A TREATISE ON INSPIRATIONS
SERMON 2
MONDAY AFTER THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
THE VARIETY OF INSPIRATIONS
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God [1 Jn 4:1]. Those journeying through this world, as if across a wide sea, must be most cautious against dangers. Often we are deceived by what seems to be good; unless we strive to be directed in our actions by the divine light, we will necessarily sink into many dangerous traps. We can avoid these dangers by caution and prudence. Isidore says in Etymologiarum,[1] caution is prudence in discerning vices ‘which show themselves as virtue’. Prudence is reason instructed by grace, by which, for the sake of justice, one is careful to avoid all that is contrary to justice. Imprudence is a darkening of the mind, so that one is less careful in assessing what has happened and what is in the future. It is the duty of a prudent person to weigh advice, so as not to fall prey quickly to dangers or doubts from a facile readiness to trust; it is better to avoid dangers beforehand, than to apply a remedy after danger and a mistake. According to Isidore, as above,[2] foresight is so called ‘from looking ahead,[3] for a sharp sighted person foresees the likelihood of unsure events’.
The greater the fear of injury, the more prompt and perfect will be the safeguards used. In the spiritual life, the imprudent must overcome many and great dangers, against which it is not easy to apply a remedy afterwards. Deuteronomy says of the imprudent if they were wise, about the past, they would understand this, that is the present, and they would discern what the end would be [32:29], that is the future.
The far-sighted John exhorts us to acquire the ability to apply safeguards in the area of inspirations when he says in the text already quoted: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Some inspirations come from the world, some from the flesh, and many from the devil, which the imprudent regard as divine. In the more serious dangers met in the spiritual life, there is need, not only of a prudent foresight, but also of a gift of understanding and a clear intelligence, by which one can approve or reject whether the inspirations are from God.
I realize the work I am beginning is difficult and needs above all the light of discretion; but, giving in to the constant requests of many devout people and trusting in the compassion of God, I put down for the benefit of many others what I hold on this subject, submitting this and all my words to the pious correction and amendment of those more skilled in knowledge and experience.
So regarding the matter, variety and the testing of inspirations we are to consider three things: firstly, how to distinguish inspirations;[4] secondly, how inspirations are sometimes hidden;[5] and thirdly, how inspirations work.[6]
SECTION 1
THE SEVEN TYPES OF INSPIRATIONS AND THEIR ORIGIN
Firstly, we consider the distinction between inspirations. In general, there are three types of inspiration that cover all inspirations: some are evil, some are good, and some neither good nor evil. So inspiration can be defined as: ‘Inspiration is a certain stirring of the mind to do something meritorious or wrong or indifferent’.[7]
§ Good inspirations are of three kinds:
Ø the first are divine,[8]
Ø the second angelic,[9]
Ø and the third come from one’s personal virtue in a
correct striving for salvation.[10]
§ Evil inspirations are of two kinds:
Ø the first are diabolical,[11]
Ø and the second are evil in themselves.[12]
§ Indifferent inspirations also come in two forms:
Ø the first arise from human need,[13]
Ø the second from some human custom.[14]
In brief,
inspirations can be reduced to seven kinds: the first are divine; the second, angelic; the third come from one’s own virtue; the fourth are diabolical; the fifth come from one’s own malice; the sixth, from human need; and the seventh, from some human custom.
CHAPTER 1
God alone inspires good inspirations without any intermediary, changes the human will, though the will remains free
The first inspirations are divine. According to Alexander of Hales in II and 14 quaest.,[15] God alone sends good thoughts, stirs and changes the rational will.
§ Firstly, God alone sends good thoughts since such ‘a giving of good will is a work, a creation’, according to the venerable Bede;[16] The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord [Prov 21:1], that is, in the power of God. It will be shown in the following chapter,[17] that,
although an angel to some extent may move a mind towards good, the first cause of good is not in the angel but in God; so in Sacred Scripture the inspiring of good thoughts is attributed to God, not to an angel.
From this it is clear that when evil is planned in our heart, it is our own doing; when good is planned, the inspiration is to be attributed to the merciful God. Of such an inspiration the Lord says The wind (Spirit) blows where it chooses [Jn 3:8].
§ Secondly, God alone ignites good thoughts. To ignite is to give a type of fire. God alone gives to the will a kind of spiritual fire, that is, love, as when the Lord says I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! [Lk 12:49].
§ Thirdly, only God changes the rational will to what God wants; and yet the will remains free. So the Prophet says: Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, that is, in the soul and the body, in the seas and all deeps [Ps 135:6].
