John - Scent Carmel 1 1
Sets down the first stanza. Describes two different nights through whichspiritual persons pass, according to the two parts of man, the lower andthe higher. Expounds the stanza which follows.
STANZA THE FIRST
On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings -- oh, happy chance! -- Iwent forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
1 IN this first stanzas the soul sings of the happy fortune and chance whichit experienced in going forth from all things that are without, and fromthe desires(74) and imperfections that are in the sensual(75) part of manbecause of the disordered state of his reason. For the understanding of thisit must be known that, for a soul to attain to the state of perfection, ithas ordinarily first to pass through two principal kinds of night, whichspiritual persons call purgations or purifications of the soul; and herewe call them nights, for in both of them the soul journeys, as it were, bynight, in darkness.
2. The first night or purgation is of the sensual partof the soul, which is treated in the present stanza, and will be treatedin the first part of this book. And the second is of the spiritual part;of this speaks the second stanza, which follows; and of this we shall treatlikewise, in the second and the third part,(76) with respect to the activityof the soul; and in the fourth part, with respect to its passitivity.
3. And this first night pertains to beginners, occurring at the time when Godbegins to bring them into the state of contemplation; in this night the spiritlikewise has a part, as we shall say in due course. And the second night,or purification, pertains to those who are already proficient, occurringat the time when God desires to bring them to the state of union with God.And this latter night is a more obscure and dark and terrible purgation,as we shall say afterwards.
4. Briefly, then, the soul means by this stanzathat it went forth (being led by God) for love of Him alone, enkindled inlove of Him, upon a dark night, which is the privation and purgation of allits sensual desires, with respect to all outward things of the world andto those which were delectable to its flesh, and likewise with respect tothe desires of its will. This all comes to pass in this purgation of sense;for which cause the soul says that it went forth while its house was stillat rest;(77) which house is its sensual part, the desires being at rest andasleep in it, as it is to them.(78) For there is no going forth from thepains and afflictions of the secret places of the desires until these bemortified and put to sleep. And th is, the soul says, was a happy chancefor it -- namely, its going forth without being observed: that is, withoutany desire of its flesh or any other thing being able to hinder it. And likewise,because it went out by night -- which signifies the privation of all thesethings wrought in it by God, which privation was night for it.
5. And it was a happy chance that God should lead it into this night, from which therecame to it so much good; for of itself the soul would not have succeededin entering therein, because no man of himself can succeed in voiding himselfof all his desires in order to come to God.
6. This is, in brief, the expositionof the stanza; and we shall now have to go through it, line by line, settingdown one line after another, and expounding that which pertains to our purpose.And the same method is followed in the other stanzas, as I said in thePrologue(79) -- namely, that each stanza will be set down and expounded,and afterwards each line.
Explains the nature of this dark night through which the soul says that ithas passed on the road to union.
On A Dark Night
1 WE may say that there are three reasons for which this journey(80) made bythe soul to union with God is called night. The first has to do with thepoint from which the soul goes forth, for it has gradually to deprive itselfof desire for all the worldly things which it possessed, by denying themto itself;(81) the which denial and deprivation are, as it were, night toall the senses of man. The second reason has to do with the mean,(82) orthe road along which the soul must travel to this union -- that is, faith,which is likewise as dark as night to the understanding. The third has todo with the point to which it travels -- namely, God, Who, equally, is darknight to the soul in this life. These three nights must pass through thesoul -- or, rather, the soul must pass through them -- in order that it maycome to Divine union with God.
2. In the book of the holy Tobias these threekinds of night were shadowed forth by the three nights which, as the angelcommanded, were to pass ere the youth Tobias should be united with his bride.In the first he commanded him to burn the heart of the fish in the fire,which signifies the heart that is affectioned to, and set upon, the thingsof the world; which, in order that one may begin to journey toward God, mustbe burned and purified from all that is creature, in the fire of the loveof God. And in this purgation the devil flees away, for he has power overthe soul only when it is attached to things corporeal and temporal.
