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  "work": {
    "slug": "eckhart",
    "name": "Meister Eckhart"
  },
  "parents": [
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      "name": "Rhineland Mystics",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 3,
    "slug": "02-sayings",
    "title": "Sayings",
    "of": 4,
    "words": 11143,
    "text": "## Sayings\n\n\nTHIS IS MEISTER ECKHART\nFROM WHOM GOD NOTHING HID\n\nMeister Eckhart said in a sermon. The work wrought by God\nin the God-loving soul which he finds empty and detaclied enough\nfor him to bring himself to spiritual birth in her, this work, he said,\ngives God greater pleasure than any w^ork he ever did with any\ncreature and is far nobler than the creation of all things from\nnothing.\n\nOn being asked the reason why this work gives God such pleas-\nure, he said it was because God has no creature but the soul of\nlarge enough capacity for him to empty his entire might, the whole\nground of his being in, as he docs in this act of begetting himself\nghostly in the soul.\n\nWhen asked what God's birth is, he said, God's being born\nwithin the soul is nothing else than God's self-revelation to the\nsoul in some new knowledge and in some new mode.\n\nAnon they asked him. Does the soul's chief happiness consist in\nthis act whereby God gets himself in her in ghostly fashion ?\nQuoth he, Though it is true that God takes greater pleasure in\nthis act than in any other deed he ever did concerning creature,\nnatheless the soul is happier being re-born into God. God being\nborn in her makes her not wholly blessed : she is beatified when,\nin love and praise, she follows this wisdom whercinto she is bom,\nback to the source from whence it came and in their common\norigin, holding to what is his lets go her own, she being happy\nnot in hers but his.\n\nMeister Eckhart said, A man of godly love and godly fear and\nperfect faith may, an he will, receive God's body every day at the\npriest's hands.\n\nThe question is, what does God do in heaven ? The answer\ngiven by the saint is this, He crowns his own work : the works\nGod crowns his saints for he wrought in them himself.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nMeister Eckhart says, I have Jjeen asked what God is doiiig in\nheaven ? I answer, He has been giving his Son birth eternally,\nis giving him birth now and will go on giving him birth for ever,\nthe Father being in childbed in every virtuous soul. Blessed,\nthrice blessed is the man within whose soul the heavenly Father\nis thus brought to bed. All she surrenders to him here she shall\nenjoy from him in life eternal. God made the soul on purpose\nfor her to bear his one-begotten Son. His birth in Mary ghostly\nwas to God better pleasing than his nativity of her in flesh. When\nthis birth happens nowadays in the good loving soul it gives God\ngreater pleasure than his creation of the heavens and earth.\n\nMeister Eckhart says. He who is evcrjrvvhere at home is God-\nworthy ; to him who is ever the same is God present and in him\nin whom creatures arc stilled God bears his one-begotten Son.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, Holy scripture cries aloud for freedom from\nself. Self-free is self-controlled and self-controlled is self-possessed\nand self-possession is God-possession and possession of everything\nGod ever made. I tell thee, as true as God is God and I a man,\nwert thou quite free from self, free from the highest angel, then\nwere the highest angel thine as well as thine own self. This\nmethod gives self-mastery.\n\nAccording to Meister Eckhart, Grace comes not otherwise than\nwith the Holy Ghost. It bears the Holy Ghost upon its back.\nGrace is no stationary thing, it is ever-becoming. It is flowing\nstraight out of God's heart. Grace does nothing but re-form and\nconvey into God. Grace makes the soul deiform. God, the\nground of the soul and grace go together.\n\nQuery, does God pour his grace into a power of the soul or into\nher essence, for no creature is allowed in the essence of the soul ?\nThe answer is that grace is a matter of the soul and naught beside\nand grace without soul is not grace at all. It is immaterial for it\nis not true creature, it is creaturely. Grace to be grace must\n• have the soul for substance for if God poured his grace into a\npower of the soul that power alone would benefit. Not so : he\ninstils it into her essence and essence works by grace in all her\npowers.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, Practice is better than precept ; but the\npractice and precept of eternal God is a counsel of perfection.\nIf 1 wanted a teacher of theology I should go for one to Paris, to\nits learned university. But if I came to ask about the perfect\nlife, why then he could not tell me. Where then am I to turn ?\nTo pure and abstract nature, nowhere else : that can solve thy\nanxious queries. Why, good people, search among dead bones ?\nWhy not seek the living sacrum that gives eternal life ? The\ndead give not nor do they take. An angel seeking God as God\nwould look not anywhere for him except in a quiet, solitary creature.\nThe essence of perfection lies in bearing poverty, misery, despisery,\nadversity and every hardship that befalls, willingly, gladly,\nfreely, eagerly, calm and unmoved and persisting unto death\nwithout a why.\n\nMeister Eckhart said, Whatever it be that lights devotion in\nman's heart and knits him closest unto God, that is the best\nthing for him here in time.\n\nAgain he says. To be the heavenly Father's Son one has to be\na stranger to the world, remote from self, heartwhole and having\nthe mind purified.\n\nO man, renounce thyself and so with toil-free virtue win the\nprize or, cleaving to thyself, with toilful virtues lose it.\n\nMeister Eckhart says. He who is ever alone is Godworthy and\nto him who is ever at home is God present and in him who\nstands ever in the present now does God the Father bear his Son\nunceasingly.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, He to whom (God) is different in one thing\nfrom another and to whom God is dearer in one thing than another,\nthat man is a barbarian, still in the wilds, a child. He to whom\nGod is the same in everything has come to man's estate. But he\nto whom creatures all mean want and exile has come into his own.\n\nHe was also asked : Does the man who goes out of himself\nneed to trouble at all about his nature ? He answered, God's\nyoke is easy and his burden is light : No, only about his will ;\n%vhat the tyro fears is the expert's delight. The kingdom of God\nis for none but the thoroughly dead.\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nGod's every infliction is a lure. I give no thanks to God for\nloving me because he eannot help it, it is his nature to ; what I\ndo thank him for is that he cannot of his goodness leave off loving\nme.\n\nThe highest the soul can get to in this life is a settled habitation\nwithout all in all. Being without all means being detached,\nperfectly free from self and things. Being in all means a state of\nperpetual rest : poise in her eternal idea, in the omniform image\nshining impartible.\n\nEckhart said, There are people upon earth that bear our Lord\nin spirit as his mother did in flesh.