feruour of a sowle leuyng oure lorde Jhesu other by somme certeyne
synne, or ellys by newe sotyll temptacyons of the fende wexyth dull
and slowe, and other whyle it is y-brought to veray coldenesse."
Pepwell and the MS. are entirely corrupt: "It happeneth (she sayth)
that otherwhyle a synner whiche is leuynge our Lord Jhesu by some
certeyn synne, or ellys by some certeyn temptacyons of the fende,"
&c. The original of the passage runs thus: "Frequenter enim (ut
inquiebat) contingit animae Deum amanti quod fervor mentalis, vel ex
divina providentia, vel ex aliquali culpa, vel ex haustis
adinventionibus inimici, tepescit, et quandoque quasi ad
frigiditatem usque deducitur" (Legenda SS 107).
[129]So Caxton; Pepwell has: "leaving."
[130]Caxton has: "seeth"; the Latin text: quantumcumque videat seu
sentiat.
[131]Requited.
[132]So the MS.; Pepwell reads: "were feble and fayle"; and Caxton:
"wexed feble and defayled."
[133]Caxton reads: "prayng" (praying).
[134]So Caxton: Pepwell and MS. have: "in."
[135]Latin, Praelatorum suorum (i.e. of her ecclesiastical
superiors), Legenda, SS 361.
[136]Omitted in Pepwell and in MS.
[137]Judge. Cf. above, p. 14.
[138]Judgment.
[139] "Also she sayd that she hadde alwaye grete hope and truste in
Goddes prouydence, and to this same truste she endured her dysciples
seyng unto theym that she founde and knewe" (Caxton).
[140]The habergeon or the hair-shirt, the former term being applied
to an instrument of penance as well as to a piece of armour. Cf.
Chaucer, The Persones Tale (ed. Skeat, SS 97): "Thanne shaltow
understonde, that bodily peyne stant in disciplyne or techinge, by
word or by wrytinge, or in ensample. Also in weringe of heyres or of
stamin, or of haubergeons on hir naked flesh, for Cristes sake, and
swiche manere penances. But war thee wel that swiche manere penances
on thy flesh ne make nat thyn herte bitter or angry or anoyed of
thy-self; for bettre is to caste awey thyn heyre, than for to caste
away the sikernesse of Jesu Crist. And therfore seith seint Paul:
'Clothe yow, as they that been chosen of God, in herte of
misericorde, debonairetee, suffraunce, and swich manere of
clothinge'; of whiche Jesu Crist is more apayed than of heyres, or
haubergeons, or hauberkes."
[141]Wynkyn de Worde has: "sholde."
[142]Wynkyn de Worde has: "profyte."
[143]Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Letter to William Flete (ed. Gigli,
124): "There are some who give themselves perfectly to chastising
their body, doing very great and bitter penance, in order that the
sensuality may not rebel against the reason. They have set all their
desire more in mortifying the body than in slaying their own will.
These are fed at the table of penance, and are good and perfect, but
unless they have great humility, and compel themselves to consider
the will of God and not that of men, they oft times mar their
perfection by making themselves judges of those who are not going by
the same way that they are going."
[144]Perhaps, simply, "say many prayers"--without any special
reference to the rosary.
[145]Annoy.
[146]Wynkyn de Worde has: "mote."
[147]Wynkyn de Worde has: "lownesse."
[148]With-out-forth=outwardly. Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale, (ed.
Skeat, SS 10): "And with-inne the hertes of folk shal be the bytinge
conscience, and with-oute-forth shal be the world al brenninge."
[149]Everyche=each one.
[150]According to the legend, certain "indulgences," to be gained by
all who visited the Holy Places at Jerusalem, were first granted by
Pope St. Sylvester at the petition of Constantine and St. Helena.
There seems no evidence as to the real date at which these special
indulgences were instituted. Cf. Amort, De origine, progressu,
valore, ac frauctu Indulgentiarum, Augsburg, 1735, pars i. pp. 217
et seq.
[151]Plenary.
[152]All the indulgences attached to the Holy Places.
[153]Probably Racheness in the parish of South Acre, where "there
was a leper hospital, with church or chapel dedicated to St.
