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 WORKS by the SAME AUTHOR. 
 
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 MINISTRY FOR CHRIST IN OUR DAILY LIFE. 
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 THE “CITY WHICH HATH 
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 OPINIONS of the PRESS:— 
 
 * We recommend both the letter and the book to all who have imbibed the fallacies 
 of “ The Gates Ajar.” They are written in a courteous though faithful spirit.’ 
 
 Christian World. 
 
 * Those who have read “Gates Ajar” will find this an admirable corrective. An 
 
 interesting and appropriate letter from the Solicitor General which is thoroughly in 
 keeping with the tone of the work, is given by way of preface.’ The Rock. 
 
 * This little volume is intended to supply some considerations by way of antidote to 
 
 the unsound American book of Miss E. Phelps, concerning the state of the departed. 
 The book in question has obtained considerable currency in this country, and Miss 
 James’ exposure of its objectionable theories can scarcely fail to be productive of 
 much good.’ Press and St. James’s Chronicle. 
 
Works by the same A uthor. 
 
 THE CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 
 
 Opinions of the Press — continued. 
 
 'This is an answer to "The Gates Ajar.” An introductory letter by Sir John 
 Coleridge will best bespeak its worth and weight. We can thoroughly recommend 
 it. Our Own Fireside. 
 
 'The present work does not attack Miss Phelps . . . but it is rather a series 
 
 of religious thoughts suggested by the reading of the offending book. Miss James 
 writes gracefully and earnestly/ Public Opinion. 
 
 ' . . . A little work by a lady, who writes well on the subject of the future 
 
 life. There is an introductory letter from Sir John Coleridge warmly approving the 
 literary efforts of his god-daughter, the authoress/ Hampshire Advertiser. 
 
 * Miss A. M. James has given a quiet and sober-minded answer to those very rash 
 speculations in "The Gates Ajar,” which certainly have offended and grated upon 
 quite as many as they have soothed. Miss James is introduced by a letter from Sir 
 John Taylor Coleridge, which is as beautiful a dissertation upon the mourner’s hope 
 | as we have ever met with/ Guardian. 
 
 *" The Gates Ajar ” offended so many by their rash familiarity with things un- 
 seen, yet attracted so many on the other hand by a certain glow of ardour, that a 
 sober-minded little book, by Miss A. M. James, called " The City which hath 
 Foundations” (Macintosh) may soothe and settle many minds who will be specially 
 grateful for the letter from Sir John Taylor Coleridge, with which it commences/ 
 
 Monthly Packet. 
 
 ' This little work was written to counteract some erroneous notions respecting a 
 future state which have been propounded in " The Gates Ajar,” a book, by an 
 American writer, which has been largely circulated. Its tone is thoughtful and 
 scriptural. Prefixed to it, by way of introduction, are some valuable remarks in a 
 letter to the authoress, by the Right Hon. Sir John Coleridge/ 
 
 Church of England Magazine. 
 
 ' It would appear, from a very touching introduction by Sir John Coleridge, that 
 Miss James is his "god-daughter,” and on that, were it on no other, ground he felt 
 he could hardly refuse to " introduce ” her book to the reading public : which accord- 
 ingly he has done, in a wise, manly, and very instructive way, giving interest, and, 
 i indeed value, to Miss James’ own observations which follow. For, putting in the 
 i hand of any one at all likely to be led astray by Miss Phelps’s book, no handier anti- 
 dote need be attempted than Miss James’s “ Thoughts,” which are sound, and quite 
 healthy, and woman like, and, we may add, of the very briefest. For that and many 
 ! another purpose the little volume may be safely commended/ 
 
 Weekly Review. 
 
 I 
 
CHRISTIAN COUNSELS. 
 
LONDON! PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 AND PARLIAMENT STREET 
 
CHRISTIAN COUNSELS 
 
 SELECTED FROM the DEVOTIONAL WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 FENELON, ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAI. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 A. M. JAMES.W 
 
 4 As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God.’ Rvm. viii. 14. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 BOSTON COL2feȣ LXBRi 
 CHjttTJLUT mill, mass . 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
* F 4 1— (s ^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The EDITION from which these translations have 
 been made is that published by Firmin Didot 
 Freres, Fils et Cie., Imprimeurs de l’lnstitut de 
 France. The numbering of the different letters or 
 articles is made consecutive, according to the order 
 in which they have been chosen ; but the numbers 
 of the original could not, of course, be retained. 
 
 Nothing has been added to the words of Fene- 
 lon, with the exception of an occasional quotation 
 from the Bible, in order to make some passages 
 more complete for the purposes of the selection. 
 Most of the scriptural quotations, however, are 
 Fenelon’s own. Some passages, taken from other 
 parts of his works, have been introduced amongst 
 the rest. 
 
VI 
 
 Preface. 
 
 The translator must be permitted to remark, for 
 reasons that will no doubt become sufficiently 
 obvious to the readers of these pages, that they 
 are scarcely adapted for affording help to those 
 who (to use Fenelon’s own expression) ‘ are but 
 learning to walk, and have not yet found the true 
 road ; 9 but are rather intended for those who 
 are striving to ‘ run with patience the race that is 
 set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and 
 finisher of our faith! To such as are thus looking 
 unto Him, having found in Him the ‘ full, perfect, 
 and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for 
 the sins of the whole world/ many of the sugges- 
 tions contained in the works of the greatest and 
 holiest of Roman Catholic writers may, it is hoped, 
 prove valuable. And to them this little work is 
 dedicated. 
 
 A. M. J. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Concerning the Right Employment of Time, 
 and on the Means of Sanctifying our Com- 
 monest Actions ...... i 
 
 II. Concerning Amusements : how we may take 
 part without scruple in such as are attached 
 to our position, and how they may be Sanc- 
 tified by Purity of Intention .... 7 
 
 III. How we should Regard our own Sinfulness 
 
 without giving way to Discouragement — * 
 How to maintain Watchfulness, and how to 
 meet Temptation . . . . . .18 
 
 IV. On the Presence of God 26 
 
 V. On the Love of God, and on Faithfulness in 
 
 Little Things ...... 32 
 
 VI. On Cowardly Hesitations in Serving God . 42 
 
 VII. On the Imitation of Jesus Christ . . , 51 
 
 VIII. On Humility >55 
 
 IX. Concerning Distractions and Depression . 61 
 
vm 
 
 Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 X. On Remedies against Depression . . .77 
 
 XI. God is so little loved because He is so little 
 
 known . . .81 
 
 XII. Forgetfulness of Self does not hinder our grati- 
 tude for the Benefits which God bestows 
 upon us .90 
 
 XIII. On Listening to the Inward Voice of the Holy 
 
 Spirit, and on following the Inspiration which 
 Leads us to an Entire Renunciation of all . 95 
 
 XIV. Concerning Internal Deprivations and Suffer- 
 
 ings, and on Loving our Friends in God and 
 for God 1 13 
 
 XV. Concerning our Natural Dread of Privations . 124 
 
 XVI. .Against Clinging to the Sensible Enjoyments 
 
 of Grace 126 
 
 XVII. On Dryness in Prayer, and Concerning Dis- 
 tractions . . . . . . .129 
 
 XVIII. How we should not be Surprised or Discou- 
 raged, either by our Own Faults, or by the 
 Faults of Others 135 
 
 XIX. In what does the True Liberty of God’s Chil- 
 dren consist, and on the means of attain- 
 ing it 144 
 
 XX. On the Happiness of giving Oneself wholly to 
 God. — How His Love Sweetens every Sacri- 
 fice 149 
 
Contents. 
 
 IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXL Prayer for One who Desires to be wholly 
 
 Surrendered to God j 57 
 
 XXII. On the necessity of Self-renunciation, and 
 
 concerning its Practice . . . .159 
 
 XXIII. On the same subject 175 
 
 XXIV. On being Conformed to the Will of God . 183 
 
 XXV. On Submission to whatever it may please 
 God to bring about, either within us or 
 around us 190 
 
 XXVI. On the Right Use of Trials .... 193 
 
 XXVII. On Suffering 197 
 
 XXVIII. Peace consists only in the Full Surrender of 
 
 the Heart to God’s Will . . . .199 
 
 XXIX. Concerning Simplicity . 
 
 . 203 
 

 
 
 
 
CHRISTIAN COUNSELS. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 I. 
 
 CONCERNING THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF TIME , 
 AND ON THE MEANS OF SANCTIFYING OUR 
 COMMONEST ACTIONS. 
 
 I UNDERSTAND that what you wish to receive 
 from me does not merely involve the laying down 
 of certain general principles, in order to prove the 
 importance of rightly using your time ; of that 
 truth you have, by the grace of God, long been 
 persuaded. And it is a happiness to meet with 
 those souls who have thus, as it were, already 
 advanced half-way on their journey. But I do not 
 wish to flatter you by these words, for much yet 
 remains to be done. There is a wide difference 
 between the fullest mental convictions, or even the 
 most heartfelt desires, and true practical obedience. 
 
 Nothing has at all times been commoner, and 
 
 B 
 
o 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 nothing is commoner at the present day, than to 
 find Christians who are perfect and holy in theory. 
 1 Ye shall know them by their fruits / 1 saith our 
 Saviour. And this is the only rule which can 
 never deceive us, if it be truly carried out ; by this 
 alone may we judge. 
 
 There are sundry divisions of time which, in 
 your life, may clearly be distinguished from one 
 another ; but one maxim must be extended over 
 ^ all, namely, that none be left useless. All must 
 be made to work together in the plan of your 
 spiritual life. They each contain the different 
 duties attached to them by God Himself, and of 
 which He will demand account ; for, from the first 
 moment of our existence to the last of our lives, 
 God has left none vacant, none that we are at 
 liberty to waste. The important matter therefore 
 is to discover what it is that He means us to do. 
 And this discovery may be made, not by an 
 eager, restless zeal, which is far more likely to 
 entangle us in all we attempt than to enlighten us 
 respecting our duties ; but by a pure simplicity of 
 
 1 St. Matt. vii. 16. 
 
On the Right Employment of T ime. 3 
 
 heart in seeking God, and by the earnest effort to 
 overcome all the duplicities and false representa- 
 tions of self-love as soon as they are discovered. 
 We are wonderfully ingenious in the art of self- 
 seeking ; and the same things which worldly minds 
 will do without disguise, those who desire to serve 
 God will often do in a more secret manner, and 
 under some pretext which casts a veil over the 
 deformity of their conduct. 
 
 The general rule for the right employment of 
 our time is to accustom ourselves to live in imme- 
 diate dependence on the Spirit of God ; receiving 
 each moment that help which it may please Him 
 to bestow ; consulting Him in those difficulties in 
 which we have to make any prompt decision ; 
 referring to Him in all our weaknesses ; calling 
 upon Him and lifting up our thoughts to Him 
 whenever our hearts, drawn aside by outward ob- 
 jects, are inclined to stray from our true road, and 
 tend, in any degree, towards forgetfulness of God 
 
 Happy is that Christian who, yielding himself 
 up sincerely, rests ever in the hands of God, ready 
 to do whatever He may please ; and who never 
 
4 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 wearies of saying, over and over again each day, 
 1 Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? Teach me 
 to do Thy will, for Thou art my God! 1 Show me 
 that Thou art my God by teaching me ; and that 
 I am Thine own, by enabling me to obey Thee. 
 How can I be safe, O mighty God, but in Thy 
 keeping ? Apart from Thee, my soul is exposed 
 to all the attacks of her enemies ; I am ever in 
 danger. I am all ignorance and weakness, I shall 
 be lost if Thou leave me to myself. I should 
 waste the precious time Thou hast allotted to me 
 for my sanctification ; I should wander, blindly, in 
 my own ways. What could I do but choose 
 amiss ? what could I work in myself but the 
 results of self-love, of sin, and of condemnation ? 
 4 (9//, sejid out Thy light and truth , that they may 
 lead me / 2 Lord, give me Thy grace; give to 
 me according to my necessity : even as children 
 receive food in proportion to their age and re- 
 quirements. 
 
 Hours of business, or of any outward occupation, 
 only require, for their right use, a very simple 
 
 1 Ps. cxliii. io. 
 
 2 Ps. xliii. 3. 
 
5 
 
 On the Right Employment of Time . 
 
 attention to the orders of God’s Providence. As 
 He presents them before us, we have only to 
 follow obediently, entirely submitting our own 
 wills to Him — submitting to Him our delicacy, 
 our restlessness, our self-love, our natural inclina- 
 tions, our eagerness, our pleasures, or any other 
 feeling that may arise, according to whether the 
 matters in which we are concerned are agreeable 
 or distressing. Only, whatever those occupations 
 may be, we must not suffer ourselves to become 
 immersed in them. 
 
 We should commence each undertaking with a 
 simple view to God’s glory, continue it without 
 distraction, and finish it without impatience. 
 ‘ Whatsoever we do , in word or deed , let us do all 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus , giving thanks to 
 God and the Father by Him . . . . For we serve 
 the Lord Christ .’ 1 
 
 The time given to conversation and amusement 
 is often the most dangerous to ourselves ; though 
 perhaps it is also the most useful for others. We 
 must at such times be especially on our guard, 
 1 Col. iii. 17-24. 
 
6 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 that so we may be the more faithful, as in God’s 
 presence. The watchfulness enjoined by our 
 Lord ; the aspirations of our hearts to Him ; the 
 looking to Him as frequently as possible, in 
 simple faith ; the quiet dependence on His grace 
 as our only means of strength and safety ; all 
 these must be used to preserve us from the poison 
 that is so often concealed in the pleasures of con- 
 versation, and to enable us to introduce wisely 
 such words as may help and edify others. Es- 
 pecially essential are such means for those who 
 have much influence, and whose sayings may often 
 be powerful for good or for evil. 
 
 Hours of leisure are usually the sweetest as also 
 the most profitable to our own selves. And we 
 certainly cannot turn them to better account than 
 by devoting them to the renewal of our strength 
 (even of our bodily strength), by the most secret 
 and the closest communion with our Lord. Prayer 
 is so valuable, it is the source of so much blessing, 
 that he who has once truly found this treasure to 
 be his own, cannot but turn to it at every oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
7 
 
 II. 
 
 CONCERNING AMUSEMENTS : NO W WE MAY TAKE 
 PART WITHOUT SCRUPLE IA SUCH AS ARE 
 ATTACHED TO OUR POSITION \ AND HOW 
 THEY MAY BE SANCTIFIED BY PURITY OF 
 INTENTION. 
 
 You need not, it appears to me, be at all per- 
 plexed on account of those entertainments in 
 which you cannot avoid taking part. Some 
 people consider it a portion of their religious duty 
 to be miserable about everything, and believe that 
 they should create in themselves a feeling of 
 disgust at the very amusements which they are 
 constrained to share. As for myself, I acknow- 
 ledge that such harshness does not at all suit my 
 views ; I prefer a more simple line of conduct, 
 and I believe also that it is more acceptable to 
 God. 
 
 When amusements are in themselves innocent, 
 
8 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 and when we are called upon to take our part in 
 them in consequence of the station of life which 
 Providence has assigned to us, it is only necessary 
 that we should do so in moderation, and as in 
 God’s sight. 
 
 I have therefore come to the conclusion that 
 when God has placed any one in a position such 
 as He has allotted to you, the safest way is to 
 accept it peaceably, without inward contention as 
 to the secret motives which may almost imper- 
 ceptibly creep into the heart. Those questionings 
 become unending ; and instead of coming out of 
 self to seek God, such frequent examinations of 
 conscience actually cause one to be the more 
 occupied with self. 
 
 Let us go forwards in all simplicity of heart, 
 with peace and joy, which are the fruits of the 
 Spirit.’ He who recognises at all times the pre- 
 sence of God, even when engaged in the most 
 trifling matters, will never cease to serve God, 
 though He may seem to do nothing of serious 
 importance. I take it for granted, of course, that 
 what is done is done according to God’s appoint- 
 
Concerning Amusements 
 
 9 
 
 ment, and that in all these matters every action is 
 regulated by His commands. 
 
 The generality of people, when they desire to 
 be converted, and wish to reform their lives, think 
 far more of accomplishing certain difficult and 
 unnecessary deeds than of purifying their inten- 
 tions and denying their own wills in the ordinary 
 duties of their life. In this they err greatly. It 
 would be much better to make less change in 
 their outward actions, and more change in the 
 spirit in which those actions are performed. Pro- 
 vided one is already leading an honest and 
 regular life, it is infinitely more important, in 
 order to become truly a Christian, to alter that 
 which is within than that which is without. ‘ For 
 by grace are we saved \ through faith ; and that not 
 of ourselves ; it is the gift of God! 1 And God 
 does not demand the sound of our words, or the 
 posture of our bodies, or external ceremonies ; 
 what He does demand is an undivided heart, a 
 supple will ; that is to say, a will that desires 
 nothing and rejects nothing ; wishing unreservedly 
 : 1 Eph. ii. 8. 
 
IO 
 
 Christian Cotinsels. 
 
 for all that He pleases, and desiring nothing at all, 
 under any pretext, of that which does not please 
 Him. 
 
 Bear within you this simplicity of heart, ever in 
 union with the will of God, into every place 
 whither His Providence may lead you. Seek God 
 in those hours which have appeared to you so 
 empty, and they will become full to you, for He 
 will Himself sustain you in them. Even amuse- 
 ments, however useless in themselves, will become 
 profitable, if you only enter upon them as that 
 which is suitable, and in order to obey God therein. 
 How free are our hearts when God leads us in this 
 simple manner! We then go forwards like little 
 children whom the mother is leading by the hand, 
 and who are glad to be so led without knowing 
 whither they go. We are willing to be at leisure, 
 willing to speak, willing to be silent. When w r e 
 may not speak of that which is edifying, we turn 
 to lighter subjects, and thereby afford recreation 
 both to others and to ourselves. 
 
 You will tell me, perhaps, that you would like 
 better to be occupied with something more serious 
 
Concerning Amusements . 1 1 
 
 or more important. But God does not like it 
 better for you, since it is this that He has chosen, 
 although it would not have been your own choice. 
 His choice must needs be better than yours. No 
 doubt you would derive more pleasure from the 
 solid pursuits for which He has given you a taste. 
 Nevertheless, it is just that pleasure which He sees 
 fit to deny you ; although the taste is, in itself, 
 good and wholesome. Even virtues must, in their 
 exercise, be purified by the opposition from which 
 God’s providence causes them to suffer, that so 
 they may be rendered free from self-will. How 
 simple, how sweet, how loveable is that piety which 
 rests solely on the foundation of God’s will — ‘By 
 the which will we are sanctified , through the offer- 
 ing of Jesus Christ l 1 Guided by Him, it may be 
 that we live much as others live, without affecta- 
 tion, without austerity, leading a life of liberty ; 
 yet it will also be with a constant subjection to 
 every duty, with unremitting surrender of all that 
 does not agree with God’s order for ourselves, look- 
 ing ever towards Him in all purity of heart, sacri- 
 
 * Heb. x. io. 
 
12 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 firing to Him every perversity of our nature. Here 
 is the adoration which Jesus Christ and the Father 
 accept. All else is mere ceremony, the shadow of 
 Christianity rather than its reality. 
 
 You will, doubtless, ask by what means it can be 
 possible in a life such as yours to preserve this 
 purity of will. It is no easy matter, you will say, 
 to protect one’s heart from the bad influences of 
 worldly society. If against oneself, even, watch 
 must constantly be maintained, how can we expects 
 to maintain that watchfulness if one is also thus 
 constantly exposed to the dangers of the world, 
 and to the amusements which must increase those 
 difficulties which at all times surround the Christian 
 soul ? 
 
 I acknowledge the danger. I even think it 
 greater than I can express. I fully agree to the 
 necessity of taking every precaution ; and I would 
 advise you to adopt the following means : — 
 
 In the first place, I would have you lay a foun- 
 dation of prayer, and of reading. Read, not in 
 order that you may learn to know more, but in 
 order that you may learn to distrust yourself ; then 
 
Concerning A nut semen is. 1 3 
 
 all will turn to your profit. But read prayerfully ; 
 and often meditate in stillness of heart on some 
 great truth of religion. This you will best do by 
 taking some action, or some word, of our Saviour’s, 
 and fixing your thoughts upon it. When you feel 
 convinced of the truth on which you have thus 
 pondered, apply it closely and seriously to the cor- 
 rection of your own failings ; asking God to enable 
 you to perform that which He gives you grace to 
 resolve. When you find your mind wander during 
 this meditation, bring it back quietly, without dis- 
 couragement, and without being disturbed in spirit, 
 even by the most obstinate distractions. So long as 
 they are involuntary they can have no power to 
 injure you ; on the contrary, they will often help 
 you more than those exercises which bring you 
 perceptible consolation ; for they will humble you, 
 they will mortify your nature, they will teach you 
 to seek God for His own sake, and not for the sake 
 of the consolations He bestows. 
 
 If you reserve, faithfully, morning and evening, 
 time for carrying out these devotions, you will find 
 that they will act as an antidote to the poison 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 H 
 
 which surrounds you. I say evening as well as 
 morning, because it is as necessary to have frequent 
 recourse to the means of supplying nourishment to 
 the soul, as it is to sustain the body ; else it will be 
 weakened and exhausted by constant intercourse 
 with the world. 
 
 ‘ Give us y day by day , our daily bread ! And 
 what is our daily bread ? Is it not the support 
 which God’s providence bestows upon us for the 
 necessities of life ? Most especially, therefore, is it 
 that bread which nourishes the soul unto life eternal. 
 It is hunger which makes us desire our food, and 
 which causes it to be profitable to us. Why do 
 we not hunger and thirst after righteousness ? Why 
 do not our souls hunger and thirst even as our 
 bodies ? Let us come before God as the poor who 
 beg, and who entreat for a morsel of bread ; let us 
 feel our weakness, and our faintness for food. Let 
 us read, let us pray, with this earnest longing to 
 satisfy the thirst of our souls with the living water, 
 which springeth up into everlasting life. Be then 
 firm with yourself, as well as with others, in always 
 reserving the necessary hours for devotion. Never 
 
Concerning Amusements . 
 
 15 
 
 suffer yourself to be so led away by external in- 
 terests, however good they may be in themselves, as 
 to lack time for nourishing your inward life. . . . 
 It is at the feet of Jesus that we can secretly heal 
 the wounds of our hearts, and that the stains we 
 have received from our intercourse with the world 
 are washed away. 
 
 Lastly, I would certainly have you limit yourself 
 to those entertainments which are not unsuitable 
 to the religious profession which you make, and 
 to the example which you should set to others. 
 For even the world, worldly as it is, demands from 
 people who despise it, that they should be consis- 
 tent in their contempt ; and will always respect 
 those who despise it honestly. True Christians 
 may rejoice that the world is so severe a critic; 
 they may rejoice that they are thus the more 
 urgently compelled to do only that which tends to 
 edification. 
 
 I consider also that you should only join in 
 those amusements at which your presence is really 
 required, or in order to please others ; and that 
 you should never attempt, indirectly, to bring about 
 
i6 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 such invitation. Thus you will gain the more time 
 for your domestic duties, and for your religious 
 occupations. 
 
 I feel convinced that, if you follow out these 
 simple rules, you will reap an abundant blessing. 
 God will lead you as it were by the hand, and will 
 support you. The delight of His presence will be 
 sweeter than any pleasures which can be offered. 
 You will be moderate in all, your watchfulness and 
 your devotion will be without constraint, without 
 affectation, and without harshness to others. You 
 will be in the midst of these things as though they 
 were not, and, in cheerfulness and gladness of heart, 
 will be ‘ all things to all men l 
 
 When you find that your heart becomes weary, 
 that your joy passes away, return quietly and 
 without distress to the bosom of your Heavenly 
 Father, whose arms are unceasingly stretched out 
 towards you. There will you find happiness and 
 freedom, even in the midst of trouble, and you- 
 shall see that He will suffer you to lack nothing. 
 
 One confiding look, the simplest yearning of 
 your heart towards Him, will refresh you ; and, 
 
r Concerning A musements . 1 7 
 
 though you may at times feel weak and dis- 
 couraged, yet, so soon as God sets anything before 
 you to do, He will give power and courage to 
 perform it, even according to your need. For our 
 Father, so far from forsaking us, does but seek so 
 to open our hearts that He may pour into them 
 the abundance of His grace. 
 
 C 
 
x8 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 III. 
 
 HOW WE SHOULD REGARD OUR OWN SINFUL- 
 NESS WITHOUT GIVING WAY TO DISCOURAGE- 
 MENT— HOW TO MAINTAIN WATCHFULNESS , 
 AND HOW TO MEET TEMPTATION 
 
 You can easily understand that many sins may be 
 wilful to a certain extent, although we may not 
 have committed them with the deliberate intention 
 of failing in our duty towards God. One friend 
 will often reproach another for some offence, by 
 which that friend nevertheless has not intended to 
 annoy him ; but which he has permitted himself to 
 do, knowing that it was likely to vex him. So 
 also does God reproach us for similar faults. 
 They may not have been intentional, for they were 
 committed thoughtlessly; nevertheless, we have 
 fallen into them by our own free will, and in spite 
 of certain inward warnings which ought to have 
 sufficed at any rate to make us pause and con- 
 
How to Maintain Watchfulness . 19 
 
 sider. Into such faults as these many religious 
 people suffer themselves to be led. 
 
 As to such sins as are deliberately wilful, it 
 seems strange indeed that any should fall into 
 them who have once truly devoted themselves to 
 God’s service. Even little faults become serious 
 and hateful in our eyes, in proportion as the light 
 of God shines within us ; just as the sun, when it 
 rises, gradually reveals to us the true shape of 
 those objects which we could discern but indis- 
 tinctly during the night. It is therefore no 
 wonder that, as your inward light grows clearer, 
 the imperfections in yourself, which you had 
 hitherto perceived dimly, should be revealed to 
 you in their full strength and malignity ; or that 
 evils should appear whose very existence in your 
 heart you had never even suspected. You will 
 find there such weakness as will teach you to lean 
 no longer on your own strength ; but that experi- 
 ence, instead of discouraging you, will only act as 
 a most useful humiliation. There is no truer sign 
 of our progress than the being able to bear the sight 
 of our infirmities without trouble or discourage- 
 
20 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 ment. And ‘ we have not an high priest which 
 cannot be touched with the feeling of our in- 
 firmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we 
 are, yet without sin! 1 
 
 As regards the way in which we can best main- 
 tain the necessary watchfulness without becoming 
 self-conscious, the following appears to me the 
 most practical. A wise traveller, pressing for- 
 wards on his journey, is careful of his footsteps, 
 and keeps his eyes open on the road that lies 
 before him ; but he is not constantly turning back 
 to look at the steps he has already taken, or to 
 examine their traces. Thus also should the soul 
 whom God is really leading by the hand (for I am 
 not speaking of those who are but learning to 
 walk, and have not yet found the true road), keep 
 watch over her way, but with a simple and tranquil 
 watchfulness, looking only at the path which lies 
 immediately before her, and without being dis- 
 turbed by thoughts of self. It is a constant atten- 
 tion to God’s will that enables us to perform i% 
 from hour to hour ; not self-contemplation, or the 
 1 Heb. iv. 15. 
 
