TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

By

St. Francis de Sales

DEDICATION

I have dedicated this work to the Mother of dilection and to the Father of cordial love, as I dedicated the Introduction to the Divine child who is the Saviour of lovers and the love of the saved. And as women, while they are strong and able to bring forth their children with ease, choose commonly their worldly friends to be godfathers, but when their feebleness and indisposition make their delivery hard and dangerous invoke the Saints of heaven, and vow to have their children stood to by some poor body or by some devout soul in the name of S. Joseph, S. Francis of Assisi, S. Francis of Paula, S. Nicholas, or some other of the blessed, who may obtain of God their safe delivery and that the child may be born alive: so I, while I was not yet bishop, having more leisure and less fears for my writings, dedicated my little works to princes of the earth, but now being weighed down with my charge, and having a thousand difficulties in writing, I consecrate all to the princes of heaven, that they may obtain for me the light requisite, and that if such be the Divine will, these my writings may be fruitful and profitable to many.

Annecy, the day of the most loving Apostles

S. Peter and S. Paul, 1616.

BLESSED BE GOD.

—St. Francis de Sales

TABLE OF CONTENTS. Translator's Introduction . . . . . vii The Author's Dedicatory Prayer . . . . . 1 The Preface . . . . . 3 BOOK I. CONTAINING A PREPARATION FOR THE WHOLE TREATISE. CHAP. PAGE I.

That for the beauty of human nature God has given the government of all the faculties of the soul to the will . . . . . 17 II.

How the will variously governs the powers of the soul . . . . . 19 III.

How the will governs the sensual appetite . . . . . 21 IV.

That love rules over all the affections and passions, and even governs the will, although the will has also a dominion over it . . . . . 24 V.

Of the affections of the will . . . . . 26 VI.

How the love of God has dominion over other loves . . . . . 29 VII.

Description of love in general . . . . . 30 VIII.

What kind of affinity (convenance) it is which excites love . . . . . 35 IX.

That love tends to union . . . . . 37 X.

That the union to which love aspires is spiritual . . . . . 39 XI.

That there are two portions in the soul, and how . . . . . 45 XII.

That in these two portions of the soul there are four different degrees of reason . . . . . 48 XIII.

On the difference of loves . . . . . 51 XIV.

That charity may be named love . . . . . 52 XV.

Of the affinity there is between God and man . . . . . 54 XVI.

That we have a natural inclination to love God above all things . . . . . 56 xxxviii XVII.

That we have not naturally the power to love God above all things . . . . . 58 XVIII.

That the natural inclination which we have to love God is not useless . . . . . 61 BOOK II. THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE. CHAP. PAGE I.

That the divine perfections are only a single but infinite perfection . . . . . 63 II.

That in God there is but one only act, which is his own divinity . . . . . 66 III.

Of the divine providence in general . . . . . 69 IV.

Of the supernatural providence which God uses towards reasonable creatures . . . . . 73 V.

That heavenly providence has provided men with a most abundant redemption . . . . . 76 VI.

Of certain special favours exercised by the divine providence in the redemption of man . . . . . 78 VII.

How admirable the divine providence is in the diversity of graces given to men . . . . . 81 VIII.

How much God desires we should love him . . . . . 83 IX.

How the eternal love of God prevents our hearts with his inspirations in order that we may love him . . . . . 86 X.

How we oftentimes repulse the inspiration, and refuse to love God . . . . . 89 XI.

That it is no fault of the divine goodness if we have not a most excellent love . . . . . 91 XII.

That divine inspirations leave us in full liberty to follow or repulse them . . . . . 94 XIII.

Of the first sentiments of love which divine inspirations cause in the soul before she has faith . . . . . 98 XIV.

Of the sentiment of the divine love which is had by faith . . . . . 101 XV.

Of the great sentiment of love which we receive by holy hope . . . . . 104 XVI.

How love is practised in hope . . . . . 106 XVII.

That the love which is in hope is very good, though imperfect . . . . . 109 XVIII.

That love is exercised in penitence, and first, that there are divers sorts of penitence . . . . . 112 xxxix XIX.

That penitence without love is imperfect . . . . . 115 XX.

How the mingling of love and sorrow takes place in contrition . . . . . 117 XXI.

How our Saviour's loving attractions assist and accompany us to faith and charity . . . . . 121 XXII.

A short description of charity . . . . . 124 BOOK III. OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE. CHAP. PAGE I.

That holy love may be augmented still more and more in everyone of us 127 II.

How easy our Saviour has made the increase of love . . . . . 129 III.

How a soul in charity makes progress in it . . . . . 132 IV.

Of holy perseverance in sacred love . . . . . 138 V.

That the happiness of dying in heavenly charity is a special gift of God . . . . . 141 VI.

That we cannot attain to perfect union with God in this mortal life . . . . . 143 VII.

That the charity of saints in this mortal life equals, yea sometimes surpasses, that of the blessed . . . . . 145 VIII.

Of the incomparable love which the Mother of God, our Blessed Lady, had . . . . . 147 IX.

A preparation for the discourse on the union of the blessed with God . . . . . 150 X.

That the preceding desire will much increase the union of the blessed with God . . . . . 153 XI.

Of the union of the blessed spirits with God, in the vision of the Divinity . . . . . 154 XII.

Of the eternal union of the blessed spirits with God, in the vision of the eternal birth of the Son of God . . . . . 157 XIII.

