¶ Scala perfectionis    


Capla prime partis  ¶ hear begin the chapters of this present volume of walter Hylton/ named in Latin Scala perfeccionis englysshed the ladder of perfection/ which volume is divided in two parties/ The first book of this present volume containeth. l●xxxiii. chapitours/ The second book xlvi which hole volume amonuteth. C.xxxix. chapitours. 
 ¶ That the Inner 〈◊〉 of manes soul should belike to the utter. 
Capitulum primum.  Of active life and the works thereof/ 
Capitulum two.  Of contemplatyfflyfe & the works thereof/ 
Caplm iii.  Of the first part of contemplation/ 
Caplm iiii  Of the second part of contemplation. 
Caplm v  Of the lower degree of that two. part of contemplation. 
ca vi.  Of the higher degree of the two. part of contemplation/ 
ca seven  Of the third part of contemplation: 
Ca viii.  Of the twynning of the third part of contemplation froth second part & of the praising thereof/ 
Ca ix.  How the showing to the bodily wits & the feeling of them may be both good and evil/ 
Caplm x.  How the shalt know when the showing to the bodily wits & the feeling of them been good or evil: 
Ca xi.  what knitteth Iesu to man's soul: and what losyth seth him therefro. 
Caplm.. xii.  How and in what things that a contemplative man be should be occupied 
Capitulum xiii.  How in reason & will virtue beginneth/ and in love & in liking it is made perfit. 
Capitulum. xiiii.  Of the means that bringeth a soul to contemplation. 
ca xv.  What a man should use & refuse by the virtue of meekness. 
Ca xvi.  ¶ Who should blame men's d●●fawtes and demehems. and who not/ 
Caplm xvii  Why men should worship other: & low himself in her own heart under all other: 
Capitulum xviii.  How men should do that wantyth the feeling of meekness in affection/ not dreading to much therefore/ 
ca nineteen  How hypocrites & heretics for wanting of meekness hyghen himself in heart before all other 
Ca xx.  What things men owen to believe by a siker faith. 
ca xxi.  How a stable intent is needful to these that should please god and discretion in bodily works. 
ca xxii.  Of a little rehearsing of things said before/ & of making offering the should be offered to god: 
ca xxiii  Of prayers that is speedful to get cleanness of heart & virtue 
ca xxiiii:  How men should pray/ & whereon the point of her thought shallbe set in prayer/ 
ca xxv  Of the fire of love 
ca xxvi  That the certain prayer in speech ordained of god & of holy church is best to 'em y● been new corned to god & to devotion/ 
ca xxvii  What peril is to men that in the beginning of turning to god/ even the common prayer of the ordinance of holy church/ & give 'em to meditation/ 
ca xxviii  Of the second manner of prayer/ that is in speech not certainly followeth the stirring of devotion/ 
ca xxix  That the second manner of prayer pleaseth moche god/ 
 And maketh a man to have him in ●ody as he were drunken/ and maketh him in soul to be wounded with the sword of love/ 
ca thirty  How the tire of love wasteth all fleshly lusts as other fire wasteth all bodily thing 
ca xxxi  Of the third manner of prayer that is only in the heart without speech outward/ 
ca xxxii  How men should do y● been travailed with vain thou ghties in her prayers/ 
ca xxxiii.  ¶ Of meditation of sinful men after that they been holy tourued to god/ 
Caplm.. xxxiiii  That the meditation of the manhood of christ: or of his passion is yeven freely of the holy ghost. And how it shall be known when it is yeven/ 
Caplm.. xxxv  That the meditation of the passion of christ is withdrawn fro 'em that it is yeven to oft scythes for dyves' causes/ 
Capitulum. xxxvi.  Of divers temptations of the fiend 
Ca xxxvii  Of divers remedies against temptations of the fiend/ 
Capitulum. xxxviii.  How that god hem that he chooseth: he suffereth to be tarried & tempted/ & afterward ●ō fort hem & stableth 'em in grace. 
Caplm. xxxix.  That a man should not give him to idleness ne lightly leave the grace that is yeven him of god/ 
Ca. xl.  That a man should know the measure of his yefte: that he may desire & take a better when god will give it. 
Ca xli.  That a man should travail to know his own soul and the mights thereof: & reek down the ground of ●ynne therein. 
ca xlii.  How a man shall know the worthiness & the worship of his soul that it had first of god/ & what wrechydnesse & mischief it is fall in for sin/ 
Ca xliii.  ¶ How every man may be saved by the passion of christ: be he never so wretched/ 
Capitulum. xliiii  That a man should be busy to recover again his worthiness: & reform again in him the image of the trinity. 
ca xlv  How Ihu shall be sought: desired: & found/ 
Ca xlvi,  What profit it is to have the desire of Ihu. 
Ca xlvii.  Where and with what thing Ihu shall be sought and found/ ca xlviii. ¶ Where Ihu is lost & found again through his mercy/ 
Ca xlix.  What letteth a man to here & see Ihu within himself/ Caplm l. ¶ That meekness and charity been the specially vereye of Ihesu/ through the which man's soul is reformed to the likeness of him/ 
caplm̄. li  How a man shall see the ground of sin within himself. 
Capitulum lii  To what thing is the image of sin like/ and what it is in itself. 
Capitulum liii.  ¶ Who so will find Ihesu him behoveth abydyngly to travail in ghostly darkness against the image of sin/ 
Capitulum liv  What is properly th'image of sin. & what cometh out thereof/ 
Capitulum lv  What pride is & when it is sin/ 
Caplm lvi.  When pride is deadly sin. & how it is in fleshly living men deadly sin. 
Capitulum lvii  How pride is in hypocrites deadly sin. 
Ca lviii.  How pride in heretics is deadly sin/ 
Ca lix.  How stirrings of pride & vainglory in good men been but venyalsynnes/ 
Capitulum lx  How divers states in holy church shall have divers medes in heaven/ & of two special medes in heaven/ 
Ca lxi.  A short stirring to meekness & to charity/ 
Ca lxii.  How a man shall know how moche pride is in him/ 
Capitulum/ lxiii  Of envy & ire. & of her branches/ and how in stead of sin man's person is oft hated/ 
Capitulum lxiiii  That it is much mastery to love men's persons/ & wisely hate her sins/ 
Capitulum lxv  That for the same deeds dyers men shall have divers medes. 
Capitulum lxvi  That all men's good deeds should be approved that hath likeness of good: save the open heretic/ & of the cursed man/ 
Capitulum lxvii  That no good deed may make men saaf without charity. And the charity feel they only that been meek. 
Ca lxviii.  How a man shall wite how moche wrath & envy is hid in the ground of his heart. 
Ca lxix  By what tokens thou shall know if thou lovest thine enemy/ And what ensample thou shall take of christ for to love him/ 
Capitulum lxx.  How a man shall know how moche covetise is hid in his heart/ 
Capitulum lxxi  How a man shall know when he sinneth not in eating & dynking, and when he sinneth venial: & when deadly/ 
Capitulum lxxii  How the ground of lechery should be destroyed with ghostly travail & with bodily/ 
Capitulum. lxxiii.  That a man should be busy to put away all stirrings of sin/ but more busy of ghostly sins than of bodily/ 
Capitulum lxxiiii  That hunger and other bodily pains let much ghostly working/ 
Capitulum lxxv  What remedy a man shall use against default made in ●●ynge or drinking/ 
Capitulum lxxvi.  That through busy desire & travail for meekness & charity a man cometh sooner to other virtues than by travail in himself/ 
Capitulum lxxvii  Of the darkness of the image of sin/ and what cometh in by the windows thereof/ 
Caplm lxxviii  That the soul for default of knowing of itself gooth out by the .v. wits to seche outward liking/ 
Ca lxxix  That a soul should not beg without forth/ but with in of Ihu that it needeth/ 
Capitulum lxxx  That the hole of the imagination needeth to be stopped as well as the windows of the wits/ 
Cplm. lxxxi.  When the use of the wits is deadly sin/ and when venial. 
Capitulum lxxxii.  How a ghostly man or woman shall have 'em that come to hem/ 
Capitulum lxxxiii  Of the dark image of sin: & of the clothing thereof 
Capitulum lxxxiiii  Which been the limbs of the image of sin. 
ca lxxxv  Whereof the image of Ihesu is made/ & whereof the image of sin/ & how we been passing forth in th'image of sin. 
capitulum lxxxvi  How we should crucify this image of sin/ & quicken the image of Ihu/ 
capitulum lxxxvii.  What prosyte cometh of keeping of the heart. and how moche the soul is/ & what it loveth/ 
caplm̄ lxxxviii  How the image of sin shall be broken down/ 
ca lxxxix  How a man shall have him ●o the stirring of ●ryde. & of all other vices/ 
capitulum. lxxxx  What thing helpeth most a man's knowing/ & getteth to him that him lackyth/ and most destroyeth sin in him/ 
capitulum lxxxxi  How a man shall be shapen to the image of Ihesu and Ihesu shapen in him/ 
caplm̄ Lxxxxiis  The cause why this book was made: And how she should have her in reading thereof, that was made to. 
Capitulum/ Lxxxxiiis   
¶ Here endeth the chapters of the first book. And after followeth the first part of this present volume/   


¶ That the Inner having of man's soul should be like the utter Capitulum primum  
GHostly sister in Ihesu christ I pray the that in the calling which our Lord hath called that to his service thou hold the paid. & stondested fastly therein/ travayling busily with all the mights of thy soul by the grace of Ihu christ for to fulfil in soothfastness of good living the state which thou haste take in likeness & in seeming/ And as thou hast forsake the world: as it were a deed man turned to our Lord bodily in sight of men right so that in thine heart might be as it were deed to all earthly loves & dreads/ turned holy to our Lord Ihu christ. For wite thou well a bodily turning to god without the heart following. is but a figure & a likeness of virtues. & no soothfastness/ wherefore a wretched man or woman is he or she that leaveth the Inwardly keeping of himself/ & shapeth him without forth only a form and likeness of holiness: in habit or clothing/ in speech & in bodily works: beholding other men's deeds. and deeming her defawces/ weening himself to be aught when he is right not and so beguileth himself/ Do thou not so. but turn thy heart with thy body principally to god/ & shape the with in to his likeness by meekness & charity. & other ghostly virtues. and thenne art thou truly turned to him/ I say not that thou so lightly on the first day may be turned in thy soul by fulhede of virtues: as thou might with thy body be closed in a house. but that thou should know that the cause of thy bodily closing is/ that thou might the better come to ghostly closing/ And as thy body is closed fro bodily conversation of men/ right so that thine heart might be enclosed fro the fleshly loves & dreads of all ecthly things/ And that thou might the better come thereto. I shall tell the in this little writing/ as me thynkyth.   

¶ Of active-life. & the works thereof/ Caplm two  
THou shate understand that there is in holy church two manner of lives as saint gregory faith. 
Greg.  in y● which christian they should be safe/ That one is called active. & the other contemplate if/ without one of these two. No man may be saved Actyflyflyeth in love & charity showed outward by good bodily works in fulfilling of god's commandments/ & of the vii works of mercy bodily & ghostly to a manes even christian. This life longeth to all worldly men which have richesse & plenty of worldly goods for to spend/ And so to all other the which have state office or cure of other men/ And have goods for to spend. lerid & lewd: temporal or spiritual/ And generally all worldly men are bound to fulfil it after her might & cunning: as reason & discretion asketh/ If he much good have/ moche good for to do/ If he little have. Less may he do/ And if he nought have/ thenne must he have a good will. these been works of active-life other bodily or ghostly/ Also a great part of actyflyflyeth in great bodily deeds. the which a man doth to himself/ as great fasting. moche waking/ & other sharp penance doing for to chastise the flesh with discretion for trespass before done/ And by such penance for to refrain lusts & likings of it/ and to make him buxum & ready to the will of the spirit/ these works though they been active. they help right moche. & ordaineth a man in the beginning to come to contemplatyflyf/ if they been used with discretion.   

¶ Of contemplatyflyf & the works thereof. Caplm iii.  
Contemplatyflyflyeth in perfit love & charity feeled inwardly by ghostli virtues & by fothfast knowing & sight of god & ghostly things/ This lyflongeth to hem specially the which for the love of god forsaketh all worldly richesse worships: & outward business/ & holy yeven hem body & soul after her might & cunning to the service of god by ghostly occupation/ Now then sith it is so that thy state asketh for to be contemplative/ for that is th'intent of thy enclosing: that thou might more freely and entirely give the to ghostly ocupation. Then behooveth the for to be right busy both night & day with travail of body & of spirit: for to come to that life as nigh as thou mayst by such means as thou hopest were best to the. nevertheless before that I tell the of the means: I shall tell the tyrst a little more of this life contemplative: that thou might somewhat see what it is/ & sithen set it as a mark in the sight of thy soul: whereto thou shalt draw in all thine occupation.   

¶ Of the first part of contemplation/ Caplm iiii  
COntemplatyflyf hath three parts/ The first lieth in knowing of god & ghostly things getten by reason: by teaching of man: & by study in holy wryt without ghostly affection & Inly savour feeled. by the special yefte of the holy ghost/ This part have specially lettered men & great clerks which by long study & travail in holy writ comen to this knowing more or less after the subtlety of kindly wit & continuance of study. of the general wit that god giveth to every man that hath use of reason/ This knowing is good/ & it may be called a part of contemplation. in asmuch as it is a sight of soothfastness. & a knowing of ghostly things Neue●●theles it is but a figure & a shadow of very contēplac●●on/ for it hath not ghostly savour in god: ne inwardly sweetness/ the which no man may feel but if he be in great charity/ For it is the proper well of our Lord/ to the which cometh none alien. but this manner knowing is common to good & vadde/ for it may be had without charity: & therefore it is not very contemplation/ As oft scythes hypocrites & fleshly living men have more such knowing than many other crysten men. & yet have these men to charity. Of this manner knowing spykyth saint paul thus/ Si habuero omne scienciam. 
Cor 13  & noverim misteria oina. caritatem aucem non habean. nihil sum. If I had full knowing of all things. & I knew all brevities. & I had not charity. I am right nought/ nevertheless if they y● have this knowing keep 'em in meekness & in charity: & flee worldly & fleshly sins after her might: 
Greg.  it is to hem a good way & a great disposing to very contemplation/ if they desire & pray devoutly after the grace of the holy ghost/ Other men y● have this cunning & turneth it to pride & vainglory of henself/ or in to covetise & desiring of worldly states. Worships & riches/ not meekly taking it to the praising of god ne charitably spendeth it in the perfect of her evenstrysten. some of hem fallen other into heresies & errors/ or in to other open sins/ by y● which they slander henself & all holy church/ Of this cunning saith saint paul thus. Sciencia in flat. caritas autem edeficat/ knowing alone lifteth up the heart into pride/ but menge it with charity: & then turneth it in to edification/ This knowing alone is but water unsavoury & cold/ And therefore if they that have it would meekly offer it up to our Lord/ & pray him of grace/ he should with his blessing turn the water in to wine/ as he died at the prayer of his mother at the fest of Archetryclyne/ that is for to say/ He should turn the unsavoury knowing into wisdom. and the cold naked reason in to ghostly light & brenning love by the yeft of the holy ghost/   

¶ Of the two. part of contemplation/ Caplm v  
THe two. part of contemplation lieth principally in affection without light of understanding o● ghostly things/ & this is commonly of simple and vnle●●tred men/ which yeven 'em holy to devotion. & this is feeled on this manner/ when man or woman in meditation of god by the grace of the holy ghost feeleth fervour of love & ghostly sweetness by the mind of crysties passō●● or any of his works in his manhood/ or he feeleth a gr●●te trust in the goodness & in the mercy of god for the fory●●uenes of his sins: and for his great gifts of grace. or else he feeleth a dread in his affection with great reverence of the privy domes of god/ the which he seeth not/ & of his rightwiseness or in prayer he feeleth the thought of his heart draw up fro all earthly things. strenyd together with all the myght●s of his heart: upstyeng to our Lord by fervent desire & with ghostly delight And never theles in that time he hath no open sight in understanding of ghostly things ne of pryvytees of holy wryt in special/ but only that him thinketh for the time no thing liketh him so much as for to pray or think as he doth. for savour delight & comfort that he findeth there in/ And yet can he not tell what it is. but he feeleth it well for it is a yeft of god For out of it springen many sweet tears: brenning desires/ & still mourninge. Which scoureth & cleanseth the heart fro all the filth of sin/ & maketh it melt in to wondered sweetness of Ihesu christ. buxum soople: & ready to fulfil all goddies will/ insomuch that him thinketh he maketh no charge what cometh of himself/ so that God's will were fulfilled with such many stirrings more than I can or may say This feeling may not be had without great grace/ & who so hath it for the time he is in charity/ which charity may not be lost ne lessed though the fervour of it pas●e away: but by a deadly sin/ & that is comfortable. This may be called the ii part of contemplation/ nevertheless this part hath ii degrees   

¶ Of the lower degree of the two. part of contemplation/ ca vi:  
THe lower degree of this feeling. men which are active may have by grace when they been visited of our Lord as mightily & as fervently as they the give hem holy to contemplative life & hath this yeft. but this feeling in his fervour cometh not always when a man would ne it lastyth not full long. It cometh & goeth as he will that giveth it/ & therefore who so hath it▪ meek himself. & thank god: & keep it privy▪ but if it be to his confessor/ and hold he it as long as he may with discretion/ And when it is withdrawn dread not to much. but stand sadly in faith & in a meek hope/ with patience abiding till it come again/ This is a little tasting of the sweetness of the love of god/ of the which david saith thus in the sawter/ Gustate & videte qm suavis est dns/ Taast 
P. xxxiii.  ye & see ye the swe●nes o● our Lord/   

¶ Of the higher degree of the two. part of contemplation. Ca seven  
THe higher degree of this part may not be had and holden but of 'em the which been in great rest of body and soul/ the which by grace of Ihu & long travail bodily & ghostly feeleth a rest of heart & cleanness in conscience. so y● hem liken no thing so moche for to do as to sit still in rest of body/ & for to always pray to god. & think on our Lord. & to think sometime on the blessed name of Ihesu which is comfortable & deleccable to hem/ that by the mind of it they feelen hem fed in her affection/ And not only of the name/ but all other manner prayers: as the Pater noster & the Auee/ or ympnes or psalms & other devout sayings of holy church are turned as it were in to a ghostly mirth & sweet song/ by the which they are comforted & strengthened against alsynnes. & much relieved of bodily desese. Of this degree speaketh saint paul thus. 
Ephen. v.  Nolite inebriari vico: sed impleamini sp̄u scon. loquentes vobis metipis in ympnis & canticis & psalmis spunalibꝰ. cantantes & psallentes in cordibus uris dno/ Be ye not drunken with wine/ but be ye fulfilled of the holy ghost saying to yourself in ympnes & psalms & ghostly songs: singing & psalming in your hearts to our lord/ Who so hath this grace keep he himself in lownes/ & that he be ever desiring for to come to more knowing & feeling of god in the third part of contemplation/   

¶ Of the third part of contemplation/ Caplm viii.  
THe third part of contemplation the which is perfit as it may here lieth both in cognition & in affection. That is to say/ in knowing & in perfit loving of god. And that is when a man's soul first is reform by fulhede of virtues to the image of Ihu/ And afterward when he is visited he is taken in fro all earthly & fleshly affections: fro vain thoughts & ymagyninges of all bodily creatures/ & as it were much ravished out of the bodily wits/ And then by the grace of the holy ghost is illumined for to see by understanding sooth fastness which is good & ghostly things with a soft sweet brenning love in him so perfitly that he be ravished of his love/ so the soul is oned for the time & conformed to the image of the trinity/ The beginning of this contemplation may be feeled in this life/ but the fulhede of it is kept into the bliss of heaven. Of this oning & conforming to our lord speaketh saint paul thus/ Qui adhe ●t deo. unus spns est cum illo/ that is to say/ Who so by ravishing of love is fastened to god: then god & his soul are not two. but both one/ And soothly in this oning is the marriage made betwixt god and the soul the which shall never be broken.   

¶ Of the twyning of the iii: part of contemplation fro the two. part of the praising thereof/ Caplm.. ix  
THe other part may be called brenning love in devotion/ & this brenning love in contemplation. y● is lower. this is the higher. that is swetter to the bodily feeling/ this inwardly feeling better to the ghostly feeling. For it is more inward: more worthy: more ghostly: more wondful/ for this is verily a tasting so little as is a earnest of the sight of heavenly joy: not clearly. but half in darkness. the which shall be fulfilled & openly cleared in the bliss of heaven. 
i. corum. iz.  as saint poulsayth/ Uide mus nunc ꝑ spclm in enigmate, tunc autem videbimus fancy ad faciem/ We see now god by a mirror as it were in a darkness/ but in heaven shall we see openly face to face. This is the illumination of understanding in delights of loving as david saith in the sawter/ Et nox illuninacio mea in delicus meis/ My night is my light in my delyties. 
psalm c. xviii  The other part is milk for children/ this is hole meet for perfit men: the which have wits assayed to know good fro evil: 
Hebr. v.  as saint paul saith/ ꝑfectorumen solidus cibus. qui hennt sensus exercitatos ad discrecomem boni & mali/ The working of the full use of this yefte may no man have but he be first reformed to y● likeness of Ihu by fulhede of virtues/ Ne there may no man living in deadly flesh have it continually in his fulhede and in the overpassing: but by times when he is visited/ And as I conceive by the writing of holy men it is a fulshort time for soon after he falleth in sobyrte of bodily feeling/ and all this work maketh charity/ Thus as I understand saith saint paul of himself/ sive excedimus deo. siue sober sumus vobis caritas xpi urgit nos/ Whether we over pass our bodily wits to god in contemplation. or we are more sobyr to you in bodily feeling. the charity of christ straineth us. Of this part of contemplation & of reforming to god speaketh saint poule openly thus/ Nos autem revelata fancy glaz dnispeclam transformati in candem ymaginem a claritate in claritatem tanquamm a dnispu. And this is thus moche for to say saint poule in the person of himself & of perfit men saith thus/ We first reform by virtues. the face of our soul unheled by opening of the ghostly eye beholden as in a mirror heavenly joy. Full shaped & oned to the image of our Lord fro clerete of faith into clerete of understanding/ or else fro clerete of desire in to clerete of blessed love/ & all this is wrought of the spirit of our Lord in a man's soul as saint paul saith: this part of contemplation god ye vith where that he will/ to lere & to lewd: to men & to women occupied in prelacy. & to solitary also/ But it is special not common and also though a man which all his life is active have the yeft of it by a special grace/ nevertheless the fullness of it may no man have but he be solitary & in life contemplative/   

¶ How the showing to the bodily wits and the feeling of hem may be both good and evil. Ca x.  
BY this y● I have said may thou somewhat understand that visions or revelations of any manner of spirit in bodily appearing. or in imagining sleeping or waging/ or else any other feeling in the bodily wits made as it were ghostly. other in swooning of ere: or savering in the mouth: or smelling at the nose: or else any sensible heat as it were fire glowing & warming the breast or any other part of the body/ or any other thing that may be feeled by bodily wit though it be never so comfortable & liking/ they been not very contemplation/ ne they been but simple & secondary though they been good in reward of ghostly virtues & of this ghostly knowing & loving of god/ But all such manner of feeling may be good/ wrought by a good angel/ and they may be deceivable/ wrought by a wicked angel. When he transfyguryth him in to an angel of light/ wherefore sith they may be both good and evil it seemeth well they are not the best. For wit thou well that the devil may when he hath leave feign of bodily feeling the likeness of the same things the which a good angel may work/ For right as a good angel cometh with light: so can the devil/ And so of y● other wyttis/ who so had felid both/ he should well tell which were good & which were evil But he that never feeled neither: or else but y● one: may lightly be deceived/ They are like in the manner of feeling outward: but they are full divers within/ And therefore they are not for to desire greatly/ ne for to receive lightly/ but if a soul might by the spirit of discretion know the good fro the evil that he were not beguiled as saint Iohn saith/ Nolite credere omispui. sed ꝓba re siex deo sit/ saint Iohn beddeth us that we should not trust to every spirit but we shall assay first whether he be of god or no/ wherefore by one allay I shall tell the as me thinketh how thou shalt know the good fro evil.   

¶ How thou shalt know when the showing to the bodily wyttis & feeling of 'em been good or evil. Ca xi  
IF it so be that thou see any manner of light or brightness with the bodily eye/ or in imagining other than every man see/ or if thou here any merry wondered swooning with bodily ere. or in thy mouth any sweet sudden savour other than of kind. or any heat in thy breast. as it were fire. or any manner delight in any part of thy body/ or if a spirit bodily aperyth unto the as it were an angel for to comfort the. & teach the or any such feeling which thou knowest well the it cometh not of thyself ne of no bodily creatnre/ beware in the time or soon after & wisely behold the stirring of thy heart: If thou be stirred by cause of the liking that thou felyst to draw out thy heart fro the mind & beholding of Ihesu christ & fro ghostly ocupation: As fro prayer & thinking on thyself & thy defawtes/ fro thinwarde desire of virtues & of ghostly knowing & feeling of god/ For to set the sight of thy heart & thy affection/ thy delight and thy rest principally therein/ weening that it should be a part of heavenly joy & of angels bliss/ & for thy y● thinkith that thou shouldest neither pray ne think not else but all holy tent thereto for to keep it & delight therein/ This feeling is suspect & of themmye/ & therefore though it be never so liking & wonderful. refuse it & assent not thereto/ for this is the sleight of themmye when he seeth a soul that would inteerly give it to ghostly occupation he is wonderly wroth/ For he hateth no thing more than for to see a soul in a body of sin to feel verily the savour of ghostly knowing & the love of god. the which he without body of sin lost wilfully/ And therefore if he may not let him by open sins. he would hinder him & beguile him by such vanity of bodily ●auours: or sweetness in the wits for to bring a soul in to ghostly pride & in to a falls sikerness of himself/ weening that he had thereby a feeling of heavenly joy: & that he were half in paradise for delight that he feeleth about him: when he is near at hell yates/ And so by pride & by presumption he might fall in errors or heresies or faresyes. or in other bodily or ghostly myschenes'/ nevertheless if it be so that this manner of feeling let not thy heart fro grostly ocupation/ but it maketh the more devout & more fervent for to pray/ it maketh the more wise for to think ghostly thoughts/ And though it be so that it astonye the in the beginning nevertheless afterward it turneth & quickeneth thine heart to more desire of virtues/ and encrenseth thy love more to god & to thine even christian/ Also it maketh the more meek in thine own sight. By these tokens may thou know that it is of god made by the presence & the touching of a good angel/ & that is of the goodness of god either in comfort of simple devout souls for to increase her trust & her desire to god for to seek thereby the knowing the love of god more perfitly for such a comfort/ or else if they been perfit that feelen such delight: it seemeth then that it is an earnest & as it were a shadow of the glorifying of the body which it shall have in the bliss of heaven/ I wot not whether there be any such man living in earth/ This privilege had marry mawdeleyne as it seemeth to my sight in the time when she was alone in the cave xxx winter/ & every day was borne up with angels & was fed both body & soul by the presence of 'em: thus we read in y● story of her/ Of this manner assaying of working of spirits speaketh saint Iohn in his pistle thus. & teacheth thus/ O insspns qui vit thm. hic non est ex deo. Every spirit y● losyth or unknyttith Ihu. he is not of god/ these words may be understand in many manners/ nevertheless after one manner I may understand 'em to this purpose that I have said.   

¶ What knitteth Ihesu to man's soul: & what loseth him therefro/ Caplm xii.  
THe knitting & the fasting of Ihu to a man's soul: is by good will & great desire to him only for to have him & see him in his bliss ghostly/ The more the this desire is. the faster is Ihu knit to the soul. The less that this desire is the loslyer is he knit. Then what spirit or what feeling that it be that which lesseth this desire & would draw it down fro the steadfast mind of Ihu christ. & fro the kindly stying up to Ihu this spirit will unknit ihu fro the soul: & therefore it is not of god: but it is the working of themmye/ nevertheless if a spirit or a feeling or a revelation make this desire more. knit the knots of love & devotion to ihu faster: & open the eye of the soul in to ghostly knowing more clearly: & maketh it more meek in itself this spirit is of god/ Here may thou see somewhat that thou shalt not suffer thy here wilfully for to rest ne for to delight holy in no bodily feeling of such manner comforts or sweetness though they were good. but thou shalt hold 'em in thy sight nought or little in reward of ghostly desire & on steadfast thinking on Ihu/ ne fest the thought of thy heart overmuch on hem/   

¶ How & in what things should a contemplative man be occupied/ Calm. xiii.  
BUt thou shalt ever seek by great business in prayers that thou might come to the ghostly feeling of god: And y● is y● thou might know the wisdom of god/ the endless might of him/ the great goodness of him in himself & in his creatures/ For this is contemplation & that other is none. 
Eph. iii.  thus saith saint paul/ In car●●ate radicati & fundati. Ut possitis comprehendere cum oimbus scīs que sic longitudo & la●itudo. suolimitas & ꝓfundun/ Be ye rooted & grounded in charity that ye might know he saith neither sound of the ere ne sweet favour in the mouth: ne none such bodily thing. but that ye might know & feel with all hallows which is the length of the endless being of god/ the breed of the wonderful charity & the goodness of god/ the height of the almighty majesty of him & the groundless deepness o● the wisdom of god In knowing & ghostly feeling of these should be the occupation of the contemplative man/ For in these may be understand the full knowing of all ghostly things This ocupation is that one thing the which saint paul coveted saying thus/ Unun que retro sunt obliviscens. 
Phillip iii.  in anteriora me extendan. sequorsi quo modo comprehendam supernum branium/ Thus moche is to say/ ●o thing. as hoo saith. is best to me for to covet/ and that is that I might forget all things that which been behyndwarde or backward/ and I shall stretch out mine heart forward for to feel and to gripe the sovereign meed of the endless bliss/ Hynwarde are all bodily things/ forward are ghostly things/ And for saint paul would forget all bodily things: & his own body also. with that thou he might see ghostly things/   

¶ How in reason & will virtue beginneth. & in love & in liking it is made perfit. Caplm xiiii  
NOw I have told you a little of contemplation what it should be: For this intent that thou might know it and set it as a mark before the sight of thy soul & for to desire all thy lyftyme to come to any part of it by grace of our Lord Ihesu cryst/ This is the conforming of a soul to god/ the which may not be had but if it be first reformed by fulhede of virtues turned in to affection. and that is when a man loveth virtues. for they been good in henself/ There is many a man that loveth virtue of lownes. patience and charity to his even-christian. and such other only in his reason & will/ and hath none ghostly delytene love in 'em/ For of times he feeleth grudging. heaviness and bitterness for to do hem/ And nevertheless yet he doth 'em only by stirring of reason for dread of god/ this man hath virtues in reason and in will/ but not love of 'em in his affection.  
¶ But when by grace of Ihesu and by ghostly and bodily exercise reason is turned in to light: And will into love. Then hath he virtues in affection/ For he hath so well gnawn on the bitter bark of the not that he hath broken it: And feedeth him with the kernel/ That is to say/ The virtues which were first heavy for to do: are now turned into a very delight and savour: as when a man liketh ●n meekness. in patience. in cleanness: in sobyrte. And in charity. as in any delights/ Sothlytyll these virtues been turned thus in to affection. he may well have the two. Part of contemplation/ But the three soothe fastly shall he not take/   

¶ Of the means that bringeth a soul to contemplation/ Capitulum. xv  
Now sithen virtues are dysposinge to contemplatyon. then it behooveth the use certain means for to come to virtues \ three means there been which men most commonly usen that yeven hem to contemplation As reading of holy writ and of holy teaching. ghostly meditation. and busy prayer with devotion. By meditation shall thou see as I said ehy wretchedness/ thy sins. and thy wickedness/ As pride covetise. gluttony sloth. and lechery. and wicked stirring of envy. Ire. hatred. & melancholy: angrynes. It byttenes & unskilful heaviness/ Thou shalt also see thy heart ful-of vain shames & dreads of thy flesh and of the world/ Alle these stirrings wyllen alway boylle out of thy heart a water will run out of the of the spring of a stinking well. And let the sight of thy soul that thou Mayst never see ne feel dearly the love of Ihesu christ. For wy●e thou well till thy heart be much cleansed through stable troth & busy beholding of Christ's manhood fro such sins. thou may not have ghostly knowing of god perfitly witnessing himself in the gospel thus. Btī mundo cord qm ipsei deum videb●t blessed be clean of heart. 
Math v.  for they shall see god Also in meditation thou shall see virtues which be needful to the for to have. as meekness: mildness: patience. rightwiseness: ghogly strength temperance: cleanness▪ pees: & soberness: faith: hope: & charity▪ these virtues thou shall see in meditation. how good how fair how profitable they been/ & by prayer thou shall desire 'em & get 'em. without which thou may not be contemplative. For Job saith thus. Inhabundancia ingredieris sepulcrum. That is to say▪ 
job. v  thou shalt in plenty of good bodily works and ghostly virtues enter thy grave. that is the rest in contemplation/   

¶ What a man should use and refuse by the virtue of meekness/ Cplm xvi  
NOw if thou shouldest use wisely ghostly works & sickerly travail in hem. the behooveth to begin right low/ three things that needeth to have first. Upon the which as on a siker ground thou shall set all thy work these three are meekness: siker faith. & hole intent to god first the behooveth to have meekness in this manner/ thou shalt hold thyself in thy will & in thy feeling if thou may unable to dwell among men. & unworthy to serve god in coversacyon with his servants unprofitable to thy even-christian: wanting both cunning & might to fulfil good works of active-life in help of thy even-christian: as other men & women done. And therefore as a wretch & outcast: & refuse of all men & women are sperred in a house alone/ that thou shouldest dear ne grieve no man or woman by enyl ensampse. Scythe thou canst not profit hem by good working/ over this the behoveth to look ferder that sith thou art so unable to serve our lord by bodily works outward. 
Trent. iiii.  how moche more behoveth the to hold the unable & unworthy to serve him ghostly by inward ocupation/ For our Lord is a spirit as the prophet layeth. Sp̄s ante faciemntam  dns Before our face a ghost is our Lord cryst/ & the kindly service to him is ghostly/ as he saith himself: 
joh. iiii.  Ueri adorantes adorabunt prēm in●p̄u & veritate/ Sothfast servants shall worship him in spirit & soothfastness/ then thou that art so boisterous. so lewd: so fleshly: so blind in ghostly things/ & namely of thine own soul: which the behooveth first to know if thou shouldest come to the knowing of god/ how shouldest thou thenne feel thyself able or worthy for to have state or likeness of contemplative life/ the which life as I have said lieth principally in ghostly knowing: & feeling of god This I say to thee: not that thou shouldest for think thy purpose. & be myspayde with thy clothing. but that thou shouldest feel this lownes fothfastly in thy heart if thou might/ for it is sooth & no lees/ And then thou shall desire night & day after thy might for to come as near as thou mayst to the state which thou haste take. Trowing steadfastly that it is best to the by the mercy of god. for to travail in/ And though it be so that thou may not come to the fulhede of it here in this life. that thou might be in the beginning of it. & trust sickerly for to have the fulhede by the mercy of god in the bliss of heaven/ For soothly that is my life/ I feel me so wretched & so frail & fleshly/ & so far fro true feeling fro that thou I speak: that I cannot else but cry mercy. & desire after as I may with an hope that our Lord will bring me thereto in the bliss of heaven/ do thou so: & better after that god giveth the grace/ The feeling of this lownes shall put out of thine heart unshylful beholding of other men's deeds/ and it shall drive the holy to behold thyself/ as there were no man living but god and thou/ And thou shalde me & hold thyself more vile & more wretch than is any creature that beareth life. that uneath shall thou suffer thyself for the greatness & number of sin & filth that thou shall feel in thee/ Thus behooveth the for to feel sometime if thou wilt be very meek. For I tell the soothly. If thou wilt be truly meek thou shalt think a venial sin in thyself more grievous & painful to the and greater be in thy sight sometime than great deadly sins of other men/ This is sooth to the if thou will be contemplative. for this skill/ That thing the which putteth the soul or letteth it most fro the feeling & knowing of god: oweth to be most grievous & painful to thee/ But a venyalsynne of thyself letteth the more fro the feeling & perfit love of Ihesu christ than other man's sin may do: be it never so moche seemeth it then that thou should more arise in thine own heart against thyself for to hate and dame in thyself all manner of sin which letteth the fro the sight of god/ more than against that defawtes of other men/ For if thine heart be clean of thine own sins/ soothly the sins of all other men should not dear the. And therefore if thou will find rest here & in the bliss of heaven/ after the counsel of one of the holy faders say every day what am I/ and dame thou no man/   

¶ Who should blame men's defawtes & dame 'em. & who not/ Caplm xvii  
BUt now seest thou. how may this be/ sith it is a deed of charity for to blame men of her defawtes / and for to dame 'em for her amending it is a deed of mercy/ As to this I answer as me thinketh/ that to the or to any other the which hath state and purpoos of life contemplative it falleth not for to leave the keeping of himself/ and for to behold and to blame other men of her defawtes/ but if it were full great need/ so that a man should perish but if thou blamed him/ But the men which are active. and have sovereignty & cure over other as prelate's & curates & such other: they are ●ounde by their office & by way of charity for to see and seek. and dame rightfully other men's desawtes Not of desire and delight for to chastise hem. but only for need with dread of god & in his name. for love of salvation of her souls/ Other men that are active and have no cure of other men. they are bound for to blame other men of her defawtes by the way of charity only that when the sin is deadly/ and it may not well be corrected by none other man and when he trow that he the sooner should be amended by his undertaking else it is better that we cease. That this is soothe it seemeth by saint Iohn which held the state of contemplative life. & saint peter which had the state of active-life. When our Lord in his last sowper with his disciples at the privy stirring of saint peter to saint Iohn told saint Iohn how Judas should betray him/ say't Iohn told it not to saint peter as he asked/ but he turned him and laid his h●ed upon christ is breast. and was aravysshed by love in to contemplation of God's privities. And so medefully to him/ that he forgot both Judas and saint peter/ in tokening and teaching to other men which would be cuotemplatyf. that they should dispose 'em to do the same.   

¶ Why men should worship other and low himself in her own heart under all other. Caplm xviii:  
THen seest thou here somewhat that thou shalt neither dame other men/ ne conceive against 'em wilfully none evil suspicion/ but thou shalt love 'em ne see thou no default in 'em/ and worship hemin thy heart such as leadeth in the world accyflyt/ and suffren many tribulations & temptations which thou sitting in thy house felyst nought of/ And they have full moche travail & disease for her own & other men's sustenance/ and many of 'em had well liefer serve god if they might as thou dost in bodily rest/ And nevertheless they in her worldly ●esynes flee many sins/ the which if thou were in her state thou shouldest fall in/ and they do many good deeds which thou could not do/ It is no doubt that many done thus. Which they been. thou wost not \ And therefore thou shalt worship all & set 'em in thy heart all above the as thy sovereigns/ and cast the down under her feet that thou be vilest & lowest in thine own sight: for it is no dread ne no peril to the how moche thou may low thyself beneath all other. though it were so that in God's sight thou hadst more grace than any other. But it is peril to the to high the & life thyself in thy thought wilfully above any other man/ though he were the most wretch: or the most sinful cay●yf that is in earth/ For our Lord saith. Qui se huliat exaltabitur. et qui exaltat huliatur/ Who so hieth himself. 
Luc. xiiii.  he shall be lowed. & who so lowyth himself. he shall be hied/ This part of meekness the behoveth for to have in thy beginning/ and by this & by grace shall thou come to the fulhede of it & so of all other virtues For Who so hath one virtue. he ha●h all other virtues. asmuch as thou hast of meekness. so much as thou hast of charity. of patience. & of other virtues though they been not showed outward/ Be then busy to get meekness: & hold it for it is the first & the last of all virtues/ It is the first: for it is the ground as ●aynt austin saith/ If thou think for to build an high house of virtues/ ordain that first a deep ground of meekness. Also it is the last/ for it is keeping & saving of all other virtues/ saint gregory saith/ He the gathereth virtues without meekness. he is like to him that which maketh & beareth powder of spicery in the wind/ Do thou never so many good deeds/ fast thou wake thou. Are any other good work do thou/ if thou have no meekness/ it is nought that thou dost/   

¶ How men should do that wanten the feeling of meekness in affection not dreading to much therefore/ Caplm nineteen  
Nevertheless if thou may not feel this meekness in thine heart with affection as thou wouldest do as thou may meek thyself in will by reason/ trowing that it should be so as I say/ though thou feel it not: And in that hold the a more wretch that thou may not feel soothfastly thyself as thou ar●e/ And if thou do so. though thy flesh rise there again and will not assent to thy good will. be not to much adread. but thou shalt bear & suffer the false feeling of thy flesh as a pain/ and then thou shalt despise & reprove that feeling. & break down that rising of thine heart: as thou wouldest be well paid for to be trodden & spourned under other mennesfete. And so by the grace of Ihu christ through steadfast thinking on the meekness of his precious manhood shalt thou aba●emoche the stirrings of pride/ & the virtue of meekness that was first in thy naked will shall be turned in to feeling of affection/ without which vert●e either in true will or in feeling who so dispose him to serve god in contemplatyflyf as the blind he shall stumble & he shall never come thereto/ The higher he clymyth by bodily penance/ & other virtues/ & hath not this meekness 
Greg.  the lower he falleth/ For as saint gregory saith/ He that can not perfitly despise himself/ he found never yet the meek wisdom of our Lord Ihesu cryst/   

¶ How hypocrites & heretics for lacking of meekness hyen himself in her hret above all other/ Caplm xx  
hypocrites ne heretics feel not this meekness neither in good wylne in affection/ but full dry & full cold arn her hearts & her reins fro the soft feeling of this virtue/ and in so much the ferder they been fro it. that they ween that they have it/ They gnaw on the dry bark without: but the sweet kernel of it & the inly savour may they not come to/ They show outward meekness in habit & holy speech. in lowly bearing/ & as it seemeth in many bodily and ghostly virtues/ but nevertheless in the will & in th'affection of her heart where meekness should be: it is faint/ For they dame & despysen & setten at nought other men that will not do as they done & teach/ they holden 'em either fools by vncunnynge or blinded by fleshly living And therefore life they henself upon high in her own sight above all other. weening that they live better than other: & that they have only the soothfastness of good living: & in ghostly feeling & singular grace of god both in knowing & in ghostly feeling passing other men/ And in this sight of himself riseth a delight in her hearts in the which they worship & praise himself: as there were none but they They pray len & thanken god with her lips. but in her hearts they stelen as thieves the worship & the thanking fro god. & setteth it in henself. & so they have neither meekness in feeling ne in will/ A wretched caitiff or a sinner which falleth all day. & he is sorry that he doth so though he have not meekness in affection/ he hath it in a good will/ But an heretic or an hypocrite hath neither/ For they have the condition of the pharisee/ which came as our Lord saith in the gospel with the publican in to the temple for to pray. And when he came he prayed not ne asked aught of god. for him thought he had no need. but he began to thank god and said thus/ Lord I thank the that thou givest me grace more than to other that I am not as other men be/ robbers lechours/ or other such sinners/ And he looked beside him and saw the publican which he knew for a wretch: knocking on his breast only crying after mercy/ then he thanked god that he was not such one as he was/ for Lord he said I fast twice in the week/ and I pay truly my tithes/ And when he had do. our Lord said that he go home again without grace as he came. & gate right nought/ But now sayest thou. Wherein trespassed this pharisee sith he thanked god & was sooth that he said/ as to this I answer & say that this pharisee terspassyd in asmuch as he deemed and reproved in his heart the publican which was justified of god/ And also he trespassed for he thanked god only with his mouth/ but he delighted privily & wilfully by a privy pride in himself of the yefts of god. stealing the worship & loving of god. & set it in himself/ This same condition of this pharisee soothly hath heretics and hypocrites/ They will not gladly pray & if they pray: they meek not himself knowledging truly her wretchedness/ but they make himself by a fening for to thank & love god/ & speaketh of him with her mouth/ but her delight is vain & false & not in god/ & yet they ween not so/ they can not love god/ For as the wiseman saith/ Non est specyosalaus in ore peccatoris/ It is neither fair ne seemly praising of god in the mouth of a sinner wherefore it is profitable to the and to me & to such other wretches for to leave the condition of this pharisee & feigned loving of god. and follow the plublican in lownes/ asking mercy & forgiveness of sins. and grace of ghostly virtues/ that we might afterward with a clean heart soothfastly thank him & love him/ and give him holy the worship without feigning/ For our lord askith this by his prophet/ Super quem requiescet sp̄s meus. 
Isay. ●●.  nisi super hū●lē contritum spa & trementum sermones meos/ Upon whom shall my spirit rest/ & he answereth himself and saith. Upon none but upon the meek poor & contrite in heart & dreading my words/ Then if thou have the spirit of god ruling in thy heart: have meekness and dread him/   

¶ What things men own to believe by a sicker faith/ Caplm xxi.  
THe two. Thing which the behooveth for to have is sicker troth in all chartycles of the faith & in the sacramentis of holy church/ trowing hem steadfastly with all thy will in thy heart/ and though thou feel any stirring in thy heart against any of 'em by suggestion of thine enemy for to put the in doubt of 'em be thou steadfast & not to much adread of feeling of such stirrings but forsake thine own wit without disputing or ran sakynge of 'em/ & set thy faith generally in the faith of holy church/ & charge not the stirring of thy heart/ which as the seemeth is contrary thereto/ For that stirring is not thy faith/ but the faith of holy church is thy faith/ though thou never see it ne feel it/ And bear then such stirrings patiently as a scourge of our Lord/ by the which he will cleanse thy heart & make thy faith steadfast/ Also the behoveth to love & worship in thy heart all the laws & ordinance made by prelate's & ruler's of holy church other in declaring of the faith or of the sacraments or in general of all christian men/ meekly & truly assent to 'em/ though it be so that thou know not the cause of her ordinance/ And though the think that some were unskilful/ thou shalt not dame 'em ne reprove 'em/ but worship hem all though they long but little to thee/ Ne receive thou non opinion ne fantasy ne singular conceit under colour of more holiness as some done that are not wise/ nother by thine own ymagining. ne by teaching of none other man: which contraryeth to the the least ordinance or general teaching of all holy church. And over this thou shalt hope steadfastly that thou art ordained of our Lord to be saved. as one of his chosen by his mercy/ & stir not fro this hope what so thou heryst or seest/ or what temptation thou be in/ And though thou think so y● great a wretch that thou were worthy to sink in to hell for that thou dost no good/ ne servest god as thou shouldest do/ yet hold the in this troth & in this hope/ & ask mercy. & all shall be right well/ ye & though all the devils of hell appeared in bodily likeness sleeping or waking saying to the that thou shouldest not be saved/ or all men living in earth/ or all the angels in heaven/ If it might be said to the the same/ thou shouldest not leave 'em. ne be stirred moche fro the hope of salvation. This I say to thee/ for some been so weak & so simple that when they have yeven himself all holy to serve god after her cunning if they feel any stirring within by thine casting of themmye/ or else fro without of any of the devils prophetis which men callen soothe sayers that they should not be saved/ or her state of her manner of living were not p●esaunt to god/ they been astonied & stirred with such words/ & so for vnc●nynge they fall sometime in a great h●uynes/ & as it were in a despair of salvation/ wherefore as me think it is spedful to e●ery creature which by our Lord Ihesu christ is in full will to forsake sin/ & as clearly as his conscience telleth him he suffereth no deadly sin rest in him that he ne shriveth him soon thereof. & make him to the sacraments of holy church/ for to have a trust of salvation/ And moche more than they that yeven 'em holy to god. & fleen venial sins after her might/ And on the contrary wise as perilous it is to him which lieth wittingly in deadly sin for to have trust of salvation/ & in hope of the trust will not forsake his sin ne low him truly to god & holy church.   

