The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 45 of 124

First Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter

It is expedient to you that I go; for if I go not. the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He is come, He will convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. — John xvi, 7, 8.

Children, note carefully this teaching, which tells us that if God’s well-loved friends and followers shall receive the Holy Ghost, then Jesus must first depart from them. Depart? And how depart? It is nothing less than leaving us in utter abandonment, void of comfort, incapable; so that we become dull, heavy, cold and dark in regard to all good deeds. That is what is meant by Christ’s going away from us. Whosoever is thus placed by God, and shall learn how to take advantage of his state will find it exceedingly profitable, a blessed and a Godlike gift. If he but wisely abandons himself to God’s will, then all his multiplicity is turned into unity; in the midst of suffering he finds joy; he is patient of all shame, peaceful amid strife, and he extracts sweetness out of bitterness.

When our Lord says that the Holy Ghost at His coming will condemn the world, He means that He will show us clearly whether or not the world lies concealed in the depths of our soul. If He finds it there, He will expose it, convict it, and condemn it. And what is the world in us but its methods and works and images; or again, its comforts and joys and sorrows, its fears and hopes and cares? Hence St. Bernard tells us: “With what thou art made joyous or sad, with that thou shalt be judged.” Children, this is what the Holy Spirit will condemn in

Ghost has not taken up His abode. For Christ has declared that when He comes He will condemn all such things.

He will also condemn the world for its sins. And what sins? Now you know, children, that the eternal God made all things, and that He hath rightly ordered all things to their proper end, just as fire is made to go upward and the stone to fall downward. And in our own nature He has made our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hands to work, our feet to walk, and these and all our members to be obedient to our will, whether hard or easy, bitter or sweet; yea, even for life or death. And this will power is perversely used by many lovers of this world, who gladly give up all their goods and their honor, that they may possess and enjoy what ministers to their fleshly indulgence. Now sinners, to excuse their sloth, seem to address the Lord and say: Who is there nowadays, Lord, that obeys Thee truly and keeps all Thy commandments, who does it willingly and is content in his inmost soul to give up all self and all transitory things at Thy behest? Children, this sin will the Holy Ghost punish when He comes; it is the sin of resisting the Divine will, stifling God’s warning voice within, and doing it over and over again — this will He punish, and many a hidden wickedness besides. This judgment produces in the soul a sudden sense of being condemned by God, a pain so sharp, a woe so unbearable that it is like the torment of hell, a feeling the like of which is almost unknown to the worldly minded, or to men who blindly follow their natural instincts. This feeling is the plainest sign that the Holy Ghost is, indeed, present in the soul; and it gives us a cause of real confidence in God, for it shows the true state of things. For if a man has committed a thousand sins and knows them and sincerely confesses them, it is infinitely better than to be guilty of one single offense that he will not avow, that he does not admit to be sinful, and to which he continues to give himself up. O, dear children, be assured that any so-called spiritual man who rests in total self-content, who is well pleased with his state of soul and his manner of living, is really in great danger and is committing offenses perilous to his salvation. He is a self-willed man from whom nothing good can be expected.

And then the Holy Ghost will convict and punish us for the sake of justice or righteousness. O merciful God, how poor and contemptible is our justice in Thy sight! Therefore, says St. Augustine: “Woe to all justice and woe over again, if God, when He comes, will not judge our justice according to His mercy.” And Isaias says: “All our justices are as the rag of a menstruous woman.” (Isaias lxiv, 6.) And our Lord thus taught His well-loved disciples: “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants.” (Luke xxvii, 10.) What deception is plainer, children, than that by which a man reckons himself to be what in reality he is not. Many a one is so infatuated with his own way of acting, that he will yield to neither God nor man; indeed, such men very carefully guard against giving themselves up to God. When the Divine warnings overtake them, whether coming from God direct or through some intermediary, they pay no heed to them — unmortifled men, pleasing neither to God nor to His creatures. But it may happen that the Holy Ghost visits them with the judgment and condemnation of their spiritual exercises and methods; and then such a man confesses his faults in all sincerity, learns in his own heart the lessons of self-denial, humility, and all other virtues that fit him for eternal happiness.

