SERMON I
ON THE FEAST OF ST ANDREW THE APOSTLE
Of Christ as our Master, and of the good things He will teach
us in a few words, such as will lead us on to the highest Perfection. Then, of
where His Dwelling is, how and where we may find Him, Who calls and invites us
all to come and see; as is clearly shown in what
follows.
Rabbi (quod est interpretatum Magister) ubi habitas? dixit eis:
Venite et videte.
Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted,
Master), where dwellest thou? He saith to them, Come and see.[12]
We read in St John's Gospel that St John the
Baptist was standing, and two of his disciples, (one of them being Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother), and, when he saw Jesus pass by, he said: "Behold the
Lamb of God." The two disciples heard that, and saw them following, and said
unto them: "What seek ye?" They said unto Him, "Rabbi (which is to say, being
interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?" He saith unto them; "Come and
see."
These words teach us three things, first, the
overflowing Wisdom of Christ in the words of the Master, secondly, the
Dwelling-place of His inscrutable Being, the stronghold of all beings, for they
said: "Where dwellest thou?" and thirdly, the Comfort given to us by the
invitation of God to seek Him in spirit, in the resting-place of His Godhead,
and to learn at the Source of wisdom, that is, in the school of the Holy
Trinity. He thus speaks of it: "Come, O soul, abide with Me and in Me; and look
that thou mayest learn; I will open unto thee the depths of My Divine Heart,
that thou mayest learn and see all that is for thine eternal good."
Now listen first to the Master: O Master, teach
these daughters for me, that not one of them may remain amongst the five
foolish virgins. Then He answered and said: Daughter, learn of Me that
thou mayest be meek and lowly of heart, as He also said to St Andrew and
the other disciples. Now, if thou bethinkest thyself again, this teaching is
too hard for me; for sloth, care, anger, cowardice and such-like resist me and
afflict my heart, so that I lose all meekness of spirit. Christ our Master
replied: "How much will it help thee, O man, if in thy service thou gainest
the whole world and losest thine own soul?" For from thence will many
sorrows come upon thee, agitation of mind, anguish and bitterness of heart,
vexation in all good works, indolence of mind, whereby the soul loses all
meekness of temper. Thus it comes to pass that the overflowing Spirit of Christ
cannot pour joy or consolation into the soul; for His tenderness cannot suffer
the bitterness of thy soul; for He is sweeter than honey. Therefore he that
will have nought to do with the deceitful comfort of man must receive the
sweetness of this Spirit. And therefore, dear child, begin manfully, follow
this Master, and cast thyself down before Him in the depths of humility, and
say in thine heart: "Lord, I am the least of all the creatures that Thou hast
made," and compose thyself in meekness of spirit; and then shalt thou know that
God is a short word which has a long meaning. Exercise thyself diligently
therein, grow not weary; and then shalt thou perceive that which before was
hidden from thee.
At another time the soul will be attracted by the
Dwelling-place of the Divine Nature of our Master. Now, know that this question
is one sought out by all creatures; and therefore they long for the same nature
themselves, that they may find out the Nature of God; for all natural works are
but a seeking after and a questioning after the Dwelling-place of God. If it
were not so, the heavens and the elements could no longer exist. Dear child,
what askest thou outside thyself, and why seekest thou God in the strange lands
of mortal things? Thou canst not truly find Him; they all deny Him, and point
thee away from themselves. "We are not God," they say. But Augustine writes:
"Exalt thyself above us to the things eternal: for there is God."
Now, mark that God may be found in many ways in
which the soul receives instruction. First, the soul finds God her Creator on
the heights of penance or penitence. Therefore the soul must, above all things,
exert all her strength to subdue her own free will, ready, for God's sake, to
learn to give up all things both great and small, to do hard penance, and to
punish herself for following the will she had forsaken. The more the soul
exercises herself in these works, the more will she find God in her, and
herself in God. This is shown in the Book of Love; for the Well-beloved says:
"I will get me up to the mountain of myrrh, and will speak unto my love." The
mountain of bitter myrrh is the height of the exalted spirit, which transforms
into bitterness the desire for all personal gratification and deceitful
delights in all things that are not according to God's Will. Thus God speaks in
spirit to the soul: "Thou art all fair my love, pure and undefiled, there is no
spot in thee." But he who lives according to his own will, for his own
pleasure, cannot thus find God, but will find Him as his adversary in all his
works. Thus man will spoil all that he begins; for the works of the flesh will
help but little, if the will and the affections of the heart are not first
subdued. A Psalm, said by one who has subdued his will, is worth many Psalms:
that is, the least work done by such a man is more pleasing to God than the
greatest work done by a man who follows his own way.
