William Ralph Inge - Christian Mysticism, 1918 by gnosisclassics

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Cornell University Library

BV5082

.145

Christian

mystclsm considered

1918 in

3 1924 029 354 556 oiin

eiglit

Cornell University Library

The tine

original of

tliis

book

is in

Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the

text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029354556

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

THE BAMPTON LECTURES,

1899

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM CONSIDERED IN EIGHT LECTURES

DELIVERED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

WILLIAM RALPH mCE, DEAN OF

D.D.

PAUL'S

FOURTH EDITION

METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON

ti 7, First PuhlisfudiJDemy 800^

X o^

...

Second and Cheaper Edition {Crozun Svo)

Third Edition {Crown Sao)

Fourth Edition (jCrown 8vo)

November i8gQ

February igis

...

April igiS

ig/g

EXTRACT FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE LATE

REV.

JOHN BAMPTON

CANON OF SALISBURY my Lands and Estates to the and Scholars of the University of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the said Lands and Estates upon trust, and to the intents and purposes here inafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and appoint that the " I give and bequeath

Chancellor, Masters,

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford for the time being shall take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the remainder to the endowment of

eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be estabUshed for ever in

the

said

University,

and

be performed

the

manner

following

" I direct and appoint that upon the first Tuesday in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining to the PrintingHouse, between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the com-

mencement of the last month the third week in Act Term.

Lent Term, and the end of

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

" Also I direct

and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture be preached upon either of the following Subjects to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics upon the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures upon the authority of the Sermons

shall

—

and practice Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as comprehended in Jhe Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. "Also I direct that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed within two months after they are preached and one copy shall be given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the City of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor entitled to writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith

of the primitive Church

—

— upon the Divinity of our

;

the revenue, before they are printed. " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture

Sermons, unless he hath taken least, in one of the two Uni-

the degree of Master of Arts at versities of

shall

Oxford or Cambridge

;

and that the same person

never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice."

PREFACE The

of the subjects which, according to the will of

first

Canon Bampton,

are prescribed for the Lecturers upon

his foundation,

the confirmation and establishment of

the Christian

This

faith.

the aim which

kept in view in preparing this volume

wish

Mysticism. hesitation,

should

than as a historical sketch of Christian I

say this because

adopt a historical

Lectures, and this arrangement

and

book to be judged as a contribution to apolo-

getics, rather

;

have

misunderstood.

some

decided, after

framework

may

cause

seemed to

instructiveness of tracing the development

for

the

object

that

the

and opera-

tion of mystical ideas, in the forms which they have

assumed as active

forces in

history,

outweighed

the

disadvantage of appearing to waver between apology

and

narrative.

series

of historical essays would, of

course, have been quite unsuitable in the University pulpit, and, moreover,

did not approach the subject

Until

began to prepare the Lectures,

from that

side.

about a year and a half before they were delivered,

study of the mystical writers had been directed solely

my own

and spiritual needs. I was attracted to them in the hope of finding in their writings a philosophy and a rule of life which would

intellectual

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

viii

mind and conscience. In this I was not and thinking that others might perhaps profit by following the same path, I wished to put together and publish the results of my thought and reading. In such a scheme historical details are either out of place or of secondary value and I hope this satisfy

disappointed

;

will

be remembered by any historians who

the trouble to read

The

much

take

book.

philosophical side of the subject

point of view

done

may

from

greater importance.

have

best to acquire an adequate knowledge of

philosophies, both ancient and modern, which most akin to speculative Mysticism, and also to have I think out my own position. I hope that

those

are

succeeded in indicating that

and

what

intelligible

but

;

standpoint, and

general

may

have written

have

prove

fairly consistent

keenly the disad-

felt

vantage of having missed the systematic training in metaphysics

given

Humaniores, and say

by the Oxford school of

presumption)

the

Literce

also the difficulty (perhaps I should

addressing

arguments to an audience which

metaphysical

included

several

I wish also that I had had eminent philosophers. more thorough study of Fechner's works time for a

for his system, so far as

understand

it,

seems to

have a great interest and value as a scheme of philosophical Mysticism which does not clash with

modern

science.

have spoken with a plainness which will probably give offence of the debased supernaturalism which I

usurps the

name

countries.

Mysticism

desire to

insult

Roman

Catholic

no man's convictions;

PREFACE and print

for this reason that

my analysis des

distingu^e

Edition,

have decided not to

of Ribet's work {La Mystique Divine, Contrefaqons

Paris,

Nouvelle

diaboliques.

which

vols.),

intended to

1895, It would have opened the eyes form an Appendix. of

some of

ism between

readers to the irreconcilable antagon-

Roman Church and

the

but

science;

though I translated and summarised my author faithfully, the result had all the appearance of a malicious travesty. I have therefore suppressed this Appendix

;

but with there

regard

no use

Roman

Catholic

Mysticism

Those who

mincing matters.

find

and wonders of this kind, and supernatural phenomena," even if

signs

edification

think that such

they were well authenticated instead of being ridiculous could possibly establish

fables,

find

spiritual

truths,

will

nothing to please or interest them in

little

But those who reverence Nature and

these pages.

Reason, and have no wish to hear of either of them being with

overruled

suspended,"

will, I

in valuing highly the later

hope, agree

developments of

mystical thought in Northern Europe.

There have but

another class of " mystics

with

—

whom

sympathy the dabblers in occultism. is, no doubt, a perfectly legitimate but when its professors invite us to watch the little

" Psychical research "

science

;

breaking down of the middle wall of partition between

matter and

spirit,

scientific,

they have, in

and are

reality

opinion, ceased to

hankering after the

beggarly elements of the later Neoplatonism.

The charge

of "pantheistic

hope, be brought against

tendency"

will

not,

without due considera-

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

X tion.

have

which

doctrine,

show how the Johannine Logos-

tried to is

Mysticism,

the basis of Christian

from Asiatic Pantheism, from Acosmism, and

differs

from (one kind

Of course,

of) evolutionary Idealism.

speculative Mysticism

nearer to Pantheism than to

Deism but I think it is possible heartily to eschew Deism without falling into the opposite error. ;

have received much help from

many

kind friends

and though some of them would not wish to be associated with all of my opinions, I cannot deny myself

by name. From my mother and other members of my family, and relations, especially Mr. W. W. How, Fellow of Merton, I the pleasure of thanking them

have received

many

work

College

—

;

Three past

useful suggestions.

or present colleagues have read

and

criticised parts of

now Fellow now Fellow of

the Rev. H. Rashdall,

Mr. H. A. Prichard,

New

Trinity

and Mr. H. H. Williams, Fellow of Hertford.

Mr.

G. L. Dickinson, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, lent

me an

The Bampton Lectures on the known all over Europe, did me

unpublished dissertation on Plotinus.

Rev. C. Bigg, D.D., whose Christian Platonists are

the kindness to read the whole of the eight Lectures,

and so added his

for

to the great debt

The Rev.

books.

which

owe

Heald,

him

formerly

me many books and by inquiring for me at Louvain enabled me to procure the books on Mysticism which are now studied in Roman Catholic Scholar of Trinity, Cambridge, lent

from

his

fine

Universities.

special

library,

The Rev. Dr. Lindsay, who has made of the German mystics, read my

study

Lectures on that period, and wrote

a very useful

— PREFACE

Miss G. H. Warrack of Edinburgh

upon them.

letter

kindly allowed

to use her modernised version of

Julian of Norwich.

have ventured to say

—

my last

Lecture and it is more general acquaintance with mystical theology and philosophy is very desirable in the interests of the English Church at the I

earnest conviction

present time.

—

that a

not one of those

who

think that

the points at issue between Anglo-Catholics and AngloProtestants are trivial Aristotle's

irrdaeK ov

irepl

—

fieydXcov

irepl

history has always

famous dictum about parties

dXV

fiiKpStv

but

sk fiiKpwv, (Traaid^ovai Be

do not so

confirmed

ytr^vovTai al

far

despair of our

Church, or of Christianity, as to doubt that a recon-

must and

ciling principle

be found.

will

Those who

the honour to read these Lectures

will

see

what quarter I look for a mediator. A very short study would be sufficient to dispel some of the prejudices which still hang round the name of Mysticism £.£-., that its professors are unpractical dreamers, and to

—

that this type of religion

mind.

a matter of

been energetic and city

cases.

antagonistic to the English

fact, all

influential,

the great mystics have

and

their business capa-

specially noted in a curiously large

number

For instance, Plotinus was often in request as and trustee; St. Bernard showed great

guardian

gifts

as an organiser;

Teresa,

St.

as a founder

convents and administrator, gave evidence of extraordinary practical ability; even St. Juan of the Cross displayed the same qualities lent bursar of his college

extremely well

;

and

;

John Smith was an excel-

F^nelon ruled

Madame Guyon

his diocese

surprised those

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

xii

who had

Henry More was

affairs.

posts of high

not as a rule ambitious, but

he often shows incapacity sents

offered

and dignity, but declined

sponsibility

mystic

by her great aptitude

dealings with her

mingle in

for practical

And

it.

so far

for

re-

The

them.

do not think life, if he conit

from being

true that Great Britain has produced but few mystics, that

inclined to think the subject

might be ade-

quately studied from English writers alone.

intellectual side

we have

Law and

Scotus Erigena) the Cambridge Platonists, Coleridge

of devotional mystics

;

examples

we have

Hilton and Julian of Norwich

verse the lofty idealism

the

(without going back to

and strong

attractive ;

while in

religious bent of

our race have produced a series of poet-mystics such as

no other country can

rival.

has not been possible

in these

Lectures to do justice to

Vaughan who have

" the Silurist," Quarles, all

drunk of the same

say that the student

who

George Herbert,

Crashaw, and others,

well.

Let

suffice to

desires to master the history

of Mysticism in Britain will find plenty to occupy his

But

time.

for the religious public in general the

useful thing

most would be a judicious selection from the

mystical writers of different times and countries.

who

are

interested in

tional than the speculative side '

really time that

we took

Those

the practical and devo-

may

study with great

burning that travesty of the British

—the John Bull whom our comic papers represent "guarding pudding" —instead of Guy Fawkes. Even in the nineteenth century, character

his

all the sordid materialism bred of commercial ascendancy, this country has produced a richer crop of imaginative literature than any other ; and it is significant that, while in Germany philosophy is falling

amid

more and more are nearly

all

into the

staunch

hands of the empirical school, our own thinkers

idealists.

PREFACE profit

some

Tauler,

parts of St. Augustine^ the

the

sermons of

Germanica, Hilton's

Theologia

Scale

Henry Suso, St. Francis de and Fdnelon, the Sermons of John Smith and

Perfection,

Sales

xiii

the

Life of

Whichcote's Aphorisms, and the later works of William

Law, not forgetting the poets who have been mentioned. I can think of no course of study more fitting for those who wish to revive in themselves and others the practical idealism of the primitive Church, which

gained for I

William "

it its

conclude

Law

greatest triumphs.

Preface

this

Writers like those

letter to

with

from

quotation

on the value of the mystical

writers.

have mentioned," he says

Dr. Trapp, " there have been in

all

ages of

the Church, but as they served not the ends of popular learning, as

they helped no people to figure or pre-

ferment in the world, and were useless to scholastic controversial writers, so they dropt out of public uses,

and were only known, or rather unknown, under the name of mystical writers, till at last some people have hardly heard of that very name: though,

were to be told what

meant by a mystical

man

divine,

he must be told of something as heavenly, as great, as desirable, as if

regenerate,

he was told what

living

member of

the

meant by a

real,

mystical body of

Christ; for they were thus called for no other reason

than as Moses and the prophets, and the saints of the Old Testament,

may

be called the

or the true mystical Jews. office

spiritual

These writers began

Israel,

their

of teaching as John the Baptist did, after they

had passed through every kind of mortification and self-denial, every kind of trial and purification, both

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

xiv

inward and outward.

They were deeply

learned in

kingdom of God, not through the or meditating upon critics, but because

the mysteries of the

use of lexicons,

they had passed from death unto

life.

They

highly

reverence and excellently direct the true use of every-

thing that

outward

in religion

king's daughter, they are

all

;

but, like the Psalmist's

glorious within.

They

are truly sons of thunder, and sons of consolation

they break open the whited sepulchres; they awaken the heart, and

show

but they leave raised

up within

it.

and rottenness of death kingdom of heaven is not If a man has no desire but to be it its filth till

the

of the spirit of the gospel, to obtain tion of life in Christ a

and

spirit

new

all

that renova-

which alone can make him to be

creature,

a great unhappiness to

him to be unacquainted with these writers, or a day without reading something of what they

to pass wrote."

—

CONTENTS LECTURE I.

II.

III.

PAGE

General Characteristics of Mysticism

The

Mystical Element in the Bible

Christian Platonism

and Speculative Mysticism

—

(i)

In the

East

IV. Christian Platonism and Speculative Mysticism

—

(2)

In the

West

125

V. Practical and Devotional Mysticism VI. Practical and Devotional Mysticism VII. Nature-Mysticism and Symbolism VIII. Nature-Mysticism

Appendix A.

Definitions

167

continued

.....

continued

Mysticism "

and

Mystical

335

Appendix

The Greek Mysteries and

Appendix

The

Index

249

299

Theology"

Appendix D. The

213

Christian Mysticism

349

Doctrine of Deification

356

Mystical Interpretation of the Song of Solomon

369

•

373

LECTURE

pavla SLSoTiu' "°'"*-"

Thoas.

S^ Avddei^ts iarai iuvois

fiiv

diruTTO!,

Plato, Phcedrus,

Iphigenia.

spricht kein Gott

;

notre vie est moins qu'une r^ternel;

si I'an

p. 245.

es spricht dein eignes Ilerz.

Sie reden nur dutch unser

Herz zu uns."

Goethe, "Si

tro^ois

qui

Iphigenie.

joum^e

fait le

tour

Chasse nos jours sans espoir de retour; Si p^rissable est toute chose n^e; Que songes-tu, mon Ime emprisonn^e?

Pourquoi te platt I'obscur de notre jour, Si, pour voler en un plus clair s^jour, Tu as au dos I'aile bien empenn^e Lii est le bien que tout esprit desire, Li, le repos oi tout le monde aspire, Li est I'amour, Ik le plaisir encore Li, 6 mon 3.me, au plus haul ciel guid^e, !

Tu y pourras De la beaut^

reconnaitre I'id^e

qu'en ce

monde

j'adore

Old

Poet,

— ;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM LECTURE

General Characteristics of Mysticism " Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we like

Him

shall be. ;

for

word

it is

not yet

manifest

that, if

shall see

our language

iii.

—not

even " Socialism "

has been employed more loosely than

Sometimes

made

He shall be manifested, we shall Him even as He is."— i John 2, 3.

know

Mysticism."

used as an equivalent for symbolism or

it is

allegorism, sometimes for theosophy or occult science

and sometimes

merely suggests the mental state of

a dreamer, or vague and fantastic opinions about

and the world.

Roman

God

Catholic writers, " mystical

phenomena" mean supernatural suspensions of physical law. Even those writers who have made a special study of the subject, show by their definitions of the word how uncertain is its connotation.^ It is therefore necessary that I should make clear at the outset what I understand by the term, and what aspects of religious life and thought I intend to deal with in these Lectures.

The '

history of the

See Appendix

for

word begins

definitions

logy.

close connexion

of Mysticism and Mystical Theo-

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

with the Greek mysteries.^

who

has been, or

mystic

being, initiated into

some

one

{livarr}^)

esoteric

things, about which he must keep mouth shut (jiveiv) or, possibly, he is one whose

knowledge of Divine his

;

eyes are

still

shut,

word was taken the mysteries,

one who

not yet an

The

ewoirrr)';?

over, with other technical terms

by the Neoplatonists, who found

in the

existing mysteriosophy a discipline, worship, and rule

But as the

congenial to their speculative views.

life

tendency towards quietism and introspection increased

among them, found

—

Mysticism

how this

external things.^

all

later

was

shall see in the

Neoplatonism passed almost entire

Christianity, and, while

into

was explained to mean deliberately shutting

the eyes to sequel

another derivation for

forming

the

basis

mediaeval Mysticism, caused a false association to cling to the

word even down to the Reformation.*

The phase of thought

which we

feeling

call

See Appendix B for a discussion of the influence of the Greek mysteries upon Christian Mysticism. * Tholuck accepts the former derivation (cf. Suidas, iivar/ipia ^/cX'^flijirov *

ira/9&

Toils

djcoiioi'TOs

Petersen, the latter.

/iieiv

There

(XTb/ui

no doubt

Kal

/iiiSivi

that

Tavra.

/ti)i;<r(s

i^tryeurOat)

;

was opposed to ; but it was also

iwoTTela, and in this sense denoted incomplete initiation made to include the whole process. The prevailing use of the adjective ^uuffTiK^s is of something seen "through a glass darkly," some knowledge

purposely wrapped up in symbols. ° So Hesychius says, MiJirrai, ivb iiiu, iiiovres yip t4s aiirSiJffeis Kal lâ Twv (rafiKMUv <j>f>ovTlSav yeydnemt, ofiru ris 9eios di'aXd/iâs iSôvro. Plotinus and Proclus both use /lioi of the "closed eye" of rapt con-

templation. * I cannot agree with Lasson (in his book on Meister Eckhart) that "the connexion with the Greek mysteries throws no light on the subject." No writer had more influence upon the growth of Mysticism in the Church than Dionysius the Areopagite, whose main object is to present Chris-

tianity in the light of

a Platonic mysteriosophy.

The same purpose

evident in Clement, and in other Christian Platonists bttween Clement and Dionysius. See Appendix B.

— CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM Mysticism

has

material of

all

and

its

that which is the raw and perhaps of all philosophy

origin

religion,

namely, that dim consciousness of the

art as well,

beyond, which

part of our nature as

Men have given different names we

will,

the frontier of consciousness

the voice of

We may call them,

;

God speaking

;

or an extension of

or, in religious

language,

Mysticism

to us.

arises

try to bring this higher consciousness into

relation with the other contents of our minds.

Mysticism

beings.

a sort of higher instinct, perhaps an anticipa-

tion of the evolutionary process

when we

human

to these " obstinate ques-

tionings of sense and outward things." if

may

be defined as the attempt to

God

Religious realise the

and

in nature,

more generally, as the attempt to realise, and feeling, the immanence of the temporal in

in thought

presence of the living

in the soul

or,

and of

the eternal in the temporal.

beyond

of the

is,

say, the

But, being itself formless,

the eternal,

Our consciousness

raw material

of all religion.

cannot be brought directly

into relation with the forms of our thought. Accordingly, it

has to express

itself

by symbols, which

the flesh and bones of ideas.

are as

were

the tendency of

all

symbols to petrify or evaporate, and either process

fatal

They soon

to them.

It is

repudiate their mystical

and forthwith lose their religious content. Then comes a return to the fresh springs of the inner life

origin,

a revival of spirituality in the midst of formalism or unbelief.

—

spirit

This

the historical function of Mysticism

appears as an independent active principle, the

But since every

of reformations and revivals.

active principle

must

ments, Mysticism

find for itself appropriate instru-

has

developed

speculative and

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

practical system of its

"the scholastic

sider

In this

feelings."

As Goethe

own.

the

dialectic

though

of the

must always

becoming such

ated elements which do not belong to

becomes possible to con-

as a type of religion,

be remembered that

the

heart,

way

says,

its

has incorpor-

inmost being.^

a type of religion, then. Mysticism seems to rest on

the following propositions or articles of faith First, the

perceive

—

soul (as well

eVrt Se

fjrv'^rj's

the body) can see

and

aXadrfaU tk, as Proclus says.

have an organ or faculty

spiritual truth, which, in its

discernment of

for the

proper sphere,

much

to be trusted as the organs of sensation in theirs.

The second proposition is that, since we can only know what is akin to ourselves,^ man, in order to know God, must be a partaker of the Divine nature. '

What

should also be borne in mind that every historical example of a

movement may be expected to exhibit characteristics which are determined by the particular forms of religious deadness in opposition mystical

which

arises.

I think that

generally easy to separate these

secondary, accidental characteristics from those which are primary and

integral,

and

may be

regarded as the essence of Mysticism as a type of religion,

that

shall then find that the underlying substance,

which is

strikingly uniform. "

The analogy used by Plotinus (Ennead i. " Even as the eye could not behold

imitated

sunlike, so neither could the soul behold

Lotze (Microcosmus, and

6. 9)

was often quoted and it were itself were not Godlike."

the sun unless

God

if it

Metaphysics, 1st ed., p. 109) falls foul of reality of the external world is utterly It is vain to call the eye sunlike, as if it needed

cf.

Plotinus for this argument.

" The

severed from our senses. a special occult power to copy what

has

itself

produced

fruitless are all

mystic efforts to restore to the intuitions of sense, by means of a secret identity of mind with things, a reality outside ourselves." Whether the subjective idealism of this

sentence

is consistent with the subsequent animated throughout," it is not my The latter doctrine is held by a large school of province to determine. the acosmistic tendency of the former has had only too much mystics attraction for mystics of another school.

dogmatic assertion that "nature

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM we

we behold

are, that

says Ruysbroek.

are,"

and what we behold, that we

;

The

find in the mystics of the

curious doctrine which we Middle Ages, that there is at

"the apex of the mind" a spark which stantial with the uncreated

accounted

for.

our own salvation

consub-

ground of the Deity,

thus

could not even begin to work out

God were not

" in

always

already working in

we see light." The doctrine has been felt to be a necessary postulate by most philosophers who hold that knowledge of God us.

It is

possible to

finite

itself,

light " that "

For instance, Krause

reason as finite

thought of is

man.

His

we might

says, "

From

possibly explain the

but not the thought of something that

outside finite reasonable beings, far less the absolute

idea, in its contents infinite, of

God

use

freer

To become aware

God.

knowledge we require certainly to make a finite power of thought, but the

of our

God

thought of

itself is

primarily and essentially an

eternal operation of the eternal revelation of finite

But though we are made

mind."

God, our likeness to

Him

God

to the

image of

in the

The

only exists potentially.^

Divine spark already shines within

us,

but

has to be

searched for in the innermost depths of our personality,

and

its

light diffused over our

whole being.

This brings us to the third proposition holiness no

pressed "

man may

positively

see the

the

Lord"

Sermon

Blessed are the pure in heart

for

;

—

" Without

or,

the

ex-

Mount,

they shall see God."

Sensuality and selfishness are absolute disqualifications for '

knowing

" the things of the Spirit of

This distinction

writers.

God."

drawn by Origen, and accepted by

all

the mystical

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

These fundamental doctrines are very clearly

down

the passage from St. John which

The

the text of this Lecture.

already claimed, but the likeness to

Him, which

only to be

pure."

There

won by

filial

vision

laid

read as

relation to

God

inseparable from

a hope, not a possession, and

" purifying ourselves,

even as

one more fundamental doctrine which we

must not omit.

Purification

removes the obstacles to

our union with God, but our guide on the upward path,

Love

the true hierophant

of the mysteries of God,

has been defined

as " interest in

its

while others have

said that "

of the essence of love

to be disinterested."

The two

one.

it is

definitions

love}

highest power "

The contradiction mark

* ;

merely a verbal

different starting-points,

but the two " ways of love " should bring us to the

same

The

goal.

possibility of disinterested love, in the

ordinary sense, ought never to have been called in

Love is not love " when it asks for a Nor is the love of man to God any exception. He who tries to be holy in order to be happy will

question.

•"

reward.

assuredly be neither.

In the words of the Theologia

Germanica, " So long as a

good because '

his,

man

seeketh his

will

own

never find

highest

it."

The

Faith goes so closely hand in hand with love that the mystics seldom and indeed they need not be separated. William

try to separate them,

Law's account of

new

their operation is characteristic.

hirth, called the

a notion, but

inward man, has

real strong essential

"When

the seed of the

awakened in it, its faith is not hunger, an attracting or magnetic

faith

which as it proceeds from a seed of the Divine nature in it lays hold on Christ, puts on us, so it attracts and unites with its like the Divine nature, and in a living and real manner grows powerful over all our sins, and effectually works out our salvation" {Grounds and

desire of Christ,

Reasons of Christian Regeneration). • R. L. Nettleship, Remains,

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM mystics

here are unanimous, though

some, like St.

Bernard, doubt whether perfect love of

be attained, pure and without this

The

Hfe.i

well

God can ever we are in

alloy, while

between

controversy

Bossuet on this subject

F^nelon

and

known, and few

will

deny that F^nelon was mainly in the right. Certainly he had an easy task in justifying his statements from But we need not trouble

the writings of the saints.

ourselves with the " mystic paradox," that

would be

better to be with Christ in hell than without

heaven

—

a statement which

wrote and then erased Christ

is,

there

nor should we regard eternal

happiness as anything distinct from

a true conjunc-

mind with God." ^ " God is not without above law He could not make men either sinful

tion of the

miserable."*

believe otherwise

cannot believe

The

we have

seen,

makes

to be transformed into the likeness of created.*

his

life's

be climbed step by

Him

aim

whose

must

This scala perfectionis

step.

generally divided into three stages. " Nescio

man

loves to figure his path

as a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, which

in.

mystic, as

image he was

to suppose an

one thing which a rational

irrational universe, the

For wherever

in his manuscript.

heaven

Him

Thomas a Kempis once

The

first is

called

a quoquam homine quartus (gradus) in hac vita perfecte homo tantum propter Deum. Asserant

apprehenditur, ut se scilicet diligat

hoc si qui experti sunt mihi (fateor) impossibile videtur " (De diligendo Deo, XV.; Epist. xi. 8). * From a sermon by Smith, the Cambridge Platonist. Plotinus, too, says well, ei tis S,Wo elSos ijSovrjs repl rbv cnrovSaiov ^lov ^TfTei, ov rbi> :

airovSaiov §lov ^rp-ei

(Ennead i.

From

Pindar's y^coio oWs i<r«

4. 12).

Smith's sermons. ixadiliv is

a fine mystical maxim.

(Pytk.

2. 131.)

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

the purgative

the second the illuminative, while really the goal rather than a part

life,

the third, which of the journey,

called the unitive

perfect contemplation.^

or state of

life,

we should

find, as

expect,

some differences in the classification, but this tripartite scheme is generally accepted. The steps of the upward path constitute the ethical system, the rule of the purgative

life,

The

of the mystics.

first

stage,

read in the Theologia Germanica,

brought about by contrition, by confession, by hearty

amendment; and intended include

this is the usual

But

monks.

for

the

civic

They occupy

and

language

virtues

social

the lowest place,

it is

true

;

means that they must be acquired by are not called to the higher

in treatises

intended

really

this

stage.^

but this only all,

though

all

of contemplation.

flights

Their chief value, according to Plotinus,

to teach us

the meaning of order and limitation (jd^ii; and irepai),

which are This

qualities

belonging to the Divine nature.

a very valuable thought, for

aberration of Mysticism which calls

and thinks of distinctions

When Ewald

Him the

the

abyss

contradicts that

God

Indefinite,

bare

the Infinite,

dissolving

all

indetermination.

says, " the true mystic never

withdraws

road (via) leads to the contemplative life (vita). beatific, iii. 26, "Perfecta hsec mystica unio reperitur regulariter in perfecto contemplativo qui in vita purgativa et illuminativa, id est meditativa, et contemplativa diu versatus, ex speciali Dei favore ad infusam contemplativam evectus est." On the •

Cf.

Strictly, the unitive

Benedict, xiv.,

De Servorum Dei

three ways, Suarez says, " Distinguere sclent mystici tres vias, purgativam, illuminativam, et unitivam." Molinos was quite a heterodox mystic in teaching that there is but a "unica via, scilicet interna," and this pro-

was condemned by a Bull of Innocent XI. In Plotinus the civic virtues precede the cathartic ; but they are not, as with some perverse mystics, considered to lie outside the path of ascent. position "

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM himself wilfully from the business of

life,

from the smallest business," he

any

is,

no, not even

saying

rate,

nothing which conflicts with the principles of Mysticism.^

The does

purgative

life

asceticism?

asceticism for

necessarily includes self-discipline

necessarily include

what

would be

means nothing but

a race, or more broadly

" the acquisition

commonly known

easy

answer that

training, as

men

train

means simply of some greater power by practice." ^

But when people speak of

minds such severe

still,

that

" asceticism,"

they have in

" buffeting " of the

body as was practised by many ancient hermits and mediaeval

their

monks.

this

that,

while

shall

find

characterises the outward

life

austere

of nearly

and while an almost morbid desire to in

many

encourage

of them, there

men

enjoins a dying asceticism,

tends to isolate

us,

is careful to

This

tell

you,

able to

shoes,

(so far as

to live unstained under

its

make shoes; and

were not a

make

the

at realising unity and.

put social service on

if I

contrary to

Monkish asceticism

spin," he says, "another can

Holy Ghost. I gift that I was

itself,

and concentrates our attention on

of Mysticism, which aims

Tauler

Moreover,

regarded as a virtue or duty in

goes beyond the struggle

itself

Mysticism\

not a living death.

solidarity everywhere. it

the mystics,

nothing in the system

our separate individuality. spirit

all

simplicity

suffer is found

to maltreat their bodies. life,

when

mystic's

reason to conclude

degree

certain

of the

part

integral

"upward path"?

priest, I

and would

true basis.

all

' '

One can

these are gifts of the

should esteem try to

make them

a great so well

as to be a pattern to all." In a later Lecture I shall revert to the charge of indolent neglect of duties, so often preferred against the mystics. '

R. L. Nettleship, Remains.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

unnatural conditions) rests on a dualistic view of the

world which does not belong to the essence of Mysticism. It infected all

the religious

life

of the Middle Ages, not

Mysticism only.^

The second centration of

upon God.

stage, the illuminative

the con-

life, is

all

the faculties,

differs from the purgative

and

will, intellect,

feeling,

not in

life,

having discarded good works, but in having come to perform them, as Fdnelon says, " no longer as virtues," that

to say, willingly

struggle

The

now

transferred to the inner

presses towards the mark,

high calling,

and gains the prize of

the unitive or contemplative

which man beholds God face to

and

life,

joined to

that the

life

must therefore beware of

garding the union as anything more than an though, as

process,

fact, '

In a

end

its

counsel of God, there

part

Catholic manual

find

tritas

" Non

perfectionis semitas

of re-

eternal

already

But the word rare

ostendit,

sub

nomine

Nam

theologiae mysticge intelligitur etiam ascesis, sed immerito.

consuetas tantum et

its

infinite

of the

a sense in which

and not merely a thing desired. Roman

It is in the continual

annihilation.

unending approximation to

religion subsists.^

its

the ideal limit of

attainment of which would be at once

consummation and but

face,

Complete union with God

religion, the

life.

stage of the journey, in which the soul

last

Him.

The

and almost spontaneously.

ascesis

mystica autem

adhuc excellentiorem viam demonstrat."

This is to identify "mystical It has been used in this theology " with the higher rungs of the ladder. Ribet says, "La mystique, curious manner from the Middle Ages.

comma

science sp&iale,

namely,

"dans

lequel

souveraine de Dieu."

fait partie

la th^ologie

I'homme est reduit k "L'asc^se" is defined

asc^tique"; that part, passivite par Taction

as "I'ascension de

vers Dieu." '

Professor

Wallace's collected Lectures

and Essays,

276,

Tame

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM

deification holds a very large place in the writings of

among

the Fathers, and not only

called mystics.

find

those

who have been

Irenaeus as well as in

Clement, in Athanasius as well as in Gregory of Nyssa. St.

Augustine

no more

afraid of " deificari " in Latin

The

than Origen of Oeoiroieiadai in Greek.

subject

one of primary importance to anyone who wishes to understand mystical theology

but

;

is difficult

to enter into the minds of the ancients

expressions, both because

fleos

the early centuries, and

have more to say presently belief in " deification,"

Middle Ages,

body of these

and

this

latter

point

shall

continuance through the

Let

Lectures.^

suffice

to say here

God became man, we might become God," were commonplaces of

that

doctrinal theology at

Clement and Origen "

very impious

our notions

too voluminous to be given in the

that though such bold phrases as

these

concept

but the evidence for the

;

its

fluid

from those which were

personality are very different

prevalent in antiquity.

who used

was a very because

for us

least

protest

heresy that

consubstantial

till

after Augustine,

strongly

man

God."^

with

even

against

the

a part of God,"

The

attribute

Divinity which was chiefly in the minds of the Greek

Fathers when they

made

these statements, was that of

imperishableness.

to the

means by which this union is manifested is no doubt that very many

to the consciousness, there '

See Appendix

on the Doctrine of

Deification.

So Fenelon, after asserting the truth of mystical " transformation," adds " It is false to say that transformation is a deification of the real '

and natural

God."

soul, or

a hypostatic union, or an unalterable conformity with

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

mystics believed

and looked

in,

trances, or visions.

for, ecstatic revelations,

This, again,

one of the crucial

questions of Mysticism.

Ecstasy or vision begins when thought ceases, consciousness,

from

proceed

ourselves.

from dreaming, because the subject differs

our

differs

awake.

from hallucination, because there

disturbance:

no organic

or claims to be, a temporary en-

id,

hancement, not a partial disintegration, of the mental Lastly,

faculties.

That

from poetical inspiration,

differs

because the imagination

passive.

perfectly sane people often experience such

visions there

no manner of doubt.

St.

Paul

fell

and again at a later period, when he seemed to be caught up into the third heaven. The most sober and practical of the mediaeval mystics speak of them as common phenomena. And in modern times two of the sanest of our poets have into a trance at his conversion,

recorded their experiences in words which

may be worth

quoting.

Wordsworth,

well-known

his

Lines composed

above Tintern Abbey," speaks of "That serene and blessed mood. the breath of this corporeal frame. . In which And even the motion of our human blood, Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul While with an eye made quiet by the power .

Of harmony, and

see into the

And Tennyson '

of things."

says,^ "

Life of Tennyson, vol.

repetition of his

the deep power of joy. life

320.

own name induced

kind of waking trance The

curious experience, that the

a kind of trance,

used by the poet

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM have often had, quite from boyhood, when repeating silently,

my own name

till

seemed and

to dissolve

two or three times

through

to myself

individuality,

the

and fade away

into boundless being

not a confused

this

and the

clearest,

at once, out of the intensity of the

all

consciousness

have been

This has generally come upon

alone.

all

state,

individual

itself

but the clearest of the

surest of the surest, the weirdest of

the weirdest, utterly beyond words, where death was

an almost laughable impossibility, the (if

loss of personality

were) seeming no extinction, but the only true

life."

phenomena and

Admitting, then, that these psychical actually occur,

we have

to consider whether ecstasy

kindred states are an integral part of Mysticism.

attempting to answer this question, convenient

between

distinguish

vision of the super-essential

Plotinus once,

enjoyed

and

reported

the all

and

times

and

the contemplative

and Porphyry only

places,

which

especially

scientific

The former was

thought and observation.

find

Neoplatonic

" locutions "

people have not been trained in

an exceedingly rare

shall

the

One, the Absolute, which

times,

several

visions

are

where

habits of

held to be

privilege, the culminating point of

life.

shall

speak of

third

show that it belongs, not to Lecture ; the essence of Mysticism, and still less to Christianity, but to the Asiatic leaven which was mixed with and

shall there

Alexandrian thought, and thence passed into Catholicin his beautiful mystical

poem, " The Ancient Sage." It would, indeed, illustrate thb topic from Wordsworth's prose

have been equally easy to and Tennyson's poetry.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

ism.

regards

visions

they were no

general,

invention of the mystics.

They played a much more

important part in the

of the early Church than

many

life

historians

ecclesiastical

are

men

God from

willing

TertuUian, for instance, says calmly, "

The

admit.

majority,

Such implicit was placed on the Divine authority of visions, that on one occasion an ignorant peasant and a married man was made Patriarch of Alexandria against his almost, of

learn

visions."

reliance

will,

because his dying predecessor had a vision that

the

man who

should bring him a present of grapes

on the next day should be of time

visions

continued

And

became

frequent

his successor

rarer

among

the

In course

among the laity, but monks and clergy.

so the class which furnished most of the shining

lights of

Mysticism was that

which these experiences

were most common.

But we do not

find that the masters of the spiritual

much importance

attached very

life

appealed to them as aids to

were regarded as special goodness of

God on

to them, or often

As a

faith.*

rewards

rule, visions

bestowed

by the

the struggling saint, and especially

on the beginner, to refresh him and strengthen him in Very earnest cautions were issued the hour of need. that

efforts

must be made

to induce

them

artificially,

and aspirants were exhorted neither to desire them, nor to feel pride in having seen them. The spiritual See the very interesting note in Hamack, History ofDognia, vol. i. p. 53.

"The Abb^ Migne visionnaires seraient fort

en elles-memes." And sanctum nee ostendunt vidit

Angelum."

says truly,

"Ceux

^tonn& de

voir quel peu de cas

qui traitent les mystiques de ils font des visions St. Bonaventura says of visions, "Nee faciunt

alioquin

Balaam sanctus

esset,

ti asina, qu£e

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM

guides of the Middle Ages were well aware that such

experiences

come of

often

weakened digestion

;

disordered

and

they believed also that they are

sometimes delusions of Satan. says, "

nerves

Richard of

St.

Victor

His transfiguration by the

Christ attested

presence of Moses and Elias, so visions should not be believed unless they have the authority of Scripture.''

Magnus

Albertus

tries

to classify them,

those which contain a sensuous

Eckhart

dangerous. attaches

little

is still

value

element are always cautious,

them.

and says that

Avila,

and Tauler

the

Spanish

mystic, says that only those visions which minister to

make

our spiritual necessities, and Self-induced

genuine.

visions

and do irreparable injury It

hardly

falls

within

us more humble, are

to health of

us with pride,

inflate

mind and body.^

task to attempt to deter-

mine what these visions really are. The subject is one upon which psychological and medical science may some day throw more light. But this much I must

make my own

say, to

position clear

experiences as neither more nor less

regard these supernatural

Many of them others we may feel

than other mental phenomena.

are cer-

tainly pathological;^ about

doubts;

The

following passage from St. Francis de Sales is much to the same referred to in the text: "Les philosophes mesmes ont

effect as those

recogneu certaines esp^ces d'extases naturelles faictes par la vehtoente Une marque application de I'esprit i la consideration des choses relev^es. de la bonne et saincte extase est qu'elle ne se prend ny attache jamais tant i I'entendement qu'i la volonte, laquell^ elle esmeut, eschauffe, et

remplit d'une puissante affection envers Dieu

que bonne, plus lumineuse digne de soupyon."

est plus belle

douteuse et '

Some

readers

may

;

de mani^re que si I'extase grandement

qu'affective, elle est

find satisfaction in the following passage of

Jeremy Taylor: "Indeed, when persons have long been softened with the continual droppings of religion, and their spirits made timorous and

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

but some have every right to be considered as real irradiations

of the soul

from the light that

" for

ever

harmony that " is in immortal of this, we may appeal to three

shines," real notes of the

In illustration

souls."

places in the Bible where revelations of the profoundest truths concerning the nature

and counsels of God are

made during ecstatic visions. Moses at Mount Horeb heard, during the vision of the burning bush, a proclamation of God as the " I am " the Eternal who is exalted above time. Isaiah, recorded to have been

—

the words " Holy, Holy,

the mystery of the Trinity.

And

vision of the sheet, learned that

persons or of nationalities.

dimly

Holy," perceived

Peter, in

St.

God

the

no respecter of

In such cases the highest

which the soul can

in its best

moments just receive, but cannot yet grasp for, make a language for themselves, as it

or account

intuitions or revelations,

claim

mind

the is

sanction

of external

authority, until the

elevated so far as to feel the authority not

Divine, but no longer

less

were, and

external.

We may

find

fairly close analogies in other forms of that " Divine

madness," which Plato says chiefest blessings granted to

" the

men

source

—such

the

as the rapture

apt for impression by the assiduity of prayer, and the continual dyings of mortification the fancy, which is a very great instrument of devotion, is

—

kept continually warm, and in a disposition and aptitude to take fire, and to flame out in great ascents ; and when they suffer transportations beyond the burdens and support of reason, they suffer they know not what, and

what they please." Henry More, too, says that those who would their whole nature desolate of all animal figurations whatever," only "a waste, silent solitude, and one uniform parchedness and

call it

"make find

vacuity.

not aware

And yet, while a man fancies himself thus wholly Divine, he is how he is even then held down by his animal nature and that ;

nothing but the stillness and fixedness of melancholy that thus abuses him, instead of the true Divine principle." it

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM of the poet, or (as Plato adds) of

even the philosopher or

some such

man

And

the lover.^

of science

may

be sur-

by a sudden realisation of the sublimity of his subject. So at least Lacordaire believed when he wrote, " All at once, as if by chance, prised into

state

the hair stands up, the

breath

caught, the

skin

and a cold sword pierces to the very soul. sublime which has manifested itself " ^ cases where there is evident hallucination, e.g.

contracts, It

the

Even in when the

visionary sees an angel or devil sitting on

his book, or feels

an arrow thrust into

need be no insanity. such

believed that

In periods

his heart, there

when

it is

may and do

things

commonly

happen, the

imagination, instead of being corrected by experience,

misled

it.

Those who honestly expect them, without

generally see

miracles will

to see

detriment

either to their truthfulness or sanity in other matters.

The

mystic, then,

a visionary

not, as such,

has he any interest in appealing to a faculty reason,"

reason

logic of the for

used in

;

nor

above

proper sense, as the

its

The

whole personality.

desire

find

our highest intuitions an authority wholly external

to reason

natural

and independent of

" revelation,

—

catise of the longest

has, as

it,

—

a " purely super-

R&ejac

says, "

been the

and the most dangerous of the

aberrations from which Mysticism has suffered."

kind of supernaturalism

destructive of unity in our

ideas of God, the world, and ourselves slur

the faculties

;

and

casts a

which are the appointed organs

of communication between '

This

God and man.

Plato, Phadrus, 244, 245

;

Ion, 534,

* Lacordaire, Conferences, xxxvii.

revela-

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

20 tion

absolutely transcending

such

reason

striking phrase of Macarius, " the

an absurdity:

In the

made.

could ever

revelation

human mind

the

The supremacy of the reason the favourite theme of the Cambridge Platonists,

throne of the Godhead." is

two of whom, Whichcote and Culverwel, are never tired of

quoting the text, " The " Sir, I

candle of the Lord."

Whichcote

spiritual," writes

most

And

rational."

governor of man's

What we

life

Reason

the Divine

the very voice of God."

Divine knowledge,

the

" for spiritual

Tuckney,

can and must transcend,

any progress

oppose not rational to

again, " it

man

spirit

that shallow rationalism which

we would make not reason, but

regards the data on

which we can reason as a fixed quantity, known to all,

and which bases

itself

on a formal

only furnish

with

poor,

logic, utterly

Language can

unsuited to a spiritual view of things.

misleading, and

inadequate images of spiritual facts

;

wholly

supplies us

with abstractions and metaphors, which do not really represent what

human

we know

personality,

St.

or believe

Paul

calls

about

God and

attention

this

inadequacy by a series of formal contradictions " I " when live, yet not I" ;" dying, and behold we live " :

;

weak, then

Compare,

of the group:

strong,"

and so forth

;

and we

words of Henry More, the most mystical and lays aside clear and cautious under the discussion of reason, upon the pretence

too, the vigorous

"He

reason in things that

that misbelieves fall

of hankering after some higher principle (which, a thousand to one, proves but the infatuation of melancholy, and a superstitious hallucination), is as

would not use his natural eyes about their proper some supernatural light, or till he had got a pair of spectacles made of the crystalline heaven, or of the calum empyreum, to hang upon his nose for him to look through."

ridiculous as if he

object

till

the presence of

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM find exactly

the

same expedient

Plotinus,

who

very fond of thus showing his contempt for the logic of "

When,

identity.

Mysticism

therefore,

say that

rationalism."

is " reason

still

would have done better

applied to a sphere above

" king."

every spirit" or inspiration

Religion must not be

command to " try condemns all attempts to make emotion independent of reason. Those who thus

a matter oi feeling only.

St. John's

blindly follow the inner light find

the Lord," but an ignis fatuus

The

are well aware of this. to separate

that

For Reason

—

says

nothing else than rationalism applied

to a sphere above reason," he to

Harnack

and

intellect, will,

;

candle

and the great mystics

fact is that the

tendency

half personify the different faculties

—

feeling

a mischievous one.

Our

object should be so to unify our personality, that our eye may be single, and our whole body full of light.

have considered

briefly the three stages of the

The scheme of life therein upward set forth was no doubt determined empirically, and there is nothing to prevent the simplest and most path.

mystic's

saint

unlettered

from framing

Many

principles.

of the

mediaeval mystics

taste for speculation or philosophy

authority the

There

reason." 2 h

voOs

is,

entire

conduct on these

his

;

had no

they accepted on

body of Church

dogma,

of course, a sense in which any strong feeling this is using "reason " in a loose manner.

lifts

and "above

But

|3ocriXei)s,

says Plotinus.

Catholic writers can assert that "la plupart des contemplatifs But their notion of "con^taient d(5pourvus de toute culture litt^raire." templation" is the passive reception of " supernatural favours," on which '

Roman

—

subject

will

be said in L.ectures IV. and VII.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

devoted their whole attention to the perfecting of the

this

But

knowledge and love of God.

spiritual life in the

Christian Mysticism

cannot be said of the leaders.

appears in history largely as an intellectual movement, the foster-child of Platonic idealism time,

forgot

to bring

to " its old loving nurse the Platonic

back

philosophy."

will

fourth Lectures

ever, for a

men were soon found

early history,

its

and

;

task, in

of this course, to

the

show how

Christian Mysticism grew out of Neoplatonism shall not

and

third

speculative ;

but

be allowed to forget the Platonists even in "

the later Lectures.

The

fire

still

burns on the altars

of Plotinus,'' as Eunapius said.

Mysticism is

been

itself

not

itself

a religion.

called "

a philosophy, any more than

intellectual side

its

formless speculation."

tions or intuitions

But

has

until specula-

have entered into the forms of our

thought, they are not current coin even for the thinker. .

The

by Mysticism in philosophy by it in religion. As in

part played

to the part played

appears in revolt

against

dry formalism

rationalism, so in philosophy

materialism

and

scepticism.^

parallel

religion

and

cold

takes the field against It

thus possible

speak of speculative Mysticism, and even to indicate certain idealistic lines of thought, entire falsity be called

And '

may

without

the philosophy of Mysticism.

In this introductory Lecture at these

which

can, of course, only hint

and most summary manner. must be remembered that I have undertaken in

"Die Mystik

the

ist

barest

formlose Speculation," Noack, Christliche Mystit,

p. i8. "

The

Atomists, from Epicurus downwards, have been especially odious

lo the mystics.

;;

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM to-day

the

delineate

general

characteristics

Mysticism, not of Christian Mysticism.

developments which

shall

encounter

The His

aberrant

and

types

those

genuine,

which we

the course of our survey.

real world, according to thinkers of this school,

by the thought and

created

consider normal

numerous

the

trying,

moreover, in this Lecture to confine myself to

excluding

mind.

will of

therefore

God, and exists

spiritual,

and above

space and time, which are only the forms under which reality

set out as a process.

When we

try to represent to our minds the highest spiritual world, as

reality, the

world of appearance,

distinguished from the

are Obliged to form images

and we can hardly avoid choosing one of the following

We may

three images.

regard the spiritual world as

endless duration opposed to transitoriness, as infinite

extension opposed to limitation in space, or as sub-

opposed

stance

shadow.

All

speaking, symbols or metaphors,^ for

any of them

literally

true

these are, strictly

we cannot

regard

statements about the

nature of reality; but they are as near the truth as

we can

But when we think of time

get in words.

a piece cut off from the beginning of eternity, so that eternity

only in the future and not in the present

when we think of heaven '

The theory

culties.

that time

the

root

real,

of the

as a place

somewhere

else.

but not space, leads us into grave least

satisfactory

kind

diffi-

evolutionary

optimism, which forgets, in the first place, that the idea of perpetual progress in time is hopelessly at variance with what we know of the destiny of the world and, in the second place, that «, mere progressus is meaningless. Every created thing has its fixed goal in the realisation of ;

the idea which

was immanent

from the

first.

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

and therefore not here ideal world

that

;

when we

which has sucked

we now walk

life

out of

—

a vain shadow,

paying the penalty

the

all

upper

think of an

for our symbolical

then

this,

so are

representative

methods of thought, and must go to philosophy to help us out of the doubts and difficulties in which our error has involved

One

us.

test

Whatever

infallible.

view of reality deepens our sense of the tremendous issues of life in the world wherein

we move,

for us

nearer the truth than any view which diminishes that sense. life,

The

truth

and have

The world we see it.

revealed to us that

Our

is, is

the world as

vision

The more we can more such

sees

sin

it,

not

much by

and ignorance.

raise ourselves in the scale of being,

God and

the world

Such as men themselves God Himself seem to them to be," says

correspond to the are,

our ideas about

will

God

distorted, not so

the limitations of finitude, as

the

we may have

more abundantly.

will

reality.

John Smith, the English Platonist. Origen, too, says that those whom Judas led to seize Jesus did not

know who He

was, for the darkness of their

was projected on His

features.^

And

beautiful passage, says that he felt that he into a

higher

circle,

becoming more

reality,

as a vista which

Origen in Mattk., Com. Series, lOO; Contra Celmm, Paradiso

viii.

was

rising

because he saw Beatrice's face

by Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alexandria, '

souls

beautiful.^

This view of

own

Dante, in a very

ii.

p. 191.

" lo non

m'accorsi del salire in ella;

d'esserv' entro rai fece assai fede

La donna mia

ch'io vidi far piii bella."

opened

64.

Referred

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM

gradually to the eyes of the climber up the holy mount, is very near to the heart of Mysticism. It rests on the faith that the ideal not only ought to be, but

the

has been applied by some, notably by that earnest but fantastic thinker, James Hinton, as offering It

real.

a solution of the problem of

attempts to deal with

evil.

shall

encounter

this great diiificulty in several

The problem among

the Christian mystics.

the specu-

was how to reconcile the Absolute of who is above all distinctions,^ with the God of religion, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. They could not allow that evil has a substantial existlative writers

philosophy,

ence apart from God, for fear of being entangled in an insoluble Dualism. But if evil is derived from God,

how can God be good ? vailing

view was

"There

falls

shall iind that the pre-

" Evil

that

nothing," says

has

substance."

Gregory of Nyssa, "which

outside of the Divine nature, except moral evil

And

alone.

this,

we may say

paradoxically, has

its

For the genesis of moral evil is simply the privation of being.^ That which, properly being in not-being.

speaking, exists,

the nature of the good."

Divine nature, in other words,

The

that which excludes

nothing, and contradicts nothing, except those attri-

butes which are contrary to the nature of reality

;

it is

that which harmonises everything except discord, which loves

except

falsehood,

ugliness.

except

everything

" Deo

Thus

and

that

hatred,

beautifies

which

falls

verifies

everything

except

outside the

notion

nihil opponitur,'' says Erigena.

Compare Bradley, Appearand and Reality, where it is shown essential attributes of Reality are harmony and inclusiveness. '

that the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

God, proves on

unreal, but

Absolute

evil to the

our

examination

unreality

relation

exists

not

force

a positive

not a religious problem.

experience, evil

be not merely

But the

such.

subject to the law of God, though constantly overruled

and made an instrument of good. On this subject we must say more later. Here I need only add that a

sunny confidence shines

from

especially,

the

think,

Cambridge

"All shall be

and

well,

well."

all

Sin

manner

Since the universe

the

optimistic

all

mystics,

The

;

and

the

Revelations of Juliana

page

triumph of good

most

own countrymen.

our

known

little

Norwich, we find

Platonists are

but

beautiful

ultimate

the

writings

after

page the

behovable,^ but

refrain of all shall

of thing shall be well."

God

the thought and will of

expressed under the forms of time and space, everything in

reflects the

and

The

falls

—

the

Every

human

question which divides them

observation

God by

the

life,

close,

world

by sinking

fellow-men, or

/.«.

sin.

Mysticism

shall

—

this

In the

learn

most

sympathetic, reverent

around

us,

including

our

into the depths of our inner

consciousness, and aspiring after direct and

communion with God

classes.

higher stages of the spiritual of the nature of

visible

the highest

soul unclouded

brings us to a point at which

asunder into two

The

Creator, though in

finely, "

purest mirror in the world

of created things this

its

theophany or appearance of

invisible creature is a

God."

And

nature of

Erigena says

different degrees.

constant

Each method may claim the

" necessary

" or "expedient."

—

;

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM support of weighty names.

form the subject of

former, which will

seventh and eighth Lectures,

very happily described by Charles Kingsley in an

early letter.^ belief

that

which

all

some

The

great Mysticism," he says, "

Oh, to

truth

full

see, if

existence.

but for a !

me,

feel

seems

feel that

its

are types of

Everything

to hear once the music which the

whole universe makes as I

the

we could but see it. moment, the whole harmony

of God's reflex

of the great system

When

becoming every day stronger with me,

symmetrical natural objects

spiritual

seems to be .

The

performs

His bidding!

sense of the mystery that

around

a gush of enthusiasm towards God, which inseparable effect."

the other side stand the majority of the earlier Believing that

mystics.

God

" closer

us than

breathing, and nearer than hands and feet," they are

impatient of any intermediaries.

His footprints

face in ourselves,"

^ is

for

fine

expression that

Nature, their

need not search

when we can behold His

answer to

St.

Augustine's

things bright and beautiful in

all

the world are " footprints of the uncreated Wisdom."

Coleridge has expressed their feeling in his

Dejection

Ode

were a vain endeavour.

Though

should gaze for ever

On that green light that lingers in the West I may not hope from outward forms to win The "

passion and the

life

whose fountains are

within.''

Grace works from within outwards," says Ruysbroek, '

Life, vol.

p. 55.

v. So Bernard says {De Consid. " quid opus est scalis tenenti iam solium ?" ' Aug. De Libera Arbitrio, ii. 16, VJ. ''J.

Smith, Select Discourses,

\),

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

God

for it

own

nearer to us than our

Hence

faculties.

cannot come from images and sensible forms."

" If

thou wishest to search out the deep things of God," "

says Richard of St. Victor,

own spirit." The truth is

search out the depths of

thine

&nd

systole

one

at the

must work together,

generally been

expense of the other each

for

As Shakespeare

other.

life,

The tendency has

and a concentration. to emphasise

— — an expansion

there are two movements,

that

diastole of the spiritual

;

but they

helpless without the

says

Nor doth

the eye itself, of sense, behold itself, itself, but eye to eye opposed, Salutes each other with each other's form For speculation turns not to itself

That most pure Not going from

spirit

Till

hath travelled, and

Where

Nature

may

see

mirrored there.

itself."

dumb, and our own hearts are dumb,

they are allowed to speak to each other.

speak to us of God.

will

Speculative Mysticism

has occupied

—

the

human

with these two great subjects in

until

Then both

nature,

Divine.

and the

relation

few words must be

on both these matters. • The Unity of all existence of Mysticism. centre

God

is in all,

largely

God

personality to

said, before I conclude,

a fundamental doctrine

and

all is in

God.

His

everywhere, and His circumference nowhere,"

as St. Bonaventura puts

Mysticism '

Trvilus

it.

this doctrine leads direct to lative

itself

immanence

often argued that

Pantheism, and that specu-

always and necessarily pantheistic,

and

Cressida,

Act

III.

Scene

— CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM This

of course, a question of primary importance.

is,

the hope of dealing with it adequately that I have selected three writers who have been frequently It

called pantheists, for discussion in these Lectures.

mean Dionysius

the Areopagite, Scotus Erigena, and

But it would be impossible even to indicate Hne of argument in the few minutes left me this

Eckhart.

morning.

The mystics

much

are

inclined

adopt,

notion

When

well assured that the

Erigena says,

the second Person of the Trinity things,"

of an anima mundi.

modified form, the old

—

he means that the Logos

Word

the Nature of

all

a cosmic principle,

the Personality of which the universe

the external

expression or appearance.^

are not

lations,

with cosmological specu-

but the bearing of

personality as

now concerned

obvious.

this

If the

theory

Son of God

on human is

an all-embracing and all-pervading cosmic

regarded principle,

the " mystic union " of the believer with Christ becomes

something much closer than an ethical harmony of

two mutually exclusive

wills.

The

question

which

' This idea of the world as a living being is found in Plotinus and Origen definitely teaches that "as our body, while consisting of many members, is yet an organism which is held together by one soul, so the universe is to be thought of as an immense living being which is upheld by He also holds that the sun and stars the power and the Word of God. " St. Augustine, too {De Cwitate Dei, iv. 12, vii. 5), are spiritual beings. regards the universe as a living organism ; and the doctrine reappears much According to this theory, we are subsidiary later in Giordano Bruno. members of an all-embracing organism, and there may be intermediate :

Among between our own and that of the universal Ego. is the one which seems to be most in He views life under the figure of a accordance with these speculations. number of concentric circles of consciousness, within an all-embracing circle which represents the consciousness of God. will-centres

modem

systems, that of Fechner

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

exercises the mystics

not whether such a thing as

fusion of personalities

possible, but whether,

the soul has attained union with

longer conscious of a

Word.

human

Divine for

tion of the

that

this point.

Lord,

when any

from that of the

distinct

life

find

shall

went astray on

its

some of the best mystics They teach a real substitu-

nature, thus depersonalising

man, and running into great danger of a perilous

The mistake

arrogance.

speculative side, for

personality that

God

ality

But

not only the

postulate

the

human

not separation,

according

spirit

the

all

monad, independent

mark of

the

consciousness

The depths

personality.

unity on which

Heraclitus

Distinction,

spirits.

personality

separation, not distinction, that

able,

the fact

based.

and sharply separated from other

regarding

strictest

;

possible to save personality without re-

garding the

error,

human

can conceive of the perfect person-

Personality

which creates is

a fatal one even from the

we have any experience

unity of which

philosophy

only on the analogy of

and without personality the universe

;

to pieces.

falls

it is

but

psychology,

of self as

The

union.

forbids

mystic's

;

measure of

the

of personality are unfathom-

already

knew;^

the

light

consciousness only plays on the surface of the waters.

Jean Paul Richter istic

doctrine

when he

a true exponent of this charactersays, "

attribute far too small

dimensions to the rich empire of ourself,

from '

^"X^'

X4701' ^xet,

the Trel/JOTO

unconscious oi5k

Fr<^. 71.

^.v

region which

we omit

resembles

i^tipom ffaffac iiriTopevdneyos iddy

oiiroi

paBiv

— CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM

great dark continent.

The world which our memory

peoples only reveals, in

its

points at a time, while

remains

shade.

immense and teeming mass

its

revolution, a few luminous

daily see the

passing into unconsciousness

conscious

and take no notice of

;

the bass accompaniment which our fingers continue to play, while our attention

effects."^

far is

directed to fresh musical

from being true that the

our immediate consciousness that

we can only

self of

our true personality,

and

attain personality, as spiritual

by passing beyond the limits which

rational beings,

mark us

off as separate

individuals.

viduality,

we may

the bar which prevents us

from

realising,

say,

Separate indi-

And

our true privileges as persons.^

the mystic interprets very literally that

maxim

of our

many have found the fundamental " He that will save his life Christianity

Lord, in which secret of

his soul, his personality

lose his

life

—

for

—

shall lose

sake shall find

must die nay, must "die daily," gradual, and there is no limit to it. expansion

infinite

—

of realising

new sympathies and which tute,

affinities

our true

affinities

condition,

life

and

Compare,

;

for

and he that

The

too,

will

false self

the process

It is

a process of

new correspondences, with the not-ourselves, in

conditioning consti-

The paradox

as persons.

J. P. Richter, ii/jwa.

it."

offensive

Lotze, Microcosmus:

"Within

a world whose form we imperfectly apprehend, and whose working, when in particular phases it comes under our notice, surprises us with foreshadowings of unknown depths in our being." us

Ivirks

As Lotze says, The finite being does not contain in own existence." It must struggle to attain '

tions of its

sonality to such

;

itself

the condi-

complete per-

or rather, since personality belongs unconditionally only to God, Eternal life is nothing is allotted to us.

a measure of personality as

else than the attainment of full personality, a conscious existence in

God.

— :

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

only to formal one,

logic.

a matter of experience, no

imagine, would maintain that the

man who

has

practically realised, to the fullest possible extent, the

common

life

shares with

which he draws from his Creator, and

all

other created beings,

mean, as to draw from

that

—

so realised

consciousness

all

it,

the

play upon him from outside,

influences which can

has thereby dissipated and lost his personality, and

become

less

of a person than another

wall round his individuality,

the

life

and

who has

built a

lived, as Plato says,

of a shell-fish.*

We may

arrive at the

same conclusion by analysing

that unconditioned sense of duty which science.

This

moral

sense cannot

call con-

be a fixed code

implanted in our consciousness, for then

could not

explain either the variations of moral opinion, or the feeling of obligation (as distinguished from necessity)

which impels us to obey

it.

cannot be the product

of the existing moral code of society, for then

could

does not follow that the sense of individuality is necessarily weakened. But habitual contemplation of the Divine unity impresses men with the

phenomenal only. Hence the paradox of phenomenal individuality, we should not know our own nothingness, and personal life is good only through the [Rather, I should say, through the bliss of bliss of being lost in God. finding our true life, which is hid with Christ in God,] True religious worship doth not consist in the acknowledgment of a greatness which is estimated by comparison, but rather in the sense of « Being who surpasses all comparison, because He gives to phenomenal existences the only reality Hence the deepest religious feeling necessarily shrinks they can know. from thinking of God as a kind of gigantic Self amidst a host of minor selves. The very thought of such a thing is a mockery of the piofoundest feeling that

individuality

Mysticism.

For apart from

devotion."

this

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM the persistent revolt against find

the

limitations

its

The

minds.

greatest

which we

only hypothesis

facts is that in conscience

which explains the

feel

the motions of the universal Reason which strives to

human organism

convert the

a belief which saying that

itself,

expressed in religious language by

is is

into an organ of

God who worketh

in us

both to

will

and to do of His good pleasure. If

be further asked, Which

shifting

end

moi

(as

Fdnelon

calls

or the developing states ?

our personality, the

it),

or the ideal

we must answer

self,

that

the it is

both and neither, and that the root of mystical religion in the conviction that

The moi

strives to realise its

"counted

once both and neither.^

end, but the end being an

no process can reach

infinite one,

thereby

it is

themselves

the mystical faith

left

the notion of a progressus

;

Those who have

it.

apprehended" have

have

and those who from

infinitum

come

to the

pessimistic conclusion, are equally false to the mystical

which teaches us that we are already potentiwhat God intends us to become. The command, Be ye perfect," is, like all Divine commands, at the

creed, ally "

same time a promise. It is stating the same paradox say that

we can only

The

ing mere individuality. self It is

shows

its

another form to

achieve inner unity by transcend-

unreality

independent, impervious

by being inwardly

discordant.

of no use to enlarge the circumference of our

the fixed centre

may

the

press

centres, in

metaphor, other

which we are >

always the ego.

See, further,

There

circles

vitally involved.

Appendix C, pp. 366-7.

life,

are, if

with

And

other

thus

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

only to formal one,

logic.

As a matter

of experience, no

imagine, would maintain that the

man who

has

practically realised, to the fullest possible extent, the

common

life

shares with

which he draws from his Creator, and

all

other created beings,

mean, as to draw from

that

influences which can play

—

so realised

consciousness

upon him from

all

it,

the

outside,

has thereby dissipated and lost his personality, and

become

less

of a person than another

who has

built a

wall round his individuality, and lived, as Plato says,

the

life

of a shell-fish.^

We may

arrive at the

same conclusion by analysing

that unconditioned sense of duty which science.

This

moral

sense cannot

call con-

be a fixed code

implanted in our consciousness, for then

could not

explain either the variations of moral opinion, or the feeling of obligation (as distinguished from necessity)

which impels us to obey

it.

cannot be the product

of the existing moral code of society, for then

could

not explain either the genesis of that public opinion or ' J. A. Picton ( The Mystery of Matter, p. 356) puts the matter well Mysticism consists in the spiritual realisation of a grander and a boundless It unity, that humbles all self-assertion by dissolving it in a wider glory. does not follow that the sense of individuality is necessarily weakened. But habitual contemplation of the Divine unity impresses men with the Hence the paradox of feeling that individuality is phenomenal only. For apart from this phenomenal individuality, we should not Mysticism. know our owti nothingness, and personal life is good only through the [Rather, I should say, through the bliss of bliss of being lost in God. finding our true life, which is hid with Christ in God,] True religious worship doth not consist in the acknowledgment of a greatness which is estimated by comparison, but rather in the sense of a Being who surpasses all comparison, because He gives to phenomenal existences the only reality '

Hence the deepest religious feeling necessarily shrinks they can know. from thinking of God as a kind of gigantic Self amidst a host of minor selves. The very thought of such a thing is a mockery of the profoundest devotion."

CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM the persistent revolt against find

the

greatest

which explains the

limitations

its

The only

minds.

which we hypothesis

facts is that in conscience

feel

the motions of the universal Reason which strives to

human organism

convert the

a belief which saying that

and

is is

moi

(as

in us both to will

pleasure.

be further asked, Which

shifting

itself,

expressed in religious language by

God who worketh

do of His good

into an organ of

Fdnelon

calls

our personality, the

it),

or the ideal

self,

end or the developing states ? we must answer that

the it is

both and neither, and that the root of mystical religion is

in the conviction that

The moi

at once both

no process can reach

infinite one,

"counted thereby

it is

strives to realise its end,

themselves

left

it.

the mystical faith

the notion of a progressus

;

neither.^

Those who have

apprehended"

have

and

but the end being an

have

and those who from

infinitum

come

to the

pessimistic conclusion, are equally false to the mystical creed,

which teaches us that we are already potenti-

what God intends us to become. The command, Be ye perfect," is, like all Divine commands, at the same time a promise. It is stating the same paradox in another form to say that we can only achieve inner unity by transcendThe independent, impervious ing mere individuality. self shows its unreality by being inwardly discordant. ally "

It is of

no use

to enlarge the circumference of our

the fixed centre

may

press the

centres, in

always the

metaphor, other

which we are '

See, further,

ego.

There

circles

vitally involved.

Appendix C, pp. 366-7.

life,

are,

with

And

other

thus

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

36 minds as

it is

Coleridge has said

attractive to others.

that everyone

is born a Platonist or an Aristotelian, and one might perhaps adapt the epigram by saying

everyone

that

The

legalist.

naturally

human

doubtful whether a

whom one

man

seem

characters

could be found anywhere

could trust to hold the scales evenly between

—F^nelon and

—

us say

much

the same as that which causes the eternal

let

mystic

indeed,

does,

classification

correspond to a deep difference in it is

either

The cleavage

Bossuet.

between tradition and illumination, between

strife

priest

and

prophet, which has produced the deepest tragedies in

human

history,

while the

and

world

will

lasts.

probably continue to do so

The

—

legalist

with his

con-

of God as the righteous Judge dispensing rewards and punishments, the " Great Taskmaster " in

ception

whose vineyard we are ordered to labour; of the Gospel as "the new law," and of the sanction of duty as a " categorical imperative

—

never find

will

easy to

sympathise with those whose favourite words are St. John's triad

—

light, life,

and

love,

and who

find these

the most suitable names to express what they the nature of God.

Gospel

But those

whom

know

the Fourth

the brightest jewel in the Bible, and

who can

enter into the real spirit of St. Paul's teaching, will,

hope, be able to take some interest in the historical

development of ideas which certainly built

in their

Christian form are

upon those parts of the

New

Testament.

LECTURE

;

" 11)

ba T» <Ui i^i- tarepov is CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

eS tv» iSlSa^ev {m<t>aveXt in SiSdvKoKos,

9ebs XOPVy^"'!!-"

" But souls that of His own good life partake He loves as His own self: dear as His eye

They

When They

are to

Him

He'll never

;

they shall die, then live,

them forsake

God Himself

shall die

they live in blest eternity."

Henry More.

"Amor

Patris Filiique,

Par amborum,

Compar Cuncta

et utrique

et consimilis:

reples, cuncta foves,

Astra regis, coelum moves,

Permanens immobilis

Te docente nil obscurum, Te praesente nil impurumi Sub tua praesentia mens iucunda Per te Iseta, per te munda

Glorialur

Gaudet

conscientia.

Consolator et fundator, Habitator et amator

Cordium humilium; Pelle mala, terge sordes,

Et discordes fac Concordes, Et atfer presidium,"

Adam of

St.

Victos

—

LECTURE

The Mystical Element " That Christ may dwell the saints what

know with

may be

faith

;

end that

to the

God."

task which

now

Eph.

iii.

may be

before

lies

filled

17-19.

to consider

how

type of religion and religious philosophy, which

tried in

presented in shall

all

the breadth and length and height and depth, and to

the fulness of

far that

ye,

strong to apprehend with

the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye

all

The I

in your hearts

being rooted and grounded in love,

the Bible

Lecture to depict in outline,

re-

and sanctioned by Holy Scripture.

last

devote most of

time to the

New

Testament,

we shall not find very much to help us in the Old. The Jewish mind and character, in spite of its deeply

for

religious bent,

was

alien to Mysticism.

place, the religion of Israel, passing

been called Henotheism

—

God

to true

—

prophecy, which period

Balaam

the

human and

mystical in

conceived

first

the worship of a national

Monotheism, always maintained a

notion of individuality, both

early

from what has

its

Divine.

essence,

was

rigid

Even in the

unmystically as possible.

merely a mouthpiece of

God

;

his

message

external to his personality, which remains antagonistic

And, secondly, the Jewish doctrine of ideas was The Jew believed that from the Platonic. course of history, existed whole the world, and the

it.

different

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

40 from

mind of God, but as an unwhich was actualised by degrees as of events was unfurled. There was no

eternity in the

all

realised purpose,

the

scroll

notion that the visible was in any invisible,

lacking

phases, after

reality.

had been

way inferior to the Even in its later

partially Hellenised,

Jewish

Apodream of a

idealism tended to crystallise as Chiliasm, or in "

and

calypses,"

not, like Platonism, in the

perfect world existing " yonder."

fact,

the Jewish

view of the external world was mainly that of naive realism, but strongly pervaded

King and Judge.

belief in

an Almighty

Moreover, the Jew had

of the Divine in nature

little

sense

was the power of God over

nature which he was jealous to maintain.

The majesty

of the elemental forces was extolled in order to magnify

the

Him who made and

power of

greater

could

unmake them, and whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain. The weakness and insignificance of man, as contrasted with the tremendous

power of God,

which the contemplation of nature gener-

the reflection

How can a man be just God ? " asks Job " which removeth the mountains, and they know it not when He overturneth them in produced

ally

in his

with

mind.

;

His anger

and the

;

the sun, and

which shaketh the earth out of her place,

pillars it

which commandeth and sealeth up the stars. am, that I should answer Him,

thereof tremble

riseth not,

not a man, as

;

we should come together in judgment. There is no daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon Nor does the answer that came to Job us both." out of the whirlwind give any hint of a " daysman

that

betwixt

man and God,

but only enlarges on the pre-

;

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE

sumption of man's wishing to understand the counsels Absolute submission to a law which

of the Almighty.

entirely outside of us

sion,

the

and beyond our comprehen-

The

lesson of the book.^

final

nation

exhibited the merits and defects of this type.

one hand,

the moral law, and of personal responsibility

born independence and strong national viduality

the

showed a deep sense of the supremacy of

spirit,

faith

mission

its

;

a stub-

and a

;

combined with vigorous

indi-

but with these virtues went a tendency to

;

externalise both religion and the ideal of well-being:

the former the latter,

the

became a matter of forms and ceremonies It was only after of worldly possessions.

collapse of the national polity that these ideals

became transmuted and spiritualised. Those disasters, which at first seemed to indicate a hopeless estrangement between God and His people, were the means of a deeper reconciliation.

from the old proverb that

can trace

the process,

that " to see

God

passage

Jeremiah where the

remarkable

death,"

down

approaching advent, or rather restoration, of spiritual religion, is

announced with "

glorious a message.

Lord, that

make

will

all

the solemnity due to so

Behold, the days come, saith the a

new covenant with

of Israel, and with the house of Judah. days, saith the Lord, parts,

and write

God, and they

shall

will

put

their hearts

My people.

;

law

and

And

the house

After those

in their I

will

inward

be their

they shall teach

I rest nothing on any theory as was written, it illustrates that view of the relaBut, of tion of man to God with which Mysticism can never be content. course, the antagonism between our personal claims and the laws of the universe must be done justice to before it can be surmounted. '

In referring thus to the Book of Job,

to its date.

Whenever

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

no more every man brother, saying,

Me, from the

Know

the Lord

for

they shall

all

his

know

unto the greatest of them,

them That this knowledge of God, and the

least of

saith the Lord."

and every man

his neighbour,

assurance of blessedness which of righteousness and purity,

brings,

the reward

the chief message of the "

great prophets and psalmists.

dwell with the devouring fire?

Who among Who among He

dwell with

everlasting burnings?

righteously,

and speaketh uprightly

;

us shall us shall

walketh

that

he that despiseth

the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from

holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing

on high

shall dwell

munitions of rocks

;

Thine eyes

shall see the

they shall behold the land that

;

be the

his place of defence shall

bread shall be given unto him

waters shall be sure.

beauty

evil,

;

his

King in His

very far off."

This passage of Isaiah bears a very close resemblance to the 15th and 24th Psalms; and there are

many

other psalms which have been dear to Christian

—

derium

In some of them

mystics.

find the " amoris desi-

the thirst of the soul for

God

characteristic note of mystical devotion

—which

;

longing for a safe refuge from the provoking of

and the

strife

of tongues, which drove so

Many

into the cloister.

the

in others, that all

many

men

saints

a solitary ascetic has prayed

"Whom have I in none upon earth that I

in the words of the 73rd Psalm:

heaven but Thee

and there

desire beside Thee.

but

God

for ever." '

flesh

the strength of

And

verses like,

Jer. xxxi. 31-34.

and

heart,

heart faileth

and

" I will hearken '

portion

what the

Isa. xxxiii. 14-17.

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE Lord God

will

say concerning me," have been only too

Other familiar verses

attractive to quietists.

will

occur

most of us. I will only add that the warm faith and love which inspired these psalms is made more precious by the reverence for law which is part of the to

older inheritance of the Israelites.

There are many,

fear,

whom

"the mystical

element in the Old Testament " will suggest only the Cabbalistic lore of types and allegories which has been

applied to

all

the canonical books, and with especial

persistency and boldness to the

shall give

Song of Solomon.

opinion upon this class of allegorism in

the seventh Lecture of this course, which will deal with

symbolism as a branch of Mysticism. impossible to treat of discussion

of a

would be

which has a much wider

bearing than as a method of biblical exegesis.

Song

the

Solomon,

Mysticism has been

romance

here without anticipating

principle

its

influence

upon Christian

simply deplorable.

graceful

honour of true love was distorted into a

precedent and sanction for giving

way

hysterical

emotions, in which sexual imagery was freely used to

symbolise the relation between the soul and

Such aberrations are as

alien to

its

Lord.

sane Mysticism as

they are to sane exegesis.^ In Jewish writings of a later period, composed under

Greek influence, we find plenty of Platojaism ready to

But the Wisdom of Solomon does not fall within our subject, and what is necessary to be said about Philo and Alexandria will be said in pass

into Mysticism.

the next Lecture. *

See Appendix D, on the devotional use of the Song of Solomon.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

New

In the

Testament,

will

be convenient to say first, and

a very few words on the Synoptic Gospels

afterwards to consider St. John and St. Paul, where

most of our material.

shall find

The

first

religious

Gospels

three

Mysticism.

dialect

not

are

written

the more

all

the

important to notice that the fundamental doctrines on

we may call it a system) rests, them. The vision of God is promised

which the system are in

all

the

those

found

(if

Sermon on the Mount, and promised only

who

The

are pure in heart.

of Christ, or of the Holy Spirit, places; for instance "

taught

—"The kingdom

Where two

indwelling presence

several

God

within

you

name, there

with you alway, even to the end of the world."

;

or three are gathered together in I

the midst of

them

;

Lo,

members

implied by the

words, " Inasmuch as ye have done

to one of the

The

unity of Christ and His

least of these

brethren, ye have

done

gain through

loss,

corner-stone

of mystical

Christian) ethics, "

in .St. John.

life

;

(or soul) shall preserve

Mysticism.

if it is

it,

many have

said,

the of

shall seek to gain his life

but whosoever shall lose his

calls

life

it."

— —

of St. John

Clement already stand

(and,

the

found in the Synoptists as well as

Whosoever

(or soul) shall lose

The Gospel

through death,

unto Me."

— law —which

Lastly, the great law of the moral world,

the " spiritual Gospel," as the charter of Christian

Indeed, Christian Mysticism, as

under-

might almost be called Johannine Christianity;

were not better to say that a Johannine Christianity

the

ideal

which the Christian

mystic sets before

MYSTICAL ELEMENT For we cannot but

himself.

THE BIBLE

feel that there are

truths in this wonderful Gospel than have yet

deeper

become

part of the religious consciousness of mankind.

Per-

haps, as Origen says, no one can fully understand

who has

not, like its author, lain

Jesus.

are on holy ground

upon the breast of

when we

are dealing

with St. John's Gospel, and must step in fear

and But though the breadth and depth and

reverence.

height of those sublime discourses are for those only

who can mount up with wings of the spiritual

life,

as eagles to the

so simple

scope, that even the wayfaring men, though

large

its

fools,

can hardly altogether err therein.

Let us consider this

summits

the language and so

briefly,

what we learn from

first,

Gospel about the nature of God, and then

teaching upon

human

its

salvation.

There are three notable expressions about God the Father in the Gospel and First Epistle of

"God

Spirit."

St.

John

Love"; "God is Light"; and "God is The form of the sentences teaches us that

these three qualities belong so intimately to the nature

God

that they usher us into His immediate presence.

need not try to get behind them, or to

rise

above

them into some more nebulous region in our search for the Absolute.

Love, Light, and Spirit are for us

names of God Himself. does

not,

God, attenuate

God

And

observe that St. John

applying these semi-abstract words to in the slightest

Love, but

loved the world."

radiance " that " for

degree His personality.

He also exercises love. " God so And He is not only the " white ever shines " He can " draw " us to

Himself, and " send " His

;

Son to bring us back

Him.

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

The word

Word

Logos

The

discourses.

does not occur

Reason

confirmed by our Lord's

by the

the St.

But the statements in the prologue are

John's own. all

with

philosophers

the

any of the

Christ

identification

These

evangelist.

fall

own words

as reported

under two heads, those

which deal with the relation of Christ to the Father,

and those which deal with His

relation to the world.

The pre-existence of Christ in glory at the right hand of God is proved by several declarations " What if ye :

before

? "

Thine own

And

self,

now,

Father,

before the world was."

St.

And

am."

glorify

had with Thee His exaltation above time is

with the glory which

shown by the solemn statement, was,

He was Me with

Son of Man ascending where

shall see the

Before

with regard to the world,

Abraham we find in

John the very important doctrine, which has never

made

its

way

into popular theology, that the

Word

not merely the Instrument in the original creation, "

(or through)

Him

all

central Life, the Being in

things were made,"

whom

life

—

but the

existed and exists

as an indestructible attribute, an underived prerogative,^

the

Mind

Wisdom who upholds and animates

the universe without being lost in

which

it.

This doctrine,

implied in other parts of St. John, seems to be

stated explicitly in

the prologue, though the words

have been otherwise interpreted.

come

"was

into existence," says St. John,

(o yeyovev, ev is

avrm

^odt) rjv).

That

That which has in

Him life" Word

to say, the

the timeless Life, of which the temporal world

manifestation. '

This doctrine was taught by

Leathes, The Witntss of St. John to Christ, p. 244.

many

a of

MYSTICAL ELEMENT

THE BIBLE

the Greek Fathers, as well as

by Scotus Erigena and Even if, writh the school of

other speculative mystics.

and most of the later commentators, we words yeyovev to the preceding sentence,

Antioch

transfer the

the doctrine that Christ the world

world

Father

the

life

as well as the light

of the

Word

St.

John.^

The

to the glory of the

and by means of it. He displays in time which God has eternally put within

it,

the riches

all

be proved from

poem

the

can

Him. In St. John, as in mystical theology generally, the Incarnation, rather than the Cross, "

Christianity.

The punctuation now

Antiochenes, thing

who were

made"

might,

the central fact of

The Word was made

flesh,

and taber-

generally adopted was invented (probably) by the

words " without Him was not anybe taken to include the Holy Spirit.

afraid that the

if unqualified,

comments on the older punctuation, but explains the as Life by nature, was in the things which have become, mingling Himself by participation in the things that are." Bp. Westcott objects to this, that "the one life is regarded as dispersed." Cyril of Alexandria

verse wrongly.

0)^:11,

"The Word,

however, guards against this misconception

AWolaa-iv).

says that created things share in

(oii

Kari, iiepuTjiJiv riva

the one

life

as they are

able." But some of his expressions are objectionable, as they seem to assume a material substratum, animated ad extra by an infusion of the Logos. Augustine's commentary on the verse is based on the well-known passage of Plato's Republic about the "ideal bed." "Area in opere non

Sic Sapientia Dei, per quam facta sunt omnia, secundum artem continel omnia antequam fabricat omnia. QuiE Those who accept the fiunt . . . foris corpora sunt, in arte vita sunt." est vita; area in arte vita est.

common

authorship of the Gospel and the Apocalypse will find a confirma-

tion of the iv.

view that

"Thou

fpi

refers to ideal, extra-temporal existence, in

hast created

all things,

and

for

Thy

Rev.

pleasure they were

reading) and were created."

There is also a very Ev. xi. 19) koX oStos ipa, r/v i X670S Ka6' 8v del 6vTa t4 yiyvbixeva iyhero, &nrep 'SpdKKeiros hv dfiiiireie. This is so near to the words of St. John's prologue as to suggest that the (%aav

the

true

interesting passage in Eusebius (Prcep.

apostle, writing at Ephesus,

here referring deliberately to the lofty

doctrine of the great Ephesian idealist, before Christ,

and

whom

whom Justin

claims as a Christian

Clement quotes several times with

respect.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

among

nacled

And

us,"

him the supreme dogma. from the Logos doctrine,

for

follows necessarily

that the Incarnation,

and

all

that followed

garded primarily as a revelation of "

truth.

That

eternal

life,

and

life

it,

light

re-

and

which was with the Father, is part of the opening

has been manifested unto us,"

sentence of the

which we have heard of

God

that

Epistle.^

first

Light, and in

This

the message

Him and announce unto Him is no darkness at

you, all."

came unto His own." He had, in a sense, only to show to them what was there already Esaias, long before, had " seen His glory, and spoken of Him." The mysterious estrangeIn coming into the world, Christ

ment, which had laid the world under the dominion of the Prince of darkness, had obscured but not quenched

man

the light which lighteth every prerogative of

who

all

alone

at once the

the

Way,

Christ,

Sun and

the Truth, the

Door, the Living Bread, and the True Vine.

Life, the

the inalienable

This central Light

of Righteousness. Christ only.

—

derive their being from the

Revealer and the Revealed, the

Guide and the Way, the Enlightener and the Light.

No man The Holy

cometh unto the Father but by Him.

teaching of this Gospel on the office of the

Spirit claims

The

inquiry.

plete

special attention

revelation of

God

our present

Christ

was com-

there can be no question that St. John claims

one eternally true But without the gradual illumination of

for Christianity the position of the

revelation.

the Spirit '

It will

evangelist.

partly unintelligible

be seen that

assume that the

first

and partly unob-

Epistle

the

work of the

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE The purpose of

served.^

God

the

Father :

Father."

these

the Incarnation was to reveal

that hath seen

momentous words

hath seen the (it

been

hcis

"the idea of God receives an abiding embodi-

said)

ment, and the Father

brought for ever within the

reach of intelligent devotion." mission of the Comforter

The purpose

of the

to reveal the Son.

takes the place of the ascended Christ on earth as a

and

living

His

active principle in the hearts of Christians.

office it is to

bring to remembrance the teachings of

and to help mankind gradually to understand There were also many things, our Lord said, which could not be said at the time to His disciples, who were unable to bear them. These were left to be communicated to future generations by the Holy The doctrine of development had never before Spirit. Christ,

them.

received so clear an expression to record

;

and few could venture

who could not be when the teachings

so clearly as St. John,

suspected of contemplating a time

human Christ might be superseded. Let us now turn to the human side of salvation, and

of the

trace the

upward path of the Christian

to us in this Gospel.

new

of the

from

birth

above), he

This

as presented

cannot

see

the kingdom of God."

further explained as a being born " of water

and of the Spirit" to

life

we have the doctrine Except a man be born anew (or, First, then,

—words which

are probably

meant

remind us of the birth of the world-order out of

chaos as described in Genesis, and also to suggest the

two ideas of symbol of '

purification

Westcott on John xiv. 26,

and

life.

(Baptism, as

purification, was, of course, already familiar '

Westcott.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

who

to those

Synoptists.

The very

believe on,"

common

shows that the word supernatural

which

Christ.

man

favours

The

who

objection has been raised that

first

no reason

for

cannot hear

must

not

evidence; tion

of the

the "credo ut intelligam"

It is

this

believe,

which

doing.

But

acceptance

the

less is

still

the

teeth

and

inward witness;

the

inward witness are informed is

what they can

just

this

criticism

altogether the drift of St. John's teaching.

him,

any

" If

teaching about faith moves in a vicious

His appeal

that they

know

he shall

will,

the promise.

John's

circle.

find

Faith,

mountains

the

rather,

or,

;

do His

of later theology.

those

new meaning.

must precede knowledge

willeth

teaching,"

St.

John and rare elsewhere,

St.

taking a

an act of the whole personality, a self-dedication

It is

" to

ek,

Tria-Teveiv

remove are no material obstructions.

can

expression

of the

deeper than that

no longer regarded chiefly as a condition

in St. John, is

Then we have a

heard the words.)

first

doctrine of faith which

misses

Faith, for

of a proposition

upon

the acceptance of a proposi-

of evidence.

is,

the

first

instance, the resolution " to stand or fall

hypothesis "

;

that

by the noblest (may we not say ?), to follow

He may

Christ wherever

lead

us.

Faith begins with

an experiment, and ends with an experience.^ that believeth in that

Him

make

hath the witness in himself";

the verification which follows the venture.

even the power

the experiment

That

given from

Germanica, chap. 48 "He who would know before he believeth cometh never to true knowledge. ... I speak of a certain truth which it is possible to know by experience, but which ye must believe in before ye know it by experience, else ye will never come to know it truly." 1

Cf. Theologia

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE above ive,

and that the experience

;

not merely subject-

but an universal law which has had

vindication

history,

these

The

afterwards.

learn

—

two

are

converse

supreme

its

which

facts

process, which

begins with a critical examination of documents, cannot estJiblish what

strong the evidence

may

want

really

know, however

In this sense, and in this

be.

only, are Tennyson's words true, that " nothing worthy

proving can be proven, nor yet disproven." Faith, thus defined,

hardly distinguishable from

that mixture of admiration, hope,

Wordsworth says that we

live.

And

intimately connected with faith. to be considered as, above

life is

with

union

another,

Christ,

love

towards any

as the Christian

things, a state of

all

and of His members with one brethren

the

So intimate

love of God.

and love by which Love especially is

from

inseparable

this union, that hatred

human being cannot exist in The mystical union

heart as love to God.

the is

same

indeed

bond between Christ and the Church, and between man and man as members of Christ, than between Christ and individual souls. Our Lord's

rather a

prayer

" that

they

Father, art in Me,

be one in

and

The

us."

all

may

I in

be one, even as Thou,

Thee, that they also

not to be denied

enjoyed when

the person has "

and Christ

member from

of a body.

the

false

may

personal relation between the soul ;

but

come

can only be

to himself " as a

This involves an inward transit

isolated

self

the

larger

love which alone makes us

sympathy and Those who are thus

living

life

persons.

according to their

true

nature are rewarded with an intense unshakeable con-

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

52 viction

which makes them

evidences.

can say, " blind,

independent of external

man who was

Like the blind

One

now I

thing

see."

The words

again and again in the

first

which leaves no room

for

was willing

healed, they

know, that whereas

we know

was

" are repeated

Epistle, with

an emphasis

doubt that the evangelist

throw the main weight of his belief on

and

this inner assurance,

to attribute

without hesita-

tion to the promised presence of the Comforter.

must observe, however, that tion

This

progressive.

knowledge

this

or illumina-

proved by the passages

already quoted about the work of the Holy Spirit. is

they should Christ 7i'(Wfft?,

know Thee,

whom Thou

This

eternal, that

the only true God, and Jesus

Eternal

hast sent."

