{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_4664/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_4664","id":"gutenberg_4664","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4664","summary":null,"tags":["Category: German Literature","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Germany","Mysticism -- Germany -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500 -- Sources"],"text":"LIGHT, LIFE, AND LOVE\n\nSelections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages\n\nby\n\nW. R. Inge\n\nLONDON\nSecond Edition\n\n1919\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\nECKHART\nTAULER\nMEDITATIONS ON THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS\nSUSO\nRUYSBROEK\nTHEOLOGIA GERMANICA\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nSect. 1. THE PRECURSORS OF THE GERMAN MYSTICS\n\n\n\n\n\nTO most English readers the \"Imitation of Christ\" is the\nrepresentative of mediaeval German mysticism. In reality, however,\nthis beautiful little treatise belongs to a period when that\nmovement had nearly spent itself. Thomas a Kempis, as Dr. Bigg has\nsaid,[1] was only a semi-mystic. He tones down the most\ncharacteristic doctrines of Eckhart, who is the great original\nthinker of the German mystical school, and seems in some ways to\nrevert to an earlier type of devotional literature. The \"Imitation\"\nmay perhaps be described as an idealised picture of monastic piety,\ndrawn at a time when the life of the cloister no longer filled a\nplace of unchallenged usefulness in the social order of Europe. To\nfind German mysticism at its strongest we must go back a full\nhundred years, and to understand its growth we must retrace our\nsteps as far as the great awakening of the thirteenth century--the\nage of chivalry in religion--the age of St. Louis, of Francis and\nDominic, of Bonaventura and Thomas Aquinas. It was a vast revival,\nbearing fruit in a new ardour of pity and charity, as well as in a\nhealthy freedom of thought. The Church, in recognising the new\ncharitable orders of Francis and Dominic, and the Christianised\nAristotelianism of the schoolmen, retained the loyalty and profited\nby the zeal of the more sober reformers, but was unable to prevent\nthe diffusion of an independent critical spirit, in part provoked\nand justified by real abuses. Discontent was aroused, not only by\nthe worldiness of the hierarchy, whose greed and luxurious living\nwere felt to be scandalous, but by the widespread economic distress\nwhich prevailed over Western Europe at this period. The crusades\nperiodically swept off a large proportion of the able-bodied men, of\nwhom the majority never returned to their homes, and this helped to\nswell the number of indigent women, who, having no male protectors,\nwere obliged to beg their bread. The better class of these female\nmendicants soon formed themselves into uncloistered charitable\nOrders, who were not forbidden to marry, and who devoted themselves\nchiefly to the care of the sick. These Beguines and the\ncorresponding male associations of Beghards became very numerous in\nGermany. Their religious views were of a definite type. Theirs was\nan intensely inward religion, based on the longing of the soul for\nimmediate access to God. The more educated among them tended to\nembrace a vague idealistic Pantheism. Mechthild of Magdeburg\n(1212-1277), prophetess, poetess, Church reformer, quietist, was the\nablest of the Beguines. Her writings prove to us that the technical\nterminology of German mysticism was in use before Eckhart,[2] and\nalso that the followers of what the \"Theologia Germanica\" calls the\nFalse Light, who aspired to absorption in the Godhead, and despised\nthe imitation of the incarnate Christ, were already throwing\ndiscredit on the movement. Mechthild's independence, and her\nunsparing denunciations of corruption in high places, brought her\ninto conflict with the secular clergy. They tried to burn her\nbooks--those religious love songs which had already endeared her to\nGerman popular sentiment. It was then that she seemed to hear a\nvoice saying to her:\n\nLieb' meine, betr\u0178be dich nicht zu sehr,\n\nDie Wahrheit mag niemand verbrennen!\n\nThe rulers of the Church, unhappily, were not content with burning\nbooks. Their hostility towards the unrecognised Orders became more\nand more pronounced: the Beghards and Beguines were harried and\npersecuted till most of them were driven to join the Franciscans or\nDominicans, carrying with them into those Orders the ferment of\ntheir speculative mysticism. The more stubborn \"Brethren and Sisters\nof the Free Spirit\" were burned in batches at Cologne and elsewhere.\nTheir fate in those times did not excite much pity, for many of the\nvictims were idle vagabonds of dissolute character, and the general\npublic probably thought that the licensed begging friars were enough\nof a nuisance without the addition of these free lances.\n\nThe heretical mystical sects of the thirteenth century are very\ninteresting as illustrating the chief dangers of mysticism. Some of\nthese sectaries were Socialists or Communists of an extreme kind;\nothers were Rationalists, who taught that Jesus Christ was the son\nof Joseph and a sinner like other men; others were Puritans, who\nsaid that Church music was \"nothing but a hellish noise\" (nihil nisi\nclamor inferni), and that the Pope was the magna meretrix of the\nApocalypse. The majority were Anti-Sacramentalists and Determinists;\nand some were openly Antinomian, teaching that those who are led by\nthe Spirit can do no wrong. The followers of Amalric of Bena[3]\nbelieved that the Holy Ghost had chosen their sect in which to\nbecome incarnate; His presence among them was a continual guarantee\nof sanctity and happiness. The \"spiritual Franciscans\" had dreams of\na more apocalyptic kind. They adopted the idea of an \"eternal\nGospel,\" as expounded by Joachim of Floris, and believed that the\n\"third kingdom,\" that of the Spirit, was about to begin among\nthemselves. It was to abolish the secular Church and to inaugurate\nthe reign of true Christianity--i.e. \"poverty\" and asceticism.\n\nSuch are some of the results of what our eighteenth-century\nancestors knew and dreaded as \"Enthusiasm\"--that ferment of the\nspirit which in certain epochs spreads from soul to soul like an\nepidemic, breaking all the fetters of authority, despising tradition\nand rejecting discipline in its eagerness to get rid of formalism\nand unreality; a lawless, turbulent, unmanageable spirit, in which,\nnotwithstanding, is a potentiality for good far higher than any to\nwhich the lukewarm \"religion of all sensible men\" can ever attain.\nFor mysticism is the raw material of all religion; and it is easier\nto discipline the enthusiast than to breathe enthusiasm into the\ndisciplinarian.\n\nMeanwhile, the Church looked with favour upon the orthodox mystical\nschool, of which Richard and Hugo of St. Victor, Bonaventura, and\nAlbertus Magnus were among the greatest names. These men were\nworking out in their own fashion the psychology of the contemplative\nlife, showing how we may ascend through \"cogitation, meditation, and\nspeculation\" to \"contemplation,\" and how we may pass successively\nthrough jubilus, ebrietas spiritus, spiritualis jucunditas, and\nliquefactio, till we attain raptus or ecstasy. The writings of the\nscholastic mystics are so overweighted with this pseudo-science,\nwith its wire-drawn distinctions and meaningless classifications,\nthat very few readers have now the patience to dig out their\nnumerous beauties. They are, however, still the classics of mystical\ntheology in the Roman Church, so far as that science has not\ndegenerated into mere miracle-mongering.\n\nSect. 2. MEISTER ECKHART\n\nIt was in 1260, when Mechthild of Magdeburg was at the height of her\nactivity, that Meister Eckhart, next to Plotinus the greatest\nphilosopher-mystic, was born at Hocheim in Thuringia. It seems that\nhis family was in a good position, but nothing is known of his early\nyears. He entered the Dominican Order as a youth, perhaps at\nsixteen, the earliest age at which novices were admitted into that\nOrder. The course of instruction among the Dominicans was as\nfollows:--After two years, during which the novice laid the\nfoundations of a good general education, he devoted the next two\nyears to grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, and then the same amount\nof time to what was called the Quadrivium, which consisted of\n\"arithmetic, mathematics, astronomy, and music.\" Theology, the queen\nof the sciences, occupied three years; and at the end of the course,\nat the age of twenty-five, the brothers were ordained priests. We\nfind Eckhart, towards the end of the century, Prior of Erfurt and\nVicar of Thuringia, then Lector Biblicus at Paris, then Provincial\nPrior of Saxony. In 1307 the master of the Order appointed him\nVicar-General for Bohemia, and in 1311 he returned to Paris. We find\nhim next preaching busily at Strassburg,[4] and after a few more\nyears, at Cologne, where the persecution of the Brethren of the Free\nSpirit was just then at its height. At Strassburg there were no less\nthan seven convents of Dominican nuns, for since 1267 the Order had\nresumed the supervision of female convents, which it had renounced a\nshort time after its foundation. Many of Eckhart's discourses were\naddressed to these congregations of devout women, who indeed were to\na large extent the backbone of the mystical movement, and it is\nimpossible not to see that the devotional treatises of the school\nare strongly coloured by feminine sentiment. A curious poem, written\nby a Dominican nun of this period, celebrates the merits of three\npreachers, the third of whom is a Master Eckhart, \"who speaks to us\nabout Nothingness. He who understands him not, in him has never\nshone the light divine.\" These nuns seem to have been fed with the\nstrong meat of Eckhart's mystical philosophy; in the more popular\nsermons he tried to be intelligible to all. It was not very long\nafter he took up his residence at Cologne that he was himself\nattacked for heresy. In 1327 he read before his own Order a\nretractation of \"any errors which might be found\" (si quid errorum\nrepertum fuerit) in his writings, but withdrew nothing that he had\nactually said, and protested that he believed himself to be\northodox. He died a few months later, and it was not till 1329 that\na Papal bull was issued, enumerating seventeen heretical and eleven\nobjectionable doctrines in his writings.\n\nThis bull is interesting as showing what were the points in\nEckhart's teaching which in the fourteenth century were considered\ndangerous. They also indicate very accurately what are the real\nerrors into which speculative mysticism is liable to fall, and how\nthinkers of this school may most plausibly be misrepresented by\nthose who differ from them. After expressing his sorrow that \"a\ncertain Teuton named Ekardus, doctor, ut fertur, sacrae paginae, has\nwished to know more than he should,\" and has sown tares and thistles\nand other weeds in the field of the Church, the Pope specifies the\nfollowing erroneous statements as appearing in Eckhart's\nwritings[5]:--1. \"God created the world as soon as God was. 2. In\nevery work, bad as well as good, the glory of God is equally\nmanifested. 3. A man who prays for any particular thing prays for an\nevil and prays ill, for he prays for the negation of good and the\nnegation of God, and that God may be denied to him.[6] 4. God is\nhonoured in those who have renounced everything, even holiness and\nthe kingdom of heaven. 5. We are transformed totally into God, even\nas in the Sacrament the bread is converted into the Body of Christ.\nUnum, non simile. 6. Whatever God the Father gave to His\nonly-begotten Son in His human nature, He has given it all to me. 7.\nWhatever the Holy Scripture says about Christ is verified in every\ngood and godlike man. 8. External action is not, properly speaking,\ngood nor divine; God, properly speaking, only works in us internal\nactions. 9. God is one, in every way and according to every reason,\nso that it is not possible to find any plurality in Him, either in\nthe intellect or outside it; for he who sees two, or sees any\ndistinction, does not see God; for God is one, outside number and\nabove number, for one cannot be put with anything else, but follows\nit; therefore in God Himself no distinction can be or be understood.\n10. All the creatures are absolutely nothing: I say not that they\nare small or something, but that they are absolutely nothing.\" All\nthese statements are declared to have been found in his writings. It\nis also \"objected against the said Ekardus\" that he taught the\nfollowing two articles in these words:--1. \"There is something in\nthe soul, which is uncreated and uncreatable: if the whole soul were\nsuch, it would be uncreated and uncreatable: and this is the\nintelligence.[7] 2. God is not good or better or best: I speak ill\nwhen I call God good; it is as if I called white black.\"[8] The bull\ndeclares all the propositions above quoted to be heretical, with the\nexception of the three which I have numbered 8-10, and these \"have\nan ill sound\" and are \"very rash,\" even if they might be so\nsupplemented and explained as to bear an orthodox sense.\n\nThis condemnation led to a long neglect of Eckhart's writings. He\nwas almost forgotten till Franz Pfeiffer in 1857 collected and\nedited his scattered treatises and endeavoured to distinguish those\nwhich were genuine from those which were spurious. Since Pfeiffer's\nedition fresh discoveries have been made, notably in 1880, when\nDenifle found at Erfurt several important fragments in Latin, which\nin his opinion show a closer dependence on the scholastic theology,\nand particularly on St Thomas Aquinas, than Protestant scholars,\nsuch as Preger, had been willing to allow. But the attempt to prove\nEckhart a mere scholastic is a failure; the audacities of his German\ndiscourses cannot be explained as an accommodation to the tastes of\na peculiar audience. For good or evil Eckhart is an original and\nindependent thinker, whose theology is confined by no trammels of\nauthority.\n\nSect. 3. ECKHART'S RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY\n\nThe Godhead, according to Eckhart, is the universal and eternal\nUnity comprehending and transcending all diversity. \"The Divine\nnature is Rest,\" he says in one of the German discourses; and in the\nLatin fragments we find: \"God rests in Himself, and makes all things\nrest in Him.\" The three Persons of the Trinity, however, are not\nmere modes or accidents,[9] but represent a real distinction within\nthe Godhead. God is unchangeable, and at the same time an\n\"everlasting process.\" The creatures are \"absolutely nothing\"; but\nat the same time \"God without them would not be God,\" for God is\nlove, and must objectify Himself; He is goodness, and must impart\nHimself. As the picture in the mind of the painter, as the poem in\nthe mind of the poet, so was all creation in the mind of God from\nall eternity, in uncreated simplicity. The ideal world was not\ncreated in time; \"the Father spake Himself and all the creatures in\nHis Son\"; \"they exist in the eternal Now\"[10]--\"a\nbecoming without a becoming, change without change.\" \"The Word of\nGod the Father is the substance of all that exists, the life of all\nthat lives, the principle and cause of life.\" Of creation he says:\n\"We must not falsely imagine that God stood waiting for something to\nhappen, that He might create the world. For so soon as He was God,\nso soon as He begat His coeternal and coequal Son, He created the\nworld.\" So Spinoza says: \"God has always been before the creatures,\nwithout even existing before them. He precedes them not by an\ninterval of time, but by a fixed eternity.\" This is not the same as\nsaying that the world of sense had no beginning; it is possible that\nEckhart did not mean to go further than the orthodox scholastic\nmystic, Albertus Magnus, who says: \"God created things from\neternity, but the things were not created from eternity.\" St\nAugustine (Conf. xi. 30) bids objectors to \"understand that there\ncan be no time without creatures, and cease to talk nonsense.\"\nEckhart also tries to distinguish between the \"interior\" and the\n\"exterior\" action of God. God, he says, is in all things, not as\nNature, not as Person, but as Being. He is everywhere, undivided;\nyet the creatures participate in Him according to their measure.[11]\nThe three Persons of the Trinity have impressed their image upon the\ncreatures, yet it is only their \"nothingness\" that keeps them\nseparate creatures. Most of this comes from the Neoplatonists, and\nmuch of it through the pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a\nPlatonising Christian of the fifth century, whose writings were\nbelieved in the Middle Ages to proceed from St Paul's Athenian\nconvert. It would, however, be easy to find parallels in St\nAugustine's writings to most of the phases quoted in this paragraph.\nThe practical consequences will be considered presently.\n\nThe creatures are a way from God; they are also a way to Him. \"In\nChrist,\" he says, \"all the creatures are one man, and that man is\nGod.\" Grace, which is a real self-unfolding of God in the soul, can\nmake us \"what God is by Nature\"--one of Eckhart's audacious phrases,\nwhich are not really so unorthodox as they sound. The following\nprayer, which appears in one of his discourses, may perhaps be\ndefended as asking no more than our Lord prayed for (John xvii.) for\nHis disciples, but it lays him open to the charge, which the Pope's\nbull did not fail to urge against him, that he made the servant\nequal to his Lord. \"Grant that I, by Thy grace, may be united to Thy\nNature, as Thy Son is eternally one in Thy Nature, and that grace\nmay become my nature.\"\n\nThe ethical aim is to be rid of \"creatureliness,\" and so to be\nunited to God. In Eckhart's system, as in that of Plotinus,\nspeculation is never divorced from ethics. On our side the process\nis a negative one. All our knowledge must be reduced to\nnot-knowledge; our reason and will, as well as our lower faculties,\nmust transcend themselves, must die to live. We must detach\nourselves absolutely \"even from God,\" he says. This state of\nspiritual nudity he calls \"poverty.\" Then, when our house is empty\nof all else, God can dwell there: \"He begets His Son in us.\" This\nlast phrase has always been a favourite with the mystics. St Paul\nuses very similar language, and the Epistle to Diognetus, written in\nthe second century, speaks of Christ as, \"being ever born anew in\nthe hearts of the saints.\" Very characteristic, too, is the doctrine\nthat complete detachment from the creatures is the way to union with\nGod. Jacob B\u0161hme has arrived independently at the same conclusion as\nEckhart. \"The scholar said to his master: How may I come to the\nsupersensual life, that I may see God and hear Him speak? The master\nsaid: When thou canst throw thyself but for a moment into that place\nwhere no creature dwelleth, then thou hearest what God speaketh. The\nscholar asked: Is that near or far off? The master replied: It is in\nthee, and if thou canst for a while cease from all thy thinking and\nwilling, thou shalt hear unspeakable words of God. The scholar said:\nHow can I hear, when I stand still from thinking and willing? The\nmaster answered: When thou standest still from the thinking and\nwilling of self, the eternal hearing, seeing, and speaking will be\nrevealed to thee, and so God heareth and seeth through thee.\"\n\nIn St Thomas Aquinas it is \"the will enlightened by reason\" which\nunites us to God. But there are two sorts of reason. The passive\nreason is the faculty which rises through discursive thinking to\nknowledge. The active reason is a much higher faculty, which exists\nby participation in the divine mind, \"as the air is light by\nparticipation in the sunshine.\" When this active reason is regarded\nas the standard of moral action, it is called by Aquinas\nsynteresis.[12] Eckhart was at first content with this teaching of\nSt Thomas, whom he always cites with great reverence; but the whole\ntendency of his thinking was to leave the unprofitable\nclassification of faculties in which the Victorine School almost\nrevelled, and to concentrate his attention on the union of the soul\nwith God. And therefore in his more developed teaching,[13] the\n\"spark\" which is the point of contact between the soul and its Maker\nis something higher than the faculties, being \"uncreated.\" He seems\nto waver about identifying the \"spark\" with the \"active reason,\" but\ninclines on the whole to regard it as something even higher still.\n\"There is something in the soul,\" he says, \"which is so akin to God\nthat it is one with Him and not merely united with Him.\" And again:\n\"There is a force in the soul; and not only a force, but something\nmore, a being; and not only a being, but something more; it is so\npure and high and noble in itself that no creature can come there,\nand God alone can dwelt there. Yea, verily, and even God cannot come\nthere with a form; He can only come with His simple divine nature.\"\nAnd in the startling passage often quoted against him, a passage\nwhich illustrates admirably his affinity to one side of Hegelianism,\nwe read: \"The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which He\nsees me. Mine eye and God's eye are one eye and one sight and one\nknowledge and one love.\"\n\nI do not defend these passages as orthodox; but before exclaiming\n\"rank Pantheism!\" we ought to recollect that for Eckhart the being\nof God is quite different from His personality. Eckhart never taught\nthat the Persons of the Holy Trinity become, after the mystical\nUnion, the \"Form\" of the human soul. It is the impersonal light of\nthe divine nature which transforms our nature; human personality is\nneither lost nor converted into divine personality. Moreover, the\ndivine spark at the centre of the soul is not the soul nor the\npersonality. \"The soul,\" he says in one place, using a figure which\nrecurs in the \"Theologia Germanica,\" \"has two faces. One is turned\ntowards this world and towards the body, the other towards God.\" The\ncomplete dominion of the \"spark\" over the soul is an unrealised\nideal.[14]\n\nThe truth which he values is that, as Mr Upton[15] has well\nexpressed it, \"there is a certain self-revelation of the eternal and\ninfinite One to the finite soul, and therefore an indestructible\nbasis for religious ideas and beliefs as distinguished from what is\ncalled scientific knowledge. . . . This immanent universal principle\ndoes not pertain to, and is not the property of any individual mind,\nbut belongs to that uncreated and eternal nature of God which lies\ndeeper than all those differences which separate individual minds\nfrom each other, and is indeed that incarnation of the Eternal, who\nthough He is present in every finite thing, is still not broken up\ninto individualities, but remains one and the same eternal\nsubstance, one and the same unifying principle, immanently and\nindivisibly present in every one of the countless plurality of\nfinite individuals.\" It might further be urged that neither God nor\nman can be understood in independence of each other. A recent writer\non ethics,[16] not too well disposed towards Christianity, is, I\nthink, right in saying: \"To the popular mind, which assumes God and\nman to be two different realities, each given in independence of the\nother, . . . the identification of man's love of God with God's love\nof Himself has always been a paradox and a stumbling-block. But it\nis not too much to say that until it has been seen to be no paradox,\nbut a simple and fundamental truth, the masterpieces of the world's\nreligious literature must remain a sealed book to us.\"\n\nEckhart certainly believed himself to have escaped the pitfall of\nPantheism; but he often expressed himself in such an unguarded way\nthat the charge may be brought against him with some show of reason.\n\nLove, Eckhart teaches, is the principle of all virtues; it is God\nHimself. Next to it in dignity comes humility. The beauty of the\nsoul, he says in the true Platonic vein, is to be well ordered, with\nthe higher faculties above the lower, each in its proper place. The\nwill should be supreme over the understanding, the understanding\nover the senses. Whatever we will earnestly, that we have, and no\none can hinder us from attaining that detachment from the creatures\nin which our blessedness consists.\n\nEvil, from the highest standpoint, is only a means for realising the\neternal aim of God in creation; all will ultimately be overruled for\ngood. Nevertheless, we can frustrate the good will of God towards\nus, and it is this, and not the thought of any insult against\nHimself, that makes God grieve for our sins. It would not be worth\nwhile to give any more quotations on this subject, for Eckhart is\nnot more successful than other philosophers in propounding a\nconsistent and intelligible theory of the place of evil in the\nuniverse.\n\nEckhart is well aware of the two chief pitfalls into which the\nmystic is liable to fall--dreamy inactivity and Antinomianism. The\nsects of the Free Spirit seem to have afforded a good object-lesson\nin both these errors, as some of the Gnostic sects did in the second\ncentury. Eckhart's teaching here is sound and good. Freedom from\nlaw, he says, belongs only to the \"spark,\" not to the faculties of\nthe soul, and no man can live always on the highest plane.\nContemplation is, in a sense, a means to activity; works of charity\nare its proper fruit. \"If a man were in an ecstasy like that of St\nPaul, when he was caught up into the third heaven, and knew of a\npoor man who needed his help, he ought to leave his ecstasy and help\nthe needy.\" Suso[17] tells us how God punished him for disregarding\nthis duty. True contemplation considers Reality (or Being) in its\nmanifestations as well as in its origin. If this is remembered,\nthere need be no conflict between social morality and the inner\nlife. Eckhart recognises[18] that it is a harder and a nobler task\nto preserve detachment in a crowd than in a cell; the little daily\nsacrifices of family life are often a greater trial than\nself-imposed mortifications. \"We need not destroy any little good in\nourselves for the sake of a better, but we should strive to grasp\nevery truth in its highest meaning, for no one good contradicts\nanother.\" \"Love God, and do as you like, say the Free Spirits. Yes;\nbut as long as you like anything contrary to God's will, you do not\nlove Him.\"\n\nThere is much more of the same kind in Eckhart's sermons--as good\nand sensible doctrine as one could find anywhere. But what was the\npractical effect of his teaching as a whole? It is generally the\ncase that the really weak points of any religious movement are\nexposed with a cruel logicality most exasperating to the leaders by\nthe second generation of its adherents. The dangerous side of the\nEckhartian mysticism is painfully exhibited in the life of his\nspiritual daughter, \"Schwester Katrei,\" the saint of the later\nBeguines. Katrei is a rather shadowy person; but for our present\npurpose it does not much matter whether the story of her life has\nbeen embroidered or not. Her memory was revered for such sayings and\ndoings as these which follow. On one occasion she exclaimed:\n\"Congratulate me; I have become God!\" and on another she declared\nthat \"not even the desire of heaven should tempt a good man towards\nactivity.\" It was her ambition to forget who were her parents, to be\nindifferent whether she received absolution and partook of the Holy\nCommunion or not; and she finally realised her ambition by falling\ninto a cataleptic state in which she was supposed to be dead, and\nwas carried out for burial. Her confessor, perceiving that she was\nnot really dead, awoke her: \"Art thou satisfied?\" \"I am satisfied at\nlast,\" said Katrei: she was now \"dead all through,\" as she wished to\nbe.\n\nAre we to conclude that the logical outcome of mysticism is this\nstrange reproduction, in Teutonic Europe, of Indian Yogism? Many who\nhave studied the subject have satisfied themselves that Schwester\nKatrei is the truly consistent mystic. They have come to the\nconclusion that the real attraction of mysticism is a pining for\ndeliverance from this fretful, anxious, exacting, individual life,\nand a yearning for absorption into the great Abyss where all\ndistinctions are merged in the Infinite. According to this view,\nmysticism in its purest form should be studied in the ancient\nreligious literature of India, which teaches us how all this world\nof colour and diversity, of sharp outlines and conflicting forces,\nmay be lost and swallowed up in the \"white radiance,\" or black\ndarkness (it does not really matter which we call it) of an empty\nInfinite.\n\nThe present writer is convinced that this is not the truth about\nmysticism. Eckhart may have encouraged Schwester Katrei in her\nattempt to substitute the living death of the blank trance for the\ndying life of Christian charity; but none the less she caricatured\nand stultified his teaching. And I think it is possible to lay our\nfinger on the place where she and so many others went wrong. The\naspiration of mysticism is to find the unity which underlies all\ndiversity, or, in religious language, to see God face to face. From\nthe Many to the One is always the path of the mystic. Plotinus, the\nfather of all mystical philosophy in Europe (unless, as he himself\nwould have wished, we give that honour to Plato), mapped out the\nupward road as follows:--At the bottom of the hill is the sphere of\nthe \"merely many\"--of material objects viewed in disconnection,\ndull, and spiritless. This is a world which has no real existence;\nit may best be called \"not-being\" (\"ein lauteres Nichts,\" as Eckhart\nsays), and as the indeterminate, it can only be apprehended by a\ncorresponding indeterminateness in the soul. The soul, however,\nalways adds some form and determination to the abstract formlessness\nof the \"merely many.\" Next, we rise to, or project for ourselves,\nthe world of \"the one and the many.\" This is the sphere in which our\nconsciousness normally moves. We are conscious of an overruling\nMind, but the creatures still seem external to and partially\nindependent of it. Such is the temporal order as we know it. Above\nthis is the intelligible world, the eternal order, \"the one-many,\"\ndas ewige Nu, the world in which God's will is done perfectly and\nall reflects the divine mind. Highest of all is \"the One,\" the,\nAbsolute, the Godhead, of whom nothing can be predicated, because He\nis above all distinctions. This Neoplatonic Absolute is the Godhead\nof whom Eckhart says: \"God never looked upon deed,\" and of whom\nAngelus Silesius sings:\n\n  \"Und sieh, er ist nicht Wille,\n  Er ist ein' ewige Stille.\"\n\nPlotinus taught that the One, being superessential, can only be\napprehended in ecstasy, when thought, which still distinguishes\nitself from its object, is transcended, and knower and known become\none. As Tennyson's Ancient Sage says:\n\n  \"If thou would'st hear the Nameless, and descend\n  Into the Temple-cave of thine own self,\n  There, brooding by the central altar, thou\n  May'st haply learn the Nameless hath a voice,\n  By which thou wilt abide, if thou be wise;\n  For knowledge is the swallow on the lake,\n  That sees and stirs the surface-shadow there\n  But never yet hath dipt into the Abysm.\"\n\nIn the same way Eckhart taught that no creature can apprehend the\nGodhead, and, therefore, that the spark in the centre of the soul\n(this doctrine, too, is found in Plotinus) must be verily divine.\nThe logic of the theory is inexorable. If only like can know like,\nwe cannot know God except by a faculty which is itself divine. The\nreal question is whether God, as an object of knowledge and worship\nfor finite beings, is the absolute Godhead, who transcends all\ndistinctions. The mediaeval mystics held that this \"flight of the\nalone to the alone,\" as Plotinus calls it, is possible to men, and\nthat in it consists our highest blessedness. They were attracted\ntowards this view by several influences. First, there was the\ntradition of Dionysius, to whom (e.g.) the author of the \"Theologia\nGermanica\" appeals as an authority for the possibility of \"beholding\nthe hidden things of God by utter abandonment of thyself, and of\nentering into union with Him who is above all existence, and all\nknowledge.\" Secondly, there was what a modern writer has called \"the\nattraction of the Abyss,\" the longing which some persons feel very\nstrongly to merge their individuality in a larger and better whole,\nto get rid not only of selfishness but of self for ever. \"Leave\nnothing of myself in me,\" is Crashaw's prayer in his wonderful poem\non St Teresa. Thirdly, we may mention the awe and respect long paid\nto ecstatic trances, the pathological nature of which was not\nunderstood. The blank trance was a real experience; and as it could\nbe induced by a long course of ascetical exercises and fervid\ndevotions, it was naturally regarded as the crowning reward of\nsanctity on earth. Nor would it be at all safe to reject the\nevidence, which is very copious,[19] that the \"dreamy state\" may\nissue in permanent spiritual gain. The methodical cultivation of it,\nwhich is at the bottom of most of the strange austerities of the\nascetics, was not only (though it was partly) practised in the hope\nof enjoying those spiritual raptures which are described as being\nfar more intense than any pleasures of sense[20]: it was the hope of\nstirring to its depths the subconscious mind and permeating the\nwhole with the hidden energy of the divine Spirit that led to the\ndesire for visions and trances. Lastly, I think we must give a place\nto the intellectual attraction of an uncompromising monistic theory\nof the universe. Spiritualistic monism, when it is consistent with\nitself, will always lean to semi-pantheistic mysticism rather than\nto such a compromise with pluralism as Lotze and his numerous\nfollowers in this country imagine to be possible.\n\nBut it is possible to go a long way with the mystics and yet to\nmaintain that under no conditions whatever can a finite being escape\nfrom the limitations of his finitude and see God or the world or\nhimself \"with the same eye with which God sees\" all things. The old\nHebrew belief, that to see the face of God is death, expresses the\ntruth under a mythical form. That the human mind, while still \"in\nthe body pent,\" may obtain glimpses of the eternal order, and enjoy\nforetastes of the bliss of heaven, is a belief which I, at least,\nsee no reason to reject. It involves no rash presumption, and is not\ncontrary to what may be readily believed about the state of immortal\nspirits passing through a mortal life. But the explanation of the\nblank trance as a temporary transit into the Absolute must be set\ndown as a pure delusion. It involves a conception of the divine\n\"Rest\" which in his best moments Eckhart himself repudiates. \"The\nRest of the Godhead,\" he says, \"is not in that He is the source of\nbeing, but in that He is the consummation of all being.\" This\nprofound saying expresses the truth, which he seems often to forget,\nthat the world-process must have a real value in God's sight--that\nit is not a mere polarisation of the white radiance of eternity\nbroken up by the imperfection of our vision. Whatever theories we\nmay hold about Absolute Being, or an Absolute that is above Being,\nwe must make room for the Will, and for Time, which is the \"form\" of\nthe will, and for the creatures who inhabit time and space, as\nhaving for us the value of reality. Nor shall we, if we are to\nescape scepticism, be willing to admit that these appearances have\nno sure relation to ultimate reality. We must not try to uncreate\nthe world in order to find God. We were created out of nothing, but\nwe cannot return to nothing, to find our Creator there. The still,\nsmall voice is best listened for amid the discordant harmony of life\nand death.\n\nThe search for God is no exception to the mysterious law of human\nnature, that we cannot get anything worth having--neither holiness\nnor happiness nor wisdom--by trying for it directly. It must be\ngiven us through something else. The recluse who lives like\nParnell's \"Hermit\":\n\n\"Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise,\"\n\nis not only a poor sort of saint, but he will offer a poor sort of\nprayers and praises. He will miss real holiness for the same reason\nthat makes the pleasure-seeker miss real happiness. We must lose\nourselves in some worthy interest in order to find again both a\nbetter self and an object higher than that which we sought. This the\nGerman mystics in a sense knew well. There is a noble sentence of\nSuso to the effect that \"he who realises the inward in the outward,\nto him the inward becomes more inward than to him who only\nrecognises the inward in the inward.\" Moreover, the recognition that\n\"God manifests Himself and worketh more in one creature than\nanother\" (\"Theologia Germanica\"), involves a denial of the\nnihilistic view that all the creatures are \"ein lauteres\nNichts.\"[21] It would be easy to find such passages in all the\nfourteenth-century mystics, but it cannot be denied that on the\nwhole their religion is too self-centred. There are not many maxims\nso fundamentally wrong-headed and un-Christian as Suso's advice to\n\"live as if you were the only person in the world.\"[22] The life of\nthe cloistered saint may be abundantly justified--for the spiritual\nactivity of some of them has been of far greater service to mankind\nthan the fussy benevolence of many \"practical\" busybodies--but the\nidea of social service, whether in the school of Martha or of Mary,\nought surely never to be absent. The image of Christ as the Lover of\nthe individual soul rather than as the Bridegroom of the Church was\ntoo dear to these lonely men and women. Unconsciously, they looked\nto their personal devotions to compensate them for the human loves\nwhich they had forsworn. The raptures of Divine Love, which they\nregarded as signal favours bestowed upon them, were not very\nwholesome in themselves, and diverted their thoughts from the needs\nof their fellow-men. They also led to most painful reactions, in\nwhich the poor contemplative believed himself abandoned by God and\nbecame a pray to terrible depression and melancholy. These fits of\nwretchedness came indeed to be recognised as God's punishment for\nselfishness in devotion and for too great desire for the sweetness\nof communing with God, and so arose the doctrine of \"disinterested\nlove,\" which was more and more emphasised in the later mysticism,\nespecially by the French Quietists.\n\nI have spoken quite candidly of the defects of Eckhart's mystical\nChristianity. As a religious philosophy it does not keep clear of\nthe fallacy that an ascent though the unreal can lead to reality.\n\"To suppose, as the mystic does, that the finite search has of\nitself no Being at all, is illusory, is Maya, is itself nothing,\nthis is also to deprive the Absolute of even its poor value as a\ncontrasting goal. For a goal that is a goal of no real process has\nas little value as it has content.\"[23] But, as Prof. Royce says,\nmysticism furnishes us with the means of correcting itself. It\nsupplies an obvious reductio ad absurdum of the theory with which it\nset out, that \"Immediacy is the one test of reality,\" and is itself\nforced to give the world of diversity a real value as manifesting in\ndifferent degrees the nature of God. Those who are acquainted with\nthe sacred books of the East will recognise that here is the\ndecisive departure from real Pantheism. And it may be fairly claimed\nfor the German mystics that though their speculative teaching\nsometimes seems to echo too ominously the apathetic detachment of\nthe Indian sage, their lives and example, and their practical\nexhortations, preached a truer and a larger philosophy. Eckhart, as\nwe have seen, was a busy preacher as well as a keen student, and\nsome of the younger members of his school were even more occupied in\npastoral work. If the tree is to be judged by its fruits, mysticism\ncan give a very good account of itself to the Marthas as well as the\nMarys of this world.\n\nSect. 4. THE GERMAN MYSTICS AS GUIDES TO HOLINESS\n\nTHIS little volume is a contribution to a \"Library of Devotion,\" and\nin the body of the work the reader will be seldom troubled by any\nabstruse philosophising. I have thought it necessary to give, in\nthis Introduction, a short account of Eckhart's system, but the\nextracts which follow are taken mainly from his successors, in whom\nthe speculative tendency is weaker and less original, while the\nreligious element is stronger and more attractive. It is, after all,\nas guides to holiness that these mystics are chiefly important to\nus. This side of their life's work can never be out of date, for the\ndeeper currents of human nature change but little; the language of\nthe heart is readily understood everywhere and at all times. The\ndifferences between Catholic and Protestant are hardly felt in the\nkeen air of these high summits. It was Luther himself who discovered\nthe \"Theologia Germanica\" and said of it that, \"next to the Bible\nand St Augustine, no book hath ever come into my hands whence I have\nlearnt or would wish to learn more of what God and Christ and man\nand all things are. I thank God that I have heard and found my God\nin the German tongue, as I have not yet found Him in Latin, Greek,\nor Hebrew.\" The theology of these mystics takes us straight back to\nthe Johannine doctrine of Christ as the all-pervading Word of God,\nby whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together.\nHe is not far from any one of us if we will but seek Him where He is\nto be found--in the innermost sanctuary of our personal life. In\npersonal religion this means that no part of revelation is to be\nregarded as past, isolated, or external. \"We should mark and know of\na very truth,\" says the author of the \"Theologia Germanica,\" \"that\nall manner of virtue and goodness, and even the eternal Good which\nis God Himself, can never make a man virtuous, good, or happy, so\nlong as it is outside the soul.\" In the same spirit Jacob B\u0161hme, 250\nyears later, says: \"If the sacrifice of Christ is to avail for me,\nit must be wrought in me.\" Or, as his English admirer, William Law,\nputs it: \"Christ given for us is neither more nor less than Christ\ngiven into us. He is in no other sense our full, perfect, and\nsufficient Atonement than as His nature and spirit are born and\nformed in us.\" The whole process of redemption must in a sense be\nreenacted in the inner life of every Christian. And as Christ\nemptied Himself for our sakes, so must we empty ourselves of all\nself-seeking. \"When the creature claimeth for its own anything good,\nsuch as life, knowledge, or power, and in short whatever we commonly\ncall good, as if it were that, or possessed that--it goeth astray.\"\nSin is nothing else but self-assertion, self-will. \"Be assured,\"\nsays the \"Theologia Germanica,\" \"that he who helpeth a man to his\nown will, helpeth him to the worst that he can.\" He, therefore, who\nis \"simply and wholly bereft of self\" is delivered from sin, and God\nalone reigns in his inmost soul. Concerning the highest part or\nfaculty of the soul, the author of this little treatise follows\nEckhart, but cautiously. \"The True Light,\" he says, \"is that eternal\nLight which is God; or else it is a created light, but yet Divine,\nwhich is called grace.\" In either case, \"where God dwells in a godly\nman, in such a man somewhat appertaineth to God which is His own,\nand belongs to Him only and not to the creature.\" This doctrine of\ndivine immanence, for which there is ample warrant in the New\nTestament, is the real kernel of German mysticism. It is a doctrine\nwhich, when rightly used, may make this world a foretaste of heaven,\nbut alas! the \"False Light\" is always trying to counterfeit the\ntrue. In the imitation of the suffering life of Christ lies the only\nmeans of escaping the deceptions of the Evil One. \"The False Light\ndreameth itself to be God, and sinless\"; but \"none is without sin;\nif any is without consciousness of sin, he must be either Christ or\nthe Evil Spirit.\"\n\nVery characteristic is the teaching of all these writers about\nrewards and punishments. Without in any way impugning the Church\ndoctrine of future retribution, they yet agree with Benjamin\nWhichcote, the Cambridge Platonist, that \"heaven is first a temper,\nthen a place\"; while of hell there is much to recall the noble\nsentence of Juliana of Norwich, the fourteenth-century visionary,\n\"to me was showed no harder hell than sin.\" \"Nothing burneth in hell\nbut self-will,\" is a saying in the \"Theologia Germanica.\"[24] They\ninsist that the difference between heaven and hell is not that one\nis a place of enjoyment, the other of torment; it is that in the one\nwe are with Christ, in the other without Him. \"The Christlike life\nis not chosen,\" to quote the \"Theologia Germanica\" once more, \"in\norder to serve any end, or to get anything by it, but for love of\nits nobleness, and because God loveth and esteemeth it so highly. He\nwho doth not take it up for love, hath none of it at all; he may\ndream indeed that he hath put it on, but he is deceived. Christ did\nnot lead such a life as this for the sake of reward, but out of\nlove, and love maketh such a life light, and taketh away all its\nhardships, so that it becometh sweet and is gladly endured.\" The\ntruly religious man is always more concerned about what God will do\nin him than what He will do to him; in his intense desire for the\npurification of his motives he almost wishes that heaven and hell\nwere blotted out, that he might serve God for Himself alone.\n\nSect. 5. WRITERS OF THE SCHOOL OF ECKHART--TAULER\n\nSuch are the main characteristics of the religious teachings which\nwe find in the German mystics. Among the successors of Eckhart, from\nwhose writings the following extracts are taken, the most notable\nnames are those of Tauler, Suso, and Ruysbroek. From Tauler I have\ntaken very little, because a volume of selections from his sermons\nhas already appeared in this series.[25] Accordingly, it will only\nbe necessary to mention a very few facts about his life.\n\nJohn Tauler was born at Strassburg about 1300, and studied at the\nDominican convents of Strassburg and Cologne. At both places he\ndoubtless heard the sermons of Eckhart. In 1329 the great interdict\nbegan at Strassburg, and was stoutly resisted by many of the clergy.