Gentle Lord,people say as follows:that how sweet soever Thy love may be,Thou dost yet allow it to prove very harsh to Thy friends in the many severe trials which Thou sendest them,such as worldly scorn and much adversity,both inwardly and outwardly.Scarcely is any one,say they,admitted to Thy friendship,but he has forthwith to gather up his courage for suffering.
Lord,by Thy goodness!what sweetness can they have in all this?Or how canst Thou permit it in Thy friends?Or art Thou pleased not to know anything about it?
Eternal Wisdom.--Even as My Father loves Me,so do I love My friends.I do to My friends now as I have done from the beginning of the world.
The Servant.--This is what they complain of;and therefore,say they,Thou hast so few friends because Thou allowest them to prosper in this world so very sorrily.Lord,on this account there are also indeed many who,when they gain Thy friendship,and ought to prove constant in suffering,fall off from Thee;and (woe is me!that I must say it in sorrow of heart,and with bitter tears)relapse to that state which,through Thee,they had forsaken.
O my Lord,what hast Thou to say to this?
Eternal Wisdom.--This is the complaint of persons of a sick faith and of small works,of a lukewarm life,and undisciplined spirit.But thou,beloved soul,up with thy mind out of the slime and deep slough of carnal delights!Unlock thy interior sense,open thy spiritual eyes and see.Mark well what thou art,where thou art,and whither thou dost belong;for then shalt thou understand that I do the very best for My friends.According to thy natural essence thou art a mirror of the Divinity,thou art an image of the Trinity,and a copy of eternity;for as I,in My eternal uncreated entity,am the good which is infinite,so art thou according to thy desires,fathomless,and as little as a small drop can yield in the vast depth of the sea,just so little can all that this world is able to afford contribute to the fulfillment of thy desires.Thus,then,art thou in this wretched valley of tears,where joy and sorrow,laughing and weeping,mirth and sadness,are mingled together;where no heart ever obtained perfect happiness;for it is false and deceitful,more than I will tell thee.It promises much and performs little;it is short,uncertain,and changeable;today much joy,tomorrow a heart full of woe.Behold,such is the disport of this scene of time!
CHAPTER XI.On The Everlasting Pains of Hell Eternal Wisdom.
--O my chosen one!now look from the very bottom of thy heart at this lamentable misery.Where are now all those who heretofore sat down amidst this temporal scene with tranquility and pleasure,with tenderness and comfort of body?What avails them all the joys of this world which are as soon vanished on the wings of swift time as though they had never been?How quickly over is that carnal love for which pain must be eternally endured!O ye senseless fools!Where is now what ye so gaily uttered:"Hail,ye children of merriment,let us give holiday to sorrow,let us cherish the fullness of joy!"What avail now all the pleasures ye ever obtained?Well may ye cry aloud with sorrowful voice;Woe upon us that ever we were born into the world!How has swift time deceived us!How has death stolen upon us!Is there any one still upon the earth who could be more deceived than we have been deceived?Or is there any one willing to take counsel from the calamity of others?If any one were to bear all the sufferings of all mankind for a thousand years it would only be as a moment against this!How very happy is that man who has never sought after pleasures displeasing to God,who for His sake has renounced all temporal delights!We foolish ones,we deemed such men forsaken and forgotten of God:
but see how He has embraced them in eternity with such marks of honour before all the heavenly host.What harm can all their sufferings and disgraces now do them,which have turned out so much to their joy?
Meanwhile,all that we so entirely loved,how is it vanished?Ah,misery on misery!and it must last for ever.Oh,for ever and ever,what are thou?Oh,end without end!Oh,dying above all dying,to be dying every hour,and yet never to die.Oh,father and mother,and all that we ever held dear,God bless you for ever and ever,for we shall never see you and love you again:
we must ever be separated from you.Oh,separation,oh,everlasting separation,how grievous thou art!Oh,wringing,oh,shrieking and howling for ever,and yet never to be heard!Nothing but sorrow and distress must our wretched eyes behold,our ears be filled with nothing--but alas!nothing save only Woe is me!Oh,all hearts,let our lamentable For ever and ever!