\n\nThey asked him who these were ? He answered. They being free\nfrom things do see in the mirror of truth whereto they are gotten\nall unknowing ; on earth, their dwelling is in heaven and they arc\nat peace ; they go as little children.\n\nMeister Eckhart said. Better to my mind is the man who in the\ncause of charity will lend himself to taking dole of bread than he\nwho gives an hundred marks for charity. How do I make that\nout ? I argue thus. Doctors agree that honour is of far more\nworth than temporal goods. Now he who gives an hundred\nmar^Ls for charity gets back in praise and honour more than his\nhundred marks' worth. The hand he stretches forth with gifts\ncollects both more and better than it gave. But the beggar\nreaching out his hand for bread is bartering his honour ; the\ngiver buys honour but the taker sells it.\n\nAnother thing advantages the beggar who receives over the\ndonor of the hundred marks to God : the giver glories in and\ngratifies his nature*, the beggar is subduing his and flouting it ;\nthe giver is made much of for his gifts, the beggar scorned and\nshunned fo^ taking them.\n\nMeister Eckhart said, I never ask God to give himself to me :\nI beg of him to purify, to empty, me. If I am empty, God of his\nvery nature is obliged to give himself to me to fill me.\n\nHow to be pure ? By steadfast longing for the one good,\nGod to wit. How to acquire this longing ? By self-denial and\ndislike to creatures ; self-knowledge is the way for creatures are\nall naught, they come to naught with lamentation and bitterness.\n\nGod being in himself pure good can nowhere dwell except in\nthe pure soul : he overflows into her, whole he flows into her.\nWhat does emptiness mean ? It means a turning from creatures :\nthe heart uplifted to the perfect good so that creatures are no\ncomfort nor is there any want of them save inasmuch as the\nperfect good, God namely, is to be grasped therein. The clear\neye tolerates the mote no more than does the pure soul aught that\nclouds, that comes between. Creatures as she enjoys them are\nall pure for she enjoys creatures in God and God in creatures.\nShe is so limpid she sees through herself ; nor is God far to seek :\nshe finds him in herself when in her natural purity she flows into\nthe supernatural pure Godhead where she is in God and God in\nher and what she does she does in God and God does it in her.\n\nMeister Eckhart said, To die the death in love and knowledge, k\nthat is more noble and more worth than all the good works put I\ntogether that holy Christendom has done in love and knowledge\nfrom its beginning until now and ever shall do till the judgment\nday. These do but serve to bring this dcatli about, this death\nwherein springs life eternal.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, We fail to get our way with God because\nwe lack two things : profound humility and a telling will. Upon\nmy life I swear that God in his divinity is capable of all things but\nthis he cannot do, he cannot leave unsatisfied the soul with these\ntwo things. Wherefore vex not yourselves with trivialities ; ye\nwere not made for trivial things and the glory of the world is but\na travesty of truth, only a heresy of happiness.\n\nla\n\nMeister Eckhart being questioned as to God's greatest gift to\nhim answered. There are three. First, cessation of carnal desires\nand pleasures. Secondly, divine light enlightens me in everything\nI do. Thirdly, daily I grow and am renewed in virtue, grace and\nhappiness.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, Lofty aim is lofty nature. The vision of .\nGod is a high endeavour, I say, God is omnipotent, but he is\npowerless to thwart the man of meek and mighty aspiration, and\nany failure on my side to get my way with God is due to lack\neither of will or meekness.\n\n#\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nMeister Eckhart says. As a man gets to be like God and God\ngets dear enough for him to disregard himself and not seek what\nis his in time or in eternity, he is released from all his sins and\npurgatorial pains, yea though he have committed every sin on\nearth. And this life is attainable while yet he eats and drinks.\nFurther he declares, To be the heavenly Father's Son we must be\nstrangers to the world, remote from self, pure-hearted, inward\nminded.\n\nOn one occasion Brother Eckhart said, Five things there be\nwhich in whomsoever has them are sure sign that he will never\nlapse from God. First, though most grievous things befall this\nman from God or creature, never a murmur does he make : no\nword but praise and thanks is ever heard. Again, at the most\ntrying times he never says one word in his excuse. Thirdly, this\nman desires of God what God will freely give and nothing else :\nhe leaves it all to him. Fourthly, nothing in heaven or earth can\nruffle him : so settled is his calm that heaven and earth in topsy-\nturveydom would leave him quite content in God. Fifth, nothing\nin heaven or earth can cheer him ; for having reached the point\nwhere naught in heaven or earth can sadden him so neither can\nit gladden him, except as trifles can.\n\nA man remote and far from his own self as the chief angel of\nthe Seraphim from him, would have that angel for his own as he is\nGodJs and God is his. And that is the bare truth, as God is God.\n\nSt Paul says : ' The whole world is the cross to me and I the\ncross to you.'\n\n. Said Meister Eckhart the preacher. There is no greater valour\n[nor no sterner fight than that for self-effacement, self-oblivion.\n\nBrother Eckhart said, Not all suffering is rewarded ; only what\nis cheerfully consented to. A man hanged on the gallows, suffering\nunwillingly, were better pleased that it had been another. There\nis no reward for that. Other sufferings the same. It is not the\nsuffering that counts, it is the virtue. — I say, to him who\nsuffers not for love to suffer is suffering and is hard to bear. But\none who suffers for love suffers not and his suffering is fruitful\nin God's sight.\n\nAccording to Meister Eckhart^ Every sign, every holiness, every\nperfection possible to creature our Lady had par excellence. To\ntake her holiness, it was so prodigious that our Lady never sinned.\nOf signs, again, she had the chief one, that of being God's mother ;\nalbeit our theologians do contend that our Lady was far happier\nuniting God to Godhead than she was in giving carnal birth to\nGod. As to the overfullness our Lady got from deity, she was\nworthy of it, bearing as she did God in the flesh. Soul over-\nbrimming like this overflows into the body and makes the body\nlike it, thus she was God's carnal mother. Accordingly some\ndoctors do affirm that mental concepts tell upon the body more\nthan physicians do with all their drugs. God is never born except\nin souls which have put creatures under their feet. Our philo-\nsophers say, Perfect rest is freedom from all motion.\n\nOn St Peter's words, ' We have abandoned all things,' Meister\nEckhart comments thus : Thou hast well said, for laden thou\ncouldst not follow him. It is no profitless exchange, giving up\nall for God : by him all things are given and having gotten him\nhe stands in lieu of all.\n\nMeister Eckhart said. What our Lord did was done with this\nintent, and this alone, that he might be with us and we with him.\n\nBrother Eckhart preached saying, St Peter said, ' We have\nleft all things.' St James said, ' We have given up all things.'