and restfulness of heart, we should none otherwise againstand,[290]
but as we would the self fiend of hell, and as much we should flee
therefrom as from the loss of our soul. No doubt but both the other
two thoughts, of the spirit of the flesh and also of the spirit of
the world, work and travail in all that they can to the loss of our
soul, but most perilously the spirit of malice; for why, he is by
himself, but they not without him. For if a man's soul be never so
clean of fleshly lust, and of vain joy of this world, and if it be
defouled with this spirit of malice, of wrath, and of wickedness,
not againstanding all the other cleanness before, yet it is losable.
And if a soul be never so much defouled with the lust of the flesh,
and vain joy of the world, and it may by grace keep it in peace and
in restfulness of heart unto the even Christian,[291] though all it
be full hard for to do (lasting the custom of the other two),[292]
yet it is less losable, not againstanding all the other filth of the
flesh and of the world touched before. And, therefore, though all
that our lusty[293] thoughts of our flesh be evil, for they reave
from the soul the life of devotion, and though all that the vain joy
of the world be worse, for it reaveth us from the true joy that we
should have in contemplation of heavenly things, ministered and
taught to us by the angels of heaven. For who so lustily desireth to
be worshipped, favoured, and served of men here in earth, they
deserve to forego the worship, the favour, and service of angel in
ghostly contemplation of heaven and of heavenly things, all their
lifetime; the which contemplation is better and more worthy in
itself than is the lust and the liking of devotion. And for this
bitterness I clepe the spirit of malice, of wrath, and of wickedness
the worst spirit of them all; and why? Certes, for it reaveth us the
best thing of all, and that is charity, the which is God. For who so
lacketh peace and restfulness of heart, him lacketh the lively
presence of the lovely sight of the high peace of heaven, good
gracious God His own dear self. This witnesseth David in the psalm,
where he saith, that the place of God is made in peace, and His
dwelling place in Sion.[294] Sion is as much to say as the sight of
peace; the sight of the soul is the thought of that same soul; and,
certes, in that soul that most is occupied in thoughts of peace hath
God made His dwelling place.[295] And thus saith Himself by the
prophet, when he saith: "Upon whom shall my spirit rest, but upon
the meek and the restful."[296] And, therefore, who so will have God
continually dwelling in him, and live in love and in sight of the
high peace of the Godhead, the which is the highest and the best
party of contemplation that may be had in this life, be he busy
night and day to put down, when they come, the spirit of the flesh
and the spirit of the world, but most busily the spirit of malice,
of wrath, and of wickedness, for he is the foulest and the worst
filth[297] of all. And it is full needful and speedful to know his
quaintise, and not for to unknow his doleful deceits. For sometime
he will, that wicked cursed wight, change his likeness in to an
angel of light, that he may under colour of virtue do more
dere;[298] but yet then, if we look more redely,[299] it is but seed
of bitterness and of discord that that he sheweth, seem it never so
holy nor never so fair at the first shewing. Full many he stirreth
unto singular holiness passing the common statute and custom of
their degree, as is fasting, sharp wearing, and many other devout
observances and outward doings, in open reproving of other men's
defaults, the which they have not of office for to do. All such and
many other he stirreth them for to do, and all under colour of
devotion and of charity; not for he is delighted in any deed of
devotion and of charity, but for he loveth dissension and slander,
the which is evermore caused by such unseemly singularities; for
where so ever that any one or two are in any devout congregation,
the which any one or two useth any such outward singularities, then
in the sight of fools all the remenant are slandered by them; but,
in the sight of the wise man, they slander themselves. But for
because that fools are more than wise men, therefore for favour of
fools such singular doers ween that they be wise, when (if it were
wisely determined) they and all their fautors[300] should be seen
apert fools, and darts shot of the devil, to slay true simple souls
under colour of holiness and charity. And thus many deceits can the
fiend bring in on this manner.
