THE SUBJECTS OF THE SECOND BOOK
THE prudent virgin--that is to say, the pure soul, who has
renounced the things of earth, and lives henceforth for God in
virtue, has taken in the vessel of her heart the oil of charity and
of divine works by means of the lamp of an unstained conscience. But
when Christ, her Bridegroom, withdraws His consolations and the
fresh outpouring of His gifts, the soul becomes heavy and torpid.
At midnight--that is to say, when it is least expected, a spiritual
cry resounds in the soul: "See, the Bridegroom cometh, go forth to
meet Him." We shall now speak of this seeing, and of the inward
coming of Christ, and of the spiritual going forth of the man to
meet Jesus, and we shall explain these four conditions of an inward
life, exalted and full of desire, to which all men attain not, but
many reach it by means of the virtues and their inward courage.
In these words, Christ teaches us four things. In the first, He
requires that our intelligence shall be enlightened with a
supernatural light. This is what we observe in the word, "See." In
the next words He shows us what we ought to see--that is to say, the
inward coming of our Bridegroom of eternal truth. This is His
meaning when He says: "The Bridegroom cometh." In the third place,
in the words "go forth," He bids us go forth in inward actions
according to righteousness. In the fourth place, He shows us the end
and motive of all our works, the meeting with our Bridegroom Jesus
Christ in the joyous unity of His adorable Godhead.
HOW WE MAY GAIN SUPERNATURAL VISION BY INTERNAL EXERCISES
NOW let us speak of the first word. Christ saith, "See." Three
things are required by him who would see supernaturally in interior
exercises. The first is the light of the divine grace, but in a far
more sublime manner than can be felt in the external, active life.
The second is a stripping off of extraneous images and a denudation
of the heart, so that a man may be free from images, and attachments
to every creature. The third is a free conversion of the will, by
means of a concentration of all the bodily and spiritual faculties,
and complete deliverance from all inordinate affections. Thus this
will flows together into the unity of the Godhead and of our own
mind, so that the reasonable creature may be able to obtain and
possess supernaturally the sublime unity of God. It is for this that
God made the heaven and earth and mankind, it is for this that He
was made man, and taught us by word and example by what way we
should come to this unity. And then in the ardour of His love He
endured to die, and He ascended to heaven, and opened to us this
unity in which we may possess felicity and eternal blessedness.
ON THE THREEFOLD NATURAL UNITY OF MAN
NOW consider attentively: there are three kinds of natural unity in
all men, and, moreover, of supernatural unity among the just. The
first and supreme unity of man is in God; for all creatures are
immanent in this unity, and if they were to be separated from God,
they would be annihilated, and would become nothing. This unity is
essential in us according to nature, whether we are good or bad. And
without our co-operation it makes us neither holy nor blessed. This
unity we possess in ourselves, and nevertheless above us, as a
beginning and support of our life and essence.
Another unity exists in us naturally--that of the supreme forces, in
so far as they actively take their natural origin in the unity of
the spirit or of the thoughts. This is the same unity as that which
is immanent in God, but it is taken here actively and there
essentially. Nevertheless the spirit is entirely in each unity
according to the integrity of its substance. We possess this unity
in ourselves, above the sensitive part of us; and thence are born
memory, intelligence, and will, and all the power of spiritual
works. In this unity the soul is called spirit.
The third unity which is in us naturally is the foundation of bodily
forces in the unity of the heart, the source and origin of bodily
life. The soul possesses this unity in the lively centre of the
heart, and from it flow all the material works and the five senses,
and the soul draws from thence its name of soul (anima); for it is
the source of life, and animates the body--that is to say, it makes
it living and preserves it in life. These three unities are in man
naturally, as a life and a kingdom. In the inferior unity we are
sensible and animal, in the intermediate unity we are rational and
spiritual; and in the superior unity we are preserved according to
our essence. And this exists in all men, naturally.
Now these three unities are adorned and cultivated naturally, like a
kingdom and an eternal abode, by the virtues, in charity and in the
active life. And they are adorned still better and more gloriously
cultivated by the internal exercises of a spiritual life. But most
gloriously and blessedly of all by a supernatural contemplative
life.
The inferior unity, which is corporeal, is adorned and cultivated
supernaturally by external practices, by perfect conduct, by the
example of Christ and the saints, by carrying the cross with Christ,
by submitting our nature to the command of Holy Church and the
teachings of the saints, according to the forces of nature and
prudence.
The other unity which resides in the spirit and which is absolutely
spiritual, is adorned and cultivated supernaturally by the three
Divine gifts, Faith, Hope, and Charity, and by the influx of grace
and Divine gifts, and by good will directed to all the virtues, and
the desire to follow the example of Christ and of holy Christendom.
The third and supreme unity is above our intelligence and yet
essentially in us. We cultivate it supernaturally when in all our
works of virtue we have in view only the glory of God, without any
other desire but to repose in Him, above thought, above ourselves,
and above everything. And this is the unity from which we flowed out
when we were created, and where we abide according to our essence,
and towards which we endeavour to return by love. These are the
virtues which adorn this triple unity in the active life.
Now we proceed to say how this triple unity is adorned more
sublimely and cultivated more nobly by interior exercises joined to
the active life. When a man, by love and right intention, elevates
himself in all his works and in all his life towards the honour and
glory of God, and seeks rest in God above all things, he will wait
in humility and patience and abandonment of self and in the hope of
new riches and new gifts, and he will not be troubled or anxious
whether it pleases God to grant His gifts or to refuse them. So men
prepare themselves for receiving an internal life of desires; even
as a vessel is fitted and prepared, into which a precious liquid is
to be poured. There is no vessel more noble than the loving soul,
and no drink more necessary than the grace of God. Man will thus
offer to God all his works and all his life, in a simple and right
intention, and in a zest above his intention, above himself, and
above everything, in the sublime unity in which God and the loving
spirit are united without intermediary.
