{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35811/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35811","id":"gutenberg_35811","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35811","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Mechthild, of Magdeburg, approximately 1212-approximately 1282","Private revelations -- Early works to 1800","Spiritual life -- Catholic Church -- Early works to 1800","Visions -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                MATELDA\n                                AND THE\n                          CLOISTER OF HELLFDE\n\n\n                          _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\n\n\n  _TREES PLANTED BY THE RIVER_. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d.\n\n      \"This excellent book will commend itself to many a contemplative\n    Christian during hours of quiet communion with his own soul and with\n    God.\"--_Christian Commonwealth._\n\n      \"A delightful book, and presents points of interest quite\n    novel.\"--_Rock._\n\n      \"There are some exquisite sketches of the religious history of\n    individuals who exerted a powerful influence in their day, but of\n    whom we know nothing now, which will be highly appreciated by every\n    spiritually-minded Christian.\"--_Methodist Times._\n\n      \"A deeply interesting book.\"--_Aberdeen Free Press._\n\n\n  _THREE FRIENDS OF GOD._ Records from the Lives of John Tauler, Nicholas\n        of Basle, Henry Suso. By Frances A. Bevan, Author of \"The Story\n        of Wesley,\" etc. Crown 8vo, 5s.\n\n      \"Fascinating glimpses of the strange religious life of mediaeval\n    Europe. No student of history and human nature can fail to be\n    interested by this book, while to pious minds it will bring stimulus\n    and edification.\"--_Scotsman_.\n\n\n  _HYMNS OF TER STEEGEN, SUSO, AND OTHERS._ Edited by Mrs. Frances Bevan,\n        Author of \"Trees Planted by the River,\" etc. Crown 8vo, 1s. 6d.\n\n      \"Some of the hymns are very beautiful, calculated to strengthen the\n    weary, comfort the sad, stimulate the down-hearted, and draw the soul\n    nearer to God.\"--_Record._\n\n      \"The literary quality of many of the hymns will be welcome to many\n    lovers of sacred poetry.\"--_Manchester Guardian._\n\n\n\n\n                                MATELDA\n                                AND THE\n                          CLOISTER OF HELLFDE\n\n\n                       EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOK OF\n                          MATILDA OF MAGDEBURG\n\n                       SELECTED AND TRANSLATED BY\n                             FRANCES BEVAN\n\n                               AUTHOR OF\n                        \"THREE FRIENDS OF GOD,\"\n                     \"TREES PLANTED BY THE RIVER,\"\n             \"HYMNS OF TER STEEGEN, SUSO, AND OTHERS,\" ETC.\n\n                               __London__\n                           JAMES NISBET & CO.\n                           21 BERNERS STREET\n                                  1896\n\n                 _Printed by_ Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.\n                       _At the Ballantyne Press_\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\n\nTo most of us the Matelda of Dante has been scarcely more than a shape\nexisting in the mind of a poet. It may be that she now stands before us\nnot only as a woman of flesh and blood, but as one who has for us in\nthese days a marvellous message. One of the great cloud of witnesses to\nthe love and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks to us in a German\nBeguine, who is now recognised by many as the original of her who\nconducted Dante into \"the terrestrial Paradise.\"\n\nWhether or no we regard her as the guide of Dante, may she be to us a\nmeans whereby we \"forget the things that are behind, and press forward to\nthose that are before.\" May she yet be to some sorrowful souls the guide\ninto the blessed Garden of God--the garden no longer guarded by a flaming\nsword, but opened to the sinner who \"has washed his robes, and made them\nwhite in the Blood of the Lamb.\" May some to whom the future is dark and\nfearful, and who carry as a heavy burden the sin of past years, be led on\nacross the river into the light, the sweetness, and the rest of the green\npastures of Christ--the sin and sorrow left behind, remembered no more,\nfor the Lord remembers them not. And in His Presence, where there is the\nfulness of joy, the sufferings of this present time can also be\nforgotten, for sorrow rejoiceth before Him.\n\nSix persons have up to this time been regarded as the original of the\nMatelda of Dante. The Countess Matilda of Tuscany most commonly till\nmodern times; Matilda, mother of Otto the Great; the nun of Hellfde,\nMatilda of Hackeborn; the \"gentle lady\" of the _Vita Nuova_, and of the\n_Convito_; Vanna, the lover of Guido Cavalcanti; and finally, the\nBeguine, also of Hellfde, known as Matilda of Magdeburg.\n\nThe claims of the Countess Matilda appear to rest on her name only,\nwithout further traits of resemblance; those of Matilda of Hackeborn have\nbeen disproved by the chronological researches of Preger; of the rest,\nonly Matilda of Magdeburg shows any resemblance striking enough to lead\nto the conclusion that she was in the mind of Dante when he described the\nlady who sang the sweet songs of Paradise. Scartazzini, who regards the\ngentle lady of the _Vita Nuova_ as the true Matelda, can assign no valid\nreason for doubting that Matilda the Beguine has a better claim. I think\nthat few can doubt it who have carefully read the proofs furnished by the\nancient records of the convent of Hellfde, and by the book of Matilda of\nMagdeburg. These proofs will be found summarised in a brochure published\nat Munich in 1873, \"Dante's Matelda, _ein akademischer Vortrag von\nWilhelm Preger_.\"\n\nThe extracts from her book, which I have endeavoured to translate, are\nchosen from the passages in her prose and poetry which best exemplify the\nDivine teaching, rather than from those which identify her with the\nMatelda of Dante. That which is useless, except for purposes of historic\nresearch, has been passed over. The writing of Mechthild, especially when\nin rhyme and measure, is difficult to translate, and I am conscious that\nthe rendering of her poems is extremely imperfect.\n\nIn one case extracts from more than one have been placed together; in\nothers, only a part of a longer poem has been given. The object has been\nrather to pass on Mechthild's message than to give an adequate idea of\nthe whole book, a great deal of which is defaced by the superstition of\nher times.\n\nBut the truth which is eternal is found richly in the midst of much that\nis false, and thus far, she being dead yet speaketh. That she learnt so\nfully much that we are now very slow to learn, is a fact the more\nremarkable when we consider, how lost and buried was the Gospel teaching\nof the Apostles in the ages that succeeded them. Their \"successors\" had\nbeen too often employed in \"darkening counsel by words without\nknowledge.\" All the more do the love and wisdom of God shine forth in the\nteaching which those who turned to Him only, received from His lips.\nMechthild was one who sat at His feet and heard His words, and it is well\nfor us to hear that which she learnt of Him. A somewhat free translation\nhas been necessary, in order to render in English the equivalent to\nGerman mediaeval language; but I trust that the sense and meaning have\nbeen faithfully, however unworthily, rendered.\n\n\n\n\n                        The Cloister of Hellfde\n\n\n_How, and by whom the cloister was founded and built, in which the two\nblessed maidens, Mechthild and Gertrude, served God._\n\nWhen men had counted one thousand two hundred and nineteen years since\nthe birth of Christ our dear Lord and Saviour, it came to pass, by the\nspecial grace of God, that the mighty and noble Count Burkhardt of\nMansfeldt built a convent of nuns near to the castle of Mansfeldt. This\nconvent was dedicated by Count Burkhardt to Mary the Blessed Virgin; and\ntherein did he place pious nuns, taken from the convent of S. James,\ncalled Burckarsshoff, of the Cistercian order, near Halberstatt.\n\nThe wife of the above-mentioned Count Burkhardt was a Countess of\nSchwarzbruck, Elisabeth by name. She was the mother of two daughters--one\nnamed Gertrude, the other Sophia. Gertrude married a young Count of\nMansfeldt, the cousin of Count Burkhardt, and Sophia married a Burggraf\nof Querfurdt.\n\nNow Count Burkhardt, in the same year that he finished the building and\nfurnishing of the aforesaid convent, departed joyfully from this present\nlife; and after his departure the noble countess, Frau Elisabeth, his\nwidow, found that the place chosen near the castle of Mansfeldt was not\nsuitable for a spiritual life, and therefore, in the fifth year after the\ndeath of her lord, by the advice of persons of good understanding, she\nremoved and rebuilt the convent at a place called Rodardsdorff. And when\nit had remained there twenty-four years it was again removed to Helpede\nor Hellfde, as the following history relates.\n\nNow when the above-named countess, Frau Elisabeth, had removed the\nconvent to Rodardsdorff, she betook herself thither, and there did she\nserve God, and ended her life well and blissfully.\n\nThe first abbess of this convent was Frau Kunigunde of Halberstatt, and a\ntruly God-fearing and devout woman. And when she had lived seventeen\nyears at Rodardsdorff, she there died a blessed death in the year 1251.\nAnd on the day following her departure there was chosen by the direction\nof the Holy Ghost, as the above-named abbess, Frau Kunigunde, had\npredicted, to be abbess in her room, the sister Gertrude, born of the\nnoble family of Hackeborn, and a sister by birth of the blessed and\nmarvellously endowed Mechthild, of whom the Book of spiritual graces\ngives the history.\n\nThis Abbess Gertrude was chosen unanimously, as being of a wholly\nspiritual and devout manner of life. She was nineteen years old at the\ntime of her election, and she filled her office for forty years and\neleven days; and during her time the nuns of the cloister lived holy and\nGod-fearing lives, and God bestowed upon them marvellous gifts. And when\nshe had lived fifty-nine years, she was taken away from this world,\njoyfully and piously, and entered into the gladness and the glory of the\neverlasting kingdom in the year of our Lord 1291.\n\nAnd when the cloister had now been standing twenty-four years at\nRodardsdorff, and she had been abbess at that place seven years, then for\nthe third time was the site of the convent changed, and it was renewed\nand rebuilt as follows:--\n\nIt was seen and observed by Count Hermann of Mansfeldt, a son of Frau\nGertrude, the elder daughter, and Burggraf Burkhardt of Querfurdt, a son\nof Frau Sophia, the younger daughter of the mighty Count Burkhardt of\nMansfeldt, the founder of the convent, that at Rodardsdorff there was a\ngreat want of water, so that it could not have been well for the convent\nlonger to remain there. Therefore these two counts made an exchange of\nthe convent with the two barons, the Lord Albert and the Lord Ludolf of\nHackeborn, for the manor and village of Hellfde, adding on their part\nother estates. And at Hellfde was the cloister for the third time\nrebuilt.\n\nThe nuns of the convent of Rodardsdorff were removed to the convent of\nHellfde in the year 1258, on the Sunday of the Holy Trinity. To this\ninauguration of the convent did the aforesaid two Counts of Mansfeldt and\nQuerfurdt invite many lords and gentlemen, such as Rupert, the archbishop\nof Magdeburg, Bishop Volradt, of Halberstatt, also many other lords and\nprelates, spiritual and temporal.\n\nCount Hermann of Mansfeldt had no male issue, but only three daughters.\nTwo of these, Sophia and Elisabeth, did he place in the convent of\nHellfde, where they lived godly lives. One of them became an able writer,\nwho wrote many good and useful books for the convent, and afterwards\nbecame the abbess thereof. The other was for a long time prioress, and\nwas a skilful painter, who laboured industriously at the adorning of the\nbooks and of other things which pertained to the service of God. The\nthird daughter was given in marriage by Count Hermann of Mansfeldt to a\nBaron von Rabbinswalt.\n\nAnd because the aforesaid Count Hermann had no male heirs, he sold the\ncastle and the county of Mansfeldt to the Burggraf Burkhardt of\nQuerfurdt. And thus did Mansfeldt and the land come into the family of\nQuerfurdt, as also other estates of Count Hermann in the land of\nThuringia.\n\nIn the cloister of Hellfde there lived many most excellent persons, the\nchildren of counts and lords, and of nobles and common people. And for\nnear ninety years the community lived after the manner of cloistered\nnuns, a life as it were angelic. And the Lord Jesus was so intimately\nknown to the persons of this community that they communed with Him, as\nwith their most dearly beloved Lord and Bridegroom, as one good friend\nwould speak with another. And the angels of heaven had a special joy and\ngladness in beholding this blessed company, of which much might be\nwritten, but which for brevity's sake we will not write, as much is told\nof these things in the Book of spiritual graces.\n\nAt last, in the year 1342, after the birth of Christ our dear Lord, there\narose a great dispute between the Duke of Brunswick and the Count of\nMansfeldt, whose name was Burkhardt. And this dispute arose because a\nDuke of Brunswick, Albert by name, was chosen by some to be Bishop of\nHalberstatt, and by others there was chosen the son of Count Burkhardt of\nMansfeldt, whose name was also Albert. And the choice of this latter was\nconfirmed by the Pope.\n\nTherefore there arose war and fighting, so that the Dukes of Brunswick\ninvaded the land of the Count of Mansfeldt with rage and violence, and\nspoiled and wasted and burned all before them. And by means of this\nvisitation of God was the convent burned to the ground, and utterly\nruined and destroyed. And as the chronicles relate, it was Duke Albert of\nBrunswick (the Bishop-elect) and a lord of Weringenrod, who with their\nown hands set fire to the convent. What it was that moved them to do\nthis, is known to Him who knoweth all things.\n\nThere were also several horsemen, and others with cross-bows and other\nmurderous weapons, who ran to seize the abbess and some of her godly\nspiritual children, intending to do them grievous harm. Yet, as the\nenemies themselves bore witness, when they were a stone's throw from\nthese maidens they lost, as it were, their strength and force, and could\nproceed no further. And although it was against the will and desire of\nDuke Henry of Brunswick (who was also Bishop of Heldesheim) and of Duke\nOtto of Brunswick, and of others who were with Duke Albert, and though\nthese endeavoured with all possible good faith to prevent it, the\ncloister was nevertheless pillaged and burnt.\n\nAfter this, in the year 1346, the convent was for the fourth time again\nrebuilt, in the outer part of the town of Eisleben. (From the German\nedition of the _Mechthilden Buch_ 1503.)\n\n\n                        Gertrude Von Hackeborn.\n\nIt was during the forty years in which the convent was under the able\ndirection of the Abbess Gertrude von Hackeborn, that it became\ndistinguished for the high attainments of its inmates. Gertrude was of\nthe family of the Barons of Hackeborne, whose castle and manor was\nsituated a little to the east of the town of Eisleben. At the age of\nnineteen she was already marked out, by her spiritual and mental\nendowments, as a capable directress of the nuns placed beneath her care.\nIt was she who persuaded her brothers Albert and Ludolf to give the manor\nof Hellfde for the new site of the convent, which had been for\ntwenty-four years at Rodardsdorff. Many gifts were afterwards given to\nthe convent by the Barons of Hackeborn, in consideration of the\ndistinguished place held there by their two sisters, Gertrude and\nMatilda.\n\nFor a long time Gertrude was supposed to be the author of the book known\nas the _Gertruden Buch_, out of which Ter Steegen made the extracts which\nhe published in his \"Lives of Holy Souls,\" assigning them to the Abbess\nGertrude von Hackeborn. It seems now, however, clearly ascertained that\nthe book so long attributed to the abbess was the work of a nun of the\nconvent, also named Gertrude, to whom reference will be made later on. In\nthis book, as also in the book called the _Mechthilden Buch_, which was\ndictated chiefly by Matilda of Hackeborn, and completed by the writers\n(also nuns of the convent) after her death, much is related of the Abbess\nGertrude. She is described as a woman of remarkable character, uniting\nlove, gentleness, and piety with practical wisdom, good sense, and mental\nculture. The chief feature which appears to have impressed the\nsisterhood, was \"the sweetness of the love which dwelt in her innermost\nheart.\"\n\nUp to the last her love was active and practical. When in her latter days\nshe was completely crippled, and in constant suffering, she insisted upon\nbeing carried to the sisters who were ill in bed, that she might speak to\nthem a word of comfort. When at last her speech failed her, her beaming\neyes, her loving countenance, and the gentle movement of her hand assured\nthe sisters who stood around her that her affection for them remained\nuntouched by her bodily infirmities. The sisters said it was not a\nmelancholy, but a joyful, duty to watch by her bed of weakness and\nsuffering.\n\nBut it was never the case during her long superintendence of the convent\nthat this remarkable power of loving interfered with the strictest\ndiscipline, or with the wise and careful ordering of the convent life.\nShe had no easy task when many daughters of the highest families of the\nNorth German nobles were committed to her care. They were accustomed to\nrule rather than to obey, and to live idle lives of pleasure and\nself-indulgence. But under the loving direction of the Abbess Gertrude\norder and industry flourished, and a desire to learn became very\nremarkable amongst these German ladies. Gertrude taught by her example,\nby the power of her word, by the decision and good sense which made\nthemselves felt in all she said and did.\n\nAbove all things, are we told, she required and insisted upon a thorough\nand careful knowledge of the Bible. She made it her constant care that\nthe convent should have an increasing supply of the best books, which she\neither bought, or copied by means of some of the nuns. \"It is certain,\"\nshe said, \"that if the zeal for study should decrease, and the knowledge\nof Holy Scripture diminish, all true spiritual life would come to an\nend.\"\n\nThere was soon an excellent school formed in the convent, which has left\nproofs of its remarkable character, as in the case of the books of\nGertrude and Matilda, which were written by nuns of the convent. The\nsecond part of the _Gertrude Book_, written by the Nun Gertrude herself,\nis said to be an example of fluency in Latin rarely found amongst the\nwomen of the Middle Ages.\n\nThe life at Hellfde was a very busy life, and had nothing of the usual\nlittleness of convent rule. With great spiritual fervour, there was at\nthe same time a spirit of liberty and cheerfulness that helped forward\nthe constant, serious, diligent work of the house. Studying and copying,\nilluminating, working and singing, occupied the sisters, as well as the\ncare of the poor and the sick; and above all, the study of the Word of\nGod.\n\nBesides the two sisters, the Abbess Gertrude and Matilda of Hackeborn,\ntwo other nuns were distinguished by remarkable gifts. One of these,\ncalled on account of her office the Lady Matilda, was the leader and\nteacher of the choir, and also the chief teacher in the school of the\nconvent. She appears to be the same as Matilda von Wippra mentioned in\nthe Querfurdt Chronicles. Much is related of her great gift as a teacher,\nand of the power which accompanied her words. \"Her words,\" so it is said\nin the _Gertrude Book_, \"were sweeter than honey, and her spirit was more\nglowing than fire.\" To her mainly was the school of Hellfde indebted for\nits wide reputation.\n\nWhen the Abbess Sophia von Querfurdt (the successor of Gertrude) resigned\nher office in the year 1298, it was the Lady Matilda who took the\ndirection of the convent, which remained without an abbess for five\nyears. Matilda, however, filled this post for one year only, as she died\nin 1299. She was remembered for \"the burning desire which she had for the\nsalvation of souls,\" and was deeply lamented by the sisters whom she had\nloved. They spoke often of her sweet voice, and her friendliness, and her\nholy conversation.\n\nLast, but not least, was the Nun Gertrude, whose name is attached to the\n_Gertrude Book_, four of the five books of which were written in Latin by\nan unnamed sister, and one book, the second, was the work of Gertrude\nherself.\n\nHer history is but little known. She was born on January 6, 1256,\napparently in Thuringia, and of poor parents, and from her fifth year she\nhad been an inmate of the convent. Very early she became remarkable for\nher thirst for knowledge, and as a girl she devoted herself to severe\nstudy, having the singular predilection of an enthusiastic love of\ngrammar. She soon left far behind her all the other nun-students, and\ntill her twenty-fifth year was entirely absorbed in secular learning.\n\nIt was then that the great era in her life, described by her in the\n_Gertrude Book_, is to be dated. It was her conversion to God,[1] her\npassage from death to life. She knew for the first time the love of Him\nwho had borne her sins; she knew herself justified by faith in Him. This\nhappened in the year 1281. More will be related of this remarkable woman.\n\nIt may have been that amongst the means which led to her conversion was\nan event which happened sixteen years earlier, and which has yet to be\nrelated. But before entering upon this part of the history of Hellfde, a\nfew words must be said regarding the dark side of the picture presented\nto us in the records of this and other convents of the thirteenth\ncentury.\n\n\n                       The Dark Side of Hellfde.\n\nThat to Christian life in each of the past nineteen centuries there is a\ndark side, is an obvious fact. But as the dark side has been constantly\nregarded as the bright side by the Christians of each century, our task\nin discovering it must not consist merely of a study of old records. We\nhave to compare the facts related, and the praise and blame attached to\nthem, with something less variable than the human conscience and human\nopinion.\n\nThe \"piety,\" attributed to the mediaeval saints, even when, as in the case\nof the nuns of Hellfde, it actually existed, included a mass of\nheathenish superstition, of unwholesome excitement of the brain and\nnerves; of blank ignorance of the true meaning of a great part of the\nWord of God; and in most cases, of abject submission to a fallen and\nheretical Church.\n\nThe \"best books\" of which the Abbess Gertrude formed her convent library\ncontained grains of truth in masses of error, and some true facts\nsmothered beneath piles of legendary rubbish. To find the pearls at the\nbottom of the sea of superstition and senseless legend, is at times a\ndespairing endeavour. Yet the pearls are there, and must have been there;\nfor the gates of the grave have never prevailed against the true Church\nof God. Some there always were taught by the Holy Spirit of God, and\nbelieving in the midst of their errors and wanderings the great eternal\ntruths of the Gospel.\n\nIf we are to find true faith, if we are to find truth at all in the\nMiddle Ages, we must find it amongst innumerable human inventions, and\nshining like a gem in the dark caverns of human folly. Can we say that in\nthe nineteenth century it is otherwise? It were well to consider, and use\nfor the search-light we so deeply need, the unchangeable Word of the\nliving God.