¶ How a stable intent is needful to these that should please god/ & discretion in bodily works. Ca xxii  
THe three thing which is needful to the for to have in thy beginning. is an hole & a stable intention. that is for to say/ A hold will & a desire only for to please god/ for that is charity/ without which all is nought that thou dost And thou shall set thin intent always for to search and travail how thou might please him. No time for to cease wilfully of good ocupation other bodily or ghostly/ Ne thou shalt not set a time in thy heart. as thus long thou wouldest serve god. & sithen to suffer thine heart wilfully fall down in to vain thoughts & idle ocupations/ weening that it were needful for saving of thy bodily kind: leaving the keeping of thy heart & good ocupation. Seeking a rest & comfort for a time outward by thy bodily wits. or inwardly vanities. as it were for recreation of thy spirit \ for it should be more sharper afterward to ghostly travail. for I trow it is not sooth/ I say not that thou may in deed perform thine intent. for oft scythes thy bodily need. e●ynge drinking sleeping & speaking & the frailty of the flesh shall let the be thou never so busy/ & hinder thee/ But I would that thy will & thy extent were always hold to travail ghostly or bodily. & no time to be idle/ but always lifting up thy heart by desire to god & to the bliss of heaven whether thou eat or drink or any other bodily travail that thou usest: asmuch as thou may wilfully leave it not. For if thou have this intent it shall make the ever quick & sharpein thy travail/ & if thou fall by frailty or negligence in any idle ocupation or vaynspeche it shall smite upon thy heart sharply as a prick & make that for to irk & be weary of all vanities/ & for to torn again hastily to inward thinking of Ihu christ. or to some good ocupation/ For anence thy bodily kind it is good for to use descresyon in eating drinking & sleeping. & in all manner bodily penance. & in long prayer by speech or in bodily feeling by great fervour of devotion other in weeping or such other/ & also in imagining of the spirit when a man feeleth no grace/ In all these works it is good to keep discretion/ for the mean is the best But in deserving of sin by keeping of thine her●: & in continue▪ desire of virtues. & the bliss of heaven/ & for to have the ghostly knowing & the loving of Ihu christ hold thou no mean/ For the more that it is of this the better it is/ For thou shalt have sin & all fleshly loves & dreads in thine heart without seeing/ And thou shalt love virtues & cleanness: & desire 'em without stinting if thou might. I say not that it is needful to salvation/ but I hope it is speedful. & if thou keep it thou shalt profit more in one year in virtues than thou shalt without this profit in vi●. years/   

¶ Of a little ●ehersynge of things said before/ & of making of offering that should be offered to god/ Caplm xxiii  
NOw I have told the first of end which thou shalt behold in thy desire/ & draw toward it as nigh as thou may/ Also I have said the of the beginning what the needeth for to have/ as meekness siker troth/ & an hole intent to god/ upon the which ground thou shalt set thy ghostly house by prayer & by meditation & other ghostly virtues/ Thenne say. I to the thus/ pray thou or think thou. or any other deed that thou dost good by grace/ or bad by thine own freilte/ or what that thou felyst seest or hearest: smellest or savourest without forth in thy bodily wits/ or within in imagination knowing or feeling in thy reason/ bring it all within the troth & the rules of holy church/ & cast all in the mortar of meekness/ & break it small with a pestle of dread of god & torugh the powder of all this in the fire of desire. and offer it so to god/ and I tell the forsooth well shall that offering like in the sight of thy Lord Ihu/ and sweet shall the smoke of that fire smell to the face of thy Lord Ihesu/ This is for to say/ draw all this that thou felyst within the truth of holy church. and break thyself in meekness/ And offer the desire of thine heart only to thy Lord Ihu for to have him and nought else but him/ And if thou do thus/ I hope by the grace of christ thou shalt never be overcome by thine enemy/ This taught us saint paul when he said thus \ sive manducatis sive bibitis. 
i: corum io.  sive quicquid aliut facitis. Oina in nomine dni facite/ Whether ye eat or drink/ or what manner of deed that ye do/ all do ye in the name of our Lord Ihu christ/ for sakynge yourself/ and offer it up to him/ means which thou shalt most use as I have before said arne prayer & meditation first I shall show the alytyl of prayer and after of meditation.   

¶ Of prayer that is speedful to get cleanness of heart & virtues/ Caplm xxiiii  
PRayer is profit & spedful to use for to get cleanness of heart by destroying of sin & receiving of virtues/ not that thou shouldest by thy prayer make our Lord know what thou desirest For he knoweth well enough what the needeth/ but for to make the able & ready by thy prayer that thou might receive as a clean vessel. the grace that our Lord will freely give to thee/ which grace may not be felt till thou be assayed & purified by the fire of desire in devout prayer. For though it be so that prayer is not the cause for which our Lord giveth grace nevertheless it is a way by the which grace freely yeven cometh to a soul/   

¶ How men should pray/ and whereon the point of her thought shall be set in prayer/ Caplm xxv  
BUt now desirest thou peradventure for to know how thou shouldest pray/ And upon what thing thou should set the point of thy thought in thy prayer/ And also what prayer were best for the for to use/ As to the first I answer and say thus/ That when thou art wakened of thy sleep/ & ready for to pray. thou shalt feel thyself fleshly and heavy ever dounwarde to vain thoughts. other of dreams or fantasies or of unskilful business of the world or of thy flesh/ Then behoveth the for to quicken thine heart by prayer/ & stir it as much as thou may to some devotion/ And in thy prayer that thou set not thine heart in any bodily thing/ but all thy travail shall be for to draw in thought fro beholding of all bodily thing/ that thy desire might be as it were naked and bare fro all earthly things/ ever upward stying unto Ihesu christ. Whom thou may never see bydely as he is in his godhead. ne by bodily likeness in imagination/ But thou may chrugh devout & continual beholding of the meekness of his precious manhood feel the goodness of the grace of his godhead: when thy desire is eased & helped and as it were made free fro all fleshly thoughts & affections & is moche life up by ghostly might in to ghostly savour & delight in him of his ghostly presence. & hold therein moche of the time of thy prayer so that thou hast no great mind of earthly thing/ or else the mind grieveth the but lityl/ if thou can pray thus/ than canst thou pray well For prayer is nought else but a stying desire of the heart in to god: by withdrawing of the heart fro all earthly thoughts/ And so is prayer likened to a fire/ which of his own kind leaveth the lownesses of the earth/ & always styeth up into thayer. Right so desire in prayer when it is to wchyd & lightened of the ghostly sire which is god. it is ever upstyenge to him that it came fro/   

¶ Of the fire of love/ Caplm: xxvi  
ALL men y● speaken of the fire of love known not well what it is/ for what it is I can not tell the save this I may tell thee: that it is neither bodily. ne bodily feeled/ A soul may feel it in prayer or in devotion which soul is in the body/ but he feeleth it not with no bodily wit/ For though it be so that it work in a soul. the body may torn in to an heat/ & as it were chaffed for liking travail of the spirit/ nevertheless the fire of love is not bodily. for it is only in the ghostly desire of the soul. This is no doubt to no man or woman that feeleth devotion/ But some been simple & ween by cause it is called fire that it should be hot as bodily fire is & for thy I say that I have said   

¶ That the certain prayer in speech ordained of god & of holy church is best to hem y● been new turned to god & to devotion/ Ca xxvii  
NOw as for the other for to know what prayer were best for to use/ I shall say as me think Thou shalt understand that there been three manner of prayers. The first is prayer of speech made specially of god as is the pater noster: and made also more generally by th'ordinance of holy church as matin's evensong & hours. And also made by devout men of other special sayings as to our Lord & to our lady/ & to his saints/ As to this manner of prayer which is called vocal me thinketh unto the that art religious & by custom & rule art bound for to say mateyns and hours I hold it most speedful for to say 'em as devoutly as thou mayst. For when thou sayest thy mateyns/ thou sayest also thy pater noster principally & other more/ For to stir the to more devotion was it ordained for to say also psalms & ympnes & such other which been made by the holy ghost as the pater noster is/ And therefore thou shalt not say 'em hastily & recklessly as thou were evil apaid that thou art bound with 'em/ but thou shalt gather thine affection & thy thought for to say 'em sadly & more devoutly than any othrer special prayer of devotion. Trowing forsooth that sith it is the prayer of holy church/ there is no prayer so profitable to the which is vocal for to use commonly as that is. And so shall thou put away all hevanes/ & by grace thou shalt turn thy need in to a good will: & thy bond in to a great freedom. that it shall no letting be to the of ghostly occupation And after this thou may if thou will use other. as thy pater noster. or any such other. & of these in the which thou feelest most savour & most ghostly con for in/ that hold I best to the. this manner of prayer is spedful commonly to every man in the beginning of his conversion for to use most of any other ghostly ocupation \ For a man in the beginning is rude & boisterous and fleshly but if he have the grace/ & can not think no ghostly thoughts in meditation. for his soul is not yet cleansed fro the old sin/ & therefore I hope it is most speedful for to use this manner of prayer. as for to say his pater noster & his ave: & to read upon his sawter/ & such other ¶ For he that can not run lightly by ghostly prayer. for his feet of knowing & of loving been seek for sin. him needeth to have a syker staff for to hold him by/ This staff is special prayer of speech ordained by god and holy church in help of men's souls. By the which prayer the soul of a fleshly man that is always falling downward in to worldly thoughts & fleshly affections shall be life up fro hem & be holden by it as by a staff, fed with sheet words of the prayer as a child with milk/ & ruled by it that he fall not in to errors ne fantasies by his vain meditations/ For in this manner of prayer is no deceit who so will steadfastly & meekly travail therein/   

¶ What peril is to men that in the beginning of her torninge to god leaveth the common prayer of th'ordinance of of ●oly church/ & yeven 'em to meditation. Ca xxviii  
THen may thou see by this that these men if any be such that in the beginning of her conversion or soon after when they have felt a little ghostly comfort other in devotion or in knowing & are not yet stabled therein: they leave such prayer vocal to soon & other bodily exercise/ & give them holy to mydytation they been not wise/ for oftsythes in her rest for her meditations they imagine & think on ghostly things after her own wit & follow her bodily feeling/ & have not yet received grace thereto. & therefore they by discretion oftesythes overtravayle her wits. & breaken her bodily might. & so they fall in to fantatasyes & syngler conceits or in opyn errors: & let the grace that god giveth hem by such vanities: the cause of all this is a privy pride of himself. as when they have felt a little grace they ween it so moche passing other that they fall in vainglory & so they lose it/ If they wist how little it were that they feel in regard of that the godyeuith or may give. they should be ashamyd to speak aught thereof but it were in great need/ Of this manner of prayer by speech. shekyth david in the ●awter thus/ Uoce mea ad dnm clamavi. 
P. xiiii  voce mea ad dnm depcatus sum. Loo david the prophet for to stir other men to pray both with heart & with mouth said/ with thy voice I cried to god. & with my speech I besought our Lord/   

¶ Of the two. Manner of prayer that is in speech not certain but followeth the stirring of devotion. Caplm xxix  
THe two. Manner of prayer is by speech/ but it is not of any certain special all saying/ And this is when a man or a woman feeleth grace of devotion by the ye●t of god. & in his devotion speaketh to him as he were bodily in his presence with such words as acordeth most to his stirring for the tyme. & as cometh to his mind after divers rewards which he feeleth in his heart/ either rehearsing his sins & his wretchedness. or the malice & the sleights of the enemy/ or else the mercy & the goodness of god/ And with that he crieth with desire of heart & with speech of mouth to our Lord for succour & for help. as a man that were in peril among his enemies. or in sickness showing his ●ores to god as to a leche/ saying as david said: 
P. c. iz. con P. xl  Eripe me de inimicis me is deus meus/ A Lord deliver me of mine enemies/ Or else thus/ Sana Eccliam meam qr peccave tibi/ A Lord he'll my soul. for I have sinned against thee/ Or such other as cometh to mind/ And also him thinketh so moche goodness & grace & mercy in god that him lykith with great affection of the heart for to love him & thank him by such words & psalms as acordeth to the loving & praising of god. 
. P.  as david said. Confitemini dno qm bonus qm in sclm mina eius. Love ye & praise our Lord. for he is good. & by such other as he is stirred to say.   

¶ That the two. Manner of paryer pleaseth moche god. & maketh a man to have him in body as he were drunk. & maketh him in soul to be wounded with the sword of love/ Caplm thirty  
THis manner of prayer moche pleaseth god. for it is only of the affection of the heart/ & therefore it goth never unsped without some grace/ this prayer longeth to the two. part of contemplation as I have said before Who so hath this yeft of god reverently/ him behooveth for the time to flee presence & company of all men: & to be alone that he be not letted/ who so have it hold it while he may/ for it may not long last in the fervour. For if grace come plenteously. it is travailous wonderfully to the spirit: though it be liking/ And it is much wasting to the bodily kind who so moche use it/ For it maketh the body if grace come mightily for to stir & turn here & there as a man that were mad or drunken & could have no rest/ this is a point of the passion of love. y● which by great violence & mastery breaketh down all lusts & likings of any earthly thing/ & it woundeth the soul with the blissful sword of love. that the body falleth down & may not bear it This touching is of so great might that the most vicious or fleshly man living in earth: if he were well touched once mightily with this sharp sword/ he should be right sad & sober a great while after: & loath all y● lusts & likings of his flesh: & all early things which he had most delight in/   

¶ How the fire of love wasteth all flesshli lusts. as other fire wasteth hodely things/ Caplm xxxi  
OF this manner of feeling speaketh the prophet jeremy thus/ Et factus est in cord meo quasi ignis estuans clausus qm in ossibus meis. 
Trent.  & defeci ferre non sustinens/ This is thus moche to understand: The love & the feeling of god was made in my heart not fire/ but as fire glowing/ For as bodily fire burneth & wasteth all bodily thing where it cometh/ right so ghostly fire/ as is that love of god brenneth & wasteth all fleshly loves & likings in a man's soul/ And this fire is stokyn in my bones/ as the prophet saith of himself. That is for to say/ This love fulfyllyth the mights of my soul. as mind reason and will of grace & ghostly sweetness/ as marrow fyllyth full the bone/ & that within. and not without in the wits. Nevertheless it is so mighty within that it smiteth out in to the body & maketh all the body quake & tremyse. It is so far fro the bodily kind & so uncouth that he can no skill on it. & may not bear it/ but falleth & falleth down as the prophet saith/ And therefore our Lord temperith it. & withdraweth the fervour: & suffereth the heart to fall in to a sobyrte of more softness/ who can pray thus oft. he speedeth soon in his travail/ He shall get more of virtues in a little time than some man without this or another as good shall get in long tyme. for all the bodily penance that he might do \ And who hath this. it needeth not for to charge the bodily kind with more penance than it beareth/ if he have it oft   

¶ Of the third manner of prayer that is only in the heart without speech outward/ Caplm xxxii  
THe three manner of prayer is only in the heart without speech by grace rest & softness of the body & of the soul/ A clean heart him behoveth to have that shall pray well thus. For it is of such men & women that by long travail bodily & ghostly/ or else by such sharp smytynges of love as I have before said comen into rest of spirit/ so that her affection is turned in to ghostly savour/ that they mowenygh continually pray in her heart/ and love & praise god withowt great letting of temptations or of vanities. as I have before said in the second part of contemplation/ Of this manner of prayer saith saint paul thus/ name si orem lingua: spiritus meus orat. 
Corum xiiii  mens autem mesine fructu est. Quidergo/ Orabo et spritu orabo & mente. psallam spiritu psallam & mente/ That is to say/ if I pray with my tongue by the will of spirit & by travail/ the prayer is medeful. but my soul is not fed/ For it feeleth not the fruit of ghostly sweetness by understanding What shall I then do said saint paul/ And he answereth & saith/ I shall pray by travail & desire of the spirit/ And I shall pray also more inwardly in my spirit without travail in ghostly savour & sweetness of the love & the sight of god/ by the which sight & feeling of love my soul is fed/ Thus as I understand saint paul could pray/ Of this manner of prayer speaketh our Lord in holy writ by figure thus ¶ Ignis in altari meo semper ardebit. 
Levit. con,  & cotidie sacerdos surgens mane subiciet ligna ut ignis non extinguatur/ This is for to say/ The tire of love shall ever be light in the soul of a devout & clean man or woman/ the which is the altar of our Lord/ And they priest shall every day at morn lay to sticks & nourish the fire/ That is to say/ This man shall by holy psalms: clean thoughts. & fervent desire nourish the fire of love in his heart that it go no tout in any time/ This test our Lord giveth to some of his servants as it were a reward of her travail. and a shadow of the love which they shall have in the bliss of heaven/   

¶ How men should do that been travailed with vain thoughts in her prayers. Ca xxxiii  
BUt now seest thou that I speak over high to the in this manner of prayer/ for it is no mastery to me for to say it/ for it is no mastery to me sayest that thou canst not pray thus devoutly ne so holy in heart as I speak of For when thou wouldest have the mind of thine heart upward to god in thy prayer. thou felyst so many thoughts in vain of thine own deeds before done or what thou shalt do/ & of other menens deeds/ and such many other/ letting & taryengne so y● thou mayst neither feel savour ne rest ne devotion in thy saying/ and oft scythes the more thou travailest to keep thine heart. the ferder it is fro thee: & the harder: sometime fro the beginning to the last end: that the think it is but lost all that thou dost/ And unto this that thou sayest that I speak to high to the of prayer/ I grant well that I speak otherwise than I can or may do/ nevertheless I say it for this intent/ that thou sholdeest know how we ought to pray if we died well/ And sithen we may not do so/ that we know thenne our feebleness meekly. and cry god mercy/ Our Lord bade thus himself when he said ●Diliges dnm deum tuum ex toto cord tuo: 
Mxxii  ex tota anima tua. & exorimbꝰ viribus ●uis/ Thou shalt love god of all thine heart & all thy soul. & all thy might/ It is Impossible to any man for to fulfil this bidding so fully as it is said. living in ensearch/ And yet neverthekes our Lord bade us for to love so for this entenct as saint bernard saith/ that we should know thereby our feebleness/ and then meekly cry after mercy/ and we ●hal have it. Nevertheless I shall tell the as me thinketh in this asking/ what thou shalt pray make thine intent & thy will in the beginning as hole and as clean to god as thou mayst shortly in thy mind/ & thenne begin & do as thou mayst. And though thou be never so much letted ayents thy first will. be not adread. ne to angry with thyself/ ne inpacyent ayents god: that he giveth the not the savour of ghostly sweetness with devotion as the thinketh that he giveth to other creatures/ But see thereby thine own feebleness: & bear it easily/ holding in thine own sight thine own prayer feeble as it is with mekeness of heart/ trusting also sickerly in the mercy of our Lord that he shall make it good & profitable the more than thou knowest or feelest/ For wite thou well that thou art excused of thy debt. & thou shalt have meed for it as for an other good deed that thou dost in charity though thine heart were not thereupon in the doing/ therefore do that longeth to thee. and suffer our Lord to give what he will: and teach him not. And though thou think thyself reckless & negligent/ & as thou were in great default for such things/ nevertheless yet shalt thou for this default & all other venyals which may not be eschewed in this wretched life life up thine heart to god/ knowledging thy wretchedness/ & cry mercy with a good trust of forgiveness & strive no more therewith: ne hang no longer thereupon as thou wouldest by mastery not feel such wretchedness. Leave of & go to some other good deed bodily or sthostly/ and think for to do better another time/ But though thou fall on another time in the same ye an hundred times/ ye a thousand times/ yet do as I have said: and all shall be well/ Ferder more a soul that never may find rest of heart in prayer/ but all her life time is strivybng with her thoughts and tarrieth and trowbleth with 'em. if she keep her meekness and charity in other sides/ she shall have full moche meed in heaven for her good travail.   

¶ Of medication of sinful men after that they been holy turned to god/ Caplm xxxiiii  
NOw of meditation shall I tell the a little as me thinketh. Thou shalt understand that in meditations may not certain rule well be set every man for to keep/ for they are in free yeft of our Lord after the divers dysposinges of chosen solwles/ and after that state that they been in/ and also after that they profiten in virtues and in her estate. So he increaseth her meditations both in ghostly knowing and loving of y●. For who so is every ylike wise in knowing of god & ghostly things it seemeth that he waxeth but a little in the love of god/ and that may be showed opynly in tha postles. When they in that day of pentecost were fulfilled with bren̄ing love of the holy ghost. they were made neither fools nefoltie/ but they were made wonder wise both in knowing & speaking of god & of ghostly things/ asmoches as man might have in flesh living Thus speaketh holy wryth of 'em/ Repleti sunt omnes spu sc●ō. et ceperunt loqui magnalia dei/ They were fulfilled of the holy ghost and they began to speak that great marvels of god/ and all that knowing they had by ravysshenge in love of the holy ghost/ divers meditations there been/ which our Lord putteth in a man's heart: So me shall I tell as me thinketh for this intent/ If thou feel any of them that thou shouldest the better travail in hem/ In the beginning of convercy on of such a man that hath be much foiled with worldly or fleshly synns/ commonly his thought is most upon his sins with great compunction & sorrow of heart/ with great weeping and many tears of the eye/ meekly & busily asking mercy & foryenenes of god for 'em/ And if he be to wchyd sharply for our Lord will make him soon clean/ him shall think that his sins are ever in his sight so fowl & so horrible that uneath shall he mow bear himself/ And though he shrove him never so clearly/ yet shall he find fighting & fretting and biting of his conscience that him shall think that he is not shriven right. And uneath shall he mow have any rest/ in so much that he should not endure such traveylene were it that our Lord of his mercy comforteth him sometime as he will by great devotion of his passion or of some other as he will give it. Upon this manner worketh our Lord in some men's hearts more or less as he will/ And all this is the great mercy of our Lord that not only will foryeve the sin or the trespass/ but he will both forgive the trespass and the pain for it in purgatory for such a little pain here of biting of conscience/ And also if he will dispose a man to receive any special yeft of the love of god/ him behooveth first to be scoured & cleansed by such a fire of conpunction for all the great sins before done/ Of this manner travail speaketh david in many places of the sawter/ and specially in the psalm/ 
Pli:  Miserere mei deus/   

¶ That the meditation of the manhood of christ or of his passion is yeven freely of the holy ghost/ And how it shall be known when it is yeven/ Caplm xxxv  
ANd then sometime after this travail. and sometime with al. such a man or else another the which by grace of god hath be kept in Innocence/ our Lord giveth a meditation of his manhood/ as of his birth or of his passion. and of the compassion of our lady saint marry/ when this meditation is made by the holy ghost/ then it is right profitable and gracious. And that thou shalt wite by this token/ when it is so that thou art stirred to a meditadyon in god/ & thy thought is suddenly drawn out fro all worldly and fleshly things and the thinketh as thou seest in thy soul thy Lord Ihesu in a bodily likeness as he was in earth/ and how he was taken of the Jews and bound as a thief beaten and despised/ scourged and deemed to death/ How lowly he bore the cross upon his back and how cruelly he was veiled thereupon/ Also of the crown of thorns upon his heed/ and of the sharp spear that sticked him to the heart/ & thou in this ghostly sight felyst thin heart stirred to so great compassion & pity of thy Lord Ihesu that thou mornest and wepest and criest with all the mights of thy body and of thy soul/ wondering the goodness and the love. the patience and the mkenes of our Lord Ihesu/ that he would for so sinful a caitiff as thou art suffer so moche pain/ And nevertheless thou felyst so much goodness & mercy in our Lord that thine heart riseth up in to a love & a gladness of him with many sweet tears: having great trust of foryeves of the sins & of salvation of thy soul by the virtue of this precious passion/ that when the mind of Christ's passion or any point of his manhood is thus made in thine heart by such a ghostly sight/ with devout affection answering thereto/ wite thou well then that it is not of thine own working. ne feigning of no wicked spirit/ but by the grace of the holy ghost For it is an opening of the ghostly eye in to christ's manhood. 
Bern.  And it may be called the fleshly love of god/ as saint bernard calleth it/ In as moche as it is set in the fleshly kind of christ/ And it is right good and a great help in destroying of great sins/ and a good way to come to virtues/ and so after to contemplation of the godhead/ For a man shall not come to ghostly light in contemplation of Christ's godhead/ but if he come first in imagination by bitterness and by compassion/ and by steadfast thinking of his manhood/ Thus saint paul died. first he said thus/ Nichil indicavi me scire inter vos. 
p. corum.. con.  nisi ihm xpm & hunt crucifixum/ I showed you right nought that I couth. but Ihesu christ. and him crucified/ As if he had said \ My knowing and my trust is only in the passion of christ/ And therefore said he thus also. 
Gal. con  Micht autem absit gloriari nisi in cruce dni nostri thū crysti/ Forboden be fro me all manner of joy & liking but in the cross and in the passion of our Lord Ihesu christ/ 
p corum i  And nevertheless afterward he said thus/ Predicamus vobis xpm dei vircutem et dei sapienciam/ As who saith/ first I preached of the manhood & the passion of christ/ Now I preach to you of the godhead/ As thus That christ is the might of god/ and the endless wisdom of god/   

¶ That the meditation of the passion of christ is with drawn fro 'em that it is yeven to oft scythes for dyves' causes/ Caplm xxxvi  
THis manner of meditation a man hath not always when he would/ but when our Lord will give it/ Unto some men and women he giveth it all their life time by scythes when he visiteth hem/ As so me men be so tender in her affection that when they here men speak/ or else that they thinken of his precious passion. her hearts melten in devotion/ And arne fed and comforted against all manner temptations of the enemy/ And y● is a great yeft of god/ To some men he giveth it first plenteously/ & afterward he withdraweth it for divers causes. Other if a man wax proud of it in his own sight/ or for some other sin/ by the which he maketh himself unable for to receive y● grace/ Or else our Lord withdrawith it/ & all other devotions sometime fro a man or a woman/ for he will suffer him to be assayed by temptations of his enemy/ And so will he dispose a man for to know and feel himself more ghostly/ For he said so himself to his disciples/ Expedit vobis ut ego vadam/ Si enim non abiero: 
joh. icon  peraclitus non venit ad vos/ It is speedful to you that I go fro you bodily/ for if I go not the holy ghost may not come to you. For as long as he was with hem they loved him moche/ but it was fleshly in his manhood/ And therefore it was speedful to hem that he should withdraw the bodily form fro her sight/ that the holy ghost might come to hem/ & teach 'em for to love him & know him more ghostly/ as he died on the day of pentecost. Right so it is speedful to some that our Lord withdraw a little the bodily & the fleshly likeness fro the eye of the soul that the heart might be set & fixed more busily in ghostly desire/ & seeking of his godhead   

¶ Of divers temptations of the fiend. Caplm xxxvii  
Nevertheless it behooveth a man to suffer many temptations first/ And these temptations fallen oftsythes to some men & women after when comfort is withdrawn/ upon divers manners by malice of the enemy/ As thus/ when the devil perceiveth devotion much withdrawn. that the soul is left as it were naked for a time/ then sendeth he to some men temptations of lechery of gluttony. so hot & so brenning/ that 'em shall think that they feeled never none so grievous in all her life time before when they gave hem most to sin. In so much that they shall think it impassable for to stand long and suffer that they ne shall needs fall but they have help/ and therefore have they thenne moche sorrow/ both for lacking of comfort and devotion which they were wont to have/ And they have much dread of falling fro god by such open sins/ And all this worketh the devil at the sufferance of god for to done hem forthynke her good purposes & turn again to sin as they were wont to do/ But who so will abide a while and suffer a little pain/ and not turn again to sin for no thing the hand of our Lord is full near/ and helpyth right soon. For he keepeth him full sickerly/ and the man wot not how as the prophet david saith in the person of our Lord. Cum ipso sum in tribulation. 
P. ꝯ0.  eripiam cum & glorificabo eum/ I am with him in his tribulation/ & in temptation I shall deliver him/ and I shall make him glorious in my bliss/ Some men he tempteth by ghostly sins maliciously. as by mystro wing of the faith or of the sacrament of our lords blessed body/ Also of despair or of blasphemy in our Lord or any of his saints/ or loathing of her life/ or bitterness or unskilful heaviness/ or of to much dread of himself and of her body if they put hem holy to God's service/ Some men he tompteth also. and namely solytory men & women by dreads & ugliness. & quakynges and shakynges/ either appearing to 'em in bodily likeness or else in imagining sleeping & waking/ And tarrieth 'em so that uneath may they have any rest/ And also on many other wyses he tempteth. more than I can or may say/   

¶ Of divers remedies against temptations of the fiend/ Caplm xxxviii.  
Remedy to such men & women y● arne thus travailed. or any otherwise. may be this/ first that they will put all her trust in our Lord Ihu christ/ and bring to mind often his passion: and the pains y● he suffered for us/ and that they thenne trow steadfastly that all sorrows & travail that they suffer in such temptations/ which to an uncunning man seemeth a forsaking/ of god/ That it is no reproving ne no forsaking/ but assaying for her better/ either for cleansing of her sins before done/ or for great increasing of her meed & disposing to moche grace/ if they will suffer a while/ and stand fast that they torn not again wilfully to sin/ Another remedy is. that they dread not ne charge not as for a sin. ne set not at heart such malicious stirrings of despair or of blasphemy or of the sacrament. or any such other that were ugly for to here/ For the feeling of these temptations fileth the soul no more than if they heard an hound berke. or a flee bite/ They tarryen the soul/ but they apeyre not the soul if a man wyldyspyse 'em. and set 'em at nought/ For it is not good for to strive with 'em for to put 'em out by mastery/ For the more that they strive with such thoughts. the more they cleave to hem/ And therefore they shallen as much as they may draw out the thought fro 'em/ and set it to some other occupation/ And yet if they will ever hang upon 'em/ then it is good to hem that they be not angri ne heavy to feel hem/ but with a good trust in god bear 'em as it were a bodily pain & a scourge of our Lord for cleansing of her sins. as long as he will for his love/ as he was scourged & bore the cross for her love/ And over this it is good to hem for to show her hearts to some wise man in the beginning before they been rooted in the here/ & that they leave her own wit and follow the counsel of him/ And that they show 'em not lightly to none uncunning or worldly man which never felt such temptations/ For they might lightly bring a simple soul in to despair by vncunnynge of himself/ Of these manner of temptations by the which a man seemeth forsaken of god and is not In comfort of 'em that be tempted our Lord saith thus by his prophet/ In modico dereliquite. 
Isa liv  & in momento indignacionis me percussite/ et in miseracionibus meis multos congregabote/ In a little I forlefte the. That is to say. I suffer the for to be tarried a little And in a point of my wrath I smote the that is to say/ all the penance & the pain y● thou sufferest here is but a point of my wrath in regard of the pain of hell or of purgatory And yet in my many fold mercies I shall gather together thee/ when the thinketh that thou art forsaken. 
job xi.  then shall I of my great mercy gather the again to me/ For when thou weenest that thou art as it were lost then shall our Lord help the as Job saith/ Cunte consumptum putaveris: orieris ut lucifer et habebis fiducian That is to say. When thou art brought so low by travail in temptation that the thinketh none help ne no comfort. but as thou were a forloor man/ yet stand stefly in hope & pray god. & soothly thou shalt suddenly spring up as the day star in gladness of heart. and have a very trust in god as Job saith/   

¶ How that god hem that he chooseth he suffrth to be tarried & tempted and after ward comforteth hem & stableth 'em in grace/ Caplm xxxix.  
ANd also in comfort of such men that they should not despair in temptation. 
Eec iiii  the wise man saith thus of our Lord/ In temptacōne ambular cum eo/ In primis elegit eum timorem & metum & approbacionem inducit super illum. et cruciabit illum in tribulacione doctrine sue donec temptet illum in cogitacionibus suis. et credet anime illius. ad iter directum adducet illum. et firmabit illum & letificabit illum/ et denudabit absconditasua illi. et the zaurisabit super illum scienciam & intellectum justice/ This is thus moche for to say/ This wise man for he would that no man should despair in temptation. in comfort of hem saith thus/ In temptation our Lord for saketh not a man. but he gooth with him fro the beginning in to the last end/ For he saith/ first he chooseth him/ And that is when he draweth a man to him by comfort of devotion/ And afterward sorrow & dread & assaying he bringeth upon him. And that is. When he withdraweth devotion and suffereth him to be tempted/ And he saith that he turmenteth him in tribulation until he have well assayed him in his thoughts/ And until a man will put all his trust in him fulli. And then after this our Lord bringeth him out in to the right way/ and festenyth him to him and gladdeth him/ and sithen she with him his pryvytees/ and giveth him his treasure of knowing & understanding of right wysnes/ By these words of holy wryt may thou see the these temptations or any other be they never so ugly to a man y● by grace is in full will to forsake sin arne speedful & profitable if he will suffer as he may & abide God's will. & not turn again to sin which he hath forsaken for no sorrow ne pain ne dread o● such temptations/ but ever stand still in travail & in prayer with good hope/ Our lord of his endless goodness having pity & mercy of all his creatures when he seeth time he layeth to his hand & smiteth down the devil & all his power & easeth 'em of her travail/ And putteth a way all dreads & sorrows and darkness out of her hearts/ and bringeth in to her souls light of grace/ and openyth the sight of the soul for to see that all the travail that they had it was speedful to hem/ giving to hem also a new ghostly might to againstand all the fondynges of the fiend/ & all deadly sins without great travail/ and leadeth 'em in to a sadness of good virtues living/ In the which if they been meek he keepeth 'em unto her last end. and then he taketh 'em all holy to him/ This thing I say to the if thou be tarried or travailed with any such manner of temptations/ be not tomoche adread/ but do as I have said and better if thou may/ And I hope by the grace of our Lord Ihesu christ thou shalt never be over come by thine enemy.   

¶ That a man should not give him to idleness ne lightly leave the grace that is yeven him of god. Caplm xl  
AFter this when thou art escaped such temptations or else our Lord hath so kept the as he doth many by his mercy that thou hast not be tarried moche with none such/ Then it is good to the that thou turn not thy rest in to ydylnesse For there is many a man y● taketh rest upon him to soon. But thou shalt if thou wilt begin a new game & a new travail/ And that is for to enter within in to thine own soul by meditation for to know what it is/ And by the knowing thereof to come to the ghostly knowing of god/ For saint austin saith/ 
Aug.  By the knowing of myself I shall heat the knowing of god/ I say not that it is needful to the & debt for to travail so ne to none other man/ but he feel him stirred by grace as he were called thereto/ For our Lord giveth divers gifts where so he will/ not to one man all/ ne to all men one/ save charity which is common to all men/ and therefore if a man or a woman have received a yeft of god. as devotion in prayer/ or in the passion of christ/ Or any other be it never so little/ leave it not to soon for none other/ but if he feel soothfastly a better/ But hold that he hath and travail therein stably/ ever desiring a better when god will give it/ nevertheless if that be withdrawn somewhat and he seeth a better/ And feeleth his heart stirred thereto. Then seemeth it a calling of our Lord to the better/ And than it is time that he follow after for to get it. And fulfil it as swiftly as he may/   

¶ That a man should know the measure of his gift that he may desire and take a better when god will give it/ Caplm xli  
OUr holy faders here before taughten us that we should know the measure of our gift/ And upon that work not taking upon us by feigning more than we have in feeling/ We may ever desire the best. but we mow not ever work the best. for we yet have not received that grace/ a hound that runneth after the haar only for he seeth other hounds run when he is weary he resteth him or turneth him home again But if he run for he seeth the haar. he will not space for weariness till he have gotten it. Right so it is ghostly. who so hath grace be it never so little. and leaveth wilfully the working thereof. and maketh himself to travail in another which he hath not yet. only for he seeth or heareth that other men died so. soothly he may run a while till he be weary. And then shall he turn home again. And but he be ware. he may hurt his feet by some fantasies or that he come home But he that worketh in such grace as he hath. And desireth by prayer meekly & lastingly after more. And after feeleth his heart stirred for to follow the grace which he desired. he may sickerly ren if he keep meekness/ And therefore desire of god as much as thou may/ without measure of discretion of all that longeth to his love or to heaven bliss/ For who so can most desire of god/ most shall feel of him/ But werkyth as thou mayst: and cry god mercy for that thou mayst not/ Thus it seemeth saint paul said/ Unusquisque habet domum suum a deo. 
p corum. Seven.  Alius autem sic: alius vero sic/ 
eph. iiii  Itm̄/ Unicutque nostrum data est gracia scdm mensuram donacionis cristi Itm̄ divisiones granrum sunt. 
p. corum. It.  Alii datursermo sapiency. alii sermo sciency. etc./ Itm̄/ Ut sciamus que a deo donata sunt nobis/ saint paul faith that every man hath his yeft of god/ one thus. and another thus/ For to every man that shall be saved is yeven a grace after the measure of Christ's yeft/ And therefore it is speedful that we know the yefts which be yeven us of god that we might work in hem/ for by those we shall be saved as some by bodily works: and by deeds of mercy/ some by great bodily penance/ some by sorrow & weeping for her sins all her life time/ some by preaching & teaching/ some by divers graces & yefts of devotion shall be saaf & come to bliss/   

¶ That a man should travail to know his own soul and the mights thereof/ and break down the ground of sin therein/ Caplm xlii  
Nevertheless there is one work which is needful & speedful to travail in/ And I hope an high plain way as much as may be in man's work to contemplation/ And that is a man for to enter in to himself for to know his own soul/ and the mights thereof/ The fairness and the foulness of it/ In this inward beholding thou shalt mow see the worship & the dignity which it should have by kind of the first making/ and thou shalt see the wretchedness and the mischief which thou art fall in for sin And of this sight shall come a desire with great longing in thine heart for to recover again y● dignity & worship which thou hast lost/ Also thou shalt feel a loathing & a grysing of thyself with a great will for to destroy & bear down thyself and all things that let the fro that dignity and that joy/ This is a ghostly travail hard and sharp in the beginning who so will quickly travail there in/ For it is a travail in the soul against the ground of all sins little and much. Which ground is nought else but a falls misruled love of man to himself/ Out of this love as saint austin saith springeth all manner of sin deadly and venial. And soothly until this ground be well ransaken and deep doluyn/ and as it were near dried up by outcasting of all fleshly and worldly dreads and loves/ a soul may never feel ghostly the brenning love of Ihesu christ/ ne have the homlynes of his gracious presence/ ne have clear sight of ghostly things by light of understanding/ This is the travail that a man behoveth to draw his heart and his mind fro the fleshly love and the liking of all earthly creatures/ fro vain thoughts and fro fleshly imaginations. And out fro the love and the vicious feeling of himself/ that the soul shall mow no rest find in no fleshly thoughts/ ne earthly affection/ then in as much as the soul may not find his gholy rest in the love and in the sight of Ihesu christ/ it behooveth nedelynges to sister pain/ this travail is somdelyche straight and narrow/ And nevertheless I hope it is the way which christ teached to hem y● would he his perfy●e lovers in the gospel saying thus/ Contēd●ie i●trare per angustam portam/ qm a●●a est via que ducit ad vitam. 
Luc. xiii.  et pauci inveniunt eam/ strive ye for to enter by a straight gate/ for the way that leadeth to heaven is narrow. and few men findeth it/ And how strait this way is our Lord telleth in another place thus/ Si quis vult venire post me abneget semetipmm & tolat crucensuam & sequa● me/ Itm̄. 
M. xvi  Qui odit Eccliam svam in hoc mundo/ in vitam eternam custoditean/ That is to say/ who so will come after me/ forsake himself & hate his own sou●e. That is to say/ Forsake all fleshly love and hate his own fleshly life/ and vain liking of all his bodily wits for love of me And take the cross/ That is to say/ suffer y● pain of this a while/ and then follow me/ that is to say. in contemplation of my manhood & of my godhead/ This is a straight way & a narrow that no bodily thing may pass thorough it/ for it is a sleeng of all sin as saint paul saith 
Cal. iii / Mortificate membra vestra que sunt super terram/ immundiciam libidinem concupiscenciam malam/ slay your membres upon earth/ not the membres of the body but of the soul/ as uncleanness lust & unskilful love of yourself & to earthly things/ therefore as thy travail hath been here before for to againstand bodily sins & open temptations of the enemy as it were fro without. right so the behooveth now in this ghostly work within thyself for to destroy & break the ground of sin in thyself asmuch as thou may/ And that thou might the more readily bring it about/ I shall tell the as me thinketh/   

¶ How a man shall know the wretchedness and the worship of his soul that it had first of/ And what wretchedness and mischief it is fall in for sin/ Capitulum/ xliii  
THe soul of a man is a life made of three mights mind reason & will. to the image & the likeness of the blessed trinity/ In as much as the mind was made mighty & steadfast by the virtue of the father almyghtydod. for to hold him without forgetting. Distracting or letting of any creature/ And so it hath likeness of the father/ The reason was made bright and clear without error or darkness as perfectly as a soul in a body unglorified might have. And so it hath the likeness of the son/ which is endless wisdom/ And the love & the will was made clean brenning in to god without bestly love of the flesh of any creature by the sovereign goodness of god & the holy ghost/ And so it hath the likeness of the holy ghost. Which is blessed love/ so that a man's soul which may be called a made trinity was fulfilled in mind: sight & love of the unmade most blessed trinity which is our Lord: This is the dignity the state & the worship of a man's soul by kind of the first making/ This state thou had in adam before the first sin of man. But when adam sinned choosing love & delight in himself & in creatures/ he lost all his worship & his dignity. and thou also in him. & fell fro the blessed trinity in to a fowl dark wretched trinity. that is in to the foryeting of god/ and unknowing of him/ and in to a bestly liking of himself/ And the skilfully/ For as david layeth in the sawter/ Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit: 
Psalmo.  comperatus est iumentis insipientibꝭ et silis factus est illis/ A man when he was in worship he knew it not/ And therefore he lost it and was made like a best/ See now then the wretchedness of thy soul/ For as the mind was sometime stabled in god/ right so now it hath forgotten him/ and sekith his rest in creatures: now from one to another/ and never may find full rest/ For he hath lost him in whom is full rest/ And right so it is of reason/ and the love also/ which was clean in ghostly savour & sweetness/ now it is turned into a fowl bestly lust & liking in itself/ & in creatures/ & in fleshly savours both in the wits as in gluttony & lechery. and in imagining/ as in pride vainglory & covetise. In so much that thou mayst unneaths do any good deed/ but if thou be defoiled with vainglory Ne thou may not well use none of thy .v. wits cleanly in no creature delectable/ but if thy heart be taken & e●gleymed with a vain lust & liking of it which putteth out the love of god fro the heart as in feeling. and the ghostly savour that it may not come therein. Every man that liveth in spirit knoweth well all this. This is the wretchedness of the soul and the mischief for the first sin of man/ without all other wretchedness & sins which thou hast wilfully put thereto. And wite thou well though thou had never done sin with thy body deadly ne venial but only this that is called original for it is first sin. and that is not else but losing of thy rightfulness which thou was made in should thou never have been saved if our Lord Ihu christ by his precious passion had not delivered the & restored the again.   

¶ How every man may be saved by the passion of christ be he never so wretched. Caplm xliiii  
ANd therefore if thou think that I have here before spoken to high to the. for thou mayst not take it ne fulfil it as I have said or shall say. I will now fall down to the as low as thou will for my profit as well as for thine: then say I thus. though thou be never so much a wretch have thou do never so much sin. forsake thyself & all thy works good & bad. Cry mercy. & ask on̄●● salvation by virtue of this precious passion meekly & trustly. & without doubt thou shall have it. And for this oryginal sin & all other thou shalt he saaf ye & thou shall be saaf as an anchor incluse/ & not only thou. but all crysten souls which trusten upon his passion & meken themself. knowledging her wretchedness: asking mercy & forgiveness & the fruit of this precious passion only. Lowing henself to the sacraments of holy church though it beso that they have been encumbered with sin all her lyftyme/ & ne●er had feeling of ghostly ●auour or sweetness or ghostly knowing of god:. they shallen in this faith & in her good will by virtue of this precious passion of our Lord Ihu christ be saaf & come to the bliss of heaven. All this knowest thou well. but yet it liketh me for to say it see here y● endless mercy of our lord how low he falleth to y● & to me & to all sinful caitiffs. Then ask mercy & have it/ Thus said y● prophet in the person of our Lord. Omnis enim quicumque invocaverit nomen duni. 
Iohis. Ten  saluus erit every man what that he be that calleth the name of god. that is to say. askith salvation by Ihu & his passion. he shall be saaf. This certesye of our Lord some men taken well & been saved thereby/ & some men in trust of this mercy & this courtesy lain still in her sin/ & ween for to have it when hem lust: & then mow they not. for they are taken or they were/ & so they damn themself/ But than sayest tho●/ if this be soothe then wonder I greatly for that I find in some holy men's books/ Some sayen as I understand that he that can not love this blessed name Ihu ne find ne feel in it ghostly joy & delectable with ghostly sweetness. in the bliss of heaven he shall be alien & never shall he come thereto. soothly these words when Ihem read stonyed me & made me greatly afeard/ for I hope as thou sayest that by the mercy of our lord shall be saaf by keeping of the commandments. & by very repentance for her evil living before done. Which felt never gostli sweetness ne inly savour in the name of ihu. & therefore I marvel me the more that they say contrari hereto as it seemeth/ And unto this I may say as me thinketh that her saying if it be well understand is sooth/ and is not contrary to that y● I have said. For this name Ihesu is nought else for to say upon english but heler or he'll/ Now every man that liveth in this wretched life is ghostly seek. For there is no man that liveth without sin which is ghostly sickness/ as saint Iohn saith of himself and of other perfit men thus Simo dixerimus qr pccm non habemus. 
Ioh  ipsei nos ceduci mus e● veritas in nobis non est/ If we say that we have no sin we beguile ourself. and there is no soothfastness in us. And therefore he may never come to the joy of heaven unto he be first made hole of this ghostly sickness. But this ghostly hele may no man have that hath use of reason: but if he desire it & love it: and have delight therein. in as much as he hopyth for to get it/ Now the name of Ihu is nothing else but this ghostly he'll/ wherefore it is sooth that they say/ that there may no man be saaf but if he love and like in the name of Ihesu/ For there may no man be ghostly hole/ but if he love & desire ghostly health/ For right as if a man were bodily seek. there were no earthly thing so dear ne so needful to him ne so moche should be desired of him as bodily health/ for though thou wouldest give him all the richesse & worships of this world and not make him hole if thou might/ thou plesest him not/ Right so it is to a man that is seek ghostly & feeleth the pain of ghostly sickness/ no thing is so dear ne so needful ne so much coveted of him as is ghostly health. and that is Ihesu/ without which all the joys of heaven may not like him And this is the skill as I hope why our Lord when he took mankind for our salvation he would not be called by no name that betokened his endless being or his wisdom or his rightwiseness/ but only by that the betokened the cause of his coming. & was the salvation of man's soul/ which salvation betokened this name Ihesu/ Thenne by this it seemeth sooth that there shall no man be saaf but if he love salvation only for to have it through the mercy of our Lord Ihesu: & by the merits of his passion/ which love he may have that liveth & dieth in the lowest degree of charity/ Also I may say on that other party that he that can not love this blessed name Ihu with ghostly mirth ne increase in it with heavenly melody here/ he shall never have ne feel in heaven the fulhede of sovereign joy/ the which he that might in this life by abundance of perfit charity in Ihesu shall feel & have/ & so may her saying be understand/ nevertheless he shall be faaf and have full meed in the sight of god/ if he in this life be in the lowest degree of chartte by keeping of God's commawdementes/ For our Lord saith himself thus/ In modo patris mei mansiones multisunt/ In my faders house are many sundry dwellings/ Some are perfit souls the which in this life were fulfilled of charity. 
Ionh  & grace of the holy ghost/ and song lovynges to god in contemplation of him with wonderful sweetness & heavenly savour/ these souls for they had most charity & grace of the holy ghost shall have highest meed in the bliss of heaven/ for these arn called God's derling/ Other souls that are not disposed to contemplation of god. ne had not the fulhede of charity. as apostles & martyrs had in the beginning of holy church. Shall have lower meed in the bliss of heaven/ for these arne called God's friends/ Thus calleth our Lord in holy writ chosen souls saying thus. 
Cant.  Comedite amici▪ et inebriamini carissimi/ My friends eat ye. & my darlings be ye drunken: As if our Lord said thus/ ye that be my friends. for ye kept my commandments. & set my love before the love of the world/ & loved me more than any earthly thing ye shall be fed with ghostly food of the breed of life/ But ye that be my friends that ye not only kept my commandments but also of your own free will fulfilled my councils: & over that ye loved only & enterly with all the mights of your soul. & burned in my love with ghostly delight as dieden principally the apostles & martyrs. & all other souls that might by grace come to the yeft of perfection ye shall be made drunken with the highest & freshest wine in my cellar/ that is the sovereign joy of love in heaven.   

