THE ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE
CHAPTER II SHOWING HOW WE SHALL CONSIDER THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THREE WAYS
CHAPTER VI OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
CHAPTER VII OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENTS
CHAPTER VIII OF THE THIRD COMING OF CHRIST
CHAPTER X OF THE FIVE KINDS OF MEN WHO SHALL APPEAR AT THE JUDGMENT
CHAPTER XI OF A SPIRITUAL GOING OUT WITH ALL VIRTUES
CHAPTER XII HOW HUMILITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL OTHER VIRTUES
CHAPTER XIV OF THE RENUNCIATION OF SELF WILL
CHAPTER XX OF ZEAL AND DILIGENCE
CHAPTER XXI OF TEMPERANCE AND SOBRIETY
CHAPTER XXIII OF THREE ENEMIES TO BE OVERCOME BY RIGHTEOUSNESS
CHAPTER XXIV OF THE KINGDOM OF THE SOUL
CHAPTER XXV OF A SPIRITUAL MEETING OF GOD AND OURSELVES
CHAPTER XXVI OF THE DESIRE TO KNOW THE BRIDEGROOM IN HIS NATURE
CHAPTER I HOW WE ACHIEVE SUPERNATURAL SIGHT IN OUR INWARD WORKINGS
CHAPTER II OF A THREE-FOLD UNITY WHICH IS IN US BY NATURE
CHAPTER III OF THE INFLOW OF THE GRACE OF GOD INTO OUR SPIRIT
CHAPTER IV SHOWING HOW WE SHOULD FOUND OUR INWARD LIFE ON A FREEDOM FROM IMAGES
CHAPTER V OF A THREE-FOLD COMING OF OUR LORD IN THE INWARD MAN
CHAPTER VI OF THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD IN THE INWARD MAN
CHAPTER VII OF THE THIRD COMING OF OUR LORD
CHAPTER VIII HOW THE FIRST COMING HAS FOUR DEGREES
CHAPTER XIV OF TWO GRIEFS WHICH ARISE FROM INWARD GRATITUDE
CHAPTER XV A SIMILITUDE HOW WE SHOULD PERFORM THE FIRST DEGREE OF OUR INWARD EXERCISE
CHAPTER XVI ANOTHER SIMILITUDE CONCERNING THE SAME EXERCISE
CHAPTER XVII OF THE SECOND DEGREE OF OUR INWARD EXERCISE, WHICH INCREASES INWARDNESS BY HUMILITY
CHAPTER XVIII OF THE PURE DELIGHT OF THE HEART AND THE SENSIBLE POWERS
CHAPTER XIX OF SPIRITUAL INEBRIATION
CHAPTER XX WHAT MAY HINDER A MAN IN THIS INEBRIATION
CHAPTER XXI A SIMILITUDE HOW A MAN SHOULD ACT AND BEAR HIMSELF IN THIS CASE
CHAPTER XXII OF THE THIRD DEGREE OF THE SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST
CHAPTER XXIII OF THE PAIN AND RESTLESSNESS OF LOVE
CHAPTER XXIV OF ECSTACIES AND DIVINE REVELATIONS
CHAPTER XXV AN EXAMPLE SHOWING HOW ONE IS HINDERED IN THIS EXERCISE
CHAPTER XXVII A PARABLE OF THE ANT
CHAPTER XXVIII OF THE FOURTH DEGREE OF THE COMING OF CHRIST
CHAPTER XXIX SHOWING WHAT THE FORSAKEN MAN SHOULD DO
CHAPTER XXX A PARABLE: HOW ONE MAY BE HINDERED IN THIS FOURTH DEGREE
CHAPTER XXXI OF ANOTHER HINDRANCE
CHAPTER XXXIIOF FOUR KINDS OF FEVER WHEREWITH A MAN MAY BE TORMENTED
CHAPTER XXXIIISHOWING HOW THESE FOUR DEGREES IN THEIR PERFECTION ARE FOUND IN CHRIST
CHAPTER XXXIVSHOWING HOW A MAN SHOULD LIVE IF HE WOULD BE ENLIGHTENED
CHAPTER XXXVOF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, OR, THE FOUNTAIN WITH THREE RILLS
XXXVICHAPTER XXXVITHE FIRST RILL ADORNS THE MEMORY[1]
CHAPTER XXXVIITHE SECOND RILL ENLIGHTENS THE UNDERSTANDING
CHAPTER XXXVIIITHE THIRD RILL ESTABLISHES THE WILL TO EVERY PERFECTION
CHAPTER XXXIXSHOWING HOW THE ESTABLISHED MAN SHALL GO OUT IN FOUR WAYS
CHAPTER XLHE SHALL GO OUT TOWARDS GOD AND TOWARDS ALL SAINTS
CHAPTER XLIHE SHALL GO OUT TOWARDS ALL SINNERS
CHAPTER XLIIHE SHALL GO OUT TOWARDS HIS FRIENDS IN PURGATORY
CHAPTER XLIIIHE SHALL GO OUT TOWARDS HIMSELF AND TOWARDS ALL GOOD MEN
CHAPTER XLIVSHOWING HOW WE MAY RECOGNISE THOSE MEN WHO FAIL IN CHARITY TO ALL
CHAPTER XLVHOW CHRIST WAS, IS, AND EVER WILL BE THE LOVER OF ALL
CHAPTER XLVIREPROVING ALL THOSE WHO LIVE ON SPIRITUAL GOODS IN AN INORDINATE MANNER
CHAPTER XLVIISHOWING HOW CHRIST HAS GIVEN HIMSELF TO ALL IN COMMON IN THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR
CHAPTER XLVIIIOF THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE IN THE TRINITY OF THE PERSONS
CHAPTER XLIXSHOWING HOW GOD POSSESSES AND MOVES THE SOUL BOTH IN A NATURAL AND A SUPERNATURAL WAY
CHAPTER LSHOWING HOW A MAN SHOULD BE ADORNED IF HE IS TO RECEIVE THE MOST INWARD EXERCISE
CHAPTER LIOF THE THIRD COMING OF CHRIST
CHAPTER LIISHOWING HOW THE SPIRIT GOES OUT THROUGH THE DIVINE STIRRING
CHAPTER LIIIOF AN ETERNAL HUNGER FOR GOD
CHAPTER LIVOF A LOVING STRIFE BETWEEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND OUR SPIRIT
CHAPTER LVOF THE FRUITFUL WORKS OF THE SPIRIT, THE WHICH ARE ETERNAL
