence to all that they had hitherto
taught. Tauler, especially, was not a man to quail before a temporal
sovereign after he had braved the more formidable terrors of
the spiritual power; moreover, we find that he did not scruple
occasionally in his sermons to rebuke the oppression of the people by
their rulers
From this time forward, Tauler disappears from the history of his
native city, until a short time before his death. It is said that, since
the Emperor and Bishops forbade him to write, he forsook Strasburg, after
having spread much good doctrine abroad in Alsace, His name was held in
grateful remembrance, not only by the “Friends of God,” but by all his
fellow-citizens, for whom he had faithfully laboured and suffered during
the whole period of their troubles; but he needed a sphere of greater
freedom, and therefore took up his residence in Cologne, a city already
familiar to him, and where he found numerous brethren in spirit. Here he
commonly preached in the church of St. Gertrude, belonging to a convent
of Dominican nuns, whose numbers were much increased by the desire
of having Tauler for a preacher and confessor. Among these sisters,
however, their original strictness of manners no longer prevailed,
and Tauler often found occasion in his sermons to
I
give the following passage from his Sermon on the First Sunday in Lent
[No. 31, Frankfort Edition, 1826], as showing, more distinctly than any
other I have found, the position in which he stood towards the antinomian
doctrines of the Beghards, and as furnishing the most complete refutation
of the charge of antinomian tendencies sometimes brought against his
own preaching:— “From these two errors proceedeth the third, which is the
worst of all; the persons who are entangled therein call themselves
beholders of God, and they may be known by the carnal peace which they
have through their emptiness. They think that they are free from sin,
and are united to God without any means whatsoever, and that they have
got above all subjection to the Holy Church, and above the commandments
of God, and above all works of virtue; for they think this emptiness to
be so noble a thing that it may not be hindered by aught else, whatsoever
it be. Hence they stand empty of all subjection, and do no works either
towards them who are above or below them, even as an instrument is empty,
and waiteth on the master when he shall choose to work therewith; for
they deem that if they work, it hindereth the work of God, and therefore
they empty themselves of all virtue. Nay, they would be so empty, that
they would not give praise or thanks to God, nor have, nor confess,
nor love, nor desire, nor pray for anything; for they have already,
as they suppose, all that they could pray for; and think that they are
poor in spirit, for that they are, as they dream, without all self-will,
and have renounced all ownership wholly and without reserve. For they
believe that they have risen above it, and that they possess all those
things for the sake of which the ordinances and precepts of the Church
were appointed and established, and that none can give or take from
them, not even God Himself, since they think that they have suffered all
exercises and all virtues, and have attained to pure emptiness of spirit;
and they say it requireth more pains to become empty of virtue than to
attain unto virtue. For the sake of this emptiness of spirit, they desire
to be free, and obedient to none, neither the Pope, nor the Bishop,
nor the Pastor; and though they may seem outwardly to be so at times,
yet are they inwardly obedient to none, neither in will nor deed. For
they would fain be free from all those things wherewith the Holy Church
is concerned; and they say openly that a man, so long as he strives after
virtue, is still imperfect, and knows nought of spiritual poverty and
spiritual freedom. And they deem themselves exalted above the angels,
and above all human merit and faith, so that they can neither increase
in virtue nor commit sin; for they live, as they suppose, without will,
and possess their spirits in peace and emptiness, and have become nought
in themselves and one with God. They believe that they may do freely,
without sin, whatsoever nature desireth, because they have attained to
the highest innocence, and there is no law or commandment for them, and
therefore they follow all the lusts of the flesh, that the emptiness of
the spirit may remain unhindered. They care not for fasts, nor feasts,
nor precepts, except so far as they may observe them for the sake of
others, because they live without conscience in all things. Let each man
examine himself whether he be not one of these. But a murderer, or any
open sinner, is better than such spiritual men, for he confesses his
misdeed that it is evil; but these confess it not. Hardly are they to
be converted; and at times they are verily possessed by the Devil. They
are, moreover, so ingenious that it is scarcely possible to overcome
them in discourse, save by the life of Christ and Holy Scripture:
through these may one well discern that they are deceived. “Now
cometh the fourth error. Many be also called beholders of God who are
yet different in some points from what we have just said. These also
think that they are empty of all works, and are tools of God by whom God
works whatsoever he will, and they merely suffer Him, without working
themselves; and they say that the works wrought of God through them are
more noble and of greater merit than those of a man who worketh his own
works in the grace of God; and declare that they are God-suffering men,
or they do but suffer the works that God worketh in them. But although
they are empty of the works, and do nought, yet will they not be empty
of and miss the reward; and whatever they do is no sin, for God worketh
their works, as they say, and whatsoever He wills is wrought in them,
and nought else, and, as we said, inwardly they are wholly passive, and
live without care for anything; and they have a humble, submissive manner,
and can bear well whatsoever befalls them, for they think themselves to
be an instrument through which God worketh as He will. These people are,
in many points, like unto the true men; but in this are they false, that
they hold everything whereunto they are inwardly impelled, whether good or
bad, to proceed from the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit worketh never
unprofitable things in a man, such as be contrary to the life of Christ
or Holy Scripture, and therefore are they deceived. These men are very
hard to discover, for they can give good reasons for, and put a fair face
on all they do; but they may be known by their stubborn self-will, that
they would rather die than give up one tittle of their own way. These
are contrary to them who say that they cannot increase in virtue; but
they deserve the same measure. Behold all such errors are messengers of
Antichrist, preparing the way before him unto unbelief and damnation. “Now it concerns us somewhat to know how we may escape these
cunning snares. No man may be free from keeping the commandments of God,
and from the practice of virtue. No man can unite himself to God in
emptiness of spirit, without loving and longing after God. No man can
be or become holy without good works. No man can rest in God without
the love of God. No man may empty himself of godly works that he may
not hinder God in His works, but must work with Him in thankfulness. No
man may serve God without praising and thanking Him; for He is the Maker
of all creatures, and He alone can give and take, for of His riches and
might there is no end. And a man may increase in virtue and goodness, and
may exercise himself therein as long as he lives; and no man deserveth
more reward, though he think that he merely suffer the works of God to
be wrought in him. The works of God are eternal and unchangeable; for
He worketh according to His own nature, and not otherwise; and in these
works of God there can be no merit and adding thereunto of any creature,
for there is none but God who cannot become more or higher; but through
the power of God the creatures have their own work to perform, in nature,
and in grace, and in glory.” The following curious passage is extracted
from Rulman Merswin’s Book of the Nine Rocks; but many
passages in Tauler’s sermons show that his sentiments were quite
in harmony with those here expressed:— “The Man said: ‘Ah, my Beloved,
have mercy upon poor Christendom, and remember how that the wicked
Jewish people and the wicked heathen folk are all striving against
thee with all their might, and shall all be lost.’ The Answer said: ‘I tell thee thou art right
when thou prayest God to have mercy upon poor Christendom; for know
that for many hundred years Christendom has never been so poor or so
wicked as in these times; but I tell thee, whereas thou sayest that the
wicked Jews and heathen are all lost, that is not true: I tell thee,
in these days, there is a portion of the heathen and the Jews whom God
preferreth greatly to many who bear the Christian name, and yet live
contrary to all Christian order.’ The Man:
‘ . . . What strange speech is this that I hear, and what may
it mean?’ The Answer: ‘ . . . The
meaning is, that where a Jew or heathen, in any part of the world, hath
a good, God-fearing mind in him, in simplicity and honesty, and in his
reason and judgment knoweth no better faith than that in which he was
born, but were minded and willing to cast that off, if he were given
to know any other faith that were more acceptable to God, and would
obey God, if he ventured body and goods therefor;—I tell thee,
where there is a Jew or heathen thus earnest in his life—say,
ought he not to be much dearer to God than the evil, false Christian men
who have received baptism, and act contrary to God, knowing that they
do so?’ . . . The Man: . . . ‘This
seemeth to me most strange, . . . for it is written in the Scripture,
and is also a part of our Christian creed, that no one can enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven unless he first receive holy baptism.’
The Answer: ‘That is true, and the right
Christian faith. . . . When God findeth such a righteous heathen or Jew,
what doth He do? Of His free love and fathomless mercy, He cometh to
his help: I tell thee God findeth many secret ways that such a man be
not lost, wherever he may be in this wide world.’ . . . The Man: ‘Say! how are these unbaptized men saved
from perdition?’ The Answer: ‘God
doth it by many secret ways, which are unknown to most Christians in
these days. . . . One way, which Christendom may well believe and does
believe, is, that when one of these good heathens or Jews cometh to his
end, God cometh and enlighteneth him with the Christian faith; . . . and
if he may not be baptized, God baptizes him in his good desires and will,
and in his miserable death. Thou shalt know that there be many of these
good heathens and Jews in eternal life, who have entered thereon in this
wise.’ . . .”
Tauler continued to correspond with Nicolas of Basle. In the year
1356 the latter sent him a pamphlet, in which, on the strength of a
warning vision, he bewails the sinfulness of the times, and foretells the
coming of fresh calamities, of which the great earthquake that destroyed
Basle in the same year was regarded as the commencement. No details
of Tauler’s work in Cologne have been preserved to us. It is not
even known whether the composition of his chief work, the “Imitation of
Christ’s life of Poverty,” is to be referred to this period or to
that of his seclusion in the Carthusian Convent at Strasburg. In this
work he sets forth the theory and practice of self-renunciation in order
to union with God. In point of language and composition, it is superior to
his Sermons, nearly all of which seem to be derived from mere notes taken
by his hearers with more or less correctness. It has been
often questioned whether the Latin or the German form in which
we possess Tauler’s sermons be the original. On this point I
transcribe Professor Schmidt’s arguments, which seem to me quite
conclusive:— “There can be no question that Tauler delivered his sermons in
German, and that this language is the original one of all the sermons
of his which we still possess. After his connection with Nicolas of
Basle, he had himself declared that he did not intend henceforward to
speak so much Latin in his sermons. The greater part of those still
extant are, indeed, addressed in the first instance to the brethren
or sisters in whose convent-chapels he used to preach, but also have a
reference to the laity, who usually assembled in great numbers in these
churches to hear him; and to be intelligible to such an audience he
must have spoken in the vernacular: it was only in the School attached
to his own convent that he spoke in Latin. The language itself of
Tauler’s sermons and writings is, besides, a sufficient proof
that they were composed in German; for they exhibit the most complete
adaptation of the thought to the form in which it is conveyed; a form,
moreover, that Tauler had to a considerable extent to create for
himself. Up to his day, the German language had been little used
for theological and metaphysical subjects, and was poor in terms to
express any notions beyond those living in the popular mind, so that
the writers of his school (in bringing the higher and more spiritual
truths of religion down to the level of popular apprehension) had to
frame for themselves a terminology of their own, whose constituents they
borrowed partly from the Latin of the Schools, partly from figurative,
mostly biblical, forms of speech. Tauler often avails himself of such
German scholastic terms to express abstract notions: as, for instance,
Istckeit (essentia), Eigenshaftlicheit, Creaturlicheit,
Unserheit, Sinsheit, Holtzheit. So, too, be often speaks by images,
in order to express spiritual facts or metaphysical ideas, for which the
language either possessed no words as yet, or which in themselves were
too vague to be expressed in a clear and distinct mode. All this indicates
a laborious wrestling of the thought with the language. . . . Hence,
also, the partial obscurity of Tauler’s style, which is incurred by
the pains he took to attain a terse purity by forming substantives made
up of whole propositions: as, for instance, ‘ein einvaltiges
grüntlich-uf-got-sich-lossen.’ . . . Tauler and his school
have, however, the merit of having given to their nation a philosophical
language.” (See Schmidt’s Tauler, S. 78.)
Of Tauler’s history we know no more till we find him at
Strasburg, in 1361, already labouring under the illness which closed his
life. There are no indications of the date or the reason of his return
to his old home. We are only told that, after a long life of toilsome
yet fruitful labour, he was attacked,
After twenty weeks of pain, he sent for his mysterious friend, and
begged him to visit him once more, for he perceived that his end was
nigh. The man was obedient, and came to the Master, who received him full
lovingly; and the man was glad that he found him yet alive, and said,
“Dear Master, how fares it with thee?” Then said the Master,
“Dear son, I believe the time is near when God is minded to take me
from this world; therefore, dear son, it is a great comfort to me that
thou shouldst be here at my departure.” On this, Tauler gave him
some papers, in which he had written down the discourse which they had
had together twenty years before, and begged Nicolas to make a little
book of it, which the latter promised him to do. But Tauler earnestly
enjoined him to conceal both their names; “for,” he says,
“thou must surely know that the life and words and works which
God hath wrought through me, a poor unworthy sinner, are not mine,
but wrought by the power of the Almighty God, to whom they eternally
belong. Therefore, dear son, if thou art minded to write them for the
benefit of our fellow-Christians, do it in such a manner that neither my
name nor thine be mentioned therein. Thou mayst say, ‘The Master
and the Man.’ Neither shalt thou let any one in this city see the
book, else people will mark
Here ends our proper task; but it can hardly,
I think, be without interest to the reader to learn a few more particulars
about the remarkable set of men to which Tauler belonged, especially
concerning the great Layman who had so powerful an influence on his
career, and the disciple and bosom friend of both successively,
Rulman Merswin, who appears to stand third in rank in this group of
“Friends of God.” From the account of him given in the
“Memorial” of the Gruenen-Worth Convent, it appears
that he was originally a wealthy merchant and money-changer, “but
always conducted his business with great fear of God before his eyes,
and with scrupulous probity, and stood well with the world, and was of
a very merry and pleasant temper, so that many esteemed and loved him,
and sought his society, which was to himself also very agreeable in
those days. And he had at the first an exceeding beautiful and sweet
young wife; but when they had lived but a short time together, she died;
and after that, he
His own account of the next four years of his life, now printed for the first time from the ms. in his own handwriting, is a very curious and interesting document, in the vivid picture it gives of the inward struggles which this determination brought upon him; and however clearly we may perceive that many of his difficulties arose from the mistaken view of his social duties derived from the teachings of his church, it is impossible not to admire the simple directness of purpose and intense earnestness with which he strove to follow every indication he could perceive of the will of God. I give a few passages from it, taking the liberty to omit the perpetual repetitions, which would render an absolutely literal translation quite unreadable. Indeed, Rulman’s style, both in this and his other productions, has all the awkwardness, circumlocution, and tautology, which usually characterize the efforts of an utterly unlearned person to express himself.
“In the name of God, Amen! All ye dear Christian men, I give you
truly to know that in the year of our Lord, 1347, it came to pass that
I, Rulman Merswin, renounced all my traffic and gains, and moreover all
natural pleasant companionship; the which I did with good courage for
God’s sake, to
In his autobiography, Rulman further tells us, among other things: “In this fourth year, the three powers of faith, hope, and love were greatly strengthened in me. . . . Moreover, nothing in time or eternity could give me content but God Himself; but when He came to my soul, I knew not whether I were in time or eternity. . . . And in my heart I felt a great yearning, and wished it were the will of God that I might go to the heathen and tell them of the Christian faith. . . . And I would gladly have suffered death and martyrdom at their hands, in honour of our Lord’s sufferings and bitter death. But of all this I was not suffered to speak a word to any, until there came a time when God gave a man in the Oberland to understand that he should come down to me. And when he came, God gave me to tell him of all these things. And this man was altogether unknown to the world, but he became my secret friend, and I gave myself up to his guiding in God’s stead, and told him all my hidden life in these four years. . . . Then he said to me: ‘Behold, dear friend, here is a book in which stand written the first five years of my life in God; give me the history of thy first four years in exchange for it.’ But I answered: ‘It would grieve me much if my history should come to the knowledge of any.’ Then he said: ‘Now see, I have given thee my book, and I know full well that thou wilt tell none of it. No more will I tell any of thee. I will take thy book up into my own land far away, where thou art as unknown as I am in Strasburg. And so begin to write thy history in two books, and the one I will take and the other thou shalt keep, and shalt hang thy seal thereto, and lock it up where none shall find it during thy lifetime.’ . . .
“Now, notwithstanding all the gifts and enlightenment that God bestowed on me in this fourth year, there was yet a secret spot in my soul, the which was altogether unknown to myself. . . . And it was, that, when I looked upon my fellow-men, I esteemed them as they were in this present time, and stood before God in their sins; and this was a hidden spot, for I ought, through grace, to have regarded them, not as they now were, but as they might well become. . . .” In seeing a waste piece of ground cumbered with rubbish, and giving it as his judgment that it might be reclaimed and made a garden of, an inward voice reveals his sin to him, and rebukes him, saying: “O thou poor miserable creature! how strange art thou . . . how darest thou, then, to esteem, according to what he now is, thy fellow-man, who is made in the image of God, and whom Christ has made his brother in his human nature, and not rather deem that God may make of him a comely and excellent garden, wherein He himself may dwell? . . .” The rest of Rulman’s narrative refers to his views of the condition of the Christian world, and he tells us: “It was revealed to me that I should no longer be so greatly exercised by the temptations from which I had hitherto suffered . . . but that my affliction henceforth should be to behold how the sheep were wandering abroad among the proud, unclean, ravening wolves . . . this should be my trial and my cross. . . .”
Rulman, however, not only sought “to benefit his
fellow-Christians” by his writings, but also by his deeds of active
benevolence. His name occurs about this time as one of the managers of
a hospital; he is mentioned as Provost of the convent of
It is much to be regretted that the autobiography of Nicolas should
not have been preserved, like that of his disciple, or at least has not
as yet been found. Though, however, we are thus deprived of the secret
history of his mind, we are able to learn
The little company lived together on equal terms. Nicolas tells the
priest, when deliberating whether or not to enter a monastic Order,
and enquiring as to his brethren’s mode of life; “They observe
no rules but such as are common to secular priests, as indeed they are,
but we live together in common as simply as we can, and have as little to
do with the world as we may.” The priests among them seem to have
had no peculiar vocation, except that of celebrating mass; the laymen
never took part in the administration of the sacraments, but in all other
respects there was no distinction between them. As all stood in a direct
and individual relation to God, they required no priestly mediation;
nay, the priests themselves submitted to the layman Nicolas, because they
regarded him as the most enlightened of their number. Not counsel from men
ought we to seek after, writes Nicolas in 1356, but that which proceeds
from the Holy Spirit; and, so long as we have it from that source,
it is indifferent whether it flow to us through priest or layman. In
Their doctrine on this point would seem to us more judicious than their
practice, for it is evident from their writings that they frequently,
in fact, carried their austerities so far as to endanger life or
reason. But Nicolas admirably draws the line between suffering that
is self-imposed, and that which God lays upon us. The latter, whether
it consist in outward affliction or inward temptation, we are to take
joyfully, for it is a proof that God’s grace is at work within
us; Christ, who has endured to the last extremity for man, loves pain,
and will not spare it to his friends. The main thing is that we should
find all things good in God, and look at things not
From their seclusion, however, they kept a watchful eye upon all that
was passing in the world around them, went out to those whom there seemed
a prospect of winning over, and exercised no inconsiderable influence
upon those who had put themselves under their spiritual guidance. This
was the case with many who did not even know Nicolas by name. Thus,
Henry von Wolfach, the Master of the Brethren of St. John in Strasburg,
and even the Grand Master of the Order in Germany, Conrad von Brunsberg,
and many others, desire his counsel to solve their doubts and direct
their proceedings. Messengers from Nicolas seem to have been perpetually
travelling about, who brought him letters from the “Friends of God,”
so that he kept up a constant communication, not only with those in the
neighbouring regions but also with the brethren on the Rhine, in Lorraine,
in Italy, and in Hungary. In this manner he became acquainted both with
public events and likewise with the private affairs of individuals; so,
for instance, he made very remarkable revelations to an Augustinian monk
in Strasburg respecting one of his penitents. These messengers had certain
secret signs by which they recognized each other. Thus, Rulman Merswin
was made aware of the presence of Ruprecht, by hearing a peculiar cough
when he was in church. Nicolas himself took extraordinary precautions to
remain undiscovered, and with such success, that, after Rulman’s
death, the brethren at the Gruenen-Worth, who had previously received
many letters from him, were never able to discover his retreat.
