On
Cleaving to God
(De
Adhaerendo Deo)
Saint Albert the Great
table of contents:
Translated
by John Richards
Translator’s
Introduction
This
famous and much loved little treatise, On Cleaving to God, De
Adhaerendo Deo) has
always been attributed to Saint Albert the Great, who lived from
about 1200 to 1280, and was one of the most respected theologians of
his time. He was moreover a voluminous writer in the scholastic
tradition, and, amongst other things, Bishop of Ratisbonne and one of
the teachers of Eckhart at Paris University. The Latin text of which
this is a translation is found in volume 37 of his Opera Omnia
published in Paris in 1898.
However
almost all modern scholars are agreed that the work could not have
been written by him, at least certainly not in its present form. It
contains many implicit references and quotations from writers who
lived well after Albert the Great. It is quite clear from the opening
words of the treatise that it is in essence the private anthology of
a contemplative or would-be contemplative, culled from many different
sources, and including thoughts of his own. From the references
included, it would seem to belong, at least in its present form to an
unknown writer of the fifteenth century. However, it has often been
pointed out that the first nine chapters seem to be of a somewhat
different character to the remaining seven. Indeed most of the
directly contemplative and mystical material in the work is contained
in this first half, while the second section is concerned largely
with more general matters of ordinary Christian piety. It has
therefore been suggested that it is perhaps possible that a later
hand has to some extent reworked and extended an original, shorter
text, that could perhaps even go back to Albert the Great. Albert, we
know, wrote a commentary on the teachings of the famous St.
Dionysius, and this work, particularly in the first nine chapters is
full of “Dionysian” themes. This could indicate that
these chapters at least may belong to Albert the Great, or,
alternatively, it could explain how it came to be attributed to him.
The fact remains, whichever way round, that the work stands on its
own merits as a classic of Western contemplative mysticism in the Via
Negativa tradition.
It has indeed been frequently called a supplement to the Imitation of
Christ.
In view of
all these considerations, and in view of the fact that the work has
always been attributed to Albert the Great (and all libraries and
catalogues include it under his name), I have felt it best to leave
it attached to his name, though with the above reservations. After
all, Anonymous has dozens of works attributed to him that were
actually written by someone else, so perhaps for once it is only fair
to attribute an anonymous work to an actual person. Anyone who has
ever tried to look for a work by Anonymous in a big library catalogue
will, I feel confident, be grateful to me
Like
Anonymous, I lay no claims to copyright on this translation. I commit
it, and a copy of the Latin original, to the deep in sure and certain
hope that it will do its own work.
John Richards
"ON Cleaving to god"
On the
highest and supreme perfection of man, in so far as it is possible in
this life
(De ultima et summa perfectione hominis, quantum in hac vita possibile est.)
I have
had the idea of writing something for myself on and about the state
of complete and full abstraction from everything and of cleaving
freely, confidently, nakedly and firmly to God alone, so as to
describe it fully (in so far as it is possible in this abode of exile
and pilgrimage), especially since the goal of Christian perfection is
the love by which we cleave to God. In fact everyone is obligated, to
this loving cleaving to God as necessary for salvation, in the form
of observing the commandments and conforming to the divine will, and
the observation of the commandments excludes everything that is
contrary to the nature and habit of love, including mortal sin.
Members of religious orders have committed themselves in addition to
evangelical perfection, and to the things that constitute a voluntary
and counselled perfection by means of which one may arrive more
quickly to the supreme goal which is God. The observation of these
additional commitments excludes as well the things that hinder the
working and fervour of love, and without which one can come to God,
and these include the renunciation of all things, of both body and
mind, exactly as one’s vow of profession entails. Since indeed
the Lord God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in
spirit and in truth, in other words, by knowledge and love, that is,
understanding and desire, stripped of all images. This is what is
referred to in Matthew 6.6, ‘When you pray, enter into your
inner chamber,’ that is, your inner heart, ‘and having
closed the door,’ that is of your senses, and there with a pure
heart and a clear conscience, and with faith unfeigned, ‘pray
to your Father,’ in spirit and in truth, ‘in secret.’
This can be done best when a man is disengaged and removed from
everything else, and completely recollected within himself. There, in
the presence of Jesus Christ, with everything, in general and
individually, excluded and wiped out, the mind alone turns in
security confidently to the Lord its God with its desire. In this way
it pours itself forth into him in full sincerity with its whole heart
and the yearning of its love, in the most inward part of all its
faculties, and is plunged, enlarged, set on fire and dissolved into
him.
How
one can cling to and seek Christ alone, disdaining everything else
(Qualiter
quis, omnibus aliis spretis, soli Christo inhaereat et intendat?)
Certainly,
anyone who desires and aims to arrive at and remain in such a state
must needs above all have eyes and senses closed and not be inwardly
involved or worried about anything, nor concerned or occupied with
anything, but should completely reject all such things as irrelevant,
harmful and dangerous. Then he should withdraw himself totally within
himself and not pay any attention to any object entering the mind
except Jesus Christ, the wounded one, alone, and so he should turn
his attention with care and determination through him into him - that
is, though the man into God, through the wounds of his humanity into
the inmost reality of his divinity. Here he can commit himself and
all that he has, individually and as a whole, promptly, securely and
without discussion, to God’s unwearying providence, in
accordance with the words of Peter, cast all your care upon him (1
Peter 5.7), who can do everything. And again, In nothing be anxious
(Philippians 4.6), or what is more, Cast your burden upon the Lord,
and he will sustain you. (Psalm 55.22) Or again, It is good for me to
hold fast to God, (Ps. 73.28) and I have always set up God before me.
(Psalm 16.8) The bride too in the Song of Songs says, I have found
him whom my soul loves, (Canticle 3.4) and again, All good things
came to me along with her. (Wisdom 7.11) This, after all, is the
hidden heavenly treasure, none other than the pearl of great price,
which must be sought with resolution, esteeming it in humble
faithfulness, eager diligence, and calm silence before all things,
and preferring it even above physical comfort, or honour and renown.
For what good does it do a religious if he gains the whole world but
suffers the loss of his soul? Or what is the benefit of his state of
life, the holiness of his profession, the virtue of his habit and
tonsure, or the outer circumstances of his way of life if he is
without a life of spiritual humility and truth in which Christ abides
through a faith created by love. This is what Luke means by, the
Kingdom of God (that is, Jesus Christ) is within you. (Luke 17.21)
What
the perfection of man consist of in this life
(Quae sit
conformitas perfectionis hominis in hac vita?)
Now the more
the mind is concerned about thinking and dealing with what is merely
lower and human, the more it is separated from the experience in the
intimacy of devotion of what is higher and heavenly, while the more
fervently the memory, desire and intellect is withdrawn from what is
below to what is above, the more perfect will be our prayer, and the
purer our contemplation, since the two directions of our interest
cannot both be perfect at the same time, being as different as light
and darkness. He who cleaves to God is indeed translated into the
light, while he who clings to the world is in the dark. So the
supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that
all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into
the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers
nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but
with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly
in the enjoyment of his Maker alone.
Now the image of God as
found in the soul consists of these three faculties, namely reason,
memory and will, and so long as they are not completely stamped with
God, the soul is not yet deiform in accordance with the initial
creation of the soul. For the true pattern of the soul is God, with
whom it must be imprinted, like wax with a seal, and carry the mark
of his impress. But this can never be complete until the intellect is
perfectly illuminated, according to its capacity, with the knowledge
of God, who is perfect truth, until the will is perfectly focused on
the love of the perfect good, and until the memory is fully absorbed
in turning to and enjoying eternal happiness, and in gladly and
contentedly resting in it. And since the glory of the beatitude which
is achieved in our heavenly homeland consists in the complete
fulfilment of these three faculties, it follows that perfect
initiation of them is perfection in this life.
How man’s
activity should be purely in the intellect and not in the senses
(Qualiter
operatio humana debeat esse in solo intellectu, et non in sensibus?
Happy
therefore is the person who by continual removal of fantasies and
images, by turning within, and raising the mind to God, finally
manages to dispense with the products of the imagination, and by so
doing works within, nakedly and simply, and with a pure understanding
and will, on the the simplest of all objects, God. So eliminate from
your mind all fantasies, objects, images and shapes of all things
other than God, so that, with just naked understanding, intent and
will, your practice will be concerned with God himself within you.
For this is
the end of all spiritual exercises - to turn the mind to the Lord God
and rest in him with a completely pure understanding and a completely
devoted will, without the entanglements and fantasies of the
imagination. This sort of exercise is not practised by fleshly organs
nor by the exterior senses, but by that by which one is indeed a man.
For a man is precisely understanding and will. For that reason, in so
far as a man is still playing with the products of the imagination
and the senses, and holds to them, it is obvious that he has not yet
emerged from the motivation and limitations of his animal nature,
that is of that which he shares in common with the animals. For these
know and feel objects by means of recognised shapes and sense
impressions and no more, since they do not possess the higher powers
of the soul. But it is different with man, who is created in the
image and likeness of God with understanding, will, and free choice,
through which he should be directly, purely and nakedly impressed and
united with God, and firmly adhere to him.
For this reason
the Devil tries eagerly and with all his power to hinder this
practice so far as he can, being envious of this in man, since it is
a sort of prelude and initiation of eternal life. So he is always
trying to draw man’s mind away from the Lord God, now by
temptations or passions, now by superfluous worries and pointless
cares, now by restlessness and distracting conversation and senseless
curiosity, now by the study of subtle books, irrelevant discussion,
gossip and news, now by hardships, now by opposition, etc. Such
matters may seem trivial enough and hardly sinful, but they are a
great hindrance to this holy exercise and practice. Therefore, even
if they may appear useful and necessary, they should be rejected,
whether great or small, as harmful and dangerous, and put out of our
minds. Above all therefore it is necessary that things heard, seen,
done and said, and other such things, must be received without adding
things from the imagination, without mental associations and without
emotional involvement, and one should not let past or future
associations, implications or constructs of the imagination form and
grow.
For when constructs of the imagination are not allowed
to enter the memory and mind, a man is not hindered, whether he be
engaged in prayer, meditation, or reciting psalms, or in any other
practice or spiritual exercise, nor will they recur again.
So
commit yourself confidently and without hesitation, all that you are,
and everything else, individually and in general, to the unfailing
and totally reliable providence of God, in silence and in peace, and
he will fight for you.
He will liberate you and comfort you
more fully, more effectively and more satisfactorily than if you were
to dream about it all the time, day and night, and were to cast
around frantically all over the place with the futile and confused
thoughts of your mind in bondage, nor will you wear out your mind and
body, wasting your time, and stupidly and pointlessly exhausting your
strength.
So accept everything, separately and in general,
wherever it comes from and whatever its origin, in silence and peace,
and with an equal mind, as coming to you from a father’s hand
and his divine providence. So render your imagination bare of the
images of all physical things as is appropriate to your state and
profession, so that you can cling to him with a bare and undivided
mind, as you have so often and so completely vowed to do, without
anything whatever being able to come between your soul and him, so
that you can pass purely and unwaveringly from the wounds of his
humanity into the light of his divinity.
On purity
of heart which is to be sought above all things
(De corde
puritate, quae est prae omnibus sectanta."
If your
desire and aim is to reach the destination of the path and home of
true happiness, of grace and glory, by a straight and safe way then
earnestly apply your mind to seek constant purity of heart, clarity
of mind and calm of the senses. Gather up your heart’s desire
and fix it continually on the Lord God above. To do so you must
withdraw yourself so far as you can from friends and from everyone
else, and from the activities that hinder you from such a purpose.
Grasp every opportunity when you can find the place, time and means
to devote yourself to silence and contemplation, and gathering the
secret fruits of silence, so that you can escape the shipwreck of
this present age and avoid the restless agitation of the noisy world.
For this reason apply yourself at all times to purity,
clarity and peace of heart above all things, so that, so far as
possible, you can keep the doors of your heart resolutely barred to
the forms and images of the physical senses and worldly imaginations
by shutting off the doors of the physical senses and turning within
yourself. After all, purity of heart is recognised as the most
important thing among all spiritual practices, as its final aim, and
the reward for all the labours that a spiritual-minded person and
true religious may undertake in this life.
For this reason
you should with all care, intelligence and effort free your heart,
senses and desires from everything that can hinder their liberty, and
above all from everything in the world that could possibly bind and
overcome you. So struggle in this way to draw together all the
distractions of your heart and desires of your mind into one true,
simple and supreme good, to keep them gathered within yourself in one
place, and by this means to remain always joined to things divine and
to God in your mind, to abandon the unreliable things of earth, and
be able to translate your mind continually to the things above within
yourself in Jesus Christ.
To which end, if you have begun to
strip and purify yourself of images and imaginations and to simplify
and still your heart and mind in the Lord God so that you can draw
and taste the well of divine grace in everything within yourself, and
so that you are united to God in your mind by a good will, then this
itself is enough for you in place of all study and reading of holy
scripture, and as demonstration of love of God and neighbour, as
devotion itself testifies.
So simplify your heart with all
care, diligence and effort so that still and at peace from the
products of the imagination you can turn round and remain always in
the Lord within yourself, as if your mind were already in the now of
eternity, that is of the godhead. In this way you will be able to
renounce yourself through love of Jesus Christ, with a pure heart,
clean conscience and unfeigned faith, and commit yourself completely
and fully to God in all difficulties and eventualities, and be
willing to submit yourself patiently to his will and good pleasure at
all times.
For this to come about you must repeatedly retreat
into your heart and remain there, keeping yourself free from
everything, so far as is possible. You must always keep the eye of
your mind clear and still. You must guard your understanding from
daydreams and thoughts of earthly things. You must completely free
the inclination of your will from worldly cares and cling with all
your being to the supreme true good with fervent love. You must keep
your memory always lifted up and firmly anchored in that same true
supreme good and only uncreated reality. In just this way your whole
mind gathered up with all its powers and faculties in God, may become
one spirit with him, in whom the supreme perfection of life is known
to consist.
This is the true union of spirit and love by
which a man is made compliant to all the impulses of the supreme and
eternal will, so that he becomes by grace what God is by nature.
At
the same time it should be noted that in the very moment in which one
is able, by God’s help, to overcome one’s own will, that
is to cast away from oneself inordinate love or strong feeling, in
other words so as to dare simply to trust God completely in all one’s
needs, by this very fact one becomes so pleasing to God that his
grace is imparted to one, and through that very grace one experiences
that true love and devotion which drives out all uncertainty and fear
and has full confidence in God. What is more, there can be no greater
happiness than to place one’s all in him who lacks nothing.
So why do you still remain in yourself where you cannot stay.
Cast yourself, all of yourself, with confidence into God and he will
sustain you, heal you and make you safe. If you dwell on these things
faithfully within, they will do more to confer a happy life on you
than all riches, pleasures and honours, and above all the wisdom and
knowledge of this present deceitful world and its life, even if you
were to excel in them all that ever lived.
That the
devout man should cleave to God with naked understanding and will
(Quod
adhaerere debet homo devotus Deo, nudato intellectu et affectu)
The more you
strip yourself of the products of the imagination and involvement in
external, worldly things and the objects of the senses, the more your
soul will recover its strength and its inner senses so that it can
appreciate the things which are above. So learn to withdraw from
imaginations and the images of physical things, since what pleases
God above everything is a mind bare of those sorts of forms and
objects, for it is his delight to be with the sons of men, that is
those who, at peace from such activities, distractions and passions,
seek him with a pure and simple mind, empty themselves for him, and
cleave to him. Otherwise, if your memory, imagination and thought is
often involved with such things, you must needs be filled with the
thought of new things or memories of old ones, or identified with
other changing objects. As a result, the Holy Spirit withholds itself
from thoughts bereft of understanding.
So the true lover of
Jesus Christ should be so united through good will in his
understanding with the divine will and goodness, and be so bare of
all imaginations and passions that he does not even notice whether he
is being mocked or loved, or something is being done to him. For a
good will turns everything to good and is above everything. So if the
will is good and is obedient and united to God with pure
understanding, he is not hurt even if the flesh and the senses and
the outer man is moved to evil, and is slow to good, or even if the
inner man is slow to feel devotion, but should simply cleave to God
with faith and good will in naked understanding. He is doing this if
he is conscious of all his own imperfection and nothingness,
recognises his good to consist in his Creator alone, abandons himself
with all his faculties and powers, and all creatures, and immerses
himself wholly and completely in the Creator, so that he directs all
his actions purely and entirely in his Lord God, and seeks nothing
apart from him, in whom he recognises all good and all joy of
perfection to be found. And he is so transformed in a certain sense
into God that he cannot think, understand, love or remember anything
but God himself and the things of God. Other creatures however and
even himself he does not see, except in God, nor does he love
anything except God alone, nor remember anything about them or
himself except in God.
This knowledge of the truth always
makes the soul humble, ready to judge itself and not others, while on
the contrary worldly wisdom makes the soul proud, futile, inflated
and puffed up with wind. So let this be the fundamental spiritual
doctrine leading to the knowledge of God, his service and familiarity
with him, that if you want to truly possess God, you must strip your
heart of all love of things of the senses, not just of certain
creatures, so that you can turn to the Lord your God with a simple
and whole heart and with all your power, freely and without any
double-mindedness, care or anxiety, but with full confidence in his
providence alone about everything.
How the
heart should be gathered within itself
(Qualiter cor
sit recolligendum intra se?)
What is more,
as is said in the book On the Spirit and the Soul (of St. Augustine),
to ascend to God means to enter into oneself. He who entering within
and penetrating his inmost nature, goes beyond himself, he is truly
ascending to God. So let us withdraw our hearts from the distractions
of this world, and recall them to the inner joys, so that we can
establish them to some degree in the light of divine contemplation.
For this is the life and peace of our hearts - to be established by
intent in the love of God, and to be sweetly remade by his
comforting.
But the reason why we are in so many ways
hindered in the practical enjoyment of this matter and are unable to
get into it is clearly because the human mind is so distracted by
worries that it cannot bring its memory to turn within, is so clouded
by its imaginations that it cannot return to itself with its
understanding, and is so drawn away by its desires that it is quite
unable to come back to itself by desire for inner sweetness and
spiritual joy. Thus it is so prostrate among the sense objects
presented to it that it cannot enter into itself as the image of God.
It is therefore right and necessary for the mind to raise
itself above itself and everything created by the abandonment of
everything, with humble reverence and great trust, and to say within
itself, He whom I seek, love, thirst for and desire from everything
and more than anything is not a thing of the senses or the
imagination, but is above everything that can be experienced by the
senses and the intellect. He cannot be experienced by any of the
senses, but is completely desirable to my will. He is moreover not
discernable, but is perfectly desirable to my inner affections. He
cannot be comprehended, but can be loved in his fullness with a pure
heart, for he is above all lovable and desirable, and of infinite
goodness and perfection. And then a darkness comes over the mind and
it is raised up into itself and penetrates even deeper.
