Chapter II: Part 2

Do not measure yourself by others, who may not be led as you are. God chooses to enrich some souls with brilliant gifts, but he has chosen you, stripped of all, in the depths of spiritual poverty. This is the perfect self-renouncement, without which, one cannot be the disciple of the Lord Jesus. All other states, however elevated they may be, are inferior to this pure, naked state of the soul. It is a state, which despoils the lover of all he possesses in favor of his Beloved. It is a state in which the soul is shielded from all inroads of the enemy; who can reach only what remains of self in the creature, and not what is enclosed in God.

God has chosen you for himself alone. You are the sanctuary, which is open only to the high priest, in which is contained the ark of the covenant--the essential, will of God--the sacred place, encompassed by the clouds, where the glory of God appears. Oh! blessed poverty of spirit, in which state the soul is enriched with the best gifts a God can bestow!

Measure not your advancement by relation to the road passed over, but by rapport to the end. There yet remains a great road to pass over, since God himself is the way.

The more fully you enter into his designs, the more I love you.

ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY ONE SOUL TO ANOTHER.

The interest I feel in your spiritual welfare, my dear F., is very great--so deeply absorbing, that I slept but little during the past night, presenting you in prayer before our Lord. I have an inward conviction, that God is enriching your heart by my humble instrumentality; thus, while he elevates you on one side, he debases you on the other, by communicating his grace through so unworthy a channel as myself. The Spirit has revealed to me your state, when I have received no intelligence from you. God has thus ordered it, for his own glory; and when many years hence, this method of God's operations will be better known--the assistance rendered by one soul to another, without the mediation of the body--the use he has made of this feeble instrument to communicate to you his grace, will serve to substantiate this divine truth and heavenly mode of operation.

There is therefore for you, a means of interior advancement, which no distance of place can interrupt. It will be only from lack of correspondence on your part, that it will be diverted. God desires it, at least for a time, until your soul is entirely in union with himself. This method of communication is only a superior fountain discharging itself into another; or, as two rivers bearing each other to the same sea.

Receive then this poor heart in the fulness of Christ's love, and believe me, no one can be more fully united to you than I am.

SIMPLICITY AND POWER OF THE WORD.

You enquire, my friend, why I do not use obscure terms and extraordinary expressions, in explaining the Scriptures. My Lord teaches me, that while there are no writings so profound as the Gospels, there are none so simple. And further, that simplicity of soul gives simplicity of expression. When we speak of a state beyond our experience, we do so with difficulty, and have recourse to learning to aid us, and use forced expressions.

In the natural, simple expressions of Scripture, there are deep sentiments, adapted to the wants of each soul--to those less and more advanced.

The word of God enters the centre of the soul; it has a penetrating quality; an operative efficiency. No words of man can produce the same effect; at least, none but such as come from souls, who are pure channels of the word of God. It is the good pleasure of our Lord, to express and reproduce himself upon the self-abandoned soul. Who does not admire the profound mystery of the creation of the world, where God produced all things by his word? When God created man, he formed him of the dust of the earth--the lowest form of matter--made of dust, that he might not rob God of his glory! But man thus created, received _the spirit_--the breath of the Word. This dust of the earth became the living breath of God. When Jesus Christ is formed in the soul, he imparts not only a clear understanding of the word, but is himself the Word, reproduced in the soul. Those only in whom Christ dwells, fulfill the word, or have the word accomplished in them. Such only are able fully to interpret the word. It is not learning which best explains the truths of God, but the reproduction of these truths in the life---the experience of them.

FORGETFULNESS OF SELF.

I cannot compliment you, dear sir, and I am persuaded, that you will expect from me, only the simplicity of the Christian. This simplicity leads me to say, only what our Lord gives me. You need more of this simplicity. The frequent self-returns you make, dwelling so much on your unworthiness, although it may have the appearance of humility, is only a refined self-love. True simplicity regards God alone; it has its eye fixed upon him, and is not drawn towards self; and it is as pleased to say humble as great things.

All our uneasy feelings and reflections, arise from self-love, whatever appearance of piety they may assume. The lack of simplicity inflicts many wounds. Go where we will, if we remain in ourselves, we shall carry everywhere our sins and our distresses. If we would live in peace, we must lose sight of self, and rest in the infinite and unchangeable God. These self-returns have a tendency to establish the soul more and more in itself, and hinder it from running into its great original. But it is to this, God is calling you. You withhold from God the only thing he desires--_the possession of your heart_. The time is short; wherefore spend it in the compass and surroundings of self? The single eye sees only God. You act as a person who being called before a king, instead of regarding the king and his benefits, is occupied only with his own dress and appearance. God wishes to disarrange you--to destroy self; and you wish to preserve what he would destroy. Be more afraid of self than of the evil one. It is the spirit of Satan to exalt self above God, and this spirit is fostered by these continual returns you make upon your own doings and misdoings, which leaves no place in your mind for the occupation of God.