Up to 1367, Nicolas and his companions dwelt in a “city in
the Oberland,” most likely Basle; but in that year, finding it
“not helpful” “to live among the common people,”
they determined on retiring into utter seclusion; principally, no doubt,
in order to carry on their work unwatched and undisturbed. In accordance
with a dream, as they tell us, which
The political and ecclesiastical feuds by which the Papal court
was distracted excited a lively but melancholy interest in Nicolas, who
constantly predicts in his letters that they must bring down still heavier
judgments at God’s hand than even those which had already visited
the world; but when, after his long residence in Avignon, Gregory XI.
returned to Rome in 1376, a ray of hope that it might yet be possible
to restore unity and concord to the afflicted Church seems to have
dawned upon his mind, and he felt called on to make a personal effort
to influence the Pope himself. Accordingly, as we learn from a letter
to Henry von Wolfach, in the February of 1377 it was resolved by the
“Friends” that Nicolas and the Jurist should repair to Rome;
the Jew, John, offered to raise funds to defray the
On returning to their mountain, they found that the Bishop of
their diocese was sojourning in a city thirteen leagues distant. It
was resolved that the two who had been with the Pope should ride with
his letter to the Bishop to entreat aid for the completion of their
house. The prelate received them favourably, and gave them letters to
the clergy of the town that lay nearest to their estate. On this, all
the five brethren repaired thither, where the
In the same year (1377), Nicolas learns from several foreign “Friends
of God” that the Church is on the point of falling into great peril,
doubtless from the growing discord which threatened all the convulsions
of anarchy; and he foresees that things may come to pass which would
constrain the “Friends of God” to separate and divide themselves over
the world; but in the meantime their part is to remain in concealment
till “God shall do something, we know not what as yet.” Meanwhile he
entreats the prayers of his friends, for they are greatly troubled in
mind, and know not what will come of it. It is evident from such dark
hints as these that Nicolas and his friends now began to
In the following year, the great schism that had been dimly foretold,
broke out, and for forty years the church was divided between two
heads; Urban VI. was elected at Rome, under the influence of terror at
the violence of the insurgent mob; and soon after, in subservience to
the French party, Clement VII. et Fondi, who immediately hastened to
Avignon. When these tidings reached the “Friends of God,”
it seemed to them that the time was come when the threatened judgments
of God were about to burst over the world. It was, indeed, intelligence
fitted to shake all hearts, for, as the brethren of Gruenen-Worth
It is, however, evident that the “Friends of God,” though
concealed, were by no means passive at this time; what special plans
they cherished are unknown, but that they had such is clear from all their
proceedings. So early as November 1377, Nicolas had been with the priest,
John, in Metz, on some business with which we are not acquainted. During
1378, much consultation by means of messengers and
As the end of the year approached, during which the “Friends
of God” were to wait, they agreed to hold another meeting. All
the accounts relating to this conference (the latest distinctly recorded
intelligence we have respecting this extraordinary band of associates),
are so mixed up with the symbolical and the marvellous, that it is
extremely difficult to make out the real facts of the case. According to
the narrative given by Nicolas to Rulman Merswin, he, with twelve other
“Friends of God,” were at Christmas 1379 warned by dreams
to assemble together on the following Holy Thursday, at the same place
where the seven brethren had met the year before. So early as February
some of the
It is certainly very difficult to know in what light to regard
the marvellous accounts that meet us in the writings of Rulman and
Nicolas. Some of them seem to be simply symbolical; for it is clear that
they were in the habit of presenting their views of human affairs under
the form of an allegory, supposed to be seen in a vision or dream, just
as Bunyan does in his “Pilgrim’s Progress.” This is the
case with Rulman’s Book of the Nine Rocks, Christiana Ebner’s
vision of the Closed Cathedral, and some unimportant visions occurring
in the letters of Nicolas.
Whatever interpretation, however, we may be inclined to put upon the
marvellous circumstances attending the above-mentioned conference, it
seems tolerably clear that the three years’ so-called seclusion
of the “Friends of God” was regarded by them as a time of
preparation for their public work, when they should be “scattered
abroad over Christendom;” and that by their retirement, they were
breaking the ties that bound them to those who had hitherto depended on
them for guidance, and accustoming them to act for themselves against
a time when they should no longer have their wonted
The following note, inserted by Schmidt in his Tauler,
S. 205, is, I believe, the only source of information we have
respecting the end of the Layman:— “Johan Niederus, formicarius, Arg. 1517, 4to. F. 40,
&c.: Vivebat paulo ante [the Council of Pisa] quidam purum laicus,
Nycholaus nomine. Hic in linea Rheni circa Basiliam et infra, primum velut
Beghardus ambulans, a multis qui persequebantur hereticos, de eorundem
hereticorum numero quasi unus habebatur suspectissimus. Acutissimus
enim erat, et verbis errores coloratissime velare novit. Ideireo etiam
manus inquisitorum dudum evaserat et multo tempore. Discipulos igitur
quosdam in suam sectam collegit. Fuit enim professione et habitu de
damnatis Beghardis unus, qui visiones et revelationes in praedicto
damnato habitu multas habuit quas infallibiles esse credidit. Se scire
affirmabat audacter quod Christus in eo esset actu, et ipse in Christo,
et plura alia, quae omnia, captus tandem Wiennae in Pictaviensi diocesi,
inquisitus fatebatur publice. Sed cum Jacobum et Joannem suspectos in
fide, et sibi conscios sues speciales discipulos, ad jussum ecclesiae
eum inquirenti nollet dimittere nisi per ignem, et reportis in multis a
vera fide devius et impersuasibilis, secularium potestati juste traditus
est qui eum incinerarunt.
Since, in the trial of Martin of Mayence, Nicolas is spoken of as
still living, his death most likely occurred subsequently to that date,
but cannot have taken place much later, as he must then have been near
ninety years of age. Even before this time, the Strasburg brethren had
lost all trace of the “Friends of God,” and their frequent
attempts to discover them had proved utterly unavailing;
(From the Epistle for the day)
How that we are called upon to arise from our sins, and to conquer our foes, looking for the glorious coming of Our Lord in our souls.
THIS day we celebrate the beginning of the
season of Advent, that is to say, the coming of our Lord; and now, indeed,
we enter on an exceeding sweet and blessed time, concerning which very
devout and joyful words are read and sung by the holy Church. For as
May excels all other months in gladness and delights, so is this season
specially dear to our hearts, and sacred above all other festivals. For
these are the days which the prophets and righteous men of the Old
And now, as at this time, does the holy Apostle call upon us to arise from the sleep of sin, “for the night is far spent, and the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light, and let us walk honestly as in the day.”
Now to this end, let us mark diligently, first, how it is that we have fallen; and, secondly, how we are to arise from all our sins and infirmities into our first state of innocence.
God created man to the intent that he should possess those
mansions in the kingdom of heaven from which Lucifer and his angels
were thrust out. The same Lucifer, for his deadly hatred towards man,
hath seduced him likewise into disobedience against God, by the which he
lost all the graces and endowments that were intended to make him like
unto God and the angels, and poisoned his own pure nature, so that it
became corrupt. And through this poison man has wounded himself mortally
with blindness in his reason, with perverseness or malice in his will,
with shameful lusts in his appetites, and with loss
And hence it has come to pass that three foes have risen up against him, who, alas! on all sides have got the upper hand, and are ruling in the hearts of the people: these are, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Where these three have their will, that noble thing, the Soul, is lost, on which God hath looked with such great love; for those in whom they obtain the mastery do most surely walk in a way that leadeth unto eternal death. How cruelly and perilously these three enemies now reign in numbers of men, both in the Church and in the world, standing in God’s place, is bewailed with bitter tears by the friends of God, who love Him and seek His glory. For the everlasting injury of their fellow-creatures is a sore grief to such men, insomuch that their heart is ready to dry up within their body for anguish, when they see self-love so rooted in men’s hearts, that there be few left who wholly love God and have a single eye to His glory.
The World rules through pride, outward or inward. How many are members of this Devil’s Order! They desire to be and appear to be somewhat; while their sins and infirmities are not to be numbered.
The Devil’s government leads to bitterness, to hatred and anger, to suspicion, to judging others, to revenge, to ill-will, to discord. All his disciples are quarrelsome, unloving, envious of their neighbours.
The will of our own Flesh is set upon earthly pleasures and sensual
delights, and it craveth to have
Now he who desires to rise again to his first honour and dignity, which Adam at the beginning, and we after him, have lost through sin, and to make way for the coming of Our Lord in his soul, must flee the world, overcome the Devil, bring his flesh under dominion to his reason, and exercise himself diligently in these six points following:—
Man fell in Paradise through two things,—lust and pride; so likewise we must return by means of two things, for nature to win back again her original powers. We must resist and die to all irregular desires, after a manly and reasonable sort. In the second place, we must humble ourselves, and bow our nature down to the earth in deep humility before God and all men against whom it had lifted itself with pride. Take always the lowest place, and so shalt thou rise to the highest. By these two things nature recovers her original powers.
Next, in two things man must become like unto the angels. He must pardon and forgive all those who do him wrong, and be from his heart the friend of his enemies, like the angels, whom we ofttimes vex with our sins. Further, he must serve his neighbour with a willing spirit, as the holy angels are ever ministering to us for God’s sake.
Lastly, in two things man must become like unto our Lord Jesus
Christ. First, in perfect obedience, as our Lord was obedient to His
Heavenly Father,
By these means the heart is made pure and heavenly, and the man becomes
of one mind with God through deep humility, free self-surrender, patient
long-suffering, true poorness of spirit, and fervent love to God. And
all who do verily seek the kingdom of God (of whom, alas! how few is
the number), do prevail against their foes, and God delivers them from
their heavy burdens, and helps them to bear all their afflictions. For
He lays upon them much suffering of many kinds; but the righteous God
does this to the intent that four ends may be accomplished in them. The
first, that they may come to themselves, and see whence their trouble
cometh, and that their thoughts may be turned upon themselves by reason
of the pain, and so be fixed. The second, that they may examine why
God has laid the burden of pain upon them; and when they perceive
God’s purpose in their sufferings, let them strive to fulfil
that, and resign themselves wholly to His divine will. The third, that
they may come out from themselves, and from all creatures. The fourth,
that they may learn true patience under diverse afflictions. But what
is true patience under affliction? Is it to remain unmoved by outward
things? No. True patience is that a man should feel in his inmost soul,
and in utter sincerity thus judge, that no one could or might do him a
real injustice, but always remember that he is receiving no worse than
his deserts, for he might justly have far more to suffer and endure;
insomuch that he may feel nothing but gentleness
Now there are two sorts of men who follow after the word of Christ. The one sort hear it with joy, and follow after it as far as they are able with their reason to perceive its truth, and take it in just in the same way as their reason takes in what is concerned with the world of sense; and all this they do by means of their natural light, but they make no account of anything that they themselves do not feel or enter into; but with these natural powers of theirs, they are ever running out to catch up and understand some new thing. They have not learnt by experience that they ought to die to this restlessness; but if they are ever to grow better men, they must try another road.
But the other sort turn their thoughts inward, and remain resting on
the inmost foundation of their souls, simply looking to see the hand of
God with the eyes of their enlightened reason, and await from within
their summons and their call to go whither God would have them. And
this they receive from God without any means; but what is given through
means, such as other mortal men, for instance, is as it were tasteless;
moreover, it is seen as through a veil, and split up into fragments,
and bears within it a certain sting of bitterness. It always retains
the savour of that which is of the creature, which it must needs lose
and be purified from, if it is to become in truth food for the spirit,
and to enter into the very
Now you may ask, How can we come to perceive this direct leading of God? By a careful looking at home, and abiding within the gates of thy own soul. Therefore, let a man be at home in his own heart, and cease from his restless chase of and search after outward things. If he is thus at home while on earth, he will surely come to see what there is to do at home,—what God commands him inwardly without means, and also outwardly by the help of means; and then let him surrender himself, and follow God along whatever path his loving Lord thinks fit to lead him: whether it be to contemplation or action, to usefulness or enjoyment; whether in sorrow or in joy, let him follow on. And if God do not give him thus to feel His hand in all things, let him still simply yield himself up, and go without for God’s sake, out of love, and still press forward, setting ever before him the lovely example of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ; who did all his works for three ends:
The first was, that in all His doings He sought the glory of His Heavenly Father only, and not His own in any matter, whether great or small, and committed all things into His hands again.
The second was, that with His whole heart He purposed and sought the salvation and blessedness of men, that He might lay hold on all men, and bring them to the acknowledgment of His Name, according to the words of St. Paul: “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The third end which He kept in view, in all His words, and works, and life, was, that He might give us a true example and model of a perfect life in its highest form.
The men who thus tread in His steps do become, in very truth, the noblest and most glorious of their race; and those who are thus born again into His life, are the rich and costly jewels of the Holy Christian Church, and in all ages they work out the highest good, while they look not to the greatness or meanness of their work, nor to their success or failure, but look only to the will of God in all things; and for this cause all their works are the best that may be. Neither do they look whether God will place them high or low, for the only thing they care for is, that in all things alike God’s will may be done. God grant that it may be thus with each of us. Amen.
(From the Gospel for the day)
How that God is very near to us, and how we must
seek and find the Kingdom of God within us, without respect to time
and place.
OUR Lord says here that the kingdom of God is nigh to us. Yea, the kingdom of God is in us; and St. Paul says, that now is our salvation nearer to us than we believe.
Now ye ought to know, first, how the kingdom of God is nigh at hand; secondly, when the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Now we must give earnest heed to take note of all that is contained
in these words, “The kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” For
if I were a king, and did not know it, I should be no king; but if I were
fully convinced that I was a king, and if all men deemed me so likewise,
and further, if I knew that all men deemed me such, I should be a king,
and all the riches of the king would be mine. But if any of these three
things were wanting, I could be no king.
Often, when I meditate on the kingdom of God, I cannot speak for the greatness thereof. For the kingdom of God, what is it but God Himself with all His riches? The kingdom of God is no small thing. If we think of all the worlds that God could create, that is not the kingdom of God. When the kingdom of God is manifested in a soul, and she knows it, you need not to preach or to teach; for that soul is taught of God, and assured of eternal life. He who knows and perceives how nigh God’s kingdom is, may say with Jacob; “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.”
God is alike near in all creatures. The wise man says; “God hath
spread out His nets and snares
A Master has said: “He knoweth God aright who knoweth him in all things alike.” He who serveth God with fear, it is good; he who serveth Him with love, it is better; but he who in fear can love, that is the best of all. That a man should have a life of quiet or rest in God is good; that a man should lead a painful life in patience is better; but that a man should have rest in a painful life is best of all. Whether a man walk out in the fields and say his prayers, and feel God’s presence, or whether he be in the church and feel God’s presence, does he perceive Him any the better because he is in a place of rest? If he do, it comes from his own infirmity; the difference is not on God’s side, for God is in all things and places alike, and is ever alike ready to give Himself to us, in so far as we are able to receive Him; and he knows God aright who sees Him in all things.
St. Bernard says: “Why does my eye perceive the heavens, and not my feet? Because my eye is more like the heavens than my feet.” Thus, if my soul is to perceive God, it must be heavenly. Now what will bring the soul to see God in herself, and know how nigh God is to her? Consider! The heavens cannot take any imprint from other things, neither can they, by any violence or force, be turned from their order. In like manner, the soul that would know God must be so grounded and built up in Him, that neither hope, nor fear, nor joy, nor sorrow, nor weal or woe, nor anything else, can so move it as to force it from its place in Him.
The heavens are everywhere alike far from the
The heavens are pure and bright, without a speck; they have nought to do with time or space; no bodies have a fixed place therein; neither are the heavens subject to time: their circuit is swift beyond belief; their course is without time, yet from their course cometh time.
Nothing hinders the soul so much in its knowledge of God as time and place. Time and place are parts, and God is one; therefore, if our soul is to know God, it must know Him above time and place, for God is neither this nor that, like these complex things around us, for God is one.
If the soul is to see, she must not look at the things that exist
in time, for so long as she is looking at time and place, or at the
phenomena dependent thereon, she can never perceive God Himself: just
as, if mine eye is to perceive colour, it must first be cleared of all
tint in itself. If the soul is to know God, she must have no fellowship
with that which is Nought. He who sees God, knows that all creatures
are nought; for when you compare one creature with another, it indeed
appears beautiful and is somewhat, but when you compare it with God it is
nothing. I say more: if the soul is to know God, she must forget herself
and lose herself, for while she is looking at and thinking about herself,
she is not looking at or thinking about God; but when she loses herself
in God, and lets go of all things, then she finds herself
The Masters have set forth many questions in the Schools as to how it
be possible for the soul to know God. It is not of God’s severity
that He requires much from man; it is of His great kindness that He will
have the soul to open herself wider, to be able to receive much, that
He may bestow much upon her. Let no one think that it is hard to attain
thereunto. Although it sound hard, and is hard at first, as touching
the forsaking and dying to all things, yet, when one has reached this
state, no life can be easier or sweeter, or fuller of pleasures; for
God is right diligent to be with us at all seasons, and to teach us,
that He may bring us to Himself when we are like to
God is ever ready, but we are very unready; God is nigh to us, but
we are far from Him; God is within, we are without; God is at home, we
are strangers. The Prophet says: “God leadeth the righteous by a narrow
path into a broad highway, till they come unto a wide and open
place;”
(From the Gospel for the day)
How that we must wholly come out from ourselves, that we may go into the wilderness and behold God.
OUR Lord Jesus Christ said unto the Jews, “What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” In these words let us consider three things: First, the going out; secondly, the wilderness; thirdly, what we are to see there.
First, let us consider the going out. This blessed going out takes place in four ways:—
The first way is to come out from the world, that is, from the
craving after worldly advantages, and to despise them, according to
that precept of St. John, “Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him.” Those who thus forsake the love of the world, may be
fitly said to come out of Egypt, leaving King Pharaoh behind; that is,
they purpose to forsake pride, vain-glory, presumption, and all other
sins. And those who
The second kind of coming out is to loose thy hold on outward things,
to cease from thy vain anxieties, thy selfish wishing and planning,
and to turn thy thoughts inward, that thou mayest learn to know thyself,
and to see what thou art, how thou art, and in what it standeth amiss with
thee. He who is too full of his own joys or sorrows to get beyond himself
can never come to know himself. So St. Bernard says: “It were better to
know thyself, and to see how sick and full of infirmities thou art, than
to be master of all the sciences in the world.” Therefore says Solomon
in his Song: “If thou know not [thyself], O thou fairest among women,
go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock [of thy companions]:”
which signifies, consider the lives of God’s saints, and look at
thyself in that mirror;
The third kind of going out is to give up thine own ease and thine own way, and to devote thyself, so far as thou art able, to thy neighbour, to help him by counsel and deed, and by thine own good example, to the utmost of thy power and the best of thy knowledge, in a constant spirit of hearty love, that he may be brought to the things that make for his eternal peace. For this is the commandment of the Lord, “That ye love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” So likewise St. Paul says: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Just as it is said in the Book of Genesis: “Except ye bring your youngest brother with you, ye shall see my face no more.” This is also plainly meant in the Book of Canticles, where we read, “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us get up early to the vineyards, and let us lodge in the villages, and let us see if the vine flourish.”
The fourth kind of going out is to forsake everything but God, so
that our love towards God should be the strongest love we have; and we
should indeed love Him with all our heart, and with all our soul, and
with all our strength. As it was said unto Abraham: “Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house:” that is to say, “Set not your affections on the things
that perish, but on God only; and whatever you possess, thank God for it,
and use it for Him.” Thus had the woman of Canaan come out, as her
words indeed testify: “True, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
The second subject for our consideration is “the
wilderness.” When men have forsaken sins and worldly ambition, they
come into the wilderness, which signifies a spiritual life, or the life
of one who is dead to the world. Now there are two kinds of wilderness,
a good and a bad. It is an evil wilderness when a man’s heart is
filled with vanity, and barren of good deeds, of love and of heavenly
aspiration, and far and wide in the Church, or in the temple of the soul,
there rises no incense of praise to God; when the sheep of the house of
Israel, that is to say all good thoughts, are scattered, each to his own
way. But that is a wilderness which is very fruitful and good, when the
whirlwinds of earthly cares or passions are laid to rest, and the billows
of worldly desire and creature aims cease to swell up in the depths of
the heart. And then, even though the first sharp dart of pain pierce
through every nerve of body and mind, yet in the deep sources of his
will, the man remains undaunted. That is a good wilderness when without
there are storms, yet within there is peace; the wilderness of which
God said by the prophet: “I will bring you into the wilderness,
and there will I plead with you face to face;” for no one does
hear or understand what is in him, and what God
There are three reasons why a spiritual life is called a wilderness, or a life in the desert. The first is on account of the small number who do turn from the world and go forth into it, and because the common way of the world is for each man to follow his own earthly objects. But it is the wisest course to drive out the world from the heart, by banishing the very thoughts and images thereof, and, with Moses, go into the depths of the wilderness and dwell therein, that so we may the better watch over and guard our sheep; that is to say, escape the assaults of inward temptation, and the wanderings of the imagination into forbidden fields. And as, when Moses drove his sheep into the farthest corners of the wilderness, God revealed Himself to him there in a burning bush, so likewise shalt thou be filled with burning love and holy longing, and follow on to know God.
This is the beauteous wilderness of which Solomon speaks when he says:
“Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like a pillar of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense?” St. Gregory says: “It is
the nature and property of love to rise up unceasingly from itself to God
with holy aspiration, never resting till it hath reached and embraced
the Highest Good; for nothing on earth can draw it down or imprison
its flame, but it soars ever upwards to God above itself.” And so it is
with good men; and the closer they cling to Him whom they love, the more
do they turn from and despise all the smiles of the world. They cleave
with steadfast desire unto God, as Job says; “Even that it would
Again, a spiritual life may be fitly called a wilderness, by reason
of the many sweet flowers which spring up and flourish where they are
not trodden under foot by man. In this respect the life of one dead
to the world may well be likened to a wilderness, seeing that so many
virtues may be learned by continual and earnest striving; but because the
effort needed is toilsome and painful at the first, few are willing to
make it. In this wilderness are found the lilies of chastity, and the
white roses of innocence; and therein are found too the red roses of
sacrifice, when flesh and blood are consumed in the struggle with sin,
and the man is ready, if need be, to suffer martyrdom,—the which
is not easily to be learned in the world. In this wilderness, too,
are found the violets of humility, and many other fair flowers and
A third likeness between a spiritual life and the wilderness is that we
find in the wilderness so little provision for the flesh, and therefore
the lovers of this world cannot live there. Thus did the children of
Israel complain against Moses because they lacked many things. By this we
are to understand a life of moderation, girding up the loins with manly
vigour. And every man is bound to lead such a life; for had he the whole
world wherewith to supply his wants, he would still be bound scrupulously
to take no more than sufficient for his real necessities. Moreover by
such a life all the powers of the soul are braced up. And although there
is little to delight the senses in this wilderness, there is much of the
comfort of the spirit, which far excels the pleasures of the world. Isaiah
says: “For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her
waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert
like the garden of the Lord.” And again: “I will make the
wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” Thus
the solitary soul bears many more children of good works than she that is
married to the world. So Pharaoh was commanded by God to let His people
go forth into the desert, that they might sacrifice unto the Lord,
The third thing for our consideration is what we are to see in the wilderness. When a man has gone out into the wilderness, he is bidden to look with his inward eye upon “the king and his bride,” which is the soul, with all her hidden treasures of loveliness. It is written, “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold the king;” that is, Solomon, who is a type of Christ, of whom Isaiah says: “To us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful.” And now behold how wonderful God is in His deity, that He has become man for the sake of His bride. This is the miracle that Moses saw, and said: “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” The thorn-bush is Christ’s human nature; the flame is His soul filled with burning love; the light is His deity shining through His mortal body. Now, consider this Christ and Solomon, upon whom is poured out without measure that wisdom which comprehends all things in its grasp: He is the Truth who hath taught us the way to heaven; let the soul look upon Him, that she may follow Him, to live after His spirit, and not after her own inclination, and her nature shall be greatly strengthened to fight the good fight when she considers the nature of her King, how He fulfilled His pilgrimage. For it shall greatly refresh the living soul to remember from time to time His human infirmities, and from time to time to rejoice in His life in the spirit.
