enjoyment of the Divine sweetness; and a sweet and quiet and tender enjoyment of the soul, which is suspended and ravished through its intense admiration of the glory of supernal and heavenly things, and an inward burning consciousness of that celestial and unspeakable glory."
On Holy Prudence.
O servant of the Heavenly King, who wouldst learn the mysteries and the needful and holy precautions of the doctrine of the spiritual life, open well the ears of thy soul, and receive with true desire of heart, and lay up carefully in the storehouse of thy memory, the precious treasures of doctrine and of spiritual warning which I deliver to thee! By these thou shalt be illuminated and directed in thy way, namely, the way of the spiritual life, and guarded against the malignant and subtle assaults of thine enemies whether visible or invisible; and with a humble audacity thou shalt pass securely over the tempestuous sea of this present life, until thou arrive at the desired haven of eternal salvation. Therefore, my son, harken, and give good heed to what I tell thee!
If thou wouldst see well, pluck out thine eyes, and be blind; if thou wouldst hear well, be deaf; and if thou wouldst speak well, become dumb; if thou wouldst advance, stand still, and advance with thy mind; if thou wouldst work well, cut off thy hands, and work with thy heart; if thou wouldst love much, hate thyself; if thou wouldst live well, mortify thyself; if thou wouldst gain much and be rich, first lose all, and become poor; and if thou wouldst enjoy peace, afflict thyself, and be ever in fear, and suspect thine own self; if thou wouldst be exalted and have great honor, humble and abase thyself; if thou wouldst be held in great reverence, despise thyself, and do reverence to him who reviles thee; if thou wouldst that it should be well with thee, sustain all evil things; and if thou wouldst be blessed, desire that all should speak ill of thee; and if thou wouldst have true and eternal rest, then toil, and suffer, and desire to have every temporal affliction. O what great wisdom it is to know how to do and to work out these things.
But because these are very great and high things, God giveth the grace only to a few. But, of a truth, I tell thee, he who shall study them well and put them in practice, shall not need to go to Bologna, or to Paris, to learn any other theology; for if a man live a thousand years, and have nothing exterior to do, and nothing to say with his tongue, I tell thee that he will have enough to do to exercise himself within his own heart, laboring solely for the purification and the right direction and the justification of his own soul.
A man should neither will, nor see, nor hear, nor speak of anything, save in so far as it be useful to his soul. The man who does not know himself, is not known by God. And, therefore, woe to us, when we receive the gifts and graces of the Lord without knowing their worth! but still more woe to him who receiveth them not, neither knoweth them, nor yet careth to acquire them! Man, who is made in the image of God, changeth himself as he wills, but the good God never changeth.
On Profitable and Unprofitable Science.
He who would know much should labor much, and should humble himself much, abasing himself and inclining his head even to the earth so that his belly goeth along the ground; and then the Lord would give him much science and wisdom. The perfection of wisdom is to act always virtuously, to guard well against all defects and all occasions of defect, always considering the judgment of God.
Brother Giles said once to one who desired to go to the secular schools to learn science: " My Brother, wherefore wouldst thou seek secular learning? For I would have thee to know, that the sum of all science is to love and to fear, and with these two things thou hast enough; for so much wisdom sufficeth a man as he can make use of and no more. He needeth no more. Be not solicitous to study much for the good of others, but be solicitous, and study, and labor for the things that are profitable to thyself; for it often comes to pass, that we desire to know much science for the sake of others, and but little for our own sake; but I tell thee, the Word of God is not to the speakers, or to the hearers, but to the true doers of His Word.
"There have been those who, not knowing how to swim, have gone into the water to help others who were drowning; and so it happened that they were
