A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night,
It was the plant and flower of Light."
For all of the Company of saints have the sight of One Vision, and be it in the steadfast fulfilment of labour, or from out of the merriment of play,—through the strong, bright peace of endurance, or the silent acquiescence of the will, led along valleys of darkness,—or again in some swift rush of prayer into the morning light,—all of the saints, the babe and the ancient, beholding "the Blissful Countenance" say "with one voice": "It is well." "Amen. Amen."
[8] "Catholic Mystics of the Middle Ages." Edinburgh Review, October 1896.
[9] In reference to introspection M. Maeterlinck speaks of Ruysbroeck as "the one analytical mystic." Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, p. 19.
[10] In ch. vii. de Cressy's "the Seal of her Ring" gives a misreading.
[PART III]
The Theme of the Book
"The phase of thought or feeling which we call Mysticism has its origin in ... that dim consciousness of the beyond which is part of our nature as human beings.... Mysticism arises when we try to bring this higher consciousness into relation with the other contents of our minds. Religious Mysticism may be defined as the attempt to realise the presence of the living God in the soul and in nature, or, more generally, as the attempt to realise in thought and feeling, the immanence of the temporal in the eternal, and of the eternal in the temporal."—W. R. Inge, Christian Mysticism. The Bampton Lectures for 1900, p. 4.
"What is Paradise? All things that are; for all are goodly and pleasant and therefore may fitly be called a Paradise. It is said also that Paradise is an outer Court of Heaven. Even so this world is an outer court of the eternal, or of Eternity, and especially whatever in time, or any temporal creature manifesteth or remindeth us of God or Eternity; for the creature is a guide and a path to God and Eternity."[1] "God is althing that is gode, as to my sight," says Julian, "and the godenes that althing hath, it is He" ([viii.]).