MDXXI
59 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10003
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 66-25702
Printed in the United States of America
by Noble Offset Printers, Inc., New York, N. Y. 10003
"Stiamo nella cella del cognoscimento di noi; cognoscendo, noi per noi non essere, e la bontà di Dio in noi; ricognoscendo l'essere, e ogni grazia che è posta sopra l'essere, da lui."--St. Catherine of Siena.
"Tergat ergo speculum suum, mundet spiritum suum, quisquis sitit videre Deum suum. Exterso autem speculo et diu diligenter inspecto, incipit ei quaedam divini luminis claritas interlucere, et immensus quidam insolitae visionis radius oculis ejus apparere. Hoc lumen oculos ejus irradiaverat, qui dicebat: Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui, Domine; dedisti laetitiam in corde meo. Ex hujus igitur luminis visione quam admiratur in se, mirum in modum accenditur animus, et animatur ad videndum lumen, quod est supra se."--Richard of St. Victor.
Cap. I. How the Virtue of Dread riseth in the Affection
Cap. II. How Sorrow riseth in the Affection
Cap. III. How Hope riseth in the Affection
Cap. IV. How Love riseth in the Affection
Cap. V. How the Double Sight of Pain and Joy riseth in the Imagination
Cap. VI. How the Virtues of Abstinence and Patience rise in the Sensuality
Cap. VII. How Joy of Inward Sweetness riseth in the Affection
Cap. VIII. How Perfect Hatred of Sin riseth in the Affection
Cap. IX. How Ordained Shame riseth and groweth in the Affection
Cap. X. How Discretion and Contemplation rise in the Reason
III. A Short Treatise of Contemplation taught by Our Lord Jesu Christ, or taken out of the Book of Margery Kempe, Ancress of Lynn
IV. A Devout Treatise compiled by Master Walter Hylton of the Song of Angels
V. A Devout Treatise called the Epistle of Prayer
VI. A very necessary Epistle of Discretion in Stirrings of the Soul
VII. A Devout Treatise of Discerning of Spirits, very necessary for Ghostly Livers
FROM the end of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century may be called the golden age of mystical literature in the vernacular. In Germany, we find Mechthild of Magdeburg (d. 1277), Meister Eckhart (d. 1327), Johannes Tauler (d. 1361), and Heinrich Suso (d. 1365); in Flanders, Jan Ruysbroek (d. 1381); in Italy, Dante Alighieri himself (d. 1321), Jacopone da Todi (d. 1306), St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), and many lesser writers who strove, in prose or in poetry, to express the hidden things of the spirit, the secret intercourse of the human soul with the Divine, no longer in the official Latin of the Church, but in the language of their own people, "a man's own vernacular," which "is nearest to him, inasmuch as it is most closely united to him."
A GREAT clerk that men call
THE first child that Leah conceived of Jacob was Reuben, that is, dread; and
therefore it is written in the psalm: "The beginning of wisdom is the dread of
our Lord God."[32] This is the first felt
virtue in a man's affection, without the which none other may be had. And,
therefore, whoso desireth to have such a son, him behoveth busily and oft also
behold the evil that he hath done. And he shall, on the one party, think on the
greatness of his trespass, and, on another party, the power of the Doomsman.[33] Of such a consideration springeth dread,
that is to say Reuben, that through right is cleped "the son of sight."[34] For utterly is he blind that seeth not the
pains that are to come, and dreadeth not to sin. And
WHILE Reuben waxeth, Simeon is born; for after dread it needeth greatly that
sorrow come soon. For ever the more that a man dreadeth the pain that he hath
deserved, the bitterlier he sorroweth the sins that he hath done. Leah in the
birth of Simeon cried and said: "Our Lord hath heard me be had in despite."[36] And therefore is Simeon cleped "hearing";[37] for when a man bitterly sorroweth and
despiseth his old sins, then beginneth he to be heard of God, and also for to
hear the blessed sentence of God's own mouth: "Blessed be they that sorrow, for
they shall be comforted."[38] For in what hour
the sinner sorroweth and turneth from his sin, he shall be safe.[39] Thus witnesseth holy Scripture. And
BUT, I pray thee, what comfort may be to them that truly dread and bitterly
sorrow for their old sins, ought but a true hope of forgiveness? the which is
the third son of Jacob, that is Levi, the which is cleped in the story "a doing
to."[42] For when the other two children,
dread and sorrow, are given of God to a man's soul, without doubt he this
third, that is hope, shall not be delayed, but he shall be lone to;[43] as the story witnesseth of Levi, that, when
his two brethren, Reuben and Simeon, were given to their mother Leah, he, this
Levi, was done to. Take heed of this word, that he was "done to" and not given.
And therefore it is said that a man shall not presume of hope of forgiveness
before the time that his heart be peeked in dread and contrite in sorrow;
without these two, hope is presumption, and where these two
FROM now forth beginneth a manner of homeliness for to grow between God and a
man's soul; and also on a manner a kindling of love, in so much that oft times
he feeleth him not only be visited of God and comforted in His coming, but oft
times also he feeleth him filled with an unspeakable joy. This homeliness and
this kindling of love first felt Leah, when, after that Levi was born, she
cried with a great voice and said: "Now shall my husband be coupled to me."[45] The true spouse of our soul is God, and then
are we truly coupled unto Him, when we draw near Him by hope and soothfast
love. And right as after hope cometh love, so after Levi was Judah born, the
fourth son of Leah. Leah in his birth cried and said:
Lo, now
have we said of four sons of Leah. And after this she left bearing of children
till another time; and so man's soul weeneth that it sufficeth to it when it
feeleth that it loveth the true goods.[50] And
so it is enough to salvation, but not to perfection. For it falleth to a
perfect soul both to be inflamed with the fire of love in the affection, and
also to be illumined with the light of knowing in the reason.
THEN when Judah waxeth, that is to say, when love and desire of unseen true
goods is rising and waxing in a man's affection; then coveteth Rachel for to
bear some children; that is to say, then coveteth reason to know these things
that affection feeleth; for as it falleth to the affection for to love, so it
falleth to the reason for to know. Of affection springeth ordained and measured
feelings; and of reason springeth right knowings[51] and clear understandings. And ever the more that Judah
waxeth, that is to say love, so much the more desireth Rachel bearing of
children, that is to say, reason studieth after knowing. But who is he that
woteth not how hard it is, and nearhand impossible to a fleshly soul the which
is yet rude in ghostly studies, for to rise in knowing of unseeable[52] things, and for to set the eye of
contemplation in ghostly things? For why, a soul that is yet rude and fleshly,
knoweth nought but bodily things, and nothing cometh yet to the mind but only
seeable[53] things.
And this is the cause why Rachel
had first children of her maiden than of herself. And so it is that, though all
a man's soul may not yet get the light of ghostly knowing in the reason, yet it
thinketh it sweet to hold the mind on God and ghostly things in the
imagination. As by Rachel we understand reason, so by her maiden Bilhah we
understand imagination. And, therefore, reason sheweth that it is more
profitable for to think on ghostly things, in what manner so it be; yea, if it
be in kindling of our desire with some fair imagination; than it is for to
think on vanities and deceivable things of this world. And, therefore, of
Bilhah were born these two: Dan and Naphtali. Dan is to say sight of pains to
come; and Naphtali, sight of joys to come. These two children are full needful
and full speedful unto a working soul; the one for to put down evil suggestions
of sins; and the other for to raise up our wills in working of good and in
kindling of our desires. For as it falleth to Dan to put down evil suggestions
of sin by sight of pains to come, so it falleth to the other brother Naphtali
to raise up our wills in working of good, and in kindling of holy desires by
sight of joys to come. And therefore holy men, when they are stirred to any
unlawful thing, by inrising of any foul thought, as oft they set before their
mind the pains
WHEN Leah saw that Rachel her sister made great joy of these two bastards born
of Bilhah her maiden, she called forth her maiden Zilpah, to put to her husband
Jacob; that she might make joy with her sister, having
THUS when the enemy fleeth and the city is peased,[78] then beginneth a man to prove what the high peace of God
is
AND therefore it is that after Issachar Zebulun is born, that is to say, hatred
of sin. And here it is to wete why that hatred of sin is never perfectly felt
in a man's affection, ere the time that ghostly joy of inward sweetness be felt
in the affection, and this is the skill: for ere this time was never the true
cause of hatred felt in the affection. For the feeling of ghostly joy teacheth
a man what sin harmeth the soul. And all after that the harm in the soul is
felt much or little, thereafter is the hatred measured, more or less, unto the
harming. But when a soul, by the grace of God and long travail, is come to
feeling of ghostly joy in God, then it feeleth that sin hath been the cause of
the delaying thereof. And also when he feeleth that he may not alway last in
the feeling of that ghostly joy, for the corruption of the flesh, of the which
corruption sin is the cause; then he riseth with a strong feeling of hatred
against all sin and all kind of sin.
