An edition of Of the Love of God
(1888)
Of the Love of God
by H. L. Sidney Lear and Francis de Sales
- 0 Ratings
- 0 Want to read
- 0 Currently reading
- 0 Have read
Share
×Close
This edition doesn't have a description yet. Can you add one?
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Showing 2 featured editions. View all 2 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
|---|---|
1
|
bbbb
|
2
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Table of Contents
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
INTRODUCTION TO THE WHOLE TREATISE.
I. How, in order to the perfecting of human nature, God has committed the government of all the soul's faculties to the will 1
II. Of the different ways in which the will rules the powers of the soul 3
III. How the will contests the sensuous appetite 5
IV. Love governs all the affections and passions, and even the will, although that in its turn governs love 8
V. The affections of the will 10
VI. How the love of God predominates over all other love 12
VII. What love is 14
VIII. What that attraction is which excites love 18
IX. Love tends to union 20
X. The union which love seeks is spiritual 21
XI. There are two parts of the soul 26
XII. In these two parts of the soul there are four different degrees of reason 29
XIII. Of different kinds of love 31
XIV. Charity synonymous with love 33
XV. The adaptation between God and man 34
XVI We have a disposition to love God above ail things 36
XVII. Nature alone cannot love God in all things 37
XVIII. Our natural inclination to love God is not without its use 39
BOOK II.
THE ORIGIN OF DIVINE LOVE.
I. God's Perfection is manifold yet one 41
II. God's sole action is His Divinity 43
III. Of Divine Providence 45
IV. God's supernatural Providence over man 48
V. God's Providence has provided a plenteous redemption for man 50
VI. The special favours bestowed in the redemption of man by God's Providence 52
VII. The marvellous variety of graces which God vouchsafes to men in His Providence 53
VIII. How greatly God desires our love 55
IX. How God's Eternal Love draws our hearts to love Him 58
X. How we often reject God's inspirations, and refuse to love Him 60
XI. It is from no lack of Divine Love if we are not filled with love
XII. God leaves us wholly free to follow or reject His leadings 65
XIII. The first feelings of love which Divine Grace kindles in the soul before it attains to faith 68
XIV. How love is accepted by faith 70
XV. How largely holy hope feeds love 72
XVI. How love is carried out by hope 74
XVII. The love which comes of hope is good, albeit imperfect 77
XVIII. Love is to be found in penitence 79
XIX. Penitence without love is imperfect 81
XX. How love and grief are mingled in contrition 82
XXI. How our Lord's Love draws us on to faith and charity 86
XXII. What charity is 88
BOOK III.
THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE.
I. How Divine Love may be continually growing in us 90
II. How easy our Lord has made the growth of love 92
III. How the loving soul advances in love 94
IV. Of perseverance in this holy love 98
V. The privilege of dying in holy love is a special gilt of God 101
VI. We cannot attain to the perfection of unitive love of God in this mortal life 104
VII. The charity of saints in this life may equal, or even sometimes exceed, that of the blessed 105
VIII. The matchless love of the Mother of God 107
IX. What is the union of the blessed with God? 110
X. Past earthly longing will greatly increase the union of the blessed with God 112
XI. The union of the blessed with God through His vision 1x3
XII. The eternal union of the blessed with God through the vision of the Eternal Birth of the Son of God 115
XIII. The union of the blessed with God through the vision of the Holy Ghost's Procession 116
XIV. The holy sight of glory will tend to unite the blessed with God 117
XV. There will be sundry degrees in the union of the blessed with God 118
BOOK IV.
THE DECAY AND RUIN OF CHARITY
I. We may lose the love of God so long as we are in this life 121
II. How the soul's love grows cold 124
III. How we forsake Divine for earthly love 126
IV. Divine Love may be lost in a iqoment 128
V. The only cause of failure and slackness in charity lies in man's will 130
VI. Whatever love we bear to God is His Gift 132
VII. It is our part to shun idle curiosity, and humbly acquiesce in God's All-wise Providence 135
VIII. The loving submission which we owe to the decrees of God's Providence 139
IX. There is a certain form of love which yet lingers in the soul which has lost Divine Charity 141
X. The danger of this imperfect love 143
XI. How to distinguish this imperfect love 145
BOOK V.
