The parable of the pilgrim written to a friend by Symon Patrick ...

CAP. XIV.

The manner of their life who live at Jerusalem: and that all things concur to make it the most pleasant of all other.

YOU have great incouragement then to make haste to Jerusalem, for you see they pass their time there more delightfully then in any other place; and lead a life so much to their content, that one may truly say their imployment is to please themselves, and to do according to their desires. The most vigorous Soul that this earth affords, is but a drone in compare with the sprightly air of them that inhabit those Cae∣lestial Regions. You would say the most pleasant dayes that here we lead and study to prolong to an hundred years, are but like a sleep and a dream, a meer image and shaddow of life; if you could but be raised for one minute to the strength and activity of those happy people, and receive but the sleightest taste of those lively and essential delights which force the whole soul to attend unto them. The briskness and chearfulness of our youthful time, doth not so much excell the flat and insipid pleasures of our decrepit Age; as they themselves are surpassed by the quick∣ness

and height of those joyes wherein the Citizens of Jerusalem are eternally immersed. It is impossible for me to declare the smallest part of the sweet delectati∣ons which they resent; but, to gratifie those longings which I discern I have already excited in you, I shall run the adventure of describing a few of those plea∣sures that gush out of that full and ever-springing foun∣tain of Good with whom they live and maintain an happy converse. And because I believe you are de∣sirous to know, how they receive and take in those voluptuous injoyments, I will indeavour with one la∣bour to satisfie you in both.

You may conceive then if you please that such a spirit as your own being advanced and fortified much beyond the feeble narrowness of this present state, doth continually imploy the highest and most Sove∣raign powers that it hath, upon the highest and most supream Good. That it is daily admiring his excellent nature, loving and embracing his amiable perfections, blessing and praising his bounteous disposition, study∣ing to conform it self to all his desires, rejoycing in the full satisfaction which he communicates to its heart, and in one word doing all those actions which a soul is capable to perform upon any other object in this world: And then you will have a little Idea of that infinite delectation which such a conjunction of the very top and flour of the mind with the beginning and original of all good must needs produce. Look how you are moved in the injoyment of any sensual good, and that will tell you what they do who live at Jeru∣salem, and wherein the pleasure of their life doth con∣sist. You see it or some way or other perceive it, you apprehend and lay hold of it; you feel it; you cleave

unto it; you are tickled and delighted in it: and just so will you and all they live and be happy in God who arrive at that blessed place. Their life and felicity consists in a clear and distinct perception of him; in a close union and conjunction of heart and will with him; in a feeling of the pleasures that are in him; in an ardent embracement of him that they may more feel him; and in an high delight and ravishment of spirit in such injoyment of him. Thither if we can but get, we shall love as much as we are able, and be able to love far more then we can now think. The great∣ness of the object will intend the affection. The vast∣ness of the Good will force the will to desire and love more then else it would. We shall injoy according to the wideness of our Capacit; and all our Capacities will be so inlarged, that they will exceed the extent of our present thoughts, as much as our present thoughts exceed our present injoyments. It is a life wherein we shall do nothing but what we desire; and wherein all things shall be just as we will our selves; and where∣in we shall will nothing but that which is most to be chosen. A life every act of which must needs be sweet, and full of joy, beyond all the measures of all our pre∣sent wishes. When we think, we shall rejoyce; when we love, we shall rejoyce; when we adore or praise, we shall rejoyce. Whatsoever we do it will have in∣finite delight and pleasure in it; and when we have done it never so oft it will be eternally to be done again: and we shall likewise have more power to do it; and every repetition of such acts will be with a fresh addition of contentment in the doing of them. There is no satiety nor loathing in the injoyment of that good; no fainting nor growing weary: but we shall alwayes think we have enough and yet still be

injoying more; we shall be in a perpetual youth and vigor, and yet daily growing more strong and able to converse with God. For that great Good cannot be known at once, nor can all the sweetness of that life be instantly tasted, nor the rivers of those pleasures be drunk up at one draught: but fresh delights will con∣tinually entertain us; new pleasures will be springing forth unto us, and a flood of joy that we never knew before will over-flow us, out of that full fountain who now issues forth in so many streams, and diffuses himself in such great varieties in this world; that our minds may be every moment imploy'd in some rarity of nature which till then did never affect their eyes. A happy life sure this will be, when we shall have be∣fore us such an inexhausted ocean of Good to fill us, and such great appetites to be filled, and such repeated satisfaction in the filling of them, and such an increase of strength by their satisfaction; and wider capacities also created by the continual flowing in of that good upon us, which will distend and stretch our souls by its injoyment, to make us more able to injoy it.