A master has said: “Excess in pleasures enfeebles the powers, and
overflowing spiritual
Therefore let us in the first place come out wholly from ourselves, that we may, in the next place, enter into this blessed wilderness, and, in the third place, desire to know and behold the true King and bridegroom of the soul. And to this end the Moses of a holy Will must lead us into the Mount of God. But the people whom Moses led up out of Egypt are an image of those who, having newly laid aside their evil customs, do easily return to their old ways, and make to themselves in the wilderness a golden calf of their old fleshly lusts, of unchaste or worldly thoughts, to live after the flesh, and serve their own bellies and not God, but have their delight in the creature. And hence we have need of the true Moses, even Christ Jesus, that He may at all times guide us and lead us, and draw us to Himself, so that we may go out after Him into the wilderness of our own hearts, wherein God lies hidden to us. May God help us all to attain thereunto! Amen!
(From the Gospel for the day)
Of the things by which we become children of God.
THIS day, dear children, hath God wrought a great wonder, and manifested the greatness of His love towards us, in that He hath looked down upon us, who were His enemies, aliens and afar off from Him, with such mercy as to give us power to become His sons and children; therefore it behoves us not to show ourselves unthankful for such kindness, but to put on the true marks and qualities of the elect, beloved children of God. And hereby we may know what these are.
He who would be a son of our Father in Heaven must be a stranger among
the children of this world, and separate himself from them, and must
have an earnest mind and a single eye, with a heart inclined towards
God. Now such a one is made a son of God when he is born again in God,
and this takes place with every fresh revelation of God to his soul. A
man is born of the Spirit when he suffers God’s work
The beloved children of God renounce themselves, and hence they do right without effort, and mount up to the highest point of goodness; while he who will not let go of himself, but does right by labour and toil, will never reach the highest that he might. In other words: he whose works proceed from himself, does little good service to God; while he who suffers himself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, does great works even in small actions. But he who will attain to this must beware of men, so far as is consistent with reason. A heathen teacher has declared: “I never mingled with men, but I came home less of a man than I went out.” Men who live on the outside of things are a great hindrance in the way of goodness by their many idle words. Therefore those who wish to foster the inner life of their souls, are in great danger of receiving hurt from things which are said without thought, especially when many are together. He who repents what he has said as soon as the words are out of his mouth, is one of the careless speakers.
He only is a good son who has cast off his old sins and evil habits;
for without this it is impossible that
The child of God should so order his life as always to promote his own steadfastness in virtue. When a man always keeps his body in due subjection, it is an outward pledge of the strength of his virtuous intents. Then is God in the man, when there is nothing in him which is contrary to the will of God. For God makes a man’s body the temple of the Holy Ghost when He finds nothing in the man which grieves His Spirit, but He reigns with Jesus Christ over the body. That is to say: when a man knows of nothing in himself which is displeasing to God, then God dwells in him, and he is set free from the things that perish. He who most hates and comes out from himself has the greatest share in God, and possesses his earthly heritage in peace.
Master Eckart says; “That which kindles the warmest devotion in a man’s heart, and knits him most closely to God, is the greatest benefit he can receive in this present time; and hence the greatest good work a man can do, is to draw other men to God, so that they enter into a union with Him. And this is the best work of love to our neighbour while we are in this world.”
Further: it is a mark of the children of God that they see their own little faults and shortcomings to be great sins. Now he who entangles himself with a multitude of matters, outward or inward, and will meddle with every thing that is going forward, will also have a share in the evil thereof. We must let all things be to us merely the supply of our wants, and possess them in their nothingness. The great work and aim of the beloved children of God is to shun all sin, deadly or trifling, that they may not grieve God’s spirit; for they know, as St. Augustine says, that for the smallest habitual sin which is not punished and laid aside in this present life, they will have to suffer more than all the pains of this world. Hence Anselm says, that he would rather die, and that this world should be destroyed, than commit one sin a day knowingly. And Augustine says: “The soul is created eternal, and therefore she cannot rest but in God.” And again: “He who prays for anything except for God’s sake, does not ask aright, and will not be answered with a blessing.”
Again: the child of God must have exercise in good works; but when he
comes to possess the very substance of virtue, then virtue is no longer an
exercise to him; for he practises it without an effort, and when virtue is
practised without labour or pain, we have got beyond exercises. But none
may get so far before body and soul are separated from each other; unless,
indeed, the soul were drawn out of herself, and it were possible in this
present state for God to dwell in the soul, acting and suffering. Ah,
Lord, did we all we should, God would do to us all we would. If any wish
to become such that God can love him, and look upon him with
Dionysius says: “To be converted to the truth means nothing else but
a turning from the love of created things, and a coming into union with
the uncreated Highest Good. And in one who is thus converted there is a
joy beyond conception, and his understanding is unclouded and unperverted
by the love of earthly things, and is mirrored in his conscience, in the
mirror of God’s mind. Love is the noblest of all virtues, for it
makes man divine, and makes God man.” And again: “Cleanse your hearts
and make yourselves at one with God, for one glimpse of Him brings the
soul closer to Him than all the outward works of all Christendom. He who
wishes to attain to this union must get beyond all that may be conquered
and grasped by
A certain teacher has said, that if a man will give his heart and life to God, God will give him in return greater gifts than if he were to suffer death over again for him.
Now that man shall attain unto the Highest Good who is ready to descend into the lowest depths of poverty. And this comes to pass when he is cast into utter wretchedness, and forsaken of all creatures and all comfort. And let him ask help of none; let him be as knowing nothing, and as though he had never been aught but a fool; let him have none to take compassion on him, even so much as to give him a cup of cold water to drink; yet let him never forget God in his heart, and never shrink from God’s searching eye of judgment, though he knows not what its verdict will be; but with a cheerful and thankful spirit yield himself up to suffer whatever God shall appoint unto him, and to fulfil according to his power, by the grace of God, all His holy will to the utmost that he can discern it, and never complain of his distresses but to God alone with entire and humble resignation, praying that he may be strong to endure all his sufferings according to the will of God;—Ah, dear children, what glorious sons of God would such men be! what wonders would God work through them to the magnifying of His glory! These are the true and righteous men who trust in God, and cleave to Him in spirit and in truth! That we may thus become His sons, may God help us by His grace! Amen.
(From the Gospel for the day)
This Sermon on the Gospel for the day, from St. Matthew, showeth how God, of His great faithfulness hath foreseen and ordained all sufferings for the eternal good of each man, in whatever wise they befall us, and whether they be great or small.
NOW consider first the myrrh. It is bitter; and this is a type of the bitterness which must be tasted before a man can find God, when he first turns from the world to God, and all his likings and desires have to be utterly changed. For it is necessary that all which a man has hitherto taken pleasure in possessing should be given up, and this is at first very bitter and very hard work to him. All things must become as bitter to thee as their enjoyment was sweet unto thee. But to this work thou hast need of a full purpose of heart and never-failing diligence. For the greater thy delight in anything has been, the more bitter will it be to give it up, yea the very gall of bitterness.
Now, it may be asked, “How can a man be without appetites and
enjoyment so long as he is in this
But there is yet another myrrh, which far surpasses the first. This
is the myrrh which God gives us in the cup of trouble and sorrow, of
whatever kind it may be, outward or inward. Ah, if thou couldst but
receive this myrrh as from its true source, and drink it with the same
love with which God puts it to thy lips, what blessedness would it work
in thee! Ah, what a joy and peace and an excellent thing were that! Yes,
the very
All the myrrhs of bitterness that God gives, are ordered aright, that He may by this means raise men to true greatness. It is for the wholesome exercise of suffering that He has set the forces of nature as it were at war with man. He could just as well and as easily have caused bread to grow as corn, but that it is necessary for man to have his powers exercised in every way. And He has bestowed as much care and thought in the arrangement of each single thing, as the artist does when he is painting a picture, who never draws a single stroke with his pencil without considering how long, how short, and how broad it ought to be; and it must be so and no otherwise, if the picture is to be a perfect masterpiece, and all its bright red and blue colours are to come out. But God takes a thousand times more pains with us than the artist with his picture, by many touches of sorrow, and by many colours of circumstance, to bring man into the form which is the highest and noblest in His sight, if only we received His gifts and myrrh in the right spirit.
There are some, however, who are not content with the myrrh that God
gives them, but think fit to give themselves some, and create evils for
themselves and sick fancies, and have indeed suffered long and much,
In the third place, there is an exceeding bitter myrrh which God gives;
namely, inward assaults and inward darkness. When a man is willing to
taste this myrrh, and does not put it from him, it wears down flesh and
blood, yea, the whole nature; for these inward exercises make the cheek
grow pale far sooner than great outward hardships, for God appoints unto
his servants cruel fightings and strange dread, and unheard of distresses,
which none can understand but he who has felt them. And these men are
beset with such a variety of difficulties, so many cups of bitterness
are presented to them, that they hardly know which way to turn, or
what they ought to do; but God knows right well what He is about. But
when the cup is put away, and these feelings are stifled or unheeded,
a greater injury is done to the soul than can ever be amended. For no
heart can conceive in what surpassing love God giveth us this myrrh;
yet this which we ought to receive to our soul’s good, we suffer
to pass by us in our sleepy indifference, and nothing comes of it. Then
we come and complain: “Alas, Lord! I am so
Now men receive this bitter myrrh in two ways; they try to meet it as with their practical sense or with their intellectual subtilty. When it springs from outward circumstances, men wish they had known better, and they would have averted it with their wisdom, and attribute it to outward accidents, to fate, or misfortune, and think they might have taken steps to prevent what has happened, and if they had done so, the means would have succeeded, and the calamity would have been turned aside. They would fain be too wise for God, and teach Him, and master Him, and cannot take things from His hand. The sufferings of such are very sore, and their myrrh is exceeding bitter.
There are others, who having tasted the cup of that bitterness which springs from within, do start back and forthwith seek to break away from it by the exercise of their natural wit and subtilty, and think to quell the strife by dint of reasoning and arguing with themselves. And this kind of trouble often passes away more quickly with simple minds than with those whose reason is more active; for the former follow God more simply, they feel they do not know what to do, and so they trust. But if those of higher powers follow God’s leading, and surrender themselves wholly to Him, their career is far nobler and more blessed, for their reason serves them in all things more freely and excellently.
Now from this myrrh springs a noble branch, which beareth costly
frankincense. The frankincense gum
May Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, help us to make the right use of
all the myrrh that God sends us, and to offer up to Him the true incense
of devout hearts. Amen!
Showeth on what wise a man shall arise from himself and from all creatures, to the end that God may find the ground of his soul prepared, and may begin and perfect his work therein.
IN all this world God covets and requires but one thing only, and that He desires so exceeding greatly that He gives His whole might and energy thereto. This one thing is, that He may find that good ground which He has laid in the noble mind of man made fit and ready for Him to exercise His divine agency thereon. For God has all power in heaven and on earth, and the only thing that is lacking unto Him is that He is hindered from accomplishing the most glorious of all His works in man.
Now what must we do that God may shine in on this innermost ground
of the soul, and work there? We must arise, says our text. Arise! this
sounds as if we could do something towards this work. We must arise from
all that is not God, from ourselves
But there are two sorts of over-bold men who are driven by this
stirring up of their souls into two rash courses. The first come with
their natural quickness of parts, and with the conceptions of their
own minds, and try therewith to touch the principle of their souls,
and seek to still the craving within them by hearing and learning
of lofty matters. And in this they find great delight, and ween that
they are a Jerusalem,—a city of peace, by the exercise of their
intellect. There is another class who think to prepare the ground of
their souls for God and to obtain peace by means of self-chosen good
works, or by religious exercises, such as prayer, meditation, or whatever
they see other people do for the same end; and then they fancy they are
verily children of Zion, and their works of piety and charity do yield
them great peace, and they delight in nothing so much as in religious
exercises and the fulfilling of the tasks they have set themselves. But
that their peace is a false one, may be perceived by this, that they do
not cure themselves of their former faults, such as pride, sensuality,
self-indulgence, love of the creature, proneness to suspect or to judge
others; and if any offend them, resentment forthwith flames up within
them, and an angry word escapes them, or
But those others, that is to say those noble men who do truly arise
and receive divine light, these allow God to prepare their souls for
Himself, and renounce themselves in all things without any reserve,
either as regards their words or their daily habits, or what they do or
refrain from, or anything else, whether things go smoothly or crossly with
them. Both in framing their purposes, and in meeting what arises, they
refer all to God in humble fear, and give themselves wholly up to Him,
in utter poorness of spirit, in willing self-surrender, acquiescing in
the divine will. They are content to say in all matters, “As God will”:
in quiet or in disquiet; for their sole delight is the holy and excellent
will of God. To these we may apply what Christ said unto His disciples
when they bade Him to go up unto the feast: “Go ye up; your time is
alway ready, but my time is not yet come.” These men’s time is
alway ready for them to endure and submit; all time is fitting for them;
but God’s time is not alway ready, when He deigns or sees fit to
work, or
Now the distinguishing mark of this better sort of men is that they
suffer God to order their souls’ affairs, and do not hinder Him. Yet
they are not raised above the shocks of temptation, nor even the liability
to fall for a moment (for no one is entirely delivered from this danger);
but afterwards, as soon as the first onset of passion is over, and their
fault is held up before them, whether it be pride, or self-indulgence,
or anger, or hatred, or whatever is their special temptation, they come
to God in self-abasement, and submit themselves to Him, and bear
without murmuring what He sees fit to appoint unto them. And such do in
truth arise, for they rise above themselves in all things, and they do
become in truth a Jerusalem or stronghold of peace, for they have quiet
in disquietude and prosperity in adversity, and rejoice in the will of
God amidst all circumstances. Therefore no power in this world can
take away their peace, nor could all the devils in hell, nor all the
men on earth banded together. All their affections centre in God, and
they are enlightened by Him of a truth; for He shines into their souls
with a strong and clear light that reveals all things unto them; and He
shineth as truly, nay far more brightly, in the blackest darkness than
in the seeming light. Ah! these are sweet and lovely children of God,
raised above nature by their likeness to Him; and such neither undertake
nor bring to pass any of their works without God. Nay, if we may dare to
use such language, they are, so to speak, nothing, but God is in them;
as St Paul says: “I live, yet
Now, the distinguishing mark of those two classes of presumptuous men whom we first spoke of, is that they choose to govern their souls for themselves, instead of submitting themselves to the direction of God; and hence their powers are kept under bondage to sin, so that they cannot fully conquer their evil habits; nay, they even continue therein with content, or at least with the consent of their own will. But those other noble, blessed, self-renouncing men, who have given themselves over to God, are exalted above themselves; and hence, if they are overtaken in a fault, so soon as they are aware of it, they flee unto God with it, and straightway the sin is no more, and they are in a state of godlike freedom. Shall they not then with reason desire that God may prepare their souls?
There is no need for these men to perform outward works, in addition,
as if they were a matter of necessity. No! Now the text itself in this
one word, “Arise!” bids them to lift themselves up: and is not
that a work? Yes, one work it does behove them to fulfil without ceasing,
if they are ever to come to perfectness. They must continually arise, and
have their minds directed upwards towards God, and their hearts free from
entanglement, ever asking, “Where is He who is born a king?”
and watching with humble fear and quick eye to discern what God desires
of them, that they may do His pleasure. If God gives them to suffer,
they suffer; if He gives them to work they work: if He
And this ground and substance of the soul will God possess alone, and will not that any creature should enter therein. In this chamber of the heart God works through means in the one class of men, and without means in the other and more blessed sort. But what he works in the souls of these last with whom He holds direct converse, none can say, nor can one man give account of it to another, but he only who has felt it knows what it is; and even he can tell thee nothing of it, save only that God in very truth hath possessed the ground of his soul. And where this comes to pass, outward works become of no moment, but the inward perceiving of God greatly increases. But when a man reaches the highest point that he may attain unto by his most earnest endeavour and the help of God’s grace, let him ascribe nothing whatever unto himself; as our blessed Lord said: “When ye have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which it was our duty to do.” Therefore, let a man be never so perfect, he shall always stand in humble fear, at his highest glory; and shall always say and feel, “Father, thy will be done!” and shall at all times keep a watch upon himself, looking narrowly lest he should cleave unto one single thing that is amiss, and God should find anything in the secret chambers of his heart that hinders His accomplishing His glorious work therein without the help of means.
May God help us all so to arise that He may accomplish His work in our souls! Amen.
(From the Gospel for the day; and from
Of the great wonders which God has wrought, and still works for us Christian men; wherefore it is just and reasonable that we should turn unto Him and follow Him, and whereby we may discern between true and false conversion.
WE read in the Gospel for this day that Jesus went into a ship, and His disciples followed Him. In like manner must all pious Christians turn from sin and follow Christ, as He commands us by the mouth of the Prophet Hosea, saying: “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God.”
Out of all the tribes of mankind the Lord chose one, to whom He
showed great kindness, and promised to do yet greater things for them,
if they would turn with their whole heart unto Him, and not follow after
the ways of the other nations who lived according to their sinful lusts
in the darkness and blindness of their hearts, and went astray with
Now all these things came to pass under the old dispensation in past
ages, with many signs and in
Children, I know of nothing so greatly needed as that those who are
entering on a religious life should be instructed with all care, that
they may know what things they ought first to learn, and then afterwards,
when the outward practice of good works and piety has become a habit to
them, that they may also know how to advance farther, and not content
themselves or be satisfied with outward habits; for these do not in
themselves make a perfect life, but are only a good preparation and a
slight furtherance thereto. If this be early instilled into beginners,
while they are yet young, docile, and quick of apprehension, and also
hot and earnest, it may be that some of them will study betimes to press
onwards to what is higher. But, alas! and worse than alas! we have so
often to behold the sorrowful spectacle of some who began in the spirit
with great zeal; who at first were so fervid that they would
Some are at first so zealous for all righteousness, that if they hear an idle word, or witness any other little failing, it makes them angry; but when they are a little older, they indulge without any rebuke of conscience in such levity, evil-speaking, and often malicious and scornful speeches, that they not only cause others vexation, but even serious trouble and sorrow, and never even give it a thought whether they may have done so, but behave as if they had done perfectly right.
Some are at first so strong, and ready to withstand temptation and
assaults, that they are not even afraid of the Devil: yea, they would
fain be great
Very different from these are many pious, warmhearted, spiritual-minded men, who find the cross very hard to bear at first, but in a short time make great progress, and become a most edifying and useful pattern to others, while those from whom too much was expected have come to nothing. Hence we must be very much upon our guard because of our instability; we know not what may overtake us in time to come.
Dear children, that each of you may be able in some measure to mark
whether he be converted or not, I will lay open to you a little, whereby
we may perceive the sincerity of our own conversion, and redemption
from all the evil which our Enemy may try to lead us into by his various
incitements to sin. In our baptism we promised before God and the Church
to withstand all sin, and to serve God in all holy living. But afterwards
our wicked adversary led us astray again, so that we fell afresh, and
lost the grace which had been given us; but God of his unspeakable
A truly converted Christian man abides in a sincere and humble
confession of his nothingness; all his desire is that none should set
him above others, nor yet to rule over others, but rather to be subject
in all meekness to another, according to whose will he may fulfil all
his works. He thinks lightly of himself and his own wisdom, and desires
in all things to take the lowest place; and is willing to take advice,
and interprets everything for the best; and simply in the fear of God,
with a thankful heart, fulfils all that which he is bidden or counselled,
or that others beg of him to do. But, on the other hand, those who are
not truly converted think much of themselves, and deem all their works
and services of great value, and it is not at all to their taste to be
subject to others, or that any should have a right to command them, and
are fond of reproving others unnecessarily, and of discoursing on lofty
matters, and boast themselves proudly of all that belongs to them, and
yet cover all this under a specious show of piety and humility, that men
may not take it amiss of them. If any seem to put a slight upon them,
they are contentious, and defend and justify themselves to the utmost
that they can. They are arrogant and
Those who are truly converted are kind-hearted to their neighbours, indulgent from brotherly love, praising the works of their neighbours as far as they can, and with great sincerity of heart rejoice in the well-being of their neighbour, and lend him a helping hand wherever they can, and have great sympathy with him in his troubles; but the falsely converted are spiteful, and look with an evil eye on the usefulness or piety of others, are ready to breed mischief with a taunt, and are revengeful, sneering, and puffed up in their own conceits.
