IX ACCIDENT AND ESSENCE

209 (II. 30)
ACCIDENT AND ESSENCE

Become essential, Man! When the world fails at last,
Accident falls away, but Essence, that stands fast.

210 (I. 274)
THE ACCIDENT MUST GO

All Accident must go, all false appearances:
Put off thy specious hues—be pure as Essence is.

211 (V. 356)
THE PERFECT DRIVETH OUT THE IMPERFECT

When full Perfection comes, the imperfect falls aside:
So fades my human part when I am deified.

212 (I. 108)
THE ROSE

The Rose which here thou seest with thine outward eye
Hath blossomèd in God from all eternity.

213 (II. 182)
GOD IS ALL AT ONCE

There is no After, no Before;
And what to-morrow shall befall
Already from eternity
In Essence God hath seen it all.

214 (V. 179)
GOD MAKETH NOTHING NEW

God maketh no new thing, though new
It seem to us. We think we see
The act of birth, but what is born
Is birthless in eternity.

215 (I. 71)
MAN MUST BE ESSENCE

To practise love is burdensome. 'Tis not enough
Merely to love—we must ourselves, like God, be Love.

216 (VI. 226)
A RIGHT JUDGEMENT BRINGETH NOT SADNESS

The true and proper worth of things
Who understandeth to assay,
Will never sorrow overmuch
For aught that Time can bear away.

217 (VI. 224)
CHILDREN WEEP FOR DOLLS

A child that weepeth for its dolls
Maketh thee smile—and are they more
Than dolls and toys, those very things
That thou thyself art weeping for?

218 (I. 38)
EQUAL ESTIMATION MAKETH PEACE

Canst thou divest from diverse things
Their aspect of diversity,
Come Love, come Pain, thou standest fast,
Poised in thy equanimity.

219 (V. 45)
VICE IS ONLY APPEARANCE

All naked Virtue stands, Vice doth apparelled go;
Virtue is truly large, Vice only seemeth so.

220 (V. 37)
GOD LOOKETH TO THE ROOT

'Tis not the Somewhat thou hast done
God values, looks not to the fruit;
Only the How He contemplates,
Only the kernel and the root.

221 (V. 168)
THE SINNER DOETH NOTHING WELL

Though thou dost feed and clothe the needy multitude,
Is goodness not in thee, then is thy deed not good.

222 (V. 72)
GOD IS EQUALLY NEAR TO ALL

God is as near Beelzebub
As He is near the Seraphim,
'Tis only that Beelzebub
Turneth his back on Him.

223 (V. 30)
THE DEVIL IS GOOD

The Devil is as good as thou
If Being is the test.
What is it that the Devil lacks?
Peace and a Will at rest.

224 (V. 15)
DAMNATION IS IN ESSENCE

Could one that's damned stand in high Heaven, even there
He'd feel within himself all Hell and Hell's despair.

225 (VI. 208)
WISE AND FOOLISH BEAUTY

Wiser the maid who knoweth well
Herself is her best loveliness
Than she who dreams she's beautiful
When she puts on a lovely dress.

226 (VI. 251)
TO THE FOOL

Opinions are a shifting sand,
And fools build houses thereupon:
Wise wilt thou never be if thou
Dost build upon Opinion.

227 (II. 71)
THE ESSENTIAL MAN

The essential Man is like unto Eternity,
Unchanged by any breath of externality.

228 (I. 102)
THE SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY

Then Lead becometh Gold, then Accident is ended,
When I with God, through God, in God, am wholly blended.