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- Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
The Blessed Jan van Ruysbroeck was one of the Flemish mystics. This edition contains his most important writings: The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage The Sparking Stone The Book of the Supreme Truth
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The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
Jan van Ruysbroeck
Contents:
John van Ruysbroeck – A Biography
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
First Book
Prologue
Chapter I - Of The Active Life
Chapter Ii - Showing How We Shall Consider The Coming Of Christ In Three Ways
Chapter Iii - Of Humility
Chapter Iv - Of Charity
Chapter V - Of Patient Endurance
Chapter Vi - Of The Second Coming Of Christ
Chapter Vii - Of The Blessed Sacraments
Chapter Viii - Of The Third Coming Of Christ
Chapter Ix - Showing What Christ Will Do In The Day Of Doom
Chapter X - Of The Five Kinds Of Men Who Shall Appear At The Judgment
Chapter Xi - Of A Spiritual Going Out With All Virtues
Chapter Xii - How Humility Is The Foundation Of All Other Virtues
Chapter Xiii - Of Obedience
Chapter Xiv - Of The Renunciation Of Self Will
Chapter Xv - Of Patience
Chapter Xvi - Of Meekness
Chapter Xvii - Of Kindliness
Chapter Xviii - Of Compassion
Chapter Xix - Of Generosity
Chapter Xx - Of Zeal And Diligence
Chapter Xxi - Of Temperance And Sobriety
Chapter Xxii - Of Purity
Chapter Xxiii - Of Three Enemies To Be Overcome By Righteousness
Chapter Xxiv - Of The Kingdom Of The Soul
Chapter Xxv - Of A Spiritual Meeting Of God And Ourselves
Chapter Xxvi - Of The Desire To Know The Bridegroom In His Nature
Second Book
Prologue
Chapter I - How We Achieve Supernatural Sight In Our Inward Workings
Chapter Ii - Of A Three-Fold Unity Which Is In Us By Nature
Chapter Iii - Of The Inflow Of The Grace Of God Into Our Spirit
Chapter Iv - Showing How We Should Found Our Inward Life On A Freedom From Images
Chapter V - Of A Three-Fold Coming Of Our Lord In The Inward Man
Chapter Vi - Of The Second Coming Of Our Lord In The Inward Man
Chapter Vii - Of The Third Coming Of Our Lord
Chapter Viii - How The First Coming Has Four Degrees
Chapter Ix - Of Unity Of Heart
Chapter X - Of Inwardness
Chapter Xi - Of Sensible Love
Chapter Xii - Of Devotion
Chapter Xiii - Of Gratitude
Chapter Xiv - Of Two Griefs Which Arise From Inward Gratitude
Chapter Xv - A Similitude How We Should Perform The First Degree Of Our Inward Exercise
Chapter Xvi - Another Similitude Concerning The Same Exercise
Chapter Xvii - Of The Second Degree Of Our Inward Exercise, Which Increases Inwardness By Humility
Chapter Xviii - Of The Pure Delight Of The Heart And The Sensible Powers
Chapter Xix - Of Spiritual Inebriation
Chapter Xx - What May Hinder A Man In This Inebriation
Chapter Xxi - A Similitude How A Man Should Act And Bear Himself In This Case
Chapter Xxii - Of The Third Degree Of The Spiritual Coming Of Christ
Chapter Xxiii - Of The Pain And Restlessness Of Love
Chapter Xxiv - Of Ecstacies And Divine Revelations
Chapter Xxv - An Example Showing How One Is Hindered In This Exercise
Chapter Xxvi - Another Example
Chapter Xxvii - A Parable Of The Ant
Chapter Xxviii - Of The Fourth Degree Of The Coming Of Christ
Chapter Xxix - Showing What The Forsaken Man Should Do
Chapter Xxx - A Parable: How One May Be Hindered In This Fourth Degree
Chapter Xxxi - Of Another Hindrance
Chapter Xxxii - Of Four Kinds Of Fever Wherewith A Man May Be Tormented
Chapter Xxxiii - Showing How These Four Degrees In Their Perfection Are Found In Christ
Chapter Xxxiv - Showing How A Man Should Live If He Would Be Enlightened
Chapter Xxxv - Of The Second Coming Of Christ, Or, The Fountain With Three Rills
Chapter Xxxvi - The First Rill Adorns The Memory
Chapter Xxxvii - The Second Rill Enlightens The Understanding
Chapter Xxxviii - The Third Rill Establishes The Will To Every Perfection
Chapter Xxxix - Showing How The Established Man Shall Go Out In Four Ways
Chapter Xl - He Shall Go Out Towards God And Towards All Saints
Chapter Xli - He Shall Go Out Towards All Sinners
Chapter Xlii - He Shall Go Out Towards His Friends In Purgatory
Chapter Xliii - He Shall Go Out Towards Himself And Towards All Good Men
Chapter Xliv - Showing How We May Recognise Those Men Who Fail In Charity To All
Chapter Xlv - How Christ Was, Is, And Ever Will Be The Lover Of All
Chapter Xlvi - Reproving All Those Who Live On Spiritual Goods In An Inordinate Manner
Chapter Xlvii - Showing How Christ Has Given Himself To All In Common In The Sacrament Of The Altar