\nIt is a disputed point whether Tauler himself obeyed the Papal\ndecree or not. His uneventful life, which was devoted to study,\npreaching, and pastoral work, came to an end in 1361. Like Eckhart,\nhe had a favourite \"spiritual daughter,\" Margaret Ebner, who won a\ngreat reputation as a visionary.\n\nSect. 6. SUSO\n\nHenry Suso was born in 1295 and died in 1365. His autobiography was\npublished not long before his death. He is the poet of the band. The\nromance of saintship is depicted by him with a strange vividness\nwhich alternately attracts and repels, or even disgusts, the modern\nreader. The whole-hearted devotion of the \"Servitor\" to the \"Divine\nWisdom,\" the tender beauty of the visions and conversations, and the\noccasional na\u2022vet\u00e9 of the narrative, which shows that the saint\nremained very human throughout, make Suso's books delightful\nreading; but the accounts of the horrible macerations to which he\nsubjected himself for many years shock our moral sense almost as\nmuch as our sensibilities; we do not now believe that God takes\npleasure in sufferings inflicted in His honour. Moreover, the erotic\nsymbolism of the visions is occasionally unpleasant: we are no\nlonger in the company of such sane and healthy people as Eckhart and\nTauler. The half-sensuous pleasure of ecstasy was evidently a\ntemptation to Suso, and the violent alternations of rapture and\nmisery which he experienced suggest a neurotic and ill-balanced\ntemperament.[26]\n\nOn this subject--the pathological side of mysticism--a few remarks\nwill not be out of place, for there has been much discussion of it\nlately. A great deal of nonsense has been written on the connexion\nbetween religion and neuroticism. To quote Professor James' vigorous\nprotest, \"medical materialism finishes up St Paul by calling his\nvision on the road to Damascus a discharging lesion of the occipital\ncortex, he being an epileptic. It snuffs out St Teresa as an\nhysteric, St Francis of Assisi as an hereditary degenerate. George\nFox's discontent with the shams of his age, and his pining for\nspiritual veracity, it treats as a symptom of a disordered colon.\nCarlyle's organ-tones of misery it accounts for by a gastro-duodenal\ncatarrh. All such mental over-tensions, it says, are, when you come\nto the bottom of the matter, mere affairs of diathesis\n(auto-intoxications most probably), due to the perverted action of\nvarious glands which physiology will yet discover.\"[27] Now, even if\nit were true that most religious geniuses, like most other geniuses,\nhave been \"psychopaths\" of one kind or another, this fact in no way\ndisposes of the value of their intuitions and experiences. Nearly\nall the great benefactors of humanity have been persons of\none-sided, and therefore ill-balanced, characters. Even Maudsley\nadmits that \"Nature may find an incomplete mind a more suitable\ninstrument for a particular purpose. It is the work that is done,\nand the quality in the worker by which it is done, that is alone of\nmoment; and it may be no great matter from a cosmical standpoint, if\nin other qualities of character he (the genius) was singularly\ndefective.\"[28] Except in the character of our Lord Himself, there\nare visible imperfections in the record of every great saint; but\nthat is no reason for allowing such traces of human infirmity to\ndiscredit what is pure and good in their work. More particularly, it\nwould be a great pity to let our minds dwell on the favourite\nmaterialistic theory that saintliness, especially as cultivated and\nvenerated by Catholicism, has its basis in \"perverted sexuality.\"\nThere is enough plausibility in the theory to make it mischievous.\nThe allegorical interpretation of the Book of Canticles was in truth\nthe source of, or at least the model for, a vast amount of\nunwholesome and repulsive pietism. Not a word need be said for such\na paltry narrative of endearments and sickly compliments as the\n\"Revelations of the Nun Gertrude,\" in the thirteenth century. Nor\nare we concerned to deny that the artificially induced ecstasy,\nwhich is desired on account of the intense pleasure which is said to\naccompany it, nearly always contains elements the recognition of\nwhich would shock and distress the contemplatives themselves.[29]\nThere are, however, other elements, of a less insidious kind, which\nmake the ecstatic trance seem desirable. These are, according to\nProfessor Leuba, the calming of the restless intellect by the\nconcentration of the mind on one object; the longing for a support\nand comfort more perfect than man can give; and, thirdly, the\nconsecration and strengthening of the will, which is often a\npermanent effect of the trance. These are legitimate objects of\ndesire, and in many of the mystics they are much more prominent than\nany tendencies which might be considered morbid. As regards the\nlarger question, about the alleged pathological character of all\ndistinctively religious exaltation, I believe that no greater\nmistake could be made than to suppose that the religious life\nflourishes best in unnatural circumstances. Religion, from a\nbiological standpoint, I take to be the expression of the racial\nwill to live; its function (from this point of view) is the\npreservation and development of humanity on the highest possible\nlevel. If this is true, a simple, healthy, natural life must be the\nmost favourable for religious excellence--and this I believe to be\nthe case. Poor Suso certainly did not lead a healthy or natural\nlife. But in his case, though the suppressed natural instincts\nobviously overflow into the religious consciousness and in part\ndetermine the forms which his devotion assumes, we can never forget\nthat we are in the company of a poet and a saint who will lift us,\nif we can follow him, into a very high region of the spiritual life,\nan altitude which he has himself climbed with bleeding feet.\n\nThe simple confidence which at the end of the dialogue he expresses\nin the value of his work is, I think, amply justified. \"Whoever will\nread these writings of mine in a right spirit, can hardly fail to be\nstirred to the depths of his soul, either to fervent love, or to new\nlight, or to hunger and thirst for God, or to hatred and loathing\nfor his sins, or to that spiritual aspiration by which the soul is\nrenewed in grace.\"\n\nSect. 7. RUYSBROEK\n\n[Note: the Ruysbroek selection has not been reproduced in this\nelectronic edition. An electronic text of a larger collection of\nRuysbroek's works may be available.]\n\nSect. 8. THEOLOGIA GERMANICA\n\nThe \"Theologia Germanica,\" an isolated treatise of no great length\nby an unknown author, was written towards the end of the fourteenth\ncentury by one of the Gottesfreunde, a widespread association of\npious souls in Germany. He is said to have been \"a priest and warden\nof the house of the Teutonic Order at Frankfort.\" His book is both\nthe latest and one of the most important productions of the German\nmystical school founded by Eckhart. The author is a deeply religious\nphilosopher, as much interested in speculative mysticism as Eckhart\nhimself, but as thoroughly penetrated with devout feeling as Thomas\n\u02c6 Kempis. The treatise should be read by all, as one of the very\nbest devotional works in any language. My only reason for not\ntranslating it in full here is that a good English translation\nalready exists,[30] so that it seemed unnecessary to offer a new one\nto the public. I have therefore only translated a few characteristic\npassages, which are very far from exhausting its beauties, and a few\nof the more striking aphorisms, which indicate the main points in\nthe religious philosophy of the writer.\n\nSect. 9. MODERN MYSTICISM\n\nThe revival of interest in the old mystical writers is not\nsurprising when we consider the whole trend of modern thought. Among\nrecent philosophers--though Lotze, perhaps the greatest name among\nthem, is unsympathetic, in consequence of his over-rigid theory of\npersonality--the great psychologist Fechner, whose religious\nphilosophy is not so well known in this country as it deserves to\nbe, has with some justice been called a mystic. And our own greatest\nliving metaphysician, Mr F.H. Bradley, has expounded the dialectic\nof speculative mysticism with unequalled power, though with a bias\nagainst Christianity. Another significant fact is the great\npopularity, all over Europe, of Maeterlinck's mystical works, \"Le\nTr\u00e9sor des Humbles,\" \"La Sagesse et la Destin\u00e9e,\" and \"Le\nTemple Enseveli.\"\n\nThe growing science of psychology has begun to turn its attention\nseriously to the study of the religious faculty. Several able men\nhave set themselves to collect material which may form the basis of\nan inductive science. Personal experiences, communicated by many\npersons of both sexes and of various ages, occupations, and levels\nof culture, have been brought together and tabulated. It is claimed\nthat important facts have already been established, particularly in\nconnexion with the phenomena of conversion, by this method. The\nresults have certainly been more than enough to justify confidence\nin the soundness of the method, and hope that the new science may\nhave a great future before it. Towards mysticism, recent writers on\nthe psychology of religion have been less favourable than the pure\nmetaphysicians. While the latter have shown a tendency towards\nPantheism and Determinism, which makes them sympathise with the\ngeneral trend of speculative mysticism, psychology seems just at\npresent to lean towards a pluralistic metaphysic and a belief in\nfree-will or even in chance. This attitude is especially noticeable\nin the now famous Gifford Lectures of Professor William James[31]\nand in the recent volume of essays written at Oxford.[32] But even\nif the rising tide of neo-Kantianism should cause the speculative\nmystics to be regarded with disfavour, nothing can prevent the\nreligion of the twentieth century from being mystical in type. The\nstrongest wish of a vast number of earnest men and women to-day is\nfor a basis of religious belief which shall rest, not upon tradition\nor external authority or historical evidence, but upon the\nascertainable facts of human experience. The craving for immediacy,\nwhich we have seen to be characteristic of all mysticism, now takes\nthe form of a desire to establish the validity of the\nGod-consciousness as a normal part of the healthy inner life. We may\nperhaps venture to predict that the Christian biologist of the\nfuture will turn the Pauline Christology into his own dialect\nsomewhat after the following fashion:--\"The function of religion in\nthe human race is closely analogous to, if not identical with, that\nof instinct in the lower animals. Religion is the racial will to\nlive; not, however, to live anyhow and at all costs, but to live as\nhuman beings, conforming as far as possible to the highest type of\nhumanity. Religion, therefore, acts as a higher instinct, inhibiting\nall self-destroying and race-destroying impulses in the interest of\na larger self than the individual life.\" To turn this statement into\ntheological form it is only necessary to claim that the \"perfect\nman\" which the religious instinct is trying to form is \"the measure\nof the stature of the fulness of Christ,\" that that perfect humanity\nwas once realised in the historical Christ, and that the higher\ninstinct within us--ourselves, yet not ourselves--which makes for\nlife and righteousness, and is the source of all the good that we\ncan think, say, or do, may (in virtue of that historical\nincarnation) be justly called the indwelling Christ. This is all\nthat the Christian mystic needs.\n\nSect. 10. SPECIMENS OF MODERN MYSTICISM\n\nI conclude this introductory essay with a few extracts from recent\nAmerican books on the psychology of religion. It is interesting to\nfind some of the strangest experiences of the cloister reproduced\nunder the very different conditions of modern American life. The\nquotations will serve to show how far Tauler and the \"Theologia\nGermanica\" are from being out of date.\n\n\"The thing which impressed me most\" (says a correspondent of\nProfessor William James)[33] \"was learning the fact that we must be\nin absolutely constant relation or mental touch with that essence of\nlife which permeates all and which we call God. This is almost\nunrecognisable unless we live into it ourselves actually--that is,\nby a constant turning to the very innermost, deepest consciousness\nof our real selves or of God in us, for illumination from within,\njust as we turn to the sun for light, warmth, and invigoration\nwithout. When you do this consciously, realising that to turn inward\nto the light within you is to live in the presence of God or of your\nDivine self, you soon discover the unreality of the objects to which\nyou have hitherto been turning and which have engrossed you\nwithout.\"\n\nThe next quotation comes from a small book by one of the \"New\nThought\" or \"Mind Cure\" school in America. The enormous sale of the\nvolume testifies to the popularity of the teaching which it\ncontains.[34]\n\n\"Intuition is an inner spiritual sense through which man is opened\nto the direct revelation and knowledge of God, the secret of nature\nand life, and through which he is brought into conscious unity and\nfellowship with God, and made to realise his own deific nature and\nsupremacy of being as the son of God. Spiritual supremacy and\nillumination thus realised through the development and perfection of\nintuition under divine inspiration gives the perfect inner vision\nand direct insight into the character, properties, and purpose of\nall things to which the attention and interest are directed. It is,\nwe repeat, a spiritual sense opening inwardly, as the physical\nsenses open outwardly; and because it has the capacity to perceive,\ngrasp, and know the truth at first hand, independent of all external\nsources of information, we call it intuition. All inspired teaching\nand spiritual revelations are based upon the recognition of this\nspiritual faculty of the soul and its power to receive and\nappropriate them. Conscious unity of man in spirit and purpose with\nthe Father, born out of his supreme desire and trust, opens his soul\nthrough this inner sense to immediate aspiration and enlightenment\nfrom the divine omniscience, and the co-operative energy of the\ndivine omnipotence, under which he becomes a seer and a master. On\nthis higher plane of realised spiritual life in the flesh the mind\nacts with unfettered freedom and unbiassed vision, grasping truth at\nfirst hand, independent of all external sources of information.\nApproaching all beings and things from the divine side, they are\nseen in the light of the divine omniscience.[35] God's purpose in\nthem, and so the truth concerning them, as it rests in the mind of\nGod, are thus revealed by direct illumination from the divine mind,\nto which the soul is opened inwardly through this spiritual sense we\ncall intuition.\"\n\nThe practice of meditation \"without images,\" as the mediaeval\nmystics called it, is specially recommended. \"Many will receive\ngreat help, and many will be entirely healed by a practice somewhat\nafter the following nature:--With a mind at peace, and with a heart\ngoing out in love to all, go into the quiet of your own interior\nself, holding the thought, I am one with the Infinite Spirit of\nLife, the life of my life. I now open my body, in which disease has\ngotten a foothold, I open it fully to the inflowing tide of this\ninfinite life, and it now, even now, is pouring in and coursing\nthrough my body, and the healing process is going on.\" \"If you would\nfind the highest, the fullest, and the richest life that not only\nthis world but that any world can know, then do away with the sense\nof the separateness of your life from the life of God. Hold to the\nthought of your oneness. In the degree that you do this, you will\nfind yourself realising it more and more, and as this life of\nrealisation is lived, you will find that no good thing will be\nwithheld, for all things are included in this.\"[36]\n\nThis modern mysticism is very much entangled with theories about the\ncure of bodily disease by suggestion; and it is fair to warn those\nwho are unacquainted with the books of this sect that they will find\nmuch fantastic superstition mixed with a stimulating faith in the\ninner light as the voice of God.\n\nBut whatever may be the course of this particular movement there can\nbe no doubt that the Americans, like ourselves, are only at the\nbeginning of a great revival of mystical religion. The movement will\nprobably follow the same course as the mediaeval movement in\nGermany, with which this little book is concerned. It will have its\nphilosophical supportees, who will press their speculation to the\nverge of Pantheism, perhaps reviving the Logos-cosmology of the\nChristian Alexandrians under the form of the pan-psychism of Lotze\nand Fechner. It will have its evangelists like Tauler, who will\ncarry to our crowded town populations the glad tidings that the\nkingdom of God is not here or there, but within the hearts of all\nwho will seek for it within them. It will assuredly attract some to\na life of solitary contemplation; while others, intellectually\nweaker or less serious, will follow the various theosophical and\ntheurgical delusions which, from the days of Iamblichus downward,\nhave dogged the heels of mysticism. For the \"False Light\" against\nwhich the \"Theologia Germanica\" warns us is as dangerous as ever; we\nmay even live to see some new \"Brethren of the Free Spirit\" turning\ntheir liberty into a cloak of licentiousness. If so, the world will\nsoon whistle back the disciplinarian with his traditions of the\nelders; prophesying will once more be suppressed and discredited,\nand a new crystallising process will begin. But before that time\ncomes some changes may possibly take place in the external\nproportions of Christian orthodoxy. The appearance of a vigorous\nbody of faith, standing firmly on its own feet, may even have the\neffect of relegating to the sphere of pious opinion some tenets\nwhich have hitherto \"seemed to be pillars.\"\n\nFor these periodical returns to the \"fresh springs\" of religion\nnever leave the tradition exactly where it was before. The German\nmovement of the fourteenth century made the Reformation inevitable,\nand our own age may be inaugurating a change no less momentous,\nwhich will restore in the twentieth century some of the features of\nApostolic Christianity.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIGHT, LIFE AND LOVE\n\nECKHART\n\n\n\n\n\nGOD\n\nGOD is nameless, for no man can either say or understand aught about\nHim. If I say, God is good, it is not true; nay more; I am good, God\nis not good. I may even say, I am better than God; for whatever is\ngood, may become better, and whatever may become better, may become\nbest. Now God is not good, for He cannot become better. And if He\ncannot become better, He cannot become best, for these three things,\ngood, better, and best, are far from God, since He is above all. If\nI also say, God is wise, it is not true; I am wiser than He. If I\nalso say, God is a Being, it is not true; He is transcendent Being\nand superessential Nothingness. Concerning this St Augustine says:\nthe best thing that man can say about God is to be able to be silent\nabout Him, from the wisdom of his inner judgement. Therefore be\nsilent and prate not about God, for whenever thou dost prate about\nGod, thou liest, and committest sin. If thou wilt be without sin,\nprate not about God. Thou canst understand nought about God, for He\nis above all understanding. A master saith: If I had a God whom I\ncould understand, I would never hold Him to be God. (318)[37]\n\nGod is not only a Father of all good things, as being their First\nCause and Creator, but He is also their Mother, since He remains\nwith the creatures which have from Him their being and existence,\nand maintains them continually in their being. If God did not abide\nwith and in the creatures, they must necessarily have fallen back,\nso soon as they were created, into the nothingness out of which they\nwere created. (610)\n\nREST ONLY IN GOD\n\nIF I had everything that I could desire, and my finger ached, I\nshould not have everything, for I should have a pain in my finger,\nand so long as that remained, I should not enjoy full comfort. Bread\nis comfortable for men, when they are hungry; but when they are\nthirsty, they find no more comfort in bread than in a stone. So it\nis with clothes, they are welcome to men, when they are cold; but\nwhen they are too hot, clothes give them no comfort. And so it is\nwith all the creatures. The comfort which they promise is only on\nthe surface, like froth, and it always carries with it a want. But\nGod's comfort is clear and has nothing wanting: it is full and\ncomplete, and God is constrained to give it thee, for He cannot\ncease till He have given thee Himself. (300)\n\nIt is only in God that are collected and united all the perfections,\nwhich in the creatures are sundered and divided. (324)\n\nYet all the fulness of the creatures can as little express God, as a\ndrop of water can express the sea. (173)\n\nGOD IS ALWAYS READY\n\nNO one ought to think that it is difficult to come to Him, though it\nsounds difficult and is really difficult at the beginning, and in\nseparating oneself from and dying to all things. But when a man has\nonce entered upon it, no life is lighter or happier or more\ndesirable; for God is very zealous to be at all times with man, and\nteaches him that He will bring him to Himself if man will but\nfollow. Man never desires anything so earnestly as God desires to\nbring a man to Himself, that he may know Him. God is always ready,\nbut we are very unready; God is near to us, but we are far from Him;\nGod is within, but we are without; God is at home, but we are\nstrangers. The prophet saith: God guideth the redeemed through a\nnarrow way into the broad road, so that they come into the wide and\nbroad place; that is to say, into true freedom of the spirit, when\none has become a spirit with God. May God help us to follow this\ncourse, that He may bring us to Himself. Amen. (223)\n\nGRACE\n\nTHE masters say: That is young, which is near its beginning.\nIntelligence is the youngest faculty in man: the first thing to\nbreak out from the soul is intelligence, the next is will, the other\nfaculties follow. Now he saith: Young man, I say unto thee, arise.\nThe soul in itself is a simple work; what God works in the simple\nlight of the soul is more beautiful and more delightful than all the\nother works which He works in all creatures. But foolish people take\nevil for good and good for evil. But to him who rightly understands,\nthe one work which God works in the soul is better and nobler and\nhigher than all the world. Through that light comes grace. Grace\nnever comes in the intelligence or in the will. If it could come in\nthe intelligence or in the will, the intelligence and the will would\nhave to transcend themselves. On this a master says: There is\nsomething secret about it; and thereby he means the spark of the\nsoul, which alone can apprehend God. The true union between God and\nthe soul takes place in the little spark, which is called the spirit\nof the soul. Grace unites not to any work. It is an indwelling and a\nliving together of the soul in God. (255)\n\nEvery gift of God makes the soul ready to receive a new gift,\ngreater than itself. (15)\n\nYea, since God has never given any gift, in order that man might\nrest in the possession of the gift, but gives every gift that He has\ngiven in heaven and on earth, in order that He might be able to give\none gift, which is Himself, so with this gift of grace, and with all\nHis gifts He will make us ready for the one gift, which is Himself.\n(569)\n\nNo man is so boorish or stupid or awkward, that he cannot, by God's\ngrace, unite his will wholly and entirely with God's will. And\nnothing more is necessary than that he should say with earnest\nlonging: O Lord, show me Thy dearest will, and strengthen me to do\nit. And God does it, as sure as He lives, and gives him grace in\never richer fulness, till he comes to perfection, as He gave to the\nwoman at Jacob's well. Look you, the most ignorant and the lowest of\nyou all can obtain this from God, before he leaves this church, yea,\nbefore I finish this sermon, as sure as God lives and I am a man.\n(187)\n\nO almighty and merciful Creator and good Lord, be merciful to me for\nmy poor sins, and help me that I may overcome all temptations and\nshameful lusts, and may be able to avoid utterly, in thought and\ndeed, what Thou forbiddest, and give me grace to do and to hold all\nthat Thou hast commanded. Help me to believe, to hope, and to love,\nand in every way to live as Thou willest, as much as Thou willest,\nand what Thou willest. (415)\n\nTHE WILL\n\nTHEN is the will perfect, when it has gone out of itself, and is\nformed in the will of God. The more this is so, the more perfect and\ntrue is the will, and in such a will thou canst do all things. (553)\n\nSURRENDER OF THE WILL\n\nYOU should know, that that which God gives to those men who seek to\ndo His will with all their might, is the best. Of this thou mayest\nbe as sure, as thou art sure that God lives, that the very best must\nnecessarily be, and that in no other way could anything better\nhappen. Even if something else seems better, it would not be so good\nfor thee, for God wills this and not another way, and this way must\nbe the best for thee. Whether it be sickness or poverty or hunger or\nthirst, or whatever it be, that God hangs over thee or does not hang\nover thee--whatever God gives or gives not, that is all what is best\nfor thee; whether it be devotion or inwardness, or the lack of these\nwhich grieves thee--only set thyself right in this, that thou\ndesirest the glory of God in all things, and then whatever He does\nto thee, that is the best.\n\nNow thou mayest perchance say: How can I tell whether it is the will\nof God or not? If it were not the will of God, it would not happen.\nThou couldst have neither sickness nor anything else unless God\nwilled it. But know that it is God's will that thou shouldst have so\nmuch pleasure and satisfaction therein, that thou shouldst feel no\npain as pain; thou shouldst take it from God as the very best thing,\nfor it must of necessity be the very best thing for thee. Therefore\nI may even wish for it and desire it, and nothing would become me\nbetter than so to do.\n\nIf there were a man whom I were particularly anxious to please, and\nif I knew for certain that he liked me better in a grey cloak than\nin any other, there is no doubt that however good another cloak\nmight be, I should be fonder of the grey than of all the rest. And\nif there were anyone whom I would gladly please, I should do nothing\nelse in word or deed than what I knew that he liked.\n\nAh, now consider how your love shows itself! If you loved God, of a\nsurety nothing would give you greater pleasure than what pleases Him\nbest, and that whereby His will may be most fully done. And, however\ngreat thy pain or hardship may be, if thou hast not as great\npleasure in it as in comfort or fulness, it is wrong.\n\nWe say every day in prayer to our Father, Thy will be done. And yet\nwhen His will is done, we grumble at it, and find no pleasure in His\nwill. If our prayers were sincere, we should certainly think His\nwill, and what He does, to be the best, and that the very best had\nhappened to us. (134)\n\nThose who accept all that the Lord send, as the very best, remain\nalways in perfect peace, for in them God's will has become their\nwill. This is incomparably better than for our will to become God's\nwill. For when thy will becomes God's will--if thou art sick, thou\nwishest not to be well contrary to God's will, but thou wishest that\nit were God's will that thou shouldest be well. And so in other\nthings. But when God's will becomes thy will--then thou art sick: in\nGod's name; thy friend dies: in God's name! (55)\n\nSUFFERING\n\nMEN who love God are so far from complaining of their sufferings,\nthat their complaint and their suffering is rather because the\nsuffering which God's will has assigned them is so small. All their\nblessedness is to suffer by God's will, and not to have suffered\nsomething, for this is the loss of suffering. This is why I said,\nBlessed are they who are willing to suffer for righteousness, not,\nBlessed are they who have suffered. (434)\n\nAll that a man bears for God's sake, God makes light and sweet for\nhim. (45)\n\nIf all was right with you, your sufferings would no longer be\nsuffering, but love and comfort. (442)\n\nIf God could have given to men anything more noble than suffering,\nHe would have redeemed mankind with it: otherwise, you must say that\nmy Father was my enemy, if he knew of anything nobler than\nsuffering. (338)\n\nTrue suffering is a mother of all the virtues. (338)\n\nSIN\n\nDEADLY sin is a death of the soul. To die is to lose life. But God\nis the life of the soul; since then deadly sin separates us from\nGod, it is a death of the soul.\n\nDeadly sin is also an unrest of the heart. Everything can rest only\nin its proper place. But the natural place of the soul is God; as St\nAugustine says, Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart\nis restless till it finds rest in Thee. But deadly sin separates us\nfrom God; therefore it is an unrest of the heart. Deadly sin is also\na sickness of the faculties, when a man can never stand up alone for\nthe weight of his sins, nor ever resist falling into sin. Therefore\ndeadly sin is a sickness of the faculties. Deadly sin is also a\nblindness of the sense, in that it suffers not a man to know the\nshortness of the pleasures of lust, nor the length of the punishment\nin hell, nor the eternity of joys in heaven. Deadly sin is also a\ndeath of all graces; for as soon as a deadly sin takes place, a man\nbecomes bare of all graces. (217)\n\nEvery creature must of necessity abide in God; if we fall out of the\nhands of his mercy, we fall into the hands of His justice. We must\never abide in Him. What madness then is it to wish not to be with\nHim, without whom thou canst not be! (169)\n\nCONTENTMENT\n\nA GREAT teacher once told a story in his preaching about a man who\nfor eight years besought God to show him a man who would make known\nto him the way of truth. While he was in this state of anxiety there\ncame a voice from God and spake to him: Go in front of the church,\nand there shalt thou find a man who will make known to thee the way\nof truth. He went, and found a poor man whose feet were chapped and\nfull of dirt, and all his clothes were hardly worth\ntwopence-halfpenny. He greeted this poor man and said to him, God\ngive thee a good morning. The poor man answered, I never had a bad\nmorning. The other said, God give thee happiness. How answerest thou\nthat? The poor man answered, I was never unhappy. The first then\nsaid, God send thee blessedness. How answerest thou that? I was\nnever unblessed, was the answer. Lastly the questioner said, God\ngive thee health! Now enlighten me, for I cannot understand it. And\nthe poor man replied, When thou saidst to me, may God give thee a\ngood morning, I said I never had a bad morning. If I am hungry, I\npraise God for it; if I am cold, I praise God for it; if I am\ndistressful and despised, I praise God for it; and that is why I\nnever had a bad morning. When thou askedst God to give me happiness,\nI answered that I had never been unhappy; for what God gives or\nordains for me, whether it be His love or suffering, sour or sweet,\nI take it all from God as being the best, and that is why I was\nnever unhappy. Thou saidst further, May God make thee blessed, and I\nsaid, I was never unblessed, for I have given up my will so entirely\nto God's will, that what God wills, that I also will, and that is\nwhy I was never unblessed, because I willed alone God's will. Ah!\ndear fellow, replied the man; but if God should will to throw thee\ninto hell, what wouldst thou say then? He replied, Throw me into\nhell! Then I would resist Him. But even if He threw me into hell, I\nshould still have two arms wherewith to embrace Him. One arm is true\nhumility, which I should place under Him, and with the arm of love I\nshould embrace Him. And he concluded, I would rather be in hell and\npossess God, than in the kingdom of heaven without Him. (623)\n\nDETACHMENT\n\nTHE man who has submitted his will and purposes entirely to God,\ncarries God with him in all his works and in all circumstances.\nTherein can no man hinder him, for he neither aims at nor enjoys\nanything else, save God. God is united with Him in all his purposes\nand designs. Even as no manifoldness can dissipate God, so nothing\ncan dissipate such a man, or destroy his unity. Man, therefore,\nshould take God with him in all things; God should be always present\nto his mind and will and affections. The same disposition that thou\nhast in church or in thy cell, thou shouldst keep and maintain in a\ncrowd, and amid the unrest and manifoldness of the world.\n\nSome people pride themselves on their detachment from mankind, and\nare glad to be alone or in church; and therein lies their peace. But\nhe who is truly in the right state, is so in all circumstances, and\namong all persons; he who is not in a good state, it is not right\nwith him in all places and among all persons. He who is as he should\nbe has God with him in truth, in all places and among all persons,\nin the street as well as in the church; and then no man can hinder\nhim. (547)\n\nIt is often much harder for a man to be alone in a crowd than in the\ndesert; and it is often harder to leave a small thing than a great,\nand to practise a small work than one which people consider very\ngreat. (565)\n\nPRAYER\n\nGOOD and earnest prayer is a golden ladder which reaches up to\nheaven, and by which man ascends to God.\n\nThe man who will pray aright should ask for nothing except what may\npromote God's honour and glory, his own profit and the advantage of\nhis neighbours. When we ask for temporal things we should always\nadd, if it be God's will and if it be for my soul's health. But when\nwe pray for virtues, we need add no qualification, for these are\nGod's own working. (359)\n\nLOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR\n\nIT is a hard thing to practise this universal love, and to love our\nneighbours as ourselves, as our Lord commanded us. But if you will\nunderstand it rightly, there is a greater reward attached to this\ncommand, than to any other. The commandment seems hard, but the\nreward is precious indeed. (135)\n\nLOVE\n\nHE who has found this way of love, seeketh no other. He who turns on\nthis pivot is in such wise a prisoner that his foot and hand and\nmouth and eyes and heart, and all his human faculties, belong to\nGod. And, therefore, thou canst overcome thy flesh in no better way,\nso that it may not shame thee, than by love. This is why it is\nwritten, Love is as strong as death, as hard as hell. Death\nseparates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from\nthe soul. She suffers nought to come near her, that is not God nor\nGod-like. Happy is he who is thus imprisoned; the more thou art a\nprisoner, the more wilt thou be freed. That we may be so imprisoned,\nand so freed, may He help us, Who Himself is Love. (30)\n\nTHE UNION WITH GOD\n\nTHE union of the soul with God is far more inward than that of the\nsoul and body. (566)\n\nNow I might ask, how stands it with the soul that is lost in God?\nDoes the soul find herself or not? To this will I answer as it\nappears to me, that the soul finds herself in the point, where every\nrational being understands itself with itself. Although it sinks and\nsinks in the eternity of the Divine Essence, yet it can never reach\nthe ground. Therefore God has left a little point wherein the soul\nturns back upon itself and finds itself, and knows itself to be a\ncreature. (387)\n\nGod alone must work in thee without hindrance, that He may bring to\nperfection His likeness in thee. So thou mayest understand with Him,\nand love with Him. This is the essence of perfection. (471)\n\nTHE LAST JUDGMENT\n\nPEOPLE say of the last day, that God shall give judgment. This is\ntrue. But it is not true as people imagine. Every man pronounces his\nown sentence; as he shows himself here in his essence, so will he\nremain everlastingly. (471)\n\nPRECEPT AND PRACTICE\n\nBETTER one life-master than a thousand reading-masters (w\u00eager w\u00eare\nein lebemeister denne t\u00fbsent lesemeister). If I sought a master\nin the scriptures, I should seek him in Paris and in the high\nschools of high learning. But if I wished to ask questions about the\nperfect life, that he could not tell me. Where then must I go?\nNowhere at all save to an utterly simple nature; he could answer my\nquestion. (599)\n\nRELICS\n\nMY people, why seek ye after dead bones? Why seek ye not after\nliving holiness, which might give you everlasting life? The dead can\nneither give nor take away. (599)\n\nSAYINGS OF ECKHART\n\nMASTER ECKHART saith: He who is always alone, he is worthy of God;\nand he who is always at home, to him is God present; and be who\nabides always in a present now, in him doth God beget His Son\nwithout ceasing. (600)\n\nMaster Eckhart saith: I will never pray to God to give Himself to\nme: I will pray Him to make me purer. If I were purer, God must give\nHimself to me, of His own nature, and sink into me. (601)\n\nMaster Eckhart was asked, what were the greatest goods, that God had\ndone to him. He said, there are three. The first is, that the lusts\nand desires of the flesh have been taken away from me. The second\nis, that the Divine Light shines and gives me light in all my\ndoings. The third is, that I am daily renewed in virtue, grace and\nholiness. (602)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTAULER\n\n\n\n\n\nOUR AIM\n\nTHINK, and think earnestly, how great, how unutterable will be the\njoy and blessedness, the glory and honour of those who shall see\nclearly and without veil the gladsome and beauteous face of God, how\nthey will enjoy the best and highest good, which is God Himself. For\nin Him is included all pleasure, might, joy, and all beauty, so that\nthe blessed in God will possess everything that is good and\ndesirable, with everlasting joy and security, without fear lest they\nshould ever be parted from Him. (138)[38]\n\nCONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL\n\nFROM the time when the first man gave a ready ear to the words of\nthe enemy, mankind have been deaf, so that none of us can hear or\nunderstand the loving utterances of the eternal Word. Something has\nhappened to the ears of man, which has stopped up his ears, so that\nhe cannot hear the loving Word; and he has also been so blinded,\nthat he has become stupid, and does not know himself. If he wished\nto speak of his own inner life, he could not do it; he knows not\nwhere he is, nor what is his state. (91)\n\nHow can it be that the noble reason, the inner eye, is so blinded\nthat it cannot see the true light? This great shame has come about,\nbecause a thick coarse skin and a thick fur has been drawn over him,\neven the love and the opinion of the creatures, whether it be the\nman himself or something that belongs to him; hence man has become\nblind and deaf, in whatever position he may be, worldly or\nspiritual. Yes, that is his guilt, that many a thick skin is drawn\nover him, as thick as an ox's forehead, and it has so covered up his\ninner man, that neither God nor himself can get inside; it has grown\ninto him. (92)\n\nTHE FALL\n\nTHROUGH two things man fell in Paradise--through pride, and through\ninordinate affection. Therefore we too must return by two things,\nthat nature may recover her power: we must first sink our nature and\nbring it down under God and under all men in deep humility, against\nwhom it had exalted itself in pride. We must also manfully die to\nall inordinate lusts. (1)\n\nLIFE A BATTLE\n\nNOTHING in the world is so necessary for man as to be constantly\nassailed; for in fighting he learns to know himself. As grace is\nnecessary to a man, so also is fighting. Virtue begins in fighting,\nand is developed in fighting. In every state to which a man is\ncalled, inward and outward, he must of necessity be assailed. A high\nMaster said: As little as meat can remain without salt and yet not\nbecome corrupt, so little can a man remain without fighting. (104)\n\nA man should in the first place act as when a town is besieged, and\nit is certain that the besieging army is stronger than the town.\nWhen the town is weakest, men take the very greatest care to guard\nand defend the town; if they neglected to do so, they would lose the\ntown, and with it their lives and properties. So should every man\ndo: he should be most careful to find out in what things the evil\nspirit most often besets him--that is, on what side the man is\nweakest, and to what kind of errors and failings he is most prone,\nand should manfully defend himself at those points.\n\nNext, turn thyself earnestly away from sin; for I tell you of a\ntruth, by whatever temptation a man is assailed, if he turns not\nfrom it heartily, but stands in it vacillating, he has no\nwholehearted desire to leave his sins by God's will, and without\ndoubt the evil spirit is close upon him, who may make him fall into\nendless perdition.\n\nKnow of a truth, that if thou wouldst truly overcome the evil\nspirit, this can only be done by a complete manful turning away from\nsin. Say then with all thy heart: Oh, everlasting God, help me and\ngive me Thy Divine grace to be my help, for it is my steadfast\ndesire never again to commit any deadly sin against Thy Divine will\nand Thine honour. So with thy good will and intention thou entirely\novercomest the evil spirit, so that he must fly from thee ashamed.\n\nUnderstand, however, that it is a miserable and pitiable thing for a\nreasonable man to let himself be overcome by the evil spirit, and in\nconsequence of his attacks to fall voluntarily into grievous and\ndeadly sin, whereby man loses the grace of God. A reasonable man,\nwho allows himself voluntarily to be overcome by the evil spirit, is\nlike a well-armed man who voluntarily lets a fly bite him to death.\nFor man has many great and strong weapons, wherewith he may well and\nmanfully withstand the evil spirit--the holy faith, the blessed\nsacrament, the holy word of God, the model and example of all good\nand holy men, the prayers of holy Church, and other great supports\nagainst the power of the evil spirit, whose power is much less than\nthat of a fly against a great bear. If a man will manfully and\nboldly withstand the evil spirit, the evil one can gain no advantage\nagainst his free will.\n\nTurn, therefore, manfully and earnestly from your sins, and watch\ndiligently and earnestly; for I tell you of a truth, that when you\nhave come to the next world, if you have not withstood the evil\nspirit, and if you are found there without repentance and sorrow,\nyou will be a mockery to all the devils and to yourself, and you\nwill be eternally punished and tormented. And it will then be a\ngreater woe to you, that you have followed the evil spirit, than all\nthe external pains that you must endure eternally for your sins.\n\nThirdly, a man should diligently attend to his inner Ground, that\nthere shall be nothing in it save God alone, and His eternal glory.\nFor alas! there are many men, both lay and clerical, who live\nfalsely beneath a fair show, and imagine that they can deceive the\neverlasting God. No, in truth, thou deceivest thyself, and losest\nthe day of grace, and the favour of God, and makest thyself guilty\ntowards God, in that He gives the evil spirits power over thee, so\nthat thou canst do no good work. Therefore, watch while it is day,\nthat the hour of darkness and God's disfavour may not overtake thee,\nand take heed that in thy inner ground God may dwell, and nought\nbesides. (75)\n\nEven as each man in his baptism is placed under the charge of a\nspecial angel, who is with him always and never leaves him, and\nprotects him waking and sleeping in all his ways and in all his\nworks, so every man has a special devil, who continually opposes him\nand exercises him without ceasing. But if the man were wise and\ndiligent, the opposition of the devil and his exercises would be\nmuch more profitable to him than the aid of the good angel; for if\nthere were no struggle, there could be no victory. (139)\n\nSIN\n\nWHEN a man has had the fair net of his soul torn by sin, he must\npatch and mend it by a humble, repentant return to the grace and\nmercy of God. He must act like one who wishes to make a crooked\nstick straight: he bends the stick further back than it ought to go,\nand by being thus bent back it becomes straight again. So must a man\ndo to his own nature. He must bend himself under all things which\nbelong to God, and break himself right off, inwardly and outwardly,\nfrom all things which are not God.\n\nEvery deadly sin causes the precious blood of Christ to be shed\nafresh. Jesus Christ is spiritually crucified many times every day.