\nSt John said, ' We have nothing left.' Whereupon Brother\nEckhart asks, When do we leave all things ? When we leave\neverything conceivable, everything expressible, everything audible,\neverything visible, then and then only we give up all things.\nWhen in this^ sense we give up all we grow aflood with light,\npassing bright with God.\n\nHe that would be what he ought must stop being what he is.\nWhen God made the angels the first sight they saw was that of\nthe Father with the Son sprouting out of his Father's heart like\na green shoot out of a tree. This blissful vision they have had\nmore than six thousand years and how it comes they wot as well\n\nMEISTER ECKttART\n\nto-day as when they were first made. This owing to their keen\nperception ; the more we know the less we understand.\n\nIn the Book of Wisdom it is writ, ' All men are fools in whom\nis no knowledge of God for men are mortal without God.' Without\ndivine wisdom we are without Gk)d and to be without God is to\nbe without truth for God it is who inculcates the truth. Not\nbeing in God means being in lies and without wisdom. One may\nbe worldly-wise without being Godly-wise but this is folly in\nGod's sight ; wisdom wisdomless, more foolishness than wisdom.\nThe question is, who has this heavenly wisdom ? Meister Eckhart\nsays, He who in deep and real humility so yields himself to God\nthat his will is wholly God's will and God's will is his, as saith\nIsaiah the prophet, God teaches true wisdom to none but the\nJhumble.' And in the Book of Wisdom too we read, ' Where there\nis meekness there is true wisdom.' Also the heathen doctor\nPtolemeus says, ' Among wise men the humblest are the wisest.'\nAccording to Meister Eekhart, with humility goes love : lowliness\nwithout love is dead indeed for the virtues are virtue in virtue\nof love.\n\n— ' And so shall a man order his life if he would be perfect.'\nAnent this Meister Eekhart says. Works wrought from within are\npleasant both to God and man ; they are benign and living works.\nThey are Godworthy for he alone it is who does in man works\nwrought from within, as saith the prophet Isaiah, ' Lord all our\nworks thou hast wrought in us,' and Christ too said, ' My Father\nwho is in me he doeth that I do.' Such works are both easy and\npleasant to man for all deeds are agreeable and pleasant to man\nin which body and soul are harmonious. This is the case in all\nthese works. Again, these works are living works : the dead\nbeast differs from the living one in that the dead is moved from\noutside only ; it must be pulled or pushed, to wit, and its works\nare all dead works. The live beast moves itself where'er it will ;\nits motive power is within and its works are living yorks. In the\n|same way those works of men which have their source within\nj where God moves by himself, essential products, these are our\niworks, divine works, useful works. But works which come from\nsome external cause and not from inner being, these works I say\nare dead, they are not godly works nor are they ours. Meister\nEckhart also says, Works wrought from within are willing works.\nBut that which is willing is sweet, therefore works from within\nare all pleasant whereas works due to any outward cause are\n\nunwilling and slavish for were there nothing moving from without\nno work were done at all, so that it is reluctant, menial, bitter.\n\nMeister Eekhart said, No person x'^an in this life reach the point\nat which he is excused from outward works. What though one\nlead the contemplative life, one cannot altogether keep fromj\nflowing out and mingling in the life of action. Even as a man\nwithout a groat may still be generous in the will to give, whereas\na man of means in giving nothing cannot be called generous, so\nno one can have virtues without exercising virtue at the proper\ntime and place. Hence those who lead the contemplative life\nand do no outward works, are most mistaken and all on the\nwrong tack. What I say is that he who lives the contemplative\nlife may, nay he must, be absolutely free from outward works\nwhat time he is in act of contemplation but afterwards his duty\nlies in doing oub.vard works ; for none can live the contemplative\nlife without a l-reak and active jife bridges the gaps in the life\nof contemplation.\n\nMeister Eekhart says and so do other masters, that there are\ntwo things in God : essence and regard, ix, relatio. According to\nthese doctors, not in the Godhead does the Father bear his Son ;\nthe Father in his essence does but see into his naked essence where\nhe discerns himself in all his power : himself by himself, without\nthe Son and without the Holy Ghost ; naught sees he there but the\nunity of his own essence. But the Father being minded to regard\nhimself, to reflect upon himself in another Person, by this act of\nretrospection is begetting his Son ; and being well contented with\nhimself in this regard and finding his reflection most delightful he\nmust, since all joy is his eternally, keep on looking back eternally.\nSo the Son is as eternal as the Father, and from the mutual liking\nand the love betwixt the Father and the Son there comes the Holy\nGhost and since this love between the Father and the Son has\nbeen for aye therefore the Holy Ghost is as eternal as the Father\nand the Son and these three Persons have one simple essence and\nare distinct as Persons only : the Father's Person never was the\nSon's nor the Holy Ghost's Person ; all three have each their own\nPerson albeit they are one in essence.\n\nMeister Eekhart says and so do other masters. No man has\nany merit apart from his intention and the why of a man's action/\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nfeives the measure of his merit, naught beside. Hence anyone\n^tending, anyone striving, for something less than God is not\nworthy of God unless as the lover of creature, whatever it be, in\nGod. . God-lovers have no guerdon but God ; them God rewards\nwith himself.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, and so do other masters, that in the course\nof nature it is really the higher which is ever more ready to pour\nits power out into the lower than the lower is ready to receive it.\nThe highest heaven, for instance, is turning far more rapidly than\nthe rest which run against it. However fast the lower heavens\nrace against the upper, in order to receive the influx from it, the\nhighest heaven will go harder still both as to pace and influx. So\nGod is vastly quicker to pour out his grace than man to take it in.\nThere is no dearth of God with us ; what dearth there is is wholly\nours who make not ready to receive his grace.\n\nThe question is, When do the passions perforce obey the mind ?\n\n( The answer Meister Eckhart gives is this. What time the mind\nis fixed on God and there abides, the senses arc obedient to the\nmind. As one should hang a needle to a magnet and then another\nneedle on to that, until there are four needles, say, depending from\nthe magnet. As long as the first needle stays clinging to the\nmagnet all the other needles will keep clinging on to that but\nwhen the leader drops the rest will go as well. So, while the mind\nkeeps«fixed on God the senses arc subservient to it but if the mind\nshould wander off from God the passions will escape and be unruly.