Chapter Xlviii - Of The Unity Of The Divine Nature In The Trinity Of The Persons
Chapter Xlix - Showing How God Possesses And Moves The Soul Both In A Natural And A Supernatural Way
Chapter L - Showing How A Man Should Be Adorned If He Is To Receive The Most Inward Exercise
Chapter Li - Of The Third Coming Of Christ
Chapter Lii - Showing How The Spirit Goes Out Through The Divine Stirring
Chapter Liii - Of An Eternal Hunger For God
Chapter Liv - Of A Loving Strife Between The Spirit Of God And Our Spirit
Chapter Lv - Of The Fruitful Works Of The Spirit, The Which Are Eternal
Chapter Lvi - Showing The Way In Which We Shall Meet God In A Ghostly Manner Both With And Without Means
Chapter Lvii - Of The Essential Meeting With God Without Means In The Nakedness Of Our Nature
Chapter Lviii - Showing How One Is Like Unto God Through Grace And Unlike Unto God Through Mortal Sin
Chapter Lix - Showing How One Possesses God In Union And Rest, Above All Likeness Through Grace
Chapter Lx - Showing How We Have Need Of The Grace Of God, Which Makes Us Like Unto God And Leads Us To God Without Means
Chapter Lxi - Of How God And Our Spirit Visit Each Other In The Unity And In The Likeness
Chapter Lxii - Showing How We Should Go Out To Meet God
Chapter Lxiii - Of The Ordering Of All The Virtues Through The Seven Gifts Of The Holy Ghost
Chapter Lxiv - Of The Highest Degree Of The Most Interior Life
Chapter Lxv - Of Three Kinds Of Most Inward Practices
Chapter Lxvi - Showing How Some Men Live Contrary To These Exercises
Chapter Lxvii - Of Another Kind Of Perverted Men
Third Book
Chapter I - Showing The Three Ways By Which One Enters Into The God-Seeing Life
Chapter Ii - How The Eternal Birth Of God Is Renewed Without Interruption In The Nobility Of The Spirit
Chapter Iii - How Our Spirit Is Called To Go Out In Contemplation And Fruition
Chapter Iv - Of A Divine Meeting Which Takes Place In The Hiddenness Of Our Spirit
The Sparkling Stone
Prologue
Chapter I. Through Three Things A Man Becomes Good
Chapter Ii. Through Three Things A Man Becomes Inward
Chapter Iii. Through Three Things A Man Becomes God-Seeing
Chapter Iv. Of The Sparkling Stone, And Of The New Name Written In The Book Of The Secrets Of God
Chapter V. Of The Works Which God Works In All In Common And Of Five Kinds Of Sinners
Chapter Vi. Of The Difference Between The Hirelings And The Faithful Servants Of God
Chapter Vii. Of The Difference Between The Faithful Servants And The Secret Friends Of God
Chapter Viii. Of The Difference Between The Secret Friends And The Hidden Sons Of God
Chapter Ix. How We May Become Hidden Sons Of God, And Attain To The God-Seeing Life
Chapter X. How We, Though One With God, Must Eternally Remain Other Than God
Chapter Xi. Of The Great Difference Between The Brightness Of The Saints And The Highest Brightness To Which We Can Attain In This Life
Chapter Xii. Of The Transfiguration Of Christ On Mount Thabor
Chapter Xiii. How We Ought To Have Fruition Of God
Chapter Xiv. Of That Common Life Which Comes From The Contemplation And Fruition Of God
The Book Of Supreme Truth
Prologue
Chapter I. Wherefore This Book Was Written
Chapter Ii. A Short Repetition Of All The Highest Teachings Written By The Author
Chapter Iii. Of The Union Through Means
Chapter Iv. Of The Men Who Practise A False Vacancy
Chapter V. Of The Union Without Means
Chapter Vi. Of Heavenly Weal And Hellish Woe
Chapter Vii. Showing Wherefore All Good Men Do Not Attain To The Unmediated Union With God
Chapter Viii. Showing How The Inward Man Should Exercise Himself, That He May Be United With God Without Means
Chapter Ix. Of The Inward Working Of God's Grace
Chapter X. Of The Mutual Contentment Of The Divine Persons, And The Mutual Contentment Between God And Good Men
Chapter Xi. How Good Men In Their Contemplation Have The Love Of God Before Them, And How They Are Lifted Up Into God
Chapter Xii. Of The Highest Union, Without Difference Or Distinction
Chapter Xiii. Of The Threefold Prayer Of Christ, That We Might Be One With God
Chapter Xiv. Here The Author Declares That He Submits All That He Has Written To The Judgment Of Holy Church
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, Jan van Ruysbroeck
Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck
86450 Altenmünster, Germany
ISBN: 9783849620875
www.jazzybee-verlag.de
John van Ruysbroeck – A Biography
By Vincent Scully