At another time man finds God in the wilderness,
in the burning bush, as Moses found Him. The bush in the wilderness signifies
such a temper or spirit that, withdrawn and estranged from all creatures, puts
forth leaves or blossoms on the heights of the Eternal Godhead. As the Divine
Being comprises within Himself three Persons, so also this spirit has laid hold
of God in His threefold powers, as the bush laid hold of the flames in its
blossoming branches; and this is of grace. This putting forth of leaves causes
the soul to grow steadily in light, in godlike virtues, day by day without
ceasing, until she, with the vision of angels, beholds God in Zion. Now, mark,
in the measure that thou hast found God, in that measure also wilt thou find in
thyself the divine training and virtues--more to-day than yesterday. But he who
will thus find God here, must cast off all carnal desires, and, with Moses, he
must come under the dominion of self-restraint and the light of reason; for
flesh and blood cannot posses the Kingdom of God. I believe, dear
children, that nearly all your daily shortcomings proceed therefrom; that ye
follow by word or deed the sudden impulses that thrust themselves into the
heart from without, before the light of self-restraint can shine therein.
Thirdly, God may be found on the mountain, in the
cloud; for the union (Testament) of Divine Light and of the commandment was
written on the stone by the finger of God. The mountain is like a high-minded,
large-hearted man, who has no pleasure in any of his works, neither can he find
any rest in them, unless, like St Paul, he is confirmed in all his works by an
express sign of the Will of God; so that the will of the soul does not even
carry on human actions according to his own will, but after the manner
appointed by the Divine Will, divinely. Thus the soul by her works sanctifies
the body, so that when the body does the soul does also; and again, on the
other hand, the works of the Divine Will and the works of the soul are at one;
so that the soul can say: I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; I
work, yet not I, but the power of Divine Being worketh in me. This takes place
in the cloud, in the eternal splendour of the Divine Light, for the light of
all creatures is as night compared with the Divine Light.
Then God may be found in the cave with the
prophet Elias. We read that the prophet came into the wilderness, and that in
his soul he longed that he might die, for he had become weary in spirit with
the turmoil of this world. While he slept, an angel came, and placed at his
head a cake baken on the coals and a pitcher of water, and bade him arise and
eat, because he had still a long way before him that he must go. And he went
in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, until he came to
the place where he found God.
Then a strong wind came rushing by, which rent
the rocks and the stones; but God was not in the wind; for God shows the spirit
which is moved by stormy winds to be like those which Daniel saw contending in
the sea of this world; that is in a worldly heart, in inordinate fear, hope,
joy and scorn; for all these things blind the light of the spirit with which a
man ought to seek after God. The stormy wind also signifies to us the restless
heart of a man, who in all things, both in his words and works, behaves so
unkindly and impatiently towards his fellow Christians, that it might grind the
stones to powder; that is, that large-minded men are often robbed of their
soul's peace thereby. Dear children, with God's help, beware of such violence.
Keep watch over yourselves; subdue your unmortified nature, that it may not
break out as violently as that of the wild, untamed beasts. It is indeed a
dreadful thing to see such a man, endowed with reason, to whom God of His
goodness has given so much light, and in whose nature He has implanted that
kind of courage which enables him even to tame the wild beasts, if he chooses
to exert his will, and follow the promptings of his own integrity. Alas!
sometimes we are even wilder than the bears and lions, and a disgrace in the
sight of God our Creator; living contrary to the nature He gave us, as though
the light of His countenance had never shone upon us. I tell you in truth that
we shall have to give an account to God for all that we ruin by such storms. It
may be that we shall ruin ourselves (as often happens with the wrathful) or our
neighbour, who is not only disturbed thereby, but also angered, and hindered in
much that is good--and of this we are guilty. Then, when we say it grieves us,
but it is our nature, and we are obliged to do it, we are excusing ourselves
falsely, and we never learn to die unto ourselves. Verily, if we turned to God
in earnest fervent prayer and humble submission, these infirmities of our
nature would not overpower us, nor, as we say, oblige or force us to commit
such faults.