\n\nApart from the error taught by \"the Church\" in those past\nages--saint-worship, purgatory, the merit of human works, and many\nmore--a bewildering element of confusion presents itself in the\natmosphere of visions and revelations in which the \"pious\" perpetually\nlived, or desired to live. For to live what has been called in our times\n\"the higher Christian life,\" meant at that time to be a seer of visions,\nand a dreamer of dreams. The seeing of visions was an attainment as much\nto be desired as to live in temperance, or godliness, or honesty.\n\nWhilst in our days the wholesome fear of being sent to a lunatic asylum\nserves as a check upon the wild imagination of undisciplined woman kind,\nthe strangest performances and utterances might in the twelfth and\nthirteenth centuries procure for the unfortunate woman a halo in the\npictures which perpetuated her memory.\n\nIt is well to look at the matter of visions and revelations in the light\nof Holy Scripture. That the servants of God have seen visions divinely\nshown to them, no one can doubt who believes the Bible; nor that they\nhave from time to time received direct revelations from God. Also, we\nread as a promise made to Christian people, that \"your young men shall\nsee visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on My servants and\non My hand-maidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit, and they\nshall prophesy.\"\n\nIn the first place, therefore, we must admit that visions and revelations\nare, in the cases here mentioned, a reality, and a special gift of God,\nin consequence of the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God, This\nis the explanation of these facts given by the Apostle Peter in the 33rd\nverse of the 2nd chapter of the Acts.\n\nBut when we read the various accounts in the Acts of the fulfilment of\nthis promise, or the accounts in the Old Testament of similar visions and\nrevelations, we find one marked distinction between these accounts and\nthose given in mediaeval legends. In the Bible the point is, not the state\nof exaltation to which such and such a man or woman attained, but,\nleaving them out of the question altogether, we are simply told what it\nwas God showed or revealed to His servants. The seeing of visions is\nnever spoken of as being the highest state of Christian life in the New\nTestament, or of spiritual life in the Old Testament. On the contrary,\nGod on some occasions gave revelations to the most unworthy, and simply\nused them to speak the words He put into their mouths, whether they would\nor no--a truth which he taught to Balaam by using an ass as an example.\n\nBut in mediaeval times, a _state_ in which the man, or more frequently the\nwoman, became liable to visions, was the thing mainly to be desired. It\nwas not as in the case of Amos, who was content to go on herding his cows\nand picking his figs till the Lord gave him his message. The mediaeval\nsaint was trained and wrought upon by fasting and watching, by the study\nof the wildest legends, and by a conviction that the seeing of visions\nbetokened a state of special holiness. This preparation of the mind, and\none may say mainly of the _body_, for an unnatural and unwholesome\ncondition produced the desired effect. The attacks of catalepsy, of\nconvulsions and other diseased symptoms, were hailed as supernatural\nsigns, and the disorder of the brain as a work of the Spirit. And from\none to another the infection spread, as the convulsions and delusions\nexcited envy and admiration, and a straining of the mind after something\nof like sort.\n\nThe atmosphere, therefore, of the convent of Hellfde, and of many other\nconvents of Germany and Belgium, was scarcely a wholesome one; and we\nmust disentangle the spiritual teaching, which truly came from God, from\nthe \"revelations\" which, if spiritual at all, and not wholly the result\nof disease, were the work of the evil one.\n\nBut whilst amongst facts well known to medical scientists, and amongst\nfacts belonging to still unexplored and unknown regions of psychology,\nthere may be quite enough to account for the stories, if really true, of\nthe mass of mediaeval visions, we must remember, also, that a great many\nof these stories were the inventions of those whose interest it was to\ncompose them.\n\nThe disastrous fact remained that, by means of these fables, or of real\nhallucinations, errors in belief and in practice were taught and\nencouraged. It would not occur to those brought up in a belief of\nsuperstitions, which had descended, under other names, from heathen\ntimes, to sift or examine the legends which were their daily food. It is\nfor us to sift out from amongst the working of disordered brains, and the\ninventions of ignorant people, the true teaching which they received from\nthe only Wise God, who cared for His loving, but ignorant, children of\nthe Middle Ages, as He cares now for His more enlightened, but alas! more\nlukewarm, children of the nineteenth century.\n\nThere is one more remark to be made with regard to the accounts given by\nreally holy people of their visions and dreams. Occasionally, it was\nmerely a form of writing in symbol, as when John Bunyan describes having\nseen in his dream Christian escaping from the City of Destruction. There\nwere two reasons for this in the case of the mediaeval \"Friends of God.\"\nIt was, in the first place, dangerous to say in plain words that which\nwould have brought down upon them the curse of the Church. They spoke,\ntherefore, largely in symbol, whether by word or by forms and devices of\narchitecture. This language was common to them, and it was well\nunderstood by those who had the key in their common faith.\n\nIn the second place, the want of adequate words to express spiritual\ntruths must always be felt, and much can be said in symbol which could\nnot be said at much greater length in plain speech. In how many words\ncould that be taught us which we learn from the one expression, \"The Lamb\nof God\"?\n\nAnd that many of those of whom the histories remain, were truly God's\nchildren, truly taught by the Holy Ghost, and in continual communion with\nHim as a real and solid fact, we cannot doubt. They lived a true life of\nintercourse with Him, clouded and bewildered by the errors of their\ntimes, by their unnatural bodily conditions, and by the fear of sinning\nagainst the authority which some of them believed to be from God--the\nfatal power of the Roman Church.\n\nIn this dreamland of visions and revelations the nuns of Hellfde\nlived--or rather, into it they frequently wandered. They certainly at\ntimes trod the solid earth, and fulfilled their various duties in a\npractical manner. They also spent much time, more, no doubt, than many\nspend now, in \"the good land, the land of brooks of water, of fountains\nand depths that spring out of valley and hills, and that drinketh water\nof the rain of heaven.\" It was a familiar land to those who abode in Him\nwho is there.\n\nAnd it is a relief to find that, in spite of their extreme love and\nreverence for the Abbess Gertrude, they had no visions to report as seen\nby her. She probably had more to do with creatures of flesh and blood,\nwith the strong wills and natures of the girls sent to her from the\ncastles of the nobles, than with creatures of her own imagination; and\nshe looked for revelations, and found them in the Word of God. \"She\nundertook the most menial work,\" writes one of the compilers of the\n_Mechthild Book_, \"and took a considerable part in the common employments\nof the sisters. Sometimes she was the first and the only one at work till\nshe called others to help her, or led them to do so by her example and\nher pleasant, friendly words. However busy she might be, she always found\ntime to visit each one who was sick, and inquire if there was anything\nshe needed. And with her own hands she waited upon them, either bringing\nthem refreshments, or soothing and comforting them.\n\n\"She read the Holy Scriptures very diligently, and with great delight, as\noften as she could, and required of those under her care that they should\ndo the same. In prayer she was very fervent and reverent, she seldom\nprayed without tears. She had a wonderful quietness of spirit; and at her\nhours of prayer her heart was so peaceful and free from care, that if she\nwere called to speak to any one, or to other business, she went back\nafterwards and prayed as quietly as if she had not been disturbed.\nAmongst the children she was the gentlest and kindest, and with the older\nmaidens the holiest and most sensible of friends, and with the elder\nwomen the most affectionate and wise. She was never to be seen idle;\neither she had a piece of work on hand, or she was reading, or teaching,\nor praying.\"\n\nIt can, therefore, easily be imagined that the Abbess Gertrude suffered\nneither from catalepsy nor convulsions, but that she was a wholesome and\ncheerful woman. In her last days she had a paralytic seizure, which\ndeprived her of the power of speech for some time before her death; but\nshe appeared to be fully conscious, and interested as before in the\nsisters of the convent.\n\n\n                                Matilda.\n\nWe must now go back to the time when the Abbess Gertrude was in full\nstrength and activity at the age of thirty-three. In that year, 1265,\nthere arrived at the convent of Hellfde an infirm, worn-out Beguine, a\nnamesake of two inmates of the convent--Matilda von Hackeborn and the\nLady Matilda of the choir. The Beguine went by the name of Matilda of\nMagdeburg.\n\nIt would be interesting to know as much of her history as she related to\nthe nuns of Hellfde. As it is, we have but an outline of it. We know thus\nmuch, that for Christ's sake she had \"renounced worldly honour and\nworldly riches.\" She had evidently been brought up, writes Preger, \"under\nthe influence of court life and of knightly company, and we see that she\nwas accustomed to the manners of noble ladies, and to the language of the\nhigher classes. There is a chivalric tone in her expressions which seems\nto link her words with the knightly poetry of her time, a poetry then at\nthe height of its cultivation. And as in her words, so in her\nactions--there was a freedom and powerful independence which betoken high\nbirth.\"\n\nYet of her family and of her birthplace nothing is known. The date of her\nbirth we know, the year 1212. Apparently her home was not far from\nMagdeburg. We are told of her brother Baldwin, later a Dominican friar,\nthat from a child he had been \"brought up in all good manner of living\nand in virtuous habits.\" Matilda, therefore, had no doubt been carefully\neducated.\n\nOthers said of her, \"that from her childhood she had led an innocent,\nunsullied life.\" Of herself she says, \"that in her earliest childhood her\nsins were many and great. But that even then, whenever she had a trouble\nand was sad, she prayed to God. I knelt down before my Beloved, and said,\nO Lord, now I am unhappy. Can it be for Thy glory that I should go away\nuncomforted! But I was the most simple and ignorant of any who ever\ndesired to walk in the way of life. Of the malice of the devil, I knew\nnothing; of the misery of the world, I knew nothing whatsoever; and the\nfalse profession of people who are called spiritual was also unknown to\nme.\n\n\"But I must say this for the honour of God, that one day in my twelfth\nyear, when I was all alone, I received the greeting of the Holy Ghost,\nunworthy sinner as I was, in such overflowing measure, that I never\nafterwards could endure the thought of committing a great and deadly sin.\nThis blessed greeting was repeated day after day, and it filled me with\nlove and sorrow. I had learnt from God alone what is Christian faith, and\nI made it my rule of life; thus my heart was kept pure, but of the\nmysteries of God I knew nothing as yet.\n\n\"Whilst during my youth I lived with my friends and relations, amongst\nwhom I was the best beloved, the mysteries of God remained unknown to me.\nBut during that time I long had the desire that, without any fault of\nmine, I might be despised by the world, whilst meanwhile the sweetness\nand honour of the world seemed greater to me day by day.\"\n\nThis is all we can learn of the early years of Matilda in her unknown\nhome; but we have in few touches a picture of a rare and simple nature,\nhumbled by the sense of sin, but proud enough to desire to be despised;\nsweet enough also to be loved with unusual love, and to find it a\ndelight.\n\nIn the year 1235, at the age of twenty-three, she tore herself from those\nwho thus loved her and went to Magdeburg, where she only knew one person,\na friend of her family. But she avoided this one friend, lest he should\npersuade her to give up her determination to live alone for God. She\nasked to be received in a convent, but she was refused. She was unknown\nand without any means, and she was looked upon with suspicion and\ncontempt. She had her desire. She was alone and despised.\n\n\"But God,\" she says, \"never forsook me. He filled me so continually with\nthe sweetness of His love, He drew me into such intimacy with Himself,\nand He showed me such unspeakable wonders of His heart, that I could well\nafford to lose the world and all that is in it.\"\n\nWhat were the further wanderings of Matilda we do not know, but it was\nonly a little while after her refusal at the convent that she became one\nof the persecuted order of the Beguines.\n\n\n                       A word as to the Beguines.\n\nThere lived at Liege, at the end of the twelfth century, a priest named\nLambert le Begues. His name does not prove him to have been a stammerer;\non the contrary, he was a preacher of great fervour, and attracted\nmultitudes to his sermons. Le Begues was probably the name of his family.\n\nAt that time the Bishop of Liege, whose name was Raoul, was a man of evil\nreputation. He had formerly been Archbishop of Mainz, but had been\ndeposed from his office on account of simony. At Liege he sold by auction\nin the market-place the church preferments that fell to his share. The\nclergy of Liege, who had not been shining examples of holy living even\nbefore the arrival of Bishop Raoul, were now encouraged by his example to\nlive in a disorderly manner, and the morals of the town of Liege were at\na very low ebb when Lambert began his preaching there.\n\nIt would seem that at that time, both in towns and country places, there\nwere a number of wandering priests, who went about preaching and\nadministering the Sacraments, without being under the orders of any\nspecial bishop. Probably they were more or less associated with the lay\npreachers of the \"Brethren,\" called in a vague way the Waldensian\nBrethren, whose evangelising was carried on so extensively as to bring\nupon them much persecution in the whole of Western Europe.\n\nIt was in order to direct this zeal for evangelising into more Catholic\nchannels that Francis of Assisi and Dominic founded the orders of\npredicant friars; just as in our days the \"Church Army\" in England has\nbeen formed to bring under Church authority the work of evangelisation,\nwhich had been set on foot by the Salvation Army.\n\nLambert was apparently one of the independent priests who preached on\ntheir own account, and was, therefore, free to speak unwelcome truths. He\nhad been originally a chorister in S. Paul's Church at Liege. He was\nprobably a man with means of his own; for not only did he preach\nearnestly and constantly against the worldliness of the professing\nChurch, but he provided a practical means of separating from the world.\n\nIn a large garden which he had by the river side beyond the city walls he\nbuilt a number of small separate houses, which he filled with women of\nall classes who desired to live a secluded life and devote themselves to\ngood works. In the middle of the garden he built a church, dedicated to\nS. Christopher, which was finished in the year 1184. Lambert then placed\nhis community under the care of a priest.\n\nThese Beguine sisters took no vows; they were free to leave the community\nwhen they chose to do so. They retained possession of their money and\nproperty. They were under no convent rules; they simply promised\nobedience to their Superior as long as they remained in the Beguinage.\nBut if they wished to return to ordinary life, or to marry, they had a\nright to do so, as married women living, of course, no longer in the\ncommunity. They were not required to wear any special dress, but to be\nclothed in \"modest apparel.\"\n\nThey lived either alone in one of the little houses, or two or more\ntogether, keeping house for themselves, and having their rooms very\nsimply furnished. They did their own baking and brewing; and if they had\nno means of their own, they had some employment by which to gain their\nliving. This Beguine life was, therefore, regarded by the Church as less\nmeritorious than convent life, notwithstanding the fact that the Beguines\nwere employed in nursing the sick, attending to the poor, and in teaching\nyoung girls reading, writing, and needlework. They were free to go out\nwith leave of the Superior and visit their friends, or the poor in the\ntown outside of which the Beguinage was built. Some of them might even\nlive in the town, wearing ordinary dresses, and keeping shops, or\nmaintaining themselves by their labour.\n\nThese rules of Beguine life were multiplied in various ways as Beguine\ncommunities became rapidly very numerous in Belgium, Holland, and\nGermany.\n\nBut to return to Lambert, their founder. His sermons, which contained\nsolemn warnings addressed to the higher clergy by reason of their evil\nways, very soon brought upon him persecution and ill-usage. During one of\nhis sermons in the great church of S. Lambert he was seized by order of\nthe bishop, and imprisoned in the castle of Revogne. He employed himself\nin his dungeon in translating the Acts of the Apostles from Latin into\nFrench.\n\nAmongst other accusations which had been brought against him, it was said\nthat he had prophesied the destruction of S. Lambert's Church. Whilst he\nwas translating in his dungeon, it came to pass, on the 28th of April\n1185, that the sexton of the church went up into the belfry to ring the\nbell. He had taken with him a pan of hot coals in order to warm his\nhands. A coal must have fallen through a crack in the floor into a space\nbelow, where wood and straw were stored up. In the following night the\ntower was seen to be in flames.\n\nThe fire spread quickly, burning not only the church, but the bishop's\npalace, which stood near, the houses of the canons, and the neighbouring\nchurches of S. Peter, S. Trudo, S. Clement, and the Eleven Thousand\nVirgins. For three days the whole town was in the greatest danger.\n\nThe charge against Lambert was now changed into an accusation of sorcery.\nHe was brought to his trial, but the \"four discreet and learned men\"\nappointed by the bishop to judge his cause, could find no proof of any\noffence with which he was charged. The people of Liege, who were\ndispleased at his imprisonment, began to clamour for his release; and he\nhimself demanded to be set free, that he might go to Rome and appeal to\nthe Pope.\n\nHis request was granted. The Pope acquitted him of all charges brought\nagainst him, and authorised his work by instituting him formally as the\nPatriarch of the Beguines.\n\nHe only survived this journey to Rome six months, and died at Liege\ntowards the end of the year 1187. He was buried before the high altar in\nhis church of S. Christopher. Some chroniclers relate these facts in a\nslightly different way, according to which Lambert was sent to Rome by\nthe bishop with a list of charges brought against him. But the important\npoint remains proved, that he was the founder of the widely-spread\ncommunity of men and women known later as Beghards and Beguines.\n\nFor after his death, possibly before, communities of men were formed on\nthe plan of the Beguine communities. These men maintained themselves by\nweaving or other handicrafts. They met together for meals and for prayer,\nbut did not have their possessions in common. They had no rule, but were\naccustomed to wear simple clothes--brown, white, black, or grey.\n\nAs time went on, the ranks of the Beghards or Beguines were largely\nrecruited by the \"Friends of God,\" with whom they seem at all times to\nhave been in constant intercourse; so that in the fourteenth century to\nbe a Beghard or Beguine, meant much the same thing as to belong to the\nWaldensian Brethren. In consequence, their persecutions during the\nfourteenth century amounted at last to extermination, their houses being\nreplenished from the ranks of \"orthodox\" Roman Catholics. The persons,\ntherefore, from that time onwards bearing the name of Beghards or\nBeguines differed in nothing from members of Roman Catholic orders.\n\n\n                           The Great Sorrow.\n\nBut to return to Matilda, who joined the Beguines at the time when they\nhad already earned for themselves the reproach of Christ, and when, on\nthe other hand, there were those amongst them who had wandered far from\nthe primitive simplicity of the first inhabitants of Lambert le Begues\ngarden-houses.\n\nBy these latter (though they, too, claimed to be the \"Friends of God,\")\nMatilda was \"bitterly despised.\" And she who had lived during her youth\nin ignorance of \"the false profession of people called spiritual\" had to\nlearn amongst \"the religious\" many a sorrowful lesson. Not amongst\nBeguines only, but on all sides the fact forced itself upon the heart of\nMatilda that the Church was fallen from her first estate.\n\n\"I, poor creature as I was, could yet be so presumptuous as to lift up\nthe whole of corrupt Christendom upon the arms of my soul, and hold it up\nin lamentation before God.\n\n\"And our Lord said, 'Leave it alone, it is too heavy for thee.' And I\nmade answer, 'O my beloved Lord, I will lift it, and bear it to Thy feet,\nand cast it into Thine own arms, which bore it on the cross.' And God in\nHis pity let me have my will, that I might find rest in casting it upon\nHim.\n\n\"And this poor Christendom, brought into the presence of the Lord, seemed\nto me as a maiden of whom I felt bitterly ashamed.\n\n\"And the Lord said, 'Yea, behold her, blind in her belief, and lame in\nher hands which do no good works, and crippled in her feet with evil\ndesires, and seldom and idly does she think of Me; and she is leprous\nwith impurity and uncleanness.'\"\n\nAnd the foremost in the guilt of Christendom she found to be those who\nshould have been the pastors and teachers, \"the great he-goats, who are\ndefiled with all uncleanliness, and with frightful greed and avarice.\"\n\nTo the Lord, \"the High Pope in Heaven,\" Matilda turned for guidance and\nconsolation. \"When I wake in the night,\" she said, \"I think, have I the\nstrength to pray as I desire for unfaithful Christendom, which is a\nsorrow of heart to Him I love.\" She prayed for the priests, that from\ngoats they might become lambs, that they might forget the law of the\nJews, and think of the blood of the Lamb who was slain, and mourn over\nthe sufferings of the Lord.\n\n\"Alas for holy Christendom, for the crown is fallen from thy head, thy\nprecious jewels are lost; for thou art a troubler and a persecutor of the\nholy faith. Thy gold is dimmed in the mire of evil pleasures, thy purity\nis burnt up in the consuming fire of greed, thy humility is sunk in the\nswamp of the flesh, and thy truth has been swept away by the lying spirit\nof the world!\n\n\"Alas for the fallen crown, the holy priesthood! For thee there remains\nnothing but ruin and destruction, for with spiritual power thou makest\nwar upon God, and upon His friends. Therefore God will humble thee before\nthou art aware, He will smite the heart of the pope at Rome with bitter\ngrief.\n\n\"And in that grief and calamity the Lord will speak to him and accuse\nhim, saying, 'Thy shepherds have become murderers and wolves, before My\neyes they slaughter the white lambs, and the sheep are weak and weary,\nfor there is none to lead them to the wholesome pastures on the high\nmountain side; that is, to the love and the nurture of God. But if any\nknow not the way to hell, let him look at the corrupted clergy, and see\nhow straightly they go thither. Therefore must I take away the worn-out\nmantle and give a new mantle to My Bride, to holy Christendom.