\n\nWhy is it, Meister Eckhart asks, that people are so slow to look\nfor God in earnest ? His comment is : When one is looking for a\nthing and finds no trace of its existence one hunts half-heartedly\nand in distress. But lighting on some vestige of the quarry, the\nchase grows lively, blithe and keen. The man in quest of fire,\ncheered when he feels the heat looks for its source with eagerness\nand pleasure. And so it is with those in quest of God : feeling\nnone of the sweetness of God they grow listless but sensing the\nsweetness of divinity they blithely pursue their search for God.\n\nMeister Eckhart asks. Whose are the prayers God always hears ?\nAnd Meister Eckhart answers. Who worships God as God God hears.\n\nBut he who worships God for worldly goods, worships not Gk>d :\nhe worships what he worships God for and employs God as his\nservant for the getting of it. As St Augustine puts it, ' What\nthou dost love thou dost worship ; true prayer, real prayer is\nnothing but^ loving : what one loves that one prays ^oV^'ffence\nno diie praysTo God aright but he that prays to God for God\nwithout a thought of aught but God,\n\nMeister Eckhart says and so do other masters, Whoso wants a\nvirtue ought to seek it at the souree, in God to wit, where we find\nall the virtues added up to virtue. The man who finds a single\nvirtue thus diseovers every virtue in the one and, attaining to the\nunity where all virtues are virtue, the soul sees God and God looks\non the soul. Soul is caressed by God who, talking with her in\nfamiliar fashion, teaehes her universal wisdom and God and man\nnow fully reeonciled, man is the lord of every ereature, of all the\ngood things that have flowed from God ; as it is written in the\nBook of Wisdom where the wise man says, ' All good have I gotten\nin thee alone ' : in virtue have 1 gotten all the virtues.\n\nAccording to Meister Eckhart, God is not only the Father of all\ngood things but he is the mother of all things to boot. He is\nFather for he is the cause of all things and their creator. He is\nthe mother of all things as well, for when creatures have gotten\ntheir being from him he still stays with creatures to keep them\nin being. If God did not remain with creatures after they had\nstarted their own life they would most speedily fall out of being.\nFalling from God means falling from being into nothingness. It\nis not so with other causes, they can with safety quit the things\nthey cause when these have gotten being of their own. When the\nhouse is in being its builder can depart and for the reason that\nit is not the builder alone that makes the house : the materials\nthereof he draws from nature. But God provides creature with\nthe whole of what it is, with form as well as matter, so he is bound\nto stay with it or it will promptly drop out of existence.\n\nMeister Eckhart says, the man who doing some good deed does\nit not wholly for God's sake and without any thought save God,\nthat man darkens God's glory. All good works are God's. Hence\nif a man in his good work harbours intent towards aught but God\n\n428 MEISTER ECKHART\n\nhe gives thereto the honour of the work and robs God of his glory\nand all such works are sterile and unfruitful.\n\nThe question is, Does the virtue of prayer increase with the\noutward practice of it ? Meister Eckhart says that the external\nhabit adds little or nothing to the value of prayer. Prayer is a\ngood thing in itself. Now a thing that is good in. virtue of its\nmuchness is not good in virtue of itself. One groat has little value\nall alone but if thou hadst a thousand groats that were a handsome\nproperty, solely by reason of the number. Groats have small value\nin themselves apart from number. And so it is with outward\npractices : number adds little to the good of prayer ; one Ave\ncoming freely from the heart has greater power and virtue than\na thousand from the lips. And by the same token, no virtue\ndwells in number of good works ; virtue is every whit as fine, as\ngood, in one least act of virtue rightly done as in a thousand.\nVirtue is not enhanced by multiplying outward acts of virtue, for\nwere it good from number it would not then be good in its own\nright. A thing good in itself is good in its oneness not in its multi-\nplication. True virtue means virtuous works wrought virtuously.\nWho gives an alms in God's name but gives it grudgingly and not\nwith cheerful heart, what though he do a virtuous deed, he does\nnot do it virtuously. And so with prayer or any other virtue :\ndone rightly it is virtue but not else. Take patience for example.\nExternal suffering does not make one patient : it merely tries one's\npatience, as fire will try a penny whether it be of silver or of copper.\nThe pa,tient man is patient still though outward suffering n'er\nbefall. And prayer the same. The man of pure heart Godward\nturned who never does a stroke of outward work is nathcless in\ngood case for hearts are not made pure by outward prayers :\nprayer rises pure from out pure hearts.\n\nDoctors declare that God moves all things, i.e. all creatures,\nbut creatures cannot move God. God can move creatures for he\nhas created all creatures and it is he who keeps them in existence.\nBut creatures cannot move God : no creature can affect God,\naccording to the universal law that the lower does not flow into\nthe higher. Now creatures are inferior to God so they do not\ninfluence God, ergo, they do not move God.\n\nIn this connection some enquirers ask how God can move\ncreatures and not be defiled by creatures which are full of fault ?\nThe masters answer. If, as we see,'^the sun can shine on mire and\n\nfilth without contamination then how much more can God protect\nhimself from any taint of creature. But Meister Eckhart argues\nin a different fashion. He says God is in all things but so as to\nbe wholly outside things, hence faults in creatures will not affect\nGod. Just as we see the soul whole in the eye and at the same\ntime whole outside the eye for she is whole in every limb ; no\nblemish of the eye can touch the soul which is in suchwise wholly\nin the eye as to be independent of the eye. Even so God in creature\nis wholly without creature, untouched and untainted by creature.\n\nThere is another answer Meister Eckhart gives : God is only in\nthe essence (or being) of a creature. His argument runs thus.\nEssenee is without defect, defect being nothing but a lapse from\nbeing. Now seeing no defect can touch the essence and God is\nonly in the essence of a creature therefore God is unaffected by the\ndefects of creature. Regarding this amazing fact of deity John\nChrysostom observes : ' That God is in all creatures we know and\ndeclare but how and in what manner we do not understand.' Yet\nMeister Eckhart says it is quite plain if for the word God we put\nthe word being. We see and have abundant proof that being is\nin all things. But if actual being is God it follows then that God\nmust be in all things.