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If I understood all things in the world, and were not charitable, what would that help me in the sight of God, who will judge me according to my deeds?
Cease from an inordinate desire of knowing, for therein is much distraction and deceit. The learned are well-pleased to seem so to others, and to be accounted wise.2
How much the more thou knowest, and how much the better thou understandest, so much the more severely shalt thou therefore be judged, unless thy life be also more holy.
Truly, at the day of judgment we shall not be examined what we have read, but what we have done;5 not how well we have spoken, but how virtuously we have lived.
True quietness of heart therefore is gotten by resisting our passions, not by obeying them.
If there be any good in thee, believe that there is much more in others, that so thou mayest preserve humility within thee.
The humble enjoy continual peace, but in the heart of the proud is envy, and frequent indignation.
It is much safer to obey than to govern.
If thou dost more rely upon thine own reason or industry, than upon that power which brings thee under the obedience of Jesus Christ, it will be long before thou become enlightened; for God will have us perfectly subject unto him, that being inflamed with his love, we may transcend the narrow limits of human reason.
He that hath true and perfect love, seeketh for himself nothing;4 but only desireth in all things that the glory of God should be exalted.
He that seeketh anything else but God only, and the salvation of his soul, shall find nothing but tribulation and sorrow.4 Neither can he remain long in peace, who does not seek to be the least, and subject unto all.
Thou earnest to serve, not to rule.5 Know that thou wast called to suffer and to labor, not to be idle, or to spend thy time in talk.
Therefore they were poor in earthly things, but very rich in grace and virtues. Outwardly they were destitute, but inwardly they were refreshed with grace and divine consolation.
They were strangers to the world, but close and familiar friends to God.5 They seemed to themselves as nothing, and to his present world contemptible; but they were precious and beloved in the eyes of God. They were grounded in true humility, lived in simple obedience, walked in love and patience: and therefore they profited daily in the spirit, and obtained great grace in God’s sight. They were given for an example to all religious men; and they should more provoke us to strive for spiritual excellence, than the number of lukewarm livers should prevail to make us lax.
THE LIFE of a good religious person ought to be adorned with all virtues;1 that he may inwardly be such as outwardly he seemeth to men.
Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.
It is easier not to speak a word at all, than not to speak more words than we should.
There is no true liberty nor right joy but in the fear of God, accompanied with a good conscience. Happy is he who can cast off all distracting impediments, and bring himself to the one single purpose of holy compunction. Happy is he who can abandon all that may defile his conscience or burden it.
One thing there is that draweth many back from a spiritual progress, and the diligent amendment of their lives; namely extreme fear of the difficulty, or the labor of the combat. However, they above others improve most in virtue, who endeavor most to overcome those things which are most grievous and contrary unto them. For there a man improveth more and obtaineth greater grace, where he most overcometh himself and mortifieth himself in spirit.
When thou hast Christ, thou art rich, and hast enough. He will be thy faithful and provident helper in all things, so as thou shalt not need to trust in men.
For men soon change, and quickly fail; but Christ remaineth for ever,6 and standeth by us firmly unto the end.
If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ? Suffer with Christ, and for Christ, if thou desire to reign with Christ.
If thou intend and seek nothing else but the will of God and the good of thy neighbor, thou shalt thoroughly enjoy internal liberty.
Let nothing be great unto thee, nothing high, nothing pleasing, nothing acceptable, but only God himself, or that which is of God.
Man looketh on the countenance, but God on the heart.8 Man considereth the deeds, but God weigheth the intentions.
JESUS HATH NOW many lovers of his heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.
But they who love Jesus for the sake of Jesus, and not for some special comfort of their own, bless him in all tribulation and anguish of heart, as well as in the state of highest comfort.
UNTO MANY this seemeth a hard saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Jesus.”1 But much harder will it be to hear that last word, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”2 For they who now willingly hear and follow the word of the cross, shall not then fear3 the sentence of everlasting damnation.
Some have me in their mouths, but little in their hearts.5
Truly thou art worthy of all service, of all honor, and everlasting praise.
For if thou desire true delight, and to be more plentifully comforted by me, behold, in the contempt of all worldly things, and in the cutting off all base delights, shall be thy blessing, and abundant consolation shall be rendered to thee.
I became of all men the most humble and the most abject, that thou mightest overcome thy pride with my humility. O dust, learn to be obedient. Learn to humble thyself, thou earth and clay, and to bow thyself down under the feet of all men. Learn to break thine own will, and to yield thyself to all subjection.
Be thou careful, and watchful in prayer, and in all things humble thyself.
Never read the Word in order to appear more learned or more wise.
Be studious for the mortification of thy sins; for this will profit thee more than the knowledge of many difficult questions.
For when thou shunnest the being humbled and reproved for thy faults, it is evident thou art neither truly humble, nor truly dead to the world, nor the world crucified to thee.
There shall the fruit of obedience appear, the labor of repentance rejoice, and humble subjection shall be gloriously crowned.
Follow thou me: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”1 Without the Way, there is no going; without the Truth, there is no knowing; without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way, which thou oughtest to follow; the Truth, which thou oughtest to trust; the Life, which thou oughtest to hope for. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth, the endless Life. I am the straightest Way, the sovereign Truth, the true, the blessed, the uncreated Life.