And now need I be at any pains to perswade you that this City is a place which abounds so much with a plenty of all good things, that there can be no want at all; but a perfect fulness of whatsoever may be an happiness to us? It is apparent already that whatso∣ever we can desire, there it is present, and whatsoever is present is Good, and whatsoever good there is, it is all Good, pure good, without any evil; and that pure Good is all in one Good, GOD himself, who can be no∣thing else but Good. How much do the Good things of this world delight us, which yet are not Good by themselves, nor contain in them all that Good is, nor

are only Good neither, but come with a great mixture of trouble to us? Will not the injoyment then of him give us infinitely more pleasure and make us perfectly happy, who is Good by himself and not by derivation from any other, and so is perfectly Good, and nothing else but Good without any thing at all to abate his sweetness. These things here below (saith an ancient Guide to Jerusalem whom I have met withall) are something Good,* 1.1 else how should they at all delight us? but they could not be Good at all, if it were not for him that is All Good and only Good who hath made them to be what Good they are. For all Good was created by him, and he is that Good which was created by none. He is Good by his own Good, and not by any participated Goodness; He is Good from his Good self, and not by adhering to any other Good. As much therefore as he excells all other Good, so much must our injoyment of him excell all other in∣joyment. As he is a Good that is from none but him∣self, so our happiness will be a Good that depends on none but his happiness. When we are with him we shall but ask, and we shall see; we shall but see, and we shall love; we shall but love, and we shall eter∣nally rejoyce: or rather we need not ask at all, for he will but present himself before us, and force us to love and rejoyce without any measure.

And seeing it is a place of such full satisfaction you will not question its tranquillity and repose: especi∣ally since it is (as you heard before you came hither) the very Vision of Peace. The life which they lead there is so full of content, that they are not disturbed by any passion, nor disquieted by the violence and disorder of any unruly affection. A life it is, void of

all sadness, free from all grief, quit of all care, and rid of all anxiety of mind. Where there is no adversary to assault, no forbidden fruit to tempt, no impetuous desire of the flesh to molest them, and no fear neither that ever they shall be haunted with these enemies of their peace and contentment. O how happy should we find our selves if we were but come to the top of that high Mountain, which will seem the more clear and quiet, because so many clouds have here so often overcast us, and so many sudden blasts have ruffled and discomposed us. There we shall not accuse one another of any injuries, because we shall not do the least; nor be troubled to pursue our right, because we shall not be wronged. There we shall live with∣out jealousies; and converse (as I have told you) with∣out suspition; and pass Eternity without any differ∣ence of opinion, or debates and controversies in Reli∣gion, which now are no small disease and bring no little burden upon our hearts. Nay, the very actions of Piety many of them, will be of a different kind from what they now are, unattended with those passions to which we are now moved, which make us suffer evil, while we do good. Here, as the forenamed per∣son well observed to me, we do good works, when we deal our bread to the hungry, and receive the distres∣sed stranger, and clothe the naked, which is a kind of affliction and tribulation which we indure by our sympathy with them to whom we pay our Charity. For we find miserable persons on whom to exercise our Mercy, and the misery which we see they lye un∣der, makes us compassionate, that is, to suffer with them. How much better then shall we be, when we shall find no hungry mouth to feed, no stranger to en∣tertain, no naked body to cast our garments over, no

sick men to attend, no prisoner to visit, no tormented person to commiserate, no differences to compose, no contenders to reconcile: but our Love shall be of another sort, all joy, all pleasure in the good and in the perfect happiness of every one that we behold. And if there were nothing else there to entertain us, but the comforts of that friendship I told you of, and the delights we shall interchange by a constant amity and good will, to one another; it were sufficient to recommend this life to any wise mans affection, and make him willing to forsake this world, to go to a place of such endless love and kindness.