Of the union of the blessed with God in the vision of the production of the Holy Ghost . . . . . 159 XIV.

That the holy light of glory will serve for the union of the blessed spirits with God . . . . . 161 XV.

That there shall be different degrees of the union of the blessed with God . . . . . 163 xl BOOK IV. OF THE DECAY AND RUIN OF CHARITY. CHAP. PAGE I.

That as long as we are in this mortal life we may lose the love of God . . . . . 165 II.

How the soul grows cold in holy love . . . . . 168 III.

How we forsake divine love for that of creatures . . . . . 171 IV.

That heavenly love is lost in a moment . . . . . 174 V.

That the sole cause of the decay and cooling of charity is in the creature's will . . . . . 176 VI.

That we ought to acknowledge all the love we bear to God to be from God . . . . . 178 VII.

That we must avoid all curiosity, and humbly acquiesce in God's most wise providence . . . . . 182 VIII.

An exhortation to the amorous submission which we owe to the decrees of divine providence . . . . . 186 IX.

Of a certain remainder of love that oftentimes rests in the soul that has lost holy charity . . . . . 189 X.

How dangerous this imperfect love is . . . . . 192 XI.

A means to discern this imperfect love . . . . . 193 BOOK V. OF THE TWO PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF HOLY LOVE WHICH CONSIST IN COMPLACENCY AND BENEVOLENCE. CHAP. PAGE I.

Of the sacred complacency of love; and first of what it consists . . . . . 196 II.

How by holy complacency we are made as little infants at our Saviour's breasts . . . . . 199 III.

That holy complacency gives our heart to God, and makes us feel a perpetual desire in fruition . . . . . 203 IV.

Of the loving condolence by which the complacency of love is still better declared . . . . . 207 V.

Of the condolence and complacency of love in the Passion of our Lord . . . . . 210 VI.

Of the love of benevolence which we exercise towards our Saviour by way of desire . . . . . 212 VII.

How the desire to exalt and magnify God separates us from inferior pleasures, and makes us attentive to the divine perfections . . . . . 215 xli VIII.

How holy benevolence produces the praise of the divine well-beloved . . . . . 217 IX.

How benevolence makes us call all creatures to the praise of God . . . . . 220 X.

How the desire to praise God makes us aspire to heaven . . . . . 222 XI.

How we practise the love of benevolence in the praises which our Saviour and his Mother give to God . . . . . 224 XII.

Of the sovereign praise which God gives unto himself, and how we exercise benevolence in it . . . . . 228 BOOK VI. OF THE EXERCISES OF HOLY LOVE IN PRAYER. CHAP. PAGE I.

A description of mystical theology, which is no other thing than prayer . . . . . 231 II.

Of meditation—the first degree of prayer or mystical theology . . . . . 235 III.

A description of contemplation, and of the first difference that there is between it and meditation . . . . . 239 IV.

That love in this life takes its origin but not its excellence from the knowledge of God . . . . . 241 V.

The second difference between meditation and contemplation . . . . . 244 VI.

That contemplation is made without labour, which is the third difference between it and meditation . . . . . 247 VII.

Of the loving recollection of the soul in contemplation . . . . . 251 VIII.

Of the repose of a soul recollected in her well-beloved . . . . . 254 IX.

How this sacred repose is practised . . . . . 257 X.

Of various degrees of this repose, and how it is to be preserved . . . . . 259 XI.

A continuation of the discourse touching the various degrees of holy quiet, and of an excellent abnegation of self which is sometimes practised therein . . . . . 261 XII.

Of the outflowing (escoulement) or liquefaction of the soul in God . . . . . 265 XIII.

Of the wound of love . . . . . 268 XIV.

Of some other means by which holy love wounds the heart . . . . . 272 XV.

Of the affectionate languishing of the heart wounded with love . . . . . 275 xlii BOOK VII. OF THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH HER GOD, WHICH IS PERFECTED IN PRAYER. CHAP. PAGE I.

How love effects the union of the soul with God in prayer . . . . . 281 II.

Of the various degrees of the holy union which is made in prayer . . . . . 286 III.

Of the sovereign degree of union by suspension and ravishment . . . . . 289 IV.

Of rapture, and of the first species of it . . . . . 294 V.

Of the second species of rapture . . . . . 295 VI.

Of the signs of good rapture, and of the third species of the same . . . . . 298 VII.

How love is the life of the soul, and continuation of the discourse on the ecstatic life . . . . . 301 VIII.

An admirable exhortation of S. Paul to the ecstatic and superhuman life . . . . . 304 IX.

Of the supreme effect of affective love, which is the death of the lovers; and first, of such as died in love . . . . . 307 X.

Of those who died by and for divine love . . . . . 310 XI.

How some of the heavenly lovers died also of love . . . . . 311 XII.

Marvellous history of the death of a gentleman who died of love on Mount Olivet . . . . . 314 XIII.

That the most sacred Virgin Mother of God died of love for her son . . . . . 318 XIV.

That the glorious Virgin died by an extremely sweet and tranquil death . . . . . 321 BOOK VIII.

OF THE LOVE OF CONFORMITY, BY WHICH WE UNITE OUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD, SIGNIFIED UNTO US BY HIS COMMANDMENTS, COUNSELS AND INSPIRATIONS. CHAP. PAGE I.

Of the love of conformity proceeding from sacred complacency . . . . . 325 II.