BUT though all that a soul through grace feel in it perfect hatred of sin,
whether it may yet live without sin? Nay, sikerly;[93] and therefore let no man presume of himself, when the
Apostle saith thus: "If we say that we
Lo,
it is now said of the seven children of Leah, by the which are understanden
seven manner of affections in a man's soul, the which may be now ordained and
now unordained, now measured and now unmeasured; but when they are ordained and
measured, then are they virtues; and when they are unordained and unmeasured,
then are they vices. Thus behoveth a man have children[97] that they be not only ordained, but also measured. Then
are they ordained when they are of that thing that they should be, and then are
they unordained when they are of that thing that they should not be; and then
are they measured when they are as much as they should be, and then are they
unmeasured when they are more than they should be. For why, overmuch dread
bringeth in despair, and overmuch sorrow casteth a man in to bitterness and
heaviness of kind,[98] for the which he is
unable to receive ghostly comfort. And overmuch hope is presumption, and
outrageous love is but flattering and
Thus it seemeth that the virtue of discretion needeth to be had, with the which
all others may be governed; for without it all virtues are turned in to vices.
This is Joseph, that is the late born child, but yet his father loveth him more
than them all. For why, without discretion may neither goodness be gotten nor
kept, and therefore no wonder though that virtue be singularly loved, without
which no virtue may be had nor governed. But what wonder though this virtue be
late gotten, when we may not win to the perfection of discretion without much
custom and many travails of these other affections coming before? For first
behoveth us to be used in each
And therefore, what so thou be that
covetest to come to contemplation of God, that is to say, to bring forth such a
child that men clepen in the story Benjamin (that is to say, sight of God),
then shalt thou use thee in this manner. Thou shalt call together thy thoughts
and thy desires, and make thee of them a church, and learn thee therein for to
love only this good word Jesu, so that all thy desires and all thy
thoughts are only set for to love Jesu, and that unceasingly as it may be here;
so
THE first doctrine of our Lord is
this:
"Knowest thou not, daughter, who thou
art and who I am? If thou know well these two words, thou art and shalt be
blessed. Thou art she that art nought; and I am He that am ought.[118] If thou have the very knowledge of these
two things in thy soul, thy ghostly enemy shall never deceive thee, but thou
shalt eschew graciously all his malice;[119]
and thou shalt never consent to any thing that is against My commandments and
precepts, but all grace, all truth, and all charity thou shalt win without any
hardness."
The second doctrine of our Lord is this:
"Think on Me, and I shall think on thee."
In declaring of which doctrine she was wont to
say that:
"A soul which is verily united to God perceiveth
not, seeth not, nor loveth not herself, nor none other soul, nor hath no mind
of no creature but only on God."
And these words she expoundeth more expressly,
and saith thus:
"Such a soul seeth herself, that she is very
nought of herself, and knoweth perfectly that all the goodness, with all the
mights of the soul, is her Maker's. She forsaketh utterly herself and all
creatures, and hideth herself fully in her Maker, our Lord Jesu; in so much
that she sendeth fully and principally all her ghostly and bodily workings in
to Him; in whom she perceiveth that she may find all goodness, and all
perfection of blessedness. And, therefore, she shall have no will to go out
from such inward knowledge of Him for nothing.[120] And of this unity of love, that is increased every day
in such a soul, she is transformed in a manner in to our Lord, that she may
The third doctrine of our Lord is this; in
obtaining of virtue and ghostly strength:
"Daughter, if thou wilt get unto thee virtue and
also ghostly strength,[121] thou must follow
Me. Albeit that I might by My godly virtue have overcome all the power of the
fiends by many manner ways of overcoming, yet, for to give you ensample by My
manhood, I would not overcome him but only by taking of death upon the Cross,
that ye might be taught thereby, if ye will overcome your ghostly enemies, for
to take the Cross as I did; the which Cross shall be to you a great refreshing
in all your temptations, if ye have mind of the pains that I suffered
thereon.[122] And certainly the pains of the
Cross
The first doctrine of this glorious virgin is
this:
"A soul which is verily mete[124] to God, as much as it hath of the love of God, so much
it hath of the hate of her own sensuality. For of the love of God naturally
cometh hate of sin, the which is done against God. The soul, therefore,
considering that the root and beginning of sin reigneth in the sensuality, and
there principally is rooted, she is moved and stirred highly and holily with
all her mights against her own sensuality; not utterly to destroy the root, for
that may not be, as long as the soul dwelleth in the body living in this life,
but ever there shall be left a root, namely of small venial sins. And because
she may not utterly destroy the root of sin thus in her sensuality, she
conceiveth a great displeasaunce against her sensuality, of the which
displeasaunce springeth an holy hate and a despising of the sensuality, by the
which the soul is ever well kept from her ghostly enemies. There is nothing
that keepeth the soul so
Here is a common answer which she used to say to
the fiends:
"I trust in my Lord Jesu Christ, and not in
myself."
Here is a rule how we shall behave us in time of
temptation:
"When temptation," she saith, "ariseth in us, we
should never dispute nor make questions; for that is," she saith, "that the
fiend most seeketh of us for to fall in
Here is a good conceit of this holy maid to
eschew the temptations of the fiend:
"It happeneth," she said, "that otherwhile[127] the devout fervour of a soul loving our
Lord Jesu, either by some certain sin, or else by some new subtle temptations
of the fiend, waxeth dull and slow, and otherwhile it is brought to very
coldness;[128] in so much that some unwitty
folks, considering that they be destitute from the ghostly
Here is another doctrine of this holy maid, the
which she used to say to herself in edifying of others:
"Thou vile and wretched creature, art thou worthy
any manner of comfort in this life? Why hast thou not mind of thy sins? What
supposest thou of thyself, wretched sinner? Is it not enough to thee, trowest
thou not, that thou art escaped by the mercy of our Lord from everlasting
damnation? Therefore thou shouldest be well apaid,[131] wretch, though thou suffer all the pains and darkness
of thy soul all the days of thy life. Why art thou, then, heavy and sorrowful
to suffer such pains, sith by God's grace thou shalt escape endless pains
Here is an answer by the which she had a final
victory of the fiend, after long threats of intolerable pains:
"I have chosen pain for my refreshing, and
therefore it is not hard to me to suffer them, but rather delectable for the
love of my Saviour, as long as it pleaseth His Majesty that I shall suffer
them."
Here is a doctrine of the said virgin, how we
should use the grace of our Lord:
"Who so could use the grace of our Lord, he
should ever have the victory of all things that falleth to him. For as often,"
she said, "as any new thing falleth to a man, be it of prosperity or adversity,
he should think in himself thus: Of this will I win somewhat. For he that can
do so, shall soon be rich in virtue."
Here followeth notable doctrines of this holy
maid, taken of her sermon which she made to her disciples before her passing,
and the first was this:
"What so ever he be that cometh to the service of
God, if he will have God truly, it is needful to him that
DEO GRATIS
SHE desired many times that her head might be smitten off with an axe upon a
block for the love of our Lord Jesu. Then said our Lord Jesu in her mind: "I
thank thee, daughter, that thou wouldest die for My love; for as often as thou
thinkest so, thou shalt have the same meed in heaven, as if thou suffredest the
same death, and yet there shall no man slay
thee.
"I assure thee in thy mind, if it were
possible for Me to suffer pain again, as I have done before, Me were lever to
suffer as much pain as ever I did for thy soul alone, rather than thou
shouldest depart from Me everlastingly.
"Daughter, thou mayst no better please God, than
to think continually in His love."
Then she asked our Lord Jesu Christ, how she
should best love Him. And our Lord said: "Have mind of thy wickedness, and
think on My goodness.
"Daughter, if thou wear the habergeon or the
hair,[140] fasting bread and water, and if
thou saidest every day a thousand Pater Nosters, thou shalt[141] not please Me so well as thou dost when thou art in
silence, and suffrest Me to speak in thy soul.
"Daughter, for to bid many beads, it is good to
them that can not better do, and yet it is not perfect.[142] But it is a good way toward perfection. For I tell
thee, daughter, they that be great fasters, and great doers of penance, they
would that it should be holden the best life.[143] And they that give them unto many devotions,
"Daughter, if thou knew how sweet thy love is to
Me, thou wouldest never do other thing but love Me with all thine heart.
"Daughter, if thou wilt be high with Me in
heaven, keep Me alway in thy mind as much as thou mayst, and forget not Me at
thy meat; but think alway that I sit in thine heart and know every thought that
is therein, both good and bad.
