The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 101 of 124

Sermon for the Feast of St. Agnes, Virgin

The virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. — I Cor. vii, 34.

Two things are becoming to virgins, to be clean of body and clean of soul. To be unspotted in fleshly things, to be temperate in satisfying all bodily needs, as eating and drinking, sleeping and waking; to be of few words, modest in bearing, avoiding vain company and amusements, humble in outward demeanor, busy with all womanly work, diligent in penitential exercises, zealous for every kind of outward chastity; all this is what is meant by “holy in body.” If any virgin dreams of safeguarding her chastity or perfecting it in any other way, she is under a delusion. For outward occasions of sin must be met and overcome by outward as well as inward safeguards; otherwise the excesses of the bodily life will sully the purity of the spirit. Yet it is plain enough, that whosoever would tame the flesh with the flesh, will not have much success: hence we shall leave the consideration of bodily purity for that of the spirit, and study how it is saved or lost, a matter which it behooves every spiritual person to attentively consider.

Purity of spirit consists of a conscience clear and unspotted, accompanied with humility. A humble conscience is a pure mind and a clean heart. A pure mind is gained by using the holy scriptures; for these furnish one with good meditations. Let the heart be busied with holy thoughts and it will soon be delivered from vain ones. You may be sure of this: the man who devotes himself to meditating the holy scriptures, will be saved from falling into gross impurity. Thus it was with St. Jerome, who says: “Love the reading of the holy scriptures, and them.” A man gains a clean heart when he banishes all desire of inordinate pleasure in creatures, especially in men and women. On the other hand even a really pious man, may in a single unguarded moment become so disturbed and so weakened by disorderly human affection, as to suffer from evil thoughts for a long time. Therefore the occasions of fleshly- thoughts must be avoided, under penalty of being harmed by them. This is human nature’s weakest spot; this is the deep rooted taint of our natural concupiscence. A man must all the days of his life struggle against this enemy — alas that so many men seem oblivious to this, rashly and thoughtlessly acting as if they had gained the victory over the flesh finally and forever.

No, no, dear child: if thou hast won a thousand battles over thy unclean tendencies, lay no store by that. As long as soul and body hang together, thou shalt have no freedom guaranteed thee against unchaste temptations. After a hundred years of victory, of a sudden thy trial will come upon thee. Many a good, pure heart is at last misled and ruined, without being able to clearly know how it came about Nor did the stain come from some outward evil deed suddenly done; no, not from open fleshly unchastity — although that is sometimes the case. But usually the fall is brought about by gradually yielding to sinful desires. They get a footing, because the bouI has previously given entrance to affection for transitory things and indulged in bodily relaxations; these have darkened the understanding: and led to forgetfulness of the rules of prudence. The interior spirit of piety is weakened, and so the fall happens. Then follows a hellish state of despondency, with the sharp bite of the tooth of conscience to get rid of. It is in this mood that a man, broken spirited and desperate, walks straight into the gate of hell and is buried in eternal darkness: — like one about to be executed for crime, and who loses all sense and reason in abject terror of death.

This is the road of the ungnarded spirit. But sometimes a fall into impurity is permitted by God, because that alone will ground a man in true humility. Such a one is thereby fully taught his own miserable weakness; and, besides, he thus learns how to have pity on the. weakness of other men. This is of special good to those who must subject their intellectual pride to God’s sovereign majesty, and attain to naked poverty of spirit. To these it is necessary — and to them more than to all others — to be guarded against the company of persons of the oppo-

, When men would cultivate an interior spirit of self-denial, entering into themselves, in all singleness of heart, they should’ earnestly endeavor to subdue totally all evil suggestions. Let them subject all their faculties absolutely to God, resisting His grace in no manner whatsoever, giving up every remnant of self-proprietorship in all their works and thoughts: their aim must be that God’s will shall prevail within them without the least opposition. Be assured that a man may arrive at such single hearted devotion to God, at such peace of soul, and even of body, that he shall be almost totally unconscious of the opposition of his lower nature. His peaceful conscience scourges him no more. He has, besides, lost the shamefacedness of our degraded nature* ap that he is now returned to the happy ignorance of childhood, which does all things that nature requires, unconscious of evil tendencies. An innocent little child feels no need of caution in such things, for it has no knowledge of evil. But as knowledge increases with growth of years, so does evil inclination and the possibility of sin. And. a man who has long led a life of self-denial and recollection may recover the simple modesty of childhood. He has overcome — so it seems, and is, at least for a while — the sensuality of nature to that degree, that he no longer feels a temptation of any kind against chastity, no, not even an unclean feeling in his sleep. Deadly occasions overtake him, and do him not the least injury: from every danger he goes forth free and untainted. It may come to pass that he will consider himself no more subject to sensual emotions than a dead corpse: it is possible that corrupt nature may — so it seems at least — be really dead. But let no man, no woman trust to the continuance of this condition, no matter bow lofty may seem their purity. No matter how perfectly holy one may be — holy in very truth, — if he dallies with dangerous occasions, be does it at his peril. No matter how entirely dead his passions may seem, if he does not fly from dangerous association with others, his heart will be wounded with sensual pleasure; he will presently be disturbed with gross inclinations towards one or other favorite companion.