Bartholomew, of early foundation" (Victoria History of the County of
Norfolk, ii. p. 450).
[154]In true union.
[155]Established firmly.
[156]Wandering.
[157]So Horstman. Pepwell reads: "With this wonderful onehede ne may
none be fuifilled."
[158]Unreasonable impulses.
[159]Secret nature. Cf. Mother Juliana, Revelations of Divine Love,
xiv. cap. 46: "And our kindly substance is now blessedfully in God."
[160]Divers.
[161]Cf. De Imitatione Christi, ii. 4: "If thine heart were right,
then every creature would be a mirror of life, and a book of holy
doctrine. There is no creature so small and vile, as not to
represent the goodness of God."
[162]Horstman reads: "a mans saule."
[163]So Horstman: Pepwell reads: "as virtues in angels and in holy
souls and in heavenly things."
[164]Pepwell omits the "not."
[165]Before.
[166]The truth of God's hidden mysteries.
[167]According to the measure of its love.
[168]All intervening hindrance.
[169]Horstman reads: "matter."
[170]A little.
[171]Before.
[172]Overtaxes.
[173]Craft.
[174]Horstman reads: "wete he wele."
[175]This passage is defective in Pepwell.
[176]MS. Dd. v. 55, ed. Horstman, has: "purges."
[177]Pepwell has: "in feeling of the sound."
[178]MS. Dd. v. 55, ed. Horstman, reads: "toune" (i.e. tone).
[179]Illumined.
[180]Cools down grows cold. Also construed with "from." Cf. Richard
Rolle Psalter (ed. H. R. Bramley, p. 156): "He gars sa many kele fra
godis luf."
[181]A mere abstract thought of God.
[182]Construe: "But if he hold this feeling and this mind (that is
only his own working by custom) to be a special visitation."
[183]Surer, safer.
[184]Pepwell adds "and in faith."
[185]The MSS. add: "And bot if thou spede thee the rather or thou
come to the ende of thy prayer."
[186]Pepwell reads: "find."
[187]Coax, beguile.
[188]Falsehoods.
[189]The MSS. read: "behetynges of lenger leuyng."
[190]Promise.
191Ps. xlvi. 8 (Vulgate), xlvii. 7 (A.V.): "Sing ye praises with
understanding."
192Ps. cxi. 10 (cx. 10 Vulgate).
[193]So Pepwell; Harl. MS. 674 reads: "Bot forthi that there is no
sekir stonding."
[194]Pepwell adds in explanation: "or amends"; i.e. satisfaction.
Cf. Langland, Piers the Plowman, B. xvii. 237: "And if it suffice
noughte for assetz"; and Wyclif, Pistil on Cristemasse Day (Select
English Works, ed. T. Arnold, ii. p. 237): "And thus, sith aseeth
muste be maad for Adams synne."
[195]Ps. xxxiv. 22 (Vulgate xxxiii. 23).
[196]The MSS. read: "fro a lyf."
[197]The MSS. read: "a lyf."
[198]So Harl. MS. 674. Pepwell reads: "Also the steps of thy staff
Hope plainly will shew unto thee if thou do it duly, as I have told
thee before, or not."
[199]Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 82, A. I: "Devotio nihil aliud
esse videtur, quam voluntas quaedam prompte tradendi se ad ea, quae
pertinent ad Dei famulatum."
[200]The whole passage included in square brackets is omitted in
Pepwell, but is identical in the two MSS.
[201]So Harl. MS. 2373; Harl. MS. 674 reads: "medeful."
[202]The trunk.
[203]Pepwell inserts: "it is but churl's meat, for."
[204]Not in Pepwell.
[205]Pepwell reads: "and for nothing else."
[206]Had never received it from Him.
[207]Pure Love, or Charity, which "attains to God Himself, that it
may abide in Him, not that any advantage may accrue to us from Him"
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 23, A. 6). For the
whole doctrine of "Pure Love or Disinterested Religion," cf. F. von
Hugel, The Mystical Element of Religion, ii. pp. 152-181.
[208]So both MSS.; Pepwell reads: "blessedness."
[209]Hindering or marring.
