Chapter LXXI
On The Influences Proceeding From Grace
Thou must perpetually place a token in thy soul, and pay attention to it. And when thou perceivest that divine care begins to reveal itself to the soul, then understand that thou art near the harbour of purity. As soon as man begins to be lifted up above the affections, this holy force will cling to the soul, without leaving it, day or night, showing it God's providence. And even the particulars of what is and comes to pass, of yes and no, what happens to a man secretly and manifestly and the facts relating to the creation of this world, are revealed to the soul by that force which clings to it and which reveals to it the creative power of God and shows it divine providence which, without a break, follows and visits this whole creation. And it shows the soul how this providence follows man at all times, and, though he does not perceive it and does not know it, preserves him against adversities at all times and directs him towards what serves for the salvation and the rest of his soul and body and to gain life. Now this divine force, which works all these, shows itself secretly to man, by intelligible revelation to his spiritual nature, which is intellect. When man has been deemed worthy to receive this power within his soul, he abides only in ecstasy and silence and tears which always flow as water, so that he desists from 490 all work. And thou must gaze at all times at this sight of God's continual care for the work of His hands: the mind absorbed in ecstasy, the senses at rest, weak man prostrated on his face in prayer, [in a state] in which no tongue can speak and in. which no heart can pray, but by astonishment at these things even prayer is cut off. This is the idleness which is more profitable than work, when a man is purely at rest, with his senses and his impulses, being continually prostrated before his Lord. And even his bones in silence send up a glorification to God, in this socalled idleness; as the prophet says: All my bones shall say:
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Lord, who is like unto Thee 1 1) At this time, above all affections, thou findest the demon of haughtiness bound and thrown at the feet of the soul. By this gift, as it is said, man becomes worthy of the love of God and of complete humility. This first gift is tasted through solitude. And those who, in service and observance, have abided within absolute solitude, must necessarily know it. But when a man leaves solitude and begins to be lax, it is withdrawn from him. And when he enters again and cares for himself and clings diligently to the usual service, he is again supplied with it, and it shows its force to the soul. Then, when man has become wholly perfect, this force will cling to him inwardly and outwardly and 491 not one hour will he be without sighs and tears and the rest, if he does not neglect 2) the pure order of his service. Even now there are men who have been deemed worthy of this partly. And the peculiarities of the degree of perfection they recognize from that which they possess partially. For, when a man has tasted a small quantity 3) of wine from a large skin,· he knows how all the rest is, even when others drink a part or all the remainder. A man who possesses [this gift] in perfection, will not soon be found, nay hardly at all. For this power is a gift of the observance of solitude; and because in this our enervated generation there is none who keeps perfect solitude and complete observance, we are also destitute of its gifts 4). He who possesses these signs in writing of ink, but their practice is not found in him by experience, resembles a man who bears in his arms a cither adorned and provided- with strong strings, but his fingers do not know, because they are not trained, to play thereon and to bring forth different melodies for his own delight. For he only possesses the cither, but not the required art. And he needs others to play on it before him and give him enjoyment. Do not rejoice when thou art rich in the knowledge of many things; but rejoice when that which thou knowest is found with thee practically. The former without the latter will retire gradually and even end in haughtiness, through idleness. When thou art zealous in the latter, thou wilt necessarily be illuminated
I) Ps. 35, IO z);o�, meaning uncertain 3)!'<'�U11:7.1 4) cf. Book of the Dove Introduction, p. XVI
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by it without instruction. The eye of knowledge is experience; its growth is brought about by continual service. 4 92 This will be to thee a luminous token of the serenity of thy soul: when thou, examining thyself, findest thyself full of mercy for all mankind, and when thy heart is afflicted by pity for them and burns as with fire without personal discrimination. While by these things the image of the Father in heaven is continually seen in thee, thou canst recognize the degree of thy behaviour, not by the discrimination of the labours, but by the varying states to which thy intellect is subject. The body is then wont to swim in tears, as the mind gazes at spiritual things, while it is as if from the eyes there flowed brooks which moisten the cheeks, without compulsion, spontaneously. Now, 1) I know one who even during his sleep was overwhelmed by ecstasy in God through the contemplation of something which he had read in the evening. And while his soul was amazed at this contemplative meditation, he perceived, as it were, that he had meditated for long in the motion of sleep and examined the ecstatic vision. It was in the depth of the night, and suddenly he awoke from his sleep while his tears dropped as water and fell upon his breast; and his mouth was full of glorification and his heart meditated in contemplation for a long time, with a delight which did not come to an end. And through the many tears that, without measure, were shed by his eyes, and through the stupefaction of his soul by which all the members of his body were relaxed, and of his heart in which some delight 493 was astir, he was not even able to accomplish his usual nightservice, except some psalm at break of dawn, so overwhelmed was he by the many tears which as a fountain broke forth from his eyes spontaneously, and by the other spiritual things. Let us also be zealous, my brethren And before we go to sleep, let us many times meditate upon glorifications and recited psalm and passages of the holy scriptures, guarding ourselves against evil recollections and from bad thought. And let us provide 2) our treasury with every beautiful thing. Then sleep will overtake us while we are full of the recollection of God, while our soul is glowing with great desire for the things that
r) Cf. Introduction 2) Reading �r<'..l instead of -..�D:I.l
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are good, through the grace of God which surrounds us in our sleep and spends upon us its gifts while we are sleeping, examining us, whether our body is free from any kind of impurity, and the impulses of our heart pure from evil. And through grace it will be impossible for the sons of the prince of darkness to approach us because the sword and lance of grace surround us. But when they find us as they like to find us, when grace has withdrawn from us because it disliked us and has removed us from itself as corpses void of life, then they approach us, with all their evil, and try us by all sordid and fearful impulses, according to the desire of their evil will. And when such a thing happens to us in our sleep, let us understand at once and recollect and perceive, that in that night God's inspiration l) was far from us. And how is it that the 494 demons have not devoured us? Because the divine will in whose hand the soul of all flesh is placed, only allows [them] to approach us, that we should arouse and look at ourselves. It is not possible for them to approach us when [inspiration] is near.
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