NIGHT OF THE SPIRIT.
BY MADAME GUYON
In order to
purify the spirit, God makes use of what John of the Cross styles the obscure
night of the spirit, in which He permits the defects which the soul supposed
vanished, and forever gone, to re-appear in strongly marked features on the
surface. I refer to natural faults of temper, hasty words or acts, caprices of
conduct, rebellious thoughts. God then stripping the soul of its facility in
practicing the divine virtues and good works, all its imperfections re-appear,
and, being abandoned to itself, it suffers on every side. God lays his hand
heavily upon it; the creatures slander it and subject it to the strangest
persecutions; its own thoughts are thoughts of rebellion; and the devils
besiege it besides. It is by this terrible array of crucifying instruments that
the soul is made to succumb and yield to death. If any one of them were
missing, the part not thus assaulted would serve the soul as a refuge and
reprieve, and would continue it in its life of Self.
These defects are
not voluntary; nor are the thousand wretched weakness that assault the soul and
make it miserable. But of this the soul is not always conscious, as the absence
of God leads her to think that her faults are the cause. Does she turn towards
Him? She finds herself cast off, and experiences nothing but His indignation. Does
she look within? Temptations, wretchedness, poverty, imperfection. Does she
look imploringly towards the creatures? They are thrones that pierce and repel
her. She is suspended, as it were, at a distance from God and every creature;
and to complete her misery He commonly thrusts these poor suffering ones out of
doors; that is, He makes it necessary in the order of Providence that they
should leave their solitude and mix in the commerce of the world. Their
greatest suffering is, that while they ardently desire to be wholly detached
from the creature, they find their hearts continually going out after it in
spire of their utmost exertions.
But now, at last,
when the creature and their own defects, the strength of God’s arm and the
experience of their own weakness, an the malice of men and of devils, have
worked out the purposes of God, He delivers them at a single stroke from every
foe, and receives them perfectly into Himself. Those who will not consent to
this crucifying process, must be content to remain all their lifetime in Self.
