TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

 BOOK I. CONTAINING A PREPARATION FOR THE WHOLE TREATISE.

 Chapter I. That for the Beauty of Human Nature God has Given the Government of All the Faculties of the Soul to the Will

 Chapter II. How the Will Variously Governs the Powers of the Soul.

 Chapter III. How the Will Governs the Sensual Appetite.

 Chapter IV. That Love Rules over All the Affections, and Passions, and Even Governs the Will, Although the Will Has Also a Dominion over It.

 Chapter V. Of the Affections of the Will.

 Chapter VI. How the Love of God Has Dominion over Other Loves. 29

 Chapter VII. Description of Love in General.

 Chapter VIII. What Kind of Affinity (Convenance) It Is Which Excites Love.

 Chapter IX. That Love Tends to Union.

 Chapter X. That the Union to Which Love Aspires Is Spiritual.

 Chapter XI. That There Are Two Portions in the Soul, and How. 45

 Chapter XII. That in These Two Portions of the Soul There Are Four Different Degrees of Reason.

 Chapter XIII. On the Difference of Loves.

 Chapter XIV. That Charity May Be Named Love.

 Chapter XV. Of The Affinity There Is between God and Man. 54

 Chapter XVI. That We Have a Natural Inclination to Love God above All Things

 Chapter XVII. That We Have not Naturally the Power to Love God above All Things.

 Chapter XVIII. That the Natural Inclination Which We Have to Love God Is not Useless.

 THE SECOND BOOK. THE HISTORY OF THE GENERATION AND HEAVENLY BIRTH OF DIVINE LOVE.

 Chapter I. That the Divine Perfections Are Only a Single But Infinite Perfection.

 Chapter II. That in God There Is But One Only Act, Which Is His Own Divinity. 66

 Chapter III. Of the Divine Providence in General.

 Chapter IV. Of the Supernatural Providence Which God Uses towards Reasonable Creatures.

 Chapter V. That Heavenly Providence Has Provided Men with a Most Abundant Redemption.

 Chapter VI. Of Certain Special Favours Exercised by the Divine Providence in the Redemption of Man.

 Chapter VII. How Admirable the Divine Providence Is in the Diversity of Graces Given to Men.

 Chapter VIII. How Much God Desires We Should Love Him.

 Chapter IX. How the Eternal Love of God Prevents Our Hearts with His Inspirations in Order That We May Love Him.

 Chapter X. How We Oftentimes Repulse the Inspiration and Refuse to Love God.

 Chapter XI. That It Is no Fault of the Divine Goodness if We Have not a Most Excellent Love.

 Chapter XII. That Divine Inspirations Leave Us in Full Liberty to Follow or Repulse Them

 Chapter XIII. Of the First Sentiments of Love Which Divine Inspirations Cause in the Soul before She Has Faith.

 Chapter XIV. Of the Sentiment of Divine Love Which Is Had by Faith.

 Chapter XV. Of the Great Sentiment of Love Which We Receive by Holy Hope.

 Chapter XVI. How Love Is Practised in Hope.

 Chapter XVII. That the Love Which Is in Hope Is Very Good, Though Imperfect. 109

 Chapter XVIII. That Love Is Exercised in Penitence, and First, That There Are Divers Sorts of Penitence. 112

 Chapter XIX. That Penitence Without Love Is Imperfect.

 Chapter XX. How the Mingling of Love and Sorrow Takes Place in Contrition. 117

 Chapter XXI. How Our Saviour's Loving Attractions Assist and Accompany Us to Faith and Charity.

 Chapter XXII. A Short Description of Charity.

 BOOK III. OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE.

 Chapter I. That Holy Love May Be Augmented Still More and More in Every One of Us.

 Chapter II. How Easy Our Saviour Has Made the Increase of Love.

 Chapter III. How a Soul in Charity Makes Progress in It.

 Chapter IV. Of Holy Perseverance in Sacred Love. 138

 Chapter V. That the Happiness of Dying in Heavenly Charity Is a Special Gift of God. 141

 Chapter VI. That We Cannot Attain to Perfect Union with God in This Mortal Life.

 Chapter VII. That the Charity of Saints in This Mortal Life Equals, Yea Sometimes Surpasses, That of the Blessed.

 Chapter VIII. Of the Incomparable Love Which the Mother of God, Our Blessed Lady, Had.

