Love's gradatory ;

ICO

JESUIT

LM

SBMHARY

LOVE'S GRADATORY

JESUIT

BffiL MAJ.
SEMINARY

ihil Cbatat.

F. THOMAS BERGH, O.S.B.
CENSOR DEPUTATUS.

Imprimatur.

EDM. CAN. SURMONT,

VICARIUS GENERALIS.

WESTMONASTEKII,

Die 30 Deceinbris, 1914.

Sbe Bngelus Series

LOVE'S

GRADATORY

BY

BLESSED JOHN RUYSBROECK

TRANSLATED, WITH PREFACE

BY

MOTHER ST. JER6ME
JESUIT

BffiL MAJ.

.SEMINARY

R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.

PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW

46751

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE - 7

INTRODUCTION - 37

PROLOGUE - - 46

HAPTER

I. OF THE FIRST STEP : GOOD
WILL - 47
II. OF THE SECOND STEP :

VOLUNTARY POVERTY - 49

III. OF THE THIRD STEP : PURITY

OF SOUL AND BODY - 53

IV. OF THE FOURTH STEP: HU

MILITY - 63

V. OF THE FIFTH STEP: NOBILITY
OF VIRTUE AND GOOD
WORKS - 75

VI. THREE WAYS OF HONOURING

GOD : THE FIRST METHOD 84

VII. OF THE SECOND METHOD - 86

5

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

VIII. OF THE THIRD METHOD - QO
IX. WHAT THE SUPERIOR HIER
ARCHIES DO FOR US - 96
X. OF TWO WAYS THAT THE

CHRIST TAUGHT - - 105

XI. HOW MANY THINK THEY ARE

HOLY AND ARE DECEIVED Il6
XII. OF CELESTIAL MELODIES - 12$

XIII. OF THE SIXTH STEP: RETURN

TO THE PRIMITIVE PURITY

OF THE INTELLIGENCE - 147

XIV. OF THE SEVENTH STEP : THE

UNKNOWABLE AND THE
ETERNAL REPOSE . 151

PREFACE

THE life of Blessed John Ruys-
broeck is known to us by the
writings of Henry Pomerius,
a Prior of the monastery of the
Canons Regular at Groenendael,
where Blessed John Ruysbroeck
had passed his Religious life,
and where Pomerius became ac
quainted with two famous dis
ciples of the holy man — John de
Hoelaere and John de Scoon-
hoven. This latter was especially
celebrated for the spirited defence
which, later on, he made of the
doctrines of his great master
against the attacks of Gerson.

Preface

The text of Pomerius was
edited by the Bollandists (vol.
iv., 1885) from a manuscript in
the* Royal Library at Brussels,
and other Lives of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck are but reproduc
tions of this. Another precious
document now at Brussels is a
Prologue inserted at the begin
ning of a complete manuscript
of the works of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck, bearing the date
1 46 1 . The writer of this declares
himself: " I, a successor of that
enlightened man, John van
Ruysbroeck, who with the
Provost founded his cloister of
Groenendael. . . ."

It is unnecessary to insist on

the interest and worth possessed

by the works of the Brabant

mystic, both for students of

8

Preface

medieval mysticism and of
Flemish letters. The motto
of his biographer, Luqerna
ardens et lucens, paints in one
stroke the great master of
mysticism in the Netherlands.

But little is really known of
Blessed John Ruysbroeck's early
life. Like so many of his time
he kept the name of the village
where he was born, in 1293, and
there is no mention to be found
of any other patronymic. Situ
ated on the Senne between
Brussels and Hal, the place
formerly bore the name of
Ruusbroec, afterwards modified
to Ruysbroeck, and the more
modern orthography is that
under which Blessed John is
best known. His father is not
mentioned, and he, possibly, died
9

Preface

during John's childhood, since
his mother seems to have been
at liberty to follow him to
Brussels, whither he went at
the age of eleven. Like many
another great servant of God,
he was blessed with a virtuous
and pious mother, who, for all
that, may have opposed the boy's
desire for perfection, for he took
the matter into his own hands
and ran away to Brussels to an
uncle, John Hinckaert, major
canon of St. Gudule's. The
latter's father had been a well-
to-do magistrate of the city, and
Hinckaert, possessed of a hand
some benefice, had led a some
what worldly life, until one day,
when listening to a sermon, he
was so touched by grace that
from that time forth he changed

10

Preface

altogether, and led an exem
plary life of mortification and
strictness. His example was
followed by one of his fellow-
canons, Francis van Couden-
berg, who like his friend was
a man of easy means, and much
loved by the people. They
agreed to live together in
common, reducing their per
sonal expenditure to mere
necessities, so as to have more
to give to the poor.

With these two the lad
breathed an atmosphere of
prayer, and found surroundings
in accordance with his own
aspirations. He followed the
usual course of studies in the
public schools without giving
proof of any taste for the liberal
arts, while his uncle's influence
ii

Preface

led him to make theology his
principal study. From this
science he drew the precision
of language and elevation of
doctrine which are admired in
his writings. At the age of
twenty-four he was ordained
priest, and became a chaplain
of St. Gudule. He relates that
on the day of his ordination he
had a vision by which he under
stood that the soul of his pious
mother was delivered from pur
gatory. From this epoch prob
ably date his first writings,
wherein we frequently meet
with allusions to the pernicious
theories then spread about by
false mystics.

The Middle Ages were full of
contradictions and extremes — on
the one hand splendid virtues

12

Preface

and remarkable saints, on the
other enormous crimes and
absurd vagaries in doctrine.
Fanatics, who revolted against
authority on pretence of reform
ing existing abuses, fell them
selves into error and excesses
of every kind. Among those
best known were the Beguards,
the Flagellants and Brethren of
the Free Spirit in different parts
of Europe ; the Lollards in
England, and their propositions
were condemned by Clement V.
and in the Council of Vienne,
A.D. 1311-1312. A prominent
leader of the heretics of the Free
Spirit in Brussels, contemporary
with Blessed John Ruysbroeck,
was a woman named Bloemar-
dinne, a type of many such
teachers at that period and in
13

Preface

our own time. Her extrava
gances were only equalled by
her reputation, and apparently
her following was enormous.
Blessed John Ruysbroeck con
futed her publications too ably
not to incur a measure of
hostility and opposition in
certain quarters, but he did not
cease on that account to fight
for the Faith and true spiritu
ality. This persistent heresy of
the Brethren of the Free Spirit
was still being combated by the
Canons Regular of Groenendael
thirty years after Blessed John
Ruysbroeck's death.

A story relating to this period
of the holy Canon's life gives us
in a word an impression of his
exterior and of his reputation for
sanctity. One da}' in the streets
14

Preface

of the city he met two laymen,
one of whom on seeing him
exclaimed : " Would to God I
were as holy as that priest !"
But the other mocked, and
declared that he loved his
worldly pleasures better.

Blessed John lived and worked
as a secular priest for twenty-six
years, and it was perhaps the
opposition he and his com
panions met with on account of
his active refutation of the errors
then in vogue, that decided them
to act on the suggestion of
Coudenberg, and retire into the
forest of Soignes. The Duke of
Brabant surrendered to them
the Hermitage of Groenendael
(viridis vallis), a place hallowed
by the holy lives of three suc
cessive anchorites — John de
15

Preface

Busch, of the Ducal house of
Brabant, Arnold de Diest, and
finally Lambert, who ceded the
place to the three friends,
removing to a cell in the de
serted valley of Boetendael, near
Uccle.

On Wednesday in Easter
Week, 1343, Blessed John Ruys-
broeck and his companions took
over the property, and at once
constructed a monastery where
many soon asked for admission,
and still larger numbers came
to consult them on spiritual
matters. The building and
cemetery were consecrated the
following year by the Vicar of
the Bishop of Cambrai, who
appointed Dom Francis van
Coudenberg, Provost. Blessed
John Ruysbroeck held the office
16

Preface

of Prior, but it was only in 1350
that the community took the
habit of the Canons Regular
of St. Augustine, and adopted
his Rule, which was observed
henceforth at Groenendael and
in the Priories dependent on it.
One of the first to join them
was John van Leuwen, or John
d'Affligham, as he was called
after his birthplace, soon to be
better known as the " Holy
Cook," so distinguished a repu
tation for sanctity did he acquire.
Devoted to the Prior, he received
a revelation of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck's sublime virtues
which helped to deepen the
veneration felt for him. John
d'Affligham died in 1377, and the
inscription on his tomb refers to
the Boni Cod viri a Deo illuminati.
17 B

Preface

Blessed John Ruysbroeck
would have preferred complete
retirement and solitude, but it
was difficult to escape from the
pious visits of penitents, the
arrival of neophytes seeking
admission to the monastery, and
above all from the frequent dis
turbance caused by the household
of the Duke-patron. The forest
of Soignes being a favourite
hunting-ground of the Ducal
party, the monastery of Groenen-
dael made a convenient pied a
terre for the friends and retainers
of the Duke, and the Community,
not yet being regularly estab
lished, could not put forward the
plea of cloister. This irregularity
was pointed out to them by
Pierre de Saulx, Prior of the
Canons Regular of St. Victor
18

Preface

in Paris, when he wrote to them
that the want of the vows and
enclosure made the Community
somewhat suspect, at a time
when so many societies of false
mystics disturbed the peace of
the Church by defying lawful
authority. This remonstrance
brought about an application
from Groenendael to the Bishop
of Cambrai for authorization to
adopt the habit and Rule of the
Canons Regular. The only one
of the Community not to take the
habit and vows, was Blessed John
Ruysbroeck's uncle and master,
John Hinckaert, who on account
of his great age and failing health
remained near his old friends in
his former capacity.

Gerard Groote, a disciple and
warm admirer of Blessed John
19

Preface

Ruysbroeck, was destined to
become the link between the
monastery of Groenendael and
the future Congregation of the
Canons Regular of Windesheim.
Groote was an ardent book-lover,
and employed a number of
copyists to transcribe, among
others, the writings of the Prior
of Groenendael. With the help of
Florent Radewijns of Leerdem,
the director of Thomas a Kempis,
Groote formed from among these
copyists the Society of the
Brothers of the Common Life,
which included both laymen
and clerics. After Blessed John
Ruysbroeck's death, a like sus
picion fell on this Society as had
overshadowed Groenendael, and
Groote desired to place it under
the obedience of a precise Rule,
20

Preface

but did not live to see this
project fulfilled. Radewijns,
however, carried out the wish of
his master, and by the founda
tion of Windesheim in 1387
created a centre of veritable
religious reform. In less than
a century the Congregation
counted as many as eighty-two
houses connected, either by
origin or tradition, with Blessed
John Ruysbroeck. The wise
changes in the Liturgy due to
Raoul de Rive, Provost of
Tongres, were rapidly diffused
by means of the Congregation,
and the spirit of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck that permeated it
instilled a love of the interior
life and retirement from the
world, which produced a school
of mystical writers such as

21

Preface

Scoonhoven, Maade, Peters,
Harpius the Franciscan, and
Denis the Carthusian.

Pomerius says that Blessed
John Ruysbroeck began writing
when still a secular, and con
tinued it in the cloister up to a
ripe old age. When he was
under the influence of the Spirit
of God he would plunge into the
forest and there transcribe on a
wax tablet the inspirations that
came to him. Most of his works
were composed in this way, and
although long intervals often
elapsed between the writing of
different passages, the treatise
was none the less consecutive
and flowing. In his old age,
when the taking of notes became
too great a labour on account of
fatigue and failing sight, one of

22

Preface

the other Canons accompanied
him and wrote from his dictation.
Once when he had remained out
alone longer than usual, the
Brethren, anxious at his pro
longed absence, went in search
of him, and found the holy Prior
in an ecstasy, seated beneath a
tree that appeared to be on fire.
This episode is commemorated
by the traditional representation
of Blessed John Ruysbroeck, the
tree and the Prior wrapped in
flames.

His works began to be known
in Brabant, the Flanders, and
in the neighbouring countries.
Groote multiplied copies of
them, and often asked for eluci
dation of the more difficult pas
sages. In one instance, rather
than explain what was already
23

Preface

written, Blessed John Ruys-
broeck composed an entirely
new treatise. His biographer
gives a list of twelve books,
which he accompanies by a sum
mary of the contents of each one.
It is difficult to fix the dates of
the compositions, but the author's
greatest literary activity seems
to have been between 1350-59.
Another list, given by an un
named disciple who entered at
Groenendael soon after the
master's death, and could there
fore know the living tradition of
those who had been with him,
differs slightly from that of
Pomerius — the divergence con
sisting chiefly in the order
of the compositions and their
titles.

