FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  
st much natural horror, not however exceeding that described by Dante, there are many quaint side-lights thrown upon our forefathers' ways of thought; as _e.g._, when Margaret's soul is weighed in one scale, against the fiend, "and a great long worm with him," in the other; the worm of conscience, in fact. But the work has not been included in this volume, lest it should prove wholly unprofitable to a generation which if it be not readily disturbed by sin, is easily and quickly shocked by crude suggestions concerning its possible consequences and reward. They will find enough, perhaps, in the treatise _on Daily Work_. If any one should think that there, and in one portion of the treatise _on Grace_, Rolle has dwelt harshly on considerations of fear, rather than on those of love, he must not make the mistake of concluding that these admonitions represent the whole of Catholic teaching on the point. Men's temperaments differ, and teachers, meeting these various tempers, differ in their modes of helping them. Side by side with Richard Rolle may be put the words of S. Francis Xavier, in what is perhaps the most beautiful of Christian hymns:-- My GOD, I love Thee; not because I hope for heaven thereby, Nor yet because who love Thee not Are lost eternally. . . . . . . Not for the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward; But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord! Moreover, no reader of the Epistle _on Charity_ can entertain any doubt as to whether our English Mystic understood the mystery of limitless love. It is no doubt, easy to complain, as we read certain passages, that Richard Rolle's recommendations are neither new nor original: but if instead of dismissing them as familiar, we tried to put them into practice, we should perhaps have less leisure for idle criticism of others, and ourselves be less evil and tiresome people. On the other hand, the accusation may be brought that he proposes an impossibly high aim. No doubt, in such a pitch of devotion as is suggested, _e.g._, in ch. viii. of _The Form of Perfect Living_, some may think they find extravagance: but no doubt it was this same spirit which inspired SS. Peter and Paul, and the other Apostles; which built up the Early Church; which made Saints, Martyrs and Confessors; which suggested such apparently forlorn hopes as that of S. Augustine of Canterbury, when, to bring them the Gospel of JE
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29  
30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

treatise

 

Richard

 

suggested

 

reward

 

differ

 

dismissing

 

familiar

 

recommendations

 
passages
 
Thyself

original

 
seeking
 

gaining

 

mystery

 

Charity

 
entertain
 

Epistle

 
Moreover
 

loving

 

reader


English

 
complain
 

Mystic

 
understood
 

limitless

 

accusation

 
Apostles
 

inspired

 

extravagance

 

spirit


Church
 

Canterbury

 
Augustine
 

Gospel

 

forlorn

 

Saints

 

Martyrs

 

Confessors

 

apparently

 

Living


tiresome

 

people

 
practice
 
leisure
 

criticism

 

brought

 

proposes

 

Perfect

 

devotion

 

impossibly