"Daughter, I have suffered many pains for thy
love; therefore thou hast great cause to love Me right well, for I have bought
thy love full dear."
"Dear Lord," she said, "I pray Thee, let me never
have other joy in earth, but mourning and weeping for
She had great wonder that our Lord would become
man, and suffer so grievous pains, for her that was so unkind a creature to
Him. And then, with great weeping, she asked our Lord Jesu how she might best
please Him; and He answered to her soul, saying: "Daughter, have mind of thy
wickedness, and think on My goodness." Then she prayed many times and often
these words: "Lord, for Thy great goodness, have mercy on my great wickedness,
as certainly as I was never so wicked as Thou art good, nor never may be though
I would; for Thou art so good, that Thou mayst no better be; and, therefore, it
is great wonder that ever any man should be departed from Thee without end."
When she saw the Crucifix, or if she saw a man
had a wound, or a beast, or if a man beat a child before her, or smote a horse
or another beast with a whip, if she might see it or hear it, she thought she
saw our Lord beaten or wounded, like as she saw in the man or in the beast.
The more she increased in love and in devotion,
the more she increased in sorrow and contrition, in lowliness[147] and meekness, and in holy dread of our Lord Jesu, and
in knowledge of her own frailty. So that if she saw any creature be punished or
sharply chastised, she would think that she had been more worthy to be
chastised than that creature was, for her unkindness against God. Then would
she weep for her own sin, and for compassion of that creature.
Our Lord said to her: "In nothing that thou dost
or sayest, daughter, thou mayst no better please God than believe that He
loveth thee. For, if it were possible that I might weep with thee, I would weep
with thee for the compassion that I have of thee."
Our merciful Lord Jesu Christ drew this creature
unto His love, and to the mind of His passion, that she might not endure to
behold a leper, or another sick man, specially if he had any wounds appearing
on him. So she wept as if she had seen our Lord Jesu with His wounds bleeding;
and so she did, in the sight of the soul; for, through the beholding of the
sick man, her mind was all ravished in to our Lord Jesu, that she had great
mourning and sorrowing that she might not kiss the leper when she met them in
the way, for the love of our Lord: which was all contrary to her disposition in
the years of her youth and prosperity, for then she abhorred them most.
Our Lord said: "Daughter, thou hast desired in
thy mind to have many priests in the town of Lynn, that might sing and read
night and day for to serve Me, worship Me, and praise Me, and thank Me for the
goodness that I have done to thee in earth; and therefore, daughter, I promise
thee that thou shalt have meed and reward in heaven for the good wills and good
desires, as if thou haddest done them in deed.
"Daughter, thou shalt have as great meed and as
great reward with Me in heaven, for thy good service and thy good deeds that
thou hast done in thy mind, as if thou haddest done the same with thy bodily
wits withoutforth.[148]
"And, daughter, I thank thee for the charity that
thou hast to all lecherous men and women; for thou prayest for them and weepest
for them many a tear, desiring that I should deliver them out of sin, and be as
gracious to them as I was to Mary Magdalene, that they might have as much grace
to love Me as Mary Magdalene had; and with this condition thou wouldest that
everich[149] of them should have twenty
pounds a year to love and praise Me; and, daughter, this great charity which
thou hast to them in thy prayer pleaseth Me right well. And,
She said: "Good Lord, I would be laid naked upon
an hurdle for Thy love, all men to wonder on me and to cast filth and dirt on
me, and be drawen from town to town every day my life time, if Thou were
pleased thereby, and no man's soul hindered. Thy will be fulfilled and not
mine."
"Daughter," He said, "as oftentimes as thou
sayest or thinkest: Worshipped be all the holy places in Jerusalem, where
Christ suffered bitter pain and passion in: thou shalt have the same pardon
as if thou were there with thy bodily presence, both to thyself and to all
those that thou wilt give to.[150]
"The same pardon that was granted thee aforetime,
it was confirmed on Saint Nicholas day, that is to say, playne[151] remission; and it is not only granted to thee, but also
to all those that believe, and to all those that shall believe unto the world's
end, that God loveth thee, and shall thank God for thee. If they will forsake
their sin, and be in full will no more to turn again thereto, but be sorry and
heavy for that they have done, and will do due penance therefore, they shall
have the same pardon that is granted to thyself; and that is all the pardon
that is in Jerusalem,[152] as was granted
thee when thou were at Rafnys."[153]
That day that she suffered no tribulation for our
Lord's sake, she was not merry nor glad, as that day when she suffered
tribulation.
Our Lord Jesus said unto her: "Patience is more
worth than miracles doing. Daughter, it is more pleasure to Me that thou suffer
despites, scorns, shames, reproofs,
"Lord," she said, "for Thy great pain have mercy
on my little pain."
When she was in great trouble, our Lord said:
"Daughter, I must needs comfort thee, for now thou hast the right way to
heaven. By this way came I and all My disciples; for now thou shalt know the
better what sorrow and shame I suffered for thy love, and thou shalt have the
more compassion when thou thinkest on My passion."
"O my dear worthy Lord," said she, "these graces
Thou shouldest shew to religious men and to priests."
Our Lord said to her again: "Nay, nay, daughter,
for that I love best that they love not, and that is shames, reproofs, scorns,
and despites of the people; and therefore they shall not have this grace; for,
daughter, he that dreadeth the shames of this world may not perfectly love
God."
DEAR brother in Christ, I have understanding by thine own speech, and also by
telling of another man, that thou yearnest and desirest greatly for to have
more knowledge and understanding than thou hast of angel's song and heavenly
sound; what it is, and on what wise it is perceived and felt in a man's soul,
and how a man may be siker that it is true and not feigned; and how it is made
by the presence of the good angel, and not by the inputting of the evil angel.
These things thou wouldest wete of me; but, soothly, I cannot tell thee for a
surety the soothfastness of this matter; nevertheless somewhat, as me thinketh,
I shall shew thee in a short word.
Wete thou
well that the end and the sovereignty of perfection standeth in very onehead[154] of God and of a man's soul by perfect
charity. This onehead, then, is verily made when the mights of the soul are
reformed by grace to the dignity and the state of the first condition; that is,
when the mind is stabled sadly,[155] without
changing
For if a man have any presumption in his
fantasies and in his workings, and thereby falleth in to indiscreet
imagination, as it were in a frenzy, and is not ordered nor ruled of grace, nor
comforted by ghostly strength, the devil entereth in, and by his false
illuminations, and by his false sounds, and by his false sweetnesses, he
deceiveth a man's soul.
And of this false ground springeth errors, and
heresies,
Also, some men feel in their hearts as it were a
ghostly sound, and sweet songs in divers manners; and this is commonly good,
and sometime it may turn to deceit. This sound is felt on this wise. Some man
setteth the thought of his heart only in the name of Jesu, and steadfastly
holdeth it thereto, and in short time him thinketh that that name turneth him
to great comfort and sweetness, and him thinketh that the name soundeth in his
heart delectably, as it were a song; and the virtue of this liking is so
mighty, that it draweth in all the wits of the soul thereto. Who so may feel
this sound and this sweetness verily in his heart, wete thou well that it is of
God,[174] and, as long as he is meek, he
shall not be deceived. But this is not angel's song; but it is a song of the
soul by virtue of the name and by touching of the good angel.[175]
GHOSTLY friend in God, as touching thine asking of me, how thou shalt rule
thine heart in the time of thy prayer, I answer unto thee thus feebly as I can.
And I say that me thinketh that it should be full speedful unto thee at the
first beginning of thy prayer, what prayer so ever it be, long or short, for to
make it full known unto thine heart, without any feigning, that thou shalt die
at the end of thy prayer.[185] And wete thou
well that this is no feigned thought that I tell thee, and see why; for truly
there is no man living in this life that dare take upon him to say the
contrary: that is to say, that thou shalt live longer than thy prayer is in
doing. And, therefore, thou mayst think it safely, and I counsel thee to do it.
For, if thou do it, thou shalt see that, what for the general sight that thou
hast of thy wretchedness, and this special sight of the shortness of time of
amendment, it shall bring in to thine heart a very working of dread.
And this working shalt thou feel[186] verily folden in thine heart, but if it
so be (the which God forbid) that thou flatter and fage[187] thy false fleshly blind heart with leasings[188] and feigned behightings, that thou shalt
longer live.[189] For though it may be sooth
in thee in deed that thou shalt live longer, yet it is ever in thee a false
leasing for to think it before, and for to behight[190] it to thine heart. For why, the soothfastness of this
thing is only in God, and in thee is but a blind abiding of His will, without
certainty of one moment, the which is as little or less than a twinkling of an
eye. And, therefore, if thou wilt pray wisely as the prophet biddeth when he
saith in the psalm: Psallite sapienter;191 look that thou get
thee in the beginning this very working of dread. For, as the same prophet
saith in another psalm: Initium sapientiae timor Domini;192
that is: "The beginning of wisdom is the dread of our Lord God." But for that
there is no full sikerness standing[193]
upon dread only, for fear of sinking in to over much heaviness, therefore shalt
thou knit to thy first thought this other thought that followeth.