\n\n\"If thou, son pope, shouldst bring that to pass, thy days might be\nlengthened. For that the popes before thee lived short lives, was because\nthey did not fulfil My will.' And it was as if I could see the pope at\nhis prayers, and God thus answering him.[2] And in the night I saw the\nLord in the dress of a pilgrim, and as if He had journeyed through the\nwhole of Christendom. And I fell at His feet and said, 'Beloved pilgrim,\nwhence comest Thou?' And He answered, 'I come from Jerusalem'--by which\nname He meant the holy Church--'and I have been driven forth from My\ndwelling. The heathen knew Me not, the Jews suffered Me not, and the\nChristians fought against Me.'\n\n\"Then I prayed for Christendom; but the Lord answered with bitter sorrow\nthat He had been dishonoured and put to grievous shame by Christian\npeople, though for them He had done so great wonders, and had suffered so\ngreat anguish.\n\n\"And so it is with me, that longing and humility and love, these three\nblessed handmaidens, lead my soul up to God, and the soul beholds her\nBeloved and says, 'Lord, I mourn because Thou art thus warred against by\nthose who are the dearest to Thee on the earth, by Christian people. I\nmourn because Thy friends are sorely hindered by Thine enemies.'\n\n\"And the Lord answered me, 'All that befalls My friends, sin only\nexcepted, shall turn to them to joy, and for the glory of God. For the\nsuffering calls with a mighty voice saying, that beyond all worship that\ncan be offered Me is the patience that suffers, and if for a while I\ncomfort not, it is far better than that comfort should come from another\nwill than Mine.'\"\n\nThat there were some, the \"Friends of God,\" who shone like stars in the\ndark night Matilda thus found, and rejoiced to find. \"But that the eagle\nsoars to heaven,\" she said, \"no thanks is there to the owl.\"\n\nIt was no wonder that Matilda was \"much and continually despised\" by the\npriests of whom she gave so bold a testimony. The Lord, she said,\nsuffered in like manner, for thus was He put to shame because in Him was\nthe truth. It was probably for some such plain speaking that Matilda was\nrefused as an inmate of the convents to which she applied for admittance.\n\n\n                           Matilda and Dante.\n\nIt was during the thirty years of Matilda's Beguine life that she began\nwriting the book which has preserved her memory down to the days in which\nwe live.\n\nNot only does the book itself present Matilda to us as one of the most\nremarkable people of her age, but in a book more widely known is found,\nin all probability, the echo of her words, and the picture of herself as\nshe appeared to the imagination of Dante. It is not necessary here to go\ninto the proofs of this identification of the Beguine Matilda with the\n\"lady all alone who went along\n\n  Singing and culling flower after flower\n  With which her pathway was all painted over;\"\n\nthe \"beauteous lady, who in rays of love did warm herself.\" For those who\ndesire to trace the connection of Matilda's book with Dante's poem, the\nproofs will be found in the first volume of Preger's \"History of German\nMysticism,\" and in a lecture delivered by Preger in the year 1873 on the\nsubject of Dante's Matilda.\n\nThe resemblances between Dante and Eckhart have been remarked upon in a\nrecent work on Dante, where, however, no allusion is made to other German\nwriters.\n\n\"Any one who has read the discourses of Meister Eckhart, ... will be\nstruck by the frequent and close resemblances, not of thought only, but\nof expression and illustration, which exist between him and Dante. So\nfrequent and so close are these, that the reader can hardly conceive the\npossibility of their being due to mere coincidence.\"\n\nBut whence did Eckhart derive his expressions which reappear in Dante?\n\"Matilda,\" says Preger, \"expresses herself in a language higher than that\nof ordinary speech, and more fitted to the nature of heavenly things. And\nit may here be remarked, how frequently the elements of the speech of\nspeculative mysticism, such as we may call the speech of Eckhart, are\npreviously to be found in the writing of Matilda. But Matilda herself was\nnot the creator of these expressions, for her poetical nature was\ninclined rather to expressions of thought in a manner less abstract, and\nappealing more vividly to the senses. But it would seem that before\nMatilda and Eckhart, certain characteristic theorems of speculative\nmysticism had become stereotyped in the German language. They form the\nstock of that capital of speech by which, especially through Eckhart's\nwritings, the German language has been enriched. Matilda is, therefore,\nof importance in leading us to the discovery of how far Eckhart was\nindebted for his expressions to that more ancient store of language.\"\n\nIt would occupy too much space to trace here the remarkable connection\nnot only in general between the book of Matilda and that of Dante, but\nbetween certain passages which almost repeat themselves in the later\nbook. Others, again, which are not similar, yet stand in relation to one\nanother. The City of Woe, for example, seen by Dante, is found also in\nMatilda's book, but there it is \"the City of Eternal Hate;\" and thus in\nmany instances.\n\nMatilda's book is commonly known by the name, \"The flowing forth of the\nlight of the Godhead.\" She wrote it originally in Low German, but of this\noriginal no copy is at present known to exist. Soon after her death,\nwhich occurred in 1277, a Latin translation was made by a predicant friar\nat Cologne, known as Brother Henry. Of this two copies remain, one of the\nfourteenth the other of the sixteenth century. The loose leaves had been\nfirst collected by another Brother Henry, also a predicant friar.\n\nAfterwards a translation was made from Low German into High German by a\npriest, Henry von Nordlingen, assisted by a friend. It was completed\nafter two years' labour in 1344. This Henry von Nordlingen, a friend of\nSuso, gave the High German translation to Margaret of the Golden Ring.\nMargaret gave it to the Waldschwestern in Einsiedeln. It was discovered\nin the convent library of Einsiedeln by Dr. Greith in the year 1861. In\nthe year 1869 it was published in two forms by Dr. Gall Morel--first, the\nHigh German copy as discovered at Einsiedeln; secondly, a translation\ninto modernised German.\n\nIt is from the Latin translation that it could be known to Dante.[3]\n\nThe original book is the oldest work of its sort hitherto known to have\nexisted in the German tongue.\n\n\"It may justly be said,\" writes Preger, \"that this book denotes a high\ndegree in the measurement of the culture of German women, and of\nreligious life in the Middle Ages. With freedom and clearness of thought,\nthe writer combines tender and deep feeling; with a childlike and naive\nperceptiveness, a true sublimity of conception. Matilda frequently\ntouches the depths in which speculative mysticism is formed, and her\ninfluence is to be traced even in the work of the deep thinker who was\nher compatriot, namely, Meister Eckhart, in whose language we find the\necho of Matilda's speech. This language, which she employs with freedom\nand ease, takes at times the form of didactic speech, but it often rises\nto musical rhythm, to lyric song, and to epic portraiture. By the variety\nand life, as well as by the plastic intuition of expression, this work is\ndistinguished from the monotonous writings on similar subjects by older\nauthors.\"[4]\n\nMuch more might yet be said of Matilda as a writer and a poet. But it is\nwith Matilda, the persecuted \"Friend of God,\" the witness for Christ in a\ntime dark as she describes it, that we have to do in the present\ninstance.\n\n\n                        The Book and its Origin.\n\nWe have Matilda's own account of the origin of her book. She says that\nwhen she began to live a spiritual life, and \"took leave of the world,\"\nshe found that the fulness of her bodily life and strength was a danger\nto her spiritual life, and, therefore, after the manner of her times she\nregarded the body as an enemy against which she was called to wage\ncontinual war.\n\n\"I saw that the weapons furnished to my heart were the sufferings and the\ndeath of Christ, and yet I was in great and constant fear, and I thought\nto deal violent blows to my enemy with sighs and confession, and weeping,\nwith fasting, watching, and prayer, and with blows and stripes. And by\nthis means for two and twenty years I kept my body in subjection, and had\nno illness.\n\n\"But after this illness came. And then came to me the mighty power, even\nthe love of God, and filled me to overflowing with His wonders, so that I\ndared no longer keep silence, though to one so simple as I it was hard to\nspeak. And I said to the Lord, 'O loving God, what canst Thou find in me?\nThou knowest well I am a fool and a sinner, and a miserable creature in\nsoul and body. It is to the wise that Thou shouldst commit Thy wonders,\nthen mightest Thou be praised aright.'\n\n\"But the Lord was displeased at my words, and He rebuked me, saying,\n'Tell me now, art thou not Mine?'\n\n\"'Yes, Lord, that hast Thou granted me!'\n\n\"'May I not, then, do with thee as I will?'\n\n\"'Yes, my Beloved; and I am willing to be brought to nought if Thou\nwillest it.'\n\n\"Then, poor creature as I was, I went to my confessor, and told him what\nthe Lord had put into my heart, and asked his counsel. And he said I\nought cheerfully to do that to which God had called me. And yet did I\nweep with shame, seeing before my eyes my great unworthiness, and that\nGod should lead a despicable woman to write the things which come from\nthe heart and mouth of God.\"\n\nThen Matilda, as is her wont, runs on into rhyme--\n\n  \"The love of God has moved my pen,\n  My book is not from the mind of men.\"\n\nAnd afterwards, she says, \"I was warned by some that my book might give\nmuch offence, and that it would be burnt as evil teaching. And I turned\nto my Beloved, as was my wont, and said to Him that if it were so, He had\nHimself misled me, for it was He who commanded me to write it. Then did\nHe reveal Himself to my sorrowful heart, as if He held the book in His\nright hand, and said, 'My beloved one, do not be sorrowful. The truth can\nbe burnt by no man. He who would take it out of My Hand must be stronger\nthan I.'\n\n\"And yet I still answered Him, 'O Lord, if I were a learned clerk to whom\nThou hadst shown these wonders, then might I write so as to bring Thee\neternal glory. But how can it be that Thou shouldst build a golden house,\nthe house of Thy dwelling place, in a miry pool?'\n\n\"And He answered me, that when He gave the gifts of His grace, He sought\nfor the lowest and the smallest and the most unnoticed treasure houses.\n'It is not on the high mountains that men drink of the fountains, for the\nstream of My Holy Spirit flows downwards to the valleys below. There are\nmany wise in the Scriptures, who are but fools and unlearned in other\nlearning.'\"\n\nFurther on Matilda says that in the German tongue she found it hard to\nspeak of that which God had shown her, and \"of Latin I know nothing. For\nthat which the eye can see, and the ear can hear, and the mouth can\nspeak, is as unlike the truth which is revealed to the soul who loves, as\na candle is to the glorious sun. Of the heavenly things which God has\nshown me I can speak but, as it were, a little word, not more than the\nhoney which a little bee could carry away on his foot from an overflowing\nvessel.\n\n\"And now, Lord, I will commend these writings to Thy tender mercy; and\nwith a heart that sighs, and with eyes that weep, and with a downcast\nspirit, I pray that they never may be read by a Pharisee, and I pray also\nthat Thy children may so receive them into their hearts, as Thou, O Lord,\nhast of Thy truth given out of Thy store to me.\"\n\nMatilda's book grew in an irregular manner from year to year. She wrote\nfrom time to time on loose sheets that which she believed she had\nreceived from God. There is, therefore, no connection in these writings,\nnor is there any plan in her manner of writing. Sometimes she wrote in\nprose, or in prose running from time to time into metre and rhyme.\nSometimes she wrote in verse, in irregular measure, and with or without\nirregular rhymes, each division with a heading.\n\nThe friar Henry of Halle collected the loose leaves, and before the death\nof Matilda he divided them into six books. A seventh book was added by\nMatilda after the death of Brother Henry. Five of these books appear to\nhave been written before Matilda entered the convent of Hellfde, and some\ncan be dated by allusions to contemporary events.[5]\n\nApart from all that is interesting in these books, as literature or as\nhistory, there remains for the Christian reader who \"is not a Pharisee\"\nthe far more interesting field of research into their value as spiritual\nteaching. The Pharisee will find much to blame and to despise in the\nignorance and superstition of this Beguine of the Middle Ages.\n\nAnd in sifting Matilda's writings, as indeed the writings of any man or\nwoman, the gold, if there be any, has to be separated from the dross. The\ndross which had been accumulating for twelve centuries formed a large\namount of that which Matilda believed she had learnt from God. We can\nrecognise the gold by the one test furnished to us by Him who despises\nnot any, but teaches the most ignorant who come to Him. If we apply to\nthe writings of Matilda this infallible test, of conformity to the Word\nof God, we may be enriched by the gold without being encumbered by the\ndreary heaps of dross from which we have to sift it.\n\nThe book is supposed to be the expression of the intercourse of the soul\nwith God. That it is really so _in part_, can be verified by any\nChristian reader who will compare it with the Bible and with the\nexperience common to Christian believers. That this true Christian\nteaching should be mixed with the errors of her time is natural, and we\nknow that the errors of each successive age leave their traces in the\nbooks that are the most enlightened, and that our own age is no\nexception.\n\nThe object in view in making the following extracts from Matilda's book\nis not to present it as a literary or historical study. Were it so, it\nwould be needful to give extracts from the false as well as from the true\nteaching, so as to give a correct idea of Matilda and her times. But\nwriting simply with a desire that the truth taught to Matilda by the\nSpirit of God should be made available for those in these later days who\nare glad of spiritual food, the false and the imaginary will be passed\nover, and the remainder given as much as possible in Matilda's own words.\n\nIt must be remarked, however, that certain expressions which in mediaeval\nGerman conveyed no impression of irreverence would sound painfully\nfamiliar in modern English. An equivalent has, therefore, to be found\nconveying to readers now the same sense which the original words would\nhave conveyed to the readers of the thirteenth century.\n\nIt may also be remarked that the chief errors to be noted in Matilda's\nbook are a tendency to the worship (in a lower sense of the word) of the\nVirgin and the Saints, a belief in Purgatory, and a certain weight\nattached to the merit of human works.\n\nOf the first of these, it may truly be said that Matilda's references to\nthe Virgin Mother stand in remarkable contrast to the writings of later\ntimes. If compared with \"the Glories of Mary,\" now in popular use, they\nserve as a landmark showing the downward course of error and superstition\nin the Church of Rome during the past six hundred years, though there\nwere already those, such as Bonaventura,[6] who hastened the fall.\n\nIt must be observed, too, in reference to Matilda's allusions to the\nVirgin Mary, that the chasm between the mother of the Lord and all\nordinary believers is very much reduced if compared with that which\nexists in modern Roman Catholic books of devotion, from the fact that the\nplace assigned to every redeemed soul in Matilda's writings is far higher\nthan in most Catholic or Protestant teaching. Even amongst Protestants it\nis not uncommon to regard the redeemed as in a place below the angels, or\non a level with them. But to Matilda the power and the value of the work\nof Christ were so fully recognised, that she regarded the Bride of the\nLamb, or the individual who is made a member of the body of Christ, as in\nthe highest place next to the Bridegroom, the Head of the Body.\n\nAs regards human merit, Matilda only appears occasionally to attach some\nweight to it in speaking of others; of herself, she says she has nothing\nto bring to God but her sin.\n\n\n                     The Journey to Eternal Peace.\n\nIt will be best to describe Matilda's spiritual life as far as possible\nfrom her own words. She gives us in parables the history of her soul.\nSometimes it seems well to give these in full, at other times to give the\nsense whilst omitting repetitions.\n\nShe tells us that for a long time she was without rest or peace, knowing\nnot only the guilt, but the power of sin, and she looked hither and\nthither for that which would meet her need. And the mind, as it were,\ndisputed with the soul, for the mind would have her to seek her peace in\nthe things that could be seen. And thus it said--\n\n  \"O soul, in the Magdalen's bitter tears\n  Do the streams of comfort flow.\"\n\nBut the soul made answer--\n\n              \"Hold thy peace,\n  For my need thou dost not know.\n  The comfort I crave is joy divine,\n  I needs must drink the unmingled wine.\"\n\n  \"Soul, if as a virgin pure thou art,\n  A river of love will fill thy heart.\"\n\n  \"And if in troth it so might be,\n  The fountain of love is not in me.\"\n\n  \"Rejoice in the blood the martyrs shed.\"\n\n  \"In the path of the martyrs I daily tread,\n  But I have not found my rest.\"\n\n  \"In the wisdom the Lord's apostles taught,\n  Is there peace, O soul, for thee.\"\n\n  \"I have the Wisdom that is the best,\n  He abideth ever with me.\"\n\n  \"The angels in heaven are bright and fair,\n  For solace, O soul, betake thee there.\"\n\n  \"The joy of the angels is grief to me,\n  If the Lord of the angels I may not see.\"\n\n  \"In fastings and labours manifold,\n  Did John in the wilderness toil of old,\n    And so may peace be thine.\"\n\n  \"To labour and suffer my heart is fain,\n  But love is more than all toil and pain.\"\n\n  \"O soul, the Virgin is kind and sweet,\n    And fair the Child on her breast,\n  And thou, adoring, before her feet\n    Shalt find thy rest.\"\n\n  \"My Beloved is mine, and I am His,\n  I seek the joy where the Bridegroom is;\n    For a full-grown bride am I.\"...\n\nThen doth the mind warn the soul, saying--\n\n  \"In His terrible glory no foot hath trod,\n    A devouring fire dread to see;\n  In the blinding light of the face of God\n    No soul can be.\n  For thou knowest that all high heaven is bright\n    With a glory beyond the sun,\n  With the radiance of the saints in light,\n    And the fount of that light is One.\n  From the breath of the everlasting God,\n    From the mouth of the Man Divine,\n  From the counsel of God the Holy Ghost,\n    Doth that awful glory shine.\n  Soul, couldst thou abide for an hour alone\n  In the burning fire around His throne?\"\n\n  \"The fish drowns not in the mighty sea,\n    The bird sinks not in the air,\n  The gold in the furnace fire may be,\n    And is yet more radiant there.\n  For God to each of His creatures gave\n    The place to its nature known,\n  And shall it not be that my heart should crave\n    For that which is mine own?\n  For my nature seeketh her dwelling-place,\n    That only and none other;\n  The child must joy in the Father's face,\n    The brethren in the Brother.\n  To the bridal chamber goeth the bride,\n    For love is her home and rest;\n  And shall not I in His light abide,\n    When I lean upon His breast?\"\n\n  .       .       .       .       .       .       .\n\n  And she who is beloved with love untold,\n    Thus goes to Him who is divinely fair,\n  In His still chamber of unsullied gold,\n    And love all pure, all holy, greets her there--\n  The love of His eternal Godhead high,\n    The love of His divine Humanity.\n  Then speaketh He and saith, \"Beloved one,\n    What would'st thou? It is thine.\n  From self shalt thou go forth for evermore,\n    For thou art Mine.\n  O soul, no angel for an hour might dream\n    Of all the riches that I give to thee,\n  The glory and the beauty that beseem\n    The heritage of life that is in Me.\n  Yet satisfied thou shalt for ever long,\n    Thus sweeter shall be thine eternal song.\"[7]\n\n  \"O Lord my God, so small, so poor am I,\n  And great, almighty, O my God, art Thou.\"\n\n  \"Yet thou art joined to Christ eternally;\n  My love a changeless, everlasting NOW.\"\n\n    And thus the joyful soul is still\n    At rest in God's eternal will,\n    And she is His, and thus delighteth He\n        Her own to be.\n\n\n                           The Path of Love.\n\nWe have the same history, the same \"pilgrim's progress,\" given to us in\nanother form. Matilda calls it \"The Path of Love.\"--It is her own story,\nthe years of dreary penance, followed by the revelation of Christ to the\nsoul.\n\n  \"O thou that lovest, wouldst thou know\n  The path wherein thy feet should go?\"\n\n    \"Yea, teach it, Lord, to me.\"\n\n  \"Through drear repentance leads the way,\n    And the shame of sin confessed--\n  And when thou hast trod on the world's display,\n    And on the devil's behest,\n  And on the flesh in its haughty pride,\n    And on thy helpless will,\n  That holds the soul of the chosen bride\n    In bonds and slavery still,\n  And when the enemy conquered lies,\n    And weary art thou and athirst--\n  Then to Him whom thou lovest lift thine eyes,\n    To Him who loved thee first.\"\n\nThen shall He speak and say--\n\n  \"I hear a voice that calleth amain,\n    A voice of love and tears;\n  I have wooed, and I have listened in vain\n    Through long, long years--\n    And it speaks to-day.\n  My heart is troubled, and I must haste\n    To the sad sweet voice across the waste.\"\n\n  .       .       .       .       .       .       .\n\n  And in the morning, when the dew is sweet,\n    She hears the gentle music of His feet--\n  She hears Him speak and say, \"I heard thy voice.\"\n    The glorious One draws nigh;\n  Amidst the dew when all the woods rejoice\n    With gladsome melody.\n  And she arrays herself in fair attire,\n    In raiment of a bride;\n  Her mantle is the holy judgment fire\n    Wherein the gold is tried.\n  Of meek humility her stole is spun,\n    Her robe is white as snow,\n  For unto Him, the High and Holy One,\n    She fain would go.\n  And thus she passeth through the forest dim,\n    Where holy people dwell,\n  And day and night, with dance and song and hymn,\n    Their gladness tell;\n  With solemn dance of praise that knows no end,\n    Hands linked with other hands of ancient years;\n  The mighty faith of Abraham His friend,\n    The longing of His seers;\n  The chaste humility of her who bore\n    God's blessed Son;\n  And all the victories that in days of yore\n    His saints have won--\n  These join in dance attuned to glorious song\n    And move in cadence sweet,\n  And multiplied as ages pass along\n    Are those rejoicing feet.\n\nHe saith--\n\n      \"Beloved, do as they have done\n      Who praise My name alway.\"\n\nAnd she makes answer--\n\n  \"Thou must lead me on,\n    And I will dance as they;\n  I move to music of Thy song\n    Rejoicing over me,\n  And so my halting steps are strong\n    To follow after Thee;\n  To pass within Thy love's eternal rest,\n    And onwards to confess Thee undismayed;\n  And onwards yet, till on my Saviour's breast\n    My soul is stayed;\n  And yet beyond that rest and joy of mine,\n    To joy which heart of man hath never known,\n  Where Christ rejoiceth in His Song Divine--\n    That joy of perfect love, O Lord, is Thine,\n  And Thine alone.\"\n\nThen doth He speak and say--\n\n  \"Beloved, thou hast praised Me in the dance\n    And weary are thy feet--\n  Behold in shadow of the trees of God\n    The rest is sweet,\n    Rest, rest with Me.