Transcendent Contemplation mounts up yet higher c. Trans- above all intelligible species,* and may truly be

cendent.

ning, there is some degree of meditation, which is the thinking on the object, and thereupon internally producing the act or affection itself, and quietly continuing and resting in it till all the virtue of it be spent. There is likewise always some use of images, and in the beginning these images are more gross, but afterwards, by practice, they grow more pure, and all manner of discourse ceaseth; yea, the soul will begin to reject all distinct images, and apprehend God without any particular representation, and only by that obscure notion whereby faith informs us of His totality and incomprehensibility, and this only is truth, whereas all distinct images are but imperfect shadows of truth. How great is the security of a soul thus operating purely by the will! How free is she from those errors and dangers into which she may be led by the curious searching subtlety of the understanding! Here God Himself is only her light, and not any imagination of her own.' Sancta Sophia, vol. ii. treat. 3, sect. 3, ch. i. §§ 15, 16.

The discoursings, operations, and speculations of the intellect chain the soul to the prison of the body, whereas divine contemplation transcends all human operations, transports the soul out of itself, and transforms it into God. St. Denis says that contemplation transcends all intelligible things-'Omnia intelligibilia transcendat.' And in this sense St. Gregory the Great describes our holy Father St. Benedict as one scienter nescius et sapienter indoctus' (Dialog. lib. ii. cap. i.). Contemplation, or mystical theology,' says St. Denis, 'is neither sensation, nor reasoning, nor any movement, or operation, or habit of the mind, nor anything that can be explained by what we understand. But in the perfect stillness of the mind that is illuminated by it, it is known to be something above all that the mind can comprehend. And since it contains something so mysterious and unspeakable, the words used about it will be so too; and it is called Theology, because that which is above all things must be about God.

'Do Thou, therefore, O Holy Trinity, Who rulest over perfect wisdom in the hearts of Christians, Who guidest the mind to think aright on divine things, and not to hanker after superfluous knowledge-do Thou direct us to that sublime summit, than which we can conceive nothing more sublime, nothing more supremely unknown, nothing more supremely knowable, nothing more exceeding all denial of understanding or all affirmation of intelligibility. For although such sublimity as this is totally incomprehensible, yet it is not unknown as though it did not exist at all, but as a real existing thing, albeit it surpasses all intellectual light, whether of knowledge or of ignorance; for it is, at the same time, supremely intelligible and supremely unknown.' De Myst. Theolog. cap. i.

termed the cousin-german of beatifical vision, and that last heaven whereunto St. Paul was rapt, where not only all use of sense is extinguished and all activity of the understanding abolished, but the spirit totally transported, absorbed, and inflamed with seraphic love, and the whole inward man drowned, annihilated, rapt in ecstasy, and ineffably united to the Divinity: so that the thus elevated soul can neither say or consider :-God is with me, or, I am with God, for such advertency or reflection is sensible, whereas this most eminent contemplation imports an absolute silence and forgetfulness of ourselves and all things whatsoever, and an entire conjunction with our Creator, as shall be hereafter further declared.*

The four essential parts of Prayer are performed in this or the like manner :—

Taking some mystery of our Saviour's life-as, for

This same doctrine is taught by the great mystic doctor, St. Denis: Darkness is dispelled by light, and more perfectly by abundance of light; so ignorance is dispelled by knowledge, and more perfectly by abundance of knowledge. If, then, we take ignorance as the excess, and not as the privation, of knowledge, we may assert, with all truth, that those who have this light and knowledge with regard to things are hidden from that ignorance which regards God. For His exceeding darkness puts all light into the shade, and shrouds all cognition. And if any sees God and understands what he sees, he has not seen God at all, but some one of His creatures which have being, and are capable of being apprehended; but He Himself, transcending all being and all understanding, by this very absence of being and cognition both exists above all being and is understood above all understanding. And this most perfect ignorance, in its preeminent sense, is knowledge with regard to Him who is above all knowledge.' Epis. i. Caio Monacho.