Hoiv to Maintain Watchfulness . 2 1 
 
 frequent examination of our own state, which 
 often, indeed, it pleases God to conceal from us. 
 Thus says the Psalmist, i Mine eyes are ever 
 looking unto the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet 
 out of the net l 1 
 
 Observe that, in order to walk along the road 
 which is full of snares, he does not look down- 
 wards to examine his own steps, but lifts up his 
 eyes unto the Lord. We never keep so true a 
 watch over our ways as when we walk as in God’s 
 presence, as He commanded Abraham to do. For 
 what is the object of our vigilance but to follow 
 the will of our Lord, step by step ? Whoso is 
 conformed to that will, watches truly, and is 
 sanctified in all that he does. If we never lost the 
 sense of God’s presence, we should never relax our 
 watch over ourselves, but it would be a simple, 
 loving, unselfish, quiet watchfulness ; whereas that 
 watchfulness which seeks reassurance concerning 
 our own ways is sharp, restless, and full of self- 
 interest. It is not by our own light that we are 
 Ridden to walk, but by the light of God. And it 
 
 1 Ps. XXV. 15. 
 
22 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 is impossible for us to look upon His holiness 
 without dreading the slightest sin. We cannot 
 but examine our consciences from time to time, as 
 in the presence of God ; we feel our need of doing 
 so in order to make sure that we are not relaxing 
 in our efforts. But such examinations become 
 more and more simple, easy, and free from self- 
 contemplation ; since we thus examine ourselves, 
 not for our own interests, but in order that we may 
 be more and more truly conformed to the will of 
 God. As to all else, we leave ourselves in His 
 hands ; and feel as thankful to be there as we 
 should feel grieved to be in our own. We wish to 
 know nothing that • He has hidden from us. 
 Loving Him far more than we love ourselves, we 
 yield ourselves unconditionally to His good plea- 
 sure ; we care only to love Him, and to forget 
 self. He who thus loses his life shall find it for 
 all eternity. 
 
 With regard to temptation, I know but of two 
 rules. One is to be faithful to the inward light 
 bestowed upon us in giving up, without reserve 
 and without delay, all that we are at liberty to 
 
How to Maintain Watchfulness . 23 
 
 give up, which may increase or reawaken the 
 temptation. I say all that we are at liberty to 
 give up, for it does not always depend on our- 
 selves to do so. The occasions of temptation 
 which are necessarily connected with the state in 
 which Providence has placed us, are not in our 
 own power. 
 
 The second rule is, to turn at once to God in 
 the temptation, without vexation, without stopping 
 to inquire whether we had, in any degree, begun 
 to yield, suffering no questions whatever to in- 
 terrupt our immediate return to God. We run the 
 risk of falling back into the temptation if we stay 
 to examine too closely as to whether or no we 
 have failed. The shortest way, and the safest, is 
 to act as a little child at the breast. If he is 
 shown some horrible monster, he does but turn 
 away, and hide himself in his mothers bosom. 
 
 The realising of God’s presence is the one 
 sovereign remedy ; it is that which sustains us, 
 consoles, and calms us. In this world we must 
 needs be proved by temptation. Our crosses 
 tempt us by irritating our pride, prosperity by 
 
24 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 flattering it. Our life is one continual conflict ; 
 but it is a conflict in which Jesus Christ fights with 
 us. ‘ For in that He Himself hath suffered , being 
 tempted , He is able to succour them that are 
 tempted i 1 Then let temptation rage around us, 
 only let us not cease to travel onwards ; even as 
 the traveller, surprised by a violent wind whilst 
 traversing an open plain, will wrap himself the 
 more tightly in his cloak, and will press onwards, 
 in spite of tempestuous weather. 
 
 Be satisfied that, in order to accomplish all that 
 (rod would have done, there is, in one sense, but 
 very little to do. True, there is a great deal to be 
 done in another sense, since nothing must be with- 
 held from Him. We may not, for one moment, 
 resist the jealousy of His love, which pursues, to 
 the very innermost recesses of our hearts, the least 
 self-love, and every affection which is untrue to its 
 Giver. But, on the other hand, it is not by the 
 multiplicity of our theories, or by our own auste- 
 rities, neither is it by constraint or by painful 
 effort that we make real progress. On the 
 
 1 Heb. ii. 1 8 . 
 
How to Maintain Watchfulness . 25 
 
 contrary, it is simply a question of yielding up our 
 will ; of going cheerfully from day to day whither- 
 soever God may lead us ; seeking nothing, dis- 
 couraged by nothing ; satisfied with the present 
 moment ; thankful to let Him do all who has made 
 all, and to leave our own will immoveable within 
 His will. How happy is it to abide in this con- 
 dition ! How satisfied is the heart, even though it 
 may lack all else ! 
 
 I pray that our Lord may make known to you 
 all the infinite depths of His love, that you may 
 lose yourself therein ; and that your heart may be 
 made for ever one with Him. 
 
26 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD. 
 
 The great mainspring of our perfection is contained 
 in the words which God spake of old to Abraham, 
 ‘ Walk before me , and be thou perfect l 1 The 
 presence of God calms the mind, and gives quiet 
 and repose even during the day, in the midst of 
 our business ; but then we must be unreservedly 
 His own. When we have truly found God, we 
 have nothing more to seek for amongst men ; the 
 best friend is within our hearts ; He is the Heavenly 
 Bridegroom ; and, in jealousy, He puts all other 
 love at a distance. 
 
 We do not need much time for loving God. To 
 refresh ourselves with His presence, to lift up our 
 thoughts to Him, to adore Him from the very 
 depth of our heart, to offer to Him all that we have, 
 
 Gen. xvii. I. 
 
On the Presence of God. _ 7 
 
 and all that we suffer — this is the true kingdom of 
 God within us, which nothing can destroy. 
 
 When external distractions, or the strength of 
 our own natural feelings, hinder us from being able 
 to collect our thoughts in quietness of heart, we 
 can at least calm ourselves by the desire of our 
 will. The very yearning for such devotion becomes 
 in itself a kind of devotion, as we turn towards 
 God, to do with good-will whatsoever He may 
 please. It is well to re-awaken in our hearts, from 
 time to time, the desire of belonging wholly to God ; 
 of belonging to Him with all the powers of the 
 soul, with every capacity of the mind for knowing 
 and thinking of Him, and with all the power of the 
 will to love Him. We should also desire that all 
 the external senses of our nature be in every way 
 consecrated to Him. Let us ‘ therefore present our 
 bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God y 
 which is our reasonable service l And let us not 
 ‘ be conformed to this world, but transformed by 
 the renewing of our minds, that we may prove 
 what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will 
 of God! 1 
 
 1 Romans xii. I, 2. 
 
28 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 We should take care not to be voluntarily occu- 
 pied for too long at a time, either internally or 
 externally, with such things as cause distraction to 
 the heart and mind ; that is to say, with the things 
 which make such demands on either the one or the 
 other as to cause us difficulty in so retiring within 
 ourselves as to realise the presence of God. 
 
 As soon as we find that any object gives us joy 
 and delight, let us prevent our heart from resting 
 thereon, by reminding it of our only true and sove- 
 reign good, even God Himself. In proportion as 
 we thus deal faithfully , by so detaching ourselves 
 from earthly affections as to prevent them from 
 entering into the depths of our soul, which our 
 Lord has reserved for Himself, to dwell there, and 
 therein to be adored and loved, we shall soon 
 taste that purity of joy which He never fails to 
 bestow on the heart that is thus free to receive it. 
 
 It is well not to take too eager a part in what is 
 said or done around us, or to let our thoughts be 
 too much filled by such things, for they become a 
 source of much distraction. As soon as we have 
 perceived what it is that God requires of ourselves, 
 
On the Presence of God . 
 
 29 
 
 in each matter presented before us, let us make 
 that our limit, and separate ourselves from the rest. 
 Thus shall we keep the depths of our soul free and 
 untroubled, and shall avoid many things which 
 would but prove a matter of embarrassment to us, 
 and would keep our hearts from turning readily to 
 God. 
 
 An excellent means of remaining in quietness 
 and freedom of spirit is, at the close of each under- 
 taking, to bring all our reflections about it to an end 
 also ; dropping all recurrences to self, whether they 
 arise from satisfaction or from regret, for they are 
 always harmful to us. Happy is he who retains in 
 his mind nothing that is useless, who thinks of each 
 thing only when the right time comes for attending 
 to it ; so that it is, in fact, God who arouses the 
 impressions by showing him what He would have 
 him do, rather than that his own mind makes the 
 effort of seeking them out, or of anticipating them. 
 
 Again, let us often accustom ourselves, during 
 the day, and in the course of our occupations, to 
 collect our thoughts by simply looking towards 
 God. Thus let us quiet every disturbance of our 
 
30 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 hearts, every agitation that arises within us. Let 
 us also withdraw ourselves from every pleasure 
 which does not come from God. Let us silence all 
 idle thoughts and all day-dreams. Let us speak 
 no empty words. Let us seek for God within our 
 hearts, and we shall assuredly find Him, and with 
 Him joy and peace. 
 
 In all our employments let us be more occupied 
 with God than with all besides. In order that we 
 may perform our business well, let us do it as in His 
 presence, and as for Him. At the thought of God 
 our hearts will be calm and still. A word from our 
 Saviour once quieted the raging of the sea : and 
 one look from Him, one yearning of our hearts 
 towards Him, will daily work the same blessed 
 calm in us. 
 
 Let the heart be often lifted to God, then will 
 He purify, enlighten, and guide it. Such was the 
 daily aim of the prophet David, who said, i I have 
 set the Lord always before me! 1 And let us often 
 repeat the beautiful words, ‘ Whom have I in 
 Heaven but Thee , and there is none upon earth 
 
 1 Ps. xvi. 8. 
 
On the Presence of God, 3 1 
 
 that I desire in comparison of Thee . God is the 
 strength of my heart , and my portion for ever! 1 
 There is no need to wait for a time of leisure, in 
 order that we may shut our door and be alone ; the 
 moment in which we long for devotion may be also 
 the moment in which we practise it. We have but 
 to turn towards God within our hearts, in simple, 
 loving confidence. Even times that are full of 
 interruptions may thus be used ; when we are 
 eating, for instance, or conversing with others. 
 Hours which would otherwise be full of weariness 
 will thus become times of refreshment ; and all 
 things will work together for good to those who love 
 God. 
 
 It is desirable to read often, in proportion to our 
 tastes and necessities ; but let such reading be fre- 
 quently laid aside in order to give place to the 
 innermost devotion of the heart. A few simple 
 words, if enriched by God’s Spirit, will be to us 
 as hidden manna. The words may be forgotten, 
 but they will work secretly, and the soul will be 
 nourished and strengthened by them. 
 
 Ps. lxxiii. 25. 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 32 
 
 V 
 
 ON THE LOVE OF COD , AND ON FAITHFULNESS 
 IN LITTLE THINGS I 
 
 All men must acknowledge the duty of loving 
 God ; but they need to consider how they ought to 
 love Him. We should love Him because He is 
 our Creator, and because all that we have is freely 
 given to us by Him. But not only is all that wa 
 have given to us by Him ; all that surrounds us is 
 also of Him. Yet more should we love Him, be- 
 cause He hath first loved us, and loved us with a 
 tender love, as a father pitieth his children ; for 
 ‘ He knoweth whereof we are made ; He remem- 
 bereth that we are dust! He has sought us in 
 our ways ; He has followed us as the shepherd fol- 
 lows after his wandering sheep. And not only has 
 
 1 The first part of this article, as far as the words, St. Francis 
 de Sales, &c. , is to be found only in the edition from which this 
 translation is taken. 
 

 On Faithfulness in Little Things . 33 
 
 He thus sought for us, but, having found us, He has 
 carried us in His arms. He has borne our griefs, 
 taking upon Him our human nature. i He hath 
 been obedient unto death , even the death of the 
 cross ; ’ 1 and the measure of that obedience is the 
 measure of His love for us. 
 
 Having thus convinced ourselves that we ought 
 to love God, let us consider how we shall love Him. 
 Shall it be with the love of cowards, who would 
 fain divide their hearts, giving a portion to God, 
 but keeping the rest for the world and its plea- 
 sures ; who strive to join together truth and false- 
 hood, God and Mammon ; who would serve God 
 in church, and give the rest of their time to the 
 world, so that God shall have that which is super- 
 ficial, and the world shall have the reality of their 
 affections ? But God will have none of such love ; 
 He will not suffer a divided heart ; the whole is not 
 too much for Him. It is thus that He told us how 
 He will be loved — ‘ Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart , and with all thy mind , and 
 with all thy sold , and with all thy strength! 2 Can 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 8. 2 St. Mark xii. 30 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 we think after this that He will accept an empty 
 homage ? Except we bring all to Him, he will have 
 nothing. 
 
 And, in truth, is it not ingratitude to refuse our 
 love to Him who has loved us from all eternity ? 
 — nay, more, who has loved us even in the very 
 depths of our iniquity? ‘ For God commendeth 
 His love to us , in that, while we were yet sinners , 
 Christ died for the ungodly .’ 1 The world itself, 
 corrupt as it is, prides itself in looking with horror 
 on ingratitude. It will not suffer that a son 
 should be ungrateful to the father to whom he 
 owes his existence. Yet what life is it that we owe 
 to an earthly father ? A life full of misery and 
 bitterness — a life which ever tends towards death 
 — which is in itself a continual death. Neverthe- 
 less, it is an established law that we should feel all 
 imaginable respect for our fathers and mothers. 
 What then, on the same principle, should we 
 render to our God ? The life which He gives shall 
 endure even as He endureth. He has created us 
 in order to bestow perfect happiness upon us : He 
 
 1 Romans v. 8. 
 
On Faithfulness in Little Things. 35 
 
 is more truly our Father than all fathers put toge- 
 ther. He has loved us with an everlasting love. 
 And what has He found in us to draw forth such 
 love ? Nothing, when we were not ; sin, so soon 
 as we existed. Oh, what surpassing love ! And is 
 it yet possible that we should withhold our love 
 from Him who hath thus dealt with us ? 
 
 But it is so difficult, you say, to love God only, 
 to give up all other supports. Is it then so sweet 
 to be divided between God and the world — to be 
 drawn by your passions, and at the same time torn 
 by the reproaches of conscience — to taste of no 
 pleasure without bitterness, and of no joy without 
 decay ? It is by this unjust division, though in 
 truth it causes you the keenest suffering, that you 
 strive to soften the harshness which the cowardice 
 of your nature makes you fear to meet with in 
 Divine love. But I repeat that there cannot be a 
 grosser delusion ; for, if there be any who are 
 happy, even now in this life, it is those who love 
 God. If our self-interest could avail us for any 
 good purpose, it would lead us to give up all else, 
 that we might be His alone. So soon as the love 
 
Christian Counsels. 
 
 36 
 
 of God reigns supreme in any soul, there dwells 
 also true peace. Neither greatness, nor riches, nor 
 honour, nor any other temporal good is needed. 
 That soul desires nothing but the will of her Be- 
 loved ; it suffices her that His will is being ful- 
 filled ; she ever watches in longing expectation for 
 the coming of the heavenly Bridegroom. Herein 
 is Christian perfection ; it exists not in elaborate 
 understanding. How have the learned gone astray 
 in the knowledge of God! for ‘ knowledge puffeth 
 up , but love edifieth! 1 
 
 Neither is there virtue in the length of our 
 prayers, since Jesus Christ himself said, ( Not every 
 Gne that saith unto me , Lord, Lord , shall enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven. ... I will profess unto 
 them , I never knew you! 2 Neither does devotion 
 consist in works without love. We cannot love 
 God without doing such works, because charity is 
 never idle. When love dwells within us, it must 
 necessarily lead us to work for God ; and if, 
 through any infirmity, we are unable to do active 
 work in His service, we can please Him as truly in 
 our suffering. 
 
 1 I Cor. viii. I. 2 St. Matt vii. 21-23. 
 
On Faithfulness in Little Things . 37 
 
 Nor is this all. Having learnt to love God 
 with an undivided love, let us rise yet higher, 
 and love Him for His own sake, not for our own 
 interest. And is He not abundantly worthy of 
 such love ? If any being deserves to be thus loved, 
 is it not He who is infinitely loveable ? 
 
 Saint Francois de Sales says that the difference 
 between great virtues and faithfulness in little 
 things is like the difference between salt and sugar. 
 Sugar has a more delicious taste, but it is not so 
 frequently useful. Salt, on the contrary, is em- 
 ployed in all our most necessary food. Great 
 virtues are rare; the opportunities for exercising 
 them occur but seldom. When they present them- 
 selves we have been prepared beforehand, and we 
 are excited by the very sacrifices we are making ; 
 we are sustained either by the brilliance of our 
 actions in the eyes of others, or by our own satisfac- 
 tion in making so unusual an effort. But the op- 
 portunities for little sacrifices are unforeseen ; they 
 occur hourly ; they constantly oblige us to struggle 
 with our pride, with our indolence, with our hasti- 
 ness or our discontent. If we would be truly faith- 
 
J 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 ful, nature can have no breathing time; she must 
 die to all her own desires. People would far rather 
 offer to God certain great sacrifices, however pain- 
 ful, provided they might still, in all lesser matters, 
 follow their own tastes and inclinations. Never- 
 theless, it is by faithfulness in little things that the 
 spirit of love and holiness is proved, and by which 
 it can be distinguished from mere natural impulses. 
 It is with religion as in worldly affairs ; more men 
 ruin themselves through extravagance in little 
 matters than by great expenses ; and whosoever, 
 either in temporal or in spiritual things, knows how 
 to turn every detail into profit, will never fail in 
 heaping up wealth. He who wastes nothing soon 
 grows rich. Besides, remember that what God 
 cares to see in our actions is the spirit of love 
 which prompts them, and the suppleness of our 
 will. Men can scarcely judge our deeds except 
 from without ; but God counts as nothing that 
 which is most brilliant in the eyes of men. What 
 He would have in us is purity of intention, an ever- 
 ready yielding of our will ; and these are more 
 safely, and at the same time more truly, proved in 
 
On Faithfulness in Little Things . 39 
 
 common than in extraordinary matters. Some- 
 times we care more for a trifle than for some object 
 of importance; and there may be more difficulty 
 in giving up an amusement than in bestowing a 
 large sum in charity. 
 
 We deceive ourselves the more easily about little 
 things because we imagine them to be so harmless, 
 and because we fancy that we do not really care 
 for them. Nevertheless, when God takes them 
 away from us, we find by the pain of the privation 
 how much and how inexcusably we had become 
 attached to them. Moreover, if we neglect trifles, 
 we cause offence to the members of our own 
 families, to our servants, and to the public. How 
 are men to believe that our piety is true, if our 
 conduct in the details they can perceive is cowardly 
 and inconsistent ? How are they to suppose that 
 we should be ready to make any great sacrifice, if 
 they see us fail so soon as we are called upon to 
 make smaller ones ? 
 
 But, after all, the most dangerous evil is that, 
 by negligence in little things, we acquire the habit 
 
40 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 of unfaithfulness. We grieve the Holy Spirit, and 
 reckon it a slight matter to displease God. 
 
 True love, on the contrary, considers nothing 
 unimportant ; because, whatever is capable of 
 pleasing or displeasing God must always appear 
 great to it. Not that true love causes constraint, or 
 scrupulousness, but that its faithfulness knows no 
 limits. Acting towards God in all simplicity, it 
 troubles not itself with that which He does not re- 
 quire ; but neither does it hesitate for a moment 
 at anything which He does require. It is not by 
 constraint that we become faithful in that which is 
 least ; it is by the spirit of love, which is free from 
 the disquiet of a troubled or scrupulous mind. The 
 heart, being drawn by the love of God, takes de- 
 light in performing all that He would have done, 
 but will have nothing to do with what He does not 
 appoint. The more God leads us into the most 
 absolute obedience to Himself, the more truly free 
 do we become — the deeper peace do we enjoy. 
 
 Those people who are naturally careless about 
 trifles should make a point of being the more 
 faithful concerning them. They are tempted to 
 
On Faithfulness in Little Things . 41 
 
 despise them ; they are in the habit of counting 
 them as nothing ; they do not regard their conse- 
 quences, or consider the evils that may gradually 
 arise. Even their own most painful experiences in 
 this respect are forgotten. We prefer making 
 great resolutions of imaginary firmness, and rely- 
 ing on that courage which has so often deceived 
 us, rather than submit ourselves to constant obe- 
 dience. It is a trifle, you say. True, it is a trifle 
 in your eyes, because it is all for yourself ; but it 
 is a trifle which you love well enough to refuse it 
 to God. There is no greatness of mind in despising 
 little things ; on the contrary, it is only the nar- 
 rowness of our views which makes us consider that 
 to be small which has such great results. 
 
 Do not fear this constant attention to little 
 things. It will require courage at first, but it will 
 become your peace and safety. Without it there 
 is nothing but trouble and constant backsliding. 
 But God will lead you step by step into that 
 happy and peaceful state in which true love is 
 ever watchful, without constraint, and without 
 weariness of heart. 
 
42 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 VI. 
 
 ON COWARDLY HESITATIONS IN 
 SERVING GOD. 
 
 Those who have lived apart from God consider 
 themselves very near to Him so soon as they have 
 taken a few steps towards Him. They leave off 
 some gross sins ; they begin to lead a less worldly 
 and dissipated life ; and then they compare them- 
 selves, not by the Gospel, which is our only true 
 standard, but by the life they were leading before, 
 and which they see many others still leading. 
 They require nothing more in order to consider 
 themselves saints ; and they close their eyes to the 
 possibility of anything further remaining to be 
 done. 
 
 Yet this state is perhaps even more dangerous 
 than one of open sinfulness. In an unruly life the con- 
 science may be aroused, faith may be awakened, 
 
Cowardly Hesitations in Serving God ’ 43 
 
 need may be perceived of making some great effort ; 
 whilst a partial change lulls the reproaches of con- 
 science, and establishes a false security ; thus pre- 
 venting the evil from being cured by persuading 
 the heart that there is nothing amiss. 
 
 But it is not only necessary that we should cease 
 to do evil, it is also essential that we should learn 
 to do well. The kingdom of heaven is far too 
 great a prize to be bestowed on slavish fear, which 
 only refrains from that evil on which it dares not to 
 venture. God desires to have children who love 
 His goodness, not slaves who serve Him from fear 
 of His power. We should so love Him as to do all 
 that true love must teach us to do. Can we truly 
 love God, and love also his enemy, the world, on 
 which He has pronounced His curse ? Can we 
 love God, and fear to know Him too well, or to do 
 too much in His service ? Can we love God, and 
 be satisfied with not rousing His anger, taking no 
 trouble to please Him, neither caring to glorify 
 Him nor having even the courage to show our 
 love? Jesus Christ hath said, ‘ Every branch 
 in me that beareth not fruit shall be taken away 
 
44 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 and cast mto the fire ! 1 He who beareth none of 
 the fruits of Divine love is dead and withered down 
 to the very root 
 
 Does there exist on earth a creature so vile as to 
 be content with such love as many are not ashamed 
 to bring to God ? We will love Him, provided we 
 need only give Him words and ceremonies ; more- 
 over, they must be very short ceremonies, for we 
 soon become wearied. But we would sacrifice no 
 strong passion for his sake, no real interest, none 
 of the luxuries of an easy life. We would love Him 
 on condition that we need diminish nothing of our 
 blind self-love, our self-idolatry. Instead of bring- 
 ing ourselves to God, as the One for whom we 
 were made, we desire to bring Him down to our 
 level. We would seek Him only by way of make- 
 shift, just in order that He may help and console 
 us when all creatures shall fail. Is this loving 
 God ? is it not rather angering Him ? 
 
 Nor is this all. We are willing to love God, 
 provided we maybe ashamed of our love, and hide 
 it as a weakness, that we may blush for Him as 
 
 i 
 
 1 St John xv. 2-6. 
 
Cowardly Hesitations in Serving God \ 45 
 
 for a friend who is unworthy of our affection. We 
 would pay to Him some outward semblance of 
 religion, sufficient to avoid scandal or actual im- 
 piety, yet live according to the dictates of the 
 world, daring to give nothing to God without its 
 permission. And such is the love for which many 
 expect to receive an everlasting reward ! 
 
 Those who act thus know neither God nor them- 
 selves. They are jealous of their own freedom ; 
 they fear to bind themselves too much to the 
 demands of religion. But they forget that they are 
 not their own. We have not even, strictly speak- 
 ing, any right to give ourselves to God, seeing that 
 we have no rights over ourselves. It is rather that 
 if we do not surrender ourselves entirely to Him, 
 as being essentially and only His, we are guilty of 
 sacrilege, we violate the very law of creation. God 
 knows, far better than we do, that which is best for 
 us. If we had written the Gospel perhaps we 
 should have softened its commands to suit our 
 cowardly natures ; but God did not consult us on 
 that point. He has given it to us as it is, and He 
 has said, * Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
 
4 6 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 my word shall not pass away ’ : 1 we may not di- 
 minish ‘ one jot or tittle t ‘ Broad is the way that 
 leadeth to destruction , and many there be that go 
 in thereat ,’ 2 yet cursed is he who shall strive to 
 widen the narrow way ! Let the pride of man be 
 silenced ; he may imagine himself to be free, but 
 he is not free. 
 
 Yet He who hath this absolute sovereignty over 
 us, is ready to give, by His own grace, the power 
 to will and to do all that He commands. He 
 teaches us to love His yoke, He softens it by all 
 the charms of holiness and truth. ‘ My yoke is 
 easy and My burden is light t Let not the name 
 of yoke alarm us. We bear it, but Christ bears it 
 with us. A yoke is that which must be borne by 
 two ; and it is His yoke, not' our own. ‘ O man of 
 little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt ? ’ Let God 
 do what He pleases with thee ; yield thyself to 
 Him. It may be thou wilt suffer, but it will be for 
 love’s sake, in peace, and with full consolation. 
 Thou wilt have need to fight, but thou shalt be 
 victorious ; for God Himself will fight with thee, 
 
 1 St. Matt. xxiv. 35. 
 
 2 St Mark vii. 13. 
 
Cowardly Hesitations in Serving God. 47 
 
 and He will give thee ‘ a crown of glory which 
 fadeth not away! Thou mayst weep ; but thy 
 tears will be sweet, for God Himself will come 
 unto thee, and will wipe them from thine eyes. 
 Thou wilt no longer be at liberty to follow thine 
 own evil ways ; but thou wilt freely sacrifice such 
 liberty, and wilt enter thereby into that truer 
 liberty which the world knoweth not, and in which 
 all is love. 
 