 Chapter IX. A Preparation for the Discourse on the Union of the Blessed with God.

 Chapter X. That the Preceding Desire Will Much Increase the Union of the Blessed with God.

 Chapter XI. Of the Union of the Blessed Spirits with God, in the Vision of the Divinity.

 Chapter XII. Of the Eternal Union of the Blessed Spirits with God, in the Vision of the Eternal Birth of the Son of God. 157

 Chapter XIII. Of the Union of the Blessed with God in the Vision of the Production of the Holy Ghost.

 Chapter XIV. That the Holy Light of Glory Will Serve for the Union of the Blessed Spirits with God.

 Chapter XV. That There Shall Be Different Degrees of the Union of the Blessed with God. 163

 Chapter I. That as Long as We Are in This Mortal Life We May Lose the Love of God.

 Chapter II. How the Soul Grows Cold in Holy Love.

 Chapter III. How We Forsake Divine Love for That of Creatures. 171

 Chapter IV. That Heavenly Love Is Lost in a Moment. 174

 Chapter V. That the Sole Cause of the Decay and Cooling of Charity Is in the Creature's Will. 176

 Chapter VI. That We Ought to Acknowledge All the Love We Bear to God to Be from God.

 Chapter VII. That We Must Avoid All Curiosity, and Humbly Acquiesce in God's Most Wise Providence.

 Chapter VIII. An Exhortation to the Amorous Submission Which We Owe to the Decrees of Divine Providence.

 Chapter IX. Of a Certain Remainder of Love That Oftentimes Rests in the Soul That Has Lost Holy Charity.

 Chapter X. How Dangerous This Imperfect Love Is.

 Chapter XI. A Means to Discern This Imperfect Love.

 BOOK V. OF THE TWO PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF HOLY LOVE WHICH CONSIST IN COMPLACENCY AND BENEVOLENCE.

 Chapter I. Of the Sacred Complacency of Love and First of What It Consists.

 Chapter II. How by Holy Complacency We Are Made as Little Infants at Our Saviour's Breasts.

 Chapter III. That Holy Complacency Gives Our Heart to God, and Makes Us Feel a Perpetual Desire in Fruition.

 Chapter IV. Of the Loving Condolence by Which the Complacency of Love Is Still Better Declared. 207

 Chapter V. Of the Condolence and Complacency of Love in the Passion of Our Lord.

 Chapter VI. Of the Love of Benevolence Which We Exercise towards Our Saviour by Way of Desire.

 Chapter VII. How the Desire to Exalt and Magnify God Separates Us from Inferior Pleasures, and Makes Us Attentive to the Divine Perfections. 215

 Chapter VIII. How Holy Benevolence Produces the Praise of the Divine Well-Beloved. 217

 Chapter IX. How Benevolence Makes Us Call All Creatures to the Praise of God.

 Chapter X. How the Desire to Praise God Makes Us Aspire to Heaven.

 Chapter XI. How We Practise the Love of Benevolence in the Praises Which Our Saviour and His Mother Give to God.

 Chapter XII. Of the Sovereign Praise Which God Gives unto Himself, and How We Exercise Benevolence in It.

 BOOK VI. OF THE EXERCISES OF HOLY LOVE IN PRAYER.

 Chapter I. A Description of Mystical Theology, Which Is No Other Thing Than Prayer.

 Chapter II. Of Meditation the First Degree of Prayer or Mystical Theology.

 Chapter III. A Description of Contemplation, and of the First Difference That There Is between It and Meditation.

 Chapter IV. That Love in This Life Takes Its Origin but Not Its Excellence from the Knowledge of God.

 Chapter V. The Second Difference between Meditation and Contemplation.

 Chapter VI. That Contemplation Is Made Without Labour, Which Is the Third Difference between It and Meditation.

 Chapter VII. Of the Loving Recollection of the Soul in Contemplation. 251

 Chapter VIII. Of the Repose of a Soul Recollected in Her Well-Beloved.

 Chapter IX. How This Sacred Repose Is Practised. 257

 Chapter X. Of Various Degrees of This Repose, and How It Is to Be Preserved. 259

 Chapter XI. A Continuation of the Discourse Touching the Various Degrees of Holy Quiet, and of an Excellent Abnegation of Self Which Is Sometimes Prac

 Chapter XII. Of the Outflowing (escoulement) or Liquefaction of the Soul in God 265

 Chapter XIII. Of the Wound of Love.