¶ That a man should be busy to reckon again his worthiness/ and reform again in him the image of the tryni●e Capitulum. xlv  
Nevertheless though this be sooth of the endless mercy of god unto the & to me & to all mankind we shall not therefore in trust of this be the more reckless wilfully in our living/ but the more busy for to please him/ namely now sithen we are restored again in hope by the passion of our Lord to the dignity & the bliss which we had lost by adams sin. And though we might never get it fully here/ yet we should desire that we might recover here living a figure & a likeness of the dignity that our soul might be reformed as it were in a shadow by grace to the image of the trinity/ which we had by kind. & after shall have fully in bliss/ for that is the life which is very contemplative unto begin here in that feeling of love. & ghostly knowing of god by opening of the ghostly eye which shall never be lost ne be taken away. but the same shall be fulfilled otherwise in the bliss of heaven/ This behyght our Lord to marry mawdeleyne which was contemplative/ & said thus of her Maria optiman part elegit qui non auferetur ab ea. 
Luc. i●  That mary had chose the better party that is the love of god in contemplation/ ●or it shall never be take away fro her/ I say not that thou may her living recover so hole ne so perfit cleanness & Innocence knowing & loving of god as thou haddest first. ne as thou shalt have/ ne thou may not escape all the wretchedness & pains of sin/ ne thou living in deadly flesh may destroy & quench all holy the false vain love in thyself/ ne i'll all venial sins that they ne will but if they be stopped by great fervour of charity spring out of thine hair as water doth fro a stinking well/ but I would that if thou might not fully quench it. that thou might somewhat sleek it. & come to the cleanness of soul as ne'er thou mayst. for our lord behyght the children of Israel when he lad hem in to the land of behest. 
deut. Two  And in figure of hem to all crysten men thus/ Omne quod calcaverit pestuus tuum erit/ That is to say/ as much land as thou might tread upon with thy foot of very desire. so here moche shall thou have in the land of behest/ that is in the bliss of heaven when thou comest thither/   

¶ How Ihesu shall be sought desired/ & found. Caplm xlvi  
Seek then that thou hast lost that thou might find it/ well I wot who so might once have an inward sight a little of that dignity & that ghostly fairness which a soul had by kind. and shall have by grace/ he should loath & despise in his heart all the bliss. the liking. & the fairness of this world as the stench of a carry on. and he shall never have will for to do other deed night & day saving the frailty and the bare need of the bodily kind but besyre mourn. & pray and seek how he might come again thereto/ nevertheless in as much as thou haste not yet seen what it is fully/ For thy ghostly eye is not yet opened/ I shall tell the one word for all the which thou shalt seek desire and find it. for in that one word is all that thou hast lost/ This word is Ihesu/ I mean not this word Ihesu painted upon a wall/ or written by letters on the book/ or formed by lips in sound of the mowthe/ or feigned in thy heart by travail of thy mind/ For in this manner wise may a man out of charity find him. But I mean Ihesu cryst that blessed person god and man son of virgin marry. whom this name betokenith that is all goodness. Endless wisdom/ love/ and sweetness. thy joy.. thy worship. and thine everlasting bliss thy god: thy Lord. and thy salvation/ then if it be so thou select a great desire in thine heart to Ihesu. Either by mind of this name Ihesu. or by mind and saying of any other word/ or in prayer. or in any deed y● thou dost/ which desire is so much that it putteth out as it were by strength all other thoughts and desires of the world/ & of the flesh that they may not rest in thine heart. Then sechest thou well thy Lord Ihesu And when thou felyst this desire to god/ to Ihesu. All is one helped and comforted by a ghostly might/ in so much that it is turned in to love & affection ghostly savour & sweetness/ In to light and knowing of soothfastness/ so moche that for the time the point of thy thought is set upon no thing that is made/ Ne is feeleth no stirring of vain glory ne of itself neither/ ne none other evil affection/ for they mow not appear that time/ But only is enclosed: rested. softed. anointed in Ihesu/ then hast thou somewhat of Ihesu. Not him as he is. but a shadow of him. For the better that thou findest him/ the more shalt thou desire him/ Then by what manner prayer or meditation or occupation that thou may have greatest & clennest desire to him/ & have most feeling of him by the occupation thou sechest him best & best findest him therefore if it come to my mind/ as it were asking what haste thou lost/ & what sechest thou lift up thy mind & the desire of thy heart to Ihu christ though thou be blind & nought may see of his godhead And say y● him hast thou lost/ & him would thou have. & no thing but him/ to be with him where he is/ None other joy none other bliss in heaven ne in earth but him/ And though it be so that thou feel him in devotion or in knowing. or in any other yefte what y● it be/ rest not there as though thou had dost fully found Ihesu. But for yete y●. y● thou hast found/ And always by desiring after Ihesu more & more for to find him better/ as though thou hadst right nought found in him/ for wite thou well what that thou felyst of him: be it never so much. ye though thou were ravished in to the third heaven with paul/ yet hast thou not found Ihesu as he is in his joy/ Know thou or feel thou never so much of him/ he is yet above it/ & therefore if thou will fully find him as he is in the bliss of loving cease thou never while thou livest/ ne of ghostly desiring/   

¶ What profit it is to have the desire of Ihesu Caplm xlvii  
soothly I had liefer feel & have a soothfast desire & a clean in mine heart to my Lord Ihesu christ. though I see right little of him with my ghostly eye than ●or to have without this desire all bodily penance of all men living/ all visions or revelations of angel sappering. Songs & sowninges. Savours & smellinges breninges. & any lykynges or bodily feelings/ And shortly for to say. or all the joy of heaven & of earth which I might have without this desire to my Lord Ihu. david the prophet felt as I say as I understand when he said thus. 
P. lxxi●  Quid enim michi est in celo & ate quid volui super terram Lord what thing is to me in heaven/ or what would I without the above earth/ As if he had said thus/ Lord Ihu what heavenly joy is liking to me without desire of y● whiles I am in earth/ or without love of y● when I come to heaven/ as who say: right none. Then if thou will feel oni thing of him bodily or ghostly/ couey●e not but for to feel soothfastly a desire of his grace & of his mercyfyl presence: 
P  that the thinketh y● thine heart may find none other rest in no thing but in him/ Thus coveted david when he said thus/ concupivit anima mea desiderare iustificaciones tuas in omne tempore/ Lord my soul coveted y● desire of thy rightwiseness in every time seek them as david died desire by desire/ And if thou may feel by thy desire in prayers & in medytaconns' the homely presence of Ihu christ in thy soul/ bind thine heart fast thereto y● it fall not therefro. And if thou stumble. that thou may soon find him again/   

¶ Where & with what thing Ihu shall be sought & found Caplm xlviii  
Seek then Ihu whom thou hast lost/ He will be sought/ & he may then somewhat by founden. for he saith himself/ Omnes qui querit inveniet. Every man y● sechyth shall find/ The seeking is travailous. but the finding is blissful/ Do therefore after the counsell of the wise man if thou will find him/ Si quesieris quasi pecuniam sapienciam & sicut thesaurum effoderis illam: 
ꝓ●. xx.  tunc intelliges timorem dni & scienciam invenies/ If thou seek wisdom y● which is Ihu as silver & gold & deluest deep there after thou shalt find it The behooveth for to delve deep in thine heart. for therein he is held/ & cast out full cleanly alloves & lykynges sorrows & dreads of all earthly things/ & so shalt thou find wisdom Ihu/ Be thou then like to the woman of the gospel of y● which our Lord saith thus/ Que mulie● habens dragmas decem. 
Luc. ih  etc. what woman is yt. y● hath lost a dram that she ne will light a lantern & cast her house up so down & seche till she find it/ As who say none. And when she hath founden it she calleth her friends & saith to hem thus/ maketh mirth with me & melody. for I have founden the dram that I had lost/ This dram is Ihu that thou hast lost/ And if thou wilt find him light up a lantern that is god's word as david saith/ Lucerna pedibm meis verbum tuum/ Lord thy word to my feet is a lantern/ By this lantern shalt thou see where he is & how thou shalt find him: 
p. cxv. iii.  And if thou wilt thou may with this light up an other lantern. that is the reason of thy soul/ For as our Lord ●ayth/ Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus. The lantern of thy body is thy bodily eye. Right so may be said that the lantern of thy soul is reason. by the which that soul may see all ghostly things By this lantern may thou find Ihu & that is sooth if thou hold up the lantern fro underneath/ the bushel. 
luc: io:  as our Lord saith/ Nemo accendit lucernan & ponitean sub more di● sed super candelabrum There is no man that lighteth a lantern for to set it under a bushel but upon a candlestick That is to say/ Thy reason shall not be overlaid with earthly business ne vain thoughts & earthly affections but aye upward above all vain thought & earthly things as much as thou may. & if thou do so thou shalt see then all the molle & all the filth & small motes in thy house for why he is light/ That is to say all fleshly loves & dreads in thy soul/ Not al. for as david said/ Delicta quis intelliger/ who may know all his trespasses▪ As who say no man/ & thou shalt cast out of thine heart all such sins & sweep thy soul clean with the bosom of the dread of god/ and with the water of thine eyen wash it. & so shalt thou find thy dram Ihesu. He is dram he is penny. he is thine heritage/ This dram will not be founden so lightly as it is said/ for this work is not of one hour ne of one day/ but many days and years/ with much sweet & swink of body & travail of the soul/ & if thou cease not but seche busily sorrow & sigh deep/ mourn stillly/ & stoop low till thine eyen water for anguish and for pain for thou hast lost thy treasure Ihu/ at the last when he will well shall thou find thy dram Ihesu And if thou find him as I have said. that is if thou may in cleanness of conscience feel the homely and the peesful presence of that blessed name Ihesu christ as a shadow or a glemering of him/ Thou may if thou will call all thy friends to the for to make mirth with the and melody for thou hast founden the dram Ihu.   

¶ Where Ihesu is lost and founden again thorough his mercy/ Caplm xlix  
SEe now then the courtesy and the mercy of Ihu thou hast lost him▪ but where/ soothly in thy house/ that is in thy soul. That is to say/ if thou hadst lost all the reason of thy soul by the first sin thy soul should never have found him again/ but he left to the thy reason. and so he is in thy soul/ & never shall be lost out of it/ nevertheless thou art never the nearer to him till thou have found him/ He is in the though he be lost fro thee/ But thou art not in him till thou have found him/ then was this his mercy that he would suffer him to be lost only where he may be found/ It needeth not to run to Rome ne to Iherusalem for to seche him there/ but turn thy thought in to thine own soul where he is hid. as the prophet saith/ Ueretues deus absconditus. soothly Lord thou art an hid god/ & leche him there. Thus saith himself in the gospel/ Simile est regnum relorum thesauro abscondito in agro. 
M. iz.  quem qui invenit homo abscondit & pregaudio illius dadit. et vendit universa que habet. et emit agrum illum/ The kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hid in the field. the which when a man findeth for joy of it he gooth and selleth all that he hath & buyeth the field/ Ihesu is treasure hid in thy soul/ Then if thou might find him in thy soul. and thy soul in him/ I am syker for joy of it thou would give the liking of all earthly thing for to have it/ Ihesu slepyth in thy heart ghostly. as he died sometime bodily when he was in the ship with his disciples But they for dread of perishing wakened him. and soon after he saved 'em fro tempest/ do thou so. Stir him by prayer/ & wake him with great crying of desire/ & he shall soon rise & help thee/   

¶ What letteth a man to here & see Ihesu within himself/ Caplm L  
Nevertheless I hope better that thou sleepest ofter to him than he doth to thee/ For he calleth the full oft with his sweet prive voice/ & stirreth thine heart full stilly y● thou shouldest leave all other jangling of all other vanities in thy soul/ & only take keep of him for to hear him speak Thus saith david of our Lord/ Audi filia & vide et inclina aurem tuam & obliviscere populum tuum & domum patris tui. My daughter here & see and bow thine ere to me. and foryete the folk of thy worldly thoughts. and the house of thy fleshly and kindly affections/ Lo here may thou see how our Lord calleth y● & all other which will hearken to him/ what letteth the than that thou may neither see him ne hear him/ soothly there is so moche din and crying in thine heart of vain thoughts and fleshly desires that thou may neither hear him ne see him/ therefore put away unrestful din. and break the love of sin & of vanity/ and bring in to thine heart love of virtues & full charity. and then shalt thou here thy Lord speak to the.   

¶ That meekness & charity been the specyallyverey of Ihu through the which man's soul is reformed to the likeness of him/ Caplm li  
AS long as Ihu findeth not his image reformed in the. he is strange and the ferther fro the For thy shape the for to be arrayed in his likeness/ that is in meekness and charity/ the which be his liveries And then will he homelyche know thee/ and show to the his pryvytees/ Thus said he himself to his disciples 
joh. xiiii. / Qui diligit me diligetur a patre meo et manifestabo ei meipmm/ Who so loveth me he shall be loved of my father and I shall show myself unto him There is no virtue ne no work that thou may do the thou may make the like to our Lord without meekness and charity/ for these two be specially to god most lief/ And y● seemeth well in the gospel where our Lord speaketh of meekness thus/ 
M. two.  Discite a me quia mitis sum & humilis cord/ learn of me he said not for to go bare foot ne for to go into desert/ and there for to fast forty days/ ne yet also for to cheese you dysyples But learn of me meekness/ for I am mild & meek in heart/ Also of charity he saith thus. Hoc est peccatum meum ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos Item/ In hoc cognoscent omnes qr discipuli mei estis. 
joh. ih  si dilexcionem habueritis ad iwicem/ This is my bidding that ye love you together: as I loved you/ for in that shall men know you for my disciples/ Not for ye work miracles/ or casten out devils: or prechen or teach. but if eachone of you love other in charity/ And if thou will be like to him have meekness and chayte/ That charity is/ that thou know dost well/ love thine even christian/ as thyself   

¶ HOw a man shall find the ground of sin within himself/ Caplm lii  
NOw hast thou heard a little what thy soul is. & what worship it had/ and how thou lost it/ And also I have told the that this worship might by grace & busy travail somewhat be recovered again in party of feeling/ Now shall I tell feebly as I can how thou shalt mow enter in to thyself for to see the ground of sin. and for to destroy it as manche as thou may/ & so shall thou mow recover a part of the dignity/ Thou shalt cease for a time fro all bodily works. fro all outward business as thou may well/ Then shalt thou draw in to thyself thy thought fro thy bodily wits/ y● thou take no keep what thou hearest or seest or feelest/ so that the point of thine heart be not fyched on 'em. And after this draw in nearer thy thought fro all manner imagining if thou may fro all bodily thing/ and fro all thoughts of thy hodely deeds before done. or of other men's deeds/ This is little mastery for to do when thou hast devotion/ But thou shalt do thus when thou hast devotion/ For than it is right moche the harder/ ●nd set thine intent and thy full purposes as thou wouldest not seche ne feel ne find but only the grace & the ghostly presence of Ihesu/ This is traveyllous/ for vain thoughts wyllen prees in to thine heart thick for to draw thy thought down to 'em/ And if thou do thus thou shalt find somewhat not Ihesu whom thou seekest but only a naked mind of his name. what then: soothly but thus thou shalt sinned a dark image & a painful of thine own soul. Which hath neither light of knowing ne feeling of love ne liking This ymake if thou be hold wittily is all unbelapped with black striking clothes of sin/ as pride. Envy. re Accidye covetise gluttony and lechery/ This is not the image of Ihu. but it is an image of sin/ And saint paul calleth it a body of sin and a body of death/ This image & this black shadow thou bearest about with the where so thou ghost. Out fro this springen many great streams of sin and small also. Right as out of the image of Ihesu. If it were reformed in the beams of ghostly light sholden sty up to heaven/ as brenning desires: clean affections. Wise thoughts. and all honesty of virtues/ right so out of this image springen stirrings of pride. of envy. and of such other the which casteth the down fro the honesty of man in to a beasts likeness   

¶ To what thing is the image of sin like. & what it is in itself Caplm liii.  
NOw peradventure thou beginnest for to think unto what thing this image should be like/ & therefore that thou shouldest not long study there about/ I tell y● that it is like to no bodily thing/ What is it them sayest thou soothly it is nought. and that may thou find if thou wilt assay as I have said to the. draw in to thyself thy thought fro all bodily things/ and then shalt thou find right nought wherein thy soul may rest/ This nought is no thing else but darkness of conscience. a lacking of love and of light/ As sin is nought but a wanting of good/ if it so were that the ground of sin were much abated & dried up in thee: & thy soul were reform right to th'image of Ihesu then if thou drew in to thyself thy heart thou shouldest not find nought/ but thou shouldest find Ihu/ Not only the naked mind of this name. but thou shouldest find Ihu christ in conscience readily teaching y●/ Thou shouldest find light of understanding: and no darkness of vncunnyng/ Thou shouldest find love and liking of him and no pain of bitterness & heaviness/ But for thou art not reformed therefore when thy soul cometh in fro all bodily things. & findeth nought but darkness & heaviness/ him thinketh an hundred winter to he be out again by some bodily delight or vain thought/ & that is no wonder/ For who so cometh home until his house and findeth no thing therein but s●ynke & smoke▪ and a chiding wife he would soon run out of it/ right so thy soul when it findeth no comfort in itself but black smoke of ghostly blindness/ and great chiding of fleshly thoughts crying upon the that thou may not be in peace/ soothly it is soon weary till it be out again/ This is the darkness of conscience/   

¶ Who so will find Ihesu him behooveth abydyngly travail in ghostly darkness against the image of sin Capitulum liv  
Nevertheless in this dark conscience behoveth the to swink and sweet/ That is to say/ The behooveth to draw in to thyself thy thought fro all bodily things as much as thou may/ And then when thou findest right nought fro all bodily things as much as thou may/ And then when thou findest right nought but sorrow & pain. and blindness in this darkness/ if thou will find Ihesu the pain of this dark conscience the behooveth suffer. and abide a while therein. And here the behooveth to be waar that thou take Ihesu christ in thy thought against this each darkness in thy mind/ And by busy prayer and fervent desire to god/ Not sitting the poyne of thy thought in that foresaid nought/ but in Ihesu christ which thou desirest/ think stiffly on the passion and on his meekness & thorough might of him tthou shalt arise/ Do as thou wouldest bear it down & go through it. Thou shalt agryse & loath this darkness and this nought right as the devil: & thou shal● despise it and all to breast it/ For all within this nought is Ihu hid in his joy whom thou may not find by thy seching/ but if thou pass the darkness of conscience. This is the ghostly travail the I speak of/ And this travail is cause of all this writing. for to stir that thereto if thou feel grace/ This darkness of conscience and this nought that I speak of is the image of the first adam saint paul knew it well/ for he said thus of it/ Sicut portavimus ymaginem terreni hominis. 
corum. iij  ita portemus ymaginem iam & celestis/ As we have here before borne the image of the earthly man that is the first adam. Right so that we might now bear the image of the heavenly man which is Ihesu the second adam/ He bare this image oft full heavy/ for it was so cumbrous to him that he cried out on it saying thus/ O quis liberabit me de corporis mortis huius/ O who shall deliver me fro this body & this image of death/ And then he comforted himself & other also thus/ Gracea dei per thm xpm/ The grace of god by Ihesu christ/ 
Ro. seven    

¶ What is propyrly the image of sin/ & what cometh out thereof/ Caplm.. lv  
NOw have I told the a little of this image how it is nought/ nevertheless if it be fer fro thy knowing how it might be an image/ for nought is but nought▪ but so might thou not lightly understand it. I shall tell the more openly of this image as me thinketh This image is a falls misruled love unto thyself Out fro this comen all manner of sins by seven rivers which be these/ pride. Envy Ire. Accidie. covetise. gluttony. & lechery. Lo this is somewhat that thou may feel/ By one of these rivers runneth out all manner of sin & putteth the out of charity if it be deadly sin/ or it letteth the fervour of charity if it be venial Now may thou grope that this image is not nought/ but it is moche of bad for it is a great speaking of love unto thyself with such seven. Rivers as I have said/ But now sayest thou how may this be sooth/ I have forsaken the world/ & I am stoken in an house/ I meddle with no man/ I chide not/ I strive not/ I neither by ne sell/ I ne have no worldly business but by the mercy of god I keep me chaste & with hold me fro delights/ And over this I pray I wake/ I travail bodily & ghostly as I may/ How should then this image be so moche in me as thou speakest of/ As to this I answer & grant to thee/ that I hope thou dost all these works & more thereto. & yet may it be sooth as I say. Thou art busy upon thy might for to stop the rivers with outen/ but the spring within on hap thou leavest hole/ Thou art like to a man the which had in his yard a stinking well with many renynges fro it. He go & he stopped the renninges & left the spring hole/ & wend all had be syker/ but the water sprang up at the ground of the well/ & stood still so much y● it corrupted all the fairness of his garden/ & yet runneth no water out/ right so may it be with thee/ If it be so that thou hast by grace stopped y● rivers of this image without/ so much it is well/ but beware of the spring within/ soothly but if thou stop & cleanse that as much as thou may it will corrupt all y● flowers of the garden of thy soul/ show the never so fair outward in sight of men. But now sayest thou/ whereby shall I know that the ground is stopped/ if I travail about it/ As unto this I shall tell by assay how thou shalt know this image if it be in thee/ & how much it is in thee/ and thereby shalt thou wit how much it is stopped and how little also in thee/ And asmuch as pride is the principal Ryner I shall tell y● thereof first/   

¶ What pride is. And when it is sin. Caplm lvi  
Pride is not else as clerks say but love of thine own excellence. that is of thine own worhyp/ Then the more thou lovest & likest in thine own worship. the more is the pride \ & so the more is the image in that/ If thou feel in thine heart a stirring of pride/ thou that art holier. Wiser better and more virtuous than another is/ the god hath yeven the grace for to serve him better than other done/ & thou thinkest all other beneath the and the aboven hem/ or any other thought of thyself which showeth to thy sight of thy soul an excellence & an overpassing of other men or women/ and of this stirring thou felyst love & delight & vain plesing in thyself that thou art so/ this is a token that thou bearest this black image/ which if it be prove for men's eyen. Nevertheless it showeth him openly in god's sight. But mow sayest thou that thou may not flee such stirrings of pride/ for oft thou felyst hem against thy will. & therefore thou holdest henno sin/ or if they been sin they been nought but venial. As to this I say thus that the feeling of these stirrings of pride or of any other the which springen out either of y● corruption of this fowl image or by incasting of the enemy. it is no sin in as much as thou felyst hem. and that is a grace & a privilege by virtue of the passion of Ihesu christ granted to all christian men baptized in water & in the holy ghost. For sothly to Jews & sarazyns which trow not in Ihesu christ. all such stirrings are deadly sins. For saint paul saith. O me quod non est exfide pc●m̄ est/ all that is done withouten truth in christ is deadly sin/ But we christian men have this privilege of his mercy that such feelings are no sin. but they are pain of the original sin/ nevertheless when by negligence and by blindness of thyself this feeling is received unwarly in thy thought. & turned in to love & liking/ then is there sin more or less after the measure of the love/ sometime venial/ & sometime deadly/ when it is venial & when deadly/ fully can I not tell y●/ nevertheless a little I shall say as me thinketh/   

¶ when pride is deadly sin. And how it is in fleshly living men deadly sin: Caplm lvii.  
THen the stirring of pride is received & turned in to liking so much that the heart chooseth it for a full rest & a full delight. & secheth none other end but only liking therein/ then is this pride deadly sin/ for he maketh & chooseth this delight as his god without again standing of reason & of will & therefore it is deadly sin But now sayest thou/ what fool is he that would these pride as his god/ no man that liveth would do so/ As unto this I say that I can not tell the in special who sinneth in pride deadly/ but in general I shall say y● There is two manner of pride/ The cone is bodily pride/ the other is ghostly pride/ bodily pride is of fleshly living men Ghostly pride is hypocrites and heretics. these three sin deadly in pride/ I mean of such a fleshly living man as saint paul speak of thus/ Siscdm carnem vixeritis moriemini/ If ye live after your flesh ye shall die. Then say I thus that a worldly man which loveth & sechyth principally the worship of himself. and chooseth the liking of it. as rest of his heart and the end of his bliss he sinneth deadly. But now sayest thou. who would cheese love of his worship in stead of his god As to this I say thus. that he that loveth his worship as for to seem better & greater of estate than any other/ and traveleth about it as much as he may if he love it so much that for the getting of it the keeping and the saving of it he breaketh the commandment of god or brekith love & charity to his even christian. or is ready & in full will for to break it rather than he should forbear his worship. or lose it either of his name or of his state or of fulfilling of his will: soothly he sinneth deadly/ For he loveth his worship & chooseth it more than the love of god and of his even christian/ And nevertheless the man y● sinneth thus deadly he would say with his mouth y● he will not cheese pride for his god. But he beguileth himself for he chooseth it by his deed. Nevertheless another worldly man that loveth worship of himself/ & pursueth thereafter if he love it not so moche that he would for the getting or the saving of it do a deadly sin or break charity to his even christian/ he sinneth not deadly but venial more or less after the measure of his love & his liking with other circumstances/   

¶ How pride in heretics is deadly sin/ Caplm lviii  
AN heretic sinneth deadly in pride. for he chooseth his rest & his delight in his own opinion & in his own saying/ for he weeneth that it is such/ which opinion or saying is against god & holy church/ and therefore sinneth he in pride deadly for he loveth himself & his own will & wit so moche y● though it be openly against the ordinance of holy church he will not leave it but rest him therein as in such fastness. and so maketh he it his god/ but he beguileth himself/ For god and holy church arn so oned and accorded together y● who so doth against that one he doth against both/ And therefore he that saith he loveth god and keepeth his biddings/ and despiseth holy church. and setteth at nought the laws and the ordinances of it made by y● heed & the sovereign in governance of all christian men/ he lieth he chooseth not god. but he chesyth the love of himself contrary to the love of god/ & so he sinneth deadly/ And in that he weeneth most to please god he most dysplesyth him/ for he is blind and will not see/ Of this blindness & this falls resting of an heretic in his own feeling speaketh the wise man thus/ Est via que videtur homini recta/ et novissima eius ducunt ad mortem. 
ꝓūxn●  three is a way which seemeth to a man rightful/ and y● last end of it bringeth him to endless death/ This way specially is called heresy/ For other fleshly sinners that sin deadly & lain therein commonly they suppose amiss of himself. and feelen biting in conscience that they go not in the right way But an heretic supposeth that he doth well & teacheth well and yet no man so well/ And so weeneth he that his way were the right way/ & therefore feeleth he no byring of conscience ne meekness in heart/ And soothly but if god send him meekness of his mercy. at the last end he gooth to hell/ And nevertheless yet weeneth he for to have done well & geten him the bliss of heaven for his teaching/   

¶ How pride in hypocrites is deadly sin/ Caplm lix.  
THe hypocrite also sinneth deadly in pride/ He is an hypocrite that chooseth vain joy of himself. as the rest & the full delight of heart upon this manner of wise/ when a man doth many manner of good deeds bodily & ghostly and then is put to his mind by suggestonn of the enemy beholding of himself & of his good deeds/ how good how holy he is how worthy in men's doom/ & how high in god's sight above other men. he perceiveth this stirring & receiveth it wylfullly for he weeneth it be good and of god in as much as it is sooth for he doth thyle good deeds better than other men And when it is received thus by assent of his will as good year riseth of it alone & a delight in his heart of himself that he so much grace hath that it ravisheth his mind out of all other thoughts both ghostly and fleshly for the time & settyth it in vain joy of himself as in a rest of his heart/ This ravishing in ghostly pride is delectable/ and therefore he keepeth it holdeth it & nourisheth it as much as he may. For this love & vain delight he prayeth & waketh: he fasteth & weareth the hair & doth other afflictions: & all this grieveth him but little/ He loveth he thanketh god sometime with his mouth/ & sometime wringeth a tear out of his eye: & thenne he thinketh all saaf enough/ But soothly all this is for love of himself which he chooseth & receiveth as it were love & joy in god/ and in that is all the sin/ He chesyth not sin wilfully as for sin/ but he chooseth this delight and joy that he feeleth for god/ as the rest of his soul the which is sin withouten dysplesing or againstanding of will/ For he weeneth it were a joy in god/ & it is not so/ and therefore sinneth he deadly Job saith thus of an hypocrite/ Gaudium ypocrite ad inster puncti/ Si accenderit in celum superbia eius. 
joy.. ●o  & caput eius nubes tetigerit. velut sterquilineum in fine perdetur/ The joy of an hypocrite is no more than a point/ For if he sty in to heaven with raising of heart/ and his heved touch the skies at the last end he shall be casten out as dung heap. The joy of an hypocrite is but a point/ For if he worship himself never so moche. and joy in th'himself never so much all his life time/ and depeynte himself with all his good deeds in sight and in loving of the world/ at the last it is right nought/ but sorrow and pain/ But now sayest thou that there are few such or else none that is so blind that would hold and chose vain joy in himself as for joy in god/ As unto this I can not say ne will not though I could/ but one thing I tell the that there are many hypocrites/ And nevertheless they ween that they been none/ and that be many that dreaden himself as hypocrites/ and soothly they are none/ which is one and which is other god knoweth/ and none but he/ who so will meekly dread. he shall not be bygyled And who so weeneth to be siker. he may lightly fall/ For saint paul saith/ Qui seexistimat aliquid esse cum nithil sit. 
Ganl. ●  ipsi se seducit/ who so weeneth himself to be aught when he is right nought/ he beguileth himself/   

¶ How stirrings of pride and vainglory in good men been but venial sins/ Caplm lx.  
Nevertheless a man or a woman which dysposyth him to live contemplative/ if it be so that he forsake himself as in will/ & offer him holy to god with a full general will that he would not sin in pride wittingly. ne have joy in himself wilfully but only in god if he could and might/ And after this full will offered to god he feeleth many stirrings of vainglory/ & delighteth in him for the time for he perceiveth hem not This liking is but venial sin and namely if it be so that when he cometh to himself he reproveth himself and ayenstondeth this stirring with dysplesing of will and askyth mercy and help of god/ Then the lykng which before was sin/ our Lord of his mercy soon forgiveth it/ And yet he shall have meed for his good travail in the ayenstonding/ And that is a courtesy of our Lord granted to all those which be specially his servants & more homely of his court/ as are all those that for his love forsaken in a good true will all worldly & all fleshly sin/ & even hem holy body & soul unto his service her might & her cunuyneg/ As done principally anchors encluse & true relygous'/ the which for the love of god & salvation of her soul's entren in to any religion approved by holy church/ Or else if it be so that they entrens first for a worldly cause as for her bodily sustenance/ or for some other such. If they repent hem & turn it in to a ghostly cause as for the service of god/ these as long as they keep this will & pursue it as they may upon her freelte are true religious/ Also what man or woman that he be in what degree he be in holy church pressed clerk or lewd man/ widow or maiden or wife that will for the love of god & salvation of his soul forsake all the worships & likings of this world in this world in his heart truly & fully betwixt god & him & all wilful business & earthly things to the bare need/ And offer his will entirely for to be his servant upon his might by devout prayers & holy thoughts/ with other good deeds that he may do bodily & ghostly & keepeth his will hole to god steadfastly/ all these arne specially gods servants in holy church/ And for this good will & good purposes that they have of the yeft of god they shall increase in grace & in charity here living. And they shall have for this special will a special meed in the bliss of heaven before other chosen souls which offered not holy her will & her body to god's service/ neither openly ne privily as they dieden/ all these which I call God's servants & of his court more special/ if they by freelte & by uncunning when they feel such stirrings of vain glory for the time delighten therein/ & perceiven it not for her reason & her wit is letted by the liking that they feel that it may not see this stirring. They sin not deadly in this liking of vainglory/ For that will that they have generally set in her heart before to please god/ & for to forsake all manner of sin if they knew it kepyth hem here in such stirrings & in all other that comen of freelte that they sin not deadly. And shall keep as long as the grunde of that will is kept hole/   

¶ How divers states in holy church shall have divers medes in heaven/ And of two special medes in heaven. Capitulum/ lxi  
ANd over this I say more in comfort of the & all other having the state of anchor incluse. and all so by grace of god in comfort of 'em all that enter any religion approved in holy church/ that all those that by the mercy of our Lord shall be saaf they shall have a special meed & a singular worship in the bliss of heaven for her state of living before other souls that had not the state in holy church though they been never so holy/ which worship is better than all the worship of this world withouten comparison/ For if thou might see what it were thou wouldest not for the worship of this world if thou Mightest have it withouten sin change the state either of anchor or of religious. ne lose that singular meed in the bliss of heaven/ which meed is called Accydental meed/ nevertheless that other men mistake not this that I say/ therefore I shall say it more openly/ Thou shalt understand that there are two medes in the bliss of heaven/ which our Lord given to choose souls/ The tone is sovereign and principal/ As is lovyuge and knowing of him after the measure of charity yeven of god to a soul living in deadly flesh/ This meed is best and sovereign for it is god himself And it is common to all the souls that shollen be saaf in what state or degree that they been living in holy church more or less/ after the quantity & the mochenes of her charity in his life what degree he be in. For he the most loveth god in charete. he shall have most meed in the bliss of heaven/ For he shall most love god and know him & that is the sovereign meed/ And as for this meed it shall fall that some manner of man or woman as a Lord or a lady/ knight/ or squire/ machaunte/ or plough man. or what degree he be in man or woman shall have more meed than some pressed/ or frere/ monk/ canon/ or anchor incluse. And why/ soothly for he loved god more in charity/ An other meed there is/ that is secondary which our Lord giveth for special good deeds that a man doth wilfully over that he is bound to/ Of three deeds pryncypal doctors of holy church maken mind/ Of martyrdom. preaching. and manhood/ these three works as for an excellence in as much as they passen all other shall have special meed which they callen aureole. And that is nought else but a singular worship and special token ordained of god in reward of the special deed before other men/ that died not so over the sovereign meed of love of god/ which is common to him and to all other/ right so it is of all other special good deeds/ the which if they been done soothfastly arne specially acceptable to the sight of god/ and in the doom of holy church they be excellent/ As arne enclosing of anchors done by the authority of holy church/ Also entering in to any religion approved: And the straighter that the religion is the more excellent is the deed in the doom in holy church/  
Also after these and beneath these the taking of the order of pressed either for cure of men's souls/ and for to minister the sacraments of holy church/ Or else for singular devotion to please god & profiten her even christian by the sacrifice of the precious body of our Lord Ihu christ/ soothly they be special deeds. & excellent openly showed in the doom of holy church/ and in the sight of our Lord/ when they be done soothfastly for god they be excellent/ and they shullen have special meed each man in his degree in the bliss of heaven/ The state of bishop & prelate is above all these deeds as for this accidental meed/ That this is sooth it seemeth by holy writ where it saith thus in the prophet Danyel. 
danyel  Tu autem vade ad tempus perfinitum et requiesces et stabis in sort tua in fine dierum/ This is for to say thus moche/ The angel when he had showed to Danyel the pryvytees of god he said to him thus/ go thou to the rest of thy bodily death/ and thou shalt stand in thy sort as a prophet at the last day/ And soothly as Danyel shall stand as a prophet at the last day of doom and have the worship and the excellence of a prophet over the sovereign blessed meed of love & sight of god/ right so shalt thou stand as an anchor in that source/ & a religious in the sort of religion. And so of other excellent deeds/ and have a singular worship passing other men at the day of doom/   

¶ A short stirring to meekness and charity Caplm lxii  
NOw by these words thou may if thou wolte trow 'em/ conceive comfort for thy degree of living/ & also matter of meekness/ for though it be so that thou shalt have so moche meed specially for thy state of living if thou be saaf/ nevertheless it may be that Theridamas is many a wife & many worldlyche woman shall be nearer god than thou & more shall love god & better know him htan thou shalt for all thy state/ And that ought to be ashame for the but if thou be beye for to get love and charity as fully & asperfytly as a worldly man or woman/ For thou may have as much charity of the gift of god as he or she hath that dwelleth still in worldly business thou shalt have as much of the sovereign meed as he shall And thou shall over that for that state which thou hast taken have a singular meed & a worship which he shall not have/ Then if thou will do well meek thyself & forget thy state as it were right nought For it is sooth. by itself it is right nought/ And the thy desire be & thy business for to destroy sins/ & for to get charity & meekness & other ghostly virtues/ for therein lieth all/   

¶ How a man shall know how moche pride is in him Capitulum. lxiii  
I have nigh forgotten this image/ But now I turn again thereto/ if thou will wite how moche pride is therein/ Thou may yet assay thyself thus look now wisely/ & flatter not thyself/ if loving praising or worshipping. or fleshly favour of worldelymen or of other be liking to thine heart. and torn it to vain gladness & will paying of thyself/ think stillly in thine heart that men sholden praise thy life/ reward thy speech more than of other/ And also on contrary wise/ if it be so the men reprove thee/ & setten y● at nought hold the but a fool or an hypocrite/ or if they slander the. or speak evil of the falsely/ or in any other way that they disease the unskilfully/ And for thy thou felystin thine heart a grievous heaviness against hem/ & a great rising in thine heart with againstanding for to suffer any shame or villainy in the sight of the world/ If it be thus with the it is a token that there is moche pride in this dark image seem thou never so holy in the sight of men For though these stirrings been not but little and venial/ nevertheless they shown well that there is moche pride hid in the ground of thine heart/ as the fox dareth in his den/ these stirrings with many more springen out of this image so moche that thou may unneaths do any good deed but it shall be meddled with some pride or vain delight in thyself/ And so with thy pride thou defowlest all thy good deeds/ and maketh hem loothsom in the sight of thy Lord/ I say not that they are lost. for they are meddled with this pride/ But I say that they are not so pleysaunt to thy Lord as they should be if they were simple & truly rooted in the virtue of meekness/ And therefore if thou wilt have cleanness of heart for to come to the love of god/ the behoveth not only flee the rest of thine heart in vainglory by wilful assenting to pride/ & also the reckless liking therein of thy freelte if it be a yen thy will/ But also the feeling of thy pride thou shalt flee & eschew as much as thou may/ But y● thou mayst not do but if thou be full quick & reedy about the kepyuge of thine heart/ as I shall tell after/   

¶ Of envy and ire and of her branches/ And how in stead of sin man's person is oft hated/ Capitulum/ lxiiii  
Turn this image up so down/ And look well therein/ and thou shalt find two membres of envy and ire fastened thereto/ with many divers branches springing out of them/ The which let love and charity/ the which thou shouldest have to thine even christian/ The branches of ire and envy are these/ Hatrede. Evil suspicion/ falls and unskilful deeming/ malecolye rising of heart against hem/ despising and unkindness. and backbiting. and myssayeng/ unskilful blaming. misliking. anguish. & heaviness against hem the dyspysen the or speak any evil of the or against the. A gladness of her disease/ a felnes against sinful men & other y● will not do as the thinketh they should do with great desire of thine heart under colour of charity & right wiseness that they were well punished & chastised for her sin This stirring seemeth good/ nevertheless if thou ransack it well thou shalt find it more sometime fleshly against the person than ghostly against the sin/ Thon shalt love the man be he never so sinful/ and thou shalt hate the sin in each man what he be/ Many are beguiled in this/ for they set the bitter in stead of the sweet and taken darkness in the stead of light against the prophet saying Ue vobis que dicitis malum bonum & bonum malum ponentes lucem tenebras & amarum dulce. 
ysay. ij.  woe be to 'em that sayen good is evil & evil is good and setten light as darkness. and bitter in stead of sweet. Thus done all though the when they should hate the sin of her even christian. & love the person/ they hate the person in stead of the sin. & ween that they hate the sin/ wherefore it is a craft by itself who so could do it well/   

¶ That it is mastery to love men's persons & wisely hate her sins/ Caplm lxv  
IT is no mastery for to wake & fast till thine heed ache. ne for to run to Rome & to Jerusalem upon thy bare feet/ ne for to start about & preach. as if thou wouldest torue all men by thy preaching/ Ne it is no mastery for to make churches & chapels: for to feed poor men & make hospytals. but it is as mastery a man to love his even christian in charity & wisely hate the sin of him & love the man/ for though it be so that all these deeds before said are good in henself. Nevertheless they are common to good men & to bad/ For each man might do 'em if y●●e would & had whereof/ And for thy for to do the each man may do I hold it no mastery/ But for to love his even christian in charity and hate his sin/ may no man it do but only good men which have it of y● gift of god and not of her travail. 
Ro. ij.  as saint poule saith/ Caritas dei deffusa est in cordibus vestris per sp̄m sccm quidatus est vobis/ love and charity is shed & spread in your hearts by the holy ghost. Which is yeven to you/ And therefore it is more precious & the more daynte for to come by/ All other good deeds withouten this make not a man good ne worthy the bliss of heaven. but this alone: & only this maketh a man good and all his good deeds medeful/ all other yefts of god & works of man are common to good & bad/ to chosen & to reproved/ But this yeft of charity is only of god and of chosen souls/   

¶ That for the same deeds divers men shall have divers medes. Caplm lxvi  
A Good man for the love of god fasteth waketh. gooth on pilgrimage/ & forsaketh all the likings the world soothfastly in his heart withouten feigning he shall have his meed in the bliss of heaven/ And an hypocrite for vainglory of himself doth the same deeds/ & receiveth his meed here also a very preacher of god's word fulfilled of charity and of meekness sent of god & of holy church received if he preach & teach god's word/ he shall have a special meed of god/ that is the aureole for his preaching/ An hypocrite or an heretic that hath no meekness ne charity. ne be send of god nor yet of holy church/ if they preach they have her meed here/ Also a good man in worldly state for love of god maketh many Chyrchiss/ chapels: abbeys. hospitals/ & doth many other good deeds of mercy/ he shall have his meed in the bliss of heaven/ not for the deed in itself/ but for the good will & the charity that he hath of the yeft of god for to do though good deeds/ An other man for vanity of himself & worship & pleasing of the world. & for his own name doth the same good deeds & hath his meed here/ The cause is in all these that the tone hath charity & y● t'other none which is one & which is other our Lord knoweth & none but he.   

¶ That all men's good deeds shallbe approved that hath likeness of good. saaf the open heretic & the cursed man. Caplm lxvii  
ANd therefore we should love and worship all men in our hearts: approve examine & receive all her deeds that have the likeness of goodness though the doers in god's sight been bad save of the opyn heretic & of the opyn ●ursyd man/ Of these two specially we shall flee & eschew the presence & the coming with hem. And we shall reprove and refuse her deeds seem they never so good as long as they be rebel to god & holy church/ As if a worldly cursed man make a church or feed poor men thou may sickerly hold it nought and dame it as it is/ Also if an opin heretic which is rebel to holy church preach & teach/ though he convert a hundred thousand sonles/ hold the deed as to himself right nought/ For these men are openly out of charity/ without which is all nought that a man doth/   

¶ That no good deed may make men saaf without charity/ And that charity feel they only y● been meek Capitulum/ lxviii  
ANd therefore it is a great mastery a man to cun love his even christian in charity/ all this saying may be openly proved by saint Paul'S words thus. 
p. corum. iz.  Si linguis hominum loquar & angelorum/ caritatem non habuero. nichil sum/ Et si habuero omnem fidem ita ut montes transferan. caritatem autem non habeam. nichil sum. Et si noverim misteria oina. et si destribuero omes facultates meas in cibos pauperum/ et tradidero corpus me 'em igni ut ardeam/ caritatem autem non habuero nichil michi prodest. Saint paul in praising of charity saith thus/ If I speak the language of all men & of angels also/ if I have no charity I am right nought/ And if I have so great faith that I may turn hills & bear 'em away/ and I have no charity I am right nought And also though I had all manner of knowing of all pryvytees/ without charity I am right nought/ And if I give all y● I have to poor men and my body to the fire to be brent. & I have no charity it profiteth me right nought/ Here it seemeth by saint Paul'S words that a man may do all good deeds bodily withouten charity/ And that charity is nought else but for to love god and his even crysten as himself. How should then any wretched caitiff living in earth what that he be have delight or trust or sikerness in himself for aught that he can or may do with all his bodily mights or his kindly reason/ sith all this is nought worth withouten love & charity to his even christian/ And this charity may not be gotten with working of himself/ for it is a free yefte of god sent in to a meek soul/ as saint paul saith. who then dare hardly say that I have charity or I am in charity/ soothly no man may say it sickerly. but he that is perfitly and soothfastly meek/ Other men may trow of himself/ & hope that they been in charity by tokens/ But he that is perfitly meek felytth it/ & therefore might he sickerly say it. Thus meek was saint paul/ and for thy said he thus himself/ Quis seperabit nos a caritate dei. 
Ro viii  Tribulacon an angustia. etc./ who shall departed me fro the charity of god. Tribulation or anguyssh. etc. And he answereth himself and saith/ There shall no creature put me fro the charity of god which I have in christ Ihesu/ Many men done deeds of charity and have no charity as I have said. For to reprove a sinner for his sin to his amending & in covenable time it is a deed of charity▪ but to hate the sinner in stead of the sin: it is against charity/ he that is verily meek can departed that one fro that other. and no man but he/ For though a man had all moral virtues of all philosophers he could not do this/ He should ken hate the sin in all other men for he hateth it in himself/ But he could not love the man in charity for all his philosophy/ Also if a man had knowing of all clergy & of divinity/ & be not soothfastly meek he shall lightly err & stumble & take the one for that other But meekness is worthy to receive a yeft of god the which may not be learned by cunning of man/ And therefore he that is meek can hate the sin and truly love the man. But now peraventure thou beginnest to dread for that I have said that charity may not be gotten by no work that thou may do/ How shalt thou then do/ As unto this I say that there is no thing so hard to get as charity/ this is soothe as within our travail. And on the contrary wise I say that there is no yefte of god that may so lightly be had as charity: For our Lord giveth no yeft so freely ne so gladly ne so commonly as he doth charity. How shalt thou then have it sayest thou Be meek and low in spirit & thou shalt have it. And what is lighter for to do than for to be meek. soothly no thing. then seemeth it that there is no thing that so lightly may be had as charity. and therefore the needeth for to be much adread Be meek & have it. This said James th'apostle. Deus superbis resistit. Hunilibus autem dat gracian/ Our Lord he saith ayenstondeth proud men/ but to meek men he giveth grace/ which grace is propyrly his charity/ for after the measure of thy meekness so shall thou have charity/ if thou have meekness inperfitly only in will: not in affection. then shall thou have inperfyte charity This is good/ for it sufficeth to salvation as david saith. Inperfectum meum viderunt oculi tui/ 
P.  Lord with thine eyen of mercy thou seest mine imperfection/ But if thou have meekness perfitly then shalt thou have perfit charity. and y● is best/ The t'other behooveth us needily to have it if we will be saaf. and this should we desire \ Then if thou ask me who is perfectly meek/ thou shalt no more have of me of meekness at this time but this/ He is meek y● soothfastly knoweth himself as he is/   

¶ How a man shall wite how moche wrath & envy is hid in the ground of his heart/ Caplm lxix  
NOw turn yet again to this image if thou wilt assay how moche ire & envy is hid in thine heart that thou felyst not/ look well and behold thyself wisely when such stirrings of ire & envy against thine even christian springen out of thine heart/ The more stirred that thou art by melancholy bitter or wicked will against him. the more is this image in thee/ For the more thou gru●chest by impatience either against god for any tribulation or sickness or other bodily disease sent of god/ or against thine even christian for aught that he doth against thee/ the less is the image of Ihesu reformed in the. I say not that such grudgings or fleshly angrynes be deadly sins/ but I say that they let the cleanness of heart and pees of conscience that thou may not have full charity by the which thou shouldest come to life contemplative/ For that end is the purpoos of all my saying. that thou shouldest not only cleanse thine heart fro deadly sins. but also fro venial as much as thou Mightest/ And that the ground of sin might by grace of Ihesu christ somewhat be slecket in thee/   

¶ By what tokens thou shalt know if thou lovest thin enemy/ And what ensample thou shalt take of christ for to love him/ Caplm lxx  
FOr though it be so that thou felyst none evil against thine even christian for a time/ yet art thou not siker that the ground of ire is quenched in thee/ ne yet art thou not Lord of the virtue of charity/ For suffer him touch the a little by angry or a shrewd word/ & thou shalt feel anon if thine heart be yet made hole by fullness of charity/ The more thou art stirred & evil willed against the person. the ferder art thou fro charity/ And if thou nought be stirred against the person. Neither by angry cheer outward. ne by no privy hate in thy heart for to despise & dame him or for to ser him at nought. but the more shame or velanye he doth to the in word or in deed the more pity & compassion thou hast of him. as thou wouldest have of a man that were out of his mind/ And the thinketh thou canst not find in thine here for to hate him. for love is so good in himself/ but pray for him & help him/ and desiring his amending/ not only with thy mouth as hypocrites can do. but with affection of love in thine heart/ then hast thou perfit charity to thine even christian/ This charity had saint stephen perfitly when he prayed for 'em that stoned him to deed/ This charity counseled christ to those y● would be his perfit followers when he said thus/ Diligite inimicos urons ●n̄facite hus qui oderunt vos. etc. 
M. v.  loveth your enemies & do good to hem that haten you/ prayeth for hem y● pursuen you. And therefore if thou will follow christ be like to him in this craft/ let for to love thine enemies & sinful men/ for all these arn thy even christian/ look & bethink the how christ loved Judas which was both his deadly enemy & a sinful caitiff. How goodly christ was to him. how benign. how courteous/ & how lowly to him that he knew damnable/ & nevertheless he chase him to his apostle: & sent him for to preach with other apostles/ He gave him power for to werche miracles. he showed the same to him good cheer in word & in deed as he died to other apostles/ He wish his feet & fed him with his precious body/ & preached to him as he died to other apostles/ he wried him not openly for it was privy/ ne myssayed him not. ne dyspised him not. ne spoke never evil of him/ & yet though he had done all these he had said but sooth/ And overmore when Judas took him he kissed him & called him his friend/ all this charity showed christ unto Judas the which he knew for damnable in no manner feigning ne flattering but in the soothfastness of good love & clean charity/ For though it were sooth that Judas was not worchy for to have had any yeft of god or any sign of love for his wickedness nevertheless it was worthy & skilful that our Lord should show as he is/ He is love & goodness to all his creatures as he died to Judas/ I say not that he him loved for his sin. ne he loved him not for his chosen as he loved saint peter/ but be loved him in as much as he was his creature: & showed him tokens of love if he would have be amended thereby/ follow after somewhat if thou may/ for though thou art stoken in an house with thy body: nevertheless in thine heart where the stead of love is thou should mow have part of such love to thin even christen as I speak of who so weeneth himself to be a perfit lover & follower of cristis teaching in his living. as some man weeneth that he is in asmuch as he preacheth & teacheth & is poor of worldly good as christ was/ & can not cryst in this love & charity for to love his even christian each man good and bad freudes & foes withouten feigning flattering & despising in heart against the man. angrynes malicious reproving. soothly he beguileth himself/ The nearer that he weeneth he be. the feather he is/ For christ said to 'em that would be his disciples thus/ Hoc est preceptum meum ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos/ This is my bidding that ye should love together as I have loved you. 
joh. ih  For if ye love as I have loved. them are ye my disciples/ But now saist thou. how shalt thou love him that is bad aswell as him that is good As unto this I say thus. that thou shalt love both good & bad in charity but not for the same cause as I shall tell how/ Thou shalt love thine even christian as thyself/ Now thou shalt love thyself only in god or else for god/ In god thou lovest thyself when thou art rightful by grace & virtuous/ and lovest not thyself but only for that rightwiseness & virtues that god giveth that then lovest thou thyself in god for thou lovest not thyself but god/ Also for god thou lovest thyself/ as if thou were indedely sin and wouldest be made rightful & virtuous then lovest thou thyself not as thou art/ for thou art unryghtful but as thou wouldest be/ right so shall thou love thine even crysten/ If they been good & rightful/ thou shalt love 'em by charity in god only for they been good & rightful/ for then lovest thou god in hem as goodness & rightwiseness. more than if they been bad indedely sin/ as thine enemies that haten the or other of that which thou hast full hevydence that they are not in grace/ yet shalt thou love 'em/ not as they be. ne as good men & rightful men/ for they be bad and unrightful/ but thou shalt love 'em for god that they might be good & rightful/ And so shalt thou no thing hate in hem but the thing that is contrary to rightwiseness/ & that is sin/ This is as I understand the teaching of saint Austyn for to depart the love of the man fro the hate of the sin & the love of thine even crysten He that is meek or would soothfastly be me can love thus his even christian. & none but he.   