\n\nThus saith the wise man in the Book of Wisdom, ' Eternal wisdom\nis omnipotent for it is one.' Upon which Meister Eckhart com-\nments thus. The simpler a thing is the more powerful and effective\nit is. We can demonstrate it thus. In a thing made of parts\nthe power of the thing resides in its parts. In a house made of\nwalls, foundations and roof, the whole force of the house consists\nin these parts. If the house could but draw from its oneness the\nvirtue it gets from its walls then it need have no walls. Now God\nis the simplest possible good wherein all things are one and as one\nhe is therefore omnipotent. Again, the heathen doctors say that\npower dispersed is dissipated. It is so with the mind. Scattered\nin multitudinous creature it is so much more feeble and infirm\ntoward God. But when the mind gets rid of creatures, when all\nthe senses vanish into mind, then mind and passions being met\nin one the mind is strong enough to wrest from God whatever it\ndesires. When man does what is in him not even God can say\nhim nay.\n\nIn one of his sermons Meister Eckhart said. It is my humility\nthat gives God his divinity and the proof of it is this. God's\npeculiar property is giving. But God cannot give if he has nothing\nto receive his gifts. Now I make myself receptive to his gifts by\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nmy humility so I by my humility do make God giver and since\ngiving is God's own peculiar property I do by my humility give\nGod his property. The would-be giver must needs find a taker ;\nwithout a taker he cannot be a giver for it is the taker by his\ntaking that makes the man a giver. So God, to be the giver, must\ndiscover a receiver. Now none but the humble can receive the\ngift of God. So God, to use his godlike power of giving, will eke\nneed my humility ; without humility he cannot give me aught for\nI without humility cannot accept his gift. Thus it is true that I\nby my humility do give God his divinity.\n\nMeister Eckhart also said, My lowliness raises up God and the\nlower I humble myself the higher do I exalt God and the higher\nI do exalt God the more gently and sweetly he pours into me his\ndivine gift, his divine influx. For the higher the inflowing thing\nthe more easy and smooth is its flow. How God is raised upon my\nlowliness I argue thus : the more I abase and keep myself down\nthe higher God towers above me. The deeper the trough the\nhigher the crest. In just the same way, the more I abase and\n1 humble myself the higher God goes and the better and easier he\nf pours into me his divine influx. So it is true that I exalt God by\n' my lowliness.\n\nMeister Eckhart says. We ought not to have to ask God for his\ngrace, his divine goodness, we ought to contrive to take it ourselves\nwithor^t asking. God has gotten himself in his divine outflow just\nas the flowing. . . .\n\nMeister Eckhart points out how Isaias says, ' Thy light is come\nto thee, the light which is eternal, unchangeable and new and\ninconceivable, free and thine own ; well may thy heart both\nwonder and rejoice.'\n\nThe question is, how is it light if it is inconceivable ? How does\nit come if it is immoveable ? How be called thine if it is free ?\nI answer first. That light is God which is light in itself and which\nis light in all created things and wherein all creatures are light.\nFor to begin with I contend that light has the peculiar property\nof being clear and luminous in itself and in others revelation.\nBut this belongs exclusively to God. Wherefore I say the light\nin itself is God. The second point is argued thus. If everything\ncaused is a manifestation of the first cause then light of intellect\nin us is surely God ; no mind can see the naked truth in a created\n\nlight for nothing gives what it has not got. Augustine says,\n* Our mind can only see the naked truth in light which is perfectly\nsimple and pure, God, to wit.' The third is proved as follows.\nIf creature is light and God is light, as has been shown before,\nthen creaturely being is merely a light in light-being. But one\nlight in another produces but one light, so it is true.\n\n— ' Talking of light, now if so be that in this life our minds can\nsee the naked truth by means of the light that is God, then it is\nalso true that man may here see God and needs must it be true\nwithal that man is here beatified.*\n\nI answer that, albeit here a man may see the truth by means of\nthe light that is God natheless he sees not what God is, using this\nlight as a means. I say, what though he see God as he is, he is\nnot yet beatified for God as a means is germane to creature. Look\nyou, God beatifies not as being the beginning (when he is of the\nnature of all things), not yet as being the mean (where he is of the\nnature of a creature), nor even as the end (for then again he is all\nthings), neither does he beatify as being all of these but he beatifies\njust inasmuch as he transcends them all ; he beatifies as being God\nimpartible, as being simply pure light in itself.\n\nIf thou shouldst ask, ' How is he light, being incomprehensible ? '\nI answer. Being incomprehensible therefore he is the light. I\nsay, moreover, incomprehensibility is the light nature and this\nis plain, for his incomprehensibility comes from his unendingness.\nBut his unendingness is due to his simplicity, to his purity (or\nclarity), which constitutes lightness in God. It is well said then,\nGod is light. But know, this vision of the truth in the divine\nlight is gotten in no school of creatures, it is learnt in the school\nof renouncement, of utter detachment from creatures, and for\nsuch lore the school is heaven, the book thy empty heart, eternity\nthy reading, thy mentor uncreated light and truth thy mentor\ntoo. This David meant when he declared, ' Lord in thy light shall\nwe see the light.'\n\nThen take the second question. How does he come who is without\nmotion and how does he come who is without place ? To whom does\nhe come who is in all hearts ?\n\nI answer, He does not come as anything at all nor yet as gaining\nsomething for himself but he comes ordering ; he who was hidden\ncomes and reveals himself. He comes as the light which lay\nconcealed in people's hearts and in their minds, now taking shape\nin intellect and will and in the deepest being of the soul. He is in\nthe inner man in such a way that there is naught without him\nand there is naught there with him : he is there all by himself.\nHe comes, appearing in the mind and in the will, nothing at all\nwithout him, nothing at all with him but mind and will are full\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nof him alone. There seems nothing with him, nothing without\nhim ; the mind is but the place of God, a Godstead to itself and\nnothing more, as David sings, ' Lord the light of thy countenance\nis risen upon us ' as though to say, Holding thy peace, with\nsighing and with rue do thou by means of intellect turn thy will\nround to feel the charm of God. Converse with him as man to\nman and as thou dost discourse with God in the first person and\nof God in the third so do thou talk to God in the second Periion.\nForgetting everything, aware of God alone, say unto him, ' Thou\nart my God, thou only art within, thou only art all things.'\nCreatures are not receptive to God, except those that are made in\nthe image of God, like angels and man's soul : these being God-\nreceptive he is in them and they in him. To others God is essential,\nnot that they have gotten him but simply that they have no being\nwithout him. Not in virtue of his presence do they see him, does\nshe see God in her innermost depth ; nor is it by his power for he\nis powerless apart from her ; but we can do nothing without him.