Surnamed the Admirable Doctor, and the Divine Doctor, undoubtedly the foremost of the Flemish mystics, b. at Ruysbroeck, near Brussels, 1293; d. at Groenendael, 2 Dec., 1381. He was blessed with a devout mother, who trained him from infancy in the ways of piety and holiness. Of his father we know nothing; John's only family name, van Ruysbroeck, is taken from his native hamlet. At the age of eleven he forsook his mother, departing without leave or warning, to place himself under the guidance and tuition of his uncle, John Hinckaert, a saintly priest and a canon of St. Gudule's, Brussels, who with a fellow-canon of like mind, Francis van Coudenberg, was following a manner of life modelled on the simplicity and fervour of Apostolic days. This uncle provided for Ruysbroeck's education with a view to the priesthood. In due course, Blessed John was presented with a prebend in St. Gudule's, and ordained in 1317. His mother had followed him to Brussels, entered a Béguinage there, and made a happy end shortly before his ordination. For twenty-six years Ruysbroeck continued to lead, together with his uncle Hinckaert and van Coudenberg, a life of extreme austerity and retirement. At that time the Brethren of the Free Spirit were causing considerable trouble in the Netherlands, and one of them, a woman named Bloemardinne, was particularly active in Brussels, propagating her false tenets chiefly by means of popular pamphlets. In defence of the Faith Ruysbroeck responded with pamphlets also written in the native tongue. Nothing of these treatises remains; but the effect of the controversy was so far permanent with Ruysbroeck that his later writings bear constant reference, direct and indirect, to the heresies, especially the false mysticism, of the day, and he composed always in the idiom of the country, chiefly with a view to counteracting the mischief of the heretical writings scattered broadcast among the people in their own tongue.
The desire for a more retired life, and possibly also the persecution which followed Ruysbroeck's attack on Bloemardinne, induced the three friends to quit Brussels in 1343, for the hermitage of Groenendael, in the neighbouring forest of Soignes, which was made over to them by John III, Duke of Brabant. But here so many disciples joined the little company that it was found expedient to organize into a duly-authorized religious body. The hermitage was erected into a community of canons regular, 13 March, 1349, and eventually it became the motherhouse of a congregation, which bore its name of Groenendael. Francis van Coudenberg was appointed first provost, and Blessed John Ruysbroeck prior. John Hinckaert refrained from making the canonical profession lest the discipline of the house should suffer from the exemptions required by the infirmities of his old age; he dwelt, therefore, in a cell outside the cloister, and there a few years later happily passed away. This period, from his religious profession (1349) to his death (1381), was the most active and fruitful of Ruysbroeck's career. To his own community his life and words were a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. His fame as a man of God, as a sublime contemplative and a skilled director of souls, spread beyond the bounds of Flanders and Brabant to Holland, Germany, and France. All sorts and conditions of men sought his aid and counsel. His writings were eagerly caught up and rapidly multiplied, especially in the cloisters of the Netherlands and Germany; early in the fifteenth century they are to be found also in England. Among the more famous visitors to Groenendael mention is made of Tauler, but though the German preacher certainly knew and appreciated his writings, it is not established that he ever actually saw Ruysbroeck. Gerard Groote in particular venerated him as a father and loved him as a friend. And through Groote, Ruysbroeck's influence helped to mould the spirit of the Windesheim School, which in the next generation found its most famous exponent in Thomas a Kempis. Just now strenuous efforts are being made to discover authentic Flemish MSS. of Blessed John Ruysbroeck's works; but up to the present the standard edition is the Latin version of Surius, all imperfect and probably incomplete as this is. Of the various treatises here preserved, the best-known and the most characteristic is that entitled "The Spiritual Espousals". It is divided into three books, treating respectively of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life; and each book is subdivided into four parts working out the text; Ecce Sponsus venit, exite obviam ei, as follows: (1) Ecce, the work of the vision, man must turn his eyes to God; (2) Sponsus venit, the divers comings of the Bridegroom; (3) exite, the soul going forth along the paths of virtue; and finally (4) the embrace of the soul and the heavenly Spouse.
