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Now some men, who seem to be righteous, yet live contrary to these
three ways and to every virtue. Let every one observe and prove
himself! Every man who is not drawn and enlightened of God is not
touched by love, and has neither the active cleaving with
desire[67] nor the simple and loving tendency to fruitive rest.
And therefore such a one cannot unite himself with God; for all
those who live without supernatural love are inclined towards
themselves and seek their rest in outward things. For all
creatures by their nature tend towards rest: and therefore, rest
is sought both by the good and by the evil, in divers ways.
Now mark this: when a man is bare and imageless in his senses, and
empty and idle in his higher powers,[68] he enters into rest
through mere nature; and this rest may be found and possessed
within themselves in mere nature by all creatures, without the
grace of God, whenever they can strip themselves of images and of
all activity. But in this the loving man cannot find his rest, for
charity and the inward touch of God's grace will not be still: and
so the inward man cannot long remain in natural rest within
himself.
But now mark the way in which this natural rest is practised. It
is a sitting still, without either outward or inward acts, in
vacancy, in order that rest may be found and may remain
untroubled. But a rest which is practised in this way is unlawful;
for it brings with it in men a blindness and ignorance, and a
sinking down into themselves without activity. Such a rest is
nought else than an idleness, into which the man has fallen, and
in which he forgets himself and God and all things in all that has
to do with activity. This rest is wholly contrary to the
supernatural rest, which one possesses in God; for that is a
loving self-mergence joined to a simple gazing into the
Incomprehensible Brightness. This rest in God, which is actively
sought with inward longing, and is found in fruitive inclination,
and is eternally possessed in the self-mergence of love, and
which, when possessed, is sought none the less: this rest is
exalted above the rest of mere nature as greatly as God is exalted
above all creatures. And that is why all those men are deceived
who have self in mind and sink down in the natural rest, and
neither seek God in desire, nor find Him in fruitive love; for the
rest which they find consists in their own idleness, to which they
are inclined by nature and by habit. And in this natural rest one
cannot find God, but it certainly leads a man into a bare vacancy,
which may be found by Pagans and Jews and all men, how wicked
soever they may be, if they can live in their sins without the
reproach of their conscience, and can empty themselves of every
image and of all activity. In this bare vacancy the rest is
pleasant and great. This rest is in itself no sin; for it exists
in all men by nature, whenever they make themselves empty. But
when a man wishes to practise and possess it without acts of
virtue, he falls into spiritual pride and a self-complacency, from
which he seldom recovers. And he sometimes fancies himself to have
and to be that to which he shall never attain. When a man thus
possesses this rest in false quietude, and all loving adherence
seems a hindrance to him, he clings to himself in his rest, and
lives contrary to the first way in which man is united with God:
and this is the beginning of all ghostly error.
Now consider a similitude of this: the angels who turned inward
towards God in love and fruition, with all that they had received
from Him, found beatitude and eternal rest; but those who turned
towards themselves, and sought rest in themselves with
self-complacency in the natural light, their rest was short and
was unlawful. And they were blinded, and there was a wall of
separation between them and the external light, and they fell into
darkness and eternal restlessness. This is the first contrary way;
which one possesses by resting in false quietude.
Now mark this: when a man wishes to possess inward rest in
idleness, without inward and desirous cleaving to God, then he is
ready for all errors; for he is turned away from God, and inclined
towards himself, in natural love, seeking and desiring consolation
and sweetness and everything that pleases him. And such a man is
like to a merchant, for in all his activity he is turned only
towards himself, and seeks and means his own rest and his own
profit, more than the glory of God. A man who thus lives in mere
natural love, always possesses himself in self-love without
self-renunciation. Such men often lead a hard life with great
works of penitence, that they may become known and renowned for
their great sanctity, and also that they may merit a great reward;
for all natural love is favourably disposed to itself and likes to
receive great honours in time and a great reward in eternity. And
these men have many special desires, and pray and beseech God for
many particular things. And thus they are often deceived; for
sometimes, through the work of the devil, those things which they
desire happen to them, and then they ascribe this to their
sanctity, and hold themselves worthy of them all; for such people
are proud, and neither touched nor enlightened by God. And
therefore they dwell within themselves, and a small consolation
may greatly rejoice them, for they know not what they lack. And
they are wholly attached, in their desire, to inward savours and
the spiritual refreshment of their nature. And this is called
spiritual lust; for it is an inordinate attachment in natural
love, which is always directed towards itself, and seeks its own
profit in all things.
