the second; and the turrets of the flower-de-luce, raised up above
the head, those are the third. By gold, wisdom; by the precious
stones, discretion; and by the turrets of the flower-de-luce I
understand the perfection of virtue. Gold environeth the head, and
by wisdom we govern our ghostly work on every side; precious stones
giveth light in beholding of men, and by discretion we teach and
counsel our brethren; the turrets of the flower-de-luce giveth two
side branches spreading one to the right side and another to the
left, and one even up above the head, and by perfection of virtues
(the which is charity) we give two side branches of love, the which
are spreading, one to the right side to our friends, and one to the
left side to our enemies, and one even up unto God, above man's
understanding, the which is the head of the soul. This is the crown
of life the which by grace may be gotten here in this life; and,
therefore, bear thee low in thy battle, and suffer meekly thy
temptations till thou have been proved. For then shalt thou take
either the one crown, or the other, or both, this here, and the
other there; for who so hath this here, he may be full siker of the
other there; and full many there are that are full graciously proved
here, and yet come never to this that may be had here in this life.
The which (if they meekly continue and patiently abide the will of
our Lord) shall full worthily and abundantly receive the other
there, in the high bliss of heaven. Thee thinketh this crown fair
that may be had here; yea, bear thee as meekly as thou mayst by
grace, for in comparison of the other there, it is but as one noble
to a world full of gold. All this I say to give thee comfort and
evidence of strength in thy ghostly battle, the which thou hast
taken on hand in the trust of our Lord, and all this I say to let
thee see how far thou art yet from the true knowing of thine inward
disposition, and thereafter to give thee warning, not over soon to
give stead[242] nor to follow the singular stirrings of thy young
heart, for dread of deceit.
All this I say for to show unto thee my conceit that I have of thee
and of thy stirrings, as thou hast asked of me; for I conceive of
thee that thou art full able and full greatly disposed to such
sudden stirrings of singular doings,[243] and full fast to cleave
unto them when they be received; and that is full perilous. I say
not that this ableness and this greedy disposition in thee, or in
any other that is disposed as thou art, though all it be perilous,
that it is therefore evil in itself; nay, so say I not, God forbid
that thou take it so; but I say that it is full good in itself, and
a full great ableness to full great perfection, yea, and to the
greatest perfection that may be in this life; I mean, if that a soul
that is so disposed will busily, night and day, meek it[244] to God
and to good counsel, and strongly rise and martyr itself, with
casting down of the own wit and the own will in all such sudden and
singular stirrings, and say sharply that it will not follow such
stirrings, seem they never so liking,[245] so high nor so holy, but
if it have thereto the witness[246] and the consents of some ghostly
teachers--I mean such as have been of long time expert in singular
living. Such a soul, for ghostly continuance thus in this meekness,
may deserve, through grace and the experience of this ghostly battle
thus with itself, for to take the crown of life touched before. And
as great an ableness to good as is this manner of disposition in a
soul that is thus meeked as I say, as perilous it is in another
soul, such one that will suddenly, without advisement of counsel,
follow the stirrings of the greedy heart, by the own wit and the own
will; and therefore, for God's love, beware with this ableness and
with this manner of disposition (that I speak of), if it be in thee
as I say. And meek thee continually to prayer and to counsel. Break
down thine own wit and thy will in all such sudden and singular
stirrings, and follow them not over lightly, till thou wete whence
they come, and whether they be according for thee or not.
And as touching these stirrings of the which thou askest my conceit
and my counsel, I say to thee that I conceive of them suspiciously,
that is, that[247] they should be conceived on the ape's manner. Men
say commonly that the ape doth as he seeth others do; forgive me if
I err in my suspicion, I pray thee. Nevertheless, the love that I
have to thy soul stirreth me by evidence that I have of a ghostly
brother of thine and of mine, touched with those same stirrings of
full great[248] silence, of full singular fasting, and of full only
woning, on ape's manner, as he granted unto me after long communing
with me, and when he had proved himself and his stirrings. For, as
he said, he had seen a man in your country, the which man, as it is
well known, is evermore in great silence, in singular fasting, and
in only dwelling; and certes, as I suppose fully, they are full true
stirrings those that that man hath, caused all only of grace, that
he feeleth by experience within, and not of any sight or heard say
that he hath of any other man's silence without-the which cause if
it were, it should be cleped apely, as I say in my simple meaning.