¶ How a man shall know how moche covetise is hid in his heart/ Caplm lxxi.  
Lift well up this image & look well about/ and thou shalt mow see covetise and love of earthly things occupy a great party of this image. though it seem little Thou hast forsaken richesse and moche honour of this world/ and art spered in a dungeon/ but hast thou forsaken cleanly the love of all this/ I hope not yet/ It is less mastery for to forsake worldly good than to forsake the love of it/ peraventure thou hast not for saken thy covetise/ but thou hast changed it fro great things in to small/ as fro a pound unto a penny/ and fro a silver piece unto a dish of an halfpenny This is a simple change/ thou art no good merchant/ these ensamples be chyldysshe/ nevertheless they betoken more/ If thou trow not me assay thyself/ If thou have love & delight in the having & holding of any thing that thou hast such as it is/ with the which love thou feedest thine heart for a tyme. Or if thou have desire & yearning for to have some thing that thou hast not/ with which desyrethyn heart is travailed & strouble● by v●skylful business that the clean desire of virtue & of god may not rest therein/ this is a token that there is covetise in this image And if thou wolte assay better/ look if any thing that thou hast be taken away fro the by mastery or by borrowing/ or by any other wise. & thou may not get it again & for thy thou art diseased angered & troubled in thine heart both for thou wantest that thing that thou wouldest have & may not have it/ & also against him that hath it thou art stirred for to strive & chide with him for he might restore the again & will not/ this is a token that thou lovest worldly goods/ For thus done worldly men/ when her good & her richesse is taken fro hem they arn heavy sorry angry & chiding & stryusg against hem that have it openly by word & by deed/ but thou dost all this in thine heart privily where god seeth & yet thou art in more default than a worldly man. For thou hast forsaken in likeness the love of worldly things/ But a worldly man hath not do so/ & therefore he is excused though he strive & pursue for his goods by lawful ways for to have 'em again/ But now sayest thou that the behoveth for to have thy necessaries of such things as longen to that as well as a worldly man/ I grant well thereto/ but thou should not love it for itself/ ne liking have in the holding ne in the keeping/ ne sorrow ne heaviness 
Greg.  feel in the losing or in the withdrawing of it/ For as saint gregory saith/ asmuch sorrow as thou hast in losing of a thing. so moche love hadst thou in the keeping/ And therefore if thine heart were made hole/ & thou hadst soothfastly felt desire of ghostly things/ & had there with all a sight of the least ghostly thing that is. all the love & the liking of any▪ earthly thing thou shouldest set it at nought/ it should not cleave upon thee/ For to love & for to have more than the needeth skilfully only for lust & liking it is a default/ Also for to fetchen thy love upon that thing that the needeth for itself/ it is default but not so great. But for to have & usen that thing that the needeth withouten love of it more than kind or need asketh withouten which the thing may not be used/ it is no default/ soothly in this point as I trow many that I have the state & the likeness of poverty arn much letted & hindered fro the love of god I ne accuse no man ne no state reprove / for in each estate some arn good & some be other/ But one thing I say to every man or woman that hath taken the state of wilful poverty whither he be religious or secular or what degree he be in/ as long as his love & his affection is bounden & fastened. and as it were glued with the love of any earthly thing that he hath or would have/ he may not have ne feel sothfastli that clean love & the clear sight of ghostly things/ For saint Austyn said to our Lord thus Lord he loveth the but little 
Augus.  that loveth any thing with thee/ that he loveth not for thee/ For the more love & covetise of any earthly thing is with thee/ the less is the love of god in thine heart/ For though it be so that this love of earthly thing putteth hem not out of charity but if it be so moche that it strangle the love of god & of her even christian/ soothly it hindereth hem and letteth 'em fro the fervour of charity/ & also fro the special meed which they should have in the bliss of heaven for perfit poverty/ and that is a great loss if they might see it/ For who so might know ghostly meed how good how precious and how worthy it is/ for it is aye lasting/ he would not for the love of all earthly joy or haviour of all earthly thing eyf he might have it withouten sin let ne less the lest meed of the bliss of heaven which he might have if that he would/ I speak ferther than I do. But I pray the do thus as I say by the grace of god if thou may or any other man who so will/ For that were a comfort to my heart that if I may not have it in myself as I say. that I might have it in thee/ Or in any other creature which hath received more plenty of his grace than I/ Butler see now then sith covetise in the naked ground letteth a man or a woman so much fro the ghostly feeling of the love of god how moche more then it letteth and combrethe worldly men & women the which by all her wits & bodily business night & day study & travail how they might get riches & plenty of worldly good/ They can none other delight have but in worldly things/ ne they will not for they seek it not/ I say no more of hem at this time: for in this writing I speak not to hem/ But this I say/ if they might see & would see what they do/ they should not do so/   

¶ How a man shall know when he sinneth not in eating & drinking/ & when he sinneth venially/ & when deadly/ Caplm lxxii.  
yEt may thou se more in this image though it be dark. & that is fleshly love to thyself/ in gluttony accidie & lechetye/ these fleshly lykynges maken a man full bestly & far fro the inly savour of the love of god. & fro the clear sight of ghostly things/ But now sayest thou. Sith the behoveth nedelinges eat & is no sin drink & sleep. & that may thou not do without liking therefore the thinketh this As unto this I say. that if thou keep in eting or in drinking & in other needful things of thy body measure in thy need/ & thou receivest no more liking than kind asketh/ And all this thou dost for ghostly delight which thou felyst in the soul/ I grant the forsooth that thou than sinnest right nought therein/ for than can thou well eat & sleep/ soothly & withouten doubt I am full far fro the knowing & ferder fro the werching For to eat I have by kind/ but to cunne eat I may not but by the grace of god. Saint paul had by grace this cunning as he saith himself thus/ Ubique & in oimbus institutus sum. 
Phil. iiii.  scio saciari & esurire/ habundare & penucian pati: oina possum in eo qui me comfortat. I am informed & kenned in all things. For I can hunger & I can eat. I can with plenty & I can with poverty/ I may all in him the strenghthyth me \ saint austin said till our Lord thus. 
Augus.  Lord thou hast teached me that I should take meet as a medicine/ Hunger is a sickness of kind/ & meet is a medicine thereto/ therefore the liking the cometh with all in asmuch as it is kindly & needful it is no sin/ but when it passeth into lust & into wilful liking than it is sin/ And therefore thernlyeth all the mastery for to ken depart wisely need fro lust & wilful liking they are so knit together/ & the one cometh with the other. so that it is hard for to receive that one as the need & reprove that other as wilful lust that which oft cometh under colour of need/ nevertheless sith it is so that need is the ground of this. & the need is no sin/ for be a man never so holy him behoveth to eat & drink & sleep therefore the lust & the liking that cometh under the colour of this need & passeth this need is the less sin/ For a man sinneth not deadly commonly in gluttony. but if he be encumbered with other deadly sins beforn done/ then may he the lightlier sin deadly in this/ For it is sooth he that chelyth ●ust & liking of his flesh & delights in welfare of meet or drink as full rest of his heart that he would never have other life ne other bliss but live ever in such lustis of his flesh if he might. it is no doubt but that he sinneth deadly/ for he loveth his flesh more than god/ But he that lieth indedely sin of pride or envy or such other he is so blinded by the devil that for the time he hath no power of his free will/ & therefore he may not well againstood fleshly likings when they come but falleth down wilfully to hem as a be'st doth to carrion/ And in asmuch as he hath no general will before to god principally by cause that he is in deadly sin. Therefore the lust of gluttony that which he falleth in lightly is to him deadly sin/ for he maketh none againstanding general ne special. But another man or woman which in grace & charity hath alway a good general will to god in his soul whether he sleep or wake eat or drink or what good deed that he doth/ so that it be not evil in itself by that which will & desire he chooseth god above all thing. & hath liefer forbear all thing of the world than wrath his god for love of him/ This will though it be but general it is of so great virtue by the grace of our Lord Ihu that if he fall by freelte in lust & in liking of meet & of drink or of such other sickness. Either by excess of toomuch eting or to often or to greedily or to lustily. & delycatly. or to soon inuntyme. it saveth him & keepeth him fro dely sin/ And this is sooth aslong as he is in charity by other deeds. & keepeth his general will to all the he doth. & namely if he know among his own wretchedness & cry after mercy. & be in purpose specially to againstood such fleshly lusts for our Lord is good & merciful. & these venial sins of gluttony he forgiveth right soon unto a meek soul/ For the stirring & the liking of gluttony in asmuch as they are hardest for to flee by cause of need of the bodily kind among all other sins are most exscusable & least perilous/ And therefore thou shalt not rise against the ground of this sin as thou shalt against all other sins \ for the ground of this sin is only need which may not be escaped but if thou wilt do worse as slay that need as many fools done/ which sholden slay y● thief & spare the true man/ That is to say/ They sholden slay unskilful lust & that wilful liking. & spare & keep the bodily kind. & they do not so. But against all other sins thou shalt arise for to destroy not only deadly sins & the great venyals/ but also against the gounde of hem as much as thou mayst/ See by this skill/ Thou may not live without meet & drink/ but thou may live without lechery if thou wy, & never but the better/ And therefore thou shalt not flee only the deed of it which is deadly sin but also wilful liking of it in thine heart withouten deed which is venial sin/ & sometime it is deadly/ but also thou shalt travail against the ground of it for to destroy the feeling & the rising of fleshly string/   

¶ How the ground of lechery should be destroyed with ghostly travail & with bodily/ Caplm lxxiii  
BUt this travail against the ground of lechery shall be ghostly/ as by prayers & ghostly virtues & not by bodily penance. For wite thou well that if thou fast & wake & scourge thyself/ & do all that thou can/ thou shalt never have the cleanness & the chastity without the gift of god & the grace of meekness/ Thou shouldest sooner slay thyself than thou shouldest slay fleshly stirrings & feelings of lust & lechery either in thine heart or in thy flesh by any bodily penance/ But by the grace of Ihu in a meek soul the ground may be moche stopped & destroyed & the spring may be moche dried/ And that is very chastity in body & in soul/ On the same manner may be said of pride & of covetise & of such other. for thou might live if thou were not proud ne covetous/ & therefore thou shalt destroy all the feelings of hem asmuch as thou may But in gluttony thou shalt rise & smite away the unskilful stirrings. & save the ground hole/   

¶ That a man should be busy to put away all stirrings of sin/ but more busy of ghogly sins than of bodily/ Capitulum/ lxxiiii  
ANd therefore he that riseth against the feeling of fleshly liking in meet & drink more fully and more sharply than of pride or covetise/ which for they seemen fayraren not lightly reproved/ Or of envy. or of lechery/ I say that he is half blind/ For he seeth not yet ghostly uncleanness/ As of pride and envy how fowl it is in God's sight/ I hope If a man might see with his eye ghostly how foul pride & covetise be in the sight of god/ & how contrary to him/ He should more loath a stirring of pride & the vain liking of it/ And also he should the more agryse & rise against the evil will of envy or ire to his even christian than many a stirring or liking either of gluttony or of lechery/ nevertheless all men weenen not so/ For commonly men arn more eschew for to feel a styring of fleshly sin/ & have for it more sorrow & heaviness than for the great likings in vainglory or in other ghostly sins/ But they arn not wise/ For if they will understand holy writ & doctors saws thereof/ they sholden find as I say/ which I ne may ne will rehearse now/ I will not excuse 'em the fall in likings of gluttony & lechery that they sin not For I wot well that all the spices of 'em arn sin more or less after the measure of the lust of the sin & other likings with wilful circumstances/ But I would that thou knew & charged all/ ilk a sin as it is/ more the more/ as arn ghostly sins/ less the less arn as fleshly sins. And yet shall thou nevertheless hate & flee all both bodily & ghostly upon thy might/ For wite thou well the fleshly desires & unskilful likings in meet & drink Or any lykynges the longen to the body passing reasonable need. though they been not alway great sins to him that is in charity/ nevertheless to a soul the desireth cleanness & ghostly feeling of god they arn full heavy painful & bitter & moche for to eschew. For the spirit may not feel his kindly savour within. Till the flesh have lost his bestly savour withouten   

¶ That hunger & other bodily pains letteth much ghostly werching/ ca lxxv  
ANd therefore if thou wilt come to cleanness of heart the behooveth againstood unskilful stirring of fleshly desires/ But against the ground thou shalt not rise. as I have said before/ For the ground of it is need. as kindly hunger which thou shall nedelynges feel and tent thereto in time/ and help thyself against it by medicine of meet. as thou wouldest help thyself reasonable against a bodily sickness/ that thou might more freely serve god both bodily and ghostly/ For wite thou well what man or woman that shall be occupied ghostly in thoughts/ unskilful pain or hunger wilfully taken or bodily sickness in the stomach or in the heed/ or in other party of the body for the default of good ruling of himself. by toomuch fasting. or by any other wise/ shall moche let the spirit/ and moche hinder him fro the knowing & beholding of ghostly things/ but if he have the more grace/ For though it be so that bodily pain/ either of penance or of sickness or else bodily occupation sometime letteth not the fervour of love to god in devotion/ but oft encreasyth it/ nevertheless I hope that it letteth the faruour of love in contemplation the which may not be had ne feeled sadly but in rest of body and of soul/   

¶ What remedy a man shall use against default made in eating or drinking/ Caplm lxxvi  
FOr thy do thou skilfully the longeth to thee/ & keep thy bodily kind upon reason/ and suffer god then send what he will hele or sickness/ take it gladly/ and grudge not against god wilfully/ Do thou as I say take thy meet as it cometh. And ordain for it if need be upon reason/ And take it gladly as for need: But be well waar of lust that cometh with need/ eschew to much as well as to little And so when thou hast done/ and then it cometh to thy mind the biting of conscience that thou haste eaten to much. And so then beginnest for to tarry thee/ & draw to overmuch bitterness/ lift up the desire of thine heart thy good Lord Ihu and know thyself for a wretch & a be'st/ & ask him for gyvenesse. and say that thou wilt amend it/ & trust of forgiveness/ leave of then and tarry no longer with all/ ne strive not much as thou wouldest destroy it utterly/ for it is not worth for to do so/ Thou shalt never bring it so about \ but readily ordain the reed to some other occupation bodily or ghostly/ after thou felyst the disposed that thou Mightest more profit in other virtues/ as meekness & charity. For wite thou well he that hath in his desire & in his travail none other reward to none other thing but to meekness and charity/ aye crying after 'em how he might have hem/ he shall in that desire/ working follow and after profit and wax in all other virtues/ as in chastity abstinence & such other if he have but little reward in 'em in a year more than he should withouten this desire profit in seven/ if he strive with glo●enye lechery & such other continually/ & beat himself with scourges each day fro morrow to evensong time/   

¶ That thorough by desire & travail for meekness & charity a man cometh sooner to other virtues than by travail in himself/ Caplm lxxvii.  
GEte to the then meekness & charity/ And if thou wolte travail & swink busily for to have 'em thou shalt have enough for to do in getting of hem/ And if thou may get hem/ they shall rule the & measure the full privily how thou shalt eat & how thou shalt drink & succour all thy bodily need that there shall no man wite it but if thou wilt/ & that shall not be in perplexite ne in ire ne in anguysshnes and heaviness ne in lusts ne in likings. but in pees of glad conscience with a sad restfulnes I speak ferder than I thought to have spoken in this matter. but nevertheless do if thou may as I the say. & I hope god shall make all well/ by this that I have said may thou somdel see in this image of sin how moche it letteth that The gospel saith how Abraham spoke to the rich man that was buried in hell on this wise/ Choas magnum inter nos & vos ficmatum est ut hii qui volunt transire ad vos non possunt nec huc transmeare/ There is a great chaos. that is to say a thick darkness between us & the that we mow not come to the ne thou till us This dark image in thy soul & mine also may be called a great chaos/ that is great darkness. for it letteth us that we mow not come to abraham which is Ihesu/ & it letteth him that he will not come to us:   

¶ Of the darkness of the image of sin. And what cometh in by the windows thereof/ Caplm lxxviii.  
LIft up the lantern & see in this image five windows by the which sin cometh in thy coming into soul as the prophet saith/ Mor● ingreditur per fenestras 
Ier̄. con.  nostras/ death cometh in by our windows/ these windows arn the five wits by the which thy soul gooth out fro by himself/ & sechyth his delight and his feeding in earthly things against his own kind/ As by the eye for to see curious & fair things/ & so of other wits/ By the unskilful using of these wits in to vanity wilfully/ thy soul is moche letted fro ghostly wits within/ and therefore the behoveth stoppen these windows or spear hem/ but only when need asketh for to open 'em/   

¶ That the soul for default of knowing of itself gooth out by five windows to seche outward liking. Capitulum/ lxxix.  
ANd that were little mastery to that if thou Mightest once see thy soul by clear understanding what it is and how fair it is in his own kind/ Ne it were that it is so overlayed with a black mantle of this toll image. but for thou knowyst it not. Therefore thou leavest the inly sight of thyself and sechest thy meet forth withonten as a be'st unreasonable. thus saith our Lord mamnassing to a chosen soul in holy writ. 
Cani. i  Si ignoras te o pulcra inter mulieres. egredere & abi post vestigia gregum sodalium tuorum et pasce edos tuos/ Thou fair among women if thou know not thyself. go out and walk after the steps of the flock thy fellows and feed the get/ and it is thus moche for to say. Thou soul fair by kind made to the likeness of god freel as a woman in the body for the first sin by cause that thou knowest not thyself/ that angels food should be thy delyces therein/ therefore thou ghost out by thy bodily wits and sechest thy meet and thy liking as a beast of the flock/ that is as one reproved/ and therewith thou feedest thy thoughts and thine affections which be unclean as goats/ It is a shame to the for to do so/   

¶ That a soul should not beg without forth but within of Ihesu that it needeth. Caplm lxxx  
ANd therefore turn home again in thyself & hold the within/ and beg no more withouten namely swines meet/ For if thou will algates be a beggar ask and crave within of thy Lord Ihesu/ for he is rich enough/ and gladlier will give that than thou wilt ask/ And run no more out as a beast of the flock/ that is a worldly man or woman that hath no more delight but in his bodily wits/ And if thou do thus thy Lord Ihesu will give the all that the needeth/ For he may lead the in to his wine celer/ and make the for to assay of his wines which the liketh best for he hath many tons Thus a chosen soul joying in holy writ saith of our Lord/ Introduxit me rex in cellam vinarian/ A King 
Cant. con  lad me in to a wine celer/ And that is for to say/ In as moche as I forsake the drunkenness of fleshly lusts & worldly likings/ which arn bitter as wormode/ for thy the King of bliss Lord Ihesu led me in/ That is to say/ first in to myself for to behold and know myself/ And after he led me in to his celer/ that is to say. aboven myself by overpassing only in till him. and gaaf me assay of his wine/ that is for to taast a sickness of ghostly sweetness & heavenly joy/ these arn not words of me a wretched caitiff living in sinew/ but they be words of the spouse of our Lord in holy writ/ & these words I say to the that thou might draw in thy soul fro withouten/ and follow after as thou may/   

¶ That the hole of imagination needeth to be stopped as well as the windows of the wits/ Caplm lxxxi  
BUt now sayest thou that thou dost so/ thou seest no worldly things ne hearest none. ne haste vone use of thy bodily wits more than need asketh/ & for thy the vart enclosed/ As to this I say/ If thou do thus as I hope thou dost than hast thou stopped a great window of this image. but yet art thou not siker. for thou hast not stopped the prive holes of the ymagyning in thine heart/ For if thou see me not with thy bodily eye thou may see me in thy soul by imagination/ and so mayst thou do of all bodily things/ Then if thy soul be fed wilfully by imaginations of vanities of the world/ and desiring of worldly things for a wilful comfort and ease/ soothly if thy soul be within as for the bodily wits. it is nevertheless full far withouten by such vain imagination/ But now askest thou whether it be any great sin a soul for to occupy him in such vanities either in wits or in imagining/ As unto this I say that I would the thou wouldest never ask man this question/ For he that will soothfastly love god he asketh not commonly whether this is greater sin or this/ For him shall think what thing letteth him fro the love of god is great sin/ and him shall think nothing sin but that thing which is not good/ & letteth him fro the love of god/ What is sin but a wanting or a forbering of good/ I say not that it shall be painful to him as a deadly sin or a venial should been. ne I say not but that he knoweth deadly fro venial & more fleeth it/   

¶ when the use of the wits been deadly sin/ & when venial/ Caplm lxxxii  
NEnertheles some deal shall I say to thy question For thy desire draweth more out of mine heart than I thought for to have said in the beginning/ Our Lord saith in the gospel thus/ Homo quidam fecit cenam magnam et vocau●● multos & milit setuum suum dicere invitatis ut venireut/ Primus dixit. 
Luc. xiiii.  Uillan emi. rogote habe me exculatum/ Scds dixit/ jugaboun emi quinque et eoprobate illa/ Ettercius dixit. Uxorem duxi ideo non possum venire/ A man made a great supper and called many thereto/ And sent his servant at supper time after hem that were prayed/ The first excused him & said on this wise that he might not come for he had bought a town \ The t'other also excused him that he might not come for he had bought five yockes of oxen & go for to assay hem/ The third for he had wedded a wife/ I leave for to speke of the first & of the last/ & I tell the of the myddelest of him that bought the oxen/ for he is to this purpoos/ five yockes of oxen betoken the five wits which arn beestly as an ox. Now this man that was called to the supper was not reproved for he bought these oxen/ but for he go for to assay hem & so he would not come/ right so say I to thee/ For to have thy wits & use 'em in need. it is no sin/ But if thou go wilfully for to assay hem by vain delight in creatures than it is sin/ For if thou cheese that delight as for a final rest of thy soul. & as a full liking/ that thou keepest none other bliss to have but such manner worldly vanity than it is deadly/ for thou chesest it as thy god/ and so shalt thou be put fro the supper/ For saint paul forbid us that we should not assay our wyttis so when he said thus/ Post concupiscencias tuas non eas. Thou sholt not go after thy lusts. ne will fully assay thy likings/ A man or a woman that is encumbered with deadly sin shall not well escape deadly sin in this though he see it not/ but I hope it toucheth not the nevertheless if thou by freelte the delight in thy wits &/ such vanity/ but in that thou keepest the in charity in other sides/ and thou chesest not this delight for a full rest of thy soul but thou settest aye god before all thing in thy desire/ this sin is venial after the circumstance more or less/ ne thou shalt not for these venial sins be put fro the supper in the bliss of heaven/ but thou shalt want the taasting & the assayeng of that dylycate supper living in earth/ but if thou be busy with all thy mights for to againstand such veyal sins For though it be so that venial sins break not charity/ soothly they let the fervour & the ghostly feeling of charity/   

¶ How a ghostly man or wnman shall have hem to hem that come to hem/ Caplm lxxxiii  
BUt now sayest thou that thou may not keep the fro hearing of vanities. for divers men worldly & other come oft for to speak with the. and tell the some tales of vanity. As unto this I say thus/ the coming with thine even christian is not moche against the but helpyth the sometime if thou werche wisely/ For thou may assay thereby the measure of thy charity to thine even christian whether it be moche or little/ Thou art bound as each man & woman is to love thine even christian principally in thine heart & also indeed/ for to show 'em tokens of charity as reason asketh after thy might & after thy knowing/ Now sithen i● is so that thou owest not to go out of thine house for to seek occasion how thou might profit thine even christian by deeds of mercy/ by cause thou art encloos. Nevertheless thou art bounden for to love 'em all in thine heart/ and to 'em that come to that to show hem tokens of love soothfastly. And therefore who so wylspeke with the what that he be. or in what degree that he be. & thou know not what he is ne why he cometh/ be soon ready with a good will for to wite what his will is/ Be not dangerous ne suffer him not long abide thee/ but look how ready & how glad thou wouldest be if an angel of heaven would come so & speak with the. so ready & so buxom be thou in will for to speak with thine even christian when he cometh to the for thou wottest not what he is ne why he cometh ne what need he hath of y● or thou of him till thou have assayed/ And though thou be in prayer or in devotion that the thinketh loath for to break of. For the thinketh thou shouldest no●l eve god for no man's speech/ me thinketh not so in this caas/ For if thou be wise thou shalt not leave god. but thou shalt find him & have him & see him in thine even christian as well as in prayer/ But on a other manner thou shalt have him than in prayer/ If thou canst well love thine even christian it should not hinder that for to speak with 'em discreetly/ discretion shalt thou have on this manner as me thinketh/ Who so cometh to the ask him meekly what he will/ And if he come for to tell his disease & for to be comforted of thy speech here him gladly/ and suffer him say what he will for ease of his own heart/ And when he hath done comfort him if thou can gladly. goodly & charitably. & soon break of/ And then after that if he will fall in to idle tales or vanities of the world or of other men's deeds/ answer him but little ne feed not his speech/ and he shall soon be weary. and soon take his leave/ If it be an other man that cometh for to teach the as a man of holy church here him lowly with reverence for his order/ And if his speech comfort the ask of him. & make the not for to teach him/ It talleth not to the for to teach a pressed but in need/ If his speech comfort the not answer little. and he will soon take his leave/ If it be another man that cometh to give that his alms or else for to here the speak. or for to be taught of thee. speak godly & meekly to hem all reprove no man of his defawtes/ it falleth not to the but if he be the more homely with the that thou wottest well that he will take it of the And shortly to say as thou conceivest that should profit thine even christian namely ghostly may thou say if thou can and he will take it/ And of all other things keep silence asmuch as thou mayst/ & thou shalt in short time have but little prees that shall let thee/ Thus me thinketh do better if thou can/   

¶ Of the dark image of sin/ & of the clothing there of/ Caplm lxxxiiii  
BY this that I have said may thou see a little the darkness of this image of sin/ not for I have described it fully to the as it is for I can not/ nevertheless by this little thou may see more if thou look well/ But now sayest thou whereby wottest thou that I bear such an image about with me as thou speakest of/ As on this I can answer/ I may take upon me a word said 
Osee it  by the prophet/ and it is this/ invent idolum michi That is to say/ I have found a false image that men callen a mawment in myself well fowl disfigured & for shapen with wretchedness of all these sins which I have shoken of/ by the which I am casten down in many fleshly likings and worldly vanities fro cleanness of heart and feeling of ghostly virtues more than I can or may say/ and that me repenteth and I cry god mercy/ By this wretchedness that I feel in myself more than I have said may I y● better tell the of thine image/ For all come we of adam and of eve clothed with clothes of a beasts hide/ as holy writ saith of our Lord thus. 
Gen. 3  Facit deus ade & uxori eius tunicas pelliceas/ Our Lord made to adam & to his wife clothes of a beasts hide/ In token that for his sin he was forshapen like to a beast/ with which bestly clothes we all been borne and unbelapped & disfigured fro our kindly shape.   

¶ which been the limbs of the image of sin/ Caplm/ lxxxv  
then is this a ugly image for to look upon/ The heed is pride/ For pride is the first and 
Ecc. io  pryncypal sin as the wise man saith/ Inicium omnis pctī superbia/ The beginning of all manner of sin is pride/ The back & the hinder party of it is covetise. 
Phil. 3  as saint paul saith/ Que retro sunt obliviscens in anteri ora me extendo/ I shall for yete all worldly things which be backward/ and I shall stretch me forward endless things/ The breast in the which is the heart is envy/ for it is no fleshly sin but it is a devils sin as the wise man saith/ invidia diaboli mors intravit in orbenterrarum. 
Sap. r  Imitantur illum oens qui ex part eius sunt/ By envy of y● devil death cometh in to all the world/ For thy all though that are of his party follow him there in. The arms of it are wrath in asmuch as a man wreketh him of his wrath by his arms against Christ's bidding in the gospel. 
M. hi.  Si quis te percusserit super unam maxillam prebe sibi alteram/ If a man smite the upon the tone cheek with his hand. thou shalt not smite him again but offer him that other cheek. The belly of this image is gluttony as saint paul saith/ Esca ventri et venter escis. 
p. ccrum.. con.  deus hunc & has destruet/ meet serveth to the belly/ and the belly serveth to get meet/ but god shall destroy both belly and meet/ That shall be at the last end in the full reforming of his chosen and in deeming of reproved/ The membres of it are lechery of the which saint paul saith thus/ Non exibiatis membra vestra arma iniquitatis ad peccatum/ ye shall not give your membres specially your prive membres for to be arms of sin/ The feet of this image are accidie/ therefore the wise man saith to the slow for to stir him to good works/ Discurre festina suscita amicum 
ꝓun. con  tuum/ That is to say/ Renne quickly about unto good works & haast the soon/ for the time passyth/ & raise up thy friend which is Ihesu by devout prayer & meditation/ Here hast thou heard the membres of this image.   

¶ whereof the image of Ihesu is made. & whereof the image of sin/ & how we been passing for the in the image of sin. Caplm lxxxvi  
THis is not the image of Ihesu it is lyker an image of the devil/ For the image of Ihesu is made of virtues with meekness and perfit love and charity but this is of false fleshly love to thyself with all these membres fastened thereto This image bearest thou & every man what that he be until by grace of Ihesu it be some deal destroyed & broken down/ Thus it seemeth that david saith in the sawter book/ uerumptamen in imagine pertransit homo. Said in frustra conturbatur: 
Pm viii  This is for to say/ Though it be so that a man were made in the beginning to the image of god stable & steadfast/ nevertheless by cause of sin he forpassyth living in this world in this image of sin. by the which he is unstable and troubled in vain/ Also saint paul speaketh of this image thus/ Sicut portavimus ymaginem terreni hominis sic portemus ymaginem celestis/ That is to say If we will come to the love of god/ as we have here before borne the image of the earthly man. first adam that is the image of sin. Right so now let us bear the image of the heavenly man Ihesu which is the image of virtues/   

¶ How we should crucify this image of sin/ & quicken the ymag of Ihesu/ Caplm lxxxvii  
WHat shall thou then do with this image/ I answer the by a word that the Jews said to pylat of christ. 
joh. icon  Crucifige eum/ Take thou this body of sin & do him on the cross/ That is for to say/ break down this image & slay the false love of sin in thyself as Christ's body was slain for our sin & our trespaas right so the behooveth if thou wolte be like to cryst ●lee thy bodily liking and fleshly lusts in thyself/ Thus said saint paul/ 
Gal. h  Qui autem cristi sunt carnem suam crucyfixerunt cum viciis & concupiscenciis/ these that be crysties followers hath crueyfyed and slain her flesh that is the image of sin with all the lusts & the unskilful likings of it/ slay then & break down pride. & set up meekness/ Also break down ire and envy & raise up love & charity to thine even crysten. Also in stead of covetise. poverty in spirit/ In stead of accidie. fervour in devotion with glad readiness to all good deeds And in the stead of gluttony & lechery. sobyrte & chastity in body & in soul/ This considered saint paul when he said thus/ Deponentes veterem hominem cum suis actibus qui corrumpitur scdm desideria erroris. 
Eph. four  et induite nowm hominem qui sedm deum treatus est in sanctitate & justicia/ ye shall put down the old man that is the image of sin of the old adam with all his membres/ for he is rotyn in desires of error/ and ye shall shape you & cloth you in a new man which is the image of god by holiness & rightwiseness and full heed of virtues/ who shall help the break down this image/ soothly thy Lord Ihesu/ In the virtue & in the name of him shall thou break down this mammet of sin/ pray him busily & desire. & he shall help thee/   

¶ What profit cometh of keeping of y● heart/ And how much the soul is. & what it loveth/ Caplm lxxxviii.  
GAder then thine heart together & do after the counsel of the wise man when he saith thus. Omi custodia serva cor tuum. 
ꝓun iiii  qm exipo vita procedit/ With all thy business keep thine heart. for out of it cometh life And that is sooth when it is well kept/ For thenne wise thoughts clean affections and brenning desires of virtues & of charity & of the bliss of heaven comynour of it/ and maketh the soul to live a blessed life/ Also on the contrary wise if it be not kept/ then as our Lord saith in the gospel/ De cord exivit togitationes male que coinquinant hominem/ evil thoughts & unclean affections comen out of the heart the which defoulen man as our Lord saith/ They either benymme the life of the soul by deadly sin. Or else they feeble the soul & maken it sick if they been venial/ For what is a man but his thoughts and his loves/ these maken a man only good or bad/ As moche as thou lovest god and thine even erysten & knowest him. so moche is thy soul/ And if thou little love him. little is thy soul/ & if thou nought love him. nought is thy soul/ It is nought as for good/ but it is moche as for sin/ and if thou wilt wite what thou lovest look where upon thou thinkest/ For where the love is there is the eye and where the liking is there is moosty heart thinking/ If thou love moche god the liketh for to think upon him moche/ & if thou love little/ thenne little thou thinkest upon him/ Rule well thy thoughts & thin affection & then art thou virtuous/   

¶ How the image of sin shall be ●roken down/ Capitulum/ lxxxix  
Begin then on & break this image when thou hast inwardly bethought the of thyself and of thy wrecchydnesse as I have said/ how proud. How vain. and how envious/ how malencolyous/ how covetous/ how fleshly/ & how full of corruption/ Also how little knowing feeling or savour thou haast of god/ and of ghostly things/ How wise. how quick/ & how moche savour thou hast in earthly things/ And shortly that the thinketh the also full of sin as the hide is full of flesh Be thou not to much adread though thou think so of thyself/ And when thou hast done thus life up then the desire of thy heart to thy Lord Ihesu/ & pray him of help/ cry to him by great desires & sighings that he will help the to bear this great burden of this image. or else that he will break it/ think also such a shame it is for the to be fed with swines meet of fleshly savours that should feel a ghostly savonr of heavenly joy If thou do thus/ then beginnest thou for to arise against the hole ground of sin in the as I have said/ And it may so be that thou shalt feel pain and sorrow/ for thou shalt understand that there may no soul live without great pain but if he have rest or delight either in his creator or in a creator/ then when thou risest against thyself by a fervent desire for to feel of thy Lord Ihesu/ & for to draw out thy love fro all bodily things/ and fro rest in thy bodily feeling/ in so much that thou art encumbered of thyself/ And the thinketh that all creatures risen against thee/ & all things which thou hadst delight in before turneth the to pain/ And when thou forsakest thus thyself/ and thou may not lightly find comfort in god/ nedelynges thy soul shall suffer pain/ nevertheless I hope who so would suffer this pain a while steadfastly cleaving upon the desire and naked mind of Ihesu christ/ and upon desire that he would not have but his Lord & fall not lightly therefro/ ne seek no comfort outward for a time/ for it lastyth not long/ Our Lord is nigh and soon shall ease the heart/ For he will help to bear thy body full of corruption/ And he will with his merciful might of gracious presence break down this false image of love in thyself/ Not all at once/ but little and little till thou be somdele reformed to his likeness/   

¶ How a man shall have him to the stirring of pride & all other vices/ Caplm lxxxx  
AFter such an hole rising against thyself when it is passed. thou shalt more sobyrly & more easily rule thyself/ And the more sadly for to keep thy thoughts & thine affections for to know 'em whether they been good or bad. And then if that thou feel a stirring of pry●de in any manner of speech of it/ Besoone well waar if that thou may/ and suffer not it scape lightly away/ But take it in mind and rent it break it and despise it/ & do all the shame that thou may thereto/ look thou spare it not. ne trow it not speak he never so fair/ for it is false though it seem sooth as the prophet saith/ 
Isay. 3  Popule meus qui te beatum dicunt ipsi te desipiunt et in errorem mittunt/ That is to say thus/ Thou man of my people they that say thou art blessed and holy. they beguile and bringen the into error/ And if thou do thus often busily thou shalt by the grace of Ihu within short time stop moche of the spring of pride. & much abate y● vain delight thereof that thou shalt uneaths feel it/ And when thou felyst it it shall be so weak and as it were half deed that it shall not moche grieve thee/ And then shall thou mow have a ghostly sight of meekness how good and how fair it is & thou shalt desire it & love it for the goodness of itself/ that the shall liken for to beholden as thou art/ And if need be for to suffer gladly despite and reprove for love of right wiseness Upon the self manner when thou felyst stirrings of ire & of malemcolye rising of heart or any other evil will against thine even christen for any manner of cause though it seem reasonable and for charity bewaar of it/ and be ready with thy thought for to refrain it that it turn not into fleshly appetite ay enstonde it & follow it neither in word ne in deed as much as thou may/ but as he riseth smite him down again/ & so shalt thou slay it with the sword of dread of god that it shall not grieve thee/ For wite thou well in all these stirrings of pride vainglory. Envy or any other that as soon as thou perceivest it & with displeasance of thy will & of thy reason. thou againstood it thou sleest it/ though it be so that it cleave still upon thine heart against thy will & will not lightly pass away/ dread it not/ for it letteth thy soul fro pees. but it defoileth not thy soul/ right so upon the same wise shalt thou do against all evil stirrings of covetise. accidie. gluttony. or lechery/ that thou be all way ready with thy reason & thy will for to reprove hem & despise hem/   

¶ What thing helpeth most a man's knowing & getith to him that he lackith & most destroyeth sin in him/ Caplm lxxxxi  
ANd that may thou do the better & the more readily if thou be busy for to set thine heart most upon one thing & that thing is nought else but a ghostly desire to god for to please him/ for to love him. for to know him. for to see him/ and for to have him by grace here in a little feeling. & in the bliss of heaven in a full being/ This desire if thou keep it shall well tell that which is sin & which is not/ & which is good & which is better good/ And if thou wilt festen thy thought thereto it shall teach the all that the needeth/ & it shall get y● all that the wanteth/ And therefore when thou shalt rise against the ground of sin in general or else in any special sin hang fast upon this desire. & set the point of thy thought more upon god whom thou desirest than upon the sin which thou reprevest/ For if thou do so then fighteth god for y●/ & he shall destroy synen in y●. Thou shall much sooner come to thy purposes if thou do so than if thou leave thy meek desire to god principally. & will set thine heart only against the stirring of sin. as though thou wouldest destroy it by mastery of thyself/ thou shalt never so bring it about/   

¶ How a man shall be shapen to the image of Ihu/ & Ihu spapen in him/ ca Lxxxxiis  
BUt do as I have said and better if thou mayst/ And I hope by the grace of Ihesu thou shalt make the devil ashamed/ And all such wicked styrynges thou shalt break away/ that they shall not moche grieve thee/ And upon this manner wise may that image of sin be broken down in the & destroyed: by the which thou art for shapen fro the kindly shape of christ's image/ And thou shalt beshappen again to the image of Ihesu man by meekness & charity & then shalt thou be full shapen to the self image of god here living by a shadow in contemplation & in the bliss of heaven in full soothfastness. Of this shaping to the likeness of christ speaketh saint poule thus/ Filioli quos iterum perturio doner  formetur in vobis/ 
Gal. ●iii.  My dear children which I bear as a woman beareth her child unto christ be ayenshapen in you/ Thou hast conceived christ by troth & he hath life in the in asmuch as thou hast a good will & a desire for to serve him & please him/ but he is not yet full shapen in the ne thou in him by fullness of charity/ And therefore saint paul bore the & me & other also with travail as a woman beareth a child unto y● time that christ hath his full shape in us and we in him/   

¶ How a man shall be shapen to the image of Ihesu & Ihesu shapen in him/ Caplm lxxxxii.  
WHo so weeneth for to come to the working & to the full use of contemplation & not by this way/ that is for to say not by full heed of virtues he cometh not by the door & therefore as a thief he shall be cast out I say not but that a man may by the yeft of god have by times a taasting & a glemering of life contemplative/ Some man in the beginning/ But the sad feeling of it shall he not have/ for christ is the door & he is porter/ & withouten his leave & his livery may there no man come in as he saith himself/ Nemo venit ad patrem nisi perme/ 
Ioh iiii  No man cometh to the father but by me/ That is for to say/ No man may come to contemplation of the godhead but he be first reformed by fullness of meekness and charity to the likeness of Ihesu in his manhood/   

¶ The cause why this book was made. And how she should have her in reading thereof that it was made to/ Capitulum/ Lxxxxiiis.  
LOo I have told the a little as me thinketh first of contemplative life what it is/ and sithen of the ways which by grace leden thereto/ nought for I have it in feeling & in working as I have it in saying/ nevertheless I would by these words such as they be first stir mine own negligence for to do better than I have done/ And also my purposes is for to stir the or any other man or woman that hath taken the state of life contemplative for to travail more busily & more meekly in the manner of life by such simple words as god hath give me grace for to say/ And therefore if any word be therein that stirreth the or comforteth the more to ye●oue of god/ thank god. for it is his gift. & not of the word/ And if it comfort the not or else thou takest it not readily/ study not to long theraboute but lay it beside the till another time/ and give the to thy prayer or to other ocupation/ Take it as it will come and not all at ones/ Also these words that I write take 'em not to straightly but there that the thynkyth by good advisement that I speak to shortly either for lacking of english or wanting of reason I pray the amend it only where need is/ Also thy●e words that I write to the they longen not all to a man that hath active life. but to the or any other which hath the state of life contemplatyffe/  
¶ THe grace of our Lord Ihesu christ be with thee/ AMEN    


¶ hear bynnen the chapters of the ii book/  ¶ That a man is the image of god after the soul & not after the body/ 
Caplm primum.  ¶ Howit needed to mankind the only through the passion of christ it should be restored & reformed y● was for shape by the first sin/ 
Caplm two  That the Jews & paynims & also falls christian men been not reformed effectually through the virtue of the passion for her own default 
Caplm iii  Of two manner refourmynges of this image/ one in fullness another in faith/ 
Caplm iiii  That reforming in party is in two manners. one in faith another in feeling/ 
Caplm v.  That through the sacrament of baptism that is grounded in the passion of christ this image is reformed fro original sin/ 
Caplm vi  That through the sacrament of penance that standeth in contrition confession & satisfaction this image is reformed fro actual sin/ 
Caplm seven  How in y● sacrament of baptism & of penance through a prive umperceyvable working of the holy ghost this image is reformed though it be not seen ne felt. 
ca viii  That we should by leave steadfastly reforming of this image if our conscience witness to us a full forsaking of sin & a true turning of our will to good living \ 
ca i●.  That all the souls that lyven meekly in the faith of holy church & have her faith quickened in love & charity been reformed by this sacrament/ though it be so that they may not feel the special gift of devotion or of ghostly feeling 
Capitulum/ x.  That souls reformed needed ever to fight & to strive strongly against that stirrings of sin while they lyven here And how a soul may know when it assentyth to stirring & when not/ 
Caplm xi  That this image is both fair & foul while it is in this life here though it be rofourmed. & of diversity of feelings privily had between these souls y● been reformed/ & other that been not/ 
Caplm xii  Of three manner of men of the which some been not reformed/ & some been reformed only in faith/ & some in faith & in feeling/ 
Caplm xiii  How men y● been in sin forshape henself into divers beasts likeness. & they been called the lovers of this world/ 
xiiii.  How lovers of this world unable hem in divers manners to the reforming of her own soul/ 
Caplm xv.  A little council how lovers of this world sholden do if they will be reformed in her own soul before her parting hens/ 
Caplm xvi  That reforming in faith & in feeling may not suddenly be gotten but by grace & much bodily & ghostly travail in length of time/ 
Caplm xvii  The cause why so few souls in reward of the multitude of other cometh to this reforming in faith & in feeling/ 
Caplm xviii  Another cause also of the same/ & how wilful bodily customs indiscreetly rewarded & used sometime hindereth souls fro feeling of more grace/ 
Caplm nineteen  How that without moche bodily & ghostly business & without moche grace & meekness souls may not be reformed in felyngne be kept therein after they come thereto/ 
Caplm xx  An entry how a soul shall have her in meaning & working that will come to this reforming by ensample of a pilgrim going to Jerusalem/ And of two manner of meekness/ 
Caplm xxi  Of taryenges a temptations the souls feelen by her ghostly enemies in her ghostly knowing & going to Jerusalem & of remedies against hem/ 
Caplm xxii  Of a general remedy against wicked stirrings & painful taryenges the fallen to her hearts of the flesh & of the world & of the fiend/ 
Caplm/ xxiii  Of an enyl day & a good night what it meaneth/ and how the love of the world is likened to an evil day/ & the love of god to a good night/ 
Caplm xxiiii  How y● the desire of Ihesu felt in this lightsome darkness sleeth all stirrings of sin & ableth the soul to perceive ghostly lightnings fro the heavenly Iherusalem that is Ihesu/ 
Caplm xxv  How a man shall know false illuminations feigned by the fiend fro the true light of knowing the cometh out of Ihesu & by what tokens. 
Caplm xxvi.  How great profit it is to the soul to be brought thorough grace in to lygtsome darkness/ & how a man shall dispose him if he will come thereto/ 
Capm xxvii.  That in reforming of a soul the working of our Lord Ihesu is departed in to four times/ y● is calling. Ryghting magnyfyeng. & glorifying/ 
Caplm xxviii.  How it falleth sometime the souls beginning & perfyting in grace seem to have more love as by outward tokens than some have that been perfit & yet it is not so in sooth within/ 
Caplm xxix  On what manner a man shall have knowing of his own soul/ & how a man should set his love in Ihesu god & man one person/ 
Caplm thirty  How this manner of speaking of reforming in feeling of a soul shall be take & on what wise it is reformed/ & how it is found in saint Paul'S words. 
Caplm/ xxxi.  How god openeth the Inner eye of the soul to see him/ not all at ones but by divers times/ & of three manner of reforming of a soul by ensample/ 
Caplm xxxii.  How Ihu is heaven to the soul/ and why he is called fire. 
Capitulum/ xxxiii  Of two manners of love formed & unformed what it meaneth/ & how we been behold to love Ihu moche for our making/ but more for our ayenbyenge/ but alther most for our saving through the yefts of his love/ 
xxxiii  How y● some soul loveth Ihesu by bodily fervours & by her own manly affections the been stirred by grace & by reason/ And how some loven Ihesu more restfully by ghostly affections oony stirred In ward through special grace of the holy ghost/ 
Caplm xxxv:  That the yeft of love among all the yefter of Ihesu is worthiest & moest profitable/ And how Ihesu doth all y● is well done in his lovers only for love/ & how love maketh the using of all virtues & all good deeds light & eesy 
Capitulum/ xxxvi  How love thorough gracious beholding of Ihesu ●leeth all stirrings of pride & maketh the soul for to lose savour & delight in all earthly worship/ 
Caplm xxxvii.  How love sleeth all stirrings of wrath & envy softly & refourmyth in the soul the virtues of pees & patience & of perfit charity to his even christian/ as he died specially in the apostles/ 
Caplm xxxviii.  How love sleeth covetise lechery & gluttony/ & sleeth the fleshly savour & delight in all the five bodily wits softly and easily through a gracious beholding of Ihu/ 
Capitulum/ xxxix  What virtues & graces a soul receiveth thorough opening of y● Inner eye in to the gracious beholding of Ihu And it may not be gotten only thorough manes travail but thorough special grace & travail also/ 
Caplm xl.  How special grace in beholding of Ihu withdrawyth sometime fro a soul/ & how a soul shall have her in the absence & presence of Ihu/ And how a soul shall desire that in it is alway the gracious presence of Ihu/ 
Caplm xli  A commendation of prayer offered to Ihu of a soul contemplatyffe/ And how stableness in prayer is a syker work to stand in. And how every feeling of grace in a choose soul may be said Ihesu/ but the more cleaner a soul is the worthier is his grace/ 
Caplm xlii  How a soul through the openyng of the ghostly eye receiveth a gracious love able to understand holy wryt And how Ihesu that is hid in holy writ showeth himself to his lovers/ 
Capm xliii  Of the prive voice of Ihesu sownynge in a soul whereby it shall be known/ & how all the gracious Illuminations made in a sauce been called the speakings of Ihesu/ 
Capitulum xliiii  How through gracious opening of the ghostly eye a soul is made wise meekly & soothfastly to see the diversity of degrees in holy church. as traveylling/ & for to see angels kind first of reproved/ 
Caplm xlv.  How by the same light of grace the blessed angels kind may be seen/ & how Ihesu is god & man above all creatures after that the soul may see him here/ 
Caplm xlvi.   
¶ Here endeth the chapters of the second book.   

