CHAPTER LVII.

The conclusion of the contents of this book in a few simple words.

THE daughter said:—Ah, sir, you speak with so much Christian learning, both from your own experience and from Holy Writ, concerning the mystery of the pure Godhead, and the flowing forth and the flowing in again of the spirit, could you not draw out for me this mysterious teaching, as you understand it, under the form of a similitude, that I may be the better able to comprehend it? And I should also be very glad if you would gather together in a short discourse, and illustrate by figures, all the sublime doctrines which you have handled at length, that they may be more firmly fixed in my weak mind.

He answered:—How can one express in figures what has no figure, and set forth in words what has no mode of being, seeing that it is above the ken of sense and human reason? For every thing to which it may be likened is a thousand times more unlike than like it. Nevertheless, in order to expel from your imagination figures by figures, I will try, so far as 313is possible, to image forth for you in similitudes these form-transcending thoughts, as in truth they may be termed, and thus conclude a long discourse in a few words.

Hearken then. It is said by a learned doctor that God, in regard to His Godhead, is like a very wide ring, whose centre is every where, and circumference nowhere. Now picture to your imagination what follows. If a stone is flung with violence into the centre of a sheet of still water, a ring is formed in the water, and this ring by its own might makes a second ring, and the second makes a third; and in proportion to the force of the first fling will be the breadth and width of the circles; and the force of the fling might be even great enough to pass beyond the limit of the water. Imagine now that the first ring represents the infinite might of the Divine nature in the Father. This produces a second ring like it, according to the Person, and this ring is the Son. And the two produce the third, which is the Spirit of both, co-eternal and co-omnipotent with them. Thus the three circles signify Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In this deep abyss, the Divine nature in the Father is everlastingly speaking forth and begetting the Word as to the personality, and dwelling in Him 314as to the essence—that self-same Word, I mean, who has taken upon Him human nature. If any one wishes to picture this to his imagination, let him figure to himself a man, from the depths of whose heart a form like the man’s own springs forth, yet in such a way as to be always gazing fixedly upon and returning back again into him out of whom he sprang. This spiritual superessential begetting of the Divine Word is the full and entire cause of the bringing forth of all creatures and spirits into their natural state of existence. The supreme superessential Spirit has ennobled man, by illuminating him with a ray from His eternal Godhead; and this is God’s image in the rational soul, which also is everlasting. Hence from out the great ring, which represents the eternal Godhead, there flow forth, to carry on the metaphor, little rings, which may be taken to signify the high nobility of rational creatures.

Now there are some persons who, to their own hurt, turn away from this nobility of their reason, and, plastering over the radiant image of God within them, turn themselves to the bodily pleasures of this world; and when they fancy that they possess the joy which they are pursuing, stern death comes and puts an end to 315them. But a man who acts conformably to reason turns away from the bright spark of his soul to that which is eternal, and out of which the spark came forth; and he gives all creatures their dismissal, and cleaves to the eternal Truth alone.

Attend, likewise, to the right and orderly way in which the flowing back again of the spirit into God should take place, as set forth in the following instruction:—The first thing which a man should do is to turn away entirely and with all his might from the pleasures of the world, and from sinful practices, to God, with persevering prayer, seclusion, and virtuous discreet exercises, in order thus to bring his body into subjection to the spirit. The second thing is to offer himself willingly and patiently to bear the countless multitude of contradictions which may come upon him from God or creatures. The third thing is to take the sufferings of Christ crucified as the model on which to form himself, and to copy Him in His sweet teaching, gentle walk, and pure life, which He proposed to us as our example, and in this manner to press onwards through Him. The fourth thing to be done is to divest himself of exterior occupations, and to establish himself in a stillness 316and repose of soul by an energetic detachment from all things, as if he were dead to himself, and could not guide himself, and had no other thought but for the honour and glory of Christ and His Heavenly Father. To this he should add an humble bearing towards all men, whether friends or foes. After a man has passed through these exercises, the next point at which he arrives is, that his outward senses, which until then were much too actively employed on exterior objects, cease from action; and his spirit’s highest powers, dying to their natural operation, acquire a supernatural sensitiveness.