\n(75)\n\nFISHING FOR SOULS\n\nTHE fisherman throws his hook, that he may catch the fish; but the\nfish itself takes the hook. When the fish takes the hook, the\nfisherman is sure of the fish, and draws it to him. Even so, God has\nthrown His hook and His net into all the world, before our feet,\nbefore our eyes, before our minds, and He would gladly draw us\nsecurely to Himself by means of all His creatures. By pleasurable\nthings He draws us on; by painful things He drives us on. He who\nwill not be drawn, is in fault; for he has not taken God's hook, nor\nwill he be caught in God's net. If he came therein, beyond doubt he\nwould be caught by God and would be drawn by God. It is not God's\nfault if we will not be drawn; we should grasp the hand held out to\nus. If a man were in a deep pool, and one tried to help him and pull\nhim out, would he not gladly grasp his hand and allow himself to be\npulled out? (42)\n\nWhere two things are so related to each other, that one may receive\nsomething for the other, there must be something in common between\nthem. If they had nothing in common, there must be a middle term\nbetween them, which has something in common both with the higher,\nfrom which it may receive, and with the lower, to which it may\nimpart. Now God hath created all things, and especially mankind,\nimmediately for Himself. He created man for His pleasure. But by\nsin, human nature was so far estranged from God, that it was\nimpossible for a man to attain to that, for which he was made. Now\nAristotle says that God and Nature are not unprofitable\nworkers--that is, what they work at, they carry to its end. Now God\ncreated man that He might have pleasure in him. If then God's work\nin creating mankind was not to be unprofitable, when they were so\nfar estranged from God by sin, that they could not receive that by\nwhich they might return and attain the enjoyment of eternal\nhappiness, a Mediator was necessary between us and God, one who has\nsomething in common with us and our natures, and also shares in the\nnature of God. In order that on the one side, He might in Himself\ndestroy our sickness, which was a cause of all our sins, and also\ndestroy all our sins, to which our weakness has brought us; and on\nthe other side that He might include in Himself all the treasure of\ngrace and of God's honour, that He might be able to give us grace\nrichly, and forgiveness of our sins, and eternal glory hereafter,\nthis could only be, if the Son of God became man. (90)\n\nYea, the highest God and Lord of all lords, the Son of God, in His\ndeep love felt pity for us poor, sinful men, condemned to the flames\nof hell. Though He was in the form of God, He thought it not robbery\n(as St Paul says) to be equal with God, and He annihilated Himself,\nand took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made like any other\nman, being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became\nobedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (117)\n\nTHE EFFICACY OF DIVINE GRACE\n\nALL works which men and all creatures can ever work even to the end\nof the world, without the grace of God--all of them together,\nhowever great they may be, are an absolute nothing, as compared with\nthe smallest work which God has worked in men by His grace. As much\nas God is better than all His creatures, so much better are His\nworks than all the works, or wisdom, or designs, which all men could\ndevise. Even the smallest drop of grace is better than all earthly\nriches that are beneath the sun. Yea, a drop of grace is more noble\nthan all angels and all souls, and all the natural things that God\nhas made. And yet grace is given more richly by God to the soul than\nany earthly gift. It is given more richly than brooks of water, than\nthe breath of the air, than the brightness of the sun; for spiritual\nthings are far finer and nobler than earthly things. The whole\nTrinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, give grace to the soul, and\nflow immediately into it; even the highest angel, in spite of his\ngreat nobility, cannot do this. Grace looses us from the snares of\nmany temptations; it relieves us from the heavy burden of worldly\ncares, and carries the spirit up to heaven, the land of spirits. It\nkills the worm of conscience, which makes sins alive. Grace is a\nvery powerful thing. The man, to whom cometh but a little drop of\nthe light of grace, to him all that is not God becomes as bitter as\ngall upon the tongue. (86)\n\nGrace makes, contrary to nature, all sorrows sweet, and brings it\nabout that a man no longer feels any relish for things which\nformerly gave him great pleasure and delight. On the other hand,\nwhat formerly disgusted him, now delights him and is the desire of\nhis heart--for instance, weakness, sorrow, inwardness, humility,\nself-abandonment, and detachment from all the creatures. All this is\nin the highest degree dear to him, when this visitation of the Holy\nGhost, grace, has in truth come to him. Then the sick man, that is\nto say the external man, with all his faculties is plunged\ncompletely into the pool of water, even as the sick man who had been\nfor thirty-eight years by the pool at Jerusalem, and there washes\nhimself thoroughly in the exalted, noble, precious blood of Christ\nJesus. For grace in manifold ways bathes the soul in the wounds and\nblood of the holy Lamb, Jesus Christ. (22)\n\nPRAYER\n\nTHE essence of prayer is the ascent of the mind to God, as holy\nteachers tell us. Therefore every good man, when he wishes to pray,\nought to collect his outer senses into himself, and look into his\nmind, to see whether it be really turned to God. He who wishes that\nhis prayers may be truly heard, must keep himself turned away from\nall temporal and external things, and all that is not Divine,\nwhether it be friend or joy (Freund oder Freude), and all vanities,\nwhether they be clothes or ornaments, and from everything of which\nGod is not the true beginning and ending, and from everything that\ndoes not belong to Him. He must cut off his words and his conduct,\nhis manners and his demeanour, from all irregularity, inward or\noutward. Dream not that that can be a true prayer, when a man only\nbabbles outwardly with his mouth, and reads many psalms, gabbling\nthem rapidly and hastily, while his mind wanders this way and that,\nbackwards and forwards. Much rather must the true prayer be, as St\nPeter tells us, \"one-minded\"[39]\u2014that is, the mind must cleave to\nGod alone, and a man must look with the face of his soul turned\ndirectly towards God, with a gentle, willing dependence on Him. (80)\n\nIf thy prayer has these conditions, thou mayst with true humility\nfall at the feet of God, and pray for the gentle succour of God;\nthou mayest knock at His fatherly heart, and ask for bread\u2014that is,\nfor love. If a man had all the food in the world, and had not bread,\nhis food would be neither eatable, nor pleasant, nor useful. So it\nis with all things, without the Love of God. Knock also at the door\nthrough which we must go--namely, Christ Jesus. At this door, the\npraying man must knock for three ends, if he wishes to be really\nadmitted. First he must knock devoutly, at the broken heart and the\nopen side, and enter in with all devotion, and in recognition of his\nunfathomable poverty and nothingness, as poor Lazarus did at the\nrich man's gate, and ask for crumbs of His grace. Then again, he\nshould knock at the door of the holy open wounds of His holy hands,\nand pray for true Divine knowledge, that it may enlighten him and\nexalt him. Finally, knock at the door of His holy feet, and pray for\ntrue Divine love, which may unite thee with Him, and immerse and\ncover thee in Him. (57)\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMEDITATIONS ON THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS\n\n\n\n\n\n[From a devotional treatise on the Passion of Christ, published in a\nLatin translation, by Surius, in 1548, and wrongly ascribed by him\nto Tauler. The author was an unknown German of the fourteenth\ncentury.]\n\nTHE FIRST WORD\n\nNOW, O my soul, and all ye who have been redeemed by the precious\nblood of Christ, come, and let us go with inward compassion and\nfervent devotion to the blessed palm-tree of the Cross, which is\nladen with the fairest fruit. Let us pass like the bee from flower\nto flower, for all are full of honey. Let us consider and ponder\nwith the greatest care the sacred words of Christ, which He spoke\nupon the Cross; for everything that comes From this blessed Tree is\nwholesome and good. In the Cross of our Lord and Saviour are centred\nall our salvation, all our health, all our life, all our glory; and,\n\"if we suffer with Him,\" saith the Apostle, \"we shall also reign\nwith Him.\" That we may not be found ungrateful for these inestimable\nbenefits, let us call upon heaven and earth, and all that in them\nis, to join us in praising and blessing and giving thanks to God.\nLet us invite them to come and look upon this wondrous sight, and\nsay: \"Magnify the Lord with me, for He hath done marvellous things.\nO praise and bless the Lord with me, for great is His mercy toward\nus.\" Come up with me, I pray you, ye angelic spirits, to Mount\nCalvary, and see your King Solomon on His throne, wearing the diadem\nwherewith His mother has crowned Him. Let us weep in the presence of\nthe Lord who made us, the Lord our God. O all mankind, and all ye\nwho are members of Christ, behold your Redeemer as He hangs on high;\nbehold and weep. See if any sorrow is like unto His sorrow.\nAcknowledge the heinousness of your sins, which needed such\nsatisfaction. Go to every part of His body; you will find only\nwounds and blood. Cry to Him with lamentations and say, \"O Jesus,\nour redemption, our love, our desire, what mercy has overcome Thee,\nthat Thou shouldest bear our sins, and endure a cruel death, to\nrescue us from everlasting death?\" And Thou, O God, the almighty\nFather of heaven, look down from Thy sanctuary upon Thine innocent\nSon Joseph, sold and given over unjustly to the hands of bloody men,\nto suffer a shameful death. See whether this be Thy Son's coat or\nnot. Of a truth an evil beast hath devoured Him. The blood of our\nsins is sprinkled over His garments, and all the coverings of His\ngood name are defiled by it. See how Thy holy Child has been\ncondemned with the wicked, how Thy royal Son has been crowned with\nthorns. Behold His innocent hands, which have known no sin, dripping\nwith blood; behold His sacred feet, which have never turned aside\nfrom the path of justice, pierced through by a cruel nail; behold\nHis defenceless side smitten with a sharp spear; behold His fair\nface, which the angels desire to look upon, marred and shorn of all\nits beauty; behold His blessed heart, which no impure thought ever\nstained, weighed down with inward sorrow. Behold, O loving Father,\nThy sweet Son, stretched out upon the harp of the Cross, and harping\nblessings on Thee with all His members. Wherefore, O my God, I pray\nThee to forgive me, for the sake of Thy Son's Passion, all the sins\nthat I have committed in my members. O merciful Father, look on Thy\nonly-begotten Son, that Thou mayst have compassion on Thy servant.\nWhenever that red blood of Thy Son speaks in Thy sight, do Thou wash\nme from every stain of sin. Whenever Thou beholdest the wounds of\nthis Thy Son, open to me the bosom of Thy fatherly compassion.\nBehold, O tender Father, how Thy obedient Son does not cry, \"Bind my\nhands and my feet, that I may not rebel against Thee,\" but how of\nHis own will He extends His hands and feet, and gladly allows them\nto be pierced with nails. Look down, I pray Thee, not on the brazen\nserpent hanging on a pole for the salvation of Israel, but on Thine\nonly Son hanging on the Cross for the salvation of all men. It is\nnot Moses who now stretches out his hand to heaven, that the thunder\nand lightning and the other plagues may cease, but it is Thy beloved\nSon, who lovingly stretches out His bleeding arms to Thee, that Thy\nwrath may depart from the human race. Aaron and Hur are not now\nholding up the hands of Moses that he may pray more unweariedly for\nIsrael; but hard and cruel nails have fastened the hands of Thy only\nSon to the Cross, that He may wait with long-suffering for our\nrepentance, and receive us back into His grace, and that He may not\nturn away in wrath from our prayers. This is that faithful David,\nwho now strings tight the harp-strings of His body, and makes sweet\nmelody before Thee, singing to Thee the sweetest song that has been\never sung to Thee: \"Father forgive them, for they know not what they\ndo.\" This is that High Priest, who by His own blood has entered into\nthe Holy of Holies, to offer Himself as a peace-offering for the\nsins of the whole world. This is that innocent Lamb, who has washed\nus in His own precious blood, who, Himself without spot of sin, has\ntaken away the sins of the world. Therefore from the storehouse of\nHis Passion I borrow the price of my debt, and I count out before\nThee all its merits, to pay what I owe Thee. For He has done all in\nmy nature, and for my sake. O merciful Father, if Thou weighest all\nmy sins on one side of the balance, and in the other scale the\nPassion of Thy Son, the last will outweigh the first. For what sin\ncan be so great, that the innocent blood of Thy Son has not washed\nit out? What pride, or disobedience, or lust, is so unchecked or so\nrebellious, that such lowliness, obedience, and poverty cannot\nabolish it? O merciful Father, accept the deeds of Thy beloved Son,\nand forgive the errors of Thy wicked servant. For the innocent blood\nof our brother Abel crieth to Thee from the Cross, not for\nvengeance, but for grace and mercy, saying, \"Father, forgive them,\nfor they know not what they do.\"\n\nTHE SECOND WORD\n\nNOW the thieves who were crucified with Jesus reviled Him. But after\na while, the one who hung on the right side of Christ, when he saw\nHis great patience and long-suffering, wherewith He so lovingly\nprayed to His Father for those who cast reproaches upon Him and\ncruelly tortured Him, became entirely changed, and began to be moved\nwith very great sorrow and repentance for his sins. And he showed\nthis outwardly, when he rebuked his fellow-thief, who continued to\nrevile Christ, saying: \"Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in\nthe same condemnation?\" \"Although\" (he would say) \"thou art so\nobstinate as not to fear men, and thinkest nought of thy bodily\npain, yet surely thou must fear God, in the last moments of thy\nlife--God, who hath power to destroy both thy body and soul in hell.\nAnd though we suffer the same punishment with Him, our deserts are\nvery different. We, indeed, suffer justly, for we receive the due\nreward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss.\" He, who\nbut lately was a blasphemer, is now a confessor and preacher, he\ndistinguishes good from evil, blaming the sinner, and excusing the\ninnocent: the unbelieving thief has become the confessor of almighty\nGod. O good Jesus, this sudden change is wrought by Thy right hand,\nat which he hung. Thy right hand touched him inwardly, and forthwith\nhe is changed into another man. O Lord, in this Thou hast declared\nThy patience, out of a stone Thou hast raised up a child unto\nAbraham. Verily, the penitent thief received the light of faith\nsolely from that bright light on the candlestick of the Cross, which\nshone there in the darkness and scattered the shades of night. But\nwhat does this signify, save that our Lord Jesus, out of the\ngreatness of His goodness, looked upon him with the eyes of His\nmercy, although He found no merit in him, except what it pleased Him\nout of His goodness to bestow? For as God gives to His elect, out of\nHis goodness alone, what no one has a right to demand, so out of His\njustice He gives to the wicked what they deserve. For this cause\nDavid says: \"He saved me because He desired me.\" And this is why the\nthief, before the Lord touched his heart with the beams of His grace\nand love, joined the other thief in reviling Christ, thus showing\nfirst what his own character was, and afterwards what was wrought in\nhim by grace. At first he acted like the other, being, like him, a\nchild of wrath; but when the precious blood of Christ was shed as\nthe price of our redemption and paid to the Father for our debt,\nthen the thief asked God to give him an alms for his good, and at\nonce received it. For how can one alms diminish that inexhaustible\ntreasure? How could our tender Lord, whose property is always to\nhave mercy, have refused his request? Indeed He gave him more than\nhe asked. Yet how could the thief escape the glow of the fire which\nwas burning so near him? Truly this was the fire, which the Father\nhad sent down from heaven to earth, which had long smouldered, but\nnow, kindled anew, and fed by the wood of the Cross, and sprinkled\nwith the oil of mercy, and fanned, as it were, by the reproaches and\nblasphemies of the Jews, sent up its flames to heaven, by which that\nthief was quite kindled and set on fire, and his love became as\nstrong as death, so that he said: \"I indeed suffer no grievous\npenalty, for it is less than I deserve; but that this innocent One,\nwho has done no wrong, should be so tortured, contrary to justice\nand righteousness, this, truly, adds grievous sorrow to my sorrow.\"\nO splendid faith of this thief! He contemned all the punishment that\nmight be inflicted on him: he feared not the rage of the people, who\nwere barking like mad dogs against Jesus: he cared not for the chief\npriests: he feared not the executioners with their weapons and\ninstruments of torture; but in the presence of them all, with a\nfearless heart he confessed that Christ was the true Son of God, and\nLord of the whole world: and at the same time he confounded the Jews\nby confessing that He had done nothing amiss, and therefore that\nthey had crucified Him unjustly. O wondrous faith! O mighty\nconstancy! O amazing love of this poor thief, love that cast out all\nfear! He was indeed well drunken with that new wine which in the\nwine-press of the Cross had been pressed out of that sweet cluster,\nJesus Christ, and therefore he confessed Christ without shame before\nall the people. At the very beginning of the Passion, the apostles\nand disciples had forsaken Christ and fled; even St Peter,\nfrightened by the voice of one maidservant, had denied Christ. But\nthis poor thief did not forsake Him even in death, but confessed Him\nto be the Lord of heaven in the presence of all those armed men. Who\ncan do justice to the merits of this man? Who taught him so quickly\nthat faith of his, and his clear knowledge of all the virtues, save\nthe very Wisdom of the Father, Jesus Christ, who hung near him on\nthe Cross? Him whom the Jews could not or would not know, in spite\nof the promises made to the patriarchs, the fulfilment of\nprophecies, the teaching of the Scriptures, and the interpretation\nof allegories, this poor thief learned to know by repentance. He\nconfessed Christ to be the Son of God, though he saw Him full of\nmisery, want, and torment, and dying from natural weakness. He\nconfessed Him at a time when the apostles, who had seen His mighty\nworks, denied Him. The nails were holding his hands and feet fixed\nto the cross; he had nothing free about him, except his heart and\nhis tongue; yet he gave to God all that he could give to Him, and,\nin the words of Scripture, \"with his heart he believed unto\nrighteousness, and with his tongue he made confession of Christ unto\nsalvation.\" O infinite and unsearchable mercy of God! For what\nmanner of man was he when he was sent to the cross, and what when he\nleft it? (Not that it was his own cross, that wrought this change,\nbut the power of Christ crucified.) He came to the cross stained\nwith the blood of his fellow-man; he was taken down from it cleansed\nby the blood of Christ. He came to the cross still savage and full\nof rage, and while he was upon it he became so meek and pitiful that\nhe lamented for the sufferings of another more than for his own. One\nmember only was left to him, and at the eleventh hour he came to\nwork in God's vineyard, and yet so eagerly did he labour that he was\nthe first to finish his work and receive his reward. Indeed he\nbehaved like a just man; for he first accused himself and confessed\nhis sins, saying, \"and we, indeed, justly, for we receive the due\nreward of our deeds.\" Secondly, he excused Christ, and confessed\nthat He was the Just One when he said \"but this Man hath done\nnothing amiss.\" Thirdly, he showed brotherly love, for he said,\n\"dost not thou fear God?\" Fourthly, with all his members, or at\nleast with all that he could offer, and with loving eyes and a\ndevout heart and a humble spirit, he turned himself to Christ and\nprayed earnestly, \"Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy\nKingdom.\" How great was the justice and humility and resignation\nwhich he showed in this prayer, for he asked only for a little\nremembrance of himself, acknowledging that he was not worthy to ask\nfor anything great. Nor did he pray for the safety of his body, for\nhe gladly desired to die for his sins. It was more pleasant for him\nto die with Christ than to live any longer. Nor did he pray that our\nLord would deliver him from the pains of hell, or of purgatory, nor\ndid he ask for the kingdom of heaven; but he resigned himself\nentirely to the will of God, and offered himself altogether to\nChrist, to do what He would with him. In his humility he prayed for\nnothing except for grace and mercy, for which David also prayed when\nhe said, \"Deal with Thy servant according to Thy mercy.\" And\ntherefore, because he had prayed humbly and wisely, the Eternal\nWisdom, Who reads the hearts of all who pray, heard his prayer, and,\nopening wide the rich storehouse of His grace, bestowed upon him\nmuch more than he had dared to ask. O marvellous goodness of God!\nHow plainly dost Thou declare in this, that Thou desirest not the\ndeath of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live.\nNow Thou hast manifested and fulfilled what Thou didst promise\naforetime by Thy prophet: \"When the wicked man shall mourn for his\nsins, I will remember his iniquity no more.\" Thou didst not impose\nupon him many years of severe penance, nor many sufferings in\npurgatory for the expiation of his sins; but just as if Thou hadst\nquite forgotten his crimes, and couldst see nothing in him but\nvirtue, Thou didst say: \"This day shalt thou be with Me in\nparadise.\" O immeasurable compassion of God! Our tender Lord forgot\nall the countless crimes which that poor thief had done, and forgave\nhim when he repented, and gave so great and splendid a reward to the\ngood which there was in him, small indeed though it was. Our loving\nGod is very rich; He needs not our gifts; but He seeks for a heart\nwhich turns to Him with lowliness and resignation, such a heart as\nHe found in this poor thief. For He says Himself: \"turn to Me, and I\nwill turn to you.\" And so when this thief so courageously and\neffectively turned to God, his prayer was at once not only accepted\nbut answered. For our Lord did not reject his prayer, or say to him:\n\"See how I hang here in torment, and I behold before My eyes My\nmother in sore affliction, and I have not yet spoken one word to\nher, so that to hear thee now would not be just.\" No, our Lord said\nnothing of this kind to the thief. Rather, He heard his prayer at\nonce, and made answer in that sweet word, \"Amen, I say unto thee,\nthis day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.\" O tender goodness, O\nmarvellous mercy of God! O great wisdom of the thief! He saw that\nthe treasures of Christ were wide open, and were being scattered\nabroad. Who then should forbid him to take as much as would pay what\nhe owed to his Lord? And O the accursed hardness of the impenitent\nthief, whom neither the rebuke of his associate, nor the patience of\nChrist, nor the many signs of love and mercy that shone forth in\nChrist, could melt or convert! He saw that alms were plentiful at\nthe rich man's gate, that more was given than was asked for, and yet\nhe was too proud and obstinate to ask. He saw that life and the\nkingdom of heaven were being granted, and yet he would not bend his\nheart to wish for them: therefore he shall not have them. He loved\nbetter revilings and curses, and they shall come unto him, and that\nfor all eternity. These new first-fruits of the grape, which our\nLord gathered on the wood of the Cross from our barren soil, by much\nsweat of His brow and much watering with His own precious blood, He\nsent with great joy as a precious gift to His heavenly Father, by\nHis celestial messengers the holy angels. But if there is joy among\nthe angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, how must they\nrejoice and exult at the salvation of this thief, of whom they had\nalmost despaired? We can picture to ourselves with what joy the\nFather of heaven received these first-fruits of the harvest of His\nSon's Passion. But Christ Himself, though He felt some joy at the\nthief's conversion, was still more afflicted thereby, for by His\nwisdom He foresaw that this thief would be the cause of perdition to\nmany, who would resolve to pass their whole lives in sin, hoping to\nobtain pardon and grace at the moment of death. Truly a most foolish\nhope, for nowhere in the Scriptures do we read that it has so\nhappened to any man. In truth, they who seek after God only when\nthey must, will not, it is to be feared, find Him near them in their\ntime of need. In the meantime, none can trust too much in God, and\nno one has ever been forsaken by Him, who has turned to Him with his\nwhole heart, and leant upon Him with loving confidence.\n\nTHE THIRD WORD\n\nTHERE stood also by the Cross of Jesus His most holy and ever-virgin\nmother Mary; not in order that His sufferings might thereby be\nlessened, but that they might be greatly augmented. For if any\ncreature could have given consolation to the Lord while He hung on\nthe Cross, no one could have done it so fitly as His blessed mother.\nBut since it was God's will that Christ should die the most bitter\nof deaths, and end His Passion without any comfort or relief, but\nwith true resignation, His mother's presence brought Him no\nconsolation, but rather added to His sufferings, for her sufferings\nwere thereby added to His, and this added yet more to His\naffliction. Who then, O good Jesus can discover by meditation how\ngreat was Thy inward grief, for Thou knowest the hearts of all, when\nThou sawest all the body of Thy holy mother tortured by inward\ncompassion, even as Thou wast tortured on the Cross, and her tender\nheart and maternal breast pierced with the sword of sharp sorrow,\nher face pale as death, telling the anguish of her soul, and almost\ndead, yet unable to die. When Thou beheldest her hot tears, flowing\ndown abundantly like sweet rivers upon her gracious cheeks, and over\nall her face, all witnesses to Thee that she shared in Thy sorrow\nand love; when Thou heardest her sad laments, forced from her by the\nweight of her affliction; when Thou sawest that same tender mother,\nmelted away with the heat of love, her strength quite failing her,\nworn out and exhausted by the pains of Thy Passion, which wasted her\naway; all this, truly, was a new affliction to Thee on the Cross; it\nwas itself a new Cross. For Thou alone, by the spear of, Thy pity,\ndidst explore the weight and grievousness of her woes, which to men\nare beyond comprehension. All this, indeed, greatly increased the\npain of Thy Passion, because Thou wast crucified not only in Thy own\nbody, but in Thy mother's heart; for her Cross was Thy Cross, and\nThine was hers. O how bitter was Thy Passion, sweet Jesus! Great\nindeed was Thy outward suffering, but far more grievous was Thy\ninward suffering, which Thy heart experienced at Thy mother's\nanguish. It was now, beyond doubt, that the sword of sorrow pierced\nher through, for the queen of martyrs was terribly and mortally\nwounded in that part which is impassible--that is, the soul; she\nbore the death of the Cross in that part which could not die,\nsuffering all the more her grievous inward death, as outward death\ndeparted further from her. Who, O most loving mother, can recount or\nconceive in his mind the immeasurable sorrows of thy soul, or thine\ninward woes? Him whom thou didst bring forth without pain, as a\nblessed mother free from the curse of our first mother Eve, who\ninstead of the pains of labour wast filled with joy of spirit, and\nwho for thy refreshment didst listen to the sweet songs of the\nangels as they praised thy Son, thou hast now seen slain before\nthine eyes with the greatest cruelty and tyranny. How manifold was\nthat sorrow of thine, which thou wast permitted to escape at His\nbirth, when thou sawest thy blessed and only Son hanging in such\ntorment on the Cross, in the presence of a cruel and furious crowd,\nwho showered upon Him all the insults and contumely and shame that\nthey could think of; when thou sawest Him whom thou didst bear in\nthy pure womb without feeling the burden, so barbarously stretched\non the Cross, and pierced with nails; when thou sawest His sacred\narms, with which He had so many times lovingly embraced thee,\nstretched out so that He could not move them, and covered with red\nblood, His adorable head pierced with sharp thorns, and His whole\nbody one streaming wound, while thou wast not able to staunch or\nanoint any of those wounds. What must thy grief have been when thou\nsawest Him whom thou hadst so often laid on thy virgin bosom that He\nmight rest, without anything on which to lean His sacred head; and\nHim whom thou hadst nourished with the milk of thy holy breasts, now\nvexed with vinegar and gall. O how thy maternal heart was oppressed\nwhen thou beheldest with thy pure eyes that fair face so piteously\nmarred, so that there was no beauty in it, and nothing by which He\ncould be distinguished. How did the wave of affliction beat against\nand overflow and overwhelm thy soul! Truly, if even a devout man\ncannot without unspeakable sorrow and pity revolve in his mind the\nPassion of thy Son, what must have been thy Cross, thy affliction,\nwho wast His mother and sawest it all with thine eyes? If to many\nfriends of God and to many who love Him, thy Son's Passion is as\ngrievous as if they suffered it themselves, if by inward pity they\nare crucified with thy Son, how terribly, even unto death, must thou\nhave been crucified inwardly, when thou didst not only ponder and\nsearch into the outward and inward pains of thy Son in thy devout\nheart, but sawest them with thy bodily eyes? For never did any\nmother love her child as thou lovedst thy Son. And if St Paul, who\nloved so much, could say, out of his ardent love and deep pity for\nthy Son, \"I am crucified with Christ; and I bear in my body the\nmarks of the Lord Jesus,\" how much more wert thou crucified with\nHim, and didst inwardly receive all His wounds, being made, in a\nmanner, an image and likeness of thy crucified Son?\n\nTHE FOURTH WORD\n\nABOUT the ninth hour our Lord Jesus cried with a loud voice, \"My\nGod, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\" He cried with a loud voice,\nthat He might be easily heard by all, and also that by this wondrous\nword He might shake off from our souls the sleep of sloth, and cause\nthem to wonder and marvel at the immeasurable goodness of God to us.\nTherefore He saith, \"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\" For\nthe sake of vile sinners, for evil and thankless servants, for\nsinful and disobedient deceivers, Thou hast forsaken Thy beloved Son\nand most obedient Child. That Thy enemies, who are vessels of wrath,\nmight be changed into children of adoption, Thou hast slain Thine\nown Son, and given Him over to death like one guilty. \"O my God,\nwhy, I pray Thee, hast Thou forsaken me?\" For the very cause why men\nought to praise and give thanks to Thee, and love Thee with an\neverlasting love; because Thou hast delivered Thy dear Son to death\nfor their redemption, and sacrificed Him willingly, for this reason\nthey will find ground for blasphemy and reproach against Thee,\nsaying, \"He saith He is the Son of God. Let God deliver Him now if\nHe will have Him.\" Why, O my God, hast Thou willed to spend so\nprecious a treasure for such vile and counterfeit goods? Besides,\nthis word may be understood to have been spoken by Christ against\nthose who seek to diminish the glory of His Passion, by saying that\nit was not really so bitter and terrible, owing to the great support\nand comfort which He drew from His Godhead. Let those who speak and\nthink thus know that they renew His Passion and crucify Him afresh.\nIt was to prove the error of such men that our Lord cried with a\nloud voice, and said, \"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\"\nIt is as if He had said these words to His own Divine nature, with\nwhich He formed one Person--for the Godhead of the Father and of the\nSon is all one--wondering, Himself, at His own love, which had so\ncast Him down and worn Him out and humbled Him, and that He who\nbrings help to all mankind should have forsaken Himself, and offered\nHimself to suffer every kind of pain, impelled thereto by conquering\nlove alone. Again, we should not be wrong, if we were to interpret\nthis word which Christ spoke out of the exceeding bitterness of His\nsorrow in the following way--namely, that His spirit and inward man,\ntaking upon itself the severe judgment of God upon all sinners, and\nat the same time discerning clearly and feeling and measuring in\nHimself the intolerable weight of His Passion, on this account cried\nout in a sorrowful voice to His Father, and complained tenderly to\nHim because He had been cast into these dreadful torments; as if the\ngoodness of His Father had become so embittered against the sins of\nmen, that in the ardour of His justice He had quite forgotten the\ninseparable union between His passible humanity and His impassible\nGodhead, and therefore in the zealousness of His justice had quite\ngiven up His passible nature to the cruelty and malice of fierce\nmen, that they might waste it away and destroy it. For this reason,\ntherefore, He said, \"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\"\nThis word has besides an inward meaning, according to which Christ,\nin His sensitive parts, complained to His Father that He had been\nforsaken by Him. For as many as contend for His honour, and endure\npatiently the troubles of this world, our merciful God so moderates\nand tempers their crosses and afflictions by the inpouring of His\ndivine consolation, that by His sensible grace He makes their\ncrosses hardly felt; but He left His own beloved Son quite without\nany comfort, and so deprived Him of all consolation and light, that\nHe endured as much in His human nature as had been ordained by the\nEternal Wisdom, according to the strictness of justice, as much as\nwas needed to atone for so many sins. And indeed our salvation was\nthe more nobly and perfectly achieved, in that it was done and\nfinished without any light at all, in absolute resignation and\nabandonment. For a chief cause of the Passion was to show clearly\nhow great was the injury and insult brought upon His most high\nGodhead by the sins of the human race. Now as the knowledge of\nChrist was greater and more acute than that of all other beings, in\nheaven or in earth, so much the greater and heavier was His sorrow\nand agony. Nay more--what is more wonderful than anything--whatever\nafflictions have been endured by all the saints, as members of\nChrist, existed much more abundantly in Christ their Head; and this\nI wish to be understood according to the spirit and reasonably. For\nall the saints have suffered no more than flowed in upon them\nthrough Christ, joined to them as His members, who communicated to\nthem His own afflictions. For He took upon Himself the afflictions\nof all the saints, out of His great love for His members, and\nwondrous pity, and He suffered far greater internal anguish than any\nof the saints, nay, more even than the blessed Virgin, His mother,\nfelt her own sharp sorrow and sickness of heart. For if an earthly\nfather loves his child so much, that in fatherly pity he takes upon\nhimself the sorrows of his child, and grieves for them as if he\nsuffered them himself, what must have been Christ's Cross and\ncompassion for the affliction of His members, and above all, of\nthose who suffered for His name's sake? Truly He bore witness to His\nmembers, how much He suffered from their afflictions, and how great\nwas His inward pity for their sufferings, when He took all their\ndebt upon Himself, and abolished all the penalties which they had\nmerited, so that they might depart free. The same is most amply\nproved by the words which He spoke to St Paul, when He said, \"Saul,\nSaul, why persecutest thou Me?\" For the persecution which Saul had\nstirred up against the disciples, the members of the Lord, was not\nless grievous to Him than if He had suffered it Himself. Therefore\nHe says to His friends and members, \"He who touches you, touches the\napple of Mine eye.\" For is there anything suffered by the members,\nwhich the Head does not suffer with them, He whose nature is\ngoodness, and whose property is always to have mercy and to forgive?\n\nTHE FIFTH WORD\n\nOUR most tender Lord was so worn out and parched by the extreme\nbitterness of His pain and suffering, and by the great loss of\nblood, that He cried, \"I thirst.\" A little word, but full of\nmysteries.\n\nIn the first place it may be understood literally. For it is natural\nfor those who are at the point of death to feel thirst, and to\ndesire to drink. But how great was the drouth felt by Him who is the\nfountain of living water, but who was now worn out and parched by\nthe heat of His ardent love, when he could truly say, \"I am poured\nout like water,\" and \"My strength is dried up like a potsherd.\" For\nnot only did He shed all His own blood, and pour out moisture by\ntears, but the very marrow of His bones, and all His heart's blood,\nwere consumed for our sakes by the heat and flame of love. Therefore\nHe said rightly, \"I thirst.\"\n\nBut, secondly, the word may be understood spiritually, as if Christ\nsaid to all men, \"I thirst for your salvation.\" Hence St Bernard\nsays: \"Jesus cried, I thirst, not, I grieve. O Lord, what dost Thou\nthirst for? For your faith, your joy. I thirst because of the\ntorments of your souls, far more than for My own bodily sufferings.\nHave pity on yourselves, if not on Me.\" And again, \"O good Jesus,\nThou wearest the crown of thorns; Thou art silent about Thy Cross\nand wounds, yet Thou criest out, I thirst. For what, then, dost Thou\nthirst? Truly, for the redemption of mankind only, and for the\nfelicity of the human race.\" This thirst of Christ was a hundred\ntimes more keen and intense than His natural thirst. And, besides,\nHe had another sort of thirst--that is to say, a thirst to suffer\nmore, and to prove to us still more clearly His immeasurable love,\nas if He said to man, \"See how I am worn out and exhausted for thy\nsalvation. See how terrible are the pains and anguish which I\nendure. The fierce cruelty of man has almost brought Me to nothing;\nthe sinners of earth have drunk out all My blood, and yet I thirst.\nNot yet is My heart satisfied, nor My desire accomplished, nor the\nfire of My love quenched. For if it were possible for Me, and\naccording to My Father's will, that I should be crucified again a\nthousand times for your salvation and conversion, or that I should\nhang here, in all this pain and anguish, till the day of judgment, I\nwould gladly do it, to prove to you the immeasurable love which I\nbear you in My heart, and to soften your stony hearts and rouse you\nto love Me in return. This is why I hang here so thirsty by the\nfountain of your hearts, that I may watch the pious souls who come\nhither to draw from the deep well of My Passion. Therefore, the\nmaiden to whom I shall say, 'Give Me to drink a little water out of\nthe pitcher of thy conscience'--the water of devotion, pity, tears,\nand mutual love--and who shall let down to Me her pitcher, and shall\nsay, 'Drink, my Lord; and for Thy camels also--that is, Thy\nservants, who carry Thee about daily on their bodies, and who by\nnight and day are held bound fast by Thy yoke, I will draw the water\nof brotherly love'--that is the maiden whom the Lord hath prepared\nfor the Son of My Lord, even the bride of the Word of God, united to\nMy humanity. And she shall be counted worthy to enter, like a bride\nwith her bridegroom, into the chamber of eternal rest, when the\nBridegroom invites her, saying, 'Come, My blessed bride, inherit the\nKingdom of My Father. For I was thirsty, and thou gavest Me drink.'\"\n\nThirdly, we may apply this word to the Father, as if Christ said to\nHis Father: \"Father, I have declared Thy name to mankind; I have\nfinished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and in Thy service I\nhave spent My whole body as Thine instrument. Behold, I am all worn\nout and exhausted; and yet I still thirst to do and suffer more for\nThine honour. This is why I hang here, extended to the furthest\nbreadth of love, for I long to be an everlasting sacrifice, a sweet\nsavour to Thee, and at the same time an eternal atonement and\nsalvation to mankind.\" Thus, too, might this strong Samson have\nsaid: \"O Lord, Thou hast put into the hand of Thy servant this very\ngreat salvation and victory, and yet behold, I die of thirst.\" As if\nHe would say: \"Father, I have accomplished Thy gracious will; I have\nfinished the work of man's salvation, as Thou didst demand; and yet\nI still thirst; for the sins by which Thou art offended are\ninfinite. And so I desire that the love and merits of My Passion, by\nwhich Thou wilt be appeased, may be infinite too. And as I now offer\nmyself as a peace-offering and a living sacrifice for the salvation\nof all men, so through Me may all men appease Thee, by offering Me\nto Thee as a peace-offering to Thine eternal glory, in memory of My\nPassion, and to make good all their shortcomings.\" O how acceptable\nto the Father must this desire of love have been! For what was this\nthirst but a sweet and pleasant refreshment to the Father, and at\nthe same time the blessed renovation of mankind? Or what other\nlanguage does this burning throat speak to us, save that of Christ's\nburning love, without measure and without limit, out of which He did\nall His works? This truly is the most noble sacrifice of our\nredemption, this is that peace-offering which will be offered even\nto the last day, by all good men, to the Holy Ghost, to the highest\nFather, in memory of the Son, to the eternal glory of the adorable\nTrinity, and to the fruit of salvation for mankind. Here, certainly,\nis the inexhaustible storehouse of our reconciliation, which never\nfails, for it is greater than all the debts of the world. This is\nthat immeasurable love, which is higher than the heavens, for it has\nrepaired the ruin of the angels; deeper than hell, for it has freed\nsouls from hell; wider and broader than the earth, for it is without\nend and incomprehensible by any created understanding. O how keen\nand intense was this thirst of our Lord! For not only did He then\nsay once, \"I thirst,\" but even now He says in our hearts\ncontinually, \"I thirst; woman, give me to drink.\" So great, so\nmighty, is that thirst, that He asks drink not only from the\nchildren of Israel, but from the Samaritans. To each one He\ncomplaineth of His thirst. But for what dost Thou thirst, O good\nJesus? \"My meat and drink,\" saith He, \"is that men should do My\nFather's will. Now this is the will of My Father, even your\nsanctification and salvation, that you may sanctify your souls by\nwalking in My precepts, by doing works of repentance, by adorning\nyourselves with all virtues, in order that, like a bride adorned for\nher husband, you may be worthy to be present at My supper in My\nFather's kingdom, and to sleep with Me as My elect bride, in the\nchamber of My Father's heart.\" O how Christ longs to bring all men\nthither! This is the meaning of His words: \"Where I am there shall\nalso My servant be\"; and again: \"Father, I will that they may be one\neven as We are one.\" O, how incomprehensible is this thirst of\nChrist! What toil and labour He endured for thirty and three years,\nfor the sake of it! For this His very heart's blood was poured out.\nSee what our tender Lord says to His Father: \"The zeal of Thine\nhouse hath even eaten Me.\" Truly, He would have submitted to be\ncrucified a thousand times, rather than allow one soul to perish\nthrough any fault of His. O how this inward thirst tormented Him,\nwhen He thought that He had done all that He could, and even a\nhundredfold more than He need have done, and yet that so few had\nturned to Him, and been won by Him. His whole body was now worn out;\nall His blood was shed; nothing remained for Him to do; and\ntherefore He was constrained to confess, \"It is finished\"; and yet\nby all His labours, afflictions, and sufferings, He had brought no\nricher harvest to the Father than this. Truly, this was the most\nbitter of all His sorrows, that after so hard a battle His victory\nhad not been more glorious, and that He returned a conqueror to His\nFather with so few spoils. Therefore, all those who do not refresh\nHim by performing His will, and doing all that is pleasing and\nhonourable to Him, and withstanding all that reason tells them to be\ndispleasing to Him, will one day hear Him say, \"I was thirsty, and\nye gave Me no drink. Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.\"\n\nFourthly, there is yet another inward meaning of this word--namely,\nthat Christ spoke it out of the love which inwardly draws Him\ntowards all men, thus making known to us His ardent love, and\nopening His own heart, as a delightful couch, on which we may feed\npleasantly, and inviting us to it, saying, \"I thirst for you.\" For\nas the liquid which we drink is sent down pleasantly through the\nthroat into the body, and so passes into the substance and nature of\nour body, so Christ out of the ardent thirst of His love, takes\nspiritual pleasure in drinking in all men into Himself, swallowing\nthem, as it were, and incorporating them into Himself, and bringing\nthem into the secret chamber of His loving heart. Therefore He says:\n\"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto\nMe\"--all men, that is, who allow themselves to be drawn by Me, and\nsubmit to Me as obedient instruments, suffering Me to do with them\naccording to My gracious will. But those who resist Him quench not\nHis thirst, but give Him a bitter draught instead, even the deeds of\ntheir own self-will. These, when our Lord tasteth them, He\nstraightway rejects.\n\nTHE SIXTH WORD\n\nWHEN Christ had tasted the draught of vinegar and gall, He spoke the\nsixth word: \"It is finished.\" Thereby He signified that by His\nPassion had been fulfilled all the prophecies, types, mysteries,\nscriptures, sacrifices, and promises, which had been predicted and\nwritten about Him. This is that true Son of God, for whom the Father\nof heaven made ready a supper in the kingdom of His eternal\nblessedness; and He sent His servant--that is the human nature of\nChrist, coming in the form of a servant, to call them that were\nbidden to the wedding. For Christ, when He took human nature upon\nHim, was not only a servant but a servant of servants, and served\nall of us for thirty and three years with great toil and suffering.\nIndeed, He spent His whole life in bidding all men to His supper. It\nwas for this that He preached, and wrought miracles, and travelled\nfrom place to place, and proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was\nat hand, and that all should be prepared for it. But they would not\ncome. And when the Father of the household heard this, He said to\nHis Servant: \"Compel them to come in, that My house may be filled.