\nGod being in the soul as in himself therefore the soul is called a place\nand soul is also called the place of peace for where God is as it were\nin himself there is the kingdom of heaven and peace untroubled,\njoyous and delightful. The blest soul is at rest in God as in her\nown, and more so.\n\nA man who has gone clean out of himself straightway finds God\nin God and God with God. He behaves like him for what he is\nhe is to God and what he is to God God is to him : God belongs\nwholly to him and is wholly he and he is wholly in God and is\ndownright God they being so entirely the same, one cannot be\nwithout the other.\n\nThe soul is no different from Christ save that the soul has a born\nnature and a created nature. This Christ has not in his eternal\nPerson. If the soul doffed her born nature and her created nature\nshe would be all the same, just essence itself. I say, put off thy\ncreature ; it is easy to doff the creature for this is a labour of love\nand the greater the pain the greater the joy.\n\nI Whoso has three things is beloved of God. The first is riddance\nlof goods ; the second, of friends, and the third is riddance of self.\n\nMeister Eckhart said that in the essence of the soul we may\nsurely see and know God. And the closer acquainted one is in\n\nthis life with the soul the closer acquainted with God. The only\nway is to abandon creature and escape from self. Ilarkee. Love\ncreature as I may in God never can I love God in creature as\nperfectly as in myself. Thou hast to go out of thyself into thyself\nagain ; there lies the home of truth which none may find who looks\nfor it in outward things. Mary Magdalene, when she left creatures\nand betook herself into her heart, found there our Lord. God is\nunmixed and pure : I can find God then only in the pure. But\nmy interior soul is more undefiled and pure than any creature ;\nso my best chance of finding God is down in my own soul. And\neke I am the life in God for ' All that is in the Father is the life\nin him,' John said. In this guise does the Father bear the Son\nand in this selfsame birth I do proceed from him. Now he\ndeclares the Son to be in him, in the very depth of his heart.\nBut since all that was made in him is the life in him therefore I\nam this life in the innermost heart of God. ' And the life was the\nlight of men,' said John. Mark you, he says the divine light in\nus is our light wherein we see all things conceived in the mind,\n\nGod is being, perfect being, without which are no beings ; for\nall beings are from his being. May we be this same being. So\nhelp us God. Amen.\n\nAccording to Meister Eckhart, there are seven degrees of con-\ntemplation. Whoso would practise contemplation let him seek\nout a quiet spot and set himself to thinking, first, how noble his\nsoul is, how she has flowed straight out of God, a thought that\nfills him with a great delight. Having well cogitated this, •next\nlet him think how God must love his soul to make it in the likeness\nof the Trinity, so that all God is by nature he may be by grace ;\nwhereat he will delight perforce more vehemently still for it is\nfar more noble to be made in the form of the Trinity than merely\nto come straight from God. — In the third stage he meditates that\nhe has been beloved of God for aye ; the Trinity has been for aye\nand God has loved the soul for aye. — Fourthly, he reflects that\nGod did ever charge him to enjoy with God what God has aye\nenjoyed and always shall, God himself namely. At the fifth\nstage the soul enters into herself and knows God in herself, which\nhappens in this wise : No being can be without being and being\nfeeds on being ; but being cannot live upon this food till this food\nis converted to the same blessed nature as that which feeds upon\nit and this applies to being which is being-of-itself. But there is\nno being-of-itself excepting God, So my soul is living on nothing\nbut God. And by entering into oneself like this one finds God in\noneself. If God will that I faint not he must give me being. No\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nbeing can stand without God so if he means me to have being theii\nhe must give me himself.\n\nThe sixth stage is, soul knows hersdf in God. As thus. Every-\nthing in God is God. Now my idea has always been in God, is\nstill and ever shall be, therefore my soul is ever one with God\nand is God and I do find myself in God in the exalted fashion oi\nbeing God in God eternally. This brings the expert soul ineffable\ndelight.\n\nAt the seventh stage the soul knows God in himself as being\nwithout beginning whence all things emanated. This gnosis\ncomes to no man fully in this life for it means the beholding of God.\na thing not of this world.\n\nMind you, all our perfection, our whole happiness, depends or\nour traversing and transcending creature, time and state and\nentering the cause which is causeless.\n\nGod will never give himself openly to the soul . . . except she\nbring her husband, her whole free will, to wit.\n\nWhat the joy of the Lord is none can tell. But mark this\nmuch concerning it. The joy of the Lord is the Lord himself\nnone else, the Lord being live, essential, actual intellect whict\nknows itself and is and lives itself in itself and is the same, I dc\nnot i^addle it with any mode, nay, I divest it of all mode for he\nhimself is modeless mode who is and is glad because he is. This\nis the joy of the Lord and is the Lord himself. W^hite is not\nblack nor is aught naught. From naught naught can be taken,\nFrom aught aught can be taken and it is wholly thus with God,\nOf aught that is wholly in God naught remains. Soul joined to\nGod has in him once for all all that is at all in absolute perfection.\nThere soul forgets things and herself, as she is in herself, waking\nup in God, godlike as God in her, so much in love with self in him,\nso indiscriminately one with him, she enjoys naught but him,\ndelighting in him. What more should she know or desire ?\n\nGod being still sets everything going. So desirable a thing\nstarts them all running back into that from whence they came ;\nto that which stays unchanged in its own self ; and the nobler\nthe thing the more blithely it runs.\n\nGod can no more abide his likes than he could abide not being\nGod. Likeness is not a thing that can belong to God. There is\nsameness in the Godhead, in eternity ; but likeness is not sameness.\nIf I am same I am not like. Likeness is no form of being in the\none ; there is sameness for me in the unity, not likeness.\n\nThe first work of God in the soul is the birth of his Son in the\nsoul and from this act his other gifts do flow into the soul, as grace\nand virtue. What God can do in the soul is to bring forth his Son\nin the soul and this must needs be. It is characteristic of God that\nhe cannot refrain, he must beget his Son in me and in you all.\nI say, God begets me his Son and so say I of you all as well. That\nwe are all born of God his Son, is nothing wonderful ; we can see\nthis with creatures. Now mark my words, I say, this man is\nthe not ; I am not what you are and you are not what I am.\nSuppress the not and we are just the same ; take naught from\ncreatures and creatures are all the same. The remainder is one.\nWhat is this one ? It is the Son the Father bears. To be the\nactual Son the Father bears we must cancel the naught of creatures.