DIVERSITY OF MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION.

Although there are impenetrable mysteries in God's dealings with souls, in order to promote their sanctification, it is true that each soul, aside from the ordinary means, common to all, has a specific training, and this method of the divine order can alone accomplish the work. The means that sanctifies another may not sanctify you. You, my friend, will not be led by great crosses and severe sufferings, but in the way of helpless infancy. The child-like, yielding soul is necessary for you; therefore God has chosen a child, myself, to be your helper. Forget yourself as the man to whom many eyes are turned, and become the little, helpless one, who cannot take care of itself, but lets another care for it. The pride, presumption and vanity, of the natural man, must give place to the littleness and simplicity of the child. Says our Saviour, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." O, when shall we learn that it is littleness, and not greatness, that God requires of his child!

God has given me a maternal yearning for your soul. I sympathize deeply in your wants and burdens. Be assured, the eyes of the God of Love are upon you. I entreat you, yield to the influences which are in operation to restore your soul to God. I can offer no apology for my letter; for in all things, I obey my Lord.

COMFORT IN AFFLICTION.

I assure you, Dear Sir, I sympathize deeply in your afflictions. With all my heart I present you before our Lord. I have prayed, and still pray, that if you are called to participate in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, you may partake also of his patience and submission. You will find the Lord at all times near your heart, when you seek him by a simple and sincere desire to do and suffer his will. He will be your support and consolation in this time of trouble, if you go to him, not with fear and agitation of spirit, but with calm, confiding love.

Jesus said to the blind man, whose eyes he anointed with clay, "Go wash in the waters of Siloam"--waters soft and tranquil. O, that you might experience the abiding peace which Christ gives. O, that you might become reduced to the simplicity of the little child! It is the child who approaches the nearest to Jesus Christ. It is the child whom he takes in his arms and carries in his bosom. O, how lovely, how attractive, is child-like simplicity! May the sufferings you are now experiencing, render you, child-like and submissive to all the will of your Father. My ill health forbids my writing more fully. God loves you, and you are very dear to me in him. Amen. Jesus, help.

BEARING FRUIT IN UNION WITH CHRIST.

God has united my soul to yours in the oneness of his own nature, and when all the obstructions on your part are removed, you will realize this same divine union. "We have many masters, as said St. Paul, but only _one Father in Christ_." This Father unites himself to us by the impartation of his own nature, and from this communication, of himself to the soul, proceeds our spiritual paternity; or the power by which we communicate to others what we receive from him. We are not always sensible how this power, or aid we render others, is imparted. In some individuals it is more manifest than in others. It always adapts itself to the subject who receives it. All the gifts and graces of the spirit are either more sensible and apparent, or more spiritual and inward, according to the power of receptivity in the individual.

It seems to me that when I am with you, there is only a simple, imperceptible transmission from my soul to yours. You do not perceive any marked results, and they are not great, because you are not in a state to receive much, and often interrupt me by speaking, which causes in me a vacillation of grace. If we were together some considerable time without distraction, you would perceive more marked results. It is the desire of God that there should be, between us, perfect interchange of thoughts, of hearts, of souls;--a flux and reflux, such as there will be when souls are new-created in Christ Jesus. At present, my soul in rotation to yours, is as a river which enters into the sea, to draw and invite the smaller river to lose itself also in the sea.

This truth,--the fruitfulness of souls who are in God, whereby they communicate grace,--however much it is rejected, is, nevertheless, a truth. This flux and reflux of communication, like the ebbing and flowing of the great ocean-current, is the secret of the heavenly hierarchy, and makes a communication from superior orders to inferior,--and of equality, between angels of the same order.

During all eternity, the communication of God the Father, and the Son, to angels and saints, and their reciprocal communication to each other, will be a well-spring of blessedness. The design of God, in the creation of men, has been to associate to himself living beings, to whom he could communicate himself. He could create nothing greater than likenesses of himself. All the splendor of angels and saints, is but light reflected from God.

God could not see himself reflected in saints, without their participating of these two qualities, fruitfulness and reciprocal communication. In this life all perfection consists, in that which makes the consummation of this same perfection in heaven, No one can be perfect, if he is not perfect _as_ the Father in heaven is perfect; that is, partaking of his nature.

Jesus Christ is the Father of souls; his generation, or the souls that are begotten of him, are eternal in their nature as he is. The figure, "giving us his flesh to eat," is the nourishment he gives the soul in communication with himself; or himself reproduced, or begotten in us. The eternal Word is the essential, undying life of the soul.

DESOLATE STATE.

Believe me, dear madam, I take a deep interest in your spiritual welfare, and I earnestly hope your confidence in God will not fail, on account of your present desolate state. As the winter plunges still deeper the roots of the trees in the earth, so the wintry state of the soul plunges it deeper in humiliation. Remember the confidence of Job, "Although he slay me, I will trust in him." Although stripped of all consolation, and left in the desolation of nothingness, you may yet rejoice in God--out of, and separate from, self. Let the earth be stripped of her foliage; let neither flowers nor fruit appear; yet _God is_, therefore you may be happy. The mother loves to sacrifice herself for her child, and finds her life in what affords it happiness; thus die to self, in relation to God.