The language used by Blessed
24

Preface

John Ruysbroeck is the dialect
of Brabant, nor does he appear
ever to have written in Latin,
which fact gave rise to the sup
position that he was ignorant of
that tongue. But this idea is un
tenable. As a priest and Canon
Regular he had certainly studied
theology, as his writings and the
witness of history attest, and
Latin being the language of the
ology it is unlikely that he was
ignorant of it. The object of his
works sufficiently explains why
he preferred the Flemish, which
was understood by those about
him. He wrote for the general
good, but especially for his
brethren and sisters in Religion,
such as the Poor Clares of
Brussels to whom at least three
of his works are addressed. He

*

Preface

may have felt more at ease in
his native tongue, and he some
times coins words or takes them
barely disguised from the Latin,
when he does not find any
precise enough to express his
thought.

What Pomerius says of Blessed
John Ruysbroeck's limited learn
ing must not be exaggerated. His
books have no pretension to be
theological treatises, and the
scholastic method is not followed
in them, but the terminology he
makes use of shows that he was
familiar with philosophy and
theology, and attests a sound
ness of doctrine beyond dispute.
His primary Master was the
Holy Ghost, through Whose
influence he received experience
in the spiritual life with the
26

Preface

faculty to express it in human
language, but his works betray
a solid theological foundation, a
knowledge of Scripture, the
Fathers and apologetics, as well
as inspiration; and it is this
which places him beyond com
parison with the mystical
writers of his day. His imagery
is vivid and various, and here
and there, in the midst of his
prose writing, he breaks out
into verse of uneven rhythm
which is peculiarly character
istic.

Blessed John Ruysbroeck, like
many other mystical writers,
has been accused of heterodoxy,
especially Pantheism. Twenty
years after his death, Gerson,
Chancellor of Paris University,
complained that his doctrines
27

Preface

were infected by the errors of
the Beguards, which, as a matter
of fact, he had so vigorously
combated all his life. Scoon-
hoven took up his defence, and
demonstrated the purity of the
teaching of the great master by
elucidating the expressions in
question, showing that Blessed
John Ruysbroeck's doctrine was
not an innovation, but was con
formable in every point with the
most renowned theologians. He
also wrote a eulogy of his master,
calling him a "priest most agree
able to God"; and goes on to
explain that in using Flemish as
a vehicle of expression Blessed
John Ruysbroeck refuted more
easily the errors of the time,
embodied in the famous sect of
" Freethinkers," pointing out,
28

Preface

too, that it was in the Latin
translation that Gerson had met
with the supposed errors.

Blessed John Ruysbroeck's
contemporary biographers strive
to show how he excelled in all
the virtues, and relate edifying
stories to illustrate their asser
tion that he practised first in his
own person the virtues he most
commends. An instance of his
humble obedience to Superiors is
shown in the following episode.
Being once seriously ill and
burnt up with fever, he requested
a drink of water to ease his
parched lips and throat. The
Provost, thinking it would be
bad for him, forbade it, and
Blessed John Ruysbroeck ac
quiesced, although he believed
himself to be dying of nothing
29

Preface

but thirst. But reflecting on the
sorrow his death would cause
his Superior he renewed his
request, meekly adding that he
knew that without that simple
assistance his death was in
evitable.

The concourse of persons of
all grades of society who came
to him for spiritual advice must
sometimes have been a heavy
burden to one who loved and
desired solitude, but none ever
left him dissatisfied and unaided.
On one occasion, however, it
seemed at first that he had
failed to satisfy. Two French
clerics came to visit the holy
man, asking a word of advice on
their spiritual state.

"You are," he replied, "as
holy as you wish to be."
30

Preface

The visitors, thinking he was
mocking them, withdrew in
some displeasure, and made
known their disillusion to his
Brethren, who begged them to
return and ask an explanation
from the Prior. This was at
once given, Blessed John Ruys-
broeck pointing out that goodwill
being the measure of personal
holiness, they only had to com
pare the one with the other to
see clearly the condition of their
souls. In the spiritual confer
ences he gave to his Community
after Compline he spoke to them
without preparation, and often
held them for hours under the
spell of his eloquence and
fervour ; but occasionally it
happened that, asked for a
discourse before strangers, he
31

Preface

would simply declare that he
had nothing to say.

One of his penitents — a lady
of high rank — who held him in
special veneration, was used to
make the journey from Lou-
vain to Groenendael barefoot.
Another, when seriously ill,
was afflicted at the same time
by great distress of mind and
prayed the Prior to come to her,
that she might expose to him
her spiritual state and physical
sufferings. The good old man,
in simple words, bade her sub
mit herself wholly to the will of
God and thank Him for every
thing, and such was the force
and unction of his exhortation
that her pains became a subject
of peace and joy to her.

At the great age of eighty-
32

Preface

eight, Blessed John Ruysbroeck
received a warning of his ap
proaching dissolution vouchsafed
to him in the form of a vision of
his mother. He lingered a fort
night longer, suffering with ex
emplary patience, and died peace
fully on December 2, 1381. The
Dean of Diest who had come to
him in his last illness, watched
by the saintly dead, and after
wards affirmed that he saw the
good Prior vested as if for Mass,
and bright with glory. His
passing was also revealed to
his friend and disciple, Gerard
Groote, as a Kempis attests. The
brethren buried him in the chapel
at Groenendael which he had
actually assisted in building ; but
five years afterwards, on the
death of the Provost Francis van
33

Preface

Coudenberg, the body was ex
humed, being found entire and
incorrupt, and reburied beside
the Provost in the church which
had taken the place of the original
little chapel. In 1622 another
translation was effected, and the
relics deposited in a splendid
sarcophagus in a chapel erected
by the Infanta of Spain, near to
what was known as Ruysbroeck
Tree, where the general public
could revere the tomb of the
holy Prior. At the end of the
eighteenth century, when the
monastery was suppressed by
the Emperor Joseph II., the
relics were transferred to Brus
sels and enshrined in a chapel
in St. Gudule.

From the beginning of the
seventeenth century to our own
34

Preface

day the cause of the beatification
of Blessed John Ruysbroeck re
mained stationary. Introduced
by the Archbishop of Malines in
1614, it was suspended on account
of the wars and disorders afflict
ing the Low Countries, and a
second attempt was interrupted
by the French Revolution, when
St. Gudule was sacked and de
secrated. The relics have since
been lost. Cardinal Goosens
reintroduced the cause in 1885,
and in 1909 the Sacred Congre
gation approved and granted an
Office and Mass of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck to the diocese of
Malines and the Canons Regu
lar of the Lateran, inheritors
of Groenendael and Windes-
heim.

The Proper of the Mass em-
35

Preface

phasizes the teaching of the
holy Prior and bears witness to
his eminent virtues.

COLLECT.

O God, Who didst vouchsafe to adorn
Blessed John, Thy Confessor, with sub
lime holiness of life and with heavenly
gifts, grant us, through his merits, and
after his example, to despise the fleeting
things of the world, and to desire only
the joys of Heaven.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

THE translator begs to acknow
ledge her indebtedness, among
others, to Dom V. Scully, C.R.L.,
and the Rev. Benedictine Fathers
of St. Paul (Wisques).

LOVE'S GRADATORY

INTRODUCTION

THIS book touches the culmina
ting point of the trilogy formed
by the three treatises addressed
by the author to the same person.
Certain indications prove this
to have been Margaret of Meer-
beke, Precentor in the Convent
of the Poor Clares at Brussels.
The manuscripts do not contain
any precise affirmation on this
point, it is true, but the title of
chapter xii., " Of Celestial Melo
dies," seems to allude to the
charge filled by the Religious
in her Convent. Besides, the
whole of the treatise sufficiently
shows that the writer is address-
37 c

Love's Gradatory

ing one person in particular, and
the counsels that he gives her,
although applicable to any soul
aspiring to perfection, belong
more particularly to the Re
ligious state.

The form and name of the
book is by no means new in mys
tical literature. The mysterious
ladder which appeared to Jacob,
flying from the anger of his
brother Esau, has often served
to illustrate the way to be
travelled by the soul from earth
to Heaven. This illustration is
found in use from times of prim
itive Christianity — witness the
Acts of St. Perpetua and St.
Felicity. St. Benedict makes
use of it in his Rule where he
speaks of twelve degrees of
Humility, and St. John Climacus
38

Love's Gradatory

at a later date develops the same
thought in his book entitled the
Ladder of Holiness. But it was,
perhaps, principally from St.
Bonaventura that Blessed John
Ruysbroeck borrowed the idea of
spiritual steps. His object, like
that of the Seraphic Doctor, is to
raisealadderofSanctity, ofwhich
the seven rungs, or degrees,
lead up to God, and to a love so
elevated as to be called transfor
mation and quietude. At such
a height Divine Love resembles
Eternity, and it is sometimes diffi
cult to decide if Blessed John
Ruysbroeck is speaking of Eter
nity, or if he is still among things
of time.

The different halting -places
from which the soul climbs to
these extreme heights are those
39

Love's Gradatory

of Goodwill, Voluntary Poverty,
Purity, Humility, and Nobility of
Virtue. At this Fifth step Blessed
John Ruysbroeck stops, and in
the next seven chapters studies
the different ways of exercising
this love, with the aid of the
Angelic Hierarchy, attentively
lending their help thereto. He
explains two ways that lead to
God, adding warnings against
the illusions of a false Mysticism,
and finally describes the Four
Modes of Celestial Song.

The Sixth step is called by the
author the " Return to the Primi
tive Purity of the Intellect." One
of the thoughts recurring most
frequently in Blessed John Ruys-
broeck's writings is that the Soul
is never wholly created, but that
as the Son of God is spiritually
40

Love's Gradatory

conceived and brought forth at
every instant, so, too, the Soul is
created each moment, without
ceasing to be in contact with its
Origin, ceaselessly receiving of
His Essence, and formed by Him
to the uncreated image and
example, ever in the Eternal
Mind, of each one of us. Per
fection and Beatitude consist in
returning absolutely to this
uncreated Ideal; not by a con
fusion of our created Being with
the Divinity, nor by a transfor
mation of Essence, which would
partake of the errors of Panthe
ism. It is not a question of
abdicating our created Being
and transforming it essentially
into the uncreated and Super-
essential, in which, in the Divine
Mind, we have been from all
41

Love's Gradatory

Eternity, for this would lead to
Quietism by Pantheism; but,
what is quite another matter, it
means a return and transforma
tion by Knowledge and by Love
of all our Being to that Ideal
which God has of us.

In other words, it means to
realize that Ideal and arrive by
Grace at that state where the
Soul takes no more thought of
self, nor of what is personal,
but only is attentive to God pre
sent within it. Every thought,
every wish, every affection, each
look and intention, all action,
has returned to God definitely.
And this entire return, accord
ing to Blessed John Ruysbroeck,
is something quite possible ;
it is the summit of the Super
natural Life, the imitation of
42

Love's Gradatory

the Incarnation in us, the con
fiscation to the profit of God of
all our Being. And in order that
this return of our created Being,
this transformation, this juris
diction of God over us and our
personal purity, may become
actual, the Uncreated Purity
forms continually, and touches
constantly, the Soul that belongs
to Him : " Erat lux vera qua illu-
minat omnem hominem venientem
in hunc mundum."1 "Manus tuce
fecerunt me et plasmaverunt me^ 2

In this way Uncreated Purity
draws the Soul so that it turns
ceaselessly towards Him and Him
only. Of this turning Blessed
John Ruysbroeck says: "The
Purity here mentioned is the
Eternal . . . ever present and

1 St. John i. 9. 2 Ps. cxviii. 73.
43

Love's Gradatory

ready to reveal Himself to pure
intelligences once they are able
to rise to Him. . . ." Meaning,
in fact, God Himself, ever near
us in an Eternal present. But to
reach such heights the Soul
must enter into absolute Purity,
disfranchised from personality,
from things of sense and things
created. Then only is the re
turn to the Primitive Purity
of the Intellect possible — that is
to say, the transformation into
the uncreated and infinitely pure
Ideal that Souls possess in the
mind of God.

Thus the Soul climbs to the
Seventh degree of Love, called
by Blessed John Ruysbroeck the
Unknowable and the Repose of
Eternity. Union with God, one
in Nature and three in Person,

44

Love's Gradatory

is brought about by the double
method of Repose in enjoyment
and Labour of Love ; in other
terms, by Contemplation and
Action. Thus the Soul acquires
a more perfect resemblance
with God, eternally in action ac
cording to Persons, eternally in
Repose according to Essence.
The characteristic influence of
the Three Divine Persons is here
manifested in the highest form,
even to the transformation of the
Soul into a state that is near
to Eternal Beatitude. In these
passages especially Blessed John
Ruysbroeck's language rises to
heights of doctrine particularly
delicate to treat, and it is more
than ever of importance not to
make a travesty of his thought
by an improper translation.
45

PROLOGUE

THE Grace and Holy Fear of the
Lord be with us all.

" Whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world," saith
St. John.1

All true Holiness is born of
God. Every Supernatural Life
is a ladder of Love of Seven
steps by which the Soul climbs
to the Kingdom of God.

" For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification."2

1 i John v. 4. 2 i Thess. iv. 3.

46

CHAPTER I

THIS IS THE FIRST STEP

WHEN we have the same will
and the same mind as God,
we are at the First Rung of the
Ladder of Holiness. Goodwill
is, in fact, the foundation of all
the virtues, according to the
Prophet David :

" O Lord, to Thee have I fled :
teach me to do Thy will, for
Thou art my God. Thy good
Spirit shall lead me into the
right land"1 — the land of Truth
and Virtue.

Goodwill, united to the will of
God, triumphs over the devil

1 Ps. cxlii. 9, 10.
47

Love's Gradatory

and all sin, for it is full of the
Grace of God, and is the first
offering due to Him if we desire
to live for Him. A man of
Goodwill has God ever in view,
desiring to love and serve Him,
now and in Eternity. In this
consists his inner life and occu
pation, keeping him at peace
with God, with himself, and all
things else. Therefore at the birth
of the Christ the Angels sang:
" Glory to God on high, and on
earth peace to men of good
will."1 But Goodwill cannot be
sterile in good works, for "A
good tree brings forth good
fruit,"2 says our Lord.

1 St. Luke ii. 14. 2 St. Matt. vii. 17.

48

Love's Gradatory

CHAPTER II

THIS IS THE SECOND STEP

THE first fruit of Goodwill is
voluntary Poverty, in which
consists the Second step by
which we mount the Ladder of
the Life of Love.

The voluntarily Poor lead a
free life, stripped of all care of
terrestrial goods, whatever be
their necessities. Like a wise
merchant, they exchange earth
for Heaven, as our Lord teaches :
"Ye cannot serve God and Mam
mon."1 For this reason, abandon
ing all likely to attach them to
earth, they choose Poverty of
their own free will. Such is the
field in which is found that Pearl
of great price, the Kingdom of
1 St. Matt. vi. 24.
49

Love's Gradatory

God : " Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of God."1

This Kingdom of God is Love
and Charity, while at the same
time bringing forth good works ;
prodigal of self, merciful, clement
and serviceable; truthful and a
good counsellor to all who appeal
for help ; so that at God's Judg
ment Seat, side by side with rich
spiritual gifts, may stand the
works of Mercy. Of terrestrial
goods the Poor in spirit keeps
nothing entirely for himself, all
he has is in common for God and
God's great family. Happy he
who possesses nothing perish
able; he walks in the steps of
the Christ, and receives as re
compense a hundredfold in
1 St. Matt. v. 3.
50

Love's Gradatory

virtue ; he lives in expectation
of the Glory of God and Eternal
Life.

On the contrary, the miser
is really mad, he gives away
Heaven for Earth, although he
must lose that as well.

The poor in spirit to Heaven climbs

up,
But to Hell the miser shall surely

drop.
Through the needle's eye can the

camel win ?
Then the miser to Heaven may enter

in.

And even should he be de
nuded of earthly goods, if he
reject God and die avaricious,
he is lost for ever.

For although in Poverty he may live,
Of the little he hath if he grudge to

give,

He yet dies a miser and goes to Hell.
For the avaricious prefers the shell

Love's Gradatory

To the egg's good meat, or the nut's

sweet core.
To possess great goods, or a golden

store,

Is to take a poison that deathward tends,
And to drink a sorrow that never ends.
After drinking, the greater his thirst will

be;
Having more, for ever yet more craves

he.

Having much, he never is satisfied :
What he sees he lacks ; to his swelling

pride

All he owns appeareth as nought be
side.
Not oft is he loved by his kind on

earth,

For of love the miser is little worth.
He may well be likened to demon's

claw,
What he grips he loosens not from his

paw.

Death alone can rifle the things that he
By his fraud has gained, or by treachery.
At the last, however, ill-gotten gains
He must lose, to suffer Hell's bitter pains,
And the evil likeness alone remains.
For in spite of glut Hell is never shut,
And he is no better for having much :
52

Love's Gradatory

All he holds he seizes with greedy clutch.
Then, refrain from avarice ; 'tis the root
Of all sin and melancholy to boot.

CHAPTER III

THIS IS THE THIRD STEP

NEXT comes the third degree of
the Ladder of Love, which is
Purity of Soul and Chastity of
Body.

Understand well what I am
about to say. To keep the Soul
pure, you must, for love of God,
hate and despise every inordinate
affection and attachment to your
self, to father and mother, and to
every creature ; so that you may
love self and all creatures only
for the service of God, and not
otherwise. Then will you be
able to say with the Christ :
53 D

Love's Gradatory

" Whosoever shall do the will of
My Father, he is My brother and
sister and mother."1 Then you
will love your neighbour as
yourself: thus are you pure.
Do not let yourself be enticed
or drawn away by anyone, either
by words or actions, by gifts or
baits, by courtesies or apparent
sanctity. Under cover of the
spiritual, such things may be
come altogether carnal; it is fatal
to place confidence in them. Do
not seek to cultivate acquaintance
with any, nor allow another to
grow intimate with you.

'Neath appearance fair
Evil lurketh there,

As a poison hidden ;
Let thy soul beware,
Holy Prudence share ;

Be not over-ridden.

1 St. Matt. xii. 30.
54

Love's Gradatory

Feelest thou the charm,
There lies hid the harm,

To the soul's deceiving ;
Let all such things be :
Take good heed to thee,

Jesus never leaving.

Fly a stranger's house ;
Seek the spirit's Spouse,

With Him ever biding.
Look within and mark
His sole Love, and hark

Virtue gently chiding.

He shall nourish thee,
Counsel, teach, and be

Thy support for ever ;
He thy soul shall raise,
To the Father's praise,

O'er all things whatever.
Till in endless bliss,
Where all comfort is,

He is thine for ever.

Thus is the life of a pure soul.

Then, next, as to Chastity of

Body : you know that God gave

man a double nature, body and

soul, spirit and flesh ; and these

55

Love's Gradatory

two elements are united in one
single person, forming human
nature, conceived and born in
sin. For although God created
the Soul pure and spotless, by
union with the flesh it becomes
soiled by original sin. Thus we
are all brought forth in a state of
sin, for "that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit."1
But although the spirit adheres
to the flesh by the fact of natural
birth, by a second birth coming
from the Spirit of God, spirit and
flesh become enemies and strive
one against the other. " For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh,
for these are contrary one to
another."2 If, then, we live ac-

1 St. John iii. 6. 2 Gal. v. 17.

56

Love's Gradatory

cording to the lust of the flesh,
we are dead in sin; if, on the
contrary, by the Spirit we
triumph over the works of the
flesh, we live in virtue. Thus
we must at one and the same
time hate and despise the Body
in so far as it is a mortal enemy
who would detach us from God
and deliver us up to sin, and yet
love and esteem the Body of our
sensible life as an instrument for
God's service.

It is evident that without the
Body we cannot render to God
those exterior works which are
due to Him from us, such as
fasts, vigils, prayers, and other
good works. For this reason
we bestow on the Body such
care, food, and nourishment as
it requires, since it helps us to
57

Love's Gradatory

serve God, our neighbour, and
ourselves. But we must guard
with care against three sorts of
sin that reign in the Body : idle
ness, greediness, and impurity,
since these three vices have
caused many, even when of
Goodwill, to fall into great sin.

To keep from the fault of
greediness we should prefer
and love the just measure of
sobriety, in cutting off super
fluities, in taking rather less
than we may desire, and con
tenting ourselves with a strict
sufficiency.

Against idleness we must seek
to possess inward loyalty and
kindness, as well as mercy for
those in need; and outwardly
be prompt and assiduous, ever
at the disposition of any who
53

Love's Gradatory

ask our help, according to our
power and with discretion.

Finally, as safeguard against
impurity, fear and avoid all
exterior disorderly conduct or
manner, and interiorly every dis
honest imagination or thought,
never dwelling upon any such
thing with pleasure, so as to be
spotless and free from base
imaginations. Turn, instead, to
our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
contemplate His Passion and
Death, the generous outpouring
of His Blood for love of us. In
repeating this frequently His
Image and resemblance will be
formed in our hearts, senses,
soul, body, and all our being,
as a seal is printed and formed
in wax. The Christ will then
introduce us with Him into that
59

Love's Gradatory

high life of union with God,
where the pure Soul, by means
of love, clings to and inhabits in
the Holy Ghost. There flow
torrents of honey, celestial dew
and every Grace, which, when
the Soul has once tasted, it finds
no more attraction in flesh and
blood, nor anything that is in
the world.

As long as our sensitive life
remains uplifted and united to
that Spirit which draws us to
God, to seek and to love Him,
Purity and Chastity of soul and
body are assured ; but when we
descend from that height to
satisfy the necessities of human
existence, we must guard the
palate against greediness, Soul
and Body against idleness, and
the whole nature against impure
60

Love's Gradatory

tendencies. Avoid bad com
panions, fly from those who
delight in lies, evil words, blas
phemies and backbiting, who
are impure in word and act.
They should be feared and
shunned as the very devil.
Frequent the Church and em
ploy the hands in good works ;
hate sloth, fly inordinate com
fort, and give no place to self-
love. Love all that is life and
truth, and even if you believe
you are pure, nevertheless avoid
every occasion of sin. Love
penitence and industry. Look at
St. John the Baptist; he was
sanctified before birth, and yet
from his earliest years he left
father and mother, honours and
pleasures of the world; and the
better to fly all occasion of sin, he

61

Love's Gradatory

went into the desert. He was
innocent, and his purity equal to
that of the Angels ; he lived for
the Truth, and taught it to others ;
he was at length put to death
for the sake of Justice, and his
holiness praised above all others.
Again, consider the ancient
Fathers who lived in the deserts
of Egypt. They left the world
and crucified the flesh and every
tendency of corrupt nature, com
bating sin by penance, fasting,
hunger, thirst, and the privation
of everything they could do
without. Then think of the
sentence pronounced by the
Christ against the rich man
clothed in purple and fine linen,
who fared sumptuously every
day, and gave nothing to any
one. He dies, and is buried by
62

Love's Gradatory

the demons in Hell; there he
suffers and burns in infernal
flames, desiring one drop of
water to cool his tongue, but
no one can give it to him. On
the other hand, the beggar who
lay at his door, starving and
burnt with thirst, covered with
sores, desired but the crumbs
from the table of the rich, but
no one gave them to him. He
dies, in his turn, and is carried
by the Angels into Abraham's
bosom :

Where is delight forever with the Blest,
Life without end and everlasting rest.

CHAPTER IV
THIS IS THE FOURTH STEP

THE fourth degree of the Celestial

Ladder is true Humility, that is

63

Love's Gradatory

to say, an intimate consciousness
of our own baseness. By this
virtue we live with God and He
with us in veritable peace, and in
it is found the living foundation
of all Holiness. It may be com
pared to a spring from whence
flow four rivers of virtue unto
Life eternal. The first is Obedi
ence, the second is Meekness,
the third is Patience, the fourth
Abandonment of self-will.

The first river which springs
from really humble soil is Obedi
ence, by which we humble and
abase self before God, submit
ting to His Commandments and
placing ourselves below every
creature. By it we make choice
of the last place in Heaven and
on earth, abstaining from com
parison with others in virtue
64

Love's Gradatory

and holiness, our unique desire
consisting in being as a footstool
beneath the feet of the Divine
Majesty. It is only then that the
ear becomes humbly attentive
to hear the words of Truth and
Life coming from the Wisdom
of God, and the hands are always
ready to accomplish His most
dear and Holy Will.

