[
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1329, "culture": " English\n", "content": "E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project\n| Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in     |\n| this text. For a complete list, please see the end of   |\nTHE FORM OF PERFECT LIVING\nAND\nOTHER PROSE TREATISES.\nby\nRICHARD ROLLE,\nOF HAMPOLE,\nRendered into Modern English by Geraldine E. Hodgson, D.Litt.,\nLecturer in Education in the University of Bristol.\nLondon:\nThomas Baker, 72, Newman Street, W.\nPrinted By W. C. Hemmons,\nSt. Stephen Street,\nBristol.\n\"Love is a life, joining together the loving and the loved.\"\n\"Truth may be without love, but it cannot help without it.\"\nRICHARD ROLLE\n(_The Form of Perfect Living_, ch. x.).\nPreface.\nThis book is not intended for those who are acquainted with Anglo-Saxon\nand Middle English; but for those who care for the thought, specially\nthe religious and devotional thought, of our forefathers. My one aim has\nbeen to make a portion of that thought accurately intelligible to modern\nreaders, with the greatest possible saving of trouble to them. When I\ncould use the old word or phrase, with certainty of its being\nunderstood, I have done so. When I could not, I have replaced it with\nthe best modern equivalent I could find or invent. In extenuation of the\noccasional use of Rolle's expression, \"by their lone,\" I may urge its\nexpressiveness, the absence of an equivalent, and the fact that it may\nstill be heard in remote places. Where possible, I have retained the\narchaic order of the original Text. Such irregular constructions, as\n_e.g._, the use of a singular pronoun in the first half of a sentence,\nand of a plural in the second half, I have left unaltered; for the\nmeaning was perfectly clear. In short, I have endeavoured to make\nRichard Rolle as he was as significant as possible to English men and\nwomen of to-day as they are, when they are not professed students of\nEnglish language. In such an undertaking, it is obvious that I must have\npresented endless vulnerable places to the learned. I can only repeat\nthat the book was never meant for them, but for those who will perhaps\nforgive me if I describe them as specialists in religious thought\nrather than in English Language.\nThe rendering is made from the texts printed by Professor Horstman in\nhis _Library of Early English Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole an\nEnglish Father of the Church_.\nGERALDINE E. HODGSON.\n_The University, Bristol,\nS. Mary Magdalene, 1910._\nContents.\nThe Form of Perfect Living                      1\nOur Daily Work (a Mirror of Discipline).\nOn Grace. (_From the Arundel MS._)            169\nScraps from the Arundel MS.                   192\nIntroduction.\nRichard Rolle of Hampole is the earliest in time of our famous English\nMystics. Born in or about 1300, he died in 1349, seven years after\nMother Julian of Norwich was born. Walter Hilton died in 1392.\nAn exhaustive account of Rolle's life is given in Vol. ii. of Professor\nHorstman's Edition of his works, a book unfortunately out of print. The\nmain facts are recorded in a brief \"Life\" appended to Fr. R. Hugh\nBenson's _A Book of the Love of_ JESUS. Therefore, it will suffice to\nsay here that Richard Rolle seems to have been born at Thornton, near\nPickering, in Yorkshire, in or about 1300; that, finding the atmosphere\nof Oxford University uncongenial, he left it, and for some four years\nwas supported, as a hermit, by the Dalton Family. By the end of that\ntime, through prayer, contemplation and self-denial, he had attained the\nthree stages of mystical life which he describes as _calor_, _dulcor_,\n_canor_; (heat, sweetness, melody.) The next period of his life was less\neasy. Having left the protection of the Daltons, and being without those\nmeans of subsistence which are within the reach of priest or monk, this\nhermit depended for his daily bread on other men's kindness. Not that he\nwas a useless person: apart from the utility of a life of Prayer, he\ncould point to counsel and exhortation given; to the existence of\nconverts consequent upon his ministrations. To add to his difficulties,\nhe preached a doctrine of high pure selflessness with which, the average\nman, in all times, seems to have no abundant sympathy: and to crown all\nhe was endowed by nature with a sensitive temper. His remarkable gifts\nforced him into public notice; his cast of thought and his temperament\nwere not calculated to win him ease or popularity. Professor Horstman is\npeculiarly severe to those among his enemies and detractors \"who called\nthemselves followers and disciples of Christ.\" The insertion here of\nthis painful passage would introduce a jarring note; moreover, the raked\nembers of past controversy seldom tend to the spiritual improvement of\nthe present. An interesting judgment by Professor Horstman on Rolle's\nplace in mysticism is too long for quotation; but the following sentence\nmay be taken as the pith of it:--\"His position as a mystic was mainly\nthe result of the development of scholasticism. The exuberant luxuriant\ngrowth of the brain in the system of Scotus called forth the reaction\nof the heart, and this reaction is embodied in Richard Rolle, who as\nexclusively represents the side of feeling as Scotus that of reason and\nlogical consequence; either lacking the corrective of the other\nelement.\"\nIt is consoling to know that Rolle's last years were passed in peace, in\na cell, near a monastery of Cistercian nuns at Hampole, where the nuns\nsupported him, while he acted as their spiritual adviser.\nIn the book mentioned above, Fr. Hugh Benson has translated some of\nRichard Rolle's Poems, and certain devotional Meditations. In this\nVolume, four of his Prose Treatises have been selected from the rest of\nhis works, in the belief that they may supplement those parts of Rolle's\nwritings with which, those who are interested in these phases of\nthought, are already familiar.\nThe first, _The Form of Perfect Living_, is a Rule of Life which he\nwrote for a nun of Anderby, Margaret Kirkby, of whom Professor Horstman\nwrites: \"She seems to have been his good angel, and perhaps helped to\nsmooth down his ruffled spirits. This friendship was lasting--it lasted\nto their lives' ends.\"\nThis treatise was written of course to meet the requirements of the\n\"religious\" life. It has seemed expedient, because supplementary, then,\nto put next to it his work on _Our Daily Life_, which was meant for\nthose who are \"in the world\"; and which may give pause to some who might\notherwise criticise the first hastily, perhaps condemning it as\nunpractical, or even objectionable in a world where, after all, men must\neat and drink and live, and where some, therefore must provide the\nnecessary means. Most intensely practical is this second treatise, and\nperhaps nowhere more so than when it meets the needs of those who are\ninclined to split straws over the definition of the word \"good.\" What\n_is_ a good action?--such people love to inquire, and like \"jesting\nPilate,\" sometimes do not \"stay for an answer.\" Richard Rolle has no\nmanner of doubt about his reply. An action must be good in itself,\n_i.e._, so he would tell us, pleasing to God in its own nature. But the\nmatter by no means ends there for him. This good action must be\nperformed,--and it is this which is, now palpably, now subtly,\nhard--_entirely_ for the sake of goodness, without the slightest taint\nof self-seeking, of vanity, of secret satisfaction that we are not as\nother men are, not even as this Pharisee or this Publican.\nSuch a motive, inspiring each person's whole work, would surely go far\nto remove what is known as the Social Problem. It would make many a\nhouse the dwelling of peace, many a business-place an abode of honour.\nIf we could get back to Richard Rolle's simplicity and to his unmovable\nfaith, then, his goal, even the acquisition of perfect love, might seem\nto all of us less distressingly remote.\nThe present rendering has been taken from the longer and more elaborate\nof the two MSS. containing the Treatise. The shorter form of his work\n_On Grace_ and _the Epistle_ have been added in the hope that they may\nmeet the need of all, contemplative or active as they may chance to be.\nThere is, among his voluminous writings, a curious and interesting\n_Revelation concerning Purgatory_, purporting to be a woman's dream\nabout one, Margaret, a soul in Purgatory. Amidst much natural horror,\nnot however exceeding that described by Dante, there are many quaint\nside-lights thrown upon our forefathers' ways of thought; as _e.g._,\nwhen Margaret's soul is weighed in one scale, against the fiend, \"and a\ngreat long worm with him,\" in the other; the worm of conscience, in\nfact. But the work has not been included in this volume, lest it should\nprove wholly unprofitable to a generation which if it be not readily\ndisturbed by sin, is easily and quickly shocked by crude suggestions\nconcerning its possible consequences and reward. They will find enough,\nperhaps, in the treatise _on Daily Work_.\nIf any one should think that there, and in one portion of the treatise\n_on Grace_, Rolle has dwelt harshly on considerations of fear, rather\nthan on those of love, he must not make the mistake of concluding that\nthese admonitions represent the whole of Catholic teaching on the point.\nMen's temperaments differ, and teachers, meeting these various tempers,\ndiffer in their modes of helping them. Side by side with Richard Rolle\nmay be put the words of S. Francis Xavier, in what is perhaps the most\nbeautiful of Christian hymns:--\n    My GOD, I love Thee; not because\n      I hope for heaven thereby,\n    Nor yet because who love Thee not\n      Are lost eternally.\n    Not for the hope of gaining aught,\n      Not seeking a reward;\n    But as Thyself hast loved me,\n      O ever-loving Lord!\nMoreover, no reader of the Epistle _on Charity_ can entertain any doubt\nas to whether our English Mystic understood the mystery of limitless\nlove.\nIt is no doubt, easy to complain, as we read certain passages, that\nRichard Rolle's recommendations are neither new nor original: but if\ninstead of dismissing them as familiar, we tried to put them into\npractice, we should perhaps have less leisure for idle criticism of\nothers, and ourselves be less evil and tiresome people.\nOn the other hand, the accusation may be brought that he proposes an\nimpossibly high aim. No doubt, in such a pitch of devotion as is\nsuggested, _e.g._, in ch. viii. of _The Form of Perfect Living_, some\nmay think they find extravagance: but no doubt it was this same spirit\nwhich inspired SS. Peter and Paul, and the other Apostles; which built\nup the Early Church; which made Saints, Martyrs and Confessors; which\nsuggested such apparently forlorn hopes as that of S. Augustine of\nCanterbury, when, to bring them the Gospel of JESUS Christ, he bearded\nthe rough Men of Kent, and (according to Robert of Brunne) reaped, as\nhis immediate reward, a string of fishtails hung on his habit, though\nlater, the conversion of these sturdy pagans. It was doubtless, too, the\nspirit which inspired the best men and women in the English Church,\nbefore they began to confuse the spheres of Faith and Reason, and to\ndisregard S. Hilary's warning about the difficulty of expressing in\nhuman language that which is truly \"incomprehensible,\"--incomprehensible\nin the old sense, as in the Athanasian Symbol, \"Immensus Pater, immensus\nFilius, immensus Spiritus sanctus\"; till, indeed, men forgot, for all\npractical purposes that infinity transcends the grasp of finite minds\n(in fact, as well as in placidly accepted and then immediately neglected\ntheory); and can be apprehended only, and that imperfectly, by the best\naspirations of a heart, set of fixed purpose on that high goal.\nTo the modern Englishman, immersed in business anxieties, imperial\ninterests and domestic cares, the invitation repeated so often by\nRichard Rolle, to love GOD supremely, may seem incalculably unreal and\nremote, even though he might hesitate to confess it baldly. But what if\nthe Englishman who so loved GOD, were also the greater Englishman? And\nwhat answer does history return to that plain question?\n\"Richard Rolle,\" Professor Horstman does not hesitate to write \"was one\nof the most remarkable men of his time, yea, of history. It is a strange\nand not very creditable fact that one of the greatest of Englishmen has\nhitherto been doomed to oblivion. In other cases, the human beast first\ncrucifies, and then glorifies or deifies the nobler minds, who swayed by\nthe Spirit, do not live as others live, in quest of higher ideals by\nwhich to benefit the race; he, one of the noblest champions of humanity,\na hero, a saint, a martyr in this cause has never had his resurrection\nyet--a forgotten brave. And yet, he has rendered greater service to his\ncountry, and to the world at large, than all the great names of his\ntime. He rediscovered Love, the principle of Christ. He reinstalled\nfeeling, the spring of life which had been obliterated in the reign of\nscholasticism. He re-opened the inner eye of man, teaching contemplation\nin solitude, an unworldly life in abnegation, in chastity, in\ncharity.... He broke the hard crust that had gathered round the heart of\nChristianity, by formalism and exteriority, and restored the free flow\nof spiritual life.\"\nThis passage, to those who feel that there has been no age since the\nBirth of Christ when the great principles of religious life have been\nwholly lost, and who remember that Richard Rolle lived in the age of\nDante, may seem overstated. But it shews sufficiently at least, and for\nthat reason is quoted here, what a great Englishman he was, and what a\ndebt his unaware countrymen owe him; a debt which they could pay in the\nway most grateful to him, by listening to his words.\nIt may be remarked, by the way, that Rolle is not inclined to substitute\nindividualism for the authority of the Church; a change which has been\nbrought against some mystics. There is immense emphasis laid, all\nthrough his writings, on the importance of conduct. The penetrating\nanalysis, in ch. vi, of _The Form of Perfect Living_, of the possible\nsins humanity can commit on its journey through the wilderness of this\nworld, hardly leaves a corner of the heart unlighted; lets not one\npossible shift, twist or excuse of the human conscience go free. But it\nall has the Church as its immediate background; the Mystical _Body_, not\nthe individual soul in isolation, is everywhere taken for granted. Man\nlives not to himself nor dies to himself, even though he be Richard\nRolle the hermit, or Margaret Kirkby the recluse, that is the plain\nteaching of these plain-speaking pages. And all through them too is a\ntough common sense, and an unusually alert power of observation; and\nthere is perhaps an element of that business capacity, which some of the\nSaints and Mystics have shewn, in his inclusion among \"sins of deed\" of\n\"beginning a thing that is above our might\"; for in that there is not\nonly pride, but a kind of stupid incapacity surely.\nIt is quite possible that Rolle's tendency to repetition may tire any\none who reads him \"straight on,\" as the phrase is. But it is doubtful\nwhether that be the best means of approach. If he be read in bits, he\nwill prove far more effective: and his ability to hit the right nail on\nthe head, and to hit it wonderfully hard, may occasionally bring his\nwords home to our immediate circumstances with an appositeness that may\nbe more than a coincidence.\nIn the past, the learned and ignorant alike have been guilty of the\noperation which may be described as cutting man up into parts: _i.e._,\nthey have been inclined to treat him now as if he were all intellect,\nthen as if he were all feeling; while to the will a kind of intermediate\npart has generally been allotted, as if it were the handmaid instead of\nthe master of the other two. And there is still, in some quarters, a\ntendency to relegate the will and the feelings to an inferior plane, if\nindeed they be allowed any place at all. In other quarters, the\nonslaught is made on intellect. Men are bidden to be humble, to become\nas little children; as if there were any humility in thinking\nincorrectly or not at all; as if the odd, though suppressed, assumption\nthat children have no intellects had any ground in fact. It is surely a\ntrue apostrophe--\n    \"GOD! Thou art mind! Unto the master-mind,\n     Mind should be precious.\"\nThe Angelic Doctor himself paid a tribute to the importance and special\ndifficulties of intellect, and also to the necessity of uniting it with\nwill:--\"the martyrs had greater merit in faith, not receding from the\nfaith for persecutions; and likewise men of learning have greater merit\nof faith, not[1] receding from the faith for the reasons of philosophers\nor heretics alleged against it.\" Richard Rolle, following on the same\nlines as S. Thomas Aquinas, has nothing of this spirit of division: the\nwhole being is what he would fain see offered to GOD, whether it be so\nby Margaret Kirkby, or by those who are \"in the world,\" for whom _Our\nDaily Work_ was written. In the image of GOD was man made, and therefore\nGOD suffices for all the needs of man's nature: that, at least seems to\nbe the underlying idea when Rolle writes:--\"GOD is light and burning.\nLight clarifies our reason, burning kindles our will.\" May we not say\nhere too?--\"What GOD has joined together, that let not man put asunder.\"\nAbove all things, Rolle aims at a perfect balance, culminating in a\nharmony ruled by one power, and that the greatest in the world, Love.\nReal love, he asks; not the degraded things to which men give that great\nname, as to every passing gust of feeling, to every unworthy untamed\nemotion: but the divine quality, when to the \"lastingness,\" which he\nrequires, is also joined that which is the inner essence of Love, viz.,\nsacrifice. \"Love is a life,\" he writes, \"joining together the loving and\nthe loved.\" And then he remembers the other great gift to men,\nintellectual sincerity, which has inspired all \"who follow Truth along\nher star-paved way\"; and he gives to that its place and due: \"Truth may\nbe without love: but it cannot help without it.\" Even then, the whole\ntale is not complete; the way of the Saints is not \"Primrosed and hung\nwith shade.\" Love, with Rolle, is no easy sentimentality: it involves\ndefinite sacrifice in more directions than one; it demands thought,\nperseverance, supernatural strength, natural strenuousness; it is not a\nselfish enjoyment of a circumambient atmosphere wrapping humanity,\nwithout responsibility or effort of its own: \"Love is a _Life_.\"\n\"Love,\" he writes, \"is a perfection of learning; virtue of prophecy;\nfruit of truth; help of sacraments; establishing of wit and knowledge;\nriches of pure men: life of dying men. So, how good love is. If we\nsuffer to be slain; if we give all that we have (down) to a beggar's\nstaff: if we know as much as men may know on earth, all this is naught\nbut ordained sorrow and torment.\" Then, with that sound sense, which is\nnot the least element in the sum of his attractiveness, he utters a\nsubtle warning against that all too common sin, judging one another: \"If\nthou wilt ask how good is he or she, ask how much he or she loves: and\nthat no man can tell. For I hold it folly to judge a man's heart, that\nnone knows save GOD.\"\nAfter this it cannot be necessary to say that Rolle is a true mystic.\n\"Many,\" so he tells us in this same chapter x., \"Many speak and do good,\nand love not GOD.\" But that will not suffice his exacting demands. A man\nis not \"good\" until his interior disposition be all filled and taken up\nwith pure love of GOD. And as he analyses the Christian Character, there\nis a pleasant blunt directness about this holy man:--\"he that says he\nloves GOD and will not do what is in him to shew love, tell him that he\nlies.\"\nIt is possible that the alarming list of sins of the heart, in chapter\nvi., may give the heedless and even the heedful matter for grave\nthought, as each one finds himself ejaculating with spontaneous\nfear--\"Who can tell how oft he offendeth? Cleanse thou me from my secret\nfaults.\"\nSurely no one need fear that the outcome of a study of Richard Rolle\nwill be effeminacy. Not that that indeed is the special temptation of\nthe English: a chill commonplace acquiescence in a convenient, if\nbaseless, hope that somehow \"things will come all right,\" is far more\nlikely to lead them astray than any \"burning yearning to GOD with a\nwonderful delight and certainty.\" Is not George Herbert's cry apposite\nstill?\n    \"O England, full of sin, but most of sloth!\"\nNor can any one argue fairly that this absorption of the mystic is just\nselfish idleness. It is, so it seems, as we read Rolle's injunctions, of\nthe nature of hard exacting toil. No doubt, there must be those who do\nthe material work of the world; who gain, among other things, those\n\"goods\" which go to support the Mystics. But there will be no lack of\nsuch workers, through the inroads of religion; the broad ways of daily\nlife are in no danger of contracting suddenly in to the path to the\nstrait gate. Moreover, natural life itself is a poor thing unsupported\nby an unseen stream of spiritual refection. Here, as elsewhere in the\nordered economy of things, two forms of life are found to be\ncomplementary. It is true, as Dr. Bigg once wrote:--\"If Society is to be\npermeated by religion, there must be reservoirs of religion like those\ngreat storage places up among the hills which feed the pipes by which\nwater is carried to every home in the city. We shall need a special\nclass of students of GOD, men and women whose primary and absorbing\ninterest it is to work out the spiritual life in all its purity and\nintegrity.\"[2] It is indeed the idlest of criticism that condemns such\npeople as slothful or selfish.\nThere is one charm in our own Mystics which we may miss in S. John of\nthe Cross or S. Teresa for example; viz., that with all their zeal,\nthere is also an amazing reality and simplicity down at the bottom of\nit, which may seem to us not present in the rhapsodies of more southern\nlovers; though in all probability such seeming is purely racial.\nNevertheless, we may be thankful if we find the antidote to our national\nprosaic ways in the sane zeal of others of our nation.