When your weaknesses rise up before you, when you would weep over some error in judgment, or some unguarded expression, do as the little child, who having fallen into the mud, carries its hands to its mother, who cheerfully wipes them, and consoles him after the fall. Can you not believe God loves you, as much as you love the little one enfolded in your arms? Does he not say, "A mother may forget, yet I will never forget thee!"

The discovery of your weakness and emptiness, is an evidence of God's love; and while it is ground for humiliation, it is also of thanksgiving. When it pleases God to fill this void with his grace, it is cause of thankfulness; but if we realized at all times this fullness, we should be in danger of appropriating the grace of God to ourselves. Thus, our times of desolation are necessary, and we should accept them joyfully, as a portion of the bread our father gives us.

Yours in tender sympathy.

SELF-ABANDONMENT.

The death of self is not accomplished at once. It is for some time a living death. Its opposite, spiritual life, is represented by Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. First, the bones were rejoined; afterwards covered with sinews; then the flesh appeared; and finally, the spirit of the Lord animated them. When the soul begins to incline towards God, it finds many obstructions; but in proportion as we yield to the will of God, these obstructions are removed. The following simile will help to illustrate my idea. The rivers empty themselves into the sea; before they lose themselves there. Wave by wave following its course, seems to urge onward the river, to lose itself in the sea. God imparts to the soul some waves of pure love, to urge on the soul to himself; but as the river does not lose itself in the sea, until its own waters are exhausted, so the soul reaches God, and loses itself in God, only when the means of supply from self are at an end. As the waves, which are precipitated into the sea, roll many times before they are lost in the sea, so the soul undergoes many changes, before it is received into God.

The results of self-crucifixion are happy, because God then becomes all to the soul. We lose self, and substitute God in its place. We take away the finite, and receive the Infinite. This is blessed.

NO DEPENDENCE ON INSTRUMENTS.

What shall I say regarding the state in which you find yourself, in relation to me? I have no movement either to promote our re-union, or hinder it. Let God direct. Are you leaning upon him, or upon the creature? If on the creature, it is a bruised reed, which will fail you. God sometimes makes use of instruments, whom he finds it necessary afterwards to reject. If he designs to remove me from you, can I have any wish to retain you? God forbid. He may design this separation, to make you die to any confidence in the creature. He may no longer design to use me for your benefit. I might have mingled my own impurity, with his pure light flowing through me. If God permit me to err, it is on account of my pride. I have never given you any assurance of my infallibility. What am I but an erring creature? Leave me, leave me, and unite yourself only to God, who will never mislead you. Means are good, only in the order of God. They injure us, if we rest in them. If God remove me from you, acquiesce in his will, with a devotion worthy of a child of God. Be humble, and courageous enough to own your fault, in leaning on an arm of flesh. Men of the world may be obstinate, but the child of God should be supple. Whatever separation there may be between us, believe me, you will always be dear to me in our dear Lord. I hope, when you are lost in him, you will find this little drop of water, (myself) in the same great ocean of love.

CHILD OF GOD SOON TO DIE.

I have had a presentiment that you would not survive this illness. I lose in you the most faithful, and the only friend on whom I could rely, in the persecutions which threaten me. I feel my loss, but rejoice in your happiness, I could envy you. Death only lends a helping hand to rend away the veil, which hides infinite beauties. Our Lord has strongly cemented our souls. May the benediction of the divine Master rest upon you. Go, blessed soul, and receive the recompense prepared for all those, who are wholly the Lord's. Go, we separate in the name of the Lord; I cannot say a last adieu, for we shall be forever united in him. I hope, in the goodness of God, to be present with you in heart and spirit, at the time of your departure, and to receive with you, the divine Master who is waiting for you. Be my ambassador in the courts above, and say to him I love him.

UNION OF SOULS IN GOD.

The assurance you give me of the union of your soul with mine, is a great consolation. It is a union to which my heart fully responds, not in a way of emotional transport, but in the depths of peace; there is nothing of nature in it. It is a union in Jesus Christ. We are one in a sense of our lost condition, and one in self-abandonment. Oh! blessed oneness with Christ, where all evils perish; and there remains only the casualties inseparable from the state of humanity. How wonderful is this operation--the sacred mingling of a poor creature with its God, where all the evils of our fallen nature, are removed from the depths of the soul, and the soul, in its elemental being is lost in its original! There all the little ones are united in Him,--these little drops of water reassembled in the divine ocean! How swiftly do the streams embrace each other, and flow into one channel, when the obstructions are removed! When souls become pure in Jesus Christ, they flow into one another with the same rapidity. Purity of soul consists in an entire separation from self, and re-union with God. The soul _can_ return to self; it has the power, and therefore is not infallible.

