{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/eckhart/00-sermons-and-collations.json" }, "work": { "slug": "eckhart", "name": "Meister Eckhart" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 1, "slug": "00-sermons-and-collations", "title": "Sermons and Collations", "of": 4, "words": 135459, "text": "## Sermons and Collations\n\n\nSomeone compltiinotl to Meister Eckhart that no ono\ncould understand his sermons. Tie said, To iindorstand\nmy sermons a man requires three things. Ho must have\nconquered strife and bo in contemplation of his highest\ngood and bo satisfied to do God's bidding and be a\nbeginner with beginners and naught hitnsolf and be so\nmaster of hiinsclf as to bo incapable of anger.\n\nCod. Monac. Qerm.y 3G5, Eol. 1926.\n\nI\n\nTHIS IS MEISTER ECKIIAllT\nFROM WHOM GOD NOTPIING HID\n\nDum medium silentium tenerent omnia et nox in suo cursu\nmedium Her haheret etc. {Sap. 18, 4). ' For wliilc all things were in\n\nquiet silenee and the night was in the midst of her (bourse, etc.'\nHere in time we make holiday because the eternal birth which God\nthe Father bore and bears unceasingly in eternity is now born in\ntime, in human nature. St Augustine says this birth is always\nhappening. Hut if it happen not in me what does it profit me ?\nWhat matters is that it shall happen in me.\n\n^Ve intend therefore to speak of this birth as taking place in us :\nas [)eing eonsum mated in tht' \\ irtuous soul : for it is in the ])erfect\nsoul that God speaks his Word. What I shall say is true only of\nthe [)erfceted man, of him who has walked and is still walking in\nthe way of God : not ot the natural undisciplined man who is\nentirely remote from and unconscious of this birth.\n\nThere is a saying of the wise man : ' When all things Jay in\nthe midst of silence then leapt there down into me from on high,\nfrom the royal throne, a secret word.' This sermon is about\nthis word.\n\nConcerning it three things arc to be noted. The first is, where-\nabouts in the soul God the Father speaks his Word, wliere she is\nreceptive of this act, where this birth befalls. It is bound to\nbe in the purest, loftiest, subtlest part of the soul. Verily, an\nGod tlic Father in liis omnipotence had endowed tlie soul with a\nstill nobler nature, had she receiva'd from him anything yet more\nexalted, then must the Fatlier have delayed this birth for the\npresence of this greater excellence, 'fhe soul in which this birth\nshall come to pass must be absolutely pure and must live in gentle\nfashion, quite peaceful and wholly introverted : not running out\nthrough the five senses into the manifoldness of creatures, but\naltogether within and harmonised in her summit. That is its\nplace. Anything inferior is disdained by it.\n\nThe second part of this discourse has to do with man's conduct\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nin relation to this act, this interior speaking, this birth : whether\nit is more profitable to co-opcrate in it -perhaps by creating in\nthe mind an imaginary image and disciplining oneself thereon by\nreflecting that God is wise, omnipotent, eternal, or whatever else\none is able to excogitate about God — so that the birth may come\nto pass in us through our own exertion and merit ; or whether it\nis more profitable and conducive to this birth from the Father to\nshun all thoughts, words and deeds as well as all mental images\nand empty oneself, maintaining a wholly God-receptive attitude,\nsuch that one's own self is idle letting God work. Which conduct\nsubserves this birth best ?\n\nThe third point is the profit and how great it is, which accrues\nfrom this birth.\n\nNote in the first jilaee that in what I am about to say I intend\nto avail myself of natural proofs that ye yourselves can grasp, for\nthough I put more faith in the scriptures than myself, nevertheless\nit is easier and better for you to learn by means of arguments\nthat can be vc^rified.\n\nFirst we will take the words : ' In the midst of the silence there\nwas spoken in me a secret word.'\n\n— 13ut, Sir, where is the silence and where the place in which\nthe word is spoken ?\n\nAs I said just now, it is in the purest part of the soul, in the\nnoblest, in her ground, aye in t he very essence of the soul. That is\nmid-silenee for thereinto no creature did ever get, nor any image,\nnor has the soul there either activity or understanding, therefore she\nis not aware of any image cither of herself or any creature. What-\never the soul effects she effects with her powers. When she under-\nstands she understands with her intellect. When she remembers\nshe does so with her memory. When she loves she does so with her\nwill. She works then with her powers and not with her essence.\nNow every exterior act is linked with some means. The power of\nseeing is brought into play only through the eyes ; elsewhere she\ncan neither do nor liestow such a thing as seeing. And so with\nall the other senses : their operations arc always effected through\nsome means or other, lint there is no activity in the essence of\nthe soul ; the faculties she works with cTuanatc from the ground of\nthe essence but in her actual ground there is mid-stillness ; here\nalone is rest and a habitation for this birth, this act, wherein God\nthe Father speaks his Word, for it is intrinsically receptive of\nnaught save the divine ess:*nce, without means. Here God enters\nthe soul with his all, not merely with a part. God enters the\nground of the soul. None can touch the ground of the soul but\nGod only. No creature is admitted into her ground, it must stop\noutside in her powers. There it sees the image whereby it has been\n\ndrawn in and found shelter. For when the soul-powers contact\na creature they set to to make of the creature an image and likeness\nwhich they absorb. By it they know the creature. Creatures\ncannot go into the soul, nor can the soul know anything about a\ncreature which she has not willingly taken the image of into herself.\nShe approaches creatures through their present images ; an image\nbeing a thing that the soul creates with her powers. Be it a stone,\na rose, a man, or anything else that she wants to know about, she\ngets out the image of it which she has already taken in and is\nthus enabled to unite herself with it. But an image rceeiv^cd in\nthis way must of necessity enter from without through the senses.\nConsequently there is nothing so unknown to the soul as herself.\nThe soul, says a philosoplier, can neither create nor absorb an\nimage of herself. So she has nothing to know liersclf by. Iniages\nall enter through the senses, hence she can have no image of herself.\nShe knows other things but not hcrsell'. Of nothing does she\nknow so little as of herself, owing to this arrangement. Now thou\nmust know that inwardly the soul is free from means and images,\nthat is why God can freely unite with her without form or similitude.\nThou caiist not but attribute to God without measure whatever\npower thou dost attribute to a master. The wiser and more\npowerful the master the more immediately is his work effected\nand the simpler it is. Man requires many instruments for his\nexternal works ; much preparation is needed ('re he can bring\nthem forth as he has imagined them. The sun and moon whose\nwork is to give light, in their mastership perform this very\nswiftly : the instant their radiance is poured forth, all the ends of\nthe world arc full of light. More exalted arc the angels, who need\nless means for their works and have fewer images. Tlie highest\nSeraph has but a single image. lie seizes as a unity all that his\ninferiors regard as manifold. Now God needs no image and has\nno image : witliout image, likeness or means does God work in the\nsoul, aye, in Iier ground whereinto no image did ever get but only\nhimself with his own essence. This no creature can do.\n\n— How do(\\s God the Father give birth to his Son in the soul ;\nlike creatures, in image and likeness ?\n\nNo, by my faith ! Imt just as he gives him birth in eternity and\nno otherwise.\n\n— Well, but how docs he give him birth there ?\n\nSee. God the Father has perfect insight into himself, profound\nand thorough knowledge of himself by means of himself, not by\nmeans of any image. And thus God the Father gives birth to his\nSon, in the very oneness of the divine nature. Mark, thus it is\nand in no other way that God the Father gives birth to his Son\nin the ground and essence of the soul and thus he unites himself\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nwith her. Were any image present there would not be real union\nand in real union lies thy whole beatitude.\n\nNow haply thou wilt say : ' But there is nothing innate in the\nsoul save images.' No, not so ! If that were true the soul would\nnever be happy, for God cannot make any creature wherein thou\ncanst enjoy perfect happiness, else were God not the highest\nhappiness and final goal, whereas it is his will and nature to be\nthe alpha and omega of alk No creature can be happiness. And\nhere indeed can Just as little be perfection, for perfection (perfect\nvirtue that is to say) results from perfection of life. Therefore\nverily thou must sojourn and dwell in tliy essence, in thy ground,\nand there God shall mix thee with his simple essence without the\nmedium of any image. No image represents and signifies itself:\nit stands for that of which it is the image. Now seeing that thou\nhast no image save of what is outside thee, therefore it is impossible\nfor thee to be beatified by any image wliatsoevcr.\n\nThe second point is, what it does behove a man to do in order\nto deserv'c and procure this birth to come to pass and be (*on-\nsummated in him : is it better for him to do his part towards it, to\nimagine and think about (hxl, or should ho keep still in peace and\nquiet so that God can speak and act in him while he merety waits\non God's operation ? At the same time I rep('at that this speaking,\nthis act, is only for the good and perfect, those who have so absorbed\nand assimilated the essence of virtue that it emanates from them\nnaturally, witliout their seeking ; and above all there must live in\nthem the worthy life and lofty teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nSuch are permitted to know that the very best and utmost of\nattainment in this life is to remain still and let God act and speak\nin thee. When the powa'rs hav(' all been withdrawn from tJieir\nbodily forms and functions, then this \\\\ ord is spoken. Thus he\nsays : ' in the midst of the silence the secret word was spoken to\nme.' The more completely thou art a})lc to in-draw thy faculties\nand forget those things and their images which thou has taken in,\nthe more, that is to say, thou forgetlcst the creature, the nearer\nthou art to this and the more susceptible thou art to it. If only\nthou couldst suddenly be altogether unaware of things, aye, couldst\nthou but ])ass into oblivion of thine own existence as St Paul did\nwhen he said : ' Whether in the body I know not, or out of the\nbody I know not, God knoweth ! ' Here the spirit had so entirely\nabsorbed the faculties that it had forgotten the body : memory no\nlonger functioned, nor understanding, nor the senses, nor even\nthose powers whose duty it is to govern and grace the body ;\nvital warmth and energy w('re arrested so that the body failed not\nthroughout the three days during which he neither ate nor drank.\nEven so fared Moses when he fasted forty days on the mount and\n\nwas none the worse for it : on the last day he was as strong as on\nthe first. Thus a man must abscond from his senses, invert his\nfaculties and lapse into oblivion of things and of himself. Anent\nwhich a philosopher apostrophised the soul : ' Withdraw from the\nrestlessness of external activities ! ' And again : ' Flee away and\nhide thee from the turmoil of outward occupations and inward\nthoughts for they create nothing but discord ! ' If God is to\nspeak his Word in the soul she must be at rest and at peace ;\nthen he speaks in the soul his Word and himself : not an image but\nhimself. Dionysius says : ' God has no image nor likeness of\nhimself seeing that he is intrinsically all good, truth and being.'\nGod performs all his works, in himself and outside himself, simul-\ntaneously. Do not fondly imagine that God, when he created the\nheavens and the earth and all creatures, lYiade one thing one day\nand another the next. Moses describes it thus it is true, never-\ntheless he knew better : he did so merely on account of those who\nare incapable of understanding or conceiving otherwise. All God\ndid was : he willed and they were. God works without instrument\nand without image. And the freer thou art from images the\nmore receptive thou art to his interior operation ; and the more\nintroverted and oblivious thou art the nigher thou art thereto.\nDionysius exhorted his disciple Timothy in this sense saying ;\n\n' Dear son Timothy, do thou with untroubled mind swing thyself\nup above thyself and above thy powers, above all modes and all\nexistences, into the secret, still darkness, that thou mayest attain\nto the knowledge of the unknown super-divine God.' All things\nmust be forsaken. God scorns to work among images.\n\nNow haply thou wilt say : ' What is it that God docs without\nimages in the ground and essence ? ' That I am incapable of\nknowing, for my soul-powers can receive only in images ,* they have\nto recognise and lay hold of each thing in its appropriate image :\nthey cannot recognise a bird in the image of a man. Now since\nimages all enter from without, this is concealed from my soul,\nwhich is most salutary for her. Not-knowing makes her wonder\nand leads her to eager pursuit, for she knows clearly that it is\nbut knows not how nor xvhat it is. No sooner docs a man know the\nreason of a thing than immediately he tires of it and goes casting\nabout for something new. Always clamouring to know, he is ever\ninconstant. The soul is constant only to this unknowing knowing\nwhich keeps her pursuing.\n\nThe wise man said concerning this : \" In the middle of the night\nwhen all things were in quiet silence there was spoken to me a\nhidden word.' It came like a thief, by stealth. What does he\nmean by a word that was hidden ? The nature of a word is to\nreveal what is hidden. It appeared before me, shining out with\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nintent to reveal and giving me knowledge of God. Hence it\nis called a word. But what it was remained hidden from me.\nThat was its stealthy coming ' in a whispering stillness to reveal\nitself.' It is just because it is hidden that one is and must be\nalways after it. It appears and disappears : we are meant to\nyearn and sigh for it.\n\nSt Paul says we ought to pursue this until wc espy it and not\nstop until we grasp it. When he returned after having been caught\nup into the third heaven where God was made known to him and\nwhere he beheld all things, he had forgotten nothing, but it was so\ndeep down in his ground that his intellect could not reach it : it\nwas veiled from him. He was therefore obliged to pursue it and\nsearch for it in himself, not outside himself. It is not outside, it\nis inside : wholly within. And being convinced of this he said,\n' I am sure that neither death nor any affliction can separate me\nfrom what I find within me.'\n\nThere is a fine saying of one heathen philosopher to another\nabout this, he says : ' I am aware of something in me which\nsparkles in my intelligence ; I clearly perceive that it is somewhat\nbut xsihat I cannot grasp. Yet methinks if I could only seize it\nI should know all tnith.' To which the other philosopher replied :\n' Follow it boldly ! for if thou eanst seize it thou wilt possess\nthe sum-total of all good and have eternal life ! ' St x\\ugustine\nexpresses himself in the same sense : ' 1 am conscious of something\nwithin me that plays before my soul and is as a light dancing\nin front of it ; were this brought to steadiness and perfection in\nme it would surely be eternal life ! ' It hides yet it shows. It\ncomes, but after the manner of a thief, with intent to take and to\nsteal all things from the soul. 13y emerging and showing itself\nsomewhat it purposes to decoy the soul and draw it towards itself\nto rob it and take itself from it. As saith the prophet : ^ Lord\ntake from them their spirit and give them instead thy spirit.'\nThis too the loving soul meant when she said : ' My soul dissolved\nand melted away when Love spoke his word ; when he entered I\ncould not but fail.' And Christ signified it by his words : ' Whoso-\never shall leave aught for my sake shall be repaid an hundredfold,\nand whosoever will possess me must deny himself and all things\nand whosoever will serve me must follow me nor go any more after\nhis own.'\n\nNow peradventure thou wilt say : ' But, Sir, you are wanting\nto change the natural course of the soul ! It is her nature to\ntake in through the senses, in images. Would you upset this\narrangement ? '\n\nNo ! But how knowest thou what nobility God has bestowed\non human nature, what perfections yet uncatalogued, aye yet\n\nundiscovered ? Those who have written of the soul's nobility\nhave gone no further than their natural intelligence could carry\nthem : they never entered her ground, so that much remained\nobscure and unknown to them. ' I will sit in silence and hearken\nto what God speaketh within me,' said the prophet. Into this\nretirement steals the Word in the darkness of the night. St John\nsays, ' The light shines in the darkness : it ciime unto its own and\nas many as received it became in authority sons ol' God : to them\nwas given power to become God's sons.'\n\nMark now tlie fruit and use of this mysterious Word and of this\ndarkness. In this gloom which is his own the heavenly Father's\nSon is not born alone : thou too art born lliere a cliild of the same\nheavenly Father and no other, and to thee also he gives power.\nObserve how great the use. No truth h'arncd by any master by\nhis own intellect and understanding, or ever to be learned this side\nthe day of judgment, has twer been interpreted at all according to\nthis knowh^dge, in this ground, ( all it an tliou wilt an ignorance,\nan unknowing, yet there is in it more than in all knowing and\nundc'rstanding without it, for this outward ignorance lures and\nattracts thee irom all understood things and from tliysclf. This is\nwhat Christ meant wlieii he said : ' Whosoever denieth not him-\nself and Icaveth not father and mother and is not estranged from\nall these, he is not worthy of me.' As though to say : he who\naliandons not creatunly externals can neither be conceived nor born\nin tiiis divine birth. Ihit divesting thysell'of thyself and of every-\nthing external thereto does indeed give it thee. And in ver}^ truth\nI believe, nay 1 am sure, that the man who is established herein\ncan in no wise be at any lime separated from (xod. I hold he\ncan in no wise lapse into mortal sin. lie would rather suffer the\nmost slianicful death, as the saints have done before him, than\ncommit the l(*ast of mortal sins. 1 hold that he cannot willingly\ncommit, nor yet consent to, even a venial sin, whether in himself or\nin another. So strongly is he drawn and attracted to this way, so\nmuch is he habituated to it, that he eoukl ne\\ er turn to any other :\nto this way are directed all his senses, all his powers.\n\nMay the (iod who has been born again as man assist us in\nthis birth, continually helping us, weak man, to be born again in\nhim as God. Amen.\n\nII\n\nTIIIS IS ANOTHER SERMON\n\nUbi est qiii nalus est rex Jud(voruni? (Matt. 2 . 2 ). Where is he\nwho is born King of the Jews ? Now concerning this birth, mark\nwhere it befalls. I say again as I have often said before that this\n\nMPnSTER ECKHART\n\nbirth befalls in the soul exactly as it does in eternity, neither more\nnor less, for it is the same birth : this birth befalls in the ground\nand essence of the soul.\n\nCertain questions arise. Granting that God is in all things as\nintelligence (or mind) and is more instinct in things than they are\nin themselves and more natural ; and granting that God wherever\nhe is is in operation, knowing himself and speaking his Word,\nthen mark in what respects the soul is better fitted for this divine\noperation than other rational creatures God exists in.\n\nGod is in all things as being, as activity, as power. But he is\nprocreative in the soul alone for though every creature is a vestige\nof God, the soul is the natural image of God. This image is\nperfected and adorned in this birth. No creature but the soul is\nsusceptible to this birth, this act. Such perfection as enters the\nsoul, whether it be divine light, grace or bliss, must needs enter\nthe soul in this liirth and no otherwise. Do but foster this birth\nin thee and thou shalt experience all good and all comfort, all\nhappiness, all being and all tnith. \\Vhat comes to thee therein\nbrings thee true being and stability and whatsoever thou mayst\nseek or grasp, without it, perishes, take it Iioav thou wilt. This\nalone gives life ; all else eorru2)ts. Moreover, in this birth thou\ndost j)articipate in the divine inllux and its gifts. This is not\nreceived by creatures wherein God \\s image is not found : the soul-\nidea belongs to the eternal birth alone and this happens only\nand solely in the soul, begotten of the Father in the ground and\ninnermost recesses of the soul whercinto never image shone nor\nsoul-power peeped.\n\nAnother question is : If this birth befalls in the ground and\nessence of the soul, then it happens alike in sinner and in saint,\nso what use or good is it to me ? The ground of nature is the\nsame in both, nay even in hell the nobility of nature persists\neternally. — It is characteristic of this birth that it always\ncomes with fresh light. It always brings great (mlightcnment\nto the soul because it is the nature of good to diffuse itself.\nIn this birth (iod pours into the soul in such abundance of light,\nthe ground and essence of the soul arc so Hooded with it, that it\nnins over into her powers and into the outward man as well.\nThus it befell Paul when iqion his journey God touched him with\nhis light and spake to him : the reflection of this light showed\noutwardly so that his companions saw it surrounding Paul like\nthe saints. The sujjerfluitv of light in the ground of the soul\nwells over into the body which is tilled with radiance. No sinner\ncan receive this light nor is he worthy to, being full of sin and\nwickedness, or darkness. As he (John) says, ' The darkness\nneither receives nor comprehends the light.' Because the\n\navenues by which the li^^ht would enter are choked and obstmeted\nwith guile and darkness. Light and darkness are incompatible,\nlike God and creatures. Enter God, exit creatures. Man is quite\nconscious of this light. Directly he turns to God this light begins\nto glint and sparkle in him, telling him what to do and what to\nleave undone, with many a shrewd hint to boot of things he\nhitherto ignored and knew nothing of. — IIow dost thou know ? —\nSuppose thy heart is vehemently moved to retire from the world.\nIJow could that be if not by this light ? It is so cEarming, so\ndelightful, it makes other tbings so tiresome which are not God\nor God's. It attracts thee to God and thou art sensible of many a\nvirtuous impulse all)cit uncertain whence it comes. This interior\nmood is in no wise due to creatures nor is it any of their bidding,\nfor what creatures effect and direct comes in from without. But\nthy ground alone is stirred by this force and the freer thou dost keep\nthe more truth and discernment are thine. No man w^as ever lost\nsave for tbc reason that once having left his ground he has let\nhimself become too permanently settled abroad. St Augustine\nsays : Many there be that have sought light and truth but only\nabroad where they arc not. They linally go out so far that they\nnever get back nor find their way in again. Neither have these\nfound the truth for the truth is within in their ground, not without.\nSo he who means to see this light and find out the whole truth\nmust foster the awarciK^ss of this birth within himself, in his\nground, so shall his powers all be lighted up and his outer man as\nwell. I)ire(dly God inwardly stirs his ground with the truth its\nlight darts into his powers, and lo, that man knows more than\nanyone could teach liim. As the prophet says, ' I know more\nthan I was ever taught.' It is because this light cannot lighten\nand shine in sinners that this birth cannot occur in them. This\nbirth is inconsistent with darkness and sin therefore it befalls not\nin the powers but in the ground and essence of the soul.\n\nThen conu'S the question : If God the Father labours only in the\nground and essence of the soul, not in her powers, what have the\npowers got to do w ith it ? How do they help by being idle and\ntaking holiday ? What is the use, seeing this birth befalls not\nin the powxrs ? — It is w('ll asked. But consider. Every creature\nworks towards some end. The end is ever the first in intention\nand the last in execution. And God too works for a wholly blessed\nend, to wit, himself : to bring the soul and all her powers into\nthat end, into himself. For this God's w^orks are wrought, for\nthis the Father brings his Son to birth in the soul, that all the\npowers of the soul may end in this. lie lies in wait for all the soul\ncontains, all arc bidden to his royal feast. Here, the soul is\nscattered abroad among her powers and dissipated in the act of\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\neach : the power of seeing in the eye, the power of hearing in the\near, the power of tasting in the tongue, and her powers arc accord-\ningly enfeebled for their interior work, scattered forces being\nimperfect. It follows that for her interior work to be effective, she\nmust call ill all her powers, recollecting them out of extended things\nto one interior act. St Augustine says, ' The soul is where she\nloves rather than where she animates the body.' Once upon a\ntime thci'c was a heathen philosopher who studied mathematics.\nHe was sitting by the embers making ('alculations in pursuance\nof his art when there came along a man brandishing a sword, who,\nnot witting that it was the master, cried out, ' Quick, thy name,\nor I shall slay thee ! ' The master was too much absorbed to see\nor hear his enemy and failed to cat('h the threat. So after hailing\nhim several times the enemy cut off his head. And tliis to acquire\na mere natural science ! How much more does it behove us to\nwithdraw from things in order to concentrate our powers on\nperceiving and knowing the one infinite and immortal truth ! To\nthis end do thou assemble thy entire mind and memory ; turn them\ninto the ground where thy treasure lies hid. Hut for this thou must\ndrop all other activities ; thou must get to unknowing to find it.\n\nThe question is, Were it not better for each power to go on with\nits own work, then none would hinder the otlu rs in their work nor\nyet God in his V Can there not be ercaturely knowledge in me\nthat is no hindrance, as God knows all things without hindrance\nand so do the saints ? — 1 answer : The saints behold God in a\nsimple image and in that im.agc they discca'n all things ; and God\nhimself secs himself thus, perceiving all things in himself. He\nneed not turn, as wc do, from one thing to another. Supposing\nthat in this life w(* were always confronted with a mirror wherein\nwe see and recognise all things at a glance in one single image :\nneither act nor knowledge would be a hindrance then. At present\nwe must turn from one thing to anotlua' : we can only mind one\nthing at the expense of all tlic others. And the soul is bound so\nstraitly to her powers that where they How she must flow with\nthem ; the soul must be present at everything they do, and\nattentive too, or nothing would \nthe nearer do we get to understanding him. Holy Scripture yields j\nus merely privatives. That we should credit God with matter, |\nform and work is due to our gross senses. We fail to find God one '\nbecause we try to come at him by likeness. Dionysius cries,\n\n' Friend Timothy, if thou wouldst catch the spirit of truth pursue\nit not with the human senses. It is so swift, it comes rushing.'\nGod is to be sought in opposites ; in unknowing knowing shall we\nknow God ; in forgetfulness of ourselves and all things even to the\nnaked essence of the Godhead. Dionysius was exhorting one of\nhis disciples. ' Friend,' quoth he, ' cease from all activity and\nempty thyself of self that thou mayst commune with the Sovran\nGood, God namely.' Pray God wc may seek him so that wc shall\nfind him nevermore to lose him. Amen.\n\nXVI\n\nTHE SIXTH BEATITUDE\n\nBeati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiaiii (Matt. 5g). Jesus went up\na mountain to a valley, into a field, and power went out of him\npreaching to the multitude : ' Blessed are they which do hunger and\nthirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.'\n\nMethinks this text is apt to my discourse. Blessed are they\nthat hunger for righteousness and endure work and poverty here,\nfor this is but a moment and will surely pass. They are blessed\nthough not most blessed. Blessed are they that hunger not to\nbe deprived of God, albeit the wonder is that man can be without\nhim without whom he cannot be. St Augustine says it is amazing\nthat anyone should live apart from him apart from whom he cannot\n\n66 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nlive at all. They are blessed and yet not most blessed. More\nblessed those who so hunger that they cannot live without God ;\nthat is a fiery affection which transforms their nature. The while\na man yet finds in his desire or in his hope or his affection anything\nimpermanent, he is not most blessed. He is blessed but not most\nblessed. Blessed, supremely blessed, are they who arc installed in\nthe eternal now, transcending time and place and form and matter,\nunmoved by weal or woe or wealth or want, for in so far as things\narc motionless they are like eternity.\n\n[The heaven adjoining the eternal now, wherein the angels are,\nis motionless, immoveable. But the heaven next to that which\ntouches the eternal now, wherein the angels are, and betwixt\n(that and) the heaven where the sun is, is set in motion by angelic\nforce, revolving once in every hundred years. The heaven the sun\nis in, moved by angelic force, goes round once a year. The heaven\nthe moon is in, again, is driven by angelic force and goes round\nonce a month. The nearer the eternal now the more immoveable\nthey are, and the further off and more unlike to the eternal now the\neasier to move. The heaven of the sun and moon and stars is\nmoved by the impulse of their angel, so that they arc spinning in\nthis temporal now ; and the eternal now imparts their motion, that\nbeing so energetic that from the motion the eternal now imparts,\nall things derive their life and being. Now the lowest powers of\nthe soul arc nobler than the highest part of heaven, where it adjoins\nthe angels and the eternal now. Moreover, all things get their\nlife and being from the motion there imparted by the eternal now ;\nand if that is so noble, then what would ye expect where the soul\nin her superior powers contacts the ground of God ? How exalted,\nthink ye, that must be ? — Follow then after this now, and reach\nthis now and possess this eternal now. May we stand next the\neternal now and so be in possession of it. So help us O divine\npower.]\n\n[One master says : Grace springs from the heart of the Father\nand flows into his Son and in the oneness of them twain it proceeds\nfrom the Wisdom of the Son into the Gift of the Holy Ghost and\nin the Holy Ghost is sent into the soul. Grace is the face of God\nwhich is clearly stamped in the soul without any means by the\nSpirit of God, giving the soul the form of God. St Dionysius\nsays : The angels are the divine mind. Moreover St Paul declares\nconcerning those who live the angelic life here in the flesh, that\ninto them there flows the mind of God as it does into the angels.\nHe also says the intellectual light, God namely, has given likeness\nto the rational soul. Quoth St Paul : He who cleaves unto God\nwith his whole being becomes one spirit with (iod. So help us\nGod. Amen.]\n\nXVII\n\nIN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM\n\nIn 'principio erat verbum {Joh> Ij). Theologians talk of the\neternal Word. God never spoke but one word, and that is still\nunspoken. The explanation is this. The eternal Word is the\nlogos of the Father which is his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus\nChrist. In him he pronounces all creatures without beginning\nand without end. This accounts for the Word remaining unborn,\nfor it never came out of the Father. This Word is to be known in\nfourfold guise.\n\nFirst, on the altar in the priest's hands. There it is ours to\nknow and love the eternal Word as we, in his eternal Word,\nappear to the heavenly Father. Secondly, we know the eternal\nWord as expounded by doctors from the chair. We receive it in\ntheir person ; like water flowing in a channel, so does the eternal\nWord flow through its teachers. We should pay no heed to any\nshortcomings in the doctor : we must fix our gaze on the eternal\nWord in him, as it comes pouring eternally out of the ground of\nitself. Thirdly, we can recognise the eternal Word in our Lord's\nfriends who, having followed this eternal Word, have gotten proof\nof it in life eternal, and also those that follow it in time, such,\nnamely, as arc quick in our Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, we have\nthe eternal Word as spoken in the virgin soul by God himself ;\nwordlessly, to wit, since the soul is not able to express him.\n\nI would have you know that the eternal Word is being born\nwithin the soul, its very self, no less, unceasingly. I tell you, the\nsoul knows the eternal Word better than all the doctors can ex-\npound it. What we can express is all too little, so for the nonce\nshe is bearing the eternal Word in mind. According to the masters\nwe ought by rights to go to school where the Holy Ghost is teacher ;\nand know, where he is teacher and is bound to be, there he finds\nstudents properly equipped to profit by his lofty teaching which\nissues from out the Father's heart. So the soul has, if she will, the\nFather and the Son and Holy Ghost : she goes flowing into the one\nwhere naked in naked is revealed to her. Our masters say that\nno one can attain to this so long as he retains of nether things as\nmuch as a needle-point can carry. Into the naked Godhead none\nmay get except he be as naked as he was when he was spilt from\nGod.\n\nThe masters say, giving us wise counsel, that leaving God his\nglory we ought to get all things direct from him and not from\ncreatures. We shall leave God his glory by leaving him to work\njust how he will and when he will, we staying idle and free. For\n\n58 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nwe must see that God does all for the best. And so I trow it lies\nwith us, so far as it is in us, to help God to preserve his glory.\n\nA master says. Little recks the king of those of his retainers\nwho perform the drudgery. lie notices the ones about his privy\nchambers and gratifies their every want. God does the same with\nhis chosen friends, the intimates of his mysterious privacy : he\nnever turns a deaf ear to their prayer. Withal the masters do\naffirm that numbers go to heaven who know no more of God on\nearth than, as it were, of sun in forest gloom. Desiring this\nsupremely it rests with us to compass it by practice and by strength\nof will. Amen.\n\nXVIII\n\nI KNOW A MAN IN CHRIST\n\nScio homwem in Christo ante annos quatuordecim etc. (2 Cor.\n\nSt Paul declares : ' I know a man who fourteen years ago was\ncaught up into the third heaven ; whether in the body or no\nI cannot tell : God knoweth.' Now granting Paul was there at\nany time, then either body and soul both turned to spirit or else\nhis soul took wing out of his body. It is certain that his soul\nleft not his body, for she was giving life unto his body; she must\nthen have seen God in her and herself in him.\n\nThe soul has three powers : mind, will and rage. These three\npowers are in league with deity. Will cleaving unto God can do\nall things. God seized of his divinity bestows upon her power and\nfecundity. Mind cleaving to the Son knows with the Son ; it\nknows with the Son when it is void of knowledge. The third\npower is the power of attack, which is connected with the Holy\nGhost. This power is ever making for the source whence it\n) proceeded forth and the Holy Ghost is its initiator into the eternal\nnature : it floods the secret chamber of the soul, and lo ! she loses\ntime and place in the eternal, in time transcending time. But for\nthe soul this is not enough : had she enough she would have time\nin lieu of her eternity. Let us not flag. Not ours the blame if,\nbeing ready and atoned in will, God hides himself so that we\ncannot do all things with him although he plays his part just as\nthe sun gives out its light and fire gives out its heat. Woodapples\ncannot check the letting of their gall, but God contrives from time\nto time to reach out to the longing soul if he is very near to her.\nSo let her, never doubting, with hearty longing, hail God frequently :\n' O Friend of me, how long am I to wait for thee ? '\n\nHe says, to Christ w^as given a new name : one by the angel,\nanother by St Paul, a third by his heavenly Father. The angel\ngave him the name Jesus Christ. Joseph and Mary called him by\n\nthis name which signifies Weal of the World. The name is given\nto the wounded soul. Alas, we are too frail ! We should be well\nof our infirmities being raised up and gotten in ; we should be\nraised if we were destitute and unattached. For tlie exalted\nspark wherein we see the light divine, that never parts from God\nnor is there anything between. What matter then if good and ill\nand pain betide, they do but touch the lower faculties.\n\nSt Paul gave him three names and called him the rclieetion of\nthe Father. He says, the wounded soul is given the mystic\n\nheavenly bread. Whence comes her wound ? From longing.\n\nWhat is longing? -It is love. What is nobler than longing?\nWhat wc pray God for humbly and with longing he durst not\nrefuse : desire ablush with modesty he leads into the triple\nchamber of the Holy Trinity.\n\nPaul called him also the fecundity of the Father and the image\nin the Father, working with the Father to brijig forth his Person.\nVerily I say, the soul will bring forth Person if God laughs into\nher and she laughs back to him. To speak in parable, the Father\nlaughs into the Son and the Son laughs back to tlic Father ; and\nthis laughter breeds liking, and liking breeds joy, and joy begets\nlove, and love begets Person, and Person begets the Holy Ghost.\nIn this wise docs he travail with his Father.\n\nThe third name he gave was. The Majesty of the Substance of\nGod. Majesty is the essence of his divine substance, this substance\nbeing the elemental matter of the three Persons. The soul is\ncalled majesty when she gives u]) mode : then she knows the\nFather and paternity, the Son and filiation, and the Persons of\nthem twain she comprehends in unity. The Father gave him five\nnames, ineffable. God keep us every whit in him. So help us\nGod. Amen.\n\nXIX\n\nPAUL ROSE FROM THE GROUND\n\nSurrexit autem S aulas de terra apertisque occults nihil videbat\n{Act, 93). This statement which I quote in Latin is made in\nSt Luke's narrative about St Paul. It records that ' Paul rose from\nthe ground with open eyes and seeing nothing.' The words are\nopen to four inter|>retations. One is, that wdien he rose up from the\nground he was gazing wide-eyed at naught, that naught being God,\nfor the vision of God he would describe as the naught. Another\nexplanation is that when he got up he saw nothing but God.\nThe third, he saw naught but God in all things. I'hc fourth,\nthat in the divine vision he beheld all things as a naught. He\npreviously tells how light came suddenly from heaven and felled\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhim to the ground. Mark you, he says that the light came from\nheaven. According to our doctors, though heaven is fraught with\nlight it does not shine. The sun is full of light and shines withal.\nOur doctors teach that fire docs not give any light in the simple,\nnatural perfection of its highest state. Its nature is too pure for\neye in any wise to see. So subtle is it, so unlike the eye, that were\nit here below within our view it could not stimulate our eyes to\nsight. And yet, forsooth, we see it is absorbed by different\nthings, such as a lump of coal, a piece of wood.\n\nBy the light of heaven we see the light that is God whereto no\nmind of man is able to attain. As St Paul hath it : ' God dwells\nin a light that no man can approach unto.' He says, ' God is\nlight inaccessible.' There is no admittance to God. No man\nstill on the ascent, still on the increase in grace and in light, has\never yet got into God. God is no crescent light : we get to him\nby growing. In the growing procicss God is unseen. When God\nis seen it is in the light that is God himself. A master says,\nIn God there is no more nor less nor this nor that. Whiles we\nare on the way we arc not there.\n\nHe says, ' A light from heaven shone round about him.'\nImplying the capture of his entire soul. A master says that in\nthis light all the soul-powers are exalted and raised to a higher\npower, the outward senses we see and hear with as well as the\ninner senses we call thoughts : the reach of these and their pro-\nfundity are most amazing. I can think as easily about things\noverseas as close at hand. Above thought comes the intellect,\nas seeker. She goes about looking, casting her net here and there,\ngaining and losing. Above intellect the seeker there is another\nintellect which does not seek but rests in its pure and simple\nessence in the realm of light. And I say it is in this light that\nall the soul -powers are exalted. Senses rise to thoughts. How\nhigh, how fathomless these are, that no one knows except God\nand the soul.\n\nOur theologians teach, and it is a knotty question, that angels\nknow nothing about thoughts unless the thoughts take wing and\nrise up into intellect — intellect the seeker ; and this intellect, the\nseeker, soars up into the intellect which does not seek, which is\nthe pure light in itself. This light embraces all the powers of the\nsoul. Accordingly he says, ' The heavenly light encircled him.'\n\nOne master lays it down that anything which has an emanation\nis exempt from these lower things. God emanates into all creatures\nwithout being affected by any. He does not need them. God\nenergises nature and her first work is the heart. Wherefore\nsome doctors would pretend the soul is altogether in the heart\nand flows thereout as life into the other members. Not so. The\n\nsoul is in each member, whole. True, her chief work is in the\nheart.. The heart being in the middle gets protection on all sides,\njust as heaven is protected from outside influence and intrusion.\nIt contains all things. It moves all things and itself remains\nunmoved. Not even fire, exalted though it be in its most\nhigh estate, can lick the heavens.\n\n' In the encircling light he fell to earth, and his eyes being\nunsealed he, open-eyed, beheld all things as naught.' And\nbeholding all things as naught he was beholding God. Mark\nhere what the soul says in the Book of Love : ' By night in my\nbed I sought him my soul loveth : I sought him and I found him\nnot.' She sought him in her bed : meaning to convey that any-\none cleaving to aught below God has too narrow a lie. God's\nentire creation is all too confined. Quoth she, ' I sought him all\nnight through.' There is no night without the light : only, it is\nveiled. The sun is shining in the night albeit screened from view.\nBy day it shines, eclipsing all the other lights. So does the light\nof God ; it blinds and puts out any light. Our creaturely expecta-\ntions, all these are night. What I mean to say is, that nothing\nwe find in a creature is more than a shadow and dark. Even the\nhighest angel's light, exalted though it be, illumines not the soul.\nAll but the first light is darkness, is night. By it she cannot\nfind God. ' I rose and sought him all about, I scoured the\nbroadways and the alleys. The watchmen (angels) found me,\nand I questioned them, \" Saw ye not him whom my soul loveth ? \" '\nBut they answered not ; peradventure they could not apprehend\nhim. ' It was but a little that I passed and I found him my soul\nloveth.' The little, the trifle, that she missed him by has often\nbeen the burden of my teaching. He to whom mortal things are\nnot all trivial and as naught withal, that man shall not find God.\n\n' Having passed by a little,' she says, ' I found him whom I\nsought.' When God pours into and informs the soul and thou\ntakes t him as a light or a state or a boon, whatsoever thou knowest\nabout him, that God is not. We have to transcend the little,\ndiscard the adventitious and perceive God one. She says, ' When\nI had passed by a little I found him my soul loveth.'\n\nWe are very fond of saying, ' him my soul loveth.' But he\nis far away above the soul, nor does she name her love. There are\nfive reasons why she names him not. One is that God is nameless.\nAny name she gave him would have to be well chosen. God is\nbeyond all name, none can express him. A second reason is that\non swooning away into God for love, the soul is conscious of\nnothing but love. She fondly imagines that everyone knows him\nlike that. She is amazed that any wight should find him aught\nbut love alone. Thirdly, she has no time to name him. Love\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ndoes not leave her any time to use another word. Fourthly,\nperchance she weens he has no other name than love. In love she\npronounces all names. Quoth she, ' I rose up, I went through the\nbroad streets and the alleys. And when I had passed a little I\nfound him rny soul loveth.'\n\n' Paul rose from the ground wide-eyed, beholding nothing.'\nI cannot see what is one. He saw nothing, to wit, God. God is\nnaught and God is one. What aught is is naught as well. What\nGod is is he altogether. As Dionysius says about the light :\nspeaking of God he says. He is supernatural, supervital, super-\nluminous ; he will allow him neither this nor that, but makes him\nout to be I know not what that far transcends them. Aught seen,\naught that may come within thy ken, that God is not ; for why,\nGod is not this nor that. AVhocver says that God is here or there,\ncredit him not. The light which God is shines in darkness.\nGod is the true light : to sec it one has to be blind and strip God\nnaked of things. A master says. To argue about God from any\nsort of likeness is to argue falsely about him. But to argue about\nGod from naught is to argue soundly withal. \\Vhen the soul is\nreduced to one and is gotten therein by discarding herself altogether,\nthere she finds God, as it were, in a naught. It appeared to one\nsoul as in a dream (it was a waking dream), to be big with naught\nlike a woman with child, and in this naught God was born, the\nfruits of the naught. God was born in the naught. Therefore\nhe says, ' He arose from the earth wide-eyed, gazing at naught.'\nHe had a vision of God where there are no creatures. He beheld\nall creatures as naught for he had the whole essence of creatures\nin him. He is the all -containing essence.\n\nAnother thing he means by saying, ' he saw naught.' Accord-\ning to our masters, any perception of externals entails some inroad\nby them, an impression at the least. To get some idea of a thing,\na stone, for instance, I do (not) take into my mind the grossest\npart of it ; that I leave outside. As it exists in the ground of my\nsoul where it is at its noblest and best, it is merely a type (or idea).\nThings perceived by my soul from without contain an outside\nelement : my ])creeplion of creature in God contains nothing but\nGod alone, for in God there is nothing but God. When I sec all\ncreatures T see not. He saw God where creatures are not.\n\nIn the third place, why he saw naught. Naught was God. A\nmaster says. Creatures in God are as naught for he has in him the\nwhole essence of creatures. He is the being that contains all\nbeings. The master says. Nothing inferior to God, however nigh\nit might be to him, but has some alien taint. The master says an\nangel knows himself and God without means. Into other things\nhe knows there comes an outside element, some interference still,\n\nhowever slights If we are to know God it must be without means,\nnothing foreign can come in between. When we do see God in\nhis light it happens in private, safe from the slightest intrusion\nof creaturely things. Then we have immediate knowledge of\neternal life.\n\n' Seeing nothing, he saw God.' The light which is God is flowing\nand darkening every light. Concerning it Job says, ' He coiU'\nmanded the sun not to shine and sealeih up the stars as it were\nwith a seal.' Enveloped in this light he could see naught beside ;\nhis whole soul was distraught, intent upon the light that is God\nto the exclusion of all else ; and this is a lesson to us, for what time\nwe are busy with God we mind little what goes on without.\n\nFourthly, he saw naught since the light which is God is un-\nmingled, free from admixture. It shows it ^vas the true light he\nbeheld for there was nothing there. By light he simply means\nthat he saw nothing with his open eyes. In that he saw not, he\nsaw the divine naught. St Augustine says. When he saw nothing,\nhe saw God. According to St Paul, ' Whoso only seeth being\nblind, he seeth God.' As St Augustine hath it, ' God is the true\nlight, preserver of the soul, more nigh to her than she is to herself,\nand by the same token, when the soul turns her hac^k on things\nbecoming, then God must needs shine into her. This soul knows\nneither love nor care, she is unmindful of th(*m. The soul that\nfares not forth to outside things comes home to stay in her im-\npartible pure light. She does not love nor does she fear nor care\nwithal. Knowledge is the basis, the foundation of all being.\nLove has no hold except in knowledge. When the soul is blind\nand can see naught beside, then she sees God, it is inevitable. A\nmaster says, the eye at its clearest, without any colour, sees every\ncolour ; not just as a colourless thing in itself, but in place in the\nbody it has to be void of all colour for us to see colours. In\ncolourless things all colours arc seen, aye, though it be down in\none's feet. God is something all-embracing. For God to be seen\nby the soul she has to be blind. Accordingly he says, ^ lie saw\nthe naught whose light all lights are, whose being all beings are.'\nThe bride says in the Book of Love : ' When I had passed by a little\nI found him my soul loveth.' The little she had passed all\ncreatures were. Whoso putteth not these behind him shall not\nfind God. And eke she would imply that however small, however\npure a thing I know God by, yet it must go. Even the light that\nverily is God, if I take it where it plays upon my soul is foreign to\nhim. I must take it at the source. I cannot really see the light\nthat shines upon the wall unless I turn my gaze to w^here it comes\nfrom. But if I take it in its cause I am robbed of its effect. I\nought to take it neither where it falls nor in its eruption nor yet\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nas brooding in itself; these are all mere modes. We must take\nGod in modeless mode and unconditioned essence, for he is free\nfrom mode. St Bernard says : He who would know thee, God,\nmust mete thee with no measure. Please God we may attain\nthat understanding which is wholly without mode and without\nmeasure. So help us God. Amen.\n\nXX\n\nAND BEHOLD THERE WAS A MAN . . . SIMEON\n\nEt ecce, homo erat in Jerusalem^ cui nomen Simeon etc, {Luc, 235).\nSt Luke relates in his gospel that ' when the days were accom-\nplished Christ was brought to the temple. And behold there was\na man in Jerusalem, Simeon by name, who was just and God-\nfearing, waiting for the consolation of the people of Israel and the\nHoly Ghost was in him.'\n\n* And behold.' This particle et in Latin signifies joining,\nbinding or locking together. Things fast bound or locked together\nare described as in union. Here I refer to the soul being bound,\nknit, united to God. According to our doctors, union postulates\nlikeness. There is no union without likeness. Binding or knitting\ntogether, that is the meaning of union. Nearness to me does not\nconstitute likeness : my sitting by someone or in the same place,\nfor example. As St Augustine says. Lord, when I found myself\nafar from thee it was not from the remoteness of the place, it came\nof thy unlikeness wherein I found myself. One master says,\npeople living and working wholly in time never agree, they never\ncome together. According to our doctors, a thing whose life and\nwork is in eternity and a thing whose life and work is here in time\nrequire a go-between. Where there is knitting and binding together\nthere must be some likeness. The union of God and the soul is\na matter of likeness. Where no difference exists there must be\nidentity ; not merely union in mutual embrace, but one ; not\nmerely likeness, but the same. Wherefore we say that the Son\nis not like the Father but he is his image, he is one with the Father.\n\nOne of our best doctors says that an image in stone or on the\nwall, with no foundation to it, taken simply as a form, is the same\nform as his whose form it is. For the soul passing into her exemplar\nwherein is no alien thing, only her form wherewith it is one, this\ndoctrine holds good. Having gotten the form that is divine we\nbehold God, we find God. In separation God is not found. On\npassing into her exemplar and finding herself in that image alone,\nin that same image the soul finds God and the finding of herself and\nGod, which is all the same act and is timeless, is the finding of God.\nSo far as she is therein so far she is one with God, He means :\n\nas far as a man is at the stage where his soul is the divine image.\nThen so far as he is he is divine. So far therein so far in God, not\nannexed, not united but one and the same.\n\nOne master says, likeness means birth. Further he states that\nlike is not met with in nature unless it is born. Doctors declare\nthat fire, however fierce, would never burn had it no hope of\npropagation. However dry the wood supplied it would never\ncatch (if fire) lacked power to generate its kind. What fire wants\nis to be born in wood, for all to be one fire, living and lasting.\nExtinguished and dead it were fire no more, so it wants to keep in.\nThe nature of the soul would never have gotten its kind were it\nnot for her wanting to have God begotten in her ; she would not\nhave proceeded into her nature, would never have wanted to enter\ntherein, except in the hope of this birth ; nor would God ever\nhave brought it to pass had he not meant the soul to be born into\nhim. God docs and the soul desires. God has the energy and the\nsoul has the will and the power to have God born into her and her-\nself into God. This God contrives with intent that the soul shall\nbe like him. She must needs wait for God to be gotten in her and\nfor her treasure to grow into God, desiring union and the safe-\nkeeping of God. God's nature pours into the light of the soul and\ntherein she is preserved. God purposes thus to be born into her,\nunited with her, contained in her.- -How can that be ? Do we\nnot say that God contains himself ? — When he draws in the soul\nshe finds that God is self-contained and there she stays abiding\nnowhere else. Augustine says : ' As thou lovest so thou art :\nloving earth thou art earthly, loving God thou shalt be divine.'\nIf I love God then, shall I be God ? It is not I who say so ; search\nthe scriptures. In the Prophets God says : ' Ye are gods and the\nchildren of the Most High.' I say that it is in his likes that God\ngives this birth. Had she no expectation of this the soul would not\nwant to attain it. She wants to be preserved in him, he is her\nlife. God has a preserve, a safe place in himself, which man can\nknow nothing about until he pares off and is rid of all that belongs\nto the soul — her life, her powers, her nature, all must go. And\nthat means standing in that perfect light where she and God are\none form, where she finds herself God. It is characteristic of God\nto have nothing alien in him, nor on him nor added to him. And\nlikewise it behoves the soul to have no outside impressions,\nnothing put on, nothing annexed. So much for the first (word).\n\n' And behold ' : ecce. This word ecce has all the meaning of\nlogos (or word) and it could be given no greater. Word, i.e, God.\nGod is a word, God's Son is a word. It conveys the idea of our life\nnnd all our desire being centred in and dependent upon and\nodented to God. As St Paul says, ' By the grace of God I am\n\n66 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nthat I am.' And again, ' I live, yet not I but God liveth in me.'\nWhat more ?\n\nHomo erat. He says, ' Behold, a man.' We use the word\nhomo for women as well as for men, but the Latins refused it to\nwoman because of her weakness. Homo denotes something whole,\nnothing lacking. Homo, a man, a mortal, means one pertaining\nto earth, implying humility. Earth is the basest of the elements\nand placed in the midst with the heavens all round, it lies open to\nevery celestial emanation. All the work and waste of heaven is\ncaught midway in the sink of earth. Homo in yet another sense\nmeans moisture ; as much as to say, one who is watered with\ngrace ; referring to those humble souls who receive the immediate\ninflux of grace. In this inflowing grace there forthwith arises\nthat light of the mind into which God is sending a ray of his\nunclouded splendour. In this powerful light a mortal is as far\nabove his fellows as a live man is above his shadow on the wall.\nThis light is vastly potent, not merely being in itself exempt from\ntime and place, but anything it falls upon it robs of time and place\nand bodily semblance and everything extraneous thereto. As I\nhave often said before, were there no time nor place nor aught\nbeside it would be all one being. The man who is in this sense\none and casts himself into the ground of humility, there will be\nwatered with grace.\n\nConcerning the third point : this light deprives of time and\nplace. ' There was a man.' Who gave him this light ? The\nlight did. This word erat belongs expressly to God. In the\nLatin tongue there is no word so proper to God as erat John in\nhis gospel comes to using erat as a synonym for pure being. Things\nare all extras : but addition is possible only in thought ; not by\nmental addition but by mental abstraction. Goodness and truth\nare additions, in theory at least, but the abstract essence without\nanything to it is what is meant by erat Again, erat implies birth,\nan end of becoming. I was coming to-day, now I have come ;\nand if we eliminate time from my coming and having arrived, then\ncoming and come close up into one. Where coming and come\ncoincide, there we are born and re-made and re-formed into his\nprimitive form. I have often said that all the while a thing's\naught is a matter of concrete existence it never will be re-created ;\nrefurbished it may be and coloured afresh, even as a seal that is\nold : that is restamped and renewed. A heathen doctor says,\nThings yonder no time can stale ; there is the blessed life in the\nevermore : faultless, care-free, unalloyed being. Solomon says :\n' There is nothing new under the sun,' though this is seldom taken\nin its proper sense. Everything under the sun grows old and dies,\nbut yonder is nothing but new. Time brings two things : age and\n\ndecay. What the sun shines on is present in time. Creatures are\nhere and are from God, but yonder where they are in God they are\nnot at all the same as they arc here ; they are as different as the\nsun is from the moon, far more so. Erat in eOy he says : \" the\nHoly Ghost was in him,' wherein is being and becoming. ' There\nwas a man.' Where was he ? In Jerusalem. Jerusalem\nmeaning vision of peace ; it stands, in short, for man's peace and\nprosperity. It possibly signifies more. Paul says, ' The peace\nthat passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds.'\nPray God we may be such as to enter into this peace, which is\nhimself. So help us God. Amen.\n\nXXII\n\nHE THAT HATETH HIS SOUL\n\nQui odit animam suam in hoc mundo in vitam ceternum custodial\nearn (Joh» 1235). I quote in Latin the gospel saying of our Lord,\n' He that hateth his soul in this world shall keep it in eternal life.'\nNow mark what it is our Lord means when he speaks of a man\nhating his soul. He that loveth his soul in this mortal life and as\nshe exists in this world shall lose her in eternal life ; but he that\nhateth her mortal guise shall keep her unto life eternal.\n\nThere are two reasons for his using here the word soul. Accord-\ning to one authority soul is a name for the ground (or soil) and has\nnothing to do with the nature (or ground) of the soul. As a master\nhas said, Whoso discourses of moveable things trenches not on the\nnature or ground of the soul. Try to name the soul as she is in\nherself, in her pure and abstract nature, and not a name can wc\nfind. They call her soul as they call a carpenter, neither a human\nbeing nor after any being at all but after his work. What our\nLord means is this : he that loveth his soul in her nakedness,\nher impartible soul-nature, to wit, will hate and despise her in this\ndress. She hates and detests and rues being so far from the pure\nlight she is in herself.\n\nOur doctors say the soul is called fire because of the force and\nbecause of the heat and because of the light that is in her. Others\ndeclare she is a spark of the celestial nature. A third school calls\nher a light. A fourth calls her a breath. A fifth dubs her a\nnumber. They are trying to describe the soul by something pure\nand luminous. Number exists in the angels and in light there\nis number as well, but to name her after the highest and after\nfhe brightest is still to fall short of the ground of the soul. God\nis nameless is ineffable and in her ground the soul too is\n\n^ See also Spamer's Texte, etc., A. 5. One Latin and two German versions.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nineffable as he is ineffable. There is another reason for his saying\nthat she hates. This term we apply to the soul is the name of the\nsoul as she is in the prison of the body, so he means the soul in\nher individual state, still at the stage of taking thought, still in\nher prison-house. By taking thought for these nether things, by\ntaking them in by her senses at all, she is confined : words cannot\nname any higher nature within her.\n\nThere are three reasons why my soul should hate herself. The\nfirst, that in so far as she is mine she is not God's. The second,\nbecause my soul is not wholly imbedded and set and re-cast into\nGod. Augustine says, To have God for one's own one must needs\nfirst be God's. The third reason is : the soul's enjoying herself as\nthe soul while enjoying God with the soul, which is wrong. She\nshould be enjoying God in herself since he is entirely hers. As\nChrist says, ' he that loveth his soul shall lose it.' What the soul\nis in this world or beholds in this world : things comprehended,\napparent at all, she shall hate. A master declares that the soul at\nher highest and purest transcends the whole world, nothing attach-\ning the soul to the world but affection. Sometimes she has a\nnatural love of the body. Sometimes she has a will inclined towards\ncreatures. Another says the soul has no natural concern with the\nthings of this world any more than the ear has with colour or the\neye has with song. Our natural philosophers teach that the body\nis much rather in the soul than the soul is in the body. Even as the\ncask contains the wine and not the wine the cask, so does the soul\nkeep the body in her rather than the body the soul. What the\nsoul loves in this world she is pure from by nature. According to\none philosopher, it is the soul's nature and her natural end to\nachieve within herself a feat of understanding, God informing her\nwith the general idea. He that can say he has attained his nature\nfinds all things within himself, fashioned in light as they are in\nGod ; not as they are in nature but as they are in God. Neither\nspirit nor angel touches the ground or nature of the soul. In it\nshe comes into the first, into the beginning, whence God breaks out\nin goodness into all creatures. There she loves all things in God,\nnot pure as they are in her uncompounded nature, but merely\nimpartible as they are in God. God has made this whole world\nas it were out of coal. Its pattern in gold is more lasting than this\none in coal. Likewise the things in the soul are purer and nobler\nthan they are in this world. The material which God made things\nout of is (to its exemplar in God) baser than coal is to gold. For\nthe purpose of making a crock a man takes a handful of clay ;\nthat^is the medium he works in. He gives it a form he has in\nhim, nobler than^^his material. And the moral of this is that the\nthings in the intelligible world, the soul, to wit, ffxe in.fi;>itely nobler\n\nthan they are in this ; even as the image hewn and graven in gold\nso the types of all things are onefold in the soul. A master says,\nThe soul has a natural gift for being impressed with the forms of\nall things. Another one says. Never did soul get to her virgin\nnature without finding all things imaged therein in the intelligible\nworld which is incompreljensiblc, unthinkable. Gregory says : All\nreasoning in words about divine things is but a stammering.\n\nOne word more about the soul and I have done. ' O ye daughters\nof Jerusalem, look not upon me because I am brown I The sun\nhath coloured me and the children of my mother have striven\nagainst me ' {Cant, I5). She refers to the children of this world,\nto them the soul speaks. The sun is the lust of this world : the\nvisible, tangible things thereof do turn me swarthy and brown.\nBrown is not a pure colour : it is part light and part darkness.\nWhen the soul thinks or acts with her powers how enlightened\nsoever these be, still, there is confusion. And therefore she says,\n\n' My mother's children have striven against me.' These children\nbeing the lower powers of the soul, all clashing and at strife with\nher. The heavenly Father is our father and Christendom is our\nmother. What though she be fair and well-favoured and good at\nher work, yet this is not perfect. Wherefore he cries, ' O thou\nfairest among women go forth and depart.' This world is like a\nwoman, weak. But why does he address her, ' O fairest among\nwomen ? ' The angels are fair and arc far above the soul. He\nsays, ' fairest ' : in her light-nature. ' Go forth and depart ' ;\ngo forth from this world and depart from such things as thy soul\nis still prone to. And anything grasped let her hate.\n\nXXII\n\nTHE LORD PUT FORTH HIS HAND\n\nMisit dominus manum suam et teligit os meum et dixit rnihi etc,\n{Jer, I9). ' The Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth\n\nand said unto me.'\n\nWhen I preach it is my wont to speak about detachment, of the\nduty of ridding ourselves of self and of things. Or again, of return\nto the impartible good, God to wit. And thirdly, on the duty of\nremembering the high and noble nature God has put into the\nsoul so that mortals may wonder about God. Fourthly, about\nthe pure nature of God, the ineffable splendour of God. God is a\n^ord, an unspoken word. Augustine says : ' All scripture is vain.'\nWo say that God is unspoken, but he is unspeakable. Grant he is\nsomewhat : who can pronounce this word ? None but the Word,\n^od is the Word which pronounces itself. Where God exists he\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nis saying this Word ; where he does not exist he says nothing.\nGod is spoken and unspoken. The Father is the speaking energy\nand the Sun is the speech energising. What is in me goes forth\nof me ; I have but to think and my word goes forth, at the same\ntime abiding within. Even so does the Father speak forth his\nSon who meanwhile remains in him unspoken. I have repeatedly\nsaid, God's exit is his entrance. In proportion to my nearness to\nGod does he speak himself into me. In the case of rational\ncreatures the more they go out of themselves in their works the\nmore they get into themselves. Not so with corporal things :\nthe more active these are the further they get from themselves.\nAll creatures desire to speak God in their works : they all of them\nspeak him as well as they can but they cannot really pronounce\nhim. Willy-nilly, in weal or in woe they are all trying to utter\nGod who yet remains unspoken.\n\nDavid said, 'The Lord is his name.' Lord means one set in\nauthority ; knox)e means an underling. Some names are proper\nto God and forbidden to aught beside God. God is the name\npeculiar to God just as 7nan is the name for mankind. A man is\na man be he foolish or wise. Seneca says, ' 'Tis a vile man that\nexcels not humanity.' Anotlier name we associate with God is\npaternity. When wc call a man father y we take for granted a son.\nNo father can be without having a son. True, they merge, beyond\ntime, into eternal nature. The third name in its higher sense\nrelates to God and in its lower one to time. God is called by many\nnames in scripture. Now I say, anything wc can think of in\nGod or put any name to, that God is not. God transcends name,\ntranscends nature. Wc hear of one good man who in prayers\nbesought God for his name. Then, ' Peace ! ' quoth a brother,\n\n' thou art abasing God.' Wc can lind no name to give to God ;\nbut we arc permitted to use the names his saints have called him\nby, those whose hearts inspired by God were Hooded with his\ndivine light. Hence we learn, first, how to pray to God. Wc\nought to say. Lord, in those very names which thou didst instil\ninto the hearts of saints, suffusing them with thy light, wc praise\nthee and adore thee. And secondly we learn that in giving God\nno name at all we praise and honour him suflicicntly since God is\nabove name and ineffable.\n\nOut of the fullness of his power the Father speaks the Son and\nin iiim all things. All creatures arc the utterance of God. Like\nas my lips proclaim and tell forth God so does a stone's existence,\nand we can glean more from the fact than from the telling of it.\nWork wrought by highest nature in its sovran power a lower\nnature cannot comprehend. If it did the selfsame work then\nwould it not be lower, but the same. Creatures all want to copy\n\nGod in all they do. But it is precious little they are able to reveal.\nEven the highest angels, inasmuch as they ascend and come in\ntouch with God, are no more like than black and white to that\nwhich is in God. It is altogether different, what creatures have\nreceived, yet they all desire to speak as nearly as possible the same.\nThe prophet says : ' Lord, thou sayest one and I understand two.'\nWhen God speaks into the soul, as it falls it divides. The higher\nwe soar in our understanding the more we arc in him. In eternity,\nthe Father is speaking his Son all the time and i^ouring forth all\ncreatures in him. They all have a call to return whence they\ncame forth. Their whole life and nature is a vocation, a flight\nback to what they came out of.\n\nThe prophet says : ' The TiOrd sent forth his hand,' meaning\nthe Holy Ghost. He says, ' he touched my mouth,' and\nstraightway there follow the words, ' he spake unto me.' The\nmouth of the soul is the highest part of the soul and she has this\nin mind when she says, ' he hath put lus Word into my mouth,'\nthis being the kiss of the soul ; mouth to mouth the Father conveys\nhis Son into the soul, then he speaks to hi*r, saying, ' Lo, this day\nI have chosen thee to set thee over nations and over kingdoms.'\nGod says he will choose us to-day. Yonder in eternity, where\ntime is not, there is ever to-day. ' And 1 have set thee over\nnations,' i,e, above this world which thou must be rid of ; ' and\nover kingdoms,' meaning, that more than one thing is too much ;\nit behoves thee to die to all things and get back to the height where\nwe dwell in the Holy Ghost. Amen.\n\nXXIII\n\nTHE SFIHIT OF THE LOHD\n\nSpiritus dotnini replcvit orhem terrarum etc, {Saj). I 7 ). ' The\n\nspirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world.'\n\nA philosopher says, All creatures bear witness to the divine ?iature\nwhence they proceeded forth, in their will to emulate the Deity they\ncame from.\n\nCreatures proceed forth in two ways. The first is a radical\nprocess, like I'oots coming out of a tree. The second emanation\nis by mode of will. Behold the twofold emanation of divinity.