And therefore beware, and prove well thy stirrings, and whence they
come; for how so thou art stirred, whether from within by grace, or
from without on ape's manner, God wote, and I not. Nevertheless this
may I say thee in eschewing of perils like unto this: look that thou
be no ape, that is to say, look that thy stirrings to silence or to
speaking, to fasting or to eating, to onliness or to company,
whether they be come from within of abundance of love and of
devotion in the spirit and not from without by the windows of thy
bodily wits, as thine ears, and thine eyes. For, as Jeremiah saith
plainly, by such windows cometh in death: Mors intrat per
fenestras.249 And this sufficeth, as little as it is, for answer to
the first, where thou askest of me, what is my conceit of thee, and
of these stirrings that thou speakest of to me in thy letter.
And touching the second thing, where thou askest of me my counsel in
this case, and in such other when they fall, I beseech almighty Jesu
(as He is cleped the angel of great counsel) that He of His mercy be
thy counsellor and thy comforter in all thy noye and thy nede, and
order me with His wisdom to fulfil in party by my teaching, so
simple as it is, the trust of thine heart, the which thou hast unto
me before many others--a simple lewd[250] wretch as I am, unworthy
to teach thee or any other, for littleness of grace and for lacking
of conning. Nevertheless, though I be lewd, yet shall I somewhat
say, answering to thy desire at my simple conning, with a trust in
God that His grace shall be learner and leader when conning of kind
and of clergy defaileth.[251] Thou wotest right well thyself that
silence in itself nor speaking, also singular fasting nor common
dieting, onliness nor company, all these nor yet any of them be not
the true end of our desire; but to some men (and not to all) they
are means helping to the end, if they be done lawfully and with
discretion, and else are they more letting than furthering. And
therefore plainly[252] to speak, nor plainly to be still, plainly to
eat, nor plainly to fast, plainly to be in company, or plainly to be
only, think I not to counsel thee at this time; for why, perfection
standeth not in them. But this counsel may I give thee generally, to
hold thee by in these stirrings, and in all other like unto these;
evermore where thou findest two contraries, as are these--silence
and speaking, fasting and eating, onliness and company, common
clothing of Christian religion and singular habits of divers and
devised brotherhoods, with all such other what so they be, the which
in themself are but works of kind[253] and of men. For thou hast it
by kind and by statute of thine outer man now for to speak and now
for to be still, now for to eat and now for to fast, now for to be
in company and now to be only, now to be common in clothing and now
to be in singular habit, ever when thee list, and when thou
seest[254] that any of them should be speedful and helply to thee in
nourishing of the heavenly grace working within in thy soul; but if
it be so (which God forbid), that thou or any other be so lewd and
so blinded in the sorrowful temptations of the midday devil, that ye
bind you by any crooked avow to any such singularities, as it were
under colour of holiness feigned under such an holy thraldom,[255]
in full and final destroying of the freedom of Christ, the which is
the ghostly habit of the sovereign holiness that may be in this
life, or in the other, by the witness of saint Paul saying thus: Ubi
spiritus Domini, ibi libertas: "There where the spirit of God is,
there is freedom."[256] And thereto when thou seest that all such
works in their use may be both good and evil; I pray thee leave them
both, for that is the most ease for thee for to do, if thou wilt be
meek, and leave the curious beholding and seeking in thy wits to
look whether is better. But do thou thus: set the one on the one
hand, and the other on the other, and choose thee a thing the which
is hid between them; the which thing, when it is had, giveth thee
leave in freedom of spirit to begin and to cease in holding any of
the others at thine own full list, without any blame.
But now thou askest me, what is that thing. I shall tell thee what I
mean that it is: It is God; for whom thou shouldest be still, if
thou shouldest be still; and for whom thou shouldest speak if thou
shouldest speak; and for whom thou shouldest fast, if thou shouldest
fast; and for whom thou shouldest eat, if thou shouldest eat; and
for whom thou shouldest be only, if thou shouldest be only; and for
whom thou shouldest be in company, if thou shouldest be in company.
