Part I in subject-matter and manner of treatment The Appendices contain

important matter.
Xli AFTERTHOUGHTS
2. Prayer of Faith
Of all the writers called forth by the controversy, he with whom I find myself most fully in accord is neither Dominican nor Jesuit, but Franciscan. In 1903 Pre Ludovic de Besse, a Capuchin, inter- vened in the controversy between Saudreau and Poulain, publish- ing a small book, La Science de la Prihe: it has recently been produced in English, 1 Over the practical side of the teaching of my book, the range of questions considered on pp. 308-25, I am pleased at finding that de Besse had forestalled, twenty years beforehand, the substantive positions I was independently led to occupy. Therefore the briefest statement will be given of the heads of his teaching, and thus the points now in controversy will be the most easily under- stood. He claims, I think rightly, that his book is an exposition, in simple popular form, of the elementary portion of the teaching of St John of the Cross on contemplation. It is a noteworthy feature of the current discussions, how St John is coming more and more to be accepted by all schools as the great exponent of the realms of prayer, contemplation, and mystical theology. Fr de Besse has been well advised in printing as an appendix the more salient parts of the section of the Living Flame of Love, on the beginnings of con- templation, from which an extract has been given, text, p. 2I4. 2 I venture to direct attention to this altogether admirable piece.
Let Fr de Besse speak:
(Chap, ix.) Meditation carefully practised leads on to affective prayer. This in its turn leads just as surely to the 'prayer of faith*. The grace of prayer generally terminates here, for it has reached the degree of ordinary perfection. Beyond that point prayer becomes extraordinary. When a soul is drawn to the prayer of faith, the Holy Spirit inspires no special idea in the intellect, and excites no emotion in the senses. He goes directly to the will and attracts it, revealing His presence to the soul by the light of faith directed towards the highest point of the intelligence, without stirring up the imagination or the lower faculties. Feeling itself thus near to God, the will keenly perceives the need of loving Him, and of entire self-abandonment into His hands. Three things take place at the moment of this prayer. First: the mind is roughly stricken, as it were, with a kind of paralysis; it is powerless to devote itself to things divine, or to have any experience of them; before the moment of prayer there was plenty of intellectual vigour; but now when the soul desires to pray there is not one thought forthcoming. Secondly: the same phenomenon appears in the senses; the heart is absolutely dry; far from experiencing sweet delightful emotions which direct it towards
1 The Science of Prayer, 189 pp. (Burns, Gates and Washbourne, 1925). * In references 'text' means the body of this book.
AFTERTHOUGHTS Xlll
God, it more often feels only aversion (from prayer) and disgust. But, thirdly*, the will, on the other hand, is strongly attracted to- wards God; it feels the need of Him; it has no peace except in ad- hering to Him. This paralysis of mind and heart is only in regard to God; the soul is absolutely unable to frame any good thought or sentiment to help the will to pray. But the heart and mind are by no means powerless with regard to creatures; on the contrary, the imagination often runs at random, and the senses feel attracted to earthly things: the will alone is drawn towards God.
When these three signs are found together, it is impossible to have any doubt. The Holy Spirit is present, and bestowing the grace of prayer, but not in the same way as before. If the soul wishes to return at whatever cost to one of the previous methods, it resists the Holy Spirit; it neglects the grace offered, and spends its energies in waste, seeking to frame some good thought in the mind, or stir up some pious feeling in the heart. God asks simply for our will, unadorned with good thoughts and sensible devotion: let us then give up our will to Him. Be united with Him by obscure faith in His presence, by one glance full of love, submission, and utter abandonment. Remain peacefully in this state. It is a prayer and a most excellent one. 1
This, in my judgement, is a faithful presentation of St John's mind. 2 In chapter x. de Besse discusses the various names given to the 'prayer of faith'. This is his name; and, though I do not find it used by St John, it very well expresses his meaning. For faith is the means by which the intellect attains to union with God, obscure faith. Thus he says:
The intellect, if rightly disposed for the divine union, must be pure and empty of all sensible objects, disengaged from all clear intellectual perceptions, interiorly tranquil and at rest, reposing on faith. Such a one must walk by faith, with his understanding in darkness and in the obscurity of faith only: for in this darkness God unites Himself to the intellect. 3
Similarly Fr Baker describes contemplation: The soul endeavours to contemplate God in the darkness and obscurity of a blind and naked faith, void of all distinct and express
1 The concluding pages of chapter ix. are one of the few passages on which I have to differ from de Besse. I am unable to follow him in understanding of the prayer of faith, or beginning of contemplation, St John's 'divine touches' or 'substantial contacts' of God and the soul. See the passages cited, text, pp. 12 and 148-149. 1 agree with Saudreau that they are the very highest manifestation, of the mystic union; St John says so: 'The highest condition attainable in this life.*
, * See passage cited, text, p. 311 (full context in de Besse's appendix); also Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. n, cc. xiLr-xvv
