No man comes
to me except he whom the Father shall draw. Do not think that you are
drawn against your will. The mind is drawn also by love. Nor ought we to be
afraid, lest perchance we be censured in regard to this evangelic word of the
Holy Scriptures by men who weigh words, but are far removed from things, most
of all from divine things; and lest it be said to us, How can I believe with
the will if I am drawn? I say it is not enough to be drawn by the will; you are
drawn even by delight. What is it to be drawn by delight? Delight yourself in
the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. There is a pleasure
of the heart to which that bread of heaven is sweet. Moreover, if it was right
in the poet to say, Every man is drawn by his own pleasure, — not necessity,
but pleasure; not obligation, but delight — how much more boldly ought we to
say that a man is drawn to Christ when he delights in the truth, when he
delights in blessedness, delights in righteousness, delights in everlasting
life, all which Christ is? Or is it the case that, while the senses of the body
have their pleasures, the mind is left without pleasures of its own? If the
mind has no pleasures of its own, how is it said, The sons of men shall trust
under the cover of Your wings: they shall be well satisfied with the fullness
of Your house; and You shall give them drink from the river of Your pleasure.
For with You is the fountain of life; and in Your light shall we see light?
Give me a man that loves, and he feels what I say. Give me one that longs, one
that hungers, one that is travelling in this wilderness, and thirsting and
panting after the fountain of his eternal home; give such, and he knows what I
say. But if I speak to the cold and indifferent, he knows not what I say. Such
were those who murmured among themselves. He whom the Father shall draw, says
He, comes unto me.
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