And so forth of all the remenant, what so they be. For silence is
not God, nor speaking is not God; fasting is not God, nor eating is
not God; onliness is not God, nor company is not God; nor yet any of
all the other such two contraries. He is hid between them, and may
not be found by any work of thy soul, but all only by love of thine
heart. He may not be known by reason, He may not be gotten by
thought, nor concluded by understanding; but He may be loved and
chosen with the true lovely will of thine heart.[257] Choose thee
Him, and thou art silently speaking, and speakingly silent,
fastingly eating, and eatingly fasting, and so forth of all the
remenant. Such a lovely choosing of God, thus wisely lesinge[258]
and seeking Him out with the true will of a clean heart, between all
such two leaving them both, when they come and proffer them to be
the point and the prick of our ghostly beholding, is the worthiest
tracing and seeking of God that may be gotten or learned in this
life. I mean for a soul that will be contemplative; yea, though all
that a soul that thus seeketh see nothing that may be conceived with
the ghostly eye of reason; for if God be thy love and thy meaning,
the choice and the point of thine heart, it sufficeth to thee in
this life (though all thou see never more of Him with the eyes of
thy reason all thy life time). Such a blind shot with the sharp dart
of longing love may never fail of the prick, the which is God, as
Himself saith in the book of love, where He speaketh to a
languishing soul and a loving, saying thus: Vulnerasti cor meum,
soror mea, amica mea, et sponsa mea, vulnerasti cor meum, in uno
oculorum tuorum: "Thou hast wounded mine heart, my sister, my leman,
and my spouse, thou hast wounded mine heart in one of thine
eyes."[259] Eyes of the soul they are two: Reason and Love. By
reason we may trace how mighty, how wise, and how good He is in His
creatures, but not in Himself; but ever when reason defaileth, then
list, love, live and learn, to play,[260] for by love we may feel
Him, find Him, and hit Him, even in Himself. It is a wonderful eye,
this love, for of a loving soul it is only said of our Lord: "Thou
hast wounded mine heart in one of thine eyes"; that is to say, in
love that is blind to many things, and seeth but that one thing that
it seeketh, and therefore it findeth and feeleth, hitteth and
woundeth the point and the prick that it shooteth at, well sooner
than it should if the sight were sundry in beholding of many things,
as it is when the reason ransacketh and seeketh among all such
sere[261] things as are these: silence and speaking, singular
fasting and common eating, onliness or company, and all such other;
to look whether is better.
Let be this manner of doing, I pray thee, and let as thou wist not
that there were any such means (I mean ordained for to get God by);
for truly no more there is, if thou wilt be very contemplative and
soon sped of thy purpose. And, therefore, I pray thee and other like
unto thee, with the Apostle saying thus: Videte vocationem vestram,
et in ea vocatione qua vocati estis state:262 "See your calling,
and, in that calling that ye be called, stand stiffly and abide in
the name of Jesu." Thy calling is to be very contemplative,
ensampled by Mary Magdalene. Do then as Mary did, set the point of
thine heart upon one thing: Porro unum est necessarium: "For one
thing is necessary,"[263] the which is God. Him wouldest thou have,
Him seekest thou, Him list thee to love, Him list thee to feel,[264]
Him list thee hold thee by, and neither by silence nor by speaking,
by singular fasting nor by common eating, by onliness nor by
companious woning, by hard wearing nor by easy; for sometime silence
is good, but that same time speaking were better; and againward
sometime speaking is good, but that same time silence were better;
and so forth of all the remenant, as is fasting, eating, onliness,
and company; for sometime the one is good, but the other is better,
but neither of them is at any time the best. And, therefore, let be
good all that is good, and better all that is better,[265] for both
they will defail and have an end; and choose thee the best with
Mary, thy mirror, that never will defail: Maria (inquit optimam)
optimam partem elegit, quae non auferetur ab ea.266 The best is
almighty Jesu, and He said that Mary, in ensample of all
contemplatives, had chosen the best, the which should never be taken
from her; and therefore, I pray thee, with Mary leave the good and
the better, and choose thee the best.
