Chapter I: Front Matter

THE QUEST SERIES

Edited by G. R. S. MEAD,
EDITOR OF 'THE QUEST.'

_Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net each._

FIRST LIST OF VOLUMES.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND SURVIVAL. By James H. Hyslop, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Secretary of Psychical Research Society of America.

THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL. By Jessie L. Weston, Author of 'The Legend
of Sir Perceval.'

JEWISH MYSTICISM. By J. Abelson, M.A., D.Lit, Principal of Aria College,
Portsmouth.

THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM. By Reynold A. Nicholson, M.A., Litt.D, LL.D.,
Lecturer on Persian, Cambridge University.

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. By C. A. F. Rhys Davids, M.A., Lecturer on Indian
Philosophy, Manchester University.

RUYSBROECK. By Evelyn Underhill, Author of 'Mysticism,' 'The Mystic Way,'
etc.

THE SIDEREAL RELIGION OF THE ANCIENTS. By Robert Eisler, Ph.D., Author of
Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt.' [_In the Press._

London: G. BELL AND SONS LTD.

RUYSBROECK

BY
EVELYN UNDERHILL
AUTHOR OF
'MYSTICISM,' 'THE MYSTIC WAY,' ETC., ETC.

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS LTD.
1915

FOR
JESSIE
TO WHOM IT OWES SO MUCH
THIS LITTLE TRIBUTE TO A MUTUAL FRIEND

EDITOR'S NOTE

A glance at the excellent Bibliographical Note at the end of the volume will reveal the surprising paucity of literature on Ruysbroeck in this country. A single version from the original of one short treatise, published in the present year, is all that we possess of direct translation; even in versions from translation there is only one treatise represented; add to this one or two selections of the same nature, and the full tale is told. We are equally poorly off for studies of the life and doctrine of the great Flemish contemplative of the fourteenth century. And yet Jan van Ruusbroec is thought, by no few competent judges, to be the greatest of all the mediæval Catholic mystics; and, indeed, it is difficult to point to his superior. Miss Evelyn Underhill is, therefore, doing lovers not only of Catholic mysticism, but also of mysticism in general, a very real service by her monograph, which deals more satisfactorily than any existing work in English with the life and teachings of one of the most spiritual minds in Christendom. Her book is not simply a painstaking summary of the more patent generalities of the subject, but rather a deeply sympathetic entering into the mind of Ruysbroeck, and that, too, with no common insight.

PREFATORY NOTE

I owe to the great kindness of my friend, Mrs. Theodore Beck, the translation of several passages from Ruysbroeck's _Sparkling Stone_ given in the present work; and in quoting from _The Twelve Béguines_ have often, though not always, availed myself of the recently published version by Mr. John Francis. For all other renderings I alone am responsible.

E. U.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
I. Ruysbroeck the Man 1
II. His Works 36
III. His Doctrine of God 52
IV. His Doctrine of Man 66
V. The Active Life 94
VI. The Interior Life: Illumination and Destitution 115
VII. The Interior Life: Union and Contemplation 136
VIII. The Superessential Life 164

Bibliographical Note 187

Luce divina sopra me s' appunta,
penetrando per questa ond' io m' inventro;
La cui virtù, col mio veder conguinta,
mi leva sopra me tanto, ch' io veggio
la somma essenza della quale è munta.
Quinci vien l' allegrezza, ond' io fiammeggio;
perchè alla vista mia, quant' ella è chiara,
la chiarità della fiamma pareggio.

Par. xxi. 83.

[Divine Light doth focus itself upon me, piercing through that wherein
I am enclosed; the power of which, united with my sight, so greatly
lifts me up above myself that I see the Supreme Essence where from it
is drawn. Thence comes the joy wherewith I flame; for to my vision,
even as it is clear, I make the clearness of the flame respond.]

RUYSBROECK