Of the conformity of submission which proceeds from the love of benevolence . . . . . 327 III.

How we are to conform ourselves to that divine will, which is called the signified will . . . . . 329 xliii IV.

Of the conformity of our will to the will which God has to save us . . . . . 332 V.

Of the conformity of our will to that will of God's which is signified to us by his commandments . . . . . 334 VI.

Of the conformity of our will to that will of God which is signified unto us by his counsels . . . . . 337 VII.

That the love of God's will signified in the commandments moves us to the love of the counsels . . . . . 340 VIII.

That the contempt of the evangelical counsels is a great sin . . . . . 343 IX.

A continuation of the preceding discourse. How every one, while bound to love, is not bound to practise, all the evangelical counsels, and yet how every one should practise what he is able . . . . . 346 X.

How we are to conform ourselves to God's will signified unto us by inspirations, and first, of the variety of the means by which God inspires us . . . . . 349 XI.

Of the union of our will with God's in the inspirations which are given for the extraordinary practice of virtues; and of perseverance in one's vocation, the first mark of inspiration . . . . . 352 XII.

Of the union of man's will with God's in those inspirations which are contrary to ordinary laws; and of peace and tranquillity of heart, second mark of inspiration . . . . . 356 XIII.

Third mark of inspiration, which is holy obedience to the Church and superiors . . . . . 359 XIV.

A short method to know God's will. . . . . . 362 BOOK IX. OF THE LOVE OF SUBMISSION, WEREBY OUR WILL IS UNITED TO GOD'S GOOD-PLEASURE. CHAP. PAGE I.

Of the union of our will to that divine will which is called the will of good-pleasure . . . . . 365 II.

That the union of our will with the good-pleasure of God takes place principally in tribulations . . . . . 367 III.

Of the Union of our will to the divine good-pleasure in spiritual afflictions, by resignation . . . . . 371 IV.

Of the union of our will to the good-pleasure of God by indifference . . . . . 373 V.

That holy indifference extends to all things . . . . . 375 xliv VI.

Of the practice of loving indifference, in things belonging to the service of God . . . . . 377 VII.

Of the indifference we are to have as to our advancement in virtues . . . . . 381 VIII.

How we are to unite our will with God's in the permission of sins . . . . . 385 IX.

How the purity of indifference is to be practised in the actions of sacred love . . . . . 388 X.

Means to discover when we change in the matter of this holy love . . . . . 390 XI.

Of the perplexity of a heart which loves without knowing whether it pleases the beloved . . . . . 392 XII.

How the soul amidst these interior anguishes knows not the love she bears to God: and of the most lovefull death of the will . . . . . 395 XIII.

How the will being dead to itself lives entirely in God's will . . . . . 398 XIV.

An explanation of what has been said touching the decease of our will . . . . . 400 XV.

Of the most excellent exercise we can make in the interior and exterior troubles of this life, after attaining the indifference and death of the will . . . . . 403 XVI.

Of the perfect stripping of the soul which is united to God's will . . . . . 406 BOOK X. OF THE COMMANDMENT OF LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS. CHAP. PAGE I.

Of the sweetness of the commandment which God has given us of loving him above all things . . . . . 410 II.

That this divine commandment of love tends to heaven, yet is given to the faithful in this world . . . . . 413 III.

How, while the whole heart is employed in sacred love, yet one may love God in various ways, and also many other things together with him . . . . . 414 IV.

Of two degrees of perfection with which this commandment may be kept in this mortal life . . . . . 418 V.

Of two other degrees of greater perfection, by which we may love God above all things . . . . . 421 VI.

That the love of God above all things is common to all lovers . . . . . 425 VII.

Explanation of the preceding chapter . . . . . 427 xlv VIII.

A memorable history to make clearly understood in what the force and excellence of holy love consist . . . . . 430 IX.

A confirmation of what has been said by a noteworthy comparison . . . . . 434 X.

That we are to love the divine goodness sovereignly above ourselves . . . . . 437 XI.

How holy charity produces the love of our neighbour . . . . . 440 XII.

How love produces zeal . . . . . 442 XIII.

How God is jealous of us . . . . . 444 XIV.

Of the zeal or jealousy which we have for our Lord . . . . . 448 XV.

Advice for the direction of holy zeal . . . . . 451 XVI.

That the example of certain saints who seem to have exercised their zeal with anger, makes nothing against the doctrine of the preceding chapter . . . . . 455 XVII.

How our Lord practised all the most excellent acts of love . . . . . 460 BOOK XI.

OF THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY WHICH SACRED LOVE HOLDS OVER ALL THE VIRTUES, ACTIONS AND PERFECTIONS OF THE SOUL. CHAP. PAGE I.

How agreeable all virtues are to God . . . . . 464 II.

That divine love makes the virtues immeasurably more agreeable to God than they are of their own nature . . . . . 467 III.

That there are some virtues which divine love raises to a higher degree of excellence than others . . . . . 470 IV.

That divine love more excellently sanctifies the virtues when they are practised by its order and commandment . . . . . 472 V.

How love spreads its excellence over the other virtues, perfecting their particular excellence . . . . . 475 VI.

Of the excellent value which sacred love gives to the actions which issue from itself, and to those which proceed from the other virtues . . . . . 478 VII.

That perfect virtues are never one without the other . . . . . 481 VIII.

How charity comprehends all the virtues . . . . . 485 IX.

That the virtues have their perfection from divine love . . . . . 489 X.