\nLastly, as men read, they may be overcome perhaps by despair. This pure\nuntainted selflessness of which Richard Rolle writes almost glibly, how\ncan it be possible here and now? How can men and women, fixed in and\ncondemned to the dusty ways of common life, unable as they are to leave\nthe world even if they would, how can they so much as dream of such\nunattainable heights? Is there no help for them in the often quoted\nlines of a later English Mystic?--\n          \"Who aimeth at the sky\n    Shoots higher much than he who means a tree.\"\nFor plain men and women, the key to the problem may lie in the question\nput by Robert Browning into the mouth of Innocent XII.:--\n    \"Is this our ultimate stage, or starting place\n     To try man's foot, if it will creep or climb,\n     'Mid obstacles in seeming, points that prove\n     Advantage for who vaults from low to high,\n     And makes the stumbling-block a stepping-stone?\"\nEven though the goal be not reached, to have willed deliberately here\nthe first step may prove to have been not wholly unavailing.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[1] Quoted by Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S.J., in _Scholasticism_, p. 121.\n[2] _Wayside Sketches_, p. 135.\nThe Form of Perfect Living.\nThe Form of Perfect Living\nby\nRichard Rolle.\nCHAPTER I.\nIn every sinful man and woman that is bound in deadly sin, are three\nwretchednesses, the which bring them to the death of hell. The first is:\n_Default of ghostly strength_. That they are so weak within their heart,\nthat they can neither stand against the temptations of the fiend, nor\ncan they lift their will to yearn for the love of GOD and follow\nthereto. The second is: _Use of fleshly desires_:--for they have no will\nnor might to stand, they fall into lusts and likings of this world; and\nbecause they think them sweet, they dwell in them still, many till\ntheir lives' end, and so they come to the third wretchedness. The third\nis, _Exchanging a lasting good for a passing delight_: as who say they\ngive endless joy for a little joy of this life. If they will turn them\nand rise to penance, GOD will ordain their dwelling with angels and with\nholy men. But because they choose the vile sin of this world, and have\nmore delight in the filth of their flesh than in the fairness of heaven,\nthey lose both the world and heaven. For he that hath not JESUS Christ\nloses all that he hath, and all that he is, and all that he might get.\nFor he is not worthy of life, nor to be fed with swine's-meat. All\ncreatures shall be stirred in His vengeance in the day of Doom. These\nwretchednesses that I have told you of are not only in worldly men and\nwomen, who use gluttony, lust, and other open sins: but they are also in\nothers who seem in penance and godly life. For the devil that is enemy\nto all mankind, when he sees a man or a woman among a thousand, turn\nwholly to GOD, and forsake all the vanities and riches that men who love\nthis world covet, and seek lasting joy, a thousand wiles he has in what\nmanner he may destroy them. And when he can not bring them into such\nsins which might make all men wonder at them who knew them, he beguiles\nmany so privily that they cannot oftentimes feel the trap that has taken\nthem.\nSome he takes with _error_ that he puts them in. Some with _singular\nwit_, when he makes them suppose that the thing that they say or do is\nbest; and therefore they will have no counsel of another who is better\nand abler than they; and this is a foul stinking pride; for such man\nwould set his wit before all other. Some, the devil deceives through\n_Vain-glory_, that is idle joy; when any have pride and delight in\nthemselves, of the penance that they suffer, of good deeds that they\ndo, of any virtue that they have; are glad when men praise them, sorry\nwhen men blame them, have envy of them who are spoken better of than\nthey. They consider themselves so glorious, and so far surpassing the\nlife that other men lead, that they think that none should reprehend\nthem in anything that they do or say; and despise sinful men, and others\nwho will not do as they bid them. How mayst thou find a sinfuller wretch\nthan such a one? And so much the worse is he because he knows not that\nhe is evil, and is considered and honoured of men as wise and holy. Some\nare deceived by _over-great lust and liking in meat and drink_, when\nthey pass measure and come into excess, and have delight therein; and\nthey know not that they sin, and therefore they amend them not, and so\nthey destroy virtues of soul. Some are destroyed with _over-great\nabstinence_ of meat and drink and sleep. That is often temptation of\nthe devil, for to make them fall in the midst of their work, so that\nthey bring it to no ending as they should have done, had they known\nreason and had discretion; and so they lose their merit for their\nfrowardness. This snare our enemy lays to take us with when we begin to\nhate wickedness, and turn us to GOD. Then many begin a thing that they\ncan never more bring to an end: then they suppose that they can do\nwhatsoever their heart is set on. But oftentimes they fall or ever they\ncome midway; and that thing which they supposed was for them is\nhindering to them. For we have a long way to heaven, and as many good\ndeeds as we do, as many prayers as we make, and as many good thoughts as\nwe think in truth and hope and charity, so many paces go we heavenwards.\nThen, if we make us so weak and so feeble that we can neither work nor\npray as we should do, nor think, are we not greatly to blame that fail\nwhen we had most need to be stalwart? And well I wot that it is not\nGOD'S will that we so do. For the prophet says: \"Lord, I shall keep my\nstrength to Thee,\" so that he might sustain GOD'S service till his\ndeath-day, and not in a little and a short time waste it, and then lie\nwailing and groaning by the wall. And it is much more peril than men\nsuppose. For S. Jerome says that he makes an offering of robbery who\noutrageously torments his body by over-little meat or sleep. And S.\nBernard says: \"Fasting and waking hinder not spiritual goods, but help,\nif they be done with _discretion_; without that, they are vices.\"\nWherefore, it is not good to torture ourselves so much, and afterwards\nto have displeasure at our deed. There have been many, and are who\nsuppose it is naught all that they do unless they be in so great\nabstinence and fasting that all men speak of them who know them. But\noftentimes it befalls that the more outward joy or wondering they have\n(on account) of the praising of men, the less joy they have within of\nthe love of GOD. By my judgment, they should please JESUS Christ much\nmore if they accepted for His sake--in thanking and praising Him, to\nsustain their body in His service and to withhold themselves from great\nspeech of men--whatsoever GOD sent them in time and place, and gave\nthemselves since entirely to the love and the praising of that Lord\nJESUS Christ: Who will stalwartly be loved, and lastingly be served, so\nthat their holiness were more seen in GOD'S eye than in man's. For all\nthe better thou art, and the less speech thou hast of men, the more is\nthy joy before GOD. Ah! how great it is to be worthy of love, and to be\nnot loved. And what wretchedness it is, to have the name and the habit\nof holiness, and be not so; but to cover pride, ire or envy under the\nclothes of Christ's childhood. A foul thing it is to have liking and\ndelight in the words of men who can no more deem what we are in our soul\nthan they wot what we think. For ofttimes they say that he or she is in\nthe higher degree that is in the lower; and whom they say is in the\nlower, is in the higher. Therefore I hold it to be but madness to be\ngladder or sorrier whether they say good or ill. If we be trying to hide\nus from speech and praise of this world, GOD will shew to us His praise,\nand our joy. For that is His joy when we are strength-full to stand\nagainst the privy and open temptation of the devil, and to seek nothing\nbut the honour and praise of Him, and that we might entirely praise Him.\nAnd that ought to be our desire, our prayer and our intent, night and\nday, that the fire of His love kindle our hearts, and the sweetness of\nHis grace be our comfort and our solace in weal and woe. Thou hast now\nheard a part how the fiend deceives, with his subtle craft, unknowing\nmen and women. And if thou wilt do by good counsel and follow holy\nteaching, as I hope that thou wilt, thou shall destroy his traps, and\nburn in love's fire all the bands that he would bind thee with; and all\nhis malice shall turn thee to joy, and him to more sorrow. GOD suffers\nhim to tempt good men for their profit, that they may be the higher\ncrowned, when they, through His help, have overcome so cruel an enemy,\nthat oftentimes, both in body and soul, confounds many men.\nIn three manners, the devil has power to be in a man. In one manner,\nhurting the good they have by _nature_, as in dumb men, and in others,\nstaining their thoughts. In another manner, snatching away the good\nthat they have of _grace_: and so he is in sinful men whom he has\ndeceived through delight of the world and of their flesh, and leads them\nwith him to hell. In the third manner, he torments a man's body, as we\nread that he has done (to) Job. But wit thee well, if he beguile thee\nnot within, thou needst not dread what he may do to thee without, for he\nmay do no more than GOD gives him leave to do.\nCHAPTER II.\nBecause thou hast forsaken the solace and the joy of this world, and\ntaken thee to solitary life, for GOD'S sake to suffer tribulation and\nanguish here, and afterwards to come to that bliss which never more\nceases, I trow truly that the comfort of JESUS Christ, and the sweetness\nof His love, with the fire of the Holy Ghost, that purges all sin, shall\nbe in thee, and with thee, leading thee and teaching thee how thou shalt\nthink, how thou shalt pray, what thou shalt work, so that in a few years\nthou shalt have more delight to be by thy lone, and to speak to thy Love\nand thy Spouse JESUS Christ, Who is high in heaven, than if thou wert\nlady here of a thousand worlds. Men suppose that we are in torture and\nin penance great; but we have more joy and more very delight in a day\nthan they have in the world all their life. They see our body: but they\nsee not our heart where our solace is. If they saw that, many of them\nwould forsake all that they have, for to follow us. Therefore, be\ncomforted and stalwart, and dread no annoy or anguish: but fasten all\nthine intent in JESUS, that thy life be good and convenient; and look\nthat there be nothing in thee that should be displeasing to Him that\nthou dost not soon amend it. The state which thou art in, which is\nsolitude, is most able of all other to revelation of the Holy Ghost. For\nwhen S. John was in the Isle of Patmos, then GOD shewed him His secrets.\nThe goodness of GOD it is that He comforts them wonderfully that have no\ncomfort of the world, if they give their heart entirely to Him, and\ncovet not nor seek but Him: then He gives Himself to them in sweetness\nand delight, in burning of love, and in joy and melody and dwells aye\nwith them, in their soul, so that the comfort of Him departs never from\nthem. And if they any time begin to err, through ignorance or frailty;\nsoon He shews them the right way; and all that they have need of, He\nteaches them. No man to such revelation and grace on the first day may\ncome; but through long travel and carefulness to love JESUS Christ, as\nthou shall here-afterward. Nevertheless, then he suffers them to be\ntempted in sore manners, both waking and sleeping. For aye the more\ntemptations and the grievouser they stand against and overcome, the more\nthey shall joy in His love when they are passed. Waking, they are\nsometimes tempted with foul thoughts, vile lusts, wicked delights, with\npride, ire, envy, despair, presumption and other many. But their remedy\nshall be: Prayer: Weeping: Fasting: Waking. These things, if they be\ndone with discretion, they put away sin and filth from the soul, and\nmake it clean to receive the love of JESUS Christ, Who may not be loved,\nbut in cleanness. Also, sometimes the fiend tempts men and women, who\nare solitary, by their love in a quaint manner and a subtle: he\ntransfigures himself in the likeness of an angel of light, and appears\nto them, and says he is one of GOD'S angels come to comfort them, and so\nhe deceives fools. But they that are wise and will not quickly trust to\nall spirits, but ask counsel of knowing men, he can not beguile them.\nAlso, I find written of a recluse, that was a good woman, to whom the\nill-angel oft-times appeared in the form of a good angel, and said that\nhe was come to bring her to heaven. Wherefore, she was right glad and\njoyful. But nevertheless, she told it to her Shrift-father, and he, as a\nwise man and wary, gave her this counsel. When he comes, he said, bid\nhim that he shew thee our Lady, S. Mary. When he has done so, say _Ave\nMaria_. She did so. The fiend said: \"Thou hast no need to see her; my\npresence suffices to thee.\" And she said by all means she would see her.\nHe saw that it behoved him either to do her will, or she would despise\nhim: so quickly, he brought forth the fairest woman that might be as to\nher sight, and shewed to her. And she set her on her knees and said,\n_Ave Maria_. And so quickly all vanished away, and for shame never after\ncame he to her. This I say not, because I hope he shall have leave to\ntempt thee in this manner, but because I will that thou beware, if any\nsuch temptation befall thee sleeping or waking, that thou trust not over\nquickly till thou knowest the truth. More privily he transfigures\nhimself into an angel of light--that commonly all men are tempted\nwith--when he hides ill under the likeness of good. And that is in two\nmanners. One is, when he eggs us on to over-great ease and rest of body,\nand softness to our flesh, for need to sustain our nature. For such\nthoughts he puts in us: that unless we eat well, and drink well, and\nsleep well, and lie soft and sit warm, we can not serve GOD, nor last in\nthe labour that we have begun. But he thinks to bring us to over-great\npleasure. Another is, when under the likeness of ghostly good, he\nentices us to sharp and over-great penance, for to destroy ourselves;\nand says thus: \"Thou wot'st well that he who suffers most penance for\nGOD'S love, he shall have most meed. Therefore eat little, and feeble\nmeat; and drink less, the thinnest drink is good enough to thee. Reck\nnot of sleep: wear the hair-shirt and the habergeon. All thing that is\naffliction for thy flesh, do it; so that there may be none that can\npass thee in penance. He that speaks thee thus, is about to slay thee\nwith over-great abstinence; as he that said the other to slay thee with\nover-little. Therefore, if we will be rightly disposed, it behoves us to\nset ourselves in a good mean, and that we may destroy our vices and hold\nour flesh under, and nevertheless that it should be stalwart in the\nservice of JESUS Christ. Also, our enemy will not suffer us to be in\nrest when we sleep, but then he is about to beguile us in many manners.\nSometimes, with ugly images, for to make us afraid and to make us\nhateful of our state: sometimes with fair images, fair sights and that\nseem comfortable; for to make us glad in vain, and make us think we are\nbetter than we are. Sometimes, tells us we are holy and good, for to\nbring us into pride; [sometimes says we are wicked and sinful for to\nmake us fall into despair.] But He Who is Ordainer of all things,\nsuffers not that our sleep be without reward to us, if we dress our life\nto His Will. And wit thou well, thou sinnest not sleeping, if waking\nthou beest evermore without excess of meat and drink, and without\nill-thoughts. But many a one the devil has deceived, through dreams,\nwhen he has made them set their heart on them. For he has shewn them\nsome truth, but afterwards beguiled them with one that was false.\nTherefore says the wise man that many cares follow dreams; and they fell\nthat hoped in them. Wherefore that thou beest not beguiled with them, I\nwill that thou wit that _there are six manners of dreams_. Two are, that\nno man, holy or other, may escape: they are, if their stomach be\nover-empty or over-full; then many vanities, in sore manners, befall\nthem sleeping. The third is of illusions of our enemy. The fourth is, of\nthought before and of illusions following. And the fifth through the\nrevelation of the Holy Ghost, that is done in many a manner. The sixth\nis, of thoughts before that are due to Christ or Holy Church, revelation\ncoming after. In thus many manners, the image of dreams touches men when\nthey sleep. But so much the less shall we give faith to any dream,\nbecause we can not wit which is truth, which is false; which is of our\nenemy, which is of the Holy Ghost. For where many dreams are, there are\nmany vanities. And many they may make to err, for they set up unwise\nmen, and so deceive them.\nCHAPTER III.\nI know that thy life is given to the service of GOD. Then is it shame to\nthee, unless thou beest as good, or better, within thy soul, as thou art\nseeming in the sight of men. Turn therefore thy thoughts perfectly to\nGOD, as it seems that thou hast done thy body. For I will not that thou\nshouldest ween that all are holy that have the habit of holiness, and\nare not occupied with the world. Nor that all are ill who discourse of\nearthly business. But they only are holy, what state or degree they be\nin, the which despise all earthly things, that is to say, love it not;\nand burn in the love of JESUS Christ; and all their desires are set to\nthe joy of heaven, and hate all sin, and cease not from good works, and\nfeel a sweetness in their heart of the love without end: and\nnevertheless, they think themselves vilest of all, and hold themselves\nwretchedest, least and lowest. This is holy men's life; follow it and be\nholy. And if thou wilt be in the Apostles' reward, think not what thou\nforsookest, but what thou despisest. For they who follow JESUS Christ in\nwilling poverty, and in meekness, and in charity, and in patience,\nforsake as much as they can covet who follow Him not. And consider with\nhow great and how good will thou presentest thy vows before Him: for on\nthat He has set His eyes, and if thou with great desire offerest thy\nprayers, with great fervour desirest to see Him, and seekest no earthly\ncomfort, but the savour of Heaven, and in contemplation thereof hast thy\ndelight. Wonderfully JESUS works in His lovers, those whom he reaves\nfrom the pleasure of flesh and blood through tender love. He makes them\nto will no earthly thing, and makes them rise to the solace of Him, and\nto forget vanities and fleshly loves of the world, and to dread no\nsorrow that may fall: to diminish over-great bodily ease: to suffer for\nHis love, seems to them joy; and to be solitary they have great comfort:\nso that they be not hindered of that devotion. Now mayst thou see that\nmany are worse than they seem, and many are better than they seem, and\nnamely among those that have the habit of holiness. Therefore force\nthyself, in all that thou mayest, that thou mayest be no worse than thou\nseemest. And if thou wilt do as I teach thee in this short form of\nliving, I hope, through the grace of GOD, that if men hold thee to be\ngood, thou shalt be well better.\nCHAPTER IV.\nAt the beginning then, bow thee entirely to thy Lord JESUS Christ. That\nturning to JESUS is naught else but turning from all the covetousness\nand the liking and the occupations and business of worldly things and of\nfleshly lust and of vain love: so that thy thought, that was ever\ndownward, burrowing in the earth, whilst thou wert in the world, now\nshould be aye upward like fire; seeking the highest place in heaven,\nright to thy Spouse, where He sits in His bliss. To Him thou art turned,\nwhen His grace illumines thine heart; and forsakes all vices, and\nconforms it to virtues and good manners, and to all manner of compliance\nand debonairness. And that thou mayst last and grow in the goodness\nthat thou hast begun without slowness, and sorriness, and irking of thy\nlife; four things shalt thou have in thy thought, till thou beest in\nperfect love. For when thou art come thereto, thy joy and desire will\naye be burning in Christ. One is: _the measure of thy life here, that it\nis so short that scarcely is it anything_. For we live but in a\npoint--that is the least thing that may be. And soothly, our life is\nless than a point, if we liken it to the life that lasts aye. Another\nis: _uncertainty of our ending_. For we wot never when we shall die, nor\nwhere we shall die, nor how we shall die, nor whither we shall go when\nwe are dead; and that GOD wills that this be uncertain to us, for He\nwills that we be aye ready to die. The third is: _that we shall answer\nbefore the righteous Judge_, for all the time that we have been here,\nhow we have lived, what our occupation has been and why, and what good\nwe might have done when we have been idle. Therefore said the prophet:\n\"He has called thee times again,\" that is every day He has lent us here\nfor to spend in good use, and in penance, and in GOD'S service. If we\nwaste it in earthly love and in vanities, full grievously must we be\ncondemned and punished; for that is one of the greatest sorrows that may\nbe: unless we try manfully in the love of GOD, and do good to all that\nwe may, while our short time lasts. And every time that we think not on\nGod we may count it as the thing that we have lost. The fourth is: _that\nwe think how great the joy is that they have who last in GOD'S love to\ntheir ending_. For they shall be brethren and fellows with angels and\nholy men, loving and thanking, praising and seeing the King of Joy in\nthe beauty and in the shining of His majesty. The which sight shall be\nreward and food, and all delights that any creature may think, and more\nthan any can tell, to all His lovers, without end. It is much easier to\ncome to that bliss than to describe it. _Also think what pain and what\nsorrow and tormenting they shall have_ who love not GOD above all things\nthat one sees in this world, but defile their body in the pleasures and\nlusts of this life, in pride and greed and other sins; they shall burn\nin the fire of hell with the devil whom they served, as long as GOD is\nin heaven with His servants, that is evermore.\nCHAPTER V.