Page:Heavenly Bridegrooms.djvu/113

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is no mean honour which this my Son proposes to you * * *' After this revelation, Rose began to torture herself more than ever. * * * When her Spouse did not appear to her at the accustomed hour, she used to admit an angel (who was always visibly present with her as her guardian) to her confidence, as his footboy or valet (ut pararium aut vereda reum)."

Various miracles were said to have been wrought through St. Rose of Lima: such as, for instance, the materialization of bread and also of honey in her father's house in time of scarcity; also in answer to prayer the payment of a debt of her father's by a stranger who appeared at the house, bringing the money wrapped up in a cloth.

"These are the assistances which her Divine Spouse promised to the parents of Rose, that he would give her as a dowry, when he wooed her in the character of a heavenly sculptor." (Ibid.)

In this last, we seem to be getting back to these angelic bridegrooms spoken of in ante—Nicene Christian literature, who materialized gold and other precious articles for beloved earthly spouses.

But, it may be asked, are these unions with a heavenly spouse mere marital unions with angels, and does God (or Christ, as His human manifestation) play the part in them? By no means. God is a party to Borderland wedlock in its highest aspect, whether that wedlock be an objective marriage union as in earthly wedlock or subjective and mystical blending with a divine invisible intelligence. Mme. de Guyon was right in saying that her love toward God and God's love toward her was the blissful feature in Borderland experience. There are lower aspects of Borderland wedlock than that which includes union with God; which are subject more or less to illusions, fantastic or diabolical. Only when the earthly partner aspires to the Divine Soul of all things, does the supreme bliss of union with the angelic mate transpire. At such times one is fain to apply such a conception as that of Mrs. Gillen, a London teacher of Divine Healing, which is:

"The Universe consists of three factors—a Thinker,