Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 2.1

Of the inward life

1. The kingdom of God is within you, says the Lord. Turn with all you heart to the Lord and forsake this miserable world, and you shall find rest unto your soul. Learn to despise outward things and to give yourself to things inward, and you shall see the kingdom of God come within you. For the kingdom of God is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and it is not given to the wicked. Christ will come to you, and show you His consolation, if you prepare a worthy mansion for Him within you. All His glory and beauty is from within, and there it pleases Him to dwell. He often visits the inward man and holds with him sweet discourse, giving him soothing consolation, much peace, friendship exceedingly wonderful.

2. Go to, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this bridegroom that he may vouchsafe to come to you and dwell within you, for so He says, if any man loves me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Give, therefore, place to Christ and refuse entrance to all others. When you have Christ, you are rich, and have what is sufficient. He shall be your provider and faithful watchman in all things, so that you have no need to trust in men, for men soon change and swiftly pass away, but Christ remains for ever and stands by us firmly even to the end.

3. There is no great trust to be placed in a frail and mortal man, even though he be useful and dear to us, neither should much sorrow arise within us if sometimes he oppose and contradict us. They who are on your side today, may to-morrow be against you, and often are they turned round like the wind. Put your whole trust in God and let Him be your fear and your love, He will answer for you Himself, and will do for you what is best. Here have you no continuing city, and wheresoever you are, you are a stranger and a pilgrim, and you shall never have rest unless you are closely united to Christ within you.

4. Why do you cast your eyes here and there, since this is not the place of your rest? In heaven ought your habitation to be, and all earthly things should be looked upon as it were in the passing by. All things pass away, and you equally with them. Look that you cleave not to them lest you be taken with them and perish. Let your contemplation be on the Most High, and let your supplication be directed unto Christ without ceasing. If you cannot behold high and heavenly things, rest you in the passion of Christ and dwell willingly in His sacred wounds. For if you devoutly fly to the wounds of Jesus, and the precious marks of the nails and the spear, you shall find great comfort in tribulation, nor will the slights of men trouble you much, and you will easily bear their unkind words.

5. Christ also, when He was in the world, was despised and rejected of men, and in His greatest necessity was left by His acquaintance and friends to bear these reproaches. Christ was willing to suffer and be despised, and dare you complain of any? Christ had adversaries and gainsayers, and do you wish to have all men your friends and benefactors? Whence shall your patience attain her crown if no adversity befalls you? If you are unwilling to suffer any adversity, how shall you be the friend of Christ? Sustain yourself with Christ and for Christ if you will reign with Christ.

6. If you had once entered into the mind of Jesus, and had tasted yet even a little of his tender love, then would you care nothing for your own convenience or inconvenience, but would rather rejoice at trouble brought upon you, because the love of Jesus makes a man to despise himself. He who loves Jesus, and is inwardly true and free from inordinate affections, is able to turn himself readily unto God, and to rise above himself in spirit, and to enjoy fruitful peace.

7. He who knows things as they are and not as they are said or seem to be, he truly is wise, and is taught of God more than of men. He who knows how to walk from within, and to set little value upon outward things, requires not places nor waits for seasons, for holding his intercourse with God. The inward man quickly recollects himself, because he is never entirely given up to outward things. No outward labor and no necessary occupations stand in his way, but as events fall out, so does he fit himself to them. He who is rightly disposed and ordered within cares not for the strange and perverse conduct of men. A man is hindered and distracted in so far as he is moved by outward things.

8. If it were well with you, and you were purified from evil, all things would work together for your good and profiting. For this cause do many things displease you and often trouble you, that you are not yet perfectly dead to yourself nor separated from all earthly things. Nothing so defiles and entangles the heart of man as impure love towards created things. If you reject outward comfort you will be able to contemplate heavenly things and frequently to be joyful inwardly.