 Chapter XIV. Of Some Other Means by Which Holy Love Wounds the Heart. 272

 Chapter XV. Of the Affectionate Languishing of the Heart Wounded with Love.

 BOOK VII. OF THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH HER GOD, WHICH IS PERFECTED IN PRAYER.

 Chapter I. How Love Effects the Union of the Soul with God in Prayer.

 Chapter II. Of the Various Degrees of the Holy Union Which Is Made in Prayer. 286

 Chapter III. Of the Sovereign Degree of Union by Suspension and Ravishment.

 Chapter IV. Of Rapture, and of the First Species of It. 294

 Chapter V. Of the Second Species of Rapture.

 Chapter VII. How Love Is the Life of the Soul, and Continuation of the Discourse on the Ecstatic Life.

 Chapter VIII. An Admirable Exhortation of S. Paul to the Ecstatic and Superhuman Life. 304

 Chapter IX. Of the Supreme Effect of Affective Love, Which Is the Death of the Lovers and First, of Such As Died in Love. 307

 Chapter X. Of Those Who Died by and for Divine Love.

 Chapter XI. How Some of the Heavenly Lovers Died Also of Love.

 Chapter XII. Marvellous History of the Death of a Gentleman Who Died of Love on Mount Olivet.

 Chapter XIII. That the Most Sacred Virgin Mother of God Died of Love for Her Son.

 Chapter XIV. That the Glorious Virgin Died by and Extremely Sweet and Tranquil Death.

 BOOK VIII. OF THE LOVE OF CONFORMITY, BY WHICH WE UNITE OUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD, SIGNIFIED UNTO US BY HIS COMMANDMENTS, COUNSELS AND INSPIRATIONS.

 Chapter I. Of the Love of Conformity Proceeding from Sacred Complacency.

 Chapter III. How We Are to Conform Ourselves to That Divine Will Which Is Called the Signified Will.

 Chapter IV. Of the Conformity of Our Will to the Will Which God Has to Save Us. 332

 Chapter V. Of the Conformity of Our Will to That Will of God's Which Is Signified to Us by His Commandments.

 Chapter VI. Of the Conformity of Our Will to That Will of God Which Is Signified unto Us by His Counsels. 337

 Chapter VIII. That the Contempt of the Evangelical Counsels Is a Great Sin.

 Chapter IX. A Continuation of the Preceding Discourse. How Every One, While Bound to Love, Is Not Bound to Practise, All the Evangelical Counsels, and

 Chapter X. How We Are to Conform Ourselves to God's Will Signfied unto Us by Inspirations, and First, of the Variety of the Means by Which God Inspire

 Chapter XI. Of the Union of Our Will with God's in the Inspirations Which Are Given for the Extraordinary Practice of Virtues and of Perseverance in

 Chapter XII. Of the Union of Man's Will with God's in Those Inspirations Which Are Contrary to Ordinary Laws and of Peace and Tranquility of Heart, S

 Chapter XIII. Third Mark of Inspiration, Which Is Holy Obedience to the Church and Superiors. 359

 Chapter XIV. A Short Method to Know God's Will. 362

 Chapter I. Of the Union of Our Will to That Divine Will Which Is Called the Will of Good-Pleasure.

 Chapter II. That the Union of Our Will with the Good-Pleasure of God Takes Place Principally in Tribulations.

 Chapter III. Of the Union of Our Will to the Divine Good-Pleasure in Spiritual Afflictions, by Resignation. 371

 Chapter IV. Of the Union of Our Will to the Good-Pleasure of God by Indifference. 373

 Chapter V. That Holy Indifference Extends to All Things.

 Chapter VI. Of the Practice of Loving Indifference, in Things Belonging to the Service of God.

 Chapter VII. Of the Indifference Which We Are to Have As to Our Advancement in Virtues.

 Chapter VIII. How We Are to Unite Our Will with God's in the Permission of Sins.

 Chapter IX. How the Purity of Indifference is to Be Practised in the Actions of Sacred Love. 388

 Chapter X. Means to Discover When We Change in the Matter of This Holy Love. 390

 Chapter XI. Of the Perplexity of a Heart Which Loves Without Knowing Whether It Pleases the Beloved.