\nOne the descent of the Son from the Father, this after tlie manner\nof a birth. The other, the outpouring of the love of Father and\nSon, the Holy Ghost, to wit, for in him they love one another.\nAll creatures proclaim their origin, their divine descent betrays\nitself in their works. According to a Greek philosopher, God\n\n72 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nkeeps all creatures in leash, as it were, and they must follow\nwhere he leads. Hence nature is aye making for the highest.\n\nThe second emanation is the Holy Ghost, by mode of will.\nNature would fain make nothing but the Son ; were she allowed\nshe would do father's work, so nature would be ever giving sons\ndid she not suffer accidental lapses. When nature is working in\ntime and space then father and son are different. One master\nexplains that a carpenter building a house will erect it first in his\nmind and, were the house subject enough to his will, then, materials\napart, the only difference between them would be that of begetter\nand suddenly begotten. Lo, thus it is in God, for since there is\nno time nor place in him, therefore they are one God, there being\nno distinction save outpouring and outpoured.\n\nAccording to the scriptures, ' The spirit of the Lord hath filled\nthe whole world.' Why is he called Lord ? Because he fills us.\nWhy is he called spirit ? Because he unites us with himself. A\nlord is known by three signs. First, he is rich. Rich means\npossessing all things without stint. Hence none is really rich but\nGod in whom all things are harboured indivisibly. So he can\ngive all things and this is the second sign of riches. A philosopher\nsays, God hawks himself to all creatures and each takes as much\nas it wants. I trow God offers himself to me as he docs to the\nhighest angel and were I as apt as he is I should receive as he does.\nAs I have often observed, God always behaves as though he was\ntrying to please the soul. The third sign of riches is, giving for\nlove ; whoso giveth for aught is not really rich. God's richness\nis shown by his giving all his gifts gratis. As saith the prophet,\n\n' Thou art my God, thou needest not my possessions.' He\nalone is the Lord and the spirit. I say, he is spirit ; our happiness\nlies in union with him.\n\nThe most excellent work of God in creature is being. My\nfather gives me my nature but he does not give me my being :\nGod does that, none beside. That is why everything that exists\ntakes such a shrewd delight in being. The being of the soul\nreceives the influx of God's light ; not pure and limpid as God\nsends it forth but in ambient undulations. We can see the sunlight\nwhere it falls upon a tree or any other object, but we fail to appre-\nhend the sun itself. And so with any gift of God : these arc all\nmeted out according to the taker not according to the giver.\n\nA philosopher says, ' God is the standard of measure,' and so far\nas one mortal contains more God than another, to that extent he\nis wiser and nobler and better than the other. To have more of\nGod simply means being more like him : the more God's likeness\nexists in us the more spiritual we are. A philosopher says, ' Where\nthe lowest spirit ends the highest bodily thing begins.' All of\n\nwhich goes to prove that God being spirit, the least of spiritual\nthings excels the best of corporal things. Soul is more excellent\nthan anything bodily. Soul is contained in a place, as it were,\nbetwixt time and eternity, touching them both. With her higher\npowers she is in touch with eternity ; in her inferior powers she is\nin contact with time. Thus, mark you, in time she does not\nfunction according to time but in her eternal nature which she has\nin common with the angels. Spirit is a subtle thing, bringing life\nto all the limbs in virtue of the close accord of soul with body.\nAlbeit spirit is rational, and does the entire work, yet we do not\nsay, my soul docs so and so, for both of them together are a man.\nThis fact I may make bold to state : because of the intimate union\nof the body and the soul the soul is in the smallest member as much\nas in the body as a whole. St Augustine says, ' The union of body\nand soul may be close, but closer still is the union that spirit has\nwith spirit.' Lo, he is Lord and spirit, may he beatify us by uniting\nus with him.\n\nIt is a puzzling question how the soul survives when God\nimprints himself in her. Consider. Were God to give her any\noutward being she would scorn it ; but when he gives her himself\nin himself she receives and suffers in his and not in her own, his\nbeing hers : he has fetched her out of her own so his is now hers\nand hers really is his. So she suffers in union with God. This is\nthe spirit of the Lord which has filled the whole world. Amen.\n\nXXIV\n\nST JOHN SAW IN A VISION\n\nSt John saw in a vision a lamb standing on Mount Sion and with\nl^m stood forty and four who were not of this world nor had they\nwifely names. These were all virgins who stood next the lamb, and\nwhen the lamb inclined they inclined with him, singing with the\nlamb a new song and having their names and the name of their\nFather written in their foreheads.\n\nJohn says, ' I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the mountain.'\nI say, John himself was that mountain whereon he saw the lamb,\nand whoso sees the Lamb of God must himself be the mountain,\nascending to his highest, purest part.\n\nAgain. He says he saw a lamb standing upon a mountain :\nwhen one thing stands upon another its lowest point touches the\nother's highest. God touches all things and remains untouched.\nGod is above all things standing in himself and his instance sus-\ntains all creatures. Creatures have an uppermost and undermost,\n^od has not. God is over everything and is not touched by\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nanything. All creatures seek outside themselves, in one another,\nwhat they lack. God does not. God does not look outside him-\nself : everything that creatures have God has entire in him ; he\nis the floor, the roof of ereatures. True, one is prior to another\ndown to the very last, one being born before another : though\nereature gives not of her being to him, yet she keeps some of his.\nGod is a simple presence, a stay-at-home in himself. With any\ncreature, as regards her noble nature, the more she sits at home\nthe more of herself she gives out. A common stone, like limestone,\nfor example, gives itself out a stone and nothing more. But a\nprecious stone, this has great power because of something in it,\nsome interior fastness wherein it rears its head and, so to speak,\npeers out. According to the masters, no creature is so stay-at-\nhome as body and soul, nor goes so far afield as the soul's highest\npart.\n\nHe says, ' I saw a lamb standing.' From which we learn four\nthings. First, the lamb is fed and clothed and that in goodly\nfashion, which to our mind looks as though we, having gotten so\nmuch from God and that so goodly, arc bound to seek in all we do\nonly his honour and his glory. Again, the lamb stood. It is good\nfor friend to stand by friend. God stands by us, is standing by us,\nsteady and unmoved. He says : ' There stood with him a multi-\ntude, each having written in his forehead his name and the name of\nhis Father.' liCt at least God's name be written in us. We must\nbear God's image in us and liis light must lighten us, if we would\nbe John.\n\nXXV\n\nTHE LORD HATH SENT HIS ANGEL\n\nNunc scio vere, quia misii doininus angelum swum {Act\nFreed from his prison bonds by the power of the supreme God,\nPeter exclaims, ' Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent\nhis angel and hath delivered me out of the power of Herod, out of\nthe hand of the enemy.'\n\nWe will reverse the words and say, ' The Lord hath sent his\nangel, therefore I know of a surety.' Peter symbolises intuition.\nAs I have often said, intuition and intellect do not unify the soul\nin God. Intellect is a matter of pure being. Intuition, its fore-\nrunner, goes ahead and penetrates to what is born there : God's\nonc-begotten Son. Our Lord declares, in Matthew, that no one\nknows the Father but the Son. Now, philosophers say under-\nstanding lies in likeness. Some of them say the soul is made of all\nthings since she is capable of understanding all things. That sounds\nridiculous, but it is true. They say that anything I know must\n\nbe wholly present to me in the likeness of my understanding.\nBut according to the saints, power is in the Father, likeness in\nthe Son and union in the Holy Ghost. Hence, if the Father is all\npresent to the Son and the Son is all-to like him, therefore no one\nknows the Father but the Son.\n\nPeter says, ' Now I know of a surety.' Why does he know of\na surety ? Because it is divine light which does not deceive.\nAnd because we see in it quite clearly without anything to hide\nthe view. Paul says concerning it : ' God dwells in light inacces-\nsible.' Doctors declare that the wisdom we learn here stays with\nus yonder. St Paul says it will go. A philosopher once said,\n' Real knowledge, even in this body, is intrinsically so delightful\nthat the sum-total of created things is nothing to the joys of pure\nperception.' Yet noble though it be, it is but contingent ; as\none small word to all the world even thus insignificant is all the\nwisdom we learn here compared with the whole and perfect truth.\nLook you. Paul says it goes. And even if it stayed it would turn\nto foolishness and be as nothing to the actual truth we see.\nThirdly, we surely know, for things seen here as changing we see\nas changeless there where we get them as a whole and indivisible,\napproximately one, things widely sundered here being close together\nthere where all things are at hand : both the first day and the last\narc happening at the present instant yonder.\n\n' Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel.'\nWhen the Lord sends his angel to the soul she becomes sure-\nknowing. Not unjustly God ordained Peter should keep the\nkey. For Peter stands for intuition, and it is intuition with the\nkey that unlocks and goes in and finds God face to face, whereupon\nshe notifies her find to her partner, will, she having had the will\nbefore, for what I will I seek. Perception leads the way. It is\nthe princess seeking the prince upon the mountain- top, in virgin\nrealms ; she proclaims him to the soul and soul to nature and nature\nto the passions of the body. So noble is the soul at her highest\nand her best, the doctors cannot find her any name. They call\nher anima because she animates the body.\n\nTheologians say that next to the first emanation of the Godhead,\nwhen the Son breaks out of the Father, his angel is most like to\nGod. True, soul is like to God in her highest part, but this angel\nis even more like God. All that belongs to this angel is godlike.\nThe angel was sent to the soul to bring her back to the very same\nform wherein he is formed, for knowledge comes by likeness. The\nsoul is capable of knowing all things and she never rests till she\nattains her original form wherein all things are one ; it is there she\nrests, in God. In God one creature is no better than another.\nAccording to the masters, being and knowing are the same, for\n\n76 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nthings that are not are not known and things that are most are\nmost known. God has transcendent being, so he transcends all\nknowing, as I said in my first sermon two days back. The soul,\ninformed with primitive light, sealed with the seal of pure being,\nsmacking of God prior to truth and gnosis, with every named nature\nsloughed away : the soul (I say) at this stage of all-perfect know-\nledge has gotten being to match. As St Paul says, ' God dwells\nin light inaccessible.' He hangs suspended in his own pure being\nwhereto naught is attached. He is merely a presence in himself,\nwhere neither this nor that exists, for what is in God is God.\n\nA heathen says. They that hang under God arc hanging in God,\nand while having real subsistence in themselves do yet impend in\nhim who has neither end nor beginning, for in God nothing alien\nbetides. Heaven affords us an example. It never takes in aliens\nas aliens. And by the same token, what gets to God is changed :\nhowever vile it be, on bringing it to God it sheds its self. For in-\nstance, I may have wisdom but not be it. I can gain wisdom and\ncan also lose it. But what is God's is God ,* it cannot leave him.\nIt is implanted in God's nature ; God's nature being so stable\nthat anything to do with it is settled in it once for all or always\nstops outside. Now reflect and marvel I If God converts vile\nthings into himself, how ween ye he will treat the soul, which he\nhas dignified with his own image ?\n\nXXVI\n\nTHE FEAST OF THE VIRGIN\n\nJEmulor enim vos dei cemulatione etc, {2 Cor. llg). In the name\nof our Lord. We read on the Feast of the Virgin the words of St\nPaul, ' I have espoused you to one husband, Christ, rejuvenant.'\nThe masters ask, ' Has the Son been born ? ' We say, no !\nThe masters ask, ' Is the Son going to be born ? ' We say, no I\nThe masters are answered : the Son is fully born, he is being born\nanew unceasingly. St Paul says, ' Christ is the power of God and\nthe wisdom of God.' His power is his wisdom and his wisdom is his\npower. Christ is the man whose youth is perennially renewed.\n\nNow St Paul says, 'To this man I have espoused you.' For\nas marriage between man and wife is binding, so there is eternal\nmarriage between your souls and God. A maid is given to a man\nhoping to bear his child. And God did make the soul intending\nher to bear in her his one-begotten Son. The happening of this\nbirth in Mafy ghostly was to God better pleasing than his being\nbom of her in flesh. And this same birth to-day in the God-loving\nsoul delights God more than his creation of the heavens and earth.\n\nThe philosophers say the soul is bigger than the heavens. St\nJohn says : ' He who sat upon the throne declared, \" Behold,\nI make all things new.\" ' Now, according to St Augustine, ' God's\nspeaking is his child-bearing and his child-birth is his Word.' God\nspake never a word but one and that he holds so dear that he will\nnever say another. If God stopped saying his Word, but for an\ninstant even, heaven and earth would disappear. Augustine says :\n' As the marriage of man and woman is for good and all, so is the\nmarriage of the soul.' The highest power of the soul, the one for\never straining up to God, is called the man. The lower power, the\none that is condemned to wander among mortals, is the maid.\nThe higher power, the man, goes all uncovered. But the lower\npower, the maid, is closely veiled and this lower power is taken\nto the higher. To this nature it belongs to be always active. It tries\nall the time, father-like, to beget ; and were it not prevented, a son\nwould be always being born as with the heavenly Father. But\nwhat God does of his free gift (man's) nature hinders and a girl is\nborn ; but were there neither time nor place nor matter, man would\nrejuvenate himself as the Son does the Father, always.\n\nGod said : ' Behold I make all things fruitful.' Then why am\nI myself not fruitful ? God first bears his image in the God-loving\nsoul and afterwards himself. If God gave himself to the soul here\nin time she would be vexed. So he gives her himself in eternity,\nin the perennial now, up-springing freshly without ceasing. She\nis too curious to rest until she finds her source. This is quite\nplain from Philip's words : ' Show us the Father and we shall be\nsatisfied.' As the eternal Son of God comes welling up in his\npaternal heart, so he wells up in the God-loving soul. Mortal\nthings work outwardly, ghostly things work inwardly. The soul\nthis birth once happens in, that soul is nigh let into God ; if it\nhappens twice she gets still more into God. The more frequent\nthis birth the deeper in God and the closer knit into the Father's\nheart. This birth transcends here and now. Here^ that is, place ;\nnoWy that is, time. It befalls in eternity. May we, being born in\nhim, enable him to bear himself in us. So help us Father, Son and\nHoly Ghost. Amen.\n\nXXVII\n\nREJOICE IN THE LORD\n\nGaudete in dominie iterum gaudete etc, {Philip, 44). St Paul says :\n' Rejoice in the Lord and have no more care : the Lord is present\nwith your thoughts which are known unto God in prayer and thanks-\ngiving.' ' Rejoice in the Lord alway,' he says. Jerome declares\nthat none receives knowledge nor wisdom nor honour from God\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nexcept he be a virtuous man. No virtuous man is he who, changing\nnot his ways, docs not receive from God knowledge and wisdom\nand joy. He says again : ' Rejoice in the Lord.' Not in our\nLord but in the I^ord. I have repeatedly explained that God's\nlordship consists not alone in his being lord of all creatures : his\nlordship consists in having the power to create a thousand worlds\nand to transcend them every one in his pure essence : therein lies\nhis lordship.\n\n' Rejoice in the Lord (alway),' he says. And here we note two\nprecepts. First, that we must remain all within in the Lord, not\nlooking for him outside whether in knowledge or in love : simply\nrejoice within in the Lord. The other precept is : rejoice in his\ninnermost in his first, whence all things get their joy and take their\nbeing. That is the meaning of ' Rejoice alway.' As St Augustine\nhath it, ' He rejoices all the time who is rejoicing above time and\ntimelcssly.' Then he goes on to say: 'Have no more care. The\nLord is present, is at hand.' The soul must needs cast off all\ncare what time she is rejoicing in the Lord, leastwise on her union\nwith God. And hence his words, ' Have no more care : the Lord\nis present, he is nigh.' In other words, God is with us in our\ninmost soul, provided he find us within and not gone out on business\nwith our five senses. The soul must stop at home in her innermost,\npurest self ; be ever within and not flying out : there God is present,\nGod is nigh.\n\nAnother meaning of the particle by which he employs. He is in\nhimself, not going far out but remaining all by himself. Quoth\nDavid ; ' Rejoice, my soul, O Lord, for unto thee have I lifted her\nup.' The soul must put forth all her strength to lift herself above\nherself and be translated beyond time and place into the void\nwhere God is in and by himself, not going out nor eke in touch with\nany outside thing. Jerome remarks that ' God can no more have\nrecourse to time and temporal things than stones can have angelic\nwisdom.' He says: 'The Lord is nigh.' Quoth David: 'God\nis nigh unto all them that call upon him, that call upon him in\ntruth and invoke him.' How to call upon him, to call upon him\nin truth, to invoke him, that I leave aside. But he uses the words\n' in truth.' The Son alone is the truth and not the Father, save\nin the sense that they are one truth in their essence. That is\ntruth which reveals what I have in my heart without likeness.\nThis revelation is truth. The Son alone is the truth. The whole\ncontent of the Father's love he speaks at once in his Son. This\nutterance, this act, is the truth.\n\nHe goes on to say : ' Your thoughts arc known unto him in the\nLord,' i.e. in this truth with the Father. Faith inheres in in-\ntellectual light and sight in the combative faculty which is always\n\naspiring to the highest and the purest : to the truth, where God is\nin himself. I have sometimes said, watch me these souls : their\npower is too free, too passionate to bear restraint of any kind.\n\nXXVIII\n\nTHE ANGEL GABRIEL WAS SENT^\n\nMissus est Gabriel angelus etc. {Luc. Ige). St Luke says in his\ngospel, ' the angel was sent from God into a land called Galilee,\ninto a town called Nazareth, to a virgin called Mary, who was of\nthe house of David.' According to Bede, the theologian, this was\nthe beginning of our salvation. I have said before and say again\nthat everything our Lord has ever done he did simply to the end\nthat God miglit be with us and that we might be one with him,\nand that is the reason why God was made man. The masters say\nthat God was ever being born in our Lady ghostly ere ever he\nwas born of her in flesh, and from the overflow of that begetting\nwherein the heavenly Father begat his one-begotten Son within\nher soul the eternal Word received its human nature in her and she\nbecame with carnal child.\n\nHe says, ' the angel was sent from God.' The soul would scorn\nto have the angelic light were it not sent to her from God ; if\nthere were not concealed in it the light of God to make the angel's\nlight detectable, she would have none of it.\n\nHe says, ' the angel.' What is an angel ? Three doctors give\nthree different definitions of what an angel is. Dionysius says,\nAn angel is a mirror without flaw and passing clear containing the\nreflection of God's light. Augustine says, An angel is nigh unto\nGod and matter is nigh unto him. John Damascene says. An\nangel is a reflection of God and through all that is his there is\nshining the image of God. The soul has this image in her summit\nwhereon the light of God for ever shines. This is his first definition\nof an angel. Later on he calls him a dividing sword, aflame with\ndivine desire, and, he adds, ' angels are free and inimical to matter.'\n\nHe says, ' the angel was sent from God.' What for ? Accord-\ning to Dionysius, an angel has three functions. First, he purifies,\nnext he enlightens, and lastly he perfects. He purifies the soul\nfrom stain, i.e. he purges her from matter and gathers her together\nto herself, cleansing her from foulness as one angel does another.\nThen he enlightens her in twofold fashion. Divine light is so\noverwhelming that the soul is unable to bear it unless it is tempered\nin the angel's light and so conveyed into the soul. He enlightens\n\n^ See also Sievera' No. 2.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nher therefore by reflection. The angel conveys his own knowledge\nto the soul and strengthens her in this way to bear the light of God.\n\nIf I were in a wilderness alone and was afraid, the presence of a\nchild would dissipate my dread and give me courage, so noble,\nso blithe a thing is life. Failing a child, a beast would comfort me.\nHence necromancers use an animal, a dog (for instance), the\nanimal's vitality invigorating them. Knowledge is power. The\nangel conveyed it to the soul in preparation for the light of God.\n\nHe says, ' the angel was sent from God.' The soul must be like\nan angel in the ways that I have named if the Son is to be sent to\nher and born in her. But there remains the question of how the\nangel perfects her. May God send his angel to us. So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nXXIX\n\nTHE ANGEL GABRIEL WAS SENT\n\nMissus est Gabriel angelus (Luc. Ige). ' In time the angel\nGabriel was sent from God.' In what time ? In the sixth month,\nJohn being then quick within his mother's womb. When anyone\nasks me, Why do we pray or why do we fast or do our work\nwithal, I say, So that God may be born in our souls. What were\nthe scriptures written for and why did God create the world and the\nangelic nature ? Simply that God might be born in the soul.\nAll cereal nature means wheat, all treasure nature means gold,\nall generation means man. As the philosopher says. No animal\nexists but has somewhat in common with mankind in time. First\nof all when a word is conceived in my mind it is a subtle, intangible\nthing ; it is true word when it takes shape in my thought. Later,\nas spoken aloud by my mouth, it is but an outward expression of the\ninterior word. Even so the eternal Word is spoken in the inner-\nmost and purest recesses of the soul, in the summit of her rational\nnature, and there befalls this birth. Whoso has nothing more than\na firm belief in and lively conviction of this will be glad to know\nhow this birth comes to pass and what conduces to it.\n\nSt Paul says : ' In the fullness of time God sent his Son.'\nSt Augustine was asked what it meant, this fullness of time. It is\nthe fullness (or end) of the day when the day is done : then the\nday is over. Certain it is that there is no time where this birth\nbefalls, for nothing hinders this birth so much as time and creature.\nIt is an obvious fact that time affects neither God nor the soul.\nDid time touch the soul she would not be soul. If God were\naffected by time he would not be God. Further, if time could\ntouch the soul, then God could not be bom in her. The soul\nwherein God is born must have escaped from time, and time must\n\nhave dropped away from her ; she must be absolutely one in will\nand desire.\n\nAnother fullness of time. If someone had the knowledge and the\npower to gather up the time and all the happenings of these six\nthousand years and all that is to come ere the world ends to boot,\nall this, summed up into one present now, would be the fullness of\ntime. This is the now of eternity, when the soul knows all things\nin God, as new and fresh and lovely as I find them now at present.\nThe narrowest of the powers of my soul is more than heaven wide.\nTo say nothing of the intellect wherein there is measureless space,\nwherein I am as near a place a thousand miles away as the spot I\nam standing on this moment. Theologians teach that the angel\nhosts are countless, the number of them cannot be conceived.\nBut to one who sees distinctions apart from multiplicity and\nnumber, to him, I say, a hundred is as one. Were there a\nhundred Persons in the Godhead he would still perceive them\nas one God.\n\nAs regards the angels. The angels, of whatever rank, abet and\nassist at God's birth in the soul ; that is to say, they have satisfac-\ntion, they delight and rejoice in this birth. Nothing is wrought\nby the angels : the birth is due to God alone and anything that\nministers thereto is work of service. May God be born in us, So\nhelp us God. Amen.\n\nXXX\n\n'VISION IS THE WHOLE REWARD'\n\nBeatus es, Simon Bariona, quia caro et sanguis non revelavit tibi^\nsed pater meus, qui in coelis est {Matt, I617). ' Blessed art thou,\n\nSimon Peter,' says our Lord, ' for flesh and blood have not\nrevealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven.' St Peter\nhas four names : Peter and Barjona and Simon and Cephas.\nOur Lord says, ' Blessed (or happy) art thou.' Everyone desires\nhappiness. As the philosopher hath it. All men desire to be.\nHence St Augustine's dictum, The good man wants no praise,\nhe wants to be praiseworthy. And our own doctors teach withal\nthat virtue is so pure, so wholly abstract and detached from corporal\nthings in the ground and summit of its nature that nothing what-\never can occur therein without defiling virtue and introducing\nvice. The least thought or suggestion of self-seeking and it is not\nvirtue : it is turned to vice. Such is virtue by nature.\n\nA heathen philosopher says, Virtue, except for virtue's sake, is in\nuo wise a virtue.^ If its object is 'praise or aught else, that is.\n\na\n\n82 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nbartering virtue. Genuine virtuJ^s not to be sold for anything\non earth. Wherefore the good man seeks no praise : he seeks to\nbe praiseworthy. It is not the chiding that we ought to mind\nbut the fact of deserving to be chidden.\n\n^ Blessed art thou,' quoth our Lord. Beatitude lies in four\nthings. To have all that has being and is lustily to be desired and\nbrings delight ; to have it all at once and whole in the undivided\nsoul and that in God, revealed in its perfection, in its flower, where\nit first burgeons forth in the ground of its existence, and all con-\nceived where God is conceiving himself— that is happiness. The\nname Peter means seer of God. Now, theologians question whether\nthe kernel of external life lies more in intellect or will. Will has\ntwo operations : desire and love. Intellect, with its simple\nfunction, is therefore better ; its work is understanding, and it\nnever stops till it gets a naked hold on what it sees. Withal it\nnins ahead of will and tells it what to love. We desire a thing\nwhile as yet we do not possess it. When we have it we love it :\ndesire then falling away.\n\nWhat must a man be to see God ? He must be dead. ' No\nman can see me and live,' said our Lord. Now St Gregory says,\n' That man is dead who is dead to the world.' Ye can judge for\nyourselves how dead one may be and how little can touch us the\nthings of this world. By dying to this world we do not die to God.\nSt Augustine prayed a variety of prayers. ' Grant me, Lord,'\nhe said, ' to know both thee and me.' ' O Lord, have mercy\nupon me and show me thy face and grant me that I die not until\nI eternally behold thee.' This is the first point ; one must be\ndead to see God. So much for the first name, Peter.\n\nOne philosopher says, were there no means we should sec the\nbeloved in heaven. But another one says, were there no means\nwe should see nothing. Both of them are right. The colour on\nthe wall which is carried to my eye is filtered and refined in the\nair and in the light and transmitted in a pure state to my eye.\nEven so the soul must be strained by light and grace before it can\nsee God. So rather is that master right who said that without\nmeans we should not see at all. But the other one is also right\nwho said that without means we should see the beloved in heaven.\nFor the soul would see God naked if there were nothing between.\n\nThe second name, Barjona, signifies a son of grace, in whom the\nsoul, clarified and sublimed, is meet for the vision of God.\n\nThe third name is Simon. That is to say, one who listens, one\nwho obeys. To hear God one must be divorced from the world.\nDavid says, ' I will be still and listen to what God is saying in me.'\nHe pronounces peace in his Word, on his saints, on his people,\non all such as commune with their heart. Happy the man who is\n\nbusy attending to what God is saying in him. He is directly\nsubject to the divine light-ray. The soul that stands with all her\npowers under the light of God is fired and inflamed with divine love.\nThe divine light shines straight in from above, and a perpendicular\nsun on one's head is a thing that few can survive. Yet the highest\npower of the soul, her head, is held erect beneath this shaft of godly\nlight so that there can shine in this light divine which I have oft\ndescribed as being so bright, so overwhelming, so transcendent,\nthat all lights are but darkness in comparison with this light. All\ncreatures, as so being, are as naught ; dowsed in the light wherein\nthey get their being they are aught. IIow noble soever the natural\nmind yet to reach, to grasp God without means the soul must\npossess these six qTialifications I speak of.\n\nFirst, she is dead to changing things. Next, she is well clarified\nin light and grace. Thirdly, she is without means. Fourthly,\nshe hears God's Word in her heart. Fifth, she is under the\ndivine light. The sixth is the heathen philosopher's definition\nof happiness : one perpetual ascension and vision of beatitude\nin God. Where the Son himself is understanding, in his first\nleaping forth, there in God's highest we too shall understand.\nWherefore it behoves us to keep our head turned steadfastly\nthat way.\n\nCephas means a head. Understanding is the head of the soul.\nThe superficial notion is that love stands first. Rut the soundest\narguments expressly state (what is the truth) that the kernel of\neternal life lies rather in knowledge than in love. This mark, for\nour best masters say, will no special thing, and lo ! intellect, under-\nstanding, this flics straight up to God. Love turns to the loved :\nshe finds there what is good. Intellect seizes the cause of the good.\nHoney is sweeter in itself than anything we make from it. Love\ntakes God as being sweet, but intellect goes deeper and conceives\nGod as being. ' Blessed art thou, Simon Peter,' quoth our Lord.\nTo the righteous man God gives divine being, and calls him by the\nname which is appropriate to that being. Thus he goes on to\nspeak of ' my Father which is in heaven.' Among names none\nis more appropriate than He-who-is. That one should recognise a\nthing and simply say, it is, would seem absurd ; call it a stone, a\nbit of wood, and we know what that means. But suppose every-\nthing detached, abstracted, pared away, and nothing left except\nthe is ; that is the characteristic nature of his name. Our Lord\npromised his disciples, ' My followers shall sit at my table in my\nFather's kingdom, and shall eat my meat and drink my drink\nwhich my Father hath prepared for me.' Happy is the wight\nwho has attained to receiving with the Son just where the Son\nreceives. Right there we too shall find our happiness, and there in\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhis felicity, there where he has his being, in that same ground his\nfriends shall all behold and thence shall draw their happiness.\nThat is the table in God's kingdom. May We approach that table.\nSo help us God. Amen.\n\nXXXI\n\nTHE MAN IN THE SOUL\n\nVir mens serous tuus mortuus est {4 Reg. 4j_7). The woman\nsaid to the prophet, 'My husband thy servant is dead and the\ncreditors are come to take my two sons as bondsmen for the debt,\nfor I have nothing but a drop of oil.' Then said the prophet, ' Go\nborrow empty vessels and pour a little in : it will increase and\nmultiply and will pay thy debt and release thy sons. Thou and\nthy children can live on the rest.'\n\nThe spark {i.e. the intellect, the head of the soul), the so-called\nhusband of the soul, is none other than a spark of the divine\nnature, a divine light, a ray, an imprint of divinity. A woman\nbegged our Lord for the water which he gives. Whoso drinks\nof this shall never thirst. Theologians say, the best gift of God\nis the Holy Ghost wherein God bestows all his grace and favour,\nhis living water, namely. ' Whom I give this to shall never thirst.'\nThis water is grace and light upspringing in the soul to everlasting\nlife.\n\nThe woman said, ' Sir, give me of this water.' And our Lord\nreplied, ' Bring me thine husband.' She said, ' I have no\nhusband.' Quoth our Lord, ' Tliou hast well said ; thou hast not\none, thou hast had five, and he whom now thou hast is not thine\nhusband.' St Augustine asks : ' Why docs our Lord reply,\n\" Thou hast well said \" ? ' What he means is this : thy five senses,\nthese are the five husbands thou hadst in thy youth, after thine\nown heart ; now in thine age thou hast one, not thine own :\nintellect, namely, and this thou dost not obey. When the man\nin the soul, the intellect, is dead, unchecked evil prevails. To\nseparate soul and body is bad enough, but for the soul to be divorced\nfrom God, that is a far worse matter. As the soul is the life of the\nbody so God is the life of the soul. As the soul suffuses our\nmembers so God suffuses the powers of the soul and is passed on by\nthem in goodness and love to everything round that they may be\naware of him as flowing all the time, i.e. above time, in eternity\nand in the life they live.\n\nThe woman said, ' Sir, my husband thy servant is dead.'\nSerous means one who receives, receiving another's ; one who\nkeeps and keeps for another. To keep for himself would make\n\nhim a thief. Intellect is a servant, more so than will is or love.\nWill and love fall on God as being good : were he not good they\nwould ignore him. But intellect pierces right through into\nessence, reckless of goodness, of power, of wisdom, of things\naccidental whatever they be and added to God. Not looking for\nthese she gets them in him when, merged into his essence, she knows\nGod simply as existence. What though he be not good nor just,\nyet she enjoys him as pure being. Here intellect is like the highest\nrank of angels of which there are three choirs. The Thrones\nreceive God into them and preserve God in themselves. In the\nCherubim God rests; they sec God continually. The Seraphim\nare ardent (burning) : like to these is the God-bearing intellect.\nWith these angels the intellect spies God, in his vestibule, naked,\nas one without difference.\n\nQuoth the woman, ' Sir, my husband thy servant is dead, and\nthe creditors have come for my two sons.' What arc the two\nsons of the soul ? St Augustine, and with him a heathen doctor,\nspeaks of the two faces of the soul. One is turned towards this\nworld and towards the body, in this she works virtue and wisdom.\nThe other face gazes straight into God ; the divine light is always\nin it, and this tells upon it unless, through being from home, she\nhas it unawares. When the spark of the intellect carries right into\nGod, then the man is alive. The birth lakes place. Not once a\nyear it happens nor yet once a month nor once a day but all the\ntime, beyond time, in the open, where there is neither here nor now\nnor thought nor nature. That is why we speak of sons, not\ndaughters.\n\nNow, to speak of the two sons in another sense. As under-\nstanding and will. Understanding leaps out of the intellect first\nand is afterwards followed by will, from them both. But no more\nof this. — These two sons of intellect may be taken in yet another\nway. One as power, the other as actuality. One heatlicn doctor\nsays that it is in this power the soul becomes all things, ideally.\nIn her actuality she is, like the Father, making all things new.\nIt pleased God to seal her in the nature of all creatures : before\nthe world when she existed not. God wrought this whole world\nghostly in every single angel before he made the world itself. An\nangel has two understandings. The one is morning light, the other\nis the evening light. In the morning light he sees everything in\nGod. In the evening light he sees things in the light of his own\nnature. When he goes out into things it grows night. So long\nas he remains within he has the evening light. We say that the\nangels rejoice when a man becomes good. But, our best doctors\nask, do the angels also repine when a man commits sin ? We say :\nNo ; they see into the justice of God and enjoy all things therein\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nas they are in God. Therefore they do not repine. Intellect in\nits potential power is like the angel's natural light, i,e. the evening\nlight. With her actual power she raises all things up into God,\nwhere all things are bathed in the morning light.\n\nQuoth the woman, ' The creditors are come to seize my two sons\nfor their slaves.' Then said the prophet, ' Go borrow empty\nvessels from thy neighbours.' These neighbours mean all\ncreatures and the five senses and the powers of the soul with her\ninterior faculties which work in secret and are angels. From all\nthese neighbours borrow empty vessels. Let us borrow empty\nvessels ; these filled with heavenly wisdom will give us means to\npay our debt and, on the rest, to live eternally. So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nXXXII 1\n\nTHE SOUL SPARK\n\nHomo quidam fecit coenam magnum {Luc, St Luke relates\n\nin his gospel how ' a certain man gave a great supper or evening\nentertainment.' Who makes it ? A certain man. What does\nhe mean by calling it a supper ? One master says this betokens\ngreat affection, seeing none arc bidden save the intimates of God.\n* When we give a morning party all and sundry are invited but\nto an evening meal wc invite important people, the people that we\nlike and our own familiar friends.* Secondly, he has in mind how\nperfect are those souls who enjoy this evening meal. The evening\nnever comes without a whole day having gone before. Were there\nno sun there were no day. Sunrise, that is morning light which\ngoes on getting brighter up to middle-day. Just as the divine\nlight rising in the soul gradually eclipses the powers of the soul\nuntil the advent of the noon. No day, no spiritual day, at all\ncan dawn within the soul except she receive divine light. * Divine\nlight breaks into the soul and makes her morning, and the soul\nmounts up in this light into space, to the zenith at high noon.*\nThirdly, he implies that to take this supper worthily we have to\ncome at evening. When the light of this world fails it is the\nevening. As King David sings, ' He riseth in the evening and\nHis name it is the Lord I ' So Jacob at eventide did lay him\ndown to sleep. This betokens peace of mind. Fourthly, he\nremembers, as St Gregory points out, that after supper there comes\nno other meal. * When the spark in the soul takes in divine light\nit needs no other sustenance but keeps ever to this divine light.*\n\n^ See also Jostes, Nos. 1 and 0 ; and Spainer's Texte, A. 4 (3 versions), from\nwhich the starred passages are added.\n\nTo whom God grants this provender, so fragrant, so delicious, that\nsoul shall never relish any other fare.\n\nSt Augustine says, ' God is of such a nature that once embracing\nhim we can never rest elsewhere.' St Augustine says, ' Lord, so\nthou take from us thyself, grant us then another thee or we shall\nhave no rest ; we have no mind for aught but thee.' One holy\nman says of the God-loving soul, that she gets out of God whatsoever\nshe will, befooling him so thoroughly he can deny her not a thing\nthere is. He took himself in one way and gave himself another\nway: he took himself God-and-man and gave himself God-and-\nMan, another self in a mystic vessel. Very precious hallows arc\nnot wantonly exposed to public gaze and touch. So he clad him-\nself in the frock of the appearance of bread, even as my bodily\nfood is altered in my soul, which is not in my nature for an instant\nwithout combining with it. For there is a power in nature which\nseparates the base and throws it out, and the high invades the\nlow to the last needle-point and is embodied in it. The things I\nate a fortnight since are every bit as much united with my soul as\nwhat I did receive within my mother's womb. Whoso takes this\nfood fasting becomes as truly one therewith as flesh and blood\narc with my soul.\n\nThere was a certain man ; the man had not a name because\nthis man is God.\n\nThe philosopher affirms concerning the first cause that it\ntranscends speech. All words fail. Because of the surpassing\npureness of its nature. We have but three ways of speaking about\nthings : first, in terms of things above them ; second, of their likes ;\nand thirdly, of the works of the things. To give you an example.\nThe power of the sun draws up the precious sap out of the roots\ninto the shoots and brings it out in flower, here the solar power\nbeing above it. * As wc say of the tree, so we say of the things\nabove the tree ; of the sun, for example, which is working in the\ntree.* Likewise I say the divine light is working in the soul.\n* The spark in the soul being drawn up in this light and in the\nHoly Ghost and borne aloft to its first source. But nothing true\ncan be spoken of God, because there is nothing above him.*\nThat the soul expresses God does not in anywise affect his real\nintrinsic being : no one can express what he actually is. Some-\ntimes we say one thing is like another. * We can say nothing of\nGod because nothing is like him.* Creatures enclose a mere\nnothing of God wherefore they cannot disclose him. The painter\nwho has painted a good portrait therein shows his art : it is not\nhimself that it reveals to us. Creatures can no more give out God\nthan they can take in exactly what he is.\n\nThe God-and-Man has prepared this supper, the ineffable man\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nwho is wordless. According to St Augustine, what we say about\nGod is not true and the things that we say not are true. Things\nwe say that God is he is not ; what we say he is not that he is\nrather than what we say that he is.\n\nWho has prepared this repast ? A man, the man who is God.\nKing David says, ' O Lord, how great and manifold is thy enter-\ntainment, the sweets that are laid up for them that love thee ! '\n(Not ' them that fear thee.') St Augustine meditating on this\nfood, regarded it with loathing and distaste, when lo! he heard\na voice from within, ' I am the food of the great, wax and grow\ngreat * eating me ; nor ween not that I shall be turned into thee :\nthou shalt be turned into me.* When God works in the fiery heat\nthe diverse things within the soul sublime and burn away. By\nthe absolute truth ! soul enters more into God than any food into\nus ; nay, the soul is changed into God. There is a power in\nthe soul which splits off what is base and is absorbed into God.\nTo wit, the spark of the soul. My soul becomes more one with God\nthan food does with my soul.\n\nWho has prepared this evening meal ? A man. Dost know\nhis name ? * Not I. His name is not spoken. He is more\nsilence than speech. He is above name. What food has\nhe prepared for this feast ? Himself, no less than himself.*\n(What does the servant mean ?) According to St Gregory the\nservant means preachers. And in another sense the servant\nmeans the angels, *thc angels ever calling us with interior\nvoice.* Thirdly, methinks this servant is the spark of the soul,\nwhich is sent there by God and is his light striking down from\nabove, the reflection (or image) of his divine nature and ever opposed\nto anything ungodly : not a power of the soul, as some theologians\nmake it, but a permanent tendency to good ; aye, even in hell it is\ninclined to good. According to the masters, this light is of the\nnature of unceasing effort ; it is called syndcresis, that is to say,\na joining to and turning from. It has two works. One is remorse\nfor imperfection. The other work consists in ever more invoking\ngood and bringing it direct into the soul, even though she be in\nhell. It is a great supper. He said to the servant, ' Go out and\ncompel them to come in, those that are bidden, for all things are\nnow ready.' All that he is the soul receives. What the soul\ndesires is now prepared. The things God gives have always\nbeen. Behold them new and fresh and all at once in the eternal\nnow.\n\nA gr^at philosopher declares that anything I see comes into my\neyes purified and ghostly, and the light that comes into my eyes\nwould never get into my soul but for a power above it. * There\nis a power in sight which is superior to the eyes set in the head\n\nand more far-reaching than the heavens and earth. This power\nseizes all the things that come into the eye^ and bears them up\ninto the soul.* St Augustine says the spark comes nigher to\nthe truth than any human knowledge, flight burns. They say\nthat one is lighted from another. If so, the light is higher than the\nthing that burns. For instance, take a taper, extinguished but\nstill glimmering and smoking, and hold it to the light ; this will\nglance down and light the other. They say one fire burns another.\nBut I traverse that. Fire, I ween, does burn itself. For one thing\nto burn another it must needs be above it, like heaven, for example,\nwhich burns not and is cold ; natheless it sets on fire and that by\ndint of contact with the angels. For this the soul prepares by\npractice. Then she is fired from above. By the angelic light.\nHe says to the servant, ' Go out and say to them that were\nbidden, Come, for all things arc now ready.* Then one said,\n\n' I have bought a piece of ground, I cannot come.' These arc\nthey who still have worldly cares ; they never taste this supper.\nA second said, ' I have bought five yoke of oxen.' These\nfive yoke, I fancy, stand for the five senses, for each sense is self\nand other and the very tongue is double. So in my story yesterday,\nwhen God said to the woman, ' Bring me thy husband,' she replied,\n\n' I have none.' Whereupon quoth he, ' Thou sayest truly :\nthou hast had five, and him whom now thou hast is not thine\nhusband.' The moral is that those who live the life of the five\nsenses never taste this food. The third one said, ' I have married\na wife, therefore 1 cannot come.' The soul is all-to single when she\nturns to God. As glancing down in this direction she is woman ;\nbut as seeing God in himself and visiting God at home she is the\nman. Of old it was forbidden to men to dress in woman's clothes\nor women man's. She is man when she penetrates into God,\nimpartibly and without means. But when she peers forth at all\nshe is woman. * As I have repeatedly said, the man in the soul\nis the intellect. When the soul looks straight up to God with her\nmind then the soul is the man, she is one and not two. But\nthinking and glancing down she dons female dress.* Quoth\nour liOrd, ' Verily, these shall not taste of my supper ' ; and he\ncommanded the servant, ' Go out into the streets and the lanes,\ninto the highways and hedges — the narrower the wider and hedged\nabout.' * For the more recollected the soul the less scattered\nshe is and the more concentrated the wider her ken.* And\nsome of her powers arc hedged into one sense. The power I\nsee with I do not hear with, nor with my power of hearing can I\nsee. So with the rest (of the five senses). But on the other hand,\nthe soul exists entire in every member; there is some power,\ntherefore, not confined to place at all.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nWhat is the servant ? Angels and preachers (so says St Gregory).\nBut, as it seems to irie, the servant is a symbol of the spark. He\nsays to the servant, ' Go out into the hedges and drive in thither\nthese four kinds of folk : the poor and the maimed and the halt\nand the blind : Verily, none other shall taste of my supper.'\nLet us throw off those three and rise up man, So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nAPPENDIX 1\nSynderesis\n\nOxford MS.\n\nThe meat and drink I took\na fortnight since has turned\ninto my blood, my flesh, my\nnature. That is due to the\npower of the soul which brings\nit into my nature ; it is as truly\none with me as what was born\nwith me.\n\nSo does the power of the\nHoly Ghost take the purest and\nlightest and highest and the\nspark of the soul and carry it\nup in the fire of love. Just like\nthe sun's power ; this lays hold\nin the roots of the tree of what\nis most pure and essential,\ndrawing it up into the branches\nwhere it flowers. Even so is\nthe spark of the soul being\nalways drawn up in the light\nand in the Holy Ghost and\nconveyed into its source,\nbecoming all-to one with God\nand searching him so throughly\nthat it is more the same as\nGod than food is with my\nlife.\n\nI say it is the light up in the\nsoul where the soul nature\n\nMark first in St Andrew his\nsingleness of life and spiritual\nattainments whereby his soul\nwas enabled, in her intellect,\nto ascend in the grace of God\nabove all creatures into God.\n\nFor the power of the Holy\nGhost seizes the very highest\nand purest, the spark of the\nsoul, and carries it up in the\nflame of love. Just as the\npower of the sun takes what is\npurest and subtlest out of the\nroots of the tree and draws it\ninto the branches where it is in\nflower. Likewise the soul-spark\nis conveyed aloft into its source\nand is absorbed into God and is\nidentified with God and is the\nspiritual light of God.\n\nThere are two lights in the\nsoul, one is a light up in the\n\n^ See Zuchhold, No. 26. Turallel passages from an Oxford MS. of Eckhart's\nSermons (Sievers' copy), and a sorinon on St Andrew, evidently by the same\nhand, but boaring tlie name of Nikolaus von Landau. See also Jostes,\nNos. 1 and 69.\n\ntouches angelic nature and\npasses into the angelic nature ;\nit is from God and is pouring\ninto the soul above nature.\n\nSome say it is a power. It\nis not. A servant is mentioned,\nthat is the intellect. There\nsoul attains angelic nature and\nis the image of God.\n\nIn this light the soul has\nintercourse with angels and ckc\nwith those angels that are\nfallen into hell. There the\nspark subsists without any kind\nof suffering, turning straight up\ninto God.\n\nAnd withal she is like the\ngood angels in this power, who\nwork unceasingly in God, be-\nholding God in God and return-\ning all work into God.\n\nThis light the soul carries\nwithin her. The masters call\nit a power in the soul, this\nsynderesis. It is not. It means\nsomething hanging to God and\nis ever averse from evil.\n\nIn hell it tends to God. It is\n\nsoul at the point where the\nsoul is by nature in contact\nwith the angels' nature. The\nother light is what I speak of.\nThis light pours into the soul\nfrom on high, above nature.\n\nSome call it a power of the\nsoul. But it is not. It is\ncalled synderesis. To wit, the\nintellect which is a spark (or\nray) of God the Father given by\nGod out of his Godhead's God-\nnature, and is the form of God\nwithout any difference at all.\nIn it she is in touch with the\nangelic nature.\n\nIn this light the soul has\ncommunity with angels also\nthose cast into hell. There the\nspark is free from all suffering\nand faces straight up into God\nand has precisely his nature.\n\nAnd withal she has a some-\nwhat, mind, in common with\ngood angels who are constantly\nworking in God and emanat-\ning from God and bearing back\nall their work into God and\nreceiving God from God in\nGod.\n\nThe intellect is like to these\ngood angels, drinking God in\nhis eternal savour, his living\nsweetness and in his own ground.\nShe is sent away from God and\nis ' a light that (re)turns : the\nreflection of the divine nature\nwhich the soul has cast into her.\nThe masters call it synderesis\nwhich is as much as to say\nsomething suspended from God\nall the time and which never\ndocs wrong.\n\nIn hell, says St Augustine, it\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\never at war in the soul with the\nimpure and the ungodly.\n\nis turned to God. In the soul it\nwages constant war with things\nthat are not pure and are not\ngodly.\n\nIt looks neither to God's\nglory nor possessions. It\npresses up into the goal of\ndivine essence and is the true\nGod's messenger which leads\nand draws mankind to the\ncelestial feast : ct misit servum\nsuum hora ccne.\n\nXXXIII\n\nIF YE THEN BE RISEN WITH CHRIST\n\nlS'^ consurrexistis cum Christo, qum sursum sunt, qucerite, ubi\nChristus est in dexter a dei sedens etc. (Col. 3|). St Paul says : ' If\nye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above and\nset not your affections on the things on earth.' Then he goes on\nto say, ' ye are dead, and your life is hid in Christ with God in\nheaven.' Thirdly, there are the women seeking our Lord at the\nsepulchre. There they found an angel ' whose countenance was\nlike lightning and his raiment white as snow,' and he asked the\nwomen, ' Whom seek ye ? If ye seek Jesus who was crucified,\nhe is not here.' For God is not in any place. Of God's lowest\nall creatures are full and his highest is nowhere. They answered\nhim not, for they were disappointed at finding the angel and not\nGod. God is not here or there, not in time or place.\n\nSt Paul says : ' If ye be risen w^ith Christ, seek those things that\nare above.' His first word expresses doubt. Some people rise\nby practising one virtue not another. Some, ignoble by nature,\ncovet riches. Others, of a noble kind, care nothing for possessions\nbut are bent on honour. One master says the virtues all hang\nupon each other. Though a person lean to the uses of one virtue\nrather than another they stand and fall together. Some people\nrise up all at once and yet rise not with Christ. That which is his\nrises once for all. On the other hand, we do find some who rise\nwith Christ for good and all, but it will need a man of many parts\nto know in Christ the true resurrection. The masters say that with\ntrue resurrection there is no more death. Now there was never\nvirtue so outstanding but someone might be found to have acquired\nit, and that by natural means, for natural powers work many signs\nand wonders, all the outward works found in the saints being found\n\ntoo in the heathen. And that is why he speaks of being ' risen with\nChrist,' because he is on high, above the reach of any creature.\nWhat we have to do is to make the whole ascent.\n\nThere are three signs of our having risen altogether. The first :\nwe seek those things that are above. The second : our affections\nare set on the things above. The third : we set not our affections\non the things that are on earth. St Paul says : ' Seek those things\nthat are above.' But where and in what way ? King David\ntells us to ' seek the face of God.' What is common to a number\nmust needs come from above. Above the lire itself there are the\nfire-givers like the heavens and the sun. Our best doctors teach\nthat heaven is the locus of all things, and though it has itself no\nplace, no natural place, yet it makes room for all things. My\nsoul is undivided ; also, it is entire in each member. Where my\neye sees my ear does not hear ; where my ear hears my eye sees\nnot. My bodily hearing and sight are engineered in the mind.\nLight gives my eye a sense of colour which is lacking to the soul\nby reason of its being a defect. All the outward senses are alive\nto, if the spirit is to take it in, must be raised up by the angel :\nhe imprints it in the upper portion of the soul.\n\nThe above designs and produces the below, so our doctors say.\nEven so St James asserts that ' Every good gift and every perfect\ngift comes down from above.' One who is risen to the full with\nChrist is known by his seeking for God above time. He seeks God\nabove time who seeks him timeless. ' Seek those things that are\nabove,' he says. Where shall we look ? ' Where Christ is sitting\n\non the right hand of his Father.' Where is Christ sitting ? He\nis sitting nowhere ; he is nowhere. If ye seek him anywhere ye\nshall not find him. A master has said that he who sees anything\ndoes not see God. Now Christ means anointed ; the anointed\nof the Holy Ghost. Sitting, theologians say, symbolises rest and\nimplies timelessness. Turning and changing lead nowhere : stop-\nping we progress.\n\n' I am God, I change not,' saith the Lord. ' Christ sitteth on\nthe right hand of his Father.' The best gift of God, that is his\nright hand. With natural man, he starts his work with his right\nhand. Christ says, ' I am the door.' The first outburst and the\nfirst effusion God runs out in is his fusion into his Son, a process\nwhich in turn reduces him to Father. I said on one occasion that\nthe door was the Holy Ghost : there he is poured out in blessings\ninto all creatures. According to one master, the heavens receive\nfrom God direct. Another one says. No ; God is spirit, pure light,\nand anything receiving straight from God must itself be spirit and\npure light. The master denies that it is possible, in the first\neruption, the first escape of God, that any corporal thing should\n\nMEISTER ECKHAR^\n\ntake it in : it must be either light or abstract mind. The heavens\ntranscend time and are the cause of time. One philosopher\nmaintains that the heavens are too lofty in their nature to stoop\nto be the cause of time. It is not in their nature that they are\nthe cause of time : it is in their revolution that, timeless, they give\nrise to time, i.e. in the defection of the heavens. My looks are not\nmy nature, they are accidents of nature ; our soul is far above them,\nout of sight in God. And hence I say, not only above time but\nhid in God. That is what heaven means. Everything mortal\nspells deficiency : rise and fall, growth and decay. King David\nsings, ' A thousand years in God's sight are as a day that is past ' :\nfor all the future and the })ast yonder are in the now. May we\nfind this now. So help us God. Amen.\n\nXXXIV 1\n\nST DIONYSIUS SPEAKS OF THREE KINDS OF LIGHT\n\nSt Dionysius speaks of three kinds of light the soul has who\nattains to pure knowledge of God. The first is natural, the\nsecond ghostly and the third divine.\n\nNow consider what this natural light is and how far it helps\nher to know God. The soul innately knows that existing things\nare not of themselves. But there must be one thing that is of\nitself and from none but itself : whatever that is it created all\nthings.\n\nFurther, the soul innately understands that the good which is\nscattered among things is as a whole in the one cause of things.\nAlso, it is natural to the soul to love each thing so far as it is good.\nAnd when her natural intellect stumbles on the cause of things,\nwhose good, broadcast in things, is as a whole in their common\ncause, then this natural perception provokes in her a natural\nlove towards this cause of all things.\n\nAll creatures are infirm and changeful, not in reality (which is\nexempt) but in the first stages of perfection. St Augustine says,\nThe soul cannot dwell for long upon one thought but lapses from\nit into others. Neither can she entertain several thoughts at once ;\nshe must leave one and die to it to quicken in another. But\nGod has no community with creatures, wherefore it is evident\nthat there is no deficiency in him. He has no community with\ncreatures ; but this applies alone to God, and in so far as the soul\nis like him she is without defect. By nature the soul knows\nand loves God above all things.\n\nThe second light is ghostly ; it originates in faith. But the\n' Jostes, No. 69.\n\nwhole content of faith is beyond the scope of the nature of the\nsoul. The faith is, that three Persons are in the same nature\nand the same nature in three Persons. No natural light or\nintellect is adequate for this, for no natural light affords a likeness\nof it. What the three Persons do, or are capable of doing, is the\nproduct of their unity ; for though there are three Persons they\ndo not act as three but they function as one God. That is a\nghostly light whereby the soul in faith can actually see that this\nis so, (a light) such as her natural mind could never give her.\n\nThe third light is the light of glory, divine light. This the soul\nreceives into the chief power of the soul. In this light we see\nGod with nothing between. So far as this light sinks into her\nchief power so far is God immediately perceived. In this light\nthe soul divines the noble nature of all things in God, for all that\never issued forth or is issuing forth or ever shall, has in God\neternal life and being ; not defective as it is in creatures but as\nhis very being for it is his nature. God has his own being not\nfrom naught, he has it of his proper nature which in itself is\ntruly aught though naught to the intelligence of creature.\n\nThis nature is causeless, therefore it is unfathomable except\nto causeless understanding. Creaturely intelligence is finite,\nso it has a cause ; hence it cannot fathom causeless mind, not\nChrist nor his humanity. Where God is beholding his own\nnature, which is groundless, it is incomprehensible except to\ngroundless understanding. This understanding is none other than\nhis nature is itself : only God in his own nature can conceive\nhimself. This conception is the understanding wherein, self-\nrevealed, God manifests in light that no man can attain to. As\nSt Paul says, ' God dwells in light unapproachable.'\n\nXXXV\n\nSTAND IN THE GATE\n\nDominus (licit : sta in porta domus dornini et prcedica verhum\nistud (Jer. Tg). The Lord says, ' Stand in the gate of God's\nhouse and proclaim his word, extol his word.' The heavenly\nEather speaks one Word and that he speaks eternally and in\nthis Word expends he all his might : his entire God-nature he\nutters in this Word and the whole of creatures. This Word\nlies hidden in the soul unnoticed and beyond our ken, and were\nit not for rumours in the ground of hearing we should never heed\nit ; but all sounds and voices have to cease and silence, perfect\nstillness, reign. This is a meaning I will not pursue.\n\nStand in the gate. Who stands there, his limbs are orderly\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ndisposed. lie is about to speak ; the head of the soul is held\nstiffly up. The ordered is subject to an order which is higher\nthan itself. Creatures are not of the order of God till the soul's\nnatural light, wherein they get their being, overshadows them,\nand the angelic light overshadows the light of the soul preparing\nand adapting it for divine light to work in ; for God works not\nin corporal things, he works in the eternal. That is why the\nsoul must be recollected and integrated to the spirit. It is there\nGod works and there all works are agreeable to God. Never a\nthing is to God's liking unless it is wrought there.\n\nStand in the gate in the house of God, that is, his unity of\nessence. One is best kept by itself. So the unity stands by God\nand keeps God together, adding nothing. There he sits in his\nown presence, in his is -ness, all in himself, nowhere out of himself.\nBut as he melts he runs out. He melts and runs out in his good-\nness which, as I have explained, consists of knowledge and love.\nKnowledge is the flux, for knowledge is hotter than love. But\ntwo are better than one. And this knowledge is laden with love.\nLove is fooled and caught by kindness ; in love I hang about\nthe gate turning a blind eye to the authentic vision. Even\nstones have love, a love that seeks the ground. If I insist on\ngoodness in the first effusion and seize this at the point where it\nis good, then I shall seize the gate, not God himself. Knowledge\nis the better, as being the head and front of love. Love is the\nwill to, the intention. No single thought attaches to this know-\nledge : wholly detached and self-forsaken it runs all bare into\nthe arms of God and grasps him in himself.\n\nLord it is meet that thy house be holy and a house of prayer.\nWhat is prayer ? It is the practice of pure being and glorying\ntherein. What is the glory ? The arraying of man in the likeness\nof God in him. But while any image exists in the soul there is\nno glorifying God therein, as in a prayer-house, in the length of\ndays. I do not mean days here : when I say length without\nlength that means the length ; breadth without breadth means\nthe breadth. When I speak of all time I mean above time and\nabove it, as I have explained, there is no here or now.\n\nThe woman asked our Lord when we ought to pray. Our\nLord replied, ' The hour cometh but not yet, when true\nworshippers shall worship in spirit and in truth.' For God is\na spirit and they must worship in spirit and in truth that which\nis truth itself. Which we are not ; true we may be, but there is\nfalse mixed with it. For ye do not exist in God in that first\neruption where truth comes spouting from its source. In the\ngate of God's house the soul has to stand and trumpet forth his\nWord- Everything which is in the soul has to utter praise, standing,\n\ndeaf to all the world, in silence and in peace, as I described the\nangels as sitting there with God. In that choir of wisdom and of\nburning God on a sudden declares himself to the soul plighting\nher his troth for good and all. It is the Father begetting his\nSon and in his Word he takes such huge delight, so fond he is of\nit, that he never stops but goes on pledging his Word the whole\ntime : timelessly, that is to say. And here we must observe that\nthe house God plights his troth in is deserted : bare spirit, above\ntime. Meet for thine house are holiness and praise, there must\nbe nothing there that does not praise thee.\n\nOur theologians ask, what praises God ? Likeness does. Any\nlikeness to God that lives in the soul redounds to the glory of God.\nThings at all different from God do not glorify God. A portrait,\nfor example, reflects credit on the painter who embodies in it his\ndearest conception of his art and makes it the image of himself.\nThe likeness of the portrait praises the author without words.\nOf little worth is spoken praise or praying with the lips. Our\nLord said on one occasion, ' Ye pray, not knowing what prayer is.\nThere shall come again true prayers, praying to my Father not in\nwords but in spirit and in tnith.* What is prayer ? Dionysius\nsays, ' The mind's ascent to God, that is what prayer means.'\nIt is a heathen who observes that where spirit is and unity and\neternity there God will be at work. Where flesh is warring against\nspirit ; where disruption is warring against union ; where time is\nwarring with eternity, there God works not : he can do nothing\nwith it. Further, any pleasure we may have, or contentment or\ncomfort, has to go. To worship God she must be holy, summed\nup to a whole, one spirit naught beside : all wrought up at once\ninto the eternal eternity on high, transcending all. Not all\ncreatures which have been created, it is not them I mean, but all\nhe could do an he would. This soul must transcend. While\nthere is anything above the soul ; while there is anything in front\nof and in God, she can never enter his ground in the length of days.\n\nNow, according to St Augustine, when the light of the soul\neclipses creatures, it is dawn ; when the angelic light eclipses\nthe light of the soul and devours it, then it is broad day. David\nsays, ' The righteous man mounts up and up to the perfect day.'\nHis path is fair and smooth and pleasant and familiar. And\nwhen the psychic and angelic lights are swallowed up in the\nlight divine, he calls that high noon. Now day is at its longest,\nin its prime, when the sun at its zenith pours its light into the\nstars and the stars pour it into the moon. These are members\nof the solar system. And even so the light of God embraces the\nangelic light and that of the soul, an orderly array, an ascending\nscale steadily rising in the day, all praising God in chorus. There\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nis nothing over that is not praising God : they are all alike, the\nliker the fuller of God, all lauding God together. The Lord said,\n' I will abide with thee in thine house.' Dear God, we do beseech\nthee abide thou with us here, to the end that we abide with thee\neternally. Amen.\n\nXXXVI\n\nYOUNG MAN, ARISE!\n\nAdolescens, tibi dico : surge {Luc, 7^^), Our Lord went to a city\ncalled Naim, and many of his disciples went with him and much\npeople. And when they came under the gate there was a dead\nman carried out, a youth, the only son of a widow. And our\nLord came and touched the bier whereon the body lay, and said,\n' Young man, I say unto thee, Arise ! ' The life spake life into the\ndead. The youth arose and straightway took up his parable :\nhis resurrection by the eternal Word.\n\nHe went to a city. I say, that means the soul which is well\nordered and fortified in the Holy Ghost and, having set a watch\nfor sin and shut out multiplicity, is safe and sound in Jesus : en-\ncompassed and walled round by the light of God. As the prophet\nhath it, ' God is the wall round Zion.' The eternal wisdom says,\n' In the holy and in the sanctified city I shall have like repose.'\nNothing is so restful, so unifying, as like ; hence same and in\nand near and by. That soul is holy in whom is God alone and\nwherein no creature finds rest. He says, ' I shall have like\nrepose in the holy and in the sanctified city.' All sanctity is of\nthe Holy Ghost. This nature nothing transcends : beginning\nwith the lowest it works it up into the highest. Philosophers say\nair only turns to fire when it is rarefied and hot. The Holy Ghost\nseizes the soul and clarifying her in its light and grace draws\nher up to the supreme. He says, ' In the sanctified city I shall\nalike repose.' As the soul rests in God so God reposes fn her. If\nshe rests partly in him then he rests partly in her ; if she rests\nwholly in him he rests wholly in her. That is why the eternal\nwisdom says, ' I shall repose alike (or equally).'\n\nAccording to philosophers, the green and yellow colours of the\nrainbow merge into one another too gradually for any eye to follow,\nhowever keen its sight. And nature works so gradually when it\nresolves itself into the first effusion, this is so homogeneous with\nthe angels, that Moses durst not write thereof for fear of the faint-\nhearted, lest they should worship them : so much the same they are\nwith the first emanation. One high authority definitely states\nthat the topmost angel is so nigh the first eruption, he has in him\nso much of God's likeness and God's might, that he it is who cares\n\nfor and looks, after this whole world as well as all the angels who\nare under him. The moral of which is, that God the high, the pure,\nand the impartible is operative in his highest creature who exerts\nhis power, as a viceroy rules the land in the name of the king.\nHe says, ' In the holy and in the sanctified city alike do I repose.'\n\nAs I was saying lately, the gate or door that, melting, God\nflows out by, is goodness. Essence is self-absorbed : not an\neffusion but an inner fusion. And unity is one and self-contained :\naloof from everything and free from outside intercourse. But\ngoodness is the melting and running out of God : his diffusion to\nthe whole of creatures. Essence is the Father, unity the Son,\nand goodness is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost seizes the soul\n(the sanctified city) at its purest, at its highest, and hales it up\ninto its first source, which is the Son, and the Son bears it on into\nhis source, his Father namely, into the ground, into the first,\nwhere the Son has his being ; where the eternal wisdom is in like\nrepose in the holy and in the sanctified city, in the innermost.