第二章：开始论述这夜的第二部分或原因，即信心。以两个论证证明它如何比第一和第三部分更黑暗。
Chapter II: Which begins to treat of the second part or cause of this night, which is faith. Proves by two arguments how it is darker than the first and than the third.
现在我们继续论述这夜的第二部分，即信心；如我们所说，这是引向目标——也就是神——的奇妙方法；而神，如我们所说，〔见上文第一卷第二章。〕按自然而言，也是灵魂这夜的第三原因或部分。因为信心这方法〔参上文第一卷第二章。〕被比作午夜。因此，我们可以说，对灵魂而言，它比第一部分更黑暗，或在某种意义上比第三部分更黑暗；因为第一部分，即感官部分，被比作夜的开始，或感性对象不再能被看见的时候，所以它离光明还不如午夜那么远。第三部分，即黎明前的时期，已经相当接近日光，因此也不像午夜那样黑暗；因为它已经接近日光之光照与照明，而日光被比作神。因为，虽然若按自然方式说，神对灵魂而言诚然像信心一样是黑夜，但是，当这夜的三个部分过去以后——它们按自然而言对灵魂都是夜——神便开始以超自然方式，用他神之光的光线照亮灵魂；这就是随之而来的完全联合的开始，当第三夜过去时，它便开始，因此可以说较不黑暗。
We now go on to treat of the second part of this night, which is faith; this is the wondrous means which, as we said, leads to the goal, which is God, Who, as we said, [I, ii, above.] is also to the soul, naturally, the third cause or part of this night. For faith, which is the means, [Cf. I, ii, above.] is compared with midnight. And thus we may say that it is darker for the soul either than the first part or, in a way, than the third; for the first part, which is that of sense, is compared to the beginning of night, or the time when sensible objects can no longer be seen, and thus it is not so far removed from light as is midnight. The third part, which is the period preceding the dawn, is quite close to the light of day, and it, too, therefore, is not so dark as midnight; for it is now close to the enlightenment and illumination of the light of day, which is compared with God. For, although it is true, if we speak after a natural manner, that God is as dark a night to the soul as is faith, still, when these three parts of the night are over, which are naturally night to the soul, God begins to illumine the soul by supernatural means with the ray of His Divine light; which is the beginning of the perfect union that follows, when the third night is past, and it can thus be said to be less dark.
2. 它同样比第一夜更黑暗，因为第一夜属于人的较低部分，即感性部分，因此较为外在；而第二部分，即信心的部分，属于人的较高部分，即理性部分，因此较为内在，也更为幽暗，因为它剥夺理性之光，或者说得更清楚，使理性瞎眼；这是那些向宗教裁判所控告圣十字若望著作的人所引用的另一命题。然而，它可以在一种完全真实、并且完全符合大公教义的意义上加以解释。这位圣人在这些话中并不是断言信心毁灭自然或熄灭人类理性之光（圣托马斯，《神学大全》第一部，第 1 题，第 8 条，及其他处）；他努力要说明的是，借信心而来的知识，排除了借理性而来的自然知识同时到来。只有在这种意义上，在信心的行为中，灵魂才被剥夺理性之光，并仿佛留在盲目中，好使它被提升到另一种更高贵、更崇高的知识；这种知识远非毁灭理性，反而赋予理性尊严和完美。哲学教导说，今生理智的固有而本性的对象，是可见、物质、有形的事物。按其本性，人倾向于这种知识，但对于属于信心的事物，却不能主张拥有这样的知识。因为，引用一节著名经文来说：Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparientium（希伯来书 xi, 1）。这种思路并不限于圣十字若望，而为所有密契家所遵循，并完全符合神学教义。参 P. Basilio Ponce de León 的 Respuesta〔答复〕以及 Dilucidatio，第二部第二章，并参本书下一章。因此，它很适合比作午夜，也就是夜的深处和其中最黑暗的部分。
2. It is likewise darker than the first night, for this belongs to the lower part of man, which is the sensual part, and, consequently, the more exterior; and this second part, which is of faith, belongs to the higher part of man, which is the rational part, and, in consequence, more interior and more obscure, since it deprives it of the light of reason, or, to speak more clearly, blinds it; This was another of the propositions which were cited by those who denounced the writings of St. John of the Cross to the Holy Office. It is interpretable, nevertheless, in a sense that is perfectly true and completely in conformity with Catholic doctrine. The Saint does not, in these words, affirm that faith destroys nature or quenches the light of human reason (St. Thomas, Summa, Pt. 1, q. 1, a. 8, et alibi); what he endeavors to show is that the coming of knowledge through faith excludes a simultaneous coming of natural knowledge through reason. It is only in this way that, in the act of faith, the soul is deprived of the light of reason, and left, as it were, in blindness, so that it may be raised to another nobler and sublimer kind of knowledge, which, far from destroying reason, gives it dignity and perfection. Philosophy teaches that the proper and connatural object of the understanding, in this life, is things visible, material and corporeal. By his nature, man inclines to knowledge of this kind, but cannot lay claim to such knowledge as regards the things which belong to faith. For, to quote a famous verse of Scripture: Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparientium (Hebrews xi, 1). This line of thought is not confined to St. John of the Cross, but is followed by all the mystics and is completely in agreement with theological doctrine. Cf. Respuesta [Reply] of P. Basilio Ponce de León and Dilucidatio, Pt. II, Chap. ii, and also the following chapter in this present book. and thus it is aptly compared to midnight, which is the depth of night and the darkest part thereof.
3. 现在我们必须证明，这第二部分，即信心，如何是灵的夜，正如第一部分是感官的夜。然后我们也将描述与它相反的事物，以及灵魂必须如何主动预备自己进入其中。至于被动部分，即神把灵魂带入那夜时在其中所作的工作，我们将在其适当之处论及；我打算那是在第三卷。
3. We have now to prove how this second part, which is faith, is night to the spirit, even as the first part is night to sense. And we shall then also describe the things that are contrary to it, and how the soul must prepare itself actively to enter it. For, concerning the passive part, which is that which God works in it, when He brings it into that night, we shall speak in its place, which I intend shall be the third book.