But they that be in God, by whom they shall become,[321] know this thing, and feel it by strength of the lineage of which they are and shall be more stronger than they be. Topical questions and allusions are frequent; the chief characters are often Amour, Raison, Courtoisie, Jolive Pense. and do what ye will., Reason, saith Love, thou art full wise concerning things that appertain to thee. And she hath so abashed us, saith Holy Church, that we dare not be against her!, Oh, Holy Church, saith the Holy Ghost, will you wit what this soul wot and what she willeth? Lady, what did ye to them for works of forfeit[378] that they did? This soul, saith Love, hath not held[266] doubt nor trust., Certain confidence, saith Love, and true agreement[267] to will only [and wholly] the divine ordering; thus it is that she is perfectly free.. Soothly, she findeth the deed that she willeth and that she herself doeth. (5) The [en] lightened of knowing. Adds. Lord, unwitting I am, unmighty and unable to have done it, but only by your help and grace. It behoveth him perfectly to do the contrary of his will in appeasing the virtues up to the throat, and hold this point without falling [away, namely, that] the spirit have alway lordship without contrariosity., Ah God, saith Truth, how sick is the body of the heart, where such a spirit is., Soothly I say, saith this free soul, that it behoveth to have such inward working in life marred, this is to say, in life of spirit, so that it destroy[288] the humours of all sickness, in a swift moment. And this is good reason, saith the Holy Ghost, that we withhold from such souls nothing that we have. It is much to say of such a servant that serveth his Lord well at all points in all thing, that he knoweth that which might best please the will of his Lord. Further, it seems to be a transition towards the ideas of St John of the Cross. for Gods [sake], is this the manner of Love?, Ah, sweet soul, saith Love, you know better than you say; for if you have given him all, that is the best that may befall you, for you have given him nothing but that was his before you gave it him; and now, behold what you have done for him!, Sweet Love, saith this soul, you say sooth, I may not nor will not deny it., O right sweet soul, saith Love, what would you that he gave you? And that I be of him so beloved, as he is Who Is; and as naked as I was when I was that which I am not. He was haply ignorant of the fact that the author sent his inspired treatise for approbation to one Dr. Her pleasing is our will, by the purity of unity of the will of the Deity, wherein we have enclosed her. [73] And that her will is naught in respect to her [own] sufficiency, which never was given her, nor never shall be given her., From this, saith Reason, I understand that the soul willeth a will, and God willeth that she will a will, which she may not have; and by this she suffers loss, and hath not satisfaction.[74], It seemeth, Lady Love, saith the understanding of Reason, that this ninth point maketh me thus to understand the saying of this book, which saith forsooth that the free soul hath no will, nor naught may have, nor naught may will, nor the divine Trinity will not that she have; and this book saith that she hath in all things, by divine love, full sufficiency., O understanding of Reason, saith this naughted soul, how rude thou art! That communication of divine Love is made to the soul in such a hidden way that she does not perceive it but the fruit is that humility which rejects those habits of talking about God., The distinction is not to be interpreted literally or of any divisions in Holy Church. To be in that state is to be in paradise, though she is not there in a physical state; or possibly she is in paradise without [consciousness] of any particular state (being).. Division XVIII takes a new form. And every degree hath in it its proper time of abiding.[362]. Why, saith Love, marvelleth Holy Church, though the virtues serve the high heavenly souls, and why should they not? Division XII, chap. There the soul is abandoned in God for him, in him, of himself. Her will is ours, for she is moved from grace into perfection; from works of Virtues and from Virtues into Love; and from Love into Naught, and from Naught into clarifyings[293] of God, who seeth with eyes of his majesty; who in this point hath enlightened her by himself, and [she] is so left in him, that she neither seeth him nor herself. We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us! Howsoever great she be, she is nothing, who loveth or desireth of me, saith Love, whether to lose me or to win me, except it be only for my pleasure; for otherwise she is with herself, and not with me [at all]. But every usage is had[153] one after another, as love worketh and as dispositions come and go, but these usages are inhabited in the soul and used customarily. Gods image imprinted on the soul does not force the soul to yield up the realm. The corollary is apparently the argument for predestination, which the soul puts forward strongly in order to contradict it immediately according to the method of the j, MS. An alone soul and without me and all free.. . There is no pearl of the eye so dangerous when one putteth into it the iron or stone, which is its death, as is divine love, if one do against him. For wit it for sooth, that they whom encumbrances trouble, be full far from this life that we have spoken of., Now, for love, saith Understanding of divine light, tell me, among you, who have somewhat to answer, what ye understand by this., And we shall tell you, say the souls of-wit-of-nature, what we understand by this. a free soul, drunk! The bondman must have the four precious costs before he is fit to be freed. And that men [should] remain in dread of all manner of loves whatever they be, on account of perils that might happen; and that men [should] desire Paradise sovereignly, and also that men should fear of going to hell, and that they refuse all manner of worships[78] and temporal things, and all kinds of ease, taking away from nature all that she asketh, save only that without which they might not live, after the ensample of suffering that our Lord Jesu Christ suffered. Amen. The Son of God is my mirror in this, for God the Father gave his Son our Saviour to be an ensample to us. You have given to my soul the vision of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, that my soul shall see without end. ii. They fare like the crow that weeneth there be none so fair a bird in the wood as his bride, the crow. On these two staffs she is strong against her enemies, as is a castle upon a hill, or is surrounded with water, which may wash away.