Bonhomie

“ I am not recommending a kind of silly mildness, interested only in improving conversation, but rather a zest, a shrewdness, a bonhomie, not finding natural interests common and unclean, but passionately devoted to human nature—so impulsive, frail, unequal, irritable, pleasure-loving, but yet with that generous, sweet, wholesome fibre below, that seems to be evoked in crisis and trial from the most apparently worthless human beings. ”

“ Wilt thou introduce the poisonful Mercury (which has only a Death's Will in itself) into the Temptation, as the false Magus does? Will you send one Devil to another, and make an Angel of him? In Deed and in Truth I must needs laugh at such Folly: If thou wilt keep a corrupt black Devil, how dost thou think to turn the Earth by the Devil to Heaven? Is not God the Creator of all Beings? Thou must eat of God's Bread, if thou wilt transmute thy Body out of the earthly Property into the heavenly. ”

“ Every Creature keeps in its Generation and Propagation to its own Kind; the Male to the Female, and the Female to the Male: Now God said to Adam and Eve after the Fall, The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head; He said not the Seed of the Man: Herein lies the Baptism of Nature: The Male has the Fire-Spirit, and the Female the Water-Spirit to the Tincture; now the Mercury is a Fire-Life, and makes himself a Body according to his Hunger and Desire ”

“ To Bonaventure, in his system of thought as in his spiritual ideals, God is constantly and emphatically the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Source and Centre, by Whom and in Whom and from Whom all things are. Throughout the whole of his writings God is ever the central idea round which all converges. As in his writings so in his life. In this continual and abiding presence of God--the very spirit as it is also the ideal of monastic solitude--his soul, his entire being, grew and blossomed, turning ever to the light and warmth of the Divine Beauty as the sunflower to the sun. ”

“ There was in these oblique orbs, too, a leer which seemed to be the normal and unchangeable expression of a mind which not only disregarded the humanities and rights of his species, but mocked and laughed at them. Most creatures, even the wickedest, are at times surprised into moments of bonhommie. ”

“ The other Kingdom which thou walkest in, is the outward World, wherein thou dwellest in the vain corrupt Flesh and Blood, and where the Pleasures of the World and Assaults of the Devil beset thee every Hour. Thou mayest perhaps in thy great Joy bring Earthliness again into my Beauty, and thereby darken my Pearl; or thou mayest possibly grow proud, as Lucifer did, when he had the Pearl in his Possession, and so turn thyself away from the Harmony of God, as he did, and then I must be deprived of my Love forever afterwards. ”

“ But I will readily present to thee my pleasant Countenance, and the sweet Rays of the Pearl, during the Time of this Earthly Life. I will dwell with the Pearl itself in the inner Choir, and be thy faithful loving Bride. I cannot espouse myself with thy earthly Flesh, for I am a heavenly Queen, and my Kingdom is not of this World. Yet I will not cast thy outward Life away, but refresh it often with my Rays of Love; for thy outward Humanity shall return again. But I cannot admit to my Embraces the Beast of Vanity, neither did God create it in Adam with a Purpose to have it so gross and earthly. ”

“ So from my own experience I have no doubt about the existence of witches; I cannot say how they “eat” men, whether by magic or whether they order “bongas” to cause a certain man to die on a certain day. Some people say that when a witch is first initiated she is married to a bonga and if she wants to “eat” a man she orders her bonga husband to kill him and if he refuses she heaps abuse on him until he does. ”

“ This Champion or Lion is no Man or Woman, but he is both; the Tincture of the Fire and Light must come into one, viz. of the Essence which is Venus, and of the Spirit which is Mars in Mercury; the Father's Love and Anger must become one Thing, and then this one Thing is called the Kingdom of Joy; so long as it is separated, there is in the Thing only Anguish and Torment, and mere Desire; but when it burns in one Will, it is a joyful proceeding forth from itself: And this egressive Property is called the Holy Ghost, viz. ”

“ It is even the bursting forth of the ardent Desire in Nature. It is, as I may term it, the magical Fire-breath, whereby the Powers either of Light or Darkness are dismayed. In short, it is the pregnant Echo of the Sound of Eternity everywhere speaking, working, and opening itself in Love or Anger, in each Thing according to its Will and Desire: In some it is the horrible Flagrat to Death; and in others it is the pleasant triumphant Flagrat to Life. ”