[210]Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II.-ii. Q. 27, A. 3;
and F. von Hugel, op. cit., ii. p. 167.
[211]In the Divine Essence.
[212]So Harl. MS. 674, I take "it" as the beatitude of man which is
God Himself.
[213]Cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii, 143-145:--
"Ma gia volgeva il mio disiro e il velle,
Si come rota ch' egualmente e mossa,
L'Amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle."
"But already my desire and will, even as a wheel that is equally
moved, were being turned by the Love that moves the sun and the
other stars."
[214]1 Cor. vi. 17.
[215]Pepwell adds: "or sundry."
[216]So Pepwell and Harl. MS. 2373; Harl. MS, 674 reads: "they ben
one spirit."
[217]Cant. ii. 16.
[218]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "glose." Pepwell adds: "or flatter."
[219]Heed.
[220]Pepwell adds: "or betokeneth." Cf. Langland, Piers the Plowman,
A. i. 1: "What this mountein bemeneth."
[221]Cf. above, p. 28 note.
[222]Pepwell adds: "or counsel."
[223]Of thyself thou hast nought but sin.
[224]So the MSS.: Pepwell has: "to God."
[225]Pepwell changes to "divers."
[226]Cf. Dante, De Monarchia, iii. 16: "Man alone of beings holds a
mid-place between corruptible and incorruptible; wherefore he is
rightly likened by the philosophers to the horizon which is between
two hemispheres. For man, if considered after either essential part,
to wit soul and body is corruptible if considered only after the
one, to wit the body, but if after the other, to wit the soul, he is
incorruptible. . . . If man then, is a kind of mean between
corruptible and incorruptible things, since every mean savours of
the nature of the extremes, it is necessary that man should savour
of either nature. And since every nature is ordained to a certain
end, it follows that there must be a twofold end of man, so that
like as he alone amongst all beings partakes of corruptibility and
incorruptibilty, so he alone amongst all beings should be ordained
for two final goals of which the one should be his goal as a
corruptible being, and the other as an incorruptible" (P. H.
Wicksteed's translation).
[227]Pepwell modernises this throughout to "dwelling alone."
[228]Pepwell substitutes "doubt." Cf. Chaucer, Legend of Good Women,
2686: "Thryes doun she fil in swiche a were."
[229]Pepwell adds: "in keeping of silence."
[230]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "more holiness than thou art worthy."
[231]Nature.
[232]Solitude.
[233]Pepwell has: "company."
[234]Pepwell reads: "better."
[235]Causes.
[236]1 Cor. ii. 11.
[237]Simple.
[238]Jas. i. 12.
[239]The MSS. usually read "cleped" for "called."
[240]Pepwell modernizes to "trouble."
[241]Jas. i. 12.
[242]To give place to.
[243]Such impulses to exceptional practices.
[244]Humble itself.
[245]Pleasant.
[246]Pepwell reads: "wits."
[247]Lest.
[248]Pepwell reads: "strait."
[249]Jer. ix. 21: "Quia ascendit mors per fenestras nostras"
(Vulgate). Pepwell reads: "as saint Jerome saith"! Cf. Walter
Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection, I. pt. iii. cap 9: "Lift up thy
lanthorn, and thou shalt see in this image five windows, by which
sin cometh into thy soul, as the Prophet saith: Death cometh in by
our windows. These are the five senses by which thy soul goeth out
of herself, and fetcheth her delight and seeketh her feeding in
earthly things, contrary to the nobility of her own nature. As by
the eye to see curious and fair things and so of the other senses.
By the unskilful using of these senses willingly to vanities, thy
soul is much letted from the sweetness of the spiritual senses
within; and therefore it behoveth thee to stop these windows, and
shut them, but only when need requireth to open them" (ed.
Dalgairns, p. 115).
[250]Ignorant.
[251]Where natural and acquired knowledge alike fall shorts.
[252]Fully.
[253]Nature.
[254]Pepwell has: "when thou dost feel."
[255]Pepwell inserts: "I mean except the solemn vows of holy
religion."
[256]2 Cor. iii. 17.
[257]Cf. St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 308 (ed. Gigli): "Love
harmonises the three powers of our soul, and binds them together.
