Sermons of Friar Johannes Tauler
By the Wheat we understand Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who by His
Death has brought forth much Fruit for all Men, if they are but Willing, not
only to Reign with Him, but also, and in the First Place, desire to follow
Him in a Dying Life. For this may be called a
Dying Life, when a Man, for the Love of God,
Refuses to Gratify his Senses and take his Natural Pleasure, and follow his own Will; and as many
Lusts as he Dies to, so many Deaths
does he Offer to God, and so many Fruits
of Life will he Receive in Return. For in what Measure a Man Dies to himself, and Grows-out
of himself, in the same Measure does God, Who
is our Life, enter into him.
Three Stages of Holiness (i.e. Dying to Self)
Now Mark, Dear children, that the Path of a Man thus Dying, may be Divided into
Three (3) Stages. Those who have entered on the Lowest
Stage do Acts of Self-denial from Fear
of Hell and for the Hope of
Heaven, with some Love to God,
Mingled-therewith, which Leads them to Shun the most Flagrant Sins; but the
Love of God seldom Works Strongly in them, except it be Stirred-up
by the Contemplation of Hell or Heaven; for by
Reason of their Blind Self-love these Men are
Terribly Afraid of Death, and are by no Means,
Eager to set their hand to the Work-of Mortifying their Undisciplined Nature which shrinks
therefrom; and they have little Faith, which is the Cause of this
Timorous Weakness, that Leads them to be ever Fearing for their
own Safety; thus, just as Formerly, they Sought and Loved themselves in all kinds of Carnal
Enjoyments and Worldly Vanities, and avoided Bodily
Pain and Inconvenience out of
Self-Love, so now is the same Motive at Work, Leading them to Shun Sin
on-account-of Punishment, in order to Escape Hell
and obtain the Rewards of Heaven. And when they are still young in the
Love of God, they are Apt-to taste Little Sweetness in Loving God,
save when they Hope to Enjoy something from His Love;
as, for instance to Escape Hell and Get to Heaven;
and if sometimes they Meditate on the Sufferings of
Our Lord, and Weep over them with Strong Emotion, it is
because they think how He was Willing to
Suffer so much for their sakes, and to Redeem
them by His Bitter Death, still (because their
Love is small) they are much more Inclined to Dwell upon the Bodily
Sufferings that He endured in His
Human Nature, than to Reflect how He Manifested by His
Death the Highest Perfection of all
Virtue, as Humility,
Love and Patience, and therein so Greatly
Glorified His Heavenly Father. For this sort of Persons, Set-out
and Begin to Die, while as yet they Love
themselves, Far too-well; hence they are not yet able to see Truly what it is to Resign themselves to
God, and to Maintain a Spirit of Submission; and, although God does all
things for the Best, yet this they will never Believe, and it is a
Perpetual Stumbling-block to them.
Thus they often Ask and Wonder why Our Lord chose to
Suffer so much, and why He Leads His
Friends and Followers to Himself, along such a Path of
Suffering. And when they are at the Beginning of a Dying Life, and only
Half-way Inclined towards True Perfection, nor Perceive as yet wherein this consists, they
oft-times Torment themselves with Watching and Fasting and an Austere Way of Life; for
whatever is Outwardly Painful to the Flesh, they Fancy to be Greatly and Mightily, Regarded
and Prized by God. So, when they Eagerly take upon themselves all the
Hardships they can, then they think they have reached the Summit of Perfection,
and Judge all other Men, nay, even those who are much more Perfect then themselves, and think Meanly
of all who do not Practice Outward Austerities, calling them low-Minded and Ignorant in
Spiritual Things; and those who do not Feel as they do, they think to have Gone Astray
altogether from a Spiritual Course, and Desire that all Men should be as they are; and
whatever Methods of Avoiding Sin they have Practiced and still make use of by Reason of
their Infirmity, they Desire, nay, Demand that everyone else should Observe; and, if any do
not do so, they Judge them and Murmur at them, and say that they Pay no Regard to Religion.
