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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	father_n	life_n	way_n	6,604	5	5.4332	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04377	The spiritual guide which disintangles the soul, and brings it by the inward way, to the getting of perfect contemplation, and the rich treasure of internal peace. / Written by Dr. Michael de Molinos, priest : with a short treatise concerning daily communion, by the same author. Translated from the Italian copy, printed at Venice, 1685.	Molinos, Miguel de, 1628-1696.; Molinos, Miguel de, 1628-1696. Brief treatise concerning daily communion.	1685 (1685)	Wing M2387A; ESTC R214007	123,380	287

of Friends Relations and spiritual Children because it makes him never remember 'em but when they are speaking to him This is the onely sign to know the Disinterestedness of a Master and therefore such a one doth more good by being Silent than thousands of others that make never so great a noise with their infinite Documents CHAP. IX Shewing how a simple and ready Obedience is the onely means for walking safely in this inward Way and of procuring internal Peace 66. IF thou do'st in good earnest resolve to deny thy Will and do God's Obedience is the necessary means whether it be by the indissoluble knot of thy Vow made in the hands of thy Superiour in thy Religion or the free tying of thy self by the Dedication of thy Will to a spiritual and expert Guide that hath the Qualities shewn before in the precedent Chapters 67. Thou wilt never get up the Mountain of Perfection nor to any high Throne of Peace Internal if thou art onely Govern'd by thy own Will This cruel and fierce Enemy of God and of thy Soul must be conquered thy own Direction thy own Judgment must be subdued and deposed as Rebels and reduced to Ashes by the Fire of Obedience there it will be found as in a Touch-stone whether the Love thou followest be thine own or Divine there in that Holocaust must thine own Judgment and thine own Will be Annihilated and brought to its last Substance 68. An ordinary Life under Obedience is worth more than that which of its own Will doth great Penance because Obedience and Subjection besides that they are free from the Deceits of Satan are the truest Holocaust which can be sacraficed to God on the Altar of our Heart Which made a great Servant of God say That he had rather gather Dung by Obedience than be caught up to the third Heaven of his own Will. 69. You will know that Obedience is a ready way to arrive quickly at Perfection 't is impossible for a Soul to purchase it self true Peace of Heart if it doth not deny and overcome its own Judgment and Rebellion And the means of denying and overcoming ones Judgment is to be willing in every thing to Obey with Resolution him that stands in God's Place because the Heart remains free secure and unburthen'd by all that which goes from the Mouth with true Submission to the Ears of the spiritual Father Effundite coram illo corda vestra Ps 61. The most effectual means therefore to advance in the Way of the Spirit is to imprint this in the Heart that a man's spiritual Director stands in God's Place and whatever he orders and says is said and ordered from the Divine Mouth 70. The Lord often times manifested to that venerable Mother Ann Mary of S. Joseph a Franciscan Nun That she should rather Obey her spiritual Father than Himself History of her Life § 42. To the venerable Sister Catharine Paulucci the Lord also one day said You ought to go to your spiritual Father with pure and sincere Truth as if you came to Me and not enquire whether he be or be not Observant but you ought to think that he is Governed by the Holy Ghost and that he is in My stead Her Life Book 2. Ch. 16. adding When Souls shall Observe this I will not permit that any be Deceived by him O Divine Words worthy to be imprinted in the Hearts of those Souls which desire to advance in Perfection 71. God revealed to Lady Marina of Escobar That if our Lord Christ would have her Communicate after his mind and her spiritual Father should say Nay she was obliged to follow the mind of her spiritual Father And a Saint was lower'd down from Heaven to tell her the reason of it which was That in the first there might be Cheat but in the second none 72. The Holy Ghost advises us all in the Proverbs Ch. 3. that we take Counsel and trust not in our own Wisdom Ne innitaris prudentiae tuae And says by Tobit That to do well thou never oughtest to govern thy self with thine own proper judgment but always must ask others mind and judgment Ch. 4.14 Consilium semper a sapiente perquire Although the spiritual Father Err in giving Counsel you can never Err in taking it and following it because you act wisely Qui judiceo alterius operatur prudenter operatur And God doth not suffer Directors to Err that he may preserve though it should be with Miracles the visible Tribunal of the spiritual Father from whence is known with all Safety what is the Divine Will. 73. Besides that this is the common Doctrine of all the Saints of all the Doctors and Masters of Spirit Christ our Lord gave credit and security to it when he said That the spiritual Fathers should be