\"\n\n  \"O Lord, too great this love of Thine,\n    Thine only can it be;\n  For, lo! my love, Lord, is not mine,\n    It comes from Thee.\"\n\n\n                  The Journey through the Wilderness.\n\nThus much do we know of the journey of this redeemed soul from\nself-occupation and self-discipline, whilst Christ listened for her voice\nin vain, to the knowledge of the peace and joy that is in Him. And we\nknow something also of her earthly path, told us in a spiritual song,\nwhich she calls \"How fair is the Bridegroom, and how the bride followeth\nHim.\"\n\n  \"Behold, My bride, how fair My mouth, Mine eyes;\n  My heart is glowing fire, My hand is grace;\n  And see how swift My foot, and follow Me.\n  For thou with Me shalt scorned and martyred be,\n  Betrayed by envy, tempted in the wilds,\n  And seized by hate, and bound by calumny,\n  And they shall bind thine eyes lest thou shouldst see,\n  By hiding Mine eternal truth from thee.\n  And they shall scourge thee with the worlds despite,\n  And shrive thee with the ban of doom and dread,\n  For penance thy dishonoured head shall smite,\n  By mockery thou to Herod shalt be led,\n      By misery left forlorn--\n  And scourged by want, and by temptation crowned,\n      And spit upon by scorn.\n  The loathing of thy sin thy cross shall be;\n  Thy crucifixion, crossing of thy will;\n  The nails, obedience that shall fasten thee;\n  And love shall wound, and steadfastness shall slay,\n      Yet thou shalt love Me still.\n  The spear shall pierce thine heart, and Mine shall be\n  The life that lives and moves henceforth in thee.\n  Then as a conqueror loosened from the cross,\n  Laid in the grave of nothingness and loss,\n  Thou shalt awaken, and be borne above\n  Upon the breath of Mine almighty love.\"\n\nThus the revelation of the love of God, which was to the soul the opening\nof heaven, the entrance into the Father's house where was the feast of\njoy, the music, and the dancing, was to lead to a walk of faithfulness\nhere below, which would bring upon the witness of God persecution and\nshame and reproach.\n\nWas it, therefore, that when the Lord had spoken to the Pharisees of the\nlove which welcomes the publican and the sinner, of the joy and gladness\ninto which the returning son was brought, He spoke to the disciples the\nsolemn warning lest the riches, not only temporal, but spiritual,\nentrusted to them as stewards should be wasted by them? Is it not true\nthat the revelation to the soul of that which is in the Father's house,\nthe joy and the love, and the unspeakable riches of Christ, needs nothing\nless than Divine grace and power to keep us from misusing the treasure\nentrusted to us, and making it an occasion for feeding and exalting the\nfleshly mind?\n\nTherefore Paul needed the thorn in the flesh, not to fit him for entering\nthe third heaven, but after he had been there; so that the riches\nbestowed on him were not made an occasion for self-glorification, but he\nbecame a good steward of the manifold grace of God.\n\nIt is to be carefully remarked in the writings of Matilda, that she does\nnot speak of this entrance into the gladness of heaven as an attainment.\nOn the contrary, as we have seen, she speaks of the result of her\nrepentance, of her conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil, as\nbeing but weariness and thirst.\n\nIt is only when Christ comes into the parable that the heavenly\nexperience begins.\n\n\"For,\" she says, \"before the time when Jesus Christ opened heaven with\nthe key of His cross, there was no man so holy that he could, or that he\nmight, ascend up into the Eternal heavens--not with labour or with the\nsoaring of the imagination, not with longing or the stretching forth of\nimploring arms, not with the utmost yearning of his love. For Adam had\nfastened the bolt so firmly, that no man could open it. Shouldst Thou,\nthen, O Eternal Father, keep fast the door of heaven with the bolt of Thy\njustice, so that sinners must remain without, I turn me to Jesus, Thy\nbeloved Son, who holds in His hands the key of Thine almighty power.\n\n\"That key was forged in the land of the Jews, (and truly the Jews now\nwould lock Thy people out of heaven and keep them in bondage), but when\nby Jesus the key was turned, the outcast sinner could enter into Thy\nlove. But it is also the love of the Father who speaketh, and saith, 'My\nsoul endureth not that any sinner should be turned away who cometh to Me;\ntherefore do I follow after many a soul for long, long years, till I lay\nhold upon him, and hold him fast.'\"\n\nBy the Jews who would lock the people of God out of heaven Matilda, it\nneed not be said, had in her mind the Jews of Christendom, the professing\nChurch being constantly called by her Jerusalem, and the formalist\npriests \"those who follow the law of the Jews.\"\n\nBut the name of Jerusalem was also employed by her as a name of honour,\napplied to the true Church of God, the true Bride of Christ.\n\nFor within the outward profession of Christianity, Matilda recognised the\nliving Body of Christ. It is true that the two should have been one and\nthe same, as the soul and the visible body are one person. But it was no\nlonger so, and Matilda therefore saw the professing Church, Christendom,\ndivided into two parts, the living and the dead, the true and the false,\nthe children of God and the children of this world. To her the true and\nliving Church was yet glorious and undivided, for it was united in one by\nthe Spirit of God. Whether amongst professing Catholics or amongst the\n\"Friends of God\" who stood apart from Rome these living stones were\nfound, there was yet but the one building, the dwelling-place of God.\n\nIf Matilda had no thoughts respecting the \"Reunion of Christendom,\" she\nhad a firm belief in the Unity of the Church of God. It could not be\nreunited, for it was the Body of Christ. The prayer of the Lord \"that\nthey all may be one,\" had been heard. \"I know,\" He said, \"that Thou\nhearest Me always.\"\n\nThrough the ages when Christendom had been divided into countless sects,\nthe true Members of Christ, whether they knew it or not, had been, and\nmust be, one. It needed but to believe it, and to own it. But in order to\nrecognise it as true, it was necessary that the eyes should be opened to\nsee that the same profession of faith, or all varying professions of\nChristian faith, included the two classes, the living and the dead; the\nliving, united together as the living members of the body; the dead, but\nseparate particles of mouldering dust.\n\nA \"Reunion of Christendom,\" which would have as its object to form into\none mass the living and the dead, can be but a denial of the great truth\nthat \"there _is_ one Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one\nhope of your calling.\"\n\nMatilda, in a parable, describes the true Church of God as a beautiful\nmaiden standing upon a mighty stone, which was as a mountain of spices,\nand the name of which was Christ, her feet adorned with a jasper stone,\nwhich is Christian faith; and in her hand a cup, of which she drank alone\n\"in unspeakable blessedness,\" for the angels in heaven might not drink of\nit--it was \"the Blood of the Eternal Son.\"\n\nMatilda knew, and rejoiced to know, that she was one with all the saints\nof all the ages, and she tells us her experience of it also.\n\nAs Mary, she said, she knew how the sword had pierced through her own\nsoul also, because so many who seem \"religious\" are lukewarm and\nundecided for Christ.\n\nAs John, \"I know what it is to rest in the unspeakable love upon the\nbosom of Jesus Christ.\"\n\nAnd as Paul, \"Yes, Paul, I was caught up with thee, and I saw so\nmarvellous a place, that thenceforth I could but long ever to be there.\nAnd I drank of the wine of which the heavenly Father is the cup-bearer,\nand Christ is the cup, and the Holy Ghost the pure, clear wine, and love\nis the plenishing. And love invited me and welcomed me to drink thereof,\nso that now I am well content to drink gall and vinegar here below.\"\n\nAnd further, \"Stephen, I kneel beside thee before the Jews who hated\nthee, amongst the sharp stones, which fall upon me, great ones and small\nones, all my days. Those who seem to be good people stone me in the back,\nand run away, for they would not have me know it was they who did it.\nGod, however, saw it.\"\n\n\"Mary Magdalene, I live with thee in the wilderness, for all is sorrow to\nme except my God.\"\n\n\n                               Practice.\n\nOf Matilda's daily life we know but little, having scarcely any incidents\nrecorded in her book. Apparently, from various passages, we can learn\nthat, like most Beguines, her time was chiefly occupied in tending the\nsick and poor.\n\nShe considered it needful to visit the sick in the Beguinage daily, \"to\ncomfort them with the lovely words of God, and to refresh them also in a\ngentle way with earthly things, for God is very rich. It is needful also\nto bestow much care on the cleanliness of the sick-room, and it is a good\nthing to be merry and to laugh with them, but in a godly manner. And it\nis well to serve them with ready hands, and to ask them kindly to tell\nwhat are their pains and complaints, and to show them that they have a\nfriend who will stand by them and care for them.\"\n\nHousehold matters, too, were a part of Matilda's experience. \"It is right\nto go every day into the kitchen, and to see that the needful provisions\nare good, so that our stinginess, or the cook's laziness, may not rob the\nLord of the bodily strength of His servants. A hungry mouth will sing the\nLord's praises ill, and a hungry man is little fit for study, and this is\nso much taken from the Lord's service.\"\n\nMatilda also wrote letters, containing much wholesome advice. From a\nletter to a prior is the following:--\n\n\"We should listen to any complaints with sympathy, and be very faithful\nin giving counsel. If the brethren desire to build magnificently, you\nshould hinder this, and say, 'Ah, dearest brethren, let us rather build\nfor God a beautiful palace in our souls, with the stones of Holy\nScripture and holy graces.'\n\n\"The first stone of such a palace, in which the eternal God may dwell,\nand where His beloved may dwell with Him, is deep humility. We do not\ndesire to build in pride and vanity, as the lords and ladies of this\nworld; but we do need to build as heavenly princes upon earth, knowing\nthat at the last day we shall sit on thrones with the despised Jesus.\n\n\"And make sure that during the day or the night you find a full spare\nhour to converse with our dear Lord and God, praying to Him without let\nor hindrance. For the heavenly gift which God loves to give to His elect,\nHis beloved children, is of a fine and noble sort, and it flows freely to\nthe soul that draws near to Him, and to whom He bends down in His\ninfinite love.\n\n\"For His heart was so smitten with love to us that He gave up all things,\nand emptied Himself for more than thirty years, that He might at last\nembrace His beloved, and give free course to His love.\n\n\"Will you not think of this? Could you be so uncourteous to Him, as to\nrefuse Him one hour a day in return for these thirty years?\n\n\"When I, the lowest of the least, go to my prayers, I adorn myself for\nthis hour. I put on as my only ornament my unworthiness, I array myself\nin the miry slough that I am, and I am shod with the precious time that I\nhave lost day by day, and I am girded with the pain which I have caused\nto others. And I am wrapped in the cloak of my sinfulness, of which I am\nfull; and I put on my head the crown of my secret faults, wherewith I\nhave trespassed against the Lord. Then I take the glass of the truth and\nlook in it to see myself therein, and alas! I see but sorrow and shame. I\nwould rather put on this dress than any rich attire, although it were\nbetter to be clothed in hell, and crowned with devils, than to be sinful\nas I am.\n\n\"And in this dress do I go to seek Jesus, my blessed Lord, and I find Him\nin no other way so truly as in my sin.\n\n\"Therefore with joy do I go to Him, with love and fear, and the\nuncleanness of my sin vanishes before His holy eyes, and He looks on me\nwith such love, that my heart overflows with love to Him. And all the\nguilt and grief are gone, and He teaches me His will, and makes me to\ntaste His sweetness, and He overwhelms me with His tender love.\n\n\"Prayer has a marvellous power, it makes the bitter heart sweet, and the\nsorrowful heart glad, and the poor rich, and the foolish wise, and the\nfearful bold, and the sick strong, and the blind to see, and the cold to\nburn. It draws the great God down into the small heart, and lifts the\nhungry soul up to God, the living Fountain. It brings together the loving\nGod and the loving soul in a blessed meeting-place, and they speak\ntogether of love.\"\n\nIn another letter she says, \"That which hinders spiritual people more,\nperhaps, than anything, is the little importance attached to small sins.\nI tell you in truth, when I neglect a pleasant laugh that would have hurt\nnobody, or when I allow bitterness in my heart even without showing it in\nword or action, or when I feel a little impatience in suffering pain, my\nsoul becomes so dark, and my mind so dull, and my heart so cold, that I\nhave to go and confess my sin with shame and tears. I feel like a dog who\nhas been beaten till I breathe again freely in the love and mercy of God,\nand find myself again in the sweet garden of Paradise, out of which my\nsin had driven me.\"\n\n\n                     Gleanings from Matilda's Book.\n\nThe seven books which compose \"The flowing forth of the light of the\nGodhead\" being composed of detached papers put together by Brother Henry,\nhave, as has been remarked, no special connection one with another. It\nmay be as well to give detached poems from the first five books, and\nthoughts in prose, or rather not in rhyme, asking indulgence for the\nimperfect rendering of either into modern English. The titles given are\nfrom the original.\n\n\n               How God is to be Praised for Eight Things.\n\n  O Dew, abundant from the depths of Heaven;\n  O sweet white Flower, pure as mountain snow;\n  O Precious Fruit of that celestial Flower;\n  O Ransom from the everlasting woe;\n  The holy Sacrifice for sins of men;\n  The Gift that the eternal Father gave;\n  O Dew of life, by Thee I live again,\n  By Thee who camest down to seek and save.\n  I see Thee small, in low and humble guise;\n  And me Thou seest, great in shame and sin:\n  Lord, I would be Thy daily sacrifice,\n  Though I am worthless, vile, and foul within.\n  Yet into that mean cup Thy grace will pour\n  The love that overflows for evermore.\n\n\n                  How God draweth the Soul to Himself.\n\n  Eagle of the highest Heaven, gentle Lamb, Infolding Fire,\n        Kindle, glow in me.\n      Barren, thirsty, do I seek Thee,\n        Through the ages of desire,\n      One day as a thousand winters,\n        Waiting, Lord, for Thee.\n      Bitterer to the soul that loveth\n        Far from her Beloved to dwell,\n      Than the pit of doom to sinners--\n        An abyss there is profounder\n      Than the depths of hell.\n\n        .       .       .       .       .       .       .\n\n      The nightingale she can but sing,\n        For she is made of love's delight,\n      Of love bereft, what else were left\n        Than death and night?\n\nThen spake the spirit to the soul--\n\n    \"Arise, O Queen, and sing!\n  Behold, He comes, the Beloved One,\n    Behold the Bridegroom King!\"\n\nThen spake the soul in joyful fear--\n\n  \"O blessed Herald, so might it be!\n  For I am faithless, guilty, vile,\n  In Him alone is there rest for me.\n  For me is no home beneath the skies,\n  No summer land, and no resting-place,\n  But the marvellous pity of His eyes,\n  And the sweetness of His Face;\n  And when all around the lights are dim,\n  The heart that sorroweth turns to Him.\"\n\nThe Herald said--\n\n  \"Thou must watch and wait,\n  And water the earth, and strew the flowers.\"\n\nBut the soul made answer--\n\n  \"The desolate\n  Must watch in prayer, and must wait in shame,\n    In tears must water, and long for the day;\n  But if as I strew the flowers He came,\n    From myself and my tears I should pass away.\n  For He strikes the chords of the heavenly lyre,\n    And sorrow and sadness turn and flee,\n  And the earthly love, and the earth's desire,\n    In that music sweet depart from me.\"\n\n\n         The Soul's Desire sent Forth to Seek the Beloved One.\n\nThus spake the soul to her desire--\n\n  \"Speed forth afar and see\n  Where may my Beloved be,\n  And say to Him, 'His love I crave.'\"\n\n  Then fled the swift desire afar,\n  And rose beyond sun, moon, and star,\n  And called before the heavenly door,\n    \"Lord, open unto me!\"\n\nThen spake the Host--\n\n  \"What need hast thou,\n  That thou dost thus implore?\"\n\n  \"O Lord, I come with the prayer of one\n  Who weepeth upon the earth alone--\n    The fish on the sand must pine.\"\n\n  \"Go back! no door is unbarred to thee\n  Till thou bring the sorrowful soul to Me,\n    For the need is _Mine_.\"\n\nThen sped the messenger swiftly home, and said--\n\n  \"The Master calleth Come!\n    Arise and shine!\"\n\n  Then she as on summer winds doth rise\n  In joyful flight through the starry skies,\n    And there meet her angels twain;\n  For God hath sent two angels fleet,\n  The well-beloved soul to meet.\n\nAnd they ask--\n\n  \"What seekest thou thus afar?\n  With the dark earth art thou clad.\"\n\nThe soul said--\n\n  \"Greet me better than so,\n  For to Him who loveth me well I go,\n    And I am no more sad.\n  Lo! dimmed as ye near the earth below,\n    Is the sweet light of your eyes;\n  And with light of God do I shine and glow\n    As aloft I rise.\"\n  Then with an angel on either hand,\n    The soul sped through the skies,\n  And when she came to the angel land,\n    To the country of Paradise,\n  She was a stranger guest no more,\n  For to her was opened the heavenly door,\n    She saw the Beloved Face.\n  Forth flowed her heart in weeping blest,\n  She said, \"My Lord, I have found my rest\n    In the glory of Thy grace.\n  I needs must praise Thee and adore,\n  For evermore, for evermore.\n  Whence came I here? I am lost in Thee;\n  I can think no more of the earth below,\n    Nor of the sorrow and weeping there.\n  I had thought to tell Thee my grief and woe,\n  But, Lord, I have seen Thee, and nought I know,\n    But that Thou art fair.\"\n\n\n        The Complaint of the Loving Soul, and the Answer of God.\n\n  \"O Lord, too long Thou dost guard and spare\n      This dungeon-house of clay,\n  Where I drink the water of sorrow and care,\n  And the ashes of emptiness are my fare,\n      From day to day.\"\n\n  \"Where is thy patience, O My Queen?\n    Let Thy sorrow be sore as it may,\n  I heal it as if it never had been,\n    When I speak, it has passed away.\n  My riches of glory for ever are thine,\n    Thy might has prevailed over Me,\n  For I love thee for ever with love divine;\n  If thou hast the token, the gold is Mine,\n    And I weigh full measure to thee.\n  For all things renounced, and for all things wrought,\n    All sorrow, and all endeavour,\n  I give thee beyond all desire or thought,\n    For I give thee Myself for ever.\"\n\n\n                      How God comes into the Soul.\n\n  He comes to me in silent hours,\n  As morning dew to summer flowers.\n\n\n      How the Soul receiveth God, and how God receiveth the Soul.\n\n  O sweet enfolding in the Arms divine,\n    O blessed Vision, welcome passing sweet,\n  I bow beneath the joy that I am Thine,\n    A weight of gladness cast I at Thy feet.\n  O heights of God! within Thy clefts I hide,\n  The home where dove and nightingale abide.\n\n  \"All hail, My dove! on earth below\n      Thou hast roamed afar and long,\n  Until should grow the strong swift wings,\n  That should bear Thee aloft from thy wanderings\n      To the rest and song.\"\n\n\n                   The Soul's fivefold Praise of God.\n\n  O blessed God, who pourest forth Thy store;\n  O God, whose love flows on for evermore;\n  O God, whose longing burns eternally;\n  O God, in whom I dwell, whose dwelling is in me;\n  O God, whose rest is in my love--\n  In Thee alone I live and move.\n\n\n      Of the Soul's Complaint, of the Garden, and of the New Song.\n\n  \"When mine eyes are dim with weeping,\n    And my tongue with grief is dumb;\n  And it is as if Thou wert sleeping\n    When my heart calleth, 'Come;'\n  When I hunger with bitter hunger,\n      O Lord, for Thee.\n  Where art Thou, then, Beloved?\n      Speak, speak to me.\"\n  \"I am where I was in the ancient days,\n    I in Myself must be;\n  In all things I am, and in every place,\n    For there is no change in Me.\n  Where the sun is My Godhead, throned above,[8]\n    For thee, O Mine own, I wait;\n  I wait for thee in the garden of love,\n    Till thou comest irradiate\n  With the light that shines from My Face divine,\n    And I pluck the flowers for thee;\n  They are thine, beloved, for they are Mine,\n    And thou art one with Me.\n  In the tender grass by the waters still,\n    I have made thy resting-place;\n  Thy rest shall be sweet in My holy will,\n    And sure in My changeless grace.\n  And I bend for thee the holy Tree,\n    Where blossoms the mystic Rod;\n  The highest of all the trees that be\n    In the Paradise of God.\n  And thou of that Tree of life shalt eat,\n    Of the Life that is in Me;\n  Thou shalt feed on the fruit that is good for meat,\n    And passing fair to see.\n  There overshadowed by mighty wings\n    Of the Holy Spirit's peace,\n  Beyond the sorrow of earthly things,\n    The toil and the tears shall cease.\n  And there beneath the eternal Tree,\n    I will teach thy lips to sing\n  The sweet new song that no man knows\n    In the land of his banishing.\n  They follow the Lamb where'er He goes,\n    To whom it is revealed;\n  The pure and the undefiled are those,\n    The ransomed and the sealed.\n  Thou shalt learn the speech and the music rare,\n    And thou shalt sing as they,\n  Not only there in My garden fair,\n    But here, beloved, to-day.\"\n\n  \"O Lord, a faint and a feeble voice\n    Is mine in this house of clay,\n  But Thy love hath made my lips rejoice,\n    And I can sing and say,\n  'I am pure, O Lord, for Thou art pure,\n    Thy love and mine are one;\n  And my robe is white, for Thine is white,\n    And brighter than the sun.\n  Thy mouth and mine can know no moan,\n    No note of man's sad mirth,\n  But the everlasting joy alone,\n    Unknown to songs of earth;\n  And for ever fed on that living Tree,\n  I will sing the song of Thy love with Thee.'\"\n\n\n                 God's fivefold Comparing of the Soul.\n\n  Rose, most fair amidst the briars;\n  Harmless dove, so pure and white;\n  Honey-bee that never tires;\n  Sun of everlasting light;\n  Full fair moon in cloudless skies--\n  Joy and gladness to Mine eyes.\n\n\n                   God's sixfold Delight in the Soul.\n\n  O soul, thou art the pillow for My Head,\n  My still sweet rest, My longing deep and strong,\n  My Godhead's joy, My Manhood's solace sweet,\n  My cooling fountain in love's furnace heat,\n        My music, and My song.\n\n\n                        Knowledge and Enjoyment.\n\n  To love, and not to know,\n  Is through a dark wild land to go;\n  To know, and not possess,\n  Is hell's dread bitterness;\n  Possess, yet not be where Thou art,\n  Hath rent my heart.\n\n\n              The Prayer for Love, and the Answer thereof.\n\n  \"O Lord my Saviour, love me well,\n  And love me often and long--\n  Often, that pure my soul may be;\n  Well, that so I be fair to see;\n  Long, and for ever, for Thee apart\n  Shall be my heart.\"\n\n  \"That often I love thee needs must be,\n  For I am Love from eternity;\n  And I love thee well, because I long\n  For thy love with a yearning deep and strong;\n  And I love thee long, for no end can be\n  To My divine eternity.\"\n\n\n           Love unto Death; Love Immeasurable; Love Eternal.\n\n  I rejoice that I cannot but love Him,\n    Because He first loved me;\n  I would that measureless, changeless,\n    My love might be;\n  A love unto death, and for ever;\n    For, soul, He died for thee.\n  Give thanks that for thee He delighted\n    To leave His glory on high;\n  For thee to be humbled, forsaken,\n    For thee to die.