Now, while they thus keep themselves and all that belongs to them, as it were Working in their own Service, and in this
Self-love, Unduly Regard themselves as their own Property, they cut themselves off from
Our Lord, and from the Universal Charity.
For they ought to Cherish continually, a General Love
toward all Men, both Good and Bad; but they
remain absorbed-in their Partial and Separate Affections, whereby they bring upon themselves much Disquiet, and remain a Prey to their
Besetting Sin of always Seeking and Studying themselves. And they are very Niggardly of
their Spiritual Blessings towards their Fellow Christians;
they Devote all their Prayers and Religious Exercises
to their own Behalf; and, if they Pray, or do any other
Kind Act for others, they think it a Great Thing, and Fancy they have done them a Great Service thereby. In short, as they
look little-Within, and are so little-Enlightened in the Knowledge of themselves, so also they make little-Increase in the
Love of God and their Neighbor; for they are so Entangled with Unregulated
Affections that they Live Alone in Heart, not Thoroughly Commingling
their Soul with any in the Right Sort of Thorough Love.
For the Love of God, which ought to Unite them to God
and all Mankind, is Wanting in them; and, although they Appear-to keep the Ordinances of
God, and of Holy Church, they do not
keep the Law of Love. What they do is more out of
Constraint and Fear than from Hearty
Love; and, because they are Inwardly Unfaithful to
God, they Dare not Trust Him; for the
Imperfection which they find in themselves, makes a Flaw in their
Love to God. Hence their Whole Life is Full-of
Care, Full-of Toil and Ignoble
Misery; for they see Eternal Life on the One-Side, and
Fear to Lose it, and they see Hell on the
Other, and Fear to Fall into it; and all their
Prayers and Religious Exercises cannot
Chase-away their Fear of Hell, so long as they
do not Die unto themselves. For the more they Love
themselves, and take Counsel for their own Welfare, the more the Fear of
Hell grows upon them; insomuch that, when God does not Help them
Forward as-much-as they Wish, they Complain; and they Weep and
Sigh at every little Difficulty they encounter, however small, such as being
Tempted to Vanity,
Wandering Thoughts, and the like. They make Long Stories of what is of no Consequence, and talk about their Great
Difficulties and Sufferings, as if they were
Grievously Wronged; for they Esteem their Works, although Small, to be Highly Meritorious,
and that God Almighty owes them Great Honor
and Blessings in return. But Our Lord will
tell them (as He does in fact afterwards, when He
has
Enlightened them with His Grace)
a Poor Fool Loves his own Wooden Stick, or any other little Worthless Article, as-much-as a
Rich and Wise Man Loves his Sword, or any other Great and Precious Thing.
All such are standing-on the Lowest Steps of a Mortified Life; and, if they do not
Die to themselves more, and come-to Experience more, of what a
Mortified Life is, it is to be Feared, that they will
Fall-back from that Little, whereunto they have Attained, and may
Plunge into Depths of Folly and
Wickedness, from which God keep us all! But before a Man comes to such a
Fall, God gives him Great
Spiritual Delight; and upon this he is so Greatly Rejoiced that he
Cheerfully Endures all sorts of Austerities
and Penances; and then he Weepeth that he
hath arrived at Perfection, and begins to Judge his Neighbors, and wants to Shape all Men
after his own Model, so Greatly does he Esteem himself in his own Conceits.
Then God comes in His Mercy to
Teach him what he is, and shows him into what Error he has
Fallen, and Permits the Enemy to set before him, and make him Taste the
Sweetness of Sin; and then, when he has thus Tasted, he Conceives an Inclination to One
Sin after Another, and he cannot Rid himself of these Inclinations.