Literally, Ruysbroeck wrote as the spirit moved him. He loved to wander and meditate in the solitude of the forest adjoining the cloister; he was accustomed to carry a tablet with him, and on this to jot down his thoughts as he felt inspired so to do. Late in life he was able to declare that he had never committed aught to writing save by the motion of the Holy Ghost. In no one of his treatises do we find anything like a complete or detailed account of his system; perhaps, it would be correct to say that he himself was not conscious of elaborating any system. In his dogmatic writings he is emphatically a faithful son of the Catholic Church, explaining, illustrating, and enforcing her traditional teachings with remarkable force and lucidity; this fact alone is quite sufficient to dispose of the contention, still cherished in certain quarters, that Ruysbroeck was a forerunner of the Reformation, etc. In his ascetic works, his favourite virtues are detachment, humility, and charity; he loves to dwell on such themes as flight from the world, meditation upon the Life, especially the Passion of Christ, abandonment to the Divine Will, and an intense personal love of God. But naturally it is in his mystical writings that the peculiar genius of Ruysbroeck shines forth. Yet here again it is the manner rather than the matter that is new, and it is especially in the freshness, originality, boldness, variety, detail, and truth of his imagery and comparisons that the individuality of Ruysbroeck stands out. Students of mysticism from the pages of the Areopagite onwards will scarcely discover anything for which they cannot recall a parallel elsewhere. But there are many who maintain that Blessed John stands alone, unrivalled, in his grasp of what we may term the metaphysics of mysticism, in the delicateness and sureness of his touch when describing the phenomena and progress of the mystic union, and in the combined beauty, simplicity, and loftiness of his language and style.
In common with most of the German mystics Ruysbroeck starts from God and comes down to man, and thence rises again to God, showing how the two are so closely united as to become one. But here he is careful to protest: "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 and nature." Despite this declaration, however, and other similar saving clauses scattered over his pages, some of Ruysbroeck's expressions are certainly rather unusual and startling. The sublimity of his subject-matter was such that it could scarcely be otherwise. His devoted friend, Gerard Groote, a trained theologian, confessed to a feeling of uneasiness over certain of his phrases and passages, and begged him to change or modify them for the sake at least of the weak. Later on, Jean Gerson and then Bossuet both professed to find traces of unconscious pantheism in his works. But as an offset to these we may mention the enthusiastic commendations of his contemporaries, Groote, Tauler, a Kempis, Scoenhoven, and in subsequent times of the Franciscan van Herp, the Carthusians Denys and Surius, the Carmelite Thomas of Jesus, the Benedictine Louis de Blois, and the Jesuit Lessius. In our own days Ernest Hello and especially Maeterlinck have done much to make his writings known and even popular. And at present, particularly since his beatification, there is a strong revival of interest in all that concerns Ruysbroeck in his native Belgium.
A word of warning is needed against the assumption of some writers who would exalt the genius of Ruysbroeck by dwelling on what they term his illiteracy and ignorance. As a matter of fact the works of Blessed John manifest a mastery of the sacred sciences, and a considerable acquaintaince even with the natural science of his day. His adaptation of the slender resources of his native tongue to the exact expression of his own unusual experiences and ideas is admirable beyond praise; and though his verse is not of the best, his prose writings are vigorous and chaste, and evidence not only the intellect of a metaphysician, but the soul also of a true and tender poet.
