The venerable Father Augustine Baker died in London on 9th August, 1641, so that this year marks the tercentenary of his death. Since his memory and his spiritual teaching have always been held in special veneration by the members of St Gregory's, with whom he lived for five years at Douay (163338) and among whom he has numbered his most devoted disciples, it is very fitting that the Downside Review should take notice of this important anniversary. Here, then, to begin with, is a translation of the attractive obit which a distinguished Gregorian (Bishop Philip Ellis, 1653-1726) consecrated under the year 1641 to Fr Baker's memory :
A tercentenary commemoration of Fr Baker might appropriately consist of a sketch of his career and an outline of his spiritual teaching; but much has been written on both these topics, so that this article may be allowed to take a different course. Its particular programme will be this: (1) To explain why none of Fr Baker's original treatises has as yet been published; (2). To examine the relation of Sancta Sophia (currently, Holy Wisdom) to the original treatises.
Several causes have militated against the publication of Fr Baker's treatises in the shape in wluch he left them, of which the chief are their form and style. A subsidiary cause, in the case of some of them, has been their length. In his massive Exposition of St Benedict's Rule, which runs to more than two hundred and fifty thousand words, Fr Baker makes this candid confession : ' I know I am oftentimes long and tedious in my discourses ; but it is my manner and I can do no better.' This prolixity grew upon him, and his last treatises are nearly all of great length. The ten years of his literary productivity (1628-38) fall into two equal periods of five years each. In the first period he was at Cambray, acting as spiritual adviser to the nuns; in the second, he was at Douay, with no special duties. The treatises of the Cambray period are for the most part quite short; the treatises of the Douay period, on the other hand, are generally very lengthy. Thus such treatises as Conversio Morum, English Mission, Flagellum Euchomachorum have an average length of one hundred and forty thousand words.
However, this matter of length has not been the chief obstacle to the publication of Fr Baker's treatises. A more serious obstacle has been presented by their form and style. They were none of them, in fact, composed for publication, nor are they cast in a form suitable for publication. The shorter, Cambray treatises were written for the current needs of the nuns and tend to take the shape Father Baker's Tercentenary 357 of a loosely connected series of 'advices' for their spiritual course. There is no division into chapters, nor is there any strictly logical order. Having completed one such series of advices, Fr Baker not seldom begins another, in which he gives a further treatment in the same book of the same matters. The books are, in fact, constructed by the method of addition, rather than on a formal plan with beginning, middle and end, so that they tend to be invertebrate. The later and longer treatises have something more of a plan, but it is a plan of the most general kind. And in these longer treatises the elements of digression and repetition, present even in the short treatises, take on a more formidable character.
The one, dominant purpose of all that Fr Baker wrote was to inculcate the practice of prayer, and to this topic he returns, sooner or later, from every digression. To that extent these long treatises have a fundamental unity; but it is a unity which goes along with the utmost prolixity and discursiveness. Add to this his fondness for repetition and these treatises acquire a character of tediousness. It has been said of a more recent writer : 'Her wealth of repetition is such that it cannot fail to extort from the attentive reader a sentiment of bewildered and fatigued respect'. Something of the same sort may very well happen to the reader of such a treatise as Conversio Morum. It will appear to him that he is engaged in traversing a vast and formless expanse of words, and he will need much resolution to persevere. And yet, if he do but persevere, he will find that the desert wastes have many green and refreshing oases.
