In this short work there can be found elements of Benedictine mysticism and traces of the Beghard spirituality of Porete, that are grafted onto an Augustinian-Bonaventurian orthodox matrix of the three ways (purgative, illumative and unative). In 1309 ecclesiastical leaders condemned as heresy Marguerite Porete's rejection of moral duty, her doctrine that "the annihilated soul is freed from the virtues." 1 They also condemned her book, the Mirror of Simple Souls, which includes doctrines associated decades earlier with a "new spirit" heresy spreading "blasphemies" such as that "a person can become God" because "a . And this naught, which we speak of, saith Love, giveth her the all, and otherwise might she not have it., This soul, saith Love, is imprisoned and fettered and holden in a country of entire peace, for she is there in full sufficiency. Nor he loveth never divinely who loveth bodily. And why, saith Love, knoweth not Holy Church[100] these Queens, Kings daugh- ters, Kings sisters, Kings spouses? None of the single English fourteenth-century spiritual treatises cover the whole ground which our author treats systematically, yet not with that arid, methodical precision that mars much of the later spiritual treatises. And for this was her will given. A special tribute of thanks is due to the General Editor of the Series, Dom R. Hudleston, O.S.B., and to the Very Rev. I hold, saith she, for this, mine [own which] I shall not let go; it is in my will, befall what may; for he is with me, then it were a default if I [let myself be] dismayed., This soul, saith Love, is lady of virtues, daughter of deity, sister of wisdom, and the spouse of love., Soothly, saith this soul, but this seemeth to Reason a marvellous language, and that is no wonder, for it shall not be long until he shall not be; but I was, saith this soul, and am, and shall be without failing; for love hath neither beginning, nor comprehending, nor end; and I am [nothing] but love, how might I then have end? And then I said to him that if I wist it might more please him that I loved another more than him? I have none other usage nor none other usage may have, so overcometh me this knowledge continually.. Since he hath given me nothing but free will, it breaketh the other things. So that this soul sitteth without moving herself, in the seat of peace, in the work of life, in virtues of good conscience, and in freedom of perfect charity; thus is she all free. . And if they had heard me, they had been delivered for right little; for so little, saith Love, as [merely] to give themselves [up] there where I would have had them, [even] as I showed them, by the Virtues whose office this is. And then this soul taketh leave of virtues [in respect] of the thraldom and painful travail of them that she had before, and now she is lady and sovereign, and they be subjects. And he made the true Apocalypse [concerning God], after that he was banished, who before had been at the taking, where Jesus Christ was taken. God is divine; so have I a being that is divine., When this soul, saith Love, is thus drawn out of herself, without herself, by God, for him, in him, in this divine work, she cannot never work works of charity of human body;[239] nor can any who attains to this work., O understand holily, saith this soul, the sweet words of Love, for these words be hard to understand for them that desire the meaning of the gloss., This is sooth, saith Love, for work of creatures may not be compared to divine work made of God in creatures, of his bounty, for creature., O God, saith this soul, how far is the country of the Perished and the country of the Marred from the country of freeness and of fulfilled peace, there where the Settled dwell!, That is sooth, saith Love, and I shall say one word soothly, saith this soul, against Will, in which the perished and the marred dwell, that lead life of perfection. Nothing will I ask him for too much that were of malice, but I ought to trust wholly in him, and that sweet lover to love.. And of three things that causeth this soul that she hath no dread, CHAPTER II: Of the worthiness of the bounty of God and of the union that maketh between God and this soul. [30] But this falling of the righteous is more merit than sin, because of the good will that standeth unbroken, and is oned to God. For the influence of Porete via Cordoni on the writing of Francesco Ripanti da Jesi, The Circle of Divine Charity, see for Cargnoni. The translators of this Modern English version rely primarily on the original French manuscript, yet also take medieval translations into account. Allowance must be made for exaggeration incident to the literary form; for a Latin tendency to stress the speculative element and express it unduly; and for a dramatic touch of conscious bluff, a protest against conventionalism. Venerabilis Godfridus de