And He answered me, "I will lay it so close to Myself, that thou mayest
easily bear it. Follow Me, and see how I stood before My Father on the
Cross, sustaining all."
Then did I ask Him to bless me; and He said, "I always bless thee. Thy
sorrow shall turn to a good blessing for thee."
And I said no more but this, "O Lord, come Thou thus to the help of all
who love to suffer for Thee."
The Prayer of the Longing Heart.
There was one who for a long while, amidst the mercies of God, and also
many sorrows, longed continually that God would release the soul and take
her to Himself. And the Lord said to her, "Wait." Then did the suffering
one answer, "Lord, I cannot cease from longing. Oh, how gladly would I be
with Thee!" Then said the Lord--
"Before the worlds, O soul, I longed for thee;
And still I long, and thou dost long for Me;
And when two longings meet, for ever stilled,
The cup of love is filled."
Prayers.
Give me, O Lord, and take from me all that Thou willest, and leave me but
the desire to pass away to Thee in Thy love, and to Thy love. O well is
me, and I thank Thee, King of Heaven and Son of God, that whilst I was in
the world Thou didst choose me, and call me out of the world. For this
will I thank Thee eternally. Thy holy sorrow, all that Thou hast suffered
for me, is mine. Therefore all that I suffer I offer up to Thee, though
how little is my suffering like to Thine! Keep me always in Thy love,
that for ever I may praise Thee, Jesus, my most beloved; and I pray Thee
to loosen the cords, and let me be for ever with Thee.
O Thou beloved Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Eternal God, one with the Eternal
Father, think upon me. I thank Thee, Lord, for the grace of Thine
Atonement, wherewith Thou hast touched the depths of my heart, and
pierced me through with the power of Thy love. But when Thou dost touch
my heart with Thine awful, Thy holy tenderness, which flows through soul
and body, I fear lest I, who am so unworthy of Thee, should be
overwhelmed with the blessedness of Thy love.
Therefore I turn at times to pray for others more than for myself, and
withdraw myself, as it were, from the fulness of the joy, through love to
Thee and Christian faithfulness. For I fear the rising up within my heart
of the pride which cast down the most glorious of the angels of heaven,
and the voice of the serpent who deceived Eve with the promise of
vainglory.
I pray, O my God, that in continual love I may receive and enjoy the
gifts Thou givest. I ask for the fulness of Thy love, that shame and pain
and bitterness may be sweet to me, and that I may desire Thy will and not
mine, and that the fire of my love may burn in me to all eternity.
Of the Good Works of Men, how They Shine by the Work of the Lord.
How it is that the works of godly men shall shine and glow in the glory
of heaven, understand from these words.
Wherein we were innocent of aught, in this our innocence, the pure
holiness of God shines and glows.
In so far that we laboured in good works, the holy working of God shines
forth.
In so far as we clave to God with trustful hearts, the tenderness and
faithfulness of God shines brightly.
In so far as we receive our sorrows thankfully, do the sufferings of
Christ shine forth.
In so far as we wrought diligently in holy graces, does the holy grace of
God shine and glow in manifold brightness to all eternity.
And as here we loved, and as here we shed forth the light of a holy life,
in this does the love of God burn and shine, more and more unto the
perfect eternal day.
For all that shone forth from us was the light of the eternal Godhead.
The good works we did were given to us through the holy Manhood of the
Son of God, and we wrought them by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus all
our works, our love, our sufferings, flow back thither whence they came,
from the Three in One, to His eternal praise.
The Soul that Loveth Speaketh to her Lord.
If the world were mine and all its store,
And were it of crystal gold;
Could I reign on its throne for evermore,
From the ancient days of old,
An empress noble and fair as day,
O gladly might it be,
That I might cast it all away,
Christ, only Christ for me.
For Christ my Lord my spirit longs,
For Christ, my Saviour dear;
The joy and sweetness of my songs,
The whilst I wander here.
O Lord, my spirit fain would flee
From the lonely wilderness to Thee.
Seven Things known to the Longing of Love.
I bring unto Thy grace a sevenfold praise,
Thy wondrous love I bless--
I praise, remembering my sinful days,
My worthlessness.
I praise that I am waiting, Lord, for Thee,
When, all my wanderings past,
Thyself wilt bear me, and wilt welcome me
To home at last.