(^iva '^irfvaxrKmaiv).

who

think, that St. John,

life

not

It is significant,

so fond of the verb " to

know," never uses the substantive

The

is life

knowledge as a possession, but the state of

acquiring knowledge I

by the words,

also implied

'^vmai<i.

which we more and more of the " fulness " of Christ, is called by the evangelist, in the verse just quoted and elsewhere, state of progressive

receive " grace

eternal

life.

upon

This

unification, in

life

grace,"

learn

generally spoken of as

present possession rather than a future that believeth

M /ajjf^ from is

true,

eternal

death unto

even Jesus Christ. life."

transport

day

on the Son hath everlasting life "

The

"we

This

evangelist

are in

life

'' ;

Him

that

the true God, and

constantly trying to

us into that timeless region in which one

as a thousand years,

one day.

;

hope.

and a thousand years as

MYSTICAL ELEMENT St.

John's Mysticism

stamped upon

mode

pervades

all

his

sympathy with

we might

of thought have, as

made

expect,

the most of this element in the Fourth Gospel.

some of them,

thus patent to all;

very style, and

his

Commentators who are

teaching. this

THE BIBLE

Indeed,

cannot but think, have interpreted

own idealism, that explained away the very

so completely in the terms of their

they have disregarded

important qualifications which distinguish the Johannine theology from some later mystical

systems.

Fichte,

for example, claims St. John as a supporter of his

system

idealism

of subjective

description of

it),

and

(if

driven to

that

some

correct

curious bits

And

of exegesis in his attempt to justify this claim.

Reuss

(to give

one example of

his

" the

John cannot have used

St.

method) says that last

day "

the

ordinary sense, " because mystical theology has nothing

do with such a notion."

that the state,

mystic,

who

and of eternal

no business

means,

as a present possession, has

life

to talk about future judgment.

help thinking that this

suppose,

to speak of heaven as a

likes

cannot

There

a very grave mistake.

no doubt that those who believe space and time to be only forms of our thought, must regard the

traditional

eschatology as symbolical.

concerned to maintain that there great assize, holden at

be announced

are

If that

it.

is all

that Reuss

right in saying that " mystical

theology has nothing to do with such a notion."

not

a date and place which could

we knew

means, perhaps he

will be, literally,

the second coming of Christ,

Scholten goes so far as to expunge

of.

John v.

But

v. 25, xxi. 23 ; i John ii. 28, 25 and 28, 29 as spurious.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

54 if

he means that such expressions as those referred to

John, about eternal

St.

the future,

as something here and now, and therefore not in

life

now, imply that judgment

who have used

the whole array of religious thinkers similar expressions, a view

understand, but which entirely

The

fails

the

satisfy

any

that

life;

but

consciousness.

religious

life.

God's in His heaven

everyone it

between what ought to be faith in

easy to say with

all's

world," or with Emerson, that justice

and

value, for

can only be ignored by shutting our

eyes to half the facts of

Browning,

easy enough to

one of the deepest springs of

is, is

the unseen.

which

destitute of

feeling of the contrast

and what

and to

attributing to the evangelist,

right with the

not deferred,

gets exactly his deserts in this

would require a robust confidence or a

hard heart to maintain these propositions while standing

among

the ruins of an

Armenian

deathbed of innocence betrayed. a sense in which actual

;

but only

a region future,

" is "

thought can

risen in

denotes, not

the

This

live;

The

the

thought to

Now

not a region in which

the

human

and the symbolical eschatology of it is

basis of the belief in future

possible

judgment

that deep conviction of the rationality of the world-

order, or, in justice of It

moment which

religion supplies us with forms in which

by the

no doubt

that the ideal

speak, but the everlasting

mind of God.

to think.

above the antitheses of past, present, and

where

passes as

may be said when we have it

village, or

There

religious

language, of the wisdom and

God, which we cannot and

will

not surrender.

authenticated by an instinctive assurance which

MYSTICAL ELEMENT strongest in

THE BIBLE

the strongest minds, and which has

nothing to do with any desire for spurious tions "

;

it is

consola-

a conviction, not merely a hope, and

have every reason to believe that Divine element in our nature. other mystical intuitions,

part of the

This conviction, like

formless

symbols under which we represent

the forms

are the best that

we can get. They are, as Plato says, " a raft " on which we may navigate strange seas of thought far out of our depth.

We may

were

only remembering their symbolical

literally true,

use them freely, as

they

when they bring us into conflict with natural when they tempt us to regard the world of

character

science, or

experience as something undivine or unreal It is

important to

extreme

difficulty

insist

because the

this point,

(or rather impossibility)

of deter-

mining the true relations of becoming and being, of time and eternity, is constantly tempting us to adopt

some

solution which really destroys one of the

facile

The danger which

two terms.

besets us

the line of thought natural to speculative Mysticism, that we may think we have solved the problem

one of two ways, neither of which

we may sublimate our notion

Either

a solution at

down '

The

because

way

of looking at the actual;

the other term in the relation,

or,

to shallovir

fall

into

a future

the most comfortable belief to hold, seems to

contemptible.

senti-

by paring

we may

allegation that the Christian persuades himself of it is

all.

of spirit to such

an extent that our idealism becomes merely a mental

life

utterly

Certain views about heaven and hell are no doubt traceable in itself rather awful ; but the belief in immortality is

optimism

than consoling. such a matter ?

Besides,

what sane man would wish to be deceived

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

that spurious idealism which reduces this world to a

vain shadow having no relation to reality.

come

across a

good

in our survey of Christian

mental rationalist

shall

deal of " acosmistic " philosophy

Platonism

;

and the

senti-

with us in the nineteenth century

but neither of the two has any right to appeal to St.

Fond

John.

as he

of the present tense, he will not

allow us to blot from the page either " unborn

morrow

have seen that he

by our Lord of the

traditional language

or dead yesterday."

records the use

What

about future judgment.

he asserts

remembering

that

conveyed by certain

was made

even more important,

the strongest possible manner, at the

and

outset both of his Gospel

to-

the

Epistle, the necessity

Christian

historical

was

revelation

The Word among us, and we "

events.

and tabernacled " That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and flesh,

have seen His glory."

our hands handled, concerning the that which

And

you."

Word

we have seen and heard

of Life

again in striking words he lays

the test whereby

we may

we unto it down as

declare

distinguish

the

spirit

truth from Antichrist or the spirit of error, that the latter " confesseth flesh."

The

not that Jesus Christ

later history of

come

in the

Mysticism shows that

warning was very much needed.

The tendency

this

of the

Gospel history as only one striking manifestation of an universal law. He believes mystic

to regard the

that every Christian

who

the

way

of salvation

recapitulates " the whole process of Christ " (as William

Law

calls it)

—

that he has his miraculous birth, inward

MYSTICAL ELEMENT death, and resurrection

becomes

for the

philosopher)

teaching

audacity

;

and

calls the Christian

more than a dramatisation of the

little

for

" Christ

crucified

Origen, with

startling

experience.^

babes,"

says

have often fancied

mystics

heretical

that they can rise above the

Son

Gospel and Epistle of

John stand

St.

have rightly discerned

not an abstract

their

unity, but

an unity

outward and inward, a bodily and

a rock

some German

supreme value to

" In all life," says

mystical theology.^

The

to the Father.

against this fatal error, and in this feature critics

and so the Gospel history

;

Gnostic (as Clement

normal psychological is

THE BIBLE

Grau,

there

spiritual

;

and

in plurality,

life,

what science and philosophy separate." of the sensible and spiritual, of the co-operation This material and ideal, of the historical and eternal, is

like love, unites

maintained throughout by

St.

mystical," says Grau, " because

His view

mystical."

true that the historical facts hold, for St. John, a

subordinate place as evidences. I

John. all life is

said, experimental.

have

God

tion, is

without for

think, >

his

its

impossibility,

itself adrift

find

so firm

Henry More brings this charge many good and wholesome

says,

and a Christianity

from the Galilean ministry

eyes an imposture.

do we

spiritual revelation

physical counterpart, an Incarna-

him an

which has cut

His main proof is, as

But a

no other

writer, I

a grasp of the "psychoagainst the Quakers.

things in

their

There

teaching,

are,

but

they

mingle with them a " slighting of the history of Christ, and making a mere allegory of it— tending to the utter overthrow of that warrantable, though more external frame of Christianity, which Scripture itself points out to us" (Mastix, his letter to a Friend, p. 306). ' E.g. Strauss and Grau, quoted in Lilienfeld's Thoughts on the Social Science of the Future.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

physical " view of one,

which we

life

only we could put

There shows

all

intelligible form.^

another feature in St. John's Gospel which

though of a

his affinity to Mysticism,

we have been

kind from that which

mean

to be the true

feel

his fondness for using visible things

as symbols.

kind

This objective

form the subject of

different

considering.

and events

Mysticism

two Lectures, and

last

will will

here only anticipate so far as to say that the belief

which underlies it

is,

that " everything, in being what

symbolic of something more,"

Gospel

steeped in symbolism of this

eight miracles which St. John

indeed, he seems to

;

regard them mainly as acted parables.

word '

The

for

miracles

intense moral dualism of St.

discordant note

;

and though

" signs "

atj/ieia,

it is

who

His favourite or " symbols."

John has been

felt

by many as a

not closely connected with his Mysticism,

a few words should perhaps be added about strange that the Logos,

obviously

are

selects

chosen for their symbolic value

The Fourth kind. The

the

life

all

it.

has been thought

things that are, should have

His own kingdom to rescue it from its de facto ruler, the Prince ; and stranger yet, that the bulk of mankind should seemingly be "children of the devil," bom of the flesh, and incapable of salvation. The difficulty exists, but it has been exaggerated. St. John does not touch either the metaphysical problem of the origin of evil, or predestinato invade

of darkness

tion in the Calvinistic sense. his picture express his

The Gospel

The

vivid contrasts of light

judgment on the

not a polemical

John wishes

treatise,

show

tragic fate of the

but

and shade in Jewish people,

bears traces of recent con-

that the rejection of Christ

by the Jews and their ruin followed naturally from their characters and principles. Looking back on the memories of a long life, he desires to trace the operation of uniform laws in dividing the wheat of humanity from the chaft'. He is content to observe how ?9os ivBpiiTij) Salfiuv, without speculating on the reason why In offering these remarks, I am assuming, what seems to characters differ. me quite certain, that St. John selected from our Lord's discourses those which suited his particular object, and that in the setting and arrangement he allowed himself a certain amount of liberty. flicts.

St.

was morally inevitable

;

that

their

blindness

MYSTICAL ELEMENT true that he also calls

It is

not to distinguish

them

THE BIBLE

" works," but this

them

as supernatural.

All Christ's

actions are " works," as parts of His one " work."

evidences of His Divinity, such " works " are inferior to

His

those

" words,"

who cannot

and

their

faith

echo

believe

on the evidence of the words

in the heart,

may

But

the miracles.

strengthen their weak

" blessed

who

are they

have not seen, and yet have believed." these " signs,"

Only

being symbolic and external.

And

besides

have, in place of the Synoptic parables,

a wealth of allegories, in which Christ

symbolised as

Door Way, and the Wind and water are also made to play true Vine. Moreover, there is much unobtrusive their part. symbolism in descriptive phrases, as when he says that Nicodemus came by night, that Judas went out into

the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the

of the Sheep, the good Shepherd, the

the night, and that blood and water flowed from our

and the washing of the disciples' feet was a symbolic act which the disciples were to understand Thus all things in the world may remind us hereafter. Lord's side

;

Him who made them, and who John,

In treating of St.

against the tendency of pret

him

simply

Alexandrian

we has

type.

their sustaining

life.

was necessary to protest

some commentators

a speculative

to inter-

mystic

But when we turn to

of St.

the Paul,

find reason to think that this side of his theology

been

very

much

underestimated, and

that

the

distinctive features of Mysticism are even more marked in

him than

in St.

John.

This

not surprising, for

our blessed Lord's discourses, in which nearly doctrinal teaching of St. John

all

contained, are for

the all

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

they rise above the oppositions which must always divide human thought and human thinkers. Christians;

In St. Paul, large-minded as he was, and inspired as

we may be allowed to see an example we are considering. Paul states in the clearest manner that Christ

believe

him

to be,

of that particular type which St.

him, and that

appeared to foundation "

mission.

man,"

of his

Neither

did

he says, " nor was

and

apostolic

taught

it,

but

think

first ^

with flesh and blood"

—

came

through revelation of Jesus Christ."

that he did not at

com-

the Gospel from

receive

was the

revelation

this

Christianity

appears

necessary to " confer

to collect evidence about our

he had Him, and that was enough. " It was the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in me," ' he Lord's ministry. His death and resurrection

" seen "

and

;

felt

says simply, using the favourite mystical phraseology.

The study of in

" evidences," in the usual sense

apologetics, he rejects with distrust

make

External revelation cannot

answering to

in his

Nor can philosophy wisdom,"

" the

mind,

make

will

man

wisdom of the "

to find spiritual truth.

man

can put nothing new into him.

of the term

and contempt.* religious.

If there profit

him nothing. "

Man's

of no

avail

religious.

world,"

God chose

nothing

the foolish things

shame them that are wise." The word of the Cross is, to them that are perishing,

of the world, to put to "

foolishness."

mean »

Gal.

this

language he, of course, does not

that Christianity i.

irrational,

and therefore to

12.

Cor. XV. shows that he subsequently satisfied himself of the truth of the other Christophanies. * I Cor. i. and ii. • Gal. i. IS, l6. " I

;

MYSTICAL ELEMENT

THE BIBLE

That would be

be believed on authority.

to lay

its

foundation upon external evidences, and nothing could

be further from the whole bent of

he does mean, and say very clearly,

mind

What

his teaching. is

that the carnal

disqualified from understanding Divine truths

know them, because they are spiritually discerned." He who has not raised himself above " the world," that is, the interests and ideals of human

cannot

society as

organises itself apart from God, and above

" the flesh," that

is,

the things which seem desirable to

the " average sensual man," does not possess in himself

which can

element

that

assimilated

of the

necessarily hidden from him. "

mystery "

Chrysostom

gives to

St.

in the following careful defini-

that which

mystery

claimed, but which

tion:

cleverness, but it.

(a-TTopfytjTov), for

in all its fulness is

nearly

we may

even to the

and

always

call

are freely

it is

all

' *

not committed

connexion

are able to

In St. Paul the word

with

words

The preacher

a hierophant, but the Christian mysteries

communicated

all

who can

For many ages these truths were

now

a mystery a secret

faithful

clearness."

found

denoting revelation or publication.^ the Gospel

who

not

revealed,

by the Holy Ghost,

And

everywhere pro-

not understood by those

have not right judgment.

receive

by Divine

wisdom of God is Paul uses the word very much the same sense which St.

The "mystery"

grace.

men may be

hid in God,"

" illuminated," *

Chrysostom in I Cor. Horn. vii. See Lightfoot on Col. i. 26. cf. Eph. 2 Tim. i. 10 (^wrifeic) ,

;

receive them.

they

will

2. ' i.

Eph.

iii.

but fulfil

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

62 the

necessary

conditions

to " cleanse ourselves

from

and to have

love,

spirit,"

be unavailing. "

all

without which

speak wisdom

among

grace,

and growth

but the carnal must

;

in love, are so frequently

we must understand

and love

who

is itself

still

knowledge, growth in

mentioned

the apostle to

But

that they are almost inseparable. grace,

initiation.

the perfect," he says (the

Growth

be fed with milk.

else will

all

But there are degrees of

TeXetof are the fully initiated)

together, that

These are defilement of flesh and

of initiation.

this

mean

knowledge,

the work of the indwelling God,

thus in a sense the organ as well as the object

of the spiritual

life.

The

Spirit searcheth all things,"

The man has the mind of

he says, "yea, the deep things of God."

who has is

him

the Spirit dwelling in

Christ."

that

spiritual

judgeth

himself " judged of no man."

frankly, a dangerous claim,

be subversive of the Lord

is,

all

there

all things,"

is,

and one which may "

discipline.

Where

easily

the Spirit of

liberty"; but such liberty

and

we must admit

may

become a cloak of maliciousness. The fact is that St. Paul had himself trusted in "the Law," and it had led him into grievous error. As usually happens in such cases, his recoil from it was almost violent.

exalts the inner light into an absolute criterion of

right

and wrong, that no corner of the moral

remain in bondage to

The

Pharisaism.

life

may

crucifixion

of the Lord Jesus and the stoning of Stephen were a

crushing

condemnation

righteousness; the law written or rather spoken there '

by the 2 Cor.

legal in

and ceremonial

the heart of man,

living voice of the

vii. I.

Holy

;

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE

men as to make them they were doing God service by condemning

could never so mislead

Spirit,

think that

and

killing the just.

Such memories might

well lead St.

Paul to use language capable of giving encouragement even to fanatical Anabaptists.

But

significant

that the boldest claims on behalf of liberty

occur in

all

the earlier Epistles.

The

subject of St. Paul's visions and revelations

one of great

the Acts

difficulty.

we have

full

accounts of the appearance in the sky which caused, or

immediately

preceded,

his

conversion.

clear that St. Paul himself regarded this as

quite

an appear-

ance of the same kind as the other

Christophanies granted to apostles and " brethren," and of a different

kind

from

Christian.

him the

such It

visions

might be seen

was an unique

by any upon

favour, conferring

apostolic prerogatives of an eye-witness.

Other

passages in the Acts show that during his missionary

journeys St. Paul saw visions and heard voices, and that he believed himself to be guided

by the

" Spirit

Lastly, in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians he records that " more than fourteen years

of Jesus."

ago " he was

an ecstasy,

into the third heaven,"

The form

which

this

which he was

caught and saw things unutterable. in

experience

narrated suggests

a recollection of Rabbinical pseudo-science; the substance of the vision St. Paul will not reveal, nor will

he claim

its

authority for any of his teaching.^

These

recorded experiences are of great psychological interest ' In spite of this, he is attacked for this passage in the Pseudo- Clementine Homilies (xvii. 19), where "Simon Magus" is asked, "Can anyone be made wise to teach through a vision ?

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

but, as I said in

last Lecture,

Another mystical the

they do not seem to

to belong to the essence of Mysticism.

mind of

must

idea,

St. Paul, is

and

through,

live

which

never absent from

that the individual Christian

experience

personally,

the

The life, death, and resurrection of Christ were for him the revelation of The a law, the law of redemption through suffering. but it victory over sin and death was won for us must also be won in us. The process is an universal redemptive

process

Christ.

;

law,

not a mere event

the past.^

exemplified in history, which

has

been

a progressive unfurling

meaning of which And it must Christ*

or revelation of a great mystery, the

now

also

at last

appear

made

with Him," says

baptism

plain in

human

each

"We

life.

were buried

Paul to the Romans,*

St.

into death," " that like as

Christ

through

was raised

from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also

might walk

dwell in you.

dead

shall

newness of

Him He that

" If the Spirit of

that raised raised

life."

And

again,*

up Jesus from the dead

up Christ Jesus from the

quicken also your mortal bodies through His

And,

Spirit that dwelleth in you."

" If

ye were raised

together with Christ, seek the things that are above."

Remains : "To live more perfect. God can only make His work His work, by eternally dying, sacrificing what is dearest to

Compare a

beautiful passage in R. L. Nettleship's

to die into something

be truly

Him." ° Col. L 26, ii. 2, iv. I have allowed myself to quote 3 ; Eph. iii. 2-9. from these Epistles because I am myself a believer in their genuineness. The Mysticism of St. Paul might be proved from the undisputed Epistles only, but we should then lose some of the most striking illustrations of it. '

Rom.

° St.

vi. 4.

much

controversy.

Rom.

viii.

ii.

and resurrection has given rise the one hand, we have writers like Matthew

Paul's mystical language about death

MYSTICAL ELEMENT IN THE BIBLE The law

of redemption, which St. Paul considers to

have been triumphantly resurrection of Christ,^

an universal law

summed up by

the death and

would hardly be proved to be

the Pauline Christ were only the

"heavenly man," as some

have asserted.

critics

Paul's teaching about the Person of Christ

was

almost identical with the Logos doctrine as

and as

St.

really find

mystical philosophy of a later

was developed by the period. Not only is His

pre-existence " in the form of

God "

in St. John's prologue,

vital principle

The

upholding and pervading

Son,"

all

that exists.

read in the Epistle to the Colossians,^

the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of

Arnold,

who

tell

the other,

all

us that St. Paul unconsciously substitutes an ethical for an eternal life here and now for a future reward.

—

a physical resurrection

clearly taught,* but

the agent in the creation of the universe, the

we have

writers like Kabisch (Eschatologie des Paulus),

who

argue that the apostle's whole conception was materialistic, his idea of a "spiritual body" being that of a body composed of very fine atoms (like those of Lucretius'

" anima"), which

Christian like a kernel within tion) slough

oflF its

muddy

its

inhabits the earthly

husk, and will one day

vesture of decay,

(at

body of the the resurrec-

and thenceforth exist in a Of the two views, Matthew

form which can defy the ravages of time. Arnold's is much the truer, even though it should be proved that St. Paul sometimes pictures the "spiritual body "in the way described. But the key to the problem, in St. Paul as in St. John, is that pyscho-physical theory which demands that the laws of the spiritual world shall have their analogous manifestations in the world of phenomena. Death must, some-

how or other, be conquered in the visible as well as in the invisible sphere. The law of life through death must be deemed to pervade every phase of

And

mere prolongation of physical life under the same would not fulfil the law in queswe are bound to have recourse to some such symbol as " spiritual

existence.

conditions tion,

body."

as a

impossible, and, moreover,

It will

hardly be disputed that the Christian doctrine of the whole man has taken a far stronger hold of the religious

resurrection of the

consciousness of

mankind than the Greek doctrine of the immortahty of the by St. Paul. All attempts to

soul, or that this doctrine is plainly taught

turn his eschatology into a rationalistic (Arnold) or a materialistic (Kabisch)

theory must therefore be decisively rejected. 1

Col.

iii.

Phil.

ii.

•

Col.

15-17.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

Him

creation; for in

were

things created, in the

all

heavens and upon the earth;

;

and

things,

Him, and unto Him and

created through all

have been

things

all

Him

before

things consist" (that

all

is,

hold together," as the margin of the Revised Version

explains

" All things are

it).

we read again

summed up

And

in the Colossians.*

in Christ,"

and

" Christ is cdl

he says to the Ephesicms.^

in all,"

bold

in that

and

difficult passage of the isth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians he speaks of the " reign " of

When

Christ as coextensive with the world's history.

time shall end, and

all

Christ " will deliver

up the kingdom

Father," " that portant, too,

be subdued to good,

evil shall

God may be

to God, even the all"

all

Very im-

the verse in which he says that "

Israelites in the wilderness

drank of that

the

spiritual

rock which followed them, and that rock Wcis Christ"* It

reminds us of Clement's language about the Son as

the Light which broods over

The passage from

all history.

the Colossians, which

quoted

just now, contains another mystical idea besides that

of Christ as the universal source and

is,

are told, " the

and all created beings Man images of Him.

God "

glory of

come

Christ."

;

Image of the

are, in is

centre of invisible

life.

God,"

their several capacities,

essentially " the

the " perfect

man

image and

he who has

to the measure of the stature of the fulness of

This

our nature, in the Aristotelian sense

of completed normal development slay the

have to '

Eph.

10.

Cor. I. 4.

false •

Col.

• I

self,

iii.

ii.

Cor. xL

the old man, which

;

but to reach

• i •

Cor. xv. 24-28.

Eph.

iv. 13.

MYSTICAL ELEMENT

THE BIBLE

informed

by an

actively maleficent

which

hostile

" spirit."

from the

of the natural

isolation

false

into a state in which

yet not

what we have to

;

the description of the upward path as an

inner transit

man

agency, " flesh

This latter conception

does not at present concern us notice

it is

possible to say, "

but Christ liveth in me."

live

In the Epistle

to the Galatians he uses the favourite mystical phrase, " until Christ

be formed

Epistle to the Corinthians

you "

;

and

in the

Second

he employs a most beautiful

expression in describing the process, reverting to the figure of the

" mirror,"

had already used

dear to Mysticism, which he

the First Epistle

all

with

unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the

Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

Other passages, which

refer primarily to

the future state, are valuable as showing that St. Paul lends no countenance to that abstract idea of eternal

life

as freedom from all earthly conditions, which has misled

many

Our hope, when

mystics.

of our tabernacle

unclothed, but that

heavenly habitation. to be

changed and

dissolved,

the earthly house

not that

we may be

we may be clothed upon with our The body of our humiliation is glorified,

working whereby God

And

according to the mighty

able to subdue

therefore our whole

all

things unto

and soul blameless for the body preserved must be and body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, not the prison-house of a soul which will one day escape out of its cage and Himself

spirit ;

fly

away. St. '

Paul's conception of Christ as the Life as wel-

Gal. u. 20.

Gal.

iv.

19.

2 Cor.

iii.

18.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

as the Light of the world has

two consequences besides

those which have been already mentioned. place,

it is

In the

first

The close not so much a unity

individualism.

fatal to religious

unity which joins us to Christ

of the individual soul with the heavenly Christ, as an organic unity of of

privileges,

men,

all

or,

members one of

another,"

schism in the body,"

St.

Christ,

individual tine,

—

that

and the

individual

and severally be " no

Augustine

thoroughly

Paul when he speaks of Christ and

Not

cannot be

an error which

later mystics

cannot

We,

member must perform

the Church as " unus Christus." " divided," so that

must

There

but each

allotted function.

agreement with

refuse their

Christians, with their Lord.

all

being many, are one body

its

many

since

reach

all

his

that

Christ

fully present to St. Paul, St.

condemn

;

any

Augus-

but as the

personality as

real

isolated unit, he cannot, as an isolated unit, attain to

communion with The second point

full

Christ. is

interest

will,

in the future than

think,

to be of

awaken

has done in the

In the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans,

past. St.

may seem

one which

subordinate importance, but

Paul clearly teaches that the victory of Christ over

and death is of import, not only to humanity, but the whole of creation, which now groans and travails in pain together, but which shall one day be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the sin

glorious liberty of the sons of God.

This recognition

of the spirituality of matter, and of the unity of nature in Christ, '

Rom.

xii. S-

all

one which we ought to be thankful * I Cor, xii. 25.

MYSTICAL ELEMENT New

to find in the

task, in the last

THE BIBLE

Testament,

this

my pleasant

It will

two Lectures of

course, to

how the later school of mystics prized it. The foregoing analysis of St. Paul's teaching hope, justified the statement that

Mysticism are to be found are also

two points

But there

developments of

mischievous

These two points

Mysticism.

has,

which his authority has been

and

claimed for false

show

the essentials of

all

his Epistles.

will

be well to con-

sider before leaving the subject.

The

a contempt for the historical framework

first is

of Christianity.

have already seen how strongly

John warns us against this perversion of spiritual religion. But those numerous sects and individual thinkers who have disregarded this warning, have often St.

appealed to the authority of St.

we have known know Him so no admission " the

man

and then

Christ

flesh,

the

Even though yet now we

Here, they say,

more."

a distinct

worship of the historical Christ,

that the

Christ Jesus,"

a stage to be passed through

There

behind.

left

the

after

who

Paul,

Second Epistle to the Corinthians says,

just this substratum of

truth in a very mischievous error, that St. Paul does tell

us^ that he began to teach the Corinthians by

giving

them

in the simplest

" Jesus Christ

of the

and

the "

faith,

Him

possible form the story of

their

first

" mysteries "

wisdom " which only the

can understand, were deferred learned

The

crucified."

till

But

lessons.

" perfect "

the converts had

look

at the

passage in question, which has shocked and perplexed

many good

Christians, '

we Cor.

shall find that ii.

I, 2.

St.

Paul

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

not drawing a contrast between the earthly and the

heavenly Christ, bidding us worship the Second Person

same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and to cease to contemplate the Cross on Calvary,

of the Trinity, the

distinguishing rather between the sensuous pre-

sentation

the facts of Christ's

realisation of their import. "

know no man

after the flesh "

should try to think of

human

life,

and a deeper

should be our aim to ;

that

to say,

beings as what they are,

common life and common hope, not as what they appear to our eyes. And the same principle applies to our thoughts about Christ. To know Christ after the flesh is to know

immortal

spirits,

sharers with us of a

Him, not as man, but as a man. St. Paul in this verse condemns all religious materialism, whether it take the form of hysterical meditation upon the physical details of the passion, or of an over-curious There is interest in the manner of the resurrection. no trace whatever in St. Paul of any aspiration to rise

—

above Christ to the contemplation of the Absolute treat

Him

as only a step in the ladder.

error of false Mysticism

;

This

the true mystic follows St.

Paul in choosing as his ultimate goal the fulness of Christ,

and not the emptiness of the undifferentiated

Godhead.

The second

point in which St. Paul has been sup-

posed to sanction an exaggerated form of Mysticism, is

his

extreme disparagement of external religion

forms and ceremonies and holy days and the "

One man hath

weak eateth

faith to eat all things

herbs." '

Rom.

;

—

like.

but he that

One man esteemeth one xiv.

MYSTICAL ELEMENT day

above "

alike."

esteemeth

day

every

and

that eateth, eateth unto the Lord,

God thanks

giveth

another

another,

THE BIBLE

Lord he eateth

and he that eateth

;

and giveth God thanks."

not,

the

not, to "

Why

turn ye back

to the

weak and beggarly rudiments,

whereunto ye

desire

to be in bondage

again

observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.

afraid of you, lest

you

vain."

Why

handle not,

ordinances,

the precepts

do ye subject yourselves nor

and

strongly-worded

passages,

attenuate

their

significance.

who puts

the observance of

duties

—

at all

not Christianity, but

which

St.

touch,

human

that

Christian

ordinances

on the same

after

priest

—

level as

or purity,

debased

These are

have no wish

Any

generosity,

charity,

nor

taste,

and doctrines of men?"*

days, for example

have bestowed labour upon

fast-

such

teaching,

Judaism against

waged an unceasing polemic, and

Paul

one of those dead religions which has to be

which

killed

again

almost

must not forget that

every these

But

generation.*

vigorous

denunciations

do occur in a polemic against Judaism.

They bear

the stamp of the time at which they were written

perhaps

more than

any other

Epistles, except those thoughts

with his belief St.

St.

Paul's

the approaching end of the world.

Paul certainly did not intend his Christian con-

verts •

part

which were connected

Gal.

to iv.

be anarchists

9-1 1.

'I have been reminded

matters.

religious

that great tenderness

ii.

20-22.

due

to the

Col. is

There

"sancta

whose religion is generally of this type. I should agree, if the " anicula " were not always so ready with her faggot when a John Huss is to be burnt. simplicitas" of the "anicula Christiana,"

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

the First Epistle to the Corinthians,

evidence, in

that

his

presentation

spiritual

had

Christianity

made an excuse for disorderly licence. The usual symptoms of degenerate Mysticism had appeared at Corinth. There were men there who already been

called

" spiritual

themselves

persons "

prophets,

and showed an arrogant independence; there were others

who

who wished

gifts."

who As

prised

at the

others

;

others

on various "spiritual

themselves

prided

regards the last class,

what reads

own

to start sects of their

carried antinomianism into the sphere of morals

are rather sur-

which the apostle gives

half-sanction

Irvingism

like primitive

;

but he was

evidently prepared to enforce discipline with a strong

hand.

Still,

may be

said

fairly

that

trusts

mainly to his personal ascendancy, and to his teaching about the organic unity of the Christian body, to

There

preserve or restore due discipline and cohesion.

we except Quakerism, who have

have been hardly any religious leaders,

George Fox, the founder of valued ceremonies so

little.

this,

again, he

genuine mystic.

Of not

the other books of the

necessary

say

New

much.

Hebrews cannot be the work of

The

Testament Epistle

St. Paul.

strong traces of Jewish Alexandrianism ' I

;

to It

the

shows

indeed, the

Cor. xiv. 37.

There seem to have been two conceptions of the operations of the (a) He comes fitfully, with visible signs, and Spirit in St. Paul's time puts men beside themselves ; (d) He is an abiding presence, enlightening, St. Paul lays weight on the latter view, guiding, and strengthening. See H. Gunkel, Die IViriungen des without repudiating the former. H. Geistes nach der popul, Anschauung d. apostol. Zeit und d. Lehre det '

Paulus.

MYSTICAL ELEMENT writer

ism

Alexandrian ideal-

Philo.

always ready to pass into speculative Mysti-

cism, but the author of the Epistle

Hebrews

to the

can hardly be called mystical in the sense St.

Paul was a mystic.

of his theology, from

the

way

types

spiritual truths,

The most

interesting

side

and

his

view of religious

adumbrations

higher

with a comprehensive view of history

progressive

The keynote

which

our present point of view,

which he combines

ordinances

seems to have been well acquainted with the

Book of Wisdom and with is

THE BIBLE

realisation

Divine

scheme.

mankind has been educated partly by ceremonial laws and partly by " promises." Systems of laws and ordinances, of which the Jewish in

Law

until the higher truths

ceal under the protecting

apprehended done, and

the

claim obedience until the

rightly

which they can

lessons

and

that

the chief example, have their place

They

history.

practical

learned,

of the book

without

mankind "

same way, the

teach

have

been

which they con-

husk of symbolism can be

disguise.

Then

task

their

no longer bound by them.

promises

which were made under

the old dispensation proved to be only symbols of

deeper and

blessings,

spiritual

which

the

moral childhood of humanity would not have appeared desirable;

they

were

(not

delusions,

but)

illusions,

God having prepared some better thing " to take The doctrine is one of profound and their place.

far-reaching

importance.

tainly connected

visible things are symbols,

hended by

finite

this

Epistle

with the idealistic thought that

and

intelligences

cerall

that every truth appre-

must be only the husk

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

74 of a

deeper

truth.

Epistle to the

We may

Hebrews

claim

therefore

containing

the

outline

Christian philosophy of history, based upon a doctrine

of symbols later

which has much in

common

In the Apocalypse, whoever the author find

with some

developments of Mysticism.

little

may

be,

or nothing of the characteristic Johannine

Mysticism, and the influence of

its

vivid

allegorical

pictures has been less potent in this branch of theo-

logy than might perhaps have been expected.

LECTURE

III

"AiJ

Sii

SiKala!

€Kelvois &€i effTi iil

Toioiroi!

rAfOs

i,vi\p

/i^rr)

/ivri/xT]

TTepovrai ^ toG

<j>CKotrb<l>ov

Siivoia-

rpbs yhp

Kard. difafuVf irph^ otairep 6e6s &fv delos eari,

Tois d^

{iTO/iv^pMaiv ipBws xpdixevos, Tt\iovs dei T-eXerds reXoi/uvos,

PLATO, Phadrus,

6vT0)s lUros ylyveriu."

p. 249.

LiCHT UND FARBE " Wohne, du

ewiglich Eines, dort bei

Farbe, du wechselnde,

komm'

dem

ewiglich Einen

freundlich

zum Menschen herab

Schiller.

" Nel

suo profondo vidi che s'intema. Legato con amore in un volume, Ci6 che per runiverso si squadema; Sustanzia ed accidente, e lor costume, Tutti conflati insieme par tal modo, Che ci6 ch'io dico h un semplice lume."

Dantb,

?«

Paradiso,

33.

LECTURE

III

Christian Platonism and Speculative Mysticism

"That was the world."—John i.

THE east

true Light,

which lighteth every

" He made darkness His hiding

place,

HAVE

into the

His pavilion round about

darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies."

man coming

—

^Ps. xviii.

Him

Lecture " Christian Platonism and

called this

Admirers of Plato are

Speculative Mysticism."

likely

to protest that Plato himself can hardly be called

mystic,

and that

11.

semblance between

any case there

very

little

a re-

philosophy of his dialogues

the

and the semi-Oriental Mysticism of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.

statements in

the

;

and yet

title

Christianity

do not dispute I

Platonism

throughout the period which Justin

Martyr claims

Socrates)

The

of this Lecture.

and

either

of these

wish to keep the name of Plato

Plato

as a Christian

affinity

between

was very strongly

are

(with

before

now

Heraclitus

Christ

;

felt

to consider. ^

and

Athenagoras

It shows that the of Heraclitus is very interesting. had already recognised their affinity with the great speculative mystic of Ephesus, whose fragments supply many mottoes for essays on '

The mention

Christians

Mysticism.

The

identification of the Heraclitean

Johannine Logos appears also in Euseb. 77

Pm^. Ev.

xi.

with the quoted above.

vo0s-\6ryos 19,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

him the best of the forerunners of Christianity, and Clement regards the Gospel as perfected Platon-

calls

repeated so persistently the charge

The Pagans

ism.i

what was true

that Christ borrowed from Plato that

teaching,

As a

them.

Ambrose wrote a rule,

the Christians did not deny the

resemblance, but explained

find

first

mystics almost

—

Philo.

by saying

had plagiarised from Moses

him

;

Middle Ages the

the

Eckhart speaks of

canonised Plato:

and even

" divine,"

and

that Plato

a curious notion which

him, quaintly enough, as " the great priest Pfaffe)

His

confute

treatise

{der grosse

Spain, Louis of Granada calls

finds in

parts of Christian wisdom."

him

" the

most excellent

Lastly, in the seventeenth

century the English Platonists avowed their intention of bringing back the Church to " her old loving nurse

These English Platonists

the Platonic philosophy."

knew what they were talking of; but for the mediaeval mystics Platonism meant the philosophy of Plotinus adapted by Augustine, or that of Proclus adapted by Dionysius, totelian,

into the

was is,

the

curious

blend

Platonic,

and Jewish philosophy which filtered through Church by means of the Arabs. Still, there

justice underlying this superficial ignorance.

after

all,

Plato

the father of European Mysticism.^

Both

may

those

the great types of mystics

who

Aris-

appeal to him

try to rise through the visible to

through Nature to God,

who

find

—

the invisible,

earthly beauty

the truest symbol of the heavenly, and in the imagination

—

the image-making faculty

' 6

Trdcro Apurros IlXdroiv

Mysticism finds

— ohv

—

a raft whereon

Seo^iopoifui'os,

in Plato all its texts," says

calls

him.

Emerson

truly.

— PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM may

navigate the shoreless ocean of the Infinite

who

those

"to

tending starve,"

distrust

who

ment, upon

sensuous

all

nourish

appetites

representations

material

things

who

may

hence as quickly as

which hides

veil

bid us " flee

away from

to seek "yonder," in

be,"

the realm of the ideas, the heart's true home. find in the real Plato

that the highest

—

good

much

we should

seek

soul, while vice is its disease

—

that

may

—

the vision of

not

for

also

the sake of

that goodness

unity

and disintegration

our duty and happiness to

God God

the health of the

evil is discord

and transitory

visible

holiness

external reward, but because

and harmony, while

Both

congenial teaching

the greatest likeness to

that the greatest happiness

that

which we ought to

look upon this earth as a place of banish-

God's face from us, and

may

and

;

rise

above the

and permanent.

to the invisible

be a pleasure to some to trace the fortunes

of the positive and negative elements in Plato's teach-

—

ing

of the humanist and the ascetic

who dwelt

to-

mind to observe how the worldrenouncing element had to grow at the expense of the other, until full justice had been done to its claims and then how the brighter, more truly Helgether in that large

;

lenic

side

was able to

assert itself

under due

safe-

guards, as a precious thing dearly purchased, a treasure reserved for the pure and humble, and tasted carefully, with reverence is,

still

and godly

only to be

fear.

There

of course, no necessity for connecting this develop-

ment with the name of Plato. The way towards a reconciliation of this and other differences is more indeed, indicated in the New Testament clearly ;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

nothing can strengthen our belief in inspiration so as to observe

how

much

the whole history of thought only

helps us to understand St. Paul and St. John better,

never to pass beyond their teaching.

tra-

connexion between Plato and Mysticism

ditional

so close that ing,

the

Still,

we may,

Ficinus,

think, be

lamp

burning

honour

his

for keep-

pardoned

throughout our present task. not

It is

purpose in these Lectures to attempt a

historical survey of Christian this,

Mysticism.

attempt

within the narrow limits of eight Lectures, would

oblige

mere skeleton of the

give a

which would be of no value, and of very

The aim which

have set before myself

clear presentation of life

and thought,

a way towards

subject,

little interest.

to give a

an important type of Christian

the hope that

may

the solution of

which at present agitate and divide

suggest to

some difficulties us. The path is

beset with pitfalls on either side, as will be abundantly clear

when we consider the

startling expressions

Mysticism has often found

for itself.

which

But though

have not attempted to give even an outline of the history of Mysticism,

way sider

feel

that the best

and

of studying this or any type of religion in

the light of

of the forms which I

have

its

historical

safest

to con-

development, and

has actually assumed.

And

tried to set these Lectures in a historical frame-

work, and, in choosing prominent figures as representatives of the chief kinds of Mysticism, to observe, so far as possible, the chronological order.

Lecture

will

carry us

down

The

present

to the Pseudo-Dionysius,

the influence of whose writings during the next thou-

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM sand years can hardly be overestimated. are to understand ticism, of

how a system

But

of speculative Mys-

an Asiatic rather than European type, came

to be accepted as the

work of a convert of

St. Paul,

and invested with semi-apostolic authority, we must pause for a few minutes to

phenomenon

our eyes rest on the

let

called Alexandrianism, which

a large

fills

place in the history of the early Church.

have seen how

St.

Paul speaks of a Gnosis or

higher knowledge, which can be taught with safety

only to the

perfect " or " fully initiated "

by no means

rejects

(the

of the

totality

and he such expressions as the Pleroma Divine

attributes),

technical terms of speculative theism. in his

;

which were

St.

John, too,

prologue and other places, brings the Gospel

into relation with current speculation, in philosophical language.

and interprets

The movement known

Gnosticism, both within and without the Church, was

attempt to complete

speculative and revealed

this

reconciliation

religion,

between

by systematising the

symbols of transcendental mystical theosophy.* The movement can only be understood as a premature and unsuccessful attempt

to achieve

what the school of

Alexandria afterwards partially succeeded

The

anticipations of Neoplatonism

would probably be found victorious party

had thought

among

doing.

the Gnostics

be very numerous, their writings

the

worth pre-

some have thought on the self-evident proposition that it takes two to tell the one to speak, and one to hear. truth ' " Man kann den Gnosticismus des zweiten Jahrhunderts als theologischtranscendente Mystik, und die eigentliche Mystik als substantiell-immanente Gnosis bezeichnen " (Noack). ^

The

doctrine of reserve in religious teaching, which

dishonest, rests

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

But Gnosticism was rotten before

serving.

Dogma was

still

in such

was

ripe.

fluid state, that there

was

nothing to keep speculation within bounds; and the Oriental element, with

mythology and

tastic

the

shall find to

Not

Mysticism.

magic and other

fan-

its

was too strong

presents

for

features

the

all

be characteristic of degenerate

to speak of

fanatical austerities in

insoluble dualism,

Gnosticism

Hellenic.

which we

its

spiritualism,

its

and scandalous absurdities,

oscillations licence,

and

between its belief

we seem, when we read

Irenaeus' description of a Valentinian heretic, to hear

the voice of Luther venting his contempt upon some " Geisterer"

of the sixteenth century, such as Carl-

stadt or Sebastian Frank. up,"

says

Irenaeus,

The

fellow

so puffed

"that he believes himself to be

neither in heaven nor on earth, but to have entered

within the Divine Pleroma, and to have embraced his

guardian angel.

the strength of which he struts

about as proud as a cock. •

spiritual persons,*

perfection." itself

The

These are the

who say they have later

self-styled

already reached

Platonism could not even graft

upon any of these Gnostic systems, and Plotinus

rejects

them

as decisively as Origen.

Still closer is

which we find Paul.

the approximation to later speculation

in Philo,

who was a contemporary

of St.

Philo and his Therapeutse were genuine mystics

of the monastic type.

Many

of them, however, had

monks all their life, but were retired men of business, who wished to spend their old age in contemplation, as many still do in India. They were, of not been

course,

not Christians, but

Eusebius,

Jerome,

and

the

Hellenised

Middle

Jews, though

Ages generally

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM thought that

they

pleased to find

monks

—

were

and were well

Christians,

in the first century.^

and philosophy

Philo's object is to reconcile religion in other words,

Moses and

His method

Plato.^

' is

make Platonism a development of Mosaism, and Mosaism an implicit Platonism. The claims of orthodoxy are satisfied by saying, rather audaciously, " All to

this is

ment hands

His chief instru-

Moses' doctrine, not mine."

in this difficult task is

allegorism, which in his

a bad specimen of that pseudo-science which

much

has done so

to darken counsel in biblical exe-

His speculative system, however,

gesis.

exceedingly

interesting.

God, according to Philo, the "

and

{a'Kot,o<i),

the

same time He

what

;

we can compare

Him

our knowledge of

contemplate

without qualities

God

really

Thou

face shall not be

God

to nothing that

in silence, since

we know.

God dwelling

All in

us.

has breathed into us something of His nature, and

thus the archetype of what

He who '

was said to Moses,

behind Me, but

It is best to

seen."

and pure

emphatically o &v,

In His inmost nature

ineffable (apfyrjToi).

inaccessible

shalt see

am," and the most general {jo yeviKwrarov) of

existences.

unqualified

Being, but not superessential.

is truly inspired "

highest in ourselves.

may

with good reason be

See Conybeare's interesting account of the Therapeutae in his edition

of Philo,

the Contemplative Life,

and

his refutation of the theory of

Lucius, Zeller, etc., that the Therapeutse belong to the end of the third century. ^

Stoical influence

The Jewish

same argument Philometor.

also strong in Philo.

is said to have used the an exposition of the Pentateuch addressed to Ptolemy

writer Aristobulus (about i6o B.C.) in

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

God."

called

This blessed

may, however, be

state

prepared for by such mediating agencies as the study

and

of God's laws in nature; class of saints

—

only the highest

God

the souls " born of

exalted above the need of symbols.

—

that are

would be easy

show how Philo wavers between two conceptions

of the Divine nature

and God

— God

simply transcendent,

But

immanent.

one of the things

this is

that

make him most

not

allow him really to believe in

His Judaism

interesting.

will

God "without

qualities."

The Logos

dwells with

sometimes he

calls

the Logos).

Ideas "

;

Wisdom, is

other

the

which he controls

—

God

as His

figuratively, the

Ideas or "

the Angels,"

mind of God expressing

he anticipates Plotinus a

reasons.

;

he adds, sud-

The Logos

itself in

mind of God. is

also

act: the Ideas,

Here

but he does not reduce

His God

point.

logical

mother of

Powers are the forces

therefore, are the content of the

(or

the " second God," the " Idea of

denly remembering his Judaism. the

Wisdom

self-conscious,

God and

the agency of the Logos the worlds were

made: the intelligible world, the «oo-/ao9 vo7}r6<s, is the Logos acting as Creator. Indeed, Philo calls the intelligible universe " the only and beloved Son of God " just as Erigena says, " Be assured that the Word is the ;

Nature of

God

the "

The Son represents the world High Priest, Intercessor, and Paraclete. divine Angel " that guides us He is the

all

before

things."

;

bread of God," the

dew

of the soul," the " convincer

of sin

the eternal image of the Father, and we, who are

evil

can touch the soul

which

dwells

FLATONISM AND MYSTICISM not yet

to be called sons of God,

fit

may

85 ourselves

call

His sons. system

ethical

Philo's

obtained only by renunciation of is

" It

The

highest stage

standing in

Him

The

soul should cut

with the tip of a finger."

when a man

self-consciousness,

finite

con-

should shun the whirlpool of

and not even touch

life,

later

virtue can

Contemplation

self.

a higher state than activity.

off its right hand."

of the

that

Knowledge and

templative Mysticism.

leaves behind his

and sees God face

from henceforward, and knowing

not by reason, but by clear certainty.

Philo

face,

Him

makes no

attempt to identify the Logos with the Jewish Messiah,

and leaves no room remarkable

This part

for

system

the

anticipates

greater

and Pagan Neoplatonism. The that Philo's work exercised so little

Christian

astonishing thing

an Incarnation.

influence on the philosophy of the second century.

was probably regarded as an attempt to evolve Platonism out of the Pentateuch, and, as only to the Jews,

who were

at this period

The same

more and more unpopular.^ possibly

impaired

have

such, interesting

the

who

may

of Numenius,

influence

another semi-mystical thinker,

becoming

prejudice

the age of the

Antonines evolved a kind of Trinity, consisting of God,

whom

he also

calls

world,

whom

he does not

world, the affinities are

Mind

;

call

grandson," as he

shown by

maker of the the Logos; and the

the Son, the

calls

it.

his calling Plato "

His Jewish

an Atticising

Moses." '

Compare

Philo's

at Alexandria.

own

account (in Flactum) of the anti-Semitic outrages

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

86 It

was about one hundred and

fifty

years after Philo

that St. Clement of Alexandria tried to do for Christi-

anity what Philo had tried to do for Judaism,

nothing

less

His aim

than to construct a philosophy of religion

Gnosis, " knowledge," he calls

—which

—

" shall " initiate

the educated Christian into the higher " mysteries " of

The Logos

his creed.

Christ

doctrine, according

every man, here asserts

Knowledge," says Clement,

" Faith

a summary

who

suitable for people

Christian)

had

God and

eternal

more than

" is

are in a hurry

belief

the foundation.

^ is

knowledge of urgent

" If the

is scientific faith."

Reasoned

its full rights.

the superstructure of which faith

to which

the universal Reason,^ the Light that lighteth

faith."

truths,

but knowledge

;

Gnostic (the philosophical

choose between the knowledge of

salvation,

and

were possible to

separate two things so inseparably connected, he would

choose without the slightest hesitation the knowledge

of God." rises

above

the wings of this " knowledge " the soul

all

earthly passions and desires,

a calm disinterested love of God.

filled

with

In this state a

man

can distinguish truth from falsehood, pure gold from base metal, in matters of belief; he can see the con-

nexion of the various dogmas, and their harmony with reason

;

and

beneath the

reading

literal to

Scripture

he can penetrate

the spiritual meaning.

But when

Clement speaks of reason or knowledge, he does not mean merely intellectual training. " He who would enter the shrine must be pure," he says, " and purity ' There is a very explicit identification of Christ with NoCs in the second book of the Miscellanies: "He says, Whoso hath ears to hear, let him And who is ' He ? Let Epicharmus answer NoOs 6/)?," etc hear. '

See Bigg, Christian Platonists pf Alexandria, especially pp. 92, 93.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM is

And

The more a more deeply does he penetrate into Purity and love, to which he adds diligent

to think holy things."

man

loves,

God."

the

study of the Scriptures, are highest

again, "

all

that

necessary to the

may

though mental cultivation

life,

ought to be a great

be and

help.^

History exhibits a progressive training of mankind by the Logos. " There is one river of truth," he says, "which receives tributaries from every side." All moral

evil

by weakness of

caused

The

will.

ledge, the cure for the other

In his doctrine of

either

by ignorance or is know-

cure for the one is discipline.^

God we

find

that he has fallen

a victim to the unfortunate negative method, which he calls

"analysis."

the method which starts with

It is

the assertion that since

God

we cannot say what He

is,

exalted above Being,

but only what

Clement apparently objects to saying that above Being, but he nothing

strips

Him

till

this, too,

he would eliminate,

unit,

shall

and God

left

all

attributes

but a nameless point

qualities

for a point is a

;

too

and and

numerical

above the idea of the Monad.

encounter this argument far

not.

God

often

our

survey of Mysticism, and in writers more logical than

Clement,

who

allowed

dominate

their

whole

theology and ethics.

The Son

the Consciousness of God.

only sees the world as reflected in the Son.

The Father This bold

' IlfffTis is here used in the familiar sense (which falls far short of the Johannine) of assent to particular dogmas. Vvwsn welds these together into a consistent whole, and at the same time confers a more immediate

apprehension of truth. ' 4<rK)j<r«

or T/jof ij.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

and perhaps dangerous doctrine seems to be Clement's own.

Clement was not a deep or consistent thinker, and is clearly beyond his

the task which he has set himself

But he gathers up most of the

strength.

philosophical

together

his

and them

religious

and weaves

time,

system which

into

cultivated,

ideas

permeated by his

humane, and genial personality.

Especially interesting from the point of view of our

present task find "

the use of mystery-language which

everywhere

Jesus Christ

ing to

;

the Divine secrets,"

Word," "the mysteries of the Word"; is

" the

Teacher of the Divine mysteries

the ordinary teaching of the Church mysteries "

Christian revelation

mysteries," "

the Divine (or holy)

"the secret

The

Clement.

"the

lesser

the higher knowledge of the Gnostic, lead(eVoTrreta), " the great mysteries."

full initiation

from a Neopythagorean docu-

borrows verbatim

ment a whole

sentence, to the effect

that "

not

lawful to reveal to profane persons the mysteries of the

Word "

—

the

Logos "

taking

Greek mystery-worship, with is

place

its

technical

language,

very interesting, and the attempt

was by no means

Among

unfruitful.

other

which seem to come direct from the mysteries notion of deification by the gift of immortality

says categorically, to eari.

This

is,

" the

This evident wish to claim the

Eleusinian goddesses."

for Christianity,

the

/m.^

<J39eipea-6ai

historically,

the

doctrine of " deification " found

of Christian Mysticism. '

Strom.

The V.

its

ideas is

the

Clement^

detorrjTo^ fieri'xeiv

way in which the way into the scheme

idea of immortality as

10. 63.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

the attribute constituting Godhead was, of course, as familiar to the Greeks as

was strange

Origen supplies some valuable links

to the Jews.^ in

the history

of speculative Mysticism, but his mind was less inclined mystical

to I

modes of thought than was Clement's.

can .here only touch upon a few points which bear

directly

upon our

Origen

follows

religious life into

and knowledge.

subject.

Clement

two

his

the

division

classes or stages, those of faith

draws too hard a

between

line

them, and speaks with a professorial arrogance of the "

which leads to

popular, irrational faith "

Christianity," as

opposed to the

somatic

" spiritual Christianity "

by Gnosis or Wisdom.^ He makes it only too clear that by " somatic Christianity " he means Of that faith which is based on the gospel history. teaching founded upon the historical narrative, he says, "What better method could be devised to assist the masses?" The Gnostic or Sage no longer needs the

conferred

crucified Christ.

which

The

" eternal "

possession,

his

concerning the Son of

God

or " spiritual " Gospel,

shows clearly

all

things

Himself, both the mysteries

shown by His words, and the things of which His were the

symbols."

not

that he

doubts the truth of the Gospel history, but he that events which only

happen^ once can be

importance, and regards the of Christ as law, which '

life,

acts

denies

feels

of no

death, and resurrection

only one manifestation of an universal

was

really enacted, not in this fleeting world

See, further, Appendices B and C. In Origen, ao^ila is a higher term than yvSns.

'The Greek word is alvly/MTa, "riddles." Hamack, History of Dogma, vol. ii. p. 342.

the

whole subject

see

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

of shadows, but in the eternal counsels of the

High.

convinced

considers that those

of the

universal

who

revealed

truths

Most

are thoroughly

by the

Incarnation and Atonement, need trouble themselves

about

manifestations

particular

their

time.

Origen, like the

above or beyond

Clement on

Neoplatonists, says

Being;

this point, for

but he

that

God

sounder than

he attributes self-conscious-

and reason to God, who therefore does not require the Second Person in order to come to Himself. ness

Also, since

God

not wholly above reason.

can

be approached by reason, and not only by ecstatic vision.

The Second Person by Clement,

Origen, as

Trinity

of the " the

Idea of

called

Idccis."

the spiritual activity of God, the World-Principle, the

One who have

Human

the basis of the manifold.

through

fallen

Logos, who became

sin

from

souls

union with

their

incarnate in order to restore

the

them

to the state which they have lost.

Everything every

spirit

Good alone This

exists

at last return to the evil

;

Man, he expressly

does not

man see,

Good.

For the

has no existence, no substance.

a doctrine which

with God, for

and therefore

spiritual is indestructible;

must

asserts,

shall

meet with again.

cannot be consubstantial

can change, while

God

immutable.

apparently, that, from the point of

view of the Platonist, his universalism makes man's God, he says {Tom. in Matth. xiii. 569), is not the absolutely unHis omnipotence ; for then He could not have self-consciousness limited by His goodness and wisdom (cf. Cels. iii. 493). '

limited is

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM freedom to change an

belonging to time

illusion, as

only and not to eternity.

While Origen was working out

great system

his

dogmatic, his younger contemporary

of ecclesiastical

Plotinus, outside the

Christian

pale,

was laying the

coping-stone on the edifice of Greek philosophy

by a

scheme of idealism which must always remain one of

human

the greatest achievements of the

mind.^

the history of Mysticism he holds a more undisputed place than Plato

for

;

some of the most

characteristic

doctrines of Mysticism, which in Plato are only thrown

out tentatively, are in Plotinus welded into a compact

Among

whole.

the doctrines which

receive a

first

clear exposition in his writings are, his theory of the

Absolute,

whom

theory of the

his

Ideas, which

the

words,

mind of God.

(which he

his

is in

But

centre of his system, and

his it

psychology is

the

doctrine of Vision,

attaches an importance to revelation which was

Greek philosophy.

the

calls

sphere of the Ideas)

also,

Plotinus

mind;

in the universal

world

real

" intelligible world," the

and

;

from Plato's;

Idea of the Good, while

makes the Ideas immanent other

differs

Good

mind of the World-Artist as

for Platp represents the

immanent

the One, or the

calls

new

really the

here that the Christian

Church and Christian Mysticism,

particular,

most

indebted to him.

The '

hope

soul it

with

him the meeting-point of the

not necessary to apologise for devoting a few pages to

work on Christian Mysticism. Every treatise on religious thought in the early centuries of our era must take account of the parallel developments of religious philosophy in the old and the new religioi^s, which illustrate and explain each other. Plotinus in a

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

92 intelligible

and the phenomenal.

It is diffused every-

where.^ Animals and vegetables participate in it;^ and the earth has a soul which sees and hears.* The soul is immaterial and immortal, for it belongs to the world of real existence, and nothing that is can cease

The body is in The soul

to be.*

the soul, rather than the soul

in the body.

creates the

form on matter, which

body by imposing No-thing, pure

itself is

in-

determination, and next door to absolute non-existence.*

Space and time are only forms of our thought. concepts formed

the soul,

of sense, are said to be " Ideas unrolled that

of existing

instead

The nature of three

and

the soul

forms, which

together

all

triple

;

There

can reach.*

which

soul,

bound up with the body; then there soul,

the

lastly, there is the

man

distinctively

human

become

and,

part, in

which

identified,

himself no longer as a man, but as one

closely

part;

according to the higher

gence, with which he has

three is first

the logical,

superhuman stage or

" thinks himself

eternity.

same time the

and lowest the animal and sensual reasoning

presented under

are at the

stages of perfection which

separate,"

they are conceived as separate in space and

is,

time,

The

classifying the things

intelli-

knowing

who has become

altogether changed, and has transferred himself into the

higher region."

Rnn, Enn.

Matter

<f>dvra.<r)ai.

nothing,

soul

8. 14, o^^kv iarty d dfiotp6v

thus

ean

made one with

^u;^^s.

' Enn. iv. 4. 26. 7 ; iv. 7. 14. dXoyos, ff/ciA "Kbyoxi koX (Kirruns, Enn.

iii.

SyKOv it

The

vTO(rrda-ews

t(j>e<ns,

Enn.

vi. 3.

iii.

could not desire to be something;

ital

Etin.

iv.

7 ; erSuXox to! If matter were

only no-thing

—

dreipla, iopuTTla. ° These three stages correspond to the three stages in the mystical laddei which appear in nearly all the Christian mystics.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

Intelligence without losing herself; so that they

both one and two."

are

This

doctrine of the funkelein, "

with Eckhart's soul it

The world

intelligible world,

an image of the Divine Mind, which

entirety.

What more

world yonder

And

It is therefore

beautiful

could there be," he asks, ? "

The

—up

not bad

image of the Divine

than this world, except the

it is

a great mistake to shut

our eyes to the world around us, " and things."

part of it

its

a reflection of the One.

evil.

;

whither

desires to return in

we identify Plotinus' N0O9 we may fairly do. The

God," as

remains above, in the

two

exactly Eckhart's

not altogether incarnate in the body

itself

all

beautiful

love of beauty will lead us up a long

when the love of the Good is Only we must not let ourselves Those who do not be entangled by sensuous beauty. quickly rise beyond this first stage, to contemplate

way

to the point

ready to receive

us.

form, the universal mould," share the fate of

" ideal

Hylas; they are engulfed

a swamp, from which

they never emerge.

The being light

universe resembles a vast chain, of which every

link.

may

also be

compared to rays of

shed abroad from one centre.

Everything flowed

from this centre, and everything desires to flow back towards

it.

God draws

all

men and

all

things towards

' The passages in which Plotinus (following Plato) bids us mount by means of the beauty of the external world, do not contradict those other passages in which he bids us "turn from things without to look within" (Enn. iv. 8. I). Remembering that postulate of all Mysticism, that we can only know a thing by becoming it, we see that we can only know the world by finding it in ourselves, that is, by cherishing those " best hours of the mind " (as Bacon says) when we are lifted above ourselves into union

with the world-spirit.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

Himself as a magnet draws

with a constant

iron,

This theory of emanation

unvarying attraction.

often sharply contrasted with that of evolution,

supposed to be discredited by

that

only true

modem

the emanation

science

;

and but

regarded as a

process in time, which for the Neoplatonist

it is

not.^

In fact, Plotinus uses the word " evolution " to explain the process of nature.*

The whole

universe

one member

one vast organism,* and

members suffer with it* " This is why a faint movement of sympathy " * stirs within us at the sight of any living creature. So "

Origen says,

members, universe

the

suffer, all

As our body,

while consisting of

yet held together by one soul, so the

to be thought

many

being, which

of as an

held together

by one

immense soul

living

—

the power

and the Logos of God." All existence is drawn upwards towards God by a kind of centripetal attraction,

which

unconscious in the lower, half conscious

in the higher organisms.

Christian Neoplatonism tended to identify the Logos, as the Second Person of the Trinity, with the No{k, "

Mind "

but

or " Intelligence," of Plotinus, and rightly

Plotinus the

word Logos has a less exalted what we call " law," regarded

position, being practically

as a vital force.* ' I.

Plotimis guards against this misconception of bis meaning,

6, iicroiur Si iifup

(ara

' fuj) i^eKirrofiiyt),

Enn.

•

See especially Enn.

y4re<ri! i.

iv. 4.

4. I.

32, 45.

Enn. iv. 5. 3, miiiiraBh rh Hor rbSe ri xoy radbvrm ffWcuffdapeffBat rb Tar, • Enn. iv. 5. 2, (rvurdBeui i/ivSpd. •

•

Enn.

iy -xpirif.

See Bigg, Neoplatonism, pp. 203, 204.

hivrif

;

iv. 9.

Byrrt f/um

shows that with the Stoics.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM Plotinus' Trinity are tlie

One

who

or the Good,

above existence, God as the Absolute

who

;

the Intelligence,

occupies the sphere of real existence, organic unity

comprehending multiplicity calls

or,

it,

we might

—

call

One-Many,

the

God

it,

as thought,

existing in and for Himself; and the Soul, the

God One

and Many, occupying the sphere of appearance or imperfect reality

—God

by looking

It is

less."

One who

zero, as " the

The

arrived at

at things " in disconnexion, dull

the sphere of the "

Intelligible

not "

World

matter,

Soulless

action.

which only exists as a logical abstraction,

and

spirit-

merely many," and

Infinity.

timeless

and

spaceless,

and

The World is our view of the Intelligible World. When we say it does not exist, we mean that we shall The " Ideas " are the not always see it in this form. ultimate form in which things are regarded by Intelli-

contains the archetypes of the Sensible World. Sensible

gence, or

and

by God. that

Kivqais,

Nous is,

is is

whole cosmic process, which present to Evil

described as at once

unchanging is

but the

itself,

ever in flux,

o-rao-ts

eternally

as a process.

disintegration.^

essence

its

merely unreal, but unreality as

such.

not

can only

appear in conjunction with some low degree of goodness,

which suggests to Plotinus the

fine

saying that

Logos was regarded as a first cause ; while with Theists and Transcendentalists, it was a secondary cause. In Plotmus, the Intelligence (Nous) is " King " (Enn, But the Johannine V. 3. 3), and "the law of Being" (£««. v. 9. 5). Logos is both immanent and transcendent. When Erigena says, " Certius

who were

Pantheists, the

the Neoplatonists,

who were

cognoscas verbum Naturam omnium esse," he gives a true but incomplete account of the Nature of the Second Person of the Trinity. '

See especially the interesting passage, Enn,

8. 3.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

96 " vice

worst

its

The

itself,"

" lower virtues,"

average

citizen,^ are

human, being mixed with

still

something opposite to

as he calls the duties of the

not only purgative, but teach us

the principles of measure and rule, which are Divine

This

characteristics.

immensely important,

the point where Platonism and Asiatic

finally part

But

company.*

mystic

Sinai, "

the

The

marching orders

given by

those

are

See that thou make

showed

pattern

teaches

Plotinus

shadow of the

thee as

that,

intelligible,

the

of the

Moses on

mount."

the

things according to

all

God

sensible

action

turning

the

Mysticism.

on the

tables

good earnest; but

leads

false

man

But

world

This

of action "

Platonism

and

false

the heartless doctrine, quite

unworthy of the man, that public calamities are

man

the wise

a shadow of

contemplation, suited to weak-minded persons.^ is

Plotinus, as in his Christian imitators, they

do not part company. true

for

Mysticism

only stage tragedies

—

or even

stage

Enn. i. 8. 13, fri ivBpumiKiv 7) xaKta, fiefuynivti Tiyi evavrlif. The "civil virtues" are the four cardinal virtues. Plotinus says that justice is mainly "minding one's business" [olKeiorpayia). "The.puriiy'

ing virtues " deliver us from sin

;

but ^ ctovStj oix l^a ifiaprlas

elrai,

dX\d

debv eTvat, ' Compare Hegel's criticism of Schelling, in the latter's Asiatic period, " This so-called wisdom, instead of being yielded up to the influence of Divinity 6y its contempt of all proportion and definiteness, does really

full play to accident and caprice. Nothing was ever produced by such a process better than mere dreams " ( Vorrede zur Phdnomenologie, p. 6).

nothing but give

Heb.

viii.

Enn.

iii.

T^v

irpSiiJ'

thought"

5. 8. 4,

STav

jroioCi'Tai.

i,aBevfiaiji(riv

Cf. AcaicVs

eU rb BeapeTv, axikv Bcuplm icai X670U p. 4, "action is coarsened

Journal,

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM The moral

comedies.^

of this

results

self-centred

individualism are exemplified by the mediaeval saint

and visionary, Angela of Foligno, who congratulates on the deaths of her mother, husband, and

herself

who were

children, "

way

great obstacles in the

of God."

few words must be said about the doctrine

ecstasy in

Plotinus.

describes

conditions

the

under which the vision

manner of the

is granted in exactly the same some of the Christian mystics, e.g. St. Juan " The soul when possessed by intense Cross.

Him

love of

impossible,

when

Thus the

nor aught

derived from Intelligence

in conscious possession of

soul

alone, she alone."

suddenly appears,

may

While she

any other

must be neither good nor bad

that she

else,

for

;

behold or to be harmonised with

attribute, either

Him.

form which she has,

divests herself of all

even of that which

receive is

Him

only.

in this state, the

One

with nothing between," " and they

more two but one; and the soul is no more conscious of the body or of the mind, but knows that she has what she desired, that she is where no deception can come, and that she would not exchange her are no

bliss for all the

What

heaven of heavens."

the source of this strange aspiration to rise

above Reason and Intelligence, which the highest category of Being, and to

other side of Being" (iireKeiva

Tfji

says himself elsewhere that " he

Reason, ^

Enn.

falls

iii.

outside 15,

Enn. 7

vi. 7.

34.

;

ivoKplaw and

of family and country. "

for Plotinus

come out

rise

and yet he regards iralyviov;

and see

iv.

on the

Plotinus

ovaiasi)?

who would

32,

above as the on love

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

highest reward of the philosopher-saint

with the hypostatised Abstraction

The

distinctions.

though the necessity,

" superessential

make

cannot

apprehended

its

not

the

Absolute "

transcendental manner, an

depriving

converse

transcends

may be

even

it,

object

the

Indefinite.^

Absolute,

from

distinctions, less

who

distinguish "the One,"

is is

most

What

but a

kind

then said

undifferentiated

a logical

the

of sense, without

Absoluteness. the

"form of formlessness," an idea not of the but

all

no part of For a mischievous accretion.

vision of

philosophy, but

his

who One

really

Infinite,

impossible

above

all

to be

matter, the

form-

No-thing, which Plotinus puts at the lowest end

of the scale. I

believe that the

place

the

First, there

Neoplatonic "vision" owes

system to two

was the

very different causes.

direct influence of Oriental philo-

sophy of the Indian type, which universal particular,

by wiping out and to gain

the world to zero.

its

all

to reach

the

the boundary-lines of the

infinity

this

tries

by reducing self and shall say more when

' It would be an easy and rather amusing task to illustrate these and other aberrations of speculative Mysticism &om Herbert Spencer's philosophy. E.g. , he says that, though we cannot know the Absolute, we may have "an indefinite consciousness of it." "It is impossible to give to this consciousness any qualitative or quantitative expression whatever," and yet it is quite certain that we have it. Herbert Spencer's Absolute is, This would seem to identify it rather with in fact, matter without form. the all but non-existing "matter" of Plotinus (see Bigg, Neoplaionism,

" One " ; but the later Neoplatonists p. 199), than with the superessential Plotinus found themselves compelled to call both extremes rh /li) ii>. struggles hard against this conclusion, which threatens to make shipwreck " Hierotheus," whose sympathies are really with Indian of his Platonism. nihilism,

welcomes

it.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM we come

was

trance

psychical

real

" visions "

from the

different

And, secondly, the blank

Dionysius.

Evidence

mentioned.

experience,

abundant

;

but

dawn,

away from

fall

and empty,

dies at the first

reading,

hopes, have faded from

drop away from

my my

mind.

all

that

nothing.

projects,

the pleasure of

faculties

a cloak that one takes

of expecting the -advent of "the

and

moment when

All

off,

myself return-

I feel

ing into a more elementary form."

state, feels

glimmer of

who remembers studies,

like the chrysalis case of a larva.

Like a

myself then stripped

I feel

like a convalescent

travels,

present, dissolve in me,

consciousness at the

upon myself.

returns

past, all

content

will

In Amiel's Journal^

have the following record of such a trance

dream which trembles and

quite

which we have already

myself with one quotation,^

all

But Amiel, instead

One" it

while in this

deadly, inferior

respects to the joys of action, to the sweetness

of love, to the beauty of enthusiasm, or to the sacred

savour of accomplished duty."

We may We find in

now

return

the

Christian

Platonists.

Methodius the interesting doctrine that

the indwelling Christ constantly repeats His passion ' The following advice to directors, quoted by Ribet, may be added " Director valde attendat ad personas languidse valetudinis. Si tales personEe a Deo in quaradam quietis orationem eleventur, contingit ut in omni-

bus exterioribus sensibus certum defectum ac speciem experiantur

cum magna

facillime putant.

Cum

interna suavitate,

Dei

tradunt, et per multas boras,

mentis

stupiditate

authorities,

Spiritui resistere nolint, deliquio

cum

persistunt."

Mrs.

deliquii

illi

Genuine

ecstasy,

esse

tolas se

gravissimo valetudinis prsiudicio in

tali

according to these

seldom lasted more than half an hour, though one Spanish

writer speaks of an hour. '

quamdam

quod extasim aut raptum

Humphry Ward's

translation, p. 7a.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

lOO in

remembrance, "

Church

for not otherwise could the

and bear them anew through the bath of regeneration, unless Christ were repeatedly to die, emptying Himself for the sake of " Christ must be born mentally each individual." continually conceive believers,

{pot)rw<s) in

every individual," and each individual saint,

by participating

in Christ, "

born as a Christ."

This

exactly the language of Eckhart and Tauler, and

features are the great

immanence

and the

mouth of Methodius.^

clearly heard in the

first

The new

—

prominence given to

the mystical union as an opus operatum,

individualistic

conception of the relation of

Christ to the soul.

the Greek Fathers

who

followed Athanasius,

have only room to mention Gregory of Nyssa, who defends fashion all

the

incarnation

historical

by an appeal

men

in everything,

and dwelling

it,

Divine presence

agreed that

God

world then."

in the

then do

take offence at the dispensation of the mystery

now, outside of mankind

...

who

now the among us to-day,

not

not,

even

form of the same, we are as much If the

as that

He was

argues in another place that

other species of spiritual beings must

their

pervading

Why

it.

taught by the Incarnation of God,

all

"We

to spiritual experience.

believe that the Divine

and embracing

mystical

true

Incarnations of Christ;

have had

a doctrine which was

But we should not forget that the author of the Epistle

to Diognetus ayluv KapSlais yevytinevos. In St. in a rather surprisingly bold form ; cf. injoh. tract.

speaks of the Logos as

irrfxTore vio% iv

Augustine we find it 8 " Gratulemur et grates agamus non solum nos Christianos factos Admiramini, gaudete Christus facti sumus." esse, sed Christum 21, n.

But

this is really quite different

from saying, " Ego Christus foetus sum."

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM afterwards

condemned, but which

necessarily

from

Logos

the

ments show very clearly that Christ

for the

These argu-

doctrine.

Greek theologians

a cosmic principle, immanent in the world,

though not confined by

and that the scheme of

it;

regarded as part of the constitution of the

salvation

universe,

which

Power who was

The

seems

loi

animated and sustained by the same

fully

manifested in the Incarnation.

question has been

influence of Persian

much

debated, whether the

and Indian thought can be traced

Neoplatonism, or whether that system was purely

Greek.^

It is

a quite hopeless task to try to disen-

tangle the various strands of thought which

web

the

of Alexandrianism.

But there

make up no doubt

that the philosophers of Asia were held in reverence at

Origen, in justifying an esoteric mystery-

this period.

religion for the educated, and a mythical religion for

the vulgar, appeals to the example of the " Persians

and Indians." lonius

while

And

of Tyana, all

wish to

Philostratus, in his

says, live

makes

or in

there

are

successors,

Plotinus,

And

still

certainly

more of

monks of the

Speculation

third, fourth,

and

his

influences.^

we among

turn from Alexandria to Syria,

Orientalism more rampant.

Syrian

and

which strongly suggest Asiatic

When we

of Apolsay, that

the presence of God, " the

Indians alone succeed in doing so." parts of

life

his hero

fifth

find

the

centuries

Those to include the Hellenised Jews. speak on Jewish philosophy believe that it

"Greek " must here be taken

who

are best qualified

exercised a strong influence at Alexandria. '

Proclus used to say that a philosopher ought to show no exclusiveness his

but to be the hierophant of the whole world. was not confined to cultus.

worship,

eclecticism

This

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

102

was perhaps more unfettered and more audacious than in any other branch of Christendom at any period.

Our knowledge of

theories

their

very limited, but

one strange specimen has survived

the book of

Hierotheus/ which the canonised Dionysius praises

glowing terms as an inspired oracle that

fesses

popularise

own

his

the

object

teaching

—

in writing

was merely

master.

of his

purports to be the work of Hierotheus,

converted by St. Paul, and an

made

named Stephen bar

fifth

century.

Dionysius it

Divinity

who

If this theory

lived late in

correct, the date of

have to be moved somewhat

will

fix

Hierotheus on " the

summary of

of the real

strong case has been

Sudaili,

has been the custom to

holy

The book a holy man

out for believing the real author to be a Syrian

mystic,

the

instructor

Dionysius the Areopagite.

indeed, he pro-

it.

hidden

later

than

The book

of the

mysteries

of the

has been but recently discovered, and only a of

great

made

has as yet been

interest

and

public.

importance

for

But

it is

our subject,

because the author has no fear of being accused of

Pantheism

any other heresy, but

particular form of Mysticism to

with unexampled boldness.

even than his

its

develops

his

logical conclusions

show us better pupil Dionysius whither the method of will

" analysis " really leads us.

The system of Hierotheus but Pan-Nihilism.

Everything

not exactly Pantheism, is

an emanation from

the Chaos of bare indetermination which he calls God,

and everything

will

return thither.

' This account of " Hierotheus" most interesting monograph.

is,

There are three

of course, taken from Frothingham's

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

—

periods of existence

and

with Christ, rest

The

Absolute.

;

which

is evil,

(2) the progressive union

all

of fusion

the period

(3)

;

who

(i) the present world,

by motion all and in

characterised

103

—

this is the period of

things in the

all

three Persons of the Trinity, he dares

to say, will then

be swallowed up, and even the devils

same melting-pot.

are thrown into the

Consistently

with mystical principles, these three world-periods are also phases in the

the

first

ciples

;

development of individual

stage the

mind

the second

becomes

souls.

aspires towards its

first

prin-

Christ, the universal

Mind in the third its personality is wholly merged. The greater part of the book is taken up with the adventures of the Mind in climbing the ladder of perfection it is a kind of theosophical romance, much ;

;

more elaborate and

fantastic than the " revelations " of

mediaeval mystics.

The author

self

professes to have him-

enjoyed the ecstatic union more than once, and

his

method of preparing for it is that of the Quietists "To me it seems right to speak without words, and understand without

knowledge, that which

words and knowledge

;

this I

above

apprehend to be nothing

but the mysterious silence and mystical quiet which destroys therefore,

and dissolves forms. Seek, and mystically, that perfect and

consciousness silently

primitive union with the Arch-Good."

We its

cannot follow the

ascent of the

At one

various transmutations.

Mind

stage

it is

through crucified,

with the soul on the right and the body on the is

buried for three days

So Ruysbroek

says,

but must descend."

"We must

;

descends into

left "

Hades

;

^ ;

not remain on the top of the ladder,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

I04 then

ascends again,

united to the tree of essences,

life

reaches Paradise, and

then

descends below

is all

and sees a formless luminous essence, and

marvels that

Now

high.

till

it is it

the

same

essence that

comprehends the

has seen on

truth,

God

that

consubstantial with the Universe, and that there are

no "

real distinctions anywhere.

ceases to wander.

All these doctrines," concludes the seer, " which are

unknown even son "

to angels, have

(Dionysius, probably).

Know,

nature will be confused with the Father will

perish

or be destroyed, but

sanctified, united,

in all."

disclosed to thee,

all

then, that

— that

return,

will

Thus God

and confused.

all

nothing

will

all

There can be no

difficulty in classifying this

philosophy of religion.

Syrian

the ancient religion of

the Brahmins, masquerading in clothes borrowed from

Jewish

allegorists, half-Christian

Gnostics, Manicheans,

Platonising Christians, and pagan Neoplatonists. will

now

see

what

St.

Dionysius makes of

this

system,

which he accepts as from the hand of one who has "

not only learned, but

The date and

felt

the things of God."

nationality of

matters of dispute.*

Dionysius are

Mysticism changes so

little

still

that

Another description of the process of SirXuiris may be found in the work of Ibn Tophail, translated by Ockley, and much valued by the Quakers, The Improvement of Human Reason, exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Tophail, newly traslated by Simon Ockley, 1708. '

curious

oi /iSvov iiaBiiv iXKi, koI

iraffiiv ret Seta.

See Hamack, vol. iv. pp. 282, 283. Frothingham's theory necessitates a later date for Dionysius than that which Harnack believes to be most probable ; the latter is in favour of placing him in the second half of the fourth century. The writings of Dionysius are quoted not much later than '

500.

— PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM it

impossible to determine the question

evidence,

and

for

monk

it is

internal

not of great import-

monk, perhaps a Syrian

he probably perpetrated a deliberate fraud

a pious fraud,

own

our purposes

The author was

ance.

105

own

his

individuality,

opinion

and fathering

Athenian convert.

The

—by

suppressing his

books on

his

St. Paul's

success of the imposture

amazing, even in that uncritical age, and gives

The

food for reflection. impossible theories

—

a book

those of

much

saw nothing

sixth century

full

of the

later

Neoplatonic

Proclus

rather

than

Plotinus

having been written

the

first

And

century.

the

mediaeval Church was ready to believe that this strange semi-pantheistic St.

Mysticism dropped from the

lips

Paul.2

Dionysius

a theologian, not a visionary like his

His main object

master Hierotheus.

present

Christianity in the guise of a Platonic mysteriosophy,

and he uses the technical terms of the mysteries whenHis philosophy is that of his day the ever he can.*

—

later

Neoplatonism, with

its

strong Oriental

Beginning with the Trinity, he

affinities.

identifies

God

Father with the Neoplatonic Monad, and describes as " superessential

Indetermination,"

super

the

Him

rational

Unity," " the Unity which unifies every unity," " superessential

Essence,"

" irrational

Mind,"

E.g:, he agrees with lamblichus and Proclus that " the One " is exalted above " Goodness." '

(in

unspoken

opposition to Plotinus)

more pious opinion among Romanists seems to be ; but Schram admits that "there is a dispute" about their date, and some Roman Catholic writers frankly give them up. ' £.g., KdSapns, <j>(iiTuriibs, nirims, ivoTTela, Biuiuis ; UpareKe(rral and ^

At the

present time the

that the writings are genuine

luxn-ayiyiyol (of the bishops),

deacons).

(punanKol (of the

priests), KaOaprriKol (of the

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

io6

Word," "the absolute No-thing which existence."

Even now he

above

all

not satisfied with the

tortures to which he has subjected the Greek language. "

No monad

or triad," he says, " can express the

all-

transcending hiddenness of the all-transcending superessentially super-existing super- Deity."

But even

the midst of this barbarous jargon he does not quite "

forget his Plato.

The Good and

and aspire to the Good and

love

and

;

Beautiful,

Good and

Absolute

eliminating

This pathetic

we try to

it,

are,

honoured by

the non-existent also (to

in the

graft Indian nihilism

upon the Platonic doctrine

show

Plotinus tried hard to

of ideas.

things

Good and Beautiful." absurdity shows what we are driven to if

must participate

6v)

fiT)

Beautiful

from

qualities

all

which

" Since, then,

indeed, the sole objects of their desire."

the

he says,

Beautiful,"

" are the cause of all things that are

that his First

Person was very different from his lowest category "

non-existent to

selves

matter

conclusion

the

define

which

but

;

we once

Infinite

the

allow

cannot

deprecated

our-

Indefinite,

the

long

averted. "

God

Being

the Being of

identical with

does not exist; good.

good

origin.

iirepoiffioi &opt(rrta

—

i/TT^p

But

—

oiSeula

its

Since, then. evil,

as such,

participation in

\byo^

—

and must be

ivd.s ifoirotiis Awitrris

Sp/jip-os

;

must, therefore,

this is dualism,

vovv ivirTji

InrcpoicTio^ ovffla Kal vovs &vlyijTOi Kal

Avcovv/ita

is."

not in things which exist

bear evil fruit;

tree cannot

have another

that

or Goodness,

only exists by

he says,

Evil,

all

God

^vdSos

—

&\oyla. Koi avoyiHa xal

airrb 8i fi^ &v djs irAfT'qs oiJir/as iTT^Keiva. ?l

fnovd,!

Tpi&s i^dyei Tiiv iirip Trivra Kpv<j>ilyn)Ta ttj^ iirip irdvro

i/irepovalut^ iiTepoi!nr'r]s ijirepdeSrnjTOi^

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM Nor

rejected.^

angels

inanimate

hunted

—

accident

itself.

wrong

" all evil

some good

;

that which

is "

in the ;

nor

Having thus But priva-

;

the wrong place, so evil

It arises by a kind of done with the object of gaining

evil as evil."

Evil in itself

nohow, nowhere, and no thing

;

God

Students of modern philosophy

recognise a theory which has found

advocates in our

place.

no one does

sees evil as good." will

nor

No evil must arise from and inharmonious motion." As dirt has

the ;

;

nor in the brutes

;

simply privation of good

been defined as matter in

soul

nor in matter.

nature;

not evil in

" disorderly

good

God, nor of God

human

out of every corner of the universe, he asks

evil

Is evil, then,

tion

is evil

nor in the

;

107

own day

influential

that evil needs only to be

supplemented, rearranged, and transmuted, in order to take

its

place in the universal harmony.^

All things flow out from God, and return to itself

Nov<i,

Him.

The

first

all will

emanation

ultimately

the Thing in

{avTo to etvat), which corresponds to the Plotinian

and to the Johannine Logos.

"Life in

itself"

and "Wisdom

also calls

itself"

{avTo^mrj,

Of this he says, " So then the Divine Wisdom in knowing itself will know all things. It will know the material immaterially, and the divided inseparably, and the many as one (eviaico^), knowing avToa-o<f>ia).

all

things

by the standard

of absolute unity."

These

larai iriarfs Svidos ipx^ is stated by Dionysius as an axiom. See especially Bradley's Appearance and Reality, some chapters of which show a certain sympathy with Oriental speculative Mysticism. The theory set forth in the text must not be confounded with true pantheism, to which every phenomenon is equally Divine as it stands. See below, at the end of this Lecture. ' /iovA.! '

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

io8

important speculations are

who merely

nysius,

universe

"Thing

whom

The

identifies

"Wisdom," or "Life in One is said to become multi-

itself,"

In creation " the

itself."

them dogmatically.

states

evolved from the Son,

with the

undeveloped by Dio-

left

form."

The world

a necessary process of God's

being.

"as the sun

created

premeditation

One (or

;

The Father

purpose."

"without

shines,"

simply

the Son has also plurality, namely, the words

reasons) which

\070u?), jitous).

make

which theology

existence

(jov's

ovo-toTrotovs

calls fore-ordinations (irpoopia--

But he does not teach that

separate exist-

all

ences will ultimately be merged in the One. highest Unity gives to

all

the power of striving, on

the one hand, to share in the persist in their

own

One

individuality.

one passage he speaks of God as "

;

Being

Thus Dionysius

tries to

on the

;

And

other, to

more than a Unity comprehend"

ing, not abolishing differences.^

things "

The

God

Him, and He

before

all

not in Being."

safeguard the transcendence of

God, and to escape Pantheism.

The outflowing

process

appropriated by the mind by the positive method

downward path through finite existences its conThe return journey is by the clusion is, " God is All." negative road, that of ascent to God by abstraction and its conclusion is, " All is not God." * The analysis the

See De Div. Norn. iv. 8 ; xi. 3. Dionysius distinguishes three movements of the

human mind

—the

wherein the soul returns in upon itself; the oblique, which includes all knowledge acquired by reasoning, research, etc. ; and the direct, in which we rise to higher truths by using outward things as circular,

symbols.

The

which he also

last

two he regards as

inferior to the

calls "simplification" (fiTr^ujis).

' '

circular "

movement,

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM negative path

mystics

the high road of a large school of

say more about

will

;

mystic, says

109

Dionysius, "

must leave behind

both in the sensible and

all

" is "

This

things

in the intelligible worlds,

he enters into the darkness of nescience that mystical."

The

presently.

till

truly

Divine darkness," he says elsewhere,

the light unapproachable

mentioned by

St. Paul,

a deep but dazzling darkness," as Henry Vaughan

calls

It is

it.

dark through excess of

This

light.^

doctrine really renders nugatory what he has said about

the persistence of distinctions after the restitution of

all

for as " all colours agree in the dark," so, for

things

;

us, in

proportion as

attain to true knowledge, all

distinctions are lost in the absolute.

The

soul

The

bipartite.

Divine

images

symbols.

The

higher portion sees the

the

directly,

lower

by means of

not to be despised, for they

latter are

are " true impressions of the Divine characters,"

necessary steps, which enable us to

undivided truth by analogy."

mount

This

which we should use the Scriptures. symbolic truth and beauty, which to those

who can

myths"* Church !)

(the language

The

the

way

They have a intelligible

only

from the "puerile

startling in a saint of the

which they are sometimes embedded.

Dionysius has

free themselves

and

to the one

much

highest stage (he says)

to say about love,* but he uses

to reach t6p {nr4p<piaToi> yv6<pov Kal

Si'

d/3Xe^ios Kal iyvoxrlas ISctv Kal TvCyoi. '

and rraiSapuaSiis Old Testament narratives.

ToKfiOffa BeoirXaffla

applies to

Nam.

iv. 13).

are phrases

which he

of his language, we may quote ((Tti Si eKtrraTiKis i i&v iavrwv clvai rois ipa<rrh.s, iXKh tuv ipa/Uvwy {De Div,

As a specimen

Beioi (pas, o6k

ipavraffla

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

the word

e/jw?,

use

which

Testament. " dydTTT),

admits that the

but

New

carefully avoided in the

justifies

" often

Scriptures

his preference for the other

word by quoting St. Ignatius, who says of Christ, " My Love (epw?) is crucified."^ Divine Love, he finely says,

an eternal

from

circle,

goodness, through

goodness, and to goodness."

The

mediaeval mystics were steeped in Dionysius,

though

system received from them certain modifica-

his

tions under the influence of Aristotelianism.

a very important figure; and there

therefore, for us,

are two parts of his scheme which,

think, require

than has been given them in

fuller consideration

very slight sketch.

mean

this

the "negative road" to

God, and the pantheistic tendency.

The theory

that

we can approach God only by com-

analysis or abstraction has already been briefly

mented

on.

It is

no invention of Dionysius.

fulness

all

Plotinus

God

uses similar language, though his view of

as the

prevented him from following the

/i/e

negative path with thoroughness. find the phrases, afterwards so

But

Proclus

common, about

sinking

into the Divine Ground," " forsaking the manifold for

the One," and

so forth.

