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THE ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL
MARRIAGE (cont) |
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by Blessed John of Rusybroeck |
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THE SECOND BOOK |
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29. Showing what the Forsaken Man should do |
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Here the man should bethink himself with a humble heart that of
his own he has nothing but misery; and he should say in
resignation and self-abandonment the words which were spoken by
the holy man Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as
it pleased the Lord, so it hath been done; blessed be the name of
the Lord. And he should renounce himself in all things, and should
say and mean in his heart, "Lord, I am as willing to be poor in
all those things of which I have been deprived as I am ready to be
rich, O Lord, if it be Thy will and to Thy glory; not my will
according to nature, O Lord, but Thy will and my will according to
spirit be done. For I am Thine own, O Lord, and would as well be
in hell as in heaven, if it were to Thy glory. Lord, do unto me
according to Thy good pleasure."
Of all this suffering and
abandonment the man should make an inward joy; and he should give
himself into the hands of God, and should be glad because he is
able to suffer for the glory of God. And if he be true to this
disposition, he shall taste such an inward joy as he never tasted
before; for nothing is more joyful to the lover of God, than to
feel that he belongs wholly to his Beloved. And if he has indeed
followed the way of the virtues straight to this degree, even
though he has not passed through all the states which have been
pointed out heretofore, it is not needful, if he feels within
himself the source of the virtues: which is in activity, humble
obedience; and, in passivity, patient resignation. In these two
things this degree is established in everlasting surety.
In this season of the year the sun of heaven enters the sign of
Libra, which means the Scales; for day and night are evenly
balanced, and the sun divides the light from the darkness in equal
parts. So likewise Christ stands in the sign of the Balance for
the resigned man. Whether He gives sweetness or bitterness,
darkness or light, whatever he lays upon the scale, the man
balances it evenly; all things are equal to him, save sin alone,
which is for ever cast out.
When such utterly resigned men have
thus been deprived of all consolation, and believe that they have
lost all virtues, and are forsaken of God and of all creatures:
then if they are able to reap them, all kinds of fruit, the corn
and vine, are ready and ripe. And this image means, that all that
the body can endure, whatsoever it be, should be offered up to God
gladly, and of one's own free will, and without resistance to the
supreme Will. All the outward and inward virtues, which a man
practised with joy in the fire of love; these, since he knows them
and is able to perform them, he should now practise diligently and
with courage, and should offer them up to God. Never were they so
dear to God; for never were they so noble and so fair. All the
consolations which God ever gave should gladly be given up, if it
be to His glory.
This is the harvest of the corn, and of all kinds
of ripe fruits, on which we shall live eternally, and which make
us rich in God. Thus the virtues are made perfect, and sorrow is
turned to eternal wine. By such men, and by their lives and their
patience, all those who know them and all their neighbours are
taught and changed for the better: and so the corn of their
virtues is sown and multiplied for the benefit of all good men.
This is the fourth way in which a man by inward working is adorned
and perfected in the bodily powers and the lower part of himself:
and in no other way can he continually grow and become more
perfect. But as such men have been harshly afflicted, and have
been tried, and tempted, and combatted, by God, by their own
selves, and by all creatures, in them the virtue of resignation
reaches a singular perfection. Nevertheless, resignation, or the
renunciation of self-will for the will of God, is before all
things needful for all men who wish to be saved.
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30. A Parable: How one may be hindered in this Fourth Degree |
At this season of the year, so soon as the equinox is come, the
sun begins to descend and the weather becomes cooler. And then
some imprudent men become full of noxious humours, which enter
into the stomach, and spoil the health and bring many diseases:
and these destroy the appetite and the taste of good food, and
bring many to death. And some men are corrupted by these noxious
humours, so that they get dropsy, and have therefrom long torments
and sometimes die. And from the super-abundance of these humours
come sickness and fever from which many men suffer, and of which
some die.
And so likewise it is, when men of good-will, who once tasted
God, have swerved from Him and from truth, and have gone astray;
these either sicken in the way of perfection, or wither away as
regards virtue, or fall into eternal death, through one of these
maladies, and some through all three. Especially when he is
forsaken a man has need of much strength, and must exercise
himself in the way I have just taught you: thus he shall not be
deceived.
But the unwise man, who rules himself ill, falls easily into
these maladies; for in him the weather has grown cooler. For this
reason his nature becomes slow in virtue and in good works, and
craves for comfort and softness of the body; often without
discretion and more than is needful. And other men would like well
to receive solace from God, if they might partake of Him without
pains and labour. And some seek for solace in creatures, wherefrom
great harm often ensues. And some think themselves sick and feeble
and that their powers are exhausted, and believe that they have
need of all that they can get, and that they must cherish their
bodies in comfort and repose.
When a man yields himself in such a way, and seeks without
discretion after bodily things and comforts; then all such things
are noxious humours which fulfil the stomach, that is to say, the
man's heart, and take from him the taste and the enjoyment of good
food, that is to say, of all the virtues.