A digression upon the imperfection of the virtues of the pagans . . . . . 491 XI.

How human actions are without worth when they are done without divine love . . . . . 496 xlvi XII.

How holy love returning into the soul, brings back to life all the works which sin had destroyed . . . . . 499 XIII.

How we are to reduce all the exercise of the virtues, and all our actions to holy love . . . . . 503 XIV.

The practice of what has been said in the preceding chapter . . . . . 506 XV.

How charity contains in it the gifts of the Holy Ghost . . . . . 509 XVI.

Of the loving fear of spouses; a continuation of the same subject . . . . . 511 XVII.

How servile fear remains together with holy love . . . . . 514 XVIII.

How love makes use of natural, servile and mercenary fear . . . . . 516 XIX.

How sacred love contains the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost, together with the eight beatitudes of the Gospel . . . . . 521 XX.

How divine love makes use of all the passions and affections of the soul, and reduces them to its obedience . . . . . 524 XXI.

That sadness is almost always useless, yea contrary to the service of holy love . . . . . 528 BOOK XII. CONTAINING CERTAIN COUNSELS FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL IN HOLY LOVE. CHAP. PAGE I.

That our progress in holy love does not depend on our natural temperament . . . . . 533 II.

That we are to have a continual desire to love . . . . . 534 III.

That to have the desire of sacred love we are to cut off all other desires . . . . . 536 IV.

That our lawful occupations do not hinder us from practising divine love . . . . . 538 V.

A very sweet example on this subject . . . . . 539 VI.

That we are to employ in the practice of divine love all the occasions that present themselves . . . . . 540 VII.

That we must take pains to do our actions very perfectly . . . . . 542 VIII.

A general means for applying our works to God's service . . . . . 543 IX.

Of certain other means by which we may apply our works more particularly to the love of God . . . . . 545 X.

An exhortation to the sacrifice which we are to make to God of our free-will . . . . . 548 XI.

The motives we have of holy love . . . . . 551 XII.

A most useful method of employing these motives . . . . . 552 XIII.

That Mount Calvary is the academy of love . . . . . 554

Dedicatory Prayer xlvii TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

xlviii 1 Dedicatory Prayer

MOST holy Mother of God, vessel of incomparable election, Queen of sovereign dilection, thou art the most lovely, the most loving and most beloved of all creatures! The love of the heavenly Father found its good pleasure in thee from all eternity, destining thy chaste heart to the perfection of holy love, to the end that one day thou mightest love his only Son with unique motherly love as he had done from all eternity with unique fatherly love. O Saviour Jesus, to whom could I better dedicate words on thy love, than to the most amiable heart of the well-beloved of thy soul?

But O all triumphant Mother! Who can cast his eyes upon thy majesty without seeing at thy right hand him whom for the love of thee thy Son deigned so often to honour with the title of father, having united him unto thee by the celestial bond of a most virginal marriage, that he might be thy coadjutor and helper in the charge of the direction and education of his divine infancy? O great S. Joseph! Most beloved spouse of the well-beloved Mother, ah! how often hast thou borne in thy arms the love of heaven and earth, while, inflamed with the sweet embraces and kisses of this Divine child, thy soul melted away with joy while he tenderly whispered in thy ears (O God what sweetness!) that thou wast his great friend and his well-beloved father.

Of old the lamps of the ancient temple were placed upon golden lilies. O Mary and Joseph, Pair without peer! Sacred lilies of incomparable beauty, amongst which the well-beloved 2feeds himself and feeds all his lovers—ah! if I may give myself any hope that this love-writing may enlighten and inflame the children of light, where can I better lay it than amongst your lilies, wherein the Sun of Justice, the splendour and brightness of the eternal light, did so sovereignly recreate himself that he there fulfilled the delights of the ineffable love of his heart towards us? O well-beloved mother of the well-beloved Son, O well-beloved spouse of the well-beloved mother! Prostrate before the feet of you who bore my Saviour, I dedicate and consecrate this little work of love to the immense greatness of your love. Ah! I conjure you by the heart of your sweet Jesus, King of hearts, whom your hearts adore—animate my heart, and all hearts that shall read this writing, by your all powerful favour with the Holy Ghost, that henceforth we may offer up in holocaust all our affections to his divine goodness, to live, die, and live again for ever, amid the flames of this heavenly fire, which Our Lord your son has so much desired to kindle in our hearts, that he never ceased to labour and sigh for this until death, even the death of the cross.

Preface 3 VIVE JÉSUS. PREFACE.

THE Holy Ghost teaches that the lips of the heavenly Spouse, that is The Church, resemble scarlet and the dropping honeycomb,[1] to let every one know that all the doctrine which she announces consists in sacred love; of a more resplendent red than scarlet on account of the blood of the spouse whose love inflames her, sweeter than honey on account of the sweetness of the beloved who crowns her with delights. So this heavenly spouse when he thought good to begin the promulgation of his law, cast down upon the assembly of those disciples whom he had deputed for this work a shower of fiery tongues, sufficiently intimating thereby that the preaching of the gospel was wholly designed for the inflaming of hearts.

