II
THIS IS ANOTHER SERMON
Ubi est qui est rex Judaeorum? (Matt.
22). Where is he who is born King of the Jews? Now concerning this
birth, mark where it befalls. I say again as I have often said before this birth
befalls in the soul exactly as it does in eternity, neither more nor less, for
it is the same birth: this birth befalls in the found and essence of the soul.
Certain questions arise. Granting
that God is in all things as intelligence (or mind) and is more instinct in
things than they are in themselves and more natural; and granting that God
wherever he is is in operation, knowing himself and speaking his Word, then mark
in what respects the soul is better fitted for this divine operation than other
rational creatures God exists in.
God is in all things as being, as
activity, as power. But he is procreative in the soul alone for though every
creature is a vestige of God, the soul is the natural image of God. This image
is perfected and adorned in this birth. No creature but the soul is susceptible
to this birth, this act. Such perfection as enters the soul, whether it be
divine light, grace or bliss, must needs enter the soul in this birth and no
otherwise. Do but foster this birth in thee and thou shalt experience all good
and all comfort, all happiness, all being and all truth. What comes to thee
therein brings thee true being and stability and whatsoever thou mayst seek or
grasp, without it, perishes, take it how thou wilt. This alone gives life; all
else corrupts. Moreover, in this birth thou dost participate in the divine
influx and its gifts. This is not received by creatures wherein God's image is
not found: the soul-idea belongs to the eternal birth alone and this happens
only and solely in the soul, begotten of the Father in the ground and innermost
recesses of the soul whereinto never image alone shone nor soul-power peeped.
Another question is: If this birth
befalls in the ground and essence of the soul, then it happens alike in sinner
and in saint, so what use or good is it to me? The ground of nature is the same
in both, nay even in hell the nobility of nature persists eternally. -- It is a
characteristic of this birth that it always comes with fresh light. It always
brings great enlightenment to the soul because it is the nature of good to
diffuse itself. In this birth God pours into the soul in such abundance of
light, the ground and essence of the soul are so flooded with it, that it runs
over into her powers and into the outward man as well. Thus it befell Paul when
upon his journey God touched him with his light and spake to him: the reflection
of this light showed outwardly so that his companions saw it surrounding Paul
like the saints. The superfluity of light in the ground of the soul wells over
into the body which is filled with radiance. No sinner can receive this light
nor is he worthy to, being full of sin and wickedness, or darkness. As he (John)
says, 'The darkness neither receives nor comprehends the light.' Because the
avenues by which the light would enter are choked and obstructed with guile and
darkness. Light and darkness are incompatible, like God and creatures. Enter
God, exit creatures. Man is quite conscious of this light. Directly he turns to
God this light begins to glint and sparkle in him, telling him what to do and
what to leave undone, with many a shrewd hint to boot of things he hitherto
ignored and knew nothing of. -- How dost thou know? -- Suppose thy heart is
vehemently moved to retire from the world. How could that be if not by this
light? It is so charming, so delightful, it makes other things so tiresome which
are not God or God's. He attracts thee to God and thou art sensible of many a
virtuous impulse albeit uncertain whence it comes. This interior mood is in no
wise due to creatures nor is it any of their bidding, for what creatures effect
and direct comes in from without. But thy ground alone is stirred by this force
and the freer thou dost keep the more truth and discernment are thine. No man
was ever lost save for the reason that once having left his ground he has let
himself become too permanently settled abroad. St Augustine says: Many there be
that have sought light and truth but only abroad where they are not. They
finally go out so far that they never get back nor find their way in again.
Neither have these found the truth for the truth is within their ground, not
without. So he who means to see this light and find out the whole truth must
foster the awareness of this birth within himself, in his ground, so shall his
powers all be lighted up and his outer man as well. Directly God inwardly stirs
his ground with the truth its light darts into his powers, and lo, that man
knows more than anyone could teach him. As the prophet says, 'I know more than I
was ever taught.' It is because this light cannot lighten and shine in sinners
that this birth cannot occur in them. This birth is inconsistent with darkness
and sin therefore it befalls not in the powers but in the ground and essence of
the soul.
Then comes the question: If God the
Father labours only in the ground and essence of the soul, not in her powers,
what have the powers got to do with it? How do they help by being idle and
taking holiday? What is the use, seeing this birth befalls not in the powers? -
It is well asked. But consider. Every creature works towards some end. The end
is ever the first in intention and last in execution. And God too works for a
wholly blessed end, to wit, himself: to bring the soul and all her powers into
that end, into himself. For this God's works are wrought, for this the Father
brings his Son to birth in the soul, that all the powers of the soul may end in
this. He lies in wait for all the soul contains, all are bidden to his royal
feast. Here, the soul is scattered abroad among her powers and dissipated in the
act of each: the power of seeing in the eye, the power of hearing in the ear,
the power of tasting in the tone, and her powers are accordingly enfeebled for
their interior work, scattered forces being imperfect. It follows that for her
interior work to be effective, she must call in all her powers, recollecting
them out of extended things to one interior act. St Augustine says, 'The soul is
where she loves rather than where she animates the body.' Once upon a time there
was a heathen philosopher who studied mathematics. He was sitting on the embers
making calculations in pursuance of his art when there came along a man
brandishing a sword, who, not writing that it was the master, cried out, 'Quick,
thy name, or I shall slay thee!' The master was too much absorbed to see or hear
his enemy and failed to catch the threat. So after hailing him several times the
enemy cut off his head. And this too acquire a mere natural science! How much
more does it behove us to withdraw from things in order to concentrate our
powers on perceiving and knowing the one infinite and immortal truth! To this
end do thou assemble of thy entire mind and memory: turn them into the ground
where they treasure lies hid. But for this thou must drop all other activities;
thou must get to knowing to find it.
