Arrived thus at the summit of mystic speculation, Ruysbroeck finds
himself on the confines of pantheism. However, he constantly insists, as
we have already remarked, on the essential difference between the created
spirit and the Spirit Eternal. Man, he says, must become deiform as far
as that is possible for the creature; in the union with God it is not the
difference of personality which is destroyed, it is only the difference
of will and of thought, the desire to be anything apart in oneself which
must disappear. He declares: "There where I assert that we are one in
God, I must be understood in this sense that we are one in love, not in
essence or in nature." His own strenuous opposition to the pantheists of
his day proves his orthodoxy in this matter; yet it must be confessed
again that from the very nature of his sublime discourse, his expressions
are at times exceedingly bold and seemingly unorthodox. The truth is that
the resources of human language prove inadequate to describe even the
foretaste on earth of that "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor
hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive."
In B. John's own lifetime Gerard Groote was alarmed, and wrote once to
the Canons of Groenendael of a Doctor in Theology, and of one Henry of
Hesse, who had declared that the _Spiritual Espousals_ contained errors.
Twenty years after Ruysbroeck's death, John Gerson, the famous Chancellor
of Paris, in a letter to one Bartholomew, a Carthusian, who had given him
a copy of this treatise, praises the first two books, but declares that
the third teaches a kind of pantheism. This charge brought forth a
lengthy and spirited defence from a Canon Regular of Groenendael, named
John Scoenhoven; and then in a second letter Gerson maintained his
objections, but acquitted the holy author of all intentional error. A
similar stand was taken later by Bossuet, who excuses Ruysbroeck but
condemns his manner of expression. It must be remembered that these two
were engaged in confuting false mystics, and naturally they would
discredit the writings of even a holy man, however orthodox, which would
appear to favour the erroneous tenets of their opponents. Once more, we
remark that not only was Ruysbroeck manifestly free from all culpable
error, but throughout in his own mind he never lost sight of the
essential distinctions, though at times his language must necessarily
sound exaggerated to unaccustomed ears.
On the other hand, to outweigh the unfavourable opinion of these two
French critics, we have a host of writers of Ruysbroeck's own and
subsequent days who not only defend the orthodoxy of his writings, but
who also speak of them in terms of the deepest admiration, and regard
their author almost as inspired.
We have already seen the esteem in which the holy Prior of Groenendael
and his writings were held by Tauler, Gerard Groote, and the Venerable
Thomas a Kempis, and the vigour with which his memory was vindicated by
John of Scoenhoven, But his advocates were by no means confined to the
limits of his own Order, period, or country.
Henry van Herp, a Franciscan, compiled a _Mirror of Perfection_, taken
almost exclusively from the _Spiritual Espousals_; and by his means the
teachings of Blessed Ruysbroeck were propagated among the followers of
St. Francis, particularly of the Third Order.
Denys the Carthusian is unstinted in his praises. He calls him the
_Divine Doctor_. "I name him the Divine Doctor," he writes, "because his
only master was the Holy Ghost. Of this the abundance of wisdom wherewith
he was gifted is a sure guarantee.... Ignorant man as I am, I confess
that nowhere have I found such sublimity and such knowledge, save in the
works of Denys the Areopagyte. But in his writings the difficulty arises
especially from the style, whereas it is not so with the Prior of
Groenendael.... As they say of Hugh of St. Victor that he is another St.
Augustin, so I will say of Ruysbroeck that he is another Denys the
Areopagyte."
Thomas of Jesus, a Carmelite, in his _De Divina Oratione_, frequently
quotes from Ruysbroeck and adopts his method.
The Carthusian Surius translated all the works of Ruysbroeck into Latin,
and this translation has been the chief source of familiarity with the
Belgian mystic for readers and writers not acquainted with his native
tongue. The following extracts from the _Introduction_ to Surius's
translation seem worth quoting for the sake of some who may imagine that
the works of Blessed John Ruysbroeck can be of profit only to those who
are far advanced in the contemplative life:
"I do not believe there is a man who can approach these magnificent and
simple pages without great and singular profit. Let none excuse himself
from reading this book on the plea of the inaccessible sublimity of
Ruysbroeck. The great man has accommodated himself to all, and the most
abandoned soul on earth may find again on reading him the path of
salvation. Arrows dart from the pages of Ruysbroeck, aimed by no hand of
man, but by the hand of God; and deeply they embed themselves in the soul
of the reader who is a sinner. Innocent reader, reader of unstained robe,
Ruysbroeck is at once most lowly and most sublime. In his description of
the _Spiritual Espousals_ he surpasses admiration, he surpasses praise;
all the commencement, all the progress, all the height, all the
transcendent perfection of the spiritual life is there."
