CHAPTER VI.

Of the imperfections in the matter of spiritual gluttony.
There is much to say of the fourth capital sin, which is spiritual gluttony, for there is scarcely one among beginners, however good his progress, who, in the matter of this sin, does not fall into some of the many imperfections to which beginners are liable, because ot that sweetness which in the beginning they find in spiritual exercises.
2. Many beginners, delighting in the sweetness and joy of their spiritual occupations, strive after spiritual sweetness rather than after pure and true devotion.
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which is that which God regards and accepts in the whole course of the spiritual way. For this reasofiri over and above their imperfection in seeking after; sweetness in devotion, that spirit of gluttony, which has taken possession of them, forces them to overstep , the limits of moderation, within which virtue is acquired { and consists. For allured by the delights they then experience, some of them kill themselves by penances, , and others weaken themselves by fasting. They tak^ upon themselves more than they can bear, without rule or advice ; they try to conceal their austerities from those whom they are bound to obey, and some even venture to practise them though commanded to abstain. These are full of imperfections — unreasonable people, who undervalue submission and obedience, which is the ] penance of the reason and judgment, and therefore a more acceptable and sweet sacrifice unto God than all the acts of bodily penance. Bodily penance is full of imperfections when the penance of the will is neglected, for men undertake it merely because they * like it, and for the sweetness which they find in it.
3. Inasmuch then as all extremes are vicious, and as in this course of conduct men follow their own will, the # consequences are that they grow in vice and not in virtue ; at least they minister to their spiritual gluttony and pride, for they do not walk in the way of obedience. 1 The devil so deceives many of them by exciting their
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gluttony through this sweetness which he increases, that, since they cannot obey, they either change, or vary, or add to, what is commanded them ; so hard and bitter is obedience become. The evil has so grown upon some, that they lose all desire to do their spiritual duties the instant obedience enjoins them; because all their satisfaction consists in doing that which pleases them, and perhaps it would be better for them to leave it undone.
4. Many of these importune their spiritual directors to allow them to do their own will : they extort that permission as if by force, and if it be refused, they mope like children, and become discontented, and think they are not serving God whenever they are thwarted. These persons clinging to sweetness and their own will, the moment they are contradicted, and directed according to the will of God, become fretful, fainthearted, and then fall away. They imagine that to please and satisfy themselves, is to serve and please God.
5. Others also there are, who, by reason of this spiritual gluttony, are so ignorant of their own mean- ness and misery, and so insensible to that loving fear and reverence due to the majesty of God, that they are not afraid to insist on being allowed by their confessors to confess and communicate frequently. And what is much worse, they very often dare to communicate without the leave and sanction of the minister and
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steward of Christ, purely out of their own head, and hide the truth from him. This eagerness for communion makes them confess carelessly, for they are more anxious to communicate anyhow than to communicate in pure- ness and perfection. It would be more profitable for them, and a holier course, to beg their confessors not to enjoin such frequent communions ; though the better way between these two extremes is to be humble and resigned. This excessive boldness leads to great evil, and men may well be in fear of chastisement for such rashness.
6. These persons, when they communicate, strive with all their might for sensible sweetness, instead of worshipping in humility and praising God within them- selves. So much are they given to this, that they think when they derive no sensible sweetness, they have done nothing, so meanly do they think of God; ^neither do they understand that the least of the blessings of the Most Holy Sacrament is that which touches the senses, and that the invisible grace It confers is far greater p for God frequently withholds these sensible favours from men, that they may fix the eyes of faith upon Himself. But these persons will feel and taste God, as if He were palpable and accessible to them, not only in communion but in all their other acts of devotion. All this is a very great imperfection, and directly at variance with the nature of God, Who demands the purest faith.
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[BOOK I.
7. They conduct themselves in the same way when they are praying; for they imagine that the whole business of prayer consists in sensible devotion, and this they strive to obtain with all their might, wearying out their brains and perplexing all the faculties of their souls. When they miss that sensible devotion, they are cast down, thinking they have done nothing. This effort after sweetness destroys true devotion and spirituality, which consist in perseverance in prayer with patience and humility, mistrusting self, solely to please God. Therefore, when they once miss sweetness in prayer, or in any other act of religion, they feel a sort of repugnance to resume it, and sometimes cease from it altogether.
8. In this they are, as we said just now, like children who are not influenced by reason, but by their inclina- tions. 'They waste their time in the search after spiritual consolation, and are never satisfied with reading good books, taking up one meditation after another, in the pursuit of sensible sweetness in the things of God. God refuses it to them most justly, wisely, and lovingly, for if He did not, this spiritual gluttony on their part would grow into great evils. For this reason, it is most necessary that they should enter into the dark night, that they may be cleansed from this childishness.
9. They who are bent on sensible sweetness, labour also under another very great imperfection: excessive weakness and remissness on the rugged road of the cross ;
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for the soul that is given to sweetness naturally sets its face against all the pain of self-denial. They labour under many other imperfections, which have their origin here, of which our Lord will heal them in due time, through temptations, aridities and trials, elements of the dark night. I will not enlarge upon them here, that I may avoid prolixity ; but this will I say, that spiritual soberness and temperance produce a far different temper, that of mortification, of fear and submission in all things ; showing us that the perfection and value of things consist not in the multitude thereof, but in our knowing how to deny ourselves in them. Spiritual men must labour after this with all their might, until it shall please God to purify them by leading them into the dark night. I hasten on with the description of these imperfections, that I may enter on the explanation of it.