Chapter CXXIV

Of his Contemplation of the Creator

165. Though eager to quit the world as being a place of pilgrimage and exile, this happy traveller was not a little comforted by the things that are in the world. As to the princes of darkness, indeed, he used it for a battlefield; but as to God, for a bright mirror of His goodness. In every piece of workmanship he praised the Craftsman; whatever he found done he referred to the Doer of it. He exulted in all the works of the Lord's hands, and penetrated through those pleasant sights to their life-giving Cause and¹ Principle. In beautiful things he recognised Him who is supremely beautiful; all good things cried out to him, "He who made us is the Best". Everywhere he followed the Beloved by the traces He has impressed on all things; he made for himself of all things a ladder whereby he might reach the Throne. He embraced all things with an unheard-of rapture of devotion, speaking to them of the Lord and exhorting them to praise Him. He refused to put out lanterns, lamps, or candles, not suffering his hand to dim the brightness which he regarded as a sign of the Eternal Light.

Over rocks he walked reverently out of regard for Him who is called the Rock. When he had to recite the verse <l On a rock hast Thou exalted me," he used to say, in order to employ a more reverent expression, "Beneath [my] feet hast Thou exalted me".* When the brethren were cutting wood he forbad them to cut down a whole tree, so that it might have hope of sprouting again. He bade the gardener not dig up the outlying parts round the garden, in order that in their seasons the greenness of grass and the beauty of flowers might proclaim the beauteous Father of all things. In the garden he ordered a plot to be set apart for sweet-scented and flowering plants, that they might cause those that should look upon them to remember the Eternal Sweetness. He picked up worms from the way that they might not be trodden on, and ordered honey and the best wine to be provided for bees that they might not perish from want in the cold of winter. He called by the name of brother all animals, though in

JC/. Spec. Perf., 118. all their kinds the gentle were his favourites. Who is sufficient to tell all these things? For that Original Goodness, which shall be all in all, shone forth already to this Saint as all in all.

Footnotes

1. cf. I., 80, 81. ↩