Fulgent Words

We can only be well instructed by the words which God utters expressly for us. No one becomes learned in the science of God either by the reading of books, or by the inquisitive investigation of history. The science that is acquired by such means is vain and confused, producing much pride. That which instructs us is what happens from one moment to another producing in us that experimental science which Jesus Christ Himself willed to acquire before instructing others.

(from: Abandonment to Divine Providence by J.P. De Caussade S.J. On e readers at :
abandonement

On a certain reading J.P. seems to be putting himself out of the job of Spiritual Direction but if you swivel the universal ball joint of the philosopher’s neck his purport is clear. The real efficacy of what providence sends to us in the way of reading can only be discovered in the silence of meditation. Then words which by their self-evident truth make no impression can become fulgent.

APHORISM I.

IN philosophy equally as in poetry, it is the highest and most useful prerogative of genius to produce the strongest impressions of novelty, while it rescues admitted truths from the neglect caused by the very circumstance of their universal admission. Extremes meet. Truths, of all others the most awful and interesting, are too often considered as so true, that they lose all the power of truth, and lie bed-ridden in the dormitory of the soul, side by side with the most despised and exploded errors.

(from Aids to Reflection by S.T. Coleridge)