\n\nHe says our Lord ' went to a city called Naim.' Naim means\nson of a dove, which suggests simplicity. The soul shall never\nrest in her potential power (or nature) till she is simplified to God.\nIt also signifies a flow of water and implies passivity of soul\ntowards sin and imperfection. The disciples symbolise the divine\nlight which shall flow in and flood the soul. The ' much people '\nare the virtues whereof I lately spoke. The soul shall ascend in\nfiery aspiration and pass above the manifold merit of the angels\nto the greater virtues. So she comes ' under the gate ' and\nenters into love and unity : the gate whence they bore out the\nyouth, the widow's son. ' Our Lord came and touched the bier\nwhereon the body lay.' How he came and how he touched I\nwill not dwell upon but upon the words, ' Young man. Arise ! '\n\nHe was the son of a widow : her man was dead. Ilcncc dead\ntoo was her son, the only son of the soul, the will and all the\npowers of the soul, for all these are one in the innermost mind,\nand mind {ix, intellect) is the man in the soul. Her husband was\ndead, therefore her son was dead also. ' Young man, I say unto\nthee. Arise ! ' When the Word addresses the soul and the soul\nreplies in the living Word, then the Son is alive in the soul.\n\nPhilosophers ask which is the better, the power of plants or\nthe power of words or the power of stones ? Let us consider.\nWords derive their power from the original Word. But the abuse\nand multiplication of words impairs their force. Plants possess\ngreat power. I have heard that a serpent was fighting with a\nweasel when the weasel ran off and fetched a little plant which,\nwrapping in another plant, it launched upon the serpent and,\nbreaking asunder, the serpent lay dead. What endowed the\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nweasel with this wisdom ? The virtue of plant-lore. Therein\nlies much wisdom. Words, too, have prodigious power: with\nwords we can do wonders. And stones again are very potent in\nvirtue of the likeness wrought in them by the starry and celestial\nforce. Like works in like most mightily, and that is why the\nsoul, by raising herself up in the natural light, can get into angelic\nlight and in the angelic light enter the light divine and so stand\nin the three lights, at the cross-ways, at the vertex, where the\nlights run into one. There the eternal Word is saying life in her,\nand there the soul is living and gainsaying in the Word. So\nmay we be gainsay ers in the eternal Word, God helping us. Amen.\n\nXXXVII\n\nYOUNG MAN, ARISE!\n\nAdolescenSj tibi dico : surge (Luc, 7^^), We read in the gospel\nthat a woman came to our Lord Jesus Christ. She said, ' Sir,\nI am a widow, and had an only son who is dead.' Our Lord said,\n' Young man, Arise ! '\n\nThe widow, this woman whose husband was dead, and her\nonly son. By this woman is meant the understanding, her husband\nis the man of the soul, and the youth the highest intelleet, for that\nis the young man. When the soul is dead in imperfection, the\nhigher mind awakening into understanding cries to God for grace.\nThen God gives it divine light and it becomes self-knowing.\nTherein it sees God. I said, intellect alone can receive divine\nlight. The other powers of the soul are instruments and agents\nfor raising the intellect to its maximum lucidity.\n\nIt is a question with the theologians, which ranks higher, under-\nstanding or love ? One school says understanding, the other\nschool, love. It is a lively subject of debate. Understanding\nsays : How canst thou love a thing thou dost not know ? Love\nsays : What avails thee thy knowledge without love ? Loveless,\nthou shalt never find eternal happiness. Understanding says :\nI am born in the clear light of self-knowledge. Love says : Great\nknowledge without love is vain. Understanding says : Give\nplace, thou are only my slave : thou dost help me to rise and\nremainest. Love says : I am the good that God is himself.\nKnowledge says ; High is thy claim : without me thou dost\nfall to the ground. Love says : It would be well for thee to bear\nme more in mind. Understanding says : I can rise higher not\nfettered to thee ; my vision is clearer, nay, I want none of thee.\nI have what I will the while I know what hitherto I have descried\nand into which I now have flowed to abide for aye in perfect\n\nunity. Here, I am above love and transcend all activity. Here\nI have intuition ; and my real knowledge of all things, all I believed,\nis now come true. Faith and hope and all the powers of the\nsoul remain, they can go no further. True love says : I must abide\nwith thee, for I am eternal. Our sisters stay behind, that is but\nmeet : they are our servants who have brought thee to the actual\nenjoyment of thy eternal happiness. — Now comes the highest\nintellect, that which receives all things direct from God, and says :\nI have conceived the sovran good wherein is naught save unity.\nIntuition says ; I shall cleave to thee, iny place is at thy side.\nIntellect says : Knowledge and love must remain behind. Intui-\ntion says : It is meet I should enjoy what I have divined. Highest\nintellect replies : What you have brought me to and which I\nhitherto have known, now knows itself in me. Wherefore I find\nI need none else. All created things must remain behind with\nall I ever was. I stand before my cause.\n\nTo go back to the widow and our Lord's command, ' Young man,\nArise ! ' we must bear in mind that anything not far from birth\nis young. Thus it is with intellect as standing in the presence of\nits cause ; oblivious of the aids to its ascent it fondly weens it\nhas been there for aye and there shall eternally remain. That\nmay not be.\n\nThen take the words : ' by the widow is meant the understand-\nby her son the intellect, and by her husband the man of the\nsoul.' Now you must know, when the man of the soul begins to\nrise, the masters say it is another man. By which you must not\nunderstand it is another soul : it is another being of the soul ;\nthe old mode is done, it is dead. The soul assuming her real\nmode stands in her virgin innocence. The man of the soul,\ntranscending his angelic mode and guided by the intellect, pierces\nto the source whence flowed the soul. Intellect itself is left\noutside with all named things. So the soul is merged into pure\nunity. This we call the man of the soul, and, having reached this\nconsummation, he has no need of any help. What he did here-\ntofore God now does in him. God knows him as he knew him,\nGod loves him as he loved him. God is doing all the work and\nthe man of the soul is absolutely idle.\n\nWhen a man has reached this point we may well say, this man\nis God and man. All Christ has by nature he has won by grace.\nHis body is filled with the noble nature of the soul, which she receives\nfrom God, with divine light, wherefore we may truly ery, Behold,\na man divine ! Pity them, my children, they are from home and\nno one knows them. Let those in quest of God be careful lest\nappearances deceive them in these people who are peculiar and\nhard to place ; no one rightly knows them but those in whom the\n\n102 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nsame light shines. Namely, the light of truth. Yet it may well\nbe that wayfarers to that same good, but who have not yet reached\nit, will come across these perfect of whom we have been speaking.\nBelieve me, did I know one such, and had a convent-full of gold\nand precious stones, I would give the whole of it for a single fowl\nfor him to eat. Further I declare, if all the things God ever made\nwere mine, I would for with give them all for the enjoyment of that\nman, and rightly, for they are all his. Nay, more I say : his, too,\nis God in the fullness of his power, and if there stood before me all\nwho in imperfection arc anhungered, I would not withhold from\nthat man's need a single feather of the fowl, though I might feed\nthat multitude. For, you must remember, with one in imperfec-\ntion, anything he eats or drinks will drag him down and make him\nprone to sin. But not the virtuous man : what he eats and drinks\nhe raises up in Christ to the Father. So look well to yourselves.\n\nYou are familiar with Christ's words, ' Where two arc gathered\ntogether in my name I will be with them.' Here Christ is referring\nto the harmonious union of the body and the soul, where body\nwants nothing except what the soul wills. God is with these : they\nare the people we have been speaking of. Here the man of the soul\nis in actual possession of his eternal happiness, and, being docked\nof all her powers, the soul encounters no sort of opposition. I\nwarn you, you must keep a sharp look out, for they arc difficult\nto tell ; thus if they should need it, while other people fast they\nwill be eating, while other people watch they will be sleeping,\nwhile other folks are pra> ing they will hold their peace. In short,\nthe things they say and do seem imaeeountable, for what God\nmakes obvious to persons on the way to their eternal happiness\nis foreign to those that have arrived there. These have no\nwants whatever : they arc rich in the possession of a city of their\nown. I call that my own which is mine eternally and no one can\ntake from me. These people, you must know, do most valuable\nwork. They work within, you understand, in the man of the\nsoul. Blessed is the kingdom wherein dwells one of them ; in\nan instant they will do more lasting good than all the outward\nactions ever done. See ye withhold not aught of theirs. May we\nrecognise these people and loving God in them, with them possess\nthe city they have won. So help us God. Amen.\n\nXXXVIII\n\nPEACE\n\nSteiit Jesus in medio discipulorum et dixit: pax etc. {Luc. 2435,\nJoh, 20^3). St John tells us in his gospel that ' on the first day of\n\nthe week, at evening, when the doors were shut, came our Lord\nand stood in the midst of the disciples and said : Peace be unto\nyou ! ' and again, ' Peace be unto you ! ' and a third time,\n\n' Receive ye the Holy Ghost ! ' Now the evening never comes\nunless morning and midday have gone before. We say that the\nmiddle of the day is warmer than the evening. But in so far as\nevening takes in middle-day and stores up its heat, it is the warmer,\nwhen, too, before the evening there goes a whole bright day.\nLate in the year, again, after the summer solstice, when the sun\nis drawing nigh to earth, the evenings will grow warm. But\nmidday never comes till morning goes nor evening until noon has\npassed away. The moral of which is, that when the divine light\nbreaks forth in the soul, getting brighter and brighter unto\nthe perfect day, then morning does not vanish before noon nor\nnoon ere eventide : they close up to one. So the evening is\nwarm. There is perfect day in the soul when all the soul is full\nof light divine. But it is evening in the soul, as I have said before,\nwhen the light of this world fades and the soul goes in to rest.\n\nGod said, ' Peace ! ' and ' Peace 1 ' again, and ' Receive ye the\nHoly Ghost ! ' Jacob the patriarch came to a place, in the\nevening, and putting underneath his head some stones which\nlay about, he sank to rest. In his sleep he saw a ladder reaching\nup to heaven with angels ascending and descending and God\nleaning down over the top of the ladder. This place Jacob\nslept in had no name. Which is as much as to say : the God-\nhead alone is the place of the soul, and is nameless. Concerning\nthis our doctors say : a thing which is another's place must be\nabove it ; as heaven is the place of all things and fire is the place\nof air and air the place of water and water, partially, the place of\nearth and earth is not a place. An angel is a heavenly place, and\nany angel who has got the least drop more of God than any other\nis the place, the habitation, of that other, the most exalted angel\nbeing the place, the room, the measure of the rest while he himself\nis without measure. But although he is without measure, natheless\nGod is his measure.\n\nJacob rested in the place which is nameless. By not naming it\nit is named. On getting to this nameless place the soul will rest :\nwhere all things are being God in God, there shall she rest. The\nabode of the soul, which God is, is unnamed. I say, God is\nunspoken. But St Augustine says that God is not unspoken ;\nwere he unspoken, that even would be speech and he is more silence\nthan speech. One of our most ancient philosophers who found\nthe truth long, long before God's birth, ere ever there was Christian\nfaith at all as it is now, to him (I say) it seemed that what he\ncould manage to utter of things only conjured up within him\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nsomething monstrous and unreal and therefore he refused to\nspeak at all. Not even would he say, give me meat or give me\ndrink. He declined to mention things because he could not say\nthem as perfect as they sprang from their first cause : he chose\nrather to be dumb and to make known his wants by pointing with\nhis finger. How much more does it beseem us, if he knew not\nthe way to talk of things, to be absolutely mute concerning him\nwho is the origin of all things.\n\nWe say that God is a spirit. Not so. If God were really a\nspirit he would be spoken. According to St Gregory, we cannot\nrightly speak of God at all. Anything we say of him is bound\nto be a stammering. This place which is not named, wherein all\ncreatures thrive and bloom in orderly array, this habitat of all\ncreatures, is gotten suddenly out of the ground of this orderly\nplace, the seat of the soul proceeding out of this ground.\n\nJacob wanted to rest : mark you, he wanted to rest. Whoso\nresteth in God his rest is will-free. We say that will is without\nhabit. Will is free, it takes nothing from matter. In this sense\nit is freer than intellect, and some rash people pouncing upon this\nwould put it above knowledge. That is not so. Intellect also is\nfree despite that intellect does take from matter and from corporal\nthings in the locality of soul, for, as 1 pointed out on Easter Eve,\nvarious of the soul-powers are in link with the five senses, for in-\nstance, sight and hearing, which convey to them the things we know.\nA master says : ' God would never choose that eye or ear should\nsense what crowns the summit of the soul : none other than the\nnameless place, which is the place of all things.' It gives a fair\nreflection, and is useful in that way, but is marred by colour and\nby sound and corporal things. It is only by the senses that the\nsoul is roused and the idea of wisdom naturally imprinted in her.\nPlato says, and with him St Augustine : The soul has all know-\nledge within, and all wc can do from without is but an awakening\nof knowledge. — Jacob rested in the evening. Let us pray ever\nfor the now ; 'tis but a little thing wc ask, just for one evening.\nMay it be granted us, So help us God. Amen.\n\nXXXIX\n\nEVERY GOOD GIFT\n\nOmne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum descendit a\npatre luminum {Jac. Ij^). My Latin quotation is from the\nEpistle of St James. He says, ' Every good gift and every\nperfect gift comes down from above from the Father of lights.\nWith him is no variableness nor shadow of time (or, temporal\n\nreflection).' These two terms he uses, good gift and perfect gift,\nrefer to different things, so our masters say. Datum befalls in\ntime ; donum has no thought of time. Datum is a matter of\nself-seeking, but donum is free and unconditioned and wholly\nwithout why. A perfect gift is one betokening nothing but good-\nwill. The perfect gift is therefore free and unconditional. The\nperfect gift is a friendly offering, essentially a giving albeit not\nbestowed. According to our masters, gifts are perfect in so far\nas they are love-bearers ; but good gifts are like hucksters and\nhave ever their price. In the words of one of the saints, ' Blood of\nthe Holy Ghost and its glow is in one sense eternal and in another\ntemporal.' If my face were eternal and were held before a mirror\nit would be received in the mirror as a temporal thing albeit\neternal in itself. The Holy Ghost has its glow. The eternal\nglow of his eternal blood is the perfect gift ; when the soul is\nworthy and receives the same it turns to the good gift. Meaning\nto say that this gift which is temporal in us is in itself eternal.\nGod would give us not only his good gift ; he is ready to bestow\non us his perfect gift as well, to wit, the Holy Ghost itself. Hence\nhis words, ' Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down\nfrom above from the Father of lights.'\n\nFrom another point of view he means, so it appears to me, that\nthe Holy Ghost is the perfect gift only as working in the intellect.\nAs proceeding forth in the practice of good works, albeit godly,\nor withal in thought, it becomes good gift. It is the perfect gift\nso far as the soul is living in God, immanent in the light and\nsavour of God, hanging motionless in his perfect light-nature.\nAs St Paul says, 'Ye shall taste the things that are above.' The\nHoly Ghost is the Gift wherein ye abide in the perfection of\nlight. The soul suspended in pure intellectual light is enjoying\nthe things that are above. Our masters teach that corporeal\nthings arc called matter. We say, the light of intellect shuns\nmatter, but albeit in itself wholly devoid of things it still has\npotentiality and that for matter. He says, ' Taste the things\nthat are above,' not, that arc above the earth. We have a saying.\nSo far from matter so far pure intelligence. When in the light\nthe grey tint of the cloth assails my eye, I see it. If it were\nintellect I should see nothing. We recognise another power as\nbeing far removed from matter. How so? Suppose I saw a\nman twenty years ago, he may now be dead, but still I have a\nlikeness of his form as though he stood before my eyes. This\npower needs no matter, but it has the imperfection of receiving\nfrom matter~in forms, that is to say. On the other hand, the\nlight, intelligence, transcends what is already matter or is so\npotentially. While the soul abides in God, suspended in his\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nintellectual light she has no material objectivity nor likeness nor\npotentiality. He says, ' Every good gift and every perfect gift\ncomes down from above from the Father of lights.'\n\nWhat docs he mean by calling it ' good gift ? ' Betwixt those\nthings whose being-and-doing is in eternity and the things whose\nbeing and doing are in time there needs must be some middle\nterm. He means that it is God, this thing whose being-and-doing\nis the perfect gift ; so the being-and-doing of the perfect gift is\nin eternity. But the being-and-doing of the good gift are in\ntime ; which of course must mean that the soul is on the way to\neternal life. Why does he promise both good and perfect gifts ?\nWhen God bestows the Holy Ghost itself, whose being-and-activity\nis in eternity, that is his perfect gift which, peering forth in thought,\nis his good gift.\n\nSt Augustine says, and the masters too, the soul has some\ncapacity which is open towards God and into which he alone can\nspeak, whereas creature speaks into another. Into this highest\npower, which is addressed by God alone, he utters wisdom, which\nis his perfect gift. But the other one that creature speaks to is\nsatisfied with reason. The same gift is perfect, being timeless,\nand good as perfecting the things of time. What is temporal in\nus is eternal in God. Datum in us is donum in God. What is\nmixed and temporal and good in us becomes, if we follow it up,\nperfect in God. What we are able to receive of him is infinitely\nsmall compared to what he is. Whatever else one may know one\ndocs not know God.\n\nHe says, ' he comes down from on high from the Father of\nlights.' What docs he mean ? The Son and the Holy Ghost\nhave one source in the Father, and the Holy Ghost and the Son arc\none light and they arc both of them lights. God is the Father of\nlights. St Augustine tells what the soul is tasting in God. He\nexplains that in that food the tongue is savouring the invisible\nlight ; he says the soul is not a thing of sensible appetites and\npleasures ; she has a hidden energy and luminosity.\n\nAccording to the masters, the angels are a light : God is the\nentire light, with whom is no change nor time nor turning. The\nnobler the creature the more akin to God. All creaturely being-\nand-doing is in time. But the angels, who are higher, are in\nessence timeless and without alteration in themselves. Their\nwonted activities in God are free from time, but in that they look\ndown they have an aspect (or shadow) of time. But in none of\nhis works has God any shadow of time nor of change. So far as\nthere is no changing, no shadow in man, so far he compares with\ndivinity. Creature has ever this and that, one thing and another ;\nbut in God exists neither this nor that, neither one nor tother;\n\nand unless there be in us what two and two are, what is\none plus other, the happenings within us remain just good\nand ill. There is no one or other with the Father of lights.\nMay we be given every good gift and eveiy perfect gift wherein\nwe are exalted above time to the Father of lights with whom\nis no variableness nor temporal nature, So help us God. Amen.\n\nXL\n\nEVERY GOOD GIFT\n\nOmne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum de sursum est\ndescendens a patre luminum {Jac. l^^). St James says in his\nepistle, ' Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from\nabove from the Father of lights.'\n\nNow yc must know that people who resign themselves to God\nand diligently seek to do his will, to these, I say, whatever God\nmay send will be the best. As God lives, be sure it is the very\nbest, and there can be no better way. Some other may seem better\nyet is not so good for thee; God wills this way and not that,\ntherefore this way is bound to be the best. Sickness or poverty,\nhunger or thirst, what God does give thee or what he does not,\nthat is the very best for thee, aye, though it be fervour or the\ninterior life which, alas ! thou dost lack. Whatever thou hast or\nhast not, accept it all to the glory of God, and then whatever he\nsends thee will be for the best.\n\nPeradventure thou wilt say. How can I tell whether it is God's\nwill or not ? If it were not God's will it would not be. Neither\nsickness nor anything else dost thou have excepting God wills.\nAnd therefore knowing it to be God's will thou oughtest to rejoice\nin it and to be so content therewith that any pain shall lose its\nsting for thee ; aye, even in extremity of pain to feel the least\naffliction or distress were altogether wrong : accept it from\nGod as the best since it is bound to be the best thing for thee.\nIt is of the essence of him to will what is best. Let me then will\nit too ; there is nothing that should please me better. Supposing\nthere was someone I tried hard to please and whom I knew for\ncertain liked me in a grey coat more than any other ; doubtless\nthat coat would please me too, and I should prefer it to any of\nthe rest however nice they were. Given then my wish to please\na certain person, the things I know he wishes both of word and\ndeed are the things that I would do and those alone. Judge for\nyourselves then of your love ! If ye do indeed love God ye will\nUke nothing better than that which best enables him to work\nhis will in us. However great may seem the pain or the privation.\n\n108 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nexcept thou take deliglit therein as great as in thine ease and\nplenty, it is wrong.\n\nOne thing I am wont to say, and it is the fact, that daily we\ncry in our pater noster^ Lord, thy will be done ! and when his\nwill is done we grumble and are discontented at it. Whatever\nhe does let us deem that the best and like that best of all. Those\nwho do take it as the best always remain tranquil. Sometimes\nye will say, Alas ! 'twere better something else had happened,\nor, had that not been, things would have turned out better. As\nlong as thou dost think so thou wilt never be at peace. Accept\nit all for the best. That is the first moral of our text.\n\nThere is another meaning, mark it well. He says ' every gift.'\nThe very best and the very highest, these are innate gifts and in\nhim the most innate of all. God gives nothing so gladly as great\ngifts. Once in this very place I said, God likes forgiving big sins\nmore than small ones. The bigger they arc the gladder he is and\nthe quicker to forgive them. It is the same with graces, gifts, and\nvirtues : the greater they arc the greater his pleasure in bestowing\nthem, for the giving of largesse is his nature. The bigger the\nthings and the better the more shall ye get. [The noblest creatures\nare the angels who are minds and nothing else ; they have no\ncarnal nature and they are in number infinitely more than all the\ncorporal things.]\n\nOnce upon a time I laid it down that to be properly expressed a\nthing must proceed from within, moved by its form : it must\ncome, not in from without but out from within. It really lives\nin the recesses of the soul. There all things arc present to thee,\nsubjectively alive and active in their zenith, in their prime. Why\nart thou unaware of it ? Because thou art not at home. The more\nnoble a thing the more common it is. Feeling I have in common\nwith the beasts and life in common with the trees. Being is still\nmore innate in me and that I have in common with all creatures.\nHeaven exceeds all neighbouring things, and it is nobler also.\nThe nobler the thing the bigger it is and the more universal.\nLove is as noble as it is universal. It does indeed seem hard, as\nour Lord commands, to love our evenchristians as ourselves.\nThe unenlightened say that we ought to love them just the same\nas they love themselves. Not so. We ought to love them no\nmore than our own selves, which is not difficult. If you come to\nconsider, it is matter for reward more than a behest. The\ncommand seems hard but the reward desirable. He who loves\nGod as he ought and must (whether he would or not), and as all\ncreatures love him, will love his evenchristian as himself, rejoicing\nin his joys and hoping for his honour as much as for his own and\ntreating the other like himself. By this means he is always happy\n\nwhether in honour or in need, just as though he were in heaven\nand withal has more enjoyments than the blessings of himself\nalone.\n\nThe plain truth is that it is wrong for thee to hold thine honour\ndearer than another's. Remember, an thou seekest aught of\nthine thou never shalt find God, for thou art not seeking God\nmerely. Thou art seeking for something with God, making a\ncandle of God, as it were, with which to find something, and then,\nhaving found it, throwing the candle away. Thus shalt thou\nfare : aught that thou findest with God is naught, whatsoever it\nbe, whether profit or wages or the interior life or anything else :\nnaught dost thou seek and naught shalt thou find. Thou shalt\nfind naught because it is naught thou dost seek ; that is all. All\ncreatures are a mere naught. I say not they are small, are aught :\nthey are absolutely naught. A thing without being is not (or is\nnaught). Creatures have no real being, for their being consists\nin the presence of God. If God turned away for an instant they\nwould all perish. I have sometimes said, and it is true, that he\nwho has gotten the whole world plus God has gotten no more\nthan God by himself. Having all creatures without God is no\nmore than having one fly without God ; just the same, no more\nnor less.\n\nThis is a true saying. The man who gives a thousand marks\nof gold for the making of convents or of churches is doing a great\ndeed. But that man gives a great deal more who gives a thousand\nmarks for naught ; he is doing far more than the other. When\nGod created all creatures he could not move in them, they were so\nsmall and narrow. But the soul he made so like himself, so nearly\nhis own peer, on purpose to give himself to her : nothing else\nthat he could give her would she care for in the least. God must\ngive me himself for my own as he is his own, or I shall get naught,\nnor is aught else to my taste. Whoso receives him thus outright\nmust wholly have renounced himself and gone out of himself;\nhe gets straight from God all that he has, as his own just as much\nas it is his, and our Lady and all the habitants of heaven. All\nthis is meet and proper to this man. Those who have renounced\nthemselves and are in this ' sense dead unto themselves receive\nthe same, no less.\n\nThirdly, the term ' Father of lights.' The word father implies\nto us a son. Father stands for abstract generation, and is an\nexpression for the universal principle of life. The Father generates\nhis Son in his eternal intellect and the Father generates his Son\nin the soul just as he does in, his own nature ; he bears his Son in \\\nthe soul as her own, and his existence depends on his bringing his\nSon to birth in the soul, whether he would or no. On one occasion '\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nI was asked what the Father is doing in heaven ? I said, He is\nbegetting his Son, an act he so delights in and which pleases him\nso well that he does nothing else but generate his Son» and these\n.■ twain are flowering with the Holy Ghost. When the Father\ngives birth to his Son in me I am his very Son and not another :\nwe are another in manhood, true, but there I am the Son himself\nand no other. As sons we are lawful heirs. He who knows the\ntruth wots this right well. The word father connotes just be-\ngetting and having of sons. We are sons in his Son and are the\nSon himself.\n\nNow consider the words, ' they come from above.' I said,\nreferring to this very thing. Whoso desires to receive from above\nmust needs be below in true humility. Know in good sooth, if\na thing is not right underneath it receives nothing nor conceives\nnothing : not a single thing however small. Hast thou an eye\nto thine own self or to any thing or person, then thou art not\nright under and thou receivest nothing ; but being brought right\nunder thou receivest all at once and in perfection. It is God's\nnature to give, and his existence depends on his giving to us when\nwe are under. If we are not, then we get nothing : we do him\nviolence and kill him. Or if unable so to do to him, we do it to\nourselves as far as in us lies. If thou wouldst really give him\nall, see to it thou dost put thyself right humbly under God, raising\nup God in thy heart and in thy understanding. The Father sent\nhis son into the world in the fullness of time of the soul, when she\nhad finished with time. Wheii the soul is free from time and place\nthe Father sends his Son mto the soul. This is the explanation of\nthe words, ' the best gifts come from above from the Father of\nlights.' Let us be ready to receive these same best gifts. So help\n■ i us God the Father of lights. Amen.\n\nXLI\n\nA LITTLE AND YE SHALL NOT SEE ME\n\nModicum videbitis me et modicum non videbitis {Joh. I617, i»)*\nI quote in Latin from the Gospel of St John a saying of our Lord\nto his disciples. The translation runs, ' A modicum, a little,\nye shall see me and a modicum, a little, and ye shall not see me.'\nThe disciples were ignorant and did not understand. They were\nsa3ring to each other, ' We know not what he means.' So St\nJohn relates, and he was there. Follows a parable which I will\nnot dwell on. Then, knowing what was in their hearts he says\nquite plainly, ' I shall see you again and your joy shall be full.'\n\nNow, to my mind this saying will bear four interpretations.\n\nMore or less the same in wording but widely different in meaning.\nThe kernel of the prime conception and of eternal happiness is\nknowledge. One theologist who spoke at Paris insisted with\nloud fulminations that this is not so. Then up and said another\none, better than the best they have at Paris : Sir, you are very\npositive, but in the gospel did not God declare the very thing that\nyou denounce so roundly ? Our Lord's words are, ' This is eternal\nlife, to know thee the only true God ' — ' A little and ye shall see\nme.' Meaning to say, ye must get to look upon everything in\nyou as little and of small account if ye are ever to see God. It\nfollows that we must observe minutely what will help and hinder\ndivine knowledge. However small what comes from God, if\ntreated rightly it recurs, it comes again, for we have one divine\nthing of our own that we can work with as with our own soul ;\nnot that I work and God looks on : I, as it were, co-operate with\nmy own tool which is mine and in me. Thus man being lifted\nup in time shall sec God out of himself. I have sometimes said,\nthe time St Paul saw nothing he saw God. Now I say something\nbetter : when St Paul saw all nothing he saw God : when he saw\nall things as nothing he saw God, and what God means to say is\nthis : when things are all reduced to naught in you then ye shall\nsee God.\n\nAgain, he says, ' a little and ye shall not see me.' While time\nand world, which is little, is within you, ye shall not see me. The\nangel swore on his eternal life that when this life is done there\nshall be no more time. And in his gospel St John quite plainly\nstates, ' the world was made by him and they knew him not.'\nIn line then, to quote a heathen doctor, world -and -time is a little\nthing. It is out of world-and-time that we see God.\n\nThirdly. He said, ' a little and ye see me not,' as though to\nsay : the very smallest thing that is foreign to the soul will\nprevent her seeing God. For heaven is shut to strangers ; even\nan angel from another heaven would not succeed in getting in, for\nit is not his. Why has my mouth, my ear, no sense of heaven ?\nBecause they are not like it. St Bernard says, ' My eye is like the\nheavens in being round and clear and placed high in the body,\nnor can it brook the entry of any foreign matter.' Before my eye\ncan see the painting on the wall this must be filtered through the\nair and in a still more tenuous form be borne into my phantasy,\nto be assimilated by my understanding. These properties, both,\nthe soul must needs possess ; and this likeness, how subtile soever\nit may be, with its suggestiveness, its hint of sin, the soul rejects\nas foreign to herself. If God himself were foreign to the soul she\nwould have none of him. What the eye perceives has to be\nconveyed to it by means, in images. If there were no means we\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nshould see nothing. If an angel sees another angel or anything\nthat God has made, he does so by some means. But himself and\nGod he sees immediately. If my soul knows an angel she knows\nhim by some means and in an image, an image imageless, not in\nan image such as they are here. Soul and angel are material\nthings compared with God. Angelic knowledge, anything created,\nis a means. Which God wholly lacks : he is known without\nmeans, without little. For my soul to know God with nothing\nbetween thou must be with me and I with thee.\n\nI will now suggest a meaning quite other than these three.\n' While ye are little ye do not see me. To see me ye have to grow\ngreat.' Intellect is great indeed, yet small compared with the\nlight of God. Our Lord upbraided his apostles saying, ' There is\nstill in you but a little light.' They were not devoid of light,\nbut it was weak, the light of grace, the brightest thing God ever\nmade or ever could have made. And after all the soul is small\nso long as she is still in grace. Sometime or other the soul must\nrise in grace. If grace is not yet overcome, the soul has still to\nascend in grace and, being perfected, to transcend grace : then she\nsees God.\n\nFourthly, ' and ye shall not see me ' : being poor in light and\ngrace ye cannot see God. One must abound in light and grace\nbefore one can see God. Grace is a surpassing light, superangelic.\nIn grace we can sec God but from afar. While grace exists in\nus as grace we are not able to see God. ' Ye do not sec me because\nI am going to my Father.' While the soul progresses God\nremains unseen. While we are on the way to God we have not\ngotten him. With finding God all progress ends, as our Lord\nsaid to St Mary Magdalene, ' Touch me not, I am not yet ascended\nin thee to my Father.' While God is ascending in the soul and has\nnot reached the zenith, we are unable to see God. St Paul says,\n' God dwells in light inaccessible.' And one saint declares, ' No\nman ever saw God.' St Paul tells us ' We shall know God as we\nare known.' As God knows himself so we shall know him ; as\nhe sees all things in himself so we shall see all things in him. ' We\nshall know as we are known,' St Paul says. The little being cleared\naway, I shall see as I am seen, as he sees himself, without little,\nwith nothing between ; all in himself and in him all things, nothing\noutside him ; and we too shall know without little and without\nmeans. We shall know in his Son. The Son is the image of the\nGodhead, not the Godhead itself : he is the idea of God the\nFather. The Father's reflection is his only Son. In that idea\nwhere nothing exists, in that image we shall be reflected in the\nSon and by the Son reflected back into the Father : in that\nimage, all the same, where there is no this nor that, we shall know\n\nGod with God's only Son. May the little depart from us and\nallow us to know thee the one true God. So help us God. Amen.\n\nXLII\n\nTHE IMAGE AND ITS OBJECT\n\nModicum etjam non videbitis (Joh, My Latin quota-\n\ntion is from the Gospel of St John which wc read on Sunday.\nIt is what our Lord said to his disciples, ' A modicum, a little,\nand ye see me not.' Anything, however small, adhering to the\nsoul prevents your seeing me. St Augustine being asked the\nmeaning of eternal life answered and said : Dost thou ask me\nwhat is eternal life ? Ask eternal life, see what it says itself.\nNone knows what heat is like the hot, nor wisdom like the wise,\nnone knows the meaning of eternal life so well as the eternal\nlife itself. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, ' This is eternal life, to\nknow thee God, the one true God.'\n\n' A modicum, a little, and lo ! ye see me not.' Now you must\nunderstand that if the soul saw God even from afar, or in some\nintervening thing, as in a cloud, an instant, she would not turn\naway from him, not for all the world. What think ye then would\nhappen if she saw God in himself, as he is, face to face in his\nnaked essence ? All creatures God has ever made or could make\nif he would amount to very little, a mere nothing as compared\nwith God himself. The heavens are big, so vast indeed, were I\nto tell ye would not credit me. If you could take a needle and\nprick the heavens with it, that needle-point of heaven, as compared\nwith the whole heavens plus this entire world, would be greater\nthan this universe compared with God. Well and truly then it\nmay be said, ' a trifle, a little, and ye shall not sec me.' Whilst\nthou seest aught of creature thou seest naught of God ; however\nlittle, it must go. Says the soul in the Book of Love, ' I ran about\nand sought him whom my soul loveth and I found him not.'\nShe met with angels and many things besides, but she found not\nhim whom her soul loved. Then she goes on to say, ' It was but\na little I passed from them and I found him whom my soul loveth,'\njust as though to say : when I had gotten beyond creatures\n(little things and of small account) I came on him whom my soul\nloveth. The soul must pass beyond, she must transcend, all\ncreatures before she can find God.\n\nNow you must know, God loves the soul so mightily, he who\nshould rob God of loving the soul would rob him of his very life\nand being : would kill God, if one may so say ; for the very love\nwherewith God loves the soul is what his Holy Breath is blowing in.\n\n114 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nBut if God loves the soul so much the soul must be a most important\nthing.\n\nThe philosopher says in his book On the Soul : If there were\nno means the eye could see a gnat, an ant, in heaven. And he\nwas right, referring to the air and fire, etc. that intervene between\nthe eye and heaven. Another philosopher declares that without\nmeans no eye could see at all. Both are expressing the same\ntruth.\n\nThe first one says that if there were no means the eye could\nsee an ant in heaven. And that is true. If nothing intervened\nbetween God and the soul she would see God every whit, for\nGod himself is wholly free from means and brooks no sort of\nintervention. If the soul were stripped of all her sheaths, God would\nbe discovered all naked to her view and would give himself to her,\nwithholding nothing. As long as the soul has not thrown off all\nher veils, however thin, she is unable to see God. Any medium,\nbut a hair's-breadth, in betwixt the body and the soul stops actual\nunion. That is true of corporal things and how much more of\nghostly. Boethius says, Wouldst know the naked truth ? Then\ncast off joy and fear and trust and hope and pain. Joy is a\nmeans, fear is a means, faith and hope and pain, they all are\nmeans. While thou regardest them and they have regard to thee\nthou canst not see God.\n\nThe second doctor says : without means the eye would see\nnothing. If I cover my eyes with my hand I can see nothing of\nmy hand. If I put it before me I sec it quite distinctly. This is\ndue to the dense nature of the hand which must be rarefied and\nrendered volatile in air and light and in effigy be carried to my\neye. The same thing with a mirror. If thou hast it facing thee\nthy image is reflected in the glass. The eye, like the soul, is a\nmirror, and things presented to it all appear therein. I do not\nsee the hand, the stone, itself : I see the image of the stone, but\nI do not see this image in a second image or by any other means :\nI see it without means and without image. This image is itself\nthe means : image without image like motion without motion\nalthough causing motion and size which has no size though the\nprinciple of size. Even so the image is in this sense imageless\nthat it is not seen in another image. The eternal Word is the\nmeans and the image itself which is without means and without\nimage, so that the soul in the eternal Word conceives of God and\nknows him without image and with nothing between.\n\nThere is one power in the soul ; intellect, of prime importance\nto the soul for making her aware of, for detecting, God. It has\nfive properties. First, it is detached from here and now. Next,\nit is like nothing. Thirdly, it is pure and uncompounded.\n\nFourthly, it is in itself active or self-searching. Fifthly, it is an\nimage.\n\nFirst, it is detached from here and now. Here and now, that,\nin other words, is time and place. Now is the minimum of time ;\nnot a fragment of time nor a fraction of time : a smack, a con-\nnection, an end of time. Small though it be it must go ; every-\nthing time touches has to go. Again, it is detached from here.\nAnd here means place. The spot I am standing on is small, but\nit must disappear before I can see God.\n\nSecondly, it has no like. A philosopher says, God is a thing\nthat nothing is like and that nothing can become like. But\naccording to St John, ' we shall be called God's children ' and if\nwe are God's children we must resemble God. How then can this\ndoctor say God is a thing that nothing is like ? The answer is\nthat in being like nothing this power is like God. God is like\nnothing and this power is like nothing. You must understand\nthat all creatures are by nature endeavouring to be like God.\nThe heavens would not revolve unless they followed on the track\nof God or of his likeness. If God were not in all things, nature\nwould stop dead, not working and not wanting ; for whether\nthou like it or no, whether thou know it or not, nature funda-\nmentally is seeking, though obscurely, and tending towards God.\nNo man in his extremity of thirst but would refuse the proffered\ndraught in which there was no God. Nature's quarry is not\nmeat or drink nor clothes nor comfort nor any things at all wherein\nis naught of God, but covertly she seeks and ever more hotly\nshe pursues the trail of God therein.\n\nThirdly, it is pure and unmingled. By nature God can tolerate\nno mingling or admixture. Nor is there in this power any inter-\nmingling or admixture : it is free from impurity and nothing\nforeign can occur therein. To tell a comely person he is fair\nand dark would do him an injustice. The soul must be without\nadmixture. If someone hangs something to my cloak or sticks\nsomething on it then anyone who wears the eloak will wear too\nits attachments. If I go out hence, there will then go with me\nthe whole of my attachments. What the spirit rests on, is attached\nto, takes the spirit wdth it. The man who rests on nothing, is\nattached to nothing, though heaven and earth should fall, will\nremain unmoved.\n\nFourthly, it is ever seeking, travailing, within. God is such\nthat he ever abides in the innermost. And intellect is ever\nseeking him. But will goes out to what it loves in him. So at\nthe coming of my friend, suddenly my heart goes out to him and\nhe is glad. St Paul declares, ' we shall know God as we are\nknown.' And according to St John, ' we shall see God as he is.*\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nNow if I am coloured I must have something in me that will take\nthe colour. I should never colour unless I had a colour nature.\nAnd I can only see God in what he sees himself in. St Paul declares\nthat ' God dwells in light inaccessible.' It is not to be denied\nthat keeping in the way, in the entry, though all well and good, is\nyet a long way from the truth, for it is not God.\n\nFifthly, it is an image. Mark this, it is important : it gives\nyou the whole sermon in a nutshell. Object and image are\nbound up with one another so that we cannot part them. We\ncan think of fire apart from heat and heat without the fire. We\ncan think of the sun apart from light and of light as independent\nof the sun. But we cannot part the object from its image. I say\nmore : Almighty God himself cannot disentangle them : they are\nborn together and they die together. 1 do not die because my\nFather does. Suppose you die, then we no longer say, he is his\nson, we say, he was his son. Cloth that is bleached is like all\nwhiteness in its whiteness. But if you blacken it, it is dead to\nwhiteness. And here it is the same. If the image, God's likeness,\ndisappeared, there would perish also its exemplar, God. One\nthing I would say : ye arc become two, ye are become three.\nNow mark my words. Intellect peers in, it searches every corner\nof the Godhead and finding the Son in the heart of the Father,\nin his ground, it takes him and sets him in its own. Intellect\npresses in ; she is not content with good or wisdom, nor with\ntrutli nor yet with God himself. She is no more content with\nGod than with a tree, a stone. She never rests until she gets\ninto the ground whence truth and good proceed and takes them\nin principio, in the beginning, the fount of truth and goodness,\nwhere they rise before their coming forth : a ground far higher\nthan truth and goodness arc. Her sister (will) contents herself\nwith God as being good. But intellect, leaving this behind, goes\nin and breaks through to the root whence shoots the Son and\nwhence the Holy Spirit blossoms forth. May we discover this\nand be for ever blest. So help us Father, Son and Holy Ghost.\nAmen.\n\nXLIIIi\n\nKNOWLEDGE AND LOVE\n\nMeistcr Eckhart said : Doctors debate which is the nobler,\nknowledge or love. Some say that love is better than knowledge.\nI say it is not. Our best authorities declare that knowledge\nis nobler than . love. Love and will take God as being good. If\nGod were not good, will would have none of him ; if God were not\n\n^ Jostes, No. 10.\n\nlovely, love would scout him. But understanding would not.\nKnowledge is not confined either to good or to love or to wisdom\nor lordship. By putting names to God the soul is only dressing\nhim up and making a figure of Gk)d ; nor is this the doing of\nknowledge. Though God were neither good nor wise, still under-\nstanding would seize him ; it strips everything off, not stopping\neither at wisdom or good, nor majesty nor power. It pierces\nto naked being and grasps God bare, ere he is clothed in thought\nwith wisdom and goodness. Where the Son has his beatitude,\nthere in the Father, understanding finds hers.\n\nNow I am going to say something never read nor preached\nbefore.\n\nAt the College yesterday they admitted that there is a ground\nwithin the soul corresponding to the Father-nature. Just as the\nFather is bringing forth his Son in the Holy Ghost and these\nthree are one God, so this ground is bringing forth understanding\nand will, one power as God is one Word. Withal this ground is\nfree from any taint of creature. All the things we attribute to\nthe soul form a screen round this ground wherein God is looking\nat the soul and the soul is looking at God. According to St\nPaul, ' We beholding the vision of God's splendour arc changed in\nthat same image from glory to glory.' This image is too closely\njoined to God for creatures to dissever and God himself will not\ndivide it. Alas ! we reck so little of this image, we keep it not so\nbright as it was given us by God ! Whatever wc may do God\nis never satisfied unless we there abide in utter destitution and so\nenable God at all times without ceasing to bring his one -begotten\nSon to birth in this same ground. This birth befalls not once a\nyear nor once a day nor once an hour, but all the time, above\ntime, in the while which is neither here nor now. This is the\nground I speak of. May we live in suchwise that God can energise\nin us. So help us God.\n\nI have sometimes said that the soul is an imitation of God ;\nnow I say that she is his image, and in the very same form the\nFather has eternally formed, and the same that Christ is formed in.\n\nAccording to Meister Eckhart, All creatures contain one re-\nflection : one, that is the denial of its being the other ; the\nhighest of the angels denies he is the lowest. Gk)d is the\ndenial of denials : the one which is exclusive of all otherness.\nTo call a tree a tree is not to name it, for all the species are con-\nfused. If we name it in its first eruption, in its perfection, we\ndo not call it a tree, we call it pure divine nature. Another\nnotion of it, rather better. The divine nature is the great divider.\nMeister Eckhart says, The Pharisee besought our Lord to eat with\nhim. What is the Pharisee ? He stands for detachment ; a\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nPharisee is one who is detached from all and united into one. The\nprophet cries, ' Lord have mercy on the work which is in thee.'\nThe highest work God ever wrought was done in mercy. Under-\nstanding goes in deep enough to lay hold of being simply as being-\nin-itself, but where being is losing itself, drowned in itself, there\nunderstanding falls away.\n\nFriar John says : It is a question among the theologians whether\nit lies with the soul, or with God, for her to be God. I say the\npower lies in the soul. Suppose the soul ready to be God, then\nGod must work in that power and draw the power into himself : the\nenergy then is in God and the capacity is in the soul. Were I wholly\nthat I am I should be God ; there would be for me neither time nor\nplace nor change. There is nothing so easy to me, so possible, as\nto be God. To stay quiet requires no work, whereas if I change to\nanother I must reduce myself to naught : but I remain as I am.\n\nI say, no creature is so vile but it can boast of being; in proportion\nto its being is its power of being God, for whatever is being is God.\n\nBishop Albertus says, Man is divine above all as receiving\nunhindered the inflowing Deity. In the words of the saint,\nThe light of my soul is never extinguished and my desire is ever\nin the beholding of God.\n\nXLIVi\n\nIN ALL THINGS I SEEK REST\n\nIn omnibus requiem queesivi (EccL 24iji). things I\n\nseek rest.\n\nThe masters tell us that God made the powers of the soul by\nnature receptive to their likes, thus the car is always hearing and\nthe eye is always seeing. What my eye sees is one with it, just\nlike the air with light. The nature of the eye is to see colour,\notherwise it would not be an eye. And conversely with colour,\nby nature it affects the eye or it would not be colour. To think\nof it as colour yet incommunicable to the eye would be to deny\nthat it is colour. I can see the minster. But no one sees it in\nme. For a thing to be visible in me, it must be so placed that its\nreflection can be seen in me. Standing in front of me and face\nto face a man could see his image in my eye. Stand over flowing\nwater and you cannot see yourself. But supposing it is clear,\nthen where it is collected and still enough for a reflection you can\nsee your form in it. They say glass is transparent, like a crystal.\nBut cover it with lead or wax and it reflects : it gives an image\nof whatever stands before it, perfect in every detail.\n\n^ See also Wackemagel, No. Ixiii.\n\nGod made the soul, her highest power, her best, in order to\nbeget himself therein. There, says a philosopher, begetter and\nbegotten are the same and there is neither time nor place nor\nmatter. Matter means gross bodily things ; it is intractable\nand hinders. Hence it has been said that if the Father could\nhe would make himself. But he cannot, so he makes his like.\n\nOur Lord said, ' I dwell in Jacob and I rest in Israel.' Jacob\nstands for riddance. God is gotten nowhere excepting in the\nsoul that has put all creatures under her feet. St Augustine\nsays, God is being born within the soul the whole time without\nceasing, but not born to us to whom he is not manifest but hidden.\nAs long as God is hidden in the soul by aught, he is not born to us,\nand you may be quite sure that God is never born to any soul\nexcepting she has put all creatures under her feet : where there\nis no other there God begets himself, not his likeness, his own\nself : God and God. Well and truly then the Son may say, ' I\ndwell in Jacob and in Israel 1 rest. And said he : ' My Father\nsent me and he engendered in me that which is my nature : that\nI am being born all the time within the soul who is pure enough\nfor him to see himself in.' There God is at rest and the soul\nreposes in God. To deprive God of resting in the soul would be\nto deprive him of his deity. To rob him of it even in one's thoughts\nis to rob him of his Godhood, since he is pleased to rest in all things.\nDavid says : ' My Lord said to my heart : thou art my Son ; this\nday have I begotten thee in the reflection of the Holy Ghost,'\nand again he said : ' I have begotten thee in my innermost heart,\nin the depths of my soul ; I have spread my roots, I have estab-\nlished myself in the city of Zion and my power in Jerusalem.'\nThe soul in Zion, who has transcended things and is dwelling in\nher central depth, in her docs God give birth to his inmost self.\nThe heavenly Father said to his only Son : As I begat thee in\nmy inmost heart, even so I charge thee by thy divine nature\nthat thou comest not to birth save in tl\\c innermost recesses of\nthe soul. — ^Whosoever would deny to God that he should beget\nhimself in this way in the soul would deny him his God-nature.\nMay God thus beget himself in us, So help us God. Amen.\n\nXLV\n\nIN ALL THINGS I SEEK REST\n\nIn omnibus requiem queesivi {Eccl, 24^]^). We find this in\nthe Book of Wisdom. We may imagine Wisdom in friendly\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nconversation with the soul, saying, 'In all things I sought rest.'\nTo which the soul replies, ' He who created me rested in my tent.'\nAnd Wisdom says again, ' My rest is in the holy city.' If I were\nasked to say to what end the creator has created creatures, I should\nanswer : rest. And were I asked a second time, what are all\ncreatures seeking so eagerly by nature ? I should answer : rest.\nAnd if a third time I were asked what the soul seeks in all her\nagitations, once more I should say : rest.\n\nLook how the face of divine nature turns foolish and demented\nall the powers of the soul with longing for it, so as to draw them to\nitself. God likes this so well, it pleases him so much that his\nentire God-nature is turned into this bent. He says, ' In the holy\nplace likewise I repose.' As the soul rests in God so God reposes\nin her. If she rests partly in God he rests partly in her. If she\nrests wholly in him he rests altogether in her. In those limpid\nsouls where God can see the reflection of himself, God is reposing\nin the soul and the soul is reposing in God. To deprive God of\nthis, though but in thought, is to deprive him, to deny to him, his\nGodhood who is seeking rest in all things, for God's nature is\nrest.\n\nFourthly, whether they know it or not, creatures are all in\nsearch of rest. No one can shut or open his eyes without seeking\nrest : he is ridding himself of some hindrance or finding some-\nwhere to rest. These arc the two motives of all human action.\nAs I often say, my love is placed where I most clearly see God's\nlikeness. But rest is more like God than any creature.\n\nMark how the soul must be for God to rest in her. She must\nbe pure. What makes the soul pure ? Keeping to spiritual\nthings. She is exalted too by these. The more she is exalted\nthe purer she becomes in her intention and the more efficient in\nher work. As the philosopher says about the stars : they become\nless potent as they near the earth, being out of their true course\nIn their proper orbit, though they are invisible on earth, they have\nmore pull upon it. St Anselm apostrophises the soul, ' Withdraw\nthyself a little from the tumult of external things.' And again,\n\n' Flee away and hide thee from the rush of inner thoughts which\ncause such great disquiet to the soul.'\n\nWe can ask of God no better thing than rest. All God wants\nof man is a peaceful heart ; then he performs within the sqpl an\nact too Godlike for creature to attain to or yet see. The divine\nWisdom is discreetly fond and lets no creature watch. As our\nLord says, ' I will lead my bride into the desert and will speak to\nher in her heart/ into a solitude, that is, away from creatures.\n\nFourthly, he says the soul must rest in God. God cannot do\ndivine work in the soul, for in the soul things are all ruled by\n\nmeasure. Measure means limit, within and without. There is\nnone of this in God's operations, which are infinite : openly\nenclosed in God's revelation. David says, ' God sits above the\nCherubim. He docs not say, above the Seraphim. Cherubim\nmeans wisdom, knowledge which brings God to the soul and\nleads the soul to God. But not into God. Not in her own\nintelligence does God perform his godly operation, because in her\nthis is ruled by measure ; but he uses it as being God, divine.\nThe highest power steps forth (that is, the will) and breaking into\nGod, leads in the soul with her intelligence and all her powers\nand makes her one with God. Here God is acting above the power\nof the soul : not as in the soul but as in God. The soul now\ndowsed in God and in divine nature, receives divine life ; now she\nis subject to the law of God and is of the order of God. To take\nan illustration from natural philosophy. At the moment of\nconception the child in its mother's womb has neither limbs nor\ncolour. But when the soul is poured into the body it takes form\nand colour and becomes an entity (in virtue of the soul), with\nthe created nature of the soul and the appearance of a living\nbeing. And the soul, when perfectly atoned with God and\ndowsed in his divinity, loses all her hindrances, her feebleness\nand instability, and suddenly renewed with divine life grows\norderly in all her ways and virtues. Look at a light, the nearer\nthe wick the duller and denser the glow ; as the flame shoots up\nfrom the wick it gets brighter and brighter. The more exalted the\nsoul the better God can do in her his divine work in his own\nlikeness. Like a mountain rising up two leagues above the earth,\ngraven with magic runes and sacred characters which defy the\nwinds and rain. Even so the really holy soul is uplifted into\nperfect calm, absolute and changeless in divine activity. That\nreligious has good cause for shame who is moved so readily to\nglo#m or anger or desire. He is no true religious.\n\nLastly, creatures are all seeking rest whether they know it or\nnot. Never is the stone bereft of motion while it is not lying on\nthe ground. And similarly fire. All creatures also : they seek\ntheir natural place. The loving soul finds rest nowhere except in\nGod. David says, ' God has ordained to everything its place :\nto fish the water, birds the air and beasts the earth and to the\nsoul the Godhead.' And Job declares in the same strain, 'What\nis in God he gives us for our joy and bliss.' God grant us peace\nand rest in him, So help us the eternal truth, which is himself.\nAmen^\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nXL VII\nPOVERTY\n\nThe really virtuous man does not want God. What I have\nI want not. He makes no plans, he sets no store by things. As\nGod is higher than man so is he readier to give than man is to\nreceive. Not by his fasts and vigils and his many outward works\ndoes a man prove his progress in the virtuous life, but it is a sure\nsign of his growth if he finds eternal things more and more attrac-\ntive than the things that pass. The man who has a thousand\nmarks of gold and gives it all away for love of God is doing a\nfine thing ; yet I say, it were far finer and far better for him to\ndespise it, setting it at naught on God's account.\n\nA man should orient his will and all his works to God and having\nonly God in view go forward unafraid, not thinking, am I right\nor am I wrong ? One who worked out all the chances ere starting\nhis first fight would never fight at all. And if, going to some place,\nwe must think how to set the front foot down we shall never get\nthere. It is our duty to do the next thing : go straight on, that\nis the right way.\n\nThere are five kinds of poverty. The first is devilish poverty ;\nthe second, golden poverty ; the third is willing poverty ; the\nfourth is spiritual poverty ; the fifth, divine poverty.\n\nThe first, or devilish poverty, applies to all who have not what\nthey fain would have, outward or inward. That is their hell.\n\nThe second, golden poverty, is theirs who in the midst of goods\nand properties pass empty out and in. If everything they own\nwas burnt the effect on them would be to leave them quite un-\nmoved. Heaven must needs be theirs and they would have no\nless.\n\nThe third is willing poverty and belongs to those who, renouncing\ngoods and honours, body and soul, leave everything with right\ngood grace. These give judgment with the twelve apostles and\nby pronouncing judgment it is their judgment day who, knowing\nwhat they leave, yet set another in their heart and mightily bestir\nthemselves about their own departure. Such are the willing poor.\n\nThe fourth are spiritual poor. These have forsaken friends and\nkindred, not merely goods and honour, body and soul ; further,\nthey are quit of all good works : the eternal Word does all their\nwork while they are idle and exempt from all activity. And\nsince in the eternal Word is neither bad nor good, therefore they\nare absolutely empty.\n\nThe fifth are godly poor, for God can find no place in them to\n^ Jostes, No. 34.\n\nwork in. Theirs is riddance without and within for they are bare\nand free from all contingent form. This is the man : in this man\nall men are one man and that man is Christ. Of him one master\nsays, ' Earth was never worthy of this man who looks on heaven\nand earth the same.' This man is object-free in time and in\neternity.\n\nNow enough of those who have no object in eternity, but one\nthing more of those who are objectless in time. What is meant\nby object ? There are two objects : one is otherness (not I) ; the\nother is a man's own proper self (his 1).\n\nThe first otherness is becomings all that has come into existence ;\nsuch things breed otherness and pass away. This applies to the\npassage of time.\n\nHe who knows one matter in all things remains unmoved.\nFor matter is the subject of form and there can be no matter\nwithout form nor form devoid of matter. Form without matter\nis nothing at all ; but matter ever cleaves to form and is one\nundivided whole in every single part of it. Now since form in\nitself is naught, therefore it moves nothing. And since matter\nis perfectly impartible, therefore it is unmoved. This man then is\nunmoved by form or matter and is therefore objectless in time.\n\nMan's other object is to possess his proper self, to identify\nhimself with all perfection, with that most precious treasure\nhis own aught : that is his quest. Now when a thing has gotten\nits own form, no more nor less, that thing is all its own and no one\nelse's. He who conceives this really is perfect in the sense that\nhe is wholly objectless to eternity, etc.\n\nXLVII\n\nTHIS IS LIFE ETERNAL\n\nHcec est vita ceterna ut cognoscant te solum deum verum etc, (Joh.\n173). Here beginneth a discourse on a gospel saying, Christ's\ndictum, ' This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God and\nthy Son whom thou hast sent.'\n\nNow no one knows the Father except his only Son, for he says\nhimself, ' No man knows the Father save the Son and no man\nknows the Son save the Father.' Ergo, if man is to know God,\nand therein consists his eternal bliss, he must be, with Christ, the\nonly Son of the Father. If ye would be blest ye must be the\nonly Son ; not many sons ; one Son. True, ye are many in your\ncarnal birth, but ye shall be one in the eternal birth, for in God\nthere is no more than the one natural spring with its single natural\noutlet of the Son ; not twain but one. And hence if ye are one\nwith Christ ye are the sole issue with the eternal Word.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nHow does man come to be the only Son of the eternal Father ?\nI answer. The eternal Word did not take upon itself this man or\nthat, it took upon itself one indivisible free nature, human nature,\nbare and formless, for the impartible form of manhood is wholly\nwithout form ; and since in this union the eternal Word took\nhuman nature formless, therefore the Father's image, his eternal\nSon, became the form of human nature. Here it is just as true\nto say that man became God as that God became man. For\nhuman nature was transformed by taking the divine form which\nis the image of the Father. It follows that to be the Son ye must\ndepart from and discard whatever makes for division in you.\nMan is an accident of nature. Do away with accidents and take\nyourselves in the freedom of your impartible humanity. But\nthis very nature wherein ye take yourselves is become the Son of\nthe eternal Father by union with the eternal Word, and therefore\nye with Christ become the Son of the eternal Father by reason of\nenjoying the same nature which was there made God. Beware\nlest ye take yourselves as either this or that : realize yourselves\nin the liberation of your undivided manhood. If ye would be\none ye must be rid of not, for noVs pride is division. How so ?\nWell, suppose I say, Thou art not the man. This not puts a\ndivision between thee and this man. To be undivided ye must\nbe free from not There is one power in the soul which is immune\nfrom not, which has not aught in common with any mortal\nthing : there is nothing in this power ; only God is seen there\nface to face.\n\nA man being thus the Son, his motion, his energy, whatever\nhe enjoys, he has gotten of his own. Now the Son of the Father\nis the eternal Son as being descended from the Father. Further,\nall he has he has within himself since he is one in essence and in\nnature with the Father ; his essence and his quiddity, he has\nboth in himself and in this sense he prays, ' Father, as I and thou\nare one even so I would they should be the same.' And just as\nthe Son is one with the Father in his essence, so thou being one\nwith him in essence and in nature, hast got it all in thee as the\nFather has in him. Thou hast it not on loan from God, because\nGod is thine own : all thou hast gotten thou hast gotten of thine\nown and such works as are not produce of thine own are dead\nworks in the sight of God. These thou art moved to by extraneous\nthings and they are not living : they are dead, for anything alive\nis endowed with a motion of its own. If man's works are to live\nthey must be indigenous : not foreign things nor outside but\nwithin him.\n\nRemember. If ye love right as God ye love not right as right,\ntherefore ye neither take it nor love it as a whole but as divided.\n\nBut God is right, so ye are not taking him nor loving him in his\nentirety. Take right as right and ye take it as God. Then\nwhere right is at work ye will be working too, seeing that ye do\nright all the time. Though hell stood in the way of right ye\nwould still do right and that not as a hardship but a pleasure,\nbecause being right itself yc must do right. The more a thing\nparticipates in a common nature, the more it is one with the\nimpartibility of the common nature, the more impartible it is\nitself. To the whole truth, God help us. Amen,\n\nXLVIII\n\nBEHOLD, I SEND MY ANGEL\n\nEcce ego mitto angelum 7neum etc. {Matt, ll^o, Luc. 737 ).\n' Behold, 1 send my angel before my face to prepare my way before\nme. And he whom we seek shall suddenly come into his temple.\nWho knoweth the day of his coming ? For he is as a fire that\nblazes up.' Suddenly, he says, he shall come into his temple.\nThe soul shall come with all of her possessions, be they sins or\nbe they virtues, and offer them all up at once, lifting them up in\nthe Son into the Father. As the love of the Father is the loveli-\nness of the Son. The Father loves nothing at all but the Son\nand such things as he finds in the Son. Let the soul then rise up\nin her whole power and offer herself to the Father in his Son so\nthat she with the Son may be loved by the Father.\n\nHe says, ' Behold, I send my angel.' The word behold suggests\nthree things. Something great or marvellous or rare. Behold,\nI send my angel to refine the soul and prepare her for divine light.\nDivine light is always in the angelic light and of the angelic light.\nThe soul would be troubled and distressed if God's light were not\nshaded therein. God, clouded by angelic light is always waiting to\ncome out and shine upon the soul. I am wont to say, when I am\nasked what God is doing, that he is begetting his Son, bearing him\never fresh and new and with such delight that he does nothing else\nbesides this work with his Holy Ghost and all things in it. Hence\nhis words, ' Behold I.' He who says I does the very best work.\nNone but the Father can say this word right. The act is peculiar\nto him and there is no issue thereof but his Son. In this act\nGod tells forth his all. When God does this work in the soul,\nthat is his birth ; his birth is his work and his work is his Son.\nGod performs this operation in the innermost depths of the soul\nso secretly that neither saint nor angel knows, nor is the soul\nherself a party to it save that she is the patient ; God does ^it\nby himself. It is really the Father who says, ' I send my angel.'\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nNow I maintain we cannot be content with this and will have\nnone of him. It was Origen who said, ' Mary Magdalene sought\nour Lord ; she sought for one dead man and was disappointed\nto find two living angels.' She was right, for she expected God.\nDionysius says of the august principalities of angels, that divine\norder reigns there and divine activity and divine likeness or divine\ntruth, as far as that is possible. What is divine order but divine\npower and from them both springs love which is ardour and\nwisdom and truth and power. For love is burning in the realm\nof essence : transcendental, actual being, free from nature. It is\nits nature to be natureless. To think of goodness or wisdom or\npower dissembles the essence and dims it in thought. The mere\nthought obscures essence. Such is divine rule. And where\nGod finds its like within the soul there docs the Father give his\nSon birth. The soul's whole power bursts alight. Out of this\npower, out of this light, leaps the flame : love. The soul with all\nher might ascends to the order of God.