the mirror of simple souls pdf

We have in us, saith the Holy Ghost, this that is ours by nature divine, and she hath it from us in her, by justice of love, whatever she may be saith the Holy Ghost. for it may not be that Holy Church knew them perfectly unless Holy Church were within their souls. And then the soul is glad and joyful to hear and to read of all thing that pertaineth to this high feeling of the workings of divine love, by nourishing and increasing her love and devotion to the will and pleasing of him that she loves, God, Christ Jesu. God himself offers her that she should take what she desires and have her own will. He is greatly indebted to Richard of St Victor and to the author of the Letter to the Brethren of Mons Dei. Certain passages in this letter give almost verbally the ideas and the expression of some of the most original passages in the Mirror. Now may I see by this where I ought to be, namely, that I should resort there where I was, in that point that I was, within the One. But none may be fed with this heavenly meat that in desire dwelleth., These souls, saith Love, govern a country, they be well above and all without them. It is the Trinity himself, that showeth the same movings of the Trinity itself. Search the history of over 804 billion Generally the subject is proposed on one side, and the opponent chooses his argument and defends it on the humaner line of reasoning. He was haply ignorant of the fact that the author sent his inspired treatise for approbation to one Dr. Also, she is naked from her body, for as the skin [of an animal] is made naked of bodily clothing, right so is her spirit naked from her body, so that it is not in the body, for the sensuality of her body is worn away and delivered by divine works. They follow [after] to attain a thing that is impossible, but I excuse them for their intention. And since by my wickedness God is known and also his divine bounty, and since the souls salvation is no other thing than to know the divine bounty, then am I the cause of the salvation of all creatures, for the goodness of God is known by me. The whole passage is very obscure. And when Love saw me think of him, he refused me not by [the way of] the virtues, but threw me out of their little service, and led me to the divine school and there withheld me without doing any service. The list of monks of that house during the late twelfth century show several named Frank, but Pre Moreau, S.J., assures me that there are no traces of identification with the person described in our text. He loveth not the spiritual things, who loveth temporalities. Therefore is she Mary. Mirror of the Simple Soul From the Original 15th Century English Translation Author: Marguerite Porete Publisher: ISBN: Category: Body, Mind & Spirit Page: 250 View: 581 DOWNLOAD NOW This edition of The Mirror of the Simple Soul was originally published in 1927. The Quarterly Review,' " The Mirror of Simple Souls" and " Soeur'Threse de l'Enfant-Jsus" (under the title of "A Modern Saint") in The Fortnightly Review,' "The Blessed Angela of Foligno" in Franciscan Essays,' " Julian of Norwic " in TheSt. But this, that they save themselves by faith without works, and that they can no more work, it is not meant that they cease from all good works for evermore, and never do any work, but sit in sloth and idleness of soul and body; for those who take it so, they misunderstand it; but it is thus. This soul, saith Love, hath not withheld any will within her, she is fallen into naught-willing and into certainty of naught-witting, and this naught-willing and naught-witting hath stilled and wholly pacified her. This we believe perfectly, without doubt, Lady Love! say the Virtues. I pray you, saith Love for love, that ye hear it by study of your inward subtle understanding with great diligence; else they shall misunderstand it, all those that read it or hear it.. She knoweth all, saith Love, by virtue of faith, that God is Almighty, all wisdom and all goodness, and that God the Father hath done the work of the Incarnation and the Son also, and the Holy Ghost also. He shall love nothing without you, nor you also love nothing without him! And unless ye tell it me, I shall be abashed[101] of this which ye say; [namely], that none knoweth these souls but only God that made them., Reason, saith Love, what is thy question?, I shall tell it you, saith Reason. This doth my Beloved, saith this soul that is such, and thus are the spreadings of divine love without any want. [95] And if they wist that others had more need than they, of thing which they have, they would not deny it them, though they were certain that never should grow wheat nor com nor other sustenance. Fauset = the tap of the cask, hence the Fountain. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. . . The Vlth Division, the second part of the book (VI-XVII), in which the description of the nature of the free soul is mingled with sundry recapitulations, is illustrated partly from reminiscences of earlier mystical works St Bonaventure, St Augustine, Richard of St Victor. For Love hath drawn all her nature into him, that Love and this soul are all one thing; not twain, for that were discord, but only one, and therefore this is a good accord. It is right, saith Love, that this soul that thus is free of these four costs, that she ascend afterwards to sovereignty., Ah, Love, saith Reason, is there yet anything more high?, Yea, saith Love, this that is her next neighbour. This is full far from that which is said, that the righteous falleth seven times a day, into a case for correction.. Whoso hath perfect charity he is mortified in affection of [the] life of spirit,[36] by works of charity. The text reveals a vibrant evangelical-mystical spirituality, making it an authentic treatise of perfection. But this she did all by commandments of virtues that were first ladies and mistresses of this soul. So I [would] refuse it at the prayers of the Humanity, and of the saints, and of the Virgin Mary. Robert Stauffer, Ph.D. (2011 . After them drank the burning seraphins, with whose wings these free souls fly., Ah God, saith Holy Church, how it behoveth her to attend and cleanly keep herself, the soul that thus high flieth![123], Such souls, saith Love, have the mind and the understanding and the will low, by meekness and right perceiving, of knowing by subtlety of wit in divine [things], and [are] right free in all places, of the love of the Deity., Ah, Love! saith Reason, when are these souls in the right freedom of pure love?. Right then, saith she, when love hath opened me his book, for his book is of such condition, that what time that love openeth the book, the soul wot all and hath all, all works of perfection it hath in her fulfilled, at the opening thereof. Hence some of the satiric humour, the utter contempt for the spirit which would interpret the whole of life in syllogisms, and regulate the spiritual course by the laws of scholastic logic. And this that is mine is that [whereby] I fell[278] you with love and wound you to death. But among you that have not been such, nor be, nor shall be, ye trouble yourselves in vain, if ye will understand it. Thou wouldest have answers to these words aforesaid, and thou askest what it is? Lo ye that study this book, thus ye must within yourselves gloss such dark words. There may not the power of pride play, since that she seeth herself, for this unsitting untrue[367] maketh her see perfectly herself. We say this, saith she, for the auditors of this book, that God loveth better [where there is] the more of himself [in a man], than [where there is] less of himself.[66], Oh, there is no less of himself, saith this soul, there is but all, and this I may say, and soothly say., I say, saith Love, that though this soul had all the knowing, the love, and the hearing, that ever was given or ever shall be given, of the divine Trinity, it should be naught in comparison with that which she loveth and shall love; nor this love may not be attained nor reached.. Will ye, right this day, by courtesy, dissolve[375] me, ye fine Love?. [19] Also, in translating of French, some words need to be changed or it will fare ungoodly, not according to the sense. This is the deepness of meekness that there sitteth in her chair and reigneth without pride. For always have I been, in [the] witting of his divine wisdom, of the will of his pure divine bounty, of the work of his divine might and otherwise this were a fable, if it were not right, thus for me, to use that which I say, [namely], that I am the salvation of all creatures and the glory of God. Then since I shall see so high a thing as is the Trinity, there shall not be taken from me the knowing of the angels and of souls. Lord, how much comprehend[389] I of your might, of your wisdom and of your goodness? For she perceiveth in her spirit, and not without witting, what is the way by which he cometh to the gate, where she is oned to his will. And what holy church is. And if they had heard me, they had been delivered for right little; for so little, saith Love, as [merely] to give themselves [up] there where I would have had them, [even] as I showed them, by the Virtues whose office this is. She is not preoccupied; the thoughts stated above are not always in her mind, nor does this come to her of herself. This soul findeth none that calleth her, nor none that she answereth to, nor her enemy hath no more answers from her., This is right, saith this soul, since I draw God to me, it behoveth that he support me. Ah, ah, Lord God, saith this soul, what shall the soul do that this believeth of him?, She shall do naught, saith God, but I shall do my work in her without her. [283] We still ourselves, speech overwhelmed! Then is she not whole, for she is not naked. For the peace of auditors was this proved. So is joy in her that she herself is joy, by the virtue of joy that hath brought her into him. for this gift is also all that he is in himself, who giveth it to this soul, and this gift moveth her purely into himself. The sixth beholding is how the manhood of Christ Jesu was tormented for us. Oh, what marvel it is they lead in dread, which suffereth them not that God work in them!, The second is that a soul behold what God counselleth to his special lovers, passing that that he commandeth. I thought sometime alway to have lived of love, by desire of good will. Now understand. And what doth the subtlety of her thought? For in him who that hath two purposes at one time, the one lessens[134] for the other. . A young man [there] was on a time that said to our Lord Jesu Christ that he had kept himself from the time he was a child unto that time. So she seeketh nothing, nor anyone, by choice, to help her, but taketh his and hers as honey of Sions salve. Wendy R. Terry, Ph.D. (2007), Graduate Theological Union, is a Continuing Lecturer in Religious Studies at University of California, Davis. Pdf_module_version 0.0.8 Ppi 360 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20210304104308 Republisher_operator associate-jeanette-beleno@archive.org Republisher_time 643 Scandate 20210227205151 Scanner Such physician hath Fervour-of-spirit.