Me thinketh that the proof of this working is
devotion; for devotion is nought else, as saint Thomas the doctor saith, but a
readiness of man's will to do those things that longeth to the service of
God.[199] Each man prove in himself, for he
that doth God's service in this manner, he feeleth how ready that his will is
thereto. Me thinketh that saint Bernard accordeth to this working, where he
saith that all things should be done swiftly and gladly. And see why: swiftly
for dread, and gladly for hope, and lovely trust in His mercy. [And what more?
Sikerly, I had lever have his meed that lasteth in such doing, though all he
never did bodily penance in this life, but only that that is enjoined to him of
holy Church, than of all the penance-doers that have been in this life from the
beginning of the world unto this day without this manner of doing. I say not
that the naked thinking of these two thoughts is so meedful; but that reverent
affection, to the which bringing in these two thoughts are sovereign means on
man's party, that is it that is so meedful as I say.[200]] And this is only it by itself, without any other
All this manner of working beforesaid of this
reverent affection, when it is brought in by these two thoughts of dread and of
hope coming before, may well be likened to a tree that were full of fruit; of
the which tree, dread is that party that is within in the earth, that is, the
root. And hope is that party that is above the earth, that is, the body[202] with the boughs. In that that hope is
certain and stable, it is the body; in that it stirreth men to works of love,
it is the boughs; but this reverent affection is evermore the fruit, and then,
evermore as long as the fruit is fastened to the tree,[203] it hath in party a green smell of the tree; but when it
hath been a certain time departed from the tree and is full ripe, then it hath
lost all the taste of the tree, and is king's meat [that was before but knave's
meat].[204] In this time it is that this
reverent affection is so meedful as I said. And, therefore, shape thee for to
depart this fruit from the tree, and for to offer it up by itself to the high
King of heaven; and then shalt thou be cleped God's own child, loving Him with
a chaste love for Himself, and not for His goods.[205] I mean thus: though all that the innumerable good
deeds, the which almighty God of His gracious goodness hath shewed to each soul
in this life, be sufficient causes
O how wonderful a thing and how high a thing is
the love of God for to speak of, of the which no man may speak perfectly to the
understanding of the least party thereof, but by impossible ensamples, and
passing the understanding of man! And thus it is that I mean when I say loving
Him with a chaste love for Himself, and not for His goods;[207] not as if I said (though all I well said) much for His
goods, but without comparison more for Himself. For, if I shall more highly
speak in declaring of my meaning of the perfection and of the meed of this
Chaste love is that when thou askest of God
neither releasing of pain, nor increasing of meed, nor yet sweetness in His
love in this life; but if it be any certain time that thou covetest sweetness
as for a refreshing of thy ghostly mights, that they fail not in the way; but
thou askest of God nought but Himself, and neither thou reckest nor lookest
after whether thou shalt be in pain or in bliss, so that thou have Him that
thou lovest--this is chaste love, this is perfect love.[210] And therefore shape thee for to depart the fruit from
the tree; that is to say, this reverent affection from the thoughts of dread
and of hope coming before; so that thou mayst offer it ripe and chaste unto God
by itself, not caused of any thing beneath Him, or medled with Him[211] (yea, though all it
In the ghostly feeling of this onehead may a
loving soul both say and sing (if it list) this holy word that is written in
the book of songs in the Bible: Dilectus meus mihi et ego
illi;217 that is: "My loved unto me and I unto Him";
understanden that God shall be knitted with the ghostly glue of grace on His
party, and the lovely consent in gladness of spirit on thy party.
And therefore climb up by this tree, as I said in
the beginning; and when thou comest to the fruit (that is, to the reverent
affection, the which ever will be in thee if thou think heartily the other two
thoughts before, and fage[218] not thyself
with no lie, as I said), then shalt thou take good keep[219] of that working that is made in thy soul that time, and
shape thee, in as much as thou mayst through grace, for to meek thee under the
height of thy God, so that thou mayst use thee in that working other times by
itself, without any climbing thereto by any thought. And, sikerly, this is it
the which is so meedful as I said, and ever the longer that it is kept from the
tree (that is to say, from any thought), and ever the ofter that it is done
suddenly, lustily, and likingly, without mean, the sweeter it smelleth, and the
better it pleaseth the high King of heaven. And ever when thou feelest
sweetness and comfort in thy doing, then He breaketh this fruit and giveth thee
part of thine own present. And that that thou feelest is so hard, and so
straitly stressing thine heart without comfort in the first beginning, that
bemeaneth[220] that the greenness of the
fruit hanging on the tree, or else newly pulled, setteth thy teeth on edge.
Nevertheless yet it is speedful to thee. For it is no
Nevertheless, if it so be that thy teeth be weak
(that is to say, thy ghostly mights), then it is my counsel that thou seek
slights, for better is list than lither strength.[221]
Another skill there is why that I set this tree
in thy garden, for to climb up thereby. For though all it be so that God may do
what He will, yet, to mine understanding, it is impossible any man to attain to
the perfection of this working without these two means, or else other two that
are according to them coming before. And yet is the perfection of this work
sudden, without any mean. And, therefore, I rede[222] thee that these be thine, not thine in propriety, for
that is nought but sin,[223] but thine given
graciously of God, and sent by me as a messenger though I be unworthy; for wete
thou right well that every thought that stirreth thee to the good,[224] whether it come from within by thine
angel messenger, or from without by any man messenger, it is but an instrument
of grace given, sent and chosen of God Himself for to work within in thy soul.
And this is the skill why that I counsel thee to take these two thoughts before
all others. For as man is a mingled thing of two substances,
No more at this time, but God's blessing have
thou and mine.
Read often, and forget it not; set thee sharply
to the proof; and flee all letting and occasion of letting, in the name of our
Lord Jesu Christ. AMEN.
FINIS
GHOSTLY friend in God, that same grace and joy that I will to myself, will I to
thee at God's will. Thou askest me counsel of silence and of speaking, of
common dieting and of singular fasting, of dwelling in company and only
woning[227] by thyself. And thou sayest thou
art in great were[228] what thou shalt do;
for, as thou sayest, on the one party thou art greatly tarried with speaking,
with common eating, as other folk do, and with common woning in company. And,
on the other party, thou dreadest to be straitly still,[229] singular in fasting, and only in woning, for deeming of
more holiness in thee than thou hast,[230]
and for many other perils; for oft times now these days they are deemed for
most holy, and fall in to many perils, that most are in silence, in singular
fasting,
As to
the first, I answer and I say that I dread full much in this matter and such
others to put forth my rude conceit, such as it is, for two skills.[235] And one is this: I dare not lean to my
conceit, affirming it for fast and true. The other is thine inward disposition,
and thine ableness that thou hast unto all these things that thou speakest of
in thy letter, which be not yet so fully known unto me, as it were speedful
that they were, if I should give full counsel in this case. For it is said of
the Apostle: Nemo novit quae sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis qui in ipso
est; "No man knoweth which are the privy dispositions of man, but the
spirit of the same man, the which is in himself";[236] and, peradventure, thou knowest not yet thine own
inward disposition thyself, so fully as thou shalt do hereafter, when God will
let thee feel it by the proof, among many failings and risings. For I knew
never yet no sinner that might come to the perfect knowing of himself and of
his inward disposition, but if he were learned of it before in the school of
God, by experience of many temptations, and by many failings and risings; for
right as among the waves and the floods and the
In a crown are three things: gold is the first;
precious stones are the second; and the turrets of the flower-de-luce, raised
up above the head, those are the third. By gold, wisdom; by the precious
stones, discretion; and
All this I say for to show unto thee my conceit
that I have of thee and of thy stirrings, as thou hast asked of me; for I
conceive of thee that thou art full able and full greatly disposed to such
sudden stirrings of singular doings,[243]
and full fast to cleave unto them when they be received; and that is full
perilous. I say not that this ableness and this greedy disposition in thee, or
in any other that is disposed as thou art, though all it be perilous, that it
is therefore evil in itself; nay, so say I not, God forbid that thou take it
so; but I say that it is full good in itself, and a full great ableness to full
great perfection, yea, and to the greatest perfection that may be in this life;
I mean, if that a soul that is so disposed will busily, night and day, meek
it[244] to God and to good counsel, and
strongly rise and martyr itself, with casting down of the own wit and the own
will in all such sudden and singular
And as touching these stirrings of the which thou
askest my conceit and my counsel, I say to thee that I conceive of them
suspiciously, that is, that[247] they should
be conceived on the ape's manner. Men say commonly that the ape doth as he
seeth others do; forgive me if I err in my suspicion, I pray thee.