\nI will that thou beest aye climbing to JESUS-ward, and increasing thy\nlove and thy service to Him; not as fools do; they begin in the highest\ndegree and come down to the lowest. I say not that if thou hast begun\nunreasonable abstinence that thou hold it; but for many who were burning\nat the beginning and able to (capable of) the love of JESUS Christ,\nthrough over-great penance they have hindered themselves, and made\nthemselves so feeble that they cannot love GOD as they should. In the\nwhich love that thou mayest wax aye more and more is my coveting and my\nadmonition. I consider thee never of the less merit if thou beest not\nin so great abstinence; but if thou set all thy thought how thou mayest\nlove thy Spouse JESUS Christ more than thou hast done, then dare I say\nthat thy reward is waxing not waning.\nCHAPTER VI.\nWherefore, that thou may'st be rightly disposed both for thy soul and\nthy body, thou shalt understand four things. The first thing is: _what\nthing defiles a man_. The second thing: _what makes him clean_. The\nthird: _what holds him in cleanness_. The fourth: _what thing draws him\nfor to ordain his will entirely at GOD'S will_. For the first, wit thou\nthat we sin in three things that make us foul: that is with _heart_ and\n_mouth_ and _deed_. The sins of the heart are these: Ill-thought: ill\ndelight: assent to sin: desire of ill; wicked will: ill suspicion:\nundevotion: if thou lettest thine heart any time be idle, without\noccupation of the love, of the praising of GOD: ill dread: ill love:\nerror: fleshly affection to thy friends or to other that thou lovest:\njoy in any man's ill-faring, whether they be enemy or none: contempt of\npoor or sinful men: to honour rich men for their riches: unsuitable joy\nin any world's vanity: sorrow of the world: impatience: perplexity, that\nis doubt what to do and what not, for every man ought to be secure\n(about) what he shall do and what he shall leave: obstinacy in ill:\nannoyance (at having) to do good: sorrow that he did no more ill, or\nthat he did not have that pleasure or that will of his flesh which he\nmight have done: unstableness of thought: pain at penance: hypocrisy:\nlove to please men: dread to displease them: shame of good deed: joy of\nill deed: singular wit: desire for honour or dignity, or to be holden\nbetter than another, or richer, or fairer, or more to be dreaded: vain\nglory of any good of nature, of happening, or of grace: shame of poor\nfriends: pride of rich or of gentle kin, for all we alike are free\nbefore GOD'S face, unless our deeds make any better or worse than\nanother, in spite of good counsel and of good teaching. _The sins of the\nmouth_ are these: to swear oftentimes: forswearing: slander of Christ or\nof any of His Saints; to name His name without reverence; gainsaying and\nstrife against truthfulness; murmuring against GOD for any anguish or\ntrouble or tribulation that may befall on earth: to say GOD'S Service\nundevoutly and without reverence: backbiting; flattering: lying:\nabusing: cursing: defaming: quarrelling: threatening: sowing of discord:\ntreason: false-witness: ill counsel: scorn: unbuxomness in speech: to\nturn good deeds to ill: to make them be holden ill who do them: (we\nought to wrap up our neighbours' deeds in the best not the worst);\nexciting any man to ire: reprehending in another what one does one's\nself: vain speech: much speech: foul speech: to speak idle words: or to\nspeak words not needful: praising: polishing of words: defending sin:\nshouting with laughter: making grimaces at any man: to sing secular\nsongs and to love them: to praise ill-deeds: to sing more for the glory\nof men than of GOD. _The sins of deed are these_: gluttony: lechery:\ndrunkenness: simony: witch-craft: breaking of the holy-days: sacrilege:\nto receive GOD'S Body in deadly sin: breaking of vows: apostacy:\ndissipation in GOD'S service: to set example of ill deeds: to hurt any\nman in his body, or in his goods, or in his fame: theft: rapine: usury:\ndeceit: selling of righteousness: to hearken ill: to give to harlots: to\nwithhold necessaries from the body, or to give it to excess: to begin a\nthing that is above our might: custom to sin: falling often into sin:\nfeigning of more good than we have: for to seem holier, more learned\nand wiser than we are: to hold office that we do not suffice to: or to\nhold one that cannot be held without sin: to lead dances: to bring up\nnew fashions: to be rebellious against one's Sovereign: to insult those\nwho are less: to sin in sight, in hearing, in smelling, in touching, in\nhandling, in swallowing: in means: in signs: in beggings: writings. To\nreceive the circumstances, that is to say time, place, manner, number,\nperson, dwelling, knowledge, age, that makes thee sin more or less. To\ndesire a sin or to be tempted: to constrain one to sin. Other many sins\nthere are _of omission_, that is, of leaving good undone: when men leave\nthe good they should do. Not thinking about GOD, nor dreading, nor\npraising Him, nor thanking Him for His gifts: to do not all that one\ndoes for love of GOD: to sorrow not for one's sins as one should do: not\nto dispose one's self to receive grace. And if one have taken grace,\nnot to use it as one ought; not to keep it: to turn not to the\ninspiration of GOD: to conform not one's will to GOD'S will: to give not\nattention to one's prayers, but mutter on and never reck save that they\nbe said; to do negligently what one was bound by vow to do, or by\ncommand, or else enjoined in penance: to draw out at length what should\nbe done soon: having no joy at one's neighbour's profit as at one's own;\nnot sorrowing at his ill-faring: standing not against temptations:\nforgiving not those who have done one harm: keeping not faith with one's\nneighbour as one would that he did to one's self: and yielding not a\ngood deed for another if one can. Amending not those sins before one's\neyes: not appeasing strifes: not teaching them that are unlearned: not\ncomforting them that are in sorrow, or in sickness, or in poverty, or\nin penance, or in prison. These sins, and many others make men foul.\n_The things that cleanse us of that filth_, are three, against these\nthree manners of sins. The first is: _sorrow of heart_ against the sin\nof thought: and that it behoves (thee to) be so perfect that thou beest\nin full will never to sin more. And that thou mayest have sorrow for all\nthy sins. And that all joy and solace, except of GOD and in GOD, be put\nout of thine heart. The second is: _shrift of mouth_; against the sin of\nmouth. And that shall be _hasty_, without delaying. _Naked_, without\nexcusing. Whole, without parting. Also (not) for to tell one sin to one\npriest and another to another. Say all that thou wottest to one, or else\nthy shrift is not worth. The Third is, _Satisfaction_; that has three\nparts, Fasting, Prayer, and Alms-Deed. Not only to give poor men meat\nand drink: but to forgive them that do thee wrong and pray for them:\nand inform them who are at the point to perish what they shall do. For\nthe third thing, thou shalt wit that cleanness behoves to be kept in\nheart, in mouth and in work. _Cleanness of heart_, three things keep:\none is, watchful thought and stable about GOD. Another is, care to keep\nthy five wits, so that all the wicked stirrings of them be closed out of\nthe flesh. The third, honest and profitable occupation. Also, _cleanness\nof mouth_, three things keep: one is that thou should'st bethink thee\nbefore thou speakest. Another is that thou beest not of great but of\nlittle speech; and specially ever till thine heart be established in the\nlove of JESUS Christ: so that men think thou ever lookest on Him,\nwhether thou speakest or not. But such a grace may'st thou not have on\nthe first day: but with long travel and great care to love Him from\nhabit, so that the eye of thine heart be aye upward, shalt thou come\nthereto. The third, that thou for nothing, not even for meekness, shalt\nlie to any man. For every lie is sin and ill: and not GOD'S will. Thou\nneedest not tell all the truth always, unless thou willest. But hate all\nlies. If thou sayest a thing of thyself that seems to thy praise, but\nthou sayst it to the praise of GOD and help of another, thou dost not\nunwisely for thou speakest truth. But if thou will have aught private,\ntell it to none but such a one that thou beest secure that it should not\nbe shewed (disclosed) but only to the praise of GOD, of whom is all\ngoodness, and who makes some better than others, and gives them special\ngrace, not only for themselves, but also for them that will do well\nafter their example. _Cleanness of work_, three things keep. One is: _a\ncareful thought of death_: for the wise man says; \"Bethink thee of thy\nlast ending, and thou shalt not sin.\" The second: _flee from ill\nfellowship_, that gives more example to love the world than GOD, earth\nthan heaven, filth of body than cleanness of soul. The third is:\n_temperance and discretion in meat and drink_: that it be neither to\nexcess, nor beneath suitable sustenance for thy body. For both come to\none end: excess and over-great fasting: for neither is GOD'S will--and\nthat many will not suppose, for anything one may say. If you take\nsustenance of such good as GOD sends for the time and the day, whatever\nit be, I take out no manner of meat that Christian men use; with measure\nand discretion, thou dost well; for so did Christ and His Apostles. If\nyou leave many meats that men have, not despising the meat that GOD has\nmade for man's help, but because thou thinkest thou hast no need\nthereof, thou dost well: if thou seest that thou art stalwart to serve\nGOD, and that it breaks not thy stomach. For if thou hast broken it with\nover-great abstinence, appetite for meat is reft from thee: and often\nshalt thou be in tremblings, as if thou wert ready to give up the ghost.\nAnd wit thou well, thou didst sin that deed. And thou may'st not wit\nsoon whether thine abstinence be against thee, or with thee. For the\ntime thou art going, I counsel thee that thou should'st eat better and\nmore, as it comes, that thou beest not beguiled. And afterward, when\nthou hast proved many things, and overcome many temptations, and knowest\nbetter thyself and GOD than thou didst, then if thou seest that it be to\nbe done, thou mayst take to greater abstinence. And meanwhile thou mayst\ndo privy penance which all men need not know. Righteousness is not all\nin fasting or in eating. But thou art righteous, if contempt and praise,\npoverty and riches, hunger and need or delights and dainties be all\nalike to thee. If thou takest these with love of GOD, I hold thee\nblessed and high before JESUS. Men who come to thee, they love thee\nbecause they see thy great abstinence, and because they see thee\nenclosed: but I may not love thee so lightly for anything I see thee do\nwithout, but if thy will be conformed entirely to GOD'S will. And set\nnot by their praise and blame, and never give thou heed if they speak\nless good of thee than they did; but that thou shouldest be more burning\nin GOD'S love than thou wert. For one thing I warn thee: I hope that GOD\nhas no perfect servant in earth without enemies of some men--For only\nwretchedness has no enemy. _For to draw us that we conform our will to\nGOD'S will_: are three things. One is, example of holy men and women,\nwho were intent, night and day, to serve GOD, and dread Him and love\nHim. If we follow them on earth, we must be with them in heaven. Another\nis the goodness of our Lord, which despises none, but gladly receives\nall that come to His mercy: and He is homelier to them than brother or\nsister, or any friend that they most love, or most trust in. The third\nis the wonderful joy of the kingdom of heaven, which is more than tongue\nmay tell, or heart may think, or eye may see, or ear may hear. It is so\ngreat that, as in hell nothing might live for great pain but that the\nmight of GOD suffers them not to die; so the joy in the sight of JESUS\nin His GOD-head is so great that they must die of joy, if it were not\nfor His goodness, who wills that His lovers should be living aye in\nbliss: also His righteousness wills that all who loved Him not, be aye\nliving in fire, which is horrible to any man that thinks: look then what\nit is to feel. But they who will not think of it and dread it now, they\nshall suffer it evermore. Now hast thou heard how thou mayst dispose thy\nlife, and rule it to GOD'S will. But I wot well that thou desirest to\nhear some special point of the love of JESUS Christ, and of\ncontemplative life, which thou hast taken to thee in all men's sight.\n(According) As I have grace and knowledge, I will teach thee.\nCHAPTER VII.\nAmore langueo. These two words are written in the Book of Love, that is\ncalled the Song of Love, or the Song of Songs. For he that loves\ngreatly, lists often to sing of his love, for joy that he or she has\nwhen they think on that they love, specially if their love be true and\nloving. And this is the English of these two words: \"I languish for\nlove.\" Separate men on earth have separate gifts and graces of GOD, but\nthe special gift of those who lead the solitary life, is for to love\nJESUS Christ. Thou sayest to me, 'All men love Him who keep His\ncommandments.' That is Truth. But all men who keep His bidding keep not\nalso His Counsel. And all that do His Counsel are not all fulfilled by\nthe sweetness of His love, nor feel the fire of burning love of heart.\nTherefore, the diversity of love makes the diversity of holiness and of\nneed. In heaven, the angels who are most burning in love, are nearest to\nGOD. Also, men and women that have most of GOD'S love, whether they do\npenance or none; they shall be in the highest degree in heaven: they who\nlove Him less, in the lower order. If thou lovest Him much, great joy\nand sweetness and burning thou feelest in His love, that is thy comfort\nand strength night and day. If thy love be not burning in Him: little is\nthy delight. For Him may no man feel in joy and sweetness, unless they\nbe clean and filled with His love; and thereto shalt thou come with\ngreat travail in prayer and thanking, having such meditations as are all\non the love and the praising of GOD. And when thou art at thy meal, ever\nlove GOD in thy thought, at each moment, and say thus in thine heart:\n_Loved be Thou, King: and thanked be Thou, King, and blessed be Thou,\nKing, JESU all my joying, of all Thy good gifts: Who for me spilt Thy\nblood, and died on the rood. Do Thou give me grace to sing the song of\nThy praise._ And think it not only whiles thou eatest, but both before\nand after, and ever when thou prayest or speakest. Or if thou hast other\nthoughts, that thou hast more sweetness in and devotion than in those\nthat I teach thee, thou may'st think them. For I hope that GOD will put\nsuch thoughts in thine heart, as He is pleased with, and as thou art\nordained for. When thou prayest, look not how much thou sayest, but how\nwell: that the love of thine heart be aye upward, and thy thought on\nwhat thou sayst as much as thou canst. If thou beest in prayers and\nmeditations all the day, I wot well that thou must wax greatly in the\nlove of JESUS Christ, and feel much of delight, and within short time.\nCHAPTER VIII.\nThree degrees of love I shall tell thee, for I would that thou mightest\nwin to the highest. The first degree is called _Insuperable_. The second\n_Inseparable_. The third is, _Singular_. Thy love is Insuperable, when\nnothing that is contrary to GOD'S love overcomes it: but it is stalwart\nagainst all temptations; and stable, whether thou beest in ease or in\nanguish, or in health or in sickness: so that men think that thou\nwouldest not, even to have all the world without end, make GOD angry at\nany time: and thou wert liefer, if so it should be, to suffer all the\npain and woe that might come to any creature, before thou wouldst do the\nthing that should displease Him. In this manner shall thy love be\nInsuperable that nothing can bring it down, but it may aye spring on\nhigh. Blessed is he or she who is in this degree: but yet are they\nblesseder who might hold to this degree and turn to the other, that is\nto _Inseparable_. _Inseparable_ is thy love, when all thine heart, and\nthy thought, and thy might is so wholly, so entirely and so perfectly\nfastened, set and established in JESUS Christ, that thy thought comes\nnever from Him, never departs from Him, sleeping excepted: and as soon\nas thou awakest, thine heart is on Him, saying _Ave Maria_, or _Gloria\nTibi, Domine_, or _Pater Noster_, or _Miserere mei, DEUS_, if thou hast\nbeen tempted in thy sleep; or thinking on His love and His praise as\nthou didst waking. When thou canst at no time forget Him, waking or\nsleeping, whatso thou dost or sayst, then is thy love _Inseparable_.\nFull great grace have they that be in this degree of love. And methinks\nthat thou, who hast nothing else to do but for to love GOD, mayst come\nthereunto if any may get it.\nThe third degree is highest and most wondrous to win. That is called\n_Singular_, for it has no peer. _Singular_ love is when all comfort and\nsolace is closed out of thine heart, but of JESUS Christ alone. Other\njoy it delights not in. For the sweetness of Him in this degree is so\ncomforting, and lasting in His love, so burning and gladdening, that he\nor she who is in this degree can as well feel the fire of love burning\nin their soul, as thou canst feel thy finger burn if thou puttest it in\nthe fire. But that fire, if it be hot, is so delectable and so\nwonderful, that I cannot tell it. Then, thy soul is loving JESUS,\nthinking of JESUS, desiring JESUS; in covetousness of Him breathing; to\nHim singing: of Him burning; in Him resting. Then the song of praise and\nof love has come. Then, thy thought turns into song and into melody.\nThen it behoves thee to sing the psalms which before thou said'st. Then\nmust thou be long over a few psalms. Then, thou wilt think death sweeter\nthan honey, for then thou art full of sighs to see Him whom thou lovest.\n[Then mayst thou boldly say \"I languish for love.\"] Then mayst thou say\n\"I sleep, and my heart wakes.\"\nIn the first degree, men may say \"I languish for love,\" or \"I long in\nlove.\" And in the second degree also: for languishing is when men fail\nfor sickness, and they who are in these two degrees fail from all the\ncovetousness of this world, and from lust and liking of sinful life, and\nset their will and their heart to the love of GOD--therefore they may\nsay \"I languish for love,\" and much more that are in the second degree\nthan in the first. But the soul that is in the third degree is all\nburning fire, and like the nightingale that loves song and melody, and\nfails for great love: so that the soul is only comforted in praising and\nloving GOD; and till Death come, is singing ghostly to JESUS, and in\nJESUS, and JESUS; not crying bodily with the mouth--of that manner of\nsinging I speak not, for both good and evil have that song. And this\nmanner of song have none unless they be in this third degree of love: to\nthe which degree it is impossible to come, but in a great multitude of\nlove. Therefore, if thou wilt wot what kind of joy that song has, I tell\nthee, that no man wots, save he or she who feels it, who has it, and who\nloves GOD singing therewith. One thing tell I thee, it is of heaven, and\nGOD gives it to whom He will, but not without great grace coming before.\nWho has it, he thinks all the song and all the minstrelsy of earth\nnaught but sorrow and woe (compared) thereto. In sovereign rest shall\nthey be who get it. Wanderers and brawlers, and keepers of comers and\ngoers early and late night and day, or any who are seized with any sin\nwitfully and willingly, or who have delight in any earthly thing, they\nare also farther therefrom than heaven is from earth. In the first\ndegree, are many: in the second degree are full few; but in the third\ndegree are scarcely any: for aye the greater is the perfection the fewer\nfollowers it has. In the first degree, men are likened to the stars, in\nthe second to the moon, in the third to the sun. Therefore says S. Paul:\n\"Others of the sun, others of the moon, others of the stars,\" so it is\nof the lovers of GOD. In this third degree, if thou mayst win thereto,\nthou shalt know of more joy than I have told thee yet. And among other\naffections and songs, thou mayst, in thy longing, sing this in thine\nheart to thy Lord JESUS, when thou dost covet His coming and thy going:\n\"_When wilt Thou come to comfort me: and bring me out of care, and give\nme Thee, Whom I may see, having evermore? My heart when shall it burst?\nfor love then languished I no more. For love my thought has fast, and I\nam fain to fare away. I stand still mourning for the loveliest of lore;\n...[3] is love-longing; it draws me to my day; The brand of sweet\nburning for it holds me aye: From place and from playing: till I may get\nsight of my sweet One, Who never wends away. In wealth be our waking,\nwithout hurt or night. My love is everlasting, and longs unto that\nsight._\"\nCHAPTER IX.\nIf thou wilt be well with GOD, and have grace to rule thy life, and come\nto the joy of love: this name JESUS, fasten it so fast in thy heart that\nit come never out of thy thought. And when thou speakest to Him, and\nthrough custom sayst, JESUS, it shall be in thine ear, joy; in thy\nmouth, honey; and in thine heart, melody: for men shall think joy to\nhear that name be named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song to think\nit. If thou thinkest (on) JESUS continually, and holdest it firmly, it\npurges thy sin, and kindles thine heart; it clarifies thy soul, it\nremoves anger and does away slowness. It wounds in love and fulfils\ncharity. It chases the devil, and puts out dread. It opens heaven, and\nmakes a contemplative man. Have JESUS in mind, for that puts all vices\nand phantoms out from the lover. And often hail Mary, both day and\nnight. Much love and joy shalt thou feel, if thou wilt do after this\nteaching. Thou need'st not covet greatly many books: hold love in thine\nheart and work, and thou hast all that we can say or write: for fulness\nof the law is charity: on that hangs everything.\nCHAPTER X.\nBut now, thou mayst ask me and say, \"Thou speakest so much of love; tell\nme--_What is love, and where is love. And how I shall love GOD verily.\nAnd how that I may know that I love Him. And in what state I may most\nlove Him._\" These are hard questions to teach, to a feeble man and\nfleshly as I am. But nevertheless therefore, I shall not delay that I\nshall not shew my wit, and as I think it may be. For I hope in the help\nof JESUS, who is the well of love and peace and sweetness. Thy first\nasking is: _What is love?