And, doth there now need any demonstration that this is a place of great safety and security environ'd on all sides with the power of God against the attempts of all the enemies of our happiness? No sure; for then we should be in danger of some disturbance. If we should conceive indeed any forces could be gathered against it, and that it were not impregnable in it self, we might easily imagine that so many troops of illustri∣ous friends, so many bands of holy Lovers as here in∣habit, would perform strange things against the most puissant Invaders. There is nothing, I told you, so strong as Love by the force of which in one single per∣son, incredible things have been atchieved: and therefore much greater would the united power of it appear in so many hosts of noble spirits all inspired with the highest degree of this affection, who would do their utmost for the service and safety of one ano∣ther. But yet we need not have recourse to such fan∣cies as these, for the assurance of our peace in that bles∣sed place. It is impossible that any thing should wound the quiet of such happy souls, or make the least breach

in any of their enjoyments. There cannot be so much interruption given to them as the scratch of a pin among us amounts unto; because they are out of the reach of the evil one, and placed in such still and calm Regions, where nothing breathes, but only that love and dear affection for ever.

Upon which account also it is, that there can be no intermission of their injoyments, no more than there will be interruption and disturbance. It being a full and perfect happiness, there will no time pass wherein they will not be happy. The dayes there have no nights: The life hath no sleep, which is but the Image of death. There will not be so much diversion there from the proper exercises of that life, as meat and drink now creates, which are the present support of our infirm bodies: Much less will there be any disease or decay of strength, or the incumbrance of any of those imployments which ingage so great a part of our time and thoughts. Our Love therefore shall never languish, or stand in need of any refreshment; our charity shall not cool and abate its heat; our joy shall not exhaust our spirits, and leave us dull by the excess of it, as here it sometimes doth. But, as I said before, we shall rather gather strength, and grow more apt to receive an increase of joy, by the greatness and force of that which we have already received.

I need but just remember you, it being a thing you have heard no doubt an hundred times, that this life of theirs is without any death: An eternal life (as the Holy Books call it) where we shall not have so much sadness as the thoughts of its having an end would be∣get. But we shall rejoyce first, that we have so much,

and next of all, that we shall never have less, and then that we shall still injoy more; and above all, that what we do enjoy shall live as long as God who is the cause of it, that is, for ever.

I believe you are not weary of so delightful a dis∣course, yet lest I should keep you too long from the rest of my Instructions, I shall shorten it as much as I can, and shut up this description with a meditation of that devoute person, who, as I told you long ago, un∣dertook the Guidance of men to Jerusalem.

How different, saith he, is the life of those in that place, from that of ours here? Here there is falshood; there is truth. Here is perturbation; there is a faithful possession. Here is bitterness and hatred, there is dilection and eternal love. Here is dange∣rous elation of mind, there is secure exultation of spirit. Here we are in doubt, whether they that love us may not change their thoughts; there is per∣petual friendship, and no possibility of being ene∣mies. Here whatsoever is good, we are afraid may perish; there whatsoever we receive will be preser∣ved by him that gave it. Here there is death, and there is nothing but life. Here we enjoy what the eye, and the ear, and our thoughts present unto us; but there we shall see what the eye hath not seen, and hear what the ear hath never heard, and under∣stand what the heart cannot now comprehend: And seeing, hearing and knowing after that manner, we shall rejoyce with joy unspeakable. For what kind of joy must that be, when thou seest thy self in the company of Angels; a partner in the Kingdom of Heaven, to raign with the King of the world; de∣siring nothing, to possess all things; rich, without

covetousness; charitable, without mony; triumph∣ing, without the fear of any barbarous Invaders; and living this life, without any death? O sweet life! the more I think of thee, the more I love thee; the more vehemently I desire thee; the more I am plea∣sed in the remembrance of thee; I love to speak of thee, I love to hear of thee, I love to write of thee, to confer of thee, to read of thee; that so I may re∣fresh the pains and the sweat, and the dangers of this tedious life, by laying my weary head in the bo∣some of thy secure pleasures. For this end I enter into the Garden of the Holy Scriptures; I gather there the sweet flowers of Divine Sayings; that which I gather, I eat; that which I eat, I chew over again; and that which I have tasted, I lay up in mine heart; that by such sweetness I may allay the bitter∣ness and irksomeness of this miserable life. O that my sins were done away! O that laying aside the burden of this flesh, I might enter into thy ease and quiet! To receive the Crown of Life; to be associa∣ted to the caelestial Singers; to behold the face of Christ; to see the uncircumscribed light, and with∣out fear of death to rejoyce without any end. There is the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, there are the glorious twelve Apostles; there is an innumer∣able Army of Martyrs; there is the holy Company of Pious Confessors; there are the Divine Lovers of Solitude and Retirement; there are the holy Wo∣men that have overcome the infirmities of their sex, and the powers of the world; there are the brave Youths and Virgins, whose holy manners transcend∣ed their years; there are the Sheep and the Lambs that have escaped the danger of glutting themselves with these earthly pleasures; there perfect Charity

