is when none of the pOWl rs of the mind are excited is not explained. The Quietists think to attain that re- pose of the mind which is the resull of exertion, and thai quiel res! in God which follows from the earnest- ness of meditative prayer, by altogether sure, asing from the exertion and superseding the earnestness. I oi se- quently, the mind hi ing reduci d to inactn ity, the body has sway; and the state of perfect quietude, supposed to be a waiting for the dii ine access, b< com< s thai state (which ma\ be produced i.\ ■■ mesmeric" pri which the body suffers or simulates catalepsy, and the mind apes a divine nance. Quietism becomi -
sleep.
'I hen- is a remarkable similarity between the mysti- cism of the Quit lists and of tl e l'lotinian school of phi- losophy, 'ihe aim of Plotinus Was t,, enter into the immediate vision of Deity. "Unconditioned Being, or the Godhead, cannot be grasped by thinking or science,
QUIETISM
847
QTJINQUAGESIMA
only by intuition. In this pure intuition, the good, or the absolute being, gazes upon itself through the me- dium of our own spirits. To close the eye against all things transient and variable, to raise ourselves to this simple essence, to take refuge in the absolute, this must be regarded as the highest aim of all our spiritual ef- forts" (Prof. C. A. Brandis, in Smith's Biog. Diet, art, Plotinus, p. 427). Plotinian contemplation may find a place in the system of John Smith and Henry More, but it may also pass as readily into the reveries of Mo- linos. It is to be considered whether the tendency of such contemplation is not to reduce the Father mani- fested in the Son to the cold abstraction of the Plotinian Deity.
In the Church there have been two kinds of mysti- cism, one a churchly mysticism, which allies itself with the ordinances and rites of the Gospel ; the other sub- jective or inward, which gradually rejects more and more all that is external, and even at last passes beyond the contemplation of the humanity of our Lord, and the sacraments which make men partakers of his body, to "seek a resting-place beyond all that is created in the Logos as he existed prior to the incarnation and crea- tion" (Dorner, On the Person of Christ, II, i, 233). This unchristianizing of Christianity, this presentation of the great drama without its central figure, this removal of God Incarnate from the mystery of godliness, as the re- sult of a perverted or depraved mysticism, is exhibited more than once in the history of the Church. The words quoted from Dorner on the subject were used re- garding Maximus Confessor. We may resume and con- tinue them. "True love and knowledge unite to seek a resting-point beyond all that is created, beyond even the humanity of Christ: their final goal is the pure and bare (yu/ivdc) Logos, as he existed prior to the incar- nation and the creation. It is clear that in the last in- stance Christ is hereby reduced to the position of a mere theophany, and that the historical significance of his person is destroyed. The same thing appears also from his application to the professedly highest stage of the words. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now know we him no longer. So far was Maximus Confessor from attributing eternal significance to the God-man that he regarded the humanity of Christ rather in the light of a hindrance to the full knowledge and love of the pure God — a hindrance which must be surmounted by those who aim to reach the highest stage" (Dorner, I. c, and see note 48 there referred to). So in Italy, Marsilius Ficinus and John Pico of Mirandola turned Christianity in many respects into a Neo-Pla- tonic theosophy.
In the article Mysticism (q. v.) this subject is more opened, and the schools of mysticism of the Greek and Latin churches classified. In the article Hesychasts (q. v.) is related the quietism of the Greek Church. The directions of the abbot Simon for producing the visions of quietism (supposed to have been written in the 11th century) are still in existence: "Alone in thy cell, shut thy door, and seat thyself in a corner ; raise thy mind above all things vain and transitory; recline thy beard and chin on thy breast; turn thy eyes and thy thoughts towards the middle of thy belly, the region of the navel; and search the place of the heart, the seat of the soul. At first all will be dark and comfortless; but if you per- severe day and night, you will feel an ineffable joy ; and no sooner has the soul discovered the place of the heart than it is involved in a mystic and ethereal light." At present it is only necessary to point out that these He- sychasts had the same rule as the Hindu Quietists, viz. that to produce the state of abstraction the eyes must be steadily fixed on some particular object. The Hin- dus presented the tip of the nose, the Hesychasts the navel.
In German mediaeval mysticism a quietistic element is met with. It, however, borders on pantheism, very much as the pantheism of Dionysius the Areopagite borders on quietism.
The real founder of quietism in the Church is thus re- puted to be Molinos (q. v.), a Spanish priest, whose opin- ions, published at Rome towards the end of the 17th cen- tury, called forth violent opposition from the authorities of the Church, but met with many supporters in Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. He seems to have held " that religion consists in the perfect tranquillity of a mind removed from all external and finite tilings, and centred in God, and in such a pure love of the Supreme Being as is independent of all prospect of interest or re- ward." In more modern times Fe'nelon and Madame Guyon have taught quietism. They arc, however, usu- ally called Semi-Quietists. The two following propo- sitions from Fe'nelon's Maxims of the Saints were con- demned by Innocent XII in 1699 : 1. There is attaina- ble in this life a state of perfection in which the expec- tation of reward and the fear of punishment have no place. 2. Souls may be so inflamed with love to God, and so resigned to his will, that if they believed that God had condemned them to eternal pain, they would absolutely sacrifice their salvation. Madame Guyon thought she had learned a method by which souls might be carried to such a state of perfection that a continual act of contemplation and love might be substituted for all other acts of religion. She came forward as one of the chief promoters of quietism in France, and hence arose a celebrated controversy between Bossuet and Fe'nelon — the former of whom attacked and the latter defended several of that pious lady's opinions. See the dissertation by M. Bonne], De la Controvi rse de Bossuet et Fenelon sur le, Quietisme (Nevers, 1850, 8vo) ; Dr. Burnet, Tracts (1689, 12mo), vol. i ; Eecueil des Diverses Pieces concernant le Quietisme et les Quiitistes (1G88) ; Weisman, Hist. Eccles. § xvii.