The Dark Night of The Soul

Saint John of The Cross of the Order of Mount Carmel. Revised conformably to the last chritical Spanish edition and with an introductory essay by Rev. Benedicht Zimmerman, O.C.D. Translated by James Clarke. The Dar Night, though only a short treatise in comparison with the remaining works of St. John of the Cross, is perhaps from a prartical point of view the most important of the whole series. Instructions for beginners may be found in abundance: even the Night of the sense, as St. John informs us, has had numerous exponents, but in the Night of the spirit he breaks fresh ground. If it is one of God's ordinances that all spiritual life must be regulated by a director so that pitfalls may be avoided, a soul plunged into the Night of the spirit depends more tan any other upon the intelligent guidance of an experienced director. In the Dark Night St. John has traced the way with admirable lucidity and simplicity. It is impossible to read it without gaining the conviction that his is the absolutely save way, there may be others, less strait, less rugged, but neither so safe nor so direct.