reigns, because God is there All in All. There they see without fear, and love without measure, and praise without ceasing. There loving they praise, and praising they love, and it is their work to do so alwaies without any interruption. But alas! Who can tell what a Great Good, God is? (as he proceeds in another place) Who can declare how full he is, or relate the happiness that he will give us? We can∣not tell it, and yet we cannot hold our peace: It is more than can be uttered, and yet we cannot chuse but talk of it. And if we cannot tell it because of our ignorance, and yet cannot hold our tongues be∣cause of our joy for what we know; in what condi∣tion are we, which will neither let us speak, nor yet be silent? What shall we do with our selves, if we can neither tell what it is, nor yet cease to speak of it? Ile tell you in two or three words; Let us re∣joyce: Let us praise God: Let us keep a perpetual Jubilee here in our hearts: thanking him very much that we know so much of this happiness; and thank∣ing him more, that it is so great that we cannot know it all.

Here, if the Guide had not made a little stop, I think the Pilgrim had interrupted him; for he had kept his silence thus long with great difficulty, and now cryed out with a more than ordinary vehemence; Blessed be God that he hath brought me to this place! This is none other than the suburbs of Jerusalem; this is the Gate of Heaven. Happy was the day which let me see your face! I heard something of Jerusalem be∣fore by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eyes see it, and I am all inamoured of it. You have shown me a sight so glorious, that it is beyond our thoughts, and

beyond our desires; I was going to say, beyond our Faith, and beyond our hope. Sure you are one of the Angels of God sent from Jerusalem to fetch me thi∣ther. You had inflamed me with an high Degree of Love before, but now you have put me in a fiery Cha∣riot, and methinks I am not upon the earth, but ascend∣ing up to those heavenly Regions. Nay, you have transported me to the City of God already. Methinks I see the Lord of Glory. I behold the Thrones that are erected for all the Noble Travellers to that Holy Land. I fancy my self in the dear embraces of those Glorious Lovers. And I am apt to embrace you as one of the Seraphims that have fired my soul with the same Love. I see the blessed Jesus preparing himself for his appearance; and begin to think that I am triumphing with him. Or, if I am but in a dream of these things, yet it is so pleasant, that I could wish it might last for ever; and that nothing might awake me out of such a delightful slumber. Not so, said his Guide (interrupting his speech) I love you better than to let you enjoy such a wish; and I would rouze you up to demonstrate their reality, if I thought you took these things for charming dreams, and painted shadows. You shall not make such a mean supposal, nor content your self with such aiery pleasures; for I will make you know at once both that there is such a blessed place as I have described; and discover to you more perfectly the way unto it. There is another dear name inclosed in those words which I told you must alwaies be sealed upon your heart, and that is the Holy JUSUS. On whom I do not intend that you should look only as he sits on his Throne of Glory at Jerusalem, but as he walked up and down the world, and was a Pilgrim like your self travelling to that place. He published

the Glory of it; He brought life and immortality to light; He set open the Gates of Jerusalem to all faithful Travellers; He run the Race himself wherein you are to follow; and for the joy that was set before him when he should come thither, he was not ashamed of a poorer habit than the meanest Pilgrim wears. If you take a view therefore of his life, and trace his holy steps; you cannot miss the Rode which I would have you take, nor fail to be convinced that it can carry you to no other place but the City of God. For, Do you not remember that this person hath stiled himself the WAY? There is nothing so necessary than in all that sentence as this one word Jesus to have alwaies in your mind: whom I shall now describe unto you as a fair Copy, not only of that Humility and Charity which I named before; but of all other things that you must resolve to undertake if you mean to come at Jerusalem.

Notes

• * 1.1

  St. Aug.