ON THE FIRST MODE OR DEGREE OF THE FIRST SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST
THE first coming of Christ to those who are engaged in the exercises
of desire is an internal and sensible current from the Holy Spirit,
which impels and attracts us to all the virtues. We shall compare
this coming to the splendour and power of the sun, which, so soon as
it is risen, enlightens and warms the whole world in the twinkling
of an eye. In the same way Christ, the eternal sun, burns and
shines, dwelling at the highest point of the spirit, and enlightens
and fires the lower part of man--that is to say, his physical heart
and sense-faculties, and this is accomplished in less time than the
twinkling of an eye, for the work of God is prompt; but the man in
whom it takes place ought to be internally seeing by means of his
spiritual eyes.
The sun burns in the East, in the middle of the world, on the
mountains; there it hastens in the summer, and creates good fruits
and strong wines, filling the earth with joy. The same sun shines in
the West, at the end of the world; the country there is colder and
the force of the heat less; nevertheless, it there produces a great
number of good fruits, but not much wine. The men who dwell in the
West part of themselves, abide in their external senses, and by
their good intentions, their virtues, and their outer practices, by
the grace of God produce abundant harvests of virtues of divers
kinds, but they but rarely taste the wine of inward joy and
spiritual consolation.
The man who wishes to experience the rays of the eternal sun, which
is Christ Himself, will be seeing; and will dwell on the mountains
of the East, by concentrating all his faculties, and lifting up his
heart to God, free, and indifferent to joy and pain and all the
creatures. There shines Christ, the sun of righteousness, on the
free and exalted heart, and this is what I mean by the mountains.
Christ, the glorious sun and divine effulgence, shines through and
fires by his internal coming, and by the power of His Spirit, the
free heart and all the powers of the soul. This is the first work of
the internal coming in the exercises of desire. Just as fire
inflames things which are thrown into it, so Christ inflames the
hearts offered to Him in freedom and exultation at His internal
coming, and He says in this coming: "Go forth by the exercises
appropriate to this life."
ON UNITY OF HEART
FROM this heat is born unity of heart, for we cannot obtain true
unity, unless the Spirit of God lights His flame in our heart. For
this fire makes one and like unto itself all that it can overtop and
transform. Unity gives a man the feeling of being concentrated with
all his faculties on one point. It gives internal peace and repose
of heart. Unity of heart is a bond which draws and binds together
the body and the soul, and all exterior and interior forces, in the
unity of love.
HOW THE VIRTUES PROCEED FROM UNITY
FROM this unity of heart is born inwardness or the internal life,
for none can have inwardness unless he is one and united in himself;
fervour or inwardness is the introversion of a man into his own
heart, to comprehend and experience the internal operation or speech
of God. Inwardness is a sensible flame of love, which the Spirit of
God lights and kindles in a man, and a man knows not whence it
comes, nor what has happened to him.
ON SENSIBLE LOVE
FROM inwardness is born a sensible love which penetrates the heart
of man and the highest faculties of the soul. This love and delight
none can experience who has not inwardness. Sensible love is the
desire and appetite for God as for an eternal good in which all is
contained. Sensible love renounces all the creatures, not as needs
but as pleasures. Interior love feels itself touched from above by
the eternal love which it must practise eternally Interior love
willingly renounces and despises everything, in order to obtain that
which it loves.
ON DEVOTION
FROM this sensible love is born devotion to God and His glory. For
none can have a hungry devotion in his heart, unless he possesses
the sensible love of God. Devotion excites and stimulates a man
internally and externally to the service of God. It makes the body
and soul abound in glory and merit in the eyes of God and men. God
exacts devotion in all that we do. It purges the body and soul from
all that might hold us back; it shows us the true path to
blessedness.
ON GRATITUDE
FROM fervent devotion is born gratitude, for none can thank or
praise God perfectly if he is not fervent and pious. We should thank
God for everything here below, that we may be able to thank Him
eternally above. Those who praise not God here, will be mute
eternally. To praise God is the most joyous and delicious employment
of the loving heart. There is no limit to the praises of God, for
therein is our salvation, and we shall praise Him eternally.
Now hear a comparison, by which you may understand the exercise of
gratitude. When the summer approaches and the sun mounts, it
attracts the moisture of the earth along the stems and branches of
the trees, whence come green leaves, flowers, and fruit. Even so
when Christ, the eternal sun, rises in our hearts, He sends His
light and heat upon our desires, and draws the heart away from all
the manifold things of earth, creating unity and inwardness, and
makes the heart grow and become green by interior love, and makes
loving devotion flourish, and makes us bear the fruits of gratitude
and love, and preserves these fruits eternally in the humble pain of
our inability to praise and serve Him enough.
Here ends the first of the four chief kinds ot interior exercises,
which adorn the lower part of a man.
HOW TO INCREASE INWARDNESS BY HUMILITY
BUT in thus comparing to the splendour and power of the sun the
modes in which Jesus Christ comes, we shall find in the sun another
virtue or influence which makes the fruit more early ripe and more
abundant.
When the sun rises to a very great height, and enters the sign of
the Twins--that is to say, into a double thing, but of the same
nature, in the middle of the month of May, the sun has a double
power over the flowers, herbs, and all that grows upon the earth. If
at that time the planets which rule nature are well ordered
according to the season of the year, the sun shines brightly on the
earth, and attracts the moisture in the atmosphere. Hence are born
dew and rain, and the fruits of the ground increase and multiply.