¶ Here after followeth the second book of master/ Waltere Hylton/  

¶ That a man is the image of god after the soul & not after the body/ Caplm/ Primum  
FOr asmuch as thou covetyst greatly and askyst it for charity for to here more of an image the which I have before times in party described to that/ therefore I will gladly with dread fall to thy desire/ & helping the grace of our Lord Ihesu christ. in whom I fully trust. I shall open to the a little more of this image/ At the beginning if thou wilt wite plainly what I mean by this image. I tell the forsooth that I understand nought else but thine own soul/ For thy soul & my soul and every reasonable soul is an image. 
Gen. ●  and that a worthy image/ for it is the image of god as the apostle saith/ Uir est ymago dei/ That is to say/ A man is the image of god and made to the image and to the likeness of him/ not in the bodily shape without but in the mights of it with in as holy writ saith. Formavit deus hominem ad ymaginem & similitudinem suam/ That is/ Our Lord god shope man in his soul ●o his own image & likeness This is the image that I have spoken of/ This image made to the image of god in the first haping was wonderly fair & bryghtful of brenning love & ghostly lyght.. but through sin of the first man adam it was disfigured and for shapen into another likeness as I have before said. For it fell fro that ghostly light and that heavenly food in to painful darkness and lust of this wretched life/ exiled & flemyd out fro the heritage of heaven that it should have had if it had stand still into the wretchedness of this earth: and afterward in to the prison of hel●e there to have be without end/ from the which prison to the heavenly heritage it might never have come again but if it had be reformed to the first shape and the first likeness. But that reforming might not be made by none earthly man/ for every man was in the same mischief/ And none might suffice to help himself and so much less another man/ therefore it needeth to be done by him that is more than man that is only god/ & that was skilful that he should reform and restore man to bliss if he should be saaf/ which of his endless goodness first shope him thereto How thenne it might be reformed. & how it is reformed to the first likeness by him that formed it by the grace of god I shall tell thee/ For that is the intent of this writing/   

¶ How it needed to mankind that only through the passion of christ it should be restored & reformed the was for shape by the first sin/ Caplm two  
THe rightwiseness of god a sketh that a trespass done be not forgiven but if amends be made for it if it may be done/ Now it is sooth. Mankind that was hole in adam the first man trespassed against god so wonder grievously when it forfeited the special bidding of him/ and assented to the false counsel of the fiend/ that it deserved rightfully for to have be departed fro him and dampened to hell withouten end. so farforth that standing the rightwiseness of god it might not be forgiven/ but if amends were first made and full satisfaction therefore/ But this amends might no man make that was man only. and comen out of adam by kindly generation for this skill/ For the trespass & unworship was endless great/ & therefore it passed man's might to make amends for it/ And also for his skill He that hath trespassed & shall make amends him behooveth for to give to him that he hath trespassed unto all that he owe though he had not trespassed/ And also over that him behooveth give somewhat that he owe not but only for that he trespassed/ But mankind had not where with that he might pay god for his trespaas over that he ought him \ For what good deed that man might do in body or in soul it was but his debt/ For every man ought as the gospel saith for to love god with all his heart & all his soul and all his mights/ and better might he not do than this/ And nevertheless this deed sufficed not to the reforming of mankind/ Ne this might he not do but if he had be first reformed/ then needed it that if man's soul should be reformed/ and the trespaas made good/ that our Lord god himself should reform this image/ and make amends for this trespaas sithen that no man might/ But that might he not do in his godhead/ for he might not ne ought not to make amends by suffering of pain in his own kind/ therefore it needed the he should take that same mankind that had trespassed and become man. And that might he not by the common law of generation. For it was impossible God's son to be borne of touched woman/ therefore him must become man thorough a gracious generation by the working of the holy ghost of a clean gracious maiden our lady saint Mary/ & so was it done/ For our Lord Ihesu gods son became man/ and thorough his precious death that he suffered made amends to the father of heaven for manes guilt/ And the might he well do for he was god. & he ought not for himself/ but in as much as he was man borne of the same kind that adam was that first trespassed. And so though he ought it not for his own person/ for himself might not sin/ nevertheless he ought of his free will for the trespaas of mankind/ the which mankind he took for the salvation of man of his endless mercy For soothe it is. there was never man that might yield to god any thing of his own that he ought not/ but only this blessed Ihesu. For he might pay god one thing that he ought not as for himself/ and that was nought but one thing. that was to give his precious life by wilful taking of death for love of soothfastness/ This aught he not/ As much good as he might do to y● worship of god in this life. All were but debt/ But for to take death for love of rightwiseness he was not bound thereto/ He was bound to rightwiseness. but he was not boonde to die/ for death is only a pain ordained to man for his own sin/ but our Lord Ihesu sinned never ne he might not sin/ and therefore he ought not for to die/ then sithen he ought not for to die▪ and yet wilfully he died/ then paid he to god more than he ought/ And sithen that was the best man's deed & most worthy that ever was done/ therefore was it reasonable that the sin of mankind should be forgiven In as much as mankind had found a man of the same kind without wemme of sin/ that is Ihesu that might make amends for the trespaas done & might pay our Lord god all that he ought and over more that he ought not/ Then sith that our Lord Ihesu god & man died thus for salvation of man's soul. it is rightful that sin should be forgiven/ & manes soul that was his image should mow be reform & restored to the first likeness & to the bliss of heaven/ This passion of our Lord & this precious death is the ground of all the reforming of all man's soul/ without which might never man's soul have be reformed to the likeness of him. ne come to the bliss of heaven/ But blessed may he be in all his working/ Now is it so that through the virtue of his precious passion the brenning sword of cherubin that drove adam out of paradise is now put away. and the endless gates of heaven arn open to every man that will enter in thereto/ For the person of Ihesu is both god & King of heaven in the bliss to the father/ & as man he is porter at that gate ready to receive every soul that will be reformed here in this life to his likeness/ For now may every soul if that he will be reformed to the likeness of god/ sith that the trespaas is for yeven/ & the amends thorough Ihesu is made for the first guilt/ nevertheless though this be sooth all souls have not the profit ne the fruit nf this precious passion/ ne be not reformed to the likeness of him/   

That the Jews & paynims & also falls christian men been not reformed effectually through the virtue of the passion for her own default Caplm iii  
TWo manner of men be not reformed by the virtue of this passion/ One is of 'em that trow it not/ a other is of hem that love it not/ Jews & paynims have not the benefice of his passion/ for they trow it not/ Jews trow not that Ihu the son of the virgin mary is goddies son of heaven. Also the paynims trow not that the sovereign wisdom of god would become the son of man. and in manhood would suffer the pains of death/ And therefore the Jews held the preaching of the cross & of the passion of christ nought but slander & blasphemy/ & the paynims held it nought but fantome & folly/ But true christian men held it the sovereign wisdom of god & his great might/ Thus said saint paul/ Predicamus vobis crystum crucifixum iude is quidam scandelun gentibus autem stulticiam ipis autem vocatis iudeis & grecis xpm dei virtutem et dei sapienciam/ 
corum. i.  That is we preach to you that ye trow that Ihesu cryst crucified the son of marry is God's son scuereyne virtue & wisdom of god/ the which Ihesu to Jews & paynims that trow not in him is put slander and folly/ And therefore these men by her untruth putten himself fro the reforming of her own soul/ & standing her untruth shall they never be saaf ne come to the bliss of heaven/ For sooth it is/ fro the beginning of the world unto the last ending was there never man saaf ne shall be ●aaf but if he had troth general or special in Ihesu christ/ to come or I come/ For right as all chosen souls that were before the incarnation under the old testament hadden truth in christ that he should come and reform man's soul/ either openly as patriarchs and prophets and other holy men had/ or else privily and generally as children and other simple and inperfyte souls hadden that knew not specially the privity of the incarnation/ right so all chosen souls under the new testament hath truth in christ that he is come/ either openly or feelingly & ghostly men & wise men have/ or else generally as children have that dyen christened/ and other simple & lewd souls have that be nourished in the bosom of holy church/ sith this is sooth then thinketh me that these men greatly and grievously erren/ that say that Jews & saracens by keeping of her own law may be made saaf though they trowen not in Ihu christ/ as holy church trow/ In as much as they ween y● her own troth is good and siker and suffisant to her salvation. And in that truth they done as it seemeth many good deeds of rightwiseness/ And peradventure if they knew that christian faith were better than her own is/ they would leave her own and take it/ therefore that they should be saaf nay it is not enough so/ For christ god and man is both way and end/ And he is mediator between god and man/ And without him may no soul be reconciled/ ne come to the bliss of heaven/  
And therefore they that trowen not in him that is both god and man may never be saaf ne come to bliss/ Other men also that loven not christ nor his passion be not reformed in the soul to the likeness of him And these men be false christian men the which be out of charity/ & lyven & dyen in deadly sin/ these men trowen well as it seemeth that Ihesu is God's son/ And that his passion sufficeth to salvation of man's soul/ And they trow also all the other articles of the faith/ But it is an vushaply truth and a deed: for they love him not ne they cheese not the fruit of his passion/ but they lain still in her sin and in the false love of this world unto her last end/ And so they been not refonrmed to the likeness of god. but gone to the pains of hell endlessly. as Jews and saracens done and in to much more greater pain than they/ In as much as they had the truth and kept it not/ For that was more trespaas than that they had never had it/ then if thou wolte wite which souls be reformed here in this life to the image of god thorough the virtue of his passion/ soothly only those that trowen in him/ and loven him/ in which souls the image of god that was through sin forshapen \ as it were in to a fowl beasts likeness is restored & reformed to the first shape/ and to the worthiness and worship that it had in the beginning/ without which restoring and reforming shall never soul be faaf ne come to bliss/   

Of two manner refourmynges of this image/ one in fullness another in faith/ Capl'm iiii  
NOw sayest thou how may this be sooth that the image of god. the which is man's soul might be reformed here in this life to his likeness in any creature/ It seemeth nay. it might not be so/ For if it were reformed then should it have stable mind/ clear sight & clear brenning love in god & ghostly things everlastingly as it had in the beginning/ But that is no creature as thou trowest living here in this life/ For as against thyself thou canst well say the think the full far therefro/ Thy mind thy reason & the love of thy soul arne so much set in beholding & in love of earthly things/ that of ghostly things thou felyst right little Thou felyst no reforming in thyself/ but thou art so unbylapped with this black image of sin for aught that thou may do/ that upon what side thou the turn thou felyst thyself defoiled & spotted with fleshly stirrings of this foul image: other changing felyst thou none fro flesshlynes into ghostlynesse neither in prive mights of thy soul with in ne in bodily feeling with out/ wherefore ye thinken that it might not be that this image might be reformed/ Or else if it might be reformed/ then askest thou how it might be reformed/ To this I answer & lay thus. There is two manner of reforming of the image of god which is man's soul/ One is in fullness/ Another is in party/ reforming in fullness may not be had in this life/ but it is delayed after this life to the bliss of heaven/ where man's soul shall fully be reformed. not to that state that it had at the first beginning by kind. or might have had through grace if it had stand hole/ But it shall be restored to much more bliss and moche higher joy through the great mercy & the endless goodness of god than it should have had if it had never fallen/ For then shall the soul receive the hole & the full feeling of god in all mights of it. without meddling of any other affection/ And it shall see mankind in the person of Ihesu above the kind of angels oned to the godhead/ For then shall Ihu both god & man be all in all/ & only he. 
Isay. ●  & none other but he as the prophet saith/ Dominus solus exaltabitur in illa die. That is our Lord Ihesu in that day that is everlasting day shall be highed only. & none but he/ And also the body of man shall then be glorified/ For it shall receive fully the rich dowary of Undedelynes with all that longeth thereto/ This shall a soul have with the body/ & much more than I can say. But that shall be in the bliss of heaven & not in this life. For though it be so that the passion of our Lord be cause of all this full reforming of man's soul/ nevertheless it was not his will for to grant this full refourming right anon after his passion to all chosen souls that were living in time of his passion/ But he delayed it unto the last day And that was for this skill/ Sooth it is that our Lord Ihesu christ of his mercy hath ordained a certain number of souls to salvation which number was not fulfilled in the time of his passion/ And therefore it needed that by length of time through kindly generyon of men it should be fulfilled/ then if it had so be that as soon after the death of our Lord every soul that would have trowed in him should by his life have be blessed and full reformed without any other abiding/ there would no creature that lived then have be that he ne would have received the faith for to have be made blessed/ And then should generation have ceased. And so should we that be now chosen souled living and other souls that come after us not have been borne/ And so should our Lord have fails of his number/ But that may not be/ And therefore our Lord purveyed moche better for us in that that he delayed the full reforming of man's soul till the last end. as saint paul saith/ Deo pro nobis melius providente. 
Den br.  ne sive nobis consummarentur/ That is. Our Lord purveyeth better for us in the delay of our reforming than if he had granted it thenne/ For this skill that the chosen souls here before should not make a full end without us that come after/ Another skill is this/ For sith that man in his first forming of god was set in his free will and had free choosing whether he would have fully god or no. It was therefore reasonable that sith he would not che●e god then but wretchedly fell from him/ If he should afterward be reformed that he should be set again in the same free choosing that he was first in/ whether he would have the profit of his reforming or no/ And this may be a skill why man's soul was not reformed fully as fast after the passion of Ihesu christ/   

That reforming in party is in two manners. one in faith another in feeling/ Caplm v.  
ANother reforming of this image is in party: and this reforming may be had in this life: and but if he had in this life it may never be had. ne the soul may never be saaf/ But this reforming is on two manners/ One is in faith only. Another is in faith and in feeling. The first reforming in faith only sufficeth to salvation/ The second is worthy to have passing meed in the bliss of heaven/ The first may be had lightly and in short time/ The second may not so but thorough length of time and moche ghostly travail/ The first may be had with the feeling of the image of sin/ for though a man feel no thing in himself but all stirrings of sin and fleshly desires. not ayenstonding that feeling/ if he wilfully assent not thereto he may be reformed in faith to the likeness of god/ But the second reforming puttyth out the liking in feeling of fleshly stirrings and worldly desires/ and suffereth no such spots abide in this image/ The first reforming is only of beginning and profiting souls. and of actyfmen/ The second is of perfit souls and of contemplatyfmen. For by the first reforming the image of sin is not destroyed. but it is left as it were all hole in feeling/ But the second reforming destroyeth the old feelings of this image of sin/ and bringeth in to the soul new gracious feelings thorough the working of the holy ghost/ The first is good. the second is better/ but the third that is in the bliss of heaven is most best/ first let us speak of that one and sith of that other/ And so we shall come to the third/   

That through the sacrament of baptism that is grounded in the passion of christ this image is reformed fro original sin/ Caplm vi  
TWo manner of sins maketh a so●le to lose the shape & the likeness of god. That one is called original that is the first sin. Tother is called actuel that is wilfully done sin. These two. sins put away a soul fro the bliss of heaven. & dampneth it to thendlesendless pain of hell. but if it be through the grace of god reformed to his likeness or it pass hens out of this life/ nevertheless two remedies be there against these two sins/ by that which a forshapen soul may be restored again/ One is the sacrament of baptism against original sin/ another is the sacrament of penance against actuel sin/ A soul of a child that is borne and is unchristened by cause of original sin hath no likeness of god/ He is nought but an image of the fiend & a bronde of hell. But as soon as it is crystened it is reformed to the image of god/ and thorough the virtue of faith of holy church suddenly it is turned fro the likeness of the fiend & made like an angel of heaven. Also the same falleth to a Jew or to a sarazyne the which or they been crystened be nought but manciples of hell/ But when they forsaken her error & fallen meekly to the truth in christ and receive the baptism of water in the holy sthost. soothly without any more tarrying they be reformed to the likeness of god so fully as holy church troweth. that if they might as soon after baptym pass out of this world. they should straight flee to heaven without any more letting/ had they done never so much sin before in the time of her untruth/ & never should they feel the pains of hell ne of purgatory/ And the privilege should they have by the merit of christ's passion/   

That through the sacrament of penance the standeth in contrition confession & satisfaction this image is reformed fro actual sin/ Caplm seven  
ALso what christian man or woman that hath lost the likeness of god thorough a deadly sin breaking God's commandments/ if he thorough to wching of grace soothfastly forsake his sin with sorrow and contrition of heart. and be in full will for to amend him/ and torn him to good living/ And in this foresaid will receiveth the sacrament of penance if he may/ Or if that he may not he is in wyltherto. soothly I say that this man's soul or woman's that was forshapen first to the likeness of the devil through deadly sin is now by the sacrament of penance restored and shapen again to the image of our Lord god This is a great courtesy of our Lord and an endless mercy that so lightly forgiveth all manner of sin/ and so suddenly giveth plenty of grace to a sinful soul that asketh mercy of him/ He abideth not great penance doing ne painful fleshly suffering or he forgive it/ But he asketh a loathing of sin & a full forsaking in will of the soul for the love of him and a turning of the heart to him/ This asketh he/ for this giveth he/ And thenne when he seeth this without any delaying. he forgiveth the sin and refourmyth the soul to his likeness/ The sin is forgiven that the soul shall not be dampened/ nevertheless the pain detted for the sin is not yet fully forgiven/ but if contrition & love be the more And therefore shall he go and show him & shrive him to his ghostly father. and receive penance enjoined for his trespaas. and gladly fulfil it. so that both the sin & the pain may be done away or he pass hens/ And that is the skilful ordinance of holy church for great profit of man's soul that though the sin be forgiven through the virtue of contrition/ nevertheless in fulfilling of meekness: and for to make hole satisfaction he shall if he may show to his pressed plener confession for that is his token & his warrant of forgiveness against all his enemies. and that is needful for to have/ For if a man had forfeited his life against a King of this earth it were not enough to him as for a fulsykernesse for to have only forgiveness of the King/ but if he have a charter the which may be his token & his warrant against all other men/ right so may it be said ghostly/ If a man have forfeited against the King of heaven his life through deadly sin/ It is not enough to him to fulsykernesse for to have forgiveness of god only by contrition between god and him. but if he have a charter made by holy church if he may come thereto And that is the sacrament of penance the which is his charter & his token of forgiveness/ For sith that he forfeited both against god and holy church it is skilful that he have forgiveness for that one and a warrant for the other/ And this oon skill why that confession is needful/ Another skill is this/ For sith this reforming of the soul standeth in faith only & not in feeling/ therefore a fleshly man that is rude & boystouse & can not dame lightly but outward of bodily things should not mow have crowed that his sins had been foryeven him but if he had some bodily token. and that is confession through the which token he is made ●ll siker of forgiveness if that he do that in him is/ This is the troth of holy church as I understand it/ Also another skill is this/ Though the ground of forgiveness stand not principally in confession but in contrition of the heart. and in forthyn King of sin/ nevertheless I hope that there is many a soul that should never a feeled very contrition. nor had full forsaking of sin if confession had not be/ For it falleth oft scythes that in the time of coufessyon grace of compunction cometh to a soul that before never feeled grace. but ever was cold and dry and ferder fro feeling of grace/ And therefore sith confession was so profitable to the more party of christian men holy church ordained for the more sickerness generally to all crysten men that every man & woman should once in the year at the lest be shriven of all her sins that come to her mind to her ghostly father. though they had never so much contrition before time/ nevertheless I hope well that if all men had been as busy about the keeping of themself in eschewing of almaner of sin/ And had common to as much great knowing and feeling of god as some man hath/ That holy church should not have ordained the token of confession. as for needful bond for it had not needed/ But for all men be not so perfit. and peradventure moche of the more party of christian men is unperfect. Therefore holy church ordained confession. by way of general bond to all christian men that will know holy church as her mother. & will be buxom to her bidding/ If this be sooth as I hope it is then erreth he greatly that generally saith that confession of sins for to show a pressed is neither needful to a sinner ne behoful/ and that no man is bound thereto/ For by that that I have said it is both needful & speedful to all souls that in this wretched life are defoiled/ through sin/ and namely to those that be thorough deadly sin forshapen fro the likeness of god which my not be reformed to his likeness but by the sacrament of penance that principally standeth in contrition and sorrow of heart/ and secondary in shrift of mouth following after if it may be had/ Upon this mavere by this sacrament of penance is a sinful soul reformed to the image of god and to his likeness/   

¶ How in the sacrament of baptism and of penance through a privy unperceivable working of the holy ghost this image is reformed though it be not seen ne felt/ Calpm viii  
BUT this refourmange standeth in faith & not in feeling/ For right as the property of the faith is for to trow that thou seest not. Right so it is for to trow the thou felyst not. But he that is reformed in his soul by the sacrament of penance to the image of god he feeleth no changing in himself neither in his bodily kind without ne in the prive substance of the soul within other than he died. for he is as he was unto his feeling/ and he feeleth the same stirrings of sin & the same corruption of his flesh in passions & worldly rising in his heart as he died before/ And nevertheless he shall trow that he is thorough grace reformed to the likeness of god though he neither feel it ne see it/ He may well feel sorrow for his sin & a turning of his will fro sin to cleanness of living if that he have grace & take good keep of himself but he may neither see ne feel the reforming of his soul how it is wonderly & unperceyvably changed fro the filth of the fiend unto the fairness of an angel through a prive gracious working of the holy ghost. That may he not see but he shall trow it/ And if he trow it. then is his soul reformed in truth. For right as holy church trowith by the sacrament of baptism soothfastly received a Jew or a saracen or a child borne is reformed in soul to the likeness of god through a prive unperceivable werthing of the holy ghost/ not again stonding all the fleshly stirrings of his body of sin. the which he shall feel after his baptism as well as he died before right so by the sacrament of penance meekly & truly recommaundement of god/ And for that thou haste misdone here before against his bidding thou hast shriven y● thereof meekly with full heart to leave it/ & art sorry that thou didst it/ I say then sickerly that thy soul is reformed in faith to the likeness of god/   

¶ That all the souls that lyven meekly in the faith of holy church/ & have her faith quickened in love & chary been reformed by this sacrament/ though it be so the they may not feel y● special gift of devotion or of ghostly feeling/ Calpm x  
IN this reforming that is only in faith the most part of chosen souls leaden her life that setten her will steadfastly for to flee all manner of deadly sin/ and for to keep 'em in love & charity to her even crysten and for to keep the commandments of god after her cunning/ And when it so is that wicked stirrings & evil wills risen in her hearts of pride or of envy of ire or lechery/ or of any other heed sin they againstand hem and striven against hem by dysplesing of will/ so that they follow not in deed these wicked wills/ And nevertheless if they fall lightly as it were against her will thorough freelte or vncunnynge/ as soon her conscience grieveth hem and pynyth hem so grievously that they mow have no rest till they be shriven and may have forgiveness/ soothly all these souls that thus lyvenin this reforming and been found therein. In the hour of death they shall be saaf/ and come to the full reforming in the bliss of heaven/ though it be so that they might never have ghostly feeling ne inward savour. ne special grace of devotion in all her life time/ For else if thou say that no soul shall be ●aaf but it were reformed in ghostly feeling that it might feel devotion & ghostly savour in god as some souls done through special grace. then should few souls be saaf in reward of multitude of other/ Nay it is not for to trow that the for the souls that only arne devout. and by grace come to ghostly feeling. and for no more our Lord Ihu should have take mankind/ & suffered the hard passion of death. It had be a little purchaas to him for to have come fro so far to so near/ and fro so high to so low for so few souls Nay his mercy is spread larger than so/ nevertheless on the contrary wise if thou trow that the passion of our Lord is so precious. & his mercy so moche that there shall no soul be dampened. & namely of no christian man do he never so evil as some fools ween. soothly thou errest greatly/ therefore go in the mean & hold the in the mids. & trow as holy church trowith/ And that is that the most sinful man that liveth in there if he torn his will through grace fro deadly sin with soothfast repentance to the service of god/ he is reformed in his soul/ And if he died in the state he shall be saaf/ Thus behyght our Lord by his prophet saying thus/ In quacumque hora conversus fuerit peccator & ingemuerit. 
E. xx viii  vita vivit & non morietur/ That is/ In what time that it be that the sinful man is turned to god fro sin and he have sorrow therefore he shall live. and he shall die endlessly/ And on the other side who so liveth in deadly sin & will not leave it ne amend him thereof: ne receive the sacrament of penance/ or else if he receive it he taketh it not soothfastly for the love of god/ that is for the love of virtue & cleanness but only for dread or shame of the world/ or for dread only of pains of hell/ he is not reformed to the likeness of ceive a falls christian man that hath been encumbered with deadly sin all his life time is reformed in his soul within unperceyvably. out taken a turning of his will through a prive might & a gracious working of the holy ghost that suddenly werchyth/ & in time of a monent or a twinkling of an eye ryghtyth a froward soul. & turneth it fro ghostly filth to fairness unseeable/ & of a servant of the fiend maketh a son of joy/ & of the prisoner of hell maketh a perceiver of heavenly heritage not againstanding all the fleshly feeling of this sinful image that is the bodily kind/ For thou shalt understand that the sacrament of baptism or of penance is not of that virtue for to let & destroy utterly all the stirrings of fleshly lusts & painful passions that a man's soul never feel no manner rising ne stirrings of hem no time/ For if it were so then were a soul fully reformed here to the worship of the first making. But that may not be fully in this life But it is of the virtue that it cleanseth soul fro all the sins before done/ And if it be departed fro the body saveth it fro damnation. And if it dwell in the body it giveth the soul grace to againstood the stirrings of sin/ & it keepeth it in grace also that no manner of lusty stirrings or of passions that it feeleth in the flesh be it never so grievous shall dear it ne depart it fro god aslonge as it wilfully scenteth not thereto/ Thus saint paul meaned when he said thus/ Nichil dampnaconnis in htis q non scdm carnem ambulant/ That is. 
Ro. viiii  these souls that arn reformed to the image of god in faith thorough the sacrament of baptism or of penance shall not be dampened for feelings of this image of sin/ if it so be that they go not after the styryuges of the flesh by deed doing/   

¶ That we should believe steadfastly reforming of this image. If our conscience witness to us a full forsaking of sin. & a true turning of our will to good living. Ca ix  
OF this reforming in faith speaketh saint paul thus. 
Hebr. x  Justus ex fide vivit/ The ryghtwysman liveth in faith. That is. He that is made rightful by baptism or by penance he liveth in faith/ which sufficeth unto salvation & to heavenly pees as saint paul saith/ justificati ex fide pacem habemus ad deum/ That is: 
Ro. v.  we that arn righted & reformed thorough faith in christ hath pees & accord made betwixt god & us. nought againstanding that vicious feelings of our body of sin/ For though this reforming be prive & may not well be felt here in this life/ nevertheless who so trow it steadfastly. & shapyth his works bysely for to accord to his troth & that he turn not again to deadly sin. Soothly when y● hour of death cometh. & the soul is departed fro this bodily life then shall he find it sooth that I say now/ Thus said saint Iohn in comfort of chosen souls that lyven here in faith under the feeling of this painful image/ Karissimi. & nunc sumus filii dei: sed non dum aparuit quod erimus/ Scimus autem qm cum christus apparuit tunt apparebimus cum eo similes et in gloria/ That is: My dear friends we arn now while we live here the sons of god for we arn reformed by faith in christ to his likeness But it showeth not yet what we arn/ but it is all prive/ nevertheless we know well that when our Lord shall show him at the last day/ then shall we appear with him like unto him in endless joy/ If thou wolte wite thenne if thy soul be reformed to the image of god or no/ by that I have said thou may have entry/ ransack thy conscience. & look what thy will is/ For there in standeth all If it be turned fro all manner of deadly sin. that thou wouldest for no thing wittingly and wilfully break y● to/ And therefore him needeth ever be striving & fighting against wicked stirrings of this image of sin/ & that he make none accord therewith/ ne take no friendship to it for to be buxum to his unskilful biddynges/ For if he do he beguileth himself/ But soothly if he striveth with hem him needeth not much dread of assenting/ For strife breaketh pees & falls accord. It is good that a man have pees with all thing safe with the fiend & with this image of sin/ for against hem him needeth ever fight in his thought & in his deed till he have gotten on 'em the mastery. & that shall never be fully in this life/ as long as he heareth & feeleth this image/ I say not but y● a soul may thornghe grace have the higher hand over this image so farforth that he shall not follow ne scent to the unskilful stirrings of it/ But for to be so clean delivered fro this image that he should feel no suggestion ne jangling of fleshly affection ne of vain thought no time may no man have in this life/ I hope that a soul that is reformed in feeling by ravishing of love in contemplation of god may be so far fro the sensuality and fro vain imagination and so far drawn out and depart fro the fleshly feeling for a time that it shall not feel but god/ but that lasteth not ever/ And therefore say I that every man behooveth strife against this image of sin/ and namely he that is reformed in faith only that so lightly may be deceived therewith/ In the person of which men saith saint paul/ Caro concupiscit aduersus spiritum & spiritus adversꝰ carnem. 
Gal. v  That is: A soul reformed to the likeness of god fyghtyth against that fleshly stirrings of this image of sin/ & also this image of sin striveth against the will of the spirit. This manner of fighting of this double image saint paul knew when he said thus/ inveni legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis me & capitiwm meducentem in legem peccati/ That is/ I have found two laws in myself/ One law in my soul within/ and another in my fleshly limbs without fighting with it that oft leadeth me as a wretched prisoner to the law of sin By these two laws in a soul I understand this double image/ 
Ro. seven  By the law of the spirit I understand y● reason of the soul when it is reformed to the image of god/ By the law of the flesh I understand the sensualytees which I call y● image of sin/ In these two laws a soul reformed leadeth his life as saint paul saith/ Mente enim seruio legi dei. carne enim legi peccati/ In my soul that is in my will and in my reason I serve to the law of god/ but in my flesh that is in my fleshly appetite I serve to the law of sin/ nevertheless that a soul reformed shall not despair though he serve to the law of sin by feeling of the vicious sensuality against the will of the spirit by cause of corruption of the bodily kind. Saint paul excusyth it saying thus of his own person/ 
Ro. seven  Non enim quod volo bonum hoc ago sed malum quod odi hoc facio. Si autem malum quod odi hoc facio. non ego operor illud sed quod habitat in me peccatum/ I do not that good that I would do. That is I would feel no fleshly stirring/ & that do I not/ But I do that evil that I hate. That is. The sinful stirring of my flesh I hate/ and yet I feel hem/ nevertheless sith it is so that I have the wicked stirrings of my flesh/ & yet I feel hem and oft delight in hem against my will they shall not be rehearsed against me fro damnation as if I had done hem/ And why/ For the corruption of this image of sin doth 'em. & not 1 Loo saint paul in his person god/ And if he die in that plight he shall not be saaf/ His troth shall not save him/ for his troth is deed & lackyth love. & therefore it serveth him not/ But they that have troth quickened with love and charity arn reformed to the likeness of god. though it be but the least degree of charity. as arn simple souls the which feelen not the yeft of special devotion ne ghostly knowing of god as some ghostly men done. but trowen generally as holy church trow. and knoweth not fully what that is. for it needeth not to hem. And in that trow they keep 'em in love and charity to her even christian as they may/ and fleen all deadly sin after her cunning/ and done the deeds of mercy to her even christian/ all these longen to the bliss of heaven/ For it is written in the apoc. 
Apoc. icon.  thus. Qui timetis deum pusilli et magni lau●ate eum. This is/ ye that dreaden god both small & great thank him. By great arn understood souls that be profiting in grace or else perfit in the love of god. the which arn reformed in ghostly feeling: By small arn understand souls unperfect of worldly men & women. & other that have but a child's knowing of god & full little feeling of him. but arn brought forth in the bosom of holy church & nourished with the sacrament as children arn fed with milk/ all these should love god & thank him for salvation of her souls by his endless mercy & goodness/ For holy church that is mother of all these & hath tender love to all her children ghostly prayeth & asketh for hem all tenderly of her spouse that is Ihesu & getteth 'em hele of soul through virtue of his passion And namely for 'em that can not speak for himself by ghostly prayer for her need/ Thus I find in the gospel That y● woman of Chanee asked of our Lord he'll to her daughter that was travailed with a fiend/ & our Lord made first danger by cause she was an alyene/ nevertheless she ceased not for to cry till our Lord had granted her asking. and said to her thus. Aa woman moche is thy troth be it to the right as thou wilt/ In the same hour was her daughter hole/ This woman betokenith holy church y● asketh help of our Lord for simple vncunnynge souls that are travailed with temptation of the world/ and can not speak perfitly to god by fervour of devotion ne brenning love in contemplation/ And though it seem that our Lord make danger first by cause that they arn as it were aliened fro him/ nevertheless for the great truth & dyserte of holy church he granteth to her all that she will/ And so arn these simple souls that trowen steadfastly as holy church trow/ & putten 'em fully in the mercy of god/ & maken hem under the sacrament and laws of holy church made saaf thorough prayer & troth of her mother holy church/   

¶ That souls reformed needen ever to fight & to strive against the stirrings of sin while they lyven here And how a soul may know when it assentyth to the stirring. & when not/ Caplm xi.  
THis reforming in faith is lightly gotten/ but it may not so lightly behold/ & therefore what man or woman that is reformed to the lyekenesse of god in troth moche travail & business must they have if they will keep this image hole & clean that it fall not down again thorough weakness of will to the image of sin He may not be idle ne reklees for the image of sin is so near fastened to him/ & so continually pressyth upon him by diverse stirrings of sin/ that but if he be right well waar he shall full lightly thorough assent fall again there comforteth all souls that through grace arne reformed in faith y● they sholden not tomoche dread the burden of this image with the unskilful stirrings thereof if it so be they sent not wilfully thereto/ nevertheless in this point many souls y● arne reformed in truth arne oft times much tormented & troubled in vain as thus/ when they have felt fleshly stirrings of pride or envy of covetise or lechery or of any other he desyne. they wot not sometime whether they sent thereto or no. & that is no great wonder/ For in time of temptation a freel man's thought is so trowbled & so over laid that he hath no clear sight ne freedom of himself/ but is taken oft with liking unwarly. & gooth forth a great while or then he perceive it/ And therefore fallen some in doubt & dwere whether they sinned in time of temptation or no/ As against this point I say as me think/ that a soul may have assayeng in this manner whed that he assent or no/ If it be so that a man is stirred to any manner of sin. & the liking is so great in his fleshly feeling that it trowblyth his reason. & as it were with mastery ocupyeth the affection of the soul/ nevertheless he keepeth him that he followeth not in deed/ ne he would not if he might but is rather painful to him for to feel the liking of the sin. & fain he would put it away if he might/ And then when the stirring is overpassed he is glad & well paid that he is delivered of it/ by this assay may he wite. that were the liking never so great in the fleshly feeling that he assented not ne sinned not namely deadly. Nevertheless a remedy there is siker to such a simple soul that is marred in itself & can not help it that he be not to bold in himself utterly weening y● such fleshly stirring with liking are no syneh. for he might so fall in to retchlessness & into false sekernes. Ne also that he be not to dreadful ne to simple in wit for to dame 'em all as deadly sin nor as great venyals for neither is sooth. but that he hold hem all as sins & wretchedness of himself. & that he have sorrow for hem & be not to busy for to dame 'em neither deadly ne venial. But if his conscience be greatly grieved y● he hastily go & show to his confessor in general or in special such stirrings. & namely every stirring the beginneth to festen any rote in the heart & most ocupyeth it for to draw it down to sin & worldly vanity/ And then when he is thus shriven generally or specially trow then steadfastly y● they been foryeven. & dispute no more about 'em that be passed & forgiven whether they were deadly or venial. But that he be more busy to keep him better against 'em that be coming And if he do thus then may he come to rest in conscience But then some arn so fleshly & so vncunnyng that they would feel or see or here forgiveness of her sins as openly as they might feel & see a bodily thing/ And for as much as they feel it not so therefore they fall oft in such weeres & doubts of himself & never may come to rest/ and in that arne they unwise. for faith gooth before feeling/ Our Lord said to a man that was in the palsy when he healed him thus/ confided sili remiremittū● tibi pccā tua. 
M. ix.  That is: son trow steadfastly thy sins arn forgiven y●/ He said not to him see or feel how thy sins be foryeve y●/ for the forgiveness of sins is done ghostly & unseeable through the grace of the holy ghost. but trow it right on the same wise. Every man that will come to rest in conscience him behooveth first if he do y● in him is trow without ghostly feeling forgiveness of his sins/ And if he first trow it/ he shall afterward through grace feel it. and understand if it is so. Thus saith the apostle/ Nisi crederitis non intellegitis/ That is. 
Isay. seven.  But if ye first trow ye may not understand/ troth gooth before and understanding cometh after/ the which understanding that I call the light of god if it be gracious a soul may not have but through great cleanness. 
M. v.  as our Lord saith/ Beati mundo cord qm ipsei deum videbunt/ blessed be clean of heart for they shall see god. not with her fleshly eye but with the Inner eye that is understanding cleansed and lighted through grace of the holy ghost for to see soothfastness. the which cleanness a soul may not feel but if he have stable troth going before as th'apostle saith/ Fide mundans corda eorum. 
Act. xv  That is our Lord cleanseth the hearts of his chosen thorough faith/ therefore it is needful that a soul trow first the reforming of himself made through the sacrament of penance though he see it not/ And that he dispose himself fully for to live rightfully and virtuously as his tronth asketh/ so that he may after come to sight and to the reforming in feeling/   

¶ That this image is both fair & fowl whiles it is in this life here though it be reformed/ And of diversity of feelings privily had between these souls that been reformed & other that ben not/ Caplm xii  
Fair is man's soul. & fowl is a man's soul fair in as much as it is reformed in faith to the likeness of god/ But it is foul in as much as it is meddled with fleshly feelings & unskilful stirrings ofth image of sin/ fowl without as it were a be'st/ fair within like to an angel/ fowl in feeling of the sensuality fair in troth of the reason/ fowl for the fleshly appetite. Fair for the good will/ Thus fair & thus foul is a chosen soul/ saying holy writ thus/ Nigra sum sed formosa filie jerlm sicut tabernacula cedar et sicut pellis salomonis/ That is. 
Cant. i  I am black but I am fair & shaply ye daughter of ihrlm as the tabernacles of cedar as the skin of salomon/ That is ye angels of heaven y● arne daughters of the high jerlm wonder not on mean despise me not for my black shadow/ For though I be black without by cause of my fleshly kind as is a tabernacle of cedar/ nevertheless I am full fair with in as the skin of salomon. for I am reformed to the likeness of god/ By cedar is understand a reproved soul the which is a tabernacle of the devil/ By salomon is understand our Lord Ihesu. For he is pees & peaceable By the skin of salomon is understand a blessed anget in whom our lorded wellyth/ And is hid as is the life hid in the skin of a quick body/ And therefore is an angel lyckened to a skin Then may a chosen soul with meek trust in god and gladenes of heart say thus. Though I be black by cause of my body of sin as a reproved soul that is one of the tabernacles of the fiend/ nevertheless I am within full fair thorough truth & good will like to an angel of heaven/ For so saith he in another place/ Nolite considerare me qd fusca sum. 
Cant. i  qm decoloravit me sol. That is. Behold me not that I am swart for y● son hath defaded me/ The son maketh askynne swart only without and not within/ & it betokenith this fleshly life/ therefore saith a chosen soul thus/ reprove me not for I am swart for the swartnesse y● I have is all without of touching & of bearing of this image of sin/ but it is no thing within/ And therefore soothly though it be so that a chosen soul reformed in faith dwell in this body of sin & feel the same fleshly stirrings/ & use y● same bodily works as doth a tabernacle of cedar so farforth y● in man's doom there should no difference be betwixt that one & that other. Nevertheless within in her souls there is a full great deversyte. and in the sight of god there is full moche twynning/ But the knowing of this which is one and which is other only kept to god. for it passeth man's doom & man's feeling/ & therefore we shall no man dame as evil for that thing that may be used both evil & well. A soul that is not reformed is take so fully with the love of the world/ and so much overlayed with the liking of his flesh in all his sensuality that he chooseth it as a full rest of his heart. and in his prive meaning he would not else have but that he might ever be siker thereof. He feeleth no liquor of grace stirring him for to loath his fleshly life ne for to desire heavenly bliss/ And therefore I may say that he beareth not this image of sin/ but he is borne of it as a man that were seek & so weak that he might not bear himself/ And therefore he is laid in a bed & borne in a lytere/ right so such a sinful soul is so weak and so unmighty for lacking of grace that he may neither move hand ne foot for to do ovy good deed: ne for to againstand by displeasing of will the least stirring of sin when it cometh/ but it falleth down thereto as it were a be'st upon carrion/ But a soul that is reformed though he use his fleshly wits/ & feel fleshly stirrings/ nevertheless he loatheth 'em in his heart. for he would for no thing fully rest in 'em/ but he fleeth the rest as the bytting of an adder/ and had liefer have his rest and y● love of his heart in god if that he could. & sometime desireth thereto/ and often grudgeth of the liking of this life for love of the life everlasting/ This soul is not borne in this image of sin as a seek man though he feel it. but he beareth it/ For thorough grace he is made mighty & strong for to suffer & bear his body with all the evil stirrings of it without hurting or defoyling of himself/ and y● is in asmuch as he loveth 'em not. ne followeth hem not ne scenteth not to hem the which be deadly sins as another doth/ This was bodily fulfilled in y● gospel of a man y● was in the palsy. and was so feeble y● he might not go/ and therefore was he laid & borne in a lytere and brought to our Lord/ And when our Lord saw him in mischief of his goodness he said to him/ Surge et tolle grabatum tuum et vade in domum cuam/ That is: 
joh. i.  rise up and take thy bed & go in to thy house/ And so he died. and was hole. And soothly right as this man bare upon his back when he was made hole the bed that before bore him/ right so it may be said ghostly that a soul reformed in faith beareth this image of sin the which bore him before/ And therefore be not adread to much of thy blackness that thou haste of bearing of this image of sin/ But as against the shame & the discomfort that thou haste of beholding of it and also again upbraiding that thou felyst in thy heart of the ghostly enemies when they said to the thus/ where is thy Lord Jesus'. what seekest thou/ where is the fayrnes y● thou speakest of. what felyst thou ought but blindness of sin/ where is that image of god that thou sayest is reformed in the comfort thyself and be faithful stiffly as I have before said/ And if thou do so thou shalt by this troth destroy all the temptations of thin enemies/ Thus said the apostle paul/ Accipe scutum fidei in quo omnia tela hostis nequissima poteris extinguere/ That is: 
Eph. con  Take to the ashelde of steadfast troth thorough the which thou may quench all the brenning darts of thine enemy/   

¶ Of three manner of men of the which some been not reformed/ & some been reformed only in faith/ & some in faith & in feeling/ Caplm xiii  
BY this that I have said may thou see that after divers parties of the soul arn divers states of men/ Some men arn not reformed to the likeness of god/ and some be reformed to the likeness of god/ And some arn reformed only in faith/ and some be reformed in faith & in feeling/ For thou shalt under stand that a soul hath two parties/ That one is called sensuality & that is fleshly feeling by the five outward wits/ the which is common to man & to be'st/ Of the which sensuality when it is unskilfully and unordynatly ruled is made the image of sin/ when it is not ruled after reason/ for then is the sensuality sin That other party is called reason/ & that is departed in two/ In the over party & in y● neither/ The over party is lyckened to a man/ for it should be master and sovereign and that is propyrly the image of god/ For by that only the soul knoweth god and loveth him/ And the neither is lyckened to a woman/ for it should be burum to the over party of reason/ as woman is buxum to man/ and that lieth in knowing and ruling of earthly things: for to use 'em discreetly after need. and for to refuse hem when it is no need. for to have ever with it an eye upward to the over party of reason with dread & reverence for to follow it. Now may I say y● a soul that liveth after likings & the lusts of the flesh/ as it were an unskilful be'st. & neither hath knowing of god ne desire the virtues ne to good living. But is all blinded in pride/ fret with envy overlayed whth covetise/ defoiled with lechery/ and other great sins/ Is not reformed to the likeness of god/ for it lieth & resteth fully in the image of sin. that is sensuality/ Another soul that dreadeth god/ and ayenstondeth deadly stirrings of the sensuality/ & followeth 'em not But liveth reasonably in rueling & governance of worldly things/ and setteth his intent and his will for to please god by his outward works is reformed to the likeness of god in faith/ And though he feel the same stirrings of sin as the other doth/ it shall not disease him for heresteth not in hem as that other doth/ But another soul that fleeth thorough grace all deadly stirrings of the sensuality & venyals also farforth that he feeleth 'em not is reformed in feeling/ for he followeth the overparty of reason in beholding of god & ghostly things, as I shall tell the afterward/   

¶ How men that been in sin forshapen himself in to diverse beasts likeness/ And they been called the lovers of the world/ Caplm xiiii  
A wretched man is he then that knoweth not y● worthiness of his soul ne will not know it/ how it is most worthy creature that ever god made out take an angel whom it is like to▪ high above all other kind bodily. to the which no thing may suffice as full rest/ but only god/ And therefore he should nothing love ne like but him only/ ne covet ne seek but how he might be reformed to his likeness. but for he knoweth not this, therefore he seeketh & coveytyth his rest & his liking outward in bodily creatures worse than himself is/ Unkyndly he doth & unresovably he werkyth y● leaveth the sovereign good & euerstyng life that is god unsought & unloved unknown & unworshipped. and chooseth his rest & his bliss in a passing delight of an earthly thing/ nevertheless thus done all the lovers of this world that have her joy & her bliss in this wretched life/ Some have it in pride & vainglory of himself/ the when they have lost the dread of god they travail & study night & day how they mow come to worship & praising of the world/ & maken no force how it be so that they might come thereto & overpass all men either in clergy or in craft in name or fame. In riches or in reverence. in sovereignty & mastership. in high state & lordship/ Some men have her rest in riches & in outrageous haviour of earthly good. & setten her hearts so fully for to get it. y● they seek not else but how they might come thereto/ Some have her liking in fleshly lusts of gluttony & lechery & in other bodily uncleanness/ And some in oo thing & some in another. And thus wretchedly these y● done thus forshapen himself fro the worthiness of man & torn hem in to divers beasts lyckenes/ The proud man is turned into a lion for pride: for he would be drade & worshipped of all men/ & that no man againstand the fulfilling of his fleshly will neither in word ne in deed/ And if any man would let his mysproude will he weryth fell & wroth. & will be wroken of him as a lion wrekith him on a little be'st/ This man that doth thus is no man for he doth unreasonably against y● kind of a man/ & so he is turned & transformed in to a lion/ envious & angry men be turned in to hounds thorough wrath/ an envy the brekyth again her even christen & bytyth hem by wicked & malicious words/ & grieveth 'em that have not trespassed with wrongful deeds. Harming hem in body & in soul against God's bidding/ Some men be forshapen in to asses the be slow to the service of god. and evil willed for do any good deed to her even christian/ They arne ready enough for to run for worldly profit & for earthly worship or for pleysaunce of an earthly man/ But for ghostly meed. for help of her own souls. or for the worship of god they are soon irk they will not thereof/ And if they ought done they gone but apace & with froward will/ Some are turned in to swine for they are so blind in wit & so bestly in manners that they have no dread of god: but followen only the lusts and likings of her flesh/ and have no reward to the honest of man/ ne for to rule 'em after the bidding of reason/ ne for to restrain the unskilful stirrings of the fleshly kind. but assoon as a fleshly stirring cometh of sin they are ready for to fall there to and follow as swine done/ Some men are turned in to wulfes that lyven & ravin as falls covetous men done that through mastery & overleding robben her even christian of her worldly goods/ Some men are turned in to foxes as false men & deceivable men that lyven in treachery & guile/ all these & many other more that lyven not in dread of god: but breaken his commandments forshapen himself fro the likeness of god/ & maken hem like to beasts. ye & worse than beasts for they are like to the fiend of hell/ And therefore soothly these men that lyven thus if they been not reformed when the hour of death cometh. & the souls of hem are departed fro the bodies: then shall her eye be opened that is now stopped with sin/ & then shall they feel & find the pain of her wretchedness that they lived in here/ And for asmuch as the image of god was not reformed thorough the sacrament of penance in 'em neither in faith ne in feeling here in this life they shall be as cursed cast out fro the blessed face of our creator/ and they shall be dampened with y● devil in to the deepness of hell there for to be without end Thus saith saint Iohn in th'apocalypse/ Tumidis et incredulis execratis & homicidis fornicatoribus venificis & ydolatris & omibꝭ mendacibꝭ pars illorum erit in stagno ardenti igne & sulphur. 
Apoc. it.  That is. To proud men & mystrowing men. to cursed & to men sleers. to lecherous & covetous. to poisoners and worshippers of mawmentes. & to all false liars her deal shall be with the devil in the pit of hell brenning with fire & brimstone If the lovers of this world would oft think on this how all this world shall pass and draw to an end/ and how all wicked love shall be hard punished. they should within short time loath all worldly lusts that they now most like/ & they should lift up her heart for to love god/ and they would busily seek & travail how they might be reformed to his likeness or they pass hens.   