\n\nNow to speak of the order of the soul. According to a heathen\ndoctor, the supernal light of the soul is very bright and clear and\ndearly loves itself, whereas the soul dislikes herself and never\nsheds this natural light upon herself unless her lower powers are\nordered to her highest ; her natural light being high enough to\nreach angelic nature, but all averse from her inferior powers, it\nwill not pour therein nor will it drench the soul unless these lower\npowers will give way. When a lord rules over a peojfle the serf\nis under the knight and the knight is under the baron. They\nall desire peace and to that end they will all help each other.\nAnd even so each several power is subject to the others and\nhelps to keep peace in the soul, perfect rest. Our doctors define\nperfect rest as absolute freedom from motion. In it the soul\ncan rise above herself to the order of the gods. In this absolute\nrest the Father gives the soul his only Son. Now he ranks first\nin order of divinity.\n\nThe other members take somewhat lower rank as I was saying\nof the angels who have God's likeness very strong in them and\nillumination. In this interior light they soar above themselves\ninto the divine image, all face to face with God in his divine light\nand so much the same that they do God's work. Angels illumined\nlike this and who are so like God, absorb and suck in God. I\noften say that were I void and had this fiery inner love and likeness\nI should absorb God altogether. Light streams out and lights\nup what it falls on. To call a man enlightened as we sometimes\ndo, means little. Where it comes in it is far better ; where it\nbreaks through into the soul and makes her Godlike, divine, as\nfar as may be, and light inwardly. In this interior light she\n\nSERMONS ANI> COLLATIONS 127\n\ntowers above herself in the light of God. Now she has come\nhome and is at one with him and is his fellow-worker. Nothing\nis wrought by creature, the Father works alone. The soul shall\nnever stop until she works as well as God. Then she and the\nFather shall do his work together : she shall work as one with\nhim, wisely and lovingly. That we may be in unity with him,\nGod help us. Amen.\n\nXLIX\n\nBEHOLD, I SEND MY ANGEL\n\nEcce mitto angelum meum (Malach. 3j, Luc, 7^^), It is written\nin the gospel, ' Behold, I send my angel.* Angels are within our\nken for the evangelists deelare, 'we shall be like the angels.'\nOne authority says, an angel is an image of God. Another one\nsays he is fashioned like God. A third one describes him as a\nclear mirror wherein is reflected the goodness of God, the absolute\nstillness and mystery of God, as far as that is possible. Angels,\nagain, have been defined to be pure intellectual light free from\nmaterial things. We shall be like the angels. Perception here\nmeans seeing in the light that is in time, for anything I think of\nI think of in the light that is in time and temporal. But angels\nperceive in the light that is beyond time and eternal. They know\nin the eternal now. Men know in the now of time. The now of\ntime is infinitely short. Yet take away this now of time and\nthou art everywhere and hast the whole of time. This thing or\nthat thing is not all things ; as long as I am this or that, have this\nor that, I am not all things nor I have not all things. Purify till\nthou nor art nor hast not either this or that, then thou art omni-\npresent, and being neither this nor that thou art all things. An\nangel is and acts as an intelligence in his degree, beholding God\nwithout ceasing and his object is intelligible essence. Hence he\nis far removed from things. Remote from time and tempor-\nalities.\n\nMark the prophet's words, he says, ' I send my angel.' The\nevangelist, however, omits the pronoun I. This points, in the\nfirst place, to God's elemental nature ; to the fact that God is\nuiinameable, transcending speech in the abstraction of his essence\nwhere, without word or utterance, God is ineffable to creatures.\nIt shows next, that the soul is ineffable and wordless ; in her\nproper cause she is inarticulate, nameless and mute. The I\nis suppressed because there she has neither word nor utterance.\nThirdly, it suggests that God and the soul are so entirely one that\nGod has not a single thing to tell him from the soul, nor is he any\n\n128 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nother than the soul. The I is silent because he and the soul are\nevery whit the same ; he has no property apart from soul nor does\nany other nature come within his ken. In the other reference,\nthe text says 1 to indicate God's is -ness : that God simply is.\nAll things are in God ; out of him, without him, is naught. All\ncreatures are infernal and of no account compared with God.\nWhat they are in truth that they are in God, for it is God alone\nwho is the truth ; the word I stands for the actuality of divine\ntruth for it is the glyph of one-existence. It proclaims that God\nalone is. Secondly, it means that God is inseparate from things ;\nthat he is more innate in them than they are in themselves. And\nman should be inseparate from things : not as cleaving to self\nbut as wholly detached from himself ; thus he is inseparate from\nall things, and he is all things. So far as thou art nothing to thy-\nself so far thou art all things and iriscparate from all things ; and\nso far as thou art not divorced from all things so far thou art\nGod and all things, for God's deity consists in his being present\nin all things. Wherefore the man who is inseparate from all\nthings enjoys divinity as God himself enjoys it. Thirdly, the\nword / is in a sense the end of name for it is no proper name :\nit signifies the perfection of name and means immutability,\ndispassion : that God is immoveable, intangible, eternal stability.\n\nFourthly, it points to the absolute purity of the divine being\nwhich is entirely without admixture. Goodness, wisdom and\nanything else that we can attribute to God are impurities with\nGod's abstract essence ; coexistence is foreign to essence, but the\nword I denotes God's pure essence, his being in itself without\nanything alien and strange. The angels arc the image, the\nmirror of God, which contains the reflection of the Godhead, of\nthe glory, the stillness and the mystery of God. Let us like\nthe angels imitate God. According to philosophers, to make a\nportrait of a man one must not copy Conrad nor yet Henry. For\nif it be like Conrad or like Henry it will not recall the man,\nbut will remind one of Conrad or of Henry. Moreover, Conrad's\nportrait will not be like Henry for, given the knowledge and the art,\none could do Conrad to the life, the very image of him. Now,\nGod both will and can : he made thee like unto himself, the very\nimage of himself. But like him argues something foreign and aloof.\nNow there is nothing foreign nor aloof betwixt God and the soul,\ntherefore the soul is not like God : she is identical with him,\nthe very same as he is.\n\nMore I do not know and cannot tell, so here my argument\nmust end. But I was thinking on the way, that we ought to be\nutterly detached in our intention, having no one, nothing, in\nview but the Godhead as such : not happiness nor this nor that.\n\njust God and Godhead in itself. Aught beside that thou intendest\nis a divine impurity. Seize the actual Godhead itself. God help\nus so to do. Amen.\n\nL\n\nI CAME FORTH FROM THE FATHER\n\nExivi a patre et veni in mundum (Joh. ICgg)- I quote from the\nGospel of St John. Our Lord says, ' I came forth from the\nFather and am come into the world and again I leave the world\nand return to my Father.' Another of his sayings is, ' Amen,\nVerily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in\nmy name the same shall be yours.' Scholars say the word amen\nis an expression for stability. Our Lord says, ' Heaven and earth\nshall pass away before my word shall pass away,' which never\nchanges. The heavens which arc manifold and the unnumbered\nstars are all self-coloured. The moon alone is pied, thick and\nclear, dark and light. That is due to the neighbourhood of earth.\nAnd our doctors teach that in God there is no yesterday nor\nmorrow, it is to-day and now all the time in God. Augustine\nobserves that the architect who builds a house therein displays\nhis art ; though it may fall to ruin the art within his soul neither\nages nor decays. And again Augustine says, All things are\nimmutable in the eternal Word, nor do they wear away albeit\nin themselves they are corruptible, apt to be in some sort or not\nto be at all.\n\nHe says, ' Verily ' {i.e, without fail or invariably), ' whatsoever\nye ask of my Father in my name the same shall be yours.' Accord-\ning to St Augustine, ' To pray to God for aught save God is not\nto pray at all.' John Damascene declares that 'seeing herself\nthe soul sees spirit ; seeing an angel she sees spirit, yet, beholding\nGod, she and the angel arc but corporal things compared with\nhim.' Their mind is as matter to God. Angelic light is darkness\nas compared with him. Our Lord says, ' Verily, I say unto you,\nwhatsoever ye ask in my name the same shall be yours,' meaning,\nwhat is in man's name is man ; what is in light's name is light ;\nwhat is in God's name is fixed and immutable. The name of\nGod belongs to none but him who stands in this light. No man\ncan say Father except he be Son and none is called Son unless\nhe be one with the one-begotten Word. Whoso asks in God's\nname may demand of the Father whatever he will. Words have\nenormous power and have gotten it from the emanation of the\neternal Word.\n\nOur Lord says, ' I am come into the world.' The Father comes\ninto his Son with all he is, he comes into his Son with all he has,\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhe comes into his Son with all that he affords and, fourthly, he\ncomes in an intellectual act. It is proper to the Son to dwell in\nthe Father and it is proper to the Father to dwell in his Son and\nin the Holy Ghost. The full promise of the Father is brought\nforth in the Son to the end that the Son may transmit it to the\nsoul. To use a favourite simile of mine. When a stone is thrown\ninto a pond the impact starts a circle, small but energetic, which\nsets up other circles, the second being larger than the first albeit\nnot so potent and the third one bigger still ; one is gotten from\nanother without stopping ; and if the throw was hard enough\nthe water's edge is reached before the ripples are exhausted.\nOne unique throw with the world a sheet of water and the water\nwould fail ere the circles died away.\n\nNow mark the application. First, out of the Father there\nleaps forth the Son, small, but so puissant in his godly strength\nthat it is he who causes the whole emanation. The second sally\nis the premier angel, following hard upon the first event. It\nspeeds apace, and though less energetic than the first and fully\nsmall, it is endowed with so much force that its superfluous\nenergy supplies the lower angels while its successors, yet more\nwidely flung, are bigger in circumference than the second or the\nfirst. They keep on brimming out the one behind the other, all\nbusy pouring themselves forth from the highest to the lowest of\nthe angels ; but however far it be from the initial sally of the\neternal Word to the first angel, this latter is too high to be\naffected by any eori)oral thing. Further. Our master claims\nfor the lowest of the angels that in view of his energy projecting\ninto God, the very basest of the inferior angels has so much of\nGod's might that the smallest fraction (a chip as it were from\nthe carpenter's axe), the minutest trace, of his activity makes\nall things grow and flourish. If this chip does not fall from\nhis work, everything instantly perishes. They spread far and\nwide, reproducing so far as they may the first welling out of\nthe Son from the Father ; but this first emanation was so\ncharged with power that given a thousand or more worlds they\nwould be wanting in capacity ere the first issue had been spent,\njust as the water's edge was reached before the ripples were\nexhausted that arose from the impact of the stone.\n\nOur Lord says, ' I came forth from the Father and am come\ninto the world.' fV orld meaning pure or virgin. He is referring\nto the soul. Boethius says the world of the soul is called pure\nbecause she is fashioned like the fair and virgin world in God.\nAnd God is that soul which has gotten her into the perfect image\nof the divine world and wholly there abides, not peering forth but,\nall aloof from the outside world, standing still in the light-world\n\nin God. Into this soul comes the Son, begotten there in all the\npanoply of God : Father, Son and Holy Ghost, all together in\none perfect being. The soul that has gotten in her the Son, has\nin one perfect entity the entire promise of the Godhead. One\nthing more. Creatures communicate themselves so far as they\nare good. It is peculiar to God as being wholly good that into\nwhomsoever does partake of him he empties himself wholly in\nhis Son. Which is another argument for the soul who has gotten\nthe Son receiving the Godhead altogether. Thirdly, the Father\nis performing, in his Son, an intellectual operation. According\nto the philosophers, man's highest happiness consists in the\nmental exercise of wisdom. And the Father's whole delight, his\nperfect bliss, is this intellectual wont which is the birth of his\nSon. This birth he so enjoys that he puts his whole might into\nit and his entire nature. Accordingly the soul having gotten\nthe Son by a feat of understanding, in him possesses all that God\ncan give, in one perfect joy and bliss.\n\nOur Lord says, ' I came forth from the Father and am come\ninto this world,' into the light-world, that is. The soul, true\nreflection of the divine world, into her enters the Son ; just as he\nfalls from the Father he is born in the soul. In this very same birth\nhe is born in the world, in the soul, and bearing her up brings her\nto birth in the Father. As he says, ' again I leave the world,'\nthe outer world, ' and rc-ascend to my Father,' with the light-\nworld of the soul, copy of the world divine, made on the same\nlast, in the same likeness. He carries her up to his Father, into\nthe first, into the ground whence the Son comes out and strikes\ndown from the Father.\n\nThere is another meaning in his words, ' I came forth from the\nFather,' which is this : the Father goes into his Son in all his\ndeity, for he is wholly intellectual. He goes clean into his Son.\nHad he more sons they would get naught ; he could never have\nbut one Son for he is none other than his understanding. Had\nhe a thousand sons they must needs be all the same Son.\n\nOur Lord says, ' I came forth from the Father and am come\ninto the world. Again I leave the world and return to my Father.'\nHe implies that his going out is his going into the soul. But\nher going in is her going out. The soul goes out of her outermost\ninto her innermost, out of her own into the Son's. Her being\ncaught up to the Father is his quitting the outer world and, with\nthe soul, ascending once more to his Father. Mark tells of some-\none addressing our Lord as ' Good Master.' He replied, ' There\nis none good but God,' for in coming forth he falls clean into the\nsoul with all he is. No creature exists that can give itself whole ;\nit goes out in kindness and work but itself stays at home. His\n\n182 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nexit is his entrance. His passage out of the Father is his passage\ninto the soul. Ilis emanation verily is God giving himself once\nfor all in his Son. We say : the only-begotten Son who proceeds\nfrom the Father is the same as himself. From the moment the\nFather launches forth in all his might in the Son, he (the Father)\nreverts to pure essence. He has no other course seeing he has\nspent all his substance on his Son. Were there no time nor place\nnor matter, nothing left at all, the begetter would be as the\nbegotten. It follows that the Son so called, must be the only\nSon and be one with the Father who utters in one single Word\nthe whole of what he knows, the whole of what he can afford, in\none single instant, and that instant is eternal.\n\nNow our doctors say : natural acts make for unity. God\nvouchsafes himself, gives himself, as a whole to the soul in order\nthat she may be one with him. Moreover, his first issue is his\nonly Son. Again, our doctors teach that the highest of the\nangels is pure yet he forms a part of nature. But the only Son\nnever entered any nature, he remained superior to nature : in\npure being he went into the Father. The second eruption into\nnature, so our masters say, the highest spirit, remained by nature\nsimplex, one in proportion to the nearness of his nature (to its\norigin). He broke in to let us out : his exit thence is his entrance\nhere. TIcncc his words, ' Let. . . .'\n\nLI\n\nHE SOUGHT TO SEE . . . WHO HE WAS\n\nEt qumrehat videre Jemmy quis esset etc, {Luc. lOg). St Luke\nrelates that when our Lord walked upon earth in human nature\n' there was a rich man who sought to see him, and eould not for\nthe press for he was small of stature.' According to a holy man.\nOnly he is rich who has plenty of God and virtue. To be well\noff for goods and stinted for God makes one poor and not rich,\nfor things are as nothing to God. Hence the protest of that\nseigneur whom his retainers lauded for his power and his riches.\nQuoth he, ' I trow they laud not me one whit who have forgot my\nstrongest claim to praise, my power over my body to demand\nof it what I will.' This man who sought to see .lesus did outrun\nthe crowd and climbed up into a tree in order to see him. And\nJesus said, 'Make haste and come down, for to-day I abide at\nthine house.' Whoso would see Jesus must outrun all things.\nWhat does it show when a man does not hasten past things ?\nIt shows he has not tasted God. If he had tasted God he would\nhasten to pass by all things, and not pass by merely but break\nthrough all creatures. What his love is ready to leave he breaks\n\nthrough. If wc fail to see God that is due to our feeble desire\nno less than the concourse of creatures. Aim high, be high.\nTo see God needs high aspiration. Know, ardent desire and\nabject humility work wonders. I vow God is omnipotent, but he\nis impotent to thwart the humble soul with towering aspiration.\nAnd where I cannot master God and bend him to my will it is\nbecause I fail either in will or meekness. I say, and I would\nstake my life upon it, that by will a man might pierce a wall of\nsteel, and accordingly we read about St Peter that on catching sight\nof Jesus he walked upon the water in his eagerness to meet him.\n\nLook you : a thing that grows in the filling will never get full.\nTake a vessel, a stoup ; if you pour a stoup in and it stretches\nthereby then it will not be full. And so with the soul : the more\nshe demands the more she is given ; the more she receives the\nbigger she grows. Who is Jesus ? lie has no name. Where do\nwe sec God ? Where there is no yesterday nor morrow : where\nit is now and to-day, there we sec God. What is God ? One\nmaster says, If I were forced to tell of God then 1 should say,\nGod is a thing no mind can reach or grasp and that is all 1 know\nabout him. Another master says, lie who knows of God that he\nis unknown, that man knows God. Then comes St Augustine\nwith his dictum, God is something sovran, supreme, which is\ncommon to all partakers. lie means that God is somewhat\nwherein every creature must be ; for if he fall out of the hand of\nthe mercy of God he will fall back into the hand of the justice of\nGod. lie must ever be in him. Needs must a man have his being\nin God and have enjoyment in God withal, aye in God himself,\nan he will. But he who docs not lind eternal satisfaction and\nenjoyment in God himself must get it out of things, things that\narc base, far lower than his footstool ; yet creatures without\nexception get their being from God, even the damned in hell\npersist on somewhat of his being. Though they dwell not in God\nin felicity, still they must go on without him, against their will,\nin damnation. What folly it is to refuse to be with him wc cannot\nbe without !\n\nSt Augustine says, ' What is God ? lie is something we cannot\nconceive any better.' But I say, God is better than anything we\ncan conceive ; 1 say, God is somewhat, I know not what, verily\nI know not. He is all that is being rather than not- being, existent\nmore than non-existent ; our highest aspirations arc but grovelling\nthings falling hopelessly short of God. He transcends heart's\ndesire. When I preached at Paris I declared, and I durst now\nrepeat, that not a man at Paris can conceive with all his learning\nwhat God is in the very meanest creature, not even in a fly. More-\nover, I now say that the whole world is powerless to conceive it\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nWhat God is in himself no man can tell except he be ravished into\nthe light that God is himself. What God is in the angels is very\nremote and nobody knows. What God is in the God-loving soul\nnot a soul knows but the soul he is in. What God is in these\nnether things, I know to some extent but very little. What\ntime God comes within our ken the natural faculties vanish.\nMay we be rapt away into the light that is God himself and\ntherein Be forever blest. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLII\n\nTHE GOOD HOUSEWIFE\n\nConsideravit domum etc. ' The good housewife looks well to\nthe ways of her house, not eating the bread of idleness.' This\nhouse represents the soul as a whole, and the ways of the house\nare the powers of the soul. An ancient philosopher says the soul\nis made in between one and two. The one is eternity, ever alone\nand without variation. The two is time, changing and given to\nmultiplication. He means to convey that the soul in her higher\npowers touches eternity, God to wit, while her lower powers being\nin contact with time make her subject to change and biased\ntowards bodily things, which degrade her. Could the soul know\nGod as well as the angels do she would never have come into body.\nIf she could know God without the world the world would not have\nbeen made for her sake. The world was contrived on her account\nfor training and bracing the eye of the soul to endure divine light.\nThe sunshine falling on the earth is dimmed first in the air and\ndiffused on various things, for no human eye can support the sun.\nAnd even so the light of God is over strong and bright for the\nsoul's eye to bear, without being fixed and given up by matter\nand reflection which accustom it to dwelling in the light divine.\n\nIn her superior powers the soul is in contact with God ; so she\ntakes after God. God takes after himself ; he has gotten his\nform from himself and from no one beside. Ilis form is that of\nperfect self-knowledge, absolute light. When the soul comes in\ncontact with him in real understanding, then she is like him in form.\nSuppose you press a seal into green wax or red, or into cloth,\njust enough for the seal, the seal being stamped right into the wax\nso that none of the wax is left over unsealed, then it is one and the\nsame with the seal. In just the same way the soul is wholly\nunited with God in image and form when she is in contact with\nhim in actual gnosis. St Augustine says the soul is of more noble\nbuild than any other creature, and that is why no mortal thing,\ndestined to perish at the latter day, can hold communication with\n\nor eke affect the soul save from a distance and by messengers.\nSuch are the eyes and ears and the five senses : these are the\nsoul's ways out into the world, and by these ways the world gets\nback into the soul. According to one master, the powers of the\nsoul flow back into the soul laden with fruits ; they never go\nout but they bring something back. So beware lest thine eyes\nbring back aught to hurt thy soul. My firm conviction is that\neverything a good man sees must better him. On seeing evil he\nthanks God for saving him therefrom and prays God to convert\nhim to what he is. On seeing good his great desire will be to have\nit perfected in him.\n\nThis seeing serves two purposes : it scotches what is mischievous\nand makes us forthwith remedy our faults. Many a time I have\nlaid it down that great workers, great fasters, great vigil-keepers,\nif they fail to mend their wicked ways, wherein true progress lies,\ndo cheat themselves and are the devil's laughing-stock. A man\nonce had an arrow he grew rich on. lie was neighbour to a\nsower. When the arrow was in use a breeze from any quarter\nwould catch it by the head and turn its tail into the wind. So this\nman approached the sower and quoth he, ' What will you give\nme to tell you the way of the wind ? ' Thus he sold his arrow and\nwaxed rich thereby. And so might we become right rich in virtue\nby finding out our frailties, and then, in rue, setting ourselves to\ncure them.\n\nThis St Elizabeth did with much care. She looked well to the\nways of her house. She had no fear for the winter for her house-\nhold was doubly clad. Probable ills she provided against. Any\nlack she worked hard to supply. So she ate not the bread of\nidleness. Withal her superior powers she kept oriented to God.\nThe superior powers of the soul arc three. The first is intuition ;\nthe second irascibilis, i,e, the power of attack ; the third is will.\nIn the act of imbibing knowledge of the very truth into the\nimpartible power whereby we apprehend God, the soul is a light.\nAnd God too is light, and when the divine light is flooding the soul,\nsoul becomes merged into God just like a light into light. Then\nshe is called the light of faith which is a divine virtue. And\nwhither the soul is unable to go with her senses and powers thither\nfaith takes her.\n\nThe second is the attacking force whose special function it is\nto progress. As the eye is for seeing colour and shape and the\near is for hearing sweet voices and sounds, so the soul with this\npower is ever advancing ; if she glances aside to waver from him,\nthat is sin. She cannot brook that aught should be above her.\nI trow she cannot brook God even being above her ; unless he\nbe within her and she has gotten as good as God himself, she\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nnever rests. With this power God is apprehended by the soul,\nas far as that is feasible to creature and so it is called hope, whieh\nis a divine virtue also. Herein the soul has such a clear prospect\nof God that she fondly imagines God in his whole being has not a\nthing withholdcn from her. King Solomon says, ' Stolen waters are\nsweet.' And St Augustine tells us, ' The pears I stole were nicer\nthan the ones my mother gave me, because they were forbidden\nand locked up.' So is that grace far sweeter to the soul which\nshe has won by special work and wisdom than that which is our\ncommon property.\n\nThe third power is interior will, turned ever face-like towards\nGod in godly will, drawing from God his love into itself. God is\ndrawn by the soul and the soul is drawn by God, and this is divine\nlove, another divine virtue. Divine felicity lies in three things.\nIn knowledge and in liberation from the bondage of creature :\nin having enough of, having finished with, self and all creatures.\nFurther, the soul's perfection lies in gnosis, in conception, in\nconceiving God and in union of perfect love. Do we want to know\nwhat sin means ? Lapsing from felicity and virtue, that is the\nwhole cause of sin. It behoves every soul to look to her ways.\n' She had no fear for the winter with her household doubly clad,'\nas the scriptures tell of her. She was clothed with strength to\nwithstand imperfection and was adorned with the truth. To all\nappearance this woman was rich and had the world at her feet,\nbut in secret she knelt at the shrine of true poverty. And when her\noutward comforts failed she fled to him to whom all creatures\nflee, setting at naught the world and self. In this way she trans-\ncended self, despising men's despisery and not minding it, for all\nshe had in mind was the tending of the sick and the cleansing of\nthe foul, which she managed by dint of her pure heart. Even so\nlet us look to the ways of our house and not cat the bread of\nidleness. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLIII\n\nWHOSOEVER WOULD COME AFTER ME\n\nDominus dicet : qui vult venire post me etc, {Matt, I624 ; Luc,\n923). Our Lord says, ' Whosoever would come to me let him take\nup his cross and with willing martyrdom forsake himself and\nfollow me.' Everything by nature is pursuing God after its own\nfashion. Fire draws upwards, earth falls downwards, and similarly\nevery creature here is searching out the place God has ordained\nit for. Origen says a man forsakes himself when he by striving\nrids himself of customary sins and denies himself those things\n\nhe is addicted to ; so doing he takes up his cross with willing pain\nand disciplines himself in virtuous uses. Basilius, the saint,\nonce said that any man who leaves the things that are behind him\nand beneath him and which are not God, has left himself. And\ntreating of this subject in the book wherein he speaks about the\nsoul, St Augustine calls her nobler, mightier, grander than any\nother creature and in these respects most like to God of all, barring\nthe angels, who arc nobler than her nature because they were the\nfirst to be poured forth and loosed from spirit although they keep a\nrefuge in it. This the soul has not. She has to pour into the body.\n\nVarious people comment sagely upon this : If God is quite\nimpartible why did he not create all things simply like the angels ?\nThat w^ould never do, theologians say. One sort of creature\ncould not show forth God. He made many kinds of creatures\nfor each one to show forth a modicum of God albeit no more of\nhim that one drop of water reveals about the sea. Not but what\na drop of water tells us more about the sea, and indeed the universe,\nthan any creatures can reveal (of God). For out of drops we\nmight get a sea, but not by means of any ercatures could we\nsucceed in getting God. St (iregory observes that, The soul whom\nGod shines into so that she sees him somewhat, to her creatures\narc dwarfed or merely ciphers.\n\nThirdly, the text refers to one who dies a martyr's death as\nforsaking self. Our Lord says, ' Moses, to me no man comes as\nhimself.' Now according to St Chrysostom, ' To be an other\nthan I am I must abandon that I am.' This is accom])lished by\nhumility. * Nothing ', says St Gregory, ' gives more power than does\nlowliness.' We sec this well with Moses, who when he wanted to\nrest drove his flock of sheep into the valley. It was there he saw\nthe bush burning but not consumed. ' I will go,' said Moses, ' and\nlook at this great sight.' Then God called to him, ' Stay, Moses,\ngo no further ! Doff thy shoes.' The feet arc symbols of desire.\nThey must be bare : drawn out of everything temporal and mortal ;\nthen the soul can offer her whole self to her Lord. One of the\nsaints has said that if the soul should rise and, being unillumined,\noffer herself to our Lord she would be rebuffed and come to grief ;\nlike an eye that likes trying to look at the sun finds it grows weaker\nand blinder.\n\nLIV\n\nFROM HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND IN HIM\n\nEx ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia, ipsi gloria in scecula\n(Rom. II36). St Paul says, ' From him and through him and in\nhim are all things, to whom be glory and honour.' These words\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nare said of the three Persons and the unity of their nature. From\nhim applies to the Father, the origin of all things in eternity and\nin time. Through him applies to the Son, through whom all\nthings proceeded forth. In him applies to the Holy Ghost, in\nwhom all things are contained, made spirit and brought back to\ntheir end. From another point of view these words, again,\nbetoken the three Persons by their from and through and in. As\nthese words are distinct even so do they show the distinction of\nthe Persons. Put from the word him (which is the same for all)\nwe gather the oneness of their nature. He says, ' To him be glory\nand honour.' Proclaiming the three Persons as one God, to whom\nalone be all honour.\n\nNow we proceed to speak of the things of God, of Persons and\nof essence, which we hardly understand. Those that cannot\nfollow this discourse can take refuge in the dogma I have ta ight\nbefore, that the three Persons arc in one essence and one essence\nin the three Persons. Remember we are speaking of Father and\npaternity, and you must understand that these two are not apart\nin two hypostases, but they are one hypostasis, and moreover\nthey arc one and three rationally speaking. Consider the meaning\nof paternity. It means the power of father-kind. A father is\nknown by the fact that he begets, but we recognise paternity in a\npotential father. Take, for example, the maid who is a virgin.\nBy nature she is maternal though not actually mother. The same\nthing with a father ; in his power to beget he is paternal, but the\nfact of his begetting makes him father. Mark this difference\nbetween father and paternity when the Word is gotten ghostly\nin the soul. This we take to be the case when the soul, sublimed\nand in the proper state, grows pregnant with God's light and\ndivine by nature : by the unique power of God grown big with\nDeity. You sec, in this immanent power, soul too is paternal.\nBut radiant with revelation, she with the F'athcr begets and is\nthen with the Father called father. This father and fatherhood\ndiffer as applied to the soul. Mark, too, that Son differs from\nfiliation, remembering that these two are not separate in two\nhypostases : they arc the same hypostasis. We find filiation in\npotential father-nature, unborn. If he were not unborn in his\npotential nature the Father could not beget him, for a thing that\ncomes out must first have been in. So much for filiation. But\nthe Son we explain as the Father's begetting of his own Word,\nwhereby the Father is Father. The Son, moreover, is God in\nhimself, not God of himself but of the Father alone. Were he\nGod of himself he would not be one with the Father so there\nwould be two without any beginning. Which is impossible. We\npostulate three distinct properties, the Father's property is that\n\nhe comes from none but himself. The Son's property is that he\ndoes not come from himself : he descends from the Father by way\nof nativity. The Holy Ghost's property is that he comes from\nthe Father not as being born : he proceeds from them twain,\nboth Father and Son, not as a birth but as love. For two who are\nsundered in Person cannot together bear one but they can bear\nmutual love. The Holy Ghost is not born because he proceeds\nout of two and not merely out of the Father, albeit certain doctors\ndo maintain that the Holy Ghost comes from the Father alone and\nnot from the Son at all. This is false ; for when the Father\ngat the Son he gave him his whole nature as well as all perfection,\nwhich goes with being of that nature, the Father withholding\nnothing from his Son. It follows that the Father cannot alone\nbring forth the Holy Ghost as he alone did get the Son. Had\nthese doctors envisaged it aright, they would no doubt have said\nthe same. They were speaking without understanding. So it\nis wrong to say the Son is God from himself and not from the\nFather. The Son may be said to bring forth the Spirit yet not\nfrom himself : from the Father whence he comes himself. Thus\nthe Holy Ghost comes from them twain and not from one ; but\nnot as being twain, as being one. So much for the Son and\nfiliation.\n\nIt may be asked concerning Spirit and spiration, Can we use\nthese terms or not ? Is there some objection, which makes it inad-\nmissible ? Filiation is found latent in the nature of the Father,\nthat is plain, seeing he is not merely brought forth out of him.\nHerein lies the objection to speaking of Spirit and spiration.\nLet us see if we can find precisely the right meaning of Spirit and\nspiration. We have here two and one. That is the difference\nbetween Spirit and spiration. In the first, wlicn we predicate\ntwo we mean Father and Son. But by saying in one we refer to\nspiration. This same in one is formless : the mark of spiration.\nAgain, when we say in another that signifies Spirit, who is another\nthan Father and Son in his Person.\n\nLVi\n\nGOD MADE THE POOR FOR THE RICH\n\nGod made the poor for the rich and the rich for the poor. Lend\nto God, he will repay you. Some say they believe in God who\nbelieve not God. It is a greater thing to believe in God than to\nbelieve God. I may trust a man to pay me back five shillings\n\n^ See also Wackernagol, No. lix, from which the last sentence ia added.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nI have lent him yet not trust in the man. So if a man believes in\nGod why will he not trust him to repay what he lends his poor ?\nHe who gives up all things gets back an hundredfold. If he\nexpects his hundredfold he shall get nothing : he is not giving up\nthe things but getting more, an hundredfold. Our Lord repays\nan hundredfold the man who leaves all things. Letting go all\nthings he gets an hundredfold return and eternal life. If it\nhappens to a man in the course of riddance to get again the very\nsame he gave, then, not giving all, he shall get nothing. Anyone\nwho looks to find anything in God, knowledge, understanding or\ndevotion or whatever it may be, even if he find it will not be\nfinding God but knowledge, understanding or devotion : all things\nI heartily commend ; but to him not lasting.\n\nSeek nothing at all, not understanding nor gnosis nor piety nor\ninwardness nor peace but only God's will. The soul who is as\nshe by rights should be, would not be satisfied even if God gave\nher his whole Godhead ; it would no more console her than his\ngiving her a fly. God-knowledge is vain apart from God-will.\nIn God's will are all things, eternal and perfect and pleasant to\nGod ; but out of God's will things are all of them naught and not\npleasant to God and not perfect. Never pray for any mortal\nthing ; if thou must pray for anything at all, pray for God's will\nand nothing else for therein thou hast all. To ask for aught\nbeside means getting nothing. In him is naught but one and one\nis indivisible and aught save one is part, not one. God is one and\nanything extra that is sought or found is not God but a fraction.\nPeace, intuition or anything else than simply God's will is for\nself-love and is naught ; but if he seeks God's naked will then\nwhatever he may find or have revealed to him therein that man\nmay take as a gift of God without ever thinking or looking to sec if\nit is of nature or of grace or from whence or in what wise it may\nbe : he need have no anxiety whatever on that score ; he is\ngoing the right way and while following the broad lines of the\nChristian life there is no need to scrutinize each detail. He can\njust take each thing from God, and whatever comes accept it as\nthe best for him, and have no fear of meeting on his lonely road\nwith anything, do what he may, that hinders his awareness of the\nlove of God, which to him is all that matters.\n\nPeople have a way of saying, when it falls to them to do or\nsuffer something, ' If only I knew it was the will of God I would\ngladly suffer and put up with it.' Dear God I what a question\nfor a sick man to ask, docs God intend me to be ill ? He ought\nto know it is the will of God by the very fact of being ill. And\nso with other things. Whatever comes accept it as God's will,\npure and simple. Some, when things prosper with them, inwardly\n\nor outwardly, praise God and have faith in him. They will say,\nfor instance, ' I have gotten four quarters of corn this year and as\nmany of wine : I put my trust in God.' Nay, I say thou dost\ntrust in the corn and the wine.\n\nThe soul is created for good so great, so high, that she cannot\nrest in any mode ; all the time she is hastening past modes to the\neternal good, to God who is her goal. This is not won in the heat\nof the assault, in the stress and strain of action or of passion, but\nby gentleness and true humility and self-abnegation in that and\neverything that may betide. A man should not dragoon himself :\n\n' Thou shalt do this at whatever cost,' that would be wrong for\nso he lends importance to himself. If anything should chance to\ngrieve or trouble or disquiet him, again he would be wrong for\nthat means giving way to self. When out of the depths of humilia-\ntion he calls on God for counsel and bending low before him\naccepts with quiet faith whatever he may send, then he is right.\nIt all depends, in teaching and advising, if a man will listen,\ndisregarding everything but God. Many and various are the\nways of putting this, but it promotes the proper play of conscience\nto refuse attention to casual happenings and for a man when he is\nby himself to make an offering of his will to God and then proceed\nto take each thing alike from God, grace or whatever comes,\ninward or outward.\n\nWhoso sees aught of God's secs naught of God. The righteous\nman does not need God. What I have I am not in need of. He\nserves for naught, he cares for naught, he has God and that is\nall he needs. As God is higher than man so is he readier to give\nthan man is to receive. Not by fasting and good works can we\ngauge our progress in the virtuous life, but a sure sign of growth\nis a waxing love for the eternal and a waning interest in temporal\nthings. The man who owns an hundred crowns and gives them all\nin the name of God to found a cloister is doing a good work. And\nyet I say, it were a better to despise and naught himself for love\nof God. It behoves a man in all he docs to turn his will in God's\ndirection and keeping only God in view to forge ahead without\na qualm, not wondering, am I right or am I doing something\nwrong ? If the painter had to plan out every brush-mark before\nhe made his first he would not paint at all. And if, going to some\nplace, we had first to settle how to put the front foot down, we\nshould never get there. Follow your principles and keep straight\non ; you will come to the right place, that is the way.\n\nThis is a collation of Meister Eckhart's.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLVI\n\nTHE EMANATION AND RETURN\n\nNolite timere eos qui corpus occidunt, animuni autem occidere\nnon possunt {Matt. lOgg). ' Fear not them which kill the body\nbut are not able to kill the soul.' Spirit does not kill spirit ; spirit\ngives life to spirit. ' Them which kill you ' are flesh and blood\nwhich die by one another. Man's most precious possession is\nblood, when it is well-liking. The most mischievous thing in\nman is blood when it is ill-liking. When the blood rules the\nflesh, the person is humble and patient and chaste and has all the\nvirtues. But where the flesh has the upper hand he is supercilious,\nhasty, and lascivious and has all the vices. Praised be St John\nthe glorified of God himself.\n\nNow mark. I will say something I never said before. When\nGod created the heavens and the earth and all creatures, God\ndid no work ; he had no work to do ; there was no activity in\nhim. God said: 'We will make a likeness.' To create is easy :\nwe do it when and as we will. But what I make, I make myself,\nwith myself and in myself, imprinting my image clearly in it.\n' We will make a likeness ' : not the Father nor the Son nor the\nHoly Ghost: we, the holy Trinity in concert, we will make a likeness.\n\nWhen God made man he wrought in the soul his like work,\nhis ever-cherished, his working work. This work was a great one,\nno less than the soul : she was the work of God. God's nature,\nhis being and his godhood depend upon his working in the soul.\nGod be praised, God be praised ! God works in the soul ; he is\nin love with his work. The work is love and the love is God.\nGod loves himself and his nature, his essence and his Godhead.\nIn the love wherein he loves himself therein God loves all creatures.\nWith the love wherewith God loves himself therewith he loves\nall creatures, not as creatures : creatures as God. In the love\nwherein God loves himself therein he loves all things.\n\nAgain I say what I have never said before. God enjoys him-\nself. In the joy wherein God enjoys himself therein he enjoys\nall creatures. With the joy wherewith God enjoys himself he\nenjoys all creatures, not as creatures : creatures as God. In the\njoy wherein God enjoys himself, therein he enjoys all things.\nAnd mark. All creatures tend towards their ultimate perfection.\nApprehend me, I beseech you, by the eternal ever-valid truth\nand by my soul. For yet again I say a thing I never said before :\nGod and Godhead are as different as earth is from heaven. More-\nover I declare : the outward and the inward man are as different,\ntoo, as earth and heaven. God is higher, many thousand miles.\n\nYet God comes and goes. But to resume my argument : God\nenjoys himself in all things. The sun sheds his light upon all\ncreatures, and anything he sheds his beams upon absorbs them,\nyet he loses nothing of his brightness. All creatures sacrifice their\nlife for being. Creatures all come into my mind and are rational\nin me. I alone prepare all creatures to return to God. Beware,\nall of you, what ye do.\n\nTo return to my inner and my outer man. I see the lilies in\nthe field, their gaiety, their colour, all their leaves. But I do not\nsee their fragrance. Why ? Because what I give out is in me.\nWhat I am saying is in me and I speak it forth of me. My outward\nman relishes creatures as creatures, as wine and bread and meat.\nBut my inner man relishes things not as creature but as the gift\nof God. And again to my innermost man they savour not of\nGod's gift but of ever and aye. I take a bowl of water and place\na mirror in it and set it in the sun. The sun sends forth his\nlight-rays both from his disc and also from the bottom of the\nbowl, suffering thereby no diminution. The reflection of the\nmirror in the sun is in the sun. The sun and it are thus what it\nis. And so with God. God is in the soul with his nature, his\nessence and his Godhood, but he is not on that account the soul.\nThe soul's reflection is in God. God and she are thus what she\nis. There God is all creatures. There God's utterance is God.\n\nWhile I subsisted in the ground, in the bottom, in the river\nand fount of Godhead, no one asked me where I was going or\nwhat I was doing : there was no one to ask me. When I was\nflowing all creatures spake God. If I am asked. Brother Eckhart,\nwhen went ye out of your house ? Then I must have been in.\nEven so do all creatures speak God. And why do they not speak\nthe Godhead ? Everything in the Godhead is one, and of that there\nis nothing to be said. God works, the Godhead does no work,\nthere is nothing to do ; in it is no activity. It never envisaged\nany work. God and Godhead are as different as active and\ninactive. On my return to God, where I am formless, my breaking\nthrough will be far nobler than my emanation. I alone take all\ncreatures out of their sense into my mind and make them one in\nme. When I go back into the ground, into the depths, into the\nwell-spring of the Godhead, no one will ask me whence I came or\nwhither I went. No one missed me : God passes away.\n\nAll happiness to those who have listened to this sermon. Had\nthere been no one here I must have preached it to the poor-box.\nSome poor souls will go back home and say, I shall settle down and\neat my bread and serve God. Verily I say, they persist in error,\nand will never have the power to strive for or to win what those\nothers do who follow Christ in poverty and exile. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLVII\n\nSUCH IS THE NATURE OF GOD\n\nA master cries, Dear God, how well for me did my love bear\nfruit !\n\nOur Lord says to every loving soul, ' I was made man for you,\nand if ye are not God for me ye wrong me. I in my God-nature\ndid dwell in your man's nature, so that none guessed my godly\nmight seeing me walk like any other man. And even so shall ye\nin your humanity hide you in my divinity, and none shall guess\nyour human weakness : your life being all divine they shall see\nnaught in you but God.' This does not mean soft words or pious\nmien or much parade of holiness, so that our name borne far and\nand wide is highly honoured by the friends of God ; nor that as\ncherished and elect of God we fondly think God has forgot all\ncreatures but ourselves and anything we ask of God is straight-\nway done. No, not by any means ! That is not what God\nwants of us : all the other way.\n\nHe would have us found wholly unmoved wheri people call us\ncheats and liars or whatever it may be whcrcl^y we are bereft\nof our fair name ; and not only evil speaking but evil deeds as\nwell : denying us our animal necessities ; and not only temporal\nneeds but bodily hurt. (He would that) our sickness, or whatever\nill it be, should help us in our bodily work ; that we should always\ndo our best despite that people turn it to the worst account ;\nfurther, that we should suffer in this sense not alone from people\nbut from God as well, who, withholding from us his present con-\nsolation, builds as it were a wall between us and when we bring\nour work to him seeking his help and comfort, he behaves towards\nus as if he shut his eyes and refused to sec or hear : he leaves us\nin our need to stand and fight alone, like Christ forsaken by his\nFather. Then hiding us in his divinity, behold us unbowed down\nby woe and with no other help than the words Christ uttered,\n\n' Father, they will be done.'\n\nSuch is the nature of God that we know it by nothing better\nthan naught. — How, by naught ? — By getting rid of all means,\nnot merely by spurning the world and the possession of virtue ;\nI must let virtue go if I would see God face to face ; not that I\nshould flout virtue, but virtue being innate in me I transcend\nvirtue. When a man's mind has lost touch with every thing\nthen, not till then, it comes in touch with God. A heathen philo-\nsopher has said, nature cannot transcend nature. Ergo, no\ncreature can see God. If he is seen it must be in light that is\nsupernatural. Theologians have a question, When God uplifts\n\nthe soul above himself and above all creatures and leads her\nhome into himself, why does he not raise up the body too so that\nit has no earthly needs ? One of the masters — I think St Augus-\ntine — answers this as follows. When the soul attains to union\nwith God then at last the body enjoys all things to God's glory.\nThrough man all creatures have flowed forth and the body's\nrational use of creatures is not a drawback to the soul : it is an\nadded dignity, for creatures can find no better way of returning\nto their source than in the righteous man who of his soul can say\nthat even for an instant it has been absorbed in union with God.\nFor then there is no obstacle between God and the soul, and as\nfar as the soul follows God into the desert of his Godhead so far\nthe body follows the bodily Christ into the desert of his willing\npoverty : as the soul is united with his deity so the body is atoned\nin Christ by the operation of true virtue. Well, then may the\nheavenly Father say, ' This is my beloved Son in whom I am well\npleased,' for not only has he gotten in the soul his only Son : he\nhas begotten her his only Son.\n\nFrom the very bottom of my heart I say, Man, how can aught\nafflict thee or be hard to bear when thou considerest that he who\nyonder subsisted in the form of God and in the day of his eternity\nand in the glory of the saints, and who before was born the splendour\nand substance of God, did enter the prison, the trap of thy sense-\nnature which is so unclean that aught, however pure, is besmirched\nand fouled by coming near it, yet notwithstanding this he abode\nthere for thy sake ? What is there thou wouldst not gladly suffer,\nreading of the bitterness of thy Lord and God, pondering the\nafflictions, all the woes, that did befall him ? The scorn and\ncontumely he bore from king and soldier, from knaves and passers\nby his cross ? How the glory of the eternal light was mocked and\nscorned and tortured ? Behold, what innocence, compassion\nand true love, and nowhere shown to me more clearly than where\nthe love-power pierced his heart. Make thee then a bundle of the\nwoes of thy Lord God and let it lie between thy breasts. Regard\nand realize his virtues, how all his works make for thy weal,\nand see thou pay him back in his own coin his infamous and\nshameful death and his pain-bearing nature wherein he, sinless,\nsuffered for thy sin as if it had been his ; as he says in the Prophets\nconcerning his afflictions, ' Lo, I suffer for my sins,' and speaking\nof *the fruits of all his labours, ' By your works shall ye possess\nthis kingdom I ' calling our sins his sins and his works our works ;\nand he has answered for our sins as though he had committed\nthem, whereas we profit by his works as though they were our\nown. And this should make our labour light, for the good knight\nlaments not his own. wounds, seeing his king who is wounded with\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhim. He offers us the drink he drank himself. He asks nothing\nof us but what he has already done or suffered. We ought to\nsuffer gladly, for God did nothing else while he sojourned upon\nearth. May we in God's nature so transcend and lose our human\nnature, all our weakness, that nothing should be found in us but\ngood alone. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLVIII 1\n\nDIVINE UNDERSTANDING\n\nLord God Almighty, all things are in thy power. Power and\nlordship lie in two things, in freedom and in the possession of\nmany good things in peace. What is freedom ? A heathen\nphilosopher says, ' That thing is free which cleaves to naught\nand to which naught cleaves.' So there is nothing free but the\nfirst cause, that is, the cause of all things.\n\nTo lordship belongs the ])ossession of many good things and\nbeautiful. God is all good in all ; hence he possesses himself in\nall. What God has, that is he in all. The love and will, the\nwisdom, the goodness we say that he has, these he is. If God is\nthis, he is not naught, for God was prior to naught. God has no\nbefore nor after : but naught has a sequel ; its sequel is aught.\nNaught's foregocr was God, for lie was prior to naught. Naught's\nissue is aught. God then has no before nor after. Lo, the cause\nof all things, self-subsistcnt, discriminate light which is himself !\nGod is a light shining in itself in silent stillness. The one light,\nthe one essence itself, which knows and understands itself. The\nunderstanding of this unique light is the light from the light, it\nis the eternal Person of the Son from the eternal Person of the\nFather. The Father spoke one Word, namely, his Son. In this\nonly AVord he spoke all things. The Word of the Father is none\nother than his understanding of himself. The understanding of\nthe Father understands that he understands, and that his under-\nstanding understands is the same as that he is who is understanding.\nThat is, the light from the light.\n\nJob says, God spake one Word ; this was his own conception\nof himself : it was his Son. In this one conception he conceives\nall things ; he sees them as issuing from nothing. They are that\nin themselves. But as subsisting eternally in him, they are without\nthemselves. What they were (without) themselves, was he him-\nself : God is nothing but God, for God is without other. All\ncreatures are a light, for they are conceived in the light of unity\n\n' See Pfeiffer, Zt.J. dtsch. Alt., Bd. 8 (2), 1850. For authorship see Preger'?\nQeachichte, p. 319.\n\nand eternity. Creatures flowing forth as light reveal the hidden\nlight. As St James says, ' Every good gift and every perfeet\ngift come down from above from the Father of lights.' We may\ndeduce from this that all things are one light radiated by the\nFather for the purpose of revealing his own hidden light. And\nas all things have been one liglit proceeding forth, so also they are\nall one light which is flowing back, if they turn not away there-\nfrom of their own free will. Those who are steadfast in the face\nof multiplicity, behold wliat light and grace are revealed to them !\nFor the sovran good is so ordered towards the soul that she\nreceives it not except by means. As St Dionysius says, ' The\nmeans is light : grace that illumines understanding.' What is\nunderstanding ? Understanding means seeing a thing quite\nclearly and without mistake. St Dionysius says, ' Disengage thy-\nself entirely from things if thou wouldst understand the highest\ngood, God namely.' VVliat are wc to understand by God ? That\nhe is the one power. Let us therefore unify ourselves so that\nthis one power may energise in us. He is also the good which\nmoves things towards their good, namely himself, albeit he himself\nremains unmoved. And lie is perfect simplicity ; and the simpler\nthe soul is the better she understands his simplicity. How can\nwe be perfectly simple ? By departing from things and from our-\nselves, and knowing our own mind and all the working of the powers\nof the soul, except the chief one, understanding : leave that to\nGod alone. The passive soul stands to lose all this and leave\nGod to work without hindrance ; then he begets his perfect likeness\nin her and conforms her to himself. Then she understands with\nhim and loves with him. This is perfection. It is sometimes\nasked. Do we love God with the love wherewith the Father and\nthe Son love one another ? Let us consider.\n\nTwo kinds of love belong to us. One is the virtue. In this\nlove we go on growing and any good we do in this love wins us\neternal merit. But the love of the Father and the Son knows no\nincrease for it is the Holy Ghost. Thus our love is as nothing\ncompared with the love of the Father and the Son : it is the virtue\nthat we grow with. The other love which is in us is the love of\nthe Father and the Son. As St Paul says, ' God's love is poured\ninto our heart.' In giving us his love God has given us his Holy\nGhost so that wc can love him with the love wherewith he\nloves himself. We love God with his own love ; awareness of\nit deifies us.\n\nIntuition of the Sovran Good, that is God ! To have that is to\nhave the life most worth of any creature. God is willing his own\nclear conception and his own delight. What is willing in the\nGodhead ? It is the Father watching the play of his own nature.\n\n148 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nWhat is this play ? It is his eternal Son. There has always been\nthis play going on in the Father-nature. Play and audience\nare the same. The Father's view of his own nature is his Son.\nThe Father embraces his own nature in the quiet darkness of his\neternal essence which is known to none except himself. The\nglance returned by his own nature is his eternal Son. So the Son\nembraces the Father in his nature for he is the same as his Father\nin his nature. Thus from the Father's embrace of his own nature\nthere comes this eternal playing of the Son. This play was played\neternally before all creatures. As it is written in the Book of\nWisdom, ' Prior to creatures, in the eternal now, I have played\nbefore the Father in his eternal stillness.' The Son has eternally\nbeen playing before the Father as the Father has before his Son.\nThe playing of the twain is the Holy Ghost in whom they both\ndisport themselves and he disports himself in both. Sport and\nplayers are the same. Their nature proceeding in itself. ' God is\na fountain flowing into itself,' as St Dionysius says. The Father\nhas eternally been loving himself in his Son just as the Son has\nbeen loving himself in the Father eternally. Their mutual love\nis the Holy Ghost : the third Person, who proceeds from the\nother two as love. The essence of the Godhead begets not. The\nFather's Person begets the Person of the Son eternally and together\nthey pour forth their Holy Ghost : their mutual love. Father\nand Son are the pouring-in and the Holy Breath is the thing\ninpoured, identical in nature Avith them both. Did the essence of\nthe Deity beget there would be more than one essence ; but\nthere is not. There is one essence which gives all things life and\nbeing, for the Son is born out of the heart of the Father eternally\nand shall bring back into it again all things which issued forth\ntherefrom in him. As (Christ declares, ' When I am exalted I\nwill draw all things to me.' The Floly Ghost proceeded forth as\nlove to make our spirits one with him. The Son takes back with\nhim all the things that issued forth in him and the Holy Ghost\nreturns with all that he expired. St Dionysius says, ' Son and\nHoly Spirit are the light of the God-bearing Godhead.' St\nPhilip cried, ' Lord, show us the Father and wc shall be satisfied.'\nOur Lord answered and said, ' Philip, he who seeth me seeth my\nlather.' The Son revealed the mysteries of the Father for he\nwas like him in all things and of one nature with him. Nothing\nsatisfies the soul except the Father who is altogether good and\nabsolutely simple. The more simple the soul the more like God\nshe is. God spake never a word but one : his simple understand-\ning. If the soul is to be simple she must withdraAv from multi-\nplicity into his one conception. That can happen here only noAV\nand then.\n\nThe soul has three understandings. First, the understanding of\nthings that are above her. Next, the understanding of herself.\nFrom this knowledge she passes to the third : the one alone.\nTherein she loses herself speaking never a word but possessing\nherself in silence for God has rapt ht^r up above herself to him ;\nshe is not and knows not by herself. What she understands she\nunderstands with him and even this she must forgo, must leave to\nthat wherewith she understands it. As St Dionysius says, ' Make\nthyself passive, void of definition. One single glimpse of the\nabstraetion that God is, more unifies the soul with God than all\nthe works of holy Christendom.'\n\nTry diligently, therefore, to get some grasp of truth : in the\nconception of it thine own wont is altogetlier lost and thou dost\nlive in truth. Those exalted ones who stand therein can never be\ndisjoined from God. They are the blessed who know God in\nhimself eternally. God is unchangeable, so these can never more\nbe separated from him. It behoves us therefore to depart from\nall unlikencss to our highest good.\n\nLIX\n\nTHE JUST LIVES IN EI'ERNITY\n\nJustua in perpetuum vivet apud dominum est mersce cjus {Sap,\nSie). We read to-day in the epistle the wise man's words, ' The\njust lives in eternity.' I have defined elsewhere what a just\nman is, but here I say in another sense, that man is just {i.e,\nrighteous) who is informed with and transformed into justice\n(righteousness). The just lives in God and God in him, for God is\nborn in the just and the just in God : at every virtue of the just\nGod is born and is rejoiced, and not only every virtue but every\naction of the just wrought out of the virtue of the just and in\njustice ; thereat God is glad, aye, thrilled with joy, there is\nnothing in his ground that docs not dance for joy. To unen-\nlightened people this is matter for belief but the illumined know\nThe just seeks nothing in his work ; only thralls and hirelings\nask anything for work, or work for any why. If thou wouldst\nbe informed with, transformed into, righteousness, have no\nulterior purpose in thy work ; form no idea in thee in time\nor in eternity, not reward nor happiness nor this nor that, for\nverily all such w^orks are dead. Believe me, the idea of God\nin thee, if thou dost work with that in view, means death to all\nthy works ; they are good works spoilt and thou dost sin to boot,\nfor thou doest like the gardener who first plants the garden and\nthen roots up the trees but still expects a crop. So thou dost\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthrow away good work. If thou wouldst live and have thy work\nlive also thou must be dead to all things and reduced to naught.\nIt belongs to creature to make aught from aught, but God's\nidiosyncrasy is making aught from naught, wherefore, if God is\nto make aught of thee or in thee, thou must first come to naught ;\nso enter thou into thine own ground and work ; works wrought by\nthee there arc all living.\n\nHe says, ' his reward is with the Lord.' lie says with, meaning\nthat the reward of the just is where God is himself ; that the\nhappiness of the just and God's happiness arc one ; the righteous\nare in bliss where God is in bliss. St John says, ' The Word was\nwith God.' He says xmth because God is righteousness and the\nrighteous are like him. Whoever is in righteousness is in God\nand is God.\n\nFurther, with regard to tlie word, just. lie does not say, the\njust man or just angel, he simply says, the just. The Father\nbegets his Son the just and the just his Son ; every virtue of the\njust, every act done by the just, is nothing but the Son being\nbegotten by the Father. The Father never stops, he is always\ntrying to beget his Son in me, according to the scriptures : ' For\nSion's sake will I not hold my peaee and for Jerusalem I will not\nrest till the righteous is revealed and shincth like the lightning.'\nSion is the height of living, the contemplative life, and Jerusalem\nthe profoundest calm. Not for the most exalted life nor for the\ndeepest peace will God desist until the riglitcous is revealed.\nGod and God alone works in the just. If thy works are prompted\nby anything external, then thy works are dead. For thy works\nto be living it must be God that prompts them in the innermost\nrecesses of thy soul : that is thy life and that alone.\n\nFurther I declare : if it seems to thee that one virtue is greater\nthan another, if thou dost cultivate it more and value it above\nthe rest, then thou art not loving it as it is in righteousness nor is\nit God who is working in thee. As long as a man prizes or leans\nto one virtue more than to another he neither takes nor feels it\nas it is by rights, and he is not righteous. The just man loves and\npractises virtue as a whole, in righteousness, as righteousness itself.\nIt says in holy writ : ' Before the fabricated world, I am.' He\nsays, I am before, above. Meaning that in eternity, exalted above\ntime, man does one work with God. People sometimes ask how\nman can do the work that God was doing a thousand years ago\nand in a thousand years will be doing still. They cannot under-\nstand it. But in eternity is no before nor after ; the happenings\nof the past milleimium and the future one and now, in eternity arc\nall the same. God's doings of a thousand years ago and now and\na thousand years to come are but one single act. It follows that\n\nthe man who is exalted above time into eternity will do with\nGod what he did in the past and also what he does in the next\nthousand years. This is matter of knowledge to the wise and of\nbelief to fools.\n\nSt Paul says, ' We are eternally chosen in the Son and we should\nnever rest until we get to be what wc have been in him eternally.'\nThe Father ceaselessly endeavours to get us born in his Son so that\nwe may be the same as his Son is. The Father is begetting his\nSon, and in his begetting the Father finds so much peace and\npleasure that his entire nature is expended in it. That which is\nin God moves him to beget ; by his ground, his nature and his\nessence the Father is moved to generation. And you must know,\nGod is born in us as soon as all our soul-powers, which hitherto\nhave been tied and bound, are absolutely free (and passive)\nand when the mind is stilled and sense troubles us no longer.\nThen the Father begets in us his Son. Then wc keep as free from\nforms and images as God, and find ourselves as free from likeness\nas God is void and free in his very self. When the Father bears\nhis Son in us we shall know the Father with the Son and the\nHoly Ghost in both of them and the holy Trinity, and therein all\nthings as a mere naught in God. Then time and number are no\nmore. God's essence neither does nor suffers, nor does his nature\nsuffer, but it works.\n\nSometimes a light is apparent in the soul and she fondly thinks\nit is the Son, whereas it is nothing but a light. When the Son\nreveals himself within the soul the love of the Holy Ghost is\nrevealed at the same time. It is the nature of the Father to\nbeget his Son, and it is of the nature of the Son for me to be begotten\nin him and in his nature ; it is of the nature of the Holy Breath\nfor me to be consumed therein and melted and reduced entirely\nto love. One who is thus in love and altogether love, will think\nthat God loves none but him and knows no love for anyone nor\nyet from anyone but him alone.\n\nSome doctors hold that the spirit finds its beatitude in love.\nSome make him find it in behohling God. I say he finds it not\nin love nor in gnosis nor in vision. But, it may be asked, has the\nspirit in eternal life no vision of God ? Yes and no. Once born\nhe neither sees nor pays heed to God. But in being born he does\nsee God. The spirit is in bliss then, not in its begetting but as\nbeing begotten, for then it lives as the Father lives, impartible, in\nits abstract and essential nature. Wherefore do thou turn from\nthings and realize thyself in thy naked essence, for outside essence\nall is accident and the accidental makes for why. Let us live in\nthe eternal, So help us God. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLX\n\nLIKES LOVE AND UNITE\n\nMeister Eckhart says, Likes love and unite with one another ;\nunlikes hate and shun each other. According to one master, no\ntwo things arc so unlike as earth and heaven. Earth knew\nitself by nature alien and unlike to heaven. Wherefore it fled\nfrom heaven to the lowest place and there bides still lest haply\nit draw night at all to heaven. And the celestial nature grew\naware that earth had fled and had possessed itself of the lowest\nplace. And that is how the heavens came to empty themselves\nout into the earth in fruitful wise, indeed the masters say the\nbroad expanse of heaven does not withhold a needle-point in\nsize, it brings itself forth every whit as fruitfulness on earth. So\nearth is the most fruitful of all mortal creatures.\n\nLikewise I say about the man who has brought himself to\nnaught in himself, in God and in all creatures. That man assumes\nthe lowest place and God is bound to empty himself whole into\nhis soul, else would he not be God. I warrant you by God's eternal\ntruth, that into any man who is brought low God pours out his\nwhole self in all his might, so utterly that neither of his life, his\nbeing, nor his nature, nay, nor of his perfect Godhead, docs he keep\naught back, he empties out the whole thereof as fruits into that\nwight who in abandonment to God assumes the lowest place.\n\nTo-day as I pursued my way pondering my discourse and\nwondering how to make you understand, I hit on an analogy.\nIf yc can follow this my meaning W'^ill be plain and eke the drift\nof all my teaching. The analogy is with my eye and wood. My\neye when it is open is an eye. It is the same eye, shut ; and the\nwood is neither more or less by reason of its seeing. Now mark\nme well. Suppose my eye, being one and single in itself, falls on\nthe w^ood in seeing, then though each thing stops as it is, yet in\nthe actual seeing they are so far the same that we can argue : my\neye is the wood and the wood my eye. Now if the wood were free\nfrom matter and wholly immaterial, as my eyesight is, then we\ncould truly say that in my actual vision wood and eye are essen-\ntially the same. If this is so with corporal things, then how much\nmore with ghostly. Remember, my eye is far more one with\nsome transoceanic sheep's that I have never seen than with my\near, albeit with this it has organic union. The sheep's eye works\nlike mine, and therefore I impute to it more unity of action than I\ncan do to eye and ear which have their different functions.\n\nI have often spoken of the light within the soul, which is un-\ncreated and eke uncreaturely. It is this light I am so often hinting\n\nat in my discourses, it is the light which lays straight hold of God,\nbare and unveiled, as he is in himself ; that is to say, it catches him\nin the act of self-begetting. Hence I can truly say this light is\nrather one with God than with any of my powers wherewith it has\norganic union. For know, this light within my soul i^; no better in\nits essence than the humblest, the grossest of my powers ; my sight\nor my hearing, for example, or any other sense which is the sport\nof heat and cold, hunger or thirst, seeing that essence is impartible.\n\nNow I maintain, if thou dost turn from thine own self and from\ncreated things, then in what measure thou dost this thou dost\nattain to unity and happiness in thy soul-spark ; a thing which is\nimmune from time and space. This spark is opposed to creatures.\nIt has no want but just God, God as he is in himself. Not enough\nfor it the Father or the Son or Holy Ghost, nor even all three\nPersons, so far as they preserve their several properties. I trow this\nlight would not be satisfied with the alone-begotten fruit of Deity.