Then came a fire, and God was not in the fire.
Fire is a thing which can never say "Enough;" and it represents the heart of a
man who is never satisfied, either with his goods or with the gifts of God; but
is always burning to increase without measure those things which are neither
divine nor pure; desiring to receive comfort or other temporal things, and to
find love and pleasure in them. All this is a sign that the Spirit of God is
not there. I mean also all those people who make light of and belittle all the
gifts of God, as though God had never done them any good, and who say: "Why did
God make me? since I am so empty and barren of all that is good;" and who do
not perceive that God has preserved them from many a fall, and protected them
from many sins into which they would have fallen, if He had not so carefully
watched over them, and called them away from the world to a spiritual state, in
which they might have been pillars of all Christendom, if only they had lived
in accordance with that state.
I tell thee, dear child, that such unthankfulness
might well have dried up the springs of love, of Divine Grace. Therefore, I
beseech you, by the Eternal Love of God, that ye be not quickly moved by the
desire for these things, as I have taught you all, with heartfelt earnestness,
and as God knows; and if any other spirit teach you otherwise, it is at the
peril of your salvation in the sight of God; as St Paul says to the Galatians:
"If any man preach to you a gospel beside that which we have preached to you,
even though it were an Angel from heaven, let him be anathema."
There came a still small voice, like unto
the sweet breezes of May; and in that voice came God; for so saith the
Scripture. This signifies to us one who walks with God, in the eternal words of
God, and whose thoughts and words are holy according to the Word of God, and
whose longing spirit communes with God. Then it is that God comes; for in such
spiritual sunbeams a steady blessed light is borne in upon the soul from God.
They are not worthy of this blessedness, who, by strange forms of man's words
(or even of an Angel, As St Paul says) are drawn away from the good desires
they had received from God. This it is that the soul longeth after in the Book
of Songs, when she says to God that the north wind should depart and go away;
meaning thereby all that entereth into the spirit from the flesh, from whence
all evil comes. So saith also the prophet Jeremias; for he saw that in the
seething-pot all the budding spiritual gifts of God boiled and withered away
when it was turned towards the north wind. Then his spirit was troubled within
him, and he could no longer hold fast to the inner savour of the north wind.
Therefore, when the soul longs for God,she says: Come, O south wind,
(for it is sweet) blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices
thereof flow; that is, that my works may have a godly savour.
Fourthly, God is found above the Angels; for the
soul must be exalted above all Angels (though by nature below the Angels) if
she would find God. Therefore she finds Him in the Father; for thus the soul
must bring all her works, free from all self-seeking, as the Eternal Word
uplifts Himself eternally to God, if she would find Him, as he was found by the
soaring Seer of God, John the Evangelist, when he said: "In the beginning was
the Word." Then Andrew, and the loving souls that were with him, ask with
earnest longing: "Master, where dwellest Thou?" John answers: "In the Beginning
was the Word;" for in words we shall not find God, if we do not lift up our
souls in the Beginning. Therefore we must pierce through all things that are
beneath God and are not God, and the Beginning (from which we have our being)
seek earnestly again; for therein alone is our dwelling and the future resting
place of our eternal bliss. This must be done by turning earnestly to the
vision of the Divine Being and union with Him. As He said to those two
disciples: "Come and see;" as though He had said: Come, that is turn away from
the things by which ye are inordinately troubled and absorbed, that hinder your
eternal peace; for ye must be emptied of all works, understanding and carnal
desires. And see that ye come to the knowledge that God the Lord is empty and
bare of all; so that your spirits may be guided to that pure and holy Being.
For of necessity the soul must be empty and bare of all, that would enter into
the secret Presence. Therefore man must divest himself of all those things of
which he is conscious. Dionysius said to Timothy: "O dear friend, we must no
longer listen with our outward ears to the sweet and loving words of our dear
master, Paul; but we must go to God, emptied of all things." This we can only
do when our eyes are blinded and our inmost desires are raised on high, in
order that we may learn to know His hidden Unity. May God help us all to this.
Amen.
[12] John i. 38,39