Page:The Mediaeval Mind Vol 1.djvu/411

CHAP. XVI "When thou pleadest with God not to take from thee something to which thou cleavest by desire, it is as if an adulteress caught by her husband in the act, should not ask pardon for her crime, but beg him not to interrupt her pleasure. It is not enough for thee to go wantoning from God, but thou must incline Him to save and approve the things in which thou takest delight to thy undoing—the forms of bodies, their savours and their colours.

"The poverty of thine inner vision of God, purblind as thou art, although He is there, makes thee willing to go out of doors from thine own hearth, refusing to linger within thyself, as in the dark. So thou hast nothing to do but go gaping after the external forms of bodies and the opinions of men. Thou dost carry thyself in this world as if thou hadst come hither to gaze and wonder at the forms of bodies.

"May God be gracious to thee, that the feet of thy mind may find no resting-place, so that somehow, O soul, thou mayest return to the Ark, like Noah's dove.

"Prosperity is a snare, adversity the knife that cuts it; prosperity imprisons us from the love of God; adversity breaks the dungeon in pieces.

"Since you are taken only by pleasure, you should shun whatever gives it. The Christian soul is safe only in adversity. From what thou cherishest God makes thee rods.

"The only medicine for every pain and torment is contempt for whatever in thee is hurt by them, and the turning of the mind to God.

"As many carnal pleasures as thou spurnest, just so many snares of the devil dost thou escape. As many tribulations—especially those for truth's sake—as thou dost flee, so many salutary remedies thou spurnest.

"In hope thou mayest cherish the unripened grain; thus love those who are not yet good, Be such toward all as the Truth has shown itself toward thee. Just as it has sustained and loved thee for thy betterment, so do thou sustain and love men in order to better them.

"You are set as a standard to blunt the darts of the enemy, that is, to destroy evil by opposing good to it. You should never return evil for evil, except very medicinally; which is not to return evil but good.

"If to cleave to God is thine whole and only good, thine whole and only evil is separation from Him.

"Who loves all will be saved without doubt; but who is loved by men will not for that reason be saved."

The unity of these Meditations lies in the absolute manner in which the meditating soul attaches itself to God