\nNay, more, and even stranger to relate, I warrant you this light is\nnot content with the changeless impartible essence of God, which\nneither gives nor takes, but wants to find its source ; it wants\nto get into its simple ground, into the silent desert whcrcinto no\ndistinct thing ever pryecl, not Father, Son nor Holy Ghost. At\nthe centre, where no one abides, there this light is quenched in\nstill stronger light, wherein it is more one than in itself, for this\nground is the im[)artible stillness, motionless in itself, and by this\nimmobility all things are moved and all those have their life who,\nrceollceted in themselves, do live the life of mind. May we too\nlive this intellectual life, So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXI\n\nTHERE COMES FORTH A ROD OUT OF THE\nROOT OF JESSE\n\nEgredietur virga de radice Jesse et jlos de radice ejus ascendet et\nrequiescet super eum spiritus domini {Isaias Hi, g)- read to-day\nin the Mass that there comes forth a rod out of the root of Jesse,\nand out of the root conies forth a flower, and on this flower there\nrests, reposes, the spirit of the Lord. Jesse means a brand,\nwhich is burning ; it signifies love in the abstract, where it is no\nmore called love, where nothing adventitious exists, and in this\nground where as yet nothing grows, it germinates just like, within\nthe root, the coming shoot. The offshoot has three properties :\nlikeness to what it shoots from, the nature of the same, and it\nis of exactly the same species ; thirdly, it is free from all attach-\nments, simply an emanation. Thus the Son proceeded from the\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nFather, as another Person with the Father, albeit in the Father\nessentially the same. Accordingly he says, ' Out of the root came\na rod and on the rod came a llower.' My loving is a heavenly\nmatter, for likes all end in same and the same is in the ground, and\na thing that grows out of another is in every respect the same\nkind. An apple grafted on a pear-tree has the taste of both. It\nis not so here : this has the llavour of the one alone ; itself is\nnot therein and yet it is therein. It could never come out were it\nnot first within in the abstract, in brooding essence. The wine is\nin the vine : it is and it is not.\n\nI say concerning God's freedom that it yields no nature save\none. God starts with the Son, and the Son is another than the\nFather who is power, and from them twain there blossoms forth\nthe Holy Ghost. Our philosophers teach that the sun draws the\nflow'^ers out of the roots through the stem, tirnelcssly wellnigh and\ntoo subtly for any eye to follow. The soul, which lias no nature in\nher ground, the ground of love, where slie is love, emerges from\nthis nature where she is stoied in God. VVhatcviH' enters this being\nhas much the same being. At the coming of the bride he devotes\nhimself to her and works with all his might within his ground, in\nhis innermost, where naught exists, where activity stops altogether.\nThe tree of the Godhead grows in this ground and the Holy Ghost\nsprouts from its root. The flower that blossoms, love, is the Holy\nGhost. In this Holy Ghost the soul flowers with the Father and\nthe Son, and on this flower there rests and reposes the spirit of the\nLord. He could not repose had he not rested first upon the Spirit.\nThe Father and the Son rest on the Spirit, and the Spirit reposes\nupon them as on its cause. What is rest ? St Augustine says,\nrest is complete lack of motion ; body and soul bereft of their\nown nature. One philosopher says, God's idiosyncrasy is im-\nmutability. That is, all creatures. Man as trans(;ending motion.\nJesse means a fire and a burning ; it signifies the ground of divine\nlove and also the ground of the soul. Out of this ground the rod\ngrows, i,e, in the purest and highest ; it shoots up out of this virgin\nsoil at the breaking forth of the Son. Upon the rod opens a flower,\nthe flower of the Holy Ghost. We beseech the Lord our God that\nwe may rest in him and he in us to his glory. So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nLXII\n\nWHAT MANNER OF CHILD SHALL THIS BE?\n\nPuis puer isle erit ? Etenim manu^ domini erat cum illo {Luc, l^g).\n' What manner of child shall this be ? The hand of the Lord is\nwith him.' The hand of the Lord means the Holy Ghost, for two\n\nreasons. First, because work is wrought with the hand ; and\nnext, because it is one with the arm and with the body. All\nhuman actions start in the heart, extend to the limbs, and are\ndone by the hand ; so the seat of the soul being chiefly in the\nheart, in the heart is the mainspring of licr energies. Likewise it\nis the Father who is the fount and oi'igin of all divine activity, and\nthe Son is represented by his arm ; as it says in the Magnificat,\n' he hath shewed strength with his arm.' Divine power proceeds\nfrom the body via the arm to the hand, whereby is signified the\nHoly Ghost, even as the soul which courses through the body and\nin material things proelaims her ghostly properties. Wherefore\nwe argue that the Holy Ghost is meant by the hand which wrought\nin this child.\n\nNow mark the state of the soul wherein God is apt to work.\nHe speaks of a ehild, suggCvsting pure joy, an unblemished state.\nThe soul God works in must be pure and clean. A master says, ' The\neternal wisdom tarries in Zion, her rest is in that pure city ' ; Zion\nmeaning a height and a watch-tower (or resting-place). Again,\nshe must be withdrawn (rom mortal, impermanent things. And\nthirdly, she must be on the watch for coming hindrances. God\ncomes out of kindness because of the love he bears to the soul.\nHe has endowed her with a godly light, the reflection of himself,\nso that he may be able fri'cly to energise in her in his own likeness.\nLove cannot be without finding or making alike. Suppose I have\nbidden a man, unless he have gotten some liking for me, he will\nnever willingly follow me. And so with the soul which follows\nGod ; God's members must all do his bidding whether they\nwant to or no. If they do it reluctantly, then it is painful to him ;\nno work is ever pleasant that is done without liking.\n\nNo creature can do more than in her lies. The soul makes\nheadway solely by the light that God has given her, that being\nher own, presented her by God as a bridal gift. God comes in love\nwith intent that the soul may arise, that in love she may energise\nabove herself. For love cannot be without finding her like or\nmaking alike, except in as far as God works in love passing soul.\nSoul does not ply the work of grace (since that is not her nature)\ntill she is gotten yonder, where God is plying himself, where the\nwork is as noble as the worker, his own nature, to wit. As with\nlight, for example. In wood it produces its like : heat and fire,\nand the harder the wind blows the fiercer the flame. Now put\nlove for the fire and the Holy Ghost for the wind : the stronger\nbreathes the Holy Ghost the more all-consuming its fire, albeit\nnot sudden ; it keeps pace with the growth of the soul. If the\nwhole man were consumed at once it would not be well, for one\nniight live a thousand years and still go on waxing in love. Light\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nacts upon flowers, making them grow and bear fruit ; in living\ncreatures it makes for life ; in man it makes for happiness. This\ncomes by the grace of God which raises the soul to a higher power ;\nfor if the soul is to be like God she must transcend herself. Amen.\n\nLXIII\n\nATONEMENT\n\nManete in me {Joh. 15^); beatxis vir^ qui in sapientia morahitur\n(EccL 1422)* ' Abide in me,' says our Lord Jesus Christ in the\n\ngospel ; and the other text from the epistle says, ' Blessed is the\nman that shall continue in wisdom.' Both mean exactly the same\nthing. Mark then what is required of a man to dwell in him, i.e,\nin God. He requires three things. First, to renounce himself\nand all things, not cleaving to aught that is grasped by the senses\nwithin nor abiding in any creature existing in time or in eternity.\nAgain, he must love neither this good nor that good : he must love\ngood for good's sake, since nothing is good or desirable except in\nso far as God is therein. Wc ought to love things no whit more\nthan just as much as wc love God in them ; nor is it right to love\nGod for his heaven's sake nor for the sake of anything at all\nexcept the good he is in his own self. Whoso loves him for aught\nabides not in him, but abides in the thing he is loving him for.\nIf then ye desire to dwell in him, ye must love him for naught but\nhimself. Thirdly, he must take God not as good nor as right, but\nhe must apprehend him in his pure and virgin substance where he\nis apprehending himself. Goodness and right are the garment of\nGod which is covering him. Do thou then strip God of all cover-\nings : discover him in his vestibule bare, just in his naked self. So\nshall ye abide in him.\n\nWhoso abides in him thus has live things. First, betwixt him\nand God there is no difference at all, they are one. Angels arc\nmany, beyond number, they can do nothing without number ;\nthey arc numberless because of their simplicity. The three\nPersons in God, who counts as three, they, again, have number.\nBut betwixt man and God is not alone no difference but no multi-\nplicity : nothing but one. The second is, that he is conceiving\nhis happiness in that same virgin nature where God is conceiving\nhimself and conserving himself. Thirdly, his knowledge is one\nwith God-knowledge, and this knowing consists in co-operation and\ncon-sciencc in God's operation and science, to wit, the actual\nenergy and gnosis at work towards the end that God may be ever\nbeing born in man.\n\nHow is God ever being born in man ? Look you. Suppose a\n\nman hews out and brings to light the divine form which God has\nwrought into his nature, then God's image in him stands revealed.\nBirth must be taken in the sense of revelation, the Son being said\nto be born of the Father because he reveals the Father as father.\nSo the more and the more clearly God's image shows in man the\nmore evidently God is born in him. And by God's eternal birth\nin him we understand that his image stands fully revealed. The\nfifth thing is that this man is ever being born in God. How can\na man be ever being born in God ? Lo ! by revealing this form in\na man the man grows like unto God, for the form of man is the\nsame as the image of God whieh is God in every respect. The\nmore he is like God the more he is one. So man's eternal birth\nin God we understand to mean ideal man refulgent in God's image,\nwhich is God in form and matter, wherewith man is the same.\nThis oneness of man and God is a matter of likeness of form,\nman being Godlike in form. So when we talk of man being one\nwith God and take him to be one with God by nature, we refer\nto the exemplary element in him which is on a par with God, and\nnot to his created nature. When we look at him as God we are\nblind to him as creature ; remembering his deity we forget his\ncreature-nature ; withal this same oblivion must not be construed\nto mean the negation of his created nature, rather the affirmation\nof God in him whom we are regarding as God. Christ, for example,\nwho is both God and man : what time we arc considering his\nmanhood we disregard his Godhead ; not that we are denying\nhim his Godhood, we simply ignore it for the nonce. And hence\nthe explanation of St Augustine's dictum, ' What a man loves a\nman is.' If he loves a stone he is that stone, if he loves a man he\nis that man, if he loves God — nay, I durst not say more ; were I\nto say, he is God, ye might stone me. I do but teach you the\nscriptures. Man being all meet for God is conformed to, in-\nformed with and transformed into, the divine uniformity wherein\nhe is one with God. All this man gets by abiding within.\n\nNow mark the fruits borne by a man when he is one with God :\ntogether with God he is V)earing all creatures and big with beatitude\nfor every creature in virtue of being one with him.\n\nThe other text from the epistle says, ' Blessed is the man that\ncontinues in wisdom.' He says, 'in wisdom,' wisdom being a\nfeminine noun and feminine nouns denote passivity. Now in God\nwe posit both action and passion, for the Father is doing and the\nSon is suffering, this being characteristic of born natures. Eternal\nborn wisdom, wherein all things stand distinct, is the Son, and that\nis why he says, ' Blessed is the man that continues in wisdom.'\n' Blessed is the man,' he says. Now as I have often told you,\nthere are two powers in the soul : one is the man and the other is\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthe woman. He says, ' Blessed is the man.' The faculty of\nsoul we call the man is the chief power of the soul, wherein God is\na naked light ; for nothing but God enters into this power and this\npower is ever in God : the man who has gotten all things in this\npower has gotten them not as being things, he has them as being\nin God. We ought to abide all the time in this power because in\nthis power all things arc the same. Thus abiding in all things alike\nand knowing them all in God as the same, man possesses all things ;\nhe has discarded their grossest part and has gotten them now in\ntheir good and desirable nature. In this wise he possesses them\nyonder for God in his own nature is unable to forbear, he is obliged\nto give thee everything he ever made and his own self to boot.\nBlessed is the man who abides all the time in this power, he is\never-abiding in God. May we abide at all times in God, So help us\nour Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.\n\nLXIV\n\nTHE SWIFT RIVER\n\nFluminis impetus Iwtificat civitatern del : sanctijicavit tabernacu-\nturn suurn altissimus {Psalm 455). ' The sudden or swift river\n\nmakes glad the city of God.' Here we must note three things.\nFirst, the swift stream ; next, the city it serves ; thirdly, the\nbenefit it brings.\n\nThe prophet knows not how to stem the torrent of the Holy\nGhost. The Holy Ghost flows into the soul as fast as she is\npoured forth in humility and so far as she has gotten the capacity.\nHe fills all the room he can find. Consider, next, what city it is it\nflows through. It is really the soul. A city is something enclosed\nand centred within. And so must the soul be whereinto God\nflows. She must be safe from outside alarms, her forces assembled\nwithin. According to St John, the twelve apostles were gathered\ntogether when they received the Holy Ghost. Even so the soul\nmust be gathered and brought to herself in order to welcome this\ndivine stream which fills to the full her cup of delight.\n\nI sometimes say, beginners of the virtuous life shoiild do as he\ndoes who describes a circle : the starting-point once fixed, he\nkeeps it so and then the trace is good. In other words, learn first\nto fix the heart on God, on good and on good works. Great\ndeeds performed with shifting heart profit but little if at all.\nThere were once two doctors. One of them declared that the\ngood man cannot be moved. The other disagreed. What I say\nis, the good man may forsooth be moved, but he cannot be\n\nchanged for the worse. I trow the good man is not easily hindered.\nBut if aught can worsen him he is not perfect.\n\nThirdly, the good of it. Which is, the prophet says, that\n' God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.' It is the soul\nhe means. Soul would not that God wrought with her aught that\nis mixed with creature. Some things God does with help of\ncreature and some unaided. If the grace which is a help and which\nis coming through my words could enter your heart without\nmeans, as though spoken by God, your soul would forthwith be\nconverted and she could not help it. By pronouncing God's\nword I become a co-worker with God and grace is mingled in me,\nGod speaking it through me, and since I am to you as the means,\nit is not received intact in your soul. But the grace which is\nuttered by the Holy Ghost itself is received direct and imprinted\nunaltered in the soul what time the soul is recollected into the\nsingle power which has intuition of God. Grace springs up in\nthe heart of the Father and flows into his Son, and in their mutual\nlove it proceeds from the wisdom of the Son into the gift of the\nHoly Ghost and in the Holy Ghost is sent into the soul ; and this\ngrace is the face of God and is sealed in the soul by the Spirit of\nGod, without means and unchanged, making the soul like God.\nThis God does by himself unaided by creature.\n\nNo creature is noble enough to help in this work ; God has not\ngraced their nature with such excellence. But he can do it easily\nenough in his own perfect nature. God will not let a creature\nassist him in this work, so for the nonce he elevates the soul to a\nmuch higher level than lier natural habitat, where she is out of\nreach of any creature. It were well within the compass of an\nangel's noble nature, provided God would let an angel serve. But\nthat would offend the soul for in that hour she disdains the slightest\ntaint of creature ; even the light of grace wherein she is atoned\nwould be flouted by the soul did she not know she cannot pass\nit by. After all, it is not natural to her, it is quite supernatural,\nher flouting at that moment everything that is not God, for God\nleads forth his bride out of creaturely values into hiinself and\nspeaks with her in her heart, that is, he makes her like himself\nin grace. For this exalted act the soul must recollect herself.\n\nThe powers of the soul arc filled full of delight by this pure\ninfusion of grace. Grace is to God as the shine to the sun ; it\nis one with him and it carries the soul into God and makes her\nexactly the same as God and as such she enjoys God's perfection.\nI'o the soul that has gotten and enjoyed divine perfection all\nthat is not God has a bitter, nauseous savour. Then again, the\nsoul wants the highest of all, so she cannot abide aught above her.\nI say, aye, and I durst maintain, she cannot even bear God being\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nabove her and I can prove it thus. For if the soul were spirited\naway far beyond things to perfect freedom from them and came\nin touch with God in his abstract divinity, natheless she would\nnever rest till, thrusting into that, he shall have drowned her in\nhimself and drowned himself in her alone. What though God be\nfar above her in nobility of nature, she cannot rest till she has\ngotten God, so far as it is possible to creature to conceive him.\nThe greatest happiness in earth or heaven lies in likeness to God,\nwhich divine nature makes in the highest degree : to wit, the image\nof itself. And this is what the soul is striving for seeing no so^il\ncan throughly follow God without having in her the image of\nGod. It is for us to sec whether the grace we have received is\nevery whit divine, whether it smacks of God's perfection, whether\nit is in common with and is emanating in his grace into whatever\ncan receive it. Even so ought man to be flowing out into whatever\ncan receive him. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXV\n\nTHE JUST LIVE FOR EVER\n\nJicsti autem in perpetuum vivent et apud dorninwn est merces eorum\n{Sap, 5 ^q), ' The just (or righteous) live for ever and their\n\nreward is with God.' Let us look at this carefully. It sounds quite\ntrite and commonplace, whereas it is, in fact, a most remarkable\nand precious dictum. ' The just live.' Who arc the just ? One\nscripture says. That man is just who gives to each his own. So\nthe just are they that give to God his due and to the saints and\nangels theirs and to his fellow what is his. God's is glory. Who\nare they that glorify God ? Those who having gone out of them-\nselves seek not their own in anything whatever it may be, or\ngreat or small ; who look for nothing over them nor under them\nnor yet beside them ; not mindful of possessions, of honours,\ncomfort, pleasure, nor inwardness nor holiness nor of reward nor\nheaven. They have finished with all that is theirs. God glorifies\nthem and they truly glorify God and render him what is his due.\n\nWe ought to give the saints and angels joy. Wonder of wonders !\nCan a man in this life give joy to those in life eternal ? Aye,\nsurely. Marvellous, incredible to tell, every saint rejoices, takes\nineffable delight in each virtuous deed, each good desire or inten-\ntion ; their joy no tongue is able to express nor any heart conceive,\nas I have said. And why ? Because their love to God is so\nimmeasurably great, they hold him so right dear, that his glory\nis to them more than their happiness. Not alone the saints and\nangels, but very God himself is as much pleased thereat as though\n\nit touched his^pwn felicity and was vital to him, to his own delight\nand satisfaction. Remember then, even if we serve God for no\nother reason than for the exceeding joy of those in life eternal and\nof God himself, yet we ought to do so gladly and with all diligence.\nAlso, we ought to help those that are in hell and succour those still\nliving.\n\nA man of this sort is in one way just, but in another sense the\njust are they that take everything alike from God no matter what\nit is, big and little, good and bad, all the same, no more nor less,\nbut one thing like another. If one thing is to thee of more moment\nthan another then thou art unjust. Thou must be rid of own-will\naltogether.\n\nI was thinking just now : if God does not will what I do\nthen I must will what he docs. Some folks always want their\nown way ; that is bad, that way lies sin. Those others are a\ntrifle better who would like to do God's will and have no mind to\ngo against it, yet when they are sick they wish God would choose\nto make them well. These people would have God, then, con-\nforming to their will rather than they to his. We condone this\nalthough it is wrong. The just have no will at all ; whatever\nGod wills, it is all one to them, regardless of the hardship.\n\nThe just are so set on justice that were God not just they\nwould not care a fig for God ; they are so stauneh to right, so\nperfectly indifferent to self, they reck not of the pains of hell nor\nof the joys of heaven nor anything whatever. Were all the\npangs of those in hell and all the pain borne or to bear on earth\nto be the fruits of justice, they would not mind one jot, so true\nthey are to God and right. To the just man nothing gives more\npain, there is no greater hardship, than what is contrary to just-\nness, equipoise. — How so ? —If one thing can cheer and another\ncan depress, you are not equable ; to be cheerful one moment and\nless or not at all so in the next is uneven-tempered. But the devotee\nof right is so stable that what he loves is his very life, nothing\ncan upset him, nor docs he care for aught beside. St Augustine\nsays, Where the soul loves there she is, rather than where she\ngives life. — Our text sounds plain and commonplace enough, but\nthere are few who realize the actual meaning of it. One who\ngrasps the import of justice and the just will understand all I have\nto say.\n\n' The just live.' There is nothing in the world so dear as life\nor so desirable. No life so bad or hard but man would go on\nliving. It is written, the nearer to death the greater the pain.\nBut however distressful life is there is still the desire to live.\nWhy dost thou eat ? Why sleep ? To live. Why long for\ngood or glory ? That knowest thou right well. But wherefore\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nlive ? For the sake of living, albeit thou ignorest for what\nreason thou dost live. Life is so desirable in itself, we want it\nfor its own sake. Those who are in hell in eternal pain have no\ndesire to lose their life, whether fiend or soul ; their life is such a\nnoble thing, llowing as it does straight from God to them. That\nis the reason why they want to live. What is life ? God's exist-\nence is my life. If my life is God's existence then God's being is\nmy being and God's is-ness is my is-ness, neither more nor less.\nThey live eternally with God, on a par with him, not below him\nnor above. All their works are wrought with God and God's with\nthem. St John says, ' the Word was with God.' It was exactly\nlike and side by side with him, neither under nor over but equal.\n\nWhen God created man he took the woman out of the man's\nside that she might be his equal. Not out of his head nor out of\nhis feet did he make her, ix, neither man nor woman, but his\npeer. So the just soul is like to God, by the side of God, on a level\nwith him, not under nor yet over.\n\nWho are they that are his like ? They that are nothing like,\nthey alone are Godlike. God's essence nothing is like, therein is\nno image nor form. Those souls who are his equals, to them the\nFather gives as equals withholding nothing from them. All the\nFather has to give he bestows upon this soul, provided she is just\nand no more to herself than to another. Her own honour, her\nown profit, aught of hers, she neither wants nor thinks of more\nthan any stranger's. Personal belongings are repugnant to her,\nalien and remote, be they bad or good. All love of this world is\nbased on love of self. Leave this and thou hast left the world.\n\nIn eternity the Father is bringing forth his Son just like himself.\n' The Word was with God and the Word was God ' : the same in\nthe same nature. I say, moreover : he has brought him forth in\nmy soul. Not merely is she with him and he equally with her but\nhe is in her : the Father gives birth to his Son in the soul in the\nvery same way as he gives him birth in eternity, and in none other.\nHe must do, willy-nilly. The Father is begetting his Son un-\nceasingly, and furthermore, I say, he begets me his Son, as his\nvery own Son. Moreover I declare, not only does he beget me\nhis Son, he begets me himself and himself me : me his essence and\nhis nature. In his nethermost deep I come welling up in his\nholy Breath, where there is one life, one being and one act. God's\nactivity is one ; he begets me his Son then without difference.\nMy bodily father is not my real father except for one small\nportion of his nature and I am different from him : he may be\ndead and I alive. My heavenly Father is my real father ; I am\nhis and all I have I get from him ; I airi the son of him and of\nnone other. Since the Father performs a single act therefore he\n\nmakes me his Son without any distinction. As St Paul says,\n'We are wholly transformed into God and changed.'\n\nTake an illustration. In the sacrament the bread is changed into\nthe body of our Lord, and however much bread there is it becomes\nno more than the one body. Likewise were the bread to be\nchanged into my finger it would make no more than the one finger.\nBut suppose my finger is changed back to the bread, then the\none is as much as the other ; for when one thing changes to another\nit is identical therewith. Even so if I be changed into him and he\nmakes me one and the same with himself, then by the living God\nit is also true that there is no distinction. The Father gives\nbirth to his Son without ceasing. Once the Son is born he takes\nnothing from the Father, for he has it all ; but while in the act\nof being born he is receiving from the Father.\n\nThe moral of this is that it is not right of us to ask from God as\nfrom a stranger. ' I call you not servants but friends,' said our\nLord. The servant asks, tlie master pays. I was wondering\nlately whether I am willing to ask or to accept anything from God.\nI must take earnest counsel with myself, for by accepting anything\nfrom God I make myself inferior to God, like a servant to his\nmaster, in respect of giving. That is not the case with us in\neternal life,\n\nI once said here, and it is very true : When a man goes out of\nhimself to find or fetch God, he is wrong. I do not find God\noutside myself nor conceive him excepting as my own and in me.\nA man ought not to work for any why, not for God nor for his\nglory nor for anything at all that is outside him, but only for that\nwhich is his being, his very life within him.\n\nSome simple folk fondly imagine they are going to see God as\nit were standing there and they here. Not so. God and I are one\nin knowing. When I take God into me in loving I am going into\nGod. Some say that happiness does not lie in knowledge but in\nwill alone. They are wrong ; if it were merely a matter of will it\nwould not be one. Working and becoming are the same. When\nthe carpenter stops working the house will stop becoming. Still\nthe axe and stoj) the growth. God and I are one in operation :\nhe works and I become. Fire changes to itself the fuel cast upon\nit, which is converted to its nature. The wood does not assimilate\nthe fire, the fire assimilates the wood. ' We shall be changed into\nGod so that we shall know him as he is,' says St Paul. And the\nmanner of our knowing shall be this, I him as he me, not more or\nless : just the same. ' The just live eternally, and their reward\nis with God ' : identity with him, as I have said. Let us love\njustice for its own sake and God without a why, So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLXVI\n\nPUBLISH THE WORD\n\nPrccdica verhum (2 Tim. 42 ). St Dominic says, translating the\nwords of St Paul, ' Publish, proclaim, bring forth and propagate\nthe Word.' It is remarkable that anything should come forth and\nat the same time stay within. That the Word should come forth\nand still remain within is very wonderful ; that all creatures should\ncome forth and remain within is very wonderful ; what God\ngives and promises to give is most wonderful, it is incomprehensible,\nincredible. That is as it should be ; if it were comprehensible and\ncredible it would not be appropriate to him. God is in all things.\nThe more he is in things the more he is out of things : the more\nhe is within the more he is without. I have often said, God is\ncreating the whole world now this instant. Everything God made\nsix thousand years ago and more when he made the world, God\nmakes now all at once. God is in all things ; but as God is divine\nand intelligible, therefore God is nowhere so much as in the soul, and\nthe angels if you will, in tlie innermost soul, in the summit of the\nsoul. And when I say the innermost 1 mean the highest and when\nI say the highest I mean the innermost. In the depths, at the\nsummit of the soul, they arc both the same. Where time has never\nentered and no form was ever seen, at the centre, the summit, of\nthe soul, there God is creating the whole world. All God's creation\nof six thousand years ago, all his creation of a thousand years to\ncome, if the world lasts so long, is wrought by God in the innem\\ost\nrecesses, at the apex of the soul. All the past and future is con-\ntrived by God at the summit of the soul. The Father bears his\nSon in the innermost recesses of the soul and begets thee with his\nonly Son, no less. But if I am Son then I must be Son the same as\nhe is Son, and in no other way. If I am a man I am a man man-\nfashion. If I am the Man I am the Man Man-fashion. As\nSt John says, ' Ye are God's sons,'\n\n' Speak the Word, tell it abroad, pronounce it, bring forth and\npropagate the Word.' ' Tell it forth ! ' What is spoken in from\nwithout is a gross, objective thing. ' Tell it forth ! ' That implies\nthat thou hast it in thee. The prophet says, ' God spake one and\nI heard two.' True, God did speak but once. His utterance is\nbut one. In his Word he speaks his Son and the Holy Ghost and\nthe whole of creatures, all of which are but one utterance in God.\nBut, ' I heard two,' the prophet says. Meaning, I understood it\nto be God and creature. Yonder where God speaks it it is God ;\nbut here it is creature. People fondly think that God became man\nyonder. No ; Gk)d was made man here as well as there, and he\n\nwas made man for one purpose only : to beget thee his one-begotten\nSon.\n\nYesterday I quoted from the Paternoster the words, ' thy will be\ndone.' Better his will than mine. That I should do it, is what\nthe Paternoster means. First, by being (oblivious or) asleep to\nthings, ignoring time and images and ereaiurcs. Philosophers\nwill tell you that being in deep sleep a man might pass a hundred\nyears oblivious of creatures, time and images and yet aware of\nGod at work within him. As the soul says in the Book of Love,\n' I sleep, but my heart waketh.' So when all creatures are asleep\nin thee thou durst be awake to God's doings in thee.\n\n' Labour in all things ' says our text, and this is open to three\ninterpretations. It means, turn all to good account, or, see God\nin everything, for God is everywhere. St Augustine says, God\ncreated all things not that he might leave them and go on his\nown way : no, he is still in them. People imagine they have more\nif they have' things plus God than if they have God without the\nthings. They are mistaken. All things plus God amount to\nnothing more than God alone ; and he who fondly weens that if\nhe has the Son and tJie Father wdth him he has more than if he\nhad the Son without the Father, is mistaken too. The Father\nplus the Son is no more than the Son is by himself and the Son\nplus the Father is no more than the Father by himself. To find\nGod in all things is a sign that he has begotten thee his only Son,\nno less.\n\nAgain, turn everything to good account, means, love God the\nsame in poverty as wealth, hold him as dear in sickness as in\nhealth ; as dear in trials and in sufferings as in immunity from\nsufferings. The heavier to bear the lighter to bear : like two\nbuckets, the heavier the one the lighter tlie otJier, and so the more\none gets rid the easier the riddance. The God-lovcr parts with the\nworld as cheerfully as with an egg. The more he gives up the\neasier it grows.\n\nThirdly, ' labour in all things ' means : where thou findest\nthyself about manifold things, at variance wdth pure and simple\nessence, let that be thy work : ' work in all things ' and ' fulfil\nthy destiny.' It also means, lift up thy head, and this is twofold in\nits implication. The first meaning is : part with all that is thine\nand appropriate God ; then God will be thine as he is his own ;\nhe will be God to thee as he is God to his very self, no less. What\nis mine I get from no one. If 1 get it from another it is not mine\nhut his from whom I got it. The other meaning is, dedicate all\nfhy acts to God. Many people cannot understand this, and I am\nnot surprised ; to know the meaning of it the soul must be in\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ngreat detachment and uplifted over all these things. May we\nattain to this perfection. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXVII 1\n\nTHE POWERS OF HEAVEN SHALL BE MOVED\n\nVirtutes cadorum movebantur {Luc, 21 20 ). This is a gospel-\nsaying of our Lord, and the translation runs, ' The powers of\nheaven shall be moved.' Heaven is suggestive of some mysterious\nor hidden thing, God being so mysteriously coneealed by the\nlight of his divine splendour that no man may by dint of his own\nintellect attain to the beatific vision of his godly countenance.\nAs Job exclaims, ' Who can by searching find out the things in\nheaven ? ' As though to say, no one in the world. The sage\nlaments this, crying, ' Alas ! O Lord, thou art a hidden God ! '\nAccording to St Augustine, ' God hides in the recesses of the soul,\ndisguised in the workings of grace wherein he shows himself to\nthe soul covertly, so that none may know except the soul wherein\nhe is thus privily concealed.' And St Paul says, ' Everything,\nwhich is in the soul, is hidden.' The soul then is the godly heaven\n'^and ghostly where in unbroken stillness God does his perfect work.\nAs God spake by the prophets, ' Behold, I create in you a new\nheaven.'\n\nIt is the stirring of the powers of these incarnate heavens by the\nlight of God's glory shining on them which Christ refers to when he\nsays, ' The powers of heaven arc shaken.' These words betoken\nto us the good works of the soul whereto she is wont what time\nGod being hid in her makes her the heaven of his incomprehensible\ndivinity. For every act proceeds from power and power proceeds\nfrom essence. So from these words we learn three things about\nthe noble nature of the soul. First, her transcendent being. |,\n(Thus he speaks of heaven,) Next, her powerful faculties. (Hence i j\nthe word powers,) Thirdly, her fruitful operation. (Hence the '\nword moved,)\n\nNow to begin with let us note that if the soul has got a heavenly\nbeing she must possess three heavenly properties. First, the\ninnate eternity of heaven. Secondly, its motion in a circle...\nThirdly, its overflowing into creatures underneath. These three!\nthings I demonstrate as follows : The first, that heaven is eternal,\n\nI explain in this way. The heavens have an incorporeal, immaterial\nnature in corporeal guise. No outside semblance is admitted.\nColour is excluded, and no variable force can ply therein, hence\nits state is one of fixed abiding. Then the circular motion of the\n^ See also Spamer's Texte^ A. 6, for a longer version.\n\nheavens is argued thus. Anything that travels in a circle comes\nback to its start ; and anything that comes back to its start\ntravels in a circle. Now the philosopher says the mover of the\nheavens is in the East where the sun rises. We see with our own\neyes that every day the sun dawns in the East and sets into the\nWest to rise again next day at the place where, the philosopher\nsays, the mover resides. It returns each day to its start. Ergo,\nthe sun goes round. This is not to be confused with the sun's\nown period of revolution. The starting-point of its own path is\nnot reached in one day : it takes it a whole year, three hundred\nand sixty-five days, that is to say. Rather we must take this as\nreferring to the heavens altogether, with the sun in their train.\nThe sun doing yearly what they accomplish daily. Thirdly, the\nheavenly downpour into creatures I argue from the fact that\neverything subject to birth and decay is unstable and lacking in\ncelestial power. As the philosopher observes in the book of\nThe Celestial Nature, ' Heaven is to all inferior things the influx\nof being and of life.'\n\nNow for the soul to be this ghostly heaven she must return to\nher eternal being, to the circular motion of her cause and to her\nhighest nature streaming down into her lower powers. First and\nforemost let me say that as she goes it does behove the soul to\nturn to her eternal being and diligently note how by God's grace\nshe is immortal in her nature which he has rendered meet to\nshare in his eternal bliss. She is an incorporeal nature in corporeal '\nguise, spirit not following body in its fleshly birth, so no extrane-\nous semblance can invade her, provided she is ever on her guard\nagainst the fading of her own exemplar wherein she is reflecting\nand manifesting God in his own proper nature. Nor may she\nbrook the entrance of any naughtiness to oust her from her\nheavenly perfection and cast her into suffering, for she suffers\nwithout suffering in the power of God whereby she is fortified in\nsuffering. Withal no other power can ply in her ; she is so secure\nin God who is immutable stability that neither death nor life nor\ndepth nor height nor any creature can part her from his fixed and\nchangeless deity. So with King David she may say, ' In cleaving\nto God lies the gift of immortal felicity.'\n\nSecondly, the soul progresses in a circle, for she rises with the\nrising sun, in her eternal nature, to wit, in her heavenly Father's\nheart, where there is ever dawning the true Son, his self-begotten\nSon, the light and shine of his eternal sufficiency. And she\nreturns into the Father's mind where she is spoken in celestial\nwise, as the prophet hath it, ' God fashioned the heavens in his\nunderstanding.' This intelligible heaven means the soul returned\nintact to God as to her source. For he speaks into her his eternal\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nWord, and confirms her in all heavenly perfection ; as the prophet\ncries on becoming the heaven of the Deity, ' By God's Word are\nthe heavens, fixed and established.'\n\nThirdly, this spiritual heaven of the soul drips divine grace and\nconsolation. Just as the angel-mover rolls the heavens round and\ngives them energy, furnishing the heavens with the power of his\nmight for heaven to pass on and thus supply all things with their\nbeing and activity and life, even so God dispenses to the soul his\ngodly power with all its grace, which wells up in the Father's\nheart, so giving her the means of growing vigorous and strong in\nhis own proper motion wherein she gives her being and activity\nand life to all her lower powers, to the members of her body and\nto all their operations, till they, grown living in God's eyes, do\nbring forth fruit of life eternal. This was the draught the prophet\ncraved when, mindful that the Holy Ghost was troubling the deep\nwaters of his heart and that his highest power was receiving and\nconceiving the dearest power of divinity, Isaias cried, ' Drop\ndew, ye heavens from above,' meaning to say, pour into all my\npowers, all my members, all my works, the sweet celestial dew\nwhich ye have gotten into you from God.'\n\nFurther we must note how he has decked the natural heavens\nwith seven planets, seven noble stars which arc nearer tq^ than\nthe rest. I'lie first is SaMrn, then comes .Jiipiter, tfien Mars and\nthen the Siiif ; after that comes Venus and then Mercury and then\nthe Moon. Now when th hi grief, in having and in wanting ; whatever it be she mUwSt\nbe dead, dispassionate, superior to it. Heaven is clear and\nunsullied in its brightness, free from any taint of time and place.\nNo corporal thing finds room therein. Not itself in time, incredible\nin swiftness is its revolution, its actual course being timeless\nthough from its course comes time. Nothing hinders the soul\nfrom knowing God so much as time and place. Time and place\nare fractions, God is an integer. So if the soul knows God at all\nshe must know him above time and space, for God is neither this\nnor that as these manifold things are : God is one.\n\nIf the soul would see God she must not look at anything in time.\nWhile the soul is regarding time and place or any such idea she\ncan never recognise God. Before the eye can see colour it has to\nbe rid of all colour. Before the soul can see God it must have\nnothing in common with naught. The seer of God knows that\ncreatures are naught. Comparing one with another, creature\nlooks fair and is aught, but compare it with God, it is naught.\n\nFurther I declare : any soul that sees God must have forgotten\nherself and have lost her own self ; while she secs and remembers\nherself she nor sees nor is conscious of God. But when for God's\nsake she loses herself and abandons all things then in God does\nshe re-find herself, for knowing God she is knowing herself and all\nthings (which she rid herself of) in God in perfection. To know\nthe sovran good and the eternal goodness, really, 1 must know\nthem in the good itself, not in partial goodness. To know real\nbeing I must know it as subsisting in itself, that is, in God, not\nparcelled out in creatures.\n\nIn God alone exists the whole of godhood. Not in one man exists\nthe whole of manhood, for in a single man exists not all mankind.\nBut in God the soul finds perfect manhood and all things in their\nprime, for she knows them in their essential nature. The dweller\nin a richly furnished house must know far more about it than\nanother person who, though full of information, has never been\nwithin. And by this same token I am as certain as I live, and as\nGod lives, that the soul who knows God knows him above time\nand place. In this God -conscious state the soul perceives how near\nGod's kingdom is, namely, God in all his fullness. There is much\ndiscussion among doctors at the School as to the possibility of the\nsoul knowing God. Not by reason of his harshness docs God\nexact so much from man but out of his great kindness, wanting\nthe soul to be more capacious, big enough to hold the largesse he\nis anxious to bestow.\n\nLet no one deem it difficult to arrive at this however hard may\nseem, and be, indeed, to start with, the parting from and dying to\nall things. Having once got into it no life is more easy, more\ndelightful or more lovely. God is so very careful to be always\nwith a man to guide him to himself in case of his taking the wrong\nway. No man ever wanted anything so much as God wants to\nmake the soul aware of him. God is ever ready, but we are so\nunready. God is near to us, but we are far from him. God is in,\nwe are out ; God is at home, we are strangers. The prophet says,\n' God leads the just by a narrow path to the high road out into\nthe open,' that is, to the true freedom of the spirit become one\nspirit with God. Ours to follow his lead and let him bring us to\nhimself. So help us God. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLXX\n\nTHIS IS A SERMON ABOUT OUR LORD'S BODY\n\nThis is a sermon on our Lord's body by Brother Eckhart. He\nsays that the bread of our Lord's body has many names, but three\nspecial ones are ^iven it in holy writ. In the first place it is called\nthe heavenly bread, in the second it is called the bread of anprels,\nand thirdly the bread of lamentation. And whoso would worthily\nreceive this bread of our Lord's body must have these three things.\nFirst, none can enjoy the heavenly bread who is not a heavenly\nman. This means that as the heavens with the sun and moon and\nthe entire system arc above all earthly, temy)oral things, so man iti\nhis desires, his senses and his thoughts must be lifted up to celestial\nthings. Secondly, no man can enjoy the bread of heaven except\nhe be an angelic man, for no creature was ever so perfect as an angel.\nThis man must be at all times perfectly pure in heart and body.\nThirdly, it is called the bread of lamentation ; this no man enjoys\nexcept he be a man of sorrow, one, that is to say, who pondering\nour Lord's martyrdom shall rue the treatment meted out to our\nLord on earth. Whoso has not this rue shall not enjoy the bread\nof sorrow. So, then, a man must have three things before he can\napproach this bread. First, having gotten to the excellent\ncondition of knowing good and ill, he must choose the good and\nworthy and reject the foul and evil. Next, with his heart divorced\nfrom worldly loves, this man must go in godly love and all godly\nthings. Thirdly, he must order all his activities.\n\nLXXIi\n\nBOETHIUS SAYS: HE WHO WANTS TO SEE TRUE\n\nBoethius says, ' He who wants to see true in this light I speak\nof let him relinquish four things,' which are set down. He must\nrelinquish the joys of ^ the- world and care. .iuad>^wajit-iuij^\nwhile these are in thee^ it is dark and clouded therein. St Paul\nsays God dwells in light inaccessible. Anything approaching this\nlight the light consumes and turns to its own divine nature, even\nas I said of the divine essence ; what is taken into the essence\nis changed into essence. Speaking of understanding : as it is\ncharacteristic of God to subsist unmoved in his pure and virgin\nessence, his own being, so is this property imputed to understand-\nJ^ing, which is so noble as to be selLsubsistent.\n\n^ For No. 71 (1) see Jostes, No. 16, of which it forms a part.\n\nI have told how understanding has to break through the image\nof the Son ; as he himself declares, ' I am the light of the world ;\nno man cometh to the Father but through me.' As the wise man\nexplains in the Book of Wisdom, when the soul is borne into God\nby his divine wisdom, she is clarified and sublimed in light and in\ngrace, all that is foreign to the soul being detached and shelled\naway together with a portion of herself. Further, I related how\nthe soul, now throughly purged of soul accretions, is carried up\nand flows back into the Son as pure as she flowed out in him.\nThe Father created the soul in the Son, so if wc are ever to get\ninto the ground of God, into his innermost heart, we must take the\nlowest place in our own ground, in our own innermost self, in abject\nlowliness. When the soul enters into her ground, into the innej;:\nmost recesses of her being, divine power suddenly pours into her,\nproducing much activity, both' manifest and secret, and the soul s\ngrows big and high in fiiydur with God. This is and must be in\nthe soul who, rightly disposed in the ground of humility, ascends,\nborne aloft in the divine power : she never stops until she gets\nright into God and coming to absolute rest in him, abides wholly\nwithin without looking out, subsistent in his pure essence ; for\neven therein is the soul. God is pure being. The philosopher\nsays that nothing at all can get into God, who is pure being, but\nwhat is also pure being. Ergo, the soul is pure being who has\ngotten therein, soaring right up into God. Amen.\n\nLXXII 1\n\nTHE PROPHET SAYS: LORD BE MERCIFUL\n\nThe prophet said, ' Lord be merciful to the people that is in\nthee.' The Lord replied, ' All that enter in will I make whole\nand love much.'\n\nI take the words of the Pharisee who besought our Lord to dine\nwith him and our Lord's injunction to the woman, vade in pace !\nIt is good to pass from restlessness to calm : praiseworthy but\nimperfect. ' Go in peace,' be not disquieted : God implies that\nwe ought to enter into peace and continue in peace and end in\npeace. God said, ' In me ye have peace.' So far in God so far\nin peace. Is aught in God, it is in peace ; is aught out of God, it\nis without peace. St John says, ' Whatever is born of God over-\ncometh the world.' What is born of God seeks peace and ensues\nit. He that pursues the even tenor of his way and is at peace\nis a heavenly man. Heaven constantly rotates, in its motion\nseeking rest.\n\n1 See also Jostes, No. 10.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nThe Pharisee besought our Lord that he would dine with him.\nThe food a man eats is changed in him into his body, like the body\nby the soul. Body and soul are one in being, not in act, thus\nmy soul is united with my eye in one mode, that of seeing. Even\nso the food a man consumes mingles with his nature as regards\nits essence but not its activity ; and the great atonement we are\ndestined to with God shall be of essence not of operation. Hence\nthe Pharisee's request that God would eat with him.\n\nPharisee signifies a solitary, one who knows no end to detach-\nment of soul. The more noble the powers the more they liberate.\nSome powers are far higher than the body and sufficiently aloof\nto shell off and detach completely. As the philosopher well says,\nWhat once moves mortal things never enters into them. Again,\nby being free and unattached the unlettered man may in love and\nlonging receive wisdom and impart it. And thirdly, having no\nend means having no finality, no ultimate security until one is at\nrest and all unwitting of disquiet : until the soul-powers being\nfixed on God are wholly unattached. As the prophet cries, ' Lord\nbe merciful to the people that are in thee.'\n\nOne master says, ' Of all the exalted works God has ever wrought\nin creatures mercy is the most familiar and the most mysterious,\nhis work in the angels not excepted.' In it the work of mercy is\nexalted to mercy as it is in itself and as it is in God. Of God's\nactivity the first outcome is mercy ; not in the sense of his for-\ngiving man's sins nor of one man's forgiving another ; his highest\nwork is mercy in the sense that he initiates the soul into the\nhighest and most perfect thing she can conceive in this world.\nIn his bottomless ocean God is productive of mercy.\n\nThe prophet said, ' Lord be merciful to the people that is in\nthee.' What people is in God ? St John says, ' He that dwellcth\nin love dwellcth in God and God in him.' St John says, ' Love\nunites, love initiates into God.' Haply it is accessory. Love does\nnot unite, not in any wise. Satisfaction (or, enough) is not what\nholds together, binds together. Love unites iq act uud^not in\nes§.without n^^ Neither\n•'knowledge nor love unites aught. Love takes God only as being\ngood and God escapes from name. Good, love goes no further\nthan that. Love takes God under a veil, under a garment.\nNot so understanding : understanding takes God as he is known in\nitself; it can never comprehend him in the sea of his own un-\nfathomable nature, Above biQtb jWiese pereeptwns^ ia^f^^ God\nenergises as mercy at the summit and perfection of his activity.\n\nA philosopher says, There is something in the soul, intimate,\nmysterious, far higher than tiie soul herself, whence emanate her\n/ powers of intellect and will. St Augustine says : Just as that is\nineffable out of which the Son leaps from the Father in the first\np'f6cessi5n,'^'scrthefe exists some occiiTt thing behind the first\nprocession of . intellect and will. According to the philosopher\nwho is our chief authority upon the soul, no human wisdom ever\ncan attain to what the soul is. That requires supernatural wisdom.\nWhat the powers of the soul issue from into act, we do not know :\nabout it haply wc do know a little, but what the soul is in her\nground no man knows. Any knowledge thereof that may be\npermitted to us must be supernatural ; it must be by grace :\nGod's agent of mercy.\n\nLXXIII\n\nST BENEDICT'S DAY\n\nIHlectus deo et hominibus etc. ( Eccl. 45i). In this passage\nfrom the Book of Wisdom the wise man speaks of (Moses), ' the\nbeloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction. God\nmade him like the saints in glory.' And this may well be said of\nthe saint whose festival wc keep to-day. Ilis name is Benedictus,\nblessed, so that to him are especially appropriate the words used\nhere, cujus rnemoria in benedictione esty i.e. whose memory is in\nbenediction, the more so as of him also we read that a glory was\nrevealed to him wherein he saw the whole world gathered up as\nit were into a ball, and our text says, ' God made him like the saints\nin glory.'\n\nAs to this glory. St Gregory says that to a soul who is in this\nglory all things seem small and narrow. The natural light that\nGod has poured into the soul is so splendid and so strong that God's\nbodily creation is all poor and meagre to it. This light is more\nglorious than any corporal thing God ever made, withal the\nmeanest, vilest corporal thing illumined by this light, which is\nintelligence, becomes exalted above mortal things. It is clearer\nand brighter than the sun and purifies things from both time and\nmatter. This light' is so far-flung it vaults the boundaries of\nspace. Wider than space, it transcends the great and good as\nGod transcends wisdom and goodness ; for God is not either\nwisdom or good, but from God come wisdom and goodness. Intel-\nlect comes not of wisdom, nor intellect is not the outcome of truth\nnor is not gotten thereof as will is of goodness. Will wants what\nis good and is engendered thereby an(d (truth) is the issue of\nintellect not intellect of the truth. This light which flows out of\nthe intellect is intelligence, which is like an outburst, an outflow\n\n178 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nor a stream as compared to what intellect is in itself. And this\noutburst is as far removed therefrom as heaven is from earth.\n\nThere is another light, the light of grace, compared to which\nthis natural light illumines a mere pin-point of the earth, nay\nrather a mere pin-point compared with the whole heavens which\nare incredibly more vast than all the earth. God's presence in the\nsoul by grace is instinct with more light than any intellect can\ngive : the light of intellect is but a drop in the ocean of this light,\nnay less a thousandfold. Hence to the soul who is in God's grace\nall things, and whatever her mind can grasp, will appear small\nand mean.\n\nI was asked the reason why virtuous folk who are in the good\ngraces of God are so zealous to serve him. I said it was because\nthey had tasted God, and it were strange indeed if, onee tasting\nand enjoying God, the soul could stomach aught beside. As the\nsaint hath it. Once the soul tries God she finds the things that are\nnot God repugnant and distasteful.\n\nTake the wise man's words in another sense : ' Beloved of God\nand men.' The verb is does not appear. He does not say : he\nis beloved of God and men, for he is not thinking of his changing\nand unstable temporal nature which the essence so far transcends.\nEssence is all-embracing and withal too transcendent ever to be\ntouched by anything created. They that fondly think to have\nsome knowledge of it know nothing whatsoever. As St Dionysius\nsays, anything we know that we are able to impart or that we can\ndefine, that is not God ; for in God is neither this nor that which\nwe can abstract nor has he limitation. In him there is only one\nthing and that is himself. Hence for theologians there is the burn-\ning question : how comes this motionless, this intangible, solitary\nessence to be common to the soul, to be within the purview of\nthe soul ? and they are greatly exercised as to how the soul receives\nit. I can only say that his divinity consists in the communication\nof himself to whatever is receptive of his goodness, and did he not\ncommunicate himself he would not be God.\n\nThe soul God loves and to whom he does communicate himself\nmust be so wholly free from time and from all taint of creature\nthat God in her smacks only of himself. ' In the middle of the\nnight, when all things were asleep,' the Scriptures say, ' thy word,\nO Lord, came down from thy royal throne.' ' In the night '\nmeans when no creature peers into, appears in, the soul, and it is\nin this quiet, this inarticulateness of the soul that the word is\nspoken in her intellectual nature. This word is that of her own\nunderstanding : the expression of the Word as it is and abides in\nthe intellect.\n\nOften I feel afraid, in discoursing about God, at how utterly\n\ndetached the soul must be to attain to union with him. We durst\nnot deem this unattainable : nothing is unattainable to the soul\nthat possesses God's grace. To none were things ever more easy\nto leave : to the soul that has gotten God's grace things are all\n(easy) to eschew. Further I say, none ever had pleasanter task\nto perform : to the soul with God's grace all things are (pleasant)\nto leave because creature can cause her no pain. St Paul says, ' I\nam persuaded that no creature can separate us from God ; not\nfate nor life nor death.'\n\nLook you. Nowhere is God so really God as in the soul. In\nevery creature is somewhat of God, but in the soul God is divine,\nfor she is his rest. According to one master, God loves nothing\nbut himself : all his love is lavished on himself. Marry, a fool were\nhe only to take a penny who at one stroke could seize an hundred\npounds ! God's love in us is the blossoming forth of the Holy\nGhost. One word more of this : God loves nothing in us but the\ngood he does in us himself. In the words of the saint, ' Nothing\nis crowned by God excepting his own work that is wrought by\nhim in us.' Let no one be affrighted at my saying that God loves\nnone beside himself ; it is all to our advantage, for therein he has\nin view our highest happiness. He purposes to lure us to himself,\nto get us purged and take us to himself, so that with himself he\nmay love himself in us and us in him. So he must needs, so far\nas our love goes, attract us to himself by every means he can,\npleasant or disagreeable. God, despite himself, is ever hanging\nover us some bait to lure us into him. I never give God thanks\nfor loving me, because he cannot help it ; whether he would or\nno it is his nature to. What I do thank him for is for not being\nable of his goodness to leave off loving me. To know ourselves,\nto be installed in God, this is not hard, seeing that God himself\nmust be working in us ; for it is godly work, man acquiescing and\nmaking no resistance : he is passive while allowing God to act in\nhim. Let us, waiting upon God, enable him to take us into him,\nso that becoming one with him he may be able to love us with\nhimself. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXIV\n\nTHE PROMISE OF THE FATHER\n\nConvescens prcecepit eisah Jerosolymis ne discederent etc. (Act. I4).\nThis passage which I have quoted in Latin comes in the Mass for\nto-day. St Luke records how our Lord being about to depart to\nheaven was in company with his disciples whom he ' commanded\nthat they should not leave Jerusalem but should wait for the\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\npromise of the Father which they had heard from his mouth for they\nshould be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.'\n\nHe speaks of the promise or pledge of the Father. To us as\nwell was given this pledge of baptism in the Holy Ghost and of\nbeing received thereby to dwell above time in eternity. Not\nin the things of time is the Holy Ghost bestowed. When a man\nturns from temporal things and goes into himself he notices a\nheavenly light, a light that comes from heaven. Though heaven-\ndescended it is under heaven. There is no satisfaction in this\nlight, for it is mortal, they say that it is matter. Now iron, which\nby nature falls, will rise, against its nature, and hang suspended\nto a loadstone in virtue of the master-force the stone receives\nfrom heaven. Wherever the stone turns there the iron goes with\nit. Even so the mind, unsatisfied witli this infernal light, will\nscale the firmament and search the heavens to find the breath that\nspins them, the heavens by their revolution causing all things on\nearth to grow and flourish. Its spirit never rests content until\nit pierces to the coil, into the primal origin where the breath has\nits source. This spirit knows no time nor number : number does\nnot exist apart from the malady of time. Other root has none save\nin eternity, where there is no number except one. This spirit,\ntranscending number, breaks through multiplicity and is trans-\nfixed by God, and by the fact of his piercing me I pierce him in\nreturn : God leads this spirit into the desert, into the solitude of\nits own self, where it is simply one and is welling up in itself. This\nspirit has no why, for if it had a why the unity would also have its\nwhy. This spirit is in unity and freedom.\n\nDoctors declare this will is free in the sense that none can bind\nit excepting God alone. God docs not bind the will, he sets it\nfree, free to choose naught but God himself, and this is real freedom.\nFor the spirit to be incapable of willing aught other than God's\nwill is not its bondage but its true liberation. Some people say.\nIf I have God and tlie love of God then I am at liberty to follow\nmy own will. They labour under a mistake. So long as thou art\ncapable of anything against the will of God and against his law\nthou hast no love of God though thou cozen the world that\nthou hast it. One who is in God's will and in God's love is fain\nto do the things God likes and leave undone the things God hates,\nand he can no more leave undone a thing that God wants done\nthan he can do a thing that God abhors ; just like a man whose\nlegs are tied together, he cannot stray and neither can he err who\nis in the will of God. Someone once said, ' God may command\nme to do evil and shun virtue, but I am incapable of sin.' No one\nloves virtue without being virtue. He who abandons himself and\neverything, who seeks not his own in any wise but does all he does\n\nfor love and without why, that man being dead to all the world\nis alive in God and God in him.\n\nHere someone may object, It is all very well for you to tell us\nthese things, but we ourselves know nothing of them. — That I\nalso rue. This knowledge is so noble and so common, it is not to\nbe purchased . for a farthing or a penny. A just mind and a free\nwill, have but these, and it is thine. To abandon all things on this\nlower plane where they exist in mortal guise is to recapture them\nin God where they are reality. Everything that is dead here is life\nyonder and all that is dense matter here is spirit there in God.\nIf you pour fresh water into a clean basin and, all being clear and\nbright, stand it in a quiet place, then, holding your face over\nit you see it at the bottom as it really is. That is V>ecause the\nwater is free from impurity and still. It is the same with people\nwho in a state of freedom and interior calm envisage God in peace\nand quiet, and when they are able to see him just as well in turmoil\nand disquiet there is perfect equanimity ; but if a man enjoys him\nless in trouble and unrest, that argues him not equable (unjust).\nSt Augustine says, ' When the days arc weary and the time is long\na man should turn to God, where no such thing as long exists and\nthings are all at rest.' The lover of justice is possessed with justice,\nand he is this virtue.\n\nOur Lord said, ' I have called you not servants, I liave called you\nfriends, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.' And\nso may my friend know something that I ignore, yet have no\nmind to tell me. But our Lord says, ' All that I have heard of\nmy Father I have made known unto you.' I marvel how some\npriests, and these with pretensions to eminence and learning,\nallow themselves to be misled into interpreting these words to\nmean that he shows us of the path only the bare minimum needful\nto our happiness. That is not what 1 hold ; there is no truth in\nit. Why was God born man ? That I might be born God himself.\nGod died that I might die to the whole world and all created things.\nAnd it is in this sense that w^e must understand the saying of our\nLord, ' All that I have heard of my Father I have revealed unto\nyou.' What does the Son hear of his Father ? The Father can\nonly beget ; the Son can only be gotten. All the Father has and\nthat he is, the whole basis of God's essence and God's nature, he\nbrings forth once for all in his one-begotten Son. This the Son\nhears from his Father, this he makes known unto us, we being\nthis same Son. All the Son has he has from his Father : essence\nand nature, we are this only Son. No one has the Holy Ghost\nexcept he be the only Son. Father and Son expire their holy\nBreath, and once this sacred breath inspires a man it remains iiv\nhim, for he is essential and pneumatic.\n\n182 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nTrue, thou mayst receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the likeness\nof the Holy Ghost, but it abides not with thee ; it is impermanent.\nJust as a man may blush for shame, or blench, it is an accident and\npasses. But one by nature fair and ruddy is so always. So with\nthis man, as being the only Son his holy Breath is of the nature of\nhim. As it is written in the Book of Wisdom, ' This day have I\nbegotten thee in the reflection of my eternal light, in the fullness\nof the Godhead and the glory of all saints.' He is begetting him\nnow, to-day. There is childbed in the Godhead, there are they\nbaptized in the Holy Ghost according to the promise of the Father.\n' After these days which are not many,' or a few, then comes the\n' fullness of the Godhead,' where there is neither day nor night ;\nwhere things a thousand leagues away are as near me as the ground\nwhereon I stand ; that is the fulfilment, the full enjoyment of\nGodhood ; that is oneness. While the soul secs any difference she\nis unjust ; as long as aught looks out, looks in, there is no unanimity.\nMary Magdalene sought our Lord within the tomb ; seeking one\ndead man she found two living angels, but still was unconsolcd.\nSaid the angel, ' Why art thou cast down ? Whom seekest thou,\nwoman ? ' As though to say, ' Thou dost seek one dead and hast\nfound two living.' Whereto she might have answered, ' That is\nthe burden of my discontent, that I find two where 1 sought one\nalone.'\n\nWhile anything created can make a clear impression on the\nsoul she is disconsolate. I say, as I have often said before, so far\nas the soul's created nature goes there is no such thing as truth.\nI declare that there is something beyond the soul's created nature.\nBut certain priests cannot understand how there can be anything\nso nearly kin to God, so much the same as he is. It has naught\nin common with naught. Anything made or created is naught,\nbut this is alien and remote from the made and the created. It is\nsomething self-contained, taking nothing from outside. Our Lord\ndeparted to heaven, beyond all light, beyond all understanding,\nbeyond all human ken. He who is thus translated beyond light\nof any kind dwells in the unity. As St Paul says, ' God dwells in\nthe light that no man can approach unto,' which is in itself the\nperfect one. A man then must be dead, must be dead indeed,\ndevoid of any being of his own, wholly without likeness, like to\nnone, to be really Godlike. For it is God's character, his nature,\nto be peerless, incomparable. May we be the same in the oneness of\nGod himself. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXVi\n\nASCENSION DAY\n\nExpedit vobis etc. vado parare vobis locum etc. (Joh. I67, 142).\nWhen he was about to depart from this world to his heavenly\nFather, Christ said to his disciples, ' It is expedient for you, it is\nfor your good, that I should go, for while I am with you the Holy\nGhost the Comforter will not come unto you.' With these words\nour Lord consoled his disciples knowing full well that they were\ntroubled because he had warned them of his ascension. Our Lord\nwill not suffer his lovers to be troubled, for fear is painful. And\nSt John says, ' Love casteth out fear.' Love is incompatible with\nfear and pain, for the waxing of love is the waning of fear, and\nwhen love is perfect all fear is gone. But at the beginning of the\nvirtuous life fear is of use to man, providing him a thoroughfare\nfor love. As the bodkin or the awl makes a passage for the thread\nand the shoe is stitched with thread, not with the iron ; and as the\nbristle's part towards the thread is to put it in as fastening while\nthe bristle is withdrawn ; so, to begin with, fear makes room for\nlove and love binds to God, whereas fear passes out.\n\nLeaving now this argument we turn to the words of my Latin\nquotation, the words of our Lord, ' I go to prepare a place for you.'\nHere we notice two things taught and proved by our Lord in his\nascension. The first one is that the soul is by nature heir to heaven.\nGod is her lawful heritage, for no one generates the soul but God.\nGod made her without any intervention. Some doctors will\nmaintain, perhaps, that the divine light pouring into the angels,\nthe whole creaturely idea that God reflects into the angels before\nit is exemplified in divers creatures, that this divine light, this\nimage in the angels, is what makes the soul. Not so. The soul\ndoes not permit of any meddling, any interference in God's\nactivity towards her, but fresh and pure as this flows out of God\nin one unbroken stream, so docs the soul proceed from God. Most\nprivily has God embarked and launched forth the soul, so that\nno one knows for certain what she is. One philosopher calls her\na light, and that is well said ; for like the light streaming out of\nthe sun and shining into all creatures so is the soul sent straight\nfrom God. St Augustine says, Since the soul is emitted from\nGod she is nowhere at rest except in God. Another master says\nshe is a spirit, and this is true in a certain sense ; God is a spirit,\nand the soul is made like to God, so she may well be called spirit,\nbeing to God as spirit to spirit. A third master dubs her a fire,\nspeaking the truth in symbol, for fire is most lofty in its nature,\n^ See also Wackemagel, No. 65.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nmost theurgic in its operation, and it never rests until it licks the\nheavens. It envelops all the elements for being much wider and\nhigher than the air, or than water or the earth, it must be sur-\nrounding all the rest. It comes next of all to heaven and revolves\ntherewith. The air goes with it, partially, because of being dense,\nwhile water, which is altogether grosser, is unable to keep pace and\nruns behind. The soul is called a fire because, in her desire, she\ndoes keep pace with God, like fire with the heavens, for the soul\ncannot rest except in God. Some souls which are rather dense\nfollow haltingly, as air lags after fire. And some, again, being\ndownright gross, are, like water, earth-bound and incapable ojf\nkeeping up with God but run behind ; for seeing or hearing some-\nthing good will stir them with desire to be good, so they do follow\nafter ; like water drifting to and fro without a change of level, so\nare these people moved while abiding of the same mind as before.