 What blindness, then, to be afraid of going too 
 far in the service of God ! Let us lose ourselves 
 in His love ; the more deeply we love Him, the 
 more we shall love all that He causes us to do. 
 His love softens every cross, draws us from all that 
 is hateful, keeps us from many a secret poison, 
 leads us, in loving tenderness, through every 
 trouble, and reveals to us, even in the hour of 
 death, an entrance into eternal glory and blessed- 
 ness. The love of God changes every evil into 
 good ; how can we fear to be too full of it ? Do we 
 fear to be too happy, too free from self, from the 
 caprices of passion, or from the tyranny of the 
 world ? Wherefore do we not cast ourselves in 
 
48 Christian Counsels . 
 
 fullest confidence into the arms of that merciful 
 Father, the God of all consolation ? He loves us, 
 how can we choose but to love Him ? His love, 
 ever growing within us, will satisfy us, though all 
 else be lacking. He alone can fill our hearts. 
 The world may intoxicate, trouble, agitate them, 
 but can never satisfy. God will take from us 
 nothing but that which would render us miserable. 
 He will teach us to do all in Him, and thereby to 
 do all aright. And everything, even the smallest 
 actions of our lives, shall work together for endless 
 good. In peace shall we meet the approach of 
 death, for to us it will become the entrance into 
 everlasting life. ‘ Not that we would be unclothed , 
 blit clothed upon , that mortality might be swallowed 
 up in life ! 1 
 
 ‘ Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , neither hath 
 it entered into the heart of man to conceive , the 
 things that God hath prepared for them that love 
 Him! 2 What comparison can there be between the 
 things of this world and the joys of heaven ? The 
 early Christians rejoiced unceasingly in the hopes 
 1 2 Cor. v. 4. 2 1 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
Cowardly Hesitations in Serving God. 49 
 
 set before them. Persecutions, tortures, the most 
 cruel deaths — nothing could discourage them ; for 
 they knew that all these things would be abund- 
 antly repaid by the ‘far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory ! They rejoiced when they were 
 counted worthy of ‘ being partakers of Christ's 
 sufferings ! But we, cowardly souls, we know not 
 how to suffer, because we know not how to hope ; 
 we are overpowered by the lightest trials, we can 
 scarcely bear even those which arise to us through 
 our own pride and luxury. 
 
 * They that sow in tears shall reap in joy l 1 
 But we must sow if we would reap. This life is 
 the time for sowing ; in the world to come we shall 
 receive the fruit of our labours. But mean, im- 
 patient man would fain reap before he has sown. 
 We desire the consolations of God, and therefore 
 we wish that He should prepare a smooth and 
 easy way for us to approach Him. We would 
 willingly offer to Him — of that which costs us 
 nothing . To receive much, and to give little — 
 it is to this self-love always aspires. Blind that 
 
 1 Ps. cxxvi. 5. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 we are ! shall we never believe that the 4 kingdom 
 of heaven suffer cth violence , and that the violent 
 take it by for cel 1 It is the souls who can bear 
 to do violence to themselves, and who 4 fight the 
 good fight of faithl that are judged worthy of 4 the 
 crown of life which the Lord hath promised to 
 them that love Him 1 Woe unto those who 
 receive their portion in this world ! for the day will 
 come in which all their false joy shall be brought 
 to confusion. Then will the world weep and 
 lament ; but 4 God shall wipe away all tears from 
 our eyesl 2 
 
 1 St. Matt. xi. 12. 
 
 2 Rev. xxi. 4. 
 
5 1 
 
 VII. 
 
 ON THE IMITA TION OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 We must imitate Jesus. That means that we 
 should live as He lived, think as He thought, be 
 conformed to His likeness. 
 
 What a contrast ! We who are nothing would 
 become great; the All-Powerful makes Himself 
 ‘ of no reputation .’ I would forsake all with Thee, 
 O Lord ! I sacrifice to Thee all my pride, all the 
 vanity which has hitherto possessed my heart. 
 Fulfil this my desire ; keep me from failing in it ; 
 ‘ turn away mine eyes lest they behold vanity ; and 
 quicken Thou me in Thy wayl 1 Enable me to 
 behold Thee alone, and to see myself as in Thy 
 presence ; then shall I know what I am, and what 
 Thou art. 
 
 1 Ps. cxix. 37. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 Jesus Christ was born in a stable ; He was com- 
 pelled to flee into Egypt ; He passed thirty years 
 of his life in the workshop of a carpenter ; He 
 suffered from hunger, from thirst, from weariness. 
 He was despised and rejected. He taught the 
 doctrine of Heaven, and none would listen. The 
 wise and great men of this world turned against 
 Him, they took Him captive, cruelly tormented 
 Him, treated Him as a slave, crucified Him 
 between two thieves, having first preferred a 
 robber to Him. Such was the life which Jesus 
 Christ chose ; and we — we dread the slightest 
 humiliation ; the least contempt is insupportable to 
 us ! 
 
 Let us compare our lives with that of Jesus 
 Christ ; remembering that He is the Master, we 
 the servants; that He is all-powerful, we are all 
 weakness ; that He abases Himself, and that we 
 would be exalted. Let us think upon our cor- 
 ruption till we have no contempt but for ourselves. 
 Who are we, that we should despise others and 
 blame their faults, when we ourselves are full of 
 evil ? Let us begin to walk in the path which 
 
On the Imitation of Jesus Christ . 53 
 
 Jesus Christ has traced out for us, since it is by 
 that path alone that we can follow Him. 
 
 How can we follow Jesus, if we will not do so in 
 the conditions of His human life — in poverty and 
 in suffering, through shame and persecutions, by 
 the cross and by humiliations ? Saints have found 
 Him in Heaven, amid the splendours of His glory, 
 and in joy unspeakable ; but it is after they have 
 dwelt with Him on earth, in contempt, in suffering, 
 and in humiliation. To be Christians is to be 
 followers of Christ ; and in what can we follow 
 Him if we refuse to do so in His humiliations ! 
 Nothing else can bring us really close to Him. 
 As almighty we may adore Him ; as just we may 
 fear Him ; as holy and merciful let us love Him 
 with all our strength ; but as humble, submissive, 
 despised, let us imitate Him. 
 
 It must not be supposed that we can do this of 
 ourselves ; all that is within us resists the en- 
 deavour ; let us seek for support from God. Jesus 
 Christ has been willing to take upon Himself all 
 our weakness. < He was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions ; He was bruised for our iniquities 1 
 1 Isa. liii. 5. 
 
54 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 He is the High Priest who can be touched with 
 the feeling of our infirmities, and ‘ in that He 
 Himself hath suffered , being tempted , He is able 
 to succour them that are tempted! 1 Let us there- 
 fore draw all our strength from Him, who, of His 
 own will, became weak in order that we might be 
 made strong. Let us become rich through his 
 poverty ; and let us say boldly : ‘ I can do all 
 things through Christ who strengtheneth me ! 2 
 
 I would follow, O Jesus, the path which Thou 
 didst take ; I would imitate Thee ; but I am 
 unable, except by thy grace. O despised and 
 humble Saviour, give me that which is needed by 
 all true Christians ! give me such contempt for 
 myself that I may learn that lesson which is 
 beyond human understanding, even the lesson of 
 dying to self by true mortification and humility. 
 
 1 Heb. ii. 1 8. 
 
 2 Phil. iv. 13. 
 

 55 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ON HUMILITY. 
 
 All holy men have agreed that true humility is 
 the foundation of every other virtue. Humility is 
 the offspring of pure love; humility is, in itself, 
 truth. There are but two great truths — that of 
 the all-sufficiency of God, and that of the empti- 
 ness of the creature. In order therefore that 
 humility should be real, it must cause us to render 
 unceasing homage to God, and to remain in our 
 only true position towards Him, satisfied with 
 being nothing. Christ calls upon us to be meek 
 and lowly in heart ; gentleness is the offspring of 
 humility, just as anger is the offspring of pride. 
 There is none beside Christ who can give us this 
 meekness of heart, which comes from Him alone. 
 
 ‘ Who, being in the form of God , thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God ; but made Himself 
 
56 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 of no reputation , and took upon Him the form of a 
 servant! 1 What hath He not done for love of us ? 
 What hath He not suffered for us ? 1 He was led 
 
 as a lamb to the slaughter , and as a sheep before 
 her shearers is dumb , so ope7ied He not His 
 mouth! 2 Yet we — we complain of the lightest 
 suffering ; we are so vain, so delicate, so sensitive ! 
 
 There is no true gentleness apart from humility. 
 So long as we are full of self, we are shocked at 
 the faults of others. Let us be fully persuaded 
 that nothing is due to ourselves, and then nothing 
 will irritate us. Let us think often of our own 
 sins, and we shall be lenient to the sins of others. 
 From every page of the Gospel (as St. Augustine 
 says) again and again echo the sweet words of 
 Christ, Hearn of Me , for I am meek and lowly of 
 heart! 
 
 Humility does not consist, as we are apt to 
 imagine, in external acts of lowliness, but in keep- 
 ing in our own true position. He who esteems 
 himself as worth anything, is not truly humble, 
 neither he who seeks anything for his own sake ; 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 7. 2 Isa. liii. 7. 
 
On Humility . 
 
 57 
 
 but he only who forgets himself so fully as to 
 think of himself no longer, who is hurt by nothing, 
 who can speak of himself as he would speak of 
 another person ; he who will work for love’s sake 
 without pausing to consider whether he does so 
 from humility or from pride, but is even quite 
 willing to be thought lacking in humility — in fact, 
 he who is full of true charity — is truly humble. 
 He who seeks not his own interest, but that of 
 God alone for time and for eternity, that man is 
 humble ; the more pure his love becomes, the more 
 perfect becomes his humility. Let us not, there- 
 fore, measure humility by any outward acts what- 
 ever, but only by pure charity. Love strips us of 
 ourselves, and clothes us in Jesus Christ. In this 
 does true humility consist, that we should ‘ live no 
 longer to ourselves , but that Christ should live in 
 us l 
 
 Many deceive themselves in this respect. Striving 
 to be humble through their own will, and lacking 
 self-renunciation, they offend against charity. If 
 they had sufficient light to perceive the truth, they 
 would see clearly that they are exalting, not 
 
53 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 humbling themselves, by the acts of humility 
 which they practise. He who is truly humble 
 suffers himself to be led unresistingly. He be- 
 lieves that God can make what He pleases of 
 Him, as He might out of the merest nothing. 
 There is far more real humility in thus giving 
 oneself up to do whatever God may please, than 
 in opposing His designs under the pretext of 
 being unworthy. He who prefers a low position 
 to a higher one by his own choice, is not truly 
 humble, though he may desire to be so. 
 
 It is false humility to believe oneself unfit for 
 the mercies of God, and therefore not to expect 
 them. True humility consists in seeing all our 
 unworthiness, and yet yielding ourselves up to 
 God, nothing doubting that He can do great 
 things in us. If God, in order to work in us, re- 
 quired to find the foundations already laid, we 
 might well fear that our sins have so ruined all 
 that we could never be made worthy of Divine 
 favour. But God requires to find nothing in us ; 
 it would be impossible that He should find in us 
 anything but what He has put there Himself. 
 
On Humility. 
 
 59 
 
 We may even say that our very emptiness, and 
 our sinful natures, make us the more fit to receive 
 His mercy. Thus can the grace of God show 
 itself the more abundantly. For the sinful being, 
 who is conscious of nothing within except sin and 
 infirmity, cannot assume merit in receiving the gift 
 of God. ‘ Therefore does God choose the weak 
 things of this world to confound the mighty ; and 
 base things of the world \ and things which are 
 despised , hath God chosen , yea, and things which 
 are not , to bring to nought things that are: that 
 no flesh should glory in His presence. But of 
 Him are ye in Christ Jesus , who of God is made 
 unto us wisdom , and righteousness , and sanctifica- 
 tion, and redemption ! 1 
 
 Nothing then is so worthy of mercy as our great 
 misery. Jesus Christ came from Heaven to save 
 sinners, not to call the righteous ; He came to seek 
 for that which was lost, and without Him, all were 
 lost/ ‘ They that are whole need not a physician , 
 but they that are sick ! 2 God loves those who 
 present themselves boldly to Him, in all their filthy 
 1 i Cor. i. 27, 28. 2 St. Matt. ix. 12. 
 
6o 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 rags, beseeching Him, as their Father, to give 
 them a garment worthy of Himself. 
 
 He who is thus truly humble is one of those 
 little children concerning whom Jesus has said that 
 it is they who shall enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven. A little child does not know what he 
 needs ; he can do nothing, understand nothing, but 
 just suffer himself to be led. Let us give ourselves 
 up bravely. If God did nothing for us, it would 
 be but justice, since we deserve nothing. But if 
 He does much, it will be all to His glory ; and we 
 shall say, with Mary, ‘ Blessed is He who hath 
 regarded our low estate ; for He that is mighty hath 
 done to us great things , and holy is His name ! 1 
 
 1 St. Luke i. 48, 49. 
 
01 
 
 IX. 
 
 CONCERNING DISTRACTIONS AND DEPRESSION. 
 
 It appears to me that you are in difficulty re- 
 specting two things : one is, to avoid distractions 
 of mind, the other is, how to avoid giving way to 
 depression. 
 
 With regard to distractions of mind, you will 
 not cure them by arguing with yourself. Do not 
 expect to carry out the work of grace through the 
 resources and efforts of nature. Content yourself 
 with yielding your will unreservedly to God, and 
 with never encountering any trial without ac- 
 cepting it willingly from His divine providence. 
 Take good heed not to anticipate these trials ; yet, 
 when it is God who brings before you even the 
 possibility of their occurring, without your having 
 sought for them, never let such opportunities pass 
 fruitlessly. 
 
62 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 Accept, in spite of the shrinking of your nature, 
 all that God may thus present to you, as a means 
 by which He will try your faith. Do not at all 
 trouble yourself as to whether you will, when the 
 time comes, have strength to carry out that which 
 you are now enabled to resolve. As the present 
 need, so will be the grace given ; and the grace 
 sufficient for the time in which such prospects 
 of suffering are brought before you, is that which 
 enables you to accept them willingly beforehand, 
 in case it shall please God to bring them about. 
 Having done this, go on your way in quietness 
 and confidence. Provided this disposition of your 
 mind is not altered by clinging voluntarily to any- 
 thing which is contrary to the will of God for you, 
 it will abide. ‘ For it is God that worketh in you 
 both to will and to do of His good pleasure! 1 
 
 Your imagination may wander to many foolish 
 matters ; it may be more or less disturbed by the 
 places in which you are, or by the subjects, whether 
 agreeable or distressing, which affect you. But it 
 matters not.. Such distractions are inevitable ; and 
 1 Phil. ii. 13. 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression . 63 
 
 provided they are involuntary, they will never 
 really come between you and God. Only the 
 disturbance of your will can do that. 
 
 If you truly desire no distractions, those that 
 may arise will never harm you, and it will be per- 
 fectly true to say that your prayers can never have 
 failed. Each time that you perceive any dis- 
 traction, you have only to let it drop. Do not 
 struggle with it, but turn your heart back to God 
 peacefully, and without discouragement. Until 
 you have perceived the distraction, it does not 
 affect the heart. But as soon as you do perceive 
 it, lift your eyes to God. If you thus faithfully 
 return to His presence every time that you perceive 
 your condition, you will gain more and more of 
 His grace ; and, unless I am greatly mistaken, 
 His presence will soon become familiar to you. 
 
 This faithfulness in turning away from other 
 subjects whenever one perceives any distraction, 
 cannot long be practised by our souls without 
 obtaining the gift of constant devotion. But do 
 not imagine that you can obtain it by your own 
 efforts ; such an idea would make you constrained 
 
6 4 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 and scrupulous, and would cause you to be restless 
 in those very matters in which you especially 
 require freedom. You would be constantly fearing 
 lest you should lose the sense of God’s presence, 
 and, in seeking to regain it, would delude yourself 
 with phantoms of your own imagination. Thus 
 would the presence of God (which should, by the 
 sweetness of the light it sheds, facilitate all your 
 occupations) be a constant source of anxiety, and 
 it would so agitate you as to render you almost 
 incapable of fulfilling the external duties of your 
 life. 
 
 Never be disquieted, therefore, because you may 
 have lost the immediate perception of God’s pre- 
 sence, and be careful not to attempt to retain that 
 sense of His presence by your own reasoning or 
 by elaborate reflections. Content yourself, whilst 
 you are occupied with the details of your business 
 in the course of the day, with such a general 
 tendency of the heart, that, if you were asked at 
 any moment to give account of its position, you 
 might truly say that it was turned towards God, 
 although just then you were attending to some 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression. 65 
 
 other matter. And do not trouble yourself about 
 those wandering thoughts which you feel that 
 you cannot prevent. One does but increase such 
 distractions by fearing them too much, or by 
 regretting them too keenly when they are past. 
 
 What would you say to a man who, being on a 
 journey, should spend his time in anticipating the 
 misfortunes he might encounter, instead of hasten- 
 ing forwards ; and who, when he had met with an 
 accident, should stay contemplating the place 
 where he had fallen ? Would you not tell him to 
 go on with his journey ? and so do I also speak 
 to you : Press forwards, do not look back, do not 
 loiter. ‘ So walk / says the Apostle, ‘ that ye may 
 abound more and morel 1 If the love of God 
 abound in you, it will certainly correct all your 
 failings far better than your own anxiety, or than 
 any amount of self-contemplation. 
 
 This rule is extremely simple, all too simple for 
 the natural heart. We like to do something for 
 ourselves ; we want to help ourselves onwards. But 
 the great advantage of this rule is that it keeps the 
 1 Thes. iv. I. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 heart in that condition of true faith in which 
 it leans on God alone, yielding itself wholly to 
 Him, dying to self, by suppressing all that arises 
 from self. This leaves no room for a multiplicity 
 of external observances, which would only hamper 
 those people who are called to busy lives, and 
 injure the health of others. It is all a matter of 
 love only, of simple love ; by reason of which we 
 delight in doing whatever Love gives us to do. 
 How can we be overburdened when we bear only 
 that which we love to bear ? And this same remedy, 
 if truly applied, will cure all our sadness of heart. 
 
 Depression often arises because, in seeking after 
 God, we do not feel the sense of His presence suf- 
 ficiently to satisfy us. But the desire to receive 
 His consolations is by no means the same thing as 
 longing after Himself. Rather is it a desire to 
 assure ourselves of His favour, for our own sakes, 
 and in order that we may be comforted. Our 
 nature, weary and easily discouraged even to im- 
 patience, refuses to live by faith alone ; we make 
 every effort to escape from it ; we long for some 
 prop to the weakness of self ; we wish at any 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression . 67 
 
 rate to see and feel our progress. At the sight of 
 our own faults our pride is wounded, and we mis- 
 take this wounded pride for true penitence. We 
 wish, through mere self-love, to have the pleasure 
 of seeing ourselves perfect ; and we blame our- 
 selves for not arriving at perfection. Then we 
 become out of humour with ourselves, and with 
 everyone else. As though the work of God could 
 be accomplished by our impatience ! As though 
 we could grow in union with the God of peace, by 
 losing peace ! Martha , Martha , thou art carefid 
 and troubled about many things , in the service of 
 Jesus Christ. But one thing is needful , 1 namely, 
 to love, and to sit in stillness at His feet. 
 
 When we have surrendered ourselves entirely to 
 God, all that we do is well done, even though we 
 may do but little. We meet the future trustfully, 
 
 1 desiring unreservedly whatever God wills, and we 
 shut our eyes to that which may be in store for us. 
 But, for the present, we apply our utmost diligence 
 to the fulfilment of that which He pleases. Suffi- 
 cient for each day is the evil and the good thereof 
 
 1 St. Luke x. 41, 42. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 This daily accomplishment of God’s will is the 
 coming of His kingdom within our hearts, and con- 
 tains within itself our ‘ daily bread/ It is faithless 
 to wish to penetrate into the future which God has 
 concealed from our eyes. We leave it in His 
 hands; it remains with Him to make it sweet or 
 bitter, long or short — ‘ Let Him do that which 
 seemeth good in His eyes! The most perfect pre- 
 paration for the future consists in dying now to 
 self-will, giving oneself wholly to the will of God. 
 
 When we are thus prepared for all that may 
 come, we begin to feel firm ground beneath our 
 feet ; our hearts grow tranquil as regards both the 
 past and the future. We believe of ourselves all 
 the evil that can be imagined, but we cast ourselves 
 blindly into the arms of our God. We lose — we 
 forget ourselves ; and this forgetfulness of self is 
 the truest repentance ; for all true conversion to 
 God consists in leaving self in order to be occupied 
 with Him. Herein is the true martyrdom of self. 
 We would a hundredfold rather contradict our- 
 selves, blame ourselves, torment ourselves, body 
 and mind, than forget ourselves; for forgetfulness 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression . 6 or 
 
 is the destruction of self-love, it leaves it no re- 
 source. And then dobs the heart truly expand ; 
 our burden is lifted away. As we become free 
 from all the weight of self by which we were borne 
 down, we are astonished to find how straight and 
 simple our path becomes. 
 
 We had thought that strife would be perpetual, 
 that always there must be some unremitting effort ; 
 on the contrary, we perceive how little we have tc 
 do. We have but to look ever trustfully towards 
 God, as to the Father who leads us each moment 
 by the hand. If some distraction of thought causes 
 us to lose sight of Him, we turn back to Him again 
 without pausing to look at the hindrance, and He 
 gives us to feel that which He pleases. If we have 
 sinned, our repentance is that sorrow which springs 
 from love only; we simply return to Him from 
 whom we had strayed. The sin appears hateful to 
 us ; but the humiliation which arises from it, and 
 for the sake of which God had permitted us to fall 
 into it, appears good. Just as the reflections which 
 spring from pride, concerning our own failures, are 
 bitter, and full of restless misery, so the peaceful 
 
70 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 return of the soul to God, even after failures, is 
 full of sweetness, of true devotion, and of trustful- 
 ness. 
 
 You will soon find, by your own experience, how 
 far more this simple and peaceful return to God 
 will correct that which is amiss in you, than all 
 your own vexation with yourself for the faults that 
 overcome you. < If any man sin , we have an advo- 
 cate with the Father , Jesus Christ the righteous ! 1 
 Only be faithful in coming simply to God directly 
 you perceive anything amiss. It is of no use quar- 
 relling with yourself about it ; it is not with your- 
 self that you can do anything. Whilst you are 
 scolding yourself for your misery, you are only 
 taking that same self into your counsel. Poor 
 counsel indeed, in which God is not ! 
 
 And whose hand is it that can be stretched out 
 to draw you from the mire ? Is it your own ? Alas ! 
 it is your own that led you there ; you have not the 
 slightest power to free yourself. Self is the very 
 source of the mischief ; the depth of the evil is that 
 you cannot escape from yourself. Do you think, 
 
 1 i St. John i. 2. 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression . 7 1 
 
 then, that you can get out of your difficulty by 
 consulting with your own self, and by brooding 
 over your own weakness ! The slightest look to- 
 wards God will do far more towards quieting your 
 heart than any self-contemplation. His presence 
 draws us out of ourselves, and that is exactly what 
 you are needing. Come out of self, and you will 
 be at peace ; and to accomplish this it is only 
 necessary to look to Him in quietness of spirit, and 
 to acquire, gradually, the habit of always turning 
 back to Him every time that you find yourself in 
 the least drawn aside. 
 
 Much natural depression arises from physical 
 causes, and may be met by physical remedies. It 
 is true that it returns again and again, but this is 
 not dependent on our own will. When God sends 
 such depression, it must be borne patiently, as we 
 would bear an illness, or any other bodily suffering. 
 The spirit may be in utter darkness — clothed, as it 
 were, in deepest mourning ; but the will, which 
 depends on faith alone, is able to bear even this 
 trial. We are at peace, because we are submissive 
 to the will of God. It is not a question of what 
 
72 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 we are feeling, but of what our will desires. We 
 accept all that is given ; we would have nothing at 
 all which we have not. We would not even, by any 
 effort of our own, deliver ourselves from our suffer- 
 ing ; for it belongs to God alone to measure out 
 to us our trials, and our consolations. Like St. 
 Paul, we 4 rejoice in the midst of tribulatio7i ; ’ it is 
 not the joy of sentiment, but of pure will. 
 
 The wicked, in the midst of pleasures, have but 
 a mingled delight, for they are never satisfied ; 
 there are always some annoyances of which they 
 long to be rid, or some enjoyments to be tasted 
 which they feel to be still lacking. 
 
 But he who is faithful accepts freely all the suf- 
 fering which God gives ; he loves — he welcomes it ; 
 he would not escape from it though it should cost 
 but a wish, for that wish would be contrary to his 
 true desire, which is only to surrender himself 
 entirely to God’s providence, and to depart in 
 nothing from that which He appoints. 
 
 If anything can bring the heart true liberty, it is 
 this surrender of oursejves. ‘ Then is our peace 
 like a river , and our righteousness as the waves of 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression. 73 
 
 the sea 1 If anything can make the mind serene, 
 driving away its scrupulousness, and even its 
 darkest fears, softening all pain by the sweetness of 
 love, giving fresh life to every action, and making 
 the very countenance shine with the joy of the 
 Holy Spirit, it is this simple conduct, fresh and 
 childlike in the love of God. But we will reason, 
 and we spoil all by our reasoning. There is a 
 temptation to reasoning which we should dread 
 as we dread any other temptation. There is a 
 self-contemplation which is the more especially 
 dangerous in that we do not regard it as an evil, 
 but mistake it for the watchfulness enjoined upon 
 us. But the watchfulness which Jesus Christ com- 
 mands is a faithful care that we love God unceas- 
 ingly ; that we fulfil His will at the present time, 
 according to the indications He gives us. It 
 does not consist in being anxious, in tormenting 
 ourselves, in being occupied with self, but in lifting 
 our eyes to Him who is ‘ our refuge and strength , 
 our very present help in time of trouble .’ 2 
 
 Why will we turn aside from His presence, which 
 
 1 Isa. xlviii. 18. 
 
 2 Ps. xlvi. I. 
 

 74 Christian Counsels. 
 
 He would make our constant blessing ? He has 
 not said be yourself the object before whom you 
 walk, but 4 Walk before Me , and be thou per- 
 fect! 
 