Who so will not consent, but meeketh him truly to prayer and to
counsel, shall graciously be delivered of all these deceits.[301]
But it is sorrow for to say, and more for to feel, that
sometime[302] our own spirit is so overcome peradventure with each
of these three spirits, of the flesh, of the world, and of the
fiend, and so brought into danger, bounden in bondage, in thraldom
and in service of them all, that sorrow it is to wit. In great
confusion and loss of itself, it doth now the office of each one of
them itself in itself. And this befalleth when, after long use, and
customable consenting unto them when they come, at the last it is
made so fleshly, so worldly, and so malicious, so wicked, and so
froward, that now plainly of itself, without suggestion of any other
spirit, it gendereth and bringeth forth in itself, not only lusty
thoughts of the flesh, and vain thoughts of the world, but that
worst of all these, as are bitter thoughts and wicked, in backbiting
and deeming, and evil suspicion of others. And when it is thus with
our spirit, then, I trow, it may not lightly be known when it is our
own spirit that speaketh, or when it heareth any of the other three
spirits speaking in it as it is touched before. But what maketh it
matter[303] who speaketh, when it is all one and the same thing that
is spoken? What helpeth to know the person of him that speaketh,
when it is siker and certain that all is evil and perilous that is
spoken? If it be thine enemy, consent not to him, but meek thee to
prayer and to counsel, and so mayst thou mightily withstand thine
enemy. If it be thine own spirit, reprove him bitterly, and
sighingly sorrow that ever thou fell in[304] so great wretchedness,
bondage, and thraldom of the devil. Shrive thee of thy customed
consents, and of thine old sins, and so mayst thou come (by grace)
to recover thy freedom again; and by the gracious freedom mayst thou
soon come to, wisely for to know, and soothfastly for to feel by the
proof, when it is thine own spirit that speaketh these evils, or it
be these other evil spirits that speaketh them in thee. And so may
this knowing be a sovereign mean and help of againstanding, for
often times unknowing is cause of much error, and, againward,
knowing is cause of much truth; and to this manner of knowing mayst
thou win thus as I say to thee.
If thou be in doubt or in were[305] of these evil thoughts when they
come, whether that they be the speech of thine own spirit, or of any
of the others of thine enemies; look then busily by the witness of
thy counsel and thy conscience, if thou have been shriven and
lawfully amended after the doom[306] of thy confessor, of all the
consents that ever thou consented to that kind of sin, that thy
thought is aware of. And if thou have not been shriven shrive thee
then, as truly as thou mayst, by grace and by counsel; and then wete
thou right well that all the thoughts that come to thee after thy
shrift, stirring thee oft times to the same sins, they are the words
of other spirits than thine own (I mean some of the three touched
before). And thou for none such thoughts, be they never so thick, so
foul, nor so many (I mean for their first coming in), but if it be
for recklessness of againstanding,[307] art no blame worthy. And not
only releasing of purgatory that thou hast deserved for the same
sins done before, what so they be, thou mayst deserve, if thou
stiffly againstand them, but also much grace in this life, and much
meed in the bliss of heaven. But all those evil thoughts coming in
to thee, stirring thee to any sin, after that thou hast consented to
that same sin, and before that thou hast sorrow for that consent,
and art in will to be shriven thereof, it is no peril to thee to
take them to thyself,[308] and for to shrive thee of them, as of
thoughts of thine own spirit; but for to take to thyself all other
thoughts, the which thou hast by very proof, as it is shewed before,
by the speeches of other spirits than of thyself, therein lieth
great peril, for so mightest thou lightly misrule thy conscience,
charging a thing for sin the which is none; and this were great
error, and a mean to the greatest peril. For if it were so that each
evil thought and stirring to sin were the work and the speech of
none other spirit, but only of man's own spirit; then it would
follow by that that a man's own spirit were a very fiend, the which
is apertly false and a damnable woodness;[309] for though all it be
so that a soul may, by frailty and custom of sinning, fall in to so
much wretchedness, that it taketh on itself by bondage of sin the
office of the devil, stirring itself to sin ever more and more,
without any suggestion of any other spirit (as it is said before),
yet it is not therefore a devil in kind, but it is a devil in
office, and may be cleped devilish, for it is in the doing like to
the devil, [that is to say, a stirrer of itself unto sin, the which
is the office of the devil].[310] Nevertheless yet, for all this
thraldom to sin and devilishness in office, it may by grace of
contrition, of shrift, and of amending, recover the freedom again,
and be made saveable--yea, and a full special God's saint in this
life, that before was full damnable and full cursed in the
living.[311] And, therefore, as great a peril as it is a soul that
is fallen in sin, not for to charge his conscience therewith, nor
for to amend him thereof, as great a peril it is, and, if it may be
said, a greater, a man for to charge his conscience with each
thought and stirring of sin that will come in him; for, by such nice
charging of conscience, might he lightly run in to error of
conscience, and so be led in to despair all his life time. And the
cause of all this is lacking of knowing of discretion of spirits,
the which knowing may be gotten by very experience; who so redely
will look soon after that a soul have been truly cleansed by
confession as it is said before. For fast after confession a soul
is, as it were, a clean paper leaf, for ableness that it hath to
receive what that men will write thereupon. Both they do press[312]
for to write on the soul, when it is clean in itself made by
confession: God and His angel on the one party, and the fiend and
his angel on the other party; but it is in the free choice of the
soul to receive which that it will. The receipt of the soul is the
consent of the same soul. A new thought and a stirring to any sin,
the which thou hast forsaken before in thy shrift, what is it else
but the speech of one of the three spirits the which are thine
enemies (touched before), proffering to write on thy soul the same
sin again? The speech of thyself, is it not; for why, there is no
such thing written in thy soul, for all it is wasted away before in
thy shrift, and thy soul left naked and bare; nothing left
thereupon, but a frail and a free consent, more inclining to the
evil, for custom therein, than it is to the good, but more able to
the good than to the evil, for cleanness of the soul and virtue of
the sacrament of shrift; but, of itself, it hath nought then, where
through it may think or stir itself to good or to evil; and,
therefore, it followeth that what thought that cometh then in it,
whether that it be good or evil, it is not of itself, but the
consent to the good or to the evil, whether that it be, that is ever
more the work of the same soul.
