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Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union
with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the
second part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the
spirit, and is contained in the second stanza, which is as
follows.
STANZA THE SECOND
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According to the order which we are here following,
we have next to treat of the second kind of spiritual
apprehension, which we have described above as
revelations, and which properly belongs to the spirit
of prophecy.
With respect to this, it must first be known that
revelation is naught else than the discovery of some
hidden truth or the manifestation of some secret or
mystery. Thus God may cause the soul to understand
something by making clear to the understanding the
truth concerning it, or He may reveal to the soul
certain things which He is doing or proposes to do.
2. Accordingly, we may say that there are two
kinds of revelation. The first is the disclosure to
the understanding of truths which are properly called
intellectual knowledge or intelligence; the second is
the manifestation of secrets, which are called
revelations with more propriety than the others.
For the first kind cannot strictly be called
revelations, since they consist in this, that God
causes the soul to understand naked truths, not only
with respect to temporal things, but likewise with
respect to spiritual things, revealing them to the
soul clearly and openly. These I have desired to
treat under the heading of revelations: first,
because they have close kinship and similarity with
them: secondly, in order not to multiply
distinctions.
3. According to this method, then, we shall now be
well able to divide revelations into two kinds of
apprehension. The one kind we shall call intellectual
knowledge, and the other, the manifestation of
secrets and hidden mysteries of God. With these we
shall conclude in two chapters as briefly as we may,
and in this chapter following we shall treat of the
first. |