3. On the second night the angel told him that he would be admitted into the companyof the holy patriarchs, who are the fathers of the faith. For, passing throughthe first night, which is self-privation of all objects of sense, the soulat once enters into the second night, and abides alone in faith to the exclusion,not of charity, but of other knowledge acquired by the understanding, aswe shall say hereafter, which is a thing that pertains not to sense. 4. Onthe third night the angel told him that he would obtain a blessing, whichis God; Who, by means of the second night, which is faith, continuallycommunicates Himself to the soul in such a secret and intimate manner thatHe becomes another night to the soul, inasmuch as this said communicationis far darker than those others, as we shall say presently. And, when thisthird night is past, which is the complete accomplishment of the communicationof God in the spirit, which is ordinarily wrought in great darkness of thesoul, there then follows its union with the Bride, which is the Wisdom ofGod. Even so the angel said likewise to Tobias that, when the third nightwas past, he should be united with his bride in the fear of the Lord; for,when this fear of God is perfect, love is perfect, and this comes to passwhen the transformation of the soul is wrought through its love.
5. These three parts of the night are all one night; but, after the manner of night,it has three parts. For the first part, which is that of sense, is comparableto the beginning of night, the point at which things begin to fade from sight.And the second part, which is faith, is comparable to midnight, which istotal darkness. And the third part is like the close of night, which is God,the which part is now near to the light of day. And, that we may understandthis the better, we shall treat of each of these reasons separately as weproceed.
Speaks of the first cause of this night, which is that of the privation ofthe desire in all things, and gives the reason for which it is called night.
1 WE here describe as night the privation of every kind of pleasure which belongsto the desire; for, even as night is naught but the privation of light, and,consequently, of all objects that can be seen by means of light, wherebythe visual faculty remains unoccupied(83) and in darkness, even so likewisethe mortification of desire may be called night to the soul. For, when thesoul is deprived of the pleasure of its desire in all things, it remains,as it were, unoccupied and in darkness. For even as the visual faculty, bymeans of light, is nourished and fed by objects which can be seen, and which,when the light is quenched, are not seen, even so, by means of the desire,the soul is nourished and fed by all things wherein it can take pleasureaccording to its faculties; and, when this also is quenched, or rather,mortified, the soul ceases to feed upon the pleasure of all things, and thus,with respect to its desire, it remains unoccupied and in darkness.
2. Let us take an example from each of the faculties. When the soul deprives itsdesire of the pleasure of all that can delight the sense of hearing, thesoul remains unoccupied and in darkness with respect to this faculty. And,when it deprives itself of the pleasure of all that can please the senseof sight, it remains unoccupied and in darkness with respect to this facultyalso. And, when it deprives itself of the pleasure of all the sweetness ofperfumes which can give it pleasure through the sense of smell, it remainsequally unoccupied and in darkness according to this faculty. And, if italso denies itself the pleasure of all food that can satisfy the palate,the soul likewise remains unoccupied and in darkness. And finally, when thesoul mortifies itself with respect to all the delights and pleasures thatit can receive from the sense of touch, it remains, in the same way, unoccupiedand in darkness with respect to this faculty. So that the soul that has deniedand thrust away from itself the pleasures which come from all these things,and has mortified its desire with respect to them, may be said to be, asit were, in the darkness of night, which is naught else than an emptinesswithin itself of all things.
3. The reason for this is that, as the philosopherssay, the soul, as soon as God infuses it into the body, is like a smooth,blank board(84) upon which nothing is painted; and, save for that which itexperiences through the senses, nothing is communicated to it, in the courseof nature, from any other source. And thus, for as long as it is in the body,it is like one who is in a dark prison and who knows nothing, save what heis able to see through the windows of the said prison; and, if he saw nothingthrough them, he would see nothing in any other way. And thus the soul, savefor that which is communicated to it through the senses, which are the windowsof its prison, could acquire nothing, in the course of nature, in any otherway.
4. Wherefore, if the soul rejects and denies that which it can receivethrough the senses, we can quite well say that it remains, as it were, indarkness and empty; since, as appears from what has been said, no light canenter it, in the course of nature, by any other means of illumination thanthose aforementioned. For, although it is true that the soul cannot helphearing and seeing and smelling and tasting and touching, this is of no greaterimport, nor, if the soul denies and rejects the object, is it hindered morethan if it saw it not, heard it not, etc. Just so a man who desires to shuthis eyes will remain in darkness, like the blind man who has not the facultyof sight. And to this purpose David says these words: Pauper sum ego, etin laboribus a indenture mea.(85) Which signifies: I am poor and in laboursfrom my youth. He calls himself poor, although it is clear that he was rich,because his will was not set upon riches, and thus it was as though he werereally poor. But if he had not been really poor and had not been so in hiswill, he would not have been truly poor, for his soul, as far as its desirewas concerned, would have been rich and replete. For that reason we callthis detachment night to the soul, for we are not treating here of the lackof things, since this implies no detachment on the part of the soul if ithas a desire for them; but we are treating of the detachment from them ofthe taste and desire, for it is this that leaves the soul free and void ofthem, although it may have them; for it is not the things of this world thateither occupy the soul or cause it harm, since they enter it not, but ratherthe will and desire for them, for it is these that dwell within it. 5. This first kind of night, as we shall say hereafter, belongs to the soul accordingto its sensual part, which is one of the two parts, whereof we spoke above,through which the soul must pass in order to attain to union. 6. Let us now say how meet it is for the soul to go forth from its house into this darknight of sense, in order to travel to union with God.