Basilides, long before, evi-

dently carried the doctrine to

not even

pp.

call

God

inclined to agree with Dr. Bigg

viii, ix),

that Dionysius

tation of this passage. it

ineffable,"

mean, "

and the

its

extremity

he says, " since

must

this is to

(Bampton Lectures, Introduction,

later mystics are right in their interpre-

Bishop Lightfoot and some other good scholars take are crucified." See the discussion in

My earthly affections

I am not Lightfoot's edition of Ignatius, and in Bigg's Introduction. aware how the vindicators of "Dionysius" explain the curious fact that he bad read Ignatius t

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

iii

make an assertion about Him He is above every name that is named." i It was a commonplace of ;

Christian instruction to say that " in Divine matters there

—

wisdom

great

phrase occurs

this

true that

a very different

make any

God

all

doctrine that is

symbols, as

He knows

from

God must be

our language about

all

But conthing

positive statements about God.

inadequate and symbolic; but that discarding

our ignorance''

Cyril's catechism.^

fessing our ignorance

refusing to

in confessing

no reason

could in that

Himself.

God can be

the

for

way know

bottom,

the

described only by negatives

neither Christian nor Greek, but belongs to the old

Let

religion of India.

and

consequence

its

try to state the

a clear form.

the Infinite, and the Infinite

argument

Since

God

finite,

every attribute which can be affirmed of a

being

may be

covered

which

by veil

stripping off

Him

;

all

;

can only be

dis-

the qualities and attributes

can only be reached by divesting

ourselves of all the distinctions of personality,

ing or rising into our

finite

Hence God can

safely denied of God.

only be described by negatives

the antithesis of the

and

uncreated nothingness

sink;

and

can only be imitated by aiming at an abstract

spirituality, the passionless "

which

nothing

apathy

particular.

of an universal

Thus we

see that the

whole of those developments of Mysticism which despise symbols, and hope to see

God by

shutting the eye of

' See Harnack, vol. iii. St. Augustine accepts this statepp. 242, 243. ment, which he repeats word for word. " Of Thee our fittest eloquence is silence, while " Compare also Hooker we confess without confessing that Thy glory is unsearchable and beyond :

our reach."

— ;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

112 sense,

hang

together.

God

notion of

They

follow from the false

all

Unity transcending, or

as the abstract

rather excluding, all distinctions.

course,

not

intended to exclude distinctions, but to rise above them

but

the process of abstraction, or subtraction, as

really

can never lead us to " the One."

is,

possible unification with such vrfjpeTo<i virvo<i

in mediaeval religious life

—

its

life

—

since

—

— contemplation — life

and

the emptiness of

maltreatment of the body

its

agement of family dolent

that repels us

all

" other-worldliness "

passive hostility to civilisation ideal

Infinite is the a-rkpyMv

Nearly

of Nirvana.^

The only

the respect which

— it

its

dispar-

paid to in-

springs from this one root.

But

no one who remains a Christian can exhibit the

results of this theory in their purest form, I shall take the

liberty of quoting a few sentences

by a

native Indian judge

His object

who

to explain

from a pamphlet written I

believe

readers the mystical philosophy of his "

He who

in perfect rest rises

attains the highest light,

form.

Unity

This is

comes

own

still

living.

country:*

from the body and

forth in his

The

the immortal soul.

own proper ascent

characteristic or simple condition of real being, but

in itself a principle of being, so that

and commend to Western

"the One" could

it is

not

ejdst substantially

it God, Eind then would seem too absurd a fallacy to have misled any one, if history did not show that it has had a long and vigorous life. ' Cf. Sir W. Hamilton (Discussions, p. 21) "By abstraction we annihilate the object, and by abstraction we annihilate the subject of consciousness. But what remains ? Nothing. When we attempt to conceive

itself.

try to imitate

personify the barest of abstractions, call

it,

we •The Hon.

as reality,

hypostatise the zero."

P. Ramanathan, C.M.G., Attorney-General of Ceylon, TAe Mystery of Godliness. This interesting essay was brought to my notice by the kindness of the Rev. G. U. Pope, D. D. University Teacher in Tamil and Telugu at Oxford. ,

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM To know

the ladder of one's thoughts. first

know

own

one's

spirit

God, one must

purity,

in its

113

unspotted

by thought. The soul is hidden behind the veil of thought, and only when thought is worn off, becomes This stage is called knowledge of the visible to itself.

Next is realised knowledge of God, who rises bosom of the soul. This is the end of

soul.

from

the

progress

into

between

differentiation

;

self

and others has

All the world of thought and senses

ceased.

an ocean without waves or current.

solution of the world sinful or

worldly

I,'

also

which

known

of pure

senses

;

wholly

knows them

only proof

;

distinct

Ego.

Then

veil

of thought.

from thought

and

know

The

they do not

an appeal to

the highest stage one

dis-

seen in the regions

beyond the

consciousness

Consciousness

melted

as the death of the

veils the true

the formless Being of the Deity

This

it.

spiritual experience."

absolutely inert,

"knowing

nothing in particular."^

would have been accepted as precious The words truth by the mediaeval Church mystics.*

Most of

this

Hunt's summary of the philosophy of the Vedanta Sara (Pantheism and 19) may help to illustrate farther this type of thought.

Christianity, p.

" Brahma is called the universal soul, of which all human souls are a part. These are likened to a succession of sheaths, which envelop each other The human soul frees itself by knowledge from like the coats of an onion. But what is this knowledge? To know that the human the sheath. This is to intellect and all its faculties are ignorance and delusion. Whatever is not take away the sheath, and to find that God is all. Brahma is nothing. So long as a man perceives himself to be anyWhen he discovers that his supposed individuality thing, he is nothing. Man must strive to is no individuality, then he has knowledge. He must be only a rid himself of himself as an object of thought. subject. As subject he is Brahma, while the objective world is mere phenomenon." " We may compare with them the following maxims, which, enclosed in 8

— 114

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

nakedness,

darkness,

and the

like,

fill

their pages.

apathy,

passivity,

nothingness,

shall find that this

time-honoured phraseology was adhered to long after the

grave

moral

which

dangers

Mysticism had been recognised.

who

beset

Tauler, for instance,

lays the axe to the root of the tree

" Christ

the old jargon for pages together, really rested

when Luther had the courage

on another

within the sphere of his influence. it

held sway for a long time

cannot complain

many have

—

This

;

which, in

" private

we must point out that this whole army of symbolists, a

but

limitation excludes the

vitality

we the

such a vague

word, that one must not quarrel with any interpretation " of

and

disappeared

so long that

said,

Mysticism

essence of Mysticism."

basis,

to break with ecclesi-

astical tradition, the via negativa rapidly

school

saying,

never arrived at the emptiness of which these

men talk," repeats German Mysticism

But

type of

this

Europe

least,

has shown

than introspective Mysticism.

regard

the

via negativa in metaphysics, religion, and ethics as the outline of Mount Carmel, form St Juan of the Cross : " To enjoy Infinity, do not desire

the frontispiece to an early edition of

"To

arrive at the

knowledge of

to taste of finite things.

Infinity,

do not

desire the

knowledge of

finite things.

" To reach

"To

to the possession of Infinity, desire to possess nothing.

be included in the being of

Infinity, desire to

be thyself nothing

whatever.

"The moment that thou art resting in a creature, thou art ceasing to advance towards Infinity. " In order to unite thyself to Infinity, thou must surrender finite things without reserve." After reading such maxims, we shall probably be inclined to tliink that "the Infinite" as a name for God might be given up with advantage. There is nothing Divine about a tabula rasa.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

115

The break-up

great accident of Christian Mysticism.

of the ancient civilisation, with the losses and miseries

which

brought upon humanity, and the chaos of

Europe weltered

brutal barbarism in which centuries, caused

weariness which

some

for

a widespread pessimism and worldis

foreign

to the temper of Europe,

and which gave way to energetic and full-blooded activity in the

Mysticism faith in

Renaissance and Reformation.

the natural refuge of

civilisation,

Let us

fly

but

lost

not give up faith in God.

hence to our dear country

the words already in

The sun

will

Asiatic

men who have

Plotinus

—nay,

even

hear

Plato.

shone in heaven, but on earth he was

still

Mysticism cuts too deep to allow us to

eclipsed.

comfortably on the surface of

life

heavy and the weary weight of

it off,

all

men and women

world " pressed upon to throw

;

and seek peace

and so

all

live "

the

this unintelligible till

they were fain

an invisible world of

which they could not see even a shadow round about them.

But

do not think that the negative road

There

error.

Infinite

by the

are

first

impelled to seek

limitations of the

appear to the soul as bonds and prison natural

these

first

barriers

are

daily,

renewed.

done away.

And

our inward

man

must

die

to our lower

only but continually, so that we

Cf.

finite,

which

walls.

It is

to think of the Infinite as that in which

must die

stones of

a pure

a negative side in religion, both in

thought and practice. the

many dead

Richard of

St. Victor,

tipsum super semetipsum."

selves

may

practice

self,

rise

to be daily

not once

on stepping

higher things.^

de Prap. Anim. 83, "ascendat per seme-

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

ii6

must die to our around

first

nay, even to our

us,

views of the world

superficial

our faith

of growth to become the childish. of

have

life

first

to be renounced,

God and

views of

first

religion, unless the childlike in

arrest

All the good things

and then given back It was neces-

to us, before they can be really ours.

sary that these truths should be not only taught, but

The

lived through.

individual has generally to pass

through the quagmire of the

he can races,

on firm ground

set his feet

" everlasting ;

No," before

and the Christian

seems, were obliged to go through the same

a sense in which

all

moral effort aims at destroying the conditions of

its

Moreover, there

experience.

own Our

and so ends logically in self-negation. highest aim as regards ourselves is to eradicate, We do not feel that we not only sin, but temptation. have won the victory until we no longer wish to But a being who was entirely free from tempoffend. tation would be cither more or less than a man existence,

" either is,

a beast or a God," as Aristotle says.^

There

therefore, a half truth in the theory that the goal of

earthly striving

once becomes

negation and absorption.

false if

forget that

cannot be reached in time, and which

by good and

But

a goal which

achieved, not

evil neutralising each other, but

by death

being swallowed up in victory.

If morality ceases to

be moral when

its

•

The same

has achieved

goal,

must pass

true of our attitude towards external nature.

are

from the shadow to the substance, from the sjTnbol to the thing symbolised, and so far the followers of tlie negative road are right ; but the life of Mysticism (on this side) consists in the process of always trying to

rise

spiritualising our impressions lose

shadow and substance

;

and

to regard the process as

together.

completed

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

117

into something which includes as well as transcends

—

a condition which

by con

certainly not fulfilled

templative passivity.^

These thoughts should save us from regarding the saints of

The

the cloister with

impatience

contempt.

limitations incidental to their place in history do

among

not prevent them from being glorious pioneers the high passes of the spiritual

heights which those

who

who have

life,

talk glibly

" the

about

of asceticism " have seldom even seen afar

must next consider

nearly

all

Emerson.

speculative

Dionysius,

charged with

freely

it.

far as

may

from

mystics,

naturally

be pardoned

Plotinus

enough,

The word

thoughtlessly used, even

hope

off.

charge of Pan-

briefly the

has been flung rather indiscriminately

theism, which at

scaled

mistake

has

so loosely

been

and

writers of repute, that

try to distinguish

(so

can be done in a few words) between the various

systems which have been called pantheistic.

True Pantheism must mean the

God

identification

with the totality of existence, the doctrine that

the universe

the complete and only expression of

who on

this

only immanent and not transcendent.

the nature and

life

of God,

theory

this view,

everything in the world belongs to the Being of God,

who is

real

in everything. Whatever and perfection are the same

manifested equally is

perfect

;

reality

' It may be objected that I have misused the term via negativa, which merely the line of argument which establishes the transcendence of God, I am fer from as the "afiSrmative road" establishes His immanence. method which when rightly used is a safeguard wishing to depreciate

•>.

against Pantheism, but the whole history of mediseval Mysticism shows

how

mischievous

it is

when followed

exclusively.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

ii8

Here again we must go

thing.

example.

The

God

behold

learned

Brahmin,

reverend

to India for a perfect

the

ox and

alike

the

elephant,

dog and in him who eateth the flesh of dogs." ^ So Pope says that God is " as full, as perfect, in a hair

in the

The

as heart." this error,

Persian Sufis were deeply involved in

which leads to

even immoralities.

It is

in purpose, either in the

manner of

all

inconsistent with

whole or

any

must be

itself

good.

may

of the world

everything

It is

belief

in the parts.

therefore, cannot exist for the sake of a higher it

and

absurdities

easy to see

how

Evil,

good

this

pass into pessimism or nihilism equally real and equally

view ;

for

Divine,

makes no difference, except to our tempers, whether

call it

None fairly

everything or nothing, good or bad.

of the writers with

whom we

have to deal can

be charged with this error, which

the very foundations of true religion.

subversive of

Eckhart, carried

away by his love of paradox, allows himself occasionally to make statements which, if logically developed, would come perilously near to it; and Emerson's philosophy Diois more seriously compromised in this direction. nysius

is in

no such danger,

he stands too near to Plato.

for the simple reason that

The

pantheistic tendenqr

of mediaeval Realism requires a few words of explanation, especially as

have placed the name of Plato at

the head of this Lecture.

Plato's

doctrine of ideas

aimed

at establishing the transcendence of the highest

Idea

that of God.

—

But the mediaeval doctrine of

ideas,

room

by the extreme Realists, sought to find the sumtnum genus for a harmonious coexistence of as held

See Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics,

vol.

p. $8.

in all

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM things.

thus tended towards Pantheism

while the

;

119

Aristotelian Realists maintained the substantial char-

view," says Eicken,

and

which quite inverted the

logical relation of the Platonic

philosophies,

was maintained

Being of God.

acter of individuals outside the

till

This

historical

and Aristotelian

the close of the Middle

Ages."

We may

also

call

pantheistic

any system which

regards the cosmic process as a real becoming of God.

According to

this theory,

God comes

to Himself, attains

self-consciousness, in the highest of His creatures,

full

which

are, as

Personality.

were, the organs of His self-unfolding

This

not a philosophy which

commends

specially to speculative mystics, because

itself

volves the belief that time

an ultimate

in-

reality.

cosmic process, which takes place in time,

in the

becomes something which be said that

sand years are to

He was

not before,

God

cannot

exalted above time, or that a thou-

Him

as one day.

say in

I shall

fourth Lecture that this view cannot justly be attributed to Eckhart.

it is

The

Students of Hegel are not agreed whether

not part of their master's teaching.*

idea

of will as

world-principle

— not

Schopenhauer's sense of a blind force impelling from '

Seth, Hegelianism

argues that

God

and

Personality, states this

regarded as the

summum

existing things are accidents.

strongly.

a thorough -going Pantheism." genus, the ultimate Substance of which all

the ultimate goal of Realism

The genus inheres in the species, and the common to all and identical in each,

species in individuals, as an entity

an entity to which individual differences adhere as accidents. ''M'Taggart, Studies in Hegelian Dialectic, p. 159 sq., argues that Hegel means that the Absolute Idea exists eternally in its full perfection. " Infinite time is a false There can be no real development in time. The whole discussion is very instructive infinite of endless aggregation." and interesting.

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

120

Mind

within, but as the determination of a conscious

us at once out of Pantheism.^

lifts

tinction

between what

up the

It sets

and what ought to

Pantheism cannot find room

and

for,

implies that the cosmic process

be,

same time

at the

already complete in

the consciousness of God, which cannot be held is

dis-

which

subordinated to the category of time.

God

more than the All, as being the perfect whose Will is manifested in creation under

Personality,

necessarily imperfect conditions.

also in a sense

than the All, since pain, weakness, and

less

known

Him

The

as infinite Perfection.

economy

sin,

though

as infinite Mind, can hardly be felt

of the universe

function of evil in the

an inscrutable mystery,

about which speculative Mysticism merely asserts that the solution cannot be that of the Manicheans.

only the Agnostic

who

It is

here offer the dilemma of

will

Dualism or Pantheism, and try to force the mystic to accept the second alternative.

There are two other views of the universe which have been called pantheistic, but incorrectly.

The

first is

that properly called Acosmism, which

have encountered as Orientalised Platonism.

Plato's

theory of ideas was popularised into a doctrine of two separate worlds, related to each other as shadow and substance.

The

mind of God, alone

exists

reality to the visible world,

Pantheism. '

So Lasson

world, which

intelligible ;

and

thus,

the

by denying

get a kind of idealistic

But the notion of God as abstract Unity, says well, in his

views everything from

the

book on Meister Eckhart, " M3rsticism

standpoint of teleology,

while

Pantheism

generally stops at causality." '

As, for instance, Leslie Stephen

tries to

in his Agtiostii^s Apology,

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM which, as

we have

platonists

and

was held by the

seen,

their Christian followers,

a real world impossible

for

;

Accordingly

the

later

Neo-

seems to make

bare Unity cannot create,

and the metaphor of the sun shedding nothing.

121

his rays explains

" intelligible

sphere of reality, drops out, and

are

world,"

the

with only

left

So we

the infra-real world and the supra-real One. are landed in nihilism or Asiatic Mysticism.^

The second is the belief in the immanence of a God who is also transcendent. This should be called Panentheism, a useful word coined by Krause, and not In

Pantheism.

true form

its

an integral part of

Christian philosophy, and, indeed, of

all

rational theo-

But in proportion as the indwelling of God, or

logy.

Holy

of Christ, or the

Spirit in the heart of

man,

regarded as an opus operatum, or as complete substitution of the

Divine for the human, we are

danger of

a self-deification which resembles the maddest phase of Pantheism.^

Pantheism, as

understand the word,

Mysticism to avoid, not an error involved 1

The system

of Spinoza, based on the canon,

by wiping out

negatio," proceeds

all

" Omnis

pitfall for

its

first

determinatio est

dividing lines, which he regards as

order to reach the ultimate truth of things. This, as Hegel acosmism rather than Pantheism, and certainly not " atheism." The method of Spinoza should have led him, as the same method led illusions, in

showed,

Dionysius, to define

God

vol.

He only escapes this See E. Caird, Evolution of XtHgion,

as iiTepoiffios iopiarla.

conclusion by an inconsistency.

pp. 104, 105. is a third system which

is called pantheistic ; but as it has nothing to do with Mysticism, I need not try to determine whether it '^

There

deserves the

times

it is

scribed

;

name

or not.

It is that

which

deifies physical law.

"materialism grown sentimental," as

sometimes

high Calvinism theistic, because

is it

issues in

stem Fatalism.

Some-

has been lately deThis is Stoicism ; and it

simply Christian Stoicism. It has been called panadmits only one Will in the universe.

122

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

principles.

But we need not quarrel with those who

have said that speculative Mysticism

form

of Pantheism.

For there

Amiel's dictum, that "Christianity, over Pantheism, must absorb

if it

which are objective,

truth

to triumph

Those are no true who would base it en-

upon dogmatic supernaturalism.

for facts

the Christian

much

it."

friends to the cause of religion tirely

isolated,

The and

passion

past, often

prevents us from seeing facts which are eternal and

spiritual.

forget

us.

here,"

The

great

and "Lo

God

service

there,"

within

rendered

and

us and by the

Church lies in recognition of those truths which Pantheism

speculative their

"Lo

the kingdom of

that

amongst

cry,

mystics

to the Christian

grasps only to destroy.

LECTURE

123

;

Heraclitus.

" La

philosophie n'est pas philosophic

elle cesse d'etre philosophie si elle

si elle

ne touche a I'abime

y tombe." Cousin.

"Denn Wenn

Alles muss in Nichts zerfallen, as

im Sein beharren

will."

Goethe.

"Seek no more abroad, House and Home, but

say

turn thine eye

Inward, and observe thy breast There alone dwells solid Rest. Say not that this House is sinall, Girt up in a narrow wall In a cleanly sober mind

Heaven itself full room doth find. Here content make thine abode With thyself and with thy God. Here in this sweet privacy May'st thou with thyself agree,

And keep House

in peace, tho' all

Th' Universe's fabric

fall."

Joseph Beaumont.

" The One

remains, the many change and pass Heaven's light for ever shines ; earth's shadows Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity."

Shelley.

fly

;

mais

LECTURE

Christian Platonism and Speculative Mysticism in

Know ye

the west

not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of dwelleth in you?" i CoR. iii. i6.

God

—

have seen that Mysticism,

of religion, had Platonists,

its

whom we

wrote in Greek, and the

Western

most other types

cradle in the East.

The

Christian

considered in the last Lecture,

we had no

Dionysius, the East had

occasion to mention

But

Churches.

little

after

the

Pseudo-

more to contribute

John of Damascus, in the eighth century, half mystic and half scholastic, need not Christian thought,

The Eastern Churches

detain us.

rapidly sank into a

deplorably barbarous condition, from which they have

never emerged.

We may

therefore turn

away from

the Greek-speaking countries, and trace the course of

Mysticism

Scientific

the Latin and Teutonic races.

Mysticism in the West did not

through Dionysius. sopher,

joy which

The

pass

Victorinus, a Neoplatonic philo-

was converted

about 360 A.D.

all

to Christianity in his old age,

story of his conversion, and the

caused in the Christian community, 126

told

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

126

He was

Augustine.^

St.

deep

thinker

the speculative mystical type, but a clumsy and ob-

scure writer, in spite of his rhetorical training.

importance

who wrote

Neoplatonist

The

in his position as the

lies

first

His

Christian

in Latin.

Trinitarian doctrine of Victorinus anticipates in

a remarkable manner that of the later philosophical mystics.

The

self in the

Son.

and

There

God

;

All

time.

since

Movement

life is

now

not in the past or future of eternity, to which

The

movement "

;

all

live

cosmic principle,* through

Son

Plotinus

firi

wished

the generation

exalted above

and thus our

life is

at the

a symbol

whom

;

same time the Son is the

for the

all

that potentially

even says that the Father

&v to

things are for ever present.*

generation of the Son

actualised.

always in the present,

creation of the archetypal world

Son

motus

" is not the same as belongs to the " being " of

motus

This eternal generation

of the Son.

" silentium"

no contradiction between

this eternal "

and

"cessatio,"

also " motus," while the

cessatio','

" mutatio."

Father

but

" tnotio." "

The

Absolute. ;

knows Him-

The Son the self-objectification of "forma" of God," the utterance of the

God, the " quies "

Father, he says, eternally

6 &v, thus

avoid,

to the

taking the step which

and

applying the

same

' Conj. viii. The best account of the theology of Victorinus z-J. Gore's article in the Dictionary of Christian Biography.

So Synesius calls the Son irarphs yuop^i). enim vivimus prajteritum aut vivimus futurum, sed semper "i^ternitas semper per priesentiam habet omnia et preesenti utimur." °

'"Non

haec semper." *

Effectus est omnia," Victorinus says plainly.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM expression

the

God

superessential

127

infra-

essential matter.^

This actualisation

a self-limitation of God,* but

no degradation.

involves

Victorinus

language

uses

implying the subordination of the Son, but

strongly

opposed to Arianism.

The Holy Ghost

the

"bond"

Victorinus

the

triad

based

of status, progressio,

Ghost as the female His

on the Neoplatonic

regressus

(fwv^,

TrpdoSo?,

Holy Mother of Christ This metaphor is a relic of

In another place he symbolises the

eirurrpixfn]).

and the Son.

to use this idea, which afterwards

first

became common.

of the

{copula)

Trinity, joining in perfect love the Father

eternal

principle, the "

life.

Gnosticism, which the Church wisely rejected.

The second Person self the archetypes

menium,"

" kabitaculutn"

The

universe.

probation.

" habitator"

the "e/e-

" locus "

of the

material world was created for man's

All spirits pre-existed, and their

immersion in an degradation

Him-

of the Trinity contains in

of everything.

partial

impure material environment

from

which

they

must

aspire

But the whole mundane history of a soul only the realisation of the idea which had existed

delivered. is

from

all

show

that Victorinus

eternity in the is

mind of God.

These doctrines

involved in a dualistic view of

matter, and in a form of predestinarianism

;

but he has

Victorinus must have got this phrase from some Greek Neoplatonist was explained that tJ /4-J) tv may be used in four senses, and that it is not intended to identify the two extremes. But the very remarkable passage in Hierotheus (referred to in Lecture III.) shows that the two categories of iopurrla cannot be kept apart. ' " Ipse se ipsum drcumterminavit" A '

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

128

on the relation of

definite teaching

sin to the ideal

world.

His language about Christ and

Church

the

" The Church is Christ," he says mystical in tone. " The resurrection of Christ is our resurrection " ; and

now come

period of his

The body

of the Eucharist,

was a

life

would be hardly

of Christ

is life."

who

to St. Augustine himself,

at one

diligent student of Plotinus.

justifiable to claim St.

Augustine

a mystic, since there are important parts of his

teaching which have no affinity to Mysticism

him on one

touched Platonist.

and he remained half a

the vulgar and perverted forms of

which he was

Manicheans and tinguish

true

first

Gnostics

Mysticism

brought

false

not

ashamed

dis-

he soon saw

sectaries, while

from

learn

The

contact.

only taught him

from

through the pretensions of these

was

His natural sympathy with Mysticism was

not destroyed

with

side,

but

;

The

Plotinus.

mystical or Neoplatonic element in his theology will

be clearly shown

In a few

in the following extracts.

places he comes dangerously near to some of the

which we found

errors

God

above

must not even

call

in silence,^ best

all

negatives.*

Dionysius.

that can be said of

Him

ineffable

;

Him.

best adored

known by nescience,' best God is absolutely immutable

described ;

this is

doctrine on which he often insists, and which pervades

teaching

his

all

Dei,

Tritt. vii. 4.

;

about

The world

predestination.

de Doctr. Christ,

5. S

;

Serm. 52. 16

;

Civ.

ix. 16.

Adim. Man.

Contr.

Enarrat. in Ps. 85. 12.

II.

Ord.

ii.

16. 44, 18. 47.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM pre-existed from

the

Word

who

whom

immutable Truth,

mind of God

eternity in the

all

of God, by

all

God

the

sees

things and events are

all

not as

time-process

;

things were made, and

up together unchangeably, and

stored

129

are

all

one.

process,

gathered up into one harmonious whole.

but

This seems

very near to acosmism, but there are other passages

which are intended to guard against in

instance,

the

Confessions

he says that

above are better than things below; but better than things above"; that

together

reality is

something higher than an abstract

as he identifies beauty with symmetry,^

the formless " Infinite" Platonist, the

for

" things

creation

to say, true

spirituality.^

it is

God

;

and

plain that

him, as for every true

bottom and not the top of the scale of

Plotinus had perhaps been the

being.

all

fond of speaking of the Beauty of

For

this error.

first

to speak

of the Divine nature as the meeting-point of the Good,

and the Beautiful; and

True,

the

which

conception,

this

of great value, appears also in Augustine.

There are three grades of beauty, they both say^ corporeal,

and

spiritual,

divine,*

the

first

being an

image of the second, and the second of the " Righteeinsness is the truest beauty," * Conf, vii. 13 adfin. 'Compare with this sentence Ej-igena quoted below, that " the

third.*

Augustine says

of the

Confessions

the

statement of

things which are not are far better than

those which are." ^

Ep. 120. 20. St. Augustine wrote in early life an essay "On the and Fit," which he unhappily took no pains to preserve.

Beautifiil * " '

i6. 42, S9 De Ord. De Lib. Arh. ii 16. 41 ii.

Enarr. in Ps.

Plot.

; ;

Plot.

Enn. i. 6. 4. Enn. i. 6. 8,

3 ; Ep. 1 20. 20. picturesqueness than usual, luCKhv rb xliv.

TrpbffaTov, Kal otJre irirepos oSre i<fos I.

IS.)

iii.

Plot.

8. II.

Enn.

ttjs SiKaioffirtis

oStw KoKd.

(From

6. 4, says

with

Kal (ru<ppoiriviit

Aristotle,

Eti.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

I30

more than once. the

" All that

which

Beauty,

highest

comes from

beautiful

This

God."

true

Platonism, and points to Mysticism of the symbolic kind, which

we must

consider

St.

later.

ground when he says that

less secure

Augustine

simply

evil is

the splash of dark colour which gives relief to the picture

and when

;

other places he speaks of

But here again he closely

simple privation of good. follows Plotinus.^

Augustine was not hostile to the idea of a

St.

World

Soul

organism

;

he regards the

;

God and

identifying

readers

his

living

against

the world, or supposing that

merely immanent in

universe

but he often warns

God

The Neoplatonic

creation.

teaching about the relation of individual souls to the

World- Soul may have helped him to formulate

his

own

teaching about the mystical union of Christians with

His phrase

Christ. "

and the Church are

that Christ

una persona!' Augustine arranges the ascent of the soul

St.

seven

But the higher steps

stages.*

purgation, illumination, and union.

he "

calls

are,

This

last,

have reached

it,

shall

Ench.

iii.

{Ench.

xi.),

Plot.

cf.

St.

;

"etiam

illud

we were

quod malum

dicitur

eminentlus commendat bona."

"cum omuino

Enn.

iii.

mali

5> "'^"s

When we

understand the wholesomeness

of the doctrines with which

which

the vision and contemplation of truth,"

not a step, but the goal of the journey."

pio positum

as usual,

nomen non ''^

Kaxhv

fed, as children

bene ordinatum est loco St. Augustine also says

sit nisi

l\\ei}f/iv

privationis

boni";

toO i.ya6o\i Beriov,

Augustine praises Plotinus for his teaching on the universality of

Providence. "

Civ. Dei,

iv.

12, vii. 5.

•

Quantitate

Anima,

xxx.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM with milk

the meaning of such " hard sayings " as the

;

of the body

resurrection

131

become

will

plain

us.

the blessedness which attends this state he says

elsewhere,^ "

my of my

and beheld with the mysterious

entered,

eye of

soul the light that never changes, above the

eye

soul,

above

intelligence.

was some-

thing altogether different from any earthly illumination.

made me, and I was lower because made by it. He who knows the truth knows that light, and he who knows was higher than

that light

knows

intelligence because

Love knows

eternity.

that light."

What is this which flashes in again he says,^ upon me, and thrills my heart without wounding it ? tremble, feeling that I tremble and I burn I I

And

;

Him

unlike

;

burn,

feeling

that

Him."

One more St.

point must be mentioned before

In spite

Augustine.

or rather because

of,

leave of,

his

Platonism, he had nothing but contempt for the later

Neoplatonism, the theurgic and theosophic apparatus of lamblichus and his friends.

have said nothing yet

about the extraordinary development of magic in its

other kinds of divination, charms and amulets

which

witchcraft,

brought

struggles of paganism.

Mysticism

ments

will

mentioning "

ridicule

vii.

10.

nonsensical

" kind, says, "

and

the

last

be dealt with in their later develop-

wiser than these philosophers." Conf.

upon

These aberrations of Nature-

seventh Lecture.

some

abracadabra

all

branches, astrology, necromancy, table-rapping, and

St.

Augustine, after

incantations Christian old

the

woman

In truth, the spirit of

have quoted Bigg's translation.

•

Ctnf.

jd. 9.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

132 Plato lived

in,

and not outside Christianity, even

time of Porphyry.

And on

superstition, St. Augustine's "

ive.

the cultus of angels and

which was closely connected with

spirits,

Whom

Thee?

should

judgment

find,"

in the

theurgic

very instruct-

he asks,

" to reconcile

? With Many, as I hear, have tried this method, and have come to crave for curious visions, and have been deceived, as they

Should

approach the angels

what prayers, with what

rites ?

deserved."^

and the immense influence which he exercised, the Western Church was slow in developing a mystical theology. The Greek Mysticism, based on emanation, was not congenial to the Western mind, and the time of the German, with its philosophy of immanence, was not In

yet.

of St.

spite

Augustine's

The tendency

Platonism

of Eastern thinkers

to try to

gain a view of reality as a whole, complete and entire

the form under which

The West

that of space.

most readily pictures

seeks rather to discover the

universal laws which in every part of the universe are

working out

their fulfilment.

The form under which

most readily pictures reality is that of time?^ Thus Neoplatonism had to undergo certain modifications ' St Augustine does not reject the belief that visions are granted by the mediation of angels, but he expresses himself with great caution on the

subject. Cf. De Gen. ad Hit. xii. 30, " Sunt qusedam excellentia et merito divina, quae demonstrant angeli miris modis : utrum visa sua bcili

quadam facientes,

prsepotenti iunctione vel commixtione etiam nostra esse an scientes nescio quo modo nostram in spiritu nostro informar

visionem,

difiScilis

perceptu et

difficilior

dictu res est."

See Lotze, Microcosmtts, bk. viii. chap. 4, and other places. We may perhaps compare the Johannine kIxtiiik with the Synoptic aliiv as examples of the two modes of envisaging reality. '

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM before

133

could enter deeply into the religious con-

sciousness of the West.

The next

name

great

that

of John

monk, who

Erigena,^ an English or Irish

century translated Dionysius into Latin.

Scotus

in the ninth

Erigena

unquestionably one of the most remarkable figures of

the Middle Ages.

he made

bold and independent thinker,

aim to elucidate the vague theories of Dionysius, and to present them as a consistent philoit

his

by the help of

sophical system worked out

and perhaps Boethius.*

Aristotle

intends, of course, to keep

within the limits permitted to Christian speculation

dogma

but in reality he does not allow

The

Christian Alexandrians were, on the whole,

orthodox than

language

their

Erigena's

;

language

partially veils the real audacity of his speculation.

a mystic only

intellectual

his

;

to fetter him.

the

affinities ;*

warmth of pious aspiration and love which makes Dionysius, amid all his extravagance, still a religious

writer, has cooled entirely in Erigena.

can pray

with fervour and eloquence for intellectual enlighten-

ment

;

but there was nothing of the prophet or saint

about him, to judge from his writings.

one might dispute

his

title

Still,

though

be called either a

Eriugena is, no doubt, the more correct spelling, but I have preferred keep the name by which he is best known. ' Erigena quotes also Origen, the two Gregorys, Basil, Maximus, Ambrose, and Augustine. Of pagan philosophers he puts Plato first, but '

holds Aristotle in high honour, '

Stockl calls him " ein falscher Mystiker," because the Neoplatonic

(" gnostic-rationalistic ") naturalism.

element takes,

This, as will be

shown

Catholic view of Mysticism, which

For

us,

him,

the place of super-

accordance with the Roman not that adopted in these Lectures.

Erigena's defect as a mystic

extreme intellectualism.

for

later, is in

rather to be sought

his

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

134

we must

Christian or a mystic, this last flower of

on our northern

spare a few minutes to

Neoplatonism, which bloomed so late

islands.

God, says Erigena, strictly speaking,

called Essence or

not "

" ;^

Absolute, or God.

the

nature of God, simple,

and

for

homogeneous and without "

indivisible.

but,

;

Being arises no opposition Eternity, the abode or

Being

opposition to not-Being, and there

Being

God

parts, one,

the totality of

all

things which are and are not, which can and cannot be.

the similarity of the similar, the dissimilarity of

the dissimilar, the opposition of opposites, and the con-

when

All discords are resolved

trariety of contraries.

they are considered as parts of the universal harmony." All things begin from unity and end in unity

God cannot be

called Goodness, for

opposed to Badness, and God Goodness, however Being.

above

says Erigena

The ;

for Evil

;

" for

they were, but,

read, lo,

God saw

than those which it

feeling which

that

since

Dum

are."

separates

The

the negation

all

things

they were very good."

that are not are also called good,

this distinction.

Scripture openly pronounces this,"

things are, in so far as they are good.

There may be Goodness without Being, but

of Being.

" since

Goodness

a more comprehensive term than

not Being without Goodness

not, lo,

the

And

Absolute can contain nothing self-contradictory.

Being, in

from

prompts

the

;

and All

But the things

and are fact,

far better

a defect,

superessential

Good."

this strange expression is

time and space are themselves onesided

vero (divina bonitas) incomprehensibilis intelligitur, per excel-

lentiam non immerito nihilum vocitatur."

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM appearances, a fixed limit must be set to the

135

amount

goodness and reality which can be represented under

Erigena therefore thinks that to

these conditions.

enter the time-process must be to contract a certain

admixture of unreality or involves

true

only

when

evil

cordant and antagonistic to unity.

the forms of time and space in which " the

things which

which

better than those

are," is

life

must be dis-

That the many-in-

one should appear as the one-in-many, statement that

far

(not distinction), this

sefarateness

but the manifold

;

evil.

is it

are

the effect of

appears

not

;

the

are

far

only true in the sense

that the world of appearance

yet unsubdued, which in the

Godhead

permeated by

evil

cis

exists only as

something overcome or transmuted. Erigena says that God

above

all

the categories,

including that of relation.

It follows that the Persons of the Trinity, which are only " relative names," are

God,

about

metaphors

deny '

We may

in the Absolute.^

fused

;

truly .^

This

remember

but whatever

This

" modalism."

doctrine becomes very apparent in '

Div. Nat.

that

they

are

only

we deny about Him, we

the " negative road " of Dionysius,

a revival of

is really

make statements

The unorthodoxy

some of Erigena's

" lamdudum

inter

nos

est

of the

successors.

confectum omnia quse

vel sensu corporeo vel intellectu vel ratione cognoscuntur de

Deo

meiito

dam nihil eorum quse de se prsedicantur pura veritatis contemplatio eum approbat esse." All afiSrmations about God are made "non proprie sed translative"; all negations "non creatore

omnium, posse

translative sed proprie."

prsedicari,

Cf. also ibid.

66,

verius fideliusque negatur

omnibus quam affirmatur" and especially ibid. i. 5. 26, " theophanias autem dico visibilium et invisibilium species, quarum ordine et pulcritudine cognoscitui Deus esse et invenitur non quid est, sed quia solummodo est." Erigena tries to say (in his atrocious Latin) that the external world can No teach us nothing about Cod, except the bare &ct of His existence.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

136

whom

from

Erigena borrows a number of uncouth

But we can see that he valued

compounds.

this

method mainly as safeguarding the transcendence of God against pantheistic theories of immanence. The religious and practical aspects of the doctrine had little interest for him.

The in all

destiny of

But he

God.

God

which they

things

tries

to " rest

;

he says, the

rather,

raises creatures into

first

and be quiet

to escape the conclusion that

must disappear

distinctions

return to

all

a higher

attain their true being.

types will be preserved in the universal.

an "

illustration,

iron,

into pure

when fire,

borrows

not a very happy one, from Plotinus. it

becomes red-hot, seems to be turned

but remains no

when body passes

into God, they

state,

All individual

into soul,

do not

than before

less iron

and

rational substances

lose their identity, but preserve

in a higher state of being."

Creation he regards as a necessary self-realisation of

God was not," he says, " before He made the The Son is the Idea of the World " be assured," he says, " that the Word is the nature of all things." The primordial causes or ideas Goodness, Being, Life, etc., in themselves, which the Father made "

God.

universe."

;

—

in the

Son

—

are in a sense the creators of the world,

for the order of all things is established

them.

God

according to

created the world, not out of nothing, nor

out of something, but out of Himself.'^

The

creatures

passage could be found to illustrate more clearly the real tendencies of the and the purely subjective Mysticism connected with it.

negative road,

Erigena will not allow us to infer, from the order and beauty of the world, and beauty are Divine attributes. ' But it must be remembered that Erigena calls God "nihilum." His

that order

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM have always pre-existed

yonder

them to be

only caused

has

" in

the

realised

Word in

137

God

;

time and

space. "

Thought and Action are

identical in

God."

"He

by working and works by seeing." Man is a microcosm. The fivefold division of nature

sees

— all

corporeal,

vital,

sensitive,

rational,

intellectual

The

represented in his organisation.

body

" accident,"

the consequence of

—

corruptible

The

sin.

body was immortal and incorruptible. This one day be restored. Evil has no substance, and is destined to disappear. Nothing contrary to the Divine goodness and life

original

body "

will

The

and blessedness can be coeternal with them." world must reach perfection, when "

be God.

The

loss

all

will ultimately

and absence of Christ

torment of the whole creation, nor do there

any

There

other."

the

think that

no "place of punish-

ment" anywhere. Erigena

an admirable interpreter of the Alex-

andrians and of Dionysius, but he emphasises their

most dangerous tendencies. We cannot be surprised it is more strange that his books were condemned ;

that

the audacious theories which they repeat from

Dionysius should have been allowed to pass without Indeed, the freedom of specula-

censui-e for so long.

tion

accorded

exception

the

mystics

zeal

for

forms

exact

remarkable

orthodoxy which

characterised the general policy of the early Church. words about creation

are,

"Ac

sic

de nihilo facit omnia, de sua videlicet de supervitalitate vitas, de super-

superessentialitate producit essentias, intellectualitate intellectus,

sunt, affirmationes

omnium

de negatione

omnium

quae sunt £t quae

quse sunt et quae

non sunt."

non

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

138

The explanation

that in the East Mysticism has

seldom been revolutionary, and has compensated its

speculative audacity

by the

readiness of

its

for

outward

Moreover, the theories of Dionysius about

conformity.

by no means West things were

the earthly and heavenly hierarchies were

unwelcome

to sacerdotalism.

different.

Mysticism there has always been a

In the

There

reform, generally of revolt.

Erigena, whose main

spirit of

much even

were with the

affinities

which forecasts the Reformation.

East,

the father,

not only of Western Mysticism and scholasticism, but

But the danger which lurked His speculations was not at first recognised.

of rationalism as well.^ in his

book on predestination was condemned in 8 5 5 and 859 for its universalist doctrine,^ and two hundred years later his Eucharistic doctrine, revived by Berengar, was censured.*

that

But

was not

till

the thirteenth century

a general condemnation was passed

upon him.

This judgment followed the appearance of a strongly pantheistic

acosmistic

theology at Paris about interesting features '

figure,

for

his

school

among whom was Amalric

1200.

Bena,

mystics,

Amalric

teaching

chief

master of is

exhibits

a very all

the

which are most characteristic of extravagant

So Kaulich

sllows in his

monograph on the

speculative system of

Erigena. ^

Erigena was roused by a work on predestination, written by Gottes-

chalk, and advocating Calvinistic views, to protest against the doctrine

who is life, can possibly predestine anyone to eternal death. Berengar objected to the crudely materialistic theories of the real He protested against the statement presence which were then prevalent. that the transmutation of the elements takes place "vere et sensualiter,' that God, '

and that " portiunculae " of the body of Christ lie upon the altar. "The mouth," he said, " receives the sacrament, the inner man the true body of Christ."

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM Mysticism in the West

immanence, not only dividual

its

;

and

its

strong

belief in Divine

the Church, but in the in-

uncompromising rationalism, contempt

and

forms,

ecclesiastical

Among

optimism.

—

139

tendency

for

evolutionary

the doctrines attributed to Amalric

his followers are a pantheistic identification of

with God, and a negation of matter

man

they were said

;

was the body of and that God spoke through Ovid (a curious

to teach that un consecrated bread Christ,

choice

!),

well

through

They

Augustine.

St.

denied the resurrection of the body, and the traditional eschatology, saying that " he of

God

insisted

in himself

who has

progressive

historical

They

of the

Christ, that

in love

Spirit with themselves.

They taught

that he

who

lives

can do no wrong, and were suspected, probably

truly, of the licentious

conduct which naturally follows

from such a doctrine.

This antinomianism

of true Mysticism

it is

with mystical

;

but

speculation

no part

often found in conjunction

among

the

half-educated.

the vulgar perversion of Plotinus' doctrine that nothing, and that the highest part of our

matter

nature

can

immorality

take

stain.^

practised " in

nomine

of the

Free

Spirit,"

became

who

evidence

find

caritatis "

Gnostics and Manicheans of the these heresies never really

the

despised sacraments, believing that the Spirit

works without means.

It is

They

—

revelation

Abraham, that of the

reign of the Father began with

Son with

the knowledge

has paradise within him."

first

centuries,

flourished

p. 355.

The

extinct.

later

Similar teaching from the sacred books of the East

Caird, Evolution of Religion, vol.

among

the

and sects

the

quoted by E.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

140

thirteenth century, had an even worse reputation than

They combined with

the Amalricians.

a Determinism which destroyed

bility.

Strassburg,

all

Pantheism

their

sense of responsi-

the other hand, the followers of Ortlieb of

about

same

the

extreme asceticism based on a view of the world

;

period,

advocated

Manichean

dualistic or

and they combined with

an extreme rationalism, teaching that the

man

Christ was a mere

only a symbolical truth

body,

immortal

;

this error

historical

that the Gospel history has

that the soul only, without the

and that the Pope and

his priests

are servants of Satan.

The problem for warm love and

the

the Church was

the rein to these mischievous errors. thirteenth

how

faith of the mystics

to encourage

without giving

The

twelfth

produced several famous

centuries

and

writers,

who attempted to combine scholasticism and Mysticism.^ The leaders in this attempt were Bernard," Hugo and Richard of

St. Victor,

Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus,

work of the twelfth and thirteenth V^e might also say that they modified uncompromising Platonic Realism by Aristotelian science. Cf. Hamack, History of Dogma, vol. vi. p. 43 (English translation): "Under what other auspices could this great structure be erected than under those of that Aristotelian Realism, which was at bottom a dialectic between the Platonic Realism and Nominalism and which was represented as capable of uniting immanence and transcendence, history and miracle, the immutability of God and mutability, Idealism and Realism, reason and authority." ' The great importance of Bernard in the history of Mysticism does not lie in the speculative side of his teaching, in which he depends almost His great achievement was to recall devout and entirely upon Augustine. loving contemplation to the image of the crucified Christ, and to found that worship of our Saviour as the " Bridegroom of the Soul," which in '

This

the accepted phrase for the

century theologians.

;

much

and lyrical sacred good and for evil, received its greatest stimulus in Bernard's Poems and in his Sermons on the Canticles. This subject is dealt with in Appendix E. the next centuries inspired so

poetry.

The romantic

fervid devotion

side of Mysticism, for

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM and

Their works are not of great value

Gerson.

(later)

141

as contributions to religious philosophy, for the School-

much

men were

too

tradition

and Aristotle

bottom

afraid of their authorities

—

to probe

—

Catholic to

difficulties

the

and the mystics, who, by making the renewed

;

of the soul their starting-point, were more inde-

life

pendent, were debarred,

their ignorance of Greek,

from a first-hand knowledge of their

But

tors.

in the iiistory of

important place.^

intellectual ances-

Mysticism they hold an

Speculation being for them restricted

within the limits of Church-dogma, they were obliged to be

more psychological and

Dionysius or Erigena. self-knowledge as the

and on sophy. " is

self-purification as

The way

above

self,"

says

metaphysical than often on

more important than

ascend to God,"

says

God philo-

Hugo,

The ascent is through Richard we cire to rise on

to descend into oneself."

self

less

The Victorines insist way to the knowledge

;

stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things. "

Let him that

him make

The

thirsts to see

own

his

Victorines

God

spirit bright,"

clean his mirror, let

says Richard agaia

do not disparage reason, which

the

organ by which mankind in general apprehend the things of

God

;

but they regard ecstatic contemplation

as a supra-rational state or faculty, which can only be • Stdckl s^s of Hugo that the cotuse of development of mediaeral Mysticism cannot be ondeistood withont a knowledge of his wntii^s. Stockl's own account is very foil and clear. ' The "eye of contemplation" was given us "to see God within ourselves"; {Ms eye has been blinded by sin. The "eye of reason" was

C>nlythe"eye given us "to see ourselves"; this has been injured by sin. of flesh " remains in its pristine clearness. In things " above reason " we must

trust to

ea ratio."

^tb, "qax non adiuvatur

ratione alia,

quoniam non

capit

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

142

reached per mentis excessum, and in which the naked truth

no longer

seen,

This highest birth

a rare

a glass darkly.^

which

Reason

dies in giving

Rachel died in giving birth to

Ecstasy, as

Benjamin,"

state, in

not on the high road of the spiritual

bestowed by supernatural grace.

gift,

says that the

stage of contemplation

first

life.

Richard

an ex-

pansion of the soul, the second an exaltation, the third

The human

alienation.

second from

first

arises

third from Divine grace alone.

human

from

effort assisted

by Divine

The

effort,

the

grace, the

predisposing con-

ditions for the third state are devotion {devotio), admiration {admiratid),

and joy

produce ecstasy, which

(exaltatid)

;

but these cannot

a purely supernatural infusion.

This sharp opposition between the natural and the supernatural, which

of St. Victor,

Mysticism.

which the

fully

developed

first

by Richard

the distinguishing feature of Catholic

an abandonment of the great aim

Christian

earlier

had

idealists

before

set

themselves, namely, to find spiritual law in the normal

course of nature, and the motions of the Divine in

the normal processes of mind.

doctrine of the

claim

now that

In this state against

principle

apologists*

is more ecstatic than Hugo, gives the following account " Per mentis excessum extra semetipsum ductus homo . .

lumen non per speculum Reason and

Catholic

Word

John's great

who

Richard,

of this state

Logos as a cosmic

Roman

dropped.

St.

"we

all

amigmate sed in simplici veritate contemplatur." forget all that is without and all that is within us." in

other faculties are obscured.

delusions?

"The

transfigured

What

Christ,"

then

says,

our security

"must be

accompanied by Moses and Elias"; that is to say, visions must not be believed which conflict with the authority of Scripture. '

vol.

See, especially, Stockl, i.

pp. 382-384.

Geschichte der Philosophic des Mittelalttrs,

;;

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM was

Mysticism

thus

set

from

free

143

" idealistic

the

pantheism" of the Neoplatonist, and from the " Gnostic"

Manichean dualism

which accompanies

of space and time (they say) it

was by the Neoplatonist, as a

an ideal world, nor

theories

human

natural

phenomena "

from

Both nature and man

regain a sort of independence.

men on

fainter effluence

individuality endangered

of immanence.

as free

The world

it.

no longer regarded, as

once more tread

solid ground, while occasional " super-

are not wanting to testify to the

existence of higher powers.

We by

have seen that the Logos-doctrine Clement)

St.

but

the remedy of discarding

The unscripturaP and

disease.

(as

understood

exceptionally liable to perversion

worse than the

unphilosophical cleft

between natural and supernatural introduces a more intractable dualism than that of Origen.

The

faculty

which, according to this theory, possesses immediate intuition into the things of

God

not only irrespon-

sible to reason, but stands in no relation to

ushers us into an entirely

new

of truth and falsehood are inapplicable.

what

reveals to us

world, where the familiar

criteria

it.

And

not a truer and deeper view ol

the actual, but a wholly independent cosmic principle

which invades the world of experience as a disturbing spasmodically subverting the laws of nature in

force,

order to show '

It is

natural

its

power over them.*

For as soon as

hardly necessary to point out that St. Paul's distinction between

and

spiritual (see esp. i Cor.

ii. )

wholly

different.

Contrast the Plotinian doctrine of ecstasy with the following : " Dieu eleve k son grfe aux plus hauts sommets, sans aucun m^rite prealable. '

Osanne de Mantoue ans.

refoit le

don de

contemplation k peine ag^e de six

Christine est fiancee k dix ans, pendant une extasc de trois jours

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

144

the formless intuition of contemplation begins to ex-

warning of

when untested are transformed into hallucinations. The Plotinus, that " he who tries to rise above

reason

outside of

press itself in symbols, these symbols,

reason,

falls

it,"

receives a painful corrobora-

who by

tion in such legends as that of St. Christina,

extreme

reason of her

saintliness

frequently

alleged " mystical

The consideration phenomena " belongs to

Mysticism, which

over the tops of

Lecture.

mystical

which

Here

will

doctrine

supernatural

seems

later

interventions,

attractive,

most barbarous

the

objective

only say that the scholastic"

sight

first

practice

hope to deal with

soared

of these

trees.

and

has

led

ridiculous

superstitions.^

Another good specimen of the

short

Magnus.

treatise,

scholastic Mysticism

adhcsrendo

shows very clearly how the

Deo, of Albertus " negative

Marie d'AgrMa regut des illuminations dfes sa premiere enfance " (Ribet). Since Divine favours are believed to be bestowed in a purely arbitrary manner, the fancies of a child left alone in the dark are as good as the Moreover, God somedeepest intuitions of saint, poet, or philosopher. times "asserts His liberty" by "elevating souls suddenly and without transition from the abyss of sin to the highest summits of perfection, just as Such teaching is interesting in nature He asserts it by miracles " (Ribet). as showing how the admission of caprice in the world of phenomena reacts upon the moral sense and depraves our conception of God and salvation.

The

faculty of contemplation, according to

Roman

Catholic teaching,

The dualism of acquired "either by virtue or by gratuitous fevour." natural and supernatural thus allows men to claim independent merit, while

God

the interventions of *

Those who are

are arbitrary and unaccountable.

interested to see

leaves us against the

silliest

how utterly defenceless this theory may consult with advantage the

delusions,

Dictionary of Mysticism, by the Abb^ Migne (passim), or, if they wish to ascend nearer to the fountain-head of these legends, there are the sixty folio volumes of Acta Sanctorum, compiled by the BoUandists. Gorres and Ribet are also very

full

of these stories.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

145

road " had become the highway of mediaeval Catholicism,

and how

from

progress "

When the

could be

little

hoped

continuance

the

John says that God

St.

paragraph of

first

must be worshipped

must be cleared of

all

shut thy door

—

for

that

his

spirit,

from

free

mind

When

thou prayest,

a manner

nothing, except sees in God.

God

all

love

that

God,

and

Such a

for

other creatures and itself

desire

intelligible;

can

understand nothing, and love

He who

only

penetrates into himself, and

so transcends himself, ascends truly to God. I

phantasms and

all

transformed into

of nothing, and

whom

the doors of thy senses

occupations and distractions.

all

is in

think

Albert

and that

Nothing pleases God more than a mind

he means that the mind

keep them barred and bolted against images.

teaching.

Spirit," says

treatise,

images.

is,

such

and

civilisation

above

all

that

sensible

He and

sense and imagination cannot

bring us to Him, but only the desire of a pure heart.

This brings us into the darkness of the mind, whereby

ascend

can

mystery of the Trinity. nor

world,

about

contemplation

the

thy

friends,

even

of the

not think about the

nor

about

the

past,

present, or future; but consider thyself to be outside

the world and alone with

God, as

thy soul were

already separated from the body, and had no longer

any

interest in

peace or war, or the state of the world.

Leave thy body, and fix thy gaze on the uncreated Let nothing come between thee and God. light. .

afar

The oiif,

soul in contemplation views the world from

when we proceed to God by the way of we deny Him, first all bodily and sensible

just as,

abstraction,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

I4<5

attributes,

then intelligible qualities, and,

being {esse) which keeps

Him among

This, according to Dionysius,

created things.

the best

that

lastly,

mode

of union

with God."

Bonaventura resembles Albertus

reverting

decidedly than the Victorines to the Dionysian tradi-

tion.

expatiates on the passivity and

of the soul which

Divine

the

nakedness

necessary in order to enter into

darkness,

and elaborates with tiresome

pedantry his arbitrary schemes of faculties and stages.

However, he gains something by Aristotle,

knowledge of

his

which he uses to correct the Neoplatonic

doctrine of

God

Unity,

abstract

ideo

omnimodum,' " he says finely, " quia summe unum." He is " totum intra omnia et totum extra " a succinct

—

God

immanent and

statement

that

scendent.

His proof of the Trinity

profound.

both

diffusivum

sui,"

tran-

and

Good to impart Good must be " summe

the nature of the

and so the highest

itself,

original

which

can

only

hypostatic

union.

The

last great scholastic

mystic

Gerson,

who

lived

from 1363 to 1429. He attempts to reduce Mysticism to an exact science, tabulating and classifying all the teaching of his predecessors. of his system

A very brief summary

here given.

Gerson distinguishes symbolical, natural, and mystical

theology, confining the last to the

rests

inner

negative road.

experiences,

and

The experiences

method which

proceeds

the

of the mystic have

a greater certainty than any external revelations can possess.

;

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM Gerson's psychology

lows

The

may

be given in outline as

power has three

cognitive

simple intelligence or natural highest intelligence, ing,

which

one of the

answers

faculties

synteresis

;

sense-affections.

each

of these

three

faculties: (i)

desire

rational

again

these

contemplation;

(i)

activities:

(i)

(2) the understand-

affective

understanding,

(2)

fol-

between the two worlds

frontier

sense-consciousness.

(3)

faculties:

an outflow from the

light,

God Himself;

on the

147

meditation

(2)

(3)

;

correspond

three ;2

(3)

thought.

Mystical theology differs from speculative

affective faculties, not the cognitive

depend on ignorant rests

that

;

and

logic,

upon

it is

faith

;

that

the

does not

open even to the

therefore

scho-

{i.e.

belongs

theology

mystical

that

lastic),

not open to the unbelieving, since

and love

and that

;

brings peace,

whereas speculation breeds unrest.

The

means of mystical theology "

the call of

God

contemplative

encumbrances;

God

(v.)

;

(ii.)

;

life

—

(iv.)

certainty that one

all

are not so

perseverance

;

must not be maltreated (vii.)

all

;

concentration

shutting the eye to

called to the

upon but the body

(vi.)

asceticism is

;

to be a

good servant;

sense perceptions.*

See Appendix C. difference between contemplation and meditation

" mentis

Deum

(i.)

of interests

The

the mediaeval mystics.

freedom from

(iii.)

if it

all

are seven

Meditation

explained by

"discursive," contemplation

Richard of St. Victor states the distinction epigrammatically " per meditationem rimamur, per contemplationem miramur." ("Admiratio est actus consequens contemplationem in

sublimis veritatis." '

This

suspensse elevatio."

—

—Thomas Aquinas.)

arbitrary

schematism

Mysticism, and shows

its affinity

very

characteristic

to Indian philosophy.

of this

type

Compare "the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

148

Such teaching as Mysticism

itself

this is of small value or interest.

becomes

and formal

arid

in the

hands

The whole movement was doomed

failure,

inasmuch as scholasticism was philosophy

chains,

and the negative road was Mysticism blind-

of Gerson.

folded.

reconciliation

fruitful

between philosophy

The decay of and piety could be thus achieved. scholasticism put an end to these attempts at comHenceforward the mystics either discard promise. metaphysics, and develop their theology on the devo-

and

tional

ascetic side

—

the course which was followed

the later Catholic mystics

;

or they copy Erigena in

his independent attitude towards tradition.

In this Lecture

Mysticism, and

lative

greatest

all

we have now

speculative

who was born soon century.^

are following the line of specu-

He was

to consider the

mystics, Meister Eckhart,

after the

middle of the thirteenth

a Dominican monk, prior of Erfurt

and vicar of Thuringen, and afterwards vicar-general He preached a great deal at Cologne for Bohemia. about 1325; and before relations with the

—

Spirit

societies

had come

this period

into close

Beghards and Brethren of the Free of

men and women who, by

their

implicit faith in the inner light, resembled the Quakers,

though many of them, as has been

said,

of immoral theories and practices.

His teaching soon

attracted the attention of the Inquisition, his doctrines

were accused

and some of

were formally condemned by the Pope

1329, immediately after his death. eightfold path of

Buddha," and a hundred other similar

classifications in

the sacred books of the East. '

The

date usually given, 1260,

cannot be determined.

probably too late

;

but the exact yeai

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM The aim

of Eckhart's religious philosophy

149 is

to find

a speculative basis for the doctrines of the Church,

which

distaste

whom

writers

must have

read

polemical controversy.

for

by name are Dioand Boethius; but he

he chiefly

cites

Gregory,

Augustine,

nysius,

claims of

satisfy the

His aims are purely constructive,

and he shows a

The

same time

the

shall

spiritual religion.

and

Erigena,

probably

Averroes,

whom a Catholic could hardly confess his obligations.^ He also frequently introduces quotations

writers to

with the words, "

master

Thomas Aquinas,

nearly always

The

saith."

master

whom

Eckhart

was no doubt greatly indebted, though it would be a great mistake to say, as some have done, that all Eckhart can be found

Eckhart, in his later writings, says that

soul, while is

uncreated.^

^ Prof.

owes

Summa. For instance, Thomas about the

which Thomas regarded as a faculty of the

" spark,"

in the

himself in opposition to

sets

His double object leads him into

Karl Pearson {Mina, 1886) says, " leading ideas to Averroes."

The Mysticism of Eckhart

Nous from Aristotle, de Anima, through the Arabs to Eckhart, and finds the "prototypes" or "ideas" of Eckhart it close resemblance between and the " Dinge an sich " of Kant. But Eckhart's affinities with Plotinus and Hegel seem to me to be closer than those which he shows with ArisOn the connexion with Averroes, Lasson says that while totle and Kant. there is a close resemblance between the Eckhartian doctrine of the its

traces the doctrine of the

TroirfTiKSs

" Seelengrund" and Averroes' IntelUctus Agens of reason in

men

all

roes personality

immanent

(monopsychism), they

as the universal principle

differ in this

—that with Aver-

a phase or accident, but with Eckhart the eternal

in the personality in such a

way

that the personality itself has

a part in eternity (Meisier Eckhart der Mystiker, pp. 348, 349). Personality is for Eckhart the eternal ground-form of all true being, and the notion of Person

I am none can

become a person, *

the centre-point of his system.

God alone." The Son of God is a Person.

truly speak but

as the

says,

"The word

individual must try to

Penifle h^s devoted great pains to proving that Eckhart in his tatjn

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

ISO

some

inconsistencies.

him an Evangelical possible

his

;

drawn

to-

heart makes it

writings,

his

though

But

Christian.

contradictions

find

Intellectually,

wards a semi-pantheistic idealism

his

transparent intellectual honesty and his great powers of thought,

combined with deep devoutness and

like purity of soul,

make him one

child-

of the most interest-

ing figures in the history of Christian philosophy.

Eckhart wrote for

German

the public, and not

;

for

that

the

to say, he wrote

His

learned only.

him

desire to be intelligible to the general reader led

to adopt an epigrammatic antithetic style,

This

qualifying phrases.

himself open to so

many

and to omit

one reason why he

laid

accusations of heresy.^

Eckhart distinguishes between "the Godhead" and "

The Godhead

God."

yet undeveloped.

the abiding potentiality of

Himself

Being, containing within

all

distinctions, as

therefore cannot be the object

of knowledge, nor of worship, being " Darkness "

Formlessness."

The Triune God

and

evolved from the

works is very largely dependent upon Aquinas. His conclusions are welcomed and gladly adopted by Hamack, who, like Ritschl, has little sjrmpathy with the German mystics, and considers that Christian Mysticism is " It will never be possible," he says, " to make really " Catholic piety." Mysticism Protestant without flying in the face of history and Catholicism." one certaiijy would be guilty of the absurdity of " making Mysticism Protestant " but it is, I think, even more absurd to " make it (Roman)

;

Catholic, " though such a view

Neo-Kantians. '

But

Preger it is

(vol.

may

See Appendix A, iii.

unite the suffrages of Romanists

and

p. 346.

140) says that Eckhart did net try to be popular.

he did try to make his philosophy intelligible man, though his teaching is less ethical and more

clear, I think, that

to the average educated

speculative than that of Tauler. " Sometimes he speaks of the Godhead as above the opposition of being and not being ; but at other times he regards the Godhead as the universal

Ground thing."

or Substance of the ideal world.

"God

neither this nor that."

All things in

Compare,

God

are one

too, the following

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM Godhead.

The Son

uttered thought

the

Word

of the Father, His

and the Holy Ghost

;

151

" the

Flower

of the Divine Tree," the mutual love which unites the

Father and

which

St.

am come

Son.

the

Eckhart

as a

Word

sun, as heat from the

words

the

fire,

that the generation of the

universe

of the Father;

is it

" I

from the heart, as a ray from the as fragrance from the flower,

as a stream from a perennial

The

quotes

Augustine makes Christ say of Himself:

Son

fountain." is

insists

a continual process.

the expression of the whole thought is

the language of the

Word.

Eck-

hart loves startling phrases, and says boldly, " Nature is

the lower part of the Godhead," and " Before crea-

tion,

God was

not God."

These statements are not

so crudely pantheistic as they sound.

argues that

without the Son the Father would not be God, but

The

only undeveloped potentiality of being.

three

Persons are not merely accidents and modes of the

Divine Substance, but are inherent in the Godhead.^

And

so there can never have been a time

Son was

not.

sarily involves the creation of

Son

Reason, and Reason

of ideas.

when

the

But the generation of the Son neces-

When

ideal world

constituted

;

for the

by a cosmos

Eckhart speaks of creation and of the

world which had no beginning, he means, not the world of phenomena, but the world of ideas, in the Platonic und von sachen sachelos, und darum entgeht werdenden dingen, und die endliche dinge miissen da enden." ^ I here agree with Preger against Lasson. It seems to me to be one of the most important and characteristic parts of Eckhart's system, that the Trinity is not for him (as it was for Hierotheus) an emanation or appearBut it is not to be denied that there are passages in ance of the Absolute. Eckhart which support the other view. werdelos, von wesen wesenlos, sic in alien

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

152

The

sense.

world

ideal

calls it

above space and time.

to " diu

gen^-

non-natured nature," as opposed

the world of phenomena.^

natflre,"

tftrte

the complete expression of

the thought of God, and

Eckhart's

doctrine here differs from that of Plotinus in a very im-

The Neoplatonists always thought

portant particular.

of emanation as a diffusion of rays from a sun, which necessarily

decrease in heat and brightness as they

recede from the central focus.

follows that the

second Person of the Trinity, the Nov<s or Intelligence, subordinate to the

and the Third

First,

But with Eckhart there

Second.

The Son

the

no subordination.

the pure brightness of the Father's glory,

and the express image of His Person. "The eternal fountain of things is the Father the image of things ;

Him

the Son, and love for this Image

(as possibilities)

the

the ground of the Godhead, and

The Alexandrian

are realised in the Son.

all

All created things abide " formless

Holy Ghost."

Fathers,

Logos with the Platonic Now, the bearer of the World-Idea, had found it difficult to in identifying the

subordinating

avoid

Him

the

Father.

Eckhart

escapes this heresy, but in consequence his view of the world

world

really

Divine mind.^

pantheistic.

—

For

his

intelligible

God it is the whole content of the The question has been much debated,

Compare Spinoza's " natura naturata." The ideas are "uncreated creatures " they

not in themselves.'' sein

Wesen

Denkens

are " creatures in God but ; Preger states Eckhart's doctrine thus: "Gott denkt

in untergeordnete

dem

Weise nachahmbar, und der Reflex

But in what sense Eckhart holds quite a

the ideal world "subordinate"?

die Ideen."

Son

different relation

dieses

gottlichen Bewusstsein, die Vorstellungen hievon, sind

to the

The

Father from that

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM whether Eckhart really

The answer seems obscurest part

dogma

the Christian

offers

into pantheism or not.

depend on what

whole system

of his

phenomenal world

the

falls

153

—

the

the relation of

the world of ideas.

of the Incarnation of the

Logos as a kind of explanation of the passage of the "

His

phenomenal world

ideas, the

But the process

incarnation.

world,

This

arises.

by which the soul eman-

also called a

" speaks "

phenomenal and returns

cipates itself from the intelligible

When God

" into "externality."

prototypes

to the

" begetting of the

—

Thus the whole process is a circular one from God and back to God again. Time and space, he

Son."

were created with the world.

says,

Material things

are outside each other, spiritual things in each other.

But these statements do not make

clear

how Eckhart

accounts for the imperfections of the phenomenal world,

which he

precluded from explaining, as the Neo-

by a theory of emanation. Nor can by importing modern theories The idea of the worldof evolution into his system. platonists did,

solve the difficulty

which the Nous holds will

show

of His

" God

" the One "

giving birth to His

this birth

proceed

things."

all things.

bears

Him

at every

bears Himself out of Himself into

bears Himself continually in the

The

Now

; this working moment. From God has such delight therein that He uses up

Son ;

all His power in the process. self.

in Plotinus, as the following sentence

working in one eternal

for ever

Son

following passage from Ruysbroek

;

Him-

speaks

all

an attempt to define

precisely the nature of the Eckhartian Ideas

Him He

Before the temporal

" et agnovit distincte in seipso in alterinon tamen omnimoda alteritate ; quidquid enim in Deo est tate quadam Deus est." Our eternal life remains "perpetuo in divina essentia sine discretione," but continually flows out "per aetemam Verbi generationem." Ruysbroek also says clearly that creation is the embodiment Whatever lives in the Father hidden in of the whole mind of God the unity, lives in the Son in emanatione manifesta.'" creation

God saw

the creatures,

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

IS4

history as a gradual realisation of the Divine Person-

was foreign to Eckhart's thought. Stockl, indeed, to father upon him the doctrine that the human

ality tries

mind

God.

The Son

a necessary organ of the self-development of

But

theory cannot be found in Eckhart.

this

which impels God to

" necessity " " is

itself,"

that his view of the world

The

says.^

much

His

beget

not a physical but a moral necessity.

good must needs impart is

fact

nearer to acosm-

"Nothing hinders us so much from the knowledge of God as time and place,"

ism than

he says.

patitheism.

them

as the

not clear

-the

how he can

did

to say that,

not

feel

permanent value to the

negation

also regard

abode of the immanent God.^

probably be true thinkers, he

phenomena only

sees in

of being, and

himself obliged to give a

transitory,

and that the world,

except as the temporary abode of immortal interested

him but

ing the earthly

life

little.

not at

the result of

all

It is

simply due to

the feeling that the Divine process in the is

spirits,

His neglect of history, includ-

of Christ,

scepticism about the miraculous.

Now "

would

most mediaeval

everlasting

a fact of immeasurably greater importance

than any occurrence in the external world can be.

Deum sine ipso Eckhart was censured ior teaching but the notion of a real becoming of God in the human mind, and the attempt to solve the problem of evil on the theory of • It is true that nihil facere posse "

;

evolutionary optimism, however, on the other

are, I

convinced, alien to his philosophy.

side, Carri^re,

See,

Die philosophische Weltanschauung

der Reformationszeit, pp. 152-157. * See Lasson, Meister Eckhart, p. 351. Eckhart protests vigorously against the misrepresentation that he made the phenomenal world the Wesen of God, and uses strongly acosmistic language in self-defence. But there seems to be a real inconsistency in this side of his philosophy.

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM When

a religious writer

155

suspected of pantheism,

naturally turn to his treatment of the problem of

we evil.

the true pantheist

all

equally divine, and

everything for the best or for the worst,

much matter

does not

Eckhart certainly does not mean

which.^

to countenance this absurd theory, but there are pas-

sages in his writings which logically imply

and we

;

look in vain for any elucidation, in his doctrine of of the dark places in his doctrine of God.^

adds very nature of

Good, and self-will

little

evil,

it is

the attempt, on

identifies

as such, with not-being.

to be a particular This or

But what

sin,

fact,

to the Neoplatonic doctrine of the

Like Dionysius, he

evil.

most

Being with

Moral

evil is

the part of the creature,

That outside of God.

distinctive in

Eckhart's ethics

new importance which is The human soul is a microcosm, which in At the " apex a manner contains all things in itself. " which is so Divine spark," " there is a of the mind closely akin to God that it is one with Him, and not

given to the doctrine of

the

immanence.

mean

that a pantheist

may

with equal consistency

call

himself an

optimist or a pessimist, or both alternately. » As when he says, " In God all things are one, from angel to spider.'' The inquisitors were not slow to lay hold of this error. Among the twentysix articles of the gravamen against Eckhart we find, " Item, in omni opere, etiam malo, manifestatur et relucet cequaliter gloria Dei." The

word aqualiter\s\ii& stamp of true pantheism.

Eckhart, however, whether

God. " God is above all nature, and is not In dealing with sin, he is confronted with the Himself nature," etc. obvious difficulty that if it is the nature of all phenomenal things to return to God, from whom they proceeded, the process which he calls the birth of the Son ought logically to occur in every conscious individual, for all have He attempts to solve this puzzle by the a like phenomenal existence. But I fear hypothesis of a double aspect of the new birth (see below). there is some justice in Professor Pearson's comment, "Thus his pheno-

consistently or not, frequently asserts the transcendence of in the creatures, but

roenology

above them."

shattered

upon

"He

his practical theology."

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

merely united to Him.^ "

ground of the soul

In his teaching about this

God

transforms us to Himself.

that

it is

created,

uncreated, the

it is

Nature of God Himself.

His

Eckhart wavers.

But

his later doctrine

immanence of the Being and

" Diess FUnkelein, das ist Gott,"

This view was adopted by Ruysbroek,

he says once.

Suso, and (with modifications by) Tauler, and

one of

earlier

and only the medium by which

view

their chief tenets.^

This spark

became

the organ

which our personality holds communion with God and

knows Him.

with reference to

that Eckhart

the phrase which has so often been quoted to

uses

convict

him of blasphemous

self-deification

—

eye

" the

Other scholastics and mystics had taught that there is a residiu of the The idea of a central point of the soul appears in Plotinus and Augustine, and the word scintilla had been used of this faculty before Eckhart. The " synteresis " of Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas, was substantially the same. But there is this difference, that while the earlier writers regard this resemblance to God as only a residue, Eckhart regards it as the true Wesen of the soul, into which all its faculties may be transformed. ^ The following passage from Amiel (p. 44. of English edition) is an admirable commentary on the mystical doctrine of immanence: "The centre of life is neither in thought nor in feeling nor in will, nor even in For moral truth may consciousness, so far as it thinks, feels, or wishes. have been penetrated and possessed in all these ways, and escape us still. Deeper even than consciousness, there is our being itself, our very subOnly those truths which have entered into this last stance, our nature. region, which have become ourselves, become spontaneous and involuntary, that is to say, something instinctive and unconscious, are really our life more than our property. So long as we are able to distinguish any space whatever between the truth and us, we remain outside it. The thought, '

Godlike in man.

—

the feeling, the desire, the consciousness of

life,

are 'not yet quite

But

life.

peace and repose can nowhere be found except in life and in eternal life, and the eternal life is the Divine life, is God. To become Divine is, then, the aim of bility

are

it,

life

loss,

and

then only can truth be said to be ours beyond the possiit is no longer outside of us, nor even in us, but we we ; we ourselves are a truth, ^ will, a work of God.

because

it is

Liberty has become nature

through love,"

;

the creature

one with

its

—one

Creator

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM with which

sees me."

see 1

God The

15;

same as that with which

the

uncreated sparlt

really the

" is

same as the grace of God, which raises us into a Godlike state. But this grace, according to Eckhart (at

God Himself acting like a human faculty in the soul, and transforming it so that " man himself becomes grace." The following is perhaps the most instructive pasleast in his later period), is

sage

There

in the soul

something which

above

the soul. Divine, simple, a pure nothing; rather nameless

than named, rather unknown than known.

accustomed to speak have called

light,

and sometimes a Divine spark.

and

free

and absolute

from

all

names and in

all

Himself

is still

distinction.

blossom and flourish with '

all

absolute

forms, just as

It is

God

higher than know-

ledge, higher than love, higher than grace.

these there

this

Some-

a power, sometimes an uncreated

times

discourses.

In this power

For

in all

God doth

His Godhead, and the

better exposition of the religious aspedt of Eckhart's doctrine of

immanence can be found than

Principal Caird's Introduction to the

Philosophy of Religion, pp. 244, 245, as the following extract will show " There is therefore a sense in which we can say that the world of finite

God, is still, in its ideal nature, one with That which God creates, and by which He reveals the hidden treasures of His wisdom and love, is still not foreign to His own infinite In the knowledge of the minds that know Him, in life, but one with it. the self-surrender of the hearts that love Him, it is no paradox to affirm As He is the origin and inspiration of that He knows and loves Himself. every true thought and pure affection, of eveiy experience in which we If in forget and rise above ourselves, so is He also of all these the end. one point of view religion is the work of man, in anorfier it is the work of God. Its true significance is not apprehended till we pass beyond its origin in time and in the experience of a finite spirit, to see in it the revelation of the mind of God Himself. In the language of Scripture, ' It is God that worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure : all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself.' intell^ence, though distinct from

Him.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

158

Spirit flourisheth in

In this power the Father

God.

bringeth forth His only-begotten Son, as essentially as

Himself; and in this light ariseth the Holy Ghost.

This spark rejecteth

God, simply as

and

all creatures, is

Himself.

will

have only

rests satisfied

neither with the Father, nor with the Son, nor with the

Holy Ghost, nor with the existeth in

its

three Persons, so far as each

particular attribute.

with the superessential essence. enter

into

the

simple Ground, the

Unity where no man dwelleth. the light; then

It is satisfied It

one:

Then is

Waste, the

still it is

one in

only

determined to

satisfied in

itself,

as this

Ground is a simple stillness, and in itself immovable and yet by this immobility are all things moved." It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure but our own nature and personality remain intact. It is plain that we could not see ;

God

unless our personality remained distinct from the

Complete fusion

personality of God.

as destructive

of the possibility of love and knowledge as complete separation.^

Eckhart gives to '

Eckhart sees

the highest reason "

this (cf. Pieger, vol.

421)

the primacy

" Personality

Eckhart

neither the faculties, nor the form (Bild), nor the essence, nor the nature

of the Godhead, but

it is rather the spirit which rises out of the essence, born by the irradiation of the form in the essence, which mingles The obscurity of this conitself with our nature and works by its means." ception is not made any less by the distinction which Eckhart draws between

and

and inner consciousness in the personality. The outer consciousbound up with the earthly life ; to it all images must come through sense ; but in this way it can have no image of itself. But the The potential ground of the soul higher consciousness is supra-temporal. is and remains sinless ; but the personality is also united to the bodily the outer

ness

; its guilt is that it inclines to its sinful nature instead of to God. Eckhart distinguishes the intellectus agens {diu wirkende Vemun/f) from the passive (llJcniJc) intellect. The office of the former is to present

nature "

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM among our it

faculties,

His language on

Cambridge

the absolute supremacy

Platonists.

life,"

he says. he asks,

experience

The

The reason," he

rest content

Reasonable knowledge

How

unless

last

my own

deepest part of

Erigena.

since

subject resembles that of the

this

tion help me,"

in his earlier period identifies

more strongly than anyone

of reason

eternal

and

He asserts

with " the spark."

159

can any external revelait

be verified by inner

appeal must always be to the being,

and that

says, "presses ever upwards.

reason."

cannot

with goodness or wisdom, nor even with

God Himself; it must penetrate to the Ground from whence all goodness and wisdom spring." Thus Eckhart is not content with the knowledge of

God which

mediated by Christ, but aspires to pene-

trate into the " Divine darkness "

manifestation of the Trinity. of the imitation of " the

way

all,

Christ,

which underlies the fact,

when he speaks

he distinguishes between

of the manhood," which has to be followed

and

" the

mystic only.

way

of the Godhead," which

for the

In this overbold aspiration to rise " from

the Three to the One," he

have already noticed,

falls

and

into the error which

several

passages

we his

writings advocate the quietistic self-simplification which

belongs to this scheme of perfection.

There are sen-

tences in which he exhorts us to strip off

all

that comes

perceptions to the latter, set out under the forms of time and space.

Strassburg period, the spark or Ganster, the intdlectus agens,

In his

diit oberste

seem to be identical ; but later he says, " The what it has not got. It cannot see two ideas together, but only one after another. But if God works in the place of the active intellect, He begets (in the mind) many ideas in one point." Thus the "spark" becomes supra-rational and uncreated the Divine Vemunft, and

synteresis,

active intellect cannot give

—

essence

itself.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

to us from the senses,

and

throw ourselves upon the

heart of God, there to rest for ever, " hidden from creatures."

all

But there are many other passages of an

opposite tendency.

tells

us that " the

way

of the

manhood," which, of course, includes imitation of the of Christ, must be trodden

active

life

insists

that in the state of union the faculties of the

soul will act in a

personality

new and higher way,

restored, not destroyed

teaches that contemplation

what a man has taken

;

is,

all

;

so that the

and, lastly, he

means

only the

higher activity, and that this "

first

fact,

its

object;

by contemplation, that he pours out in love." There is no contradiction in the desire for rest combined with the desire for active service; activity

can only be defined as unimpeded

for rest ;

but in Eckhart there

The

sistency.

traditions

is,

think, a real incon-

philosophy pointed

of his

towards withdrawal from the world and from outward occupations

—towards

but the modern

the monkish ideal, in a word;

spirit

was already

within him.

astir

preached in German to the general public, and his

favourite themes

are the present

living

the Spirit, and the consecration of

There The

is,

life

operation of in

the world.

he shows, no contradiction between the active

in the worst manner of Dioa non-God, a non-Spirit, a nonPerson, a non-Form He is absolute bare Unity." This is Eckhart's In theory of the Absolute ("the Godhead") as distinguished from God. '

nysius

following sentence, for instance,

"Thou

shalt love

God

is,

these

moods he

wishes, like the Asiatic mystics, to sink in the bottomless

sea of the Infinite.

also aspires to absolute &Ti$cia (Abgtschiedenhiii).

—

he sick ? He is as fain to be sick as well. If a friend should die in the name of God. If an eye should be knocked out ^in the name of God." The soul has returned to its pre-natal condition, having rid itself of all Is

—

"creatureliness."

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM and the contemplative

life

i6i

the former belongs to the

;

In com-

faculties of the soul, the latter to its essence.

menting on the story of Martha and Mary, those and contemplation,^ he sur-

favourite types of activity prises us

by putting Martha

the good part

;

that

is,"

as holy as her sister.

has learnt her lesson.

first.

Mary hath

says, " she

Mary

is still

at school

Lebemeister

als

Martha

hungry

It is better to feed the

than to see even such visions as St. Paul saw," ein

chosen

striving to be

•."

Besser

tausend Lesemeister."

dis-

courages monkish religiosity and external badges of saintliness

—

avoid everything peculiar," he says, "

and language."

" in

You need

not go into a more lonely than a wilderness, and small things harder to do than great." " What is the good of the dead bones of saints ? " he dress, food,

desert

and

fast;

a crowd

often

asks, in the spirit of a sixteenth century reformer

dead can neither give nor take." '

Many passages

might be quoted.

The

chose the better part, because activity

;

" the

This double aspect

ordinary conclusion

confined to this

life,

that

Mary

while con-

Augustine treats the stoiy of Leah and Rachel same way (Contra Faust. Manich. xxii. 52); " Lia interpretatur Laborans, Rachel autem Visum principium, sive Verbmn ex quo videtur Actio ergo humanae mortalisque vitae principium. . ipsa est Lia prior uxor Jacob ; ac per hoc et infirmis oculis fuisse commemoratur. Spes templation lasts for ever.

in the

vero setemas contemplationis Dei, habens certam et delectabilem intelligentiam veritatis, ipsa est Rachel, unde etiam dicitur bona facie et pulcra spede," etc. * Moreover, he is never tired of insisting that the Witt is everything. " If your will is right, you cannot go wrong," he says. " With the will I can do everything." "Love resides in the will the more will, the more " There is nothing evil but the evil will, of which sin is the love." appearance." " The value of human life depends entirely on the aim

—

This over-insistence on purity of intention as is no doubt connected with Eckhart's denial of reality and importance to the world of time ; he tries to show that it does not logically lead to Antinomianism. His doctrine

which

sets before itself."

the end, as well as the beginning, of virtue,

that

good works have no value in themselves II

differs

from those of Abelard

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

i62

of Eckhart's teaching

makes him

particularly interest-

ing; he seems to stand on the dividing-line between

medieval and modern Christianity. Like other mystics, he fect,

when

that love,

insists

per-

independent of the hope of reward, and he

shows great freedom

They

Heaven. from

God

own

judge.

are

handling Purgatory, Hell, and

the misery of

"We

not

states,

would

hell,

and each man

spiritualise

says, with especial reference to

separation

places;

Holy

his

everything,"

Scripture.^

In comparing the Mysticism of Eckhart with that of

from Dionysius downwards, and of the

his predecessors,

scholastics in the

down

to Gerson,

find

an obvious change

disappearance of the long ladders of ascent, the

graduated

scales

mind, which

These

lists

when

fill

of virtues, faculties, and states of so large a place

those systems.

are the natural product of the imagination,

plays

upon the theory of emanation.

But

we have seen, the fundamental truth is the immanence of God Himself, not in the faculties, The " spark of the but in the ground of the soul. " " " God divinae particula aurae." soul is for him really begets His Son in me," he is fond of saying and there with Eckhart, as

and Bernard, which have a

superficial

resemblance to

regards the Catholic doctrine of good works Pharisaic legalism

;

but he

much

it.

Eckhart

really

as St. Paul treated the

as unconscious of the widening gulf which had

already opened between Teutonic and Latin Christianity, as of the discredit

which

his

own

writings were to help to bring

upon the monkish view

life.

' As an example of his free handling of the Old Testament, I may quote, " Do not suppose that when God made heaven and earth and all things, He made one thing to-day and another to-morrow. Moses says so, of course, but he knew better he only wrote that for the sake of the populace, who could not have understood otherwise. God merely willed, and the ;

world was."

PLATONISM AND MYSTICISM

163

no doubt that, relying on a verse in the seventeenth chapter of St. John, he regards this " begetting " as is

analogous to the eternal generation of the Son.^

Son

birth of the " eternal

in the soul

which

birth,"

This

has a double aspect

—

the

unconscious and inalienable,^

but which does not confer blessedness, being

common

good and bad alike; and the assimilation of the

faculties

of the

words by grace,

Ruysbroek

deiformis est," as

our nature

by the pervading presence

soul

Christ, or in other

between

;

but

Eckhart places

that

man and God.

quaedam

it is

for,

important

The Word

very nigh

human

sink into thyself, and thou wilt find

;

The heavenly and

and

no intermediaries

thee," nearer than any object of sense, and any institutions

deification of

therefore a thing to be striven

observe

The

says.

not given complete to start with to

" quae lux

earthly hierarchies

Him.

of Dionysius,

with the reverence for the priesthood which was built

upon them, have no

significance for Eckhart.

as in other ways, he

With Eckhart

end

this

Lecture on the speculative

Mysticism of the Middle Ages. broek, Suso, and Tauler,

with none of them *

und '

E.g. nitt

" Da der

flows

as they resemble

him

in this, that

the intellectual, philosophical

vatter seynen sun in mir gebirt,

da byn ich der selb sun

eyn ander."

So Hermann

towards

His successors, Ruys-

much

teaching, differ from

in their general

In this

a precursor of the Reformation.

this

of Fritslar says that the soul has two faces, the one turned

world, the other immediately to God.

and shines

eternally,

whether

man

In the latter

conscious of

or not.

God It is

therefore according to man's nature as possessed of this Divine ground, to

seek God, his original

;

and even

in hell the suffering there has its source

in the hopeless contradiction of this indestructible tendency. vol.

256 ; and the same teaching

in Tauler, p. 185.

See Vaughan,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

side of primary importance.

value

the

speculative

They added nothing

system of Eckhart

;

their

Mysticism was primarily a religion of the heart or a It is this side of Mysticism to which I rule of life. shall

next invite your attention.

should bring us

near to the centre of our subject: for a speculative religious

system

best

known by

its

fruits.

LECTURE V

leS

"'0

8p6vos

•'

Trjs Betirrifrm

Thou comest Thou wert Eternity

;

4 vovt

:; ;

tanv tuimv." Macarius.

not, thou goest not

not, wilt not be

but

By which we

thought

think of Thee."

Faber.

" Werd

als ein Kind, werd taub und blind, Dein eignes Icht muss warden nicht All Icht, all Nicht treib feme nur Lass Statt, lass Zeit, auch Bild lass weit, Geh ohne Weg den schmalen Steg, So kommst du auf der Wuste Spur. O Seele mein, aus Gott geh ein. Sink als ein Iclit in Gottes Nicht,

Sink in die ungegriindte Fluth.

kommst

Flich ich von Dir, du

zu mir,

Verlass ich mich, so find ich Dich,

ilberwesentliches

Gut Medueval German Hymn,

" Quid

caelo dabimus ? quantum Impendendus homo est, Deus

est

quo veneat omne ?

esse ut possit in ipso."

Manilius.

LECTURE V Practical and Devotional Mysticism " We

all,

with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are

transformed into the same image, from glory to glory."

The

school of Eckhart

in the fourteenth

duced the brightest cluster of names Mysticism.

Ruysbroek,

Suso,

Mysticism at

mean

its

best.

1 8.

iii.

century pro-

in the history of

Tauler,

author of the Theologia Germanica

—2 COR.

and

the

see introspective

This must not be understood

that they improved

upon the philosophical

system of Eckhart, or that they are entirely free from the dangerous tendencies which have been found in his works. value,

the speculative side they added nothing of

and none of them

rivals

Eckhart

in clearness of

them an unfaltering conintellect. But we viction .that our communion with God must be a fact find

of experience, and not

With

only a philosophical theory.

the most intense earnestness they set themselves

to live through the mysteries of the spiritual

only '

The

way

to understand

and prove them.

life,

as the

Suso and

indebtedness of the fourteenth century mystics to Eckhart

generally recognised, at any rate in

Germany

;

but before

Pfeiffer's

now

work

name had been allowed to fall into most undeserved obscurity. This was not the fault of his scholars, who, in spite of the Papal condemnation his

of his writings,

speak of Eckhart with the utmost reverence, as the

"great," "sublime," or "holy" master. 167

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

i68

Tauler both passed through deep waters of their inner lives

The

suffering.

the history

;

a record of heroic struggle and

men

personality of the

part of their

message, a statement which could

hardly be

not

Dionysius

perhaps

Erigena,

made

Eckhart

himself.

