"The love of God has moved my pen,
My book is not from the mind of men."
And afterwards, she says, "I was warned by some that my book might give
much offence, and that it would be burnt as evil teaching. And I turned
to my Beloved, as was my wont, and said to Him that if it were so, He had
Himself misled me, for it was He who commanded me to write it. Then did
He reveal Himself to my sorrowful heart, as if He held the book in His
right hand, and said, 'My beloved one, do not be sorrowful. The truth can
be burnt by no man. He who would take it out of My Hand must be stronger
than I.'
"And yet I still answered Him, 'O Lord, if I were a learned clerk to whom
Thou hadst shown these wonders, then might I write so as to bring Thee
eternal glory. But how can it be that Thou shouldst build a golden house,
the house of Thy dwelling place, in a miry pool?'
"And He answered me, that when He gave the gifts of His grace, He sought
for the lowest and the smallest and the most unnoticed treasure houses.
'It is not on the high mountains that men drink of the fountains, for the
stream of My Holy Spirit flows downwards to the valleys below. There are
many wise in the Scriptures, who are but fools and unlearned in other
learning.'"
Further on Matilda says that in the German tongue she found it hard to
speak of that which God had shown her, and "of Latin I know nothing. For
that which the eye can see, and the ear can hear, and the mouth can
speak, is as unlike the truth which is revealed to the soul who loves, as
a candle is to the glorious sun. Of the heavenly things which God has
shown me I can speak but, as it were, a little word, not more than the
honey which a little bee could carry away on his foot from an overflowing
vessel.
"And now, Lord, I will commend these writings to Thy tender mercy; and
with a heart that sighs, and with eyes that weep, and with a downcast
spirit, I pray that they never may be read by a Pharisee, and I pray also
that Thy children may so receive them into their hearts, as Thou, O Lord,
hast of Thy truth given out of Thy store to me."
Matilda's book grew in an irregular manner from year to year. She wrote
from time to time on loose sheets that which she believed she had
received from God. There is, therefore, no connection in these writings,
nor is there any plan in her manner of writing. Sometimes she wrote in
prose, or in prose running from time to time into metre and rhyme.
Sometimes she wrote in verse, in irregular measure, and with or without
irregular rhymes, each division with a heading.
The friar Henry of Halle collected the loose leaves, and before the death
of Matilda he divided them into six books. A seventh book was added by
Matilda after the death of Brother Henry. Five of these books appear to
have been written before Matilda entered the convent of Hellfde, and some
can be dated by allusions to contemporary events.[5]
Apart from all that is interesting in these books, as literature or as
history, there remains for the Christian reader who "is not a Pharisee"
the far more interesting field of research into their value as spiritual
teaching. The Pharisee will find much to blame and to despise in the
ignorance and superstition of this Beguine of the Middle Ages.
And in sifting Matilda's writings, as indeed the writings of any man or
woman, the gold, if there be any, has to be separated from the dross. The
dross which had been accumulating for twelve centuries formed a large
amount of that which Matilda believed she had learnt from God. We can
recognise the gold by the one test furnished to us by Him who despises
not any, but teaches the most ignorant who come to Him. If we apply to
the writings of Matilda this infallible test, of conformity to the Word
of God, we may be enriched by the gold without being encumbered by the
dreary heaps of dross from which we have to sift it.
The book is supposed to be the expression of the intercourse of the soul
with God. That it is really so _in part_, can be verified by any
Christian reader who will compare it with the Bible and with the
experience common to Christian believers. That this true Christian
teaching should be mixed with the errors of her time is natural, and we
know that the errors of each successive age leave their traces in the
books that are the most enlightened, and that our own age is no
exception.
The object in view in making the following extracts from Matilda's book
is not to present it as a literary or historical study. Were it so, it
would be needful to give extracts from the false as well as from the true
teaching, so as to give a correct idea of Matilda and her times. But
writing simply with a desire that the truth taught to Matilda by the
Spirit of God should be made available for those in these later days who
are glad of spiritual food, the false and the imaginary will be passed
over, and the remainder given as much as possible in Matilda's own words.
It must be remarked, however, that certain expressions which in mediaeval
German conveyed no impression of irreverence would sound painfully
familiar in modern English. An equivalent has, therefore, to be found
conveying to readers now the same sense which the original words would
have conveyed to the readers of the thirteenth century.
It may also be remarked that the chief errors to be noted in Matilda's
book are a tendency to the worship (in a lower sense of the word) of the
Virgin and the Saints, a belief in Purgatory, and a certain weight
attached to the merit of human works.
Of the first of these, it may truly be said that Matilda's references to
the Virgin Mother stand in remarkable contrast to the writings of later
times. If compared with "the Glories of Mary," now in popular use, they
serve as a landmark showing the downward course of error and superstition
in the Church of Rome during the past six hundred years, though there
were already those, such as Bonaventura,[6] who hastened the fall.
It must be observed, too, in reference to Matilda's allusions to the
Virgin Mary, that the chasm between the mother of the Lord and all
ordinary believers is very much reduced if compared with that which
exists in modern Roman Catholic books of devotion, from the fact that the
place assigned to every redeemed soul in Matilda's writings is far higher
than in most Catholic or Protestant teaching. Even amongst Protestants it
is not uncommon to regard the redeemed as in a place below the angels, or
on a level with them. But to Matilda the power and the value of the work
of Christ were so fully recognised, that she regarded the Bride of the
Lamb, or the individual who is made a member of the body of Christ, as in
the highest place next to the Bridegroom, the Head of the Body.
As regards human merit, Matilda only appears occasionally to attach some
weight to it in speaking of others; of herself, she says she has nothing
to bring to God but her sin.
The Journey to Eternal Peace.
It will be best to describe Matilda's spiritual life as far as possible
from her own words. She gives us in parables the history of her soul.
Sometimes it seems well to give these in full, at other times to give the
sense whilst omitting repetitions.
She tells us that for a long time she was without rest or peace, knowing
not only the guilt, but the power of sin, and she looked hither and
thither for that which would meet her need. And the mind, as it were,
disputed with the soul, for the mind would have her to seek her peace in
the things that could be seen. And thus it said--
"O soul, in the Magdalen's bitter tears
Do the streams of comfort flow."