Collected Works of John Ruysbroeck, Vol.. 2

John of Ruysbroeck, a hermetic and mystical writer, was born in 1293 at Ruysbroeck, near Brussels; he died at Groenendael, where he had founded a community, in 1381. He wrote as the spirit moved him, and loved to wander and mediate in the solitude of the forest. As a mystical writer, he stands unrivalled in what may be termed his grasp of the metaphysics of mysticism, and in the combined beauty, simplicity, and loftiness of his language and style. Late in life he declared that he had never committed anything to writing except under divine inspiration. Here is a list of the writings of Ruysbroeck, the sum total of which is very large. The Book of the Twelve Beguines; The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage, The Sparkling Stone; The Book of Supreme Truth; The Book of the Seven Steps of Spiritual Love; The Book of the Kingdom of the Lovers of God; The Mirror of Eternal Salvation; The Book of the Twelve Virtues The Book of the Seven Castles; The Book of the Four Temptations; The Book of Christian Faith and The Book of the Spiritual Tabernacle. There are besides seven letters, two hymns, and a prayer, to which Surius gave these titles, Epistolae Septem Utiles Cantiones Duce Admodum Spiritualiti and Oratio Perbrevis Sed Pia Valde the original texts of which I have not been able to discover in any of the Flemish manuscripts. Some years ago the greater number of these writings were edited with the utmost care by a society of Flemish bibliophiles — De Maatschappij der Vlaemsche Bibliophilen — and most of this translation has been made from the excellent text of that edition.