part is not blamed but Mary's is praised. Nor does He say that

Mary hath chosen 'the good 5 part but 'the best 5 , that Martha's also may be shown to be good. And the reason why Mary's part is the best is indicated: because it shall not be taken away from her. For the active life ceases with the body. For who in our everlasting country will give bread to the hungry, where none hungers? Who will bury the dead, where none dies? Wherefore the active life ceases with this present world; but the contemplative life begins here, that it may be perfected in the heavenly country, because the fire of love which begins to burn here, when it sees Him whom it loves, will in His love blaze up the more. Therefore the contemplative life is by no means taken away, for when the light of the present world is withdrawn it is perfected.
10. The two wives of Jacob, Lia and Rachel, also symbolized these two lives. For Lia is interpreted laborious', and Rachel 'the sight of the Beginning' [lit. *the beginning seen' Visum princi- pium'j. The active life is laborious, because it exerts itself in work; but the contemplative, being single-minded, pants only for the sight of the Beginning, Him, namely, Who said: *I am the Begin- ning'. But holy Jacob desired Rachel, but in the night received Lia; because every one who is converted to the Lord, desires the contemplative life, longs for the rest of the everlasting Country; but first it is necessary that in the night of the present life he work what good he can, and exert himself in labour: that is to say, receive Lia, that afterwards in the embraces of Rachel he may rest in the sight of the Beginning. Rachel was beautiful but sterile, because the con- templative life is lovely in the mind, but while it longs to rest in silence, it does not generate sons by preaching; it sees but brings not forth, because while it loves the pursuit of its quiet, it is less inflamed in gathering in others; and what it sees within it is unable to open
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out to others by preaching. Lia, on the other hand, was dim-eyed but fruitful; because the active life, while it is occupied in work, sees less; but while now by word, now by example, it incites others to imitate itself, it generates many children in its good work. And if it is not able to stretch the mind in contemplation, yet from the fact that it acts exteriorly, it is able to beget followers. The active life is lived first, that afterwards the contemplative may be attained to.
ii. But we must know that just as it is the right order of living to pass from the active life to the contemplative, so usually it is useful for the mind to turn back from the contemplative to the active, that by the very fact that the contemplative has inflamed the mind, the active may be more perfectly held. Therefore the active life ought to pass us on to the contemplative, and yet sometimes the contemplative, by that which we have inwardly seen with the mind, ought better to call us back to the active. Thus Jacob after the em- brace of Rachel returned to that of Lia, because after the sight of the Beginning the laborious life of good works is not to be wholly given up (Horn, in Ezech. n. ii. 8-n).
Similar continuous expositions of St Gregory's theory of the Two Lives will be found in Morals, vi. 56-61, and Homilies on Ezechiel, i. iii. 9-12.
His theory will now be developed in detail along the same lines as were followed in developing the theory of St Augustine.
G. THE Two LIVES
In the passages cited from St Augustine under this heading, where he contrasts the Two Lives, we saw his first principle to be that the active life is for this world, wherein it can be fully and perfectly carried out, and with which it ceases; whereas the contemplative life, fully and perfectly carried out, is for the next world, only some slight and imperfect beginning of it being possible in this. St Gregory teaches the same, as we have just seen in the passage from the Homilies on Ezechiel, n. ii. 9.
And elsewhere:
The silence of contemplation cannot be perfect in this life. ... Contemplation is by no means perfected here, even though it be ardently begun. . . . The elect fully perform all the works that are to be done, but as yet look on only the beginnings of contemplation (Mor. xxx. 53).
In the long passage from c. Faust, xxii. (summarized in AUGUSTINE, G, above) wherein St Augustine takes Jacob's wives as typifying the Two Lives, he lays down as axiomatic that no one can come to contemplation without having exercised the works of the active life,
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so that the active life is necessary for all, whereas the contemplative is not necessary. Here again St Gregory reproduces his teaching: and first, that the active life is necessary, the contemplative optional:
Though each life is by the gift of grace, yet as long as we live among our neighbours one is by necessity, the other by choice. For who that knows God enters into His Kingdom, unless he first works well? Without the contemplative life, therefore, those can enter into the heavenly Kingdom who neglect not to do the good that they can; but without the active life they cannot enter, if they neglect to do the good they can. Therefore the active life is by necessity, the contemplative by choice (Horn, in Ezech. i. iii. 10).
Then, that the active life must be first exercised, and only so can any one come to the contemplative:
The active life is lived first, that afterwards the contemplative may be attained to (Horn, in Ezech. 11. ii. 10).
Perfectness of practice having been received, we come to con- templation (Mor. xxiL 50).
Every one that is perfect is first joined to an active life for pro- ductiveness, and afterwards united to a contemplative life for rest (ibid. vi. 61).
The season for action comes first, for contemplation last. . . . The mind should first spend itself in labour, and afterwards it may be refreshed by contemplation (ibid. vi. 60).
We ascend to the heights of contemplation by the steps of the active life (ibid. xxxi. 102).
The active life is before the contemplative in time, because by good works we tend to contemplation (Horn, in Ezech. i. iii. 9) .
H. THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE THE BETTER
St Gregory follows closely St Augustine in the teaching that though the active life is more productive than the contemplative, the contemplative is better and greater than the active. The passages of Augustine which Gregory adopts are, in respect of the greater productiveness of the active life, the allegory on Lia and Rachel in c. Faust, xxii. 54 (see AUGUSTINE, G 3 p. 231;) and in respect of the superiority of the contemplative, the pieces on Martha and Mary brought together in AUGUSTINE, H, p. 232. In the following places the cases of Lia and Rachel and of Martha and Mary are coupled together: Horn, in Ezeck. 11. ii. 9, 10; Mor. vi. 61; Ep. i. 5; but in Horn, in Ezech. i. iii. 9, Martha and Mary are dealt with alone. The principal passage on Lia and Rachel and the greater productiveness of the active life is introduced by the words: c sicut et ante nos dictum est 5 , referring clearly to Augustine as the source. It is 10 in the
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continuous passage just cited from Horn, in Ezech. n. ii., and it should be read again, along with 9 (on Martha and Mary). A similar passage is the following:
Rachel is beautiful but barren, Lia dim-eyed but fruitful, truly in that 'when the mind seeks the ease of contemplation, it sees more but it is less productive in children to God. But when it betakes itself to the labour of preaching, it sees less but it bears more largely (Mor. vi. 61).
For all that, it is the quite firm teaching of St Gregory, as of all theologians, that the contemplative life is greater and better than the active.
See Horn, in Ezech. n. ii. 9. Also:
The contemplative life is greater in merit than the active, which labours in the exercise of present work, whilst the other already tastes with inward savour the rest that is to come. Although the active life is good, the contemplative is better (Horn, in Ezech. i. iii. 9) .
The contemplative life is second indeed in time, but in merit greater than the active. Martha's concern is not reproved, but that of Mary is even commended; for the merits of the active life are great, but those of the contemplative far better (Mor. vi. 61).
Here it is worth noticing the manner in which St Gregory uses St Augustine. A comparison of Homilies on Ezechiel, n. ii, 9, 10, the principal piece wherein he reproduces Augustine's ideas on the relative advantages of the Two Lives, with the originals, shows that the borrowing has been done with much judgement and skill, the very marrow of Augustine's thought having been extracted, shorn of its rhetoric and eloquence, and expressed in simple terms of dignity and weight indeed a model of condensation. This is especially striking in the piece on Martha and Mary, which is based not on any one of Augustine's passages, but certainly on two of them, if not three. In these places it may safely be said that Augustine's thought loses nothing in Gregory's presentment.
When treating of the productiveness of the active life, Augustine says that the contemplative life too has a productiveness of its own: 6 it is aflame with the love of generating, for it desires to teach what it knows' (c. Faust, xxii. 54).
Similarly Gregory:
Holy men when they soar aloft to the contemplation of things on high, when they bind the first-fruits of their spirit in the love of the heavenly Country, but weighed down by the load of human life, return to themselves, they declare unto their brethren the heavenly
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goods they were able to contemplate at any rate in a mirror, and inflame their minds with the love of that inward brightness, which they are able neither to see as it is, nor to utter as they saw it; but while they speak their words pierce and set on fire the hearts of those that hear (Horn, in Ezech. i. v. 13).
Again:
Whoever reaps benefit by seeing spiritual things, is bound by speaking to lay them before others. For he sees in order that he may announce, who, by the fact that he reaps benefit for himself, by preaching has a care also for the advance of his neighbour (Horn, in Ezech. n. ii. 4).
J. CLAIMS OF THE Two LIVES
St Gregory's foregoing exposition of the theory of the Two Lives and their relations, though quite clear and sensible, is jejune in comparison with St Augustine's treatment of the subject. On the other hand, on the conciliation of their claims on the individual, and on the way in which they may both play their part in a well-ordered spiritual life, his teaching is fuller, more detailed, more practical, richer, than Augustine's. It is indeed his great contribution to the theory and practice of the spiritual life for all succeeding generations in Western Christianity; and as such it merits to be set forth here with much care and fullness. His doctrine is to be found chiefly in the Morals and in the Book on the Pastoral Care: the former originally addressed to his monks; the latter an instruction for all who exercise the cure of souls.
( i ) The union of the two lives , after the example of Christ, should be aimed at, especially by preachers.
