Chapter LV
How The Hidden Alertness Within The Soul Is To Be Preserved How Sleepiness And Coldness Enter The Mind Banishing The Holy Fervour From The Soul Killing The Desire Of God That Tends Towards Spiritual And Heavenly Desirable Things
Opposition would have no chance to cause confusion to those who desire beautiful things, if an occasion were not offered to these evil machinations by the lovers of beautiful things themselves. The matter is nearly thus. Every impulse of love unto what is beautiful is from the beginning of its motion accompanied by some zeal which in its fervour resembles that of fiery coals. This zeal usually surrounds the impulse of love as a wall, chasing from its neighbourhood all opposition and trouble. It possesses such vigour and •unspeakable force that it can stiffen the whole soul against relaxation or against being shaken by the attack of all troublous things. It is in the first place the force of the holy desire implanted in the nature of the soul, namely an emotion set astir 393 by the force of the soul's natural anger, which is implanted in it by God in order to guard the boundaries of nature, so that it may use its vigour for fulfilling the natural desire of the soul, which is excellence. It is impossible to perform excellence without this impulse. It is called zeal because it makes zealous and it sets astir and kindles and makes man heroic from time to time so that he despises the body in the troubles and terrible temptations which occur, and delivers his soul to death full of confidence and encounters the powers of the rebellion, giving up especially the fulfilling of what the soul loves. A certain man, clad with Christ, somewhere in his book calls this zeal a dog and a guardian of the law of God, which is excellence. Excellence is the fulf.lling of the laws of God. This force of zeal becomes mighty and alert and fervent for the sake of guarding the horr5e, an account of two reasons; and it becomes
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weak and sleepy and despicable on account of other two reasons. The first reason of fervour and alertness consists in anxiety for the virtues which a man possesses or is going to possess, when some fear arises, lest these virtues should be stolen or seized by some approaching event. This fear is set astir by divine care, in all worshipers of excellence, lest the alertness and the constant zeal of the soul should get asleep. When this fear is set astir in nature, the dog of which we 394 have spoken will be fervent, night and day, as a blazing furnace, spurring nature which like a Cherub is watching and threatening all the surroundings at all times. If, so to speak, a bird should pass by, it would be astir and bark with a vigour unspeakably sharp. When this fear is anxious on behalf of the body, it is satanic; because faith in God's care is shaken and man forgets how God thinks of those who care for excellence by caring for them at all times. As the Holy Ghost has said through the mouth of the prophet: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are [inclined] to hear them 1). For the thoughts of the Lord are unto those who fear Him. And in another place [the prophet] says, as it were speaking in the name of God, unto those who perform righteousness: There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.. For He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee; they shall bear thee up in their hands 2), and compare the other words of Scripture. But when this fear is on behalf of the soul, for the accidents threatening excellence, namely fear lest the soul be robbed or injured by any cause, this is a divine impulse and an excellent thought. And it is in God's care that this distress and fear originate, and this terror which torments the mind by its oppression. The second cause of the vigour and the fervour of the dog is brought about by the increase of love of excellence in the soul. According to the measure of the love of the soul for 3 95 that which it possesses by this love, - which is a divine deliberation - this natural zeal glows for it. As to the causes of its abating and sleepiness, one of them is brought about by love being quenched and reduced in the.
1) Psalms 34, 1 6 2) Psalms 9 1, 1 1 sq.
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soul. The second rises when some deliberation of trust takes its seat in the soul and man confides and thinks many times that there is no danger of anything that could injure him. Then he casts away the weapon of zeal and becomes as a house without a guardian. And the dog goes asleep, leaving his watch. Usually this deliberation is the source of most of the intelligible houses being robbed. This happens when the serene flame of holy knowledge in the soul becomes dark. Whereby does it become dark, if not by some subtle deliberation of presumption penetrating into the soul, or because man is given to too much care of bodily things, or because he is frequently in contact with worldly things. Every time that strugglers come into contact with lay people, especially women, the soul descends. This also happens through contact with the multitude on account of whose gaze the soul necessarily is assailed by vain glory. In short: the ruling mind as often as it comes into contact with the world resembles the skipper who calmly was sailing on · the sea while a soft wind from behind drove him towards the harbour, when he suddenly got among the cliffs.