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.O Incarnate Seraphim, and Dei-fied Man! Howwell did st thou know how to dive into that internal and mistical Silence, and to distinguishbetwixt the outward and inward Man?39THESpiritual Guide,Which leads the Soul to the fruition of Internal Peace.The Second Book.Of the Ghostly Father, the Obedience that s due to him; of Indiscreet Zeal, and of Internal andExternal Penance.CHAP.I.The best way to baffle the Craft of the Enemy, is to be Subjected to a Ghostly Father.1.It is every way convenient, to choose a Master experienced in the inward way, because Godwill not do all, what he did to St.Catharine of Siena, whom he took by the Hand, andimmediately taught the mystical Way.If in the Progress of Nature there is a necessity of a Guide;how must it be in the Progress of Grace? If in the outward and visible waies there is need of aMaster; how must it be for the internal and secret? If it must be so for the Moral, Scholastic andExposive, Theology, which are plainly taught; how must it be for that which is mystical, secret,reserved and obscure? If in external and political Actions and Practices it is so; how must it be inthe internal Transactions with God.2.A Guide is in like manner necessary for resisting and overcoming the Craft and Wiles ofSatan.St.Austin gave many Reasons why God appointed that in his Church, Doctors andTeachers, men of the same nature with others, should, for Light and Doctrin, have thePrecedency: The chief is, to free us from the craft and cunning of the Enemy; for should we be leftto our own Dictates and Natural Impulse, for the conduct of our Actions, we would trip andstumble every foot, and at length fall head-long into the Pit; as it happens to Hereticks and proudPeople: Now if we had had Angels given to us for Masters, then would the Devils have dazled ourEyes by transforming themselves into Angels of Light: therefore it was convenient that for Guidesand Counsellors, God should given us men like our selves.And if such a Guide be expert, he llsoon know the tricks and subtilties of the Devil; which being once known, as wanting substance,they soon evanish.3.A Ghostly Father ought to come from the Hand of God, and therefore without previousCircumspection and Prayer; he is not to be chosen but being once chosen, he is not to be left, butfor most urgent reasons; such as are for not knowing the Waies and States, through which Godguides the Soul; because no man can teach what he does not know, according to that true Maximof Philosophy.4.And if he conceive not (as St.Paul saith) the things of the Spirit, that will be Ignorancein him; because they are to be examined Spiritually, and he wants experience: but the spiritual andexpert Man sees every thing clearly, and judges of it as it is.If a Guide then wants experience, it is40Lib.2.The Spiritual Guidea chief reason why one should leave him, and chuse another more expert; because without such aone, the Soul will not profit.5.To pass from a bad into a good state, there is no necessity of Counsel; but to changewhat is good into better, there is need of time, prayer and advice; because every thing which isbest in is self, is not best for every one in particular; nor is every thing that is good for one, goodfor all: Non omnibus omnia expediunt.Some are called for the outward and ordinary Way; othersfor the internal and extraordinary, and all are not in the same state; so that there being so manyand various persons who are ingaged in the mystical way, it is impossible for one to make a stepin those secret and internal Paths without an experienced Guide, because instead of going right,he ll tumble into a Precipice.6.When a Soul walks with Fear; doubting if it walk safely, and desires to be clearly rid ofthese fears and doubtings, the securest way is to submit to a Ghostly Father; because by theinternal Light he clearly discovers what is Temptation, and what Inspiration, and distinguishes themotions that spring from Nature, from the Devil, and from the Soul it self, which ought totally tobe subjected to him who hath experience, and he can discover the engagements, the Idols and badhabits that hinder the Souls flight; which by this means will not only be delivered from the Snaresof the Devil, but will proceed more in one Year, than it could have proceeded in a thousand, withother Guides of no Experience.7.In the Life of the Illuminated Father, Frier John Tauler, it is related what that Laymanwho went before him in the State of Perfection, says of himself, How that being taken off fromthe World, and desirous to be Holy, he gave himself to great abstinence, till at length beingextenuated and weak, he fell into a Dream, and heard a voice from Heaven which said to him,Man, if thou voluntary kill thy self, before the time, thou shalt pay dear to thy self for it.Beingfull of terror, he went into a Desait, and there imparted the way he had taken, and his Abstinenceto a holy Anchorite, who, by the favour of Heaven, freed him from that Diabolical Delusion.Hetold him, That he followed that course of Abstinence that he might please God.But the Anchoritehaving asked him, By what Advice he did it? And he having made answer By none.The Anchoritereplied, That is was a manifest Temptation of the Devil.From that time forward, he opened hisEyes, and knowing his own Perdition, lived alwaies by the Direction of a Spiritual Father; and hehimself affirmed, That in seven years space he gave him greater Light, than all printed Bookswhatsoever could do.CHAP.II.Of the Sequel of the same Matter.8.There is far greater advantage to be had from having a Master in the mystical way, then fromthe use of Spiritual books; because a practical Master tells us in the nick of time, what ought to bedone; but in a Book one may fall upon a thing that is less proper, and by that means the necessaryInstruction is wanting: Besides, by mystical Books men raise to themselves many false Notions,the Soul thinking to have that, which in reality is hath not, and to be farther on in the mystical41The Spiritual Guide Lib.2.State, than as yet it is; whence spring many prejudices and dangers.9 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]