Christ set forth in Himself patterns of both lives, that is the active and the contemplative, united together. For the contemplative life differs very much from the active. But our Redeemer by coming incarnate, while He gave a pattern of both, united both in Himself, For when He wrought miracles in the city, and yet continued all night in prayer on the mountain, He gave His faithful ones an example not to neglect, through love of contemplation, the care of their neighbours; nor again to abandon contemplative pursuits through being too immoderately engaged in the care of their neigh- bours: but so to keep together their mind, in applying it to the two cases, that the love of their neighbour may not interfere with the love of God; nor again the love of God cast out,because it transcends, the love of their neighbours (Mor. xxviii. 33).
Whosoever opens his mind in holy works, has over and above to extend it to the secret pursuits of inward contemplation. For he is
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no perfect preacher who either, from devotion to contemplation, neglects works that ought to be done, or, from urgency in business, puts aside the duties of contemplation. ... It is hence that the Redeemer of mankind in the daytime exhibits His miracle in cities, and spends the night in devotion to prayer upon the mountain, namely, that He may teach all perfect preachers, that they should neither entirely leave the active life from love of the speculative, nor wholly slight the joys of contemplation from excess in working; but in quiet imbibe by contemplation what in employment they may pour back to their neighbours by word of mouth. For by contempla- tion they rise into the love of God, but by preaching they return back to the service of their neighbour ... In the sight of the internal judge our charity should be coloured with the love both of God and of our neighbour, that the converted soul may neither so delight in repose for the sake of the love of God, as to put aside the care and service of our neighbour; nor, busying itself for the love of our neighbour, be so wedded thereto that, entirely forsaking quiet, it extinguish in itself the fire of love of the Most High. Whosoever then has already offered himself as a sacrifice to God, if he desires per- fection, must needs take care that he not only stretch himself out to breadth of practice, but likewise up to the heights of contemplation (ibid. vi. 56).
(2) In particular , all pastors of souls and superiors must exercise both lives.
The ruler [he who has the cure of souls] should be close to all by compassion, but hung aloft above all by contemplation; so that by the bowels of kindness he may take unto himself the weakness of others, and by the loftiness of speculation he may transcend himself in seeking after things invisible; lest either by seeking the heights, he despise the weaknesses of his neighbours, or by adapting himself to their infirmities, he give over to climb the heights (Reg. Past. ii. 5; the whole passage occurs also in Ep. i. 25).
Because that preacher is raised to the height of perfection, who is made firm not only by the active, but also by the contemplative life; this very perfection of preachers is rightly expressed by 'locusts', which, as often as they endeavour to raise themselves into the air, first impel and raise themselves with their legs, and afterwards fly with their wings. Thus doubtless are holy men, who, when they aim at heavenly things, rely in the first place on good works of the active life, and afterwards raise themselves in flight to sublime truths by the spring of contemplation. They plant their legs firmly, and spread their wings, because they strengthen themselves by good doings, and are exalted to lofty things by their way of life. But, while dwelling in this life, they cannot remain long in divine contemplation, but, as if like locusts, they catch themselves on their feet from the leap they have given, when, after the sublimities of contemplation, they return to the necessary doings of the active life; but yet they are not content to remain in the same active life. But when they eagerly spring forth
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to contemplation, they again as it were seek the air in flight; and they pass their life, like locusts, soaring up and sinking down, while they ever unceasingly endeavour to behold the highest objects, and are thrown back on themselves by the weight of their corruptible nature (Mor. xxxi. 49).
Holy men are sent and go forth as lightnings, when they come forth from the retirement of contemplation to the public life of em- ployment. They are sent and they go, when from the secrecy of inward meditation, they spread forth into the wide space of active life. But after the outward works which they perform, they always return to the bosom of contemplation, there to revive the flame of their zeal, and to glow as it were from the touch of heavenly bright- ness. For they would freeze too speedily amid their outward works, good though they be, did they not constantly return with anxious earnestness to the fire of contemplation. . . . Holy men, though they come forth, for our sakes, from the sight of their Creator, whose brightness they endeavour to behold with their mind, to the ministry of active life, yet they unceasingly recur to the holy study of contemplation; and if in their preaching they pour themselves out into our ears by bodily words from without, yet do they ever return in their silent thoughts to consider the Fount of life Itself. Did they not constantly return with anxious mind to the contemplation of God, their inward drought would doubtless dry up even their out- ward words of preaching (Mor. xxx. 8) .
(3) The reasons why pastors must not neglect either the contemplative life or external good works.
Let not the pastor diminish his care of things within through his occupation about things without; nor forsake the oversight of things without through his anxiety about things within: lest either being given up to things external, he fall away within; or being occupied wholly with internal matters, he fail to pay that which is due to his neighbours abroad.
For oftentimes there are those who, having, as it were, forgotten that they are set over their brethren for the sake of their souls, make themselves servants with all the strength of their heart to the cares of this world; they delight to follow them, when they have them; they pant after them night and day, even when they have them not, with the fever of a troubled mind. And when,, perchance, by the absence of opportunity, they are quiet from them, they are still more wearied by their very quiet: for they think it pleasure if they are drowned in business; they count it toil if they are not toiling in earthly affairs. And so it cometh to pass, while they rejoice in the pressure of worldly commotions, that they are ignorant of those in- ward things which they ought to have taught others: whence also the life of those who are under them is, without doubt, benumbed. . . .
On the other hand, there are some who undertake the charge of a flock, but are so desirous of leisure for themselves for spiritual
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exercises, that they are not engaged In outward things at all. And since they utterly neglect to take care for bodily things, they are far from meeting the wants of those who are under them. And no wonder their preaching is generally looked down upon; for while they reprove the deeds of transgressors, but yet do not furnish them with things needful for this present life, they are not heard with any willingness; for the word of doctrine maketh no way into the soul of a man in want, if the hand of mercy commend it not to his mind. ... Let pastors, therefore, be in such wise zealous about the inner pursuits of those that are under them, as not to abandon provision for their outward life; for the mind of the flock is broken off, and naturally, from listening to preaching, if the care of outward aid be neglected by the shepherd (Reg. Past. ii. 7).
(4) External works should be undertaken by contemplatives with a certain reluctance.
There are two commands of charity, the love of God and of our neighbour. Isaias, desiring by the life of action to do good to his neighbours, seeketh the office of preaching. Jeremias, wishing by the life of contemplation to cleave diligently to the love of his Maker, speaketh against his being bound in duty to be sent to preach. What, therefore, the one laudably sought, that the other laudably dreaded; the latter, lest he should squander the gain of silent contemplation by speaking; the former, lest by keeping silence he should have ex- perience of the loss of diligent labour. But this is nicely to be observed in both; that he who refused resisted not to the end, and he who would be sent had first seen himself purged by the coal from off the altar: that no one who is not purged should dare to approach the sacred ministry, nor he whom heavenly grace had chosen, prove a proud gainsayer under colour of humility. Seeing, then, that it is very difficult for any man to know that he is purged, the office of preaching is more safely declined; and yet it ought not stubbornly to be declined, when the divine Will is discerned that it should be undertaken (Reg. Past. i. 7).
Secular business is sometimes to be borne with, out of compassion, but never to be sought for love (ibid. ii. 7) .
Pastors must always fear and take watchful heed, lest whiles they are concerned with external cares they sink from their inward pur- pose. For generally speaking, while the minds of rulers incautiously serve the ends of temporal solicitude, they grow cold in inward love; and being spent on things abroad, they are not afraid to forget that they have undertaken the government of souls. The solicitude, there- fore, which is bestowed on their subjects exteriorly, must needs be kept within certain bounds (ibid. ii. 7) .
One who is submissive to the divine disposals, when a high posi- tion of authority is enjoined upon him, if he be already endowed with qualities by which he may do good to others, ought from his heart to flee from it, and to obey unwillingly (ibid. i. 6).
l8o WESTERN MYSTICISM
(5) Tet contemplatives should accept offices of superiority when called on to do so.
There is a chapter (Reg. Past. i. 5) on the duty of contemplatives accepting high positions of authority or superiority (culmen regim- inis): Concerning those who might be useful by their example of virtues in a high position of authority, but refuse in pursuit of their own quiet.
If they refuse when called upon to take upon themselves high positions of authority, they take away for the most part from them- selves the very gifts which they received, not for themselves only, but also for others. And while they think of their own gain, and not of that of others, they deprive themselves of those very good things which they desire to keep for themselves. ... There are some who, being enriched with great gifts, while they are eager for the pursuit only of contemplation, fly from complying with the advantage of their neighbour by preaching, loving the privacy of quiet and seek- ing the retirement of contemplation. And if they be judged strictly concerning this, they are doubtless answerable for all the good they might have done had they come into public. For with what consci- ence can he who would be distinguished for his usefulness to his neighbours put his own privacy before the benefit of others, when the Only-begotten of the Father Most High Himself came forth from the bosom of His Father into public amongst us, that He might do good to many? (Reg, Past. L 5).
(6) In a dearth of workers, contemplatives should undertake the works of the active life.
We ought to bear in mind that when those are wanting who might fitly minister to the exterior needs of their neighbours, those too who are full of spiritual gifts ought to condescend to their weakness, and as far as they may with propriety be able, lend themselves with the condescension of charity to the earthly necessities of others. Nor should it weary the mind, if its perception, being ever intent on the contemplation of spiritual things, is sometimes as it were bent down, diminished in managing the least concerns (Mor. xix. 45).