understood and obeyed just like Himself Qui vos audit me audit St Luke 10. And this even when their Works do not correspond with their Words and Counsels as is manifest by St Matthew Chap. 1. Quaecunque dixerint vobis facite secundum autem opera eorum nolite facere CHAP. X. Pursues the same 74. THE Soul which is observant of holy Obedience is as St. Gregory says 35 Lib. in Job Cap. 13. Possessour of all Vertues It is rewarded by God for its Humility and Obedience illustrating and teaching its own Guide to whose direction it ought as being in God's place to be every way subject discovering freely clearly faithfully and simply all the thoughts all the works inclinations inspirations and temptations that it knows of it self In this manner the Devil cannot deceive it and it becomes secure of giving an account of its actions to God without fear as well those actions which it doth commit as those it doth omit Insomuch that whoever would walk without a Guide if he is not deceived he is very near it because Temptation will seem Inspiration to him 75. Thou oughtest to know that to be perfect it is not enough to obey and honour Superiours but it is also necessary to obey and honour Inferiours 76. Obedience therefore to make it perfect must be voluntary pure ready chearful internal blind and persevering Voluntary without force and fear Pure without worldly interest and respect or self-love but purely for God Ready without reply excuse or delay Chearful without inward affliction and with diligence Internal because it must not only be exterior and apparent but from the mind and heart Blind without ones own judgment but submitting that judgment with the will to his that Commands it without searching into the Intention End or Reason of the Obedience Persevering with firmness and constancy unto Death 77. Obedience according to St. Bonaventure Tract 8. Collationum must be ready without a delay devout without tyring voluntary without contradiction simple without examination persevering without resting orderly without breaking off pleasant without trouble valiant without faint-heartedness and universal without exception Remember O blessed Soul that although thou hast

therein so that thou oughtest not to grieve and disturb thy self nor be disconsolate in seeing thy self obscure and darksom judging that God hath failed thee and the light also that thou formerly had the experience of thou oughtest rather at that time persevere constantly in Prayer it being a manifest sign that God of his infinite mercy intends to bring thee into the inward path and happy way of Paradise O how happy wilt thou be if thou embrace it with peace and resignation as the instrument of perfect quiet true light and of all thy spiritual good 40. Know then that the streightest most perfect and secure way of proficients is the way of darkness beause in them the Lord placed his own Throne And he made darkness his secret place Psalm 18. By them the supernatural light which God infuses into the Soul grows and increases Amidst them wisdom and strong love are begotten by darkness the soul is annihilated and the species which hinder the right view of the divine truth are consumed By this means God introduces the Soul by the inward way into the Prayer of rest and of perfect contemplation which so few have the experience of Finally by darkness the Lord purges the senses and sensibility which hinder the mystical progress 41. See now if darkness be not to be esteemed and embraced What thou oughtest to do amidst them is to believe that thou art before the Lord and in his presence but thou oughtest to do so with a sweet and quiet attention not desire to know any thing nor search after delicacies tendernesses or sensible devotions nor do any thing but what is the good will and pleasure of God Because otherwise thou wilt only make circles all thy life time and not advance one step towards perfection CHAP. VII To the end the Soul may attain to the supreme internal peace it is necessary that God purge it after his way because the exercises and mortifications that of it self it sets about are not sufficient 42. SO soon as thou shalt firmly resolve to mortifie thy external senses that thou may'st advance towards the high mountain of perfection and union with God His divine Majesty will set his hand to the purging of thy evil inclinations inordinate desires vain complacency self-love and pride and other hidden vices which thou knowest not and yet reign in the inner parts of thy Soul and hinder the divine union 43. Thou 'lt never attain to this happy state though thou tire thy self out with the external acts of mortification and resignation until this Lord purge thee inwardly and discipline thee after his own way because he alone knows how secret faults are to be purged out If thou persevere constantly he 'll not only purge thee from affections and engagements to natural and temporal goods but in his own time also he will purifie thee with the supernatural and sublime such as are internal communications inward raptures and extafies and other infused graces on which the Soul rests and enjoys it self 44. God will do all this in thy Soul by means of the cross and dryness if thou freely