Gerard Naghel tells us the story of the origin of this treatise. One day Ruysbroeck had been conversing with a certain hermit on matters spiritual, when on parting the latter begged the holy Prior to commit the matter of his discourse to writing for the edification of himself and others. To satisfy his desire, says Naghel, Ruysbroeck composed this work, which contains instruction sufficient to lead a man to perfection. The treatise seems a supplement, and in some sense a corrective of the Spiritual Espousals. After a brief description of the means by which the just man acquires the interior life and rises thence to the contemplative, the holy man shows how the precious stone, or white counter, calculus candidus, of Rev. ii. 17, is no other than Christ Himself, Who gives Himself without reserve to contemplative souls. God calls all men to intimate union with Himself. But not all men respond to His appeal. Sinners utterly despise the invitation; while the just respond, though these again in varying degrees. Some keep the commandments chiefly from fear of the penalties attached to transgression; they are as mercenaries. Others sincerely endeavour to conquer nature and unruly desires, they have true faith in God, and God is the only motive of their actions; these are the faithful servants. However, these still suffer many impediments from the exterior life which they lead, and a more intimate union is attained by the intimate friends, who observe the counsels as well as the precepts. Finally, the highest degree of union and contemplation is attained by the hidden sons, who are utterly divested of all self-love and self-seeking, and whose life is hidden with Christ in God.
Of Four Subtle Temptations
In this tract Ruysbroeck inveighs against the chief errors and abuses of his own times. The first, says Ruysbroeck, is love of ease and comfort, indolence, the source of sensuality, and luxury, an abuse very prevalent in monasteries and among the clergy. The second is hypocrisy, which, under the cloak of a seeming austerity, claiming even visions and ecstasies, conceals a corrupt interior and depraved morals. The third is the desire to understand everything, to attain to the contemplation of the divine nature by the sheer force of the intellect, without the assistance of God’s grace. The fourth and the most formidable is the so-called liberty of spirit, the error and heresy of those who, casting aside all interior effort, pretend to acquire contemplation by ludicrous mortifications, by extravagant bodily posturing, and by a senseless quietism. The third error is that of Eckart, and the fourth was proper to the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit. Ruysbroeck concludes his tract with a discussion of the ways and means of avoiding these snares, viz. by holiness of life, the practice of all the virtues, obedience to superiors and the authority of the Church, and imitation of Jesus Christ.
Of the Christian Faith
A dogmatic commentary on the Athanasian Creed. Starting with the principle that the true Christian Faith is indispensable for the union of the soul with God, Ruysbroeck proceeds to explain the chief tenets of our belief, and to show their bearing on the interior life. His explanations are brief, his speculations sublime. The more forcibly to exhort to the practice of virtue, he dwells at considerable length on the last judgment, on the rewards of the just, and on the penalties decreed to each particular class of sinner. His picture here of the happiness of heaven and the sufferings of hell is most apt and striking.
Of the Spiritual Tabernacle
The most lengthy this of all Ruysbroeck’s works. It consists of a mystic interpretation, a long-drawn-out allegory, in which the Tabernacle of the Old Testament is considered as a type of the course of love. The outer and the inner courts, the altar of sacrifice, the hangings, the pillars and their sockets, the rings, the names of the workmen, the seven-branch candlestick, the brazen laver, the priestly ornaments, the ephod and the twelve stones, the holy oils and the incense, the table of the loaves of proposition, the different sacrifices with the distinction between the clean and the unclean animals, the holy of holies, the ark and its appurtenances,—all are applied with a wealth of detail, which, however, never lacks dignity, and with a wondrous skill to Ruysbroeck’s usual three divisions of the exterior moral life, the interior, and the purely contemplative. The Tabernacle was a subject which naturally lent itself to allegory and to mystic interpretation, and Hugh of St. Victor had already preceded our author, as doubtless also he inspired him with his De Arca mystica. Though sometimes the thread is lost in the multiplicity of details, this treatise is most attractive and contains some of the best pages of Blessed Ruysbroeck.
Of the Seven Cloisters
This was composed for a penitent of our Saint, Margaret von Meerbeke, a Poor Clare of Brussels, and it gives a rule of life for Religious. The holy Prior traces out an order of the day, insisting especially on the need of cultivating the interior life; he mentions the virtues which his penitent should exercise, and inveighs against the abuses which have crept into convents, pointing out the danger of communication with the outer world. In all things Margaret should imitate the example of her foundress, St. Clare, who gained her glorious place in Heaven by shutting herself up within the seven cloisters. After dwelling on these, viz., by expounding seven means of retreating from the world and living close to God, the author turns again to practical details and condemns the softness and luxury of certain Religious in their dress. Each day, he says, should close with a peep into three books: the book of our own conscience, which shows the imperfections which must be purified; the book of the Life and Passion of our Lord, which we should imitate; and finally the book of eternal life, to which we ought to tend with all our strength.