ve
precautions, unheard of before the days of Molinos! What holy man have
we here? It is true, if the director ought not to go of his own accord
to visit the patient, he may, _if she call him_. And _I_ say, she will
call him. With such a direction, is she not always ill, embarrassed,
fearful, and too infirm to do anything of herself? She will wish to
have him every hour. Every impulse that is not from him might possibly
proceed from the devil; even the pang of remorse, that she occasionally
feels within her, may be occasioned by the devil's agency.

As soon as he is with her, on the contrary, how tranquil she becomes!
How he comforts her with one word! How easily he resolves all her
scruples! She is well rewarded for having waited and obeyed, and being
ever ready to obey. She now feels that obedience is better than any
virtue.

Well! let her only be discreet, and she will be led still further.
"She must not, when she sins, be uneasy about it; for should she be
grieved at it, it would be a sign that she still possessed a leaven of
pride. It is the devil, who, to hinder us in our spiritual path, makes
us busy with our backslidings. Would it not be foolish for him who
runs to stop when he falls, and weep like a child, instead of pursuing
his course? These falls have the excellent effect of preserving us
from pride, which is the greatest fall of all. God makes virtues of
our vices, and these very vices, by which the devil thought to cast us
into the pit, become a ladder to mount to heaven."[2]

This doctrine was well received. Molinos had the tact to publish, at
the same time, another book, that might serve as a passport to this, a
treatise on _Daily Communion_, directed against the Jansenists and
Arnaud's great work. The _Spiritual Guide_ was examined with all the
favour that Rome could show to the enemy of her enemies. There was
scarcely any Religious Order that did not approve of it. The Roman
Inquisition gave it three approbations by three of its members, a
Jesuit, a Carmelite, and the general of the Franciscans. The Spanish
Inquisition approved of it twice;--first, by the general examiner of
the order of the Capuchins; and, secondly, by a Trinitarian, the
Archbishop of Reggio. It was prefaced with an enthusiastic and
extravagant eulogy by the Archbishop of Palermo.

The Quietists must have been at that time very strong in Rome, since
one of them, Cardinal Bona, was on the point of being made pope