Our union, my dear friend, is independent of the relish or disrelish of all created things and events. You could not be separated from me without being separated from God; for it seems to me, that I am one with him, and inseparable, and you are the same; and thus, we are one in Him, and one with each other.

Ever yours, in the heart of Jesus.

SECRET OPERATIONS OF GRACE.

My heart has been tenderly united to you, during all my bodily sufferings. In proportion as the outward man has been reduced, God seems to be more the life of my soul. Although the operations of God upon your soul may be less marked than formerly, they are no less real. There is a secret fire in your heart, which burns continually, although imperceptibly. This keen and continual operation enfeebles you, because it consumes so rapidly the more sensible and marked operations of the soul. This is, I apprehend, your ordinary state; with occasionally the unction of the oil of grace poured upon the concealed fire, to give you a sweet and clear manifestation of the loving presence of God.

You bear two marked results of the divine presence--interior recollection, and a continual _amen_ in your heart; a true and just response to all God's dealings with your soul.

I realise a very close union with you. This union is not in the emotions, and not in the will of man, but in the will of God. It is a union, from which I could no more separate myself, than from God; it is a fulfillment of the prayer of our Lord, "that they may be one, as we are one." It is a union which death cannot interrupt, but will substantiate more and more fully in God.

Ever yours, in our Lord.

TO A YOUNG FRIEND.

You are very dear to me, my child. Do not think I have forgotten you. God alone can render you happy. Give yourself wholly to him, never more to take yourself back. Love him with all your heart. Retire often within the closet of your heart to commune with God. Do not pray to him in a constrained and formal manner, but all simple and natural. God loves better the affectionate language of the heart, than, the cold and discursive thoughts of the intellect. The prayer of love softens the heart.

Do not shrink from your ordinary duties. We are often more united to God, in our daily avocations, than in retirement. The reason is, our good Father holds us more closely, when we are most exposed to temptations. Endeavor to maintain, at all times, harmony and oneness with God. You have only to abandon yourself wholly to divine love, and perform all the duties that devolve upon you. Do not be restive, and thus mar God's beautiful design and operation upon your soul. Place in his bosom of rest, all your inquietudes, and allow him to carry you, as a little child is borne by its mother. This little one has only to regard, lovingly, the smiles of its tender mother.

God will give you a wise discernment as to food and drink, and all the pleasures of life. He calls us to a temperate life, but not to a life too austere. We should avoid the _too much_ and the _too little_ in eating and drinking.

I pray our divine Lord, to enlighten, strengthen and comfort your heart.

LETTER TO HER SPIRITUAL GUIDE.

The state in which I find myself, my Father, takes away from me entirely, the liberty to address you any longer as my Spiritual Guide. I realize so great a detachment from all things, that there remains in me only a triumphant, dominant love, which acknowledges no master but Love. It is my experience, that the closer the union of the soul with God, the more it is separated from all dependence on the creature. I find also, that the secret operations of divine love upon the soul, cannot be expressed. These operations do not consist in sweet and flattering expressions, neither in consolations, in the ordinary way, but in the discovery of mysterious truths; truths, which give so profound a knowledge of God, that the soul can find no language to give expression to these views.

To speak, and to act, is the same thing with God. "He spake, and it was done." When the divine Word operates in the soul, without any obstruction, the soul becomes what this Word wills it should become. When Mary Magdalene was made whole, it was no more Mary Magdalene, but Jesus Christ, who lived in her. St. Paul says, "I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me." In the same manner, the Word is incorporated into my soul.

Some time since, there was given me a view of the States of Mary, the mother of our Lord. I was alone in my chamber, and my soul was completely filled with divine love. The divine Word seemed to say within me, "I will show thee the chief work of my hands,--a perfect nothing in itself,--the heart of Mary." In this manner was conveyed to me, the inexpressible love of God for men--his operation in pure souls. It was shown me, that her silence and acquiescence in the will of God; her entire self-crucifixion and hidden life were worthy of imitation; and that this same love which had operated so powerfully upon this soul, emptied of self, desired to draw other souls also to her states, and to make an effusion of the same grace and love in them, as in her. O divine love! how great are thy wonders, how marvellous thy operations on human hearts! My soul is lost in the depths of thy secret wonders! Silence, silence--only silence!

I write to you, my Father, for the last time, to bid you a final adieu. I can no longer listen to any other teachings, than this divine Word of eternal Truth, which is spoken in the depths of my heart. But however far separated from you, in the relation of Director, you are very near and dear in the affections of my heart; in that pure love, which is alone the operation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

GLORY OF GOD THE ONE DESIRE.

