Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVI. THE END. AMONG the great Mystics of the world Theresa, perhaps, does not take the highest place; her Mysticism is distinctly theurgic in character, and in some of her visionary extravagances she lays herself open to the accusation of being called hysterical, if not insane. But among the famous women of the world she surely has a right to stand. Neither the blasphemous pen of Voltaire nor the keen, critical eye of Renan has been able to condemn the life of this saint, even if contempt is expressed for her reputed miracles. Years of unselfish devotion proved the entire sincerity of her love for God. "I could love thee, O God," she wrote, "all the same if there were no heaven, and if there were no hell I would fear thee no less;" her religious fervor was intense, and free from any taint of self-seeking. Of all the saints in the Roman calendar, Saint Theresa has the most admirers among modern writers. A century after her death the writings of this Spanish woman converted the poet Richard Crashaw to the Roman faith; and the romantic story of her life has drawn from George Eliot the exquisite prelude to Middlemarch. In that remarkable philosophical novel written by Mr. Shorthouse, we find the Jesuit Father Clare putting "The Flaming Heart, or the Life of Saint Theresa," into the hands of his metaphysical pupil when the dreamy boy was first becoming conscious of his own soul. In these modern days we are apt to think of a saint as a creature removed from the common experiences of life. When we speak the word, we have a vision of a woman clad in sombre raiment, who with streaming eyes and emaciated countenance spends her days and nights in kneeling before a crucifix, repeating Avcs. From such a life certainly no one in this busy...