Then he wishes to Flee Sin, that he may Escape Hell,
and begins to do Outward Good Works; and yet it is a
Dreadful Toil to Perform these Good Works as a mere Labor, and to put himself
to Pain; thus he is brought into an Agonizing Struggle
with himself, and does not know which way to turn; for he Dimly Sees that he has Gone
Astray. Then must God, of His Mercy,
come and Raise him up, and he shall Cry Earnestly to God
for Help; and his Chief Meditation shall be on the Life and Works,
and especially the Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Second Stage of Holiness
The Second Degree in which the Grain of Wheat Dies
is when a Man is called upon to Endure Insult, Contempt,
and such-like Deaths; and, so long as his Grace
lasts, he would Fain continue to Suffer; for by the Sense of Undeserved
Injury all his Powers are but Quickened and Raised into a Higher State of Activity. But when he is Bereft-of this
Gracious Sense of the Divine Presence, forasmuch as he is still far from
Perfection, he cannot bear up under this Spiritual
Destitution, and, through his Infirmity,
Falls a Prey to Mistrust of God, and Fancies that
God has Forsaken him, and is not Willing to Help him towards
Perfection. Often he is in a Hundred Minds what to do, or not do; and, if
Our Lord show him some Kindness, then he Feels as if all were
Well between his Soul and
God, and he Feels himself so Rich, as if he could never more be
Poor, and thinks to enjoy the Presence and
Savor of God (though yet he is quite Untried);
just as if the Almighty were his own Personal, Special
Friend; and he is ready to Believe that Our
Lord is, so to speak, at his disposal, will
Comfort him in Adversity, and Enrich
him with all Virtues. But, forasmuch as our Gracious
Lord sees that such a Man will be very apt to Rely upon his Imagined Powers, and thus to
Fall Grievously, and sees also that the Best and
Ripest Fruit is being Lost, inasmuch as the Man has not yet Attained
to that Perfection to which Our Lord desires
to Lead him, therefore, in due time, He Withdraws from him, all that
He had Revealed to him, because the Man was too much Occupied-with himself, with thinking about his own
Perfection, Wisdom,
Holiness and Virtues; He
thus brings him through Poverty to Dissatisfaction
with himself, and a Humble Acknowledgement that he has neither
Wisdom nor Worthiness; then does he begin to Reflect Within
himself how Justly, Almighty God has Stayed
His Hand from Bestowing any Sensible Tokens of His
Mercy, because he Fancied that he was something; now he Sees Clearly that he is nothing.
He was wont to Care for his Good Name and Honor in the World, and to Defend them as a Man stands up for his Wedded Wife, and to count them
who spoke Evil of him, as Enemies to the
Common Good. He was wont to Desire and Thirst after the Reputation of Holiness, like a
Meadow after the Dew of Heaven. He weaned that Men's Praises of him and Proceeded altogether
from Real Goodness and Sympathy of Heart, and by God's
Ordination, and had wandered so far from Self-Knowledge as not to see that he was, in himself, Unsound from Head to Foot;
he Fancied that he was really as he Stood-in Man's Opinion, and knew nothing to the contrary.
Here we must Mark that he who wishes to Heal himself of such-like
Grievous Mistakes, and Subdue such an Unmortified Nature, must take note of
Three (3) Points in himself:
First, how much he has Striven to Endure Cheerfully, for the Sake of
Goodness, all the Rebuke,
Slander and Shame that has come upon him,
Patiently Enduring it in his Heart, without Outward Complaint.
Secondly, how much in the Time of his Rebuke,
Shame and Distress he has
Praised and Glorified God and his Fellow-Men, and shown
Kindness to his Neighbor in all ways, in spite of all
Contradiction against himself.
Thirdly, let him Examine himself whether he have
Loved with Cheerful and Willing
Heart the Men or Creatures who have thus Persecuted
him, and Sincerely Prayed for them; and, if he finds that he has not done so, and
is Unwilling to do so, but is Hard and
Bitter in his Grief, then he may Surely Know,
and ought to Feel Certain, that there is something False in him, and some Resting in the
Praise of Men and in his own Spiritual Pride, and that he
is not Dead. He has not yet come to the Second
Step in a Dying Life.
