is the
safest road: that many of the greatest saints have, through the whole of
their lives, confined themselves to the usual modes of prayer and
meditation; that the gift of contemplation is given to few; that, like
every other practice of devotion, contemplation has its dangers; and
that, without a perfect spirit of humility, it is much exposed to
illusion; but he delivers, at the same time, an explicit opinion, that
contemplation is a gift of heaven; that the happiness of a soul on whom
God bestows it, is above description; and that every joy which this life
affords is contemptible in comparison of it. This certainly is catholic
doctrine.

It is natural to suppose that, at a time when every art and science was
deluged in a quantity of barbarous words, and metaphysics were carried
into every subject, the doctrine of prayer would often be involved in
similar intricacies and refinements. The fact certainly is, that many
writers of the middle age, on the subject of prayer, introduced into
their writings a wonderful degree of metaphysical subtilty. But, if
their doctrine be divested of those subtilties, and expressed in plain
language, it will be found that nothing in what our author, with other
spiritualists, calls mystical theology, contradicts common sense. With
them he divides the progress of a Christian, in his advances towards
perfection, into three stages, the purgative, the contemplative, and the
unitive. In the first stage he places sinners on their first entrance,
after their conversion into a spiritual life; who bewail their sins, are
careful to avoid relapsing into them, endeavor to destroy their had
habits, to extinguish their passions; who fast, watch, prey, chastise
the flesh, mourn, and are blessed with a contrite and humble heart. In
the second stage he places those who divest themselves of earthly
affections, study to acquire purity of heart, and a constant habit of
virtue, the true light of the soul; who {033} meditate incessantly on
the virtues and doctrines of Christ, and thereby inflame themselves to
the imitation of him. Those he supposes to be arrived at the third stage
whose souls, being thus illuminated, are united to God, and enjoy his
peace which passeth understanding. According to our author, the prayer
of a person who is arrived at the last stage, is very different from
that of a beginner in spiritual life. To present a pious subject to his
mind, to place it in the various points of view in