In varied and many ways God has directed, taught and inspired devout minds. God does this:
§ sometimes by clear revelations;
§ sometimes by placing the virtues of faith, hope and love
imperceptibly in the powers of the soul;
§ sometimes by alerting the mind, the memory and the will to
some objects most useful for salvation;
§ sometimes God directs the understanding of a person towards
some servant of God who can direct and help the person;
§ sometimes God directs a devout and zealous person to a
passage of Sacred Scripture, as happened to blessed Francis in
the triple opening of the Gospels;[18]
§ sometimes God guides one’s attention to a story, and the
person is consoled from desiring what is in the story.
In these and similar experiences there is need for much seriousness and an enlightened discernment because of the subtlety of spiritual deceptions. Sometimes God enlightens the mind with his light without using an intermediary; the Prophet says this: The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us [Ps 4:6],[19] ‘this is your bright face’,[20] which is nothing other than yourself. God’s face is shown to us when the brightness of some new revelation or grace shines from God into our souls, that is, into the higher powers of the soul. Because only the Creator knows when it pleases him to do this, the Prophet says: thy countenance is signed upon us, that is closed. Or it is closed, because such illuminations in the human soul do not occur except when God’s light opens itself and is poured out like lightning in darkness. Or it is called sealed, that is, closed, because it is unknown; to very few has it been opened and made known.
Holy angels are sometimes mediators between God and us, because at times we are not ready to be illumined by God’s splendour without an intermediary.
§ In many, undoubtedly, the offensiveness of vice and sin blocks an illumination without an intermediary.
§ In many the hold of the body on the soul prevents the withdrawal necessary for this illumination; in some it is their temperament, because some temperaments make the soul sluggish and impede noble virtues. Galenus[21] says that a phlegmatic temperament is of no help to the powers of the soul.
§ In many the problem comes from concern for tangible and temporal realities. The concern for tangible and temporal realities disturbs and occupies the human mind, holding people back from the perfection of sublime and hidden realities, as when a vase full of one liquid cannot receive any other liquid; or just as a writing table or skin already written upon cannot receive further writing. According to Proverbs, A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion [18:2]. Aristotle[22] thought all geniuses to be of a melancholic temperament since the melancholic are more suited to receive illuminations than people of other temperaments, because they are more withdrawn from the pleasures of the body and from disturbances.
Although nature provides the helps listed above for illuminations and revelations, however, the grace of the Creator and cleanness of conversation, with a purity of holiness, bring them down much more abundantly and sometimes obtain them even when not asked for, especially if the glory and honour of the Creator and the public good are their worry and more vigilant care.
How the holy angels inspire good thoughts in the soul
The second kind of inspirations is angelic. According to Dionysius, in IV De divinis nominibus,[23] an angel cannot, like God, move the human will without some medium; an angel needs the medium of some object. An angel has a fourfold office with humans, namely, to illuminate, inflame, enable and make known.
The first office is to illuminate. To illuminate means to impart knowledge from some hidden source. An angel illuminates the human mind to know good; free will longs for a known good; the will chooses this freely, provided it be not held and captured by some harmful sweetness. Alexander of Hales, as above,[24] says,
human feeling and human reasoning are not the same. The human mind necessarily receives the effect of the angelic action, unless it is strongly held by some other interest; but the will does not have to receive it since it is completely free.
Note, on account of the hindrances mentioned in the preceding chapter,[25] a double hindrance can block out the light of truth from the soul: the first is the burden of human corruption, and the second the evil influence of the demon.
§ The first hindrance, I say, is the burden of human corruption. It is written: a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthly tent burdens the thoughtful mind [Wis 9:15]. Due to corruption, the soul is easily inclined to disordered thoughts, the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth [Gen 8:21].
§ The second hindrance is the evil influence of the demon. Augustine, in Eighty Three Different Questions[26] says: ‘An evil spirit blocks the mind’s workings through which the rays of eternal light are to pass’. By these two hindrances the soul is impeded from rising to good thoughts. Against these two hindrances the good angel frees the soul in a double way.
Ø Firstly, by enlightening the soul to look on spiritual matters, so that the soul is stirred to good thoughts.
Ø Secondly, by preventing contrary powers from blocking the enlightenment, as is written: After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth [Rev 7:1].
The second office of angels is to inflame, that is, to inflame a thought already in the mind.