CHAPTER LVIIOF THE ESSENTIAL MEETING WITH GOD WITHOUT MEANS IN THE NAKEDNESS OF OUR NATURE
CHAPTER LVIIISHOWING HOW ONE IS LIKE UNTO GOD THROUGH GRACE AND UNLIKE UNTO GOD THROUGH MORTAL SIN
CHAPTER LIXSHOWING HOW ONE POSSESSES GOD IN UNION AND REST, ABOVE ALL LIKENESS THROUGH GRACE
CHAPTER LXIOF HOW GOD AND OUR SPIRIT VISIT EACH OTHER IN THE UNITY AND IN THE LIKENESS
CHAPTER LXIISHOWING HOW WE SHOULD GO OUT TO MEET GOD
CHAPTER LXIIIOF THE ORDERING OF ALL THE VIRTUES THROUGH THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST
CHAPTER LXIVOF THE HIGHEST DEGREE OF THE MOST INTERIOR LIFE
CHAPTER LXVOF THREE KINDS OF MOST INWARD PRACTICES
CHAPTER LXVISHOWING HOW SOME MEN LIVE CONTRARY TO THESE EXERCISES
CHAPTER LXVIIOF ANOTHER KIND OF PERVERTED MEN
CHAPTER I SHOWING THE THREE WAYS BY WHICH ONE ENTERS INTO THE GOD-SEEING LIFE
CHAPTER III HOW OUR SPIRIT IS CALLED TO GO OUT IN CONTEMPLATION AND FRUITION
CHAPTER IV OF A DIVINE MEETING WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE HIDDENNESS OF OUR SPIRIT
Now we will speak further of the fourth manner of the coming of Christ, uplifting and perfecting a man by inward exercise in the lower part of his being. But having likened all the inward comings to the splendour of the sun, and to its power, according to the course of the year, we will speak further, according to the course of the seasons, of another action and another work of the sun.
When the sun first begins to descend from the zenith to the nadir, it enters the sign which is called Virgo, that is, the Virgin, because now the season becomes unfruitful, as a virgin is. (In this time the glorious Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, ascended to heaven full of joy and rich in all virtues.) At this time the heat begins to grow less; and men begin to gather in, for use during the rest of the year, those ripe and lasting fruits which can be kept and consumed long afterwards, such as corn and wine and the durable fruits, which have now come to their maturity. And a part of the same corn is sown, so that it be multiplied for the benefit of men. In this season all the work of the sun of the whole year is perfected and fulfilled.
So likewise, when Christ the glorious Sun has risen to the zenith in a man’s heart, as I have taught you in the third degree; and when He then begins to descend and to hide the shining of His Divine rays and to forsake the man; then the heat and impatience of love begin to grow less. Now when Christ thus hides Himself, and withdraws the shining of His brightness and His heat, this is the first work, and the new coming, of this degree. Then Christ speaks in ghostly wise within this man, saying: “Go ye out in such wise as I will now show you.” So the man goes out, and finds himself poor and miserable and forsaken. Here all the tempest and fury and impatience of love grow less, and the hot summer passes into autumn, and all its riches are turned to great poverty. Then the man begins to complain because of his wretchedness: Whither has gone the ardent love, the inwardness, the gratitude, the joyful praise? And the inward consolation, the intimate joy, the sensible savour, how has he lost them? How have the fierce tempest of love, and all the other gifts which he felt before, become dead in him? And he feels like an ignorant man who has lost all his pains and his labour. And often his natural life is troubled by such a loss.
Sometimes these unhappy men are also deprived of their earthly goods, of friends, of kinsmen; and they are abandoned of all creatures, their holiness is not known or esteemed, men speak evil of their works and their whole lives, and they are despised and rejected by all their neighbours. And at times they fall into sickness and many a plague, and some into bodily temptations; or, that which is worst of all, into temptations of the spirit.
From this poverty arise a fear lest one should fall, and a kind of half-doubt. This is the utmost point at which a man can hold his ground without falling into despair. Such a man likes to seek out good men, and to complain to them, and show them his miseries; and he desires the help and prayers of Holy Church and of all the just.