\n  Wilt thou render Him love for His loving?\n    Wilt thou die for Him who died?\n  And so, by thy living and dying,\n    Shall Christ be magnified.\n  And deep in the fiery stream that flows\n    From God's high throne,\n  In the burning tide that for ever glows\n    Of the marvellous love unknown;\n  For ever, O soul, thou shalt burn and glow,\n    And thou shalt sing and say,\n  \"I need no call at His feet to fall,\n    For I cannot turn away.\n  I am the captive led along\n    With the joy of His triumphal song;\n  In the depths of love do I live and move,\n    I joy to live or to die;\n  For I am borne on the tide of love\n    To all eternity:\n  The foolishness of the fool is this,\n  The sorrow sweeter than joy to miss.\"\n\n\n         God asks the Soul what She brings, and She Answereth.\n\n  \"What dost thou bring me, O my Queen?\n    Love maketh thy steps to fly.\"\n\n  \"Lord, to Thee my jewel I bring,\n  Greater than mountains high;\n  Broader than all the earth's broad lands,\n  Heavier than the ocean sands,\n  And higher it is than the sky:\n  Deeper it is than the depths of the sea,\n    And fairer than the sun,\n  Unreckoned, as if the stars could be\n    All gathered into one.\"\n\n  \"O thou, My Godhead's image fair,\n    Thou Eve, from Adam framed,\n  My flesh, My bone, My life to share,\n  My Spirit's diadem to wear,\n    How is thy jewel named?\"\n\n  \"Lord, it is called my heart's desire,\n    From the world's enchantments won;\n  I have borne it afar through flood and fire,\n    And will yield it up to none;\n  But the burden I can bear no more--\n    Where shall I lay it up in store?\"\n\n  \"There is no treasure-house but this,\n    My heart divine, My Manhood's breast;\n  There shall My Spirit's sacred kiss\n    Fill thee with rest.\"\n\n\n    How the Soul praises God for Seven Things, and God praiseth the\n                           Soul who loves Him.\n\n  O Jesus Lord, most fair, most passing sweet,\n    In darkest hours revealed in love to me,\n  In those dark hours I fall before Thy Feet,\n    I sing to Thee.\n  I join the song of love, and I adore\n  With those who worship Thee for evermore.\n  Thou art the Sun of every eye,\n    The Gladness everywhere,\n  The Voice that speaks eternally,\n    The Strength to do and bear,\n  The sacred Lore of wisdom's store,\n    The Life of life to all,\n  The Order mystic, marvellous\n    In all things great and small.\n\nThen doth God praise the soul, and the words of His praise sound sweetly,\nthus--\n\n  Thou art light to Mine eyes, and a harp to Mine ears,\n  And the voice of My words, and My wisdom's crown,\n  The love that cheers Mine eternal years,\n  My music, and My renown.\n  Wherever thy pilgrim steps may be,\n  Thou longest, beloved, thou longest for Me.\n\nThe soul saith--\n\n  Thy love hast Thou told from the days of old,\n    Thou hast written my name in Thy Book divine;\n  Engraved on Thy Hands and Thy feet it stands,\n    And on Thy side as a sign.\n  O glorious Man in the garden of God,\n    Thy sacred Manhood is mine.\n  I kneel on the golden floor of heaven\n    With my box of ointment sweet,\n  Grant unto me, Thy much forgiven,\n    To kiss and anoint Thy feet.\n\n  Where wilt thou find that ointment rare,\n    O My beloved one?\n\n  Thou brakest my heart and didst find it there,\n    Rest sweetly there alone.\n\n  There is no embalming so sweet to Me,\n    As to dwell, My well-beloved, in thee.\n\nThe soul saith--\n\n  Lord, take me home to Thy palace fair,\n  So will I ever anoint Thee there.\n\n  \"I will. But My plighted troth saith, 'Wait;'\n    And My love saith, 'Work to-day;'\n  My meekness saith, 'Be of low estate;'\n    And My longing, 'Watch and pray;'\n  My shame and sorrow say, 'Bear My cross;'\n    My song saith, 'Win the crown;'\n  My guerdon saith, 'All else is loss;'\n    My patience saith, 'Be still,'\n    Till thou shalt lay the burden down,\n      Then, when I will.\n  Then, beloved, the crown and palm,\n  And then the music and the psalm;\n  And the cup of joy My Hand shall fill\n    Till it overflow;\n  And with singing I strike the harp of gold\n    I have tuned below,\n  The harp I tune in desolate years\n  Of sorrow and tears,\n  Till a music sweet the chords repeat,\n    Which all the heavens shall fill;\n  For the holy courts of God made meet,\n    Then, when I will.\"\n\n\n    A fivefold Song of the Soul to God, and how God is a Robe of the\n                   Soul, and the Soul a robe of God.\n\n  Thou hast shone within this soul of mine,\n    As the sun on a shrine of gold;\n  When I rest my heart, O Lord, on Thine,\n    My bliss is manifold.\n  My soul is the gem on Thy diadem,\n    And my marriage robe Thou art;\n  If aught could sever my heart from Thine,\n  The sorrow beyond all sorrows were mine,\n    Alone and apart.\n  Could I not find Thy love below,\n  Then would my soul as a pilgrim go\n    To Thy holy land above;\n  There would I love Thee as I were fain,\n    With everlasting love.\n  Now have I sung my tuneless song,\n    But I hearken, Lord, for Thine;\n  Then shall a music, sweet and strong,\n    Pass into mine.\n\n  \"I am the Light, and the lamp thou art;\n    The River, and thou the thirsty land;\n  To thee thy sighs have drawn My heart,\n    And ever beneath Thee is My hand.\n  And when thou weepest, it needs must be\n  Within Mine arms that encompass thee;\n  Thy heart from Mine can none divide,\n  For one are, the Bridegroom and the Bride:\n  It is sweet, beloved, for Me and thee,\n  To wait for the day that is to be.\"\n\n  O Lord, with hunger and thirst I wait,\n  With longing before Thy golden gate,\n      Till the day shall dawn,\n  When from Thy lips divine have passed\n    The sacred words that none may hear\n  But the soul who, loosed from the earth at last,\n    Hath laid her ear\n  To the Mouth that speaks in the still sweet morn\n    Apart and alone;\n  Then shall the secret of love be told,\n    The mystery known.\n\n\n             The Lord giveth a tenfold Honour to the Soul.\n\n  The mouth of the Lord hath spoken,\n    Hath spoken a mighty word;\n  My sinful heart it hath broken,\n    Yet sweeter I never heard.\n  \"Thou, thou art, O soul, My deep desire,\n    And My love's eternal bliss;\n  Thou art the rest where leaneth My breast,\n    And My mouth's most holy kiss.\n  Thou art the treasure I sought and found,\n    Rejoicing over thee;\n  I dwell in thee, and with thee I am crowned,\n    And thou dost dwell in Me.\n  Thou art joined to Me, O Mine own, for ever,\n    And nearer thou canst not be;\n  Shall aught on earth or in heaven sever\n    Myself from Me?\"\n\n\n                  Between God and the Soul only Love.\n\n  'Twixt God and thee but love shall be,\n    'Twixt earth and thee distrust and fear,\n    'Twixt sin and thee shall be hate and war,\n  And hope shall be 'twixt heaven and thee,\n      Till night is o'er.\n\n\n        How God maketh the Soul to be Free and Wise in His Love.\n\n  My love, My dove, thy feet are red,\n    Thy wings are strong, thy mouth is sweet,\n  Thine eyes are fair, erect thy head,\n  Beside the waters dost thou tread,\n    Thy flight is far and fleet.\n\n  O Lord, the Blood that hath ransomed me\n    Hath dyed my feet;\n  With Thy faithfulness my wings are strong,\n    With Thy Spirit my mouth is sweet.\n  And my eyes are fair with the light of God,\n    And safe in Thy shelter I lift my head,\n    And beside the waters of life I tread,\n  I follow where Thou hast trod;\n  And my flight is swift, for Thy love hath need\n    Of me, Lord, even me.\n    When from the earthly prison freed\n    My soul shall be;\n  Then shall she rest through the ages blest,\n    O Lord, in Thee.\n\n\n        The Road wherein the Soul leadeth the Senses, and where\n                      the Soul is Free from Care.\n\n  It is a wondrous and a lofty road\n    Wherein the faithful soul must tread;\n    And by the seeing there the blind are led,\n  The senses by the soul acquaint with God.\n  On that high path the soul is free,\n    She knows no care nor ill,\n  For all God wills desireth she,\n    And blessed is His will.\n\n\n    How the Bride casts away the Solace of Created Things, and seeks\n                        only the Comfort of God.\n\n    Thus speaks the Bride, whose feet have trod\n      The chamber of eternal rest,\n    The secret treasure-house of God,\n      Where God is manifest:\n  \"Created things, arise and flee,\n  Ye are but sorrow and care to me.\"\n\n  This wide, wide world, so rich and fair,\n  Thou sure canst find thy solace there?\n\n  \"Nay, 'neath the flowers the serpent glides,\n  Amidst the bravery envy hides.\"\n\n  And is not heaven enough for thee?\n\n  \"Were God not there 'twere a tomb to me.\"\n\n  O Bride, the saints in glory shine,\n  Can they not fill that heart of thine?\n\n  \"Nay, were the Lamb, their light, withdrawn,\n  The saints in gloom would weep and mourn.\"\n\n  Can the Son of God not comfort thee?\n\n  \"Yea, Christ and none besides for me!\n  For mine is a soul of noble birth,\n  That needeth more than heaven and earth;\n  And the breath of God must draw me in\n  To the Heart that was riven for my sin.\n  For the Sun of the Godhead pours His rays\n  Through the crystal depths of His manhood's grace;\n  And the Spirit sent by Father and Son\n  Hath filled my soul, and my heart hath won;\n  And the longing and love are past and gone,\n  For all that is less than God alone--\n  God only, sweet to this heart of mine--\n  O wondrous death that is life divine!\"\n\n\n       Of Love, the Handmaiden of the Soul, and of the Soul whom\n                           Love hath Smitten.\n\n  Of old, beloved damsel,\n    My handmaid thou wouldst be;\n  But thy ways are strange and wondrous,\n    Thou hast chased and captured me.\n  Thou hast wounded me right sore,\n    Thou hast smitten me amain,\n  And I know that never more\n    Can my heart be whole again.\n  Can the hand that has wounded heal?\n    Or slay, if no balm there be?\n  Else had it been for my weal\n    Thou wert all unknown to me.\n\n  \"I chased thee, for so was my will;\n    I captured thee, for my need;\n  I bound thee, and bind thee still,\n    For I would not have thee freed;\n  I wounded thee sore, that for evermore\n    Thou shouldest live by my life alone:\n  When I smote thee, mine wert thou life and limb;\n    I drave the Almighty God from His throne,\n  Of the life of His manhood despoiled I Him.\n    I brought Him back in glorious might\n    To the Father in heaven's eternal light;\n  And thou, poor worm, shouldst thou go free,\n  As if my hand had not smitten thee?\"\n\n\n           Be thou in Suffering a Lamb, a Dove, and a Bride.\n\n  Thou art My Lamb in patience dumb,\n    My Dove in sighing for Me,\n  My Bride in waiting till I shall come\n    In the day that is to be.\n\n\n          Of the Two Golden Chalices of Sorrow and of Comfort.\n\nI, slothful sinner that I am, knelt down at my hour of prayer, and it\nseemed to me as if God were unwilling to give me the least measure of His\ngrace. Then would I fain have wept and mourned, because of my sinful\ndesires; for it seemed to me that they were the hindrance to my spiritual\ngladness.\n\nBut no, said my soul, think rather of the faithfulness of God, and praise\nHim for His goodness. Glory be to God in the highest!\n\nAnd as I praised, there shone a great light into my soul; and in the\nlight, God showed Himself to me in great majesty, and in unspeakable\nglory. And it was as if He held up in His hands two golden chalices, and\nboth were full of living wine. In the left hand was the red wine, the\nwine of sorrow, and in the right hand the most holy consolation. Then did\nthe Lord say, \"There are some who drink of this wine alone, although I\npour out both in My divine love. Yet the golden wine is in itself the\nnoblest, and most noble are those who drink of both, the red wine and the\ngolden.\"\n\n\n                      The Working of Blessed Love.\n\nIt were bitterer than death to me if ever I did that which is good,\nwithout God.\n\nThis is the nature of the great love which is of God. She does not flow\nforth in tears, but burns in the great fire of heavenly glory. And thus\nshe spreads to the farthest distances, and yet remains in herself\nsteadfast and still. She rises up into the nearest converse with God, and\nremains in herself in the lowest measure. She grasps the most, and\nretains the least.\n\nO blessed Love, who are they who know thee? They are those through whom\nthe light of God glows and burns. They dwell not in themselves. The more\nthey are tried, the stronger they grow. Why so? Because the longer they\nare in conflict, yet abiding in love, the more glorious is God to their\nsouls, and the more do they see themselves to be unworthy and vile.\n\nWhy so? Because the greater the love, the greater is holy fear; and the\nfuller the comfort, the stronger the dread of sin. The loving soul does\nnot fear with terror, but she fears nobly. There are two things over\nwhich I cannot mourn enough--one is, that God is so forgotten in the\nworld; the other, that His people are so imperfect. Therefore many fall,\nbecause the godly have fallen before them.\n\n\n              How God speaks to the Soul in Three Places.\n\nIn the first of these places does the devil also speak, which he cannot\ndo in the other two.\n\nThe first place is the mind of man, and this stands open not to God only,\nbut to the devil and to all creatures, who enter in as they will, and\nhold converse with the soul through the mind.\n\nThe second place in which God speaks, is in the soul itself. And into the\nsoul none can enter but God only. When God speaks to the soul, it is\nwithout the aid of the senses. It is in a mighty, strong, and swift\ncommunication, in a speech the mind cannot comprehend, unless the mind is\nso humbled as to take the lowest place amongst created things.\n\nThe third place where God speaks with the soul is in heaven, when God\ndraws the soul up thither, and brings her into His secret place, where He\nshows her all His wonders.\n\n\n                             Of False Love.\n\nAll, who do not in all things cleave to the truth of God, must fall with\nbitter loss. For love, which has not humility for her mother, and holy\nfear for her father, will be a barren love.\n\n\n                            Matilda's Faith.\n\nThus far in the five first books of Matilda's writings can we trace the\nhistory of her soul before she found her last refuge in the convent of\nHellfde.\n\nPreger's remarks are valuable as showing how Matilda, in expressions\nwhich she borrowed from the common stock of the writings of the mystics,\nas well as in expressions of her own, might appear to have wandered into\nthe regions of Pantheism. That she herself attached a meaning to these\nexpressions, which those who were simply mystics, and not believers in\nChrist as their Saviour, could not understand, seems, however, clear. But\nthe expressions were open to the danger of being thus misunderstood. To\nthose who were mystics, and nothing more, intercourse with God was a\nvague sentiment; and what they called the love of God, was merely a name\ngiven to their own human thoughts of God, the God of their imagination.\n\nBut Matilda insisted strongly upon the truth, that there is no way to God\nbut through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners. That otherwise\nall communication between the soul and God is cut off, \"the bolt fastened\nby Adam\" holding fast the door between God and men.\n\nIn speaking of some (no doubt the \"Brethren of the Free Spirit\"), she\nmentions as the greatest sin, and as the highest degree of unbelief, that\n\"men should think to enter into the presence of the eternal God, passing\nby the holy Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. When such people imagine\nthemselves to have entered into communication with the being of God, they\nenter instead into eternal condemnation. And yet by that means they\nintend to become holier than others. They set at nought and deride the\nwords of God, which are written regarding the Manhood of our Lord.\"\n\nThus to an unbelieving mystic, the term \"union with God\" was familiar,\nand meant nothing better than the dreams of a Buddhist. But to Matilda,\nthough she did not, and no doubt could not, clearly define it, the truth\nwas revealed, expressed in so few words in the fifth chapter of the\nEpistle to the Ephesians, where, with reference to Christ and the Church,\nit is written, \"He that loveth his wife loveth _himself_. For no man ever\nyet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the\nLord the Church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His\nbones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall\nbe joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great\nmystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.\" And again, in 1\nCor. xii. 12, \"As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the\nmembers of that one body, being many, are one body: so also _is Christ_.\"\n\nThat this truth, taught so plainly in many passages of Scripture, notably\nby the Lord Himself in the one word which smote the heart of Paul, \"Why\npersecutest thou _Me_?\" was the truth Matilda believed, seems to be\nclear. But she was apt to use, when speaking of it, the stereotyped\nexpression \"union with God,\" not perceiving that this is untrue, and\nincapable of being symbolised, as in Ephesians, by the figure of Adam and\nEve. It is not Christ as God, but as the second Adam, who is there\nsymbolised.\n\nMany such incorrect expressions may, no doubt, be found now in modern\nProtestant books.[9]\n\nPreger further remarks, \"If we would describe religious life, as shown in\nMatilda, by its distinctive features, we should remark, in the first\nplace, that she is seeking after a consciousness, or is, in fact,\nconscious of being in immediate intercourse with God. Whilst the majority\nof her contemporaries knew of no relation with God, except through\nculture or learning, or the medium of saints, or the ordinances of the\nChurch, and were satisfied to know no more, Matilda looked upon all these\nthings merely as helps to personal and immediate communion with God. This\nalone could satisfy her.\n\n\"And further, she was aware that into this communion with God she could\nonly be brought through God's free grace. And only by free grace could\nshe retain it. It is true she speaks of human merit, and alludes to the\nintercession of Mary, but in so doing was rather expressing the ruling\nthoughts of her age than her own innermost convictions. For it is only in\nspeaking of others that she admits the merit of human works; she has\nanother law for herself, finding, as she says, no peace in the good works\nof the saints, 'and as for me, unhappily I have no good works to find\npeace in.'\n\n\"That which is the important matter with regard to Matilda's faith is\nthis--she grounds her peace not on imparted, but on imputed\nrighteousness. 'It is a fathomless mystery,' she says, 'that God can look\nupon a sinner as a converted man.'\n\n\"But in spite of this evangelical tendency in her writings, we cannot but\nreceive the impression that in the heights of her communion with God she\nat times loses the safe path. The reason of this is, that the subordinate\nplace which she gives to all relations between God and men by Church\nordinances is also given more or less to the knowledge of God by means of\nthe written Word. It does not appear to be the ring in which her new life\nis set; it would seem as though she endeavoured to soar above it, in\norder to assure herself more firmly of her state of grace by immediate\ncommunications from God to her soul.\n\n\"Therefore she seems in some passages to regard the written Word and the\nDivine Word spoken to her as distinct, and on the same level. Thus, as in\nmysticism generally, the safe path is lost, and the soul is cast forth\nupon the wide sea of subjective self-consciousness.\n\n\"We feel the presentiment of this danger, and the need of a safer path,\nin which the security of Divine teaching is ours. This can only be when\nthe written Word is the seed of Divine knowledge, and the faculties of\nman the ground in which the seed takes root.\"\n\nSo far Preger. It may also be remarked, that whilst Matilda evidently\ngrounded her salvation and enjoyment of God upon the atoning work of\nChrist, she does not allude to it very frequently. We must remember that\namongst all the errors of mediaeval Catholicism, the blood-shedding of\nChrist was still regarded as the means by which sin was expiated. It was\nstill an article of faith, though disfigured, and often kept out of sight\nby all that man had added to the Scriptures.\n\nMatilda, therefore, regarded it as an understood necessity in Christian\nfaith, and as not demanding frequent assertion or proof. Had she lived in\nour days it might have been otherwise.\n\nThat \"Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He\nmight bring us to God,\" was a truth known and believed amongst the\n\"Friends of God,\" Catholic or Waldensian. That \"it is the Blood that\nmaketh atonement for the soul,\" that \"without shedding of Blood there is\n_no remission_,\" that on Christ, the Lamb who was slain, did \"the Lord\nlay the iniquity of us all,\" they knew, and rejoiced to know. However\noverlaid in Roman Catholicism by the teaching of human merit, and of the\nmediation and intercession of the saints, this truth was preserved\nthrough God's great mercy in the corruption of the Church. It may be\nfound yet as the anchor of the soul in the confession of faith of many an\nignorant and unlearned Roman Catholic, who know little of the doctrines\nof their Church, but who do know from their service-books that \"Christ\ndied for our sins.\"\n\nThe three have ever borne witness on earth, the Spirit, the Water, and\nthe Blood, and these three agree in one--a witness never silenced through\nthe darkest ages of the Church.\n\nIt was during the last years of Matilda's life that she wrote for \"the\nchildren of the world\" a call to Christ.\n\n  Wilt thou, sinner, be converted?\n    Christ, the Lord of glory, see\n  By His own denied, deserted,\n    Bleeding, bound, and scourged for thee.\n  Look again, O soul, behold Him\n    On the cross uplifted high;\n  See the precious life-blood flowing,\n    See the tears that dim His eye.\n  Love has pierced the heart that brake,\n  Loveless sinner, for thy sake:\n  Hearken till thy heart is broken\n    To His cry so sad and sweet;\n  Hearken to the hammer smiting\n    Nails that pierce His hands and feet.\n  See the side whence flows the fountain\n    Of His love and life divine,\n  Riven by a hand unthankful--\n    Lo! that hand is thine.\n  See the crown of thorns adorning\n    God's beloved holy Son,\n  Then fall down in bitter mourning,\n    Weep for that which _thou_ hast done.\n  Thank Him that His heart was willing\n    So to die for love to thee;\n  Thank Him for the joy that maketh\n    This world's joy but gall to be.\n  And till thou in heaven adore Him\n    Fight for Him in knightly guise;\n  Joy in shame and toil and sorrow,\n    Glorious is the prize!\n\n\n                         The Echo of the Book.\n\nMatilda had a friend, called Jutta von Sangershausen. A relation of hers,\nAnno von Sangershausen, was the Grand-Master of the Teutonic Order of\nKnights. Other members of the family had offered their services to the\norder in defence of their country from the invasions of the heathen\nPrussians.\n\nJutta's husband had died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her children\nentered various convents. Jutta then joined herself to the Beguines, and\nwas employed for a time in nursing the sick, especially those afflicted\nwith leprosy. In the year 1260 she determined to go forth as a missionary\namongst the Prussians. She took up her abode in a forest near Culm, where\nshe lived as a hermitess, making known the faith of Christ by word and\nexample.\n\nMatilda for a time resolved to go also as a missionary to the heathen.\nBut she was now growing old, and worn-out by labours and persecutions. It\nwas evident that she no longer had the needful strength. She was grieved\nto the heart that she could not thus make Christ known, and she laid the\nmatter before the Lord.