M. ii. ch. i. 19, 20 ; M. vi. ch. vii. 12.

3 Valladolid edition, ch. xviii. Escorial, ch. xxv. On the
difference between contemplatives and those who content
themselves with mental prayer. That it is possible for God to
raise a worldly soul to perfect contemplation occasionally, and the
reason why He does so. This chapter must be carefully noted as
well as the following. [By an error of calculation this chapter is
counted xviii. instead of xvii. in the Valladolid manuscript.]

100 THE WAY OF PERFECTION. [CHAP. XVI.

3. Therefore, daughters, if you wish me to tell you
the way to attain to contemplation you must allow me
to speak at length on certain matters, although to you
they may seem unimportant. I think that they are
important, and unless you intend learning and practising
them, continue your mental prayer all 5^our life ; for I
assure you, and all others who aspire to this state,
that you will never otherwise attain to genuine con-
templation. I may be deceived about this, but I judge
from my own experience ; and I have been striving to
become a contemplative for the last twenty years.

4. I will now describe mental prayer, as perhaps some
of you do not understand what it is. God grant that we
practise it as we ought, but I am afraid this can only be
done by a great effort, unless we possess the virtues,
although they are not here necessary in so high a degree
as for contemplation. The King of glory will not come
into our souls, so as to be united to them, unless we
strive to obtain the highest virtues. I will explain this,
for if once you found me out in an untruth you would
believe me no longer — as would be only right if I did
so purposely, but God preserve me from any falsehood ;
my error would come either from ignorance or want of
understanding. I wish you to know that He sometimes
shows great favour to people whose souls are in an evil
state, that by this means He may snatch them out of
the devil’s grasp. I do not mean persons who are in

CHAP. XVI.] QUALIFICATIONS. lOI

mortal sin, but those who are very faulty : our Lord
may permit them to behold some very high vision in
order to turn their hearts to Him.^° I cannot, however,
believe that He would actually raise them to contempla-
tion, for this is a divine union, in which our Lord takes
His delight in the soul while the soul rejoices in Him,
and there is no way in which heavenly purity can take
pleasure in what is impure, nor can He Who is “ the
Joy of the Angels ” find His happiness in one who is
not His own. We know that those in mortal sin are the
slaves of Satan, and must find their joy in him, since
they have gratified him ; the pleasures he gives are,
as we know, nothing but ceaseless torment, even in this
life. Still, without taking those who are not His,
yet His Majesty will do what He has often done —
snatch them out of the hand of the enemy and make
them His own.

5. O my God, how often do we force Thee to struggle
with the devil on our account ! Was it not enough that
Thou didst suffer him to bear Thee in his arms to the
pinnacle of the Temple,“ to teach us how to vanquish
him ? What a sight, daughters, to see this Sun encom-
passed with darkness, and what terror that wretch

Life, ch. xxii. 22, 23. Castle, M. iv. ch. i. 3. Concep. ch.