Nevertheless, the love that
And touching the second thing, where thou askest
of me my counsel in this case, and in such other when they fall, I beseech
almighty Jesu (as He is cleped the angel of great counsel) that He of His mercy
be thy counsellor and thy comforter in all thy noye and thy nede, and order me
with His wisdom to fulfil in party by my teaching, so simple as it is, the
trust of thine heart, the which thou hast unto me before many others--a simple
lewd[250] wretch as I am, unworthy to teach
thee or any other, for littleness of grace and for lacking of conning.
Nevertheless, though I be lewd, yet shall I somewhat say, answering to
But now thou askest me, what is that thing. I
shall
Let be this manner of doing, I pray thee, and let
as thou wist not that there were any such means (I mean ordained for to get God
by); for truly no more there is, if thou wilt be very contemplative and soon
sped of thy purpose. And, therefore, I pray thee and other like unto thee, with
the Apostle saying thus: Videte vocationem vestram, et in ea vocatione qua
vocati estis state:262 "See your calling, and, in that calling
that ye be called, stand stiffly and abide in the name of Jesu." Thy calling is
to be very contemplative, ensampled by Mary Magdalene. Do then as Mary did, set
the point of thine heart upon one thing: Porro unum est necessarium:
"For
Let them be, all such things as are these:
silence and speaking, fasting and eating, onliness and company, and
FINIT EPISTOLA
FOR because that there be divers kinds of spirits, therefore it is needful to
us discreet knowing of them; sith it so is that we be taught of the apostle
saint John not to believe to all spirits.[278] For it might seem to some that are but little in
conning, and namely of ghostly things, that each thought that soundeth in man's
heart should be the speech of none other spirit but only of man's own spirit.
And that it is not so, both belief and witness of holy scripture proveth
apertly; for "I shall hear," saith the prophet David, "not what I speak myself,
but what my Lord God speaketh in me";[279]
and another prophet saith, that an angel spake in him.[280] And also we be taught in the psalm that the wicked
spirits sendeth evil thoughts in to men; and over this, that there is a spirit
of the flesh not good, the apostle Paul sheweth apertly, where he saith, that
some men are full blown or inflate with the spirit of their flesh.[281] And also that there is the spirit
Wherefore, as oft times as any thought
smiteth on our hearts of meat, of drink, and of sleep, of soft clothing, of
lechery, and of all other such things the which longeth to the business of the
flesh, and maketh our heart for to brenne[284] as it were in a longing desire after all such things;
To these thoughts, and to all such that would put
us out of peace and restfulness of heart, we should none otherwise
againstand,[290] but as we would the self
fiend of hell, and as much we should flee therefrom as from the loss of our
soul. No doubt but both the other two thoughts, of the spirit of the flesh and
also of the spirit of the world, work and travail in all that they can to the
loss of our soul, but most perilously the spirit of malice; for why, he is by
himself, but they not without him. For if a man's soul be never so clean of
fleshly lust, and of vain joy of this world, and if it be defouled with this
spirit of malice, of wrath, and of wickedness, not againstanding all the other
cleanness before, yet it is losable. And if a soul be never so much defouled
with the lust of the flesh, and vain joy of the world, and it may by grace keep
it in peace and in restfulness of heart unto the
Who so will not consent, but meeketh him truly to
prayer and to counsel, shall graciously be delivered of all
If thou be in doubt or in were[305] of these evil thoughts when they come, whether that
they be the speech of thine own spirit, or of any of the others of thine
enemies; look then busily by the witness of thy counsel and thy conscience, if
thou have been shriven and lawfully amended after the doom[306] of thy confessor, of all the consents that ever thou
consented to that kind of sin, that thy
And all after the worthiness and the wretchedness
of this consent, thereafter it deserveth pain or bliss. If this consent be to
evil, then as fast it hath, by cumbrance of sin, the office of that same spirit
that first made him suggestion of that same sin; and if it be to the good, then
as fast it hath, by grace, the office of that same spirit that first made him
stirring[313] to that same good. For as oft
as any healful thought cometh in our mind, as of chastity, of soberness, of
despising of the world, of wilful poverty, of patience, of meekness, and of
charity, without doubt it is the spirit of God that speaketh, either by Himself
or else by some of His angels--that is to say, either His angels of this life,
the which are true teachers, or else His angels of His bliss, the which are
true stirrers and inspirers of good. And as it is said of the other three evil
spirits, that a soul, for long use and customable consenting unto them, may be
made so fleshly, so worldly, and so malicious, that it taketh upon it the
office of them
FINIS. DEO GRATIAS
Aquinas, St. Thomas, xiii, 81, 84 n, 86 n
Asher, symbolism of, 6, 16-19
Augustine, St., xii, 25
Benjamin, symbolism of, xvi, xvii, 6, 29-33
Bernard, St., xii, 81
Bilhah, symbolism of, 4-6, 13-16
Bonaventura, St., xii
Catherine of Siena, St., xi, xvii-xix, xxv-xxvii, 35-47, 52 n, 107 n
Caxton, xviii, xix
Chaucer, 17 n, 52 n, 56 n, 95 n, 120 n
Chauncy, Maurice, xxiv
Dan, symbolism of, 6, 13, 14, 18
Dante, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, 38 n, 88 n, 91 n
Dinah, symbolism of, 6, 25
Dionysius, xxiii, xxiv
Divine Cloud of Unknowing, The, Author of, xii, xvii, xxiv, xxv, xxvii, 3, 32, 33, 77-132
Eckhart, Meister, xi
Exmew, William, xxiv
Flete, William, xvii, xviii, 52 n
Gad, symbolism of, 6, 16-19
Genesis, 8-11, 14-17, 20, 24, 32
Hawkwood, John, xvii
Hilton (Hylton), Walter, xi, xii, xxii-xxv, 61-73, 104 n, 124 n
Hügel, F. von, 84 n, 86 n
Hugh of St. Victor, xii
Imitatione Christi, De, xxiii n, 65 n
Isaiah, 124
Issachar, symbolism of, 6, 20-24
Jacob, symbolism of, 3-7, 10, 27, 29
Jacopone da Todi, xi
James, Dane, xviii
James, Epistle of, 98, 99
Jeremiah, 103, 104
John, St., Epistles of, 25, 119
Joseph, symbolism of, 6, 27-30
Judah, symbolism of, 6, 10-12
Juliana of Norwich, xi, xxi, 65 n, 123 n
Kempe, Margery, xix-xxi, 49-59
Langland, Piers the Plowman, 79 n, 89 n
Layamons Brut, 28 n
Leah, symbolism of, 3-11, 14, 15-20, 24, 26, 29
Levi, symbolism of, 6, 9, 10
Luke, St., 110
Margery, see Kempe
Matthew, St., 8
Mechthild of Magdeburg, xi
Naphtali, symbolism of, 6, 13-15, 18, 19
Paul, St., Epistles, 21, 40, 41, 88, 97, 106, 109, 119, 120
Pepwell, xiv, xix
Proverbs, 28 n
Psalms, The, xiv, xvi, xxvi, 9, 10, 11, 23, 31, 33, 78, 79, 119, 124
Pynson, xxii
Rachel, symbolism of, 3-6, 12-15, 18, 27, 32
Raymund of Capua, xviii, xix
Reuben, symbolism of, 6, 7-9
Richard of St. Victor, xii-xv, xxii, xxv, xxvi, 3, 4 n, 19 n
Richard Rolle of Hampole, xi, xii, xvi, xvii, xxiii n, xxv, 71 n
Robert of Brunne, Chronicle of, 124 n
Ruysbroeck, Jan, xi
Shelley, xv n
Simeon, symbolism of, 6, 8, 9
Song of Solomon, 88, 108
Suso, Heinrich, xi
Tantucci, Giovanni, xvii
Tyrrell, George, xxi n
Wyclif, 16 n, 79 n, 112 n
Wynkyn de Worde, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, xxvii
Zebulun, symbolism of, 6, 22-25
Zechariah, 119
Zilpah, symbolism of, 4-6, 15-17, 20
[1] Dante, convivio, i. 12.
2 Cf. the Letter to Can Grande (Epist. x. 28), where Dante, like St. Thomas Aquinas before him, refers to the Benjamin Major as "Richardus de Sancto Victore in libro De Contemplatione."
[3]Par. x. 131, 132.
[4] Ps. lxviii. 27.
[5] Benjamin Minor, cap. 73.
[6] Benjamin Minor, cap. 75. Cf. Shelley, The Triumph of Life: Their lore taught them not this: to know themselves." This passage of Richard is curiously misquoted and its meaning perverted in Hauréau, Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique, i. pp. 513, 514, in the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xvi., and elsewhere.