Let them be, all such things as are these: silence and speaking,
fasting and eating, onliness and company, and all such other, and
take no keep to them; thou wotest not what they mean, and, I pray
thee, covet not to wit; and if thou shall at any time think or speak
of them, think then and say that they are so high and so worthy
things of perfection, for to conne[267] speak, or for to conne be
still, for to conne fast, and for to conne eat, for to conne be
only, and to conne be in company, that it were but a folly and a
foul presumption to such a frail wretch as thou art, for to meddle
thee of so great perfection. For why, for to speak, and for to be
still, for to eat, and for to fast, for to be only, and for to be in
company, ever when we will, may we have by kind; but for to conne do
all these, we may not but by grace. And, without doubt, such grace
is never gotten by any mean of such strait silence, of such singular
fasting, or of such only dwelling that thou speakest of, the which
is caused from without by occasion of hearing and of seeing of any
other man's such singular doings. But if ever this grace shall be
gotten, it behoveth to be learned of God from within, unto whom thou
hast listily leaned many a day before with all the love of thine
heart, utterly voiding from thy ghostly beholding[268] all manner of
sight of any thing beneath Him; though all that some of those things
that I bid thee thus void, should seem in the sight of some men a
full worthy mean to get God by. Yea, say what men say will, but do
thou as I say thee, and let the proof witness. For to him that will
be soon sped of his purpose ghostly, it sufficeth to him for a mean,
and him needeth no more, but the actual mind of good God only, with
a reverent stirring of lasting love; so that mean unto God gettest
thou none but God. If thou keep whole thy stirring of love that thou
mayst feel by grace in thine heart, and scatter not thy ghostly
beholding therefrom then that same that thou feelest shall well
conne[269] tell thee when thou shalt speak and when thou shalt be
still, and it shall govern thee discreetly in all thy living without
any error, and teach thee mistily[270] how thou shalt begin and
cease in all such doing of kind with a great and sovereign
discretion. For if thou mayst by grace keep it in custom and in
continual working, then, if it be needful or speedful to thee for to
speak, for to commonly eat, or for to bide in company, or for to do
any such other thing that longeth to the common true custom of
Christian men, and of kind, it shall first stir thee full softly to
speak or to do that other common thing of kind, what so it be. And
then, if thou do it not, it shall strike as sore as a prick on thine
heart and pain thee full sore, and let thee have no peace[271] but
if thou do it. And, on the same manner, if thou be in speaking, or
in any such other work that is common to the course of kind, if it
be needful and speedful to thee to be still, and for to set thee to
the contrary, as is onliness to company, fasting to eating, and all
such other the which are works of singular holiness, it will stir
thee to them; so that thus, by experience of such a blind stirring
of love unto God, a contemplative soul cometh sooner to that grace
of discretion for to conne speak, and for to conne be still, for to
conne eat, and for to conne fast, for to conne be in company, and
for to conne be only,[272] and all such other, than by any such
singularities as thou speakest of, taken by the stirrings of man's
own wit and his will within in himself, or yet by the ensample of
any other man's doing without, what so it be. For why, such strained
doings under the stirrings of kind, without touching[273] of grace,
is a passing pain without any profit; but if it be to them that are
religious, or that have them by enjoining of penance, where profit
riseth only because of obedience, and not by any such straitness of
doing without; the which is painful to all that it proveth. But
lovely and listily to will to love[274] God is great and passing
ease, true ghostly peace, and earnest of the endless rest. And,
therefore, speak when thee list, and leave when thee list, eat when
thee list, and fast when thee list, be in company when thee list,
and be by thyself when thee list, so that[275] God and grace be thy
leader. Let fast who fast will, and be only who will, and let hold
silence who so will, but hold thee by God that doth beguile no man;
for silence and speaking, onliness and company, fasting and eating,
all may beguile thee. And if thou hear of any man that speaketh, or
of any that is still, of any that eateth or of any that fasteth, or
of any that is in company or else by himself, think thou, and say,
if thee list, that they conne do as they should do, but if the
contrary shew in apert.[276] But look that thou do not as they do (I
mean for that they do so) on ape's manner; for neither thou canst,
nor peradventure thou art not disposed as they are. And, therefore,
leave to work after other men's dispositions and work after thine
own, if thou mayst know what it is. And unto the time that thou
mayst know what it is, work after those men's counsel that know
their own disposition, but not after their disposition;[277] for
such men should give counsel in such cases, and else none. And this
sufficeth for an answer to all thy letter, as me thinketh; the grace
of God be ever more with thee, in the name of Jesu. AMEN.
