Matelda and the Cloister of Hellfde

To most of us the Matelda of Dante has been scarcely more than a shape
existing in the mind of a poet. It may be that she now stands before us
not only as a woman of flesh and blood, but as one who has for us in
these days a marvellous message. One of the great cloud of witnesses to
the love and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks to us in a German
BÈguine, who is now recognised by many as the original of her who
conducted Dante into "the terrestrial Paradise."

Whether or no we regard her as the guide of Dante, may she be to us a
means whereby we "forget the things that are behind, and press forward
to those that are before." May she yet be to some sorrowful souls the
guide into the blessed Garden of God--the garden no longer guarded by a
flaming sword, but opened to the sinner who "has washed his robes, and
made them white in the Blood of the Lamb." May some to whom the future
is dark and fearful, and who carry as a heavy burden the sin of past
years, be led on across the river into the light, the sweetness, and
the rest of the green pastures of Christ--the sin and sorrow left
behind, remembered no more, for the Lord remembers them not. And in His
Presence, where there is the fulness of joy, the sufferings of this
present time can also be forgotten, for sorrow rejoiceth before Him.