PEACE IS NOT TO BE PLACED IN MEN
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, if you place your peace in any creature because of
your own feeling or for the sake of his company, you will be unsettled
and entangled. But if you have recourse to the ever-living and abiding
Truth, you will not grieve if a friend should die or forsake you. Your
love for your friend should be grounded in Me, and for My sake you
should love whoever seems to be good and is very dear to you in this
life. Without Me friendship has no strength and cannot endure. Love
which I do not bind is neither true nor pure.
You ought, therefore, to be so dead to such human affections as
to wish as far as lies within you to be without the fellowship of men.
Man draws nearer to God in proportion as he withdraws farther from all
earthly comfort. And he ascends higher to God as he descends lower
into himself and grows more vile in his own eyes. He who attributes
any good to himself hinders God's grace from coming into his heart,
for the grace of the Holy Spirit seeks always the humble heart.
If you knew how to annihilate yourself completely and empty
yourself of all created love, then I should overflow in you with great
grace. When you look to creatures, the sight of the Creator is taken
from you. Learn, therefore, to conquer yourself in all things for the
sake of your Maker. Then will you be able to attain to divine
knowledge. But anything, no matter how small, that is loved and
regarded inordinately keeps you back from the highest good and
corrupts the soul. |
That our peace is not to be placed in men
"My Son, if thou set thy peace on any person
because thou hast high opinion of him, and art familiar with him, thou
shalt be unstable and entangled. But if thou betake thyself to the
ever-living and abiding Truth, the desertion or death of a friend
shall not make thee sad. In Me ought the love of thy friend to
subsist, and for My sake is every one to be loved, whosoever he be,
who appeareth to thee good, and is very dear to thee in this life.
Without Me friendship hath no strength or endurance, neither is that
love true and pure, which I unite not. Thou oughtest to be so dead to
such affections of beloved friends, that as far as in thee lieth, thou
wouldst rather choose to be without any companionship of men. The
nearer a man approacheth to God, the further he recedeth from all
earthly solace. The deeper also he descendeth into himself, and the
viler he appeareth in his own eyes, the higher he ascendeth towards
God.
2. "But he who attributeth anything good to
himself, hindereth the grace of God from coming to him, because the
grace of the Holy Ghost ever seeketh the humble heart. If thou
couldst make thyself utterly nothing, and empty thyself of the love of
every creature, then should it be My part to overflow unto thee with
great grace. When thou settest thine eyes upon creatures, the face of
the Creator is withdrawn from thee. Learn in all things to conquer
thyself for thy Creator's sake, then shalt thou be able to attain unto
divine knowledge. How small soever anything be, if it be loved and
regarded inordinately, it holdeth us back from the highest good, and
corrupteth." |