[289], I have said, saith Love, that they do the asking of their inwardness, if it be asked, for otherwise I command it them not; and if they leave all the will of their outwardness, This is sooth, saith Love, whoso that doubteth in this, if he had assayed,[290] he should wit the sooth., Now I shall tell you, saith Love, of the soul in freeness, and also of them of the life which we have spoken of, that we call life of spirit, it may have no peace unless the body do always the contrary of its will. [For it is to be] in God without being, [for] in Gods self is being. For though she had all the knowing that all the creatures have that be and shall be, It is naught, saith this soul, as compared to that which is, which may not be said., The seventh point, saith Love, is this, that men may not rob her. That is alone [or all one] in love. O Reason, saith this soul, how rude thou art! Such is the nature of thee. For it falleth oftentimes that when white and black are come together, the one may be seen the better from the other; for white seemeth more white by black, and black by white. The similarity in point of view is, however, clear, and as we have seen, the Englishman who in the late fifteenth century translated the Mirror into Latin believed the work to have been composed by Ruysbroeck. And Gods Son is our ensample; we ought in this beholding to follow him, for we should will solely in all things the will of God, and so shall we be the sons of God the Father, to follow the ensample of Jesu Christ his Son. As a result, this edition offers a reading ofThe Mirror of Simple Souls that solves a number of difficulties found in the French. Lord God, how much comprehend I of my feebleness, of my foolishness, and of my wickedness? The issue that Mystics face is trying to put into words what is ineffable/wordless. And of three things that causeth this soul that she hath no dread, CHAPTER II: Of the worthiness of the bounty of God and of the union that maketh between God and this soul. This is to be understood, that God wot all, and whoso consenteth to do sin, he taketh from God his will; this is sooth, for he doeth that which God willeth not, and is against his divine bounty., Now, saith this soul, behold the debt of one only misdoing; for in sooth, she oweth of twain who hath twice fallen into sin.. , [Editors note: The division of souls into two classes, those guided by Reason, and those led by Love, An obscure passage in MS. for myn be his, me has y caste., She does not even know her own naught in God, because she is absorbed in comtemplation of his All, MS. great rerages of many multipliances of love., Love breaks off in impatience! And when she seeth this, thus saith to herself, that she will seek him. And the divine will calleth not these perfect[80] creatures, with such encumbrances[81] as we have here devised. I speak, saith Love, of three deaths, into which they enter, ere the soul may into this life be born. [30] But this falling of the righteous is more merit than sin, because of the good will that standeth unbroken, and is oned to God. None may believe, saith Love, the peace on peace of this, unless he be the same.. He has not passed the stage of visions and auditions, and reminds us at his best of the sweetness of Rolles Love of Jesus, at his worst of the Cornish: Yet this proves nothing. This is sooth, that there is nothing more certain than this, that God is not God if my will be taken from me, except my will will it. Of what is Love's undertaking, and why Love had . For otherwise, else, they should fall into loss of this life, unless they do alway the contrary of their pleasure. This is the life [of the first] of them, who in all, mortify the body, in doing works of charity. Right so, ghostly to understand, it fareth by those souls that be come to peace. But this What the far night is? And, moreover, a creature may not seek to know too much by asking[84] the divine will; for the understanding that giveth light, showeth to the soul [the] being that she loveth. [9] The method is also that of the scholastic disputations at the Sorbonne, and reflects the interest of a society delighting in sophistry and intellectual subtleties of every kind. by. The Holy Ghost is conjunction amiable, and the conjunction amiable is of the substance enduring and of the fruition agreeable, by divine love of unity, which engendereth of [his] goodness, reflecteth his ardour in unity and unity in divine love. Answering back, modern souls offer their own lamentations in poems such as"The Tired Atheist" and "Driving on the Bypass." Among you ladies to whom God hath given this life of his divine bounty abundantly, without any withholding not only this life without more, that we speak of, but that other with this, which never man spake of ye shall know in this book your estate. We are told There she prayeth not, all work is forbidden her, and she is in the simple being of the Deity. This is glossed as follows: If the soul never did any work she would not have written this book for our edification; but it is to be understood, as I have said before, as being for a short time (i.e., when the soul is at prayer). Up to this time hath she no peace fully, steadfastly, nor peaceably, till she