\"\nThen that Servant thought within Himself: \"How shall I be able\nwithout violence to compel these men to come, that rebellion may be\navoided and yet that their privilege and power of free will may\nremain unimpaired? For if I compel them to come by iron chains, and\nblows, and whips, I shall have asses and not men.\" Then He said to\nHimself: \"I perceive that man is so constituted as to be prone to\nlove. Therefore I will show him such love as shall pass all his\nunderstanding, love than which no other love can be greater. If man\nwill observe this, he will be so caught in its toils, that he will\nnot be able to escape its heat and flame, and will be constrained to\nturn to God, and love Him in return. For, turn where he will, he\nwill always be met by the immeasurable benefits, the infinite\ngoodness, and the wonderful love of God; and at the same time he\nwill feel more and more compelled to return love for love, till he\nwill be no more able to resist it, and will be gently constrained to\nfollow.\" When this was done, Jesus Christ, this faithful and wise\nServant, said to His Lord and Father, \"It is finished. I have\nfinished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. What more could I have\ndone, and have not done it? I have no member left that is not weary\nand worn with toil and pain. My veins are dry, My blood is shed; My\nmarrow is spent, My throat is hoarse with crying. Such love have I\nshown to man, that his heart cannot be human, cannot even be stony,\nor the heart of a brute beast, but must be quite devilish and\ndesperate, if it be not moved by the thought of these things.\"\n\nMoreover, this word of our Lord Jesus is a word of sorrow, not of\njoy. He spoke it not as if He had now escaped from all His\nsuffering. No; when He said, \"It is finished,\" He meant all that had\nbeen ordained and decreed by the eternal Truth for Him to suffer.\nBesides, all the sufferings which had been inflicted upon Him by\ndegrees and singly, He now endures together with immeasurable\nanguish. Who can have such a heart of adamant as not to be moved by\nsuch torment as this? How short were the words which our Lord Jesus\nspoke on the Cross, yet how full of sacramental mysteries! Now were\nfulfilled the words of Exodus: \"And all things were finished which\nbelonged to the sacrifice of the Lord.\"\n\nMoreover by this word our Lord declared the glorious victory of the\nPassion, and how the old enemy, the jealous serpent, was overcome\nand thrown down; for this was the cause for which He suffered. For\nthis He had taken upon Himself the garment of human nature, that He\nmight vanquish and confound the enemy, by the same weapons wherewith\nthe enemy boasted that he had conquered man. This was the chief\npurpose of His Passion, and now He confesses that it is finished. O\nhow wonderful are the mysteries, and the victories, included in this\nlittle but deep word: \"It is finished!\" All that the eternal Wisdom\nhad decreed, all that strict justice had demanded for each man, all\nthat love had asked for, all the promises made to the fathers, all\nthe mysteries, types, ceremonies in Scripture, all that was meet and\nnecessary for our redemption, all that was needed to wipe out our\ndebts, all that must repair our negligences, all that was glorious\nand loving for the exhibition of this splendid love, all that we\ncould desire, for our spiritual instruction--in a word, all that was\ngood and fitting for the celebration of the glorious triumph of our\nredemption, all is included in that one word, \"It is finished.\"\nWhat, then, remains for Him, but to finish and perfect His life in\nthis glorious conflict; and, because nothing remains for Him to do,\nto commend His precious soul into His Father's hands, seeing that He\nhas fought the good fight, and finished His course in all holiness?\nIt is meet, then, that He should obtain the crown of glory which His\nheavenly Father will give Him on the day of His exaltation.\n\nLastly, by this word Christ offered up all His toil, sorrow, and\naffliction for all the elect, as the Apostle saith: \"Who in the days\nof His flesh offered up prayer and supplications with strong crying\nand tears unto Him who was able to save Him from death, and was\nheard in that He feared. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and\nthe ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the\npurifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who\nthrough the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,\npurge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?\"\n\nTHE SEVENTH WORD\n\nOUR Lord Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and said, \"Father,\ninto Thy hands I commend My Spirit.\" O all ye who love our Lord\nJesus Christ, come, I beseech you, and let us watch, with all\ndevotion and pity, His passing away. Let us see what must have been\nHis sorrow and agony and torment, when His glorious soul was now at\nlast forced to pass out of His worthy and most sacred body, in which\nfor thirty and three years it had rested so sweetly, peacefully,\njoyfully, and holily, even as two lovers on one bed. How hard was it\nfor them to be rent asunder, between whom no disagreement had ever\narisen, no strife, or quarrel, or treachery. How unspeakably\ngrievous was that Cross, when His sacred body was compelled to part\nwith so faithful a friend, so gentle an occupant, so loving a\nteacher and master; and how great was the sorrow with which His\nglorious and pure soul was torn away from so faithful a servant,\nwhich had ever served obediently, never sparing any trouble, never\nshrinking from cold or heat or hunger or thirst; always enduring\nlabour and sorrow in gentleness and patience. O how great was this\naffliction! For, as the philosopher says: \"Of all terrible things\ndeath is the most terrible, on account of the natural and mutual\naffection, which is very great, between soul and body.\" How much\ngreater must have been the anguish and sorrow, when the most holy\nsoul and body of Christ were sundered, between which there had\nalways been such wonderful harmony and love. Therefore, with inward\npity and anxious sorrow, let us meditate on this sad parting; for\nthe death of Christ is our life.\n\nLet us meditate devoutly how His sacred body, the instrument of our\nsalvation, was steeped in anguish, when all His members, as if to\nbid a last farewell, were bowing themselves down to die! Who can\nlook without remorse and sorrow and pity upon the most gracious face\nof Christ, and behold how it is changed into the pallor and likeness\nof death; how tears still flow from His dimmed eyes; how His sacred\nhead is bent; how all His members prove to us, by signs and motions,\nthe love which they can no longer show by deeds. Let us pity Him, I\npray you, for He is our own flesh and blood, and it is for our sins,\nnot His own, that He is shamefully slain. O ye who up till now have\npassed by the Cross of Jesus with tepid or cold hearts, and whom all\nthese torments and tears, and His blood shed like water, have not\nbeen able to soften; now at last let this loud voice, this terrible\ncry, rend and pierce your hearts through and through. Let that voice\nwhich shook the heaven and the earth and hell with fear, which rent\nthe rocks and laid open ancient graves, now soften your stony\nhearts, and lay bare the old sepulchres of your conscience, full of\ndead men's bones--that is to say, of wicked deeds, and call again\ninto life your departed spirits. For this is the voice which once\ncried: \"Adam, where art thou; and what hast thou done?\" This is the\nvoice which brought Lazarus from Hades, saying, \"Lazarus, come\nforth: arise from the grave of sin, and let them free thee from thy\ngrave-clothes.\" Truly it was not so much the grievousness of His\nsufferings, as the greatness of our sins, which made our Lord utter\nthis cry. He cried also, to show that He had the dominion over life\nand death, over the living and the dead. For though he was quite\nworn out, and destitute of strength, and though He had borne the\nbitter pangs of death so long, beyond the power of man, yet He would\nnot allow Death to put forth its power against Him, until it pleased\nHim.\n\nWith a loud voice He cried, that earthly men, who care only for the\nthings of earth, might quake with fear and trembling, and to cause\nthem to meditate and see how naked and helpless the Lord of lords\ndeparted from this life. With a terrible voice He cried, to stir up\nall those who live in wantonness, and who have grown old in their\ndefilement, and send forth a foul savour, like dead dogs, so that at\nlast these miserable men may rise from their lusts and pleasures and\nsensual delights, and see how the Son of God, who was never strained\nwith any spot of defilement, went forth to His Father; and with what\ntoil and pain and anguish He departed from the light of day, and\nwhat He had to suffer before He reached his Father's Kingdom. He\nalso cried with a loud voice, that He might inflame the lukewarm and\nslothful to devotion and love.\n\nMoreover He cried with a loud voice as a sign of the glorious\nvictory which He had gained, when after a single combat with His\nstrong and cruel enemy, and having descended into the arena--the\nbattlefield of this world--He had routed him on Mount Calvary and\nstripped him bare of his spoils. This victory, this glorious\ntriumph, Christ proclaimed with a loud voice, and thus departing\nfrom the battlefield triumphant and victorious, He departed to the\nplace of all delights, to the heart and breast of God, His Father,\ncommending to it, as to a safe refuge, both Himself and all His own,\nwith the words, \"Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.\"\n\nWe may learn from these words that the eternal Word, our Lord Jesus\nChrist, had been let down like a fishing-hook or great net, by the\nFather of heaven, into the great sea of this world, that He might\ncatch not fish but men. Hear how He says: \"My word, that goeth forth\nout of My mouth shall not return unto Me void, but shall execute\nthat which I please, and shall prosper in the thing whereto I send\nit.\" And this net is drawn by the Father out of the salt sea, to the\npeaceful shore of His fatherly heart, full of the elect, of works of\ncharity, of repentance, patience, humility, obedience, spiritual\nexercises, merits and virtues. For Christ drew unto Himself all the\nafflictions and good deeds of the good; just as St Paul says, \"I\nlive; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.\" Even so, Christ lives in\nall the good, and all who have been willing and obedient instruments\nin the hands of Christ. In all such Christ lives and suffers and\nworks. For whatever good there is in all men, is all God's work.\nTherefore Christ, feeling His Father drawing Him, gathered together\nin Himself in a wonderful manner all the elect with all their works,\nand commended them to His Father, saying, \"My Father, these are\nThine; these are the spoils which I have won by My conquest, by the\nsword of the Cross; these are the vessels which I have purchased\nwith My precious blood; these are the fruits of My labours. Keep in\nThine own name those whom Thou hast given Me. I pray not that Thou\nshouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep\nthem from the evil.\" Thus did Christ commend Himself and all His own\ninto His Father's hands. Come therefore, O faithful and devout soul,\nand contemplate with great earnestness the coming in and the going\nout of thy Lord Jesus; follow Him with love and longing, even to the\nchamber and bed of joy, which He has prepared for thee in thy\nFather's heart. Happy would he be, who could now be dissolved with\nChrist, and die with the thief, and hear from the lips of the Lord\nthat comfortable word, \"This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.\"\nAnd though this is not granted to us, yet whatever we can here gain\nby labours and watchings and fastings and prayers, let us commend it\nall with Christ to the Father; let us pour it back again into the\nfountain, whence it flowed forth for us; and let nothing be left in\nus of empty self-satisfaction, no seeking after human praise or\nhonour or reward. But whatever our God hath been willing to do in\nus, let us return it back into His own hands and say, \"We are\nnothing of ourselves. It is He who made us, and not we ourselves.\nAll good was made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.\nWhen therefore He taketh with Him what He made Himself, we are\nabsolutely nothing.\"\n\nLastly, Christ commended His soul into His Father's hands, to show\nus how the souls of good and holy men mount up after Him to the\nbosom of the eternal Father, who must otherwise have gone down to\nhell; for it is He who has opened to us the way of life, and His\nsacred soul, by making the journey safe and free from danger, has\nbeen our guide into the kingdom of heaven.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSUSO\n\n\n\n\n\nSUSO AND HIS SPIRITUAL DAUGHTER\n\nAFTER this, certain very high thoughts arose in the mind of the\nservitor's spiritual daughter, concerning which she asked him\nwhether she might put questions to him. He replied, Yea verily:\nsince thou hast been led through the proper exercises, it is\npermitted to thy spiritual intelligence to enquire about high\nthings. Ask then whatever thou wilt. She said: Tell me, father, what\nis God, and how He is both One and Three? The servitor replied,\nThese be indeed high questions. As to the first, What is God, you\nmust know that all the Doctors who ever lived cannot explain it, for\nHe is above all sense and reason. Yet if a man is diligent, and does\nnot relax his efforts, he gains some knowledge of God, though very\nfar off. Yet in this knowledge of God consists our eternal life and\nman's supreme happiness. In this way, in former times, certain\nworthy philosophers searched for God, and especially that great\nthinker Aristotle, who tried to discover the Author of Nature from\nthe order of nature and its course. He sought earnestly, and he was\nconvinced from the well-ordered course of nature that there must of\nnecessity be one Prince and Lord of the whole universe--He whom we\ncall God. About this God and Lord we know this much, that He is an\nimmortal Substance, eternal, without before or after, simple, bare,\nunchangeable, an incorporeal and essential Spirit, whose substance\nis life and energy, whose most penetrating intelligence knows all\nthings in and by itself, whose essence in itself is an abyss of\npleasures and joys, and who is to Himself, and to all who shall\nenjoy Him in a future life, a supernatural, ineffable, and most\nsweet happiness. The maiden, when she heard this, looked up, and\nsaid: These things are sweet to tell and sweet to hear, for they\nrouse the heart, and lift the spirit up far beyond itself.\nTherefore, father, tell me more about these things. The servitor\nsaid: The Divine Essence, about which we speak, is an intelligible\nor intellectual Substance of such a kind, that it cannot be seen in\nitself by mortal eyes; but it can be discerned in its effects, even\nas we recognise a fine artist by his works. As the Apostle teaches\nus, \"The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are\nclearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.\" For the\ncreatures are a kind of mirror, in which God shines. This knowledge\nis called speculation, by which we contemplate the great Architect\nof the world in His works. Come now, look upward and about thee,\nthrough all the quarters of the universe, and see how wide and high\nthe beautiful heaven is, how swift its motion, and how marvellously\nits Creator has adorned it with the seven planets, and with the\ncountless multitude of the twinkling stars. Consider what\nfruitfulness, what riches, the sun bestows upon the earth, when in\nsummer it sheds abroad its rays unclouded! See how the leaves and\ngrass shoot up, and the flowers smile, and the woods and plains\nresound with the sweet song of nightingales and other birds; how all\nthe little animals, after being imprisoned by grim winter, come\nforth rejoicing, and pair; and how men and women, both old and\nyoung, rejoice and are merry. O Almighty God, if Thou art so lovable\nand so pleasant in Thy creatures, how happy and blessed, how full of\nall joy and beauty, must Thou be in Thyself? But further, my\ndaughter, contemplate the elements themselves--Earth, Water, Air,\nand Fire, with all the wonderful things which they contain in\ninfinite variety--men, beasts, birds, fishes, and sea-monsters. And\nall of these give praise and honour to the unfathomable immensity\nthat is in Thee. Who is it, Lord, who preserves all these things,\nwho nourishes them? It is Thou who providest for all, each in his\nown way, for great and small, rich and poor. Thou, O God, doest\nthis; Thou alone art God indeed! Behold, my daughter, thou hast now\nfound the God whom thou hast sought so long. Look up, then, with\nshining eyes, with radiant face and exulting heart, behold Him and\nembrace Him with the outstretched arms of thy soul and mind, and\ngive thanks to Him as the one and supreme Lord of all creatures. By\ngazing on this mirror, there springs up speedily, in one of loving\nand pious disposition, an inward jubilation of the heart; for by\nthis is meant a joy which no tongue can tell, though it pours with\nmight through heart and soul. Alas, I now feel within me, that I\nmust open for thee the closed mouth of my soul; and I am compelled,\nfor the glory of God, to tell thee certain secrets, which I never\nyet told to any one. A certain Dominican, well known to me, at the\nbeginning of his course used to receive from God twice every day,\nmorning and evening, for ten years, an outpouring of grace like\nthis, which lasted about as long as it would take to say the \"Vigils\nof the Dead\" twice over.[40] At these times he was so entirely\nabsorbed in God, the eternal Wisdom, that he would not speak of it.\nSometimes he would converse with God as with a friend, not with the\nmouth, but mentally; at other times he would utter piteous sighs to\nHim; at other times he would weep copiously, or smile silently. He\noften seemed to himself to be flying in the air, and swimming\nbetween time and eternity in the depth of the Divine wonders, which\nno man can fathom. And his heart became so full from this, that he\nwould sometimes lay his hand upon it as it beat heavily, saying,\n\"Alas, my heart, what labours will befall thee to-day?\" One day it\nseemed to him that the heart of his heavenly Father was, in a\nspiritual and indescribable manner, pressed tenderly, and with\nnothing between, against his heart; and that the Father's\nheart--that is, the eternal Wisdom, spoke inwardly to his heart\nwithout forms.[41] Then he began to exclaim joyously in spiritual\njubilation: Behold, now, Thou whom I most fervently love, thus do I\nlay bare my heart to Thee, and in simplicity and nakedness of all\ncreated things I embrace Thy formless Godhead! O God, most excellent\nof all friends! Earthly friends must needs endure to be distinct and\nseparate from those whom they love; but Thou, O fathomless sweetness\nof all true love, meltest into the heart of Thy beloved, and pourest\nThyself fully into the essence of his soul, that nothing of Thee\nremains outside, but Thou art joined and united most lovingly with\nThy beloved.\n\nTo this the maiden replied: Truly it is a great grace, when anyone\nis thus caught up into God. But I should like to be informed,\nwhether this is the most perfect kind of union or not? The servitor\nanswered: No, it is not the most perfect, but a preliminary, gently\ndrawing a man on, that he may arrive at an essential way of being\ncarried up into God. The maiden asked him what he meant by essential\nand non-essential. He answered: I call that man essential or\nhabitual (so to speak), who by the good and persevering practice of\nall the virtues, has arrived at the point of finding the practice of\nthem in their highest perfection pleasant to him, even as the\nbrightness of the sun remains constant in the sun. But I call him\nnon-essential, in whom the brightness of the virtues shines in an\nunstable and imperfect way like the brightness of the moon. That\nfull delight of grace which I described is so sweet to the spirit of\nthe non-essential man, that he would be glad always to have it. When\nhe has it, he rejoices; when he is deprived of it, he grieves\ninordinately; and when it smiles upon him, he is reluctant to pass\nto doing other things, even things that are pleasing to God; as I\nwill show you by an example. The servitor of the Divine Wisdom was\nonce walking in the chapter-house, and his heart was full of\nheavenly jubilation, when the porter called him out to see a woman\nwho wished to confess to him. He was unwilling to interrupt his\ninward delight, and received the porter harshly, bidding him tell\nthe woman that she must find some one else to confess to, for he did\nnot wish to hear her confession just then. She, however, being\noppressed with the burden of her sins, said that she felt specially\ndrawn to seek comfort from him, and that she would confess to no one\nelse. And when he still refused to go out, she began to weep most\nsadly, and going into a corner, lamented greatly. Meanwhile, God\nquickly withdrew from the servitor the delights of grace, and his\nheart became as hard as flint. And when he desired to know the cause\nof this, God answered him inwardly: Even as thou hast driven away\nuncomforted that poor woman, so have I withdrawn from thee my Divine\ncomfort. The servitor groaned deeply and beat his breast, and\nhurried to the door, and as he did not find the woman there, was\nmuch distressed. The porter, however, looked about for her\neverywhere, and when he found her, still weeping, bade her return to\nthe door. When she came, the servitor received her gently, and\ncomforted her sorrowing heart. Then he went back from her to the\nchapter-house, and immediately God was with him, with His Divine\nconsolations, as before.\n\nThen said the maiden: It must be easy for him to bear sufferings, to\nwhom God gives such jubilation and internal joys. And yet, said the\nservitor, all had to be paid for afterward with great suffering.\nHowever, at last, when all this had passed away, and God's appointed\ntime had come, the same grace of jubilation was restored to him, and\nremained with him almost continuously both at home and abroad, in\ncompany and alone. Often in the bath or at table the same grace was\nwith him; but it was now internal, and did show itself outside.\n\nThen the maiden said: My father, I have now learned what God is; but\nI am also eager to know where He is. Thou shalt hear, said the\nservitor. The opinion of the theologians is that God is in no\nparticular place, but that He is everywhere, and all in all. The\nsame doctors say that we come to know a thing through its name. Now\none doctor says that Being is the first name of God. Turn your eyes,\ntherefore, to Being in its pure and naked simplicity, and take no\nnotice of this or that substance which can be torn asunder into\nparts and separated; but consider Being in itself, unmixed with any\nNot-Being. Whatever is nothing, is the negation of what is; and what\nis, is the negation of what is not. A thing which has yet to be, or\nwhich once was, is not now in actual being. Moreover, we cannot know\nmixed being or not-being unless we take into account that which is\nall-being. This Being is not the being of this or that creature; for\nall particular being is mixed with something extraneous, whereby it\ncan receive something new into itself. Therefore the nameless Divine\nBeing must be in itself a Being that is all-being, and that sustains\nall particular things by its presence.\n\nIt shows the strange blindness of man's reason, that it cannot\nexamine into that which it contemplates before everything, and\nwithout which it cannot perceive anything. Just as, when the eye is\nbent on noticing various colours, it does not observe the light\nwhich enables it to see all these objects, and even if it looks at\nthe light it does not observe it; so it is with the eye of the soul.\nWhen it looks at this or that particular substance, it takes no heed\nof the being, which is everywhere one, absolute and simple, and by\nthe virtue and goodness of which it can apprehend all other things.\nHence the wise Aristotle says, that the eye of our intelligence,\nowing to its weakness, is affected towards that being which is\nitself the most manifest of all things, as the eye of a bat or owl\nis towards the bright rays of the sun. For particular substances\ndistract and dazzle the mind, so that it cannot behold the Divine\ndarkness, which is the clearest light.\n\nCome now, open the eyes of thy mind, and gaze if thou canst, on\nBeing in its naked and simple purity. You will perceive that it\ncomes from no one, and has no before nor after, and that it cannot\nchange, because it is simple Being. You will also observe that it is\nthe most actual, the most present, and the most perfect of beings,\nwith no defect or mutation, because it is absolutely one in its bare\nsimplicity. This is so evident to an instructed intellect, that it\ncannot think otherwise. Since it is simple Being, it must be the\nfirst of beings, and without beginning or end, and because it is the\nfirst and everlasting and simple, it must be the most present. If\nyou can understand this, you will have been guided far into the\nincomprehensible light of God's hidden truth. This pure and simple\nBeing is altogether in all things, and altogether outside all\nthings. Hence a certain doctor says: God is a circle, whose centre\nis everywhere, and His circumference nowhere.\n\nWhen this had been said, the maiden answered: Blessed be God, I have\nbeen shown, as far as may be, both what God is, and where He is. But\nI should like also to be told how, if God is so absolutely simple,\nHe can also be threefold.\n\nThe servitor answered: The more simple any being is in itself, the\nmore manifold is it in its energy and operation. That which has\nnothing gives nothing, and that which has much can give much. I have\nalready spoken of the inflowing and overflowing fount of good which\nGod is in Himself. This infinite and superessential goodness\nconstrains Him not to keep it all within Himself, but to communicate\nit freely both within and without Himself. But the highest and most\nperfect outpouring of the good must be within itself, and this can\nbe nought else but a present, interior, personal and natural\noutpouring, necessary, yet without compulsion, infinite and perfect.\nOther communications, in temporal matters, draw their origin from\nthis eternal communication of the Divine Goodness. Some theologians\nsay that in the outflow of the creatures from their first origin\nthere is a return in a circle of the end to the beginning; for as\nthe emanation of the Persons from the Godhead is an image of the\norigin of the creatures, so also it is a type of the flowing back of\nthe creatures into God. There is, however, a difference between the\noutpouring of the creatures and that of God. The creature is only a\nparticular and partial substance, and its giving and communication\nis also partial and limited. When a human father begets a son, he\ngives him part, but not the whole, of his own substance, for he\nhimself is only a partial good. But the outpouring of God is of a\nmore interior and higher kind than the creature's outpouring,\ninasmuch as He Himself is a higher good. If the outpouring of God is\nto be worthy of His pre-eminent being, it must be according to\npersonal relations.\n\nNow, then, if you can look upon the pure goodness of the highest\nGood (which goodness is, by its nature, the active principle of the\nspontaneous love with which the highest Good loves itself) you will\nbehold the most excellent and superessential outpouring of the Word\nfrom the Father, by which generation all things exist and are\nproduced; and you will see also in the highest good, and the highest\noutpouring, the most holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,\nexisting in the Godhead. And if the highest outpouring proceeds from\nthe highest essential good, it follows that there must be in this\nTrinity the highest and most intimate consubstantiality or community\nof being, and complete equality and identity of essence, which the\nPersons enjoy in sweetest communion, and also that the Substance and\npower of the three almighty Persons is undivided and unpartitioned.\n\nHere the maiden exclaimed: Marvellous! I swim in the Godhead like an\neagle in the air. The servitor, resuming his exposition, continued:\nIt is impossible to express in words how the Trinity can subsist in\nthe unity of one essence. Nevertheless, to say what may be said on\nthe subject, Augustine says that in the Godhead the Father is the\nFountain-head of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Dionysius says, that in\nthe Father there is an outflowing of the Godhead, which naturally\ncommunicates itself to the Word or Son. He also freely and lovingly\npours Himself out into the Son; and the Son in turn pours Himself\nout freely and lovingly into the Father; and this love of the Father\nfor the Son, and of the Son for the Father, is the Holy Ghost. This\nis truly said, but it is made clearer by that glorious Doctor of the\nChurch, St Thomas, who says as follows: In the outpouring of the\nWord from the Father's heart, God the Father must contemplate\nHimself with His own mind, bending back, as it were, upon His Divine\nessence; for if the reason of the Father had not the Divine essence\nfor its object, the Word so conceived would be a creature instead of\nGod; which is false. But in the way described He is \"God of God.\"\nAgain, this looking back upon the Divine essence, which takes place\nin the mind of God, must, in a manner, produce a natural likeness;\nelse the Word would not be the Son of God. So here we have the unity\nof essence in the diversity of Persons; and a clear proof of this\ndistinction may be found in the word of that soaring eagle St John:\n\"The Word was in the beginning with God.\"\n\nThus the Father is the Fountain-head of the Son, and the Son is the\noutflowing of the Father; and the Father and Son pour forth the\nSpirit; and the Unity, which is the essence of the Fountain-head, is\nalso the substance of the three Persons. But as to how the Three are\nOne, this cannot be expressed in words, on account of the simplicity\nof that Abyss. Into this intellectual Where, the spirits of men made\nperfect soar and plunge themselves, now flying over infinite\nheights, now swimming in unfathomed depths, marvelling at the high\nand wonderful mysteries of the Godhead. Nevertheless, the spirit\nremains a spirit, and retains its nature, while it enjoys the vision\nof the Divine Persons, and abstracted from all occupation with\nthings below contemplates with fixed gaze those stupendous\nmysteries. For what can be more marvellous than that simple Unity,\ninto which the Trinity of the Persons merges itself, and in which\nall multiplicity ceases? For the outflowing of the Persons is always\ntending back into the Unity of the same essence, and all creatures,\naccording to their ideal existence in God, are from eternity in this\nUnity, and have their life, knowledge, and essence in the eternal\nGod; as it is said in the Gospel: \"That which was made, was Life in\nHim.\"[42] This bare Unity is a dark silence and tranquil inactivity,\nwhich none can understand unless he is illuminated by the Unity\nitself, unmixed with any evil. Out of this shines forth hidden\ntruth, free from all falsehood; and this truth is born from the\nunveiling of the veiled Divine purity; for after the revelation of\nthese things, the spirit is at last unclothed of the dusky light\nwhich up till now has followed it, and in which it has hitherto seen\nthings in an earthly way. Indeed, the spirit finds itself now\nchanged and something very different from what it supposed itself to\nbe according to its earlier light: even as St Paul says, \"I, yet not\nI.\" Thus it is unclothed and simplified in the simplicity of the\nDivine essence, which shines upon all things in simple stillness. In\nthis modeless mode of contemplation, the permanent distinction of\nthe Persons, viewed as separate, is lost. For, as some teach, it is\nnot the Person of the Father, taken by Himself, which produces\nbliss, nor the Person of the Son, taken by Himself, nor the Person\nof the Holy Ghost, taken by Himself; but the three Persons, dwelling\ntogether in the unity of the essence, confer bliss. And this is the\nnatural essence of the Persons, which by grace gives the substance\nor essence to all their creatures, and it contains in itself the\nideas of all things in their simple essence. Now since this ideal\nlight subsists as Being, so all things subsist in it according to\ntheir essential being, not according to their accidental forms; and\nsince it shines upon all things, its property is to subsist as\nlight. Hence all things shine forth in this essence in interior\nstillness, without altering its simplicity.\n\nThen the maiden said: I could wish greatly, sir, that you could give\nme this mysterious teaching, as you understand it, under a figure,\nthat I might understand it better. I should also be glad if you\ncould sum up what you have been saying at length, so that it may\nstick more firmly in my weak mind. The servitor replied: Who can\nexpress in forms what has no form? Who can explain that which has no\nmode of being, and is above sense and reason? Any similitude must be\ninfinitely more unlike than like the reality. Nevertheless, that I\nmay drive out forms from your mind by forms, I will try to give you\na picture of these ideas which surpass all forms, and to sum up a\nlong discourse in a few words. A certain wise theologian says that\nGod, in regard to His Godhead, is like a vast circle, of which the\ncentre is everywhere, and the circumference nowhere. Now consider\nthe image which follows. If anyone throws a great stone into the\nmiddle of a pool, a ring is formed in the water, and this ring makes\na second ring, and the second a third; and the number and size of\nthe rings depend on the force of the throw. They may even require a\nlarger space than the limit of the pool. Suppose now that the first\nring represents the omnipotent virtue of the Divine nature, which is\ninfinite in God the Father. This produces another ring like itself,\nwhich is the Son. And the two produce the third, which is the Holy\nGhost. The spiritual superessential begetting of the Divine Word is\nthe cause of the creation of all spirits and all things. This\nsupreme Spirit has so ennobled man, as to shed upon him a ray from\nHis own eternal Godhead. This is the image of God in the mind, which\nis itself eternal. But many men turn away from this dignity of their\nnature, befouling the bright image of God in themselves, and turning\nto the bodily pleasures of this world. They pursue them greedily and\ndevote themselves to them, till death unexpectedly stops them. But\nhe who is wise, turns himself and elevates himself, with the help of\nthe Divine spark in his soul, to that which is stable and eternal,\nwhence he had his own origin: he says farewell to all the fleeting\ncreatures, and clings to the eternal truth alone.\n\nAttend also to what I say about the order in which the spirit ought\nto return to God. First of all, we should disentangle ourselves\nabsolutely from the pleasures of the world, manfully turning our\nbacks upon all vices; we should turn to God by continual prayers, by\nseclusion, and holy exercise, that the flesh may thus be subdued to\nthe spirit. Next, we must offer ourselves willingly to endure all\nthe troubles which may come upon us, from God, or from the\ncreatures. Thirdly, we must impress upon ourselves the Passion of\nChrist crucified; we must fix upon our minds His sweet teaching, His\nmost gentle conversation, His most pure life, which He gave us for\nour example, and so we must penetrate deeper and advance further in\nour imitation of Him. Fourthly, we must divest ourselves of external\noccupations, and establish ourselves in a tranquil stillness of soul\nby an energetic resignation, as if we were dead to self, and thought\nonly of the honour of Christ and His heavenly Father. Lastly, we\nshould be humble towards all men, whether friends or foes. . . . But\nall these images, with their interpretations, are as unlike the\nformless truth as a black Ethiopian is to the bright sun.\n\nSoon after this holy maiden died, and passed away happy from earth,\neven as her whole life had been conspicuous only for her virtues.\nAfter her death she appeared to her spiritual father in a vision.\nShe was clothed in raiment whiter than snow; she shone with dazzling\nbrightness, and was full of heavenly joy. She came near to him, and\nshowed him in what an excellent fashion she had passed away into the\nsimple Godhead. He saw and heard her with exceeding delight, and the\nvision filled his soul with heavenly consolations. When he returned\nto himself, he sighed most deeply, and thus pondered: O Almighty\nGod, how blessed is he, who strives after Thee alone! He may well be\ncontent to bear affliction, whose sufferings Thou wilt thus reward!\nMay the Almighty God grant that we likewise may be brought to the\nsame joys as this blessed maiden!\n\nA MEDITATION ON THE PASSION OF CHRIST\n\nTHEN said the Eternal Wisdom to the servitor, Attend and listen\ndutifully, while I tell thee what sufferings I lovingly endured for\nthy sake.\n\nAfter I had finished My last Supper with My disciples, when I had\noffered Myself to My enemies on the mount, and had resigned Myself\nto bear a terrible death, and knew that it was approaching very\nnear, so great was the oppression of My tender heart and all My\nbody, that I sweated blood; then I was wickedly arrested, bound, and\ncarried away. On the same night they treated Me with insult and\ncontumely, beating Me, spitting upon Me, and covering My head.\nBefore Caiaphas was I unjustly accused and condemned to death. What\nmisery it was to see My mother seized with unspeakable sorrow of\nheart, from the time when she beheld Me threatened with such great\ndangers, till the time when I was hung upon the cross. They brought\nMe before Pilate with every kind of ignominy, they accused Me\nfalsely, they adjudged Me worthy of death. Before Herod I, the\nEternal Wisdom, was mocked in a bright robe. My fair body was\nmiserably torn and rent by cruel scourgings. They surrounded My\nsacred head with a crown of thorns; My gracious face was covered\nwith blood and spittings. When they had thus condemned Me to death,\nthey led Me out with My cross to bear the last shameful punishment.\nTheir terrible and savage cries could be heard afar off: \"Crucify,\ncrucify, the wicked man.\"\n\nServitor. Alas, Lord, if so bitter were the beginnings of Thy\npassion, what will be the end thereof? In truth, if I saw a brute\nbeast so treated in my presence I could hardly bear it. What grief\nthen should I feel in heart and soul at Thy Passion? And yet there\nis one thing at which I marvel greatly. For I long, O my most dear\nGod, to know only Thy Godhead; and Thou tellest me of Thy humanity.\nI long to taste Thy sweetness, and Thou showest me Thy bitterness.\nWhat meaneth this, O my Lord God?\n\nWisdom. No man can come to the height of My Godhead, nor attain to\nthat unknown sweetness, unless he be first led through the\nbitterness of My humanity. My humanity is the road by which men must\ntravel. My Passion is the gate, through which they must enter. Away\nthen with thy cowardice of heart, and come to Me prepared for a hard\ncampaign. For it is not right for the servant to live softly and\ndelicately, while his Lord is fighting bravely. Come, I will now put\non thee My own armour. And so thou must thyself also experience the\nwhole of My Passion, so far as thy strength permits. Take,\ntherefore, the heart of a man; for be sure that thou wilt have to\nendure many deaths, before thou canst put thy nature under the yoke.\nI will sprinkle thy garden of spices with red flowers. Many are the\nafflictions which will come upon thee; till thou hast finished thy\nsad journey of bearing the cross, and hast renounced thine own will\nand disengaged thyself so completely from all creatures, in all\nthings, which might hinder thine eternal salvation, as to be like\none about to die, and no longer mixed up with the affairs of this\nlife.\n\nServitor. Hard and grievous to bear are the things which Thou\nsayest, Lord. I tremble all over. How can I bear all these things?\nSuffer me, O Lord, to ask Thee something. Couldst Thou not devise\nany other way of saving my soul, and of testifying Thy love towards\nme, so as to spare Thyself such hard sufferings, and so that I need\nnot suffer so bitterly with Thee?\n\nWisdom. The unfathomable Abyss of My secret counsels no man ought to\nseek to penetrate, for no one can comprehend it. And yet that which\nthou hast suggested, and many other things, might have been\npossible, which nevertheless never happen. Be assured, however, that\nas created things now are, no more fitting method could be found.\nThe Author of Nature doth not think so much what He is able to do in\nthe world, as what is most fitting for every creature; and this is\nthe principle of His operations. And by what other means could the\nsecrets of God have been made known to man, than by the assumption\nof humanity by Christ? By what other means could he who had deprived\nhimself of joy by the inordinate pursuit of pleasure, be brought\nback more fittingly to the joys of eternity? And who would be\nwilling to tread the path, avoided by all, of a hard and despised\nlife, if God had not trodden it Himself? If thou wert condemned to\ndeath, how could any one show his love and fidelity to thee more\nconvincingly, or provoke thee to love him in return more powerfully,\nthan by taking thy sentence upon himself? If, then, there is any one\nwho is not roused and moved to love Me from his heart by My immense\nlove, My infinite pity, My exalted divinity, My pure humanity, My\nbrotherly fidelity, My sweet friendship, is there anything that\ncould soften that stony heart?\n\nServitor. The light begins to dawn upon me, and I seem to myself to\nsee clearly that it is as Thou sayest, and that whoever is not\naltogether blind must admit that this is the best and most fitting\nof all ways. And yet the imitation of Thee is grievous to a slothful\nand corruptible body.\n\nWisdom. Shrink not because thou must follow the footsteps of My\nPassion. For he who loves God, and is inwardly united to Him, finds\nthe cross itself light and easy to bear, and has nought to complain\nof. No one receives from Me more marvellous sweetness, than he who\nshares My bitterest labours. He only complains of the bitterness of\nthe rind, who has not tasted the sweetness of the kernel. He who\nrelies on Me as his protector and helper may be considered to have\naccomplished a large part of his task.\n\nServitor. Lord, by these consoling words I am so much encouraged,\nthat I seem to myself to be able to do and suffer all things through\nThee. I pray Thee, then, that Thou wilt unfold the treasure of Thy\nPassion to me more fully.\n\nWisdom. When I was hung aloft and fastened to the wood of the cross\n(which I bore for My great love to thee and all mankind), all the\nwonted appearance of My body was piteously changed. My bright eyes\nlost their light; My sacred ears were filled with mocking and\nblasphemy; My sweet mouth was hurt by the bitter drink. Nowhere was\nthere any rest or refreshment for Me. My sacred head hung down in\npain; My fair neck was cruelly bruised; My shining face was\ndisfigured by festering wounds; My fresh colour was turned to\npallor. In a word, the beauty of My whole body was so marred, that I\nappeared like a leper--I, the Divine Wisdom, who am fairer than the\nsun.\n\nServitor. O brightest mirror of grace, which the Angels desire to\nlook into, in which they delight to fix their gaze, would that I\nmight behold Thy beloved countenance in the throes of death just\nlong enough to water it with the tears of my heart, and to satisfy\nmy mind with lamentations over it.\n\nWisdom. No one more truly testifies his grief over My Passion, than\nhe who in very deed passes through it with Me. Far more pleasing to\nMe is a heart disentangled from the love of all transitory things,\nand earnestly intent on gaining the highest perfection according to\nthe example which I have set before him in My life, than one which\ncontinually weeps over My Passion, shedding as many tears as all the\nraindrops that ever fell. For this was what I most desired and\nlooked for in My endurance of that cruel death--namely, that mankind\nmight imitate Me; and yet pious tears are very dear to Me.\n\nServitor. Since then, O most gracious God, the imitation of Thy most\ngentle life and most loving Passion is so pleasing to Thee, I will\nhenceforth labour more diligently to follow Thy Passion than to weep\nover it. But since both are pleasing to Thee, teach me, I pray Thee,\nhow I ought to conform myself to Thy Passion.\n\nWisdom. Forbid thyself the pleasure of curious and lax seeing and\nhearing; let love make sweet to thee those things which formerly\nthou shrankest from; eschew bodily pleasures; rest in Me alone; bear\nsweetly and moderately the ills that come from others; desire to\ndespise thyself; break thy appetites; crush out all thy pleasures\nand desires. These are the first elements in the school of Wisdom,\nwhich are read in the volume of the book of My crucified body. But\nconsider whether anyone, do what he may, can make himself for My\nsake such as I made Myself for his.\n\nServitor. Come then, my soul, collect thyself from all external\nthings, into the tranquil silence of the inner man. Woe is me! My\nheavenly Father had adopted my soul to be His bride; but I fled far\nfrom Him. Alas, I have lost my Father, I have lost my Lover. Alas,\nalas, and woe is me! What have I done, what have I lost? Shame on\nme, I have lost myself, and all the society of my heavenly country.\nAll that could delight and cheer me has utterly forsaken me; I am\nleft naked. My false lovers were only deceivers. They have stripped\nme of all the good things which my one true Lover gave me; they have\ndespoiled me of all honour, joy, and consolation. O ye red roses and\nwhite lilies, behold me a vile weed, and see also how soon those\nflowers wither and die, which this world plucks. And yet, O most\ngracious God, none of my sufferings are of any account, compared\nwith this, that I have grieved the eyes of my heavenly Father. This\nis indeed hell, and a cross more intolerable than all other pain. O\nheart of mine, harder than flint or adamant, why dost thou not break\nfor grief? Once I was called the bride of the eternal King, now I\ndeserve not to be called the meanest of his handmaids. Never again\nshall I dare to raise mine eyes, for shame. O that I could hide\nmyself in some vast forest, with none to see or hear me, till I had\nwept to my heart's desire. O Sin, Sin, whither hast thou brought me?