|
Indeed, Theotimus, there have been many in our age
who believed, and others with them, that they were
very frequently ravished by God in ecstasy, and yet
in the end it was discovered that all were but
diabolical illusions and operations.
A certain priest in S. Augustine's time put
himself into ecstasies whenever he pleased, singing
or getting sung certain mournful and melancholy airs,
and this only to content the curiosity of those who
desired to view this spectacle. But what is most
wonderful is, that his ecstasy went so far that he
did not feel fire which was applied to him, till
after he was come to himself; and yet if any one
spoke somewhat loudly, and with a clear voice, he
heard them as if from afar, and he had no
respiration.
The philosophers themselves acknowledged certain
species of natural ecstasies, caused by a vehement
application of the spirit to the consideration of
high things: wherefore we must not think it strange
if the devil, to play the ape, to beguile souls, to
scandalize the weak, and to transform himself into an
angel of light, cause raptures in certain souls who
are not solidly instructed in solid piety.
To the end, then, that one might discern divine
ecstasies from human and diabolical, God's servants
have left many teachings: but for my part, it will
suffice for my purpose to propose to you two marks of
the good and holy ecstasy.
The one is, that sacred ecstasy never so much
takes and affects the understanding as it does the
will, which it moves, warms and fills with a powerful
affection towards God. So that, if the ecstasy be
more beautiful than good, more bright than warm, more
speculative than affective, it is very doubtful, and
deserving of suspicion. I do not say that one may not
have raptures, yea prophetical visions, without
charity: for, as I know well one may have charity
without being ravished, or prophesying, so one may
also be ravished and may prophesy without having
charity: but I affirm that he who in his rapture has
more light in the understanding to admire God, than
heat in the will to love him, is to stand upon his
guard; for it is to be feared that this ecstasy may
be false, and may rather puff up the spirit than
edify it, putting him indeed as Saul, Balaam, and
Caiphas, amongst the prophets, yet still leaving him
amongst the reprobate.
The second mark of true ecstasy consists in the third
species of ecstasy which we mentioned above, an
ecstasy all holy, all worthy of love, the crown of
the two others, the ecstasy of act and life. The
entire observance of God's commandments is not within
the bounds of human strength, yet is it within the
stretch of the instinct of the human spirit, as being
most conformable to natural light and reason: so that
living according to God's commandments, we are not
therefore outside our natural inclination. Yet
besides God's commandments, there are certain
heavenly inspirations to the effecting of which it is
not only requisite that God should raise us above our
own strength, but also that he should draw us above
our natural instincts and inclinations, because
although these inspirations are not opposite to human
reason, yet they exceed it, surpass it, and are
placed above it, so that then we live not only a
civil, honest, and Christian life, but a
supernatural, spiritual, devout and ecstatic life,
that is, a life which is in every way beyond and
above our natural condition.
Not to steal, not to lie, not to commit impurity,
to pray to God, not to swear in vain, to love and
honour one's father, not to kill, - is to live
according to man's natural reason: but to forsake all
our goods, to love poverty, to call her and to
consider her a most delightful mistress, to repute
reproaches, contempts, abjections, persecutions,
martyrdoms, as felicities and beatitudes, to contain
oneself within the terms of a most absolute chastity,
and in fine to live, amidst the world and in this
mortal life, contrary to all the opinions and maxims
of the world, and against the current of the river of
this life, by habitual resignations, renunciations,
and abnegations of ourselves; this is not to live in
ourselves, but out of and above ourselves; and
because no one is able to go out of himself in this
manner above himself unless the eternal Father draw
him, hence it is that this kind of life is a
perpetual rapture, and a continual ecstasy of action
and operation.
You are dead, said the great Apostle to the
Colossians, and your life is hid with Christ in
God.(1) Death's effect is that the soul no longer
lives in its body nor in the limits thereof. What
then do these words of the Apostle mean, Theotimus:
you are dead? it is as though he said: you no longer
live in yourselves nor in the limits of your natural
condition; your soul does not now live according to
herself but above herself.
The true nature of the phoenix lies in this, that
by the help of the sunbeams, she annihilates her own
life, to have a life more desirable and vigorous,
hiding, as it were, her life under ashes. Silkworms
change their being, and from worms become
butterflies; bees are born worms, then become nymphs
crawling on their feet, and at last they become
flying bees.
We do the same, Theotimus, if we are spiritual:
for we forsake our natural life to live a more
eminent life above ourselves, hiding all this new
life in God with Jesus Christ, who alone sees, knows
and bestows it. Our new life is heavenly love, which
quickens and animates our soul, and this love is
wholly hidden in God and divine things with Jesus
Christ: for since (as the sacred Gospel text says),
after our Saviour had shown himself for a little to
his disciples as he rose up to heaven, thither above,
he was at length environed with a cloud which took
him and hid him from their view, - therefore Jesus
Christ is hidden in heaven in God.
Now Jesus Christ is our love, and our love is the
life of our soul: therefore our life is hidden in God
with Jesus Christ; and when Jesus Christ, who is our
love, and consequently our spiritual life, shall
appear, in the day of Judgment, we also shall appear
with him in glory; that is, Jesus Christ our love
will glorify us, communicating to us his felicity and
splendour.
|