8 Ascent of Mount Canwl, Bk. n. c. ix.
xiv AFTERTHOUGHTS
images. Again: A soul without discoursings and curious specula- tions, without any perceptible use of the internal senses or sensible images, by a pure, simple, and reposeful operation of the mind, in the obscurity of faith, simply regards God as infinite and incom- prehensible verity 3 and with the whole bent of the will rests in Him as her infinite, universal, and incomprehensible good. 1
Faith being understood in this sense of obscure faith, I think St John would accept the term 'prayer of faith 9 for what he means by the first step in contemplation. But his own term is, c prayer of loving attention': so in the oft-cited passage, text, p. 214, and else- where: * learn to abide with attention in loving waiting upon God in the state of quiet*; 'an attention, or general loving knowledge of God*; e a simple, general, and loving attention*. 2
This same kind of prayer is found described in many places, and under a variety of names, by St Francis of Sales, in his own writings, and in the reflection of his teaching found in those of St Jane Frances of Chantal: such are, 'prayer of simple committal (remise) to God'; 'simple dwelling in the presence of God'; 'simple unity and unique simplicity and repose in the presence of God'; 'holding the spirit very simply in God, adhering to His operation by a complete surrender, without making any acts, unless God moves to them, awaiting what He may be pleased to give me' (St Francis). 3 St Jane Frances describes such prayer:
There is a prayer of a calm attention of the soul to God, which tends to moderate the too great activity of the faculties, and which places it in interior silence and in a repose of its powers. There is a state of prayer wherein the soul is in this tranquillity; and without making any act, she is in a real disposition to will all that God may will to do with her. 4
1 Sancta Sophia, pp. 400, 503.
8 Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. n. cc. xii., xiv., xxxii.
9 See citations after Poulaiix's chapter ii.
4 Petit Traitl sttr VOmisoni English translation, Catholic Truth Society, id. Her writings abound in advice on this kind of prayer and make an excellent com- mentary on St John of the Gross: ((Euum d& Sainte Ghantal, iii. 276-96, 456-64, 53243.
The resemblance of such prayer to that spoken of by Fr Baker in the chapter of Sancta Sophia^ 'The Prayer of Interior Silence*, is evident. In the judgement of some, including the editor 01*1876, this chapter falls under suspicion of 'Quietism"; but Bishop Hedley declares it to be free from any such taint, and sound and safe in its teaching (Contemplation and Prayer, pp. 82-6). Fr Baker bases this chapter on a book by de Rojas, a Spanish mystic, condemned, along with a number of 'quietistic' books, in 1689. Bishop Heoley does not see anything unsound in Fr Bakers citations; he had never seen de Rojas' book; but Poulain says, *le qui&isme de cette auteur est assez mitig* (op. cit. p. 655). It may be said with confidence that Fr Baker's 'prayer of interior silence* is substantially the same as the 'prayer of faith 1 , or 'of loving attention*.
AFTERTHOUGHTS XV
This grade of prayer has been greatly popularized in. our day by Poulain, under the name Trayer of Simplicity'. 1 He says he took this name from a tract of Bossuet's, entitled 'Short and easy way of making the prayer of faith and of the simple presence of God'. 2
Bossuet says:
We should accustom ourselves to nourish our soul by a simple and loving look on God and on Jesus Christ; and for this we must disengage it gently from reasoning, discourse, and the multitude of affections, in order to keep it in simplicity, regard, and attention, and so bring it nearer and nearer to God. The soul should not stay in meditation, for by its fidelity in mortification and recollection, it ordinarily receives a purer and more intimate prayer, which may be called 'prayer of simplicity*, consisting in a simple looking or loving attention to a divine object, be it God Himself or one of His perfections, or Jesus Christ or one of His mysteries. The soul quitting reasoning, uses a sweet contemplation, which keeps it peaceful, attentive, and receptive of any divine impressions the Holy Spirit may communicate.
Of all these names the most expressive, the one which best con- notes the nature of this prayer, is St John's Trayer of Loving Attention'; and this is the name that will be used in these pages. It can hardly be necessary to note that 6 St John 3 will be St John of the Cross.