Even so when Christ, that bright sun, rises in our heart above all
other things, and when the requirements of material nature, which
are contrary to the spirit, are well regulated according to reason,
when we possess the virtues as I have said above, and when, lastly,
we offer and restore to God, by the ardour of charity, and with
gratitude and love, the delight and peace which we find in the
virtues, from all these are born, at times, a gentle rain of new
internal consolations, and a celestial dew of divine sweetness. This
dew and rain make all the virtues increase and multiply day by day,
if we put no hindrance in their way. This is a new and special
operation, and a new coming of Christ into the loving heart.
ON PURE SATISFACTION OF THE HEART
FROM this sweetness is born satisfaction of heart, and of all the
bodily faculties, so that a man imagines that he is inwardly
embraced in the divine bands of love. This pleasure and consolation
is greater and more delicious to body and soul than all the
pleasures granted on earth, even if a man could enjoy them to the
full. In this pleasure God sinks into the heart by means of His
gifts with such a profusion of delights, consolations, and joys,
that the heart overflows internally.
ON THE OBSTACLES WHICH WE ENCOUNTER IN THIS STATE
THIS coming, or kind of coming, is granted to beginners, when they
turn from the world, when their conversion is complete, and they
abandon all the consolations of earth to live for God only;
nevertheless they are still weak, and need milk and not strong meat,
such as great temptations and the hiding of God's face. At this
season frost and fog often injure them, for they are in the middle
of the May of the interior life. The frost is to wish to be
something, or to imagine that we are something, or to be somewhat
attached to ourselves, or to believe that we have deserved
consolations and are worthy of them. The fog is the wish to rest
upon internal consolations and pains. This obscures the atmosphere
of reason, and the ilowers, which were about to unfold and bloom and
bear fruits, shut up again. This is why we lose the knowledge of
truth, and nevertheless we sometimes keep certain false sweetnesses
granted by the enemy, which at the last lead men astray.
HOW ONE OUGHT TO BEHAVE IN THIS CASE
I WISH to give you here a brief comparison, that you may not go
astray, and that you may be able to behave wisely in this case.
Observe the wise bee, and imitate her. She dwells in unity, in the
midst of the assembly of her kind, and she goes forth, not during a
storm, but when the weather is calm and bright, and the sun shines;
and she flies towards every flower where she may find sweetness. She
rests not on any flower, neither for its beauty nor for its
sweetness, but draws out from the cups of the flowers their
sweetness and clearness--that is to say, the honey and wax, and she
brings them back to the unity which is formed of the assembly of all
the bees, that the honey and wax may be put to good use.
The expanded heart on which Christ, the eternal sun, shines, grows
and blooms under His rays, and from it flow all the interior forces
in joy and sweetness.
Now the wise man will act like the bee, and will try to settle, with
affection, intelligence, and prudence, on all the gifts and all the
sweetness that he has experienced, and on all the good that God has
done to him. He will not rest on any flower of the gifts, but laden
with gratitude and praise he will fly back towards the unity where
he wishes to dwell, and to rest with God eternally.
ON THE THIRD MODE OF THE SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST
WHEN the sun in heaven reaches its highest point, in the sign of the
Crab--that is to say, when it can go no higher, but must begin to go
backwards, then the greatest heat of the year begins. The sun
attracts the moisture, the earth dries, and the fruits ripen. In the
same way, when Christ, the divine sun, arises above the highest
summit of our heart--that is to say, above all His gifts,
consolations and sweetnesses, and if we do not rest in any of these,
however sweet, but return always with humble praises to the source
from which these gifts flow, Christ stops and remains lifted up
above the summit of our heart, and desires to attract all our powers
to Himself.
This invitation is an irradiation of Christ, the eternal sun, and
causes in the heart a joy and pleasure so great that the heart
cannot close again after such an expansion, without pain. A man is
wounded internally and feels the smart of love. To be wounded by
love is the sweetest sensation and the most grievous pain that can
be experienced. To be wounded by love is a sure sign that we shall
be cured. This spiritual wound does us good and harm at the same
time.
ON THE FOURTH KIND OF THE SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST
NOW I wish to speak of the fourth kind of coming of Jesus Christ,
which exalts and perfects the man in his interior exercises,
according to the lower part of his being. But having compared all
the interior comings to the shining of the sun, we will continue to
speak, while following the course of the seasons, of the other
effects and works of the sun.
When the sun begins to descend the sky, it enters the sign of the
Virgin, so called because this period of the year becomes barren
like a virgin. The glorious virgin Mary, mother of Christ, full of
joys and rich in all the virtues, ascended to heaven at this season.
The heat begins then to diminish, and men gather, for use during the
whole year, the ripe fruits which can be used long after, such as
corn and the grape. And they sow part of the corn, that it may be
multiplied for the use of men. At this season all the solar work of
the year is finished. In the same way, when Christ, the glorious
sun, has risen to the zenith in the heart of men, and begins to
descend, so as to hide the splendour of His divine beams and to
leave a man alone, the heat and impatience of love diminish. Now
this occultation of Christ and the withdrawal of His light and heat
are the first work and the new coming of this mode. Now Christ says
spiritually in a man: "Go forth in the manner that I now show thee";
and the man goes forth, and finds himself poor, miserable, and
desolate. Here all the storm, all the passion and eagerness of love
grow cold; summer becomes autumn, and all his wealth is changed into
great poverty. And the man begins to complain by reason of his
misery; what is become of his ardent love, his inwardness, his
gratitude, the interior consolations, the heartfelt joys? Where has
it all gone? How comes it that all is dead within him? He is like
a scholar who has lost his knowledge and his work; and nature is
often troubled by such losses. Sometimes these unhappy ones are
deprived of the good things of earth, of their friends and
relations, and are deserted by all the creatures; their holiness is
mistrusted and despised, men put a bad construction upon all the
works of their life, and they are rejected and disdained by all
those who surround them; and sometimes they are afflicted with
diverse diseases; and some of them fall into bodily temptations, or
into spiritual temptations, the most dangerous of all. From this
misery are born the fear of falling, and a sort of half-doubt, and
this is the extreme point where we can stop without despair. Let
such men seek out the good, complain to them, show them their
distress, and ask their help, and implore the aid of Holy
Church, and of all just men.