Here it is that the spirit, having parted with every thing of nature which had clung to it, presses further in through the ring, which signifies the eternal Godhead, and arrives at spiritual perfection. The sublimest wealth of the spirit in its own proper form consists in this:—that being now freed from the weight of sin, it soars upwards in the might of God into its divinely illuminated reason, where it enjoys a perpetual influx of heavenly consolations. It can now behold the secret relations of things, and interpret them according to reason with true discrimination, and it is duly set free from bondage by the Son in the Son. It still, however, continues 317to view things in their outflow from God, and to contemplate them as existing each one in its own proper nature. This may be called the transport of the spirit, for it is now lifted up above time and place, and has passed away by intense loving contemplation into God. Now, he who can clear a way for himself still further, and to whom God is pleased to give great and special help by drawing him away mightily from creatures, as He did to St. Paul, and may possibly still do to others, according to what St. Bernard says—this man finds his created spirit seized upon by the superessential Spirit, and drawn into that which it never could have attained to in its own strength. This entry of the spirit into God strips it of all images, forms, and multiplicity, and it loses consciousness of itself and all things, and Becomes merged with, the three Persons in the abyss of their indwelling simplicity, and enjoys there its highest and truest bliss. Here all striving and seeking cease, for the beginning and the end have become one, and the spirit, being divested of itself, has become one with them, as is explained else where with the help of figures.¹²¹²   In the Treatise on Truth. But as to how a man can pass away in this life, either permanently 318or transiently, and how, while he is still in time, he can be caught up above time, more or less, and be drawn out of himself and trans ported into the formless Unity—all this I have already set forth with the necessary distinctions. And now, daughter, remember that all these figures and images, with their interpretations, are as remote from and unlike the formless Truth as a black Moor is unlike the beautiful sun; and this comes from the formless and in comprehensible simplicity of the Truth.

The maiden looked upwards, and said:—Praised be the eternal Truth for the beautiful instruction which I have received from your wise words concerning the first entry of a be ginner into the interior life, the hindrances which he will meet with as he advances, the things which he will .have to avoid, his sufferings and his exercises, as well as the hidden mystery of the pure and absolute Truth, according to the good distinctions which you have laid down. Glory be to God eternally for this.

Now, when this holy maiden had been thus nobly guided by her spiritual father, with the help of good distinctions and in accordance with the whole Christian truth, along all the ways which end in supreme bliss, and when she had 319well mastered it, as far as is possible in this life, he wrote to her in his last letter thus:—Come now, daughter; give creatures their dismissal, and leave off thy questionings. Give ear, and listen for thyself to what God will say within thee. Thou mayest well rejoice that thou hast obtained that which to many a one is wanting. Painfully as thou hast earned it, all this is now past and over. Henceforth there is nothing more for thee to do except to possess Divine peace in still repose, and joyfully to await the moment when thou shalt pass away from this life into the fulness of everlasting bliss.

It came to pass soon afterwards that the holy maiden died; and her end was a blessed one, even as her life had been.¹³¹³   Elizabeth Stäglin died in the convent of Thoss, near Winterthur, A.D. 1360, five years before her spiritual father. After her death she appeared in a vision to her spiritual father clad in snow-white garments, shining with a dazzling brightness, and full of heavenly joy. She drew nigh to him, and showed him in what noble fashion she had passed away into the pure God head. He saw and heard this with delight, and the vision filled his soul with heavenly consolation. When he came to himself again, he sighed deeply, and thought within himself:—320Ah, God! how blessed is the man who strive after Thee alone! He may well be content to suffer whose sufferings Thou rewardest thus. God help us to rejoice in this maiden and in all His dear friends, and to enjoy His Divine countenance eternally. Amen.

THE END.

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