THE TWO CHIEF ACTS OF DIVINE LOVE, WHICH ARE COMPLACENCY AND BENEVOLENCE
I. Wherein the complacency of holy love consists 147
II. This holy complacency renders us the babes of Christ 150
III. The love of complacence turns our hearts to God, and gives a perpetual longing after Him 152
IV. The loving sympathy which attends the love of complacency 155
V. The sympathy and complacent love found in the Passion of our Lord 158
VI. The love of benevolence we practise towards our Lord through desire 159
VII. The desire to exalt and magnify the Lord draws us from inferior pleasures, and fixes our mind on His Divine Passion 161
VIII. How the love of holy benevolence tends to the praise of the Dear Lord 163
IX. The love of benevolence makes us call upon all creation to join in praising God 166
X. The desire to praise God makes us long after Heaven 167
XI. We share in the praises rendered to God by our Redeemer and His Mother 169
XII. God's sovereign praise of Himself, in which we share through the love of benevolence 172
BOOK VI.
THE PRACTICE OF HOLY LOVE IN PRAYER AND MEDITATION
I. Mystical theology is nothing else save meditation and prayer 175
II. Of meditation, the first step in prayer or mystic theology 279
III. Contemplation; the first point of difference between that and meditation 183
IV. Love in this world takes its rise, but not its perfection, from the knowledge of God 284
V. The second difference between meditation and contemplation 287
VI. The third difference, namely, that contemplation is pursued without difficulty 190
VII. The loving recollection of the soul in contemplation 293
VIII. The rest of the recollected soul is its Beloved 296
IX. How to attain this blessed repose 198
X. The different degrees of this quietude, and how to maintain it 299
XI. Self-abnegation in this matter 202
XII. How the soul flows into God 204
XIII. The wound of love 207
XIV. Some other ways by which holy love wounds the heart 220
XV. The loving weakness of the soul wounded by love 213
BOOK VII.
THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH ITS GOD AS PERFECTED BY PRAYER.
I. The union of the soul with God in prayer is through love 317
II. The various degrees of holy union with God which are found in prayer 221
III. The highest degree of union in rapture 224
IV. Of the first species of rapture 227
V. The second kind of rapture 229
VI. The signs of true rapture, and the third kind thereof 231
VII. Love is the soul's life 233
VIII. S. Paul on the extatic superhuman life 236
IX. The supreme effort of love is the death of those who love 238
X. Of those who have died of love and for Divine Love 241
XI. Of some who died solely of love 242
XII. The history of one who died of love on Mount Olivet 244
XIII. The blessed Virgin Mother died of love for her Son 246
XIV. The blessed Virgin must have died a loving, peaceful death 248
BOOK VIII.
THE LOVE OF CONFORMITY, BY WHICH WE UNITE OUR WILL TO THAT OF GOD, AS SIGNIFIED TO US BY HIS COMMANDMENTS, COUNSELS, AND INSPIRATIONS.
I. The love of conformity springs from holy complacency 252
II. The conformity of submission proceeding from the love of benevolence 254
III. How to conform to God's Will when it is signified to us 256
IV. Conformity of our will to that of God for our salvation 258
V. The conformity of our will to God's, as signified to us in His Commandments 260
VI. Conformity of our will to that which God has signified by His Counsels 262
VII. How love for God's Will, as signified in His Commandments, leads us to love for His Counsels 264
VIII. Contempt for the evangelic Counsels is a great sin 267
IX. All men can respect, if all cannot follow, the evangelic Counsels, and each man ought to follow them so far as he is able 269
X. How to conform to God's Will, as signified by inspiration, and of the various means by which God so inspires us 272
XI. The union of our will with that of God, when He inspires us to extraordinary acts of virtue. Perseverance in vocation a first test of inspiration 274
XII. The union of our will with that of God when He inspires us to do what seems contrary to His ordinary laws. Peace and quiet a second test of inspiration 277
XIII. Obedience to the Church, and to those set over us, the third test of inspiration 279
XIV. How to recognise the Will of God 281
BOOK IX.