And
the more inward-looking the desire for it, the more powerful this
means of ascent to the mysterious contemplation of the holy Trinity
in Unity and Unity in Trinity in Jesus Christ is, and the more
interior the yearning, the more productive it is. Certainly in
matters spiritual the more inward they are the greater they are as
spiritual experiences.
For this reason, never give up, never
stop until you have tasted some pledge, as I might say, or foretaste
of the future full experience, and until you have obtained the
satisfaction of however small a first fruits of the divine joy. And
do not give up pursuing it and following its scent until you have
seen the God of gods in Sion. Do not stop or turn back in your
spiritual journey and your union and adherence to God within you
until you have achieved what you have been seeking.
Take as a
pattern of this the example of those climbing an ordinary mountain.
If our mind is involved by its desires in the things which are going
on below, it is immediately carried away by endless distractions and
side tracks, and being to some extent divided against itself, is
weakened and as it were scattered amongst the things which it seeks
with its desires. The result is ceaseless movement, travel without an
arrival, and labour without rest. If on the other hand our heart and
mind can withdraw itself by its desire and love from the infinite
distraction below of the things beneath it, can learn to be with
itself, abandoning these lower things and gathering itself within
itself into the one unchanging and satisfying good, and can hold to
it inseparably with its will, it is correspondingly more and more
gathered together in one and strengthened, as it is raised up by
knowledge and desire. In this way it will become accustomed to the
true supreme good within itself until it will be made completely
immovable and arrive securely at that true life which is the Lord God
himself, so that it can now rest in him within and in peace without
any changeability or vicissitude of time, perfectly gathered within
itself in the secret divine abode in Christ Jesus who is the way for
those who come to him, the truth and life.
How a
religious man should commit himself to God in all circumstances
whatsoever
(Quomodo in
quolibet eventu homo devotus se debeat Deo committere?
I am now
completely convinced that you will recognise from these arguments
that the more you strip yourself of the products of your imagination
and all worldly and created things, and are united to God with your
intellect by a good will, the closer you will approach the state of
innocence and perfection. What could be better? And what could be
more happy and joyful? Above all it is important for you to keep your
mind bare - without imaginations and images and free of any sort of
entanglement, so that you are not concerned about either the world,
friends, prosperity or adversity, or anything present, past or
future, whether in yourself or in others - not even your own sins.
But consider yourself with a certain pure simplicity to be alone with
God outside the world, and as if your mind were already in eternity
and separated from the body so that it will certainly not bother
about worldly things or be concerned about the state of the world,
about peace or war, about good weather or rain, or about anything at
all in this world, but with complete docility will turn to God alone,
be empty for him and cleave to him. So now in this way ignore your
body and all created things, present or future, and direct the high
point of your mind and spirit directly, as best you can, naked and
unencumbered on the uncreated light. And let your spirit be cleansed
in this way from all imaginations, coverings and things obscuring its
vision, like an angel (not) tied to a body, who is not hindered by
the works of the flesh nor tangled in vain and wandering thoughts.
Let your spirit therefore arm itself against all temptations,
vexations, and injuries so that it can persevere steadily in God when
attacked by either face of fortune. So that when some inner
disturbance or boredom or mental confusion come you will not be
indignant or dejected because of it, nor run back to vocal prayers or
other forms of consolation, but only to lift yourself up in your
intellect by a good will to hold on to God with your mind whether the
natural inclination of the body wills it or not. The religious-minded
soul should be so united to God and should have or render its will so
conformed to the divine will that it is not occupied with any created
thing or cling to it any more than before it was created, and as if
nothing existed except God and the soul itself. And in this way it
should accept everything confidently and equally, in general and in
particular, from the hand of divine providence, agreeing in
everything with the Lord in patience, peace and silence.
The
thing is that the most important thing of all for a spiritual life is
to strip the mind of all imaginations so that one can be united in
one’s intellect to God by a good will, and conformed to him.
Besides, nothing will then be intermediary between you and
God. This obvious, since nothing external will stand between you when
by the vow of voluntary poverty you will have removed the possession
of anything whatsoever, and by the vow of chastity you will have
abandoned your body, and by obedience you will have given up your
will and your soul itself. And in this way nothing will be left to
stand between you and God. That you are a religious person is
indicated by your profession, your state, and now your habit and
tonsure and such like, but whether you are only a religious in
appearance or a real one, you will find out.
Bear in mind
therefore how greatly you have fallen away and sin against the Lord
your God and all his justice if you behave otherwise and cling with
your will and love to what is created rather than to the Creator
himself, putting the created before the Creator.
How much
the contemplation of God is to be preferred to all other exercises
(Contemplatio
in Deo, quatenus omnibus aliis exercitiis est praeponenda.)
Now
since all things other than God are the effect and work of the
Creator himself, their having ability and being is a limited power
and existence, and being as they are created out of nothing, they are
circumscribed by the effects of their nothingness, while their
tendency of themselves towards nothingness means that we receive our
existence, preservation and activity moment by moment from the
Creator himself, along with whatever other qualities created things
may have, just as we receive their insufficiency to any action of
themselves, both with regard to themselves and to others, in relation
to him whose operation they are, they remain as a nothing before
something which exists, and as something finite before what is
infinite. For this reason let all our actual contemplation, life and
activity take place in him alone, about him, for him and towards him
who is able and capable to produce with a single nod of his will
things infinitely more perfect than any that exist now.
No
contemplation and fruition of love, whether intellectual or
affective, is more useful, more perfect and more satisfying than that
which is of God himself, the Creator, our supreme and true Good, from
whom, through whom and to whom are all things. He is infinitely
satisfying both to himself and to all others, who contains within
himself in absolute simplicity and from all eternity the perfection
of all things, in whom there is nothing which is not himself, before
whom and through whom remain the causes of all things impermanent,
and in whom dwell the unchanging origins of all changing things,
while even the eternal reasons of all temporal things, rational and
irrational, abide in him. He brings everything to completion, and
fills all things, in general and in particular, completely and
essentially with himself. He is more intimately and more really
present to everything by his being than each thing is to itself, for
in him all things are united together, and live in him eternally.