And all after the worthiness and the wretchedness of this consent,
thereafter it deserveth pain or bliss. If this consent be to evil,
then as fast it hath, by cumbrance of sin, the office of that same
spirit that first made him suggestion of that same sin; and if it be
to the good, then as fast it hath, by grace, the office of that same
spirit that first made him stirring[313] to that same good. For as
oft as any healful thought cometh in our mind, as of chastity, of
soberness, of despising of the world, of wilful poverty, of
patience, of meekness, and of charity, without doubt it is the
spirit of God that speaketh, either by Himself or else by some of
His angels--that is to say, either His angels of this life, the
which are true teachers, or else His angels of His bliss, the which
are true stirrers and inspirers of good. And as it is said of the
other three evil spirits, that a soul, for long use and customable
consenting unto them, may be made so fleshly, so worldly, and so
malicious, that it taketh upon it the office of them all; right so
it is againward[314] that a soul, for long use and custom in
goodness, may be made so ghostly by cleanness of living and devotion
of spirit against the spirit of the flesh, and so heavenly against
the spirit of the world, and so godly by peace and by charity, and
by restfulness of heart, against the spirit of malice, of wrath, and
of wickedness, that it hath them now of office all such good
thoughts to think when him list, without forgetting, in as great
perfection as the frailty of this life will suffer. And thus it may
be seen how that each thought that smiteth on our hearts, whether
that it be good or evil, it is not evermore the speech of our own
spirit, but the consent to the thought, what so ever it be, that is
ever of our own spirit. Jesu grant us His grace, to consent to the
good and againstand the evil. Amen.
FINIS. DEO GRATIAS
INDEX OF NAMES & SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
Ancren Riwle, The, xx, 28 n
Aquinas, St. Thomas, xiii, 81, 84 n, 86 n
Asher, symbolism of, 6, 16-19
Augustine, St., xii, 25
Benjamin, symbolism of, xvi, xvii, 6, 29-33
Bernard, St., xii, 81
Bilhah, symbolism of, 4-6, 13-16
Bonaventura, St., xii
Catherine of Siena, St., xi, xvii-xix, xxv-xxvii, 35-47, 52 n, 107 n
Caxton, xviii, xix
Chaucer, 17 n, 52 n, 56 n, 95 n, 120 n
Chauncy, Maurice, xxiv
Dan, symbolism of, 6, 13, 14, 18
Dante, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, 38 n, 88 n, 91 n
Dinah, symbolism of, 6, 25
Dionysius, xxiii, xxiv
Divine Cloud of Unknowing, The, Author of, xii, xvii, xxiv, xxv,
xxvii, 3, 32, 33, 77-132
Eckhart, Meister, xi
Exmew, William, xxiv
Flete, William, xvii, xviii, 52 n
Gad, symbolism of, 6, 16-19
Genesis, 8-11, 14-17, 20, 24, 32
Hawkwood, John, xvii
Hilton (Hylton), Walter, xi, xii, xxii-xxv, 61-73, 104 n, 124 n
Hugel, F. von, 84 n, 86 n
Hugh of St. Victor, xii
Imitatione Christi, De, xxiii n, 65 n
Isaiah, 124
Issachar, symbolism of, 6, 20-24
Jacob, symbolism of, 3-7, 10, 27, 29
Jacopone da Todi, xi
James, Dane, xviii
James, Epistle of, 98, 99
Jeremiah, 103, 104
John, St., Epistles of, 25, 119
Joseph, symbolism of, 6, 27-30
Judah, symbolism of, 6, 10-12
