what motion was, and gloried in it. Madame Guyon, in
speaking of herself, expresses forcibly, in a letter to Bossuet, what
was then the general condition: "You say, Monseigneur, there are only
four or five persons who are in this difficulty of acting for
themselves; but I tell you there are more than a hundred thousand.
When you told me to ask and desire, I found myself like a paralytic who
is told to walk because _he has legs_: the efforts he makes for that
purpose serve only to make him aware of his inability. We say, in
common parlance, _every man who has legs ought to walk_: I believe it,
and I know it; however, I have legs, but I feel plainly that I cannot
make use of them."

CHAPTER X.

MOLINOS' GUIDE;--THE PART PLAYED IN IT BY THE DIRECTOR;--HYPOCRITICAL
AUSTERITY;--IMMORAL DOCTRINE.--MOLINOS APPROVED OF AT ROME,
1675.--MOLINOS CONDEMNED AT ROME, 1687.--HIS MANNERS CONFORMABLE TO HIS
DOCTRINE.--SPANISH MOLINOSISTS.--MOTHER AGUEDA.

The greatest danger for the poor paralytic, who can no longer move by
himself, is, not that he may remain inactive, but that he may become
the sport of the active influence of others. The theories which speak
the most of immobility are not always disinterested. Be on your guard,
and take care.

Molinos' book, with its artful and premeditated composition, has a
character entirely its own, which distinguishes it from the natural and
inspired writings of the great mystics. The latter, such as Sta.
Theresa, often recommend obedience and entire submission to the
director, and dissuade from self-confidence. They thus give themselves
a guide, but in their enthusiastic efforts they hurry their guide away
with them; they think they follow him, but they lead him. The director
has nothing else to do with them but to sanction their inspiration.

The originality of Molinos' book is quite the contrary. There,
internal activity has actually no longer any existence; no action but
what is occasioned by an exterior impulse. _The director_ is the pivot
of the whole book; he appears every moment, and even when he
disappears, we perceive he is close at hand. He is _the guide_, or
rather the support, without which the powerless soul could not move a
step. He is the ever-present physician, who decides whether the sick
patient may taste this or that. Sick? Yes; and seriously ill; since
it is necessary that another should, every moment, think, feel, and act
for her; in a word, live i