 David, full of the Holy Spirit, said, 4 1 have set the 
 Lord always before me. Mine eyes are ever looking 
 unto the Lord , for He shall pluck my feet out of 
 the net ! 1 The danger lies at his feet, but his eyes 
 are lifted on high. It is of much less use to con- 
 sider our danger than to consider the help that 
 cometh of God. Moreover, in God we can see all 
 truly ; we see at once our misery and His good- 
 ness ; the same glance discovers both in His Divine 
 light. But in our own darkness what can we see, 
 except darkness itself? 
 
 O my God, let me never cease to behold Thee, 
 then shall I never cease to behold my own poverty ; \ 
 
 I shall see myself the more truly by looking on 
 Thee. When external occupations hinder me from 
 contemplating Thee alone, still may I behold Thee, 
 
 O Lord, working in all around me. So shall I 
 
 1 Ps. XXV. 15. 
 
Concerning Distractions and Depression. 75 
 
 rejoice in seeing Thy will ever being fulfilled within 
 myself, and in all things. ‘ Yea, though I walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death , I will fear 
 no evil, for Thou art with me! 1 
 
 I will undertake nothing without watching for 
 the indications of Thy will. In whatever condition 
 Thou shalt appoint for me, I will worship Thee 
 and hold communion with Thee, every hour, every 
 moment that Thou leavest free to me for that pur- 
 pose. I will never quit this happy state except 
 when Thou callest me to some external duty. 
 When I go forth, Thou wilt go with me, Thou wilt 
 bear me in Thy bosom. Devotion will not lessen 
 my interest in others, or check my intercourse with 
 them ; for I shall desire to please them in order to 
 please Thee. 
 
 If Thou wilt make use of me for Thy work, I 
 deliver myself to Thee. Without thinking of self, 
 I will simply pour forth on others what Thou hast 
 poured out on me. I will not stop timidly, or look 
 back, however difficult may be the duty ; I will act 
 simply as in Thy sight, knowing whom I serve. 
 
 1 Ps. xxiii, 4. 
 
76 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 If, on the other hand, it does not please Thee to 
 use me, I will be still. I will anticipate Thine 
 orders in nothing. I will occupy myself quietly 
 about those things to which Thou dost limit me. 
 For, according to the grace Thou hast bestowed 
 upon me, I desire nothing and would refuse nothing ; 
 I am ready for all. Whether I am sought after or 
 despised, known or ignored, praised or contradicted, 
 what matters ! It is Thyself, not Thy gifts, that I 
 seek. All conditions, if they be good in Thy sight, 
 are equally welcome to me. Amen . 
 
77 
 
 X. 
 
 ON REMEDIES AGAINST DEPRESSION 
 
 With regard to a certain form of depression which 
 makes the heart feel sorely and heavily cast down, 
 there are two rules which it seems to me important 
 to observe. The first is, to use whatever means 
 God has placed within our reach to remedy the 
 depression ; not over-working the mind by burdens 
 disproportioned to its strength ; managing con- 
 scientiously the health of both body and soul ; 
 reserving always sufficient time for prayer, for 
 reading, and also for cheering conversation with 
 others, that so we may % refresh both mind and 
 body in due proportion to their needs. 
 
 And if our hearts are overburdened by some 
 trouble which involves no secret entrusted to us by 
 any one else, it is well to find a discreet and safe 
 person to whom we can confide the whole matter ; 
 
78 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 for this greatly relieves and lightens the oppressed 
 heart. Often hidden troubles swell the heart 
 almost to bursting ; whereas, if they can but have 
 vent, it will be seen that they were not worthy of 
 producing half the bitterness they have been 
 causing us. Nothing frees the soul more speedily 
 from a certain darkness and gloom than the 
 simplicity of making known our trouble, in all 
 humility, and at the expense of our own pride; 
 seeking for that help and consolation which should 
 be afforded in the fellowship which God’s children 
 have one with another. 
 
 The second rule is, to bear patiently all the 
 involuntary feelings of depression from which we 
 may still suffer, even in spite of the precautions 
 here spoken of. Often these times of inward trial 
 teach us the truest lessons of faith faster than any- 
 thing else could do, provided we do not suffer our- 
 selves to be hindered in the progress we should 
 make by dwelling on our own sadness ; for in that 
 case the depression will but take a stronger hold 
 upon us. One step forwards, at such a time, lifts 
 us on wonderfully, and takes us further on our 
 
On Remedies against Depression . 79 
 
 road than many steps taken in hours of sweetness 
 and consolation. We have, then, only to disregard 
 our own sadness of heart and still to press on- 
 wards ; so will this state of weakness prove more 
 helpful to us than the utmost strength and courage 
 of which we could be rendered capable. 
 
 The perceptible courage which makes us feel 
 our path so easy, is often but deceitful. It fre- 
 quently nourishes self-confidence ; and, though it 
 may be very edifying to others, it is apt to cause a 
 kind of inward satisfaction which may become to 
 ourselves a secret poison. 
 
 But the soul which is brought low in deepest 
 humiliation, which finds no inward resource, which 
 is troubled even unto death, which cries, ‘ My God, 
 my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ! 7 is being 
 far more truly purified from self, and is learning 
 more of real mortification than they can attain 
 who are rejoicing in their strength, and tasting the 
 fruits of their own virtue. 
 
 Blessed is that soul whom God abases, crushes 
 even to the earth, from whom God so takes away 
 all her own strength that she may lean only on 
 
8o 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 Him, who, seeing her poverty, is content to be 
 poor, and who, besides other trials, bears the 
 heavy cross of inward discouragement, in com- 
 parison of which all other crosses weigh but 
 lightly ! 
 
 I should, in truth, fear all for you if you felt 
 established in well-doing, if you felt yourself 
 strong to persevere ; but I hope all for you when 
 I see you thus despairing of your own strength. 
 How weak we are when we believe ourselves 
 strong ! Oh how strong are we, in God’s strength, 
 when we learn the most deeply to feel our own 
 weakness ! 
 
GOD IS SO LITTLE LOVED BECAUSE HE IS 
 SO LITTLE KNOWN. 
 
 We need scarcely wonder that men will make so 
 little effort to serve God, or that they think so 
 much of the little they do ; they do not know 
 Him, they barely realise the fact of His existence. 
 The belief they have is rather a blind deference to 
 public opinion than a clear and lively conviction of 
 His Divinity. They suppose that they believe in 
 Him, because they hardly dare to examine the 
 question, and because they are rendered indifferent 
 on the subject by the eagerness with which they 
 are absorbed in other matters. They imagine 
 God to be something mysterious, and far away 
 from us ; they think of Him as one who is power- 
 ful and who demands homage from us, and against 
 whose judgments it is well to take certain pre- 
 
82 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 cautions. Such are the thoughts of the greater 
 number of those who reflect at all on the subject ; 
 and even those are comparatively few. We say, 
 That person fears God ; and, in fact, such persons 
 do but fear Him, they do not love Him at all. 
 Would we be treated by a child of our own, or 
 even by a servant, as we treat God ? It is because 
 we do not know Him that we act thus towards 
 Him, for they who know Him cannot choose but 
 to love Him. € God is love ; he that loveth not y 
 knoweth not God ’ 1 for who can know Love with- 
 out loving ? 
 
 O my God ! before the heavens and the earth 
 were created Thou wert God from everlasting. 
 By thine almighty power Thou didst create the 
 earth, Thou didst ‘ speak the word and it was 
 done ; Thou didst command \ and it stood fast! 2 
 
 But for what purpose didst Thou create this 
 world ? Thou didst make all for man, and man 
 was made for Thee. Such is the order Thou hast 
 established, and woe therefore to the soul that 
 shall reverse Thine order, choosing to have all for 
 1 I St. John iv. 8. 3 Ps. xxxiii. 9. 
 
God but Little Loved. 
 
 83 
 
 self, and to be absorbed in self! No, my God ! 
 Thou hast pardon for the sinful soul that hath 
 rebelled against Thee, because Thou mayest yet 
 fill such a one with thy love, but Thine anger is 
 kindled against the soul that seeketh Thy gifts 
 for her own selfish use, refusing to yield herself in 
 sincere love to her Creator. To seek Thee in 
 order to enjoy the privileges Thou wilt bestow, is 
 not yielding oneself to Thee ; rather is it the 
 desire of bringing Thee down to our own level. 
 The only true yielding of ourselves to our Creator 
 is the absolute surrender of self ; it is to forget, to 
 lose oneself in Thee, to have neither will, nor 
 honour, nor peace but in Thine : in a word, it is to 
 love Thee. 
 
 How many souls quit this life laden with virtues 
 and good works, yet lacking that simple purity 
 without which they cannot see God ! how many 
 are satisfied with their own acquirements who do 
 not even understand the meaning of a true and 
 unreserved surrender of self. It sounds too harsh 
 to their ears, it offends them ; but, alas ! how will 
 
8 4 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 they regret their self-satisfaction, the empty 
 rewards which they had not courage to forego ! 
 
 O God ! so glorious in Thy power, and, at the 
 same time, so tender in Thy love, so high above 
 the heavens, yet adapting Thyself to the needs 
 of Thine own creatures ; so infinite, yet dwelling 
 within our hearts in closest union ; so just, and 
 yet so easily entreated by those who love Thee ; 
 when will even Thine own children cease to mis- 
 understand Thee ? Who will give me a voice 
 powerful enough to reproach the world with its 
 blindness, to announce with authority the truth as 
 it is in Thee ? 
 
 As for me, O Lord ! I would close my heart to 
 all outward objects, which are but vanity and 
 vexation of spirit, that so I may learn the secret of 
 true communion with Thee. Beneath the cross of 
 Christ, let it cost me what it may, I would become 
 humble and poor in spirit ; there would I become 
 full of the Holy Ghost. But who am I, that I 
 should aspire to such things? Yet it is not I, 
 sinful and weak creature, who am but dust ; it is 
 Thou, O Jesus, who livest in me. Thou givest 
 
God but Little Loved. 
 
 85 
 
 these desires ; Thou wilt fulfil them ; and Thy 
 grace will be the more glorious by thus triumphing 
 in one so utterly unworthy. 
 
 0 my God ! I have found over and over again 
 that I can neither overcome my temper, nor 
 change my habits, nor conquer my pride ; I cannot 
 even obey my own reason, or continue to desire 
 what I have once desired. It is Thou who dost 
 work in me the longing for that which is good, and 
 it is Thou who wilt keep alive in me this longing. 
 Without Thee I am but a reed, shaken by every 
 wind. All that is good within me is of Thee. It 
 is Thou who hast created in me a new heart, 
 which thirsteth after Thy holiness. 
 
 1 give myself thankfully into Thy hand, O my 
 God ! turn me whichever way Thou wilt. Mould 
 this clay into the shape that shall please Thee. I 
 am all Thine, do with me as may seem good in 
 Thine eyes. It is sufficient if Thou wilt use 
 me for thy purposes, and if nothing within me 
 shall resist Thy good pleasure, for which I was 
 made. Show me what Thou wilt have me to do ; 
 
86 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 show me what Thou wilt have me leave undone ; 
 be it unto me according to Thy word. 
 
 But, whilst Thou art thus working within me, 
 Thou art also working in all things. I find, in the 
 smallest atoms that exist, traces of the same 
 mighty hand which upholdeth the heavens and the 
 earth. All that Thou doest is perfect. Whence 
 then doth it arise that the earth is so full of crime 
 and misery ? Thou hast made the world for 
 Thine honour, yet we are tempted to believe that 
 it turneth to Thy dishonour. The number of the 
 unrighteous far exceed the number of those who 
 serve Thee, and even those few are but half serving 
 Thee. O God ! arise, give glory to Thy Name. 
 Teach them that blaspheme Thee how almighty 
 Thou art. Arise, O Lord God ! arise, tread Thine 
 enemies under foot. 
 
 But, O my Lord ! how marvellous are Thy 
 judgments ! As the heavens are higher than the 
 earth, so are Thy ways higher than our ways. We 
 are impatient, for our life is but for a moment. 
 Thou art from everlasting, therefore is Thy patience 
 full of longsuffering. i A thousand years are in 
 
God but Little Loved. 
 
 87 
 
 Thy sight even as a day that is past ; ' times and 
 seasons are all in Thine own power. We do not 
 comprehend, we become impatient ; we are of- 
 fended, and imagine that Thou regardest not the 
 evil. We see not the abundance of good which 
 Thou art bringing out of the evils Thou hast per- 
 mitted to exist. Thou sufferest them to exist 
 only in order to produce yet greater blessings ; 
 and Thou showest Thine all-powerful grace in the 
 skill with which Thou makest use of the evil. 
 
 O God ! I know from Thine own words that 
 Thou hatest nothing that Thou hast made, that 
 Thou art not willing that any should perish. 
 4 Thou art the Saviour of all men , specially of 
 those who believe .’ 1 When Thou shalt judge the 
 earth, Thou shalt be victorious in thy judgment ; 
 even the condemned shall see but equity in their 
 condemnation. Then wilt Thou show that 
 ‘ nothing more coidd have been done to Thy vine- 
 yard which Thou hast not done in it l 2 
 
 My God ! Thou art infinite in all ; infinite in 
 love as well as in wisdom and power. Thou 
 1 1 Timothy iv. 10. 2 Isaiah v. 4. 
 
88 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 lovest as God alone can love ; and, thus loving, 
 Thou hast moved heaven and earth in order to 
 save that which is beloved by Thee. Thou didst 
 become man — a little child — Thou wert despised 
 and rejected of men, dying a death of shame in all 
 the agony of the cross. And this was not too 
 much for Thy boundless love ! 
 
 When shall we learn to yield Thee love for 
 love ? When shall we seek Him who seeketh us ? 
 who beareth us in His own arms ? Even in the 
 bosom of His love we forget Him ; for in the 
 sweetness of His own gifts, we forget Himself! 
 His love pursues us ever, and we would elude His 
 search. We think ourselves alone, when He 
 leaves us nothing but Himself; we think we are 
 ruined when we have no resource but in His Pro- 
 vidence, as though His perfect and almighty love 
 were nothing to us ! Most strange delusion, re- 
 versing all truth ! 
 
 Yet, O Love ! Thou bearestwith us still ; Thou 
 waitest with unending patience. Thou dost even 
 appear, by such boundless patience, to permit in- 
 gratitude ! Even those who desire to serve Thee, 
 
God but Little Loved. 
 
 89 
 
 love but for their own sakes ; for their comfort, or 
 for the safety of their souls. Where are they who 
 love Thee for Thyself alone ? Where are they 
 who love Thee because they were made for loving 
 Thee ? what purpose can we serve, except we so 
 love Thee as to lose ourselves in Thee ? 
 
 O God ! O Love ! love Thyself in me ; then only 
 canst Thou be loved as Thou shouldst be loved. 
 I would subsist only in order that I may burn with 
 Thy love, even as a lamp which unceasingly 
 burneth. I am jealous of myself for Thy sake. 
 Rather would I perish than that the love which is 
 due to Thee should be wasted on myself. Love 
 me, O Love ! love thine own sovereign beauty in 
 Thy weak creature. O infinite Beauty, infinite 
 Holiness, infinite Love ! transport, consume my 
 heart ; make of it a burnt offering, a sacrifice of 
 sweet savour unto Thee. O Lord, I adore Thee ! 
 Thou hast made me for Thyself, and I am for ever 
 Thine. 
 
90 
 
 Christian Counsets . 
 
 XII. 
 
 FORGETFULNESS OF SELF DOES NOT HINDER 
 OUR GRATITUDE FOR THE BENEFITS WHICH 
 GOD BESTOWS UPON US. 
 
 Forgetfulness of self does not, in those who 
 desire to seek God for His own sake, prevent 
 thankfulness for His benefits. For such forgetful- 
 ness does not consist in never seeing what concerns 
 oneself ; but in never being wrapped up in self ; 
 and in never being occupied with our own sorrow 
 or delight by reason of our own right in them. 
 Such self-interest keeps us from pure and simple 
 love by narrowing our hearts ; it hinders our per- 
 fection by causing us to seek it with too much 
 eagerness, and for our own sakes. 
 
 But when we cease to be voluntarily occupied 
 with our own private interest, we do not fail, in 
 looking on God, to obtain also a view of our own 
 
Forgetfulness of Self 
 
 9 * 
 
 hearts. It is in His light that we see ourselves 
 truly, as in a mirror, wherein the slightest spot on 
 the soul is rendered visible. 
 
 A peasant, accustomed to dwell only in his own 
 village, scarcely realises his poverty. But take 
 him to some rich palace, some royal court, and he 
 will understand the meanness of his own condition ; 
 he will hate the sight of his own rags when he 
 looks on the magnificence around him. Even thus 
 do we perceive our own vileness in the presence of 
 God’s great and infinite perfection. 
 
 Prove, as clearly as you will, the vanity and cor- 
 ruption of human nature, the uncertainty of life, 
 the fickleness of fortune, the emptiness of all 
 worldly honour, the bitterness that must arise out 
 of every earthly treasure ; all this, however true, 
 will never touch the heart ; it can produce no real 
 change in any man. He will sigh at his slavery, 
 and he will continue a slave. But so soon as one 
 ray of heavenly light illuminates the heart, he has 
 a glimpse into the infinite depth of goodness, 
 which is God ; and into the depth of misery and 
 corruption which is in himself. Then will he hate 
 
92 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 himself and desire to escape from himself ; then 
 will he give himself up to God, and lose himself in 
 Him. Blessed loss ! for thus does he find himself 
 again ; he has no further self-interest, yet all is his, 
 all works for good to those that love God. 
 
 Observe that those who are not yet far advanced 
 in this renunciation of self, still look upon the 
 benefits they receive from the goodness of God, 
 with more or less reference to their own gain, in 
 proportion as they still cling more or less to self 
 But those who are further purified in heart regard 
 the mercies shown to others with as much love 
 and satisfaction as those shown to themselves. 
 They so love the good pleasure of God, and 
 the riches of His grace, that they delight in that 
 glory which He derives from the sanctification 
 of others as much as in that which He derives 
 from their own sanctification. It is God alone 
 who is all in all ; it is He who is loved, admired, 
 who is the only joy of such hearts. They rejoice 
 in God’s mercies to themselves, not for their own 
 sakes, but for love of Him. They thank Him for 
 doing His blessed will, and for glorifying His 
 
Forgetfulness oj Set/ 
 
 93 
 
 name ; they love the gifts of God for His own 
 sake, and for His honour. 
 
 Since, however, nothing is more dangerous than 
 trying to go faster than we are being led, it 
 would be hurtful to any soul that is still needing 
 the especial support of the mere sentiment of 
 gratitude to deprive itself of the nourishment 
 which is thus afforded, and to strive after a 
 higher degree of perfection in love than is, as yet, 
 suitable for its capacity. Love will sanctify the 
 heart, even though it be not a purely disinterested 
 love, and we must wait for God to purify it in 
 His own good time. It would be trying to anti- 
 cipate His work, and undertaking to do that 
 which He reserves to Himself alone, if we were 
 to deprive ourselves of every motive in which self- 
 interest may mingle itself with love for God. 
 Let no man constrain his heart in this matter, or 
 try to give up, prematurely, the support which 
 his infirmity may need. The child who tries to 
 walk alond too soon cannot but fall. 
 
 Let us, therefore, feed our hearts with gratitude 
 whenever gratitude refreshes them ; let us love the 
 
94 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 mercies of God, in whatever way that love may 
 best support us. But if, in due time, God opens 
 our heart to a purer and more generous love, a 
 love which shall wholly lose itself in Him, which 
 shall seek His glory and that alone, let us yield 
 ourselves unhesitatingly to this more excellent 
 way. 
 
 And when we thus love the mercies of God — 
 when they fill our hearts with joy and admiration 
 at the mere pleasure of seeing His great goodness 
 — when we are the most touched, in all He does, 
 by the fulfilment of His will, by the glory He shall 
 receive from that which it pleases Him to do, by 
 the greatness which He shows in making a vessel 
 of honour out of that which was fitted to destruc- 
 tion , let us render Him the deeper thanks, because 
 the blessing is yet greater. For the highest and 
 purest of all God’s gifts is the gift of loving them 
 for His sake only, and of seeking our own gain 
 in nothing. 
 
95 
 
 XIII. 
 
 ON LISTENING TO THE INWARD VOICE OF THE 
 HOLY SPIRIT ; AND ON FOLLOWING THE IN- 
 SPIRATION WHICH LEADS US TO AN ENTIRE 
 RENUNCIATION OF ALL . 
 
 IT is perfectly clear, from the Scriptures, that the 
 Spirit of God dwells within us ; that He works in 
 our hearts, makes intercession therein, asks within 
 us that which we know not how to pray for as we 
 ought, leads us, animates us, speaks to our hearts, 
 guides us into all truth, ‘ joins us to the Lord in 
 one spirit 1 This our faith teaches us ; and even 
 those learned men who know but little of the 
 inward, spiritual life cannot but acknowledge it. 
 Nevertheless, though they cannot deny these prin- 
 ciples, they practically appear to consider that it is 
 rather some external law, or at most a certain doc- 
 trinal light joined to the light of reason, which is 
 1 i Cor. vi. 1 7. 
 
96 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 our guide. They do not reckon sufficiently on the 
 internal teaching of the Holy Spirit, who works 
 within us. He is the very Soul of our souls ; we 
 can neither think nor desire that which is good but 
 through Him. Alas for our blindness, when we 
 consider ourselves hidden in the sanctuary of our 
 hearts ! for God is more intimately acquainted 
 with its recesses than we are ourselves. 
 
 You will ask me, perhaps, Are we therefore to 
 consider ourselves inspired ? Most certainly we are 
 inspired, though in a different manner from the 
 Apostles and Prophets. Without the actual inspi- 
 ration of the Holy Spirit we could neither do, nor 
 wish to do, nor even think any good thing. We 
 are constantly inspired ; but we constantly stifle 
 the inspiration. It is not that God ceases to speak, 
 but it is the noise of all around us, and of our own 
 passions within us, which deafen our senses, and 
 prevent us from hearing His words. All must be 
 still ; we must be silent ourselves, if we would 
 hearken to the blessed voice of God’s Spirit. We 
 must listen intently, for it is a still, soft voice, 
 heard only by those who care to hear nothing else. 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 97 
 
 Oh, how few there are who can be silent enough in 
 their own hearts to hear God thus speaking to 
 them ! The least murmur of our foolish desires, 
 one whisper of self-love, will prevent us from hear- 
 ing the words of God’s Holy Spirit. We may 
 perceive, indeed, that He speaks, that He asks 
 something of us, but we know not what ; too often 
 we are content not to find out. The least reserva- 
 tion, the slightest self-consciousness, any unwil- 
 lingness to understand fully all that God requires 
 of us, will check that voice in our hearts. Can 
 we wonder, then, that many people, even those 
 who are religious, but who still cling to their own 
 enjoyments and their vanities, to their false 
 wisdom and their self-confidence, believe this in- 
 ward voice to be some wild chimera of fancy ? 
 Often such people, full of self and of their own 
 enlightenment, listen to themselves too much for it 
 to become possible that they should hear God. 
 They will insist on turning everything into a 
 matter of reason ; they will act on certain princi- 
 ples of natural wisdom and prudence, in order to 
 gain that which, after all, would be gained infinitely 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 better through the channel of simple watchfulness 
 for the blessed guidance of God’s Spirit. 
 
 O God, I thank Thee, with Christ Jesus our 
 Lord, ‘ that Thou hast hidden these things from 
 the wise and prudent , and hast revealed them unto 
 babes! 1 It is with childlike souls that Thou dost 
 lovingly converse ; Thou dost deal with the rest 
 even as they have desired. They seek for know- 
 ledge and for exalted virtues, and Thou dost grant 
 them these brilliant gifts ; they are very heroes in 
 the sight of men. But not thus is the ‘ better part ’ 
 to be found. Thou hast something more precious 
 for Thy little children. It is they who, like St. 
 John, rest on Thine own bosom. The proud, who 
 will not stoop to become little, Thou leavest to their 
 pride ; Thou dost treat them according to their 
 wisdom. They can never receive Thy caresses 
 for we must be as little children, to receive the full 
 sweetness of Thy Love. God finds, as it were, no 
 resting place in those souls that are full of wisdom 
 and virtue ; but He giveth grace to the lowly . 
 
 Where are they, these lowly ones ? I can find 
 1 St. Matt. xi. 25. 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 99 
 
 none of them ; but God sees them, and it is His 
 pleasure to abide in them. 
 
 When the soul is so filled with the grace of God 
 as to lose self in Him, when we count ourselves 
 for nothing, following unreservedly the guidance of 
 pure love, how many things do we learn which wise 
 men can neither perceive nor understand. I too 
 confess that I have been wise, even as others ; but 
 then, believing that I could see all, I saw nothing. 
 I felt my way through a course of reasoning ; but 
 no light shone into that darkness. It is when all 
 within us is made to keep silence that we can 
 hearken to the voice of God. Then we know all, 
 without knowing anything. Then we find how 
 ignorant we were of the very matters which we 
 fancied ourselves to understand so well. We let all 
 go, — all by which we had been holding so tightly ; 
 we care for it no longer ; we lose all, for we lose 
 ourselves. But there is that within us which makes 
 us say with the Bride in the Song of Solomon, 
 * Oh let me hear Thy voice , for it is sweet to my ears .' 1 
 How precious is that voice ! it echoes through 
 
 1 Song of Solomon ii. 14. 
 
 H 2 
 
IOO 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 and through the heart. Speak, O Heavenly Bride- 
 groom ; let none but Thyself speak within me. Be 
 still, my soul ; speak, O Love ! 
 
 I say that we know all ; but I do not mean that 
 we are presumptuous enough to suppose ourselves 
 to possess all truth. On the contrary, we feel that 
 we know nothing, that we can do nothing, that we 
 are nothing. We feel this, and we are thankful 
 to feel it ; for in the infinite depths of God’s love 
 we find all that we need. We find there the daily 
 bread of truth, as also all other provision, without 
 laying up any store for ourselves. Thus does the 
 Holy Spirit lead us into all truth ; for truth is 
 essentially comprehended in the full sacrifice of 
 self, in the love which so loses self as to belong 
 only to God. 
 