John of Ruysbroek, "doctor ecstaticus," as the Church allowed him to be called, was born in 1293, and died in 138 1. He was prior of the convent of Griinthal, in

most

the forest of Soignies, where he wrote

mystical

his

under

treatises,

the

guidance, as he believed, of the Holy Spirit.

direct

He was

the object of great veneration in the later part of his

Ruysbroek was not a learned man, or a

life.

He knew

thinker.^

Dionysius,

St.

clear

Augustine, and

Eckhart, and was no doubt acquainted with some of the other mystical writers

a scholar or a

man

;

being more emotional and

German

of the

Ruysbroek

but he does not write like

letters.

resembles Suso in

less speculative

than most

school.

reverts to

mystical tradition, par-

the

broken by Eckhart, of arranging almost

tially

topics

three

progressive scale.

all his

seven divisions, often forming a

For instance,

in the treatise

we have the following series, "Ladder of Love": (i) goodwill;

the Seven Grades of Love,"

which he

calls

the

voluntary poverty;

(2)

(5) desire for the glory of tion,

chastity;

God

;

" Vir i. ).

(4)

humility;

(6) Divine contempla-

which has three properties

—

intuition, purity

parum litteratus," says the Abbe Trith^me "Rusbrochius cum idiota asset" (Dyon. Cartk. Compare Rousselot, Lts Mystiques Espagnels, p. 493.

ut ferunt devotus sed

{op. Gessner, Biblioth.).

Serm.

(3)

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL and nudity of mind

spirit,

transcendence of

able

This

(7) the ineffable,

unname-

knowledge and

thought.

all

schematism

arbitrary

Ruysbroek's

;

weakest

the

which

writings,

169

part

many

contain

deep

Ordo spiritualium nup-

thoughts.

His chief work,

tiarum,

one of the most complete charts of the

which

progress

mystic's

are here

the active

elevated, or affective

{vita

life,

and the contemplative

The

attain.

and

times

grace

;

which

stages

the internal,

are not called,

all

to which only a few can

life,

The

correspond to these three stages.

motto of the active obviant

three

actuosd),

three parts of the soul, sensitive, rational,

spiritual,

exite

The

exist.

life

life is

the text, " Ecce sponsus venit

The Bridegroom

ei."

He came in the and He will come

flesh

comes

He comes

;

to judgment.

three

into us

must

out to meet Him," by the three virtues of humility, love,

and

these are the three virtues which

justice:

support the fabric of the active all

the virtues

humility

obedience,

renunciation

gentleness,

piety,

and impulse chastity. for us

with

;

This if

our

sympathy,

Him

the active

we wish

thence proceed, in order,

own

will,

patience,

bountifulness,

strength

for all virtues, soberness

all,

The ground

life.

life,

and temperance,

which

necessary

and to reign

to follow Christ,

His everlasting kingdom."

Above the active rises the inner life. This has three Our intellect must be enlightened with superparts. natural clearness we must behold the inner coming of the Bridegroom, that is, the eternal truth we must " go out " from the exterior to the inner life we must go ;

;

to meet the Bridegroom, to enjoy union with His Divinity.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

170

Finally, the spirit rises from the inner to the con-

templative

When we

life.

God

in our ascent to

which embraces us the practice of

and die

dividuality."

which

love,

unity with

Him

;

so simple that the love

occupied only with

the virtues, then

itself,

above

are transformed

God to ourselves and to all separate inGod unites us with Himself in eternal

" In this

Himself.

God

God by

with

all

above ourselves, and

rise

made

are

all

embrace and

devout and inward

living

essential

spirits

are one

immersion and melting away into

they are by grace one and the same thing with

Him, because the same essence is in both." " For what we are, that we intently contemplate and what ;

we contemplate,

that

are

and our essence are simply

;

for

our mind, our

life,

up and united to the very truth, which is God. Wherefore in this simple and intent contemplation we are one life and one

And

lifted

spirit

with God.

life.

In this highest stage the soul

without means

;

the Godhead."

sinks

into

call

the

" ;

the contemplative is

vast

darkness

" there is

Trinity

transcend

are

one and uncreated, according to our prototypes."

Here,

so far as distinction of persons goes, there

more God nor creature

;

we have

lost ourselves

been melted away into the unknown darkness." yet

only the eternal essence, which

the substance of the Divine Persons, where

all

God

united to

In this abyss, he says, following his

"the Persons of the

authorities,

themselves

this

we remain

eternally

creature remains a creature,

distinct

and

from

God.

and

And The

loses not its creature-

must be conscious of ourselves in God, and conscious of ourselves in ourselves. For eternal liness.

—

;;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

knowledge of God, and there can be

consists in the

life

no knowledge without

self-consciousness.

be blessed without knowing

no consciousness, might be Ruysbroek,

it is

plain,

it,

we could

stone, which

has

blessed,

had no qualms

in using the

old mystical language without qualification.

more remarkable, because he was

the

171

fully

This

aware of the

disastrous consequences which follow from the

method

of negation and self-deification.

For Ruysbroek was

an earnest reformer of abuses.

popes, bishops, monks, and

vigorous

language for their

and other

faults

the

others

the rein

give

others neglect

are lashed in

but perhaps his sharpest castigation

;

who mistake mere

says,

laity

secularity, covetousness,

There are some, he

reserved for the false mystics.

spares no one

all

laziness for holy abstraction

to " spiritual

self-indulgence " religious exercises; others fall into

antinomianism, and " think that nothing

them

—

they

terrupts their contemplation

worst of " of

all."

those

They

There

who

forbidden

these are "

in-

far the

another error," he proceeds,

call

themselves

theopaths.'

take every impulse to be Divine, and repudiate

responsibility.

all

any appetite which

will gratify

Most of them

live in

inert sloth."

a corrective to these errors, he very rightly says,

" Christ

must be the

rule

and pattern of

but he does not see that there

all

our lives

a deep inconsistency

between the imitation of Christ as the living way to the

Father, and the " negative road " which leads to

vacancy.^ '

Maeterlinck, Ruyshroek's latest interpreter,

to the intellectual

endowments of

bis

is far

too complimentary

fellow-countryman.

"Ce

moine

—

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

172

Henry Suso, whose autobiography

a document of

unique importance for the psychology of Mysticism,

was born

of Eckhart,

broek

1295.^

whom

but his

;

life

of the Spanish

mystics, especially

The text which " Where I am, there

is,

shall also

which he interprets

The

full

in his

no crown," the

all

that only those

the law of

mouth

servant be "

who

the fellowship of Christ's

Him

can hope to be united to

cross,

accepts

mean

have embraced to the

like those

Juan of the

St.

most often

sufferings,

a disciple

and character are more

Cross.

Intellectually

he understands better than Ruys-

severity

life

glory.

which Suso meaning.

literal

its

story of the terrible penances which he inflicted

on himself

for part of his life is painful

and almost

repulsive to read; but they have nothing in

with

ostentatious

the

self-torture

common

the

fakir.

Suso's deeply affectionate and poetical temperament,

with the

its life

accepted

strong

human

himself to

as the highest its

ideals

finally

possedait

life,

felt

and strove to conform

and when,

;

of cruel austerities, he

was

and sympathies, made

loves

of the cloister very difficult for him.

after

sixteen years

that his " refractory

body

tamed, he discontinued his mortifications,

un des plus

sages, des plus exacts, et des plus subtils oiganes

philosophiques qui aient jamais exists."

thinks

marvellous that

a son insu, le platonisme de la Grice, le soufisme de la Perse, le brahmanisme de I'lnde et le bouddhisme de Thibet," etc. In reality, Ruysbroek gets all his philosophy from Eckhart, and his manner of "il

salt,

shows no abnormal acuteness. But Maeterlinck's essay in Humbles contains some good things e.g. "Les verites Une oeuvre ne vieillit mystiques ne peuvent ni vieillir ni mourir. qu'en proportion de son antimysticisme." expounding

Le Trlsor

des

Preger, probably rightly.

The chronology of the

Life

Noack

very loose.

places his birth five years later.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

173

and entered upon a career of active usefulness. In this he had still heavier crosses to carry, for he was persecuted and falsely accused, while the spiritual consolations which had cheered him in his early struggles

were

withdrawn.

often

history of his

life,

and charming of gift is

who

which

old

his

age,

published

the

one of the most interesting

autobiographies.

all

Suso's literary

Unlike most ecstatic mystics,

very remarkable.

declare on

1365, he

shortly before his death in

each occasion that

tongue cannot

utter " their experiences, Suso's store of glowing vivid language never

The hunger and

fails.

and of

thirst

the soul for God, and the answering love of Christ

manifested in the inner man, have never found a more In the hope of in-

pure and beautiful expression.

ducing more readers to

gem

of mediaeval literature,

from "

become acquainted with

its

The

I will

pages. servitor of the eternal

Wisdom," as he

made to God

himself throughout the book, conversion

the

first

perfect

year.

Before that, he had lived as others

to avoid deadly sin

;

but

all

gnawing reproach within him.

himself well."

He who

But

stern '

to forsake

all,

command was

The extreme

less

felt

Then came the tempta-

eternal

and to

Wisdom "

" treat

said

seeks with tender treatment to conquer

a refractory body, wants

minded

content

live,

the time he had

tion to be content with gradual progress, " the

calls

beginning

his eighteenth

of his

him, "

this

give a few extracts

asceticism

degree) by Tauler,

common

sense.

If thou art

do so to good purpose."

obeyed.^

Very soon

—

The is

the

which was practised by Suso, and (though to not enjoined by them as a necessary part of a

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

174

usual experience of ascetic mystics

aged by rapturous

him on

One

visions.

—he

was encour-

—

without form or mode, but contained within delight.

was a breaking

of eternal

life, felt

the body, he

a half; but gleams of

light continued to visit

its

some time

at intervals for

itself

His

affection.

Augustine's, needed an

imagination

concentrated

upon the eternal Wisdom, personified

Book of Proverbs

make

mistress,

trial

whom

become thy love;

thou

heard

hast

saw

her, radiant in form, rich in it is

him, " Truly thou

she

who

Then

ing

all

end

and

said

him

wisdom, and overflow-

touches the summit of the

to end, mightily

And

things.

will

young heart

in a vision

heavens, and the depths of the abyss, herself from

much,

for in truth thy wild

not remain without a love."

;

the

of thy fortune, whether this high

will

ing with love

female form as a loving mistress,

and the thought came often shouldest

him

after.

Suso's loving nature, like

forth of the sweetness

as present in the stillness of con-

Whether he was in the body or out of knew not." It lasted about an hour and

templation.

object

the

itself

His heart was athirst and

most entrancing yet

satisfied.

came to " It was

such, which

Agnes' Day, he thus describes

St.

who

spreads

and sweetly dispos-

she drew nigh to him lovingly,

sweetly, "

son,

give

thy

heart."

this season there

intense love. holy

life.

fire,

And "We

Tauler says.

came

which made as

his

into his soul a flame of

heart burn with Divine

a " love token," he

are to kill our

passions, not our

cut deep in his flesh

and blood,"

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL name

breast the

of Jesus, so that the marks of the

remained

letters

175

his

all

life,

"about the length of a

finger-joint."

Another time he saw a

and be-

vision of angels,

sought one of them to show him the manner of God's dwelling

secret "

the

soul.

angel

answered,

Cast then a joyous glance into thyself, and see

God

how

plays His play of love with thy loving soul."

looked immediately, and saw that his body over his heart was as clear as crystal, and that in the centre

was sitting tranquilly, Wisdom, beside whom

own

the servitor's

God's

side,

soul,

lovely

in sat,

the

form,

eternal

of heavenly longing,

full

which leaning lovingly towards

and encircled by His arms, lay pressed

His heart.

close to

In another vision he saw "the blessed master Eckhart,"

who had

lately died in disfavour with the rulers

was to

made Godlike

"the

questions,

words cannot

dwell

tell

blessed

God who have

patience with

all

God."

Master"

told

self,

detached

really

that the

die

his soul

was quite In answer

him that

the manner in which those persons

from the world, and

ment

signified to the servitor that

exceeding glory, and that

transformed, and

of the Church.

way

themselves

to attain this detach-

and to maintain unruffled

men."

Very touching is the vision of the Holy Child which came to him in church on Candlemas Day. Kneeling down to him, suffer

in front of the Virgin,

he prayed her to show him the

him

also to kiss

it.

When

who appeared Child,

and to

she kindly offered

him, he spread out his arms and received the beloved

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

176

One. kissed

contemplated

tender

its

again at

all

members of

lifting

beautiful

little

eyes, he

mouth, and he gazed again and

the infant

Then,

sure.

little

its

the heavenly trea-

he uttered a cry of

his eyes,

amazement that He who bears up the heavens is great, and yet so small, so beautiful in heaven and so childlike on earth. And as the Divine Infant moved him, so did he act toward it, now singing so

now weeping,

till

he gave

last

back

its

mother."

When

he was warned by an angel, he says,

at last

to discontinue his austerities, " he spent several weeks

very pleasantly," often weeping for joy at the thought

he had undergone.

of the grievous sufferings which

But

his repose

sat meditating

" life as

of a comely youth,

who

knight,^ saying to him,

And

thou

cried, " Alas,

Suso

do unto me?

day, as he

a warfare," he saw a vision

vested him in the attire of a

Hearken,

thou hast been a squire a knight.

One

was soon disturbed. on

;

sir

knight

now God

shalt have fighting

my God

what

thought that

Show me how much The Lord said, " It is

art

Hitherto thee to be

wills

enough

Thou about

had had enough by

have before

this time.

suffering

me."

better for thee not to

know.

Nevertheless

will

tell

thee of three things.

Hitherto thou hast stricken thyself.

1 It

would be very

Now

I will strike

interesting to trace the influence of the chivalric idea

Chivalry, the worship of idealised womanhood, a mystical cult, and its relation to religious Mysticism appears throughout the "Divine Comedy" and "Vita Nuova" (see especially the incomparable paragraph which concludes this latter), and in the sonnet

religious Mysticism.

is itself

M. Angelo

behold,"

etc.

translated

by Wordsworth, " No mortal object did these eyes

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL and thou

thee,

publicly the loss of thy

suffer

Secondly, where thou shalt look for love

good name. and

shalt

faithfulness, there

thou find treachery and

shalt

Thirdly, hitherto thou hast floated in Divine

suffering.

sweetness, like a fish in the sea

draw from

Thou

177

thee,

and thou

this will I

;

shalt

now

with-

and wither.

starve

by God and the world, and whatever thou shalt take in hand to comfort thee shall come to nought." The servitor threw himself on shalt be forsaken both

the ground, with arms outstretched to form a cross,

and prayed fall

agony that

upon him.

good

cheer,

misery might not

voice said to him, "

Then a will

this great

Be of

be with thee and aid thee to

overcome."

The next

chapters

show how

took

exposed him

frequent

simplicity his

life

with a murderer

and

dangers,

men who

robbers and from lawless

One adventure

this vision

both

The

violent death.

hated the monks.

lot

had

fear at the prospect of

story of the outlaw confessing to

monk how,

the trembling

from

Suso remains throughout

vividness.

an agony of

pre-

told with delightful

thoroughly human, and, hard as his

been, he

The journeys which he now

sentiment was verified.

besides other crimes, he had

once pushed into the Rhine a priest who had just heard his confession, and

how

the wife of the assassin

comforted Suso when he was about to drop down from sheer fright, forms a quaint interlude in the saint's

But a more grievous

memoirs.

Among

other

reclaim fallen insincerity

pastoral

women had

;

work,

trial

awaited

him.

he laboured much to

and a pretended penitent, whose

detected,

revenged herself by a

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

178

slander which almost ruined him.^

Happily, the chiefs

of his order, whose verdict he had greatly dreaded,

completely exonerated him, after a

and

his

happy.

investigation,

full

last

years seem to have been peaceful and

The

closing chapters of the Life are taken

up by some very

interesting

spiritual " daughter," Elizabeth

conversations with his

who wished

Staglin,

She

understand the obscurer doctrines of Mysticism.

asks him about the doctrine of the Trinity, which he

expounds on the general She, however, remembers in Eckhart,

says, "

and

lines of Eckhart's theology.

some of the bolder phrases But there are some who say

we must divest and turn only to the inwardly-

that, in order to attain to perfect union,

ourselves

of God,

shining light."

That

words are taken

common master,

false,"

God, that

whose function

to reward

the

But the

ordinary sense.

their

belief about

Suso, "

replies

a great Task-

and punish,

cast

out by perfect love; and in this sense the spiritual

man

Again, in the highest state of union, the soul

takes no note of the Persons separately

;

Three

Suso here gives a

One."

to one of Eckhart's rashest theses.

asks his pupil next Nothing in the book

deserted by

its

The

it is

not the

bliss,

but the

for

Divine Persons taken sipgly that confer

by the

does divest himself of God, as conceived of

vulgar.

really valuable turn

Where

intellectual

heaven

where"

the

more touching than the scene when the baby,

mother, Suso's

felse accuser, is

brought to him.

Suso takes

the child in his arms, and weeps over it with affectionate words, while the In spite of the calumny which he knew was infant smiles up at him.

being spread wherever

would most

injure him,

insists

on paying

for

The the child's maintenance, rather than leave it to die from neglect. Italian mystic Scupoli, the author of a beautiful devotional work called the Spiritual Combat,

was calumniated

in a similar

manner.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL reply, "

the essentially-existing unnameable nothing-

So we must

ness.

mode

call

it,

because we can discover no

of being, under which to conceive of

though

seems to us to be no-thing,

But

it.

deserves to be

called something rather than nothing."

we see, The maiden

Suso,

follows Dionysius, but with this proviso.

now

179

asks him to give her a figure or image of the

self-

evolution of the Trinity, and he gives her the figure of

when we throw a

concentric circles, such as appear

stone into a pond.

" But,"

the

formless

truth

Soon

beautiful sun."

Suso saw her joy,

he adds,

Moor

a black

after,

a vision, radiant and

said, "

Ah, God

Thee alone pains this

When

bliss.

blessed

He may

Thou rewardest

maiden, and in

the

all

between prose

man who

strives after

God

whose

His dear

help us to rejoice in friends, !

and to enjoy

So ends Suso's

His other chief work, a

the eternal

poem

had

he came to himself, he

well be content to suffer,

thus.

the

of heavenly

full

his counsels, she

His Divine countenance eternally autobiography.

unlike

the holy maiden died, and

showing him how, guided by

found everlasting

" this is as unlike

Wisdom and

Dialogue

the Servitor,

of great beauty, the tenor of which

may

above extracts from the

Life.

be inferred

from the

Suso believed that the Divine Wisdom had indeed his pen and few, I think, will accuse him of arrogance for the words which conclude the " Whosoever will read these writings of Dialogue.

spoken through

mine in

a right

;

spirit,

can hardly

fail

stirred

his heart's depths, either to fervent love, or to

light,

detestation

longing

and

and loathing

thirsting

his

for sins,

new

God, or to or

that

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

i8o spiritual

by which the soul

aspiration

renewed

grace."

John Tauler was born at Strassburg about 1300, and entered a Dominican convent in 1315. After studying at Cologne and Paris, he returned to Strassburg, where, as a Dominican, he was allowed to officiate as a priest, although the

town was involved

in the great

In 1339, however, he had to

interdict of 1324.

fly

was the headquarters of the revivalist society who called themselves "the Friends of God." About 1 346 he returned to Strassburg, and was to Basel, which

devoted in his ministrations during the " black death " in

348.

appears to have been strongly influenced

by one of the Friends of God, a mysterious layman,

who

been

has

probably

identified,

wrongly,

with

Nicholas of Basel,^ and, according to some, dated his

"conversion" from his acquaintance with

man.

Tauler continued to preach to crowded con-

gregations

Tauler in

till

his

death in 1361.

a thinker as well as a preacher.

most points

his teaching

Eckhart,^ he treats

all

manner, and sometimes, as

By Schmidt, whose

accounts of Tauler's

life.

identical with that of

for instance in his doctrine

The

subject

soul,*

differs

from

researches formed the basis of several popular

Freger and Denifle both reject the identification

of the mysterious stranger with Nicholas altogether.

Though

questions in an independent

about the uncreated ground of the ^

this saintly

;

Denifle doubts his esdstence

very fully discussed by Preger.

He cites Froclus, Tauler was well read in the earlier mystics. (frequently), Dionysius, Bernard, and the Victorines; also

Augustine

and Aquinas. Tauler adheres to the doctrine of an " uncreated ground," but he holds that it must always act upon us through the medium of the "created ground." He evidently considered Eckhart's later doctrine as too Aristotle '

pantheistic

See below,

p. 183.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL There

his master. laid

stress

upon

also a perceptible

certain

change

in the

system, which

of the

parts

i8i

brings Tauler nearer than Eckhart to the divines of

the Reformation.

In particular, his sense of sin

too deep for him to be satisfied with the Neoplatonic of

doctrine

its

negativity,

which led

Eckhart into

difficulties.^

The little book called the German Theology, by an unknown author, also belongs to the school of Eckhart. one of the most precious treasures of devotional

It is

literature,

and deserves

this country.

famous

treatise of

known than

to be better

some ways

k Kempis,

superior to the

the Imitation

since the self-centred individualism

Christ,

prominent.

less

The author thoroughly understands Eckhart, but object

it is

not to view everything sub specie

his

ceternitatis,

but to give a practical religious turn to his master's

His teaching

speculations.

with that of Tauler,

whom

and

he joins

whom in

closely

accordance

he quotes as an authority,

denouncing the followers of

the " false light," the erratic mystics of the fourteenth century.

The

German mystics

practical theology of these four

—Ruysbroek,

of the fourteenth century

Suso, Tauler,

and the writer of the German Theology, that

taking

possible to consider

each author separately.

so similar

detail

without

the crowning

achievement of Christian Mysticism before the Reformation '

;

See

and, except in the English Platonists p. 155.

my estimate

of Tauler's doctrine,

of the

have made no use of

the treatise on The Imitation of the Poverty of Christ, which Noack calls his masterpiece, and the kernel of his Mysticism. The work is not by Tauler.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

seventeenth century,

not

shall

find

anywhere a

sounder and more complete scheme of doctrine built

upon

this foundation.

The

distinction

head and God

drawn by Eckhart between the God-

maintained in the German Theology,

The

and by Ruysbroek.

latter,

we have

seen,^

does not shrink from following the path of analysis

and says plainly that

to the end,

only the eternal essence. out

into

his

in the

Abyss

there

no distinction of Divine and human persons, but

the

deep

and

deep,

the

Tauler also bids us "put

down our

let

heart,

not

nets "

the

but

;

intellect.

you should not ask about these great high problems," he says; and he prefers not to talk much about them, "for no teacher can teach what he has not lived through himself." Still he speaks, like Dionysius and Eckhart, of the " Divine children,

darkness,"

" the

nameless,

wild waste," and

"the Unity

scended," and

formless

which

that in

Him

becoming and being, eternal

nothing,"

the

and says of God that

forth;

all

are rest

multiplicity

gathered

tran-

up both

and eternal motion..

In this deepest ground, he says, the Three Persons are implicit,

not explicit.

The Son

the

Form

all

forms, to which the " eternal, reasonable form created after

God's image

" (the

Idea of mankind) longs to be

conformed.

The

creation of the world, according to Tauler,

rather consonant with than necessary to the nature of

God. its

The

world, before

became

actual, existed in

Idea in God, and this ideal world was set forth by '

See above, p. 170.

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL means of the

Trinity.

"from

exist

"living,"

that

the Son that the Ideas

It is in

The

eternity."

all

Ideas are said to be

they work as forms, and after the

is,

creation of matter act as universals above

Tauler "

God

the Being of

none of

show that he

careful to

all

transcends

and

all,

the

but

universe

in things.

not a pantheist.

beings," he says

God

things."

all

far

183

;

all

but

God

not

which

immanent.

look in vain to Tauler for an explanation of the

obscurest relations

point

Eckhart's

philosophy, as to

of the phenomenal to the

real.

clearer evidence that temporal existence

the

want

not regarded

as something illusory or accidental, an error which

may

be inconsistent with the theory of immanence as taught

by the school of Eckhart, but which

too closely allied

with other parts of their scheme.

The of

and

personal

life,

man"

"third

and

the spiritual

of the empirical

purified,

its

own

which he uses self,

which

and now of the This latter

also represented

of the soul," which into

or pure substance of

life

speaks also of an " uncreated ground,"

intended him to be.

and

rather

the abyss of the Godhead, but yet " in us,"

now

must be

speaks of three phases of

the sensuous nature, the reason, and the

—

of a " created ground,"

sense,

psychology

his

difficult.

the soul.

in the soul is the real centre

but

doctrine,

intricate

which

God

indwelling of

Tauler's

ideal is

in a

man, as God

" the third

spark

double

imperfect and

" at

man,"

the " apex

to transform the rest of the soul

likeness.

Tauler, works upon

by the

The

uncreated ground," in

us through the

medium

of the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

" created ground,"

and not as

The "created ground," Image," which a

creative

Eckhart, immediately.

this

sense,

"the

calls

identical with Eckhart's " spark."

principle

well

as created, like

the

" Ideas " of Erigena.

The German Theology eyes,"

one of which, the right eye, sees into

the other sees time and

eye

" is

us that

left

we cannot

" right

as Eckhart's " spark "

see with both eyes together

we can

precept

this

and

that the author

significant

eye must be shut before

The passage where

eternity,

The

the creatures.

same

practically the

Tauler's "image." tells

says that " the soul has two

use the

;

the

right.^

given shows very

plainly that the author, like the other fourteenth century mystics,*

dualism

was

golden

under the influence of medieval

the belief that the Divine begins where the

earthly leaves "

still

—

off.

It is

little treatise,"

almost the only point in this

Henry More

calls

it,

which

exception must be taken.* ^

St.

This expression is found first, I think, in Richard of St. Victor ; but Augustine speaks of "oculus interior atque intelligibilis " (De div.

quasi. 46). * But Christ, he says, could see with both eyes no way hindered the right.

Tauler often uses similar language

"The natural light God is to enter with ^

;

once

as, for instance,

;

the

left

when he

says,

of the reason must be entirely brought to nothing,

His

light."

Stdckl criticises the Theologia Gennanica in a very hostile

spirit.

" pantheism," by which he means acosmism, and also " GnosticManichean dualism," the latter being his favourite charge against the Lutherans and their forerunners. He considers that this latter tendency is more strongly marked in the German Theology than in the other works of the Eckhartian school, in that the writer identifies "the false light" with the light of nature, and selfhood with sin; "devil, sin, Adam, old man, disobedience, selfhood, individuality, mine, me, nature, self-will, are all the same ; they all represent what is against God and without Grod," Accordingly, salvation consists in annihilation of the self, and substitution finds

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

185

essence of sin

and

The

self-assertion or self-will,

Tauler has, perhaps,

consequent separation from God.

a deeper sense of sin than any of his predecessors, and

he revives the Augustinian (anti-Pelagian) teaching on Sensuality and

the miserable state of fallen humanity. pride, the

two chief manifestations of

invaded the whole of our nature. spirit,

—

Pride

and the poison has invaded

the " created ground," that

faculties.

It will

is,

have

self-will, is

a sin of the

even the ground

as the unity of

all

the

be remembered that the Neoplatonic

doctrine was that the spiritual part of our nature can

take no defilement.

one aspect the

medium

Tauler seems to believe that under

" created

ground

the transparent

of the Divine light, but in this sense

potentially the light of our whole body.

it is

will

only not

allow the sinless apex mentis to be identified with the personality.

misery.

Separation from

Therein

lies

soul can never cease to "

God

and the greatest pain " of the

longing can

never

the source of

satisfied."

hell.

lost

" is

that this

the

Theology, the necessity of rising above the " "

mine

all

The human yearn and thirst after God;

the pain of

" is treated as the great saving truth.

the creature claimeth for

its

own anything

German and

When

good,

God for it. There is no doubt that the writer of this treatise is deeply impressed with the belief that the root of sin is self-will, and that the new birth must be a complete transformation ; but it must be remembered that the language of piety is less guarded than that of dogmatic disputation, of

and

book must be judged by its whole tendency. judgment is that, taken as a whole, it is safer than Tauler or Ruysbroek, and much safer than Eckhart. The strongly-marked "ethical dualism" is of very much the same kind as that which we find in St. John's Gospel. Taken as a theory of the origin and nature of evil, it no doubt does hold out a hand to Manicheism ; but I do not think that the writer meant it to be so taken, any more than St. John did. that the theology of such a

My own

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

The more of self and me, the more of Be simply and wholly bereft of So long as a man seeketh his own highest

goeth astray."

and wickedness.

sin

self."

good because

his,

long as he doeth

this,

that he himself

will

never find

For so

it.

he seeketh himself, and deemeth (These

good."

highest

the

last

sentences are almost verbally repeated in a sermon

by John Smith, the Cambridge

The

thy soul

" Jesus

cannot speak

In this stage "

discipline. till

first

practise

self-

the temple of

those that sold and bought therein are cast

till

it."

old law,

have

our lower powers are governed by our

all

till

highest reason.

and

sermons.

Tauler's control,

out of

Platonist.)

three stages of the mystic's ascent appear in

The

old

we must be under

man must be

Christ be born in

second stage he says,

him of a

strict rule

subject to the

truth."

Wilt thou with

John

St.

the

rest

the loving breast of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou must be

transformed into His beauteous image by a constant, earnest contemplation thereof."

may

will to call thee

and images, and instrument.

been opened

higher

suffer

To some

—

" this

Him

still

It is possible that ;

then

let

work with thee as His

the very door of heaven has

happens to some with a convulsion

of the mind, to others calmly and gradually."

not the work of a day nor of a year."

come

God

forms

all

to pass, nature

Before

" It it

must endure many a death,

can out-

ward and inward." In the where,

first

firmities,

are

stage of the " dying

much oppressed by

and by the

fear of hell.

life,"

he says

else-

the sense of our in-

But

in the third, " all

our griefs and joys are a sympathy with Christ, whose

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL earthly

life

was a mingled web of

life

has

These

all

than Christ for

But

us.

earth, It

and

this

of course, true

mystics, Christ in us it

Christ,

have their due

is,

unfair to put

German mystics wished

the

joy,

show that the Cross of

that for him, as for

and

as a sacred testament to His followers."

left

last extracts

and the imitation of His life on prominence in Tauler's teaching.

way, as

grief

187

in this

to contrast the

two views of redemption, and to exalt one at the expense of the other. redemption

historical

that

wish

he says,

by showing fact.

should worship Christ's humanitj"

only in union with this divinity," he the

to give the

true significance,

an universal as well as a particular

When

Tauler's its

giving exactly

same caution which St. Paul expresses " knowing Christ after the flesh."

in the verse

about

speaking

of the

highest of the

three stages,

passages were quoted which advocate a purely passive state of the will

and

cannot be denied

though

God draws

by His when an

first,

the soul,

This quietistic tendency

the fourteenth

largely counteracted

opposite kind.

ways,

intellect.^

creatures

us," ;

century mystics,

by maxims of an

says Tauler,

secondly,

" in

three

by His voice

eternal truth mysteriously suggests

Throughout the fourteenth century, and

still

in the fifteenth,

can trace an increasing prominence given to subjugation of the will in This change is to be attributed partly to the influence mystical theology. of the Nominalist science of

Duns

Scotus, which gradually gained (at least

in this point) the ascendancy over the school of Aquinas.

may be

described as a transition from the more speculative Mysticism tov/ards quietism.

manica,

In the fourteenth century writings, such as the Theologia Ger-

we merely welcome a new and

valuable aspect of the religious

life

connected with a distrust of reason, and a return to the standpoint of harsh legalism, we cannot regard it as an improvement. but since the change

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

as happens not infrequently in

itself,

(This

personal experience.)

means, when the

will

given through means veil,

and

split

quite subdued."

which he

nysius in

;

fact,

tasteless

of " dying to

all distinctions";

" simplification " in

made more

of the active will than these

are as holy as ye truly will to

pupils of Eckhart.^

we read

With the

be holy," says Ruysbroek.

And

in Tauler.

will

vices,

not nature, which

" Christ

lop

good and

Himself never arrived at the

men

'emptiness' of which these

Of contemplation he

talk."

we must

in itself

may do

one

against the per-

version of the " negative road " he says, "

And

But, on the other hand, no Christian

unqualified form.

noble."

and bears with it a There are other passages

he at times preaches

and prune

What

seen through a

it is

;

obviously under the influence of Dio-

everything,"

into fragments,

when he speaks

teachers have

sleep."

record

the

Thirdly, without resistance or

certain sting of bitterness." in

morning

being evidently

interesting,

ments are the food of the

(the

false

mystics)

says, "Spiritual enjoy-

soul,

and are only to be

taken for nourishment and support to help us in our " Sloth

active work."

often

makes men

excused from their work and

Never

trust

practice." lives

acceptable

These pupils of Eckhart

and

Tauler to

to be

fain

contemplation.

a virtue that has not been put into

themselves,

indolence.

set to

God

were

says,

all

led strenuous

no advocates of pious

"Works

" All kinds of skill are gifts of the '

Compare

See the quotation on

p. l6l, for similar

of love are

than lofty contemplation

Holy Ghost."

teaching in Eckhart himself.

p. il, note.

and,

— PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL The

process of deification

broek and by Tauler.

by Ruys-

thus described

Ruysbroek writes

" All

189

men who

are exalted above their creatureliness into a contemplative

are one with this Divine glory

life

—

yea, are that

glory. And they see and feel and find in themselves, by means of this Divine light, that they are the same simple Ground as to their uncreated nature, since the

glory shineth forth without measure, after the Divine

manner, and abideth within them simply and without

mode, according

the

Wherefore contemplative men should

and

distinction,

beyond

of the

simplicity

their

rise

essence.

above reason

created substance, and

gaze perpetually by the aid of their inborn

light,

and so

they become transformed, and one with the same

light,

by means of which they see, and which they see. Thus they arrive at that eternal image after which they were created, and contemplate God and all things without distinction, in a simple beholding, in

This

glory.

the

templation to which in his

sermon

loftiest

men

and most

attain in this

for the Fifteenth

Divine

profitable conlife."

Sunday

Tauler,

after Trinity,

The kingdom is seated in the inmost recesses of When, through all manner of exercises, the the spirit. outward man has been converted into the inward

says " :

reasonable man, and thus the two, that

to say, the

powers of the senses and the powers of the reason, are gathered up into the very centre of the man's being, the unseen depths of his of God,

—and

Abyss, created;

spirit,

wherein

lies

the image

thus he flings himself into the Divine

which he dwelt eternally before he was

then when

God

finds

down and turned towards Him,

the the

man

thus firmly

Godhead bends

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

190

and nakedly descends

the depths of the pure

into

waiting soul, and transforms the created soul, drawing

the uncreated essence, so that the spirit

into

Could such a man behold

becomes one with Him. himself, he

fancy

would see himself so noble that he would

and

God,

himself

see

himself

thousand

and would perceive all the thoughts and purposes, words and works, and have all the knowledge of all men that ever were." Suso and the German Theology use similar times nobler than he

himself,

language.

The

idea

modern

of deification

and

shocks

the

astonishes us to find that these

and humble

saints at times express themselves

reader.

earnest

startles

language which surpasses the arrogance even of the

Stoics.

must be something wrong

feel that there

with a system which ends in obliterating the distinction

between the Creator and His creatures.

desire in

vain to hear some echo of Job's experience, so different in tone

but

" I

have heard Thee by the hearing of the

now mine eye

and repent

Thee

seeth

;

therefore

God

that

tremble, in that

when he

" I

unlike

tremble, and

Him

;

burn,

Nor is this only the Paul had almost " finished

Him."

beginner's experience his course "

effect

surely that which Augustine

describes in words already quoted

burn.

ear,

abhor myself,

The proper

dust and ashes."

of the vision of

St.

called himself the chief of sinners.

The joy which uplifts the soul, when it feels the motions Holy Spirit, arises from the fact that in such moments " the spirit's true endowments stand out we then see the " countenplainly from its false ones " of the

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

191

—

St. James calls it the man or meant woman that God us to be, and know that we

ance of our genesis," as

could not so see

we were wholly

cut off from

But the clearer the vision of the

realisation.

its

ideal, the

deeper must be our self-abasement when we turn our

eyes to the actual.

must not escape from

this

sharp and humiliating contrast by mentally annihilating the

straight

The

this!'

false

— extreme

deification

have said

Such

Look

impossible to say,

opposite

its

Moreover, to regard fact, involves,

and on

picture,

this

leads

make

so as to

self,

humility

arrogance.

an accomplished

a contradiction.

(p, 33),

process of unification with the Infinite must be

a progressus

infinitum.

The

pessimistic conclusion

escaped by remembering that the highest reality

supra-temporal, and that the destiny which

has

designed

but

realisation,

There

are,

has

for

two ways

which

abdicate our birthright, and surrender

our high calling

we may count

God

contingent

a sense already accomplished.

fact,

merely

not

the

may

prize

ourselves already to

have apprehended, which must be a grievous delusion,

we may

resign

as unattainable, which

also a

delusion.

These truths were well known to Tauler and brother-mystics, sophers.

who were it

mystical paradox, "

well

his

philo-

must have been because they

that the doctrine of union with

truth of great value.

it,"

they retained language which appears to

us so objectionable, felt

saints

shall partly

And

God

we remember

that will lose his

understand

enshrined a

how they

life

the great shall save

arrived at

it.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

192

It is quite true

Him,

at last

till

this conviction

How

fort ? if

we approach to God, the yawn the gulf that separates us from we feel it to be infinite. But does not

that the nearer

wider seems to

bring with

itself

could

we be aware

unspeakable com-

of that infinite distance,

there were not something within us which can span

the infinite

How

we feel that God and man we had not the witness of

could

are incommensurable,

a higher self immeasurably above our lower selves

And how

blessed

the assurance that this higher self

we may leave behind not only external troubles and " the provoking of all gives us access to a region where

men," but " the

" in

our own hearts, the chattering and growling of the " ape and tiger " within us,

of tongues

strife

the recurring smart of old sins repented

dragging weight of innate propensities the

will,

will of

of,

and the

In this state

desiring nothing save to be conformed to the

God, and separating

from

itself entirely

all

lower

aims and wishes, claims the right of an immortal

spirit

to attach itself to eternal truth alone, having nothing in itself,

and yet possessing all things in God. So Tauler Let a man lovingly cast all his thoughts and

says, " cares,

and

Will.

his sins too, as

dear child

and dangers, sink thou let

all

were, on that

midst of

into thy

Let the tower with

ness.

in the

all

unknown

these enmities

ground and nothing-

all its bells fall

on thee

heaven and earth and

all

;

real transformation

of God's grace

let all

sink thou into thy

nothingness, and the better part shall be thine."

hope of a

yea, ;

the creatures assail thee,

shall but marvellously serve thee

gift

;

the devils in hell storm out upon thee

This

of our nature by the free

the only message

of comfort

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL who

those

for

193

and bound by the chain of

are tied

their sins.

The

error

comes

in,

have said before, when we

God

set before ourselves the idea of

the Father, or of

the Absolute, instead of Christ, as the object of imita-

Whenever we

tion.

find such " rising

from Ruysbroek, about

we may be Mystics of

language as that quoted

above

times would have done well to keep in

all

minds a very happy phrase which Irenaeus quotes

their

from some unknown author,

spoke well who said

that the infinite (immensum) Father

suratum)

Son

the

It is to this "

measured {men-

mensura enim Patris

Filius."

measure," not to the immeasureable, that

are bidden to aspire.

Eternity in his

is,

for Tauler, " the everlasting

hell fire less

;

though

the torments of the

end of

the source

the " beginning, middle, and

complete self-surrender.

lose ourselves in the love of

God

as a drop

is lost in the ocean.

only remains to show

fantastic errors into fallen

Theology

lost.

Its essence is

virtue."

must

of water

had

but

his deeper thought is that the hope-

Love, says Tauler,

;

and punishment, even about

estrangement of the soul from God

all

Now "

popular discourses he uses the ordinary expres-

sions about future reward

all distinctions,"

sure that this error has been committed.

his

how Tauler combats

the

which some of the German mystics day.

The author

of the

German

equally emphatic in his warnings against

the " false light "

;

and Ruysbroek's denunciation of the

Brethren of the Free Spirit has already been quoted. '

Irenseus,

Contra Har.

iv. 6.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

194

Tauler, in an interesting sermon/ describes the

heady

arrogance, disorderly conduct, and futile idleness of these fanatics,

and then gives the following maxims, by which

we may

distinguish the false Mysticism from the true.

Now

let

know how we may escape

the enemy.

one can be

these snares of

from the observance

free

God and the practice of virtue. No one himself to God in emptiness without true love

of the laws of

can unite

and desire

God.

for

one can be holy without becom^

ing holy, without good works.

No one may rest in

doing good works. for

God.

one can be exalted to a stage which he has

not longed for or felt." of Christ forbids

The

may leave off God without love

one

all

Finally, he

shows how the example

the errors which he

combating.

Imitation of Christ has been so often spoken

of as the finest flower of Christian Mysticism, that impossible to omit

And

yet

all

reference to

the

Christianity as concen-

of the cloister, the last and best

life

legacy, in this kind, of a system which

decaying

;

it is

Lectures.

in these

notj properly speaking, a mystical treatise.

it is

It is the ripe fruit of mediaeval

trated in

but

find

was already

hardly a trace of that

independence which made Eckhart a pioneer of

modem

philosophy, and the fourteenth century mystics fore-

runners

Reformation.

the

Thomas

Kempis

preaches a Christianity of the heart; but he does not exhibit the distinguishing characteristics of Mysticism.

by which the book is known is really the title section only, and it does not quite accurately Throughout the describe the contents of the book.

The

title

of the

first

treatise

feel

that '

are reading a defence of the

No. 31, on Psalm

xci. 13.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL recluse

and

his

scheme of

195

Self-denial, renunciation

life.

of the world, prayer and meditation, utter humility and purity, are the road to a higher joy, a deeper peace,

than anything which the world can give

us.

many

Roman

sentences which remind us of the

There are Stoics,

whose main object was by detachment from the world to render themselves invulnerable.

Kempis shrinks from bearing the

of Christ

Not Cross.

always before him, and herein he

who speak only

to those mystics

But the monk of the

fifteenth

the fourteenth.

The

superior

of the Incarnation.

century was perhaps

more thrown back upon himself than in

Thomas The Cross

that

his predecessors

monasteries were no longer

such homes of learning and centres of activity as they

was no longer evident that the religious That indifference to human interests, which we feel to be a weak spot in mediaeval thought generally, and in the Neoplatonists to whom mediaeval thought was so much indebted, Not only reaches its climax in Thomas k Kempis. does he distrust and disparage all philosophy, from had been.

orders were a benefit to civilisation.

Thomas Aquinas, but he shuns

society and and quotes with approval the pitiful epigram of Seneca, " Whenever I have gone among men, I have returned home less of a

Plato to

conversation

man."

Plato calls

is, it,

occasions

sin,

after all, the life of the " shell-fish," as

which he considers the

best.

The book

cannot safely be taken as a guide to the Christian as

a whole.

What we do

find in

it,

life

set forth with

incomparable beauty and unstudied dignity, are the Christian graces of humility, simplicity, and purity of heart.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

196 It

very significant that the mystics,

many

who had

ways prepared the Reformation, were shouldered aside when The the secession from Rome had to be organised. Lutheran Church was built by other hands. And yet

undermined sacerdotalism, and

mystics

the

Sebastian

generation,

Luther's

Frank,

are

from

far

other

and

Carlstadt

deserving

the

con-

temptuous epithets which Luther showered upon them. Carlstadt endeavoured to deepen the Lutheran notion

of faith

by bringing

into closer connexion with the

man and

of man to God; Sebastian Frank developed the speculative system of Eckhart

love of

God

and Tauler in an original and interesting manner. But speculative Mysticism is a powerful solvent, and Protestant

Churches are too ready to

even without

" I will

it.

as Frank," said Luther in

much.

Spirit, spirit, spirit,

century

men

not even answer such

1545; "I despise them too

who

spurned

The so

content with nothing

and cares not at

Sacrament, or Preaching." sixteenth

to pieces

nose does not deceive me, he

enthusiast or spiritualist,

but

fall

all

for Bible,

teaching which the

contemptuously

was

identical with that of Eckhart and Tauler, whose names were still revered. But it was not wanted just then. It was not till the next generation, when

almost

superstitious veneration for the letter of Scripture

was

bringing back some of the evils of the unreformed faith,

that Mysticism in the person of Valentine Weigel

was able

and

resume

its

true task

spiritualising of religion in

But instead of following any mystical theology in Germany,

the deepening

Germany. further the course of I

wish to turn for a

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL few minutes to our

ready to do

so,

field

many

ment, repeated in a barren

own

because

for

English character

the

have come across the

state-

country.

writers

practical,

that

assumed that the

Mysticism

alien to

for

think, in

which there

too

are

The

sense.

There

race,

a richer vein of idealism,

and a deeper sense of the mystery of own.

because

view.

this

we have

that

kind of religion.

this

—

and have too much common

do not bear out

facts I

hint

books, that England has been

mystics.

no sympathy, as a nation,

Some

I97

In a later Lecture

statement from our national

life,

than our

hope to

illustrate

poetry.

Here

this

wish

to insist that even the Mysticism of the cloister, which is

the least satisfying to the energetic and independent

might be thoroughly and

of our countrymen,

spirit

adequately studied from the works of English mystics give

two examples of

alone.

type.

Both of them

will

lived

find very

mediaeval

Reformation,

before the

near the end of the fourteenth century as in Tauler,

this

;

but in them,

few traces of Romish

error.

Walter Hilton or Hylton,^ a canon of Thurgarton,

was the author of a mystical

treatise, called

The Scale

Ladder) of Perfection. The following extracts, which are given as far as possible in his own words, (or

will

show

what manner he used the

traditional

mystical theology. ' Hilton's book has been reprinted from the edition of 1659, with an Very little is known about the introduction by the Rev. J. B. Dalgairns. author's life, but his book was widely read, and w^as "chosen to be the

guide of good Christians in the courts of kings and in the world."

The

mother of Heniy VII. valued it very highly. I have also used Mr. Guy's edition in my quotations from The Scale of Perfection,

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

198

There are two ive,

the active and the contemplat-

lives,

but in the latter there are

highest state of contemplation a

"but only by times, when he

always, "

and, as

time of

God

many man

The

stages.

cannot enjoy is

visited";

gather from the writings of holy men, the

it is

very short."

giveth where

" This part of contemplation

Visions and revelations,

will."

of whatever kind, "are not true contemplation, but

merely secondary. The devil may counterfeit them " and the only safeguard against these impostures is to consider whether the visions have helped or hindered

us in devotion to God, humility, and other virtues. " In the third stage of contemplation," he says finely, " reason

turned into

" Spiritual prayer,"

light,

and

will into love."

by which he means vocal prayer

not in set words, belongs to the second part of con" It

templation.

who

very wasting to the body of him

much, wounding the soul with the blessed sword of love." " The most vicious or carnal man on uses

were he once strongly touched with

earth,

this sharp

sword, would be right sober and grave for a great while

The

after.''

highest kind of prayer of

all is

prayer of quiet, of which St. Paul

speaks, " I will

with the understanding also."

But

all;

"a pure

heart, indeed,

who would pray

We Christ.

must

' I

this

pray

not for

behoveth him to have

manner."

our affections

fix

this

first

on the humanity of

Since our eyes cannot bear the unclouded

light of the

of His

the

Godhead,

manhood

Cor. xiv. 15.

we must we

as long as

live

under the shadow

are here bplow."

St.

This text was also appealed to by the Quietists of the

post-Reformation period.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL Paul

converts that he

tells his

first

199

preached to them of

the humanity and passion of Christ, but afterwards of

how

the Godhead,

that Christ

the power and wisdom

of God.i " Christ

seek Him. ship

the

thy

or Jerusalem to

did in the

Put away

to thee."

love.

whence flow " Fair

and

false,

and

however, find the image

First,

—only a

thee.

lack of light

and

inordinate love of thyself, from

the deadly sins.

all

foul is a

beast, fair within

man doth

Him

" distracting noises,"

which thou bearest about with

sin,

desire.

believe that thou sleepest oftener to

bodily thing, no real thing

Rome

sleepeth in thy heart, as

thou wilt hear Him. of

is,

awaken Him with the loud cry of thy

;

Howbeit, than

In thy house, that

Thou needest not run

soul.

money

piece of

the

lost,

parable; but where?

man's soul

—

foul without like

an angel."

But the sensual

not bear about the image of

sin,

but

borne

it."

The

true light

of the world.

love of God, the false light

go from one to the other. the nearer

and

The darker This

the true day."

nothing "

nothing,''

love

But we must pass through darkness to

spoken

when the

of is "

soul

by the

the night

the "

is,

darkness

mystics, " a

rich

at rest as to thoughts of

any earthly thing, but very busy about thinking of " But the the day God." night passeth away ;

dawneth."

" Flashes of light shine through the chinks

of the walls of Jerusalem '

The

manner.

texts to

which he

Compare

Cor.

;

but thou art not there yet."

refers are those i.

23,

ii.

which Origen uses in the same

2, Gal. vi, 14,

with

Cor.

24.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

200 "

But now beware of the midday

light as if

fiend, that feigneth

came from Jerusalem.

This light appears

between two black rainy clouds, whereof the upper one presumption and self-exaltation, and the lower a

This

disdaining of one's neighbour.

pass,

simply the death of

affections;

The way mystical

which

The

life.

and the darkness not

art

Hilton

The

at last shaken

has

chains

idea of

he says.

how our countryman honoured

Dionysian

which blurs

all

is,

of absorption

Asiatic

now

be only the herald

the night, the nearer

strikes off the fetters of the time-

tradition,

distinctions,

the

and the

even that of Eckhart or Tauler.

paralysing "

creed

negative road

light;

and how

sounder and saner than Before leaving Hilton,

be worth while to quote two or three isolated

maxims

his,

examples of

his

wise and pure

doctrine. "

into the

are

think, gratifying to observe

consequence his Mysticism

may

nihilism

would seem, uncon-

which leads to darkness and not

But the

Hilton entirely dissociated

place in the history

its

The " darkness " is felt brighter dawn " the darker

the true day."

"truly

very interesting.

yet,"

easily and,

off,

the

conceives

sciously.

of a

the

soul does enter into darkness,

the metaphysical

Infinite.

carnal

all

not fully dispelled in this world

there

psychical experience

from

and

life.

a psychical experience,

"thou

self-will

darkness" of Dionysius

of the inner

not the light of

that dying to the world which

it is

only gate of

This darkness, through which we must

the true sun."

There are two ways of knowing God

—one

chiefly

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

201

by the imagination, the other by the understanding. The understanding is the mistress, and the imagination the maid."

What

heaven to a reasonable soul

Nought

else but Jesus God." "

Ask

God nothing but

this

gift

of love, which

Holy Ghost. For there is no gift of God that is both the giver and the gift, but this gift of love." My other example of English Mysticism in the Middle Ages is Julian or Juliana of Norwich,^ to whom the

were granted a

of " revelations

series

came

the year

being then about thirty years

I373j she

describes with evident truthfulness the

the visions

old.

manner

She which

She ardently desired to have of her Lord upon the Cross, " like

to her.

bodily sight "

and she prayed that she might have " a grievous sickness almost unto death,"

other that were Christ's lovers

;

wean her from the world and quicken her spiritual The sickness came, and the vision; for they thought her dying, and held the crucifix before her, till

sense.

the figure on the Cross changed into the semblance of

the parts

—

formed

that in

" All

this was showed by three by bodily sight, and by words understanding, and by ghostly sight." ^

Christ.

living

to say,

Julian (bom 1343) was probably a Benedictine nun of Carrow, near Norwich, but lived for the greater part of her life in an anchorage in the There is a copy of her Revelations churchyard of St. Julian at Norwich. Editions by Cressy, 1670 ; reprint issued 1843 ; in the British Museum. by Collins, 1877. See, fuller, in the Dictionary of National Biography. In my quotations from her, I have used an unpublished version kindly It is just so far modernised as to be inlent me by Miss G. H. Warrack. '

telligible to those

who

are not familiar with fourteenth century English.

This was a recognised classification. Scaramelli says, "Le visioni corporee sono favori propri dei principianti, che incomminciano a camLe visioni immaginari sono proprie minare nella via dello spirito. 2

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

202 "

But the ghostly sight

cannot nor

as openly nor as fully as

may

Her

would."

not show

later visions

came to her sometimes during sleep, but most often when she was awake. The most pure and certain were wrought by a " Divine illapse " into the spiritual part of the soul, the mind and understanding, for these the devil cannot counterfeit.

Juliana was certainly perand perfectly sane. The great charm of her little book is the sunny hopefulness and happiness which shines from every page, and the tender affection for her suffering Lord which mingles with her devotion without ever becoming morbid or irreverent. It is fectly honest

also interesting to see

how

this

untaught maiden

she shows no traces of book learning)

some of the

logic of the heart straight to

doctrines which

The

mystics. all

we have found

brief extracts

(for

led

the

speculative

the philosophical

which follow

will illustrate

these statements.

The

crucified Christ

She refused

tion.

which

reason,"

"Nay,

Father."

art

pain

heaven.

till

said, I

listen

For "

" a

heaven to

His

proffer

not," she replied, "for

would

Doomsday than

than by Him."

Look up

may I

the one object of her devo-

liked

liever

come

Thou

have been in that

to heaven otherwise

none other heaven than

non sono ancor bene pui^ti. sono proprie di quelli che si trovano gia in istato It comes originally from St. Augustine {Z>e Gen. ad litf. di perfezione." " Haec sunt tria genera visionum. xii. Primum ergo 7> ^- l6) appellemus corporale, quia per corpus percipitur, et corporis sensibus exhibetur. Secundum spirituale quidquid enim corpus non est, et tamen aliquid est, iam recte dicitur spiritus ; et utique non est corpus, quamvis corpori similis sit, imago absentis corporis, nee ille ipse obtutus quo cemitur. Tertium vero intellectuale, ab intellectu." dei principianti e dei proficienti, che

visioni intellectuali

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL which

Jesus,

And

after describing

bliss

when

come

Her

there."

a vision of the crucifixion, she

How might any pain be more than to " all my life and all my bliss suffer ?

says, "

that

shall

203

see

estimate of the value of means of grace

Him very

and sound. " In that time the custom of our praying was brought to mind, how we use, for lack of understanding and knowing of love, to make [use Then saw I truly that it is more of] many means. clear

God and more

worship to

very delight that

faith-

Himself of His goodness, and cleave

pray to

fully

by His grace, with true understanding and by love, than if we made [use of] all the means that heart can think. For if we made [use of]

thereto

steadfast

all

these means,

God

;

but

too

little,

His goodness

For

there faileth right nought.

came God

into for

blood,

mind.

[the sake of]

and not is

all

this,

full

worship

the whole, and as

shall

say,

In the same time we pray to

His holy

flesh

and precious

His holy passion, His dearworthy death and

wounds: and all the blessed kinship, the endless life And we that we have of all this, is His goodness.

Him for [the sake of] His sweet mother's love, that Him bare and all the help that we have of her And yet " God of His goodness is of His goodness."

pray

;

hath advanced means to help

us, full fair

of which the chief and principal mean nature that

took of the maid, with

that go afore and

redemption and pleaseth

Him

come

after

to endless

that

seek

and many

all

the blessed the

means

which belong to our

salvation.

Him and

Wherefore worship

through means, understanding and knowing that

Him He is

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

204

the goodness of

For the goodness of God

all.

highest prayer, and

of our need.

life,

the

cometh down to the lowest part

quickeneth our soul, and bringeth

and maketh

for to

wax

and

in grace

nearest in nature and readiest in grace

for

;

virtue. it is

the same grace that the soul seeketh, and ever shall seek

till

we know

verily that

hath us

Himself

all in

beclosed."

"After

our Lord showed concerning

this

In which showing

Lord

;

one

rightfulness, another

But oftentimes our

God

sure that

trust

not

before.

feel right

seechest

;

and then

make

;

make

should

not have thy beseeching

it .

for

thee to wish for it,

and thou be-

be that thou shouldest

For

it is

most impos-

we should beseech mercy and grace and

have

For

all

will that

sible that it.

our prayers as

first, it is

trust.

are not

nought

after

thee to beseech

How then

it.

But our Lord said to me,

the ground of thy beseechings

and then

for

;

by our

assured

think because of our

and dry oftentimes

are as barren

thou have

full

heareth us, as

unworthiness, and because

we were

Prayers.

see two conditions signified

things that our good Lord

not

maketh us

Himself hath ordained them to us from

to beseech.

Here may we see that our beand that showed He soothfastly in all these sweet words which I am the ground.' And our good Lord He saith and willeth that this be known of His lovers in earth the more that we know it the more should we beseech, and so is our Lord's meaning. if it be wisely taken Merry and joyous is our Lord of our prayer, and He without beginning. seeching

not the cause of God's goodness

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL looketh

for

it;

with His grace

and He willeth to have it; because would have us like to Himself in

condition as

205

Therefore saith

are in kind.

Pray inwardly, although thou think it has no savour to thee: for it is profitable, though thou feel us,

though thou see

not,

not, yea,

though thou think thou

canst not.'"

And also to prayer belongeth thanksgiving. Thanks-

giving

a true inward knowing, with great reverence

and lovely dread turning ourselves with unto the working that our good Lord rejoicing

Good Lord Thou be." "

Prayer

joy that

sometimes

out with voice and

breaketh

great thanks be to

Thee

for

saith:

blessed mote

a right understanding of that fulness

and

to come, with great longing

our mights

stirreth us to,

And

and thanking inwardly.

plenteousness

all

certain

Then belongeth it to us to do our diligence, and when we have done it, then shall we yet think But if we do as that it is nought and in sooth it is. mercy ask for and grace, all that and truly can, we And thus meaneth faileth us we shall find in Him. trust.

;

where

ing.' I

And

saw a

all

saith

the ground of thy beseech-

thus in this blessed word, with the Showing,

full

overcoming against

all

our weakness and

our doubtful dreads." Juliana's view of

human

personality

remarkable,

reminds us of the Neoplatonic doctrine that there

a higher and a lower

untainted

understood

by the full

sins

self,

of which the former

of the

latter.

" I

saw and

surely," she says, " that in every soul

that shall be saved there

a godly will that never

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

2o6 assented to that it

never work

;

which

sd good

will is

but evermore continually

evil,

good, and worketh good in the sight of

willeth

God.

nor ever shall

sin,

may

have

all

safe in our

Lord Jesus

substance

whole and

this blessed will "

godly

will " or

corresponds to the spark of the

German

This

Christ."

mystics. " I

saw no

she says, " between

difference,"

our substance, but, as

were,

all

And

God.

understanding took, that our substance that

to say, that

God

God and

yet

God

God, and our substance a

Highly ought we to enjoy that God

creature in God.

much more highly, that our Thus was my understanding led to know, that our soul is made Trinity, like to the unmade Blessed Trinity, known and loved from without beginning, and in the making oned to the Maker. This sight was full sweet and marvellous to behold, peaceable and restful, sure and delectable."

dwelleth in our soul, and soul dwelleth in God.

As anent our substance and our sense-part, both may rightly be called our soul and that is The because of the oneing that they have in God. "

together

;

worshipful City that our Lord Jesus sitteth

our sense-soul, in which substance

enclosed,

powers

its full

virtue of Christ's passion stance."

nature.

That is

soul can-

by the

be " brought up to the sub-

say, our

substantial

substantial Nature

Our

until our sense-nature

This fulfilment of the soul

God, which

beclosed in Jesus, sitting with the blessed

soul of Christ at rest in the Godhead."

not reach

in,

and our natural

reason

" is

grounded

Naturehood; out of

this

mercy and grace spring and spread

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL into us, working all things

207

of our joy:

fulfilling

we have our increase we have our life and mercy and grace we have our increase

these are our ground, in which

and our

For

fulfilling.

our being, and in

and our

fulfilling."

one of her visions she was shown our Lord

"scorning the "

might."

fiend's

For

made them said,

earnest.

scorn,

this sight

After this

and

;

God

saw

graveness,

see game, scorn,

But

into

fell

see game, that the fiend that

un-

his

laught mightily, and that

see three things

scorned the

and noughting

malice,

to laugh that were about me.

not Christ laugh.

and

nature

overcome

scorneth him, and

see earnest, in that he

and

see

shall

;

overcome by

and death of our Lord Jesus that was done in full earnest and with sober

blissful

Christ,

passion

travail.'

Alternations

of mirth and sadness followed each

other

many

some

souls to feel

was

left

times, " to learn

that

Once

this wise."

to herself, " in heaviness

speedful to

especially she

and weariness of

and irksomeness of myself, that scarcely I could For profit of a man's soul have pleasure to live. life,

sometimes

always the cause fore

Also,

left ;

to himself; although sin

left

to myself

;

for

Lord giveth when

woe sometime.

And

will,

both

Her treatment of the problem of acteristic.

" In

not

was so sudden.

deserved not to have this blessed feeling.

freely our

to be in

for in that time I sinned not, where-

should be so I

folly,

often I

beginning of sin was not letted

;

and one

But

suffereth us love."

evil is

very char-

wondered why the but Jesus, in this

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

2o8 vision,

answered and

shall

and

well,

thing shall be

said,

shall

all

Sin

behovable,^ but

well,

In this naked

well.'

all

and all manner of word sin our Lord

my mind generally all that is not good. saw not sin for I believe it had no manner of substance, nor any part of being, nor might it be known but by the pain that is caused thereof and this pain purgeth and maketh us to know ourself, and ask mercy. In these same words (' all shall be well ') I saw an high and marvellous privity hid in God." She wondered kow " all shall be well," when Holy Church teacheth brought to

But

;

us to believe that

many

no other answer but things,

and

God

shall

word

thing well.

all

how

the deed shall be, and

had in all

This

be done, there

shall

saw no wrath but on man's party," she

says,

life is all

may

be, that

in us.

God

for

Him

when we be

contrariousness, nor

all

when

of the

Romish

hell

were

And we

now it

ever

in us

love,

letting, ;

Our

truly peaced in

peace and

Suddenly

found no wrath.

of His goodness maketh visions of

in love.

no manner of

contrariousness which

the most impos-

It is

should be wroth.

grounded and rooted

the soul oned to God,

itself;

it,

done."

and that forgiveth

sible that

saw,

it till it is

" I

but what

;

no creature beneath Christ that knoweth

" I

But

lost.

save

I shall

make

shall

this,

shall

the great deed that our Lord

wit

;

thus find

through that

nay, our

Lord God

to us full profitable."

showed to

her.

In place

hideous details of torture which some of the visionaries describe almost with relish, Juliana '

That

is,

"necessary" or "profitable."

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL merely reports, " than

To me was showed none

209

harder hell

sin."

Again and again she rings the changes on the her, " I love thee and thou lovest Me, and our love shall never be disparted words which the Lord said to in two."

The

love wherein

from without beginning "

;

He made

which

we have our beginning, and

God

without end."

all

us was in

Him

love," she concludes,

this shall

be seen

LECTURE

; :

;

heart, the equal poise of Love's both parts, Big alike with wounds and darts, Live in these conquering leaves, live still the same, And walk through all tongues one triumphant flame 1 Live here, great heart, and love and die and kill, And bleed, and wound, and yield, and conquer still. Let this immortal life, where'er it comes, Walk in a crowd of loves and martyrdoms. Let mystic deaths wait on it, and wise souls be

The

love-slain witnesses of this life of thee. show here thy art

sweet incendiary

Upon

a hard, cold heart thy scattered shafts of light, that play Among the leaves of thy large books of day, Combined against this breast at once break in, And take away from me myself and sin This glorious robbery shall thy bounty be. And my best fortunes such fair spoils of me. thou undaunted daughter of desires I By all thy dower of lights and fires, By all the eagle in thee, all the dove. By all thy lives and deaths of love, By thy large draughts of intellectual day. And by thy thirsts of love more large than they By all thy brim-fill'd bowls of fierce desire. By thy last morning's draught of liquid fire. By the full kingdom of that final kiss That seized thy parting soul and seal'd thee His By all the heavens thou hast in Him, Fair sister of the seraphim By all of Him we have in Thee, L^ave nothing of myself in me Let me so read thy life, that I Unto all life of mine may die."

Let

this carcase of

all

;

Crashaw, On " In a dark night. Burning with ecstasies wherein I

Oh Unheard

happy

I left the

The inmates

St.

Teresa.

fell,

plight.

house wherein

sleeping peacefully

and

dwell, well.

Secure from sight;

By unknown ways,

in unknown robes concealed. plight And to no eye revealed, home in sleep as in the tomb was sealed.

happy

Sweet night,

whose blessed

fold

No human

eye beheld me, and mine ey» None could behold.

Only for Guide had I His Face whom I desired so St.

ardently.''

Juan of the Cross 212

(translated

by Hutchings).

LECTURE

Practical and Devotional Mysticism "Whom

heaven bnt Thee? and there is none upon eaith My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the heart, and my portion for ever." Ps. bcxiii. 25, 26.

have

I in

that I desire beside Thee.

strength of

—continued

—

We have

seen that the leaders of the Reformation in

Germany

thrust aside speculative Mysticism with im-

Nor did

patience.

Platonism fare

Christian

better in the Latin countries.

who

Plotinus in Italy in the sixteenth century, that a revival of

humane

much

There were students of

letters,

fancied

and a better acquaint-

ance with philosophy, were the best means of combating the

barbaric

But these

enthusiasms of the North.

Italian Neoplatonists had, for the

religious feelings,

most

part,

and they did not exhibit

no deep

in their lives

that severity which the Alexandrian philosophers practised.

And

so,

when Rome had need

had

of a Catholic

mystical revival to stem the tide of Protestantism, she

among the scholars Papal court. The Mysticism

could not find what she required

and philosophers of the

of the counter- Reformation had It

its

has been said that " Mysticism

Spain."

This does not mean that

centre in Spain.

the philosophy of

idealistic

philosophy

flourished in the Peninsula, for the Spanish race has

never shown any taste for metaphysics. '

The Mysticism

Rousselot, Les Mystiques Espagnols, p. 213

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

214 of Spain

psychological

its

;

point of departure

the notion of Being or of Unity, but the

seeking reconcilation with God.

human

not soui

need not be on

our guard against pantheism in reading the Spanish mystics

;

they show no tendency to obliterate the divid-

ing lines of personality, or to deify sinful humanity.

cause of this peculiarity

The

to be sought partly in the

strong individualism of the Spanish character, and partly in external circumstances.^

Free thought in Spain was

so sternly repressed, that those tendencies of mystical religion

which are antagonistic to Catholic discipline

The Spanish

were never allowed to display themselves.

mystics remained orthodox Romanists, subservient to their " directors

making

and

" superiors,"

recruits for the cloister.

and indefatigable

Even

they did not

so,

escape the attention of the Inquisition; and though

two among them,

St.

Teresa and

were awarded the badge of

showed how

St.

Juan of the Cross,

sanctity, the fate of Molinos

Rome had come

to dread even the most

submissive mystics.

The

early part of the sixteenth century

of high culture in Spain.

The

was a period

universities of

and Alcala were famous throughout Europe is

said

(doubtless with

;

Salamanca the former

great exaggeration) to have

contained at one time fourteen thousand students.

But

the Inquisition, which had been founded to suppress

Jews and Mahometans, was roused to a more baneful activity by the appearance of Protestantism in Spain. Before the end of the sixteenth century, the Spanish ' Among the latter must be mentioned the growth of Scotist Nominiilism, on which see a note on p. 187. Ritschl was the first to point out how strongly Nominalism influenced the later Mysticism, by giving it its quietistic character. See Harnack, Histsry of Dogma (Eng. tr.), vol. vi. p. 107

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL people,

who up

to that time

in love of liberty

had been second

215 to

none

and many-sided energy, had been

changed into sombre

fanatics,

sunk in ignorance and

and retaining hardly a trace of their former buoyancy and healthy independence.^ The first Index superstition,

Expurgatorius was published in 1546; the burning of Protestants began in 1559.

Till then, Eckhart, Tauler,

Suso, and Ruysbroek had circulated freely in Spain.

But the

condemned them all, except The same rigour was extended to the

Inquisition

Ruysbroek.

Arabian philosophers, and so fluenced Spanish theology

much

their less

speculations

in-

than might have

been expected from the long sojourn of the Moors in

Averroism was known

the Peninsula.

chiefly

Spain

through the medium of the Fans Vitce of Ibn

Gebirol (Avicebron).

Dionysius

and

the

scholastic

mystics of the Middle Ages were, of course, allowed

But besides

to be read.

these, the

and Plotinus were accessible

works of Plato

Latin translations, and

were highly valued by some of the Spanish mystics. This statement

may

surprise those

who have

identified

Spanish Mysticism with Teresa and Juan of the Cross, and who know how little Platonism is to be found in their theology. But these two militant champions of the counter-Reformation numbered among their contemporaries mystics of a different type, whose writings, little

known

in this country, entitle

able place in the

roll

them

to an honour-

of Christian Platonists.

Vida de Lazarillode Tormes, corregiday emen" The ignorance of the Spaniards The Inquisitors are the cause. They are dreaded, not only by is excusable. the people, but by the great lords, to such an extent that the mere mention of the Inquisition makes every head tremble like a leaf in the wind." *

Cf. the beginning of the

dada for /uan de Luna

(Paris, 1620),

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

2i6

them most of the

find in

of Christian Neoplatonism

characteristic doctrines

the radiation of

from God and their return to God

God

in all things

vitally

;

the notion of

connected with

all

;

man

insistence

upon

as a microcosm,

have maintained,

members

disinterested love

admonitions to close the eye of sense.* which, as

things

the different orders of creation;*

the Augustinian doctrine of Christ and His

"one Christ

all

the immanence of

This

;

and

last precept,

neither true Platonism

nor true Mysticism, must be set against others in which the universe

copy of the Divine

said to be a

Ideas,

" of which Plotinus has spoken divinely," the creation of

Love, which has given form to chaos, and stamped

with the image of the Divine beauty; and in which

are exhorted to rise through the contemplation of

nature to God.^

Juan de Angelis, " Las

Pedro Malon de Chaide

Alejo Venegas in Rousselot, p. 78

in his treatise

cosas en Dios son :

mismo Dies."

Louis de Leon,

who

indebted to

the Fans Vita. ° *

Louis de Leon " The members and the head are one Christ." Diego de Stella affirms the mystic paradox, that it is better to be in :

hell with Christ than in glory without "

Juan d'Avila

" Let us put a

Him

veil

{Medit.

iii.).

between ourselves and

all created

things." '

This side of Platonism appears in Pedro Malon, and especially in Compare also the beautiful ode of Louis de Leon,

Louis de Granada. entitled

"Noche Serena," where

the eternal peace of the starry heavens

contrasted with the turmoil of the world

"Quien

Y Y Y

es el

que esto mira,

precia la bajeza de la tierra,

no gime y suspira rompe lo que encierra El alma, y destos bienes la destierra? Aqui vive al contento, Aqui reina la paz, aqui asentado En rico y alto asiento Esta el amor sagrado De glorias y deleites rodeado."

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL the spiritual

Tibullus,

But

and

this

quotes freely, not only from

nuptials,

Plato, Plotinus,

and

217

Virgil,

but from Lucretius, Ovid,

Martial.

kind of humanism was frowned upon by the

These were not the

Church, in Spain as elsewhere.

weapons with which

Lutheranism

could

be fought

Juan d'Avila was accused before the 5 34, and one of his books was placed

successfully.

Inquisition in

on the Index of 1559; Louis de Granada had to take refuge in Portugal; Louis de Leon, who had the courage to say that the Song of Solomon

only a

dungeon for five years.^ imprisonment at narrowly escaped Even St Teresa Seville and St. Juan of the Cross passed nine months was sent

pastoral idyll,

to a

;

a black hole at Toledo. Persecution,

seldom

fails

when applied with

its

immediate

sufficient ruthlessness,

object.

about twelve years to destroy Protestantism

took only in

Spain

and the Holy Office was equally successful in binding Mysticism hand and expect to find in characteristic light

St.

foot*

And

we must not

Teresa or St Juan any of the

independence of Mysticism.

The

inner

which they sought was not an illumination of the

intellect in its search for truth,

but a consuming

fire

' After his release he was suffered to resume his lectures. crowd of sympathisers assembled to hear his first utterance ; but he began quietly

with his usual formula, " Deciamos ahora," " We were saying just now." ' The heresy of the " Alombrados " (lUuminati), which appeared in the sixteenth century, and was ruthlessly crushed by the Inquisition, belonged Its adherents taught that to the familiar type of degenerate Mysticism. the prayers of the Church were worthless, the only true prayer being a kind of ecstasy, without words or mental im^es. The " illuminated " need

no sacraments, and can commit no sins. The mystical union once achieved an abiding possession. There was another outbreak of the same errors in 1623, and a corresponding sect of Illuminis in Southern France.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

218 burn up

all

and

earthly passions

sented them with no problems

;

Faith pre-

desires.

all

such questions had

ascetics first

all by Holy Church, They were and Church Reformers next; neither of

them was a

typical mystic.^

been settled once for

The

of St. Teresa

life

teaching.

She had

Castilian

ancestors

all

—

interesting than her

the best qualities of her noble simplicity,

straightforwardness,

and dauntless courage; and the record of her denying

life

enlivened

by numerous

humour, which make her character more

known

best

as a visionary,

her visions that she

and

it is

flashes

lovable.

self-

She

mainly through

often regarded as one of the

most representative mystics. occupy a very large space

But these

visions

in the story of her

life.

do not They

two or three years of her and again between the ages of forty and fifty: there was a long gap between the two periods, and during the last twenty years of her life, when she was actively engaged in founding and visiting religious This experience was houses, she saw them no more. were frequent during the convent

life,

that of

many

first

other saints of the cloister.

Spiritual

consolations seem to be frequently granted to encourage

young beginners

;

then they are withdrawn, and only

recovered after a long period of dryness and darkness '

The

real

(d. 1562).

founder of Spanish quietistic Mysticism was Pedro of Alcantara was confessor to Teresa. Teresa is also indebted to Fran-

de Osuna, in whose writings the principles of quietism are clearly Cf. Heppe, Geschichte der quietistichen Mystik, p. 9. *The fullest and best account of St. Teresa is in Mrs. Cunninghame Graham's Life and Times of Santa Teresa (2 vols.). cisco

taught.

•

" Hae

imaginarise visiones regulariter eveniunt vel incipientibus vel

proficientibus

(Lutem. Myst.

nondum bene Tract, v. 3).

purgatis,

communiter

tenent

mystse"

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL but

in later

when the

life,

imagination

character

common ;

the light

In considering St. Teresa's visions,

day.

we must remember and sincere

and the

fixed,

less active, the vision fades into

219

that she

was transparently honest

that her superiors strongly disliked

suspected, and

enemies

her

ridiculed,

her

and

spiritual

same time they brought her great fame and influence; that she was at times haunted by doubts whether she ever really saw them and, lastly, that her biographers have given them a more grotesque and materialistic character than is justified by her own descriptions. She tells us herself that her reading of St. Augustine's Confessions, at the age of forty-one, was a turning-point in " When I came to his conversion," she says, her life. " and read how he heard the voice in the garden, it was just as if the Lord called me." It was after this or rather to have that she began again to see visions privileges; that

at the

—

a sudden sense of the presence of God, with a suspenIn these trances she generally sion of all the faculties. She says that " the words heard Divine " locutions."

were very clearly formed, and unmistakable, though not heard by the bodily

They

ear.

are quite unlike the

words framed by the imagination, which are mufHed

She

[cosa sorda).

First

carefully. in prayer,

describes her visions of Christ very

stood beside her while she was

and she heard and saw Him,

though not

with the eyes of the body, nor of the soul."

by degrees

His

sacred humanity

manifested to me, as rection."

(This

last

painted after the Resur-

sentence

pictures, lovingly gazed at,

Then

was completely

suggests

may have

that

sacred

been the source

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

220 of

some of her

Her

visions.)

superiors tried to per-

suade her that they were delusions; but she replied, " If they

who

said this told

me that a person who had whom I knew well, was

just finished speaking to me,

knew

not that person, but they less

seen

but

;

person

if this

fancied

it,

doubt-

had

behind him some jewels

left

as pledges of his great love,

having been poor,

And

that

should believe them, rather than what

and

found myself rich

could not believe

it if

wished.

show them. For all who knew me saw clearly that my soul was changed the difference was great and palpable." The answer shows that for Teresa the question was not whether the these jewels I could

;

manifestations were ''subjective" or "objective," but

whether they were sent by God or Satan.

One

of the best chapters in her autobiography, and

perhaps the most interesting from our present point of view,

the allegory under which she describes the

The

different kinds of prayer.

simile

appears in St. Augustine and others

worked out by

St. Teresa,

been a great delight to

who

;

tells

Our

soul

out of which

God

to think of

well

;

—

fully

has always

soul as a

So here she a garden, rough and unfruitful, it."

plucks the weeds, and plants flowers,

which we have to water by prayer.

ways of doing

it is

us "

garden, and of the Lord as walking in says, "

not original

but

this

—

First,

this is the earliest

There are four

by drawing the water from a and most laborious process.

Secondly, by a water-wheel which

round with to

The

little

flow through first

buckets. it.

Third,

has its rim hung by causing a stream

Fourth, by rain from heaven.

ordinary prayer, which

often attended

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL by great sweetness and well

What

dry.

consist

then

and tenderness, but

The

love of

receive than

when the

stage the Will are

The second

soul understands that

still

makes these the three " It

the Gardener.

not at

work."

all;

said these

herself, It

Him."

In this

were,

faculties,

which

do they understand

In the fourth stage, the soul labours the faculties are quiescent.

all

so near

faculties of the

a sleep of the

pondered how she might describe

Lord

God

God becomes,

are not entirely suspended, nor yet

how they

(Teresa, following the scho-

active.

In the third stage

soul.)

rather

the prayer of

absorbed, but the Understanding and

lastic mystics,

not

delights

seems to

other

give.

to her that she need not talk aloud to

Memory

God does

serving with justice, courage,

The

and humility. quiet,

But sometimes the

comfort.

being able to weep, nor yet in

221

words to

She

this

state,

(the soul)

she

"the

unmakes

daughter, to bring herself closer to Me.

no more she that

comprehend what she Years

understand."

lives,

but

she cannot

understanding she ceases to

sees,

she had attained this fourth

after

what the mystics

stage, Teresa experienced

call

"the

great dereliction," a sense of ineffable loneliness and desolation, which nevertheless

happiness.

the path to incomparable

was accompanied by a kind of catalepsy,

with muscular rigidity and cessation of the pulses.

These intense joys and sorrows of the chief events of Teresa's

They

are

activity,

munities

followed

life

for

spirit are the

eight or ten years.

by a period of extreme

when she devoted of bare-footed

practical

herself to organising

Carmelites,

whose

com-

austerity

—

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

222

and devotion were to revive the glories of primitive Christianity. In this work she showed not only"

wisdom and tact in no common Her visions had certainly not impaired her powers as an organiser and ruler of men and women. Her labours continued without intermission till, at the energy, but worldly degree.

age of sixty-seven, she was struck down by her "

illness,

said,

This saint

will

last

be no longer wanted," she

with a sparkle of her old vivacity, when she knew

that she was to die. It is

not worth while to give a detailed account ot

St. Teresa's mystical theology.

that the religious

life

Its cardinal points are

consists in complete conformity

the will of God, so that at last the

human

becomes purely "passive" and "at rest"; belief in

Christ as the sole

will

and the

ground of salvation, on

which subject she uses language which is curiously like that of the Lutheran Reformers. Her teaching about passivity

and the

prayer of quiet

with

" is identical

that which the Pope afterwards

condemned in Molinos but it is only fair to remember that Teresa was not canonised for her theology, but for her life, and that the

Roman Church

which can be found

not committed to every doctrine

in the writings of

real character of St. Teresa's piety in

some of her

be seen best

prayers, such as this which follows

Lord, how

from our thoughts resolved to love

utterly different are

Thy

thoughts

From a

Thee

her whole will into

The

her saints.

may

alone,

Thy

soul which is firmly and which has surrendered

hands.

Thou demandest only

that she should hearken, strive earnestly to serve Thee,

and

desire only to

promote Thine honour.

She need

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL seek and choose no path, for

and her

will follows

Thine

Thou doest

that for her,

Lord, takest

while Thou,

;

223

care to bring her to fuller perfection."

In theory,

may

not be easy to reconcile " earnest

striving" with complete surrender

the

reported that he

whom

matter than the Rabbi Gamaliel, of

do Thy

prayed, "

will as if it

were

Thy

Lord, grant that

will,

will."

be annihilated, not (as

may

that

Thou mayest do

But

quietistic Mysti-

cism often puts the matter on a wrong will is to

them

Perhaps no one has spoken better on

incompatible. this

and abrogation of

will, but the logic of the heart does not find

St.

Self-

basis.

Teresa sometimes

implies) because our thoughts are so utterly different

from God's thoughts that they cannot exist

same

mind,

but

because

self-interest

the other faculties, only realises itself in

when God worketh His good pleasure.

the

will,

sets

The

unnatural antagonism between them.

its

fulness

us both to will and to do of

Juan of the Cross, the fellow-workman of St. Teresa in the reform of monasteries, is a still more St.

example of the Spanish type of Mysticism. fame has never been so great as hers for while His Teresa's character remained human and lovable in the perfect

;

midst of

all

her austerities, Juan carried self-abnegation

to a fanatical extreme,

and presents the

life

of holiness

In his disdain of all in a grim and repellent aspect. compromise between the claims of God and the world, he welcomes every kind of suffering, and bids us choose always that which is most painful, difficult, and humiliating.

His

own

life

was

divided

between

terrible

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

224

and strenuous labour in the foundation Though his books show a tendency to

mortifications

of monasteries.

Quietism, his character was one of fiery energy and

Houses of

unresting industry.

sprang up

" discalced " Carmelites

over Spain as the result of his labours.

all

These monks and nuns

upon bare boards, fasted never ate meat, and wore the

slept

months in the year, same serge dress in winter and summer.

eight

new foundations

these

the

In some of

Brethren even vied with

each other in adding voluntary austerities to It

rule.

was

The

antism.

worldliness and luxury of the Renaissance

period were to be atoned for

and devotion of ideal

—

all

its

This

century.

return to the purity

sight of: the

completeness

essentially

movement among all

by a

The

earlier centuries.

older Catholic

the mediaeval type of Christianity

restored

this severe

part of the campaign against Protest-

all

militant

—was

of the

character

Carmelites must not

the

to be

seventeenth

the

lost

two great Spanish mystics were before

things champions of the counter- Reformation.

The two chief works of St. Juan are The Ascent of Mount Carmel, and The Obscure Night of the Soul. Both are

treatises

type.

the

beginning

"The

Carmelo he says, Divine union

called

point of departure

Mysticism of a peculiar

La Subida

which

The

like night

its

Monte

night for three reasons: the

privation of all desire, ;

to the intellect

incomprehensible while soul

journey of the soul to the

detachment from the world

plete

God,

quietistic

the road ;

and com-

faith,

the goal, which

are in this

life."

ascent passes from one realm of

darkness to another.

First

there

the

"night of

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL sense," in her.

which the things of earth become dark to for " the creatures

This must needs be traversed,

crumbs that

are only the

none but dogs

fall

God

from God's

them

to pick

turn

will

desire only doth

—

allow

completely detached from "

When

all

such,

and

One

up."

desires weaken,

Until we we cannot

are

love

thou dwellest upon anything, thou hast " If thou wilt

ceased to cast thyself upon the All."

keep anything with the "

simply in God."

and thou

things,

table,

obeying Him,

that of

and carrying the Cross." All other torment, blind, and pollute the soul. God.

225

All, thou hast not

Empty walk

wilt

thy

spirit

in the

thy treasure

Divine

all

created

God

light, for

Such is the method of night of sense." Even at this early

resembles no created thing." traversing the "

stage the forms and symbols of eternity, which others

have found

as useless.

The dualism

the visible works of God, are discarded

God or

has no resemblance to any creature."

acosmism of mediaeval thought has

seldom found a harsher expression. In the night of sense, the understanding and reason are not blind faith,

" all

;

but in the second night, the night of

darkness."

the deepest darkness that " third night, the night of is

at hand.

soul to

Faith

midnight "

;

we have to pass for in the memory and will," the dawn ;

he defines as

what we have heard "

—

the assent of the

as a blind

man would

receive a statement about the colour of an object.

must be totally blind, " for a partially blind man Thus not commit himself wholly to his guide."

will

for

Juan the whole content of revelation is removed from the scope of the reason, and is treated as someSt.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

226

thing communicated from outside.

have, indeed,

happy confidence

travelled far from St. Clement's

the guidance of reason, and Eckhart's independence

of tradition.

The

memory, and

will.

soul has three faculties

The imagination

—

comes between the

and memory.^

intellect

faculties, " faith (he says) blinds the intellect,

memory, and love the

God

not

but

;

God

will."

adds, " to

" without

themselves,"

annihilating

gluttony."

world."

that

whether

last is " spiritual

for bitterness

choose what

" to

God

from

proceeding

The way of God

and those who

This

ought to seek

than sweetness in God," and disagreeable,

hope the

all

enough to deny themselves

seek for satisfaction in God."

consisteth not in

devotion or sweetness, though these

may be

rather is

most the

ways of

necessary

up to suffer." mystical phenomena the sight, hearing, and

beginners, but in giving ourselves

And

we must

fly

all "

from

(supernatural manifestations to

the other senses)

good or evil."

without examining whether they be

For bodily sensations bear no propor-

tion to spiritual things "

God and

the creature

likeness or

best

fly,"

toys "

he says

come from the intellectual

;

since the distance " between

is infinite,"

" there is

communion between them."

" childish

cannot

these

in this life is like night."

blames those who think

between the sensitive and reasoning powers, and

link

intellect,

{fantasia)

;

For

perceptions,

in Plotinus ^avraala

essential

that touches honey

and the probability

devil.

perfect apprehension of vovt.

" the fly

Visions are at

that they

" neither the creatures, nor

natural or supernatural,

comes between

0iJ(«s (the

can

lower soul) and the

— PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL

227

bring us to God, there being no proportion between

Created things cannot serve as a ladder

them.

;

they

are only a hindrance and a snare."

There

tion of the

something heroic

maxim

you that forsaketh not

disciple."

life

also "

—

All that he hath

in our nature

surrender at the feet of secret place,

water,

that he hath, he cannot be

all

intellect, reason,

most Divine

sombre interpretaWhosoever he be of

in this

of our Lord, "

—

" yea,

and memory

— are

Him who

—

own

that

down in absolute made darkness His

His pavilion round about "

his

all

cast

and thick clouds to cover Him."

In the " third night

and

—

that of

Him

with dark

memory and

will

the soul sinks into a holy inertia and oblivion {santa ociosidad y alvido), in which the flight of time

unfelt,

and the mind is unconscious of all particular thoughts. St. Juan seems here to have brought us to something like the torpor of the Indian Yogi or of the hesychasts of

Mount Athos.

this state

But he does not intend us to regard

of trance as permanent or

final.

It is

the last

watch of the night before the dawn of the supernatural state,

which the human

faculties are

turned into

Divine attributes, and by a complete transformation the soul, "

which was " at the opposite extreme

becomes, by participation, God."

state "

one might say,

this

to God, beatific

a sense, that the soul gives

God to God, for she gives to God all that she receives This is the of God; and He gives Himself to her. ' St. Juan follows the mediaeval mystics in distinguishing between " meditation " and " contemplation." " Meditation," from which external images are not excluded, is for him an early and imperfect stage ; he who

destined to higher things will soon discover signs which indicate that

time to abandon

it.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

228

mystical love-gift, wherewith the soul repayeth

This

debt."

the infinite reward of the soul

all

her

who

has

refused to be content with anything short of infinity {no se llenan menos que con lo Infinitd).

yearning this blessed hope inspired

With what Juan, is shown in

St.

the following beautiful prayer, which

a good example

of the eloquence, born of intense emotion, which find here

and there

God, too

little

rest

Thee.

everywhere all

known

all

for

who

—

sweetest love of

God, that we

may

Thee

;

O my God, O my Love, for m \ every-

wish,

—nothing

All sweetness and delight for Thee,

all

O my

Thee.

Everywhere with Thee,

for Thee, nothing for

none

he who has found Thee

things with

thing for Thee.

for

;

everything be changed,

let

;

pages

in his

bitterness

and trouble

God, how sweet to

supreme Good

for

me, none

me Thy

presence,

I will draw near to Thee and will uncover Thy feet,^ that it may please unite me to Thyself, making my soul Thy will rejoice in nothing till I am in Thine arms.

art the

in silence,

Thee bride

to ;

Lord,

because

Such

faith,

gleams of

beseech Thee, leave

know not

hope, and

light

not for a moment,

the value of mine

upon the

love

own

soul."

were suffered to cast

saint's

gloomy and thorn-

But nevertheless the text of which we are most often reminded in reading his pages is the verse

strewn path.