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31. Of another Hindrance |
If a man thus falls into sickness and cold, he is sometimes caught
by dropsy, that is to say, he has an inclination towards the
outward possession of earthly things. The more such men acquire,
the more they desire; for they straightway become dropsical. The
belly, that is, the appetites or lusts, swells terribly, and the
thirst will not be quenched. But the face of conscience and
discretion becomes small and thin, for these men put hindrances
against the inflow of the grace of God.
If they thus accumulate the waters of earthly possessions about
the heart, that is, if they cling to them with desire, they cannot
progress in works of charity; for they are sick, they lack the
inward spirit of life and breath, that is to say, they lack the
grace of God and inward charity. And therefore they cannot rid
themselves of the waters of earthly riches: the heart is submerged
in them, and they are often choked therein and die an eternal
death.
But those who keep the waters of earthly riches far below the
heart, so that they are master of their possessions and can
renounce them whenever it is needful: these, though they may
suffer long from inordinate inclinations, may yet be cured.
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32. Of Four Kinds of Fever wherewith a Man may be Tormented |
Those men who are full of noxious humours, that is to say, full of
inordinate inclination towards bodily comfort and towards foreign
and creaturely consolations, can fall into four kinds of fever.
The first kind is called the quotidian fever. It is a multiplicity
of the heart; for these men wish to know all things, and to speak
of all things, and to criticise and to judge all things, and
meanwhile they often fail to observe themselves. They are weighed
down by many strange cares; they must often hear what they do not
like; and the least thing troubles them. Their thoughts are
restless; first this, then that, first here, then there; they are
like to the winds. This is a daily fever; for they are troubled,
and busied, and in multiplicity, from morning until evening, and
sometimes in the night also, whether they sleep or wake. Though
this may exist in a state of grace and without mortal sin, yet it
hinders inwardness and inward practices and takes away the taste
of God and of all virtues. And this is an eternal loss.
The second kind of fever comes on alternate days. It is called
fickleness. If it lasts long it is often dangerous. This fever is
of two kinds: sometimes it comes from intemperate heat, and
sometimes from cold. The one which comes from intemperate heat
befalls certain good men; for when they are, or have been, touched
by God, and then are forsaken of Him, they sometimes fall into
fickleness.
To-day they choose one way of life, and to-morrow another; at
one time they wish to be silent, and another time they wish
continually to speak. First they wish to enter into this order,
then into that. First they wish to give all their goods to God,
then they wish to keep them. At one time they wish to wander
abroad, at another to be enclosed in a cell. At one time they long
to go often to the Sacrament, and shortly afterwards they value
this but little. At one time they wish to pray much in a loud
voice, and another time but shortly after, they would keep
silence. And this is both a vain curiosity and a fickleness, which
hinder and impede a man from comprehending inward truth, and
destroy in him both the source and the practice of all inwardness.
Now mark whence this unstable condition comes in some good men.
When a man sets his thoughts and his inward active endeavour on
the virtues and on outward behaviour more than on God and on union
with God: though he remains in the grace of God (for in the
virtues he aims at God), yet none the less his life is unstable,
for he does not feel himself to rest in God above all virtues. And
therefore he possesses something that he does not know; for, Him
Whom he seeks in the virtues and in the multiplicity of acts, he
possesses within himself, above intention, above virtues, and
above all ways and means. And therefore, if this man would
overcome his fickleness, he must learn to rest above all virtues
in God and in the most high Unity of God.
The other fever of fickleness, which comes from cold, all those
men have who love God indeed, but at the same time seek and
inordinately love some other thing. This fever comes from cold,
for the heat of charity is poor indeed where not God alone, but
foreign things besides and with God, urge and excite us towards
the works of virtue.
Such men are fickle of heart; for in all the
things which they do, nature is secretly seeking its own, often
without their knowledge, for they know not themselves. Such men
choose and abandon, first one way of life, then another. To-day
they choose one priest, to whom they would go for confession and
for counsel their whole life long; and to-morrow they will choose
another. On all things they will ask advice, but hardly ever do
they act upon it. All things for which they are blamed and rebuked
they like to excuse and to justify. Of fine words they have
plenty, but little is in them. They like well to have a reputation
for virtue, but without great effort. They wish their virtues to
be known, and these are therefore empty, and have no savour either
of God nor of themselves. Others they teach, but will themselves
hardly be taught or reproved. A natural self-love and a hidden
pride make them thus fickle. Such people walk on the verge of
hell: one false step, and into it they fall.
In some men this fever of fickleness may produce the quartan
fever; that is, an estrangement from God and from themselves and
from truth and from all virtues. And then they fall into such
confusion that they are at their wit's end and know not what to
do. This illness is more dangerous than either of the others.
Through this estrangement a man sometimes falls into a fever which
is called the double quartan, which means indifference. Then the
fourth day is doubled, and he can hardly recover, for he becomes
indifferent and heedless of all that is needful to eternal life.
So he may fall into sin, like one who never knew anything of God.
If this may befall those men who govern themselves ill in this
state of abandonment, then it behoves those to beware who never
knew ought of God, nor of the inward life, nor of that sweet
savour which good men find in their exercises.
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