IX
THE ETERNAL BIRTH
To return
to the subject of the eternal birth. There is the question whether the
soul brings forth the eternal Word in image or imageless? Remember
this. When the soul resigns herself to God and is atoned with him and God
undertakes her work, she is receptive merely and leaves God to act. Here
the soul is pregnant without form or image, for anything conceived in form or
image trenches upon time and place and is akin to creatures; whence it follows
that the more the work is of the soul the less it is of God. The soul conceives
more truly without images than in them, for the birth is more by way of Godhood
than of selfhood. But we may still enquire, in which image does the soul
best succeed in giving birth to the eternal Word? There are three kinds of
images. The first the soul takes in from without through the senses. The
second the soul conjures up from within by thinking on the childhood of our Lord
or his martyrdom; but all images so gotten are called divine births in the soul.
The third kind of images is given to the soul by God direct. It is in
these last that the soul conceives the best. According to another gloss:
this happens when the mind engenders, feels and knows the eternal Word in its
proper image as gotten by the Father in himself, supposing the soul able to
attain thereto; or, intellect failing her for this, when, faring forth in faith
and love, he reaches out to this same image: for in this final image the eternal
Word is born most perfectly of all.
Another question is, whether the
birth of the eternal Word is fleeting or essential? Now you must
understand that it is this birth which unifies the soul, and in this respect it
is intrinsic and passes not away unless a man should fall into mortal sin. But
as happening in the sensible perceptions and in the discursive mind this birth
is fugitive.
Further, it is asked, in what
particular place does the soul bring forth or seek the eternal Word?
Mark. It is in the Father as the intellectual image of his divine essence
and is the reflection of his divine nature, so that it embodies both his essence
and his nature. It is with the Father as the filial Person. It is in
the Holy Ghost as the exuberance of their eternal satisfaction. It is in
the soul as the likeness of God's equal forms (or Persons). It is in all
creatures as the preserver of their being. It is here the soul must seek
the eternal Word, here in these places, and Christ says: 'Seek and ye shall
find.' May we so seek as to find eternally. So help us almighty God.
I will say no more at this collation. Pray God to fit me for this blessed
moment. Amen.