Amos

and not It is

Shall not the day of the

light

Lord be darkness

even very dark, and no brightness

a terrible view of

life

and duty

—

that

are to

denude ourselves of everything that makes us citizens of the world

—

that nothing which '

The

reference

Ruth

is iii.

natural 7.

capable

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL God

of entering into relations with

human must natural

road

its

by superthe end the

metaphysics

transcendental

the

basis

psychological.

not the

from the notion of Being or of

result of abstracting ;

which

all

His nihilism or acosmism

Neoplatonism.

unity

that

of Dionysius, without troubling him-

with

all

—

place taken

its

Juan follows to

St.

infusion.

" negative self

die,

and have

229

" subjective

religion carried almost to its logical conclusion.

The

Neoplatonists were led on by the hope of finding a

and

reconciliation between philosophy

positive religion

;

but no such problems ever presented themselves to the

Spaniards.

hear nothing of the relation of the

creation to God, or

wky

the contemplation of

should

know its Maker. The world simply does not exist for St. Juan nothing The great human exists save God and human souls.

only hinder instead of helping us to

;

society has

interest for

him

;

he would have us cut

ourselves completely adrift from the aims and aspirations of civilised humanity, and, " since nothing but the Infinite

can satisfy us," to accept

nothingness

with the

filled

nothing until our

Infinite.

does not

escape from the quietistic attitude of passive expectancy

which belongs to

this

view of

life

;

and

it is only by a any value to the on a very different

glaring inconsistency that he attaches ecclesiastical

from

basis

symbolism, which that

of his

rests

teaching.

But

St.

Juan's

Mysticism brought him no intellectual emancipation, either

for

good or

evil.

antithesis, not to sight, as

The

sacrifice of reason

the old man.

And

Faith

with him

in the Bible,

was the

but to reason.

was part of the crucifixion

so he remained in an attitude of

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

230

complete subservience to Church tradition and authority,

and even

an intermediary who

to his " director,"

mentioned by these post-Reformation Even this unqualified submissiveness did not preserve him from persecution during his lifetime, and constantly

mystics.

suspicion afterwards.

His books were only authorised

twenty-seven years after his death, which occurred in

1591; and

his

beatification

was delayed

till

674.

His orthodoxy was defended largely by references to Teresa,

St.

could

not

who had

But

already been canonised.

be denied that the quietists of the next

century might find

much support

contro-

their

for

verted doctrines in both writers. St,

Juan's ideal of saintliness was as

much

of an

But no

anachronism as his scheme of Church reform.

one ever climbed the rugged peaks of Mount Carmel with more heroic courage and patience.

what tremendous moral force

And

self-surrender to God.

His

shows

life

generated by complete

happily neither his failure

and him of

to read the signs of the times, nor his one-sided

defective grasp of Christian truth, could deprive

the reward of his

life

—

of sacrifice

the reward,

of feeling his fellowship with Christ in suffering.

had " to gain the surrender was not made in the and sold " all that he

The

later

Roman

Catholic

mean,

pearl of great price, vain.

mystics, though they

some beautiful and lovable characters, do not develop any further the type which we have found in St, Francis de Sales has St, Teresa and St, Juan, include

been a favourite devotional writer with thousands in He presents the Spanish Mysticism country.

this

softened

and

polished

into

a graceful

and winning

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL and elevate the

pietism, such as might refine

women

the " honourable

who

231 lives of

The

consulted him.

errors of the quietists certainly receive

some counten-

ance from parts of his writings, but they are neutralised

by maxims of a

different tendency,

borrowed

eclectically

from other sources.^

more consistent and

fortunate follower of St.

less

Teresa was Miguel de Molinos, a Spanish

priest,

who

came to Rome about 1670. His piety and learning won him the favour of Pope Innocent XL, who, according to Bishop Burnet, " lodged him in an apartment of the palace, and put

upon him."

many

singular

marks of

1675 he published

his

esteem

Italian

his

Spiritual Guide, a mystical treatise of great interest.

Molinos begins by saying that there are two ways to

thought, and

pure faith

plation has

two

being

higher.^

the

" exterior

road

—

God

the knowledge of

and

stages, active

;

Meditation

it is

good

can never lead to perfection. goal of which

meditation or discursive

Contem-

or contemplation.

passive, the latter

he also

for beginners,

The

calls

" interior road,"

The somewhat

the

union with God, consists in complete

resignation to the will of God, annihilation of '

the

says, but

all

self-

feminine temper of Francis leads him to attach more

value to fanciful symbolism than would have been approved by St. Juan, or

even by

St.

And we

Teresa.

miss in him that steady devotion to the

Person of Christ, and to Him alone, which gives the Spaniards, in spite of St. Juan could themselves, a sort of kinship with evangelical Christianity. Honorez, reverez, et respectez d'un amour special la never have written, '

sacr&

et glorieuse

Vierge Marie.

EUe

par consequent nostre grand'mire" ^

the

est

mire de nostre souverain pire et

(I).

The three parts into which the book is divided " darkness and dryness" by which God purifies which he

stage, in essential

;

insists,

deal respectively with

the heart

; the second complete obedience to a spiritual director is

and the stage of higher illumination,

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

232 will,

and an unruffled

until the mystical

Then

tranquillity or passivity of soul,

grace

supernaturally " infused."

and

sink

shall

immeasurable sea of God's

infinite

there steadfast and immovable."

we may know

tokens by which meditation

contemplation

ourselves

lose

the

goodness, and rest

that

gives a

list

are called from

and enumerates four

;

means, which lead to perfection and inward peace obedience,

prayer,

communions, and inner

frequent

The

mortification.

best kind of prayer

and there are three

silence;^

silences, that of words,

that of desires, and that of thought.

the soul.^

mind is a With the

which we

find

highest the

the prayer of

In the last and

God

alone speaks to

curious passion

for subdivision

blank, and

Romish

mystics, he distinguishes three kinds of " infusa contemplazione "

hatred

for

all

soul all

filled

and

its

worldly things

Happy

;

(2) "

born of Divine

In this state the

satiety; (3) "security."

soul would willingly even go to hell, will.

God and

with

eccesso " or elevation of the soul,

mentale love

nearly

when the

(i) satiety,

conceives

were God's

if it

the state of that soul which has slain

and annihilated itself." It lives no longer in itself, for God lives in it. "With all truth we may say that it is deified." '

" Colk

mare immenso dell' infinita sua ed immobili." Cf. interesting to find the "prayer of quiet" even in Plotinus. " Let us call upon God Himself before we thus answer not I. 6 c'

ingolfiano e ci perdiamo nel

bontk in cui restiamo ^

It is

Enn.

stabili

—

with uttered words, but reaching forth our souls in prayer to alone can °

pray, alone to

Him who

forma, specie,

modo 6

;

for thus

alone."

speaks, too, of "inner recollection"

"mirandolo dentro

Him

(il

raccoglimento interiore),

medesima nel pii intimo

del'

anima

figura, in vista e generale notitia di fede

oscura, senza veruna distinzione di perfezione

6 attributo,"

tua,

senza

amorosa ed

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL Molinos follows St. Juan of the Cross

233

disparaging

which he says are often snares of the

visions,

much

devil.

of the " horrible tempta-

And,

tions

and torments, worse than any which the martyrs

him, he says

of the early Church underwent," which form part of " purgative contemplation."

resembles the Spanish

mystics also in his insistence on outward observances, " daily

especially

frequent

thinks

when

communion,

possible,"

but

except

for

unnecessary,

confession

beginners.

The book was no sooner printed," says Bishop " than it was much read and highly esteemed, both in Italy and Spain. The acquaintance of the author came to be much desired. Those who seemed "

Burnet,

Rome seemed

the greatest credit at

selves

from

upon all

his friendship.

to value them-

Letters were writ to

places, so that a correspondence

was

him

settled

between him and those who approved of

his

many

grew so much

to be the vogue in

those

" It

different places of Europe."

who had

Rome,

that

all

method, in

the nuns, except

Jesuits to their confessors,

began to lay

aside their rosaries and other devotions, and to give

themselves

much

to the practice of mental prayer."

Molinos had written with the object of the

fetters"

course.

Cf.

Bp.

souls

keep the

Bumet

which the

fetters in

;

laity.^

And

upward

also

so,

it,

came

either sincerely

to be reckoned

these persons were observed to

become more and serious in their mental devotions, their whole deportment as to the exterior

retired

yet there appeared less zeal in

loosened priesthood

instead of the

" In short, everybody that was thought

the Quietists ; and

strict in their lives,

breaking

their

Roman

devout, or that at least affected the reputation of

among

Unfortunately for himself, he

some of the desires

which hindered

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

234

honours which had been grudgingly and suspiciously

bestowed on in

his predecessors,

a dungeon.^

Molinos ended his days

His condemnation was followed by a

sharp persecution of his followers in

become very numerous

;

Italy,

who had

and, in France, Bossuet pro-

cured the condemnation and imprisonment of

Madame

Guyon, a lady of high character and abilities, who was the centre of a group of quietists. Madame de Guyon need not detain us here. Her Mysticism is identical with that of Saint Teresa, except that she was no visionary,

and that her character was

masculine.

Her

softer

attractive personality,

and

and the

less

cruel

and unjust treatment which she experienced during the greater part of her life, arouse the sympathy of all

who

read her story

;

but since

present object

not to exhibit a portrait gallery of eminent mystics,

but to investigate the chief types of mystical thought, not be necessary for

will

make

extracts from her writings.

may be

her quietism

illustrated

describe

The

her

life

character of

by one example

— the

parts of the religion of that Church. They were not so assiduous at Mass, nor so earnest to procure Masses to be said for their firiends nor were they ;

so frequently either at confession or in processions, so that the trade of

those that live by these things was terribly sunk." '

The

Spiritual Guide was well received at

first

in high quarters

;

but in

1681 a Jesuit preacher published a book on "the prayer of quiet," which raised a storm. The first commission of inquiry exonerated Molinos ; but

and Louis XIV. brought strong pressure to bear on the Pope, and Molinos was accused of heresy. Sixty-eight false propositions were extracted from his writings, and formally condemned. They include a justification of disgraceful vices, which Molinos, who was a man of But though the whole process saintly character, could never have taught. in i6$S the Jesuits

against the author of the Spiritual Guide was shamefully unfair, the book

some highly dangerous teaching, which might easily be pressed Molinos saved his life by recanting all his but was imprisoned till his death, about 1696. In 1687 the In-

contains

into the service of immorality, errors,

quisition arrested

200 persons

for "quietist" opinions.

—

; ;

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL hymn on

The Acquiescence

by Cowper " Love

Plunged

Thy

Thy depths

watch

Yet

all

of mercy,

let

fires

die

every soul that loves desires

and see them

hours,

and prepare Thy

fleet

away

;

long that I have languished here thoughts Thy purposes obey,

time

With no

To me

destined sacrifice

slay thy victim,

The death which

The

of Pure Love," translated

Come,

235

reluctance, cheerful equal, whether

'tis

and

sincere.

Love ordain

My life or death, appoint me pain in pain My soul perceives no real

or ease

ill

;

In ease or health no real good she sees.

One Good she covets, and that Good alone ; To choose Thy will, from selfish bias free And to prefer a cottage to a throne. And grief to comfort, if it pleases Thee. That we should bear the cross Die to the world, and live to

Thy command

no more unmoved beneath the rudest hand, As pleased when shipwrecked as when safe on self

Suffer

shore."

F^nelon was also a victim of the campaign against the quietists, though he was no follower of Molinos.

He was drawn Bossuet,

into the controversy against his will

who requested him

pulous attack upon

endorse

Madame Guyon.

an unscru-

made

This

necessary for F^nelon to define his position, which he did in his famous is

Maxims of the

important for our purposes, since

attempt to determine

Mysticism

concerning

interested love

and

the

two

The

Saints.

limits

great

treatise

an elaborate

of true and false doctrines

—

" passive contemplation,"

"dis-

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

not be always explicit extraordinary

are

purely servile

Himself; regards

happiness

own

but

;

five

must

kinds

welfare is

God

only as the condition of

predominant;

still

mixed with

still

(iv,)

mentions here the

and says

;

in the illuminatin

;

stage

" If

of pure love."

of the

just

suggest

—

God

God were

hell

—

Mixed

greater

part

love,"

to will to send the souls

so Chrysostom

however,

of holy souls

interestedness in this salvation, because

God's

and Clement would not love Him is

not a sin

" the

never reach perfect

life,"

it is

the highest

the peaceable exercise

souls in the third state

less." ^

" three

that in the purgative

are united to

interested

self-regarding motives

mixed with the fear of hell while with the hope of heaven "

God:

for

that of hope, in which the desire for

of the mystics,

love

always

love

the love of God's gifts apart from

disinterested love.

lives "

ive,

;

need only become so on

—

love

(iii.)

which

love,

life

all

the love of mere covetousness, which

(ii.)

the

—

occasions

There

implicit.

(v.)

the root of

for self-love is

This predominant desire for God's glory need

evil.

our

must be excluded

Self-interest

from our love of God,

(i.)

may be sum-

the former, Fdnelon's teaching

marised as follows

ought to wish

will that

dis-

for

we should do

our so.

Interested love coincides with resignation, disinterested '

This

" mystic paradox "

has been mentioned aheady.

at length in the Meditations of

Diego de

Stella.

It is

developed

F^nelon says that

it is

found in Cassian, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine, Aiiselm, "and a great number of saints." It is an unfortunate attempt to improve upon Job's fine saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," or the line ^i* Si <piei Kal SKeffffoy, irel vi in Homer which has been often quoted

—

Toi eOaSei/ oStws. hell, the

But unless we form a very unworthy idea of heaven and

proposition

not so

much

extravagant as self-contradictory.

—

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL with

" St.

holy indifference.

that the disinterested heart

237

Francis de Sales says

wax

is like

hands of

in the

God."

its

must continue

to co-operate with God's grace,

even in the highest stage, and not cease to impulses, as

wise

if all

came from God.

to speak the language of the tempter."

of course, directed

is,

the former

has not yet cast out

(This

love, is that

simple and peaceable, while the It is false

fear.

should hate ourselves

with ourselves as with

others'.'

;

other-

difference between the

and that of interested

vigilance of pure

our

immoral apathy

the

against

The only

attributed to Molinos.)

that

resist

To speak

latter

teaching to say

should be in charity

Spontaneous, unreflecting good acts proceed from

what the mystics acts

St.

the apex of the soul.

call

Antony

the

places

most

In such

perfect prayer

unconscious prayer."

Of prayer he and we desire

says, "

much

pray as much as we desire,

love."

Vocal prayer

cannot be (as the extreme quietists pretend) useless to contemplative souls

;

" for

Christ has taught us a vocal

prayer."

He tion,"

then proceeds to deal with " passive contempla-

and

refers

of St. Antony.

again to the "unconscious prayer"

But

unintermittent in this

pure contemplation

life."

never

Bernard, Teresa, and

John say that their periods of pure contemplation " Pure connot more than half an hour."

lasted

templation," he proceeds, "

negative, being occupied

with no sensible image, no distinct and nameable idea '

The

doctrine here

condemned

Manichean, says F^nelon

rightly.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

238

stops only at

the purely intellectual and abstract

idea of being." objects," all

Yet

this

idea includes, " as distinct

the attributes of

the humanity of Christ, and

deny

God

—"as

this is to annihilate Christianity

of purifying

it,

the Trinity,

His mysteries."

all

under pretence

and to confound God with

niant.

It is

form a kind of deism which at once falls into atheism, wherein all real idea of God as distinguished to

from

His creatures

may a

rejected."

advance two impieties

—

(i.)

Lastly,

suppose that there

be on the earth a contemplative who

traveller,

Christ

Jesus the

his is

the

life,

destination.

way

the

finisher

(ii.)

well

since he

ignore

that

as the truth and

the author of our

well

no longer

and who no longer needs the way,

reached

has

faith.

This criticism of the formless vision there

excellent, but

a palpable inconsistency between the definition

of " negative contemplation " all the attributes of

dictions of this sort

God

and the inclusion

as distinct objects."

abound

Contra-

F^nelon, and destroy

the value of his writings as contributions to religious philosophy, though in his case, as in

may

" noble inconsistencies "

speak of

many

others,

credit to his heart than discredit to his intellect.

may

which do more

perhaps see here the dying spasm of the " negative

method," which has crossed our path so often in

this

survey.

The image clearly seen

of Jesus Christ, F^nelon continues,

by contemplatives

first,

withdrawn while the soul passes through the furnace of

trial

;

but

we can never

not

and may be last

cease to need Him,

— PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL "though

true that the

Him

accustomed to regard

most eminent

who speak

simplicity,

after the

because

passive

called

are

His supreme

and of no more knowing Christ

Contemplation

flesh.

They

lives."

God

of possessing

saints are

an exterior object

less as

than as the interior principle of their in error

239

excludes the interested activity of the soul, not because

excludes real action.

explaining

culmination of the

which love

more me; there

But

false to

tion of the real

passive life

characteristic of

rather

his authorities.)

The

state " is "

transformation,"

of the soul, as

is its

Catherine of Genoa said,

being

I find

no longer any other I but God." say that transformation

and natural

unalterable

passive state

the

and substance. "

(Here again F^nelon

away than explaining

conformity

are

with

God."

mortal

liable to

still

a deifica-

soul, or a hypostatic union, ^

sin.

the

(It is

F^nelon that he contradicts, without

rejecting, the substitution-doctrine plainly stated in the

sentence from Catherine of Genoa.) In his letter to the Pope, which accompanies the "

Explanation of the Maxims," F^nelon thus sums up

his distinctions 1.

between true and

The " permanent act"

union with God)

to be

{j-e.

false

Mysticism

an indefectible state of

condemned

as " a poisoned

source of idleness and internal lethargy." 2.

There

an indispensable necessity of the distinct

exercise of each virtue.

Perpetual contemplation,"

St.

Bernard (De diligendo Deo,

making

venial

sins

28) gives a careful statement of the

he understands it " Quomodo omnia in omnibus homine de homine quicquam supererit ? Manebit substantia sed in alia forma.'''' See Appendix C. deification-doctrine as

erit

Deus,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

240

impossible, and abolishing the distinction of virtues,

impossible. 4. " Passive prayer," if

of free-will, 5.

excludes the co-operation

impossible.

There can be no "quietude" except the peace

the Holy Ghost, which acts in a manner so uniform that these acts seem, to unscientific persons, not distinct acts,

but a single and permanent unity with God.

That the doctrine of pure love may not serve as an asylum for the errors of the Quietists, we assert that 6.

hope must always 7.

The

abide, as saith St. Paul.

state of pure love

very

rare,

and

intermittent

In reply to this manifesto, the rejoin that

;

Three Prelates "

F^nelon keeps the name of hope but takes

away the thing salvation

that he really preaches indifference to

;

that he

danger of regarding contempla-

tion of Christ as a descent from the heights of pure

contemplation

;

that he unaccountably says nothing of

God and

the "love of gratitude" to

our Redeemer;

that he " erects the rare and transient experiences of a

few saints into a rule of In this

controversy about

sympathies are

The "

chiefly,

standpoint

Pure

faith."

love,"

disinterested

love,

our

but not entirely, with Fdnelon.

of Bossuet

he says almost

not religious at

coarsely, " is

all.

opposed to the

essence of love, which always desires the enjoyment of its

object, as well as to the nature of

sarily desires happiness."

Most of us

man, who neceswill rather agree

with St. Bernard, that love, as such, desires nothing but ' The Archbishop of Paris, the Bishop of Meaux (Bossuet), and the Bishop of Charties.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL reciprocation

—

" verus

habet praemium, sed id

amor se ipso contentus est quod amatur." If the question

had been simply whether nature mercenary,

schemes it

may

religion is or

we should have

which side the truth

241

lay.

not in

its

no doubt on

felt

Self-regarding hopes and

be schoolmasters to bring us to Christ;

seems, indeed, to be part of our education to form

them, and then see them shattered one after another,

and deeper hopes may be constructed out

that better

of the fragments

but a

;

selfish Christianity is

But F^nelon,

diction in terms.

in his teaching

disinterested love, goes further than this. self,"

he says,

" is his

own

a contra-

greatest cross."

about

A man's " We must "

become strangers to this self, this mot." for " resignation suffers is not a remedy it is suffering one is as two persons in resignation

therefore

Resignation in

;

This

only pure love that loves to suffer." with which

many

It is at

bottom Stoical or Buddhistic,

in spite of the emotional turn given to it

the thought

of us are familiar in James Hinton's

Mystery of Pain. Logically,

by F^nelon.

should lead to the destruction of love

love requires

two

living factors,^

has attained a "holy indifference," wholly out of other emotion.

self,

;

for

and the person who

who

has passed

as incapable of love as of

The attempt "to wind

any

ourselves too

high for mortal man'* has resulted, as usual, in two We find, on the one hand, some who opposite errors. 1 If two beings are separate, they cannot influence each other inwardly. Man is If they are not distinct, there can be no relations between them. at once organ and organism, and this is why love between man and God

is possible.

The importance

God must be

of maintaining that action between

reciprocal, is well

shown by

Lilienfeld,

Socialwistmschafi der Zukunft, vol. v. p. 472 sq.

Gedanken

man and iiber die

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

242

try to escape the daily sacrifices

which

life

demands,

by declaring themselves bankrupt to start with. And, on the other hand, we find men like F^nelon, who are too good Christians to wish to shift their crosses in

way

this

who

but

;

indifference "

and

allow their doctrines

pure love

" to

sternness to their teaching, and

of " holy

impart an excessive

demand from

us an

impossible degree of detachment and renunciation.

The importance

attached to the " prayer of quiet

can only be understood when we remember how much mechanical recitation of forms of prayer was enjoined

by Romish

" directors."

commune

the soul to

with

even without thoughts

;

is,

God

of course, possible for

without words, perhaps

but the recorded prayers of

our Blessed Lord will not allow us to regard these ecstatic states as better than vocal prayer, latter

offered " with the spirit,

when the

and with the under-

standing also."

The in

quietistic controversy in

an atmosphere of

jealousies, fact

which

political

France was carried on intrigues

no way concern

and private But the great

us.

which stands out above the turmoil of calumny and

misrepresentation sore straits

had

that the

Roman

Church, which

called in the help of quietistic Mysti-

cism to stem the flood of Protestantism, at length found the alliance too dangerous, and disbanded her irregular

troops in spite of their promises to submit to discipline.

In F^nelon, Mysticism had ^ champion eloquent and learned,

and not too

logical to repudiate with honest

conviction consequences which

some of

his authorities

"Thought was not," says Wordsworth of one in a and again, "All his thoughts were steeped in feeling."

state of rapture;

;

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL had found

necessary to accept.

243

remained a

and submissive son of the Church, as did Molinos

loyal

and was,

in fact,

Bossuet,

who

more guarded

in his

statements than

ignorance of mystical theology

his

often blundered into dangerous admissions.^

saw with

Jesuits

their usual

acumen

even in the most submissive guise,

and turbulent

movement us

an independent

out as a religious

the Latin countries.

that Mysticism,

and by condemning Fdnelon as

Molinos, they crushed

well as

spirit;

But the

seems that the Mysticism of the counter-

Reformation was bound to

fail,

because

was the

revival of a perverted, or at best a one-sided type.

most

consistent

quietists

were

perhaps

those

brought the doctrine of quietism into most such as the hesychasts of Mount Athos.

The who

discredit,

For at bottom

upon that dualistic or rather acosmistic view of life which prevailed from the decay of the Roman Empire till the Renaissance and Reformation. Its rests

cosmology

one which leaves

this

world out of account

except as a training ground for souls

knowledge draws a hard and and supernatural

truths,

fast

and then

line

by teaching with

God secundum '

se is

E.g. he writes to ,

and

;

St.

in ethics

its

theory of

between natural bring them phenomena " in

tries to

together by intercalating " supernatural

the order of nature

;

paralyses morality

Thomas Aquinas

that " to love

more meritorious than to love our

Madame Guyon, " Je n'ai jamais hesit^ un seul moment

sur les ^tats de Sainte Ther^se, parceque je n'y ai rien trouv^, que je ne It is doubtful whether Bossuet had really Fenelon says much more cautiously, " Quelque respect et quelque admiration que j'aie pour Sainte Ther^se, je n'aurais amais voulu donner au public tout ce qu'elle a ^ctiL"

trouvasse aussi dans I'^criture."

read

much

of St. Teresa.

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

244 i

neighbour."

All this

cism, but belongs to

not of the essence of Mysti-

mediaeval Catholicism.

was

probably a necessary stage through which Christianity,

and Mysticism with it, had of an abstract spirituality religious life

ive

road"

from

many

to pass. at

any

The

base associations holy path of

after all the

vain quest

rate liberated the ;

the " negat-

self-sacrifice;

and the maltreatment of the body, which began among the hermits of the Thebaid, was largely based on an instinctive recoil against the poison of sensuality,

had helped

to destroy the old civilisation.

which

But the

resuscitation of mediaeval Mysticism after the Renais-

sance was an anachronism

;

and except

days of the sixteenth century,

in the fighting

was not

world-ruling papal polity, with

its

likely to

The incomparable army

appeal to the manliest or most intelligent

spirits.

bound to poverty and celibacy, and therefore invulnerable, was a reductio ad absurdum of its worldrenouncing doctrines, which Europe was not likely to Introspective Mysticism had done its work forget. of

officials,

a work of great service to the explored

all

race.

had

the recesses of the lonely heart, and had

wrestled with the angel of

the spiritual night even

Thy name " ..." bless me."

human

till

God through

the morning.

the terrors of " Tell

me now

Thee go until Thou These had been the two demands of the I will

contemplative mystic

—

not

let

the only rewards which his soul

craved in return for the sacrifice of every earthly delight.

The reward was worth the sacrifice but " Go4 reveals Himself in many ways," and the spiritual Christianity ;

the

Of course there is a sense in which this is true ; but I am speaking way in which it was understood by mediaeval Catholicism.

PRACTICAL AND DEVOTIONAL of the

modem

art, science,

tion.

epoch

and

my last

245

called rather to the consecration

social life

than to lonely contempla-

two Lectures

hope to show how an

important school of mystics, chiefly between the Renaissance and our

own

day, have turned to the religious

study of nature, and have found there the same illumination which the mediaeval ascetics drew from the deep wells of their inner consciousness.

LECTURE

247

VII

;

'Ev

irturi

rots

<pvnKoU

(ve(rri

n Bavtuuniv

xaOdirep 'HprfcXejTos Xiyeru

tlirdy elvai Kal ivravBa ieots.

Aristotle, cU Partibus AnimaHum,

" What if earth Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?" Milton. " God If

is not dumb, that He should speak no more. thou hast wanderings in the wilderness.

And find'st not Sinai, 'tis thy soul is poor; There towers the mountain of the voice no less, Which whoso seeks shall find ; but he who bends, Intent on manna still and mortal ends. Sees

not, neither hears its

thundered

lore.''

Lowell.

" Of the Absolute in the theoretical sense I do not venture to speak but this I maintain, that if a man recognises it in its manifestations, and always keeps his eye fixed upon it, he will reap a very great reward." Goethe.

LECTURE

VII

Nature-Mysticism and Symbolism " The

creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption

into the liberty of the glory of the children of

God."

It would be possible to maintain that consists in finding sympathies

antagonisms, in

apparent

and

owe

pleasures

their

all

bringing

sin,

2i.

underlying

harmony out of Even the lowest

attractiveness to a certain tem-

and the

porary correspondence between our desires nature of things.

viii.

our happiness

affinities

and order out of chaos.

discord,

—RoM.

Selfishness

itself,

the prime source

misery, and ignorance, cannot sever the ties

which bind us to each other and to nature; or succeeds in doing

an experienced

so, it

alienist

"concentrated egoism."

if it

passes into madness, of which

has said, that Incidentally

its

essence

may

say that

the peculiar happiness which accompanies every glimpse

of insight into truth and reality, whether in the scientific,

aesthetic, or

emotional sphere, seems to

have a greater apologetic value than has been generally recognised.

the true

It is the clearest possible indication that

and forms the ground of a we could see them as would be found to work together for good to

for us the good,

reasonable faith that

they are, those

who

love God.

all things, if

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

250 "

The true Mysticism," it has been lately much truth, " is the belief that everything, what

is,

said with in

being

symbolic of something more.''^

All

Nature (and there are few more pernicious errors than that which separates man from Nature) is the language in

which God expresses His thoughts but the thoughts ;

are far

more than the language.*

invisible things of

may

God from

Thus

that the

the creation of the world

be clearly seen and understood from the things

that are

made; while

true that here

know only

part.

reveals the Deity

;

at the

same time

see through a glass

and

equally

darkly, and

Nature half conceals and half it

in this sense that it

may

be called a symbol of Him.

The word

" symbol," like several other

words which

the student of Mysticism has to use, has an ill-defined connotation, which produces confusion and contradict-

ory statements.

For instance, a French writer gives

as his definition of Mysticism " the tendency to ap-

proach the Absolute, morally, by means of symbols." ^

the other hand, an English essayist denies that

Mysticism

symbolic*

Mysticism, he says,

differs

from symbolism in that, while symbolism treats the

connexion

between symbol and substance as some-

In R. L. Nettleship's Remains. In addition to passages quoted elsewhere, the following sentence from Luthardt is a good statement of the symbolic theory " Nature is a world of symbolism, a rich hieroglyphic book everything visible conceals an '

and the last mystery of all is God." Goethe's " AUes nur ein Gleichniss " would be better without the " nur,"

invisible mystery,

vergSngliche

ist

from our point of view. • R^c^jac, Essai sur les Fondements de la Connaissance Mystiqttt. * In the Edinburgh Review, October 1896. The article referred to, on " The Catholic Mystics of the Middle Ages," is beautifully written, and should be read by all who are interested in the subject.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM thing accidental or subjective, Mysticism

a positive belief in the existence of

deep correspondences and those to which the

affinities,

common

not

based on

within less

life,

real

than

superficial consciousness

of mankind bears witness.

ment about the

life

251

agree with this state-

basis of Mysticism, but

use the word symbol of that which has a

prefer to real,

and

not merely a conventional affinity to the thing sym-

The

bolised.^

aureole

properly speaking, a symbol of

in these

instances the

nificance

only to the of

human

life,

connexion of sign with

conventional. eternity,

circle is

sig-

perhaps not a

because the comparison appeals

intellect. But falling leaves are a symbol " mortality, a flowing river of the " stream

and a vine and

Christ and

to draw.

not,

nor a crown of royal authority, because

saintliness,"

symbol of

by no means easy

line

its

branches of the unity of

the Church, because they are examples

same law which operates through all that God has made. And when the Anglian noble, in a wellof the

known passage

of Bede, compares the

life

man

to the flight of a bird which darts quickly through

a lighted hall

out

of darkness, and

again, he has found a

symbol which

into

darkness

none the

less

This is Kant's use of the word. See Bosanquet, History of /Esthetic, 273 " A symbol is for Kant a perception or presentation which represents a conception neither conventionally as a mere sign, nor directly, but in the abstract, as a scheme, but indirectly though appropriately through a similarity between the rules which govern our reflection in the symbol and " In this sense beauty is a symbol of in the thing (or idea) symbolised." " That is true the moral order." Goethe's definition is also valuable symbolism where the more particular represents the more general, not as a dream or shade, but as a vivid, instantaneous revelation of the inscrutable." ' Or rather of power and dignity ; for in some early Byzantine works even Satan is represented with a nimbus. '

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

2Sa valid,

because light and darkness are themselves only

symbolically

who

writer

connected with

and

that the discovery of arbitrary

or types

life

denies that Mysticism

and death. is

fanciful resemblances

no part of healthy Mysticism.*

The

symbolic, means

In this he

quite right; and the importance of the distinction

which he wishes to emphasise

clear as

proceed.

hope, become

not possible always to say

It is

dogmatically, " TAts

will,

genuine Symbolism, and tAat

we do

morbid or

a true and a false Symbolism, of which the true

not merely a legitimate, but a necessary

intuition

fantastic "

but

;

while the latter

;

assert that there

mode

at best a frivolous amuse-

ment, and at worst a degrading superstition.'

But we

handle our subject very inadequately

shall

consider only the symbolical value which

be attached to external beliefs

may

Our thoughts and

objects.

about the spiritual world, so far as they are

under

conceived

forms,

expressed

language,

which belong properly only to things of time and '

Emerson says

" Mysticism

tightly,

(in

a bad sense)

consists in the

mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one."

The

Which Ruskin draws between the /aney and the us to discern the true and the false in Symbolism. "Fancy has to do with the outsides of things, and is content therewith. She can never /eel, but is one of the most purely and simply intellectual of the feculties. She cannot be made serious; no edge-tool, but she will play with : whereas the imagination is in all things the reverse. She '

distinction

imagination

may help

cannot but be serious; she sees too

far,

too darkly, too solemnly, too

There is reciprocal action between the Hence the intensity of moral feeling and the power of imagination. powers of the imagination may always be tested by accompanying tenderearnestly,

ever to smile.

ness of emotion.

imagination suggests.

Imagination

quiet,

All egotism

;

^cy details,

destructive of

imagination,

&ncy

restless

whose play and power depend altogether on our being able to forget ourselves. Imagination has no respect for sayings or opinions : it .

independent "

{Medem Painten,

vol.

ii.

chap.

iii.).

;;

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM space, are of the nature of symbols. it

253

In this sense

has been said that the greater part of dogmatic

theology

symbols.

the dialectical

For

instance, the

development of mystical paternal relation of the

Second

First Person of the Trinity to the

a symbol

and the representation of eternity as an endless period of time stretching

into futurity,

believe that the forms under which

a symbol. it

natural and

necessary for us to conceive of transcendental truths

have a

real

and

vital

attempt to express if

treat

them

;

relation to the ideas

which they

but their inadequacy

as facts of the

phenomena, and try to often done,

among

manifest

same order as natural them, as

intercalate

too

the materials with which an abstract

science has to deal.

The two great sacraments are typical symbols, we use the word in the sense which I give to it, something which,

being what

vehicle of something higher

the early Church meant

and

when

is,

a sign and

This

better.

called

the

what

sacra-

ments symbols.^ A " symbol " at that period implied a mystery, and a " mystery " implied a revelation.

The need

of sacraments

one of the deepest con-

' Cf. Hamack, History of Dogma, vol. ii. p. 144 "What we nowadays understand by * symbols ' is a thing which is not that which it represents at that time (in the second century) ' symbol denoted a thing which, in :

some kind of way,

that

which

signifies

;

but,

on the other hand,

according to the ideas of that period, the really heavenly element lay either in or behind the visible form without being identical with it. Accordingly, the distinction of a symbolic and

realistic

conception of the

Lord's Supper is altogether to be rejected." And vol. iv. p. 289 : " The ' symbol ' was never a mere type or sign, but always embodied a mystery."

So Justin Martyr uses (rv/i/3oXiKwi fhretv and e<ireo> ii> livaTTiplif as interchangeable terms; and Tertullian says that the name of Joshua was nemiMts /uturi sacramenlum.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

victions of the religious consciousness.

rests ulti-

mately on the instinctive reluctance to allow any spiritual fact to sion.

remain without an external expres-

obvious that

morality depends on the

all

application of this principle to conduct.

external acts are symbolic of (that

is,

All voluntary

vitally

connected

with) internal states, and cannot be divested of this their

essential

show how an defile

character.

may be

act of the material

purify or

the immaterial spirit; but the correspondence

between the outward and inward without

maxim when

impossible to

body can

morality

divesting

life

all

cannot be denied

The

meaning.

of Plotinus, that " the mind can do no wrong,"

from his transcendental philosophy

transferred

to matters of conduct,

a sophism no more respect-

mouth

able than that which Euripides puts into the of one of his characters

The tongue hath sworn Every act of the

the heart remains unsworn."

the expression of a state of the soul

must seek

state of the soul

act of the will. love, so

or " in

word and

tongue

love " in deed " that

the

same with

all

So some thinkers have

admit,

;

only when

love " in truth."

an not

And

other virtues, which are in this

implying something beyond

sense symbolic, as '

all

content to be only in thought,

will

and every

to find expression in

Love, as we should

long as

;

felt

that

"the Word"

the

not the best expression

The passage of Goethe where Faust God. "Word," "Thought," and "Power," and 6nal!y translates, "In And Philo, in a very the beginning was the Act" is well known. interesting passage, says that Nature is the language in which God speaks "but there is this difference, that while the human voice is made to be heard, the voice of God is made to be seen what God says consists of acts, for the creative activity of rejects

;

not of words" {De Decern Orac. ii).

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM Nearly

external act. the

can

soul

action.

find

Charity in

its

long for an object

till

motions of

the states or

appropriate

expression

manifold forms need not seek

and thankfulness and penitence,

;

though they drive us satisfied

all

their

255

first

silent

they have borne

prayer, are not in

fruit

some

act of

But that deepest sense of communion with God, which is the very heart of religion, is in danger of being shut up in thought gratitude

humility.

and word, which are inadequate expressions of any spiritual state. No doubt this highest state of the soul may find indirect expression in good works; but these

fail

to express the immediacy of the

which the soul has

felt.

The want

express these highest states of the soul

by sacraments.

sacrament

communion

of symbols to is

a symbolic

supplied act,

not

mind of the recipient, on Divine authority, which has no ulterior object except to give expression to, and in so doing arbitrarily

chosen, but

resting,

to effectuate,^ a relation which find utterance in

There are three

the

too purely spiritual

the customary activities of

life.

human side) for the The symbol must be

requisites (on the

validity of a sacramental act.

appropriate; the thing symbolised must be a spiritual truth; and there

must be the intention

to perform

the act as a sacrament.

The sacraments

of Baptism and the Lord's Supper

' Aquinas says of the sacraments, " efficiunt quod figurant." The Thomists held that the sacraments are "causae" of grace; the Scotists

(Nominalists), that grace is their inseparable concomitant. The maintenance of a real correspondence between sign and significance seems to be essential to the idea of a sacrament, but then the danger of degrading it into

m^c lies close at hand.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

256

Both are symbols of the mystical

these conditions.

fulfil

union between the Christian and his ascended Lord.

Baptism symbolises that union Eucharist in

its

organic

inception, the

its

Baptism

life.

received but

new

once, because the death unto sin and the

unto righteousness spiritual

that

life,

birth

a definite entrance into

the

The

fact

rather than a gradual process.

Christian

Baptism

countries

precedes conversion does not

alter

most cases

the character of

the sacrament; indeed, infant Baptism

most appropriate symbol of our adoption

far the

the

into

Divine Sonship, to which we only consent after the event.

can

It is

only because

say, " I will arise,

Holy Communion

we The

are already sons that

and go unto

Father."

the symbol of the maintenance

of the mystical union, and of the " strengthening and refreshing of our souls,"

which we derive from the

indwelling presence of our Lord.

an absolute prerogative

for its

The Church

claims

duly ordained ministers

common

in the

case of this sacrament, because the

meal

the symbol of the organic unity of Christ and

the Church as " unus Christus," a doctrine which the schismatic, as such, denies.^

The communicant who

believes only in an individual relation betwen Christ and

separate persons, or in an " invisible Church," does not

understand the meaning of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and can hardly be said to participate in

There are two views of " plain

man "

this

has always found

it.

sacrament which the

much

easier to under-

In the case of irregular Baptism, the maxim holds " Fieri non debuit factum valet. " Cf. Bp. Churton, Tie Missionarys Foundation of Doctrint, The reason for this difference between the two sacraments is p. 129. '

quite clear.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM stand than the symbolic view which

One

that

the other

that

that of our Church.

a miracle or magical performance,

257

a mere commemoration.

Both

are absolutely destructive of the idea of a sacrament.

The

that of

latter view,

quite

foreign

evidence goes

;

as "the

such phrases

meant

Church, so is

was

our

far

the

grossly

afterwards assumed, but

elements, where

to understand that the elements have a

power

terious

medicine of immortality"

consecrated

the

sects,

only just to say,

of the Fathers, not

form which

materialistic

applied

early

the former,

many

found in

the

some Protestant

preserving

the

from

receiver

are

mysthe

But when we find that the same writers who use compromising phrases natural consequences of death.^

about the change that comes over the elements,^ also use the language of symbolism, and remember, too, decide how far such statements were meant But there is no doubt that both Baptism and the Eucharist were supposed to confer immortality. Cf. Tert. de Bapt. 2 (621,

of course,

* It is,

difficult to

to be taken literally.

"nonne mirandum est lavacro dilui mortem?" ; (Jregory of Nyssa, Or. cat, magn. 35, uA\ SivacrStu Si 4'Vf* ^'X* '^' Kari, rb \ovrphv dvayenBasil, too, calls Baptism rliaeiiK iv ivaariaei yeviaBai rbv ivdpunrov. Oehl.),

Sivajxis

ri/v

els

ivdaraaiv.

quoted, ipdpiiaKov T?5 iSavaalas,

the Eucharist, Ignatius uses the phrase and ivTlSoros toS /*!) dToOaveai ; and

Gregory of Nyssa uses the same language as about Baptism. Appendices B and C.

See, further,

£.g: /ueroXXafts (Theodoret), /ierapoMj (Cyril), /ieraTolTins (Gregory /ieraiXToix^ltixns (Theophylact). The last-named goes on to say that

Naz. ),

"we

are in the

same way transelemcntaied mto Christ."

The

Neoplatonists naturally regard the sacrament as symbolic. inclined to hold that evety action should be sacramental,

Christian

Origen

and that material

symbols, such as bread and wine, and participation in a ceremonial, cannot be necessary vehicles of spiritual grace ; this is in accordance with the excessive idealism

elements pavbixeva

and

intellectualism of his system.

;

Dionysius calls the

eMves, ivrirvira, alaBrfri nva AvtI yoriTuv /teraXa/tand Maximus, his commentator, defines a symbol as ahBifrbv n

ffi/i^oKa,

ivrl vorjToS /iCTaXanPavbueyov.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

258

that a " miracle "

who knew

was a very

different thing to those

of no inflexible laws in the natural world

from what

us, we shall not be ready to who have accused the third and

agree with those

fourth century Fathers of degrading the Lord's Supper into a magical ceremony.

Most of the

errors

which have so grievously obscured

the true nature of this sacrament have proceeded from

attempts

answer the question,

How

does the

reception of the consecrated elements affect the inner

of the

state

receiver?"

symbolic view, as

who

those

understand

it, it

hold

the

seems clear that

the question of cause and effect must be resolutely

The

cast aside. is

the one

reciprocal action of spirit

great

mystery which, to

all

and matter appearance,

must remain impenetrable to the finite intelligence. We do not ask whether the soul is the cause of the body, or the body of the soul we only know that the ;

two are found,

in experience,

same way we should on the

effect

always united.

In the

abstain, I think, from speculating

of the sacraments, and train ourselves

them as divinely-ordered symbols, by which the Church, as an organic whole, and we as members of it, realise the highest and deepest of our instead to consider

spiritual privileges.

There are other institution

mental value.

religious forms for

And

those who, " whether they eat, or

drink, or whatever they do,"

may

be said to turn the

ments.

It is natural,

which no Divine

claimed, but which have a quasi-sacra-

all to

the glory of God,

commonest

the true mystic,

life

acts into sacra-

itself is

a sacrament.

but unfortunate, that some of those who

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM have

259

most strongly have shown a tendency to

felt this

disparage observances which are simply acts of devotion, "

mere forms," as they

The attempt

them.

call

to distinguish between conventional ceremonies, which

have no essential connexion with the truth symbolised,

and actions which are no doubt

that this

Many

rise.

motive,

but

justifiable,

the

way

say

should be remembered

which antinomianism takes

have begun by saying,

all,

The

the external act nothing

What

the letter nothing.

all,

moral or immoral,

in themselves

can

the spirit

;

matter whether

prayers in church or at home, on

in bed, in

its

heart, the

words or in thought only

is I

knees or

What

can

matter whether the Eucharistic bread and wine are consecrated or not? whether or not

And

fessed contempt for at

The

so on.

easy by this road.

Perhaps all

actually eat

and drink

descent to Avernus

sect

ceremonial forms has escaped

the imputation of scandalous licentiousness,

least

The

with the honourable exception of the Quakers. truth

that the need of symbols to express or repre-

sent our highest nature,

emotions

human many have

inwoven with

and indifference to them

not, as

supposed, a sign of enlightenment or of spirituality. is,

in fact,

man

that has pro-

an unhealthy symptom.

do not

credit

who does not care to show his love in word and act nor should we commend the common sense of a soldier who saw in his regimental a

with a

warm

heart

;

colours only a rag at the end of a pole.

It is

we must be content to be and should be thankful that we may remain the points in which

with a clear conscience.

one of

children,

children

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

26o

do not shrink from expressing

conviction that

the true meaning of our sacramental system, which in

external forms

its

Greek mysteries, and

down

inward significance strikes

fundamental

the

Christianity, can only

principles

mystical

be understood by those who are

some sympathy with Mysticism.

by the

so strangely anticipated in its

But

has not

been possible to say much about the sacraments sooner

than this late stage of our inquiry.

have hitherto

been dealing with the subjective or introspective type of Mysticism, and carried to

sacramental religion.

God by

the

that this

plain

logical conclusion,

its

way

form,

when

inconsistent with

Those who seek

to ascend to

of abstraction, the negative road,

must regard all symbols as veils between our eyes and reality, and must wish to get rid of them as soon as

From

possible.

this

point of view, sacraments, like

other ceremonial forms, can only be useful at a very early

stage

the

ultimately into a

upward

Divine

can be distingiiished. mystics of this

path,

true that

all

Hamack

" In

some devout

the appointed means

of grace; but this inconsistency for.^

forms

type have both observed and exacted a

punctilious strictness in using

The

which leads

darkness, where no

easily

accounted

pressure of authority, loyalty to the estab-

{History of

Dogma,

vol.

vi.

102, English edition) says

the centuries before the Reformation, a growing value was attached

not only to the sacraments, but to crosses, amulets, relics, holy places, etc. As long as what the soul seeks is not the rock of assurance, but means for it will create for itself a thousand holy things. It is extremely superficial view that regards the most inward

inciting to piety,

therefore an

Mysticism and the service of idols as contradictory. The opposite view, I have seldom found myself able to agree with thb is correct." The writer's judgments upon Mysticism ; and this one is no exception. rather,

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM and human nature, which

lished order,

261

stronger than

them from casting away the time-honoured symbols and vehicles of Divine love. has prevented

either,

But a true appreciation of sacraments belongs only

who can sympathise

to those

Mysticism

—

that which rests

branch of

this

subject

with the other branch of

belief in symbolism.

now

invite

your attention.

we expect to find ourselves at once in a larger have taken leave of the monkish air when we mystics, we shall be disappointed. The objective or If

symbolical type of Mysticism

many

we found a tendency to revert Indian Yogi, we shall observe in of

survivals

feel that it

still is

this part of

liable

perversions as the subjective.

quite

If in the latter

to the

apathy of the

the former too

more barbarous

creeds.

many

Indeed,

almost necessary, as an introduction to

subject, to consider very briefly the

stages through which the religious

consciousness

mankind has passed in its attempts to realise Divine immanence in Nature, for this is, of course, the foundation of all religious symbolism,

"most inward Mysticism" does not occupy itself much with external "incitements to piety," nor is this the motive with which a mystic could

The use of amulets, etc., which Hamack the Eucharist. have been spreading before the Reformation, and which was certainly very prevalent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had very little to do with "the most inward Mysticism." My view as to the place of magic in the history of Mysticism is given in ever

{e.g.) receive

finds to

this

lecture

;

I protest against identifying

Symbolic Mysticism soon outgrew it.

The has

its

;

with the essence of Mysticism.

introspective Mysticism never valued

use of visible things as stimulants to piety

another matter;

place in the systems of the Catholic mystics, but as a very

early stage in the spiritual ascent.

What

have said as to the inconsistency

of a high sacramental doctrine with the favourite injunctions to " cast away all images," which we find in the mediseval mystics, is, I think, indisputable.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

262

The called

earliest belief

Animism, the

seems to be that which has been belief that all natural forces are

conscious living beings like

ourselves.

primitive form of natural religion to

some deplorable customs,

it is

This

the

and though it leads not a morbid type, but ;

a very early effort on the lines of true development.^

The

perverted form of primitive

Fetishism, which reside

some

Animism

visible object,

which

most treasured possession of a god or object

may be

a building, a

tree,

this

belief is

form of

school of

Roman

called

home or demon. The the

an animal, a particu-

kind of food, or indeed anything.

lar

the belief that supernatural powers

Unfortunately

not peculiar to savages.

degraded

exhibited by the so-called neo-mystical

modern France, and

in the baser types of

Catholicism everywhere.*

Primitive

next stage

Animism is

believes in

no natural laws.

The

to believe in laws which are frequently

suspended by the intervention of an independent and superior

power.

dualism

Mediaeval

regarded every

breach of natural law as a vindication of the power '

The most

recent developments of

described as an attempt to

German

idealistic philosophy, as set

more of Fechner, may perhaps be preserve the truth of Animism on a much higher

forth in the cosmology of Lotze,

and

still

plane, without repudiating the universality of law. ' I refer especially to

Huysmans' two "mystical" novels.

Route and

The naked Fetishism of the latter book almost passes belief. We have a Madonna who is good-natured at Lourdes and cross" grained at La Salette ; who likes " pretty speeches and little coaxing ways in "paying court" to her, and who at the end is apostrophised as "our Lady of the Pillar," "our Lady of the Crypt." It may perhaps be CathidraU.

excusable to resort to such expedients as these in the conversion of savages

but there is something singularly repulsive in the picture (drawn apparently from life) of a profligate man of letters seeking salvation in a Christianity which has lowered itself far beneath educated pt^anism. At any rate, let not the name of Mysticism be given to such methods.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM of spirit over matter

power, for evil turbances

—not

spirits

of the

always, however, of Divine

could produce very similar dis-

physical

order.

persistent tendency to "seek

after

Thus arose

Miracle, in

that

a sign," in which

the religion of the vulgar, even in our

deeply involved.

263

own

some form or

day,

other,

regarded as the real basis of belief in God.

this

stage people never ask themselves whether any spiritual truth, or indeed

anything worth knowing, could possibly

communicated or authenticated by thaumaturgic What attracts them at first is the evi-

exhibitions.

dence which these they

live is

scious

beliefs furnish, that the

inflexible

power, but that behind the iron

mechanism of cause and effect

own

world in which

not entirely under the dominion of an uncon-

in its irregularity

as the majesty of law

a will more like their

and arbitrariness. Afterwards, dawns upon them, miracles are

no longer regarded as capricious exercises of power, but as the operation of higher physical laws, which are only active on rare occasions.

truer view sees in

them a materialisation of mystical symbols, the proper function of which real

and

the

material worlds.

they lose

all

turning

between the

When has

life

into

spiritual

and

they crystallise as portents,

its

Moreover, the belief in

dark counterpart

dread of the powers of

dreadful cruelties.^ ' I

to act as interpreters between the

their usefulness.

celestial visitations stitious

apparent,

evil,

which

super-

capable of

a long nightmare, and has led to

The

refer especially to the horrors

error has

still

enough

vitality

connected with the belief in witchcraft,

on which see Lecky, Rationalism in Europe, vol. i. " Remy, a judge of Nancy, boasted that he had put to death eight hundred witches in sixteen

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

264

to create a prejudice

against natural

appears in the light of an invading

science,

enemy

which

wresting

province after province from the empire of the supernatural.

But we are concerned with thaumaturgy only so as

nexion

But

has affected Mysticism,

may seem

very slight

;

and

far

sight the con-

first

slight indeed

just as Mysticism of the subjective type

entangled in theories which sublimate matter

is till

is.

often

only

a vain shadow remains, so objective Mysticism has

been often pervaded by another kind of

ism

—

that which finds edification

natural

the

These

manifestations.

phenomena "

are so

Roman

standard

much

false spiritual-

palpable super-

"mystical

so-called

identified with "

Mysticism

Catholic Church of to-day, that the

treatises

the subject,

now

studied

continental universities, largely consist of

legends of

" levitation," " bilocation," "

grotesque

incandescence,"

" radiation,"

favour.^ years."

year."

and other miraculous tokens of Divine The great work of Gorres, in five volumes, is

" In the bishopric of Wartzburg, As late as 1850, some French

nine hundred were burnt in one peasants burnt alive a woman

named Bedouret, whom they supposed to be a witch. ' The degradation of Mysticism in the Roman Church tion may be estimated by comparing the definitions

since the Reforma-

of Mysticism and

Mystical Theology current in the Middle Ages with the following from Ribet, who is recognised as a standard authority on the subject : " La

Theologie mystique, au point de vue subjectif et experimental, nous semble pouvoir 6tre d^finie ; une attraction sumaturelle et passive de I'ime vers Dieu, provenant d'une illumination et d'un embrasement int^rieurs,

qui previennent la reflexion,

surpassent

I'effort

humain,

peuvent avoir sur le corps un retenttssement merveilleux et irresistible." "Au point de vue doctrinal et objectif, la mystique pent se d^finir: la science qui traite des phinomines sumaturels, soit intimes, soit exterieurs, qui preparent, accompagnent, et suivent la contemplation divine." The time is past, if it ever existed, when such superstitions could be believed

without grave injury to mental and moral health.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

265

divided into Divine, Natural, and Diabolical Mysticism.

The

first

ment of

contains stories of the miraculous enhance-

sight, hearing, smell,

from extreme holiness

;

and

and so tells

forth,

which

how one

results

saint

had

the power of becoming invisible, another of walking

through closed doors, and a third of flying through the

air.

Natural Mysticism

deals with divination,

lycanthropy, vampires, second sight, and other barbar-

ous

superstitions.

" Diabolical

witchcraft, diabolical possession,

of incubi and succubae.

It is

any more about these savage

Mysticism

includes

and the hideous

not

stories

intention to say

survivals, as

do not wish

my subject into undeserved contempt.^

These and this darkness of the mind," as Lucretius says, " must be dispelled, not by the bright shafts of the sun's light, but by the study of Nature's laws." * to bring

terrors,

This language about the teaching of the Roman Church may be conwho have not studied the subject. Those who have done so will think it hardly strong enough. In self-defence, I will quote one sentence from Schram, whose work on "Mysticism" is con•

sidered unseemly by those

sidered autnoritative, and

studied in the great Catholic university of

Louvain: "Quaeri potest utrum daemon per turpem concubitum possit violenter opprimere marem vel feminam cuius obsessio permissa sit ob finem perfectionis et contemplationis acquirendse." The answer is in the affirmative, and the evidence is such as could hardly be transcribed, even Schram's book is mainly intended for the direction of confessing in lyatin. priests, and the evidence shows, as might have been expected, that the subjects of these "phenomena" are generally poor nuns suffering from hysteria, '

At a time when many are hoping to find in the study of the obscurer phenomena a breach in the "middle wall of partition" between

psychical

the spiritual and material worlds, I may seem to have brushed aside too contemptuously the floating mass of popular beliefs which "spiritualists" I must therefore be allowed to say think worthy of serious investigation. that in my opinion psychical research has already established results of great value, especially in helping to break down that view of the imperviousness of the ego which is fatal to Mysticism, and (I venture to think) to

any consistent philosophy.

Monadism, we may hope,

doomed.

But

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

266

Some

of these fables are quite obviously due to a

These sym-

materialisation of conventional symbols.

bols are the picture language into which the imagination

what the

translates

has

soul

felt.

typical case

that of the miniature image of Christ, which

have been found embedded

The supposed

saint.

of imagination

but

;

said to

in the heart of a deceased

miracle was, of course, the work

this

does not mean that those who

reported

we must

distinguish between observation and imagina-

tion,

were deliberate

know now

of science and that of

metaphor; but

an age which abhorred

rationalism

was not so

this

Rationalism has

clear.^

function in proving that such mystical symbols are

not physical

But when

facts.

they are related to physical tions to realities,

Proceeding a

little

facts as

morbid hallucina-

further as

province.

its

trace the develop-

we come

magic, which in primitive peoples

belief in

What

science.

spondences.

first

attempts

gives magic

based on

goes on to say that

objective religion,

associated with their

that

has stepped outside

ment of natural or

its

fanciful,

closely

peculiar character

and not on

The uneducated mind cannot

more popular kind of

supernatural

to the

experimental is

real corre-

distinguish

between associations of ideas which are purely the

that

between the language

poetical

its

liars.

cirbitrary

spiritualism is simply the old hankering after

which are always dear

manifestations,

semi-regenerate

minds. ' It

is,

I think, significant that the

way

word " imagination " was slow in is defined by Aristotle (de

making Anima,

iii.

3) as Klvqirii

it is

not

till

Philostratus that the creative imagination

Cf.

Vit. Apoll. vi. 19,

liil

elSef.

its

into

psychology,

iri

iavraa-la

ttjs oiirffijffews

iilii,ii<ris

t^s kut ivipyetav yiyroiUnTi, but is

itif Sriiuovpy^aei i tXBev,

opposed to

/li/iijiris.

^ocTCHrio di

Acol

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM and

subjective,

and those which have a more universal

Not, of course, that

validity.

267

all

the

affinities seized

upon by primitive man proved illusory but those which were not so ceased to be magical, and became scientific. The savage draws no distinction between the process by which he makes fire and that by which ;

down

priest calls

his

professional secret; drugs

ently to cure the sick

same

of the

parts

except that the latter

rain,

and

spells are

There

science.

magic which

magician sometimes claims that the

purely natural-

The

claims.

spirits are subject

to him, not because he has learned forces

indiffer-

however,

is,

and that which makes mystical

istic

astronomy and astrology are

;

difference between the

used

how

to wield the

which they must obey, but because he has so

purged

faculties that the occult

his higher

of nature have become apparent

to him.

sympathies

His theosophy

claims to be a spiritual illumination, not a

The

discovery.

clairvoyance

spiritual

here

error

the

physical

insight into reality, which

scientific

application

The

relations.

unquestionably the reward

of the pure heart and the single eye, does not reveal to us in detail

spirits

how

from the vasty deep

show us where

lies

Physical science it

keeps to

relations

nature should be subdued to our needs.

its

the road

will

obey our

call,

fortune or to ruin.

an abstract inquiry, which, while

proper subject

which prevail

in the

—

the investigation of the

phenomenal world

—

is self-

sufficient,

and can receive nothing on external authority.

Still less

can the adept usurp Divine powers, and bend

the eternal laws of the universe to his

The

turbid

puny

will.

streams of theurgy and magic flowed

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

268

the broad

into

channels

ism.

The

—

river

thought by two

of Christian

the later Neoplatonism, and Jewish Cabbal-

the former something has been said already.

root-idea of the system

was that

all

may

life

arranged in a descending scale of potencies, forming a kind of chain from heaven to earth. Man, as a

microcosm,

in contact with every link in the chain,

and can establish

relations with all

from the superessential

The

" daemons."

One

to the

philosopher-saint,

powers,

spiritual

lower spirits or

who had

explored

the highest regions of the intelligence, might hope to

dominate the

of the air, and compel them to do Thus the door was thrown wide open for every kind of superstition. The Cabbalists followed much the same path. The word Cabbala means " oral tradition," and is defined by Reuchlin as " the symbolic reception of a Divine revelation handed down for the spirits

his bidding.

saving contemplation of

God and separate forms." ^ The Cabbala is nothing else

says, "

In another place he

than symbolic theology, in which not only are

and words symbols of other things."

was held

things, but things are

letters

symbols of

This method of symbolic interpretation

have been originally communicated by

revelation,^ in order

that persons

of holy

life

might

" Est enim Cabbala divinae revelationis : formarum separatarum contemplationem traditse symbolica receptio, quam qui coelesti sortiuntur afBatu recto nomine Cabbalici dicuntur, eorum vero dlscipulos cognomento Cabbalseos appellabimus, et qui alioquin eos imitari conantui, Cabbalistse nominandi '

Reuchlin,

arte cabbalistica

ad salutifeiam Dei

sunt." '

The

mystical Rabbis ascribe the Cabbala to the angel Razael, the

and say that this angel gave Adam There is a clear and succinct account of the main Cabbalistic docrines in Hunt, Pantheism and Christianity, reputed teacher of

Adam

in Paradise,

the Cabbala as his lesson-book.

pp. 84-88.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM by

attain

a mystical

deification.

The

relation

the

communion with God, or much the same

Cabbalists thus held

Talmudists

the

scholastics in the twelfth century.

remained tradition

269

faithful to

mystics

the

But, as Jews, they

the two doctrines of an inspired

and an inspired book, which distinguish them

from Platonic mystics.^ Pico de Mirandola (born 1463) was the

first

to bring

the Cabbala into Christian philosophy, and to unite

with his Neoplatonism.

Very

the declaration that "there

characteristic of his age is

no natural science

which makes us so certain of the Divinity of Christ as

Magic and the Cabbala."^

For there was

that

But the notion that the deepest mysteries should not be entrusted to is found in Clement and Origen ; cf. Origen, Against Celsus, vi. 26 oix ixlvdvyoy ttjc rCiy roioirup aa^veiav iriaTemM ypa<f>^. And Clement says t4 &ir6ppriTa, KaSdrep 4 fleis, XAy^) irurreieTcu oi ypi/iiJMTi. The curious legend of an oral tradition also appears in Clement i^Hyfotyp. Fragm. in Eusebius, H. E. ii. I. 4): 'laxiipv rif StKal(ff Kai'Iudvii /cat Uirpif /tera '

writing

riiv &vd<rrairip

Tapidiaxe riiv yvuirir i xipios, oSroi rois Xoittois diroirriXois

TrapiSiaKav, ol Si Xoitto! iirbaroKoi rots ^/35o/ti}Kovra, <Sv efj ^v Kal Bapvapas.

Origen, too, speaks of " things spoken in private to the disciples." ' The following extract from Pico's Apology may be interesting, as trating

illus-

the close connexion between magic and science at this period

" One of the chief charges against me is that I am a magician. Have I not myself distinguished two kinds of magic? One, which the Greeks call ymfT^la, depends entirely on alliance with evil spirits, and deserves to be regarded with horror, and to be punished ; the other is magic in the proper sense of the word.

makes them

The former subjects man to the evil spirits, the latter The former is neither an art nor a science ; the

serve him.

embraces the deepest mysteries, and the knowledge of the whole of While it connects and combines the forces Nature with her powers. scattered by God through the whole world, it does not so much work Its researches into the miracles as come to the help of working nature. sympathies of things enable it to bring to light hidden marvels from the latter

secret treasure-houses of the world, just as if it created

countryman

trains the vine

upon

brings

men

wonder

to true religion."

at the

itself.

As the

His art is beneficial and Godlike, for works of God, than which nothing conduces

earthly objects to heavenly bodies. it

them

the elm, so the magician marries the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

270

period a curious

and natural

alliance of Mysticism

science against scholasticism, which galling chains

;

had kept both in and both mystics and physicists invoked

the aid of Jewish theosophy.

and Proclus were

Just as Pythagoras, Plato,

up against

set

Aristotle, so the occult

philosophy of the Jews, which on

its

speculative side

was mere Neoplatonism, was set up against the divinity of the Schoolmen. In Germany, Reuchlin (1455-1 522) wrote a

treatise.

theological

the

Cabbalistic Art, in which a

scheme resembling those of the Neoplaton-

and speculative mystics was based on occult revelation. The book captivated Pope Leo X. and the ists

early Reformers alike.

The

influence of Cabbalism at this period

was

felt

not only in the growth of magic, but in the revival of the science of allegorism, which resembles magic in doctrine

theurgic element.

everything in

meaning.

—

colours,

thing

else.^

According to

the

numbers,

this

view of nature,

man

saw, heard, or did

and

beasts,

birds,

—was

life

to remind

The world was supposed

hieroglyphics'* to the

him of some-

to be

full

of sacred

This was a very old theory.

" The

Cf.

Clavis of St. Melito,

testi-

truths of Christianity.

Thus the shamrock bears witness

p. 264.

the

flowers,

cryptograms, and every part of the natural order fied

its

the

world has an emblematic

visible

Everything that a

various actions of

though without

sympathies,

of occult

to the Trinity, the

Lecky, Rationalism in Europe,

who was bishop

of Sardis,

vol.

it is

in the beginning of the second century, consists of a catalogue of

said,

many

hundreds of birds, beasts, plants, and minerals that were symbolical of Christian virtues, doctrines, and personages." '

ing

The analogy between is

allegorism in religion and the hieroglyphic writ-

drawn out by Clement, Strom,

4 and

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM spider

an emblem of the

kind of symbolism was and

devil,

and so

that the signs are other than

This

extensively used merely

which there

as a picture-language, in

forth.

271

artificial

no pretence

or conventional.

The language of signs may be used either to instruct those who cannot understand words, or to baffle those who can. Thus, a crucifix may be as good as a sermon to an illiterate peasant; while the sign of a fish

used by the early Christians because gible to their enemies.

sense which But.

This

was

unintelli-

not symbolism in the

have given to the word

in this Lecture.^

when the type is used as a proof This latter method had long been in

otherwise

it is

of the antitype.

use in biblical exegesis.

Pious persons found a curious

satisfaction in turning the

most matter of

its "

mystical

as well as

its

fact state-

Every verse must

ments into enigmatic prophecies. have

natural meaning, and

the search for "types" was a recognised branch of

Allegorism

apologetics,

dogmatic, which

became

authoritative

has no right to be.

and

would be

rash to say that this pseudo-science, which has proved so attractive to

many

minds,

entirely valueless.

very absurdity of the arguments used by

make

should

us suspect that there

of a more respectable sort behind them.

its

The

votaries

dumb

logic

There

is,

underlying this love of types and emblems, a strong The

however, would be unintelligible to the savage mind. is a symbol in the strictest sense. Hence, " the knowledge, invocation, and vain repetition of a deity's name constitutes in itself an actual, if mystic, union with the deity named " (Jevons, IntroducThis was one of the chief reasons tion to the History of Religion, p. 245). for making a secret of the cultus, and even of the name of a patron-deity. '

distinction,

primitive

reveal

man a name

was

to admit strangers into the tutelage of the national god.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

272

if "

conviction that

the ages,

one eternal purpose runs

must be discernible Everything

as in great.

through

in small things as well

in the world, if

could see

things as they are, must be symbolic of the Divine

Power which made

and maintains

cannot believe that anything

life

being.

meaningless,

no significance beyond the fleeting moment. Whatever method helps us to realise this is useful, or has

and

a sense

So far as this we may go with the same time we may be thankful

true.

allegorists, while at the

that the cobwebs texts have last

which they spun over the sacred

now been

read our Bible as

cleared away, so that

its

authors intended

we can

to be read.^

' I do not find it possible to give a more honourable place than this to a system of biblical exegesis which has still a few defenders. It was first developed in Christian times by the Gnostics, and was eagerly adopted by Origen, who fearlessly applied it to the Gospels, teaching that " Christ's actions on earth were enigmas [alrly/iara), to be interpreted by Gnosis."

The method was difiiculties in

the

often found useful in dealing with moral

Old Testament ;

language about the

literal

Christian Platonists of Alexandria

Clement

calls

and

scientific

enabled Dionysius to use very bold meaning, as I showed in Lecture III. The it

meant

irv/i/SoXiKus ipiKojo^eTi'.

be an esoteric method:

was held that

rck

iwtrHipia

Divine truths are honoured by But the main enigmatic treatment (^ Kpi^is i] iiV(mKii aeiivtnroiei ri Betoy). use of allegorism was pietistic ; and to this there can be no objection, unless the piety is morbid, as is the case in many commentaries on the Song uv(mKiiis irapaSlSorai

of Solomon.

;

Still, it

and even

that

can hardly be disputed that the countless books

written to elaborate the principles of allegorism contain a mass of futility

would be diflScult to match in any other class of literature. The method is perhaps to be found in Keble's Tract (No. 89) on the "Mysticism" of the early Fathers. Keble's own poetry contains many beautiful examples of the true use of symbolism ; but as an apologist of allegorism he does not distinguish between its use and abuse. Yet surely there is a vast difference between seeing in the "glorious sky embracing all " a type of "our Maker's love," and analysing the 153 fish caught in the Sea of Galilee into the square of the 12 Apostles+the square such as

best defence of the

of the 3 Persons of the Trinity. The history of the doctrine of "signatures," which

the cryptogram

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

273

Theosophical and magical Mysticism culminated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Just as the

idealism of Plotinus lost itself in the theurgic system

of lamblichus, so the doctrine of Divine immanence

preached by Eckhart and his school was followed by the

Nature-Mysticism of Cornelius Agrippa sus.^

The

and Paracel-

negative road " had been discredited by

Luther's invective, and Mysticism, instead of shutting

her eyes to the world of phenomena, stretched forth her

hands to conquer and annex

it.

The

old theory of a

World-Spirit, the pulsations of whose heart are all

the

of the universe,

life

Through intricate

all

came once more

phenomena,

was

felt in

into favour.

believed,

runs

network of sympathies and antipathies, the

threads of which, could they be disentangled, would theory applied to medicine, is very curious and interesting, "Citrons, according to Paracelsus, are good for heart affections, because they are heart-shaped ; the saphena riparum is to be applied to fresh wounds, because its leaves are spotted as with flecks of blood. species oidentaria,

—

whose roots resemble teeth, is a cure for toothache and scurvy." Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, vol. ii. p. 77. It is said that some traces of this quaint superstition survive even in the alliance

modem

materia medica.

between medicine and Mysticism subsisted

for

The

a long time, and

forms a curious chapter of history. ' Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, a contemporary of Reuchlin, studied Cabbalism mainly as a magical science. He was nominally a Catholic, but attacked Rome and scholasticism quite in the spirit of Luther. His three

On the Threefold Way of Knowing God, On the Vanity of Arts and Sciences (a ferocious attack on most of the professions), and On Occult Philosophy (treating of natural, celestial, and religious magic). The

chief works are,

" magician," he

says,

and theology."

Agrippa's adventurous

" must study

three sciences

—physics, mathematics,

ended in 1533. ^ Theophrastus Paracelsus (Philippus Bombastus von Hohenheim) was bom in 1493, and died in 1541. His writings are a curious mixture of theosophy and medical science: "medicine," he taught, "has four pillars philosophy, astronomy (or rather astrology ), alchemy, and religion." He lays great stress on the doctrine that man is a microcosm, and on the law of Divine manifestation by contraries the latter is a new feature which was further developed by Bohme.

—

life

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

274

furnish us with a clue through all the labyrinths of

natural and supernatural science.

The age was imon the inheritance from which humanity had long been debarred the methods of experimental science seemed tame and slow; and so we find, especially in Germany, an extraordinary patient

enter

;

outburst of Nature- Mysticism

—

astrology, white magic,

alchemy, necromancy, and what not

had

tianity

not

witnessed

sciences (with which

medicine,

natural

—such

was mingled much history,

of the

real progress

and kindred

were divided under three provinces or those

as Chris-

These pseudo-

before.

sciences)

vincula "

World, which were mainly

Spiritual

magical invocations, diagrams, and signs

those of the

;

World, which were taught by astrology

Celestial

;

and

those of the Elemental World, which consisted in the

sympathetic influence of material objects upon each other.

These

by man

;

universe,

for

secrets

man

and there

not claim an

(it

was held) are

discoverable

all

a microcosm, or epitome of the

nothing in

affinity.

with which he can-

In knowing himself, he knows

God and all the other works that God The subject of Nature- Mysticism is a

both

one

;

but

aspects.

must here confine myself to

has made. fascinating its

religious

attempt was soon made, by Valentine

Weigel (1533-1588), Lutheran pastor at Tschopau, to freed from bring together the new objective Mysticism its

ive

superstitious elements

—and

—

the traditional subject-

Mysticism which the Middle Ages had handed

down from Dionysius and cosmology

Weigel's

the Neoplatonists.

based on that of Paracelsus

psychology also reminds us of him.

Man

;

and

his

a micro-

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM cosm, and his nature has three parts material body, the astral

spirit,

—

the outward

and the immortal

The

which bears the image of God.

soul,

three faculties of

the soul correspond to these three parts sense,

275

;

they are

{Vemunff), and understanding {VerThese are the " three eyes " by which we get

reason

stand).

The

knowledge. reason,

sense perceives material things

and

natural science

which he also

Divine.

calls

art

the

understanding,

the

;

the spark, sees the invisible and

follows the

mystics in distin-

scholastic

guishing between natural and supernatural knowledge,

but his method of distinguishing them Natural knowledge, he says,

original.

by the

object

;

it is

is,

think,

not conveyed

the percipient subject which creates

The

object merely provokes

the consciousness into activity.

In natural knowledge

knowledge out of

itself.

the subject is " active, to

come from without

not passive

;

all

that appears

from within.

really evolved

In supernatural knowledge the opposite

The eye is

of the " understanding,"

which sees the Divine,

the spark in the centre of the soul where

Divine image.

if it

were dead.

the

;

its

thoughts must be as

subject

does

not

Spirit

still

come from

and Word of God are within

Himself the eye and the

knowYet this

supernatural

co-operate.

supernatural knowledge does not

The

the

Just as in natural knowledge the

object does not co-operate, so in

ledge

lies

In this kind of cognition the subject

must be absolutely passive as

the case.

us.

without.

God

light in the soul, as well as

the object which the eye sees

this

light.

Super-

natural knowledge flows from within outwards, and in this

way resembles

natural knowledge.

But since God

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

276 is

both the eye that sees and the object which

sees,

not we

who know God, so much as God who knows Himself in us. Our inner man is a mere it

instrument of God.

Thus Weigel, who begins with

—

Paracelsus, leaves off

somewhere near Eckhart and Eckhart in his boldest mood. But his chief concern is to attack the Bibliolaters {Buckstabentkeologen) in

the Lutheran Church, and to protest against the unethical dogma of imputed righteousness. We need not follow him into either of these controversies, which give a kind of accidental

colouring

which

his

theology.

Speculative

Mysticism,

always the foe of formalism and dryness

them in whatever forms it finds them when we try to penetrate the essence of Mysticism by investigating its historical manifestations, we must always consider what was the system which in religion, attacks

and

each

;

so,

case

was trying to purify and

spiritualise.

Weigel's Mysticism moves in the atmosphere of Lutheran

But

dogmatics.

also

marks a stage

the general

development of Christian Mysticism, by giving a the self-evolution of the

says, " physics,

you,

human

soul.

alchemy, magic,

etc.

and you become what you have

that his religious attitude position

posit-

and natural knowledge as part of

ive value to scientific

Study

;

for it is all in

nature,"

It is true

learnt''

rigidly quietistic

;

but this

so inconsistent with the activity which he

enjoins on the " reason," that he

may claim

the credit of

having exhibited the contradiction between the positive

and negative methods contradiction

in a clear light;

always the

more notable

effort

first

and

to prove a

step towards solving it

the

same

direction was

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM of Jacob

that

Bohme, who, though he had studied

Weigel, brought

which was

to his task

his

all

Bohme was born

own.

1575 near

and

write in

silenced

him

treatises

between that date and

Bohme

where he

Gorlitz,

after-

He began

in spite of clerical opposition,

which

he produced a number of

for five years,

his death in 1624.

" professed to write only what he had " seen

by Divine

His visions are not (with

illumination.

insignificant

vellous

genius

a philosophical

wards settled as a shoemaker and glover. 61

2;;

authenticated by any mar-

exceptions)

signs

;

he simply

he has been

that

asserts

allowed to see into the heart of things, and that the

very Being of

God has been

laid

open to

his spiritual

His was that type of mind to which

sight.i

every

thought becomes an image, and a logical process like

" I

an animated photograph.

book," he says; and in writing, he

on paper the images which If

fails,

describe what he

man '

;

Abyss

;

but when he

seeing. is

my own

to transcribe

tries

float before his

mind's eye.

cannot find words

because he

myself

Bohme was an

unlearned

content to describe his visions in

saw," he says, "the Being of

Ground and the and first state of the

Beings, the

all

Holy Trinity ; the I saw in myself the

also, the birth of the

origin

—

three worlds the Divine world and of all creatures. ; the dark world, the original of Nature ; and the

or angelic world

external world, as a substance spoken forth out of the two spiritual worlds.

...

In my inward man I saw it well, as in a great deep ; for I saw right through as into a chaos where everything lay wrapped, but I could not unfold it. Yet from time to time it opened itself within me, like a growing For twelve years I carried it about within me, before I could bring plant. it forth in any external form ; till afterwards it fell upon me, like a bursting

shower that

killeth wheresoever

aiji

Whatever I could none of mine I doelh what IJe will,"

lighteth, as

bring into outwardness, that I wrote down.

but the ford's instrument, wherewith

will.

The work

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

278

homely German, he the scholars

lucid enough.

him with philosophical personified

either

called forth the in

Unfortunately,

who soon gathered round him

—

for

scured his style

the

instance

still

The study

more,

forthwith

word

image of a beautiful maiden

a sense of his own.

supplied

terms, which he

—

" Idea "

or used

of Paracelsus obwith a

filling his treatises

bewildering mixture of theosophy and chemistry. result

certainly that

unreadable

;

much of

his

work

dug out

the nuggets of gold have to be

from a bed of rugged stone

;

The

almost

and we cannot be

sur-

prised that the unmystical eighteenth century declared that " Behmen's works would disgrace

moon."

Bedlam

at full

But German philosophers have spoken with

reverence of " the father of Protestant Mysticism,"

"perhaps only wanted learning and the

gift

who

of clear

to become a German Plato"; and Sir Newton shut himself up for three months to study Bohme, whose teaching on attraction and the laws of motion seemed to him to have great value.^

expression Isaac

For tion

us,

most interesting

marking the

Symbolism, or rather as the author of a attempt to fuse the two into one system. brief sketch of

Bohme's doctrines

brilliant

far

its

best exponent.

Law was

who

was able

man

to bring

from Bp. Warburton. " Sublime nonsense, inimitable bombe paralleled," is John Wesley's verdict. See Overton, Li/e of William Law, p. i88. This

bast, "

writer,

an enthusiastic

admirer of Bohme, and being, unlike his master, a of learning and a practised

shall illustrate his

teaching from the later works of William Law,

transi-

from the purely subjective type of Mysticism to

fustian not to

;

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM Bohme

order out of the chaos in which strength

tions.

and

clear

specula-

left his

Law was Bohme's

of intellect

and as a writer of

equal,

279

forcible

English he

has few superiors.

Bohme's doctrine of God and the world resembles that of other speculative mystics, but he contributes a

new element

law of being.

antithesis as a

things

the great stress which he lays on

consist,"

In Yes and

says.

philosopher

all

since

Heraclitus and Empedocles had asserted so strongly that " Strife

hidden

life

the father of

Even in the Godhead he finds the

all things."

of the unmanifested

play of Attraction and Diffusion, the resultant of which a Desire for manifestation

feeling this desire, the

the

light

felt in

the Godhead.

Godhead becomes

which illumines the darkness

Darkness

the Son.

Holy Spirit, in whom arise the So he explains Body, Soul, archetypes of creation.

The and

resultant

the

Spirit as thesis, antithesis,

same Will Evil

;

and synthesis

formula serves to explain

Good,

Angels, Devils, and the World. is

not very consistent; but his

that the object of the cosmic process victory of

Good over

least has

Evil, of

the merit

inwoven with our

lives

soar above the conflict

Evil,

;

and the

and Free

His view of

final doctrine is is

to exhibit the

Love over Hatred.^

of showing that strife

we cannot possibly between Good and Evil. It

here that

must be observed that Bohme repudiated the doctrine " I say is any evolution of God in time.

that there

have omitted Bohme's gnostical theories as to the seven Quellgehter The resemblance to Easilides is here rather striking, but it must be a pure coincidence. '

as belonging rather to theosophy than to Mysticism.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

28o

not that Nature

God," he says

and communicates His power to

" all

Himself

His works."

all,

But

the creation of the archetypes was not a temporal act.

Like other Protestant mystics, he lays great

on the indwelling presence of with

sistently

much "

this

Cambridge

as did the

That man

belief,

Platonists a

merely comfort himself with the

of favour, remaining himself

gift

unregenerate.

me,

...

beget His Son in

Then

tion,

my in

death,

and

death.

effect

me.

faith's

of justifica-

He is my life I live I am an instrument what He will." To the

inwardly dead, and

more nor

less

" Christ given

for us

than Christ given into

no other sense our

Law

;

selfhood.

He doeth William Law says,

in us."

of promise.

and straightway there

;

full,

perfect,

Atonement, than as His nature and formed

The Father must

from the inward power of Christ's

hell,

of God, wherewith

neither

to himself as

the killing of the wrath of the devil,

Him, and not

same

and

a wild beast and

desire of faith, that

ground

inward

begins

still

may apprehend Him in His word put Him on, in His entire process

hunger

who doth

If this said sacrifice is to avail for

must be wrought

later.

little

suffering, death,

and doth impute

satisfaction of Christ,

says,

the

very

righteousness,

no Christian," he

against

revolts

of imputed

doctrine

Calvinistic

stress

And, con-

Christ.

and

us.

sufficient

spirit are born and

also insists that the

Atonement

was the effect, not of the wrath, but of the love of God. " Neither reason nor scripture," he says, " will allow us to bring wrath into

God

Himself, as a temper of His

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

281

who is only infinite, unalterable, overflowing " Wrath is atoned when sin is extinguished."

mind, Love."

This revolt against the forensic theory of the Atone-

ment

very characteristic of Protestant Mysticism.^

The disparagement of external rites and ordinances, which we have found in so many mystics, appears in William Law, though he was himself precise

in ob-

serving

pearl

the rules of the English Church.

all

eternity

the

This

temple of God

Church, a

•within thee, the consecrated place of

Divine worship,

where alone thou canst worship God

in spirit

truth.

spirit,

because thy

spirit

and

that alone in

thee which can unite and cleave unto God, and receive the working of the Divine Spirit upon thee.

because this adoration of which

outward

by God,

stituted this

all

worship

in spirit is

forms

eternal.

the fountain of living live

and

that truth

and

Accustom

for ever.

In the midst of

water, of

Lamb

in life

thy true nourishment:

in real experience, in

work of God on the

soul.

There the

real states of

followed Christ in the regeneration.

And

life

done, and

birth, the

life,

the

and ascension of

merely remembered, but inwardly found

and enjoyed as the

all

and

a living sensibility of the

sufferings, the death, the resurrection

Christ, are not

kept; the

bread that came down from heaven, that giveth

known

which thou mayst

There the mysteries of thy

There the supper of the

the world,

in-

thyself to the holy

redemption are celebrated, or rather opened power.

reality

though

rites,

are only the figure for a time; but

service of this inward temple.

drink and

In truth,

thy soul, which has

When

of English Mysticism heiore the Reformation

;

once thou cf. p.

208.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

282

grounded

art well

have learnt to

For every day

inward worship, thou

God above time and

unto

live will

this

a church, and an

priest,

along with thee,"^

altar

and

In his teaching about faith

mystical

writers

;

There

setting

all

mankind, and the way to

forth.

God

the soul to God, and

one

God, just and

true,

open, and Christ thus the

how

common

This

God and His

ends, wills nothing but to

its

love and

thus everywhere

Saviour to

Thee

flame.

all

And

that

of love

creature." its

The

propagate

itself,

its

till

life is

the one only bond of union

own spirit

Love has no by-

increase

everything

of love does not want ;

its

only desire

and become the blessing and

happiness of everything that wants

The

with God.

Thy

to be rewarded, honoured, or esteemed to

life

creature can have any union or com-

of love.

betwixt

the

unites with

;

one

munion with the goodness of the Deity spirit

for

is,

This desire brings

great

turn the desire of their hearts to

he says

and that

;

into the soul

mercy to mankind, that heaven

follows

but one salvation

it is

co-operates with God, and

O my

oil

Law

but

desire of the soul turned to God.

God,

love,

none before him, I attained to such strong and growing eloquence

best

think,

place.

be Sunday to thee, and wherever

thoU goest thou wilt have a

the

wilt

it."

doctrine of the Divine spark (synteresis)

held

by Law, but in a more definitely Christian form than by Eckhart.

was to

raise a

new

life like

The sect of Behmenists in Germany, the Spirit of Prayer. Law, attended no church, and took no part in the Lord's Supper. Overton, Life of William Law, p. 214. '

From

unlike

—

" If Christ

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM His own

originally

man must have had

every man, then every the inmost

of his

spirit

283

a seed of

life

Christ, or Christ as a seed of heaven, lying there in a

state of insensibility, out of

which

could not arise

by the mediatorial power of Christ. For what could begin to deny self, if there were not some-

but

thing in

man

different

God

the

hidden

immured under

self?

The Word of human soul,

of every

and blood,

flesh

arises in our hearts,

Adam

from

treasure

as a day-star

till

and changes the son of an earthly

into a son of God."

Is not this the Platonic

doctrine of anamnesis, Christianised in a most beautiful

manner ? Very characteristic of the

Bohme

body,"

and the

There also

soul,

writes, "

where the body there,

The

when

;

the

use about the

departs from the

needeth not to

dies, there is

devil

Mysticism

Bdhme and Law

language which both future state.

later

far

;

for

hell. God is own kingdom.

heaven and

yea, each in his

Paradise; and the soul needeth only to

Law

enter through the deep door in the centre."

very emphatic in asserting that heaven and hell are

separate, will of

places, and that they are and imposed states, adjudged

not

states,

God."

Damnation," he

essential state of our

own

says, "

else

but

There

finely,

our

own

hell,

nothing that

" in

the

Every part of

has

its all

by the

the natural,

both

here

be anything

and

hereafter."

supernatural," he says very

whole system

powers of nature, and

foreign,

disordered nature, which

impossible, in the nature of the thing, to

to us

ground

our

in the

our redemption

redemption.

workings and is

only nature

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

284 set right, or

There .

made

to be that which

nothing that

ought to he}

God

supernatural but

Right and wrong, good and

and

true

evil,

alone. false,

happiness and misery, are as unchangeable in nature

and space. Nothing, therefore, can be done to any creature supernaturally, or in a way that is without as time

or contrary to the powers of nature or creature that

good done to have

and

it,

done so

but every thing

;

to be helped, that

any

evil

far as the

to have

is,

taken out of

it,

any

can only

powers of nature are

able,

rightly directed to effect it."^

It is difficult to abstain

like this, in

only to

from quoting more passages

which Faith, which had been so long directed unseen and unknown, sheds her bright

the

beams over her own.

this earth of ours,

The

and claims

laws of nature are

now

all

nature for

recognised as

the laws of God, and for that very reason they cannot

be broken or '

Redemption

arbitrarily suspended.

This stimulating doctrine, that the soul, when freed from impediments,

ascends naturally and inevitably to its "own place," of Beatrice by Dante {Paradiso, i. 136)

put into the mouth

" Non dei piii ammirar, se bene stimo, Lo tuo salir, se non come d'un rivo Se

d'alto

monte scende giuso ad imo.

Maraviglia sarebbe in

te, se

D'impedimento giu ti fossi Com' a terra quieto fuoco

vivo.

Quinci rivolce inver lo cielo ' It

may be

interesting to

privo

assiso,

viso."

compare the following passage from George

Fox, which dramatises the irruption of natural science, with its feith in " One morning, while I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, a temptation beset me ; and I sat still. It was said. All things come by Nature ; and the elements and stars came over me, so that I was in a manner quite clouded by it. And as I sat still under it and let it alone, a living hope and a true voice arose in me, which said, There is a living God who made all things. Immediately the cloud and temptation vanished away, and life rose over it aXX ; my heart was glad, and I praised the living God." fixed laws, into the sphere of the religious consciousness

—

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM law of

life.

lilies,"

285

come a time,i " the time of the Bohme calls it, when all nature will be There

will

delivered from bondage.

All the design of Christian

redemption," says Law, "is to remove everything that

unheavenly, gross,

from

every part

oftener in his

dark,

wrathful,

of this fallen

and disordered

world."

text

mouth than the words of St. Paul which That " dim sym-

read as the text of this Lecture.

pathy" of the human which Plotinus

felt,

spirit

with the

life

of nature

but which mediaeval dualism had

now become an intense and happy community with all living things, as

almost quenched, has consciousness of

subjects of one all-embracing

and unchanging law, the

Magic and

law of perfect love.

portents, apparitions

visions, the raptures of " infused

and

contemplation

Nemesis of Satanic delusions, can no moie trouble the serenity of him who has learnt to see

and

their dark

the

same God

in nature

whom

he has found in the

holy place of his own heart.

was impossible to separate Law from the " blessed Behmen," whose disciple he was proud to profess himself. But in putting them together I have been It

obliged

depart

from the chronological order,

for

the Cambridge Platonists, as they are usually called,

come between. sion,

for

This, however, need cause

no confu-

the Platonists had no direct influence upon

Law. Law, Nonjuror as well as mystic, remained a High Churchman by sympathy, and hated Rationalism '

;

while the Platonists sprang from an Evangelical

So we may

transcends time.

this earth.

we remember Bohme nor Law

fairly say, if

Neither

that

are speaking of

what

looks forward to a golden age

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

286

were

school,

never

Bohme

regarded

find so very

tired

extolling

Reason, and

as a fanciful " enthusiast."

much

common between

And

yet,

the Platon-

and William Law, that these party differences seem merely superficial. The same exalted type of ists

Mysticism appears

The group centre in

both.

of philosophical divines,

some of the Cambridge

who had

their

colleges towards the

middle of the seventeenth century, furnishes one of the most interesting and important chapters in the history

Never since the time of the

of our Church.

early

Greek Fathers had any orthodox communion produced thinkers so independent and yet so thoroughly loyal to the Church.

And

seldom has the Christian temper

found a nobler expression than ings of such

men

the lives and writ-

Whichcote and John Smith.*

Henry More's judgment is as follows "Jacob Behmen, I conceive, is be reckoned in the number of those whose imaginative faculty has the

pre-eminence above the rational ; and though he was a good and holy man, his natural complexion, notwithstanding, was not destroyed, but retained its property still ; and, therefore, his imagination being very busy about Divine things, he could not without a miracle fail of becoming an enthusiast, and of receiving Divine traths upon the account of the strength his fency ; which, being so well qualified vfith holiness and proved not unsuccessful in sundry apprehensions, but in others it

and vigour of sanctity,

fared vrith failing

him

after the

manner of men, the

sagacity of his imagination

him, as well as the anxiety of reason does others of like int^ity

with himself." ' Canon G. G. Perry, in his Students' English Church History, disposes of this noble group of men in one contemptuous paragraph, as a "class oi divines who were neither Puritans nor High Churchmen," and makes the

astounding statement that " to the school thus commenced, the deadness, and indifference prevalent in the eighteenth century are in It is of these very same men that Bishop large measure to be attributed." carelessness,

Burnet writes, that if they had not appeared to combat the "laziness and negligence," the "ease and sloth" of the Restoration clergy, "the Church had quite lost her esteem over the nation." Alexander Knox iii. p. 199) speaks of the rise of this school as a great instance ( fVorks, vol. of the design of Providence to supply to the Church what had never before

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM These men made no

And

let it

secret of their

homage

to Plato.

be noticed that they were students of Plato

and Plotinus more than of Dionysius and Their Platonism

sors.

287

his succes-

not of the debased Oriental

type,

and

The

via

negativa has disappeared as completely in

entirely free from self-absorbed quietism.

Bohme

their writings as in those of

them as

;

the world

for

him the mirror of the Deity; but, being philosophers and not physicists, they are most interfor

ested in claiming for religion the whole field of lectual

life.

They

intel-

are fully convinced that there can

be no ultimate contradiction

between philosophy or

and Christian faith and this accounts not only for their praise of " reason," but for the happy science

;

optimism which appears everywhere

their writings.

The

luxurious and indolent Restoration clergy, whose

lives

were shamed by the simplicity and

the

Platonists,

to throw at them, "

spirituality of

word " Latitudinarian long nickname a which they have

invented

the

taught their tongues to pronounce as roundly as

were shorter than

it is

four or five syllables "

if it ;

but

they could not deny that their enemies were loyal sons of the Church of England.^

What

the Platonists meant

been produced, writers who do "full honour at once to the elevation and the rationality of Christian piety. ... In their writings we are invited to ascend, by having a prospect opened before us as luminous as it is sub. They are such writers as had never before existed. . No Church but the English Church could have produced them." Of John Smith he says, "My value for him is beyond what words can do justice The works of Whichcote, Smith, Cudworth, and Culverwel are to." happily accessible enough, and I beg my readers to study them at first hand. I do not believe that any Christian could rise from the perusal of the two first-named without having gained a lasting benefit in the deepening of his spiritual life and heightening of his faith. 1 A writer who signs himself S. P. (probably Simon Patrick, bishop ol

lime.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

288

by making reason the seat of authority may be seen by a few quotations from Whichcote and Smith, who for our

purpose

the best representatives of

are, I think,

Whichcote answers Tuckney, who had remonstrated with him for "a vein of doctrine, in which reason hath too much given to it in the mys-

the

school.

teries of faith";

these points

—"Too The

much" and "too

Scripture

full

often" on

of such

truths,

and I discourse on them too much and too often Sir, I oppose not rational to spiritual, for spiritual is most !

Elsewhere he writes,

rational."

that gives reason

what he has said, has done what is fit to be done, and the most that can be done." "Reason is the for

Divine Governor of man's "

God."

When

the reason of our mind, " It

life."

ill

from the

will

frigid

How

which

following,

right

stamps

Though liberty yet how few there

right, !

the very voice of

be the principle of our intellectual

far this teaching differs

common-sense " morality prevalent

in the eighteenth century,

mystic.

;

becomes us to make our

Gibeonites."

faculties

life

the doctrine of the Gospel becomes

For the use of

may

be judged from the

Whichcote

of judgment be are that

this right

make

genuine

everyone's

use of this

doth depend upon

self-improvement by meditation, consideration, examination,

prayer,

and the

like.

These are things antece-

Brief Account of the new Sect of Latitude (1662), vindicates their attachment to the "virtuous mediocrity" of the Church of England, as distinguished from the " meretricious gaudiness of the Church of Rome, and the squalid sluttery of fenatic conventicles." Ely), in a pamphlet called

Men

' Compare with these extracts the words of Leibnitz : " To despise reason in matters of religion is to my eyes certain proof either of an obstinacy that borders on fanaticism, or, what is worse, of hypocrisy."

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM dent and prerequisite." too long to quote in

289

John Smith, in a fine passage says " Reason in man being

full,

lumen de lumine, a light flowing from the Fountain and Father of lights of himself

all

was to enable man to work out

those notions of

God which

are the true

groundwork of love and obedience to God, and conformity to Him.

But since man's

the inward virtue and vigour of reason

fall is

from God,

much

abated,

the soul having suffered a TrrepoppvTjaK}, as Plato speaks,

... And therefore, besides God hath provided

a defluvium pennarum. of natural

truth

inscription,

truth of Divine revelatioh.

ward

revelation, there

But besides

the

this out-

an inward impression of

also

the

manner attributed God only can so shine upon our glassy to God, understandings, as to beget in them a picture of Himit.

which

self,

in a

special

and turn the soul

wax

or clay to the seal of

made our souls in and His own image and likeness can easily find a way

His own

light

The Word

into them.

way

love.

God

speaks, having found

into the soul, imprints itself there as with the

...

point of a diamond.

the

that

with

soul

the

It is

God

truths

alone that acquaints

revelation,

and

also

strengthens and raises the soul to better apprehen-

God being

sions even

of natural truth,

intellectual

world which the sun

some of the ancient Fathers ancient

philosophers

Intellectus Agens}-

to be not

too,

that in the

the sensible, as

love to speak,

and the

who meant God by

their

whose proper work they supposed

much

enlighten the

faculty." *

is in

See Appendix C.

object as the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

290

The light,

on the Inner

Platonists thus lay great stress

and identify

exposition of their teaching on this head

sermon

beautiful

of attaining

Way

The True

best

in Smith's

Method

" Divinity,"

Divine Knowledge."

The

with the purified reason.

says, " is a Divine life rather than a Divine science, to

be understood rather by a

any verbal of Divine

science

—

spiritual sensation

description.

good

life

the fear of the Lord

ginning of wisdom.

Divinity

than by

the prolepsis

the be-

a true efflux from the

eternal light, which, like the sunbeams, does not only

and enliven

enlighten, but also heat

;

and therefore our

Saviour hath in His beatitudes connext purity of heart "

to the beatific vision."

but

wan

poor

books and writings

dead

in these, " truth

;

as entombed."

compared with that which "

shines in purified souls. in

Systems and models furnish

light,"

seek our divinity merely

among the much enshrined us to know and

to seek the living is

often not so

That which enables

understand aright the things of God, must be a living within

of holiness

principle

us.

The sun of

Such

God Himself seem

never shines into any unpurged souls.

men

themselves

be.

•

heads. free

Some men have

such

are,

judgment and a

aware how much so admirable that

for

God.

his

too bad hearts to have good it

with a

mystical theology, and was

ideal

differed

from

that

His criticism of the via negativa I

are content I

sanctified mind."

Dionysian Mysticism.

men

that will find truth must seek

Smith was well read

will

truth

mean not

must quote part of

it.

Good

and ready to deny themselves that they should

deny

their

own

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM reason, as

beam

some would have

it,

were to deny a

of Divine light, and so to deny God, instead of

denying ourselves

Him. ... By

for

the soul's quitting

all its

own

and duty

service

Him

mean

and an

points of

all

loses itself in

the possession not so

lives

as to

and thus the soul

;

self-denial, I

interest in itself,

entire resignation of itself to

and

for that

291

much

its

God,

own

being as of the Divinity, desiring only to be great in

God, to glory fulness itself

;

and spread

;

tuum between God and themselves," but able to

make a

full

own

The

wards

;

of the

spirit

way to be all things this his truest way of possessing all things. ;

of religion

and, spreading loosens

soul,

itself it

The

spirit

always ascending up-

through the whole essence

from

narrowness, and so renders

enjoyment.

a self-confinement and

more capacious of Divine of a good

drinking in fountain-goodness, and

more,

till it

filled

with

all

waiting, that speaks

men

man

fills itself

always

more and

the fulness of God,"

not a melancholy kind of sitting

man

triumph-

nothingness, and

the only

having nothing the

But, indeed, this his

the allness of the Divinity.

being nothing

the good

surrender of himself,

ing in nothing more than in his in

His

;

but as God's."

itself in

Him to receive all from Him, and to Him and so to live, not as its own, Wicked men " maintain a meum and

for

all

light,

always by Him, and to empty

filled

again into

expend

His

still,

and

" It

slothful

enlivened by the Spirit and

power of God. It is not religion to stifle and smother those active powers and principles which are within us. Good men do not walk up and down the world .

merely

ghosts and shadows

;

but they are indeed

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

292 living

men, by a

from

real participation

Him who

indeed a quickening Spirit." "

Neither were

an happiness worth the having

a mind, like an hermit sequestered from to

spend an eternity

is.

What went ye out into the invert it. What do you

We may

see?

narrow

cell

soul its

deprives itself of

confined

own all

itself

the

particular being?

private

and

Such a

soul

round

shines

about

throughout the whole universe

deprives itself of poor, petty,

within

wilderness to return within

that almighty and essential glory

and goodness which spreads

itself

read in the Gospel of such a question of

our Saviour's, see?

nothing as

superficial

for

else,

and the enjoy-

self-converse

ment of such a diminutive

things

all

;

which

I say,

enjoying of such a

for the

this,

it,

and diminutive thing as

itself

is,

which yet

can never enjoy truly in such retiredness."

The English subject

Platonists are

of ecstasy.

know God

at all as

of religion, ravishings

who doth with

equally sound on the

Whichcote says is,

not

sweet

the Divine perfections."

nor

find

" in

doth not

a good state

himself at times

and lovely considerations of And Smith: "Who can tell

the delights of those mysterious converses with the Deity,

when reason

turned

into sense,

and

faith

The fruit of this knowledge is becomes vision? sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. ... By the Platonists' leave, this life and knowledge (that of the 'contemplative man') peculiarly belongs to the true

and sober

Christian.

infant-Christ formed

nothing else but an

his soul.

But we must not

This in

mistake: this knowledge

life

here but in

its

infancy."

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM While we are

own

here, " our

imaginative

293

powers,

which are perpetually attending the best acts of our be breathing a gross dew upon the pure

souls, will

glass of our understandings." "

Heaven is first a temper, then a place," says Whichand Smith says the same about hell. " Heaven

cote,

not a thing without

truce

with

fied,

;

happiness anything

Though we could suppose

God."

asleep

nor

us,

from a true conjunction of the mind with

distinct

heaven, and

yet would our

make an ^tna

own

all

ourselves to be at

Divine displeasure

sins, if they

laid

continue unmorti-

or Vesuvius within us."

This

view of the indissoluble connexion between holiness

and blessedness,

Smith to as

between

sin

and damnation, leads

reject strenuously the doctrine of imputed,

opposed

not bid us be

imparted, righteousness.

warmed and

filled,"

he says,

God does

and deny

us those necessities which our starving and hungry for. ... I doubt sometimes, some of our dogmata and notions about justification may puff us up in far higher and goodlier conceits of ourselves than God hath of us, and that we profanely make the

souls call

unspotted righteousness of Christ to serve only as a covering wherein filthy vices,

in as

good

ourselves,

much

wrap our

foul

deformities

and

and when we have done, think ourselves credit

and repute with God as we are with

and that we are become Heaven's darlings as

are our own."

' The classical reader will be reminded of Lucretius, iii. 979-1036. Smith, however, would not have relished this comparison. He devotes part of one sermon to a refutation of tlie Epicurean poet, in whom he sees

a precursor of his Mie noire, Hobbes '

Compare with

this the

foUowmg

passage of Jean de Labadie (1610-

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

294

These extracts

show that the English Platonists Romish mystics, and

will

breathe a larger air than the later

teach a religion more definitely Christian than Erigena

and Eckhart. I shall now show how this happy result was connected with a more truly spiritual view of the

we have met with

external world than

in the earlier

part of our survey.

That the laws of nature are the laws of God, that " man, as man, is averse to what is and wicked," that

evil

" evil is unnatural,"

tradiction of the law of our being," which in

men and

wicked

devils,"

And Smith

"gallant themes."

and a

" con-

only found

one of Whichcote's forth the true

sets

principles of Nature-Mysticism in a splendid passage,

with which "

I will

God made

conclude this Lecture

the universe and

tained therein as so reflect

many

the creation

;

and

feelingly

might

hath copied forth Himself

in this

read the lovely characters

power, and wisdom.

the creatures con-

glasses wherein

His own glory.

all

outward world we may

of the

But how to

Divine goodness, find

God here, and

converse with Him, and being affected

with the sense of the Divine glory shining out upon the creation,

how

the intellectual,

to pass out of the sensible world into is

not so effectually taught by that

1674), the founder of a mystical school

on the Continent

" Plusieurs

bien aises d'ouyr dire qu'ils sont justifies par Jesus-Christ,

pfoh& en son sang par

la foi,

et volontiers ils I'embrasent

par la repentance et par

comme

]a.vis

bapt^me

comme

sont

de leurs

chrestien,

mort mais peu prennent part k sa croix, i sa mort, pour se feire spirituellement mourir avec Luy, crucifier leur chair avec la sieime, et porter en eux-memes les vives marques de sa croix et de sa mort. Peu le goutent comme Justificateur au dedans par I'Esprit consacrant et immolant le vieil homme i Dieu et par une pratique vraiment sainte, laquelle dompte pour eux

pieU."

;

Justificateur,

crucifix et

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM philosophy which professed

That which

knits

can best teach

most, as by true religion.

and unites God and the soul together it

how

and descend upon

to ascend

those golden links that unite, as

God.

were, the world to

That Divine Wisdom, that contrived and

fied this glorious structure,

beauti-

can best explain her

and carry up the soul back again in these beams to Him who is the Fountain of them. .

own

reflected

art,

men may

295

Good

every creature pointing out to

easily find

that Being whose image and superscription

bears,

and climb up from those darker resemblances of the Divine wisdom and goodness, shining out in different degrees upon several creatures,

they sweetly repose

till

themselves in the bosom of the Divinity are thus conversing with this lower world

God many

;

and while they .

they find

times secretly flowing into their souls, and

leading them silently out of the court of the temple

Holy Place. Thus religion, where it is in and power, renews the very spirit of our minds, and doth in a manner spiritualise this outward creation It is nothing but a thick mist of pride and to us.

into the

truth

self-love that hinders

men's eyes from beholding that

sun which enlightens them and

good man

no more

things else.

all

solicitous

whether

...

this or that

good thing be mine, or whether my perfections exceed the measure of this or that particular creature for whatsoever good he beholds anywhere, he enjoys and ;

delights in

much

if it

were

his

own, and what-

ever he beholds in himself, he looks not upon property, but as a

common good

come from one and light

whom

the

he loves

;

for all these

as his

beams

same Fountain and Ocean of them all with an universal

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

296 love.

world as

Thus may a man walk up and down

the

a garden of spices, and suck a Divine

There

sweetness out of every flower.

a twofold

meaning in every creature, a literal and a mystical, and the one is but the ground of the other and as the Jews say of their law, so a good man says of everyit speaks to his thing that his senses offer to him ;

—

lower part, but

mind and

It is

spirit.

superstition

which

something that

Whereas true

points out something above to his

may

fain to set

jog

religion

some

and put

mind of God.

out of the

itself

...

spirit

idol at its elbow,

never finds

sphere of the Divinity

infinite

muddy

the drowsy and

beholds

itself

everywhere in the midst of that glorious unbounded

Being who

indivisibly everywhere.

finds every place

the world Jacob,

How

good man

he treads upon holy ground

God's temple dreadful

;

than the house of God, this

him

ready to say with

this place

;

this

none other

the gate of heaven."

LECTURE

287

VIII

"For

;

nothing worthy proving can be proven,

Nor

yet disproven ; wherefore thou be wise, Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt, And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith

She reels not in the storm of warring words, She brightens at the clash of Yes and No, She sees the Best that glimmers through the Worst, She feels the sun is hid but for a night. She spies the summer thro' the winter bud. She tastes the fruit before the blossom fells. She hears the lark within the songless egg. She finds the fountain where they wail'd 'Mii^e!'"

Tennyson,

TJie

Ancient Sage.

" Of true religions there are only two : one of them recognises and worships the Holy that without fonu or shape dwells in and around us and the other recognises and worships it in its feirest form. Everything that lies between these

two

idolatry."

GOBTHB. "

wish

that I

may

perceive the

in the external world, in like

manner

God whom

wifliin

and

"Getrost, das Leben schreitet

Zum Von

ew'gen Leben hin;

innrer Gluth geweitet

Verklart sich unser Sinn.

Die Stemwelt wird zerfliessen Zum goldnen Lebenswein, Wir werden sie geniessen

Und

lichte Sterne sein.

Die Lieb'

Und

ist

Wie

freigegeben

keine Trennung mehr

Es wogt das

voile

Leben

ein unendlich Meer.

eine Nacht der Wonne, Ein ewiges Gedicht Und unser AUer Sonne

Nur

Ist

Gottes Angesicht."

NOVALIS.

ses

I find

inside

everywhere

me." Kepler.

—

LECTURE Nature-Mysticism " The

invisible things of

Him

VIII

—

continued

since the creation of the world are clearly

seen, being understood through the things that are lasting

power and Divinity."

last

Lecture

emancipated

itself

Rom.

made, even His ever-

20.

showed how the

later

Mysticism

from the mischievous doctrine that

the spiritual eye can only see

when the eye of

sense

After the Reformation period the mystic

closed.

to look with both eyes

;

his

aim

to see

things, as well as all things in God.

God

tries

in all

returns with

better resources to the task of the primitive religions,

and is

tries to find spiritual

law

in the natural world.

true that a strange crop of superstitions, the seeds

of which had been sown long before, sprang up to

mock

his hopes.

In necromancy, astrology, alchemy,

palmistry, table-turning, and other delusions,

we have

what some count the essence, and others the reproach, But these are, strictly speaking, scienof Mysticism.

and not religious errors. From the standpoint of and philosophy, the important change is that, in the belief of these later mystics, the natural and the the spiritual are, somehow or other, to be reconciled tific

religion

;

external world

no longer regarded as a place of exile

from God, or as a delusive appearance 299

;

it is

the living

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

300

vesture of the Deity

though

a voice for the wise

The

veil.

its "

and

;

glory of

lost

;

but

God

no longer figured

art

can

Dualism,

interpret.

varied hues appearing not

its

wonders that science can discover, and that

as a

colours are combined

all

the sanctuary of the lonely soul, but in

has

seen as a " many-coloured wisdom

which shines everywhere, only

yet

it needs interpreters," which speaks of things behind the

blinding white light in which

and

discordant harmony,"

many

" for the

asceticism which belongs to

the

the beauties

all

with

has given

it,

all

harsh

the

way

to a

and more hopeful philosophy; men's outlook upon the world is more intelligent, more trustful, and more genial only for those who perversely seek to brighter

;

impose the ethics of

selfish individualism

upon a world

which obeys no such law, science has

in reserve a

blacker pessimism than ever brooded over the ascetic

of the

cloister.

not

shall

meet,

this

chapter,

any

finer

examples of the Christian mystic than John Smith

and William Law. But these men, and their intellectual kinsmen, were far from exhausting the treasure

The Cambridge Platonists, somewhat undervalued the religious lessons of Nature. They were scholars and divines, and what lay nearest their heart was the consecration of the Nature-Mysticism.

indeed,

reason

—

that

guidance of

is,

its

And Law,

and goodness.

much under '

of the whole highest faculty

personality under

—

the

to the service of truth

in his later years,

was too

the influence of Bohme's fantastic theosophy

Horace, Ef.

12.

° iroXira-otnXot <ro01a,

19.

Eph.

iii.

10.

Pindar, Olymp.

ii.

154.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM to bring to

Nature that childlike

spirit

301

which can best

learn her lessons.

The Divine in Nature has hitherto been discerned fully by the poet than by the theologian or the

naturalist

and

;

in this concluding Lecture

chiefly with Christian

The

poetry.

attitude towards

Nature which we have now to consider templative than practical; to

know

Lord's precept, " Consider the

use of Nature

And

learn from such analogies.

the normal and

parables

" special

God, not the

;

art,

observed that

;

the yearly harvest,

providence " or the

We need not wait for catastrophes

we do not expect

New

parables,

the constant care and

" special

to trace the finger of God.

in the

sanctions

how much we may

presented for our study

judgment."

lilies,"

regular in Nature which in these

not the three years' famine justice of

instruments.

its

and many of His

;

such as that of the Sower, show us

and

more con-

the unseen powers which surround us, and has

this religious

studies analogies in order

no desire to bend them or make them

Our

must deal

to find

Testament; but we

for Christian poetry

any theory of

may

aesthetic

perhaps extract

from the precept quoted above the canon that the highest beauty that

and

natural,

we can

In the Greek Fathers glories of "

discern resides in the real

and only demands the seeing eye to

find great stress laid

Nature as a revelation of God.

The wider our contemplation

will

find

it.

on the

Cyril says,

of creation, the grander

be our conception of God."

And

Basil uses the

same language. We find, indeed, in these writers a marked tendency to exalt the religious value of natural a prebeauty, and to disparage the function of art

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

302

monition, perhaps, of iconoclasm.

Pagan

was decaying before the advent of

Christ, could not,

and

appears, be quietly Christianised

which

art,

carried

prominent in

St.

loves to see in all around

him

without a break.

The

true

Nature - Mysticism

Francis of Assisi.

the pulsations of one

dreams

in the plants,

remain

which sleeps

life,

and wakens

in the stones, "

man.

contemplation before a flower, an

would

insect, or a

and regarded them with no dilettante or egoistic pleasure he was interested that the plant should have bird,

;

its

sun, the bird

its

nest

;

that the humblest manifesta-

tions of creative force should

which they are that

all

have the happiness to

So strong was

living things are children of

preach to " took

entitled."

the

little sisters

his conviction

God, that he would

birds,''

the conversion of " the ferocious

and even under-

wolf of Agobio."

This tender reverence for Nature, which of

true Platonism,

all

Plotinus.

It is also

found, as

prominent

a mark

we have

seen, in

in the Platonists of the

Renaissance, such as Bruno and Campanella,* and in Petrarch,

who

loved to offer his evening prayers

the moonlit mountains. ful

Suso has

among

at least one beauti-

passage on the sights and sounds of spring, and

exclaims, " creatures, self! " •

tender God,

Thou

art so loving in

Thy

how fair and lovely must Thou be in ThyThe Reformers, especially Luther and Zwingli,

Deux Mondes, April 1891. Fechner in our own century, holds that the stars are living organisms, whose "sensibility is full of pleasure." ' See Illingworth's Divine Immanence, where this and other interesting But Suso was, of course, not a " Protestant mystic." passages are quoted. And I cannot agree with the author when he says that Lucretius found no '

Barine in JRevue des

The

latter, like

— NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM more

are

alive

303

than might have been expected to the

value of Nature's lessons

;

and the French mystics,

Francis de Sales and F^nelon, write gracefully about the footprints of the Divine wisdom and beauty which

may

be traced everywhere

But natural Mysticism, and to collect

religion

in the

world around

us.

not to be identified with

would not further our present inquiry passages, in prose or poetry, which illustrate it

may

the aids to faith which the book of Nature

Nor need we

dwell on such pure Platonism as

in Spenser's "

Hymn

supply.

find

of Heavenly Beauty," or some of

Shelley's poems, in which

are bidden to gaze upon

the world as a mirror of the Divine Beauty, since our

mortal sight cannot endure the " white radiance

the eternal archetypes.^

have seen how

this

view

The poet of the Nature of Things shows himself to have been a lonely man, who had pondered much among the hills and by the sea, and who loved to taste the pure delights of the religious inspiration in Nature.

Thence came

spring.

him the " holy joy and dread" ("qusedam

divina

voluptas atque horror") which pulsates through his great poem as he shatters the barbarous mythology of paganism, and then, in the spirit of

a priest rather than of a philosopher, turns the "bright shafts of day" upon the folly and madness of those who are slaves to the world or the flesh.

The

spirit of

Lucretius

the spirit of

modem

neither to materialism nor to atheism, whatever

its

which tends and enemies may

science,

friends

say. 1

the

more beautifully set forth than in Compare, especially, the following

Christian Platonism has never been

poem

of Spenser

named

above.

stanzas:

" The means,

Him

which unto us is lent on His works to look.

therefore,

to behold, is

Which He hath made

And in the same, as To read enregistered

in beauty excellent,

book nooke

in a brazen in every

His goodness, which His beauty doth declare: For all that's good is beautiful -and fair.

Thence gathering plumes of

To imp

perfect speculation.

the wings of thy high-flying mind.

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

304

of the world as a pale reflection of the Ideas leads in practice to a contempt for visible things

does in Spenser's beautiful poem.

;

as, indeed, it

invites us, after

learning Nature's lessons, to "

Look

up to that sovereign light. pure beams all perfect beauty springs That kindleth love in every godly spright. Even the love of God ; which loathing brings Of this vile world and these gay-seeming things With whose sweet pleasures being so possessed, Thy straying thoughts henceforth for ever rest." at last

From whose

This

not the keynote of the later Nature-Mysticism.

now expect

that every

new

insight into the truth

of things, every enlightenment of the eyes of our understanding, which faith,

love,

may be

granted us as the reward of

and purity of

heart, will

make

the world

around us appear, not viler and baser, but more glorious

and more Divine. of

its

as on

opposite,

could see the

It is

not a proof of spirituality, but

God's world seems to us a poor place. it

God

morning of

sees

it, it

creation,

would be

it.

The

laws by which

to the join in

are to be

creation lives

Mount up aloft through heavenly contemplation, From this dark world, whose damps the soul do On that bright Sun of glory fix thine eyes, Cleared from gross mists of

The

"very good."

hymn which is ever ascending from the earth throne of God is to be listened for, that we may all

still,

blind,

frail infirmities."

Shelley sums up a great deal of Plotinus in the following stanza of

"Adonais":— " The One

remains ; the many charge and pass Heaven's light for ever shines earth's shadows Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of eternity." Compare, too, the opening lines of " Alastor." ;

fly

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM we

studied, that

beauty which

gift

and enjoy

The

the

lavishly,

who

alone are able to

it.

greatest prophet of this branch of contemplative

Mysticism

unquestionably the poet Wordsworth,

was the object of I

for

of God's pure bounty, to bring

happiness to the unworldly souls see

them.

everywhere diffused so

seems to be a

may obey

too

305

think there

end of the

roll

his life to

be a religious teacher, and

no incongruity

in placing

him

at the

who have been

of mystical divines

dealt

His intellectual kinship with

with in these Lectures.

the acknowledged representatives of Nature-Mysticism will, I

hope, appear very plainly.

Wordsworth was an eminently sane and manly spirit. found his philosophy of life early, and not only

preached but lived

nature rather than by study, he his distrust of strong

Churchman, but

Platonist

thoroughly Greek in

emotions and

which the Greeks included under a loyal

consistently.

in his love of all

He was

a-oa^poavvrj.

his religion

was

independent of any ecclesiastical system.

really almost

His

astical sonnets reflect rather the dignity of the

ecclesi-

Anglican

Church than the ardent piety with which our other poetmystics, such as Herbert, Vaughan, and Crashaw, adorn the offices of worship.

His cast of

faith, intellectual

and contemplative rather than fervid, and the

solitari-

much

satisfac-

ness of his thought, forbade

him

to find

tion in public ceremonial.

would probably agree

with Galen,

who

a very remarkable passage says

that the study of nature,

prosecuted with the same

earnestness and intensity which

templation of the " Mysteries," 30

men

bring to the con-

even more

fitted

than

— :

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

3o6

they to reveal the power and wisdom of

God

for " the

;

symbolisfH of the mysteries is more obscure than that of

nature"

shows

modern

his affinity with the

spirit in his

Like George Fox and

grasp of natural law.

firm

William Law, he had to face the shock of giving up

his

There was a period

belief in arbitrary interferences.

when he lost his young faculty of generalisation when he bowed before the inexorable dooms of an unknown ;

—"the

Lawgiver

categorical

imperative,"

of intuition wais restored to him

the gift

till

fuller

measure.

This experience explains his attitude towards natural

His reverence

science.

sanctity

for y«£-/j never failed

and truth of nature," he

says, "

tricked out with accidental ornaments "

askance at the science which Physics, he

philosophy.

study

its

and possesses

tain purposes,

And

the poet.^

science, too, shall

but he looked

tries to erect itself into

saw

view of the world

;

him; "the

must not be

plainly,

an abstraction

less truth

an abstract for cer-

than the view of

yet he looked forward to a time when

be touched with

fire

from the

altar

;

" Then her heart

shall kindle ; her dull eye, Dull and inanimate, no more shall hang Chained to its object in brute slavery."

And

in a

" If the

remarkable passage of the

" Prefaces"

he says

time should ever come when that which

now

Compare the following sentences in Bradley's Appearance and Reality " Nature viewed materialistically is only an abstraction for certain purThe poet's nature poses, and has not a high degree of truth or reality. has much more. Our principle, that the abstract is the unreal, moves '

us steadily upward.

...

our higher emotions.

absorbed into reality."

spirit,

It compels us in the end to credit nature with That process can only cease when nature is quite and at every stage of the process we find increase in

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM called science shall be ready to put

form of

and blood, the poet

flesh

on as

307

were a

lend his Divine

will

the transformation, and will welcome the

spirit to aid

Being thus produced as a dear and genuine inmate of the household of man."

feels that

disinterested study of nature's laws

the loving and

must

at last issue,

not in materialism, but in some high and spiritual

by the Word of God, who is Himself, as the Nature of all things." In aloofness and loneliness of mind he is exceeded by no mystic of the cloister. It may be said far more truly of him than of Milton, that " his soul was like In his youth he confesses a star, and dwelt apart."

faith, inspired

said, "

Erigena

human

beings had only a secondary interest for and though he says that Nature soon led him to man, it was to man as a " unity," as " one spirit," that

him

;

that he

was drawn, not to men as

he resembled it

many

has been said truly that

man

general than a " sits

Herein

individuals.'^

other contemplative mystics

;

but

know man in The sage who

" it is easier to

in particular."'

the centre " of his being, and there " enjoys

bright day,"* does not really

know human

beings as

persons. It will

be interesting to compare the steps

ladder of perfection, as described

in the

by Wordsworth, with

the schemes of Neoplatonism and introspective Mystic-

The

ism.

three stages of the mystical ascent have

been already explained. too,

had

Wordsworth,

find that

his purgative, disciplinary stage. "

•

These words, from Milton's " Comus," are applied

Prelude,''

viii.

340

sq.

Prelude,''

viii.

began 668.

Hazlitt.

Rochefoucauld. to

Wordsworth by

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

3o8

deliberately crushing, not only the ardent passions

to which he tells us that he

was naturally prone, but ambition and love of money, determining to confine himself to " such objects as excite no morbid passions, all

no disquietude, no vengeance, and no hatred," and found his reward in a settled state of calm serenity, in which all the thoughts flow like a clear fountain, and have forgotten how to hate and how to despise.^

Wordsworth

careful

First, there

life.

several

safe-

to the contem-

must be strenuous

to reach that infinitude which

home; we must

inculcate

who would proceed

guards for those plative

aspiration

our being's heart and

by "hope that and expectation, and desire, and something evermore about to be." ^ The mind which is set upon the unchanging will not " praise a cloud," ' can never

but

will "

true

press forward, urged

die, effort,

crave objects that endure."

Platonism, as contrasted with

tions,

Wordsworth

tries

always

separation;

Hume's

to his

atheistic

principle

Nature is

" Prelude," iv, 1207-1229. The life.

exact

The importance

As Hutton

who envy

without of

antithesis

are conjoined,

of this caution Wordsworth's ethics

ascetic element in

should by no means be forgotten by those outlook upon

the

aberra-

outlines.

distinction

dictum, that " things

but not connected." * 1

later

have no blurred

will

see

In the spirit of its

his brave

and

says excellently {Essays, p. 8i),

unruflSed

there

and self-government in every line of his poetry, and his best thoughts come from the steady resistance he opposes to the ebb and flow of He contests the ground inch by inch with ordinary desires and regrets. all despondent and indolent humours, and often, too, with movements of inconsiderate and wasteful joy turning defeat into victory, and victory volition

—

See the whole passage, ' " Prelude," vi. 604-608. • " Miscell. Sonnets," rii. * See the Essay in which he deals with Macpherson "In nature everything is distinct, yet nothing defined into absolute independent singleness. into 4efeat."

;

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM has been

reason

demonstrated

fully

Then,

inquiry.

too, "

a crown

the

course

309

of our

man

he knows that to imperfect

still

be courted, never to be won."

may affect " even the very faculty of sight," whether a man " look forth," or " dive into himself" ^

Delusions

Again, he

bids

analogies;

no "loose types of

degrees

;

seek

no mythology

The symbolic

;

for

and not

real,

fanciful

through

things

all

and no arbitrary symbolism.

value of natural objects

not that they

remind us of something that they are

not, but that

they help us to understand something that they in part are.

They

from

earth into the clouds.

this

world of our

all

not at

still

This earth

God

small voice of

Lastly,

all."^

perhaps the most important of the

of us," he says boldly, " in which

happiness

away

are not intended to transport us

all,

and

the find

this is

he recognises that

breathes not out of nature

alone, nor out of the soul alone, but from the contact

of the soul with nature. intellect of

man

the

marriage of the

to " this goodly universe, in love

holy passion," which produces these raptures. lect" includes Imagination, which for

Reason

assist the

her most exalted

but another

mood

;

and

" Intel-

these

name must

eye of sense.

In Macpherson's work insulated, dislocated,

exactly the

deadened

—

^yet

reverse

—everything

defined,

nothing distinct."

" Excursion," v. 500-514. This seemed flat blasphemy to Shelley, whose idealism was mixed with "Nor was there aught the world contained of Byronic misanthropy. which he could approve." ' "Prelude," xiv. 192. Wordsworth's psychology is very interesting. " Imagination " is for him ("Miscellaneous Sonnets," xxjcv.) a "glorious faculty," whose function it is to elevate the more-than-reasoning mind "'tis hers to pluck the amaranthine flower of Faith," and "colour life's '

dark cloud with orient rays."

This faculty

once " more than reason,"

—

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

310 Such

the discipline, and such are the counsels,

which the priest of Nature must prepare himself to approach her mysteries. And what are the truths which contemplation revealed to him?

The

first

way

step on the

God was

that leads to

the

sense of the boundless, growing out of musings on the finite

and with

;

the conviction that the Infinite and

Eternal alone can be our being's heart and

feel that

are greater than

we know." ^

"The

sense sublime

—

home " we Then came

him Of something

more deeply

far

interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air. And the blue sky, and in the mind of man

motion and a

spirit,

All thinking things,

And

The

rolls

through

all

" higher

all this is

Pantheism

of thought."

And

of the nature of

This

thought to thought."

and

identical with

and

this

" Reason

2l) that "Mysticism

also a deeper

knowledge of in

sinking into self from

may

continue

till

man

can

worlds to which the heaven of in her

most exalted mood."

have said (p

reason applied to a sphere above rationalism"

appears to be exactly Wordsworth's doctrine,

" Sonnets on the River Duddon," xxxiv. "Lines composed above Tintem Abbey," 95-102.

•

"Miscell. Sonnets," xxxiii.

the eternity

knowledge which he describes

personality, a

last

soul that

with this heightened consciousness

true mystical language as

this

developed into the sense of an

God came

" breathe

Then

worse than paganism.^

all-pervading Personality,

own

objects of all thoughts,

things.""

all

worldliness and artificiality which set us out of

tune with

his

that impels

——

—

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM heavens

last

but a

kingdom

veil,"

and perceive

311

the forms whose

where time and space are

These

not."

hnes describe a state analogous to the

01/rt?

of the

Neoplatonists, and the excessus mentis of the Catholic

mystics.

may

advanced stage the

this

surrender

himself to

Of such minds he That

flesh can

priest of

ecstasy without

Nature

mistrust.

says

"The highest bliss know is theirs the consciousness

—

Of whom

they are, habitually infused Through every image and through every thought.

And all affections by communion raised From earth to heaven, from human to divine Thence cheerfulness

Emo

'ons

for acts of daily

...

life,

which best foresight need not fear. trust when most intense."

Most worthy then of

There are many other places where he describes this

" bliss

ineffable,"

when

" all

his

thoughts were

steeped in feeling," as he listened to the song which

every form of creature sings " as

looks towards the

uncreated with a countenance of adoration and an eye of love,"

that blessed

"In which

mood

the affections gently lead us on,

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame,

even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy.

And

We Is

see into the

life

of things."

not plain that the poet of Nature

Cumberland

hills,

the Spanish ascetic in his

amid the cell,

and

the Platonic philosopher in his library or lecture-room,

have been climbing the same mountain from '

' "Prelude," 1 12-129. " Lines composed above Tintern Abbey," 35-48.

"Prelude,"' xiv.

ii.

different 396-418.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

312 sides

the

The paths

summit

are different, but the prospect from

the same.

speak of collusion

It is idle to

or insanity in the face of so great a cloud of witnesses,

divided

by every circumstance of

had no

friar

date,

nationality,

The Carmelite

and environment.

education,

creed,

interest in confirming the testimony of

the Alexandrian professor; and no one has yet had the temerity to question the sanity of Wordsworth, or

of Tennyson, whose description of the Vision in his "

of the spiritual

to be a record of per-

These explorers of the high places

sonal experience.

—they have

now known

" is

Ancient Sage

observed the conditions laid down once

for all for the

mystic in the 24th Psalm, "

ascend into the

hill

of the Lord

His holy place? pure heart;

common

have only one thing in

life

who hath

vanity, nor sworn

who

Who

and a

that hath clean hands

not

lifted

deceitfully.

shall

shall stand in

soul unto

his

shall

receive

the

blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the

God off"

of his salvation." is

always

The

visible to those

holy mountain.

may

land which

very far

who have climbed

the

be scaled by the path of

prayer and mortification, or by the path of devout

study of God's handiwork in Nature (and under

head

out by Wordsworth, but that hitherto

less

trodden

road which should lead the physicist to God) lastly,

the path of consecrated

world, which, as

it is

life

;

and,

the great

the most exposed to temptations,

perhaps on that account the most blessed of the '

this

would wish to include not only the way traced

three.^

Wordsworth's Mysticism contains a few subordinate elements which more questionable value. The " echoes from beyond the grave,"

are of

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM It

said

has been said of Wordsworth, as of

other

mystics,

"from half of human

his

eyes

have

explained that the neglected half

evil

little

It is

held by

that which

is,

lies

existence of

fact,

and the

in the opinion of

recognised by Wordsworth, and by

Mysticism in general.

both from the

the world, as a great

consequent need of redemption,

many, too

averts

The

beneath the shadow of the Cross. positive

has been

Religious writers

that

fate."

313

This objection has been urged

and from the

scientific

many

affirm a Pessimism

religious side.

students of Nature that her laws

and not an Optimism.

Red

tooth and claw with ravine," she shrieks against the creed that her

Maker

morality which she inculcates jungle, or

best

God is

of love.

The only

that of a tiger in the

that of a wolf-pack.

" It

not

which "the inward ear " sometimes catches, are dear to most of us; but we must not be too confident that they always come from God. Still less can we be sure that presentiments are " heaven-bom instincts." Again, when the lonely thinker feels himself surrounded by "huge and mighty forms, that do not move like living men," it is a sign that the "dim and undetermined sense of unknown modes of being " has begun to work not And the doctrine of pre-existence, quite healthily upon his imagination. which appears in the famous Ode, is one which it has been hitherto impossible to admit into the scheme of Christian beliefs, though many Perhaps the true lesson of the Ode Christian thinkers have dallied with it. is that the childish love of nature, beautiful and innocent as it is, has to die and be bom again in the consciousness of the grown man. That Wordsworth himself passed through this experience, we know from other passages in In his case, at any rate, the "light of common day" was, his writings. for a time at least, more splendid than the roseate hues of his childish imagination can possibly have been ; and there seems to be no reason for holding the gloomy view that spiritual insight necessarily becomes dimmer What as we travel farther from our cradles, and nearer to our graves. fails us as we get older is only that kind of vision which is analogous to the "consolations" often spoken of by monkish mystics as the privilege of Amiel expresses exactly the same regret as Wordsworth beginners. ." "Shall I ever enjoy again those marvellous reveries of past days? See the whole paragraph on p. 33 of Mis. Humphry Ward's transUtioD. .

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

314 strange

Lotze)

(says

that

no nature -religions have

any high pitch of morality or culture." 1 The answer to this is that Nature includes man as well as the brutes, and the merciful and moral raised their adherents to

man

as well a« the savage.

rate,

can exclude nothing from the domain of Nature.

And

the Christian

may

Physical science, at any

say with

Nature includes, or rather

reverence that

all

included by, Christ, the

Word of God, by whom it was made. And was made flesh to teach us that vicarious which we see to be the law of Nature, a thing not foreign to His own all

the

Word

suffering,

a law of God,

and therefore

for

alike a condition of perfection, not a reductio

absurdum of existence.

The

but of

Nature,

not of

life,

reductio

selfish

ad absurdum

individualism,

which

shipwreck alike in objective and in subjective

suffers

precisely because the

religion.

Cross

across the world, that

lies

shadow of

the

we can watch Nature

work with " admiration, hope, and love," instead of with horror and disgust. The religious objection amounts to little more than

that

has

Mysticism

problem of

evil,

not

with even apparent success. reason

that

the mystics

this ;

succeeded

solving

the

which no philosophy has ever attacked

for

difficulty

has

is,

however, with some

been pressed against

they are bound by their principles to

attempt some solution, and their tendency has been to attenuate the positive character of evil to a somewhat These objections are pressed by Lotze, and not only by avowed Lotze abhors what he calls " sentimental symbolism " because I venture to say that any philoit interferes with his monadistic doctrines. sophy which divides man, as a being suignneris, from the rest of Nature, is inevitably landed either in Acosmism or in Manichean Dualism. '

Pessimists.

— NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM dangerous degree.

But

sift

the charges often

brought by religious writers against Mysticism, we generally find that there

disapproval

315

shall

at the bottom of their

lies

residuum of mediaeval dualism, which

wishes to see in Christ the conquering invader of a hostile

In practice, at any rate, the great

kingdom.

mystics have not taken lightly the struggle with the

law of sin in our members, or tried to " heal slightly the

wounds of the

It is quite

cheerful

kingdom

and

soul.^

true that the later mystics

have been

But those who have found a

optimistic.

in their

own minds, and who have enough

strength of character "to live by reason and not by opinion," as

Whichcote says

anticipated

that

arch

(in

enemy

maxim which was of

Mysticism

' This is perhaps the best place to notice the mystical treatise of James Hinton, entitled Man and his Dwelling-place, which is chiefiy remarkable This writer pushes to an for its attempt to solve the problem of evil.

we surround ourselves with a world after our own likeness, and considers that all the evil which we see Apart from the in Nature is the "projection of our own deadness." unlikelihood of a theory which makes man " the roof and crown of things" the only diseased and discordant element in the universe, the writer lays himself open to the fatal rejoinder, " Did Christ, then, see no The doctrines of sacrifice (vicarious suffering) sin or evil in the world ? " as a blessed law of Nature ("the secret of the universe is learnt on Calvary"), and of the necessity of annihilating " the self" as the principle extremity the favourite mystical doctrine that

—

Our blessed Lord no such yoke upon us, nor will human nature consent to bear it. The "atonement" of the world by love is much better delineated by R. L. Nettleship, in a passage which seems to me to exhibit the very kernel of " Suppose that all human beings Christian Mysticism in its social aspect. felt permanently to each other as they now do occasionally to those they AU the pain of the world would be swallowed up in doing love best. good. So far as we can conceive of such a state, it would be one in which there would be no ' individuals at all, but an universal being in and for another ; where being took the form of consciousness, it would be the consciousness of 'another' which was also 'oneself a common conSuch would be the atonement of the world." sciousness. of evil, are pressed with a harsh and unnatural rigour. laid

—

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

3i6

Epicurus), are likely to be happier than other men. And, moreover, Wordsworth teaches us that almost, if not

may

be so transmuted by the

" faculty

quite,

every

which

abides within the soul," that those " interpositions

evil

which would hide and darken

may

become

contin-

gencies of pomp, and serve to exalt her native bright-

ness "

;

grove,

lofty

" rising

even as the moon, turns

behind a thick and

the dusky veil

a substance

into

So the happy warrior is made " more compassionate " by the scenes of horror which he is compelled to witness. Whether this healing and glorious as her own."

purifying effect of sorrow points the

of the problem of evil or not, faith,

way

the one and only consolation which

be a mockery when we are

not

feel

form a grave

Mysticism of which

indictment against the type of is

in great trouble.

These charges, then, do not seem

Wordsworth

to a solution

a high and noble

But he does

the best representative.

up by St. John for the love and sympathy for in that his mystic, Christian inanimate Nature were (at any rate in his poetry) And if there is any acdeeper than for humanity. fall

short of the ideal held

cusation

which

may

justly

be brought against the

higher order of mystics (as opposed to representatives

of aberrant types),

sought and found

think

God

it is

this

own

their

that they have souls

and

men and The grand

Nature, but not so often in the souls of other

women

theirs has

been a lonely

religion.

maxim, " Vides fratrem, vides Dominum tuum," has been remembered by them only in acts of charity. old

But

in reality the love

human

shortest road to the vision of God.

beings must be the

Love, as

St.

John

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM teaches us,

mysteries.

the great hierophant of the Christian

It gives

wings to contemplation and lightens

When

the darkness which hides the face of God.

emotions are deeply

human

affection

The

principle

either quite

many

unmoved by

her lessons.

all

sordid

which derives half of

civilisation,

man who

power of human love

spiritualising

deeming

while the

;

her influences, or misreads

our

even Nature speaks to us

stirred,

with voices unheard before

without

317

restless

its

the re-

Teutonic

lives.

energy

from ideals which are essentially anti-Christian, and tastes

which are radically barbarous,

sinking into moral materialism by

its

prevented from

high standard of

The sweet influences of the home deprive mammon-worship of half its grossness and of some even domestic

life.

fraction of

its evil.

and women

It is in

rival.

with is

Him

named.

nearly

all

a schoolmaster to bring

to Christ, natural affection

from It

men

without a

the truest sense a symbol of our union

whom is

every family in heaven and earth

needless to labour a thesis on which

are agreed

;

but

out that, though St. Paul

may be worth

felt

pointing

the unique value

Christian marriage as a symbol of the mystical union

of Christ and the Church, this truth was for the most part lost sight of

by the mediaeval

mystics,

who

monks and priests were, of course, cut off from domestic The romances of true love which the Old Testalife. ment contains were treated as prophecies wrapped up in riddling language, or as

plation.

happy chain.

models

for ecstatic

Wordsworth,, though his

one, does not supply

contem-

own home was

this link in the

The most noteworthy attempt

mystical

to do so

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

3i8

be found in the poetry of Robert Browning, whose

Mysticism

Wordsworth.^

way complementary

this

that of

resembles Wordsworth in always

trying "to see the infinite in things," but considers that "little else (than the development of a soul)

worth study."

This

Browning

ive Mysticism, for

that

if "

not exactly a return to subject-

as well aware as Goethe

a talent grows best in solitude," a character

perfected only "in the stream of the world."

him the

friction of active

human

perience of

Divine in man. asks, " first

How

love, are necessary to

Quite in the

for

of St. John he

safe,

which from the

human human weal .

such

realise the

spirit

produces carelessness to

punishments

With and especially the ex-

can that course be

cut yourself from

life,

as do so.*

love

not

there are strange

Solitude

the death

but the strongest virtue, and in Browning's view

all

also deprives us of the strongest inner witness to the

For he who

existence of a loving Father in heaven. " finds love full in his nature " cannot this, as in

creature.*

knowing love we

Since, then, in

know God, and

since the object of

the mystic's minor premiss,

(this,

by Browning), it life and he who ;

finds

curled world.

lose

inextricably round

The worst

" all

fate that

Charles Kingsley

Browning, Paracelsus, Act

learn to

know God

taken for granted is

" loses

the meaning of

what he

The mightiness

lived for,

of love

power aud beauty

can befall us

"Cristina."

in the

to lead

another mystic of the same school. ' Browning, " Saul," i.

Browning,

not

it." *

life is

follows that love

and eternally must

the Creator must far surpass the

else,

all

doubt that

xvii.

—

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM ghastly smooth

dead at

life,

heart."

319

Especially inter-

is the passage where he chooses or chances upon Eckhart's image of the " spark " in the centre of the

esting

soul,

and gives

a new turn in accordance with his

own Mysticism "It would not be because

Thou

eye grew dim

could'st not find the love there, thanks to

Him

Who

never is dishonoured in the spark He gave us from His fire of fires, and bade Remember whence it sprang, nor be afraid

While that bums

though

on,

all

the rest grow dark."^

Our language has no

separate words to distinguish

Christian love (ar/din)

caritas)

—amor)

;

" charity "

from sexual love (epw?

has not established

Perhaps

wider meaning. at

—

this is not to

itself

any rate Browning's poems could hardly be any language in which this distinction

lated into

But

strong

seems to our joys

Browning as indicate,

may

its

transexists.

not forget that the ascetic element

let

be regretted

Wordsworth.

Love, he

no exception to the

" three parts pain," for "

that

rule

where pain

ends gain ends too."* "

Not yet on thee

Shall burst the future, as successive zones

several

wonder open on some

spirit

Flying secure and glad from heaven to heaven ; But thou shalt painfully attain to joy. While hope and fear and love shall keep thee man."*

even carries this law into the future

have none of a "joy which

life,

crystallised

and

for

Browning, "Christmas Eve and Easter Day," xxx., xxxiii. Browning, "Any Wife to any Husband." ' Compare Plato's well-known sentence hC akyrfSbviJiv koX yiyvtrai ri <i0^X«a, od yip oliv re dXXois aSiKlas iToWirTeaBai* Browning, Paracelsus.

will

ever."

iivvCi*

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

320

Felt imperfection

we have

a proof of a higher birthright

unending progress as the law of

characteristic of our

own

shape sometimes

able

success

through

age.*

life

This very-

assumes a question-

but Browning's trust in

;

apparent

disappointments

—

even based on the consciousness of present is

•

arrived at the completion of our nature as

men, then "begins anew a tendency to God." faith in

real

trust

failure

certainly one of the noblest parts of his religious

philosophy.

have decided to end

survey of Christian

Mysticism with these two English poets.

hardly

appropriate,

place,

this

would discuss

Carlyle's

doctrine of symbols, as the "clothing" of

religious

and other kinds of

wanting

truth.

some of the

His philosophy

essential

features

Mysticism, and can hardly be called Christian withthe word too far; And Emerson, when he deals with religion, is a very unsafe guide. The great American mystic, whose beautiful character was as noble a gift to humanity as his writings, is more liable than any of those whom we have

out

stretching

described to the reproach of having turned his back

on the dark side of ness

life.

Partly from a fastidious-

which could not bear even to hear of bodily

ailments,

dweller

made fulness

partly in

from

new

the

natural

country,

a principle of maintaining an

and

serenity,

he shut

optimism of the

and partly because he his

unruffled

cheer-

eyes to pain, death,

" No one is discontented at not being a king, except ' Compare Pascal a discrowned king." " Give her the ' It is almost as prominent in Tennyson as in Browning wages of going on, and not to die," is his wish for the human soul. :

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

321

and

The

even more resolutely than did Goethe.

sin,

optimism which

message of comfort that

evil

built

the making,"

heart

stricken

for the

only good

foundation has no

this

say

to repeat

an ancient and discredited attempt to solve the great

And

enigma. out

to assert that perfect justice

individuals

dreaming.

Moreover,

world,

this

we can hardly

meted

mere him of

surely

acquit

Mysticism of the Oriental

playing with pantheistic

type, without seeing, or without caring, whither such "

speculations logically lead. us, " is

beauty, to which every part

equally related^^the eternal One."

Pantheism, and should carry with

Emerson says that nomianism philosophy.

agrees with

many

particle

genuine

the doctrine that

bad,

indifferent.

from

anti-

giving up the defence of his

also

and

This

kept him

wife

his

but this

;

good,

equally

are

actions

all

tells

the soul of the whole, the wise silence, the

universal is

Within man," he

from

differs

Christianity,

and

Hegelians, in teaching that God,

" the Over-Soul," only attains to self-consciousness in

man; and in

combined with

this,

his

denial of degrees

Divine immanence, leads him to a self-deification

of an arrogant and shocking kind, such as

and

in the Persian Sufis,

of the

own

Middle Ages.

Perfect.

all.

The

through me. to the

same

who have

some

heretical

eyeball.

great soul.

find

mystics

the imperfect, adore

receptive of the

become a transparent see

nothing.

my I I

currents of the universal Being circulate I

effect.

travelled

part of

This

God"; and much more not the language of those

up the mystical

ladder, instead of

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

322

only writing about it

It is far

more objectionable than

the bold phrases about deification which

quoted

Lecture from the fourteenth century mystics

fifth

because with them the passage into the Divine glory the

reward, only

final

be attained "by

all

manner of exercises " while for Emerson it seems to be a state already existing, which we can realise by a mere act of intellectual apprehension. And the ;

phrase, «

Man

a part of God,"

various activities,

its

—

the Divine

were divided among the organs which express

Spirit

—has been condemned by

great speculative mystics, from

Emerson

all

the

Flotinus downwards.

perhaps at his best when he applies his

The

idealism to love and friendship.

spiritualising

and illuminating influence of pure comradeship has never been better or more religiously set forth. And though it is necessary to be on our guard against the very dangerous tendency of some of his teaching,

shall find

much

philosopher whose

to learn from the brave and serene first

maxim

the azure; love the day," and life

was,

"Come

who during

out into his

whole

fixed his thoughts steadily on whatsoever things

are pure, lovely, noble, and of good report.

The century

constructive task which lies before the next is,

may

say so without presumption, to

spiritualise science, as morality

and

art

have already

God

should appear

to us as a triple star of truth, beauty,

and goodness.^

been

The

spiritualised.

vision of

' I had written these words before the publication of Principal Ourd's Sermons, which contain, in my judgment, the most powerful defence of what I have called Christian M}rsticism that has appeared since William Law. On p. 14 he says " Of all things good and feir and holy there is a spiritual cognisance which precedes and is independent of that knowledge :

;

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM These are the three objects of

and our hearts alike

rest

will

human

never be at peace

God.

all

Beauty

between the good and the true

the

and

;

great poets have been also prophets. at present lags behind

and

to this

Much by

;

till

all

three

mediator

why

the

But Science

she has not found her

God

due the "unrest of the age."

largely

has already been done in the right direction

divines,

still,

aspiration

chief this

323

and physicists, and more by the great poets, who have striven

philosophers,

perhaps,

earnestly to see the spiritual background which

lies

behind the abstractions of materialistic science.

But

much

Hinton that its

We may

yet remains to be done. " Positivism

bosom"; but the

bears a

agree with

new Platonism

not yet come to the

child has

birth.'

which the understanding conveys." He shows how in the contemplation of nature it is " by an organ deeper than intellectual thought" that "the revelation of material beauty flows in upon the soul." "And in like manner there is an apprehension of God and Divine things which comes upon the spirit as a living reality which it immediately and intuitively perceives." ..." There is a capacity of the soul, by which the truths of See the whole sermon, religion may be apprehended and appropriated." entitled, What is Religion ? and many other parts of the book. 'Cf. Hegel {Philosophy of Religion, vol. ii. p. 8): "The Beautiful is essentially the Spiritual

making

itself

known

in sensuous concrete existence, but in such a

sensuously, presenting itself

manner

that that existence

wholly and entirely permeated by the Spiritual, so that the sensuous is not independent, but has its meaning solely and exclusively in the Spiritual and through the Spiritual, and exhibits not itself, but the Spiritual." ' Some reference ought perhaps to be made to Drummond's Natural Law in the Spiritual World. But Mysticism seeks rather to find spiritual law in the natural world and some better law than Drummond's Calvin(And I cannot help thinking that, though Evolution explains much ism. and contradicts nothing in Christianity, it is in danger of proving an ignis

—

fatuus to many, especially to those who are inclined to idealistic pantheism. There can be no progress or development in God, and the cosmic process as we know it caimot have a higher degree of reality than the categories of time and place under which it appears. As for the millennium of per-

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

324

Meanwhile, the special work assigned to the Church of England would seem to be the development of a

Johannine Christianity, which

testant.

be both Catholic

shall

and Evangelical without being

either

Roman

or Pro-

has been abundantly proved that neither

Romanism nor

Protestantism, regarded as alternatives,

possesses enough of the truth to satisfy the religious

needs of the present day.

But

not

probable

theology of the Fourth Gospel acted as

that, as the

a reconciling principle between the opposing sections the early Church, so

the teaching which in our

the

all

;

the Church

attempted

that

life

sound to

and

sober " fresh

these

we must

turn,

second Lecture to analyse the

main elements of Christian Mysticism as found Paul and

St.

John.

But since

since, moreover, I

impression that

aware that

The

I will

well

sua arte credendum

est,"

a hazardous and

applies to those

much on

Cuique

as to the leaders in which some

— Christianity has nothing to say against

See below,

p. 338.

difficult task.

who have been eminent

this earth,

spiritu-

try in a few words

position apologetically, though

it is

fected humanity

pure sources, and

have been advocating a vague

principle, "

holiness as

less

anxious not to leave the

tempered by rationalism,

to define

of,

am most

in St.

in the later Lectures I

have been obliged to draw from

ality

renew her youth.

of a

and

springs" of the spiritual

parties

In St. John and St. Paul

principles

Mysticism

Christian

found to contain

most needed by both

own communion ?

find

may be

it,

for personal

any other branch

Positivists

and others dream

but science has a great deal.)

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

325

Even in dealing with arts which are each other, we do not invite poets to judge of

of excellence.

akin to

music, or sculptors of architecture.

be disturbed in

other

we who

fields,

occasionally find

need not then

men

illustrious

are as insensible to religion as to

Our reverence for the character and genius of Charles Darwin need not induce us to lay aside either our Shakespeare or our New Testament.i The men to whom we naturally turn as our best authorities in spiritual matters, are those who seem to have been endowed with an " anima naturaliter Christiana," and poetry.

who have devoted their whole lives to the service of God and the imitation of Christ. Now it will be found that these men of acknowledged and pre-eminent they

tell

saintliness agree very closely in

gradually

arrived

They

us about God.

what

us that they have

unshakable conviction,

tell

not

based on inference but on immediate experience, that

God

a Spirit with

intercourse

;

that

whom the human spirit can Him meet all that they

imagine of goodness, truth, and beauty

;

that in

come

proportion as they

Him.

They

tell

come

life

can

that they can

see His footprints everywhere in nature,

presence within them as the very

hold

and

feel

of their

His

life,

to themselves they

us that what separates us

' In the Life of Charles Darwin there is an interesting letter, in which he laments the gradual decay of his taste for poetry, as his mind became a mere " machine for grinding outgeneral laws " from a mass of observations.

The decay

many men of high character may be The really great man is conscious of the " It is an accursed evil to a man," Darwin

of religious feeling in

accounted for in the same way. sacrifice which he is making.

wrote to Hooker, "to become so absorbed in any subject as I am in mine." The common-place man is not conscious of it he obtains his heart's desire, :

he works hard enough, and

God

sends leanness withal into his soul.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

326

Him and

from its

forms

from happiness

self-seeking in

is, first,

and, secondly, sensuality in

;

all its

forms

all

that

;

these are the ways of darkness and death, which hide

from us the face of God like a shining light,

;

while the path of the just

As they have

the perfect day.

which shineth more and more unto toiled

up the narrow

way, the Spirit has spoken to them of Christ, and has enlightened the eyes of their understandings,

have at

least

know

begun to

they

till

the love of Christ which

passeth knowledge, and to be

filled

with

the fulness

all

of God.

the position

far,

of the argument has, of course, inner

can only

light

its

testify to

;

historical event, past or future.

The

fixed limits.

spiritual

always speaks in the present tense

any

But the scope

unassailable.

truths.

cannot guaran-

tee either the Gospel history or a future judgment.

can

tell

us that Christ

evermore, but not that It

can

tell

and that

is risen,

cannot guarantee

alive for

rose again the third day.

us that the gate of everlasting

life

open,

but not that the dead shall be raised incorruptible. faculties for investigating the evidence

VVe have otner for past events

;

the inner light cannot certify them

immediately, though the

external

position

can give a powerful support to

For though we are

evidence.

dogmatise

about

the

relations

no the

temporal to the eternal, one fact does seem to stand out,

—

that the two are, for us, bound together.

when we read

the Gospels,

the Spirit

itself

If,

beareth

witness with our spirit" that here are the words of eternal

life,

and the character which alone

absolutely flawless, then

in history is

natural for us to believe

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

327

that there has been, at that point of time, an Incarnation of the

of Christ

Word

God

an absolute

ment which,

That the

Himself. revelation,

revelation

a dogmatic state-

only the Absolute could

strictly speaking,

What we mean by it is that after two thousand years we are unable to conceive of its being ever superseded in any particular. And if anyone finds this inadequate, he may be invited to explain what higher make.

degree of certainty

With regard

within our reach.

same consideration may understand why the Church has clung to the belief in a literal second coming of Christ to pronounce the dooms of all mankind. But our Lord Himself has taught us " that day and that hour " lies hidden a more that in the future

life,

the

help us to

inscrutable mystery than

even

Himself, as man,

could reveal. I wish to make The fact that human love or sympathy is the guide who conducts us to the heart of life, revealing to us God and Nature and ourselves, is

There

one other point on which

position

clear.

proof that part of our the world, and 'that

shall not

race, the diminution of sin

kingdom of Christ on which we have

—

that

feel

the

The

earth,

—

race

may

happier in the future than they are in

the past,

beings

progress of the

these are matters in

The

the best of us feel

human

and misery, the advancing

personal interest.

—and

human

long as

this earth.

life

our true relations

live in these

entirely die so

remain alive upon

that

bound up with the

life is

strong desire

most strongly

better,

now

wiser,

and

or have been

neither due to a false association of

ideas, nor to pure unselfishness.

There

a sense in

;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

328

which death would not be the end of everything even though

in this life

But when

made

we had hope

only

for us,

in Christ.

comforting and inspiring thought

this

form the basis of a new Chiliasm

—

a belief in

a millennium of perfected humanity on this earth, and

when

this belief is substituted for the Christian belief

an eternal

beyond our bourne of time and

life

to satisfy the legitimate hopes of the it

place,

necessary to protest that this belief entirely

bad philosophy, and that

what science mankind.

tells

human flatly

fails

race, that

contrary to

us of the destiny of the world and of

The human

spirit

beats against the bars of

space and time themselves, and could never be satisfied

Our true home must be in with any earthly Utopia. some higher sphere of existence, above the contradictions

which make

impossible for us to believe that

time and space are ultimate

realities,

and out of reach

of the inevitable Catastrophe which the next glacial age

This world of must bring upon the human race.^ space and time is to resemble heaven as far as it can but a fixed limit is set to the amount of the Divine

which can be realised under these conditions. Our hearts tell us of a higher form of existence, in which the doom of death is not merely deferred but plan

abolished.

This eternal world we here see through a

glass darkly

at best

we can apprehend but

The metaphysical problem about

the out-

the reality of time in relation to

so closely bound up with speculative Mysticism, that I have It is, of course, one of the been obliged to state my own opinion upon it. vexed questions of philosophy at the present time ; and I could not afford evolution

the space, even

The

if I

had the

best discussion of

Dialectic, pp. 159-202.

requisite

that I

know

Cf. note

knowledge and

ability, to

argue it

M'Taggart's Studies in Hegelian

p. 23.

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM

God's ways, and hear a small whisper of His

skirts of

voice

but our conviction

;

329

though our earthly

that,

be)j we have a made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In this hope we may include all creation and trust that in some way neither more nor less incomprehensible than the deliverance which we expect for ourselves, all

house be dissolved (as dissolved

home

must

not

;

God's creatures, according to their several capacities,

may

from the bondage of corruption and

set free

and

participate in the final triumph over death

Most

firmly

sin.

believe that this faith in immortality,

though formless and inpalpable as the

air

breathe,

and incapable of definite presentation except under inadequate and self-contradictory symbols, is nevertheless enthroned in the centre of our being, and that those who have steadily set their affections on things above, and lived the risen life even on earth, receive in themselves an assurance which robs death of

and

It is

sense,

Every

an earnest of a

final victory

not claimed that Mysticism, even in is,

sting,

its

over the grave. its

widest

or can ever be, the whole of Christianity.

religion

must have an

mystical element.

Just as,

institutional as well as a

the feeling of immediate

communion with God has faded, we shall have a dead Church worshipping "a dead Christ," as Fox the Quaker said of the Anglican Church in his day; so, if

the seer and prophet expel the priest, there will be

and no cohesion.

Still,

time, the greatest need seems

to be

discipline

at the present

that

should

return to the fundamentals of spiritual religion.

cannot shut our eyes to the of authority, the infallible

fact that

both the old seats

Church and the

infallible

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

330

book, are fiercely assailed, and that our faith needs

These can only come from the depths itself; and if summoned

reinforcements.

of the religious consciousness

from thence, they but a

life

not be found wanting.

will

" impregnable rock "

or experience.

Faith, which

of the basal personality,

conditions,

strongest in the healthiest minds.

be no appeal from

If,

it.

an affirmation

own evidence and

is its

Under normal

fication.

The

neither an institution nor a book,

There

justi-

always be

will

and can

then, our hearts, duly pre-

pared for the reception of the Divine Guest, at length say to

now

us, "

see,"

This

we may,

know, that whereas in

fidence towards God."

The

objection

was

St. John's words, "

may be

raised

—"But

blind,

have con-

these beliefs

change, and merely reflect the degree of enlightenment or its opposite, which every

man

The

has reached."

him emphatically that there are some things which he must not do ; and blind conscience of the savage

tells

obedience to this " categorical imperative " has produced not only crimes

many

all

the complex absurdities of "taboo," but

human

and

sacrifice,

things that are not.

faith

we have

behind

savagery."

superstitions

study of primitive

religions

a great

Perhaps we are leaving

behind the theological stage, as those

does

already

left

Now

the

seem to me

prove the danger of resting religion and morality on

unreasoning obedience to a supposed revelation that

not

position.

The two

forces

;

but

which

kill

mischievous superstitions are the knowledge of nature,

and the moral sense

;

and we are quite ready to give

both free play, confident that both come from the

NATURE-MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM Word

living

progressive

of God.

in fact, only

The

fact that

no argument that

when

it is

331

a revelation

not Divine

it is,

the free current of the religious

life

dammed up that it turns into a swamp, and poisons human society. Of course we must be ready to admit

with

humility, that our notions of Grod are probably

all

unworthy and distorted enough

why we

or mistrust

but that

;

no reason

should not follow the light which

on the ground that

is "

have,

too good to

true."

Nor would it be fair to say that this argument makes religion depend merely on feeling. A theology based on mere feeling is (as Hegel said) as much conrevealed

trary to

The

fact that

that

God

exists

which have no is

;

present to our feeling

our

no proof

imaginations

include

feelings

No,

reality corresponding to them.

reason

mean

the heart or

the whole personality acting in concord,

an abiding mood of thinking, life

which speaks with authority.

not feeling, but the heart or reason (whichever term

prefer),

willing,

and

The

feeling.

of the spirit perhaps begins with mere feeling, and

perhaps " that

during it

knowledge.

religion as to rational is

will

which its

gathers

be consummated in mere is

part

shall

struggles to enter into

its

when

feeling,

be done away " full

;

but

inheritance,

into itself the activities of all the faculties,

which act harmoniously together

in proportion as the

organism to which they belong

a healthy

on the inner

state.

Once more, mean that every man must be his own prophet, his own priest, and his own saviour. The individual is not this reliance

light

does not

independent of the Church, nor the Church of the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

332 historical

But the Church

Christ.

a living body,

and the Incarnation and Atonement are still

They

in operation.

God

;

and whether they are enacted

the Divine Nature, or once for

and mine, the process

mendous importance of those creeds affirm

of the

historical facts

the

most

tre-

which our

fact that

and

grandest

were, in your

not unique and isolated portents, but

manifestation

fulness

the same, and the

due precisely to the

Abyss of

in the

all in their

the stage of history, or in miniature, as soul

living- facts,

are part of the eternal counsels

they are

supreme universal

laws.

These considerations may well have

and reassuring ever

cause,

influence

are

foundation of

calming

upon those who, from whatby religious doubts. The

troubled

God

standeth

sure,

having

this

seal,

The Lord knoweth, and is known by, them that are But we must not expect that " religious diffiHis. Every truth that we know is culties " will ever cease. but the husk of a deeper truth the

Holy

Spirit has

still

many

which we cannot bear now.

;

and

may

be that

things to say to us,

Each

generation

and

own problem, which has never been set in exactly the same form before we must all work out our own salvation, for it is God who worketh If we have realised the meaning of these words in us.

each individual has his

of St. Paul, which

have had occasion to quote so

often in these Lectures,

we now part, we to face,

we cannot doubt

see through a glass darkly, and

that,

though

know only

shall one day behold our Eternal Father face

and know

Him

even as we are known.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A Definitions of " Mysticism

The

" Mysticai,

and

Theology

following definitions are given only as specimens.

The

be made much longer by quoting from other Roman Catholic theologians, but their definitions for the most part agree closely enough with those which I have transcribed from Corderius, John a Jesu Maria, and Gerson. 1. Corderius. "Theologia mystica est sapientia experimentaUs, Dei aifectiva, divinitus infusa, quae mentem ab omni inordinatione puram per actus supernaturales fidei spei et might

list

caritatis

cum Deo

vim nominis

Deo 2.

intime coniungit.

attendas, designat

Mystica theologia,

quandam sacram

axcanam de

divinisque rebus notitiam." " [Theologia mystica] est caelestis

John a Jesu Maria.

qusedam Dei

notitia per

unionem

voluntatis

lumine caelitus immisso producta." Bonaventura (adopted also by Gerson).

Deo

inhaerentis

elicita vel 3.

extensio in 4.

per

Deum

Gerson,

"Est animi

per amoris, desiderium."

"^Theologia mystica est motio anagogica in

amorem fervidum

purum.

Aliter sic

Deum

Theologia mystica

de Deo per amoris unitivi est sapientia, id est sapida notio complexum. Aliter sic habita de Deo, dum ei supremus apex afifectivse potentiae est experimentalis cognitio habita :

rationalis per 5.

amorem iungitur et unitur." " La theologia mistica esperimentale, secondo

Scaramelli.

il suo atto principale e piii proprio, b una notizia pura di Dio che 1' anima d'ordinario riceve nella caligine luminosa, o per di meglio nel chiaro oscuro d' un' alta contemplazione, insieme con un amore esperimentale si intimo, che la fa perdere tutta

a sb stessa per unirla e transformarla in Dio." 836

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

336 Eibet

" La th^ologie mystique, au point de vue subjectif nous semble pouvoir Stre ddfinie une

experimental,

de I'dme vers Dieu, proved'un embrasement int^rieurs, qui

attraction surnaturelle et passive

nant d'une illumination et prdviennent la reflexion, surpassent avoir sur le corps .

I'effort

humain,

un retentissement merveilleux

pouvent

et irresistible.

point de vue doctrinal objectif, la mystique peut se la science qui traite

des phdnomfenes sumaturels, qui

pr^parent, accompagnent, et

suivent I'attraction passive des

definir

ames

Dieu et par Dieu, c'est k dire la contemplation divine qui les coordonne et les justifie par I'autoritd de I'^^criture, des docteurs et de la raison ; les distingue des phenom^nes parallfeles dus a Faction de Satan, et des faits analogues purement naturels ; enfin, qui trace des regies pratiques pour la conduite des imes dans ces ascensions sublimes mais vers

p&illeuses." 7.

L'AbM Migne.

naturel de I'Ume

La mystique

est la science d'dtat sur-

humaine manifest^ dans

des choses visibles par des

In these scholastic and

we may observe

effets

le corps et dans I'ordre ^galement sumaturels."

modem Roman

Catholic definitions

the earlier definitions supplement

(a) that

without contradicting each other, representing different aspects of Mysticism, as an experimental science, as a living sacrifice of the

will, as

an illumination from above, and

ardent devotion

not recognised

and

;

{b) that

{c)

ot is

that the sharp distinction between natural

supernatural, which

carries with

an exercise

symbolic or objective Mysticism

set

up by the

scholastic mystics,

a craving for physical " mystical phenomena

These though not mentioned in the earlier definitions, have come to be considered an integral part of Mysticism, so that Migne and Ribet iiiclude them in their definitions ; (i) lastly, that those who take this view of "la mystique divine" are to support the belief in supernatural interventions. miracles,

constrained to admit by the side of trae mystical facts a parallel class of " contrefa9ons diaboliques." 8.

Von Hartmann.

" Mysticism

sciousness with a content (feeling,

the

filling

thought,

of the con-

desire),

by an

involuntary emergence of the same out of the unconscious.''

Von Hartmann's

hypostasis of the Unconscious has been

;

APPENDIX A often

and

But

justly criticised.

great value.

mystics like

(which

nor

on Mysticism

his chapter

begins by asking,

Mysticism ? " and shows that

337

it is

"What

the Wesen of

not quietism (disproved by

Bohme, and by many active

reformers), nor ecstasy

generally pathological), nor asceticism, nor allegorism,

symbolism, nor

fantastic

obscurity

of ejcpression,

nor

nor the sum of these things. and has been of high value to individuals

religion generally, nor superstition, It is

healthy in

and

to the race.

itself,

prepared for the Gospel of St. John, for the

revolt against arid scholasticism in the

Middle Ages,

the mystical element in

Hamann,

Jacobi, Fichte,

for the

Reformation, and for modern German philosophy.

shows and Schelling

and quotes with approval the description of "intellectual intuition " given by the last named. We must not speak of thought as an antithesis to experience, "for thought (including immediate or mystical

knowledge) is itself experience." not derived from sense-perception, the has nothing to do with it, " it can only have

This knowledge conscious will

—

arisen through inspiration from the Unconscious."

extend the

name

of mystic to " eminent art-geniuses

their productions to inspirations of genius,

of their consciousness

(e.g.

and not

would

who owe work

to the

Phidias, .^Eschylus, Raphael, Beeth-

oven"), and even to every "truly original" philosopher, for every high thought has been

first

apprehended by the glance

Moreover, the relation of the individual to the Absolute, an essential theme of philosophy, can only be "This feeling is the content of mystically apprehended. Mysticism Kar eioxw, because it finds its existence only in it." of genius.

then shows with great force how religious and philosophical full probative force only for the few who are able to reproduce mystically in themselves their underlying suppositions, the truth of which can only be mystically apprehended. systems have

Hence

are just

it is

most adherents and most unphilosophical {e.g.

that those systems which rejoice in

the poorest

all

materialism and rationalistic Theism)." " If the self is not wholly contained in 9. Du Prel. consciousness, sensibility,

then

sensibility is

man is

self-

a being dualised by the threshold of

Mysticism possible

;

movable, then Mysticism

and is

the threshold of

necessary."

"The

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

338

phenomena of the

mystical

biological

consciousness, spirit

soul-life are

"Soul

process." is

our

anticipations of the

spirit

within the

self-

the soul beyond the self-consciousness."

This definition, with which should be compared the passage from J. P. Ritcher, quoted in Lecture I., assumes that Mysticism may be treated as a branch of experimental psychology. Du Prel attaches great importance to somnambulism and other kindred psychical phenomena, which (he thinks) give us glimpses of the inner world of our Ego, in many ways different from our waking consciousness. "As the moon turns to us only half its orb, so our Ego." He distinguishes between the Ego and the subject. The former will perish at death. It arises from the free act of the subject, which enters the time-process as a

"The

discipline.

self-conscious

Ego

transcendental subject, and resembles this

science

a projection of the " We should regard

a transitory phenomenal form

existence as

earthly

our

correspondence with

it."

transcendental interest."

transcendental nature."

"Con-

(This last sentence suggests

how Schopenhauer's pessimism may be made the basis of a higher optimism. " The path of biological advance leads to the merging of the

thoughts of great interest.)

Ego

the subject."

coincides with

the

"The

biological

aim

for

the race

transcendental aim for the individual."

" The whole content of Ethics

The

Prel shows

that the

Ego must

subserve

show that earthly life has no value for its own sake, and is only a means to an end ; it follows that to make pleasure our end is the one fatal mistake in Ufe. These thoughts are mixed with speculations of much less value ; for I cannot agree with Du Prel that we shall learn much about higher and deeper modes of life by studying abnormal and pathological states of the consciousness. "Mysticism is the scholastic of the heart, the 10. Goefhe. the Subject."

disillusions of experience

dialectic of the feelings."

"Mysticism is formless speculation." 11. Noack. Noack's definition is, perhaps, not very happily phrased, for the essence of Mysticism is not speculation but intuition; and when it begins to speculate, it is obliged at once to take to

itself

negativa

"forms."

Even

the ultimate goal of the via

apprehended as " a kind of form of formlessness."

APPENDIX A

339

Goethe's definition regards Mysticism as a system of religion or philosophy, and from this point of view describes it accurately. " Mystical theology begins by maintaining that 12. Ewald.

man

fallen

away from God, and craves

be again united

with Him."

"That we bear the image of God

Canon Overton.

13.

the starting-point, one might almost say the postulate, of

The complete union

Mysticism.

Mysticism." " Mysticism 14. Pfleiderer.

goal of

of the soul with

God

all

the

all

unity of the self with

God

the immediate feeling of the

nothing, therefore, but the fundamental feeling of religion, the religious life at its very But what makes the mystical a special heart and centre. tendency inside religion, is the endeavour to fix the immediate;

life in God as such, as abstracted from all intervening helps and channels whatever, and find a permanent abode in the abstract inwardness of the life of pious feeling.

ness of the

this God-intoxication, in

forgotten, the subject

highest

and

which

fullest truth

;

and the world

self

knows himself

are alike

be in possession of the

but this truth

only possessed in the

and bare form of monotonous feeling ; what truth the subject possesses is not filled up by any determination in which the simple unity might unfold itself, and it lacks therefore the clearness of knowledge, which is only quite undeveloped, simple,

attained

when thought harmonises

differences with unity."

"Mysticism is a phase of thought, 15. Professor A. Seth. or rather, perhaps, of feeling, which from its very nature is It appears in connexion hardly susceptible of exact definition. with the endeavour of the

human mind

to grasp the Divine

essence or the ultimate reality of things, and to enjoy the blessedness of actual is

communion with

the philosophic side of Mysticism

The

side.

mystic

Power, in

thought that

the highest.

the second,

The

first

religious

most intensely present with the and indwelling

whom

all

things are one.

Hence

more or

the specalative

less pantheistic in

the practical side, Mysticism maintains the

possibility of direct intercourse with this

God

its

that of a supreme, all-pervading,

utterances of Mysticism are always character.

;

Being of beings.

ceases to be an object, and becomes an experience."

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

340

This carefully-worded statement of the essence of Mystidsm followed by a hostile criticism. Professor Seth considers

quietism the true conclusion from the mystic's premisses. characteristic of Mysticism,

between what

that

metaphorical and what

Hence

does not distinguish is

prone to

susceptible of a

a relation of were one of substantial identity or and, taking the sensuous language of religious

literal interpretation.

ethicd harmony as chemical fusion

;

feeling literally,

it is

treat

bids the individual aim at nothing less than

And as this goal is unattainable

an interpenetration of essence.

while reason and the consciousness of self remain, the mystic

begins to consider these as impediments to be thrown aside.

Hence Mysticism demands a faculty above reason, by which the subject shall be placed in immediate and complete union with the object of his desire, a union in which the con.

sciousness of self has disappeared, and in which, therefore, subject

and object

are one."

this,

I think, the

mystic

might answer " I know well that interpenetration and absorption are words which belong to the category of space, and are only metaphors or symbols of the relation of the soul to God ; but ;

separateness, impenetrability,

and

isolation,

which you affirm of

the ego, belong to the same category, and are no whit less

The

metaphorical.

question

is,

which of the two

best expresses the relation of the ransomed soul to

The

words

Redeemer?

harmony' is altogether Testament expressions, memberare as adequate as words can be."

opinion, your phrase 'ethical

inadequate, while the ship,'

sets of

its

union,'

rest

New

indwelling,'

of the criticism

directed against the "negative

road," which I have no wish to defend, since I cannot admit that

1 6.

follows logically from the Reci^ac.

" Mysticism

first

principles of Mysticism.

the tendency to approach the

Absolute morally, and by means of symbols." Rdc^jac's very interesting Essai sur les Fondements de

Connaissance mystique has the great merit of emphasising the

symbolic character of

all

mystical phenomena, and of putting

such experiences in their true place, as neither hallucinations nor invasions of the natural order, but symbols of a " Les apparitions et autres phdnombnes myshigher reality. all

tiques n'existent

que dans

I'esprit

du voyant,

ne perdent

rien

APPENDIX A

341

pour cela de leur prix ni de leur vint6. Et alors n'y a-t-il pas au fond des symboles autant d'Stre que sous les phdnomfenes ? Bien plus encore car I'etre ph^nom^nal, le r^el, se pose dans la conscience par un enchatnement de faits tellement successif que nous ne tenons jamais le meme ; tandis que sous les symboles, si nous tenons quelque chose, c'est I'identique Rdcdjac also insists with great force that et le permanent." the motive power of Mysticism is neither curiosity nor selfthe intrusion of alien motives is at once interest, but love " Its logic consists in having confidence in the fatal to it. rationality of the moral consciousness and its desires.'' This agrees with what I have said that Reason is, or should be, the logic of our entire personality, and that if Reason is so defined, Rec^jac also has it does not come into conflict with Mysticism. much to say upon Free Will and Determinism. He says that Mysticism is an alliance between the Practical Reason (which he identifies with "la Libert^") and Imagination. "Determinism is the opposite, not of Liberty,' but of 'indifference.' .

—

Liberty, as Fouillde says,

minism.''

only a higher form of Deter-

The modern idea of Uberty, and the mystical conwill, may be reconciled in the same way as

ception of Divine inspiration

and reason, on condition that both are discovered

the same fact interior to us, and that, far from being opposed to each other, they are fused gttelqtte implicite

and distinguished together dans

riellement present a la conscience."

Rdcdjac

throughout appeals to Kant instead of to Hegel as his chief philosophical authority, in this differing from the majority of those

who

are in sympathy with Mysticism.

17. Bonchitte.

"Mysticism consists

taneity of the intelligence a

larger

in giving to the spon-

part than to the

other

faculties." 18.

Charles Kingsley.

"The

great Mysticism

the belief

becoming every day stronger with me, that all symmetrical natural objects are types of some spiritual truth or When I walk the fields, I am oppressed now and existence. then with an innate feeling that everything I see has a meaning, which

I could but understand

it.

And

this feeling of

being sur-

rounded with truths which I cannot grasp, amounts to indeEverything seems to be full of God's scribable awe sometimes.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

343 reflex, if

we could but

see

it.

Oh, liow

the mystery unfolded, at least hereafter

moment, the whole harmony of the

I liave !

prayed to have

see, if

great system

but for a

hear

once the music which the whole universe makes as it performs His bidding! Oh, that heaven! The thought of the first glance of creation from thence, when we know even as we are known. And He, the glorious, the beautiful, the incarnate Ideal shall be justified in all His doings, and in all, and through all, and over all. All day, glimpses from the other world, floating motes from that inner transcendental life, have been floating across me. Have you not felt that your real soul was imperceptible to your mental vision, except at a few hallowed moments ? That in everyday life the mind, looking at itself, sees only the brute intellect, grinding and working, not the Divine particle, which is life and immortality, and on which the Spirit of God most probably works, as being most cognate to Deity" {Life, voL i. p. 55). Again he says "This earth is the next greatest fact to that of God's existence." Kingsley's review of Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics shows that he retained his sympathy with Mysticism at a later period of his life. It would be impossible to find any consistent .

idealistic

philosophy in Kingsley's writings

;

but the sentences

above quoted are interesting as a profession of faith in Mysticism of the objective type. " The cure for a wrong Mysticism is 19. R. L. Nettleship. to realise the facts, not particular facts or aspects of facts, but

the whole fact

element, in fact

Mysticism

true

we experience

everything that j

i.e.

that in

the consciousness that

an element, and only an being what it is, it is symbolic of is

something more.''

The

oiiter dicta

on Mysticism

in Nettleship's

Remains

are

of great value.

" The essence of Mysticism is the assertion of which transcends the temporal categories of the

20. Lasson.

intuition

understanding, relying on speculative reason.

Rationalism

cannot conduct us to the essence of things ; we therefore need But Mysticism is not content with symintellectual vision. bolic knowledge, and aspires to see the Absolute by pure spiritual apprehension.

There

a contradiction in regard-

— APPENDIX A God

343

immanent Essence of all things, and yet as an all things. But it is inevitable. Pure immanence is unthinkable, if we are to maintain distinctions in things. Strict immanence doctrine tends towards the monopsychism of Averroes. Mysticism is often assoing

as the

abstraction transcending

ciated with pantheism, but the religious character of Mysticism

views everything from the standpoint of teleology, while pantheism generally stops at causality. Mysticism, again, is .

often allied with rationalism, but their ground-principles are different,

for

rationalism

and

deistic,

rests

this

earth,

being based on the understanding [as opposed to the higher

Nothing can be more perverse than Its danger is rather an overvaluing of reason and knowledge. Mysticism is only religious so long as it remembers that we can here only see through a glass darkly ; when it tries to represent the eternal adequately, it falls into a new and dangerous retranslation of thought into images, or into bare negation. Religion is a relation of person to person, a life, which in its form is an faculty, the reason].

to accuse Mysticism of vagueness.

analogy to the earthly, while eternal.

Dogmatic

its

content

pure relation to the

the skeleton. Mysticism the life-blood,

. of the Christian body. . Since the Reformation, philosophy has taken over most of the work which the speculative mystics performed in the Middle Ages" {Essay on the Essence and .

Value of Mysticism).

Nordau. "The word Mysticism describes a state of in which the subject imagines that he perceives or divines unknown and inexplicable relations among phenomena, discerns in things hints at mysteries, and regards them as symbols by which a dark power seeks to unveil, or at least to indicate, all sorts of marvels. ... It is always connected 21.

mind

with strong emotional excitement.

Nearly

all

our per-

and conceptions are connected more or less But to make the closely through the association of ideas. association of ideas fulfil its function, one more thing must be added attention, which is the faculty to suppress one part of the memory-images and maintain another part." We must select the strongest and most direct images, those directly connected with the afferent nerves ; " this Ribot calls adaptaceptions, ideas,

— CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

344 tion of the

whole organism to a predominant

Attention presupposes strength of association, the result of

idea.

•

Unrestricted play of

will.

an exhausted or degenerate

brain,

Since the mystic cannot express his

gives rise to Mysticism.

cloudy thoughts in ordinary language, he loves mutually exclusive expressions. Mysticism blurs outlines, and makes the transparent opaque.''

The Germans have two words for what we call Mysticism Mystik and Mysticismus, the latter being generally dyslogistic. The long chapter in Nordau's Degeneration, entitled "Mysticism," treats it throughout as a morbid state. It will be observed that the

last

sentence quoted

flatly

contradicts one

But Nordau

of the statements copied from Lrasson's essay.

not attacking religious Mysticism, so

much as that unwholesome

development of symbolic "science, falsely so called," which Those who are has usurped the name in modem France. interested in Mysticism should certainly study the pathological symptoms which counterfeit mystical states, and from this point of view the essay in Degeneration is valuable. The observations of Nordau and other alienists must lead us to suspect

very

strongly

the

following

kinds

symbolical

representation, whether the symbols are borrowed from the

external world, or created by the imagination

which include images of a sexual character. to illustrate this. as

we might

The

expect,

visions of

—

(a) All those

unnecessary

monks and nuns

are often,

unconsciously tinged with a morbid

element of this kind, verbal resemblances or

Nordau shows

It is

{b)

Those which depend on mere

other

fortuitous

that the diseased brain

these false trains of association,

(c)

correspondences.

very ready to follow

Those which

are con-

nected with the sense of smell, which seems to be morbidly developed in this kind of degeneracy, (d) Those which in

any way minister to pride or self-sufficiency. "Mysticism is rationalism applied to a 22. Harnack. sphere above reason." I have criticised this definition in my first Lecture, and have suggested that the words " rationalism " and " reason " ought Elsewhere Harnack says that the disto be transposed. tinctions between "Scholastic, Roman, German, Catholic,

APPENDIX A and Pantheistic Mysticism" are

Evangelical, ficial,

and

34S

particular

that

at best super-

a mistake to contrast

" Scholasticism and Mysticism " as opposing forces in the " Mysticism," he proceeds, " is Catholic piety

Middle Ages.

so far as this piety

in general,

obedience, that

is,

fides implicita.

not merely ecclesiastical

The Reformation element in this, that Mysticism, when

which is ascribed to it lies simply developed in a particular direction,

led

the

to discern

inherent responsibility of the soul, of which no authority can

The

between Mysticism and no way militate against both being Catholic ideals, just as asceticism and world-supremacy are both Catholic ideals, though contradictory. The German mystics he disparages. "I give no extracts from their writings," he says, " because I do not wish even to seem to countenance the error that they expressed anything that one

again deprive

Church

it."

authority,

conflicts

thinks, in

cannot read in Origen, Plotinus, the Areopagite, Augustine, Erigena,

Bernard, and Thomas,

religious

progress."

"It

will

they represented

that

make

never be possible to

Mysticism Protestant without flying in the face of history and "A mystic who does not become a Catholic is Catholicism." a dilettante." Before considering these statements,

from

quote

will

another attack upon Mysticism by a writer whose general views are very similar to those of Harnack. 23.

Herrmann {Verkekr

Christen

des

Roman

most conspicuous features of the

"The

mit Gott).

Catholic rule of

life

and of doctrine on the one and Neoplatonic Mysticism on the other. The

are obedience to the laws of cultus side,

essence of Mysticism

upon the

soul

lies in this

when the

influence of

God

sought and found solely in an inward ex-

perience of the individual

;

when

certain excitements of the

emotions are taken, with no further question, as evidence that the soul is possessed by God when at the same time nothing :

external to the soul firmly grasped; life

consciously and clearly perceived and

when no thoughts

that elevate the spiritual

are aroused by the positive contents of an idea that rules

—

then that not that which is

the soul, is

the piety of Mysticism.

common

all

religion,

Mysticism

but a particular

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

346

namely a piety which

species of religion,

rejects

feels that

which

the positive religion to be burdensome, and so

historical in it."

These

extracts

from Harnack and Herrmann represent the

attitude towards Mysticism of the Ritschlian school in Ger-

many, of which Kaftan is another well-known exponent. They are neo-Kantians, whose religion is an austere moralism, and

who seem

to regard Christianity as a primitive Puritanism,

spoiled by the Greeks,

and is

who brought

into

True

their sacramental mysteries.

"In

faith in the historic Christ.

Herrmann, " we have met with a

their intellectualism

Christianity, they say,

the

human

Jesus," says

the content of which

fact,

incomparably richer than that of any feelings which arise within ourselves, a fact, moreover, which makes us so certain of God that, our reason and conscience being judges, our con-

—

communion with Him."

only confirmed that we are in

viction

"The

mystic's

God

experience of

Christian has learnt

how

a delusion.

Christ alone has lifted

the

him above

all

had even been before, he cannot believe that another man might reach the same end by simply turning inward upon

that he

himself."

" The piety of the mystic

point to which

with

that

all else

quite

fails

such that at the highest

must vanish from the soul along

leads Christ

This curious view of Christianity " our reason and conscience " can

external."

to explain

how

detect the " incomparable richness " of a revelation altogether

unUke "the tirely

feelings

ignores the

which

arise within ourselves.''

mystical union, according to which Christ to the

from

not "external"

and most assuredly can never "vanish" Instead of the " Lo I am with you alway " of our

redeemed it.

It en-

Pauline and Johannine doctrine of the

soul,

—

we are referred to " history " that is, primarily, the four Gospels confirmed by " a fifth," " the united testimony blessed Lord,

of the

first

History).

Christian

community " (Harnack,

are presented with

Christianity

and

without

knowledge (Gnosis), without discipline, without sacraments, on a narrative which these very historical critics tear in pieces, each in his own fashion, and partly on a cateresting partly

gorical imperative

which

moralism," as Pfleiderer

calls

really the it.

voice of "irreligious

The words

are justified

APPENDIX A such a sentence as

God

from Herrmann

this

rightly understood,

is,

universal law

becomes individualised

his particular place in the world's

recognise

and the

its

ideal

" Religious faith in

medium by which

the

just

347

the

for the particular

man

so as to enable

him

life,

absoluteness as the ground of his self-certainty,

drawn

as his

own

personal end."

Thus the

school which has shown the greatest animus against Mysticism

unconsciously approaches very near to the atheism of Feuerbach.

Indeed, what worse atheism can there be, than such

disbelief in the rationality of our highest thoughts as

pressed in this sentence

" Metaphysics

ex-

an impassioned

endeavour to obtain recognition for thoughts, the contents of which have no other title to be recognised than their value for us " ? As if faith in God had any other meaning than a confidence that what is of " value for us " is the eternally and Herrmann's attitude towards universally good and true !

reason can only escape atheism by accepting in preference the crudest dualism, " behind which " (to quote Pfleiderer again)

concealed simply Nominalism."

lies

24.

God

"the

scepticism

"Mysticism

Victor Cousin.

of a disintegrating

the pretension to

know

without intermediary, and, so to speak, face to face.

For Mysticism, whatever is between God and us hides Him from us." " Mysticism consists in substituting direct inspiration for indirect, ecstasy for reason, rapture for philosophy."

"Mysticism is that form of error 25. R. A. Vaughan. which mistakes for a Divine manifestation the operations of a merely human faculty." This poor definition is the only one (except " Mysticism is the romance of religion") to be found in Hours with the Mystics, the solitary work in English which attempts to give a history of Christian Mysticism.

spicuous

merits.

The range

The book has of the

remarkable, and he has a wonderful

he was not content to

gift

author's

several con-

reading

of illustration.

But

trust to the interest of the subject to

book popular, and tried to attract readers by placing There is something almost it in a most incongruous setting. offensive in telling the story of men like Tauler, Suso, and

make

his

Juan of the Cross,

in the

form of smart conversations

at a

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

348

and the jokes cracked at the expense of the "mystics" are not always in the best taste. Vaughan does not take his subject quite seriously enough. There is an irritating air of superiority in all his discussions of the lives and doctrines of the mystics, and his hatred and contempt for the Roman Church often warp his judgment His own philosophical standpoint is by no means clear, and this makes his treatment of speculative Mysticism less satisfactory than the more popular parts of the book. It is also a pity that he has neglected the English representatives of Mysticism; they are quite as interesting in their way as Madame Guyon, whose story he tells at disproportionate

house-party,

benighted

length.

At the

same

time,

siderable obligations to Vaughan,

wish to acknowledge con-

whose

early death probably

deprived us of even better work than the book which

made

his reputation. 26.

James Hinton.

"Mysticism

an assertion of a means

of knowing that must not be tried by ordinary rules

evidence

— the

claiming authority for our

Another poor and question-begging lines as the last

own

impressions.''

definition,

on the same

—

APPENDIX

The Greek Mysteries and Christain Mysticism

The

connexion between the Greek Mysteries and Christian is marked not only by the name which the world has

Mysticism

agreed to give to that type of religion (though that /iutmjpia

not the commonest

Spyia, TfkcTai, Tekrj are

all,

I think,

name more

must be said

for the Mysteries

frequent), but

by the

evident desire on the part of such founders of mystical Christi-

Clement and Dionysius the Areopagite,

anity as

the resemblance.

to emphasise

not without a purpose that these

and other Platonising theologians from the third to the and practice of the Church

writers, fifth

century, transfer to the faith

almost every term which was associated with the Eleusinian For instance, the sacraments Mysteries and others like them. are regularly

Nyssa)

;

fiva-ri^pia

unction,

;

baptism

)(puTiui.

is fiva-TiKov

Xovrpov (Gregory of

iumttlkov (Athanasius)

;

the elements,

(Gregory Naz.); and participation in them is Baptism, again, is " initiation " (jivrja-Li) ; a livariKr] jueraAiji^is. baptized person is ii.tii,miii.ivo%, /i-uCTDjs, or aviJi.iJLv<TTrii (Gregory

idoTK

eSuSi}

Ny. and Chrysostom), an unbaptized person celebrant

is livtrrripiutv

the administration are also t£X€tij or TcXctovcrdai,

nexion.

is iropoSoo-ts,

rtXri,

d/iuijros.

The

\av6av6vT<j)v /ivaraywyoi (Gregory Ny.)

as at Eleusis.

;

The sacraments

regular Mystery-words

TtXeioiroids,

as are rtXaWts, ; which are used in the same con-

Secret formulas (the notion of secret formulas

itself

comes from the Mysteries) were airopp-qTa. (Whether the words ^on-ur/ios and (T<j>payCs in their sacramental meaning come from the Mysteries seems doubtful, in spite of Hatch, Hibbert Lectures,

295.)

Nor

the language

pline

TO.

KaOdpffia,

and

TO,

of the

Mysteries

Clement calls purgative discifUKpa /xDorrypio, and the highest stage

applied only to the sacraments.

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

350

in the spiritual life iwoirrtCa.

the following

way

God

lighted with torches,

and

stainless light

survey the heavens and holy while I am being initiated. The

am become my hierophant,"

also uses such language as

truly sacred mysteries

Lord

etc. {Protr. xii.

have shown in a note on Lecture

III.,

20).

Dionysius, as I

uses the Mystery words

and gives to the orders of the Christian ministry names which distinguished the officiating priests at the Mysteries. The aim of these writers was to prove that the Church offers a mysteriosophy which includes all the good

frequently,

the

elements of the old Mysteries without their corruptions. The between a Mystery-religion and speculative Mysticism

alliance

within the Church was at this time as close as that between

and the revived pagan MysteryBut when we try to determine the amount of direct influence exercised by the later paganism on Christian usages and thought, we are baffled both by the loss of documents, and by the extreme difficulty of tracing the pedigree of religious ideas and customs. I shall here content myself with calling attention to certain features which were common to the Greek Mysteries and to Alexandrian Christianity, and which may the Neoplatonic philosophy cults.

perhaps claim to be in part a legacy of the old religion to the new. My object is not at all to throw discredit upon modes of thought which Jews.

because

A it

may have been

unfamiliar to

Palestinian

doctrine or custom is not necessarily un-Christian is " Greek " or " pagan." I know of no stranger

men who

whole weight of their Lord meant to raise an universal religion on a purely Jewish basis. The Greek Mysteries were perhaps survivals of an oldworld ritual, based on a primitive kind of Nature-Mysticism. The " public Mysteries,'' of which the festival at Eleusis was the most important, were so called because the State admitted strangers by initiation to what was originally a national (There were also private Mysteries, conducted for profit cult. by itinerant priests {ayvprai) from the East, who as a class perversity than for

religion

upon "history,"

bore no good reputation.) at Eleusis are

known.

rest the

to suppose that our

The

The main festival

features of the ritual

began

at Athens,

where

the mystee collected, and, after a fast of several days, were

APPENDIX B "driven" to the

351

two salt lakes on the road to This kind of baptism washed former sins, the worst of which they

sea, or to

Eleusis, for a purifying bath.

away the

stains of their

were obliged to confess before being admitted to the Mysteries. Then, after sacrifices had been offered, the company went in procession to Eleusis, where Mystery-plays were performed in

a great

hall,

large

enough

to hold thousands of people,

the votaries were allowed to handle certain sacred

relics.

and

sacramental meal, in which a mixture of mint, barley-meal, and water was administered to the initiated, was an integral part of the

festival.

The most secret who had

reserved for the ejronTai,

part of the ceremonies was

passed through the ordinary

a previous year. It probably culminated in the solemn exhibition of a corn-ear, the symbol of Demeter. The obligation of silence was imposed not so much because there were any secrets to reveal, but that the holiest sacraments of the Greek religion might not be profaned by being brought This feeling was strengthened into contact with common life. by the belief that words are more than conventional symbols of things. A sacred formula must not be taken in vain, or divulged to persons who might misuse it. The evidence is strong that the Mysteries had a real spiritualising and moralising influence on large numbers of those who were initiated, and that this influence was increasing under the early empire. The ceremonies may have been trivial, and even at times ludicrous ; but the discovery had been made that the performance of solemn acts of devotion in common, after ascetical preparation, and with the aid of an impressive ritual, is one of the strongest incentives to piety. Diodorus is not alone in saying (he is speaking of the Samothracian Mysteries) that " those who have taken part in them are said to become more pious, more upright, and in every way better than their former selves." The chief motive force which led to the increased iminitiation in

portance of Mystery-religion in the

first

centuries of our era,

was the desire for "salvation" (o-wrr^pta), which both with pagans and Christians was very closely connected with the hope of everlasting life. Happiness after death was the great promise held out in the Mysteries. The initiated were secure of

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

blessedness in the next world, while the uninitiated must expect

"to lie in darkness and mire Phadrus, 69).

How

after their

death"

We find

this " salvation " attained or conferred ?

was

that several conflicting views were held, which

it is

human mind

to keep rigidly separate, since the

Plato,

(cf.

impossible

one time

incUnes to one of them, at another time to another. (fl) Salvation is imparted by revelation. This makes it to depend upon knowledge ; but this knowledge was in the Mysteries conveyed by the spectacle or drama, not by any intel-

Plutarch (de Defect. Orac. 22) says that those

lectual process.

who had been

initiated could

produce no demonstration or

proof of the beliefs which they had acquired.

And

Synesius

quotes Aristotle as saying that the initiated do not learn anything, but rather receive impressions (o« fuiOtlv n Setv aXXa TraOtiv).

The dogma

old notion that monotheism was taught as a

rests on no evidence, and is very unlikely. There was a good deal of OtoKpaa-ia, as the ancients called it, and some departures from the current theogonies, but such doctrine as there was, was much nearer to pantheism than to monotheism. Certain truths about nature and the facts of life were communicated in the "greatest mysteries," according And sometimes to Clement, and Cicero says the same thing. the yvGcrts <r(0T7;pias includes knowledge about the whence and

secret

whither of Theod. 78).

man (nves eo-fitv koX tI yeyovafiev, Clem. Exc. ex Some of the mj'stical formulae were no doubt

susceptible of deep

and edifying

interpretations, especially in

the direction of an elevated nature-worship. (b) Salvation was regarded, as in the Oriental religions, as emancipation from the fetters of human existence. Doctrines of this kind were taught especially in the Orphic Mysteries, where it was a secret doctrine (dirdppijTos Adyos, Plat. Phadr.

62) that

"we men

(crfjim Tives

Plat.

are here in a kind of prison," or in a

to o-w/ua itvou t^s

Crat.

400).

They

i/'vx^s,

&s TtOa/ifiivrp

tomb

irapovTi,

also believed in transmigration of

and in a kvkXos t^s yeveo-eajs {rota fati et generationis). The " Orphic life," or rules of conduct enjoined upon these souls,

mystics,

from

comprised asceticism, and,

flesh;

and

laid

great

stress

in particular,

abstinence

on "following of God"

APPENDIX B (êcrâi or oKoXovêiv

This

cult,

t<3

353

6tw) as the goal of moral endeavour.

however, was tinged with Thracian barbarism

its

;

heaven was a kind of Valhalla (/te'^i/ otuvtos, Plat. Hep. ii. 363). Very similar was the rule of life prescribed by the Pythagorean brotherhood, who were also vegetarians, and advocates of virginity. Their system of purgation, followed by initiation,

men "from

liberated

the grievous woeful circle" {kvkX.ov

iiiirrav /SapuireVfleos apya\ioio

them " to a happy

life

on a tombstone), and

with the gods."

salvation as deification, see

Appendix

entitled

(For the conception of

Whether these sects

C.)

taught that our separate individuality must be merged certain

but

;

among

who had much

the Gnostics,

with the Orphic mystce, the formula, " I

was

I,"

common

also in e/n6v ii.

;

thou,

un-

common

and thou

art

formulae of the Marcosians :

o-ov

ivoim

ifijov

;

koX to

Rohde, Psyche, vol. was given by initiawhich conducts the mystic to ecstasy, an oXtyoxpovtos (Galen), in which " animus ita solutus est et vacuus ut eyo)

o-oi'.

tion,

Sophia

an invocation of Hermes yap dfu to

A foretaste of

p. 61).

juavta

(Pistis

€i8o)A,dv o-ov.

this deliverance

plane nihil sit cum corpore" (Cic. De Divin.i. i. 113); which was otherwise conceived as evSovo-iocr/ids (ev^ovo-imcrr/s ei

KOX

crvKeri, ovo-iys

(c)

The

means. potency.

iv iavT'g Siavouii, Philo).

imperishable Divine nature

Sacraments and the

The Homeric hymn

is infused by mechanical have a magical or miraculous

Demeter insists only on and we hear that the mystic baptism to wash out all their to

ritual purity as the condition of salvation,

people trusted to previous

sins.

Similarly the baptism of blood, the taurobolium,

was supposed to secure eternal happiness, at any rate if death occurred within twenty years after the ceremony ; when that (We interval had elapsed, it was common to renew the rite. find on inscriptions such phrases as " arcanis perfusionibus in aeternum renatus.") So mechanical was the operation of the Mysteries supposed to be, that rites were performed for the dead (Plat. Rep. 364. St. Paul seems to refer to a similar custom in 1 Cor. xv. 29), and infants were appointed " priests," and thoroughly initiated, that they might be clean from their "original sin." Among the Gnostics, a favourite phrase was that initiation releases men "from the fetters of 2%

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

354 fate

and necessity

vor/Toi),

the gods of the intelligible world {dtoX

;

whom we

with

hold communion

the Mysteries,

being above " fate."

moral regeneration. The efficacy moral reformation naturally appeared

(d) Salvation consists of

of initiation without

doubtful to serious thinkers. Diogenes is reported to have asked, " What say you ? Will Pataecion the thief be happier in the next

world than Epaminondas, because he has been

initiated?"

And

men

Philo

says,-

"It often happens that good

are not initiated, but that robbers, and murderers, and

lewd women are, if they pay money to the initiators and hierophants." Ovid protests against the immoral doctrine of mechanical purgation with more than his usual earnestness {Fasti,

35) :-^

ii.

" Omne

nefas

omnemque mali purgamina causam

Credebant nostri

tollere posse senes.

Gisecia principium moris foit;

Impia

nimium

faciles,

Fluminea

tolli

ilia

nocentes

ponere facta putat.

lustratos

qui

tristia

crimina csedis

posse putetis aqua

Such passages show that abuses existed, bpt also to be a scandal if the initiated person failed to

that

was

exhibit any

felt

moral improvement.

These

different conceptions of the office of the Mysteries

cannot, as I have said, be separated historically.

They all The

Christian sacraments.

reappear in the history of the

Mystery - system which passed into of symbolism, of mystical brotherhood, of sacramental grace, and, above all, of

main

features

the

Catholicism are the the three

stages

illumination,

and

notions of secrecy,

the

spiritual

eTroirreia as

life,

ascetic

purification,

the crown.

The secrecy observed about creeds and liturgical forms had much to do with the development of Mysticism, except by

not

associating sacredness with obscurity

fiviTTiKri (rcftvoJTOiet

to dtiov,

(cf.

fUfiovfjLivr]

Strabo,

rrjv i^vtrw

467, 17 avrov

k/jvi/^is

iK<f)€u-

which also showed itself in This certainly had a great influence, the love of symbolism. both in the form of allegorism (cf. Clem. Strom, i. i. 15, lori

yova-av rrjv aMrjcnv), a tendency

Kox aiviifTai /to(

ypatfyij'

irapcurerai Si

(cai

Xavddvovira

;

APPENDIX B Koi

el-n-fiv

lTriKpmTO)t.evq

355

koI Sct^ai (nwTrGora),

iK<jirjvai

which

Philo calls " the method of the Greek Mysteries," and in the

The

various kinds of Nature-Mysticism.

Mysteries lay in the

great value of the

which they offered for

facilities

free

symbolical interpretation.

The was, as

idea of mystical union by

we have

means of a common meal

seen, familiar to the Greeks.

Plutarch says (JVbn posse sum. vivi

sec.

For instance,

Epic. 21), "It

not

the wine or the cookery that delights us at these feasts, but

good hope, and the

that

been two ideas of

—

God

belief that

present with us, and

accepts our service graciously." sacrifice, alike in

There have always

savage and civilised cults

mystical, in which it is a communion, the victim who is and eaten being himself the god, or a symbol of the god

^the

slain

and the commercial, in which something valuable the god in the hope of receiving some benefit

The

offered to

Mysteries certainly encouraged the idea of communion,

and made all

in exchange.

easier for the Christian rite to gather

into itself

the religious elements which can be contained in a sacra-

ment of this kind. But the scheme of ascent from fjoirjo-K

cirosrrcia, is

Ka^apcrts to fixt^vi,

and from

the great contribution of the Mysteries to

Christian Mysticism.

with confession of sin

as we have seen, proceeded by means of fasting (with

Purification began, ;

which was combined dyi'«a a7r6 awova-Cai) and meditation, the second stage, that of illumination, was reached. The majority were content with the partial illumination which belonged to this stage, just as in books of Roman Catholic divinity "mystical theology" is a summit of perfection to which " all are not called." The elect advanced, after a year's till

interval at least, to the full contemplation (iiroTrrtia).

highest truth was conveyed in various ways

—by

visible

This sym-

bols dramatically displayed, by solemn words of mysterious

import ; by explanations of enigmas and allegories and dark speeches (cf. Orig. Ceis. vii. 10), and perhaps by "visions It is plain that this is one of the cases in revelations." which Christianity conquered Hellenism by borrowing from it all its best elements ; and I do not see that a Christian need

and

feel

any reluctance to make

this

admission.

APPENDIX The Doctrine

of Deification

The

conception of salvation as the acquisition by man ol Divine attributes is common to many forms of religious

thought.

was widely diffused in the

Roman Empire

the time of the Christian revelation, and was steadily growing

importance during the first centuries of our era. The Orphic Mysteries had long taught the doctrine. On tombstones erected by members of the Orphic brotherhoods we " Happy and blessed one find such inscriptions as these in

Thou itTTc,

shalt

6eoi

wretched

be a god instead of a mortal " (oA^te koi ijuxKopeiTT] avTi ^poroio) ; " Thou art a god instead of a

man "

(6ebs «T iXeavov ii avOpmTrov).

It has

indeed

been said that " deification was the idea of salvation taught in the Mysteries " (Hamack). To modern ears the word "deification" sounds not only strange, but arrogant and shocking. The Western consciousness has always tended to emphasise the distinctness of individuality, and has been suspicious of anything that looks like juggling with the rights of persons,

human

never been a fluid concept like

6eds.

St.

This

or Divine.

especially true of thought in the Latin countries.

£>eus has

Augustine no doubt

gives us the current Alexandrian philosophy in a Latin dress

but

this part of his

Platonism never became acclimatised in

the Latin-speaking countries.

The Teutonic

genius

in this

matter more in sympathy with the Greek ; but we are Westerns, while the later " Greeks " were half Orientals, and there is

much

in their habits of thought

telligible

emperors.

which

strange

and unin-

Takes for instance, the apotheosis of the This was a genuinely Eastern mode of homage,

to us.

366

APPENDIX C

3S7

which to the true European remained either profane or ridiculous. But Vespasian's last joke, " Vce / puto Deus fio I would not sound comic in Greek, The associations of the word 6c6i were not sufficiently venerable to make the idea of deification

expect,

(^coTroojcrts)

that

this

grotesque.

vulgarisation

find,

we should

the word

affected

even

Not only were

Christians in the Greek-speaking countries.

the "barbarous people" of Galatia and Malta ready to find " theophanies " in the visits of apostles, or any other strangers

who seemed (except the

to have unusual powers, but the philosophers

"godless Epicureans") agreed

in calling the highest faculty of the soul Divine, and in speaking of " the

God who

dwells within us."

Origen (quoted by

There

a remarkable passage of

Hamack) which shows how

elastic the word was in the current dialect of the educated. " In another sense God is said to be an immortal, rational, moral Being. In this sense every gentle (daTtCa) soul is God. But God is otherwise defined as the self-existing immortal Being. In this

6e6i

men are not gods." Clement, too, speaks of the soul as "training itself to be God." Even more remarkable than such language (of which many other examples might be given) is the frequently sense the souls that are enclosed in wise

accusation that bishops, teachers, martyrs, philosophers, etc., are venerated with Divine or semi-Divine honours.

recurring

These charges are brought by Christians against pagans, by pagans against Christians, and by rival Christians against each Even the Epicureans habitually spoke of their founder other. Epicurus as " a god." fieos,

try to analyse the conccipt of

thus loosely and widely used,

idea was that exemption from the prerogative of a Divine Being

find that the prominent

doom Tim.

(cf. i

of death was the vi.

i6,

"Who

only

hath immortality "), and that therefore the gift of immortality This notion is distinctly adopted by is itself a deification. Theophilus says {ad Autol. ii. 27) several Christian writers. "that man, by keeping the commandments of God, may him immortality as a reward {fi.i<r66v), and become

receive from

God."

And Clement

perishable (to

the

same

effect

ixri

{Strom,

(fiOeiptcrdai)

v. is

10.

63) says,

to share

Hippolytus {Philos.

"To

be im-

To "Thy body

in Divinity."

34) says,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

3S8

be immortal and incorruptible

shall

Ihou hast become

God

Divine nature

wast

God.

as well as thy soul.

All the things that follow

For

upon the

has promised to supply to thee, for thou

With regard to Harnack says that "after Theophilus, Ireneeus, Hippolytus, and Origen, the idea of deification is found in all the Fathers of the ancient Church, and that in a primary deified in

being born to immortality"

later times,

position.

have

Cyril, Sophronius,

In proof of

it,

often quoted."

man

that

then,

If,

Athanasius,

Syrus, Epiphanius,

and

Ps.

Ephraem

ApoUinaris,

6 ('I said.

are gods')

"He

very

became

we might be deified " and from Pseudo-Hippolytus, man has become immortal, he will be God." ;

This notion grew within that the

Incarnation,

mankind

into a

transformation of 6e<yiroir]<7i% it

quotes from Athanasius,

the

Church as

apocalyptic Christianity faded away.

makes

Cappadocians,

others, as also in

Greek and Russian theologians.

late

Ixxxii.

the

and

state

etc.,

chiliastic

"abolished death,'' and brought

of " incorruption " {a^Bapfrm).

human

nature,

which

This spoken of as

also

the highest work of the Logos.

clear that

and

favourite phrase was

what he contemplates

Athanasius pantheistic

merging of the personality in the Deity, but rather a renovation after the original type.

But the process of deification may be conceived of in two ways (a) as essentialisation, (b) as substitution. The former may perhaps be called the more philosophical conception, the The former lays stress on the high latter the more religious. calling of man, and his potential greatness as the image of God ; the latter, on his present misery and alienation, and his need of redemption. The former was the teaching of the Neoplatonic philosophy, in which the human mind was the throne of the Godhead the latter was the doctrine of the Mysteries, in which salvation was conceived of realistically as :

;

something imparted or infused.

The notion that salvation or deification consists in realising our true nature, was supported by the favourite doctrine that "If the soul were not essentially like only can know like. Godlike (Oeoei^s), it could never know God." This doctrine might seem to lead to the heretical conclusion that man is

APPENDIX C

359

o/ioowios tS HarpL in the same sense as Christ.

This conclusion,

however, was strongly repudiated both by Clement and Origen.

The former

(Strom,

men

74) says that

xvi.

are no/ /lepo^ 6tov

Tu 6e<a 6ju.oouo-iot and Origen (in Joh. xiii. 25) says it is very impious to assert that we are o/ioova-ioi. with " the unbegotten nature." But for those who thought of Christ mainly as the Divine Logos or universal Reason, the line was not very easy to draw. Methodius says that every believer must, through participation in Christ, be bom as a Christ, view which, if pressed logically (as it ought not to be), implies either that our nature is at bottom identical with that of Christ, Koi

;

—

or that the

life

difficulty as

of Christ

" divinae particula aurse,"

and

interesting passage

The

substituted for our own.

whether the

human

soul

is,

strictly

speaking,

met by Proclus in the ingenious p. 34 ; " There are," he says,

quoted

"three sorts of wholes, (i) in which the whole

anterior to

the parts, (2) in which the whole is composed of the parts, (3) which knits into one stuff the parts and the whole (17 tow 0A.01S TO. ftipt)

Plotinus,

a-vvvifyaCvovcra.)."

and of Augustine.

This

God

to them.

also

not

Him

creatures, nor are they essential to is

doctrine

the

Erigena's doctrine of deification

expressed (not " Est iii. 9)

very clearly) in the following sentence (De Div. Nat. igitur participatio divinae essentiae assumptio.

fusio

eius divinae sapientiae

quae

est

up among His the same way as He

split

Assumptio vero

omnium

substantia et

quaecumque in eis naturaliter intelliguntur." According to Eckhart, the Wesen of God transforms the soul into itself by means of the " spark " or " apex of the soul '" (equivalent to Plotinus' Konpov ^x5s, Enn. vi. 9. 8), which is "so akin to God that it is one with God, and not merely united to Him." The history of this doctrine of the spark, and of the closely" connected word synieresis, is interesting. The word " spark

essentia, et

occurs in this connexion as early as Tatian, who says {Or. 13): " In the beginning the spirit was a constant companion of the soul,

but forsook

yet

retained, as

TertuUian, misspelt

it it

because the soul would not follow it its power," etc. See also

were, a spark of

De Anima,

sinderesis),

41.

which

The

curious word synteresis (often

plays

mediaeval mystical treatises, occurs

first

considerable in

part

Jerome (on Ezech,

in i.);

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

36o

"Quartamque ponunt quam

Graeci vocant (rwri^pi^criv, quae Cain quoque pectore non exstinguitur,

scintilla conscientiae in

qua Victi voluptatibus vel furore nos peccare sentimus. In Scripturis [earn] interdum vocari legimus Spiritum." Cf. Rom. viii. 26 ; 2 Cor. ii. 11. Then we find it in Alexander of Hales, and in Bonaventura, who (Itinerare, c. i) Refines it as " apex mentis seu scintilla " ; and more precisely (Breviloquium, Pars 2, c. 11); " Benignissimus Deus quadruplex contulit ei

adiutorium, scilicet duplex naturae et duplex

enim

gratise.

indidit rectitudinem ipsi naturae, videlicet

iudicandum,

volendum,

malum

et haec est rectitudo conscientiae,

et haec est synteresis, cuius est

Duplicem

unam ad

recte

aliam ad recte

remurmurare contra

Hermann

ad bonum."

et stimulare

of Fritslar speaks

power or faculty in the soul, wherein God works immediately, "without means and without intermission." Ruysbroek defines it as the natural will towards good imGiseler says " This planted in us all, but weakened by sin. spark was created with the soul in all men, and is a clear light in them, and strives in every way against sin, and impels steadily to virtue, and presses ever back to the source from which it sprang." It has, says Lasson, a double meaning in mystical theology, (a) the ground of the soul ; (V) the highest ethical faculty. In Thomas Aquinas it is distinguished from " intelof

as a

lectus principiorum," the former being the highest activity of

the moral sense,

"synteresis" of which

intelligence, is

the

intellect.

In Gerson,

the intelligence (an emanation from the highest

which

mystics regard

God

Himself),

and the

Speaking generally, the

contemplation.

fall,

latter

the highest of the affective faculties, the organ

as a

remnant of the

while for Eckhart and his school

activity of

which

earlier scholastic

sinless state before the

it is

the core of the soul.

another expression which must be considered in connexion with the mediaeval doctrine of deification. This is the intellectus agens, or vo5s iroiijTtKos, which began its long

There

history in Aristotle

{Be Anima,

iii.

5).

Aristotle there dis-

tinguishes two forms of Reason, which are related to each

other as form and matter.

matter of anything

Reason becomes

all things, for

the

potentially the whole class to which

belongs; but Reason also makes

all

things, that is to say,

it it

APPENDIX C

361

communicates to things those categories by which they become objects of thought. This higher Reason is separate and impassible (^^copio-ros xai dju.iy^$ xal airad^) ; it is eternal and immortal ; while the passive reason perishes with the body. The creative Reason is immanent both in the human mind and in the external world ; and thus only is it possible for the

mind little

know

more about

Unfortunately,

things. his

vow

iroiijrtKos,

says very

Aristotle

and does not explain how

the two Reasons are related to each other, thereby leaving the

problem

work

for his successors to

out.

The most

attempt to form a consistent theory, on an idealistic

fruitful

basis,

out

of the ambiguous and perhaps irreconcilable statements in the

De Anima, was made by 200

A.D.),

who

or faculty of our soul, but fact, identified

Aristotle

Alexander of Aphrodisias (about

taught that the Active Reason "is not a part

comes to us from without

with the Spirit of

would have accepted

may be doubted; but

the

God working

in us.

—

it is,

Whether

this interpretation of his theory

commentary of Alexander of

Aphrodisias was translated into Arabic, and this view of the Active Reason became the basis of the philosophy of Averroes.

Averroes teaches that it is possible for the passive reason to unite itself with the Active Reason, and that this union may

be attained or prepared for by ascetic purification and study. But he denies that the passive reason is perishable, not wishing Herein he follows, he says, entirely to depersonalise man. Themistius, whose views he tries to combine with those of Avicenna introduces a celestial hierarchy, in Alexander. which the higher intelligences shed their light upon the lower, till they reach the Active Reason, which lies nearest to man, " a quo, ut ipse dicit, effluunt species intelligibiles in animas The doctrine of " monopsychism " was, of nostras " (Aquinas). course,

condemned by the Church.

Aquinas makes both

the Active and Passive Reason parts of the human soul. Eckhart, as I have said in the fourth Lecture, at one period of his teaching expressly identifies the "intellectus agens" with the "spark," in reference to which he says that "here

God's ground is my ground, and my ground God's ground." This doctrine of the Divinity of the ground of the soul is very like

the Cabbalistic doctrine of the

Neschamah, and the

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

362

Neoplatonic doctrine of NoSs est

(cf.

Stockl, vol.

ii.

increatum et increabile

;

Hoc

increata et increabilis.

tota

est

anima

so the birth of the

God, so that Son." only "

Man filius

Son of God

talis,

Eckhart it

Eck-

anima quod

esset

intellectus."

tainly says explicitly that " as fire turns all that itself,

1007).

for saying, " aliquid est in

condemned

hart was

esset cer-

touches into

in the soul turns us into

God no

longer knows anything in us but His thus becomes " filius naturalis Dei," instead of

adoptivus.''

the end of his

inclined

life,

have seen that Eckhart, towards

more and more to

separate the

organ of Divine contemplation, from the reason. This is, of course, an approximation to the other view of deification that of substitution or miraculous infusion from spark, the

—

without, unless

see in

from the reason.

sonality

Divine spark very clearly

two ways,

exists in

itemque

expers

est.

a tendency to divorce the per-

states his doctrine of the " The unity of our spirit in God

and actively. The essential qux secundum aternam ideam in Deo nos

essentially

existence of the soul,

sumus,

Ruysbroek

quam

Spiritus

nobis habemus, medii ac discriminis

Deum

possidet, et spiritum Deus.

Vivit

nuda

natura

namque

essentialiter

Deo

Deus

secundum supremam sui partem Dei claritatem suscipere absque medio idoneus est; quin etiam per seterni ipso

;

exemplaris sui claritudinem essentialiter ac personaliter in ipso lucentis,

secundum

divinam

sese

severanter

supremam

vivacitatis

sua portionem, in ibidemque per-

demittit ac demergit essentiam,

secundum ideam manendo aeternam suam possidet rursusque cum creaturis omnibus per seternam

beatitudinem

;

Verbi generationem inde emanans, in esse suo creato conThe "natural union," though it is the first cause of stituitur." and blessedness, does not make us holy and holiness all

common to good and bad alike. "Similitude" the work of grace, " quae lux quaedam deiformis est" cannot lose the " unitas," but we can lose the " similitude

blessed, being to

God

quae est gratia."

The

receiving a perfect

highest part of the soul

capable of

and immediate impression of the Divine

by this " apex mentis " we may " sink into the Divine essence, and by a new (continuous) creation return to our created being according to the idea of God," The question essence

;

APPENDIX C

363

whether the "ground of the soul " is created or not is obviously a form of the question which we are now discussing. Giseler, as I have said, holds that

gassen says

" That which

wise, that has the soul

was created with the

God

soul.

Stern-

has in eternity in uncreated

time in created wise."

author of the Treatise on Love, which belongs to

But the

this period,

speaks of the spark as "the Active Reason, which is God." And again, " This is the Uncreated in the soul of which Master

Eckhart speaks." Suso seems to imply that he believed the ground of the soul to be uncreated, an emanation of the Divine nature ; and Tauler uses similar language. Ruysbroek, in the last chapter of the Spiritual Nuptials, says that con-

templative

men

" see that they are the same simple ground as

and are one with the same

their uncreated nature,

which they

and which they

see,

The

see."

mystics taught that the Divine essence

stratum of the world, the creative

will

later

light

German

the material sub-

God

speak, alienated for the purpose a portion of His

having, so to

own

essence.

broken through, God Himself becomes the ground of the soul. Even Augustine countenances some such notion when he says, " From a good man, or from a good angel, take away man or ' angel,' and you find God." But one of the chief differences between the older and later Mysticism is that the former regarded union with God as If,

then, the created form

achieved through the faculties of the soul, the latter as inherent The doctrine of immanence, more and more in its essence.

emphasised, tended to encourage the belief that the Divine element in the soul is not merely something potential, something which the faculties may acquire, but is immanent and Tauler mentions both views, and prefers the latter. basal. Some hesitation may be traced in the Theologia Germanica on "The true this point (p. 109, " Golden Treasury " edition) light is that eternal Light which is God ; or else it is a created light, but yet Divine, which is called grace." Our :

Cambridge

Platonists naturally revived this Platonic doctrine

of deification,

much

kind of moral

to the

dissatisfaction of

Tuckney speaks of

contemporaries.

divinity

of Christ added

their

some of

their

teaching as

minted only with a

httle

Nay, a Platonic faith unites

tincture

God/"

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

364

Notwithstanding such protests, the Platonists persisted that true happiness consists in a participation of God; and that " we cannot enjoy God by any external conjunction with

all

Him."

The

question was naturally raised, " If

man by putting on can get nothing more than he has already, what good will it do him?" The answer in the Theologia " This life is not chosen in order Germanica is as follows to serve any end, or to get anything by it, but for love of its Christ's life

nobleness, greatly."

and because God loveth and esteemeth It

plain

that any view which regards

essentially Divine has to face great difficulties

when

man it

so as

comes

to deal with theodicy.

The

other view of deification, that of a substitution of the

Life, or Spirit, for the human, cannot in history be sharply distinguished from the theories which have just been mentioned. But the idea of substitution is naturally most congenial to those who feel strongly " the corruption of man's heart," and the need of deliverance, not only from our ghostly Such men feel that enemies, but from the tyranny of self. there must be a real change, affecting the very depths of our personality. Righteousness must be imparted, not merely imputed. And there is a death to be died as well as a life to be lived. The old man must die before the new man, which

Divine Will, or

" not I but Christ," can be

bom

in us.

The

" birth of

God

a favourite doctrine of the later German mystics. Passages from the fourteenth century writers have been quoted in my fourth and fifth Lectures. The " God will be bom, following from Giseler may be added (or Christ) in the soul"

not in the Reason, not in the Will, but in the most inward part of the essence, and all the faculties of the soul become

Thereby the soul passes into mere passivity, They all insist on an immediate, substantial, personal indwelling, which is beyond what Aquinas and the Schoolmen taught. The Lutheran Church condemns those who teach that only the gifts of God, and not God Himself, dwell in the believer ; and the English Platonists, as we have seen, insist that " an infant Christ " is really born in aware thereof.

and

lets

the soul.

God

work."

The (Jerman

mystics are equally emphatic about

APPENDIX C the annihilation of the old man, which indwelling Divine

utterly destroyed,

the condition of this

In quietistic (Nominalist) Mysticism

life.

the usual phrase was that the will

36s

(or, better,

" self-will ") must may take its

so that the Divine Will

But Crashaw's "leave nothing of myself

place.

represents

the aspiration

the

St Juan of the Cross

generally.

later

says, "

human knowledge and human

entirely its

me,"

Catholic Mysticism

The

soul

must

lose

feelings, in order to

and Divine feelings"; it will then were outside itself," in a state " more proper to the future than to the present life." It is easy to see how

receive Divine knowledge live

" as

dangerous such teaching may be to weak heads. A typical example, at a much earlier date, is that of Mechthild of

Hackebom swims

believed

(about 1240). the

that,

Godhead in

answer

"My

soul

water ! " and

who

was she who a

fish

her

prayers,

said,

God had

united Himself with her that she saw with His eyes, and

heard with His ears, and spoke with His mouth. Many similar examples might be found among the mediaeval mystics.

Between the two ideas of essentialisation and of substitution comes that of gradual transformation, which, again, cannot in history be separated from the other two. It has the obvious advantage of not regarding deification as an opus operatum, but as a process, as a hope rather than a fact. A favourite maxim with mystics who thought thus, was that "love changes the lover into the beloved." Louis of Granada often recurs to this thought.

The

best mystics rightly see in the doctrine of the Divinity

of Christ the best safeguard against the extravagances to which Particularly instructive the notion of deification easily leads. here are the warnings which are repeated again and again in the " The false light dreameth itself to be Theologia Germanica.

God, and taketh to

itself

what belongeth to God as God

Now, God in eternity is without contradiction, suffering, and grief, and nothing can hurt or vex Him. But with God when He is made man it is otherwise." eternity without the creature.

" Therefore the

above

all

false light thinketh

and declareth

itself to

works, words, customs, laws, and order, and above

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

366

life which Christ led in the body which He possessed in His holy human nature. So likewise it professeth to remain unmoved by any of the creature's works ; whether they be good

that

evil,

itself

against

God

apart froip

all

or not,

God and

belongeth to

things, like

all alike to it

God

;

and it keepeth and all that

in eternity

no creature

vainly dreameth that this belongeth to

;

itself, and doth not set

taketh to

it."

God. And this is because and burdensome to nature, therefore it will have nothing to do with it ; but to be God in eternity and not man, or to be Christ as He was after His resurrection, is all easy and pleasant and comfortable to nature, and so it holdeth it to be best." These three views of the manner in which we may hope to

to be Christ, but the eternal

Christ's life

distasteful

become " partakers of the Divine nature," are all aspects of the If we believe that we were made in the image of truth. God, then in becoming like Him we are realising our true idea, and entering upon the heritage which is ours already by the On the other hand, if we believe that we have will of God. fallen very far from original righteousness, and have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, then we must believe in a deliverance from outside, an acquisition of a righteousness not

imputed to us. And, hope for a real change in our relations to God, there must be a real change in our personality, a progressive transmutation, which without breach of continuity wiU The bring us to be something different from what we were. As Vatke says, " The three views are not mutually exclusive. influence of Divine grace does not differ from the immanent development of the deepest Divine germ of life in man, only that it here stands over-against man regarded as a finite and If the separate being as something external to himself. Divine image is the true nature of man, and if it only possesses our own, which

thirdly, if

either imparted or

are to

—

reality in virtue of its identity with its type or with the Logos,

then there can be no true self-determination in man which is not at the same time a self-determination of the type in its We cannot draw a sharp line between the operations image.'' of our

own

personality

escapes from

all

and those of God

in us.

attempts to limit and define

Personality it.

;

APPENDIX C

367

concept which stretches into the infinite, and therefore can only be represented to thought symbolically. The personality

must not be

identified with the "spark," the

"Active Reason,"

we like to call the highest part of our nature. Nor must we identify it with the changing Moi (as Fdnelon

or whatever

calls (P-

The

it).

Moi, and yet its

personality, as

both the end

33)1 is

have said in Lecture I. self, and the changing

If either thesis is held divorced from thought ceases to be mystical. The two

ideals of self-assertion

and both,

which are

ideal

neither.

antithesis, the

right,

— the

and

self-sacrifice

separately, unattainable.

really necessary to

each other.

are

both true and

They I

are opposites

have quoted from

Vatke's attempt to reconcile grace and free-mil

another

from a writer of the same school may perhaps be " In the growth of our experience," says Green, " an helpful. animal organism, which has its history in time, gradually becomes the vehicle of an eternally complete consciousness. What we call our mental history is not a history of this consciousness, which in itself can have no history, but a history of the process by which the animal organism becomes its vehicle. Our consciousness may mean either of two things either a function of the animal organism, which is being made, gradually and with interruptions, a vehicle of the eternal consciousness or that eternal consciousness itself, as making the animal organism its vehicle and subject to certain limitations in so doing, but retaining its essential characteristic as independent of time, as the determinant of becoming, which has not and The consciousness which varies from does not itself become. extract

moment

moment ... is consciousness in the former sense. what may properly be called phenomena.

It consists in

The

latter

consciousness

constitutes

our knowledge"

Analogous is our moral to Ethics, pp. 72, 73). But no Christian can believe that our life, mental or moral, is or ever can be necessary to God in the same sense For practical in which He is necessary to our existence. religion, the symbol which we shall find most helpful is that of a (Prolegomena history.

progressive transformation of our nature after the pattern of

God

revealed in Christ

union with God, though

;

a process which has as this

end

is,

its

end a

real

from the nature of things,

368

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

unrealisable in time.

Lectures, a-progessus

is,

body of the consummation of which

as I have said in the

infinitum, the

are nevertheless entitled to claim as already ours in a tran-

scendental sense, in virtue of the eternal purpose of

known

to us in Christ.

God made

APPENDIX D The Mystical Interpretation of the Song of Solomon The

headings to

the chapters in the Authorised Version

give a sort of authority to the "mystical" interpretation of

Solomon's Song, a poem which was no doubt intended by its author to be simply a romance of true love. According to our translators, the Lover of the story is meant for Christ, and the Maiden for the Church. But the tendency of Catholic Mysticism has been to make the individual soul the bride of Christ,

and

to treat the

"spiritual nuptials"

Song of Solomon as symbolic of Him and the individual "contem-

between

It is this latter notion, the

plative."

growth of which I wish

to trace.

no part of Platonism. That " sensuous it), which the Platonist often seems to aim at, has more of admiration and less of tenderness than the emotion which we have now to consider. The notion of a spiritual marriage between God and the soul seems to have come from the Greek Mysteries, through the Alexandrian Jews and Gnostics. Representations of "marriages Erotic Mysticism

love of the unseen" (as Pater calls

of gods " were

common

the least reputable kind

at the Mysteries, especially at those of (cf.

In other Lucian, Alexander, 38). made to resemble a

instances the ceremony of initiation was

marriage, and the nva-rrji was greeted with the words vvfjbcjjie.

And among

the Jews of the

first

x'^^P^t

century there existed

a system of Mysteries, probably copied from Eleusis.

They

and we hear that among their secret doctrines was "marriage with God." In Philo we find strange and fantastic speculations on this subject. For instance, he argues that as the Bible does not mention had

their greater

and

their lesser Mysteries,

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

370

Abraham, Jacob, and Moses as yvwpi^ovTa^ ras yu^aiKas, we meant to believe that their children were not born naturally. But he allegorises the women of the Pentateuch in such a way

are

(Adyo>

fi,ev

yvvaiKeg, ipy<a hi aperai) that

e'uri

say what he wishes us to believe in a

Valentinian Gnostics seem to have talked

and

marriage,"

much

The

of "spiritual

But, curiously enough,

argues that the body as well as the soul " If the soul is the bride,' he says, " the the bride of Christ.

Tertullian is

difficult to

sense.

was from them that Origen got the idea

of elaborating the conception.

who

literal

first

dowry " {de Resurr. 63). Origen, however, really began the mischief in his homilies and commentary on the Song of Solomon. The prologue of the commentary in Rufinus commences as follows " Epithalamium libellus hie, id est nuptiale carmen, dramatis in modum mihi videtur a Salomone flesh is the

conscriptus,

quem

cecinit

instar

nubentis sponsae,

erga

sponsum suum qui est sermo Dei cselesti amore flagrantis. Adamavit enim eum sive anima, quse ad imaginem eius facta est, sive ecclesia." Harnack says that Gregory of Nyssa exhibits the conception in its purest and most attractive form in the East, and adds, " We can point to very few Greek Fathers in

whom

(There

the figure does not occur.''

a learned note

on the subject by Louis de Leon, which corroborates statement of Harnack. Irenaeus,

Hilary,

Cyprian,

refers to

this

Chrysostom, Theodoret,

Augustine,

Tertullian,

Ignatius,

Leo, Photius, and Theophylact as calling Christ the bridegroom of souls.) In the West, we

Gregory of Nyssa,

Cyril,

it in Ambrose, less prominently in Augustine and Jerome. Dionysius seizes on the phrase of Ignatius, " My love has been

find

crucified," to justify erotic

Imagery in devotional writing.

Bernard's homilies on the Song of Solomon gave a great

impetus to this mode of symboUsm ; but even he says that the Church and not the individual is the bride of Christ. There is no doubt that the enforced celibacy and virginity of the monks and nuns led them, consciously or unconsciously, to transfer to the

human

extent, to the Virgin

person of Christ (and to a

Mary) a measure of those

could find no vent in their external in a

wholesome and innocuous form,

lives.

much

slighter

feelings

which

can trace

this,

in the visions of Juliana

APPENDIX D

371

Quotations from Ruysbroek's Spiritual Nuptials, and from Suso, bearing on the same point, are given in the body of the Lectures. Good specimens of devotional poetry of this type might be selected from Crashaw and Quarles. (A of Norwich.

few specimens are included in Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Sacred Song.) F^nelon's language on the subject is not quite so pleasing ; it breathes more of sentimentality than of reverence.

The

contemplative, he says, desires " une simple presence de

purement amoureuse," and speaks to Christ always

Dieu

"comme The

I'dpouse k I'dpoux."

Mohammedan

Sufis or

and appear,

mystics use erotic language very

have attempted to give a sacramental or symbolic character to the indulgence of their From this degradation the mystics of the cloister passions. were happily free ; but a morbid element is painfully prominent

freely,

like true Asiatics, to

many

in the records of

mediaeval saints, whose experiences are

—

enumerates (i) "Divine touches," which Scaramelli defines as "real but purely spiritual sensations, by which the soul feels the ,intimate presence of God, and tastes Him with great delight ; (2) " The wound of love," of which one of his authorities says, " haec poena tam suavis est quod nulla sit in hac vita delectatio quae magis satisfaciat." classified

by Ribet.

It is to this experience that Cant. floribus, stipate

the

wound

malis, quia

ii.

5 refers: "Fulcite

amore langueo."

not purely spiritual

St.

Teresa, as

Sometimes was shown

by a post-mortem examination, had undergone a miraculous " transverberation of the heart "

" et pourtant

elle surv^cut

prbs de vingt ans k cette blessure mortelle " (3) Catherine of Siena was betrothed to Christ with a ring, which remamed !

Lastly, always on her fingers, though visible to herself alone. we read " Feria tertia Paschae

in the revelations of St. Gertrude

dum communicatura mentum monium

desideraret a

Domino

ut per

idem

sacra-

vivificum renovare dignaretur in anima eius matrispirituale

quod

ipsi in

spiritu

erat desponsata per

fidem et religionem, necnon per virginalis pudicitiae integritatem, Dominus blanda serenitate respondit: hoc, inquiens, indubiSic inclinatus ad eam blandissimo affectu eam tanter faciam.

ad se stringens osculum praedulce animae eius

The employment

infixit," etc.

of erotic imagery to express the individual

; ;

CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

372

between Christ and the soul is always dangerous; but this objection does not apply to the statement that " the Church is the bride of Christ." Even in the Old Testament

relation

find the chosen people so

14).

Professor

preted in this

spoken of

Cheyne thinks sense, and that

admission into the Canon.

(cf. Isa. liv. 5

this

In the

why

New

the

Eph.

23-33.

Rom. vii. 1-4 passage Canon Gore

the last

—the of —the consummated act

sacrifice

fication

—the removal of

moments of

Jer.

iii.

book gained

Testament,

uses the symbol of marriage in

love of Christ

;

that the Canticles were inter-

;

obstacles to His love

spiritual purification

—the

union in glory

St.

Paul

Cor. xL 3 says: "The

by atoning

gradual sancti-

;

these are the

the Divine process of redemption, viewed from

the side of Christ, which St. Paul specifies." This use of the " sacrament " of marriage (as a symbol of the mystical union

between Christ and the Church), which alone has the sanction of the New Testament, is one which, we hope, the Church will always treasure. The more personal relation also exists, and the fervent devotion which it elicits must not be condemned though we are forced to remember that in our mysteriously constituted minds the highest and lowest emotions lie very near together, and that those who have chosen a life of detachment from earthly ties must be especially on their guard against the "occasional revenges" which the lower nature, when thwarted,

always plotting against the higher.

;

INDEX Acosmism, distinguished from Pantheism, 120-21 ; in Eckhart, 154 in Juan ot the Cross, 243. Adam of St. Victor, 38. Agrippa, Cornelius, 273. Albertus Magnus, 17, 140-46. Alejo Venegas, 216. Alexander of Aphrodisias, 36 1. Alexander of Hales, 360, Alexandrianism, 8i sq. See Platan-

Atomists, 22. Augustine, 27, 29, 35, 100, 128-32, 202, 219, 363. Authority in Religion, Seat of, 329, 330Averroes, 149, 361. Avicebron, 34, 215. Avicenna, 361. Avila, Juan d', 17, 216-7.

ism and Neoplatonism. Allegorism, 3, 43 ; in Dionysius, 109 ; 270-72, 369. Alombrados, The, 217. Amalric of Bena, 138-9. Amiel's Journal Intime,

Basilides, 1 10, 279.

Beaumont, Joseph, 124.

96,

Beauty, Augustine on, 129 ; 322. Bede, 251. Beghards, 148. Benedict, 10. Berengar, 138. Bernard, 9, 140-41, 239, 240, 370. Bigg, C.,86, 94, 98, no, 131. Birth of Christ in the Soul, 35, 280,

99,

122, 156, 313.

"Analysis," method of, 87. Negative Road. Angela of Foligno, 97.

Anima Mundi,

See

29, 273, 321.

Animism, 262.

364.

Antinomianism, at Corinth, 72 ; of Amalricians, etc., 139, 140 ; censured by Ruysbroek, 171 ; 259. Antithesis as a law of being, in

Bohme, 279. Antony, St., 237. Apocalypse, 74. Aquinas, Thomas, 147, 149, 243,

Bonaventura, 16, 28,

1 16,

35,

140-42,

146, 335. 360. Bonchitte, 341. JBosanquet, B., 251. Bossuet, 9, 234-42.

Bradley, F. H., 25, 107, 306. Browning, Robert, 54, 318-20.

Bruno, Giordano, 29, 302. Burnet, Bp., 231-3.

25s. 36o-6iAristobulus, 83. Aristotle,

See Immanence.

Bohme, Jacob, 277-86.

141,

149. 248, 266,

360-61. Arnold, Matthew, on St. Paul, 65. Asceticism, its connexion with Mys173 ; of ticism, II ; of Suso, Juan of the Cross, 226 ; 244, 308, Association of ideas, 343-4Athanasius, 358,

Cabbalism, 268, 361. Caird, E., 139. Caird, J., IS7. 322-3.

Cambridge

ists.

Platonists.

See

PlatttP-

;

INDEX

374 Campanella, 302.

Drummond, H.,

Carlstadt, 196. Carlyle, Thomas, 320. Carmelites, 224.

Catherine of Genoa, 239. Catherine of Siena, 371.

Dualism, ascribed to SL John, 58 ; rejected by Dionysius, 106 ; of Ortlleb, etc., 140 ; of scholastic Mysticism, 143, 184 ; of Spanish mystics, 225, 262 ; of Herrmann,

Cheyne, 372. Chivalry and Mysticism, 176.

323.

347. Prel, 337-8.

Christina, 144. Chrysostom, 61.

Church, Mystical Union of Christ and the, 68, 256, 370-72.

Clement of Alexandria,

Eckhart, 148-64, 175, 359, 362.

Contemplation, the faoghest stage,

Ecstasy, 14-19 ; in Plotinus, 97-9 in Richard of St. Victor, 142; the Cambridge Platonists on, 292

38, 86-9, 349. 350. 3S4, 357, 359. Coleridge, S. T., 27, 36. 10, 12, mystics,

;

the

141-2; in

mediaeval

Ruysbroek,

" infused contempla-

170, 227 ; tion," 232 ; in F^nelon, 237

Wordsworth, 311. Conybeare, F. C, on Philo,

;

83.

Corderius, 335. Cousin, v., 124, 347. Cowper, W., 235. Cra.<ihaw, 212, 365, Creation of the World, in Erigena, 136 ; in Eckhart, 151-2 ; 182-3. Cunninghame Graham, Mrs., on Teresa, 218. Cyril of Alexandria, 47, 301.

D Dante, 24, 76, 176, 284. " Darkness," 109, 199, 200, 228. Darwin, C, 325. Degeneration, 344. Deification, 13 ; in Philo, 83 ; by gift of immortality, in Clement, 88; in Eckhart, 155-9, 163; in fourteenth century mystics, 189in Emerson, 321 ; 93, 232 ;

discussion of the doctrine, 35668. Denifle, 149, 180. " Dereliction," 207, 221. Destiny of the world, 328. Diego de Stella, 216.

Diodorus, 351. Diognetus, Epistle to, 100. Dionysius the Areopagite, 104-22 257. Disinterested love, 8, 234-42.

Wordsworth, 292 ; in the Greek mysteries, 353. Edinburgh Reoiem, on Catholic mystics of the Middle Ages, 250. Emanation, in Plotinus, 94 ; in in

Hierotheus, 102 ; in Dion3^ius, 107 ; in Erigena, 136 ; contrasted with immanence, 152.

R. W., 54, 78, 252, 320-22. English Mysticism, characteristics

Emerson,

•—

of, 197, 294. Erigena, John Scotus, 26, 133-8, 259. Erotic imagery, in Dionysius, 1 10 ; in Suso, 174; based on Song of Solomon, 369-72. Esqhatology, of St. John, 53 ; of St. Paul, 64, 65 ; of Bohme and Law, 283 ; of the Cambridge

Platonists, 293 ; in relation the reality of time, 327-g. Eternity, in St. John, 53-5;

to in

Tauler, 193. Eunapius, 22. Eusebius, 47. " Evidences," 60, 324-7.

problem of, 25 ; in Plotinus, 95-6 ; in Dionysius, 106-7 » in Augustine, 130 ; in Erigena,

Evil,

134-S. 137 ; in Tauler, Juliana of Norwich, alleged optimism of the 314 ; Emerson on, 321, Evolution, in Plotinus, 94 ; evolutionary pantheism,

185

;

207-8

;

mystics,

modem

not in Eckhart, 153 ; no development in the Divine nature, 323.

Ewald,

10, 339.

;

INDEX

37S

Externals of religion, disparagement Paul, 70-72 ; in Amalric, etc., 139 ; in Sebastian Frank, etc., 196 ; in Bohme, 281 ; necessity of maintaining, 329of, attributed to St.

Ilenotheism, 39. Heppe, 218.

8 ; in St. John, in St. Paul, 60-61 ; defined as blind assent, by Juan of the Cross, 225 ; in W. Law, 282. ;

False Light," The, 193, 199, 365. Fechner, G. T., 29, 302. /F^nelon, 9, 13, 33, 235-42, 371Fetishism, 262. Fichte, S3. Ficinus, 80. "Pons Vita," 34, 215. Fox, Geo^e, 72, 284, 329.

Francis de Sales, 17, 230-31, 237. Francis of Assisi, 302. Frank, Sebastian, 196.

Free

260, 344-5.

Hartmann, Von, 336-7. Hatch, 349. Hebrews, Epistle to the, 72-3. Hegel, 96, 119, 323, 331.

Faber, 166. Faith, love and,

Hamilton, SirW., II2. Harnack, 16, 21, 104, 140, 253,

Spirit, sects of, 139, 148.

"Friends of God," 180. Frothingham, on Hierotheus, 102. " Fiinklein" in Eckhart. See Spark.

Heraclitus, 30, 77, 124, 279. Hermann of Fritslar, 163, 360.

Herrmann, 345-6. Hesychasts, 227, 243. Hierotheus, 102-4. Hilton orHylton, Walter, 197-201.

Hinton, James, 25, 241, 315, 348. Hippolytus, 357. Historical facts of Christianity, alleged neglect of, in St. Paul, 69, 70 ; in Origen, 95 ; in Eckhart, 154 ; not proved by the "inner light," 326; Ritschlian school on, 345-7.

Holy

See Spirit.

Spirit.

Hooker, ill.

Hugo of St. Hume, 308.

Victor, 140-42.

Hunt's Pantheism and Christianity,

113, 268.

Hutton, R. H., 308.

Huysmans,

262.

Galen, 30S, 353Gamaliel, 223.

German

Theology. See Theologia Germanica. Gerson, 146-8, 33S, 36°-

Gertrude, 371. Giseler, 360, 364. ' Gnosis," 52, 81 ; in Clement, 86-7 ; in Origen, 89. Gnosticism, 81-2, 353. Goethe, 2, 6, 76, 124, 248, 250, 251. 254. 298, 338. Gore, C, 372. Gorres, 264. '

Grau, S7Green, T. H., 367. Gregory of Nyssa, 2S, 37°-

100, 2S7,

lamblichus, 105, 131,

Ibn Tophail,

104.

and Platonic doctrines idealism of Plotinus, 40-41 91; of Eckhart, 152, 183.

Ideas, Jewish of,

;

no, 257. Illumination as the second stage of the mystic's ascent, 10, 12. "Illumines," in France, 217. Illusions, education by means of, Ignatius,

73-

Plotinus on, 226; Imagination, Juan of the Cross on, 226 defined by Aristotle and Philostratus,

266

;

Wordsworth

on,

309-

Gunkel, 72.

Imitation of Christ, The, 194-5.

Guyon, Madame, 234-5.

Immanence:

Mjrsticism

the

; ;

INDEX

376

attempt to realise it, 5; the immanent Deity is not divided, 34 in Philo, 84 ; in Methodius, 100, in Amaliic, 121 ; in 139 ; Eclchart, 155-8, 162, 183; in Weigel, 27s ; in Bohme, 280 ; in the Cambridge Platonists, 290 sq. its nature, 340, 343, 363. Immortality, considered to be conferred by sacraments, 257. Incarnation, the central fact in history, 35 ; St. John on, 47, 49, 55-

Indian philosophy of religion, its influence on Christian Mysticism, roi, 112, 118, 147. Infinite,

;

The, as a name of God,

10, 98, 1 13-4, 129. Inquisition, The, 148, 214.

"Intellectus Agens,"

149,

158-9,

289, 360-61. Irensetfs, 193,

Lasson, 120, 149 sq. ; 342-3, 360. Law, W., 8, 278-86. Leathes, S., 46. Leck)^, W. E. H., 263, 27a Legalism, 36. Leibnitz, 288. Lilienfeld, 57, 241. Logos, the, as cosmic principle,

29;

in St.

John, 46-7; in St

Paul, 65-6; in Clement, 86; in Origen, identified with 90; Platonic NoSi, 94; in the later Greek Fathers, loi ; in Dionysius, 107 ; in Erigena, 136 ; in Eckhart, 151 ; in J. Smith, 289. Lotze, 6, 31, 132, 314. Louis de Granada, 216-7.

Louis de Leon, 216-7 ; 370Love, the hierophant of the Christian mysteries, 8 ; in St. John, 45 in Dionysius, 1 10 ; in Augustine, 131; in Law, 282; 316-7; Browning on, 318-9, 365. See also Disinterested.

Jerome, 359. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, 271. Johannine Christianity, 44, 324, John, St., the mystical element in his Gospel, 44-59. John a Jesu Maria, 335. Juan d'Avila, 17, 216-7.

Juan of the Cross, 114, 212, 22330. 365Julian or Juliana of Norwich, 201-9. Justin Mart} , 253.

K Kabisch, 65. Kant, 149, 251. Keble, on allegorism, 272. Kempis, Thomas i, 9, 194-5. Kepler, 298. Kingsley, C, 27, 341-2. Knox, Alexander, 286. Krause, 7, 121.

Labadie, 293. Lacordaire, 19.

Lowell, J. R., 348. Lucretius, 265, 302. Luthardt, 250. Luther, 196.

M Macarius, 20.

M'Taggart, 119. Maeterlinck, 171-2. Magic, 131, 261, 266, 269. Manilius, 166.

Maximus, 257. Mechthild of Ilackebom, 365. Meditation distinguished from contemplation, 227, 231.

Methodius^ 99, 100, 359. Microcosm, man as, 34-5 Erigena, in the 137 ;

;

later

Neoplatonists, 268 ; in Paracelsus, 274.

etc.,

Migne, Abb^, 144, 336. Milton, 248. Miracle. See Supematuralism. Modalism in Erigena, 135. Molinos, 10, 231-4. Monopsychism, 361. More, Henry, 18, 20, 38, 57, 286. Mysteries, the Greek, 2 ; technical

terms of, in Clement, 88, in Dionysius, 105 ; theii influence

INDEX

377

on Christian Mysticism, 349-SS» 369.

" Mystery,"

Paul, 86.

"Mystical" interpretation of the Bible, 43. See Alkgorism. "Mystical phenoinena," 3, 364-5. See also Supematuralism. Mystical union, in St. John, S' ; in St. Paul, 67-8 ; in Augustine, 1 30 ; sacraments are symbols of,

25S-6, 340, 346, 372.

N Nature, God in, 26, 27, 40, 249 sq., 276, 283, 294, 299 s(^.; NatureWorship in the Mystenes, 350.

"Negative Road,"

The, 87; in

in Dionysius, ; discussion of, 1 10-17; in Augustine, 128 ; in Erigena,

Hierotheus, 103

108; 13s

;

inAlbertusM^pus, 144-6

;

in Bonaventura, 146, in Eckhart, 160 ; 200, 244, 260, 290-92.

Neo-Kantians, 346. Neoplatonism, its connexion with mysteries, 4; of Plolinus, 91-9; of his successors, 131. See also PUUcnism. Keschamah, 361. Nettleship, R. L., 8, 11,64,250,

the

315. 342. Newton, Sir Isaac, 278. Nicholas of Basel, 180. Nihilism, in Hierotheus, Dionysius, 105-6.

Nirvana,

102;

Pantheism ; speculative Mysticism and, 117-22; of Amalricians, 139; tendency to, in Eckhart, 152, 155-8 ; in Emerson, 321, 339. 343Paracelsus, Theophrastus, 273. Pascal, 320. Pater, W., 369. Patrick, Bp. Simon, 287. Paul, St., mystical element in, 5972. Pearson, K., 149. Pedro Malon de Ghaide, 216. Pedro of Alcantara, 218. Perry, G. G., 286.

PersonaUty, 29-35, 20S. 34°. 361. 366-7. Pfleiderer, 339, 346-7. Philo, 82-5, 254, 354, 369-70. Philostratus, loi, 266. Pico of Mirandola, 269. Picton, J. A., 32.

Pindar, 9.

Pistis Sophia," 353.

Plato, 2, 18, 19, 55, 76, 77-9, 28S. 319. 352Platonism, 22, 77-80 ; in Italy, 213 ; in Spain, 215-7 ; in Eng-

land, 285-96, 303. Platonists, the

Cambridge, 20, 285-

96, 363Plotinus, 6, 9, 10, 21, 34 ; his philosophy, 91-9 ; 129, 130, 136, 226, 232, 359. Plutarch, 352, 355.

Porphyry, 15. Prayer, Juliana on, 204-5 > Teresa 220-21; "the prayer of on,

1 1 2.

Noack, 22, 81, 338. Nominalism, 214, 347, 365. Nordau, Max, 343-^4.

quiet," 222. Preger, 150 sq. Proclus, 6, 34, 105,

Novalis, 298. Numenius, 85.

no.

Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, 63. Psychical research, 265. Purgation or purification,

O Old Testament, mystical element in, 39-43Origen, 7, 24, 89-91,

10,

355-

Pythagoreans, 34, 353. 357,

359.

370-

Orphic mystenes, 352, 356. Ortlieb of Strassburg, 140.

"Over-Soul"

Emerson, 321.

Overton, on Law, 278 sq., 339. Ovid, 139, 354-

Quakers, 72, 259. Quietism, 43, 103, 187, 222, 23145. 365-

;;

INDEX

378

Ramanathan,

P., 112.

Rationalism, its limitations, 20, 21, 266, 343. 344Reason, the logic of the whole personality, 18-21 ; Platonists on,

287-90

Wordsworth

;

on,

331, 341, 360-61. also Intellectus Agens. its office,

R&^jac,

;;

19, 250,

309 See

Spenser, Edmund, 303. Spinoza, 121. Spirit, the Holy, St. John on, 48-9; St. Paul on, 62-4 ; two conceptions of His operations, 72; Victorinus on, 127. Stages, the three, in the mystical in Plotinus, 93 in 130; in Ruysbroek, in Tauler, 186; in

life, 9 sq. Augustine,

;

168-9; Wordsworth, 307.

340-41.

Reuchlin, 268, 270. Reuss, 53.

Staglin, Elizabeth, 178.

Ribet, 12, 99, 143, 264, 336, 371. Richard of St Victor, 17, 28, 115,

Stockl, 133, 141-2, 184-S. Stoicism, 121, 195. Strabo, 354. Suarez, 10. " Substance" the higher self, 206. Sudaili, Stephen bar, 102-4. Sufism, 118, 321, 371. Suidas, 4. Supematuralism, in the mediaeval Catholic mystics, 142-4, 243 craving for miracles, 262-4 ; Law on, 283-4, Suso, 172-80, 181 sq., 302. Symbols, the flesh and blood 01

Stemgassen, 363.

140-42, 147. Richter, J. P., 30. Ritschl, 214, 346.

Rohde, 353. Rousselot, 168, 215 sq. Ruskin, J., 252. Ruysbroek, 7, 153, 168-71, 181 sq.,

362-3-

Sacraments as symbols of mystical union, 253-8 ; in the mysteries, 353.

;

" Scale of Perfection,"

'The, 197.

Scaramelli, 201, 335, 371. Schelling, 96. Schiller, 76. Scholastic mystics, 140 sq.

Schopenhauer, 119, 338. Schram, 265. Science,

; symbolism in St. John, 58-9 ; in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 73 in Origen, 89 symbolism discussed, religious 250 sq. Sympathies and antipathies in

ideas, 5

Wordsworth

on,

306

nature, 273. Synesius, 126. " Sywteresis," 147, 156, 159, 282, 359. 360. Syrian Mysticism, loi sq.

spiritualisation of, 322-3.

Scotus, Duns, 187. Scotus, John. See Erigena.

ScupoU, 178. Seneca, 195. Seth, A., 119, 33^40. Shakespeare, 28. Shelley, 303-4. "Signatures," doctrine of, 272. Smi3i, John, of Cambridge, 9, 28596.

Song of Solomon, mystical mterpretation of, 43, 369-72. Spain, Mysticism in, 213 sq. "Spark" [Funkleifi A/ex mentis,

—

etc.), 7, 93,

iSS-7; Spencer, Herbert, 98.

Tatian, 359. Tauler, 11, 180 sq.

Taurobolium, 353. Taylor, Bp. Jeremy, 17. Tennyson, 14, 51, 298, 320. Teresa, 218-23, 37 '• TertulUan, 16, 253, 270. Themistius, 361, Theologia Germanica, 8, 10, 5O1 181 sq., 363-5. Theophilus, 357. Therapeutse, 82.

Theu^y, 131, 267 sq. Thomas i Kempis. See Kempis,

;

INDEX Thomas Aquinas.

See Aquinas.

Time, question as

to reality of, 23,

327-9Transubstantiation, 257Trinity, the Neoplatonic, 94-5 ; the Christian, in Dionysius, 108 in Victorinus, 127 ; in Eckhart,

150 sq.

;

Ruysbroek, 170; in

Suso, 178, 182 ; in Tuckney, 288, 363.

Bohme,

Unitive stage, the highest, 10.

Victorinus, 125-8. Visions, 14-19; St. Paul's, 63-4;

Neoplatonic, 98, 99; Augustine on, 132; in Suso, 175; of Teresa, 218 ; rejected by Juan of the Cross, 226.

;

Wallace, Prof. W., 12. Weigel, 274-6. Westcott, Bp., 47, 49. Whichcote, B., 285-96, 315. Will, in Eckhart, 161 ; prominence given to, in fifteenth century

and

later,

"Wisdom, 174 Valentinian Gnostics, 82, 370.

Vatke, 366.

109. 163, 273, 347-8.

Unity of existence, 28. Origen,

Vaughan, Henry, Vaughan, R. A.,

279.

Universalism, in Erigena, 137.

379

187-8. the Eternal," in Suso,

sq.

Word.

See Logos. Wordsworth, W., 305-18.

Printed bp

MoEKisoN & GiBB Limited Miriburgh

A SELECTION OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY METHUEN AND CO. LTD. LONDON 36

ESSEX STREET W.C.

A SELECTION OP

Messrs. Methuen's PUBLICATIONS Ih tills Catalo|;ue the order is accordinz to antbors. Colonial Editions are published of all Messrs. Mbthosh's NoveU Issued at a price above 4J. net, and similar editions are published of some works of General Literature. Colonial Editions are only for circulation in the British Colonies and India. All books marked net are not subject to discount, and cannot be bought at less than the published price. Books not marked net are subject to the discount which the bookseller allows. The prices in this Catalogue are liable to alteration without previous notice. Messrs. Methuen's books arc kept in stock by all good booksellers. If there is any difficulty in seeing copies, Messrs. Methuen will be very glad to have early information, and specimen copies of any books will be sent on receipt of the published price plus postage for net books, and of the published price for ordinary books. This Catalogue cont^uns only a selection of the more important books complete catalogue of their publications published bj Messrs. Methuen. may be obtained on application.

PRECES

Andre wei (Lanealot).

PRI-

VATAE.

Translated and edited, with Notes, by F. £. Brightman. Cr, %vo. fs. 6d. tut.

Atblnson

ETHICS.

Demy

and 8w.

(T.

TECTURE. Fcap. Zvo.

Edited, with Notes, by John

15;. net.

ENGLISH ARCHI-

D.). Illustrated.

Fvurtk BdiHon.

Second Edition. FcAp.

Ssv.

6s. net.

FAMOUS LAND

(1. H.). Illustrated.

FIGHTS.

Cr. 8m.

7*.

dd.

net.

Baggally (W. Wortley). TELEPATHY Genuine and Fraudoleht. Cr. %vo. 31. dd. net.

Fcap. &V0.

ss. net.

THE DESCENT OF THE SUN A Cycle :

OF Birth.

Seventh Edition.

Fcap. Zvo.

A HEIFER OF THE DAWN. IN

Fcap. 8ve.

THE GREAT GOD'S

Edition.

Fcap. ^00.

Ninth

Fcap. 8fw.

5J-.

HAIR.

jj. n^t,

Sixth

5;. net.

Fourth Edition.

net.

THE ASHES OF A GOD.

Second Edition.

ss. net.

BUBBLES

THE FOAM.

Edition.

Fcap.

7*.

4/0. ss. net.

Fcap. loo. js. 6d. tut.

Also Fcap.

Fcap.

4io.

js.

neL

td.

A SYRUP OF THE BEES.

THE LIVERY OF

tvo,

Second Also

Fcap.

4to.

55. rut.

EVE. Second Edition.

6d, net.

Also Fcap

8cv.

ss. net.

AN ECHO OF THE SPHERES. ^0.

W, Bain.

Rescued

Wide Demy

6d. rut.

I Of.

Balfour

THE

(Graham).

LIFE

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. teentk Edition.

Buckram

In one Volume^

THE

Cr. 8zv.

Sft".

LANDMARKS

Demy

Third

7J. 6a. net.

RUSSIAN

Edition.

OF Fi/^

Cr.

is. (sd. net.

IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE. Edition.

$s. net.

Fourth

5s. net.

Fcap. Zvo.

Baring (Hon. Saarloo).

Ss. net.

Edition.

Fcap. 3vo.

Fourth Edition.

from Oblivion by F.

Bain (F. W.). A DIGIT OF THE MOON: A Hindoo Love Story. Twel/tk Edition.

Sixth

ss. net.

AN INCARNATION OF THE SNOW.

Fcap. tvo.

65. tut.

Atterldge

Fcap. Svo.

A MINE OF FAULTS.

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Illustrated.

Edition,

AN ESSENCE OF THE DUSK. Edition.

THE

Aristotle. an Introduction

Burnet.

A DRAUGHT OF THE BLUE.

Spp.

PEOPLE. 15*. net.

Stcottd

Gbhis&ai. Lsca-aKA^tfE,®

m RUSSIA.

A YEAR

Cr. iw.

ft.

Mgi.

BariiiJ-Qeald

THE TRAGEDY OF

(8.).

THE

CiESARS: A Stodt of thb Characters of the C/xsars of the IllasJulian amd Claodian Houses. trated. Seventh Bdiion. Royul ioe. z5J. Hit.

A BOOK OF CORNWALL. Third Edititm.

Illostrated. ts. 6d. net.

Cr. Sv&.

A BOOK OF DARTMOOR. TJdrd Edititm.

Illnstrated.

7f.6d.net.

Cr, Svo.

A BOOK OF DEVON.

Illustrated. jt. 6d. net.

Cr. &vo.

Edition.

Third

Seas*H(AraoM).

XHE tHRUffiH ABOUT

Bennett (W.

A PRIMER OF THE

AN AUTHOR. BIBLE.

Fcap, ivo,

B.y.

Fffth Edition.

is. net.

Cr. ivo.

^s. net.

Bennett (W, H.) and Adeney (W.

F.).

BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION. With

A a

concise BibliographT- Sixth Edition. Cr. Ico. Si. 6d. net. Also in Two Volumet.

Each

Cr, ivo.

5s. net,

Berrlman (Algarnsn

AVIATION.

!.)•

Second Edition.

Illostrated. I2S, 6d. net,

MOTORING.

Cr.

ivo,

Dtmy

Illustrated.

Sv;

zas, 6d, net.

Barlng-aoold

and Bheppard (H.

(S.)

F.).

A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG. English Folk Songs with tional Melodies. Vtmy 4^

theit Tradijs. id. tut.

PARIS

Bloknell (Btbel

TREASURES. Round comers.

Blake (William).

BaFlng-Qonld

Bbeppard

(8.),

(H. F.), and

THE

SONGS OF W.). WEST. Folic Songs of Devon and Cornwall. Collected from the Mouths of the People. New and Revised Edition, under the musical editorship of Cecil J. Sharf. Lar£t imperial Zvo. Sectmd Edition. BuBseU

•JS.

(F.

THE BOOK OF

Fcap.

Barker (E.>

GREEK POLITICAL

Plato and his Prbdecessors.

THEORY

14J. net.

Zve.

Svo.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF

JOB. With a General Ladkencb Binyon. IllusQuarto. £1 is. net.

Introduction by trated.

Bloemfonteln (Biahop of). ARA CCELI Am Essay in Mystical 'Theology. Seventh Edition.

Cr. Svo.

ss. net.

FAITH AND EXPERIENCE.

6d. net.

Demy

AND HER

S.). Illustrated. 6s. net.

Edition.

Cr. ivo.

THE CULT MOMENT.

Third

ss. net.

THE

PASSING

Fourth Edition.

Cr.

ivo.

THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND

RE-

51. net.

Bastable (0.

F.).

THE COMMERCE OF

NATIONS. Eiehtk

Edition. Cr.iBO.

5*.

UNION.

Cr. 8»<.

sj. net.

net.

Beokford

Illustrated. JS. dd. net.

Belloo (H.). Edition.

HILLS Peaf,

Otho Paget. Third Edition. Vemy Zvo. Edited by

PARIS.

Third

Illustrated.

SEA.

mi.

Sinth Edition.

6s. net.

Fourth Edition,

SUB-

fca^.ia*.

6s.

Fourth EdiHon, Fcaf.

6s, net,

ON SOMETHING. Sec.

Cr, ivo,

is. 6d, net.

ADVANCED GOLF. Bratd (James). Illustrated. Eighth Edition, Demy ivo, 12s. 6d, net,

ANCIENT AND MEDI.

(M. H.).

EVAL ART.

lUastraced.

Cr. Svo.

Third Edition. Pcxp,

Fcap. Zvo.

LAST.

Second Edition.

6s, net.

THIS AND THAT Second Edition.

AND THE OTHER.

Fcap,

%vo.

MARIE ANTOINETTE, Fourth Edition.

Demy

THE PYRENEES. Hdititn,

td.

REVOLUTION.

Edited

by C.

ivo.

L. lis.

net.

THE LETTERS AND SPEECHES OF OLIVER CROMWELL. With an Inby C. H. Firth, and Notes and Appendices by S. C. Lomas. Three yolumes. Demy Sm. 18*. net, troduction

ds. nzt,

AND

71.

THE FRENCH

Carlyle (Kbemaa).

Fletchex. Three Volumes. Cr.

ON EVERYTHING.

FIRST

RAMBLES IN SUSSEX.

fl.).

net.

net,

ivo,

(F.

Illustrated.

BoUey

ON NOTHING AND KINDRED JECTS.

Brabant

71. td.

Cr. to».

AND THE iaio.

THOUGHTS

(Peter).

HUNTING.

Dtmy

ivo.

6s. tet.

Illustrated. iBs. net.

Illnstrated. los, td, net.

Second

Ghambens (Krs. Lambert). TENNIf) FOR LADIES. Second Editisn,

Cr,

87/5.

j-f.

LAWN Illustrated. net.

OhestertonCa.K.). CHARLES DICKENS. With two Portraits in Photogravure. Eighth Edition.

Cr. ivo,

js. 6d. net.

Mkthuhn AMD Company Limitek THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE. Fifth Edition.

&l. net.

Fcap. Sw.

Edition.

TREMENDOUS tion.

Daarmer Fifik Edi-

6j. Mti.

ALARMS AND DISCURSIONS. Edition.

Fcaf. »B0.

StcoHd

Fcap. Soo.

Stcond

Fcap.

LECTURES ON PAINTING.

lUnstrattd.

THE TOURNA-

OoUmnii).

(K.

MENT:

£a v.

Royai ^ta.

With

Periods and Phases.

Its

Preface by Chas. J. ffoulkbs.

Clatton-Brook

lllastr»ted.

THOUGHTS ON

Ninth EdUion.

Fcmf.

6d. net.

Cr. Bvo.

THE SEA Fcap. Saw.

GonltOB (a.

Dltohfleld

(P.

CHURCH. 8zi».

THE VILLAGE

H.).

Second Edition.

Illustrated.

6s. net.

THE ENGLAND OF SHAKESPEARE. Illustrated.

ioo.

SPWden

Cr. Stw.

6s. net.

FURTHER STUDIES

(J.).

THE PRAYER BOOK.

Bnrham Clhe Barl

Cr. 8i».

IN net.

THE REPORT

of).

With as Introductory

Second EditioA.

Note.

Dew^ too.

ys. 6d.

net.

a.). A SHORT HISTORY OF BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY.

Memories and Impressions.

;

CHAUCER AND

HIS

Second Edition.

Edited, with

an Introduction and Notes, by

Cox

(J. 0.). Illustrated. js. 6d. net.

iioo.

J. C. Bailev. ins. 6d. net.

RAMBLES IN SURREY. Second

Cr.

iuo.

Illnstratcd.

Cr.

Edition.

RAMBLES IN KENT. js. 6d. net,

Dalton (Hogh).

IN ITALY.

1914-191B.

Illustrated.

Ealrbrother

(W.

SOPHY OF Edition.

Cowper (William). POEMS.

Demy

zw. fd.

80*.

net.

A NAVAL LIEUTENANT,

'Btianne.'

8».

Cr.

it.

6d.

net.

a.). Illustrated. laj. 6d. net.

Illustrated.

Demy

Fifth Edition.

THE MIRROR OF

ss. net.

ENGLAND.

Cr.

AND

HIS CRAFT. £a

GREEN.

Second

51. net.

floalkes (Oharlaa). 4to.

THE PHILO-

H.).

T. iioe.

THE ARMOURER lUustrated.

Royai

as. net.

DECORATIVE IRONWORK. From xith to the xviitth Century.

Royai 4to.

£a

CROMWELL'S ARMY.

Flrtb (a H.).

the

Illustrated.

ss. net.

History of the English Soldier during the Wars, the Commonwealth, and the

Civil

WITH BRITISH GUNS Illustrated.

Cr. tuo.

is. 6d.

net.

Protectorate.

Cr. I'M.

Second Edition.

Illustrated.

IS. 6d. net.

L.). THE REPUBLICAN TRADITION IN EUROPE. Cr. ivo.

Flshai (H. A.

W. G.). ENGLAND UNDER THE NORMANS AND ANGEVINS

Davis (H.

1066-1273.

iM. 6d.

/^i/th

Edition.

Demy

Cr. ipo.

FltiDarald (Edward).

THE RUBAiyAt

OF OMAR KHAYYAM.

as. net.

VEGECULTURE How :

Printed

from

the Fifth and last Edition.

With a Commentary by H. M. Batsoh, and a Biographical Introduction by E. D. Ross. Cr. Sm. IS. 6d. net.

Grow Vegb-

TABLES, Salads, and Herss ih Town AND CooHTKV. Second Edition. Cr. Bp.ias. net.

js. 6d. net.

&na.

net.

DayCHarryA.), F.R.H.a. SPADECRAFT: OK, How TO BE Gakdenbr. Second Edition.

Sew.

Bgarton (K. ?

sj. net.

Gonrad (JOBaph).

Svo.

Cr.

3i79.

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Dsnty

Eleventh Edition.

ON CANADA.

net.

(&.).

THE WAR. n.

LIFE.

5J. net.

7S, 6d. net.

divo.

Clephan

THE GREEK VIEW

DlekinBon (SlrO. L.).

Cr.

ROYAL ACADEMY

ClaaBim (aaorge). Cr.

Nitith

is. td. tut.

i-oo.

Fourth Editien.

Illustrated. tvo. 6s. net.

Large Cr.

nit.

(ir.

WINE, WATER, AND SONG. Ediiion.

A CHILD'S LIFE Ot

(Mabel).

CHRIST.

6l. net.

A MISCELLANY OF MEN. Edition.

3S. net.

ftvo.

Tinth

&i. net.

TRIFLES.

Pca^. ^0.

THE FOOD-PRODUCING 6ARDEH. Cr.

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

Fylaman

(Rosa).

NEYS. 3lf.

S/. tut.

Fcaf.

FAIRIES 8m.

AND

Foitrth

CHIMEdition.

——

General Literature Qftratln

(OroBby). AGAIN. Fca}. iiio.

THE MUD-LARKS 3J.

bd.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ROYAL NAVY. Vol. I., 1217-1688.

Hannay

mi.

(D.).

Second Edition.

Demy

INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND; HISTORICAL OUT-

aibbins (H. de

B.).

LINES.

With Maps and

RdiHon,

Demy

Bco.

(ilfred). THE NATURAL TORY OF IGNEOUS ROCKS.

i2j. 6rf. net.

112 Diagrams and

THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

With

Maps and

Tmieniy-sixth Edition.

Cr,

8zJ#.

Harper (Charles

Jj,

Maps. Four Each 8s. 6d net. I.— Sooth of thb Thames. 11. — NortTH AND South Wales and

Volumes.

Bdrt.

Illustrated. Seven Valumes. Illustrated. Each i2j. td. netCr. ivo. Each

%vo.

With

Cr, 8oe.

West Midlands.

Alse in Seven Volumes, js.

THE 'AUTOCAR'

0.).

ROAD-BOOK.

Edited, with Notes, Appendices, and Maps, J. B.

East Anglia and East Midlands. of England and South of Scotland.

III.

6d. net.

The Nokth

IV.

SIadBton« («. Bwait). GLADSTONE'S SPEECHES Descriktive Indsx and BiBUOGKAPHY. Edited by A. Tilney Bassari'T. With a Preface by Viscount :

Demy

Brtch, O.M.

&ao.

Hasaal!

THE

(Arthur).

NAPOLEON.

Illustrated

Henley (W.

10s. 6d. net.

Hill (George FranelB).

Demy

ivo,

Edition.

Cr, 8zw.

ivo.

POE.

Demy

Illastrated.

Second

Hobhouie

10s. 6d. net.