This burning is a kind of drying; it is one thing to dry wood for it to burn, another to burn wood. The angels do nothing other than prepare for burning; only God lights the fire, that is, forms good will in the soul. Good angels do not produce good thoughts in the mind, but remove the hindrances so that God can put good thoughts into the mind. On the text of Job: your hands fashioned me [18:2], [27] a Gloss[28] says, ‘an angel is said to give understanding to a person, like one who brings light into a house by making a window; the window does not enlighten by its own light’.
The third office of angels is to enable: they incline the mind to good by informing the spirit of the mind by an immediate illumination, or by communicating their own visions. As Augustine says, The Literal Meaning of Genesis[29]: ‘The holy angels pour their own vision in a wonderful way into our mind, and what they see they make ours’. This can be shown to some extent by an example. Spiritual creatures, such as angels and souls, are spiritual mirrors as Dionysius says, De divinis nominibus.[30] Just as when one mirror is put before another, the image in one is reproduced in the other, so it can be, although the parallel is slight, that a spiritual mirror, namely an angel, puts itself before the soul, and the images in the angel are reflected in the soul, or accepted by it; such images enable and excite the mind to think on good. According to Augustine, in the book De spiritu et anima,[31] an angel works on the human mind in another wonderful way. After Augustine had spoken of revelations which come to us in dreams from angels, he adds: ‘We know that even when awake thoughts come by some hidden process which we call divination; just as Caiphas prophesied even when he had no intention of prophesying’ [Jn 11:51].
All of this comes from Alexander of Hales, as above.[32]
or reveal to humans their fourfold defect, namely, their inclination to evil, difficulty in doing good, distance from the Lord, and being lukewarm of soul. For these four defects, four angels, and not more, are designated, as revealed in Sacred Scripture,
according to Bonaventure, in Centiloquium,[33] namely, Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel.
§ The first is Raphael which means ‘medicine of God’,[34] or ‘God healing’, and this angel was sent to cure Tobias of blindness of the eyes, and Sarah from reproach over the death of her husbands. This is against two conditions we inherit from original sin, namely, an ignorance of what is to be done, and a concupiscence for evil, both of which make us prone to evil.
§ The second is Gabriel which means ‘strength of God’,[35] by which we are enabled and fortified to observe precepts and fulfill the counsels. As a sign of the first office the angel was sent to announce to the spouses the birth of the Precursor [Lk 1:10-19]; as a sign of the second the angel was sent to announce the birth of the Saviour from the Virgin Mother [Lk 1:26]. By the example of John and the blessing and example of Christ we are enabled to do good with ease.
§ The third is Michael, which means ‘who is like God’,[36] and Michael is said to present souls to God in heaven. This is the reason why he wages war with the dragon, namely, to snatch souls from the hand of the devil [Rev 12:7-8]. We celebrate solemn feasts of these angels, namely, the Epiphany and the Dedication, as a sign that one angel is for us while we live in this world, and the other leads us out of exile.
§ The fourth is Uriel which means ‘shining for God’ or opening to God, or ‘fire of God’, or ‘a burning from God’.[37] This double interpretation indicates that we are enlightened to the truth and enkindled in love by this ministry. The angels are sent to enlighten our minds and to inflame our affections, as is clear from the preceding. The name Uriel is read in IV Esdras because the angel was sent to console the people of God when they were oppressed by foreigners.
CHAPTER 3
The third kind of inspirations comes from one’s own virtue which merits salvation, that is from the habit of love which is in the soul. So great is the power and working of love and the other habitual virtues with which the mind is clothed as with changes of ornaments, that they incline the mind and enlighten the intellect to good desires; the Apostle says: all things work together for good for those who love God [Rom 8:28]. What more fitting help could come from the gift of love, than to excite the mind towards the better gifts? The Lord says: For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they seem to have, will be taken away [ Mt 13:12], as if to say: Whoever has love and the other habitual virtues, from which a person is incited towards good, there will be given to them, namely, from a holy inspiration from God, and more will be given, namely, in good desires; but from those who have nothing, namely, the habitual and practiced virtues (practice is another nature), not only will they not receive, but what they seem to have will be taken from them. For it says: what they seem to have, namely, opportunity to listen to the angelic or divine inspirations, will be taken from them, due to the shortness of life and death. And this will be the imminent and great danger in the time of the Antichrist, namely, not to be well practised in virtue; Christ warns against this: Woe to those who are pregnant and to those nursing infants in those days!’ [Mt 24:19], that is, having good desires but not yet exercised in virtue; they will not endure the strong temptations of that time.
CHAPTER 4
On inspirations from the evil spirits, and how they stir human thoughts
The fourth kind is diabolical.