FINIT EPISTOLA
VII.
HERE FOLLOWETH A DEVOUT TREATISE OF DISCERNING OF SPIRITS, VERY
NECESSARY FOR GHOSTLY LIVERS
FOR because that there be divers kinds of spirits, therefore it is
needful to us discreet knowing of them; sith it so is that we be
taught of the apostle saint John not to believe to all spirits.[278]
For it might seem to some that are but little in conning, and namely
of ghostly things, that each thought that soundeth in man's heart
should be the speech of none other spirit but only of man's own
spirit. And that it is not so, both belief and witness of holy
scripture proveth apertly; for "I shall hear," saith the prophet
David, "not what I speak myself, but what my Lord God speaketh in
me";[279] and another prophet saith, that an angel spake in
him.[280] And also we be taught in the psalm that the wicked spirits
sendeth evil thoughts in to men; and over this, that there is a
spirit of the flesh not good, the apostle Paul sheweth apertly,
where he saith, that some men are full blown or inflate with the
spirit of their flesh.[281] And also that there is the spirit of the
world, he declareth plainly, where he maketh joy in God, not only
for himself, but also for his disciples, that they had not taken
that spirit of the world, but that that is sent of God, the which is
the Holy Ghost.[282] And these two spirits of the flesh and also of
the world are, as it were, servants or sergeants of that cursed
spirit, the foul fiend of hell; so that the spirit of wickedness is
lord of the spirit of the flesh, and also of the spirit of the
world. And which of these three spirits that speaketh to our spirit,
we should not believe them. For why, they speak never but that anon,
by their speaking, they lead to the loss both of body and of soul.
And which spirit it is that speaketh to our spirit, the speech of
that same spirit that speaketh shall fully declare; for ever more
the spirit of the flesh speaketh soft things and easy to the body;
the spirit of the world vain things and covetise[283] of worship;
and the spirit of malice of the fiend speaketh fell things and
bitter.
Wherefore, as oft times as any thought smiteth on our hearts of
meat, of drink, and of sleep, of soft clothing, of lechery, and of
all other such things the which longeth to the business of the
flesh, and maketh our heart for to brenne[284] as it were in a
longing desire after all such things; be we full siker that it is
the spirit of the flesh that speaketh it. And therefore put we him
away, in as much as we goodly may by grace, for he is our adversary.
As oft times as any thought smiteth on our hearts of vain joy of
this world, kindling in us a desire to be holden fair, and to be
favoured, to be holden of great kin and of great conning, to be
holden wise and worthy, or else to have great degree and high office
in this life--such thoughts and all other the which would make a man
to seem high and worshipful, not only in the sight of others, but
also in the sight of himself--no doubt but it is the spirit of the
world that speaketh all these, a far more perilous enemy than is the
spirit of the flesh, and with much more business he should be put
off. And oft times it befalleth that these two servants and
sergeants of the foul fiend, the spirit and prince of wrath[285] and
of wickedness, are either by grace and by ghostly slight of a soul
stiffly put down and trodden down under foot; or else, by
quaintise[286] of their malicious master, the foul fiend of hell,
they are quaintly withdrawn, for he thinketh himself for to rise
with great malice and wrath, as a lion running felly to assail the
sickness of our sely souls; and this befalleth as oft as the thought
of our heart stirreth us, not to the lust of our flesh, nor yet to
the vain joy of this world, but it stirreth us to murmuring, to
grutching,[287] to grievance, and to bitterness of soul, to pain and
to impatience, to wrath, to melancholy, and to evil will, to hate,
to envy, and to all such sorrows. It maketh us to bear us heavily,
if ought be done or said unto us, not so lovely, nor so wisely[288]
as we would it were; it raiseth in us all evil suspicion, if ought
be shewed in sign, in countenance, in word, or in work, that might
by any manner be turned to malice or to heaviness of heart; it
maketh us as fast[289] to take it to us.