Now, this Divine Will urges
us to despise the wisdom of the
world and to follow the Christ,
Who is the Wisdom of God,
Who became poor to make
us rich, a servant to enable
us to reign, dying at last to
give us life. It is He, again,
Who teaches us how to live when
He says : " If any will come
after Me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross and follow
65

Love's Gradatory

Me."1 Then, that we may know
how to follow and serve Him,
He adds : " Learn of Me, for I
am meek and humble of heart." 2
Meekness, or gentleness, is
the second river of virtue that
springs from the soil of Humility.
" Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth."3 That
is to say, they shall possess soul
and body in peace. For the
Spirit of God reposes on the
meek and humble ; and when
our mind is elevated and united
to the Spirit of God, we bear the
yoke of Christ, which is agree
able and sweet, and are laden
with His light burden; for we
carry Love, and it lifts us above
the Heavens to Him Whom

1 St. Matt. xvi. 24. 2 St. Matt. xi. 29.

3 St. Matt. v. 5.

66

Love's Gradatory

we love. He who loves and
gives himself to Love, actually
goes where he will; Heaven is
open to him ; he carries his soul
in his hand, as it were, and places
it as he will. He has found
within that treasure of the Soul,
the Christ, his one Beloved.

If, then, the Christ lives in you
and you in Him, you should
imitate Him in your life, words,
works, and sufferings. Be gentle
and kind, pitiful and generous,
indulgent to all who ask aid ;
know neither hate nor envy,
afflict and despise no one by
hard words, but use forgiveness
to all; neither mock, nor show
disdain of others in word or act,
nor even by gesture or attitude.
Avoid rudeness and harshness,
but cultivate gravity with a
67

Love's Gradatory

joyous exterior. Listen and
learn willingly from all that
which you ought to know, with
out distrust, and abstain from
passing judgment on what you
do not understand. Never enter
into dispute with another to
prove that you know best :

But as a lamb be meek,
That cannot wail nor speak,

E'en though it must be slain.
So lend thyself all still
Unto another's will,

No matter what the pain.

From this inner meekness
springs another river, that of
inexhaustible Patience. To be
patient is to suffer gladly and
without repugnance. Tribula
tions and pains are the mes
sengers of the Lord ; by them
He visits us. If we receive these
68

Love's Gradatory

envoys with a glad heart, He
comes to us Himself, as He
has said by His Prophet : " I
am with him in tribulation, I
will deliver him and glorify
him."1

Patience under suffering was
the nuptial garment of the Christ
when He espoused Holy Church
on the altar of the Holy Cross.
He has since clothed in it all
His own, that is, those who have
followed Him from the begin
ning ; those who have seen that
the Christ, the Wisdom of God,
chose a humble life, despised and
painful; and on this foundation
are grounded all states and
Orders in Religion.

But there are, in these days,
some few who despise the
1 Ps. xc. 15.

69 E

Love's Gradatory

humble life of the Christ and
His nuptial garment, for, as far
as they can, they don again the
garment of the world, seeking
after ambition, pleasure, avarice,
jealousy, and other kinds of
malice, as the spirit of the world
teaches . . . the world that lives
in mortal sin. Blush for shame,
you who have left God, and
forgotten your Rule and your
vows, you who, turning aside
from the end and object of your
Vocation, serve the devil. Be
ware ! he will give you a wage
like that which he receives for
his own sin. The disciple is not
better than the master, and the
devil knows his own. They
shall dwell with him in ever
lasting burnings, where there
is weeping and gnashing of
70

Love's Gradatory

teeth, eternal misery without

Now, patient be, and douce ; I trow

That this you owe
To the dear Saviour's pain and ruth,

If you would climb

To heights sublime,
Suffer, and He will teach you Truth.

After this flows the fourth
stream of the humble life which
is the total abandonment of all
self-will and all that touches self.
This stream takes its rise in
suffering patiently endured. The
humble, touched interiorly by
the Spirit of God, perfected and
transported into Him, renounces

1 The new edition by Muller has a
sentence here which [is not in Groote's
translation, nor in the text edited by
David : " But those whom the Christ has
clothed with Himself and with His gifts
shall dwell with Him in the glory of the
Father throughout eternity."

71

Love's Gradatory

self and voluntarily abandons all
to the care of God. He thus
acquires one and the same will
with the Divine Will, so that it
is no longer possible nor lawful
to desire and will anything but
that which God wills : this
is essentially the ground of
Humility. When, under the
action of the Grace of God,
we renounce everything and
abandon self-will to the most
dear Will of God, His Will
becomes ours. The Will of God,
which is free — indeed, freedom
itself— takes from us the spirit
of fear and makes us free, dis
engaged from and emptied of
self, and of every fear that might
oppress us in time or eternity.

God bestows upon us, then,
the spirit of the Elect, by which
72

Love's Gradatory

we cry with the Son: "Abba,
Father."1 And the spirit of the
Son renders testimony to our
spirit that we are the sons of
God, and, with the Son, heirs of
the Kingdom of the Father.
Risen to this sublime height, yet
more humble in ourselves, we
are filled with grace and gifts by
this union with God. This is
the highest liberty and the
deepest humility united in one
and the same person, and the
acts that are born of this lowli
ness joined to this elevation, are
incomprehensible to those who
are strangers to humility. The
truly humble soul is a vessel of
election of God, full to over
flowing with all gifts and graces.
Those who approach Him with
1 Rom. viii. 15.
73

Love's Gradatory

confidence receive all they wish
and need; but beware of hypo
crites and those who fancy they
are something, whereas they are
nothing.

They are as a leather bottle
filled with wind: when it is
pressed and squeezed it gives
out sounds that are anything
but pleasant to the ear. Thus
with the proud hypocrite who
believes himself a saint : when
pressed and pierced he cannot
bear it, but breaks out into
passion; he will neither be
corrected nor taught ; he is bad,
bitter, and haughty. In his own
esteem he is above everyone,
and exalts himself over all who
approach him. By these signs
you will know such as are
hypocrites and utterly false,
74

Love's Gradatory

being not yet stripped of
self-will.

Be humble then, obedient,
gentle, detached from self, and
thus you will win in the game
of Divine Love. Remark, how
ever, with care what you may
yet need, even after you have,
by the Grace of God, triumphed
over sin by the virtues that are
in you — Nature and Sense still
remain alive with their pro
pensities to sin. You must
struggle against and fight them,
as long as you are still in a
mortal and not a glorified body.

CHAPTER V

THIS IS THE FIFTH STEP

Now comes the fifth step on the

Ladder of Heavenly Love. It is

75

Love's Gradatory

entitled the Nobility of Virtue
and Good Works and consists in
desiring the praise of God above
all else. It is this that first of
all was practised by the Angels
of Heaven, and this was the first
homage paid by the Soul of the
Christ at the instant of the In
carnation. If we, too, wish to
please God, it is the first Virtue
to offer Him, since therein is
found the ground and origin of
all Holiness ; where it is lacking,
there is nothing good. To desire
God's Glory, to seek after and
love it, is actually eternal life,
and, at the same time, what God
requires of us as the first and
highest sacrifice. He who, on
the contrary, honouring himself,
seeks and follows after his own
glory, cannot please God. When
76

Love's Gradatory

He bestows on us His gifts, God
honours Himself, forHe exercises
His own goodness ; and when we
respond to His gifts by the prac
tice of Virtue to His honour,
then we are pleasing to Him,
because we enter into His views.
Any other conduct that we hold,
to whatsoever height of spiritual
life and good works we appear
to attain, if we are seeking self,
and not the Glory of God, we are
in error, for we lack Charity ;
while if we seek and humbly
desire His Glory with all our
soul, with all our being and all
our strength, we possess that
Charity which is the root and
foundation of every virtue and
all sanctity. But whosoever has
no care for the Glory of God,
seeking only his own, is pos-

77

Love's Gradatory

sessed by Pride, the root of all
sin and malice.

When the Spirit of God
touches a humble heart, He
pours out on him Divine Grace,
and claims in return a likeness
in Virtue, and, above all, that he
is one with Him in Love. A
living soul and loving heart
rejoice in this exigency without
well knowing how to satisfy it, or
pay the debt taught and claimed
by Love. The loving soul will
understand, however, that in
honour and reverence towards
God consists the noblest vir
tue and at the same time the
shortest way to go to Him.
Consequently the soul prefers,
above all good works and vir
tues, a constant, unending exer
cise of Praise and Reverence to
78

Love's Gradatory

the Divine Majesty. It is a
Celestial Life pleasing to God;
and this demand on His part, as
well as the response given by
the living soul, uplifts all the
powers, the heart and affections,
and all that is in man, and exalts
at the same time the vital forces :
the veins swell, the blood boils
with vehement desire to procure
the greater Glory of God.

The Christian faith reveals
that God, our all - powerful
Father, created and established
Heaven and Earth and all that
are therein for His eternal Glory ;
that, through His Son, Who is
Eternal Wisdom, He created us
by Nature, and recreated us by
Grace; that, lastly, all is finished
and perfected by the Holy Spirit,
the Will and Love of the Father
79

Love's Gradatory

and the Son, for the eternal
Glory of God. Thus, Trinity of
Persons in Unity of Nature, and
Unity of Nature in Trinity of
Persons, one God Almighty, to
Whom we owe Praise, Honour,
Adoration.

The same Honour and Adora
tion are due to our Lord Jesus
Christ, God and Man in one
Person : for His Sacred Hu
manity, forming but one with
ours, is honoured, blessed, up
lifted above every creature by
God with Whom it is united.
And by reason of this high union
with God, the Soul and Body of
the Christ are filled with all gifts
and graces, even unto plenitude.
Of this plenitude all His dis
ciples receive who follow in His
footsteps, graces and countless
80

Love's Gradatory

assistance and all that is neces
sary to them for holy living. In
return, the Sacred Humanity of
our Lord, with all the immense
family united to Him, give
Honour, Thanksgiving, Praise,
and Reverence eternally to the
Father, in the power of the Christ
and all who are His.

Thus God the Father honours
the Son, and with Him all who
walk in His following and are
one with Him. For whoso
honours God is honoured of
God. To honour and to be
honoured is but exercising the
same Love : not that God has
need of the honour that we
render Him, for He is Himself
His own honour, His veritable
Glory, and infinite Felicity ; but
He wills that we both honour
81

Love's Gradatory

and love Him, to the end that
being one with Him, we enter
into His Beatitude. Now, see
in what way we can honour and
love God. When He reveals
Himself to the eyes of the mind
by light bestowed, He gives us
power to recognize Him athwart
similitudes, as in a mirror, where
we see shadows, images, like
nesses of God. But the Sub
stance, God Himself, we cannot
see except through Himself, and
this is above and beyond every
exercise of Virtue.

We must, therefore, love to
look at God, to seek Him under
these forms, images, and Divine
resemblances, so as to be lifted
by Him above self even unto
that union with Him which
passes all likeness. For the
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Love's Gradatory

present, as in a glass darkly, by
means of images and resem
blances, we already see that He
is Greatness, Power, Strength,
Wisdom and Truth, Justice and
Mercy, Riches and Liberality,
Goodness and Pity, Fidelity and
Love without bounds, Life,
Reward, Joy without end, and
Eternal Felicity. He has many
other Names still, far more than
we can understand or enumerate.
Human reason and intelligence
are overwhelmed in astonish
ment, and Love, full of Desire,
wishes to Praise and Honour
God in a manner worthy of
Him.

Love's Gradatory

CHAPTER VI

THREE WAYS OF HONOURING GOD

THE fervent desire of which we
have just spoken invites the
Holy Spirit to teach us three
Methods that make us capable
of giving to God all the Honour
in our power. The first unites
us to God without any inter
mediary; the second unites us
to His Will by means of Grace
and Good Works ; the third keeps
us so united to Him as to make
us grow and progress in Grace,
Virtue, and every form of Holi
ness. In the first Method there
are three ways of union with
God, consisting of Adoration,
Honour, and Love. The second
Method also contains three,
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Love's Gradatory

Desire, Prayer, and Petition.
Lastly, the third includes three
others, Thanksgiving, Praise,
and Blessing.

To adore God is to exalt Him,
with great Reverence in the
mind, by means of Faith, above
Reason, as Eternal Power,
Creator, and Lord of Heaven
and Earth and all that therein
is. To honour God is to
abandon and forget self and
all other creatures in order to
follow Him faithfully without
ever looking back, with ever
lasting Veneration. Finally,
the third way consists in the
possession of God alone, to seek
Him and love Him, not by
personal interest for our own
glory or salvation, nor for any
thing that He can give us ; but
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Love's Gradatory

loving Him only for Himself and
His greater Glory. Such is
perfect Charity that unites us to
God and by which we live in
Him and He in us.