Wherein is declared how necessary it is for the soul truly to pass throughthis dark night of sense, which is mortification of desire, in order thatit may journey to u nion with God.
1 THE reason for which it is necessary for the soul, in order to attain toDivine union with God, to pass through this dark night of mortification ofthe desires and denial of pleasures in all things, is because all the affectionswhich it has for creatures are pure darkness in the eyes of God, and, whenthe soul is clothed in these affections, it has no capacity for being enlightenedand possessed by the pure and simple light of God, if it first cast themnot from it; for light cannot agree with darkness; since, as Saint John says:Tenebroe eam non comprehenderunt.(86) That is: The darkness could not receivethe light.
2. The reason is that two contraries (even as philosophy teachesus) cannot coexist in one person; and that darkness, which is affection setupon the creatures, and light, which is God, are contrary to each other,and have no likeness or accord between one another, even as Saint Paul taughtthe Corinthians, saying: Quoe conventio luci ad tenebras?(87) That is tosay: What communion can there be between light and darkness? Hence it isthat the light of Divine union cannot dwell in the soul if these affectionsfirst flee not away from it.
3. In order that we may the better prove whathas been said, it must be known that the affection and attachment which thesoul has for creatures renders the soul like to these creatures; and, thegreater is its affection, the closer is the equality and likeness betweenthem; for love creates a likeness between that which loves and that whichis loved. For which reason David, speaking of those who set their affectionsupon idols, said thus: Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea: et omnes qui confiduntin eis.(88) Which signifies: Let them that set their heart upon them be liketo them. And thus, he that loves a creature becomes as low as that creature,and, in some ways, lower; for love not only makes the lover equal to theobject of his love, but even subjects him to it. Hence in the same way itcomes to pass that the soul that loves anything else becomes incapable ofpure union with God and transformation in Him. For the low estate of thecreature is much less capable of union with the high estate of the Creatorthan is darkness with light. For all things of earth and heaven, comparedwith God, are nothing, as Jeremias says in these words: Aspexi terram, etecce vacua erat, et nihil; et coelos, et non erat lux in eis.(89) 'I beheldthe earth,' he says, 'and it was void, and it was nothing; and the heavens,and saw that they had no light.' In saying that he beheld the earth void,he means that all its creatures were nothing, and that the earth was nothinglikewise. And, in saying that he beheld the heavens and saw no light in them,he says that all the luminaries of heaven, compared with God, are pure darkness.So that in this way all the creatures are nothing; and their affections,we may say, are less than nothing, since they are an impediment to transformationin God and the privation thereof, even as darkness is not only nothing, butless than nothing, since it is privation of light. And even as he that isin darkness comprehends not the light, so the soul that sets its affectionupon creatures will be unable to comprehend God; and, until it be purged,it will neither be able to possess Him here below, through pure transformationof love, nor yonder in clear vision. And, for greater clarity, we will nowspeak in greater detail.
4. All the being of creation, then, compared withthe infinite Being of God, is nothing. And therefore the soul that sets itsaffection upon the being of creation is likewise nothing in the eyes of God,and less than nothing; for, as we have said, love makes equality and similitude,and even sets the lover below the object of his love. And therefore sucha soul will in no wise be able to attain to union with the infinite Beingof God; for that which is not can have no communion with that which is. And,coming down in detail to some examples, all the beauty of the creatures,compared with the infinite beauty of God, is the height of deformity(90)even as Solomon says in the Proverbs: Fallax gratia, et vana est pulchritudo.(91)'Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain.' And thus the soul that is affectionedto the beauty of any creature is the height of deformity in the eyes of God.And therefore this soul that is deformed will be unable to become transformedin beauty, which is God, since deformity cannot attain to beauty; and allthe grace and beauty of the creatures, compared with the grace of God, isthe height of misery(92) and of uncomeliness. Wherefore the soul that isravished by the graces and beauties of the creatures has only supreme(93)misery and unattractiveness in the eyes of God; and thus it cannot be capableof the infinite grace and loveliness of God; for that which has no graceis far removed from that which is infinitely gracious; and all the goodnessof the creatures of the world, in comparison with the infinite goodness ofGod, may be described as wickedness. 'For there is naught good, save onlyGod.'(94) And therefore the soul that sets its heart upon the good thingsof the world is supremely evil in the eyes of God. And, even as wickednesscomprehends not goodness, even so such a soul cannot be united with God,Who is supreme goodness.