\n\nHe consoled her, and showed her that as He had sent Jutta to the heathen,\nso had He also given her His message, which should be sent far and wide\nin the book which she was writing.\n\nAnd so it proved, as her book was widely known and read for a\nconsiderable time after her death. Even now it may be that the words so\nlately brought to light in the convent of Einsiedeln may lead some weary\nsouls to Christ. And still the reflection of the light which shone into\nthe heart of Matilda shines forth more faintly in the poem known and read\nthrough so many ages, and in so many lands--the great poem of Dante.\n\nIt is now more than seventy years ago that a young man travelling in\nItaly employed himself at Venice in reading the _Divine Commedia_, for\nthe sake of learning Italian. He had cared till then for the things of\nthis world only, but he left Venice with the first beginning of a love\nwhich was to shape his long life, and make him the means of life to many.\n\nIt was from the poem of Dante, he said, that he had first learnt to know\nChrist as his Saviour. He may be known to many as the writer of the hymn\nso often sung--\n\n  \"A pilgrim through this lonely world\n    The blessed Saviour passed;\n  A mourner all His life was He,\n    A dying Lamb at last\"--\n\na distant echo of Matilda's voice sounding in many places still.\n\nWhat was it that Dante learnt, or believed that he learnt, from the lady\nwhose joyful singing sounded to him across the river of forgetfulness,\nwhose eyes shone with a light greater than that of earthly love?\n\nShe explained to him her joy by the words of that psalm, the\nninety-second, which forms a key-note to the poems of the Beguine\nMatilda, of her to whom the Lord had taught \"the song and the music of\nheaven,\" whom He had made glad through _His_ work, who triumphed in the\nwork of His hands.\n\nIt was in the work \"wrought in the land of the Jews,\" the great work that\n\"loosed the bolt with which Adam had barred the heavenly door,\" that\nMatilda the Beguine rejoiced, showing forth the Lord's lovingkindness in\nthe morning, and his faithfulness every night--the work which \"the\nbrutish man knoweth not, neither doth the fool understand it,\" for \"the\npreaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness,\" \"the\nfoolishness of God that is wiser than men.\"\n\nIn the work which brought her into the \"sweet garden of Paradise,\" where\nshe was no more a stranger, which had won for her the right to eat of the\nTree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God, and to pluck\nthe flowers, which were hers, because they were Christ's.\n\nIt may truly be said that if there is anything distinctive in the writing\nof Matilda the Beguine, it is that she wrote from her own experience of\nthe gladness of the heavenly place, revealed to her whilst yet in the\nbody on the earth. She had learnt that there is an \"earthly Paradise,\"\nearthly not because it is of the earth, but because it is a foretaste and\nearnest of the heavenly, given to those who are still pilgrims upon the\nearth.\n\nTo reach it the river had to be crossed, wherein the old things pass\naway, and all things become new; where the things that are behind are\nforgotten, and the things that are before become the possession, by\nfaith, of the redeemed soul. Her sins were amongst the forgotten things,\nfor God remembered them no more, and the sorrow of the earth was\nforgotten, swallowed up in the tide of eternal joy, and\n\n  \"The longing and love were past and gone,\n  For all that is less than God alone.\"\n\nThus, in the poem of Dante, does Matelda draw him through the water of\nthe river at the moment when the remembrance of his sin had stung him at\nthe heart, so that he fell overpowered and helpless and ashamed. It\nneeded that the sin should be left behind amongst the former things that\nhad passed away.\n\nThose who have known the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the Fountain\nopened for sin and for uncleanness, will gladly own that this is the true\nChristian experience of the saints of God--the land of Canaan beyond the\nriver, reached and entered before the warfare and the trial of faith are\nover; the Father's house become a familiar place before the murmuring of\nthe self-righteous is for ever silenced.\n\nDid Dante know it as the Beguine knew it? Was it in his case but a vague\nsense of a place of joy and beauty which the soul might find on this side\nof heaven? Did he know that the river was a river of death--the death\nwhich is the death of deaths, \"in the land of the Jews\" so long ago?\n\nWe cannot know. It needs the simple faith of those who have become fools\nthat they may be wise. Then does the garden of the Lord become a blessed\nreality, no dreamland, but an eternal inheritance.\n\nThe Beguine had seen by faith her name engraved on the pierced Hands and\nFeet of Christ. Should she not rejoice and sing? Should she not praise\nHim that He was wounded for her transgressions, that He was bruised for\nher iniquities, that the chastisement of her peace was upon Him, that by\nHis stripes she was healed? And thus she knew that her \"robe was white,\nfor Christ's was white, and brighter than the sun.\"\n\nHow far this was the experience of Dante, his poem does not tell us. But\nhe knew that there was an earthly Paradise, and it seems all but certain\nthat in Matilda's book he had found one who was rejoicing there with\nunspeakable joy.\n\nThe remarks of Preger in his lecture on Dante's Matelda confirm the\nthought that this is the true key to his description of the beautiful\nlady, whose appearance formed the great era in his spiritual life. The\nsong taken from the words of the fifty-first Psalm, \"Wash me and I shall\nbe whiter than snow,\" the introduction into the knowledge of heavenly\nthings, are but an echo of the songs of the Beguine.\n\nBut the heavenly things of Dante are far more clouded with the evil\nteaching of his age than the heavenly experiences of Matilda of\nMagdeburg. The glory of the Catholic Church, rather than the glory of\nChrist, is the light that lightens his heavenly Paradise. It was the Lamb\nwho was the light of Matilda's heaven. In the bewildering medley of\nCatholic and heathen mythologies in Dante's poem, it is only here and\nthere that a gleam of the true light can make its way. But Matilda the\nBeguine rose above the clouds and mists of man's imagination, and she saw\nJesus.\n\nPreger refers us to the ordinary explanation of Matelda and Beatrice;\nnamely, that like Leah and Rachel in mediaeval theology, they represent\nthe life of action and the life of contemplation.\n\nThis theory as regards Matelda was, as Preger observes, founded on the\nidea that the Countess Matilda of Tuscany was the Matelda of Dante. That\nthe warlike countess was a fair specimen of activity, we cannot doubt;\nbut that it had any resemblance to Christian activity, is more than\ndoubtful. Probably the identity of name was the only foundation of this\nidea.\n\n\"It is true,\" writes Preger, \"that Dante saw these two women prefigured\nin a dream as Leah and Rachel, and that Leah said, referring to her\nsister, 'Her seeing, and me doing, satisfies.' But that therefore doing\nand seeing are the only characteristics of these women is a conclusion to\nwhich Dante did not advance, nor need we do so. They _both_ looked in the\nmirror, but Leah first crowned herself with flowers; and it was after\nhearing the call, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see\nGod,' that this dream presented itself to Dante.\"\n\nMatelda, who corresponds to Leah in the dream, conducts Dante into the\nearthly Paradise, and the place accords with the guide. She was not yet\nin heaven, the working-day was not yet over, but Matelda was rejoicing,\nnot in _her_ work, but in _the work of God_. She was glad that the\nflowers of His garden were her crown of beauty.\n\nSo wrote Matilda the Beguine--\n\n  \"I pluck the flowers for thee;\n  They are thine, beloved, for they are Mine,\n  And thou art one with Me.\"\n\nIt was a place in which the flowers of the earth had never grown, and it\nneeded the washing which makes whiter than snow to fit the soul for that\ngarden of God upon the earth. Therefore the song which came to Dante\nacross the river was the ancient song of the soul that is washed from\nsin: \"Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are\ncovered.\" Virgil never crossed the river.\n\nHowever clouded may have been the faith of mediaeval Christendom, the need\nof Christ was felt. The distinction between a Christian and a heathen was\nacknowledged as one which told upon the eternal destiny of men. By means\nof Christ the Saviour could the Christian man pass on, washed and\nsanctified, into the land beyond the river. A \"land beyond,\" was that\nParadise to men of the world of sense and of earthly knowledge, but\nwithout the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. And\nsinging the song of the forgiven, whilst she made garlands of the\nflowers, Matelda appeared to Dante, separated from him at first by the\nriver of forgetfulness. She drew near to him as one who dances. She spoke\nto him of the nature of the mysterious wind that moved the branches of\nthe trees which grew in the land \"given as the earnest of eternal\npeace\"--the earnest whilst here on earth of heavenly things, of the\nflowers that grew from no earthly seed, and of the river that flows from\nno earthly source, and of the other river which divides the earthly\nParadise from the heavenly, as the river Lethe divided it from all that\nwas before.\n\nAnd we see that Matelda is to Dante the medium of supernatural\nrevelations, just as afterwards, Beatrice.\n\nMatelda, then, in the earthly Paradise appears as the representative of\nthe insight into the heavenly joy whilst still on earth, Beatrice as the\nbeholding of it when the earthly life is past. And this knowledge of the\nheavenly things was to be brought back by him who had seen them whilst\nstill in the body, as the palm-leaves upon the staff of the pilgrim who\nhad been within the boundary of the holy land.\n\nAnd it was Matelda who drew Dante through the river into that land whilst\nstill upon the earth--the land where he should hear the singing, and know\nthe sweetness, and learn more in the Paradise here of the Paradise\nhereafter.\n\nIt was the earnest of the inheritance which was given to him through\nMatelda.\n\nAnd truly this is the message and mission of the Beguine, not as\nMatelda's, to Dante only, but to us also, who can receive the message\nwithout the bewildering counter teaching of the corrupted Church. It is\ntrue the message, more clearly given, is in the Bible we have known so\nlong; and it was through the blessed teaching of that Bible that Matilda\nthe Beguine learnt it. But it is well for us not only to read the\nglorious promises of God, but to meet with those to whom they have been\nfulfilled, the sharers of the like precious faith with us, who now\nbelieve in Jesus. Now, from the holy women of Hellfde have the clouds\npassed away which at times hid from them the brightness of the glory, but\nthe words of love spoken to their hearts by the mouth of their Beloved\nremain to them as an everlasting possession.\n\nAnd are not the same words still spoken day by day to those who have ears\nto hear? And in the midst of this sorrowful world, is there not still a\nblessed company who have entered the same Paradise, and learnt the same\nsongs, taught by the lips of Christ?\n\nIt will not render us less fit for the common earthly life, that we have\nbeen there, in the garden where the Lord God walks, and His own are not\nafraid. In truth, it is only those who have been there who have the\nhealing leaves for the sick and the suffering ones around them. It is\nonly those who see the Son, and believe on Him, who are thus brought back\nto the garden of the Lord, to feed upon the fruit of the tree of life.\nAnd these are they who are again sent forth as His messengers into the\nworld of man's exile.\n\n\"As My Father hath sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them\ninto the world.\"\n\nThus the Lord spake of all who believe on His Name. The message sent long\nago by Matilda the Beguine has been heard again after the silence of\nages, and it is once more a call to the sinful, the sorrowful, and the\nfearful, who have been living in ignorance of the marvellous love which\nis unchanged, and which answers to the great need of our age, as to that\nof the thirteenth century. May God the Holy Ghost open the hearts of many\nto hear and to rejoice.\n\n\n                         Matilda's Last Years.\n\nMatilda was fifty-three years old when, in the year 1265, she took refuge\nin the convent of Hellfde.\n\nGertrude von Hackeborn was not one who would refuse admission to a\npersecuted \"Friend of God.\" Gertrude had now been abbess fourteen years,\nand was in the prime of her life and activity. Mechthild von Hackeborn,\n\"the maiden so marvellously lovable,\" as they said in the convent, was\nthen twenty-five. The little Gertrude, who was to be the brightest star\namongst the sisters of Hellfde, was only nine.\n\nBut during the twelve remaining years of the life of Matilda of Magdeburg\nthere was time enough for some good seed to be sown in the heart of\nGertrude, which should one day spring up and bear much fruit.\n\nSoon after Matilda's entrance into the convent she had a severe and\npainful illness. But she was tended with loving care, and found amongst\nher sisters of Hellfde a happy and peaceful home. She in her turn was\nregarded by them as an honoured teacher, and her influence made itself\nquickly felt.\n\nIt was at Hellfde that she wrote the two remaining books, \"rich,\" says\nPreger, \"in light and instruction.\" When she had finished the sixth book\nshe thought that her task was done. She therefore concluded it with a\nword of farewell--\"This book was begun in love, it shall also end in\nlove; for there is nought so wise, nor so holy, nor so beautiful, nor so\nstrong, nor so perfect as love.\"\n\nBut afterwards Matilda felt herself led to write \"more of that which God\nhad shown her,\" although she had prayed that she might now lay down her\npen and cease from her labours.[10]\n\nIn the last years of her life she was obliged to write by dictation, her\neyes and hands having failed her. The following extracts from the last\ntwo books will show an advance in the knowledge of Him she loved, and for\nwhom she laboured to the last.\n\n\n                        The Labour of the Lord.\n\nThe Lord showed me in a parable that which He has ever done, and will\never do, to fulfil to me the meaning thereof.\n\nI saw a poor man rise up from the ground where he was sitting. He was\ndressed like a workman, in common linen clothing, and he had a crowbar in\nhis hand, which he thrust under a heavy burden that was as large as the\nearth.\n\nI said to him, \"Good man, what is it you are lifting?\"\n\n\"I am going to lift and carry your sorrows,\" said he. \"Try it thyself,\"\nhe said; \"with all thy might, lift and carry.\"\n\nThen did I answer Him, for I knew Him, \"Lord, I am so poor, I have no\nstrength.\"\n\nAnd He answered me, \"So did I teach My disciples. I said, 'Blessed are\nthe poor in spirit.'\"\n\nAnd my soul spake to Him, and I said, \"O Lord, it is Thyself. Turn Thou\nThy face to me that I may know Thee.\"\n\nAnd He answered, \"Learn to know Me inwardly.\"\n\nI said, \"O Lord, if I saw Thee amongst thousands, I could not but know\nThee.\"\n\nAnd then I said further, \"This burden is too heavy for me.\"\n\nAnd He answered me, \"I will lay it so close to Myself, that thou mayest\neasily bear it. Follow Me, and see how I stood before My Father on the\nCross, sustaining all.\"\n\nThen did I ask Him to bless me; and He said, \"I always bless thee. Thy\nsorrow shall turn to a good blessing for thee.\"\n\nAnd I said no more but this, \"O Lord, come Thou thus to the help of all\nwho love to suffer for Thee.\"\n\n\n                    The Prayer of the Longing Heart.\n\nThere was one who for a long while, amidst the mercies of God, and also\nmany sorrows, longed continually that God would release the soul and take\nher to Himself. And the Lord said to her, \"Wait.\" Then did the suffering\none answer, \"Lord, I cannot cease from longing. Oh, how gladly would I be\nwith Thee!\" Then said the Lord--\n\n  \"Before the worlds, O soul, I longed for thee;\n  And still I long, and thou dost long for Me;\n  And when two longings meet, for ever stilled,\n  The cup of love is filled.\"\n\n\n                                Prayers.\n\nGive me, O Lord, and take from me all that Thou willest, and leave me but\nthe desire to pass away to Thee in Thy love, and to Thy love. O well is\nme, and I thank Thee, King of Heaven and Son of God, that whilst I was in\nthe world Thou didst choose me, and call me out of the world. For this\nwill I thank Thee eternally. Thy holy sorrow, all that Thou hast suffered\nfor me, is mine. Therefore all that I suffer I offer up to Thee, though\nhow little is my suffering like to Thine! Keep me always in Thy love,\nthat for ever I may praise Thee, Jesus, my most beloved; and I pray Thee\nto loosen the cords, and let me be for ever with Thee.\n\nO Thou beloved Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Eternal God, one with the Eternal\nFather, think upon me. I thank Thee, Lord, for the grace of Thine\nAtonement, wherewith Thou hast touched the depths of my heart, and\npierced me through with the power of Thy love. But when Thou dost touch\nmy heart with Thine awful, Thy holy tenderness, which flows through soul\nand body, I fear lest I, who am so unworthy of Thee, should be\noverwhelmed with the blessedness of Thy love.\n\nTherefore I turn at times to pray for others more than for myself, and\nwithdraw myself, as it were, from the fulness of the joy, through love to\nThee and Christian faithfulness. For I fear the rising up within my heart\nof the pride which cast down the most glorious of the angels of heaven,\nand the voice of the serpent who deceived Eve with the promise of\nvainglory.\n\nI pray, O my God, that in continual love I may receive and enjoy the\ngifts Thou givest. I ask for the fulness of Thy love, that shame and pain\nand bitterness may be sweet to me, and that I may desire Thy will and not\nmine, and that the fire of my love may burn in me to all eternity.\n\n\n   Of the Good Works of Men, how They Shine by the Work of the Lord.\n\nHow it is that the works of godly men shall shine and glow in the glory\nof heaven, understand from these words.\n\nWherein we were innocent of aught, in this our innocence, the pure\nholiness of God shines and glows.\n\nIn so far that we laboured in good works, the holy working of God shines\nforth.\n\nIn so far as we clave to God with trustful hearts, the tenderness and\nfaithfulness of God shines brightly.\n\nIn so far as we receive our sorrows thankfully, do the sufferings of\nChrist shine forth.\n\nIn so far as we wrought diligently in holy graces, does the holy grace of\nGod shine and glow in manifold brightness to all eternity.\n\nAnd as here we loved, and as here we shed forth the light of a holy life,\nin this does the love of God burn and shine, more and more unto the\nperfect eternal day.\n\nFor all that shone forth from us was the light of the eternal Godhead.\nThe good works we did were given to us through the holy Manhood of the\nSon of God, and we wrought them by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus all\nour works, our love, our sufferings, flow back thither whence they came,\nfrom the Three in One, to His eternal praise.\n\n\n               The Soul that Loveth Speaketh to her Lord.\n\n  If the world were mine and all its store,\n    And were it of crystal gold;\n  Could I reign on its throne for evermore,\n    From the ancient days of old,\n  An empress noble and fair as day,\n    O gladly might it be,\n  That I might cast it all away,\n    Christ, only Christ for me.\n  For Christ my Lord my spirit longs,\n    For Christ, my Saviour dear;\n  The joy and sweetness of my songs,\n    The whilst I wander here.\n  O Lord, my spirit fain would flee\n    From the lonely wilderness to Thee.\n\n\n               Seven Things known to the Longing of Love.\n\n  I bring unto Thy grace a sevenfold praise,\n    Thy wondrous love I bless--\n  I praise, remembering my sinful days,\n    My worthlessness.\n  I praise that I am waiting, Lord, for Thee,\n    When, all my wanderings past,\n  Thyself wilt bear me, and wilt welcome me\n    To home at last.\n  I praise Thee that for Thee I long and pine,\n    For Thee I ever yearn;\n  I praise Thee that such fitful love as mine\n    Thou dost not spurn;\n  I praise Thee for the hour when first I saw\n    The glory of Thy Face,\n  Here dimly, but in fulness evermore,\n    In that high place;\n  I praise Thee for a mystery unnamed,\n    Unuttered here below,\n  Unspeakable in words the lips have framed,\n    Yet passing sweet to know.\n  It is the still, the everlasting tide,\n    The stream of Love Divine,\n  That from the heart of God for evermore\n    Flows into mine.\n  To that deep joy that bindeth heart to heart\n    In one eternal love,\n  A still small stream that flows unseen below,\n    An endless sea above,\n  To that high love, that fathomless delight,\n    No thought of man may reach;\n  And yet behind it is a sevenfold bliss,\n  Most holy of God's holy mysteries,\n    Untold in speech.\n  Faith only hath beheld that secret place,\n    Faith only knows how great, how high, how fair\n  The Temple where the Lord unveils His Face\n    To His beloved there.\n  O how unfading is the pure delight,\n    How full the joy of that exhaustless tide\n  Which flows for ever in its glorious might,\n    So still, so wide;\n  And deep we drink with sweet, eternal thirst,\n  With lips for ever eager as at first,\n    Yet ever satisfied.\n\n\n              Of a Sin that is Worse than all Other Sins.\n\nI have heard men speak of a sin, and I thank God that I have not known\nit, for it seems to me, and it is, more sinful than all other sins, for\nit is the height of unbelief. I grieve over it with body and soul, and\nwith all my five senses, from the depth of my heart, and I thank the\nliving Son of God that into my heart it never came.\n\nThis sin did not have its source in Christian people, but the vile enemy\nof God has by means of it deceived the simple. For, led by him, they\nwould fain be so holy as to enter into the depths of the eternal Godhead,\nand to sound the secret abyss of the eternal sacred Manhood of the Lord.\nIf thus they became blinded with pride, they bring themselves under the\neternal curse. They would attain to a holiness which is reached by\nmocking at the written Word of God, which speaks to us of the Manhood of\nour Lord.\n\nThou poorest of the poor! didst thou indeed know and confess truly the\neternal God, then wouldst thou also confess of necessity the eternal\nManhood that dwelleth in the Godhead, and thou wouldst of necessity\nconfess the Holy Ghost, who enlightens the heart of the Christian, who is\nthe source of all his blessedness and joy, and who teaches the mind of\nman far better than all other teachers, and leads us to confess in\nhumility that which He has taught us to know of the perfection of God.\n\n\n           How Love was seen with her Handmaidens--A Parable.\n\nIn the night I spoke thus to our Lord, \"Lord, I live in a land that is\ncalled Misery; it is this evil world, for all that is in it cannot\ncomfort me, nor give me joy unmixed with sorrow. In this land I have a\nhouse, which is called Painful. It is the house in which my soul lives,\nnamely, my body. This house is old, and small, and dark. In this house I\nhave a bed, which is called Unrest, for all things are a grief to me\nwhich have not to do with God. Near this bed I have a chair, called\nDiscomfort, wherein I hear of sins committed by others in which I had no\npart. Before this chair I have a table, that is called Distress, for I am\ngrieved to find so few spiritual people. On this table lies a clean\ntablecloth, which is called Poverty, that has much good in it, and if it\nwere rightly used it would be dear to those who use it. On this table my\nfood is placed for me; it is called the Bitterness of sin, and Willing\nsuffering. The drink is called 'Scanty Praise,' because, alas! I have far\ntoo few good works to be remembered.