The right sort of men are patient under all the annoyance and injustice that God suffers to befall them, and bear it long with peaceable tempers. They speak mildly, using soft words, and are wont meekly to seek reconciliation with those who have done them wrong; but the false burn with anger, are envious of others’ good fortune, slanderous, quarrelsome, and censorious, not orderly in all their affairs, and full of murmuring against all, above and below them, who do not conform to their wishes.
The truly righteous are ever gentle and merciful, ready to give and
to assist as far as they are able, without regard to their own advantage;
for they despise the perishable things of time, and maintain their love,
enjoyment, and cheerfulness under distress, poverty, and contempt,
being easily contented and cheerful, and thankful to Almighty God,
in spirit looking up constantly to God who preserves and sustains them,
and casting behind them all unprofitable earthly anxieties, that they
The upright are careful to fill up their time industriously, with good and useful undertakings to the glory of God and the good of their neighbours, rejoicing in spirit as they exercise themselves in good works, endeavouring to do all things well, and continue with hearty trust in God, steadfast in goodness. The false converts are constantly indolent and half-hearted in their work, wavering, ill-mannered, easily disheartened, and altogether drowsy, their minds lying waste and their hearts undisciplined.
The true converts are moderate and decorous in the satisfying of their
natural wants, shunning all excess, and if they by accident transgress,
avoiding it for the future. By moderation in eating, they keep their
faculties clear and under control; and above all, they most earnestly
guard against any excess in
The righteous and truly converted men are so shamefaced and chaste
of heart before God and the angels, that they would rather die than
conceive an impure image in their hearts, and with all watchfulness
they preserve their mind pure and unsullied, and they diligently keep
all their senses and members under strict and constant control, insomuch
that they will hardly pay any attention to their own bodies, except for
safety and cleanliness; and for the better preserving of their pureness
of mind, they chastise their bodies with fasting, and watching, and toil,
exercising constant prayerfulness and trust in God, in whom all their
help lies. But the false of heart do not see much harm in looking at and
dwelling on evil, sinful thoughts and images in their hearts; hence they
often come into such perturbation of soul and body, that they stand,
as it were, in the very gate of hell; yea, they often fall so deep,
as to give consent to sin with their heart, and would actually fulfil
all wickedness if the opportunity arose. So unthinkingly do they fall
through love of themselves, in seeking the pleasure of the body! Some
of these become so hardened, and restless, and
And now, dear children, consider how you stand; and, seeing the perils which beset us all, let no one be too secure or too bold, but let each look to himself in fear; and however well it may be with him now, let him not trust in his goodness; and however deeply he may have fallen, or however far he may have wandered, let him now turn and be converted of a truth, for the path to all goodness stands yet open to him so long as God spares him in life. That we may all enter therein, may God help us! Amen.
(From the Gospel for St. Matthias’-day, 24th February)
Of the proper marks of true humility.
CHRIST, our blessed Lord, the true master and teacher of all art and virtue, and a pattern of all perfection, when He came down from Heaven to instruct us poor ignorant men, did not see fit to make use of great subtleties, or mysterious and ingenious statements of truth; but in short, plain, simple words He delivered to us a maxim, and gave us a very short, easy lesson, which we were well able to learn. Now this stood written in the book of His holy humanity, in large, distinct letters, easy to be read, and runs thus: “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.”
What shorter, easier, more intelligible lesson could be set us? but
we must give our minds with willing industry to read it over and over
again attentively, and practise it in our life, ever looking to the
admirable model of the divine humanity of Christ, whose whole life was
not only meek and humble, but whose
He who sincerely desires to become lowly of heart, must not be ashamed of performing any outward office such as the worldly heart thinks mean and humiliating; for as it is a sure token of conversion from sin that it becomes hateful to the man, so it is a sign of true repentance, when he is ready in all things to take the meanest place, if that he may attain to that true lowliness of heart which is seated inwardly in the soul. And he who will go forward in this blessed path must faithfully examine himself, and to this end God also will bestow on him such great grace as he has never had before.
He must always be ready to acknowledge himself in fault towards
whomsoever it may be, and esteem others better than himself; for by
so doing the loving heart can best soften the dispositions of men
In the third place, it belongs to a lowly heart to be kindly affected towards all, not with a partial love; that is, not to show more kindness to one than another, to friends more than strangers, but to do good to all for God’s sake, as our neighbours, not from mere natural affection, but to bestow on all a free, generous love (like our Father in Heaven, “who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”), and also to love each according to his worthiness.
In the fourth place, it is necessary to lowliness of heart that we divest and disencumber ourselves of all things, that we may cleave only to our merciful God, and become one with Him; for God will not and cannot unite Himself or dwell with a worldly heart. Therefore let a man bow himself to the earth beneath God and his creatures, in self-annihilation inward and outward; and this is what is meant by forsaking all things, and putting away the creature. The fifth token of true lowliness of heart is to know how to suffer to the glory of God, for sincere love of God, simply hoping, believing, and trusting in Him.
Thus a lowly walk consists in three things; in patient endurance,
in giving up out of love and faith, and in hope towards God. And from
these flows the
(From the Gospel for the day)
In this Sermon following we are taught how we must perpetually press forward towards our highest good, without pause or rest; and how we must labour in the spiritual vineyard that it may bring forth good fruit.
THIS householder went out early at the first hour, and again at the third and at the sixth hours, and hired labourers for a penny a day. But when it was quite late in the evening he went out again, and still found men standing idle. Then he said unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.
Dear children, this householder signifies our Lord Jesus Christ;
His house is the heavens, and this earth, and purgatory, and hell. He
saw that all nature had gone astray, insomuch that His lovely vineyard
lay a barren waste; and man, whom He had made to possess this fair and
fruitful vineyard,
Dear children, in one sense Jesus Christ went out early from the divine
bosom of the Father, and yet evermore dwells there. But in another sense,
He went out early in human nature, that He might hire us into His service,
and bring us back again into His noble vineyard, and so there might
be labourers to till it. And He went out at the first hour, and also
at the third, and sixth, and ninth hours. And at the eleventh hour He
went out once more, and again found men standing idle, to whom he spoke
roughly, saying, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Then they answered,
No man hath hired us, Lord. These idle men whom no man hath hired are
those who are still in their original, uncorrupt, and innocent state,
and hence they are rightly called blessed; for God saw as He looked
on them, that they were unhired; that is, not held in servitude to
the world and the creatures. There are some who are God’s hired
labourers, and these are in a higher sense free, and at large, and not
held in servitude to the world or the creature. But these of whom we are
now speaking are still standing idle, which ought not to be; that is,
they are standing in apathy, cold, loveless, and devoid of grace; for
so long as a man is not standing in the grace of God, he is standing
alone in nature. And if such a man (were it possible, which it is not)
were to fulfil all the good works which have ever been done in this world,
he would still, nevertheless, be living altogether idly,
But the men entered after a very unequal manner into the vineyard. One class are those who are mere beginners; these work in God’s vineyard with outward acts, and bodily exercises, and self-imposed tasks, and are persuaded that they are accomplishing great good works with their fasting, watching, and praying; while they never look to the purity of their motives, but retain their love of earthly enjoyments, and their own likes and dislikes. And therefrom do spring up injustice, false judgment, and many faults; such as pride, earthly or spiritual, bitterness or enmity, and more of the like, that greatly hinder the outpouring of divine grace, if we allow these untoward dispositions to break forth in words or actions. Let one who has thus been building upon a false foundation give heed to himself, and watch how he may best condemn and destroy this inward falsehood, that it lead not to his own ruin, nor cause harm to those with whom he may hold converse.
A second class of men who have likewise entered into God’s
vineyard, are those who are above living for mere temporal things,
and have also overcome their grosser sins, and have turned their minds
towards higher things. Their life is spent in the rational practice of
virtue; and in this they find such
But the third class of those who go into God’s vineyard are truly noble and highly-favoured men, who in deed and truth rise above all creature things in God’s vineyard; for they seek and love nothing but simply God in Himself. They neither look to pleasure, nor to any selfish end, nor to that which is a mere outflow from God; for their inner man is wholly plunged in God, and they have no end but the praise and glory of God, that His good pleasure alone may be fulfilled in and through them and in all creatures. Hence they are able to bear all things and to resign all things, for they receive all things as from God’s hand, and offer up to Him again in simplicity of heart all that they have received from Him, and do not lay claim to any of His mercies. They are like a river that flows out with every tide, and then again hastens back to its source. So do these men refer all their gifts back to the source whence they proceed, and flow back again unto it themselves likewise. For inasmuch as they carry all the gifts of God back unto their divine fountain, and do not claim any ownership in them, either for pleasure or advantage, and do not purpose this or that, but simply God alone, God must of necessity be their only refuge and stay, outward or inward.
But although this aim carry a man so completely out of himself,
and be perfectly simple and directed
There are, however, some religious persons who will not be left
without solace or stay. For rather than be left simply and truly without
a solace,
We are not, therefore, forbidden to honour the blessed saints, but only
to claim any property in their merits for the sake of our own delight
in them; for I tell thee, that if thou hadst all manner of heavenly
grace from God, and didst possess the good works of all mankind, so
soon as thou shouldst claim it as thine own, for the sake of thine own
delight therein,
A good and devout man shall be like the labourer in the vineyard,
who works all the day long, and nevertheless he must take food. But the
labour is long and the meal barely lasts an hour, and he only takes
it for the sake of the work. He must eat that he may work, and the
nourishment he takes diffuses itself through every part of his body,
continually supplying it with fresh strength, which again is consumed
in his labour; and when it has been consumed with labour he eats again
a little, that he may again consume it by working in the Lord’s
vineyard. So is it with a noble-minded man. When he feels an inclination
in himself to enjoy God or His heavenly grace and what is thereof, let
him for a little while seek and purpose his own good, but not longer
than is needful for the nourishing of his soul, that he may consume
his spiritual strength again in labour; and when it has thus been spent
in the noblest of all ways, from a love flowing back unto God who has
inspired it, then the man must go for refreshment again into the river
of life that floweth out from the throne of God, that it may again bring
forth in him the fruit of good works. All these spiritual men who thus
These exalted and most noble men are just like the wood of the vine,
which is outwardly hard and black and dry, and good for no purpose
whatever; and if we had never seen it before, we should think it of
no use at all, and good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire,
and burned. But in this dry wood of the vine, there lie concealed the
living veins of sap, and power of yielding the noblest of all juices,
and of bringing forth a greater abundance of fruit than any other
sort of wood that grows. And thus it is with these beloved and lowly
children, who are at all times and seasons plunged in God; they are
outwardly in appearance like unto black rotten wood, seeming unto men
dry and unprofitable. For there are many of these who are humble, noways
remarkable for their gifts, outward or inward, nor for any extraordinary
works or sayings or exercises of devotion, and who move in the narrowest
sphere; but living veins from the fountain of truth lie hidden within
them, forasmuch as they have asked for no
Now the vine-dresser goes out and prunes the vine, lopping off the wild shoots; for if he neglected this, and suffered them to remain on the good stem, the whole would yield bad, sour wine. So likewise shall good men do: they shall cut off from themselves ill that is not according to God’s order in their conduct or dispositions, likings or dislikings, and destroy it to the very root; thou shalt cut away all evil failings from thy heart, and it will do thee no harm, either in head or in hand, or any member. But hold thy knife still, till thou hast really seen what ought to be cut off. If a vine dresser be not skilled in his art, he is as likely to crop off the good branches which bear the grapes as the wild shoots, and thus spoil the vineyard. So it is with those who do not understand this spiritual art; they leave the roots of vice and evil dispositions alive in the heart, and hew and lop at poor nature, and thereby destroy this noble vineyard. Nature is in itself good and noble, why shouldst thou hew away aught that belongs to it? For I tell thee that when the time is come for it to yield fruit in a godly, blessed, devout life, then it will be seen that thou hast spoiled thy nature.
After this the labourer binds up the vine, putting in stakes;
he bends the upper branches down towards the earth, and fastens the
vine to a strong framework, that it may have a support. This is a type
of the sweet and holy life, the sacred example and sufferings of our
blessed Lord Jesus Christ, for these and nothing of our own should be
a man’s stay. For the higher powers of his reason
Afterward the vine-dresser digs about the stems of
Now after that the vine has been well pruned, and its stem cleared of all weeds, the glorious sun shineth yet more brightly, and casteth his heat on the precious clusters, and these grow more and more transparent, and the sweetness begins to disclose itself more and more. And to such a man as we have described, all means of communication between God and his soul begin after a time to grow so transparent that the rays and glances of the divine sun reach him without ceasing, that is, as often and as soon as he turns himself towards them in feeling and thought. This divine sun shines much more brightly than all the suns in the firmament ever shone; and in its light all the man’s ways, and works, and doings are so changed into its image, that he feels nothing to be so true as God, with a certainty that is rooted in the very midst of his being, yet is far above the sphere of his reason, and which he can never fully express, for it is too deep and too high above all human reason to be explored and understood.
After this the vine-dresser loves to strip off the leaves, that
thus the sun may have nothing to hinder its rays from pouring on the
grapes. In like manner do all means of grace fall away from this man,
such as images of the saints, teachings, holy exercises, set
That we may thus give place to God, [for Him to do His work in us, and die to all to which we ought to die, that we may live truly and only to that to which we ought to live, if this exalted work of God is to be accomplished in us and through us,] may He help us. Amen!
THE holy Apostle Paul, whose endeavours towards
a perfect life were all founded upon endurance and true resignation,
shows us in himself how a righteous, spiritual man, being nailed with
Christ to the cross, and whose sufferings bring forth in him the living
fruits of the Spirit, now no longer liveth through himself, but Christ
liveth in him, as is taught in the words which he writes to the Galatians,
saying: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me.” Again he continues; “The life
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In these words we have a
wholesome admonition to strive after such a life as that Christ may be
glorified in us, and His bitter grief and cross may be manifested in our
mortal body, to the bettering of our neighbour and ourselves. Wherefore
we ought to observe here, that though there be many kinds of cross and
suffering, of which each has its own length, and depth, and breadth,
and height, yet there is only one on which our eternal redemption
By the cross of the malefactor on Christ’s left hand may be understood those who have made a religious profession, and are hanging on the cross of continual exercises and outward austerities which they have bound themselves to practise; they have well-deserved this cross, but it brings them no profit, because they have not died on it to self-will and other sinful failings. It is possible for them after this crucifixion to go down to eternal torment with the unjust malefactor; so that, to use a common proverb, they drag the barrow here and the waggon in the world to come. The height of this cross is the spiritual pride and self-complacency which they have in the strictness of their life, on account of which they set themselves up above others; for none can be good enough for them, and they lay great stress on such austerities, despising all who do not lead such a life as themselves.
St. Augustine said to his brethren: “Dear brethren, rather than
you should say or think yourselves to be different from or better than
other men, I would that you should return to the world. You ought to say,
as Christ did by the mouth of his
The depth of this cross is a type of the depth of sin into which
such men fall; and that comes hence, that their inward principle is
false through and through, and they have never taken pains to look
within and examine their evil unchanged hearts, and amend them; they
lean altogether on outward exercises, which at the same time they hate,
and perform with backward hearts. They know nothing of a union with God,
or of His mysteries; nay, they no more reach after anything of this kind
by questioning, or inquiring, or seeking, than they think of the Sultan
over the sea, and take no more thought about it than if it in no wise
concerned them. If they hear talk of divine things, they understand as
much of them as a German does of Italian. They say their prayers and read
their Bibles, and perform their dry works of obedience with the outward
man and their senses; and with this they are well satisfied. Let God
unite Himself with whom He will, what does that concern them? But if it
were a question of outward advantage in respect of gain, or honour, or
other things that might be turned to account, which any one had obtained
thereby, then we should see whether it concerned them or not. Hence, in
spite of their pious acts, it comes to this, that when they are called
on to renounce their own way and will, they behave as if they were deaf
or senseless. Thus St. Augustine writes: “I do not know wickeder,
more utterly corrupt men than those who fall away while maintaining
a religious profession; for not seldom they fall so deeply into sin,
that they come to err from
The width or breadth of this cross is that they go the wide, broad, well-trodden way that leadeth unto hell; for they live after the flesh, and therefore they do not seek after the sweetness of the spirit; for he who liveth to the flesh cannot please God. He who will not seek the narrow path that leadeth unto eternal life, must needs often be delayed and lose the way, by which means he is made too late to find the way that leadeth unto life. This is the case with those who seek and intend themselves in all things, and are always wanting to get some ease and to gain some indulgence from the Lord, now for this, now for that forbidden thing; in a word, to have nothing to bear is what would suit them best. For this very reason they are obliged to bear a heavy cross in their conscience whether they like it or no, and have no confidence towards God whom they have set at nought, nor yet any consolation from the world which despises them. Ah! dear children, what a hard life and cross is theirs! They would fain be without pain, and have the very bitterest pain; which will, moreover, be followed by eternal pain, unless they repent and turn to God.
The length of this cross is, that they remain and persevere
impenitent and without virtue unto the end; and this comes from their
great ingratitude, inasmuch as God has bestowed on them such great
grace before other worldly people who would have made better use of it,
and has visited them in so many good influences and admonitions, inward
and outward, as often even to raise their own wonder;
The second kind of cross is good, and is that of the malefactor on
Christ’s right hand, who had indeed well deserved his punishment,
but it became unto him fruitful and profitable. This cross we may take as
a type of the hardship and sufferings needful to be borne by those who
have turned with their whole heart from this world and sin to a life of
repentance; who have indeed well deserved to suffer much for their sins,
because they have wasted their time so unprofitably in fleshly and natural
pleasures, doing their own will; but now they wish to forsake all
The depth of this cross is boundless humility, not deeming ourselves higher than other men, but having our eyes always open to our own shortcomings; like this malefactor, who acknowledged that he was suffering the just reward of his misdeeds. So let it be with all these converts; in all their sorrows let them remember that they might justly have suffered more, and that no suffering on earth or in hell would be a sufficient retribution for their sins. This makes them not to despise, nor judge, nor condemn any but themselves; and when they are brought to this point, then their cross begins to blossom and bear fruit.
The height of this cross is a mind directed upwards to the
contemplation of divine and heavenly things, and a forsaking of outward
things; that is, they shall
The breadth of this cross signifies a hearty, all-embracing love to God, men, and all creatures; for those who are on this cross pray with lip and heart, not alone for themselves, but also for all men, even for their enemies: thus their prayer extends unto all, and they are ever ready to devote themselves, body and soul to their fellow-creatures; and thus they do what in them lies to make amends to God, whom they have aforetime dishonoured and provoked in his creatures. Thus love, as St. Peter saith, covereth a multitude of sins; and, as Christ said of Mary Magdalene: many sins are forgiven her, for she loved much.
The length of this cross is perseverance and growth in good works;
for these men never cease from their kind and virtuous labours, but
undertake one after another with just discrimination, and give all
diligence to put off their old man, and to put on a new man created
after God in righteousness and holiness of life. And hence their inward
man is renewed day by day, and groweth up amidst all their sorrow, pain,
and temptation, so that they may well feel how truly Paul has said, that
“this light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a
The third cross is the cross of Christ, and is a type of the perfect men, on whom their Heavenly Father has bestowed peculiar glory and honour, and fellowship with His only begotten Son, in that He sends them, after a special sort, all manner of contradiction, pain, assaults, tribulation, and crosses of every kind; and gives them to drink of the cup of which Christ, His only begotten Son, has drunk. As it was with the holy Apostles James and John, to whom Christ said: “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink off? and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” As much as to say, If ye desire to be the chiefest, dearest friends of God, ye must, like me, suffer the greatest contradiction beforehand; for the disciple is not above his master. If Christ must needs suffer and enter by the cross into the kingdom of His Father, without doubt so must every friend of God have somewhat likewise to endure.
The depth of this cross is that they have at all times a childlike
fear, and allow God to move them as He will, and keep a constant care
not to offend God. Its height is the well-grounded hope which they have
of eternal blessedness, not founded on their own merit or good life,
but on a firm faith, in a humble principle of entire self-surrender to
the perfectly holy will of God. And this hope maketh not ashamed; but,
as St. Paul says, “the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by
the Holy Ghost
This cross leads and brings them to the ineffable cross of the divine
nature, of which Paul was thinking when he prayed for his friends
that they might “be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fulness of
God.” The length is His never-ending eternity; the breadth His
boundless goodness and mercy, which has been shed abroad, and is yet
poured out over the whole creation and mankind; the height is His
omnipotence, and the depth of His unfathomable wisdom.
That we may thus be nailed with Christ to the cross of his humanity,—that we may be admitted to the eternal beholding of the brightness of His godhead, may the Almighty Trinity grant and help us. Amen!
(From the Gospel for the day)
Tells us how God drives forward some of His children by the struggle between the inward and outward man.
THE gospel for this day points us to a guiding principle which is of all others the noblest, surest, most useful and most essential principle that we can have while here on earth. For be assured, that unless your conversion have within it this kernel, all your efforts to perform good works and to abstain from transgression will avail you little or nothing.