\nO deceitful World, woe to those who serve thee! Now I have thy\nreward, I receive thy wages--namely, that I am a burden to myself\nand the whole world, and always shall be.\n\nWisdom. Thou must by no means despair; it was for thy sins and those\nof others that I came into this world, that I might restore thee to\nThy heavenly Father, and bring thee back to greater glory and honour\nthan thou ever hadst before.\n\nServitor. Ah, what is this, which whispers such flattering things to\na soul that is dead, abhorred, rejected?\n\nWisdom. Dost thou not know Me? Why art thou so despondent? Art thou\nbeside thyself with excessive grief, My dearest son? Knowest thou\nnot that I am Wisdom, most gentle and tender, in whom is the Abyss\nof infinite mercy, never yet explored perfectly even by all the\nsaints, but none the less open to thee and all other sorrowing\nhearts. I am he who for thy sake willed to be poor and an exile,\nthat I might recall thee to thy former honour. I am He who bore a\nbitter death, that I might restore thee to life. I am thy Brother; I\nam thy Bridegroom. I have put away all the wrong that thou ever\ndidst against Me, even as if it had never been, only henceforth,\nthou must turn wholly to Me, and never again forsake Me. Wash away\nthy stains in My blood. Lift up thy head, open thine eyes, and take\nheart. In token of reconciliation, take this ring and put it on thy\nfinger as My bride, put on this robe, and these shoes on thy feet,\nand receive this sweet and loving name, that thou mayst both be and\nbe called for ever My bride. Thou has cost Me much labour and pain;\nfor that cause, the Abyss of My mercy toward thee is unfathomable.\n\nServitor. O kindest Father, O sweetest Brother, O only joy of my\nheart, wilt Thou be so favourable to my unworthy soul? What is this\ngrace? What is the Abyss of Thy clemency and mercy? From the bottom\nof my heart I thank Thee, O heavenly Father, and beseech Thee by Thy\nbeloved Son, whom Thou hast willed to suffer a cruel death for love,\nto forget my impieties. . . .\n\nNow, O Lord, I remember that most loving word, wherewith in the book\nof Ecclesiasticus[43] Thou drawest us to Thyself. \"Come to me, all\nye who desire me, and be filled with my fruits. I am the mother of\nbeautiful affection. My breath is sweeter than honey, and my\ninheritance above honey and the honeycomb.\" \"Wine and music rejoice\nthe heart, and above both is the love of Wisdom.\"[44] Of a surety, O\nLord, Thou showest Thyself so lovable and desirable, that it is no\nwonder that the hearts of all long for Thee, and are tormented by\nthe desire of Thee. Thy words breathe love, and flow so sweetly,\nthat in many hearts the love of temporal things has wholly dried up.\nTherefore, I greatly long to hear Thee speak of Thy lovableness.\nCome, O Lord, my only comfort, speak to the heart of Thy servant.\nFor I sleep sweetly beneath Thy shadow, and my heart is awake.\n\nWisdom. Hear, My son, and see; incline thine ear, forgetting thyself\nand all other things. Lo, I in Myself am that ineffable Good, which\nis and ever was; which has never been expressed nor ever will be.\nFor although I give Myself to be felt by men in their inmost hearts,\nyet no tongue can ever declare or explain in words what I am. For\nverily all the beauty, grace, and adornment which can be conceived\nby thee or by others, exists in me far more excellently, more\npleasantly, more copiously, than any one could say in words. I am\nthe most loving Word of the Father, begotten from the pure substance\nof the Father, and wondrously pleasing am I to His loving eyes in\nthe sweet and burning love of the Holy Spirit. I am the throne of\nhappiness, the crown of souls: most bright are Mine eyes, most\ndelicate My mouth, My cheeks are red and white, and all My\nappearance is full of grace and loveliness. All the heavenly host\ngaze upon Me with wonder and admiration; their eyes are ever fixed\nupon Me, their hearts rest in Me, their minds turn to Me and turn\nagain. O thrice and four times happy is he, to whom it shall be\ngiven to celebrate this play of love amid heavenly joys at My side,\nholding My tender hands in happiest security, for ever and ever to\nall eternity. Only the word that proceeds out of My sweet mouth\nsurpasses the melodies of all the angels, the sweet harmony of all\nharps, and musical instruments of every kind....\n\nServitor. There are three things, O Lord, at which I marvel greatly.\nThe first is, that although Thou art in Thyself so exceedingly\nloving, yet towards sin Thou art a most severe judge and avenger.\nAlas, Thy face in wrath is too terrible; the words which Thou\nspeakest in anger pierce the heart and soul like fire. O holy and\nadorable God, save me from Thy wrathful countenance, and defer not\ntill the future life my punishment.\n\nWisdom. I am the unchangeable Good, remaining always the same. The\nreason why I do not appear always the same, is on account of those\nwho do not behold Me in the same way. By nature I am friendly; yet\nnone the less I punish vice severely, so that I deserve to be\nfeared. From My friends I require a pure and filial fear, and a\nfriendly love, that fear may ever restrain them from sin, and that\nlove may join them to Me in unbroken loyalty.\n\nServitor. What Thou sayest pleases me, O Lord, and it is as I would\nhave it. But there is another thing at which I greatly marvel--how\nit is that when the soul is faint from desire of the sweetness of\nThy presence, Thou art wholly mute, and dost not utter a single word\nthat can be heard. And who, O Lord, would not be grieved, when Thou\nshowest Thyself so strange, so silent, to the soul that loves Thee\nabove all things?\n\nWisdom. And yet all the creatures speak of Me.\n\nServitor. But that is by no means enough for the soul that loves.\n\nWisdom. Also every word that is uttered about Me is a message of My\nlove; all the voices of holy Scripture that are written about Me are\nletters of love, sweet as honey. They are to be received as if I had\nwritten them Myself. Ought not this to satisfy thee?\n\nServitor. Nay but, O most holy God, dearest Friend of all to me,\nThou knowest well that a heart which is on fire with love is not\nsatisfied with anything that is not the Beloved himself, in whom is\nits only comfort. Even though all the tongues of all the angelic\nspirits were to speak to me, none the less would my unquenchable\nlove continue to yearn and strive for the one thing which it\ndesires. The soul that loves Thee would choose Thee rather than the\nkingdom of heaven. Pardon me, O Lord: it would become Thee to show\nmore kindness to those who love Thee so ardently, who sigh and look\nup to Thee and say: Return, return! Who anxiously debate with\nthemselves: alas, thinkest thou that thou hast offended Him? That He\nhas deserted thee? Thinkest thou that He will ever restore thee His\nmost sweet presence, that thou wilt ever again embrace Him with the\narms of Thy heart, and press Him to thy breast, that all thy grief\nand trouble may vanish? All this, O Lord, Thou hearest and knowest,\nand yet Thou art silent.\n\nWisdom. Certainly I know all this, and I watch it with great\npleasure. But I would have thee also answer a few questions, since\nthy wonder, though veiled, is so great. What is it which gives the\ngreatest joy to the highest of all created spirits?\n\n\u00a0Servitor. Ah, Lord, this question is beyond my range. I prithee,\nanswer it Thyself.\n\nWisdom. I will do as thou desirest. The highest angelic spirit finds\nnothing more desirable or more delightful than to satisfy My will in\nall things; so much so, that if he knew that it would redound to My\npraise for him to root out nettles and tares, he would diligently\nfulfil this task in preference to all others.\n\nServitor. Of a truth, Lord, this answer of Thine touches me sharply.\nI perceive that it is Thy will that I should be resigned in the\nmatter of receiving and feeling tokens of Thy love, and that I\nshould seek Thy glory alone, in dryness and hardness as well as in\nsweetness.\n\nWisdom. No resignation is more perfect or more excellent, than to be\nresigned in dereliction.\n\n\u00a0Servitor. And yet, O Lord, the pain is very grievous.\n\nWisdom. Wherein is virtue proved, if not in adversity? But be\nassured, that I often come, and try whether the door into My house\nis open, but find Myself repulsed. Many times I am received like a\nstranger, harshly treated, and then driven out of doors. Nay, I not\nonly come to the soul that loves me, but tarry with her like a\nfriend; but that is done so secretly, that none know it save those\nwho live quite detached and separated from men, and observe My ways,\nand care only to please and satisfy My grace. For according to My\nDivinity I am purest Spirit, and I am received spiritually in pure\nspirits.\n\nServitor. So far as I understand, Lord God, Thou art a very secret\nLover. How glad would I be if Thou wouldest give me some signs, by\nwhich I might know Thee to be truly present.\n\nWisdom. By no other way canst thou know the certainty of My presence\nbetter, than when I hide Myself from thee, and withdraw what is Mine\nfrom thy soul. Then at last thou knowest by experience what I am,\nand what thou art. Of a surety I am everlasting Good, without whom\nno one can have anything good. When therefore I impart that immense\nGood, which is Myself, generously and lovingly, and scatter it\nabroad, all things to which I communicate Myself are clothed with a\ncertain goodness, by which My presence can be as easily inferred, as\nthat of the Sun, the actual ball of which cannot be seen, by its\nrays. If therefore thou ever feelest My presence, enter into\nthyself, and learn how to separate the roses from the thorns, the\nflowers from the weeds.\n\nServitor. Lord, I do search, and I find within myself a great\ndiversity. When I am deserted by Thee, my soul is like a sick man,\nwhose taste is spoiled. Nothing pleases me, but all things disgust\nme. My body is torpid, my mind oppressed; within is dryness, without\nis sadness. All that I see or hear, however good in reality, is\ndistasteful and hateful to me. I am easily led into sins; I am weak\nto resist my enemies; I am cold or lukewarm towards all good.\nWhoever comes to me, finds my house empty. For the House-Father is\naway, who knows how to counsel for the best, and to inspire the\nwhole household. On the other hand, when the day-star arises in my\ninmost heart, all the pain quickly vanishes, all the darkness is\ndispelled, and a great brightness arises and shines forth. My heart\nlaughs, my mind is exalted, my soul becomes cheerful, all things\naround me are blithe and merry; whatever is around me and within me\nis turned to Thy praise. That which before seemed hard, difficult,\nirksome, impossible, becomes suddenly easy and pleasant. To give\nmyself to fasting, watching, and prayer, to suffer or abstain or\navoid, in a word all the hardnesses of life seem when compared with\nThy presence to have no irksomeness at all. My soul is bathed in\nradiance, truth, and sweetness, so that all its labours are\nforgotten. My heart delights itself in abundant sweet meditations,\nmy tongue learns to speak of high things, my body is brisk and ready\nfor any undertaking; whoever comes to ask my advice, takes back with\nhim high counsels such as he desired to hear. In short, I seem to\nmyself to have transcended the limits of time and space, and to be\nstanding on the threshold of eternal bliss. But who, O Lord, can\nsecure for me, that I may be long in this state? Alas, in a moment\nit is withdrawn from me; and for a long space again I am left as\nnaked and destitute as if I had never experienced anything of the\nkind; till at last, after many and deep sighings of heart, it is\nrestored to me. Is this Thou, O Lord, or rather I myself? Or what is\nit?\n\nWisdom. Of thyself thou hast nothing except faults and defects.\nTherefore that about which thou askest is I Myself, and this is the\nplay of love.\n\nServitor. What is the play of love?\n\nWisdom. So long as the loved one is present with the lover, the\nlover knoweth not how dear the loved one is to him; it is only\nseparation which can teach him that.\n\nServitor. It is a very grievous game. But tell me, Lord, are there\nany who in this life no longer experience these vicissitudes of Thy\npresence?\n\nWisdom. You will find very few indeed. For never to be deprived of\nMy presence belongs not to temporal but to eternal life.\n\nAPHORISMS AND MAXIMS\n\nACT according to the truth in simplicity; and, whatever happens, do\nnot help thyself; for he who helps himself too much will not be\nhelped by the Truth.\n\nGod wishes not to deprive us of pleasure; but He wishes to give us\npleasure in its totality--that is, all pleasure.\n\nWilt thou be of use to all creatures? Then turn thyself away from\nall creatures.\n\nIf a man cannot comprehend a thing, let him remain quiet, and it\nwill comprehend him.\n\nSay to the creatures, I will not be to thee what thou art to me.\n\nThe power of abstaining from things gives us more power than the\npossession of them would.\n\nSome men one meets who have been inwardly drawn by God, but have not\nfollowed Him. The inner man and the outer man in these cases are\nwidely at variance, and in this way many fail.\n\nHe who has attained to the purgation of his senses in God performs\nall the operations of the senses all the better.\n\nHe who finds the inward in the outward goes deeper than he who only\nfinds the inward in the inward.\n\nHe is on the right road who contemplates under the forms of things\ntheir eternal essence.\n\nIt is well with a man who has died to self and begun to live in\nChrist.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRUYSBROEK\n\nTHE ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL NUPTIALS\n\nBOOK I\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\"SEE the Bridegroom cometh: go forth to meet Him.\" St Matthew the\nevangelist wrote these words, and Christ said them to His disciples\nand to all men, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The Bridegroom is\nour Lord Jesus Christ, and human nature is the bride, whom God has\nmade in His own image and likeness. He placed her at first in the\nmost exalted, the most beautiful, the richest and most fertile place\non earth--in paradise. He subjected to her all the creatures; He\nadorned her with graces; and He laid a prohibition upon her, in\norder that by obedience she might deserve to be established in an\neternal union with her Bridegroom, and never more fall into any\naffliction, trouble, or guilt. Then came a deceiver--the infernal,\nenvious foe, under the guise of a cunning serpent. He deceived the\nwoman, and the two together deceived the man, who possessed the\nessence of human nature. So the enemy despoiled human nature, the\nbride of God, by his deceitful counsels, and she was driven into a\nstrange country; poor and miserable, a prisoner and oppressed,\npersecuted by her enemies, as if she could never more return to her\ncountry and the grace of reconciliation. But when God saw that the\ntime was come, and took pity on the sufferings of His beloved, He\nsent His only Son to earth, in a rich abode and a glorious\ntemple--that is to say, in the body of the Virgin Mary. There he\nmarried His bride, our nature, and united it to His Person, by means\nof the pure blood of the noble Virgin. The priest who joined the\nBride and Bridegroom was the Holy Spirit; the angel Gabriel\nannounced the marriage, and the blessed Virgin gave her consent. So\nChrist, our faithful Bridegroom, united our nature to His, and\nvisited us in a strange land, and taught us the manners of heaven\nand perfect fidelity. And He laboured and fought like a champion\nagainst our enemy, and He broke the prison and gained the victory,\nand His death slew our death, and His blood delivered us, and He set\nus free in baptism under the life-giving waters, and enriched us by\nHis sacraments and gifts, that we might go forth, as He said,\nadorned with all virtues, and might meet Him in the abode of His\nglory, to enjoy Him throughout all eternity.\n\nNow the Master of truth, Christ, saith: \"See, the Bridegroom\ncometh, go forth to meet Him.\" In these words Jesus, our Lover,\nteaches us four things. In the first word He gives a command, for He\nsays, \"See.\" Those who remain blind, and those who resist this\ncommand are condemned without exception. In the next word He shows\nus what we shall see--that is to say, the coming of the Bridegroom,\nwhen He says, \"The Bridegroom cometh.\" In the third place, He\nteaches us and commands us what we ought to do, when He says, \"Go\nforth.\" In the fourth place, when He says, \"to meet Him,\" He shows\nus the reward of all our works and of all our life, for that must be\na loving \"going forth,\" by which we meet our Bridegroom.\n\nWe shall explain and analyse these words in three ways, first,\naccording to the ordinary mode of the beginner's life--that is to\nsay, the active life, which is necessary to all who would be saved.\nIn the second place, we shall analyse these words by applying them\nto the inner life, exalted and loving, to which many men arrive by\nthe virtues and by the grace of God. Thirdly, we shall explain them\nby applying them to the superessential and contemplative life, to\nwhich few attain and which few can taste, because of the supreme\nsublimity of this life.\n\nON THE ACTIVE LIFE\n\nCHRIST, the Wisdom of the Father, hath said from the time of Adam\nand still saith (inwardly, according to His Divinity), to all men,\n\"See\"; and this vision is necessary. Now let us observe attentively\nthat for him who wishes to see materially or spiritually, three\nthings are necessary. First, in order that a man may be able to see\nmaterially, he must have the external light of heaven, or another\nnatural light, in order that the medium--that is to say, the air\nacross which one sees, may be illuminated. In the second place, he\nmust have the will, that the things which he will see may be\nreflected in his eyes. Thirdly, he must have the instruments, his\neyes, healthy and without flaw, that the material objects may be\nexactly reflected in them. If a man lacks any one of these three\nthings, his material vision disappears. We shall speak no more of\nthis vision, but of another, spiritual and supernatural, wherein all\nour blessedness resides.\n\nThree things are necessary for spiritual and supernatural vision.\nFirst, the light of the divine grace, then the free conversion of\nthe will towards God, and lastly, a conscience pure from all mortal\nsin. Now observe: God being a God common to all, and His boundless\nlove being common to all, He grants a double grace; both antecedent\ngrace, and the grace by which one merits eternal life. All men,\nheathens and Jews, good and bad, have in common antecedent grace. In\nconsequence of the common love of God towards all men, He has caused\nto be preached and published His name and the deliverance of human\nnature, even to the ends of the earth. He who wishes to be converted\ncan be converted. For God wishes to save all men and to lose none.\nAt the day of judgment none will be able to complain that enough was\nnot done for him, if he had wished to be converted. So God is a\ncommon Light and Splendour which illumine heaven and earth, and men\naccording to their merits and their needs. But though God is common,\nand though the sun shines on all trees, some trees remain without\nfruit, and others bear wild fruit useless to mankind. This is why we\nprune these trees and graft fertile branches upon them, that they\nmay bear good fruit, sweet to taste and useful for men. The fertile\nbranch which comes from the living paradise of the eternal kingdom,\nis the light of divine grace. No work can have savour, or be useful\nto man, unless it comes from this branch. This branch of divine\ngrace, which makes man acceptable and by which we merit eternal\nlife, is offered to all. But it is not grafted on all, for they will\nnot purge away the wild branches of their trees--that is to say,\nunbelief or a perverse will, or disobedience to the commandments of\nGod. But in order that this branch of divine grace may be planted in\nour soul, three things are necessary; the antecedent grace of God,\nthe conversion of our free will, and the purification of the\nconscience. Antecedent grace touches all men; but all men do not\nattain to free conversion and purification of the conscience, and\nthis is why the grace of God, by which they might merit eternal\nlife, fails to touch them. The antecedent grace of God touches man\nfrom within or from without. From without, by sickness or loss of\noutward goods, of relations and friends, or by public shame; or\nperhaps a man is moved by preaching, or by the examples of saints\nand just men, by their words or works, till he comes to the\nknowledge of himself. This is how God touches us from without.\nSometimes also a man is touched from within, by recalling the pains\nand sufferings of our Lord, and the good which God has done to him\nand to all men, or by the consideration of his sins, of the\nshortness of life, of the eternal pains of hell and the eternal joys\nof heaven, or because God has spared him in his sins and has waited\nfor his conversion; or he observes the marvellous works of God in\nheaven, on earth, and in all creation. These are the works of\nantecedent divine grace, which touch man from within or from\nwithout, and in divers manners. And man has still a natural\ninclination towards God, proceeding from the spark of his soul or\nsynteresis, [Footnote: See Introduction] and from the highest\nreason, which always desires the good and hates the evil. Now, in\nthese three manners God touches every man according to his needs, so\nthat the man is struck, warned, frightened, and stops to consider\nhimself. All this is still antecedent grace and not merited; it thus\nprepares us to receive the other grace, by which we merit eternal\nlife; when the mind is thus empty of bad wishes and bad deeds,\nwarned, struck, in fear of what it ought to do, and considers God,\nand considers itself with its evil deeds. Thence come a natural\nsorrow for sin and a natural good will. This is the highest work of\nantecedent grace.\n\nWhen man does what he can, and can go no further because of his\nweakness, it is the infinite goodness of God which must finish this\nwork. Then comes a higher splendour of the grace of God, like a ray\nof the sun, and it is poured upon the soul, though it is as yet\nneither merited nor desired. In this light God gives Himself, by\nfree will and by bounty, and no one can merit it before he has it.\nAnd it is in the soul an internal and mysterious operation of God,\nabove time, and it moves the soul and all its faculties. Here then\nends antecedent grace; and here begins the other--that is to say,\nsupernatural light.\n\nThis light is the first necessary condition, and from it is born a\nsecond spiritual condition--that is to say, a free conversion of the\nwill in a moment of time, and then love is born in the union of God\nand the soul. These two conditions are connected, so that one cannot\nbe accomplished without the other. There, where God and the soul are\nunited in the unity of love, God grants His light above time, and\nthe sou! freely turns to God by the force of grace, in a moment of\ntime, and charity is born in the soul, from God and the soul, for\ncharity is a bond of love between God and the loving soul. From\nthese two things, the grace of God, and the free conversion of the\nwill illuminated by grace, is born charity--that is to say, divine\nlove. And from divine love proceeds the third point, the\npurification of the conscience. And this is accomplished in the\nconsideration of sin and of the flaws in the soul, and because man\nloves God, there enters into him a contempt for self and for all his\nworks. This is the order of conversion. From it are born a true\nrepentance and a perfect sorrow for the evil that we have done, and\nan ardent desire to sin no more and to serve God henceforward in\nhumble obedience; from it are born a sincere confession, without\nreserves, without duplicity and without pretences, the desire to\nsatisfy God and to undertake the practice of all the virtues and all\ngood works. These three things, as you have just heard, are\nnecessary for divine vision. If you possess them, Christ says to\nyou, \"See,\" and you become really seeing. This is the first of the\nfour chief ways in which Christ, our Lord, says \"See.\"\n\nON THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST, IN THE FLESH\n\nNEXT, He shows us what we shall see when He says, \"The Bridegroom\ncometh.\" Christ, our Bridegroom, says this word in Latin: Venit.\nThe word expresses two tenses, the past and the present, and yet\nhere it indicates the future. And this is why we must consider three\ncomings of our Bridegroom Jesus Christ. At His first coming He was\nmade man for love of man. The second coming is daily and frequent in\nevery loving soul, with new graces and new gifts, as man is able to\nreceive them. In the third coming, He will come manifestly on the\ndreadful day of judgment or at the hour of each man's death. In all\nthese comings we must observe three things, the cause, the interior\nmode, and the external work.\n\nThe cause of the creation of angels and men is the infinite goodness\nand nobleness of God; He wished that the wealth and blessedness,\nwhich are Himself, should be revealed to reasonable creatures, for\nthem to enjoy in time, and in eternity above time. The reason why\nGod became man, is His inconceivable love, and the distress of all\nmen, lost since the fall in original sin, and unable to raise\nthemselves again. But the reason why Christ, according to His\ndivinity and His humanity, accomplished His works on earth, is\nfourfold--namely, His divine love, which is without measure; the\ncreated love, which is called charity, and which He had in His soul\nby the union of the Eternal Word and the perfect gift of His Father;\nthe great distress of human nature; and the glory of His Father.\nThese are the reasons for the coming of Christ, our Bridegroom, and\nfor all His works, exterior and interior.\n\nNow we must observe in Jesus Christ, if we wish to follow Him in His\nvirtues according to our powers, the mode or condition which He had\nwithin, and the works which He wrought without, for they are virtues\nand the acts of virtues.\n\nThe mode which He had according to His divinity is inaccessible and\nincomprehensible to us, for it is after this mode that He is\ncontinually born of the Father, and that the Father in Him and by\nHim knows and creates and orders, and rules everything in heaven and\non earth; for He is the Wisdom of the Father, and from them flows\nspiritually a Spirit--that is to say, a love, which is the bond\nbetween them and the bond of all the saints and just persons on\nearth and in heaven. We will speak no more of this mode but of the\ncreated mode which He had by these divine gifts and according to His\nhumanity. These modes are singularly multiform; for Christ had as\nmany modes as He had interior virtues, for each virtue has its\nspecial mode. These virtues and these modes were, in the mind of\nChrist, above the intelligence and above the comprehension of all\ncreatures. But let us take three--namely, humility, charity, and\ninterior or exterior suffering in patience. These are the three\nprincipal roots and origins of all virtues and all perfection.\n\nON THE TWOFOLD HUMILITY OF CHRIST\n\nNOW understand: there are two kinds of humility in Jesus Christ,\naccording to His divinity. First, He willed to become man; and this\nnature, which was accursed even to the depth of hell, He accepted\naccording to His personality and was willing to unite Himself to it.\nSo that every man, good or bad, may say, Jesus Christ, the Son of\nGod, is my brother. Secondly, He chose for mother a poor virgin, and\nnot a king's daughter, so that this poor virgin became the mother of\nGod, who is the only Lord of heaven and earth and all creatures. In\nconsequence, of all the works of humility which Christ ever\naccomplished, one may say that God accomplished them. Now let us\ntake the humility which was in Jesus Christ according to His\nhumanity and by grace and divine gifts; according to His humility\nHis soul inclined with all its power in respect and veneration\nbefore the power of the Father. For an inclined heart is a humble\nheart. This is why He did all His works to the praise and glory of\nthe Father, and sought in nothing His own glory according to His\nhumanity. He was humble, and submitted to the old law, and to the\ncommandments, and often to the customs. He was circumcised, and\ncarried to the Temple, and redeemed according to usages, and He paid\ntaxes to Caesar like other Jews. And He submitted Himself humbly to\nHis mother and to Joseph, and served them with a sincere deference\naccording to their needs. He chose for friends--for apostles--the poor\nand the despised, in order to convert the world. In his intercourse\nwith them and all others He was humble and modest. This is why He\nwas at the disposal of all men, in whatever distress they were,\nwithin or without; He was, as it were, the servant of the whole\nworld. This is what we find first in Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom.\n\nON THE LOVE OF CHRIST, ADORNED WITH ALL VIRTUES\n\nNEXT comes charity, the beginning and source of all virtues. This\ncharity maintained the supreme forces of His soul in tranquillity,\nand in the enjoyment of the same blessedness which He enjoys at\npresent. And this same charity kept Him continually exalted towards\nHis Father, with veneration, love, praise, respect, with internal\nprayers for the need of all men, and with the offering of all His\nworks to the glory of God the Father. And this same charity made\nChrist still overflow with love and kindness towards all the\nmaterial or spiritual needs of mankind. This is why He has given, by\nHis life, the model after which all men should fashion their lives.\nHe has given spiritual nourishment to all well-disposed men by real\ninternal teachings, as well as by outward miracles. We cannot\ncomprehend His charity to its full extent, for it flowed from the\nunfathomable fountains of the Holy Spirit, above all the creatures\nwho have ever received charity, for He was God and man in one\nPerson. This is the second point of charity.\n\nON THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST, EVEN UNTO DEATH\n\nTHE third point is to suffer in patience. We will examine this\nseriously, for it is this which adorned Christ, our Bridegroom,\nduring all His life. He suffered when He was newly born, from\npoverty and cold. He was circumcised and shed his blood. He was\nobliged to fly into a foreign country. He served Joseph and His\nmother, He suffered from hunger and thirst, from shame and contempt\nand from the wicked words and deeds of the Jews. He fasted, He\nwatched, and was tempted by the enemy. He was subject to all men, He\nwent from district to district, from town to town, to preach the\ngospel painfully and zealously. Finally, He was taken by the Jews,\nwho were His enemies and whom He loved. He was betrayed, mocked,\ninsulted, scourged, struck, and condemned on false testimony. He\ncarried His cross with great pain to the mount of Calvary. He was\nstripped naked as at His birth, and never was seen a body so\nbeautiful, nor a mother so unhappy. He endured shame, pain, and cold\nbefore all the world, for He was naked, and it was cold, and He was\nexhausted by His wounds. He was nailed with large nails to the wood\nof the cross, and was so strained that His veins were burst. He was\nlifted up and shaken upon the cross, so as to make His wounds bleed,\nHis head was crowned with thorns, and His ears heard the fierce Jews\ncrying out, \"Crucify Him! crucify Him!\" and many other shameful\nwords. His eyes saw the obstinacy and wickedness of the Jews, and\nthe distress of His mother, and His eyes were extinguished under the\nbitterness of pain and death. His mouth and palate were hurt by the\nvinegar and gall, and all the sensitive parts of His body wounded by\nthe scourge.\n\nBehold then Christ, our Bridegroom, wounded to death, abandoned by\nGod and the creatures, dying on the cross, hanging from a post, with\nno one to care much for Him except Mary, His unhappy mother, who\nnevertheless could not aid Him. And Christ suffered moreover\nspiritually, in His soul, from the hardness of the Jews' hearts and\nthose who made Him die, for in spite of the prodigies and miracles\nwhich they saw, they remained in their wickedness; and He suffered\nby reason of their corruption and the vengeance which God was about\nto inflict upon them, in body and soul, for His death. He suffered\nmoreover for the grief and misery of His mother and disciples, who\nwere in great sadness. And He suffered because His death would be\nwasted for many men, and for the ingratitude of many, and for the\nblasphemies of those who would curse Him who died for love of us.\nAnd His nature and interior reason suffered because God withdrew\nfrom them the inflow of His gifts and consolations, and abandoned\nthem to themselves in such distress. Therefore Christ complained and\nsaid, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?\n\nBehold then the interior virtues of Christ; humility, charity, and\nsuffering in patience. These three virtues Jesus, our Bridegroom,\npractised throughout His life, and He died in them, and He paid our\ndebt by satisfying justice, and opened His side in His bounty. And\nthence flow rivers of delight, and sacraments of blessedness. And He\nwas exalted to His power, and sat at the right hand of the Father,\nand reigns eternally. This is the first coming of our Bridegroom,\nand it is completely past.\n\nON THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, HOW HE EVERY DAY FLOWS INTO OUR\nHEARTS WITH NEW GRACE\n\nTHE second coming of Christ, our Bridegroom, takes place every day\nin just men. We do not wish to speak here of the first conversion of\nman, nor of the first grace which was given him when he was\nconverted from sin to virtue. But we wish to speak of a daily\nincrease of new gifts and new virtues, and of a more actual coming\nof Christ, our Bridegroom, into our soul. Now we must observe the\ncause, the mode, and the work, of this coming. The cause is fourfold;\nthe mercy of God, our misery, the divine generosity, and our\ndesire. These four causes make the virtues grow and increase.\n\nNow understand. When the sun sends forth its bright rays into a deep\nvalley between two high mountains, and while it is at the zenith, so\nthat it can illuminate the depths of the valley, a triple phenomenon\noccurs; for the valley is lighted from the mountains, and it becomes\nwarmer and more fertile than the plain. In the same way, when a just\nman sinks in his misery, and recognises that he has nothing, and is\nnothing, that he can neither halt nor go forward by his own\nstrength; and when he perceives also that he fails often in virtues\nand good works, he thus confesses his poverty and distress, and\nforms the valley of humility. And because he is humble and in need,\nand because he confesses his need, he makes his plaint to the\nkindness and mercy of God. He is conscious of the sublimity of God,\nand of his own abasement.\n\nThus he becomes a deep valley. And Christ is the sun of justice and\nmercy, which burns at the meridian of the firmament--that is to say,\nat the right hand of the Father, and shines even to the bottom of\nhumble hearts; for Christ is always moved by distress, when man\nhumbly offers to Him complaints and prayers. Then the two mountains\nrise--that is to say, a double desire, in the first place a desire to\nserve and love God by his merits, in the second place to obtain\nexcellent virtues. These two desires are higher than heaven, for\nthey touch God without any intermediary, and desire His immense\ngenerosity. Then that generosity cannot be kept back, it must flow,\nfor the soul is at this moment susceptible of receiving countless\nboons.\n\nThese are the causes of the second coming of Christ, with new\nvirtues. Then the valley--that is to say, the humble heart, receives\nthree things. It is enlightened the more, and illuminated by grace,\nand warmed by charity, and becomes more fertile in virtues and good\nworks. Thus you have the cause, the mode, and the work, of this\ncoming.\n\nHOW WE MAY MAKE DAILY PROGRESS BY THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH\n\nTHERE is yet another coming of Christ, our Bridegroom, which takes\nplace every day, in the growth of grace and in new gifts--that is to\nsay, when a man receives some sacrament with a humble and\nwell-prepared heart. He receives then new gifts and more ample\ngraces, by reason of his humility, and by the internal and secret\nwork of Christ in the sacrament. That which is contrary to the\nsacrament is in baptism the want of faith, in confession the want of\ncontrition; it is to go to the sacrament of the altar in a state of\nmortal sin, or of bad will; and it is the same with the other\nsacraments.\n\nON THE THIRD COMING OF CHRIST, TO JUDGMENT\n\nTHE third coming, which is still future, will take place at the last\njudgment or at the hour of death. Christ, our Bridegroom and our\nJudge at this judgment, will recompense and avenge according to\njustice, for He will award to each according to his deserts. He\ngives to every just man, for every good work done in the spirit of\nthe Lord, a reward without measure, which no creature can merit--\nnamely, Himself. But as He co-operates in the creature, the creature\ndeserves, through His merit, to have a reward. And by a necessary\njustice He gives eternal pains to those who have rejected an eternal\ngood for a perishable.\n\nON THE THIRD SPIRITUAL GOING FORTH, TO ALL THE VIRTUES\n\nNOW understand and observe. Christ says at the beginning of our\ntext, \"See\"--that is to say, see by charity and pureness of\nconscience, as you have been told. Now, He has shown us what we\nshall see--namely, His three comings.\n\nHe orders us what we must do next, and says, \"Go forth\" if you have\nfulfilled the first necessary condition--that is to say, if you see\nin grace and in charity, and if you have well observed your model,\nChrist, in His \"going forth\"; there leaps up in you, from your love\nand loving observation of your Bridegroom, an ardour of justice--\nthat is to say, a desire to follow Him in virtue. Then Christ says\nin you, \"Go forth.\" This going forth must have three modes. We must\ngo forth towards God, towards ourselves, and towards our neighbour\nby charity and justice; for charity always pushes upward, towards\nthe kingdom of God, which is God Himself; for He is the source from\nwhich it flowed without any intermediary, and He remains always\nimmanent in it. The justice which is born of charity wishes to\nperfect the manners and the virtues which are suitable to the\nkingdom of God--that is to say, to the soul. These two things,\ncharity and justice, establish a solid foundation in the kingdom of\nthe soul where God may dwell, and this foundation is humility. These\nthree virtues support all the weight and all the edifice of all the\nvirtues and all sublimity; for charity maintains man in presence of\nthe unfathomable good things of God from whence it flows, so that it\nperseveres in God, and increases in all the virtues and in true\nhumility; and justice maintains man in presence of the eternal truth\nof God, so that truth may be discovered by him, and that he may be\nilluminated, and may accomplish all the virtues without error. But\nhumility maintains man always before the supreme power of God, so\nthat he remains always abased and little, and abandons himself to\nGod, and holds no longer by himself. This is the way in which a man\nmust bear himself before God, that he may grow alway in new virtues.\n\nHOW HUMILITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL THE VIRTUES\n\nNOW understand; for having made humility the base of everything, we\nmust speak first of it. Humility is the desire of abasement or of\ndepth--that is to say, an inclination or internal desire for\nabasement of heart and conscience before the sublimity of God. The\njustice of God exacts this submission, and, thanks to charity, the\nloving heart cannot abandon it. When the loving and humble man\nconsiders that God has served him so humbly, so lovingly, and so\nfaithfully, and then that God is so high, so powerful, and so noble,\nand that man is so poor, little, and base, there is born from all\nthis, in the humble heart, an immense respect and reverence towards\nGod; for to reverence God in all works, within and without, is the\nfirst and most delightful work of humility, the sweetest work of\ncharity, and the most suitable work of justice. For the humble and\nloving heart cannot pay honours to God and His noble humanity, nor\nabase himself so deeply as to satisfy his desire. That is why it\nseems to the humble man that he always does too little in honour of\nGod and in his humble service. And he is humble, and venerates Holy\nChurch and the sacraments, and he is temperate in meat and drink, in\nhis words, and in all relations of life. He is content with poor\nraiment, with menial employment, and his face is naturally humble,\nwithout pretence. And he is hunible in his practices, within and\nwithout, before God and before men, that none may be offended by\nreason of him. Thus he tames and removes far from him all pride,\nwhich is the cause and origin of all sins. Humility breaks the\nsnares of sin, the world, and the Devil. And man is ordered within\nhimself, and established in the very place of virtue. Heaven is open\nto him, and God is inclined to hear his prayer, and he is loaded\nwith graces. And Christ, the solid stone, is his support, and he who\nbuilds his virtues upon humility cannot go wrong.\n\nON OBEDIENCE\n\nFROM this humility is born obedience, for only the humble man can be\ninwardly obedient. Obedience is a submission and pliant disposition,\nand a good will ready for all that is good. Obedience subjects a man\nto orders, to prohibitions, and to the will of God, and it subjects\nthe soul and sensual force to the highest reason, in such a way that\nthe man lives suitably and reasonably. And it makes men submissive\nand obedient to Holy Church and to the sacraments, and to all the\ngood practices of holy Christianity. It prepares man, and makes him\nready for the service of all, in works, in bodily and spiritual\ncare, according to the needs of each, and prudence. Also, it drives\nfar away disobedience, which is the daughter of pride, and which we\nought to flee from more than from poison. Obedience in will and work\nadorns, extends, and manifests the humility of man. It gives peace\nto cloisters, and if it exists in the prelate, as it ought to exist,\nit attracts those who are under his orders. It maintains peace and\nequality among equals. And he who observes it is beloved by those\nwho are above him, and the gifts of God, which are eternal, elevate\nand enrich him.\n\nON THE ABDICATION OF OUR OWN WILL\n\nFROM this obedience is born the abdication of our own will. By this\nabdication the substance and occasion of pride are repulsed, and the\ngreatest humility is accomplished. And God rules the man as He\nwills; and the will of the man is so well united to that of God that\nhe can neither wish nor desire anything otherwise. He has put off\nthe old man, and has put on the new man, renewed and perfect\naccording to the divine will. It is of such an one that Christ said,\n\"Blessed are the poor in spirit,\" that is, those who have renounced\ntheir will--\"for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\nON PATIENCE\n\nFROM the abandonment of the will is born patience; for no one can\nbe perfectly patient in everything, except he who has submitted his\nwill to the will of God, and to all men in things useful and\nconvenient. Patience is a tranquil endurance of all that can happen\nto a man, whether sent by God or by men. Nothing can trouble the\npatient man, neither the loss of earthly goods, nor the loss of\nfriends or relations, nor sickness, nor disgrace, nor life, nor\ndeath, nor purgatory, nor the devil, nor hell. For he has abandoned\nhimself to the will of God in true love. And, provided that mortal\nsin does not touch him, all that God orders for him in time or\neternity seems light. This patience adorns a man, and arms him\nagainst anger and sudden rage, and against impatience of suffering,\nwhich often deceives a man within and without, and exposes him to\nmanifold temptations.\n\nON GENTLENESS\n\nFROM this patience are born gentleness and kindness, for no one can\nbe gentle under adversity if not the patient man. Gentleness creates\nin man peace and repose from everything; for the gentle man endures\ninsulting words and gestures, and bad faces and bad deeds, and all\nmanner of injustice towards his friends and himself, and he is\ncontent with all, for gentleness is suffering in repose. Thanks to\ngentleness, the force of anger remains immovable in its\ntranquillity, the force of desire lifts itself up towards the\nvirtues, and the reason rejoices, and the conscience dwells in\npeace, for the other mortal sins, such as anger and rage, are\nremoved far from her. For the Spirit of God reposes in a gentle and\nhumble heart, as Christ saith, \"Blessed are the meek, for they shall\ninherit the earth\"--that is to say, their own nature and the things\nof earth in meekness, and, after this life, the things of eternity.\n\nON KINDNESS\n\nFROM the same source as gentleness comes kindness, for the gentle\nspirit alone can possess kindness. This kindness causes a man to\noppose a loving face and friendly words, and all the works of pity,\nto those who are angry with him, and he hopes that they will return\nto themselves and amend. Thanks to mercy and kindness, charity\nremains lively and fruitful in a man; for the heart full of kindness\nis like a lamp full of precious oil; and the oil of kindness\nlightens the wandering sinner by its good example, and soothes and\nheals by consoling words and deeds those whose heart is wounded,\nsaddened, or irritated. And it inflames and illumines those who are\nin charity, and no jealousy or envy can touch it.\n\nON COMPASSION\n\nFROM kindness is born compassion, by which we sympathise with every\none, for no one can suffer with all men, except he who has kindness.