_ And I answer: Love is a burning yearning\nafter GOD, with a wonderful delight and certainty. GOD is light and\nburning. Light clarifies our reason; burning kindles our will, that we\ndesire naught but Him. Love is a life, joining together the loving and\nthe loved. For meekness makes us sweet to GOD. Purity joins us to GOD.\nLove makes us one with GOD. Love is the beauty of all virtues. Love is\nthe thing through which GOD loves us, and we Him, and each one of us\nloves others. Love is the desire of the heart, aye thinking on that it\nloves; and when it has that it loves, then it joys and nothing can make\nit sorry. (Love is yearning between two, with lastingness of thoughts.)\nLove is a stirring of the soul for to love GOD for Himself, and all\nother things for GOD; the which love, when it is ordained in GOD, it\ndoes away all inordinate love in anything that is not good. But all\ndeadly sin is inordinate love for a thing that is naught: then love puts\nout all deadly sin. Love is a virtue which is the rightest affection of\nman's soul. Truth may be without love: but it cannot help without it.\nLove is a perfection of learning, virtue of prophecy, fruit of truth,\nhelp of sacraments, establishing of wit and knowledge; riches of pure\nmen; life of dying men. So, how good love is. If we suffer to be slain;\nif we give all that we have, (down) to a beggar's staff; if we know as\nmuch as men may know on earth, all this is naught but ordained sorrow\nand torment. If thou wilt ask how good is he or she, ask how much he or\nshe loves; and that no man can tell. For I hold it folly to judge a\nman's heart; that none knows save GOD. Love is a righteous turning from\nall earthly things, and is joined to GOD, without departing, and kindled\nwith the fire of the Holy Ghost: far from defiling, far from corruption,\nbound to no vice of this life. High above all fleshly lusts, aye ready\nand greedy for the contemplation of GOD. In all things not overcome.\nThe sum of all good affections. Health of good manners; goal of the\ncommandments of GOD; death of sins; life of virtues. Virtue whilst\nfighting lasts, crown of over-comers. Mirth[4] to holy thoughts. Without\nthat, no man may please GOD; with that, no man sins. For if we love GOD\nin all our heart, there is nothing in us through which we serve sin.\nVery love cleanses the soul, and delivers it from the pain of hell, and\nfrom the foul service of sin, and from the ugly fellowship of the\ndevils; and (out) of the fiend's son, makes GOD'S son, and partner of\nthe heritage of heaven. We shall force ourselves to clothe us in love,\nas iron or coal does in the fire, as the air does in the sun, as the\nwool does in the dye. The coal so clothes itself in fire that it is\nfire. The air so clothes itself in the sun that it is light. And the\nwool so substantially takes the dye that it is like it. In this manner\nshall a true lover of JESUS Christ do: his heart shall so burn in love,\nthat it shall be turned into the fire of love, and be as it were all\nfire; and he shall so shine in virtues that no part of him shall be\nmurky in vices.\nThe second asking is: _Where is love?_ And the answer: love is in thine\nheart, and in the will of man; not in his hand, nor in his mouth: that\nis to say, not in his work, but in his soul, \"For many speak good and do\ngood, and love not GOD: as hypocrites, who suffer great penance, and\nseem holy in man's sight. But because they seek praise and honour of\nmen, and favour, they have lost their meed: and in the sight of GOD,\nthey are devil's sons, and ravishing wolves. But if a man give\nalms-deed, and take him to poverty and do penance, it is a sign that he\nloves GOD: but therefore loves he Him not, save when he forsakes the\nworld only for GOD'S love, and sets all his thought on GOD, and loves\nall men as himself: and all the good deeds that he may do, he does them\nwith intent to please JESUS Christ, and to come to the rest of heaven.\nThen he loves GOD: and that love is in his soul, and so his deeds shew\nwithout. If thou speakest good and doest good, men suppose that thou\nlovest good: therefore look well that thy thought be in God, or else\nthou deceivest thyself, and deceivest men. Nothing that I do without\n(outside) proves that I love GOD.\nFor a wicked man might do as much penance in body, as much waking and\nfasting as I do. How may I then ween that I love, or hold myself better,\non account of that which any man may do? Certainly, my heart, whether it\nloves my GOD or not, wots no one but GOD, for nought that they may see\nme do. Wherefore, love is in will verily, not in work, but in a sign of\nlove. For he that says he loves GOD, and will not do what is in him to\nshew love, tell him that he lies. Love will not be idle, it is working\nsome good evermore. If it cease working, wit thou that it cools and goes\naway.\nThe third asking is: _How shall I verily love GOD_? I answer; Very love\nis to love Him with all thy might, stalwartly: in all thine heart,\nwisely: in all thy soul, devoutly and sweetly. Stalwartly can no man\nlove Him save he be stalwart. He is stalwart, who is meek; for all\nghostly strength comes of meekness;--on whom rests the Holy Ghost? in a\nmeek soul. Meekness governs us and keeps us in all our temptations, so\nthat they overcome us not. But the devil deceives many that are meek,\nthrough tribulations, and reproofs, and back-bitings*. But if thou beest\nwroth for any anguish of this world, or for any word that men say of\nthee, or for aught that men say to thee, thou art not meek, nor mayst\nthou love GOD stalwartly. For love is stalwart as death, which slays\nevery living thing on earth, and hard as hell that spares not them that\nare dead. And he who loves GOD perfectly grieves Him not, whatever shame\nor anguish he may suffer; but he has delight and covets that he might be\nworthy for to suffer torment and pain for Christ's love: and he has joy\nthat men reprove him and speak ill of him. Like a dead man, what so men\ndo or say, he answers not. Right-so, whoso loves GOD perfectly, they are\nnot stirred for any word that man may say. For he or she cannot love,\nthat cannot suffer pain or anger for their friend's love. For whoso\nloves, they have no pain. Proud men or women love not stalwartly, for\nthey are so weak, and they fall at every stirring of the wind that is\ntemptation. They seek a higher place than Christ; for they will have\ntheir will done, whether it be with right or with wrong: and Christ\nwills that nothing but well be done, and without harm to other men. But\nwho is verily meek, they will not have their will in this world, but\nthat they may have it in the other fully. In nothing may men sooner\novercome the devil than in Meekness, which he much hates. For he may\nwake, and fast and suffer pain more than any other creature may: but\nmeekness and love may he not have. Also, it behoves thee to love GOD\nwisely, and that thou canst not do save thou beest wise. Thou art wise,\nwhen thou art poor without desire of this world, and despisest thyself\nfor love of Christ: and expendest all thy wit and all thy might in His\nservice. For some who seem wise are most fools, for all their wisdom\nthey spill in covetousness and care about the world. If thou sawest a\nman have precious stones wherewith he might buy a kingdom, if he gave\nthem for an apple, as a child will do, rightly mightest thou say that he\nwas not wise but a great fool. Just so, if we will, we have precious\nstones: Poverty and penance and ghostly travail, with the which we may\nbuy the kingdom of heaven. For, if thou lovest poverty and despisest\nriches and delights of this world, and holdest thyself vile and poor,\nand thinkest thou hast naught of thyself save sin: for this poverty,\nthou shalt have riches without end. And if thou hast _sorrow for thy\nsins_, and because thou art so long in exile out of thy country, and\nforsakest the solace of this life: thou shalt have for this sorrow the\njoy of heaven. And if thou beest _in travail_, and punishest thy body\nreasonably and wisely, by wakings, fastings, and in prayers and\nmeditations, and sufferest heat and cold, hunger and thirst, privation\nand anguish for the love of JESUS Christ; for this travail thou shalt\ncome to rest that lasts aye, and sit on a settle of joy with angels. But\nsome there are who love not wisely, like children who love an apple,\nmore than a castle. So do many; they give the joy of heaven for a little\ndelight of their flesh, that is not worth a plum. Now canst thou see,\nthat whoso will love wisely, it behoves him to love lasting things,\nlastingly; and passing things, passingly; so that his heart be settled\nand fastened on nothing but GOD. And if thou wilt love JESUS verily,\nthou shalt not only love Him stalwartly and wisely, but also _devoutly\nand sweetly_. Sweet love is when thy body is chaste and thy thought\nclean. Devout love is; when thou offerest thy prayers and thy thoughts\nto GOD with ghostly joy, and burning heart in the heat of the Holy\nGhost; so that men think that thy soul is as it were drunken for\ndelight and solace of the sweetness of JESUS; and thy heart conceivest\nso much of GOD'S help that men think thou mayst never be departed from\nHim: and then thou comest into such rest and peace in soul, and quiet,\nwithout thoughts of vanity, (or) of vices, as if thou wert in silence\nand sleep, and set in Noe's ship, so that nothing may hinder thee from\ndevotion and sweet love. For thou hast gotten His love: all thy life,\nuntil death come, in joy and comfort: and thou art verily Christ's\nlover: and he rests in peace whose place is made in peace.\nThe fourth asking was: _how thou mightest know that thou wast in love\nand charity_. I answer: that no man wots on earth that they are in\ncharity; save it be through any privilege or special grace that GOD has\ngiven to any man or woman: that all others may not take example by. Holy\nmen and women trow that they have truth and hope and charity: and in\nthat do as well as they may, and hope certainly that they shall be safe;\nthey wot it not so quickly; for if they wish, their merit were the less.\nAnd Solomon says it is so with righteous men and wise men, and that\ntheir works are in GOD'S hand. And nevertheless, a man wots not whether\nhe be worthy hatred or love; but all is reserved uncertain for another\nworld. Nevertheless, if any had grace that he might win to the third\ndegree of love, which is called _Singular_, he should know that he was\nin love. But in such manner were the knowing, that he might never bear\nhimself the higher, nor be in less care to love GOD; but so much the\nmore that he is secure of love, will he be busy to love Him and dread\nHim, Who has made him so, and done that goodness to Him; and he that is\nso high, he will not hold himself worthier than the sinfullest man that\ngoes on earth. Also seven experiments are there, that a man be in\ncharity. The first is; when all covetousness of earthly things is\nquenched in him. For whereso covetousness is, is no love of Christ.\nThen, if he have no covetousness, sign is that he has love. The second\nis, burning yearning for heaven. For when men have felt aught of that\nsavour, the more they love, the more they covet: and he that has not\nfelt, he desires not. Therefore, when anyone is given so much, till he\nlove thereof (so) that he can find no joy in his life: token has he that\nhe is in charity. The third is; if his tongue be changed, that was wont\nto speak of earth; now speaks of GOD, and of the life that lasts aye.\nThe fourth is: exercise of ghostly profit. As if any man or woman give\nthemselves entirely to GOD'S services, and meddle with no earthly\nbusiness. The fifth is: when the thing that is hard of itself seems\nlight for to do; the which love makes. For as Austin says: \"Love it is\nwhich brings the far thing near-to-hand, and the impossible to the\nopenly possible.\" The sixth is: hardness of thought to suffer all\nanguish and hurt that comes--without this, all the other suffices not.\nFor whatso befalls him shall not make a righteous man sorry. For he who\nis righteous, hates naught but sin; he loves naught but GOD, before GOD:\nhe dreads naught but to anger GOD. The seventh is: delectability in\nsoul, when he is in tribulation, and makes praise to GOD in the anger\nthat he suffers. And this shews well that he loves GOD, when no sorrow\ncan bring him down. For many love GOD while they are at ease; and in\nadversity they grumble, and fall into so great sorriness, that scarcely\nmay any man comfort them: and so slander they GOD, striving and fighting\nagainst His judgments. And that is caitiff praise that any wealth of the\nworld makes: but that praise is of great price that no violence of\nsorrow can do away.\nThe fifth asking was: _In what state men may most love GOD?_ I answer,\nin such state as it be that men are in most rest of body and soul, and\nleast occupied with any needs or business of this world. For the thought\nof the love of JESUS Christ, and of the joy that lasts aye, seeks\noutward rest, so that it be not hindered by comers and goers, and\noccupation of worldly things; and it seeks within great silence from the\nannoyances of desires, and of vanities, and of earthly thoughts. And\nespecially, all who love contemplative life they seek rest in body and\nsoul. For a great Doctor says: \"They are GOD'S throne who dwell still in\none place, and are not running about, but in sweetness of Christ's love\nare fixed.\" And I have loved for to sit: for no penance, nor fantasy,\nnor that I wished men to talk of me, nor for no such thing: but only\nbecause I knew that I loved GOD more, and longer lasted within the\ncomfort of love: than going, or standing, or kneeling. For sitting am I\nin most rest, and my heart most upward. But therefore, peradventure, it\nis not best that another should sit, as I did and will do to my death,\nsave he were disposed in his soul, as I was.\nCHAPTER XI.\nSeven gifts of the Holy Ghost are in men and women who are ordained to\nthe joy of heaven and lead their life in this world righteously. These\nthey are: _Wisdom: Understanding: Counsel: Strength: Knowledge: Pity_\nand the _Fear of GOD_. Begin we at _Counsel_, for thereof is most need\nat the beginning of our works, which we dislike not afterwards. With\nthese seven gifts, the Holy Ghost touches separate men separately.\n_Counsel_ is doing away with the world's riches, delights, and all\nthings with which men may be ensnared in thought or deed: and therewith\n(i.e. _Counsel_) be drawn inwardly to contemplation of GOD.\n_Understanding_ is, to know what is for to do, and what to leave\n(undone): and that which shall be given, to give it to them that have\nneed, not to others that have no need. _Wisdom_ is forgetting of earthly\nthings, and thinking of heaven, with discretion in all men's deeds. In\nthis gift, shines contemplation, that is, as S. Austen says \"A ghostly\ndeath of fleshly affection through the joy of a raised thought.\"\n_Strength_ is; enduring to fulfil good purpose, that it be not left,\nneither for weal nor for woe. _Pity is_: that a man be mild: and gainsay\nno holy Writ when it smites his sins, whether he understand it or not;\nbut with all his might that he purge the vileness of sin, in himself and\nin others. _Knowledge_ is that (which) makes a man in good hope, not\nmaking him quake for his righteousness, but sorrowing for his sin; and\nthat a man gather earthly good only to the honour of GOD, and to other\nmen's advantage more than to his own. The _Fear of God_ is: that we\nturn not again to our sin for any egging on: and then is fear perfect in\nus and holy, when we dread to anger GOD in the least sin that we can\nknow, and flee it as poison.\nCHAPTER XII.\nTwo lives there are that Christian men live. One is called Active life,\nfor it is more in bodily work. Another, contemplative life, for it is in\nmore ghostly sweetness. Active life is greatly outward, and in more\ntravail and in more peril, because of the temptations that are in the\nworld. Contemplative life is largely inward, therefore it is more\nenduring and more certain, restfuller, more delectable, lovelier and\nmore rewarding. For, it has joy in GOD'S love, and savour in the life\nthat lasts aye, in this present time, if it be rightly led. And that\nfeeling of joy in the love of JESUS passes all other merits in earth.\nFor it is so hard to come to, because of the frailty of our flesh, and\nthe many temptations that we are beset with, which hinder us night and\nday: all other things that come are light in regard thereof; for that\nmay no man deserve, but only it is given of GOD'S goodness to them who\nverily give themselves to contemplation and to quiet for Christ's love.\nTo men and women who betake themselves to _active life_, two things\nbefall. One: to appoint their household in fear and in the love of GOD,\nand to find them in necessaries, and themselves keep GOD'S commandments\nentirely. Doing to their neighbours as they will that they do to them.\nAnother is that they do, so far as they can, the seven works of mercy.\nThe which are: to feed the hungry: to give the thirsty a drink; to\nclothe the naked: to harbour them that have no housing: to visit the\nsick, to comfort them that are in prison; to bury dead men.\nAll that can and who have property, they may not be quit with one or two\nof these; but it behoves them to do them all, if they will on Dooms-Day\nhave the benison that JESUS shall give to all who do them. Or else they\nmay dread the malison that all men have who will not do them, when they\nhad goods to do them with.\n_Contemplative life_ has two parts: a lower and a higher. The lower part\nis meditation of holy writing, that is GOD'S word, and in other good\nthoughts and sweet that men have of the grace of GOD, about the love of\nJESUS Christ, and also in praising GOD in psalms and hymns and in\nprayers. The higher part of contemplation is beholding and yearning\nafter the things of heaven, and joy in the Holy Ghost: that men have\noft, although it be so that they be not praying with the mouth, but only\nthinking of GOD, and of the beauty of angels, and of holy souls. Then\nmay I say that contemplation is a wonderful joy of GOD'S love; the which\njoy is praising GOD, that cannot be told; and that wonderful praising is\nin the soul: and for abundance of joy and sweetness, it ascends into\nthe mouth; so that the heart and the tongue agree in one, and body and\nsoul joy, living in GOD. A man or woman that is appointed to\ncontemplative life, first GOD inspires them to forsake this world, and\nall the vanity and covetousness and vile lust thereof. Afterwards He\nleads them by their lone and speaks to their heart, and as the prophet\nsays \"He gives them to suck of the sweetness of the beginning of love\":\nand then He sets them in the will to give themselves wholly to prayers\nand meditations and tears. Afterwards, when they have suffered many\ntemptations, and when the foul annoyances of thoughts that are idle, and\nof vanities which will encumber those who cannot destroy them, are\npassing away, He makes them gather up their heart to them and fasten it\nonly in Him, and opens to the eye of their souls the gates of heaven:\nand then the fire of love verily lies in their heart, and burns therein,\nand makes it clean from all earthly filth, and afterwards they are\ncontemplative men, and ravished in love. For contemplation is a sight;\nand they see into Heaven with their ghostly eye. But thou shalt wit that\nno man has perfect sight of heaven, whilst they are living bodily here.\nBut as soon as they die, they are brought before GOD, and see Him face\nto face, and eye to eye, and dwell with Him without end. For Him they\nsought, and Him they coveted, and Him they loved, with all their might.\nLo, Margaret, I have told thee shortly the Form of Living, and how thou\nmayst come to perfection, and to love Him whom thou hast taken thee to.\nIf it do thee good and profit to thee, thank GOD, and pray for me. The\ngrace of JESUS Christ be with thee, and keep thee. Amen.\nHere endeth \"The Form of Perfect Living.\"\nFOOTNOTES:\n[3] The text is imperfect here.\n[4] Two MSS. substitute \"arms\" for \"mirth.\"\nOur Daily Work.\n(A Mirror of Discipline.)\nOur Daily Work.\n(A Mirror of Discipline.)\nThree things are needful to every man; to increase his reward, through\nGOD'S grace helping, Who shall lead him. The first; that man be in\nhonest work, without losing of his time. The second; that he do his work\nwith a freedom of spirit, in place and in time, as work falls to each.\nThe third; that his outward bearing, wheresoever he come, be so honest\nand fair, that praise is (given) to GOD, a stirring up of good to all\nwho see him, as the Apostle bids: _Omnia in vobis honesti et secundum\nordinem fiant_, that is \"That ye do: be it done honestly and in order.\"\nFIRST PART OF THE BOOK.\nAt the first: man shall look that he lose not his short time, nor spend\nit wrongly, nor in idleness let it pass away. GOD has lent man his time,\nto serve GOD in, and to gather grace with good works, to buy heaven\nwith. Not only this short time flies from us, but also the time of our\nlife, as the wise man says: \"Our life-time passes away.\" And S. Gregory\nsays:--\"Our life is like a man in a ship; sit he, stand he, sleep he,\nwake he, ever he gets thitherward where the ship is driving with the\nforce of the weather. So we, in this short time, whatsoever we do, we\ndrive ever to our end.\" And our enemy, Death, follows us ever at our\nback, with a sharp spear to stick us through, therefore says Seneca,\n\"life flies, death follows.\" And S. Augustine says \"Life is nothing else\nbut a swift running to death.\" Therefore, there is naught to tell by,\nhow long man lives: save how well. Yet this short life is uncertain:\nwherefore says Job:--\"I know not how long I may endure, and whether\nafter a short space my Maker may take me away.\" And S. Gregory says: \"I\nwot not the time I shall dwell, nor when I shall be taken hence and led\nto doom.\" And S. Jerome says:--\"Nothing so much beguiles man, as that he\nknows not the time of his life, that to him is uncertain.\" And yet hopes\nhe for long life for himself, as if he might, at his will, drive Death\nback. Thus was the rich man deceived of whom speaks the Gospel of S.\nLuke xvi. Therefore saith the psalm: \"if riches increase, set not your\nheart upon them.