The Inward Burning

Be PATIENT, let the fire consume,

Give God's interior burning room.

Make no resistance, let it blaze.

And self, in root and branch, erase.

The life of self hath long annoyed;

Thy hopes assail'd, thy joys destroy'd;

It poisons every inward sense ;

And FIRE alone can drive it thence.

The fiery trial gives distress;

But never wish its anguish less;

The pain thou feelest is a sign

Of flames from heaven, of fire divine.

Oh let it burn, till pride and lust,

And envy, creeping in the dust,

And wrong and crime, of every name,

Shall perish in the heavenly flame.

— from Christ in the Soul (1872) LXXVII.

When the Will is Truly Free

All deliberate deviation from the will of God necessarily implies a degree of moral imperfection. If we would be perfect, therefore, our wills must, in the direction of their movement, be completely blended with the will of God. But this does not imply the annihilation of the human will, nor even an obstruction of its appropriate action. It is a correct saying of Francis de Sales, that our "will is never so much enslaved as when we serve our lusts; and never so free, as when it is devoted to the will of God."

— Religious Maxims (1872) LXXXIII.