\nThis naught which all creatures are e\\imbers a man and stops\nhim being the very Son begotten of the Father. God bids us\npart with naught so as to be the selfsame Son the Father bears.\nFor this man must be one ; he must escape from images and\nforms ere he can be the actual Son the Father brings to birth ;\nhe must be rid of everything, not merely alien things, but eke his\nown ; for God's Son and man's son are not two sons, they are one\nSon, one nature ; so it behoves a man to flee from other natures as\nwell as from his own and stand in the bare nature of the Son in\nthe Godhead, in that only. What I say is that if one is to be the\nactual Son the Father bears one must give up own nature altogether.\n— ' But many people have natures so alien to their own, how then\ncan they surrender their own nature ? ' — We always must surrender\nour own natures in order to become the very Son the Father\nbears. As St Paul says, ' Wc must be changed into his Son.'\nIn other words, the Son alone being beloved of the Father, what-\never things the Father loves he must love in his Son and inas-\nmuch as we become this Son the Father bears we do be changed\ninto his Son of love and are his very Son. Of this be sure. God\nwill love them in us and in all creatures in the guise of his alone-\nbegotten Son. Provided we abandon naught, become estranged\nfrom naught. We must relinquish all things, must forget all\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nthings, keeping nothing but the single nature of the Son. It\nseems a great deal but is not. It is a simple thing God bids us\ndo, he bids us give up naught. Whoso is without why has given\nup naught and by doing this we gain the whole world and abund-\nance. To the good man all things come, be sure of that. If\nI am better than you are, all the good you do and what you have\nis rather mine than yours for what you have you have in naught.\nBut if I have abandoned naught I am the very Son the Father\nbears and everything belongs to me in God.\n\nWhat could be sweeter than to have a friend with whom, as\nwith thyself, thou canst discourse all that is in thy heart ?\n\nWhen God made man the innermost heart of the Godhead was\nput into man.\n\nWhat is God's speaking ? The Father regarding himself with\npure perception sees into his own simple uncompounded essence\nand there descrys the whole idea of creature. By doing so he\nspeaks himself, his Word being clear understanding and this is\nhis Son.\n\nSpeaking of man wc mean a person ; speaking of manhood we\nmean human nature.\n\n* • 64\n\nDoctors define what nature is. It is the thing that essence\ncan take on. God took on manhood and not man. I say : Christ\nwas the first man. How so ? What is first in intention is last\nin execution, as the roof is the finish of the house.\n\nThe uppermost soul-face has two acts. By one she knows God,\nhis gift and his emanation. Therein she loves God today and\nknows him, and not tomorrow. The image lies not in these\npowers owing to their impermanence. There is another action of\nthe upper face, which is concealed. In the concealment lies\nthe image. Five things belong to this image. First, it is cast\nby another. Secondly, it answers to that same. Thirdly, it\nemanates therefrom. Fourthly, it is like thereto in nature ; not\nthat it is God's nature but it is a substance which is self-sub -\nsistent ; pure light-emanation from God and differing from him\n\nonly by the fact of knowing God. Fifthly, it tends towards the\nexemplar whence it came. Two things adorn this image. The\none, its being arrayed like him. The other, its having in it\na somewhat of eternity. The soul has three powers. Not in\nthem lies the image. But she owns a single power, namely,\nthe active intellect. Now according to Augustine and the New\nPhilosophers, memory, understanding and will are found herein\ntogether, nor can these three be told apart. This is the secret\nimage answering to God, God shining straight into this image.\n\nIt is God's will that we be holy and that we do what makes us\nholy. Holiness is a matter of will and wisdom. According to\nthe best authorities holiness lies in the ground, in the summit\nof the soul, where soul is in her cause, where she has outgrown\nnames and her own powers withal. For powers too are the defi-\nciency. We cannot give a name to God, nor can we name the soul\nin her own nature. The point where these twain meet is holiness.\n\nEssence is so noble it gives being to all things. Were there no\nessence angels would be like stones.\n\nA learned doctor said on one occasion when preaching in the\ncapital, that there was once a man, we read of him in holy scrip-\nture, who went a full eight years yearning for God to indicate some\nperson who should instruct him in the way of truth. Then in a\nmoment of vehement desire there came a voice from God and said,\n' Get thee to the temple, there shalt thou find a man to set thee on\nthe path to truth.' And he went and found a beggar, his feet all\ncracked and dirty, his rags scarce worth three pence. He greeted\nhim, ' Give thee good morrow ! ' He answered, ' I n'er had a\nbad.' — ' How now I ' quotha, ' Give thee good luck ! ' He\nanswered, ' I never had ill.' Again he adventured, ' God bless\nthee I How sayst thou. Sirrah, to that ? ' He said, ' I was never\naccursed.' — ' God 'a mercy I ' he cried, ' unriddle me this, I trow\nit is beyond me ! ' Said he, ' I will. Thou dost wish me good\nmorrow and I say I ne'er had a bad. Hungry I praise God ;\nfreezing I praise God ; poor and forsaken withal I praise God so\nI never have a bad morrow. Thou dost wish me good luck ;\nI say, I have never had ill. Whatsoever God gives or may lay\nup for me, be it sour or sweet, good or bad, I accept all from God\nfor the best so I have no ill hap. Thou dost call down God's\nblessing upon me. I answer, I am not accursed. I have given\nmy will up to God's, every whit, so that anything God wills I will.\nThat is why I am never unblessed, because I have no will but\nGod's.^ — ' Marry, good Sir, suppose God chose to cast thee into\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nhell, what would^t thou say to that ? ' — ' To cast me into hell ? '\nquoth he, ' that would spite himself ! Yet if he cast me into hell\nI should still have two arms to clasp him with. One arm is true\nhumility and this I should put under him, embracing him the\nwhile with the other arm of love. Better,' he said, ' to be in hell\nwith God than be in heaven without him.'\n\nSaid Meister Eckhart to a beggar, ' Good morrow, brother.' ' The\nsame to you Sir, but I never have bad ones.' — ' How so, brother ? '\nhe asked. — ' All God gives me to bear I eheerfully suffer for his sake\ndeeming myself unworthy, so never am I sad or sorry.' — ' Where\ndidst thou find God first ? ' he asked. — ' Leaving all creatures I\nfound God.' — ' Where didst thou leave God, brother ? ' he said. —\n\n' In every man's pure heart.' — ' What manner of man art thou,\nbrother ? ' quoth he. — ' I am a king,' he said. — ' Of what ? ' he\nqueried. — ' Of my own flesh. Whatsoever my spirit desires of\nGod my flesh is more eager, more ready to do and to bear than\nmy mind to accept.' — ' Kings have kingdoms,' he said : ' where is\nthy realm, brother ? ' — ' In my own soul.' — ' How so, brother ? '\nhe asked. — ' When, having locked the doors of my five senses,\n\nI am desiring God with all my heart then do I find God in my soul\nas clearly and as joyful as he is in life eternal.' — He said, ' Granting\nthee holy, who made thee so brother ? ' — ' Sitting still and\nthinking deep and keeping company with God has gotten me to\nheaven, for never could I rest in aught inferior to God. Now\nhaving found him I have peace and do rejoice eternally in him\nand that is more than any temporal kingship. No outward act\nhowever perfect but hinders the interior life.'