CHAPTER VII

OF THE SECOND METHOD

FROM Charity, such as has been
described, springs the second
manner of spiritual exercise,
comprising also three opera
tions, which are Desire, Prayer,
and Petition, to desire with the
heart, pray with the lips, and
supplicate with the spirit. We
should first of all desire with
fervent devotion the Grace of
God and His aid, for His
Honour and because of the need
in which we stand of it to be
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Love's Gradatory

able to serve Him. This desire
inflames the Soul to accomplish
with Love and Zeal the most
dear Will of God according to
our ability. This brings into
being another sort of exercise,
that of praying with both mind
and lips. We must implore our
Heavenly Father, the Source
of every excellent Grace and
perfect Gift, to communicate to
us the Spirit of Filial Fear, which
fills us with reverence towards
Him and with care not to offend
Him by sin. We must beg for
the Spirit of Piety to make us,
in His name and also by Virtue,
gentle, clement, humble, pitiful
to all who address us ; also for the
Spirit of Knowledge, which will
enable us to walk before Him
and in the sight of men, in
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Love's Gradatory

honesty and sincerity of word
and work, in commission and
omission. Then shall we be
able to endure suffering, to
regulate our life in such a way
as to give scandal to none, but,
on the contrary, to incite others
to a better life.

We must pray our Heavenly
Father also for the gift of Forti
tude to make us capable of over
coming every enemy, the devil,
the world, and the flesh; since
that is the only way to live in
peace with God.

We must beseech the Father
of Light and Truth to grant to
us the Spirit of Counsel to help
us to walk as a follower of the
Christ, even to the Heaven of
Heavens, despising the world
and all that appertains to it.
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Love's Gradatory

We must desire, too, and pray
God to obtain the Spirit of true
Intelligence to enlighten the
Reason so as to understand all
necessary truths in Heaven and
Earth.

Lastly, we must ask the Al
mighty Father and Jesus Christ,
His Well - beloved Son, to
bestow upon us the Spirit of
Heavenly Wisdom, which will
inspire us with disgust and scorn
for all things that pass. Then
only shall we be capable of
seeing, tasting, and feeling that
Abyss of Delight, the sweetness
of God, calling to us in all con
fidence the Holy Spirit, Lord of
Grace and Glory, from Whom
descends every good gift and all
Holiness in Heaven and Earth.

Such is the second Method, or
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Love's Gradatory

exercise, by which our prayers,
desires, and supplications rise to
our Heavenly Father, that He
may make us like unto Him and
assist us to follow His Divine
Son, and finally possess, with
Him, the Glory belonging to
them in the unity of the Holy
Spirit through all Eternity.

CHAPTER VIII

OF THE THIRD METHOD

THERE is a third method that
perfects us in Virtue and adorns
us with the attire of a holy life.
It comprises three ways of
exercising the Soul : to Thank,
to Praise, and to Bless God.
Certainly we ought to thank,
praise, and bless God, first
because He has created Heaven
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Love's Gradatory

and Earth and all that in them
is for His Glory and our happi
ness, and He has made man in
His image and likeness, setting
him over all that is in the world.
Then, when our first father
according to Nature fell into
sin by disobedience, dragging
us down with him, our Eternal
and Almighty Father willed to
efface our sin by His Grace, and
gave us His own Son, Who
has borne our burden, humbly
placing Himself at our service,
teaching us the way of Truth by
the example of His own life,
obedient unto Death, in order
that we may live with Him ever
lastingly in Eternal Glory. It
is therefore but just to thank,
praise, and bless our Heavenly
Father and His glorious Son
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Love's Gradatory

with the Holy Spirit, for having
brought about these wonders
through love of us. We should,
furthermore, praise and bless
our most dear Lord Jesus Christ
in the Glory of the Father for
having given us His Sacred
Flesh and Blood and glorified
Life in the Most Holy Sacra
ment. There we find most truly
nourishment, beverage, eternal
Life, and all that we can desire,
in greater abundance than we
can ever wish. In return, we
can offer to the Father His Son,
wounded, martyrized, and put
to death for love of us ; and that
in union with all sacrifices ever
offered in His Name by holy
priests, at the same time doing
homage to the Divine Majesty,
of all works accomplished for
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Love's Gradatory

His service by the Just and the
Faithful from the first day to
the last.

We can thank and praise our
Lord Jesus Christ yet more for
the greatness of Mary, His most
dear Mother, whom He chose as
such from the entire earth. He
deigned, indeed, to be conceived
of her by the Holy Ghost, to be
born of her without stain or
suffering, Mother and Virgin
both together, and to be
nourished at her chaste breasts.
The Angels sang, "Glory in
Heaven " while He wept in the
crib, before His Mother adoring
Him as her God and as her
Son. She tended Him with
great respect, and He on His
part treated her as a tender
child His most dear Mother.
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Love's Gradatory

She could pray to Him as God,
and yet command Him as her
Son. Never was such a wonder
known.

As to the greatness of Mary
in Virtue and Holiness of life,
none can describe or express
it ; of profound Humility, high
Purity, large and abundant
Charity, she is still full of
Mercy for sinners who invoke
her ; she is the Mother of every
Grace and all Favours, our ad
vocate and mediatrix with her
Son. He can refuse her nothing
that she asks, because she is His
Mother, sitting at His right hand,
crowned as Queen with Him,
sovereign Lady of Heaven and
earth, highest of all creatures
and nearest to Him, and so we
thank and praise Him for the
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Love's Gradatory

honour He has done His Mother
and all of us in His human
nature, since ingratitude dries
the source of Graces from God.
To thank, praise, and honour
God is the very first work prac
tised by creatures, and thus it
will be for ever. It began in
Heaven when the Archangel
St. Michael fought with his
Angels against Lucifer and his
Angels for possession of Para
dise, and Lucifer, vanquished
with all his host, fell from the
heights like lightning as a
burning flame ; for whoso exalts
himself shall be humbled. Then
rejoiced all the Choirs, Orders,
and powerful Dominions of
Heaven ; the highest Angel
amid the Seraphim sang the
eternal Praise of God, joined by
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Love's Gradatory

all the celestial choir, giving
thanks to God for the victory,
adoring and praising Him be
cause He is their God, loving
and rejoicing in Him everlast
ingly, to His great Glory.

CHAPTER IX

WHAT THE FIRST THREE

CELESTIAL HIERARCHIES DO FOR

MEN

THE blessed Spirits of the
highest Hierarchy, the Thrones,
the Cherubim, and the Seraphim,
do not descend with us into the
struggle undertaken by us for
the overcoming of sin, but they
live with us only in that state
where, lifted above the fight, we
rise toward God by Peace, Con
templation, and Eternal Love.
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Love's Gradatory

The three middle Orders of
the Angelic Hierarchy are the
Principalities, the Powers, and
the Dominions. They are in
tended to fight with us against
the devil, the world, and all
vices — in fact, against everything
that constitutes an obstacle in
the service of our Lord. They
order and govern us and help us
to lead to the end the interior
life, ornamented with all Virtue.
Indeed, when by the Grace of
God and the help of His Angels
we have vanquished the world
and all that belongs to it, we
become as Kings and Princes
over all in this world, and the
Kingdom of Heaven is ours.
Then it is that the fourth Choir
of Angels, the Principalities,
come to our aid for God's
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Love's Gradatory

honour. Further, when we
abase self by humiliation and
self-scorn from the ground of
the heart, placing ourselves
below every creature the more
to honour God, we vanquish
the devil and all his power.
The fifth Choir of Angels, the
Powers, accompany us and lend
us their succour in the practice
of the inner life, so as to assure us
the victory for the Glory of God.
But there is something further,
as when one acquires such con
tempt of self that he places him
self lower than any, unworthy
in his own estimation to be com
pared in Virtue, judging no one,
but condemning only himself.
All his acts of Virtue appear of
little value, as nothing at all, for
the sentiment of God's Justice
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Love's Gradatory

and his own lowliness keep him
from resting on them. Night
and day he hears in his heart a
voice that eats into his reins and
heart, penetrating to the marrow
of his bones : " Thou shalt praise
the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve." His hunger
and ardour to serve God are so
great that all the good he can do
seems perfected in an instant, it
leaves him no rest, so that he is
irritated and indignant with him
self, feeling how powerless he is
to do the good that he would.
He has no more carnal affection
for self or any other creature;
it is dead in him and has disap
peared ; he knows and feels but
one need only, to praise and
serve God ; and seeing that he
cannot attain to it as he would,
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Love's Gradatory

he hates and despises himself,
for the Spirit of God fills him
ceaselessly with desire of new
tasks in His service and praise,
even far more than he can fulfil.
Give as he may, he is ever
pressed to give more, which is
the cause of desire without end.
Then, when this humble Soul
understands that he cannot ac
complish what God asks of him,
he falls at the wounded Feet of
our Lord, crying : " Lord, I can
not acquit my debt to Thee, I sur
render and deliver myself into
Thy Hands; do with me as Thou
wilt." To his humble abandon
ment our Lord replies: "Thy
submission and confidence are
pleasing to Me ; I bestow on thee
My Spirit of Liberty and Truth,
so that thou mayst put thy

100

Love's Gradatory

complaisance in Me above every
good work and virtuous act."

Now, this mutual complaisance
between God and the truly
humble Soul, freed by Humility,
is the root of Charity and Holi
ness in the interior life. Those
who attain to it cannot be tempted
of sin, for all enemies fly from
them as a serpent from a flower
ing vine.1 This same mutual
complaisance is the highest and
most noble work in the inner
life, all virtues and all good
works end and are perfected
there ; for God gives the Grace,
and the interior Soul offers to
Him in return every work.

Thus grow and renew with-

1 St. Bonaventura, "Vitis Mystica,"
ch. xlv., ed. Quaracchi, t. viii., p. 222,
No. 356.

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Love's Gradatory

out ceasing both Grace and
Works, for God speaks inti
mately to the Soul, saying : " I
give thee My grace, give thou
Me thy works." Then, appealing
to Goodwill and liberty of desire,
He adds: "Give Me thyself, as
I give Myself to thee. Wilt thou
be Mine ? I will be thine." Such
invitations and replies are said
interiorly in the spirit, not ex
teriorly in words. The loving
Soul responds : " Lord, Thou
livest in me by Thy Grace, and
I delight in Thee above all
things. I must love, thank, and
praise Thee, I may not keep
from doing thus, since for me it
is eternal Life."

Thou art my very meat and drink ;

Eating I famish still ;
I quench my thirst to thirst again ;

Starve, while I take my fill.
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Love's Gradatory

Thou'rt sweeter than the honeycomb ;

O'er all I can attain ;
Since inexhaustible Thou art

Hungry I yet remain.
Art Thou consumed, or I ? Who
knows ?

Both in my soul I feel.
Thou will'st that I be one with Thee—

This is my woe and weal,
For in Thy arms I cannot lie

Quit of all human strife,
Thy Praise, Thy Love, Thy Ser
vice, are

My very breath of life.
Impatience seizes on my heart —

Could I attain to Thee,
Nor leave my exercise of Praise

How joyful I should be !
Thou know'st, dear Lord, my every
need,

Do as Thou wilt with me ;
All power Thine, submission mine

To dree or die for Thee.

To this the Spirit of the Lord

replies in the intimacy of the

Soul without exterior words,

but in the depth of the con-

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Love's Gradatory

sciousness : " Beloved, I am
thine, and them art Mine ; I give
Myself to thee above all gifts,
and in return I claim thee, I
draw thee to Me above all thy
good works."

When in the inmost Being
the Soul follows the Divine
drawing and gives itself up
freely to the Spirit of God, it
tastes infinite happiness im
possible to comprehend, in
which the whole being dis
solves, caught and embraced
between immense Love and un
ending Happiness, under the
regard of Love Himself; but
the hour is short, for Love
cannot remain inactive, it cries
aloud in the intimacy of the
Soul : " Thanksgiving, Praise,
Honour, be to God; this is
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Love's Gradatory

Love's Counsel and Command
ment."

This, then, is the noblest and
highest exercise of the interior
life, the nearest to the Contem
plative existence. The Soul
resembles the Angels of the
sixth Choir, the Dominions, who
rule the five other Choirs, or
Orders, below them. In the
same way this method here
spoken of is lifted above all
others in the practice of the
interior life.

CHAPTER X

OF TWO WAYS THAT THE
CHRIST TAUGHT

THE Christ, the Son of the living

God, taught us and practised in

His own life two ways which

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Love's Gradatory

lead to eternal Life, if we will
but follow Him. The first is the
way of the Commandments, the
second that of the Counsels.

The Saviour said : " If thou
wilt be perfect and become My
disciple, leave all that is dear to
you, father and mother, brother
and sister, wife and children,
houses and lands, and every
thing in the world that may be
an obstacle or drawback to in
timacy with God; leave and
despise all that, if thou wilt be
like unto Me."1 " Behold, I send
you as My Father hath sent Me;2
and I had nowhere to lay My
head."3 Thus you may keep no
attachment nor inordinate affec
tion for the world, but leave all,

* St. Matt. xix. 29. 2 St. John xx. 23.