WHAT A MAN OUGHT TO DO WHEN HE IS ABANDONED
A MAN will here observe humbly that he has nothing but his distress,
and he will say in his resignation and self-abnegation the words of
holy Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; He hath done
what seemed good to Him; blessed be the name of the Lord." And he
will leave himself in everything, and will say and think in his
heart: "Lord, I am as willing to be poor, lacking all that Thou hast
taken from me, as I should be to be rich, if such were Thy will, and
if it were for Thine honour. It is not my will according to nature
which must be accomplished, but Thy will, and my will according to
my spirit, O Lord; for I belong to Thee, and I should love as well
to be Thine in hell as in heaven, if that could serve Thy glory; and
therefore, O Lord, accomplish in me the excellence of Thy will."
From all these pains and acts of resignation, a man will derive an
inward joy, and he will offer himself into the hands of God, and
will rejoice to be able to suffer in His honour. And if he so
perseveres, he will taste inward pleasures such as he has never had
before; for nothing so rejoices the lover of God as to feel that he
is His beloved. And if he is truly exalted as far as this mode, in
the path of virtue, it is not necessary for him to have passed
through all the states which we have described above; for he feels
within himself in action, in humble obedience, in patience, and in
resignation, the source of all the virtues. It is thus that this
mode is eternally sure.
At this season the sun in the sky enters the sign of the Scales, for
the day and night are equal, and the sun balances the light and the
darkness. In the same way Jesus Christ is in the sign of the Scales
for the resigned man; and whether He grants sweetness or
bitterness, darkness or light, whatever He chooses to send him, the
man keeps his balance, all things are equal to him except sin, which
has been driven away once for all. When every consolation has been
thus withdrawn from these resigned men, when they believe that they
have lost all their virtues and that they are abandoned by God and
all the creatures, if they then know how to reap the divers fruits,
their corn and wine are ready and ripe. That is to say, that all
that the bodily virtues can suffer will be offered by them to God
with joy, without resistance to His supreme will. All the exterior
and interior virtues, which they formerly practised with joy in the
light of love, they will now practise courageously and laboriously,
and will offer them to God, and never will they have so much merit
in His eyes. Never will they have been more noble or more beautiful.
All the consolations which God formerly granted, they will allow to
be stripped from them with joy, since it is for the glory of God. It
is thus that the virtues become perfect, and that sadness is
transformed into an eternal vintage. These men--their life and their
patience--improve and teach all who know and live near them, and
thus it is that the wheat of their virtues is sown and multiplied
for the good of all just men.
This is the fourth kind of coming which, according to the bodily
faculties and the lower part of his being, adorns and perfects a man
in interior exercises.
HOW THESE FOUR MODES ARE FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST
WE must needs walk in the light if we wish not to lose our way, and
we must observe Jesus Christ, who has taught us these four modes,
and has preceded us in them. Christ, the bright sun, rises in the
heaven of the sublime Trinity and in the dawn of His glorious mother
the virgin Mary, who was and is the dawn of all the graces. Now
observe. Christ had and still has the first mode, for He was unique
and united. In Him were and are collected and united all the virtues
which have ever been practised, and which ever will be, and besides
this, all the creatures who will cultivate these virtues. He was
thus in an unique sense the Son of the Father, and united to human
nature. And He was equally full of inwardness, for it was He who
brought upon earth the fire which has consumed all the saints and
all good men. And He had a sensible and faithful love for His
Father, and for all who will have joy in Him eternally, and His
pitiful and loving heart sighed and glowed with love for all men,
before His Father. All His life and all His actions, within and
without, and all His words, were praises of His Father. This is the
first mode.
Christ, the sun of love, blazed and shone yet more brightly and
warmly, for in Him was and is the fullness of all gifts. This is why
the heart of Christ, and His character, and His habits and His
service, overflowed with pity, sweetness, humility, and generosity.
So gracious was He and so loving, that His manners and His
personality attracted all whose nature was good. He was the pure
lily in the midst of the flowers of the field, from which the good
were to draw the honey of eternal sweetness and eternal
consolations. According to His humanity He thanked His eternal
Father for all the gifts which were ever granted to humanity, and
praised Him, for His Father is the Father of all gifts, and He
rested on Him, according to the highest faculties of His soul, above
all gifts, in the sublime unity of God from which all the gifts flow;
thus He had the second mode.
Christ, the glorious sun, blazed and shone yet higher, and more
brightly and warmly; for during all His days on earth, all His
bodily faculties were invited and pressed to the sublime glory and
bliss which He now experiences in His senses and body. And He was
inclined thereto Himself, according to His desires; and nevertheless
He willed to remain in this exile, till the time which the Father
had foreseen and fixed from all eternity. Thus He had the third
mode. When the time came at which Christ was to reap and carry away
to the eternal kingdom the fruits of all the virtues which ever have
been and ever will be practised, the eternal sun began to descend;
for Christ humbled Himself, and gave up His bodily life into the
hands of His enemies. And he was misunderstood and deserted by His
friends in so great a distress; and all consolation, within and
without, was withdrawn from His nature; and it was overwhelmed with
misery, pain, and contempt, and paid all the debt which our sins
justly incurred. All this He suffered in humble patience, and He
accomplished the greatest works of love in this resignation, whereby
He received and purchased our eternal inheritance. It is thus that
the lower part of His noble humanity was adorned, for it was in it
that He suffered this pain for our sins. It is on this account that
He is called the Saviour of the world, and that He is glorified and
raised up and seated on the right hand of His Father, and that He
reigns in power. And every creature, on the earth, above the earth,
and under the earth, bends the knee for ever before His glorious
name.