¶ How lovers of this world unable hem in divers manners to the reforming of her own soul/ Capitulum/ xv.  
BUt now saith some of 'em thus. I would fain love god & be a good man. & forsake the love of the world if that I might/ but I have no grace thereto. If I had the same grace that a good man hath I should do as he doth/ But for I have it not. Therefore I may not & so it is not to me to wite but I am excused/ unto these men say I●hus So●h it is as they say that they have no grace and therefore they lain still in her sin & may not rise out/ But that availeth 'em not against god. for it is her own default/ They unable hem by divers ways so much that the light of grace may not shine to hem nearest in her hearts. For some are so fro ward that they will no grace have: ne they will no good men be. For they wot well that if they should be good men they must needs forbear the great liking & the lust of this world that they have in earthly things/ & that will they not. For hem thken it is so sweet that they will not forego it/ And also they must needs take works of penance/ As in fasting. Waking: praying/ & many other good deeds doing In chastising of their flesh & in withdrawing of their fleshly will & that may they not do/ For it is made so sharp and so dreadful to her thinking that they uggen & lothen for to think upon it/ and so cowardly & wretchedly dwell they stelle in her sin/ Some would have grace as it seemeth and begin to able hem thereto. but her will is wonder week/ For assoon as any stirring of sin cometh though it be contrary to the bidding of god. they fall anon thereto/ for they are so bound thorough custom by oft falling and oft assenting to sin before the hem think it impossible for to againstand it/ & so feigned herdnes of performing weekyth her will. & smytyth it down again Some also feelen stirring of grace. as when they have biting of conscience for her evil living. & that they should leave it But that is so painful to hem & heavy that they will not suffer it ne abide it: but they i'll therefro & foryete it if they may so farforth that they seek liking and comfort outward in flysshly creatures. so that they should not feel this biting of conscience within her soul/ And more over some men are so blind & so bestly that they ween there is none other life but this. ne that there is no soul other than a be'st/ & that the soul of a man dieth with the body as the soul of a be'st/ & therefore they say: eat we. Drink we. & make we merry here for of this life we been siker: we see none other heaven/ soothly such are some wretches that say thus in her hearts/ though they say it not with her mouth/ Of the which men the prophet saith thus/ Dixit incipiens in cord suo non est deus/ That is/ the unwise man said in his heart: 
P.  there is no god/ This unwise man is every wretched man that liveth & loveth sin. and chooseth the love of this world as rest of his soul: he saith there is no god/ not with his mouth. for he will speak of him sometime when he fareth well fleshly as it were in reverence when he saith blessed be god/ sometime in despite when he is angry against god or his even christian. & sweareth by his blessed body or any of his members/ But he saith in his thought that there is no god/ & that is either for he weeneth that god seeth not his sin or that he will not punish it so hard as holy writ saith/ or that he will forgive him the sin though he see it not/ or else y● there shall no christian man be dampened do he never so evil/ Or else if he fast our lady fast. or say every day a certain orison/ or here every day two. masses or iii▪ or do a certain bodily deed as it were in worship of god. he shall never go to hell do he never so much sin though he forsake it not/ this man saith in his heart that there is no god/ But he is unwise as the prophet saith/ For he shall feel & find in pain that he is a god whom he forgot and set nought by/ but set by the weal of the world as the prophet saith/ Sola vexacio dabit intellectum auditu●/ That is: 
I. xx viii.  only pain shall give understanding/ For he that knoweth not this here ne will not know it: shall well know it when he is in pain.   

¶ A little counsel how lovers of this world should do if they will be reformed in her soul before her parting hens/ Caplm xvi  
these men though they wot well that they be out of grace & in deadly sin they have no care ne sorrow ne thought therefore. But they make fleshly mirth & worldly solace asmuch as they may/ And the ferder they been fro grace the more mirth they make/ & perchance some holden 'em well paid that they have no grace that they may as it were the more fully & freely follow the liking of fleshly lusts. as though god were a sleep & might not see hem/ And this is one of the most default that may be/ And thus by her own frowardness they stop the light of grace fro her own soul that it may not rest therein/ the which grace in asmuch as in it is shineth to all ghostly creatures ready for to enter in there it is received; as the son shineth over all creatures bodily there it is not letted/ thus saith saint Iohn in the gospel. 
johinsi  Lux in tenebris lucet & ●enebre eam non comprehenderunt/ That is/ the light of grace shineth in darkness/ that is to men's hearts that are dark thorough sin/ But the darkness taketh it not/ That is these blind hearts receive not the gracious light. ne have not the profit of it: But right as a blind man is vmbi●apped with the light of the son when he standeth therein. & yet seeth it not. ne hath no profit there of for to go thereby/ right so ghostly a soul blinded with deadly sin is all unbelapped with this ghostly light. and yet he is never the better for he is blinded and will not see ne know his blindness And that is one of the most letting of grace. that a wretched man will not be a know of his own blindness for pride of himself or else if he know it he chargeth not. but maketh mirth & game as he were over all siker/ therefore unto all these men that are thus blinded and bound with the love of this world/ & are fowl forshape fro the fayrhede of man I say & counsel that they think on her soul. & that they able hem unto grace asmuch as they may. and that may they do upon this wise if that they will/ when that they feel himself out of grace & overlayed with deadly sin: then that they think what mischief & what peril it is to hem for to be put out of grace & departed fro god as they been/ For there is no thing that holdeth 'em fro the pit of hell that they ne should right soon fall therein but a bare syngyl thread of this bodily life whereby they hang/ what lightlier may be lost than a syngyl thread may be broken in two/ For were the breath stopped in her body: & that may lightly fall. her soul shall pass forth & anon be in hell without end/ And if they would think thus they should quake & shake for dread of the rightful domes of god. & of the herd punishing of sin/ & they should make sorrow & morn for her sin and for lacking of grace. and then should they cry & pray that they might have grace/ & if they deed thus then should grace fall in & put out de●knesse & hardness of heart and weakness of will/ and give 'em might & strength for to forsake the false love of this world as much as is deadly sin/ For there is no soul so far fro god thorough wickedness of will in deadly sin: I out take none that liveth in this body of sin that he ne may thorough grace be righted & reformed to cleanness oflyving. If he will bow his will to god with meekness for to amend his life. & heartily axe grace & forgiveness of him/ & excuse our Lord/ & fully accuse himself/ For holy wryt saith. Nolo mortem pccōrissed magis ut convertat et vivat/ That is. Our Lord saith: I will not the death of a sinner but I will more that he be turned to me & live/ For our Lord will that the most froward man that liveth forshapen thorough sin if he torn his will & ask grace that he be reformed to his likeness/   

¶ That reforming in faith & in feeling may not suddenly be gotten by grace & much bodily & ghostly travail in length of time: Caplm xvii  
THis reforming is in faith as I have before said that lightly may be had/ But after this cometh reforming in faith & in feeling that may not lightly begot but thorough long travyle & moche business/ For reforming in faith in common to all chosen souls though they been in the lowest degree of charity/ But reforming in feeling is specially of these souls that may come to the state of perfection & that may not suddenly be had but after great plenty of grace & much ghostly travail a soul may come thereto/ and that is when he is first healed of his ghostly sickness/ and when all bitter passions & fleshly lusts & other old feelings arne brent out of the heart with fire of desire & new gracious feelings arne brought inn with brenning love & ghostly light/ Thenne right nigh hygheth a soul to perfection and to reforming in feeling/  
¶ For soothe it is. Right as a man that is brought nigh to death through bodily sickness though he receive a medicine by the which he is restored and siker of his life/ he may not therefore anon rise up and go to work as an hole may for the feebleness of his body holdeth him down that he must abide & good while and keep him well with medicines. and diet him by measure after the teaching of a leech till he may fully recover bodily he'll right so ghostly. he that is brought to ghostly death thorough deadly sin though he thorough medicine of the sacrament of penance be restored to life that he shall not be dampened/ nevertheless he is not anon hole of all his passions and of all his fleshly desires ne able to contemplation/ but him behooveth abide a great while. and take good keep of himself/ and rule him so that he might recover full hele of soul: for he shall langern a great while or that he be fully hole/ nevertheless if that he take medicines of a good leech. & use 'em in time with measure with discretion he shall much the sooner be restored to his ghostly strength. and come to reforming in feeling/ For reforming in faith is the lowest state of all chosen souls/ For beneath that might they not well be/ But reforming in feeling is the highest state in this life that the soul may come to But fro the lowest to the highest may not a soul suddenly styrte no more than a man that will climb upon a ladder high and setteth his foot upon the lowest steel may at the next flee up to the highest But him behoveth go by process one after another till he may come to the ouerest/ right so it is ghostly. No man is made suddenly sovereign in grace: but through long exercise and sly working of a soul may come thereto/ namely when he helpeth and teacheth a wretched soul in whom all grace lieth/ For without special help and Inwardly teaching of him may no soul come thereto.   

¶ The cause why so few souls in reward of that multitude of other comen to this refourmg in faith & in feeling. Caplm xviii  
BUt now sayest thou/ sith our Lord is so courteous of his goodness. & of his gracious yefts so free/ wonder it is then that so few souls as it seemeth in reward of the multitude of other may come to this reforming in feeling/ It seemeth that he were dangerous & that is not sooth/ or that he took no reward of his creatures. the which by taking of faith are become his servants/ Unto this I may answer & say as me thinketh. that one encheason is this/ Many that are reformed in faith setten not her hearts for to profit in grace. ne for to seek none higher estate of good living thorough busy travail in praying a thinking. and other bodily & ghostly working/ but hem think it enough to hem to keep himself out of deadly sin. & for to stand still in that plight as they are in/ For they say that it is enough to hem for to be saaf and have the least degree in heaven/ They will covet no more/ Thus perchance doth some of the chosen souls that leaden in the world actyflyfe/ and that is little wonder of 'em/ For they are so occupied with worldly business that needeth for to be done that they may not fully set her hearts for to profit in ghostly we tking/ And nevertheless it is perilous to hem. for they fall out all day/ and are now up. & now down. & may not come to the stableness of good living. Nevertheless they are somewhat excusable for her estate of living/ But other men & women that are free fro worldly business if they will & may have her needful sustenance without great bodily business specially as religious men & women may that bynden himself to the state of perfection by taking of religion. and other men also in secular state that have moche reason in great kindly wit. & might if they would dispose 'em there to come to much grace/ these men are more to blame. for they stand still as they were idle & will not profit in grace. ne in no ferder seeking for to come to the love and the knowing of god/ For soothly it is perilous to a soul that is reformed only in saith and will no more seek profit. ne give him busily to ghostly travail/ for he may so lightly lose that he hath and fall again to deadly sin. For a soul may not stand still alway in one state while that it is in the flesh/ For it is either profiting in grace or peyring in sin For it fareth by him as it doth by a man that were draw out of a pit. & when he were up he would no ferder go than the pits brink/ soothly he were a moche fool for a little puff of wind or an unwarely stirring of him self should soon cast him down again worse than he was before/ nevertheless if he i'll fro the brink as far as he may & go forth on the earth. then though there come a great storm he is the more siker. for he falleth not in the pit/ right so ghostly. he that is drawn out of the pit of sin thorough reforming of faith/ and when he is our of deadly sin he thinketh himself syke● enough/ And therefore he will not profit but hold him still as he is by the pit's brink as near as he may soothly he is not wise/ For at the least temptation of his enemy or of his flesh he falleth in to sin again/ But nevertheless if he flee fro the pit. that is if he seat his heart fully for to come to more grace. and for to travail busily how he may come thereto. & give him heartily to praying. Thinking & other good works doing/ though great temptations rise against him he falleth not lightly to deadly sin again/ And soothly it is wonder to me that sithen grace is so good & so profitable why a man when he hath but a little thereof ye so little that he might no less have that he will say ho/ I will no more of this/ for I have enough/ when I see a worldly man though he have of worldly good moche more than him needeth/ yet he will never say hoo/ I have enough I will no more of this/ But he will covet more & more: & travail all his wits and his mights/ And never will stint of his covetise till he may have no more/ Moche more then should a chosen soul covet ghostly good that is everlasting & maketh a soul blessed/ And he never should cease of his coveyting if he died well▪ gete what he get might/ For he the most coveteth most shall have/ And soothly if he died thus he should profit & wax in grace greatly/   

¶ Another cause also of the same. And how wilful bodily customs indyscretly rewarded & used sometime hyndrens souls fro feeling of more grace/ Caplm nineteen  
ANother encheason is this. Some men that are reformed in faith in the beginning of her turning to god setten himself in a certain manner of doing whether it be bodily or ghostly. & thinken ever for to keep that manner of working forth/ & not for to change it for none other the cometh thorough grace though it were better. for they ween that that doing should be best for hem alway for to hold/ & therefore they resten 'em therein. & through custom they bind 'em so thereto that when they have fulfilled it they think 'em wonderly eased/ For they ween that they have done a great thing to god And perchance if it fall that they be letted fro the custom though it be for a skilful cause. they been heavy and angry. and have troubling of conscience▪ as if they had done a great deadly sin. these men hyndrens himself somewhat fro feeling of more grace. for they set her perfection in a bodily work. and so they make an end in the mids of the way where none end is/ For why bodily customs that men use in her beginning are good/ but they are but means & ways leading a soul to perfection/ And therefore he that saith his perfection in a bodily work or in a ghostly work that he felych in the beginning of his torning to god. and he will no fe●der seek but ever rest therein. he hindereth himself greatly/ For it is a simple craft that a prentice is ever in like wise in/ and that can on the first day as much of it as he can thirty winter after/ Or else if the craft be good and subtle he is of a dull wit or else of an evil will that profiteth not therein/ But then it is sooth that of all crafts that are. the service of god is most sovereign & the most subtle: the highest & hardest for to come to the perfection of it/ And also it most profitable and most of winning to him that may soothe fastly perform it/ And therefore it seemeth that the prentices of it that are ever ylyke farforth in learning either are they dull witted or else evil willed/ I reprove not these customs that men use in the state of beginning whether they been bodily or ghostly/ for I say that they are full good & spedful for 'em for to use/ But I would that they held 'em not but as a way & an entry toward ghostly feeling. and that they used 'em as a covenable mean till a better come/ and that they in using of 'em coveted after better/ And thenne if better come that were more ghostly and more drawing in the thought from flesshlynes & fro the sensuality & vain imagination. If that should be letted by cause of her customs that they leave then her custom when it may be left without scaunder or disease of other. and follow that they feel/ But if neither let other then that they use both if they may. I mean not of customs needful thorough bond of law or of rule or of penance/ but of other wilfully taken/ Thus teacheth us the prophet in the sawter saying thus etem benediccionem dabit legislator ibunt de virtute in virtutem videbitur deus deorum in zion/ That is: 
p. lxxx iii.  soothly the bringer of the law shall give blessing they shall go fro virtue in to virtue/ and god of goddies shall be see in zion/ The bringer of the law. that is our Lord Ihesu christ shall give his blessing/ That is: He shall give his grace to his chosen souls. Calling hem fro sin and ryghting hem by good works to his likeness/ thorough which grace they shall profit and wax fro virtue to virtue till they come to zion/ that is till they come to contemplation/ in the which they shall see god of goddies. That is: They shall see well that there is not but one god/   

¶ How that without moche bodily & ghostly business & without moche grace & meekness souls may not be reformed in feeling/ ne keep therein after they come thereto/ Caplm xx  
NOw sayest thou. Sith it is so that reforming in faith is so low and so perilous for to rest in by cause of dread of falling again/ And reforming in feeling is so high and so siker/ who so might come thereto. Then coveytest thou for to wite what manner travail were most speedful for to use/ by the which a man might profit in. and come thereto. Or if there were any certain travail or special deed by the which a man might come to that grace and that reforming in feeling/ As unto this I say thus/ Thou wottest well that what man or woman will dispose him for to come to cleanness of heart and to feeling of grace him behoveth have moche travail and great fighting in will and in work lastingly against wicked stirrings of all the heed sins/ Not only against pride or envy but against all other with all the spices that comen out of them/ as I have said before in the first writing. For why/ passions and fleshly desires let the cleanness of the heart and pees in conscience/ And him behoveth also for to travail for to get all virtues Not only chastity and abstinence/ but also patience and mildness/ charity and meekness and all the other And this may not be done by one manner of work/ but by diverse works and many after sundry dispositions of men/ As now praying: now thinking now working some good works/ now assaying themself in divers wise/ In hunger: in thrust: in cold: in suffering of shame and despite if need be/ And in other bodily disease for love of virtue and soothfastness/ This knowest thou well/ for this readest thou in every book that teacheth of good living/ Thus saith every man that will stir men's souls to the love of god/ And so it seemeth that there is no special travail ne certain deed thorough which only a soul might come to that grace but principally thorough grace of our Lord Ihesu. & by many deeds & great in all that he may done. & yet all this is little enough/ And one skill may be this. For sith our Lord Ihu himself is special master of this craft: & he is special leech of ghostly likeness: for without him all is nought. it is therefore reasonable that after that he teacheth & stirreth so a man follow and work/ But he is a simple master that can not teach his disciple while he is in learning but ever one lesson/ & he is an unwise leech that by one medicine will hele all sores/ therefore our Lord Ihesu that is so wise & so good for to show his wisdom & his goodness he teacheth divers lessons to his dissyples after that they profit in her learning. & giveth to divers souls sere & divers medicines after the feeling of her sickness/ Also another skill is this: If there were any certain deed by the which a soul might come to the perfit love of god than should a man ween that he might come thereto by his own work & thorough his own travail as a merchant cometh to his meed by his own travail only & by his own work/ Nay it is not so ghostly in the love of god. For he that will serve god wisely & come to perfit love of god. he shall covet to have none other meed but him only/ But then for to have him may no creature deserve only by his own travail/ For though a man might travail as much bodily & ghostly as all creatures that ever were might he might not deserve only by his works for to have god to his meed: for he is sovereign bliss & endless goodness & passeth without comparison all men's deserts. & therefore he may not be gotten by no man's special works as bodily meed may/ For he is free and giveth hymsefe whethe will. & when he will. Neither for this ne for that/ ne this time ne after that time/ For though a soul work all the he can & may all his life time/ perfit love of Ihesu shall he never have till our Lord Ihesu will freely give it/ nevertheless on that other side I say also I hope he giveth it not but if a man work & travail all that he can & may. ye till him think he may no more/ or else be in full will thereto if he might/ And so it seemeth that neither grace only without full working of a soul that in it is/ ne working alone without grace bringeth a soul to the reforming in feeling/ that which reforming standeth in perfit love & charity/ But that one joined to that other/ that is grace joined to working bringeth in to a soul the blessed feeling of perfit love/ the which grace may not restfully but on meek souls that been full of that dread of god/ therefore may I say: he that hath no meekness ne doth his business may not come to this reforming in feeling/ He hath not full meekness that can not feel of himself soothe fastly as he is/ As thus/ He that doth all the good deeds that he can/ as in fasting: waking: wearing of the heir. & all other suffering of bodily penance/ or doth all the outward works of mercy to his even rrysten: or else inward/ as praying: weeping: sighing/ & thinking if he rest ever in hem & leave so much to 'em: & rewardeth 'em so greatly in his own sight that he presumeth of his own deserts. and thinketh himself ever rich & good holy & virtuous/ soothly aslonge as he feeleth thus he is not meek enough/ Ne though he say or think that all that he doth is of God's yeft & not of himself. he is not yet meek enough for he may not yet make himself yet naked of all his good deeds/ ne make him poor soothfastly in spirit/ ne feel himself nought as he is/ And soothly until a soul can feel ably thorough grace nought himself. and barren him fro all the good deeds that he doth thorough beholding of soothfastness of Ihesu he is not perfitly meek/ For what is meekness but soothfastness/ soothly nought else/ And therefore he that thorough grace may see Ihesu how that he doth all/ And himself doth right nought but suffereth Ihesu work in him what him liketh he is meek/ But this is full hard And as it were impossible. and unreasonable to a man that wortheth all by man's reason. and seeth no ferder for to do many good deeds. and then for to are rette all to Ihesu. & set himself at nought/ nevertheless who so might have a ghostly sight of such fastness him should think it full true and full reasonable for to do so/ And soothly he that hath this sight shall never do the less/ but he shall be stirred for to travail bodily & ghostly moche the more & with the better will/ And this may be one cause why some men peradventure swink & sweet & pine her wretched body with outrageous penance all her life time & are ever saying orisons & sawters & many other beads & yet may they not come to the ghostly feeling of the love of god as it seemeth that some done in short time with less pain. for they have not that meekness that I spoke of Also on tha other side I say he that doth not his business that thinketh thus. Whereto should I travail/ whereto should I pray or think wake or fast/ or any other bodily penance do for to come to such grace sithen it may not be gotten ne had but only of the free yefte of Ihu/ therefore I will abide in flesshlynes as I am. & right nought do of such works bodily ne ghostly until he give it/ For if he will give it. he asketh no working of me what so that I do. & how little y● I do I shall have it/ And if he will not give it. travail I never so fast therefore I get it never the sooner/ He y● saith thus may not come to this reforming. for he draweth himself wilfully to idleness of flessheed: & unableth him to the yeft of grace in asmuch as he putteth fro him both inward working that standeth in lasting desire & in longing to Ihesu & outward working by travail of his body in outward deeds. So may he not have it/ therefore I say he that hath no true meekness ne full heartily business other inward only by great fervour & lasting desire & busy prayer & thought in god. or else both inward & outward. may he not come to this ghostly reforming of his image/   

¶ An entry how a soul shall have her in meaning and working that will come to this reforming by ensample of apylgryme going to Iherusalem. And of two manner of meekness/ Caplm xxi.  
Nevertheless for thou covetest for to have some manner working by the which thou might the rather nyghen to that reforming/ I shall say as me thinketh by the grace of our Lord Ihesu the shortest & y● readiest help that I know in this working/ And how that shall be I shall tell the by an ensample of a good pilgrim upon this wise/ There was a man that would go to Jerusalem. And for he knew not the way he came to another man that he hoped knew the way better thither. and asked whither he might come to that city/ that other man said to him that he might not come thither without great disease and moche travail/ For the way is long and perilous and full of great thieves & robbers/ and many other lettings there been that fallen to a man in the going/ And also there are manysere ways as it seemeth ●edynge thitherward/ But men all day are slain and despoiled and may not come to that place that they coveten/ nevertheless there is one way the which who so taketh it & holdeth it he will undertake that he should come to that city of Jerusalem. & he should neuner lose his life. ne be slain ne die for default He should oft be rob & evil bete & suffer moche disease in the going. but his life should be saaf/ then said the pilgrim/ So that I may have my life saaf & come to that place that I covet to. I charge not what mischief I suffer in going/ And therefore say me what thou wilt & soothly I behote the for to do after thee/ That other man answereth & saith thus/ Lo I set that in the right way/ This is the way. And that thou keep the learning that I teach y●/ what so thou hearest seest or felyst that should let the in the way abide not with it wilfully/ tarry not for it wilfully. Behold it not: like it not/ dread it not/ but ever go forth in thy way. & think that thou wouldest be at Iherusalem/ for that thou covetest. & that thou desirest. & nought else but that. And if men rob the & dyspoyl the. beat thee: scorn thee: pyspyse thee/ strive not again if thou wolte have thy life/ but hold that with the harm that thou hast. & go forth as nought were. that thou take no more harm And also if men will tarry y● with tales. & feed y● with losings for to draw that to mirths: & for to leave thy pilgrimage: make a deefere & answer not again/ & say nought else but that thou wouldest be at Jerusalem/ And if men proffer the yefts & will make the rich with worldly good. Rent not to hem think ever on Iherusalem/ And if thou will hold this way & do that I have said. I undertake thy life that thou shalt not be slain. but thou shalt come to the place that thou covetest to/ Ghostly to our purpose: Jerusalem is asmuch for to say as a sight of peace/ & betokeneth contemplation in perfit love of god/ For contemplation is nought else but a sight of god which is very peace/ Then if thou covet for to come to this blessed sight of very pees. & be a true pilgrim to ihrlm ward. though it be so that I were never there: nevertheless as farforth as I can I shall set that in the way thitherward/ The beginning of the high way in the which thou shalt go/ is reforming in faith grounded meekly in the faith & in the laws of holy church as I have said before/ For trust sickerly though thou have sinned here before. If thou be now reformed by the sacrament of penance after the law of holy church that thou art in the right way/ Now then sithen thou art in the sicker way if thou will speak in thy going & make good journayes. the behoveth to hold these two. Things often in thy mind. meekness & love: & that is. I am nought I have nought.. I covet nought but one/ Thou shalt have the meaning of these words in thine intent & in habit of thy soul lastingly though thou have 'em not ever specially in thy thought. for that needeth not. meekness saith. I am nought I have nought/ love saith I covet nought but one: & that is Ihu/ these two strings well festned with the mind of Ihesu maketh good a cord in the harp of the soul when they been craftily touched with the finger of reason/ For the lower thou smites upon the one the higher soundeth the other/ The less thou felyst that thou art or that thou hast of thyself thorough meekness/ the more thou covetest for to have of Ihu in desire of love I mean not only of the meekness that a soul feeleth in the sight of his own sin for freelnes & wretchedness of this life or of the wretchedness of his even crysten/ For though this meekness be soothfast & medicinable. Nevertheless it is boisterous & fleshly as in regard not clean ne soft ne lovely/ But I mean also this meekness that the soul feeleth thorough grace in sight & beholding of the endless being of thine own heart/ For it fareth by works & by desire as it doth by sticks & by a fire/ For the more sticks are laid to the fire: the greater is the fire. Right so the more divers ghostly working that a man hath in his thought for to keep hole his desire: the mightier & more brenning shall his desire be to god And therefore look wisely what work thou canst best do. & the most helpyth for to save hole this desire to Ihu if thou be free & art not bound but under the common law. & that do/ bind that not to wilful customs unchaungably that should let the freedom of thine heart for to love Ihu if grace would visit that specially/ For I shall tell the which customs are ever good & needful to be kept/ Loo such custom is ever good to hold the standeth in getting of virtue & letting of sin. & the custom should never be lelft/ for thou shall ever be meek: patient. Sober & chaste if thou well do. & so of all other virtues But the custom of another thing that letteth a better is good for to leave when time is there a man may As thus. If a man have in custom for to say thus many deeds/ or for to think this manner of thought thus long time/ or for to wake or kneel thus long or any other such bodily deed. this custom is for to leave sometime when reasonable cause lettith or else if more grace cometh otherwise/   

¶ Of taryenges' & temptations the souls feel by her ghostly enemies in her ghostly knowing & going to Ihrlm. & of remedies against hem/ Caplm xxii  
NOw art thou in the way & woost how thou shalt go Now beware of enemies that will be busy for to let that if they may/ for her intent is for to put out of thine heart that desire and the longing that thou hast to the love of Ihu & for to drive the home again to the love of worldly vanity/ for there is no thing that grieveth 'em so moche/ these enemies are principally fleshly desires & vain dreads that risen out of thine heart thorough corruption of thy fleshly kind & would let thy desire of the love of god that they might fully & restfully occupy thine heart/ these are thy next enemies/ Also other enemies there are/ as unclean spirits that are busy with sleights & wiles for to deceive thee/ But one remedy shalt thou have that I said before/ What so it be that they say trow 'em not but hold forth thy way & only desire the love of Ihu/ answer ever thus/ I am nought I have nought I covet nought but only the love of our Lord Ihu If thine enemies say to the first thus by stirrings in heart that thou art not shriven aright. or there is some old sin hid in thine heart that thou knowest not ne never were shriven aright And therefore thou must torn home again & leave thy desire & go shrive the better/ trow not this saying for it is falls/ for thou art shriven trust sickerly. and that thou art in the way & that needeth no more ransacking of shrift for that that it passed/ hold forth thy way & think on Ihr̄lm/ Also if they say that thou art not worthy to have the love of god. Whereto shalt thou covet that thou mayst not have: ne art not worthy thereto/ trow hem not but go forth & say thus/ Not for I am worthy but for I am unworthy. Therefore would I love god/ For if I had it. that should make me worthy/ And sithen I was made thereto though I should never have it yet will I covet it/ and therefore will I pray & think that I might get it/ And than if thine enemies see that thou beginnest to wax bold & well willed to thy work they begin to wax afeard of thee/ nevertheless they will not cease of tarrying the when they may as long as thou art going in the way/ what with dread & menacing on that one side. what with flattering and false pleasing on that other side for to make the break thy purpose & torn home again they will say thus. If thou hold forth thy desire to Ihesu so fully traveling as thou beginnest. thou shalt fall in to sickness or in to fantasies or in to frenesyes as thou seest that some don/ Or thou shalt fall in to poverty & bodily mischief. & no man shall well help thee/ Or thou might fall in to prive temptations of the fiend that thou shalt not help thyself For it is wonder perilous to any man for to give him fully to the love of god & leave all the world. & no thing covet but only the love of him. for so many perils may fall that a man knoweth not of/ And therefore torn home again & leave this desire for thou shall never bring it to the end and do as other worldly men done.  
Thus say thine enemies. but trow hem not/ but hold for thy desire/ & say not else but thou wouldest have Ihesu & be at Ihrlm/ And if they perceive then thy will so strong y● thou wilt not spare for sin ne for sickness for fantasies ne for frenesyes. for dowtes ne for dreads of ghostly temptations/ for mischief ne for poverty/ for life ne for death. but ever forth thou wilt with one thing/ & no thing but one. & make deefere to 'em as though thou heard 'em not. & holdest the forth stiffly in thy prayer & in thine other ghostly works without stynting with discretion after counsel of thy sovereign or of thy ghostly father/ then begin they for to be wroth & to go a little nearer the. Then they begin for to rob the & beat the & do the all the shame that they can/ And that is when they make that all the deeds that thou dost been they never so well done are devyed of other men as evil. & turned in to the worse party/ And what so ever it be that thou wouldest have done in help of thy body or of thy soul it shall be letted or hindered by other men. so that thou shalt be put fro thy will in all thing that thou skyfully coueytes. & all this they don that thou shouldest be stirred to ire or malencoly or evil will against thine even christian/ But against all these diseases & all other that thou may feel use this remedy Take Ihu in thy mind & anger the no more with 'em tarry not with 'em. but think on thy lesson that thou art nought that thou hast nought thou may nought lose of earthly good thou covetest nought but the love of Ihu & hold forth thy way to ihrlm with thy occupation/ And nevertheless if thou be tarried sometime thorough freelte of thyself with such uneases that fallen to thy bodily life thorough evil will of man or malice of the fiend. Assoon as thou may come again to thyself leave of thy thinking of thy disease & go forth to thy work/ abide not long with 'em for dread of thine enemies.   

¶ Of a general remedy against wicked stirrings & painful taryenges that fallen to her hearts of the flesh & of the world & of the fiend/ Caplm xxiii  
ANd after this when thin enemies see that thou art so well willed that thou art not angry nor heavy ne wroth ne moche stirred against no creature for ought that they may do or speak against the● but settest thy heart fully for to suffer all that may fall. ease or unease: praising or lacking. and that thou wilt charge no thing with that that thou might keep thy thought and thy desire hole to the love of god. then are they much abashed/ But then will they assay the with flattering and vain pleasing/ And that is when they bring to the sight of thy soul all thy good deeds & virtues/ and bear upon the that all men praisen the and speak good of thy holiness/ and how all men love the and worship the for thy holy living/ Thus done thine enemies that thou shouldest think her saying sooth & have delight in this vain joy and rest the therein/ But if thou do well thou shalt hold all such jangeling falsed and flattering of thine enemy that proffereth the to drink venom tempered with honey/ And therefore refuse it and say thou will not thereof. but thou would be at Iherusalem/  
such letting thou shalt feel or else other like. what of thy flesh what of the world what of the fiend more than I may rehearse now/ For a man as long as he suffereth his thought wilfully run about the world in beholding of sundry things he perceiveth few lettings: But assoon as he draweth all his thought & his yearning to one thing only for to have yt. for to know that: for to love that/ and that is only Ihesu/ then shall he well feel many painful lettings For every thing that he feeleth & is not that that he coveteth is letting to him/ therefore I have told the of some specially as for example/ And overmore I say generally that what stirring that thou felyst of thy flesh or of the fiend pleysaunte or painful/ bitter or sweet: liking or dreadful. Gladsome or sorrowful that would draw down thy thought and thy desire fro the love of Ihesu to worldly vanity. and let utterly thy ghostly covetise that thou haste to the love of him. and that thy heart should be occupied with that stirring restyngly. Set it at nought/ receive it not wilfully. Tarry not therewith to long/ But if it be of worldly thing the behoveth needs to be done to thyself or to thine even christian. Speed the soon of it. & bring it to an end that it hang not on thine heart/ If it be another thing that needeth not or else it to wcheth not the. charge it not. Jangyll not therewith. ne anger the not dread it not: like it not. but smite out thine heart readily and say thus I am nought I have nought. Nought I seek ne covet but the love of Ihesu/ knight thy thought to this desire & strength it. & maintain it with prayer & with other ghostly works that thou forget it not: and it shall lead the in thy right way & save the fro all perils. that though thou feel 'em thou shalt not perish And I hope that it shall bring the to perfit love of our Lord Ihu/ nevertheless on that other side I say also/ what work or what stirring it be that may help thy desire strength it & nourish it. and make thy thought ferrest fro lust and mind of the world more hole and hole & more brenning to the love of god whether it be praying or thinking. stillness or speaking: reading or hearing/ Onnlynes or commoning: going or sitting keep it for the time & werche therein allonge as savour lastyth/ If it be so that thou take therewith meet & drink & sleep as a pilgrim doth/ & keep discretion in thy working after counsel & ordinance of the sovereign. For have he never so great haste in his going/ yet he will eat & drink & sleep. Do thou like wise/ For though it let the one tyme. it shall further the another time/   

¶ Of an evil day & a good night what it meaneth/ & how the love of the world is likened to an evil day: & the love of god to a good night/ Caplm xxiiii  
if thou wilt wite than what this desire is soothly it is Ihu/ for he maketh this desire in the & giveth it thee/ And he it is the desireth in thee/ & he it is that is desired/ He is all & he doth all if thou might see him/ Thou dost nought but sufferest him work in thy soul/ and assentyst to him with great gladness of heart that he wouche safe for to do so in thee/ Thou art nought else but a reasonable Instrument wherein that he worcheth/ And therefore when thou felyst thy thought by to wehing of his grace take up with desire to Ihu with a mighty devout will for to please him & love him. them think that thou hast Ihu for he it is that thou desirest/ behold him well for he goth before that not in bodily likeness but unsenseably by prive presence of his might/ therefore see him ghostly if thou may and festen althy thought and thine affection to him. & follow him where so he gooth. for he shall lead the the right way to Ihr̄lm. that is the sight of pees & contemplation/ Thus prayed the prophet to the father of heaven saying thus/ 
P. xlii.  Emitte lucem tuam & veritatem tuam ipa me deduxetunt et adduxetunt in montemscm tuum et in tabernacula tua. That is/ father of heaven send out thy light and thy soothfastness. that is thy son Ihu/ anb he shall lead me by desire in me to the holy hill and in to thy tabernacles. that is to the feeling of perfit love & height in contemplation/ Of this desire speaketh the prophet thus/ Memoriale tuum in desiderio aīe mee. 
Isay. ●ꝯ.  Aina mea desyderavit te in nocte: sed & spus meus in pcordiis meis That is. Lord Ihesu the mind of the is printed in desire of my soul/ For my soul hath desired the in the night. and my spirit hath coveted the in all thynkynges And why the prophet saith he hath desired god all in the night as a tymful space betwixt days two/ For when one day is ended another cometh not anon/ but first cometh night & departeth the days sometime long & sometime short/ and then after cometh another day The prophet meaned not only of this manner of night but he meaned a ghostly night/ Thou shalt understand that there been two days or two lights/ The first is a falls light. the ●econde is a true light/ The false light is the love of this world that a man hath in himself of corruption of his flesh. The true light is the perfit love of Ihesu feeled thorough grace in a man's soul. The love of this world is a false light/ For it passeth away and lasteth not/ and so it performeth not that that it behoteth/ This light behyght the fiend to Adam when he stir him to sin and said thus/ 
Gen. 3  Aperientur oculi vestri et eritis sicut dii/ That is/ your eyen shall be opened and ye shall be as God's/ And he said sooth there For when Adam had sinned anon his Inner eye was sperred & ghostly light withdraw. & his utter eye were opened/ & he felt and saw a new light of flesshlh liking and worldly love that he saw not before/ And so saw he a new day but this was an evil day/ For this was it that Job waryed when he said thus/ Pereat dies in qua natus sum/ That is: 
job 3.  perish the day in the which I was borne/ He waryed not the day running in the year that god made/ but he waryed this day that man made. that is the concupyscens and the love of this world in the which he was borne through he feeled it not.  
Then this day and this light he asked of god that it should perish and no longer last/ But the everlasting love of Ihesu is a true day and a blessed light/ For god is both love and light. and he is everlastyngr as saint Iohn saith/ Qui diligit deum manet in lumine/ That is: 
p joh. ●  He that loveth god dwelleth in the light Than what man perceiveth and seeth the lone of this world falls and failing. and for that he will forsake it and seek the love of Ihesu/ He may not assoon feel the love of him/ But he must abide a while in the night/ For he may not suddenly come fro that one light to that other/ that is from the love of the world to perfit love of god/ This night is nought else but a forbearing and a withdrawing of the thought and of the soul fro earthly things by great desire and yearning for to love and see and feel Ihesu & gholy things/ This is the night/ For right as the night is dark and ever hiding from all bodily creature: and a restynges of all bodily deeds/ right so a man that setteth him fully for to think on Ihesu/ & for to desire only the love of him is busy for to hide his thought fro vain beholding and perceiving. and his affection fro fleshly liking and loving of all bodily creatures/ So that his thonght may be made free & not subject. ne his affection bound ne pined ne troubled in no thing lower ne woors than himself/ And if he may do so then it is night with him/ for than he is in darkness. But this is a good night & a light darkness & for it is a stopping out of the falls love of this world. and it is a neighing of the true day And soothly the derker that this night is the nearer is the true day of the love of Ihu/ For the more that the soul may thorough longing to god be hid fro noise & dine of fleshly affections & unclean thoughts the nearer it is for to feel the light of the love of him for it is even at it. Thus seemeth it the prophet meaned when he said thus. Cum in tenebris sedeo dns lux mea est. That is: when I sit in darkness our Lord is my light/ That is: when my soul is hid fro all stirrings of sin as it were in sleep/ then is our Lord my light: for thenne nigheth he of his grace for to show me of his light/ nevertheless this night is sometime painful/ first when a man is much foul and is not thorough grace used to be often in this darkness but would fain have it/ and therefore he setteth his thought & his desire to god ward asmuch as he may/ he would not feel ne think but only of him: and by cause that he may not lightly have it therefore it is painful/ For the custom & the homelynes that he hath had with sins before of the world and of fleshly affections and earthly things/ and his fleshly deeds prees so upon him and ever smite in by mastery and draw down all the soul to hem that he may not well be hid fro hem assoon as he would. Therefore this darkness is painful to him/ and namely when grace to wchyth not abundantly/ nevertheless if it be so with the. be not to heavy ne strive not much as though thou wouldest through mastery put hem out of thy thought. for thou may not do so but abide grace: suffer easily. and break not thyself toomuch/ And slily if thou may draw thy desire and thy glostly beholding to Ihu: as if tho wouldest not charge 'em. For wite thou well when thou wouldest desire Ihesu and only think on him. and thou may not freely for preaching in of such worldly thoughts: soothly thou art outward of the falls day. and thou art entering in to this darkness/ But thy darkness is not restful by cause of disease & vncunnyng and uncleanness of thyself/ And therefore use it oft & it shall by process through feeling of grace be more easy & more restful to thee/ And that is when thy soul through grace is made so free and so mighty & so good and so gathered in to itself that it list not to think on right nought/ Thenne is it in a good darkness/ This nought I mean thus that a soul may thorough gracebe gathered into itself freely & holy: & not be driven against the will ne drawn down by mastery for to think or like or love with cleaving of affection to any sin ol vainly any earthly thing thenne thinketh the soul nought/ for them thynkith it of none earthly thing clevyngly This is a rich nought/ & this nought & this night is a great ease for the soul that desireth the love of Ihesu/ It is in ease as for thought of any earthly thing nevertheless it is full busy for to think on him/ What thing then maketh this darkness: soothly nought else but a gracious desire for to have the love of Ihu/ For the desire & the longing that it hath that time to the love of god for to see him & have him driveth out of the heart all worldly vanities & fleshly affections. & gathereth the soul in to itself. & occupieth it only for to think how it might come to the love of him/ & the time may it freely & devoutly behold Ihu whed it will pray or think. & so it bringeth it to this right nought.. & soothly it is not all dark ne nought when it thinketh thus. For though it be dark fro falls light it is not all dark fro the true lyght.. for Ihu that is both love & light is in this darkness whether it be painful or restful/ If it be painful thenne he is in the soul as traveling in desire & longing to light but he is not yet a● resting in love ne as showing his light: And therefore it is called night & darkness in asmuch as the soul is hid fro the false light of the world. & hath not yet fully feeling of true light: but is in abiding of that blessed love of god which it desireth/ Thene if thou wolte wite when thou atte in this syker darkness & when not/ thou may assay thus and seek no ferder but thus/ when thou felyst thine intent & thy will fully set for to desire god. & think only on him/ thou may as it were first ask thyself in thine own thought whether thou covet for to have any thing of this life for love of itself or for to have the use of any of thy bodily wits in any creature/ & thenne if thine eye answer the thus/ I would see right nought/ & thy mouche. I would savour right nought/ & after thine ear. I would here right nought/ & thy body. I would feel right nought/ & after if thine heart say I would think right nought of earthly thing ne of bodily deed/ ne I would have affection fastyned fleshly to no creature but only in god/ & to god ward if that I could/ & when they answer all thus to the & that is done full readily if grace touch the. thenne art thou entered some what in to this darkness. for though thou feel & perceive glentynges & proferynges of vain thoughts & presing in of fleshly affections. Nevertheless thou art in this profitable darkness if it be so that thy thought be not fixed in hem/ For such vain imaginations that fall in the heart unadvisedly trowblen this darkness/ & pineth the soul some what by cause that it would be hid fro hem & may not/ but they do not away the profit of this darkness/ for the soul shall by the way come to restful myrknes/ And then is this darkness restful when the soul is hid for a time fro the painful feeling of all such vain thoughte●.. & only is rested in desire & longing to Ihu with a ghostly beholding of him as it shall be said afterward But the lasteth but a while hole. Nevertheless though it be but a short time it is full profitable   

¶ How that the desire of Ihesu feel in this lyghtsom darkness sleeth all stirrings of sin. & ableth the soul to perceive ghostly lyghtynges fro the heavenly Iherusalem that is Ihesu/ Caplm xxv  
THen sithen this darkness & this night is so good & so restful though it be short that standeth only in desire & longing to the love of Ihesu with a blind thinking on him how good then & how blessed is it for to feel his love. and for to be illumided with his blessed unseeable present light for to see soothfastness/ the which light a soul receiveth when the night passeth & the day springeth/ This I hope was the night that the prophet meaned when he said: My soul hath desired that in the night/ as I have before said. it is much better to be hid in this dark night fro beholding of y● world though it were painful: than for to be out in false liking of this world that seemeth so shining & so comfortable to hem that are blind in knowing of ghostly light/ For when thou art in this darkness thou art mickle nearer Ihr̄lm. than when thou art in the mids of the falls light. Therefore apply thine heart fully to the stering of grace: & use for to dwellen in this darkness & be often assaying to been homely the●in: & it shall soon be made restful to the. & the true light of ghostly knowing shall spring to the. not all at once but privily by little & by little as the prophet saith Hītantibus in regione vmbre martis: lux orta est eyes. That is: 
Isay. con  To the dwelling in the country of shadow of death: light was sprungen. that is: light of grace sprung & shall spring to all hem that can dwell in the shadow of death/ that is in this darkness. that is like to death/ for as death sleeth a living body & all fleshly feelings of it right so desire to love Ihu feeled in this darkness sleeth all sins. All fleshly affections & all unclean thoughts for the tyme. & than nyghest thou fast to ihrlm. thou art not yet at it/ but be small sudden lyghtynges that glydern outthorughe small caves fro that city shalt thou mow seen is fro far or that thou come thereto/ For wet thou well though that thy soul be in this restful darkness withouten troubling of worldly vanities it is not yet there it should be/ it is not yet clothed all in light ne turned all in to fire of love. but it feeleth well that there is some what above itself that it knoweth not ne hath not yet/ but would have it. & breunyngly desireth it. & that is not else but the light of Ihr̄lm without forth. the which is like to a city that the prophet ezechyel saw in his visions. He saith that he saw a city set upon an hill hilding to the south. that to his sight when it was meeten was no more of length & of breed than a rod that was six cubytes & a palm of length: but as soon as he was brought in to the city & looked about him than thought him that it was wo●der mickle. for he saw many halls & chaumbrys both open and privy. he saw gates and porches. utterward & innerwarde & mickle more bygging than I say now on length & on breed many hundred cubytes than was this wonder to him how this city within was so long & so large that was so little to his sight when he was without/ This city betokeneth that pertyte love of god set in the hill of cotemplacyon. that which▪ unto the sight of a soul that without the feeling of it traveleth in the desire toward seemeth somewhat/ but it seemeth but a little thing no more than a reed that is vi. Cubits & a palm of length/ By vi. cubytes are understand the perfection on manes work/ And by y● palm a little touching of contemplation/ He seeth well that there is such a thing that passeth the desert of all the working of man a little as the palm passeth the vi. Cubits/ but he seeth not within what it is/ nevertheless if he may come within the city of contemplation/ then seeth he much more than he saw first/   