\n\nMeister Eckhart met a lovely naked boy. He asked him whence\nhe came. He said, ' I come from God.' — ' Where hast thou left\nhim ? ' — ' In virtuous hearts.' — ' Whither away ? ' — ' To God.' —\n' Where wilt thou find him ? ' — ' Leaving all creatures.' — ' Who\nart thou ? ' — ' A king.' — ' Where is thy kingdom ? ' — ' In my own\nheart.' — ' Mind no one shares it with thee.' — ' So I do.' He\ntook him to his cell and said, ' Take any coat thou wilt.' — ' Then\nI should be no king ' (said he), and vanished.\n\nIt was Gk)d himself that he had had with him a little spell.\n\nA daughter came to the Dominican convent asking for Meister\nEckhart. The porter said, ' Who shall I tell him ? ' She,\n^ See also Spamer'a Textc, C, 6.\n\nanswered, ' I do not know.' — ' Why do you not know ? ' he\nenquired. — ' Because,' she said, ' I am not either virgin or [Spouse,\nnot man nor wife nor widow nor lady nor lord nor wench nor\nthrall.' The porter went off to Meister Eckhart. ' Do come out,'\nh^said, ' to the strangest wight that ever I heard and let me come\ntoo and you put your head out and say, ' Who is asking for me ? '\nHe did so. She said to him what she had said to the porter.\nQuoth he, ' My child, thou hast a shrewd and ready tongue, I\nprithee now thy meaning ? ' — ' An I were virgin,' she replied, ' I\nwere in my first innocence ; spouse, I were bearing the eternal\nWord within my soul unceasingly ; were I a man I should grapple\nwith my faults ; wife, should be faithful to my husband. Were\nI a widow I should be ever yearning for my one and only love ; as\nlady I should render fearful homage ; as wench I should be living\nin meek servitude to God and to all creatures and as thrall I\nshould be working hard, doing my best tamely to serve my Master.\nOf all these things I am no single one who am the one thing as the\nother running thither.' The doctor went away and told his\nstudents, ' I have been listening to the most perfect person I ween\nI ever met.'\n\nThis fragment is entitled, ' Meister Eckhart's Daughter.'\n\nMEISTER ECKHART'S FEAST\n\nMeister Eckhart tells how once upon a time there came a beggar\nto Cologne on Rhine in quest of poverty and the life of truth.\nAccosted him a noble dame, ' Eat with me, brother, of God's\ncharity ! ' — ' Gladly,' quoth he. When they were seated she\nencouraged him, ' Eat heartily, be not ashamed.' — ' 'Tis wrong,*\nhe said, ' to eat too much, to eat too little is wrong too ; the just\nmean lies between : I will eat as a beggar.' — ' What is a beggar ? '\nshe asked. — ^He said, ' It means three things. First, being dead\nto natural things. Next, not having inordinate desire of posses-\nsions. Thirdly, begrudging suffering to everyone except oneself.'\n— ' Tell me,' she questioned, ' what is poverty of the inner man ? '\n— ' That also means three things,' he said. ' First, complete\ndetachment from creatures, which arc out of God, in time and in\neternity. Secondly, abject humility of the outward and the\ninward man. Thirdly, an active interior life ; the mind un-\nceasingly wrought up to God.' — ' What is poverty of spirit ? ' she\nasked. — ' You want to know too much,' he said. — ' I can never\nknow too much,' said she, ' of God's glory and man's happiness.' —\n' True,' he returned. ' That again means three things. First,\n\nMEISTER ECKHART\n\nnot knowing aught but God in time and in eternity. Secondly,\nnot seeking God outside oneself. Thirdly, not owning any pro-\nperty that one conveys from place to place.' — ' But surely Meister\nEckhart, our father, must get from out his cell the sermons he\npreaches from his pulpit ? ' — ' Not he,* he said. — ' Whence then ?/\n(she asked). — 'The more temporal the more personal, the more\npersonal the more temporal.* — ' I trow,* she said, ' this guest is\nnot out of Bohemia.' ^ Quoth he, ' The sun that shines here in\nCologne is shining also in the town of Prague.' — ' Explain,^ she\nbegged. He said, ' 'Tis not my place with Meister Eckhart present.'\nMeister Eckhart said, ' He who knows nothing of the truth from\nwithin, if he woo it without shall find it too within.* — ' The\nreckoning is paid,' she cried. And he : ' Lady, you furnish the\nwine.* — ' I am not loath,* she answered, ' an you ask me.'\n\n(So Meister Eckhart asked her), ' Wherein do we divine the work-\ning of the Holy Ghost within our souls ? * She answered, ' In three\nthings. First, in the waning day by day of personal things, desires\nand natural love. Next, in the waxing of divine love and of grace\nfrom day to day. Last, in the eager charity which moves us to\nbestir ourselves on our fellow-man's behalf before our own.' Quoth\nhe, ' Our Lord's friends prove it.* Anon he asked, ' How does the\nspiritual man divine God's presence at his orisons or exercises ? '\nShe answered, ' By three things. First, by the object he sets\nbefore his chosen, world scorn and body suffering, to wit. Next,\nby a growth in grace commensurate with the love betwixt himself\nand God. The third one is th^it God does never leave him without\nhint of some fresh truth.' — ' That is, of course, the case,' he said.\n' Now tell me, how does he know if what he does is wholly in accord-\nance ♦with the sovran will of God ? * She answered, ' By three\nthings. First, clear consciousness never fails him. Secondly, he\nhas union with God without break. Thirdly, the heavenly Father\nkeeps giving his Son birth in him, in inspiration.' Quoth Meister\nEckhart, ' Were every reckoning as well paid as this one for the\nwine there's many a soul in purgatory would tliis day be in life\neternal.* Whereon the mendicant chimed in, ' What more remains\nit is the Doctor's turn to pay.* — ' Leave the old to their age,' pro-\ntested Meister Eckhart. — 'Then love shall settle it,' the beggar\nsaid, ' that never faileth.'\n\nQuoth the lady, ' Prithee father, how does one know oneself the\nheavenly Father's child ? ' He answered, ' By three things. First,\none does everything for love. Next, one takes everything the same\nfrom Go^. Thirdly, one has no hope in anyone but God.*\n\n^ * B&heim (Bohemia) I interpret thus : M stands for heatua ; heim, domua\nor house is to be interpreted as own house or fixed abode' Wilhelm von\nWenden.\n\nQuoth the beggar, ' Prithee father, how are we to tell if virtue\nis doing her perfect work in us ? ' He answered, ' By three things,\nlove of God for God's sake, good for good's sake, truth for\ntruth's sake.'\n\nQuoth the Doctor, ' My children, how lives the teacher of the\ntruth ? ' The lady said, ' He practises what he preaches.' The\nbeggar cried, 'Agreed. But the truth in his heart no words\ncan say.'\n\nAs the eternal Word is the birth of the heavenly Father, so is\nthe will of God the birth and the becoming of all creatures.\n\nTHIS IS MEISTER ECKHART'S FEAST",
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}