TAULER





OUR AIM

THINK, and think earnestly, how great, how unutterable will be the
joy and blessedness, the glory and honour of those who shall see
clearly and without veil the gladsome and beauteous face of God, how
they will enjoy the best and highest good, which is God Himself. For
in Him is included all pleasure, might, joy, and all beauty, so that
the blessed in God will possess everything that is good and
desirable, with everlasting joy and security, without fear lest they
should ever be parted from Him. (138)[38]

CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL

FROM the time when the first man gave a ready ear to the words of
the enemy, mankind have been deaf, so that none of us can hear or
understand the loving utterances of the eternal Word. Something has
happened to the ears of man, which has stopped up his ears, so that
he cannot hear the loving Word; and he has also been so blinded,
that he has become stupid, and does not know himself. If he wished
to speak of his own inner life, he could not do it; he knows not
where he is, nor what is his state. (91)