3 St. Luke ix. 58.

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Love's Gradatory

if you will grow in interior life.
If you are capable of this, you
can become a disciple of the
Christ and poor in spirit, domin
ating the entire world which you
have overcome ; and although
you have nothing of your own,
you possess all things in God,
Who gave you power to conquer.
Moreover, the Christ said:
" Leave all thou hast and follow
Me,"1 that is, to honour God and
forgo all complacency in self.
This is, in fact, what the Christ
did, as He says : " I seek to
honour My Father Who sent Me ;
if I glorify Myself, My glory is
nothing."2 In this manner man
resembles the Son of God Who
gave us the Wisdom of Humility.
Again, the Christ said : " Whoso

1 St. Matt. xix. 21. 2 St. John viii. 54.
107

Love's Gradatory

will come after Me, let him take
up his cross and follow Me."1
Of this He has given the
example, renouncing Himself
even to the delivering of His
Body to death at the hands of
His enemies,'and committing His
Soul to the will of the Father ;
and having given all that He
was and of which He was cap
able, He cried with a loud voice,
" It is consummated," 2 bowed
His head, and gave up the ghost
And so should we do likewise.

Consequently, if we will, in
our turn, be perfected in Charity
and in the interior life, we must
abandon ourselves entirely to
the most dear Will of God, being
disposed and ready to die for
His honour, or for our neigh-

1 St. Luke ix. 23. 2 St. John xix. 30.
108

Love's Gradatory

hour, if so we can assure to him
Eternal Life. Then only is our
Charity perfect toward God and
our neighbour, and thereby we
become like unto the Holy Spirit
Who operates all works of love,
perfecting them unto Life Eter
nal. The sincere practice, as
before God, of these three kinds
of renunciation constitute the
Counsels of our Lord and a
hidden way to go to God, found
by but few, for exterior Poverty
only, without interior and other
virtues, is not sufficient to find
it ; on the contrary, riches,
wisely used and liberally dis
tributed to the poor for the love
of God, reach to this way, hidden
to unwilling and insincere
Poverty.

But the common road to go to
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Love's Gradatory

God is by way of the Command
ments. The Christ said truly :
" If you will enter into life, keep
the Commandments." x And
again : " If you keep My Com
mandments you abide in My
love, as I also have kept My
Father's Commandments and
abide in His love." 2 For to love
is the first and greatest of the
Commandments, and none can
love if they live not in the
Christian Faith. To one who
believes, all is possible ; but the
unbeliever is a brand of hell-fire.
To keep the Commandments,
Faith is necessary, confidence
in God, purification from sin
according to Christian law and
the Precepts of Holy Church,
and also willing obedience to
1 St. Matt. xix. 17. a St. John xv. 10.

no

Love's Gradatory

God and superiors ; conforming
to customs and practices gener
ally in use in Holy Church ;
each according to our power and
with a wise discretion, after the
ordinary conduct of Prudence
and the customs of the country.
Your life should be regulated
by the knowledge of the Ten
Commandments, the seven
deadly sins feared and shunned,
that God be not offended and
eternal Punishment merited.
Observe the Fasts of Holy
Church ; be zealous and as
siduous in good works as far as
may be ; be faithful to God and
self in all good, as behoves a
good servitor toward his Master,
waiting until He calls you to
Him. Such is a life conformable
to the Commandments of God,
in

Love's Gradatory

to which we are all bounden.
Therefore the Angels of God,
who belong to the lowest Choir,
assist us every day of our life
so as to be able at last to
present us, pure and without
stain of sin, before the Face of
the Lord.

Next, there is the second
stage, a more elevated way in the
active life — innocent Patience.
Innocence is born of Charity,
and Patience is its sister. From
these three virtues, with the
Grace of God, spring all good
works, because they refrain the
evil tendencies of Nature, and
all distinction among the virtues
may be reduced to the unity of
this innocent Patience ; for who
so possesses that, lives in fear of
the Lord and at peace with God,

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Love's Gradatory

is humble, gentle, obedient, kind,
affable, courteous, simple, with
out dissimulation, bearing all,
easily influenced to good, being
docile and willingly instructed
by the Spirit, thus receiving con
tinually from God the discipline
of veritable Peace. When you
possess the whole of these vir
tues, you are at the second stage,
and resemble the Archangels,
who constitute the second Choir,
commanding and presiding over
all the Angels of inferior order
in the first Hierarchy ; and in
this way you surpass all those
who live in the inferior stage of
good works, where, however,
they attain Salvation.

Lastly, there is a third stage,
where all active life pleasing to
God comes to full perfection.

Love's Gradatory

Consider: when a simple
Christian observes the Law and
the Commandments of God be
cause He so orders and wills,
and not by custom or constraint,
he is just and pleasing to God
in the inferior degree of the
spiritual life. Then, when he
rises to a higher stage and
interiorly acquires numerous
virtues, which ornament the
Soul so as to make it like God,
His Angels and Saints, and all
the Just, by esteem for Virtue
and hate of vice, and also in
view of eternal Life and peace
of Conscience, as for the joy and
well-being he tastes in the sin
cerity of his life, then he is far
more agreeable to God than the
common run of those in the
inferior Choir. But when, lifted
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Love's Gradatory

above all exterior good works
and all interior virtues, he fixes
his inner regard on God with
great confidence and Christian
Faith, loving and seeking Him
above all things, attaching him
self to Him above all else, then
he reaches the third stage, where
all active life is consummated.
Truly the Soul there resembles
the Angels of the third Choir in
the inferior Hierarchy, who
bear the name of Virtues, for the
virtues are perfected when thus
offered to God, loving and
desiring Him beyond them all.

Such is the perfection of the
active life, composed of three
stages leading to Eternal Life,
from higher to higher, as we
profit by the grace bestowed
and according to our merits, as

Love's Gradatory

before God. If you have any
experience of this inner life,
strive to keep it and dwell in it ;
self must be emptied out, and
detachment from creatures ob
tained; more than all must the
Soul rest in God, seek and love
Him, desiring His Glory far
above all else. In this way the
Soul remains established before
the Face of God in Eternal
Reverence.

CHAPTER XI

THAT MANY THINK THEY ARE HOLY
AND ARE DECEIVED

ONE meets many persons full
of self-complacency, imagining
they lead a holy life and are
great before God, yet who
deceive themselves in many
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Love's Gradatory

ways ; for those who are neither
detached from self-will, nor
mortified in their natural life,
can have no experience in the
life of Grace, nor be tested
before the Divine Majesty. They
may be endowed with intelli
gence and of a subtile reason,
but self-complacency and seek
ing to please men are a turning
away from God, and at the same
time the principal root of all
sin. Such men strive to be
above others, above everyone,
if possible. They will never
submit sincerely to another, but
desire, on the contrary, that all
give way before what appears
to them to be right. They are
disagreeable, full of self, and
will always prove their case
against those who disagree with
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Love's Gradatory

them. They are easily put
out, discontented, irascible, sus
ceptible, bad, hard and haughty,
in word, act, and manner ; it is
impossible to live in peace with
them — indeed, they have no
peace in themselves, since they
think only of spying upon and
passing judgment on everyone
except themselves.

Always full of suspicions and
malicious thoughts, with nothing
but displeasure, interior spite
and rancour for those who do
not please them, they are cease
lessly tortured and restless,
believing they know and do
better than all the world. Full
of zeal to instruct others, to
teach, correct, reprove, they will
not endure to be taught or
reproved by anyone, since they

5

Love's Gradatory

believe they are the wisest
of all. Tyrannical and con
temptuous towards inferiors
and equals when they do not
receive what they consider their
due, they are, besides, quarrel
some and imperious, often scoff
ing with bitter harshness, for
they are without the unction
of the Spirit. They willingly
put themselves forward among
honest folk, believing they are
authorized to speak before any,
so wise are they in their own
eyes. Beneath a humble exterior
they hide Pride and cover Hate
by the appearance of Justice ;
they show great affability and
respect to those who flatter and
give way to them ; they cannot
show too much solicitude, atten
tion, and care for their own
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Love's Gradatory

concerns, rejoicing or mourning,
as is the way of the world, ac
cording as good or ill overtakes
their temporal interests. Praise
or blame them to the face, and
you soon see of what sort they
are, having neither care nor
anxiety but for what touches
them : sickness, death, hell,
purgatory, the judgments ot
God and His Justice; entirely
preoccupied with themselves,
with the fear and dread of all
that can happen to them, loving
self as they do in such an in
ordinate way, instead of for God
and in God. Consequently they
are restless and constrained,
confused before the Face of
God, full of solicitude and fear
for worldly interests, under the
feet of unbelievers for fear that

120

Love's Gradatory

life and riches be taken from
them, that their goods be stolen
or confiscated, or that they are
not paid. They dread to become
poor, miserable, despised, old
and ill, without consolation,
comforts, and friends ; such in
ordinate and foolish cares
nourish a state of avarice, and
lead sometimes to actual mad
ness.

Even in the sacerdotal Orders
and the Religious state persons
of this kind are to be met with,
still full of self-will and abso
lutely immortified; always dread
ing that a Superior or Prelate
should interfere with their way
of living, or disturb them without
sufficient consideration, as they
know well that they could not
endure such a thing. All sorts

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Love's Gradatory

of imaginations run in their
heads about those whom they
believe to be hostile ; such as :
" If such a one became my
Superior, how could I ever sub
mit to and obey him? He dislikes
me, he would oppress and des
pise me in every way, and all
his friends would take his part
against me." These sort of
anxieties sour the blood, cause
irritation and murmuring : " It
is quite impossible — I should
lose my senses, or have to leave
the Cloister."

Such are the silly fears, im
moderate prudence and fore
sight, coming from a depth of
Pride. Should they become
Superior, they would surely
oppress and despise all who
opposed their opinion, or did

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Love's Gradatory

not yield to their good pleasure,
for they fancy they govern and
order things far better and more
wisely than any other. Fre
quently they criticize interiorly
their Superiors and others set
over them, and do the same in
word to any disposed to listen.
Praise of others is painful to
them, for they imagine they are
therefore less esteemed, nor will
they admit of superiority in
others who know and profess
less than they do. Such, in fact,
are those who esteem themselves
wiser and more prudent than any
about them, while they are really
inapt and incapable of attaining
true Holiness.

Let each prove himself, ex
amining his mind and natural
inclinations, to see if there is
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Love's Gradatory

nothing found in him that should
be eliminated and overcome in
order to acquire true Holiness.
To die to sin is to live to God,
to be emptied of self and de
tached from all that pleases or
displeases, leads to the Kingdom
of God; heart and desire must
close to things of earth to open
to God and things eternal, if we
desire to taste and see that the
Lord is sweet.

•
If we would God discern,

The world we must despise,
His love and hate must learn,

See all things with His eyes.
And we must self forgo

If God we would attain,
His grace must in us grow

And ease us from all pain.
So shall we sing His praise

And be at one with Him,
In peace our voices raise

In the celestial hymn,
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Love's Gradatory

That with quadruple harmony

And all mellifluous melody,

In Heaven resounds eternally.

CHAPTER XII

OF CELESTIAL MELODIES

OUR Heavenly Father called us
from all eternity, elected us in
His Beloved Son, and wrote our
names with the finger of His
Love in the living book of eternal
Wisdom, therefore we should
respond with all our power in
constant Reverence and Venera
tion. Thus commences every
song of Angels and men, never
to cease.

The first method of Celestial

Song is love of God and men,

the which to teach us God sent

His Son. Whoso knows not

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Love's Gradatory

this method cannot enter the
heavenly Choir, since having
neither knowledge nor the vest
ment of Grace he must remain
everlastingly without.

Jesus Christ, the Soul's Lover,
at the moment of His Concep
tion in the chaste womb of His
Virgin Mother, chanted in spirit
the Glory and Honour of His
Heavenly Father, peace and rest
to men of goodwill ; and on that
night in which He was born of
the Virgin Mother the Angels
sang the same sweet refrain.
The Church recalls it when she,
in her turn, sings it, especially
on these two Festivals. Love of
God and love of man for God
and in God, what can be hymned
of more sublime or more joyous
in Heaven or on earth, since the
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Love's Gradatory

form and meaning of this song
are infused by the Holy Spirit ?
The Christ, our Choir Master
and Precentor, intoned it from
the beginning, and will intone
eternally for us this hymn of
love and endless felicity. Then,
in our turn, with all our might,
we shall sing with Him, both
here below and in the midst of
the Choir of the Glory of God.
Thus Love, pure and without
pretence, is the common song
we must all learn in order to
take part in the Choir of Angels
and Saints in the Kingdom of
God ; for Love is the root and
cause of all interior virtues, the
true ornament and adornment of
all exterior good work. Love
lives of itself, and is its own
recompense ; in its action it can-
127

Love's Gradatory

not be deceived, for there the
Christ has gone before Who
taught us to love, and lives in
love with all who are His, for
us to imitate Him, if we wish to
be happy with Him, and attain
Salvation. Such is the first
method of Celestial Song that
the Wisdom of God teaches His
obedient disciples by the inter
vention of the Holy Spirit.

