The Dialogue

Of the means of knowing when visitations and mental visions come from God or the Devil.

" I WILL now speak to thee of that which thou didst ask Me, concerning the sign which I give the soul, that she may know whether the visitations which she receives, either by visions or other consolations, are from Me or not. The sign, I told thee, was the joy which remained in the soul after the visitation, and the hunger for virtue, and specially the anointing of true humility, and the enflaming of the soul with divine charity. But since thou askedst me, whether this joy may in any way deceive thee, in order that thou mayest attain to the surer proof, the sign, namely, of virtue which cannot be deceived, I will tell thee a delusion which may occur, by knowing which, thou canst determine if the joy is in My Truth or not. Delusion may occur in this way. Thou must know that, when a rational creature possesses the object which she loves, and has longed to have, the more she loves the object, the less she sees it, and the less she endeavours to prudently examine it, so absorbed is she in the delight and consola tion she has received from it. So do those who take great delight in mental consolations, and seek for visions, placing their end rather in the delight of these consolations than in Me, like those of whom I spoke to thee who were still imperfect. Such as these may be deluded in their joy, besides other ways of delusion of which I spoke to thee distinctly in another place. How are they deluded ? I will tell thee. Having conceived a great love of consolation, when they receive it either by vision or in some other way, they feel joy, for they see that they possess that which they loved and desired. Often, however, their consolation might come from the Devil, and they would feel that joy of which I spoke to thee, saying that when this visitation of the mind came from the Devil, the mind was at first joyful, but after wards remained in grief and an uneasy conscience, and

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empty of a desire for virtue. I now say to thee that the soul may often have that joy, and on account of it abandon prayer. If this joy exist without a burning desire for virtue, and be not anointed with humility, and on fire with My Divine Love, that visitation, or vision, or consolation, which that soul may have received, comes from the Devil, and not from Me, in spite of the sign of joy. But, inasmuch as the joy is not united with the desire for virtue, thou canst clearly see that it is drawn from the love which that soul had for her own mental consola tion, wherefore she rejoices, seeing that she possesses that which she desired, it being the nature of love of every kind to feel joy in the possession of the beloved object. So that thou canst not trust in joy alone, even if the joy last all the time during which thou hast the consolation, and the more so, that love, ignorant and walking imprudently through its very joy, cannot discern the wile of the Devil ; but, if the soul walk prudently, she will examine whether or no her joy be united to love of virtue. In this way will she know whether the visitation, which she has received, comes from Me or the Devil. This is that sign of which I spoke to thee, with which I showed thee how thou couldst recognise if thy joy was a sign that thou hadst been visited by Me, namely, if it were united with virtue, as I have truly told thee, for this sign proves to thee what is delusion, and what is not ; that is to say, it distinguishes between the joy which thou receivest from Me in truth, and the joy which comes from thy spiritual self-love, from love that is, of thy own consolation. The consolation which comes from Me comes with joy and the love of virtue, and that which comes from the Devil brings joy only, and when thou examinest thy soul thou art in the same condition of virtue as thou wert before, for this joy proceeds from love of one's own consola tion, as has been said.

" But know that not every one is deluded by this joy, but only those imperfect ones who seek for delight and consola tion, and look rather to the gift than to Me, the Giver. Those, on the other hand, who in purity, and with regard for them selves, enflamed with love for Me alone, Who gives, and not

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for the gift, which they love for My sake, and not for their own consolation, cannot be deluded by this joy. They at once know by this sign when the Devil has wanted, through his deceitfulness, to transform himself into an angel of light and manifest himself to their mind, namely that he arrives suddenly with great joy, but the joy soon passes away, and they find themselves left in darkness. They thus thoroughly recognise his deceitfulness by their prudence, because they are not passionately in love with (or desirous of) mental con solation. Then they humiliate themselves with true self-know ledge, despising all consolation, and embracing and holding fast the doctrine of My Truth. Then the Devil, confused, wheels about, and never comes back again to them in that form. But those who are lovers of their own consolation, will ofttimes receive the Devil, but they will find out the deception in the way I told you, that is, in the feeling of the joy without the virtue, in that they will not find them selves issuing from the experience with humility, true charity, and hunger for My honour, Who am eternal God.

"And thus is My goodness manifested in that I have pro vided against the deception of the perfect ones, and the imperfect ones, in whatever condition they be, because none of you can be deceived if you will preserve the light of the intellect that I have given you with the pupil of the most holy faith, and not let it be overshadowed by the Devil, and veiled with self-love, " because if you do not take it away from yourself, no one else will take it from you."