[114]. And they that are thus burdened say little and have heaviness of heart, saith this soul, until they have their usages. If this naughted lady willeth the will of God, the more that she willeth it, the more she would will it; and that may she not, on account of the littleness of [the] creature, for God withholdeth the greatness of his divine righteousness. And because of the opinion that these people hold thus, that this is the best of all beings that may be, therefore this people, saith Love, be blinded, and so they perish in their works. Right so as do the angels of the third hierarchy; for this wit well, and I do them well inform, all those to whom love sendeth his message, that if they refuse them at any point there where the virtues would have them, by the inward working of virtues that should have lordship over the body, and [if] they refuse them in this point, they shall never make their peace with the Sovereign that the message sendeth, but that they shall be taken and troubled in knowing, and encumbered of themselves for default of trust, for love saith that in great need men may know their friend. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. [95] And if they wist that others had more need than they, of thing which they have, they would not deny it them, though they were certain that never should grow wheat nor com nor other sustenance. The life of Marguerite, called Porete, is remarkably obscure. And with all our virtue, is that we should do all our works purely for him. They are printed here from the Bod. Answering back, modern souls offer their own lamentations in poems such as"The Tired Atheist" and "Driving on the Bypass." This weening that she is not, is in her will, which is not hers for herself. And this is not her work, but it is the work of all the Trinity that worketh in this soul at his will., This soul, saith Love, swimmeth in the sea of joy, that is, in the sea of delights, streaming with divine influences. For she is so little, that she may not herself find, and all thing wrought is so far from her, that she may not feel it, and God is so great that she may nothing of him comprehend. But this election is not put in writing of mens hands, but of the Holy Ghost, who writeth this election marvellously in the soul, and the soul is thereunto precious parchment. Why should such souls have conscience to take that which they lack, and that which is theirs, when they have need? in sooth they would say, Nothing!. Contents Prologue . The Mirror is one for the whole soul; simple that is single. It is a guide to perfect prayer and a form of perfect living rolled into one. The editor wishes to acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to all who have kindly assisted in preparing this edition. The first estate is that a soul is touched of God by grace, and dissevered from sin, with intention according to her power to keep the commandments of God that he commandeth in the law, up [on] pain of death. Certainly there are unmistakable points of contact between its teaching and that of the Brethren of the Common Life, Ruysbroeck, Eckhart, Suso even the Gottesfreunde. Camaioni notes that the writings of the early Capuchins appear to be strongly dependant on the work of Bartolomeo Cordoni, Il Dyalogo de la unione. I certify thee, Reason, saith Love, and trust me fully, that all that this soul hath heard of God and all that might be said, is not worth speaking of compared to that which is in him, that never was said nor never shall be, and may not be said : and that is something that I have said, may not be said. [403], To this end come they who are not anxious for themselves,[404] for love giveth all thing to this soul, and even acquitteth her to her even-Christian. [315] Certainly, do it they must, before they come to perfect freedom of all points. And he that is dead of love, saith Love, feeleth neither reason nor nature, so that this soul willeth none of all the states of Paradise, though men laid them all in her choice. To have applied this mode to the consideration of the mystical life, shows an ingenuity not altogether unworldly. I have none other usage nor none other usage may have, so overcometh me this knowledge continually.. But this that is said in me or by me, is of divine knowing, Lady Love, saith this soul, you have said it, in me and by me, of your bounty for my profit! This soul, saith Love, is free and right free, surmounted free of tree, crop and root, and of all its branches. Ah, my soul, saith this soul, what have you done for me? It is this life of God in himself which is the object of her worship and love, and her treasure being thus hid with Christ in God, even the possession of God within herself becomes a secondary love.It is because the souls very Being is thus focussed in the divine life that she can be indifferent to all lower material and spiritual desires and wills; indifferent as to whether pain or pleasure, mortification or prosperity befall her. Souls in Purgatory Catholic Bible 101. And now I shall tell you why it was done in the mountain. But yet more, saith Love, in order to increase the joy and the sorrow of the soul, and to remind her of all her graces. And anon, as they willed this, of their forfeited will, they lost the Being of bounty. Now understand. 5 Chapter 2. The author points out that the natural human desire for devotion and increase of love, for some outward assurance of Gods love and demonstration of our human love, leads to natural efforts which may procure some such phenomena, experienced as fire. No doubt other points will occur to the reader familiar with scholastic theology. How may one understand by this saying that he hath not given me all? These souls, that be such, cannot find the good nor the evil, nor have knowing of themselves to make judgement whether they be converted or perverted. This was forsooth mine intent. Why then should I want? He maketh in a moment of two things, one. Whence he comes, there she ought to be.[364]. . And always he assailed me for to have an answer, and so much I loved myself [together] with him, that I might not for nothing have discretion in this, and thus I was in distress. And that is none other thing than some gleam that God willeth that the soul have of his glory [itself], which she is to have without end. She sitteth in that life, therefore she hath will., Ah God, saith Reason, Lady Love, tell me why ye have so often named soul, this chosen, beloved of yours, from the beginning of this book unto this time, since ye say that the marred persons have will, because they live yet in life of spirit? I dare not hear it. The three English MSS. web pages And she was subject to them all the while that she felt this pain and war within herself. It seems to imply a final defiance on the part of the soul. The Mirror of Simple Souls comes with a very good introduction: a brief outline of the writing, a history of the author, her group, and the historical context. The persons that are such, they are thus called and fulfilled, that they have within them no craving of anything. 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