\"\n\nAll this I saw as it were dimly in my soul. And then was the true Love of\nGod revealed to me. She stood before me as a noble and royal maiden, of\nstately presence, fair, and with the roses of her youth, and around her\nstood many maidens, who were the graces of the Spirit, and they were come\nto be my handmaidens if I desired to have them as mine, for they were\nwilling to serve me. They wore crowns brighter than shining gold, and\ntheir clothing was of green sendal.\n\nAnd as I beheld her my dark house was lighted up, so that I could see all\nthat was therein, and all that happened there. And I knew the damsel\nwell, for she had often been my dear companion, and her face was familiar\nto me. But as I have written of her oftentimes in this book, I will not\nspeak of her further.\n\nThen said I to her, \"O beloved damsel, that art a thousandfold higher\nthan I am, yet thou dost serve me with honour and reverence, as if I were\ngreater than an empress.\"\n\nAnd she said, \"When I saw that it was thy desire to renounce earthly\nthings I desired to be thy constant handmaiden, for I was seeking those\nwho from the love of God turned away from the things on earth.\"\n\nAnd I said, \"Beloved damsel, so long hast thou served me, I would gladly\ngive thee for thy service all that I have or might have on the earth.\"\n\nShe answered, \"I have gathered up thy gift, and will restore it to thee\nat last with glory and honour.\"\n\nThen said I, \"Lady, I know not what more to give but myself.\"\n\n\"And that,\" she said, \"I have long desired, and now at last thou hast\ngiven me my desire....\"\n\nThe parable proceeds to relate the service of each handmaiden bestowed by\nLove upon the soul, first True Repentance--then the maiden called\nHumility--Gentleness--Obedience, Tenderness (who was to give her help in\ntending the sick, and in making coarse food and hard labour sweet to her\nwho served). Then came the \"beloved damsel\" Purity, then Patience,\nHoliness, Hope, and the \"glorious and holy maiden called Faith.\" Then\nWatchfulness, Moderation, Contentment, \"the dear maiden who made the hard\nbed soft, and the coarse food pleasant.\" Then the mistress of the\nmaidens, Wisdom, and a \"maiden unwillingly praised,\" called Bashfulness.\nAnd lastly came Fear and Constancy.\n\nAnd these all being ready to serve, the soul gave thanks, \"O thou dear\nLove of God, I thank Thee that Thou hast brought to me so many helpers on\nmy way to heaven.\" And the soul saw how all the saints and angels bowed\ndown in the wonderful glory of God, because all they were, and all they\ndid, was a gift of grace from God to them. \"The saints kneel down and bow\nthemselves before God in blessed love, and in joyful longing. They thank\nGod that His grace was ready and waiting to bring them through this\nearthly need, and to bear their sorrows.\"\n\n\n                   Four Things that Belong to Faith.\n\nThat we believe in Christ as God, loving God from the heart, truly\nconfessing Jesus Christ, and faithfully following His teaching even unto\ndeath. I think that in these four things we find eternal life.\n\nBut our faith must be a Christian faith, not the faith of Jews, or of\nunbelieving Christians, who also profess to believe in one God, but who\nbelieve not in the holy works which He has wrought. His work they\ndespise, as we grieve to know. But for us, our belief is that God sent\nHis only-begotten Son into the world, and that it was His Will to do so.\nWe believe in the work and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby He has\nredeemed our souls. We believe in the Holy Ghost, who has perfected our\nblessedness in the Father and in the Son, and who brings forth in us all\nthe works that are pleasing to God.\n\n\n                       From a Friend to a Friend.\n\nGreat and overflowing is the love of God, that never standeth still, but\nfloweth on for ever and without ceasing, with no labour or effort, but\nfreely and fully, so that our little vessel is full and over-full. If we\ndo not stop the channel by our self-will it will never slacken in its\nflowing, but the gift of God will ever make our cup to run over.\n\nLord, Thou art full of grace, and therewith Thou fillest us. But Thou art\ngreat, and we are small, how then can we receive that which Thou givest?\nLord, whilst Thou givest to us, it is for us to give to others. Truly our\nvessel that Thou hast filled is a small one, but a small one can be\nemptied and filled anew, till it has filled a large one.\n\nThe great vessel is full sufficiency of grace, but we, alas! are so\nsmall, that one little word from God, one little verse of the Holy\nScriptures, so fills us, that we can contain no more. Let us then empty\nforth the little vessel into the great vessel, that is, God. How are we\nto do this? We should pour forth that which we have received in holy\nlonging and desire for the salvation of sinners. Then will the little\nvessel be filled again. Let us empty it forth anew on the imperfections\nof the people of God, that they may fight more valiantly, and may become\nperfected in grace. Let us pour it forth in holy pity for the need of the\nChristian Church, that is sunk so deeply in sin.\n\nGod has first loved us, first laboured for us, first suffered for us, let\nus therefore be followers of Him, and restore to Him in the way that I\nhave described that which He gave. Our Lord suffered for us unto death,\nbut a very small suffering of ours seems great to us. But the thoughts of\nGod and those of the loving soul meet together, as the air and the\nsunlight are mingled by the mighty power of God in sweet union, so that\nthe sun overcomes the frost and the darkness, one knows not how. It comes\nall and alone from the sun. So comes our blessedness from the joy of God.\nGod grant us, and preserve to us, this blessedness! Amen.\n\n\n                         Something of Paradise.\n\nIt was shown to me, and in my mind I saw, what manner of place is\nParadise. Of its breadth and length I could see no end. First came I to a\nplace that was between this world and the beginning of Paradise.\n\nThere saw I trees with much shade and fair green grass, but weeds were\nthere none. Some trees bore fruit, but most of them only beautiful and\nsweet smelling leaves. Swift streams of water divided the ground, and\nwarm south winds moved onward towards the north. In the waters were\nmingled earthly sweetness and heavenly delight. The air was sweet and\nsoft beyond all words. Yet were no birds or beasts in that place; for God\nhad prepared it for men only, that they might be there in stillness and\nin peace.... I saw a twofold Paradise. It is of the earthly one that I\nhave spoken. The heavenly Paradise is in the heights above, and shields\nthe earthly from all harm. But of the heavenly Paradise Matilda only says\nthat it is for a time, and that it is the place wherein the souls who\nhave had no purgatory await the Kingdom of the Lord, \"they move in sweet\ndelight, as the air moves in the sunshine,\" and will one day have their\ncrowns of glory, and will reign with Christ.\n\n\n                        The End of the Journey.\n\nIt was evident to Matilda that her end was near. Her age was what would\nbe called old age in the Middle Ages, when life was so much shorter than\nin our time. \"I asked the Lord,\" she said, \"how I should conduct myself\nin these last days of my life. He answered me, 'Thou shouldst do in thy\nlast days as in thy first days. Love and longing, repentance and fear,\nthese four things were the beginning of thy course, and must therefore be\nthe end also.'\n\n\"Then said I, 'Beloved Lord, where, then, are the two things that are the\nfoundation and crown of heavenly blessedness, where are faith and full\nassurance?'\n\n\"Then said our Lord, 'Thy faith becometh knowledge, and thy longing is\nturned into full assurance.' This I understood from the speaking of the\nLord to me, and I know it also in my heart.\n\n\"I am a wonder to myself, and am indeed a wonder. For when I think of\ndeath, my soul rejoices so mightily in the thought of going forth from\nearthly life, that my body is lulled, as it were, in an inexpressible\nsupernatural quietness, soft and sweet, and my mind is awakened to see\nthe unspeakable wonders that attend the going forth of the soul.\nMeanwhile I would desire most to die at the time which God has before\nappointed. Yet at the same time I would willingly live till the last\ngreat day. And my heart longs oftentimes to live in the days of the\nmartyrs, that I might shed my sinful blood in true Christian faith for\nJesus my Beloved.\n\n\"That I dare to say I love God, is a gift of His pure grace. For it is\nwhen my sins and sufferings are before my eyes that my soul begins to\nburn in the fire of the true love of God, and the sweetness is so\nsurpassing, that even my body shares in the Divine blessedness. I write\nthis as it were by compulsion, for I would rather hold my peace, because\nI live in fear and dread of secret tendency to vainglory. Yet I am more\nafraid, when God has been so gracious to me, that I, poor and empty as I\nam, have kept silence too often and too long.\n\n\"From my childhood onwards I was troubled with fear, dread, and constant\nsorrow of heart in thinking of my end. Now in my last days God has given\nme peace. And I have said to Him, 'Lord, it likes me well to think of the\nlight and blessedness of thy heavenly glory, of which I am so unworthy,\nbut I still have a great fear as to how my soul shall pass from my body.'\nAnd the Lord answered, 'It shall be thus--I draw My breath, and the soul\nwill follow on to Me, as the needle to the magnet stone.'\"\n\n\nAnd again she prayed that at that last moment the Lord would come to her,\nas \"the dearest Friend,\" as the \"Confessor,\" as the Father.\n\n  \"O Lord, I pray, when dawneth the last day\n    These weary eyes shall see,\n  Come as a father to his darling child,\n    And take me home to Thee.\"\n\nIn these prayers and longings we find no thought of purgatory. Yet as an\narticle of her creed Matilda believed in it. Nor did any thought of\nsuperior holiness make her overlook it in her own case. But the true\nspiritual instinct of the new nature was stronger than the force of\neducation and of the authority of the Church. How true is it that in\nspiritual matters the head is no match for the heart.\n\nSo in the case of saint-worship--Matilda had never renounced it, yet we\nsee her heart turn instinctively to God, as the needle to the pole.\n\nThe waiting time was one of suffering, but cheered by the love and\ntenderness of the sisters, who delighted to wait upon her.\n\n\"Thus does a beggar woman speak in her prayers to God--Lord, I thank Thee\nthat since in Thy love Thou hast taken from me all earthly riches, Thou\nnow feedest and clothest me by the means of others; for everything which\nI can now call my own, and all that gives joy to my heart, must now come\nto me from strangers.\n\n\"Lord, I thank Thee that since Thou hast taken away the power of sight\nfrom mine eyes, Thou hast appointed other eyes to serve me. Lord, I thank\nThee that since Thou hast taken the strength from my hands, Thou servest\nme with other hands. Lord, I thank Thee that since Thou hast taken away\nthe strength of my heart, Thou servest me now by the hearts of strangers.\nLord, I pray Thee reward them here on earth with Thy divine love, and\ngrant to them to serve Thee faithfully till they reach a blessed end.\"\n\n\n                             The Last Poem.\n\n_Thus speaks the suffering body to the patient soul._\n\n  With the wings of longing when wilt thou fly\n  To the hills of the glorious land on high,\n      To Christ thine eternal love?\n  Thank Him for me, though vile I be,\n  That His grace for me hath a share;\n  That He took our sorrows and felt our need,\n      That we are His love and care.\n  Ask Him, that safe in his tender Hand\n    In sweet rest I may lie,\n  When we part at the bounds of the pilgrim land,\n    Thou, soul and I.\n\n_Then doth the Soul make answer._\n\n  I thank thee that thou on the pilgrim road\n    Hast been my comrade true;\n  Often wert thou a weary load,\n    Yet didst thou bear me through.\n  When the Day shall come that is to dawn\n  Shall all thy sorrows be past and gone;\n  Therefore let us give thanks and praise,\n  For His love who guarded us all our days,\n  And for hope of the joy that is to be,\n  For thee and me.\n\nHow did Matilda die? We know no more. Her death is mentioned in the\n_Mechthild Book_, Matilda von Hackeborn being one of those present at her\ndeath. But, alas! as it often happens in the search for mediaeval facts,\nwe are met instead by a relation of visions and dreams. Matilda von\nHackeborn tells us no more than how she beheld in a vision the departure\nof the soul of her namesake.[11]\n\nThe difficulty is to realise that in these imaginary histories we are\nreading the writings of some who, like Matilda of Hackeborn, had, in\nspite of their visions, real intercourse with God.\n\nThat Matilda of Magdeburg had this true intercourse, based upon the\nwritten Word of God, that she was one of those of whom the Lord Jesus\nsaid, \"I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him,\" there can be no\ndoubt in any Christian mind. It was the time of the conflict of light\nwith darkness, of the prejudices of early education with the experiences\nof communion with the living God. The heart received much that\ncontradicted the nominal belief, and this inconsistency was not remarked\nby the recipient of the truth, because the mind was not called upon to\nact in the matter. It was left in inert subjection to the teaching of the\nChurch.\n\nWhen nearly three hundred years later the mind asserted its rights, and\nthe Reformers gave at length Scriptural proofs of that which the \"Friends\nof God\" had experienced, all might have been well. But, alas! the weight\nwas shifted to the other side, and that which had been a matter of the\nheart became after a while a matter of the reason, to be discussed and\nassented to by those who had no heart in the question. We have to suffer\nfor this in our days. Let us learn not to be contented with proofs in\nblack and white, valuable as they are. We need that communion of heart\nwith God by the power of the Holy Ghost, which needs no proof, and which\nis the only remedy for our lukewarmness, our worldliness, and our\njoylessness.\n\n\n                           The Nun Gertrude.\n\nIt is of interest to trace in the convent of Hellfde the results of the\nwork and the teaching of the Abbess Gertrude and of the Beguine Matilda.\nIt was not in vain that the abbess had given to the Scriptures such a\nplace of honour, and had so diligently studied them, and insisted upon\ntheir study. Nor was it in vain that Matilda of Magdeburg had spoken and\nwritten of the free grace of God, and of the love of Christ that passeth\nknowledge.\n\nThis teaching was the beginning of a stream of life and light, which\nbecame deeper and wider as it flowed along. And we find in the next book\nwritten in the convent a clearer and fuller confession of the truth. This\nbook, written in part by the Nun Gertrude, in part by an unnamed sister,\nconsists of five separate books, together called _Insinuationes divinae\npietatis_. Of four of these books little can be said, except that they\nconsist chiefly of the visions and revelations of the authoress, and\naccounts of visions seen by the Nun Gertrude. It is in the second of the\nfive books, the only one written by Gertrude herself, that we find that\nwhich repays the trouble of sifting the true from the false, and the gems\nof marvellous lustre from the dust-heaps in which they lie buried.\n\nA translation of some of the most remarkable passages in this second book\nhas already been given, as mentioned above, in the book, \"Trees Planted\nby the River.\" But a few more short extracts will perhaps add to the\nproof of Gertrude's clear and simple trust in Christ, as revealed in the\nGospel.\n\n\"When I consider,\" she writes, \"the character of my life from the\nbeginning and onwards I have to confess in truth it is a history of\nnothing but grace, grace without the smallest deserving on the part of\none so unworthy as I am. For Thou didst of Thy free grace bestow upon me\nclearer light in the knowledge of Thyself, and Thou didst lead me on by\nthe alluring sweetness of Thy love and kindness. I was more attracted by\nThy love, than I could have been driven by the punishment which, on the\npart of Thy holy justice, was due to me.\"\n\n\"The great power and sound strength of Gertrude's mind,\" writes Preger,\n\"could not allow her to satisfy herself with the visions in which she had\na share. She sought a firmer foothold for her new life, a source which\nshould lastingly and invariably satisfy her inmost being. And with the\nwhole energy of the mind, which had formerly been absorbed in secular\nlearning, she gave herself to the study of the Holy Scriptures, and of\nsuch commentaries as she could find to explain them, amongst others those\nof Augustine and Bernard.\n\n\"How deeply she felt the value of the treasures laid up for her in the\nScriptures, we learn from the joyful inspiration which filled her soul\nwhen reading them. 'She could not,' writes the unnamed nun, 'drink in\nenough each day of the wonderful sweetness she found in meditating on the\nWord of God, and in searching for the hidden light which she found in it.\nIt was sweeter to her than honey, and more lovely than the sound of the\norgan, and consequently it seemed as though her heart was filled with an\nalmost unceasing joy.'\n\n\"'She copied out from the Scriptures and from commentators whole books of\nextracts, which she wrote for the convent sisters; and was often employed\nfrom early in the morning till late at night in endeavouring to write\nexplanations of difficult passages, so as to render them more\nintelligible to her sisters. For it was a part of her nature to lead on\nothers in the same path, and to work for those around her, so as to\nexercise a wholesome influence, forming them and helping them.\n\n\"'She also provided other convents which had few books with extracts from\nthe Bible. Thus the Scriptures were the Alpha and Omega of her thoughts.\nAll her reflections, warnings, and consolations had a Bible passage as\ntheir source. It was astonishing, her friend said, how invariably the\nright word from the Scriptures was ready to hand in each case; and\nwhether she reproved or counselled, she made use of the witness of Holy\nScripture as that which no one might dare to gainsay.\n\n\"'This universal tendency of her mind to draw others into the enjoyment\nof that which she possessed, and to work for this end, explains how\ninstantly and willingly she would tear herself away from silent\ncontemplation, to use any occasion that presented itself for active work\nfor others. To return to contemplation again was then easy for her.'\n\n\"We perceive from this remark the breadth, and at the same time the\nstrength, of her mind, as well as the harmony of her inner and outer\nlife. This is not contradicted by the fact that her friend mentions as\nher chief fault a certain impatience and vehemence, for which she often\nblamed herself. It arose from her strong impulse to work for others.\"\n\nPreger further remarks: \"It was in the ninth year after her conversion,\n1289 and 1290, that she wrote that remarkable book which forms the second\nof the five books of the _Insinuationes_. It consists of confessions in\nforcible language, from the heights of the strongest feeling and the\nclearest perception. At the same time, the great gifts with which she was\nendowed shine the more brightly from their accompaniment of the most\ntouching humility. This book, together with her 'Practices of Piety,' a\nbook of prayers, belong to the most beautiful products of mystical\nliterature.\n\n\"In her case, a progress from legal bondage to ever-increasing liberty of\nspirit is clearly marked. When once her new spiritual life had had its\nbeginning in evangelical faith, it followed from the strength and\nwholesome soundness of her mind, that the unfolding of this spiritual\nfreedom should proceed in spite of the opposition of religious tradition,\nand should prove victorious. It is of the greatest interest to trace this\nprogress as far as we have the means of doing so.\"\n\nThis onward path from asceticism, self-chastisement, and bitter sorrow\nover the fallen Church, to calm and happy communion with Christ, was\nremarked by others, and the passage from bondage to liberty was a cause\nof joyful thanksgiving to herself.\n\n\"At all times,\" writes her anonymous friend, \"she rejoiced in such\nassured confidence, that neither calamity, nor loss, nor any other\nhindrance, nay, not even her sins or shortcomings, could overcloud it;\nfor she had always the full and firm assurance of the rich grace and\nmercy of God. If she felt herself stained by daily sins, it was her\ncustom to take refuge at the feet of Christ, to be washed in His Blood\nfrom all spot and stain.\"\n\nIt will be remarked that Gertrude had not yet fully apprehended the great\ntruth that the worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sin, that\n\"by one offering Christ hath perfected for ever them that are\nsanctified,\" and that for this reason there is no repetition of\nsacrifice. For \"without _shedding_ of Blood is no remission,\" and the\nBlood of expiation once shed, can be shed no more for ever.\n\nBut it may be that Gertrude, like many now, confused the recalling of\nthat blood-shedding which put away sin, a recalling which gives comfort\nwhen we feel that we have sinned afresh, with the actual cleansing, once\nand for ever, in the precious Blood of Christ--the actual cleansing never\nto be repeated, but the comfort and peace founded upon it a constant\nexperience, which the heart may rejoice in on every fresh occasion of the\nconfession of sin.\n\n\"When she felt,\" continues her friend, \"the marvellous power of the grace\nof God, she did not betake herself to penances, but, committing herself\nfreely to the drawing of that grace, she yielded herself as an instrument\nfor loving service, free to receive all that God gave, and to be used by\nHim for His work.\"\n\nIt is further remarked that she looked upon God's gift of grace in His\nSon as so immeasurable and marvellous, that all human endeavour and\ndoings vanished to a point when compared with it, and were not worth\nmentioning.\n\nAnd with regard to her own assurance of faith, she saw that also was a\ngift of God's free grace bestowed on her in spite of her undeservings. It\nwould seem as if this strong faith and sense of God's unutterable love,\nhad led her entirely beyond the land of bondage in which her\nfellow-Christians were living. She was as a child at liberty in the\nFather's home.\n\nOn one occasion when taking a walk, she fell down a steep place, and\ngetting up unhurt, she said, \"O my beloved Jesus, how well it had been\nfor me had that fall brought me quickly home to Thee!\" And when the\nsisters who were with her said in wonderment, \"Would you not be afraid to\ndie without the sacrament?\" she answered, \"I would desire the sacrament\nif I were dying, but far, far more do I desire the will of my God and His\nappointment for me. That is the best preparation for death; for however I\ndie, my hope is in the mercy that will never fail me. Without that I\nshould be lost, whether I died suddenly, or with a sure knowledge\nbeforehand that the time was come.\"\n\nFor she no longer regarded herself as apart from Christ, but as in Him,\nand as one in whom He dwelt, and therefore looked upon herself as\nbelonging to Him, and, consequently, instead of mortifying her body, she\nlooked upon taking food or rest as something done for the Lord.\n\n\"Not,\" says Preger, \"that in regard to others she had fully cast aside\nthe prevailing belief in the merit of works, but in her own case she saw\nbut her own sin and God's free grace. And with regard to the works of\nothers, she considered no value attached to them if they were done with a\nview to reward. Those good works, she said, which people do from habit,\nhave a black mark set against them; those done for Christ's sake, and by\nHis power, a red mark. But the red mark has a black mark across it, if\nthere is any thought of gaining merit by those works. They have a golden\nmark when they are done simply for His honour, with no other aim in\nview.