As regards the style of his writing, Fr Baker was quite capable of a terse and direct English, which leaves nothing to be desired on the score of lucidity and effectiveness. This style is in evidence especially in the early treatises. But he was capable also of something very different, of a style which is characterized by long, loosely-constructed, involved sentences, full of parenthetical qualifications. This style predominates in the later treatises. He had been trained for the law, and this style of his bears a strong resemblance to the style of an indenture. It displays him with a good deal of the lawyer's passion for providing for all conceivable contingencies. He says what he has to say with an exuberant amplitude, and, to protect himself against any possible misunderstanding, qualifies his clauses with abundant parentheses. When he is at the height of his subject and speaking of his favourite topic, he is capable of considerable passages of a real and moving eloquence ; but lying between such passages are long tracts of very difficult country. To sum up in the most general terms, it may be said that the Cambray treatises are unsuitable for publication mainly on the score of their form, the Douay treatises on the score of their style. The day may come, of course, when some 'Baker Society' of the future will have the means and the zeal to publish every single one of the Master's treatises, and will be daunted by no obstacles. But that day is not yet. [1]
When Fr Baker died in 1641, his devoted disciples were not long in addressing themselves to this question of the publication of his writings. Already, in the manuscripts, there are signs of an effort by some of the scribes to provide a sort of 'pocket Baker' by putting together two or three of the treatises which contained the gist of Fr Baker's teaching. But no attempt was made, then or later, to publish any treatise in the shape in which Fr Baker left it. The earliest Baker book is the little Holy Practices of a Divine Lover (Paris, 1657) which appeared a few months before Sancta Sophia. This is a summary and adaptation of four of Fr Baker's treatises. But something more comprehensive than this had long been projected. Abbot Gascoigne, a member of a family that was much devoted to Fr Baker, had as President of the English Benedictine Congregation (1649-53) commissioned Fr Father Baker's Tercentenary 359 Serenus Cressy to compile a compendium of all Fr Baker's writings. The General Chapter of 1653 unanimously approved of the publication of this compendium, but added the proviso that it should first be examined by a special Commission of five members. This Commission raised difficulties, of which there is no precise record [2] ; but Sancta Sophia was at last happily approved and launched upon the world in the year 1657. Let us now examine the relation of this book to Fr Baker's treatises.
To begin with, the matter may be set forth in a mathematical fashion. As Fr Cressy says on his title-page, his book is 'extracted out of more than forty treatises by the Ven. Father F. Augustin Baker'. Now Sancta Sophia contains about two hundred thousand words, and at a rough estimate the treatises used by Fr Cressy contain altogether something over a million. If these figures be reasonably correct, we should reach the conclusion that the general scale of reduction is one to five. But this conclusion must be qualified by the following important consideration. As has been said already, Fr Baker did not fear to repeat himself. He did this not only in the course of an individual treatise, but repeated his main positions in different treatises. So Fr Cressy had at his command several versions of the same doctrines, and of these he would need only one and could neglect the rest. Thus such a treatise as the one Of Spiritual Discretion reveals on examination the abnormal scale of reduction of one to ten. The fact is that Fr Baker in this treatise does not confine himself strictly to its special purpose, viz. the application of the principles of discretion to mortification, vocal prayer, meditation, etc., but gives some substantive teaching on these topics. But he had given this teaching already elsewhere, and, when Fr Cressy came to 'digest' Discretion, he needed to take from it only that which was special to it.
Moreover, such a treatise as Discretion, in contrast to the more 'central* treatises, may be described as peripheral and of lesser importance. So also the treatise called the Mirror of Patience and Resignation is relatively a subordinate treatise. In this case the scale of reduction (for the treatise and its supplements) works out at one to seven. But a more central treatise, such as the Order of Teaching, gives a result of one to five. In the case of the treatises which have been mentioned these calculations are relatively easy, for these treatises are represented by more or less compact portions of Sancta Sophia. The matter is far different with such a central treatise as Directions for Contemplation. The substance of the four books of this treatise is distributed throughout Sancta Sophia of which the sub-title is 'Directions for the Prayer of Contemplation', and to trace it completely and estimate the scale upon which it has been used would be a long and difficult task.
We shall not attempt this task, nor weary the reader with further calculations. Nor do we feel justified in giving any final figure for the general scale of reduction. Fr Cressy describes his book as 'methodically digested' from Fr Baker's treatises. That is an accurate description. It is a digest or precis of the original treatises. The precis reproduces a very great deal of Fr Baker's vocabulary and phraseology. This is the alphabet with which it is written. But in the nature of the case it can seldom reproduce Fr Baker's sentences, still less his paragraphs. In the most general terms the conclusion of our examination must be this, that the substance of Sancta Sophia is Fr Baker's, whereas the literary form is Fr Cressy's. There are, indeed, some passages in the book where Fr Cressy has kept very close to the original text; but even in such passages as these he has reshaped the original, giving it a final literary form which is his own.