Spiritual Desolation/Aridity - But our
Kind Lord, like a Tender Mother who is Full-of Love, or a Wise Physician
who Desires to Restore a Sick Man to Perfect Health
by his Powerful Remedies, Suffers him to Fall
many times, that he may Learn to Know himself; and thus he Falls into
Fleshly Unspiritual Temptations, such as he never Experienced
in those Past Days, in which he Fancied himself Very Good and
Spiritual-Minded. Out of Mercy, God
Deprives him of all Understanding, and Overclouds all the Light in which he Walked Aforetime,
and so Hedges him in, with Thorns of an Anguished Conscience,
that he thinks nothing else, but that he is Cast-off from the Light of God's Countenance;
and he Moans Greatly, and Often with many Tears
exclaims: "O my God, why hast Thou Cast me off, and why go I thus Mourning all the Days of my Pilgrimage?"
And when he finds himself thus, from the Crown-of his Head, to the Sole-of his Foot, unlike God
and at Variance-with Him, he is Filled-with the Sense of his own Unworthiness, and with
Displeasure at himself, insomuch that he can Hardly Abide himself; and then he thinks many
Miserable Things about himself from Passages of Holy
Scripture, and Sheds many Tears in the Sense of his Sinfulness, till he is
Weighed-down to the Earth with the Pressure of God's Hand, and Exclaims with the Prophet:
"My Sins are more in Number than the Sands of the Sea; they have Taken hold upon me that I am not able to Look
up; for I have Stirred up God's Anger against me, and done much Evil in His Sight". These things he saith, and more the like.
And at times he is not even able thus to Weep and
Lament, and then he is still more Tormented with
Tribulation and Assaults; for on the one hand, he Feels a Strong Desire to
Cast himself down Humbly, and Die to himself,
and on the other, he is Conscious of Great Pride and
Arrogance about himself, till he is so Exasperated-at himself that, but for the
Dishonor to God, he would fain Kill
himself. I believe that all such Conflict, Greatly Wears-out the
Intellectual and Natural Powers for it is so Excessive, that one would rather
Suffer oneself to be put to Death, than Endure it. Yet One (1)
Grace is left him, namely, that he looks on it all as of no moment, whatever may be
Poured-out over him, if only he may not Knowingly Offend
God. After a while, the Grace of Tears comes back to him, and he Cries-to
God and says: "O Lord, Rise, why Sleepest Thou?" and
asks Him why He hath Sealed-up the
Fountains of His Mercy; he calls upon the Holy Angels
and Blessed Spirits to have Pity on him. He
asks the Heavens why they have become as-Brass, and the Earth wherefore she is as-Iron, and
Beseeches the very Stones to have Compassion-on his Woes. He exclaims: "
Am I become as the Blasted Hill of Gilboa, which was Cursed of David that no Rain or Dew should Fall on it? And how should my
Wickedness alone Vanquish the Invisible God, and force Him to Shut up His Mercies, Whose Property it is to have Mercy and to Help?"
In this Second Stage of the Dying Life,
God Leads the Soul through these Exercises
and Operations of His Hand, as through Fire and Water by turns, until the Workings of
Self-Sufficiency are Driven-out from all the Secret Corners of the
Spirit, and the Man henceforward is so utterly Ashamed of himself,
and so Casts himself off, that he can never more Ascribe any Greatness to himself, but Thoroughly Perceives all his own
Weakness, in which he now is and always has been; and whatever he does or desires to do, or whatever
Good Thing may be said of him, he does not take it to his own Credit, for he knows not how to say anything of
himself, but that he is Full of all Manner of Infirmity. Then he has reached the End of this
Stage; and he who has Arrived at this Point, is not far from the Threshold of Great Mercies,
by which he shall enter into the Bride-chamber of Christ. Then, when the Day of his
Death shall come, he shall be brought in by the
Bridegroom with Great Rejoicing.
