Chapter IX, Part 1

Showeth how one cometh to see the Light and to hear the Truth of God That speaketh to the Soul.

IF thou desirest to unfold the Contemplative Life in thyself, thou must enter within, beyond thy sense-life, and, in that high point of thy being, adorned with all the virtues of which I have spoken, looking unto God with thanks and love and continual reverence, thou must keep thy thoughts bare and stripped of every sensible image, thine understanding opened and lovingly uplifted to the Eternal Truth, and thy spirit spread out in the sight of God as a Living Mirror, to receive His Everlasting Likeness.

Behold, therein appeareth a Light of the understanding, Which neither sense, nor reason, nor nature, nor the clearest logic 19 can apprehend, but Which giveth us freedom and confidence towards God.

It is nobler and higher than all that 71

God hath created in Nature ; for It is the perfection of Nature, and above Nature, and is the clear-shining Intermediary between us and God.

Our thoughts, bare and stripped of images, are themselves the Living Mirror wherein there shineth this Light.

And the Light requireth from us that we should be like to and one with God in this Living Mirror of our bare thoughts ; and so God liveth in us with His Grace, and we live in Him by reason of our virtue and good deeds.

In this Living Mirror are we like to our Eternal Archetype, Which is God Himself ; for we live a life conformable to the Everlasting Providence of God.

The Light floweth forth in similitude, and indraweth Itself in unity ; which we perceive, beyond the reason, in that high point of our understanding, which is bare and turned within.

And therein speaketh the Truth of God within our spirit, and saith : —

" Behold Me as I behold thee ; and " know Me as I know thee. Love Me " as I love thee; delight in Me as I " delight in thee ; and just as I am all

" thine, wholly and unreservedly, so " would I that thou shouldst wholly " and unreservedly be Mine.

" From all Eternity have I seen thee, " before all Creation, in Me, and " one with Me, and as I see Myself. " Therein have I known thee, loved " thee, called thee, chosen thee. I have " created thee in My Image and in My " Likeness. I have adopted thy nature, " and therein have I imprinted Mine " Archetypal Image, that thou mayest " be one with Me, without intermediary, " in the Glory of My Father.

" I have created My Soul, with all " Its powers, and filled It with every " good gift, in order that I might serve " and obey My Father and thy Father, " My God and thy God, in the humanity " which is common to us both, with all " My strength, and even unto death.

" And, out of My fulness of Grace " and Mercy, have I filled thy soul and " thy powers, in order that thou mayest " be like Me, and, in My strength and " by My Gifts, may serve and thank " and praise Our God to all Eternity, " World without end."