Now let us in the first place consider these words: “Jesus went out from thence.” Whence was it that He departed? From the Scribes and Pharisees. Now give heed to the principle herein contained: the Scribes were the wise men who prided themselves upon their knowledge; and the Pharisees were those who prided themselves upon their spirituality, and trusted in their religious practices and set talks. These two classes of men are types of two of the most dangerous principles which can exist among religious people; and those who remain in their way of thinking are lost, for these two principles do ruin the soul like a worm at the root, so that men come to nothing. And yet there are few but what are in some measure under the influence of one or both of them, though some much more than others. By the Scribes we may understand men of a reasoning turn of mind, who try all things by the light of their reason, or as they appear to them through their senses. They receive ideas by means of their senses, and then exercise upon them their powers of reflection that they may attain to the comprehension of high questions. And they glory therein, and make very lofty discourses; but in the inward parts, where pure truth should gush forth from its fount, they are empty and dry, yielding nothing.
The second class are the Pharisees. These are the religious people
who look upon themselves as the excellent of the earth, and think highly
of themselves, and take their stand upon prescribed customs and ways,
and regard these usages as of more importance than anything else,
and desire to be respected on this account and to have praise of men;
but their hearts are full of judging thoughts of other men who do not
Thus we find many people who never look to anything beyond their
outward conduct; they perform good works and behave with decorum, and
then think they have done all; while their inward part is altogether
overgrown and choked up with the creature, by which they are held fast to
their great hurt. And while in this state, they pray much and read their
Bible. So likewise did the blind Jews, they read much in the Scriptures;
and yet God was an utter stranger to them, and hidden from them in spirit
and in truth. So it is with this sort of religious people: they submit
to Church discipline, they pray, they fast, they watch; and for all this,
God is not really
But whither did the Lord Jesus go? He went into the land of Tyre
and Sidon. Now Tyre signifies a state of apprehension, and Sidon
signifies the state of one driven by the hunters. Ah, children! few,
alas! are willing to experience in themselves what it
Now this conflict causes to the man sharp and bitter pain and
tribulation. But while he is plunged in the thick of the strife,
perceiving nothing beyond
And when a man is thus hunted and plunged into the bottomless pit of
temptation and suffering, and then, amidst “groanings which cannot be
uttered,” cries to God with a loud voice, so that the accents of his
strong desire pierce through the heavens; and yet God makes as though
He did not hear, or would not listen, O, how utterly must the man
yield up his own self, and suffer his wishes to melt into the depths
of God’s will, waiting with ever-strengthening patience upon
God, till His appointed time come to visit him and all creatures! For,
oh! how impossible were it that the fount of all mercy should be sealed
up! yet, when this woman came crying after Jesus with a loud voice,
the stream from this fount of mercy was not suffered to flow out unto
her. The disciples prayed that it might be opened; and at last, with
severe aspect and harsh words, Jesus answered them that He was not sent
save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, saying: “It is not meet
to take the children’s bread and to cast it to the dogs.” He not
only refused her the blessing she sought, but did what was much harder to
bear,—proved in clear, cutting language that it was reasonable
and just that He should do so. He not only refused to give her bread,
which is necessary to life, and a common blessing, but denied her the
name of a child, thus depriving her of humanity, and called
Oh, how blessed and holy were men who could thus strike into the very
truth of things, and see themselves with the mind of God, not through
figures of speech, or customary phrases, or as the world judges. Neither
God nor all His creatures could then abase and annihilate them so
thoroughly as they would abase, and accuse, and annihilate themselves in
the sight of the truth! Blessed indeed, if then, notwithstanding this
wretched tumult of suffering and humiliation, they should be constant
in their hope and confidence in the goodness of God, and abide therein
without wavering; so that under all these afflictions their desire and
earnest purpose towards Him should strengthen more and more, as it was
with this woman. However harshly our Lord spoke to her, and denied her
His acts of mercy, yet she never let go her trust in His grace. Therefore
everything was granted to her that she had sought and desired of the
Lord. Dear children, this is the right, true, godly way unto
Children, I tell you of God’s truth, that to every man who shall be found really and truly thus walking in this way, God will assuredly one day declare: “My beloved friend, whatsoever thou choosest or desirest, it shall be done unto thee according to thy will; forasmuch as thou hast willingly given up all that was thine. Therefore, thy will is swallowed up in mine, and thou hast become one with me by grace, and a partaker of my nature.” Now this becoming one with the eternal Goodness cannot come to pass but by an absolute renunciation of our Self, and all that is ours, natural or spiritual; for in the same measure that a man comes out from himself, in that measure does God enter in with His divine grace, and he who loseth his life shall find it.
Children, I will say no more now, but tell you a little story that is
very apt to our purpose. I knew a “woman of Canaan,” well deserving of
the name. What I am about to tell you, happened within these four years,
and she is yet living. This woman lost her senses, and fell into a trance,
and was borne up on high, till she came into the presence of God, and
beheld our Lady and all the saints. And as she looked upon this vision
she saw herself to be at an immeasurable distance from God. Then her
spirit was seized with such unutterable woe that it seemed as if she
must perish that moment with the bitter,
How unlike this woman are those who fancy that in four or five years
they shall work wonders, and say to others: “Ah, my dear friend, pray the
Lord for me that I may become one of his dearest friends.” Now know that,
if thou wert in the right way, thou wouldst never think thyself worthy
to become one of the least of the friends of God; therefore set thyself
humbly in the lowest place, as the Gospel teaches, and then thou wilt
be bidden to come up higher. But those who lift themselves up, God will
assuredly cast down. Wherefore beseech Him that His good pleasure may be
wrought in and with thee, according to His ever-blessed will, and so wilt
thou find thy dwelling-place and rest in Him, and not else. Children,
on this wise God entereth into the soul immediately, without a veil;
that is, when a man wholly renounces Self—all that he has. Now,
if any man while here on earth should obtain one drop of this blessing,
and one spark of this love should be kindled in his soul, he would be
more truly and really made fit for God’s dwelling, and led farther
into the truth, than if he were to strip all the clothes off his body
and give them to the poor, or to macerate
Of the power of the Word of God, of fiery desires, and the essence of self-renunciation.
DEAR children, ye ought not to cease from hearing or
declaring the word of God because you do not alway live according to it,
nor keep it in mind. For inasmuch as you love it and crave after it,
it will assuredly be given unto you; and you shall enjoy it for ever
with God, according to the measure of your desire after it. There are
some people who, when they hear speak of high things which they do not
understand, and moreover see that they have no share in them, turn away
from these things with such aversion, that they do not even like to
hear them treated of, or that others should think about them and seek
after them. Yea, they hear of high things, and say: “That is not
my way of thinking; I had better not try to put it into practice, for I
should not keep it, and then I should be just where I was before.”
And thus they turn away themselves and others from the truth, just as
if it in no wise concerned them, and sit down quite
St. Bernard has said: “Man, if thou desirest a noble and holy life, and unceasingly prayest to God for it, if thou continue constant in this thy desire, it will be granted unto thee without fail, even if only in the day or hour of thy death; and if God should not give it thee then, thou shalt find it in Him in eternity: of this be assured.” Therefore do not relinquish your desire, though it be not fulfilled immediately, or though ye may swerve from your aspirations, or even forget them for a time. It were a hard case if this were to cut you off for ever from the end of your being. But when ye hear the word of God, surrender yourselves wholly to it, as if for eternity, with a full purpose of will to retain it in your mind and to order your life according to it; and let it sink down right deep into your heart as into an eternity. If afterward it should come to pass that you let it slip, and never think of it again, yet the love and aspiration which once really existed live for ever before God, and in Him ye shall find the fruit thereof; that is, to all eternity it shall be better for you than if you had never felt them.
What we can do is a small thing; but we can will and aspire to
great things. Thus, if a man cannot be great, he can yet be good in will;
and what he, with his whole heart and mind, love and desire,
Think not that God will be always caressing His children,
or shine upon their head, or kindle their hearts, as He does at the
first. He does so only to lure us to Himself, as the falconer lures
the falcon with its gay hood. Our Lord works with His children so as
to teach them afterwards to work themselves; as He bade Moses to make
the tables of stone after the pattern of the first which He had made
Himself. Thus, after a time, God allows a man to depend upon himself,
and no longer enlightens, and stimulates, and rouses him. We must stir
up and rouse ourselves, and be content to leave off learning, and no
more enjoy feeling and fire, and must now serve the Lord with strenuous
industry and at our own
The Lord will draw us and securely lead us to Himself, in a way
contrary to all our natural will, until
How a man ought in all His works to regard God alone, and purely to make Him his end without anything of his own, and shall freely and simply perform all these works for the glory of God only, and not seek his own, nor desire nor expect any reward. Wherewith he may do such works without any self-appropriation or reference to time and number, before or after, and without modes. How the Divine Word speaks and reveals itself in the soul, all in a lofty and subtile sense.
WE read in the holy Gospel how that our Lord went into
the Temple, and drove out those who were buying and selling therein,
and said to those who sold doves: “Take these things hence.”
Now mark, who were the people who were buying and selling, and whom do
they represent at this day? Now observe, I intend to speak only of the
good people who thus bought and sold, and yet whom our Lord scourged and
drove out, and do not mean to say anything to-day concerning open sinners,
who knowingly live in the commission of deadly sins. And the Lord does
the same now-a-days to all who buy and sell in His temple, for such He
will not suffer to remain therein. Behold, dear children, all those are
traders who keep themselves from open sins, and would fain be good people,
and do their works to the glory of God, and perform many good works,
such as fasting, watching, praying, and the like; yet do it all in order
that our Lord may give them, or do for them, something that they wish,
and thus they seek themselves in all things. All such are traders;
I say further, so long as a man in any of his works is seeking or desiring anything that God has to give, or will give hereafter, he is like these traffickers. But if thou wouldst be quite pure from such a mercenary spirit, thou must do thy utmost in good works simply for the praise of God, and shalt stand apart from it all, as if thou hadst not done it; thou shalt ask nothing in return. If thou doest thy works in this spirit, then are they godly and spiritual. And then the buyers and sellers are altogether driven out of the temple, and God alone dwelleth there, when thou purposest nothing but what God purposeth.
Now mark, there is yet a higher state than that of the traders,
which is indicated to us in this Gospel; namely, that of the men who
perform their works with a sincerely good intent, and yet are hindered
from coming to the closest union with God, inasmuch as they still carry
on some traffic and converse with the creatures, and are thus like the
money-changers and those who sold doves, whose tables and seats the
Lord overthrew. For although this their occupation was at first begun
by certain of them with a good intent, it was an unseemly practice,
and was afterwards turned to the greatest abuses of covetousness, rather
than to the service of God. So likewise it is with the persons of whom
I am speaking; for although their intent is good, and they do their good
works sincerely for God’s sake, and do not seek their own therein,
yet nevertheless they do them with self-appropriation, with time and
number, with images and reference
Now when the temple is thus cleared of all that blocks it up,
i.e. of all selfishness and ignorance, it shines forth in such
beauty, and is so bright and resplendent above all else that God has
created, that nothing can outshine it save the uncreated God alone.
Now, dear children, know of a truth, if any one else would fain speak
in the temple, that is in the soul, except Jesus alone, He holds His
peace, as if He were not there; and in truth He is not at home in the
soul, for she has strange guests with whom she desireth to
Here the question might be asked, If the Father hath spoken this, in what sense doth Jesus speak in the soul? Here remember, dear children, what I have said of the manner of His speaking, namely, that He revealeth Himself and all that the Father hath uttered in Him, according to the measure of the soul’s ability to receive it.
In the first place He reveals the Father’s sovereignty to the
soul, by declaring His changeless, infinite Power. And when through the
Son the soul
In the second place, the Lord reveals Himself in the soul with an infinite Wisdom, which He Himself is. In this Wisdom the Father perceiveth Himself, with all His Fatherly sovereignty. And that same Word which is also Wisdom, and all that it comprehends, is all the same, sole Unity. When this Wisdom is united with the soul, all doubt and error and darkness utterly vanish away, and she is transported into a pure light, which is God Himself. As the prophet says: “Lord in Thy light shall we see light.” That is to say: “Lord in Thy light shall we perceive the light in the soul.” Then is God perceived in the soul by means of God. Then does she, by means of this Wisdom, perceive herself and all things, and perceiveth this Wisdom itself, and through it she perceiveth the Father’s majesty, and His essential self-existence in simple oneness, without distinction.
In the third place, Christ reveals Himself also with an infinite Love,
sweetness and richness flowing forth from the power of the Holy Ghost,
overflowing and streaming in a very flood of richness and sweetness into
the heart that is waiting to receive it; and with this sweetness He not
only reveals Himself to the soul, but unites Himself with her. Through
this sweetness, the soul in its essence by grace flows
How we ought to love God, and how Christ is a Master of the Eternal Good, wherefore we ought to love Him above all things; a Master of the Highest Truth, wherefore we ought to contemplate Him; and a Master of the Highest Perfectness, wherefore we ought to follow after Him without let or hindrance.
WHEN our Lord had risen from the dead, Mary Magdalene desired with her whole heart to behold our blessed Lord; and he revealed Himself to her in the form of a gardener, and so she did not know Him. Then our Lord said unto her “Mary;” and with that word she knew Him, and said, Rabboni! that is to say, Master.
Now mark, so long as Mary stood by the grave looking at the
angels, Christ stood behind her, concealing Himself from her. For the
Lord our God hideth Himself from those who are full of care about the
creatures, and grieving over the loss of earthly things and creatures;
but as soon as man turns from
When she heard the word that Christ spoke, “Mary,” she knew our Lord, and said, Rabboni, which is to say, Master; for she and His other disciples and followers commonly address Him with this title, as He says: “Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am.” For He is truly a Master of the Highest Good, and therefore should we love Him above all things. He is a Master of Truth, and therefore should we contemplate Him. He is a Master of the Highest Perfectness, and therefore should we follow Him without any looking backwards behind us.
He is (as I said first) a Master of the Highest Good, and therefore
should we love Him above all things. Now, thou mightest say, “God is
infinite, a supreme Good without limits, and the soul and all creatures
are finite and bounded; how, then, can the soul love and know God?”
Hearken: God is infinite and without end, but the soul’s desire
is an abyss which cannot be filled except by a Good which is infinite;
and the more ardently the soul longeth after God, the more she wills
to long after Him; for God is a Good without drawback, and a well of
living water without bottom, and the soul is made in the image of God,
and therefore it is created to know and love God. So, because Christ is
a Master of the Highest
Without measure shall the soul love God; concerning which St. Bernard says: “The cause wherefore the soul shall love God, is God; but the measure of this love is without measure, for God is an immeasurable Good, because His benefits are without number or end: wherefore the soul shall love God without measure.” Hence St. Paul says: “I pray God that your love may increase and abound yet more and more.” And St. Bernard says: “In our love to God we have no rule nor direction to observe, but that we love Him as He hath loved us. He hath loved us unto the end that we might love Him world without end. Therefore, our inward desire ought ever to increase so long as we are here on earth; but although the inward work of our love to God ought ever to increase, yet the outward works of love ought to be meted out with due wisdom, that we so exercise ourselves as not to injure nature, but to subdue it unto the spirit.”
In the second place, the soul shall love God without a fellow; that
is to say, in that degree of love with which the soul loveth
God, shall no creature stand; and all whom the soul loves, she shall
love in
In the third place, the soul shall love God without silence; for
he who is in love cannot be silent, but must proclaim and utter forth
his love. St. Gregory speaks of two sorts of crying aloud: the one is
that of the mouth, the other that of the works. He says of the voice
of the deeds, that it is louder than that of the mouth. Of the latter,
David says; “I have cried unto God with my voice, and He hath heard my
prayer.” Chrysostom says: “It is the habit and custom of loving souls
that they cannot hide their love, nor forbear to speak of it, but they
tell it to their familiar friends, and describe the inward flames of
love; and the faults which they have committed against God they tell
to those whom they
First, I say that He rewards nothing but love. By three things may a man win reward: by outward acts, by inward contemplation, and by inward aspiration and love. The outward act has no merit unless it be wrought in love; for the outward act perishes and is over, and cannot merit that which is eternal. For Paul says: “Charity never ceases;” wherefore a man can never win eternal life by any works except they be done in love; and hence he who truly loveth God separates himself from all that is not God; for he who loves the uncreated good, despises the created.
In the second place, I said that God only rewards out of love. For from the love wherewith He loveth man, He giveth Himself, He giveth His very self as a reward, He giveth Himself wholly, and not in part; for God hath loved man with an eternal love, and He gives a man nothing less than Himself. He said to Abraham: “Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”
In the third place, He rewards a man with love. For this reward consists in being able to behold God in His clearness without a veil, and to enjoy the fruition of His love, and keep it for all eternity. Wherefore it was not without reason that Mary exclaimed “Master!” And thou too, O man, cry unto Him devoutly from the bottom of thy heart; “O Master of the Highest Good, and my God, by the love which Thou art, draw me to Thyself, I long after Thy favour, and that I may love Thee above all things.”
Now when I began I mentioned two other points: first, how that Christ
is a Master of the Highest Truth, and therefore we ought to contemplate
Him. Here take note that thou canst contemplate God in His creatures,
which He has made out of nothing, whereby thou art able to discover
His omnipotence. But when thou seest and considerest how admirably the
creatures are fashioned and put together, and in what wonderful order
they are arranged, thou art able to perceive and trace the Wisdom of God,
which is ascribed to the Son. And when further thou comest to perceive
the gentleness of the creatures, and how all creatures have something
loving in them, then thou perceivest the loving-kindness of the Holy
Spirit. Thus St. Paul tells the Romans that men are able to behold
the invisible goodness of God through the things that they can see;
that is to say, the creatures which He has made. We are also able to
perceive God by the light of grace, as the Prophet says: “Lord,
in Thy light shall we see the light;” that is, God Himself;
for “God is light, and in Him is no darkness anywhere.”
Moreover we shall at the last behold God in the light
(From the Gospel for the day)
How we are to ascend by three stages to true peace and purity of heart.
PEACE be with you,” said our beloved Lord to His disciples after His resurrection. All men by nature desire rest and peace, and are ever striving after it in all their manifold actions, efforts, and labours; and yet to all eternity they will never attain to true peace, unless they seek it where alone it is to be found,—in God. What, then, are the means and ways to find true peace, and the purest, highest, and most perfect truth? Now mark, I will speak unto you in a parable. As our blessed Lord drew His disciple St. John to Himself in a three-fold manner, even so does He now draw all who ever arrive at the deepest truth.
The first way in which our Lord drew St. John to Himself was when He called him out of the world and made him an Apostle. The second was when He suffered him to rest on His bosom; and the third and most perfect was on the holy day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was given unto him, and a door was opened unto him through which he was taken up into heaven.
Thus, like St. John, is each man first called out of the world, when all his lower powers come to be governed by his highest reason, so that he learns to know himself and to exercise his free self-guiding power; so that he sets a watch over his words, saying nothing to anyone which he would not wish to be said to himself;—over his impulses, marking whether they proceed from God and tend towards Him;—over his thoughts, that he do not voluntarily indulge in any evil or vain imaginations, or that, if such suggest themselves, they should be made only an incentive and stepping-stone to better things;—over his works, that in his undertakings he may have a single eye to the glory of God and the welfare of mankind. On this wise does the Lord call thee out of the world, and make thee an apostle of Christ to thy fellow-man, and so thou learnest to convert the outward into the inward man, which is the first step in the Christian course.
Secondly; wilt thou with St. John rest on the loving heart of our Lord
Jesus Christ, thou must be transformed into the beauteous image of our
Lord by a constant, earnest contemplation thereof, considering His holy
meekness and humility, the deep, fiery love that He bore to His friends
and His foes, and His mighty, obedient resignation which He manifested in
all the paths wherein His Father called Him to tread. Next call to mind
the boundless charity which He showed to all men, and also His blessed
poverty. Heaven and earth were His, and He called them not His own. In
all His words and deeds, He looked only to the glory of His Father and
the salvation of mankind. And now ye must gaze much more closely and
deeply into the glorious image of our Lord Jesus
But there are many who, haying advanced thus far, think in their haste
that they have conquered for their own the ground on which they stand,
while yet they are far from the goal. Although St. John had lain on
Christ’s bosom, yet he let his cloak fall and fled when the Jews
laid hands on Christ. Therefore, however holy may be thy walk in these two
paths, look to it that, if thou art assailed, thou do not let thy mantle
fall through thy hasty thought for thyself. It is good and holy that
thou shouldst exercise thyself in these two ways, and let no creature turn
thee aside therefrom, until God Himself draws thee up into a closer union
with Himself. If He thus draw thee up, then let go all forms and images,
and suffer Him to work as with His instrument. It is more well-pleasing to
Him, and more profitable to thee, that thou shouldst leave Him to do as
He will in thee for a moment, than that thou shouldst exercise thyself
in lower things for a hundred years. Now some may ask: Art thou not yet
got beyond all this? I answer: No; beyond the image of our Lord Jesus
In the third place, when the Holy Spirit was given to St. John,
then was the door of heaven opened unto him. This happens to some with
a convulsion of the mind, to others calmly and gradually. In it are
fulfilled those words of St. Paul: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us
by His spirit.” Let no man boast that he is continually drawing nearer to
the highest perfection possible while here on earth, unless the outward
man have been converted into the inward man; then, indeed, it is possible
for him to be received up on high, and to behold the wonders and riches
of God. Believe me, children, one who would know much about these high
matters, would often have to keep his bed, for his bodily frame could
not support it. Further, know ye that before that can come to pass,
of which we have here been speaking, nature must endure many a death,
outward and inward. But to such death, eternal life answers. Children,
this is not the work of a day or a year. Be not discouraged; it takes
time, and requires simplicity, purity, and self-surrender, and these
virtues are the shortest road to it. Through such exercises as we have
described, a man obtains true purity of mind and body, such as St. John
possessed in a high and peculiar manner; what our Lord meant when he said:
“Blessed are the pure in
(From the Gospel for the day)
CHILDREN, it behoves us to give diligent heed to the meaning of this passage, and see how it is that the Holy Ghost could not be given to the dear disciples and friends of Jesus, unless He first went away from them.