 At first God dealt with us through external mat- 
 ters. He detached us by degrees from all that we 
 loved too much, or for which our love was not in 
 harmony with His will. But this external han- 
 dling, although necessary in building the founda- 
 tions of His work in us, was but a small portion of 
 the whole. How fa r greater, though it may be less 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . ioi 
 
 visible, is the internal work ; how far more difficult, 
 and more marvellous ! For there comes at last a 
 time when God, having mortified our affections 
 through all the props on which we had desired to 
 lean, will so work in our hearts as to deprive us of 
 ourselves. We love self more deeply than all the 
 rest, and it is that self of which God demands the 
 full surrender. Cut the branches of a tree, and 
 instead of destroying it you may but strengthen 
 the stem ; it may push out afresh on all sides. But 
 attack the trunk, dry up the root, and the whole 
 will wither, languish, die. And even thus does 
 God desire that self should die within us. 
 
 As to the mortification of our external senses, 
 He frequently enables us to carry it out by certain 
 efforts which He gives us courage to make. But 
 to Himself alone does God reserve the power of 
 working in the very depth of our souls. Then is 
 it no longer in courage that we struggle against 
 external matters ; it is in very weakness that the 
 soul is turned against itself. We see ourselves 
 truly, we dread what we see, and we cling to God 
 in faith ; but we do not perceive our own faithful- 
 
102 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 ness. All the evil of our natures appears to rise 
 against us, and fresh evils appear of which we 
 never should have dreamed. There is no longer 
 any support in the fervent earnestness which had 
 been so much to us. Our heart fails within us ; 
 like Jesus, our soul is troubled even unto death . The 
 only thing remaining to us is the determination to 
 withhold nothing, to let God deal with us just as 
 He pleases ; yet we scarcely have the consolation 
 of perceiving in ourselves even this desire. For it 
 is not the desire of fervent reflection, but simply of 
 the will, concealed in the very depths of our souls. 
 Then does God truly work within us all that is 
 needed to wean us wholly from self. Little by 
 little He deprives us of all the false support on 
 which we rested. 
 
 If you ask me in what such deprivations consist, 
 I cannot tell you. They differ as men differ from 
 one another. Each one suffers the loss of that 
 which God sees it needful for him to give up. 
 How are we to tell what garments will be taken 
 from us, when we know not in what we have 
 wrapped ourselves ? We hold by many things that 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 103 
 
 we do not imagine ourselves to care for; we find 
 how much we were attached to them only when 
 they are taken from us. God discovers to us, little 
 by little, the depths that are unknown to ourselves ; 
 even in our very virtues we find evil that we had 
 never suspected. 
 
 Such deprivations are rarely those we should 
 have anticipated. That which we are expecting 
 finds us on our guard, and does not help so much 
 to destroy our self-love. God takes us by surprise, 
 in the ways we should never have thought likely. 
 It may often be by trifles that He teaches us ; but 
 if so, it will be by trifles that we feel keenly. It is 
 not a question of great virtues, which would only 
 sustain our pride ; such is not the purpose of God 
 for us, which is rather to leave no resting-place for 
 self. Our conduct becomes simple, even common- 
 place. No one sees anything great in us, nor do 
 we see anything in ourselves but weakness and 
 failure. Only we could far more easily fast all our 
 lives long on bread and water, than suffer what we 
 are now inwardly suffering. Not that we have any 
 desire for austerities ; that taste has faded away. 
 
104 Christian Counsels. 
 
 But we find in the suppleness of our will, which 
 God demands in a thousand little ways, far more 
 self-mortification than would be gained by any 
 great sacrifices. 
 
 God does not suffer the soul to rest until He has 
 rendered it supple and pliable in every way. We 
 must learn to speak bravely, then to be silenced ; 
 to bear praise, then blame ; we must be forgotten 
 by others, then brought into notice ; we must be 
 exalted, then brought low ; we must learn to be 
 condemned when the word we may not speak 
 would at once justify us, and at another time we 
 must say that which is good of ourselves. We must 
 bear weakness, restlessness, irresolution about the 
 merest trifles. We must bear to shock the taste 
 of our friends, and our own ; to seem faithless, dull 
 of heart, weary, ready to despair. Such inward 
 troubles occur to me as examples of those by which 
 God moulds each soul according to His own 
 design. 
 
 Let it not be said that these are mere imagina- 
 tions. Can it be doubted that God acts directly 
 on the soul ? Can it be doubted that He so acts 
 in order to make us die to self? Can it be doubted 
 

 The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 105 
 
 that God, after having torn us from other passions, 
 attacks the inward subtleties of self-love, and espe- 
 cially in those who have the most fully and unre- 
 servedly yielded themselves to the work of His 
 Spirit ? The more thoroughly He will purify 
 them, the more deeply does He try them. The 
 world does not see these trials ; it has neither eyes 
 to perceive them, nor ears to hear of them ; but 
 the world is blind ; its wisdom is darkness ; it can- 
 not sympathise with the spirit of truth. There is 
 none save the Spirit of God who searcheth the deep 
 things of God} 
 
 At first we do not understand this internal treat- 
 ment, which leads us to strip ourselves so entirely. 
 We desire, truly, to worship God in stillness of heart, 
 to suffer ourselves to be led by His providence, as 
 a man may suffer himself to be borne along by the 
 current of a stream. But we hardly dare listen to 
 the inward voice which calls on us to make those 
 sacrifices which God is preparing for us. We are 
 like the child Samuel, to whom the word of the 
 Lord was not yet revealed. The Lord called him, 
 and he ran to Eli ; and Eli replied, ‘ Thou art 
 
 1 I Cor. ii. 10. 
 
106 Christian Counsels . 
 
 dreaming ; toy child ; no one called thee , /z> down 
 againt Thus do we also fear it may be some 
 imagination which would lead us too far. And 
 often does the high-priest Eli, in the person of our 
 advisers, tell us that we are but dreaming ; that we 
 had better lie down again and be at rest. But 
 God will not suffer it ; He arouses us until we listen 
 to His words. Were it a question of visions, of 
 appearances, of miracles, it would be well to hesi- 
 tate ; but when God has led us to a certain point 
 of self-renunciation, and then speaks inwardly to 
 our souls, demanding from us the sacrifice of things 
 in themselves innocent, but of which the surrender 
 can but teach us truer simplicity, and enable us to 
 die more really to ourselves — where can be the 
 delusion in following these suggestions ? Our very 
 unwillingness proves that these suggestions are 
 from God, since all our feelings and all our self- 
 love tend to hold us back. The more we fear such 
 things, the more do we need them ; the fear arises 
 from our own sensitiveness, from being too much 
 attached to our own tastes and desires. And we 
 must die to our natural desires. All excuse for 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 107 
 
 drawing back is taken away by the very conviction, 
 which is at the bottom of our hearts, that these 
 sacrifices will help to destroy self. 
 
 It is suppleness of will and readiness to follow 
 every such indication, that lift the soul onwards. 
 Those who have sufficient largeness of heart to 
 press on without hesitation make surprising ad- 
 vances. The rest stop to reason, and they never 
 fail in finding reason enough for not doing what 
 they are anxious to avoid. They wish, and they 
 do not wish ; they wait to be quite certain ; they 
 wait to be advised about everything, in order that 
 the advice they receive may excuse them from 
 doing what they fear to do. At every step they 
 wait to look back ; they weary themselves with 
 irresolution. They grieve the Holy Spirit of God 
 by their hesitations, and at last anger Him by their 
 frequent resistance. 
 
 In resisting thus we find plenty of excuses for 
 authorising our resistance ; but, gradually, we 
 wither up our hearts, we lose the simplicity of 
 obedience ; and however we may deceive ourselves, 
 we are no longer at peace ; for we feel in the depth 
 
Christian Co?msels. 
 
 108 
 
 
 of our hearts that we are lacking towards God. Oh 
 how pitiable is that soul who once begins to refuse 
 God’s secret invitation, when He calls upon us to 
 yield all to Him ! it may be a trifle that is refused, 
 but that trifle becomes a mountain, and it may 
 soon form an impenetrable chaos between ourselves 
 and God. We turn a deaf ear when God demands 
 some simple thing ; we fear to listen ; we try to 
 persuade ourselves that we have heard nothing ; 
 we try to believe this, but we know it is not 
 true. Then we become entangled ; we doubt our 
 former experiences ; even those which had done 
 most towards rendering us simple and childlike in 
 God’s hands, all seem now to have been mere 
 delusion. We seek the external help of advisers, 
 in order to quiet our inward trouble, and we 
 seldom fail to meet with it ; for there are many 
 who have but little experience, though they be 
 wise and learned. In this state, every effort to- 
 wards curing ourselves makes the matter worse. 
 ‘ Who is he that hath hardened his heart against 
 God , and hath prospered ?’ 1 Can God, in whom 
 
 Job ix. 4. 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit, iog 
 
 alone is perfect peace, leave that heart in peace 
 which opposeth itself to His will ? 
 
 But, you will say, the beginning of all this evil 
 is so slight. True, but the consequences are 
 fearful. There are some who resolve to withhold 
 nothing in the sacrifice they make to God; at 
 j least they feel this to be their desire when they 
 look at matters from a distance, and from a general 
 point of view. But then, when God takes them 
 ; at their word, He accepts that offer in detail and 
 immediately they find a thousand objections which 
 had never occurred to them. Their courage fails, 
 excuses creep in to flatter their weak and trem- 
 bling hearts. First they pause, they wonder if 
 | they ought still to go on ; then they do half of 
 what God requires of them, in order that they may 
 at least retain some resting-place for the self which 
 will not die. They close their eyes, that they 
 may not see what they lack the courage to per- 
 form. And God leaves that soul to her weakness 
 and cowardice. But consider how great had been 
 the sin ! The more we have received from God, the 
 more we should render to Him ; and such an one 
 
1 IO 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 had received special gifts which even many pious 
 souls had never tasted. God had spared nothing 
 to make that heart His own. But He will not 
 suffer a divided love, still less will He bear with 
 excuses for such division. So long as pure and 
 ingenuous love is thy guide, the Heavenly Bride- 
 groom will bear, with unfailing patience, all thine 
 infirmities, thy mistakes, thy failures; He will 
 look only at the intention of thine heart. But the 
 moment that thy love can refuse anything to thy 
 God, and that thou canst desire to deceive thyself 
 concerning thy refusal, He will regard thee as 
 faithless, and will treat thee accordingly. < Look 
 diligently therefore , lest thou fail of the grace of 
 God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble 
 you! 1 
 
 How many souls, after making great sacrifices, 
 yet fall into this error ! It is from a false wisdom 
 that nearly all these miseries arise ; for it is not 
 so much the lack of courage as the giving way too 
 much to human wisdom that causes us thus to pause 
 upon our course. It is true that when God calls 
 1 Heb. xii. 15. 
 
The Inward Voice of the Holy Spirit . 1 1 1 
 
 us to this state of self-renunciation, He treats us 
 according to the surpassing gifts He has bestowed. 
 We have given up all, and He claims all. And 
 can we wonder at this ? Can self be dead within 
 us whilst it still breathes ? We desire that God 
 should destroy self in us, but we wish to die without 
 pain ; we would mortify our old nature, but in the 
 way that we shall ourselves choose ; we would 
 give up all, and yet retain all. 
 
 Woe to those souls from whom God expects 
 much, and who do not fulfil the desire of His 
 grace! Woe to those who resist His inward teach- 
 ing ! How great, how strangely great, is the sin 
 of quenching the Holy Spirit ! Blessed is he who 
 never hesitates, whose only fear is lest he should 
 not follow promptly enough ; who would always 
 rather choose to do too much against self than too 
 little. Happy is he who brings all that he has to 
 God’s feet, so soon as he is asked for the smallest 
 sample. 
 
 We imagine that this state of emptiness must 
 be terrible. Far from it : it is peace ; it is liberty. 
 4 The life which resists God is false and miserable, 
 
I 12 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 but the death which yields to Him is all peace, 
 and unites us with Him who is true Life. This 
 blessed death is a “ life hidden with Christ in God!' 
 Let us then die to all else, that Jesus Christ alone 
 may live in us.’ ‘ So shall we 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 we may be filled with 
 all the ftdness of God! 1 
 
 ' Eph. iii. 1 8, 19. 
 
”3 
 
 XIV. 
 
 CONCERNING INTERNAL DEPRIVATIONS AND SUP- 
 PER INGS, AND ON LOVING OUR FRIENDS IN 
 GOD AND FOR GOD. 
 
 Even though God may seem to treat us severely, 
 He never makes us suffer unnecessarily. He gives 
 suffering only that He may purify our hearts. 
 The severity of the operation arises from the evil 
 that has to be taken away. God wounds no healthy 
 part, He cuts away only that which is diseased. 
 It is the corruption of our self-love which causes 
 us to feel so much pain ; for the hand of God 
 inflicts as little as possible. Thereby may we 
 judge of the depth and venom of our sores, since 
 God spares us so tenderly, and nevertheless causes 
 us such keen suffering. 
 
 And, besides that God gives no pain but such as 
 shall tend to our cure, He never withdraws from us 
 
 I 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 1 H 
 
 any of His gifts, except in order to restore them 
 to us an hundredfold. He takes away, in love, 
 even our purest blessings, if we possess them 
 wrongly ; for the purer His gifts, the more 
 jealously does He require that we should hold 
 them without misappropriation. The highest graces 
 may become the most dangerous poisons if we 
 turn them to our own self-support and satisfaction. 
 Such was the sin by which angels fell ; they re- 
 garded self in their high position, therefore they 
 ‘ kept not their first estate ; 9 at once they were 
 cast out from heaven, and became for ever the 
 enemies of God. 
 
 Their example may prove to us how little men 
 understand the nature of sin. That sin is the 
 greatest of all sins ; yet it is rare indeed to meet 
 with those who are sufficiently purified to hold 
 God’s gifts in purity. When we think of the grace 
 of God, it is always for our own sakes ; the love 
 of self has almost invariably some share in our 
 enjoyment of every gift He bestows. We grieve 
 to feel ourselves weak ; we rejoice when we find 
 ourselves strong ; we seldom desire our perfection 
 
Internal Deprivations and Sufferings . 1 1 5 
 
 only for the glory of God. We are saddened and 
 discouraged directly we lose the sensible enjoy- 
 ments of grace ; in a word, it is nearly always, with 
 each one of us, a question of self rather than of 
 God. 
 
 Thence does it arise that every good disposition 
 in our heart needs purifying ; otherwise it does but 
 strengthen the inward life of self. Our corrupt 
 natures contrive to find some secret nourishment 
 even in those very graces which are in themselves 
 the most contrary to nature. Not only may self- 
 love be fed by austerities and humiliations, it may 
 also be fed by the most extreme sacrifices. There 
 is a wonderful support to us in the satisfaction of 
 feeling that we need no support, that we have 
 given up all faithfully. But to complete the 
 sacrifice, the burnt-offering must be consumed ; 
 we must yield all, even the pleasure of perceiving 
 our own entire mortification. 
 
 We can perfectly find God only in this apparent 
 loss of all, even of His best gifts — in that true 
 sacrifice of self which thus looses us from all in- 
 ward resource. Even to this does the love of 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 1 16 
 
 God drive us ; our selfishness compels Him thus 
 to deal with us; for we will not really lose our- 
 selves in Him till all else fails us. A man who 
 falls into an abyss only lets himself go unresist- 
 ingly when every support to which he might cling 
 has escaped from his hands. Our self-love, which 
 God thus cast from us, clings in its despair to 
 every shadow, as a drowning man will catch hold 
 even of the reeds which grow in the water. 
 
 It is well to understand fully the necessity of 
 this treatment. There is not a single gift, however 
 gieat it may be, which, after having served for our 
 advancement, does not usually become at last a 
 snare and a stumbling-block, by reason of the self- 
 love which springs up again to soil our hearts. 
 Therefore does God deprive us of that which He 
 had bestowed. He takes it ; but not to keep it 
 from us for ever, only in order to give it back more 
 safely ; only to teach us to receive it without that 
 misappropriation which, though we knew it not, 
 was destroying its value. The loss of the gift 
 teaches us to feel that it was not our own ; and 
 when we have fully learned that lesson, the gift is 
 
Internal Deprivations and Sufferings . 1 1 7 
 
 restored an hundredfold. Then does it become a 
 mere gift of God no longer, it is God Himself who 
 is our own. It is no longer a gift, for we no longer 
 regard it apart from Him, or as anything that we 
 can possess ; it is to God alone that we look, and 
 He possesses our souls according to His own good 
 pleasure. We learn to remember that a gift can- 
 not be less free than the promise on which it is 
 founded. Life eternal, which is the end of God’s 
 purpose for us, is a free gift, and all other graces 
 are but given to us with reference to that one 
 purpose. The grace of love, which contains all 
 others, is founded on no other claim than that of 
 God’s free promise, and on the equally free im- 
 putation to us of the merits of Jesus Christ. That 
 promise, which is the foundation of all, rests only 
 on the pure mercies of God, on His own good 
 pleasure, and on the blessed purpose of His will. 
 Thus is every gift of His grace referred only to 
 His free and sovereign choice. 
 
 The way in which God usually deals with our 
 souls is, at first, to detach them from the world 
 and from its passions, by drawing them to Himself, 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 118 
 
 enabling them to taste of the sweetness of earnest 
 devotion. Attracted thus, the whole heart wil- 
 lingly turns to prayer and self-denial. We even 
 take pleasure in contradicting ourselves, we refuse 
 external consolations, we withdraw from many of 
 the interests of friendship, lest we should indulge 
 self. We only care to retain those friends to whom 
 we are linked by conformity of religious tastes, or 
 those to whom we feel that the duties of charity 
 bind us. All else becomes a burden ; and if we 
 have not yet lost our natural inclination towards 
 others, we nevertheless distrust their friendship, 
 because their religious feelings are not in the same 
 stage as our own. 
 
 Many souls never pass out of this condition of 
 fervour and of spiritual abundance; but there are 
 others whom God will lead higher, and whom He 
 jealously strips of the very beauty in which He 
 had clothed them. Then they fall into a state 
 of wretchedness, of dryness of heart and de- 
 spondency, in which everything is burdensome. A 
 soul in this condition feels that God, and all the 
 gifts He had bestowed, are being withdrawn. It 
 
Internal Deprivations and Sufferings . 1 1 9 
 
 is a state of misery, and almost of despair ; God 
 has taken away even the perception of His love — 
 even the pleasure of serving Him. We know not 
 where we are — the heart is withered, and almost 
 dead ; we care for nothing. The bitterness of 
 having lost God, the sweetness of whose love had 
 been tasted in those days of fervour, mingles 
 wormwood with all that had ever been dear to us. 
 Even as a sick person, who feels his faintness for 
 want of food, will nevertheless turn with disgust 
 from the most delicate viands. Speak not at such 
 a time of friendship ; the very word is painful and 
 brings tears into the eyes ; everything is over- 
 powering ; you do not know what you would have. 
 One is like a child, and equally full of fancies for 
 which no reason can be given ; for so soon as one 
 speaks of reasons, they vanish like a dream. What 
 you say of yourself always appears untrue, for 
 it ceases to be true as soon as you speak it. 
 Everything changes, you can answer for nothing, 
 promise nothing ; nothing is your own, and your 
 heart is still less your own than anything else. It 
 is astonishing how this childish state abases the 
 
120 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 proud heart, and destroys the wisdom which had 
 seemed so firm. Speak then of unselfishness, of 
 kindness, of generosity, of constancy, of gratitude 
 to one’s friends, and it is like speaking of music 
 and dancing to a dying man. 
 
 But wait till the winter has passed, wait till God 
 has destroyed all that must thus die in the soul, 
 and then will the spring-time brighten all. God 
 restores even friendship, with all his other gifts, 
 an hundredfold. Love for our true friends returns 
 as strongly as ever ; but now we no longer love 
 them for ourselves, and in self; we love them 
 only for God and in God, with a deep, tender 
 love, full of sweetness and sensitiveness ; for God 
 knows well how to purify our sensitiveness. It is 
 not sensitiveness, but self-love, that corrupts our 
 affection. And now we indulge without scruple in 
 this purified affection, for it is God Himself who 
 points it out to us. We love through Him, and 
 without looking aside from Him ; it is He whom 
 we seek in all that He gives us to love. 
 
 In this resurrection of friendship there is no 
 self-interest or self-contemplation ; we can see 
 
Internal Deprivations and Sufferings . 121 
 
 defects in those whom we love, and the defects 
 in their affection for us, without being repulsed 
 thereby. 
 
 Before God has thus purified our hearts, even 
 the most religious people are fanciful, jealous, 
 easily offended by their best friends ; because self- 
 love always fears to lose anything, and always 
 looks for gain, even in that interchange of feeling 
 which may seem to be the most generous and dis- 
 interested. If it does not seek for honour or 
 worldly advantages, still it seeks for consolation, 
 and for that rest to the heart which is the 
 sweetest pleasure of this life. Remove this en- 
 joyment, disturb that interchange of friendship 
 which appeared so pure, and self-love is instantly 
 wounded ; it is self-love which complains, seeks 
 for pity, grows angry, distracts the heart. But 
 when it is God whom we desire in all things, we 
 love firmly and deeply ; and yet if that friend- 
 ship is interrupted by the will of God, we remain 
 in peace. We have lost nothing, for we had 
 nothing to lose, seeing we had already lost self. 
 If we grieve, it is on behalf of those we love, lest 
 
122 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 the rupture should in any way prove injurious to 
 them. Our sorrow may be acute, for affection is 
 always sensitive ; but that sorrow is full of peace, 
 since it is free from the troubles of self-interest. 
 
 There is another difference to be observed re- 
 garding this change in the nature of our friendship. 
 So long as we remain our own, we can love nothing 
 but for our own sakes ; and the man who is 
 wrapped up in self can feel only such affection as 
 is bounded by his own capacity ; therefore, such a 
 heart is limited in all its feelings, and the greatest 
 human generosity must remain narrowed at some 
 point. But those souls who come out of them- 
 selves, and who truly forget themselves in God, 
 feel affection which partakes of His nature through 
 whom they love ; they love without measure, with- 
 out end, because God, who is infinite Love, loves 
 in them. 
 
 Such was the feeling of the Apostles, which 
 St. Paul so truly expresses. He feels everything 
 with pure and unmeasured vividness ; he bears in 
 his heart the care of all the Churches ; he rejoices, 
 he grieves, he is angered, he is touched with 
 
Internal Deprivations and Sufferings. 123 
 
 sympathy, his heart seems besieged by every 
 strongest emotion. He is abased, and he is 
 exalted ; he speaks with all the authority of a 
 father, and with all the tenderness of a mother. 
 He loves with a jealous love ; he would even 
 desire to be accursed for his brethren’s sake. All 
 these feelings are engraven in his heart ; and it is 
 even thus that God teaches us to love, when we 
 love self no longer. 
 
124 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 XV. 
 
 CONCERNING OUR NATURAL DREAD OF 
 PRIVATIONS 
 
 NEARLY all those who desire to serve God, desire 
 it for their own sakes. They hope to gain all, and 
 to lose nothing ; to receive consolation, not to 
 suffer ; to possess gifts, not to bear priva- 
 tions ; to be made great, never to be brought 
 low. On the contrary, the inward life progresses 
 through loss, through sacrifice, through abase- 
 ment, through being so stripped of all as to 
 hold by God alone. When God deprives us of 
 those first perceptible enjoyments, which are as 
 the milk of babes, we think that all is lost. This 
 shows us to be clinging too much to the means of 
 His grace, mistaking them for the ends ; and that 
 we are seeking them still for our own sakes. 
 Privations are the strong meat which fortifies the 
 
Our Natural Dread of Privations . 125 
 
 soul, tearing it from itself, binding it more closely 
 to God ; yet we are in despair so soon as that work 
 is commenced. We judge all to be lost, just when 
 all is really beginning to be established and puri- 
 fied. We desire truly that God should make of us 
 what He pleases, provided He pleases to make 
 something great and perfect ; but we are unwilling 
 enough to be abased, to become as nothing. We 
 cannot consent to be the burnt-offering of which 
 nothing shall remain, of which the whole shall be 
 consumed by Divine fire. We will gladly learn 
 the purest faith, but we must keep our own 
 wisdom. We will be childlike, but we must con- 
 tinue great in our own eyes. What imaginary 
 holiness ! 
 
126 
 
 Christian Coztnsels. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 AGAINST CLINGING TO THE SENSIBLE ENJOY- 
 MENTS OF GRACE. 
 
 Those who are devoted to God only so long as 
 they taste the pleasures and consolations of His 
 grace, resemble the multitude who followed Jesus 
 Christ, not for the sake of His doctrine, but be- 
 cause they ate of the loaves which He miraculously 
 provided. They say with St. Peter, ‘Lord, it is 
 good for us to be here ; let us make three taber- 
 nacles! 1 But they know not what they say. 
 They are intoxicated with the sweetness of Tabor, 
 yet they despise the Son of God, and refuse to 
 follow Him to Calvary. Is this dying to self? 
 Are these the just of whom St. Paul has said that 
 they ‘ shall live by faith ’ ? 
 
 Such persons desire to have the unusual en- 
 1 St. Mark ix. 5. 
 
The Sensible Enjoyments of Grace . 1 2 7 
 
 lightenment which shall be the mark of God’s 
 peculiar favour, and of special communication with 
 Him ; for nothing is more flattering to self. They 
 would see His brightness, discern His will for 
 others, be considered something quite exceptional ; 
 little by little there may arise a secret ambition 
 for all these things. 
 
 But the Apostle ‘ shows to us a more excellent 
 way! 1 That which he would have us covet ear- 
 nestly is ‘ charity , which seeketh not her own! 
 Charity does not desire to adorn herself, but 
 rather to give up all. It is not her own pleasure 
 that she seeks, but God, whose will alone she 
 would perform. The soul who, in her tender 
 infancy, God has nourished with milk, must suffer 
 herself to be weaned so soon as He will feed her 
 with the meat which belongs to them that are of full 
 age . 2 
 
 How would it be for us if we were always 
 children, always fed with the sweetness of Divine 
 consolation ? The first joys of religion were 
 good, they detached us from the pleasures of the 
 
 1 I Cor. xii. 31. 2 Heb. v. 13. 
 
128 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 world, they drew us to purer delights, they accus- 
 tomed us to a life of prayer and devotion ; but the 
 continuance of joy so delicious as to take away 
 all perception of the cross we must bear, living 
 always as though Heaven were already open to us, 
 would not be dying with Christ, it would not be 
 the destruction of self. 
 
