SERMON VI
Of the Feast of the Holy Virgin St Agnes
How outward purity of body, and inner chastity of mind, may be
attained and preserved. Especially, how purity of mind may be preserved, in
spite of the outward attacks of human love and imaginations; and that no man,
however spiritually minded he may be, can ever be sure, while he is still here
in the body, that his frail nature has been completely killed, so that he can
never be tempted to impurity. Of three snares that are laid for those who are
spiritually minded, into which they may fall and against which they must guard
themselves, be they never so
perfect.
Virgo cogitat, quae Domini sunt, ut sit sancta et corpore et
spiritu.
"A virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both
in body and spirit."[18]
A virgin, says St Paul, thinks and meditates on
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and soul. Four things are
needful for virgins, that they may be pure in body and pure in spirit. To
purity of body pertain spotlessness of the flesh, and moderation in the use of
all bodily necessaries, in eating or drinking, sleeping or waking. A virgin
must refrain from talking; she must be modest in all her ways; she must abstain
from mixing in dissolute society or amusements, and be lowly and simple in her
daily life; industrious in good and seemly work, or in works of penance and
such-like; for all these things tend to external chastity. He who seeks to
perfect or preserve his chastity in any other way, will find he has been
deceived; for that which is visible must be visibly overcome; or else the
impurity of the flesh will overcome the purity of the spirit. It is plain that
he who tries to tame the flesh by the flesh will not effect much. And now we
will say no more of this, but say a little about the chastity of the spirit,
how it may be lost or preserved; and this is a useful subject, which all those
who are spiritually minded will do well to consider and remember.
Purity of spirit consists in a clean, pure and
humble conscience; for a humble conscience is a pure mind and a clean heart. A
pure mind is to be gained by exercise in the Holy Scriptures. From thence come
holy meditations which fill the heart of man; and therefore it is the sooner
freed from all vain and wicked thoughts. Be sure, nothing doubting, that the
man, who devotes himself to diligent study of the Holy Scriptures, will be
preserved and guarded from the grosser temptations to impurity. This is shown
by St Jerome, when he says: "Love to search the Scriptures, and then ye will
not care for the lusts of the flesh, nor delight in them." But a clean heart
must be gained by driving out all desire for the creature, and especially for
man; for a good and holy man is so easily grieved and disturbed in his heart by
the inordinate love of man, that it often takes him a long time to drive out
that love from his heart, which had entered in a moment. Therefore, unless man
shuns the causes which minister to the flesh, he can get no further, and he
must receive a hurt that will grieve him. It is here that man is most easily
wounded, on account of his natural short-sightedness, which is so deeply rooted
in inordinate desire, that he will be kept occupied all the days of his life;
though many a man, who does not realize it, is as bold and joyful as though he
had conquered in every strife and had overcome.
Now, dear children, though ye had conquered in a
thousand fights, and had gained the victory, ye must not trust to it; for as
long as body and soul are joined together, to none is freedom assured on earth.
That which may not happen in a hundred years, often comes in one moment; so
that many a good and pure man has been tempted and led astray in such a manner
that he hardly knew how it came about. Not that such men are spotted by outward
deeds, or fall into open carnal sins, though sometimes even this occurs; but
then they are molested by the charm of evil desire, dangerous, transitory and
carnal love, which darkens their understanding and judgment, and the fervour
which they had before experienced; and they are cast into a hell of distress
and scorn, and feel the gnawings of conscience. Thus man seems to be going to
the gates of hell and of external darkness, just like one who is about to be
killed, and, who in great fear and horror of death, loses his senses and
reason. This comes from lack of watchfulness; but it is at times also ordained
by God, that the man may ground himself in true humility, and may learn to know
his own infirmity, and may be able to feel for other men in theirs. This is
especially the case with those who afflict themselves, in order to overcome and
to kill the inner, reasoning and upright man, because they long to attain to
absolute poverty of spirit. It is necessary that they, more than all men,
should guard themselves in the presence of those who are unlike them. For the
Tempter, who never rests, does not forget his cunning when he finds a good
opportunity. Now if such men strive diligently to destroy the inner man
absolutely, and to walk in all singleness of heart, they will exert themselves
to overcome all inner troubles, so that they may uncomplainingly and
unresistingly submit themselves to God in all things, whenever and however it
may please Him. They must not endeavour to get their own way in His work, but
must desire that His will may be done, without any choosing on their part. See,
by this means, man will attain to such simplicity of heart, and such peace,
both outwardly and inwardly, and also in his nature, that he will be scarcely
conscious of any resistance in himself. Neither is he conscious of any shame,
nor yet of the burden of a guilty conscience; and, to use a simile, it seems as
though he had returned to his original ignorance and innocence, and were like a
young child who follows the dictates of nature without shame. In the same way a
child might thus naturally go his own way, and grow up, according to nature,
taking no care or pains to tame his unruly passions. Thus it would come to pass
that his passions would grow stronger and stronger; and, as understanding and
desire increased, sin also would increase. This might also happen to a pure and
spiritually-minded man, however child-like his innocence might be, who had long
lived a life of seclusion, and who seemed to have so conquered his outer and
lower nature that he was scarcely conscious at any time of temptation, either
sleeping or waking; and who, were the occasion to arise, or where he incited to
it, would take no pleasure in it, but would imagine he could easily withstand
all these attacks and temptations. Yea, it would even seem to him as though for
him in such things, than there would be for a man who was dead; in seeing,
hearing, speaking, or in anything else possible. Now see, nature seems quite
dead; and yet none should put their trust in it, either men or women, however
sure of themselves they may be, and even satisfied as to their condition. Now,
however perfect and holy the man in truth may be, however dead he may seem to
all these things, if he will not flee from temptations, his heart will of
necessity be wounded by sensual desires; and it will be agitated and tempted by
the love of a friend, more for one than for another.
