school of mystics a few
centuries later. The "delicious agony" the "sweet martyrdom," the strongly
combined pleasure and pain experienced by St. Theresa were certainly
associated with physical sexual sensations.[408]

The case of Marguerite-Marie Alacoque is typical. Jesus, as her
autobiography shows, was always her lover, her husband, her dear master;
she is betrothed to Him, He is the most passionate of lovers, nothing can
be sweeter than His caresses, they are so excessive she is beside herself
with the delight of them. The central imagination of the mystic consists
essentially, as Ribot remarks, in a love romance.[409]

If we turn to the most popular devotional work that was ever written, _The
Imitation of Christ_, we shall find that the "love" there expressed is
precisely and exactly the love that finds its motive power in the emotions
aroused by a person of the other sex. (A very intellectual woman once
remarked to me that the book seemed to her "a sort of religious
aphrodisiac.") If we read, for instance, Book III, Chapter V, of this work
("De Mirabili affectu Divini amoris"), we shall find in the eloquence of
this solitary monk in the Low Countries neither more nor less than the
emotions of every human lover at their highest limit of exaltation.
"Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing
broader, nothing pleasanter, nothing fuller nor better in heaven or in
earth. He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and cannot be
held. He gives all in exchange for all, and possesses all in all. He looks
not at gifts, but turns to the giver above all good things. Love knows no
measure, but is fervent beyond all measure. Love feels no burden, thinks
nothing of labor, strives beyond its force, reckons not of impossibility,
for it judges that all things are possible. Therefore it attempts all
things, and therefore it effects much when he who is not a lover fails and
falls.... My Love! thou all mine, and I all thine."

There is a certain natural disinclination in many quarters to recognize
any special connection between the sexual emotions and the religious
emotions. But this attitude is not reasonable. A man who is swayed by
religious emotions cannot be held responsible for the indirect emotional
results of his condition; he can be held responsible for their control.
Nothing is gained by refusing to face the possibility that such control
may be necessary, and much is lost. There is cer