I. Do not imagine that a great part of my work is done.

No, I have only been “ placing the board ” for the
game. You asked me to teach you the foundation of
prayer, my daughters, although God did not establish
me on this foundation, for I am almost destitute of
these virtues ; yet I know no other. But, be sure that
any one who does not understand how to set the pieces
in the game of chess, will never be able to play well,
nor, if he does not know how to give check, will he ever
succeed in effecting checkmate. You may blame me
for speaking of a game, for such things are neither played
nor permitted in our convent.^ This will show you
what a mother God has given you, skilled even in such

^ Fuente, ch. xvi. This chapter is omitted in the Valladolid
edition as far as paragraph 3. Continuation of ch. xxiii. in
Escorial.

2 Const. 27.

7

98 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XVl.

vanities as this ! Still, they say that sometimes the game
is lawful, and how well it would be for us to play it,
and if we practised it often, how quickly we should
checkmate this divine King, so that He neither could,
nor would, move out of our check ! The Queen is His
strongest opponent in the game, and all the other pieces
help her. No queen can defeat Him so soon as can
humility.® It drew Him from heaven into the Virgin’s
womb,'* and with it, we can draw Him, by a single hair,®
into our souls. And doubtless, the greater our humility,
the more entirely shall we possess Him, and the weaker
it is, the more reluctantly will He dwell within us. For
I do not, and I cannot understand, how humility can
exist without love, or love without humility,® nor can
edher of these virtues be held in their perfection without
great detachment from all created things.

2.^ Perhaps you ask me, my daughters, why I speak
to you of these virtues ; they are taught in plenty of
books, and you only wish me to write about contempla-
tion. If you had asked me about meditation, I could

3 Castle, M. iv. ch. ii. 8. Life, ch. xxii. 16.

^ “Non horruisti Virginis uterum” Te Deum. Castle, M. i.
ch. ii. 9 ; M. ii. ch. i. 13 ; M. iii. ch. i. 15 ; ch. ii. 3, 8 ; M. iv.
ch. ii. 8.

® Cant. iv. 9 ; “ Vulnerasti cor meum ... in uno crine colli
tui.”

® Life, ch. X. 2 ; ch. xix. 2.

7 Escorial, ch. xxiv. Shows how necessary the foregoing
explanations were as an introduction to the treatise on prayer.

CHAP. XVI.] CONTEMPLATION. 99

have instructed you, and I advise every one to practise
it,® even though they do not possess the virtues, for
this is the first step to obtain them all : it is most essential
for all Christians to begin this practice. No one, however
desperate their case may be, ought to neglect it, if God
incites them to make use of it. I have written this
elsewhere, as have other people who understand the
subject, which, as God knows, I certainly do not. Con-
templation, however, is quite another thing, daughters.
We fall into a mistake on this point, so that if any one
thinks about his sins every day for a certain time (as
he is bound to do, if he is a Christian in anything but
name), we at once call him a great contemplative, and
expect him to possess the sublime virtues proper to such
a state : he even thinks so himself ; but he is quite wrong.
He has not yet learnt how to “ place the board,” but
thinks he can effect checkmate simply by knowing the
names of the pieces — in this he is deceived ; this King
will not let Himself be taken, except by one who is
entirely given up to Him.®

^ Life, ch. iv. ii ; ch. xi. 20. Found, ch. v. 2, 3. Castle,