l have been known to
her, especially if, as Messrs. Lutz and Perdrizet consider,
the _S.H.S._ was written by a Dominican, who would naturally
make use of Dominican teaching and tradition, and we know
that Mechthild, even if not, as has been suggested, a
tertiary of that Order, was in constant and close touch with
it. The second subject, the reference to rose-leaves and
Christ's wounds, seems to be a purely original thought, and
one amongst the many fascinating ideas that have centred
round the rose ever since Aphrodite anointed the dead body of
Hector with rose-scented oil (_Iliad_, xxiii. 186).

Of Love, as she conceived it in relation to 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 the world was. I long for
thee, and thou longest for me. When two burning desires come together,
then is love perfected."

Sometimes the loving soul traverses a dark way, and cries out in
desolation and despair: "Lord, since Thou hast taken from me all that
I had of Thee, yet of Thy grace leave me that gift which every dog has
by nature--that in my distress I may be true to Thee, without any
ill-will. This do I truly desire more