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these laws perfectly, we do His will, and consequently we shall be united with Him. But, as I have said, how far are we from observing these two duties as we ought to do to so great a God! May His Majesty grant us grace, in order that we may deserve to arrive at this state; and this is in our power if we wish.

In my opinion, the surest sign for discovering whether we observe these two duties, is the love of our neighbour; since we cannot know whether we love God, though we may have strong proof of it; but they can be more easily discovered respecting the love of our neighbour. And be assured, that the further you advance in that love, the more will you advance in the love of God likewise; for the affection which His Majesty has for us is so great, that as a return for the love we show our neighbour, He will make that love go on increasing which we have for Himself; of this I have no doubt.

XIII.

THE HEROIC ENTHUSIAST.

The mind, then, which aspires high, leaves, for the first thing, caring about the crowd, considering that the divine light despises striving and is only to be found where there is intelligence, and yet not every intelligence, but that which is amongst the few, the chief, the first among the first, the principal one.

How do you mean that the mind aspires high? For example, by looking at the stars? At the empyreal heaven above the ether? Certainly not! but by plunging into the depths of the mind, for which there is no great need to open the eyes to the sky, to raise the hands, to direct the steps to the temple, nor sing to the ears of statues in order to be better heard; but to come into the inner self believing that God is near, present and within, more fully than man himself, being soul of souls, life of lives, essence of essences: for that which you see above or below, or round about, or however you please to say it, of the stars, are bodies, are created things, similar to this globe on which we are, and in which the divinity is neither more nor less than he is in this globe of ours or in ourselves. This is how, then, one must begin to withdraw oneself from the multitude into oneself. One ought to arrive at such a point to despise and not to over-estimate every labour, so that, the more the desires and the vices contend with each other inwardly, and the vicious enemies dispute outwardly, so much the more should

one breathe and rise, and with spirit, if possible, surmount this steep hill. Here there is no need for other arms and shield than the majesty of an unconquered soul and a tolerant spirit, which maintains the quality and meaning of that life which proceeds from science and is regulated by the art of considering attentively things low and high, divine and human, in the which consists the highest good; and in reference to this, a moral philosopher wrote to Lucillus that one must not linger between Scylla and Charybdis, penetrate the wilds of Candavia and the Apennines, or lose oneself in the sandy plains, because the road is as sure and as blythe as Nature herself could make it. "It is not," says he, "gold and silver that makes one like God, because these are not treasure to Him; nor vestments, for God is naked; nor ostentation and fame, for He shows Himself to few, and perhaps not one knows Him, and certainly many, and more than many, have a bad opinion of Him. Not all the various conditions of things of which we desire to have copies, make one rich, but the contempt for those things."

Well. But tell me in what manner will this fellow tranquillize the senses, assuage the woes of the spirit, compensate the heart and give it just debts to the mind, so that with this aspiration of his he come not to say: "Nitimur incassum"?

He will be present in the body in such wise that the best part of himself will be absent from it, and will join himself by an indissoluble sacrament to divine things, in such a way that he will not feel either love or hatred of things mortal. Considering himself as master, and that he ought not to be servant and slave to his body, which he would regard only as the prison which holds his liberty in confinement, the glue which smears his wings, chains which bind fast his hands, stocks which fix his feet, veil which hides his view. Let him not be servant, captive, ensnared, chained, idle, stolid and blind, for the body which he himself abandons cannot tyrannize over him, so that thus, the spirit in a certain degree comes before him as the corporeal world, and matter is subject to the divinity and to nature. Thus will he become strong against fortune, magnanimous towards injuries, intrepid towards poverty, disease and persecution. Well is the heroic enthusiast instructed!

GERMAN PROTESTANTISM.

I.

PLEA FOR CHRISTIAN LIBERTY.