The question is, Were it not better
for each power to go on with its own work, then none would hinder the others in
their work nor yet God in his? Can there not be creaturely knowledge in me that
is no hindrance, as God knows all things without hindrances and so do the
saints? --I answer: The saints behold God in a simple image and in that image
they discern all things; and God himself sees himself thus, perceiving all
things in himself. He need not turn, as we do, from one thing to another.
Supposing that in this life we were always confronted with a mirror wherein we
see and recognise all things at a glance in one single image: neither act nor
knowledge would be a hindrance then. At present we must turn from one thing to
another: we can only mind one thing at the expense of all the others. And the
soul is bound so straitly to her powers that where they flow she must flow with
them; the must be present at everything they do, and attentive too, or nothing
would come from their exertions. The drain of attending to external acts is
bound to weaker her interior operation. For this nativity God wants, and he must
have, a vacant, free and unencumbered soul wherein is nothing but himself alone,
which waits for naught and nobody but him. As Christ says: 'Whoso loveth aught
but me, whoso cleaveth to father or mother, or many other things, he is not
worthy of me. I came not upon earth to bring peace but a sword; to cut away all
things, to pat thee from brother, child, mother and friend, which are really thy
foes.' For verily thy comforts are thy foes. Doth thine eye see all things and
thine ear hear all things and thy heart remember them all, then in these things
thy soul is destroyed.
A master says, ' To achieve the
interior act one must assemble all one's powers as it were into one corner of
one's soul, where, secreted from images and forms one is able to work. We must
sink into oblivion and ignorance. In this silence, this quiet, the Word is
heard. There is no better method of approaching this Word than in silence, in
quiet: we hear it and know it aright in unknowing. To one who knows naught it is
clearly revealed.
Haply thou wilt object: 'You place
our salvation in ignorance. Sir. That seems a mistake. God made man to know:
"Lord make them to know," says the prophet. Where there is ignorance
there is defect and illusion: he is a brutish man, an ape, a fool, and so
remains as long as he is ignorant.' -- But this is transformed knowledge, not
ignorance which comes from lack of knowing; it is by knowing that we get to this
unknowing. Then we know with divine knowledge, then our ignorance is ennobled
and adorned with supernatural knowledge. Then in our passion we are more perfect
than in action. According to one authority, the sense of hearing is much nobler
than the sense of sight, for we learn wisdom more by ear than eye and live this
life more wisely. We read about a heathen philosopher who was lying at death's
door while his pupils were discussing in his presence some noble science, that,
lifting up his dying head and listening, he exclaimed: 'O teach me even now this
art that I may practice it eternally!' Hearing draws in more, seeing leads out
more, the very act of seeing. In eternal life we are far more happy in our
ability to hear than in our power to see, because the act of hearing the eternal
Word is in me, whereas the act of seeing goes forth from me: hearing, I am
receptive; seeing, I am active. But our bliss does not consist in being active
but in being receptive to God. As God excels creature, so is God's work more
excellent than mine. It was out of love that God did set our happiness in
suffering, for we undergo far more than we do and receive incomparably more than
in return we give; moreover, each divine gift is the preparation for some new
and richer gift, each gift increasing our capacity and our desire to receive a
greater still. Some theologians say that the soul is symmetrical with God in
this respect. For as God is infinite in giving, so the soul is infinite in
receiving or conceiving. And the soul is as profound to suffer as God is
omnipotent to act, hence her transformation by God into God. God must act and
the soul must suffer; for him to know and love himself in her, for her to know
with his knowledge, love with his love; and since she is far happier in this
than hers it follows that her happiness depends upon his work more than on her
own.
The pupils of St Dionysius asked him
why Timothy outstripped them in perfection? Dionysius said, 'Timothy is a
God-receptive man. He who is expert at this outstrippeth all men.' In this sense
thy unknowing is not a defect but thy chief perfection, and suffering thy
highest activity. Kill thy activities and still thy faculties if thou wouldst
realise this birth in thee. To find the newborn King in the all else thou
mightest find must be passed by and left behind thee. May we outstrip and leave
behind such things as are not pleasing to the newborn King. So help us thou who
didst become a child of man that we might become the children of God. Amen.