It is Hard to Die. We know that Little Trees
do not Strike their Roots, Deep into the Earth, and therefore they cannot Stand Long; so it is with all
Humble Hearts, who do not take Deep Root in Earth, but in Heaven.
But the Great Trees which have Waxed High, and are intended to Endure Long upon the Earth, these Strike their Roots Deep, and Spread them
out Wide, into the Soil. So it is with the Men who in Old Times, and now at this Present, have been Great upon Earth; they must needs
through many a Struggle and Death,
Die unto themselves, before all the Self-Sufficiency
of their Heart can be Broken Down, and they can be Surely and Firmly Rooted for ever in
Humility. It does however happen sometimes that the Holy
Spirit finds Easier Ways than those of which we have spoken, whereby He
Brings such Souls to Himself.
Third Stage of Holiness
The Third Degree in which the Grain of Wheat Dies,
belongs only to the Perfect, who with Unflagging Diligence and Ceaseless Desire, are
ever Striving to approach Perfection. These Men's State, is One of Mingled
Joy and Sorrow, whereby they are Tossed Up
and Down; for the Holy Spirit is Trying and Sifting them, and
Preparing them for Perfection with Two (2) kinds-of
Grief and Two (2) kinds-of Joy
and Happiness, which they have ever in their Sight:
The First Grief is an Inward
Pain and an Overwhelming Sorrow of
Heart, in the Sense-of the Unspeakable Wrong done to the
Holy Trinity by all Creatures, and Specially-by the Bad
Christians, who are Living-in Mortal sin.
The Second Grief consists in their Fellow-feeling for and
Experience-of all the Grief and Pain
which the Human Nature of Christ has Undergone.
The First of the Two (2) Joys
lies in this Dying; it is Clear Intuition and a Perfect
Fruition, to which they are Raised in Christ, by the
Power of the Holy Spirit, that they may Enjoy the
Fruition of Him, and Triumph
in all the Joys which they Hope and
Believe, after this Life, to Behold in all their Perfect Fullness.
The Second Triumph is that they are Fulfilled in all the
Joys which the Human Nature of Christ Possessed. This
Joy, such a Man Hopes to Share as a Member of Christ; and, even
if he cannot Fathom the Abyss of God, he Rejoices therein, for he sees that the Overflowings
of God's Mercy are Unspeakable, and Feels that it is
Good for him, that he is Vanquished in the Effort to Comprehend God's Power,
and Bends-down beneath God in his self-Dying.
To this State, a Man cannot Attain, except he Unite his Will with
God, with an Entire Renunciation and Perfect Denial of himself, and all Selfish
Love of himself; and all Delight in having his own Will be Over-mastered and
Quenched by the Shedding-abroad in his Heart, of the Holy
Spirit, in the Love of God; so that it seems as if the
Holy Spirit Himself were the Man's Will and
Love, and he Were nothing, and Willed nothing
on his own account. Yea, even the Kingdom of Heaven, he shall Desire for
God's Sake and God's Glory, because
Christ hath Earned it, in Order to Supply his needs, and Chooseth to Bestow it on him as
One (1) of His Sons. When in this Stage, a Man
Loveth all things in their Right Order,
God above all things -- next the Blessed Human Nature of
Christ, and after that the Blessed Mother of
Christ, and the Saints of all Degrees, each according to the Rank
which God hath enabled him to Attain. When his Affections are thus Regulated, he sets himself
in the Lowest Place at the Wedding-Feast of the Bridegroom. And when the
Bridegroom comes, Who has bidden him to the
Feast, He saith unto him: "Friend, go up Higher". Then
he is Endowed with a New Life, and Illuminated
with a New Light, in which he Clearly Perceives and Sees that he alone is the Cause of his
own Evil, that he cannot with Truth
Throw the Blame, either on Nature, the World, or the Devil. Yea, he Confesses that
God has Appointed him all these Exercises
and Assaults, out of His Great Love, in order
that he may Glorify God in Overcoming these,
and Deserve a Higher Crown.