What is meant by Christ’s going away from us? Nothing else than
our destitution, hopelessness, and helplessness, when we are heavy and
slow in all good things, and cold and dark; for then Christ is gone from
us. If persons who are in this state render it useful and fruitful for
themselves, this would be a truly noble thing for them thus to master
and bend it; and to such an one all variety will be fused into unity,
and he will have joy in sorrow, and be patient
Now our Lord said: “When the Holy Ghost cometh, He will reprove the world.” What is the world which He will reprove, and how will He reprove it? He will enable man to see clearly whether the world is lying concealed within him, hidden in the principle of his being: this he will detect and rebuke. Now what is the world in us? It is the ways, the workings, the imaginations of the world, the world’s comfort, joy, love, and grief, in love, in fear, in sorrow, in care; for St. Bernard says: “With all wherein thou rejoicest and sorrowest, thou shalt also be judged.” Children, this will the Holy Ghost, when He comes to us, clearly reveal, and rebuke us on account thereof, so that we shall never have rest or quiet, so long as we know and find this evil and noxious possession within us. And when one finds this evil inclination in a man, that he is possessed by any creature, be it living or dead, and he remains unrebuked, all this is the world. And when a man keeps this in himself unrebuked, this is a true and manifest sign that the Holy Ghost has not entered into the principle of his life; for Christ has said: When He comes, He will rebuke all these things.
“He will reprove the world of sin.” What is sin? Ye know
well, dear children, that God has made all things, and appointed each
thing for its right end. Thus He made fire that it should rise up,
and stones that they should fall down. Thus nature has given to the eye
to see, to the ears to hear, to the hands to work, and to the feet to
walk; and
Next: the Holy Ghost will reprove the world of
Thirdly: the Holy Ghost reproves man for judgment. What is this
judgment? It means that every man passes judgment on his neighbour, and
that they have no eyes for their own faults and sin, although Christ
has said; “With what measure thou metest, with the same it
shall be measured to thee again:” “Judge not that ye be
not judged.” A holy man has said: “By as many as thou hast
unjustly condemned, shalt thou be judged.” The people all want to
be priests and provincials, that they may have a right to sit in
Children, ye shall not seek after great science. Simply enter into
your own inward principle, and learn to know what you yourselves are,
spiritually and naturally, and do not dive into the secret things of God,
asking questions about the efflux and reflux
Now, children, since the Holy Ghost could not be given unto the dear
disciples unless Christ went away from them, we should in reason look
to see with what we are holding converse. Wherefore forsake all things
for God, and then God will be truly given
Thus when the Holy Ghost comes to us, He teaches us all truth; that is,
He shows us a true picture of our failings, and confounds us in ourselves,
and teaches us how we shall live singly and purely for the truth, and
teaches us to sink humbly into a deep humility, and to cast ourselves
utterly down beneath God and beneath every creature. This is a true art
in which all art and wisdom is concluded, and which we indispensably need
for our true perfection and felicity. This is a true, hearty humility,
without any
Of three hindrances which resist the coming of the Holy Ghost in three classes of men.
OBSERVE, dear children, how high and in what way man must be carried up to reach the state of his highest blessedness; for this can only be through a real abandonment of those things which are especially pleasant and lovely to him and his nature. To all these he must wholly die, and must let them go, however good, and holy, and spiritual, and precious he may deem them. For if it was necessary that Christ’s disciples should be deprived of His lovely, holy, gracious humanity, to be fitted for receiving the Holy Ghost, no man, it is certain, can be a recipient of Divine grace whose heart is possest by any creature.
Now we find three sorts of hindrances in three different classes of
men. The first are sinful persons, or open sinners, who are hindered by
the creature, in that they make use thereof against God, according to
their own will. These people go astray in God’s way. David says,
“Cursed are they who err in
The second hindrance is when good people are kept back in true
spirituality through the misuse of the seven sacraments. He who dwells
with pleasure on the sign of a holy sacrament, does not get to the inward
truth; for the sacraments all lead to the pure truth. Marriage is a sign
of the union of the Divine and human natures, and also of the union of
the soul with God: but he who would stop at the sign alone is hindered
by his outward senses from reaching the eternal truth; for this is not
a true marriage. There are also some who make too much of repentance and
confession, and cleave to the sign, and do not strive to reach the pure
truth. Against these Christ says, “He who is washed needeth not save
to wash his feet;” that is, he who has once been washed with a hearty
repentance and sincere confession needs nothing more than that he confess
his daily sins, and not his old sins, which he has already repented of
and confest; but he must wash his feet—that is, his desires and
conscience; these he must purify from his daily sins. Moreover many good
men, by spending too much anxiety on outward gestures towards the sacred
Body of our Lord, hinder themselves in divers ways, so that they cannot
receive Him spiritually, and enter inwardly into the truth;
Here it is to be remembered that we ought to worship God in all places and at all times. He who will worship the Father must concentrate his whole mind in aspiration and faith. These are the highest powers of the soul; for they are above time, and know nothing of time nor of the body. So St. Paul tells us, “that we ought to rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.” Now, those pray without ceasing who do all their works alike for the love of God, and not for any selfish enjoyment, and humbly bow down before God, and let Him work alone. When the highest powers of the soul are thus gathered together in prayer, the soul becomes inspired, and if henceforward the spirit cleave unto God with an entire union of the will, it is “made a partaker of the Divine nature,” and then, for the first time, does the man offer up true worship, for he has attained the end for which he was created.
But there are some, ay, many people, who do not rightly worship the Father in the truth. For so soon as a man prays to God for any creature, he prays for his own harm; for since a creature is a creature, it bears its own bitterness and disquiet, pain and evil, about it: therefore such people meet their deserts when they have trouble and bitterness, for they have prayed for it. He who seeks God, if he seeks anything beside God, will not find Him; but he who seeks God alone in the truth, will find Him, and all that God can give, with Him.
Again, many good people hinder themselves in their perfection by this, that they look solely to the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that they give themselves too much to visions: that is to say, that they are too fond of contemplating the images of outward things in their minds, whether it be angels or men, or the humanity of Christ, and believe what they are told when they hear that they are specially favoured, or of other men’s faults or virtues, or hear that God purposes to do something by their means. Herein they are often deceived, for God never does anything through any creature, but only through His own pure goodness. And He even said to His disciples, “It is good for you that I go away;” forasmuch as to them that wish to be His disciples in high perfection, His humanity is a hindrance if they fix upon it, and cleave unto it with especial delight; for they ought to follow God in all His ways; therefore His humanity should lead them onward to His Deity. For Christ said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Greatly then do they err who suppose that they can do anything good of themselves; for Christ says that of Himself He did nothing.
Christ’s true humanity we are to worship only in its union
with His Deity; for the man Christ is truly God, and God is truly
Man. Therefore we are not to trouble ourselves about any creature,
but solely to seek God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our only Way to
the Father. Now even if we come into the Way of truth, which is Christ,
yet we are not perfectly blessed, although we behold the Truth of God:
for while we are beholding, we are not one with that
That we may attain thereunto, being delivered from all hindrances, may God grant us. Amen!
This third sermon on the Ascension tells us how man ought continually to follow after Christ, as He has walked before us for three and thirty years, passing through manifold and great sufferings, before He returned unto His Father.
AFTER the Son of God, Jesus Christ, had eaten with His disciples upon the Mount of Olives, and reproved them, that they had been so long time with Him and yet were so slow of heart to believe, He was taken up into heaven before their face.
Ah, children! how do you think it stood then with the hearts of
the disciples, who regarded Him with such a strange love? For it was
not unreasonable that they should be filled with a restless, sorrowful
yearning to follow after Him; for where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also. By His glorious ascension, willeth Jesus Christ to
draw after Him the hearts and minds of all His elect Friends, and all
their powers, inward and outward, that we may not henceforward have our
dwelling with contentment and satisfaction among the things of time;
but that all our walk and conversation, pleasure and satisfaction,
Now let us meditate how Christ has gone before us into the glory of His heavenly Father. Therefore, if we desire to follow Him, we must mark the way which He has shown us and trodden for three and thirty years, in misery, in poverty, in shame, and in bitterness, even unto death. So likewise, to this day, must we follow in the same path, if we would fain enter with Him into the Kingdom of Heaven. For though all our masters were dead, and all our books burned, yet we should ever find instruction enough in His holy life. For He Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and by no other way can we truly and undeviatingly advance towards the same consummation, than in that which He hath walked as our Exemplar while He was yet upon earth.
Now, as the loadstone draws the iron after itself, so doth Christ
draw all hearts after Himself which
Now let each one mark for himself, whether his soul has been touched
by God or not. Those who have not been touched by God often begin many
excellent undertakings from which we might expect that great things
would come to pass; but if we watch them for a time, behold it all comes
to nothing; for they soon fall back again, and they plunge once more
into all their old customs, and give themselves up to their natural
inclinations. They do just as the untrained dogs in the chase, which
have no perception of the noble quarry, but run with all speed after
the good dogs of nobler breed. And verily, if they kept on running, they
would with them bring down the stag. But no; in the space of some short
hour or so, they look about them, and lose sight of their companions,
or they stand still with their nose in the earth, and let the others get
ahead of them, and so they are left behind. But the dogs of noble breed,
who have come upon the scent of this noble quarry, eagerly pursue after
it, through fire and water, through brake and bush, till they
Children, if our souls have not been touched by God’s finger,
we have no right to lay the cause of it to the charge of the Eternal
God, as men often do when they say, figuratively: “God does not touch
me, nor move me, as He does such and such an one.” This assertion is
false. God touches, impels, and admonishes all men alike, and (so far
as it rests with Him) will have all men to be saved; but His touch, His
admonitions and His gifts, find a different reception and response in
different men. With many when God comes to them with His touch and His
gracious gifts, He finds the chambers of their soul occupied and defiled
by other guests. So then, He must needs go His way, and cannot come into
us, for we are loving and serving some one else. Therefore, His gifts,
which He offers without ceasing to every man, remain unaccepted. This is
the cause of our eternal loss: the guilt is ours, and not God’s. How
much useless trouble do we create for ourselves; insomuch that we neither
perceive our own condition nor God’s presence, and thereby do
ourselves an unspeakable and eternal mischief. Against this, there is
no better or surer remedy than an instant, resolute turning away of the
thought, and hearty, fervent, continual prayer. Hereby we may obtain
Children, the place from which Christ ascended up to heaven was the Mount of Olives. This mountain had three sorts of light. The first was from the sunrise, for the hill is high and slopes towards the East; and when the sun no longer shone on the mountain, its rays were reflected from the golden roof of the temple; and, thirdly, on that hill grew the essential material of light, the olive-tree. So likewise the soul in which God shall arise sweetly as without a cloud, must be a lofty hill, raised above these perishable earthly things, and be illuminated by three kinds of light; that is to say, there must be a place whereon the rays of the high and holy Trinity can shine and bring forth God’s high and noble work in the soul, according to all His will, and so that the brightness of the Eternal God may flow into that soul.
This mountain lay between Jerusalem and Bethany. Now, know of a truth
that whosoever will truly follow after Christ, must mount or climb this
hill, toilsome or weary as the task may be; for there is no mountain on
the face of the earth, however beautiful and delightful, but what is
difficult and toilsome to ascend. Thus, whosoever will follow Christ,
must surely cast off Nature and her lusts. Now we find many who would
gladly follow Him without pain or toil and as long as the path
But he who should experience in himself all that I have said, would
then have his face turned towards Jerusalem, the city of peace, and thus
would become wise as to all that he should do or leave undone, and able
to distinguish between the promptings of God and of nature. Further,
this would strengthen him that he might be the better able to bear pain
and sorrow, and not grow too weak by reason of his sufferings and misery,
when he is forsaken of God, and left without comfort or help in bitter
desolation. The wise man says: “My son, when the evil days come, thou
shalt not forget the goodness of God.” Children, these two prospects
towards Jerusalem and Bethany must be both at once in the soul of
man. For Jerusalem means a city of peace; yet in this same city, Christ
was put to death, and had to suffer all manner of torments. Truly, child,
so must thou also in perfect peace suffer and die to all that is thine,
for it cannot be otherwise; and commit thy cause simply and truly to God,
and renounce thyself utterly, for thou too must needs fall into the hands
of the wicked Jews, who will and must torment, scourge, and crucify thee,
and cast thee out of their borders, as if thou wert a false traitor; and
slay thee in the hearts of all men. Dear child, thou must utterly die, if
God Himself without a medium is to become thy life and being. Nay, did not
Christ Himself say to His disciples: “Whosoever slayeth you will think
that he doeth God service?” For all those who despise and judge thee,
or torment and slay thee, will be persuaded in their own minds that they
are doing God a service on thee, and mean to do so. Ah! dear children,
how greatly blessed were such a man, if he nevertheless were a dweller
Children, on this Mount grows the olive-tree, by which is signified true godly devoutness. Ah! children, the essence of devoutness is a cleaving of the whole spirit to God, with a mind ready and prepared at all times to love and to purpose all that is of God, so that the man is inwardly united with God in will and purpose and all things. This is an oil that overflows and rises above all tasting and feeling. Hast thou this olive-tree growing in the ground of thy soul, thou art in truth a devout man. This flame of devotion shall often be refreshed and renewed with the fire of Divine love, and thou shalt unceasingly look at and through the ground of thy soul, that nothing may be concealed there which is not truly and merely God’s; so that nature may not rule and work in the ground of thy soul, where God alone should dwell, and nought else. For, alas! we find many, both among the religious and the worldly, who do not simply purpose God in all things and nothing else, but will intend themselves in things spiritual and natural. We find very few who serve God for His own sake, and do not regard comfort, nor joy, nor divine gifts in time or eternity, but God alone, and no object besides.
And now may God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, grant us to ascend with the eternal Son of God from this miserable state, and from all creatures, that we may with Him possess eternal life! Amen.
THUS said the blessed Jesus: “No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” The persecuted, disheartened disciples of Jesus, who were held captive in the bonds of ignorance as with iron fetters, and in their own esteem were lying in the deep dungeons of their trespasses, confessing themselves stript of all their own might, cried with fervent prayer to the Almighty Father (as St. Luke tells us, that while they were waiting for the promise of the Father, they “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication”), praying that their bonds might be loosed, and that they might be delivered from their prison-house. Wherefore their Heavenly Father, to whom they had made known their requests in faith, heard their prayer, and set them free from all bonds, and drew them out of their dungeon by six steps into the glorious liberty of the Holy Spirit, where they were filled with all truth.
First of all, He turned His merciful eyes upon them, and made them fit
to receive, not only His ordinary influences, whereby He is wont to bring
Now some may ask, Why did God thus prepare the disciples for His
leadings, and not me, or others before me, in whom He has not wrought
after such a special manner? For this special leading there were two
causes: the first is the sovereign will of God, who chooses some men above
others to be partakers of His mysteries and hidden sweetness; just as a
King, out of his mere good pleasure, chooses certain knights to compose
his privy council and to be about his person. The second cause is that
one man listens more attentively to God’s voice, and takes more
pains to discover God’s leadings, or endeavours more strenuously
to lay aside his faults and whatever comes between him and God; and for
this cause also one man is more strongly drawn than another. Now because
the dear disciples had this mind in them, that with hearty repentance
Now it may be asked, But the disciples could not have made this first
step of their own power; for the Word of Truth says: “Without Me ye
can do nothing.” Therefore, it must have been necessary for God to draw
them, and to influence their will, even as regards these three points
already treated of. But if this be so, all hangs upon the first cause,
as has been said before. To this the doctrine of Scripture answers:
It is true that we can do no good thing without God’s ordinary
influence, except we make progress by means of a special influence from
the Holy Spirit; yet, at the same time, man may do his part, inasmuch
as his will has power to withstand the offers of the Holy Spirit,
and to cleave to his own way. God does not justify a man without his
own free will; even as our eyes cannot see except they are enlightened
by the sun or any other light, yet even when we have the light we must
open our eyes, or we can never see it. If the eyes were covered with a
thick veil or screen, the man must take it away or he could see nothing,
however brightly the sun might pour forth his rays. Now, when the
Secondly, their Heavenly Father drew them forth from the bonds of
slavery to sense, so that they were delivered from this captivity never
again to fall into it, but to stand ready in perfect acquiescence to
receive His further leadings. Wherefore He gave them, by His beloved
Son, four precepts, according to which they should order their lives,
as St. Matthew tells us: “Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in
your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes,
nor yet staves.” He who only considers the matter aright, will find that
this drawing them up above the things of the body was very necessary,
if they were to enter the school of the Eternal Light. For this school
has four qualities. First, that it is raised far above all time, not only
in the third heaven, physically speaking, but above all the movements of
the heavenly bodies, and all else that is subject to time. In the second
place, that whatever may be found still remaining of self-appropriation
is not suffered to make itself a home and resting-place in the heart. In
the third place, in this school is perfect rest; for no storms, nor rain,
nor sin, nor aught that can bring change, is there. Fourthly, there reigns
perpetual light, clear and unbedimmed; for the sun and moon, which set
Here a question occurs: Since the Eternal Father draws some men from
earth by happiness, and others by pain, by which were the disciples most
strongly drawn? I answer: If you consider their life, you will find that
they were drawn to God much more by great hardships than by enjoyment; for
even while Christ dwelt with them, they were always suffering contempt,
and contradiction to their self-love; and after His holy death, until
they were lifted up as on this day, they were indeed well-nigh crushed to
the earth with sorrow and disappointment, before the bonds were withdrawn
from their eyes; and their Heavenly Father ordered it thus out of special
love toward them. To be drawn to God through pain is in itself a surer
way than by joy, as St. Gregory says, paraphrasing on the Psalmist:
“In time of persecution and tribulation, a thousand shall fall by thy
side; but in a time of prosperity and good fortune ten thousand shall
fall at thy right hand.” So, too, is it more like Christ in all His life
and death; and, moreover, it is a greater proof of love; for it is said:
“Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth. Wherefore, as the disciples were to receive many peculiar
Thirdly, their Heavenly Father drew them up above all the corporeal
ideas that they had of the humanity of Christ, making their minds as
bare of those and all other images, as they were when first created,
in order that henceforward, according to their necessities, they might
learn for evermore in the school of the Holy Spirit. For this we are able
to perceive four reasons. First; that truth and love, which are the end
of all teaching in all schools, have no images nor any existence outside
the soul; for no painting can, properly speaking, depict truth and love;
for they have no images, external or internal. No image or type which
we can devise to express love, is love itself; and it is the same with
truth. Next; that in the school of the Spirit, man does not learn through
books, which teach through outward images addressed to the senses; but
here the truth, which of its nature does not speak by means of images,
is spoken into the soul itself. Hence the humble St. Francis commanded
the brethren of his Order not to trouble themselves too much with books
and letters, and that those who were unlettered should not be anxious
about acquiring
In the Fourth place; the Holy Father drew them out of themselves,
and delivered them from all natural self-seeking, so that they stood at
rest, in true peace with themselves, and in perfect freedom. Then ceased
all the mourning, fears, and pain which they had suffered hitherto;
for in the lifting up of their souls, there was an act of such entire
self-surrender, that they reached the summit of that first stage of the
Christian course of which we have spoken above. Henceforward the Eternal
Father could fulfil His good pleasure in them without any resistance from
their will or natural inclinations. The Eternal Father thus drew them
upwards, that He might reign as a master in them, in His omnipotence,
greatness, unity, and love, and they should learn of Him and grow up
into His likeness. Hence it was needful that they should be drawn out of
themselves, because they could not be free, at one, noble and loving,
so long as they were held captive to Self. It may be asked: When the
disciples were thus drawn out of themselves, and all images were effaced
from their souls, was there an extinction of their natural powers,
so that they were dead to nature? I answer, No: their nature was not
extinguished, for they were much more truly according
Fifthly: the Heavenly Father drew His disciples, thus free and
acquiescing, into so close a union that He gave Himself as truly unto
them, as they had given themselves unto Him. Then all the desire of the
good pleasure of God was fulfilled, and also
Sixthly, the Eternal Father brought them into the highest school of
the Holy Spirit, in the which they straightway understood the mysteries
of the Holy Scriptures, and the simple naked truth of God, which cannot
be understood by any of the mere earthly masters in the schools. And
in this school the greatness of God was first laid open to them; and
therewith the gift of childlike fear of God sank down into their hearts,
and abode there unto their life’s end. Next, all power was given
unto them, and they were enabled always to look up to God; and herewith
they received the gift of strength. In the third place, they learnt not
only to obey the precepts, but also to apprehend the counsel of Christ,
and therewith they received the gift of counsel. Fourthly, He taught them
to feel the hidden sweetness of God, and gave them therewith the gift of
charity. Fifthly, He taught them how to observe and judge the creatures,
and to distinguish between the light of God and the suggestions of nature,
and therewith bestowed on them the gift of science. Sixthly, He taught
them to perceive aright their present condition, and all their previous
states, and gave them therewith the gift of understanding. Seventhly, He
taught them to be transformed into the likeness of God, by loving union
with Him, and gave them therewith the gift of wisdom. These sevenfold
Here a question arises: Did the disciples in this highest school of the Spirit obtain an insight into all those sciences which are learnt in the school of nature? I answer, Yes; it was given them to understand all science, whether touching the courses of the heavenly bodies, or what not, in so far as it might conduce to God’s glory, or concerned the salvation of man; but those points of science which bear no fruit for the soul, they were not given to know. This in no wise abated their happiness, or their perfection; for, as St. Augustine says: “He is a miserable man who knows all things, and does not know God; and he is happy who knows God, even though he know nothing else. But he who knows God and all else beside is not made more blessed thereby; for he is blessed through God alone.” That God may thus draw us up unto Himself, and shine into our inmost parts with the same truth, may He grant us of His grace! Amen!
