Secondly, she must go out of the nature she has in her eternal pretotype. Theologists teach that the prototype of the soul is the divine understanding. The divine understanding is the Person of the Son. Hence the Son is the exemplar of all creatures and the. image of the Father in which image broods the nature of all creatures. Now when the soul strips off her created nature there flashes out its uncreated prototype wherein the soul discovers herself in uncreatedness, for things are all one in this prototype according to the property of the (eternal) image.
And now the soul fares forth out of this same prototype wherein she discovers her nature according to the uncreatedness of the image and this she does in the divine death. The soul is conscious that what she seeks is neither her exemplar nor its nature, wherein she perceives herself to be in multiplicity and separation. For this final attribute of divinity is multiplicity. And since the eternal nature wherein the soul now finds herself in her exemplar is characterised by multiplicity—the Persons being in separation— therefore the soul breaks through her eternal exemplar to get to where God is a kingdom in unity. One philosopher declares that the soul’s breaking-through is more noble than her emanation. Now Christ says: ‘No man cometh to the Father but through me.’ Christ is the eternal exemplar. Though the soul’s abiding- place is not in him yet she must, as he says, go through him. This breaking-through is the second death of the soul and is far more momentous than the first. Of it St John says: ‘ Blessed . are the dead that die in the Lord,’ that is, in God.
O surpassing wonder! How can there be death in him who says of himself that he is the life? To which we answer: In the birth of the Son all creatures went forth receiving life and being, hence all things are lively imaged in the Son. Now when the soul returns again within she loses the Son. Theologists declare that when the Son returns to unity of nature he is neither Person nor its property : the Son is lost in the unity ofthe essence. Likewise I say concerning the soul: when the soul breaks through and loses herself in her eternal prototype that is the death the soul dies in God. St Dionysius says: ‘ When God exists not for the soul there exists not for her either the eternal prototype, her source.’ Equality belongs to the soul in her exemplar, for the Son is equal
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with the Father. But in that they are one in nature they are not equal, for equality resides in separation. Accordingly I say con- cerning the soul: if she is to enter the divine unity she must lose the equality she has in her eternal exemplar. Dionysius declares that the soul’s supreme delight is the nothingness of her prototype. And a heathen philosopher says: ‘ God’s naught fills everywhere and his aught is nowhere.’ God’s aught, then, is not discovered by the soul till she has come to naught as regards finding or being able to find herself, created or uncreated as we have shown her eternal prototype to be.
This is the second death and second exodus, the soul going forth out of the nature which is hers in her eternal prototype to seek the kingdom of God. ‘ He who desires to come to God,’ says one philosopher, ‘ let him come with naught.’
The third nature out of which the soul goes is the exuberant divine nature energising in the Father. According to some theologists the Father always perceived within himself tokens of emanation before he brought forth the Word. They all agree that God the Father conceived his own nature in originating the eternal Word and all creatures. Doctors distinguish between nature and essence. Essence, in as far as it is active in the Father, is nature. The distinction is therefore a logical one. From God in activity all creatures look forth potentially. But this is not the summit of divine union so it is not the soul’s abiding place.
It must be clearly understood that the soul has got to die to all the activity connoted by the divine nature if she is to enter the divine essence where God is altogether idle ; this highest prototype of soul beholds without means the essence of the Godhead abso- lutely free from activity. This supernal image is the paradigm whereto the soul is brought by her dying.
Now mark! The Godhead, self-poised, is self-sufficient. God as Godhead transcends all that creature as creature ever compre- hended or can ever comprehend. As St Paul says: ‘ God dwells in light inaccessible.’ Now when the soul has gone out of her created nature and out of her uncreated nature wherein she dis- covers herself in her eternal prototype and, entering into the divine nature, still fails to grasp the kingdom of God, then, recognising that thereinto no creature can ever get, she forfeits her very self and going her own way seeks God no more; thus she dies her highest death. In this death the soul loses every desire and image. and all understanding and form and is bereft of any nature. And as God lives it is true that the soul, being spiritually dead, can no more manifest to any man any mode or image than the dead can stir being bodily dead. This spirit is dead and buried in the Godhead and the Godhead lives for none other than itself. _
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Ah, noble soul, prove thy nobility! But while it is the case with thee that thou lettest not go thine own self altogether to drown in the bottomless sea of the Godhead, verily thou canst not know this divine death. The wise man says: ‘ The Lord possessed me in the beginning in his own way.’ God possesses all things in his Godhead’s way, not in the soul’s way, for God never received creature nor can creature ever get to him, as creature.