\" For riches fail and last not with man, but glide away\nlike a phantom. But when men have got goods together, with right, or\nwith wrong and poor men's curses, then suddenly, they go from their\ngoods, or else their goods from them. And Holy Writ says \"The world\npasseth away and the lust thereof.\" A man that is fallen in the water,\nand through the force of the water is borne forth and torn from the\nground; if he may get anything that has good fastening like a root or a\nstake, he may hinder the water from carrying him away; but by anything\nthat fleets as he does himself, he cannot fasten himself: and soothly,\nwilly nilly, in this life, as if in water, we are ever passing with the\ngoods of this world; and there is naught in this world to fasten by, so\nthat we shall not pass: for the Wise Man saith, \"We shall all die, and\nlike water slip away into the Earth.\" And therefore Job speaks, as if he\nsaid \"Riches and friends had I many, but they all could not hinder me\nfrom going forth and not coming again.\" And by what path, man shall go,\nthe prophet shews: \"All flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the\nflower of the field.\" Man's flesh is as hay, and all his joy and\nsplendour as the flower of the meadow. Hay is first green grass, and\nsoon after brings forth flowers: and a while after, the flowers dry and\nfall; after it is mown down with the scythe, and dried and taken to a\nhouse to be beasts' food. Thus it befalls man: in his childhood he\nsprings and grows as the grass does; after, he comes to manhood and\nflowers in fairness and strength and wit and having of goods;\nafterwards: he draws to age, and then his flowers fall, that are his\nvirtue, fairness, strength, wit and other power; afterwards, he is\nstricken down with the scythe of Death, afterwards taken to a house to\nbeasts' food, that is, dug into the earth to feed worms. Therefore says\nthe holy man; \"when a man dies, he shall dwell with serpents and\nbeasts.\" A dead man is so disgusting to the world, that one cannot let\nhim be in his house three days together; but bears him forth, that he\nharm none with the odour. Therefore, it is now time to work; for in the\ntime to come there is no time to work, but to receive rewards for deeds\ndone erewhile. And this the angel affirms with oath and says, \"For the\nangel has sworn that there will be no further time.\" Do we then as the\nApostle says: \"While we have time, let us work good to all.\" And as the\nApostle counsels us, he did himself: for from the first hour of the day\nuntil the fifth, he worked with his hands to win his food: and from the\nfifth to the tenth, he preached to the people: from the tenth to even he\nserved the poor and pilgrims with such goods as he had; by night he was\npraying, and thus spent he his time.\nIn three ways, man loses his time: in idleness; or in works that no good\ncomes of; or in good works, but not ordained as they should be. Against\nidleness, Solomon says--\"Idleness teaches much evil\"; and Holy Writ says\n\"Whoso followeth idleness, is most foolish.\" A great fool he is who\nforbears not from the thing that harms him. More fool he is, because he\nwins himself no reward: most fool he is, because he wins himself pain.\nTherefore GOD blames the idle: and says \"Why standest thou all the day\nidle?\" Idleness wastes the goods that are prudently gotten, and entices\nthe fiend to the house: for as by good works the fiend is hindered from\nentering man's heart, so idleness draws him thereto. And Seneca says:\n\"he lives not to himself who lives for his stomach and the ease of his\nflesh whenever he can.\" For Job says \"Man is born to labour.\" To work\nwas man bound after he had sinned, through GOD'S bidding, Who said to\nhim: \"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou\nreturnest unto the ground from whence thou wast taken; because from the\nground thou art, and into the ground thou shalt go.\" Thou shalt work\nstalwartly and not faintly, for He bids thee work, \"with sweat of thy\nface, even till thou returnest to the earth\"; that is, all thy life time\nthat thou losest no time in idleness. Idleness smites a man as if he\nwere in a paralysis, and makes his limbs dry that he cannot work.\nTherefore says the Psalmist: \"They have hands and handle not; feet have\nthey but they walk not; mouths have they but they speak not; eyes have\nthey and see not; ears have they and hear not\"; for their limbs are so\nbound in sin, that to all good things, they are as dead; and to evil,\nthey are easy. Idleness is nurse to all vices, and makes a man reckless\nabout not doing what he is bound to do. And when the fiend finds a man\nidle, he puts in his heart foul thoughts of fleshly filth, and other\nfollies that may bring him to sin; afterwards, he eggs him on to do them\nindeed, and thus he does against the Apostle's bidding: \"Will not to\ngive place to the devil.\" The idle man makes himself unworthy to dwell\nin any place but hell. In heaven he cannot dwell; for heaven is full\nreward to those who here spend their time in works that they hope are\npleasing to Christ. In purgatory the idle may not dwell; for there only\nthe good are purged in that cleansing fire, till they be as clean of sin\nas when they were christened: therefore saith the Psalm-wright:--_In\nlabore hominum non sunt et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur_: that is\nthus for to say; \"The idle work not with men; therefore in purgatory\nthey shall not be pained with those men who are on the way to\nheaven.\"[5]\nGreat shame it is to be idle in this time of grace, in the which we are\nhired to work; and if we work as we ought, great reward awaits us. GOD\ngives us an example of work, by Himself, as the Apostle says: \"He\nemptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made\nin the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled\nHimself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross:\nwherefore GOD hath also highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which\nis above every name, that at the name of JESUS, every knee should bow,\nof things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;\nand that every tongue should confess that JESUS Christ is Lord, to the\nglory of GOD the Father.\"\nOver-proud then, and over-delicate is the servant, who rests in battle,\nand sees His Lord assailed and evil-wounded by His enemies. Also, we\nought to work in this time of grace; for we are GOD'S bought thralls,\nwith the price of His dear-worthy Blood, to work in His vine-yard: and\nyet He doth promise us reward, if we do with good-will that which, as a\ndebt, we ought to do. To His private friends, before the time of grace,\nGOD promised only earthly goods, if they did well; to us the bliss of\nHeaven, if we do well. It was long after, before they might come\nthereto; for they went to hell and abode there, some a thousand years,\nsome two, some three, before they came to heaven. But now may men in a\nlittle time win heaven, as, if any die soon after he is christened, or\nif he have done full penance for his misdeeds; or be martyred for GOD'S\nlove. The time of supper that the gospel of S. Luke speaks of, to the\nwhich GOD bade His servants call all that were bidden, is the time of\ngrace; which is now, in the which all is ready; so that there is naught\nelse to do but wash and go to meat, that is cleanse them of all their\nsins that they have done since they were born. What losing of time it is\nto travail about things that no profit comes of. Man ought to travail\nonly to the worship of GOD, and his soul-health. Thou shalt not deem the\nman has lived long though he go with a staff stooping, and be\ngrey-haired; but deem him so old as he has lived well. Therefore\nanswered Barlaham to Josaphath, his disciple, when he asked him how old\nhe was: \"I am,\" quoth he, \"of 45 years.\" \"Master,\" quoth Josaphath,\n\"methinks thou art of 60 years and more.\" Then said Barlaham, \"Since I\nwas born has been 60 years; but those years that I spent in idleness and\nsin before I took me to this life, I hold as years of death. But all\nthose I call years of life that I have served JESUS Christ my Lord in,\nthrough His dear-worthy grace.\" Whoso would bethink himself what time\nsteals from him in long eating and drinking, in excess and useless\nworks, idle speech, and idle and foul thoughts, useless jests and other\nvanities that men delight them in, he may soothly understand that though\nhe be old in years, that he has lived little time in the manner that he\nought to have lived; for he lived not to his profit, nor won him reward,\nbut peradventure pain for losing time.\nIt were a wonderful thing if the man who gives himself to business of\nthe world more than he need, had no hindrance in prayer, in rest of\nheart, in soothfastness of words, in perfection of good works, in love\nto GOD and all Christian men. Therefore, holy men, before now, who knew\ntheir hindrances, they fled the world with all its vanities, as if it\nhad been accursed; for it seemed to them that they could not live a\nrighteous life therein; and therefore went they into the wilderness,\nwhere they trowed to serve GOD in peace. Therefore says Seneca, \"I have\nbecome more avaricious, and more cruel, and more inhuman because I was\namong men.\"\nThree manners of occupations there are: as, various and much brawling;\nraking about; and much caring about earthly things. Against much\nbrawling, Solomon says \"The beginning of strife is as when one letteth\nout water.\" \"Let the water out,\" that is, \"let the tongue fleet out in\nquarrelling.\" But to the knowledge of GOD or of himself may no one come,\nwho lets his heart fleet out with much useless speech: for he makes a\nway in himself for the fiend. Therefore Solomon likens such to a city\nwithout a wall: \"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a\ncity that is broken down and without walls.\" And because so much\nhindrance of good is in much speech, the philosopher binds his disciples\nwith silence (during) their first five years. Also, Abbot Agathon bore a\nstone in his mouth for three years to teach him to hold still. Against\nthose who are ever raking about to feed their wits with vanities and\nlusts is the teaching of the angel, who taught holy Abbot Arsenius and\nsaid:--\"Arsenius, flee the world and its yearnings: keep thee in rest,\nbridle thy tongue,\" that it fleet not out in quarrelling nor idle\nspeech. Where these three are is a way to GOD, and withdrawing from\nevil. It tells of an Abbot who (for) fully 20 years sat in his school,\nand never lifted up his head to see the school-roof. Against those who\ncare over-much about worldly goods, Solomon says this:--\"Vain is their\nhope, and their labour without fruit, because they can carry away\nnothing of all their labour.\" This is seen every day, by the dead, who,\nbe they never so rich bear with them but a winding cloth.\nThe third manner of men are they that have a liking to do good, but\nbecause they do it not in the manner they should do it in, they lose\ntheir reward; for when good intent fails in any deed, the reward that\nshould fall to the good work fails. And that may be in four ways; first,\nfor the wickedness of the working; as the offering of Cain, that though\nhe offered to GOD of the fruit that was new, GOD would not look thereon:\nbut to the offering of Abel his brother, GOD looked. Therefore says S.\nGregory: \"By the heart's will of him that offers is the gift received of\nGOD or rejected: and GOD was not pleased with Abel for the offering, but\npleased with the offering for Abel, who in all his works was true and\ngood; but to Cain and to his offering GOD would not look, for he who\nmade the offering displeased GOD greatly.\" And why our offering, or what\nwe do that is in its nature good, displeases GOD, the prophet\nsays:--\"When ye make many prayers, I will not hear: because your hands\nare full of blood.\" The second that reaves away a man's reward for his\ngood deed, is vanity, which stirs man to do the good because he would be\npraised. For vain-glory makes evil of good: as if alms-deed that is good\nin nature be done for praising, it wins only sin. The third that\nsnatches a reward from a good deed is boasting by him that does the good\ndeed, as the Pharisee did, of whom GOD said to the folk that stood\nbefore Him, \"Soothly, this man has lost his reward for all his good\ndeed.\" Needful it is therefore that a man do what good he can, and do\nnot pride himself thereof in thought or in word; for he has not the\ndoing of a good deed of himself, nor of his own desiring. The fourth\nthat snatches from a man his reward for a good deed (is) when he does it\nwith the intent to be holden better than others, or to lessen the good\ndeed of others, or to outdo it if he can. Of such, S. Gregory tells a\ntale in his dialogues: That once on a time the holy Bishop Fortunatus,\nchased the fiend out of a man in one evening; and the fiend, when he was\nchased out, put on the likeness of a pilgrim, and went through the city\nwhere the Bishop lived, weeping and yelling like a poor wretch, who was\nanxious for lodging that night, and thus he said; \"Lo, what your Bishop,\nwhom ye consider so good, has done to me: he came to the house where I\nhad taken my lodging, and put me out by force: and now like a poor\nwretch, of lodging am I desirous; over all, I seek lodging, and none\nwill have ruth on me.\" A man of that city who heard him, took him into\nhis house, and set him by the fire and eased him, as he wished. When\nthe man had inquired of him of far-off things, as men do to pilgrims,\nthe fiend leaped at the child in the cradle, and wrung its neck in two,\nand cast it into the fire, and vanished away. Of this S. Gregory speaks\nand says, \"Many deeds seem good, and are not good, because they are not\ndone with a good will. And this man harboured the pilgrim for no pity of\nhim, but because he spake evil of the Bishop, and in order that he\" (the\nman) \"should be held better and of more pity than the Bishop.\" Yet a\ngood deed is lost, if a man covet by it to have of man, riches, or\nposition, or honours or any worldly good. Yet through sin defiling, the\ngood deed is lost; and here-unto accords Holy Writ that says, \"who\nsinneth in one thing, loses many good things,\" which is, \"he that in a\ndeadly thing sins, he loses many goods,\" save he amend him with shrift,\nand do penance therefor.\nSECOND PART OF THE BOOK.\nThe second part of this book teaches man to do his good work with\nfreedom of spirit, in place and in time, as falls to each work: not\ncompelled thereto, nor to do it with anger, nor with a dead heart. For\nHoly Writ says: \"GOD loves a cheerful giver,\" or GOD loves him who gives\nHim aught with a glad heart: and certainly the works that turn out to\nthe praise of God, and the health of man's soul, like prayers and holy\nthoughts, and a clear mind about GOD, and GOD'S deeds; these and others\nlike them will allow of little rest, if they be well (done). Prayer is a\nsacrifice that greatly pleases GOD, if it be made in the manner it ought\nto be: therefore GOD asks it of us as a debt, when He says this:--\"GOD\ncreated the peoples for His praise and His glory\"; and \"the Sacrifice of\npraise shall honour Me.\" And the Apostle, \"we ought always to pray and\nnot to faint.\" Therefore, it behoves man ever to pray and never to fail.\nHe is ever praying, who is doing good. And certainly men of religion are\nbound to worship GOD with prayer, and men of Holy Church; for they live\nby alms and tenths: for all the world labours to bring them what they\nneed close at hand, so that they may serve GOD in rest, and with their\nholy prayers make reconciliation between GOD and man. And also maidens\nand widows who have taken the oath of chastity, all these, more than\nothers, are bound to pray. He that will please GOD with prayer will\noffer it to GOD with a free will and loving heart, and will prepare\nhimself before, as Solomon counsels: \"Before prayer, prepare thy soul,\nand be not as one that tempteth GOD.\" He tempts GOD who yearns not to\nwin that for which he prays: or despairs to speed well therein; and who\nmakes sin and evil life: such a man thinks not he loves. Of such S.\nGregory speaks:--\"What wonder if tardily our prayers are heard by the\nLord, when we tardily or not at all hear the Lord when He commands?\" And\nIsidore:--\"He cannot have assured confidence in his prayers who even\nthus far in the commands of GOD is slothful, and whom the remembrance of\nsinful doing delights.\" Whoever will speed of his prayer, let him do\nwhat good he can; flee sin, call his heart from the world, and keep it\nat home as the Gospel teaches; \"When thou prayest, enter into thy\ncloset, and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father.\" \"Enter,\" he says,\n\"thy bed,\" that is, \"call thine heart home,\" and \"then fasten thy door\";\ni.e., \"hold thy wits in thee, that none go out.\" For it is but folly to\npray to GOD to come to us, poor needy wretches, to give us alms of His\ndear-worthy grace, and not abide His coming, but turn our back on Him.\nS. Isidore says that the soul must be cleansed from the stain of sin,\nand the heart be withdrawn from the provocations of the world, in order\nthat prayer may rise without hindrance to GOD. For far is that man from\nGOD, pray he never so much, whose prayers are mixed with worldly\nthoughts: therefore says the Psalm \"Be still, and see that I am GOD.\"\nThis ought to stir us up to pray with great dread and consideration for\nwe speak with Almighty-GOD, when we are naught but unworthy wretches.\nFor so did Abraham, GOD'S private friend, who said:--\"I speak to my Lord\nwhich am but dust and ashes.\" And Isidore says:--\"we ought to pray with\nsighings and tears, and remembrance of our grimly sins, and of the many\npains and bitter we shall endure for them, unless we amend us, and He\nhave pity on us.\" Also, he who prays shall hope to speed well in that\nfor which he prays; for Christ Himself said, \"All things are possible to\nthe believing\": therefore we shall pray to GOD as to our Father in that\nfor which we pray, if we love Him as our Father, and be His children.\nFor He says to all His.... He says[6] \"Whatsoever ye shall ask the\nFather in My Name, He shall give it to you.\" There are six things to\nknow in prayer: first, how a man shall prepare himself before. The\nsecond, to whom he shall pray: the third, for whom he shall pray: the\nfourth, what he shall ask in prayer: the fifth, what hinders prayer: the\nsixth, what might and virtue prayer is of. The first is written already,\nand begins at, \"Before prayer, prepare thy soul,\" and lasts as far as\nhere. The second, to whom shalt thou pray? Soothly, before all others,\nto GOD Almighty, as the prophet bids, \"Be subject to GOD and pray to\nHim.\" And in the Gospel, GOD says, \"Thou shalt adore the Lord thy GOD.\"\nSaints we honour and pray to, not as givers of goodness, but as GOD'S\nfriends to help us to win from Him that we pray after. Therefore, let us\nbelieve in GOD with all our heart, and certain hope, and perfect\ncharity: our Lord GOD is to be loved. The third, for whom shall men\npray? A great clerk says, \"Every Christian man is a living member of\nHoly Church, therefore is he bound to pray for all, but specially for\nmen of Holy Church, as the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, all who have cure\nof men's souls: also for our foes and our friends; and all who are in\ndeadly sin, that they, through grace, may rise: for all who are in\nPurgatory, whom GOD'S mercy awaits; and after, all who have occupations,\nboth quick and dead. And S. Gregory says that he who prays for all, the\nsooner shall be heard and sped of his prayer: and S. Ambrose; \"If thou\nprayest for all, all will pray for thee.\" And S. Jerome; \"Necessity\nbinds a man to pray for himself, but charity of brotherhood stirs him to\npray for all: and charity, more than necessity, stirs GOD to hear.\" The\nfourth, what shall men ask in prayer? Certainly, grace in this life, and\nendless joy in the other; for so GOD teaches us and says: \"Seek first\nthe kingdom of GOD and His justice, and all these things shall be added\nunto you.\" GOD is debtor to those who are righteous, to find them what\nthey need of earthly goods: for righteousness makes men GOD'S children,\nand a father by his nature is bound to find for his children. Earthly\ngoods are not to be asked in prayer, for they have done harm to many,\ntherefore Solomon says \"How long, ye fools, will ye desire those things\nwhich are hurtful to you?\" Therefore, every man should ask of GOD with\nfear, that he ask and pray his Lord that if He see that his prayer be\nnecessary and reasonable, that He will fulfil it: and if it be not\nnecessary and reasonable, that He will withdraw it; for what may help\nand what may harm, the Leech knows better than the sick man. But one of\nthese two shall we trust to have through prayer; either, that we pray\nfor, or that which is better for us. The fifth, what hinders our prayer\nfrom being heard by God? Six things: the first is the sin of him who\nprays; as GOD says through the prophet, \"when ye make many prayers, I\nwill not hear; because your hands are full of blood.\" And David: \"If I\nhave looked upon iniquity with my heart, the Lord will not hear.\" And\nthe prophet; \"Our sins have hid His face from us.\" And the Gospel:\n\"Because we know GOD does not hear Sinners.\" The second is the\nunworthiness of that for which men pray, and that GOD, through the\nprophet, forbids them to pray for: \"Pray not for this people, neither\nlift up (praise) nor prayer for them; for I will not hear.\" It tells in\nthe life of the holy Fathers that one who was bound in sin came to the\nholy Abbot, S. Anthony, and said, \"holy Father, have mercy on me and\npray for me:\" to whom the holy Abbot said; \"I will have no mercy on\nthee, unless thou helpest thyself and leavest thy sin.\" The third is\nfoul and idle thoughts, that hinder us from thinking on our prayers. Of\nsuch false prayers, God says through His prophet: \"This people honour ME\nwith their lips, but their heart is far from ME.