they
lay
upon
themselves
unnecessary
burdens,
and
call
them
obligations.
When
the
taste
for
medita-tion
is
very
great,
the
soul
does
not
usually
fall
into
these
last-named
errors,
but
rather
into
the
former
one,
that
of
courting
retirement.
I
knew
a
person
who
spent
more
time
in
prayer
when
it
was
painful
to
her
than
when
she
felt
it
a
delight,
struggling
with
the
disinclination
;
but
this
is
in-jurious
to
the
health,
because
of
the
violence
which
it
does
to
the
senses
and
the
understanding,
which
being
unable
to
concentrate
themselves
upon
any
one
object,
and
being
deprived
of
the
sweet
com-munion
which
formerly
held
them
in
subjection
to
God,
endure
such
torment,
that
the
subject
of
it
would
rather
suffer
the
greatest
trial
than
the
violence
which
is
necessary
to
enable
it
to
fix
its
thoughts
on
God.
The
person
to
whom
I
alluded
sometimes
passed
two
or
three
hours
successively
in
this
pain/ul
devotion,
and
she
has
assured
me
that
the
strangest
austerities
would
have
been
de-lightful
to
her
in
comparison
with
the
time
thus
spent.
But
as
a
violence
so
strong
as
this
in
sub-jects
so
weak
is
calculated
to
ruin
both
body
and