(7) Periods of retirement for contemplation are necessary for those in superiority or engaged in active works.
Those that bear themselves well in authority rest, in that they lay aside at intervals the din of earthly business for the love of God, lest while the lower concerns incessantly occupy the heart, it fall away wholly from the highest. For they know that the mind can never be lifted up to things above, if it be continually busied in those below with tumultuous care. . . . They who are busied in temporal affairs, then manage external things aright, when they betake themselves
ST GREGORY THE GREAT l8l
with solicitude to those of the interior, and repose within themselves in the bosom of tranquil rest (ibid. v. 19).
Holy men who are obliged by the necessity of their employments to engage in outward ministrations, are ever studiously betaking themselves to the secrets of their hearts; and there do they ascend the height of most inward thought, while they put aside the tumults of temporal activities and at the summit of their contemplation search out the sentence of the divine Will. Hence it is that Moses frequently retires to the Tabernacle on doubtful points, and there secretly consults God, and learns what certain decision to come to. For to leave the crowd and retire to the Tabernacle, is to put aside the tumults of outward objects, and enter into the secret recess of the mind. For the Lord is there consulted, and we hear inwardly and in silence what we must do openly and without. This course good Rulers (rectores) daily pursue; when they are aware they cannot settle doubtful points, they betake themselves to the secret recesses of their mind, and what they first hear in silence, they afterwards make known to the world in their conduct. For in order that they may engage in outward employments without injury to themselves, they constantly take care to withdraw to the secrets of their heart. And thus they hear the voice of God while they withdraw themselves in the thoughts of their mind from the influence of carnal things (Mor. xxiii. 38).
(8) The contemplative life will be aided by an admixture of the active.
Each soul the broader it is in the love of its neighbour, the higher also will it be in the knowledge of God. For while by love it enlarges itself alongside itself, by knowledge it bears itself aloft; and it be- comes the higher above itself in proportion as it stretches itself out alongside itself to the love of neighbour.
But let us love God and our neighbour from the bottom of our heart. Let us enlarge ourselves in the affection of love, that we may be exalted in the glory of loftiness. Let us compassionate our neigh- bour by love, that we may be joined to God by knowledge. Let us condescend to our least brethren on earth, that we may be the equals of the angels in heaven (Horn, in Ezech. n. ii. 15).
Hence the very Truth, manifested to us by taking our human nature, cleaved unto prayer on the mountain, and worked miracles in the cities, laying down a way for imitation by good Rulers of souls; so that even though they already scale the heights by con- templation, by compassion, for all that, they share in the needs of the weak; for love then wonderfully mounts to the heights, when it mercifully draws itself to the lowliness of its neighbours; and in proportion as it kindly descends to what is weak, does it mightily return to the heights (Reg. Past. ii. 5; also in Ep. i. 25).
(9) For contemplation tranquillity of mind is necessary.
St Gregory when Pope found that even when he had despatched
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his businesses, he was unable to secure sufficient tranquillity of mind for exercising contemplation:
When my business is done I try to return to my inner self, but cannot, for I am driven away by vain tumultuous thoughts (Ep. i. 5, ad Theoctistam).
It ought to be known that we do not at all reach the height of contemplation, if we cease not from the oppression of outward care (Mor. xxx. 54).
Anger that comes of evil blinds the eye, but anger that come of zeal disturbs it. Since necessarily, in whatever degree one is moved by a zeal for virtue, the world of contemplation, which cannot he known save by a heart in tranquillity, is broken up. For zeal for the cause of virtue in itself, in that it fills the mind with disquietude and agitation, presently bedims the eye thereof, so that in its troubled state it can no longer see those objects far up above which it afore- time clearly beheld in a state of tranquillity. To perturbation con- templation is never joined, nor is the mind when disturbed enabled to see that which, even when in a tranquil state, it scarcely has power to gaze on (ibid. v. 82).
Often we wax angry in correcting faults and perturb our tran- quillity of mind. Only a tranquil mind is able to hold itself aloft in the light of contemplation. While we pursue faults in anger we are necessarily thrown into confusion and disturbed from the con- templation of things on high (Gregory's Letter answering the ques- tions put him by Augustine, Question viii. towards end; preserved in Ven. Bede's EccL Hist. i. 27. The thought and latinity of this passage afford strong confirmation of the authenticity of the Letter, which has been questioned). 1
These are the things the soul is employed withal: she both wholly withdraws herself from the restless appetite of this world, and gives over the turmoil of earthly actions, and in pursuit of tranquillity, bent on virtuous attainments, she sleeps waking. For she is never led on to contemplate internal things, unless she be needfully with- drawn from those which entwine themselves about her without . . , Inward knowledge is not cognizable unless there is a cessation from outward embarrassments, and our mind is never caught up to the force of inward contemplation, unless it be first carefully lulled to rest from all agitation of earthly desires (Mor. v, 55).
If we wish to contemplate things within, let us rest from outward
1 The authenticity of St Gregory's 'Responsions', though questioned from an early date, may now be said to be accepted, Mommsen and the editors in the Mon. Germ. Hist, having declared for it; Mgr Duchesne, too, after having rejected it, accepted it in the later editions of his Origiws du Culte Chretien. The only general treatment of the question seems to be a memoire by Cardinal Gasquet and Mr Edmund Bishop, read in Rome in 1890. The text, without the illustrative notes, was first printed in the Downside Review, 1904, and then, with the notes, which add greatly to its value, in a volume of Miscellanea^ celebrating Abbot Amelli's jubilee of priesthood (Monte Cassino, 1920). The case for authenticity seems quite conclusive, though the argument from style has not been brought to bear. The piece in the text is redolent of St Gregory.
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engagements. The voice of God is heard when, with minds at ease, we rest from the bustle of this world, and the divine precepts are pondered by us in the deep silence of the mind (ibid, xxiii. 37).
(10) Conciliation of contemplative life with external works.
It is by an active life perfectly carried out that one passes to the freedom of the contemplative life. And very often such an one is able to pass to the contemplative life, and yet not give up the active life, so that he who has arrived at contemplation does not abandon the activity of good works whereby he is able to be of use to others (Horn, in E&ch. i. iii. n, 12).
God will often send one who has passed from the active life to the contemplative back to the active, and will keep him in alternations of the two lives. St Gregory makes Him say:
I adapt My preachers, when I will, after the grace of contempla- tion to the ministry of active life. And yet I ever call them back from outward good deeds to the inward height of contemplation, in order that they may one while go forth, when commanded, to per- form their tasks, and that at another they may dwell with Me more familiarly when recalled to the pursuit of speculation (Mor* xxx. 8).
It sometimes happens that they who love the heavenly country alone, seem to be subjected to the charges of the earthly country. Being full of wisdom from above, they distinguish how they may at once be free to one thing inwardly, and busied with another thing outwardly, . . . and when the affairs of business make a din without, within the most peaceful repose is maintained in love. For as force of mind is at the head for bridling the motions of the flesh, so very often the love of tranquillity regulates aright the imposed turmoils of business, because external charges, if they be not desired with a wrong affection, may be executed with a mind not disordered but regulated. For holy men never court them, but lament them when put upon them by secret appointment; and though in respect of a better aim they shun them, yet in respect of a submissive mind they bear them, which same they are above everything eager to avoid if it might be; but fearing the secret dispensations of God, they lay hold of that they eschew, and execute what they avoid. For they go into their conscience, and they there take counsel what the secret will of God would have, and being conscious that they ought to be subject to the appointments on high, they humble the neck of the heart to the yoke of divine Providence. But he that is such as this, whatever turmoils are at work without, they never reach to his interior parts. And so it comes to pass that there is one thing main- tained within in wish and another thing maintained without in office, and that with this wisdom their hearts are filled, being no longer troubled and disordered, but in a state of tranquillity (Mor. xviii. 70).
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(n) A true 6 mixed life 1 the most excellent.
St Gregory places in the highest grade the excellence of preachers,- then that of pure contemplatives who practice continence and silence; and lowest that of the married who lead good lives in the world: yet, though not equal in merit and dignity, they all are rewarded equally according to their desires and efforts.
The excellence of preachers is far above that of the continent and silent, and the eminence of the continent outdistances greatly that of married people. The married, though they do well and desire to see God, yet are occupied by domestic cares and are divided in mind. The continent are remote from the affairs of this world and restrain carnal pleasure even from lawful wedlock; they are implicated in no care of wife and children and no troublesome and difficult thoughts of providing for a family. But preachers not only withhold them- selves from vices, but restrain others from sinning, lead them to the faith, and instruct them in the pursuit of holy living. Yet there is for all three the same faith, the same reward of everlasting life, the same joy in the vision of God (Horn, in Ezech. n. iv. 6).
Taken in conjunction with what has gone before, on the necessity of preachers practising both lives, we have here quite clearly adum- brated the later doctrine, formulated by St Thomas, that the contemplative life is higher than the active, and the mixed life, such as this, the highest of all.
(12) St Gregory's conception of 'the contemplative life* as actually lived.
We can remain fixed in the active life, but in the contemplative we are by no means able to keep our mind on the stretch. . . .