What is more, if someone, out of weakness or from lack of
intellectual practice, is detained longer in the contemplation of
created things, this supreme, true and fruitful contemplation may
still be seen as possible for mortal man, so that there may take
place an upward leap in all his contemplations and meditations,
whether about created things or the Creator, and the appreciation of
God the Creator himself, the One and Three, may surge up within so
that he come to burn with the fire of divine love and the true life
in himself and in others, in such a way as to make him deserving of
the joy of eternal life. Even in this one should bear in mind the
difference between the contemplation of faithful Catholics and that
of pagan philosophers, for the contemplation of the philosophers is
for the perfection of the contemplator himself, and consequently it
is confined to the intellect and their aim in it is intellectual
knowledge. But the contemplation of the Saints, and of Catholics, is
for the love of him, that is of the God they are contemplating. As a
result it is not confined in the final analysis to the intellect in
knowledge, but crosses over into the will through love. That is why
the Saints in their contemplation have the love of God as their
principal aim, since it is more satisfying to know and possess even
the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually through grace than physically or
even really but without grace.
Furthermore, while the soul is
withdrawn from everything and is turned within, the eye of
contemplation is opened and sets itself up a ladder by which it can
pass to the contemplation of God. By this contemplation the soul is
set on fire for eternal things by the heavenly and divine good things
it experiences, and views all the things of time from a distance and
as if they were nothing. Hence when we approach God by the way of
negation, we first deny him everything that can be experienced by the
body, the senses and the imagination, secondly even things
experienceable by the intellect, and finally even being itself in so
far as it is found in created things. This, so far as the nature of
the way is concerned, is the best means of union with God, according
to Dionysius. And this is the cloud in which God is said to dwell,
which Moses entered, and through this came to the inaccessible light.
Certainly, it is not
the spiritual which comes first, but the natural (1 Corinthians 15.46) so one must proceed by the usual order of
things, from active work to the quiet of contemplation, and from
moral virtues to spiritual and contemplative realities. Finally, my
soul, why are you uselessly preoccupied with so many things, and
always busy with them? Seek out and love the one supreme good, in
which is all that is worth seeking, and that will be enough for you.
Unhappy therefore is he who knows and possesses everything other than
this, and does not know this. While if he knows everything as well as
this, it is not from knowing them that he is better off but because
of This. That is why John says,This
is eternal life, to know Thee, etc.
(John 17.3) and the prophet says, I
will be satisfied when your glory becomes manifest (Psalm 17.15)
That one
should not be concerned about feeling tangible
devotion so much as
about cleaving to God with one’s will
(Actualis
devotio et sensibilis non tantum curanda est, sicut voluntate Deo
adhaerere.)
Furthermore
you should not be much concerned about tangible devotion, the
experience of sweetness or tears, but rather that you should be
mentally united with God within yourself by a good will in your
intellect. For what pleases God above everything is a mind free from
imaginations, that is images, ideas and the representations of
created things. It befits a monk to be indifferent to everything
created so that he can turn easily and barely to God alone within
himself, be empty for him and cleave to him.
For this reason
deny yourself so that you can follow Christ, the Lord your God, in
nakedness, who was himself poor, obedient, chaste, humble and
suffering, and in whose life and death many were scandalised, as is
clear from the Gospel accounts.
After all, a soul which is
separated from the body pays no attention to what is done to its
abandoned body - whether it is burned, hanged, or reviled, and is in
no way saddened by the afflictions imposed on the body, but thinks
only of the Now of eternity and the One Thing which the Lord calls
necessary in the Gospel. So you too should treat your body as if you
were no longer in the body, but think always of the eternity of your
soul in God, and direct your thoughts carefully to that One Thing of
which Christ said, For one thing is necessary. (Luke 10.42) You will
experience because of it great grace, helping you towards the
acquisition of nakedness of mind and simplicity of heart. Indeed
this One Thing is very much present with you if you have made
yourself bare of imaginations and all other entanglements, and you
will soon experience that this is so - namely when you can be empty
and cleave to God with a naked and resolute mind. In this way you
will remain unconquered in whatever may be inflicted on you, like the
holy martyrs, fathers, the elect, and indeed all the saints who
despised everything and only thought of their souls’ security
and eternity in God. Armed in this way within, and united to God
through a good will, they spurned everything of the world as if their
souls were already separated from their bodies.
Consider from
this how much a good will united with God is capable of, when by
means of its pressing towards God the soul is effectively separated
the body in spirit and looks on its outward man as it were from a
distance, and as not belonging to it. In this way it despises
everything that is inflicted on itself or on its flesh as if they
were happening to someone else, or not to a human being at all. For
He that is united with the Lord is one Spirit, (1 Corinthians 6.17)
that is with him. So you should never dare to think or imagine
anything before the Lord your God that you would blush to be heard or
seen in before men, since your respect for God should be even greater
than for them.
It is a matter of justice in fact that all
your thoughts and thinking should be raised to God alone, and the
highest point of your mind should only be directed to him as if
nothing existed but him, and holding to him may enjoy the perfect
beginning of the life to come.
How one
should resist temptations and bear trials
(Qualiter
tentationibus sit resistendum, et tribulationes qualiter sustinendae?)
Now
there is no one who approaches God with a true and upright heart who
is not tested by hardships and temptations.
So in all these
temptations see to it that even if you feel them, you do not consent
to them, but bear them patiently and calmly with humility and long
suffering. Even if they are blasphemies and sordid, hold firmly on to
this fact in everything, that you can do nothing better or more
effective against them than to consider all this sort of fantasy as a
nothing. Even if they are the most vile, sordid and horrible
blasphemies, simply take no notice of them, count them as nothing and
despise them. Don’t look on them as yours or allow yourself to
make them a matter of conscience. The enemy will certainly take
flight if you treat him and his company with contempt in this way. He
is very proud and cannot bear to be despised and spurned. So the best
remedy is to completely ignore all such temptations, like flies
flying around in front of your eyes against your will.
The
servant of Jesus Christ must see to it that he is not so easily
forced to withdraw from the face of the Lord and to be annoyed,
murmur and complain over the nuisance of a single fly, that is, a
trivial temptation, suspicion, sadness, distraction, need or any such
adversity, when they can all be put to flight with no more than the
hand of a good will directed up to God. After all, through a good
will a man has God as his defender, and the holy angels as his
guardians and protectors. What is more, any temptation can be
overcome by a good will too, like a fly driven away from a bald head
by one’s hand.