[7] Benjamin Minor, cap. 81.
[8] Cf. below, pp. 32, 33.
[9] Richard Rolle of Hampole and his Followers, edited by C. Horstman, vol. i. pp. 162-172.
[10] Sene, Senis, or Seenes, "Siena," from the Latin Senae (Catharina de Senis).
[11] Cf. E. Gordon Duff, Hand-Lists of English Printers, 1501-1556, i. p. 24.
[12] Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica p. 452.
[13] Quietaclacmium Margerie filie Johannis Kempe de domibus in parochia de Northgate. Brit. Mus., Add MS. 25,109.
14 She was, however, apparently less strictly enclosed than was usual for an ancress.
[15] Cf. G. Tyrrell, Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love shewed to Mother Juliana of Norwich, Preface, p. v.
16 In the British Museum copy of Pepwell's volume, ff. 1-2 of the Epistle of Prayer and f. 1 of the Song of Angels are transposed.
[17] Cf. C. T. Martin, in Dictionary of National Biography, vol. ix. For Hilton's alleged authorship of the De Imitatione Christi, see J. E. G. de Montmorency, Thomas à Kempis, his Age and Book, pp. 141-169.
[18] Edited by G. G. Perry, under the title The Anehede of Godd with mannis saule, as the work of Richard Rolle, in English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle de Hampole (Early English Text Society, 1866), pp. 14-19; and, in two texts, by C. Horstman, op. cit., vol. i. pp. 175-182.
[19] In the MSS. this is called: A pystyll of discrecion in knowenge of spirites; or: A tretis of discrescyon of spirites.
[20] All in Harl. MS. 674, and other MSS. The Divine Cloud of Unknowing, and portions of the Epistle, Book, or Treatise, of Privy Counsel have been printed, in a very unsatisfactory manner, in The Divine Cloud with notes and a Preface by Father Augustine Baker, O.S.B. Edited by Henry Collins. London, 1871.
[21] D. M. M'Intyre, The Cloud of Unknowing, in the Expositor, series vii. vol. 4 (1907). Dr. Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion, p. 336, regards these treatises as the work of "a school of mystics gathered about the writer of the Hid Divinity." Neither of these authors includes the translation of the Benjamin Minor, which, however, appears to me undoubtedly from the same hand as that of the Divine Cloud.
[22] Benjamin Minor, cap. 78.
[23] Dialogo cap. 151.
[24] Benjamin Minor, cap. 72.
[25] The MSS. have: "men clepen."
[26] So the MSS., which agrees with the Latin, ordinati affectus (Benjamin Minor, cap. 3); Pepwell has "ardent feelings."
[27] So Pepwell, which accords with the Latin: cum tante importunitate. The MSS. read: "unconningly," i.e. ignorantly.
[28] So Harl. MS. 674 and Pepwell; Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "forthe," i.e. offer. The Latin is: "Et Zelphae quidem sitim dominae suae copia tanta omnino extinguere non potest" (Benjamin Minor, cap. 6).
[29] The Latin has simply: "vinum quod Zelpha sitit, gaudium est voluptatis" (ibid.).
[30] Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "in our soul."
[31] Pepwell gives the modern equivalent, "ordinate" and "inordinate," for "ordained" and "unordained," throughout.
[32] Ps. cxi. 10 (Vulgate cx.).
[33] Pepwell adds: "and high Judge."
[34] Filius visionis.
[35] Gen. xxix. 32 (Vidit Dominus humilitatem meam, Vulgate).
[36] Gen. xxix. 33.
[37] Exauditio.
[38] Matt. v. 4.
[39] Ezek. xxxiii. 14.
[40] Made humble.
[41] Ps. li. 17 (Vulgate l.).
[42] Additus, vel Additio.
[43] Added. Cf. Gen. xxix. 34.
[44] Ps. xciv. 19 (Vulgate xciii.).
[45] Gen. xxix. 34.
[46] Gen. xxix. 35 (Vulgate): Modo confitebor Domino.
[47] Confitens.
[48] Learning.
[49] Ps. cvi. 1, cvii. 1 (cv., cvi., Vulgate).
[50] Pepwell reads: "the true goodness of God."
[51] Pepwell reads: "conning."
[52] Latin Invisibilium: Pepwell has "unseasable."
[53] Pepwell has "feble."
[54] Reasons.
[55] Because.
[56] Judicium (Pepwell adds: "or judgment").
[57] Gen. xlix. 16: "Dan shall judge his people."
[58] Gen. xxx. 6.
[59] Gen. xxx. 8: "Comparavit me Deus cum sorore mea, et invalui" (Vulgate).
[60] In the Latin, "Comparalio vel conversio."
[61] Gen. xlix. 21: "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words" (Nephthali cervus emissus at dams eloquia pulchritudinis, Vulgate).
[62] Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "full."
[63] Underloute, participle of Underluten (O.E. Underlutan), "to stoop beneath," or "submit to." Cf. Wycliffe's Bible, Gen. xxxvii. 8: Whether thow shalt be oure kyng, oither we shal be undirloute to thi bidding?"
[64] Discomfort.
[65] Dixit: Feliciter. Gen. xxx. 11 (Vulgate).
[66] Felicitas. Harl. MS. 674 adds: "whether thou wilt."
[67] The MSS. have: "selyness."
[68] Gen. xxx. 13 (Vulgate): Hoc pro beatitudine mea.
[69] Beatus.
[70] Natural.
[71] Murmurs, complains. Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale, ed. Skeat SS 30: "After bakbyting cometh grucching or murmuracion; and somtyme it springeth of impacience agayns God, and somtyme agayns man. Agayns God it is, whan a man gruccheth agayn the peynes of helle, or agayns poverte, or los of catel or agayn reyn or tempest; or elles gruccheth that shrewes han prosperitee, or elles for that goode men han adversitee.
[72] Pepwell adds: at the least willingly.
[73] Pepwell reads: "put down."
[74] Watches.
[75] Promises. Latin: fovet promissis.
[76] A curious mistranslation: "Sed Aser hosti suo facile illudit dum partem quam tuetur, alta patientiae rupe munitam conspicit" (Benjamin Minor, cap. 33).
[77] Dwelling-place.
[78] Pacified. Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "the cite of conscience is made pesebule."
[79] Merces.
[80] So Harl. MS. 674; omitted in Harl, MS. 1022 and by Pepwell.
[81] Gen. xxx. 18.
[82] The MSS. read: "erles."
[83] Gen. xlix, 14: "Issachar asinus fortis accubans interterminos" (Vulgate).
[84] Rom. vii. 24.
[85] Phil. i. 23.
[86] Ps iv. 5. Harl. MS. 674 has: "Wraththes and willeth not synne, or thus: Beeth wrothe and synnith not."
[87] Human nature in our fellow-man.
[88] Fellow-Christian. The words in square brackets are omitted in Harl. MS. 674.
[89] Ps. cxxxix. (Vulgate cxxxviii. ) 21.
[90] Ps. cxix. (Vulgate cxviii.) 104.
[91] Habitaculum fortitudinis.
[92] Gen. xxx. 20.
[93] Assuredly. Pepwell sometimes modernises this word, but not invariably.
[94] 1 John i. 8.
[95] Cf. St. Augustine's various writings against the Pelagians, e.g. Epist. clvii. (Opera, ed. Migne, tom. ii. coll. 374 et seq.), Ad Hilarium.
[96] Deliberate intention.
[97] Warnes in the MSS.
[98] Disposition.
[99] Coaxing, beguiling. Harl. MS. 674 reads: "glosing."
[100] Madness.
[101] In particular. Pepwell has: "surely."
[102] Regret.
[103] Better is art than evil strength. A proverbial expression. Cf. Layamons Brut, 17210 (ed Madden, ii. p. 297); Ancren Riwle (ed. Morton), p. 268 (where it is rendered: "Skilful prudence is better than rude force"). Cf. Prov. xxi. 22.
[104] The MSS. have: "ilke."
[105] Invisibilia.
[106] So Pepwell and Harl. MS. 674. Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "see thiself and the candell."
[107] Pepwell reads: "waking."
[108] Ps. iv. 6-7.
[109] Harl. MS. 674 reads: "light."
[110] Salutary.
[111] Skill.
[112] So Pepwell. Harl. MS. 674 reads: "each desire on desire." Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, has: "hekand desire unto desire."
[113] Gen. xxxv. 18.
[114] Ps. xxvi. (Vulgate xxv.) 12.
[115] So Harl. MSS. 1022 and 2373; Pepwell and harl. MS. 674 read: "godly."
[116] Ps. lxviii. 27 (Vulgate lxvii. 28).