Next comes the second method
of Celestial Song, which is un
pretentious Humility, that none
can raise or abase. In this really
consists the root and sure founda
tion of all virtue and the whole
spiritual edifice; this, too, con
stitutes the measure, key, and
finale of all heavenly Song, for it
is the mantle and ornament of
Love, the sweetest voice that
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Love's Gradatory

can sing before the face of God.
The chords are so graceful and
attractive that they draw the
Wisdom of God even into our
human nature, as when Mary
said : " Behold the servant of the
Lord, be it unto me according to
thy word." l God was so com
pletely won that He willed the
Eternal Wisdom to take flesh in
the womb of the Virgin.

Thus the highest height be
came lowliness, since the Son of
God humbled Himself and took
upon Him the form of a slave,
so as to raise us to the image of
the Godhead. He humiliated
Himself, placing Himself lower
than all, despising Himself
through desire to serve us even
unto death.

1 St. Luke i. 38.
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Love's Gradatory

If you wish to resemble and
follow Him there where is sung
the hymn of sincere Humility,
you must also deny and despise
self, love and desire contempt,
disdain, and neglect from others,
for true Humility is insensible
to what flatters or pains, to
honour or shame, to all that is
not itself. It is the highest gift
and the loveliest jewel that God
can bestow on the loving Soul,
outside of Himself, the plenti-
tude of every Grace and gift ;
whoso dwells with it becomes
one with it, and finds everlasting
Peace.

The third method of Celestial
Song consists in renouncing self-
will and everything belonging
to self, abandoning all to the
most dear Will of God and
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Love's Gradatory

bearing submissively all He sees
fit to impose. And though
Nature, bowed under the cross,
following our Lord even unto
death, suffers pain, the spirit
that willingly makes such an
offering is joyous. Nature
weeps and complains of the
heavy burden it bears, but here
after there will be joy in the
Glory of God, when Jesus shall
wipe away all tears, showing us
how by His Precious Blood He
bought us of His Father by
paying the price of death. Then
shall we sing with Him this
sweet melody, merited by
voluntary suffering, and belong
ing to men, not to Angels. The
greater the martyrdom, labour,
and suffering, so much greater,
too, will be the Glory, recom-

Love's Gradatory

pense, and honour. The Christ,
our Precentor, constrains us to
sing this hymn, for He is King
and Prince of all suffering will
ingly endured for the love and
honour of God, and His voice is
so rich, so sonorous, it is the
perfection of science in heavenly
Song, its tones, keys, and varied
harmonies. With Him we shall
all sing, thanking and praising
His Heavenly Father Who sent
Him to us.

As it behoved the Christ to
suffer and thus to enter into His
Glory, so it behoves us, too, to
suffer gladly, so as to be like
unto Him, and to follow Him
into the glory of the Father,
with Whom He is one in the
fruition of the Holy Ghost, there
to sing His praise in the Name
132

;

Love's Gradatory

of our Lord Jesus Christ, each
one personally, in spirit, accord
ing to our merits and dignity
before God.

Finally, the fourth method of
celestial Song, the most interior,
noble, and highest, consists in
deliquescence in the Praise of
God.1

1 Above the love of God and our
neighbour, true Humility and complete
renouncement of self-will, Blessed John
Ruysbroeck places the confession of abso
lute powerlessness to praise God as He
deserves. This he calls a mystical fainting
in the Praise of God. This acknowledge
ment of powerlessness comes from the
Divine exigency claiming more than we
are capable of giving. Under the influence
of Grace our supernatural activity can
well lead us to the union with God, which
the author names intermedium, but the
union without intervention of a medium,
goes beyond our force and is the work
of God alone. The first kind of union
has a likeness with God, but the second is

133 I

Love's Gradatory

Our heavenly Father is at the
same time covetous and liberal.
On His beloved who walk before
His Face and are elevated in the
Spirit, He bestows liberally His
gifts and blessings, but expects
in return that each render thanks,
praise, and good works in the
measure in which He has
endowed him, both exteriorly
and interiorly. ForDivine Grace
is not given uselessly, nor in
vain ; if we make use of it the
flow is ceaseless, giving all that
we need, claiming in return from
us all that we can give, and

the very image of God, graven in the
substance of the Soul and constitutes the
living Unity with God. In one, the Soul
operates continually with the help of the
Holy Spirit ; in the other, the Soul enjoys
and reposes in Him.

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Love's Gradatory

from these reciprocal gifts
springs the practice of every
virtue, without fear of error.

But that which goes beyond
all works and the exercise of all
Virtues, our heavenly Father
teaches to those who are especi
ally dear to Him; thus in His
gifts and in His exigency He
shows Himself not only liberal
and covetous, but covetousness
and liberality itself. He wills
to give Himself to us entirely,
Himself and all that He is, but in
return He claims the full dona
tion of ourselves to Him, with
all that we are or can be. His
will and intention is that we
should be entirely His, as He is
altogether ours ; each, however,
remaining what they are, for we
cannot become Divine, but can
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Love's Gradatory

be united to God both by an
intermedium and without an
intermedium. We are united to
Him by means of His Grace and
our good works, and this mutual
Love, thus constituted, results
in His being in us and we in
Him, submissive to His influence
even to the point of having but
one only will with Him for all
good. For His Spirit and Grace
operate in every good work far
more than our own action ; and
the Grace He bestows, with the
love we render Him, elaborates
a work in which He and we co
operate together of common ac
cord. Our love for God is,
indeed, the highest and noblest
work of which we can conceive
between God and self. The
Divine Spirit, on His side, re-
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Love's Gradatory

quires of our spirit that we
should love and thank God and
sing the praises due to His
supreme dignity and majesty;
it is in this that all loving Souls
in Heaven as on earth fall short.
They are consumed with this
desire and fall powerless before
the infinite Majesty of God ;
His Grace is there perfected
with every virtue. But it is
possible to be united to God
without an intermedium, above
Grace and beyond all Virtue, for
independently of any medium,
we have received the image of
God in the living substance of
the Soul, and thus established
union with God without an
intermedium ; not by becoming
God, but by remaining always
like Him, He living in us and

Love's Gradatory

we in Him, through Grace and
good works.

We are then united to God
without medium and beyond all
Virtue, bearing His image im
pressed on the very summit of
our created nature ; neverthe
less, we remain like Him and
united to Him by means of His
Grace and our good works ;
being like unto Him in Grace
and Glory, one with Him in our
eternal image or ideal. Living
union with God is in our very
essence ; we cannot understand
nor attain to it, nor seize it. It
baffles our strength and requires
us to be one with God without
an intermediary, although this
cannot be accomplished alone.
We can, indeed, follow after God
so far as to attain to the state of
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Love's Gradatory

emptiness of self; once in this
state the Holy Spirit makes His
dwelling in the Soul, reposing
there with all His gifts. He
bestows His graces and gifts on
all our powers, asking in return
love, thanksgiving, and praise.
He inhabits in our essence,
claiming from us freedom from
self, love and union with Him
above all Virtue. Consequently
we cannot remain in self with
our good works, nor above self
with God, in a state of vacuum,
in which consists the most inti
mate action of Love. The Spirit
of the Lord within is an eternal
operation of God, Who wills
that we correspond continually
in order to become like unto
Him. But He is also repose
and fruition of the Father and
139

Love's Gradatory

the Son and all His beloved,
in everlasting inaction. This
fruition is above works and we
cannot comprehend it; works
remaining always below fruition
we cannot introduce them into
that condition. When we act,
we always lack something, not
being able to love God suffi
ciently, but in enjoying, we
attain satisfaction ; we are then
all that we desire. Such is the
fourth method of celestial Song,
the noblest that can be chanted
in Heaven or on earth.

You should know, however,
that neither God, nor the Angels,
nor Souls, sing with a corporeal
voice, since they are spirits,
having neither ears, nor mouth,
nor tongue, nor throat, to form
a note. The Holy Scriptures
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Love's Gradatory

say well that God spoke to
Abraham and Moses, to the
Patriarchs and Prophets in many
ways with sensible words, before
He took upon Himself human
nature. Holy Church, in her
turn, attests that the Angels sing
everlastingly and ceaselessly,
11 Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctits"
Again, the Angel Gabriel
brought to Our Lady the mes
sage that she should conceive
the Son of God, by virtue of the
Holy Spirit ; Angels sang while
bearing the soul of St. Martin
to Heaven, and Angels daily
delighted Mary Magdalen by
their singing. It would seem,
then, that good and bad spirits
and disembodied Souls can
appear to men in what form
they like, as far as it pleases

Love's Gradatory

God to allow ; but in the next
life this is unnecessary, for then
we shall contemplate with the
eyes of the intelligent the Glory
of God and of all Angels and
Saints in general, at the same
time as the special Glory and
recompense of each in particular,
in every delectable way.

But at the last day, at the
Judgement of God, when we rise
again with glorious bodies, in
the power of the Lord, these
bodies will be white and re
splendent as the snow, more
brilliant than the sun, more
transparent than crystal, and
each one will have a special
mark of honour and glory,
according to the support and
endurance of torments and
sufferings, willingly and freely
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Love's Gradatory

borne to the honour of God.
For all things shall be regulated
and recompensed according to
the Wisdom of God and the
nobility of our works; and the
Christ, our Precentor and Choir-
Master, shall sing with His sweet
triumphant voice an eternal
canticle to the Praise and Glory
of the Heavenly Father. We
also shall sing the same hymn,
with joyous spirit and clear
voice, eternally without end.
The happiness and glory of the
Soul shall be reflected in our
senses and members, as we con
template one the other with
glorified vision, hearing, speak
ing, and chanting the Praise of
our Lord with unfailing voice.
The Christ will serve us and
show us His illuminated Visage
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Love's Gradatory

and glorious Body bearing the
marks of love and fidelity printed
on them.

We shall, too, contemplate the
glorified bodies of the Just,
clothed in numberless marks of
love, spent in the service of God
since the beginning of the world ;
and our sensitive life shall be
filled, exteriorly and interiorly,
with the Glory of God; the
heart full of life burning with
ardent love of God, the powers
of the Soul resplendent with
Glory, ornamented with the gifts
of God and the practice of all
virtue on earth.

Finally, and beyond all else,
ravished out of self into the
Glory of God, without limit, in
comprehensible, immense, we are
to enjoy Him for ever and ever.
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Love's Gradatory

The Christ in His human
nature shall lead the Choir on
the right, for He is the highest
and most sublime creation of
God, and to this Choir belong
all who live in Him and He in
them. The other Choir is the
angelic, for although they are
by Nature the more noble, we
have been dowered in a more
sublime fashion in Jesus Christ,
with Whom we are one. He
shall be the supreme Pontiff in
the midst of the Choir of Angels
and men before the throne of
the sovereign Majesty of God,
and will offer and renew before
His heavenly Father, God Al
mighty, all offerings that were
ever presented by Angels and
men, fixed in the Glory of God
for ever and ever.
MS

Love's Gradatory

Thus, then, shall our bodies
and senses by which we serve
God now be glorified and beati
fied, like unto the glorious Body
of the Christ ; that Body in
which He served God and man.
Our Souls, by which we now
and always love, thank, and
praise God, will then be blessed
and glorious spirits, like to the
blessed and glorious Soul of the
Christ, the Angels and all spirits
who love, praise, and bless God ;
and through the Christ we shall
be ravished in God to be with
Him in fruition and eternal
Beatitude. And thus I end the
fifth step of the celestial Ladder.

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Love's Gradatory

CHAPTER XIII

THIS IS THE SIXTH STEP

THE sixth degree or step in
Love, consists in a clear intuition,
Purity of spirit and intelligence.
These three qualities of the
contemplative Soul spring from
a living source, where we are
united to God above reason and
the ordinary exercise of Virtue.1
Whosoever desires to experience
it must offer God both virtues
and good works without looking
for any reward, and above all
offer self, abandoning every-

1 The true contemplative life which
is here spoken of is but the development
of the fourth method of celestial Song
described in the last chapter, in other
words, the return to the Purity of Intelli
gence.