\nA fourth doctor calls her a spark of God's celestial nature, and\nthis jumps with our theory of her heavenly origin. Where one\nclod falls, there, generally speaking, all earth would fall as well ;\na single clod reveals the ground to be its rcsting-placc. And\nwhither one spark flics to from the fire, that place is revealed as\nthe resting-place of fire.\n\nNow we have sent one spark to heaven, the soul to wit of our\nLord Jesus Christ, which shows the common resting-place of souls\nis nowhere but in heaven ; and herein we have proof of the entire\nsoul being heavenly. The body, on the other hand, is made of\nthe four elements, so its habitat is naturally earth. But the soul\nis in intimate union with the body, and they must ever stay\ntogether despite that the body is of earth and the soul a denizen\nof heaven. God found a wise solution of this problem, himself\nbecoming man and going in his proper power to heaven, so that\nin him wc have already sent one clod of earth to heaven. And\nthe whole earth likewise must belong to heaven, for Christ's resting-\nplace is nowhere but in union with his Father ; and as God is three\nin Person so is he one in nature, they having one being and one\nlife. Thus our Lord Christ shows us that our being and our life\nare eternal in divine union.\n\nThe second thing oUr Lord has taught and proved by his ascen-\nsion is how we must prepare ourselves to follow after him in\npursuance of his words, ' I go to prepare a place for you.' Just as,\non those four grounds, the soul is called light, spirit, fire or a spark\nof God's celestial nature, even so man is lifted up or gotten ready\nalso by four things finely symbolised of old in the prophet Moses,\nof whom we read that he gathered his flock together and drove\nit into the wilderness, ' into the backside of the desert,' and there\nupon the mount of God he saw a bush burning but unconsumed.\n\nMoses wished to turn aside and see this wonder, the burning bush\nwhich would not burn away. But the Lord called to him out of\nthe bush, and said, ' Draw not nigh ; put off thy shoes,' under\nwhich figure we are taught four precious lessons.\n\nFirst, in the name Moses, for Moses being interpreted means,\none taken from the water. So shall a man be rescued from\ninstability, from out the tempests of this world.\n\nNext, that man's animal passions and desires must all be\nherded up into the highest power of his soul. Unless the soul is\ngathered up and lifted out of created things the Holy Ghost\ncannot enter in nor energise in her. All divine work done by God\nis wrought by him in spirit, above time and place, for mortal\nthings arc fatal to the flow of God. Divine light shed on spiritual\ncreature will engender life, but if it falls on mortal things it fades,\neither dimmed or extinguished altogether. That is why our Lord\ndeclared, ' It is expedient for you, it is for your good, that I should\ngo away.' For his disciples loved him as a man and mortal.\nNow there can be no doubt that our Lord was nobler than anything\nGod ever made. If he then was a hindrance to his followers it is\nunquestionably true that other things we love, which are inferior\nto God, will hinder us much more. Ergo, the soul must transcend\nthe world if she wants God to ply his godly work in her. And\nSt Augustine says explicitly, we can transcend the world in love\nand knowledge, and that lacking love and knowledge we are nothing,\ni.e, in the world.\n\nIn the third place we learn, that man can see and know God's\nwork, but that while in this body he must needs stop short of\nactual attainment, just as Moses saw the burning bush but could\nnot go right up to it ; he wanted to, however : a case of the love\nwhich docs not consume the body and has no spiritual potency.\n\nFourthly, putting off the shoes signifies the freeing of the soul's\ndesire, its withdrawal from all mortal and perishable things. To\nthis and things still higher, O God help us. Amen.\n\nLXXVI\n\nASCENSION DAY SERMONS\n\nExpedit vobis ut ego vordam etc. {Joh. I67). We read in the gospel\nhow our Lord said to his disciples, ' It is expedient for you that I\ngo away. For if I go not away ye cannot receive the Holy Ghost.'\nAnd this by reason of three hindrances which beset three kinds of\npeople. First, sinners who let creatures hinder them, using them\n\n186 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nungodly for their pleasure. These people are wandering in God's\nway, for creatures are a way of God. Hence St Augustine's\ndictum, ' Cursed be they that wander in the way of God.' I will\nsay no more of these ; following their animal passions they are\ndivorced from God. Also, there are good people who are over-\nbusy with their material wants and take too much pleasure in\nexternals. Concerning them God said, ' He that loveth his soul\nshall lose it ' (loveth carnally, that is : over-fondness, for it will\nlose a man his soul) ' and he that hateth his soul shall keep it\nunto life eternal.' Meaning those that follow not their inordinate\npleasures and desires.\n\nA second hindrance blocks the path of other good and truly\npious people. Namely, the seven sacraments. Sacr amentum\nmeans a sign. That man never gets to the underlying truth who\nstops at the enjoyment of its symbol ; and the seven sacraments\nall point us to the same reality. Marriage (for example) is a\nsymbol of divine and human nature and also of the union of the\nsoul with God. To rest in the illusion means delay in the attain-\nment of real oneness. Ye durst not think of marriage as the\nmating of a man and a woman with each other for the indulgence\nof their outward passions and for the leading of a life of pleasure.\nThat is not real marriage. Marriage means obedience to the\nmarriage rule with its seven times and its works of mercy. Again,\nsome pious souls are hampered with scrupulosity in the matter of\nrepentance and confession ; they boggle at the symbol and neglect\nthe thing itself. Our Lord says of these, ' He that has bathed\nneeds but to wash his feet.' Which is as good as saying, Once\npurged by heartfelt rue and throughly shriven, a man needs not\nto re-confess old sins though he must ' wash his feet,' that is, his\nwill and conscience : them let him cleanse by confessing daily\nfaults.\n\nAlso, some of the devout hinder themselves by over-occupation,\noutwardly, with the blessed sacrament of God's body, to the detri-\nment of their receiving it ; these cultivate the rites at the cost of\nthe reality, for the thing itself is inside not in its outward show.\nWherefore they receive not God's body worthily. The sacra-\nments all point us to the one and only truth, so we ought not to\ndally with the symbols but penetrate to the actuality. Those\nwho follow the spirit of God's truth will worship him in spirit and\nin truth. So said Christ himself to the woman drawing at the\nwell at Samaria when she asked him where to pray, whether on\nthe mountains where her fathers used to pray or where the Jews\nthen worshipped. Quoth our Lord, ' The hour cometh and is now,\nwhen true worshippers shall worship not only on the mountains\nand in the Temple but in spirit, in the place of God.' The moral of\n\nwhich is that we ought to pray to God not only on the hill-tops and\nin churches, but we ought always to be praying, at all times and\neverywhere. St Paul says, ' Rejoice evermore ; in everything\ngive thanks ; pray without ceasing.' Even so pray they whose\nevery deed is done like-mindedly for the love of God ; who, careless\nof their personal pleasure, bow themselves humbly before God and\nleave him alone to act. The prayer of the lips was enjoined by\nholy Christendom for the recalling of the soul from her outward\nsenses wherein she dissipates herself in a multiplicity of perishable\nthings. Being recollected thence into her highest power {i.e, know-\nledge and memory and will) she is turned to spirit, and when the\nspirit is joined to God in perfect unity of will, it is turned to God.\nThen, not till then, he is in true prayer, when he has reached the\ngoal of his creation ; for wc were created solely to be God, and that\nis the reason why we were fashioned like him. Whoso does not\nattain to being one with God in spirit is not a really spiritual man.\n\nGood, pious souls are hindered too from their proper object by\nlingering with holy joy over the human form of our Lord Jesus\nChrist ; and by the same token, over-reliance upon visions is a\npitfall to some people ; they see things pictured in the mind, it\nmay be man or angel or the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nand give credence to their ghostly messages. They hear, perhaps,\nthat they are best-beloved or about the faults or virtues of another ;\nor they may hear that God is doing something for them. In this\nthey are deceived. God never does a single thing for creature\nbut only by reason of his kindness, for he is the end of every\nChristian prayer: 'Do this, O Lord, for the sake of thy only\nSon Christ Jesus.' He himself said to his disciples, ' It is expedient\nfor you that I should go away.' Here he was addressing not alone\nhis then disciples but all his disciples of the future who purpose\nto follow him to high achievement. To them his manhood is a\nhindrance so long as they still cling to it with mortal pleasure ;\nthey ought to follow God in all his ways and not keep solely to\nhis way of manhood who reveals to us the way of Godhood ; for\nverily Christ said, ' I am the way, the truth and the life. No\nman cometh to the Father but by me, and he who would enter\nby any other door the same is a murderer and deserves eternal\ndeath.' Such are those who claim that they themselves arc\ncapable of good or that God docs things for them, whereas Christ\neven, stated he was not from himself : the Eternal Wisdom said\nabout itself, ' He that created me reposes in my tent,' who withal\nis uncreated for God is unborn wisdom. We may take this as\nreferring to eternal wisdom's birth, for the Son proceeded forth\nby way of birth, where birth is the same thing as creation. The\neternal wisdom was born of the power of the Father. He and the\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nSon, his wisdom, and the Holy Ghost, his goodness and their mutual\nlove, these (three) are one in nature and distinct in Person. And\nwhat is this tent that Wisdom talks of ? That is the manhood of\nChrist Jesus, wherein the Father reposes with his Son, they being\nof one nature, God in their Person as well as God by nature. This\ntent of humanity let us adore only in its oneness with the Godhead :\nfor man is truly God and God is truly man. Let us not encumber\nourselves with any creature excepting Jesus Christ, who only is\nour help and the way to his Father. When, taking leave of\ncreatures, we enter the true path, which is .Jesus Christ, we are not\nwholly blest albeit within sight of the divine reality ; for while\nwe are in sight of, we are not yet one with, what we see. While\nwe notice any thing we are not one with it. Where there is\nno more than one no more than one is seen : God is not seen except\nby blindness, nor known except by ignorance, nor understood\nexcept by fools. According to St Augustine, no soul can get to\nGod who goes not without creature and seeks not God without\nlikeness. And that is the meaning of Christ's words, ' Cast out\nfirst the beam out of thine own eye and then wash the mote out\nof another's eye.' For you must understand that anything created\nis likened to a beam in the eye of the soul, preventing divine\noneness by the fact of being creature. And because the soul is\ncreature she has to cast herself out of herself; she must east out\nall the saints and eke our Lady, for all of them are creatures. She\nmust be quite naked and wholly unnecessitous. Thus the soul\nenters the union of the Holy Trinity. She is further blest by\nbecoming one with the naked Godhead whereof the blessed Trinity\nis the self-revelation. In the abstract Godhead there is no\nactivity : the soul is not perfectly beatified until she casts herself\ninto the desolate Deity where neither act nor form exists and\nthere, merged in the void, loses herself : as self she perishes, and\nhas no more to do with things than she had when she was not.\nNow, dead to self, she is alive in God and the dead perish (in the\ntomb). Even so is naughted the soul entombed in God.\n\nSome people fondly ween that they have gotten into the Holy\nTrinity who have never got beyond themselves. Loath to leave\nthemselves, they keep their selfish interests and pleasures and\ninterior sweetness, all of which they have forsworn, just the same\nin thought and will. These are no disciples of our Lord Jesus\nChrist who never looked for sweetness in anything he did ; on\nthe contrary, he said, 'My soul is sorrowful even unto death.'\nMeaning his most -lofty soul, and he was thinking also of his bodily\nlife. This was ' sorrowful even unto death,' until a term was put\nto the conditions of our exile, until our death was dead. And our\nsoul too is ' troubled even unto death,' until there dies within us\n\nwhatever is alive there of own will, own interests and multitudi-\nnous will. When the soul is dead as to the life of her desires and\nselfish interests and is buried in God, then, hidden and unknown to\nany creature, she can never be troubled any more.\n\nNow mark the signs whereby a soul is known to have been\ntaken into the Holy Trinity. First, it is vouchsafed to her that at\nthe sight of the Holy Ghost her sins are blotted out and she forgets\nherself and things. In the next place, she has gotten a conception\nof the Godhead, namely the eternal wisdom of the Father, the\nknowledge and discernment of all things ; and she is bereft of\nopinion, hypothesis, belief, for now she knows the truth ; and\nwhereas hitherto she has taken things on trust and learnt by\nwordy arguments and hearsay, now things presented to her,\nwhether by men or angels, she need ask none about, like those\nwith no notion of reality, who, when an abstract truth is revealed\nto them, will try to grasp it with their finite mind : a thing that\nis beyond angelic understanding. Whereupon they question others\non the subject, propounding it in the material form in which they\nhave conceived it, and these take it as they hear it, in a concrete\nsense, and so pronounce it wrong and contrary to the Christian\nfaith. It is false to them, because they accept it at face-value,\nwhich they arc unable to see through. In this they are mistaken.\nFurthermore, the soul who is in truth translated into the Holy\nTrinity is immediately endowed by the Father's power and strength\nwith the ability to do all things. As St Paul says, ' I can do all\nthings in him that strengtheneth me.' Now the soul works not,\nknows not, loves not ; but God is working in her, perceiving\nhimself in her. According to the words of Jeremiah, ' Verily ye\nare God's in divine knowing and loving.' God help us to this\ntruth. Amen.\n\nI GO TO HIM THAT SENT ME\n\nVado ad eum qui misit me {J oh, IG^). ' I go to him that sent me.'\nThese words have a threefold meaning. In the first place, Christ\nwent to his Father in his manhood. In the second place, the soul\nof Christ went in the light of grace. In the third place, the soul\nof Christ went in his Godhead.\n\nAbout this saying, Thomas, Origen, Damascenus and Richardus\nhold the same opinion, and I hold it with them. What we say is,\nthat Christ in his manhood went first through our manhood ; he\nhas known all the wants that flesh is heir to, for he has been through\nevery creature and set creature lower than mankind : the humanity\nof Christ has carried our humanity beyond the realm of creature,\nexalting our nature above the angelic nature in the unity of God\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nand man. The manhood of Christ went also by itself without\nimpediment of creature, for he alone was ever perfect in virtue\nat every point of time.\n\nIn the second place, the soul of Christ went without means in\nthe light of grace. In the light of grace the soul of Christ received\nfour gifts which Mary his mother never did receive nor did any\nof the saints. The first gift of Christ's soul was wisdom, the\nknowledge of his end. The second gift was understanding, which\nhis soul received on achieving virtue as distinct from means.\nThe third gift Christ's soul received was that in all she did she\nremained unchanged. The fourth gift was that of doing nothing\nexcept in virtue of the love of God.\n\nIn the third place, the soul of Christ went in his godhood ; he\nwent, that is to say, in the personality of the eternal Word, for\nthis eternal Person is essentially the vehicle of human nature.\nHe also went the way of the three Persons of whom he is one\nPerson. He went in his own nature to the Father-nature in the\nunderstanding of them both. And he went in the work of the\nPerson of the Holy Ghost, who effects the union of human\nnature and divine Person. Touching Christ's words, ' I go\nto him that sent me,' Lincolniensis and Master Henry Augus-\ntiniensis tell us what he means by ' go.' I hold with Thomas\nand Gilbertus that by this word he meant to say, ' I go to release\nyou from the straits whereto ye have been brought by Adam's\ntransgression ; I go to set you free from the bonds of creature ;\nI go to him that sent me, in my understanding wherein I take you\nstraight to him ; I go the way of my own nature, the way of my\nlordship, wherein alone I keep unto myself what creature has no\npart nor lot in. He went in essence and in nature ; he went to\nreveal in his own Person the essence and the life to creatures in\nseparation ; for the Persons are God in their personal divinity\naccording to their nature's unity.\n\nHere arises the question. Is the Person of the nature or the nature\nof the Person ? In answering this it must be borne in mind that it is\nthe nature of the Persons to manifest the fruits of their own nature.\n\nThe soul too goes to the Father. First, in the fixed intention\nto cumber herself no more with creature unless with the objective\nform of Christ. Secondly, she goes in responding to whatever\ncalls God may make upon her. Thirdly, she goes in the sweet\nsavour of divine love wherein suffering is no suffering to her.\nChrist ascended into heaven ; he ennobled his humanity by\nwithdrawing it from time and establishing it in eternity. Lifting\nup his soul he gave her his essential self, the essence he is ever\nmaking manifest in his personal works. Further, the soul ascends\nflying with the feathers of the virtues, wisdom, prudence, strength\n\nand justice namely, for on these four virtues the soul is able to\nwing her way past time and past all creatures which exist in time.\nAnd she flies as well in the three godly virtues of faith, hope and\ncharity, resting in the love that is God, wherein we behold the\nFather, Son and Holy Ghost.\n\nNow it must be remembered that three kinds of men see God.\nThe first see him in faith ; they know no more of him than what\nthey can make out through a partition. The second behold God\nin the light of grace but only as the answer to their longings, as\ngiving them sweetness, devotion, inwardness and other such-like\nthings which are issuing from his gift. The third kind see him in\nthe divine light. Christ's disciples beheld God as the satisfaction\nof their longings, but they did not see him as one who longs to\nlove. Philip said to Jesus, ' Lord, show us the Father and satisfy\nus,' as though to say. Lord, show us thyself as transcending\ncreature, as the immediate entry to the soul which thou dost\nnature in her proper nature. Jesus answered, ' He that seeth me\nseeth my Father,' as though to say, Whoso seeth me unchanging,\nas well disposed towards them that would wound as towards\nthem that show the wish to please me ; whoso seeth me apart from\nmy humanity as the door into the soul, the same beholds my\nFather as energising in his personal power and I in personal\nwisdom and the Holy Ghost in personal goodness : having God\nmeans having all these three in the one essence of their nature.\n\nTHE soul's place *\n\nOur Lord said to his disciples, ' It is expedient for you that I\nshould go away, for while I am with you the Holy Ghost will not\ncome unto you.' With these words our I^ord comforted his\ndisciples after supper on the eve of his departure, knowing full\nwell that they were sorrowful at finding he was going to leave\nthem. Our Lord will not long suffer his lovers to be troubled.\nFear is cruel and therefore incompatible with love. As a man\ngains in love he loses his fear. But at the beginning of conversion\nfear goes through the soul as the awl goes through the shoe in\nmaking a passage for the thread ; and even so the heart is pierced\nwith fear of sin which is then followed and chased out by love.\nOur Lord's words to his disciples, ' I go to prepare a place for you,'\nteach us two valuable lessons of which we have the proofs in his\nascension.\n\nThe first one is, that the soul is by nature made for heaven and\nGod is her lawful heritage. For God brought forth the soul\n' A variant of LXXV. In PfoifEer's text it is part of (2).\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nalone in lineal descent and no man knoweth what she is. They\nsay she is a light, for as the sunlight is poured forth in beams upon\nall creatures, even so the soul is the immediate product of the\nlight of God. St Augustine says, the soul proceeds from God and\nreturns to God, so she is not at rest except in him. The soul is\na spirit formed in the likeness of God and agreeable to him as\none spirit is to another. Philosophers, again, compare the soul\nwith fire, a thing most lofty in its nature, most theurgic in its\noperation, which never stops until it licks the heavens. Fire\nencircles all the elements ; spreading much wider and higher\nthan the air or than water or the earth it envelops all of them.\nIt comes next to heaven and revolves therewith ; the air goes\nrather slower because it is more dense, and water being denser\nstill is unable to keep pace and runs behind. The soul is called\na fire because in her desire she can keep up with God like fire with\nthe heavens, nor has she any rest except in him. Also, the soul is\ncalled a spark of God's celestial nature, and this jumps with our\ntheory that the soul is intrinsically heavenly. For where one\nclod falls there earth in general would fall as well ; and thus a\nsingle clod of earth will betray the resting-place of the earth itself ;\nso too the spark which shoots out of the fire will indicate the\nresting-place of fire. Now we have scut a spark to heaven, namely\nthe soul of our Lord Jesus Christ, which shows the resting-place\nof souls is nowhere else than heaven ; yonder they belong. But\nthe resting-place of body, made up as it is of the four elements,\nis by nature upon earth, and yet God joins these twain to one\nanother and fates them to remain together : soul and body for\ntheir mutual uses. Of this God found a wise solution, himself\nbecoming man and going in his proper power to heaven, the\nresting-place of Jesus Christ being in union with his Father.\nAnd since God is threefold in his Persons and simple in his nature,\nthey having one common life and being, it follows that the place\nour Lord Jesus Christ prepares for our life and being is that of\neternal union with God.\n\nThe other thing Christ taught by his ascension is what prepara-\ntions we must make for following him, pursuant to his words,\n' I go to prepare a place for you.' Just as it is upon four grounds\nthat soul is called light, spirit, fire and a spark of God's celestial\nnature, so wc must be prepared in four particulars. When Moses\nwould have gone and looked at the burning bush upon Mt. Sinai\nGod told him to put off his shoes, which teaches us four lessons.\n\nThe first is in the name Moses, which means, taken from the\nwater, and so shall we be taken out of instability, rescued from the\nstorm of the world-flow. Next, all our animal passions, with their\nagitations, must be herded up into the very topmost, the ghostly\n\npower of the soul. Unless the soul is raised to a higher power,\nfrom temporal to celestial things, the Holy Ghost cannot enter\nin to do its work in her. The work God docs is wrought by him\nin spirit, and any temporal or mundane thing obstniets the flow\nof God. On this account Christ said to his disciples, ' It is expe-\ndient for you that I should go away,' for his discipic's loved him as\na man and mortal, so that despite his being the most perfect good\nGod ever sent or that could become, yet he was a hindrance to\nhis followers by his bodily })resencc ; how much more then must\ngross temporal things be hindrances to us ? The soul must rise\nabove herself and above this time if she wants God to do his work\nin her. However well we see and understand the act of divine\nlove wc cannot in this body perfectly attain thereto any more than\nMoses could reach the burning bush. But wc must regulate our\nlives so as to get to Christ our Lord when time is done.\n\nHINDRANCES\n\nWhen the disciples knew their Lord was leaving them he said,\n\n' It is expedient for you that I should go away, for unless I go away\nye will not receive the Holy Ghost.' Three kinds of pco))le are\nhindered from so doing.\n\nFirst, sinners who by using creatures at their godless pleasure\nhinder their soul's beatitude. These are wanderers in the way of\nGod. Concerning them St Augustine says, ' Accursed are they\nthat wander in God's way.' I will not here discuss them further ;\nfollowing their animal passions they turn their hack on God.\nAlso, there are some who arc over- fond of ministering to their\noutward wants. Touching these our Lord .Jesus said, ' He that\nloveth his soul shall lose it ' (or, in other words, to pander to the\nbody is to lose the soul), ' and he that hateth his soul shall keep\nit ' (meaning those that follow not their own inordinate desires).\n\nSecondly, a number of good people arc hindered by the seven\nsacraments. Sacramentum means a sign, and anyone who rests\ncontent merely with the sign will never get to the interior truth.\nBut the seven sacred rites all point us to the unique reality.\nMarriage, for example, is a symbol of divine and human nature,\nan earnest of the union of the soul with God. And anyone who\nlingers in the mere illusion is kept from the eternal fact. It is\nno true marriage when a man and woman indulge their sensual\npassions and live according to their fleshly lusts ; married life\ninvolves keeping the marriage rule with its seven times and its\nworks of mercy.\n\nThirdly, mauy pious souls are hindered by scrupulosity in\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nconfession and repentance, the outward forms thereof, but they\ntake no trouble about the truth itself. Jesus says of these, ' He\nthat has bathed needs but to wash his feet ' ; once cleansed, that\nis, by genuine sorrow and confession, no man has need to re-confess\nold sins ; but he should wash the feet of his desire and purify his\nconscience by shriving from new faults. And devout souls are\nhindered too from spiritual attainment by indulgence in sheer\nphysical enjoyment of the humanity of Christ. When our Lord\nsaid to his disciples, ' It is expedient for you that I should go\naway,' he was addressing not them only but all who in the days\nto come should try to follow him to high achievement. For\nthese there is a hindrance in his manhood if, regardless of his\nGodhood, they content themselves with that. We ought to\nfollow God in all his ways, not kec^p to his humanity as distinct\nfrom his divinity.\n\nThe Lord Jesus said, ' I am the way, the truth and the life, no\nman cometh to the Father but by me, and whoso shall enter by\nany other door the same is a thief and a robber.' He also said\nhe was not from himself. The Eternal Wisdom said, ' He that\ncreated me is resting in my tent ' and witlial is uncreated. Christ\nis the born wisdom and power of the Father. His wisdom is the\nSon and his goodness is the Holy Ghost, they being of one nature\nand distinct in Person. And this tent that Wisdom speaks of is\nthe humanity of Christ wherein the Father reposes with his Son\nand with the Holy (rhost who are alike in nature and are God in\nPerson. Wherefore let us worship this tent of his humanity\nsolely in its oneness with his deity. For man is truly God and God\nis truly man. Nor ought we to encumber ourselves with any\ncreature excepting Jesus Christ, who is our saving way to his\nheavenly Father and apart from whom there is no other way.\nBut albeit we have taken leave of creature and entered the true\npath, which is Jesus Christ, we are not wholly blest. Though wc\nare in sight of the divine reality wc are not yet the same as what\nwe see. St Augustine says. No soul can get to God who goes not\nminus creature to find God minus likeness. And this finds\nwarrant in Christ's words, ' Cast out first the beam out of thine\nown eye then thou canst take the mote out of thy brother's eye.'\nWhence we draw the moral that any temporal thing is a beam in\nthe eye of the soul and prevents divine oneness. It follows that\nthe soul will have to cast herself out of herself and stand all bare\nof creature and wholly unncccssitous, for so she puts herself upon a\npar with God who, naked and unindigent of things, goes absolutely\nfree from matter. Thus at length the soul enters the union of the\nHoly Trinity to be wholly blest when, casting herself into the\ndesert of the Godhead where neither act nor form exists, she is\n\nSERMONS AND COLTATIONS\n\nlost to self in the rapture of reunion : as self she comes to naught\nand has no more to do with things than she had when she was\nnot. Now dead to self she is alive in God. But the dead perish\nin the tomb. So perishes the soul as such, entombed in the desert of\nthe Godhead. Of such St Paul declares, ' Ye are dead, and your\nlife is hid with Christ in God.' According to Dionysius, burial\nin God is nothing but the crossing over into uncreated life. This\ncrossing is beyond the ken of multitudinous knowledge.\n\nSuch is the nature of the soul that where she is she is entire :\nwhere this nature exists it exists as a whole in each member ; and\nby the same token, God is in all places and in every creature, for\nwhat lives in the soul is none other than God. So leaving every-\nthing to him let her dcj)art from all that is not God nor rest until\nshe grasps the uncreated God. So help ns our Lord Jesus Christ\nwho, as though to-day, ascended into heaven and sitteth on the\nright hand of the Father with whom and with the Holy Ghost he\nis the working of the Deity. Amen.\n\nLXXVIli\n\nTHE IMAGE IN THE SOUL\n\nFaciamus honiineni ad imaginem el similitudinein nostrarn\n{Gen, Igo)* said, 'Let us make man in our image.' What\n\nis God's speaking ? The Father observing himself with impartible\nperception perceives the impartible purity of his own essence.\nThere he sees the image of creatures as a whole, there he speaks\nhimself. His Word is his clear perception and that is his Son.\nGod's speaking is his begetting.\n\nGod said, ' Let us make.' Theologians ask : Why did not\nGod say, ' Let us do ' or ' I.et us work ? ' Doing is an outward\nact beseeming not the inward man. Work (*omcs from the outward\nand from the inward man, but the innermost man takes no part\nin it. In making a thing the very innermost self of a man comes\ninto outwardness.\n\nWhen God made man the innermost heart of the Godhead was\nconcerned in his making. A heathen philosopher says, God made*\nall things with wisdom. The Doctor says, ' The Son is the wisdom\nor love of the Father wherewith he made all things.'\n\nGod said, ' Let us make man.' Why did God not say, ' Let us\nmake manhood,' for it was manhood that Christ took ? Man\nand manhood differ. Talking of man we mean a person ; talking\nof manhood we mean human nature. Philosophers define what\nnature is. It is the thing that essence can receive. Hence God\nassumed manhood and not man. It is written in the book of\n' See also Greith, pp. 99-104, etc.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nMoses, Adam was the first man that God ever made. And I\nsay that Christ was the lirst man God made. How so ? The\nphilosopher says, what is first in intention is last in execution.\nWhen a carpenter builds a house his first intention is the roof and\nthat is tJic finish of the house.\n\nGod said, 'Let us make man.' Whereby he gave it to be\nunderstood that he is more than one : three in Person, one in\nessence. St Augustine relates that when he was looking for the\nimage in the soul he sought it in the outward man, and there he\nfound four likenesses and three links and two faces. He found\nnothing of the image. Then he hunted for it in the inner man, and\nthere he found one thing which answered to the simple essence\nin its simplicity and to the various Persons in its trinity of powers.\nHe found two faces to it. One working downwards and the other\nupwards. With the lower face she knows herself and outward\nthings. The upper face has two activities ; with one she knows\nGod and his goodness and his emanation ; with this she loves and\nknows him to-day and not to-morrow. I love God to-day and\nnot to-morrow. Now the image will not lie in her three powers,\nby reason of their instability. Another power is in the highest\nface, which is concealed ,* in this concealment lies the image.\n\nThe image has five properties. First, it is made by another.\nSecondly, it answers to that same. Thirdly, it has emanated\nfrom it ; not that it is the divine nature but it is a substance\nsubsisting in itself ; it is the pure light that emanates from God\nand only differs from him in understanding God. Fifthly, it\ntends towards what it came from. Two things adorn this image.\nOne is, it is according to him ; the other, there is somewhat of\neternity therein. The soul has three powers : the image does\nnot lie in them ; but she has one power : the actual (or active)\nintellect.\n\nNow St Augustine and the New Philosophers declare that in\nthis lies impartible memory, intellect and will, and these three\nare inseparatc, i.e. the hidden image answers to God's essence.\nThe divine being ((xod) is shining straight into this image, and the\nimage shines straight into God with nothing between.\n\nMay God come into us and we into him and be united with him,\nSo help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXVIII\n\nTHE SPECULATIVE INTELLECT\n\nSt Paul reminds us that we being planted in the likeness of God\nmay attain to higher and truer vision. For this St Dionysius\nsays we require three things. The first is, possession of one's\n\nmind. The second is, a mind that is free. The third is, a mind\nthat can see. How can we acquire this speculative mind ? By\na habit of mental concentration.\n\nThe soul has a ghostly spot in her where she has all things\nrnattcr-free just as the first cause harbours in itself all things\nimmaterially. The soul has also a light in her with which she\ncreates all things. When this light and this spot coincide so that\neach is the seat of the other, then, only then, one is in full posses-\nsion of one's mind. VVliat more is there to tell ? It means our\noutAvard man's farewell to all satisfaction in creatures and the\ninner man's being so meet for God that nothing arises within\nhim that he would have changed : then, not till then, a man is\nself-possessed. This cannot happen here for, as tlic Doctor says,\nwhen this that wc are siicaking of befalls, the highest power of\nthe soul secs God in her own power. As St Dionysius puts it.\nThen the soul is not called soul, she is the sovran power of God.\n\nThe second thing is a free mind. Freedom means not being in\nany way bound ; our being as free and clear and unalloyed as we\nwere in our first emanation when wc were loosed in the Holy\nGhost.\n\nThe third is the speculative mind. Herein the soul sees God.\nWhat does the soul see when she sees God ? Dionysius says she\nsees the one power. This unique power makes her one with it.\nShe sees in him also the good passing good, embraeing all good\nthings. He wants to entice us out of ourselves, to make us\nunwilling to stay in ourselves. As the heathen philosopher says.\nThe arch delight, all delights excelling, attracts the soul out of\nall enjoyments into the sovran truth where all things end. And\nthe same master says, Why arc we unaware of this ? B(*causc\nwc are bent on louver things. Supposing that we find ourselves\ndesirous of God before all else, tlien God has touched this highest\npower. By this touch she is moved out of herself and into him ;\nnot that she is moved by grace as one thing moves another, for\nshe has no body to her deity. St Dionysius says that the\nmotion of the soul is as in a circle, since she never varies from\nher centre.\n\nHe says too, God is splendid, and this by reason of three things.\nHe is clear, he is a mutual illumination, he is one and the same.\nWhat docs clear mean ? Free from admixture of body ; persisting\nin his purity or light-nature. According to the scriptures, the soul\nis sevenfold clearer than the sun. The sun is clear albeit a corporal\nthing. But I declare the soul to be an hundredfold clearer than\nthe sun, for the sun is bodily whereas the soul is ghostly. And\nher surpassing clarity is due to the ascendency of spirit over matter.\nNow if the soul is clear like this then God must be infinitely\n\n198 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nclearer, for he created her, and the cause is more than its creature\nhas.\n\nlie is also a mutual illumination, for all that is in God is God.\nAnd St Augustine says the Father and the Son shine into each\nother in the Holy Ghost, who is the tie between them. And the\nthree hypostases, which arc the three Persons, have one nature,\nlike three lights with one shine. So too with us there should be\nunanimity, all multiplicity focussed to the highest power and this\nsovran power cast into God there to abide without reflection.\n\nThirdly, he is one and the same, this being characteristic of\ndivinity, which is the same as unity. This is not said of creature,\nfor it cannot be maintained of any creatures that it is from them-\nselves they have their being. St Paul says, ' What we have we\nhave received from the unique good, God namely, from whom\nare all good things.' Things are not from themselves. That\nwhich is from itself and from which all things are, is God. It is\nexpressly taught that God is one and the same. And it is for us\nto be like him. When we have parted from ourselves then we\nare not-being rather than being. May we, being planted in the\nlikeness of God, attain to higher and truer vision, So help us God.\nAmen.\n\nLXXIX\n\nTHE SON OF THE WIDOW\n\nAdolescens, tihi dico : surge {Luc, 7^^). To-day we read in the\ngospel about the widow with an only son who had died. And our\nLord came to him and said, ' Young man, arise ! ' And he sat up.\n\nBy the widow we understand the soul ; her husband was dead,\nso her son was dead also. Her son we take to mean her intellectual\nnature. Our I^ord, sitting by the well, said to the woman, ' Go\nhome and fetch me thine husband.' Not hers that living water\nwhich is the Holy Ghost ; that is vouchsafed alone to those who\nare quickened in their understanding. Intellect is the summit of\nthe soul. It has fellowship and intercourse with the angels in\nangelic nature. Angelic nature no time can touch, nor can time\ntouch the intellec^tual nature. Unless she lives in this her son will\ndie. She was a widow. No creature lives but has some good and\nsome shortcomings. She was a widow in this sense : intellect\nwas dead in her, and with it perished also the fruit of it, the\nSon.\n\nWidow, in another sense, suggests abandonment, one who is\nforsaken. Even so must we abandon creatures and forsake them\nutterly. The prophet says, ' The woman who is barren, more in\nnumber are her children than hers who is fruitful.' So with the\n\nsoul who travails ghostly : manifold are her offspring, instantly\ndoes she bear fruit. The soul that has gotten God is bringing\nforth fruit all the time. God must needs accomplish his work.\nGod is ever at work in the eternal now, and his work is the beget-\nting of his Son ; he is bringing him forth all the while. In his\nbirth all things have proceeded forth, and so great is his pleasure\nin this birth that he spends his whole energy upon it. God\nbears himself out of himself into himself ; the more perfect this\nbirth is the more docs it bear. I say that God is all one, he knows\nnothing but himself alone. God cannot know himself without\nknowing all creaturcis. God gives himself birth all at once in his\nSon ; he says all things in him. He says, ' Young man, arise I '\n\nGod exerts all his power in his Son so as to quicken the soul\nback to God. And hell-torment really means the frequent\nlapsing of the soul fiorn the purpose of God's effort, which is, to\nbring the soul to life again. God makes all creatures in a word,\nbut in order to vivify the soul the whole of his power is expended\nin his Son with intent for the soul to be brought back therein.\nIn his birth she comes to life, and God bears his Son into the soul\nso as to quicken her. God speaks himself in his Son. In the word\nwherein he speaks himself in himself he speaks himself into the\nsoul. It belongs to all creatures to be born. A creature without\nbirth would not be at all. According to one master, it is a sign\nof the divine birth that all creatures are wrought in it. Hence\nhis words, ' Young man, arise ! '\n\nThe soul has nothing God can speak into excepting her intelli-\ngence. Some powers are too vile for God to speak to. He could\nof course address them, only they would not hear. Will as will is\nnot receptive, not in any wise ; will consists in aspiratioji. So he\nsays, ' Young man, arise ! ' The powers of the soul age not,\nthey say. Not so the corporal faculties, which How ])ast and\ndecay. The more a man knows the better he knows, and this\nennobles the soul. But the corporal powers do not have this\nresult, so his words, ' Young man, arise ! ' have reference to the\nnoble powers of the soul.\n\nPhilosophers define as young things which are near to their\nbeginning. Man has perennial youth in his intellectual nature ;\nthe more he is in his active (intellect) the nearer he is to his birth,\nand a thing near its birth is young. The first issue of the soul is\nher intellectual nature, next follows will and then all the rest\nof her powers. Now he says, ' Young man, arise ! ' The soul\nherself is one indivisible work ; what is wrought by God in the\nimpartible light of the soul is more lovely and fair than the whole\nof his work in creatures. Yet foolish folk take bad for good and\ngood for bad. To him who understands aright the unitiue work.\n\n600 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nof God in the soul is better and nobler and higher than the whole\nworld.\n\nAbove this light comes grace. Grace enters neither into\nintellect nor will. For grace to enter into intellect and will,\nintellect and will must transcend themselves. A master says,\nThere is I know not what, wholly mysterious, above them,'\nmeaning the spark of the soul, the only part of her which is God-\nreceptive. Here in this minute spark, called the spirit of the soul,\nthere occurs true union between the soul and God. Grace never\ndid any virtuous work : it has never done any work at all albeit\ngood works are the outcome of it. Grace does not unify by works.\nGrace is the inhabiting and co-habiting of the soul in God. Work\nof whatever kind, external or internal, is beneath it. All creatures\nare searching for the Godlike. The more vile they are the more\nthey search outside. Air and water, for example, flow away, but\nheaven steadily goes round and in its course is bringing forth all\ncreatures ; therein being godlike so far as in it lies. Moreover, in\nits motion it is seeking rest. Heaven never condescends to serve\ninferior creatures. And in this it is very much like God. God's\nbirth of himself in his Son is denied to creatures. But heaven is\nstriving after this act which God performs in himself. And if\nheaven does this, and also other creatures much baser than the\nsoul, then it is thankless and shameful of her to make such scant\neffort to compass such things as resemble the works God does in\neternity.\n\nAccording to philosophers, the soul can give birth to herself in\nherself and bear herself out of herself back into herself. In her\nnatural light she works wonders ; she is able to separate one.\nFire and heat are one ; in her intellect she divides them. Wisdom\nand goodness arc one in God : in her intellect wisdom is never\nenvisaged as goodness. Why ? Because wisdom enters more into\nGod. The soul brings forth in her God out of God into God ;\nshe is with young in her very self, and this by dint of her nearness\nto God, of her being the image of God.\n\nAs I have often said, image as image, ix. as a reflection, is an\ninseparable thing. Soul as living in the reflection of God has\nreal union no creature can sever. Not God himself, not angels,\nnor any sort of creature is able to disjoin the soul who is in the\nimage of God. That is true union, and therein lies true happiness.\nVarious philosophers are in search of happiness. My verdict is,\nthat happiness lies neither in intellect nor will : happiness lies above\nthem both, and it is there as happiness and not as intellection,\nand God is there as God and soul as the image of God. May he\nunite us to him in this sense. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXX\n\nTHERE IS ONE POWER IN THE SOUL\n\nAdolescens, tihi dico : surge {Luc. 7^4). We read in St Luke's\ngospel about a youth who was dead. And our Lord came and\ntook compassion on him and touched him and said, ' Young man,\nI say unto thee, I command thee. Arise ! '\n\nNow you must know that in all good people God is present all\nat once and there is something in the soul wherein God lives and\nsomething in the soul where the soul lives in God, and if the soul\nturns outwards towards external things she dies and God dies\nalso in the soul. But he does not die in himself at all and he is\nalive to himself. Just as, when the soul leaves the body the\nbody dies and the soul lives on in herself, so (iod may be dead to\nthe soul and be alive to himself. Andknow, there is one power in the\nsoul wider than wide heaven, which is so incredibly extensive that\nwe are unable to define it, and yet this power is much vaster still.\n\nMark now. In this exalted power the Father is saying to his\none-begotten Son, ' Young man, arise ! ' It is God, and the\ncloseness of its union with the soul is past belief, for God is so lofty\nin himself that nothing whatsoever can attain thereto by under-\nstanding. It is wider than the heavens, aye than all the angels,\nalbeit one angelic spark is the cause of all the life on earth. Desire\nis far-reaching, limitless. All that mind can conceive, all that\nheart can desire, that is not God. Where desire and understanding\nend, in the darkness, there shines God.\n\nQuoth our Lord, ' Young man, I say unto thee. Arise ! ' If I\nam to hear God speaking in me I must be wholly estranged from\nall that is mine, as strange as I am to things under the sea, and\nespecially from time. The soul is as young in herself as when she\nwas made, for age as relating to her is an affair of the body, affecting\niier use of its senses. As one philosopher observes, an old man with\nthe eyes of youth would sec just as well as a boy. I made a\nstatement yesterday which seems almost incredible, I said that\nJerusalem is as near my soul as the ground I stand on now. ' Aye,\nin good sooth, a thousand leagues beyond Jerusalem is every\nwhit as nigh my soul as my own body is, of that I am as sure as\nof my being a man, and to any learned clerk it is not hard to\nunderstand.' Know then that my soul is as young as when I\nwas created, aye, much younger. And I tell you, I should be\nashamed were she not younger to-morrow than to-day.\n\nThe soul has two powers which have nothing whatever to do\nwith the body, namely intellect and will, which function above\ntime. Oh, if only the soul's eyes were opened so that her under-\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nstanding might behold the truth ! Then it would be as easy to a\nman to give up everything as to give up peas and lentils, aye\nupon my soul, to him all things would be but vanity. There are\nsome who give up things for love albeit greatly prizing what they\nleave. But to this man who knows in truth, it matters not one\nwhit that he should leave himself and everything, for anyone who\ntakes this course has all things for his own in truth.\n\nThere is one power in the soul to which all things are alike\nsweet ; the very worst and the very best arc all the same in this\npower which takes things above here and now. Now meaning\ntime and here meaning place. This place I arn in now, suppose 1\nwent out of myself and were entirely empty, why then I ween the\nheavenly Sire would bear his only Son within my mind so clearly\nthat my spirit would bear him back again. Verily, were my spirit\nas ready as the wsoul of our Lord .Jesus Christ then would the\nFather energise in me as perfectly as in his onc-begotten Son,\nno less, seeing that he loves me with the selfsame love wherewith\nhe loves himself.\n\nSt John said, ' In the beginning was the Word and the Word was\nwith God and the Word was God.' Now to lu'ar this Word in the\nFather (where it is absolutely silent), a man must be quite quiet\nand wholly free from images, aye, and forms as well. A man\nmust be so true to God that nothing whatever can gladden him\nor sadden him. lie must sec all things in God, as they are there.\n\nHe says, ' Young man, I say unto thee, Arise ! ' Meaning to\neffect this thing himself. If someone tells me to carry one stone he\nmay as well tell me a hundred if he is going to do it himself. If\nhe orders a hundredweight load he may just as well make it a\nthousand if it is for his own back. And God will do this work\nhimself if onl}^ we will wait and not resist. If the soul would but\nstay within, she would have everything there. There is one power\nin the soul and that not merely power but being ; and not\nmerely being : it radiates life, and is so pure, so high and so\ninnately noble that creatures cannot live in it ; none but God can\nabide therein. Nay, even God himself is forbidden there so far\nas he is subject to condition. God cannot enter there in any\nguise : God is only there in his absolute divinity.\n\nThen, the fact of his speaking the words, ' Young man, I say unto\nthee.' What is God's speaking? It is his working, and God's\nwork is so noble, so sublime, that God alone can do it. You must\nunderstand then, that our whole perfection, our entire happiness,\nwill lie in traversing and transcending all creatureliness, all time\nand all limitation and getting into the cause which is causeless.\nWe pray thee O Lord, that we may be one and indwelling. So\nhelp us God. Amen.\n\nLXXXI\n\nI HAVE CHOSEN YOU\n\nEgo elegi vos de mundo (Joh. 15^^). These words wliich I quote\nin the Latin are from the gospel of to-day, the feast of one of the\nsaints, Barnabas by naTiic, who is commonly referred to in the\nscriptures as being an apostle. Our Lord says, ' I have elected\nyou, selected you, chosen you out of the world, from all created\nthings, that ye should bring forth much fruit and that your fruit\nshould remain,' for it is very good to bring forth fruit and for the\nfruit to remain, and the fruit does remain if we dwell in love.\nAt the end of this gospel our Lord says, ' Love one another as I\nhave ever loved you ; my Father hath loved me eternally and so\nhave I loved you ; keep my commandments, so shall ye remain in\nmy love.'\n\nAll God's commandments come from love, from the kindness of\nhis nature ; did they not come from love they would not be God's\nlaw, for God's law is the goodness of his nature and his nature his\nbenignant law. Whoso dwells in love dwells in the goodness of\nhis nature : he dwells in God's love, and love is without why.\nSuppose I had a friend and loved him for benefits received and\nbecause of getting my own way, I should not love my friend, 1\nshould be loving my own self. I ought to love my friend on his\nown account, for his virtues, for his own intrinsic worth : 1 love\nmy friend aright loving him like this. And so with the man\nabiding in God's love, seeking not his own in God nor in himself\nnor in any thing but loving God sim})ly for his kindness, for the\ngoodness of his nature, for what he is in himself : tliat is true love.\nLove of virtue is the flower, the ornament of virtue, aye, the\nmotJier of all virtue, all perfection and all happiness : it is God, for\nGod is the fruit of virtue, and it is this fruit wliich remains to man.\nWhen a man works for fruit and the fruit remains to him he rejoices\ngreatly. Sup])osc he has a vineyard or a field and makes it over\nto his man to work while keeping all the produce ; he may give\ninto the bargain all the things thereto belonging and still be\nmuch rejoiced to have the fruits remain in pa)unent. Even so a\nman rejoices in the fruit of virtue ; he has no worries, no vexations,\nbecause he has made over himself and everything.\n\nOur Lord says, ' Whoso shall leave anything for me and for my\nname's sake, to him will I restore an hundredfold and eternal life\nto boot.' But if thou leave it for that hundredfold and for the sake\nof eternal life, thou art leaving nothing ; nay, so thou leave it for\na thousandfold reward thou art leaving nothing : leave thyself,\ngive up self altogether, that is real riddance. A man once came\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nto me (it was not long ago), and told me he had given up a quantity\nof land and goods to save his soul. Alack ! I thought, how paltry,\nhow inadequate, the things thou hast resigned. It is blindness and\nfolly so long as thou dost care a jot for what thou hast forsworn.\nForswear thyself, that is true resignation.\n\nThe man who has resigned himself is so impartial, this world\nwill have none of him, as I said here not long ago. The devotee of\njustice is given up to justice, seized of justice, identified with\njustice. I once wrote in my book : The just man serves neither\nGod nor creature : he is free ; and the more he is just the more\nhe is free and the more he is freedom itself. Nothing created is\nfree. While tlierc is aught above me, excepting God himself, it\nmust constrain me, however small it be or however (great) ; even\nlove and knowledge, so far as it is creature and not actually God,\nconfines me with its limits. The unjust man, whether he would\nor no, is the servant of illusion : serving the world and creature he\nis the bondman of sin.\n\n1 was thinking lately ; that I am a man belongs to other men in\ncommon with myself ; I see and hear and eat and drink like any\nother animal ; but that 1 am belongs to no one but myself, not to\nman nor angel, no, nor yet to God excepting in so far as I am one\nwith him. All God's work he puts into his one replica of him-\nself, and though radically differing in their operation, (creatures)\nall tend to reproduce themselves. In my father nature took its\nnormal course. In the course of nature I should be a father\nlike himself. The tendency is ever towards self-repetition, towards\nthe preservation of the species : it is every man's intention that\nhis work should be himself. Any shifting or hindering of his\nnature and the result is woman : thus where nature stops God\nbegins to work and to create ; for without woman there would be\nno men. The child as conceived within its mother's womb has\nshape and colour and material being ; so much is wrought by\nnature. That lasts for forty days and forty nights, and on the\nfortieth day God creates the soul in much less than the twinkling\nof an eye. Now ends the work of nature, all nature can contrive\nin colour, form and matter. The activity of nature goes out\naltogether, and as the natural energy is finally withdrawn it is\nrestored intact in the rational soul. This then is the work of\nnature and the creation of God. In created things (as I have\nsaid repeatedly) there is no truth.\n\nThere is something, transcending the soul's created nature,\nnot accessible to creature, non-existent ; no angel has gotten it,\nfor his is a clear (intelligible) nature, and clear and overt things\nhave no concern with this. It is akin to Deity, intrinsically one,\nhaving naught in common with naught. Many a priest finds\n\nit a baffling thing. It is one ; rather unnamed than named,\nrather unknown than known. If thou couldst naught thyself\nan instant, less than an instant, I should say, all that this is in itself\nwould belong to thcc. But while thou dost mind thyself at all\nthou knowest no more of God than my mouth docs of colour or\nmy eye of taste : so little thou knowest, thou discernest, what\nGod is.\n\nPlato, that great priest, who occupied himself with lofty matters,\nmakes reference to this thing. He speaks about a light which\nis not in this world; not in the world and not out of the world;\nnot in time nor in eternity : it lias neither in nor out. God the\neternal Father, the fullness and the sink of all his deity does he\ngive birth to here in his one-begotten Son, so that we are that very\nSon, and his birth is his presence within and his abiding within\nis his bringing forth. That remains ever the same which comes\nwelling up in itself. Ego, the word /, is proper to none but to\nGod himself in his sameness. Vos, the word implies your collective\nunity, so that ego and vos, I and you, stand for unity. May we\nbe the unity itself, unity abiding. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXXII\n\nTHE FEAST OF MARTYRS\n\nIn occasione gladii mortal stmt {Hehr. II37). read of the\nblessed martyrs, whom we commemorate to-day, that they were\nslain with the sword. Quoth our Lord to his disciples, ' Blessed\nare ye when ye suffer for my name's sake.' And according to the\nscriptures these martyrs suffered death for Christ's name, being\nput to the sword.\n\nHere we learn three things. First, that they are dead. Man's\nsufferings in this world have an end. St Augustine says pain and\nthe work of pain is finite and the reward is infinite. Secondly,\nthat, seeing this life is mortal, we have no need to fear all the pain\nand travail falling to our lot, for it will end. Thirdly, that it\nbehoves us to emulate the dead in dispassion towards good and\nill and pain of every kind. The i)hilosophcr says heaven is\nimmoveable. Referring to the soul as being the heavenly man who\nis imperturbable. One master enquires. If creatures are so vile,\nhow comes it they so easily distract the soul from God ; is not\nthe soul at her vilest better than heaven and all creatures ? The\nDoctor says it comes of minding too little about God. Were\nwe to pay due heed to God it would be nigh impossible to\nlapse. From which we draw the moral that we ought in this world\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nto emulate the dead. According to St Gregory, no one gets so\nmuch of God as the man who is throughly dead.\n\nThe fourth point is the weightiest. He speaks of their being\ndead. Death gives them being. A philosopher says, ' Nature never\nbreaks but to mend.' Air to fire, for instance, is a change for the\nbetter ; but air to water were destruction and untowardness. If\nthis is nature's way much more is it God's : he never destroys\nwithout providing something better. The martyrs died : they\nlost their life and found their being. The philosopher says,\n' Most precious is being and life, and knowledge is higher than life\nand nobler than being, for in knowing we have life and being.'\nYet life is nobler than being in the sense that a tree has life whereas\na stone has being. Again, take being pure and simple, as it is in\nitself, and being transcends both knowledge and life, for in that it\nis being it is both knowledge and life. They have, I say, lost\ntheir natural life and have acquired being. The philosopher says\nthere is nothing so like God as being : in so far as it is real being\nit is the same thing as God. The philosopher says, Being is pure,\nexalted : all that God is is being. God knows nothing but being,\nhe is conscious of nothing but being ; being is his ring. God\nloves naught save his being, he thinks of naught save his being.\nI say, all creatures are being. One master says some creatures\nare so nigh to God and so instinct with divine light that they\ngive being to other creatures. Tliat is not the case : being is too\npure, too high, too much the same as God, for anyone but God to\nbe able to give being. God's idiosyncrasy is being. The philo-\nsopher says one creature is able to give another life. For in being,\nmere being, lies all that is at all. Being is the first name. Defect\nmeans lack of being. Our whole life ought to be being. So far\nas our life is being, so far it is in God. So far as our life is akin\nthereto, so far it is kin to God. There is no life so feeble but\ntaking it as being it excels anything life can ever boast. I have\nno doubt of this, that if the soul had the remotest notion of what\nbeing means she would never waver from it for an instant. The\nmost trivial thing perceived in God, a flower for example as\nespied in God, would be a thing more perfect than the universe.\nThe vilest thing present in God as being is better than angelic\nknowledge.\n\nWhen angels turn to creaturely knowledge, then it grows dark.\nSt Augustine says. When angels know ereatures in God, twilight\nfalls ; when the soul knows God in creatures it is eventide. But\nknowledge of creatures in God is the dawn. And when she knows\nGod in himself as pure essence, that is high noon. It should be\nthe soul's desire to see, as though in non-sense, this most noble\nbeing. We advocate dying in God, to the end that he may raise\n\nus up to being which is better than life : the being our life subsists\nin, wherein our life is quickened into actuality. We ought to face ^\ndeath willingly and die in order to obtain a better resurrection.\n\nI said on one occasion that a bit of wood is more precious\nthan gold, a surprising statement. But a stone is nobler (having\nbeing) than God and his Godhead without being, if such a thing\nis possible as to abstract his being. That must be a vigorous\nlife in which dead things revive, in which even death is changed to\nlife. To God naught dies : all things are living in him. They\nbeing dead (as the scriptures say about the martyrs) are quickened\ninto life eternal, into the life where living is real being. We\nmust be so tliroughly dead as to be moved by neither good nor\nill. What we know we must knoAv in its cause. We never really\nknow anything in itself till we know it in its cause. There is no\nunderstanding it until wc^ apj^rehend it in its origin. Just as life is\nnever perfected till it returns to its original source, wherein life is\nreal being. The thing that k(ieps us from remaining there is, as\nthe philosopher explains, our being in contact with time. What\ntime can touch is temporal and mortal. The philosopher states\nthat the heavenly progression is eternal ; true, it gives rise to\ntime, and that makes it mortal. In its course it is eternal, all\nunwitting of time ; in other words, the soul obeys the laws of\nabstract being. Another thing is its being full of opposites.\nWhat are opposites ? Good and bad, white and black are in\nopposition, a thing which has no j)lace in real being.\n\nThe philosopher says the soul is given to the body for her\nperfecting. Soul apart from body possesses neither intellect nor\nwill : she is one with no attendant power of speech ; true, she has\nit in her ground, in its root as it were, but not in fact. The soul \\\nis purified in body by collecting things scattered and dispersed.\nThe resultant of the five senses, when these are recollected, gives\nher a common sense wherein everything sums up to one. In\nthe second place, she is purified by a saving habit, that namely of\nascending into the unitive life. The soul's perfection consists in\nliberation from the life which is in part and admission to the\nlife which is whole. All that is scattered in nether things is\ngathered together when the soul climbs up into the life where there\nare no opposites. The soul knows no opposition when she enters\nthe light of intellect. Anything short of this light falls into death\nand dies. Perfection of soul consists, thirdly, in absence of\nsensible affection. What is prone to aught other shall die, it\ncannot last. We beseech thee Lord God to help us escape from\nthe life that is divided into the life that is united. So help us\nGod. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nLXXXIII\n\nST GERMANUS' DAY\n\nIn diebus suis placuit deo et inventus est Justus {Eccl. In\n\nthese words which I quote in Latin we celebrate the saint, Ger-\nmanus by name, whose virtuous life so much is written of and\nwhose festival is kept to-day in holy Christendom.\n\n' In his days,' that means there is more than one day. There\nis the soul's day and God's day. Days here, all that have passed\nfor seven thousand years, are as near God's day, to-day, as is\nyesterday. Why ? Because time yonder is in the present now.\nThe heavens revolve, hence time ; day started when the heavens\nbegan to spin. Yonder the soul's day is passing in the present,\nin her natural light where all things are, where there is perfect\nday, God's day, day and night in one. Yonder in the day of\neternity the soul is in the essential now ; there the Father is be-\ngetting his (one-begotten Son) in the here and now, there the soul\nis being reborn in God. As often as this birth takes place she is\ngiving birth to the only Son. Full many arc the sons of virgins\nborn who travail in eternity, superior to time. But however\nmany sons the soul gives birth to in eternity she has no more\nthan the one Son, for it is supcrtemporal ; it comes to pass in the\neternal day.\n\nJust indeed is he who lives in virtue and in virtuous deeds ;\nwho seeketh not his own in any thing, iicithcr in God nor creature.\nThat man dwells in God and (iod in him. He takes delight in\nflouting and getting rid of things, in being done with things as\nfar as that is possible. St John says, ' God is love and love is\nGod and he who dwells in love dwells in God.' Doubtless he is\nwell lodged as heir to God, and he in whom God dwells has a good\nlodger. One of the masters says, God gives the soul a gift which\nmoves her lo interior things. And it has been explained that the\nsoul is moved directly by the Holy Ghost, for in the love wherein\nGod loves himself, in that same love he is loving me, and the soul\nloves God in the same love wherein he loves himself; and were\nthere not this love wherein God loves himself there would be no\nHoly Ghost at all. It is the heat, the blowing of his holy Breath\nthat the soul loves God in.\n\nIn one of the Evangelists we read, ' This is my beloved Son in\nwhom I am well pleased.' In another we read, 'This is my\nbeloved Son in whom all things please me.' And in a third we\nfind, ' This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleasing to\nmyself.' Whatever pleases God is pleasing to him in his only\nSon : whatever God loves he is loving in his only Son. So it\n\nbehoves a man to live so that he is one with his only Son, so that\nhe is his only Son. Between the only Son and the soul there is\nno difference. Between the servant and his lord there is no like\nlove. As long as I am servant I remain unlike, remote from his\nonly Son. If T could see God with my eyes the same as I see\ncolours, that would not be right, for that which is visible is temporal.\nThe temporal taken according to time is taken at its lowest\nvalue. Noxv is time and place in itself. While man has time and\nplace, number and quantity, he is not as he should be, is not just,\nand God is remote and not his own. Our Lord says, ' Whosoever\nwould be my disciple let him forsake himself,' as though to say,\nno one can hearken to my teaching till he is rid of his own self.\nAll creatures in themselves are naught, ami that is why I counsel\nyou to abandon naught and enjoy the perfect state where the\nwill is just. His own will once relinquished man relishes my\ndoctrine and can listen to my word. One master says, All creatures\nhave their being straight from God, therefore by nature God must\nlove them better than they do themselves. Did the soul know its\nown detachment it would not stoop to any thing.\n\nWe say about this bishop, ' He was well-])leasing to him in his\ndays.' The soul's day and God's day arc different. In her\nnatural day the soul knows all things above time and place ;\nnothing is far or near. And that is why 1 say, this day all things\nare of equal rank. To talk about the world as being made by\nGod to-morrow, yesterday, would be talking nonsense. God\nmakes the world and all things in this present now. Time gone\na thousand years ago is now as present and as near to God as this\nvery instant. The soul who is in the here and now, in her the\nFather bears his one-begotten Son and in that same birth the soul\nis born back into God. It is one birth ; as fast as she is reborn\ninto God the Father is begetting his only Son in her.\n\nI have spoken about one power in the soul ; in her first issue she\nlays hold of God not as being good nor yet as truth : delving\ndeeper still she grasps him in his loneliness, in his solitude ; she\nfinds him in his desert, in his actual ground. But being still\nunsatisfied, on she goes in quest of what it is that is in his Godhead,\nof the special property of his peculiar nature. They say no\nproperty (or, union) is closer than that of the three Persons being\none God. And next they put the union of the soul with God.\nWhen the soul, being kissed by God, is in absolute perfection and\nin bliss, then at last she knows the embrace of unity, then at the\ntouch of God she is made uncreaturely, then, with God's motion,\nthe soul is as noble as God is himself. God moves the soul afte\nhis own fashion. God contemplating creature gives it life ; crea-\nture finds life in contemplating God. The soul has intelligent,\n\nU\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nnoetic being, and therefore where God is there is the soul and\nwhere the soul is there is God.\n\nOf this saint we say, ' he was found just.' Just means equable,\nalike in joy and sorrow, in bitter and in sweet ; one to whom\nnothing comes amiss, whom nothing keeps from feeling himself\none in righteousness. Like to like. Love loves its like alway\nand God loves the just man like himself. May we find that we arc\nin this case in the time, in the day of understanding, in the day of\nwisdom, in the day of beatitude. So help us O undivided Trinity.\nAmen.\n\nLXXXIVi\n\nLIKE THE MORNING STAR\n\nQuasi Stella matutina in medio nehulce etc, {EccL 50^), ' Like\n\nthe morning star in the midst of a cloud and as the moon at the\nfull and as the sun in his glory, so did he shine in the temple of\nGod.' These words are commonly applied to aJl the saints and\nteachers who in their virtuous lives and knowledge of God have\nbeen a shining light to worldly hearts which, caught with creatures\nin the fog and cloud of darkness or ignorance, are straying like\nblind men from the way of eternal liberation, but more especially\ndo they apply to the holy father we celebrate to-day, St Dominic\nby name, a mainstay of Christendom and founder of the Preaching\nOrder which he started and established to propagate God's word\nand to help poor sinners.\n\nHe shone like the morning star in the temple of God. What is\nGod and what is the temple of God ? Four and twenty doctors met\ntogether to settle what God is, and they could not do it. Thereafter at\na time appointed again they came together bringing each his verdict.\nOf these I will pick out two or three. One says : God is something\nto which all changing, temporal things are nothing ; all that has\nbeing is from him and is insignificant compared with him. Another\nsays : God is somewhat that transcends being, that in itself\nneeds none and that all things need. A third says : God is the\nintelligence wliich occupies itself solely in understanding itself.\n\nPassing over the first and the third I will speak of the second ;\nGod transcends being. Nothing that has being, time or place is\nproper to God, he is above them ; his being in all creatures shows\nhim superior to them, for that which is the same in many things .\nmust be prior to them. According to some doctors, the soul is\nin the heart alone. Not so ; it is an error some eminent Scholas-\ntics make. The soul is whole and undivided at once in foot and\neye and in each member of the body. Again, I take a span of\n^ Sermon on St Dominic's Day. See also Jostes, No^ 31.\n\ntime, which need not be to-day ov yesterday. But if I take the\nnow that includes all time. The now wherein God made the\nworld is as near this time as the now I am speaking in this moment,\nand the last day is as near this now as was yesterday.