I cry aloud on behalf of liberty and conscience, and I proclaim with confidence that no kind of law can with any justice be imposed on Christians, whether by men or by angels, except so far as they themselves will; for we are free from all. If such laws are imposed on us, we ought so to endure them as still to preserve the consciousness of our liberty. We ought to know and steadfastly protest that a wrong is being done to that liberty, though we may bear and even glory in that wrong; taking care neither to justify the tyrant nor to murmur against the tyranny. "Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" (1 Peter III. 13). All things work together for good to the elect of God. Since, however, there are but few who understand the glory of baptism and the happiness of Christian liberty, or who can understand them for the tyranny of the Pope-I for my part will set free my own mind and deliver my conscience, by declaring aloud to the Pope and to all papists, that unless they shall throw aside all their laws and traditions, and restore liberty to the churches of Christ, and cause that liberty to be taught, they are guilty of the death of all the souls which are perishing in this wretched bondage, and that the papacy is in truth nothing else than the Kingdom of Babylon and of very Antichrist. For who is the man of sin and the son of perdition, but he who by his teaching and his ordinances increases the sin and the perdition of souls in the Church; while he yet sits in the Church as if he were God? All these conditions have now for many ages heen fulfilled by the papal tyranny. It has extinguished faith, darkened the sacraments, crushed the Gospel; while it has enjoined and multiplied without end its own laws, which are not only wicked and sacrilegious, but also most unlearned and barbarous.

II.

GENUINE RELICS.

The theologian of the Cross-he, that is, who speaks of a crucified and hidden God-teaches that punishments, crosses, and death are the most precious of all treasures, and the most sacred of all relics, which the LORD Himself of this theology consecrated and blessed, not only by the touch of His most holy flesh, but also by the embrace of His supremely holy and divine will, and left them here to be truly kissed, sought, and embraced. Happy, indeed, and blessed is he whom God may deem worthy to have bestowed on him these treasures of the relics of Christ-or, rather, who understands that they are bestowed on him. For to whom are they not offered? As St. James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" for it is not for every one to have the grace and glory to accept these treasures, but only for the most elect of the sons of God.

Many make pilgrimages to Rome and other holy places, to see the coat of Christ, the bones of the martyrs, the homes and the footsteps of the saints. I do not condemn them. But I grieve that we should be so ignorant of the true relics-namely, the passions and crosses which have sanctified the bones and relics of the martyrs, and have made them worthy of such veneration. Not only do we fail to accept them when offered to us at home, but we repulse them with all our might, and chase them away from place to place; whereas we ought to demand of God, with the utmost thirst, and with perennial tears, that He would give us such precious relics of Christ, the most sacred of all, as being the gift of the elect sons of God. So sacred are these relics, so precious are such treasures, that whereas others can be preserved in earth, or when most honoured, in gold, silver, jewels, silk, these can only be preserved in heavenly, living, reasonable, immortal, pure, holy receptacles, that is, in the hearts of the faithful, inestimably more precious than all the gold and jewels in the world.

III.

LUTHER'S PSALM.

A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon;

He'll help us clear from all the ill
That hath us now o'ertaken.

The ancient Prince of Hell
Hath risen with purpose fell;
Strong mail of Craft and Power
He weareth in this hour,

On Earth is not his fellow.

With force of arms we nothing can,
Full soon were we down-ridden;
But for us fights the proper Man,
Whom God himself hath bidden.
Ask ye, who is this same?
Christ Jesus is his name,

The LORD Zebaoth's Son,

He and no other one

Shall conquer in the battle.

And were this world all Devils o'er,

And watching to devour us,

We lay it not to heart so sore,

Not they can overpower us.

And let the Prince of ill
Look grim as e'er he will,

He harms us not a whit:
For why? His doom is writ,

A word shall quickly slay him.

God's Word, for all their craft and force,

One moment will not linger,

But spite of Hell, shall have its course,

'Tis written by his finger.

And though they take our life,

Goods, honour, children, wife,

Yet is their profit small;

These things shall vanish all,

The City of God remaineth.

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