5. All the wisdom of the world and all human ability,compared with the infinite wisdom of God, are pure and supreme ignorance,even as Saint Paul writes ad Corinthios, saying: Sapientia hujus mundi stultitiaest apud Deum.(95) 'The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.' Whereforeany soul that makes account of all its knowledge and ability in order tocome to union with the wisdom of God is supremely ignorant in the eyes ofGod and will remain far removed from that wisdom; for ignorance knows notwhat wisdom is, even as Saint Paul says that this wisdom seems foolishnessto God; since, in the eyes of God, those who consider themselves to be personswith a certain amount of knowledge are very ignorant, so that the Apostle,writing to the Romans, says of them: Dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stultifacti sunt. That is: Professing themselves to be wise, they became foolish.(96)And those alone acquire wisdom of God who are like ignorant children, and,laying aside their knowledge, walk in His service with love. This mannerof wisdom Saint Paul taught likewise ad Corinthios: Si quis videtur intervos sapiens esse in hoc soeculo, stultus fiat ut sit sapiens. Sapientia enimhujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum.(97) That is: If any man among you seemto be wise, let him become ignorant that he may be wise; for the wisdom ofthis world is foolishness with God. So that, in order to come to union withthe wisdom of God, the soul has to proceed rather by unknowing than by knowing;and all the dominion and liberty of the world, compared with the libertyand dominion of the Spirit of God, is the most abject(98) slavery, afflictionand captivity.
6. Wherefore the soul that is enamoured of prelacy,(99) orof any other such office, and longs for liberty of desire, is consideredand treated, in the sight of God, not as a son, but as a base slave and captive,since it has not been willing to accept His holy doctrine, wherein He teachesus that whoso would be greater must be less, and whoso would be less mustbe greater. And therefore such a soul will be unable to attain to that trueliberty of spirit which is attained in His Divine union. For slavery canhave no part with liberty; and liberty cannot dwell in a heart that is subjectto desires, for this is the heart of a slave; but it dwells in the free man,because he has the heart of a son. It was for this cause that Sara bade herhusband Abraham cast out the bondwoman and her son, saying that the son ofthe bondwoman should not be heir with the son of the free woman.(100)
7. And all the delights and pleasures of the will in all the things of the world,in comparison with all those delights which are God, are supreme affliction,torment and bitterness. And thus he that sets his heart upon them is considered,in the sight of God, as worthy of supreme affliction, torment and bitterness;and thus he will be unable to attain to the delights of the embrace of unionwith God, since he is worthy of affliction and bitterness. All the wealthand glory of all creation, in comparison with the wealth which is God, issupreme poverty and wretchedness. Thus the soul that loves and possessescreature wealth is supremely poor and wretched in the sight of God, and forthat reason will be unable to attain to that wealth and glory which is thestate of transformation in God; for that which is miserable and poor is supremelyfar removed from that which is supremely rich and glorious.