givest thy consent to it by resignation and walking through those darksom and desart ways All thou hast to do is to do nothing by thy own choice alone The subjection of thy liberty is that which thou oughtest to do quietly resigning thy self up in every thing whereby the Lord shall think fit internally and externally to mortifie thee because that is the only means by which thy Soul can become capable of the divine influences whil'st thou sufferest internal and external tribulation with humility patience and quiet not the penances disciplines and mortifications which thou couldest impose upon thy self 45. The husbandman sets a greater esteem upon the plants which he sows in the ground than those that spring up of themselves because these never come to seasonable maturity In the same manner God esteems and is better pleased with the vertue which he sows and infuses into the Soul as being sunk into its own nothingness calm and quiet retreated within its own center and without any election than all the other vertues which the Soul pretends to acquire by its own election and endeavours 46. It concerns thee only then to prepare thine heart like clean paper wherein the divine wisdom may imprint characters to his own liking O how great a work will it be for thy Soul to be whole hours together in Prayer dumb resigned and humble without acting knowing or desiring to understand any thing CHAP. VIII A Sequel of the same 47. WIth new efforts thou l't exercise thy self but in another manner than hitherto giving thy consent to receive the secret and divine operations and to be polished and purified by this Lord which is the only means whereby thou wilt become clean and purged from thine ignorance and dissolutions Know however that thou art to be plunged in a bitter sea of sorrows and of internal and external pains which torment will pierce into the most inward part of thy Soul and Body 48. Thou 'lt experience that the creatures will forsake thee nay those too from which thou hoped'st for most favour and compassion in thy streights the brooks of thy faculties will be so dried up that thou shalt'st not be able to form any ratiocination nay nor so much as to conceive a good thought of God. Heaven will seem to thee to be of brass and thou shalt receive no light from it Nor will the thought comfort thee that in times past so much light and devote consolation have rained into thy Soul. 49. The invisible enemies will pursue thee with scruples lascivious suggestions and unclean thoughts with incentives to impatience pride rage cursing and blaspheming the Name of God his Sacraments and Holy Mysteries Thou 'lt find a great lukewarmness loathing and wearisomness for the things of God an obscurity and darkness in thy understanding a faintness confusion and narrowness of heart such a coldness and feebleness of the will to resist that a straw will appear to thee a beam Thy desertion will be so great that thou 'lt think there is no more a God for thee and that thou art rendered incapable of entertaining a good desire so that thou 'lt continue shut up betwixt two walls in constant streights and anguish without any hopes of ever getting out of so dreadful an oppression 50. But fear not all this is necessary for purging thy Soul and making it know its own misery and sensibly perceive the annihilation of all the passions and disordinate appetites wherewith it rejoyced it self Finally to the end the Lord may refine and purifie thee after his own manner with those inward torments wilt thou not cast the Jonas of sense into the sea that thereby thou mayest procure it With all thy outward disciplines and mortifications thou'll never have true light nor make one step towards perfection so that thou wilt stop in the beginning and thy Soul will

me always that this is the most firm and secure disposition my spirit in the upper part is in a most simple unity it is not united because when it would perform acts of union which it often sets about it finds difficulty and clearly perceives that it cannot unite but be united The Soul would make use of this union for the service of Mattins the holy Mass preparation for the Communion and Thanksgiving and in a word it would for all things be always in that most simple unity of spirit without reflecting on any thing else To all this the holy Father answered with approbation perswading her to persist and putting her in mind that the repose of God is in peace 91. Another time she wrote to the same Saint these words Endeavouring to do some more special acts of my simple intuition total resignation and annihilation in God his divine goodness rebuked me and gave me to understand that that proceeded only from the love of my self and that thereby I offended my Soul. 92. By this thou wilt be undeceived and know what is the perfect and spiritual way of Praying and be advised what is to be done in Internal recollection Thou 'lt know that to the end Love may be perfect and pure it is expedient to retrench the multiplication of sensible and fervent Acts the Soul continuing quiet and resting in that inward Silence Because tenderness delight and sweet sentiments which the Soul experiences in the Will are not pure Spirits but Acts