 Chapter XII. How the Soul amidst These Interior Anguishes Knows Not the Love She Bears to God: and of the Most Lovefull Death of the Will. 395

 Chapter XIII. How the Will Being Dead to Itself Lives Entirely in God's Will. 398

 Chapter XIV. An Explanation of What Has Been Said Touching the Decease of Our Will.

 Chapter XV. Of the Most Excellent Exercise We Can Make in the Interior and Exterior Troubles of This Life, After Attaining the Indifference and Death

 Chapter XVI. Of the Perfect Stripping of the Soul Which Is United to God's Will.

 BOOK X. OF THE COMMANDMENT OF LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS.

 Chapter I. Of the Sweetness of the Commandment Which God Has Given Us of Loving Him Above All Things.

 Chapter II. That This Divine Commandment of Love Tends to Heaven, Yet Is Given to the Faithful in This World.

 Chapter III. How, While the Whole Heart Is Employed in Sacred Love, Yet One May Love God in Various Ways, and Also Many Other Things Together with Him

 Chapter IV. Of Two Degrees of Perfection with Which This Commandment May Be Kept in This Mortal Life.

 Chapter V. Of Two Other Degrees of Greater Perfection, by Which We May Love God Above All Things.

 Chapter VI. That the Love of God Above All Things Is Common to All Lovers.

 Chapter VII. Explanation of the Preceding Chapter.

 EXPLANATION OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.

 Chapter VIII. A Memorable History to Make Clearly Understood in What the Force and Excellence of Holy Love Consist. 430

 Chapter XI. How Holy Charity Produces the Love of Our Neighbour. 440

 Chapter XIII. How God Is Jealous of Us.

 Chapter XV. Advice for the Direction of Holy Zeal.

 Chapter XVI. That the Example of Certain Saints Who Seem to Have Exercised Their Zeal with Anger, Makes Nothing against the Doctrine of the Preceding

 THAT THE EXAMPLE OF CERTAIN SAINTS WHO SEEM TO HAVE EXERCISED THEIR ZEAL WITH ANGER, MAKES NOTHING AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.

 Chapter XVII. How Our Lord Practised All the Most Excellent Acts of Love.

 BOOK XI. OF THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY WHICH SACRED LOVE HOLDS OVER ALL THE VIRTUES, ACTIONS AND PERFECTIONS OF THE SOUL.

 Chapter I. How Agreeable All Virtues Are to God.

 Chapter II. That Divine Love Makes the Virtues Immeasurably More Agreeable to God than They Are of Their Own Nature.

 Chapter III. That There Are Some Virtues Which Divine Love Raises to a Higher Degree of Excellence than Others.

 Chapter V. How Love Spreads Its Excellence Over the Other Virtues, Perfecting Their Particular Excellence. 475

 Chapter VI. Of the Excellent Value Which Sacred Love Gives to the Actions Which Issue from Itself and to Those Which Proceed from the Other Virtues. 4

 Chapter VII. That Perfect Virtues Are Never One without the Other.

 Chapter VIII. How Charity Comprehends All the Virtues.

 Chapter IX. That the Virtues Have Their Perfection from Divine Love. 489

 Chapter X. A Digression upon the Imperfection of the Virtues of the Pagans.

 Chapter XI. How Human Actions Are Without Worth When They Are Done without Divine Love.

 Chapter XII. How Holy Love Returning into the Soul, Brings Back to Life All the Works Which Sin Had Destroyed.

 Chapter XIII. How We Are to Reduce All the Exercise of Virtues, and All Our Actions to Holy Love.

 Chapter XIV. The Practice of What Has Been Said in the Preceding Chapter.

 THE PRACTICE OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.

 Chapter XV. How Charity Contains in It the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. 509

 Chapter XVI. Of the Loving Fear of Spouses a Continuation of the Same Subject.

 Chapter XVII. How Servile Fear Remains Together with Holy Love. 514

 Chapter XVIII. How Love Makes Use of Natural, Servile and Mercenary Fear.

 Chapter XIX. How Sacred Love Contains the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost, together with the Eight Beatitudes of the Gospel.

 Chapter XX. How Divine Love Makes Use of All the Passions and Affections of the Soul, and Reduces Them to Its Obedience.

