Verba Domini nostri Iesu Christi ad sponsam, qualiter non debeat timere de sibi ab eo reuelatis nec cogitare, quod maligni spiritus sint. Et de doctrina cognoscendi bonum vel malignum spiritum.
The Call to Discernment
The Lord questions the bride's fear regarding the origin of His words.
I am your Creator and Redeemer. Why were you afraid of my words? And why did you wonder whether the spirit behind them was good or evil? Tell me, what did you find in my words that your conscience did not tell you to do? Or have I ever commanded you to do anything contrary to reason?
Three Marks of a Good Spirit
The Lord defines the three pillars of a good spirit: honoring God, holding to true faith, and practicing restraint.
To this the bride replied: "Not at all; everything you said is true, and I was the one who was wrong." The Spirit, or rather the Bridegroom, answered, "I gave you three things by which you could recognize a good spirit." I commanded you to honor your God, who made you and gave you everything you have. Your own reason tells you this: to honor Him above all else. I have commanded you to hold to the right faith: specifically, to believe that nothing was made without God, and that nothing can happen without God. I also commanded you to love a reasonable restraint in all things, because the world was made for man so that he might use it only for his needs.
Recognizing the Deceiver
The Lord warns against the tactics of the enemy, who mimics goodness to lead the soul into pride and excess.
In the same way, you can recognize an unclean spirit by three things that are the opposite of these. He urges you to seek your own praise and to be proud of the gifts you've been given. He also tempts you toward faithlessness. He also urges you toward a lack of restraint in all your senses and in all things, and he inflames your heart for these ends. He also deceives at times under the guise of what is good. That is why I have commanded you to always examine your conscience and open it up to those who are wise and spiritual.
The Security of the Devoted Soul
The Lord assures the bride that He is the master of all spirits and protects those who love Him from demonic domination.
So, don't doubt that the good Spirit of God is with you when you desire nothing but God and are entirely inflamed by Him. I alone can do this, and it's impossible for the devil to approach you. Yet he cannot approach any wicked person either, unless I permit it—whether because of their sins or because of some hidden judgment known to me—because he is my creature, just like everything else, and was made good by me; but he is evil through his own malice, and therefore I am Lord over him. Some people wrongly blame me, claiming that those who serve me with deep devotion are losing their minds or are possessed by a demon. They make me out to be like a man who, having a faithful wife who trusts him completely, would hand her over to an adulterer. I would be just like that if I were to let a person who loves me with a righteous heart be handed over to a demon. But because I am faithful, no demon will ever have power over the soul of anyone who serves me with devotion. Although my friends may sometimes appear to be out of their minds, it isn't because of any demonic influence, nor because they serve me with fervent devotion, but rather because of some mental weakness or some other hidden cause that serves to humble them. Sometimes it may happen that the devil receives power from me over the bodies of good people for their own reward, or that he clouds their consciences; but he can never dominate the souls of those who have faith and delight in me."
Read the original Latin
"Ego sum creator tuus et redemptor. Quare timuisti de verbis meis? Et cur cogitasti, de quo spiritu essent, de bono an de malo? Dic michi, quid inuenisti in verbis meis, quod consciencia tua non dictabat tibi faciendum? Aut numquid aliquid precepi tibi contra racionem?"
Ad que sponsa respondit: "Nequaquam, sed omnia illa sunt vera et ego male erraui." Respondit spiritus seu sponsus: "Ego precepi tibi tria, ex quibus tu posses cognoscere spiritum bonum. Precepi tibi honorare Deum tuum, qui te fecit, et omnia, que habes, dedit tibi. Hoc tibi dicit racio tua, eum honorare pre omnibus.
Ego precepi tibi fidem tenere rectam, credere scilicet sine Deo nichil esse factum, sine Deo nichil posse fieri.
Precepi eciam tibi diligere continenciam racionabilem omnium rerum, quia mundus propter hominem factus est, ut homo eo ad necessitatem uteretur. Sic eciam per tria, istis contraria, potes cognoscere spiritum immundum.
Ipse enim suadet tibi laudem propriam querere et de datis tibi superbire. Ipse suadet eciam tibi perfidiam. Ipse suadet eciam tibi incontinenciam membrorum omnium et rerum omnium et ad hec inflammat cor.
Ipse quoque quandoque decipit sub specie boni. Propterea precepi tibi semper discutere conscienciam tuam et sapientibus spiritualibus aperire eam.
Propterea non dubites tunc spiritum Dei bonum esse tecum, cum nichil aliud desideraueris nisi Deum et de eo tota inflammaris. Hoc ego solus possum facere, et impossibile est diabolo appropinquare tibi. Sed nec alicui malo homini potest appropinquare, nisi permittatur a me, vel propter peccata vel propter aliquod occultum iudicium michi cognitum, quia ipse creatura mea est, sicut alia omnia, et a me bene factus fuit, sed malicia sua malus est et ideo ego sum dominus super eum.
Ideo aliqui imputant michi falsam culpam, qui dicunt, quod illi, qui michi seruiunt ex nimia deuocione, dicuntur insanire et habere demonium. Ipsi similem me faciunt homini, qui, castam habens uxorem et in virum suum bene confidentem, supponit eam adultero. Talis ego essem, si hominem, iustum habentem ad me caritatis animum, dimitterem demoni tradi.
Sed quia fidelis sum, in nullius michi deuote seruientis anima dominabitur demon. Licet autem quandoque amici mei quasi amentes videntur, hoc tamen non est propter passionem demonii nec quia seruiunt michi ex feruenti deuocione sed propter defectum cerebri vel propter aliam occultam causam, que est illis ad humiliacionem eorum.
Potest eciam fieri quandoque, quod diabolus accipit potestatem a me super carnem bonorum hominum ad eorum remuneracionem aut quod obumbret consciencias eorum, sed in animas eorum, qui in me habent fidem et delectacionem, numquam potest dominari."
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