Children, the Holy Ghost, as our Lord tells us, will convince the world of judgment. And this applies to any man who, blind to his own faults, sits in judgment upon other men’s faults. Our Saviour teaches: “Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matt, vii, 1-2.) Children, it has come to pass nowadays, that everybody, without exception is wanting in this respect — clergy and laity, bishops, priests, monks, provincials, abbots, nobles and common people, these are ever judging and condemning one another, and thereby building up a high wall between themselves and God. Be on your guard against this failing, as you love God and His eternal bliss. On the contrary, judge and condemn yourselves. That will be of much benefit to you, and will save you from being condemned by the eternal God and all His blessed saints.

Children, never condemn anything whatsoever, unless it is manifestly and openly a grievous sin. Bite your tongue till it bleeds rather than speak words in condemnation of others, be it in matters great or small. What seems evil to thee, do thou silently recommend to God’s eternal justice. From the practice of judging one’s neighbor grows up a habit

It sometimes happens that in healing one wound, a man by his violent temper inflicts three or four other wounds. Hard words should not be used in correction, but rather those of affection. One should not crush another’s heart; love, all kindly and meek, should be the invariable rule in administering correction, whether among clergy or laity. By this spirit one keeps his own soul in meekness; he never loses self-control, but knows in all calmness of mind what he is about, whether he be addressing many or few; never failing to treat others in all singlemindedness as he would be treated by them; setting aside in silence all that does not strictly belong to the duty in hand.

Children, assume no airs of superior wisdom. Look in all simplicity into your own hearts and study yourselves in body and soul. Go not astray after God’s deep secrets, such as Divine emanation and Divine immanation, the difference between being and not being, or essence of being in the soul. Christ has taught that the secret things of God are not for us to know. Hold fast by the faith, the true and simple faith; believe in one God and three Divine persons without a multiplicity of fine distinctions. Sabellius and Arius had wonderful imaginings about the Trinity, and Solomon and Origen have transmitted to Holy Church wonderful disquisitions — and what has been their eternal fate? We know not. Take heed to yourselves; permit no one to answer for you except yourselves. Have regard to God and His holy will; stick to the calling in which God has placed you, and fulfill it truly and with a pure intention.

If you do not know what God’s will may be in any matter, then seek counsel of men more enlightened by God’s Holy Spirit than you are. If none such are at hand, then go direct to God, and doubt not but that He will give you all needed direction; stand fast by that. But if even this leaves you doubtful, then diligently seek out the way most unpleasant to flesh and blood and to which you have the least inclination; follow that to begin with, for God most certainly dwells and His grace increases in a heart that is dead to self.

Now, children, since God’s well-loved disciples cannot receive the Holy Ghost until Christ Jesus has in this way departed from them, it behooves us also to willingly prepare ourselves for that departure.

Give up all things for God, and without doubt God will give you Himself in all things. Do that, children; do it earnestly, resting your thoughts in the inward life in very truth, and your reward even in this world will be wonderfully great.

Our Saviour also teaches, that when the Holy Ghost comes He will teach us all things, even future things. This does not mean that we shall be taught beforehand whether the corn harvest will be great or the price high or low; but that He will teach us all that is necessary for a perfect life. He will teach us the secret wisdom of God: that this world is false, our natural lights are misguiding, that the evil spirits are crafty. Children, go forward steadfastly in God’s paths and with all discretion; look well to the duties of your state of life as being God’s merciful vocation — be ever-faithful in this course. Do not act as some do: if God would have them by their vocation cultivate the inner life, they forthwith turn away to the outward life; and if He calls them to the outward life, they turn obstinately to the inward life — spirits hard and perverse.

Now, children, it is in this wise that the Holy Ghost teaches us all truth when He comes to us: He reveals to us our sins as they are in reality, and He annihilates us in our own eyes; He shows us how to live purely and simply for truth and according to truth; He teaches us how to sink down with true humility in subjection to God and all of God’s creatures. Is not this real knowledge? Does it not embrace in itself all the knowledge and all the wisdom a man needs for perfection and happiness? namely, genuine humility, deep seated in the soul. This is very different from the humility of some men, who humble themselves in words, and if you use the very same words about them, they will not tolerate it for an instant. This meekness is not well grounded; there is little good back of it, for such people are self-absorbed. Nor can a man’s life ever amount to anything with our Lord, unless he has real and heartfelt humility. May God grant us sincere subjection of soul under His hand and under all His creature^. May He draw us into entire conformity to His holy will. May His Holy Spirit come to us and possess us with His grace, teaching us all the truth of His holy way of life. Amen.

communion, nor fully adverting to the interior graces — Some suffer themselves to be deluded by fancied visions. — This often comes from mistaken thoughts about our Lord’s humanity — The true way of meditating on Christ’s humanity.