S. FRANCIS DE SALES:

BISHOP OF GENEVA.

"His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right, And I myself, a Catholic will be,

So far, at least, great saint, to pray to thee."

COWLEY.

[Authorities:-The following sketch is founded on H. C. Sidney Lear's "S. Francis de Sales," and "The Spirit of S. Francis de Sales," by Jean Pierre Camus, Bishop of Belley. Camus was consecrated Bishop of Belley (a see on the south-west side of that of Geneva), by Francis, at the exceptionally early age of 26. To his long and close intimacy with Francis de Sales we owe much of our knowledge of his character, and many of his wisest sayings, which are collected in "L'Esprit du bien-heureux François de Sales, Evesque de Genève, de M. Jean Pierre Camus, Evesque de Belley." The complete works of Francis de Sales were published in a neat edition at Lyons in 1819. Of the "Introduction to the Devout Life" there are several English translations; and it forms the subject of a lecture by the Dean of Norwich (Dr. Goulburn) in Kempe's "Companions for the Devout Life" (edit. 1877).]

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S. FRANCIS DE SALES.

IN

CHAPTER I.

N religious literature few works more deservedly hold a foremost place than the "Introduction to the Devout Life" of S. Francis de Sales. It belongs to that small and precious category in which we find the "Holy Living and Dying" of Jeremy Taylor, the "Imitatio Christi" of Gerson, the "Spiritual Combat" of Scupoli, the "Devotions" of Bishop Andrewes, and the "Pensées" of Blaise Pascal. With the very best of these it is worthy to be ranked. Unlike most foreign devotional books, its sobriety of tone and freedom from excess of sentiment commend it to English readers. While almost equalling Jeremy Taylor's guide to Holy Living in the opulence and beauty of its imagery, it advantageously differs from it in the brevity and pithiness of its maxims. Another of its special merits is its practical character. It is meant and it is suitable for men and women who have to live in the world, and cannot shut themselves out from external temptation in the seclusion of the monastic cell. Its counsel is adapted to their daily wants. "My intention," says S. Francis in his Preface, "is to advise those who live in towns, in families, in the Court, and are by their condition obliged to a public life; who very often, under the colour of a pretended impossibility, will not so much as think of undertaking to live devoutly, imagining that just as no animal presumes to eat of the plant commonly called

Palma Christi, so no person involved in the current of temporal affairs should presume to seek the palm of Christian piety. And so I have shown them as the mother-of-pearl lives in the sea without ever absorbing a single drop of salt water; as near the Chelidonian Isles springs of sweet water rise in the midst of the ocean; and as the fire-fly hovers in the flame without burning her wings; even so a vigorous and steadfast soul may live in the world untainted by worldly breath, finding a well-spring of holy piety amid the brackish waters of secular affairs; and hovering among the flames of earthy concupiscence without singeing the wings of its devout life." Thus, then, it teaches us how we may sanctify "the trivial round, the common task," and make our daily work a road to bring us "nearer GOD." It sets before us a high standard, and it teaches us how to attain to it. It stimulates a yearning after the Devout life, and shows how that yearning may be gratified. It is the guide, philosopher, and friend who is always ready to direct us when we are in doubt, to support us when our feet stumble, to encourage us when we fall into despondency. If it occasionally verge too near the doctrine of Quietism, and do not sufficiently make clear the difference between a devout submission to the Divine Will and that acquiescence in it which annihilates the soul's moral force, even this tendency is not without its attraction to a soul weary of constant struggle and wrestle, and anxious for the refreshment of repose. On the whole, we feel that Marie de Medicis did not place too great a value on the book when she bound up in gold and gems the copy which she sent to James I. of England.

The "Introduction to a Devout Life" is divided into five parts. The first consists of " Counsels and Practices" designed to lead the soul forward to a formal dedication of all its powers and faculties upon GOD's holy altar. It begins with a definition of Devotion as the real spiritual sweetness which takes away its bitterness from every sorrow, and prevents consolations from disagreeing with the soul; which cures the poor of their sadness and the rich of their arrogance, keeps the oppressed from a feeling of desolation and the prosperous from insolence, averts grief and gloom from the lowly, and dissipation from social life, is as warmth in winter and refreshing dew in summer. It is the love of GOD

intensified, and the love of our fellow-creatures as a corollary from it. Jacob's ladder is set before us as a type of the Devout Life: the two poles which support the steps are types of Prayer which seeks the Divine love, and the Sacraments which bestow that love; while the steps themselves are simply the grades or degrees of love by which we pass from virtue to virtue, either descending by good deeds on behalf of our neighbour, or ascending by contemplation to a loving union with GOD. In this sense Devotion is the perfection of Charity. If Charity or love be the milk of life, Devotion is the cream; if it be a fruitful plant, Devotion is the flower; if it be a precious stone, Devotion is its lustre; if it be a precious balm, Devotion is its perfume, even that sweet odour which comforts men and rejoices angels.

After demonstrating the suitableness of Devotion for every Vocation and Profession, S. Francis enlarges on the need of a Guide for those who would enter upon and make progress in the Devout Life. The pious Princess S. Elizabeth obeyed the direction of the venerable Conrad; and Holy Scripture tells us that "a faithful friend is a strong defence." But the first step for all of us must be the cleansing of the soul, and the first purification must be from mortal sin. After this, we may aim at the conquest of all sinful affections by keeping ever before us a sense of the great evils which sin brings with it. This fear and this contrition we may acquire by careful and constant use of the Meditations prepared by S. Francis for the purpose:-) -Meditations, brief, but instructive, on Creation, the End for which we were created, the Gifts of GOD, Sin, Death, Judgment; Hell, Paradise, the Choice between Heaven and Hell, and the Determination in favour of a Devout life. This Part closes with a general Protest, made with the view of confirming the Soul's resolution to serve GOD, and intended to be read over before the priest after a general confession, and previously to receiving absolution from him.

The second Part treats of the Means of Grace by which the soul is assisted in its cultivation of the Christian Graces. These may be summarised under the heads of Prayer, Meditation, Study of the Scriptures, the Public Services of the Church, Communion, and Confession. The weakest portion is that which refers to the hearing and reading of GOD'S

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