“ Often in early youth had she climbed their loftiest summits, and listened with pleased and captivated attention to the unaccountable tales related by the old and superstitious, and considered as real by herself and her inexperienced companions.—In one place, it was said the ghost of an ancient warrior, clad in armour, took his nightly round to reconnoitre scenes endeared by many a tender claim. In another, a lovely female form had been seen to glide along, and was supposed to disappear on the very spot where it was imagined her lover had fallen a victim to the contentions of the times. ”

“ Whereby it lost the fair Paradise of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, and became such a worm as the fiery Serpent was, which the Devil presented to it in his own image and likeness. And so the Soul began to rule on earth in a bestial manner, and did all things according to the Will of the Devil, living in mere Pride, Covetousness, Envy, and Anger, having no longer any true love towards God. But there arose in the stead thereof an evil bestial love of Wantonness and Vanity, and there was no purity left in the heart, for the Soul had forsaken Paradise, and taken the Earth into its possession. ”

“ Hell has no misery, horror or distraction, but because it has no communication with the supernatural Light. And did not the supernatural Light stream forth its blessings into this world, through the materiality of the Sun, all outward Nature would be full of the horror of Hell." And elsewhere, "There is no meekness, benevolence or goodness in Angel, Man, or any other Creature, but where Light is the Lord of its life. Life itself begins no sooner, rises no higher, has no other [Pg xxix] glory, than as the Light begins it, and leads it on. ”

“ Bonaventure expresses it, the demons enter into the soul in times of darkness, that is, when the soul is obscured by ignorance; they dig through the houses of our minds in the darkness of ignorance; but then, he adds, as soon as the grace and the mercy of Mary enter the soul, this beautiful aurora dissipates the darkness, and the infernal enemies flee as at the approach of death. [367] Oh, blessed is he who always, in his conflicts with hell, invokes the beautiful name of Mary! ”

“ Nothing should perish [or be lost] in Man, for God had created him to his Image.
41. Thus let the Philosopher observe, that when the three Murtherers, viz. Saturn, Mars, and Mercury, sink in the crimson-coloured Blood of the Lion, they do not perish; but they are pardoned, that is, their Wrath is changed into a Love-Desire, viz. out of Venus into Sol; for when the fiery Desire enters into the Watery Desire, then a shining, viz. a glorious Splendour, arises from and in the Fire; for Venus is white, and the Fire-Desire is red. ”

“ You are too much inclined to believe them, (interrupted her friend;) but, my dear Madeline, be assured of this,—if we had nothing more to fear from the living than we have to apprehend from the dead, we should be perfectly secure, and our lives would pass away in a more serene and placid manner than the turbulent wills of our fellow-mortals will allow. Hark! I am sure I hear the soft and distant sound of a lute. I never yet knew a ghost that had a taste for Mortal harmony. ”

“ Bonaventure, in order to revive in the hearts of sinners confidence in the protection of Mary, represents to us the sea in a tempest, in which sinners who have fallen from the bark of divine grace, tossed about by remorse of conscience, and by the fear of divine justice, without light and without a guide, have almost lost the breath of hope, and are nearly sinking in despair ”

“ Rice husked without having been boiled.
Arta. Red pigment applied to the feet for ornament.
Baha Porob. The flower festival; the spring festival held about February.
Bandi. A receptacle for storing grain, made of straw rope.
Bharia. A bamboo carried on the shoulder with a load slung at each end.
Bhut. A ghost, a harmful spirit, not originally a Santal word.
Bonga. The name for all gods, godlings and supernatural beings. Sing bonga is the sun god; the spirits of ancestors are bongas, there are bongas of the hills, streams and the forest; others are like fairies and take human form. ”

“ May they and their children and their children's children be blighted and cursed in life and in death, may they taste misery and desolation on the earth before they go to everlasting torment in hell!"
And now the cowled monk caught up one of the candles that lit the pulpit, and held it aloft.
"May their race perish with them and their memories be swallowed in oblivion—thus! As I extinguish this flame may the hand of God extinguish them!" ”