Demons are impure spirits, enemies of the human race, rational in their thinking, subtle in wickedness, anxious to harm, arrogant in pride, always original in deceit; they distort thinking, pollute the affections, disturb the vigilant, disturb the sleeping by dreams, cause sickness, stir up storms, change themselves into angels of light, always carry hell within themselves, plunder the worship of the divine by putting themselves forward as idols, are anxious to control the good, and through them magical arts are practiced. They are given to the good as a test, and finally are always inimical to the final end of human beings.[38]
Concerning diabolical inspirations it is to be noted that, according to Alexander of Hales,[39] the devil in fact ‘in no way can send bad thoughts’ into the mind, because thought is a voluntary action of the mind, and so belongs entirely to the free will. However, in a fourfold way the devil can incite human thinking to evil, firstly by offering an image, secondly by inaudible speaking, thirdly by a personal attack, and fourthly by external actions.
§ Firstly, I say, by offering an image. According to Augustine,[40] the devil presents to the mind at one time prosperity, at another adversity; from this presentation, the soul in its imagination occupies itself, and, as a result, directs its mind or disposes itself in this direction. Gregory[41] says:
The devil puts at one time what is prosperous before the greedy, and at another time what is difficult before the timid to affect them all the more.
Note, although the devil cannot send bad thoughts, as already said, it can be said to send them in two ways.
Ø The first way of sending is to prepare someone for a purpose, according to the Prophet: sent by evil angels [Ps 77:49].[42]
Ø The second way of sending is by action. In so far as to send is to dispose a person from outside, some saints have said that the devil sends thoughts. The devil offers an image to the mind; the soul can pursue or flee from what is offered; the devil, however, does not send the thought, that is, produce it. Evil thoughts, in so far as they are evil, come from the person; good thoughts come only from God.
§ Secondly, our adversary speaks with inaudible speech. Gregory, in Moralia,[43] says: Who is speaking will become clear from the suggestion itself. The spirit of the flesh will always suggest softness, the spirit of the world vanity, the spirit of evil always speaks of things bitter. From this it is clear that this inaudible speech is the devil’s roundabout way of attempting to deceive souls in many ways.
§ Thirdly, through personal attack. It is easy for the evil spirits to depict signs or images in the imaginations of people to the extent that such people approach the demons. The images of things physical, things outside of us, which come to us through the bodily senses, can so easily be depicted in our senses, and also in our souls. Evil spirits are complete in their form, according to the Philosopher,[44] who says, ‘every intelligent being is complete in form’. It is not surprising, then, when the demons are in contact with our souls that, in the soul or in the imagination, they depict and make clear images of things they choose, in so far as they are allowed by the all powerful Creator. Just as there are many holes in a sieve, so the devil who appears in many guises, has a thousand ways of tempting a person whom he attacks; he uses as many ways of tempting as there are vices. According to Augustine,[45] the devil is full of incitement to vice’, and so uses every effort to kindle his fires in our souls. And Alexander of Hales, as above[46]:
His attacks are called reasons for thinking of evil that has its origin in these demons who are full of evil thoughts and feelings and aim to enkindle the same in others. He is said to be full because every type of suggestion has its origin in him; full malice is also in him, for no one is worse. But he does not have sufficient and effective strength to stir every human heart. Not every material is combustible, nor does every free person follow the fire of the devil. So John Damascene[47] says, the devil is able to attack us, ‘but it is for us to allow or not allow’ him as we choose.
§ Fourthly, the demon acts through an external action when, suggesting evil to us externally and visibly by some sign, he influences someone to consent to sin; so Augustine, Eighty Three Different Questions,[48] says of the devil tempting: ‘This evil creeps in through all the avenues of the senses, it takes on shapes, accommodates itself to colours, hides itself in odours, and spreads into the taste’. This is nothing other than to provoke in the soul an unlawful delight in these. Gregory[49] also, on Job: A rope is hid for them in the ground [18:10], says:
The enemy of the human race studies carefully the morals of each person, to which vice each is close, and puts before the face of their body or mind this vice to which he knows the person is easily drawn, offering concupiscence and vain glory to the smooth tongued and pleasant, while offering anger, pride or cruelty to gruff persons.