[117] So Harl. MS. 2373; omitted in Harl. MS. 674. Pepwell has instead: "To the which us bring our blessed Benjamin, Christ Jesu, Amen." Harl. MS. 1022 ends: "Jesus Jesu, Mercy, Jesu, grant Mercy, Jesu." The whole of this concluding paragraph, which is an addition of the translator, differs considerably in Pepwell.
[118]So Pepwell and MS. Reg. 17 D.V.; Caxton has: "Thou art she that art not, and I am he that am"; which is nearer to the Latin.
[119]Caxton reads: I escape gracyously all his snares."
[120]Cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii. 100-105:--
" A quella luce cotal si diventa,
Che volgersi da lei per altro aspetto,
È impossibil che mai si consenta;
Però che il ben, ch'è del volere obbietto,
Tutto s'accoglie in lei, e fuor di quella
È difettivo ciò che lì è perfetto."
" Such at that light does one become, that it were impossible ever to consent to turn from it for sight of ought else, For the good, that is the object of the will, is wholly gathered therein, and outside it that is defective which there is perfect."
[121]So Pepwell: Caxton has: "yf thou wilt gete the vertu of ghostely strength."
[122]Pepwell and the MS. add: "and temptations" (Caxton: "of temptacyons"); which is clearly out of place. Cf. Legenda, SS 104 (Acta Sanctorum, Aprilis, tom. iii.).
[123]2 Cor. i. 7.
[124]Mated. Caxton has: "vertuously y-mette." Cf. Legenda, SS 101: "Talis anima sic Deo conjuncta."
[125]2 Cor. xii. 10.
[126]"And the cause and the rote" (Caxton).
[127]Sometimes.
[128]Caxton has: "It happed she sayde that other whyle deuoute feruour of a sowle leuyng oure lorde Jhesu other by somme certeyne synne, or ellys by newe sotyll temptacyons of the fende wexyth dull and slowe, and other whyle it is y-brought to veray coldenesse." Pepwell and the MS. are entirely corrupt: "It happeneth (she sayth) that otherwhyle a synner whiche is leuynge our Lord Jhesu by some certeyn synne, or ellys by some certeyn temptacyons of the fende," &c. The original of the passage runs thus: "Frequenter enim (ut inquiebat) contingit animae Deum amanti quod fervor mentalis, vel ex divina providentia, vel ex aliquali culpa, vel ex haustis adinventionibus inimici, tepescit, et quandoque quasi ad frigiditatem usque deducitur" (Legenda SS 107).
[129]So Caxton; Pepwell has: "leaving."
[130]Caxton has: "seeth"; the Latin text: quantumcumque videat seu sentiat.
[131]Requited.
[132]So the MS.; Pepwell reads: "were feble and fayle"; and Caxton: "wexed feble and defayled."
[133]Caxton reads: "prayng" (praying).
[134]So Caxton: Pepwell and MS. have: "in."
[135]Latin, Praelatorum suorum (i.e. of her ecclesiastical superiors), Legenda, SS 361.
[136]Omitted in Pepwell and in MS.
[137]Judge. Cf. above, p. 14.
[138]Judgment.
[139]"Also she sayd that she hadde alwaye grete hope and truste in Goddes prouydence, and to this same truste she endured her dysciples seyng unto theym that she founde and knewe" (Caxton).
[140]The habergeon or the hair-shirt, the former term being applied to an instrument of penance as well as to a piece of armour. Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale (ed. Skeat, SS 97): "Thanne shaltow understonde, that bodily peyne stant in disciplyne or techinge, by word or by wrytinge, or in ensample. Also in weringe of heyres or of stamin, or of haubergeons on hir naked flesh, for Cristes sake, and swiche manere penances. But war thee wel that swiche manere penances on thy flesh ne make nat thyn herte bitter or angry or anoyed of thy-self; for bettre is to caste awey thyn heyre, than for to caste away the sikernesse of Jesu Crist. And therfore seith seint Paul: 'Clothe yow, as they that been chosen of God, in herte of misericorde, debonairetee, suffraunce, and swich manere of clothinge'; of whiche Jesu Crist is more apayed than of heyres, or haubergeons, or hauberkes."
[141]Wynkyn de Worde has: "sholde."
[142]Wynkyn de Worde has: "profyte."
[143]Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Letter to William Flete (ed. Gigli, 124): "There are some who give themselves perfectly to chastising their body, doing very great and bitter penance, in order that the sensuality may not rebel against the reason. They have set all their desire more in mortifying the body than in slaying their own will. These are fed at the table of penance, and are good and perfect, but unless they have great humility, and compel themselves to consider the will of God and not that of men, they oft times mar their perfection by making themselves judges of those who are not going by the same way that they are going."
[144]Perhaps, simply, "say many prayers"--without any special reference to the rosary.
[145]Annoy.
[146]Wynkyn de Worde has: "mote."
[147]Wynkyn de Worde has: "lownesse."
[148]With-out-forth=outwardly. Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale, (ed. Skeat, SS 10): "And with-inne the hertes of folk shal be the bytinge conscience, and with-oute-forth shal be the world al brenninge."
[149]Everyche=each one.
[150]According to the legend, certain "indulgences," to be gained by all who visited the Holy Places at Jerusalem, were first granted by Pope St. Sylvester at the petition of Constantine and St. Helena. There seems no evidence as to the real date at which these special indulgences were instituted. Cf. Amort, De origine, progressu, valore, ac frauctu Indulgentiarum, Augsburg, 1735, pars i. pp. 217 et seq.
[151]Plenary.
[152]All the indulgences attached to the Holy Places.
[153]Probably Racheness in the parish of South Acre, where "there was a leper hospital, with church or chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew, of early foundation" (Victoria History of the County of Norfolk, ii. p. 450).
[154]In true union.
[155]Established firmly.
[156]Wandering.
[157]So Horstman. Pepwell reads: "With this wonderful onehede ne may none be fuifilled."
[158]Unreasonable impulses.
[159]Secret nature. Cf. Mother Juliana, Revelations of Divine Love, xiv. cap. 46: "And our kindly substance is now blessedfully in God."
[160]Divers.
[161]Cf. De Imitatione Christi, ii. 4: "If thine heart were right, then every creature would be a mirror of life, and a book of holy doctrine. There is no creature so small and vile, as not to represent the goodness of God."
[162]Horstman reads: "a mans saule."
[163]So Horstman: Pepwell reads: "as virtues in angels and in holy souls and in heavenly things."
[164]Pepwell omits the "not."
[165]Before.
[166]The truth of God's hidden mysteries.
[167]According to the measure of its love.
[168]All intervening hindrance.
[169]Horstman reads: "matter."
[170]A little.
[171]Before.
[172]Overtaxes.
[173]Craft.
[174]Horstman reads: "wete he wele."
[175]This passage is defective in Pepwell.
[176]MS. Dd. v. 55, ed. Horstman, has: "purges."
[177]Pepwell has: "in feeling of the sound."
[178]MS. Dd. v. 55, ed. Horstman, reads: "toune" (i.e. tone).
[179]Illumined.
[180]Cools down grows cold. Also construed with "from." Cf. Richard Rolle Psalter (ed. H. R. Bramley, p. 156): "He gars sa many kele fra godis luf."
[181]A mere abstract thought of God.
[182]Construe: "But if he hold this feeling and this mind (that is only his own working by custom) to be a special visitation."
[183]Surer, safer.
[184]Pepwell adds "and in faith."
[185]The MSS. add: "And bot if thou spede thee the rather or thou come to the ende of thy prayer."
[186]Pepwell reads: "find."
[187]Coax, beguile.
[188]Falsehoods.
[189]The MSS. read: "behetynges of lenger leuyng."
[190]Promise.
191Ps. xlvi. 8 (Vulgate), xlvii. 7 (A.V.): "Sing ye praises with understanding."
192Ps. cxi. 10 (cx. 10 Vulgate).
[193]So Pepwell; Harl. MS. 674 reads: "Bot forthi that there is no sekir stonding."
[194]Pepwell adds in explanation: "or amends"; i.e. satisfaction. Cf. Langland, Piers the Plowman, B. xvii. 237: "And if it suffice noughte for assetz"; and Wyclif, Pistil on Cristemasse Day (Select English Works, ed. T. Arnold, ii. p. 237): "And thus, sith aseeth muste be maad for Adams synne."
[195]Ps. xxxiv. 22 (Vulgate xxxiii. 23).
[196]The MSS. read: "fro a lyf."
[197]The MSS. read: "a lyf."
[198]So Harl. MS. 674. Pepwell reads: "Also the steps of thy staff Hope plainly will shew unto thee if thou do it duly, as I have told thee before, or not."
