And yet, while it will be no better,
we must let them have it so.
Cassian (that very virtuous man) rehearseth in a certain
conference of his that a certain holy father, in making of a
sermon, spoke of heaven and heavenly things so celestially that
much of his audience, with the sweet sound of it, began to forget
all the world and fall asleep. When the father beheld this, he
dissembled their sleeping and suddenly said to them, "I shall tell
you a merry tale." At that word they lifted up their heads and
hearkened unto that, and afterward (their sleep being therewith
broken) heard him tell on of heaven again. In what wise that good
father rebuked then their untoward minds--so dull to the thing
that all our life we labour for, and so quick and eager toward
other trifles--I neither bear in mind nor shall here need to
rehearse. But thus much of that matter sufficeth for our purpose,
that whereas you demand of me whether in tribulation men may not
sometimes refresh themselves with worldly mirth and recreation, I
can only say that he who cannot long endure to hold up his head
and hear talking of heaven unless he be now and then between
refreshed (as though heaven were heaviness!) with a merry foolish
tale, there is none other remedy but you must let him have it.
Better would I wish it, but I cannot help it.
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