four parts

of prayer exempli

example, His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemani1. The for our subject or groundwork, we first examine our conscience, ask pardon for our sins, and make resolutions of amendment. Secondly, we give up our will irrevocably to God, seeking purely His glory, and not our own pleasure, &c. Then we enter upon the first essential part of prayer, which is

fied:

tion;

Meditation; considering our dear Redeemer in His a. Medita- bloody sweat, sighing, weeping, praying, and His disciples sleeping. Upon this sad spectacle we make some discourses concerning the Person Who suffers, the love wherewith He suffers, the subject for whom He suffers.

Then our affections being moved by these considerab. Contem- tions and inflamed in God's love, we glide

plation;

sweetly and insensibly into Active Contemplation, leaving all discourses, and looking, with our eyes of Faith, upon our suffering Lord.

c. Thanks

And having melted away in His loving presence for giving; as long a time as our devotion or the Holy Spirit's invitation lasts, we heartily thank Him for having thus suffered for our salvation.

And lastly, we implore His grace that we may faithd. Petition. fully follow His steps; and above all, that He will grant us His love, which we must filially, affectionately, humbly, and confidently beg at the conclusion of all our exercises.

THE FIFTH MAXIM.

That continual Recollection is the Exercise of Exercises, and the immediate Way to bring us to Perfection and divine Union.

THAT We may rightly conceive the truth of this Maxim, let us here, in the first place, take a view of the whole manner, meaning, method, and practice of this sublime exercise in these ensuing Canons.

1. That all places are proper for recollection, but the quieter the place is the more suitable is it.

Wheresoever we live we may and should send up our petitions, and breathe forth our affections to our everywhere present Lord and Lover, in public and in private, in tempests and in calms, amidst all noises of employments and in quiet corners of retreat. Job prayed well on a dunghill, and Jonas in the whale's belly; but nevertheless Judas did not so do in his apostleship and in the society of Jesus. Yet when solitude, silence, and repose may be obtained, they are the fittest instruments of contemplation,* and therefore are most highly to be prized and most diligently embraced :-I will lead her into the wilderness, says our Lord, and I will speak to her heart.t.

2. That to pray on our knees is a posture most pleasing to God.

So also St. Thomas :- Solitudo, sicut et ipsa paupertas, non est ipsa essentia perfectionis, sed perfectionis instrumentum. Unde et in Collationibus Patrum, dicit Abbas Moyses, quod "pro puritate cordis solitudo sectanda est." 2. 2, q. 188, art. 8.

† Osee ii. 14.

Let us not hunt for excuses, pretend want of strength, nor cloak our laziness and languor with that misinterpreted maxim:-That prayer must have the quietest, easiest, and least-constrained composition of body; but rather let us imitate our Lord and Saviour —since all His actions are for our instruction-Whose humanity lay often prostrate on the earth,* praying and adoring His Divinity, and let us follow the example of His Apostle, who frequently bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us, I say, submit willingly to this direction, unless evident weakness or infirmity hinder us; for this adoration and a far higher is due to the Divine Majesty; and therefore let us conceive the contrary to be a manifest temptation of our enemy.

3. That we must, especially at first, fix for ourselves certain and set times of recollection.

Let us not complain for want of conveniency, time, or opportunity to follow this exercise; for if our wills be ready, time cannot be wanting. If our stomachs call on us for meat, or our bodies for warmth, we can find time to feed and clothe them. Are our souls less worthy of attention? Let us rather steal time from our sleep and recreation than want it for Recollection. And since all our time is given us by God to be spent in His love

6

And when He was gone forward a little He fell flat on the ground; and He prayed that if it might be, the hour might pass from Him.' Mark xv. 35. And going a little further He fell upon His face, praying and saying: My Father, if it be possible let this chalice pass from Me.' Matt. xxvi. 39. † Ephes. iii. 14.