What have we to desire in heaven and on earth, only the glory of God? But it is necessary to desire the glory of God as he desires it. He who has absolute power over the heart of man, has a plan of operations; he does all things in their time; he waits until the hour is come. In coming into the world, our Lord could have converted the world at once, and destroyed all its vices; but the economy of his wisdom did not so direct. When I hear our Lord say, "_Mine hour is not yet come_," and wishing neither to advance nor retard, for a moment, the hour that his Father had appointed, I am plunged into my nothingness. We are only instruments in his hands, which he may lay aside, or use according to his good pleasure. We should be so dead to self, as to be indifferent, whether he makes use of us or not.

Remain, therefore, my dear friend, in the hand of God. Let him accomplish in you, and by you, all his good pleasure, whether to cast down, or build up. God knows how much I love you.

SPIRITUAL UNION AND AID.

Spiritual union, is a state of the soul very clear in my perception, although I may not be able to give you a definite impression of this state. In order to benefit you, it became necessary for me to enter into your state, to have an experimental knowledge, an endurance and suffering of the same state. By this experience I have been brought into closer relation to God, partaking more fully of the Christ-like nature by being rendered capable of bearing the infirmities of others. And I have had, also, a clearer idea of that quality of God, whereby he multiplies holy souls, by the communication of himself. In this experience, the soul appears to be in God, and God in her, as first cause, drawing and penetrating the soul nearest to himself, and by penetration, in this soul, drawing, through her instrumentality, many other Souls.

Although, by these powerful rays the soul itself may seem to penetrate and draw other souls, yet it is God who draws them by his efficiency; and he communicates this efficiency, most powerfully, to those in closest contact with himself. So pure and transparent is this soul, that there seems to be no space between the first Mover and the souls moved by the agent or instrumentality. There is a difference between the ray and the body of the sun, although it is difficult to separate the ray from the sun. It is the divine ray, which is transmitted through this soul, as the natural ray through the medium of the atmosphere. These same rays, transmitted through many souls, and from soul to soul, unite them in one common centre, and thus the bond of filiation is complete in God. I may not express myself so as to be understood. May your light supply, what is wanting in clearness of expression.

LIVE IN THE PRESENT.

Do not expect, my dear E., that the will of God will be made apparent to you in any extraordinary way. The most remarkable events occur naturally. It was by an order of the Emperor, that Joseph, being of the house and lineage of David, went to be taxed at Bethlehem, where the holy child Jesus was born. The fountain of water was near to Hagar, when she laid down the child to die with thirst. Behold God, my friend, in the present arrangement of his providence for you, and submit wisely to passing events. He sees the end from the beginning, and plans wisely for his children. O, how good to submit our limited view to his far sight, reaching through time and eternity!

Remember, the present moment comes to you, as the moment of God. Use it for his glory, and every succeeding moment. Thus the present becomes the eternal moment, for which we must render account to God. May God be All in All to us in every passing moment, now and forever.

HOW TO ADMINISTER REPROOF.

A single word, spoken in the spirit of Christ, with humility and sweetness, will have more weight, in correcting others, than many words uttered in our own spirit. The reason is this: when passion mingles with correction, although the truth may be spoken, Jesus Christ does not coöperate with us. Therefore, the person is not corrected by what we say, but, being opposed to the manner of correction, is more confirmed in the evil. In proportion as Jesus Christ speaks by us, without us, or without the minglings of self, his word is efficacious, and turns the heart of the person to whom we speak, to receive what we say. I know there are some who resist, knowingly, _his_ word, but our passionate zeal does not correct them.

It is important to wait the moment of God to collect others. We may see real faults, but the person may not be in a state to profit by being told their faults. It is not wise to give more than one can receive. This is what I call _preceding_ the _light_,--the light shines so far in advance of the person, that it does not benefit him. Our Lord said to his apostles, "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

The prophet says, the Lord carries his children in his arms, as a nurse. A nurse could wish that the child could walk alone, but she waits in patience the time. Let us do the same, and never discourage the weak. Let us not destroy the good grain with the tares. Who does not admire "the long suffering patience of God?" And I may add to St. Paul's words, all unworthy as I am, and of those who admire it, how few imitate it! If those to whom God has given so much grace, have so many faults themselves, with how much patience should they bear with those who are less favored.

BEARING THE STATES OF CHRIST.

During my late severe illness, a strong impression rested on my mind, that I was called to participate in the last sufferings of Jesus Christ. The language of my heart was, I am ready, O, Father, to suffer all thy will! In thus yielding my heart, as Abraham when called to sacrifice his beloved Isaac, I realized a new bond of alliance with Christ, and these words, "I will betroth thee unto me forever," was the voice of the Bridegroom to my soul.

When Paul said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," he did not refer to any external marks in the flesh, but to bearing the states of Jesus Christ. In David are expressed all the states of Christ, with the difference only there is between the type and the original. Job was an eminent instance of being reduced to nothingness, and also of exaltation by the favor of God. Those who pass through the furnace, and suffer with Christ, are prepared to wear the white robe, which adorns the bride, the Lamb's wife. Their souls become the dwelling-place of the Most High.