8. And thereforeDivine Wisdom, grieving for such as these, who make themselves vile, low,miserable and poor, because they love the things in this world which seemto them so rich and beautiful, addresses an exclamation to them in the Proverbs,saying: O viri, ad vos clamito, et vox mea ad filios hominum. Intelligite,parvuli, astutiam, et insipientes, animadvertite. Audite quia de rebus magnislocutura sum. And farther on he continues: Mecum sunt divitoe, et gloria,opes superboe et justicia. Melior est fructus meus auro, et lapide pretioso,et genimina mea argento electo. In viis justitioe ambulo, in medio semitarumjudicii, ut ditem diligentes me, et thesauros eorum repleam.(101) Whichsignifies: O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. Attend,little ones, to subtlety and sagacity; ye that are foolish, take notice.Hear, for I have to speak of great things. With me are riches and glory,high riches and justice. Better is the fruit that ye will find in me thangold and precious stones; and my generation -- namely, that which ye willengender of me in your souls -- is better than choice silver. I walk in theways of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may enrichthose that l ove me and fill their treasures perfectly. -- Herein DivineWisdom speaks to all those that set their hearts and affections upon anythingof the world, according as we have already said. And she calls them 'littleones,' because they make themselves like to that which they love, which islittle. And therefore she tells them to be subtle and to take note that sheis treating of great things and not of things that are little like themselves.That the great riches and the glory that they love are with her and in her,and not where they think. And that high riches and justice dwell in her;for, although they think the things of this world to be all this, she tellsthem to take note that her things are better, saying that the fruit thatthey will find in them will be better for them than gold and precious stones;and that which she engenders in souls is better than the choice silver whichthey love; by which is understood any kind of affection that can be possessedin this life.
Wherein the aforementioned subject is treated and continued, and it is shownby passages and figures from Holy Scripture how necessary it is for the soulto journey to God through this dark night of the mortification of desirein all things.
1FROM what has been said it may be seen in some measure how great a distancethere is between all that the creatures are in themselves and that whichGod is in Himself, and how souls that set their affections upon any of thesecreatures are at as great a distance as they from God; for, as we have said,love produces equality and likeness. This distance was clearly realized bySaint Augustine, who said in the Sololoquies, speaking with God: 'Miserableman that I am, when will my littleness and imperfection be able to havefellowship with Thy uprightness? Thou indeed art good, and I am evil; Thouart merciful, and I am impious; Thou art holy, I am miserable; Thou art just,I am unjust; Thou art light, I am blind; Thou, life, I, death; Thou, medicine,I, sick; Thou, supreme truth, I, utter vanity.' All this is said by thisSaint.(102)
2. Wherefore, it is supreme ignorance for the soul to think thatit will be able to pass to this high estate of union with God if first itvoid not the desire of all things, natural and supernatural, which may hinderit, according as we shall explain hereafter;(103) for there is the greatestpossible distance between these things and that which comes to pass in thisestate, which is naught else than transformation in God. For this reasonOur Lord, when showing us this path, said through Saint Luke: Qui non renuntiatomnibus quoe possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus.(104) This signifies:He that renounces not all things that he possesses with his will cannot beMy disciple. And this is evident; for the doctrine that the Son of God cameto teach was contempt for all things, whereby a man might receive as a rewardthe Spirit of God in himself. For, as long as the soul rejects not all things,it has no capacity to receive the Spirit of God in pure transformation.
3. Of this we have a figure in Exodus, wherein we read that God gave not thechildren of Israel the food from Heaven, which was manna, until the flourwhich they had brought from Egypt failed them. By this is signified thatfirst of all it is meet to renounce all things, for this angels' food isnot fitting for the palate that would find delight in the food of men. Andnot only does the soul become incapable of receiving the Divine Spirit whenit stays and pastures on other strange pleasures, but those souls greatlyoffend the Divine Majesty who desire spiritual food and are not content withGod alone, but desire rather to intermingle desire and affection for otherthings. This can likewise be seen in the same book of Holy Scripture,(105)wherein it is said that, not content with that simplest of food, they desiredand craved fleshly food.(106) And that Our Lord was greatly wroth that theyshould desire to intermingle a food that was so base and so coarse with onethat was so noble(107) and so simple; which, though it was so, had withinitself the sweetness and substance of all foods.(108) Wherefore, while theyyet had the morsels in their mouths, as David says likewise: Ira Dei descenditsuper eos.(109) The wrath of God came down upon them, sending fire from Heavenand consuming many thousands of them; for God held it an unworthy thing thatthey should have a desire for other food when He had given them food fromHeaven.
4. Oh, did spiritual persons but know how much good and what greatabundance of spirit they lose through not seeking to raise up their desiresabove childish things, and how in this simple spiritual food they would findthe sweetness of all things, if they desired not to taste those things! Butsuch food gives them no pleasure, for the reason why the children of Israelreceived not the sweetness of all foods that was contained in the manna wasthat they would not reserve their desire for it alone. So that they failedto find in the manna all the sweetness and strength that they could wish,not because it was not contained in the manna, but because they desired someother thing. Thus he that will love some other thing together with God ofa certainty makes little account of God, for he weighs in the balance againstGod that which, as we have said, is at the greatest possible distance fromGod. 5. It is well known by experience that, when the will of a man isaffectioned to one thing, he prizes it more than any other; although someother thing may be much better, he takes less pleasure in it. And if he wishesto enjoy both, he is bound to wrong the more important, because he makesan equality between them. Wherefore, since there is naught that equals God,the soul that loves some other thing together with Him, or clings to it,does Him a grievous wrong. And if this is so, what would it be doing if itloved anything more than God?