(From the Gospel for the day)
This sermon telleth us of four measures that shall be rendered unto man, and of two grades of a godly life, and how we ought to love our neighbour.
WE read in the Gospel for this day that our Lord
Jesus Christ said: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father
also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not,
and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give,
and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken
together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the
same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. And
He spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they
not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but
every one that is perfect shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou
the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam
that is in thine own eye?
I will say a few words on the precept: “Be ye merciful, even as
your Father in heaven is merciful.” This noble virtue is, now-a-days,
quite a stranger to the hearts of many, insomuch that it is grievous to
behold. For each is called to exercise this mercy towards his neighbour,
whereinsoever the latter may have need of it; not only as regards the
giving of earthly goods, but also the bearing with his neighbour’s
faults in all gentleness and mercy. But no! each one falls upon his
neighbour and judges him; and as soon as any mishap befalls a man,
whether deserved or not, straightway, without waiting to take thought,
another comes along and lends a helping hand to make matters worse, to
put a bad face on them, and suggests the most evil interpretation that
he can imagine; nay, it is thanks to God if he do not add a great
piece from the stores of his own wicked imagination. This evil tongue
(from which arise untold sorrows and vexations) is at work at once
before a man has time to reflect and pass a deliberate judgment. Poor
creature! as thou lovest thy eternal salvation, wait, at all events, till
thou canst calmly reflect, and know what thou thinkest and sayest. For it
is a base and scandalous thing for a man thus thoughtlessly and rashly to
pass sentence, which may not even be deserved, upon his neighbours, with
his sharp, ruthless words, whereby he, spiritually speaking, slays
We read in the Gospel of four sorts of measure that shall be given to a man,—a good measure, one shaken together, one pressed down, and one running over. The doctors of divinity teach us that a good measure is for a man while in this present time, through the help and grace of God, to be in a state of salvation and holiness, whereby he may enter into eternal life hereafter. The second sort of measure is for the body of a justified man to be glorified with his soul at the day of judgment: this is the measure which is added to. The measure pressed down is, that a man should have his portion with all the saints and angels of God in eternal life. The measure running over is, that a man should have a perfect fruition of God directly without means.
Now, dear children, we will give you yet another exposition of
these words, and ask: First, what is the measure whereby we shall be
measured? Secondly, who is He that measures? The measure whereby we
shall be measured is the faculty of love in the soul—the human
Will. This is, properly speaking, the measure whereby all human words
and works and life are measured, for this is neither added to nor taken
from. By so large
After these, there is a second sort of men whom God has called
to tread a much higher path, that they may reach a much higher goal,
notwithstanding that some of these should have to pass through purgatory,
inasmuch as they have not lived perfectly and faultlessly according to
the vocation to
Now, children, would a man attain to such a point that the outward
things should not hinder the inward workings of the soul, that would be
indeed above all a blessed thing; for two things are better than one. But
if thou find that the outward work hinders the inward working of the soul,
then boldly let it go, and turn thou with all thy might to that which
is inward, for God esteemeth it far before that which is outward. Now
we priests do on this wise: for during the fast days in Lent we have
many services, but at Easter and Whitsuntide we shorten our services
and say fewer prayers, for the greatness of the festival. So likewise
do thou when thou art bidden to this high festival of inward converse;
and fear not to lay aside outward exercises, if else they would be a
snare and hindrance to thee, except in so far as thou art
Therefore, dear children, among all these excellent things, whichever most stirs you up to true devoutness and fervent desire, take, and humbly sink down into the abyss of God, with great thankfulness, and wait for God with this preparation. For, by such exercises, with love, the soul becomes very quick to feel God’s touch, far more so than by any outward practices of devotion. For the inward work is always better than the outward; and from it the outward works of virtue draw all their power and efficacy. It is as if thou hadst a noble excellent wine, of such virtue that a drop of it poured into a cask of water would be enough to make all the water taste like wine and turn it into good wine. This would be a great miracle; and so it is with the noble, excellent, inward work of the soul compared to the outward.
Now, we find some men whose love is like a very broad vessel; that is they can meditate a great deal upon our Lord, and with great desire and fervour, but they are hardly two inches deep. That is to say, they lack humility and a common godlike love toward all mankind. For, as St. Augustine says, “Salvation does not depend on the length of time that a person has been converted to God, nor on the number of good deeds performed, but solely on the greatness of his love.” This we see in the example of the husbandmen who, with great labour, till the wheat-fields and precious vineyards, yet partake not themselves of these best fruits of the earth, but have only rye to eat and water to drink. So it is with many persons, in a spiritual sense, with regard to the outward good works which they do, that other more noble-minded and devout persons reap the fruit and benefit thereof.
Next comes the measure that is shaken together; and this signifies
an overflowing love which draws all things into itself; that is to say,
all good deeds and all sorrows, nay every good which is brought to pass in
the world, whether by good or wicked men, does this overflowing love draw
into its own vessel. And he who possesses this love has a much larger
ownership and delight in the good actions of another, who does those
actions but lacks this love, than the doer himself. Therefore, of all
the pious acts, the masses, vigils, and psalters that are read and sung,
the many great sacrifices that are made for God’s sake,—of
all these good things is more meted and allotted to such loving men
than to those who may have done the good works, but do not stand in this
overflowing love. For I tell thee that God will not accept the
Ofttimes too does the Evil One come and seduce thee into anger with a
pious and good man. If thou utterest this by passing a judgment on him,
in thus cutting thyself off from the fellowship of his love, thou art
also cut off from participation in the benefits of the gifts with which
God has endowed him, and the works of his virtue. Of this brotherly
fellowship the Psalmist says: “It is like the precious ointment upon the
head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that went
down to the skirts of his garments.” Now the beard has many hairs, and
the precious ointment flows into them all; but if one hair be cut off,
it receives none of this precious ointment. In like manner, so long as
thou hast a whole and undivided love towards all men, a share of the
virtues and divine influences bestowed upon
God touches this brimming vessel with His finger, and it overflows, and pours itself back again into its Divine source, from whence it has proceeded. It flows back into its source without channel or means, and loses itself altogether; will, knowledge, love, perception, are all swallowed up and lost in God, and become one with Him. Now God loveth Himself in these men, and worketh in them all their works. The gush and outflowing of this love cannot be contained within the man’s own soul, but he hath a yearning desire, and saith: “Oh! my beloved Lord Jesus Christ, I beseech Thee to have compassion upon poor sinners, and to forgive them their sins and misdoings; and especially upon those who, after having done good works, have lost the same again by reason of sin; and grant them, dear Lord, the crumbs that fall from the rich table of Thy grace; and of Thy goodness turn them from their sins through the pains of purification, and impart unto them the overflowings of Thy grace, that through Thy merits they may be kept unto the end.” Thus do these Elect men carry up all things, themselves and all creatures, to their true source in God, and take all things that are done in the holy Christian Church, and offer them up, from a joyful, humble, submissive heart, to their eternal, heavenly Father, for themselves and for all men, bad and good; for their love excludes none here in this time of grace, and they are always in unity with all men. No love or blessedness that the saints or angels possess is lost to them, but all is poured into their measure.
Verily, had we none of these godlike men among us at this present time, we were doubtless in evil case. Therefore let us all beseech the God of all mercy, that we may fulfil and receive again this measure that runneth over. Amen.
(From the Epistle for the day)
Admonishing each man to mark what is the office to which he is called of God, and teaching us to practise works of love and virtue, and to refrain from self-will.
ST. PAUL tells us in this Epistle that there are different kinds of works, but that they are all wrought by the same Spirit to the profit and well-being of man. For they all proceed from the same God who works all in all. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom, to another faith;” and so Paul goes on enumerating many gifts; but repeats that “all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” And he says many things for the confirmation of our faith.
In old times the Holy Ghost has wrought very great and wondrous deeds
through his servants for a
Now let us meditate on these words of St. Paul: “There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Children, if you look around you, you see that you have bodies, and that these bodies have many members and many senses, and that each member, such as the eye, the mouth, the nose, the hands, the feet, has its own special office and work. No one of these takes upon itself to be another, nor to do anything but what God has ordained unto it. In like manner, we are all one body, and members one of another, and Christ is the head of the body. In this body there is a great diversity of members; the one is an eye, the other an ear, the third a hand or a foot or a mouth. The eyes of the body of the holy Christian Church are her teachers. This office is none of yours; but let us common Christians look to see what is our office, to the which our Lord has called and bidden us, and what is the gift of which our Lord has made us the vessels. For every art or work, however unimportant it may seem, is a gift of God, and all these gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit for the profit and welfare of man.
Let us begin with the lowest. One can spin, another can make shoes,
and some have great aptness for all sorts of outward arts, so that they
can earn a great deal, while others are altogether without this
Whence comes it then, that we have so many complaints, each saving
that his occupation is a hindrance to him, while notwithstanding his
work is of God, who hindereth no man? Whence comes this inward reproof
and sense of guilt which torment and disquiet you? Dear children, know
that it is not
And wherever you see the aged, the sick, the helpless, you should
run to their assistance, and strive with each other in fulfilling works
of love—each helping the other to bear his burden. If thou dost
not so, be sure that God will take thy work from thee, and
If, when at thy work, thou feel thy spirit stirred within thee, receive it with solemn joy, and thus learn to do thy work in God, instead of straightway fleeing from thy task. Thus should ye learn to exercise yourselves in virtue; for ye must be exercised if ye are to come to God. Do not expect that God will pour virtue into you without your own effort. You should never trust in virtue that has not yet been put into practice, nor believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have entered into a man, unless the man hath given evidence thereof in his own labours, outward or inward. Once as a good man was standing, threshing his corn, he fell into a trance; and if an angel had not turned aside the flail, he would have struck himself with it. Now ye are all craving to be thus set free from your work, and this comes, for the most part, from sloth; each would fain be an eye, and give himself to contemplation rather than to work.
I know a man who has the closest walk with God of any I ever saw, and
who has been all his life a husbandman,—for more than forty years,
and is so still. This man once asked the Lord in prayer if he should
give up his occupation and go into the Church; and it was answered him,
No; he should labour, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow, to
the glory of Christ’s precious blood, shed for him. But let each
choose some suitable time in the course of every four-and-twenty hours,
in which he can give his whole mind to earnest meditation, each after
his own fashion. Those nobler men who are able to turn to God simply
without the aid of images
Children, it is of this coming out from our own self-will, that the
true, solid peace is begotten and springs forth, and it is the fruit of
long-tried virtue. Unless thy peace come from this, be sure that it is
false; for inwardly and outwardly thou must be exercised. But the peace
that comes from within none can take away. Now some foolish men, who are
puffed up in their own conceit, come and say that ye ought to do this
and that, and want to direct every man’s mind according to their
own opinion and their own notions and practices. And many of them have
lived for forty years in the profession of religion, and to this day do
not know what is their own real state. They are much bolder than I. I
hold the office of an instructor; and when people come and consult me, I
inquire how it stands with them, and how they came into this state. Yet I
dare not pass a judgment on them; but I lay their case before the Lord,
and if He does not give me what I shall speak, I say to them: Dear
children, seek help yourselves from God, and He will give it you. But
you want to judge and set an estimate on every man, trying him by the
Now St. Paul says, that the Holy Ghost, by His operations, teaches us the discerning of spirits. Children, who do you suppose are the men to whom God gives this power of discerning the spirits? Know ye, that the men who have this gift have been thoroughly exercised in all ways: by their own flesh and blood, and have gone through the most cruel and perplexing temptations: and the devil has been in them, and they in him, and they have been tried and tested to the very marrow; these are the men who can discern the spirits. When they are minded to do this, they consider a man, and straightway they discern his spirit, whether it be of God or no, and what are the nearest roads of access for him, and what is holding him back from God. Oh! how greatly to our hurt do we fall short of the noblest, highest truth through such trifling, mean things; for the sake of which we must suffer loss for ever and ever, so long as God is eternal. For what we here miss through our own neglect will never be made up to us hereafter. But may God help all of us truly to fulfil the offices and works which His Spirit has committed to us and taught us to perform, each doing as he is inwardly monished by the Holy Ghost! Amen.
(From the Epistle for the day)
Teaching us that we ought to receive God, in all His gifts, and in all His burdens, with true long-suffering.
THERE are two sorts of men among God’s friends;
those of the Old Testament, and those of the New. All the men who should
be saved before the birth of Christ had to observe the old dispensation
with all its rites, until the new dispensation came with its laws and
its rites. The old law served as a way unto the new, and was a perfect
foreshadowing of it. And this new law we have under our very eyes, but
it was the old law that prepared us to receive it. And everything that is
meant to receive somewhat must first be made able to receive. The old law
had many intolerable burdens, and terrible judgments for offenders, and a
far sterner manifestation of the justice of God, with a dark, distant hope
of redemption. For five thousand years the gates were altogether closed
Dear children, behold! this thing must be brought to pass after a
very different fashion from what you like to dream; but hold fast the
doctrine of God, and let him who hath received it be wise, and hold it
fast as long as he hath it. But submit and endure God’s dealings
in all that befalls you, through whomsoever it may come. If you would
come to the new law, you must first suffer under the old one, and be
subject to it in the humility of your hearts. So, whatever consolation
may be granted you, spiritual or earthly, it will not follow you all
your course through. And you must travel this road and no other; turn
it which way you will, it must be even so. Therefore, dear children,
learn to do without the Holy Sacraments, spiritual light, the sense of
God’s presence, and all human help. Dearly beloved, bow down your
old man under the yoke of the old law, with all meekness and resignation,
and receive all God’s gifts with all their burdens. Of a truth,
His burdens are light and His yoke is easy. Children, I commend you from
the bottom of my heart into the captivity of the Cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ; that it may be
The second burden of the old law was its awful judgments, and
stern display of God’s justice. This is manifested in many
ways—by afflictions and by the gnawings of conscience. Now some
try to work themselves out of this by confession. But if you were to
confess your sins a thousand times, it would avail you nothing, save
indeed the confessing of mortal sin, accompanied by satisfaction for
it. The rest leave humbly to God, and bear what He appoints unto you,
till He of His mercy send you relief. But confess all to Him inwardly in
your soul, to the very last tittle, with humble submission to His will,
and acquiescing in His unknown judgments, without looking to yourself
or to other men for help. Meanwhile there are some who endeavour to
get rid of the burden of sin by asking counsel and hearing preachers,
hoping to hear somewhat that may afford
The third characteristic of the old law was that it had a dark hope
of a distant redemption; for the gates were closed, and there was no
prophet who could tell when the redemption might come to pass.
In the Old Testament the Levites bare the ark, but here the holy
ark bears us. Thus, whoso will not yield to God in His justice and His
judgments, without doubt he shall fall under God’s eternal justice
and eternal condemnation; it cannot be otherwise. Turn it as thou wilt,
thou must give
(From the Gospel for the day)
This sermon tells us how a man who truly loves God, whose ears have been opened to receive the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, is neither lifted up in joy nor cast down in sorrow.
WE read in the Gospel for this day, that as our blessed Lord was going from one place to another, they brought unto Him a man who was born deaf and dumb; as must needs be; for he who is born deaf must also be dumb; for since he has never heard, he does not know what speech is. The Lord put His fingers into the ears of this deaf man, and touched his tongue with His spittle, and said, “Be opened.” And when the people saw what was done, they came together and wondered at the miracle; saying: “He hath done all things well; He maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.”
Children, it behoves us greatly to mark what it is
Now the Word is spoken into no man’s ear, except he have the
love of God; for Christ says: “If ye love me, hear my words.” On this
point says St. Gregory: “Wilt thou know whether thou love God? take
note when cares, troubles, or sorrows overtake thee (from within or
from without, whencesoever they come), and weigh down thy spirit so
that thou knowest not which way to turn, nor what is to become of thee,
and canst find no counsel and art outwardly in a storm of affliction,
in unwonted perplexity and sore distress; if thou then remainest inwardly
at peace and unmoved in the bottom of thy heart, so that thou dost not in
any wise falter, either by complaint, or in word, or work, or gesture,
then there is no doubt that thou lovest God.” For where there is true
love, a man is neither out of measure lifted up by prosperity, nor cast
down by mishap; whether you give or take away from him, so long as he
keeps his beloved, he has a spring of inward peace. Thus, even though
thy outward man grieve, or weep downright, that may well be borne, if
only thy inner man remain at peace, perfectly content with the will of
God. But if thou dost not find it thus with thee, then thou art
Further, thou mayest try by this test whether thou hast the right sort of love; namely, whether thou hast a lively thankfulness for the great benefits which God has bestowed upon thee and all His creatures in Heaven and on earth, and for His holy Incarnation, and for all the manifold gifts which are ever flowing out from Him to all men. And this thankfulness shall comprehend all men, even as it shall spring from love to all; whether they be clergy or laymen, monks, nuns, or in whatever condition of life they be, or whatever be their conduct, thou shalt cherish an honest, true love for them, not a concealed self-love, or self-seeking. This real, universal love is a source of measureless benefits. Know ye, children, that where men are true, glorified friends of God, their hearts melt with tenderness towards all mankind, living or dead; and if there were none such on the earth, the world were in an evil plight. Moreover, thou shalt let thy love shine forth before men, so far as in thee lies, imparting to them of thy substance, and giving them comfort, help, and counsel. It is true that thou must minister to thine own necessities; but when thou hast nothing to spare, thy love should be still lively, wishing that thou hadst aught to give, and ready to do to the utmost of thy power. These are the true signs of love and that a man is not spirtually deaf.
Now when our Lord comes and puts his finger into a man’s ear
and touches his tongue, how eloquent will he become! O children, of this
wondrous things might be said! But we will now consider the seven gifts
of the Spirit, given to man
(From the Gospel for the day)
This sermon forbiddeth all carefulness, and telleth in what righteousness consisteth, and rebukes sundry religious people and their works, likening their ways to simony.
IN this passage, the Son of God gives us a similitude,
bidding man, who is a reasonable creature, to look at the flowers that
deck the face of the earth, and at the unreasoning fowls of the air,
saying: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you that Solomon, in all his
glory, was not arrayed like one of these!” “Behold the fowls
of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into
barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better
than they?” “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your
Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But
Children, once before, the Son of God had said that no man could serve
two masters, that is to say, God and Mammon, or the riches of this world;
for he must love the one, and hate the other. It is indeed a wonder
passing our understanding how much is comprehended in these words. We
ought to set them up before our eyes as a mirror, and let them be our
constant motto. How clearly does Christ here instruct us in the truth
with plain unvarnished words and pertinent figures, when, forbidding us
to be anxious about earthly and perishable things, he says: “Which
of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Therefore,
ye of little faith, seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Children, ye see well by this
discourse how far we all are in common from living according to the
simple truth of things, in all our earthly relationships. But know
that there is an inward secret defect lurking under the cloak of our
anxiety about daily things, a sinful, though unconscious covetousness,
which is one of the seven deadly sins. And this sin, working silently
and unperceived in the hearts both of worldly and religious people,
is the cause of the greatest evils that afflict this earth. Let each,
for instance, only mark narrowly, in himself and others, the marvels of
labour and ingenuity invented and wrought on all sides, each striving
to outdo his fellow for the sake of earthly gain. If we were to probe
to the bottom the workings of this false principle in worldly and in
religious people, it could hardly be told how deeply its roots have
struck, and how widely they have spread below the surface.
Thou poor blind man, spiritual in outward vesture but not in reality,
why shouldst thou not trust that the God who has done thee so great a
benefit in redeeming thee from the carking cares of this false, wicked
world, that He is also willing to give thee such poor mean things as
are needful for thy earthly sustenance? And is it not a pitiful thing
that a religious man should spend his whole industry, and sole effort,
and have his thoughts turned, day and night, upon his own little doings,
and should be so full of them that he can hardly properly hold converse
with God, or his own heart? And if what he has in hand succeeds, he feels
no impulse urging him onwards towards eternal things, except in so far
as it may be necessary to secure his own salvation, and from the delight
that he may find in his own good works; and he is as much taken up with
petty personal cares as worldly people are with weightier things.
