sometliing more than all this, something mystical and therefore inexplicable ; a matter of feeling, not something to be under- , stood or explained ; a state in which all thought, all activity was suspended ; a state of perfect quietude in which the soul is lost in God, — an " dcouleraent et liquefaction de I'^me en Dieu," as it is expressed by St. Francis de Sales. This state is reached by few. It is to be attained not by the use of the means of grace or ordi- nances of the Church. The soul should be raised above the need of all such aids. It rises even above Christ, insomuch that it is not He whom the soul seeks, nor God in him ; but God as God ; the absolute, infinite God. The importance of the Scriptures, of prayer, of the sacraments, and of the truth concerning Christ, was not denied ; but all these were regarded as belonging to the lower stages of tlie divine life. Nor was this I'est and union with God to be attained by meditation; for meditation is discursive. It im- plies an effort to bring truth before? the mind, and fixing the atten- tion upon it. All conscious self-activity must be suspended in order to this perfect rest in God. It is a state in which the soul is out of itself; a state of ecstasy, according to the etymological meaning of the word.
This state is to 'be reached in the way prescribed by the older Mystics ; first, by negation or abstraction; that is, the abstraction of the 30ul from everything out of God, from the creature, from all interest, concern, or impression from sensible objects. Hence the connection between Mysticism, in this form, and asceticism. Not only must the soul become thus abstracted from the creature, but it must be dead to self. All regard to self must be lost. There can be no prayer, for prayer is asking something for self; no thanksgiving, for thanksgiving implies gratitude for good done to self. Self must be lost. There must be no preference for heaven over hell. One of the points most strenuously insisted upon was a willingness to be damned, if such were the will of God. In the controversy between Fdn^lon and Bossuet, the main question con- cerned disinterested love, whether in loving God the soul must be raised above all regard to its own holiness and happiness. This pure or disinterested love justifies, or renders righteous in the sight of God. Althoiigh the Mystics of this period were eminently pure as well as devout, they nevertheless sometimes laid down princi- ples, or at least used expressions, which gave their enemies a pre- text for charging them w^ith Antinomianism.. It was said, that a soul filled with this love, or reduced to this entire negation of self, cannot sin ; " sin is not in, but outside of him ; " which was made
86 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. IV. - Mysticism.
to mean, that nothing was sin to the perfect. It is an instructive psychological fact that when men attempt or pretend to rise above the law of God, they sink below it ; that Perfectionism has so gen- erally led to Antinomianism.
B. Leaders of this Movement. The principal persons engaged in promoting this remarkable re- ligious movement were Molinos, Madame Guyon, and Archbishop F^n^lon. Michael Molinos, born 1640, was a Spanish priest. About 1670 he became a resident of Rome, where he gained a great reputation for piety and mildness, and great influence from his position as confessor to many families of distinction. He en- joyed the friendship of the highest authorities in the Church, in- cluding several of the cardinals, and the Pope, Innocent XI., him- self. In 1675 he published his " Spiritual Guide," in which the principles above stated were presented. Molinos did not claim orig- inality, but professed to rely on the Mystics of the Middle Ages, sev- eral of whom had already been canonized by the Church. This, however, did not save him from persecution. His first trial indeed before the Inquisition resulted in his acquittal. But subsequently, through the influence of the Jesuits and of the court of Louis XIV., he was, after a year's imprisonment, condemned. Agreeably to his principle of entire subjection to the Church, he retracted his errors, but failed to secure the confidence of his judges. He died in 1697. His principal work, " Manuductio Spiritualis," or Spirit- ual Guide, was translated into different languages, and won for him many adherents in every part of the Catholic world. When he was imprisoned, it is said, that twenty thousand letters from all quarters, and many of them from persons of distinction, were found among his papers, assuring him of the sympathy of their authors with him in his spii-it and views. This is proof that there were at that time thousands in the Romish Church who had not bowed the knee to the Baal of formalism.
Madame Grtiyon. The most prominent and influential of the Quietists, as they were called, was Madame Guyon, born 1648 and died 1717. She belonged to a rich and noble family ; was educated in a cloister, married at sixteen to a man of rank and wealth and of three times her age ; faithful and devoted, but unhappy in her domestic rela- tions ; adhering zealously to her Church, she passed a life of inces- sant labour, and that, too, embittered by persecution. When still