34. That the Enlightened Reason May Contemplate God in Intellectual Images and Divine Effects

BUT the reason of the creature, according to its manner, attentively speculates a great deal as it were in reasonable or intellectual images; and by the effects or impulses emerg ing from infinite divinity restores and en livens itself. It perceives therefore, its own Beloved of so great a magnitude that in accordance to its own manner it cannot ever be comprehended either by itself, that is the reason, or by any creature. So lofty is it that none can ever in the manner of a creature apprehend or gain it ; so simple, that each multitude or multiplicity may 'take its beginning and end in it. It per ceives, too, that it: is the Beauty which adorns heaven and earth, the Bounty from which all things have flowed forth,' and in

'74 which they essentially persist : -the Glory and Integrity of heaven, of earth, and of all creatures ; the Life in which all things live, whatever nave been or will be made ; the Victory which overcomes all things ; the Crown of all lovers ; the Health which hav ing gained, he will henceforth enjoy in perpetual well-being and safety ; the Peace in which all lovers repose ; the Security which can never be wanting to him who has possessed it ; the Blessedness which supplies fruition ; the Consolation whereby those afflicted are uplifted ; the Sweetness penetrating all who are eager for it ; the Joy in which lovers boast ; the Fount and Source of Gladness in which those who -enjoy it become dissolved ; the Jubilee, that is the joy which cannot be explained in words, in which senses and powers fail ; the Reward for which all strain ; the Pleasure which never allows a man to be seared ; *the Ar dour or Fervour, which desires to enkindle all lovers and to consume them ; the Power which is able to restrain and command all things ; the Divinity which can fill all things ; the Eternity whereby all temporal things were made ; the Goodness which is prepared to bestow all things ; the Benevolence or Liberality which penetrates and flows through heaven, earth and all things ; the Boundless Charity which strives to unite to itself till who are desirous of the virtues ; tne Excellence and Nobility which have rdered all things decently and succinctly ; the Purity to which naught that is false, nothing unrighteous can be united ; the Fruitfulness by which the firmament is moved, and thus all corporeal things naturally live and increase ; by which in like manner all divine gifts and spiritual matters are supernaturally conferred on all lovers of God, and in the glory of blessedness eternal life and fruition are supplied. The Virtue and Power to which nothing is impossible ;

nhe Wisdom which knows how to adorn, control, rule and order all things ; the Stability which waits for sinners that they may grow wise again, and for the just that they may be crowned ; the Fidelity which never deserted anyone ; the Truth to which the hearts of all are clear ; the Sanctity which frees and cleanses a man from earthly things ; the Heat setting a man aflame in all the virtues ; the Light which renders all the virtues manifest ; the Fulness, which in those who through the virtues are similar to it, brings about perpetual hunger, but to those who are united to it, it is be stowed in far greater measure than can be desired ; the Fortitude, which knows how to raise and carry a man above all things ; the Justice which will condemn others in accordance with their actions, and which will bestow the reward of eternal life on others ; the Purity which on the last Day of Judgment will reject all the impure, and will conjoin with itself all the pure and clean in the happiest union ; all these things, I say, the illumined reason considers in the infinite divinity, which indeed are rational or intellectual images, in the manner of a creature sought and drawn out of the simple essence of divinity. And as far as the reason com prehends them, so far are they created, and are certain similitudes drawn from the divine nature. But because all, in accordance with that which they inwardly behold, begin in an abysmal or boundless essence and end at the same, here their reason and reflection fail, since here they are the simple essence of God. In this manner therefore, the enlightened 'reason is wont to contemplate its Beloved in all the now enumerated excellences, and thence is seized with admiration of all this wealth, at the same time perceiving that it possesses all these things which we have mentioned, above all of its own, that is, the laying hold of the reason. This matter nevertheless, arouses in the mind longing and impatience, so that it is compelled to gaze and bend towards the simplicity of light, where it refreshes and consoles the impatient longing desirous of fruition.