HOW A MAN SHOULD LIVE IF HE DESIRES TO BE ENLIGHTENED
THE man who, in true obedience to the commandments of God, lives in
the moral virtues, and moreover exercises himself in the interior
virtues, after the direction and impulse of the Holy Spirit, acting
and speaking according to righteousness, and who seeks not his own
interests in time or in eternity, and who supports with true
patience obscurity and affliction and every kind of misery, and who
thanks God for everything, and offers himself in humble resignation,
has received the first coming of Jesus Christ according to interior
exercises. When this man is purified and pacified, and turns back
upon himself according to his lower nature, he may be internally
enlightened, if he asks it, and if God judges that the right time
has come. It may also happen that he is enlightened from the
beginning of his conversion, so that he may offer himself entirely
to the will of God and give up all possession of himself, which is
the supreme end. But if he is to follow any further the road which I
have shown, in the exterior and at the same time in the interior
life, it will be much easier for him than for the man who has been
raised straight from the bottom, for the former will have more light
than the latter.
ON ANOTHER COMING OF CHRIST
NOW we are about to speak of another mode of the coming of Christ,
in interior exercises, which adorn, enlighten, and enrich a man,
according to the three supreme faculties of his soul. We shall
compare this coming to a life-giving fountain from which flow three
rivers.
This fountain is the fullness of divine grace in the unity of our
spirit. There resides grace essentially in its permanence, like a
full fountain, and it flows out actively by its rivers into each of
the faculties of the soul, according to their needs. These rivers
are a special influx, or operation of God in the highest faculties,
in which God operates in various manners by the intermediary of His
grace.
HOW THE FIRST RIVER FLOWS INTO THE MEMORY
THE first river of grace, which God causes to flow in this coming,
is a pure simplicity which shines without distinction in the spirit.
This river takes its source in the fountain, in the unity of the
spirit, and flows directly downwards, and penetrates all the
faculties of the soul, both higher and lower, and lifts them up out
of all multiplicity and all over-occupation, and makes a simplicity
in a man, and gives and shows him an internal bond in the unity of
his spirit. A man is thus lifted up according to his memory, and
delivered from strange and irrelevant thoughts, and from
inconstancy. Now Christ in this light demands a going forth,
according to the mode of this light and this coming. Then the man
goes forth, and observes himself that by virtue of the simple light
that is spread abroad in him he is united, established, penetrated
and fixed in the unity of his spirit or of his thoughts. Here the
man is exalted and established in a new essence; he turns his
thoughts inwards, and rests his memory on the naked truth, above all
sensuous images and above all multiplicity. There the man possesses
essentially and supernaturally the unity of his spirit, for his own
dwelling, and as an heritage of his own for ever. He always has an
inclination towards that same unity, and this unity will have an
eternal and loving inclination towards the more sublime unity where
the Father and the Son are united with all the saints in the bands
of the Holy Spirit.
HOW THE SECOND RIVER ENLIGHTENS THE INTELLIGENCE
THROUGH internal love, and loving inclination towards union with
God, is born the second river from the fullness of grace, in unity
of spirit, and this is a spiritual brightness which flows and sheds
light through the intelligence, but with distinctions in the diverse
modes. For this light shows and gives to the spirit, in the truth,
the discretion in all the virtues. But this light is not placed
altogether in our power, for though we have it always in our soul,
God makes it speak or keep silence, and He can manifest or hide it,
give or withdraw it, at all times and under all conditions, for this
light is His. Such men do not absolutely need revelations, nor to be
drawn up above sense, for their life and abode and habits and
essence are in the spirit above sense and sensibility. And God shows
them what He wills and what is necessary for them. Nevertheless God,
if He wished, could withdraw their exterior sense, and show them,
from within, unknown symbols and future things, in diverse manners.
Now Christ desires that this man should go forth, and go into the
light, according to the mode of this light. This enlightened man
will therefore go forth and observe his state and his life within
and without, in order to know if he is perfectly like Christ
according to His humanity and also according to His divinity. And
this man will lift up his eyes, enlightened by enlightened reason,
in intelligible truth, and will observe and consider, as a creature
can, the sublime nature of God, and the unlimited attributes which
are in God.
It is then necessary to consider and examine the sublime nature of
God; how it contains simplicity and purity, inaccessible height and
abysmal depth, incomprehensible extension and eternal duration; dark
silence and wild waste; repose of all the saints in unity and joy in
itself and in all the saints in eternity. This enlightened man will
also examine the attributes of the Father in the Godhead, how He is
all-powerful, the creator, mover, preserver, beginning and end,
cause and existence of all creatures; this is what the bright river
of grace shows to the enlightened reason. It shows also the
attributes of the eternal Word, abysmal wisdom and truth, model of
every creature and of all life, eternal norm of things, unveiled
contemplation and intuition into everything, brightness and
illumination of all saints, according to their merits, in heaven and
on earth. But this bright river shows also to the enlightened reason
the attributes of the Holy Spirit; inconceivable charity and
generosity, pity and mercy, infinite watchfulness and faithfulness,
immense and inconceivable riches flowing with delights through all
heavenly spirits, ardent flame consuming all in unity, effluent
fountain, preparation of all the saints for their eternal
blessedness, and their introduction thereto; enveloping and
penetrating the Father, the Son, and all the saints in joyous unity.