ONE HUNDRED

ivo,

iBi.6d.

Zvo,

Second Edition.

ITS VERIFICATION.

Hobson

ture for 1912.)

Second Edition.

Cr.

Theory.

8z»(7.

THE WILLOWS.

Application of Economic ss, net,

Inquiry into the Industrial Condition of the Poor. Eighth Edition, Cr, %z)o, 5J. net.

THE WIND IN Eighth Edition.

THE PROBLEM OF THE

Cr.

EMPLOYED:

7*. td. net.

%vo.

INTERNATIONAL

4.).

Cr. ivo,

PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An

6j. net,

Qralwme (Eenneth).

(J.

TRADE An

(The Angus Lec-

Inquiry

Qllffln (W. Hall) and Mlnahln (H. C).

THE LIFE OF ROBERT BROWNING. Demy

Second Editien.

AND WAGES: With an Examination of the Quantity Theory.

GOLD, PRICES

%vo.

THROUGH Cr.

8pfl.

fts.

(J. K.).

FAMOUS SEA FIGHTS

T/drd Edition.

Cr.

%-i,o.

Cr,

Hodgson (SHrs.W.).

Demy

8m.

i6.t.

net.

iso,

Illusis. 6d,

Illustrated.

js. id. net.

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NEAR EAST FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. Illustrated. Fourth Editien.

gj. net,

Third Edition, Post

Holeip.¥/orth

(W.

ENGLISH

S.).

LAW.

Vols, /., //., ///.

HalI(H.R.).

81117.

HOW TO IDENTIFY

OLD CHINESE PORCELAIN. trated. net,

ftet.

From Sai-amis to Tsh-shima.

Cr, Zvo.

net,

Second Edition,

HEALTH Halg (K. Q.). DIET. Fourth EditioK. Halo

5f.

UN-

and

Economic Policy. Sixth Edition,

Illustrated. lis. td. net.

Demy

15s, net,

net.

THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION AND

X2j. 6d, net,

THE THEORY OF

(L. T.).

KNOWLEDGE.

VIRGIL. Third Editien. DemySno.

Second Edition.

6j. net.

MASTERPIECES OF SCULPTURE.

los. 6d. net.

Detny

E.).

CHAUCER TO

Second Edition.

PHILIP.

8do.

ENGLISH LYRICS:

THE CONFLICT OF RELIGIONS IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Seventh Edition. Demy ivo.

FROM PERICLES TO

LIFE Demy

xos, dd, net,

12s. 6d. net.

filover (T. R.).

POETS AND PURITANS.

ivo.

i5f. net.

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. by

HISWith

Demy

Plates.

a Plan.

Gibbon (Edward).

Demy

X689-18Z5.

II.,

10s, 6d. net.

Barker

Ninth

Plans.

Vol.

Each

ivo.

Demy Hutt

StJO.

(0.

Each

W.).

A HISTORY OF

Four Volumes, Bach Second Edition,

\$s, net,

CROWLEY'S HYGIENE

OF SCHOOL LIFE.

Illustrated.

and Revised EdiHon.

Cr, ivo,

Second

6s, net.

Methuen and Company Limited THE

Button (Edward).

UMBRI^. Cr.

THE

Illustrated,

CITIES OF mjiU Edition.

7*. 6d. net.

BzfO.

CITIES OF LOMBARDY.

trated.

Cr. Zvo.

7*.

Illus-

6d. net.

THE

CITIES OF ROMAGNA AND THE aiARCHES. Illustrated- Cr. 8w„ ^s. 6d. net.

FLORENCE AND NORTHERN TUSCANY, WITH GENOA. Illustrated. Third Edition.

Cr. Zvo.

js. 6d. net.

SIENA AND SOUTHERN TUSCANY. Second Edition.

Illustrated. ad. nst.

Cr. iva.

VENICE AND VENETEA, Cr. 8zv.

js.

illustrated.

yj . 6d. net.

NAPLES AND SOUTHERN ITALY. Illustrated.

Cr. Sew.

ROME. 800.

Cr.

COUNTRY WALKS ABOUT FLORENCE. Second Ediiien.

lUustratcd.

Fcaf. tvo.

6s, i%et.

THE

CITIES OF

Jfi/th Edition.

lUostrated,

ys. 6d. »£t.

(T. R.), H.D.. H.R.O.P. THE DRINK PROBLEM OF TO-DAY IN

MEDICO-SOCIOLOGICAL

ITS

Second Edition.

Cr. ivo.

ys, 6dt

net.

ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS. With Maps.

Demy

F(/tA Edition.

ivo.

131. 6d. net.

Inuei

SCHOOLS OF PAINT-

(BSftry). Illustrated. 8f. net.

ING. ivo.

Third Edition.

Cr.

POWER.

Eiffhtk Edition. Cr.Zoo. 7S.6d.

net.

(K.).

Edition. ivo.

Revised b j R.

C K. Ensor.

Cr.

ss. net.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH

LAW

BARRACK ROOM

Kipling (Radyard).

•

BALLADS.

i89^A

Bnckram.^

net. Also Fea^. leaiftsr, /r. 6d. net.

7J.

Thousand.

Cr. Zvo.

td.

Cloth, ts. net ; Also a Service

Two

Edition.

tot.

yoittmes.

From the Earliest Times to THE End op the Ybar 19x1. Demy Uto. ;

Booh y. net. SEAS. 140M Thousand.

THE SEVEN

Buckram,

Also Fcap.

js. 6d. net.

Clothe 65. net ; leathery js, id. met. Service Edition. Tw9 Volumet.

%zo.

Also a

Square/cap.

Each

Zvo.

jj. net,

THE FIVE NATIONS. Cr. %D0. Sew.

Buckramt

120M Thousand. Also Fcap.

7J. 6d. net.

Clothy &r. net ; leather^ 7^. 6a. net. a Service Edition. Two Volumes.

Each

Bvo.

3*. ret.

THE YEARS BETWEEN. Suckramt Fcap.

Blue

Bz70.

Cr.

&f.

Also a Service Edition. Square/cap. Zvo, Each 3*.

ntt;

Two

Limp

volumes.

net.

DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES. sand. Cr. 8zv. Also Fcap. 800.

Zve.

Also on thin^aper.

ys. 6d. net.

cloth^ lambskin., ys. 6d. net.

Buckram^

S4M Thouys.

Cloth, 6s. net;

6d. net leather,

js. id. net.

Also

AN OUTLINE OF ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Third

Jenks

THE SCIENCE OF

Kldd (Benjamin).

Square fcap. (A. D.). A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH IN INDIA. With Maps and

Isnes

Plans.

ASRevised Edition.

FECTS. Second ixnd Demy 8ev. zoj. bd. net.

Also

js. 6d. net.

8z>9.

$s. net.

Cr. Zvo.

Ia^a(W.R.). CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. (The Bampton Lectures of 1899,,) Fonrth Cr.

8c#,

Keiynaofe

Square/cap. ^o.

SPAIN.

Cr. Sva,

Ibten (Henrlh). BRAND. A Dramatic Poem, translated by William Wilson. Fourth Edition, Cr. Bdh. 5^. ntt,

Edition*

Keble(John). THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. With an Introduction and Notes by W. Lock. Illustrated. Third Edition. Fca^.

yj. Sd. net.

Third Ediiian,

Illustrated. yj. €id. net.

Keats (John). POEMS.' Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by E. de Sblincodxt. With a Frontispiece in Photogravure. Third Edition, Demy Zvo. xoj. dd. net.

Service

Square fcap.

ive.

HYMN BEFORE Fcap.

4^«.

IS.

Edition.

Each

7\vo

Volumes.

3s. net.

ACTION.

Illuminated.

6d. net,

RECESSIONAL.

Illuminated.

Fcap.

ito.

IS. 6d. net.

TWENTY POEMS FROM RUDYARD KIPLING. 360M Thousand. u.

Fcap.

Bvo.

net.

XQS. 6d. net.

Johneton

(Slv

H.)>

TRAL AFRICA

Edition

Cr. ^to.

THE NEGRO Illustrated.

BRITISH CEN-

THE NEW WORLD.

Crown

^to.

£1

is. net.

jnllan (Lady) oi Horwloh.

TIONS OF DIVINE LOVE. Gracb Warrack. Bw.

is. ntt.

Third

Illustrated. i8i. net.

REVELA> Edited by

Sixth Edition.

Cr.

Lamb (Oharlei and Mary). THE COMPLETE WORKS. Edited by E. V. Ldcas. A New and Revised Edition in Stjc Volumes. With

Frontispieces.

Fcap. 8ve.

Each

6s.

net.

The volumes are :— U. ElIA AND I. MiSCSLLANEOOS FrOSB. TUB Last Essays op Eua. hi. Books Fos Childrbn. IV. Plats and Poems. V.

and

vj.

Ijsttxbs.

GSKSRAL LiTERATURIs A history of

!^ane-P(s9la (Stanley).

EGYPT IN THE

MIDDLE AGES.

Illustrated. Second Edition^ Revised, &O0, gs. net,

AN EASY CHAIR. Cr.

8r*t.

7J. id. net.

LONDON REVISITED.

iuo.

(Walter).

Cr.

&z<o.

THE

PAUL,

ST.

MASTER BUILDER.

Third Edition.

$s. net.

LIFE.

MAN AND THE

OF THE Advance in Scientific Knowledge UPON ooK Understanding op Christianity. Ninth Edition, CrownZvo. JS. 6d. net. :

Human

Unrecognised

Cr. ivo.

js.

Stddt in

Faculty. Seventh 6d. net.

MODERN PROBLEMS.

Cr. ive,

js. id,

net.

RAYMOND

Death.

Illus-

Demyivo,

iss,

Shokt Chap-

ters OK Subjects of Serious Practical Import for the Average Citizen in a.d. Eighth Edition, Fcaf, 1915 Onwards. 2s. net.

CAPTURE AT

(Zarl).

Second Edition.

£,orliner

-JS,

Cr. ivo.

2i.

SEA.

id. net.

CAME. With

a Map.

LETTERS

(Qeor^e Horace).

FROM A SELF-MADE MERCHAI^T TO HIS SON.

Illustrated. Tulent]/is. net,

Cr, ivo.

OLD GORGON GRAHAM. Second Edition.

Cr. 8m.

E^arlmer (norma).

OF EGYPT. Cr. Bvo.

LBCaB Zac.

Illustrated. 61. net.

BY THE WATERS

Illustrated.

Third Edition.

7s. id. net.

(S. v.).

LAMB.

Little Book for

Twenty-seventh Edition. id. net. India Paper^ is. id. Cr. ^6.

x5s.net.

FOR the UrbanB. Ninth Edition. 8zv.

Edition.

Fcap, 8c#.

Sixth Edition,

Demy

Ninth

is. net.

CHARACTER AND COMEDY. Fcap. ivo.

Eighth

is. net,

THE GENTLEST ART: A

Choice of by Entertaining Hands. Tenth Edit. on. Fcap. ivo. is. net.

Letters

THE SECOND

POST.

Fifth Edition.

is. net.

HER INFINITE VARIETY A Feminine :

Portrait Gallery. Fcap. ivo.

Eighth

Edition.

is. net.

GOOD COMPANY: A Fourth Edition.

Rally of Men.

Fcap. ivo.

is. net.

ONE DAY AND ANOTHER. Fcap. ivo.

Fcap. ivo.

Seventh

is. net,

OLD LAMPS FOR NEW.

Sixth Edition.

is. net.

LOITERER'S HARVEST. Third Edition. ivo.

is. net.

CLOUD AND Fcap. ivo.

SILVER.

Third Edition.

is. net.

LISTENER'S LURE An Oblique Narra:

Twelfth Edition. Fcap.

tion.

OVER BEMERTON'S: An Chronicle. Sixteenth tvc is. net.

MR.

INGLESIDE.

Fcap.

ivo.

Fcap. ivo.

nvcl/lh

Fcap. Edition.

Twelfth Edition.

is. net.

LANDMARKS. is. net.

ivo. is. net,

Easy-Going

Edition,

is. net.

LONDON LAVENDER.

THE LIFE OF CHARLES

Illustrated. lof. 6d. net.

Fcap.

is. net.

FIRESIDE AND SUNSHINE.

Fcap.

id. net.

fourth Edition.

is.

Also Illustrated.

Edition,

HOW THE WAR Cr, Zvo.

Fcaf. ivo.

Fcap. ivo.

or, Life and Eleventh Edition. ;

IHE WAR AND AFTER:

Loreborn

Wayfarers.

Illustrated.

is. id. net.

Cr. Svo.

THE OPEN ROAD A

Edition.

THE SURVIVAL OF MAN A

Zvo.

WANDERER IN VENICE. Second Edition.

Illusis, id.

Cr. ivo.

;

UNIVERSE A Stodt or the Influence

trated. net.

IN FLORENCE.

Sixth Edition.

THE FRIENDLY TOWN A Little Book

6s. net,

Iisdge (Sir OUxer).

Edition.

WANDFRER trated. n*t.

Illustrated. is. id. net.

net.

THE BIBLK AND CHRISTIAN Cr. ivo,

Cr.

Tiird

Illustrated.

Thirteenth Edition. Cr. ivo. Also Fcafi. ivo. is. net.

Cr.

Illus-

too. is. id. net.

OF A NATURALIST. Second Edition,

Lewis (Ednard). EDWARD CARPEN TER An Exposition and an AppkbciA' TlOK. Second Edition. Cr. ivo. 6f. net.

Look

Cr.

A WANDERER IN PARIS.

Illustrated, IS. td. net.

Illustrated. •js, dd. net.

Edition.

^irsi Edition.

Second Series. Cr. %va.

Illusis. id,

trated. Eighteenth Edition^ Revised. ivo. is. id. net.

SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR DIVERSIONS

IN HOLLAND.

Sixteenth Edition. Cr. ivo.

A WANDERER IN LONDON.

Sv/Uh

lUustrattd.

WANDERER trated. net.

SCIENCE FROM

CADkester (Sir Ray). Editiim,

Cr.

Fi/tk Edition.

Fcap. ivo.

Methuen and Company Limited

THE BRITISH SCHOOL An Anecdotal :

Guide to the British Painters and Paintings in the National Gallery. Fcap. Zvo.

6s. net,

A BOSWELL

OTHER %vo.

BAGHDAD, AND

ESSAYS. Third EdUion.

Fca^.

6s. tut.

Fcap. Sue.

BURGOMASTER

MONDE

STILE-

: A Play in Three Acts. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Feap. ivo, ss- "et.

THE

BETROTHAL;

Bird

Chooses.

or,

X;(e

Blue

Alex-

Translated

ander Teixeira db Mattos.

Fcap.

Svo.

6s. net.

'TWIXT EAGLE AND DOVE. Edition.

THE

Third

6s. net.

MOUNTAIN PATHS.

TransUted by Alexander Teixeira db Mattos. Fcap. iva. 6s. net.

Lra«kker

THE OX AND

(R.).

KINDRED.

Cr. 8to.

Illustrateci.

ITS

7s.

6d.

iUahany (J.

Illustrated. net.

(Lord). CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Edited by F.

Haoanlay C.

Montagde.

Thru

Volumes.

Cr. ivo.

A HISTORY OF EGYPT

P.).

UNDER THE PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY. Second Edition.

Cr. ivo.

gs.

(F. W.). ROMAN CANON LAW THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Maitland

Royal

10s. 6d. net.

i,va.

lis. net.

Maratt

Hsodomald

(J.

FRANCE. Each

A HISTORY OF

R. M.).

Three

Volumes.

Cr.

TION

AN INTRODUC-

Cr. tm.

BODY AND MIND

7S. 6d. net.

History and a Defence of Animism. Fourth Edition,

Demy

12s. 6d. net.

ivo.

THE BLUB

(Uaarioe).

BIRD: A Fairy Play in Six Acts. TraDsIated by Alexander Teixeira ds Mattos. Fcap. 8z>f7. 6s. net. Also Fcap. 8f0. 2J. net. Of the above book Fortyone Editions in all have been issued.

MARY MAGDALENE A Play in Three :

Acts. Translated by Alexander Teixeira DE Mattos. Third Edition. Fcap. ivo. 5s. net. Also Fca^. ivo. as. net.

DEATH.

eira DE Mattos. ivo.

Alexander Teix-

Fourth Edition.

Fcap.

ENGLAND SINCE

A. S.).

With

Demy Svo. its. 6d. net. A SAILOR'S GAR-

HaBefleld

LAND. Edition.

(Jotin).

Selected Cr. ive.

Seand

Maps.

and Edited.

Second

6s. net.

TENNYSON Haaterman (C. F. a.). AS A RELIGIOUS TEACHER. Second Medley

js. td. net.

Cr. ivo.

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRAOF ENGLISH CONSTITU-

(D. i.\

TIONS

TIONAL HISTORY.

Cr.

%vo.

is.

6d.

net.

LIFE AFTER LIFE; The Theory of Reincarnation.

Miles (Enstaee). oh. Cr.

Bzjff.

3^. td, net.

THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION: How

TO Acquire

it.

Fifth Edition.

6s. net.

PREVENTION AND CURE. Edition.

Crown

ivo.

Second

is. net.

2s. 6d. net.

OUR ETERNITY.

Translated

andbr Teixeira db Mattoi. Fcap. ivo.

Edition.

by Alex. Second

6s. net.

THE UNKNOWN GUEST.

Translated

by Alexander Teixeira db Mattos. Third Edition. Cr. izio. 6s. net.

POEMS.

Done

into

Bernard Miall. ivo.

(J.

WATERLOO.

Cr. %vo. Translated by

Cr. Sen.

Edition, Reoised.

Edition.

Hasteilinck

Third Edition.

7f. 6d. net.

Harriott

TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Tiuelfih Edition.

RELIGION.

tvo.

los. 6d. net.

Mofioogall (William).

THE THRESHOLD OF

(R. R.).

English Versa by Second Edition. Cr.

ss. net.

THE WRACK OF THE STORM. Edition.

Cr. ivo.

ST.

Third

ANTHONY: A

Play in One Act. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Fcap. Zvo. is. 6d. net.

ts. 6d. net.

lllals

MILLAIS.

Demy

HUne

THE LIFE AND LETJOHN EVERETT

(J. G.).

TERS OF ivo.

SIR

Illustrated. isr. 6d. net.

(J. 0.).

Third Bdilion.

A HISTORY OF EGYPT

UNDER ROMAN RULE.

Second Edition.

6s. net.

THE MIRACLE OF

Hilea (Mt>. Enstaoe). HEALTH WITH. OUT MEAT. Sixth Edition. Fcap. Sao.

Cr. ivo.

Money (Blr Lee OUoua).

POVERTY, 1910. Demy ivo. sr. net,

Illustrated.

9s. net.

RICHES AND

Eleventh

Edition.

Montf.gu«(C.B.). DRAMATIC VALUES, Second Edition. Fcap. ivo. ss. net.

General Literature PRESENT-DAY APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY.

Vol. V.

Third Edition.

Vol. VI.

Myefi

aoyea

(Oharlaa

8.).

Fcap. %vo.

is, yi. tut,

A SALUTE FROM THE AND OTHER POEMS. Third

(Slfiad).

FLEET, Edition,

Cr, ivo,

RADA A :

Js, td, net,

Belgian Christmas Eve.

Fcap, ivo,

trated.

lllns.

yi, ttet,

W. C). A HISTORY OF THE ART OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE

Omdii

(C.

AGES.

Dtmy

Illustrated.

ivo,

15J.

mi,

ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

Third Edi-

With Maps.

Demy

tion, Revised.

(John). BEES IN AMBER: A Little Book or Thoughtful Versk. 3iith Thousand. Small Pott Zvo. Paftr IS. 2d, net ; Cloth Boards, ss, net. Also illustrated, Fcap, ivB, 3*. 6(f. net. A Collection of War tLL'S Small Pott Poems. 175M TJiousartd, Paper, if. 3rf. net; Cloth Boards, %vo.

Oxenham

WELL

as, net.

THE KING'S HIGH WAY. 120th Thousand, Small Pott Sbo,

is, 3d.

net; Cloth Boards,

Second Edition.

Egypt in the IyIiddle Ages. Stanley Lane Poole. Second Edition,

AND CONSCIENCE

RELIGION

ANCIENT EGYPT.

Cr,Svo,

Illustrated.

SS, net.

SYRIA

AND EGYPT, FROM THE TELL

EL AMARNA LETTERS.

Cr,

Svo.

53, net.

EGYPTIAN TALES.

Translated from the

First Series, ivth to xnth Dynasty. Illustrated. Third Edition, Cr, tvo. SS. net.

Papj/i.

EGYPTIAN TALES.

t2j. fid. net.

%va,

Egypt under Roman Rule.

Milne.

Translated from the xviiith to xixtb Second Edition.

Second

Papyri.

Series, Illustrated. 5f . net.

Dynasty. Cr. %vo.

SHAKESPEARE

Pollard (Alfred W.).

AND QUARTOS. A

FOLIOS

Study

the Bibliography of Shakespeare's Plays, X594-X685. Illustrated. Folio. £1 is. net. R.). THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION. A New Edition. Edited

Porter (S.

Demy

by F. W. Hirst.

£1

ivo.

net.

is.

is. net.

THE VISION SPLENDID. sand. Small Pott ivo. Cloth Boards, as- net.

THE FIERY Small Pott Boards,

loot* ThouPaper, is. yi. net ;

CROSS.

Thousand.

Soth

;

Cloth

The Record of a

Visit

Paper,

ivo.

is. 3d.

net

2s. net.

HIGH ALTARS

net

;

TO THE Battlefields of France and Flanders. 40M Thousand. Small Pott IS. yi.

Zvo.

Cloth Boards,

HEARTS COURAGEOUS. ive.

IS.

ALL CLEAR. Cloth Boards,

is, net, is. 3d, net.

as. net,

WINDS OF THE DAWN.

Small Pott

NURSING.

Seventh Edition,

Revised.

Sf. net.

Cr, ivo,

Fakes (W.

C. C).

HYGIENE.

Second

Revised by Edition. Cr. ivo. 6j. net.

Cheaper

and T.

Nankivell.

Petrl« (W. H. Flinders.)

OF EGYPT. Each

Cr. 8pu. I.

FROM ADAM SMITH TO ARNOLD

TOYNBEE.

Illustrated.

Dynasty.

A HISTORY Six Volumes

95. net.

1st to Eighth Edition,

From the

Cr.

Sua.

BawUn^s (Qertrnde Third Edition.

COINS AND

B.).

Began

Cr. ivc.

(0. Xate).

ys.

Illustrated. 6d. net.

THE FRESHWATER

FISHES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. Cr. Svo.

ys. td. net.

Archdall). THE LAWS HEREDITY. Second Edition. Demy (Q.

OF ivo.

fii IS, net.

(0. Qrant).

UTES, CASES,

SELECT STAT-

AND DOCUMENTS,

1660-1832.

Second Edition, Revised and

Enlarged.

Demy

Svo.

15s. net.

ENGLAND UNDER THE HANOVERIANS. 3zv.

Illustrated. las, 6d. net,

Third Edition. Demy

THE FIRE OF LOVE AND THE MENDING OF LIFE.

Bolle (Richard).

the XVIth

The XVIIth and XVIIItb Vol. II. Dynasties. Sixth Edition. Vol. III. XIXth to XXXth Dynasties. Second Edition, Egypt under the Ptolemaic Vol. IV. Dt»astt. J. p. Mahaffy. SecondBdition, a

Ninth Edition.

SS. net.

Bobertson

THE SCIENCE OF

Illustrated.

6s. net.

Svo.

A HANDBOOK OF

».)

im.

POLITICAL ECONOMY IN ENGLAND

Beld

Oxford (M.

Cr.

A SHORT HISTORY OF

L.).

Illustrated.

as. net.

Vol.

AN ORATOR.

Prloo (L.

HOW TO KNOW THEM.

3S. net.

Small Pott

Cloth Boards, Smjill Pott %vo,

net.

THE MAKING OF

Power (J. O'Connor).

Edited by Frances M. Comper.

Cr. Svo,

6s, net.

Byley

(i. Illustrated.

'SaM'

Beresford).

Royal H.

^to.

OLD PASTE. £a

SJunro). Fourth Edition. Fca^. ^v<}.

(H.

as, net.

REGINALD. ^s. &d.

wt.

Methubn and Comfaky Limited

REGINALD IN RUSSIA.

Pcap.

ton.

Schidrowitz (Philip). RUBBER. Second Edition, Dewy Hvo. trated.

Illus-

3J.

6^.

tist.

iss.

ntt.

ANIMALS. Fca^.

tion.

TOMMY

Second

Fcap.

Fca^.

Edition.

JACK'S INSECTS.

ivo.

Bve.

Fca^.

Illusivo.

ZOO.

Illustrated.

Cr.tm.

6s.

FOLIOS, 1623; 163a; 1664; £^ ^. net, or a complete set,

THE POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. With an Introduction and Notes by George Wvndham. Demy Zve. Suckram, xzf. 6d. net. ShBlIeT (Percy Bysshe). POEMS. With an Introduction by A. Clutton-Bbock and Two Volumes. notes by C. D. LocoCK. Demy

£,1 is. net,

Sni.

Bladen (Douglai). SICILY: The New Winter Resort. An Encyclopaedia of With 234 Illustrations, a Map^ and Sicily. a Table of the Railway System of Sicily. Second Edition, Revised. Cr. im. js. 6d.

TRADE UNIONISM.

ss. net.

Cr. ivo.

Bmlth (Mam). THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. Edited by Edwin Cannak, TVo Volumes. Demy ivo. £x 5.1. ntt. Bmltb

GEM-STONES

F. Herbert).

(0.

AND THEIR DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS.

Illustrated.

Second Edition.

Cr.

7s. 6d. net.

ivo.

AND

gtanoUffe. GOLF DO'S Sixth Edition. Fcaf. Sot.

Btavenson (R.

L.).

DONT'S.

net.

THE LETTERS OF

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. Edited A New Reby Sir Sidney Colvin. arranged Edition in/our volumes. Fourth Edition. Fc(tp. ivo. Each 6s, net. Leather, each 71. td. net.

Burtees

(R.

Illustrated. jt. id. net.

B..).

Illustrated. 7S, 6d. Ktt.

HANDLEY

Eishth Edition.

Sixth Edition.

Illustrated.

Fcap.

Third Edition.

Illustrated.

HOUNDS Fcaf.

ivo,

js. 6d. net.

HAWBUCK GRANGE SCOTT,

Esq.

;

or,

THE SPORT-

Illustrated.

CROSS.

Fcaf. ivo.

SPORTING

Fourth Edition.

Fca/'.

Svo.

6s. net.

OR RINGLETS?

Fca^. ivo.

"js.

IHustrated.

6d. net.

With 12 Coloured by Wildrake, Heath, and Jelli-

Plates

Fcap. Zvo.

IS. 6d. net.

THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED HENRY SUSO. By Himself.

Bnso (Henry),

Translated by T. F. Knox. With an Introduction by Dean Inge. Second Edition. Cr. Svo. 6st net. (E. W.). FUNGI AND HOW TO KNOW THEM. Illustrated. Cr. tvo,

Bnanton

los. 6d, net.

PLANT- GALLS.

BRITISH

TOUR.

Fca/. Svo.

Cr.

ivo.

los. 6d. net.

Tabor (Margaret E.). THE SAINTS IN ART. With their Attributes and Symbols Arranged. Fcap. 890.

Alphabetically Third Edition.

Taylor (*.

B.).

Illustrated. 5^. nei.

ELEMENTS OF META-

PHYSICS. Fourth

Edition.

Demy

ivo.

net.

Taylor (J. W.). THE COMING OF THE SAINTS. Second EdUicn. Cr. 8»». 6s, net.

Thomas (Edward).

TERLINCK. Cr. ivo.

MAURICE MAE-

Illustrated.

Second Edition.

6s. net.

A LITERARY PILGRIM IN ENGLAND. Illustrated.

Demy

ivo.

las, 6d. net.

DAILY STRENGTH FOR DAILY NEEDS. Tweniy-fi/th

TllestOB (Mary W.). Edition.

Medium

i6mo,

3s. 6d. net.

loynbee (Paget). DANTE ALIGHIERI. His Life and Works. With x6 Illustrations. Fourth and Enlarged Edition. Cr. ivo.

6s. net.

Treielyan (G.

M.).

THE STUARTS.

Seventh Edition.

ENGLAND UNDER With Maps and

Demy ivo.

TOWN

SPONGE'S

ys. 6d.

6s. net.

XV. 6d.

net.

EleBBer (H. H.).

Illus-

Szro.

HILLINGDON HALL.

as. gd.

Bhakaspeare (William).

MR.

Svo.

MR. FACEY ROMFORD'S

COB,

16B5. Each ;£is X3f. net.

Fcafi.

JORROCKS'S JAUNTS AND JOLLI

PLAIN

mt.

THE FOUR

THE RICHEST

or,

IN ENGLAND.

Second Edition.

trated. net.

ING ADVENTURES OF THOMAS

200.

TOMMY SMITH AGAIN AT THE Illustrated.

Edi-

OTHER ANIMALS.

Seventh Edition.

TOMMY SMITH AT THE trated.

SMITH'S

Illustrated. Sixteenth Bvo. 3S, 6d. net.

SMITH'S

Illustrated. 3J. 6d, net.

COMMONER

TIES.

TOMMY

(Bdmnnd).

Seloas

ASK MAMMA;

Plans.

xaj. 6d. net.

PLANNING: Trlggi (H. Inigo). Illustra. Past, Present, and Possible. Second Ediium. Wide Royal isjo. ted. \6s. net.

General Literature OndarhlH (Kxelyn). Study

Mans

MYSTICISM.

the Nature and Development of Consciousness. Stvsntk

Spiritual

Edition.

Demy

Illustrated. 5*. net.

15s. net.

Zv»,

Eleventh Edition.

GOLF. Cr.

8ctf.

ON THE INFERNO OF DANTE.

With

an Introduction by the Rev. Dr. Moore. Two VcitcMes. Second Edition, Rewritten. 15J. net.

READINGS ON THE PURGATORIO OF DANTE. With an Introduction by the late Dean Church. Two Volumes. Third Edition, RcDised, Cr. Zvo. igj. net.

READINGS ON THE PARADISO OF DANTE. With an Introduction by the Two

Bishop of Ripon. Edition, Revised.

Ylofeera

Cr. ^vo.

(Keuneth

Second

Volumes. T.%s.

net.

Zvo.

With

AGF.S. Second Edition, Revised,

Demy

iss. 6d. net.

arafldell (L.

A.).

LHASA AND

ITS

MYSTERIES. With a pedition of 1903-1904. Edition. Medium ivo.

Record of the ExIllustrated. Third ixs. 6d. net.

Wada (G. W. and J. H.). RAMBLES IN SOMERSET. Illustrated. Cr. 8w. is. 6d. net.

Wagner (Richard). RICHARD WAGNER'S MUSIC DRAMAS. Interpretaembodying Wagner's own explanaBy ALice Leightch Clsathbr and Basil Crump, Fcap. ivo. Backus,

tions, tions. net.

6d. ntt.

PILWith a

Waterhoubc (BUzabeth).

SIMPLE-HEARTED. Third Edition.

WITH TH£ Little Homilies. 8»o. js. id.

Small Pott

net.

THE HOUSE BY THE CHERRY A

TREE.

Second Series of Little Homilies. Pott 8n>. 3i. td. ntt.

Small

COMPANIONS OF THE WAY.

Being

Morning and Evening Read-

THOUGHTS OF A TERTIARY. 8vo.

EGYPT From Cr.

Illustrated. -sxa. id. net.

Bptf.

Wells

Secmd

Sixteenth Edition. With

Cr, 8tw.

Edition.

A SHORT HISTORY OF

(J.).

ROME.

UPPER

Abvdos to thh Sudan

Fronties.

Maps.

IM.

WHda (Oscar). THE WORKS OF OSCAR Thirteen Volumes.

FcaJ,. Svo.

Each 6t. td. net. T. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and the Portrait of Mr. W. H. ii. The Duchess op Padua, in. Poems, iv. Ladt Windermere's Fan. v. A Woman

OP No Importance, vi. An Ideal HusKAHD. VII. The Importance of being Earnest, viil A House of Pomegranates. IX. Intentions, x. De ProFUNDIS AND PrISON LeTTERS. XI. EsSAYS.

Salom£, a Florentine Tragedy, La Saints Courtisane. xiv. Selkctbd Prose op Oscar Wilde. xii.

and

A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES. trated.

Cr. 4t0,

Wilding (Anthony AND OFF. With

»).

6s. net.

A NATURALIST IN

H.).

2 Vols.

ON THE COURT

s8 Illustrations. Seventh

Cr. ivo.

Edition.

Illm.

ais. net.

Illustrated. Second Svo. £1 xos. net.

Demy

(Sir Evelyn).

trated. net.

Fifth Edition.

FROM MIDSHIP. Demy

Bz/e.

lUua laj. 6d.

THE REVOLT IN HINDUSTAN Illustrated. td, net.

Sg). •js.

Wood

Second Edition.

(1857.

Cr. Sow.

W. B.) and Kdmonds (CoU A HISTORY OF THE CIVIL THE UNITED STATES

(Lleat.

J. E.).

WAR

With an Introduction by Spensev Wilkinson. With 24 Maps and Plans. Third Edition. Demy ivo. 151. net.

(1861-65).

(W.). POEMS. With an and Notes by Nowell C. Three Volumes. Demy %v». i8j.

WoTdsnorth

Introduction

js. 6d. net.

Small Pott

THE ANTIQUITIES

MAN TO FIELD-MARSHAL.

TannhAuser and the Mastbrbingkrs ov nurembdrg.

Second

is. (td. net.

Second Edition, Enlarged. Fca^.

*£. wii.

7^.

tions. Demy tvt. 10s. id. net. WelgaU (Arthur B. P.). A GUIDE TO

Weed

Second Edition.

S90.

Small

Frontispiece in Colour and £2 other lUustra.

Edition.

Tristan and Isolde.

VERSES.

AND

LIFE

Edition.

id. net.

CANTERBURY

(Francis).

WESTERN CHINA.

Sixth Edition. Lohengrin and Parsifal, Third Edition.

Edition.

Cr. 800.

Wilson (Srnast

The Ring op the NmELONa,

Selections for ing. Cr. %ve.

Watt

«.

ITALIAN SCULPTORS.

a.).

Illustrated.

WILDE.

ENGLAND

H.).

THE LATER MIDDLE Maps.

Nineteenth Cloth,

»iia.

GRIMS AND THEIR WAYS.

Yernon (Hon. W. Warreu). READINGS

Cr. Zvo.

DEATH.

Pott

Waters (W.

HOW TO PLAY

Yardon (Harry).

A LITTLE BOOK OF

Smith. net.

B.). A BOOK OF IRISH VERSE. Third Edition. Cr.ivo. is.net

Yeats (W.

Methuen and Company Limited

Part

II,

—A

Selection of Series

Ancient Cities

WINDLE

General Editor, SiR B. C. A. Cr, %vo,

With

Illustrations

net each volume

6s,

by E. H.

Alfred Harvey.

BfiisTOL.

Canterbuky. Chester.

other Artists

M. G. WiUiamsoo.

Edinburgh.

Cox.

E. Mansel Sympson.

Lencolh,

SHRSWSBUR7.

Sir B. C. A, Wlndle. S. A.

D'OBLiK.

New, and

T. Aoden.

Wklls and Glasto»bubv.

O. Fitzpatiick.

X. S. Holmes.

The Antiquary's Books General Editor,

Demy

CHARLES COX

lOi. 6d. net each

%vq.

With Nnmerous An cien t

Painted

Glass

England.

volume

Illustrations

English Costume.

Philip Nelson.

to the

End

From

of the

Prehistoric Times Eighteenth Centary.

George Clinch. Arch,''' :>LOGV

and

False

Antiquities.

R. Munro.

Bells of England,

Second EdiiioH,

Raven.

Brasses

Canon

The.

England, The.

of-

Herbert

Castles and V/alled Towns of England, The. a. Harvey. Times.

English Seals.

FOLK-LOXE Sir

Tki^-d ZditioH.

Macklin,

Celtic

English Monastic Life. Feurtk Edition.

Art J.

Pagan and Christian

Romilly Allen.

DoMKSDAv

Knqxiest, The. Adolphus Ballajd.

English Church RC^d

Cox.

A. Hfirvey.

Furniture. See»md EdsMevi^

Cox

Harvey BIooel

G. L. Gomme.

Hermits and Anchorites or England, The. Rotfaa Mary Oay. 'b<1

J. C.

an Historical Suence.

Gilds and CoMrAMns of London, The. George Unwiu.

Second Editisn.

Churchwardens' Accounts.

Cardinal Gasqaet

ANOR

AND Manorial

Nathaniel J. Hooc.

Records, The. Seccnd Edition.

Medijbval Hospitals op England, The. Rotha Mary CUy,

Old Engush F.

Galput.

Instruments S4X0tid Edx/im.

Mdsk.

Gbsjsral Litbraturb

She &B*!qa6sy's Books— conWuMasS Old Ehglish Libraries. Old

Remains of England.

Ernest A. Savage.

of thb English Church. Christopher Wordsworth, and Henry Littlehales. Stcond Bdiiiox.

Parish

Lifg

Medieval

ikt

Roman Exa

in Britain, The.

Snglakd.

J. C.

Registers

England,

Age

in Secotid

Ward.

Cox.

Schools of Parish

Pkehistoric

RomanO'British Buildings and EartciwoRKS. J. Ward. RoTAL Forests op England, The. J, C<

F&urth Bdiiion.

Cardinal Gasquet.

thb

Sir B. C. A. Windle.

Edition,

Books

Sskvice

Medieval

A, F. Leach.

The.

England,

The.

Second Edition.

Shrikes of British Saints.

Cox.

J. C

Wall.

The Arden Ehakespdars General Editor— R. H. CASB Demy

^vo.

6s,

net tach fioiume

edition of Shakespeare in Single Flays

; each edited with a full Introduction, Textual Notes, and a Commentary at the foot of the page

All's

Well That Ends Wbll. Antony and Clbopatka. Third Edition.

Macb'^th. Second Edition. Measu'^e for Measure,

A5 ^oxt LiKK It. Ctmbeline. Sectmd Edition.

Merch \nt op Venice, Thf-. Fourth Edition, Merry Wives of Windsor, The.

CoMKDV OP Errors, The. Hamlet. Foisrth Edition.

MrosussMEK Night's Dreah, A. Othello. Second Edition,

Julius Caesar.

Pericles.

King King King King King King

Kenrv Henry Hknrv Henry Henrv Henry

Ki.

Lkar.

iv.

y. vi.

Second Edition. Pt. l Second Edition Pt. i-

vi. vi.

Romeo and Juliet. Second Edition. Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint. Taming of thb Shrew, The. Tempest, The. Second Edition. TiMON OF Athens. Titus Andronicus. Troilus and Cressida. Twelfth Night. Third Edition, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Thk,

Pt, il Pt.

vin.

Second EdiHon.

King Richard King Richard

Second Edition. hi. Life ai^d Death of King John, The. Love's Labour's Lost. Second Edition.

Venus and Adonis. Winter's Tale,

This.

Classics of Art Edited by Dr.

With numerous Akt OF THE Greeks, The. 15.'.

B. Walters.

net.

Art of the Romans, The. z6j. H>St.

Chasdih-

H. W.

LAING

Wide Royal %vs

Illustrations^

Dokatello. Maud CrutUvell. if>j. net, Florentine Sculptors of the RKNArr-SANCE. 'Wilhelm Bode. Translated by Haynes. 15J. net. Arthur B, Chjiiiibertain.

Jessie

George Romnky. H. "^ A.

Farst.

%5'- w:?,

ij^C.

Kit,

AND COMPAHY LiMlTKP

MlilTHUEN

Clasaiofi of

Axt—continued

Ghirlandaio. Edition,

Gerald S. Davles.

S<cond

Lawrknck. Sir Walter Armstrong, asj, MicHBLANGKLO. Gerald S. Davies.

TiNTOKBTTO. mt,

net^ 15J.

Titian.

net

Raphael. A. P. Opp<!. ijj. net Rsmbaandt's Etchings. A. M.

Two

Volumes.

30J.

mt.

Evelyo March PhUlipps.

Charles Ricketts.

Velazquez.

idi.

i&t. net.

Turner's Sketches and Drawings. Finberg. Second Edition, 15^. net.

Hind.

35*, nst.

Edward DMloa.

RuBBMS.

jss. net.

A. de Beruete.

15J.

net

The 'Complete' Series Fully Illustrated,

Complete Ahattcuh; Boxkr, The. J. G. Bohun Lynch. lof. td. net. Complete Association Footballeb, The. and C. E. Hughes-Davies.

B. S. Evers zof . 6^. net.

z2j.

(3tf.

Charles

net.

Comilkte Cook, The.

Lilian

iej. 6d, net.

Complete Hockey- Player, The.

Eustace Second Edition, xos. 6rf. net. Complete Horseman, The. W. Scarth BixoB. Second Edition. 12s. 6rf. net. Complete JajiTSuAN, The. W. H. Garrud. E. White.

6d.

Aston.

Filson Young Revised Edition.

loj, 6d. net.

Mountaineer,

Abraham.

The.

Second Edition,

i&r. net.

R. C. Lehmann.

T3J. 6d. net.

Complete Photographer, The.

R. Child

Fz/tk Edition^ Revised,

Bayley.

iss. 6d.

net.

Complete Rugby Footballer, on the New Zealand System, The. D. Gallaher and W. J. Stead. Second Edition. 12s. 6d. net. Complete Shot, The. G. T. TeasdaleThird Edition.

Buckell.

16s, net.

Complete Swimmer, The.

F. Sachs.

lat.

6d. net.

Complete Yachtsman, Thk. Smith and E. du Bonlay. Revised.

5* net.

im.

Complete Motorist, The.

Complete Oarsman, The. Vv'hitling.

iM. 6df. net. Albert E. CoMrt.ETE Cricketer, The. Knight. Second Edition. loj. 6^. net. Complete Foxhuntkr, The. Charles Richardson, Second Edition. 16s. net. Complete Golfer, The. Harry Vardon. Fifieenth Editiotij Revised,

Lawn Tennis Player, The.

net.

Complete

Complete Billiard PlaveRc The. Roberts.

S. A.

loj. td. net.

%vo

A. Wallls Myers. Fourth Edition.

and

Complete Athletic Trainer, The, Massabini.

Demy

CoMPLRTB

B. HeckstaJl-

Second Edition,

16s. net.

The Connoisseur's Library Wit/i

numerous IllustraUons.

Wide Royal %vo,

English Coloured Books. Martin Hardte. F. S. Robinson, English Furniture. Sir F.

Wedmore. Second Edition.

volume J.

A. HerberL

Second Edition. Ivories.

Second Edition.

Etchings,

z^s, tut ectck

Illuminated Manuscripts. Alfred Maskell.

Jewellery.

Clifford

Smith.

Edition.

European Enamels.

Henry H. Cunyug-

hame.

Fine Books.

Miniatures.

Pollard.

Edward Dillon. Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths'

Porcelain.

Glass.

Nelson Dav/son.

Second Edition.

Mezzotints.

Work.

Seals.

Wood

Cyril Davenport.

Dudley Heath.

Edward

Dillon.

Walter de Gray Birch.

Sculpture.

Alfred MpskclL

Second

GSINHRAL LiTERATURS

Handbooks of English Churoh History Edited by

H. BURN.

Cr&wn

FOONDATIONS OF THE ENGLISH ChDRCH, ThE. J. H. Maude. Saxon Church and the Norman Conquest, The.

%vo,

5j.

net each volume

Reformation Period, The.

Henry Gr&

Struggle with Puritanism, The.

Bruce

Blaxland.

C. T. Cruttwell.

Medijkval Church and the Papacv, The.

Church op England

A. C. Jennings.

Centurv, Tna,

in the Eighteenth Alfred Plummet.

Handbooks of Theology Demy Doctrine opthb Incarnation, The. R. L. Ottley.

Fifth Edition,

xss, net.

%vo

Introduction to the History Creeds, An. A. E. Burn.

of the jzs. 6d.

net.

History OF Early Christian Doctrine, A. J.

Bethune-Baker.

15^. n£t.

Philosophy of Religion in England and America, The. Alfred Caldecott. tzs. 6d. net.

Introduction to the History of Religion, An. F. B. Jevons. Seventh Sdiiion. las. 6d.

XXXXX

Articles of the Church of England, The. Edited by E. C. S. Gibson.

Ninth Edition,

net.

xss. net.

Health Series Fcap, Svo. Baby, The. Arthnr Saunders. Care ov thb Body, The. F. Cavanagh. Care of the Teeth, The. A. T. Pitts. Eves of our Children, The. N. Bishop Harman.

Health for the Middlb-Agbd. Seymour Third Edition. Health of a Woman, The. Tavlor.

The 'Home Illustrated,

Homf Life

America.

Kathejrine

Second Edition. \%s. 6d. net. Life in China. I. Taylor Headland.

Bus3sy.

HoMx

12s. 6d. net.

Home Life Edvards.

Homi Life

France. Sixth Edition,

Betham

fs. 6d. net.

Germany. Mrs. A. Sidgwick.

Th'rd Edition.

Throat

and Ear Troubles.

Macleod

Third Edition. Tuberculosis. Clive Riviere. Yearsley.

Second Edition,

O. Hilton.

ss. net.

Life' Series

Demy

%vOx

Home

Life in Italy. Lina Dnff Gordon. Third Edition. t2s. 6d. net.

Home Life

Norway.

Second Edition.

H. K. Daniels

12s. 6d. net.

Home

Life in Spain. S. L. Bensusan. Second Edition. 12s. 6d. net.

12. 6d. net.

in Holland. Seond Edition, im. 6d.

HoMH Life

Miss

TO Live Long- J. Walter Carr. Prevention of the Common Cold, The O. K. Williamson. Staying the Plague. N. Bishop Harman.

Health of the Child, The.

George Pernet.

Skin, The.

6d. net

How

R. Murray

Les ie.

Healfh of the

2s,

D. laii.

Meldrum.

Balkan Home I3S. 6d, net.

Life.

Lucy M.

J. Garnett,

MlSTHUEN AND COMPANY LIMITED Leaders of Religion

BEECHING.

Kdited by H. C.

Crown AuGOSTiMis oy Canterbury. JUsfrZO?

BuTLSR.

Svo,

3J.

JohnKbbls. Walter Lock. Stventh Edition.

£. L. Cutts.

John Knox.

A. Spooner.

Bishop Wilberforcb.

H^iik Portraits

net each volume

MacCnnn. Stcond Edition

John Weslbt.

Daniell.

Cardinal Manhing. A. W. Hutton. Stcond

H. Overton.

Lancklot Andrewes. R.

L. Ottle;.

Stcond

Edition,

Edition.

R. M. and A.

Cardinal Newman. R. H. Hctton.

Latimer.

Charles Simeon.

Thomas Chalmers.

H. C. G. Moule.

George Fox, the Quaker.

Augustus Jessop.

Thomas Cranmbr. A. J. Mann. Thomas Ken. F. A. Clarke. William Laud.

John Howe.

Second

Edition.

T. Hodgkin.

Third Edition.

John Donne.

J. Carlyle.

Mrs. Olipbant

R, F. Horton.

W. H.

Hutton.

Fourth

Edition.

The Library of Devotion With Introductions and (where necessary) Notes Small Pott Svo, chtA,

31,

net; also some volumes in leather^

$s. 6d,

net each volume

Bishop Wilson's Sacra Pkivata.

Book of Devotions,

Light, Life, and Love. the

Second Edition. Fifth Edition,

Confessions of Ninth Edition.

Augustine,

Day

St.

The.

Selection from

Selection from the English Mystics.

Lyra Afostolica.

3*. td. net.

the Saints and Fathers,

Lyra Inhgcentidm. Lyra Sacra.

Third Edition.

A Book

of Sacred Verse.

Second Edition.

Death and Immortality.

Manual of Consolation from the

Devotions from the Apocrypha.

£aints

AND Fathers, A.

Devotions of St. Anselh^ The.

On the Love

Devotions for Every Day in the

Week

AND the Great Festivals. Grace Abounding to the Chief of

of God.

Freces Privatae.

Psalms of David, The. Sin-

Serious Call to a Devout and Holy

ners.

Life, A.

Guide to Eternity, A.

HoRAE Mvsticae.

Mystics.

Little Book of Heavenly Wisdom,

Christian Year, The.

Book: from

German

A Day Book

Writings of Mystics of

Many

from the

Nations.

Fifih Edition.

Song of Songs, The. Spiritual Combat, The.

Imitation of Christ, The. Eighth Edition.

Spiritual Guide, The.

Inner Way, The.

Temple, Thb.

Third Edition.

Introduction to the Devout Life, An.

Third Editim.

Second Edition,

Thoughts OF Pascal, The. Second Elifion.

Gbmeral Literature Books om

Eiittle

With many Each volume

Df.my i6me.

Illustrations,

net eath volume

%s.

200 pages, and contains trotn 30 to 40 Illustrations, including a Frontispiece in Photogravure

consists of about

AlBRECHT Dt}RHS.

Grbbk Art. H. B. Walters. Fifth Edition, Grbdzb and Bqdcher. E, F. Pollard.

L. J Allen.

Arts of Japan, Thb.

TlUrd

E. Dillon.

Edition.

Holbein.

Bookplates,

Mary

Botticelli.

Burke- JoNKs.

Jbwbllbrt.

L. Bonnor.

F. de Lisle.

Christian Symbolism.

Christ in Art.

Claude.

H. W. Tompkins.

Stcond Edition.

K. Skipton. J. Sime.

Second

Second Edition.

Miniatures. C. Davenport, V.D., F.S.A. Second Edition.

Our Ladt

Second

Mrs, H, Jenner.

in Art.

Raphael. A, R, Dryhurst. Second Edition

a. Polled uid E. Bimstingl.

Karlv English Water-Colour.

Rodin. £.

Hughes.

Frederic Leighton.

R0MNX7,

M. G. Smallwood.

Velazquez,

WtTTS, R,^. D.

New

Svo.

Second Edition.

Sketchley.

Guides

Little

by B, H.

Small Pott

and

Wilberforce

Gilbert.

G, Paston.

Illustrations

F. Tyrrell-Oill.

Vahdvck.

A. Corkran.

The With many

Muriel Ciolkowska.

Turner.

ENAMKI.S. Mrs. N. Dawson, Stcond Edition.

Cteop-gb

N. Peacock.

Millet.

Mrs. H. Jenner.

Edition.

Cokot.

Sir Joshua Reynolds. Edition.

Mrs. H. Jennet.

E. Dillon.

Constable.

C, Davenpoit.

John Hoppnes.

Third Edition,

R. H. H. Cost.

Cellinl

Mrs. G. Fortescue.

E. Almack.

and other 41.

mi lach

artists,

and from photographs

volume

features of these Guides are (!) a handy and charming form ; (2) illusfrom photographs and by well-known artists j (3) good plans and maps 5 {4) an adequate but compact presentation of everything that is interesting in the natural features, history, archaeology, and architecture of the town or district treated.

The main

trations

Cambridge and Thompson,

Channel

its Colleges, A, Fourth Edition, Revised.

Islands, The,

E, E, BicknelL

English Lakes, The, F. G. Brabant. Isle op Wight, The. G. Clinch. London. G, Clinch. Malvern Country, The, Sir B,C.A,Windle. Second Edition.

NOBTH Wales.

Oxford and

its

Colleges.

St. Paul's Cathedral. G. Shakespeare's Country.

Windle.

Stsrjr.

Wells.

Clinch. Sir

Fifth Edition,

South Wales. Temple, The.

W. and

H, H, L.

Westminster Abbey, A. T.

Tenth Edition,

Second Edition.

H. Wade.

Bellot.

Troatbeck.

;

Mbthden and Company Limited

The New Library Edited by ERNEST Brahms. J. A. Fuller- Maitland.

NEWMAN.

Mnelo

Demy

Illustrated.

Sietnd

Edition. I

Handeu R. Hdgo Wolf.

ivo.

loj. 6rf.

Ernest

net

Stcotid Bditim.

A. Strcatteild.

Newman.

Oxford Biographies Illustrated.

Fcap. Svo. Each volumt, cloth, some in leather, 51, net

^s.

net

also

Dante

Paget Toynbes.

Alighibiii. Edition,

Sn Waltbk

Fifth

GiKOLAMO Savohakola. E. L. S. Horsburfh.

Chatham.

Sixth Edition,

JoHK Howard.

£. C. S. Gibson.

Raleigh.

Cakhihg.

A. Taylot.

McDowalL

A. S.

Alison Phillips.

Nine Playa Fcap. Svo.

3^.

Across the Boeder. Benlab Marie Dix. HoKEVHOOH, Tub. A Comedy in Three Acts. Arnold Bennett. Third Edition. Great Adventure, The. A Play of Fancy in Four Acts. Arnold Bennett. Fourth BditioH. Milestones. Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock. Eighth Edition, Ideal Husband, Ah. Oscar Wilde. Acting

net

6tf.

KisuBT.

Edward Knoblock.

Third Edi,

tioM,

TrPHOOH. LengyeL

Four Acts. Melchior English Version by Laurenc« Irving. Second Edition. Wake Case, The. George Pleydell. General Post. J. E. Harold Terry. Second Flay

Edition.

Edition,

Sport Series Fcap. %ido, zs. net Golfing Swing, The. Bnmham Fourth Edition, .^ ...... n. .. Stanclme.' Stxth How to Swim. H. R. Austin. Wrestling. P. Longhcrst. IllnstrcUed.

Flvins, All Aboot.

Gertrude Bacon.

Doht's. Golf T-. Do s and t.. .

. '

EditioH.

Hare.

The States of Edited by B.

ARMSTRONG

Italy

LANGTON DOUGLAS

and R.

Demy

Illustrated,

%vo

Verona, A History of. .Milan under the Sforza, A Histort of, ^is. 6d. ntt. 15J. net. Cecilia M. Ady. Perugia, A History of. W. Heywood. 151. Ktt.

Allea.

The Westminster Commentaries General Editor,

WALTER LOCK

Demy Acts of the Apostles, The. R. B. Rackham. Seventh Edition, z^. net, Amos. E. A. Edghill. a>. id. net. Corinthians, I. H. L. Goudge. Fourth Edition,

ExoDos. 15;.

is.

6d. net.

A. H. M'Neile.

Second Edition.

W. Wade.

H. A. Redpatb. S.

R. Driver.

x6t. net,

Joi.

Seeeitd Edition,

it. 6d, net.

it.

las. id. net.

Tenth Edition. ti. id. net.

E. F.

Bkowv

id. net.

Maurice Jones,

is. id,

net,

St. Jambs. tion,

E. C. Wickbam.

161. net.

L. E. Binns. E. C. S. Gibson.

Philippians, The.

16s. net.

Hebrews.

Isaiah.

Jbscmiam.

Pastoral Epistles, The.

net.

EzEKiEL. Genesis.

Svo

Knowling.

Second Edi-

F. A. Micklem.

xsj. net.

is, id. net.

St. Matthsi?.

General Literature

The 'Young' Series Illustrated,

YoDNO Botanist, The. C. S. Cooper.

6:r.

Crown Svo

P. Westell and

Young Engineer, The. Third Edition.

mt.

Young Carpenter, The.

Cyril Hall,

6s.

Hammond Hall

6s. net.

Young Naturalist, The.

P. WcstelL

7J. 6d. net.

net.

Hammond

Young Electrician, The, Sectmd Edition.

Hall.

Yoong'sOknithologist, The.

P. Westell.

ds. net.

6j. net.

Methaen's Cheap Library Fcap. S»8,

2s. net

All Things Cohsidersd.

Mirror of the Sea, The.

Best or Lamb, The. Blub Bird, The. Maurice Maeterlinck. Charles Dickens. G. K. Chesterton. Oscar Charmides, and other Poems.

Mixed Vintages. E. V. Luras. Modern Problems. Sir Oliver Lodge. Mv Childhood and Bovhood. Leo Tolstoy.

G. K. Chesterton. Edited by E. V. Lncas.

Wilde.

CKiTRiL

The Story

of a

Minor Siege.

Sir

G. S. Robertson. F.

SnelL

Oscar Wilde.

Profondis.

Famous Wits, A Boox of. W. Jerrold. From Midshipman to Field-Marshal. Sir Evelyn Wood, F.M., V.C. Harvest Homb. E. V. Lncas. Hills and the Sea. Hilaire Belloc Ideal Husband, Ah. Oscar Wild*. Importance

being

Earnest,

The.

Oicar Wilde. Intentions. Oscar Wilde. G. E. Jake Aostbk amd her Times. MiTTOH. Wa-Kikuvu. the of Kihg Botes, JoHH

John Boyes.

TO his StHt. George Horace Lorimer. Life of Johk Roskih, The. W. G. CoUinewood.

Life of Robert Louis Stevenson, The.

Graham Balfour. Little of Everything, A.

E. V. Lucas.

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime. Oscar Wilde. Lore of the Hohky-Eee, Thk. Tickner Edwardes. ts.ii

Leo Tolstoy.

Old Country Life. S. Baring-Gould. Old Time Parson, The. F. H. Ditch-

On Everything. Hilaire Belloc. On Nothing. Hilaire Belloc. Oscar Wilds A Critical Study.

Arthur

;

Ransome. PicKBO Company, A.

Hilaire Belloc.

Reason and Belief.

Sir Olivet

Lodge.

R. L. S. Francis Watt. Science from ah Easy Chair.

Sii

Ray

Lanlcester.

Selected Poems. Oscar Wilde. Selected Prose. Oscar Wilde. Shepherd s Life, A. W. H. Hudson. Shilling for my Thoughts, A. G. K. Chesterton.

Social Evils and their Remedy.

Leo

Tolstoy.

Ladt Windermere's Fan. Oscar Wilde. Letters ptmm* a Self-made Merchant

Man aku

Youth.

Conrad.

field.

Customs of Old England, The.

Some Letters of R. L. Stevenson. by Lloyd Osboume. Substance of Faith, The.

Selected

Sir

Oliver

Lodge.

Survival of Man, The. Sir Oliver Lodge. Tower of London, The. R. Davey. Two Admirals. Admiral John Moresby. Vailima Letters. Robert Louis Stevenson. Variety Lane. E. V. Lucas. Vicar of Mor-jvenstow, The. S. BaringGould.

Uhivemse.

SlAi» M*«i»*i«Mi=-

Sir

Oliwr Lodge.

MaiwSs* MaetM-lincfc.

Woman Wild*.

iMPOSTiNCS,

Oscar

tETHUEN AND COMFANY LIMITED

Books for TraYoUers Crown

%vo,

8;. 6^.

Each volume contains a number Avon ahd Shakbspbarb's Country, The. Second

A. G. Bradley.

Black Forest,

of the.

C. K.

Hughes.

Edward Hutton.

Cities op Lombard?, The.

Romagna and the Marches,

Cities of

£dward Hutton.

The.

of Illustrations In Colour

Naples Riviera, The.

H. M. Vaughan.

Second Edition.

Editiofi.

A Book

net eack

New

Forest, The. Fourth Edition.

Norway and Rome.

Horace G. Hutchinson.

its Fjords.

Edward Hutton.

A. Wyllie.

Third Edition.

Round about Wiltshire.

A. G. Bradley.

Third Edition. Cities of Spain, The. Fijtk Edition.

Edward Hutton.

Cities of Umbria, The. Fi/ih Edition.

Edward Hntton.

Florence and Northern Tuscany, with Genoa. Edward Hutton. Third Edition.

Land of Pardons, The (Brittany). Le

Anatole

Fourth Edition,

Braz.

London Revisited. Edition.

Edward

Skirts of the Great City, The. G. Bell. Second Edition.

Mrs. A.

Venice and Venetia.

Zs. 6d. net.

Edward Hntton.

Wanderer

in Florence, A. Sixth Edition.

Wanderer Third

V. Lucas.

Ei.

Siena and Southern Tuscany. Hutton. Second Edition.

in Paris, Thirteenth Edition.

Wanderer

E. V. Lacas,

Holland, A.

V. Lucas.

E. V. Lucas.

Sixteenth t.dition.

Arthur H. Norway.

Nafles. 8^.

iiott.

Fourth Edi-

Wanderer

E. V. Lucas.

Edward

Wanderer

E. V. Lucas.

td. net.

Naples and Southern Italy. Hutton.

in London, A. Eighteenth Edition.

in Venice, A. Second Edition.

Borne Books on Art and Medieval.

Ancient

Art,

Crown

Illustrated.

Bulley.

M, H.

Old Paste.

js. td.

Royal ^0.

Zvo.

net.

British School, The.

Anecdotal Guide

to the British Painters and Paintings in the IllusE. V. Lucas. National Gallery. Fcap. BzfO. 6s. net. trated.

From

Decorative Iron Work. to the xviiith Century. Royal 4^0. jC^ w. net.

Francesco

Gdardi,

Simonson.

£%

the xith

Charles ffoulkes.

1712-1793.

Impettal

Illustrated.

A. \to.

2j. net.

Illustrations William Blake.

of the Quarto.

Italian Sculptors. trated.

Crown

%vo.

W. 7s.

Book

net.

;£r

G. Waters.

net.

Job.

A. Beresford Ryley. Illustrated.

£2

zj. wt'^.

One Hundred Masterpieces OF With an Introduction by G. F. trated.

Demy

Szw.

Sculptdrk. Hill.

Illus-

las. 6d. net.

Royal Academy Lectures qh Painting. George Clausen. Illustrated. Crown Bvo. 7J, 6^. net.

Saints in Akt, The. Margaret E. Tabor. Illustrated. Third Edition, Fcttp. Sro, 5*. net.

Schools op Painting. Mary trated. Second Edition, Cr.

Innes. tvo.

IllusZs. net.

Celtic Art in Pagan and Christian Times. Illus-

R. Allen,

Demy

8«v.

Illustrated. xcu. 6d. mef.

Second

Edziifin.

ViENERAL LITERATURE

Some Books on Florence and Vaughan.

her Tkeasures.

H. M.

Fcap. %vo.

Illustrated,

6s, net.

Italy

Sicily : The New Winter Resort. Douglas Sladen. Illustrated. Second Edition. Cr. &V0.

Florence and the Cities of Northeek Tuscany, with Genoa. Edward Hutton. Illustrated. Third Ediiion. Cr. ^vo. (w^

8j. 6tf.

op.

Cr. %vo.

Illustrated.

Edward Hutton.

Zs. 6d. net.

js. 6d, net.

Siena and Southern Tuscany. Hutton. Svo.

LoMBARDV, The Cities

12s. 6d. t%et.

Umbria, The Cities of.

Past and Present. A. H. Norway. Fourth Edition. Cr, Svo.

Illustrated. Bs. 6d. net,

Secend

Illustrated. Zs. td. net.

H. M. Vaughan. Edition.

Naples and Southern Italy. Illustrated.

Perugia,

Cr. Sew.

Zvo.

E. Hutton.

of.

Demy

^vo.

and

Venice

Douglas.

Vehowa,

William Heywood. x^s. net.

Edward Hutton.

Edition.

Cr. Siw.

8j.

Illustrated.

THIi. MARCHES, ThE Edward Hutton. Cr. Ivo.

6j. net.

A History

Fcap. %vo. of.

%vo.

ds. net.

Allen.

15J. net.

Alighieri His Life and Works. Paget Toynbec. Illustrated. Fourth Edi:

Cr. Zvo.

6j. net.

Lakes of Northern Italy, The. Bagot.

OF.

Illus-

Zvo.

Treasures.

Illustrated.

Detny

Fcap.

Third

6d. net.

ROMAGNA and

her

ivo.

Edward Hutton.

H, A. Douglas.

Dante tion.

Rome.

Cr.

Zs. 6d. net.

^zio.

Second Edition,

Illustrated.

Is. td. net.

A History

Illustrated.

Cr.

Edward Hutton.

Edition.

Venetia. Cr.

Venice on Foot, trated.

Naples Riviera, The,

Pi/th

Venice and Illustrated.

Naples

Edward

Second Edition.

Illustrated. net.

%s. 6d.

Illustrated. is. 6d. net.

Milan under the Sforza, A History of. Vernj' Bet?. Cecilia M. Ady. Illustrated.

CiTIES

Zvo.

Illustrated.

Richard Second Edition. Fcap.

6s. net.

8f. dd.

Savonarola, Girolamo. E. L, S. Horsburgh. Illustrated. Fourth Ediiion. Cr. Svo.

Rome.

C. G. Ellaby.

Pott

Svo.

Sicily.

Illustrated,

Small

Illustrated.

Small

6s. net.

4J. net.

Skies Italian Pott Bvo.

H, Jackson. 4s. net.

vellers in Italy.

Little Breviary for TraF'cap. Svo. S. Phelps.

Ruth

Methuen and Company Limited

—A Selection of Works of Fiction

Part III. Albanesl

Maria).

(B.

MAIDEN.

Third Mdition.

KNOW A Cr. tmi.

THE GLAD HEART. ivt.

PiflhEdHim.

THESE TWAIN. Zvo.

71.

net.

THE CARD. Cr.

•js.

Fourth Edition.

Thirteenth Edition.

THE REGENT A :

'js.

Cr. &00.

net.

SERRAVALLE.

TAirtl Edition.

Cr.

ivo.

THE SEA CAPTAIN.

Bailey (H. 0.). Third Edition.

Cr. Zvo.

THE HIGHWAYMAN. Cr. ivo.

"js.

Second Edition. Cr.

Baring

Steoxd Edition.

Ooald

(8.).

Illustiated.

THE BROOMFi/th Edition.

Cr.

js. net.

THE MIDST OF

Third Edition.

Cr.

«»<j.

jt.

Edition,

Cr. Zoo.

THE COUNTESS TEKLA.

Fifth Edition.

js, net.

THE MUTABLE MANY.

Third Edition.

Second Edition.

Progress of an

Ofeh Mino.

Edition.

^s. net.

Cr. ivo.

A GREAT MAN Cr. ivo.

ys. net.

JOINED.

A New

ys. net.

Frolic.

Seventh

js. net.

Benaon (E. F.). DODO A Detail of thr Day. Seventeenth Edition. Cr. ivo. -jy :

Birmingham (George

Cr.

8ptf.

Second

(H.).

THE SEARCH PARTY. Cr. Zvo.

Cr. %vo.

Illustrated. js. net.

Bennett

(Arnold). Twelfth Edition. Cr.

HILDA LESSWAYS. 75. TiAt.

js,

Tenth Edition.

Third Edition.

Cr.

ys, net.

Fourth Edition. Cr.

Ivo.

js.

net.

THE ISLAND MYSTERY. ivo

Cr. ivo.

Second Edi.

js. net.

TIMES. Second

Edition.

Cr.

ft. net.

Second Edi-

WILL MAINTAIN.

Bowen

(Harjorle). I Ifinih Edition. Cr. ivo.

CLAYHANGER. 8rii.

Cr. ivo.

IS. net.

GOSSAMER. tion.

EMMANUEL BURDEN,

MERCHANT.

SPANISH

&.).

Seventeenth Edition.

net.

THE BAD

Cr. Baw,

Cr. ivo.

WHOM GOD HATH

ivo.

THE CURIOUS AND DIVERTING ADVENTURES OF SIR JOHN SPARROW, Bart.; ok, The

tion.

ys. net.

LAL AGE'S LOVERS.

7*. net.

Begbia (Harold).

BeUoo

Third

THE MATADOR OF THE FIVE TOWNS.

GOLD.

net.

Cr. 8m.

Cr.

JS. net.

nee.

(Robert).

ALARMS.

Fourth ElBtion.

Nixth Edition.

MAN FROM THE NORTH.

Edition.

js. net.

SQUIRE.

Cr. Zvo.

Fifth Edition.

7J. 9iet.

Edition.

net.

THE YOUNG LOVERS. Cr. Bvo.

js. net.

Tkird Edition.

net.

THE GAMESTERS. "js.

8w.

BURIED ALIVE.

js. net.

ivc.

Five Towns Stort of

in London.

7*. net.

THE PRICE OF LOVE. THE HOUSE OF

Bagot (Richard). ivo.

Adventure

OLGA BARDBL.

(Stacy).

Cr. tvo,

Baw

Cr. ioo.

net.

7J. net.

Aamonler

Zvo.

Cr.

js. net.

81. net.

Biehih

Edition.

DEFENDER OF THE Edition.

Cr. ivo,

"js.

net,

FAITH.

Seventh

js. net.

WILLIAM, BY THE GRACE OF GOD. Second Ediiio*.

Cr. Ewj.

ys. wet.

Fiction GOD AND THE KING. Cr. 8w.

Sixth Edition.

Third Edtiiim.

7f . nst.

Third Rdition.

js. tut.

Third Edition.

Cr. Ruo.

Third

ys. net.

Cr. ivo.

Fzyth

8r0.

js. net.

Cr.

BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS. Cr.

Sfcend Edition.

fs. net.

Edition.

Cr. Zvo.

OF TARZAN.

THE RETURN

Kioe).

Fcaf. iva.

ts. net.

BEASTS OF TARZAN.

TliE

Edition.

Cr. ivo.

Second

Cr. B»«.

js. net.

A PRINCESS OF MARS.

Cr. Seo.

jr. net.

Egerton).

THE

and

(Agnei

GOLDEN BARRIER.

Cr. ivo,

Third Edition.

yj. net.

Thousand.

Cr. ivo.

Edition.

VICTORY Edition.

sand,

Cr, ^vo,

OuiET

Fi/ih Edition.

OLD ANDY.

Jt. net.

Fourth Edition. Cr.

Cr. tuo.

GoreUl (Marlt).

Twentieth Edition.

Cr.

Cr,

ivo.

6s. net.

CAMEOS.

Edition.

Fifteenth

6s, net,

THE LIFE EVERLASTING. Cr,

8t><>.

is,

H.).

Eig-hih

Edi

6d, net,

LOCHINVAR.

Fifth Edition,

Cr. ivo.

Illus-

ys. net.

THE STANDARD BEARER.

Second

ys, net,

Cr, ivo,

ROUND THE RED

Doyle (Blr A. Conan). Zvo.

ys.

LAMP.

Tmeifth Edition,

Third

Dndenay

71. net.

Cr. ivo,

ys.

Cr, ivo,

THIS

(Hr». H.).

WAY

OUT.

yt, net.

ji. net.

A ROMANCE OF TWO

rhtriy-fifth Edition. Cr.ivo.

ys. td. «*t.

VENDETTA gotten.

Thirty-sixth

ys. td. net.

net.

Cr. St*.

WORLDS,

T2ist

Edition.

is. 6rf. net,

SANDY MARRIED.

Cr. ino.

THE BLIGHTING OF BARTRAM. B. E.

Third

BOY: A Sketch.

trated.

net,

Edition.

\igth Thou-

The Tragedy of a

Cr. ivo.

Cr, ^0.

Edition.

Conyers (Dorothea).

in lyjth

A Simple Love

;

THE MIGHTY ATOM. ivo.

Study

Edition.

6s. net.

is, bd, net.

Life.

Thousand.

Oroohett (B.

Sixth

Tale.

gs. net.

Cr. Svo.

im.

Cr,

Twentieth Edition,

SIX. Fourth

71. net.

Ak Island

Eighteenth

Second Cr. ivo.

GOOD MAN

Story.

tion,

Conrad (Joseph). A SET

is,

Sixty-third

Thousand,

TEMPORAL POWER:

Edition,

6s. net.

THE SON OF TARZAN. Oastle

Cr, ivo.

ys, net.

184/A

Edition,

HOLY ORDERS BarcoaghB(EdgaT

of the World's

Fiftieth Edition,

net.

GOD'S

7s. nit.

8»i>.

THS THIRD ESTATE Cr. ivo.

BARABBAS: A Dream

Supremacy.

7f. net.

Third Edition.

Paris. is, net,

is. 6d. net.

MR. WASHINGTON. Third Edition. ••

Cr, ivo,

THE MASTER-CHRISTIAN.

THE CARNIVAL OF FLORENCE. Edition.

Drama

THE SORROWS OF SATAN.

ys. net.

THE GOVERNOR OF ENGLAND. Edition,

Twentieth

ys. net.

WORMWOOD: A Tragedy.

THE QUEST OF GLORY. Cr. 8vo.

LILITH.

Cr. ivo.

Twenty-second Edition.

A KNIGHT OF SPAIN. Cr. ivo.

THE SOUL OF Edition,

yj. «*/.

PRINCE AND HERETIC. Cr. %vo.

; ok, The Story of ThiHyfifth Edition.

One

For-

Cr. ivo.

(B. and C. B.). A MOTHER'S Cr. ivo. ys. net. Fifth Edition

SON.

Fry

Harraden

(Beatrice).

THREAD.

THE GUIDING

Second Edition.

Cr,

ivo.

ys, net.

is. net.

THELMA:

Norwegiam

Fifty-ninth Edition.

ARDATH:

Cr, ivo,

Princess. is, 6d, net.

The Story op a Dead Self.

Twenty/ostrth Edition.

Cr, Sna,

ys. 6d,

Hlchens (Robert).

THE PROPHET OF

BERKELEY SQUARE. Cr, ivo,

Second Edition.

ys, net,

TONGUES OF CONSCIENCE Sdition,

Cr, ise,

ys, net.

Fourth

Methuen and Company Limited

FELIX Thbbb Ysars

SditioH.

Cr, iv0.

a Life.

Cr.

BYEWAYS.

js. net.

Twenty is. td.

net.

Cr. Ssn.

BARBARY SHEEP. Stcmd ivo.

Nitiih

&i. bd. net.

Editum.

Cr.

js.

dotf.

THE WAY OF AMBITION. Cr. Zno.

tion.

Sixth Edition.

A CHANGE OF Cr. ^0.

AIR.

js. net.

Sevtntk Editin,

Cr.

IS. net.

THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT TONIO.

Sixth. Edititu.

AN-

Cr. lew.

ivo.

Cr.

Edition.

Fifteenth

EditiMi.

ma'tntci. EltverJk

5J- net.

Cr. too

ODD CRAFT.

Twelfth

ji. net.

Sci>.

Cr. 8»#.

Illustrated.

Eifhtk

51. net.

Hlustnued.

Fifth EdUior.

5«. net.

THE LADY OF THE BARGE. Cr. 8».

Fourth Edition.

Illostrated. sj. net.

Cr. Zvo.

SAILORS' KNOTS. Edition,

Cr. 8iw.

lUustrated-

5J. net.

SALTHAVEN.

Sixth

lUustrated.

5;. net,

SHORT CRUISES.

Third Edition.

If. net,

THE LIFTED

Kln< (BuU). Nixik Bdiiim. Cr.

Illustrated.

Illustrated, 5s. net.

Illustrated. 5J. net.

ivo,

VEIL.

Cr.

fs. net.

7J. net.

SIMON DALE. Cr. ivo.

THE

Edition.

ivo.

Cr.

71.

net.

FHROSO.

Cr. ivo.

Cr. 8jw.

Tenth Edition.

MAN OF MARK. 8vo.

Edition.

Cr. 8d».

Third EdiHtn.

7J. ntt.

Hope (Anthony).

Fifik Edi-

net,

7Jt.

THE WILDERNESS.

Cr. 8^0.

MASTER OF CRAFT. Eleventh Edition.

DIALSTONE LANE.

net.

3s. 6d. net.

ATSUNWICHPORT.

THE DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD. Cr.

lew.

THE SKIPPER'S WOOING.

mt.

6j.

$s.

Nineteenth Edition.

LIGHT FP EIGHTS.

THE CALL OF THE BLOOD. Edition.

Cr. ivo.

xs. 6d. net.

ss. net.

Also Cr.

Cr. im.

Illustrated.

MANY CARGOES.

W,).

8i>».

SEA URCHINS. ivo.

Cr. %vo.

Bditiim.

Also Cr.

FAN. Slf/M

7^. ntt.

Szto.

THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. nxtk

Jacobs (W.

Thirty-third Edition.

THE WOMAN WITH THE Edition,

Seventh

71. Met.

Ninth Edition.

lUosCcated.

js. net.

KING'S MIRROR.

Cr. ivo.

Fifth Edition.

js. net,

QUISANTfi. FoHrth Edition.

Cr. »w.

js.

Cr. Sw.

71.

net.

HERO.

0.). jt. net,

Cr. ivo.

WHITE FANG.

Londoo

(Jack). Edition. Cr. 8b#.

Lowndai

THE DOLLY DIALOGUES.

ONE WOMAN'S

Lethbrldg* (BybU

(lira. Bolloe).

Third Edition.

Ninth

jt. net,

THE LODGER.

Cr. Svo.

js. net.

ntt.

TALES OF TWO PEOPLE. Cr. Zvo,

tion.

Third Edi-

js. net.

Fourth Edition.

trated.

tion.

Cr. Sve.

MAXON PROTESTS. Cr, Svo,

Cr. &V0,

Hyna (0.

Illusys. net.

Third Edi-

JS. net.

A YOUNG MAN'S YEAR.

OVER BEMERTON-S: Am Chkonici-b. %vo.

J. OntollSa).

MR. HORROCKS,

Fi/ih Edition.

Cr. Svo

js.

East-going

Sixteenth Edition,

Fcap,

6s. net.

Fca^. ive.

Thirteenth

Femt, 81W.

Edition.

6s. ntt.

LONDON LAVENDER.

Tmelfih Edition.

6s. net.

LANDMARKS.

Fifth Edition.

Cr. im.

Js. net.

net.

FIREMEN HOT. ivo.

61. ntt.

MR. INGLESIDE. Second Edition.

JS. net.

PURSER.

Fcaf. Six.

A SERVANT OF THE PUBLIC MRS.

Lnoai (S. T.). LISTENER'S LURE Ah Obliqdb Narkatioh. Twelfth Edition.

Fonrth Edition.

Cr.

JS. net.

CAPTAIN KETTLE ON THE WARPATH.

Third Edition.

RED HERRINGS.

Cr.

Cr. Svo,

izio.

js. ntt.

6s, ntt.

THE VERMILION Cr. Zvo.

IiyaU (Edna).

NOVELIST, 5J. net.

BOX.

Fifth Edition.

JS, net.

DERRICK VAUGHAN, ^^lh Thmtsaxd.

Cr. Sea,

Fiction SON I A Between

SSoKenna, (Stephen).

Two Worlds.

SzxtiSKth Edition. Cr.

iz/o.

net.

8jt.

Cr. iao,

MIDAS & SON.

Cr.

Cy. SO0.

Stia.

Cr. Spo.

Oxenham WEBS.

Fowtk

6s. net.

is. ruf.

Svo.

PETER AND JANE.

(S.).

Editictu

Cr. Soo.

7J.

tut.

THE HISTORY OF SIR RICHARD CALMADY A Romance. ;

Sirtnth Edition.

Cr. Boo.

Cr.

m/ih SdiHm.

CARISSIMjV.

B70.

ys. net.

Sixttenik Edition.

^s. net.

8©tf.

THE

THE GATELESS BARRIER. Cr. 8zw.

AND

Cr. Svo.

Flfik Edi-

ys. net.

Ninth Edition.

Cr. &vo.

B.). Cr. Zvo.

Edition.

Cr. 8vo.

ys.

js. net.

SeaintA Edi-

Second Edition.

Cr. 8o».

Cr. 8m.

71.

Edition.

Cr. im.

ONCE A WEEK.

Cr.

DAY'S PLAY. Sixtk js.

Mi.

Cr. Svo.

JS. net.

Third Edition.

PEOPLE.

A CHILD OF THE JAGO.

Sixth Edition.

net.

THE HOLE IN THE WALL. Fmrtk Edition.

Cr. im>.

Ji. net.

DIVERS VANITIES.

Cr. ivo.

(E. Phillips). MASTER OF MEN. Fifth Edition. Cr. Stw. 71. net. THE MISSING DELORA. lllnstrated. Cr. ivo.

Js. net.

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF MR. ALFRED BURTON.

.Second Edition,

Cr. Boo.

MRS. FALCHION.

Edition.

Cr.

Bbxi.

jt.

js.

mi.

Fifth

Cr.

JS. net.

Cr. Svo.

js. net.

THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. Tenth Edition.

Cr. Svo.

Illus-

js. net.

WHEN VALMOND CAME TO PONTIAC Cr. Svo.

Seventh

js. net.

AN ADVENTURER OF THE NORTH: The Last Adventures PiBKKE.'

Fifth Edition.

Prettt

Cr. tvo.

js. net.

THE SEATS OF THE MIGHTY. Twentieth Edition.

trated. net.

lUusCr. Svo. js.

THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG: A THE POMP OF THE LAVILETTES. Third Edition.

NORTHERN Cr. Sbo.

Cr. Svo.

Cr.

Third

6s. net.

LIGHTS. Fourth

Edition.

71. net.

THE CHARM.

(Uloa). Cr. Svo.

Edition.

7J. net.

GREX OF MONTE CARLO.

MditicH.

Cr. Svo.

Edition.

THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE.

Perrin

A PEOPLE'S MAN. TMrd %vo.

Seventh Edition.

js.

net.

MR.

js.net.

Romance of Two Kingdoms. Illustrated. Seventh Edition. Cr. Svo. js. net.

71. net.

Opponhelm

Fourth Edition.

Cr. Svo.

PIERRE AND HIS

(Qllbert).

Edition.

net.

"JS.

Fourth Edition.

JS. net.

The Stort of a Lost Napoleon. js. nit.

Xorrlson (ArOio?). TALES OF MEAN STREETS. Sawith Edition. Cr.ivo. Js.

Cr. 8zw.

js. net.

Third Edition. Cr.

BROKEN SHACKLES.

trated.

THE

A.).

Sixth Edition.

Cr. S^o.

Fourth Edition.

Fourtk Edition.

7s. net.

Mllne {i.

Cr. Svo.

js. net.

Fourth Edition.

Svo.

Cr. Sue.

net. ivo.

js.

net.

Pourth Edition.

THE REST CURE.

Svo.

Fourth Edition.

Tkirtemth

ys. net.

HILL RISE.

and Othek Cr.

THE COIL OF CARNE.

Cr. Sve.

7s. net.

ODD LENGTHS.

Edition.

JS. net.

ParkeT

THE GUARDED FLAME. tion.

Second Edition.

LAURISTONS.

"1914."

VIVIEN.

aaxwell (W.

SixfA

net.

MARY ALL-ALONE. CLEMENTINA.

W.).

(&.

Illustrated. net.

LOSS.

7J. net.

Storiss.

Svo.

Mason

Cr.

Fi/th Edition.

Illustrated.

7S. net,

THE QUEST OF THE GOLDEN ROSE.

fs, net.

tioK.

js. net.

WEAVER OF

THE SONG OF HYACINTH,

HaJet (LDOas).

THE WAGES OF SIN.

Cr. Svo.

(John),

PROFIT liacnaaghtac

Second

7*. net.

Fifih

7J. rtei.

THE SIXTH SENSE.

Edition.

THE HILLMAN.

NINETY-SIX HOURS' LEAVE. EditioK,

THE VANISHED MESSENGER,

PhlUpottB (Kaen).

Fifth

js, net.

CHILDREN OF THE

MIST. Sixth SditioK.

Cr. Sro.

js. net.

MaTHUBsr awd CoMPASiY Limited

Marie CorellL

Janb.

Johanna. Joseph.

Ctokar.

Frank Danby. E. Lynn

Joshua Davidson, Comhonist. Linton. Joss,

The.

Wyllarde.

Richard Marsh.

Kinsman, The.

Pbggt OF the Bartons.

Mrs. Alfred Sldgwlck.

Knight of Spain, A. Marjoric Boweo. BsTTT Across the Watxs. C. N. and A. M. Williamson. George A. Birmingham.

Lantern Bearers, The.

Mrs. Alfred Sidg-

wick.

Lauristons.

John Oxenham.

Lavender and Old Lace. Myrtle Reed. Light Freights. W. W. Jacobs. Lodger, The.

Mrs. Belloc Lowndes.

Long Road, The. John Oxenham. Love and Lodisa. £. Maria AlbaneaL LovB Pirate, The. C N. and A. M. Williaiufion.

Marv

All-Alone.

Myrtle Reed.

Mighty Atom, The.

Marie CorelU.

E. Phillips Oppen-

Rest Cure, The. W. B. Maxwell. Return of Tarzan, The. Edgar Rice Bunronghs.

Round thb Red Lamp. Sb: A. Conan Doyle. RovAL Georgie. S. Baring-Gould. SaId, the Fisherman. Mannaduke PickSally.

Dorothea Conyers. Maurice

Secret Agent, The. Joseph Conrad. Sbcket History. C. N. and A. M. Williamson.

heim.

Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo.

£. Phillips

son.

Marjorie Bowen.

Protests.

Anthony Hope.

Mary £, Mann. Sweetheart. W. Clark

Mrs. Peter Howard. Russell.

Friend the Chauffedr. C. N, and A. M. Williamson. Mv HuKEAND AND 1. Leo Tolstoy. Mv Lady op Shadows. John Oxenham.

MvsTEKV OF Dr. Fu-MAwenu, The.

Secret Woman, Thb. Eden Phillpotls. N. and A. M. WilliamSet in Silver.

Oppenheim.

Mr. Washington.

Danish

Pett

Drake.

E. Temple Thurston.

Missing Dblora, The.

Ridge.

Sandy Married. Dorothea Conyers. Sba Captain, The. H. C Bailey. Sea Lady, The. H. G. Wells. Search Party, The, George A. Birmingham.

Mayor of Troy, The. "Q." Mess Deck, The. W. F. Shannon.

Maxon

Oxenham. Regent, The. Arnold Bennett. Remington Sentence, Thb.

Salv^g of a Derelict, The.

Master's Violin, The. Myrtle Reed. Max Carrados. Ernest Bramah.

Mrs.

Parker.

Quest of Glort, The. Marjorie Bowen. Quest of the Golden Rose, The. John

John Oxenham.

Master of the Vineyard.

Mirage.

B. M. Croker. Man, A. E. Phillips Oppenheim. Peter and Jane. S. Macnaugbtan. Pomp of the Lavilettes, The. Sir Gilbert

People's

X^ADT

Lalagb's Lovbks.

Nine to Six-Xhirtv. W. Pett RSdge. OcBAH Slbdth, Thb. Maorice Drake. Old Rose and Silver. Myrtle ReedPaths OF the Prudent, The. J. S, Fletcher. Pathway or the Pioneer, Thb. Dolf

Sax

Rofamer.

MVBTBRV OP THE GrEEN HeART, ThB. Max Pemberton. WiMK Days' Wonder, A. B. M. Croker.

Srvastopm.,

and Other Stories.

Leo

Tolstoy.

Sbvbrins, The.

Mis. Alfred Sidgwick,

Shokt Cruisbs.

W. W.

Si-Fan Mysteries, The.

Jacobs.

Sax Rohmer.

Spanish Gold. George A. Birmingham. Spinner in the Sun, A. Myrtle Reed. Street called Straight, The. Basil King.

SuPREMB Criur, The. Dorothea Gerard, Txlbs of Mean Streets. Arthnr Morrison. Takzak ct tisb Apes. Edfar Rice Barroughs

Wicfion

Teresa

Watling

Stkest.

Arnold

Bennett.

Thhrk was a Crookbd Mam. Dolf Wyllarde. Tyrant, The.

Mrs* Henry dc la Pasture.

Undeu Western Unofficial

£tks.

Joseph Conrad.

Honeymoon,

The.

Dolf

Wyllarde.

Valley of the Shadow, The.

William

Le Queux. Virginia Perfect.

Peggy Webling.

Wallet of Kai Lung.

Ernest Bramah.

War Wedding,

The.

N. and A. M.

Case, The.

Way Home,

OF THCSB WOMBK, The. Oppenheim.

The.

PhOUpS

Weaver of Dreams, A. Myrtle Reed. Weavek of Webs, A. John Oxenham. Wedding Day, The.

C. N. and A.

Williamson.

White Fanu. Jack Wild Olive, The.

London. Basil King.

William, bv the Grace of God. Marjorie Bowen. Woman with the Fan, The. Robert Hichens.

WOs.

Maurice Drake.

Wonder of

Williamson.

Wars

WAV

E. Maria Albanesi.

Love, The.

Yellow Claw, The. Sax Rohmer. Yellow Diamond, The. Adeliae Sergeant.

George Pleydell. Basil King.

Methaen's One and Threepenny Novels Fcap. Svo.

Barbara Rebbll.

Mrs. Belloc Lowndes.

IS, 3rf.

net

Kathbeine the Arrogant.

Mrs. B. M.

Croker.

By Stkoke of Sword. Derrick:

Vaughan,

Andrew

Balfour.

Novelist.

Edna

Lyall.

House of Whispers, The.

William Le

Queux. Inca's Treasure,

Mother's Son, A. Profit and Loss.

The

E. GlanvIIle.

B. and C. B. Fry.

John Oxenham.

Red Derelict, The.

Bertram Mitford.

Sigh of the Spider, The.

PRIHTKD by MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH 27/6/19.

Bertram Mitford.