Represent to yourself beautiful doves amidst the rays of the sun; you will see their plumage break into as many different colours as you change your point of viewing them; because their feathers are so fitted to display the light, that when the sun comes to spread his splendour on them, a multitude of reflections are made, producing a great variety of tints and glancing colours, colours so agreeable to the eye that they surpass all other colours, even the enamel of richest jewels; colours so resplendent and so delicately gilded that the gilding makes their own colours more bright than ever; for it was this sight which made the royal prophet say If you sleep among the midst of lots; you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with the paleness of gold.[1] The Church is indeed adorned with an excellent variety of teachings, 4sermons, treatises and spiritual books, all very beautiful and pleasant to the sight by reason of the admirable mingling which the Sun of Justice makes of his divine wisdom with the tongues of his pastors, which are their feathers, and with their pens, which sometimes hold the place of tongues, and form the rich plumage of this mystic dove. But amongst all the divers colours of the doctrine which she displays, the fine gold of holy Charity is everywhere spread, and makes itself excellently visible, gilding all the science of the saints with its incomparable lustre, and raising it above every other science. All is love's, and in love, for love, and of love, in the holy Church.

But as we are not ignorant that all the light of the day proceeds from the sun and yet we ordinarily say that the sun does not shine, except only when it openly sends out its beams here or there; in like manner, though all Christian doctrine be about sacred love, yet we do not honour all theology indifferently with the title of this divine love, but only those parts of it which regard the birth, nature, properties and operations thereof in particular.

Now it is true that divers writers have already handled this subject; above all those ancient Fathers, who as they did lovingly serve God so did they speak divinely of his love. O how good it is to hear S. Paul speak of heavenly things, who learned them even in heaven itself, and how good to see those souls who were nursed in the bosom of love write of its holy sweetness! For this reason those amongst the schoolmen that discoursed the most and the best of it, did also most excel in piety. S. Thomas has made a treatise on it worthy of S. Thomas; S. Bonaventure and B. Denis the Carthusian have made divers most excellent ones on it under various titles, and as for John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, Sixtus Senensis speaks of him thus: "He has so worthily discoursed of the fifty properties of divine love which are described in the course of the Canticle of Canticles, that he alone would seem to have taken proper account of the affections of the love of God." Truly this man was extremely learned, judicious and devout.

And that we may know this kind of writings to be made more successfully by the devotion of lovers than by the learning 5of the wise, it has pleased the Holy Ghost that many women should work wonders in it. Who has ever better expressed the heavenly passions of sacred love, than S. Catharine of Genoa, S. Angela of Foligno, S. Catharine of Siena, S. Mechtilde?

In our age also many have written upon this subject, whose works I have not had leisure to read distinctly but only here and there so far forth as was requisite to discover whether this book might yet find place. Father Louis of Granada, that great doctor of piety, has placed a treatise of the love of God in his Memorial, which is sufficiently commended in saying it is his. Diego Stella, of the Order of S. Francis, made another, which is very effective and profitable for prayer. Christopher Fonseca, an Augustinian, brought out one still larger, wherein he has many excellent things. Father Louis Richeome of the Society has also published a book under the title of The Art of Loving God by his Creatures, and this author is so amiable in his person and in his beautiful writings that doubtless he is even more so when writing of love itself. Father John of Jesus Maria, a discalced Carmelite, has composed a little book which is also called The Art of Loving God, and which is much esteemed. That great and celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine has also lately issued a little book entitled: The Ladder for Ascending unto God by his Creatures, which cannot be but admirable coming from that most learned hand and most devout soul, who has written so much and so wisely in the Church's behalf. I will say nothing of the Parenetic of that river of eloquence[1] who flows at present through all France in the multitude and variety of his sermons and noble writings. The close spiritual consanguinity which my soul has contracted with his, when by the imposition of my hands he received the sacred character of the episcopal order, to the great happiness of the diocese of Belley and to the honour of the Church, besides a thousand ties of a sincere friendship which fasten us together, permits me not to speak with praise of his works, amongst which this Parenetic of divine love was one of the first sallies of the matchless wealth of intellect which every one admires in him. 6

We see further a goodly and magnificent palace which the R. Father Laurence of Paris, a Capuchin preacher, erected in honour of heavenly love, which being finished will be a complete course of the Art of loving well. And lastly the B. Mother (S.) Teresa of Jesus, has written so accurately of the sacred movements of love in all the books she has left us, that one is amazed to see so much eloquence masked under such profound humility, such great solidity of wit in such great simplicity: and her most learned ignorance makes the knowledge of many learned men appear ignorant, who after long and laborious study have to blush at not understanding what she so happily puts down touching the practice of holy love. Thus does God raise the throne of his power upon the ground of our infirmity, making use of weak things to confound the strong.[1]

And although, my dear reader, this Treatise which I now present you, comes far short of those excellent works, without hope of ever running even with them, yet have I such confidence in the favour of the two heavenly lovers to whom I dedicate it, that still it may be in some way serviceable to you, and that in it you will meet with many wholesome considerations which you would not elsewhere so easily find, as again you may elsewhere find many beautiful things which are not here. Indeed, it even seems to me that my design is not the same as that of others except in general, inasmuch as we all look towards the glory of holy love. But this you will see by reading it.