\n\nOne of the doctors says : ' God is impartible, eternally energising\nin himself, immanent, uriindigent of instrument or aid, in need\nof none but what all things need and to which all things tend as\nto their final goal.' To this goal there is no way, it is beyond\nall ways, debouching in the open. St Bernard says, ' Divine love is\na wont without a way.' I'he physi('ian wlio sets out to make a\nsick man whole has no particular mode of lu'altJi in view ; he has\na mode whereby he hoj)cs to make him well, but how well he hopes\nto make him is not sjiccilied : he will make him as well as he can.\nHow shall wc love God then ? As well as we can ; without\nmeasure. Each thing works after its own fashion ; things do\nnot work in natures superior to their own ; fire, for examjde, only\nworks in wood. God works above all natures, in the uncondi-\ntioned ; wherever he can stir he is at work in modeless mode.\nBefore ever there was being God was working : he wrought in\nnon-existent being. Advamted theology lays down that God is\nabstract being : he is as mucli above being as an angel is above\na fly. I hold it is as wrong for me to say that God is being as to\nsay the sun is black or white. God is neither this nor that. As\nSt Dionysius says, * He who thinks that he sees (iod, if he sees aught\nsees naught of God.' But when I say God is not being, is superior\nto being, I do not witli that deny him being : I dignify and exalt it\nin him. If I find some copper in the gold, as existing there it is in\na nobler being than itself. St Augustine says : God is mode-free\nmode, power-free power, good-free good.\n\nIn the elements of the Scholastic teaching, wc find being\ndivided into ten modes (or categories), all ol' which arc denied to\nGod. God is subject to none of these mod('s nor is he deficient\nin any. The first, which has most being of them all, wherein all\nthings have being, is substance ; and the last, which has least\nbeing, is called relatio, and in God it is the same as the first one is,\nwhich has most being. In God all things have the same form\n(idea), though this is the form of very different things. The\nmost exalted angel, the soul, the fly, have all the same prototype\nin God. God is not being nor yet goodness. Goodness cleaves\nto being and does not go beyond it : if there were no being there\nwould be no goodness. Being is purer than good. In God is\nno good nor better nor best. To say that God is good is to do\nhim wrong ; as well say that the sun is black. But our Lord\nhimself declares, ' None is good but God alone.' What is good ?\nThat which communicates itself. Him we call a good man who\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ngives himself and is of use to people. And hence the dictum of\na heathen doctor, * A hermit is neither good nor bad, in the sense\nof giving himself and helping other people.' God par excellence\ncommunicates himself. No thing gives of its own being, for\ncreatures arc not of themselves. What they give they have\ngotten from another. Nor do they give themselves. The sun\ngives light, no more ; the fire gives heat, the fire itself remains ;\nbut God does give his own, for it is from himself he is and in all\nthe gifts he gives he first and foremost gives himself. In all his\ngifts he gives himself: God, as he is, so far as the recipient will\nallow. St James says, ' Ev^ery good gift comes down from above\nfrom the Father ol' lights.'\n\nWhen we take God in his being we take him in the forecourt of\nhis habitation, for quiddity or mode is the way into his temple.\nThen where is God in his temple ? Intellect is the temple of God\nwherein he is shining in his glory. Nowhere does God dwell\nmore really than in the temple of his intellectual nature, where he\nis in his stillness by himself, all undisturbed. As one of the doctors\nsays, God in his self-perception is perceiving himself in himself.\n\nNow turning to the soul, she has a drop of intellectual nature,\na spark, a ray, and she has sundry powers which function in the\nbody. One is the power of digestion, more active by night than\nin the day, whereby man grows and thrives. And the soul has\na power in the eyes which makes the eye so sensitive and delicate\nand too fastidious to accept things in the coarse-grained mode\nthey have themselves, but they must first be filtered and refined\nby light and air, owing to the presence in it of the soul. Another\npower in the soul is that wherewith she thinks. This power is\nable to picture in itself things which are not there, so that I\ncan see the things as well as I see them with my eyes, or even\nbetter. I can see a rose in winter when there are no roses, there-\nfore with this power the soul produces things from the non-existent,\nlike God who creates things out of nothing.\n\nA heathen philosopher observes that the soul who loves God\ntakes him under the veil of goodness ; and so far 1 have quoted\nmainly from the heathen doctors who know in the light of nature\nmerely. I have yet to come to the sayings of the saints who see\nin a light far more exalted. He says then, that the soul in loving\nGod is taking him under the veil of goodness. Intellect draws\nthis veil from God and takes him bare, stripped of goodness, of\nbeing and of every name.\n\nAt the School [the College of St Jacob] I used to teach that\nintellect is higher than the will, both as belonging to this light.\nAnother theologian at the other School put will before the intellect\non the ground that will enjoys things as they are in themselves,\n\nwhereas intellect enjoys them as they are in it. That is quite\ntrue. The eye in itself is a better thing than the eye as painted\non the wall. Nevertheless, 1 still maintain that intellect is higher\nthan the will. Will takes God under the garment of good. Intel-\nlect seizes him naked, divested of good and of being. Goodness\nis a garnxent under which God is concealed and will takes God in\nthis garment of goodness. If God had no goodness my will\nwould repudiate God. It would be unseemly to robe a king in\ndrab on his coronation day. I am not hap])y by reason of God's\ngoodness. Never should I think of asking God to beatify me with\nhis goodness, for he could not do it. Goodness is his vesture.\nMy beatitude lies wholly and solely in the fact that God is knowable\nand in my knowing him. A philosopher says, The intellecit of\nGod is what angelic being is suspended from.\n\nIt is a question where the image really has its being : in the\nmirror or the object it proceeds from ? My image is in me, of me,\nmine. While the mirror faces me, it is my image in it; if the\nmirror falls it is my image which has been destroyed. Angelic\nbeing likewise depends upon the presence of God's intellectual\nnature wherein he secs himself like a morning star enveloped in\nthe mist. I always have before my mind this little word quasi,\nlike : indeed, it is the burden of my entire teaching. What at\nschool the children call a mock, a by-word.\n\nThe truest thing that man can predicate of God is word-and-\ntruth. God calls himself a word. And St John says, ' In the\nbeginning was the Word,' meaning that man is a word with the\neternal Word. Like Venus, Fria's star, which Friday is named\nafter and which has many names. When it is earlier than the sun\nand is uj) before it then it is called the morning star ; when it\nrises later than the sun and the sun sets lirst then it is called the\nevening star. Now it is above and now IxJow the sun, hut of all\nthe stars it best keeps its distance from the sun, never going far\naway, and the moral of this is that any man who would attain to\nGod must stay by, in the presence of, God the whole time and\nrefuse to let God be put out of his mind by fortune or misfortune\nor by any creature whatsoever.\n\nAnd he says, ' like the moon at the full in his days.' The moon\nis the ruler of moist nature. The moon is never nearer to the sun\nthan at the full, and then it gets its light at first-hand from the\nsun, but owing to the fact that of all the stars it is the nearest to\nthe earth, it suffers from two drawbacks : being pale and mottled\nand also being liable to lose its light. It is never so potent as\nwhen it is furthest from the earth, and in that position it tells\nmost upon the sea ; when it is on the wane its effect gets less\nand less. And the higher the soul rises above earthly things the\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nmore powerful she grows. Merely creature-lore will place a man\nbeyond the need of sermons. For every single creature is a book.\nBut anyone who means to get to that whereof we speak, to where\nmy arguments all tend, must be as the morning star : a man in\nthe presence of God, always with him, equally near him and\nexalted above mundane things : a word by the Word.\n\nThere is one word both thought and spoken : angels, the soul\nand all creatures. Another Word, thought but unspoken, I can\nconceive. And there is still another Word unthought of and\nunspoken which never proceeds forth but is eternally in him who\nspeaks it : in the Fatlier, for it is he who speaks it, it is eternally\nproceeding and abiding. Intellect is intrinsically active and more\nand more outwardly effective in proportion as it is directed\ninwards. God's ha])piness consists in its operation. And here\nagain the soul should be an ad -verb. As the intellect of the soul\nturns more inwards, the more closely, more minutely is it identified\nwith what it knows. The more powerful it is the more clearly\nit reflects and is atoned with God. That is not the case with\ncorporal things : the stronger they arc tlic more external is their\naction. God's happiness lies in the subjective working of the\nintellect wherein his Word abides. It is this eternal Word the\nsoul should be a word with and, doing one work with God, she\nwill find her happiness in self-perception : in the very thing that\nGod is happy in. May we ever be a word with this Word, So\nhelp us the Father and this same Word and the Holy Ghost.\nAmen.\n\nLXXXVi\n\nA NEW COMMANI^IMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU\n\nMandaturn novum do vobis etc. {Joh. In the Gospel of\n\nSt John wc find our Lord's words to his diseq^les, ' A new com-\nmandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have\nloved you. By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if\nye love one another.'\n\nWe know of three kinds of love that our Lord had, and in this\nwe must be like him. One is natural, the second gracious and the\nthird divine. In God there is notJiing not God ; in ourselves,\nhowever, we may consider them as an ascending scale, from good\nto better and from better to perfection. But in God is neither\nmore nor less, he is just the simple, pure, essential truth.\n\nThe first love God has, in this wc learn how his divine goodness\nhas constrained him to create all creatures, wherewith he has been\nbig eternally in his ideal preconception, intending them to enjoy\n^ Soo also Wackernagel, No. 66.\n\nhis goodness with him. And among all his creatures he bears\nno more love to one than to another : as each is able to receive\nhe pours his love therein. Were my soul as capacious, as roomy,\nas a Seraph's, who has nothing in him, God would pour out into\nme the same as he does into that angel. If you describe a circle,\na ring of dots with one point in the middle, from this point all the\ndots will be equidistant ; for one dot to get nearer it will have to\nbe displaced, for the middle point is constant at the centre. So\nwith divine being : it is not questing round about but abiding\naltogether in itself. In order to receive from it a creature must\ninfallibly be moved out of itself. And when wx talk of man we\narc talking of all creatures ; Christ himself exhorted his dis-\nciples, ' Go forth and preach the gospel to all creatures,' for crea-\ntures all culminate in man. Not but what, as being, God is\npouring himself out into all creatures, to each as much as it can\ntake. Which is a lessoix to us to love all creatures equally with\nwhat we have received from God (though some are nearer to us\nby kinship or by natural friendship), as wc are favoured equally\nwith the boon of divine love. I sometimes seem to like one better\nthan another, and yet I have the same goodwill towards that\nother person whom I have never seen, only, by asking more of\nme, this one enables me to give him myself more. God loves crea-\ntures all alike and fills them with his being. And we too should\npour forth ourselves in love upon all creatures. Wc often find the\nheathen arriving at this amiable state in virtue of their natural\nunderstanding. As the heathen philosopher observes, man is by\nnature a kindly animal.\n\nThe second love of God, the spiritual, he is llowing with into\nthe soul and into the angels, and it is by this light which is super-\nnatural that, as I was saying, creature is rapt away out of itself.\nCreatures are so enamoured of their own natural light, it needs a\nstrong inducement to take them out of it into the light of grace.\nIn his natural light man enjoys himself, but the light of grace,\nwhich is unspeakably more ]>owerful, robs him of his self-enjoy-\nment and draws him into itself. As the soul says in the Book of\nLove, ' Draw me after thee in thy sweet savour.'\n\nNow we cannot love God without first knowing him, but the\nessential point of God is in the centre, equally far from and near\nto all creatures, and the only way of getting closer to it is for my\nnatural intellect to be displaced by a light more intense than\nitself. Supposing, for example, that my eye were a light and strong\nenough to bear the sunlight in its glory and unite therewith, its\ninterior state would then be due not to itself alone but to the\nsunlight as well. So with the mind. The intellect is a light,\nand if I turn it right away from things and in the direction\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nof God then, since God is perennially flowing with grace, my\nmind is illumined and united with love and therein knows and\nloves God as he is in himself. Here we have the explanation of\nhow God is flowing out into rational creatures in his light of grace\nand how we with our intellect approaching this gracious light are\nrapt out of ourselves and ascend into the light of God himself.\n\nThe third love of God : in this it is granted us to learn how God\nhas been begetting his one-begotten Son and is giving birth to\nhim, as the Doctor says, now and eternally, he, like any woman,\nbeing brought to bed in every virtuous soul who has embarked\non the interior life. This birth is his understanding, perennially\nup-springing in his paternal heart, wherein he has gotten all his\nbliss. All he has to give he expends on understanding : it is his\nprogeny, his only pride. His entire happiness is centred in his\nSon ; he loves nothing but his Son and all he finds in him ; his\nSon is the light that has been for ever burning in his paternal\nheart.\n\nTo enter there we shall have to climb by way of natural light\ninto the light of grace and therein wax into the light that is the\nSon himself. There in the Son we are loved by the Father with\nhis love (his Holy Spirit) which has its eternal source in him and\nhaving blossomed forth to his eternal birth (namely the second\nPerson) is wafted by the Son back to the Father as the love of\nboth. The Doctor says, I sometimes think of what the angel\nsaid to Mary, ' Hail, full of grace ! ' what is the good to me of\nMary's being full of grace if I am not full also ? What does it\nprofit me the F ather's giving his Son birth unless I bear him too ?\nGod begets his Son in the perfect soul and is brought to bed\ntherein that she may bring him forth in all her works. Thus we,\nby the love of the Holy Ghost, being unified into his Son, shall\nknow the Father with the Son and love ourselves in him and him\nin us with their mutual love.\n\nWhoever would achieve this triple love must needs have four\nthings. The first is, real dispassion towards creatures. The\nsecond, the true life of Leah, that is to say, the active life which\nis set in motion in the ground of the soul by the action of the Holy\nSpirit. The third thing is, the true life of Rachel, the contempla-\ntive life. The fourth is, an aspiring soul. A master was once\nquestioned by his pupil about the angelic order. He answered\nhim and said, Go hence and withdraw into thyself until thou\nunderstandest : give thy whole self up to it, then look, refusing to\nsee anything but what thou findcst there. It will seem to thee at\nfirst as though thou art the angels with them and as thou dost\nsurrender to their collective being thou shalt think thyself the\nangels as a whole with the whole company of angels. The pupil\n\nwent away and withdrew into himself until he found all this in\ntruth in his own ground. Then returning to his master he gave\nhim thanks and said : It was as you foretold. On giving my\nwhole mind to the subject of the angels and aspiring to their\nestate, at first it seemed to me that I was all the angels with the\nangels. You see then, said his master, that as you draw a little\nnearer to the source, wonder after wonder is wrought upon the\nsoul ; for while a man is still on the ascent and receiving through\nthe medium of creatures, he has not come to rest. But once he\nhas climbed up into God, there in the Son he will be receiving\nwith the Son the whole of what God has to give. May wc, ascend-\ning in this way from one love to another, be united into God and\nthere in bliss abide eternally. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXXVI^\n\nDETACHMENT HAS FOUR STEPS\n\nDetachment has four steps. The first breaks in and makes\naway with all a man's })crishable things. The second one deprives\nhim of them altogether. The third not only takes them but makes\nthem all forgotten as though they had not been, and all about\nthem. The fourth degree is right in (k)d and is God himself.\nWhen wc get to this stage the King is desirous of our beauty.\n\nLXXXVII\n\nTHE POOR IN SPIRIT\n\nBeati pauper es spiritu quia ipsorum est regnuui coelorum\n(Matt, 53). Beatitude itself opened its mouth of wisdom and said,\n' Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'\nAngels and saints and everything that was ever born, all must\nkeep silence when the eternal wisdom of the Father speaks ; for\nthe wisdom of the angels and all creatures is mere naught compared\nwith the wisdom of God which is unfathomable. This wisdom has\ndeclared that the poor are blessed.\n\nThere are two kinds of poverty. One is outward poverty, and\nthis is good and much to be commended in him who makes a\nvoluntary practice of it for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nwhose wont it was on earth. About this poverty I shall say no\nmore. But there is another poverty, an interior poverty, whereto\nrefers this saying of our Lord, ' Blessed arc the poor in spirit or\npoor of spirit.' And I would urge you now to be this same if ye\n\n^ Authorship doubtful. Excerpt only.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nwould understand my argument, for I do assure you by the eternal\ntruth, excepting yc are like this truth we speak of it is not possible\nfor you to follow me. Several people have asked me what poverty\nis ? This we will now try to answer.\n\nBishop Albcrtus says, ' By a poor man is meant one who is not\nsatisfied with anything God ever made,' and this is well said.\nBut, taking poverty in a higher sense, we say better still, a poor\nman is one who wills nothing, knows nothing, has nothing. It\nis on these three heads that 1 propose to speak.\n\nJn the first place, a poor man wills nothing. Some folks\nmistake the sense of this ; those, for example, who win personal\nrepute by penanees and outward disei})lincs (arul arc highly\nesteemed, God 'a merey, though knowing so little of God's truth !),\nTo all outward ap})earanee these are holy, but they arc fools within\nand ignorant of the divine reality. These peo])Ie define a poor\nman to be one who wills nothing. Explaining this to mean that\nhe never follows his own will at all, but is bent on carrying\nout the will of God. In this thej^ are not bad ; their intention is\ngood, and we commend them for it : (iod keep them in his mercy.\nBut 1 trow that these are not poor men nor are they the least like\nthem. They arc much admired by those' who know no better,\nbut I say they are fools with no understanding of God's truth.\nPeradventure heaven is theirs by good intention, but of the\npoverty in question they have no idea.\n\nSupposing someone asked nu\\ What then is a poor man who\nwills nothing ? I should answer this. As long as it can be said of\na man that it is in his will, that it is his will, to do the will of God,\nthat man has not the poverty that I am speaking of, because he\nhas a will, to satisfy the will of God, which is not as it should be.\nIf he is genuinely poor a man is as free from his created will\nas he was when he was not. I tell you by the eternal truth, as\nlong as yc possess the will to do the will of God and have the\nleast desire for eternity and God, ye are not really poor : the poor\nman wills nothing, knows nothing, wants nothing.\n\nWhile 1 yet stood in my first cause I had no God and I was my\nown ; I willed not, I wanted not, for I was conditionless being,\nthe knower of myself in divine truth ; then I wanted myself and\nwanted nothing else ; what I willed I was and what I was I willed.\nI was free from God and all things. But when I escaped from\nmy free will to take on my created nature, then I got me a God ;\nfor before creatures were, God was not God : he was that he was.\nWhen creatures became and started ereaturehood, God was not\nGod in himself but he was Gk)d in creatures. Now we contend that\nGod as God is not the final goal of creature nor such great riches\nas the least creature has in God. If a flea had intellect and could\n\nintellectually plumb the eternal abysm of God's bein^r out of which\nit came, then, so wc maintain, not God and all God is could fulfil\nand satisfy that flea. Wherefore we pray we may be quit of God\nand get the truth and enjoy eternity, for tJie highest angel and the\nsoul are all the same yonder where I was and willed that I was and\nwas that I willed. Thus sliall a man be poor of will, as little\nwilling and desiring as he willed and wanted when he was not.\nAnd in this wise a man is poor who wills nothing.\n\nSecondly, a poor man is one who knows notliing. Wc have\nsometimes laid it doAvn that a man ought to live as though he\nlived not, Avhether for himself, or truth, or God. But now we\nchange our ground and declare withal, that a person in this\npoverty has gotten all he was when he lived not in any wise, not\nto himself, nor truth, nor (iod : he is so quit, so free of any kind\nof knowledge that no idea of God is alive in him ; for while man\nstood in the eternal species (iod, there lived none other in him :\nwhat lived there was himself. And so wc say this man is as free\nfrom his own knowledge as he was when he was not ; he Jets God\ntravail as he will while he himself stands idle as ^vhen he came\nfrom God.\n\nNow the question is. Wherein does ha])piness lie most of all ?\nSome masters say it lies in love. Others, it lies in knowledge and\nin love, and these come nearer to the im^rk. We, again, contend\nit neither lies in knowledge nor in love, hut there is in the soul one\nthing from which both knowledge and love flow and which itself\ndoes neither know nor love like the powers of the soul. Who\nknows this knows the scat of happiness. This has no before\nnor after nor is it expecting anything to come, for it can neither\ngain nor lose. It is wanting, in the sense that it knows nothing\nabout working in itself; but, it just is itself, enjoying itself God-\nfashion. And in this sense I say man ought to be idle and free,\nall unwitting, unaware, of what God is doing in him, that is the\nway to be poor. According to the masters, God is being, intel-\nlectual being which knows all things. But 1 say, (iod is not\nbeing nor yet intellect nor knows not this nor that. God is\nexempt from all things and he is all things. Being ])oor in spirit\nmeans being poor of all particular knowledge, even as one who\nwots not anything, not God nor creature nor himself. Here\nthere is no question of a man desiring to know or recognise the\nway of God. In this wise may a man be poor in knowledge of\nhimself.\n\nThirdly, the poor man has nothing. It has been often said that\nperfection means not having the mortal things of earth, and\nhaply this is true in one particular case, namely, when it is volun-\ntary. But this is not the sense I mean it in. I have already\n\n220 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nsaid, the poor man is not he who wants to do the will of God but\nhe who lives in such a way as to be free from his own will and from\nthe will of God, even as he was when he was not. Of this poverty\nwe say, it is the deepest poverty. Secondly, we say, that man is\npoor who has no knowledge of God's work in him. Being as free\nof knowing and perceiving as God is of all things is the barest\npoverty. But the third poverty, the straitest I am about to tell\nof, ix, having nothing.\n\nHere I would remind you how I have often said, and eminent\nauthorities have said the same, that one must be devoid of things\nand of activities, both inwardly and outwardly, if one would be\na fitting place for God to work in. Now we say something else.\nGranting a man is bare of everything, of creatures, of himself, of\nGod, yet if it is still in him to provide God with the room to work\nin, then we do affirm : as long as this is in the man he is not poor\nwith the strictest poverty. God does not purpose in his work\nthat man should have in him the place God does his work in ;\npoverty of spirit means freedom from God and all his works, so\nthat if God chooses to travail in the soul lie must be his own\nworkshop, as he likes to be. Finding so poor a man, then God is\nhis own patient and he is his own operating room, since God is in\nhimself the operation. Here in this indigence man is obeying\nhis eternal nature, that he has been and that he is now and that\nhe shall be for ever.\n\nThere is the question of those words of St Paul, ' All that I\nam I am by the grace of God.' Here the argument soars above\ngrace, above understanding and above desire. The answer is\nthat St Paul's words are true ; not that grace was in him ; the\ngrace of God wrought in him perfecting him to unity and then the\nwork of grace was done. Grace hav ing done its work there re-\nmained Paul as he was. As we should say, he was a man too poor\nto have or be a place for God to work in. To preserve place is\nto preserve distinction. Why I pray God to rid me of God is\nbecause conditionless being is above God and above distinction :\nit was therein I was myself, therein I willed myself and knew\nmyself to make this* man and in this sense I am my own cause,\nboth of my nature which is eternal and of my nature which is\ntemporal. For this am I born, and as to my birth which is eternal\nI can never die. In my eternal mode of birth I have always been,\nam now, and shall eternally remain. That which I am in time\nshall die and come to naught, for it is of the day and passes with\nthe day. In my birth all things were born, and I was the cause of\nmine own self and all things, and had I willed it I had never been,\nnor any thing, and if I had not been then God had not been either.\nTo understand this is not necessary.\n\nOne learned doctor says, his breaking- through is nobler than his\nemanation. When I flowed out of God then all things said.\nThere is a God. Withal this eaufiot make me blest, for in it I\nacknowledge myself creature ; hut in my breaking-through, 1 hen as\nstanding passive in the will of God, free of the will of God and\nall his works and eke of God himself, I transcend all creatures\nand am neither God nor creature : I am that I was and that\nI shall remain now and for ever. Then I receive an impulse\nwhich carries me above all angels. In this impulse I conceive\nsuch passing riches that I am not content with God as being\nGod, as being all his godly works, for in this breaking- through\nI find that God and I are both the same. Then I am what I\nwas, I neither wax nor wane, for I am the motionless cause that\nis moving all things. Now God can find no place in man, for\nman has gotten by his poverty that he has been eternally and ever\nshall abide. Here in the spirit God is one, that is tlic straitest\npoverty a man can know.\n\nWhoso is unable to follow this discourse, let him never mind.\nWhile he is not like this truth he shall not see my argument, for\nit is the naked truth straight from the* heart of God. May we so\nlive as to experience it eternally. So help us God. Amen.\n\nLXXXVIII\n\nTHE VIRGIN BIRTH\n\nAve, gratia plena ^ dorninus tecum / {Luc, log)- ' Hail, full of\ngrace, the I.ord is with thee ! The Holy Ghost shall descend into\nthee from above, from the lofty light-throne of the eternal Father.'\nHere there are three things to be understood. First, the radiant\nnature of the angel ; secondly, that he knew himself unworthy\nto behold God's motlicr ; thirdly, that he was speaking not alone\nto her but to a goodly multitude, to every virtuous soul desiring\nGod.\n\nI say : had Mary not borne God in ghostly fashion first, he\nnever had been born of her in flesh. The woman said to Christ,\n' Blessed is the womb which bare thee.' To which Christ replied,\n' Blessed not alone the womb which bare me : blessed are they that\nhear the word of God and keep it.' It is more worth to God his\nbeing brought forth ghostly in the individual virgin or good soul\nthan that he was born of Mary bodily.\n\nThis involves the notion of our being the only Son whom the\nFather has eternally begotten. When the Father begat all\ncreatures he was begetting me ; I flowed out with all creatures\nwhile remaining within in the Father. Like what I am now saying ;\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nit springs up within me, then I pause in the idea, and thirdly I\nspeak it out, and all of you receive it : but really it is in me all the\nwhile. So am I abiding in the Father. In the Father is the\nexemplar of all creatures. This exalted nature has its intellectual\nprototype in God. And not merely intellectual but intellect\nitself. The best God ever did for man w'^as to be man himself.\nI will tell you a story to illustrate my point. Once upon a time\nthere was a rich man and his wife. The lady by mischance did\nlose an eye whereat she grieved excessively. Then came her\nlord to her and said, ' O wife, why so distressed ? ' Quoth she,\n' My lord, 'tis not my eye I mourne ; I monrne for fear lest you\nshould love me less.' — ' Nay wife, I love thee,' he replied. After-\nwards, not over long, he put out one of his own eyes, and going to\nhis wife he said, ' Lady, so you may know I love you I have made\nmyself like you : now I too have only one eye.'\n\nAccording to the philosophers, creatures arc all striving to\nbring forth and emulate the Father. Another doctor says that\nevery active cause works solely for the sake of its result, to find\nrest and peace in its end. This is mankind, who scarce could\ncredit God's great love for him till God did put out one of his own\neyes by taking human nature. This was made flesh.\n\nSaid our Lady, ' How shall this be ? ' The angel replied, ' The\nHoly Ghost shall come down into ihcc from on high, from the\nlofty throne of the Father of eternal light.' In 'principio. Unto\nus a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.' Child in his frail\nhumanity. Son in his eternal deity. One philosopher declares\nthat creatures are all striving after their ])rimitivc pure nature,\nafter their supreme perfection. Fire as lire docs not burn :\nit is too intangible, too pure to burn at all ; it is tlie firc-nature\nwhich will burn, infusing into the dry wood its nature and its light\naccording to its own most high perfection. God has done the same.\nHe has made the soul according to his own most perfect nature,\npouring into her the whole of his own light in all its pristine purity,\nwhile he himself remains all undefiled.\n\nNow you must know that I lately said : When God created all\ncreatures he had surely gotten first something uncreated setting\nforth the general idea of creatures : to wit, the spark, which is\nso nearly God that it is a single, impartible one, bearing the\nform of all creatures, formless and above form.\n\nYesterday in the schools there was a theological discussion. I\nsaid I was astonished at no one being able to give the solution of\nmy question : If I am the only Son whom the Father has eternally\nbegotten, have I eternally been Son ? I say, yea and nay. Son,\nyes, inasmuch as the Father has eternally begotten me ; not\nSon in my unbegotten nature. In principio. We are given to\n\nunderstand that we arc the only Son whom the Father has been\nbringing forth for aye out of liis arcane understanding of the\neternal mystery of the first beginning of his primitive light-nature\nwhich is the end of all perfection. There I have been at rest for\naye, asleep in the dormant understanding of the eternal Father,\nimmanent, unspoken. I trow, seen in that light, any bit of stick\nwould be an angel and would be intelligent, and not alone intel-\nligent : it would be pure intellect in that first pure nature which\nis the perfection of enlightenment. Out of his light-nature he has\nbeen eternally begetting me his one ])egotten Son in the express\nimage of his eternal Fatherhood to the c-nd that I may be the\nFather and beget him of whom I am begotten. liike one who stands\nbefore some lofty peak hailing, ' Art there ? ' And echo answers\nback, ' Art there ? ' He (*ries, ' Come forth 1 ' — ' Come forth ! '\nthe voice replies. This is what God does : he begets his Son into\nthe summit of the soul. By the fact of his bearing his Son into\nme I bear him back into the Father. It was nothing else, God's\nvirgin birth, than his getting his Son back again.\n\nI used to wonder (it is many years ago) whether I should be\nasked why one blade of grass is so unlike another ; and as it\nhappened I was asked why they are so different. 1 said, it is\nmore marvellous they are so mucli alike. One philosopher says that\nthe blades of grass arc all different owing to the superfluity of\nthe goodness of God which he pours out abundantly into all crea-\ntures the more to show his majesty. 1 said it is move wonderful\nhow much the grass-blades are alike, ex[)laining that just as all\nthe angels are the sanu^ in their original pure nature so all the\ngrasses arc the same and all things arc identical.\n\nI was thinking as I came along that one might here in time\nsucceed in mastering God. Supposing I were up on high and\ntold him, ' Come up hither,' that would be diflieult. Rut if I\nsaid, ' Bide down below,' that would be very easy. That is what\nGod does. If a man is lowly God is unable to withhold his goodness ;\nhe is obliged to sink himself, to pour himself, into that lowly soul,\non the lowest of the lowly bestowing himself most of all and\nbestowing himself wholly. What God bestows is his nature, and\nhis nature is his goodness and his goodness is his love. All joy\nand sorrow come from love.\n\nI was thinking on the way as I was walking licre, T should not\nhave come were I not prepared to get wet for friendship's sake.\nIf you have all got wet let me get wet too. Good and ill both\ncome from love. Man should not be afraid of God. Some fear\nis harmful. The right sort of fear is the fear of losing God. It\nbehoves man to love God since God loves man consummately.\nThe masters say that all things arc in travail, labouring to beget\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthemselves in the image of the Father. They talk of earth as\nfleeing from the heavens ; of her fleeing down and reaching heaven\ndownwards ; of her escaping upwards to encounter the lowest\nof the heavens. Earth has no escape from heaven : flee she up\nor flee she down heaven still invades her, energising her, fructi-\nfying her whether for her weal or for her woe. God treats man the\nsame : weening to escape him we run into his arms, for all corners\nare exposed to him. God will give birth to his Son in thee whether\nthou like it or loathe it ; whether thou sleepest or wakest God goes\non with his work. That we have no sense of it is because our\ntongue is furred with the slime of creatures and possesses not the\nsalt of divine affection. If we had godly love we should savour\nGod and all the works God ever wrought and receive all things\nfrom God and be doing the same work as he docs. In this sameness\nwe are all his only Son.\n\nGod created the soul according to his own most perfect nature\nthat she might be the bride of his only- begotten Son. He know-\ning this full well decided to go fortJi out of the private chamber\nof his eternal Fatherhood where he has slept for aye and be\nproclaimed abroad while inwardly abiding in the lirst beginning of\nhis primitive light-nature. So lifting up the tent of his eternal\nglory the Son proceeded out of the Most High to go and fetch his\nlady whom his Father had eternally given him to wife and restore\nher to her former high estate. For this reason he went forth\nand comes leaping like a love-impassioned swain. He came forth\nonly to return again into his chamber, into the silent darkness of\nhis mysterious Fatherhood. He proceeded out of the supreme\nin order to go in again accompanied by his bride and show her the\nhidden mystery of his secret Godhead, where he is at peace with\nhimself and with all creatures.\n\n/n yrincipio signifies, in the beginning of all things. It also\nmeans the end of all things, since the first beginning is because of\nthe last end. I trow that God himself is not at rest as being the\nfirst beginning : he is at rest where he is the end and cessation of\nexistence, not that existence is then brought to naught : it is\nbrought to its ultimate perfection. What is the last end ? It is\nthe mystery of the darkness of the eternal Godhead which is\nunknown and never has been known and never shall be known.\nTherein God abides to himvSelf unknown, and the light of the\neternal Father has been shining there for aye, and the darkness\ndocs not comprehend the light. May we find this truth, So help\nus the truth whereof we speak. Amen.\n\nLXXXIXi\n\n1. THE WORD OF GOD\n\nChrist said, ' Blessed is the man who hears God's Word and\nkeeps it.' The Father himself hears nothing, sees nothing, says\nnothing, begets nothing excepting his own Word, and in this Word\nthe Father sees and hears and brings forth himself, even this\nWord and all things, his godhood in principle and himself in nature ;\nthis Word with the same nature in another Person. Observe his\nmode of speech. The Father, fructifying, brings forth his own\nnature all at once, as understanding, in his eternal Word ; not\nat will nor as an act of will. That which is done or spoken by\nthe power of his will he can in that same power refrain from if he\nwill. Not so with the Father and his eternal Word ; whether he\nwould or no he is obliged to speak his Word, to procreate unceas-\ningly : this is rooted, so to say, in the Father-nature as deeply\nas the Father is himself. The Father speaks his Word then,\nwillingly but not from will, naturally, not from nature. In this\nWord the Father speaks my and thy and every individual human\nsoul as this same Word. In this utterance thou and I are the\nnatural Son of God like the Word itself. As I have already said,\nthe Father knows nothing but this Word and himself and all divine\nnature and all things in this Word, and everything he knows therein\nis like the Word and is the Word itself in nature and in truth.\n\nWhen the Father gives thee, reveals to thee, this gnosis, he is\ngiving thee his life, his being and his deity, really and truly, all\ntogether. The human father shares his nature with his son but\nnot his life or being. You can prove this by the fact that if the\nfather dies the son may go on living or the son may die and the\nfather go on living. With a common life and being they would\nlive or die together. They are separate individuals as regards\ntheir life and being, and in this they differ from the heavenly Father\nand his Son. If I take a light from one place and put it in another\nthese lights, as lights, are separate things, for one may go on\nburning while the other has gone out, and vice versa. Thus they\nare neither one nor yet eternal.\n\nBut, as I was saying, the heavenly Father gives thee his eternal\nWord, and in that Word he gives thee his own life, his being and\nhis godhood, all at once ; for the Father and the Word are two\nPersons and one life, one being, undivided. When the Father\nfinds thee mentally seeing into this same light, this light itself in\nits own proper nature, as he sees himself and all things in his\npaternal power in his Word this very Word in utterance and in\n\n^ Fragment. Pfeiffer's text seems to be a compound of several sermons.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ntruth, then he gives to thee the power of begetting, with himself,\nthyself and all things and his own power in the shape of this same\nWord. Then with the Father thou art ever giving birth to thyself\nand all things in the here and now. In this light, as I have said,\nthe Fatlier sees no difference between thee and him ; no more\ninequality, whether more or less, than between himself and his\nown Word. For in this light the Father and the soul and all\nthings and the Word itself are one.\n\n2. THE WORD OF THE SOUL i\n\n— Which of the words my soul speaks is most like the eternal\nWord ?\n\n— There are two words which most fully reveal the eternal\nWord as well as the love that flows therefrom, so St Augustine\nsays. One word is the Word of (iod and the other is the word of\nherself which the soul speaks.\n\n— How does she speak the Word of God ?\n\n— See, God is in all things, therefore God is also in thy memory ;\nand when the soul in her understanding gives birth to the image of\nGod, as it lies in her memory, then God is the word of thy soul,\nand when' this word proceeds into the will it becomes love therein.\nThus God Father is in thy memory and God Word in thy intellect\nand (iod Spirit in thy love, though but one God.\n\n— May we say then, generally, that God speaks his own Word\nin the soul ?\n\n— Ves, for when God speaks his Word in himself the Word\nacquires true distinction of Person ; but when our heart speaks the\nWord of God from memory, the word spoken by God does not\nacquire true distinction of real Persons, it is only a likeness and\nreflection of the eternal Word.\n\n— When the Word of God is born in him and his memory speaks\nthis Word, how can it be said : God speaks his Word in the soul ?\n\n— To say, God speaks his Word in the soul is true ; and to say\nthe soul speaks this Word in her intellect is also true, for God and\nman speak the Word of God together in our life. As a woman\ncannot bear her child before she has conceived it, so memory\nmust first be big with the child she bears.\n\nXC\n\nELIZABETH'S FULL TIME CAME\n\nElizabeth impletum est teinpm pariendi et peperit filium {Luc. I57).\n' Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered and\n^ See Greith, p. 102.\n\nshe brought forth a son and called him John. Then said the people,\nWhat manner of child shall this be, for the hand of the Lord is\nwith him.' One scripture says, ' The greatest gift is that we are\nGod's child ' : that he begets his Son in us. The soul who is God's\nchild, in whom the Son of God is born, in her shall nothing else be\nbrought to birth. God's ultimate purpose is birth. He is not\ncontent until he brings his Son to birth in us. Nor is the soul\ncontent until the Son of God is born in her. It is thence grace\nsprings. Grace is infused therein, grace doing nothing : its work\nis its becoming. It flows out of the essence of God and into the\nessence of the soul, not into her powers.\n\nWhen the time was fully come grace was born. Time is ful-\nfilled when time is done. He who in time has his heart established\nin eternity and in whom all temporal things are dead, in him is\nthe fullness of time. ' Rejoice in God all the time,' says St Paul.\nHe rejoices all the time who rejoices above time and apart from\ntime. Three things prevent a man from knowing God at all.\nThe first is time, the second body, and the third is multiplicity\nor number. As long as these three things are in me God is not\nin me nor is he working in me really. St Augustine says, ' Because\nthe soul is greedy, because she wants to have and hold so much,\ntherefore she reaches into time and, snatching at the things of\ntime and number, loses what she already has.' While there is\nmore and less in thee God cannot dwell nor work in thee. These\nthings must go out for God to come in ; except thou have them\nin a higher, better way : multitude summed up to one in thee.\nThen the more of multiplicity the more there is of unity, for the\none is changed into the other.\n\nI said on one occasion, unity unifies multiplicity but multi-\nplicity unites not unity. Once having gotten over things, every-\nthing in us raised up to a higher power, we sliall never be cast\ndown. If I minded God and God alone, had nothing over me but\nGod, then nothing would be hard and surely nothing troublesome.\nSt Augustine says, ' Lord, when I turn to thee, all hardship, suffer-\ning and toil are taken from me.* Once gotten beyond time and\ntemporalities we are free and joyous all the time ; then is the\nfullness of time, then the Son of God is born in thee. I once said\nthat in the fullness of time God sent his Son. If aught is born in\nthee except the Son thou hast gotten nothing of the Holy Ghost\nand neither is grace working in thee. The origin of the Holy\nGhost is the Son. Were there no Son there would be no Holy\nGhost. The Holy Ghost does not proceed, it cannot blossom\nforth, except where the Father is in travail with his Son. Then\nhe gives him all he has, natural and essential. It is in this giving\nthat the holy Breath wells out. And it is God's intention to give\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhimself entirely to us. As fire, to consume the wood must pene-\ntrate the wood, finding the wood unlike. That is a matter of\ntime. First it makes it warm, then hot, then it smokes and\ncrackles, on account of its unlikencss ; and the hotter the wood\ngrows the quieter and stiller it becomes, and the liker to the fire\nthe more peaceful it becomes till at last it turns to fire altogether.\nFor fire to consume the wood there must be no unlikeness.\n\nIn truth, which is God, if thou intendest aught but God or\nseekest aught but God alone, the work thou doest is not thine\nnor is it God's. Thy intention in thy work that also is thy work.\nThat which energises in me is my father and I am subordinate to\nhim. It is impossible in nature that one should have two fathers :\nin nature one father is the rule. When other things are all ful-\nfilled and done with, then there is this birth. A thing that fills\nis everywhere in contact with its boundary, nowhere falling short ;\nit has length, breadth, height and depth. If it had height and no\nlength, breadth or depth it would not fill. St Paul says, ' Pray\nthat ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the\nheight, breadth, length and depth.*\n\nThese three things stand for three kinds of knowledge. The\nfirst is sensible. The eye sees from afar what is outside it. The\nsecond is rational and is a great deal higher. The third corre-\nsponds to an exalted power of the soul, a power so high and noble\nit is able to see God face to face in his own self. This power has\nnaught in common with naught, it knows no yesterday or day\nbefore, no morrow or day after (for in eternity there is no yester-\nday or morrow) : therein it is the present now ; the happenings\nof a thousand years ago, a thousand years to come, are there in\nthe present and the antipodes the same as here. This power\ndescries God in his vestibule. ' In him, over him, through him,'\nsays the scripture. In means, in the Father ; over him is in the\nSon ; through him, in the Holy Ghost. There is no truth but\ncontains the whole of truth, as St Augustine says. This power\nknows all things in the truth. From this power nothing is veiled.\nAccording to the scriptures, men's heads should be bare, the\nwomen's covered. The women are the lower powers, which are\nveiled. The man is the power which is bare and face to face.\n\n' What wonders shall come from this child ? ' Speaking lately\nto some people who are very likely here to-day, I said, nothing is\nso hidden but it shall be revealed. All that is naught shall be\ndone away, hidden and not thought of any more. We shall know\nnothing of naught, shall have nothing in common with naught.\nAll creatures are a mere naught. That which is not here or there,\nwhich is an oblivion of all creatures, that is fullness of being.\nI told them how nothing that is in us shall be hid, that we shall\n\ndisclose and give up to God everything we find within ourselves,\nwilling or unwilling, good or bad, whatever we are prone to we\nshall die to in the truth. If we discover everything to God he\nshall discover to us in return everything he has : he shall hide\nfrom us in truth absolutely nothing of all that he has gotten, not\nwisdom, truth nor holiness nor deity nor nothing whatsoever.\nAs God lives this is in truth the ease. If we disclose nothing to\nhim, no wonder if he reveals nothing to us : we must both do the\nsame, as we to him so he to us.\n\nIt is lamentable how some people think themselves so far\nadvanced, so one with God, although they have not yet abandoned\nself at all but hug themselves, like trivial things, in fortune and\nmisfortune. They are precious far from what they think. They\nare full of notions and intentions. I sometimes say, if a man who\nseeks nothing finds nothing, what right htus he to con\\plain ?\nAfter all, he has found what he sought. To seek or purpose\naught is to seek or purpose naught and to pray for aught is to\nget nothing. But a man with no ulterior motive, who sets his\nmind on God and God alone, to that man God unbosoms himself\nwholly and gives him all the things concealed within his heart and\nfor his very own as they arc God's own, no more nor less, provided\nhe is after God and not things in between. What wonder if a\nsick man does not relish meat and wine ? He cannot taste the\nmeat and wine ; his tongue wherewith he tastes is covered with a\ncoating which is nasty and bitter by reason of the sickness of the\nman : he does not taste the proper flavour, everything tastes bitter.\nHe is right ; things are rendered bitter by means and hindrances.\nWhen the hindrance is removed he tastes things properly. As\nlong as there is anything between, God will never taste like himself\nto us and life will seem very hard and bitter.\n\nI once said that virgins follow the lamb wherever it goes, close\nbehind. Some are virgins, some arc not, whatever they appear.\nWherever this lamb goes the virgins follow, some only while it\nleads them in the pleasant places that they like. When it takes\nthem into suffering, travail and discomfort they turn back and\nrefuse to follow, and these are not virgins for all they seem to be.\nSome say. Lord, I want to go in honour, riches, comfort. Well,\nif the lamb has led you by that way I wish you well in following\nhis footsteps. True virgins will follow the lamb through the\nhighways and byways, whithersoever it may lead, and have no\npity on themselves, befall what may. ' In the fullness of time there\nwas born John,* that is, grace, as I have explained. May all things\nbe fulfilled in us and grace be born in us, So help us God. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nXCI\n\nREJOICE O HEAVENS\n\nLaudate coeli et exultet terra {Is. Ego sum lux mundi\n\n{Joh. 8^2)- I quote two Latin texts : one from the lesson, the\nwords of Isaiah the prophet, ' Rejoice, O heavens and earth,\nGod hath comforted his people and will have mercy on his poor\nones.' The other comes out of the gospel. Our Lord's saying,\n* I am the light of the world : he that followeth me walketh not\nin darkness ; he shall find and have the light of life.'\n\nFirst take the words of the prophet, ' Rejoice, O heavens and\nearth.' Verily, verily, by God, by God and as God liveth, at the\nleast good deed, the least good will, the least good desire, all the\nsaints in heaven as well as all the angels rejoice with such great\njoy as all the joys of this world cannot equal. With the saints,\nthe higher the more joyful, and all their joy combined is but a\nspeck to the delight that God takes in this act. God plays and\nlaughs in this good work, whereas all other works, those which\nredound not to God's glory, are dust and ashes in God's sight.\nTherefore he cries, ' Ye heavens, rejoice ! God has comforted his\npeople.'\n\nConsider the words, ' God has comforted his ])eople and will\nhave mercy on his poor.' ' His poor,' he says. The poor arc left\nto God alone, for no one troubles about them. Anyone who has\na friend, a poor one, if he docs not forget him and if he has posses-\nsions and is wise, will say ' Thou art my servant,' and he is soon\nforgot; but to the beggar he will fliiig, ' God guard thee,' and be\nashamed of him. The poor are left to God : wherever they go\nthey may come upon God and have God in all places ; God takes\nthem in charge, for they are abandoned to him. Wherefore he\nsays in the gospel, ' Blessed are the poor.'\n\nNow take the words, ' I am the light of the world.' ' I am,'\nthat touches the essence. According to philosophers, all creatures\ncan say 'I,' for the word is common property ; but the word\nsum, am, none can really say but God alone. Smn signifies one\nthing which is big with good things as a whole, and it is denied to\ncreatures that any one of them should have all human consolation.\nIf I had my heart's desire but my finger hurt me, then I should\nhave it not, for with a wounded finger, while it hurts me, I lack\nentire comfort. Bread comforts a man when he is hungry, whereas\nif he is thirsty bread wifi give him no more comfort than a stone ;\nand the same with clothes, when he is cold, but being hot no clothes\nwill comfort him ; and this applies to creatures, hence all creatures\nhave a certain bitterness of heart. True, creatures have this\n\ncomfort for their souls, that none can deprive them of their rights.\nTheir property is all in God whatever possessions they may have in\ncreatures. As it is written in the Book of Wisdom, ' In thee all\ngood belongs to my soul.' Creature comfort is imperfect, it\nhas innate defect. But God's comfort is complete, with no\nshortcoming ; it is whole and perfect and he needs must give it\nthee, for he cannot work unless he gives thee himself first. God\nis foolishly in love with us, it seems he has forgotten heaven and\nearth and all his happiness and deity, his entire business seems\nwith me alone, to give me everything to comfort me ; he gives it\nto me suddenly, he gives it to me wholly, he gives it to me perfect,\nhe gives it all the time and he gives it to all creatures.\n\n' He that folio weth me walketh not in darkness.' Philosophers\nattribute three powers to the soul. The first power ever seeks the\nsweetest. The second ever seeks the highest. The third one ever\nseeks the best, and the soul is too noble ever to rest anywhere but\nin her source whence drops what goodness is made out of. Behold,\nso sweet God's consolation, all creatures go in quest of him,\nhunting after him. Nay, I say more : it is creature's life and\nbeing, this searching after God, this hunting for him.\n\nPeradventure ye will say. Where is this God all ereatures are\nin quest of and whence they get their being and their life ? (Fain\nwould I speak of the Godhead whence comes all our happiness.)\nThe Father says, ' Son, this day do I beget thee in the reflection\nof the saints.' Where is this God ? Where the saints leave off\nthere I begin. Where is this God ? In the Father. Where is\nthis God ? In eternity. No man ever found God. As the wise\nman says, ' Lord, thou art a liidden God.' Where is this God ?\nSu))pose a man in liiding and he stirs, he shows his whereabouts\nthereby and God does the same. No one could ever have found\nGod ; he gave himself away. One of the saints has said, ' I\nsometimes experience such sweetness in me that, forgetting\ncreatures altogether, I dissolve right into thee. But when I\ntry to embrace thee Lord, lo, thou art fled. What wouldst thou\nthen ? Why draw me on only to run away ? If thou dost love\nme wherefore dost thou shun me ? Nay, Lord, it is to make me\nmore eager to obtain.' The prophet says, ' my God.' — ' Who told\nthee that I am thy God ? ' — ' Lord, I cannot rest except in thee,\nI have no well-being but in thee.' May we thus seek God and also\nfind him, So help us God. Amen.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nXCII\n\nGOD-PARENTS AND GOD-CHILDREN\n\nPosui VOS ut eatis et fructum afferatis (Joh. Christ said to\n\nhis disciples, ' I have set you to go and bring forth fruit.' God\nspake to them and to us all who are in darkness. Being in the\ndark we need a light to walk by. But Christ says : ' I am the\nlight of the world.' If we keep in the true love of our head we shall\nbe lighted by Christ. For a taper goes on burning at the tip\nin virtue of its contact with the flame which consumes the matter\nit supplies and changes it into itself.\n\nObserve. When Christ said to his disciples, ' I have set you\nto go,' he referred to our being taken up into the light of grace.\nThe prophet says, ' I was sitting when he took me up into himself.'\nSitting, we stop groping and, in the light, can see our way. To\nwit, the way of virtue. That is the meaning of Christ's words,\n' I have set you to go.' Sitting is not going. We cannot go the\nright way without first sitting in the light of contemplation and\nmaking out the way to take ; all our works must be a light to\nlighten our neighbour's darkness.\n\nNow Dionysius says : ' These, who have thus gone out of\n\nthemselves and are living in the light of truth, these (I say)\nare the christened, they arc god-children and godfathers.' Bishop\nAlbertus expounds this as follows : God-children are they who,\nreading or hearing the holy scriptures read, take them to heart\nand show them forth in good works whereby they ultimately\nfind the truth in God. The christened again arc dead in God,\nthere is no longer anything alive in them but God. As St Paul\nsays, ' We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God.' But\nthe most perfect of all are the godfathers, who are drowned in the\nunfathomableness of God ; not only does God live in them but\nthey are alive in God and there is now in them the beginning of\neternal life.\n\nConsider now those who arc god-children. Comprehending the\nscriptures in the light of faith they come into the dew of grace and\nin this gracious dew inhale the fragrance of the path of life eternal.\nAs saith the Bride in the Book of Love, ' Take me along with thee,\nout in thy desert, within in thy fastness.' Out in the desert means\ndetached from creatures ; the inner fastness is the subjective\ncertainty of truth which tieither life nor death can alter. Such are\nthese god-children, sons of power and wisdom and goodness. To\nthem our Lord cries in the Book of Love, ' How beautiful arc thy\nfeet with shoes, O prince's daughter ! ' The shoes being the holy\nlife put on the feet of love and knowledge in the desire to walk\n\ntherein. But the christened are in mystical union with God and\nare actually leading the life of God. What shall I say of these ?\nIn their eating and drinking, their sleeping and their entire wont\nthere is nothing found but God, did we but know it. Burn them,\nthey yield but the test of divinity, the sweetness of the Holy\nGhost, wherein they are gotten full of sap. But this none knoweth\nsave the children of true light and him they dwell in, namely\nGod. The children of darkness know it not, whose hearts are\nfilled with the poison of everlasting death. Wherefore the light\nis turned to darkness in them and the eternal sweet to bitterness.\nGod light us with the light we used to bask in in his Son eternally,\nso shall we escape from darkness into the true light !\n\nBut the third class, yclept godfathers, these climbing hill and\nmountain have followed the track of the true sons with will and\nknowledge, and the flaming heat of the Holy Ghost having burnt\nup all their matter, they show now only the one light in God.\nIn this light they have come to rest, at peace after their labours,\nthe peace of absolute eonseiousness, a j)ea(?e which is never dis-\nturbed. Thought fails in speaking of these fathers, for they have\nreceived all good and perfect gifts from the Father of lights and\nhave reached the goal of virtue. This goal set John, the soaring\neagle, wondering in the Apocalypse. And Christ answered him,\nsaying, ' I am the first without beginning and the last that has no\nend.' Amen.\n\nXCIII\n\nTHE CROSSING\n\nEjchibite membra vestra servire justituv iti sanctificationem\n(Rom, 619). St Paul says, ' Yield your members servants to\nrighteousness unto holiness, for the wages of sin is death but the\nreward of virtue is eternal life.' The soul has but two members to\noffer for service of the sort acceptable to God, these are will and\nunderstanding.\n\nOne master says, God exerts the whole force of his will in loving\nthe soul. But my point is that God's sole object in loving the soul\nis to make her love him in return. Again, I contend that God\ndevotes his divine nature to pleasing the soul, to making her like\nhim and enjoy his society and be friendly with him and love him.\nThirdly, I hold that this love which comes up in the ground of the\nsoul, sprouting out of the ground of the Godhead, that this (I\nsay) is the self-same love wherewith God loves his one-begotten\nSon, and nothing less. And fourthly, if so be that man is planted\nin God as he is in creature, then I maintain it is in the very ground\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nof the Holy Ghost's being and becoming, the very ground where\nthe Holy Ghost is coming out in blossom.\n\nSt Paul does well to say, ' Yield your members.' For intellect,\nalbeit natural, is too exalted to be moved by mundane things.\nYet, rendered to the source whence it proceeded forth it is absorbed\nin God, and that which absorbs it it becomes. Will, that is\nwill proper, is as such omnipotent. But thousands die without\nacquiring this genuine will. Doubtless they had desires and\ninclinations like other animals. One man does something trifling,\ndoes it just once and sends it on the wings of praise and thank-\nfulness up to its source. Another one does some important work\nwhich occupies him long and constantly, and yet this little thing done\nonce is more acceptable to God than the other man's great work\nwhich cost him so much time and trouble. Why ? I will tell\nyou. Because the trivial act was carried up past time into the\nnow of eternity, therefore it was to God's entire satisfaction.\nThough one should live through all the time from Adam and all\nthe time to come before the judgment day doing good works,\nyet he who, energising in his highest, purest part, crosses from\ntime into eternity, verily in the sight of God this man conceives\nand does far more than anyone who lives throughout all past and\nfuture time, because this now includes the whole of time.\n\nOne master says that in this crossing over time into the now,\neach power of the soul will sur{>ass itself. The five powers must\npass into her collective power (or common sense), and common\nsense will vanish into the formless power wherein nothing forms.\nIntellect and will are transcended. True, grace is a creature, but\nby no means altogether. The soul has no inherent grace excepting\nin her ground, and above this ground of the soul grace is indigenous.\nTherein grace docs nothing, although it is effective in the uses of\nher powers ,* but in the ground of the soul grace, happiness and\nGod's ground are one and the same life wherein God is living.\nThere the power behind the eye is as noble as the understanding ;\nthere foot and eye rank equal. What the soul is in her ground has\nnever been determined. But Paul says, ' The grace of God is\neternal life.' Paul also says, 'The wages of sin is death.' The\ndeaths men die arc all of them as nothing to the death of the\nsoul who is divorced from God, from which may God preserve\nus. Amen.\n\nXCIV\n\nTHE SOUL\n\nSt Paul says, ' Put off self, put on Christ.' In abandoning our-\nself we initiate Christ and holiness and happiness and are ennobled.\n\nThe prophet marvelled at two things. First, at God's doings with\nthe sun and moon and stars. And secondly he marvelled at the\nsoul, at the prodigious things God does and has done with her and\nfor her sake, yet do what prodigies he may she still preserves the\nabsolute dispassion which befits one of her noble lineage. Mark\nthe nobility of her descent. I make a letter of the alphabet like\nthe image of that letter in my mind, not like my mind itself.\nAnd so with God. God makes things in general like the universal\nimage of them in himself, not like himself. Certain things he has\nspeeially made like emanations of his own, such as goodness,\nwisdom and other so-called attributes of God. lint the soul he\nhas made not merely like the image in himself nor like anything\nproceeding from himself that is predicated of him, but he made her\nlike himself, nay, like he is, all told : like his nature, his essence,\nhis emanating-immanent activity, his ground wherein he is\nsubsisting in himself, wherein he is begetting his alone -begotten\nSon and where the Holy Ghost comes into flower : in the likeness\nof his in-dwelling out-going w^ork did God make the soul.\n\nIt is a law of nature that fluids nm downhill into anything\nadapted to receive them ; the higher not receiving from the lower\nbut the lower from the higher. Now God is higher than the soul,\nand hence there is a constant flow of God into the soul, which\ncannot miss her. The soul may well miss it, but as long as a man\nkeeps right under God he immediately catches this divine influence\nstraight out of God. Nor is he subject to aught else, not fear nor\npain nor pleasure nor anything that is not God. Put thyself\ntherefore right under God and thou shalt receive his inflowing\ndivinity wholly and solely. The soul does not receive from God\nas from a stranger, as the air docs the light of the sun, which it\ntakes as a foreign intrusion. The soul receives her God not as a\nstranger nor as inferior to God, for inferior is both different and\ndistant.\n\nPhilosophers say the soul receives as a light from the light,\nwherein is nothing foreign or remote. There is something in the\nsoul wherein God simply is, and according to philosophers this is\na nameless thing and has no proper name. It neither has nor is\na definite entity, for it is not this or that nor here nor there ; what\nit is it is from another wherewith it is the same ; the one streams\ninto it and it into the one. Hence the exhortation ' Enter into\nGod in holiness,' for here is the source of the soul's whole life and\nbeing. This (light) is wholly in God and her other without him,\nso in this one the soul is ever in God, provided she smother it not\nand extinguish it in her.\n\nPhilosophers say this (light) is present in God and never goes\nout in him and God is ever in it. I say, God has ever been in it\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nand of it eternally. The union of man and God is not a matter\nof grace (for grace is creature and creature has nothing to do with\nit), except in the ground of divinity, where the three Persons are\none in nature and it (grace) is that nature itself. Wherefore an\nthou wilt, God and the universe are thine. That is, if thou wilt\nput off self and things : doff the habit of thy personality and take\nthyself in thy divinity.\n\nThe philosophers say that human nature has nothing to do with\ntime ; that it is deeper-seated and more firmly rooted in a man than\nhe is in himself. God took on human nature and united it with\nhis own Person. Thus human nature was God who donned man's\nnature only, not any individual man. Would 'st thou be very\nChrist and God ? Put off, then, whatever the eternal Word did\nnot put on. The eternal Word never put on a person. So do\nthou strip thyself of everything personal and selfish and keep\njust thy bare humanity ; thus thou shalt be to the eternal Word\nexactly what his human nature is to him. Thy human nature is\nno different from his : they are identical : what it is in him it is\nin thee. And hence 1 said at Paris that every prophecy of holy\nscripture is fulfilled in the just man ; for being perfect, the\nwhole promise of the old and new testaments is accomplished in\nthee.\n\nHow to be perfect ? There are two aspects of the question.\nThe prophet says, ' In the fullness of time the Son was sent.' Now\nfullness of time is of two kinds. In the first place a thing is ful-\nfilled when it is done, as day is done at eventide. So when time\ndrops from thee thy time is fulfilled. Again, time is fulfilled when\nit is finished, that is, in eternity. Time ends when there is no\nbefore and after : when all that is is here and now and thou scest\nat a glance all that has ever happened and shall ever happen.\nHere there is no before nor after ; everything is present, and in this\nimmediate vision I possess all things. This is the perfection of\ntime, and I am perfect and I am truly the only Son and Christ.\nMay we attain to this fullness of time. So help us God. Amen.\n\nxcv\n\nBUT NOW THE LIGHT IN GOD\n\nEratis enim. aliquando tenebrWy nunc autem Ixlk in domino {Ephes*\n5g). St Paul says, ' For ye were sometimes darkness but now the\nlight in God.' The prophets walking in the light perceived and\nknew the truth umbraged in the procession of the Holy Ghost.\nSometimes they were moved to return to the world and speak\nof things they knew to be conducive to our happiness, thinking\n\nto teach us to know God. Whereupon they would fall dumb,\nbecoming tongue-tied and for three reasons.\n\nFirst, because the good they knew by sight in God was too\nimmense and too mysterious to take definite shape in their under-\nstanding. Such ideas as formed were so unlike what they had\nseen in God, were such a travesty of the reality, that they held\ntheir peace for fear of lying. Another reason was, that what they\nhad gotten in God rivalled God's very self in its immensity and\nsublimity and yielded no idea nor any form for them to express.\nThirdly, they were dumb because the hidden truth they saw in\nGod, the mystery they found there, was ineffable. So it befell\nfrom time to time that, coming back and speaking of these things,\nthey slipped, through lapses from the tnith, into gross matter and\ntried to teach us to know God by means of infernal creature things.\n\nPaul says, ' but now the light in God.' Aliquando, to those who\nare instructed, is the same as tvhen and expresses time, which is\nwhat keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater\nobstacle to God than time. He means not time alone but temporali-\nties ; not only temporal things but temporal affections ; not only\ntemporal affections but the very taint and aroma of time ; for\nas, where an apple has lain the smell lingers, so with the contact\nof time. According to our best authorities the visible heavens\nand the sun and stars have nothing to do with time beyond bare\ncontact with it. This I cite as showing that the soul, which\ntowers high above the heavens, has, at her very summit, no\nconnection with time at all. Many times I have explained about\nthe act in God, the birth wherein the Father bears his one-begotten\nSon whose proeession causes the interior blossoming of the Holy\nGhost, that the Spirit proceeds from both and that in this pro-\ncession the soul comes leaping forth, the image of the Godhead\nbeing sealed into the soul in this procession ; and that in the\nreturn of the three Persons the soul goes back, re-informed into\nher primitive and formless form. Or as Paul puts it, ' now the\nlight in God.' He does not say, ' Ye are the light ' but ' now\nthe light.' Meaning, as I have often said, that to know things\n(really) we must know them in their cause. The philosophers tell\nus that things are suspended in their birth as in a look-out over\ntheir existence. The Father gives birth to his Son now. In this\neternal birth wherein the Father generates his Son, the soul comes\ninto her existence which is the image of the Godhead imprinted\nin her soul.\n\nIt was mooted in the schools and maintained by some of the\nprofessors, that God imprints his image in the soul as a picture\nis painted upon canvas, and it fades. This was refuted. Others\nsuggested with more truth, that God leaves in the soul a permanent\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nimpression of the nature of an abiding intention, as thus ; my wish\nof to-day is my purpose of to-morrow, the idea of which is kept\nalive by my actual thinking of it, just as, they said, God's works\nare done. For if the carpenter were perfect at his work he would\nnot need materials : he would no sooner think a house than, lo,\nit would be made. And so with works in God : he thinks them\nand behold they are.