[199]Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 82, A. I: "Devotio nihil aliud esse videtur, quam voluntas quaedam prompte tradendi se ad ea, quae pertinent ad Dei famulatum."
[200]The whole passage included in square brackets is omitted in Pepwell, but is identical in the two MSS.
[201]So Harl. MS. 2373; Harl. MS. 674 reads: "medeful."
[202]The trunk.
[203]Pepwell inserts: "it is but churl's meat, for."
[204]Not in Pepwell.
[205]Pepwell reads: "and for nothing else."
[206]Had never received it from Him.
[207]Pure Love, or Charity, which "attains to God Himself, that it may abide in Him, not that any advantage may accrue to us from Him" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 23, A. 6). For the whole doctrine of "Pure Love or Disinterested Religion," cf. F. von Hügel, The Mystical Element of Religion, ii. pp. 152-181.
[208]So both MSS.; Pepwell reads: "blessedness."
[209]Hindering or marring.
[210]Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 27, A. 3; and F. von Hügel, op. cit., ii. p. 167.
[211]In the Divine Essence.
[212]So Harl. MS. 674, I take "it" as the beatitude of man which is God Himself.
[213]Cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii, 143-145:--
"Ma già volgeva il mio disiro e il velle,
Sì come rota ch' egualmente è mossa,
L'Amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle."
"But already my desire and will, even as a wheel that is equally moved, were being turned by the Love that moves the sun and the other stars."
2141 Cor. vi. 17.
[215]Pepwell adds: "or sundry."
[216]So Pepwell and Harl. MS. 2373; Harl. MS, 674 reads: "they ben one spirit."
217Cant. ii. 16.
[218]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "glose." Pepwell adds: "or flatter."
[219]Heed.
[220]Pepwell adds: "or betokeneth." Cf. Langland, Piers the Plowman, A. i. 1: "What this mountein bemeneth."
[221]Cf. above, p. 28 note.
[222]Pepwell adds: "or counsel."
[223]Of thyself thou hast nought but sin.
[224]So the MSS.: Pepwell has: "to God."
[225]Pepwell changes to "divers."
[226]Cf. Dante, De Monarchia, iii. 16: "Man alone of beings holds a mid-place between corruptible and incorruptible; wherefore he is rightly likened by the philosophers to the horizon which is between two hemispheres. For man, if considered after either essential part, to wit soul and body is corruptible if considered only after the one, to wit the body, but if after the other, to wit the soul, he is incorruptible. . . . If man then, is a kind of mean between corruptible and incorruptible things, since every mean savours of the nature of the extremes, it is necessary that man should savour of either nature. And since every nature is ordained to a certain end, it follows that there must be a twofold end of man, so that like as he alone amongst all beings partakes of corruptibility and incorruptibilty, so he alone amongst all beings should be ordained for two final goals of which the one should be his goal as a corruptible being, and the other as an incorruptible" (P. H. Wicksteed's translation).
[227]Pepwell modernises this throughout to "dwelling alone."
[228]Pepwell substitutes "doubt." Cf. Chaucer, Legend of Good Women, 2686: "Thryes doun she fil in swiche a were."
[229]Pepwell adds: "in keeping of silence."
[230]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "more holiness than thou art worthy."
[231]Nature.
[232]Solitude.
[233]Pepwell has: "company."
[234]Pepwell reads: "better."
[235]Causes.
[236]1 Cor. ii. 11.
[237]Simple.
[238]Jas. i. 12.
[239]The MSS. usually read "cleped" for "called."
[240]Pepwell modernizes to "trouble."
[241]Jas. i. 12.
[242]To give place to.
[243]Such impulses to exceptional practices.
[244]Humble itself.
[245]Pleasant.
[246]Pepwell reads: "wits."
[247]Lest.
[248]Pepwell reads: "strait."
249Jer. ix. 21: "Quia ascendit mors per fenestras nostras" (Vulgate). Pepwell reads: "as saint Jerome saith"! Cf. Walter Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection, I. pt. iii. cap 9: "Lift up thy lanthorn, and thou shalt see in this image five windows, by which sin cometh into thy soul, as the Prophet saith: Death cometh in by our windows. These are the five senses by which thy soul goeth out of herself, and fetcheth her delight and seeketh her feeding in earthly things, contrary to the nobility of her own nature. As by the eye to see curious and fair things and so of the other senses. By the unskilful using of these senses willingly to vanities, thy soul is much letted from the sweetness of the spiritual senses within; and therefore it behoveth thee to stop these windows, and shut them, but only when need requireth to open them" (ed. Dalgairns, p. 115).
[250]Ignorant.
[251]Where natural and acquired knowledge alike fall shorts.
[252]Fully.
[253]Nature.
[254]Pepwell has: "when thou dost feel."
[255]Pepwell inserts: "I mean except the solemn vows of holy religion."
[256]2 Cor. iii. 17.
[257]Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 308 (ed. Gigli): "Love harmonises the three powers of our soul, and binds them together. The will moves the understanding to see, when it wishes to love; when the understanding perceives that the will would fain love, if it is a rational will, it places before it as object the ineffable love of the eternal Father, who has given us the Word, His own son, and the obedience and humility of the son, who endured torments, inuries, mockeries, and insults with meekness and with such great love. And thus the will, with ineffable love, follows what the eye of the understanding has beheld; and with its strong hand, it stores up in the memory the treasure that it draws from this love."
[258]Losing.
[259]Cant. iv. 9.
[260]To exercise love.
[261]Divers.
2621 Cor. i. 26, vii. 20; Eph. iv. 1.
[263]Luke x. 42.
[264]Pepwell inserts "Him list thee to see, and."
[265]Pepwell reads: "Let be good and all that is good, and better with all that is better."
266Luke x. 42.
[267]To know how to speak, etc.
[268]Banishing from thy soul's vision.
[269]Be able to.
[270]Pepwell reads: "privily." Cf. Wyclif (Select English Works, ed. cit., i. p. 149): "And after seith Crist to his apostles, that thes thingis he seide bifore to hem in proverbis and mystily."
[271]Pepwell reads: "rest."
[272]Pepwell modernises "conne" to "learn to" throughout this passage.
[273]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "stirring"; the other MS, as Pepwell.
[274]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "have."
[275]Pepwell reads: "else."
[276]Manifestly, i.e. unless they clearly show that they do not know how to act as they should. Pepwell has: "in a part."
[277]i.e. take their advice, but do not simply imitate them. I follow the MSS. in preference to Pepwell, who reads: "Work after no men's counsel, but sith that know well their own disposition; for such men should," etc.
[278]1 John iv. 1-6.
[279]Ps. lxxxv. 8 (Vulgate lxxxiv. 9).
[280]Zech. i. 9-19.
[281]Col. ii. 18.
[282]1 Thess. i. 2-9.
[283]Pepwell adds: "or ambition." Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale, ed. Skeat, SS 18: "and coveitise of hynesse by pryde of herte."
[284]Burns.
[285]So Harl. MS. 674; Pepwell has: "war."
[286]Crafty device.
[287]Cf. above, p. 17 note.
[288]Pepwell has: "gladly."
[289]Pepwell reads "ever ready."
[290]Withstand, resist.
[291]Cf. Mother Juliana, Revelations of Divine Love, i. cap. 9: "In general I am, I hope, in onehead of charity with all my even Christian, for in this onehead standeth the life of all mankind that shall be saved."
[292]If it is still guilty of the other two.
[293]Pepwell adds: "and voluptuous."
[294]Ps. cxxxii. (Vulgate cxxxi. ) 13.
[295]Cf. Walter Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection, II. pt. ii. cap. 3: "Jerusalem is, as much as to say, a sight of peace, and betokeneth contemplation in perfect love of God; for contemplation is nothing else but a sight of God, which is very peace."
[296]Probably Isa. lvii. 15.
[297]Pepwell reads: "most folly."
[298]Pepwell adds: "or harm." Cf. The Chronicle of Robert of Brunne, 8905-6: "Now may ye lyghtly bere the stones to schip wythouten dere.'
[299]Advisedly.
[300]Partisans, abettors.
[301]The MSS. read: "doles."
[302]Pepwell reads: "But it is more sorrow to feel of our own spirit's deceits. For sometime our own spirit."
[303]The MSS. read: "Bot what thar reche"; what need to care.
[304]Pepwell reads: "didst feel in there."
[305]Cf. above, p. 95, note.
[306]Pepwell adds: "and judgment."
[307]Unless because of carelessness in resisting them when they first come.
[308]To regard thyself as responsible.
[309]Madness.
[310]Not in Harl. MS. 674.
[311]Pepwell reads: "a full damnable and a full cursed fiend in his living."
[312]Pepwell adds: "and desire much."
[313]Pepwell reads: "suggestion."
[314]On the other hand.