Truly my intention is only to represent simply and naïvely, without art, still more without false colours, the history of the birth, progress, decay, operations, properties, advantages and excellences of divine love. And if besides this you find other things, these are but excrescences which it is almost impossible for such as me who write amidst many distractions to avoid. But still I think that there will be nothing without some utility. Nature herself, who is so skilful a workwoman, intending to produce grapes, produces at the same time, as by a prudent inadvertence, such an abundance of leaves and branches, that there are very few vines which have not in their season to be pruned of leaves and shoots. 7

Writers are often treated too harshly: the censures that are passed on them are given hastily, and very often with more incorrectness than they committed imprudence in hastening to publish their writings. Precipitation of judgment greatly puts in danger the conscience of the judge, and the innocence of the accused. Many write amiss and many censure foolishly. The kindness of the reader makes his reading sweet and profitable. And, my dear reader, to have you more favourable, I will here give you an explanation of some points which might peradventure otherwise put you out of humour.

Some perhaps will think that I have said too much, and that it was not requisite to go so deep down into the roots of the subject, but I am of opinion that heavenly love is a plant like to that which we call Angelica, whose root is no less odoriferous and wholesome than the stalk and the branches. The four first books and some chapters of the rest might without doubt have been omitted, without disadvantage to such souls as only seek the practice of holy love, yet all of it will be profitable unto them if they behold it with a devout eye: while others also might have been disappointed not to have had the whole of what belongs to the treatise of divine love. I have taken into consideration as I should do, the state of the minds of this age: it much imports to remember in what age we are writing.

I cite Scripture sometimes in other terms than those of the ordinary edition (the Vulgate). For God's sake, my dear reader do me not therefore the wrong to think that I wish to depart from that edition. Ah no! For I know the Holy Ghost has authorized it by the sacred Council of Trent, and that therefore all of us ought to keep to it: on the contrary I only use the other versions for the service of this, when they explain and confirm its true sense. For example what the heavenly spouse says to his spouse: Thou hast wounded my heart:[1] is greatly illustrated by the other version: Thou hast taken away my heart, or, Thou hast snatched away and ravished my heart. That which our Saviour said: Blessed are the poor in spirit: is much amplified and cleared by the Greek: Blessed are the beggars in spirit: and so with others. 8

I have often cited the sacred Psalmist in verse, and this to recreate your mind and on account of the ease with which I could do it, by the beautiful translation of Phillip des Portes, Abbot of Tiron. This however I have sometimes departed from; not of course thinking I could improve the verses of this famous poet (for I should be too impertinent if never having so much as thought of this kind o£ writing, I should pretend to be happy in it in an age and condition of life which would oblige me to retire from it in case I had ever been engaged therein), but in some places where the sense might be variously taken, I have not followed his verse, because I would not follow his sense, as in Psalm cxxxii., where he has taken a certain Latin word for the fringe of the garment which I thought ought to be taken for the collar, wherefore I have translated it to my own mind.

I have said nothing which I have not learned of others, yet it is impossible for me to remember whence I had everything in particular, but believe me, if I had taken any lengthy and remarkable passages out of any author, I would make it a matter of conscience not to let him have the deserved honour of it, and to remove a suspicion which you may conceive against my sincerity in this matter, I warn you that the 13th chapter of Book VII. is extracted from a sermon which I delivered at Paris at S. John's en Grève upon the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, 1602.

I have not always expressed the sequence of the chapters, but if you notice you will easily find the links of their connection. In that and several other things I had a care to spare my own leisure and your patience. After I had caused the Introduction to a Devout Life to be printed, my Lord Archbishop of Vienne, Peter de Villars, did me the favour of writing his opinion of it in terms so advantageous to that little book and to me, that I should never dare to rehearse them: and exhorting me to apply the most of my leisure to the like works, amongst many rare counsels he favoured me with, one was that as far as the matter would permit I should always be short in the chapters. For as, said he, travellers knowing that there is a fair garden some twenty or twenty-five paces out of their way, readily turn aside 9so short a distance to go see it, which they would not do if it were further distant; even so those who know that there is but little distance between the beginning and end of a chapter do willingly undertake to read it, which they would not do though the subject were never so delightful, if a long time were required for the reading of it. And therefore I had good reason to follow my own inclination in this respect since it was agreeable to this great personage who was one of the most saintly prelates and learned doctors that the Church has had in our age, and who at the time that he honoured me with his letter was the most ancient of all the doctors of the faculty of Paris.

A great servant of God informed me not long ago that by addressing my speech to Philothea in the Introduction to a Devout Life, I hindered many men from profiting by it: because they did not esteem advice given to a woman, to be worthy of a man. I marvelled that there were men who, to be thought men, showed themselves in effect so little men, for I leave it to your consideration, my dear reader, whether devotion be not as well for men as for women, and whether we are not to read with as great attention and reverence the second Epistle of S. John which was addressed to the holy lady Electa, as the third which he directs to Caius, and whether a thousand thousand Epistles and excellent Treatises of the ancient fathers of the Church ought to be held unprofitable to men, because they are addressed to holy women of those times. But, besides, it is the soul which aspires to devotion that I call Philothea, and men have souls as well as women.

Nevertheless, to imitate the great Apostle in this occasion, who esteemed himself a debtor to every one, I have changed my address in this treatise and speak to Theotimus, but if perchance there should be any woman (and such an unreasonableness would be more tolerable in them) who would not read the instructions which are given to men, I beg them to know that Theotimus to whom I speak is the human spirit desirous of making progress in holy love, which spirit is equally in women as in men.

