Let us consider this from Dame Gertrude More: “And there is one thing in this virtue of obedienceprincipally to be observed and practised, in order to make it pleasing to God and an advancement to the soul, and that is that the thing commanded and done be according to the justice of God. But to this may or will be answered that all that is not sin, if it be commanded us by our Superiors, is according to the justice of God. But if this were so, so many more would come to perfection than do, and it would be far more easy to come to it than it is. But perfection and sanctity must be obtained by other means than by persuading ourselves that we shall come to it by simply doing from time to time what our Superior willeth or biddeth us. If, withal, we do not in our interiorregard God in His justice, as well as the exterior bidding of Superiors, and do it more out of the regard of that than the other, we are-yea, as much as is possible (if we will do it well)-to do it with a simple pure regard of God and His call. For though the interior call never contradicteth the exterior (for if it do, it is to be shrewdly suspected), and, for the most part of things to be done in religion, God calleth a soul by exterior obedience, yet it is His will that in all those things, as well as in those merely internal, the soul should simply regard Him and that as absolutely as if He by Himself had given or commanded her. Neither doth such a soul regard who, or what, or in what manner, God requireth it at her hands, but it sufficeth her that it is He Whom she in simplicity of spirit endeavoureth to regard in all things, without any mean of creatures that exacteth it from her. This maketh the soul indifferent whether she were commanded by an Angel or a worm, if it were God's will rather to command her and signify His will to her by the worm-not that she esteem not the Angel in a far higher degree, but because she would not make anything her object, or do anything out of any other respect, than to conform herself to the Divine justice in all things, and regard Him alone in all she did or omitted. And certainly let a soul be persuaded or persuade herself what she will, as a means to arrive to perfection, she shall never find true peace (if she be of a contemplative spirit, and be not defective in her natural judgment) but by following the Divine call, and regarding that in all she doth or omitteth. And though she do all that Superiors command, yet she should do it with as little regard of them, and as much of God, as if He had immediately commanded her by Himself. And so much as God, concurring by His grace, with her care and diligence, shall enable her to work in this observation of the Divine call, so much the more light shall she have for the observing of it, so much the more profit and peace will she find in her own soul, and so much the more shall she walk according to the justice of God. And by how much the more our works do partake of this, by so much are they worth, and no more; for, as Tauler saith, "God rewardeth no works but His own."”

Gertrude More belongs to a tradition of mystical writers who believed in the value of the via negativa, a path to union with God by way of total self-abnegation and the emptying of the mind of set ideas and images. Her only book-length work, THE SPIRITVAL EXERCISES (Paris, 1658), is a collection of her writing assembled by Dom Augustine Baker, OSB, and published some thirty-three years after her death. Some of More’s other verse and prose appears in the biography that Baker composed, but her SPIRITVAL EXERCISES remains the main text she has bequeathed to her order and to posterity. It is reprinted here in full with Arthur F. Marotti's introductory note outlining Gertrude More's life and work.

Excerpt from The Writings of Dame Gertrude More And if there be somewhat in the latter part the very same as what is said in the beginning, it will not much annoy, since good advice cannot be too often repeated. 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.