The will moves the understanding to see, when it wishes to love;
when the understanding perceives that the will would fain love, if
it is a rational will, it places before it as object the ineffable
love of the eternal Father, who has given us the Word, His own son,
and the obedience and humility of the son, who endured torments,
inuries, mockeries, and insults with meekness and with such great
love. And thus the will, with ineffable love, follows what the eye
of the understanding has beheld; and with its strong hand, it stores
up in the memory the treasure that it draws from this love."
[258]Losing.
[259]Cant. iv. 9.
[260]To exercise love.
[261]Divers.
[262]1 Cor. i. 26, vii. 20; Eph. iv. 1.
[263]Luke x. 42.
[264]Pepwell inserts "Him list thee to see, and."
[265]Pepwell reads: "Let be good and all that is good, and better
with all that is better."
[266]Luke x. 42.
[267]To know how to speak, etc.
[268]Banishing from thy soul's vision.
[269]Be able to.
[270]Pepwell reads: "privily." Cf. Wyclif (Select English Works, ed.
cit., i. p. 149): "And after seith Crist to his apostles, that thes
thingis he seide bifore to hem in proverbis and mystily."
[271]Pepwell reads: "rest."
[272]Pepwell modernises "conne" to "learn to" throughout this
passage.
[273]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "stirring"; the other MS, as Pepwell.
[274]Harl. MS. 674 reads: "have."
[275]Pepwell reads: "else."
[276]Manifestly, i.e. unless they clearly show that they do not know
how to act as they should. Pepwell has: "in a part."
[277]i.e. take their advice, but do not simply imitate them. I
follow the MSS. in preference to Pepwell, who reads: "Work after no
men's counsel, but sith that know well their own disposition; for
such men should," etc.
[278]1 John iv. 1-6.
[279]Ps. lxxxv. 8 (Vulgate lxxxiv. 9).
[280]Zech. i. 9-19.
[281]Col. ii. 18.
[282]1 Thess. i. 2-9.
[283]Pepwell adds: "or ambition." Cf. Chaucer, The Persones Tale,
ed. Skeat, SS 18: "and coveitise of hynesse by pryde of herte."
[284]Burns.
[285]So Harl. MS. 674; Pepwell has: "war."
[286]Crafty device.
[287]Cf. above, p. 17 note.
[288]Pepwell has: "gladly."
[289]Pepwell reads "ever ready."
[290]Withstand, resist.
[291]Cf. Mother Juliana, Revelations of Divine Love, i. cap. 9: "In
general I am, I hope, in onehead of charity with all my even
Christian, for in this onehead standeth the life of all mankind that
shall be saved."
[292]If it is still guilty of the other two.
[293]Pepwell adds: "and voluptuous."
[294]Ps. cxxxii. (Vulgate cxxxi. ) 13.
[295]Cf. Walter Hilton, The Ladder of Perfection, II. pt. ii. cap.
3: "Jerusalem is, as much as to say, a sight of peace, and
betokeneth contemplation in perfect love of God; for contemplation
is nothing else but a sight of God, which is very peace."
[296]Probably Isa. lvii. 15.
[297]Pepwell reads: "most folly."
[298]Pepwell adds: "or harm." Cf. The Chronicle of Robert of Brunne,
8905-6: "Now may ye lyghtly bere the stones to schip wythouten
dere."
[299]Advisedly.
[300]Partisans, abettors.
[301]The MSS. read: "doles."
[302]Pepwell reads: "But it is more sorrow to feel of our own
spirit's deceits. For sometime our own spirit."
[303]The MSS. read: "Bot what thar reche"; what need to care.
[304]Pepwell reads: "didst feel in there."
[305]Cf. above, p. 95, note.
[306]Pepwell adds: "and judgment."
[307]Unless because of carelessness in resisting them when they
first come.
[308]To regard thyself as responsible.
[309]Madness.
[310]Not in Harl. MS. 674.
[311]Pepwell reads: "a full damnable and a full cursed fiend in his
living."
[312]Pepwell adds: "and desire much."
[313]Pepwell reads: "suggestion."
[314]On the other hand.