Of the Sweet Spiritual Goods which distinctly affect the Will. Their diversities,

Everything that furnishes a distinct J oy to the Will may be classed under four heads: Motive, Provocative, Directive, and Perfective. I shall speak of these in order, and first of the

of that

1.

2.

3. 4.

a

motive, which are Images, Pictures of Saints, Oratories, and

Ceremonies,

In that which relates to Images and Pictures of Saints much vanity and empty joy may be found. For while they are of great importance in Divine service, and very necessary to move the will to devotion, as is evident from the sanction and use of them by our Holy Mother the Church—that is a reason why we should profit by them to quicken us in our sloth— there are many people who rejoice more in the painting and decoration of them than in ‘the objects they represent.

The Church ordains the use of images for two principal ends: that is, for the honour of the Saints, and for the moving of the will and the quickening of our devotion to them. And so far as they minister to this end, they are of great profit, and the use of them is necessary. Those pictures therefore are to be preferred which are most accurately drawn, and which most effectually excite the will to devotion; we ought to regard this more than the value, curious workmanship, and decorations. There are people, as I have said, who look more to the curious nature of the image and its value than they do to the Saint it represents. They so squander that inward devotion, which ought to be spiritually directed to the invisible Saint, in demonstrations of outward affection and curiosity, that the senses are pleased and delighted, and love and the joy of the will rest there. All this is an effectual hindrance to real spirituality, which requires the annihilation of the affections in all particular objects.

This is clearly visible in that hateful custom observed nowadays by certain persons who, not holding in abhorrence the vanities of the world, adorn the Sacred Images with those garments which a frivolous race daily invents for the satisfaction of its wanton recreations and diversions. They clothe the images with those garments which in themselves are reprehensible, and which the Saints have always held, and still hold, in detestation. It is thus that they conspire with the devil to procure some sanction for their vanities, involving the Saints therein, but not without offending them most deeply. The consequence is that all modest and sound devotion, which utterly rejects every trace of vanity, is with such people little more than the elaborate and superfluous decoration of images and curious pictures, to which they are attached and on which they base all their joy. You see people who are never satisfied with adding image to image, who reject them if they are not made after a particular pattern, and who must have them

‘arranged in a particular order, so as to please the sense;

meanwhile the devotion of the heart is very slight. They hold to their images as Michas to his idols, who when he lost them ran out of his house crying because they had been taken away;* or like Laban, who made a long journey to reclaim them, and in his anger searched for them in the tents of Jacob.f

A devout man grounds his devotion chiefly on the invisible; he requires but few images, and uses but few, and such as are more in harmony with Divine than with human taste; fashioning them, and himself upon them, according to the pattern of another world, and the habits of the Saints, and not of this; so that the fashion of this world

may not only not excite the desire, but not even recur to

the memory, through the sight of anything resembling it or appertaining unto it. Neither are his affections entangled by the images he uses, for if they be taken from him, he is not therefore distressed, because he seeks within himself the Living Image, which is Christ crucified, in Whom he desires rather that all things should be taken from him and that

* Judg. xviii. 23, 24, t+ Gen. xxxi. 34,

of

all things should fail him, even those which seemed most to draw him to God; and even when they are taken away from him he is still tranquil. The higher perfection of the soul consists in being tranquil and joyful amid the privation rather than the possession with the desire of, and affection for, these motives. Though it is a good thing to, have in our possession these Images and means of greater devotion — for which reason we should choose always those which most promote it —yet it is not Perfection to be so attached to them as to be sorrowful when they are taken from us. Be assured of this, the more you cling to images or sensible motives the less will your devotion and prayers ascend upwards unto God. Though it be true that, because some images are better representations than others and more devotional, we may prefer the former to the latter, still it must be for that reason only, and there must be no kind of attachment lurking in that preference; lest — that which tends to raise our minds to God being forgotten — the means of devotion should become food for sense, immersed in the joy which springs from them: nor should that which has been made use of as a help to devotion through any imperfection become a hindrance, as it sometimes does, even not less so than an attachment to any other object whatever. Granting that some excuse for this may be admitted in the matter of Images, because of our inadequate perception of that detachment and poverty of spirit which perfection requires, at least none can be admitted in the case of; that imperfection so generally practised with regard to Rosaries. You will scarcely meet with anyone who has not some weakness in this matter. Men take care that their Rosaries are of a certain workmanship rather than another, of a certain colour or material, and with particular ornaments. One rosary does not contribute more than another towards the hearing of our prayers: he is heard who tells his beads -

in the simplicity and integrity of his heart, not thinking of anything but how he may please God the most; and not valuing one rosary more than another, except only for the Indulgences attached to it.

Such is our vain concupiscence, that it clings to everything; it is like the dry rot consuming the good and the bad wood. What else is it, when thou pleasest thyself with a curious rosary, seeking one of a particular make rather than of another, but to rejoice in the instrument? Why frequentest thou a particular image, not considering whether it stirs thee up to a greater love of God, but whether it be more curious or valuable than another? Certainly, if thy desire and thy joy were in pleasing God only, thou wouldest not regard anything of this kind. It is very vexatious to see spiritual persons so attached to the fashion and workmanship of devotional objects, to what is merely motive, given up to the curiosity and empty joy which they minister. Such persons are never satisfied, they are perpetually changing one thing for another: spiritual devotion is forgotten amid these sensible means; men attach themselves to them just as they do to any worldly ornaments; and the issue is no slight detriment to their soul.