When we mount from the active life to the contemplative, as the mind is not able to stand long in contemplation, but whatever it gazes on of eternity in a mirror and an enigma, it beholds, so to say, by stealth and in passing, the mind, repelled by the immensity of so great a height, sinks back into itself. And it has to return to the active life and to exercise itself for long in the practice of good works: so that when the mind is not able to rise to the contemplation of heavenly things, it may not refuse to do the good that it can. And so it comes about that, helped by its good deeds, it again mounts aloft unto contemplation, and receives nourishment of love from the pasture of contemplated truth. And as the very weakness of corrup- tion cannot for long maintain itself in contemplation, coming back again to good works, it feeds on the memory of the sweetness of God, and is nourished externally by good actions, and internally by holy desires (Horn, in Ezech. i. v. 12).
There are some good deeds wherein we persevere unwearied, and again there are some from which we are continually giving over and falling away, and we are restored to these not without great en-
ST GREGORY THE GREAT 185
deavours at intervals of time: for in the active life the mind is stablished without failing; but from the contemplative, being over- come by the load of its infirmity, it faints away. For the first endures the more steadfastly in proportion as it opens itself to things about it for our neighbour's weal; the latter falls away the more swiftly in proportion as, passing beyond the barriers of the flesh, it endeavours to soar up above itself. The first directs its way through level places, and therefore plants the foot of practice more strongly; but the other, as it aims at heights above itself, the sooner descends wearied to itself. When the minds of the elect, through the grace of an active life being vouchsafed them, abandon the paths of error, they never return to the evil courses of the world, which they have forsaken; but when through the gaze of contemplation they are led to stay themselves from this same active life, they 'go and return 5 , in that because they are never able to continue for long in. contemplation, they again let themselves out in action, that by busying themselves in such things as are immediately near them, they may recruit their strength, and may be enabled by contemplation again to soar above themselves. But while this practice of contemplation is in due method resumed at intervals of time, we hold on assuredly without failing to all its entireness (soliditas) ; for though the mind, being overcome by the weight of its infirmity, falls short, yet, being restored again by continual efforts, it lays hold thereof. Nor should it be said to have lost its stability in that which, though it be ever failing in, it is ever pursuing, even when it has lost the same 1 (Mor. x. 31).
In Benedictine Monachism (p. 99) this passage is commented on, and its importance for the theory of Benedictine life brought out. It will be dwelt on again later (p. 207).
(13) A reminder to contemplatwes of their indebtedness to active livers.
In the following piece St Gregory, both in respect to spiritual common sense with a gentle irony, and to felicity in allegory, is at his best:
There are some, who if they have made ever so small a beginning in spiritual conversation, on observing that their rulers fix their thoughts only on worldly and temporal objects, begin to blame the disposition of supreme Providence as if they were improperly appointed to rule, since they set an example of worldly conversation. But because the power of office cannot be exercised without our engaging in worldly cares, therefore Almighty God frequently im- poses the burden of rule on hard and laborious hearts, in order that
1 The Latin of the closing portion is as follows: *Sed dum haec eadem con- templatio more debito per temporum interyalla repetitur 3 indeficienter procul dubio et in eius soliditate persistitur: quia etsi infirmitatis suae pondere superata mens deficit, haec tamen iterum continuis conatibus reparata comprehendit. Nee stabilitatem suam in ea perdidisse dicenda est, a qua etsi semper deficit, hanc et cum perdiderit semper inquirit.'
l86 WESTERN MYSTICISM
the tender minds of spiritual men, may be released from worldly cares: in order that the one may be more safely concealed from the bustle of the world, the more willingly the others employ themselves in worldly anxieties.
And how properly this is ordered in the Church by divine appoint- ment is signified by the very construction of the tabernacle. For Moses is commanded by the voice of God to weave curtains of fine linen and scarlet and blue, for the covering of the Holy of Holies within. And he was ordered to spread, for the covering of the taber- nacle, curtains of goats' hair and skins, to sustain the rain and wind and dust. What then do we understand by the skins and goats' hair, with which the tabernacle is covered, but the gross minds of men, which are sometimes hard though they be placed on high in the Church by the secret judgements of God? And because they are not afraid of being employed in worldly concerns, they must needs bear the winds and storms of temptation which arise from the opposition of this world. But what is signified by the blue, scarlet, and fine linen, but the life of holy men, delicate, but brilliant? And while it is carefully concealed in the tabernacle under goats' hair and skins, its beauty is preserved entire. For in order that the fine linen may shine, the scarlet glitter, and the blue be resplendent with azure brilliance, the skins and the goats 5 hair endure the rains, the winds, the dust from above. They then who advance in great excellence within the bosom of holy Church, ought not to despise the doings of their rulers, when they see that they are engaged in the business of the world. For that they penetrate in safety into secret mysteries, is owing to the help of those who buffet with the storms of this world from without. For how would the fine linen retain the grace of its brightness, if the rain were to touch it? Or what splendour or brightness would the scarlet or blue display, should the dust light on and defile them? Let the strong texture of the goats' hair, then, be placed above, to resist dust; and the brightness of the blue, fitted for ornament, be placed beneath. Let those who are engaged in spiritual pursuits alone, adorn the Church. Let those guard her, who are not wearied with the labours of the world. But let not him who now gleams with spiritual brightness within holy Church, murmur against his superior, who is employed in worldly business. For if thou glitterest securely within, like scarlet, why dost thou blame the goats' hair with which thou art protected? (Mor. xxv. 38, 39).
K. CONTEMPLATION OPEN TO ALL
That St Gregory believed contemplation not to be the perquisite of any small select spiritual circles; but open to all sincere livers of a good Christian life, appears from the circumstance that his prin- cipal expositions of contemplation and the contemplative life were given, not in conferences to his monks 3 but in public sermons preached in the Lateran Basilica to mixed congregations of all comers, viz. the two Homilies on Ezechiel, n. ii. and n. v., already
ST GREGORY THE GREAT 187
many times cited. At the close of the former he says: 'See, beloved brethren, while wishing to explain to you the theory of each life, we have spoken at undue length. But good minds, who love to carry out both of these two lives (quibus utraque eadem vita est ad agendum amabilis) should not find it burdensome to hear about them' ( 14). This shows he thought a considerable number of his hearers were likely to be concerned with the contemplative life.
Similarly at the close of the other Homily he quite definitely declares that contemplation may be the lot of all, no state or con- dition of life being debarred;
It is not the case that the grace of contemplation is given to the highest and not given to the lowest; but often the highest, and often the most lowly, and very often those who have renounced, 1 and sometimes also those who are married, receive it. If therefore there is no state of life (officium) of the faithful, from which the grace of contemplation can be excluded, any one who keeps his heart within him (cor intus habet) may also be illumined by the light of con- templation; so that no one can glory in this grace as if it were singular. It is not the high and pre-eminent members of holy Church only that have the grace of contemplation; but very often those members receive this gift, who, although by desire they already mount to the heights, are still occupying low positions. Almighty God inpours the light of contemplation into those also who appear to be lowly in the eyes of men, but secretly give themselves up to the pursuit of divine wisdom, pant after heavenly things, and think on the everlasting joys (Horn, in Ezech. n. v. 19, 20).
Elsewhere are found such utterances as the following:
We see daily in holy Church that very many, while they manage well external things that come to them, are by the grace given them led moreover to mystic intelligence; 2 so that they faithfully ad- minister outward things and are gifted greatly with inward under- standing (Horn, in Evang. ix. 5).
The book on the Pastoral Care is addressed to bishops, but it applies also to all who exercise the pastoral office or the cure of souls in any capacity. The passages already cited from this work show that St Gregory considered an admixture of the contemplative life to be a condition of the fruitful performance of the pastoral office, and that he took for granted that all pastors of souls may,
1 'Remoti': cf. 'continentes et tacentes ... ab huius mundi actione remoti sunt' (Horn, in Ezech. n. iv. 6; the whole piece is cited p. 184 above). Also: *Qui a praesentis vitae actione remoti sunt' (Mor. v. 55). Thus it appears to be equivalent to Cassian's word for monks, 'renunciantes'.
8 'Intellectus mysticus'; the use of the word 'mystic* in its later sense is to be noted.
I&8 WESTERN MYSTICISM
and shouldj exercise contemplation: among the disqualifications for the pastoral office he names 'ignorance of the light of heavenly con- templation 5 (i. 1 1). Thus by contemplation he means something that he believes to be ordinarily open to all priests.
For some characters an active life is best, for some a contempla- tive; for restless minds, and those lacking spiritual discernment) there are dangers in a contemplative life, which are pointed out in the following passage:
It is above all things necessary to know that the compositions of souls are infinitely varied one with another; for there are some so restless that if they have cessation from labour, they have only the worse labour, in that they are subject to worse tumults of mind in proportion as they have more time and liberty for their thoughts. Whence it behoves that neither the tranquil mind should open itself wide in immoderate exercising of works, nor the restless mind stint itself by the pursuit of contemplation. For often they who might have contemplated God in quiet, have fallen, being overcharged with business; and often they who might live advantageously occu- pied with the service of their fellow-creatures, are killed by tke sword of their quiescence. It is hence that some restless spirits, whilst by contemplation they hunt out more than their wits compass, launch out even to the length of wrong doctrines, and whilst they have no mind to be the disciples of truth in a spirit of humility, they become the masters of falsities. There are some who are quite unable to behold the world above and spiritual things with the eye of discernment, yet enter upon the heights of contemplation,, and therefore, by the mistake of a perverted understanding, they fall away Into the pit of misbelief. These then the contemplative life, adopted to an extent beyond their powers, causes to fall from the truth, which same persons the active life by itself might have kept safe in. lowliness of mind in the firm seat of their uprightness. ,.. When thou art not qualified for the contemplative life by a fitting degree of discretion; keep more safely the active life alone. . . . On the other hand, if it were not that the contemplative life suited some minds more than the active life, the Lord would never say by the voice of the Psalmist; c Be still, and know that I am God' (Mor. vi- 57)-
Thus the active life is the more ordinary call; 'The active life is the lot of many, the contemplative of few' (Mor. xxxii. 4). But for the spiritually minded the active life alone is unsatisfying:
Whosoever already looks down upon all earthly objects of desire, whosoever spreads himself out in the labours of an active life, finds that it by no means suffices him to do great things without, unless by contemplation he also have power to penetrate into interior mysteries (ibid, vi, 55),
THE CONTEMPLATIVE AND ACTIVE LIVES
3. ST BERNARD
ANALYSIS
PAGE
J. CLAIMS OF THE TWO LIVES 191
K. CONTEMPLATION OPEN TO ALL 197
ST BERNARD
WE have from St Bernard no such reasoned exposition of the nature and theory of the Two Lives as we have from Augustine and Gregory. He makes various allusions, indeed, to Lia and Rachel, Martha and Mary, but, except in Serm. de Assumpt. J3.V.M. iii., they are mere passing references. They follow the lines of exposition or allegory made current in the West by the two earlier doctors, with- out bringing anything new to the treatment. I believe that Bernard is here based on Gregory; I see no ground for supposing he had direct acquaintance with Augustine's treatment of the two cases. And in general, I am not aware of any reason for supposing he was beholden to Augustine, otherwise than through Gregory, for his mystical doctrine. 1
In these circumstances there is nothing to be said under the head- ings G and H of this part of the subject, and we pass at once to J, where Bernard has much to say that is of interest.
J. CLAIMS OF THE Two LIVES
St Bernard's solution of the problem of the claims of the Two Lives on the individual, and their conciliation in practice, is sub- stantially the same as St Gregory's, and is no doubt derived from it. But St Bernard's strong personality bestows on his treatment an originality and a freshness that make it something new. It is not possible to follow quite the same lines of exposition as were adopted in the case of St Gregory, but the general method of treatment will be similar.
The Gospel story of Martha and Mary shows that the con- templative life is in itself to be preferred: Mary chose the best part, even though the humble life of Martha be perchance of no less merit with God. But Mary is praised for her choice, because her part is altogether, so far as it rests with us, to be chosen; but Martha's part, if it be laid upon us, is to be patiently borne (Serm. de aw. ix. 4).
Addressing his monks, pledged to the contemplative state, he ex- horts them to cling to it:
By no means should one who is at leisure to attend to God (qui
1 In other words, I doubt the correctness of Dean Inge's note, that *in the speculative side of his teaching (on mysticism) he depends almost entirely upon Augustine* (Christian Mysticism, p. 140).
ig2 WESTERN MYSTICISM
vacat Deo) aspire to the tumultuous life of the officials of the monastery (Serm. de assumpt. B.V.M. in. 2),
The solitude of the contemplative life is described as follows:
O holy soul, remain alone, so as to preserve thyself for Him alone of all things Whom thou hast chosen to thyself frorn^ among all. Avoid appearing in public, shun even those who dwell in the house with thee, withdraw thyself from friends and intimates. ... With- draw thyself; I do not mean in body, but withdraw in mind^ in intention, in devotion, in spirit. ...
The only solitude prescribed to you is solitude of mind and spirit. You are alone if you are not thinking of common things, if you are not interested in things present, if you think little of that which many esteem highly, if you despise what all desire, if you avoid disputes, do not take to heart losses, nor bear injuries in mind. You may be alone in a crowd, or in a crowd when alone. However large the throng of men in which you find yourself, you are alone if only you take care not to pry curiously into the lives and doings of others, nor to judge them rashly (Cant. xl. 4, 5) .
But in this life it is not possible for any one to be given up wholly to contemplation:
There is no doubt that in a right-thinking soul the love of God is preferred to the love of man, heaven to earth, eternity to time, the soul to the body. And yet in well-regulated action the opposite order is found frequently, or almost always, to prevail. For we are both more frequently occupied, and more busily, with cares for our neighbour; we apply ourselves, by the right of humanity and the necessity of the case, more to promote the peace of the earth than the glory of heaven; in our anxiety about temporal interests we scarcely permit ourselves to think anything about those which are eternal. ,.. Who doubts that a man when he is in prayer is speaking to God? and yet how often are we withdrawn from prayer, and that at the very dictate of charity, because of those who are in need of our assistance or our advice! How often does holy quiet give place, and that from a pious motive, to the tumult of business affairs! (ibid. L 5).
St Gregory's teaching of the union of the two lives, of contempla- tion and action, is endorsed by St Bernard:
A soul accustomed to quiet draws consolation from good works rooted in a faith unfeigned, whenever the light of holy contempla- tion is withdrawn from it, as is often the case. For who is able to enjoy the light of holy contemplation I do not say continually, but even for a considerable time while he remains in this body? But, as
ST BERNARD IQ3
I have said, as often as he falls from the state of contemplation he resorts to that of action, as to a convenient refuge from whence he may be able more easily to return into contemplation. For these two things are intimately related; they are chamber companions and dwell together. Martha is sister to Mary, and although she comes forth from the light of contemplation, she never suffers herself to fall into the darkness of sin, or subside into slothful leisure, but remains still in the light of good works (Cant. li. 2).
Similarly:
Recognize what I have said to you more than once about the two alternations of sacred repose and of necessary action, and that there is not in this life space for lengthened contemplation or prolonged repose, because the duties of office and the usefulness of work press upon us more urgently, and are more immediately necessary. The Bridegroom, therefore, as is His wont, when His beloved has been for a while reposing in sacred communion with Him, does not delay to summon her to duties which seem to be more needful. . . . But for the Bride to know a wish of her Bridegroom is for her at once to feel the desire to be enabled to fulfil it, the desire for good works, the desire to bear fruit for the Bridegroom (ibid. Iviii. i).
Like St Gregory, St Bernard insists that those who work for the spiritual good of others, must themselves be spiritual men, exercising prayer and contemplation. This is the burden of Sermon xviii. on the Canticle.
The gifts of the Holy Ghost are of two kinds, those given us for our own sake, and those given us for the sake of others. He gives the warning:
We must take heed of two dangers: that of giving to others what is meant for ourselves, and of keeping for ourselves what is given to us for others. You are certainly retaining for yourself that which be- longs to your neighbour, if, for example, being not only full of virtues, but also outwardly adorned with the gifts of knowledge and of eloquence, fear, perhaps, or sloth, or an ill-judged humility, re- strains your good gift of speech, which might be of service to many people, in a useless, or ? rather, blamable silence; and thus you are evil spoken of because you withhold corn from the people. On the other hand, you dissipate and lose that which is your own if, before you have received a complete inpouring, and while you are, so to speak, but half filled, you hasten to pour yourself forth. ...
If, then, you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. ... In the Church at the present day we have many canals, few reservoirs (Cant, xviii. 2, 3).
194 WESTERN MYSTICISM
The course of the spiritual life is traced in 5, from conversion through penitence, good works, prayer, up to contemplation (the passage has been cited in Part L, p. 99). The effect of contempla- tion is to generate a love that makes such an one a good and worthy pastor of souls; thus the last three stages are: prayer, contemplation, spiritual fecundity.
That momentary and passing contemplation does not fail to arouse in him an ardent and burning love. Such a love is full of zeal; and with that love a faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord hath set over His household, ought to feel himself aglow. It fills and warms the soul, it boils over and spreads itself fearlessly, it bursts forth, and it says: Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is scandalized and I am not on fire? Let him who is possessed by that love preach and bear fruit; let him do marvels, let him even work miracles; vanity will find no place in him who is wholly occupied by charity. . . . It is very full of peril to promote [to ecclesiastical functions] one who has not yet attained this perfect charity, however great be the talents which, in other respects, he may appear to possess. ...
Behold with how many and great graces it behoves us to be pre- viously filled, that we may venture to impart to others, so that we may bestow out of fullness, not out of poverty. In the first place we ought to have compunction; secondly, devotion; thirdly, a laborious penitence; fourthly, works of piety; fifthly, earnestness in prayer; sixthly, the repose of contemplation; and in the seventh place, the fullness of charity (Cant, xviii. 6).
Warnings are uttered against a false mysticism, a contemplation not properly prepared for by penitence, self-discipline, the exercise of the virtues, and the performance of good works, and indulged in to the disregard of works of obedience:
Perhaps you desire the repose of contemplation; and in this you do well, provided that you do not forget the flowers with which the Couch of the Bride is strewed. Therefore do thou take great care similarly to wreathe around thine the blossoms of good works, and to make the exercise of virtues precede that holy leisure. Otherwise it would be self-indulgence that you should so earnestly desire to rest before you have earned that rest by labour, and you would be neglecting the fruitfulness of Lia in desiring to enjoy only the em- braces of Rachel. But it would be a reversing of the proper order to ask for the reward without having earned it, and to take food before having done the labour. The taste of contemplation is emphatically not due, except to obedience to God's commandments. Do not imagine, then, that the love of your own repose is to be in any wise made a hindrance to works of holy obedience, or to the traditions of the elders. Do not suppose that you will have the company of the
ST BERNARD 195
Bridegroom for that bed 1 which you have strewed, not with the flowers of obedience, but with the weeds and nettles of disobedience. How should He approve the empty leisure of that contemplation of yours? 2 (Cant. xlvi. 5).
The good actions of a holy life are well compared to flowers in a bridal-chamber, because they produce the testimony of a quiet and safe conscience. After a good work one more securely reposes (slumbers) in contemplation; and the more fully a man is conscious of not having been wanting through inertness or love of self in the performance of good works, the more confidence will he have in endeavouring to see and to investigate things on high. (ibid, xlvii. 4) .
We have already seen in Part I. D (p. 113) when speaking of the Spiritual Marriage, that the imagery of marriage is carried on to the idea of spiritual fecundity.
This conception entered into the traditional mystical doctrine of later times; therefore it is worth while signalizing other places where St Bernard dwells upon it.
Commenting on the opening words of the Canticle, 'Thy breasts are better than wine', he explains them as meaning that the effect of union with the Bridegroom in contemplation is that the Bride's breasts become filled with spiritual milk for the nourishment of the children she brings forth:
Suddenly the Bridegroom is present and gives assent to her peti- tion; He gives her the kiss asked, of which the fullness of breasts is witness. For so great is the efficacy of this holy kiss that the Bride on receiving it conceives, the swelling breasts rich with milk being the evidence. Those whose endeavour it is to pray frequently have made proof of what I say. Often we approach the altar and give ourselves to prayer with a heart lukewarm and dry. But if we persist, grace comes suddenly in a flood upon us, our breast grows full of increase, a wave of piety fills our inward heart; and if we press on, the milk of sweetness conceived in us will soon spread over us in fruitful flood. And the Bridegroom will say: Thou hast, O my Spouse, that which thou prayedst for; and this is the sign: Thy breasts have become better than wine. By this may you know that you have received the kiss, in that you have conceived, and that your breasts are filled with milk. Her companions say to the Bride, Why do you still ask for the wine of contemplation? For that which He has already given is of far greater value. That which you ask for delights you indeed; but the breasts by which you nourish the chil- dren whom you bring forth are better, that is, more necessary, than the wine of contemplation. The one is that which makes glad the heart of one man alone; but the other that which edifies many. For though Rachel is fairer, Lia is more fruitful. Do not therefore too
1 'Non dormiet tecuni sponsus in lecto uno.*
2 'Contemplationis tuae inane otium.'
196 WESTERN MYSTICISM
much linger over the kisses of contemplation, because the breasts of preaching are better (Cant. ix. 7, 8).
The above may appear unduly realistic in treatment; the following is not liable to such criticism:
Notice how, while desiring one thing, the Bride receives another. She strives for the repose of contemplation, and the labour of preaching is laid upon her; and while she is thirsting for the presence of the Bridegroom, the care of bringing forth children for Him and of nourishing them is entrusted to her. She must recognize herself to be a mother, and to be bound to give milk to her little ones, and to nourish her children.
[Again the illustration of Rachel, beautiful but barren, and Lia, dim-eyed but fertile,]
From this we are taught that it is often needful to leave the sweets of contemplation for the sake of labours which give nourishment (lactantia ubera), and that no one must live for himself alone, but for the good of all (Cant. xli. 5, 6).
We have seen (p, 184) St Gregory's idea of a contemplative life as actually lived; the following piece makes it clear that St Bernard's idea is the same:
After this divine look, so full of condescension and goodness, comes a Voice, gently and sweetly presenting to the mind the Will of God; and this is no other than Love itself, which cannot remain in leisure, soliciting and persuading to the fulfilment of the things that are of God. Thus the Bride hears that she is to arise and hasten, no doubt to work for the good of souls. This is indeed a property of true and pure contemplation, that it sometimes fills the mind, which it has vehemently inflamed with divine fire, with a fervent zeal and desire to gain for God others to love Him in like manner, and to that end it very willingly lays aside the leisure of contemplation for the labour of preaching. And again, when it has attained the object desired, to a certain extent, it returns with the more eagerness to that con- templation, in that it remembers that it laid it aside for the sake of gaining more fruit. Then, when it has tasted again the delights of contemplation, it recurs with increased power, and with its accustomed keenness, to its labours for the good of souls.
But the mind frequently hesitates between these continual changes, being profoundly anxious and fearful, lest when drawn to one or other of these alternatives by the attractions and advantages it discerns in each, it should give itself up too much to one or other of them, and should deviate by ever so little from the divine will. . . . Even a holy man feels grave uncertainty between the claims of fruitful labour and of restful contemplation; and although he is always occupied about good things, yet he always feels a sense of regret as if he had been doing that which is wrong, and from one
ST BERNARD 197
moment to another entreats with groans to be shown the will of God. In these uncertainties, the one and only remedy is prayer and frequent upliftings of the soul to God, that He would deign to make continually known to us what we ought to do, and when, how, and in what manner we should do it. You have, as I think, these three things pointed out and commended in the words of the Bridegroom, 'My love, my dove, my beautiful one,' namely, preaching, prayer, and contemplation.
For rightly is the Bride called love 5 , in that by preaching, ad- vising, ministering, she zealously and faithfully seeks to make gain for the Bridegroom. Rightly is she called c dove', in that she ceases not in prayer to win the divine mercy for her sins. Rightly too is she called 'beautiful 5 in that, radiant with heavenly desire, she takes on herself the beauty of divine contemplation, but only at the hours when it may be done conveniently and opportunely (Cant. Ivii. 9).
K. CONTEMPLATION OPEN TO ALL
On this point St Bernard's testimony is less clear than St Augustine's and St Gregory's, because in what he says of con- templation he is addressing his monks. He certainly encourages them all to aspire to contemplation and declares it to be open to any of them who strives in the right way to attain to it. But in some passages he may be understood as speaking more generally of all devout Christians. For instance:
c My beloved is mine, and I am His. 5 It is the Church that speaks thus. But what shall we say of each of us individually? Are we to think that there is any one among us to whom what is said by the Bride is capable of being applied? Anyone, do I say, among us? I should think that there is no one at all among the faithful members of the Church with respect to whom it may not justly be inquired whether the Bride's mystical saying is not realized in some degree in him (Cant. Ixviii. 3, 4).
At the beginning of the exposition after describing the Kiss of the Hands and Feet of Christ, he goes on:
And after you have made in those two kisses a double proof of the Divine condescension, perhaps you may be so bold as to enter upon the endeavour to reach still higher and more sacred things. For in proportion as you grow in grace, your confidence also will augment, you will love more fervently, and knock at the door with more assurance of success, to seek that in which you feel you are wanting: for to him who knocks it shall be opened. And to you, when in such a disposition of mind and soul, I believe there ^will not be refused that kiss, the loftiest and most sacred of all, which con- tains in itself at once a supreme condescension and a sweetness ineffable (ibid. iii. 5).
198 WESTERN MYSTICISM
Again:
If there be among us one who feels it is good to draw near to God; one in such way a man of desires that he longs to be dissolved and to be with Christ; but longs for it vehemently, thirsts for it ardently, and meditates on it assiduously; such an one assuredly will receive the Word, and in none other form than Bridegroom, in the time of visitation, in the hour when he feels himself inwardly em- braced, as it were, in the arms of Wisdom, and feels himself bathed in the sweetness of holy love (ibid, xxxii. 2).
THE CONTEMPLATIVE AND ACTIVE LIVES
4. SUMMARY
SUMMARY: THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
THE nature of the contemplative (theoretic, speculative) life and the problems to which it gives rise had occupied the attention of the Greek philosophers, and the subject has been dealt with from many standpoints by many writers on ethics and religion ever since. Yet I do not know that the history of thought on the contemplative life and the active, and the relations between them, has ever been made the object of a special study, or that any treatise has been composed on the subject. So comprehensive a work as Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics has no article on "contemplative life'; yet would the subject be fraught with interest. If this history ever comes to be worked out, it will, I think, appear that no previous writer had discoursed with such fullness and insight as Augustine on the nature of the Two Lives and the claims of each of them on the individual; and no later writer with such discerning judgement and practicality as Gregory.
In any such investigation one thing would soon become manifest: that, not unlike many other philosophical terms, 'contemplative life' has borne many connotations, hardly any of the authorities meaning exactly the same thing by the term.
In order to make some beginning of the investigation here pro- posed, and at the same time to serve the practical purpose that has inspired this book, a few notes will be given indicating some of the principal conceptions that have been entertained of the con- templative life.
There is a tradition that Pythagoras formulated a theory of the contemplative life and established in South Italy communities living it; little, however, is known of the actual teaching of Pythagoras, and in later times a myth grew up concerning him, so that we are in great uncertainty about him. Thus in the matter of contemplative life we do not touch terra firma until we come to Plato.
Plato and Aristotle
Plato speaks of contemplation in various places, but it is at the end of Book vii. of the Republic that he speaks of the contemplative life, without, however, using the term:
Those who are to be the guardians of the state and the upbringers of the coming generation, after having been in early manhood exer- cised in all the civic functions of peace and war, 'when they have
202 WESTERN MYSTICISM
reached fifty years, let those who have distinguished themselves in every action of their lives and in every branch of knowledge, come at last to their consummation: the time has now arrived at which they must raise the eye of the soul to the universal light which lightens all things, and behold the Absolute Good (TO ayaQbv ai/ro); for that is the pattern according to which they are to order the State and the lives of individuals, and the remainder of their own lives also; making philosophy their chief pursuit, but, when their turn comes, each one devoting himself to the hard duties of public life and holding office, not as a desirable but as an unavoidable occupation 5 (540: Jowett).
This conception of a contemplative life as liable to alternations of return to the active at the call of duty, is not fundamentally different from what we have found in Augustine or Gregory. Plato's idea of contemplation may be gathered from the following:
The soul when using the body as an instrument of perception, that is to say, when using the sense of sight or hearing or some other sense, is dragged by the body into the region of the changeable, and wanders and is confused. But when returning to herself she reflects, then she passes into the other world, the region of purity and eternity and immortality and unchangeableness, which are her kindred, and with them she ever lives when she is by herself and is not let or hindered; then she ceases from her erring ways, and being in communion with the unchanging, is unchanging. And this state of the soul is called wisdom (Phaedo, 79; c Augustine, above, p. 161). Of contemplation itself he speaks thus: In the heaven above the heavens there abides Being Itself with which true knowledge is con- cerned; the colourless, formless, intangible essence,, visible only to mind. The mind which is capable of it rejoices in beholding reality and in gazing upon truth. It beholds knowledge absolute in existence absolute, and the other true existences in like manner, and feasts upon them (Phaedrus, 247). This is the contemplation of the celest- ials, or, as we should say, of the next life; in this life, according to Plato, the soul can have only desires and glimpses of such con- templation,
Aristotle distinguishes three lives, the sensual (that of the senses), the political or civic (of which virtue is the object), and the specula- tive, i.e. theoretic or contemplative (Ethics, i. 3). He treats of the speculative in Ethics, Book x.:
Happiness is the activity of the highest part of our nature; but the speculative is the highest activity, as the intuitive reason (VOVQ) is the highest of our faculties, and the objects with which the intuitive reason is concerned are the highest of things that can be known. There is no virtuous activity so pleasant as the activity of
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE 2OJ
wisdom or philosophic reflexion. Speculative activity will be the perfect happiness of man, if perfect length of life is given it. But such a life will be too good for man. He will enjoy such a life not in virtue of his humanity, but in virtue of some divine element within him. If the reason is divine in comparison with the rest of man's nature, the life which accords with reason will be divine in comparison with human life in general. A man should do all that is in his power to live in accordance with the highest part of his nature. The activity of God, being pre-eminently blissful, will be speculative; and if so, then the human activity most nearly related to it will be most capable of happiness. The life of men is blessed in so far as it possesses a certain resemblance to God's speculative activity. Happiness is co-extensive with speculation, and the greater a person's power of speculation, the greater will be his happiness. Happiness must be a kind of speculation (cc. 7, 8, Welldon) .
It is to be noted that the conception of contemplation held by Aristotle and Plato alike is purely intellectual, a philosophical con- centration of thought on absolute Good or ultimate Truth.
Philo
With Philo a fully religious conception of the contemplative life enters the field. The description of the Therapeutae in the treatise de Vita Contemplativa portrays a community living apart in seclusion and silence, practising ascetical and religious exercises, given up to prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, and the contemplation of divine truth. In his other writings Philo speaks incidentally in like manner of contemplation and the contemplative life: the passages have been brought together by Mr F. G. Gonybeare in the 'Excursus' to his edition of de Vita Contemplativa^ 1895. Philo insists that no one should enter on the contemplative life before the age of fifty, after having exercised faithfully the duties and functions of family and civic life; this idea, no doubt, is derived from Plato.
Clement and Origen
Any treatise on the Two Lives would have to take count of Clement of Alexandria, the first Christian writer on the subject, even though the idea underlying his 'lower' and 'higher', or 'gnostic', life is somewhat different from that of the active and contemplative lives (see Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alexandria, pp. 82-99) . Origen is more in the line of tradition; in a fragment on John ix. 18, he takes Martha as typifying the practical or active life, and Mary as typifying the theoretic or contemplative (Comm. in loan. 'Berlin Corpus', p. 547); for him the contemplative life is one given up
204 WESTERN MYSTICISM
mainly to searching the Scriptures and wearying itself in invest- igating the meaning of the Sacred Writings (see Dissertation of W. Borneman, In investlganda Monachatus Origine quibus de causis ratio habenda sit Qrigenis, 1884).
Cassian
What Cassian says of the contemplative life has been summarized in Benedictine Monachism; the summary may be reproduced here:
In the beginnings of Christian monachism, among the monks of Egypt as represented by various hermits in Cassian (especially Collations, xix. xxiv.), we find the conception of the contemplative life pushed to the extreme limit. It could not be lived in a cenobium (community), but only in a hermitage: 'the cenobite cannot attain to the fullness of contemplative purity' (xix. 9); 'the heavenly transports' frequently experienced in solitude, and the 'sublimity of contemplation' are lost by return to the cenobium (5)* Anything that withdraws the hermit from the precincts of his cell and court- yard, and compels him to go out for any work in the open air, 'dissipates his concentration of mind and all the keenness of the vision of his aim' (xxiv. 3). 'Agricultural work is incompatible with the contemplative life, because the multitude of thoughts generated by such work makes unbearable the prolonged silence and quiet of the hermit's cell' (4), and the excitement of cultivating a fertile garden is too great a distraction, and incapacitates the mind for spiritual exercises (12): of course it was recognised that contempla- tion cannot be continual in this life (xxiii. 5) (p. 67).
On this I commented: 'It is at once evident that the three great cenobitic founders, Pachomius, Basil, and Benedict, all turned away from the idea of a contemplative life such as this, and all made agri- cultural work an integral part of the monastic life they instituted. Judged by the Egyptian standard, Trappist life is not contemplative, nor any form of Western monastic life for men, except, perhaps, the Camaldolese and Carthusian, who are half-hermits. 5 But this ideal of the contemplative life has prevailed in the East from that day to this.
It may be well just to refer to Cassian' s teaching on the * actual 5 or 'practical' life, set forth in Collation xiv., and summarized in Benedictine Monachism, p. 47. Cassian's actual life is not the same as the active life defined by St Gregory, though to some extent the two are coincident. The actual life is ethical training and self- discipline, and may, but does not necessarily, include the good works of the active life.
St Augustine
We have seen very fully St Augustine's idea of the contemplative life, and we have seen his conciliation of the claims of the two lives.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE 2O5
He speaks of the contemplative life and the active; also of a leisured life and a busied (otiosa, negotiosa) ; and though he does not employ the term 'mixed life', he does speak of a life made up of both the others (ex utroque genere composita) . His practical solution of the problem, given in a passage that set the standard in the West (de Civ. Dei, xix. 19, cited p. 165 in Latin and English), is that, what- ever be the superior attractions or the greater intrinsic worth of contemplation, it has to be interrupted at the calls of duty or charity.
We have already been at some pains to show that Augustine's contemplations, whatever the language in which they are expressed, are really and fully religious in character, and not merely the joy felt in intellectual speculation (Part I. D). Still, in most of the places where he speaks of the contemplative life the dominant idea appears to be the intellectual perception or intuition of truth. Thus in the passage just referred to, the contemplative life is characterized as a life in which one is given up to perceiving and intuing truth. It is not open to question that when, on his conversion, he betook himself with his intimate friends to the country retreat at Cassi- ciacum, it was to give himself up to a course of philosophical specu- lation on the great truths of religion; or that at that time he tended to identify true knowledge and virtue: in the Retractions he rectifies in various points the over-emphasized intellectualism of these early dialogues. For all that, many indications in these same dialogues show that he was giving himself up at the same time frequently and with great earnestness to the practice of prayer and devotion (e.g. de Ord. i. 22, 25, 29; Ep. iii. 4). 1
1 Reference has already been made (p. 41) to the questions mooted recently as to St Augustine's intellectual and religious position at the time of the Con- version and during the subsequent months. The problem is the conciliation of the account in the Confessions with the mentality manifested in the series of Dialogues. It is contended that the Confessions cannot be taken as an historical account of his mental processes, but are rather an idealized projection backwards of the fully religious Catholic attitude into which he finally grew. The new theory has been pushed to its extreme limit in the book of M. Prosper Alfaric, L' Evolution Intellectuelle de S. Augustin (1918), which contains a careful and useful Analysis of the Dialogues. For M. Alfaric the Conversion was not one of the intellect^ to Catholic Christianity, but only a moral change of life, the intellect remaining neo-Platonist, so that some years passed during which Augustine was but a neo- Platonist, not a Christian, in intellect.
Such a position appears to me altogether unbalanced and extravagant, and not borne out by a reasonable interpretation of the documents. There is in Book iii. of the Dialogue contra Academicos, one of the Cassiciacum series, a passage that quite unmistakably portrays his attitude of mind: 'No one can doubt that we are impelled to learn by a twofold weight, of authority and of reason. In regard to authority, it is for me certain never to depart from that of Christ, for I can find none more powerful. But in regard to what is to be sought out by subtlest reason- for I am so made that I impatiently desire to apprehend truth not only by be- lieving but also by intellectually understanding I am confident of finding with
206 WESTERN MYSTICISM
We are accustomed to distinguish sharply between philosophical contemplation and religious. Thus Fr Baker says:
To this rank of philosophical contemplations may be referred those scholastic wits which spend much time in the study and subtle examination of the mysteries of faith (Sancta Sophia, p. 503).
And, on the other hand:
Experience demonstrates that all the most sublime exercises of contemplation may as purely and perfectly be performed by persons the most ignorant and unlearned (so they be sufficiently instructed in the fundamental articles of Catholic faith) as by the learnedst doctors, inasmuch as not any abilities in the brain are requisite thereto, but only a courageous affection of the heart (ibid 39; rf. 136).
But for Augustine there could be no such distinction his in- tellectual perception of truth was religious, and his religious experi- ence was intellectual. God as absolute Being, Good, Truth, Beauty, was the object not only of his intellectual vision, but at the same time of his religious emotion. Probably in a higher degree than any other saint or seer has he synthesized in his religious consciousness the two faculties of knowing and loving. So that his contemplative life was intellectual, and simultaneously religious, in a measure per- haps not achieved by any other.
Julmnus Pomerius
This writer, an African who lived at Aries about 500, is introduced as being the author of the first Christian treatise entitled de Vita Contemplativa (Migne, Patr. Lat. lix. 415). It used to be attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine, and as such St Thomas cites it. It is a work of pastoral instruction for the clergy, and it treats of the con- templative life (Book i.) and 'the active life (Book ii.). The con- templative life properly belongs to the next world, but an earnest living of the spiritual life may be some beginning of a contemplative life even in this world. Such beginning is open to holy bishops and priests, who, for all their ministrations and occupations, may enjoy
tlie Platonists what is not repugnant to our sacred books' (or doctrines sacris nostris) (op. clt. 43).
This showsj on the one hand, his full acceptance of Christian faith and belief on the authority of Christ; and, on the other, that he was one of those who feel the need of a philosophical basis for his Christian belief, and that he looked to Platonism, i.e. neo-Platonism, to supply it. To label the man who wrote these words as a mere neo-Platonist, and not yet a Catholic Christian, is preposterous. St Augustine was not a neo-Platonist in any other way than that in which St Thomas was an Aristotelian.
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
some taste of contemplation. The contemplative life consists of four elements: the knowledge of hidden things, the vision of God, vacancy from mundane pursuits, reading of Scripture. Nothing stands in the way of holy bishops and priests attaining to this to some taste of the first two, as far as may be possible in this life, and to the last two adequately. Thus those who faithfully exercise their pastoral duties may be partakers in the contemplative life.
St Gregory the Great
We have seen St Gregory's definition of the contemplative life (p. 171), that it lies in resting from exterior action and cleaving to the desire of God, so that the mind takes no pleasure in doing any- thing, but is aglow with the longing for the eternal life. We have seen also that he recognizes this cannot be the permanent state of the mind, for no mind in this life can be kept thus on the stretch for spiritual things; consequently his idea is that the exercise of the contemplative life can be carried on only by way of alternation with the works of the active life. The intervals between bouts of con- templation are not to be vacant periods of resting or waiting, but should be filled up by the exercise of the good works of the active life. Furthermore, in the striking passage cited on pp. 184-185, St Gregory lays it down that he who ordinarily carries on the good works of the active life, but ever and anon strives to recollect himself and raise himself to contemplation, is not failing in leading a con- templative life, but assuredly holds on to the fullness of that which, though ever falling short of, he is at frequent intervals striving to attain to.
This is what is now understood by the 'mixed life 5 , though the term is not used by St Gregory. What is now called a purely con- templative life, in which the works of the active life are sought to be reduced almost to a vanishing point, lay quite outside St Gregory's mental horizon: he seems to take for granted that such a life is not livable in this world.
A great part of St Gregory's utterances on the subject were made to his monks, to whom the Morals were addressed; and therefore in Benedictine Monachism (p. 99) the thesis is maintained that St Gregory's teaching is the most authentic historical formulation of the theory of Benedictine contemplative life.
Cluny
But another conception of the contemplative life introduced itself among Benedictines under the tendencies set going by St Benedict of
2O8 WESTERN MYSTICISM
Aniane in the ninth century, and carried to their utmust limit by the Cluniacs in the eleventh and twelfth, whereby there was so great an increase in the celebration of masses and offices that they took up the greater part of the waking hours, to the exclusion of all other work (see Benedictine Monachism, p. 295). And this manner of life, spent mostly in church, came to be looked on as realizing the idea of the contemplative life. In the curious twelfth-century Dialogue between a Cluniac and a Cistercian, the Gluniac twits the Cistercian, saying that the Cistercians, spending most of their time in manual labour in the fields, live the active life, whereas the Cluniacs live the contemplative life, 1 Owing to the enormous influence of Cluny, this became the currently accepted idea of the contemplative life in Benedictine circles, and beyond them, during several centuries.
St Bernard and Richard of St Victor
The Cistercian movement was in great measure a reaction against the Cluniac interpretation of Benedictine life, and included a restoration of the element of manual and field work as provided by St Benedict. In regard to the theory of the contemplative life, St Bernard reasserted St Gregory's idea that a contemplative life can only be one made up of alternations of contemplation and the exercise of the works of the active life for the good of others (see pp. 192-193, and especially p. 196).
But St Bernard takes the theory a step forward. As we have seen (p. 113), he carries on the imagery of the spiritual marriage to the idea of spiritual fecundity, so that the ensuing zeal for souls and work for souls is not merely a process of needful repose and recupera- tion of the spiritual forces of the soul after contemplation, but is positively the direct effect of the highest kind of contemplation, that of the spiritual marriage, which propels the soul to leave its quiet and go forth to bear spiritual offspring to its Lord.
St Bernard's contemporary, Richard of St Victor, e in contempla- tion more than man' (Dante), works out this imagery with a literal- ness that is almost startling. He dwells upon the four phases of the spiritual marriage, espousals, marriage, wedlock, child-bearing (desponsatio, nuptiae, copula, puerperium): after having been in the third admitted to the closest union with God, in the fourth the contemplative comes down with Christ from the Mount of Trans- figuration and works in imitation of Him among men, preferring their good to his own. Thus does the spiritual marriage issue in spiritual fecundity. 2
1 Martne, Thesaurus Anecdotorwn> v. 1574.
* iv Gradibus violentae Caritatis (Migne, Patr. Lat. cxcvi. 1216,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE 2O9
St Thomas Aquinas
St Thomas's teaching on contemplation and the contemplative life may be found conveniently in the volume entitled On Prayer and the Contemplative Life, by St Thomas Aquinas, being the relevant Questions of the 'Sumnia', translated by Fr Hugh Pope, O.P. The doctrine is thus summarized by Fr Pope: Tor St Thomas the con- templative life is but the natural life of a man who is serving God and who devotes a certain portion of his time to the study and con- templation of divine things' (p. 4).
In a careful analysis of St Thomas's idea of contemplation, Dom John Chapman thus sums up his teaching on the point:
In Ms disquisitions on the active and contemplative lives (in 3 Sent. dist. xxxv., qu. I, and Summa, 2 2 ae , qu. clxxx.), he describes contemplation 'humano modo', as the brief rest of the mind upon the great verities at which it has arrived by argument and investiga- tion, avoiding any mention of mystical prayer. He means by the contemplative life the life of study and passion for truth, as opposed to the life which uses the body to do external works. In the Order of Preachers, to which he belonged, he thinks the perfect admixture of the two is to be found in the combination of study with preaching. He did not simply distinguish the two lives as that of prayer and that of works of charity. 1
In thus stressing the intellectual side of contemplation, St Thomas is in line with Aristotle and St Augustine. The Index to the Opera shows that only the marrow of his teaching is in the Summa; he treats with extreme care in many other places the whole range of questions concerning this subject. I do not find that he ever employs the very term 'mixed life'; he recognizes the thing, however, and says it is the highest form of life but on certain conditions: if to a contemplative life be united works of the active, it must be by way of addition, not by way of subtraction; and the works of the active life must flow from the fullness of contemplation. 2
Blessed John Ruysbroeck
John Ruysbroeck, 'the Admirable', is in some ways the most wonderful of the mystics. As a descriptive mystic he stands alongside of St John of the Gross in the daring and eloquence with which he ventures to utter in human language the experiences of union and knowledge to which he, was admitted. If he lacks St John's Latin clarity of thought and expression, he more than makes up for it by
1 Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ix. 96. 8 Summa, 2 2ae, qu. clxxxii. i, cbocxviii. 6.
2IO WESTERN MYSTICISM
a certain massive mysteriousness that may be called Teutonic he was a Fleming of Brabant through which we seem ever and anon to catch glimpses of realities deeply impressive though at times be- wildering. But there is a consistency and a sanity through it all, and a restraint due to his sound theological formation, which make an overwhelming impression of truth and reality. It may with all probability be said, that than him there has been no greater con- templative; and certainly there has been no greater mystical writer. His contemplation is highly intellectual, and at the same time fully mystical. Whether in the sublimity of his elevations or in the power of recording his experiences, Ruysbroeck stands as one of the very greatest of the mystics, 1
Ruysbroeck's principal work, The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, is divided into three books. The first is concerned with the active life; it is a treatise on the acquirement of the virtues, and is rather Cassian's actual than St Gregory's active life. The second