It was from Surius that the Benedictine Blosius, or Louis de Blois,
learned to know and appreciate Ruysbroeck. His works are impregnated with
the teachings of the Mystic of Groenendael, and his well-known
_Consolatio Pusillanimum_ (_Comfort for the Fainthearted_) is replete
with extracts taken from Ruysbroeck.
Lessius, the Jesuit Theological Professor of Louvain University, used to
say that he read Blessed John Ruysbroeck daily; and he would add that if
his holy works had emanated from the Society they would not have remained
in obscurity so long.
In more recent times Ernest Hello brought our Saint to France by a
translation of extracts, prefaced by an anonymous contemporary life,
which was first published in 1869. In his own _Introduction_, Hello
writes: "Among those who, soaring beyond the realms of human light, have
sought refuge in the shadow of the great altar, the grandest, according
to Denys the Carthusian, are St. Denys the Areopagyte and John Ruysbroeck
the Admirable. St. Denys lays down the general laws of mystic theology,
John Ruysbroeck applies them. St. Denys presents the lamp, John
Ruysbroeck kindles the flame. Both are blind with excess of light, both
immovable with excess of motion. Speech with them is a visit paid to men
from motives of charity. Silence is their native land. The beauty of
their language is the condescendence of their goodness; the sacred
darkness in which they spread their eagle wings is their ocean, their
booty, their glory."
Reviewing the work of Hello, Louis Veuillot, the French Catholic
publicist, remarked:
"Ruysbroeck was illiterate. He was a humble Flemish priest of the
fifteenth century. None the less, in the order of genius the uncultured
Ruysbroeck, as a theologian, and consequently as a philosopher and a
poet, is as far above Bossuet as Dante, for instance, is above Boileau.
Face to face with the mysteries that shroud God and man, Bossuet seeks,
argues, and, so to speak, gropes; Ruysbroeck knows, describes, or rather
sings, and contemplates. This illiterate mystic of an obscure age finds
himself at home in the sublime as in his own sphere; he speaks of what is
familiar to him; the wise doctor of the world remains without. Bossuet
does not enter, he does not open, he does not see. Bossuet spins words,
Ruysbroeck pours out streams of light. It seems as if Bossuet were that
mighty wind which was heard in the Upper Chamber; the brief words of
Ruysbroeck are the tongues of fire, living and enlightening flame."
Truly has Time brought its revenge in such a comparison by a compatriot
of Bossuet with Ruysbroeck.
Finally, Maeterlinck brought out his translation of the _Spiritual
Espousals_ in 1891 with a characteristic appreciation of the Flemish
mystic. And Maeterlinck's name has given a strong impetus to the
popularity, so to speak, of Blessed Ruysbroeck in modern France. But
neither of these translations can be regarded as authoritative or exact.
The real, scholarly work towards extending and encouraging the cult of
Blessed John Ruysbroeck, whether among the learned or the devout, is
being performed, as is seemly, in the Catholic University of his native
Belgium, namely, at Louvain, where a Chair has been instituted for the
study of Old Flemish, chiefly for the sake of a correct understanding and
rendering of the writings of the Holy Mystic of Groenendael.
And here we may note that while it is customary with some to speak of
Ruysbroeck as illiterate, this term must be taken in a strictly limited
sense. Possibly, he could not have composed in fluent and elegant Latin:
he was not a classical scholar; but certainly the Latin of the Bible and
the Fathers was quite familiar to him. His writings, moreover, display an
intimate knowledge of the Scriptures, the Fathers, theology, liturgy,
apologetics. The natural science of the day was not unknown, as witness
his applications from astronomy, and, it must be confessed, from
astrology. With St. Denys the Areopagyte he shows himself very intimate,
and his pages contain whole passages borrowed or adapted from St. Anselm,
St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, and especially St. Augustin. Nearer his own
days St. Bernard and Hugh of St. Victor seem to have influenced him very
considerably.
Experts in Old Flemish assure us that his style is most chaste, his
language vigorous and clear. He was in truth a poet. When carried away by
the beauty or sublimity of his subject, he indulges in a wealth of
imagery, comparison, metaphor, astounding at times in boldness and
originality. Occasionally even he lapsed into verse; but on the whole his
verse is of less beauty and strength than his prose, as he himself seems
to have been aware. On the other hand, his prose, after the manner of St.
Bernard, St. Bonaventure, the two Victors, and later Thomas a Kempis,
frequently gives evidence of deliberate rhythm and rhyme. In a word, far
from being illiterate in the strict sense of the word, Blessed John was
well acquainted with all the rules and arts of rhetoric; he knew how to
employ them; and for all the sublimity of his discourse he did not
disdain the use of these aids to interest and persuasion. Finally, it is
to be noted that we are expressly informed by contemporaries of
Ruysbroeck that he wrote by preference in the vulgar tongue, the more
readily and effectively to meet and refute the erroneous doctrines
published in the language of the people by the false mystics of his day.