Further, he Perceives and Sees that it is God alone,
Who has Upheld him and Stayed his Steps, so that he has no longer an Inclination
to Sin, and Who has Removed the Occasion to
Sin, that he might not Fall. Yea, what is still
Worse, he is Forced to Confess that he has often been Dissatisfied, that he was not
able to Derive more Enjoyment from his Sins.
Thus all his Being is Swallowed up in Sorrow and Remorse
for that he is still Laden-with his Boundless Infirmity.
But he hath Delight and Joy in that he
seeth that the Goodness of God is as Great as his Necessities, so that his Life may well be
called a Dying life, by Reason of such, his Griefs
and Joys which are Conformable and Like-unto the Life of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which from Beginning-to-End, was always made up of Mingled Grief
and Joy:
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Grief, in that He left
His Heavenly Throne and came down
into this World;
Joy, in that He was not
Severed-from the Glory and Honor
of the Father.
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Grief, in that He was a
Son of Man;
Joy, in that He nevertheless
Was and Remained the Son of God.
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Grief, because He took upon
Him the Office of Servant;
Joy, in that He was nevertheless
a Great Lord.
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Grief, because in Human Nature He
was Mortal, and Died upon the Cross;
Joy, because He was
Immortal according to His Godhead.
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Grief, in His Birth, in that
He was once Born of His
Mother;
Joy, in that He is the
Only-Begotten of God's Heart, from Everlasting-to-Everlasting.
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Grief, because He became
in-Time, Subject to Time;
Joy, because He was
Eternal, Before all Time, and shall be so for ever.
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Grief, in that the Word was
Born into the Flesh, and hath Dwelt in us;
Joy, in that the Word was in the
Beginning with God, and God Himself
was the Word.
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Grief, in that it Behooved Him
to be Baptized like any Human Sinner by
Saint John the Baptist, in the Jordan;
Joy, in that the Voice of His Heavenly Father
said of Him: "This is my Beloved Son Whom I am Well
Pleased".
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Grief, in that like Others, Sinners,
He was Tempted of the
Enemy;
Joy, in that the Angels came and
Ministered unto Him.
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Grief, in that He oftentimes
Endured Hunger and Thirst;
Joy, because He Himself was the
Lord of Men and Angels.
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Grief, in that He was often
Wearied with His Labors;
Joy, because He is the Rest of all
Loving Hearts and Blessed Spirits.
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Grief, forasmuch as His Holy Life
and Sufferings should Remain in Vain
for so many Human Beings;
Joy, because He should thereby
Save His Friends.
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Grief, in that He must needs
ask to Drink Water of the Heathen Woman at the Well;
Joy, in that He gave to that same
Woman, to Drink of Living Water, so that she should never Thirst again.
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Grief, in that He was wont to
Sail in Ships over the Sea;
Joy, because He was Wont to Walk
Dry-shod over the Waves.
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Grief, in that He Wept with
Martha and Mary over Lazarus;
Joy, in that He Raised their
Brother Lazarus from the Dead.
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Grief, in that He was
Nailed to the Cross with Nails;
Joy, in that He Promised
Paradise to the Thief by
His Side.
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Grief, in that He Thirsted,
when Hanging on the Cross;
Joy, in that He should thereby
Redeem His Elect, from
Eternal Thirst.
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Grief, when He said:
"My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me?";
Joy, in that He would with these
Words, Comfort all Sad Hearts.
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Grief, in that His
Soul was Parted-from His
Body, and He
Died and was Buried;
Joy, because on the Third Day
He Rose- again from the Dead
with a Glorified Body.
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Thus was all His Life, from the Manger to the Cross,
a Mingled Web of Grief and Joy. Which
Life He hath left as a Sacred Testament to
His Followers in this Present Time, who are Converted unto
His Dying Life, that they may Remember Him
when they Drink of His Cup, and
Walk as He hath Walked.
May God help us so to do!
Amen
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