¶ How a man shall know false Illuminations feigned by the fiend fro the true light of knowing the cometh out of Ihu & by what tokens/ Caplm xxvi  
BUt now bewaar of the midday fiend y● feigneth light as it came out of Ihr̄lm & is not so. For the ten●e seeth that our Lord Ihu showeth light to his lovers of soothfastness/ therefore in the ●eceyuing of hem that are unwise he showeth a light that is not true under colour of a true light & deceiveth hem. Nevertheless how a soul may know the light of soothfastness when it shineth from god & when it is feigned thorough the enemy shall I say as me thinketh by an ensample of the firmament/ somtym the firmament showeth a light fro the son/ & seemeth the son & is not/ And sometime showeth the true son truly/ A knowing of the one from the other is this. The feigned son she with him not but bitwixe two black reyny clouds/ Thenne by cause the son is near there shineth out fro the clowles a light as it were alone & is none/ But the true son she with him when the frymament is clear or much cleared fro the black clouds/ Now to our purpose Some men as it semich forsakith the love of the world & would come to the love of god & to the light of understanding of him. But they will not come through this darkness that I have spoken of before/ They will know hemfelfe truly ne meekly what they have been before ne what they are yet through sin/ ne how nought they are in her own kind against god They are not busy for to entry in to himself all other things outward left. and flee all wicked stirrings that risen in her hearts of pride envy ire or other sins through lasting desire to Ihesu in praying & in thinking: in silence and in weeping/ and in other bodily & ghlostly exercise as devoutemen & holy men have done/ But assoon as they have forsake the world as it were outward in likeness or else soon after they ween that they are holy and able for to have the ghostly understanding of the gospel & of holy writ/ & namely if they may fulfil letterly the commandments of god and keep 'em fro bodily sins that they ween that they love god perfitly/ And therefore they will anon preach & teach all other men as if they had received grace of understanding in perfection of charity through special yeft of the holy ghost And also there are moche more stirred for as much as they feel sometime moche knowing as it were sondenly yeven to 'em without great study before had. & also much fervour of love as it seemeth for to preach troth & rightwiseness to her evencrysten/ therefore they hold it as a grace of god that vylyteth 'em with his blessed light before other souls nevertheless if they will look well about 'em they shall find that this light of knowing & that heat that they feel cometh not of the true son y● is our Lord Ihu. but it cometh fro y● myddaye fiend that feigneth light & lykneth him to the son. & therefore shall he be known by example before said light of cunning y● is feigned by the fiend to a dark swelled is showed betwixt two black reyny clouds/ The over cloud is presumption & hygheng of themself The neither cloud is down putting & aloweng of his enencrysten Then what light of knowing or feeling of fervour y● it be y● shineth to a soul which presumption & hygheng of itself & disdain of his even-christian y● same time feeled it is not light of grace yeven of the holy ghost though the knowing in itself were soothfast/ but it is either of the fiend if it come suddenly or else of man's own wit if it come by study: And so it may well be known. that this feigned light of knowing is not y● light of the true son/ therefore they y● have this knowing on this manner are full of ghostly pride & seen it not. they are so blind with this feigned light that they hold the highness of her own heart & thumbuxonnes to the laws of holy church as it were perfit meekness to y● gospel & to the laws of god/ & they ween that the following of her own will were freedom of sprite/ & therefore they begin to rain as black clouds water of errors & heresies: for the words that they she wen by preaching so w●en all to bachyting & to striving & to discord/ making reproving of states & of persons/ & yet say they that all this is charity & zeal of rightwiseness/ But it is not sooth. for saint James th'apostle saith thus/ Uhi enim zelus et contencio ibi inconstancia et omne opus prawm/ Non est sapiencia hec desursum descendens a patre luminum. sed est terrena a inalis & diabolica/ That is: where so envy is & flyting there is unstablynes & all evil work/ And therefore that cnnning that bringeth forth such sins cometh not from the sader of light that is good/ but it is earthly beestly & fendly/ And so by these tokens that are pride presumption unbuxomnes indignation backbiting & other such sins for these followen after. May the feigneth light be known for the crew/ For the true son shineth and showeth him not by special visitation for to give light of understnoding or perfit charity to a soul but the firmament be first made bright & clear fro clouds/ that is: but if the conscience be made clean through fire of brenning desire to Ihesu in this darkness the which wasteth & brenneth all wicked stirrings of pride. vainglory: ire envy: & all other sins in the soul as the prophet saith/ Ignis ante ipsum precedet et inflam mabit incircuitu ivimicos eius. 
p. ꝯꝯ.  fire shall go before him: That is desire of love shall go before Ihesu in man's soul/ & it shall brenne all his enemies/ that is: it shall waste all synes/ For but if a soul be first smitten down fro the height of itself by dread & meekness and bewel examined & brent in this fire of desire/ And as it were purified fro all ghostly filth by long time in devout prayers and other ghostly exercises it is not able to suffer the shining of ghostly light/ ne for to receive the precious liquor of perfit love of Ihesu/ But when it is purified and made subtle thorough this fire then may it receive the gracious light of ghostly knowing and the perfection of love that is true son Thus saith holy write/ 
mon liv  Uobis qui timetis deum oriet ●ol justice: the true son of rightwiseness that is our Lord Ihesu shall spring to yo● that dreaden him/ y● is to meek souls y● meken hemsel under her evencristen by knowing of her own wretchedness & casten henself down wnder god by noughting of himself in her own substance thorough reverence dread and ghostly beholding of him lastyngly/ for that the perfit meekness/ Unto these souls the true son shall spring. and Illumyn her reason in knowing of soothfastness/ and kindleth her affection in burning of love and then shall they both burn and shine/ They shall thorough virtue of this heavenly son burn in perfit love: and shine in knowing of god and ghostly things/ for than they been reformed in feeling/ therefore he that will not be deceived I hope it is good to him to draw down himself & hide him in this darkness/ first from entermeting of other men as I have said/ and forget all the world if he may & follow Ihesu with lasting desire offered in prayers & thinking on him/ then I trow the light that cometh after this darkness is siker and sothtaste/ and that it shineth of the city of Iherusalem from the true son to a soul that traveleth in darkness/ and crieth after light for to wyssen it the way▪ and comfort it in travail. For I hope after true darkness before cometh never teyned light.  
That is if a man truly and fully set him to forsake the love of the world/ And may thorough grace come to feeling and knowing of himself/ And hold him meekly in that feeling/ he shall not be deceived with none errors ne heresies/ ne with fantasies/ For all these comen by the gate of pride/ then if that pride may be stopped out/ then there shall no such sin rest in a soul/ And though that they come and proffer hem hem they shall not enter/ For grace that the soul feeleth in this meek darkness shall teach the soul sothtastnes. and show to him that all such profetynges are o● the enemies/   

¶ How great profit is it to a soul to be brought thorough grace into lyghtsom darkness/ And how a man shall dispose him if he will come thereto/ Caplm/ xxvii  
THere are many devout souls that thorough grace come in to this darkness & feelen the knowing of himself and yet wot they not fully what it is. & the unknowing in party hindered hem/ They feel well often her thought and her affection drawn out and departed fro the mind of earthly things and brought in to great rest of a delectable softness without pinful troubling of vain thoughts or of her bodily wits/ and they feel the time so great freedom of spirit that they may think on Jhesu peaceable/ and offer her psalms & prayers mightily savourly & sweetly to him as long as freelte of bodily kind may suffer it/ They wot well that this feeling is good/ but they noot what it is/ therefore unto all such souls I say as me thinketh: that this manner of feeling though it be but short & but syldom it is sooth fastly this darkness that I speak of/ For it is a feeling of himself first and a rising above himself thorough breuning dysyre to the sight of Ihu/ Or else if I shall say more soothly. this gracious feeling is a ghostly sight of Ihesu/ And if they may keep 'em in that rest or bring it thorughe grace in to a custom so that they might lghtly & freely have it when hem list. & hold 'em in it/ they should never be overcome by temptycyon of the fiend ne of the flesh/ ne by errors ne heresies: for they are set in the gate of contemplation able & ready for to receive that perfit love of Ihu. Therefore he that hath it. it is good that he know it meekly/ keep it tenderly/ & pursue it fervently that no creature let him utterly from it that he ne follow it when he may/ And that he forget & set at nought all thing that should put him fro this if he be free of himself/ & may do what he will without slander or disease of his even-christian/ For me thynkyth that he may not come to this rest lightly but if he have great plenty of grace/ & set him for to follow after the stirring of grace And that oweth he for to do/ For grace will ever be free/ namely fro sin & worldly besenes. & from all other things that let the worthing of it though they are no sin nevertheless another soul that hath not yet received this fullness of grace if he desire for to come to this ghostly knowing of Ihu/ as moche as in him is he must able himself to it. & put away all lettings that stoppen grace as much as he may/ He must learn for to die to the world & forsake the love of it truly/ first pride bodily & ghostly that he desire no worthyp/ worldly cunning. ne worldly cratt/ benefices ne richesse/ precious clothing: ne worldly array/ ne no thing where through he should be worshypes above other men/ He shall covet none of a these But if they been put upon him. take 'em with dread so that he be poor both outward & In ward/ or else fully inward in heart/ And that he covet for to be forgeten of the world the men reward him no more be he never so rich ne so cunning than the poorest man that liveth/ Also that he suffereth not his heart rest in beholding of his own deeds or in his virtues/ weening that he doth better than another/ for he forsaketh the world and other done not so/ and therefore setteth well by himself/ Also he must leave all rising of heart and evil will of ire and envy against his evencristen/ And that he disease no man ne anger him unskyfully in word ne in deed/ ne give any man matter where thorough he might skilfully be angered or stirred/ so that he mygh to be free fro every man/ And also that he forsake covetise that he covet right nought of earthly goo●/ but only ask his bodily sustenance that him needeth and hold him paid when god stirreth other men for to give him/ And that he put no manner of trust in haviour of any worldly good/ ne in help or favour of any worldly friend but principally & fully in god/ For if he do otherwise he bindeth himself to the world/ And he may not therefore be free for to think on Ihesu/ And also gluttony and lechery and all other fleshly uncleanness utterly he must leave. that the affection be bound to no woman by fleshly homlynesse/ For it is no doubt that such blind love that is sometime atwyxe a man and a woman/ and seemeth good and honest for as much as they would notsynne in deed/ in the sight of god is full unclean & well great sin/ For it is a great sin that a man shall suffer his affection that should be festened to Ihesu and to all virtues and to all ghostly cleanness for to be bound with any fleshly love of any creature wilfully namely if it be so moche that it beareth down the thought: and maketh it unrestful that he may no savour have in god/ Thus I hold it wilfully that a man doth it and saith it is sin or else is so blinded with it that he will not see it/ And also that a man covet not delyces of meats and drinks only for lust of his flesh/ but hold him paid with such meet as he may easily have without great business namely if he be hole what meet it be that will do away hungres/ and keep the body in common strength unto the service of god And that he grudge not ne strive not ne anger him not for his meet though he be sometime not served as the flesh would/ Althyse sins and all other must be forsake utterly in his will & in deed when he may. And other things that letteth him so that he may dispose him for to think freely on Ihesu. ¶ For as long as these lettings and such other hang upon him he may not die to the world: ne come in to this darkness of knowing of himself/ And therefore that he might come thereto he must do all these. as saint paul died saying thus/ Michi mundus crucifixus est et ego mundo/ This world is slain & crucified to me. 
gall. v.  & I to the world/ That is: He that hath forsake the love of the world in worships and riches in all other worldly things before said for the love of god. and loveth not it ne pursewyth not it but is well paid that he hath right nought of it ne would have though be might. soothly to him the world is deed/ for he hath no savour ne delight therein/ Also if the world set him at nought & hath no reward to him ne favour ne worship: ne set no price by him but forgetteth him as a deed man/ then is he deed to the world/ And in this plight was saint paul set perfitly. & so must another man in party that would follow & come to the perfit love of god/ For he may not live to god fully but if he die first to the world/ This dying to the world is this darkness/ and it is the gate of contemplation & to reforming in feeling. and none other than this. There may be many sundered ways & sere works letting and leading sundry souls to contemplation/ For after divers disposynges of men & after sundry states. as are religious & seculars that they are in. are divers exercises in working/ nevertheless there is no gate but one/ For what exercises it be that a soul hath. but if he may come by that exercise to this knowing and to a meek feeling of himself/ and that is that he be mortified and deed to the world as in his love/ and that he may feel himself sometime in this restful darkness/ by the which he may be hid fro vanity of the world as in his love. and that he may feel himself what he is soothly he is not yet come to the reforming in feeling ne hath not fully contemplation/ He is full far therefro/ & if he will come by any gate. he is but a thief and a breaker of the wall/ And therefore as unworthy he shall be cast out/ But he that can bring himself first to nought through grace of meekness and die on this manner he is in the gate/ for he is deed to the world. and he liveth to god/ Of the which saint paul speaketh thus: 
Cal. 3.  Mortui enim estis et vita vestra abscondita est cum christo in deo/ ¶ ye are deed/ That is: ye that for the love of god forsaken all the love of the world are deed to the world with christ in god/ That is: ye live ghostly in the love of Ihesu/ But your life is hid from worldly men as christ liveth and is hid in his god heed fro the love & the sight of fleshly lovers/ This gate out Lord himself showed in the gospel when he said thus/  

m. xi iii  ¶ Omnis qui reliquerit patrem aut matrem fraterm autsororem proptet me sentuplum acciptet et vitam etecnam possidebit/  
¶ every man that forsaketh for my love father or mother sister or brother/ or any good earthly he shall have an hundredth fold in this life/ and afterward the bliss heaven/ This hundredth fold that a soul shall have if he forsake the world is nought but the profit of this lightly darkness/ the which I call the gate of contemplation For he that is in this darkness and is hid thorough grace fro worldly vanity he coveteth nought of worldly good/ he sechyth it not/ he is not tarried therewith/ he looketh not after it/ he loveth it not/ And therefore hath he an hundredth fold more than the King or than he hath that coveinteth most of earthly good/ For he that nought coveteth but Ihesu hath an hundredth fold/ For he hath more rest more pees in heart/ more very love And delight in soul in one day than he that most coveteth of the world And hath all the well of it under his wealth hath in all his life time/  
This is then a good darkness and a rich nought that bringeth a soul to so much ghostly ease and so still softness/ 
P.  I trow david meaned of this night/ or of this nought when he said thus/ Ad michilum redactus sum et nescivi/ That is: I was brought to nought. and I wist not/ That is/ The grace of our Lord Ihesu sent in to mine heart hath slain in me/ And brought to nought all the love of the world and I wist not how/ For through no working of myself ne by mine own wit I have it not but of the grace of our Lord Ihesu/ And therefore me thinketh he that will have the light of grace & fulsomly feel the love of Ihesu in his soul he must forsake all the falls light or worldly love and abide in this darkness/ And nevertheless if he be adread first for to won therein torn not again to the love of the world but suffer a while. and put all his hope and his trust in Ihesu/ and he shall not long be without some ghostly light/ Thus biddeth the prophet. 
Isay. x  Qui ambulat in tenebris et non est lumen ei speret in dno & invitarursuper deum suum/ who so gooth in darkness and hath no light. That is. Who so will hide him fro the love of the world and may not readily feel light of ghostly love despair not/ turn not again to the world but hope in our Lord and leen upon him/ that is: trust in god/ and cleave to him by desire/ And abide a while and he shall have light/ For it falleth thereby as it doth if a man had be a great while in the son/  
And after that came suddenly in to a derkehous there no son shineth. He should be as he were blind/ & see right nought but if he would abide a while he shall mow see soon about him/ first great things & sithen small/ and after all that ever is in the house/ right so it is ghostly he that forsaketh the love of the world & cometh to himself in to his own conscience. it is first dark somewhat & blind to his sight/ but if he stand still & hold forth with besyprayeng & often thinking of the same will to the love of Ihu: he shall mow see afterward great things & small that he first knew not. thus seemeth the prophet behight saying thus/ Orietur in tenebris lux tua & tenebre tue erunt sicut meridies & requiem dabit tibi dns deus tuus & implebit Eccliam tuam splendori bus/ That is: light shall spring to that in darkness. that is thou that forsakyst soothfastly the light of all worldly love & hidest thy thought in this darkness. Light of blessed love & ghostly knowing of god shall spring to the. & thy darkness shall be as mid day. that is thy darkness of traveyling desire and thy blind trust in god that thou hast first shall turn in to clear knowing & in to sikerness of love. & thy Lord god shall give rest to thee/ that is thy fleshly desires & thy painful dreads & doubts & wicked spirits that have continually before time traveled the/ all these shall weyken & lose moche of her might/ & thou shalt be made so strong that they shall not dear y●. for thou shalt be hid in rest fro hem & than shall our Lord Ihesu fulfil thy soul with shynynges/ that is. When thou art brought in to this ghostly rest than shalt thou more easily tent to god & nought else do but loven him & than shall he with beams of ghostly light fulfil all the mights of thy soul. Have thou no wonder though I call the forsaking of worldly love darkness for the prophet calleth it so saying thus to a sole/ 
Isaxi seven.  Intra in tenebras tuas filia caldeorum/ Go in to thy darkness thou daughter of Chaldee that is. Thou sauce the art as a daughter of Chaldee for love of the world/ forsake it & go in to thy darkness.   

¶ That in reforming of a soul that working of our Lord Ihu is departed in to four times. that is/ calling ryghting. magnifying and glorifying/ Capitulum/ xxviii.  
LO I have said to that a little if thou covet for to be reformed in feeling how thou shalt dispose that toward in thy forthgoing/ nevertheless I say not that thou Mayst do thus of this elf▪ for I wot well that our Lord Ihu bringeth all this to the end where that he would. For he only thorough his grace stirreth a soul. & bringeth a soul in to this darkness first: 
p cxxx seven.  & sithen in light as the prophet saith/ Sicut tenebre eius ita & lumen eius That is right as the light of knowing & the feleng of ghostly love is of Ihu right so the darkness. that is that for sakyng of worldly love is of him for he doth all: He fourmyth & refourmyth He fourmyth only by himself. but he refourmyth us with us/ For grace yeven & aplyenge of our will to grace worcheth all this/ And on what manner wise he doth that/ 
Ro viii  saint paul rehearseth thus/ Quos deus pnscinit fieri conformes ymaginis filii eius hos vocavit. Et quos vocavit hos iustificavit/ Et quos iustificavit hos magnificavit. Et quos magnificavit hos et glorificabit/ these the god knew before should be made shapely to the image of his son. these he called: these he ryghted. these he magnyfyed. and these he glorified/ Though these words may be said of all chosen souls in the lowest degree of charity that are reformed only in faith: nevertheless they may be understand more specially of these souls that be reformed in feeling to the which our Lord god showeth much plenty of grace and doth moche more business about hem/ For they are his own sons specially that here the fulshappe and the likeness of his son Ihu/ In the which words saint paul departeth the working of our Lord in four times/ first is the time of calling of a soul fro worldly vanity/ and that time is often easy and comfortable/ For in beginning of torning such a man that is disposed to much grace is so quickly & so feelingly inspired. and feeleth oft so great sweetness of devotion: and hath so many tears in compunction y● he thinketh him sometime as he were half in henen/ but this softness passeth after for a time/ And thenne cometh the second time that is the time of ryghting that is travelous/ For when he beginneth for to go forth mightily in the way of rightwiseness. & setteth his wilful against all sin without and within. And stretcheth out his desire to virtues and to the love of Ihu then feeleth he much letting both with himself of frowardness & hardness of his own will/ and fro without forth through temptation of his enemy that he is oft in full great torment/ And that is no wonder/ For he hath so long be crooked to the falls love of the world that he may not be made right/ as a crooked staff may not be made even but if he be cast and weyked in the fire/ therefore our Lord Ihu seeing sendeth what thing is behoveful to a froward soul suffereth it to be travailed & tarried by sundry temptations. and for to be well examined thorough ghostly tribulations that all the rust of uncleanness might be brent out of it/ And that shall be both within of dreads and dowtes and perplexitees that it shall near hand fall in despair & it shall seem as it were forsaken of god and left all in the hands of the fiend out taken a little privy trust that it shall have in the goodness of god and in his mercy. For that privy trust our Lord leaveth in such a soul go he never so far fro it. by the which the soul is borne up fro despair & saved fro ghostly mischief. And also without itself it shall be mortified and pined in the sensuality/ either by divers sickness or by feeble torment of the fiend. or else through a privy might of god the silly soul by feeling and bearing of the wretched body shall be so pined. And it shall not wite how that it shall mow suffer for to be in the bo●y ne were that our Lord Ihesu kept it therein/ And yet nevertheless had the soul liefer for to be in all this pine than for to be blinded with the false love of the world. for that were hell to such a soul/ But the suffering of this manner pine is nought but purgatory/ & therefore he suffereth it gladly/ & he would not put it away though he might/ for it is so profitable/ All this doth our Lord in great profit of the soul/ for to drive it out of the sensuality/ that it might receive ghostly light/ For after this when the soul is thus mortified and brought fro worldly love in to this darkness/ that it hath no more savour ne delight of worldly liking than of the straw/ But he thynkye it bitter as wormode/ then cometh the third time of magnyfieng/ And that is when the soul is reformed in feeling in party. and receiveth the yeft of perfection and the grace of contemplation/ and that is a time of great rest/ for then is Ihesu more homely with a soul/ And after this cometh the fourth time of glorifying/ That is when the soul shall be fully reformed in the bliss of heaven/ For these souls that be thus called fro sin and thus righted or else on other manner like by divers assaying both thorough fire and water. and afterward are thus magnified they should be glorified/ For our Lord shall then give hem fully that they here coveted/ and more than they could covet/ for he shall areyse 'em above all other chosen souls to the even heed of cherubin and seraphyn/ sithen they passed all other in knowing and loving of god here in this life/ therefore he that will come to this magnifyeng dread not this righting/ for that is the way/ For our Lord saith by his prophet a word of great comfort to all such souls that are examined with fire of tribulation thus/ Puer meus noli timere. 
Isa. xliii.  Si transieris perignem flamma non nocebitte That is: My child if thou pass thorough fire dread not for the flame shall not dear the It shall cleanse the fro all fleshly filth/ and make the able to receive ghostly fire of the love of god/ and that needeth for to be done first For as I have before said. it may not else be reformed in feeling/   

¶ How it falleth sometime that souls beginning at profiting in grace seem to have more love as by outward tokens than some have that been perfit/ and yet it is not so in sooth within/ Caplm xxix.  
BUt now sayest thou how may this be sooth For there are many souls new turned to god that have many ghostly feelings Some have great compunction for her sins. and some have great devotions & fervours in her prayers. and often have sundry teachings of ghostly light in understanding: and some men have other manner feelings of comfortable heat and great sweetness/ and nevertheless these souls come never fully in this restful darkness that I speak of with fervent desire and lasting love and thought in god: Thenne askest thou whether these souls be reform in feeling or nought/ It seemeth yes. in asmuch as they have such great ghostly feelings that other men that stand only in faith feel not of/ Unto this I may say as me thinketh that these ghostly feeling whether they stand in compunction or devotion or in ghostly imagination are not the feelings which a soul shall have and feel in the grace of contemplation/ I say not but they are soothfast and graciously yeven of god/ But these souls that feelen such are not yet reformed in feeling: ne they have not yet y● gift of perfection ne ghostly the brenning love of. Ihu as they may come to/ And nevertheless often it seemeth otherwise: that such souls feel more of the love of god than other that have the yeft of perfection/ in asmuch as the feeling showeth more outward by great fervour of bodily tokens. in weeping praying knelinge & speaking and other bodily stirring. So farforth that it seemeth to another man that they were ever ravished in love/ And though me thynkith it is not so/ well I wot that these manner feelings and fervours of devotion and compunction that these men feel are gracious ●eftes of god sent in to choose souls for to draw hem out of worldly love and fleshly lust that hath been long time rooted in her heart. fro the which love they should not be drawn out but by such feeble stirring of great fervours: never theles that the fervours is so much in outward showing it is not only for mochenes of love that they have but it is for litylnes and weakness of her soul that may not bear a lityl touching of god for it is yet as it were fleshly festned to the flesh & never was yet departed fro ghostly mortifyeng: and therefore the lest touching of love and the least sperkyl of ghostly light sent fro heaven in to such a soul is so moche & so comfortable & so delectable over all the liking that ever it felt before in fleshly love of earthly thing that it is overtaken with it/ And also it is so new and sudden and so uncouth that it may not suffer for to bear it but brestyth and showeth out in weeping sobbing & other bodily stirring/ Right as the costrell that is old when it receiveth new wine that is fresh And mighty: the costrel boileth out and is in point for to cleave and breast until the wine hath boiled and spourged out all uncleanness/ but also soon as the wine is fined and cleared then it standeth still and the costrel hole/ Right so a soul that is old through sin when it receiveth a little of the love of god that is so fresh and so mighty that the body is in point, for to cleave & to break ne were that god keepeth it hole/ But yet it brestyth out at the eyen by weeping. and at the mouth by speaking. and that is more for weakness and feebleness of the soul than for mykylnes of love/ For afterward when love hath boiled all the uncleanness out of the soul by such great fervours than is the love clear & standeth still: And then is both the body and the soul much more in pees and yet hath the soul much more love than it had before though it shewelesse outward/ For it is now all hole in rest within. and nought but lityll in outward showing of fervour/ And therefore I say that these soul's that felet such great hodily fervours though they been in moche grace are not yet reformed in feeling but they are greatly disposed toward. For I trow that such a man namely that hath be greatly defoiled in sin shall not be reformed in feeling but if he be first brent and purified with such great compunctions going before/  
Another soul that never was moche defoileth with love of the world but hath ever be kept fro great sins in innocence may lightlier and more privily without great fervour showed outward come to this reforming/ then is this such as I hope that such comforts and fervours that a soul feeleth in the state of beginning or of profiting are as it were his ghostly food sent fro heaven for to strength him in his travely/ Right as a pilgrim traveleth all day meteles & drynkles. and is nerehonde overcome with weariness falleth at the last to a good inn. and there hath he meet & drink/ & is well refreshed for the time/ Right so ghostly: a devout soul that will forsake the love of the world/ & would fain love god/ and setteth all his business thereto: prayeth and traveleth all day bodily and ghostly/ and sometime feeleth no comfort ne savour in devotion/ Then our Lord having pity over all his creatures that it should not perish for default ne torn into heaviness or grudging sendeth it among his ghostly food & comforteth it in devotion as he voucheth safe/ And when the soul feeleth any comfort then holdeth he him well paid for all his travail and all the disease that it had on the day when it fareth well at even by feeling of any grace The self wise falleth it of other souls that are profiting & farforth in grace/ They feelen oft times gracious towchynges of the holy ghost in her soul/ both in understanding & sight of ghostly things and in affeccy of love/ But yet been they not reformed in feeling/ ne they are not yet perfit/ for why all such feelings come to hem in that state as it were unwarly/ for they come or they wite it/ & gooth fro hem or they wite it/ And they can not come thereto again. ne wot not where they shall find it for they have not yet homlynes with hem of thought and lasting desire in Ihu/ ne the eye of her souls is not opined to the beholding of ghostly things. but they nigh fast toward/ & therefore they are not yet reformed in feeling/ ne they have not yet the full yeft of contemplation/   

¶ On what manner a man shall have knowing of his own soul/ and how a man should set his love in Ihu god & man one person. Caplm thirty  
IT needeth a soul that would have knowing of ghostly things for to have first knowing of itself/ For it may not have knowing of a kind above itself but if it have knowing of itself/ And that is when the foul is so gathered in to itself/ and departed fro beholding of all earthly things & fro the use of bodily wits that it feeleth itself as it is in the own kind without a body/ then if thou covet for to know and see thy soul what it is. thou shalt not torn thy thought with imagination in to thy body for to seek it and feel it as it were hid within thine heart. as thy heart is hid & holden within thy body/ If thou seek so thou shalt never find it in itself/ The more thou secheste for to find & feel it as thou wouldest feel a bodily thing the ferder thou art therefro/ For thy soul is no body but a life unseeable. not hid and holden with in thy body as a less thing is hid & holden within a more but it is holding and quykning thy body much more than thy body is in might & in virtue/ Then if thou wilt find it withdraw thy thought fro all bodily thing outward & fro mind of thine own body. also fro all thy five wits asmuch as thou may. and think on the kind of a reasonable soul ghostly as thou wouldest think for to know any virtue as soothfastness or meekness or any other virtue/ right so think that a soul is a life undeadly & unseably/ & hath might in itself for to see and know the soveryn sothfastenes. And for to love the sovereign goodness that is god/ when thou seest this then felyst thou somewhat of thyself/ seek thyself in none other place/ but the more fully & the more clearly that thou may think of the kind and the worthiness of a reasonable soul what it is and what is the wyndly working of it the better seest thou thiselfe/ It is full har●e for a ●oule that is rude and moche in the flesh for to have sight and knowing of it or of an angel or of god/ It falleth anon in to imagination of bodily shape. and it weeneth thereby for to have the sight of itself. and so of god and so of ghostly things/ And that may not be/ For all ghostly things are seen and known by understanding of the soul not by imagination/ right as a soul seeth by understanding that the virtue of right wysnes is for to give to every thing that it oweth to have/ right so & on such a manner may the soul see itself by understanding/ nevertheless I say not that thy soul shall rest still in this knowing/ bue it shall by this seek higher knowing above itself & that is the kind of god/ For the soul is but a mirror in the which thou shalt see god ghostly/ And therefore thou shalt first find thy mirror & keep it bright & clean fro fleshly filth & worldly vanity/ & hold it well up fro the earth that thou might see it & our Lord therein also▪ For to this end traveylen all chosen souls in this life in her meaning & in her intent though they have not specially the feeling of this. And therefore it is said before that many souls beginning & profiting have many great fervours & moche sweet devotion and as it seemeth brenning all in love. & yet have they not perfitly love ne ghostly knowing of god/ For wite thou well feel a soul never so much fervour/ so much that him thinkyth that the body may not bear it. or though he melt all in to weeping. as long as his thinking & his beholding of god is most. or all in imagination & not in understanding he come not yet to prrfyte love ne to contemplation/ For thou shalt understand that the love of god is on three manner wise/ Al are good. but eachone is better than other/ The first cometh only through faith without gracious imagination or ghostly knowing of god/ This love is in the least soul that is reformed in faith in the lowest degree of charity/ And it is good: for it sufficeth to salvation: The second love is that a soul feeleth thorough faith & imagination of Ihu in his manhood. This love is better than the first when the imagination is stirred by grace/ for why the ghostly eye is opened in beholding of our Lords manhood/ The third love that the soul feeleth thorough ghostly sight of the god heed in the manhood as it may be seen here/ that is best and wooste worthy/ and that is perfit love this love a soul feeleth not unto it be reformed in feeling/ souls beginning & profiting hath not this love. for they cannot think on Ihu ne love him goodly but as it were almanly & fleshly after the conditions & likeness of man and upon that reward they shape all her working in her thoughts & in her affections/ They dread him as a man & worship him & love him principally in manly imagination & go no ferder/ As thus: If they have done amiss and trespassed against god they think then the god is wroth with hem as a man should if they had trespassed against him. & therefore they fall down as it were to the feet of our Lord with sorrow of heart and cryen mercy/ And when they done thus they have a good trust y● our Lord of his mercy will forgive hem her trespass/ This manner of doing is right good/ but it is not ghostly as it might be/ Also when they will worship god they present 'em in her thought as they were before our lords face in a bodily likeness. & imagine a wonderful light there our Lord Ihesu is/ and then they reverence him & worship him & dread him/ & fully put 'em in his mercy for to do with 'em what he will/ Also when they will love god they behold him worship him & dre●e him as a man. not yet as god in man either in his passion or in some other thing of his manhood and in y● beholding they feel her hearts much stirred to that love of god/ This manner of working is good & gracious but it is much less and lower than is the worching of understanding/ That is when the soul graciously beholdeth god in man/ For in our Lord Ihesu are two kinds. the manhood. and the godhead/ then right as the godhead is more sovereign and more worthy than is the manhood/ right so the ghostly beholding of the godhead in Ihesu man is more worthier. and more ghost stlyer. and more medeful than ne beholding of the manhood alone/ whether he behold the manhood as deadly or as glorified/ And right so by the same skill the love y● a soul feeleth in thinking and beholding of the godhead in man when it is graciously showed is worthier ghostlyer & more medeful than the fervour of devotion that the soul feeleth by ymaginacyon only of the man: heed show it never so much outward/ For in reward of that this is but manly/ for our Lord showeth him not in imagination as he is. ne that he is/ for the soul might not that time for freelte of the flesshhede suffer it so/ neverthelesss unto such souls that can not think of the godhead ghostly that they should not err in her devotion. but that they should be comforted & strengthened through some manner inward beholding of Ihu for to forsake sin and the love of the world. Therefore our Lord Ihesu tempreth his unseeable light of his godhead and clotheth it under bodile likeness of his manhood. and she with it unto the Inner eye of a soul. and feedeth it with the love of his precious flesh ghostly/ The which love is of so great might that it sleeth all wicked love in the soul and strength it for to suffer bodily penance and other bodily disease in time of need/ for love of Ihesu/ And this is the shadowing of our Lord Ihesu over a chosen soul. in the which shadowing the soul is kept fro brenning of worldly love. For right as a shadow is made of a light & of a body: right so this ghostly shadow is made of the blessed unseeable light of the godhead & of the manhood ooned thereto showed to a devout soul/ of the which shadow the prophet saith thus/ spns' ante faciem nostram  dns sub umbra eius vivemus inter gentes/ Our Lord cryst before our face as a spirit under his shadow we shall live among folk/ That is our Lord Ihesu in his godhead is a spirit that may not be seen of us living in flesh as he is in his blessed light. Therefore we shall live under the shadow of his manhood as long as we are here But though this besooth that this love in imagination be good/ nevertheless a soul should desire for to have ghostly love in understanding of the godhead. for that is the end & the full bliss of the soul/ and all bodily beholdings are but means leading a soul to it/ I say not that we should refuse the manhood of Ihesu and depart god fro man. but thou shalt in Ihesu man behold dread. wonder. & love ghostly the godhead. And so shalt thou without departing love god in man. and both god & man ghostly & not fleshly/ Thus taught our Lord marry mawdeleyne that should be contemplative. 
joh. x  when he said thus/ Noli me tangere non dunenen ascendi ad patrem meum touch me not I am not yet stied up to my father/ That is to say: marry magdalene loved well our Lord Ihesu before the time of his passion/ but her love was much bodily & little ghostly/ She trowed well that he was god but she loved him a little as god/ for she kouth not thenne/ and therefore she suffereth all her affection and all her thought fall in him as he was in form of man/ And our Lord blamed her not thenne but praised it much/ But after when he was risen fro death and appeared to her she would have worshipped him with such manner love as she died before/ and then our Lord forbade her and said thus touch me not: That is. Set not thy rest ne the love of thine heart in that form of man y● thou seest with thy fleshly eye only for to rest therein. For in that four me I am not stied up to my father That is I am not even to the father. for in that form of man I am less than he: touch me not so. but let thy thought and thy love in the form in which I am even to the father/ that is the form of the godhead/ and love me: know me. & worship me as god & man godly. not as a man manly/ So shalt thou touch me. For sithen I am both god & man and all the cause why I shall be loved & worshipped is for I am god: and for I took the kind of man. And therefore make me god in thine heart and in thine love/ And worship me in thine understanding as Ihesu god and man: sovereign soothfastness and sovereign goodness and blessed life for that I am/ And thus taught our lo●de her as I understand and also all other souls that be disposed to contemplation and able thereto that they should do so. Nevertheless other souls that be not sybtyll in kind. ne are not yet made ghostly thorough grace it is good to hem that they keep for the her own working in imagination with manly affection unto more grace come freely to 'em. It is not siker to a man to lean one good thing utterly till he see and feel a better. Upon the self wise it may be said of other manner feelings that are like to bodily/ as hearing of delectable song. or feeling of comfortable heat in the body: seeing of light. or sweetness of bodili savour. these are not ghostly feelings. for ghostly clyn are felt in the mights of the soul/ principally in understanding & love. and little in imagination/ But these feelings are felt in the mights of the body in imagination/ and therefore they are not ghostly feelings. But when they are best & most true. yet are they but outward tokens of the Inly grace that is felt in the mights of the soul/ This may be openly proved by holy wryt saying thus/ Apparuerunt appostolis dispertitelingue tanqm ignis. 
Act.  sed itque supra singulos eorum spiritus scuns/ The holy ghost appeared to the apostles in the day of penthecost in the likeness of brenning tongues & inflamed her hearts. & ●et upon each of 'em/ Now soothe it is the holy ghost that is god in himself unseeable was not that fire ne the tongues that were seen. ne that brenning that was felt bodily. but he was unseabli felt in the mights of her souls/ for he lightened her reason and kindled her affection through his blessed precense so clearly and so brennyngly that they had. suddenly the ghostly knowing of soothfastness & the perfection of love as our Lord behyght hem saying thus/ Spiritus sanctus docebit vos omnem veritatem/ That is. 
joh.  the holy ghost shall teach you all soothfastness/ then was that fire and that brenning nought else but a bodily token outward showed in wy●nessynge of that grace that was Inwardly felt/ And as it was in 'em/ so is it in other souls that are visited and lightened within of the holy ghost. and hath with that such outward feeling in comfort and witnessing of the grace inward/ But that grace is not as I hope in all souls that are perfit but there our Lord will/ Other Inperfyte souls that have such feelings outward and have not yet received inward grace it is not good to hem to rest in such feelings outward/ but in as much as they help the soul to more love. and to more stablynesse of thought in god/ For some may be true and some may be feigned as I have said before/   

¶ How this manner of speaking of reforming in feeling of a soul shall be take And on what wise it is reformed and how it is found in saint Paul'S words. Caplm xxxi.  
NOw I have said to the a lityll of reforming in faith. and also I have touched to the a lityll of the forth going fro that reforming to the higher reforming that is in feeling. Not in that intent that I would by these words set God's working under a law of my speaking. As for to say thus worcheth god in a soul and none other wise/ Nay I mean not so/ But I say after my simple feeling that our Lord worcheth thus in some creatures as I hope/ And I hope well that he worcheth other wise also that passeth my wit and my feeling/ nevertheless whether he work thus of other wise by sundry means in longer time or shorter time/ with moche travail or lityl travail/ if all come to one end. that is to the perfit love of him/ then it is good enough/ For if he will give one soul on one day the full grace of contemplation and with out any travail as he well may/ as good is that to that soul as if he had be examined pined mortified and purified twenty winter/ And therefore upon this manner wise take in my saying as I have said. and namely as I think to say/ For now by the grace of our Lord Ihesu shall I speak a little as me thinketh more openly of reforming in feeling what it is and how it is made. and which are ghostly feelings that a soul receiveth/ nevertheless first that I take not this manner of speaking of reforming of a soul in feeling as feigning or fantasy/ therefore I shall ground it in saint poullis words where he saith thus/ Nolite conformari huic seculo sed reformamini in novitate sensus vestri/ That is: 
Ro. xii  ye that are through grace reformed in faith conform you not hensforwarde to the manners of the world in pride in covetise and in other sins. but be ye reformed in newehede of feeling/ Loo here thou may see that saint paul speak of reforming in feeling/ And what that new feeling is. he exponeth in another place thus/ Ut impleamini in agnicione voluntatis eius in omni intellectu et sapina spirituali/ That is: we pray god that ye may be fulfilled in knowing of God's will in all understanding and in all manner ghostly wisdom/ This is reforming in feeling/ For thou shalt understand that the soul hath two. Manner of feelings. One without of the five bodili wits. another within of the ghostly wits the which are properly the mights of the soul/ mind reason and will/ when these mights are through grace fulfilled in all understanding of the will of god and ghostly wisdom them ne hath the soul new gracious feelings/ That this is sooth he showeth in another place thus/ Renovamini spiritu mentis vestre & induite nowm hominem qui secundum deum creatus est in justicia: 
Col. iii  scintate et veritate. Be ye renewed in spirit of your soul/ That is: ye shall be reformed not in bodily feeling ne in imagination but in the over party of your reason/ And cloth you in a new man that is shapen after god in rightwiseness holiness and soothfastness/ That is: your reason that is properly the image of god through grace of the holy ghost shall be clothed in a new light of soothfastness/ holiness. and rightwiseness/ And then it is reform in feeling/ For when the soul hath perfit knowing of god thenne it is reformed/ Thus faith saint paul/ Expoliantes veteren hominem cum actibus ●uis induite nowm qui renovatur in angniconne dei scdm ymagynen eius qui creavit eum/ spoil yourself of the old man with all his deeds That is cast fro you the love of the world with all worldly manners. 
Col. 3.  And cloth you in a new man. That is: ye shall be renewed in the knowing of god after the likeness of him that made you/ By these words thou may understand that saint paul would have men's souls reformed in perfit knowing of god. for that is the now feeling that he speaketh of gernerally And therefore upon his words I shall say more openly of this reforming as god giveth me grace/ For there is two manner knowing of god One is had principally in imagination. & little in understanding/ This knowing is in chosen souls beginning and prouffyting in grace that known god. and loven him all manly. not ghostly with manly affections & with bodily likeness as I have before said This knowing is good. and it is likened to milk by that which they are tenderly nourished as children until they been able for to come to the faders board & take of his hand hole breed. Another knowing principally feeled in understanding & little in imagination. For the understanding is lady & imagination is a maiden serving to the understanding when need is/ knowing his hole breed meet for profit soul's/ and it is reformed in feeling/   

¶ How god openeth the Inner eye of the soul to see him not all at ones but by diverse times/ And of three manner of reforming of a soul by ensample. Capitulum. xxxii  
A soul that is called fro the love of world & after that is righted & assayed. Mortified & purified as I have before said: our Lord Ihu of his merciful goodness refourmyth it in feeling when he wouchyth saaf He openeth the Inner eye of the soul when he lighteneth the reasn through towyching and shining of his blessed light for to see him and know him. not all fully at once but lityll and lityll by divers times as the soul may suffer him/ He seeth him not what he is. for that may no creature do in heaven ne in earth: Nor he seeth him not as he is/ for that sight is only in the bliss of heaven But he seeth him. that he is an unchangeable being/ a sovereign might: sovereign sothfastenes: sovereign goodness: a blessed life: an endless bliss/ This seeth the soul and moche more that cometh with all not blindly and nakedly & unsavourly as doth a clerk that seeth him by his clergy only thorough might of his naked reason but he seeth him in understanding that is comforted & lighted by the yeft of the holy ghost with a wondered reverence and a privy brenning love. and with ghostly savour & heavenly delight more clearly & more fully than it may be written or said/ This sight though it be but shortly & little is so worthy & so mighty that it draweth and ravisheth all the affection of the soul fro beholding & the mind of all earthly thing thereto for to rest therein evermore if it might/ And of this manner of sight & knowing the soul groundeth all his working inward in all the affections/ For thenne it dreadeth god in man as soothfastness wondereth him as might/ loveth him as goodness/ This sight and this goodness and this knowing of Ihesu with the blessed love that cometh out of it may be called reforming of a soul in feeling and in faith that I speak of/  
It is in faith/ For it is dark yet as in reward of that full knowing of Ihu wyih the blessed love that cometh onte of it that shall be in heaven/ For then shall we see him not only that he is but as he is/ As saint Iohn saith/ Tunc videbimus eum sicut est/ That is: 
p. Io. iiii.  Then shall we see him as he is/ nevertheless it is in feeling also as in reward of the blind knowing that a soul hath standing only in faith/ For this soul knoweth somewhat of the very kind of Ihesu god thorughe his gracious sight/ but the other knoweth not. but only trowith it is sooth. Nevertheless that thou the better may conceive what I mean I shall show these three manner reforming of a soul by ensample of three men standing inlyȝt of the son Of the which three one is blind another may see but he hath his eyen stopped/ the third lokyth forth full sight/ The blind man hath no manner knowing that he is in the son/ but he trowith it if a true man tell him And he betokeneth a soul that is only reformed in faith that trow in god as holy church teacheth & wot not what/ This sufficeth as for salvation/ That other man seeth a light of the son. but he seeth it not clearly what it is for the lid of his eye letteth him that he may not see/ But he seeth thorough the lid of his eye a glymering of great light/ And he betokeneth a soul that is reformed in faith and in feeling/ and so is he contemplative. For he seeth some what of the godhead of Ihesu thorough grace/ Not clearly ne fully. for the lid that is his bodily kind is yet a wall bytwyxe his kind and the kind of Ihesu god and lettythe him from the clear sight/ But he seeth thorough this wall after that grace towchyth him more or less that Ihesu is god. and that Ihesu is sovereign goodness and sovereign being. and a blessed life/ and all that other goodness cometh of him/ Thus seeth the soul by grace notayenstonding the bodily kind. and the more clean and subtle that the soul is made. and the more it is depared fro fleshly heed the sharper sight it hath & the mighty love of the godhead of Ihesu/ This sight is so mighty that though none other man living would trow in Ihesu ne love him he would never trow the less ne love him the less for he seeth it soothfastly that he may not untrowe it/ The third man that hath full sight of the son he trowith it not/ for he seeyth it fully/ And he betokeneth a full blessed soul that without any wall of body or of sin seeth openly the face of Ihesu in the bliss of heaven/ There is no faith/ & therefore he is fully reformed in feeling/ There is no state above the second reforming that a soul may come to here in this life. for this is the state of perfection & the way to heaven ward. Nevertheless all the souls that are in this state are not all like farforth. For some hath it little shortly & seeldom. & some longer clearer and oftiner: and some hath it best clearest and longest after the abounding of grace/ & yet all these have the yeft of contemplation/ For the soul hath not perfit sight of Ihesu all at ones/ but first a little & a little/ and after that it profiteth and cometh to more feeling/ And as long as it is in this life it may wax more in knowing & in this love of Ihesu/ and soothly I wot not what were more lief to such a soul that hath felt a little of it than utterly all other things left and set at nought. Tent only thereto for to have clearer sight & clenner love of Ihesu in whom is all the blessed trinity/ This manner knowing of Ihesu as I understand is the opening of he●en to the eye of a clean soul of the which holy men speak of in her writing/ Not as some ween that the opening of heaven is as if a soul might see by imagination through the scyes above the firmament how our Lord Ihesu syeteth in his majesty in a bodily light as much as an hundredth sons Nay it is not so. ne though he see never so high on that manner soothly he seeth not the ghostly heaven/ The higher he styeth above the son for to see Ihesu god so by such imagination the lower he falleth bineth the son. Nevertheless this manner sight is sufferable to simple souls that can no better seche him that is unseeable.   

¶ how Ihu is heaven to the soul. And why he is called fire/ Caplm. xxxiii.  
WHat is heaven to a reasonable soul/ soothly nought else but Ihesu god/ For if that be heaven only that is above all thing/ then ne is god only heaven to man's soul for he is only above the kind of a soul/ thenne if a soul may thorough grace have knowing of the blessed kind of Ihesu soothly he seeth heaven for he seeth god/ therefore there are many men that erren in understanding of some words that are said of god/ for they understand them not ghostly/ Holy writing saith that a soul that will find god shall life upward the Inner eye & seek god above itself/ then some men that would do after this saying understand this word above himself as for higher setting in stead & worthiness of place as one element or planet is above another in settyne & worthiness of a bodily place/ But it is not so ghostly. For a soul is above all bodily thing that by setting of stead: but by subtlety & worthiness of kind/ Right so on the self wise god is above all bodily & ghostly creatures not by setting of stead but by subtlety & worthiness of his unchangeable blessed kind. And therefore he that will wisely see he god & find him he shall not run out with his thought as he would climb above the son & part the firmament and imagine that majesty as it were of an hundred sons/ he shall rather draw down the son & all the firmament and forget it. and cast it beneath him there he is. and set all and all bodily thing also at nought/ And think then if he can ghostly both of himself and of god also/ And if he do thus: then seeth the soul above itself/ then seeth it in to heaven. Upon this self manner shall this word within be understand/ It is commonly said that a soul shall see our lord within all thing and within itself/ sooth it is that our Lord is within all creatures/ but not on that manner that a kernel is hid within the shell of a nut. or as a little bodily thing is holdon within another moche/ but he is within all creatures as holding and keeping hem in her being through subtlety and might of his own blessed kind & cleanness unseeable/ For right as a thing that is most precious and most clean is laid nearest/ Right so by that likeness it is said that the kind of god that is most precious most clean & most goodly ferrest fro bodily heed is hid within all things/ And therefore he that will seek god within he shall forget first all bodily things for all that is with out. and his own body/ and he shall forget thinking of his own soul. and think on the unmade kind. that is Ihesu that made him: quiknith him. holdeth him and giveth him reason & mind and love the which is within him through his might and sovereign subtlety/ Upon this manner shall the soul do when grace towchyth it. or else it will but little avail to se●he Ihesu. And to find him within itself and within all creatures as me thinkyth/ Also it is said in holy write that god is light/ so saith saint Iohn. 
p. Iohis  Deus lux in That is. God is light/ This light shall not be understand as for bodily light. but it is understand thus/ God is light. That is. God is troth and soothfastness for soothfastness is ghostly light/ Thenne he that most graciously knoweth soothfastness best seeth god/ and nevertheless it is likened to the bodily light for this skill right as the son showeth to the bodily eye itself and all bodily thing by it/ rihht so soothfastness that is god showeth to the reason of the soul itself first. and by itself all other ghostly thing that needeth to the knowing of a soul/ Thus saith the prophet/ Domine in lumine tuo videbimus iumen/ Lord we shall see thy light by thy light/ That is: 
p. xxxv.  we shall see the that art soothfastness by thyself/ On the self wise it is said that god is fire/ Deus nost ignis consumens est: 
Hebr. xii.  That is. Our Lord is fire wasting/ That is for to say. God is not fire elementare that heateth a body and burneth it. but god is love and charity/ For as fire wasted all bodily thing that may be wasted/ right so the love of god burneth & wasteth all sin out of the soul. And maketh it clean as fire maketh clean all manner metal/ these words and all other that be spoken of our Lord in holy writ by bodily likeness must needs be understand ghostly. else there is no savour in 'em/ nevertheless the cause why such manner words are said of our Lord in holy writ is this/ For we are so fleshly that we can not speak of god ne understand of him but if we by such words first be entered in/ nevertheless when the Inner eye is opened through grace for to have a little sight of Ihesu/ Then shall the soul torn lightly enough all such words the which of bodily things in to ghostly understanding. This ghostly opening of the Inner eye in to knowing of the godhead which I call refourning in faith and feeling/ For then the soul the which somewhat feeleth in understanding of that thing which that it had before in naked trowing. and that is the begyn̄yng● of contemplation/ of the which saint paul saith thus/ Non contemplantibm nobis q videntur sed q non videntu● Quia que videntur temporalia sunt. que autem non videntur eterna sunt/ That is: 
S. corum iiii.  Our contemplation is not in things that are seen. but it is in things unseeable/ For things that are seen are passing. but unseeable things are everlasting/ to the which sight every soul should desire for to come to both here in party and in the bliss of heaven fully/ For in that sight & in that knowing of Ihu is fully the bliss of a reasonable soul & endless life Thus saith our lord/ Hec est autem vita eterna ut cognoscant te verum deum & quem misisti Ihesum xpm/ That is: 
Iohn seven.  father this is endless life that thy chosen souls know the and thy son whom thou hast sent one soothfast god.   