 BOOK XII. CONTAINING CERTAIN COUNSELS FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL IN HOLY LOVE.

 Chapter I. That Our Progress in Holy Love Does Not Depend on Our Natural Temperament.

 Chapter II. That We Are to Have a Continual Desire to Love.

 Chapter III. That to Have the Desire of Sacred Love We Are to Cut Off All Other Desires.

 Chapter IV. That Our Lawful Occupations Do Not Hinder Us from Practicising Divine Love. 538

 Chapter V. A Very Sweet Example on This Subject.

 Chapter VI. That We Are to Employ in the Practice of Divine Love All the Occasions That Present Themselves.

 Chapter VII. That We Must Take Pains to Do Our Actions Very Perfectly. 542

 Chapter VIII. A General Means for Applying Our Works to God's Service. 543

 Chapter IX. Of Certain Other Means by Which We May Apply Our Works More Particularly to the Love of God.

 Chapter X. An Exhortation to the Sacrifice Which We Are to Make to God of Our Free-Will.

 Chapter XI. The Motives We Have of Holy Love.

 Chapter XII. A Most Useful Method of Employing These Motives.

 Chapter XIII. That Mount Calvary Is the Academy of Love. 554

Chapter VI. That the Love of God Above All Things Is Common to All Lovers.

THAT THE LOVE OF GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS IS COMMON TO ALL LOVERS.

Though there are so many degrees of love amongst true lovers, yet is there but one commandment of love, which universally and equally obliges every one, with an exactly like and entirely equal obligation, though it be observed differently and with an infinite variety of perfections; there being perhaps no souls on earth, as there are no angels in heaven, who are perfectly equal to one another in their love. As one star differs from another in brightness, so shall it be with the Blessed in their resurrection, when each one sings a canticle of glory, and receives a name which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it.[1] But what degree of love is it then, to which the divine commandment equally, universally and continually obliges all?

It is an action of the providence of the Holy Ghost, that in our ordinary version, which his divine majesty has canonized and sanctified by the Council of Trent, the heavenly commandment of love is expressed by the word dilection rather than by the word love; for although dilection is a kind of love, yet is it not a simple love, but a love of choice and election, which sense the word itself conveys, as the glorious S. Thomas notes: for 426this commandment enjoins us a love chosen out of thousands, the well-beloved object of this love being chosen out of thousands, according to that of the beloved Sulamitess in the Canticles.[1] It is a love which must prevail over all our loves, and reign over all our passions. And this is what God requires of us—that among all our loves his be the dearest, holding the first place in our hearts; the warmest, occupying our whole soul; the most general, employing all our powers; the highest, filling our whole spirit; and the strongest, exercising all our strength and vigour. And inasmuch as by this we choose and elect God for the sovereign object of our soul, it is a love of sovereign election, or an election of sovereign love. You are not ignorant, Theotimus, that there are various species of love, as for example, there is a fatherly love, a brotherly love, a filial love and a nuptial love; a love of society, of obligation, of dependence,—and a hundred more, which are all different in excellence, and are so proportioned to their objects that scarcely can they be applied or appropriated to any other. He who should love his father with the love of a brother only, would certainly not love him enough. He who should love his wife only like his father, would not love her properly; he who should love his servant with a filial love, would commit an impropriety. Love is like honour; for as honour is diversified according to the diversity of the excellences to which the honour is given, so loves are different according to the difference of the goodnesses for which we love. Sovereign honour is due to sovereign excellence, and sovereign love to sovereign goodness. The love of God is a love without peer, because the goodness of God is a peerless goodness. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and therefore, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.[1] For as God is the only Lord, his goodness is infinitely above all goodness, and he is to be loved with a love which is eminent, excellent, and mighty beyond all comparison. It is this supreme love which places God in such esteem in our souls, and makes us repute it so great a happiness to be agreeable in his sight, 427that we prefer him and love him above all things. Now, Theotimus, do you not plainly see, that he who loves God in this sort has dedicated his whole soul and strength to God, since ever, and for ever, and in all occurrences, he will prefer the good grace of God to all things, and will be ever ready to forsake the whole world, in order to preserve the love which is due to the divine goodness. And, in a word, it is the love of excellence, or the excellence of love, which is commanded to all mortals in general, and to each one of them in particular as soon as they have the free use of reason: a love sufficient for each one, and necessary for salvation to all.