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Book II
THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE.
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CHAPTER XV. OF THE GREAT SENTIMENT OF LOVE WHICH WE RECEIVE BY HOLY HOPE.
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As when exposed to the rays of the sun at mid-day, we hardly see the
brightness before we suddenly feel the heat; so the light of faith has no
sooner spread the splendour of its truths in our understanding, but
immediately our will feels the holy heat of heavenly love. Faith makes us
know by an infallible certitude that God is, that he is infinite in
goodness, that he can communicate himself unto us, and not only that he can,
but that he will; so that by an ineffable sweetness he has provided us with
all things requisite to obtain the happiness of immortal glory. Now we have
a natural inclination to the sovereign good, by reason of which our heart is
touched with a certain inward anxious desire and continual uneasiness, not
being able in any way to quiet itself, or to cease to testify that its
perfect satisfaction and solid contentment are wanting to it. But when holy
faith has represented to our understanding this lovely object of our natural
inclination,—Oh! Theotimus, what joy! what pleasure! how our whole soul is
thrilled, and, all amazed at the sight of so excellent a beauty, it cries
out with love: Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, behold thou art fair!
[105]
Eliezer sought a wife for the son of his master Abraham; how could he tell
whether he should find her beautiful and gracious as he desired? But when he
had found her at the fountain, and saw her so excellent in beauty and so
perfect in sweetness, and especially when he had obtained her, he adored
God, and blessed him with thanksgiving, full of incomparable joy. Man's
heart tends to God by its natural inclination, without fully knowing what he
is; but when it finds him at the fountain of faith, and sees him so good, so
lovely, so sweet and gracious to all, and so ready to give himself, as the
sovereign good, to all who desire him,—O God! what delight! and what sacred
movements in the soul, to unite itself for ever to this goodness so
sovereignty amiable! I have found, says the soul thus inspired, I have at
last found that which my heart desired, and now I am at rest. And as Jacob,
having seen the fair Rachel, after he had holily kissed her, melted into
tears of sweetness for the happiness he experienced in so desirable a
meeting, so our poor heart, having found God, and received of him the first
kiss, the kiss of holy faith, it dissolves forthwith in sweetness of love
for the infinite good which it presently discovers in that sovereign beauty.
We sometimes experience in ourselves a certain joyousness which comes as it
were unexpectedly, without any apparent reason, and this is often a presage
of some greater joy; whence many are of opinion that our good angels,
foreseeing the good which is coming unto us, give us by this means a
foretaste thereof, as on the contrary they give us certain fears and terrors
amidst dangers we are not aware of, to make us invoke God's assistance and
stand upon our guard. Now when the presaged good arrives, we receive it with
open arms, and reflecting upon the joyousness we formerly felt without
knowing its cause, we only then begin to perceive that it was a forerunner
of the happiness we now enjoy. Even so, my dear Theotimus, our heart having
had for so long a time an inclination to its sovereign good, knew not to
what end this motion tended: but so soon as faith has shown it, then man
clearly discerns that this was what his soul coveted, his understanding
sought, and his inclination tended towards. Certainly, whether we wish or
wish not, our soul tends towards the sovereign good. But what is this
sovereign good? We are like those good Athenians who sacrificed unto the
true God, although he was unknown to them, till the great S. Paul taught
them the knowledge of him. For so our heart, by a deep and secret instinct,
in all its actions tends towards, and aims at, felicity, seeking it here and
there, as it were groping, without knowing where it resides, or in what it
consists, till faith shows and describes the infinite marvels thereof. But
then, having found the treasure it sought for,—ah! what a satisfaction to
this poor human heart! What joy, what complacency of love! O I have met with
him, whom my heart sought for without knowing him! O how little I knew
whither my aims tended, when nothing contented me of all I aimed at,
because, in fact, I knew not what I was aiming at. I was seeking to love and
knew not what to love, and therefore my intention not finding its true love,
my love remained ever in a true but ignorant intention. I had indeed
sufficient foretaste of love to make me seek, but not sufficient knowledge
of the goodness I had to love, to actually practise love.
[105] Cant. i. 14.
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