\nCompassion is an inward movement of the heart, aroused by pity for\nthe bodily or spiritual distress of all men. This compassion makes a\nman partaker in Christ's sufferings, when he considers the reason of\nthese sufferings, the resignation and love of Christ, His wounds,\nHis tortures, His shame, His nobleness, His misery, the shame which\nHe endured, the crown, the nails, and the death in patience. These\nunheard of and manifold pains of Christ, our Redeemer and\nBridegroom, move to pity anyone who is capable of feeling pity.\nCompassion makes a man observe and note his faults, his want of\npower to do any good thing, and weakness in all that pertains to the\nglory of God; his lukewarmness and slowness, the multitude of his\nfaults, the waste of his time, and his positive shortcomings in\nvirtue and good conduct. All this makes a man truly sorry for\nhimself. Then his compassion for himself makes him consider his\nerrors and wanderings, the small care which he has of God and of his\neternal salvation, his ingratitude for all the good that God has\ndone him, and for all that He has suffered for man. And he considers\nalso that he is a stranger to the virtues, that he neither knows\nthem nor practises them, while he is clever and crafty in all that\nis bad and unjust; he sees how attentive he is to the loss or gain\nof worldly goods, how inattentive and indifferent towards God, the\nthings of eternity, and his own salvation. This consideration makes\nthe just man feel a great compassion towards the salvation of all\nmen. The man will also observe with pity the bodily needs of his\nneighbour and the manifold pains of nature, when he sees the hunger\nwhich men suffer, the thirst, cold, nakedness, poverty, contempt,\nand oppression; the sadness which they feel at the loss of\nrelations, friends, goods, honour, and repose; and the innumerable\nafflictions to which flesh is heir. All this rouses the just man to\ncompassion, and he suffers with all men; but his greatest suffering\narises when he sees the impatience of others under their own\nsufferings, by which they lose their reward and often deserve hell.\nThis is the work of compassion and pity.\n\nThis work of compassion and love for all men overcomes and removes\nthe third mortal sin--namely, hatred and envy; for compassion is a\nwound of the heart, which makes us love all men, and can only work\nhealing in so far as some suffering lives in men; for God has\nordained that mourning and pain must precede all the other virtues.\nThis is why Christ said, \"Blessed are they that mourn, for they\nshall be comforted\"--that is to say, when they shall reap in joy what\nthey now sow in compassion and sorrow.\n\nON GENEROSITY\n\nFROM this compassion is born generosity, for no one can be\nsupernaturally generous, with faith in all men, and with love,\nexcept the merciful man; though one many give to a particular\nindividual without charity, and without supernatural generosity.\n\nGenerosity is the copious outflow of a heart moved with charity and\npity. When a man considers with compassion the sufferings and pains\nof Christ, from this compassion is born generosity, which excites us\nto praise and thank Christ for His pains and for His love, at the\nsame time that it causes to be born in us respect and veneration,\nand a joyous and humble submission of heart and soul, in time and in\neternity. When a man observes and pities himself, and considers the\ngood that God has done to him and his own weakness, he cannot help\nflowing out into the liberality of God, taking refuge in His pity\nand fidelity, and abandoning himself to God, with a free and perfect\nwish to serve Him for ever. The generous man, who observes the\nerrors, the wanderings, and the injustice of men, desires and\nimplores the outflow of the divine gifts and the exercise of their\ngenerosity on all men, that they may return to themselves and be\nconverted to the truth. The generous man considers also with\ncompassion the material needs of all men; he helps them, gives,\nlends, consoles to the best of his power. By means of this\ngenerosity, men practise the seven works of mercy, the rich by their\nservices and the bestowal of their goods, the poor by good will and\nthe desire to do good if they can, and thus the virtue of generosity\nis perfected. Generosity in the depth of the heart multiplies all\nthe virtues, and illuminates the forces of the soul. For the\ngenerous, man is always of joyful spirit, he is without anxiety; he\nis full of sympathy, and is ready to do kindnesses to all men in the\nworks of virtue. He who is generous, and loves not the things of\nearth, however poor he may be, is like unto God, for all that he\nhas, and all the thoughts of his heart flow out of him in largess.\nAnd so he is delivered from the fourth of the deadly sins, avarice.\nJesus Christ saith to these: \"Blessed are the merciful, for they\nshall obtain mercy\"; in the day when they shall hear this word\nspoken unto them: \"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the\nkingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.\"\n\nON ZEAL AND DILIGENCE\n\nFROM this generosity are born supernatural zeal and diligence in all\nthe virtues. None can exhibit this zeal, save the generous and\ndiligent man. This is an internal and eager impulse towards all the\nvirtues, and towards the imitation of Christ and the saints. In this\nzeal, a man desires to expend in the honour of God the united powers\nof his heart and senses, his soul and body, all that he is, and all\nthat he may receive. This zeal makes a man watchful in reason and\ndiscrimination, and makes him practise the virtues in justice.\nThanks to this supernatural zeal, all the forces of his soul are\nopen to God, and prepared for all the virtues. His conscience is\nrefreshed, and divine grace is increased, virtue is practised with\njoy, and his external works are adorned. He who has received this\nlively zeal from God is removed far from the fifth deadly\nsin--lukewarmness and gloominess towards the virtues necessary for\nsalvation. [Footnote: The best account in English of the deadly sin\nof acedia, too much neglected in modern religious teaching, is to be\nfound in Bishop Paget's Spirit of Discipline.] And sometimes this\nlively zeal disperses heaviness and sluggishness of the bodily\ntemperament. It is on this subject that Jesus Christ says: \"Blessed\nare they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall\nbe filled.\" This will be, when the glory of God shall be manifested,\nand shall fill every man in proportion to his love and justice.\n\nON TEMPERANCE AND SOBRIETY\n\nFROM zeal are born temperance and sobriety within and without; for\nnone can maintain true moderation in sobriety, if he is not\nthoroughly diligent and zealous to preserve his body and soul in\njustice. Sobriety separates the higher faculties from the animal\nfaculties, and preserves a man from excesses. Sobriety wishes not to\ntaste nor know those things which are not permitted.\n\nThe incomprehensible and sublime nature of God surpasses all the\ncreatures in heaven and earth, for whatever the creature conceives\nis creature. But God is above every creature, and within and without\nevery creature, and all created comprehension is too strait to\ncomprehend Him. In order that the creature may conceive and\ncomprehend God, it must be drawn up into God from above; it is only\nby God that it can comprehend God. Those then who wish to know what\nGod is, and to study Him, let them know that it is forbidden. They\nwould become mad. All created light must fail here. What God is,\npasses the comprehension of every creature. But Holy Scripture,\nnature, and all the creatures show us that He is. We shall believe\nthe articles of faith without trying to penetrate them, for that is\nimpossible while we are here: this is sobriety. The difficult and\nsubtle teachings of the inspired writings we shall only explain in\naccordance with the life of Christ and His saints. Man will study\nnature and the Scriptures, and every creature; and will seek to\nlearn from them only what may be to his own advantage. This is\nsobriety of spirit.\n\nA man will maintain sobriety of the senses, and he will subdue by\nreason his animal faculties, that the animal pleasure in food and\ndrink may not delight him too much, but that he may eat and drink as\na sick man takes a potion, because it is his duty to preserve his\nstrength for the service of God. This is sobriety of body. A man\nwill preserve moderation in words and actions, in silence and\nspeech, in eating and drinking, in what he does and abstains from\ndoing, as Holy Church enjoins and the saints give the example.\n\nBy moderation and sobriety of spirit within, a man maintains\nconstancy and perseverance in the faith, that purity of intelligence\nand calmness of reason which are necessary to understand the truth,\nreadiness to bend to the will of God with regard to every virtue,\npeace of heart and serenity of conscience. Thanks to this virtue, he\npossesses assured peace in God and in himself.\n\nBy moderation and sobriety in the use of the bodily faculties, he\noften preserves health and contentment of the bodily nature, his\nhonour in external relations, and his good name. And thus he is at\npeace with himself and with his neighbour. For he attracts and\nrejoices all men of good will, by his moderation and sobriety. And\nhe escapes the sixth deadly sin, which is want of temperance, and\ngluttony. It is of this that Christ said: \"Blessed are the\npeacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.\" For\nbeing like unto the Son, who has made peace in all creatures who\ndesire it, and who make peace in their turn, by moderation and\nsobriety, the Son will divide among them the heritage of His Father,\nand they will possess this heritage with Him throughout eternity.\n\nON PURITY\n\nFROM this sobriety are born purity of soul and body, for none can be\nabsolutely pure in body and soul, save he who follows after sobriety\nin body and soul. Purity of spirit consists in this--that a man\ncleaves to no creature with any passionate desire, but attaches\nhimself to God only; for one may use all the creatures while\nrejoicing in God only. Purity of spirit makes a man attach himself\nto God above intelligence and above the senses, and above all the\ngifts which God may bestow upon the soul; for all that the creature\nreceives in its intelligence or in its senses purity desires to\ntranscend, and to repose in God only. We should approach the\nsacrament of the altar not for the sake of the delights, the\npleasure, the peace, or the sweetness which we find there, but for\nthe glory of God only, and that we may grow in all the virtues. This\nis purity of spirit.\n\nPurity of heart signifies that a man turns towards God without\nhesitation in every bodily temptation and every disturbance of\nnature, in the freedom of his will abandoning himself to Him with a\nnew confidence and a firm resolve to abide always with God. For to\nconsent to sin, or to the animal desires of the bodily nature, is a\nseparation from God.\n\nPurity of body means that a man abstains from impure actions of\nevery kind, when his conscience assures him that they are impure and\ncontrary to the commandments, to the glory, and to the will of God.\n\nThanks to these three kinds of purity, the seventh deadly sin, that\nof wantonness, is conquered and driven away. Wantonness is a\nvoluptuous inclination of the spirit, leading away from God towards\na created thing; it is the impure act of the flesh outside what\nHoly Church permits, and the carnal occupation of the heart in some\ntaste or desire for a creature. I do not here refer to those sudden\nstirrings of love or desire which none can escape.\n\nYou now know that purity of spirit preserves men in the likeness of\nGod, without care for the creatures, inclined towards God and united\nto Him. The chastity of the body is compared to the whiteness of the\nlily and to the purity of the angels. In its resistance to\ntemptation, it is compared to the redness of the rose, and to the\nnobility of the martyrs. If it is preserved for love of God and in\nHis honour, it is then perfect, and it is compared to the\nheliotrope, for it is one of the highest adornments of nature.\n\nPurity of heart renews and increases the grace of God. In purity of\nheart all the virtues are inspired, practised, and preserved. It\nkeeps and preserves the outer senses, it subdues and binds the\nanimal desires within, and it is the ornament of all the inner life.\nIt is the exclusion of the heart from things of earth and from all\nlies, and its inclusion among the things of heaven and all truth.\nAnd this is why Christ has said: \"Blessed are the pure in heart, for\nthey shall see God.\" This is the vision in which consists our\neternal joy, and all our reward, and our entrance into bliss. This\nis why a man will be sober and moderate in everything, and will keep\nhimself from every occasion which might tarnish the purity of his\nsoul and body.\n\nON THE THREE ENEMIES WHO ARE TO BE CONQUERED BY JUSTICE\n\nIF we wish to possess this virtue and to repulse these enemies, we\nmust have justice, and we must practise it, and preserve it even\nuntil our death, in purity of heart, for we have three powerful\nenemies who try to attack us at all times, in all states, and in\nmany different ways. If we make our peace with any one of them and\nfollow him, we are vanquished, for they are in league with each\nother in all wickedness and injustice. These three enemies are the\ndevil, the world, and our own flesh, which is the nearest to us, and\nis often the worst and most mischievous of our foes. For our animal\ndesires are the weapons with which our enemies fight against us.\nIdleness, and indifference to virtue and the glory of God are the\ncause and occasion of war and combat. But the weakness of our\nnatures, our negligence and ignorance of truth are the sword by\nwhich our enemies wound us and sometimes conquer us.\n\nAnd this is why we must be divided in ourselves. The lower part of\nourselves, which is animal and contrary to the virtues, we ought to\nhate and persecute and cause it to suffer by means of penitence and\nausterities, so that it may be always crushed down and submissive to\nreason, and that justice, with purity of heart, may always keep the\nupper hand in all virtuous actions. And all the pains, sorrows, and\npersecutions which God makes us suffer at the hands of those who are\nenemies to virtue, we shall endure with joy, in honour of God and\nfor the glory of virtue, and in the hope of obtaining and possessing\njustice in purity of heart; for Christ said: \"Blessed are those who\nare persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of\nheaven.\" For righteousness preserved in virtue and in virtuous\nactions is a coin of the same weight and value as the kingdom of\nheaven, and it is by it that we may purchase and obtain eternal\nlife. By these virtues a man goes forth towards God and towards\nhimself, in good conduct, virtue, and justice.\n\nON THE KINGDOM OF THE SOUL\n\nHE who wishes to obtain and preserve these virtues, will adorn,\noccupy, and order his soul like a kingdom. Free will is the king of\nthe soul. It is free by nature, and more free still by grace. It\nwill be crowned with a crown or diadem named Charity. We shall\nreceive this crown and this kingdom from the Emperor, who is the\nLord, the sovereign and king of kings, and we shall possess, rule,\nand preserve this kingdom in His name. This king, free will, will\ndwell in the highest town in the kingdom--that is to say, in the\nconcupiscent faculty of the soul. He will be adorned and clad with a\nrobe in two parts. The right side of his robe will be a virtue\ncalled strength, that he may be strong and powerful to overcome all\nobstacles and sojourn in the heaven, in the palace of the supreme\nEmperor, and to bend with love and ardent self-surrender his crowned\nhead before the supreme monarch. This is the proper work of charity.\nBy it we receive the crown, by it we adorn the crown, and by it we\nkeep and possess the kingdom throughout eternity. The left side of\nthe robe will be a cardinal virtue, called moral courage. Thanks to\nit, free will, the king, will subdue all immorality, will accomplish\nall virtue, and will have the power to keep his kingdom even until\ndeath. The king will choose councillors in his country, the wisest\nin the land. They will be two divine virtues, knowledge and\ndiscretion, illuminated by divine grace. They will dwell near the\nking, in a palace called the reasonable force of the soul. They will\nbe crowned and adorned with a moral virtue called temperance, that\nthe king may always act and refrain from acting according to their\nadvice. By knowledge we shall purge our conscience from all its\nfaults and adorn it with all virtues; and, thanks to discretion, we\nshall give and take, do and not do, speak and be silent, fast and\neat, listen and answer, and act in all ways according to knowledge\nand discretion clad in their moral virtue, which is called\ntemperance or moderation.\n\nThis king, free will, will also establish in his kingdom a judge,\nwho will be justice, which is a divine virtue when it is born from\nlove. And it is one of the highest moral virtues. This judge will\ndwell in the conscience, in the middle of the kingdom in the\nirascible faculty. And he will be adorned with a moral virtue called\nprudence. For justice without prudence cannot be perfect. This\njudge, justice, will traverse the kingdom with royal powers,\naccompanied by wise counsel and his own prudence. He will promote\nand dismiss, he will judge and condemn, will condemn to death and\nacquit, will mutilate, blind, and restore to sight, will exalt and\nabase and organise, will punish and chastise according to justice,\nand will destroy all vices. The people of the kingdom--that is to\nsay, all the faculties of the soul, will be supported by humility\nand the fear of God, submitting to Him in all the virtues, each\nafter its own manner. He who has thus occupied, preserved, and\nordered the kingdom of his soul, has gone forth, by love and the\nvirtues, towards God, towards himself, and towards his neighbour.\nThis is the third of the four principal points which Christ speaks\nof when He says, Go forth.\n\nON THE THREEFOLD MEETING OF THE SOUL\n\nWHEN a man has, by the grace of God, eyes to see, and a pure\nconscience, and when he has considered the three comings of Christ,\nour Bridegroom, and lastly when he has gone forth by the virtues,\nthen takes place the meeting with our Bridegroom, and this is the\nfourth and last point. In this meeting consist all our blessedness,\nand the beginning and the end of all the virtues, and without this\nmeeting no virtue can be practised.\n\nHe who wishes to meet Christ as his well-beloved Bridegroom, and to\npossess in Him and with Him eternal life, must meet Christ, now in\ntime, in three points or in three manners. First, he must love God\nin everything wherein we shall merit eternal life. Secondly, he must\nattach himself to nothing which he might love as much as or more\nthan God. Thirdly, he must repose in God with all his might, above\nall creatures and above all the gifts of God, and above all acts of\nvirtue and above all the sensible graces which God might spread\nabroad in his soul and body.\n\nNow understand: he who has God for his end must have Him present to\nhimself, by some divine reason. That is to say, he must have in view\nHim who is the Lord of heaven, and of earth, and of every creature,\nHim who died for him, and who can and will give him eternal\nsalvation. In whatever mode and under whatever name he represents\nGod, as Lord of every creature, it is well. If he takes some divine\nPerson, and in Him sees the essence and power of the divine nature,\nit is well. If he regards God as saviour, redeemer, creator,\ngovernor, as blessedness, power, wisdom, truth, goodness, it is\nwell. Though the names which we ascribe to God are numerous, the\nsublime nature of God is simple and unnameable by the creatures. But\nwe give Him all these names by reason of His nobleness and\nincomprehensible sublimity, and because we cannot name or proclaim\nHim completely. See now under what mode and by what knowledge God\nwill be present to our intention. For to have God for our aim is to\nsee spiritually. To this quest belong also affection and love, for\nto know God and be without love aids and advances us not a whit, and\nhas no savour. This is why a man, in all his actions, must bend\nlovingly towards God, whom he seeks and loves above everything.\nThis, then, is the meeting with God by means of intention and love.\n\nIn order that the sinner may turn from his sins in a meritorious\npenitence, he must meet God by contrition, free conversion, and a\nsincere intention to serve God for ever, and to sin no more. Then,\nat this meeting, he receives from the mercy of God the assured hope\nof eternal salvation and the pardon of his sins, and he receives the\nfoundation of all the virtues, faith, hope, and charity, and the\ngood will to practise all the virtues. If this man advances in the\nlight of faith, and observes all the works of Christ, all His\nsufferings and all His promises, and all that He has done for us and\nwill do to the day of judgment and through eternity; if he examines\nall this for his soul's health, he must needs meet with Christ; and\nChrist must needs be present to his soul, so grateful and full of\nthankfulness. So his faith is fortified, and he is impelled more\ninwardly and powerfully towards all the virtues. If he still\nprogresses in the works of virtue, he must again meet with Christ,\nby the annihilation of self. Let him not seek his own things; let\nhim set before him no extraneous ends; let him be discreet in his\nactions; let him set God always before him, and the praise and glory\nof God; and let him so continue till his death; then his reason\nwill be enlightened and his charity increased, and he will become\nmore pious and apt for all the virtues. We shall set God before us\nin every good work; in bad works we cannot set Him before us. We\nshall not have two intentions--that is to say, we shall not seek God\nat the same time as something else, but all our intention must be\nsubordinated to God and not contrary to Him, but of one and the same\nkind, so that it may help us and give us an impulse which may lead\nus more easily to God. Then and then only is a man in the right\nroad. Moreover, we shall rest rather upon Him who is our aim and our\ngoal and the object of our love, than upon the messengers whom He\nsends us--that is to say, His gifts. The soul will rest constantly\nupon God, above all the adornments and presents which His messengers\nmay bring. The messengers sent by the soul are intention, love, and\ndesire. They carry to God all our good works and virtues. Above all\nthese, the soul will rest on God, its Beloved, above all\nmultiplicity. This is the manner in which we shall meet Christ all\nthrough our life, in all our actions and virtues, by right\nintention, that we may meet Him at the hour of our death in the\nlight of glory.\n\nThis mode, as you have learnt, is called the active life. It is\nnecessary to all men; or at least they must not live in a manner\ncontrary to any virtue, though they may not attain the degree of\nperfection in all the virtues which I have described. For to live\ncontrary to the virtues is to live in sin, as Christ has said: \"He\nthat is not with me is against me.\" He who is not humble is proud,\nand he who is proud belongs not to God. We must always possess a\nvirtue and be in a state of grace, or possess what is contrary to\nthat virtue and be in a state of sin. May every man examine and\nprove himself, and order his life as I have here described.\n\nON THE DESIRE TO KNOW GOD AS HE IS, IN THE NATURE OF HIS GODHEAD\n\nTHE man who thus lives, in this perfection, as I have here described\nit, and who devotes all his life and actions to the honour and glory\nof God, and who seeks and loves God above all things, is often\nseized by the desire to see and know Christ, this Bridegroom who was\nmade man for love of him, who laboured in love even till death, who\ndrove away from him sin and the enemy, who gave him His grace, who\ngave him Himself, who left him His sacraments and promised him His\nkingdom. When a man considers all this, he is exceedingly desirous\nto see Christ his Bridegroom, and to know what He is in Himself\nWhile He only knows Him in His works he is not satisfied. So he will\ndo like Zacchasus, the publican, who desired to see Jesus Christ. He\nwill go in front of the crowd--that is to say, the multitude of the\ncreatures, for they make us so little and short, that we cannot\nperceive God. And he will climb the tree of faith, which grows from\nabove downwards, for its roots are in the Godhead. This tree has\ntwelve branches, which are the twelve articles of faith. The lower\nbranches speak of the humanity of Christ, and of the things which\nconcern the salvation of our body and soul. The higher part of the\ntree speaks of the Godhead, of the Trinity of the Divine Persons and\nthe Unity of the Divine Nature. A man will strive to reach the unity\nat the top of the tree, for it is there that Jesus must pass with\nall His gifts. Here Jesus comes, and sees the man, and tells Him in\nthe light of faith that He is, according to His Godhead,\nimmeasurable and incomprehensible, inaccessible and abysmal, and\nthat He surpasses all created light and all finite comprehension.\nThis is the highest knowledge acquired in the active life, to\nrecognise thus, in the light of faith, that God is inconceivable and\nunknowable. In this light Christ saith to the desire of a man: \"Come\ndown quickly, for I must lodge at thy house to-day.\" This rapid\ndescent to which God invites him is nothing else but a descent, by\ndesire and love, into the abyss of the Godhead, to which no\nintelligence can attain in crested light. But where intelligence\nremains outside, love and desire enter. The soul thus bending\ntowards God, by the intention of love, above all that the intellect\ncan comprehend, rests and abides in God, and God abides in her. Then\nmounting by desire, above the multitude of the creatures, above the\nwork of the senses, above the light of nature, she meets Christ in\nthe light of faith, and is enlightened, and recognises that God is\nunknowable and inconceivable. Finally, bending by her desires\ntowards this inconceivable God, she meets Christ and is loaded with\nHis gifts; by living and resting upon Him, above all His gifts,\nabove herself and above all the creatures, she dwells in God and God\nin her.\n\nThis is how you will meet Christ at the summit of the active life,\nif you have as your foundations justice, charity, and humility; and\nif you have built a house above--that is to say, the virtues here\ndescribed, and if you have met Christ by faith--that is to say, by\nfaith and the intention of love, you dwell in God and God dwells in\nyou, and you possess the active life.\n\nThis is the first explanation of the word of Jesus Christ our\nBridegroom, when He said, \"See, the Bridegroom cometh; go forth to\nmeet Him.\"\n\nBOOK II\n\nTHE SUBJECTS OF THE SECOND BOOK\n\nTHE prudent virgin--that is to say, the pure soul, who has\nrenounced the things of earth, and lives henceforth for God in\nvirtue, has taken in the vessel of her heart the oil of charity and\nof divine works by means of the lamp of an unstained conscience. But\nwhen Christ, her Bridegroom, withdraws His consolations and the\nfresh outpouring of His gifts, the soul becomes heavy and torpid.\n\nAt midnight--that is to say, when it is least expected, a spiritual\ncry resounds in the soul: \"See, the Bridegroom cometh, go forth to\nmeet Him.\" We shall now speak of this seeing, and of the inward\ncoming of Christ, and of the spiritual going forth of the man to\nmeet Jesus, and we shall explain these four conditions of an inward\nlife, exalted and full of desire, to which all men attain not, but\nmany reach it by means of the virtues and their inward courage.\n\nIn these words, Christ teaches us four things. In the first, He\nrequires that our intelligence shall be enlightened with a\nsupernatural light. This is what we observe in the word, \"See.\" In\nthe next words He shows us what we ought to see--that is to say, the\ninward coming of our Bridegroom of eternal truth. This is His\nmeaning when He says: \"The Bridegroom cometh.\" In the third place,\nin the words \"go forth,\" He bids us go forth in inward actions\naccording to righteousness. In the fourth place, He shows us the end\nand motive of all our works, the meeting with our Bridegroom Jesus\nChrist in the joyous unity of His adorable Godhead.\n\nHOW WE MAY GAIN SUPERNATURAL VISION BY INTERNAL EXERCISES\n\nNOW let us speak of the first word. Christ saith, \"See.\" Three\nthings are required by him who would see supernaturally in interior\nexercises. The first is the light of the divine grace, but in a far\nmore sublime manner than can be felt in the external, active life.\nThe second is a stripping off of extraneous images and a denudation\nof the heart, so that a man may be free from images, and attachments\nto every creature. The third is a free conversion of the will, by\nmeans of a concentration of all the bodily and spiritual faculties,\nand complete deliverance from all inordinate affections. Thus this\nwill flows together into the unity of the Godhead and of our own\nmind, so that the reasonable creature may be able to obtain and\npossess supernaturally the sublime unity of God. It is for this that\nGod made the heaven and earth and mankind, it is for this that He\nwas made man, and taught us by word and example by what way we\nshould come to this unity. And then in the ardour of His love He\nendured to die, and He ascended to heaven, and opened to us this\nunity in which we may possess felicity and eternal blessedness.\n\nON THE THREEFOLD NATURAL UNITY OF MAN\n\nNOW consider attentively: there are three kinds of natural unity in\nall men, and, moreover, of supernatural unity among the just. The\nfirst and supreme unity of man is in God; for all creatures are\nimmanent in this unity, and if they were to be separated from God,\nthey would be annihilated, and would become nothing. This unity is\nessential in us according to nature, whether we are good or bad. And\nwithout our co-operation it makes us neither holy nor blessed. This\nunity we possess in ourselves, and nevertheless above us, as a\nbeginning and support of our life and essence.\n\nAnother unity exists in us naturally--that of the supreme forces, in\nso far as they actively take their natural origin in the unity of\nthe spirit or of the thoughts. This is the same unity as that which\nis immanent in God, but it is taken here actively and there\nessentially. Nevertheless the spirit is entirely in each unity\naccording to the integrity of its substance. We possess this unity\nin ourselves, above the sensitive part of us; and thence are born\nmemory, intelligence, and will, and all the power of spiritual\nworks. In this unity the soul is called spirit.\n\nThe third unity which is in us naturally is the foundation of bodily\nforces in the unity of the heart, the source and origin of bodily\nlife. The soul possesses this unity in the lively centre of the\nheart, and from it flow all the material works and the five senses,\nand the soul draws from thence its name of soul (anima); for it is\nthe source of life, and animates the body--that is to say, it makes\nit living and preserves it in life. These three unities are in man\nnaturally, as a life and a kingdom. In the inferior unity we are\nsensible and animal, in the intermediate unity we are rational and\nspiritual; and in the superior unity we are preserved according to\nour essence. And this exists in all men, naturally.\n\nNow these three unities are adorned and cultivated naturally, like a\nkingdom and an eternal abode, by the virtues, in charity and in the\nactive life. And they are adorned still better and more gloriously\ncultivated by the internal exercises of a spiritual life. But most\ngloriously and blessedly of all by a supernatural contemplative\nlife.\n\nThe inferior unity, which is corporeal, is adorned and cultivated\nsupernaturally by external practices, by perfect conduct, by the\nexample of Christ and the saints, by carrying the cross with Christ,\nby submitting our nature to the command of Holy Church and the\nteachings of the saints, according to the forces of nature and\nprudence.\n\nThe other unity which resides in the spirit and which is absolutely\nspiritual, is adorned and cultivated supernaturally by the three\nDivine gifts, Faith, Hope, and Charity, and by the influx of grace\nand Divine gifts, and by good will directed to all the virtues, and\nthe desire to follow the example of Christ and of holy Christendom.\n\nThe third and supreme unity is above our intelligence and yet\nessentially in us. We cultivate it supernaturally when in all our\nworks of virtue we have in view only the glory of God, without any\nother desire but to repose in Him, above thought, above ourselves,\nand above everything. And this is the unity from which we flowed out\nwhen we were created, and where we abide according to our essence,\nand towards which we endeavour to return by love. These are the\nvirtues which adorn this triple unity in the active life.\n\nNow we proceed to say how this triple unity is adorned more\nsublimely and cultivated more nobly by interior exercises joined to\nthe active life. When a man, by love and right intention, elevates\nhimself in all his works and in all his life towards the honour and\nglory of God, and seeks rest in God above all things, he will wait\nin humility and patience and abandonment of self and in the hope of\nnew riches and new gifts, and he will not be troubled or anxious\nwhether it pleases God to grant His gifts or to refuse them. So men\nprepare themselves for receiving an internal life of desires; even\nas a vessel is fitted and prepared, into which a precious liquid is\nto be poured. There is no vessel more noble than the loving soul,\nand no drink more necessary than the grace of God. Man will thus\noffer to God all his works and all his life, in a simple and right\nintention, and in a zest above his intention, above himself, and\nabove everything, in the sublime unity in which God and the loving\nspirit are united without intermediary.\n\nON THE FIRST MODE OR DEGREE OF THE FIRST SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST\n\nTHE first coming of Christ to those who are engaged in the exercises\nof desire is an internal and sensible current from the Holy Spirit,\nwhich impels and attracts us to all the virtues. We shall compare\nthis coming to the splendour and power of the sun, which, so soon as\nit is risen, enlightens and warms the whole world in the twinkling\nof an eye. In the same way Christ, the eternal sun, burns and\nshines, dwelling at the highest point of the spirit, and enlightens\nand fires the lower part of man--that is to say, his physical heart\nand sense-faculties, and this is accomplished in less time than the\ntwinkling of an eye, for the work of God is prompt; but the man in\nwhom it takes place ought to be internally seeing by means of his\nspiritual eyes.\n\nThe sun burns in the East, in the middle of the world, on the\nmountains; there it hastens in the summer, and creates good fruits\nand strong wines, filling the earth with joy. The same sun shines in\nthe West, at the end of the world; the country there is colder and\nthe force of the heat less; nevertheless, it there produces a great\nnumber of good fruits, but not much wine. The men who dwell in the\nWest part of themselves, abide in their external senses, and by\ntheir good intentions, their virtues, and their outer practices, by\nthe grace of God produce abundant harvests of virtues of divers\nkinds, but they but rarely taste the wine of inward joy and\nspiritual consolation.\n\nThe man who wishes to experience the rays of the eternal sun, which\nis Christ Himself, will be seeing; and will dwell on the mountains\nof the East, by concentrating all his faculties, and lifting up his\nheart to God, free, and indifferent to joy and pain and all the\ncreatures. There shines Christ, the sun of righteousness, on the\nfree and exalted heart, and this is what I mean by the mountains.\nChrist, the glorious sun and divine effulgence, shines through and\nfires by his internal coming, and by the power of His Spirit, the\nfree heart and all the powers of the soul. This is the first work of\nthe internal coming in the exercises of desire. Just as fire\ninflames things which are thrown into it, so Christ inflames the\nhearts offered to Him in freedom and exultation at His internal\ncoming, and He says in this coming: \"Go forth by the exercises\nappropriate to this life.\"\n\nON UNITY OF HEART\n\nFROM this heat is born unity of heart, for we cannot obtain true\nunity, unless the Spirit of God lights His flame in our heart. For\nthis fire makes one and like unto itself all that it can overtop and\ntransform. Unity gives a man the feeling of being concentrated with\nall his faculties on one point. It gives internal peace and repose\nof heart. Unity of heart is a bond which draws and binds together\nthe body and the soul, and all exterior and interior forces, in the\nunity of love.\n\nHOW THE VIRTUES PROCEED FROM UNITY\n\nFROM this unity of heart is born inwardness or the internal life,\nfor none can have inwardness unless he is one and united in himself;\nfervour or inwardness is the introversion of a man into his own\nheart, to comprehend and experience the internal operation or speech\nof God. Inwardness is a sensible flame of love, which the Spirit of\nGod lights and kindles in a man, and a man knows not whence it\ncomes, nor what has happened to him.\n\nON SENSIBLE LOVE\n\nFROM inwardness is born a sensible love which penetrates the heart\nof man and the highest faculties of the soul. This love and delight\nnone can experience who has not inwardness. Sensible love is the\ndesire and appetite for God as for an eternal good in which all is\ncontained. Sensible love renounces all the creatures, not as needs\nbut as pleasures. Interior love feels itself touched from above by\nthe eternal love which it must practise eternally Interior love\nwillingly renounces and despises everything, in order to obtain that\nwhich it loves.\n\nON DEVOTION\n\nFROM this sensible love is born devotion to God and His glory. For\nnone can have a hungry devotion in his heart, unless he possesses\nthe sensible love of God. Devotion excites and stimulates a man\ninternally and externally to the service of God. It makes the body\nand soul abound in glory and merit in the eyes of God and men. God\nexacts devotion in all that we do. It purges the body and soul from\nall that might hold us back; it shows us the true path to\nblessedness.\n\nON GRATITUDE\n\nFROM fervent devotion is born gratitude, for none can thank or\npraise God perfectly if he is not fervent and pious. We should thank\nGod for everything here below, that we may be able to thank Him\neternally above. Those who praise not God here, will be mute\neternally. To praise God is the most joyous and delicious employment\nof the loving heart. There is no limit to the praises of God, for\ntherein is our salvation, and we shall praise Him eternally.\n\nNow hear a comparison, by which you may understand the exercise of\ngratitude. When the summer approaches and the sun mounts, it\nattracts the moisture of the earth along the stems and branches of\nthe trees, whence come green leaves, flowers, and fruit. Even so\nwhen Christ, the eternal sun, rises in our hearts, He sends His\nlight and heat upon our desires, and draws the heart away from all\nthe manifold things of earth, creating unity and inwardness, and\nmakes the heart grow and become green by interior love, and makes\nloving devotion flourish, and makes us bear the fruits of gratitude\nand love, and preserves these fruits eternally in the humble pain of\nour inability to praise and serve Him enough.\n\nHere ends the first of the four chief kinds ot interior exercises,\nwhich adorn the lower part of a man.\n\nHOW TO INCREASE INWARDNESS BY HUMILITY\n\nBUT in thus comparing to the splendour and power of the sun the\nmodes in which Jesus Christ comes, we shall find in the sun another\nvirtue or influence which makes the fruit more early ripe and more\nabundant.\n\nWhen the sun rises to a very great height, and enters the sign of\nthe Twins--that is to say, into a double thing, but of the same\nnature, in the middle of the month of May, the sun has a double\npower over the flowers, herbs, and all that grows upon the earth. If\nat that time the planets which rule nature are well ordered\naccording to the season of the year, the sun shines brightly on the\nearth, and attracts the moisture in the atmosphere. Hence are born\ndew and rain, and the fruits of the ground increase and multiply.\n\nEven so when Christ, that bright sun, rises in our heart above all\nother things, and when the requirements of material nature, which\nare contrary to the spirit, are well regulated according to reason,\nwhen we possess the virtues as I have said above, and when, lastly,\nwe offer and restore to God, by the ardour of charity, and with\ngratitude and love, the delight and peace which we find in the\nvirtues, from all these are born, at times, a gentle rain of new\ninternal consolations, and a celestial dew of divine sweetness. This\ndew and rain make all the virtues increase and multiply day by day,\nif we put no hindrance in their way. This is a new and special\noperation, and a new coming of Christ into the loving heart.\n\nON PURE SATISFACTION OF THE HEART\n\nFROM this sweetness is born satisfaction of heart, and of all the\nbodily faculties, so that a man imagines that he is inwardly\nembraced in the divine bands of love. This pleasure and consolation\nis greater and more delicious to body and soul than all the\npleasures granted on earth, even if a man could enjoy them to the\nfull. In this pleasure God sinks into the heart by means of His\ngifts with such a profusion of delights, consolations, and joys,\nthat the heart overflows internally.\n\nON THE OBSTACLES WHICH WE ENCOUNTER IN THIS STATE\n\nTHIS coming, or kind of coming, is granted to beginners, when they\nturn from the world, when their conversion is complete, and they\nabandon all the consolations of earth to live for God only;\nnevertheless they are still weak, and need milk and not strong meat,\nsuch as great temptations and the hiding of God's face. At this\nseason frost and fog often injure them, for they are in the middle\nof the May of the interior life. The frost is to wish to be\nsomething, or to imagine that we are something, or to be somewhat\nattached to ourselves, or to believe that we have deserved\nconsolations and are worthy of them. The fog is the wish to rest\nupon internal consolations and pains. This obscures the atmosphere\nof reason, and the ilowers, which were about to unfold and bloom and\nbear fruits, shut up again. This is why we lose the knowledge of\ntruth, and nevertheless we sometimes keep certain false sweetnesses\ngranted by the enemy, which at the last lead men astray.\n\nHOW ONE OUGHT TO BEHAVE IN THIS CASE\n\nI WISH to give you here a brief comparison, that you may not go\nastray, and that you may be able to behave wisely in this case.\nObserve the wise bee, and imitate her. She dwells in unity, in the\nmidst of the assembly of her kind, and she goes forth, not during a\nstorm, but when the weather is calm and bright, and the sun shines;\nand she flies towards every flower where she may find sweetness. She\nrests not on any flower, neither for its beauty nor for its\nsweetness, but draws out from the cups of the flowers their\nsweetness and clearness--that is to say, the honey and wax, and she\nbrings them back to the unity which is formed of the assembly of all\nthe bees, that the honey and wax may be put to good use.\n\nThe expanded heart on which Christ, the eternal sun, shines, grows\nand blooms under His rays, and from it flow all the interior forces\nin joy and sweetness.\n\nNow the wise man will act like the bee, and will try to settle, with\naffection, intelligence, and prudence, on all the gifts and all the\nsweetness that he has experienced, and on all the good that God has\ndone to him. He will not rest on any flower of the gifts, but laden\nwith gratitude and praise he will fly back towards the unity where\nhe wishes to dwell, and to rest with God eternally.\n\nON THE THIRD MODE OF THE SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST\n\nWHEN the sun in heaven reaches its highest point, in the sign of the\nCrab--that is to say, when it can go no higher, but must begin to go\nbackwards, then the greatest heat of the year begins. The sun\nattracts the moisture, the earth dries, and the fruits ripen. In the\nsame way, when Christ, the divine sun, arises above the highest\nsummit of our heart--that is to say, above all His gifts,\nconsolations and sweetnesses, and if we do not rest in any of these,\nhowever sweet, but return always with humble praises to the source\nfrom which these gifts flow, Christ stops and remains lifted up\nabove the summit of our heart, and desires to attract all our powers\nto Himself.\n\nThis invitation is an irradiation of Christ, the eternal sun, and\ncauses in the heart a joy and pleasure so great that the heart\ncannot close again after such an expansion, without pain. A man is\nwounded internally and feels the smart of love. To be wounded by\nlove is the sweetest sensation and the most grievous pain that can\nbe experienced. To be wounded by love is a sure sign that we shall\nbe cured. This spiritual wound does us good and harm at the same\ntime.\n\nON THE FOURTH KIND OF THE SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST\n\nNOW I wish to speak of the fourth kind of coming of Jesus Christ,\nwhich exalts and perfects the man in his interior exercises,\naccording to the lower part of his being. But having compared all\nthe interior comings to the shining of the sun, we will continue to\nspeak, while following the course of the seasons, of the other\neffects and works of the sun.\n\nWhen the sun begins to descend the sky, it enters the sign of the\nVirgin, so called because this period of the year becomes barren\nlike a virgin. The glorious virgin Mary, mother of Christ, full of\njoys and rich in all the virtues, ascended to heaven at this season.