 When we learn to hold by God alone, in pure 
 and simple faith, receiving the consolations He 
 bestows on us, but not stopping at them ; never 
 reasoning, but always obeying, following ever the 
 light of faith as it is revealed to us — then are we 
 being led onwards in the safest path. 
 
 Experience will soon prove to us, better than 
 anything else could do, how far more excellent is 
 this way than any enjoyment of special gifts. 
 Whosoever will try this path of simple faith, fol- 
 lowing it in all things, will find that it contains the 
 truest and the most complete mortification of self. 
 My God ! where are those souls who pause not on 
 this road ? Yet it is they who are faithful unto 
 death, that shall receive a crown of life . 
 
XVII. 
 
 ON DRYNESS IN PRAYER , AND CONCERNING 
 DISTRACTIONS. 
 
 We are tempted to believe that we no longer pray 
 truly so soon as we cease to feel a certain pleasure 
 in our prayer. In order to undeceive ourselves, 
 let us remember that perfect prayer, and love to 
 God, are one and the same thing. 
 
 Prayer does not consist in sensible enjoyment, 
 nor in the charm of a vivid imagination ; nor does 
 it consist in a certain enlightenment of the mind, 
 which enables us to apprehend the sublime truths 
 of God ; nor even in the comfort which may arise 
 from the thought of Him. Love may still exist, 
 and in even the greater purity, when deprived of 
 all these things. They are but the gifts of God ; 
 without them we may depend the more entirely 
 on Himself alone. Such is the purest love of 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 faith, from which nature shrinks so sorely. It 
 leaves her no support ; and she feels that all is lost 
 by the very means through which all is gained. 
 
 Pure love exists simply in the will ; therefore it 
 is not a love of sentiment : imagination has no part 
 in it. It is a love which can love without feeling, 
 just as true faith can believe without seeing. We 
 need not fear lest such love should be imaginary, 
 for nothing is more distinct from imagination than 
 the will. Then does love become pure, when 
 we love God for Himself, not for the sake of that 
 which He enables us to feel ; we follow Him, but 
 not on account of the loaves which He multiplies 
 for us. 
 
 What, then, it may be asked, does piety con- 
 sist only in the will to be united to God ? Is not 
 this making it a mere thought or an idea, rather 
 than a living principle ? I would reply that if such 
 a will is not proved by faithfulness, at least in the 
 generality of matters, I should not believe it to be 
 true, for the good tree brings forth good fruit ; and 
 such a will must necessarily be watchful in accom- 
 plishing the commands of God. It is compatible, 
 
On Dryness in Prayer . 1 3 1 
 
 however, in this life with many frailties, which God 
 still permits to exist in the soul for its humiliation. 
 If therefore we experience only such daily in- 
 firmities, let us feel humbled, but not discouraged. 
 
 Most certainly, true virtue and true love exist 
 only in the will. And is it not already much if 
 we always desire the highest good so soon as we 
 perceive it, and if we turn towards it deliberately 
 so soon as we find ourselves departing from it — if 
 we desire nothing but according to God’s will, and 
 continue in a spirit of self-sacrifice, and of full 
 surrender to Him, even when we have no percep- 
 tible consolation ? Do you count as nothing the 
 constant checking of all the unquiet reflections 
 of self-love, the pressing forwards, not knowing 
 whither, yet without hesitation ; the never thinking 
 voluntarily of self, or only so thinking of oneself as 
 one might do of some other person, and in order 
 to fulfil the duty appointed for the present moment 
 without looking forwards ? Is it not thus that the 
 old man may be destroyed in us far more truly 
 than by all those good works which bring honour 
 to ourselves, or tend to our own advancement ? 
 
 k 2 
 
132 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 It is a kind of faithlessness which makes us 
 always so anxious to assure ourselves that we have 
 done well ; we need not wish to know what we 
 have done, for often it pleases God to hide it from 
 us ; moreover, it is like amusing ourselves on our 
 journey by arguing about the road. The best 
 road, and the shortest, is to renounce self, to 
 forget, to abandon it, to think only of obeying 
 God. All religion consists in so coming out of self 
 as to direct our steps towards God. 
 
 As regards involuntary distractions, they do not 
 interfere with love ; for love is in the will, and the 
 will can have no distractions if it desires to have 
 none. So soon as we perceive distractions of 
 thought, let us drop them, and turn back to God. 
 Thus, whilst we sleep, our heart waketh ; love does 
 not relax. An affectionate father is not always 
 consciously thinking about his son ; a thousand 
 matters may engage his attention, yet these dis- 
 tractions do not interfere with his paternal love. 
 At each moment that any thought of his son 
 occurs to his mind, he loves him ; he feels from the 
 very depth of his heart that he has never ceased to 
 love him, although he may have been hindered 
 
On Dryness in Prayer . 133 
 
 from thinking about him. And such should be 
 our love for God — a simple love, free from anxiety 
 or distrust. 
 
 If our imagination wanders, if our mind is oc- 
 cupied, we need not be disquieted ; these matters 
 do not affect the true spirit, ‘ the hidden man of the 
 heart] of whom St. Peter says that it is incor- 
 ruptible ; even a meek and quiet spirit, which is in 
 the sight of God of great price. What we have to 
 do is to make good use of our thoughts, which are 
 at liberty, by turning them always to the presence 
 of the Well-Beloved ; and we need not distress our- 
 selves about the others. It is for God to increase, 
 when it pleases Him to do so, the facility of 
 retaining the consciousness of His presence. 
 Often He withdraws it from us for our own ad- 
 vancement, that He may teach us to live the more 
 truly by faith alone. 
 
 We ask impatiently for perceptible consolation, 
 we fear lest we have lost it because our repentance 
 is not deep enough. Ah ! why do we not prove 
 our repentance by our willingness to give up the 
 comfort which we are so earnestly desiring ? Let 
 us remember Jesus Christ, forsaken on the cross 
 
134 
 
 Christian Cozcnsels . 
 
 by His Father. God withdrew from Him all feel- 
 ing of consolation : He hid Himself from Jesus. 
 That was the last blow with which the hand of 
 God smote the Man of Sorrows : thus was the 
 sacrifice completed. Never should we more 
 entirely abandon ourselves to God than w T hen He 
 appears to forsake us. Let us accept the light of 
 His consolation when He bestows it upon us, but 
 let us not cling to our enjoyment thereof ; and 
 when He plunges us into darkness, let us accept 
 the darkness, and suffer, in love, that agony. One 
 moment is worth a thousand at such times : we are 
 miserable, yet may we be in peace : God has 
 hidden His face, but He has also hidden us from 
 ourselves, that we may learn to abide by faith 
 alone. We feel discouraged, yet our will is deter- 
 mined, immovably, to accept what God pleases, 
 however severe it may be. We accept all, we 
 desire all, even the misery by which w r e are over- 
 whelmed. Thus are we secretly at peace in the 
 midst of all tribulation. Blessed be God, who 
 doeth in us great things, notwithstanding our 
 unworthiness. 
 
135 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 HOW WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED OR DIS- 
 COURAGED , EITHER BY OUR OWN FAULTS , 
 OR BY THE FAULTS OF OTHERS . 
 
 We have not sufficiently sounded the depths 
 either of human misery in general, or of our own 
 in particular, so long as we are still surprised at 
 the weakness and corruption of men. Our asto- 
 nishment arises from the mistake of supposing 
 that humanity itself is capable of any good ; 
 whereas it is capable of nothing, and worse than 
 nothing. Why should we be surprised that the 
 tree yields its own fruit ? Rather let us glorify 
 Jesus Christ, in whom we are grafted, when we, 
 who are but wild olive-trees by nature, bear 
 through Him, instead of our own bitter fruits, 
 the sweet fruits of holiness. 
 
 Put away from you all idea of human virtue, 
 
136 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 which is but the poison of self-complacency and 
 self-confidence. ‘ That which is highly esteemed 
 among men , is abomination in the sight of God .’ 1 
 Such esteem is a constant inward idolatry. Though 
 it be clothed with specious virtues, yet is this idola- 
 try more hateful than many sins which we think 
 terrible. There is but one true way of judging, 
 and that is, to judge as God judgeth. In God’s 
 sight many an odious crime, committed through 
 infirmity, in anger, or in ignorance, is less criminal 
 than the very virtues practised by one who is full 
 of self, and who refers all to his own excellence 
 as to a divinity ; for this is completely reversing 
 the very design of God in creation. Let us, then, 
 cease to judge of virtues or of vices by our own 
 tastes, depraved as they are by self-love ; or by 
 our own false standard of greatness. There can 
 be nothing great that does not become insignifi- 
 cant indeed in the presence of the only sovereign 
 Greatness, You naturally long to be great ; the 
 tendency of your heart, and also the indulgence of 
 long habit, cause you to desire it ; but God sees fit 
 
 1 St. Luke xvi. 15. 
 
Fait Its no just Cause of S urpnse. 137 
 
 to lower you. He would make you childlike in 
 His hands. Suffer Him thus to deal with you. 
 
 Many who truly desire to serve God are never- 
 theless full of imperfections. Not that God au- 
 thorises these imperfections, but because their 
 imperfections hinder them, by preventing them 
 from going straight to God in the shortest way. 
 They cannot make rapid progress so long as they 
 are heavily burdened with self, and with all the 
 superfluous weight which they so eagerly and 
 jealously insist on carrying for themselves. The 
 perfection of piety, which consists of pure faith and 
 dying to self, appears to them too high and im- 
 practicable to be reached. Well, then; they must 
 needs remain in that self-love which can but fear 
 God, and which will oblige them to go on falling, 
 and timidly recovering themselves, to the very end 
 of their lives. Whilst they love self so dearly, 
 they cannot but be full of failures. 
 
 People grow afraid when they find that religion 
 would carry them so far. Few have sufficient 
 courage and faith to leave go of self, to forget 
 self, to suffer self to be destroyed. Consequently, 
 
138 Christian Counsels . 
 
 there are but few who do real honour to re- 
 ligion. 
 
 There are certain faults of hastiness and in- 
 firmity with which you can easily sympathise ; you 
 understand that they are compatible with sincere 
 piety. But you do not perceive with equal clear- 
 ness that there are other faults which arise from 
 weakness, from miscomprehension, from self-love, 
 and from mere habit, which may also co-exist with 
 a sincere intention of pleasing God. True, this 
 intention is neither sufficiently pure nor suffi- 
 ciently strong ; but, though weak and imperfect, it 
 may be sincere so far as it goes. People may be 
 avaricious without perceiving their avarice ; they 
 call it a proper carefulness, a desire to waste 
 nothing, foresight against future need. People 
 may be envious, but this low passion is able so to 
 disguise itself as to deceive those who are tor- 
 mented by it, far more than it can deceive others 
 who are looking on with critical eyes. Many 
 people are harsh, over-particular, difficult to deal 
 with, easily provoked in matters of business ; and 
 it is self-interest which makes them so ; but that 
 
Faults no just Cause of Surprise. 139 
 
 self-interest clothes itself in the most plausible man- 
 ner. In fact, most people, especially rich people, 
 and yourself amongst the number, have many 
 imperfections mingled with their best desires ; 
 because the will, though good so far as it goes, 
 is as yet but weak and divided, and because they 
 are hindered by the secret promptings of self-love. 
 
 It appears to me that you need to enlarge your 
 heart concerning the faults of others. I grant 
 that you cannot help seeing them when they force 
 themselves on your notice, nor can you avoid 
 noticing the low principles which actuate many 
 people. Neither can you avoid feeling the pain 
 which these things must cause you. But you can 
 bear this patiently ; you can avoid judging those 
 things which must be uncertain, and, also, you 
 can prevent yourself from being repulsed by those 
 who annoy you. 
 
 Perfection bears easily with the imperfections of 
 others. We should, moreover, accustom ourselves 
 to seeing quietly even the gravest faults in those 
 who are well disposed, waiting patiently till God 
 shall remove them little by little. 
 
140 Christian Counsels . 
 
 And, besides, such people are, no doubt, striving 
 to correct themselves, so far as they are each able, 
 and you should strive to support them in their 
 weakness. You must surely understand, from 
 your own experience in such matters, how difficult 
 is this correction. You have felt its bitterness; 
 remember how you should soften it to others. 
 Your eagerness against the faults of others is in 
 itself a very grave fault. Disdain of others arises 
 from a want of self-knowledge. It is pride which 
 lifts itself above the rest of human nature, instead 
 cf which, to obtain a true view, you must regard it 
 from the same level. Alas ! when will you per- 
 ceive that there is nothing either in yourself or in 
 anyone else ? In God all is perfect goodness ; in 
 the creature all is evil. 
 
 You fear lest you should despise the whole 
 human race. Well ; in one sense I would have 
 you wholly despise it, so far as it is contemptible. 
 Only the light of God, growing within you, can 
 enable you truly to penetrate the depth of evil 
 that exists in all mankind. But, in looking at the 
 evil, you must recognise also the good which God 
 
Faults no just Cause of Surprise . 141 
 
 plants amongst it. It is this mixture of good and 
 evil which it is so difficult to realise. The enemy 
 has mixed tares with the wheat. The servants 
 would fain separate them; but the Master saith, 
 
 1 Let both grow together until the harvest! 
 
 Moreover, if others are weak, is that a reason for 
 being impatient with them? You who complain 
 that others cause you suffering, do you make no 
 one suffer ? You who are so shocked at the faults 
 of others, do you imagine yourself to be perfect ? 
 God who knows all, and who knows all your sins 
 against Him, could not He with one word bring 
 you to confusion ? Does it never occur to you to 
 fear that He may inquire why you have not 
 shown to your brethren something of that tender 
 mercy which He, who is your Master, shows so 
 unceasingly towards you ? 
 
 Do not, then, allow yourself to be repulsed by 
 the faults of others, or to become distrustful. 
 Many things may severely try your patience, your 
 confidence, your charity, and may greatly weary 
 them; but fear not, God has reserved to Himself 
 many true worshippers. It is certain they do not 
 
142 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 do what they should do ; yet they do a great deal, 
 considering the corrupt state of the world, and 
 considering also the weakness of their nature. 
 They recognise their own infirmities, they are 
 humbled by them, they struggle against them ; 
 it is true that they correct themselves slowly, but 
 still they do correct themselves. And they praise 
 God for all they succeed in doing, blaming them- 
 selves for all their failures. God is satisfied with 
 this ; be satisfied also. 
 
 If you feel as I feel, that God should be served 
 more worthily, aspire fully your own self to reach 
 that degree of holiness in which they who are 
 truly His seek nothing for their own sakes, and 
 where all selfishness is banished as a matter of 
 infidelity to Him. Ah ! if you had but arrived at 
 that blessed state, so far from feeling impatiently 
 towards others who have not reached it also, the 
 enlargement of your heart would give you the 
 tenderest sympathy for those who are hindered 
 by the withering effects of self-interest. For the 
 nearer we approach to perfection, the more patient 
 we become with imperfection. It was the Pha- 
 
Faults no just Cause of Stirprise. 143 
 
 risees who would not bear with publicans and 
 sinners; Jesus Christ bore with them in gentle- 
 ness and love. And so soon as we truly let go of 
 self, we enter into that greatness of soul in Him 
 which nothing can weary or discourage. 
 
144 
 
 Christian Coiuisels. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 IN WHAT DOES THE TRUE LIBERTY OF GOD'S 
 CHILDREN CONSIST \ AND ON THE MEANS OF 
 ATTAINING IT 
 
 I BELIEVE that liberty of heart must be full of 
 simplicity. It is when we cease looking restlessly 
 back upon ourselves that we begin to be truly 
 free. False wisdom, on the contrary, is always on 
 the stretch, always occupied with herself, always 
 jealous for her own perfection ; therefore she 
 suffers the keenest distress every time she per- 
 ceives the slightest blemish in herself. 
 
 He who is simple in heart, and free from self, 
 does not aim the less at perfection ; he presses 
 forward, on the contrary, more steadily. For the 
 fault from which all our other faults arise is the 
 love of self, which causes us to refer all we do to 
 ourselves, instead of to God. Whoso, therefore, 
 
The True Liberty of God' s Children . 145 
 
 will aim truly at giving up self, forgetting, deny- 
 ing himself, according to the precept of Jesus 
 Christ, will strike at the very root of all his faults, 
 and will find in this self-renunciation the germ of 
 all other virtues. 
 
 Then do we begin to understand and expe- 
 rience within us the deep truth of those words, 
 4 Where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty .’ 1 
 We then neglect nothing, in order that God may 
 reign within our hearts ; yet are we in peace even 
 in the midst of the humiliations caused by our 
 faults. We would die rather than commit the 
 slightest sin voluntarily, but we care not for the 
 judgments of men ; or, if we care, it is only lest 
 we should cause others to offend. We are will- 
 ing to accept scorn for Christ’s sake ; and we 
 look peacefully on all the changes that surround 
 us. The truer our self-renunciation, the deeper 
 our peace ; so free does the heart become that 
 we are ready for all ; we desire all that God 
 pleases, and we would wish for nothing else ; we 
 are as simple as little children. 
 
 1 1 Cor. iii. 17. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 The light of God discovers to us even our 
 smallest sins ; but we are not thereby discouraged. 
 We walk before Him. If we deviate in the least 
 from our path, we hasten to regain our steps, 
 and think only of pressing onwards the more 
 earnestly. Oh how blessed is this simplicity, but 
 how few have courage thus to press forwards 
 without looking behind them ! Be free, ‘ with the 
 liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free! 1 Be 
 free, since to freedom the Saviour calleth you ; 
 only use not this liberty for an occasion of offence . 
 
 True watchfulness consists in obeying God in 
 all things, in following the light by which He 
 reveals to us each duty, making it our principle 
 not only to please God in all things, but trying 
 always in each instance to do that which will 
 please Him the best. Let us not stop to argue 
 with ourselves about the difference between great 
 sins and little sins, imperfections and graver 
 offences. No doubt a considerable difference 
 exists in such matters. Nevertheless there should 
 be, practically, none for that soul who has deter- 
 
 1 Gal. v. 1. 
 
The True Liberty of GocVs Children . 147 
 
 mined to withhold from God nothing that it is 
 possible to give. It is in this sense that ‘ the law 
 is not made for the righteous! 1 The children of 
 God have a higher motive than any law of con- 
 straint, even that of pleasing Him, ‘ for Christ is 
 the end of the law for righteousness to every one that 
 believeth! 2 As St. Augustine has so truly said, 
 1 Love — and when once you love you may do 
 what you please.' 
 
 If this sincere desire to do in everything that 
 which is the most pleasing in God’s sight be car- 
 ried out cheerfully, without being discouraged 
 when we have failed, but beginning afresh over 
 and over again ; trusting always as regards the 
 end ; bearing with ourselvesf in our infirmities 
 because God bears with us ; we shall wait patiently 
 for the time appointed for our perfect deliverance. 
 Meanwhile we shall walk in all simplicity along 
 the road that is pointed out ; wasting no time in 
 looking back, but forgetting those things which 
 are behind , and reaching forth unto those things 
 which are before , we shall press toward the mark 
 
 1 I Tim. i. 9. 2 Rom. x. 4. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus! 1 And thus shall we gain true liberty. 
 
 I urge you with all my heart to aspire to it ; 
 let watchfulness and liberty go hand in hand ; 
 lean on God in all confidence, and from the 
 depth of your heart. Give yourself up to the 
 grace by which at any time He draws you the 
 more closely to Himself. Fear not to lose sight 
 of your own self, look only to Him, come as close 
 to Him as He will enable you to do. Do not 
 hesitate ; plunge deeply into the ocean of His 
 Love ; too happy if you may be so lo'st therein as 
 to find yourself no more. 
 
 1 Phil. iii. 13, 14. 
 
149 
 
 XX. 
 
 ON THE HAPPINESS OP GIVENG ONESELF WHOLLY 
 TO GOB.— HOW HIS LOVE SWEETENS EVERY 
 SACRIFICE . 
 
 CHRISTIAN perfection is by no means the state 
 of wearisome constraint that many people ima- 
 gine. It demands that we should belong to God 
 from the very depth of our hearts ; but as soon as 
 we thus belong to Him, all that we do for Him 
 becomes easy. God’s children are always satisfied 
 when their love is undivided ; for they desire all 
 that God pleases, and they long to do for Him 
 whatever He would have done. They forsake all, 
 and thereby receive a hundredfold. Peace, liberty 
 of heart, the sweetness of abandoning oneself 
 wholly to God, and of resting in His hands ; the 
 joy of seeing His light ever growing within one’s 
 heart ; freedom from the tyrannical constraints 
 
Christian Counsels. 
 
 150 
 
 and motives of the age in which we live ; all 
 these things constitute the abundant happiness of 
 God’s children, even in the midst of their troubles. 
 
 Blessed is he who thus yields himself to God ! 
 then is he freed from his own passions, from the 
 judgments of other men, from their unkindness 
 and the hardness of their maxims, from their cold- 
 ness and their scorn ; he is freed from all the 
 miseries that arise through the briefness of life 
 and the apprehensions of death. What folly ! to 
 fear giving oneself to God, or to fear making 
 too much progress in so happy a condition. 
 
 Blessed is he who, with closed eyes, casts him- 
 self unreservedly into the arms of the ‘ Father of 
 mercies , and the God of all comfort .’ 1 Then do 
 we desire to know nothing except that which 
 we owe to God, and our only fear is lest we 
 should not sufficiently perceive whatever He may 
 demand. The true Christian, whatever misfor- 
 tunes befall him, desires all that God wills for 
 him he wishes for nothing that is denied. The 
 more he loves God the happier he is ; and the 
 
 1 2 Cor.' i. 3. 
 
On Giving Oneself to God. 1 5 1 
 
 highest degree of perfection, so far from increasing 
 his burden, renders his yoke more light and easy. 
 
 What madness to be afraid of belonging too 
 fully to God ! It is fearing to be too happy ; it is 
 fearing to love His will in all things ; it is fearing 
 to become too courageous in bearing that cross 
 which must be allotted to us ; to have too much 
 of the consolation of God’s love, too much free 
 dom from the miseries of human passions. 
 
 Jesus Christ says to every Christian, without 
 exception, ‘ If any man will come after Me, let him 
 deny himself \ and take up his cross , and follow Mel 1 
 The broad road leadeth to destruction ; it is the 
 narrow way, into which so few enter, that we 
 must follow. We must be born again, and become 
 as little children ; we must deny ourselves, hate 
 our own selves ; we must become poor in spirit ; 
 we must weep now that our sorrow may be turned 
 into joy ; we may not be of the world, for we are 
 of God , and the whole world lieth in wickedness l 2 
 These truths frighten many who know something 
 of what religion demands, yet know nothing of the 
 
 1 St. Matt. xvi. 24. 
 
 2 I St. John v. 19. 
 
i52 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 spirit of love which makes all so easy. They 
 know not that the road which leads to perfection 
 is a way of peace, they know nothing of the love 
 which sweetens all labour. 
 
 Happy are they who belong to their Lord with 
 an undivided heart. It is they who find His yoke 
 easy and His burden light ; it is they who find rest 
 to their souls ; who learn how sweetly He com- 
 forteth the weary and the heavy-laden. But woe to 
 the cowardly souls who are divided between God 
 and mammon. They will, and they will not ; they 
 are at the same time torn by their passion and by 
 their remorse. They fear both the judgments of 
 God and the judgments of men. They fear evil, 
 yet they are ashamed of that which is good. They 
 have all the troubles of religion, and none of its 
 consolations. Ah ! if they had but courage to de- 
 spise the vain pursuits of men, the coldness of their 
 scorn, and the rashness of their censure, what peace 
 might they not enjoy in the bosom of their God ! 
 
 Those who fear to see too clearly what God’s 
 love demands, are but mocking themselves if they 
 fancy that they love Him. There is but one way 
 
On Giving Oneself to God. 1 5 3 
 
 of loving God, and this is to make no bargain with 
 Him, but to follow with a generous heart all that 
 He suggests to us. They who would sacrifice a 
 little, and yet belong a little to the world, run 
 great risk of being found amongst those of whom 
 God has said, ‘ So then, because thou art lukewarm , 
 and neither hot nor cold , I will spue thee out of my 
 mouth! 1 God will not continue to bear patiently 
 with those cowardly souls who say within them- 
 selves : Thus far will I go and no farther. What 
 would a king say of the subject, or a master of the 
 servant, who would insist on serving him only after 
 his own fashion ? who should fear to become affec- 
 tionately bound to his interests, or be ashamed to 
 show, publicly, any attachment to his cause ? But 
 what, then, shall the King of kings say to those 
 amongst us who would thus behave towards Him ? 
 
 We must study not only the will of God in 
 general, but also what is His will for us in each 
 matter, in order to find out how we may the most 
 perfectly please* Him. We are truly reasonable 
 Only when we so consult the will of God as to 
 
 1 Rev. iii. 16. 
 
154 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 conform our own to His : this is the true light 
 that we should follow ; all other lights are false. 
 They who think themselves to be wise are but 
 blind, if their wisdom be not the wisdom of Christ, 
 for He alone is worthy of the name of wisdom. 
 They are as those who, whilst dreaming, believe 
 themselves to be awake, and imagine that the 
 objects they see in their dreams are real. Thus 
 are the mighty ones of this earth deluded ; the 
 children of God, and they only, walk by the light 
 of pure truth. And what have those men before 
 them whose hearts are set on the vanities and 
 ambitions of the world ? Often disgrace, always 
 death ; and after death, Judgment and Eternity. 
 These are the true objects which are still drawing 
 near ; but the worldly perceive them not. Their 
 wise policy foresees everything — except the mise- 
 rable and utter failure of all that they are seeking. 
 O blind in your own conceits ! when will you open 
 your eyes to the light of Jesus Christ, which alone 
 can reveal to you the emptiness of all worldly 
 honours ? 
 
 But they who abandon themselves to God find 
 
On Giving Oneself to God. 155 
 
 all in Him. They no longer seek anything for 
 themselves, yet everything is theirs ; for ‘ all things 
 work together for good to them that love God,’ 1 . . . 
 to those ‘ who are led by His Spirit l They who 
 are deprived of this blessing either do not ask for 
 it, or ask amiss. It is not by the words of our lips, 
 or by external actions ; it is by the longing of the 
 heart, by the deep humiliation of our souls before 
 God, that we obtain within us that gift of the 
 Spirit of life without which the best actions are but 
 dead. ‘ If any man have not the spirit of Christy 
 he is none of His . And if Christ be in you , the 
 body is dead , because of sin ; but the Spirit is life y 
 because of righteousness .’ 2 God is so good ; He 
 "only awaits our true desire to give us abundantly 
 of that gift which is Himself. Before they cry unto 
 Me, He says, even so soon as the desire is formed 
 in the heart, before the prayer is uttered, 4 I will 
 answer ; and y zvhile they are yet speakingy I will 
 Jiear! z It is the prayer of the heart to which Gcd 
 Sthus replies. 
 