\n\nThen came a third professor who spoke most truly of them all.\nHe pointed out that yonder no work is done at all : it is the now,\nbeing without becoming, newness without renewing, and this\nexistence is his essence. God's content is too subtile for renewal.\nAnd also in the soul there is a subtile nature too fine and rare to be\nrenewed. In God it is all the here and now ; unrenewable.\n\nThere are four points I had intended to discuss ; the subtile\nnature of God, the subtile nature of the soul, the work of God and\nthe work of the soul. These I must leave over for the present.\n\nXCVI\n\nRIDDANCE\n\nQui audit me non confundetur (Eccl, 2430). The eternal\nwisdom of the Father says, ' He that heareth me is not ashamed.\n(If he is ashamed he is ashamed of his shame.) He that worketh\nin me does not sin. He that reveals me and fears me shall have\neverlasting life.' I will consider first these words of the eternal\nwisdom, 'He that heareth me is not ashamed (or, confounded).'\nTo hear the eternal wisdom of the Father he must be within, at\nhome and by himself.\n\nThree things prevent our hearing the eternal Word. The first\nis body, the second number, and the third is time. If wc were\nrid of these three things we should be living in eternity and in the\nspirit, solitaries in the desert listening to the eternal Word. But\nour Lord says, ' No man heareth my word or my teaching till he\nbe free from self.' ,To hear God's Word demands absolute self-\nsurrender. Hearer and heard are one in the eternal Word. The\nsubject the eternal Father teaches is his essence, his nature, his\nwhole godhood, w^hich he divulges to us altogether in his Son,\nteaching us to be the Son himself.\n\nA man who has gone out of himself and is the only-begotten\nSon owns what is proper to the only Son. God's work and teach-\ning are all done in his Son. God works with the sole object of\ngetting us to be his only Son. As soon as he perceives that we\nare his only Son, God makes for us impetuously ; he comes well-\nnigh to shattering his essence, naughting his very self, in his\n\nrash haste to show us the whole abysm of his Godhead, the fullness\nof his essential nature. God flies to make this ours as it is his.\nHere God enjoys and delights in his plenitude. And this man who\nis within God's love and ken is none other than what God is him-\nself. Loving thyself thou lovest all men as thyself. While thou\nlovest anyone less than thine own self thou dost not love thyself in\ntruth : not till thou lovest all men as thyself, all men in one man\nwho is both God and man. The man who loves himself and all\nmen as himself is righteous, absolutely just.\n\nSometimes people say, ' I like my friends and benefactors\nbetter than other people.' But I say that is wrong, imperfect.\nTrue, we must make shift with it as we have to do with a side\nwind to cross the sea : it will take us over. Like our preference\nfor one man above another, it is natural. To love another as\nmyself means that I would as lief his fate for good and ill, for\nlife and death, happened to me as him, which would amount to\nperfect understanding.\n\nAs bearing on this subject St Paul says, ' I would I were divorced\nfrom God for ever, for God and for my friends' sake.' And as you\nknow, to leave God for an instant is to leave God eternally and to\nleave God at all is hell torment. What does St Paul mean then\nby wishing to be divorced from God ? Doctors debate whether\nSt Paul was upon the way to his perfection or whether he was\nperfect ? I say he was perfect, otherwise he could not have said\nthis.\n\nI will put into plain words what St Paul means by wishing to\ndepart from God. Man's last and highest leave-taking is leaving\nGod for God. St Paul left God for Gixl : he left everything he\ncould give or take of God, every concept of God. In leaving these\nhe left God for God since God remained to him in his essential\nself ; not as a concept of himself, nor yet as an acquired thing,\nbut God in his essential actuality. This is no case of give and\ntake between himself and God : it is the one and perfect union.\nHere man is the true man whom suffering can no more befall\nthan it can befall the divine essence, for, as I have said before,\nthere is something in the soul so nearly kin to God that it is one\nand not united. It is one ; it has naught in common with naught\nand is naught to aught. Anything created is naught. It is\nremote and alien from creature. If man were wholly this he\nwould be wholly uncreated and uncreaturely ; if everything\ntemporal were so, were comprehended in this one, it would be\nnothing else than the unity itself. Were I to find myself but for\na single instant in this case, I should esteem myself of no more\nmoment than a worm.\n\nGod gives to everything alike, and as flowing forth from God\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthings are all equal ; angels, man and creatures all proceed from\nGod alike in their first emanation. To take things in their primal\nemanation is to take them all alike. If here in time they are\nalike, in God in eternity they are much more so. Any flea as it is\nin God is nobler than the highest of the angels in himself. Things\nare all the same in God : they are God himself.\n\nGod delights so in this likeness that he pours out his whole\nnature, his whole substance into it, in his own self. The joy and\nsatisfaction of it are ineffable. It is like a horse turned loose in\na lush meadow giving vent to his horse-nature by galloping full-\ntilt about the field : he enjoys it, and it is his nature. And just\nin the same way God's joy and satisfaction in his likes finds vent\nin his pouring out his entire nature and his being into this likeness,\nfor he is this likeness himself.\n\nIt is a question whether those angels who are dwelling here with\nus to serve and guard us have less likeness in their joys than the\nones abiding in eternity : is it in any sense a drawback to them to\nbe serving and protecting us ? No, not at all. Their joy is\nundiminished, so is too their likeness ; for the work of the angels\nis the will of God and the will of God is the work of the angels.\nNeither in their joy, their likeness nor their work arc these angels\nhandicapped. If God should bid an angel go pick the cater-\npillars off a tree, the angel would obey him readily, nay, since it\nis God's will it would be his happiness.\n\nBeing established in God's will, a man will want what is God\nand what is God's will and nothing else. If he is sick he will not\nbe wanting to be well. To him all pain is pleasure, multitude is\npure and single, provided he is really in the will of God. Aye,\nthough it were the pains of hell it would be joy and happiness to\nhim. He has left himself and he is free, passive to all impressions.\nMy eye can see colour because it is free to be coloured. When I\nsee blue or white, my eye which is seeing the colour is taking the\ncolour that it sees. The eye wherein I see God is the same eye\nwherein God sees me ; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one\nvision, one knowing, one love.\n\nMan being thus in the love of God is dead to self and all created\nthings, and no more mindful of himself than one a thousand miles\naway. This man abides in likeness, in unity, and there is no\nunlikeness in him. This man has left the world and himself as\nwell. Supposing some man owned the world and for God's sake\ngave it up just as he had gotten it ; then God would give him back\nthe world and eternal life to boot. And if there were a second man\npossessing merely the good will, who thought ; Lord were this\nwhole world mine, nay two of them (or any number he may choose),\nI would resign it and myself as well, entire as I received it from\n\nthee : him would God recompense no less than if it had been given\nby his hand. Another man with nothing to resign, bodily or\nghostly, would be the most resigned of all. He who for one instant\nwholly resigns self, to him shall all be given. To leave himself\nfor twenty years and then to have self back again, an instant, is\nnever to have left himself at all. He who both has and is\nresigned, nor ever casts one glance at what he has resigned but\nremains firm and unshaken and motionless in himself, that man\nis free. May we remain steadfast and immoveable, like the\neternal Father, So help us God and his eternal Wisdom. Amen.\n\nXCVII\n\nDIVES\n\nHomo quidam erat dives etc, (Ltic, IC^^). ' There was a certain\n\nrich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared\nsumptuously every day and he had no name.'\n\nThis will equally apply to the causeless Deity and to the loving\nsoul. ' There was a rich man.' Man means a rational entity.\nA heathen philosopher says, ' By man in the scriptures we mean\nGod.' And St Gregory says, if there were in God one thing nobler\nthan another we should say it is his understanding ; for in under-\nstanding God is manifested to himself ; in understanding God is\nproceeding in himself ; in understanding God is proceeding forth\ninto all things. Were there no understanding in God there would\nbe no Trinity and no emanation of creatures.\n\nHe had no name. And so is the threefold nature of God name-\nless ; such names as the soul gives him are gotten of her own\nunderstanding. As the heathen philosopher says in his book,\nThe Light of Lights, ' God is superessential and super- rational and\nunintelligible,' that is, to the natural understanding. I speak not of\ngracious understanding, for by grace we may be brought to know\nas much as St Paul did, who was caught up into the third heaven\nwhere he saw those things that he neither would nor could express.\nHe could not express them as he saw them, for when we know a\nthing we know it either in its cause or in its mode or by its activity.\nGod remains unknown because he is the first {i,e, he has no cause),\nhe is unconditioned (i,e, unknowable) and he is inactive (in his\nhidden stillness). He is without the names that are applied to\nhim. Moses enquired his name. God answered and said, ' He who\nis hath sent thee.' He could not understand it in any other form.\nGod as he is in himself he cannot give creatures to understand,\nnot that he cannot do it but creature cannot understand. As\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthe heathen philosopher says, ' God is beyond nature, beyond\npraise, beyond reason and beyond understanding.'\n\n' This man was rich.' And so is God rich in himself and in all\nthings. Mark the plenitude of God. It is fivefold. First, he\nis the prime cause, so he pervades all things. — Next, he is essentially\none, so he is universal. — Thirdly, he is the fountain-head, so he is\nflowing into all things. — Fourthly, he is unchangeable, so he is most\ndesirable. — Fifthly, he is perfect, so he is most incomprehensible.\n\nBeing the first cause he imparts himself. As tlie heathen\nphilosopher observes, ' The First Cause pours into causes in\ngeneral more than these secondary causes pour into their causes.'\nAgain, he is indivisible. Bishop Albcrtus says a thing is\nimpartible which is intrinsically one without a second. And the\nsum of all partiblcs amounts to what he is. In him creatures are\none in the same, they are God in God. In themselves they are\nnaught. — Thirdly, being the fountain-head he is overflowing into\nall things. Bishop Albertus says : ' Into things in general he\nflows in three ways : in being, in life and in light ; and into the\nrational soul in particular as the potentiality of all things, the\nbringing back of creatures to their original source.' To wit, the\nlight of lights : ' All gifts and perfections flow from the Father of\nlights,' as St James says. — Fourthly, being unchangeable he is\nmost comfortable. Here note that God unites with things while\nkeeping his intrinsic oneness, and all things are one in him. Hence\nChrist's words, ' Ye shall be turned into me and I into you.'\nOwing to his unchangeableness and the littleness of creatures.\nFor as the prophet says, all things arc to God as a drop to the ocean.\nAnd as the drop becomes the ocean not the ocean the drop so the\nsoul imbibing God turns into God, not God into the soul. There\nthe sold loses her name, her power and lier activity but not her\nexistence. The soul abides in God as God is abiding in himself.\nAnent which Bishop Albertus declares that the will a man dies in\nhe abides in eternally. — Fifthly, being perfect he is most incom-\nprehensible. God is self-perfect and omni-perfect. What is\nperfection in God ? It means that he is brim-full of himself and\nis the sole good of all things. And because he is good he is the\ndesired of all things.\n\nXCVIII\n\nHE WENT UP INTO A MOUNTAIN\n\nVideus Jesus turbas ascendit in montem etc, (Matt. 5^). We read\nin the gospel that our Lord departed from the multitude and\nascended into the mountain. There he opened his mouth and\ntaught them about the kingdom of God.\n\nSt Augustine says, ' The student of this subject sets his stool in\nheaven.' The student of God must rise above things scattered :\nthese he must eschew. To take in God's instruction he must\ngather himself together and withdraw into himself, turning his\nback on care and the pursuit of nether things and on his powers\nso many and so various. He must leave all these behind, even as\nexisting in his thought, not but what thought works wonders in\nitself. These thoughts must be transcended if God is to speak into\nthe powers which are inseparate.\n\nAgain : ' He went up into the mountain ' implies that God is\nimparting the sublimity and sweetness of his nature. In this\nintuition wherein there must needs fall away everything that is\ncreature, he is aware of nothing but God and himself as the image\nof God.\n\nTliirdly : his asegnt into the mountain betokens his exaltation\n(what is high is near to God) and concerns the powers trenching\non divinity. Upon one occasion our Lord took three of his dis-\nciples and led them up into a mountain where he appeared before\nthem in that same light-body wherein we shall see him in eternal\nlife. Our Lord said to the children of Israel, ' Remember what\nI told you about heaven : ye see there neither image nor form nor\nany likeness.' When a man does leave the multitude God comes\ninto his soul without image or likeness.\n\nSt Augustine teaches about three kinds of knowledge. The\nfirst is bodily : the eye, for instance, is sensible of images. The\nsecond is mental but still admits of images of bodily things.\nThe third is in the interior mind, which knows without image or\nlikeness, and this knowledge is like unto the angels.\n\nThe higher angels are divided into three. One philosopher\nsays ; ' The soul knows only in effigy. Things are all known in\nimage and likeness, but angels know themselves without likeness,\nand God.' What he means to say is : God imparts himself to the\nsoul at her summit without image or likeness.\n\nHe went up into the mountain and was transfigured before\nthem. The soul must be transfigured or re-formed and sealed\nand re-cast in his form. I maintain that the soul transcends\nform, she being east in the form of God's Son. According to the\nmasters, the Son is the image of God and the soul is formed in\nhis image. I agree. But the Son is the image of God above\nform : the form of his concealed Godhead : the Son as the idea,\nas the conception of God, that is the form of the soul. By the\nfact that the Son loves the soul loves also. Where the Son is\nproceeding is not where the soul is suspended : she is above form.\nI'^ire and heat are one and yet far from the same. Taste and hue\nin an apple are one but by no means identical. The tongue can\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ntaste things which are lost on the eye ; the eye perceives colours the\ntongue knows not of. The soul knows one only ; she is above form.\n\nThe prophet says : ' God will lead his sheep into green pastures.\nSheep is in the singular ; and so are they singular who are simplified\nto one. A philosopher says, that nowhere is the heavenly course\nso plain as in the simple hearts who guilelessly accept the heavenly\ninfluence and in children with no mind of their own. The clever\nand active-minded people are carried away into multitudinous\nthings. Our Lord promises to feed his sheep in the primitive\nmountain pastures, on green grass. In God all creatures are in\nembryo. First, all creatures sally forth from God and then the\nangels. To have the nature of one particular creature is to bear\nthe stamp of creatures as a whole. An angel's nature bears the\nimpress of all creatures.. All that angelic nature can receive is\nsummed up in him. Whatever God chooses to create his angels\nentertain on penalty of missing the perfection which belongs to\nother creatures.\n\nSt Augustine says : What God creates has a channel through\nthe angels on high, where on the hill -tops everything is flourishing,\nwhere creatures are all fresh and green. Falling into time they\ndroop and fade. Among the young green of all creatures there\nour Lord pastures his sheep. Creatures which flourish on these\nverdant heights are, as existing in the angels, more grateful to\nche soul than all the things of this world. The vilest of creatures\nas it is there, is to this world as day to night.\n\nWhoever would be taught by God has to ascend this mountain ;\nthere God will perfect them in the day of eternity when the light\nis full. What I perceive in God is light ; what touches creatures\nis darkness. The true light has no contact with creatures. Spirit-\nual perception is light. St John says, ' God is the true light that\nshineth in the darkness.' What is the darkness ? In the first\nplace ; independence, detachment : being blind and unaware of\ncreatures. As I have frequently said ; to see God we have to be\nblind. Again, God is the light which shines in the darkness.\nHe is the blinding light. That is, light incomprehensible, illimit-\nable, that knows no end. Its blinding the soul means that she\nknows nothing, is aware of nothing. The third darkness is best^\nof all : there is no light. A master says, ' Heaven has no light, it is\ntoo high up for that ; it does not shine and in itself is neither hot\nnor cold.' In this darkness the soul has lost all light, she has\noutgrown what we call light and colour.\n\nA philosopher says : ' Light is the Supreme, God's promised\nland.' A philosopher says ; ' The realization of every desire is\nbrought to the soul in this light.' A philosopher says : ' There\nnever was anything subtile enough to enter the ground of the soul\n\nbut God only.' Meaning to say : God shines in that darkness\nwhere the soul transcends all light. For what though her powers\nare open to sweetness and light and grace yet into the ground of\nthe soul she lets nothing but absolute God. Whatever besides of\nsweetness and light proceeds from him she receives merely into\nher powers.\n\nAccording to our best authorities the powers of the soul and she\nherself are one : fire and fire-light arc one, and where it (light)\nchanges to reason it changes to anotlier nature. Where intellect\nissues from the soul it invents another nature. Thirdly, the light\nof lights where soul transcends all light is on the mountain sum-\nmit where no light exists. Where Gotl breaks out into his Son is\nnot where the soul hangs from. Where God is proceeding, we\nknowing God somewhat, is not where the soul is suspended, it is\ninfinitely higher up than that ; she transcends light and knowledge\ncompletely. He says, ' I will deliver them and will gather them\ntogether and bring them into their own land where I will lead\nthem into green pastures (upon the mountain of Israel).' Upon\nthis mountain he opened his mouth. One doctor says : ' Our Lord\nopens his mouth here below leading us by the scriptures and by\nmeans of creatures.' But St Paul says, 'Now hath God spoken\nto us in his only-begotten Son in whom 1 know from the least\nto the greatest all at once in God.' May we out-grow whatever\nis not God, So help us God. Amen.\n\nXCIX\n\nBE YE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND\n\nRenovamini spiriiu mentis vestree (Kphes- 423 ). ' Be ye renewed\n\nin the spirit,' here called mens or mind. Thus speaks St Paul.\nNow St Augustine says that in the highest part of the soul,\nthere known as mem or the mind, there was created along with\nthe soul a capacity called by philosophers the casket or shrine of\nniind-forrns or formless images. This power makes the Father com-\nparable with the soul in his emanating deity whereof he has poured\nforth the whole hoard of divine being into the Son and into\nthe Holy Ghost in distinction of Persons, just as the memory of\nthe soul pours out treasure of ideas into the soul -powers. Now\nif with this faculty the soul sees form, whether she sec the form\nof an angel or her own form, it is an imperfection in her. But\nwhen all forms are detached from the soul and she sees nothing\nbut the one alone, then the naked essence of the soul finds the\nnaked, formless essence of the divine unity, the superessential\nbeing, passive, reposing in itself. O surpassing wonder, what\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nlofty suffering is that, when the soul suffers nothing but the\nabsolute unity of Gk)d !\n\nYe shall be renewed in the spirit, says St Paul. Renewal befalls\nall creatures under God ; but for God there is no renewal, only\nall eternity. What is eternity ? — It is characteristic of eternity\nthat in it youth and being are the same, for eternity would not\nbe eternal could it newly become and were not always. Now I\nmaintain that renewal befalls the angels, that is, in their knowledge\nof the future, for an angel knows of future things only so much as\nGod reveals to him. And renewal befalls the soul in so far as she\nis soul, and she is soul in so far as she gives life to the body and is\nthe form of the body. And renewal befalls her too inasmuch\nas she is spirit. She is spirit in so far as she is detached from\nhere and now and from cv^cry thing that belongs to matter. But\nso far as she is the image of God and nameless as God is, no renewal\nbefalls her but only eternity, as in God. Now mark ! God is\nnameless ; no one can know or say anything of him. A heathen\nphilosopher says that what we know or predicate about the first\ncause is what we are ourselves rather than what the first cause is,\nfor this transcends speech and knowledge. If I say God is good,\nit is not true : I am good, God is not good. I say more : I am\nbetter than God is, for what is good can be better and what is better\ncan be best. But God is not good, therefore he cannot be better ;\nand since he cannot be better therefore he cannot be best. These\nthree : good, better, best are remote from God who is above all.\nAnd if, again, I say that God is wise, it is not tme : I am wiser\nthan he. Or if I say, God is a being, it is not true : he is a trans-\ncendental essence, a superessential nothing. St Augustine says,\n' The finest thing a man can say of God is that he is silent from\nconsciousness of interior fullness.' Wherefore hold thy peace and\nprate not about God, for prating of him thou dost lie, committing\nsin. If thou wouldst be free from sin and perfect, babble not\nof God. Neither know anything of God, for God is beyond\nknowing. One' philosopher says. Had I a God that I could\nknow I would have him for my God no longer. Know'st thou\nof him anything ? He is no such thing, and in that thou dost\nknow of him anything at all thou arc in ignorance, and ignor-\nance leads to the condition of the brute ; for in creatures\nwhat is ignorant is brutish. If thou wouldst not be brutish then,\nknow nothing of the unuttered God. — ' What then shall I do ? ' —\nThou shalt lose thy thy-ness and dissolve in his his-ness ; thy thine\nshall be his mine, so utterly one mine that thou in him shalt\nknow eternalwise his is-ncss, free from becoming : his nameless\nnothingness.\n\n' Be ye renewed in the spirit,' says St Paul. If we have a mind\n\nto be renewed in spirit, then those six powers of the soul, the\nhigher and the lower, must each wear a golden finger-ring all\ngilded over with the gold of divine love. Consider the lower\npowers, which are three. The first is called reason, rationale ;\non this thou shalt wear a golden finger-ring : light, so that thy\nreason may be all the time timclessly irradiated with divine light.\nThe second power is rage, irascihilis ; on it thou shalt wear the\nfinger-ring, thy peace. And why ? Because, in peace, in God ;\nwithout peace, out of God. The third power is desire, concupis'\ncihilis ; and on it thou shalt wear, enough, so that thou mayst\nhave done with all creatures under God ; but with God thou shalt\nnever have done, for of God thou eanst never have enough : the\nmore thou hast of God the more thou wantest of him couldst\nthou have enough of him, could enough ever be applied to God,\nGod were not God.\n\nAlso on each higher power thou shalt wear a golden finger-\nring. Of these higher powers there are likewise three. The first\nis the retentive faculty, memoria. This power is likened to the\nFather in the Trinity. On it thou shalt wear the golden fmger-\nring, remembrance, that all eternal things may be stored up in\nthee. The second one is understanding, intellectns. This power\nis likened to the Sou. On this, too, thou shalt wear a golden\nfinger-ring, perception, that thou mayst be ever apprehending\n\nGod. ' In what way ? ' — Thou shalt know him witliout image,\n\nwithout semblance and without means. ' But for me to know God\nthus, with nothing between, I must be all but he, he all but me.'\n- I say, God must be very I, 1 very (iod, so consummately one\nthat this he and this I arc one is, in this is -ness working one work\neternally ; but so long as this he and this I, to wit, God and the\nsoul, are not one single here, one single now, the I cannot work\nwith nor be one with that he. The third power is will, voluntas.\nThis power is likened to the Holy Ghost. On it thou shalt wear\nthe golden finger-ring, love, that thou mayst love God. But thou\nshalt love God apart from loveworthiness : not because he is\nworthy of love, for God is unloveworthy : he is superior to love\nand loveworthincss. — ' How then shall I love him ? ' — Thou shalt\nlove God non-spiritually, thy soul must be de-spiritualised :\nstripped of spirituality. For while thy soul is specifically spirit,\nshe has form ; the while she has form she has neither unity nor\nunion ; the while she lacks union she has never really loved God,\nfor actual love lies in union. Wherefore let thy soul be de-spirited\nof all spirit ; let it be spiritless ; if thou lovest God as God, as\nspirit, as Person or as image, that must all go. — ' Then how shall\nI love him ? ' — Love him as he is ; a not-God, a not-spirit, a not-\nFerson, a not-image ; as sheer, pure, limpid unity, alien from all\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nduality. And in this one let us sink down eternally from nothing-\nness to nothingness. So help us God. Amen.\n\nC\n\nONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL\n\nUnus deus et pater omnium^ qui est super omnes et per omnia\net in omnibus nobis {Ephes, 4g). I am quoting St Paul's words,\n' One God and Father of all who is above all and through all\nand in us all.' From the gospel I will take another saying, the\nsaying of our Lord, ' Friend, go up higher.'\n\nTo begin with, when St Paul speaks of ' one God and Father of\nall ' the omission of the particle suggests some variation from his\n' one God.' God is one in himself and apart from all. God\nbelongs to none and none belongs to him, God is one. Boethius\nsays, God is one and changes not. God's whole creation he\ncreated without changing. All things, once created, progress in\nchanging. The moral of which is that we ought to be one in\nourselves and wholly free from attachment. Firm and unshaken in\nGod does it behove us to be. Out of God there is notliing but\nnaught. No change nor movement can get into God. What\nseeks another place outside him, that changes. God has all things\nin him in one omnipotentiality ; God seeks not anything outside\nhimself, for he has got it in him in its perfection. No creature\ncan conceive it as it is in God.\n\nAnother teacher says, ' Father of all, blessed art thou.' This\ntoo is big with change, for calling him Father he makes us his\nchildren. And if he is our Father then we as his children shall\nhave his honour at heart. Our Lord says, ' Blessed arc the pure\nin heart for they shall see God.' Purity of heart means separation,\ncleansing, from all bodily things, the isolation of the self and in\nthis abstraction the plunging into God and being atoned with him.\n\nDavid says, ' Those works are pure and guileless which arc\npursued and perfected in the light of the soul ' ; and those are yet\nmore guileless which abide therein in the depths of the spirit and\nproceed not forth. ' One God and Father of all.'\n\nThe other saying, ' Friend, come up higher, take the higher\nseat.' I will make of twain one. ' Friend, come up higher,\ndraw up,' is the friendly conversation of the soul with God. He\nsays, ' Friend, draw up, come up higher,' and, answering her :\none God and Father of all. A certain philosopher says. Friend-\nship resides in the will. But so far as friendship resides in the will\nit does not unify. Love does not unify ; true, it unites in act\nbut not in essence. It merely says, ' One God, come up higher.\n\ndraw nigh.' Into the ground of the soul nothing enters but God\nhimself. Even the highest angel, although he is so nigh to God\nand is endowed so largely with God's love (his works are estab-\nlished in God in one essence not one operation ; he has in God\nan immanence, a settled habitation), this angel, strange to say,\nexalted though he be, is not allowed into the soul. One master\nlays it down that all creatures individually merit that God himself\nshould work in them. Soul as transcending body is too virgin-\nexquisite to set her heart on aught save pure Deity himself. But\nnothing enters there until it has been shorn of all additions. That\nis why she was answered, ' one God.'\n\nSt Paul says, ' one God.' One is something more simple than good-\nness and truth. Goodness and truth are constants, they are added\nto (only) in thought ; thinking attributes things to them. There\nis no addition to the one as proceeding in himself into the Son and\ninto the Holy (ihost. He said, ' F riend, go up higluir.' A master\nsays. One is the denial of denials. If I say God is good, that is\nan anirmation. One is tlie denial of denials, t he grave of expecta-\ntions. What does one mean ? That to which nothing is added.\nThe soul receives Godhead as told forth in her, unadded to,\nunthought. One is the denial of denials. Every creature makes\ninnate denial ; the one denies it is the othi'r ; an angel denies\nbeing any other creature. But (iod makes the denial of denials ;\nhe is one and denies all other, for th('r(' is notliing without God.\nAll creatures are in God ; they are his very Godhead, that is to\nsay, the fullness. He is the Father of all deity. One God, not\nproceeding, unmoved, unmindful of the Word. By the fact of\ndenying God something — and by denying God goodness I am not\ndenying God, — (I say), by denying God something 1 conceive\nsomething about him, that he is not ; even this has to go. God\nis one, he is the negation of negations. According to one master,\nthe angelic nature secretes no power nor work, it has no know-\nledge save of God alone. Everything else it ignores. As he says,\n' one God and Father of all.'\n\nSome of the powers of the soul take in from without, as, for\nexample, the eye. Though it lets in but little, rejecting the great\nbulk, yet it is dependent on and does receive something from\noutside in the mode of here and now. But intelligence and\nintellect, paring to the core, seize what is neither here nor now.\nIn her unconditioned state she is right in touch with nature, but\nshe still receives from the senses ; what the senses bring in from\noutside the intellect uses. Not so the will ; in this respect will\nranks above the intellect. Will accepts nothing save in abstract\nunderstanding, where there is neither here nor now. God intends\nto convey what a pure and exalted thing will is. It rises to\n\n250 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nfamiliar colloquy with God, and God says, ' Friend, come up higher,\nhonour waits thee.'\n\nThe will wills happiness. It has been asked, what is the differ-\nence between grace and happiness. Grace, as we are now in this\nlife, and happiness as ours to be hereafter in eternal life, are to one\nanother as the flower to its fruit. When the soul is brimming with\ngrace and nothing is left her, then grace works to perfect all that\nexists in the soul ; not that it comes to actual work, but by its\nmere presence in the soul what the soul does grace makes perfect.\nGrace docs no work but, all-pouring, pours all at once into the\nsoul. The third grace atones the soul with God. Its consumma-\ntion, its effect, is to bring back the soul to God ; hers, after the\nblossom, the fruit. Will, as the will to happiness, as the will to\nbe with God and the actual ascent, in this singleness (of heart)\nGod slips into the will, and the single mind seeing God as the\ntruth, God slips into the intellect, llut his entering into the will\nraises it up. As he says, 'one God. Friend, come up higher.'\nOne God : God's unity is the crown of God's divinity. God\ncould never bear his one- begotten Son were he not one. The\nfact of being one determines all he docs crcaturcly and godly.\nOneness belongs to God alone ; God's idiosyiu^rasy is oneness ;\nGod must be one God or not be God at all. llivinc riches or\nwisdom or truth, it is all the same thing in God ; it is not one, it\nis unity. God has all he has in him ; it is one with him. Theo-\nlogians say that heaven revolves with the object of gathering all\nthings in ; hence its rapid motion. lie said, ' Friend, come up\nhigher, thou art honoured.' It is the honour and adornment of\nthe soul that God is one. God behaves as though he existed for\nno purpose but to please the soul ; as though he did adorn himself\nsolely in order to attract the soul. And man desires now one thing\nnow another ; he cultivates now wisdom and now art. If she has\nnothing of the one she will never rest ; (she will never rest) till\nshe is all the same in God. God is one ; that is the soul's beati-\ntude, her ornament, her rest. A philosopher says, God orders all\nthings in his operation. The soul is all things, and in all respects\nthe noblest and highest and God pours in all at once ; God is one.\n\nCl\n\nIN ALL THINGS I SEEK REST\nPart I\n\nIn omnibus requiem quwsivi {Eccles, 24^^). St Augustine says,\n' My soul was created by thee and for thee wherefore she is ever\nrestless till she finds thee. In all created things, which I search\n\nin understanding, there is no refuge for my soul, but in thee,\nGod, alone. In the love-spring of thy substance are gathered up\nto one the perfections of all creatures, which in them are scattered\nand divided.' Were there any single creature with all creaturely\nperfections both in quality and number then God would not have\nmade more than that one alone, as I have pointed out in my\ndiscourse, ' Whosoever would follow me let him take up his\ncross.' Now the whole happiness of creatures depends on resting\nin the sovran good which is the fount of all good things, and hence\nour Lady Mary says these words about herself wherein she counsels\nour interior man to cultivate in lowliness the habit of divine\nrepose in which the soul is most of all united, and without it not.\nShe says, ' In all things have I sought rest for my inner man.'\n\nIn this connection mark how the divine esseiu^c carries pent\nup in itself all creaturely perfection, creaturely existence being the\nreflection of God's essence. St .John says, Quod factum esty in\nijjso vita erat : that which was made, in God was life. Creatures\nin their pre-existing form in God have been divine life for ever.\nHence the opening words of our quotation from the Book of\nWisdom, ' all things,' mean that our Lady sf)ught [)eaee for her\ninner man iu the eternal good of the divine nature wherein as in\na magic mirror creature-nature as a whole is one in God eternally.\nReferring to the paradigm of all things in God, they being one\ndivinity.\n\nTheologians put three fundamental questions about these pre-\nexisting forms in God, whereto attach some admirable doctrines\nand stimulating facts. The first question is, whether ideas of all\nthe creatures exist in God eternally or not ? The second question\nis, whether these ideas arc one or more in number ? The third\nquestion is, whether the divine mind has ideas of all the things it\nknows or does it know at all without ideas ?\n\nTo the first question Doctor Thomas answers that, it is necessary\nto suppose in the divine being ideas of all the creatures. And\nhis argument is this. The three terms, form, idea and semblance\nare identical in meaning. Now the form, idea or semblance of\na thing, a rose for instance, is present in my soul and must be for\ntwo reasons. One is, because from the appearance of its mental\nform I can paint the rose in corporal matter, so there must be an\nimage of the rose-form in my soul. The second reason is, because\nfrom the subjective rose-idea I recognise the objective rose\nalthough I do not copy it. Just as I can carry in my head the\nnotion of a house I never mean to build. In both these ways\n[Le. as types and principles of knowledge] ideas exist in God, for\nwith all natural things it is the rule for the natural form or char-\nacter of the progeny or fruit to exemplify the type belonging to\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nits species ; as with mankind, for instance, the generative power of\nthe father's manhood is repeated in the son's born manhood so that\na man breeds men, a lion lions and a falcon falcons. The rose\ngrows on a rose-bush not a cabbage-stalk ; fire engenders fire.\n\nAnd sometimes the idea of the work is in the practical power\nnot as a natural species but theoretically, as the house of wood\nand stone is designed in the architect's practical mind, who makes\nthe outward house as much like his ideal as he can. Now since\nGod created this whole world (not that all creatures are by natural\nbirth descended from God's nature like the eternal Word of the\nFather, for in that case all creatures would be God, which no\nsane mind allows : creature-nature rejects it as an impossible,\nfalse thing), therefore God created all creatures by practical\nunderstanding of divine nature. So there must be eternally in\nthe divine understanding the pre-existing form or idea to the\nlikeness of which God created this creature and not another whereof\nGod had no pattern in his mind.\n\nThe second question is, whether the idea is one or more in\nnumber ? To this the Doctor answers that, the ultimate end of\nthe work is ever the real intention of the work's first cause. Now\nthe ultimate end of the world is its good, i.e. the divine ordering\nof all creatures, as Aristotle says. Hence this ordering of the\nworld must be eternally foreknown and foreordained in God,\nwho is its first cause. Ergo, he has in him the particular ideas\nappropriate to that order, whence it follows that he must carry in\nhim ideas of individual creatures. For just as no architect can\ncarry in his head the plan of a whole house without the plans of\nall its details, so there must be in God as many forms as there are\nnatural grades of created things emanating from him ; the rose,\nfor instance, has one special form, the violet another; man has\none distinctive type, an angel has another, and so with other\nthings.\n\nThe astonishing thing is that this multiplicity of forms should\nconsist with the simplicity of God in whom all essential things arc\none. We can explain it thus. The idea of the work exists in the\nworker's practical mind as an object of his understanding which\nregards it as expressing his idea to which he forms the material\nwork, and is not in the mind of the worker as a form of under-\nstanding informing his mind and setting up active intellection.\nThe plan of the house in the architect's mind is (something under-\nstood by him). It is not repugnant to the simplicity of divine\nunderstanding to see and understand more than one thing as\nobject. But it would be repugnant to his simple nature if by a\nplurality of objective forms it were stimulated and reduced to the\nsubjective act of understanding as opposed to the mirror of God's\n\nessence. Countless ideas exist in God in the sense that he sees and\nunderstands them, not in the sense that his intellect sees in them.\nTo resume. God knows his essence perfectly so far as it is knowable\nboth in itself and so far as all creatures in their natural mode are\nexemplified in divine essence ; and this express image of all\ncreatures in the divine essence is their prototype, their idea. It\nfollows that there are as many types as there are grades of nature\nto be typified.\n\nWith regard to this question of how the countless forms in the\ndivine essence consist with their being the essence of God, they\nbeing many in number and the essence of God only one, it may\nbe looked at in this way. We call these ideas the essence of God,\nnot as such but inasmuch as the essence of God is a mirror reflecting\nall creatures. And since in the impartible essence of God we have\nthe exemplar of all things, which we call their idea, therefore\nthe form is many and the essence only one. Even as in a mirror\nthere are many forms reflected, but an eye placed in the mirror\nwould see all these forms as one object of its vision ; they would\nnot be innate in it nor would they form the eye's intrinsic faculty\nof active present or passive and potential sight, for in that case the\nimage would be no more than one.\n\nThe third question was, whether God has in him ideas of all the\nthings he knows or does he know at all without ideas ? Doctor\nThomas answers this as follows : These pre-existing forms are\nthe origin or principle of the creation of all creatures, and in this\nsense they are types and pertain to practical knowledge. These\nforms, again, are the principle of all knowledge of creatures and as\nsuch they are really essential images of creatures ; wherefore of\neverything he knows and his conception of it he must have ideas.\n\nThis fact prompts the question. How does God know evil,\nwhich has no being in itself but is a privation of being ? The\nanswer is this. As I said above, all creaturely existence has its\nidea in God, but since evil or sin has no being that is aught (as\nDionysius says), but deprives good of good or virtuous being, as\nblindness of eye has no positive existence but it deprives the eye\nof sight, even so God's mind perceives all sin and evil in the idea\nof the corresponding good, not in the form of sin ; for instance,\nhe knows lying in the idea of truth.\n\nConsider next how God knows virtue. In the eternal mirror of\nhis works God knows all creaturely perfections both natural and\nghostly, perceiving in their pre-existing forms all accidents as\nsubstantial being. But accidents are various. Basic character-\nistics of the abiding nature of their subject God has no ideas of\napart from the ideas which are proper to their subject : the\nwhiteness of the daisy, for example, not its whiteness as a separate\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nidea. But accidents subsequently added to the abiding nature\nhe knows in particular ideas apart from the idea of any host.\nWhence it follows that all noble human attributes like acquired\nvirtues and spiritual wisdom, God knows in separate eternal\nforms reflecting the wisdom and virtue of souls in general.\n\nMoreover, since grace is not natural to creature therefore grace\nis communicated to the soul in the guise of accident, and by the\nsame token, faith and other godly virtues are inspired super-\nnaturally in the soul, and love and sometimes divine wisdom\nas with the prophets and apostles. Again, the seven gifts of\nthe Holy Ghost are supernaturally instilled into the soul. And\nspiritual sweetness too is an inspired accident. Wherefore of all\nthe graces in mere creatures God has ideas wherein he knows the\ncontingencies of grace.\n\nIn the divine essence there exist then also particular ideas\nreflecting the certainty or hope and divine charity of the soul, albeit\nshe is but a creature. In their own ideas there exist as well all\nthe gifts of the Holy Ghost, which have an adventitious character.\nThis I affirm because the prime gift of love wherein he gives all\ngifts, this love he is himself in Person and in essence. And\nbecause, again, all the sacred rites of the seven sacraments, wherein\nthe soul is sanctified and initiated into godly life, because all these\nwere instituted to show forth the workings of grace in the soul,\ntherefore God must know all the seven sacraments in eternal\npre-existing forms and each in a distinct one. The cathartic\nvirtue of baptism by natural water comes springing out of the\neternal formal baptism of the mirror of God's nature. So, too,\nthe primordial perfect conception of that nature survives in\nmarriage, wherein the mutable nature of the father is reborn into\nthe immortal and impersonal nature of the soul of his child, where\nnature, no longer ridden by the race-instinct governing creatures,\nis in that sense performing the work of all creation. Marriage\nis true to its exemplar as long as we preserve it in its natural\npurity and free from animal intention which is all opposed to its\ndivine ideal. And the same I say about the other sacraments.\nGod then has ideas of every longing, love and godly intuition,\nwhether of sweetness or of inwardness, wherein he feels and knows\nat once all thy desires when thou dost call on him in prayer ; and\nin these same ideas the soul of any saint whom we invoke sees all\nour prayerful longings from the beginning of the world down to the\nvery end in one flash of God's essence, just as an angel sees creatures\nand their prototype in God all at once in the vision of God, in\nthe dawn, not in the evening light, or else they would not know our\nlonging for them. Here ends the first part of this sermon.\n\nPart II'\n\nNow it must be remembered that this rest of the inner man in\nthe divine wonder born of vision and divine love, transcends in\nits perfection and its sweetness any activity of the outward man,\nand for nine reasons.\n\nThe first reason is, because in this passivity of the interior man,\nwhich is one of knowing and loving, the highest of the faculties\nin man are engaged in their noblest and most proper occupation\nand are thus detached and free from everything temporal and mor-\ntal, and these powers are knowledge and love. The life of the\nexterior man, on the other hand, is one of varying sensation.\nSt Gregory says that Rachel, meaning the interior life, signifies\na vision of the source, but Leah, the other sister, means the life of\nthe exterior man, for she had weak eyes.\n\nThe second reason is, that man's interior wont of love and con-\ntemplation is more lasting, though not at the culminating point\nof actual vision, for the moment of supreme illumination is short-\nlived, and passes like a flash of lightning. According to St Augus-\ntine, the common use of love and knowledge lasts longer with the\ninner man than with the outer.\n\nThe third reason is, because man's inner life of rest and spiritual\nleisure is somewhat like the peace of the divine eternal essence ;\nfor albeit the Father is ever in the act of engendering his Word\nthat does not disturb his rest ; as our Lord says, ' My Father\nworketh until now.' The life of outward man, on the other hand,\nis one of perpetual physical unrest. Mary sat still and Martha\nkept about the house.\n\nThe fourth reason is, that the interior life is more self-sufficient\nthan that of outward man. The inner man needs nothing for\nhis work but the freedom from bodily affairs which comes with\ndetachment of the soul-powers, together with knowledge and love.\nThe freer and less occupied with mortal tilings the better adapted\nto God is the life of the inner man. But the life of outward\nman has need of many things which are disturbing : of working\nand talking and giving and taking and eating and drinking. St\nLuke tells us how Martha, meaning the outward man, was cum-\nbered with overmuch serving ; aye, though it be all on God's\naccount, like works of mercy, natheless it entails a deal of\ntrouble.\n\nThe fifth reason is, that the interior life is infinitely more\nenjoyable than that of outward man. As the philosopher says,\nIntellectual delights are free from drawbacks, but every mortal\n\n^ This is not numbered separately in Pfeiffer's text.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\npleasure has its other side. St Augustine says that while Martha\nwas distraught Mary was in company with her interior man.\nHence the comment of one teacher, ' Mary taxed Martha before\nthe eternal Word Christ Jesus.' Why did not Mary answer ?\nShe did not hear, because she was not at home by herself. Where\nwas she then ? She was with her inner man in the Word whose\nword she was attending to. For the soul is where she loves rather\nthan where she is giving natural life.\n\nThe sixth reason is, because the interior life, apart from know-\nledge and apart from love, is desirable in itself. But the outward\nlife is desirable only in so far as it makes for the greater good of\nthe soul. The prophet cries, ' One thing have I desired of the\nLord and that same will I seek : to see God's will and behold his\ngodly habitation.'\n\nThe seventh reason is, because the inner life is concerned with\nthings divine and the outer with things human. St Augustine\nsays, Mary heard the Word in the beginning, whereas it was the\nhuman word that Martha served.\n\nThe eighth reason is, because the inner life is that of the powers\nmost proper to the soul. But the powers used for outward\npurposes we have in common with the brutes, the senses, namely.\nDavid says, ' Lord thou dost nourish man and beast.' And later\non he adds, ' but I^ord, we men shall sec thy light in the light of\nthine own self,' that is, in the light of understanding whereby\nman is distinguished from the brutes.\n\nThe ninth reason is given by our Lord himself, who says,\n' Mary has chosen the better part.' St Augustine says, ' Martha\nhad no bad one ; hers was a good one too, though Mary had the\nbest.' Hers the uses of the inner man, which starting here go on\neternally. But the outward life of works of mercy ends where\nthere is no poverty nor woe, that is, in eternity. Now though the\ninner life is intrinsically best, the outward life is sometimes better,\nas in cases of bodily necessity ; to feed the hungry, for example,\nwere better than to spend the time in contemplation. According\nto one teacher, to see a man in any need and fail to help would\nmake me guilty towards him, and St Augustine says I ought to lend\nhim aid. In cases then of real necessity, to use the works of the\noutward man for the relief of one's own self or neighbour is better\nthan to settle down to the interior man's spiritual idleness of mind\nand will. — It is now explained how our Lady rested in the eternal\ngood. Let us too seek rest for the inner man as well as for the\nouter. So help us God. Amen.\n\nCII\n\nHONOUR THY FATHER\n\nHcec dicit dominus : honora patrem tuum etc, {Matt I54). This\nLatin quotation is taken from the gospel. The words were spoken\nby our Lord, and the translation runs, ' Honour thy father and\nmother.' And another commandment is given by God our Lord,\n\n' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods nor his house nor\nanything that is his.' The third point is that the people went to\nMoses and said, ' Do thou speak to us, for we cannot hear God.*\nThe fourth, that God said to Moses, ' An altar of earth and in\nearth shalt thou make unto me and all that is offered thereon\nthou shalt burn away.' The fifth is that Moses went into the\ncloud and ascending into the mountain there he found God :\nit was in the darkness that he found the true light.\n\nThere is a saying of St Augustine's, ' Where the lamb sinks there\nswims the ox and the cow and where the cow swims the elephant\nruns and forges ahead.' Which is a pretty parable to draw a\nmoral from. The scriptures arc the deep sea, St Augustine\nsays, and the little lamb the humble, simple soul which is able\nto fathom Holy Writ. By the ox that swims we understand ill-\ntutored folk : each choosing out of them the things that suit\nhimself. But in the elephant that goes ahead we recognise wise\nsouls searching the scriptures and making progress in them. I\nam amazed how full the scriptures are withal the masters say\nthey are not to be taken merely as they stand ; the material things\nin them, they say, must be translated to a higher plane, for which\nwe must have symbols. — First it reached to the ankles, next it\ncame up to the knee, thirdly it rose to the girdle, and fourthly\nit covered his head and he was submerged altogether.\n\nNow what does this mean ? St Augustine says, at first the\nscriptures will amuse and attract the child, and in the end, when\nhe tries to understand them, they make fools of the wise, for none\nis so simple-minded but can find his level there nor none so wise\nbut when he tries to fathom them will find they are beyond his\ndepth and discover more therein. All the stories and quotations\ntaken from them have another, esoteric, meaning. Our under-\nstanding of them is as totally unlike the thing as it is in itself and\nas it is in God, as though it did not exist.\n\nTo return to our text. ' Honour thy father and mother,' and\nin a general sense it does mean father and mother, that we ought\nto honour them, and all who have spiritual power are to be honoured\nand preferred as well as the authors of thy temporal weal. Herein\nwe wade, herein do we touch bottom ; but it is precious little we\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nget out of it. It is a woman who says, ' If we ought to honour\nthe authors of our outward good much more are we behoven to\nmagnify the author of it all.' What we have here outwardly in\nmultiplicity is all within and one. Yours to make this likeness\nlike unto the Father. I was thinking this evening that all likeness\nends in sameness with the Father. In the second place, thou\noughtest to honour thy father, meaning thy heavenly Father,\nthe source of thy being. Who honours the Father ? None but the\nSon : he alone does him honour. And none honours the Son save\nonly the Father. The Father's whole love, his fondness, his\nfavours, are for the Son and him only. The Father knows nothing\nat all but the Son. Such delight does he take in his Son that he\nwants nothing else but to be getting his Son, for he is his exact\nlikeness, the perfect image of his Father.\n\nThe teaching of our school is that anything known or born is\nan image. They say that in begetting his only-begotten Son the\nFather is producing his own image abiding in himself, in the ground\nof the image, as it has ever been in him, {formce illius) ix, his\nimmanent form. It is contrary to nature and seems to me\nirrational, the doctrine that God is known by likeness, by this\nthing or by that. For he, after all, is neither this nor that, and\nfather is not satisfied till he returns to his first nature, to the\ninnermost, to the ground and core of fatherhood, where he has been\nfor ever in himself, in his father-nature : to where he enjoys him-\nself in the Father as the Father does himself in the one alone.\nHere wood, stone, grass-blades, all things are the same. This is\nthe best of all, and I have fooled myself therein. All the natural\npowers being gathered to a head are plunged into the Father-\nnature, so that they are one, one Son, transcending all the rest and\nsubsisting alone in the paternal nature, or if not the one they are\nat least the image of the one. This nature, being of God, seeks\nnot what is outside her, nay, this nature, existing in itself, has\nnaught to do with ornament : nature which is of God seeks none\nother than God's likeness.\n\nI was thinking this evening that a likeness is an outwork\n(preamble). I cannot see a thing unless it has some likeness, some\nrelation to me, neither can I know a thing excepting it is like me.\nGod has all things hidden in himself ; not this and that distinct\nbut one in the same nature. The eye is coloured and also receives\ncolour, the ear not. The ear senses tone and the tongue has taste.\nIt is a case of like to like. The form of the soul and God's image\nhave the same nature : we being sons. If I had neither eyes nor\nears still I might have being. Who robs me of my eyes robs me\nnot therefore of my being nor yet of my life, for my life is seated\nin the heart. A blow aimed at my eye I parry by a lifting of the\n\nhand. A blow at my heart I should stop with any portion of my\nbody. But if someone attempted to cut off my head I should\nhit out straight from the shoulder in order to preserve my life and\nbeing.\n\nI am fond of saying, You must break the outside to let out the\ninside : to get at the kernel means breaking the shell. Even so\nto find nature herself all her likenesses have to be shattered and the\nfurther in the nearer the actual thing. On coming to one, where it\nis all one, she is the same. Who honours God ? He who is ever\nseeking God's glory.\n\nMany years ago I was not ; not long after that my father and\nmy mother eating bread and meat and the vegetables growing\nin the garden, I became a man. In this my father and my mother\nwere unable to assist, but God made my body without aid and\ncreated my soul after the supreme. Thus I became possessed of\nlife {possecli me). This grain of rye has it in its nature to develop\ninto wheat, and it never rests until it has that nature. This corn\nseed has it in its nature to be all things and pays the penalty of\ndeath in order to be all things. And this metal, copper, has it\nin its nature to be gold, and it will never rest till it has gotten that\nsame nature. Aye, this wood has in its nature the power of\nturning into stone ; I say more than that : it may indeed become\nall things if put into the fire and allowed to burn away and be\ntransmuted to the firc-nature ; then same comes to same and has\neternally one being. I trow that wood and stone and bone and\nall the grasses have collectively one being in the first nature.\nAnd if so with this nature then how about the nature which is\nso intrinsically pure that it seeks not either this or that but\ntranscending all the others is simply making for its primitive\nperfection ?\n\nI was thinking this evening, there arc many heavens. There\nare some incredulous who will not believe that this bread upon\nthe altar may be changed, that God can do it. (How unworthy,\nto deny that God is capable of this.) If God has given to nature\nthe power to be all things, how much easier to him must be the\nchanging to his body of this altar bread. If this frail nature from\na drop of blood can contrive a man, how much more possible for\nGod to make his body from a bit of bread. Who honours God ?\nHe who is ever seeking God's glory. This meaning is more\nobvious albeit the former is the better one.\n\nThe fourth point (is), ' they stood afar off and said unto Moses :\nMoses speak thou to us for we cannot hear God.' They were\nstanding at a distance, that is the reason they could not hear God,\n\n' Moses went into the cloud and ascended into the mountain\nand there he beheld the divine light.' We see this light best in\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthe dark : in suffering and travail this light is nearest to us,\nLet God do his best or his worst he is bound to give himself to\nus whether in travail or distress. There was once a pious dame\nwith many sons, whom they sought to slay. Smiling she said,\n* Grieve not, be of good cheer and remember your heavenly\nFather, for from me ye have gotten nothing whatsoever.* As\nthough to say, Ye have your being straight from God. This\napplies to us. Our Lord said, ' Thy darkness {ix. thy suffering)\nshall be turned into bright light.' But I must not love nor\ncovet it. It was said by a master in another place, ' The mysterious\ndarkness of the invisible light of the eternal Deity is unknown and\nnever shall be known.* And the light of the eternal Father has\never ^been shining in this darkness and the darkness comprehends\nnot the light. May we arrive at this eternal light. So help us God.\nAmen.\n\ncm\n\nOUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE MOST HIGH\n\nEx oro altissimi prodivi (EccL 24^). These words, which I\nhave quoted in Latin, we may speak in the Person of the\neternal Word. He says, ' I proceeded forth out of the mouth of\nthe Most High.' This is the exalted source which uttered from the\nFather's heart the eternal Word which took on human nature in\nour Lady's womb. Not of this carnal birth am I going to tell,\nfor much is told you of it. It is on the eternal birth that I propose\nto speak, and I will broach the subject by answering two questions.\n\nThe first one is. Whether the eternal Word can be called the\nperfect Word seeing it is still in the throes of birth ? — Yes, for the\neternal Word is gotten in the essential light and abides therein,\nuntold to anything outside it, and is withal infallibly uttered by\nthe Father. Hence it may well be called the perfect Word.\n\nThe second question is. Whether our intelligence can at all\nconceive the perfect Word ? for it is proper to every under-\nstanding that it should understand. Is it not the same as our\nunderstanding in itself? — I say no, because our word is gotten\nin a fitful light. Our understanding is a changing thing, so it\ncannot conceive a perfect word. The word you hear from me\nis not infallible, it is a sign of the Word within me.\n\nNow mark the way of the eternal birth. The Personal under-\nstanding as confined to its unity of nature is one with the under-\nstanding whereby the Father understands himself in his char-\nacteristic nature. Were this not the case there would be two\nintelligible essences. But there are not : there is but one intelli-\ngible essence wherein the Father sees himself in his characteristic\n\nnature. The object of his thought is the eternal Word. Where\nthis is confined to the natural understanding of the Father it is\nnone other than the Father- nature. Where this same Word is\ndirected to itself there is ever distinction of Person and withal\none simple essence divine in nature. Here I will put four questions\nthe better for you to understand the mode of the eternal birth,\nthough, let me say at once, that this is inconceivable to the multi-\ntudinous mind. However, I will tell you as much as it is possible\nfor your minds to grasp.\n\nThe first question is, Why is the Person of the Son called born\nand the Person of the Father not ? The answer is, that it is the\npersonal understanding of the Father wherewith he understands\nhimself in his characteristic nature, but the product of this con-\nception is the eternal Word. Hence the eternal Word is said\nto be begotten and the Person of the Father not. — Question two :\nIs the work of the eternal birth wrought by his personal power or\nby his natural power ? Some theologians say it is due to the\npersonal power of the Father since it is proper to all begotten\nthings to receive the same nature they arc gotten by. Where\nsaw ye the father that imparted not his own nature to his son ?\nSo runs the argument for the eternal birth being due to personal\npower. This is not my view. Where the personal understanding\nkeeps to its unity of nature there is this nature Person. Now the\neternal Word originates in the essential thought wherein the\nFather understands himself in his characteristic nature. It\nfollows that the work of the eternal birth must be due to his\nnatural power, for if the eternal Word sprang from the personal\nunderstanding of the Father then this eternal Word would be the\ncause of its own self, for this conception is the Word.\n\nThe third question is. Where does the Father-nature have\nmaternal names ? Where it does maternal work. Where personal\nunderstanding keeps to its unity of nature and has intercourse\ntherewith, there the Father-nature has maternal names and is\ndoing mother's work, for it is exclusively a mother's work to receive\nthe seed of the eternal Word. In essential thought the mother-\nnature has paternal names and docs paternal work.\n\nThe fourth question is. Whether this work is essential or does\nthe Father play a casual part therein ? I say, no. If he stopped\na single instant he would negate himself. For the eternal Word is\nthe image of the Father as he conceives himself in his character\nof Person, with the added dignity which the eternal Word receives\nin its own Person, all the perfection which the Father has and all\nthe omnipotence peculiar to his nature. The heretical doctor\nArius observes concerning this ; It appears to me to be untrue\nthat the eternal Word receives all the perfection that the Father\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhas and all the omnipotence peculiar to his nature, for it cannot do\nwhat the Father does ; he cannot beget another Son. But as\nSt Augustine says, That he does not beget another Son is not due\nto impotence, but it behoves him not to. A statement which\nsome doctors misconstrue, giving to understand that the Son an\nhe would could beget another Son. Which is erroneous, for in that\ncase the Person of the Son would be the Person of the Father.\nThe reason for not doing it is this. Each Person receives the same\nnature albeit variously : the Father as fatherhood, the Son as\nsonship and the Holy Ghost as the common product of them both.\nHere the Persons are an hypostasis of the nature, each Person\nreceiving the one nature all at once as essence. Where (the\nWord) receives its dignity the three shine with one light, they\nhaving this light as their common being. The dignity the eternal\nWord receives by birth is that of being equal with the Father, for\nit springs from the essential conception of the Father. As con-\nfined to this conception it is none other than divine nature ; in\nits aspect of the Word it is distinct in Person and withal in nature\none impartible essence.\n\nHere arises the question. How can the eternal Word be at once\ndiscrete and one simple essence divine in nature ? The best\nanswer theologians have to this is that it is due to the imparti-\nbility and simplicity of that nature. The entire content of divine\nnature is one impartible essence which operates by divine nature.\nMay we attain this oneness so far as it is possible to us. So help\nus God. Amen.\n\nCIV\n\nSUFFERING\n\nI say that next to God there is no nobler thing than suffering.\nWere there anything more noble than suffering the heavenly\nFather would have given it to his Son Jesus Christ, in exemplary\nfashion, for all things. We find in Christ, as regards his manhood,\nnothing so much as suffering. Suffering was with him at his\nbirth, and it never left him while he was here on earth. I say,\nmoreover, that had Christ been a man upon this earth without\nhis deity, yet would he have been noble beyond all human ken by\nreason of his suffering; for granting that suffering is noble, he\nwho has most suffering is the noblest. But no human suffering\nwas equal to Christ's passion. And he is the more noble in\nproportion to it. Again I hold, if anything were nobler than\nsuffering, God would have saved mankind therewith, for we might\nwell accuse him of being unfriendly to his Son if he knew of\nsomething superior to suffering. And I say, were not suffering\n\nalways noble, the heavenly Father would have left his Son some\nfew hours on earth that were free from suffering. But we do not\nfind that Christ on earth spent one single hour without suffering.\nSuffering then must be superior to all else. I ween that our\nLady, God's mother, rather than that she should be deprived\nof the reward attached to the least instant of her suffering at sight\nof her child's martyrdom, would choose to have remained here\nupon earth and not behold God till the judgment day, provided\nthat would win back this reward. So great the guerdon won in\nthat short hour.\n\nI declare, all the humility and virtue we attribute to our Lady\nbrought her no such great reward or love of God as the least of all\nthe sufferings that God sent her. I say that if our Lady, God's\nmother, and suffering stood together in the street and with our\nLady all her earned reward for chastity, humility and her other\nvirtues except suffering : to our Lady suffering would appear as\nlovely as sunshine in a burrow, for in that case she would be out-\nside God. And again, I say : suppose a man committed a sin\nbeyond all sins, it might involve a suffering wherein by virtuous\nconduct he could cancel all his sin and win greater merit in God's\neyes than any of his saints. Further, I maintain, no man apart\nfrom God has ever been so holy or so good as to deserve the least\nnobility such as the smallest suffering would give. Given one\nman endowed with the collective humility and virtues of all the\npeople who have lived since God created the first man, he, for all\nhis virtues, would not merit the reward a man wins by a little\nsuffering. I tell you, right suffering is the mother of all virtues,\nfor right suffering so subdues the heart, it cannot rise to pride\nbut perforce is lowly. And suffering makes for chastity ; for in\nright suffering vice is burnt away. And to one who has mastered\nall the virtues, suffering is the mother of virtue as a whole. Noth-\ning makes a man so like God as suffering. For he who has least\nvices is the most like God. But nothing is like suffering for\nkilling a man's vices. Ergo, it makes man Godlike. Finally I\nsay, not all the theologists together could describe what profit,\nwhat glory lies in suffering. Suffering alone is sufficient prepara-\ntion for God's dwelling in man's heart. God dwells only with\nthe sinless. But suffering exorcises sin. Hence God is always\nwith a man in suffering ; as he himself declared by the mouth\nof the prophet, ' Whosoever is sorrowful, I will myself be with\nhim.'\n\n[Peradventure thou wilt say, ' If it be a fact that suffering is\nso noble and profits one so much, why are not the Jews and\nheathens saved ? I see and hear a great deal of their sufferings,\nfor as captives they are ever subject to the Christians and that\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\ncauses them much suffering.' I answer. Baptism is the basis\nof the welfare, the salvation, of mankind. In the absence of it,\nvirtues and good works are not rewarded with eternal grace. And\nsince the Jews are not baptized, they have no guerdon of eternal\ngrace, but are accursed on earth as well as in the other world.] ^\nBut thou mayst object, Why is it that all Christians are not saved ;\nthey are all God's, and there is nobody on earth but is bound to\nsuffer in some fashion ? My answer is, There are two kinds of\nsufferers. Some, when suffering befalls, take it not as if it came\nfrom God ; they resist it to the utmost, saying in their hearts.\nWhat have I done to God that he should visit me with such\nmisfortune ? and are moved to tears. Not that in this thought\nthey are to blame, but in other cases they chide God vehemently,\nwhereas God sends the suffering to rid them of their sins and by\nnot accepting it in the proper spirit they make it useless to them ;\nand to such as these there is no reward for suffering though they\nare always having it ; they scorn God's gift and thrust it from\nthem. And they chase away God too, albeit they fain would\nhave him. On the other hand, some people take it as from God,\nwhen their suffering comes, and send it back to God. They take\nit from God, saying in their hearts ; God, T accept this suffering\nfrom no one else but thee, for my sins have thoroughly deserved it.\nAnd they send their suffering back to God, saying in their hearts.\nLord God, I willingly contribute all the suffering thou hast suffered\nfrom the hour of thy birth down to the very end ; for thou wert\na pure and sinless soul, yet wert in great affliction ; it is more fit\nthat I should be afflicted, I who am a man in sin. Accepting\nsuffering thus, a man will merit the eternal kingdom. God help\nus to attain it. Amen.\n\n^ This is probably a gloss which has become incorporated in the text.", "project_translation": false, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }