A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [15]
love and sweetness, and will give them My hand
in death, and exalt them on the throne of My glory before the whole court of
heaven.
The Servant.--Lord, there be many who think they will still love Thee
without giving up perishable love. Lord, they will needs be very dear to
Thee, and yet will not the less indulge in temporal love.
Eternal Wisdom.--It is as impossible as to compress the heavens
together and enclose them in a nut shell. Such persons array themselves in
fair words, they build upon the wind, and construct upon the rainbow. How
may the eternal abide with the temporal, when even one temporal thing
neither can nor will endure another? He but deceives himself who thinks he
can lodge the King of kings in a common inn, or thrust Him into the mean
dwelling of a servant. In entire seclusion from all creatures must he keep
himself who is desirous of receiving his guest as he ought.
The Servant.--Alas, sweet Lord, how completely bewitched must they all
be not to see this!
Eternal Wisdom.--They stand in deep blindness. They endure many a hard
struggle for pleasures which they neither fix their attachment nor afford
them full gratification. Before they obtain one joy they meet with ten
sorrows, and the more they pursue their lusts the more are these upbraided
with being insufficient. Lo! godless hearts must needs be at all times in
fear and trembling. Even the fleeting pleasure they obtain proves very harsh
to them, for they procure it with much toil, they enjoy it in great anxiety,
and lose it with much bitterness. The world is full of untruth, falsehood,
and inconstancy; when profit is at an end, friendship is at an end, and to
speak shortly, neither true love, nor entire joy, nor constant peace of
mind, was ever obtained by any heart from creatures.
The Servant.--Alas! dear Lord, what a lamentable thing it is, that so
many a noble soul, so many a languishing heart, so many an image formed
after God in such beauty and sweetness, that in Thy espousals ought to be
queens and empresses, powerful in heaven and on earth, should so foolishly
go astray and degrade themselves! Oh, wonder of wonders! to think that of
their own accord they should be lost! since, according to Thy words of
truth, the fell separation of the soul from the body were better for them
than that Thou, the Life Eternal, shouldest have to separate from their
souls where Thou findest no dwelling-place. Oh, ye dull fools, behold how
your great ruin prospers, how your great loss increases, how you allow the
precious, the fair, the delightsome moments to pass away, which ye may
hardly or indeed never again possess, and how gaily you carry yourselves the
while, as though it concerned you not! Alas! Thou gentle Wisdom, did they
but know it and feel it surely they would desist.
Eternal Wisdom.--Listen to a wonderful and lamentable thing. They know
it and feel it at all hours, and yet do not desist; they know it and yet
will not know it; they beautify it, like unsound argument, with dazzling
brightness, which yet is unlike the naked truth, as so many of them at last,
when it is too late, will have to feel.
The Servant.--Alas! tender Wisdom, how senseless they are, or what does
it mean?
Eternal Wisdom.--Here will they needs escape calamity and suffering,
and yet fall into the midst of it; and as they will not endure the eternal
good and My sweet yoke, they will be overwhelmed by the inevitable doom of
My severe justice with many a heavy burthen. They fear the frost, and fall
into the snow.
The Servant.--Alas! tender and merciful Wisdom, remember that, without
being strengthened by Thee, no one can accomplish anything. I see no other
help for them than to raise their eyes to Thee, and to fall at Thy feet with
bitter, heart-felt tears, entreating that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to
enlighten them, and free them from the bonds with which they are made fast.
Eternal Wisdom.--I am at all times ready to help them, if only they be
ready. I do not turn away from them.
in death, and exalt them on the throne of My glory before the whole court of
heaven.
The Servant.--Lord, there be many who think they will still love Thee
without giving up perishable love. Lord, they will needs be very dear to
Thee, and yet will not the less indulge in temporal love.
Eternal Wisdom.--It is as impossible as to compress the heavens
together and enclose them in a nut shell. Such persons array themselves in
fair words, they build upon the wind, and construct upon the rainbow. How
may the eternal abide with the temporal, when even one temporal thing
neither can nor will endure another? He but deceives himself who thinks he
can lodge the King of kings in a common inn, or thrust Him into the mean
dwelling of a servant. In entire seclusion from all creatures must he keep
himself who is desirous of receiving his guest as he ought.
The Servant.--Alas, sweet Lord, how completely bewitched must they all
be not to see this!
Eternal Wisdom.--They stand in deep blindness. They endure many a hard
struggle for pleasures which they neither fix their attachment nor afford
them full gratification. Before they obtain one joy they meet with ten
sorrows, and the more they pursue their lusts the more are these upbraided
with being insufficient. Lo! godless hearts must needs be at all times in
fear and trembling. Even the fleeting pleasure they obtain proves very harsh
to them, for they procure it with much toil, they enjoy it in great anxiety,
and lose it with much bitterness. The world is full of untruth, falsehood,
and inconstancy; when profit is at an end, friendship is at an end, and to
speak shortly, neither true love, nor entire joy, nor constant peace of
mind, was ever obtained by any heart from creatures.
The Servant.--Alas! dear Lord, what a lamentable thing it is, that so
many a noble soul, so many a languishing heart, so many an image formed
after God in such beauty and sweetness, that in Thy espousals ought to be
queens and empresses, powerful in heaven and on earth, should so foolishly
go astray and degrade themselves! Oh, wonder of wonders! to think that of
their own accord they should be lost! since, according to Thy words of
truth, the fell separation of the soul from the body were better for them
than that Thou, the Life Eternal, shouldest have to separate from their
souls where Thou findest no dwelling-place. Oh, ye dull fools, behold how
your great ruin prospers, how your great loss increases, how you allow the
precious, the fair, the delightsome moments to pass away, which ye may
hardly or indeed never again possess, and how gaily you carry yourselves the
while, as though it concerned you not! Alas! Thou gentle Wisdom, did they
but know it and feel it surely they would desist.
Eternal Wisdom.--Listen to a wonderful and lamentable thing. They know
it and feel it at all hours, and yet do not desist; they know it and yet
will not know it; they beautify it, like unsound argument, with dazzling
brightness, which yet is unlike the naked truth, as so many of them at last,
when it is too late, will have to feel.
The Servant.--Alas! tender Wisdom, how senseless they are, or what does
it mean?
Eternal Wisdom.--Here will they needs escape calamity and suffering,
and yet fall into the midst of it; and as they will not endure the eternal
good and My sweet yoke, they will be overwhelmed by the inevitable doom of
My severe justice with many a heavy burthen. They fear the frost, and fall
into the snow.
The Servant.--Alas! tender and merciful Wisdom, remember that, without
being strengthened by Thee, no one can accomplish anything. I see no other
help for them than to raise their eyes to Thee, and to fall at Thy feet with
bitter, heart-felt tears, entreating that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to
enlighten them, and free them from the bonds with which they are made fast.
Eternal Wisdom.--I am at all times ready to help them, if only they be
ready. I do not turn away from them.