The divine life in three treatises

But can you say you are alone while you are with God? Is his presence nothing to you? Doth it not signify more then the company of all men in the world? saith Hierome, [Sapi•ns nunquam solus esse potest: habet enim secum omnes qui sunt, & qui fuerunt boni— & si hominum sit inopia, loquitur cum Deo] viz. A wise man cannot be alone: for he hath with him the good men that are or have been—And if there be a want of men, he speaks with God.] He should rather have said, There can be no want of man, when we may speak with God: And were it not that God is here revealed to us as in a glass, and that we do converse with God in man, we should think humane converse little worth.

But can you say you are alone while you are with God? Is his presence nothing to you? Doth it not signifie more then the company of all men in the world? saith Hierome, [Sapi•ns nunquam solus esse potest: habet enim secum omnes qui sunt, & qui fuerunt boni— & si hominum sit inopia, loquitur cum Deo] viz. A wise man cannot be alone: for he hath with him the good men that are or have been—And if there be a want of men, he speaks with God.] He should rather have said, There can be no want of man, when we may speak with God: And were it not that God is here revealed to us as in a glass, and that we do converse with God in man, we should think humane converse little worth.

Object. O but solitude is disconsolate to a sociable mind.

Answ. But the most desirable society is no solitude: saith Hierome [Infinita eremi vastitas te terret? sed tu Paradisum meant deambula: Quotiescunque cogitation ac meant illuc conscenderis, toties in eremo non eris] that is [Doth the infinite vastness of the wilderness terrify thee? But do thou (ascend) in mind and walk in Paradise: As oft as thou ascendest thither in thought and mind, so oft thou shalt not be in the wilderness.] If God be nothing to thee, thou art not a Christian but an Atheist. If God be God to thee, he is All in all to thee; and then should not his presence be instead of all? O that I might get one step nearer unto God, though I receded many from all the world! O that I could find that place on earth where a sou may have nearest access unto him, and fullest knowledge and enjoyment of him, though I never more saw the face of friends! I should cheerfully say with my blessed Saviour [I am not alone, for the Father is with me.] And I should say so for these Reasons following.