those in high places in the Church. In such denunciations she was not
alone, or without good example, for--to name two only of those who
stand out pre-eminently on account of their positions and
personalities--St. Bernard and St. Hildegarde had both sternly
denounced the evils in the Church. "The insolence of the Clergy," says
St. Bernard, "troubles the earth, and molests the Church. The Bishops
give what is holy to the dogs, and pearls to swine." But the poor
beguine, Mechthild, was not in the same powerful position to stay, or
even to modify, the resentment which her attacks occasioned. "For more
than twenty years was I bound with thee on a hideous gridiron," she
writes, likening her anguish to that of St. Lawrence. Nevertheless
solace came to her troubled spirit, for, having been warned that it
had been said of her writings that they deserved to be burnt, she
tells how she prayed to God, as had been her wont when in trouble, and
that He told her not to mistrust her powers, since they were from Him,
and that no one can burn the Truth.

In many passages Mechthild dwells on the clergy, and her
reflections--some very practical, others, to those not versed in
symbolism, very quaint--seem to suggest how grievously lacking she
considered them to be. Writing in God's name to a canon, she begins by
saying that we should, in common with all men, give thanks to our
Heavenly Father for the Divine gift which day by day, and without
ceasing, pours forth from the Holy Trinity into sinful hearts, and
then she quaintly adds, "For that it soars so high, the Eagle owes no
thanks to the Owl." Furthermore, she calls upon the priest to pray
more, to pay his debts in full, and to live simply, and thus, with
humble heart, to set a good example, and, with many other admonitions,
she also counsels him to have two rods by his bedside, so that he may
chastise himself when he awakes. Mechthild adds that she asked of God
how such an one could keep himself without sin in this earthly state,
and that God made answer: "He shall keep himself always in fear, like
a mouse that sits in a trap and awaits its death. When he eats, he
shall be frugal and meek, and when he sleeps, he shall be chaste, and
alone with Me."

Touching upon some of the duties of a prior--and here she shows
herself eminently practical--she writes: "Thou shalt go every day to
the infirmary, and soothe the sick with the solace of God's word, and
comfort them bounteously with earthl