How the soul must be in darkness, in order to be duly guided by faith to the highest contemplation.

I BELIEVE that I have now in some measure explained how faith is the obscure night of the soul, and how also the soul must be obscured, or deprived of its natural light, that it may be guided by faith to this high end of union. But that the soul may know how to effect this, it is necessary that I should explain somewhat more minutely this obscurity, which it must observe that it may enter into the abyss of faith. I shall, therefore, in this chapter, speak of that in general, and by and by, with the favour of God, more particularly of the way which the soul must. keep, that it may not go astray in that obscurity, nor put obstacles before its guide.

I say, then, that the soul, to be rightly guided by faith to this estate, must be in darkness, not only as to that part thereof—the sensual and the inferior, of which I have already spoken—which regards temporal and created things, but also as to that part thereof, the rational and the superior, of which I am now speaking, which regards God and spiritual things. Because it is clearly necessary for the soul, aiming at its own supernatural transformation, to be in darkness and far removed from all that relates to its natural condition, the sensual and rational parts. The supernatural is that which transcends nature, and, therefore, that which is natural remains below. Inasmuch as this union and transformation are not cognisable by sense or any human power, the soul must be completely and voluntarily empty of all that can enter into it, of every affection and inclination, so far as it concerns itself. Who shall hinder God from doing His own will in a soul that is resigned, detached, and self-annihilated? The soul, therefore, must be emptied of all such feelings; and,

however great may be its supernatural endowments, it must be as it were detached from them, in darkness like a blind man, leaning on the obscure faith, and taking it for its light and guide; not trusting to anything it understands, tastes, feels, or imagines—for all this is darkness, which will lead it astray, or keep it back; and faith is above all understanding, taste, and sense.

If the soul be not blind herein, and in total darkness as to all such things, it will never reach to those higher things which faith teaches. <A blind man, if he be not totally blind, will not commit himself wholly to his guide, but because he sees a little he thinks a certain road secure, not seeing another which is better. Such an one leads his guide astray, because he acts as if he saw, and has more authority in the matter than his guide: so the soul, if it leans upon any understanding, sense, or feeling of its own—all this, whatever it may be, is very little and very unlike to God—in order to travel along this road, is most easily led astray or impeded, because it is not perfectly blind in faith, which is its true guide. This is the meaning of S. Paul when he said, ‘He that cometh to God must believe that He is.’* He that will draw near and unite himself unto God, must believe that He

is. This is saying in effect, He that will attain to the union

of God must not rely on his own understanding, nor lean upon his own imagination, sense, or feeling, but must believe in the perfection of the Divine Essence, which is not cognisable by the understanding, desire, imagination, nor any sense of man, and which in this life can never be known as it is. Yea, in this life, our highest knowledge and deepest sense, perception, and understanding of God is infinitely distant from what He.is, and from the pure fruition of His Presence.;

* Heb. xi. 6,

Thus the Prophet cries out, ‘The eye hath not seen, God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait for Thee;’* and S. Paul repeats his words, ‘ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.’ How much soever, then, the soul may desire to perfectly united by grace in this life to that whereunto it to be united in glory in the next, which as 8. Paul saith, hath not seen nor ear heard, and which hath not entered into the heart of manin the flesh, it is evident, that in order be perfectly united in this life in grace and love, it must live in utter darkness as to all that can enter by the eye, that the ear receives, all that the fancy may imagine, or heart conceive, which here signifies the soul. Greatly embarrassed, then, is the soul, on the road of the Divine union, when it leans at all on its own understanding, sense, imagination, judgment, will, or any other habits of its own, or anything peculiar to itself, not knowing how to release and detach itself therefrom. For, as I have said, goal to which it tends is beyond this, though this may be the highest thing it may know or feel, and it must, therefore, go beyond, passing on to that which it knows not.

On. this road, therefore, to abandon one’s own way is enter on the true way, or, to speak more correctly, to pass onwards to the goal; and to forsake one’s own way is to enter on that which has none, namely God. For the soul that attains to this estate has no ways or methods of its own, neither does it, nor can it, lean upon anything of the kind. I mean ways of understanding, perceiving, or feeling, though it has all ways at the same time, as one who, possessing nothing, yet possesseth everything. For the soul courageously resolved on passing, interiorly and exteriorly,

* \Is, lxiy. 4, fT 1 Cor. ii. 9.

beyond the limits of its own nature, enters illimitably within the supernatural, which has no measure, but contains. all measure eminently within itself. To arrive there is to depart hence, going away, out of oneself, as far as possible, from this vile estate to that which is the highest of all. Therefore, rising above all that may be known and under-

.stood, temporally and spiritually, the soul must earnestly desire to reach that which in this life cannot be known, and which the heart cannot conceive; and, leaving behind all actual and possible taste and feeling of sense and spirit, must desire earnestly to arrive at that which transcends all sense and all feeling.

In order that the soul may be free and unembarrassed for

this end, it must in no wise attach itself—as I shall presently explain when I treat of this point—to anything it

may receive in the sense or spirit, but esteem, such as of

much less importance. For the more importance the soul

attributes to what it understands, feels, and imagines, and

the greater the estimation it holds it in, whether it be

spiritual or not, the more it detracts from the Supreme Good,

and the greater will be its delay in attaining to it. On the

other hand, the less it esteems all that it may have in comparison with the Supreme Good, the more does it magnify

and esteem the Supreme Good, and consequently the greater the progress towards it.

In this way the soul draws nearer and nearer to the Divine union, in darkness, by the way of faith which, though it be also obscure, yet sends forth a marvellous light. Certainly, if the soul will see, it thereby becomes instantly more blind than he who should attempt to gaze upon the sun shining in its strength. On this road, therefore, to have our own faculties in darkness is to see the light, according to the words of our Lord: ‘For judgment I am

come into this world, that they who see not may see, and

a: they who see may become blind.’* This relates to the

spiritual road: he who is in darkness, blind as to his own proper and natural light, shall see supernaturally, and he who shall rely on any light of his own, the greater will be his blindness, and the more he shall be hindered on the way of the Divine union.

I think it necessary now, in order to avoid confusion, to explain the nature of the soul’s union with God. This I intend to do in the following chapter, for if this be clearly understood, a great light will be thrown on what is to follow. This, therefore, seems to me a fit place for the subject. For though it breaks in on the course of the present matter, still it is not beside the question, because it will help us to understand the subject before us. The next chapter then will be a sort of parenthesis, after which I shall return to the special discussion of the three powers of the soul in their

relations to the three theological virtues with reference to

the second night of the spirit.