Fontanis, Master of Theology at the Sorbonne, who flourished c. 1286-1303, and who appears to have died in 1306, when Ruysbroeck was a child of thirteen. Love hath me so wholly in his keeping that I have not wit nor will nor reason to do anything; wit it forsooth, but purely for him. In this, saith this soul, that I give him freely my will, without any withholding, purely for his bounty and because of his sole will, just as he gave it me of his gift, for a profit to me, of his divine bounty. This union is called unity of the mind, not only because the Holy Spirit brings it about and guides therein the mind of man, but because it is the Holy Spirit himself. Now seeth the will by the diffused[365] illumination of divine light. This to believe, this to say, and this to think, is true contemplation. A few years earlier her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls, had also been burned in Valenciennes, with Marguerite as a witness. She hath wholly lost her wits,[165] in this usage, so that she cannot seek God nor find him in her soul, nor lead herself., This soul, saith Love, is not with-herself, and she is excused for everything; and he in whom she is, made his work for himself; he hath her well acquit witness of God himself, saith Love, that is the worker of this work, to the profit of this soul, which is not with-herself.[166], Ah, Love, saith Dread, where is this soul then, that is not with-herself?, There where she loveth, saith Love, without her witting,[167] and therefore liveth this soul without grudging of conscience. These folk be but cowards that so do. Yes, without doubt, he is all might, all wisdom, and all goodness: our Father, our brother and our true friend; he is without beginning and shall be without ending, he is without comprehending but of himself, and without end was, is, and shall be, three persons and one God only. The content of this treatise need not here be fully analysed. Nothing of this kind exists in French literature until we come to the spiritual writings of the early seventeenth century, and the mystical parts of St Francis de Sales Amour de Dieu. This is a scholar of divinity; she sitteth in the valley of meekness and in the plain of truth and in the mountain of love, there she resteth her.. The dangers which the thirteenth-century critics foresaw, and against which they warned the author, were thoroughly fought out in the late fourteenth century, and again in the seventeenth century. by a meditation of [the] love [that is] without [the] hearing [that cometh from] creatures, by such meditation that souls receive in love without desiring any of his gifts, which men call consolations that comfort souls, by feeling of sweetness in prayer. These be they who are servants and merchants and seekers; but they be more wise than they that be perished. 8 of the Porch in the same year. The following phrase seems to be a parenthesis addressed by such souls to others for these three modes of hiddenness are a benefit to us.. This is in the time of ravishing and union in God; it hath nothing of Time, for it lasteth but a little while in any creature here in this world, for the corruption of the flesh hindereth it, so that the soul may not long here abide. Thus she entereth and walketh in the way of illumination, that she might be taught into the ghostly influences of the divine work of God, there to be drenched[16] in the high flood, and oned to God by ravishing of love, by which she is all one spirit with her spouse. (3) The most innocent of the daughters of Jerusalem. The contradiction is again only superficial. So is joy in her that she herself is joy, by the virtue of joy that hath brought her into him. - Volume 71 Issue 4 . Goodness and goodwill is set above knowing. And this soul, saith the Holy Ghost, is of such condition, that if she had in her the same that we have, she would yield it to us; all this as we have it without willing any guerdon in heaven nor in earth, but right according to our will alone. He was certainly in touch with the learned world of his day, deeply read in mystical theology, and experienced in questions of scholastic philosophy. Generally the subject is proposed on one side, and the opponent chooses his argument and defends it on the humaner line of reasoning. At that time the author of the manuscript was unknown. In this and the preceding chapter the French tendency to spin out ideas to their utmost logical conclusion is very marked. Though it were all at their pleasure to choose any of these aforesaid, they desire not nor they will not none of these.. How ofttimes I have taken from God his will! The most showeth to this soul her naught, without covering, and that showeth her the almightful in the bounty of divine righteousness. Never had she will according to the senses, nor work of spirit, but [she had] the will of the Deity in work