6. It is this, too, that was denoted by thecommand of God to Moses that he should ascend the Mount to speak with Him:He commanded him not only to ascend it alone, leaving the children of Israelbelow, but not even to allow the beasts to feed over against the Mount.(110)By this He signified that the soul that is to ascend this mount of perfection,to commune with God, must not only renounce all things and leave them below,but must not even allow the desires, which are the beasts, to pasture overagainst this mount -- that is, upon other things which are not purely God,in Whom -- that is, in the state of perfection -- every desire ceases. Sohe that journeys on the road and makes the ascent to God must needs be habituallycareful to quell and mortify the desires; and the greater the speed wherewitha soul does this, the sooner will it reach the end of its journey. Untilthese be quelled, it cannot reach the end, however much it practise the virtues,since it is unable to attain to perfection in them; for this perfection consistsin voiding and stripping and purifying the soul of every desire. Of thiswe have another very striking figure in Genesis, where we read that, whenthe patriarch Jacob desired to ascend Mount Bethel, in order to build analtar there to God whereon he should offer Him sacrifice, he first commandedall his people to do three things: one was that they should cast away fromthem all strange gods; the second, that they should purify themselves; thethird, that they should change their garments.(111)
7. By these three thingsit is signified that any soul that will ascend this mount in order to makeof itself an altar whereon it may offer to God the sacrifice of pure loveand praise and pure reverence, must, before ascending to the summit of themount, have done these three things aforementioned perfectly. First, it mustcast away all strange gods -- namely, all strange affections and attachments;secondly, it must purify itself of the remnants which the desires aforementionedhave left in the soul, by means of the dark night of sense whereof we arespeaking, habitually denying them and repenting itself of them; and thirdly,in order to reach the summit of this high mount, it must have changed itsgarments, which, through its observance of the first two things, God willchange for it, from old to new, by giving it a new understanding of God inGod, the old human understanding being cast aside; and a new love of Godin God, the will being now stripped of all its old desires and human pleasures,and the soul being brought into a new state of knowledge and profound delight,all other old images and forms of knowledge having been cast away, and allthat belongs to the old man, which is the aptitude of the natural self, quelled,and the soul clothed with a new supernatural aptitude with respect to allits faculties. So that its operation, which before was human, has becomeDivine, which is that that is attained in the state of union, wherein thesoul becomes naught else than an altar whereon God is adored in praise andlove, and God alone is upon it. For this cause God commanded that the altarwhereon the Ark of the Covenant was to be laid should be hollow within;(112)so that the soul may understand how completely empty of all things God desiresit to be, that it may be an altar worthy of the presence of His Majesty.On this altar it was likewise forbidden that there should be any strangefire, or that its own fire should ever fail; and so essential was this that,because Nadab and Abiu, who were the sons of the High Priest Aaron, offeredstrange fire upon His Altar, Our Lord was wroth and slew them there beforethe altar.(113) By this we are to understand that the love of God must neverfail in the soul, so that the soul may be a worthy altar, and so that noother love must be mingled with it.
8. God permits not that any other thingshould dwell together with Him. Wherefore we read in the First Book the Kingsthat, when the Philistines put the Ark of the Co venant into the temple wheretheir idol was, the idol was cast down upon the ground at the dawn of eachday, and broken to pieces.(114) And He permits and wills that there shouldbe only one desire where He is, which is to keep the law of God perfectly,and to bear upon oneself the Cross of Christ. And thus naught else is saidin the Divine Scripture to have been commanded by God to be put in the Ark,where the manna was, save the book of the Law,(115) and the rod Moses,(116)which signifies the Cross. For the soul that aspires naught else than thekeeping of the law of the Lord perfectly and the bearing of the Cross ofChrist will be a true Ark, containing within itself the true manna, whichis God, when that soul attains to a perfect possession within itself of thislaw and this rod, without any other thing soever.
John - Scent Carmel 1 1