 1 Romans viii. 28. 2 Romans viii. 9, 10. 
 
 Isa. lxv. 24. 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 156 
 
 In beholding God we see the nothingness of this 
 world ; its grandeur vanishes as a dream. Every 
 mountain shall be brought* low, every proud head 
 bent, before the glorious weight of the eternal 
 majesty of God. In the day when He shall arise 
 to judge the world, with one glance will He de- 
 stroy all that has appeared brilliant in our present 
 darkness, as the sun, when it rises, extinguishes 
 the stars. We shall behold God alone in all 
 things ; there will be none beside Him ; He will fill 
 all. What has become, will it be asked, of those 
 objects which appeared to us so full of fascination ? 
 Where have they vanished ? What were they ? 
 Alas ! not even their traces will be left to show 
 where they had been. They will have passed as a 
 shadow before the sun ; scarcely will it be true that 
 they had ever existed, so entirely will they have 
 appeared but for a little while, and then vanished 
 from our sight. Blessed are they, and only they, 
 who can already discern this emptiness, through 
 the light of Jesus Christ. 
 
157 
 
 XXL 
 
 ERA YER FOR ONE WHO DESIRES TO BE FULL Y 
 SURRENDERED TO GOD. 
 
 My God, I desire to give myself wholly to Thee’; 
 grant me courage to be Thine alone ; strengthen 
 my feeble will, which longeth after Thee. I stretch 
 forth mine arms to Thee ; take me. If I have no 
 strength to follow Thee, attract me by the sweet- 
 ness of Thy grace ; draw me after Thee by the 
 cords of love. What am I, Lord, unless I be 
 Thine ? It is slavery to be bound to myself and 
 to my own passions. 0 true liberty of the children 
 of God ! the world knoweth thee not. Happy, 
 most happy is he who dependeth on God, and on 
 God alone. 
 
 O heavenly Bridegroom of the soul ! how is it 
 that we fear to break the chain of our slavery ? 
 Can we be afraid to give ourselves unto Thee ? 
 
158 Christian Counsels . 
 
 Do we fear our own happiness ? Shall we hunger 
 after the flesh-pots of Egypt, and fear to enter the 
 promised land ? 
 
 It is not I who give myself to Thee ; it is Thou, 
 
 0 Love, who givest Thyself to me. What joy to be 
 alone — alone with Thee — to hear nothing else, 
 hearkening only to Thee. O infinite Wisdom, are 
 not Thy words far sweeter than the words of men ? 
 Thou wilt speak to me, Thou wilt teach me, Thou 
 wilt nourish me with Thine own self. Lord, when 
 
 1 consider Thy yoke, it seems to me all too light ; 
 and is this the cross that I am to bear after Thee 
 all the days of my life ? Hast Thou no bitter cup, 
 no cup of Thy sufferings, which Thou wilt teach 
 me to drink ? O Love, Thou art all love ; shall 
 I fear to draw close to Thee ? 
 
 How great is my unworthiness ! Thy mercy 
 alone can be yet greater. But the less wisdom or 
 strength I have, the more do I need Thy com- 
 passion. O God, I am utterly unfit for Thee, yet 
 may I become a miracle of Thy love. Give all 
 that is lacking to me ; then my unworthiness shall 
 but exalt the mightiness of Thy grace. 
 
*59 
 
 XXII. 
 
 ON THE NECESSITY OF SELF-RENUNCIATION , 
 AND CONCERNING ITS PRACTICE. 
 
 If you would understand truly what is self-renun- 
 ciation, you have but to remember the difficulty 
 which you felt, and very naturally expressed, when 
 I told you that we must count as nothing that ‘I’ 
 which is so dear to every one of us. To renounce 
 self is to count oneself as nothing ; and whoever 
 has so attempted this as to find out the difficulty 
 understands already what is the meaning of that 
 renunciation to which our nature is so keenly op- 
 posed. Since the blow has struck home it has 
 reached the evil of your heart ; and now you have 
 only to suffer the all-powerful hand of God to 
 work within you. He will find the means of 
 tearing you from yourself. 
 
 The deepest evil of our hearts is our blind self- 
 
1 60 Christian Counsels . 
 
 love, which even amounts to idolatry. All that we 
 love we love only for our own sakes. Even in 
 friendship, when we seek no worldly interest, we 
 seek another gain, which, though it may be more 
 secret, more delicate, more worthy in the sight of 
 others, is therefore but the more dangerous, and 
 more likely to act as a poison by nourishing 
 our self-love. For what is there sweeter or more 
 flattering to the most refined sense of self-love 
 than to be praised as one who is free from self? 
 
 There are some who appear to live entirely for 
 others, who are the delight of many hearts, who 
 are gentle, who seem wholly unselfish ; for so great 
 is true forgetfulness of self that self-love would 
 fain imitate it, and finds no honour so sweet as that 
 of appearing to seek for none. This unselfishness, 
 which, were it a true and living principle, would be 
 the very death of the old nature, is, on the con- 
 trary, the most refined and imperceptible nourish- 
 ment to a pride which disdains other means of 
 exaltation, and would tread coarser vanities be- 
 neath its feet. It is no difficult matter, however, 
 to unmask this modest pride, though from no 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . 1 6 1 
 
 point of view may it look like pride, so carefully 
 does it seem to have renounced all that is most 
 flattering to others. But if it be blamed, it 
 bears blame impatiently. If those whom it loves 
 and befriends do not repay it with friendship, con- 
 fidence, and esteem, it is wounded to the very 
 quick. You perceive, therefore, that it is by no 
 means disinterested, though striving to appear so. 
 It insists on being well paid, and is hungry for 
 the esteem of good men ; it would love in order 
 to obtain love — that all may admire its disinter- 
 estedness. It only appears to forget self in order 
 that it may the better occupy others with itself. 
 
 In proportion as we learn to observe what things 
 most easily distress or flatter our natures, we shall 
 perceive of what kind is our pride ; whether 
 stronger or more delicate, for it may be of many 
 different degrees. But pride, by whatever name 
 you may call it, is still pride ; and that which 
 appears in the most reasonable form may be the 
 most odious in its tendency ; for, in esteeming 
 itself, it is the more apt to despise others. 
 
 Only the love of God can draw us away from 
 M 
 
i 62 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 ourselves. Except His all-powerful hand sustain 
 us, we have no point on which we can stand, to 
 enable us to take one step out of ourselves. There 
 is no medium ; either we bring all to God, or we 
 bring all to ourselves. If we refer all to ourselves, 
 self is our god. If, on the contrary, we refer all to 
 God, then, and then only, we are in our true posi- 
 tion. To accomplish His will becomes our only 
 interest ; and herein consists that true renunciation 
 of self which you desire to understand. 
 
 But nothing will more effectually check this 
 grace in our hearts than a certain philosophical 
 pride, or that apparent generosity which is in truth 
 only disguised self-love. If therefore we are 
 naturally frank, disinterested, and inclined to do 
 good to others for our own pleasure, we should be 
 so much the more careful that we really renounce 
 self, and that we do not rest satisfied with the 
 possession of these natural advantages. 
 
 The reason that no created object can really 
 draw us out of ourselves is that there exists none 
 which is sufficiently deserving of such preference. 
 There is none that is perfect enough so to secure 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation. 163 
 
 our attachment as to prevent us from falling back 
 on self, or that can satisfy our hearts by such attach- 
 ment. God, and God alone, can do two things ; 
 He is able so to reveal Himself to us as to claim 
 the most absolute right over our whole being, and 
 then, at the same time, He engages our affections by 
 the perfect charm of His goodness. There is also 
 another wonder which God performs, namely, that 
 after He has thus enlightened our hearts, He also 
 works in them as He pleases. It is not enough 
 that He shows us His love ; He also makes Him- 
 self loved by reproducing through His grace His 
 own love in our hearts. Thus does He Himself 
 perform within us all that He requires ; 1 for it is 
 God that worketh in us both to will and to do of 
 His good pleasure 1 1 
 
 You will wish, perhaps, that I should explain 
 to you more distinctly in what details this self- 
 renunciation must be carried out ; and I will try 
 to satisfy you. 
 
 It is very easy to understand that criminal 
 pleasures and worldly vanities should be given up, 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 13. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 Christian Counsecs . 
 
 because the renunciation of such things necessarily 
 arises from the contempt we feel for them ; so that 
 we cannot but cast them from us with horror. But 
 it is not so easy to understand how we are to re- 
 nounce the good things that we rightly possess ; 
 the peaceful happiness of an honest and simple life, 
 the honour which arises from good reputation, and 
 even those virtues which excite no malicious envy. 
 
 It is the more difficult to understand how these 
 things are to be renounced, because we are evi- 
 dently not intended to cast them from us with 
 horror, but rather to make a proper use of them 
 according to that state of life to which Providence 
 has called us. We may need the consolation of a 
 quiet and peaceful life to enable us to bear other 
 troubles which are appointed for us ; we must have 
 regard to such honour as concerns our duties ; we 
 must keep for our necessary use the goods which 
 we possess. How, then, are we to renounce these 
 things, and at the same time to use them ? By 
 using them in quietness and moderation, not 
 suffering our hearts to cling to them. We must 
 use them soberly ; for if we do not suffer ourselves 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation. 165 
 
 to become eagerly attached to anything, or to seek 
 our happiness in it, we derive from it only that which 
 it is intended to yield us. Therefore, the way to 
 renounce that which is evil is to cast it from us 
 with horror ; and the way to renounce that which 
 is good is to use it only with moderation, and to 
 supply our necessities, striving the while to check 
 all those imaginary needs which, naturally, we are 
 so apt to encourage. 
 
 Observe that it is not only evil things that we 
 are to renounce, but also good things; for Jesus 
 Christ has said, and without the slightest restric- 
 tion, * If any man come to me, and hate not his 
 father and mother , and wife and children , and 
 brethrc7i and sisters , yea, and his own life also , he 
 cannot be my disciple ! 1 Every Christian, therefore, 
 must give up all, even the most innocent things, 
 else they will cease to be innocent for him. He 
 must renounce even those things which it is his 
 duty to guard the most carefully, such as the good 
 of his family, or his own honour; not only must he 
 use these things quietly and in moderation, but he 
 
 1 St. Luke xiv. 26. 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 166 
 
 must also hold himself in readiness to give them 
 up at any time, if it should so please God. 
 
 He must renounce even those friends whom he 
 loves best, and whom it is his duty to love ; and 
 this is the manner in which he must renounce 
 them. He must love them only in God; he must 
 accept the comfort of their affection, but he must 
 be ready to lose it when God takes it away ; and 
 he must not suffer his heart to rest on them. 
 Herein is the true chastity of Christian love, which 
 seeks only the heavenly Bridegroom in every 
 mortal friend. Thus may we 4 use this world as 
 not abusing it! 1 We use it, but with that reticence 
 of heart which reserves itself for a higher object. 
 It is in this sense that Our Lord would have us 
 leave father and mother , brethren and sisters , and 
 all that we have . 
 
 God is a jealous God. If we cling in the depth 
 of our hearts to any created being, we are ‘ not 
 worthy of Him! 2 He rejects such love, as a 
 husband will reject the love that is divided be- 
 tween himself and a stranger. * Turn , O back - 
 
 I Cor vii. 31. 
 
 * St. Matt. x. 37. 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . 167 
 
 sliding children, sait/i the Lord, for I am married 
 unto you ; .... return, ye backsliding children, and 
 I will heal your backs lidings! i Behold , we come 
 unto Thee ; for Thou art the Lord our God! 1 
 
 After having renounced all that surrounds us, 
 we come to the last sacrifice, namely, of ourselves, 
 and of all that is within us. * We must present our 
 bodies a living sacrifice , holy, acceptable unto God , 
 which is our reasonable service! 2 This renunciation 
 of our bodies seems impossible to many. Some 
 foolish people fancy, or seem to fancy, that no part 
 of themselves is more important than the bodies 
 which they pamper so luxuriously, and adorn with 
 so much care. Even many of those who have 
 given up studying the outward adornment of their 
 persons, retain a love for their bodies which leads 
 to a most shameful cowardice, and which causes 
 them to shudder at the very name of death. 
 
 Others may find greater difficulty in renouncing 
 their spirit. The more our natural courage may 
 lead us to despise cowardly fear concerning our 
 bodies, the more tempted we may be to value too 
 
 Jer. iii. 14-22. 
 
 2 Romans xii. 1. 
 
Christian Counsels. 
 
 1 68 
 
 highly those mental gifts which seem part of our- 
 selves. We love to consider ourselves wise, dis- 
 creet, free from the vanities into which others fall. 
 But we are sadly lacking towards God if we yield 
 our hearts to this refinement of self-love. Whoso- 
 ever regards any of God's gifts with self-compla- 
 cency, turns that gift at once into poison. Ap- 
 propriate nothing to yourself ; neither external 
 treasures, nor your talents, nor even the most 
 spiritual blessings. Your good-will is a free gift 
 that comes from God alone, as truly as your life 
 comes from Him. All that is within you is His ; 
 use it as lent to you by Him, and according to the 
 intention of the Lender ; but never dispose of any 
 of His goods as though they were your own. 
 This simple spirit of disappropriation is the only 
 thing we can truly possess ; and in thus using 
 all that we have in following only the indications 
 of God’s will, consists true self-renunciation. 
 
 You will ask me to tell you more exactly in 
 what way the practice of such renunciation is to be 
 carried out. But to this I can reply that no sooner 
 is this desire established in the very depth of your 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation. 169 
 
 will, than God Himself will conduct your soul in 
 all things, leading you, as it were, by the hand ; 
 and will practise you in this renunciation in every 
 daily opportunity. 
 
 It is not by overstrained reflections or by con- 
 tinual effort that we can deny self ; it is simply by 
 abstaining from seeking our own will until we lose 
 ourselves in God. 
 
 Whenever thoughts of vanity, or of self-satisfac- 
 tion, or self-confidence, any desire of pleasing self, 
 or any feelings of impatience towards others, or 
 with the troubles of our condition, arise in our 
 hearts, we have but to let these things drop from us, 
 as one may drop a pebble to the bottom of a river, 
 turning back to God, and waiting till we are once 
 more in the right position towards Him before we 
 venture to act further. 
 
 If, in your haste, w r ords have escaped from you 
 which you feel to have arisen from any of the 
 feelings of which we have been speaking, do not 
 be discouraged ; press onwards, bearing patiently, 
 in God’s sight, the humiliation which your fault 
 causes you ; and do not suffer yourself to be hin- 
 
i jo Christian Counsels . 
 
 dered by the stings of self-love. Go on your way 
 trustfully, and have nothing to do with that sensi- 
 tive pride which cannot bear the sight of its own 
 imperfections. Thus will your very fault serve to 
 mortify self in you, teaching you to become as 
 nothing in God’s sight. Give yourself up again 
 at once and unreservedly to the leadings of God’s 
 Spirit in your heart, lest they should be in any 
 degree checked by this passing interruption. 
 
 The great thing is to give up your own wisdom, 
 and to act in all things with simplicity. Be ready 
 to sacrifice the favour of others, public esteem or 
 approval, whenever the conduct which God re- 
 quires from you makes it necessary. Not that 
 you need meddle with things He does not call 
 on you to do, or commit yourself by speaking 
 uselessly of truths which others (though they may 
 be well disposed) are not yet able to comprehend. 
 We must follow God — never attempt to go before 
 Him ; but so soon as He gives the sign, leave all 
 and venture all in following. To hesitate, to 
 delay, to be scrupulous, weakening the effect of 
 what He gives us to do by our selfish fear of con- 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . 1 7 1 
 
 sequences, wishing to shelter ourselves from the 
 annoyances and contradictions we may meet with, 
 seeking for plausible excuses in hopes of evading 
 some difficult or painful duty, though we are con- 
 vinced in our own hearts that God requires it of us, 
 and has placed us in the right position for accom- 
 plishing it, — all this is to take ourselves back again 
 after we have once given ourselves unreservedly to 
 God. I entreat you never to be thus unfaithful. 
 Nothing is so terrible as to resist the inward lead- 
 ing of God’s Holy Spirit. 
 
 All other faults, which you may commit in spite 
 of your best intentions, may be made to work for 
 good to you, by humbling you, and making you 
 little in your own eyes. But the sin of resisting 
 the Holy Spirit through pride and worldly wisdom, 
 striving to spare yourself in accomplishing the 
 work which God gives you to do, would gradually 
 quench His grace in your heart. 
 
 God has given you a candid and ingenuous 
 nature, and on this foundation He will build up 
 His work in you. He would have from you an 
 entire simplicity, which shall be the more truly His 
 
T 7 2 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 wisdom because it is not in the least your own. 
 He would have you little in your own eyes, and 
 supple in His hands. It is this childlike simplicity, 
 so contrary to the wisdom of man, but so earnestly 
 enjoined in the Bible, that God would instil into 
 your heart, though the world may despise and mis- 
 understand it. 
 
 Provided you are faithful in reserving to your- 
 self, from the rest of the day, sufficient time for 
 nourishing your heart by communion with God, 
 you will see all that is needful for your guidance ; 
 duties will seem to come before you as of them- 
 selves. Dwell simply in the presence of God, and 
 He will suffer you to doubt nothing. 
 
 Let your one effort be to profit truly by the 
 lessons of each day. To each day belongs its evil 
 and its good, and even the evil is turned into good 
 if only we let God work, and do not hinder Him 
 by our impatience. 
 
 The only thing that can bewilder you, or check 
 the grace which God pours forth on you so abun- 
 dantly, is the fearing to go too far in His service, or 
 not suffering God to work in you 4 according to His 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . 1 73 
 
 good pleasure ,’ 1 at the expense of your own wisdom. 
 Above all things straiten Him in nothing. It is 
 not a question of undertaking great matters, which 
 perhaps God may never desire from you in the 
 way that you imagine; it is only a question of 
 following invariably, but without haste or im- 
 patience, the openings God may give you from 
 time to time; by which He will enable you to 
 appeal to the hearts of others, and to make known 
 to them what they also owe to God. This is a 
 work of patience, it demands continual faith and 
 watchfulness, and it requires also the greatest dis- 
 cretion. It is most important never to be led on 
 by inconsiderate zeal. But the necessary discre- 
 tion is far from being of the kind that people ima- 
 gine. It is not that worldly caution which leads 
 one to be careful for one’s own sake ; it is that 
 which ever awaits God’s time, causing us to look 
 unceasingly to Him, in order that we may move 
 exactly as He indicates, and use the openings 
 which He provides, guided by the light which He 
 communicates to us ; so that nothing may inter- 
 
 1 Phil. ii. 13. 
 
174 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 fere with any work which He would perform by 
 our means. 
 
 I pray God that He may pour forth on you 
 abundantly the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 with peace and faith, in the joy of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
i75 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 ON THE SAME SUBJECT. 
 
 WHEN I say that those who have, in will, fully 
 renounced self, are in very truth freed from self, I 
 mean especially to prevent or to cure those scru- 
 ples which are often caused by the selfish thoughts 
 which still return from time to time. Those who 
 are sincerely faithful are frequently distressed by 
 certain ideas of their own interest which have 
 occurred to them whilst speaking or acting. They 
 fear that they have not resisted a kind of self-com- 
 placency, some thoughts concerning their own 
 honour, or some merely selfish pleasure even in 
 doing good. Such things give pain to a tender 
 conscience ; and it is well to be reassured by the 
 remembrance that good and evil are essentially of 
 the will. When these recurrences to self are in- 
 voluntary, they do not prevent self-renunciation 
 from being real. 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 1 76 
 
 It is very rarely the case that any one who has 
 once truly renounced self should again voluntarily 
 give way to self-interest. 
 
 There are, however, persons of sincere piety who 
 have not yet thus mortified their earthly affections, 
 and who therefore still seek their own advantage 
 in many matters. They do not exactly intend 
 doing so, but they suffer themselves to be drawn 
 along as if by accident. A proof that they still 
 hold by self in all these things is that, when any 
 such natural props are removed from them, they 
 are utterly miserable. 
 
 Moreover, we may often cling to self in some 
 degree without perceiving that we do so, until 
 some trial discovers to us the true depths of our 
 heart. It is when God takes our treasures from 
 us, or seems likely to do so, that we learn to 
 give up all injurious appropriation of them by the 
 sacrifices which we make to Him. No moderate 
 use that we make, or think we make, of these 
 things can half so truly prove us to have indeed 
 surrendered all to God, as some privation quietly 
 accepted at His hands. Only loss, such loss as 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . i 77 
 
 God Himself brings about, will fully teach us this 
 lesson. 
 
 In a certain stage of piety, earnest, but as yet 
 very imperfect, there is much self-seeking. There 
 is even a time when this is the case without our 
 being at all able to perceive that it is so ; for God 
 does not permit our inward light to grow beyond 
 our capacity of obeying. Our Lord says to our 
 hearts, as He once said to His Apostles ; ‘ I have 
 yet many things to say unto you , but ye cannot 
 bear them now! 1 We perceive within us good 
 desires which are perfectly true ; but we should 
 indeed be alarmed if we knew by how many things 
 we were still holding wrongly. It is not that we 
 deliberately say to ourselves, I possess these things, 
 and I desire to keep them ; nevertheless we hold by 
 them, and often fear to examine too closely as to 
 whether it is so or not. 
 
 At another time we long to discover every weak- 
 ness, that we may sacrifice all to God ; but this is 
 an indiscreet rashness, like that of St. Peter, who 
 said, ‘ / am ready to go with Thee , both into prison 
 
 1 St. John xvi. 12. 
 
 N 
 
i;8 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 and unto death; ’ and yet he drew back in fear at 
 the words of a maidservant. We wish to know all 
 our weaknesses, but God spares us in the search. 
 He refuses to give us a degree of light that would 
 be too advanced for our present condition. He 
 does not permit us to see that in our hearts which 
 it is not yet time to destroy. With wonderful 
 loving-kindness does God thus deal with us, in that 
 He never inwardly demands from us the sacrifice 
 of anything that we have loved until He enlightens 
 us for the purpose ; nor does He ever so enlighten 
 us until He has also given us the needful strength. 
 Up to that time our eyes are closed with regard to 
 that matter. Even the most earnest and watchful 
 souls may be as yet in this state of darkness 
 respecting certain sacrifices which God reserves for 
 a more advanced stage of faith. We need never 
 anticipate them, it is sufficient that we obey faith- 
 fully in all that we do know. If there be anything 
 further in store for us, God will reveal it in His 
 own time. 
 
 It is in tenderest mercy that God draws a veil 
 over many things of which we could not yet bear 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation . 1 79 
 
 the sight. We are apt to be led away by an im- 
 patient zeal for our own perfection ; we would fain 
 discover all, that we may at once sacrifice all ; but 
 to wait humbly for the teaching of our God, and to 
 bear patiently meanwhile with our own backward- 
 ness, will be far more helpful in mortifying self 
 than all our restless efforts to advance our own 
 perfection. Let us then be satisfied with following 
 the light bestowed on us from one moment to 
 another, without desiring to look further. It is our 
 constant provision ; God gives it day by day. 
 Like the manna of the Israelites, he who would 
 gather up a double portion, and lay up store for 
 the morrow misuses that which is given. It will 
 but perish in his keeping, and he will not be able 
 to feed more abundantly than he who has gathered 
 only for the day. 
 
 It is this dependence, as of a child towards its 
 father, that God would teach us, even in spiritual 
 matters. He deals with us as a wise mother who 
 gives to her little daughter the portion of work she 
 would have her do ; she gives her no new work 
 until the first is finished. So soon as you have 
 
 N 2 
 
i So Christian Counsels. 
 
 finished the work God has now bidden you do, 
 He will present you with something further ; for 
 He never leaves us idle, or suffers us to stand still 
 in the path of self-renunciation. If, on the other 
 hand, you have not yet finished your present work, 
 God will hide from you that which is to follow. 
 
 The traveller walking across a plain may see 
 nothing before him but some little hill which 
 bounds the horizon far onwards. But so soon as he 
 has reached that height, he at once discovers an 
 extent of country as vast as that which he has 
 traversed. Thus, on the road of mortification and 
 self-surrender, we imagine that we .see all at a 
 glance ; we think we are withholding nothing, that 
 we cling neither to self nor to anything else ; we 
 would rather die than hesitate in sacrificing all. 
 But, in the detail of our lives, God reveals to us 
 constantly some new country. 
 
 Let God work in us in His own way ; and let us 
 be faithful to our present light. That light brings 
 with it all that is needful in order to prepare us for 
 what will follow ; and that again, by degrees, will 
 unconsciously prepare us for yet further lessons, 
 
On the Necessity of Self-Renunciation. 1 8 1 
 
 of which at present we have no perception. This 
 mortification of self will gradually penetrate to the 
 very centre of our being, and will leave nothing 
 there which is not of God. 
 
 Meanwhile, it is not a question of travelling 
 quickly, but of going in the right way. If one of 
 your servants, whom you had sent on a journey, 
 gave all his attention to discovering the quickest 
 means of progress, would you not say to him : ‘ My 
 good friend, you would go quite fast enough to 
 please me if only you would not stop to think so 
 much about it, if you would but just keep to the 
 road I have marked out for you, and arrive on the 
 day I have appointed ’ ? And that is precisely what 
 God says to you; that is exactly the way He 
 would have you serve Him. Give yourself up to 
 Him, and shut your eyes to the rest. Then will 
 God be your Guide ; it is He who will travel with 
 you ; He will lead you, as He led the Israelites, 
 step by step through the desert, and onwards to 
 the Promised Land. You have only to let God 
 thus take full possession of you, that He may do 
 for you ‘ according to the good pleasure of His 
 goodness t 
 
18 2 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 And, as to happiness, be persuaded by the 
 words of others, until experience shall have made 
 you taste the truth for yourself, that this renuncia- 
 tion of self and of all we value, so far from drying 
 up and hardening the heart, produces, on the con- 
 trary, in God, not only the purest affection for our 
 friends, but all the deepest love and truest conso- 
 lation which your heart can desire. 
 
i8 - 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 ON BEING CONFORMED TO THE WILL OF GOD , . 
 