Are not those beautiful subterranean palaces, which we read of in fable, and which are reached after crossing deep caverns, and so hidden that none can find them, only those to whom the secret is revealed, representative of the interior palace of the soul, where the Lord inhabits. "The king's daughter is all glorious within."

OUR IMPERFECTIONS SHOULD NOT HINDER OUR LABORS FOR OTHERS.

Although I am so weak and unworthy in myself, God uses me for the good of others. The many defects of our temperament, should not hinder our labors in behalf of others. These faults have nothing to do with the grace, which operates effectively on the souls for whom we labor. God reveals himself, through the fathers and mothers in Israel, and thus increases confidence in them; while, at the same time, their weaknesses forbid placing too much dependence on them.

Although our Lord acquaints us with his designs regarding others, and the aid we may render them, yet this should not give us the least desire to aid them, only in the order of his providence. Neither should we be arrested in his work, although the souls we aid repulse the effort. God will make good the results in due time. It implies great death to self, never to put our hand selfishly to the work of the Lord, as it does, also, never to go a step out of the path in which he leads us. When we mingle self, we retard, rather than advance, his work. Nature is so corrupt that it deeply infests spiritual things, and so subtle as to conceal itself under all artifices.

I do not know why I have written you thus. God knows, and that is sufficient.

DEATH, RESURRECTION.

This is no time to be disheartened. When the sinful lusts rebel, leave them to their disorderly cravings. Let them cry, as a child from whom we take away a dangerous yet pleasing toy. Strengthen yourself for crosses and humiliations. You will soon be made alive in Jesus Christ.

The extraordinary peace you have tasted, is the commencement of the resurrection-life. This peace is not invariable, because the new life is given little by little, yet, I assure you, it will soon fill your whole soul. As God has rapidly advanced inward death, and caused you to run, with a giant step, in the way of self-crucifixion, and this, notwithstanding all the oppositions of the carnal man, he will also thus rapidly advance the resurrection.

The loss, of all things of the earthly life, which follows the resuscitated life, will be deep and extended. The death and burial which precede the resurrection, cannot compare with that total loss, which follows the resuscitated life. This is something different, and in a new state. You will arise from the sepulchre, as the Spouse of the Beloved.

All is consumed in myself, not in the ordinary way, but in a total loss; so that there remains nothing which can be named or known. It seems to me, the death of self is carried almost to infinity, it makes so many unknown steps. Since this morning, this unworthy creature experiences a still greater reduction of self than ever before. Die, live; lose yourself, and find yourself again; then you will have experience of this state.

GRACE DEEPLY INTERIOR.

While you perceive nothing sensible, or apparent, in your religious state, there is, at the same time, evidence to others of a hidden spring of life within your soul. God does not give you the sweet rain which, falling, clothes all the surface of the soul with verdure, but he gives you the deep well-spring, by which means you live and flourish, and produce, not herbs and flowers, which are born and die in the same day, but substantial fruits, ripening for eternity. David said, the life of man upon the earth is as grass, which groweth up in the morning, and withers in the evening. This refers to the natural life, but it is also true of the selfish life of man. It flourishes in the morning of the spiritual life, but no sooner does the sun of righteousness arise in his warmth, than this life withers and is cut down. The righteous are as a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf is always green. This is because the roots are well watered by the deep-flowing current.

God never ceases to operate in your heart. The calm, resigned state of your soul is proof of this.

Take good care of your health. Do not labor beyond your strength. God will abundantly reward you for your labors of love in behalf of others. These are labors he never fails to recompense. I pray God, my dear F., to preserve you for his work. I have many things to say, but I forbear. Your time is precious.

SELF-RENUNCIATION.

God designs you, my friend, for himself, but he will lead you by a way, entirely opposed to what you have marked out. He does this in order to destroy your self-love. This is accomplished only by the overthrow of all your purposes, preconceived views, natural reason and sagacity. Self-love has many hiding-places. God alone can search them out. You seek the honor that cometh from man, and love to occupy a high position. God wishes to reduce you to littleness, and poverty of spirit. Believe me, dear sir, you will grow in grace, not by knowledge acquired from books; not from reasonings upon divine truths, but by an efflux from God. This efflux will reach and fill your soul, in proportion as you are emptied of self. You are so much occupied of yourself in speaking, reading and writing, that you give no place to God. Make room, and God will come in.

You speak of your many cares. If you will give yourself wholly to God, these cares will be greatly diminished. God will think for you, and arrange by his Providence, what you cannot effect by long years of planning. In the name of God, I entreat you to renounce your own wisdom, your self-leadings, and yield up yourself to God. Let Him become your wisdom. You Will then find the place of rest, you so much need.

May you read this letter, with dependence on the Spirit, which has dictated it, and without regard to the instrument, and your heart will testify to the truth of what I have written. Take courage, and be persuaded that if God destroys the natural life, it is only to give you himself. Endeavor to be nothing, that God may be all. When void, God himself fills the space.