ON THE STATE OF AMAZEMENT AT THE DIVINE EFFLUENCE
THE incomprehensible wealth and sublimity, and the universal
generosity which flow from the divine nature, bring a man into a
state of amazement; and above all he admires the communication of
God and His effluence above everything, for he sees the
inconceivable essence, which is the common joy of God and all the
saints. And he sees that the three divine Persons are a common
effluence in works, in graces, and in glory, in nature and above
nature, in all conditions and in all times, in the saints and in
men, in heaven and on earth, in all reasonable and irrational
creatures, according to each one's merits, needs, and powers of
receiving. God is common to all, with all His gifts, the angels are
common, the soul is common in all its faculties, in all life, in all
the members, and all in each, for one cannot divide it, except by
reason. For the higher and lower faculties, the spirit and the soul,
are distinct according to reason, but one in nature. Thus God is
entirely and specially present to each one, and nevertheless common
to all the creatures, for by Him are all things, and on Him depend
the heaven, the earth, and the whole of nature. When a man thus
observes the astonishing wealth and sublimity of the divine nature,
and all the manifold gifts which He grants and offers to His
creatures, he is lifted up internally by wonder at such manifold
riches and sublimity; and from thence arises a singular inward joy
of spirit, and a vast confidence in God; and this internal joy
surrounds and penetrates all the faculties of the soul in inwardness
of spirit.
HOW THE THIRD RIVER CONFIRMS THE WILL
FROM this joy and fullness of graces, and divine faithfulness, there
is born and flows out the third river in this same unity of spirit.
This river, like a flame, lights up the spirit and absorbs all
things in unity. And it causes to overflow and flood with rich gifts
and singular nobility, all the faculties of the soul, and it creates
in the will a love without labour, spiritual and subtle. Now Christ
says internally in the spirit by means of this flaming river: "Go
forth by exercises according to the mode of these gifts and this
coming." Thanks to the first river--that is to say, to a simple
light, the memory is lifted up above the accidents of sense, and is
established in the unity of spirit. Thanks to the second river--
that is to say, to the brightness spread abroad within, the
intelligence and reason are enlightened, so as to recognise the
diverse modes of the virtues and of exercises, and the mysteries of
the Scriptures. Thanks to the third river--that is to say, to an
inspired ardour, the sublime will is kindled into a more tranquil
love, and adorned with greater riches. In this way a man becomes
spiritually enlightened, for the grace of God abides, like a
fountain in the unity of the spirit; and these rivers create in the
faculties of the soul an effluence of all the virtues. And the
fountain of grace always requires a reflux towards its source.
HOW CHRIST IS GIVEN TO ALL MEN IN THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR
THERE is a special benefit which Christ left in the Holy Church, to
all good people, in this supper of the great Paschal feast, when He
was about to pass from His sufferings to His Father after having
eaten the Paschal lamb with His disciples, and when the ancient law
was accomplished. At the end of the supper, He wished to give them a
special meal, as He had long desired to do. And this is why He
wished to finish the ancient law and to inaugurate the new law. He
took bread in His sacred hands, and consecrated His holy body, and
then His holy blood, and gave them to all His disciples, and left
them to all the just, for their eternal good.
This gift and this special food rejoice and adorn all the great
festivals and all the banquets in heaven and on earth. In this gift
Christ gives Himself to us in three manners; He gives us His flesh
and blood and His bodily life, glorified and full of joys and
griefs. And He gives us His spirit with its highest faculties, and
full of glory, of gifts, of truths and justifications. And He gives
us His personality with the divine light which lifts up His spirit
and all enlightened spirits, even to the sublime and joyous unity.
Now Christ wishes us to remember Him, whenever we consecrate, offer,
and receive His body. Now observe how we should remember Him. We
shall observe and consider how Christ bends towards us in loving
affection, in great desire, in loving joy, and by flowing into our
bodily nature. For He gives us that which He received from our
humanity--that is to say, His flesh and blood and bodily nature. We
shall contemplate this precious body pierced and wounded with love,
by reason of His faithfulness to us. It is by it that we are adorned
and nourished in the lower part of our human nature. He gives us
also, in this sublime gift of the sacrament, His spirit full of
glory, and the richest gifts of the virtues, and ineffable marvels
of charity and nobleness.
It is by this that we are nourished, adorned, and illuminated in the
unity of our spirit and in our higher faculties, thanks to the
indwelling of Christ with all His riches. He gives us also in the
sacrament of the altar His sublime personality in incomprehensible
light. And thanks to this, we are united to the Father, and so we
reach our inheritance of divinity in eternal bliss. If a man
meditate rightly on this, he will meet Christ in the same manner in
which Christ comes to him. He will raise himself up to receive
Christ, with all his faculties and in eager joy. It is not possible
for our joy to be too great, for our nature receives His nature--that
is to say the glorified humanity of Christ, full of joyfulness and
full of merits. This is why I would that man, at the reception of
this sacrament, should melt away with desire, joy, and pleasure, for
he is receiving the fairest, the most gracious, the most lovable of
the children of men, and is united to Him. In this union and in this
joy great benefits often come to men, and many mysterious and
marvellous secrets of divine treasures are manifested and disclosed.
When a man meditates, at this reception, on the martyrdom and
sufferings of the precious body of Christ, whom he is receiving, he
enters sometimes into so loving a devotion and so great a
compassion, that he desires to be nailed with Christ to the cross,
and to shed his heart's blood for the honour of Christ. And he
presses himself to the wounds and open heart of Christ His Saviour.