\nThe heat begins then to diminish, and men gather, for use during the\nwhole year, the ripe fruits which can be used long after, such as\ncorn and the grape. And they sow part of the corn, that it may be\nmultiplied for the use of men. At this season all the solar work of\nthe year is finished. In the same way, when Christ, the glorious\nsun, has risen to the zenith in the heart of men, and begins to\ndescend, so as to hide the splendour of His divine beams and to\nleave a man alone, the heat and impatience of love diminish. Now\nthis occultation of Christ and the withdrawal of His light and heat\nare the first work and the new coming of this mode. Now Christ says\nspiritually in a man: \"Go forth in the manner that I now show thee\";\nand the man goes forth, and finds himself poor, miserable, and\ndesolate. Here all the storm, all the passion and eagerness of love\ngrow cold; summer becomes autumn, and all his wealth is changed into\ngreat poverty. And the man begins to complain by reason of his\nmisery; what is become of his ardent love, his inwardness, his\ngratitude, the interior consolations, the heartfelt joys? Where has\nit all gone? How comes it that all is dead within him? He is like\na scholar who has lost his knowledge and his work; and nature is\noften troubled by such losses. Sometimes these unhappy ones are\ndeprived of the good things of earth, of their friends and\nrelations, and are deserted by all the creatures; their holiness is\nmistrusted and despised, men put a bad construction upon all the\nworks of their life, and they are rejected and disdained by all\nthose who surround them; and sometimes they are afflicted with\ndiverse diseases; and some of them fall into bodily temptations, or\ninto spiritual temptations, the most dangerous of all. From this\nmisery are born the fear of falling, and a sort of half-doubt, and\nthis is the extreme point where we can stop without despair. Let\nsuch men seek out the good, complain to them, show them their\ndistress, and ask their help, and implore the aid of Holy\nChurch, and of all just men.\n\nWHAT A MAN OUGHT TO DO WHEN HE IS ABANDONED\n\nA MAN will here observe humbly that he has nothing but his distress,\nand he will say in his resignation and self-abnegation the words of\nholy Job: \"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; He hath done\nwhat seemed good to Him; blessed be the name of the Lord.\" And he\nwill leave himself in everything, and will say and think in his\nheart: \"Lord, I am as willing to be poor, lacking all that Thou hast\ntaken from me, as I should be to be rich, if such were Thy will, and\nif it were for Thine honour. It is not my will according to nature\nwhich must be accomplished, but Thy will, and my will according to\nmy spirit, O Lord; for I belong to Thee, and I should love as well\nto be Thine in hell as in heaven, if that could serve Thy glory; and\ntherefore, O Lord, accomplish in me the excellence of Thy will.\"\nFrom all these pains and acts of resignation, a man will derive an\ninward joy, and he will offer himself into the hands of God, and\nwill rejoice to be able to suffer in His honour. And if he so\nperseveres, he will taste inward pleasures such as he has never had\nbefore; for nothing so rejoices the lover of God as to feel that he\nis His beloved. And if he is truly exalted as far as this mode, in\nthe path of virtue, it is not necessary for him to have passed\nthrough all the states which we have described above; for he feels\nwithin himself in action, in humble obedience, in patience, and in\nresignation, the source of all the virtues. It is thus that this\nmode is eternally sure.\n\nAt this season the sun in the sky enters the sign of the Scales, for\nthe day and night are equal, and the sun balances the light and the\ndarkness. In the same way Jesus Christ is in the sign of the Scales\nfor the resigned man; and whether He grants sweetness or\nbitterness, darkness or light, whatever He chooses to send him, the\nman keeps his balance, all things are equal to him except sin, which\nhas been driven away once for all. When every consolation has been\nthus withdrawn from these resigned men, when they believe that they\nhave lost all their virtues and that they are abandoned by God and\nall the creatures, if they then know how to reap the divers fruits,\ntheir corn and wine are ready and ripe. That is to say, that all\nthat the bodily virtues can suffer will be offered by them to God\nwith joy, without resistance to His supreme will. All the exterior\nand interior virtues, which they formerly practised with joy in the\nlight of love, they will now practise courageously and laboriously,\nand will offer them to God, and never will they have so much merit\nin His eyes. Never will they have been more noble or more beautiful.\nAll the consolations which God formerly granted, they will allow to\nbe stripped from them with joy, since it is for the glory of God. It\nis thus that the virtues become perfect, and that sadness is\ntransformed into an eternal vintage. These men--their life and their\npatience--improve and teach all who know and live near them, and\nthus it is that the wheat of their virtues is sown and multiplied\nfor the good of all just men.\n\nThis is the fourth kind of coming which, according to the bodily\nfaculties and the lower part of his being, adorns and perfects a man\nin interior exercises.\n\nHOW THESE FOUR MODES ARE FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST\n\nWE must needs walk in the light if we wish not to lose our way, and\nwe must observe Jesus Christ, who has taught us these four modes,\nand has preceded us in them. Christ, the bright sun, rises in the\nheaven of the sublime Trinity and in the dawn of His glorious mother\nthe virgin Mary, who was and is the dawn of all the graces. Now\nobserve. Christ had and still has the first mode, for He was unique\nand united. In Him were and are collected and united all the virtues\nwhich have ever been practised, and which ever will be, and besides\nthis, all the creatures who will cultivate these virtues. He was\nthus in an unique sense the Son of the Father, and united to human\nnature. And He was equally full of inwardness, for it was He who\nbrought upon earth the fire which has consumed all the saints and\nall good men. And He had a sensible and faithful love for His\nFather, and for all who will have joy in Him eternally, and His\npitiful and loving heart sighed and glowed with love for all men,\nbefore His Father. All His life and all His actions, within and\nwithout, and all His words, were praises of His Father. This is the\nfirst mode.\n\nChrist, the sun of love, blazed and shone yet more brightly and\nwarmly, for in Him was and is the fullness of all gifts. This is why\nthe heart of Christ, and His character, and His habits and His\nservice, overflowed with pity, sweetness, humility, and generosity.\nSo gracious was He and so loving, that His manners and His\npersonality attracted all whose nature was good. He was the pure\nlily in the midst of the flowers of the field, from which the good\nwere to draw the honey of eternal sweetness and eternal\nconsolations. According to His humanity He thanked His eternal\nFather for all the gifts which were ever granted to humanity, and\npraised Him, for His Father is the Father of all gifts, and He\nrested on Him, according to the highest faculties of His soul, above\nall gifts, in the sublime unity of God from which all the gifts flow;\nthus He had the second mode.\n\nChrist, the glorious sun, blazed and shone yet higher, and more\nbrightly and warmly; for during all His days on earth, all His\nbodily faculties were invited and pressed to the sublime glory and\nbliss which He now experiences in His senses and body. And He was\ninclined thereto Himself, according to His desires; and nevertheless\nHe willed to remain in this exile, till the time which the Father\nhad foreseen and fixed from all eternity. Thus He had the third\nmode. When the time came at which Christ was to reap and carry away\nto the eternal kingdom the fruits of all the virtues which ever have\nbeen and ever will be practised, the eternal sun began to descend;\nfor Christ humbled Himself, and gave up His bodily life into the\nhands of His enemies. And he was misunderstood and deserted by His\nfriends in so great a distress; and all consolation, within and\nwithout, was withdrawn from His nature; and it was overwhelmed with\nmisery, pain, and contempt, and paid all the debt which our sins\njustly incurred. All this He suffered in humble patience, and He\naccomplished the greatest works of love in this resignation, whereby\nHe received and purchased our eternal inheritance. It is thus that\nthe lower part of His noble humanity was adorned, for it was in it\nthat He suffered this pain for our sins. It is on this account that\nHe is called the Saviour of the world, and that He is glorified and\nraised up and seated on the right hand of His Father, and that He\nreigns in power. And every creature, on the earth, above the earth,\nand under the earth, bends the knee for ever before His glorious\nname.\n\nHOW A MAN SHOULD LIVE IF HE DESIRES TO BE ENLIGHTENED\n\nTHE man who, in true obedience to the commandments of God, lives in\nthe moral virtues, and moreover exercises himself in the interior\nvirtues, after the direction and impulse of the Holy Spirit, acting\nand speaking according to righteousness, and who seeks not his own\ninterests in time or in eternity, and who supports with true\npatience obscurity and affliction and every kind of misery, and who\nthanks God for everything, and offers himself in humble resignation,\nhas received the first coming of Jesus Christ according to interior\nexercises. When this man is purified and pacified, and turns back\nupon himself according to his lower nature, he may be internally\nenlightened, if he asks it, and if God judges that the right time\nhas come. It may also happen that he is enlightened from the\nbeginning of his conversion, so that he may offer himself entirely\nto the will of God and give up all possession of himself, which is\nthe supreme end. But if he is to follow any further the road which I\nhave shown, in the exterior and at the same time in the interior\nlife, it will be much easier for him than for the man who has been\nraised straight from the bottom, for the former will have more light\nthan the latter.\n\nON ANOTHER COMING OF CHRIST\n\nNOW we are about to speak of another mode of the coming of Christ,\nin interior exercises, which adorn, enlighten, and enrich a man,\naccording to the three supreme faculties of his soul. We shall\ncompare this coming to a life-giving fountain from which flow three\nrivers.\n\nThis fountain is the fullness of divine grace in the unity of our\nspirit. There resides grace essentially in its permanence, like a\nfull fountain, and it flows out actively by its rivers into each of\nthe faculties of the soul, according to their needs. These rivers\nare a special influx, or operation of God in the highest faculties,\nin which God operates in various manners by the intermediary of His\ngrace.\n\nHOW THE FIRST RIVER FLOWS INTO THE MEMORY\n\nTHE first river of grace, which God causes to flow in this coming,\nis a pure simplicity which shines without distinction in the spirit.\nThis river takes its source in the fountain, in the unity of the\nspirit, and flows directly downwards, and penetrates all the\nfaculties of the soul, both higher and lower, and lifts them up out\nof all multiplicity and all over-occupation, and makes a simplicity\nin a man, and gives and shows him an internal bond in the unity of\nhis spirit. A man is thus lifted up according to his memory, and\ndelivered from strange and irrelevant thoughts, and from\ninconstancy. Now Christ in this light demands a going forth,\naccording to the mode of this light and this coming. Then the man\ngoes forth, and observes himself that by virtue of the simple light\nthat is spread abroad in him he is united, established, penetrated\nand fixed in the unity of his spirit or of his thoughts. Here the\nman is exalted and established in a new essence; he turns his\nthoughts inwards, and rests his memory on the naked truth, above all\nsensuous images and above all multiplicity. There the man possesses\nessentially and supernaturally the unity of his spirit, for his own\ndwelling, and as an heritage of his own for ever. He always has an\ninclination towards that same unity, and this unity will have an\neternal and loving inclination towards the more sublime unity where\nthe Father and the Son are united with all the saints in the bands\nof the Holy Spirit.\n\nHOW THE SECOND RIVER ENLIGHTENS THE INTELLIGENCE\n\nTHROUGH internal love, and loving inclination towards union with\nGod, is born the second river from the fullness of grace, in unity\nof spirit, and this is a spiritual brightness which flows and sheds\nlight through the intelligence, but with distinctions in the diverse\nmodes. For this light shows and gives to the spirit, in the truth,\nthe discretion in all the virtues. But this light is not placed\naltogether in our power, for though we have it always in our soul,\nGod makes it speak or keep silence, and He can manifest or hide it,\ngive or withdraw it, at all times and under all conditions, for this\nlight is His. Such men do not absolutely need revelations, nor to be\ndrawn up above sense, for their life and abode and habits and\nessence are in the spirit above sense and sensibility. And God shows\nthem what He wills and what is necessary for them. Nevertheless God,\nif He wished, could withdraw their exterior sense, and show them,\nfrom within, unknown symbols and future things, in diverse manners.\n\nNow Christ desires that this man should go forth, and go into the\nlight, according to the mode of this light. This enlightened man\nwill therefore go forth and observe his state and his life within\nand without, in order to know if he is perfectly like Christ\naccording to His humanity and also according to His divinity. And\nthis man will lift up his eyes, enlightened by enlightened reason,\nin intelligible truth, and will observe and consider, as a creature\ncan, the sublime nature of God, and the unlimited attributes which\nare in God.\n\nIt is then necessary to consider and examine the sublime nature of\nGod; how it contains simplicity and purity, inaccessible height and\nabysmal depth, incomprehensible extension and eternal duration; dark\nsilence and wild waste; repose of all the saints in unity and joy in\nitself and in all the saints in eternity. This enlightened man will\nalso examine the attributes of the Father in the Godhead, how He is\nall-powerful, the creator, mover, preserver, beginning and end,\ncause and existence of all creatures; this is what the bright river\nof grace shows to the enlightened reason. It shows also the\nattributes of the eternal Word, abysmal wisdom and truth, model of\nevery creature and of all life, eternal norm of things, unveiled\ncontemplation and intuition into everything, brightness and\nillumination of all saints, according to their merits, in heaven and\non earth. But this bright river shows also to the enlightened reason\nthe attributes of the Holy Spirit; inconceivable charity and\ngenerosity, pity and mercy, infinite watchfulness and faithfulness,\nimmense and inconceivable riches flowing with delights through all\nheavenly spirits, ardent flame consuming all in unity, effluent\nfountain, preparation of all the saints for their eternal\nblessedness, and their introduction thereto; enveloping and\npenetrating the Father, the Son, and all the saints in joyous unity.\n\nON THE STATE OF AMAZEMENT AT THE DIVINE EFFLUENCE\n\nTHE incomprehensible wealth and sublimity, and the universal\ngenerosity which flow from the divine nature, bring a man into a\nstate of amazement; and above all he admires the communication of\nGod and His effluence above everything, for he sees the\ninconceivable essence, which is the common joy of God and all the\nsaints. And he sees that the three divine Persons are a common\neffluence in works, in graces, and in glory, in nature and above\nnature, in all conditions and in all times, in the saints and in\nmen, in heaven and on earth, in all reasonable and irrational\ncreatures, according to each one's merits, needs, and powers of\nreceiving. God is common to all, with all His gifts, the angels are\ncommon, the soul is common in all its faculties, in all life, in all\nthe members, and all in each, for one cannot divide it, except by\nreason. For the higher and lower faculties, the spirit and the soul,\nare distinct according to reason, but one in nature. Thus God is\nentirely and specially present to each one, and nevertheless common\nto all the creatures, for by Him are all things, and on Him depend\nthe heaven, the earth, and the whole of nature. When a man thus\nobserves the astonishing wealth and sublimity of the divine nature,\nand all the manifold gifts which He grants and offers to His\ncreatures, he is lifted up internally by wonder at such manifold\nriches and sublimity; and from thence arises a singular inward joy\nof spirit, and a vast confidence in God; and this internal joy\nsurrounds and penetrates all the faculties of the soul in inwardness\nof spirit.\n\nHOW THE THIRD RIVER CONFIRMS THE WILL\n\nFROM this joy and fullness of graces, and divine faithfulness, there\nis born and flows out the third river in this same unity of spirit.\nThis river, like a flame, lights up the spirit and absorbs all\nthings in unity. And it causes to overflow and flood with rich gifts\nand singular nobility, all the faculties of the soul, and it creates\nin the will a love without labour, spiritual and subtle. Now Christ\nsays internally in the spirit by means of this flaming river: \"Go\nforth by exercises according to the mode of these gifts and this\ncoming.\" Thanks to the first river--that is to say, to a simple\nlight, the memory is lifted up above the accidents of sense, and is\nestablished in the unity of spirit. Thanks to the second river--\nthat is to say, to the brightness spread abroad within, the\nintelligence and reason are enlightened, so as to recognise the\ndiverse modes of the virtues and of exercises, and the mysteries of\nthe Scriptures. Thanks to the third river--that is to say, to an\ninspired ardour, the sublime will is kindled into a more tranquil\nlove, and adorned with greater riches. In this way a man becomes\nspiritually enlightened, for the grace of God abides, like a\nfountain in the unity of the spirit; and these rivers create in the\nfaculties of the soul an effluence of all the virtues. And the\nfountain of grace always requires a reflux towards its source.\n\nHOW CHRIST IS GIVEN TO ALL MEN IN THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR\n\nTHERE is a special benefit which Christ left in the Holy Church, to\nall good people, in this supper of the great Paschal feast, when He\nwas about to pass from His sufferings to His Father after having\neaten the Paschal lamb with His disciples, and when the ancient law\nwas accomplished. At the end of the supper, He wished to give them a\nspecial meal, as He had long desired to do. And this is why He\nwished to finish the ancient law and to inaugurate the new law. He\ntook bread in His sacred hands, and consecrated His holy body, and\nthen His holy blood, and gave them to all His disciples, and left\nthem to all the just, for their eternal good.\n\nThis gift and this special food rejoice and adorn all the great\nfestivals and all the banquets in heaven and on earth. In this gift\nChrist gives Himself to us in three manners; He gives us His flesh\nand blood and His bodily life, glorified and full of joys and\ngriefs. And He gives us His spirit with its highest faculties, and\nfull of glory, of gifts, of truths and justifications. And He gives\nus His personality with the divine light which lifts up His spirit\nand all enlightened spirits, even to the sublime and joyous unity.\n\nNow Christ wishes us to remember Him, whenever we consecrate, offer,\nand receive His body. Now observe how we should remember Him. We\nshall observe and consider how Christ bends towards us in loving\naffection, in great desire, in loving joy, and by flowing into our\nbodily nature. For He gives us that which He received from our\nhumanity--that is to say, His flesh and blood and bodily nature. We\nshall contemplate this precious body pierced and wounded with love,\nby reason of His faithfulness to us. It is by it that we are adorned\nand nourished in the lower part of our human nature. He gives us\nalso, in this sublime gift of the sacrament, His spirit full of\nglory, and the richest gifts of the virtues, and ineffable marvels\nof charity and nobleness.\n\nIt is by this that we are nourished, adorned, and illuminated in the\nunity of our spirit and in our higher faculties, thanks to the\nindwelling of Christ with all His riches. He gives us also in the\nsacrament of the altar His sublime personality in incomprehensible\nlight. And thanks to this, we are united to the Father, and so we\nreach our inheritance of divinity in eternal bliss. If a man\nmeditate rightly on this, he will meet Christ in the same manner in\nwhich Christ comes to him. He will raise himself up to receive\nChrist, with all his faculties and in eager joy. It is not possible\nfor our joy to be too great, for our nature receives His nature--that\nis to say the glorified humanity of Christ, full of joyfulness and\nfull of merits. This is why I would that man, at the reception of\nthis sacrament, should melt away with desire, joy, and pleasure, for\nhe is receiving the fairest, the most gracious, the most lovable of\nthe children of men, and is united to Him. In this union and in this\njoy great benefits often come to men, and many mysterious and\nmarvellous secrets of divine treasures are manifested and disclosed.\nWhen a man meditates, at this reception, on the martyrdom and\nsufferings of the precious body of Christ, whom he is receiving, he\nenters sometimes into so loving a devotion and so great a\ncompassion, that he desires to be nailed with Christ to the cross,\nand to shed his heart's blood for the honour of Christ. And he\npresses himself to the wounds and open heart of Christ His Saviour.\nIn these exercises revelations and great benefits have often come to\nmen.\n\nON THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE IN THE TRINITY OF PERSONS\n\nTHE sublime and superessential unity of the Divine nature, in which\nthe Father and the Son possess their nature in the unity of the Holy\nSpirit, above the conception and comprehension of all our faculties,\nin the bare essence of our spirit, surpasses in this sublime calm\nall the creatures of created light. This sublime unity of the Divine\nnature is living and fruitful, for, from this same unity, the\neternal Word is born from the Father without interruption. And by\nthis birth the Father knows the Son, and all things in the Son. And\nthe Son knows the Father, and all things in the Father, for their\nnature is simple. From this reciprocal vision of the Father and the\nSon in an eternal clearness, flow forth an eternal satisfaction and\nunfathomable love, which is the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit\nand the eternal Wisdom God inclines towards every creature\nseverally, and loads every one of them with gifts and kindles it\nwith love, according to its nobility and according to the state\nwherein it is constituted and elected though its virtues and the\neternal foresight of God. And it is by this that all just spirits,\nin heaven and on earth, are united in virtue and justice.\n\nHOW GOD MOVES AND POSSESSES THE SOUL, NATURALLY AND SUPERNATURALLY\n\nNOW be attentive: I am about to give you an example on this\nsubject. God has made the upper heaven a pure and simple clearness\nencircling and enveloping all the heavens; and all the material\nworld which God has created for it is the exterior abode and kingdom\nof God and His saints, full of glory and eternal joys. Now the\nheaven being an unmixed clearness, there is there neither time, nor\nstate, nor temptation, nor change, for it is unchangeably fixed\nabove all things. The sphere which approaches most nearly to it is\ncalled the primum mobile. All movement, by the power of God,\nemanates from the supreme heaven. This is the movement which carries\nwith it the motions of the firmament and all the planets. It is by\nthis same initial movement that all the creatures live and grow,\naccording to their order. Now understand that the essence of the\nsoul is like a spiritual kingdom of God, full of Divine clearness,\nsurpassing all our faculties, unless these faculties are not\ntransformed in a simple fashion, of which I do not wish to speak\nnow. See; in this essence of the soul in which God reigns, the\nunity of our spirit is like the primum mobile; for in this unity\nthe spirit is moved from above, by the power of God, naturally and\nsupernaturally; for by ourselves we have nothing either in or above\nnature. And this motion of God, when it is supernatural, is the\nfirst and chief cause of all our virtue. And by this motion of God\nthe seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are granted to certain\nenlightened men, like the seven planets which illuminate all the\nlives of men. This is how God possesses the essential unity of our\nspirit, as His Kingdom.\n\nON THE ESSENTIAL MEETING WITH GOD, WITHOUT INTERMEDIARY\n\nNOW attend carefully. The unity of our spirit has two modes, one\nessential and the other active. You should know that the spirit,\naccording to its essential existence, receives the coming of Christ\nin its bare nature, without intermediary and without interruption.\nFor this essence and life which we are in God, in our eternal image,\nand which we have in ourselves, according to essential existence,\nare without intermediary and inseparable. This is why the spirit\nreceives, in its highest and most intimate part, in its bare nature,\nthe impression of its eternal image, and the divine brightness\nwithout interruption, and it is an eternal dwelling of God, which He\noccupies by a perpetual inhabitation, and which He visits always\nwith a new coming, and a new effulgence from His eternal birth. For\nwhere He comes He is, and where He is He comes. And where He has\nnever been, He will never come, for there is in Him neither accident\nnor change, and everything, where He is, is in Him, for He never\ngoes out of Himself. And this is why the spirit possesses God\nessentially in its bare nature, and God the spirit, for the spirit\nlives in God, and God in the spirit. And it is capable, in its\nhighest part, of receiving the brightness of God, and all that God\nmay grant it, without intermediary. And by the brightness of its\neternal image, which shines essentially and personally in it, the\nspirit is plunged, as regards the highest part of its vitality, in\nthe divine essence; and there enters into possession of its eternal\nbliss, and flowing out again by the eternal birth of the Son is\nplaced in its created essence by the free will of the Holy Trinity,\nAnd here it is like the image of the sublime Trinity and Unity for\nwhich it is created. And in its created nature, it takes the\nimpression of its eternal image without interruption, like an\nimmaculate mirror in which every impression abides, and which renews\nthe likeness in itself without interruption. This essential unity of\nour spirit in God, exists not in itself, but abides in God and flows\nout from God, and is immanent in God and returns to God, as to its\neternal cause. It never separates itself from God, for this unity is\na fact of bare nature, and if nature separated itself from God it\nwould fall into nothingness. And this unity is above time and\nconditions, and works always without interruption according to the\nmode of God. This is the nobleness which we have naturally according\nto the essential unity of our spirit, where it is united naturally\nto God.\n\nThis makes us neither saints nor blessed, for all men have it in\nthem, the bad as well as the good; but it is the first cause of all\nholiness and bliss; and this is the meeting and unity of God in our\nspirit, in our base nature.\n\nHOW MAN IS LIKE GOD BY GRACE, AND UNLIKE HIM BY MORTAL SIN\n\nNOW examine this thought with care, for if you understand well what\nI wish to say to you, and what I have already said, you will\nunderstand all the divine truth which a creature can apprehend at\npresent, and even things far more sublime. In the second mode, our\nspirit keeps itself actively in this same unity, and subsists by\nitself as in its personal created essence. This is the foundation\nand origin of the supreme faculties, and this is the beginning and\nend of all the works of a created nature, accomplished according to\nthe mode of the creatures, both in nature and above nature.\n\nNevertheless this unity does not operate as unity; but all the\nfaculties of the soul have their power entirely in their\nfoundation--that is to say, in the unity of the spirit, where it\nresides in its personal essence. In this unity the spirit must\nalways be like unto God, by grace and virtue, or unlike Him by\nmortal sin; for man is made in the likeness of God, which he must\nunderstand in the sense of grace; for grace is a deiform light which\nshines through us and makes us like unto God; and without this light\nwe cannot be united supernaturally to God, even though we can never\nlose the image of God, nor our natural unity in Him. If we lose this\nlikeness--that is to say, grace, we are damned. And this is why, so\nsoon as God finds in us something which is capable of receiving His\ngrace, He wishes to enliven us by His goodness, and to make us like\nunto Himself by His gifts. And this happens whenever we turn towards\nHim with full purpose; for at the same moment Christ comes to us and\nin us, with and without intermediary--that is to say, by the virtues\nand above all the virtues. And He impresses His image and likeness\nupon us--that is to say, Himself and all His gifts, and He relieves\nus from sin and makes us like unto Himself.\n\nBy the same operation in which God relieves us from sin, and makes\nus like Him and free in charity, the spirit is plunged in joyous\nlove. And here take place a meeting and a union, which are without\nintermediaries and supernatural, and wherein resides our supreme\nblessedness. Although all that He gives by love and pure goodness is\nnatural to God, yet to us it is accidental and supernatural,\naccording to our mode, since formerly we were strangers and unlike,\nand only subsequently have become like God and obtained union with\nHim.\n\nON THE SUPREME DEGREE OF THE INTERIOR LIFE\n\nNOW understand. This incomprehensible light transforms and\npenetrates the joyous inclination of our spirit. In this light, the\nspirit is plunged in joyous repose; for this repose is without mode\nand without bottom, and we can only know it by itself--that is to\nsay, by repose. For if we could know it and conceive it, it would\nfall into mode and measure, and so would not be able to satisfy us,\nand repose would become an eternal restlessness. And this is why the\nsimple, loving, complete inclination of our spirit forms in us a\njoyous love, and joyous love is without bottom. And the abyss of God\ncalls to abyss; so it is with all those whose spirits are united to\nGod in joyous love. This calling is an irruption from His essential\nbrightness; and this essential brightness in the embrace of His\nbottomless love, causes us to lose ourselves and escape from\nourselves, in the lonely darkness of God. And thus united, without\nintermediary, to the spirit of God, we can meet God by God, and\npossess unchangeably, with Him and in Him, our eternal blessedness.\n\nON THE FIRST MODE OF THIS HIGHEST MEETING\n\nTHE most interior life is practised in three ways. Sometimes the\ninterior man operates, above all activity and all virtue, by simple\nintrospection in joyous love. And here he meets God without\nintermediary. And from the unity of God a simple light shines in\nhim, and this light shows him darkness, nakedness, and nothingness.\nHe is enveloped in darkness, and falls into the absence of mode as\none who loses his way. He loses, in nakedness, the power of\nobserving and distinguishing all things, and he is transformed and\npenetrated by a simple brightness. He loses, in nothingness, all his\nworks, for he is overcome in the work of the unlimited love of God;\nand in the joyous inclination of his spirit he triumphs in God and\nbecomes one spirit with Him. This is the first mode, which is\ninactive; for it empties a man of all things, and lifts him up above\nworks and virtues.\n\nON THE SECOND MODE\n\nTHERE are moments when the interior man turns desirously and\nactively towards God, to pay Him homage, and to offer up and\nannihilate, in the love of God, his being and all that he can give.\nAnd here he meets God, through an intermediary. This intermediary is\nthe gift of wisdom, which is the foundation and source of all the\nvirtues, and excites the just to virtues in proportion to their love;\nand sometimes it touches and inflames the interior man with love\nso violently, that all the gifts of God, and all that God can give\nwithout giving Himself, seem to him too little and do not satisfy\nhim, but only increase his impatience. For he has at the bottom of\nhis being an interior perception or sensation, wherein all the\nvirtues begin and end, and wherein he offers to God all the virtues,\nand wherein love lives. And thus the hunger and thirst of love\nbecome so great, that he is reduced to nothingness, and then touched\nanew, as it were for the first time, by the irradiation of God. Thus\nin living he dies and in dying he lives again. This is the second\nmode, and it is more useful and more glorious than the first; for\nnone can enter into the repose that is above action unless he has\nfirst actively loved love. And this is why none will be inactive,\nwho is master of himself and who is able to practise love.\n\nON THE THIRD MODE\n\nFROM these two kinds is born the third, which is an interior life\naccording to righteousness. Now understand. God comes to us without\ninterruption, with and. without intermediary, He requires of us\naction and joy, in such a way that action may not hinder joy, nor\njoy action, but that each may help the other. This is why the\ninterior man possesses his life in these two modes, repose and work.\nAnd in each of them he is entire and undivided; for he is entirely\nin God, in his joyous repose, and he is entirely in himself, in his\nactive love; and God warns him that He requires him to renew\ncontinually his repose and his work. The righteousness of the spirit\nwishes to pay, every hour, what God requires of us, and this is why,\nat every irradiation of God, the spirit turns inwards, actively and\njoyously, and so is renewed in all the virtues, and plunged more\ndeeply in joyous love. For God at every gift gives Himself with all\nHis gifts, and the spirit whenever it turns inwards, gives itself\nwith all its works. The spirit is united to God, and transferred\nwithout interruption into repose. The man is hungry, for he sees the\nnourishment of angels and the food of heaven. He works actively in\nlove, for he sees his repose. He is a pilgrim, and he sees his\ncountry. He fights, in love, for victory, for he sees his crown.\nConsolation, peace, joy, beauty, and riches, and all that can\nrejoice the heart, are shown to the reason illuminated by God, in\nspiritual similitudes and without measure. And by this vision, at\nthe touch of God, love remains active. For this just man has built\nup, in the spirit, a true life, which will last eternally, but after\nthis life it will be transformed into a more sublime state. Thus the\nman is just, and he goes towards God by interior love in eternal\nwork, and he goes in God by joyous inclination, in eternal repose.\nAnd he abides in God, and yet he goes out towards all the creatures,\nin common love, in the virtues, and in the works of justice. This is\nthe supreme summit of the inner life.\n\nNote.--Here follow in Ruysbroek's treatise four chapters of warnings\nagainst the errors of Quietism, such as were exemplified in his time\nby many of the Brethren of the Free Spirit and similar sects.\n\nBOOK III\n\nTHE THREE CONDITIONS BY WHICH WE MAY ATTAIN TO THE CONTEMPLATIVE\nLIFE\n\nTHE interior lover of God, who possesses God in joyous repose, and\npossesses himself in the unity of active love, and possesses all his\nlife in the virtues, enters into the contemplative life, thanks to\nthese three points and to the secret manifestation of God; yes, it\nis the internal and devout lover, whom God will choose freely and\nlift him up even to a superessential contemplation in divine light\nand according to the mode of God. This contemplation places us in a\npurity and brightness above all intelligence, for it is a singular\nornament and a celestial crown, and at last the eternal recompense\nof all the virtues and of all life. And none can arrive there by\nknowledge or subtlety, nor by any exercise; but he whom God wills to\nunite to His own Spirit and to illuminate by Himself, can\ncontemplate God, and none other can. To such an one the heavenly\nFather says, in the secret and submerged part of the spirit: \"See,\nthe Bridegroom cometh, go forth to meet Him.\"\n\nI wish to analyse and explain these words, in their relation to\nsuperessential contemplation, which is the basis of all holiness and\nof the perfect life. Very few men attain to this divine\ncontemplation, by reason of our incapacity, and the mystery of the\nlight in which contemplation takes place. And this is why no one, by\nhis own knowledge or by any subtle examination, will understand\nthese ideas. For all words, and all that can be learned and\nunderstood according to the mode of the creatures, are strangers to\nthe truth which I speak of, and far below it. But he who is united\nto God, and illuminated in this truth, can comprehend the truth by\nitself. For to conceive and understand God above all similitudes, as\nHe is in Himself, is to be God in God, without intermediary and\nwithout any difference which might prove an obstacle. This is why I\ndesire that every man who does not understand this, nor experience\nit in the joyous unity of his spirit, may not be wounded by my\nwords, for what I say is true. And this is why he who wishes to\nunderstand this, must be dead to himself and alive to God, and he\nwill turn his face to the eternal light, at the bottom of his\nspirit, where the hidden truth is manifested without intermediary.\nFor the heavenly Father wishes that we should be seeing; for He is\nthe Father of Light, and this is why He says eternally, without\ninterruption and without intermediary, one abysmal word and no\nother. In this word He proffers Himself and all things. The word is:\n\"See.\" And it is the going forth and the birth of the Son of the\neternal light, in whom we see and recognise all our blessedness.\n\nHOW A MAN OUGHT TO EXERCISE HIMSELF, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ETERNAL\nLIGHT AND TO CONTEMPLATE GOD\n\nIN order that the spirit may contemplate God by God, without\nintermediary, in this Divine light, three things are necessary.\nFirst, the man must be well governed externally in all the virtues,\nand without obstacles within, and as free from all external works as\nif he did them not; for if he is troubled within by any act of\nvirtue, he has images, and so long as they remain in him he cannot\ncontemplate. In the second place, he must adhere internally to God,\nby the combination of intention and of love, like a burning fire,\nwhich can never more be extinguished. At the moment when he feels\nhimself in this state, he can contemplate. In the third place, he\nshould be lost in an absence of mode, and in a darkness, in which\nall contemplatives wander joyously, and can never find themselves\nagain according to the mode of the creatures. In the abyss of this\ndarkness, where the loving spirit is dead to itself, begin the\nmanifestation of God and of eternal life. For in this darkness is\nborn and shines an incomprehensible light, which is the Son of God,\nin whom we see eternal life. And in this light we become seeing; and\nthis Divine light is given in the simple vision of the spirit, in\nwhich the spirit receives the clearness which is God Himself,\nwithout intermediary, and becomes without interruption this\nclearness which it receives. See; this dark clearness, in which we\ncontemplate all that we desire, while the spirit is passive,--this\nclearness is so great than the loving contemplative, in the depth\nwhere he reposes, sees and experiences nothing save an\nincomprehensible light, and according to the simple nudity which\nenvelopes all things, he sees and apprehends the same light by which\nhe sees, and nothing else. This is the first condition of becoming\nseeing in the Divine light. Happy are the eyes which thus see, for\nthey have eternal life.\n\nHOW THE ETERNAL BIRTH OF GOD IS RENEWED WITHOUT INTERRUPTION IN\nNOBLENESS OF SPIRIT\n\nWHEN we have thus become seeing, we can contemplate in joy the\neternal coming of the Bridegroom, and this is the second point on\nwhich I wish to speak. What is then this coming of the Bridegroom\nwhich is eternal? It is a new birth and a new illumination without\ninterruption; for the foundation out of which the clearness shines,\nand which is the clearness itself, is living and fruitful; and this\nis why the manifestation of the eternal light is renewed without\ninterruption, in the most secret part of the spirit. See; every\ncreaturely work, and every exercise of virtue must here submit\nthemselves, for God works alone in the highest part of the spirit.\nThere is nought here but an eternal contemplation and fixity of\nlight, by light, and in light. And the coming of the Bridegroom is\nso swift that He comes always, and is immanent with His unfathomable\nriches, and comes back ever anew, in person, with such new\nsplendours that He seems never to have come before. For His coming\nconsists in an eternal Now, transcending time, and He is always\nreceived with new desire and new joy. The delights and joy which\nthis Bridegroom brings at His coming are without bottom and without\nlimits, for they are Himself. This is why the eyes of the spirit, by\nwhich the lover contemplates the Bridegroom, are open so wide that\nthey will never more be shut. For the contemplation and fixity of\nthe spirit remain eternal in the hidden manifestation of God. And\nthe contemplation of the spirit is so widely opened, while waiting\nfor the coming of the Bridegroom, that the spirit itself acquires\nthe amplitude of that which it comprehends. And in this way, God is\nseen and comprehended by God, in which all our salvation and\nblessedness consists. This is the second manner in which we receive,\nwithout interruption in our spirit, the eternal coming of our\nBridegroom.\n\nON THE ETERNAL GOING FORTH WHICH WE POSSESS IN THE BIRTH OF THE SON\n\nNOW the Spirit of God saith, in the secret depths of our spirit:\n\"Go forth,\" in an eternal contemplation and joy, according to the\nmode of God. All the wealth which is in God naturally, we possess in\nHim by love; and God possesses it in us, by His boundless Love,\nwhich is the Holy Spirit. For in this love all is tasted that can be\ndesired. And this is why, thanks to this love, we are dead to\nourselves, and have gone forth in loving liquefaction or immersion,\nin the absence of mode and in darkness. There the spirit, enveloped\nby the Holy Trinity, is eternally immanent in the superessential\nunity, in repose and in joy. And in this same unity, according to\nthe mode of generation, the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the\nFather, and every creature in them both. And this is above the\ndistinction of Persons, for here we understand by reason the\nfatherhood and sonship in the lively fruitfulness of nature.\n\nHere is born and begins an eternal going forth, and an eternal work\nwithout beginning, for there is here a beginning without beginning.\nFor by means of the eternal birth of the Son, the Word of the\nFather, all creatures have gone forth eternally, before they were\ncreated in time, and God has considered and recognised them\ndistinctly in Himself, in lively reason, and in distinction from\nHimself: but not in another mode, for all that is in God is God.\nThis eternal going forth and this eternal life, which we have and\nare eternally in God, without ourselves, is the cause of our created\nessence in time. And our created essence is immanent in the eternal\nessence, and this eternal life, which we have and are in the eternal\nwisdom of God, is like unto God; for they have an eternal immanence,\nwithout distinction, in the divine essence. And they have an eternal\neffluence by the birth of the Son, in a difference with distinction,\naccording to the eternal reason. And thanks to these two things, a\nman is in this way like unto God, that he recognises himself and\nreflects on himself without interruption, in this resemblance,\naccording to essence and according to the Persons. For though here\nthere is still distinction and difference, according to reason, this\nresemblance is nevertheless one with the very image of the Holy\nTrinity, which is the wisdom of God, and wherein God contemplates\nHimself and all things in an eternal Now, without before or after.\nIn simple vision He regards Himself as He regards all things. And\nthis is the image and likeness of God, and our image and likeness,\nfor in it God and all things are reflected. In this divine image,\nall the creatures, without themselves, have an eternal life, as in\ntheir eternal model, and the Holy Trinity has made us in this\neternal image and likeness. And this is why God wishes that we\nshould go out from ourselves, in this eternal light, and that we\nshould pursue this image, which is our true life, supernaturally,\nand possess it with Him actively and joyously, in eternal\nblessedness.