And he says in general: ‘Therefore, he places the net of deception where he finds a way close to the way of thinking of the person’. Alexander of Hales, in II, quaest. 36[50] says:
It can be thought that the false colours put so carefully on the faces of women, or even in their hair, come from a suggestion of the devil. Likewise the false scents and tasty dishes, prepared with more care than is necessary, are not to meet human needs but to provoke pleasure. The same is true of those games of men or women with music provoking even to wantonness. The same is true of the clothing fashions and frequents baths serving pleasure rather than necessity. So too for the songs of women, dances and so on, provoking to wantonness;
and so, through all the senses of the body the soul is enticed to evil. The devil also stirs up evil thoughts, even though he is not their author. Hence, They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven [Hos 7:4]; the oven means the human heart. As the cook feeds the fire in the oven, so the devil feeds the fire of concupiscence in the human heart.
Note, there are in the soul free judgment, intelligence and will; according to Alexander of Hales, as above,[51] there is a difference in the way the devil tempts, advises and suggests so as to fit in with each of these. For
temptation concerns free judgment, advice concerns the mind or intelligence, and suggestion concerns the will. Just as the Holy Spirit suggests good things to the human will, as is clear in John, so the evil spirit suggests evil to the will [14:26];
and so the difference between them is clear. Moreover, according to the same Alexander,[52] temptation differs in the persons tempted by the devil. Evil persons offer themselves and go to the devil to be tempted; but the devil goes to the good to tempt them, since they do not offer themselves to temptation, as do evil persons.
Our adversary deceives the soul in four ways by tempting: firstly, by advising good; secondly, by advising evil; thirdly, by advising against good; fourthly by advising against evil.
§ Firstly, he deceives by advising good for the purpose of evil; as when he advises an unstable person to enter religious life so that later the person may become an apostate.
§ Secondly, by advising evil under the guise of good; as when he counsels a person to swear falsely to save the property of another.
§ Thirdly, by advising against good as something dangerous; as when he persuades an upright person against entering religious life for fear of later regretting the decision and being shamed before others; or when he dissuades a person from giving alms or praying lest the person falls into vainglory. Fourthly, he advises against evil so as to tempt someone to something worse; as when he advises against excess in food and sleep, to lead the person to an ill advised abstinence, which indeed is worse’,[53]
for this is a condition full of many dangers.
The first three kinds of inspirations [the divine, the angelic, and those from one’s own virtue], are perfect and always to be followed in thinking and action whether they be pleasurable or hurtful. Sometimes the fourth kind of inspiration [diabolical] can be followed in thinking and action when these inspirations share something of the nature of the other three.[54]
Sometimes evil inspirations arise from one’s own malice
The fifth kind of inspirations is those born of one’s own malice and from an habitual and inveterate wickedness. Augustine, in the book De ecclesiasticis dogmatibus,[55] says:
Not all of our bad thoughts are stirred by the action of the devil, but at times they emerge from our own thinking.
And according to Alexander as above,[56]
Each has the power within, even when not tempted, to fall into sin. Falling into sin has its origin in evil thoughts, and so evil thoughts have their origin in one’s own malice.
The Lord says: For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come [Mk 7:21]. Bede[57] says:
In this passage are included those who would hold that thoughts are put in us by the devil, and not born of our own will.
The Lord also says: For out of the heart come evil intentions [Mt 15:19], that is, prompted by disordered affection and directed to do evil.
In the books of the holy Fathers[58] the holy Sincletica says:
As a ship is sometimes overwhelmed by the strength of the surrounding waves, and sometimes sinks from its own increasing weight, so too we sin sometimes from the wickedness of the demons, sometimes from our own wickedness.
Augustine in De Poenitentia, dist. 5, # 1,[59] says: ‘There are some who are not overcome but rather give themselves to sin, not waiting for the onslaught of temptation’. She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them [Hos 2:7]; and: You sent your envoys far away, that is bad thoughts and affections, and sent them down even to Sheol. You grew weary from your many wanderings, but you did not say, ‘It is useless’ [Isa 57:9-10]. Proverbs says of such: Those who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil; those whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways [2:14-15]. Certainly the devil, sure of such people, does not bother to work on them, and the supreme doctor and saviour of souls, I would say, despairs of them. The Prophet says: So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels [Ps 81:12],
that is, they progress in new sins which they discover, going from sin to sin; the Lord in Isaiah calls them back from this direction: cease to do evil, learn to do good [1:16-17].[60]
They are like the bitter and restless sea, which even when not stirred up by winds, never rests due to its ebb and flow. Of such Isaiah says: But the wicked are like the tossing sea, that cannot keep still [57:20]. Note that
the fourth and fifth kind of inspirations are known clearly by the lack of the conditions required in the first three; they are never to be heeded for gaining salvation,[61]
because they are for deception, not salvation.