Now when the soul has lost herself in every way, as here set forth, she finds herself to be the very thing she vainly sought. Herself the soul finds in the supernal image wherein God really is in all his Godhead, where he is the kingdom in himself. There the soul recognises her own beauty. Thence she must go out to get into her very self and realise that she and God are one felicity: the kingdom which, without, seeking, she has found. As saith the prophet : ‘I poured out my soul into myself.’ That is the meaning of: ‘ Knowest thou not thyself thou fairest among women ? Then go forth.’ The soul has to go forth, as we have seen, in order to enter into herself, where she finds, without seeking, the kingdom of God. St Paul says: ‘I reckon as worth- less temporal suffering in comparison with the future glory which shall be revealed to us.’
Look you. I said of old, and say again, that I have now all that I shall possess eternally, for God in his felicity and in the fullness of his Godhead is enjoyed by my supernal prototype though this is hidden from the soul. As the prophet says: ‘ Indeed Lord, thou art a hidden God!’ This treasure of God’s kingdom is hidden by time and multiplicity by the soul’s own activity and by her creaturehood. The more the soul departs from all this multiplicity the more God’s kingdom is revealed in her. But the soul is not able for this without the help of grace. An she find it, it is grace that has aided her thereto, for grace is innate in her highest prototype. There the soul is God, using and enjoying all things God-fashion. There the soul no more receives either from God or creatures, for she is what she contains and takes all things from her own. Soul and Godhead are one: there the soul finds that she is the kingdom of God.
It may be asked what discipline best enables the soul to reach this end? I answer: This, that the soul remain in death, not shrinking from death. St Paul says: ‘Christ was obedient to the Father even unto the death of the cross. Therefore he hath exalted him and hath given him a name above every name.’ And I say about the soul: if she remain obedient to God in death he will exalt her likewise and will give her a new name above every name. For as the Godhead is apart from name and nameless
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so also the soul, like God, is nameless, for she is the very same as he is. Christ said: ‘ Henceforth I call you not servants but friends, for all that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.’ ‘A friend,’ says a heathen, ‘is a second self.” God became my second self that I might become his second self. And St Augustine declares: “God became man that man might become God.’ In God the soul receives a new life. In him she arises out of death into the life of the Godhead ; here God pours into her his divine fullness, here she receives a new name which is above every name. For as St John says, ‘we have passed from death unto life because we love.’
Such is the interpretation of Christ’s words: ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.’
Now let us see how ‘all things shall be added unto us.” We can take this in two ways: first, as meaning that whatever of perfection there is in things we shall find in that first kingdom. Secondly, that we must hold fast to perfection in all we do: a man’s works should be wrought according to the law of God’s kingdom. If any man acts in such a way that his deeds are able to demean him, be sure he is not acting according to the law of God’s kingdom. When works are wrought according to humanity weeds and discord soon fall among them, but he whose work is wrought in the kingdom of heaven remains tranquil in every undertaking. ‘ And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good,’ say the scriptures. And I say -concerning the soul, that all her acts are perfect as-seen in the kingdom of heaven, for there all works are equal, my least is my greatest, and my greatest least. Humanly speaking they are imperfect, for works in themselves are manifold and lead to multiplicity, wherefore in respect of such one is nigh on the brink of discord. Hence Christ’s words: ‘Martha, Martha, thou troublest thyself about many things ; one thing is needful.’
Of this be sure: to win perfection our activity must be of a nature so exalted that all our works are wrought as one act; . and this must take place in the kingdom of heaven where man is God. There all things make divine response, there man is lord of all his works. Verily I say unto you: works wrought out of the kingdom of God are dead works but works wrought in the kingdom of God are living works. The prophet says: ‘God as "little loves his works as he is disturbed and changed by them.’ And so with the soul when she works in accordance with the law of God’s kingdom. People of this sort are always the same whether they work or whether they work not, for works give nothing to them and take nothing from them.
That is the meaning of: ‘ All things shall be added unto you.’
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This is addressed to none but those who already know it as a live reality or who at least possess it as their heart’s desire, May it be revealed to us, So help us God! Amen.
II! THE NOBILITY OF THE SOUL
Whosoever would attain to the summit of his noble nature and to the vision of the sovran good, which is God himself, must have profoundest knowledge of himself and of things above himself. Thus he reaches the supreme. Beloved, learn to know thyself, it shall profit thee more than any craft of creatures. How to know thyself, of this now learn two ways.
First, see that thy outward senses are properly controlled. Reflect, as regards these outward senses, that to the eye evil presents itself nö less than good. The ear is importuned by one as well as the other and so with the other senses. Wherefore it behoves thee strictly to confine thyself and with all diligence to those things which are good. So much for the outward senses.