Juliana of Norwich, xi, xxi, 65 n, 123 n
Kempe, Margery, xix-xxi, 49-59
Langland, Piers the Plowman, 79 n, 89 n
Layamons Brut, 28 n
Leah, symbolism of, 3-11, 14, 15-20, 24, 26, 29
Levi, symbolism of, 6, 9, 10
Luke, St., 110
Margery, see Kempe
Matthew, St., 8
Mechthild of Magdeburg, xi
Naphtali, symbolism of, 6, 13-15, 18, 19
Paul, St., Epistles, 21, 40, 41, 88, 97, 106, 109, 119, 120
Pepwell, xiv, xix
Proverbs, 28 n
Psalms, The, xiv, xvi, xxvi, 9, 10, 11, 23, 31, 33, 78, 79, 119, 124
Pynson, xxii
Rachel, symbolism of, 3-6, 12-15, 18, 27, 32
Raymund of Capua, xviii, xix
Reuben, symbolism of, 6, 7-9
Richard of St. Victor, xii-xv, xxii, xxv, xxvi, 3, 4 n, 19 n
Richard Rolle of Hampole, xi, xii, xvi, xvii, xxiii n, xxv, 71 n
Robert of Brunne, Chronicle of, 124 n
Ruysbroeck, Jan, xi
Shelley, xv n
Simeon, symbolism of, 6, 8, 9
Song of Solomon, 88, 108
Suso, Heinrich, xi
Tantucci, Giovanni, xvii
Tyrrell, George, xxi n
Wyclif, 16 n, 79 n, 112 n
Wynkyn de Worde, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, xxvii
Zebulun, symbolism of, 6, 22-25
Zechariah, 119
Zilpah, symbolism of, 4-6, 15-17, 20
Footnotes:
[1] Dante, convivio, i. 12.
[2] Cf. the Letter to Can Grande (Epist. x. 28), where Dante, like
St. Thomas Aquinas before him, refers to the Benjamin Major as
"Richardus de Sancto Victore in libro De Contemplatione."
[3]Par. x. 131, 132.
[4] Ps. lxviii. 27.
[5] Benjamin Minor, cap. 73.
[6] Benjamin Minor, cap. 75. Cf. Shelley, The Triumph of Life: "Their
lore taught them not this: to know themselves." This passage of
Richard is curiously misquoted and its meaning perverted in Haureau,
Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique, i. pp. 513, 514, in the
Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xvi., and elsewhere.
[7] Benjamin Minor, cap. 81.
[8] Cf. below, pp. 32, 33.
[9] Richard Rolle of Hampole and his Followers, edited by C.
Horstman, vol. i. pp. 162-172.
[10] Sene, Senis, or Seenes, "Siena," from the Latin Senae
(Catharina de Senis).
[11] Cf. E. Gordon Duff, Hand-Lists of English Printers, 1501-1556,
i. p. 24.
[12] Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica p. 452.
[13] Quietaclacmium Margerie filie Johannis Kempe de domibus in
parochia de Northgate. Brit. Mus., Add MS. 25,109.
[14] She was, however, apparently less strictly enclosed than was
usual for an ancress.
[15] Cf. G. Tyrrell, Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love shewed to
Mother Juliana of Norwich, Preface, p. v.
[16] In the British Museum copy of Pepwell's volume, ff. 1-2 of the
Epistle of Prayer and f. 1 of the Song of Angels are transposed.
[17] Cf. C. T. Martin, in Dictionary of National Biography, vol. ix.
For Hilton's alleged authorship of the De Imitatione Christi, see J.
E. G. de Montmorency, Thomas a Kempis, his Age and Book, pp.
141-169.
[18] Edited by G. G. Perry, under the title The Anehede of Godd with
mannis saule, as the work of Richard Rolle, in English Prose
Treatises of Richard Rolle de Hampole (Early English Text Society,
1866), pp. 14-19; and, in two texts, by C. Horstman, op. cit., vol.
i. pp. 175-182.
[19] In the MSS. this is called: A pystyll of discrecion in knowenge
of spirites; or: A tretis of discrescyon of spirites.