CHAPTER 6
How inspirations sometimes arise from some human need
Inspirations of the sixth kind ‘come from a human need, in oneself or in another, with no other spiritual motive, yet with no intention of offending God’. In oneself, as happens when one falls into mud, immediately the thought comes to get up; to one fasting, comes a stronger appetite; to one starving, the thought of eating; to one cold, the thought of getting warm; to one worn out and weary, the thought of resting; and so on. In another, as when, without any reference to God, the thought of nursing and feeding a baby comes to a father and mother; to a peasant, of giving food and drink to animals; to a farmer, of cultivating the vineyard, the garden or the field; and so on. These are inspirations coming from a certain need.
CHAPTER 7
That sometimes inspirations come from a human custom
The seventh kind of inspirations arises from a human custom or fittingness in oneself or in another, as when the thought comes to use old clothes for exercise and work, to use stronger shoes for walking in mud, to wear lighter clothes in the summer. In another, as when the thought comes to answer a question, to give way to people we meet, not to be silent when greeted; and so on for like situations which commonly arise from fashion and are regarded as fitting.
Secondly, we are to consider the hidden nature of inspirations. By a dispensation of divine wisdom, the aforementioned kinds of inspirations are inspired in the soul in a wonderful and hidden way; it is impossible to discern some of them, in fact, a triple ignorance can occur, something completely excusable since it cannot be avoided.
The first ignorance concerns the first three kinds of inspirations, namely, the divine, angelic and those from personal virtue which merit salvation.
Not one of these can be discerned or distinguished from another, and so such ignorance is entirely excusable. Sometimes the fourth kind, namely those coming from the devil, joins itself to the first three, because it can happen that it cannot be distinguished from the other three. A divine inspiration may be thought to be angelic or from one’s own virtue; likewise an inspiration from one’s own virtue may seem to be angelic or divine.[62]
So the Apostle says: Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light [2 Cor 11:4]. There is a threefold reason for this ignorance.
§ Firstly, the four kinds of inspiration of which we are speaking act in the same way in the beginning of the inspiration, so that all assist virtue in the same way.
§ Secondly, they act and work in the same way during the inspiration, so that all assist virtue in the same way.
§ Thirdly, they act in the same way when finishing or at the end of an inspiration, so that they all assist souls toward beatitude and the glory of God most high.
It certainly seems strange how a human mind can follow the prompting of the devil and not fall into sin. Nor is it less wonderful, how one who imitates the inspiration or temptation of the devil can be said to fall into sin, when it is impossible to distinguish it from the first three inspirations.
In this question, as the above three reasons indicate, an inspiration of the devil acts in the same way as the first three, namely, by inspiring to good, doing good, and by ending with the same excellent purpose, namely, the glory of God and the salvation of souls. There is no reason, then, why a soul, when following such an inspiration with a holy intention, would lose or ought to lose the merit of a good action. It is not to be regarded, thought of or named an inspiration of the devil, since no one is obliged to the impossible. However, this rarely happens and it would be beyond or even against the intention of the demon, which of its nature is always contrary to the soul and never inspires good, except when its ultimate intention is to deceive, so that, under the appearance of good, what begins as a good work ends in a bad result.
It is not possible in some evil inspirations to discern from whom the inspiration comes
The second ignorance concerns the two kinds of inspirations, namely, the diabolical and those arising from one’s own malice, ‘of which not one of these can be discerned from another’. The reasons for this are completely similar to those stated in the preceding chapter, namely, firstly,
they operate in the same way when inspiring the mind; secondly, because they act in the same way during the inspiration; and thirdly, because they act in the same way when finishing.
That it is difficult with some inspirations to discern from where they come
The third ignorance refers to the last two inspirations, that is, those which arise from human need and
from custom or convenience. It is not completely impossible to understand the difference between these, but it is difficult, since need sometimes seems to be fashion and vice versa. But because these last two kinds of inspirations are neither perfect nor imperfect in themselves, they can be treated briefly since from them one can expect neither grave damage nor appreciable good.
On all good or bad actions variously inspired and distinguished in three ways[63]
Thirdly, we are to consider the way inspirations operate. It can be noted that all good or bad inspirations which people experience actively or passively, voluntarily or involuntarily, can be reduced to three kinds. Some concern things which delight, some concern things which afflict; and some concern things which both delight and afflict.
The triple difference in inspirations which delight and which can be good or harmful
Firstly, there are inspirations that delight us for good and for harm. Some delight the soul, some the body, some delight both the soul and the body.
