The Star in the West

314 THE STAR IN THE WEST beauty of bodies, nor the glory which passes , nor the light which our eyes love ; it is not the varied harmony of sweet songs , nor the aroma of perfumes and sweet flowers , nor the voluptuous joys of carnal embraces. No , it is none of these that I love when I love my God ; and yet in this love I find a light , an inner voice , a perfume, a savour , an em brace of a kind which does not leave the inmost of myself . There in the depths of the soul glows something which is not in space, there a word is heard which has no syllables : thence there breathes a perfume which no breezes waft away : there food is always savoured and never eaten : there are embraces which never ask to end . . . Some times , O God , you create a state of soul in me so extra ordinary , and you fill me with so intimate a joy , that , if it lasted , all life would be different ... Who shall under stand , who shall express God ? What is it that comes thus by moments to shine into the eyes of my soul and make my heart beat with fear and love ? It is something quite other than myself , and for this reason I am frozen with terror ; it is something identical with myself , and therefore I am kindled with love .1 Similarly John Tauler writes : The more the Bridegroom loves the Bride , the more bitter will be the cup he gives her to drink . “ The cup is that she is to cease from all her own thoughts . . . for she can take pleasure in nothing that is not her own .” She must be made like the Bridegroom , and humbly submit to the process , and joy in suffering for his sake , until she “ is wholly purified from all faults and stain of sin , and become perfectly fair and unspotted .” Her wedding gift is “ The Holy Ghost . He sheds forth upon the Bride the torrent of divine love ... insomuch that the Bride loseth herself and is intoxicated with love , so that she forgets herself , and all creatures in time or eternity together with herself . . . The joy that the Bride hath with the Bridegroom is so vast that no senses or reason can apprehend or attain unto it ."; · St. Augustine , Confessions , vii , ix , X. John Tauler , by W. P. Swainson , p . 13 .