 ‘ The kingdom of God is within you] thus hath Our 
 Lord spoken. It is not therefore a question of 
 having great knowledge, or talents, or even of 
 doing great actions ; it is necessary only that the 
 heart should desire rightly, ‘ for with the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness .’ 1 Good works are the 
 necessary result of true piety, and the means 
 whereby it may be recognised ; but piety itself, 
 which is the source of these works, exists only in 
 the heart. Certain virtues may be suitable to one 
 stage of our progress and not to another, but ear- 
 nestness of the will is necessary at all times and in 
 all places. To desire all that God pleases, always, 
 and without reserve — this is the reign of God within 
 our hearts. Thus will His kingdom come , since 
 
 1 Romans x. io. 
 
184 Christian Counsels . 
 
 thus His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. 
 Happy are the pure in spirit — happy they who 
 forsake all, belonging no more to themselves. 
 
 In being truly conformed to the will of God, we 
 unite our weak will to His all-powerful might. 
 Then, since nothing can happen to us save that 
 which He pleases, we are perfectly satisfied ; and 
 we find in the accomplishment of His good pur- 
 poses an inexhaustible source of peace and con- 
 solation ; so that the whole life becomes a foretaste 
 of the blessedness of heaven. 
 
 We adore, we praise, we bless God in all ; we 
 see His hand in everything, and it is that on which 
 our attention is fixed. There exists no more evil 
 for us, since all things, even the most painful afflic- 
 tions, i work together for good to them that love 
 God! 1 Shall we call that evil which God sends 
 in order to purify our souls and make us fit for 
 Himself? 
 
 Alas ! how many there are who, still clinging to 
 self, would love and serve God, but in their own 
 way, and according to their own natural tastes and 
 
 1 Romans viii. 28. 
 
On being conformed to the Will of God. 185 
 
 inclinations — who would lay down the law as to 
 how God shall satisfy them, and draw them after 
 Him. They would serve Him in order to receive 
 blessings from Him ; but they will not give them- 
 selves up to Him and become His possession. 
 How much resistance does God find in such 
 hearts, though they appear so zealous and so full 
 of fervour! In a certain sense their very spiritual 
 gifts become their stumbling-blocks, because they 
 hold them for their own sakes, and with constant 
 reference to self. 
 
 How far higher in God's sight is the heart that 
 is truly poor, that fully renounces her own will, 
 desiring only that which God points out, through 
 the teaching of His Gospel and of His guiding 
 Providence, than these fervent and highly en- 
 lightened souls who will always pursue holiness by 
 their own road ! 
 
 Herein lies the deep meaning of the words of 
 Jesus Christ, taken in their fullest significance : 
 ‘ Whosoever will come after me, let him deny him- 
 self and follow me l We must follow in His foot- 
 steps, not seek to open for ourselves a path by 
 
1 86 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 which we may meet Him. We can only follow 
 Christ by denying self. What is self-denial, if it be 
 not the giving up of all right over self ? Thus does 
 St. Paul say, ‘ Ye are not yo?ir own , ye are bought 
 with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body 
 and in your spirit , which are God's! 1 No, there is 
 nothing in us which is our own. Woe be to him 
 who would again take possession of himself, after 
 having given himself to God ! * No man , having 
 
 put his hand to the plough , and looking back , is fit 
 for the kingdom of heaven! 2 
 
 Let God do with us all that He pleases ; let 
 there never be, consciously, a moment’s resistance. 
 So soon as we perceive the slightest unwillingness 
 arising in our hearts, let us at once turn trustfully 
 to Him, — let us be on His side against our 
 cowardly and rebellious nature. Let us give up 
 that nature to God, so that, little by little, He may 
 cause it to die. Let us watch in His presence 
 against our slightest sins, lest we grieve His Holy 
 Spirit. And let us profit by those faults which we 
 commit, by a humble acknowledgment of our utter 
 1 i Cor. vi. 20. 2 St. Luke ix. 62. 
 
On being conformed to the Will of God. 187 
 
 weakness, but without giving way to weariness or 
 discouragement. 
 
 How can we more truly glorify God than by 
 giving up to Him, unreservedly, ourselves and our 
 own wills, that so He may work in us according to 
 His good pleasure? Then is He indeed our own 
 God, then does His kingdom come within us, when, 
 independently of all external helps and of all in- 
 ternal consolation, we look only to the hand of the 
 Lord, which doeth marvellously, and adore Him 
 without ceasing. 
 
 To set our hearts on serving Him in one place 
 rather than in another, or by taking one path 
 rather than the opposite one, is wishing to serve 
 Him in our own way, not in His. But to be 
 equally ready for all, to desire everything that He 
 pleases, and nothing for ourselves, to cast oneself 
 unreservedly on His providence with unlimited 
 submission : this is to treat Him truly as our God, 
 and to treat ourselves as the creatures of His 
 hand, made for Himself alone. 
 
 The cross which is borne in pure suffering, in 
 poverty of spirit, in simplicity, and in the surrender 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 188 
 
 of our own will, unites us to the crucified Saviour. 
 Such trials work incalculable blessings. But the 
 cross which we push away from us through our 
 love of self, and by wrapping ourselves up in our 
 own desires, drives us apart from Jesus Christ, 
 withers our hearts, and gradually quenches His 
 Holy Spirit. Let us then yield ourselves to God in 
 all simplicity, and, without reckoning on our own 
 strength, which is but a broken reed, let us assure 
 ourselves that nothing is impossible to Him who is 
 all-perfect and all-powerful ‘ When I am weak', 
 says the Apostle, ‘ then am I strong! 1 Christ's 
 strength is sufficient for us ; for His strength is 
 made perfect in weakness . We are strong in God in 
 proportion to our knowledge of our own weakness. 
 
 Open then your heart, but open it without re- 
 serve, that so the love of God may pour into it 
 without measure. Fear no evil on the road which 
 lies before you. God will lead you by the hand, if 
 only you doubt nothing, if only you are more filled 
 with His love than with fears concerning yourself. 
 Your weakness will be your strength, provided 
 1 2 Cor. xii. io. 
 
On being conformed to the Will of God. 189 
 
 you cling to him as a little child ; and He who 
 is almighty will give to you according to the 
 measure of your faith, so that you shall * remove 
 mountains l If you believe little, you will receive 
 little, but the fault will be your own. ‘As, there- 
 fore, ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk 
 ye in Him , rooted and built tip in Him, and sta- 
 blished in the faith , abounding therein with thanks - 
 giving i 1 
 
 Live in Jesus, and live for Him ; ‘for ye are 
 dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God l 2 
 1 Col. ii. 6, 7. 2 Col. iii. 3. 
 
Christian Counsels . 
 
 190 
 
 XXV. 
 
 ON SUBMISSION TO WHATEVER IT MAY PLEASE 
 GOD TO BRING ABOUT, \ EITHER WITHIN US 
 OR AROUND US. 
 
 The highest path we can follow is that of receiv- 
 ing equally, and with the same unvarying submis- 
 sion, each different circumstance that it may please 
 God to bring about during the day, whether it be 
 in external matters or in our own hearts. 
 
 Externally, many a disagreeable matter must 
 be courageously met, and many a pleasant thing 
 must be so passed by as not to suffer it to delay 
 us on our road. We resist the temptations that 
 arise from our trials by accepting them, and we 
 resist the temptations of such things as flatter our 
 hearts by refusing to give place to them. With 
 regard to the inward ciianges which we experience, 
 we can but follow the same course. Those that 
 are full of bitterness will help to crucify the old 
 
On Submission to God . 
 
 191 
 
 nature ; they will work their benefit in our souls if 
 only we accept them submissively. And the con- 
 solations which God bestows, for the support of 
 our weakness, we must receive from Him, not 
 clinging to them for their own sakes, or consider- 
 ing them to be our own, but using them as the 
 gifts of God ; that so, when it pleases Him to 
 withdraw them, we may not be disheartened by 
 their loss. All presumption arises from appro- 
 priating such blessings too closely. We fancy that 
 it is only the gift of God that we value, but in 
 reality we are valuing ourselves. The consequence 
 of this error is that every time we find ourselves to 
 have failed perceptibly, we are much disheartened. 
 But he who leans on God alone is never surprised 
 at his own incapacity. He even delights in feeling 
 unable to do anything, since it is God w r ho will do 
 all. What matters it to me if I am poor, when 
 I know that my Father is possessed of infinite 
 wealth, and that he is willing to bestow it upon me 
 abundantly ? It is by feeding the heart on God, 
 in pure faith, that it learns to dispense with all 
 self-confidence. 
 
192 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 Therefore should we never reckon on our own 
 fervour, or on the efforts we may make towards 
 advancing our own perfection, but seek rather for 
 simplicity, for the complete renunciation of our 
 own inclinations, and an entire yielding to every 
 impression of God's grace. 
 
 Let us entreat God that He will uproot from our 
 hearts all that we have sought to plant there our- 
 selves ; and that He will plant therein, with His 
 own hands, the tree of Life, bearing fruit unto 
 Him. 
 
193 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 ON THE RIGHT USE OF TRIALS . 
 
 THOSE operations of grace which detach us from 
 self, and from our self-love, cannot (except by a 
 miracle) be otherwise than painful. God, in the 
 laws of His grace as in those of nature, works no 
 unnecessary miracles. And the miracle would be 
 just as great and as astonishing if a person, full of 
 self, were suddenly to become dead to all self- 
 interest, as it would be if an infant should, in one 
 single day, grow to the full height of a man. God 
 conceals the operations of His grace, as He con- 
 ceals those of nature, by means of a gradual series 
 of events. He carries on the work step by step, 
 using those instruments which appear the most 
 simple and the best adapted for attaining His 
 ends ; so that human wisdom often attributes the 
 results to that which is merely natural, the hand of 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 Christian Co7tnsels. 
 
 God being scarcely recognised. Else would God’s 
 work be a continual miracle, and the state of faith 
 in which it pleases Him that we should live would 
 be wholly reversed. 
 
 God therefore operates in our hearts gradually, 
 and often obscurely. He makes use of the incon- 
 stancy and ingratitude of other men, of the dis- 
 appointments we meet with even in prosperity, 
 and thus gradually detaches us from created love 
 and deceitful pleasures. He weans us from our- 
 selves by the experience of our own weakness and 
 sinfulness through our innumerable failures. All 
 this appears perfectly natural, but it is just this 
 course of events which seems so natural that slowly 
 and painfully consumes the old nature in us. We 
 would willingly enough be consumed all at once 
 by the flames of love, but that would cost us no 
 suffering ; it is the very excess of our self-love 
 which makes us wish to gain our perfection so 
 easily. 
 
 God gives us no suffering but, as it were, in spite 
 of Himself. His Fatherly love seeks not our pain ; 
 but he wounds us to the quick in order that He 
 
On the Right Use of Trials . 
 
 195 
 
 may cure the evil of our nature. It is needful that 
 He should take from us that which we love 
 wrongly, or which we so love as to interfere with 
 our love for Him. He makes us weep like children 
 from whom the knife with which they are playing 
 is taken away, lest they should kill themselves 
 with it. We weep, we are miserable, we cry aloud 
 in our distress, we are ready to murmur against 
 Him, as children in their passion cry out against 
 their own mother. But God lets us weep, and 
 saves us. He afflicts us only for our correction. 
 Even when He appears to overwhelm us, it is but 
 for our welfare, it is only in order to spare us the 
 evils we should have inflicted on ourselves. That 
 for which we are now weeping, might have made 
 us weep eternally ; that which we now think lost 
 was truly lost to us had it remained in our posses- 
 sion. God has put it away in safety, that so He 
 may restore it to us in that eternal life to which we 
 are drawing near. He deprives us of that which 
 we love in order to enable us to love it with a 
 purer affection, and to ensure to us the eternal en- 
 joyment of our treasure in His own bosom, making 
 
196 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 us there a hundredfold happier than we could 
 ever, of ourselves, have even desired. 
 
 Happy is he who suffers ! happy is he, if he 
 suffer in a peaceful, humble spirit ! That which is 
 of God’s own work is never carried too far. If we 
 had control over our own suffering, we should 
 never suffer enough to make self die in us. God, 
 who knows us far better than we know ourselves, 
 who loves us infinitely more than we love our- 
 selves, knows the right proportion of trial that is 
 needed ; and He will never allow us ‘ to be tempted 
 above that we are able \ Love can sweeten all ; we 
 only suffer so much because we love so little, 
 God will have us entirely His own, and it is on the 
 cross that He can take full possession. 
 
 O my God ! Thou who seest the depth of our 
 evil, which Thou alone canst cure, grant us faith, 
 hope, love ; give us the Christian courage which we 
 so much lack. Teach us to look ev£r unto Thee. 
 Lord ! Thou knowest our weakness and helpless- 
 ness ; Thou seest that we have no health in us — 
 that all fails. Yet is our need but gain, if only 
 Thou forsake us not — if only we seek in Thee, 
 through faith, all that is lacking in ourselves. 
 
197 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 ON SUFFERING. 
 
 ONLY pure love is truly willing to suffer, for only 
 pure love surrenders itself fully to God. Resigna- 
 tion may accept suffering, nevertheless resignation 
 is to a certain extent unwilling to suffer, and does 
 but just withhold itself from rebellion. But the 
 love which has learned to surrender all to God, 
 feeds in silence on the cross of Christ, and on 
 union with the crucified Saviour, without reflecting 
 selfishly on her own suffering. Only the will which 
 is thus satisfied with the will of God can yield to 
 Him in suffering, without self-contemplation. At 
 such a time we may be able to say nothing, to 
 remark nothing, to do nothing, only to suffer; and 
 that suffices ; it is all we then have to do. Love 
 can make itself understood without speaking, and 
 even without thinking. There is one only thing 
 
198 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 that is required of us, and that is to wish for 
 nothing when we have nothing. A will satisfied 
 with God’s will when all else is taken away is the 
 purest of all love. 
 
 How soothing is the thought that there is no 
 need of constant efforts to urge ourselves to be 
 patient, no need of any strained watchfulness in 
 order to support the character of a virtue which 
 must be constantly acted upon externally. It 
 suffices to be as little children in God’s hands, and 
 to surrender ourselves to Him. It is not courage 
 that we need ; it is something at once less than 
 courage, and at the same time far higher : less in 
 the eyes of even virtuous men, far higher in the 
 eyes of those who judge by pure faith. It is that 
 weakness of self which casts all on the might) 
 strength of God. ‘ When I am weak , then am 1 
 strong ; I can do all things through Christ who 
 strengtheneth me! 1 
 
 2 Cor. xii. 10. Phil. iv. 13. 
 
199 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 PEACE CONSISTS ONLY IN THE FULL SURRENDER 
 OF THE HEART TO CONS WILL . 
 
 Oh how greatly does the peace of God differ from 
 that which the world gives ! It calms the heart; 
 purifies the conscience, and, by union with God, 
 strengthens against temptation. Temptations, if 
 they do not overcome us, only bring forth the fruit 
 of peace ; for true peace consists in union with the 
 will of God. 
 
 ‘ Martha , Martha , thou art careful and troubled 
 about many things ; but one thing is needful! 1 A 
 true simplicity of heart, the inward calm which 
 arises from surrendering yourself wholly to the will 
 of God, that patience with the faults of others 
 which is inspired by the thought of God’s presence, 
 a childlike readiness to acknowledge your own 
 
 1 St. Luke x. 41, 42, 
 
200 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 faults and to accept blame, — such are the virtues 
 which you need in your Christian course. 
 
 The distress which you feel about many things 
 arises from your not accepting with sufficient wil- 
 lingness whatever God sends you. Put all these 
 matters into His hands ; sacrifice all beforehand 
 with your whole heart. So soon as you no longer 
 desire anything according to your own judgment, 
 and wish only for that which God may please, you 
 will be no longer troubled with these restless 
 anxieties ; you will have nothing to conceal, no- 
 thing to make you hesitate. Up to that point you 
 will be anxious, changeable in your opinions and 
 tastes, easily annoyed by others, dissatisfied with 
 yourself, full of distrust. Your kindness of heart, 
 until it is made humble and meek, will only tor- 
 ment you ; your piety, however sincere, will give 
 you more reproaches of conscience than quietness 
 of heart. But when you have abandoned yourself 
 entirely to God, you will be at peace, and full of 
 the joy of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The love of God gives peace without presump- 
 tion ; self-love gives sorrow without profit. Do 
 
Surrender of the Heart to God's Will 201 
 
 each duty as perfectly as you can for Love's sake. 
 See where you have failed, without flattering 
 yourself or feeling discouraged ; then, giving your- 
 self up into God’s hands, work in faith, and try 
 quietly to do better. 
 
 The more empty you find yourself of all good, 
 and of all human resources, the more you will find 
 that an inward light and strength will support you 
 in your need, — -even whilst suffering you to feel 
 your weakness, as though you were ready to fall at 
 every step. But do not consider that this help is 
 your due ; you would deserve to lose it if you 
 fancied that you deserved to receive it. Feel your- 
 self to be unworthy of all, and cast yourself on God 
 in deep humility. 
 
 God will give you all the time that is needful 
 for coming to Him. He will not perhaps give you 
 all that you would wish for, in order to occupy 
 yourself according to your own tastes, or to live to 
 yourself under the pretext of perfection , but you 
 will not want either for time or for opportunities in 
 which to deny yourself and your own desires. You 
 will even find that all will be arranged according 
 
202 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 to your true wants, for, so much as it may please 
 God to mortify your inclinations, so much will He 
 also support your weakness. Fear nothing ; let 
 Him work for you. You ^vill always be free in 
 God, provided you are never afraid of losing your 
 freedom. 
 
 When the love of God truly fills the heart, it is 
 full of peace — it is satisfied. That heart needs no 
 earthly pleasures ; she cares only for the will of 
 God, and watches with unceasing desire for the 
 coming of the Heavenly Bridegroom. 
 
203 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 CONCERNING SIMPLICITY. 
 
 True simplicity is that straightforwardness of soul 
 which refuses all self-contemplation. It is quite 
 different from sincerity, and is a quality of higher 
 value ; for many people are sincere who are far 
 from having attained simplicity. They are con- 
 stantly studying themselves, reconsidering the 
 words they have spoken, or examining their own 
 thoughts, fearing lest they have said too much, or 
 done too much. God does not desire that our souls 
 should be occupied with themselves — that we should 
 be constantly considering ourselves as in a looking- 
 glass, in order to arrange ourselves more to our taste. 
 
 Simplicity consists in the right medium, which 
 is neither too eager nor too indifferent. The soul 
 is by no means hindered thereby from necessary 
 reflection ; but neither does simplicity suffer any 
 
204 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 indulgence in those thoughts of self which a rest- 
 less desire for our own excellence multiplies un- 
 ceasingly. It is that liberty of soul which causes 
 us to look straight before us on the path we are 
 treading, but without pausing to argue about our 
 steps, or to study those we have already taken. 
 Such is true simplicity. 
 
 The more docile and obedient our souls become, 
 and the more we suffer ourselves to be led onwards 
 without resistance or hesitation, the more advance 
 we make in simplicity. It is not that we become 
 blind to our own faults, or cease to feel our infirmi- 
 ties ; we feel them more than ever ; we dread the 
 slightest sin ; our inward light so increases as to 
 reveal more and more of our corruption ; and this 
 arises not from self-contemplation, but from the 
 light of God’s presence, which shows us how far 
 we are from His perfect purity. 
 
 This simplicity is, however* by no means to be 
 reached by those souls who have not been purified 
 by deep repentance ; for it is godly sorrow that 
 worketli repentance to salvation} It can only be 
 1 2 Cor. vii. io. 
 
Concerning Simplicity . 205 
 
 the fruit of entire self-renunciation — of that love 
 for God which is free from self-interest ; it is 
 therefore to be attained little by little. 
 
 Let us seek for it earnestly. How far have we 
 yet to travel before we reach its full perfection ? 
 The farther we are from it, the more need to hasten 
 onwards. So far from being simple, the greater 
 number of Christians are not even sincere. They 
 deceive their neighbours ; they deceive themselves ; 
 they would even deceive God ; they have recourse 
 to a thousand little expedients for distorting the 
 truth. They secretly nourish pride, and pride 
 necessarily interferes with that simplicity which 
 consists in the sincere renunciation and constant 
 forgetfulness of self. 
 
 But you will say, How am I to avoid being occu- 
 pied with self? It is the constant recurrence to self 
 that troubles me ; it tyrannises over me ; it causes 
 me the keenest distress. 
 
 I only desire that you should overcome all that 
 is voluntary in this matter. Never allow yourself, 
 consciously, to dwell on these restless thoughts of 
 self ; that will be sufficient ; provided that you are 
 
206 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 faithful in at once dropping all such self-contem- 
 plation whenever you perceive it, you will, little by 
 little, be delivered from it. 
 
 The principal thing is to have sincerely given up 
 into God’s hands all our own interests, whether 
 they concern our pleasure, our wealth, or our 
 honour. He who boldly ventures all, unreservedly 
 accepting whatever God may please of humilia- 
 tion or of suffering, of trials from within or from 
 without, has begun dying to himself. This con- 
 dition of full acceptance and continual acquies- 
 cence will bring true liberty, and liberty produces 
 perfect simplicity. 
 
 The soul which has no more self-interest, reckon- 
 ing no longer on self, is full of candour. The road 
 that opens before such souls is ever widening ; and, 
 in proportion to their renunciation and forgetful- 
 ness of self, their peace becomes deep as the ocean 
 — even in the midst of their trials are they at peace. 
 But so long as we cling to self, we are embarrassed, 
 uncertain, wrapped up in selfishness. Happy is he 
 who is no longer his own, who is ‘ constrained by 
 the love of Christ ; because we thus judge, that , if 
 
Concerning Simplicity . 
 
 207 
 
 one died for all , then were all dead : and that He 
 died for all , that they which live should not hence- 
 forth live mi to themselves , but unto Him which died 
 for them and rose again! 1 
 
 But, it may be asked, are we never to think at 
 all of ourselves, or of anything that interests us ? 
 By no means, such constraint would be unde- 
 sirable : instead of becoming simple, we should 
 wander far from simplicity by the scrupulous de- 
 termination never to speak of ourselves, lest we 
 should be occupied with self. 
 
 What then are we to do ? Let us make no rule 
 about it, and be content with affecting nothing. 
 When we are tempted to speak of self for our own 
 sakes, we have only to despise our own vanity and 
 simply occupy our thoughts again with God, or 
 with that which He has given us to do. Simplicity 
 forbids false shame or affected modesty as much as 
 it forbids ostentation or self-complacency. When 
 some thought of vanity prompts us to speak, we 
 have only to drop that thought at once. On the 
 other hand, if our thoughts prompt us to speak of 
 1 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 
 
208 
 
 Christian Counsels. 
 
 ourselves for some good reason, we should not wait 
 to argue about it, but go straighj forward to the 
 end we have in view. We may not pause to ask, 
 What will people think of me ? will they think I 
 am boasting foolishly — will they suspect me of 
 speaking thus in my own interest ? Such consi- 
 derations do not deserve a moment’s attention. 
 Let us speak of ourselves openly and quietly, just 
 as we would of any other person, when need arises 
 for doing so. Thus does St. Paul frequently speak 
 of himself in his Epistles. With regard to his 
 birth, he makes known his Roman citizenship, and 
 compels his judge to acknowledge his rights. He 
 says that in nothing was he behind the very 
 chiefest Apostles ; that he had gained nothing 
 from them in doctrine, nor received anything for 
 the ministry ; that he was as acceptable to the 
 Lord as they were. He declares that he has la- 
 boured and suffered more than all of them ; that 
 he withstood Peter to the face, because he was to 
 be blamed. He speaks of having been caught up 
 to the third heaven ; that he knows nothing against 
 himself ; he asserts that he is a chosen vessel to 
 
Concerning Simplicity . 209 
 
 preach to the Gentiles. He even says to the faith- 
 ful, ‘ Be ye followers of me , as I am of Christ l 1 
 What true greatness to speak thus simply of one- 
 self ! St Paul quietly says of himself the highest 
 possible things, yet he appears neither moved by 
 them nor occupied with the least self-conscious- 
 ness ; he merely relates these facts as one might 
 relate something which occurred two thousand 
 years ago. We cannot all venture to speak thus ; 
 all cannot attain to such sublime simplicity ; and 
 we must not attempt acting upon it before we are 
 able. But, when we have any real need to speak 
 of ourselves, let us do so simply, neither giving way 
 to affected modesty nor to the shame which arises 
 from false pride. Vain glory often hides itself 
 under an appearance of modesty and reserve. We 
 will not, perhaps, show what there is good in us ; 
 but we are very glad to let others discover it, that 
 so we may have at the same time both the honour 
 we think due to our virtue and the honour of 
 concealing it. 
 
 1 1 Cor. xi. I. 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 Christian Counsels . 
 
 In cases which arise suddenly, and which give 
 us no time for consideration, we must yield our- 
 selves to God, following the light that He bestows 
 upon us, and doing that which appears best at the 
 moment, without hesitation, for hesitating does but 
 confuse our perceptions. Let us act at once in the 
 best way w r e are able. If we make any mistake, 
 good will be brought out of the evil, and God will 
 not impute to us the error into which we may thus 
 fall, if only we trust ourselves to Him in simplicity 
 of heart. 
 
 As to the question of speaking against oneself, I 
 would neither blame it nor especially recommend 
 it. When it is done in true simplicity, by reason 
 of the contempt which, by God’s teaching, we have 
 learnt really to feel for ourselves, such words may 
 be wonderfully blessed ; and so do I regard the 
 manner in which many holy people have thus 
 spoken. But, in general, the safest way is not to 
 speak of oneself at all unnecessarily, either for 
 good or for evil. Self-love fears silence and con- 
 tempt far more than it fears injuries. And often 
 we feel ready enough to speak evil of ourselves, 
 
Concerning Simplicity . 2 1 1 
 
 and yet are quite disposed to forgive and love 
 ourselves as before. 
 
 With respect to our faults, we must be watchful 
 to correct them, according to the state of progress 
 we have attained ; for there are as many different 
 ways of watching against our faults as there are 
 different stages in our spiritual life. Each work 
 must be proportioned to the capacity of our inward 
 condition. As a general rule, however, it is quite 
 certain that we do far more towards curing all that 
 is amiss in us by simple devotion to God, — by the 
 extinction of our own selfish desires, — in fact, by 
 dwelling in the love of God and yielding our hearts 
 fully to Him, — than by any anxious reflections 
 about ourselves. When God undertakes the mat- 
 ter, and when we do not put hindrances in His 
 way, He carries on the work rapidly. It is He who 
 ‘ will fulfil in you all the good pleasure of His good- 
 ness , and the work of faith with power , that the name 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you y 
 and ye in Him y according to the grace of God y and 
 the Lord Jesus Christ! 1 
 
 2 Thess. i. n, 12. 
 
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