§ Firstly, there are inspirations that delight the soul, by loving creatures harmfully and virtuously.
Ø In the first place, harmfully: the Lord forbids this, saying: Do not love the world or the things in the world [1 Jn 2:15]. The Lord says also: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me [Mt 10:37].
Ø In the second place, virtuously: as when one loves creatures on account of the one who made them and has an ordered affection for them. So in Deuteronomy are the allegorical words: Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favourite of his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil. Your bars are iron and bronze [33:24-25]. Asher means ‘wealth’ or ‘beatitude’,[64] and represents a wealthy person who does not hold temporal goods in a disordered way, but loves them in God and for God. He is blessed in his children whom he does not love in a disordered way; he pleases his brothers, namely, from his loving and pleasant dealings with them; he dips his foot in oil, because his affection is for God, implied in the oil; he is firm with himself, indicated by the iron; proclaimed for his reputation and good example towards the neighbour, which is represented in the sounding brass.
§ Secondly, some inspirations delight the body, namely, when one delights in things pleasant, whether for harm or virtue.
Ø In the first place, for harm: of such Amos says: Alas for those who are at ease in Zion. And there follows:
Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches; and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! [6:1.4-6].
In these verses all the bodily senses, wrongfully enjoyed, are presented clearly to the reader.
Ø In the second place for virtue: of this the Prophet says to the Lord: For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work [Ps 92:4]. He does not say: your work has delighted me, but you have made me glad, that is, made me delight in your work. What God does can delight the wicked, but God delights the just in what God does. And he adds: at the work of your hands I sing for joy.[65]
§ Thirdly, some inspirations delight the soul and the body, namely, when the human senses are attracted by pleasing works, so that the human will rightfully rejoices; and this can be for good or harm.
Ø Firstly, for harm: Job says of such: They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe, that is, in temporal goods, in prosperity and earthly pleasure; and in peace they go down to Sheol [21:12-13].
Ø Secondly, for good: by contemplating in creation the goodness and sweetness of the Creator, according to the statement of the Apostle who says: Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made [Rom 1:20].
CHAPTER 2
The triple difference in inspired actions which can be good or harmful
Secondly, however, some inspired actions torment both for good and for harm. Some of these torment the soul, some the body, and some the body and the soul.
§ Firstly, actions that torment the soul from the affliction of one’s neighbours, and this can be harmful or good.
Ø Firstly, harmful: as when one suffers with and is afflicted on account of a person loved wrongfully and carnally. So Hugh of Saint Victor[66]: ‘Compassion is wrong when held by an affection tinged with reprehensible sorrow because of first being held by an unlawful love’.
Ø Secondly, for good: Hugo[67] says of this: ‘Compassion is virtuous, when one sympathizes with another’s sorrows, considered to be justly oppressed or innocently afflicted’. And Gregory, Moralia,[68] book VII, says: ‘The more perfect a person, the more completely does one feel the sorrows of another’; and of this the Apostle says when commending some: For you had compassion on those who were in prison [Heb 10:34].
§ Secondly, ‘some inspired actions torment the body especially in serving others’;[69] and this for good or for harm.
Ø Firstly, for harm, as happens to workers, servants, and wicked members of a household, who can say to their lords the prophetic word: Because of you we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter [Ps 44:22].
Ø Secondly, for good: as to obey the precepts of prelates and lords for the sake of God; the Apostle commands this towards prelates when he says: Obey your leaders [Heb 13:17]; and he says regarding earthly lords the solemn word in Ephesians:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women [6:5-7].
§ Thirdly,
some inspired actions torment both the soul and the body, as when the senses are preoccupied with things which afflict; so the human will can be tormented for good and for harm.
Ø Firstly, for harm: as when in wars and fighting people strive in mind and body to harm their opponents. Of this mystery there is written, Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords [Gen 49:5-7]. Simeon means ‘hearing grief’,[70] and Levi ‘more yet’.[71] They correctly represent people fighting one another, for on one side is heard grief and, on the other, sorrow is added to the grief. And there follows: Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! All this clearly indicates torment of soul and body.
Ø Secondly, for good: as often happens in serving the seriously ill, because it weighs heavily on the soul from compassion, and heavily on the body from the strenuous efforts involved; so Sirach says: Do not hesitate to visit the sick, because for such deeds you will be loved [7:35]. To those who work in such services the Lord gives the highest praise, because in giving glory to them the Lord will say: I was sick and you took care of me [Mt 25:36]. The same can be said of the other works of mercy.
