MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG 



herself individually, she can never write enough. 

 " I also may not suffer that any single comfort 

 move me, save my love alone. I love my 

 earthly friends in a heavenly fellowship, and I 

 love my enemies with a holy longing for their 

 salvation. God has enough of all good things, 

 save of union with the soul." 



But where Mechthild seems to strike an 

 original note for her time is in her insistence 

 on God's craving for the soul, as well as the 

 soul's craving for God. We find the same 

 insistence in Meister Eckhart, who followed 

 her closely in time, and perhaps, in this respect, 

 in thought also. " God needs man," says 

 Eckhart, quite simply. And again, " God can 

 do as little without us as we without Him." 

 With Mechthild it is from ecstasy to ecstasy 

 that " heart speaks to heart." Says the soul of 

 Mechthild : "Lord, Thou art ever sick of love for 

 me, and that hast Thou Thyself well proved. Thou 

 hast written me in the Book of the Godhead. 

 Thou hast fashioned me after Thine own image. 

 Thou hast bound me hand and foot to Thy side. 

 O grant it to me, Beloved, to anoint Thee." 



" Where wilt thou get thine ointment, dear 

 one ? " 



" Lord, I will tear my happy heart in twain, 

 and lay Thee therein." 



" It is the most precious ointment thou 

 couldest give Me, that I should evermore hover 

 in thy soul." 



Further God says : " I longed for thee ere 



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