48. ‘ Just one other thing.’ — Tell me, what is that ? — ‘ You say that Christ gained honour. What honour did he gain ? ’ — Christ has the title of The Head of Holy Christendom and this honour Christ has won by his holy life.
49. ‘ A man to whom eternal light is given, is he prone to sin in time ? ’ — One to whom eternal light is given may well stoop to imperfection and sometimes falls an easier prey to frivolity and suctilike venial sins than another man. — ‘ What is the cause of this propensity ? ’ — It comes from being engrossed in one simple thing ; multitudinous images disturb the soul, tossing her about with their various conceits. Once conceiving unity she is distracted by diversity. But as soon as she begins to sec, it is as though it had never been and she can free herself completely without the slightest effort ; which is a sign that she has eternal light. To see and be unable to escape would argue lack of eternal light. You know now how it is that people, even with eternal light, are prone to sin. St Paul sinned after he had been caught up.
50. The first and noblest work of God is motionlessness : divine rest. It stands to reason that the maker of the motionless is himself unmoved. Were God not immoveable there could nothing motionless be made.
Aristotle says all moving things proceed from rest and from necessity and moving things are all seeking rest. Man likewise then "ought to be as motionless as possible. — ‘ When is a man motionless ? ’ — The soul is motionless when nothing whatever can perturb her ; when she is neither glad nor sad and cannot be gladdened nor yet saddened. And she must be unnecessitous. — ‘ When is she unnecessitous ? ’ — The soul is unnecessitous when she has no need to cleave to any creature and not only has no need, it is hell-pain to her to dwell upon the form of creature since there is no rest for her save in the formless form of God. She is unnecessitous when she has come into her rights and, with no need of change, rests in the unnecessitous nothingness of his unchanging nature.
51. ‘ Sir, what did St Paul mean by saying, ‘ ‘ We shall be one spirit with God ? ” When is the soul one spirit with God ? ’ — She is one spirit with God when she has no image or anything between. And she is turned to spirit when she is not subject to any creature love or appetite.
52. ‘ Sir, what is perfect love ? ’ — Perfect love leaves nothing
Liber Rosmonum
less than God. — ‘ Pray tell me what you mean.’ — I mean, having hold of nothing but God they cannot leave go of less than God, who are as they should be. Natural ties have been cut.
53. ‘ Tell me, Sir, for the love of God, is it possible to pray or ask of God quite unselfishly ? ’ — Oh yes. I will tell you how. There are two cases of unselfish prayer. The first is on our own account, that we may be rid of some imperfection which comes between us and eternal truth. The second case is prayer for some other person’s sin, knowing all the facts and that he desires to be free. For these things we may pray and with avidity. But our human will must confine itself to the will of God, as thus : ' Lord, thou knowest I desire not nor do I will aught save what thou dost will : an thou know something better, give me that,’ so losing thine own and keeping his.
54. ‘ Sir, what about the man they talk of sometimes among pious folk, who sets such store by physical austerities and longwinded prayers ; is that the best or is there something better ? ’ — The most perfect bond that we can have is innocence, a blameless life, and being wholly without guile it is best to drop words altogether for words are interlopers between ourselves and God.
55. ‘ What is the sign of union with God’s will ? ’ — Perfect singlemindedness. — It is characteristic of the gracious, deified mind, from trivial error to extract much wisdom. — The very least thing in excess of absolute necessity will count. — Christ’s every action is a pious precept. — An angel’s nature is his intellect and his intellect is his impartible nature.
56. He to whom light is given grows conscious of the darkness in all creatures.
57. ‘ Will you tell me, Sir, why Solomon should say. The righteous man falls seven times a day ? What is this falling of the righteous man ? ’ — It is the lapsing of his soul from the highest level she can reach to : failure to remain at the very summit where she transcends creature in God, that is the fall of the perfect man.
58. ‘ When does one person love another in God without admixture of nature ? ’ — The sure test of pure divine love is the sense of nothing but God, always with enlightenment.
59. ‘ Why is it that a man will ask for things he does not need and knowing this to be the case will still go on doing it : what does he do it for ? ’ — It is nature. When appetites are uncontrolled a man will ask for the impossible. — ‘ But supposing it is not impossible nor yet unlikely and he is self-controlled, what is it then ? ’ — I tell you it is nature. — ‘ Yes, yes, good Sir, but leave out nature I ’ — That will I not. It is nature inasmuch as it is mingled with divine nature.
60. ‘ What is an angel ? ’ — Angel like soul is a perpetual nature.
The soul has no parts, this and that. Wherever she turns she turns as a whole.
61. ‘ What is essential virtue ? ’ — In essential virtue man is in a state of having no active heart’s desire ; he knows what is right and is able to live up to his lights in the power of his primitive nobility.
62. ‘ What is the sign of eternal life ? ’ — Absence of hate is a sign of eternal light. So far as we fail in love towards all mankind, we never really have it.
63. ‘ Pray Sir, when are we discriminating ? ’ — When we know one thing from another. — ‘ And when are we above discrimination ? ’ — When we know all in all then we transcend discrimination.
64. ‘ What does St Paul mean when he speaks of “ redeeming the time because the days are evil ” ? ’ — He calls the days evil referring to the changeableness of time. He says, redeeming the time —
‘ When is time redeemed ? ’ — Let me tell you. To do a good work is not to redeem time but to pawn it. It is a good work to rest from sin and exercise some virtue. To do better work is not redeeming time. He who perfects by practice does better. To do the best of all, that does redeem the time. It is best of all to rest in the embrace of God. — ‘ But is that redeeming the time ? ’ — To be sure it is. Time is not redeemed in time. The redemption of time is the timeless spirit’s atonement above time.
65. ‘ Will you expound that sentence in St John’s epistle, “ Blessed are the dead that die in God ? ” When do we die in God ? ’ — When everything is dead that intervenes between ourselves and God. — ‘ Well then, will you tell me what is the joy of spirits in eternity : are they always finding something new in God ? ’ — Verily Psay, if they did not find it ever new there would be an end to eternity. Were there aught in Gk)d exhaustible by creature, eternity would end and heaven cease to be.
66. ‘ Sir, what is true wisdom ? ’ — True wisdom, so says one philosopher, means the knowledge of all created things and the creator who has made them.
67. According to St Paul, the closest bond of love a man can have is harmony of will. Our Lord in his love made eternal provision for all human suffering when his Son died upon the cross.
68. He follows hardest on the heels of God who leaves all temporal things behind and clings to the eternal.
69. Joy is the reward of virtue, says one of the saints. — ‘ Tell me, when does a man do his duty by creatures ? ’ — When he knows them and leaves tjiiem.
70. A saint says. So long as we will and will not our free will is not captive to God. If any man does as he should God will do what that man would.
71, ‘ Sir, how would you define grace ? • — I define grace as him whom no joy nor pleasure can gladden, no pain nor adversity sadden.
72. The most successful prayers are the willing learners from creature or the spoken word.
78 . ‘ When does God work in man unhindered ? ’ — When he takes good and ill from God with the same thankfulness. — ‘ But, with one and the same thankfulness or each with thankfulness ? ’ — They must be received with the same thankfulness. Time is always true to its own nature but were soul and body displaced into eternity motion would be lost. The less moveable thou art the more thou art established in eternity.
74. ‘ Sir, when is virtue present in a man ? ’ — There is virtue in the soul just as memory and knowledge and love are in the soul, for they are spiritual in their substance. There is virtue in the soul and it is present in a man as long as it is not cast out in lawless utterances.
75. ‘ Will you tell me. Sir, why we are sometimes quite unmoved in suffering whereas at other limes we hail it with delight and then again it readily affects us ? ’ — Supposing a man is by himself with his senses indrawn from the multiplicity of things and recollected to himself, then his soul will be unmoved inasmuch as God is present in her. But if his senses are broadcast upon things and more or less unstable on those things, he will be readily affected. Then let him beware of lawless utterance ; he must recollect himself and in deep humility just appeal lovingly to God : ‘ Lord thou knowest I can do naught without thee,’ and quick as thought thou art back in God.
76. ‘ Pray Sir, is one quite detached when one gives no consent to sin and bitter as it was to part from things it were just as bitter to return to them ? ’ — Yes, surely.
77. ‘ Is eternal light vouchsafed to anyone who falls short ? ’-r- Oh yes ! It was to St Paul.
78. ‘Is no holy soul beatified that has shortcomings ? ’ — Yes, thousands if one reckoned them. — ‘ But no saint can be sanctified unless he has received eternal light ? ’ — Yes, numbers.
79. ‘ What do you mean, Sir, when you talk of divine light and eternal light, are they the same or is there a difference ? Do they consist in the same thing ? — They are not the same. By one light we know, by another we can and by a third one we do. Now to distinguish between them. To perceive divine truth and answer thereto, that I call divine light. I say it is God’s light because it is Godlike. It is not God himself ; it may be given by an angel or a saint. Eternal light, again, I define to be the perfect image of the impartible nature of God and of it St Paul says, the third heaven and its light are not immediately present to us here in this body ; we have to return to our true selves. Ah, woe is me, how wearisome my exile 1 It is impartible light when the soul departing from the body flies straight back to God into whose light she is absorbed. Beyond this her perception does not go. And I mean by impartible light the vision of God with nothing between : no creaturely hindrance, no time, no looking back : in eternity. — St John had eternal light ; he knew the whole truth and attained to it. All things were possible to him, but though not guilty of any mortal sin he was still liable to its suggestion. That no man can escape.
80. ‘ What is the sign of eternal light ? ’ — It is a sure sign when everything not God is irksome and virtue has become a second nature.
81. Talkativeness or over-attention to our daily wants is fatal to friendly intercourse with God. If we would escape the purgatorial fires we must set a watch on all our ways, especially our words. Different is the cleansing fire of the perfeetion of God and the love of the soul, between them imperfections are consumed away.
82. Good people’s food is clear consciousness and intercourse with holy souls and constant reception of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither the devil nor yet any creature ever gave an appetite for the body of our Lord Jesus Christ ; this comes from God alone, you may be sure.
84. ‘ Tell me. Sir, do we find in holy writ mention of any rapture besides that of St Paul ? ’ — No. — ‘ But they tell me three are to he found ; Adam was caught up while he was asleep and St John when he was resting on the bosom of our Lord and St Paul when he was felled to earth ; they each saw God without means, without any image or likeness.’ — Verily, I say, before the death of our Lord Jesus Christ no man had ever seen God in his God-nature except that golden temple our Lady Mary at the moment when our Lady conceived divine and human nature ; then she received eternal light and saw God in his simple nature, but before that no creature. — ‘ Then what was Adam’s rapture and St John’s ? ’ — When God created Adam his body was made painless like his soul. You could have hewn him in his sleep and it would not have hurt him for the lower powers of his soul were obedient to her higher ones and she was subject to the law of her perfect nature and unhindered by gross body and this was his by right of nature. Had he stayed at the summit of his soul he would have kept her in her maker. "He knew God had created him and that divine nature "was destined to unite with human nature and he had discriminate knowledge of all creatures, each in its natural perfection just as God had made them and he was carried away by enjoyment of the sight. You must know that he was sleeping like any other man. — Then what was the rapture of St John ? — He was resting. Rest so called from its likeness to the abstraction of our Lord Jesus Christ and St John’s from its likeness to them both ; a gentle sinking into dispassion, that is what his rapture was.
85. ‘ Is a man liable to fall once he has had eternal light ? ’ — I say, No. If Adam had seen God he would not have fallen and the archangel Lucifer, if he had seen God in his impartible essence would not have fallen. — ‘ I have heard tell that in ecstasy there is no interference with free will. Is that really so ? ’ — It neither strengthens nor weakens the free will. Verily I say, anyone who holds that a man can fall after eternal light, though he commit no greater sin than St Agnes did, shall die infiillibly for it is lieresy and mortal sin to have this belief. That soul can no more fall than St Peter could. The heavenly Father might as well forsake his Son as the soul wherein he has given his Son birth. If the Father ends the Son ends ; if the Son ends eternity ends ; if eternity ends the soul ends.
86. ‘ Sir, when you speak of God’s birth, of the Father begetting his Son in the soul, is this birth the same as the rapture of St Paul and what happened at Pentecost to the disciples or are these different things ? ’ — They are exa(‘tly the same. — ‘ Then when you talk of eternal light do you mean God’s birth in the soul or is that something else ? ’ — I mean the same thing ; they are identical. But one thing I do say. Birth is the better term and nearer to the truth though in reality there is no difference. I will tell you why. An angel by nature is eternal light ; the sun is eternal light ; the stars are eternal light. Eternal light is ascribed to things that are not changed by time ; and since we can attribute eternal light to creatures so we may to man in an imperfect sense. But birth applies to the heavenly Father alone, this birth in eternity. God catches the soul all at once to himself and his birth is gottetl therein. There it is to him well-nigh the same as the Son in the Trinity. I say, well-nigh, for it is there by grace and the Son by nature. — ‘ Suppose a man has eternal light, is he prone to temporal sin ? ’ — It was after Pentecost that Peter sinned.
90. ‘ Can a man make certain of having nothing more to overcome ? ’ — St Paul had things to overcome after he was caught up. And our Lord Jesus Christ had to overcome. Though his soul and body were united with the Godhead and the Godhead is impassible, yet his future pains were present with him, racking all his soul-powers.
91. ‘ When the soul prepares for God by chasing away thoughts and discarding all the things she has relied on and endeavours to get rid of every means but without success, tell me. Sir, what ought she to do next ? ’ — When the images from outside are all gone let her abase herself and lovingly entreat of him somewhat that she still lacks. — ‘ But if she refuses to desire or entreat, being minded to remain quite simple ? — Then let her simply fix her mind on God with vehement longing. — ‘ But surely, Sir, longing is a means and she wants to be quite simple and direct : without any images and free from this and that, with not a word or prayer to come between ? ’ — I sayit is impossible in the unglorified body ; she ought not to expect it. — ‘ If that is the case, Sir, then it seems to me her watchword ought to be refusal — of objective things and subjective images — and that is her best way.’ — There is no doubt of it ; she can do no more. When a soul like this is rapt above herself int6 naked knowledge of naught it is God who does it at his own good pleasure, absolutely freely, without any help of hers.