\" It is great wickedness\nof us unworthy wretches that when we speak with prayer to Almighty GOD,\nwe also unwittingly hearken not to what we say. Soothly, great\ndispleasure we do to GOD when we pray Him to hear our prayer, and we\nwill not hear it ourselves: but it is worse to waste our time in foul\nand idle thoughts. Abraham, when he made a sacrifice to GOD, fowls of\nthe air lighted thereon, and would have defiled it; and he cleared those\nbirds away, so that none durst come nigh it, till all the time were\npassed, and the sacrifice made. Let us do so with these flying thoughts,\nwhich defile the sacrifice of our prayer. This sacrifice is agreeable to\nGOD, when it comes from a clean and loving heart. GOD bids: \"send prayer\nto ME, and I shall send grace to thee; and whatso thou dost for ME, I\nforget it not.\" The fourth, that hinders our prayer from being heard, is\nhardness of heart; and that is in two manners; first hardness of heart\nagainst the poor; and thereof the prophet says \"who shuts his ear to the\ncry of the poor, he may call and I will not hear him.\" The other is the\nhardness of those who will not forgive to those who have misdone them:\nto such, Solomon says:--\"Forgive thy neighbour who has injured thee\nwhile he prays to thee, and thy sins shall be forgiven.\" And the Gospel\nsays: \"As thou standest praying, forgive if thou hast aught against any,\nand your Father which is in heaven will forgive your sins.\" The fifth,\nthat hinders our prayer from being heard, is little yearning after the\nthings that men pray for: and S. Augustine says: \"GOD stores this up for\nthee, that with thy whole heart it may be desired; \"for He will not to\ngive to Thee hastily, that so thou mayst learn great things greatly to\ndesire.\" And S. Gregory says: \"if with our mouth we pray after the bliss\nof heaven, and do not yearn for it in our heart, we are crying still.\"\nThe sixth, that hinders our prayer; is foul and idle speech, that we\nfill our lips with; for if thou givest a great lord drink in a slutty\ncup, were the drink never so good, he would feel disgust therewith, and\nbid throw it away, were his thirst never so sore: so GOD does with a\nprayer that comes from a foul mouth; He esteems it not, but turns\ntherefrom. Therefore says S. Gregory: \"The more our lips are defiled\nwith foolish talking, so much the less are they heard by GOD in prayer.\"\nThe sixth, what might and virtue prayer is of. Men who were before this\nage, who kept themselves in soothfastness, and spoke nothing idle, won\nfrom GOD what they prayed for: and that was shewn to a holy hermit\nFlorentius, who dwelt in a wilderness unknown of men. So much vermin was\nthere about this hermitage, that none durst come thither by a long way.\nA deacon was in that land, who heard of this hermit, and he came at the\nlast to the place where this hermit was dwelling; but he saw so much\nvermin about that he durst not come near: but cried out for help in\nfear. The holy man came out to know who it was that cried; and he saw a\nman standing there, and inquired what he would have. And the deacon\nsaid; \"holy Father, I have sought thee from far, and now I have found\nthee, I should have joy enough if I might come to thee, but I cannot for\nthese venomous beasts that are here so many.\" When the holy man heard\nthis, he fell down on his knees, and prayed GOD that He would destroy\nthose worms: and all soon a grisly storm arose with a thunder, and slew\nall the worms. Then said the hermit to our Lord; \"Lord, these beasts lie\nhere so thickly, that I cannot come to him nor he to me, save we be\npoisoned by them. Lo, Lord, they lie here dead, but who shall lift them\naway?\" At his word, many birds came, and carried them all clean away.\nHereof speaks S. Gregory:--\"Because GOD'S servants withdraw themselves\nfrom the world and its works, uselessly they cannot speak: so they bind\nthem to silence that they dare say no word save it be teaching others or\npraising GOD: and therefore, when they ask GOD aught, He grants it at\nonce.\" But we, woful wretches, who deal with the world, that chatter all\nthe day like magpies; now lie, now twist, now speak evil, now quarrel,\nnow backbite, now swear great oaths, these defile our prayer and hinder\nit, that it is not heard; for our mouth is as far from praying GOD, as\nit is near the world with idle speech. Prayer is so mightful if it have\nits right, that it masters the fiend, and hinders him from doing his\nwill. For so it did the fiend whom Julian the Emperor commanded to go to\nthe other side of the world to bring him tidings how it was there. When\nhe had flown ten days' journey thitherward, he came over the place that\nPublius the hermit dwelled in, who was praying at that time. And his\nprayer overtook the fiend, and held him there fast fully ten days--for\nall that time, the hermit was in prayer: and when he ceased, the fiend\nturned back, for he could no further go, since prayer hindered him.\nWhen thou hast gathered home thine heart and its wits, and hast\ndestroyed the things that might hinder thee from praying, and won to\nthat devotion which GOD sends to thee through His dear-worthy grace,\nquickly rise from thy bed at the bell-ringing: and if no bell be there,\nlet the cock be thy bell: if there be neither cock nor bell, let GOD'S\nlove wake thee, for that most pleases GOD. And zeal, rooted in love,\nwakens before both cock and bell, and has washed her face with sweet\nlove-tears; and her soul within has joy in GOD with devotion, and\nliking, and bidding Him good-morning, and with other heavenly gladness\nwhich GOD sends to His lovers. Blessed are they above others whom GOD\nwakens, for they have many joys while others sleep, for they find that\ngladness before them, rise they never so soon; for GOD Himself thus\nsays: \"he that early wakens to ME, he shall find ME to speak with him,\nand shall rejoice himself in ME, and have ME at his will.\" Be then a\nwaker, and rise quickly, and thank heartily thy Lord GOD, for the rest\nthou hast had, and for the care of angels. Since a knight has great\nliking to be called to come and speak with the king, when he knows it is\nfor his great profit: with greater reason, ought GOD'S knight, that is\nevery Christian man, to be ready at the calling of his Lord, Who calls\nhim for his great profit, and for nothing else. Soberly, rise thou with\na good cheer, and think that thou hearest GOD call thee with these\nwords: \"Arise My love, My fair one, and come and shew Me thy face: I\nyearn that the voice of thy prayer may ring in Mine ears.\" Think in thy\nrising, how that night many men perished in life, and some in soul, and\nsome in body and soul: some burned, some drowned, some suddenly dead\nwithout repentance or shrift, and their souls drawn by fiends to hell;\nsome fallen into deadly sin, as lust, gluttony, theft, envy,\nmanslaughter, and other several sins. And from all these perils, thy\ngood GOD hath delivered thee, of His goodness not of thy desert. What\nhast thou done to GOD that He should care for thee so, and suffer so\nmany others to be lost? and peradventure thou hast done worse than they\nhave done. If thou lookest well at what GOD has done for thee though\nthou hast not served Him, thou mayst find that GOD is as busy to do thee\nprofit as if He had naught else to do, and as if He had forgotten this\nwhole world, and thought only on thee. When thou hast this thought,\nlift up thine heart to GOD and say:--\"I thank Thee, dear-worthy Lord,\nwith all my heart, Who hast thus cared this night for me, a so unworthy\nwretch, and hast suffered me that with life and health I thus abide this\nday. I thank Thee, Lord, for this great good, and many others that Thou\nhast done to me, a so unkind and unworthy wretch, more than all others:\nthat Thou shewest me such kindness against my evil deeds.\" And put\nthyself and all thy friends in GOD'S hands, and say thus: \"Into Thy\ndear-worthy hands, my Lord, I yield my soul and body, and all my\nfriends, kindred and stranger: and all who have done me good bodily or\nghostly, and all who have received Christianity: that Thou, for the love\nof Thy Mother, that dear-worthy Maiden, and the beseeching of Thy Saints\ndefend us this day or this night from all perils of body and soul, and\nfrom all deadly sins, from temptation of the devil, and sudden death,\nand from the pains of hell, and make us dread them. Do Thou hallow our\nhearts with grace of Thy Holy Ghost, and make us, whatsoever we do here,\ndo Thy will, that we never separate from Thee, dear Lord. Amen.\" When\nthou hast done, go to the Church or Oratory: and if thou canst win to\nnone, make thy chamber thy Church. In the church is most devotion to\npray, for then is GOD on the altar to hear those that to Him pray, and\ngrant them what they ask or what is better: and in presence of Saints,\nand in worship of churches that are hallowed, protection of angels who\nare there to serve their Lord and thee--for their office is to receive\nthy prayer, and bear it to GOD, and bring thee grace from Him, as S.\nBernard says: \"Rise then quickly, at GOD'S call, and put all heaviness\nfrom thee, and answer thy Lord with the words which Samuel said to GOD\nWho called him in the night: 'Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth.'\"\nFor eight things we ought to wake and ever be doing good: this short\nlife: the strait way we have to go: our good deeds that are so few: our\nsins that are so many: death that we are sure of and wot not when: the\nstrait and so hard doom of Doom's-day, for every idle thought shall be\nshewed there, then shall every foul word and sinful work be greatly\npressed, for GOD says \"For every careless word,\" etc.: and S. Anselm,\n\"what wilt thou do in that day when all the time expended is required of\nthee; how it has been laid out by thee, even to the minutest thought.\"\nThe seventh thing is the strong pain of hell: the eighth, is the joy of\nheaven. After thine uprising, pray for the souls that are in pain of\nPurgatory, and think that thou hearest them cry on thee the words of\nJob: \"Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, my friends, for the hand of\nGOD is laid upon me,\" and help them with _De Profundis_, and _Absolve_.\nAfter, greet our Lady, with _Salve Regina_, on thy knees. Go then to the\nChurch, and bid thy vain thoughts and business of the world keep outside\nthereof: and at thine incoming, say to thy soul, \"Enter thou into the\njoy of thy Lord, and thou shalt hear His Voice, and behold His temple.\"\nHoly Church is the entrance and gate of Heaven. After, fall down before\nthe Cross, and honour Him because He was slain on the Cross, and say \"We\nadore Thee, O Christ, and bless Thee, because by Thy holy Cross Thou\ndidst redeem the world.\" And then before thou uprisest, have in thy mind\nhow hotly His love burned, That died for thee on the Cross. After, begin\nthy matins, but first cross thy lips and say \"O Lord, open my lips\":\ni.e., \"Lord, open my lips that all night have been shut from praising\nThee, and I cannot open them, except Thou help me.\" And then say, DEUS\n_in adjutorium_, with these words, pour out thine heart before GOD and\nsay; \"Lord, as my Doom's-Man, before Thee I stand: do Thou avenge me of\nmy foes, which hinder me from serving Thee, and they assail me keenly so\nthat I be soon overcome unless Thou dost help me.\" And at _Gloria\nPatri_, bow down and say with thine heart, \"Lord, of Thy blessing, I\nbeseech Thee.\" Turn thee to the angels who stand about to thy comfort\nand help, and as thy wardens to keep thee from thy foes, and thus say to\nthem _Venite exultemus, Domino_. Afterwards, cast thine eye on somewhat,\nand keep it there while thou makest thy prayers, for this helps much to\nthe stabling of thine heart; and paint there, thy Lord, as He was on the\ncross; think on His feet and hands that were nailed to the tree; and on\nthe wide wound in His side, through the which way is made to thee, to\nwin His heart; thank thy Lord thereof, and love Him therefor: for these,\nthey who thither may win, find treasure of love. Think thou seest His\nwounds streaming of blood, and falling down on the earth; and fall thou\ndown and lick up that blood sweetly, with tears kissing the earth, with\nremembrance for that rich treasure, which for thy sins was shed, and say\nthus with thine heart:--\"Why lieth this blood here as if lost, and I\nperish for thirst? Why drink I not of this rich payment that my Lord\ngives me to drink and cool my tongue, and hear what GOD says to me: _He\nwho is thirsty, let him come and drink. Thou shalt taste and see how\npleasant the Lord is; how sweet, how mild, how merciful._ With such\nmeditations, angels come to thy soul, and GOD is there, and says to His\nlover:--\"What wouldest thou that I should do for thee?\" and thou dost\nanswer; \"Lord it is enough for me, a sinful wretch and outcast of Thy\npeople, to praise Thee and love Thee, if I could, for so I well ought.\"\nIf thou canst win to such thinkings in thy prayers, thou shalt have such\njoys that it shall be a pain to thee to think of aught else. S. Bernard,\nfor the liking that he had for such stirrings desired that matins-time\nmight last till Dooms-day. Think, when thou standest or kneelest in\nprayer, that thou seest JESUS Christ come with angels and holy Saints on\neach side, and angels carrying before Him basketsfull of help which is\nleft from the feasts of Saints who dwell with GOD in heaven: that GOD\nbade them gather up to help the poor with, that naught might be lost.\nThis help is meat to us poor wretches, who would perish in default of\nit, unless GOD had pity on us. Think thou hearest GOD cry: \"Whoso has\nneed of meat, put forth thine hand, and have.\" And bow thou with thine\nhead to GOD, and lament thy poverty to Him and say \"There is no bread in\nmine house\"; and also say, \"Lord, so long meatless have I been, that I\ndie of hunger save Thou takest pity on me; and naught can hold my life\nin me, save meat that Thou givest.\" Stir thyself up with such\nrecollections, and by others that may kindle thy devotion and raise it\nto Him, even until thou thinkest thou hearest Him say to thee, \"Open thy\nmouth wide, and I will fill it.\" And then, through GOD'S grace, shalt\nthou feel something of that heavenly food that feeds all Hallows, that\nthou mayest with liking sing the Maiden's Song, that is GOD'S Mother's,\n_Magnificat anima mea dominum et exultavit spiritus meus in DEO salutari\nmeo_. When GOD, through His grace, sends thee such likings, turn thou\nkindly to the angels who stand before thee, and to them say: \"I pray you\nas my keepers whom GOD has sent to me, that ye thank your good Lord for\nme.\" And turn thou then to the altar, where GOD truly is, and say,\n\"Truly, O GOD, great is Thy mercy towards me,\" that is, \"Soothly Lord,\ngreat is Thy mercy that Thou shewest to me.\" With such love-stirrings,\nGOD comes to His lovers: and waits not till the prayer be made, but\npresses in to the midst, and softens the languishing soul, with a\nbedewing of heavenly sweetness: and tears and sighings are messengers of\nGOD'S coming. Blessed are they who thus mourn and languish to GOD, for\nthey shall never separate from GOD, but have Him ever at their will.\n_How GOD comes to His lovers; and how sometimes He departs from them._\nGOD, when He comes to His lovers gives them to taste how sweet He is;\nand before they can fully feel, He goes from them, and, as an Eagle,\nspreads His wings, and rises above them, as if He said: \"Some part\nmayst thou feel how sweet I am: but if ye will feel this sweetness to\nthe full, fly up after Me, and lift your hearts up to Me, where I am\nsitting on My Father's right hand, and there ye shall be fulfilled in\njoy of Me.\" GOD comes to His lovers to comfort them; he departs from\nthem so that they should humble themselves, and that they should not\nover-much pride themselves for the joy that they have of His coming: for\nif thy spouse were aye with thee, thou wouldest esteem thyself over well\nand despise others: and if He were aye with thee thou wouldest impute it\nto nature and not to Grace. Therefore, through His grace, He comes when\nHe will, and to whom He will, and departs when He will: so that His long\ndwelling makes one not more unworthy; but that after His departing, He\nbe more yearned for and sought with zealous love and sighings and tears.\nBut beware thou, GOD'S lover, though thy Spouse withdraw Himself from\nthee for a while, He sees all thy deeds, and thou canst hide nothing\nfrom Him: and if He wit thou lovest any but Him, unless it be for love\nof Him, or if thou makest any love-semblance to other than Him, so soon\nHe departs from thee. Jealous is thy Spouse, delicate, noble and rich;\nseven times brighter than the sun; in fairness and might all others He\nsurpasses, and what so He wills is done in heaven and earth and hell. If\nHe sees any stain of filth in one who should be His dear, He turns from\nhim soon, for uncleanness can He see none. Therefore, be thou chaste,\nshame-full, and mild of heart, and with love-longing yearn for Him above\nall things. And when GOD withdraws this heavenly likeness and sweetness\nfrom thee, as sometimes need be in this deadly life, give not thyself to\nfleshly lusts and likings of the world; but to prayer and meditation,\nreading of Holy Writ, or honest work. And ever mourn thou after thy\nlove, as a young child who misses his Mother. For he that, after such\nknowing of GOD and tasting of His sweetness, turns him back and gives\nhim to sin, he has no defence for his sin against GOD. An unhappy chance\nit is and full of care to love the fellowship of GOD and of His angels\nand Saints and to serve the fiend and follow his counsel with lusts and\nlikings and works of sin: that heart which was hallowed through the Holy\nGhost to be GOD'S temple, that was raised here above his nature to have\nheavenly likings and joy with GOD, all soon makes itself loathly and\nfoul with foul thoughts: those ears that heard the words that it is\nallowable to speak to none, open themselves to hear back-bitings and\nlyings and other idle speech; those eyes that just now were baptized\nwith tears, open themselves to see vanities: that tongue that just now\nspake to GOD in prayer, all soon with that dirty tongue, forswears,\nbackbites, and speaks foul words. Pray we to GOD that of His goodness He\nkeep us from these vices. Of GOD'S coming men may know by this that S.\nBernard says: \"When thou art stirred of man in outer or inner spirit to\ncare for righteousness and stand up for it, to be meek and patient, to\nlove thy brothers in GOD, to be buxom to thy superiors, to love chastity\nand cleanness in body and soul, token is it that Almighty GOD comes to\nvisit thy soul.\" If thou takest godly chastening from thy friend for thy\nsin, or words that stir thee to virtues and good ways, this makes way\nfor and token of GOD'S coming. Then if thou puttest from thee slowness\nand heaviness, and with a love-yearning likest such words; then\ndear-worthy GOD thy Lord hastes Him to thee, for the desire that GOD has\nto thee; kindles thy desires to have likings for such words, and makes\nthee bitterly repent thy sin and amend thy life. For, at His incoming,\nHe wakens the soul, stirs it and softens it, and washes its wounds with\nwine, and softens them with oil; that is, stirs it to repent bitterly\nwhat it has misdone, and softens it with hope of mercy and forgiveness\nof sins. He rives sin up by the roots, as a gardener does evil weeds,\nand grafts good trees, and sows good seed, where the weeds grew. So does\nGOD, who is called a gardener while He is in man's soul: He rives up\nsins by the roots, and grafts in that soul virtues and good ways: what\nwas dry He bedews it with grace: what was black and mirk, He makes it\nwhite: what was bound, He looses: what was cold, He makes warm with\nlove. By these stirrings, mayst thou know thy Lord is come; by stirring\nof thy heart, destroying of vices, withdrawing from lusts, amending of\nlife, repenting misdeeds, beginning of a new man in GOD, every day more\nand more. And by this mayst thou wit, when He goes from thee; the\ngladness wanes, slow thou waxest dry and heavy, as a stone; love cools\nin thee like a pot that had been welded, and the fire was withdrawn\ntherefrom. But then needs the soul to mourn sorely until He come again.\nIf foul thoughts egg thee on to leave the Lord thy GOD, say this \"Whose\nis this image and superscription?\" if he says \"Caesar's,\" that is the\nprince of this world, that is the fiend of hell, say to him, \"Go again\nthou foul fiend with thy false money: bear it again with thee to hell;\nfor my gates are shut, and my Lord dwells herein, therefore have I no\ntime to deal with thee.\" Think on that holy greeting that Gabriel made\nto that maiden, Mary in Nazareth, how joyful she was in body and soul in\nthat time; through that quieting, with her assent, she was fulfilled of\ngrace, so that she won might and power, in heaven, and earth, and hell;\nand on her hangs all the world's health and restoring of those that\nfell. Think on the birth of her Child, how she bare Him without sorrow\nand grief that all other women have naturally in time of birth; and she\nclean maiden after. Think when He was born, they laid Him in a crib\nbefore an ox and an ass, other cradle had He none. There was none to\nserve Him with the light of torches as men do before great lords:\ntherefore there came a fire from heaven that lighted the house He was\nin, and Bethlehem; and angels came from heaven to sing the child asleep\nwith a merry voice. Think how Three Kings came from far lands through\nknowing of a star, and offered Him gold, incense and myrrh: think how\nsweetly the child smiled on them, and with His lovely eyes sweetly\nlooked on them. Think how poorly His Mother was clad when the Kings\nkneeled before her: for on her she had but a white smock as the clerks\nsay, more to cover herself with than for shewing of pride. Think how His\nMother came with Him to the Temple to make her offering of cleansing,\nand bowed to fulfil the Law as if they were sinful. Think how the old\npriest Symeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed GOD: for there,\nthrough the stirring of the Holy Ghost, he saw the Saviour of all this\nworld between His hands, and prayed that he might pass out of this\nworld, \"for mine eyes have seen Him Who saves the folk.