The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 9 of 124

Sermon for New-year’s Day

On this happy New-Year’s Day should every pious Christian cut himself off from his former transgressions and his evil habits, and over and over again renew his good resolutions. For many a one, warned by Ood or his own friends, begins a new course; but he quickly falls away again from his good manner of life, and before he knows how or where it happened, he has slipped back, and this comes mainly from the following causes:

The first is that one is not loosened from his inclinations and tastes for created things. It may be love of thy own self that holds thee down, or it may be some other transitory good. Whatever is not God, whether small or great, fetches thee down, even without thy knowing it, so that thou mayst not stay in the right way, or with God.

The second cause is that one is not rooted in humility. Whoever will have his tree grow must sink the roots deep in the earth; otherwise, no matter how the sun shines and the water is poured upon it, it all avails nothing to make it grow and bear fruit. Once it is well planted, and the deeper it is sunk below, the higher it grows up above. Just so then, supposing the soil to be good, it grows well and bears much fruit, with thyself. Are thy roots, that is to say, thy intentions, not planted in the good, fertile soil that God alone is, in real and submissive humility, and that without any doubt? Then all light and teaching and all the waters of devout sentiments help thee nothing. Thou must even be withered and dried up before thou canst come to anything. And true humility is not such talk as this: I am a good-for-nothing creature. But rather that one is in all reality totally subjected to God, not in outward show, but in his deepest heart, in the renunciation of self in all things again, with a willing soul stripped all naked and in poverty; appropriating to oneself not a hair’s weight of all the gifts God grants him; everything of this done in deepest spiritual silence, the innermost soul sunk in humble recollection, without the least self-consciousness, without sitting in judgment on other men.

The third cause of failure is a man being too much occupied with his outward senses, not abstaining enough from efforts of his own, acting as if God could do nothing without his help. A man must in all things turn inward, wait inwardly, watch there for God, let God act, and be to God nothing but an instrument in His hands. Let him do God’s will simply, passively and not actively, acknowledging as God’s his every effort, act and word. Surrender thy will to God in all things, and live and act interiorly. Draw thyself in to the innermost recesses of thy soul, for it is there that God dwells; gather there unto Him all thy faculties and senses, all will and all activity, and busy thyself only with longing for the all-lovely will of God. And if thou hast no longing, yet long to have a longing; be God’s bondsman, not in name, but essentially, by an act beyond power of words to tell, or thought, or understanding, in a manner all passive, mysteriously sunk down in the darkness of thy inmost being, and in pure faith. Only then it is that one prays most perfectly in the spirit, and seeks the heavenly Father with a prayer that is always heard and granted.

Take an example. There were two virgins in a convent, one versed in high learning and deep questions; the other had no thought of such things, but in simplicity of soul was absorbed in God, and ever gave herself up to Him. This latter was powerful with God, who at once granted her all she asked. And whatever others asked her to pray for, God forthwith granted it to them, even when she had forgotten to pray for it. When they thanked her she said to God: Ah, my dear Lord, how has this happened, for I forgot to offer the prayers which Thou yet hast granted t And He answered her: There was no need of thou thyself begging these favors; it was enough for Me that thou wast asked to do so, and that I

Any man who gives himself to God essentially determined always to remain His prisoner, to him will God in turn deliver Himself entirely, and, as it were, become his captive. And then God leads him ineffably above all captivity into Divine freedom in His own self, and makes him, in a certain way, rather a Divine than a human being. They who approach such a man come near to God, and they who would know him well must know him in God. Herein are all his wounds healed, all his debts paid, and he has passed out of creatures into God. His natural state has in a manner been changed into a Divine state. This blessed exchange is beyond comprehension, beyond sensible perception and feeling, for it is beyond natural conditions. Whosoever have found this interior way have found the shortest and happiest; and the most perfect and eternal enjoyment of God is theirs. We had better be silent about this than discourse of it, better experience it than comprehend it.

These souls are ever abandoned to God in their will and in all things as God desires, keeping always a close guard over themselves. God is constantly present to them in their perceptions and feelings; at no time or in any act do they lose touch of Him or He of them; they always mean God and seek Him in what they do, never themselves. And if it ever happens that they lose the sense of God’s nearness, whether in their souls or in outward nature, then they immediately suffer. Multiplicity, unrest, darkness, dissipation of mind, afflict them and cause dissatisfaction in their labors. This is the test as to whether or not one works for God alone. Thus easily and strongly does Nature seek herself in all thingB, even, alas, in the things of God.

O, if a man will reach the possession of the Supreme Good, he must labor as hard and as skilfully as one who would master a difficult art! Let him always lie prostrate at God’s feet as a poor little worm, as being nothing and good for nothing, actually realizing the words of the prophet: “I have become as a beast before Thee, and I am always with Thee” (Ps. lxii, 23). And again the Holy Spirit says to the bride: “If thou knowest not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth and follow after the steps of the flocks!” (Gant, i, 7). This means:

Learn a lesson from the patient beast, who eats nothing and does nothing except as guided by his owner and according as the heavenly bodies influence him. O, if any one will but give himself up to God and follow Him, he will always be with God and with the prophets, and will, indeed, be happy! If you strike an ox, he does not resent it; if you caress him, he regards it not; he neither rejoices nor mourns, but leaves all things to themselves. If we shall ever come to that state on account of absorption in God we shall, indeed, be perfect men. Whosoever is really detached from himself and savors God alone, to him God makes a plain response in all things, in pleasure and in pain, in plenty and in want.

If one will arrive at this state, let him fly away, be still, wait and repose. Whosoever has gained these four helps easily overcomes any affliction. He who thinks always of his last end, and with a yearning heart awaits eternity, easily despises all earthly things. Thou shalt never taste the Divine sweetness, until thou dost reject earthly sweetness as if it were the taste of death. Whosoever will be saved must be saved by means of great care and watchfulness. If thy thoughts shall dwell in Heaven, Heaven shall be granted thee on earth. Whatever virtue is thine without interior silence it will be impossible for thee to keep. Know thyself, for many men know many things and never know themselves. He who has mastered his thoughts, and keeps them hidden from men and the world, is secure from the strokes of the enemy. He who is happy when all alone, is secretly visited by God, and the enemy disturbs him not in his inner life, while his outward life rests in much peace. But he that is involved in multiplicity must suffer many wounds. Whatsoever man begins to disregard the little things in the spiritual life and to heed not his trifling faults, loses courage and zeal little by little, and at last comes to nothing. May God save us all from this. Amen.

Explanation of natural spiritual activity — Examples drawn from Chrisfs dealing with His Apostles — Interior and exterior quiet necessary — How compatible with duty — Union of action with contemplation— How contemplation is superior to action — How the intelligence acts during contemplation — Zeal, when inordinate — Vows and other obligations, how related to higher states of prayer.