St John quite explicitly calls this prayer of loving attention, 'con- templation', and in this there is general agreement with him. But there is much debate as to whether it should be characterized as 'acquired' or 'infused' contemplation, 'active* or 'passive', 'ordinary' or 'extraordinary 9 , 'mystical* or riot,
The questions may seem to be merely points of nomenclature and terminology; but there are behind them, theological issues, theoretical, but also very practical for those cultivating the in- 'terior life.
3. Acquired Contemplation
P&re Poulain is the protagonist of one school. He lays down his position with great clearness: there is a fundamental distinction be- tween two categories of prayer, ordinary, and extraordinary or mystical. The latter term he thus defines: 'Supernatural acts or states are called mystical, which our own efforts and industry are
1 It is the subject of chapter ii. of his book. This chapter lias been printed separately as a Catholic Truth Society Tract, The Prayer of Simplicity.
* This tract is printed at the end of Fere Gcou's Manwl dies Ames wt&ieures, in the French and English editions. It is greatly to be commended.
XVi AFTERTHOUGHTS
unable to produce, even feebly, even for a moment.' 1 Thus he refuses the title mystical to any prayer that we can, with the assist- ance of ordinary co-operating grace, attain to by the practice of self-discipline and mortification, the exercise of virtue, and the cultivation of the habit of prayer. Mystical prayer is for him, no doubt the reward and the crowning of previous endeavours; but still itself is a thing in no way 'achieved', but wholly 'given'. Con- sequently he ranges the prayer of simplicity, of faith, in the category of ordinary and non-mystical prayer, and calls it 'acquired con- templation', one that can be acquired in some measure by our own industry and exercisings of course assisted always by divine grace. This setting up of two different kinds of contemplation, one acquired and non-mystical, the other infused and mystical, is vehemently opposed by the other school, by Saudreau and the Dominicans. It is recognized by all that the term 'acquired contemplation' first came into use at the beginning of the seventeenth century, 'con- templation' pure and simple, without qualification, being used by the earlier writers, as SS. Augustine, Gregory and Bernard. On this matter Mgr Farges ranges himself determinedly with Poulain. He contends that though the word 'acquired contemplation' was not employed, the distinction between the two kinds of contemplation was known to various early writers: in particular are cited Richard of St Victor, Walter Hilton, Denis the Carthusian. 2 Farges is in- sistent that the two kinds of contemplation having been distinguished, and the term 'acquired' having been introduced and having passed into the established vocabulary of mystical theology during the past three centuries, we should no more revert to the old vaguer manner of speaking by discarding the term, than we should discard such terms as 'consubstantiaP or 'transubstantiation'. He is able to invoke with much effect, in support of the contention that the distinction of the two kinds of contemplation has become part of the current theology of the Church, the summary of mystical theology given by Benedict XIV in the work on the Canonization of the Saints; 8 also the summary by St Alphonsus Liguori in the Appendix to the Homo Apostolicus.
4. St Teresa and St John of the Cross
Poulain claims that Ms rigid definition of 'mystical' ? cited above, has the authority of St Teresa, and Farges agrees with him; I think
1 Op. ct. c. i.
* The statement, text, p. 216, made on the authority of Pourrat, that the term 'acquired' was used by Denis the Carthusian, is incorrect.
* Op. cit. pp. 236-44. He is, of course, careful to point out that such a treatise could only carry the authority of the Pope as private theologian; and it was in fact published before he became Pope.
AFTERTHOUGHTS XVU
they are right. The term St Teresa commonly employs is 'super- natural prayer'; this term she uses in a sense of her own, not merely of prayer made under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and with the assistance of ordinary grace; for in this, the usual theological sense of the term, all real prayer is supernatural: but again and again throughout her writings she makes it plain that by super- natural prayer she means 'that which we cannot acquire or procure for ourselves, no matter what care or what diligence we give to it', it being entirely God's work in the soul; all we can do is to dispose ourselves for it (passim). The term 'perfect contemplation 5 , or 'true contemplation' she reserves for the 'prayer of union', that belongs to the 'Fifth Mansion' of the Interior Castle, or the 'Third Water' of the Life (cc. xvi., xvii.). This appears to be the 'mystical experi- ence' in the full sense, and to be pretty well equivalent to Fr Baker's 'passive unions purely intellectual' (Sancta Sophia, p. 531).