\" Think of that\nsorrow His Mother had when she missed Him and sought Him three days, and\nthen found Him among the Masters, hearing and inquiring of points of the\nLaw. Think how He came to be christened of S. John: how the Holy Ghost\nlighted then on Him in the likeness of a Dove, the Father there with\nvoice recorded that He was His Son. Think how He hallowed wedlock in\nthe house of the Ruler of the Feast, and there, to show that He was\nAlmighty GOD changed water into wine. In the wilderness, how he fasted\n40 days without meat; how He overcame the fiend that tempted Him with\nthree: with gluttony, and covetousness, and vain-glory, and of the\nwonder men had of His preaching, for all the words He spake to them were\nfull of grace. How He healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to\nthe blind, speech to the dumb, health to the leper, with touching of His\nhands: and many other sicknesses that were in their nature incurable, He\nhealed through the might of His words, for He could do more than Nature.\nHow He was weary of much going; rested Him at the well; and then He bade\ngive Him water to drink for He thirsted sore. Then, open thine heart\nwith sore sighings, and think on the passion and pains that JESUS\nChrist suffered, as they are written before on the xviii leaf.[7]\nHe may ask grace of GOD, and certainly trust to speed, who here stirs\nhimself up with good works, and with devotion and likings: flavours them\nso that they may be savoury to his dear Lord. Works of penance, as\nfasting, waking, hard fighting, forbearing of fleshly lusts, prayers,\nalms-deed, and other things that we do with devotion and likings in GOD,\nit behoves that so they be done with a glad heart, and with a freedom of\nspirit. Devotion is a worthy affection that GOD sends to the heart to\ngladden it with: but unworthy is he to have this gift, that will make no\ndwelling-place in his heart for it. We seek with our belief what is\nabove us, but it savours us not, for we are so full of earth that we\nhave lost our taste. Why do so many men feel the stirrings that the\nfiend forges, and suffer his enemy so often to overthrow him? I see\nnothing that does this, save lack of grace. Among all other (things) I\ntrow we grieve GOD most, because we will not labour to win this grace of\nGOD: and GOD promises His grace to all that will to receive, if that\ntheir vessel be clean and empty to receive it in. But S. Bernard says:\n\"The heart that is loaded with covetousness of the world, it can have\nneither devotion nor liking in GOD; for soothfastness and vanity, a\nlasting and a failing thing, a ghostly thing and a bodily cannot be\nbrought together at any time.\" So worthy a thing is the comfort of GOD\nthat it will not rest in a breast where other comfort is. So delicious\nis the liking in Him, that with no other liking can it accord. Whoso\nyearns after other comfort to glad himself with, witnesses against\nhimself that he withstands GOD'S grace: unless it be honest comfort\nbetimes that he may thereby glad his nature with, and better serve GOD.\nAfter thou hast spent thy time in prayers, and holy thoughts and good\nworks, in GOD'S holy dread, prepare thyself for food to strengthen thy\nnature which would else fail. And to this intent shall every Christian\nman clothe and feed his body; that it may the better serve his Lord, in\nwhatsoever he does. In the morning, thou shalt go to thy meat, with\nsoberness and measure; care for thy self in thy meat-time; and after\nmeat, make thou praising to thy Lord that He has fed thee, and also\nbefore meat, and for all the good deeds that He has done to thee. First,\nor ever thou goest to meat, thou shalt mourn as holy Job did, who thus\nsays, \"Before I eat I sigh,\" because my nature is made weak and feeble\nfor Adam's sin; and every day needs bodily meat to uphold the nature\nthat else would fail in a little time. And, as it tells in the life of\nthe holy Fathers; Isidore that holy man, when he ate, he wept sore and\nsaid, \"I am ashamed of myself for I live by beastly meat as other beasts\ndo that have no reason by nature; and I, GOD'S reasonable creature, made\nlike to Himself, that should have dwelt in Paradise, and there have been\nfed with heavenly food.\" When thou findest delight or savour in meat and\ndrink, think on the heavenly Saints whom all likings pass by, and we be\nnever satisfied till we feel thereof. Men of religion hear lessons of\nholy men's lives at their meat, so that as the body is fed with bodily\nfood, so the soul be fed with holy words. Man's body is as a burning\nfurnace, and specially in the young; and delicious and hot meats and\ndrinks make that fire to burn hotter: therefore says S. John:--\"Plenty\nin time of youth is double fire.\" Therefore all that kindles sin in the\nflesh is to be fled from. The wise man says, \"If thou wilt abate the\nflame, abate the brands.\" And S. John; \"Flesh-meat and wine are kindling\nof fleshly stirrings.\" And S. Austin; \"the flesh is as a wild colt,\nwhich is to be tamed with bridle and hunger.\" And Solomon; \"Rod and\nburden fall to the ass,\" that betokens our flesh. Wisely should a man\nconsider the meat that comes before him, and take of them in such\nmeasure that they grieve him not, but that through them, he may serve\nGOD better. Therefore S. John bids:--\"Ever when thou eatest, ever hunger\nthou, that after meat thou mayst read and pray and serve GOD better.\"\nHoly men who have been before us enjoyed strong sharp meat, more to\nabate hunger than for pleasure. Some lived by grass, some by roots, some\nby spices and herbs and fruit that the earth bore; and in whatso they\nate they destroyed all taste that might stir them to pleasure. Also, S.\nGermanus mixed ashes with his bread, that he should feel no pleasure in\nhis meat-time. Other sauce than hunger, they took none. S. Gregory says:\n\"bread made of bran and water, with cold or other simple pottage is good\nfood to the well-taught stomach, with sauce of GOD'S love if he have it\ntherewith: without this sauce, no sustenance has savour that man\nenjoys.\" Some eat no meat before the night; some only every other day;\nsome fast three days together. Machari fasted all the Lenten-tide, save\nSundays, and ate naught but raw leaves. Some take no heed when they eat,\nnor what they eat, flesh or fish: all tasted alike to them, so that\nafterwards, they wist not what they ate. Some, when they were set down\nto meat, and meat was brought before them, they forgot to eat, for so\nthey spent the day and the night in holy speech, that they thought of\nnaught else, till the undern-tide[8] of the second day, so that the\nbrethren came to them and asked why they could not eat: and then, for\nthe first time, thought they of meat, and they ate then as they thought\ngood, in GOD'S holy fear. When thou art set to thy meat, make before\nthee a cross on the board with five crumbs to stir thee up to think on\nHim who died for thee on the Cross; and think, here lies His head that\nwas crowned with thorns, there His hands, there His feet that were\nnailed full fast; there was His sweet side that was opened with the\nspear, from which came both blood and water to heal my dirty wounds.\nWhen thou hast so done if thou canst, take part of thy bread and of thy\nfish, and lay it by itself, and say thus quietly in thine heart, \"Lord,\nwhat wilt Thou give me for this pittance I make to Thee? how many\ntears, how many love-yearnings and longings after Thee? how many\ncomforts of the Holy Ghost, how many stirrings to good things, how many\nlookings towards me with Thy lovely eyes? Lord, wilt Thou for this meat\nthat the poor hungry man shall have for Thy sake, give me the love of\nThee?\" When thou hast eaten what thou thinkest good, thank thy Lord that\nHe hath fed thee. After meat, be thou worthy, and keep thee from much\nspeech and idle games, and hold thy wits inward in fear of GOD. Seemly\nit is to man, and pleasing to GOD, that his bearing be more honourable\nand temperate after meat than before: that no taking of excess be seen\nin him, that the flesh may serve the soul better in reading, praying and\nother ghostly works, that may help to good things. Then Even-song say,\nwith the devotion that GOD sends thee, in Church or Oratory, or\nwheresoever thou mayst say it best, away from the noise and throng of\nthe world. After, if thou needest, go sup: and short be thy supper time:\nso in measure take thou meat and drink that it be no burden nor\ngrievance to thy nature, nor hindrance to serve thy Lord; or in time of\nrest reave from thee thy sleep; or the fiend defile thee with foul\ntemptations in thy sleep, as he often does him who goes to bed with a\nfull stomach. Every man eat, as S. John says, \"according as he is strong\nor old, or according as his body is greater or less, or whole or sick;\ntake what is needful for sustenance of nature, and not as pleasure\nasks.\" After supper, go to the Church or other place, where thou mayst\nbe most at rest, and say thy Compline, for in this time as S. Ambrose\nsaith, \"birds in their language praise their Lord, and thank Him after\ntheir kind, for the goods He has sent them.\" Call thou then on thy GOD\nand say _Converte nos DEUS salutaris noster_, as if he said, \"Lord, I\nhave been this day hindered by the world, that has greatly hindered me\nfrom serving Thee; through temptation of the fiend and of my flesh oft\nthis day have I done amiss; therefore, my Lord, turn me now from the\nworld, and from all that may hinder me from praising Thee with a pure\nheart and with all my wits, so that they be intent on Thee to work Thy\nwill,\" And then, say forth thy Compline, and after, other prayers with\nthe devotion that GOD sends thee. And after, before thou goest to bed,\nhold a chapter with thine heart, and ask it in what things it is better\nthan it was. Hast thou shriven thee of that sin that thou didst then and\nthere? of the words that thou spakest there? of that evil will that was\nin thee then? of that wrong that thou didst and saidst there to him? of\nthat handling? of that blame? of that foul thought? of that thing left\nundone that thou should'st have done? art thou willing to leave off\nsuch vices? What temptations withstood'st thou this day? in what art\nthou meeker than thou wast? in what more chaste, more sober, more\npatient, more temperate, more loving thy GOD in thy brother, or more\nliking in GOD hast thou than thou hadst? Hast left that sin that thou,\nthrough habit, fallest into so oft? and other many vices that thou hast\ndone and pleased the fiend with: and grieved thy good GOD, and hast\nbarred thyself against the grace that should help thee. And then, with a\nrepenting of those sins that bite thy conscience, knock on thy breast\nand say a _Pater noster_ with _Ave Maria_, on thy knees, and soon in the\nmorning shrive thee of those sins. And if thou doest thus, I hope the\nfiend shall be afeared to tempt thee, for thou art under GOD'S ward,\nwhilst thou bearest thee thus. After this reckoning, where-through thy\nsoul is raised to a blessed hope to the Father of mercy, and thy flesh\nwaxes heavy, go to thy rest: for if thou hinderest thy flesh of its\nnecessity, and work it beyond its might, faintly will it help thee, or\nhinder thee withal. And or ever thou goest to rest commit thyself and\nthy friends into GOD'S hands, who for us was nailed to the tree, and\nbeseech Him, for His mercy, that He guard thee from all perils of body\nand soul, and arm thee with the token of the cross; for where the fiend\nsees this mark soon he flies. Of this mark, it is written in the life of\nS. Edmund: that as he went one time alone, a child appeared to him who\nwas wonderfully fair, and said, \"Hail, my friend, whom I love in GOD.\"\nS. Edmund was surprised at this greeting, and the child said to him,\n\"knowest thou me not?\" And S. Edmund said to the child, \"How should I\nknow thee? I never saw thee before.\" And the child said to him, \"When\nthou didst learn in school, I sat ever by thy side; and ever since I\nhave been with thee, wheresoever thou hast dwelt; for so my Lord has\nfastened me to thee, that I might never part from thee, such is my\nLord's will. But behold on my forehead, and read what thou seest there.\"\nHe looked as he told him, and with heavenly letters, these four words,\nhe saw there written, _JESUS Nazarenus Rex iudeorum_. Then said the\nchild, \"This is my Lord's name, thou seest thus written. This name I\nwill that thou have in mind, and print it in thy soul, and cross thy\nfront with this name; before thou goest to sleep; and from harassings of\nthe fiend, it shall protect thee that night, and from sudden death, and\nall who thus by night cross themselves therewith.\" And when he had\nspoken these words, he vanished away. Carry some holy thoughts to bed\nwith thee, and say thy prayers, till sleep fall on thee. To have soft\nsleep and sweet, a sovereign help is measure and soberness in meat and\ndrink: with recollection of GOD'S law and Holy Writ; as GOD says through\nthe prophet, \"Keep My law and My counsel, and if thou sleepest thou\nshalt not be afraid; if thou dost rest thy sleep shall be sweet.\" And\never, as thou wakenest, lift thine heart to GOD, with some holy thought,\nand rise and pray to thy Lord that He grant release from pains to the\ndead, and grace to the living, and life without end. If temptation of\nlust stir thee in bed, think that thy good Lord hung on the Rood for\nthee; think on His five wounds that streamed down of blood: think that\nHis bed was the hard knotty tree, and instead of a pillow He had a crown\nof thorns. And say then, with sore sighing, till thy desire cool, \"My\ndear-worthy Lord hanged on the Rood for me; and I lie in this soft bed,\nand welter me in sin, like a foul swine that loves but filth.\" Rise\nthen quickly, and hold thee with prayers, love-sighings and tears. Of\nthree points beware. The first, that the devotions thou hast through\ngrace stirring, be not known of others: hide them, so far as thou mayest\nwith will and deed for fear of vain glory. The second, that thou\nthinkest not it is in thy power to have such devotions and stirrings\nwhen thou wilt: but only through GOD'S grace when He will send them. The\nthird, that thou thinkest not over-well of thyself for such stirrings;\nnor thinkest thou art therefore dear to GOD; nor deem another more\nunworthy who does not as thou dost; but when thou hast done all well,\nthink soothly by thyself, and grant it in words; \"It is nothing worth I\ndo, Lord: for I am but a useless thrall.\" If thou wilt lose no reward,\ndeem none other, but hold thyself most unworthy; for if thou fastest or\nprayest more than another, perchance another surpasses thee in\nmeekness, and patience and loving. Therefore think of what thou lackest,\nand not only of what thou hast. Nevertheless, GOD wills that thou\nshould'st think on those graces and goods He has done for thee, to stir\nthee up to know thyself indebted to Him for them, and serve Him and love\nHim the more; or if thou beest in grief to glad thee with. Sometimes, it\nfalls out that in GOD'S doom, one is better whom men deem evil than some\nthat men deem good. Many are worthy without and unclean within. Some\nworldly and dissolute, and GOD'S private friends within. And some, in\nman's sight bear themselves like angels; and in GOD'S sight, they stink\nas sinful wretches. And some seem sinful to men's doom, and are full\ndear to GOD Almighty, for their inward bearing is heavenly in GOD'S\nbright sight. Therefore, judge we none other save ourselves. And pray we\nfor ourselves and all others to JESUS Christ, Mary's Son, Who for us\nwas nailed on the Rood, that whoso is bound in deadly sin, He loose\nthem; and they who are in good life, that He grant them end therein.\nTwo messengers are come to thee to bring thee tidings. The one is called\nFear, who comes from hell to warn thee of thy danger: the other is\ncalled Hope that comes from Heaven to tell thee of bliss thou shalt have\nif thou doest well. Fear says he saw so many betortured in hell, that if\nall the wits of men were in one, he could not tell them: of gluttons,\nunchaste, robbers, thieves, rich men with their servants who harmed the\npoor: judges who would not give judgment except for reward: treasurers\nwho by subtilty maintained injustice: deemsters who condemned loyal men\nand delivered stark thieves; workmen who worked dishonestly and took\nfull hire; tillers of the soil who tilled badly; prelates, with the\ncare of men's souls, who neither punished nor taught them; of all sorts\nof men who have wrongly wrought; then I saw that every one bought it\nbitterly. For there I saw want of all good, and plenty of pain and\nsorrow; as hot fire burning ever, brimstone stinking: grisly devils like\ndragons gaping ever; hunger and thirst for ever lasting, adders and\ntoads gnawing on the sinful. Such sorrow and yelling and gnashing of\nteeth, I heard there, that nearly, for fear, I lost my wits. Such\nmirkness there was, that I could grip it; and so bitter was the smoke\nthat it made the woe-ful wretches shed glowing tears; and bitterly I\nheard them ban the day when they were born. Now, they long to die, and\ncannot. Death, which, sometime they hated, were liefer to them now than\nall the good of this world. And therefore I warn thee that thou amend\nthee of thy sins with shrift and penance, and have a steadfast will to\nleave them for ever: a seat I saw made for thee in hell of burning fire,\nwhere devils should pain thee ever unendingly.\nThat other messenger, who is called Hope says he is come from Heaven to\ntell thee of that untellable great joy that rules GOD'S friends; \"to\ntell thereof as it is may no earthly man speak though his tongue were of\nsteel. For there is a gracious fellowship of all GOD'S friends, orders\nof angels, and of holy saints, and Almighty GOD above, Who gladdens them\nall. Of all goodness, I saw plenty; beauty and riches that last for\never; honour and power that never shall fail; wisdom and love and\neverlasting joy. Then I heard melody and song of bright angels. So\nworthy is that joy and so great withal, that whoso might taste of it a\nblessed drop, he should be so ravished in liking of GOD, and such\nyearning he should have to win thither, that all joys of the world were\npain to him. With so great a love he should be overtaken in yearning to\nwin to that bliss, that by a hundred times it should more stir him to\nlove virtue and flee sin than any fear he might have of the pain of\nhell. And I tell thee for sooth, if thou wilt leave sin, and do GOD'S\nbidding, and love Him as thou oughtest, a rich and a fair seat GOD has\nmade for thee wherein thou shalt dwell with Him unendingly.\nTHIRD PART OF THE BOOK.\nThe third and the last part of this book teaches a man to bear himself,\nwheresoever he comes, and whatsoever he does: that it be to the praise\nof GOD, and an example of good to all who see him: for thus the Apostle\ncounsels: \"Let everything be done honestly and in order\"; that is \"all\nthat ye do, look ye do it honestly and orderly.\" Then at the first, let\nevery lover of GOD see that ye yearn not to mingle with the world, that\nhinders and deceives all who deal with it, and hinders them from the\nmany good deeds they might do. And the man who will nowhere rest but aye\nrake about; their eyes see many things, that the eye sends to the heart,\nand such come not out easily when they are once imprinted. S. Bernard\ncomplains of the harms that he felt in the world whilst he was therein,\nand says \"the world surrounded me and weighed me down\": that is \"The\nworld has besieged me on every side; and through the gates of my five\nwits it shot at me and wounded me full sore; and through the wounds,\ndeath presses in, to slay my sorry soul. Mine eyes look, and my thought\nchanges and kindles me in sin. Mine ears hear and my heart bows me\nthereto. I smell with my nose, and it pleases my thoughts. With my mouth\nI speak, and in my speech I please or beguile others: and with a little\nover-soft feeling, lust kindles in my flesh; and the fiend, my foe, whom\nI cannot see, stands ever against me with his bow bent.\" Therefore, if\nnecessity make man to go into this world, where are so many stirrings to\nsin, with great fear shall he go, as into a battle to fight his foes. It\nneeds he be well armed against the arrows of his foe, that severely\nshoots at him; and the more may he dread him because he cannot see him:\nwith foot-traps and snares is the way set full. Therefore, let him who\nshall go forth, arm him with GOD'S holy fear. GOD warned His disciples\nto be wary in the world when He said thus: \"Soothly the world shall\nwithstand you with temptations.\" Therefore, if thou must go out, for\nthine own profit or that of others, colour not thy going with any false\nhue, to feign for thyself an occasion to dally with the world, for\npleasure or command, or to be known with praise before others....\nAnd therefore they make a show with words and feign as they can, to be\nholden holy of all who see them, that give themselves to dalliance with\nthe world, more than needs, as to buying, selling or quarrelling about\nearthly things. And all their outward bearing so accords with the world\nthat David says: \"They have mixed themselves with the peoples; they\npartake of their works\": that is, they mingle them with the folk of the\nworld, who have no knowledge of GOD, and such works as they see them do,\nsuch works they do. Therefore, when thou needest to go forth, cross\nthyself with the holy name of JESUS, Mary's Son, who died on the Rood\nfor thee, for then thou art more secure, whithersoever thou goest, as S.\nAustin said to his brother, when they went forth. And S. John says:\n\"Whitherso thou goest, and whatsoever thou doest, thy forehead and thy\nbreast mark thou with the cross; for there is no other mark the fiend so\ngreatly dreads.\" See that thine outer-clothing be not over-loathsome,\nnor over-curious, in shape nor in hue. Keep thy limbs to their business,\nto which they were made, and do not cast thine eyes about like a child;\nflourish not thine hands, and leap not with thy feet. When the heart of\nman is out of ward, the limbs sometimes fail in their office. And, as\nthou orderest thine outward bearing when thou goest forth, also look\nthou that thou beest devout within, and specially in praying to and\npraising the Lord. If in going out, thou canst not rest in saying thy\nprayers, go the softlier. Many things hinder thee in toiling to pray;\nweariness of limbs; men thou meetest who speak to thee; then thy five\nwits fleet out of ward, and then the devotion of him who prays, cools.\nWhen walking thou hast said thy prayers that thou art bound to say, lift\nup thy heart to GOD, and pray to Him in thy thoughts in a blessed\nrecollection: think on the good things GOD has done for thee, and shall\ndo if thou truly servest Him: think on His biddings and do them indeed\naccording to thy might, for so GOD bids thee when He thus says:--\"The\nwords which I command thee shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt\nrelate them to thy sons: and thou shall meditate on them, sitting in\nthine house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and arising.