Blessed John's relics were carefully preserved and his memory honoured as that of a saint. When Groenendael Priory was suppressed by Joseph II in 1783, his relics were transferred to St. Gudule's, Brussels, where, however, they were lost during the French Revolution. A long and oft-interrupted series of attempts to secure official acknowledgement of his heroic virtues from Rome was crowned at length by a Decree, 1 Dec., 1908, confirming to him under the title of "Blessed" his cultus ab immemorabili tempore. And the Office of the Beatus has been granted to the clergy of Mechlin and to the Canons Regular of the Lateran. No authentic portrait of Ruysbroeck is known to exist; but the traditional picture represents him in the canonical habit, seated in the forest with his writing tablet on his knee, as he was in fact found one day by the brethren-rapt in ecstasy and enveloped in flames, which encircle without consuming the tree under which he is resting.
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
FIRST BOOK
PROLOGUE
Ecce sponsus venit, exile obviam ei. Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. These words were written by Saint Matthew the Evangelist, and Christ spoke them to His disciples and to all other men in the parable of the virgins. This Bridegroom is Christ, and human nature is the bride; the which God has made in His own image and after His likeness. And in the beginning He had set her in the highest and most beautiful, the richest and most fertile place in all the earth: that is, in Paradise. And He had given her dominion over all creatures; and He had adorned her with graces; and had given her a commandment, so that by obedience she might have merited to be confirmed and established with her Bridegroom in an eternal troth, and never to fall into any grief, or any sin. Then came a beguiler, the hellish fiend, full of envy, in the shape of a subtle serpent, and he beguiled the woman; and they both beguiled the man, in whom above all the whole of our nature consists. And the fiend seduced that nature, the bride of God, with false counsel; and she was driven into a strange country, poor and miserable and captive and oppressed, and beset by her enemies; so that it seemed as though she might never attain reconciliation and return again to her native land. But when God thought the time had come, and had mercy on the suffering of His beloved, He sent His Only Begotten Son to earth, in a fair chamber, in a glorious temple; that is, in the body of the Virgin Mary. There He was married to this bride, our nature, and He united her with His own person through the most pure blood of this noble Virgin. The priest who married the bride was the Holy Ghost; the angel Gabriel brought the offer; the glorious Virgin gave her consent. Thus Christ, our faithful Bridegroom, united our nature with His person; and He has sought us in strange countries, and taught us heavenly customs and perfect faithfulness, and has laboured for us and fought as our champion against the adversary. And He has broken open our prison, and won the victory, and by His death slain our death; and He has redeemed us by His blood, and made us free through His living waters of baptism, and enriched us with His sacraments and with His gifts: that we might go out (as He says) with all the virtues, to meet Him in the house of glory and to enjoy Him without end in eternity. Now Christ, the Master of Truth, says: Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him. In these words, Christ our Lover teaches us four things. First, He gives us a command, in that He says: Behold. Those who neglect this command and remain blind are all damned. Secondly, He shows us what we shall see, that is, the coming of the Bridegroom; for He says, The Bridegroom cometh. In the third place, He teaches and commands us what we shall do, for He says: Go ye out. And in the fourth place, by saying: To meet Him, He shows us the use and the purpose of our labour and of all our life; that is to say, the loving meeting with our Bridegroom. These words we shall now declare and set forth in three ways. First, according to the common way relating to the life of beginners, which is called the Active Life, and which is necessary for all men who wish to be saved. Secondly, we will explain these same words in their relation to the interior, exalted, and God-desiring life, at which many men may arrive by their virtues and by the grace of God. Thirdly, we will expound them in respect of a superessential, God-seeing life, which few men can attain or taste, by reason of the sublimity and high nobility of that life.