UNEXPECTED FAULTS.

Yesterday, after I left the parlor, I uttered some words hastily, and suffered very much in consequence; a suffering not like the pangs of penitence I formerly experienced, but more subtle and interior; and the soul was more acquiescent. Whether it was the words I uttered too precipitately, or the reflections that followed, which caused this suffering, I could not determine. A part of myself seemed to be thrown out of God, as we see the ocean reject certain things, which it receives again more deeply into its bosom. Thus I seemed to myself to be rejected, and without any power to make the least movement to return, and without even a regret that I was rejected. I was willing to remain where God placed me, until the moment he received me again to himself. If I should afflict myself on account of this experience, which was new and unexpected, I believe it would be wrong, and sully still more the soul. The depths of my soul remain unchanged--fixed in God. He removes the impurity, that has exteriorly sullied it, and holds the soul still his own.

APOSTOLIC STATE.

I have read your letter, my dear F., with great pleasure. The true Apostolic state is to become all things to all men; that is, to impart to each one spiritually, according to his necessities. Only those who are reduced to littleness and simplicity, have this power of communicating grace. They have also the ability to sympathise deeply in the states of others; of bearing in some measure their burdens, and are sometimes in great heaviness on their account. This communication of grace and aid, is not necessarily restricted to the personal presence of the individual. We may be "absent in body, yet present in spirit," after the manner of God's operations; and as the angelic powers communicate to us. It is only by the enlightening of God's Spirit, that we realise the state of those to whom we are spiritually united.

Unity of souls is experienced, not only with those in the body, who have affinity with ourselves, but also with those out of the body. I realise with the holy prophet David, a correspondence and unity, which renders our souls one in God. You will experience this unity with the saints more fully, when all perception of self is taken away. St. Paul says, "_Ye are come_ to an innumerable company of _angels_--to the _spirits of just men made perfect_." David was in the Old Testament, what Paul was in the New. They were both deeply interior Christians. The Apostles, after having received the Holy Ghost, spake all languages. This has also a spiritual meaning. They communicated grace, according to the necessities of each one. This is speaking the word--the efficacious word, which replenishes the soul. This nourishing, life-giving word is represented by the manna, and the reality is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself the bread of life in the soul. Amen, Jesus!

PAINFUL EXPERIENCE.

To-day my health is better, and I find myself able to reply to your letter. Let the view of yourself that God gives you, be accepted, whether it relates to your fallen condition in general, or to particular faults; but add nothing to this view by your own reflections. These continual reflex acts of the mind, do not help you; they do not remove the faults. I am not surprised, that you find in yourself so many evils; evils which render you almost insupportable to yourself. When God accomplishes the work of purification, he removes all that is opposed to the divine inflowing life.

These evils of your nature, which are now apparent, and which were deeply concealed, are perceived by you, only because they are passing out from their hiding-places. All persons do not have so deep a knowledge of themselves; therefore do not suffer so much, because all are not destined to so profound a death and burial while in the body. Be silent, and drink the bitter cup. These humiliations will endure until your state is in some degree perfected; after which they will become more and more slight, and only at intervals, until the death and burial is consummated.

ECSTACY OF THE MIND, AND THE WILL OR HEART.--THE DIFFERENCE.

The intellectual part of man can be in some degree united to God; but the soul loses itself in God, only by the loss of the will and by love. This loss of the will is the true ecstasy, which is a permanent state, and is effected without any violence to nature. When love is the controlling exercise, the will follows, and the soul is reduced to unity; as in the natural exercise of love, the stronger the love, the greater the submission of the soul to the object beloved. Sacred love does not bind parts, but draws it fully, until it is absorbed wholly in this divine oneness.

The mind may tend towards its divine object, with ardor, but the will not concurring, causes dissonance and swooning, or impetuous transports. I call this momentary ecstasy; it cannot long endure without separating the soul from the body.

The difference between these two states is, as that of water, retained in the air by a machine, and of a river, running naturally into the sea, as ordered by the grand Architect of the universe. Love, which carries the will in its train, changes the whole man; this is the divine, the true ecstasy. This is what is called transformation, and loss of the soul in God. It is certain, however, that the creature always remains a being distinct from God.

A VIEW OF SELF.

The activity of the natural selfish life, is the greatest obstacle to your progress. Allow of nothing which gives sustenance to this life. Be on your guard against applause. Applaud not yourself when you have done well. Admit no reflections in regard to the good you have accomplished, so that all that nourishes self-complacency may die.

Possess your soul in peace as much as possible; not by effort, but by ceasing from effort; by letting go everything that troubles you. Be quiet, that you may settle, as we leave water to settle when agitated. When you discover your errors and sins, do not stop, under whatever good pretext, to remedy them. Rather abandon yourself at once to God, that he may destroy, in you, all that its displeasing to him. I assure you, you are not capable of yourself, to correct the least fault. Your only remedy is abandonment to God, and remaining quiet in his hands. If you discovered the depth of inward corruption in your heart, your courage would fail! On this account, God conceals from us, in part, the view of our sins, and discovers them to us, only as he destroys them.