be of her will purely departed. And them that be not nor never were, nor shall be, feel not this being. This edition of The Mirror of Simple Souls is a translation from the French original with interpretive essays by Edmund Colledge, O.S.A., Judith Grant, and J.C. Marler, and a foreword by Kent Emery, Jr. It may well be that there be many fausets in a tun, but the most clear wine and the most fresh and profitable and the most delectable and the most inebriating without fail, is the wine of the sovereign fauset, of which none drinketh but the Trinity. And I ask, saith Reason, for I never slept when she of me had need. One, according to goodness, by conjunction of the strength and stirring of union of love. And then holdeth the soul that there is none higher life than to have this, of which she hath lordship; for love hath so greatly fed her with his delights that she wot not that God hath any greater gift nigh to give to the soul than this love, which Love, by love, hath within her spread. But they that be truly alway upholden and taken of love and naughted by love, and all overspread of love, they have no heart but on love, even though they should suffer evermore torments and endure them, though the torments were as great as God is great in bounty. note on with herself, p. 18 Here = attached to her own interests. This is a work miracleful; this, then, his lamentations[394] may not say. And, Lord, this gift you have given to my spirit, as long as you shall be God. In such being it departeth from meditations, for this is the being of contemplation which withholdeth and voideth thoughts; but this soul that leadeth in naught, and love leadeth in her, doth this in herself, without herself. In her late thirteenth-century dialogue, the Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite Porete reframes the origin and the function of penitential practice by drawing on conceptions that associate Mary Magdalene with original sin and personal salvation. I have, by my far night, sent letters to you; but none asketh, What is this far night? When he showeth his glory to the soul, his works may not be told! The divine goodness is no more entertained by Will, but is in all times without will. And our Lord answered him and said: One thing yet faulteth thee. Not, saith Love, by the efforts to reach to divine knowledge, for it may not be that any understanding, however illumined, might attain to any of the influences of divine love; but the love of this divine soul is conjunct, clad, and arrayed in this more of this passing divine love. Further, the soul enlists sympathy and borders upon pride, when she thus enlightens others she beggeth of them for whom she does it., The soul disencumbered of her selfhood sees God and lives by the power of the life of glory without intermediary means. And he made the true Apocalypse [concerning God], after that he was banished, who before had been at the taking, where Jesus Christ was taken. This soul, saith Love, is quit of services, for she liveth in freedom. I hold, saith she, for this, mine [own which] I shall not let go; it is in my will, befall what may; for he is with me, then it were a default if I [let myself be] dismayed., This soul, saith Love, is lady of virtues, daughter of deity, sister of wisdom, and the spouse of love., Soothly, saith this soul, but this seemeth to Reason a marvellous language, and that is no wonder, for it shall not be long until he shall not be; but I was, saith this soul, and am, and shall be without failing; for love hath neither beginning, nor comprehending, nor end; and I am [nothing] but love, how might I then have end? The sixth is that a soul seeth not her naught by deepness of meekness, nor God, by highful bounty. . understand it, ye that hear this, if ye may! Who be those that be dipped in meekness? saith Reason. And with twain she covereth his feet; that is, that the more this soul hath knowing of the suffering that Jesu Christ suffered for us, the more perfectly she knoweth that she knoweth not, with regard to that [which] he suffered for us, the which is not known but of him. That is, that all that she coveteth and loveth and prizeth, it is of the divine bounty. Since he hath given me nothing but free will, it breaketh the other things. This forget not, for she failed when she sought divine life, but when she was in [the] desert, love took her and annihilated[298] or naughted her, and in her wrought. This burden of heaviness may no one lose except he be an innocent. Ah, ah, saith then this Soul, how great, then, is the All of him, when this may be said of the least of him O right sweet Love, saith this soul, that only wit ye, and that sufficeth me., Now ye wit how this soul is come into believing of more, and now shall I tell you, saith Love, how she is come into knowing of her naught; by this, that she knoweth that neither she nor others know [anything] of her horrible defaults as compared to that which is in the knowing of God.. This was and is, and shall be her divine beholding, her divine love, her divine peace, and her divine lauding; altogether her labours and all her rest, to will only the divine will, and therefore she had glorious life enclosed within the soul of her mortal[300] body without any intermediary. Thus I shall tell you how I relinquish you and me and mine even-Christian, everyone, in witting of your divine wisdom, in the streams of your divine might, in. 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