CHAPTER I - OF THE ACTIVE LIFE
Since the time of Adam, Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, has said to all men, and He says so still, inwardly according to His Divinity: Behold. And this beholding is needful. Now mark this well: that for anyone who wishes to see, either in a bodily or a ghostly manner, three things are necessary. The first thing is that, if a man will see bodily and outwardly, he must have the outward light of heaven, or some other material light, to illuminate the medium, that is, the air, through which he will see. The second thing is, that he must permit the things which he wishes to see to be reflected in his eyes. And the third thing is that the organs, the eyes, must be sound and flawless, so that gross bodily things can be subtly reflected in them. If a man lack any of these three things his bodily sight is wanting. Of this sight, however, we shall say nothing more; but we shall speak of a ghostly and supernatural sight, in which all our bliss abides. For all who wish to see in a ghostly and supernatural manner three things also are needful. The first is the light of Divine grace; the second is a free turning of the will to God, the third is a conscience clean from any mortal sin. Now mark this: God being a common good, and His boundless love being common to all, He gives His grace in two ways: prevenient grace, and the grace by which one merits eternal life. Prevenient grace is common to all men, Pagan and Jew, good and evil. By reason of His common love, which God has towards all men, He has caused His name and the redemption of human nature to be preached and revealed to the uttermost parts of the earth. Whosoever wishes to turn to Him can turn to Him. All the sacraments, baptism and every other sacrament are made ready for all men who wish to receive them according to the needs of each; for God wishes to save all men and to lose not one. At the day of Judgment, no one shall be able to complain that, had he wished to be converted, but little was done for him. Thus God is a common light and a common splendour enlightening heaven and earth, and every man, each according to his need and worth. But although, even as God is common to all, the sun shines upon all trees, yet many a tree remains without fruits, and many a tree brings forth wild fruits of little use to men. And for this reason such trees are pruned, and shoots of fruitful trees are grafted into them, so that they may bear good fruits, savoury and useful to man. The light of Divine grace is a fruit-bearing shoot, coming forth from the living paradise of the eternal kingdom; and no deed can bring refreshment or profit to man if it be not born of this shoot. This shoot of Divine grace, which makes man pleasing to God, and through which he merits eternal life, is offered to all men. But it is not grafted into all, because some will not cut away the wild branches of their trees; that is, unbelief, and a perverse and disobedient will opposed to the commandments of God. But if this shoot of God's grace is to be grafted into our souls, there must be of necessity three things: the prevenient grace of God, the conversion of one's own free will, and the purification of conscience. The prevenient grace touches all men, God bestowing it upon all men. But not all men give on their part the conversion of the will and the purification of conscience; and that is why so many lack the grace of God, through which they should merit eternal life. The prevenient grace of God touches a man from without and from within. From without through sickness; or through the loss of external goods, of kinsmen, and of friends; or through public disgrace. Or he may be stirred by a sermon, or by the examples of the saints or of good men, their words, or their deeds; so that he learns to recognize himself as he is. This is how God touches a man from without. Sometimes a man is touched also from within, through remembering the sorrows and the sufferings of our Lord, and the good which God has bestowed upon him and upon all other men; or by considering his sins, the shortness of life, the fear of death and the fear of hell, the eternal torments of hell and the eternal joy of heaven, and how God has spared him in his sins and has awaited his conversion. Or he may ponder the marvellous works of God in heaven and in earth, and in all creatures. Such are the workings of the prevenient grace of God, stirring men from without and from within, in many ways. And besides this, man has a natural tendency towards God, because of the spark of the soul, and because of that highest reason, which always desires the good and hates the evil. In all these ways God touches all men, each one according to his need; so that at times a man is smitten, reproved, alarmed, and stands still within himself to consider himself. And all this is still prevenient grace, and not yet efficacious grace. Thus does prevenient grace prepare the soul for the reception of the other grace, through which eternal life is merited. For when the soul has thus got rid of evil willing and evil doing, it is perplexed and smitten with fear of what it should do, considering itself, its wicked works, and God. And from this there arise a natural repentance of its sins and a natural good-will. Such is the highest work of prevenient grace. If a man does all he can, and cannot do more because of his feebleness, it rests with the infinite goodness of God to finish the work. Then, straight as a sunbeam, there comes a higher light of Divine grace, and it is shed into the soul according to its worth, though neither merited nor desired. For in this light God gives Himself out of free goodness and generosity, the which never creature can merit before it has received it. And this is an inward and mysterious working of God in the soul, above time; and it moves the soul and all its powers. Therewith ends prevenient grace and begins the other grace, that is to say, the supernatural light. This light is the first point necessary, and from it there arises a second point, and that on the part of the soul; namely, the free conversion of the will, in a single moment of time. And here it is that charity is born of the union of God with the soul. These two points hang together, so that the one cannot be fulfilled without the other. Where God and the soul come together in the union of love, then God, above time, gives His light; and the soul, in a single moment of time, gives, by virtue of the grace received, its free conversion to Him. And there charity is born of God and of the soul in the soul, for charity is a bond of love, tying God to the loving soul. Of these two things - that is to say, the grace of God and the free conversion of the will enlightened by grace - charity, that is, Divine love, is born. And from this Divine love the third point arises; that is, the purification of conscience. And these three points belong together in such a way that one cannot exist long without the others; for whosoever has Divine love has also perfect contrition for his sins. Yet here we must take heed to the order of Divine and creaturely things as they are here shown. For God gives His light, and by this light man gives his willing and perfect conversion: and of these two is born a perfect love towards God. And from this love there come forth perfect contrition and purification of conscience. And these arise from the consideration of misdeeds and all that may defile the soul: for when a man loves God he despises himself and all his works. This is the order of every conversion. From it there come true repentance, a perfect sorrow for every evil thing which one has done, and an ardent desire never to sin again and evermore to serve God in humble obedience. Hence too an open confession, without reserve, ambiguity, or excuse; a perfect satisfaction according to the counsel of a prudent priest; and the beginning of virtue and of all good works. These three things, as you have heard, are needful to a spiritual or godly sight. If you have them, Christ is saying within you: Behold, and you are beholding in truth. And this is the first of the four chief points; namely, that in which Christ our Lord says: Behold.
