To this pantheistic mysticism was opposed a less nox- ious kind of mysticism, which reared itself on the basii of Christian theism. The chief representative of this theistical mysticism is Ruysbroek, by whose efforts the mystical tendency in the Netherlands and Germany underwent a complete revolution. The system of this able and excellent writer, in so far as it affects life, is thus sketched by Ullman: "Man, having proceeded from God, is destined to return and become one with him again. This oneness, however, is not to be understood
as meaning that we become wholly identified with him, and lose our own being as creatures, for that is an im- possibility. What it is to be understood as meaning is that we are conscious of being wholly in God, and at the same time also wholly in ourselves; that we are united with God, and yet at the same time remain dif- ferent from him. Man ought to be conformed to God, and bear his likeness. But this he can only do in so far as it is practicable, and it is practicable only in so far as he does not cease to be himself and a creature. For God remains alwaj-s God, and never becomes a creature ; the creature is always a creature, and never loses its own being as such. Man, when giving him- self up with perfect love to God, is in union with him, but he no sooner again acts than he feels his distinct- ness from God, and that he is another being. Thus he flows into God, and flows back again into himself. The former state of oneness with and the latter state of dif- ference from him are both enjoined by God, and be- tween the two subsists that continual annihilation in love which constitutes our felicity." Gerson, himself a Mystic, attempted to involve Ruysbroek in the same charge of pantheistical mysticism which attaches to Henry Eckhart. The accusation, however, is without foundation. The mysticism of Ruysbroek, which had the double advantage of being at once contemplative and practical, was thoroughly theistical in its character, and its influence was widely felt.
In the 14th century the pantheistic theory of .J. Scotus Erigena was revived by Eckhart, provincial of the Dominican Order in Saxony — the "Doctor Ec- staticus" — a man of unquestioned purity of life and great earnestness of character. The boldest meta- physical speculations were united in his system with a severe asceticism. His was a period that particularlj" favored the development of mystical or spiritual theol- ogy. The distraction of party warfare in state matters, the hostile attitude of the emperor towards the court of Rome, and the increasing divergence of religious opin- ion, gave an opportunity that was not thrown away by this Mystic theologian. AVithout adopting any party in particular, the Mystic devotee could combine his higher spiritual aspirations with the most opposite po- litical and religious theories, and gain a willing ear from all. The whole heart of the people was open to him. Hence the success of Tauler as a preacher in the l-lth century. He was termed " Doctor Illuminatus," as be- ing the most enlightened preacher of his age. A living faith in the pure Word of God, he said, was better than mass attendance or bodily mortification ; the sincerely pious man alone was free, the friend of God, over whom the pope had no spiritual po^ver, for God had enfran- chised and sanctified him to his free service ; the spir- itual and political powers were essentially distinct; neither, if the former was ever on ill terms with the civil governor, had it authority to lay its subjects under a ban. In Tauler the mystic principle was exhibited on its most practical side, and in many of his views he was the harbinger of that school of thought which brought about the Reformation of the 16th century, and which was represented by Wycliffe in England, Huss in Bo- hemia, Savonarola in Italj', and John Wessel in Hol- land, more ubiquitously throughout the continent. See Friends of God. With Tauler must be associated the name of Henry Suso, his friend and ardent admirer, a pupil of Eckhart ( A.D. 1300-1365). Mysticism with him was a matter of feeling rather than of speculation. Wis- dom as personified by Solomon was his theme, identified at one time with Christ, at another with his Virgin Moth- er. To make himself worthy of the object of his adora- tion, he practiced severe austerities, and claimed to be frequently favored with divine visions. His was no con- nected system, but a tissue of rhapsodical applications of the mystical theology of the preceding period, which he invested with fantastic and visionary forms. He adopted the view which led the schools so closely to the verge of pantheism, namely, that all created nature is a
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mirror in which Deity is reflected. Creation was eter- nally ill (Jod as the universal exemplar. No name can sufficiently declare the Deity. As IJa-silides termed the divine Principle oi'K wr, and as Hegel in modern times has said the same thing, so Suso declared that the De- ity might with as great propriety be termed an eternal nothing as a self-existent entity. He is a circle whose centre is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere. Imitation of Christ's suflFerings is the true meaning of man's regeneration. T iiree principal steps lead on to unity witii the Deity: purification, or expulsion of all mortal desire; illumination, which fills the soul with di- vine forms; and perfection, to which is accorded the fullest enjoyment of heavenly good. If Eckhart was the philosophic Mystic, and Tauler the more practical devotee, Suso was more poetical in his enthusiastic ado- ration of eternal Wisdom.