The prayer preceding 'union' she calls the 'prayer of quiet'; it belongs to the 'Fourth Mansion' of the Castle, or the 'Second Water' of the Life (cc. xiv., xv.). She speaks of it as 'touching on supernatural prayer', and 'the beginning of pure contemplation' (Way of Perfection, c. xxx. 6). 1 The prayer of quiet is by some writers identified with the prayer of loving attention or of faith; not rightly, I think. The most succinct account of it is in the Way of Perfection (c. xxxi. i):
This prayer of quiet is a supernatural state to which no effort of our own can raise us. All the faculties are calmed, and the spirit realizes that it is close to its God, and that if it drew but a little nearer to Him, it would become one with Him by union. So reverential is the awe felt by such a soul that it dares ask nothing of God. This state resembles a swoon, both exterior and interior, so that the exterior man does not wish to move, but rests; the body feels enjoyment while the spirit is supremely satisfied. The faculties are reluctant to stir; all action seems to impede them from loving God yet they are not entirely lost, for they can and do realize, by peaceful contemplation, in whose Presence they are. While the prayer of quiet lasts, the soul is so intoxicated with delight and joy that there no longer seems anything left to long for.
This is something different from, something, so to say, on a higher mystical grade than what we have had in the various accounts of the prayer of loving attention. St Teresa calls it 'the beginning of pure contemplation'; and I believe I am right in
1 The references to St Teresa's works are all to the Stanbrook editions, except the Life, not edited there; for it Fr Zimmerman's revision of Lewis's translation is used, fourth edition, 1911.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
saying that she never uses the word 'contemplation' of anything that falls short of this. Yet I think she recognizes the prayer of loving attention under the name 'interior recollection'. Here a word of explanation is necessary, for she is not quite consistent in her use of the term 'recollection'. In Way (c. xx.) she so calls a sort of vocal-mental prayer, a talking with God or Jesus Christ, like the colloquies of Blosius; but this falls in the category of affective prayer, such as may be exercised by those in the Third Mansion' of the Castle, to be identified with St Francis of Sales's 'devout life 9 . 1 On the other hand, in the Life (cc, xi-xii) she speaks of 'recollection' and 'quiet' as practically the same thing; but in the Castle, her last word on the things of mystical theology, she definitely distinguishes them under the fourth Mansion', so that in it are included two quite different kinds or states of prayer, the prayer of quiet, and that of 'interior recollection 3 , which precedes it. This recollection is most clearly described in the saint's second Relation to Fr Rodrigo Alvarez, S J. a
It is a certain interior recollection of which the soul is sensible; the soul seems to have other senses within itself, then, which bear some likeness to the exterior senses; and thus the soul, withdrawing into itself, seeks to go away from the tumult of its outward senses; 3 for it closes the eyes on purpose that it may neither see, nor hear, nor understand anything but that whereon the soul is then intent, which is to be able to converse with God alone. In this prayer there is no suspension of the faculties and powers of the soul; it retains the full use of them; but the use of them is retained that they may be occupied with God.
In this Fourth Mansion c the natural is combined with the super- natural': it is the one most souls enter'; but c a person must have dwelt for a long time in the earlier mansions (the Third being the 'devout life') before entering this'. 4 If this more interior form of recollection be not the prayer of loving attention, then it seems that St Teresa does not treat of this prayer at all.
I cannot but think that the trouble among the theologians in great measure arises from the fact that St John applies to the prayer
* Of the Third Mansion she writes: 'Thanks to His mercy I believe there are many such people in the world: they are very desirous not to offend His Majesty even by venial sins, they love penance and spend hours in meditation, they employ their time well, exercise themselves in works of charity to their neighbours, are well-ordered in their conversation and dress, and those who have a household govern it well' ('Third Mansion*, L 8), This is the 'devout life*.
a The Relations are appended to the Life, and this one is No. VIII. p. 478, in the 4th English edition, 1911.
8 Cf. St Gregory on 'recollection', text, p. 69.
4 See Castle, 'Fourth Mansion', iii, 13 and i. 3.
AFTERTHOUGHTS XIX
of loving attention, or of faith, the term ' contemplation' 5 and even 'infused contemplation'; 1 while St Teresa will not give it the name 'contemplation 5 at all. I think any one who reads St Teresa will agree with Farges that the action of God on the soul which she regards as the sign of (her) supernatural prayer or contemplation, is not merely a silent working of grace, but an act, of which the soul is sensibly and consciously aware. 2 That this is the fact in higher kinds of prayer, 'union', and even 'quiet*, will not be questioned; but in regard to the initial stages of infused contempla- tion, St John's teaching is that they are imperceptible to the soul, which hardly, or not at all, is aware of what is going on in it: 'The commencement of contemplation is in general secret, and unknown to him who is admitted to it.' 3 Again, St Teresa constantly insists that we should not try in prayer to empty the mind of images or silence the faculties as a preparation for contemplation, but let intellect and will go on working in discoursive and affective prayer until God stops them and creates the needed silence. But this, again, is entirely counter to St John's attitude: let the first chapter of