So
peace is for men of good will. Indeed we can offer God nothing more valuable than a good will, since
a good will in the soul is the source of all good things, and the
mother of all virtues. If any one is beginning to possess that good
will, he undoubtedly has what is necessary for leading a good life.
For if you want what is good, but cannot do it, God will make good
the deed.
For it is in accordance with this eternal law that
God has established with irrevocable firmness that deserts should be
a matter of the will, whether in bliss or torment, reward or
punishment. Love itself is a great will to serve God, a sweet desire
to please God, and a fervent wish to experience God. What is more, to
be tempted is not a sin, but the opportunity for exercising virtue,
so that temptation can be greatly to a man’s benefit, since it
is held that the whole of a man’s life on earth is a testing.
(Job 7.1)
How
powerful the love of God is
(De amore Dei,
quam efficax sit.)
All that is
said above and whatever is necessary for salvation cannot be better,
more immediately and more securely achieved than by love, through
which whatever is lacking of what is necessary for salvation can be
made good. In love we possess the fullness of all good and the
realisation of our highest longing is not denied us. After all it is
love alone by which we turn back to God, are changed into God, cleave
to God, and are united to God in such a way that we become one spirit
with him, and are by him and through him made blessed here by grace
and hereafter in glory. Now love is such that it cannot rest except
in the beloved, but it does when it wins the beloved in full and
peaceful possession. For love, which itself is charity, is the way of
God to men and the way of man to God. God cannot house where there is
no love. So if we have love, we have God, for God is love.
Furthermore nothing is sharper than love, nothing is more subtle,
nothing more penetrating. It will not rest until it has by its very
nature penetrated the whole power, the depth and the totality of the
loved one. It wants to make itself one with the beloved, and itself,
if it were possible, to be what the beloved is too. Thus it cannot
bear that anything should stand between itself and the beloved
object, which is God, but presses eagerly towards him. As a result it
never rests until it has left everything else behind and come to him
alone.
For the nature of love is of a unitive and transforming
power which transforms the lover into what he loves, or
alternatively, makes the lover one with the other, and vice versa, in
so far as is possible. This is manifest in the first place with
regard to the mental powers, depending on how much the beloved is in
the lover, in other words depending on how sweetly and delightfully
the beloved is recalled in the mind of the lover, and in direct
proportion, that is, with how much the lover strives to grasp all the
things that relate to the beloved not just superficially but
intimately, and to enter, as it were, into his innermost secrets. It
is also manifest with regard to the emotional and affective powers
when the beloved is said to be in the lover, in other words when the
desire to please the beloved is found in the will and established
within by the happy enjoyment of him. Alternatively, the lover is in
the beloved when he is united with him by all his desire and
compliance in agreement with the beloved’s willing and not
willing, and finds his own pleasure and pain in that of the beloved.
For love draws the lover out of himself (since love is strong as
death), and establishes him in the beloved, causing him to cleave
closely to him. For the soul is more where it loves than where it
lives, since it is in what it loves in accordance with its very
nature, understanding and will, while it is in where it lives only
with regard to form, which is even true for animals as well.
There
is nothing therefore which draws us away from the exterior senses to
within ourselves, and from there to Jesus Christ and things divine,
more than the love of Christ and the desire for the sweetness of
Christ, for the experience, awareness and enjoyment of the presence
of Christ’s divinity. For there is nothing but the power of
love which can lead the soul from the things of earth to the lofty
summit of heaven. Nor can anyone attain the supreme beatitude unless
summoned to it by love and yearning. Love after all is the life of
the soul, the wedding garment and the soul’s perfection,
containing all the law and the prophets and our Lord’s
teaching. That is why Paul says to the Romans, Love is the fulfilling
of the law, (Rom. 13.8) and in the first letter to Timothy, The end
of the commandment is love. (1 Timothy 1.5)
The nature
and value of prayer, and how the heart should be recollected within
itself
(Orationis
qualitas et utilitas: quomodo cor sit recolligendum intra se?)
Besides this,
since we are incapable of ourselves for this and for any other good
action whatsoever, and since we can of ourselves offer nothing to the
Lord God (from whom all good things come) which is not his already,
with this one exception, as he has deigned to show us both by his own
blessed mouth as well as by his example, that we should turn to him
in all circumstances and occasions as guilty, wretched, poor,
beggarly, weak, helpless, subject servants and sons. And that we
should beseech him and lay before him with complete confidence the
dangers that are besetting us on all sides, completely grief-stricken
in ourselves, in humble prostration of mind, in fear and love, and
with recollected, composed, mature, true and naked, shamefaced
affection, with great yearning and determination, and in groaning of
heart and sincerity of mind. Thus we commit and offer ourselves up to
him freely, securely and nakedly, fully and in everything that is
ours, holding nothing back to ourselves, in such a complete and final
way, that the same is fulfilled in us as in our blessed father Isaac,
who speaks of this very type of prayer, saying, Then we shall be one
in God, and the Lord God will be all in all and alone in us when his
own perfect love, with which he first loved us, will have become the
disposition of our own hearts too. This will come about when all our
love, all our desire, all our concern, all our efforts, in fact
everything we think, everything we see, speak and even hope will be
God, and that unity which now is of the Father with the Son, and of
the Son with the Father, will be poured into our own heart and mind as well, in such a way that just as he loves us with sincere and
indissoluble love we too will be joined to him with eternal and
inseparable affection. In other words we shall be united with him in
such a way that whatever we hope, and whatever we say or pray will be
God.
This therefore should be the aim, this the concern and
goal of a spiritual man - to be worthy to possess the image of future
bliss in this corruptible body, and in a certain measure experience
in advance how the foretaste of that heavenly bliss, eternal life and
glory begins in this world. This, as I say, is the goal of all
perfection, that his purified mind should be daily raised up from all
bodily objects to spiritual things until all his mental activity and
all his heart’s desire become one unbroken prayer. So the mind
must abandon the dregs of earth and press on towards to God, on whom
alone should be fixed the desire of a spiritual man, for whom the
least separation from that summum bonum is to be considered a living
death and dreadful loss. Then, when the requisite peace has been
established in his mind, when it is free from attachment to any
carnal passion, and clings firmly in intention to that one supreme
good, the Apostle’s sayings are fulfilled, Pray without
ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5.17) and, Pray in every place lifting up
pure hands without anger or dispute. (1 Timothy 2.8) For when the
power of the mind is absorbed in this purity, so to speak, and is
transformed from an earthly nature into the spiritual or angelic
likeness, whatever it receives into itself, whatever it is occupied
with, whatever it is doing, it will be pure and sincere prayer.