\" Or in\nworking, tell fair tales to thy fellows, or something from Holy Writ\nthat may soften your way, or glad you in GOD. And sometimes say the\nSeven Psalms for the quick and the dead, that GOD give grace to the\nquick and rest to the dead. When thou comest to the town to ease thy\nbody, seek where thou mayst most worthily dwell for thy condition and in\nmost peace: and where thou mayst most profit to thyself and others. Let\nflesh-lust and vanity entice thee to no place: but inquire where any is\nwho most loves GOD, and thither draw thou. Seek not where thou mayst be\nfed best, for there peradventure are many stirrings to sin. Harbour thee\nwith no woman unless thou knowest good of them for a long time. When\nthou art come to the house thou shalt rest in, hold thy wits inward in\nGOD'S holy fear; so that thine outer bearing be so ruled with grace that\nthou mayst stir to good all whom thou seest, and through GOD'S grace\ndestroy mirkness of sin, and so fulfil GOD'S teaching, who says thus,\n\"So let your light shine before men, that they seeing your good works\nmay glorify your Father Who is in heaven.\" And S. Gregory says: \"Neither\nis it greatly praiseworthy to be good with the good, but to be good with\nthe evil; for even as it is of more heinous guilt not to be good among\nthe good, so is it of unwearied honour to have stood for the good among\nthe evil.\"\nKeep well thine eyes when thou art come to harbour, from all things that\nmay kindle sin and make thine eyes forward, as Job did, who said \"I make\na covenant with mine eyes lest I should think upon a maid.\" After sight,\ncomes thought, and thereafter deed, and therefore said the prophet\nJeremiah, \"Mine eye hath laid waste my soul.\" When so holy a prophet\nlamented him of his eyesight, sorely may another complain who oft sins\ntherewith. Augustine: \"Shameless eye is the messenger of shameless\nheart.\" Gregory: \"It is not lawful to look after that which it is not\nlawful to desire.\" David: \"Turn away mine eyes that they may not see\nvanity.\" Look also that thou hearest nothing that may stir thee to sin,\nas unclean words, backbiting, false judgments, great oaths, controversy,\nstriving and other such vices. Also at thy meat, bear thyself orderly,\nand hold thee in measure, and seek after no dainties, but be pleased\nwith common meats. Consider in speaking, to whom, what, when, how, of\nwhom, and where: and have thyself so orderly that thou beest not like\nother worldly men, but fulfil the Apostle's words; \"Be not conformed to\nthis world, because your conversation is in heaven.\"\nThough our body be in this world as a clot of earth, it is needful that\nour spirit which was bought with the dear-worthy blood of GOD Almighty\nbe with mind and will in heaven, not soil itself here with sin, as swine\ndo in a ditch. And whatsoever thou doest, and wheresoever thou comest,\ndo as the Apostle teaches: \"Shew thyself to all men as an example of\ngood works,\" for through a good example GOD is worshipped and praised,\nmen are helped and taught and strengthened in their belief. Bear thee so\nthat men who dwell with you may say of you as was said of the Apostles\nPaul and Barnabas, \"The gods are made like men, and have come down to\nus.\" _DEO gracias._\nFOOTNOTES:\n[5] Rolle's free rendering of the Latin is added here from the _Thornton\nMS._ It does not occur in the Arundel MS.\n[6] The MS. is defective.\n[7] On the 18th leaf of the MS. containing _Our Daily Work_ begins\nRichard Rolle's _Meditations on the Passion_. A rendering of this is\ngiven in Fr. R. H. Benson's _A Book of the Love of JESUS_.\n[8] A meat-time between sunrise and noon, or between noon and sunset.\nOn Grace.\nOn Grace.\nThree degrees of grace there are. The first GOD gives to all creatures,\nto uphold them with; and this is called GOD'S help freely given to all\ncreatures; and without this gift of grace, creatures cannot do, nor last\nin their kind; for as water is made hot through fire and becomes cold\nagain if the fire be withdrawn, so, as S. Austin says, \"All creatures\nthat are made of naught, so are they worth naught in a little time,\nunless GOD upholds them with His grace.\" Therefore says the Apostle\n\"Through the grace of GOD, I am what I am.\" As if he said, \"That I live,\nthat I feel, that I speak or hear or see, and all that I am: all this I\nhave only through GOD'S grace.\" The second degree of grace is more\nspecial: that GOD gives freely to every man who is a good and reasonable\ncreature: and this grace stands ever at the gates of our hearts, and\nknocks on our free-will, and bids it let it in. This, GOD says that He\ndoes: \"Behold, I stand at the door knocking,\" that is, \"I stand at the\ndoor of thine heart and knock; let Me in.\" And this grace is given\nfreely to man before he deserves it. Then let every man make himself\nworthy and ready to receive His gift of the Holy Ghost, Who ever stirs\nman's free-will to good, and calls it from evil. Two things are needful\nto the health of man's soul. The first is this grace that I speak of:\nthe second, is man's free-will according thereto. And without these two,\nno man can do thoroughly what he ought, that should help him to health\nof his soul; for neither free-will, without this grace stirring, nor\nthis grace without free-will assenting, can do aught that pleases GOD.\nTherefore, says S. Austin, \"He Who made thee without thee, will not\njustify thee without thee\"; that is, \"He Who made thee without thee,\nwill not make thee righteous, save thou helpest thereunto.\" And though\nthe free-will of man cannot make the grace of GOD in man, nevertheless,\nlet man do what is in him, and prepare himself, that he may be ready and\nable to receive the grace, when it comes. If thou wert in a mirk house\none day, and doors and windows shut: if thou wouldest not let the sun\ncome in, who was to blame if the house were mirk. Also blame none save\nthyself, if thy grace be less. For S. Anselm says, \"Man lacks not this\ngrace, for GOD gives it to him; but he has it not, because he does not\nmake himself ready to receive this grace as he should.\" GOD is not\nstingy of His grace, for He has enough thereof; for though He deal it\nout never so far, and to so many, He never has the less; for He only\nwants clean vessels, to put His grace in. Therefore says S. Austin; \"GOD\nby vast freedom and abundance fills all creatures according to their\ncapacity\": that is, \"GOD through His great freedom of His great grace\nfulfils all creatures according as they are able to receive His grace.\"\nIf man opened his heart to this grace when GOD sends it to him, he would\nshew it in works; for the Apostle, when he had won it, said, \"His grace\nin me was not in vain,\" that is \"the grace that GOD has given me, is not\nuseless in me\"; for he enjoyed it ever in work. We unite with GOD in His\ngrace, as merchants do together: for GOD sets His grace against our\nwork; but for His grace and His death, He wills (to have) naught but our\npraising and thanking, and He wills that man should have all the profit\nthat may arise thereof. But they try to reave from GOD, His part, who\nwould be praised of men for good deeds. Against them, GOD says, \"I will\nnot give My glory to another\"; that is, \"Praising and worship that\nbelong to Me, I will give to no other.\" Thou shalt understand, that\nfree-will of man is to turn freely to good or ill. Three states there\nare of man; before sin, after man's sin, and after man is confirmed,\nthat is, after man is departed out of this deadly life, and come to that\njoy that shall never end. In the first place, before man sinned, was\nman's will so free, that he could sin or not sin: in his free-will it\nwas, to do good or ill. In the last state, that is confirmed, shall man\nsin no more. In the second state, in which he may sin, and may not but\nsin, man's will is free to ill, till it be strengthened with grace: and\nwhen grace leads the will, then it is free to work the good. Before man\nsinned, no hindering had he from doing good, nor no need to do ill: but\nnow has sin joined with our flesh, and bred what S. Paul calls the \"law\nof the flesh,\" so that it is master of the flesh, and withstands GOD'S\nlaw in all that it can. This hinders our will from assenting to good;\nand stirs it to ill so that it may not work good, unless grace helps and\naccustoms him away from sin. Every man before he sins, has a free will\nto do good or ill, but when he is bound to the fiend, through works of\nsin, he may through no power of himself come out of his bonds: and then\nhe fares like a ship that in a tempest has lost all that could help it,\nand is cast from wave to wave whither the tempest drives it. Right so, a\nman who lacks GOD'S grace, because he be fallen into deadly sin, he does\nnot what he would, but aye wavers from hand to hand, at the fiend's\nwill, and unless GOD give him grace to rise out of his sin, he shall be\nin sin to his life's end, and after, be lost body and soul, and damned\nto endless pain. If the folk or the common people choose them a king,\nand he be confirmed in his kingdom, he be never so ill to them, they can\ndo naught to him, unless it be through some other, who has more power\nthan he: and so, it behoves them suffer, do he them never so much ill.\nRight so, man before he sins, has a free will to choose whether he will\nbe under GOD or the fiend; and when, with his will, he chooses to serve\nthe fiend, he cannot after, when he would, come out of his bonds. And\ntherefore, worldly men who are bound in sin say to them who counsel them\nto amend their lives, \"fain would we rise, but we cannot.\" No, they\ncannot through might of themselves, but through GOD'S grace helping them\nthey can. The third grace is most special; for it is given only to those\nwho receive the second grace; and with their free-will fulfil it in\ndeed, and can say as S. Paul said, \"The grace of GOD was not in vain in\nme.\" And S. Austin says; \"GOD, working with us, fulfils that which He,\nthrough grace stirring, began in us.\" For neither without His helping\ncan we do good to ourselves, nor please Him: as GOD says Himself\n\"without Me, thou canst no nothing.\" GOD'S grace stirring, goes before\ngood will, and stirs it to do the good and leave the ill.\nGrace, when it comes first to visit man's soul, wakens him as out of a\nslumbering and inquires of him with those sharp words: \"Where art thou?\nWhence comest thou? Whither shalt thou?\" First he says, \"Where art\nthou?\" as if he said, \"Bethink thee, unhappy wretch, how foul thou art\ncast down, and what peril thou art in. For, for thy sin thou art fallen\ninto the enemy's hands, who above all things dost covet to work thy woe;\nand naught may deliver thee out of the foe's hands, but Almighty GOD,\nthy good Lord, Whom thou hast forsaken.\" After he says: \"Whence comest\nthou?\" as if he said, \"thou wretch, behold how thou hast wasted thy life\nin sin; thou comest from the fiend's tavern--Where are all the goods\nthat GOD has given thee to help thee with, and to worship Him? Sorrily\nhast thou lost them. Thy Lord made thee rich, and thou art become a poor\nwretch.\" After, he inquires, \"Whither wendest thou?\" \"Woeful wretch thou\nwendest to the woeful doom, that GOD dooms men to; for as thou hast\nserved so shalt thou be judged. So awful shalt thou see GOD there, that\nthou shalt for fear be out of thy wits; and to the mountains and hills\nthou shalt cry with a grisly noise, and pray them to fall on thee and\nhide thee, that thou see Him not. Woeful wretch, thou wendest to hell,\nif thou dost forth as thou hast begun, where thou shalt find fire so hot\nand so raging, that all the water in the sea, though it ran through it,\nshould not slake a spark thereof. And because thou stinkest here to GOD,\nfor thy foul sin, there thou shalt feel everlasting stink: and because\nthou lovedst mirkness here, for aye to be in sin, there shalt thou feel\nsuch thick mirkness that thou canst grip it; and because here thou didst\nrest thyself in sin against GOD'S will, there shalt thou shed more tears\nthan there are motes in a sunbeam. Thou shalt suffer pain ever after\npain, ever to renew thy woe.\"\nWhen GOD'S grace has stirred man and wakened him with these three, and\nhas made him to know the peril he is in, then he conceives a terror of\nGOD'S awful doom: and therethrough, he begins to repent whatever he did\nill, and covets to amend himself through GOD'S grace, that stirs him to\nflee ill and give himself to good: and then comes grace following, to\nhelp the goodwill of man to fulfil it in deed. For though man have a\ngood will to do the good, through grace before stirring the good will,\nyet can he not do indeed without GOD'S grace following and helping: and\nthis the Apostle affirms of himself when he says; \"But not I, but the\ngrace of GOD in me\"; that is, \"the good which I do is naught, but GOD'S\ngrace does it with me\"; as if he had said, \"I can do no good, unless\nGOD'S grace help me.\" GOD'S will is also a handmaiden to grace, to work\nall her will. GOD'S grace, wherever it be, will not be useless, but ever\nworking and growing more and more, to increase thy reward. Therefore do\nwe as the Apostle counsels us, \"We exhort you, brethren, that ye receive\nnot the grace of GOD in vain\"; that is, \"I pray you and bid you, my\nbrothers in GOD, that ye receive not GOD'S grace in vain.\" He receives\nGOD'S grace in vain, that enjoys it not in good, when GOD sends it to\nhim; and therefore perhaps, he shall never after win thereto. Isidore\ntells of a little fly that is called _Saura_, and this fly betokens\ngrace stirring beforehand. This kind of fly is said to be the enemy of\nall venomous worms, so that when he sees any worm (going) toward man to\nsting him when he sleeps in the wilderness; he flies before to the man,\nand lights upon his face, and bites him a little; and therethrough he\nwakes before the beast comes to sting him. By this _Saura_ is understood\ngrace that GOD sends to man against the temptations of the fiend, who\noften stings venomously: it cries unto thee, as the Apostle says;\n\"Awake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall\ngive thee light.\" But the unthankful act against this grace, and ruin\nit: as Virgil did with this little fly that saved him from death. He lay\nasleep, and an adder came toward him: but this fly Saura flew before,\nand lighted on his forehead, and pricked him a little, and therewith he\nwakened; also the adder came; but this Virgil, in his waking, felt his\nforehead smart, and smote himself on the face; and so he slew the fly,\nand so repaid him for his service, who saved his life. Therefore do thou\nnot ruin GOD'S grace when it comes to thee, to warn thee of harm and\nstir thee to good. Glad ought man to be of GOD'S grace, when GOD sends\nit to him, and to take care full warily of so rich a gift: for grace is\nearnest-money of that lasting joy which is to come, as the Apostle says:\n\"the grace of GOD is eternal life\"; that is, \"GOD'S grace is like a help\nand way to everlasting life.\" Therefore, He sets grace before us as the\nway that leads to everlasting joy: and also a pledge, if we keep it\nwell, to make in us certainty of endless joy; as the Apostle says, \"Who\ngave us His Spirit as a pledge in our bodies,\" that is \"GOD has given us\nthe Holy Ghost as pledge of endless joy.\" Hold we then this heavenly\npledge; and enjoy we it well in work; for it is well for us in this\nlife, if GOD'S grace lead us; and when grace leaves us, we fail of that\nwelfare. Therefore, through help of grace let us destroy in ourselves\neverything that is against grace, be it less or more, that our reason\nsays is against GOD'S will, that is, all that is sin, or may stir to\nsin: and let us have repentance in our heart, shrift in mouth, and\nwithstanding, with will never to turn again.\nAn Epistle on Charity.\nOn Charity.\n     _By what tokens thou shalt know if thou lovest thine enemy:\n     and what example thou shalt take from Christ to love him_.\nAnd if thou beest not stirred against the person by anger or fell\noutward cheer, and have no privy hate in thine heart for to despise him,\nor judge him, or for to set him at naught: and the more shame and\nvillany he does to thee in word or in deed, the more pity and compassion\nthou hast of him as thou wouldest have of a man who was out of his mind,\nand thou thinkest thou canst not find in thine heart to hate him, for\nlove is so good in itself, but prayest for him, and helpest him, and\ndesirest his amending, not only with thy mouth as hypocrites do, but\nwith thy affection of love in thine heart, then hast thou perfect\ncharity to thy fellow-Christian. This charity had S. Stephen, perfectly,\nwhen he prayed for them who stoned him to death. This charity, Christ\ncounselled to all who would be His perfect followers, when He said thus:\n\"Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for those who\npersecute and calumniate you.\" And therefore, if thou wilt follow\nChrist, be like Him in power. Learn to love thine enemies, and sinful\nmen, for all those are thy fellow-Christians. Look and bethink thee how\nChrist loved Judas, who was both His bodily enemy and a sinful caitiff:\nhow goodly Christ was to him; how benign; how courteous; how humble to\nhim whom He knew to be damnable; and nevertheless, He chose him for His\nApostle, and sent him to preach with the other Apostles; He gave him\npower to work miracles: He shewed to him the same good cheer in word and\ndeed; also with His precious Body; and preached to him as He did to the\nother Apostles: He condemned him not openly, nor abused, nor despised\nhim, nor ever spake evil of him: and yet even though He had done all\nthat, He would but have said the truth! And above all, when Judas took\nHim, He kissed him and called him His friend. All this charity, Christ\nshewed to Judas whom He knew to be damnable. In no manner of feigning or\nflattering, but in soothfastness of good love and clean charity. For\nthough it were truth that Judas was unworthy to have any gift of GOD, or\nany sign of love, because of his wickedness; nevertheless, it was worthy\nand reasonable that our Lord should appear as He is.\nHe is love and goodness, and therefore it belongs to Him to shew love\nand goodness to all His creatures, as He did to Judas. Follow after,\nsomewhat if thou canst; for though thou beest shut in a house with thy\nbody, nevertheless in thine heart, where the place of love is, thou\nshalt be able to have part of such a love to thy fellow Christians as I\nspeak of. Whoso deems himself to be a perfect follower of JESUS Christ's\nteaching and living, as some men deem that they be, inasmuch as one\nteaches and preaches, and is poor in worldly goods as Christ was, and\ncannot follow Christ in His love and charity, to love his\nfellow-Christians, every man, good and ill, friends and foes, without\nfeigning, flattering, despising in heart, angriness and melancholious\nreproving, soothly, he beguiles himself: the dearer he deems himself to\nbe, the further he is. For Christ said to those who would be His\nfollowers, thus: \"This is My commandment, that ye love mutually as I\nhave loved you.\"\n\"This is My bidding, that ye love together as I love you, for if ye love\nas I loved, then are ye My disciples.\" He that is meek soothfastly, or\nwould be meek, can love his fellow-Christians: and none save he.\nContrition.\nRichard Hermit rehearses a ... tale of perfect contrition that the same\nclerk Cesarius tells. He tells that a scholar at Paris had done full\nmany sins of which he was ashamed to shrive him. At the last, great\nsorrow of heart overcame his shame, and when he was ready to shrive him\nto the Prior of the Abbey of S. Victor, so great contrition was in his\nheart, sighing in his breast, sobbing in his throat that he could not\nbring one word forth. Then the Prior said to him, \"Go and write thy\nsins.\" He did so and came again to the Prior, and gave him what he had\nwritten, for still he could not shrive himself with his mouth. The Prior\nsaw the sins were so great, that with the scholar's leave, he shewed\nthem to the Abbot to have his counsel. The Abbot took the writing\nwherein they were written, and looked thereon. He found nothing written,\nand said to the Prior, \"What can here be read where naught is written?\"\nThen saw the Prior and wondered greatly, and said \"Wit ye that his sins\nwere here written, and I read them: but now I see that GOD has seen his\ncontrition and has forgiven him all his sins.\" This the Abbot and the\nPrior told the scholar, and he, with great Joy, thanked GOD.\nScraps from the Arundel MS.\n    Sinful man look up and see, how\n        ruefully I hung on rood;\n    And of my penance have pity with sorrowful\n        heart and dreary mood:\n    All this, man, I suffered for thee: My flesh\n        was riven, all spilt My blood;\n    Lift up thine heart, call thou on Me, forsake\n        thy sin: have mercy, GOD.\n    Think oft with sore heart of thy foul sins,\n    Think oft of hell-woe, of heaven-kingdom's\n    Think of thine own death, of GOD'S death\n    The grim doom of Doom's-day have thou oft\n    Think how false is this world, and what its\n        reward,\n    Think what, for His good death, thou owest\n        thy Lord.\nRICHARD ROLLE.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[9] Wins = joys.\n  | Page 16: The speech that starts on this page with            |\n  | \"Thou wot'st....\" has no closing quotes (_sic_)              |\n  | Page 59: The speech that starts on this page with \"For       |\n  | not many....\" has no closing quotes (_sic_)                  |\n  | Page 115: Closing quotes following \"idle speech\" removed.    |\n  | Page 124: The speech that starts on this page with \"Why      |\n  | lieth this blood....\" has no closing quotes (_sic_)          |\n  | Page 141: Closing quote added after \"... serve GOD           |\n  | Page 155: The speech that starts on this page with \"to tell  |\n  | thereof....\" has no closing quotes (_sic_)                   |\n  | Page 177: Single closing quote following \"wretch\" amended    |\n  | Unless noted above, punctuation has been retained as it is   |\n  | in the original book. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation  |", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises\n"}
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