blended with the sensibilitie of Nature Nor is it perfect Love but sensible Pleasure which distracts and hurts the Soul as the Lord told the venerable Mother of Cantal 93. How happy and how well applied will thy Soul be if retreating within it self it there shrink into its own nothing both in its Center and superiour Part without minding what it does whether it recollect or not whether it walk well or ill if it operate or not without heeding thinking or minding any sensible thing At that time the Intellect believes with a pure Act and the Will loves with perfect Love without any kind of impediment imitating that pure and continued Act of Intuition and Love which the Saints say the Blessed in Heaven have with no other difference than that they see one another there Face to Face and the Soul here through the Veil of an obscure Faith. 94. O how few are the Souls that attain to this perfect Way of Praying because they penetrate not enough into this internal recollection and Mystical Silence and because they strip not themselves of imperfect reflection and sensible pleasure O that thy Soul without thoughtful advertency even of it self might give it self in Prey to that holy and spiritual Tranquility In bis Confess lib. 9. cap. 10. and say with St. Austin Sileat anima mea transeat se non se cogitando Let it be silent and do nothing forget it self and plung into that obscure Faith How secure and safe would it be though it might seem to it that thus unactive and doing nothing it were undone 95. I 'll sum up this Doctrine with a Letter that the illuminated Mother of Cantal wrote to a Sister and great Servant of God Divi●● Bounty said she granted me this way of Prayer that with a single View of God I felt my self wholy dedicated to him absorpt and reposed in him he still continued to me that Grace though I oppos●● it by my Infidelity giving way to fear and thinking my self unprofitable in that state for which cause being willing to do something on my part 〈◊〉 quite spoil all and to this present I find my se●● sometimes assaulted by the same Fear though 〈◊〉 in Prayer but in other Exercises wherein I am always willing to employ my self a little though I know very well that in doing such acts I come o●● of my Center and see particularly that that simp●● View of God is my onely remedy and help still 〈◊〉 all troubles temptations and the events of th●● Life 96. And certainly would I have followed my internal Impulse I should have made use of no other means in any thing whatsoever without exception because when I think to fortifie my Soul with Arts Reasonings and Resignations then do I expose my self to new temptations and straights Besides that I cannot do it without great violence which leaves me exhausted and dry so that it behoves me speedily to return to this simple Resignation knowing that God in this manner lets me see that it is his Will and Pleasure that a total stop should be put to the operations of my Soul because he would have all things done by his own divine Activity and happily he expects no more of me but this onely View in all spiritual Exercises and in all the pains temptations and afflictions that may befal me in this life And the truth is the quieter I keep my Spirit by this means the better all things succeed with me and my crosses and afflictions suddenly vanish Many times hath my blessed Father St Francis of Sales assured me of this 97. Our late Mother Superiour encouraged me firmly to persist in that way and not to fear any thing in this simple View of God She told me That that was enough and that the greater the nakedness and quietness in God are the greater sweetness and strength receiveth the Soul which ought to endeavour to become so pure and simple that it should have no other support but in God alone 98. To this purpose I remember that a few days since God communicated to me an Illumination which made such an impression upon me as if I had clearly seen him and this it is That I should never look upon my self but walk with eyes shut leaning on my Beloved without striving to see nor know the Way by which he guides me neither fix my thoughts on any thing nor yet beg Favours of him but as undone in my self rest wholly and sincerely on him Hitherto that Illuminated and Mistical Mistress whose Words do Credit and Authorize our Doctrine CHAP. XIV Declaring how the Soul putting it self in the Presence of God with perfect Resignation by the pure Act of Faith walks always in virtual and acquired Contemplation 99. THou wilt tell me as many Souls have told me that though by a perfect Resignation thou hast put thy self in the Presence of God by means of pure Faith as hath been already hinted yet thou doest not merit nor emprove because thy thoughts are so distracted that thou canst not be fixed upon God. 100. Be not disconsolate for thou do'st not lose time nor merit neither desist thou from Prayer because it is not necessary that during that whole time of recollection thou should'st actually think on God it is enough that thou hast been attentive in the beginning provided thou discontinue not thy purpose nor revoke the actual attention which thou hadst As he who hears Mass and says the Divine Office performs