CHAPTER II - SHOWING HOW WE SHALL CONSIDER THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THREE WAYS
Now, by saying: The Bridegroom cometh, He shows us further what we shall see. Christ, our Bridegroom, spoke this word in Latin: Venit. And this word implies two tenses, the past and the present; and yet here it denotes the future too. And that is why we shall consider three comings of our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. In the first coming He became man, for man's sake, out of love. The second coming takes place daily, often and many times, in every loving heart, with new graces and with new gifts, as each is able to receive them. The third coming we shall see as the coming in the Judgment, or at the hour of death. And in all these comings there are three things to be considered: the why and the wherefore, the inward way, and the outward work. The reason why God created the angels and man, was His unfathomable goodness and nobleness whereby He willed to do it; that the bliss and the richness which He is Himself might be revealed to rational creatures, so that they might taste Him in time, and enjoy Him outside time in eternity. The reason why God became man was His incomprehensible love, and the need of all men; for man had been corrupted by the Fall, and could not amend himself. But the reason why Christ, according to His Godhead and according to His manhood, wrought all His works on earth, this reason is fourfold: His Divine love which is without measure; the created love, called charity, which He had in His soul through union with the Eternal Word and through the perfect gift of His Father; the great need of man; and the glory of His Father. These are the reasons for the coming of Christ our Bridegroom, and for all His works, both outward and inward. Now, if we would follow Christ our Bridegroom in virtue, so far as we are able, we must consider in what wise He was inwardly and the works which He wrought outwardly; that is to say, His virtues and the deeds of these virtues. In what wise He was according to His Godhead, this is inaccessible and incomprehensible to us; for it is that according to which He is born of the Father without ceasing, and wherein the Father, in Him and through Him, knows, creates, orders and rules all things in heaven and on earth. For He is the Wisdom of the Father, and they breathe forth one Spirit, that is, one Love, which is a common bond between Them and all saints, and all good men in heaven and on earth. Of this condition we shall not speak any more; but we shall speak of that condition which He had through Divine gifts and according to His created manhood. And this condition was manifold. For as many inward virtues as Christ possessed, so many were His inward conditions: for every virtue has its special condition. The sum of the virtues and conditions in the soul of Christ, this is above the understanding and above the comprehension of all creatures. But we shall take three of them: namely, humility, charity, and patient suffering, in inward and outward things. These are the three chief roots and beginnings of all virtues and all perfection.
CHAPTER III - OF HUMILITY
Now understand this: we find in Christ, according to His Godhead, two kinds of humility. The first kind is this: that He willed to become man, and took upon Himself that very nature which had been banished and cursed to the bottom of hell, and willed to become one with it according to His personality; so that now any man, either good or evil, can say: Christ, the Son of God, is my brother. The second kind of humility according to His Godhead consists in this; that He chose a poor maiden, and not a king's daughter, for His mother, so that a poor maiden should be the mother of God, who is Lord of heaven and earth and all creatures. And further, we can say of all the works of humility which Christ ever wrought, that they were wrought by God Himself. Now let us take the humility which was in Christ according to His manhood and through the grace and the gifts of God. In this humility His soul with all its powers bowed down in reverence and adoration before the most high might of the Father; for a bowed down heart is a humble heart. And therefore He wrought all His works for the praise and for the honour of His Father, and never and in nothing sought His own glory according to His humanity. He was humble and subject to the old law, and to the commandments, and also to custom whenever such was right. And that is why He was circumcised, and taken into the temple, and redeemed in the customary way; and He paid His tribute money to Caesar like any other Jew. And He was humble and subject to His mother and to the lord Joseph; and that is why He served them with true reverence according to all their needs. He chose poor and outcast people for His comrades, to live with, and wherewith to convert the world: these were the Apostles. And He was lowly and meek among them and among all other men. And He was ever ready for all men in whatever inward or outward need they might be: as if he were the servant of all the world. This is the first point which we find in Christ our Bridegroom.