CHAPTER 3
The triple difference in inspired actions which are burdensome and pleasant and which can also be for harm and for good
Thirdly, some inspired actions both delight and torment, and this for harm and for good. Some delight the soul but afflict the body; some delight the body but torment the soul; some torment and delight from different points of view.
§ Firstly, some inspired actions both delight and torment, and this for harm and for good.
Ø Firstly, for harm: for jest and recreation to go through snow without shoes or clothes, or to play in snow or near snow, delights the mind but torments the body, for harm.[72] Tobit says of such games: Never have I joined myself with them that play: neither have I made myself partaker with them that walk in lightness [3:17].[73]
Ø Secondly, ‘for good: as to go through snow without shoes so as to chill concupiscence from the body, when this is done for divine love and for zeal for purity’, as did our blessed Father Francis;[74] ‘and it delights the soul and torments the body, but for good’. The Apostle puts this as a work of perfection when he says: Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly [Col 3:5].
§ Secondly, some inspired actions
delight the body but torment the soul, both for harm and for good.
Ø Firstly, for harm: as when a modest and chaste wife desires to preserve her chastity, but has to fulfil the marriage duty to her husband; by fulfilling her marriage duties, as she is bound to do, she can be delighted in her body which is harmful, and often a venial sin.
Ø Secondly, for good: as when she fulfills her duty and is tormented in soul, but voluntarily and virtuously denies herself any pleasure.[75]
The following advice is given by blessed Peter: Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. [1 Pet 2:11].
§ Thirdly, there are some inspired actions
which torment and delight from different points of view, and this for harm and for good. For example, a discerning father on seeing his beloved son enter a religious Order, is sorrowful and yet rejoices for harm and for good.
Ø Firstly, he is sorrowful for harm because humanly he loses his son.
Ø Secondly, he is sorrowful for good, fearing the son may not be a holy religious.
Likewise he is glad for harm:
Ø Firstly, by hoping his son might rise to great fame or to the office of a prelate, so that his home and family would be honoured and enriched.
Ø Secondly he rejoices for good, hoping his son will gain much glory from his virtues.
From what has been said it is clear that there is a sevenfold distinction of inspirations, variously hidden and different in the ways they operate. For their complete discernment we will prepare our minds for the following sermon, praying that the illuminator of humble minds, Our Lord Jesus Christ, may enlighten us with a true discernment of inspirations, for the Lord, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is the source of light and all discernment, here through grace and in the future through glory, which he deigns to bestow on us for ever and ever. Amen.
ON THE DISCERNMENT OF INSPIRATIONS
TUESDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak [Ps 85:8]. Instructive, indeed, are the words of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture; they enlighten the senses to an inner discernment of the spiritual, enlightening the mind to the knowledge of good and evil, according to the prophetic word: The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts knowledge to the simple [Ps 119:130]. They stir the affections to hate evil and to love good, so that in the soul there shines and is loved only what the discernment of truth dictates. Hence, at the end of the letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle says of such: But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil [5:14].
He says: for the mature in understanding and deeds, those, namely, who are already skilled in the perfection of mind and body; for them there is solid food, that is, perfect and solid doctrine; for those whose faculties have been trained, by study, reading, prayer, meditation and spiritual exercises; by practice, not only by native ability, but who distinguish the five spiritual meanings. So Luke says of such: Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures [24:45]. Such are practised in discerning good and evil. This is given with the gift of knowledge as explained in an earlier sermon.[76]
Happy is the soul that leads a perfect life, has solid doctrine, is well trained and possesses fruitful discernment! From the discernment of spiritual inspirations, such a soul can use the words quoted above: Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, not the devil, not the world, not the flesh, but God the Lord, that is, let me hear whatever the Lord God, the source of all good, will inspire in my mind. As James says: Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above [1:17]; as if he were to say: noble gifts, such as discernment of inspirations and such as are from God. Although good inspirations sometimes come from other sources, they generally come from God, as stated in the previous sermon.[77] So the words of the Psalm can be taken as our theme: Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path [143:10]. To come, then, in some way to the discernment of inspirations, and the knowledge of the will of God, note first that all inspirations which are to be carefully heeded can be divided into three kinds: some torment, some delight, and some both torment and delight.
SECTION 1
On the four rules for the discernment of inspirations which involve effort
Firstly, some holy inspirations torment since they push one to strenuous and virtuous efforts. For such inspirations there are four rules of discernment so that it can be clearly and truly discerned whether such inspirations are necessarily to be obeyed.
The first rule for discerning good inspirations which are opposed to things pleasur