Mark well, dear children, how all this comes about, how the net of temptation gradually enwraps such a soul. First of all a pious man cherishes love for individuals on account of their graces; he is affectionately drawn to them because of their spirituality. Now this comes from a secret pleasure of heart; it seems to be a wholly spiritual feeling; it is something to thank God tot; one is grateful to the object of one’s affection for a new spiritual influence — as it seems to be. And if this sentiment is not forthwith banished from the soul with horror, the most deplorable results may follow. One slips into the notion that he may show these good persons some outward marks of special affection. Special kindness of manner is cultivated, words of affection are used and tender glances are exchanged with overfamiliar smiles and laughter. Then follows yet more dangerous and still closer familiarity, including the usual signs of mere carnal love; and now the heart is indeed wounded with inordinate love. If this inner hurt be not healed by immediate withdrawal from danger, a yet deeper wound is inflicted. Lust of the spirit is changed into lust of the flesh — the devil’s snare will hardly fail of its victim. Sensual inclinations are likely to be followed by yet worse things. That poor soul will not easily escape the deadly penalty of trifling with danger.

One may indeed thus gradually fall into mortal sin without being aware of it; he may soon commit the worst sins of thought, making little resistence to his temptations. Behold, dear children, how even a really good man may commit all sorts of sins, if he does not avoid dangerous occasions — yea, even if he has reached the highest degree of perfect virtue. If he will not fly from danger, he stands in the same peril as he did before he began his life of perfection. He is fully in as much danger now as ever he was; never had he so great need of caution as he has now. No man dare count on being exempt from temptation. However holy he may be, he dare not say that he need not guard most carefully against eternal loss. He must stand watchfully on his guard as long as he breathes the breath of life.

Spiritual writers tell us of three snares laid for the feet of spiritual men. The first is the favor and flattery of men. The second is partiality for one’s kindred, as brothers and sisters. The third is self-righteousness, by which one relies confidently on his long practise of virtue: and this causes him to be careless of danger. Furthermore, a kind of inordinate and sensual friendship grows up between persons, and then slips down into what is called particular friendship. It is a natural mutual love; they must have their recreation together, and are full of exchanges of friendliness, enquiries after each other’s welfare, and the like. This will end wrong, be sure of that; and commonly enough very wickedly indeed, to the heavy burdening and misery of the conscience, especially when the parties to it are of different sexes. No right conscience can

If any man will be saved from such or any other sins, let him follow St. Bonaventure’s counsel; let him sit with persons of the other sex and act and talk, always as if everybody were looking on and listening: then he will do and say nothing improper. His demeanor will be the same with one as with another. And he must allow no creature any special love under whatsoever name, lest his evil passions be thereby enkindled. He must show marks of particular friendship to no one whatsoever, above all to persons of the opposite sex. He must not indulge in affectionate interviews with them, no, not even on pretext of spiritual conference. He must hold a grave demeanor, deal with them with few words, and hasten his departure from their company at the earliest possible moment.

And now, dear children, seeing that devout persons may, as I have explained, easily fall into impurity by such dangerous occasions, what must be the case with ordinary imperfect souls? We have seen how good souls become demorilized by over-confidence; words, works and thoughts at last are all unclean, because what led to sinfulness was not resolutely shunned; because they would not die to themselves, nor give up superfluities, pleasures, softness of living; and because they began to indulge their appetites. They finally fell by outward occasions. If this be the fate of an incautious good man, what shall be the ruin of a careless ordinary Christian? — self-willed, regardless of every precaution, dull and unwilling in every devout practise. Of these does the Lord speak by the prophet: “I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices” (Jer. xvii, 10). May God have mercy on us poor sinners, and may He save us from these snares of impurity. May we appear before His face chaste and clean of soul and body, with a conscience undefiled, free from vain thoughts and cleansed from evil desires, resting in no created thing but in God alone, loving Him alone and above all things. God grant us this boon. Amen.