[20] All in Harl. MS. 674, and other MSS. The Divine Cloud of
Unknowing, and portions of the Epistle, Book, or Treatise, of Privy
Counsel have been printed, in a very unsatisfactory manner, in The
Divine Cloud with notes and a Preface by Father Augustine Baker,
O.S.B. Edited by Henry Collins. London, 1871.
[21] D. M. M'Intyre, The Cloud of Unknowing, in the Expositor,
series vii. vol. 4 (1907). Dr. Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical
Religion, p. 336, regards these treatises as the work of "a school
of mystics gathered about the writer of the Hid Divinity." Neither
of these authors includes the translation of the Benjamin Minor,
which, however, appears to me undoubtedly from the same hand as that
of the Divine Cloud.
[22] Benjamin Minor, cap. 78.
[23] Dialogo cap. 151.
[24] Benjamin Minor, cap. 72.
[25] The MSS. have: "men clepen."
[26] So the MSS., which agrees with the Latin, ordinati affectus
(Benjamin Minor, cap. 3); Pepwell has "ardent feelings."
[27] So Pepwell, which accords with the Latin: cum tante
importunitate. The MSS. read: "unconningly," i.e. ignorantly.
[28] So Harl. MS. 674 and Pepwell; Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman,
reads: "forthe," i.e. offer. The Latin is: "Et Zelphae quidem sitim
dominae suae copia tanta omnino extinguere non potest" (Benjamin
Minor, cap. 6).
[29] The Latin has simply: "vinum quod Zelpha sitit, gaudium est
voluptatis" (ibid.).
[30] Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "in our soul."
[31] Pepwell gives the modern equivalent, "ordinate" and
"inordinate," for "ordained" and "unordained," throughout.
[32] Ps. cxi. 10 (Vulgate cx.).
[33] Pepwell adds: "and high Judge."
[34] Filius visionis.
[35] Gen. xxix. 32 (Vidit Dominus humilitatem meam, Vulgate).
[36] Gen. xxix. 33.
[37] Exauditio.
[38] Matt. v. 4.
[39] Ezek. xxxiii. 14.
[40] Made humble.
[41] Ps. li. 17 (Vulgate l.).
[42] Additus, vel Additio.
[43] Added. Cf. Gen. xxix. 34.
[44] Ps. xciv. 19 (Vulgate xciii.).
[45] Gen. xxix. 34.
[46] Gen. xxix. 35 (Vulgate): Modo confitebor Domino.
[47] Confitens.
[48] Learning.
[49] Ps. cvi. 1, cvii. 1 (cv., cvi., Vulgate).
[50] Pepwell reads: "the true goodness of God."
[51] Pepwell reads: "conning."
[52] Latin Invisibilium: Pepwell has "unseasable."
[53] Pepwell has "feble."
[54] Reasons.
[55] Because.
[56] Judicium (Pepwell adds: "or judgment").
[57] Gen. xlix. 16: "Dan shall judge his people."
[58] Gen. xxx. 6.
[59] Gen. xxx. 8: "Comparavit me Deus cum sorore mea, et invalui"
(Vulgate).
[60] In the Latin, "Comparalio vel conversio."
[61] Gen. xlix. 21: "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly
words" (Nephthali cervus emissus at dams eloquia pulchritudinis,
Vulgate).
[62] Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "full."
[63] Underloute, participle of Underluten (O.E. Underlutan), "to
stoop beneath," or "submit to." Cf. Wycliffe's Bible, Gen. xxxvii.
8: "Whether thow shalt be oure kyng, oither we shal be undirloute to
thi bidding?"
[64] Discomfort.
[65] Dixit: Feliciter. Gen. xxx. 11 (Vulgate).
[66] Felicitas. Harl. MS. 674 adds: "whether thou wilt."
[67] The MSS. have: "selyness."
[68] Gen. xxx. 13 (Vulgate): Hoc pro beatitudine mea.
[69] Beatus.
[70] Natural.
[71] Murmurs, complains. Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale, ed. Skeat
SS 30: "After bakbyting cometh grucching or murmuracion; and somtyme
it springeth of impacience agayns God, and somtyme agayns man.
Agayns God it is, whan a man gruccheth agayn the peynes of helle, or
agayns poverte, or los of catel or agayn reyn or tempest; or elles
gruccheth that shrewes han prosperitee, or elles for that goode men
han adversitee."
[72] Pepwell adds: at the least willingly.
[73] Pepwell reads: "put down."
[74] Watches.
[75] Promises. Latin: fovet promissis.