St. Peter says: “Cast all your care upon God, for He careth for
you.” This carefulness concerning outward things works a man three great
injuries. It blinds his reason and good sense; it quenches the fire of
love, and destroys all its fervour and heat; and it blocks up the ways
of secret access to God. It is like a noxious vapour, or thick smoke,
that rises up and chokes a man’s breath. This care is born of the
sin and vice of covetousness. Therefore look well to your footsteps,
and see with what ye hold converse while you are in this present state,
and seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, that you may find
and discover it where it lies hidden in the inmost depths of the soul,
that it do not moulder away or remain unfruitful within you. But to this
end, he who purposes manfully to withstand himself, the Devil, and
the world, must sustain many bold, valiant conflicts, without rest or
intermission. For the Kingdom of God will never be truly found except
these faults be first cast off; and this is not the work of a day. For
whatever
Do good works, and exercise thyself in all virtue, and God shall
give thee a great reward, in so far as thou hast kept thyself from
judging thy neighbour, and hast not preferred thyself before him, for
that would ill become thee. Dear children, be on your guard against
this subtle self-seeking of nature, that ye do not fulfil good works of
piety for the sake of any earthly reward; for that has somewhat of the
nature of simony, a sin which the holy Church abhors above all others,
and which is especially contrary to God’s righteousness; for God
is by his nature the end of all things, and thou settest in His stead,
as the end of thy works, an evil, mean, perishable thing. We should seek
God’s righteousness, but this is contrary to His righteousness;
therefore, children, beware of this evil principle within you, and seek
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; that is to say, seek God
alone, who is the true Kingdom for which
Not that we should tempt God; for it is our duty to exercise a
reasonable prudence in providing such things as are right, to the supply
of our necessities
Now some may ask, how we can say that God forsakes none that trust
Him, seeing that He often permits good men to suffer great poverty
and affliction. This He does, as Bishop Albert says, for three causes:
the first, that He may try them, and see whether they utterly believe
and trust Him; thus God often suffers men to be brought into distress
that he may teach them submission, and then succours them that they may
perceive His hand and His friendship and help; in order that their love
and gratitude may increase from that time forth, and they may draw closer
to God and become dearer to Him. Or again, God will by these troubles
shorten their purification hereafter; or again, He sends them distress
for a judgment on those who might relieve them and do it not. Therefore,
children, seek first the Kingdom of God, which is God Himself, and
nought else. When this cleaving to the creature is altogether cast off,
then will the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven, and so
shall the Father have the power and the glory for ever in
This Kingdom is seated properly in the inmost recesses of the spirit. When, through all manner of exercises, the outward man has been converted into the inward, reasonable man, and thus the two, that is to say, the powers of the senses and the powers of the reason, are gathered up into the very centre of the man’s being,—the unseen depths of his spirit, wherein lies the image of God,—and thus he flings himself into the Divine abyss, in which he dwelt eternally before he was created; then when God finds the man thus simply and nakedly turned towards Him, the Godhead bends down and descends into the depths of the pure, waiting soul, and transforms the created soul, drawing it up into the uncreated essence, so that the spirit becomes one with Him. Could such a man behold himself, he would see himself so noble that he would fancy himself God, and see himself a thousand times nobler than he is in himself, and would perceive all the thoughts and purposes, words and works, and have all the knowledge of all men that ever were.
Now thou shouldest look into the bottom of thy heart, and see whether
thou wouldest fain enter into this Kingdom, and partake of this high
dignity. Then were all thy cares over and gone for ever! This is the
Kingdom which we are told to seek first; and this is righteousness,
that we should set God before us, the rightful end of all our purposes
in all our
Now St. Paul tells us, however, that we must be careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Children, that peace which is found in the spirit and the inner life is well worth our care, for in that peace lies the satisfaction of all our wants. In it the Kingdom of God is discovered and His righteousness is found. This peace a man should allow nothing to take from him, whatever betide, come weal or woe, honour or shame. But ever keep thy inward man in the bond of peace, which consists in the common love of all to all; and set before you the lovely example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and see how His love wrought, leading Him to endure greater sufferings than all the saints or all mankind ever endured. For He was all His life more utterly destitute of consolation than any man ever was, and ended it by the bitterest death that man ever died; and yet in His highest powers He was never less blessed than He is at this moment. Now those who are most truly followers of Him in emptiness of outward consolation, and in true poverty, inward and outward, having no refuge or stay, and in no wise clinging to the creature, or seeking themselves, these come to discover, in the truest and noblest sort, the Kingdom of God. And this is God’s righteousness, that He will give us to find His Kingdom by treading in Christ’s footsteps, in true self-surrender and willing poorness of spirit. That we may all so seek the Kingdom of God as truly to find it, may He help us. Amen.
Of three grades of those who learn to die unto themselves, like corn of wheat, that they may bring forth fruit; or of those who are beginners, those who are advancing, and those who are perfect in a Divine life.
BY the corn of wheat we understand our Lord Jesus Christ, who by His death has brought forth much fruit for all men, if they are but willing not only to reign with Him, but also and in the first place desire to follow Him in a dying life. For this may be called a dying life, when a man for the love of God refuses to gratify his senses and take his natural pleasure, and follow his own will; and as many lusts as he dies to, so many deaths does he offer to God, and so many fruits of life will he receive in return. For in what measure a man dies to himself, and grows out of himself, in the same measure does God, who is our Life, enter into him.
Now mark, dear children, that the path of a man thus dying may be
divided into three stages. Those who have entered on the lowest stage,
do acts of self-denial
All such are standing on the lowest steps of a dying life, and if
they do not mortify themselves more, and come to experience more of what
a dying life is, it is to be feared, that they will fall back from that
little whereunto they have attained, and may plunge into depths of folly
and wickedness, from which God keep us all! But before a man comes to
such a fall, God gives him great spiritual delight; and upon this he is
so greatly rejoiced that he cheerfully endures all sorts of austerities
and penances, and then he weeneth that he hath arrived at perfection,
and begins to judge his neighbours, and wants to shape all men after his
own model, so greatly does he esteem himself in his own conceits. Then
God comes in His mercy to teach him what he is, and
The second degree in which the corn of wheat dies, is when a man is
called upon to endure insult, contempt, and such like deaths; and so long
as his grace lasts he would fain continue to suffer, for by the sense
of undeserved injury all his powers are but quickened and raised into a
higher state of activity. But when he is bereft of this gracious sense
of the Divine presence, forasmuch as he is still far from perfection,
he cannot bear up under this spiritual destitution, and, through his
infirmity, falls a prey to mistrust of God, and fancies that God has
forgotten him, and is not willing to help him towards perfection. Often he
is in a hundred minds what to do or not do, and if our Lord show him some
kindness, then he feels as if all were well between his soul and God, and
he feels himself so rich as if he could never more be poor, and thinks to
enjoy the presence and favour of God (though as yet he is quite untried)
Here we must mark that he who wishes to heal himself of such like grievous mistakes, and subdue such an unmortified nature, must take note of three points in himself. First, how much he has striven to endure cheerfully, for the sake of goodness, all the rebuke, slander, and shame that has come upon him, patiently enduring it in his heart without outward complaint. Secondly, how much in the time of his rebuke, shame, and distress he has praised and glorified God and his fellow-men, and shown kindness to his neighbour in all ways, in spite of all contradiction against himself. Thirdly, let him examine himself whether he have loved with cheerful and willing heart the men or creatures who have thus persecuted him, and sincerely prayed for them; and if he finds that he has not done so, and is unwilling to do so, but is hard and bitter in his grief, then he may surely know and ought to feel certain that there is something false in him, and some resting in the praise of men and in his own spiritual pride, and that he is not dead. He has not yet come to the second step in a dying life.
But our kind Lord, like a tender mother who is full of love, or
a wise physician who desires to restore a sick man to perfect health
by his powerful remedies, suffers him to fall many times, that he may
learn to know himself, and thus he falls into fleshly, unspiritual
temptations such as he never experienced in those past days, in which
he fancied himself very good and spiritual-minded. Out of mercy God
deprives him of all understanding, and overclouds all the light in which
he walked aforetime, and so hedges him in with the thorns of an anguished
conscience, that he thinks nothing else but that he is
And when he finds himself thus from the crown of his head to the sole
of his foot unlike God, and at variance with Him, he is filled with the
sense of his own unworthiness and with displeasure at himself, insomuch
that he can hardly abide himself; and then he thinks many miserable things
about himself from passages of Holy Scripture, and sheds many tears in
the sense of his sinfulness, till he is weighed down to the earth with
the pressure of God’s hand, and exclaims with the Prophet: “My
sins are more in number than the sands of the sea; they have taken hold
upon me that I am not able to look up; for I have stirred up God’s
anger against me, and done much evil in His sight.” These things
he saith, and more of the like. And at times he is not even able thus to
weep and lament and then he is still more tormented with tribulation and
assaults; for on the one hand he feels a strong desire to cast himself
down humbly and die to himself, and on the other he is conscious of great
pride and arrogance about himself, till he is so exasperated at himself,
that but for the dishonour to God he could fain kill himself. I believe
that all such conflict greatly wears out the intellectual and natural
powers, for it is so excessive, that one would rather suffer oneself to
be put to death than endure it. Yet one grace is left him, namely, that
he looks on it all as of no moment, whatever may be poured out over him,
if only he may not knowingly offend God.
In the second stage of the dying life God leads the soul through these exercises and operations of His hand as through fire and water by turns, until the workings of self-sufficiency are driven out from all the secret corners of the spirit, and the man henceforward is so utterly ashamed of himself, and so casts himself off, that he can never more ascribe any greatness to himself, but thoroughly perceives all his own weakness, in which he now is and always has been; and whatever he does or desires to do, or whatever good thing may be said of him, he does not take it to his own credit, for he knows not how to say anything else of himself, but that he is full of all manner of infirmity. Then he has reached the end of this stage; and he who has arrived at this point is not far from the threshold of great mercies, by which he shall enter into the bride-chamber of Christ. Then when the day of his death shall come, he shall be brought in by the Bridegroom with great rejoicing.
It is hard to die. We know that little trees do not strike their roots deep into the earth, and therefore they cannot stand long; so it is with all humble hearts, who do not take deep root in earth, but in heaven. But the great trees which have waxed high, and are intended to endure long upon the earth, these strike their roots deep, and spread them out wide into the soil. So it is with the men who in old times and now at this present have been great upon earth, they must needs through many a struggle and death, die unto themselves before all the self-sufficiency of their heart can be broken down, and they can be surely and firmly rooted for ever in humility. It does, however, happen sometimes that the Holy Spirit finds easier ways than those of which we have spoken, whereby He brings such souls to Himself.
The third degree in which the corn of wheat dies belongs only to the perfect, who, with unflagging diligence and ceaseless desire, are ever striving to approach perfection. These men’s state is one of mingled joy and sorrow, whereby they are tossed up and down; for the Holy Spirit is trying and sifting them, and preparing them for perfection, with two kinds of grief and two kinds of joy and happiness, which they have ever in their sight. The first grief is an inward pain and an overwhelming sorrow of heart, in the sense of the unspeakable wrong done to the Holy Trinity by all creatures, and specially by the bad Christians who are living in mortal sin. The second grief consists in their fellow-feeling for and experience of all the grief and pain which the human nature of Christ has undergone.
The first of the two joys lies in this dying; it is a
To this state a man cannot attain except he unite his will with God,
with an entire renunciation and perfect denial of himself, and all selfish
love of himself; and all delight in having his own will be over-mastered
and quenched by the shedding abroad in his heart of the Holy Spirit in
the love of God, so that it seem as though the Holy Spirit Himself were
the man’s will and love, and he were nothing and willed nothing
on his own account. Yea, even the kingdom of heaven he shall desire for
God’s sake and God’s glory, because Christ hath earned it
in order to supply his needs, and chooseth to bestow it on him as one
of His sons. When in this stage, a man loveth all things in their right
order, God above all things,—next the blessed (human) nature of
Christ, and after that the blessed Mother of Christ, and the saints of
all degrees, each according to the rank which God hath enabled him to
attain. When his affections are thus regulated, he sets himself in the
lowest place at the wedding-feast of the Bridegroom.
But he hath delight and joy in that he seeth that the goodness of God
is as great as his necessities, so that his life may well be called a
dying life by reason of such his griefs and joys which are conformable
and like unto the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, which from beginning
to end was always made up of mingled grief and joy. Grief, in that He
left His heavenly throne and came down into this world; joy, in that He
was not severed from the glory and honour of the Father. Grief, in that
He was a Son of Man; joy, in that He nevertheless was and remained the
Son of God. Grief, because He took upon Him the office of a servant;
joy, in that He was nevertheless a great Lord. Grief, because in
Thus was all His life, from the manger to the cross, a mingled web of grief and joy. Which life He hath left as a sacred testament to His followers in this present time, who are converted unto His dying life, that they may remember Him when they drink of His cup, and walk as He hath walked! May God help us so to do! Amen.
Of brotherly rebuke and admonition, how far it is advisable and seemly or not, and especially how prelates and governors ought to demean themselves toward their subjects.
THIS is the lesson which St. Paul gives to his beloved disciple Timothy, whom he set to rule over men, and it equally behoves all pastors of souls and magistrates, to possess these two things,—long-suffering and doctrine.
First, it is their office to rebuke all open sinners, whom they may possibly bring to a better way, and especially those over whom they are set in authority, that they may reveal the truth unto them, for this is needful, and in many places Scripture doth tell us how we ought to teach, rebuke, and exhort those who are committed to our charge, each according to the office which he holds, as St. Gregory has sufficiently shown and set forth in his Pastoral, wherefore we will refrain for the present from saying more on that point.
But we will rather turn to the second point, which
In thus speaking, I except those who are bound by their office in the
holy Christian Church to rebuke others. Let them wisely beware how they
reprove, and for what causes, so that they rebuke none with an irritable
demeanour, or with harsh and angry words, from which much trouble and
toil do spring, for that they have no right to do, but it is permitted
to them to reprove those who are under them for their own amendment. But
alas! it happens for the most part now-a-days that those who occupy the
highest places do often and greatly forget themselves in these respects,
and hence their rebukes do not produce any amendment, but only anger and
alienation of heart. For if they were to instruct those who are under
their care in the fear of God, in such wise that the people could mark
and be sure that it was done solely for the saving of their souls,
But I beseech you examine yourselves, whether you do in truth love those whom you are punishing so bitterly out of reverence and zeal for righteousness as you suppose. For when we see men punishing and oppressing with such vehemence those who are under them, or treating them so harshly with sharp words and sour looks, it is to be feared that there is more reproof given out of crabbed impatience, than for the sake of righteousness from the true ground of charity and kindness, especially by those who have not yet experienced the inward joy of hearty sweetness and godly love: for the soul that has not yet experienced inward love and divine sweetness does not know how to hold a discreet mien and just language in rebuking; but genuine love teaches us how we ought to treat those who are worthy of punishment.
Now let him who has to punish in virtue of his office first take
account of God’s dishonour and the injury done to the souls of his
flock, and then rebuke with sweet, loving words and patient demeanour
and
They shall show no partiality in their affections, neither for their
own glory nor yet towards particular persons, but they shall embrace
all their flock in the arms of a common love, as a mother does her
children. To the weak they should ever show the greatest love and care,
and without ceasing lift up their hearts unto God in prayer, earnestly
beseeching Him to guard and defend the people committed to their charge,
and not indulging in any self-glorification. Likewise, so far as it rests
with them, let them be the first to do such works as they would wish to
see their people do: for so it stands, that, with the help of God, all
may be accomplished to a good end, when those in authority are inclined
to virtue, for
But for those who have received no commission to govern other men, but stand in a private character without office, it is needful that they secretly judge themselves inwardly, and beware of judging all things without, for in such judgments we do commonly err, and the true position of things is generally very far otherwise from that which it appears to us, as we often come to discover afterwards. On this point remember the proverb: “He is a wise man who can turn all things to the best.”
May God help us so to do! Amen.
Of three sorts of spiritual temptation by which holy men are secretly assailed; to wit: spiritual unchastity, covetousness, and pride.
ALL our life (says Job), so long as we are upon earth,
is full of struggle and temptation, insomuch that this life is not called
a life by the Saints, but a temptation. When one temptation is over,
straightway others are awaiting us, and the cause is that our Lord will
have us to go and bring forth fruit; and the fruit is to walk in the
ways of God and go forward; for the fruit consists in the very overcoming
of temptation, from which we may draw out a hidden spiritual sweetness,
as the bees suck honey from the thorn-bushes as well as from all other
flowers. He who has not been tempted, knows nothing, nor lives as yet, say
the wise man Solomon, and the holy teacher St. Bernard. We find more than
a thousand testimonies in Scripture to the great profit of temptation;
for it is the special sign of the love of God towards a man for him to be
Now observe, dear children, that there are two kinds of temptation. The one is carnal, and has its sphere in the kingdom of sense in this present life, as when a man is tempted through his outward senses to seek his happiness in other men, be they friends or relations, or any others, or to undue fondness for the outward show of life, such as dress, jewels, books, instruments, a pleasant abode, and other transitory creatures, and wilfully cleaves thereunto with manifold affections, and they stick to him like burrs. At times our outward senses are left in peace, and are quit of assaults, yet is the man strangely assaulted inwardly in his flesh and blood by unseemly thoughts; but, however impure may be these temptations, and however horrible they may look, they cannot of themselves defile a man’s purity. St. Gregory says: “Temptations do not defile a man except through his own slackness and want of diligence in turning aside from them.”
The other sort of temptation is inward and spiritual, and has its
seat in the realm of the intellect. The workings of the Spirit and of
Nature are so mingled together and interwoven as long as we are in this
present life, that all our inward exercises and converse with God are
carried on at the same time with all the motions and workings of
Now mark: it is to be counted as spiritual unchastity or wantonness,
when a man seeks himself too much, and with eager desire strives after
warmth and sensible devoutness, to the end that he may always be in a
state of contentment, and none may have a right to reprove him, though he
should give himself to his own special prayers and religious exercises,
while leaving unfulfilled the work that is his duty. When such an one
has none of these sweet emotions, he is quite troubled and becomes
peevish and very impatient in the trifling mishaps that befall him,
though they are really of no importance whatever; and when he cannot
enjoy or obtain inward peace according to his desire, he complains of the
great grievances and temptations which he has to endure. St. Bernard says
that our Lord bestows these graces of sensible emotion upon such as
Spiritual covetousness is when a man is always coveting to have more
than bare necessaries while pursuing this earthly pilgrimage. For what
more should a pilgrim take with him by the way than such things as are
needful to sustain him till he come safely to his home? Believe me,
it is a great blemish in true outward poverty to desire aught beyond
Spiritual pride is when a man is not willing to be put to shame in his
own eyes on account of his transgressions, but is ever trying to excuse
and gloss over his faults, and is never willing to abase himself, even
in small matters. And this often leads people to make many useless and
wrong speeches in order to excuse themselves and to justify themselves
in every respect; as much as to say, I am not the man to be accused of
this and that; and they are unwilling to remember, or consider, that
he who cannot clear himself with the simple truth will not be helped
by the untruths by which he often adds to his guilt; and that a man
who humbles himself before God is more in his eyes than an arrogant,
self-righteous man, who deems himself able to answer for all his deeds
with his own righteousness. Hearken, dear child; what does all our
righteousness come to at last? Isaiah says: “All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags;” and however great our righteousness is, or might
become, yet, if the Lord should sit in judgment on us, without doubt we
should have to confess ourselves His debtors, and place all our hope in
His mercy. The Lord often disciplines a man by his own failings,
But in order to keep yourselves from these sins, and withstand this kind of temptation, you must observe three rules which I will tell you. The first is: none of the inward difficulties that rise up from within, or the adverse circumstances that stay our hands from working, by which we are drawn or pressed into likeness and conformity to the humble image of Christ and His saints (not alone outwardly, but that of their inward condition), can be the work either of evil spirits or of nature, but without a doubt come from God. For He is the Highest Good, and from the Highest Good nought but what is good can flow; and all the goodness that God gives us of His stores, and that we render back again to Him, has proceeded from Him as its source; just as all streams flow back again to their source, the Ocean whence they have arisen, and all things do rejoice in their return. But all that draws us and leads us aside from such conformity and likeness proceeds without doubt from the Spirit of Evil, who is ever on the watch to disturb and draw us down, as our Lord said: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathereth not with me, scattereth.” This rule is against the first spiritual vice, that of wantonness.
The second rule is: Whatever befalls a man inwardly,
The third rule is: Whatever befalls a man by which he is lessened
and humbled in his own inmost emotions, and which makes him bend under
the Almighty Hand of God, under all creatures, abasing and annihilating
himself in true humility, this comes no doubt from God. For as Lucifer
and his followers desired to be great and lofty, and
Thus does every being do and teach according to that which is his essence, drawing into his own likeness all whom there are to draw, as far as in him lies. The Evil Spirit is puffed up in his own obstinate conceit, and in the loftiness of his pride is so hardened and unbending in his own stiff-necked will and purpose, that neither to win heaven nor for anything else, will he humble himself for one moment, so fixed is he in his evil mind. So likewise is it with all the proud who have learnt of him to trust in their own understandings above all other men’s opinion and reason; wherefore they fall into strife and variance with their neighbours, which begets much trouble and disquiet of heart, and hence arise many breaches of brotherly love. They will take reproof from none, and grow so hardened in their own obstinate evil will, and set upon their purposes, that they rashly dare to withstand all the admonitions of God and His friends, as the Jewish scribes and priests withstood our blessed Lord; and of such the prophet Isaiah, speaking in the person of Christ, complains: “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.”
But our blessed Lord, on the contrary, is meek and humble, yea, He is
himself the essence of humility, whereunto He is unceasingly drawing all
men whom there are to draw, and who are willing to be drawn. His Being
is the cause, the essence,
Now Richardus says: “I receive Christ not alone on the cross, but also in His transfiguration on Mount Tabor. But I may not receive Him there except I find James, Peter and John, Moses and Elias with Him, who bear witness to me that it is truly Christ.” That is to say: in all our distresses, in all our painful inward destitution, we may boldly believe that Christ is present with us; but if He appears to us on the Mount of inward Contemplation, we need these witnesses that we may not enjoy the fruition of His gifts in a wanton spirit for the satisfaction of our own desires, nor too ardently covet more of His good gifts than we can put to a good use; but may ever abase ourselves so thoroughly that we fall not into any spiritual pride. These are the true witnesses that we may freely receive Christ in His glory on the heights of Mount Tabor without hindrance or error, for where these witnesses are of a truth, there we cannot be deceived by the Spirit of Falsehood. May Almighty God help us so to do! Amen.
THE END
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