\"\n\nIt should be remarked also that Gertrude entertained strong misgivings\nwith regard to the common practices of exciting devotion by appeals to\nthe senses. The erection of mangers at Christmas, and the representations\nin pictures and images of the sufferings and the death of Christ,\nappeared to her useless and dangerous. She feared that true personal\nintercourse with God in the Spirit and in truth, would be hindered by\nthese means.\n\nNor did she share the devotion of her contemporaries to relics of any\nsort. \"The Lord has shown me,\" she said, \"that the most worthy relics\nwhich remain of Him are His Words.\"\n\n\"In such a soul,\" writes Preger, \"in which Christ was so entirely the\ncentral point, it was natural that Mary should recede into the\nbackground. It is true that the spirit of the age was not wanting in the\ninfluence brought to bear upon her, and the cult of Mary does not\ndisappear, therefore, from the pages of her book. But she tells us that\nshe was filled with bitter grief when, on one of the festivals of the\nVirgin, she heard a sermon which contained nothing but the praises of\nMary, and of the value of the Incarnation of the Lord not a word. After\nthis sermon, as she passed by the altar of the Virgin, she could not feel\nin her heart the sweet devotion to her which she had sometimes known. She\nwas roused into a sort of displeasure with Mary herself, because she\nseemed to her to stand in the way of her Beloved.\"\n\nIt is a painful example of the arguing of an enlightened conscience with\na conscience shackled and enslaved by superstition. She imagined the Lord\nwould have her salute His Mother, and her heart answered \"Never.\" And at\nlast she resolved the difficulty by the belief that in doing that which\nshe was unwilling to do, rather than that which would have satisfied her\nheart, she was pleasing the Lord Himself.\n\nIt is useful for us to follow these conflicts of a heart devoted to\nChrist, with the awful power of generally accepted evil teaching. The\nspirit of the age is not at any time the Spirit of God. How much power\ndoes the spirit of unbelief, of lukewarmness, of corrupted Christianity,\nexercise upon us?\n\nIt matters little that the errors are of a different order. If Mary stood\nin the way of Christ in the days of Gertrude, is there nothing that\namongst \"enlightened Protestants\" stands now between the soul and the\nSaviour? Is there nothing believed and taught amongst us which blinds the\neyes of lost and helpless sinners to their need of a Saviour? nothing\nwhich blinds the guilty to their need of the Atoning Blood? nothing which\nturns the eyes from Christ, the Coming One, to look for a millennium, not\nof His Presence, but rather a time when grapes grow on thorns, and figs\non thistles?\n\nTo return to Gertrude, groping her way from the dim twilight around her\nto the glorious Gospel day. She was once told that there was to be an\nindulgence of many years proclaimed to those who were willing to\nsacrifice their riches to buy it. For a moment Gertrude wished she had\n\"many pounds of gold and silver.\" But the Lord spoke to her heart and\nsaid, \"Hearken! By virtue of My authority receive thou perfect and full\nforgiveness of all thy sins and shortcomings.\" And she saw at that moment\nthat her soul in the eyes of God was whiter than snow.\n\nWhen, some days later, this confidence still filled her with joy, she\nbegan to fear lest she had deceived herself. \"For,\" she thought, \"if the\nLord really gave me that white raiment, surely I must have stained it\nmany times since then by my many faults.\" But the Lord comforted her,\nsaying, \"Is it not true that I always retain in My hand a greater power\nthan I bestow upon My creatures? Hast thou not seen how the sun by the\npower of its heat draws out the spots and stains from the white linen\nthat it bleaches, and makes it whiter than it was before? How much more\ncan I, the Creator of the sun, keep in stainless whiteness the soul upon\nwhom I have had mercy, pouring forth upon it the warmth of my burning\nlove?\"\n\nHere, again, we see that Gertrude arrived at the right sense of perfect\nforgiveness, though it was rather the Love of Christ than His\nbloodshedding which gave her this assurance. She no doubt had an\nunclouded belief in the expiation made by His blood, as we see from other\npassages in her book. But in resting her assurance on His love, if that\nwere (as happily it was not) the whole ground of her confidence, she\nwould have failed in the possession of unchanging peace. She would have\nrejoiced at the moments when she realised His great love, and have feared\nand trembled when the sense of it was overclouded by sin and infirmity.\nThe Christian taught of God looks back to see how Christ once bore his\nsins in His own body on the cross, and looks up to see Christ in glory as\nthe proof that those sins are for ever put away. He rests upon these\nunchangeable facts--all _the more_, therefore, realising the marvellous\nlove of the Divine Saviour who died for him, and rose again for his\njustification.\n\nGertrude did seek and find this solid foundation. \"The longing for\ncertainty,\" writes Preger, \"characterises her inner life. Her powerful\nmind could only be satisfied in the firm grasping of evident truth. This\nled her to feel the necessity of immediate intercourse with God.\" And\nwhen she had the assurance of knowing the will of God, she acted,\ntherefore, with an extraordinary decision and promptness. The sisters\nwere astonished at the suddenness of her determinations, and the speed\nwith which she carried them out. They suspected at first that she was\nself-willed, but they came afterwards to the conclusion that she was\ncarrying out the will of God.\n\nIn the last years of her life her longing to depart and to be with Christ\nbecame so intense, that she fought against it as a mark of an impatient\nspirit. \"But,\" says Preger, \"to what clearness and assurance of Divine\ntruth she had been led, we see from the joyful confidence with which she\nlooked forward to death and judgment.\" In the last chapters of her book\nof prayers, before mentioned, we find a passage with which it is well to\nconclude the history of her spiritual life.\n\n\"O Truth, Thou hast for Thine inseparable companions Justice and Equity.\nIn number, measure, and weight Thy judgment stands firm. That which Thou\nweighest, Thou weighest in a perfect balance. Woe is me, a thousandfold\nwoe, if I fall into Thine hands and there should be found no substitute\nto take my place.\n\n\"O Love Divine, Thou wilt provide the substitute. Thou wilt answer for\nme. Thou wilt undertake my cause, that I may live because of Thee.\n\n\"I know what I will do. I will take the cup of salvation. The Cup, which\nis Jesus, I will place in the empty scale. Thus--thus all my deficiency\nwill be made up, all my sin covered, all my ruin restored, and all my\nimperfection will become more than perfect.\n\n\"Lord, at this hour (six o'clock) Thy Son Jesus was brought to judgment.\nThou didst lay upon Him the sin of the whole world, upon Him who was\nsinless, but who was called to render account for my sin and my guilt.\nYea, O my God, I receive Him from Thine hand as my companion in the\njudgment; I receive Him, the Most Innocent, the Most Beloved, Him who was\ncondemned and slain for love to me, and now Thy gift, O my loving God, to\nme.\n\n\"O blessed Truth, to come before Thee without my Jesus would be my fear\nand terror, but to come with Him is joy and gladness. O Truth, now mayest\nThou sit down on the judgment-seat and bring against me what Thou wilt. I\nfear nothing. I know--I know that Thy glorious face will have no terror\nfor me, for He is with me, who is all my hope and all my assurance. I\nwould ask, how canst Thou now condemn me when I have my Jesus as mine,\nthat dearest, that truest Saviour, who has borne all my sin and misery\nthat He might win for me eternal pardon.\n\n\"My beloved Jesus, blessed Pledge of my redemption, Thou wilt appear\nbefore the judgment-seat for me. By Thy side do I stand there. Thou the\nJudge, and Thou the Substitute also. Then wilt Thou recount what Thou\ndidst become for love of me, how tenderly Thou hast loved me, how dearly\nThou hast bought me, that I through Thee might be righteous before God.\n\n\"Thou hast betrothed me to Thyself; how could I be lost? Thou hast borne\nmy sins. Thou hast died, that to all eternity I might never die. All that\nis Thine Thou hast freely given me, that I through Thy deserving might be\nrich. Even so, in the hour of death, I shall be judged according to that\ninnocence, according to that purity, which Thou hast freely given me,\nwhen Thou didst pay the whole debt for me by giving Thyself. Thou wert\njudged and condemned for my sake, that I, poor and helpless as I am,\nmight be more than rich in all the wealth that is Thine, and mine through\nThee.\"\n\n\n                    The Voice that for ever Speaks.\n\nThus to the ear that listens for the One beloved Voice, come from those\nold times the familiar tones, the household words of the family of God.\nThese souls, so misled, so darkened by the mists of evil teaching, yet by\nthe power of the Holy Ghost saw the Son and believed on Him, and had\neverlasting life. His sheep followed Him, for they knew His voice, and\ntheir souls were filled with love and praise.\n\nDid they not often mistake for His voice the imaginations of their own\nhearts? Yes, often they did so, and perhaps we do it less often, because\nless often do we listen for His voice. He speaks and we are deaf, and we\ngo on our way expecting no word from His lips, and therefore there is\nnothing which we suppose to be that Voice, and our delusions are\naltogether of another nature.\n\nOur delusion in these days is that there is no immediate, daily, hourly\ncommunication between the soul and God. We do not mistake by regarding\nfalse coin as true; our mistake is that the true coin has ceased to exist\nsince the days when John and Paul spoke to the Lord and He answered them,\nand the Holy Spirit spoke, and they listened.\n\nYet still as of old there are those whose eyes have been anointed with\neye-salve and they see Him, and their ears unstopped and they hear Him,\nand they can bear witness to the truth that the Comforter abides with us\nfor ever, and takes still of the things of Jesus and shows them unto us;\nand these can recognise in the old histories of the saints of God the\nsame voice and the same teaching, and can trace it back to the written\nWord, to which it answers as the stamp to the seal.\n\nIt is well for us also to bear in mind the delusions, and, to us,\ninconceivable errors which were mistaken in past ages for the voice of\nGod. That the chief work of Satan has been from the beginning to\ncounterfeit the work of God, we know from revelation. Nor have we to be\non our guard against Satanic power alone. The tremendous force of early\neducation, of the general opinion of the world around us, do not act less\npowerfully upon us than upon those in former days.\n\nIt is true that the course of this age is \"according to the prince of the\npower of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of\ndisobedience.\" The course of each age since Adam sinned has been thus\nshaped. But mere natural tendency to receive what we call truths, without\ntaking the trouble to think, and to form opinions, as well as courses of\naction, by habit simply and only, can lead us far enough astray without\nany other misleading force.\n\nThe convent of Hellfde is a remarkable proof of the power of Satan, and\nof the distortion of our nature, acting upon those who were true-hearted\nbelievers in the Lord Jesus Christ, true children of God, and truly\ntaught by Him in the midst of many delusions. Had they applied the test\nof Holy Scripture to all which they believed to be the voice of God, a\nvery small part of it would have stood the test, in the case of the\nsister, for example, who wrote four of the five parts of the _Gertrude\nBook_. The remarkable difference of the second book written by Gertrude\nherself from the four others, remains as a proof of the fact that the\n\"entrance of the Lord's Word giveth light and understanding to the\nsimple.\"\n\nBut in the case of communications regarded as the voice of God, and _not_\nstanding in opposition to His Word, must not a further distinction be\nmade? Even then the mind may possibly be exercised in simply recalling\npassages of Scripture, and may be influenced by them as in the case of\nordinary writings. Is there nothing more than this which is meant by the\nstatements of the Lord Jesus Christ when speaking of the intercourse\nbetween the soul and Himself?\n\n\"Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My\nword.\" There is, then, a hearing of which the unbelieving man is\nincapable. \"He that is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them\nnot, because ye are not of God.\" Thus there are those who \"hear indeed\nand understand not, and see indeed but perceive not.\" On the other hand,\nthere are the sheep of Christ, \"who follow Him, for they know His voice.\"\n\"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.\"\n\nHow, then, was it that the true sheep of Christ in the convent of Hellfde\nfollowed at times the voice of strangers, and mistook it for His own?[12]\nShould we therefore conclude that _all_ they received as His was but the\nworking of their own minds, or a snare of the evil one?\n\nIf so, the Lord Himself is no longer the Truth. He has solemnly declared\nto us, that for ever He would hold intercourse with His saints by the\npower of the Holy Ghost. He has given us the plain assurance, \"Lo, I am\nwith you always, even unto the end of the world (the age).\" The saints of\nall ages have claimed these promises, and have found them true.\n\nBut the world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth, because it seeth Him\nnot, neither knoweth Him. Nevertheless \"_Ye_ know Him, for He dwelleth\nwith you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will\ncome to you. Yet a little while _the world_ seeth Me no more; but ye see\nMe: because I live ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I\nam in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.\" And again, \"He that loveth\nMe shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest\nMyself to him.\"\n\nThus in spite of delusions caused by the false teaching of the corrupted\nChurch, in spite of the hallucinations caused by unnatural bodily\nconditions, the Lord was true to His word, and made to His servants that\nrevelation of His love that passeth knowledge, which marks their\ntestimony.\n\nAnd because it passeth knowledge, and all that it is possible for the\nheart of man to conceive, we recognise it as His revelation to the soul.\nThe God of Catholicism was a Judge, awful and terrible. Even the thought\nthat the righteous anger of the Father needed to be appeased by the\nmerciful intervention of the Son, gave place in time to the thought that\nthe Son also was but a righteous Judge, in whom was justice without\nmercy. Therefore it was necessary that His mother should be the hope and\nrefuge of sinners, and that her intercession should incline His heart to\npity. And there followed in due time a host of other mediators between\nGod and man, to whom the sinful and the suffering should turn rather than\nto the great and dreadful God.\n\nAnd it was in the face of this teaching that those who knew His voice had\nthe absolute assurance of His immeasurable and unspeakable love. They\npassed, as it were, through the host of mediators and intercessors to\ncast themselves at His feet, and to wash them with their tears, and\nanoint them with the love which the Holy Spirit of God had shed abroad in\ntheir hearts.\n\nNor had they, as some Protestants in our days, the strange delusion that\nthere is a something called \"religion\" to which, if they turn in their\nlast days, they may perhaps be fit for heaven. They knew, and we know, if\nwe will look into our hearts, that this is not the answer to our need.\n\nCan \"religion\" love us? We need love. We need a living heart who can love\nus with a love utterly unchangeable and eternal. And we find it in Him\nwhose name is Love; in Him who is absolutely just, but who is also the\njustifier of him that believeth in Jesus. \"The Just God and the\nSaviour\"--well may it be added, \"there is none besides Me.\" No God has\never been invented by the thoughts of man who can be at once the Just One\nand the Saviour, in whom \"Mercy and Truth are met together, in whom\nRighteousness and Peace have kissed each other.\"\n\nWe find this revelation of Himself all through the ages, and it is thus\nthat He is now revealed to every soul whose eyes have been opened to see\nHim, whose ears have been unstopped to hear that marvellous Voice, which\nis as clear and distinct to the soul now, as will be the shout, and the\nvoice of the Archangel, and the trumpet of God in the day that is to be.\n\nIs it not by the teaching of God Himself, through His Word and Spirit,\nthat we find the solid path upon which to walk, day by day, in all\ncircumstances of our ordinary life? He thus becomes wisdom to the\nfoolish, and strength to the weak. He directs the path of those who in\nall their ways acknowledge Him. We find a safer guide than our own\nunderstanding, than the \"common-sense\" of the natural heart, which may\nmislead, and will mislead, those who have no better teacher, as dreams\nand visions misled the true-hearted servants of God in former days.\n\nThe guidance and teaching of Him who is the Wisdom of God, and who hears\nand answers the prayers of those who seek Him, will assuredly not lead us\nto commit acts of folly; but the common-sense will be more fully\nexercised, because all existing facts will then be taken into account.\n\nThe greatest and most universal failure in common-sense must be the\nleaving out of God in all our thoughts; and therefore is it written of\nthe natural man, not only \"there is none that doeth good, no not one,\"\nbut also, \"there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh\nafter God.\"\n\n\n[1]Described in her own words in \"Trees Planted by the River\" (Nisbet).\n\n[2]This pope was Gregory X.\n\n[3]The Latin translation of Matilda's book appears to have been published\n   very early, as it does not contain the seventh book, probably,\n   therefore, considerably earlier than the year 1300. We know that the\n   6th and 7th Cantos of the _Purgatorio_ were written between 1308 and\n   1313; the 24th Canto after the year 1314. If Dante passed through\n   Cologne in his wanderings, as appears probable from his reference to\n   Cologne in the _Inferno_, xxiii. 63, he may there have seen the book.\n   It was, however, no doubt widely circulated before the end of the\n   thirteenth century. The supposition that Matilda of Hackeborn was the\n   origin of Dante's Matilda is disproved by the later date of the\n   _Mechthilden Buch_, which could scarcely have been published before\n   the year 1310.\n\n[4]In his lecture on Dante's Matilda, delivered at a later period, Preger\n   raises the question whether the book of the Beguine is of such a\n   nature as to have attracted in so considerable a measure the\n   appreciation of a Dante. \"I must here only repeat,\" he says, \"that\n   which I have formerly written with regard to the spirit and poetical\n   power of this work, as it appears in Morel's edition. I think I may\n   say that amongst all the known works of this nature up to the end of\n   the thirteenth century, there is none that attains to the importance\n   of this work. Only the second part of the book of the Nun Gertrude,\n   written by herself, can be placed in any point of view in comparison\n   with it. It is evident that the Beguine Matilda was of sufficient\n   significance to make an impression on Dante, and to be used by him as\n   a type of that form of contemplation which I have described under the\n   name of practical mysticism.\"\n\n[5]The contents of the seven books may be thus summarised:--\n\n   1. Disconnected passages--visions, or parables related as visions.\n\n   2. Disconnected parables, visions, and prophecies. With regard to one\n     of these visions Matilda remarks, \"That this so happened is not to\n     be understood literally, but spiritually; it was that which the soul\n     saw, and recognised, and rejoiced in. The words sound human, but the\n     natural mind can but partly receive that which the higher sense of\n     the soul perceives of spiritual things.\"\n\n   Commendations of the preaching friars of the order of S. Dominic.\n\n   References to passing events and contemporary persons, or persons\n     lately departed.\n\n   3. Refers chiefly to ecclesiastical matters. Contains prophecies of\n     the last days, of the Antichrist, of the return of Enoch and Elijah.\n     In these prophecies occur passages reproduced in the _Divine\n     Commedia_.\n\n   4. The book of love, between God and the soul.\n\n   5. Practical.\n\n   6. Descriptions of hell (the City of Eternal Hate) and Purgatory, with\n     which the _Divine Commedia_ may be compared.\n\n   Preparation for death.\n\n   7. Various and disconnected. References to contemporary persons and\n     events.\n\n[6]Author of the \"Psalter of the Blessed Virgin.\"\n\n[7]See _Purgatoria_, Canto xxxi. 129.\n\n    \"My soul was tasting of the food that while\n      It satisfies us, makes us hunger for it.\"\n\n[8]See Isaiah lx. 19, 20, as explaining this thought: \"The sun shall be\n   no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give\n   light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light,\n   and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall\n   thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting\n   light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.\"\n\n[9]In which the Church, the Body of Christ, is spoken of as existing not\n   only before His death and resurrection, but before He became\n   Incarnate.\n\n[10]\"Why did I thus pray?\" she writes. \"Because I find that I am still\n   just as despicable and unworthy as I was thirty years ago when I began\n   to write. But the Lord showed me that He had healing roots stored, as\n   it were, in a little sack, and with them should the sick be refreshed,\n   and the healthy strengthened, and the dead raised, and the godly\n   sanctified.\"\n\n[11]Matilda the Beguine's own words relating to the death of a friend may\n   better describe her own--\n\n    \"He laid him down upon the breast of God\n      In measureless delight,\n    Enfolded in the tenderness untold,\n      The sweetness infinite.\"\n\n   The account given by Matilda of Hackeborn is but an evidence of the\n   unreal state of those who were for ever craving for some fresh\n   revelations to supplement the Word of God; who unconsciously to\n   themselves were walking, so far, by sight, and not by faith, and by\n   the sight, moreover, of a disordered body.\n\n[12]In general no doubt their delusions arose from the fact that the\n   falsehood presented itself in the form of authorised teaching. They\n   were not on their guard against those whom they had learnt from their\n   cradles to reverence--who represented to them the Apostles of Christ.\n   And these delusions, acting upon over-strained and ill-taught minds\n   and half-starved bodies, kept up a state of mental disease, in which\n   clear and reasonable thought was at times obliterated. It was a\n   spiritual alcohol or opium that was constantly measured out by the\n   accredited teachers of the Church.\n\n\n                                THE END.\n\n                 _Printed by_ Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.\n                         _Edinburgh and London_\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber's Notes\n\n\n--Silently corrected a handful of typos: mostly missing quotation marks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Matelda and the cloister of Hellfde : $b extracts from the Book of Matilda of Magdeburg","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":34367}