CHAPTER IV - OF CHARITY
The second point is charity, beginning and origin of all virtues. This charity upheld the higher powers of His soul in quietness, and in a fruition of that very bliss which He now enjoys. And this charity kept Him constantly uplifted to His Father in reverence, in love, in adoration, in praise; with fervent prayers for the needs of all men, and with an offering up of all His works to the glory of His Father. It was also this same charity that made Christ stoop with loving faithfulness and kindness to the bodily and ghostly needs of all men. And in this He gave an example to all men, teaching them by His life how to live. He fed in ghostly wise with true and inward teachings all those men who could understand them: and others from without through the senses with signs and wonders. And sometimes He fed them also with bodily food, as when they had followed Him into the desert and were in need of it. He made the deaf hear and the lame walk straight, and the blind see, and the dumb speak, and cast forth devils from men. He raised up the dead; and this should be understood both in a bodily and a ghostly way. Christ, our Lover, has laboured for us from without and from within, with true faithfulness. His charity we cannot fathom and understand, for it flows out of the unfathomable fountain of the Holy Ghost, and transcends all that creatures have ever experienced of charity; for Christ was God and man in one Person. And this is the second point: that is to say, charity.
CHAPTER V - OF PATIENT ENDURANCE
The third point is patient endurance. We should mark this point carefully, for it adorned Christ our Bridegroom during all His life. For His sufferings began very early, as soon as He was born; they began with poverty and cold. Then He was circumcised and shed His blood; He was driven to a strange country; He served the lord Joseph and His mother; He suffered hunger and thirst, shame and contempt, the vile words and works of the Jews. He fasted, He watched, and He was tempted by the devil. He was subject to all men; He wandered from country to country, from town to town, with much labour and great zeal, that He might preach the Gospel. At last He was taken prisoner by the Jews, who were His enemies, though He was their friend. He was betrayed, mocked and insulted, scourged and buffetted, and condemned by false witness. He bore His cross with great pains up to the highest point of the land. He was stripped stark naked. So fair a body neither man nor woman ever saw so cruelly ill-used. He suffered shame, and anguish, and cold, before all the world: for He was naked, and it was cold, and a searching wind cut into His wounds. He was nailed to the wood of the cross with blunt nails, and so stretched out that His veins were torn asunder. He was lifted up and then flung down, and because of the blow His wounds began to bleed again. His head was crowned with thorns; His ears heard the Jews cry in their fury: Crucify Him, Crucify Him, with many other infamous words. His eyes saw the hardness and malice of the Jews, and the anguish of His mother. And His eyes overflowed with the bitterness of sorrow and death; His nose smelt the filth which the Jews spat out of their mouths into His face; His mouth and tongue dripped with vinegar mingled with gall, and every sensitive part of His body had been wounded by the scourge. Christ our Bridegroom, wounded to the death, forsaken of God and of all creatures, dying on the cross, hanging like a log for which no one cared, save Mary, His poor mother, who could not help Him! Christ also suffered spiritually, in His soul, because of the hardened hearts of the Jews and of those who were putting Him to death; for whatever signs and wonders they saw, they remained in their wickedness. And He suffered because of their corruption and because of the vengeance for His death; for He knew that God would avenge it on them, body and soul. Also He suffered from the distress and anguish of His mother and His disciples, who were in great affliction. And He suffered still more, because His death would be of no profit to so many men, and because of the ingratitude of man and because of the false oaths which many would swear, reviling and blaspheming Him Who had died out of love for us all. And also His bodily nature and His lower reason suffered, because God had withdrawn the inflow of His grace and of His consolations, and had left them alone in such distress. And of this Christ complained, exclaiming: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? But as to all His sufferings our Lover was silent; and cried to His Father saying: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And Christ was heard of His Father because of His reverence; for those who acted from ignorance were soon afterwards converted.