In these exercises revelations and great benefits have often come to
men.
ON THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE IN THE TRINITY OF PERSONS
THE sublime and superessential unity of the Divine nature, in which
the Father and the Son possess their nature in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, above the conception and comprehension of all our faculties,
in the bare essence of our spirit, surpasses in this sublime calm
all the creatures of created light. This sublime unity of the Divine
nature is living and fruitful, for, from this same unity, the
eternal Word is born from the Father without interruption. And by
this birth the Father knows the Son, and all things in the Son. And
the Son knows the Father, and all things in the Father, for their
nature is simple. From this reciprocal vision of the Father and the
Son in an eternal clearness, flow forth an eternal satisfaction and
unfathomable love, which is the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit
and the eternal Wisdom God inclines towards every creature
severally, and loads every one of them with gifts and kindles it
with love, according to its nobility and according to the state
wherein it is constituted and elected though its virtues and the
eternal foresight of God. And it is by this that all just spirits,
in heaven and on earth, are united in virtue and justice.
HOW GOD MOVES AND POSSESSES THE SOUL, NATURALLY AND SUPERNATURALLY
NOW be attentive: I am about to give you an example on this
subject. God has made the upper heaven a pure and simple clearness
encircling and enveloping all the heavens; and all the material
world which God has created for it is the exterior abode and kingdom
of God and His saints, full of glory and eternal joys. Now the
heaven being an unmixed clearness, there is there neither time, nor
state, nor temptation, nor change, for it is unchangeably fixed
above all things. The sphere which approaches most nearly to it is
called the primum mobile. All movement, by the power of God,
emanates from the supreme heaven. This is the movement which carries
with it the motions of the firmament and all the planets. It is by
this same initial movement that all the creatures live and grow,
according to their order. Now understand that the essence of the
soul is like a spiritual kingdom of God, full of Divine clearness,
surpassing all our faculties, unless these faculties are not
transformed in a simple fashion, of which I do not wish to speak
now. See; in this essence of the soul in which God reigns, the
unity of our spirit is like the primum mobile; for in this unity
the spirit is moved from above, by the power of God, naturally and
supernaturally; for by ourselves we have nothing either in or above
nature. And this motion of God, when it is supernatural, is the
first and chief cause of all our virtue. And by this motion of God
the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are granted to certain
enlightened men, like the seven planets which illuminate all the
lives of men. This is how God possesses the essential unity of our
spirit, as His Kingdom.
ON THE ESSENTIAL MEETING WITH GOD, WITHOUT INTERMEDIARY
NOW attend carefully. The unity of our spirit has two modes, one
essential and the other active. You should know that the spirit,
according to its essential existence, receives the coming of Christ
in its bare nature, without intermediary and without interruption.
For this essence and life which we are in God, in our eternal image,
and which we have in ourselves, according to essential existence,
are without intermediary and inseparable. This is why the spirit
receives, in its highest and most intimate part, in its bare nature,
the impression of its eternal image, and the divine brightness
without interruption, and it is an eternal dwelling of God, which He
occupies by a perpetual inhabitation, and which He visits always
with a new coming, and a new effulgence from His eternal birth. For
where He comes He is, and where He is He comes. And where He has
never been, He will never come, for there is in Him neither accident
nor change, and everything, where He is, is in Him, for He never
goes out of Himself. And this is why the spirit possesses God
essentially in its bare nature, and God the spirit, for the spirit
lives in God, and God in the spirit. And it is capable, in its
highest part, of receiving the brightness of God, and all that God
may grant it, without intermediary. And by the brightness of its
eternal image, which shines essentially and personally in it, the
spirit is plunged, as regards the highest part of its vitality, in
the divine essence; and there enters into possession of its eternal
bliss, and flowing out again by the eternal birth of the Son is
placed in its created essence by the free will of the Holy Trinity,
And here it is like the image of the sublime Trinity and Unity for
which it is created. And in its created nature, it takes the
impression of its eternal image without interruption, like an
immaculate mirror in which every impression abides, and which renews
the likeness in itself without interruption. This essential unity of
our spirit in God, exists not in itself, but abides in God and flows
out from God, and is immanent in God and returns to God, as to its
eternal cause. It never separates itself from God, for this unity is
a fact of bare nature, and if nature separated itself from God it
would fall into nothingness. And this unity is above time and
conditions, and works always without interruption according to the
mode of God. This is the nobleness which we have naturally according
to the essential unity of our spirit, where it is united naturally
to God.
This makes us neither saints nor blessed, for all men have it in
them, the bad as well as the good; but it is the first cause of all
holiness and bliss; and this is the meeting and unity of God in our
spirit, in our base nature.
HOW MAN IS LIKE GOD BY GRACE, AND UNLIKE HIM BY MORTAL SIN
NOW examine this thought with care, for if you understand well what
I wish to say to you, and what I have already said, you will
understand all the divine truth which a creature can apprehend at
present, and even things far more sublime. In the second mode, our
spirit keeps itself actively in this same unity, and subsists by
itself as in its personal created essence. This is the foundation
and origin of the supreme faculties, and this is the beginning and
end of all the works of a created nature, accomplished according to
the mode of the creatures, both in nature and above nature.
