Book Description

Excerpt from A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ The present volume of the works of St. John of the Cross contains the explanation of the 'Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ.' The two earlier works, the 'Ascent of Mount Carmel' and the 'Dark Night of the Soul,' dealt with the cleansing of the soul, the unremittant war against even the smallest imperfections standing in the way of union with God; imperfections which must be removed, partly by strict self-discipline, partly by the direct intervention of God, Who, searching 'the reins and hearts' by means of heavy interior and exterior trials, purges away whatever is displeasing to Him. Although some stanzas refer to this preliminary state, the chief object of the 'Spiritual Canticle' is to picture under the Biblical simile of Espousals and Matrimony the blessedness of a soul that has arrived at union with God. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.