In
this way, if you continue all the time in the way we have described
from the beginning, it will become as easy and clear for you to
remain in contemplation in your inward and recollected state, as to
live in the natural state.
That we
should seek the verdict of our conscience in every decision
(Conscientiae
attestatio in omni judicio requirenda est.)
While
we should strive for spiritual perfection of mind, purity and peace
in God, it will be found to be not a little beneficial to this that
we should return quietly into the inner secret place of the mind in
the face of everything said, thought or done to us. There, withdrawn
from everything else and completely recollected within ourselves, we
can place ourselves in the knowledge of the truth before us and
undoubtedly discover and understand that it does us absolutely no
good, and rather the contrary, when we are praised or honoured by
others while we recognise by the knowledge of the truth about
ourselves within that we are blameworthy and guilty. And just as
nothing is any help if externally people praise someone if his
conscience internally accuses him, in the same way on the contrary it
does a man no harm to be despised, maligned and persecuted when he
remains internally just as innocent, blameless and without fault. On
the contrary he has all the more good reason to rejoice in the Lord
with patience, in peace and silence. After all no adversity can do
any harm where evil is not in control, and just as no evil goes
unpunished, so no good goes unrewarded. Nor should we wish a reward
with hypocrites or expect and receive profit from men, but from the
Lord God alone, not in the present, but in the future, and not in
fleeting time, but in eternity.
It is clear therefore that
nothing is greater, and nothing better than to enter into the inner
secret place of the mind always and in every tribulation and
occurrence, and there to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself, our
helper in temptations and tribulations, and to humble ourselves there
by confession of sin, and praise God and Father himself, the giver of
correction and the giver of consolation. Above all one should accept
everything, in general and individually, in oneself or in others,
agreeable or disagreeable, with a prompt and confident spirit, as
coming from the hand of his infallible Providence or the order he has
arranged.
This attitude will lead to the forgiveness of our
sins, the deliverance from bitterness, the enjoyment of joy and
security, the outpouring of grace and mercy, introduction and
establishment into a close relationship with God, abundant enjoyment
of his presence, and firm cleaving and union with him. But let us not
copy those who from hypocrisy and Pharisaism want to appear better
and different from what they are, and to make a better impression and
appearance before men of being something special, than they know in
truth inside to be so. For it is absolute madness to seek, hunger for
and aspire to human praise or renown, from oneself or others, when
one is in spite of it all inwardly full of cravings and serious
faults. And certainly the good things we have talked about above
will flee him who chases such vanities, and he will merely bring
disgrace on himself.
So always keep your faults and your own
incapacity before your eyes, and know yourself, so that you can be
humbled and not try to avoid being held as the lowest, vilest and
most abject scum by everyone when you are aware of the grave sins and
serious faults in yourself. For which reason consider yourself
compared to others as dross to gold, weeds to the wheat, chaff to the
grain, a wolf to the sheep, Satan to the children of God. And do not
seek to be respected by others and given precedence before others,
but rather flee with all your heart and soul the poison of this
disease, the venom of praise, the concern for boasting and vanity,
lest, as the prophet says, The wicked is praised in his own heart’s
desires, (Psalm 10.4) and Isaiah, They who speak good of you, deceive
you and destroy the way of your feet, (Isaiah 3.12) and the Lord in
Luke, Woe to you when men speak well of you! (Luke 6.26).
How
contempt of himself can be produced in a man, and how useful it is
(Contemptus
sui, qualiter causetur in homine, et quam utilis sit?)
Furthermore
the more a man recognises his own insignificance, the more he fully
and the more clearly he becomes aware to the divine majesty, and the
more a man is low in his own eyes for the sake of God, the truth and
justice, the more precious he is in the eyes of God.
For this
reason let us strive with the whole strength of our desire to
consider ourselves the lowest of all and to consider ourselves
unworthy of any favour. We should strive to be displeasing to
ourselves and pleasing only to God, while regarded as low and
unworthy of consideration by others. Above all not to be moved by
difficulties, afflictions and insults, and not to be upset by those
who inflict such things on us, or entertain evil thoughts against
them or be indignant, but to believe steadfastly and with equanimity
in all insults, slights, blows and dereliction that it is only
appropriate. For in truth he who is really penitent and grieving
before God hates to be honoured and loved by all, and does not try to
manipulate things so as to avoid being to some degree hated,
neglected and despised right to the end, so that he can be truly
humbled and sincerely cleave to God alone with a pure heart.
Indeed, for loving God alone and hating oneself more than
anything, and desiring to be despised by others we do not require
external work or physical strength, but rather physical solitude, the
labour of the heart, and peace of mind so that, as it were, by labour
of the heart and the disposition of the inmost mind, one may rise up,
casting off from oneself lower and physical things, and so soar up,
ascending to things heavenly and divine.
For indeed in so
doing we changed into God, and this will especially take place when
without judgement, condemnation or contempt of our neighbour, we
choose rather to be considered as scum and a disgrace by everyone and
to be despised as unclean filth by everyone than to experience all
sorts of different delicacies or to be honoured and exalted by men,
or enjoy all sorts of transitory physical forms of well-being and
comfort. We should not desire any pleasure of this present, mortal
and physical life but rather to mourn, bewail and lament our
offences, faults and sins without ceasing, and to perfectly despise
and annihilate ourselves, and from day to day to be considered more
and more abject by others, while in all our insignificance we become
worthless even in our own eyes, so that we can be pleasing to God
alone, love him alone, and cleave to him alone. We should not wish to
be concerned about anything except the Lord Jesus Christ himself who
alone should reside in our affections, and we should not be concerned
or anxious about anything except him on whose dominion and providence
everything in general and individually depends.
So from now
on it should not be your aim to seek enjoyment but to truly mourn
with all your heart. For that reason, if you do not mourn, mourn for
that, while if you do mourn, mourn especially that you have brought
the cause of your pain on yourself by your own great offences and
infinite sins. For just as a condemned man on receiving his sentence
does not concern himself about the seating of the spectators, so he
who laments and is genuinely mourning is not interested in pleasures,
resentment, fame or wrongs or things of that sort. And just as
townsfolk and contemned criminals have different accommodation, the
state and position of those who are mourning and have committed
offences deserving punishment ought to be completely different from
those who are innocent and under no obligation. Otherwise there would
be no difference between the guilty and the innocent in matters of
punishment and reward. The result would be great dereliction of duty,
and evil behaviour would have more freedom than goodness.