Nevertheless this unity does not operate as unity; but all the
faculties of the soul have their power entirely in their
foundation--that is to say, in the unity of the spirit, where it
resides in its personal essence. In this unity the spirit must
always be like unto God, by grace and virtue, or unlike Him by
mortal sin; for man is made in the likeness of God, which he must
understand in the sense of grace; for grace is a deiform light which
shines through us and makes us like unto God; and without this light
we cannot be united supernaturally to God, even though we can never
lose the image of God, nor our natural unity in Him. If we lose this
likeness--that is to say, grace, we are damned. And this is why, so
soon as God finds in us something which is capable of receiving His
grace, He wishes to enliven us by His goodness, and to make us like
unto Himself by His gifts. And this happens whenever we turn towards
Him with full purpose; for at the same moment Christ comes to us and
in us, with and without intermediary--that is to say, by the virtues
and above all the virtues. And He impresses His image and likeness
upon us--that is to say, Himself and all His gifts, and He relieves
us from sin and makes us like unto Himself.
By the same operation in which God relieves us from sin, and makes
us like Him and free in charity, the spirit is plunged in joyous
love. And here take place a meeting and a union, which are without
intermediaries and supernatural, and wherein resides our supreme
blessedness. Although all that He gives by love and pure goodness is
natural to God, yet to us it is accidental and supernatural,
according to our mode, since formerly we were strangers and unlike,
and only subsequently have become like God and obtained union with
Him.
ON THE SUPREME DEGREE OF THE INTERIOR LIFE
NOW understand. This incomprehensible light transforms and
penetrates the joyous inclination of our spirit. In this light, the
spirit is plunged in joyous repose; for this repose is without mode
and without bottom, and we can only know it by itself--that is to
say, by repose. For if we could know it and conceive it, it would
fall into mode and measure, and so would not be able to satisfy us,
and repose would become an eternal restlessness. And this is why the
simple, loving, complete inclination of our spirit forms in us a
joyous love, and joyous love is without bottom. And the abyss of God
calls to abyss; so it is with all those whose spirits are united to
God in joyous love. This calling is an irruption from His essential
brightness; and this essential brightness in the embrace of His
bottomless love, causes us to lose ourselves and escape from
ourselves, in the lonely darkness of God. And thus united, without
intermediary, to the spirit of God, we can meet God by God, and
possess unchangeably, with Him and in Him, our eternal blessedness.
ON THE FIRST MODE OF THIS HIGHEST MEETING
THE most interior life is practised in three ways. Sometimes the
interior man operates, above all activity and all virtue, by simple
introspection in joyous love. And here he meets God without
intermediary. And from the unity of God a simple light shines in
him, and this light shows him darkness, nakedness, and nothingness.
He is enveloped in darkness, and falls into the absence of mode as
one who loses his way. He loses, in nakedness, the power of
observing and distinguishing all things, and he is transformed and
penetrated by a simple brightness. He loses, in nothingness, all his
works, for he is overcome in the work of the unlimited love of God;
and in the joyous inclination of his spirit he triumphs in God and
becomes one spirit with Him. This is the first mode, which is
inactive; for it empties a man of all things, and lifts him up above
works and virtues.
ON THE SECOND MODE
THERE are moments when the interior man turns desirously and
actively towards God, to pay Him homage, and to offer up and
annihilate, in the love of God, his being and all that he can give.
And here he meets God, through an intermediary. This intermediary is
the gift of wisdom, which is the foundation and source of all the
virtues, and excites the just to virtues in proportion to their love;
and sometimes it touches and inflames the interior man with love
so violently, that all the gifts of God, and all that God can give
without giving Himself, seem to him too little and do not satisfy
him, but only increase his impatience. For he has at the bottom of
his being an interior perception or sensation, wherein all the
virtues begin and end, and wherein he offers to God all the virtues,
and wherein love lives. And thus the hunger and thirst of love
become so great, that he is reduced to nothingness, and then touched
anew, as it were for the first time, by the irradiation of God. Thus
in living he dies and in dying he lives again. This is the second
mode, and it is more useful and more glorious than the first; for
none can enter into the repose that is above action unless he has
first actively loved love. And this is why none will be inactive,
who is master of himself and who is able to practise love.
ON THE THIRD MODE
FROM these two kinds is born the third, which is an interior life
according to righteousness. Now understand. God comes to us without
interruption, with and. without intermediary, He requires of us
action and joy, in such a way that action may not hinder joy, nor
joy action, but that each may help the other. This is why the
interior man possesses his life in these two modes, repose and work.
And in each of them he is entire and undivided; for he is entirely
in God, in his joyous repose, and he is entirely in himself, in his
active love; and God warns him that He requires him to renew
continually his repose and his work. The righteousness of the spirit
wishes to pay, every hour, what God requires of us, and this is why,
at every irradiation of God, the spirit turns inwards, actively and
joyously, and so is renewed in all the virtues, and plunged more
deeply in joyous love. For God at every gift gives Himself with all
His gifts, and the spirit whenever it turns inwards, gives itself
with all its works. The spirit is united to God, and transferred
without interruption into repose. The man is hungry, for he sees the
nourishment of angels and the food of heaven. He works actively in
love, for he sees his repose. He is a pilgrim, and he sees his
country. He fights, in love, for victory, for he sees his crown.
Consolation, peace, joy, beauty, and riches, and all that can
rejoice the heart, are shown to the reason illuminated by God, in
spiritual similitudes and without measure. And by this vision, at
the touch of God, love remains active. For this just man has built
up, in the spirit, a true life, which will last eternally, but after
this life it will be transformed into a more sublime state. Thus the
man is just, and he goes towards God by interior love in eternal
work, and he goes in God by joyous inclination, in eternal repose.
And he abides in God, and yet he goes out towards all the creatures,
in common love, in the virtues, and in the works of justice. This is
the supreme summit of the inner life.
Note.--Here follow in Ruysbroek's treatise four chapters of warnings
against the errors of Quietism, such as were exemplified in his time
by many of the Brethren of the Free Spirit and similar sects.