divine. In the fount of baptism these two natures are put together without corruption, by the divine justice that hath made these two natures. O courteous and well taught, saith Holy Church that wisely can speak, ye be the very star that showeth us the day and the sun without lack or spot, that taketh not of uncleanness. His being is always in the perfect plain of his pure will. And also it saith, that this soul hath all, and she hath naught; she wotteth all and she wotteth naught; she willeth all and she willeth naught. The Mirror of Simple Souls Download PDF version of the book. This fire of love so often described by mystical writers is carefully distinguished here from all psycho-physical phenomena. For [in] reproaches of the Father, and threatenings of the Son, there is nothing [found] of the oil of peace. And because of the opinion that these people hold thus, that this is the best of all beings that may be, therefore this people, saith Love, be blinded, and so they perish in their works. When none of the nine orders wot it not, what wit ye. Nor may their spirit endure that the body obey with [considered] deliberation, to [set about] doing anything of the outward works that might hinder this divine love, or the usages that are the means thereof, and lead towards this pure love. For this art is human and cometh of nature, [namely], to attain the fullness of its takings, but this other is without more, the sole work of God. Reason, saith Love, I give thee an ensample, Behold the child that is a very pure innocent. [63] N. The third point, saith Love, is this. [358] And his goodness may not suffer it since he hath so much of worth, that I should dwell a beggar. As the knowledge of her naught deepens, her knowledge of Gods bounty grows. ", Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Then it is very right that I have not myself. In the same Trinity this soul planteth so deeply her will, that she may not sin, unless she unplant it. Charity obeyeth to nothing that is made, but [only] to love. That is, that all that she coveteth and loveth and prizeth, it is of the divine bounty. This soul, saith Love, hath many a day languored for, O Lady Love, saith Reason, what is the practice of a soul that languoreth for love?, She warreth at vices, saith Love, by seeking virtues., Ah, soothly Love, saith this soul, this is a great war, and a perilous! For in him who that hath two purposes at one time, the one lessens[134] for the other. . He maketh in a moment of two things, one. And without them they have the beams of the divine sun they keep cleanness of heart, and none but they. Of a soul that languoreth for love, and in what point dead in love; and of the profit and peace of naught willing, CHAPTER IX: how these souls that this book deviseth be come to the knowing of their naught and how by that they be come into believing of more, and how this is meant, CHAPTER X: Of the peace of this soul; and how she is all free by naught willing; and of the diversity of naught willing and well willing, CHAPTER XII: Of two beholdings of this soul, and how they that will understand this book must be dead of all deaths, CHAPTER I: Of them that be perished, and in what, and of what, and for what, CHAPTER I: Of them that be marred, and what difference is between the perished and the marred, CHAPTER II: Of a swift opening and of a hasty shutting that the far night giveth to this soul; and what this far night is, CHAPTER III: Of the three lives of the soul, which be born in mortifying of three things viz., of sin, of nature, and of spirit, and how this soul is alway without-her, CHAPTER IV: Of the first death that a soul must die ere she come to the second life viz., the death of sin, and which complexion hath best help to understanding, CHAPTER V: Of a question that love asked: which is the most noble; the soul in gladness of glory, or the soul that is oned to this glory? These sayings, then, that Love saith to this creature, of his divine bounty, have thrown Reason and the works of virtues under his feet, and to death brought [them], without recovering. I pray you, my dear daughter, my sister and my friend, if ye will, that ye say no more the secrets that ye wit, lest other should deem[372] where these taste, since Desire governeth them, Reason, Dread, and Will. Ah, ah, what a thing it is, to think of; who durst ask this, unless his own bounty had made it that Jesu Christ should be poor and despised and tormented for us? Oh, without fail! And then after, I said thus to him, that if it might be so that I were even as he is, and should be without faillaunce, and with this I should suffer as much of poverty and of despites and torments as he hath, of bounty of wisdom, and of might, so I had never done against his will, if it were his pleasing, it were my pleasaunce. 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