I praise Thee that for Thee I long and pine,
For Thee I ever yearn;
I praise Thee that such fitful love as mine
Thou dost not spurn;
I praise Thee for the hour when first I saw
The glory of Thy Face,
Here dimly, but in fulness evermore,
In that high place;
I praise Thee for a mystery unnamed,
Unuttered here below,
Unspeakable in words the lips have framed,
Yet passing sweet to know.
It is the still, the everlasting tide,
The stream of Love Divine,
That from the heart of God for evermore
Flows into mine.
To that deep joy that bindeth heart to heart
In one eternal love,
A still small stream that flows unseen below,
An endless sea above,
To that high love, that fathomless delight,
No thought of man may reach;
And yet behind it is a sevenfold bliss,
Most holy of God's holy mysteries,
Untold in speech.
Faith only hath beheld that secret place,
Faith only knows how great, how high, how fair
The Temple where the Lord unveils His Face
To His beloved there.
O how unfading is the pure delight,
How full the joy of that exhaustless tide
Which flows for ever in its glorious might,
So still, so wide;
And deep we drink with sweet, eternal thirst,
With lips for ever eager as at first,
Yet ever satisfied.
Of a Sin that is Worse than all Other Sins.
I have heard men speak of a sin, and I thank God that I have not known
it, for it seems to me, and it is, more sinful than all other sins, for
it is the height of unbelief. I grieve over it with body and soul, and
with all my five senses, from the depth of my heart, and I thank the
living Son of God that into my heart it never came.
This sin did not have its source in Christian people, but the vile enemy
of God has by means of it deceived the simple. For, led by him, they
would fain be so holy as to enter into the depths of the eternal Godhead,
and to sound the secret abyss of the eternal sacred Manhood of the Lord.
If thus they became blinded with pride, they bring themselves under the
eternal curse. They would attain to a holiness which is reached by
mocking at the written Word of God, which speaks to us of the Manhood of
our Lord.
Thou poorest of the poor! didst thou indeed know and confess truly the
eternal God, then wouldst thou also confess of necessity the eternal
Manhood that dwelleth in the Godhead, and thou wouldst of necessity
confess the Holy Ghost, who enlightens the heart of the Christian, who is
the source of all his blessedness and joy, and who teaches the mind of
man far better than all other teachers, and leads us to confess in
humility that which He has taught us to know of the perfection of God.
How Love was seen with her Handmaidens--A Parable.
In the night I spoke thus to our Lord, "Lord, I live in a land that is
called Misery; it is this evil world, for all that is in it cannot
comfort me, nor give me joy unmixed with sorrow. In this land I have a
house, which is called Painful. It is the house in which my soul lives,
namely, my body. This house is old, and small, and dark. In this house I
have a bed, which is called Unrest, for all things are a grief to me
which have not to do with God. Near this bed I have a chair, called
Discomfort, wherein I hear of sins committed by others in which I had no
part. Before this chair I have a table, that is called Distress, for I am
grieved to find so few spiritual people. On this table lies a clean
tablecloth, which is called Poverty, that has much good in it, and if it
were rightly used it would be dear to those who use it. On this table my
food is placed for me; it is called the Bitterness of sin, and Willing
suffering. The drink is called 'Scanty Praise,' because, alas! I have far
too few good works to be remembered."
All this I saw as it were dimly in my soul. And then was the true Love of
God revealed to me. She stood before me as a noble and royal maiden, of
stately presence, fair, and with the roses of her youth, and around her
stood many maidens, who were the graces of the Spirit, and they were come
to be my handmaidens if I desired to have them as mine, for they were
willing to serve me. They wore crowns brighter than shining gold, and
their clothing was of green sendal.
And as I beheld her my dark house was lighted up, so that I could see all
that was therein, and all that happened there. And I knew the damsel
well, for she had often been my dear companion, and her face was familiar
to me. But as I have written of her oftentimes in this book, I will not
speak of her further.
Then said I to her, "O beloved damsel, that art a thousandfold higher
than I am, yet thou dost serve me with honour and reverence, as if I were
greater than an empress."
And she said, "When I saw that it was thy desire to renounce earthly
things I desired to be thy constant handmaiden, for I was seeking those
who from the love of God turned away from the things on earth."
And I said, "Beloved damsel, so long hast thou served me, I would gladly
give thee for thy service all that I have or might have on the earth."
She answered, "I have gathered up thy gift, and will restore it to thee
at last with glory and honour."