This Treatise then is made for a soul already devout that she may be able to advance in her design, and hence I have been forced 10to say many things somewhat unknown to the generality, and which will therefore appear more obscure than they are. The depths of science are always somewhat hard to sound, and there are few divers who care and are able to descend and gather the pearls and other precious stones which are in the womb of the ocean. But if you have the courage fairly to penetrate these words which I have written, it will truly be with you as with the divers, who, says Pliny, see clearly in the deepest caves of the sea the light of the sun: for you will find in the hardest parts of this discourse a good and fair light. Moreover, as I do not follow them that despise books treating of a certain supereminently perfect life, so for my part, I do not speak of such a supereminence; for I can neither censure the authors, nor authorize the censors of a doctrine which I do not understand.

I have touched on a number of theological questions, proposing simply, not so much what I anciently learnt in disputations, as what attention to the service of souls, and my twenty-four years spent in holy preaching have made me think most conducive to the glory of the Gospel and of the Church.

For the rest some men of note in various places have signified to me that certain little books have been published simply under the first letters of their author's name which are the same as mine. This made some believe that they were my works, not without some little scandal to such as supposed thereby that I had bidden adieu to my simplicity, to puff up my style with pompous words, my argument with worldly conceit, and my conceptions with a lofty and plumed eloquence. For this cause my dear reader, I will tell you, that as those who engrave or cut precious stones, having their sight tired by keeping it continually fixed upon the small lines of their work, are glad to keep before them some fair emerald that by beholding it from time to time they may be recreated with its greenness and restore their weakened sight to its natural condition,—so in this press of business which my office daily draws upon me I have ever little projects of some treatise of piety, which I look at when I can, to revive and unweary my mind.

However, I do not profess myself a writer; for the dulness of my spirit and the condition of my life, subject to the service 11and requirements of many, would not permit me so to be. Wherefore I have written very little and have published much less, and following the counsel and will of my friends I will tell you what I have written that you may not attribute the praises of another's labours to him who deserves none for his own.

It is now nineteen years since that, being at Thonon, a small town situated upon the Lake of Geneva, which was then being little by little converted to the Catholic faith, the minister, an adversary of the Church, was proclaiming everywhere that the Catholic article of the real presence of our Saviour's body in the Eucharist destroyed the symbol and the analogy of faith (for he was glad to mouth this word analogy not understood by his auditors, in order to appear very learned; and upon this the rest of the Catholic preachers with whom I was pressed me to write something in refutation of this vanity. I did what seemed suitable, framing a brief meditation upon the Creed to confirm the truth: all the copies were distributed in this diocese where now I find not one of them.

Soon afterwards his Highness came over the mountains, and finding the bailiwicks of Chablais, Gaillard and Ternier, which are in the environs of Geneva, well disposed to receive the Catholic faith which had been banished thence by force of wars and revolts about seventy years before, he resolved to re-establish the exercise thereof in all the parishes, and to abolish that of heresy, and whereas on the one side there were many obstacles to this great blessing from those considerations which are called reasons of State, and on the other side some persons as yet not well instructed in the truth made resistance against this so much-desired establishment, his Highness surmounted the first difficulty by the invincible constancy of his zeal for the Catholic religion, and the second by an extraordinary gentleness and prudence. For he had the chief and most obstinate called together, and made a speech unto them with so lovingly persuasive an eloquence that almost all, vanquished by the sweet violence of his fatherly love towards them, cast the weapons of their obstinacy at his feet, and their souls into the hands of Holy Church.

And allow me, my dear readers I pray you, to say this word 12in passing. One may praise many rich actions of this great Prince, in which I see the proof of his valour and military knowledge, which with just cause is admired through all Europe. But for my part I cannot sufficiently extol the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in these three bailiwicks which I have just mentioned, having seen in it so many marks of piety, united with so many and various acts of prudence, constancy, magnanimity, justice and mildness, that I seemed to see in this one little trait, as in a miniature, all that is praised in princes who have in times past with most fervour striven to advance the glory of God and the Church. The stage was small, but the action great. And as that ancient craftsman was never so much esteemed for his great pieces as he was admired for making a ship of ivory fitted with all its gear, in so tiny a volume that the wings of a bee covered all, so I esteem more that which this great Prince did at that time in this small corner of his dominions, than many more brilliant actions which others extol to the heavens.

Now on this occasion the victorious ensigns of the cross were replanted in all the ways and public places of those quarters, and whereas a little before there had been one erected very solemnly at Annemasse close to Geneva, a certain minister made a little treatise against the honour thereof, which was a burning and venomous invective, and to which therefore it was deemed fit to make answer. My Lord Claude de Granier, my predecessor, whose memory is in benediction, imposed the burden upon me according to the power which he had over me, who beheld him not only as my Bishop but also as a holy servant of God. I made therefore this answer, under the title: Defence of the Standard of the Cross, and dedicated it to his Highness, partly to testify unto him my most humble submission, and partly to render him some small thanksgiving for the care which he took of the Church in those parts.

Now lately this Defence has been reprinted under the prodigious title of Panthalogy, or Treasure of the Cross: a title whereof I never dreamed, as in truth I am not a man of that study and leisure, nor of that memory, to be able to put together so many pieces of worth in one book as to let it deserve the name of 13Treasure or Panthalogy, besides I have a horror of such insolent frontispieces:

A sot, or senseless creature we him call,

Who makes his portal greater than his hall.