“ This Birth of the Astrum begets in the four Elements, viz. in its Body or Essence, Joy and Sorrow, and all is very good in itself; only the Alteration of the Creature proceeds from the lustful Imagination, whereby the Creature elevates the Wrath of the Fire in the Properties, and brings them forth out of the Likeness of their Accord: Nothing is evil which remains in the equal Accord ”

“ The Voice [or breath] of God continually and eternally brings forth its Joy through the Creature, as through an Instrument; the Creature is the Manifestation of the Voice of God: What God is in the eternal Generation of his eternal Word out of the great Mystery of the Father's Property, that the Creature is in the Image as a joyful Harmony, wherewith the Eternal Spirit plays or melodises.
14. All Properties of the great eternal Mystery of the Pregnatress of all Beings are manifest in the holy Angelical and humane Creatures ”

“ Thou wilt yet be greatly enticed to draw Matter, and to gather that which the World calls substance; thereby to have somewhat visible to trust to. But by no means consent to the Tempter, nor yield to the lustings of thy Flesh against the Spirit. For in so doing thou wilt infallibly obscure the Divine Light in thee; thy Spirit will stick in the dark Covetous Root, [Pg 66] and from the fiery Source of thy soul will it blaze out in pride and anger; thy Will shall be chained in Earthliness, and shall sink through the Anguish into Darkness and Materiality ”

“ As a protection against the influence of these malignant spirits of the woods, the Bongos have recourse to certain magical roots which are sold to them by their medicine-men. According to those worthies no one can enter into communication with the wood spirits except by means of certain roots, which enable the possessor to exorcise evil spirits, or give him the power of casting spells. ”

“ For when the lust of Pride had turned away the Will from God, then the Life of the Soul would not trust God any further, but would take care for itself; and therefore brought its desire into the Creatures, viz., into the earth, metals, trees, and other Creatures. Thus the kindled fiery Life became hungry and covetous, when it had broken itself off from the Unity, Love, and Meekness of God, and attracted to itself the four Elements and New Essence, and brought itself into the Condition of the beasts, and so the Life became dark, empty, and wrathful ”

“ Yet I, like others, have felt beauty; I have known that mysterious charm which Nature has lent to animate form; and the clay which lives has given to me that shudder of delight which makes the lover and the poet. But I have never known either how to love or how to sing. Now in my memory—all encumbered as it is with the rubbish of old texts—I can discern again, like a miniature forgotten in some attic, a certain bright young face, with violet eyes.... Why, Bonnard, my friend, what an old fool you are becoming! Read that catalogue which a Florentine bookseller sent you this very morning. ”

“ The fairy little bark, the Bonnibel, swept blithely out into the moonlighted waves.
Bonnibel tied her lace handkerchief over her head, and wrapped the shawl about her shoulders.
Somehow her heart began to grow lighter. This moonlight flitting seemed so sweet and romantic.
Her dark-eyed lover sitting opposite lightly swaying the oars [Pg 17] looked handsome as a demi-god to her partial eyes. She trusted him implicitly.
"The king can do no wrong," was her motto. ”

“ But beyond this visible world, of which they could see only the dark and melancholy side, there existed, according to the Bogomiles, another, invisible, heavenly and perfect, the creation of the Spirit of Goodness and Light—Himself a perfect triune Being, from whom proceeded nothing incomplete or temporary. ”

“ But tell me truly, is Bonvile surely dead?
Fri. Indeed he is.
Cla. ’Tis bravely done, and I adore thee for ’t. By Heaven I love thee now, even unto Dotage!
Fri. Was ever Change like this? The subtlest Labyrinth Wit cou’d ere invent, affords not half so many Turnings as a Woman’s Mind. ”

“ The flames died down entirely and only a little smoldering went on in the Fireplace.
“The witches are saying good-night,” said daddy. “Then they too will go to bed. But the ashes that will be left—nice warm ashes—they will be the pleasant dreams that are left behind for the Fire Fairies.”
The fire had gone out! Only some ashes could be seen, but in one corner a few red coals had appeared.
“What are they?” asked the children.
“They’re the King and Queen of the Fireplace and they’ve come to see that their people are all fast asleep. ”