THE LOVE OF SUBMISSION, BY WHICH OUR WILL IS UNITED TO GOD'S GOOD PLEASURE
I. The union of our will with God's Will, called the will of good pleasure 284
II. Man's will is best united to God's Good Pleasure amid tribulation 286
III. The union of our will with that of God in spiritual trials by resignation 289
IV. The union of our will with that of God by indifference 290
V. Holy indifference embraces all things 292
VI. The practice of loving indifference in what concerns God's Own service 294
VII. Holy indifference as to progress in virtue 297
VIII. The union of our will with that of God in His sufferance of sin 300
IX. How to exercise indifference even in what concerns holy things 302
X. How to test the reality of this holy love 303
XI. The trouble of a loving heart which knows not whether it is pleasing to the Beloved 305
XII. Amid such interior trials the soul cannot realise its own love of God, or the spiritual death that self-will is undergoing 307
XIII. The will, once dead to self, lives solely in God's Will 309
XIV. The death of the will 311
XV. The best course we can take, amid the interior and exterior troubles of life, when the will is dead to self 313
XVI. The perfect self-renunciation of the soul which is united to God's Will 3x5
BOOK X.
THE COMMAND TO LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS.
I. The graciousness of this precept 318
II. This commandment is of Heaven, although it is given to the faithful on earth 320
III. The heart which is filled with love of God will love all else in Him 321
IV. Two manners of perfection of love in this mortal life 324
V. Two yet higher degrees of the love of God above all else 326
VI. All who really love will alike love God above all things 329
VII. Continuation of the same subject 330
VIII. Wherein the strength and virtue of sacred love lie 332
IX. Testimony of Holy Scripture to this assertion 334
X. We ought to love God far more than ourselves 336
XI. How the love of God leads to the love of our neighbour 338
XII. How love brings forth zeal 340
XIII. God is a jealous God 342
XIV. Our zeal or jealousy for our Lord 344
XV. The wise guidance of religious zeal 347
XVI. Concerning certain saints whose zealous indignation is in nowise irreconcilable with the above 350
XVII. Our Lord's Life the perfection of all acts of love 353
BOOK XI.
THE SUPREME AUTHORITY OF LOVE OVER ALL THE SOULES VIRTUES, ACTIONS, AND PERFECTIONS.
I. All virtues are acceptable to God 357
II Love endows virtue with a power of pleasing God which by nature it cannot have 359
III. Some virtues achieve higher excellence than others by reason of the presence of Divine Love 361
IV. Divine Love a special sanctifier of obedience 362
V. Divine Love enhances every other Virtue in proportion as it is infused into them 364
VI. The exceeding excellence which love imparts to those acts which spring either from itself or from other virtues 366
VII. The highest virtues cannot exist apart 369
VIII. Charity comprehends all virtues 372
IX. All virtues derive their perfection from holy love 375
X. The heathen virtues were very imperfect 377
XI. All human actions are worthless if performed apart from the love of God 379
XII. God's Love, if renewed in the Soul, revives all that sin had slain 381
XIII. All our actions should be done in the light of love 384
XIV. The practical result thereof 386
XV. Love includes all the sevenfold gifts 388
XVI. The loving fear of the Bride 390
XVII. How far servile fear may abide with holy love 391
XVIII. How love employs natural, servile, and mercenary fervor 393
XIX. Divine Love includes the fruits of the Holy Ghost and the Beatitudes 396
XX. Love disposes of all the passions and emotions, subjecting them to itself 398
XXI. Sadness is for the most part unprofitable, and even opposed to Divine Love 401
BOOK XII.
COUNSELS CONCERNING THE SOUL'S ADVANCE IN DIVINE LOVE.
I. Advance in Divine Love does not depend upon natural temperament 405
II. We must have a continually growing desire to love 406
III. He who would long after God's Love must check worldly longings 408
IV. Our lawful callings in nowise hinder the exercise of Divine Love 409
V. An illustration of this principle 410
VI. It is important to avail ourselves of the present moment to advance in Divine Love 411
VII. Every act should be done as perfectly as possible 412
VIII. How to turn all our actions to God's service 413
IX. Further means of working all things for God 415
X. The grace of a voluntary sacrifice 416
XI. The motives for Divine Love 418
XII. How to make use of these motives 418
XIII. Mount Calvary is the true school of love 419
Edition Notes
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?
| July 14, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | remove fake subjects |
| June 4, 2016 | Edited by ww2archive | added edition |
| May 6, 2010 | Edited by EdwardBot | add Accessible book tag |
| January 26, 2010 | Edited by WorkBot | add more information to works |
| December 11, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |