Chapter XIII
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measure. And so in this drawing out of the construction of the propitiatory a threefold distinction of divine gifts suggests itself to us, concerning which alone, or most of all, the frequent and careful reexamination of our consideration ought to be engaged. From the very condition of its creation it is natural for every rational creature to exist, to know and to will. Think how necessary, how just, and how fitting it is for divine goodness to give discretion of good and evil to so worthy a creature and so excellent a nature, and at the same time to allow freedom of will so that its good might be both received and willed, both a gift and freely done. As long as you exert yourself in such a discussion, you labor in drawing out your propitiatory. Examine carefully, contemplate, and wonder at freedom of the will, discretion of judgment and sublimity of essence:
With this you make your propitiatory according to the harmony of order and you draw out the due measure of quantity in length.
I would be surprised if by yourself you did not pay attention to how useful or how necessary continual consideration of all these things is. For from this the mind is illumined, inflamed and confirmed in the good.
Chapter XIII How in the first stage of this contemplation the mind ought to exercise itself and how much such exercise is effective Therefore, think about continually, consider earnestly, investigate carefully the will— not only your own, but also that of another, whether good or evil. Know your own will, so that you may know what to correct, and also for what you ought to give thanks.
Also, think about the souls of the perfect, and even of the perverse; the souls of good spirits and of malignant spirits, so that from the consideration of opposites there may shine forth what it is expedient to imitate and what to avoid. Pay attention to what you know; pay attention to how much you do not know. Come to know how much you are set above brute spirits according to natural ability; come to know how much you are below angelic spirits according to intellect.
If you pay attention to how much you surpass a brute
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spirit by means of mental sense you will sing heartily, "I will bless the Lord who gave me understanding" (Ps.
15:7). If you think about angelic understanding you will surely declare: "God, you know my lack of wisdom" (Ps. 68:6). Therefore it is very beneficial and necessary for me to examine my ignorance in order that I may know what I lack and may say with the blessed Job: "If I have not known anything, my ignorance is my own" (Job 19:4). But, as often as I direct attention into myself, how or how often has He shown me uncertain and hidden things of His wisdom? Surely my soul magnifies the Lord who teaches us more than the knowledge possessed by birds and draft-cattle because it is He who illumines all men who come into this world.
(Cf. John 1:9.) You see how great the benefit of this twin consideration is: namely to direct attention to the affection of the rational will and also to the sense of reason. But what should I say concerning the third of the designated considerations: Do we contemplate in wondering and marvel in contemplating the essence of the soul, the nature of the essence and the excellence of the nature?
I think one's own experience can easily teach each one how much this speculation is able to encourage the soul against vices and to stir it up toward good. Come to know your worth, O man, I beseech you; think about the excellent nature of your soul, how God made her according to His image and similitude, how He elevated her above every corporeal creature, and immediately you will begin to marvel how a famous virgin daughter of Zion has been expelled from heaven to earth, and in like manner you will begin to cry out to the Lord: "What do I have in heaven and what have I wished for upon the earth besides you?"
(Ps. 72:25). What is marvelous, I ask you, if in remembrance of my original condition, if because of the glance of my soul, the disorder of my external appearance overwhelmed me suddenly and without delay? For who does not feel shame to have given over the mistress of the world, the citizen of heaven, the beloved of God, to servitude to the body; to have prostituted her to unclean spirits; to have held her for a long time under the yoke of servitude in order to take care of the flesh in its longings? Surely anyone will marvel, when he comes to know his soul, when he directs his attention correctly to what the soul is or ought to be.
I say, he will marvel from what and to what she has been expelled: How a mistress of nations has been
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made a widow; how a princess of provinces has been placed under tribute.
I think that he wished to recall us to this consideration who said: "How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of enemies; you grow old in an alien land; you have been wholly defiled with dead persons; you have been counted with those who are in hell" (Bar.
3:11). And so, in this triple consideration we ought, as we have already said, to bring to completion the length of our propitiatory.
Chapter XIV The designation ofthose things which cannot be comprehended in this stage of speculation Now in the first and second consideration you can extend your knowledge as far as a cubit, but in the third you cannot do this at all. For where you have an instrument apt for that which one ought to know, there you undoubtedly possess a cubit of extraordinary certitude, as it were, because you are able to grasp by experience an idea of the thing being known. For your knowledge increases to a full cubit, as it were, when you reach firmness of certitude by means of experience. But for whom I ask, has not his own experience taught what it is to will or to know? Does not each one gather this, as often as he wills in his own heart? Do you not know how limitless are the things you will; how limitless, those you do not will; how innumerable, those you know; how innumerable, those you do not know? But how do you see your will, how do you come to know your thought? In like manner, how are you able to see or know the substance of your soul? Who, I say, in this present fleshly condition now sees or even has been able to see his soul or any spiritual substance whatsoever in its purity? Undoubtedly, in this respect the human intellect has been blind from birth and must of necessity cry daily to the Lord: "Illumine my eyes"
(Ps.
12:4).
Surely, if anyone in this corruptible flesh has been able to see what things of this sort are, he has been led above himself by ecstasy of mind.
In that which he sees he passes beyond the limits of the human intellect, not by his own activity but on account of a divine showing. But whatever human experience has been able to reach in
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this way, it is undoubtedly evident that it does not pertain to this kind of contemplation but to another kind.
Therefore, however much you exercise your natural ability in this consideration, however much you continue your effort without interruption, however much you enlarge your sense in this respect, you will not be able to extend your knowledge to a full cubit.
Chapter XV That we ought not to neglect those things which we comprehend only in part
Nevertheless, there are many things— and they ought not to be despised in the least—concerning the particular nature of spiritual essence that we are able either to gather from the authority of divine Scripture or to prove by the testimony of reason. Therefore let us strive to know in whatever way and as much as we are able, although we cannot extend it as far as a cubit by experience.
Modest it is, but there is much that can be known in this consideration. Certainly, it is modest with regard to fullness, but much in every way with regard to benefit. Therefore, do not neglect what you can know concerning this cubit, even though you cannot complete it at all. That I may not be silent about the rest of the things that seem to pertain to this speculation, how much loss do we think you incur if you are ignorant concerning the immortality of the soul and do not believe it at all? For if it were not established concerning the immortality of the soul, who, I ask, would prepare himself for future retribution? Who, I beg you, would restrain his life so that he would not go after his passionate cravings? Who would make satisfaction for evils that have been committed? Who would gird himself for brave works? Who would have patience in the midst of so much bitterness of divine lashings if he utterly despaired of a future life? Everything that is affirmed concerning the redemption of the human race, everything that is believed concerning the divine sacraments, whatever is taught concerning divine instructions, whatever is hoped for concerning divine promises, is utterly destroyed if there is no hope for perpetual life for the soul.
If we are persons who have hope in Christ in this life only, we are the most