CHAPTER IX.

Such was the prayer that was given me at once,
which is far above ecstacies, transports or visions. AH
these gifts are less pure, and more subject to illusion
or deceits from the enemy.

Visions are in the inferior powers of the soul, and
cannot produce true union, — therefore, the soul must
not dwell or rely upon them, or be retarded by them;
they are but favors and gifts, — ’tis the Giver alone
must be our object and aim.

It is of such that St. Paul speaks, when he says,
that “ Satan transforms himself into an angel of light/'
2 Cor. xi. 18; which is generally the case with such as
are fond of visions, and lay a stress on them; because
they are apt to convey a vanity to the soul, or at least
hinder it from humbly attending to God only.

Ecstacies arise from a sensible relish, and may be
termed a kind of spiritual sensuality, wherein the soul
letting itself go too far, by reason of the sweetness it
finds in them, falls imperceptibly into decay. The
crafty enemy presents such sort of interior elevations
and raptures, for baits to entrap the soul; to render it
sensual, to fill it with vanity and self-love, to fix its
esteem and attention on the gifts of God, and to hinder
it from following Jesus Christ in the way of renuncia¬
tion, and of death to all things.

And as to distinct interior words, they too are
subject to illusion; the enemy can form and counter-

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feit them. Or if they come from a good angel, (for
God himself never speaks thus), we may mistake and
misapprehend them; for they are spoken in a divine
manner, but we construe them in a human and carnal
manner.

But the immediate word of God has neither tone
nor articulation. It is mute, silent, and unutterable;
for it is Jesus Christ himself, the real and essential
Word — who in the centre of the soul, that is disposed
for receiving him, never one moment ceases from his
living, fruitful, and divine operation.

Oh, thou Word made flesh, whose silence is inex¬
pressible eloquence, thou canst never be misappre¬
hended or mistaken. Thou becomest the life of our
life, and the soul of our soul. How infinitely is thy
language elevated above all the utterances of human
and finite articulation. Thy adorable power, all effica¬
cious in the soul that has received it, communicates
itself through them to others, and as a divine seed
becomes fruitful to eternal life.

The revelations of things to come are also very
dangerous; for the devil can counterfeit them, as he
did formerly in the heathen temples, where he uttered
oracles. Frequently they raise false ideas, vain hopes,
and frivolous expectations; take up the mind with
future events, hinder it from dying to self, and prevent
it following Jesus Christ in his poverty, abnegation,
and death.

^ Widely different is the revelation of Jesus Christ,
made to the soul when the eternal Word is communi¬
cated — GaL 1 : 16. It makes us new creatures, created
anew in him. This revelation is what the devil cannot
counterfeit. From hence proceeds the only safe trans-

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port or ecstacy, which is operated by naked faith alone,
and dying even to the gifts of God, how sublime and
excellent soever they may appear; because as long as
the soul continues resting in them, it does not fully
renounce itself; and so never passing into God, loses
the real enjoyment of the Giver, by attachments to the
gifts. This is truly an unutterable loss.

Lest I should let my mind go after these gifts, and
steal myself from thy love, O my God, thou wast
pleased to fix me in a continual adherence to thyself
alone. Souls thus directed get the shortest way. They
are to expect great sufferings, especially if they are
mighty in faith, in mortification and deadness to all
but God. A pure and disinterested love, and intense¬
ness of mind for the advancement of thy interest alone;
— these are the dispositions thou didst then implant in
me, and even a fervent desire of suffering for thee.
The cross, which I had hitherto borne only with
resignation, was now become my delight, and the
special object of my rejoicing.

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