In the year 1602, were celebrated at Paris, where I was, the obsequies of that magnanimous prince Philip Emanuel of Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur, who had performed so many brave exploits against the Turks in Hungary that all Christianity was bound to conspire to honour his memory. But especially Madam Mary of Luxembourg, his widow, did for her part all that her heart and the love of the deceased could suggest to her to make his funeral solemn. And because my father, grandfather, and great grandfather had been brought up pages to the most illustrious princes of Martigues her father and his predecessors, she regarded me as an hereditary servant of her house; and made choice of me to preach the funeral sermon in that great celebration, where there were not only several Cardinals and Prelates but a number of princes also, princesses, marshals of France, knights of the Order,[1] and even the Court of Parliament in a body. I made then this funeral oration and pronounced it in this great assembly in the great Church of Paris, and as it contained a true abridgment of the heroic feats of the deceased prince, I willingly had it printed, at the request of the widow-princess, whose request was to me a law. I dedicated this piece to Madam the Duchess of Vendôme, as yet a girl, and a very young princess, yet one in whom were very clearly to be recognized the signs of that excellent virtue and piety which now adorn her, and which show her to be worthy of the bringing forth and educating by so devout and pious a mother.

While this sermon was in the press, I heard that I had been made Bishop, so that I came here to be consecrated and to begin residence. And at first there was pointed out to me the necessity of instructing Confessors on some important points. For this reason I wrote twenty-five instructions, which I had printed to get them more easily spread amongst those to whom I directed them; since then they have been reprinted in various places. 14

Three or four years afterwards I published the Introduction to a Devout Life, upon the occasion and in the manner which I have put down in the preface thereof: regarding which I have nothing to say to you, my dear reader, save only that though this little book has generally had a gracious and kind acceptance, yes even amongst the most grave prelates and doctors of the Church, yet it did not escape the rude censure of some who did not merely blame me but bitterly attacked me in public because I tell Philothea that dancing is an action indifferent in itself, and that for recreation's sake one may make quodlibets; and I, knowing the quality of these censors, praise their intention which I think was good. I should have desired them however to please to consider that the first proposition is drawn from the common and true doctrine of the most holy and learned divines, that I was writing for such as live in the world and in courts; that withal I carefully inculcate the extreme dangers which are found in dancing;—and that as to the second proposition it is not mine, but S. Louis's, that admirable king, a doctor worthy to be followed in the art of rightly conducting courtiers to a devout life. For, I believe if they had weighed this, their charity and discretion would never have permitted their zeal, how vigorous and austere soever, to arm their indignation against me.

And therefore, my dear reader, I conjure you to be gracious and good to me in reading this Treatise. And if you find the style a little (though I am sure it will be but a very little) different from that which I used in the Defence of the Cross, know that in nineteen years one learns and unlearns many things, that the language of war differs from that of peace, and that a man uses one manner of speech to young apprentices and another to old fellow-craftsmen.

My purpose here is to speak to souls that are advanced in devotion. For you must know that we have in this town a congregation of maidens and widows who, having retired from the world, live with one mind in God's service, under the protection of his most holy Mother, and as their purity and piety of spirit have oftentimes given me great consolation, so have I striven to return them the like by a frequent distribution of the holy word which I have announced to them as well in public sermons as in 15spiritual conferences, and this almost always in presence of some religious men and people of great piety. Hence I have often had to treat of the most delicate sentiments of piety, passing beyond that which I had said to Philothea: and I owe a good part of that which now I communicate to you to this blessed Society because she who is the mother of them and rules them, knowing that I was writing upon this subject, and yet that scarcely was I able to accomplish it without God's very special assistance, and their continual urging, took a constant care to pray and get prayers for this end, and holily conjured me to pick out all the little morsels of leisure which she judged might be spared here and there from the press of my hindrances and to employ them in this. And because this soul is in that consideration with me which God knows, she has had no little power to animate me in this occasion. I began indeed long ago to think of writing on holy love, but that thought came far short of what this occasion has made me produce, an occasion which I declare to you thus simply and in good faith, in imitation of the ancients, that you may know that I write only as I get the chance and opportunity, and that I may find you more favourable. It is said amongst the Pagans that Phidias never represented anything so perfectly as the gods, nor Apelles as Alexander. One is not always equally successful: if I fall short in this treatise, let your goodness make progress and God will bless your reading.

To this end I have dedicated this work to the Mother of dilection and to the Father of cordial love, as I dedicated the Introduction to the Divine child who is the Saviour of lovers and the love of the saved. And as women, while they are strong and able to bring forth their children with ease, choose commonly their worldly friends to be godfathers, but when their feebleness and indisposition make their delivery hard and dangerous invoke the saints of heaven, and vow to have their children stood to by some poor body or by some devout soul in the name of S. Joseph, S. Francis of Assisi, S. Francis of Paula, S. Nicholas, or some other of the blessed, who may obtain of God their safe delivery and that the child may be born alive:—so I, while I was not yet bishop, having more leisure and less fears for my writings, dedicated my little works to princes of the 16earth, but now being weighed down with my charge, and having a thousand difficulties in writing, I consecrate all to the princes of heaven, that they may obtain for me the light requisite, and that if such be the Divine will, these my writings may be fruitful and profitable to many.

Thus my dear reader I beseech God to bless you and to enrich you with his love. Meanwhile from my very heart I submit all my writings, my words and actions to the correction of the most holy Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, knowing that she is the pillar and ground of truth,[1] wherein she can neither be deceived nor deceive us, and that none can have God for his father who will not have this Church for his mother.

Annecy, the day of the most loving Apostles

S. Peter and S. Paul. 1616.

Blessed be God.