[76] A curious mistranslation: "Sed Aser hosti suo facile illudit
dum partem quam tuetur, alta patientiae rupe munitam conspicit"
(Benjamin Minor, cap. 33).
[77] Dwelling-place.
[78] Pacified. Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, reads: "the cite of
conscience is made pesebule."
[79] Merces.
[80] So Harl. MS. 674; omitted in Harl, MS. 1022 and by Pepwell.
[81] Gen. xxx. 18.
[82] The MSS. read: "erles."
[83] Gen. xlix, 14: "Issachar asinus fortis accubans interterminos"
(Vulgate).
[84] Rom. vii. 24.
[85] Phil. i. 23.
[86] Ps iv. 5. Harl. MS. 674 has: "Wraththes and willeth not synne,
or thus: Beeth wrothe and synnith not."
[87] Human nature in our fellow-man.
[88] Fellow-Christian. The words in square brackets are omitted in
Harl. MS. 674.
[89] Ps. cxxxix. (Vulgate cxxxviii. ) 21.
[90] Ps. cxix. (Vulgate cxviii.) 104.
[91] Habitaculum fortitudinis.
[92] Gen. xxx. 20.
[93] Assuredly. Pepwell sometimes modernises this word, but not
invariably.
[94] 1 John i. 8.
[95] Cf. St. Augustine's various writings against the Pelagians,
e.g. Epist. clvii. (Opera, ed. Migne, tom. ii. coll. 374 et seq.),
Ad Hilarium.
[96] Deliberate intention.
[97] Warnes in the MSS.
[98] Disposition.
[99] Coaxing, beguiling. Harl. MS. 674 reads: "glosing."
[100] Madness.
[101] In particular. Pepwell has: "surely."
[102] Regret.
[103] Better is art than evil strength. A proverbial expression. Cf.
Layamons Brut, 17210 (ed Madden, ii. p. 297); Ancren Riwle (ed.
Morton), p. 268 (where it is rendered: "Skilful prudence is better
than rude force"). Cf. Prov. xxi. 22.
[104] The MSS. have: "ilke."
[105] Invisibilia.
[106] So Pepwell and Harl. MS. 674. Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman,
reads: "see thiself and the candell."
[107] Pepwell reads: "waking."
[108] Ps. iv. 6-7.
[109] Harl. MS. 674 reads: "light."
[110] Salutary.
[111] Skill.
[112] So Pepwell. Harl. MS. 674 reads: "each desire on desire."
Harl. MS. 1022, ed. Horstman, has: "hekand desire unto desire."
[113] Gen. xxxv. 18.
[114] Ps. xxvi. (Vulgate xxv.) 12.
[115] So Harl. MSS. 1022 and 2373; Pepwell and harl. MS. 674 read:
"godly."
[116] Ps. lxviii. 27 (Vulgate lxvii. 28).
[117] So Harl. MS. 2373; omitted in Harl. MS. 674. Pepwell has
instead: "To the which us bring our blessed Benjamin, Christ Jesu,
Amen." Harl. MS. 1022 ends: "Jesus Jesu, Mercy, Jesu, grant Mercy,
Jesu." The whole of this concluding paragraph, which is an addition
of the translator, differs considerably in Pepwell.
[118]So Pepwell and MS. Reg. 17 D.V.; Caxton has: "Thou art she that
art not, and I am he that am"; which is nearer to the Latin.
[119]Caxton reads: "I escape gracyously all his snares."
[120]Cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii. 100-105:--
"A quella luce cotal si diventa,
Che volgersi da lei per altro aspetto,
E impossibil che mai si consenta;
Pero che il ben, ch'e del volere obbietto,
Tutto s'accoglie in lei, e fuor di quella
E difettivo cio che li e perfetto."
"Such at that light does one become, that it were impossible ever
to consent to turn from it for sight of ought else, For the good,
that is the object of the will, is wholly gathered therein, and
outside it that is defective which there is perfect."
[121]So Pepwell: Caxton has: "yf thou wilt gete the vertu of
ghostely strength."
[122]Pepwell and the MS. add: "and temptations" (Caxton: "of
temptacyons"); which is clearly out of place. Cf. Legenda, SS 104
(Acta Sanctorum, Aprilis, tom. iii.).
[123]2 Cor. i. 7.
[124]Mated. Caxton has: "vertuously y-mette." Cf. Legenda, SS 101:
"Talis anima sic Deo conjuncta."
[125]2 Cor. xii. 10.
[126] "And the cause and the rote" (Caxton).
[127]Sometimes.