Such men are always spiritually proud and self-willed; and this is
why their desires and lusts are sometimes so vehemently set upon
the things which they desire, and wilfully strive to acquire from
God, so that they are often deceived, and some of them also become
possessed by the devil. All these men live contrary to charity and
to the loving introversion in which a man offers himself up, with
all that he can achieve, for the honour and love of God; and in
which nothing can give him rest or satisfaction but a single
incomprehensible Good, which is God alone. For charity is a bond
of love, in which we are drawn up to God, and through which we
renounce ourselves, and whereby we are united with God and God is
united with us. But natural love turns back towards itself, and
towards its own profit, and ever abides alone. Nevertheless, in
its outward works, natural love is as like unto charity as two
hairs from the same head; but the intentions are different. For
the good man always seeks and means and desires, with an aspiring
heart, to glorify God; but in natural love a man has always
himself and his own profit in mind. Therefore, when natural love
opposes and conquers true charity the man falls into four sins;
namely, spiritual pride, avarice, gluttony, and lust. And in this
way Adam fell in Paradise, and all human nature with him, for he
loved himself inordinately with natural love, and so he turned
away from God, and scorned in his pride the commandment of God.
And he desired knowledge and wisdom in his avarice; and he sought
pleasant tastes and satisfactions in gluttony; and after that he
was moved by lust. But Mary was a living Paradise. She found the
grace which Adam lost, and much more besides, for she is the
Mother of Love. She turned in active charity towards God, and
conceived Christ in humility. And she offered Him up to the Father
with all His sufferings in generosity; and she never tasted of
consolation, nor of any gift, in gluttony; and her whole life was
in purity. Whosoever follows her shall conquer all that is
contrary to the virtues, and shall enter into the kingdom where
she reigns with her Son in eternity.
So, when a man possesses the natural rest in bare vacancy, whilst
in all his works he has himself in mind, and he continues
obstinately disobedient in his self-will, he cannot be united with
God; for he lives without charity in unlikeness to God. And here
begins the third contrary way, which is the most noxious of all;
and this is an unrighteous life, full of ghostly error and of all
perversity.
Now mark well what follows, lest you should not understand it
well. All these men are, in their own opinion, God-seeing men, and
believe themselves the holiest of all men living. Yet they live
contrary and unlike to God and all saints and all good men.
Observe the following marks: thus you will be able to recognise
them both by their words and their works. By means of the natural
rest which they feel and possess in themselves in bare vacancy,
they believe themselves to be free, and to be united with God
without means, and to be above all the customs of Holy Church, and
above the commandments of God, and above the law, and above every
work of virtue which can in any way be done. For they think their
idleness to be so great a thing that it may not be troubled by any
work, how good soever it be; for this idleness is nobler than any
virtue. And therefore they maintain themselves in pure passivity,
without any activity towards above or towards below; like a loom,
which does not work of itself, but awaits its master, and the time
when he wishes to work. For they deem that if they worked
themselves, God would be hindered in His work. And therefore they
are empty of every virtue; and indeed so empty, that they will
neither praise nor thank God. They have no knowledge and no love,
no will, no prayer, no desire; for they believe that all that they
could pray for, and desire, is already possessed of them. And so
they are poor of spirit, for they are without will, and have
forsaken everything, and live without any personal preferences:
and thus it seems to them that they are empty, and have overcome
everything, and have in their possession all those things for
which the customs of Holy Church have been instituted and
ordained. And so, they say, no one, not even God, can give them
anything, or can take away anything from them; for they have, in
their own opinion, transcended all customs and all virtues, and
have entered into the pure emptiness, and are released from every
virtue. And this release from all virtues in emptiness needs, they
say, more labour than the acquisition of the virtues. And
therefore they would be free, and obedient to none; neither pope,
nor bishop, nor parson. Even though outwardly they seem to be so,
inwardly they are submissive to none, neither in will nor in
works; for they are in every respect empty of all that Holy Church
practises. And therefore they say, as long as a man strives after
virtue, and desires to fulfil the good pleasure of God, he is
still imperfect; for he is still amassing virtues, and knows not
this spiritual poverty and emptiness. But they are themselves, in
their own opinion, lifted up above all the choirs of saints and
angels, and above every reward which one can in any way merit. And
therefore they say that their virtues can nevermore increase, nor
can they themselves deserve a greater reward, nor commit any sin
any more; for, they say, they live without will, and have
surrendered their spirit to God in rest and bareness, and are one
with God, and in themselves have become nothing. And therefore
they can do without hindrance all that the bodily nature desires,
for they have attained to the state of innocence, and no law has
sway over them. When therefore it happens that their emptiness of
spirit is troubled or hindered by any natural lust, they yield to
nature, that their emptiness of spirit may remain untroubled. And
that is why they do not keep Lent or Ember-days, or any other
commandment, save when they do it for the sake of their neighbours;
for they live without conscience in all things. I hope that of
such folk not many are to be found; but those who are like them
are the most wicked and vile of all men living. And they are
sometimes possessed of the Fiend; and then they are so cunning
that one cannot vanquish them on the grounds of reason. But
through Holy Scripture and the teaching of Christ and our Faith,
we may prove that they are deceived.
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