Treatise XXXIV

ON THE NATURAL CHILDREN OF VIRTUES AND

THE LIKE

Asceticism is the mother of saintliness ; from it is born the taste of the first apperception of the divine mysteries and it is called the first period of spiritual knowledge. That no one deceive himself and become a false prophet. For the impure soul does not ascend to the pure kingdom, neither in the symbolical nor in the common sense, and it cannot mingle with the holy spirits. But when the elements have mingled with their relatives, the distinction of the natural unity being

I50 ON TIIK NATURAL CHILDREN OF VIRTUES ETC.

preserved, that miserable (soul) will be preserved for the great future judgment.

Keep pure, o brother, the beauties of thy chastity, by tears and fasting and sitting alone by thyself. When the right course 1 of the natural sphere has been finished and [the soul| has reached that great luminary, which supports the spheres of the stars multitudinous in their personal distinctions, as Paul says in order to prove the future resurrection, and when it has mingled with its rays — I do not mean in the natural sense — then the vehicle of the will shall be bound with the bonds of un- consciousness and the two exuberant fountains will dry up in their basins. And then the priests will leave the sanctuary on

222 account of the cloud of God's majesty T ). At that time the king of Israel will be Solomon, viz. that peace which is born from humility, he will build a house for the Lord and com- pletely provide it with all the sacred vessels.

A little trouble for God's sake is more excellent in God's eyes than much service without suffering. Because trouble borne from free will is a manifestation of love. Service in comfort, however, rises from inward satiety. Therefore by troubles, not by service with satiety the saints were tested concerning the love of Christ. Service without labour is the righteousness o[ lay people who wish to be justified on account of what they possess, but do not acquire excellency in their person.

Thou, however, who art victorious, taste the suffering of Christ in thy person, that thou also mayest be deemed worthy of tasting His glory. For if we surfer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him. The mind cannot be glorified with Jesus, if the body does not suffer for Jesus. He who despises glory will receive glory at the same time. He will be glorified in his body as well as in his soul. The glory of the body is humble subjection before God. The glory of the mind is true con- templation concerning God. Right subjection is twofold; it follows from labour and from disdain ; so that when the body suffers, the heart also suffers with it.

If thou doest not know God, it is not possible that His love should be excited in thee. It is not possible for thee to love God, if thou hast not seen God. Thou seest Him as soon as

223 thou knowest Him. Sight is not prior to knowledge. Make me

ON TI1K NATURAL l'I IILDKEN OF VIKTUKS ETC. 151

worthy of knowing- Thcc, my Lord, then I .shall love Thee too. [1 do not desire] that knowledge which arises amidst dis- tractions of the mind, in the training of instruction. But make me worthy of that knowledge by which the mind, while gazing at Thee, will be glorifying thy nature ; gazing with that gaze which banishes from the mind the apperception of the world. Make me worthy of becoming exalted above arbitrary sight from which come phantastic thoughts, so that I gaze at Thee by the compulsion of the bonds of the cross, the latter half of which is the crucifixion of the mind whose position of free- dom is annihilated by the service of the impulses, with that gaze which nature gives not, but is constantly directed towards Thee. Place in me the pure metal of Thy love, so that, fol- lowing Thee, I become alienated from the world. Move in me the understanding of Thy humility by which Thou hast lived in the world clad with the cover taken from our limbs, that by the constant and never weakening remembrance of it I may accept with delight the humiliation of my nature.

Two are the parts of the ascension on the cross. One is the crucifixion of the body. The second is the ascension unto con- templation ; but the former is a matter of freedom; the latter of influence.

The mind will not be subjected, if the body is not sub- jected. The reign of the mind is the crucifixion of the body. The mind is not subjected unto God, if freedom has not been subjected to reason.

It is hard to trust an elevated matter to boyish rank. For woe to thee, (..) town, when thy king is a child -).

He who subjects himself, nearly all will be subjected unto him. He who knows himself, the knowledge of all things will 224 be given him. The word ,know thyself means the accomplish- ment of all knowledge. As all is encompassed in thy being, so in the knowledge of thy being all knowledge is encom- passed, and in the subjection of thy being, the subjection of all the world. At the time when humility dominates thy be- haviour, thy being will be subjected to thee, and with it every- thing, because in the heart a divine peace will be born. As this has not yet happened to thee, thou art perpetually per- secuted not only by the affections, but also by accidents. Verily,

152 ON THE NATURAL CHILDREN OK VIRTUES ETC.

O Lord, if we do not humble ourselves, thou ceasest not to humble us. True humility is the offspring of knowledge ; right knowledge the offspring of temptations.