M7

Love's Gradatory

thing to the free disposal of God ;
always going forward without
looking back, in a lively Rever
ence for God. Thus the Soul
must prepare with the Grace of
God, to attain to the contem
plative life. The exterior and
sensitive life must be ruled and
given to good works before all
men. The interior life must be
filled with grace and charity,
without dissimulation, of direct
intention, rich in virtue, the
memory exempt from cares and
solicitude, freed and detatched,
entirely delivered of every image ;
the heart set free, open and up
lifted above the Heavens; the
intelligence empty and stripped
of all consideration but God.

Such is the citadel of loving
Souls where all pure intellects
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Love's Gradatory

are united, in one simple Purity.
This is the habitation of God in
us, where none can operate but
God alone ; its Purity is eternal,
there is neither time nor space,
past nor future, always present
and ready to be revealed to those
pure intelligences raised to it.
The air is pure and serene, lit
by a light Divine, and by it we
shall discover, fix, and contem
plate the eternal Truth, with
purified and illuminated eyes.
There, too, all things are trans
formed, are one only Truth, one
only image in the mirror of the
Wisdom of God ; and God
created us that we might find,
know, and possess this image
in our essence and the Purity of
our intelligence. Contemplating,
applying our minds to this in
149 K

Love's Gradatory

the Divine Light, with simple
and spiritual eyes, we attain to
contemplative life.

But yet another thing is neces
sary, Purity of spirit ; for an
intelligence in repose without
images, an intuition in the light
of God, and a spirit elevated in
Purity to the Face of God, these
three qualities united constitute
the true contemplative life, where
none can err ; for the pure spirit
expands ceaselessly and follows
rapidly in purified love, the
enlightened intelligence towards
its Cause.

Now, our heavenly Father is
the Cause and End of all that is ;
in Him we begin all good, with
an intelligence stripped of sense
in a prospect without images.
In His Son we contemplate all
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Love's Gradatory

Truth with an intelligence en
lightened by the Light Divine ;
and in the Holy Spirit we per
fect our works. Then are we
ravished out of self by purified
Love, even to the Face of God,
freed and emptied of every event
and illusion. This is the con
templative life of highest price.
To begin and finish each
moment is Love's counsel. And
such is the sixth step of the
heavenly Ladder.

CHAPTER XIV

THIS IS THE SEVENTH STEP

NEXT follows the seventh step,
the noblest and most elevated
that it is possible to realize in
the life of time or eternity. It
is attained when, above all
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Love's Gradatory

knowledge and science, we find
within us a limitless ignorance ;
when, passing beyond every
name given to God or creatures
we expire and pass to an eternal
Unnameable where we are lost ;
when, further than any practice
of Virtue, we contemplate and
discover within us everlasting
Repose, or immeasureable Be
atitude where none can act ;
when we contemplate above all
blessed Spirits an essential
Beatitude where all are one,
melted, lost, in their Super-
essence in the bosom of a dark
ness defying all determination
or knowledge.1

1 This seventh degree of Love may be
compared with what St. Denis calls the
Divine Obscurity in the first and follow
ing chapters of his " Mystical The
ology."

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Love's Gradatory

We shall also contemplate the
Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, triune in Person, one only
God in Nature ; by Whom was
created Heaven and earth and
all that exists ; Whom we shall
love, thank, and praise for ever
and ever, for that we are made
in His image and likeness is the
great happiness of those who
are noble and pure. The Divin
ity does not operate, being simple
essence, always in repose. Had
we part in this repose with Him,
we should, with Him, be merely
Repose and lifted even to His
altitude, and thus be above all
the steps of the heavenly Lad
der, with God in His Divinity,
one essence of Repose and
eternal Beatitude. The Divine
Persons in the fecundity of their
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Love's Gradatory

Nature, are one God eternally
active; and in the simplicity of
their Essence, eternally in repose,
and thus, according to the Per
sons God is everlasting activity ;
according to Essence eternal
Repose.

Between Labour and Repose
live Love and Possession. Love
will always act, for it is ever
lasting operation in God. To
possess always requires Repose,
for it is above will and desire,
the embrace of the Beloved by
the Beloved, in a pure love with
out images ; the Father con
jointly with the Son takes pos
session of His beloved in the
possessive Unity of the Spirit,
above the fecundity of Nature;
the Father saying to each spirit
in eternal contentment : "I am

Love's Gradatory

thine, and thou art Mine ; I have
chosen thee from all eternity."
Such joy and mutual com
plaisance so unite God and His
beloved that they are ravished
out of self, melting, liquefying,
becoming in enjoyment one
spirit with God, tending ever
toward the infinite Beatitude of
His Essence. This sort of
happiness belongs to the con
templative life.

Another kind leads to the
enjoyment of God those of in
terior life who are perfected in
Charity after the most dear will
of God. It belongs to those who
renounce and abandon self, leav
ing every creature to which they
might be attached, every creation
of God which could become a
care and obstacle in this intimate

Love's Gradatory

life of the service of God. Then
they rise towards God by affec
tive love flowing from the depth
of the living Soul, the affections
lifted above the heavens and
the powers on fire with burn
ing Charity, while the spirit is
raised to an intelligence without
images.

Here the law of Love attains
the summit, and every virtue
becomes perfect. Emptied of
all, God, our heavenly Father,
dwells in the Soul in the fulness
of Grace, and we in Him above
all works, in a state of posses
sion. The Christ lives in us
and we in Him, and in His life
we conquer the world and sin.
With Him we are uplifted in
Love even to the heavenly
Father. The Holy Spirit oper-
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Love's Gradatory

God. Between love and posses
sion there is a distinction as
between God and His grace.
When we cleave to Him by love,
then are we spiritual, but when
the Spirit ravishes us and trans
forms us, we are carried on into
Possession. The Spirit of God
exhales us in acts of love and
virtue, and inhales us, drawing
us back to repose and possession
of Him, which is eternal Life ;
just as we exhale the air in us
and inhale anew, for mortal and
natural life. And although the
spirit be ravished out of us and
our works fail in Possession and
Beatitude, they are always re
newed by Grace in Charity and
Virtue.

Thus, then, to enter into a
repose of possession, to go out

Love's Gradatory

by good works and yet remain
always united to the Spirit of
God, is what I wish to express.
Just as we open the eyes of the
flesh to see, and close them so
rapidly that we do not even
observe it, so we expire in God,
live in God, and remain always
with God. We must go out in
the works of the sensitive life,
to return by love, attaching our
selves to God, to remain always
one with Him without change.
This exhalation and respiration
of the Soul is the noblest senti
ment we can discover and under
stand; nevertheless, we must
always go up and down the
steps of the spiritual Ladder
in interior virtue and exterior
works, according to the Com
mandments of God and the Pre-
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Love's Gradatory

ates in us and with us in all our
works, crying in us loudly with
out words : " Love the Love
Who loves you with everlasting
love." His clamour is an inti
mate touch on our spirit, and His
voice more terrible than the
tempest. The lightnings accom
panying it open Heaven to us
and show us the light of eternal
Truth. The ardour of this secret
touch and of His love is such
that it would entirely consume
us; and His voice cries cease
lessly in our spirit : " Pay thy
debt; love the Love Who has
loved thee with an everlasting
love." Hence dawns a great
interior impatience and in ex
ternal conduct a variety of con
tradictory ways and manners.
For the more we love the more

Love's Gradatory

we desire to love, and the more
we pay that which Love requires
of us, the more we remain in
debt. Love is never silent ; He
constrains us continually with
out a truce, crying : " Give love
to Love." Those who do not
understand these things cannot
know this combat of love. To
love is to possess, is to act and
suffer action. God, living in us
by His Grace, teaches, counsels,
commands us to love; but we,
living in Him above Grace and
beyond works, endure His action
in possessing Him.

In us, then, are loving, know
ing, contemplating, desiring, and
above all possessing. Our action
consists in loving God, and our
possession in allowing ourselves
to be embraced by the love of
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Love's Gradatory

cepts of the Church, as has been
already said. By the likeness
with God that comes from good
works, we are united to Him in
His fecund Nature, which acts
continually in the Trinity of
Persons, perfecting all good in
the Unity of the Spirit. Dead
to sin and made one with God,
we are born anew of the Spirit,
elect sons of God, caught out of
self, the Father and the Son
holding us embraced in eternal
love and everlasting felicity ;
this action is always commenc
ing anew, continuing and con
summating ; and thus are we
blessed in knowing, loving, and
possessing God.1

1 According to the doctrine already
expounded, it may be seen that super
natural labour of the active life, or
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Love's Gradatory

In enjoying God we are in
active, for He alone operates
when He ravishes loving spirits
out of themselves and perfects
them in the Unity of His Spirit,
where we become as one single
fire of love, greater than any
thing which God has ever
created. Each separate spirit is
as a burning coal ignited by God
at the fire of His infinite Love,
and all together are as a flaming

practice of the virtues, tends always
towards the repose of the contemplative
life. Labour likens one to God, Who
works without ceasing in the fecundity
of His Nature. The Repose of Posses
sion unites the Soul to Him in simple
Beatitude, where Blessed John Ruys-
broeck looks on God in the tranquillity
of His Unity. The terms here employed
by him must be weighed with great care
in order not to be confounded with
Quietism or Pantheism.
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Love's Gradatory

furnace which can never again
be extinguished, with the Father
and the Son in the Unity of the
Holy Spirit, where the Divine
Persons are ravished in unity of
Essence in the midst of that
limitless abyss of simple Beati
tude. There is neither Father
nor Son, nor Holy Spirit, nor
any creature, according to
Nature, but one sole Essence,
the very Substance of the
Divine Persons. There are we
all united, even before Creation,
in our super-essence; there all
enjoyment is consummated and
perfected in essential Beatitude ;
there God is in His simple
Essence, without operation ;
eternal Repose, darkness with
out method, Being without name,
super-essence of every creature,
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Love's Gradatory

simple and infinite Beatitude of
God and the Saints.

But in fecund Nature, the
Father is God Almighty, Creator
and Author of Heaven and earth
and all creatures. Of His own
Substance He engendered the
Son, His eternal Wisdom, one
with Him in Nature, distinct in
Person, God of Gods, by Whom
were all things; and from the
Father and the Son proceeds, in
Unity of Nature, the Holy Spirit,
the third Person, Who is infinite
Love, embracing them eternally
in love and possession, and we
all with them, forming one life,
one love, one happiness.

God is thus Unity in Nature,

Trinity in fecundity of Nature,

three Persons really distinct.

And these three Persons are

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Love's Gradatory

Unity according to Nature,
Trinity according to the quali
ties they possess in the fecund
Nature of the Divinity. These
three qualities constitute three
Persons distinct in Name and
fact, yet one in Unity of Nature
and Operation, each Person
having the Divine Nature entire.
Each is God, all-powerful by
Nature and not in virtue of the
personal distinction. The three
Persons are thus one Divine in
divisible Nature, consequently
one only God by Nature, and
not three Gods after the distinc
tion of Persons. Three, accord
ing to Names and Persons, God
remains One by Nature ; Trinity
in His fecund Nature according
to the qualities of the Persons,
but Unity by Nature.
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Love's Gradatory

And this one God is for us
a Father Who is in Heaven,
Almighty Creator of Heaven and
earth and all beings. He lives
in us and governs us, Unity in
Trinity, Trinity in Unity, God
all - powerful, in the summit
of our created essence. We
must seek, find, and possess Him
by means of His Grace and the
aid of our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the Christian Faith, with direct
intention and sincere Charity;
and by means of our virtuous
life and His Grace we live in
Him and He in us with all the
Just. Thus are we all united in
one with Him in love; and the
Father and the Son take,
embrace, and transform us in
the unity of the Spirit. Then
are we one in love and enjoy-
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Love's Gradatory

ment with the Divine Persons,
and that Possession is consum
mated in the Essence of the
Divinity, a simple and essential
Beatitude, which we enjoy with
God and where is neither God
nor creature, according to the
mode of personality, all being
with Him indistinctly simple,
infinite Beatitude; lost, engulfed,
poured into one unknown dark
ness.

This is the highest degree of
life and death, of love and pos
session in eternal Beatitude ; and
any who conceives it otherwise
errs.

Pray for him who, with the
Grace of God, composed and
wrote these matters, and for
all those who listen and read,
that God may bestow Himself
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Love's Gradatory

upon us in everlasting Life.
Amen.

Here ends the Book of the
Seven Steps of Divine Love,
composed by Master John van
Ruysbroeck, first Prior of Groen-
endael.

Printed in England

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