Having stated the relation of Sancta Sophia to Fr Baker's treatises in these very general terms, we propose Father Baker's Tercentenary 361 now to examine Fr Cressy's method of procedure in some detail. For this purpose we select two treatises which are relatively easy to trace in Sancta Sophia, viz. Discretion and Mirror. For Sancta Sophia we shall use the current, modern edition ; for Discretion the Ampleforth MS. 136 (D. Barbara Constable, 1681) ; for Mirror the Downside MS. 23 (D. Leander Prichard, about 1650).
I. DISCRETION
A Treatise of the Discretion that is to be used and held in the Exercises of a Spiritual Life.
This treatise was written at Cambray in 1628 for the use of the nuns. After answering the objection that the life of prayer wrecks bodily health, the book gives instruction for various aspects and stages of the spiritual life and shows how discretion is to be exercised in each. It teaches that formal meditation is commonly unsuitable for enclosed nuns and deprecates the regular use by them of the Spiritual Exercises. The book runs straight on, without any division into chapters. Its structure, with the page numbers of the MS., is as follows:
The book contains 43,000 words and is represented in Sancta Sophia by about 4,300. It is digested in two places: (1) in the chapter 'Of Set Retirements for Meditation' (S.S., pp. 417-421) ; (2) in the chapter 'Of Spiritual Discretion' (S.S. pp. 482-489). We may deal briefly with the first digest, as follows: The ten sections of the chapter mentioned derive from pages 37-92 of the original. The substance of Fr Baker's teaching is reproduced, but not much of its form. Fr Baker had allowed himself trenchant language regarding the Spiritual Exercises, which is toned down in the digest. Fr Cressy's discreet text has none of the lively vigour of the original. Dismissing this separate piece, we set forth the relation of the twenty-three sections of the chapter 'Of Spiritual Discretion' to Fr Baker's treatise. The numbers in brackets indicate the pages of the MS. in which the topic, or topics, of a section occur.
Sections of Sancta Sophia.
From this table it will be clear that the original has been rearranged freely. About one fifth has been omitted entirely and the rest severely condensed. Although the precis has seized most of the salient points, yet the treatise necessarily suffers by being compressed into a chapter. We may be allowed to give a partial illustration of Fr Cressy's method by reproducing a passage in which his precis keeps unusually close to the original. He summarizes in ninety words a context which contains over two thousand, by taking from it a more or less continuous passage which gives the gist of Fr Baker's advice. We reproduce rather more of the original than is necessary in order to display Fr Baker's style at its best.
II. MIRROR
The Mirror of Patience and Resignation. A Discourse concerning the Love of our Enemies. A Discourse concerning All Virtues in general.
The Mirror was written at Douay and is dated 30th July 1635. The two supplements, deriving from it, and attached to it in all the manuscripts, are undated. Mirror has 23,000 words; Love of Enemies, 3,500; All Virtues, 6,000: a total of 32,500. The corresponding sections of Sancta Sophia contain about 4,900 words. Mirror is digested in the chapter 'Of Patience' (S.S., pp. 272-78); Love of Enemies in sections 19-25 of the chapter entitled 'The Order and Degrees of Charity to Others' (S.S., pp. 262-65); All Virtues in the chapter entitled 'Of Virtues in General' (S.S., pp. 331-35). It will be necessary to take the three items separately. In MS. Downside 23 they occur respectively in these pages: 1-128 ; 129-147; 147-183.
(1). Mirror. This is the structure of the original:
A comparison of the original with the precis allows of this general observation, that Fr Cressy has dealt very freely with the treatise, not keeping to the original order or following the original classification, but taking his points here and there in the treatise as he needed them. Some of his sections are made up from widely separate pages of the treatise. Fr Baker's phraseology is largely preserved, but no sentences are reproduced without some revision and no paragraphs without great condensation. The scale of reduction for Mirror alone (apart from its supplements) is much the same as that for Discretion, i.e. one to ten : but the precis does not read quite so satisfactorily, perhaps because ' Fr Cressy has here taken greater liberties with Fr Baker's structure. However, the treatise has some of the diffuse-ness of the later treatises and there is a good deal of repetition, so that the editor's task was more difficult. The digest in Sancta Sophia is in twenty-one sections which are related as follows to the pages of MS. Downside 23.
