27. I now humbly ask you, my father, if you mean to discuss what I have written on prayer with spiritual persons, to see that they are so really; for if they be persons who know only one way, or who have stood still midway, they will not be able to understand the matter. There are also some whom God leads at once by the highest way; these think that others might advance in the same manner--quiet the understanding, and make bodily objects none of their means; but these people will remain dry as a stick. Others, also, there are who, having for a moment attained to the prayer of quiet, think forthwith that, as they have had the one, so they may have the other. These instead of advancing, go back, as I said before. [25] So, throughout, experience and discretion are necessary. May our Lord, of His goodness, bestow them on us! 1. See Inner Fortress, vi. 7, § 4. 2. This opinion is supposed to be justified by the words of St. Thomas, 3 Sent. dist. 22, qu. 3, art. 1, ad quintum. "Corporalis præsentia Christi in duobus poterat esse nociva. Primo, quantum ad fidem, quia videntes Eum in forma in qua erat minor Patre, non ita de facili crederent Eum æqualem Patri, ut dicit glossa super Joannem. Secundo, quantum ad dilectionem, quia Eum non solum spiritualiter, sed etiam carnaliter diligeremus, conversantes cum Ipso corporaliter, et hoc est de imperfectione dilectionis." 3. St. John xvi. 7: "Expedit vobis ut Ego vadam; si enim non abiero, Paracletus non veniet ad vos." 4. This sentence is in the margin of the original MS., not in the text, but in the handwriting of the Saint (De la Fuente). 5. "I mean by lately . . . and visions" is in the margin of the MS., but in the handwriting of the Saint (De la Fuente). 6. Ch. xxviii. § 4. 7. St. Matt. iii. 17: "Hic est Filius Meus dilectus, in quo Mihi complacui." 8. St. John x. 7, 9: "Ego sum ostium." 9. See St. John of the Cross, Mount Carmel, bk. iii. ch. i. p. 212. 10. Ch. xii. §§ 5, 7. 11. Ch. xv. § 21. 12. Ch. xx. § 2. 13. St. Luke v. 8: "Exi a me, quia homo peccator sum, Domine." 14. Ch. xii. § 6. 15. Ch. xxviii. 16. Psalm lxxii. 22: "Et ego ad nihilum redactus sum, et nescivi." 17. Isaias liii. 3: "Virum dolorum, et scientem infirmitatem." 18. Ch. xi. § 15. 19. St. Luke xvii. 10: "Servi inutiles sumus." 20. Ch. xi. § 11. 21. St. Luke xiv. 8: "Non discumbas in primo loco." See Way of Perfection, ch. xxvi. § 1; but ch. xvii. of the old editions. 22. Ch. xi. § 23, ch. xviii. § 6. 23. Os. ii. 14: "Ducam eam in solitudinem." 24. St. Matt. xix. 29: "Qui reliquerit domum, . . . centuplum accipiet." 25. Ch. xii. § 5. Chapter XXIII. The Saint Resumes the History of Her Life. Aiming at Perfection. Means Whereby It May Be Gained. Instructions for Confessors.