Rest assured, God loves you. He will take care of you. Have faith in his love and mercy. You will see farther by and by. When you are in trouble, do not fail to write me. Have good courage, and all will be well. You are very dear to me in our Lord.

STATE OF A SOUL IN UNION WITH GOD.

Although, in the latter part of my life, I do not perceive those marked states of abandonment and submission, neither of interior sorrows, such as I formerly experienced, this does not prove that these distinct states no longer exist; but the soul having become more fully established in God, it makes less account of them, or is less affected by external impressions. As pure flowing water leaves no trace where it passes, so these _distinct_ states leave no durable impression. The soul seems to have lost its own qualities of resistance and aversion, and runs, without ceasing into its Original. It is on this account I cannot write so fully of my states of mind as formerly. My soul, in its depths, rests in God. "My peace, says Christ, _I give unto you_."

I pray for the church; I mourn at times that God is so little known and loved; but these feelings are transient, and the soul is ready to take any impression that God gives it. While it seems to have no consistency of its own, so to speak, it adapts itself to the state of others with wonderful facility. Sometimes even relating amusing stories, to children, and to those who cannot be entertained in any other way.

The soul, in this state of union with God, is sometimes permitted to foretell things to come, which appear very obscure to man, but which are, nevertheless, infallibly true, because proceeding from God. The knowledge of the event, and its full explanation, will come in the fulness of time. The soul is ready for anything; ready for nothing. All that is true comes from God; what is not true, from the creature. The soul does not seek to justify itself, nor produce humiliation, but passes on, disregarding self, and absorbed in God.

STATE OF REST IN GOD.

If I do not reply to you, Dear Sir, as soon as you might expect, it is because I hold myself in reserve, until I have a movement to write, and not from any want of regard to you. Relative to the distinct, voluntary acts of resignation, renouncement, it would be difficult, in my present state, to make such acts, because such acts would seem to imply something of self-appropriation still remaining; whereas, I have given to my Sovereign, all that I am; and as far as I know, I have nothing more to give him. My soul is at rest in his will.

It is the same in regard to prayer, or petitions. The soul having a very simple method of prayer, all other prayer seems foreign to it. When it would make a request, and as soon as the soul knows distinctly what it demands, there is something which goes before to accomplish it, without the utterance of words. When the soul utters words, or makes petitions, if the spirit accompanying approves, the prayer is made with ease. If the spirit do not coöperate, the words are uttered with difficulty, or not at all. God takes the place of self in the soul, and there prays for things agreeable to his will. This is a state of the soul, in which it has no desire to originate prayer, but loves to be silent in the presence of God. This is an experience more satisfactory than I am able to express. O, that all the earth knew what it means to keep silence before the Lord!

GREAT HUMILIATIONS.

I have a clear discernment of your state. It seems to me, I see it in some measure as God sees it; that is, in the pure light of truth,--the reasons why you suffer, and the blessed results of these sufferings. I have known that the period of discipline would be long, and very long, because you suffer not only on your own account, but also for the benefit of others. God destines you to accomplish great things for his glory, and exterior humiliations in your case not being suited to his designs, he makes use of concealed humiliations, known only to yourself and God. I will repeat to you the words addressed by our Lord to St. Paul. "My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness."

It will be in companionship with humiliations, that you will be saved from falling into sin and error, and be prepared to be come a vessel fit for the Master's use. You will experience from time to time, a return of these humiliating states, and when you may think they have entirely passed away, they will suddenly revive. But the greater your humiliation, the more God will use you to perform his most excellent works. In this state of entire self-reduction and humiliation, your words will be clothed with power.

"I am come," says our Lord, "to bring fire on the earth." O martyr of Pure Love,--_a sacrifice_ for the good of others, what if the fires be already kindled in your bosom, shrink not! If you were less to God, he might spare you.

Do not hesitate to speak to me of your sufferings, because it appears to you useless. It is not so. If you speak of them in simplicity, your heart will be relieved, and strengthened. I know how to sympathise with you. God bless you.

REPOSE OF THE SOUL IS GOD.

Having given up myself wholly to God, and loving Him far better than myself, how can I find any opposition to his good pleasure? How can I do otherwise than yield to one I love better than myself? How can a soul withdraw from the dominion of a Sovereign, that it loves with the whole heart? "What can separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus?" Although, while we remain in this life, there is a possibility of sinning, and of separation from God, and it is true, that the soul remains in oneness with Him, only by the continuance of his mercy, and that if he should leave it, it would immediately fall into sin, yet I cannot have the least fear, that my God will leave me, or that I shall ever separate myself in any degree from his love.