Now mark, dear children, how this takes place,
and how by degrees man falls into such snares. First of all, love is felt for
people on account of their grace, their piety and their spirituality; and this
is all-sufficing to the heart, and seems to be all spiritual, and is accepted
with great thankfulness to God and to these men. If man does not continue to
strive to chase away these emotions, the longing creeps in to show these people
outwardly a little kindness out of pure friendliness. He recognises them by
pleasant words and gestures, by laughing and bowing, by touching their clothes,
or taking them by the hand, or embracing them, or by bowing the head to them,
and by many such like things. These are all signs of natural human love, and
show that the heart has been wounded by unregulated love. It may be, if the man
does not shun it, that he will be still more deeply wounded; and it may go so
far, that spiritual pleasure is turned into carnal pleasure; and the man, thus
entangled in this net of the devil's and of carnal desires, cannot easily
escape from it without great injury and danger of sin in his heart. Yea, it may
even go so far that he dallies with such pleasure till at last he consents to
it; and that would be a sin unto death; and, if even then he did not become
conscious of it, he might fall into great spiritual sin without any opposition
on his part.
See, dear children, a good man may thus fall into
all kinds of sin, if he does not at once resist the temptation. Yea, and even
though he had attained to the highest and most perfect state of virtue, if he
does not flee from these sins, he may stand in great danger from them, greater
danger than he was ever in before. Never was it more necessary for him to shun
them than it would be now; for no one is free from these temptations and
incitements, as long as his breath is in his body; and, however holy he may be,
it is possible for him to fall into sin and to endanger his salvation, unless
he keeps watch over himself.
As all teachers point out to us, three snares are
laid for the spiritually-minded, into which they may fall. The first is a man's
holiness. The second is when people are of one family, and belong to each other
by birth and nature, or are related, that as being brothers and sisters, and so
forth. The third snare is personal holiness, and that in the long practice of
virtue, so that the occasion of sin is not shunned. This carnal affection
sometimes exists between persons of different sex, between a man and a woman.
They fall in love with each other, and seek distraction and diversion together,
asking each other how they are, and about their station and place in life. Ye
will see that this must in the end bring trouble and come to a bad end, and
cause sorrow and heaviness of heart. This is especially the case when people of
unequal rank start such a friendship together. This cannot be tolerated by
anyone with a good conscience; for thence arise contempt, suspicion, irritation
and the destruction of inner spiritual peace. Therefore all those who are
obliged by necessity, or their office, to speak to people who are not of the
same rank as themselves, must do so as little as possible, and go away as soon
as possible; and this will be good for their own consciences, and also for
their inferiors or equals, who will be the less angered or tempted thereby.
Whoever, therefore, wishes to be preserved in such a case, or from other sins,
must, as Bonaventura says, seat himself and speak openly, as though he wished
everyone to see how he treats such persons, and that he no more desires to
carry on improper relations with them than with anyone else. Neither must he
set his heart on any other person, to such a degree that he is absorbed in that
person. He must never be outwardly too friendly to anyone, especially to people
of different sex, either in kindly or spiritual intercourse; but he must behave
gravely towards them, and hurry straight away, exchanging only short words with
them.
Now ye see, dear children, that if even a good
and pious man can thus fall into unchastity from such causes as I have
mentioned, how it will be with those who, either in thought, or will, or deed,
do not tear themselves away from all such temptations, and who are not ready to
die to all superfluity, pleasure, effeminacy, fastidiousness and unruly mirth,
and to all the other causes of sin that are evident. Oh! if even a good man is
thus tempted to impurity, how will it be with a man who is dilatory, wilful,
fastidious, lazy and idle, dull and dead to all spiritual things? Will he not
revel in them and be corrupted? This is known alone to the Lord God, Who trieth
the reins and the hearts. But may God have mercy upon us, poor sinners, and
preserve us from those troublesome snares of unchasity; that we may be found
pure and clean in His sight, in body and soul; pure in conscience; from from
all vain thoughts and from all evil desires; resting not in the creature, but
in God only, and loving Him alone and above all things. May God help us
thereto. Amen.
[18] 1 Cor. vii. 34.