If thou wilt devoutly hail this glorious virgin, first consider her worthy muchness: what she is; she is God's Mother, worthier might she not be, and therefore with mirth and with wondering raise up worthyness to God's Mother and say to her here with reverence thus: Salve— Hail; and with that word stint into beholding and say: Lady! though I vilest and unworthiest of all creatures presume for to come to thy presence and to greet thee, thou art queen of heaven, lady of angels, mother of God, nevertheless I trust on thine unmeasurable meekness that thou wilt suffer me. And therefore thou, thou that be God's ark, without comparison worthier and holier than the ark of the Old Testament that Moses made, and I arm much worse and uncleaner than Oza was, nevertheless Lady I trow that if I touch thee with devotion of heart, and greet thee with my mouth, I shall not be smitten to death ns Oza was, that touched Moses's ark, hut I hope to he quickened and more inflamed with thy love, for to say to thee heartily oft, salve Regina—Hail Queen! Well is me that I have such a queen, and such a lady, under whose rule and ladyship I may lead my life.

For our discursive minds things in themselves one and undivided have to be separated, sub-divided, analysed, taken apart in a way which is sufficiently real in the case of a complicated piece of machinery or even with the human body, but which when applied to things that are not material—like the human mind—becomes most unreal and unnatural. In the case of spiritual entities just because they are so one and indivisible we endeavour all the more to divide them in a feeble effort to get some understanding of what must ultimately remain mysterious. So we find that there are as many divisions and sub-divisions in theology as there are in zoology or biology.

But there is nothing reprehensible in this. It is the legitimate attempt of the human mind to exercise its proper function in acquiring knowledge. The things of God lie beyond anything but a scrappy and imperfect knowledge, but the mind must try to pierce the veils—provided that it fully recognises its limitations.