So
everything must be renounced, everything despised, everything
rejected and avoided, so that we can lay a firm foundation of
penitent grieving. Then, loving Jesus Christ in reality, yearning for
him, and holding him in one’s heart, in reality experiencing
pain for one’s sins and faults, in reality seeking to know the
coming Kingdom, while with true faith bearing in mind the reality of
the torments and eternal judgement, and firmly and fully taking up
the recollection and fear of one’s own death, we should be
aware of nothing else, and not care or be worried about anything
else. For that reason, he who hurries towards the blessed state of
impassibility and towards God should reckon himself to have
experienced great loss every day that he is not insulted and
despised. Impassibility after all is freedom from vices and passions
and purity of heart and the adornment of all virtues. So consider
yourself as already dead since there is no doubt that you have got to
die. And as a final thought let this be the test for you of whether
any thought, word or action of yours is of God, whether you are made
more humble because of it, more inward and more recollected and
established in God. If you find it is otherwise in yourself, you
should be suspicious about it, whether it be not according to God,
unacceptable to you and not to your benefit.
How
God’s Providence includes everything
(Providentia
Dei, qualiter ad omnia se extendat?)
Certainly if we are to
come directly, safely and nakedly to our Lord God without hindrance,
freely and peacefully, as explained above, and be securely joined to
him with even mind in prosperity or adversity, whether in life or in
death, then our job is to commit everything unhesitatingly and
resolutely, in general and individually, to his unquestionable and
infallible providence.
This is hardly surprising since it is
he alone who gives to all things their being, their capacity and
their action - that is, their strength, operation, nature, manner and
order in number, weight and measure. Especially since just as a work
of art presupposes a prior operation of nature, in the same way the
operation of nature presupposes the work of God, creating,
sustaining, ordering and administering it, for to him alone belong
infinite power, wisdom, goodness and inherent mercy, justice, truth,
love, and unchanging timelessness and omnipresence.
So
nothing can exist or act by its own power unless it acts in the power
of God himself, who is the prime mover and the first principle, who
is the cause of every action, and the actor in every agent. For so
far as the nature of the order of things is concerned, God provides
for everything without intermediary right down to the last detail. So
nothing, from the greatest to the smallest things, can escape God’s
eternal providence, or fall away from it, whether in matters of the
will, of causal events, or even of accidental circumstances outside
of one’s control. But God cannot do anything which does not
fall under the order of his own providence, just as he cannot do
anything which is not subject to its operation. Divine providence
therefore extends to everything, in general and in particular, even
including a man’s thoughts. On which subject Scripture has this
to say, Cast all
your worries upon him, for he takes care of you. (1
Peter 5.7) And again the prophet says, Cast
your care upon the Lord, and he will feed you. (Psalm
55.22)
And, Look at
the nations of men, my son, and see that no one ever put his trust in
the Lord, and was disappointed. For who has been faithful to his
commandments and been abandoned? (Sirach
2.22) And our Lord himself said, Do
not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? (Matthew
6.25) So whatever and however much we can hope from God, we shall
undoubtedly receive, as Deuteronomy says, Every
place where you feet tread shall be yours. (Deuteronomy
11.24) For a man shall receive all that he is able to desire, and so
far as he can reach with his foot of faith, even so much shall he
possess. That is why Bernard says, “God, the maker of
everything is so abounding in mercy that whatever size grace cup of
faith we are able to hold out to him, we shall undoubtedly have it
filled.” And so Mark has it, All
that you ask in prayer believing that you will receive it, will be
given you.(Mark
11.24)
So the stronger and the more vehement our faith in God
is, and the more reverently and persistently it is offered up to God,
the more surely, the more abundantly and the quicker what we hoped
for will be accomplished and obtained.
Indeed if in doing
this our faith in God is weak and slow to rise to God on account of
the multitude and magnitude of our sins, we should remember this,
that everything is possible with God, and that what he wishes is
bound to take place, while what he does not wish cannot possibly
happen, and that it is as easy for him to forgive and cancel
countless sins, however enormous, as to do it with a single sin.
While a sinner cannot, of himself, rise from innumerable sins, and
free and absolve himself from them, and not even from just one sin.
For we are unable not only to do, but even to think anything good, of
ourselves, but this is from God.
Nonetheless it is much more
dangerous, other things being equal, to be ensnared in many sins than
in a single one, since no sin is left unpunished, and every mortal
sin deserves infinite punishment, and this by the rigour of justice
since any such sin is against God who is indeed worthy of infinite
reverence, dignity and honour.
What is more, according to the
Apostle Paul, God knows his own (2 Timothy 2.19), and it is
impossible for any of them to perish by the whirlwinds and floods of
any error, scandal, schism, persecution, heresy, tribulation,
adversity or temptation, for he has foreseen from eternity and
unchangeably the number of his elect and the extent of their merits
in such a way that everything good and bad, what is theirs and not
theirs, prosperity and adversity, all work together for them for
good, except indeed that they appear even more glorious and
commendable in adversity.
So let us commit everything with
full assurance, in general and in particular, confidently and
unhesitatingly to divine providence, by which God permits however
much and whatever sort of evil to happen to us. For it is good and
will lead to good, since he permits it to exist, and it would not
exist unless he permitted it to exist. Nor could it exist otherwise
or more than he permits it to, because he knows how to, has the power
to, and wills to change and convert it into something better. For
just as it is by operation of providence that all good things exist,
so it is by its permission that all bad things are changed into good.
In this way in fact God’s power, wisdom and mercy are shown
forth through Christ our redeemer - his mercy and his justice, the
power of grace and the weakness of nature, the beauty of everything
in the association of opposites, the approval of the good, and the
malice and punishment of the wicked. Similarly the contrition of the
converted sinner, his confession, and penitence, the kindness of God,
piety, charity and his praise and goodness (all show forth God’s
power and wisdom). Yet it does not always lead to good in those who
do ill, but, as is usually the case, to great danger and extreme
evil, in the loss, that is, of grace and their place in glory, and in
the incurring of guilt and punishment, sometimes even eternal
punishment, from which may Jesus Christ defend us. Amen.
|