\n\nFor we know well that the bosom of the Father is our foundation and\norigin, wherein we begin our life and our being. And from our true\nfoundation--that is to say, from the Father and from all that lives\nin Him, beams forth an eternal radiance, which is the birth of the\nSon. In this radiance, the Father manifests Himself, and all that\nlives in Himself, to Himself; for all that He is, and all that He\nhas, He gives to the Son, except the prerogative of fatherhood,\nwhich resides in Himself. And this is why all that lives in the\nFather hidden in the Unity, lives also in the Son, and flows forth\nin His manifestation; but the simple foundation of our eternal image\nremains always without mode in the darkness. But the boundless\nradiance which shines out thence manifests and reflects in the mode\nthe mystery of God. And all men who are raised above their\ncreatureliness into a contemplative life, are united to this divine\nsplendour. And they are this splendour itself, and they see,\nexperience, and find, thanks to this divine radiance, that they are\nthis same simple foundation, according to their uncreated essence,\nfrom which shines forth, in the divine mode, this immeasurable\nradiance, which, according to simplicity of essence, remains\neternally within, and without mode. This is why interior men and\ncontemplatives will go forth, according to the mode of\ncontemplation, above distinction and above their created essence, by\nmeans of an eternal intuition. Thanks to this inborn light, they are\ntransformed, and are united to this same light by which they see and\nwhich they see. In this manner contemplatives pursue the eternal\nimage, after which they are made, and contemplate God and all things\nwithout distinction, by a pure vision in divine brightness. This is\nthe most sublime and the most useful contemplation which we can\nattain in this life; for in this contemplation a man remains the\nbest and freest master of himself, and at each loving introversion,\nabove all that we can comprehend, he can advance in the sublimities\nof life, for he remains free and master of himself, in unity and in\nthe virtues. And this contemplation in the divine light maintains\nhim above all inwardness, above all virtue, above all merit, for it\nis the crown and recompense towards which we are striving, and which\nwe already have and possess in this mode, for the contemplative life\nis a celestial life. But if we shall be drawn up out of this exile\nand this misery, we shall be, according to our created nature, more\nsusceptible of this radiance, and then the glory of God would shine\nthrough us better and more sublimely. This is the mode above all\nmodes, according to which we go forth in a divine contemplation and\nin an eternal stability, and according to which we are transformed\nand reformed in the divine radiance. This going forth of the\ncontemplative is also loving; for by joyous love he surpasses his\ncreated essence, and finds and tastes the riches and delights which\nare God, and which He causes to flow without interruption into the\nmost secret part of the spirit, into the place where he is like the\nsublimity of God.\n\nON THE DIVINE MEETING, WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE MOST SECRET PART OF\nOUR SPIRIT\n\nWHEN the interior man and contemplative has thus pursued his eternal\nimage, and possessed in this purity the bosom of the Father by the\nSon, he is illuminated by the divine truth, and receives anew at\neach instant the eternal birth; and he goes forth according to the\nmode of light, in a divine contemplation. And here arises the fourth\nand last point--that is to say, the loving meeting, in which before\nall else resides our eternal blessedness.\n\nYou know that our heavenly Father, like a living foundation, is\nactively inclined towards His Son, as towards His own eternal\nwisdom. And this same wisdom, and all that lives therein, is\nactively inclined in the Father--that is to say, in the foundation\nwhence it proceeds. And in this meeting arises the Third Person,\nbetween the Father and the Son, and this is the Holy Spirit, their\nmutual love, which is united to them both in the same nature. And He\nenvelopes and penetrates, actively and joyously, the Father and the\nSon and all that lives in them with such riches and such joy, that\nall the creatures must be silent thereupon eternally, for the\nincomprehensible marvel of this love surpasses eternally the\nintelligence of all the creatures. But where we comprehend and taste\nthis amazement, without being amazed, there the spirit is above\nitself, and one with the Spirit of God, and it tastes and sees,\nwithout measure, like God, the riches which He is Himself in the\nunity of the living foundation, where He possesses Himself according\nto the unity of His uncreated essence.\n\nNow this delightful meeting is without interruption actively renewed\nin us, according to the mode of God, for the Father gives Himself in\nthe Son, and the Son in the Father, in an eternal gratification and\na loving embrace, and this is renewed at every hour in the ties of\nlove; for even as the Father without interruption contemplates anew\nall things in the birth of His Son, so all things are beloved anew,\nby the Father and the Son, through the influence of the Holy Spirit.\nAnd this is the eternal meeting of the Father and the Son, in which\nwe are lovingly wrapped by the Holy Spirit in eternal love.\n\nNow this active meeting and this loving embrace are, in their\nfoundation, joyous and without mode, for God's infinite absence of\nmode is so obscure and so destitute of mode, that it envelopes in\nitself every divine mode and every work, and the individuality of\nthe Persons, in the rich envelopment of essential unity, and forms a\ndivine rejoicing in the abyss of the unnameable. And here there is a\njoyous and outflowing immersion in the essential nakedness, where\nall the divine names and all the modes, and all divine reason,\nreflected in the mirror of the divine truth, fall into simple\nineffability, in the absence of mode and of reason. For in this\nboundless abyss of simplicity, all things are enveloped in joyous\nblessedness, and the abyss remains itself uncomprehended save by the\nessential unity. Before this essential unity, the Persons must give\nway, and all that lives in God. For here is nought but an eternal\nrest, in a joyous envelopment of loving immersion, and this is the\nessence, without mode, which all interior spirits have chosen above\nall other things. It is the dark silence in which all lovers are\nlost. But if we could prepare ourselves thus for the virtues, we\nshould unclothe ourselves, so to speak, from life, and should float\non the wide expanses of this divine sea, and created things would no\nlonger have power to touch us.\n\nMay we be able to possess, rejoicing, the essential unity, and\nclearly to contemplate the Unity in Trinity; and may the divine\nlove, which rejects no suppliant, grant us this. Amen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHEOLOGIA GERMANICA\n\n\n\n\n\nSIN AND SELFISHNESS\n\nSIN is nothing else but the turning away of the creature from the\nunchangeable Good to the changeable; from the perfect to the\nimperfect, and most often to itself. And when the creature claims\nfor its own anything good, such as substance, life, knowledge, or\npower, as if it were that, or possessed it, or as if that proceeded\nfrom itself, it goeth astray. What else did the devil do, and what\nwas his error and fall, except that he claimed for himself to be\nsomething, and that something was his and was due to him? This claim\nof his--this \"I, me, and mine,\" were his error and his fall. And so\nit is to this day. For what else did Adam do? It is said that Adam\nwas lost, or fell, because he ate the apple. I say, it was because\nhe claimed something for his own, because of his \"I, me, and mine.\"\nIf he had eaten seven apples, and yet never claimed anything for his\nown, he would not have fallen: but as soon as he called something\nhis own, he fell, and he would have fallen, though he had never\ntouched an apple. I have fallen a hundred times more often and more\ngrievously than Adam; and for his fall all mankind could not make\namends. How then shall my fall be amended? It must be healed even as\nAdam's fall was healed. And how, and by whom, was that healing\nwrought? Man could not do it without God, and God could not do it\nwithout man. Therefore God took upon Himself human nature; He was\nmade man, and man was made God. Thus was the healing effected. So\nalso must my fall be healed. I cannot do the work without God, and\nHe may not or will not do it without me. If it is to be done, God\nmust be made man in me also; God must take into Himself all that is\nin me, both within and without, so that there may be nothing in me\nwhich strives against God or hinders His work. Now if God took to\nHimself all men who are or ever lived in the world, and was made man\nin them, and they were deified in Him, and this work were not\naccomplished in me, my fall and my error would never be healed\nunless this were accomplished in me also. And in this bringing back\nand healing I can and shall do nothing of myself; I shall simply\ncommit myself to God, so that He alone may do and work all things in\nme, and that I may suffer Him, and all His work, and His divine\nwill. And because I will not do this, but consider myself to be mine\nown, and \"I, me, and mine,\" and the like, God is impeded, and cannot\ndo His work in me alone and without let or hindrance; this is why my\nfall and error remain unhealed. All comes of my claiming something\nfor my own. ii., iii.\n\nTHE TWO EYES\n\nWe should remember the saying that the soul of Christ had two eyes,\na right eye and a left eye. In the beginning, when the soul of\nChrist was created, she fixed her right eye upon eternity and the\nGodhead, and remained in the full beholding and fruition of the\nDivine essence and eternal perfection; and thus remained unmoved by\nall the accidents and labours, the suffering, anguish, and pain,\nthat befell the outer man. But with the left eye she looked upon the\ncreation, and beheld all things that are therein, and observed how\nthe creatures differ from each other, how they are better or worse,\nnobler or baser; and after this manner was the outer man of Christ\nordered. Thus the inner man of Christ, according to the right eye of\nHis soul, stood in the full exercise of His Divine nature, in\nperfect blessedness, joy, and eternal peace. But the outer man and\nthe left eye of the soul of Christ stood with Him in perfect\nsuffering, in all His tribulations, afflictions and labours; in such\na way that the inner or right eye remained unmoved, unimpeded and\nuntouched by all the labour, suffering, woe, and misery that\nhappened to the outer man. It has been said that when Jesus was\nbound to the pillar and scourged, and when He hung on the cross,\naccording to the outer man, the inner man, a soul according to the\nright eye, stood in as full possession of Divine joy and blessedness\nas it did after the ascension, or as it does now. Even so His outer\nman, or soul according to the left eye, was never impeded,\ndisturbed, or troubled by the inward eye in its contemplation of the\noutward things which pertained to it. The created soul of man has\nalso two eyes. The one is the power of looking into eternity, the\nother the power of looking into time and the creatures, of\nperceiving how they differ from each other, of giving sustenance and\nother things necessary to the body, and ordering and ruling it for\nthe best. But these two eyes of the soul cannot both perform their\noffice at once; if the soul would look with the right eye into\neternity, the left eye must be shut, and must cease to work: it must\nbe as if it were dead. For if the left eye is discharging its office\ntowards outward things--if it is holding conversation with time and\nthe creatures--then the right eye must be impeded in its working,\nwhich is contemplation. Therefore, he who would have one must let\nthe other go; for no man can serve two masters. vii.\n\nA FORETASTE OF ETERNAL LIFE\n\nSome have asked whether it is possible for the soul, while it is\nstill in the body, to reach so great a height as to gaze into\neternity, and receive a foretaste of eternal life and blessedness.\nThis is commonly denied; and in a sense the denial is true. For\nindeed it cannot come about, so long as the soul is occupied with\nthe body, and the things which minister to the body and belong to\nit, and to time and created things, and is disturbed and troubled\nand distracted by them. For the soul that would mount to such a\nstate, must be quite pure, entirely stripped and bare of all images;\nit must be wholly separate from all creatures, and above all from\nitself. Many think that this is impossible in this present life. But\nSt Dionysius claims that it is possible, as we find from his words\nin his letter to Timothy, where he says: \"In order to behold the\nhidden things of God, thou shalt forsake sense and the things of the\nflesh, and all that can be perceived by the senses, and all that\nreason can bring forth by her own power, and all things created and\nuncreated which reason can know and comprehend, and thou shalt stand\nupon an utter abandonment of thyself, as if thou knewest none of\nthose things which I have mentioned, and thou shalt enter into union\nwith Him who is, and who is above all existence and knowledge.\" If\nhe did not think this to be possible in this present time, why did\nhe teach it and urge it upon us in this present time? But you ought\nto know that a master has said, about this passage of St Dionysius,\nthat it is possible, and may come to a man so often that he may\nbecome accustomed to it, and be able to gaze into eternity whenever\nhe will. And a single one of these glances is better, worthier,\nhigher, and more pleasing to God than all that the creature can do\nas a creature. He who has attained to it asks for nothing more, for\nhe has found the kingdom of heaven and eternal life here on earth.\nviii.\n\nDESCENT INTO HELL\n\nEven as the soul of Christ had to descend into hell, before it\nascended into heaven, so must the soul of man. And mark how this\ncomes to pass. When a man truly perceives and considers who and what\nhe is, and finds himself wholly base and wicked, and unworthy of all\nthe consolation and kindness that he ever received, either from God\nor from the creatures, he falls into such a profound abasement and\ncontempt for himself, that he thinks himself unworthy to walk upon\nthe earth; he feels that he deserves that all creatures should rise\nagainst him and avenge their Maker upon him with punishments and\ntorments; nay, even that were too good for him. And therefore he\nwill not and dare not desire any consolation or release, either from\nGod or any creature; he is willing to be unconsoled and unreleased,\nand he does not lament for his condemnation and punishment, for they\nare right and just, and in accordance with God's will. Nothing\ngrieves him but his own guilt and wickedness; for that is not right,\nand is contrary to God's will: for this reason he is heavy and\ntroubled. This is the meaning of true repentance for sin. And the\nman who in this life enters into this hell, enters afterwards into\nthe kingdom of heaven, and has a foretaste of it which exceeds all\nthe delights and happiness which he has ever had, or could have,\nfrom the things of time. But while a man is in this hell, no one can\ncomfort him, neither God, nor the creatures. Of this condition it\nhas been written, \"Let me die, let me perish! I live without hope;\nfrom within and from without I am condemned, let no man pray for my\ndeliverance.\" Now God has not forsaken a man, while he is in this\nhell, but He is laying His hand upon him, that he may desire nothing\nbut the eternal Good only, and may discover that this is so noble\nand exceedingly good, that its blessedness cannot be searched out\nnor expressed, comfort and joy, peace, rest, and satisfaction. When,\ntherefore, the man cares for and seeks and desires the eternal Good\nand nought beside, and seeks not himself, nor his own things, but\nthe glory of God only, he is made to partake of every kind of joy,\nblessedness, peace, rest, and comfort, and from that time forward is\nin the kingdom of God.\n\nThis hell and this heaven are two good safe ways for a man in this\npresent life, and he is happy who truly finds them. For this hell\nshall pass away, but this heaven shall abide for evermore. Let a man\nalso observe, that when he is in this hell, nothing can console him;\nand he cannot believe that he shall ever be delivered or comforted.\nBut when he is in heaven, nothing can disturb him: he believes that\nno one will ever be able to offend or trouble him again, though it\nis indeed possible that he may again be troubled and left\nunconsoled.\n\nThis heaven and hell come upon a man in such a way, that he knows\nnot whence they come; and he can do nothing himself towards making\nthem either come or depart. He can neither give them to himself, nor\ntake them away from himself, neither bring them nor drive them away;\neven as it is written, \"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou\nhearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or\nwhither it goeth.\" And when a man is in either of these two states,\nall is well with him, and he is as safe in hell as in heaven. And\nwhile a man is in the world, it is possible for him to pass many\ntimes from the one state into the other--even within a day and\nnight, and without any motion of his own. But when a man is in\nneither of these two states, he holds intercourse with the\ncreatures, and is carried this way and that, and knows not what\nmanner of man he is. A man should therefore never forget either of\nthese states, but carry the memory of them in his heart. xi.\n\nTHE THREE STAGES\n\nBe well assured that none can be illuminated, unless he be first\ncleansed, purified, or stripped. Also none can be united to God\nunless he be first illuminated. There are therefore three\nstages--first, the purification; secondly, the illumination; and\nthirdly, the union. The purification belongs to those who are\nbeginning or repenting. It is effected in three ways; by repentance\nand sorrow for sin, by full confession, and by hearty amendment. The\nillumination belongs to those who are growing, and it also is\neffected in three ways; by the renunciation of sin, by the practice\nof virtue and good works, and by willing endurance of all trials and\ntemptations. The union belongs to those who are perfect, and this\nalso is effected in three ways; by pureness and singleness of heart,\nby love, and by the contemplation of God, the Creator of all things.\nxiv.\n\nTHE LIFE OF CHRIST\n\nWe ought truly to know and believe that no life is so noble, or\ngood, or pleasing to God, as the life of Christ. And yet it is to\nnature and selfishness the most bitter of all lives. For to nature,\nand selfishness, and the Me, a life of careless freedom is the\nsweetest and pleasantest, but it is not the best; indeed, in some\nmen it may be the worst. But the life of Christ, though it be the\nbitterest of all, should be preferred above all. And hereby ye shall\nknow this. There is an inward sight which is able to perceive the\none true good, how that it is neither this nor that, but that it is\nthat of which St Paul says: \"When that which is perfect is come,\nthen that which is in part shall be done away.\" By this he signifies\nthat what is whole and perfect excels all the parts, and that all\nwhich is imperfect, and in part, is as nothing compared to what is\nperfect. In like manner, all knowledge of the parts is swallowed up\nwhen the whole is known. And where the good is known, it cannot fail\nto be desired and loved so greatly, that all other love, with which\na man has loved himself, and other things, vanishes away. Moreover,\nthat inward sight perceives what is best and noblest in all things,\nand loves it in the one true good, and for the sake of the true good\nalone. Where this inward sight exists, a man perceives truly that\nthe life of Christ is the best and noblest life, and that it is\ntherefore to be chosen above all others; and therefore he willingly\naccepts and endures it, without hesitation or complaining, whether\nit is pleasing or displeasing to nature and other men, and whether\nhe himself likes or dislikes it, and finds it sweet or bitter.\nTherefore, whenever this perfect and true good is known, the life of\nChrist must be followed, until the decease of the body. If any man\nvainly deems otherwise, he is deceived, and if any man says\notherwise, he tells a lie; and in whatever man the life of Christ is\nnot, he will never know the true good or the eternal truth.\n\nBut let no one imagine that we can attain to this true light and\nperfect knowledge, and to the life of Christ, by much questioning,\nor by listening to others, or by reading and study, or by ability\nand deep learning. For so long as a man is occupied with anything\nwhich is this or that, whether it be himself or any other creature;\nor does anything, or forms plans, or opinions, or objects, he comes\nnot to the life of Christ. Christ Himself declared as much, for He\nsaid: \"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take\nup his cross, and follow Me.\" \"And if any man hate not his father\nand mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and\nhis own life also, he cannot be my disciple.\" He means this: \"He who\ndoes not give up and abandon everything can never know My eternal\ntruth, nor attain to My life.\" And even if this had not been\ndeclared to us, the truth itself proclaims it, for so verily it is.\nBut as long as a man holds fast to the rudiments and fragments of\nthis world, and above all to himself, and is conversant with them,\nand sets great store by them, he is deceived and blinded, and\nperceives what is good only in so far as is convenient and agreeable\nto himself and profitable to his own objects.\n\nSince then the life of Christ is in all ways most bitter to nature\nand the self and the Me--for in the true life of Christ nature and\nthe self and the Me must be abandoned and lost and suffered to die\ncompletely--therefore in all of us nature has a horror of it, and\ndeems it evil and unjust and foolish; and she strives after such a\nlife as shall be most agreeable and pleasant to ourselves; and says,\nand believes too in her blindness, that such a life is the best of\nall. Now nothing is so agreeable and pleasant to nature as a free\nand careless manner of life. To this therefore she clings, and takes\nenjoyment in herself and her powers, and thinks only of her own\npeace and comfort. And this is especially likely to happen, when a\nman has high natural gifts of reason, for reason mounts up in its\nown light and by its own power, till at last it comes to think\nitself the true eternal light, and gives itself out to be such; and\nit is thus deceived in itself, and deceives others at the same time,\npeople who know no better and are prone to be so deceived.\nxviii.-xx.\n\nUNION WITH GOD\n\nIn what does union with God consist? It means that we should be\nindeed purely, simply, and wholly at one with the one eternal Will\nof God, or altogether without will, so that the created will should\nflow out into the eternal Will and be swallowed up and lost in it,\nso that the eternal Will alone should do and leave undone in us. Now\nobserve what may be of use to us in attaining this object. Religious\nexercises cannot do this, nor words, nor works, nor any creature or\nwork done by a creature. We must therefore give up and renounce all\nthings, suffering them to be what they are, and enter into union\nwith God. Yet the outward things must be; and sleeping and waking,\nwalking and standing still, speaking and being silent, must go on as\nlong as we live.\n\nBut when this union truly comes to pass and is established, the\ninner man henceforth stands immoveable in this union; as for the\nouter man, God allows him to be moved hither and thither, from this\nto that, among things which are necessary and right. So the outer\nman says sincerely, \"I have no wish to be or not to be, to live or\ndie, to know or be ignorant, to do or leave undone; I am ready for\nall that is to be or ought to be, and obedient to whatever I have to\ndo or suffer.\" Thus the outer man has no purpose except to do what\nin him lies to further the eternal Will. As for the inner man, it is\ntruly perceived that he shall stand immoveable, though the outer\nman must needs be moved. And if the inner man has any explanation of\nthe actions of the outer man, he says only that such things as are\nordained by the eternal Will must be and ought to be. It is thus\nwhen God Himself dwells in a man; as we plainly see in the case of\nChrist. Moreover, where there is this union, which is the outflow of\nthe Divine light and dwells in its beams, there is no spiritual\npride nor boldness of spirit, but unbounded humility and a lowly\nbroken heart; there is also an honest and blameless walk, justice,\npeace, contentment, and every virtue. Where these are not, there is\nno true union. For even as neither this thing nor that can bring\nabout or further this union, so nothing can spoil or hinder it,\nexcept the man himself with his self-will, which does him this great\ninjury. Be well assured of this. xxvii., xxviii.\n\nTHE FALSE LIGHT\n\nNow I must tell you what the False Light is, and what belongs to it.\nAll that is contrary to the true light belongs to the false. It\nbelongs of necessity to the true light that it never seeks to\ndeceive, nor consents that anyone should be injured or deceived; and\nit cannot be deceived itself. But the false light both deceives\nothers, and is deceived itself. Even as God deceives no man, and\nwills not that any should be deceived, so it is with His true light.\nThe true light is God or Divine, but the false light is nature or\nnatural. It belongeth to God, that He is neither this nor that, and\nthat He requires nothing in the man whom He has made to be partaker\nin the Divine nature, except goodness as goodness and for the sake\nof goodness. This is the token of the true light. But it belongs to\nthe creature, and to nature, to be something, this or that, and to\nintend and seek something, this or that, and not simply what is good\nwithout asking Why. And as God and the true light are without all\nself-will, selfishness, and self-Seeking, so the \"I, Me, and Mine\"\nbelong to the false light, which in everything seeks itself and its\nown ends, and not goodness for the sake of goodness. This is the\ncharacter of the natural or carnal man in each of us. Now observe\nhow it first comes to be deceived. It does not desire or choose\ngoodness for its own sake, but desires and chooses itself and its\nown ends rather than the highest good; and this is an error and the\nfirst deception. Secondly, it fancies itself to be God, when it is\nnothing but nature. And because it feigns itself to be God, it takes\nto itself what belongs to God; and not that which belongs to God\nwhen He is made man, or when He dwells in a Godlike man; but that\nwhich belongs to God as He is in eternity without the creature. God,\nthey say, and say truly, needs nothing, is free, exempt from toil,\napart by Himself, above all things: He is unchangeable, immoveable,\nand whatever He does is well done. \"so will I be,\" says the false\nlight. \"The more like one is to God, the better one is; I therefore\nwill be like God and will be God, and will sit and stand at His\nright hand.\" This is what Lucifer the Evil Spirit also said. Now God\nin eternity is without contradiction, suffering, and grief, and\nnothing can injure or grieve Him. But with God as He is made man it\nis otherwise. The false light thinks itself to be above all works,\nwords, customs, laws, and order, and above the life which Christ led\nin the body which He possessed in His human nature. It also claims\nto be unmoved by any works of the creatures; it cares not whether\nthey be good or bad, for God or against Him; it keeps itself aloof\nfrom all things, and deems it fitting that all creatures should\nserve it. Further, it says that it has risen beyond the life of\nChrist according to the flesh, and that outward things can no longer\ntouch or pain it, even as it was with Christ after the Resurrection.\nMany other strange and false notions it cherishes. Moreover, this\nfalse light says that it has risen above conscience and the sense of\nsin, and that whatever it does is right. One of the so-called \"Free\nSpirits\" even said that if he had killed ten men, he would have as\nlittle sense of guilt as if he had killed a dog. This false light,\nin so far as it fancies itself to be God, is Lucifer, the Evil\nSpirit; but in so far as it makes of no account the life of Christ,\nit is Antichrist. It says, indeed, that Christ was without sense of\nsin, and that therefore we should be so. We may reply that Satan\nalso is without sense of sin, and is none the better for that. What\nis a sense of sin? It is when we perceive that man has turned away\nfrom God in his will, and that this is man's fault, not God's, for\nGod is guiltless of sin. Now, who knows himself to be free from sin,\nsave Christ only? Scarce will any other affirm this. So he who is\nwithout sense of sin is either Christ or the Evil Spirit. But where\nthe true light is, there is a true and just life such as God loves.\nAnd if a man's life is not perfect, as was that of Christ, still it\nis modelled and built on His, and His life is loved, together with\nmodesty, order, and the other virtues, and all self-will, the \"I,\nMe, and Mine,\" is lost; nothing is devised or sought for except\ngoodness for its own sake. But where the false light is, men no\nlonger regard the life of Christ and the virtues, but they seek and\npurpose what is convenient and pleasant to nature. From this arises\na false liberty, whereby men become regardless of everything. For\nthe true light is the seed of God, and bringeth forth the fruits of\nGod; but the false light is the seed of the Devil, and where it is\nsown, the fruits of the Devil, nay the very Devil himself, spring\nup. xl.\n\nLIGHT AND LOVE\n\nIt may be asked, What is it like to be a partaker of the Divine\nnature, or a Godlike man? The answer is, that he who is steeped in,\nor illuminated by, the eternal and Divine Light, and kindled or\nconsumed by the eternal and Divine Love, is a Godlike man and a\npartaker of the Divine nature. But this light or knowledge is of no\navail without love. You may understand this if you remember that a\nman who knows very well the difference between virtue and\nwickedness, but does not love virtue, is not virtuous, in that he\nobeys vice. But he who loves virtue follows after it, and his love\nmakes him an enemy to wickedness, so that he will not perform any\nwicked act and hates wickedness in others; and he loves virtue so\nthat he would not leave any virtue unperformed even if he had the\nchoice, not for the sake of reward, but from love of virtue. To such\na man virtue brings its own reward, and he is content with it, and\nwould part with it for no riches. Such a man is already virtuous, or\nin the way to become so. And the truly virtuous man would not cease\nto be so to gain the whole world. He would rather die miserably. The\ncase of justice is the same. Many men know well what is just and\nunjust, but yet neither are nor ever will be just men. For they love\nnot justice, and therefore practise wickedness and injustice. If a\nman loved justice, he would do no unjust deed; he would feel so\ngreat abhorrence and anger against injustice whenever he saw it that\nhe would be willing to do and suffer anything in order to put an end\nto injustice, and that men might be made just. He would rather die\nthan commit an injustice, and all for love of justice. To him,\njustice brings her own reward, she rewards him with herself, and so\nthe just man would rather die a thousand deaths than live as an\nunjust man. The same may be said of truth. A man may know very well\nwhat is truth or a lie, but if he loves not the truth, he is not a\ntrue man. If, however, he loves it, it is with truth as with\njustice. And of justice Isaiah speaks in the fifth chapter: \"Woe\nunto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for\nlight, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet\nfor bitter.\" Thus we may understand that knowledge and light avail\nnothing without love. We see the truth of this in the case of the\nEvil One. He perceives and knows good and evil, right and wrong: but\nsince he has no love for the good that he sees, he becomes not good.\nIt is true indeed that Love must be led and instructed by knowledge,\nbut if knowledge is not followed by Love, it will be of no avail. So\nalso with God and Divine things. Although a man know much about God\nand Divine things, and even dream that he sees and understands what\nGod Himself is, yet if he have not Love, he will never become like\nGod or a partaker of the Divine nature. But if Love be added to his\nknowledge, he cannot help cleaving to God, and forsaking all that is\nnot God or from God, and hating it and fighting with it, and finding\nit a cross and burden. And this Love so unites a man to God, that he\ncan never again be separated from Him. xli.\n\nPARADISE\n\nWhat is Paradise? All things that are. For all things are good and\npleasant, and may therefore fitly be called Paradise. It is also\nsaid, that Paradise is an outer court of heaven. In the same way,\nthis world is truly an outer court of the eternal, or of eternity;\nand this is specially true of any temporal things or creatures which\nmanifest the Eternal or remind us of eternity; for the creatures are\na guide and path to God and eternity. Thus the world is an outer\ncourt of eternity, and therefore it may well be called a Paradise,\nfor so indeed it is. And in this Paradise all things are lawful\nexcept one tree and its fruit. That is to say, of all things that\nexist, nothing is forbidden or contrary to God, except one thing\nonly. That one thing is self-will, or to will otherwise than as the\neternal Will would have it. Remember this. For God says to Adam\n(that is, to every man) \"Whatever thou art, or doest, or leavest\nundone, or whatever happens, is lawful if it be done for the sake of\nand according to My will, and not according to thy will. But all\nthat is done from thy will is contrary to the eternal Will.\" Not\nthat everything which is so done is in itself contrary to the\neternal Will, but in so far as it is done from a different will, or\notherwise than from the Eternal and Divine Will. l.\n\nWILL AND SELF-WILL\n\nSome may ask: \"If this tree, Self-Will, is so contrary to God and to\nthe eternal will, why did God create it, and place it in Paradise?\"\nWe may answer: a man who is truly humble and enlightened does not\nask God to reveal His secrets to him, or enquire why God does this\nor that, or prevents or allows this or that; he only desires to know\nhow he may please God, and become as nothing in himself, having no\nwill of his own, and that the eternal will may live in him, and\npossess him wholly, unhampered by any other will, and how what is\ndue may be paid to the Eternal Will, by him and through him. But\nthere is another answer to this question. For we may say: the most\nnoble and gracious gift that is bestowed on any creature is the\nReason and the Will. These two are so intimately connected that the\none cannot be anywhere without the other. If it were not for these\ntwo gifts, there would be no reasonable creatures, but only brutes\nand brutality; and this would be a great loss, for God would then\nnever receive His due, or behold Himself and His attributes\nexhibited in action; a thing which ought to be, and is, necessary to\nperfection. Now Perception and Reason are conferred together with\nwill, in order that they may teach the will and also themselves,\nthat neither perception nor will is of itself, or to itself, nor\nought to seek or obey itself. Nor must they turn themselves to their\nown profit, nor use themselves for their own ends; for they belong\nto Him from whom they proceed, and they shall submit to Him, and\nflow back to Him, and become nothing in themselves--that is, in\ntheir selfhood.\n\nBut now you must consider more in detail something concerning the\nwill. There is an Eternal Will, which is a first principle and\nsubstance in God, apart from all works and all externalisation; and\nthe same will is in man, or the creature, willing and bringing to\npass certain things. For it pertains to the will, to will something.\nFor what else does it exist? It would be a vain thing if it had no\nwork to do, and this it cannot have without the creature. And so\nthere must needs be creatures, and God will have them, in order that\nby their means the will may be exercised, and may work, though in\nGod it must be without work. Therefore the will in the creature,\nwhich we call the created will, is as truly God's as the eternal\nwill, and is not from the creature.\n\nAnd since God cannot exercise His will, in working and effecting\nchanges, without the creature, He is pleased to do so in and with\nthe creature. Therefore the will is not given to be exercised by the\ncreature, but by God alone, who has the right to carry into effect\nHis own will by the will which is in man, but yet is God's will. And\nin any man or creature, in whom it should be thus, purely and\nsimply, the will of that man or creature would be exercised not by\nthe man but by God, and thus it would not be self-will, and the man\nwould only will as God wills; for God Himself, and not man, would be\nmoving the will. Thus the will would be united with the Eternal\nWill, and would flow into it; although the man would retain his\nsense of liking and disliking, pleasure and pain. But nothing is\ncomplained of, except what is contrary to God. And there is no\nrejoicing except in God alone, and in that which belongs to Him. And\nas with the will, so is it with all the other faculties of man; they\nare all of God and not of man. And when the will is wholly given up\nto God, the other faculties will certainly be given up too; and God\nwill have what is due to Him.\n\nNo one may call that which is free his own, and he who makes it his\nown, doeth injustice. Now in all the sphere of freedom nothing is so\nfree as the will; and he who makes it his own, and allows it not to\nremain in its excellent freedom, and free nobleness, and free\nexercise, does it a great injustice. This is what is done by the\ndevil, and Adam, and all their followers. But he who leaves the will\nin its noble freedom does right; and this is what Christ, and all\nwho follow Him, do. And he who deprives the will of its noble\nfreedom, and makes it his own, must necessarily be oppressed with\ncares and discontent, and disquietude, and every kind of misery, and\nthis will be his lot throughout time and eternity. But he who leaves\nthe will in its freedom has contentment and peace and rest and\nblessedness, through time and eternity. Where there is a man whose\nwill is not enslaved, he is free indeed, and in bondage to no man.\nHe is one of those to whom Christ said: \"The truth shall make you\nfree\"; and He adds immediately afterwards: \"If the Son shall make\nyou free, ye shall be free indeed.\"\n\nMoreover, observe that whenever the will chooses unhindered whatever\nit will, it always and in all cases chooses what is noblest and\nbest, and hates whatever is not noble and good, and regards it as an\noffence. And the more free and unhampered the will is, the more it\nis grieved by evil, by injustice, by iniquity, and all manner of\nsin. We see this in Christ, whose will was the purest and freest and\nthe least brought into bondage of any man's who ever lived. So was\nthe human nature of Christ the most free and pure of all creatures;\nand yet He felt the deepest distress, pain, and wrath at sin that\nany creature ever felt. But when men claim freedom for themselves,\nin such a way as to feel no sorrow or anger at sin, and all that is\ncontrary to God, and say that we must take no notice of anything,\nand care for nothing, but be, in this life, what Christ was after\nthe resurrection, and so forth, this is not the true and Divine\nfreedom that springs from the true and Divine light, but a natural,\nunrighteous, false, deceiving freedom, which springs from the\nnatural, false, deceitful light.\n\nIf there were no self-will, there would be no proprietorship. There\nis no proprietorship in heaven; and this is why contentment, peace,\nand blessedness are there. If anyone in heaven were so bold as to\ncall anything his own, he would immediately be cast out into hell,\nand become an evil spirit. But in hell everyone will have self-will,\nand therefore in hell is every kind of wretchedness and misery. And\nso it is also on earth. But if anyone in hell could rid himself of\nhis self-will and call nothing his own, he would pass out of hell\ninto heaven. And if a man, while here on earth, could be entirely\nrid of self-will and proprietorship, and stand up free and at\nliberty in the true light of God, and continue therein, he would be\nsure to inherit the kingdom of heaven. For he who has anything, or\nwho desires to have anything of his own, is a slave; and he who has\nnothing of his own, nor desires to have anything, is free and at\nliberty, and is in bondage to no man. li.\n\nUNION THROUGH CHRIST\n\nObserve now how the Father draws men to Christ. When something of\nthe perfect good is revealed and made manifest within the human\nsoul, as it were in a sudden flash, the soul conceives a desire to\ndraw near to the perfect goodness, and to unite herself with the\nFather. And the more strongly she longs and desires, the more is\nrevealed to her; and the more is revealed to her, the more she is\ndrawn to the Father, and the more is her desire kindled. So the soul\nis drawn and kindled into an union with the eternal goodness. And\nthis is the drawing of the Father; and so the soul is taught by Him\nwho draws her to Himself, that she cannot become united with Him\nunless she can come to Him by means of the life of Christ. liii.\n\n[1]In his Introduction to the \"Imitation of Christ,\" in this series.\n\n[2]e.g. she distinguishes, as Eckhart does, between God and the\nGodhead.\n\n[3]The \"three propositions\" of Amalric are--1. \"Deus est omnia.\" 2.\nEvery Christian, as a con-dition of salvation, must believe that he\nis a member of Christ. 3. To those who are in charity no sin is\nimputed.\n\n[4]Preger is probably wrong in identifying him with a \"brother\nEckhart,\" Prior of Frankfort, who about 1320 was delated to the head\nof the Order as suspectus de malis familiaritatibus, words which can\nonly mean \"keeping bad company\" in a moral sense, not \"con-sorting\nwith heretics,\" as Preger suggests. Eckhart's character, so far as\nwe know, was never assailed, even by his enemies, and it is\ntherefore probable that \"brother Eckhart\" was a different person.\n\n[5]I have abridged the bull considerably, but have included all the\nmain accusations.\n\n[6]See pages 13, 16.\n\n[7]See pages 14, 15.\n\n[8]See page 1.\n\n[9]This is an obscure point in Eckhart's philosophy, too technical\nto be discussed here; but Eckhart's doctrine of God is certainly\nmore orthodox and less pantheistic than those of 'Dionysius' and\nScotus Erigena.\n\n[10]Cf. St Augustine, In Joann. Ev. Tract. xxxix. 10: praeteritum et\nfuturum invenio in omni motu rerum: in veritate quae manet\npraeteritum et futurum non invenio, sed solum praesens.\n\n[11]This doctrine is fully explained by St. Augustine, Epist. 237,\nwho follows Plotinus, Enn. vi. 4-6.\n\n[12]This queer word occurs for the first time, I think, in Jerome's\nnotes to the first chapter of Ezekiel. He writes the word in Greek,\nand explains it as that part of the soul which always opposes vices.\nThe word is common in Bonaventura and other scholastic mystics, and\nis often misspelt synderesis.\n\n[13]It must, however, be said that Preger is too ready to assume\nthat the logical development of Eckhart's system away from Thomist\nscholasticism can be traced as a gradual process in his writings,\nthe order of which is very uncertain. We are not justified in saying\nin a positive manner that Eckhart's philosophy passed through three\nphases, in the first of which the primacy is held by the will, in\nthe second by the created reason, and in the third by the uncreated\nreason.\n\n[14]See pages 14, 15.\n\n[15]C.B. Upton: \"Hibbert Lectures,\" p. 17.\n\n[16]A.E. Taylor: \"The Problem of Conduct,\" PP. 464-5.\n\n[17]See pages 71-2.\n\n[18]See pages 12-13.\n\n[19]See, for example, Prof. W. James' \"Varieties of Religions\nExperience,\" P. 400.\n\n[20]Jacob B\u0161hme's experience is typical: \"Suddenly did my spirit\nbreak through into the innermost birth or geniture of the Deity, and\nthere was I embraced with love, as a bridegroom embraces his dearly\nbeloved bride. But the greatness of the triumphing that was in the\nspirit I cannot express in speech or writing; nor can it be compared\nto anything but the resurrection of the dead to life. In this light\nmy spirit suddenly saw through all; even in herbs and grass it knew\nGod, who and what He is,\" etc. Dr Johnson was, no doubt, right in\nthinking that \"Jacob\" would have been wiser, and \"more like St\nPaul,\" if he had not attempted to utter the unutterable things which\nhe saw.\n\n[21]The extracts from the \"Theologia Germanica\" will show that this\ntreatise represents a later and less paradoxical form of mystical\nthought than Eckhart's.\n\n[22]The maxim, however, is much older than Suso.\n\n[23]Royce: \"The World and the Individual\" vol. i. p. 193.\n\n[24]So in the \"Lignum Vitae\" of Laurentius Justinianus we read: \"Let\nself-will cease, and there will be no more hell.\"\n\n[25] \"The Inner Way,\" being thirty-six sermons by John Tauler.\nTranslated by A.W. Hutton, M.A.\n\n[26]On the psychology of ecstatic mysticism see Leuba, in the Revue\nPhilosophique, July and November 1902.\n\n[27] \"Varieties of Religious Experience,\" p. 13.\n\n[28]Maudsley: \"Natural Causes and Supernatural Seemings,\" p. 256.\n\n[29]See Leuba: \"Tendances religieuses chez les mystiques\nchr\u00e9tiens\" in Revue Philosophique, Nov. 1902.\n\n[30] \"Theologia Germanica,\" translated by Susanna Winkworth.\nMacmillan & Co., 1893.\n\n[31] \"Varieties of Religious Experience,\" 1902.\n\n[32] \"Personal Idealism,\" 1902.\n\n[33] \"Varieties of Religious Experience,\" p. 103.\n\n[34] \"In Tune with the Infinite,\" by R.W. Trine (Bell & Sons, 1902).\nFifty-ninth thousand. The extract appears to be a quotation from\nanother writer, but no reference is given.\n\n[35]Compare Eckhart's saying that the eye with which I see God is\nthe same as the eye with which He sees me.\n\n[36] \"In Tune with the Infinite,\" pp. 58, 119.\n\n[37]The numbers refer to pages in Pfeiffer's edition.\n\n[38]The numbers refer to the Sermons in Hamberger's edition of 1864.\n\n[39]The reference is to 1 Peter iii. 8.\n\n[40]The time would, I suppose, be about half-an-hour. Many other\necstatics have named this as the normal duration of trance.\n\n[41]Or, \"spoke the eternal Wisdom (= the Word of God) in his heart.\"\n\n[42]John i. 3, 4. This punctuation, whereby the words \"that which\nwas made\" are referred to the clause which follows, and not to that\nwhich precedes, is adopted by most of the Greek fathers, and is\nstill maintained by some good commentators--e.g. Bishop Westcott.\n\n[43]Ecclus. xxiv. 19.\n\n[44]Ecclus. xl. 20.","title":"Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":67175}