Sections of Sancta Sophia.
The re-arrangement of the original will be manifest from this table. About a quarter has not been used at all and the rest severely condensed.
2. Love of enemies. The structure of the original is simple :
The scale of reduction in this treatise taken by itself is one to four, so that the digest is nearer to the original. Moreover, Fr Cressy has followed Fr Baker's order and scheme, save that he has made ten degrees out of Fr Baker's eight. The digest is in seven sections (S.S., pp. 262-265, 19-25) but the first two are editorial. The rest correspond with the original treatise as follows:
Sections of Sancta Sophia. 21. Enemies more useful than friends (135-137). 22. Must do them no harm but love them still (138). 2.3. For this we need God's grace (139-140). 24. Ten degrees of love of enemies (141-144). 25. So shall we win them to God and ourselves (145).3. All Virtues. This treatise has no precise structure but is a continuous exposition. The scale of reduction is almost as good as one to three, so that more of Fr Baker's text is preserved than in any of the others which we have examined. The digest is in eleven sections (S.S., pp. 331-335) which are thus related to the original text.
Sections of Sancta Sophia.
In his final section Fr Cressy renders the general sense of Fr Baker's teaching, not without some argument of his own which is designed to temper it. The digest neglects the latter portion of the treatise (pp. 166-183). In this Fr Baker, having made the acquisition of virtues depend very greatly upon the practice of internal prayer, has a discussion of the case of those who have no aptitude for such prayer. He proceeds to give his views on mortification, and in conclusion returns to prayer and patience. The digest appears to modify Fr Baker's views on two points:
(1). Fr Baker allows a real contemplation short of the most sublime degree of prayer, whereas Fr Cressy seems loath to do this
(2) Fr Baker makes the acquisition of virtues depend fundamentally (under God) upon the practice of internal prayer, and this may be said to be the burden of the treatise. The digest in two of its sections (6, 9) supplies some qualification of this doctrine. In both these cases the qualification is suggested by Fr Baker's own exposition ; but he is so emphatic (as always) upon the importance of the practice of internal prayer that the qualification is less explicit than Fr Cressy's and makes little impression on the reader.
As has been said already, All Virtues, with its relatively small scale of reduction, is better represented in Sancta Sophia than any of the other treatises which we have examined. We conclude this matter by giving from it a specially favourable example of Fr Cressy's fidelity to his original.
By way of conclusion to this article and of reparation to Fr Baker for any injury which he has suffered at our hands, we venture to reproduce in extenso a short and self-contained piece which displays him in his mystical mood. This little essay is the fifth of twenty-three miscellaneous pieces of varying length which he assembled in one volume, in 1633, under the title of Remains. Of this book there is only one complete copy, viz. MS. Downside 22, which was transcribed about the year 1678 by D. Wilfrid Reeve. The piece occurs on pages 102 and 103 of that MS.
Fr Cressy summarizes this mystical essay in section 15 of his chapter 'Of Contemplation' (S.S., p. 507) as follows:
There is a further distinct echo of the piece in the last. chapter of Sancta Sophia, where Fr Cressy speaks of the 'Union of Nothing with Nothing' in passive contemplation (p. 545). But, despite a superficial likeness, the teaching of that section is not in accord with the teaching of Fr Baker's essay. And the same is true of the teaching of the preceding section. The fact is that a good deal of this final chapter derives from Fr Baker's extracts from mystical writers and not from his own treatises.
Finally, we venture to point out how near Fr Baker's essay lies, in thought and temper, to one of his books of predilection. If any reader should desire to know more about its subject, he could not do better than turn to the Cloud of Unknowing and the Epistle of Privy Counsel, two treatises which for spiritual power and sheer loveliness of expression hold a unique place in our literature. Nor should he neglect Fr Baker's own Commentary on the Cloud.