¶ Of two manner of love reformed & unformed what it meaneth/ And how we be behold to love Ihesu moche for our making/ but more for our again buying/ but althermooste for our saving through the yefts of his love. Caplm. xxxiiii.  
BUt now wonder'st thou sithen this knoweng of god is the bliss & the end of a soul? why thenne have I said here before that a soul should not else covet but only the love of god/ I spoke no thing of this sight that a soul should covet this/ Unto this may I say thus/ that the sight of Ihesu is full bliss of a soul: and that is only for the light but it is also for the blessed love that cometh out of that sight/ nevertheless for love cometh out of knowing & not knowing out of love/ therefore it is said that in knowing & in sight principally of god with love is the bliss of a soul and the more he is known the better he is loved. But for asmuch as to this knowing or to this ●oue that cometh of it. may not the soul come without ●oue/ therefore said I that thou shouldest covet love/ ●or love is cause why a soul cometh to this knowing ●nd to this love that cometh of it/ And on what man̄●hat is I shall tell the more openly. Holy writers saying soothe it is that there is two manner of ghostly love/ One ●s called formed. another is called unformed/  
¶ love unformed is god himself the third person in trinity that is the holy ghost/ He is love vnfour●ed & unmade as saint Io. saith/ Deus dileccon est/ God ●s love: 
p. Io. iiii.  That is the holy ghost/ love formed is the affection of the soul made by the holy ghost of the sight and of the knowing of soothfastness that is god. only tired and set in him/ This love is called formed ●or it is made by the holy ghost/ This love is not god ●n himself for it is made. but it is the love of the soul ●ellte of the sight of Ihesu & stirred to him only/ Now ●ay thou see that love form is not cause why a sou●e cometh to the ghostly sight of Ihesu/ And some men would think that they would love god so brennyngly as it were by their own might. that they were worthy for to have the ghostly knowing of him/ nay it is not so. But love un unformed that is god himself is cause of all this knowing/ For a blind wretched soul is so far fro the clear knowing and the blessed feeling of his love thorough sin and freelte of the bodily kind that it might never come to it. ne were it the endless mochenes of the love of god. But thenne by cause he loveth us so much therefore he giveth us his love that is the holy ghost/ He is the yever and the yeft. and maketh us then by that yeft for to know and love him/ Lo this the love that I spoke of that thou shouldest only covet and dysyre this unformed love that is the holy ghost/ For soothly a less thing or a less yeft than he is may not avail us for to bring us to the blessed sight of Ihu/ And therefore should we fully desire and ask of Ihesu only this yeft of love that he would for the mochenes of his love so blessed touch our heart with his unseeable light to the knowing of him and depart with us of his love that as he loveth us that we might love him again/ Thus saith saint Iohn/ Nos diligamus deum qm ipse prior dilexit nos That is: 
●. Iohn.  love we god now for he first loveth us/ He loved us moche when he made us to his likeness. But he loved us more when he bought us with his precious blood through wilful taking of death in his man heed fro the power of the fiend and fro the pine of hell but he loveth us most when he giveth us the yeft of the holy ghost that is love. be that which we know him and love him. and are made syker that we are his sons chosen to salvation/ For this love are we more to him bound than for any other love that ever showed he for us. either in our making or in our ayenbyenge/ For though he had made us and bought us: but if he save us with all? what profiteth it else to us our making or our buying/ soothly right nought/ therefore the most token of love showed to us as me thinketh is this/ That he giveth himself in his manhood to ou● souls/ ¶ He gave himself first in his manhood to ●e for our ransom when he offered himself to the father of heaven upon the altar of the cross  
¶ This was a right fair yefte and a right great token of love/ But what time he giveth himself in his godhege ghostly to our souls for our salvation/ And maketh us for to know him. and for to love him/ then loveth he us fully/ For thenne giveth he himself to us/ And more might he not give us/ Ne less might not suffice to us/  
¶ And for this skill it is said that the righting of a sinful soul thorough forgiveness of sins is arrested and appropered principally to the working of the holy ghost/ For the holy ghost is love/ And in the righting of a soul our Lord Ihesu showeth to a soul most of his love/ For he doth away all sin and monyth it to him/ And that is the best thing that he may do to a soul/ And therefore it is appropered to the holy ghost/ The making of the soul is appropered to the father. as for the sovereign might and power that he showeth in making of it/ The buying of it is aretted to the son as for the sovereign wit and wisdom that he showed in his manhood/ For he overcome the fiend principally through wisdom and not through strength/ But the righting and the full saving of a soul by forgiveness of sins is approprede to the third person that is the holy ghost/ For therein showeth Ihesu most love unto man's soul/ And for that ching shall he be most loved of us again/ His making is comen to us and to all unreasonable creatures/ For as he made us of nought▪ so made he hem And therefore is this work greatest of might. but not most of love/ Also the buying is comen to us and to all reasonable soul's/ as to Jews and saracyns and to falls christian men/ For he died for all souls ylyke/ and bought 'em. If they will have the perfit love of it/ & also it sufficeth for the bienge of all though it be so that all have it not/ And this work was most of wisdom not most of love/ But the righting and the hallowing of our souls through the yeft of the holy ghost. that is only in that working of love. And that is not comen to all but it is a special gift only to them which be chosen souls/ And soothly that is most working of love to us that are his chosen children. ¶ This is the love of god that I spoke of which thou should covet and desire: for this love is god himself & the holy ghost This love unformed when it is yeven to us it wor●heth in our soul all the good is & all the longeth to goodness/ This love loveth us or that we love him for it cleanseth us first of our sins: and maketh us for to love him. & maketh our will strong for to ayenstond all sins/ and stirreth us for to assay ourself through divers exercise both bodily & ghostly in all virtues/ It stireth us also for to forsake the sin and fleshly affections and worldly dreads/ It keepeth us fro malicious temptations of the fiend. and driveth us out fro business & vanity of the world. and fro conversation of worldly lovers/ All this doth the love of god unformed when he giveth himself to us/ we do right nought but suffer him and assent to him. for that is the most that we do that we assent wilfully to his gracious working in us/ and yet is not that will of us but of his making. so that me thinketh that he doth in v● all that is well done. & yet see we it not/ And not only doth he thus. but after this love doth more. for he openeth the eye of the soul. and showeth to the soul that sight of Ihesu wonderfully. and the knowing of him as the soul may suffer it thus by little and by little. and by that sight he ravisheth all the affection of the soul to him & then beginneth the soul for to know him ghostly and brynnyngly for to love him/ Thī●ne seeth the soul somewhat of the kind of the blessed godhead of Ihesu how that he is all and that he worcheth all. and that all good deeds the which are done and good thouhtes are only of him for he is all severeyn might & all soverein soothfastness & all soverein goodness/ & therefore every good deed is done of him & by him & he shall only have the worship & the thank for all good deeds and no thing but he/ For though wretched men steel his worchypp here for a while/ nevertheless at the last end shall soothfastness show well that Ihesu died all. And man died right voughte of himself/ And then shall thieves of gods that are not accorded with him here in this life for her trespaas be deemed to death & Ihu shall be fully worshipped & thanked of all blessed creatures for his working/ This love is not else but Ihesu himself that for love worcheth all this in man's soul. and reformeth it in feeling to his likeness as I have before said and somewhat as I shall say/ This love bringeth in to the soul the full heed of all virtues and maketh all clean and true soft and easy. and turneth him all in to love and in to liking/ And on what manner wise he doth that: I shall tell the a little after ward/ This love draweth the soul fro vain beholding of worldly things in to contemplation of ghostly creatures and of God's pryvites/ fro flesshlihede in to ghostlynes/ fro earthly feeling in to heavenly savour/   

¶ How that some soul loveth Ihu by bodily fervours & by her own manly affections that been stirred by grace and by reason/ And how some loven Ihesu more rest fully by ghostly affections only stirred inward through specially grace of the holy ghost. Capitulum xxxv.  
then may I say that he that most ha●h of this love here in this life most pleaseth god. and most clear sight shall have of him/ and most fully love him in the bliss of heaven/ for he hath the most yeft of love here in earth/ This love may not be had by a man's own travail as some ween/ It is freely had of the gracious yefte of Ihesu after moche bodily and ghostly travail going before For there are some lovers of god that maken himself to love god as it were by her own might/ for they strain himself through great violence and panten so strongly that they braced in to bodily fervours as they would draw down god fro heaven to hem/ And they say in her hearts and with her mouth/ A Lord I love the and I would love thee: I would for thy love suffer death/ And in this manner of working they feel great fervour & moche grace/ And soothe it is me thinketh this working is good and medfully if it be well tempered with meekness & with discretion/ But nevertheless these men love not ne have not the yefte of love on that manner as I speak of: ne they ask it not so/ For a soul that hath the yeft of love through gracious beholding of Ihu as I mean or else if be have it not yet/ but would have it. he is not busy for to strain himself over his might as it were by bodily strength for to have it by bodily fervours: and so for to feel the love of god but him thinketh that he is right nought. and that he can do right nought of himself. but as it were a deed thing only hanging & borne up by the mercy of god/ He seethe well that Ihu is all and doth all. and therefore asketh he nought else but the yeft of love/  
Horly them that the soul seth that his own love is nought therefore it would have his love for that is enough/ therefore prayeth he and that desireth he that the love of god would touch him with his blessed light that he might see a little of him by his gracious presence: for than should he love him/ And so by this way cometh the yeft of love that is god in to a soul/ The more that a soul nourisheth itself thorough grace by sight of his soothfastness some time without any fervour outward showed. and the less that it thynkith that it loveth or seeth god. the nearer it nigheth for to precyu●e the yeft of the blessed love/ For then is love master & worcheth in the soul: and maketh it forget itself. and for to see & behold only how love doth/ And then is the soul more suffering than doing. and that is clean love/ Thus saint paul meaned when he said thus. 
Ro viii  quicunque sp̄u dei agunt hii filii dei sunt/ All these that are wrought with the spirit of god are god's sons. that is souls that are made so meek & so buxom to god that they work not of himself. but suffer the holy ghost stir 'em & work hem in the feelings of love with a sweet cord to his stirrings/ these arn specially god is sons most like unto him. Other souls that can not love thus buttraveylen henself by her own afflictions & stir himself through her own thinking of god & bodily exercise for to draw out of henself by mastery the feeling of love by fervours & other bodily signs love not ghostly/ they done well & medful if so that they will know ●●ekly that her werching is not the kindly gracious feeling of love. but it is manly doing by a soul at the bidding of reason/ & nevertheless through the goodness of god by cause that the soul doth y● in it is. these manly affections of the soul stirred in to god by man's working are ●orned in to ghostly affections. and are mede●ulas if they had he done ghostly in the first beginning/ And this is a great courtesy of our Lord showed to meek souls that turneth all these manly affections of kindly love in to the affection and in to the meed of his own love: As if he had wrought him all fully by himself/ And so these manly affections so turned may be called affections of ghostly love thorough purchase not thorough kindly bringing fourth of the holy ghost/ I say not that a soul may work such manly affections only of itself without grace/ for I wots well that saint paul saith that we may right nought done think that good is of ourself without grace Non eniqd sumus sufficientes cogitare aliquid ex nobis qua si ex nobis. 
● corum 3  sed sufficiencia n●a ex deo est/ That is▪ we the love god ween not that we suffice for to love or for to think good of ourself only/ but our suffysing is of god/ For god worcheth in all both good work and good will as saint paul saith/ Deus est qui eperatur in nobis et velle & perficere probona voluntate/ That is: 
Phil. ●  It is god that worcheth in us good will and fulfilling of good will/ But I say that such affection are good made by the will & mean of a soul after the general grace that ●e giveth to all chosen souls/ not of special grace made ghostly by touching of his gracious presence as he worcheth in his perfit lovers as I said before/ for ●n unperfect lovers love worcheth ferly by the affections of man. but inperfyte lovers love worchyth nearly by her own ghostly affections: & sleeth in a soul for the time all other affections both fleshly kindly & manly. & that is propeely the working of love by himself/ Thus love may be had in a little in party here in a clean soul through the ghostly sight of Ihu. but in the bliss of heaven it is fulfilled by clear sight of his godhead/ For there shall none affection be feeled in a soul but godly and ghostly/   

¶ That the yeft of love among all other yefts of Ihu is worthiest & most profitable/ And how Ihu doth all that is weldone in his lovers only for love. And how love maketh the using of all virtues & all good deeds light and easy/ Caplm xxxvi  
Ask thou then of god no thing but this yeft of love that is the holy ghost/ For among all the yefts the our Lord giveth there is none so good ne so profitable. so worthy ne so excellent as this is/ For there is no yefte of god that is both the yever and the gift but this yeft of love/ And therefore it is the best and the worthiest/ The yeft of prophecy the yefts of miracles working. the yeft of the great knowing and counseling. and the yeft of great fasting or of great penance doing: or any other such are great yefts of the holy ghost. but they are not the holy ghost/ For a reproved soul & a damnable might have all these yefts as hath a choose soul/ And therefore all these manner yefts are not greatly for to desire ne moche for to charge/ But the yeft of love is the holy ghost god himself. And him may no soul have & be dampened with all/ For that yeft saveth it only fro damnation. & maketh it God's son perceiver of heavenly heritage/ And that love as I have before said is not the affection of love that is form in a soul: but it is the holy ghost himself that is love unformed that saveth a soul/ For he giveth himself to a soul first or the soul loveth him/ and he formeth the affection in the soul: & maketh the soul for to love him only for himself/ And not only that: but also by this yeft the soul loveth itself & all his even-christian as itself only for god/ and this is the yeft of love that maketh shedding atwyx chosen souls & reproved/ And this yeft maketh fully pees atwyxe god & a soul. and only all blessed creatures holy in god for it maketh Ihu for to love us & us him also/ And every each of us for to love other in him/ covet this yeft of love principally as I have said/ For if he will of his grace give it the on that manner wise it shall open & lighten the reason of thy soul for to see soothfastness that is god & ghostly things/ And it shall stir thine affection holy for to see soothfastness that is god & ghostly things/ And it shall stir thine affection holy & fully for to love him/ & it shall work in thy soul only as he will. & thou shalt behold Ihu reverently with softness of love & see how he doth. Thus biddeth he by his prophet that we should do saying thus/ Uacate et videte qm ego sundeus/ Cease ye & seeth the I am god/ That is. ye y● are reformed in feeling & have your Iner eye opened in to sight of ghostly things cease ye some time of outward working & see that I am god/ That is: See only how I Ihu god & man do/ behold you me for I do all/ I am love: & for love I do all that I do: & ye do nought/ And that this is sooth I shall show you/ For there is no good deed done by you: ne good thought felt in you: but if it be done through me/ That is. Through might & wisdom. & love my gho●ly. wittily & lovely/ else it is no good deed/ But now is it soothe y● I Ihu am both might & wisdom and blessed love & ye nought: for I am god/ Then mow ye wel●e that I do all your good deeds/ And all good though see: and all your good loves in you: and ye do right nought/ And yet nevertheless been all these good deeds called yours/ Not for ye worth hem principally. but for I give hem to you for love that I have to you/ And therefore sithen I y● am Ihesu and for love doth all this. cease then ye of the beholding of yourself: and set yourself at nought & look on me. & see that I am god for I do all this This is somewhat of the meaning of the verse of david before said/ See then & behold what love wercheth in a chosen soul that he reformeth in feeling to his likeness when the reason slyghtned a little to the ghostly knowing of Ihu. and to the feeling of his love/ Then bringeth love in to the soul the full heed of virtues. and turneth h●m all into softness & in to liking as it were with out working of the soul: for the soul striveth not moche for the getting of 'em as it died before. but it hath 'em easily and feeleth hem restfully only thorough the yefte of love that is the holy ghost/ And that is a well great comfort and gladness unspeakable when it feeleth suddenly and wot never how the virtue of meekness and patience soberte and sadness chastity and cleanness lovered to his even christian. and all other virtues the which we●e to him sometime travailous painful & hard for to keep are now turned into softness & liking and in to wonderful lightness: so farforth that him thynkith no maystrine no hardness for to keep every virtue but it is most liking to him for to keep it: & all this maketh love  
¶ Other men that stonden in the comoetee of charity and be not yet so farforth in grace. But work under the bidding of reason they striven and fighten all day against sins for the getting of virtues: and sometime they been above and sometime beneath as wrest lees are/ these men done full well/ They have virtues in reason and will. not in savour ne in lone: for they fighten with himself as it were by her own might for hem/ And therefore may they not have full rest ne fully the higher hand/ nevertheless they shall have moche meed: but they are not yet m●ke enough/ They have not yet put himself all fully in God's hand: for they see him not yet/ But a soul that hath ghostly sight of Ihesu taketh no great keep of striving for virtues for that time/ He is not busy about 'em specially but he setteth all his business for to keep that sight and that beholding of Ihesu that it hath for to hold the mind stably thereto/ And bind the love only to it that it fall not therefro: and forget all other things asmuch as it may/ And when it doth thus then is Ihesu soothfastly master again all sins/ And bishado with it with his blessed presence and getyth it all virtues/ And the soul is so comforted & so borne up with the soft feeling of love that it hath of the sight of Ihu that it feeleth no great disease outward/ And thus sleeth love generally alsynnes in a soul: & reformeth it in the new feelings of virtues/   

¶ How love through gracious beholding of Ihu sleeth all stirrings of pride: & maketh y● soul for to lose savour & delight in all earthly worship/ Caplm xxxvii.  
Nevertheless how love sleeth sins & reform: th' virtues in a soul more specially shall I say & first of pride & of meekness that it contrary virtue thereto/ Thou shalt understand that there is two manner of meekness/ One is had by working of reason/ Another is felt of the special yeft of love/ both are of love. but that one love worcheth by reason of the soul. but that other he worcheth by himself/ The first is unperfect. the other is perfit/ The first meekness that a man feeleth of beholding of his own sins and of his own wretchedness through the which beholding he thinketh himself unworthy for to have any gift of grace or any meed of god. But him thinketh it enough that he would of his great mercy grant him forgiveness of his sins/ And also he thinketh him by cause of his own sins that he is worse than the most sinner that liveth/ and that every man doth better than he/ and so by such beholding thresteth he himself down in his thought under all men/ And he is busy for to againstand the stirring of pride asmuch as he may both bodily pride & ghostly. and despiseth himself so that he assenteth not to the feelings of pride/ And if his heart be taken sometime with it that it be de●oyled with vain joy of worship or of cunning or of praising or of any other thing/ as soon as he may perceive it he is evil paid with himself & hath sorrow for it in heart & asketh forgiveness of it of god. & she with him to his confessor. & accuseth himself meekly. & receiveth his penance/ This is good meekness. but it is not yet perfit meekness for it is of souls y● are beginning & profiting in grace caused of beholding of sins/ love worchyth this meekness by reason of the soul/ perfit meekness a soul feeleth of the sight & the ghostly knowing of Ihu/ For when the holy ghost lighteneth the reason in to the sight of sooth fastness how Ihu is all & that he doth all/ the soul hath so great love & so great joy in that ghostly sight/ for it is so soothe fast that it foryeteth itself. & fully leaneth to Ihu with all the love that it hath for to behold him/ It taketh no keep of no unworthiness of itself ne of sins afore done/ but setteth at nought itself with all the sins & all the good deeds that ever it died. as if there were no thing but Ihu Thus meek david was when he said thus/ Et sebstancia mea tanqm nichilum ann te/ That is: 
P. C xxxviii  Lord Ihesu the sight of thy blessed unmade substance & thine endless being showeth well unto me that my substance & being of my soul is as nought anence y●/ Also anence his even christian he hath no reward to hem ne deeming of 'em whether they been better or worse than himself is/ For he hold himself & all other men as it were even ylike nought of henself anence god. & that is sooth. For all the goodness y● is done in hamselef or in hem is only of god whom he beholdeth as all/ And therefore setteth he all other creatures at nought as he doth himself: 
Isay. ●  Thus meek was the prophet when he said thus/ omes gentes quasi non sintsic sunt coram eo et quasi nichilum & mane reputate sunt e●/ all men are before our Lord as nought. & as vunotefull and nought they are a counted to him/ That is anents the endless being and the unchangeable kind of god mankind is as nought/ For of nought ●●●●●ade and to nought should it torn but if he kep●e it in the being that made it of nought/ this is soothfastness and this should make a soul meek if it might see thorughe grace this soothfastness/ therefore when love openeth the Inner eye of the soul for to see this soothfastness with other circumstances that comen with all then beginneth the soul for to be soothfastly meek/ For then by the sight of god it feeleth & seeth itself as it is/ And then forsaketh the soul the beholding and the leaning to itself: and fully falleth to the beholding of Ihesu/ And when it doth so. then setteth the soul nought by all the joy and the worship of the world/ For the joy of worldly worship is so little and so nought in reward of that joy and that lone that it feeleth in the ghostly sight of Ihesu and knowing of soothfastness. that though it might have it without any sin he would nought of it/ Ne though men would worship him praise him and favour him. or set him at great state it liketh him nought/ Ne though he had cunning of all the seven. Arts of clergy and of all crafts under the son: or had power for to work all manner miracles. he hath no more dainty of all this ne: more savour of 'em than to gnaw on a dry stick He had well liefer forget all this and for to be all one out of the sight of the world than for to think on 'em and be worshipped of all men/ For the heart of a true lover of Ihesu is made so much and so large through a little sight of him and a little feeling of his ghostly love that all the liking and all the joy of all earth may not suffice for to fill a corner of it/ And then seemeth it well that tbyse wretched worldly lovers that be as it were ravished in love of her own worsyhppe/ And purse we after it for to have it with all the might and all the wit they that have/ they have no savour in this mek●nes/ they are wonder far therefro. But the 〈◊〉 of Ihesu hath this meekness lastingly. And that not with heaviness and striving for it/ but with liking and gladness. The which gladness it hath not. for it forsaketh the worship of the world/ for that were a proud meekness that longeth to an hypocrite/ but for he hath a sight and a ghostly knowing of soothfastness and worthiness of Ihesu through the yeft of the holy ghost/ That reverent sight and that lovely beholding of Ihesu comforteth the love so wonderfully and beareth it up so mightily and so softly soothly that it may not like ne fully rest in none earthly joy. ne it will not/ He maketh none force whether men lack him or praise him/ worship him or despise him as for himself/ He setteth it not at heart neither for to be well paid if men despise him as for more meekness. Ne for to be evil paid that men should worship him or poise him/ He had liefer for to foryete both that one and that other: And only think on Ihesu and get meekness by that way/ And that is much the lykerer way who might come thereto/ Thus died david when he said/ 
P. xiiii  O cul● mei semper ad dn̄● quoniam ipse euelle● de laqueo pedes meos/ That is/ mine eyen are ever open to Ihesu our Lord for why: he shall pluck my feet fro snares of sins/ For when he doth so then forsaketh he utterly himself & undercastyth him holy to Ihesu/ & then is he in a syker ward for the shield of soothfastness the which he holdeth keepeth him so well that he shall not be hurt thorughe no stirring of pride as long as he holdeth him within the shield as the prophet saith/ Scuto circundabit te verytas eius non c●●ebis a timore noc●uruo. 
P. x.  Soch fastness shall umbyclyppe the with a shield. & that is if thou all other things left only behold him/ For thou shal● thou not dread for the nights dread. That is: thou shalt not dread the spirit of pride whether he come by night or by day as the next verse saith after thus/ A sagitta volante in die/ 
P. x.  pride cometh by night for to assail a soul when it is despised and reproved of other men that it should by that fall in heaviness & in to sorrow It cometh also as an arrow fleinge on the day when a man is worshipped & praised of all men. whether it be for worldly doing or for ghostly that he should have vain joy in himself restyngly. and falls gladness in a passing thing/ This is a sharp arrow and a perilous/ It fleeth swiftly. & it striketh softly. but it woundeth deadly/ But the lover of Ihu that stabli beholdeth by devout prayers & busy thinking on him is so unbelapped with the siker shield of soothfastness that he dreadeth not: for this arrow may not enter in to the soul/ Ne though it come it hurteth not: but glenteth a way & passeth forth/ And thus is the soul made meek as I understand by the working of the holy ghost that is the gift of love/ For he openeth the eye of the soul for to see and love Ihesu/ And he keepeth the soul in that sight restfully & sickerly/ And helleeth all the stirrings of pride wonderfully and privily and softly: and the soul wot never how/ And also he bringeth in by that way soothfastly and only the virtue of meekness/ All this doth love. but not in all his lovers alike full/ For some hath this grace but shortly and little as it were in the beginning of it. & a little assaying toward for the conscience is not yet cleansed fully through grace/ & some have it more fully. for they have clearer sight of Ihesu. & they feel more of his love/ And some hath it most fully. for they have the full yefte of contemplation/ nevertheless he that least hath on this manner I have said. I hope so thly he hath the yeft of perfit meekness. for he hath the yeft of perfit love/   

¶ How love sleeth all stirrings of wrath & envy softly & reformeth in the soul the virtues of pees & pac●ce & of perfit charity to his even christian as he died specially in the apostles. Caplm xxxviii  
Love worcheth wisely & softly in a soul there he will for he sleeth mightily ire & envy and all passions of angrynes & melancholy in it. and bringeth in to the soul virtues of patience & mildness peasybilyte and lovered to his even-christian/ It is full hard & a great mastery to a man that standeth only in working of his own reason for to keep patience holy reest & softness in heart & charity to his even christian if they disease him unskilfully and done him wrong that he ne shall somewhat do again to hem thorough stirring of ire or of melancholy either in speaking or in working or both/ And nevertheless though a man be stirred & trowbled ●u himself and made unrestful. be so that it be not to moch● passing over the bonds of reason. and that he keep his hand & his tongue and be ready for to foryeve the trespass when mercy is asked/ yet this man hath the virtue of patience though it be but weak & nakedly. for as much as he would have it and traveleth busily in refraining of his unskilful passions that he might have it/ and also is sorry that he hath it not as he should/ But to a true lover of Ihesu it is no great mastery for to suffer all ●his/ For why love fighteth for him & sleeth wonder softly such stirrings of wrath & of melancholy. and maketh his soul so easily and so peaceable so suffering and so goodly thorough the ghostly sight of Ihu with the feeling of his blessed love the though he be despised & reproved of other men: or take wrong or harm shame or villainy he chargeth it he is not much stirred against him/ He will not be angered ne stirred against him. for if he were much stirred he should forbear the comfort that he felythe within his soul. but the will he not/ He may lightlier forget all the wrong that is done to him than another man may foryeve it though mercy were axed And so he had well liefer forget it. for him thinketh it most easy to him/ And love doth all this. for love openeth the eye of the soul to the sight of Ihesu. and stablyth it with the liking of love that it feeleth by that sight: & comforteth it so mightily that it taketh no keep what so men jangle or done eyenst him/ It hangeth no thing upon him/ The most harm that he might have were a forbearing of the ghostly sight of Ihu/ And therefore it is liefer to him for to suffer all harms than that alone all this may the soul do well and easily without great trowbling of the ghostly sight when disease falleth all without forth and toucheth not the body. as is backbiting or scorning: or spoiling of such as he hath/ all these grieveth nought/ But it gooth somewhat nearer when the flesh is touched & he feeleth smart. Than it is harder nevertheless though it be hard and impossible to the frail kind of man to suffer bodily penance gladly & patiently without bitter stirrings of ire anger & malencoly. it is not impossible to love that is the holy ghost for to work this in a soul there he toucheth with the blessed gift of love/ But he giveth a soul that is in the plight mightily feelings of love, and wonderfully fasteneth it to Ihu. & departeth it wonder far from the sensuality through his privy might and comforteth it so sweetly by his blessed presence that the soul feeleth little pain or else none of the sensuality. and this is special grace yeven to the holy martyrs/ This grace had the apostles as holy wryt saith of him thus. 
Act. v.  Ibant apostoli gaudentes a conspectu consilii qm digni habiti sunt pro nomine xpi contumeliam pati/ That is: The apostles go joying fro the counsel of the jews wha they were beaten with scourges & they were glad that they were worthy for to suffer any bodily disease for the love of Ihesu/ They were not stirred to ire ne to felnes to be avenged on the Jews that beaten hem: as a worldly man would be when he suffered a little harm be it never so little of his even-christian/ Ne they were not stirred to no pride. ne to hynes of henself & to disdain & to deming of the jews as hypocrites & heretics are the will suffer much bodily pain. & are sometime ready for to suffer death with great gladness & with mighty will as it were in the name of Ihesu for love oh him/ soothly the love & the gladness that they have in suffling of bodily mischief is not of the holy ghost/ It cometh not fro the fire that burneth in the high altar of heaven: but it is feigned by the fiend inflamed of hell: for it is fully menged with the height of pride and of presumption of himself and despite and deeming and disdain of 'em that thus punish 'em/ They ween that all this is charity. and that they suffer all that for the love of god: but they are beguiled of the mercy fiend/ A true lover of ihu when he suffereth harm of his even christian is so strengthened thorough grace of the holy ghost and is made so meek so patient so peaceable. And that so soothfastly. that what wrong or harm it be that he suffer of his even christian he keepeth ever meekness/ He despiseth him not he deem him not but he prayeth for him in his heart and hath of him pity and compassion much more tenderly than of another man that never died him harm/ And soothly better loveth him and more fervently desireth the salvation of his soul. by cause that he seeth that he shall have so much ghostly profit of the evil deed of that other man though it be against his will/ But this love and this meekness worcheth only the holy ghost above the kind of man in 'em that he maketh the true lovers of Ihesu/   

¶ How love sleeth covetise lechyry and gluttony/ and sleeth that fleshly savour and delight in all the v. bodily wits softly and easily through a gracious beholding of Ihesu/ Capitulum xxxix  
Covetise also is slain in a soul by the worchinge of love: for it maketh the soul so covetous of ghostly good and to heavenly riches so ardent that it setteth right nought by all earthly things/ It hath no more dainty in having of a precious stone than a chalk stone/ ne more love hath he in a hundredth pound of gold than in a pound of lead/ It setteth all thing that shall perish at one price/ No more he chargeth that one than that other as in his love/ For it seemeth well that all these earthly things that worldly men let so great price of & love so deyntly should pass away & torn to nought both the thing in itself and the love of it/ And therefore he bringeth it in his thought by time in to that plight that it shall be after. and so acounteth it as nought/ And when worldly lovers striven & fyghten. and plead for earthly good who may first have it/ the lover of Ihesu striveth with no man but keepeth himself in pees. and holdeth him paid with that that he hath and will strive for no more/ For him thinketh that he nede●h no more of all the riches in earth than a scant bodily sustenance for to save the bodily life withal as long as god will. and that he may lightly have/ And therefore will he no more than scantly him needeth for the time that he may freely be discharged fro business about the keeping and the dispending of it. And fully give his heart & his sesynes about the seeking of Ihesu for to find him in cleanness of spirit: for that is all his covetise/ For why: only clean of heart shall see him/  
Also fleshly love of father and mother and other worldly friends hangeth not upon him/ It is even kutte fro his heart with the sword of ghostly love that he hath no more affection to father or mother or to any worldly friend than he hath to another man. But if he see or feel in 'em more grace or more virtue than in other men/ out take this: That his father and his mother had the self grace that some other men have/ But nevertheless if they been not so: then loveth he other men better than hem. that is charity/ And so sleeth God's love covetise of the world. and bringeth in to the soul poverty in spirit/ And that doth love not only in 'em that have right nought or worldly good but also in some creatures that are in great worldly state and have dispendinge or earthly riches/ love sleeth in some of 'em covetise so farforth that they have more liking ne savour in having of 'em than of a straw/ Ne though they be lost for default of 'em that should keep 'em they set nought thereby/ For why the heart of God's lover is through the yeft of the holy ghost taken so fully with the sight of the love of another thing that is Ihesu. and that is so precious and so worthy that it will receive none other love restyngly that ●s contrary thereto/ And not only doth love this but also it sleeth the liking of lechery & all other bodily uncleanness And bringeth in to the soul very chastyre. & turneth it in to liking/ For the soul feeleth so great delight in the sight of Ihu that it liketh for to be chaste & is no great hardness to it for to keep chastity. for it is so most ease & most rest/ And upon the self wise the yefte of love sleeth lusts of gluttony & maketh the soul sober & temperaunt● and beareth it up so mightily that it may not rest in liking of meet & drink. but it taketh meet & drink what it be that least grieveth the bodily complexion if he may lightly come thereto Not for love of itself. but for the lo●e of god/ On. this manner wise the lover of god seeth well that him needeth for to keep his bodily life with meet & drink aslonge as god will suffer h●m to be together/ Then shall this be the discretion of the lover of Ihu as I understand y● hath feeling & working in the love. that upon what manner that he may most keep his grace hol● and least be letted fro working in it thorough taking of bodily sustenance. so shall he do/ That manner of mefe the least letteth & lest troubleth the heart and may keep the body in strength be it flesh be it fish be it breed & ale: that I trow the soul chooseth for to have if it may come thereby/ For all the business of the soul is for to think on Ihu with reverent love ever without ●ettynge of any thing if that it might/ And therefore sithen it must needs somewhat be letted & hindered. the less that it is letted & hindered by meet or drink or any other thing the letter it is/ It had liefer use the best meet & most of price under the son if it less letted the keeping of his heart than for to take but breed & water if that letted him more/ For he hath no reward for to get him great meed for the pain of fasting. & be put there by fro softness in heart: but all his business is for to keep his heart as stably as he may in the sight of Ihu & in the feeling o● his love/ And soothly as I trow he might with less liking use the best meet that is good in the own kind than another man that worcheth all in reason without the special yeft of love should mouse the worst. out take meet that through craft of cury osyte is only made for lust/ That manner of meet may he not well accord with all/ And also on that other side if little meet as only breed & ale most helpeth & easeth his heart and keepeth it most in pees it is most lief than to him for to use it so. & namely if he feel bodily strength only of the yeft of love withal/ And yet doth love more for it sleeth accidye & fleshly idleness and maketh the soul to be occupied in goodness & namely inward in beholding of him. by the virtue of which the soul hath savour & ghostly delight in praying in thinking & in all other manner of doing that needeth for to be done after the state that he is in without heaviness or painful bitterness whether he be religious or secular Also it sleeth the vain liking of the v. bodily wits/ For the sight if the eye: that the soul hath no liking in the sight of any worldly thing. but it feeleth rather pain and disease in beholding of it be it never so fair. Never so precious never so wonderful/ And therefore as worldly lovers run out some time for to see new things for to wonder on 'em: And so for to feed her hearts with the vain sight of 'em/ right so a lover of Ihesu is busy for to run away & withdraw him fro the sight of such manner things that the Inner sight be not letted/ For he seeth ghostly another manner thing that is fairer and more wondered and that would he not forbear/ right on the self wise is it of speaking & hearing It is a pain to the soul of a lover of Ihu for to speak or here any thing that might let the freedom of his heart for to think on Ihu. what song or melody or mynst ralsye outward that it be if it let the thought that it may not freely/ And rest fully pray or think on him/ It liketh him right nought/ & the more delectable that it is to other men the more unsavoury it is to him/ And also for to here any manner of speaking of other men but it be somewhat touching the working of his soul in the love of Ihu it liketh him right nought. he is else right soon weary thereof: He had well liefer be in pees & here right nought ne speak right nought than for to here the speaking & the teaching of the greatest clerk of earth with all the reasons that he can say to him thorough man's wits. but if he can speak feelingly & styryngly of the love of Ihesu for that is his craft principally/ And therefore would he not else speak: here ne see but that might help him & ferder him in to more knowing. & better feeling of him/ ¶ Of worldly speech it is no doubt that he hath no savour speaking ne in hearing of it. ne in worldly tales ne in tidings▪ ne no such vain jangeling. that longeth not to him/ And so it is in smelling & savering/ The more that the thought should be dystracte and broken fro ghostly rest by the use either of smelling or savering▪ or of any of the bodily wits the more he sleeth it/ The less that he feeleth of 'em the liefer is him/ And if he might live in the body without the feeling of any of 'em he would never feel 'em/ For they trouble the heart oft times/ and putteth it fro rest. and they may not fully be eschewed nevertheless the love of Ihu is sometime so mighty in a soul that it overcometh & sleeth all that is contrary thereto for a time/   

¶ What virtues & graces a soul receiveth through opening of that Iner eye in to the gracious beholding of Ihu. & how it may not beget only through man's travail but through special grace & travail also/ Caplm xl.  
THus worcheth love in a soul opening the ghostly eye in to beholding of Ihu by inspiration of special grace. & maketh it clean subtle & able to the work of contemplation. what this opening of the ghostly eye is the greatest clerk in earth can not imagine by his wit ne show fulli by his tongue. for it may not be get by study ne through man's travail only: but princypally by grace of the holy ghost & with travail of man I dread moche to speak ought of it for me thinketh I can not/ I passeth mine assay & my lips are unclean/ nevertheless for I hope love asketh & love byddyth: therefore I shall say a little more of it as I hope love reacheth/ This opening of the ghostly eye is the lyghty darkness & rich nought that I spoke of before. & it may be called purity of spirit and ghostly rest: In ward stillness and pees of conscience: highness of thought & ordonnez of soul. a lyftly feeling of grace & pryvyte of heart. the waker sleep of the spouse and taasting of heavenly savour. Brenning in love & shining in light. enter of contemplation: & reforming in feeling/ all these reasons are said in holy writing by dyversmen for every of 'em spoke of it after his feeling in grace/ And though all these been divers in showing of words. Nevertheless they are all in one sentence of soothfastness For a soul that through vysiting of grace hath one: hath all/ For why a sighing soul to see the face of Ihu when it touched through specially grace of the holy ghost it is suddenly changed & turned fro the plight that it was in to another manner of feeling/ It is wonderfully departed & drawn first in to itself fro the love & the liking of all earthly thing so much that it hath lost the savour of the bodily life & of all thing that is saaf only Ihu/ And than it is clean fro all the filth of sin: so farforth that the mind of it & all unordeyned affection of any creature is suddenly washen & wiped away. that there is no mean letting betwix Ihu and the soul but only the bobyly yfe: & than it is in ghostly rest/ For why all painful dowtes & dreads & all other temptations of ghostly envies are driven out of the heart that they trouble not ne sink not therein for the time/ It is in rest fro the noye of worlly business & painful taryenges of wicked stirrings. but it is full busy in the free ghostly working of love/ And the more it traveleth so. the more rest he feeleth/  
This restful travail is full far fro fleshly idleness & blind sikerness/ It is full of ghostly work/ but it is called rest/ For grace looseth the heavy yoke of fleshly love fro the soul & maketh it mighty & free thorough the yeft of ghostly love for to work gladly softly and delectably in all thing that grace stirreth it for to work in/ And therefore it is called an holy idleness and a rest most busy. and so it is in inrewarde stillness fro the great crying of the bestly noise of fleshly desires & unclean thoughts/ This stillness maketh inspiration of the holy ghost in beholing of Ihu/ For why: His voice is so sweet so mighty that it putteth sylenee in a soul to jangling of all other spekers: for it is a voice of virtue softly swooned in a clean soul of the which the prophet saith thus/ Uox dni in virtute/ That is/ The voice of our Lord Ihesu is in virtue/ This voice is a lifely word & a speedy as the apostle saith/ Uiuus est sermo dei et efficax et penetrabilior omni gladio/ That is. Quick is the word of Jun & speedy. more perishing than any sword is/ through speaking of this word is fleshly love slain & the soul kept in silence fro all wicked stirrings/ 
Apoc.  Of this silence it is said in the apocalypse thus/ Factum est scilencium in celo quasi dimidia hora/ silence was made in heaven as it were an half hour/ heaven is a clean soul through grace lift up fro earthly love to heavenly conversation & so it is in silence/ But for as much as that silence may not last hole continually for corruption of the bodily kind/ therefore it is lyckened to the time of half an hour/ A full short time the soul thinketh that it is be it never so long/ And therefore it is but an half hour/ And then hath it pees in conscience/ For why Grace putteth out gnawing pricking & striving & flyghting of sins/ And bringeth in pees and accord. & maketh Ihesu & a soul both one in full accordance of will/ ¶ There is none upbarding of sins: ne sharp reproving of defawtes made the time in a soul/ For they have kissed and made friends. and all is forgiven that was miss done/ Thus feeleth the soul then with full meek sickerness and great ghostly gladness/ And conceiveth a full great boldness of salvation by this accord making/ For it heareth a privy witnessing in consciency of the holy ghost that he is a chosen son to heavenly heritage Thus saint paul saith/ Ipse spiritus testimonium pe●hibet spiritui nostro quontam filii dei sumus That is. The holy ghost beareth witness to our spirit that we are God's sons/ This witnessing of conscience soothfastly felt through grace is the very joy of the soul as the apostle saith/ 
s. corum.  Gloria mea est testimonium conscienty me/ That is: my joy is the witness of my conscience & that is when it witnesseth pees & accord true love & friendship betwyxe Ihu & a soul. And when it is in this pees then is it in highness of thought/ when y● soul is bounden with love of the world than is it byne●h all creatures/ For every thing overgooth it & beareth it down by mastery that it may not see Ihesu ne love him/ For right as the love of the world is vain & fleshly/ Rygh so the beholding and thinking. and using of all creatures is fleshly/ And that is a thraldom of the soul/ ¶ But then through opening of the ghostly eye in to Ihu the love is turned/ And the soul is receysed up after his own kind a 'bove all bodily creatures/  
And than the beholding & thinking and the using of hem is ghogly/ For the love is ghostly/ The soul hath then full great disdain for to be buxom to love of worldly things. for it is high set above 'em thorough grace/ It setteth nought by all the world. for why: all shall pass & perish/ unto this hynes of heart while the soul is kept therein cometh none error ne deceit of the fiend: for Ihesu is fothfastly in sight of the soul that time & all thing beneath him/ Of this the prophet speaketh thus/ Accedat hom ad cor altum et exaltabitur deus. 
P. lxii.   
Come man to high heart & god shall be highed/ That is a man y● through grace cometh to the highness of thought shall see that Ihu is only highed above all creatures. & he in him/ And then is the soul above moche straunged fro fellowship of worldly lovers/ Though her body be in mids among 'em. Full far been they departed fro fleshly affections of creatures I chargeth not though it never see man ne speak with him ne have comfort of him if it might ever be so in that ghostly feeling/ It feeleth so great homlynes of the blessed presence of our Lord Ihesu and so much savour of him that it may lightly for his love foryete that fleshly affection & the fleshly mind of all creatures/ I say not that it shall not love ne think of other creatures. but I say that it shall think on 'em in time and see 'em and love 'em ghostly & freely. not fleshly and painfully as it died before/ Of this oonlynes speaketh the prophet thus/ Ducam eam in solitudine. 
oseexii  et loquar ad cor eius/ I shall lead her in to only stead. and I shall speak to her heart/ That is: Grace of Ihu leadeth a soul fronoyous company of fleshly desires in to oonlynes of thought. and maketh it foryete the liking of the world and soundeth by sweetness of his inspiration words of love in eeres of the heart/ only is a soul when it loveth Ihesu and tentyth fully to him and hath lost the savour and the comfort of the world And that it might better keep this oonlynes it fleeth the company of all men if it may. And sechyth oonlynes of body: for that moche helpeth to oonlynes of the soul and to the free working of love/ The less letting that it hath without of vain jangling or within of vain thinking the more free it is in ghostly beholding. & so it is in privity of heart/ all without is a soul whiles it is overlayed and blinded with worldly love/ It is as comen as the high way for every stirring that cometh of the flesh or of the fiend sinketh in and gooth thorough it/ But then through grace it is drawn in to the privy chamber in to the sight of our Lord Ihesu. and heareth his privy counsel. And is wonderfully comforted in the hearing/ Of this speaketh the prophet thus/ Secretum meum michi. secretum meum michi/ My prevytee to me. my privity to me/ That is. 
Isay. xxiiii.  The lover of Ihu through inspiration of grace taken up fro outward feeling of worldly love and ravished in to the privity of ghostly love yieldeth thanking to him saying thus/ My fealty to me. That is. My Lord Ihu thy privity is showed to me and privily hid fro all lovers of the world/ For it is called hid nanna. That may lightlier be asked than told what it is/ And that our Lord Ihesu behoteth to his lover saying thus/ Dabo sibi manna absconditum quod nemo novit nisi qui ac cipit/ That is: 
Apoc.  I shall give manna hid that no man knoweth but he that taketh it/ This manna is heavenly meet and angel's food as holy writ saith/ For angels are fully feed and filled with clear sight in brenuing love of our Lord Ihesu. and that is manna/ For we more we ask what it is: but not wite what it is/ But the lover of Ihu is not filled yet here: but he is fed by a little taasting of it whiles he is bounden in this bodily life/  
This tasting of this manna is a lively feeling of gra had thorough opening of the ghostly eye/ And this grace is not an other grace that a chosen soul feeleth in the beginning of his conversion: but it is the same and the self grace: but it is otherwise felt and showed to a soul For why grace waxeth with the soul & the soul waxeth with grace/ And the more clean that the soul is far departed fro the love of the world the more mighty is the grace: more in ward & more ghostly showing in the presence of our Lord Ihesu: so that the same grace that turneth 'em first to sins: & maketh 'em beginning & profiting by yefts of virtue & exercise of good works maken 'em also perfit/ And tha● grace is called a lively feeling of grace. for he y● hath it feeleth it well. & knoweth well by experience that he is in grace/ It is full lyfly t● him for it quyckneth the soul wonderfully & maketh it so hole that it feeleth no painful disease of the body though it be feeble & sykly/ For why. then is the body mightiest most hole & most restful & the soul also. without this grace the soul can not live but in pain: for it thynkith that it might ever keep it & no thing should put it away/ And nevertheless yet it is not so. for it passeth away full lightly/ But nevertheless though the sovereign feeling passeth away & withdraw. the rely fleneth still & keepeth the soul in sadness. & maketh it for to desire the coming again/ And this is also the waker sleep of the spouse: 
Cant v  of the which holy writ saith thus/ Ego dormio & cormen vigilat/ I sleep & my heart wakyth/ That is. I sleep ghostly when thorough grace the love of the world is slain in me and wicked stirrings of fleshly desires are deed: so much that uneaths I feel hem/ I am not tarried with 'em. my heart is made free/ And than it wakyth. for it is sharp and ready for to love Ihu and see him The more I sleep fro outward things the more waker I am in knowing of Ihesu & of In ward things/ I may not wake to Ihesu but if I sleep to the world/ And therefore the grace of the holy ghost spering the fleshly eye doth the soul sleep fro worldly vanity: and opening the ghostly eye wakyth in to the sight of goddies majesty healed under the cloud of his precious manhood/ As the gospel saith of the apostles when they were with our Lord Ihesu in his transfiguration/ first they slept/ Et evigilantes viderunt magestatem/ They waking saw his majesty/ By sleep of the apostles is understand dying of worldly love through inspiration of the holy ghost. By her walking contemplation of Ihesu/ thorough this sleep the soul is brought in to rest fro noise of fleshly lust/ And through walking it is raised up in to the sight of Ihesu and gnost●ely changes/ The more that the eyen are spered in this 〈◊〉 sleep fro the aperyte of earthly thing. The sharper is the Inner sight in lovely beholding of heavenly fay●hede this sleeping and this waking love worcheth thorough the light of grace in the soul of the lover of our Lord Ihesu/   

¶ How special grace in beholding of our Lord Ihesu withdrawyth sometime fro a soul/ And how a soul shall have her in the absence and presence of Ihu/ And how a soul shall desire that in it is alway the gracious presence of Ihesu/ Caplm xli.  
Show me then a soul that thorough inspiration of grace hath opening of the ghostly sight in to beholding of Ihu y● is departed & drawn out fro the lo●● of the world so farforth that it hath puryte & poverty of spirit: ghostly rest: In ward silence. & pees in conscience: highness of thought onnlynes & privity of heart: waker sleep of the spouse. that hath lost liking & joys of the world taken with delight of heavenly savour. Ever thresting: & softly shyghing y● blessed presence of Ihu. & I dare hardly pronounce that this soul burneth all in love & shineth in ghostly light worthy for to come to the name & to the worship of the spouse: for it is reformed in feeling made able & ready to contemplation/ these are the tokens of inspiration in opening of the ghostly eye For why when the eye is opened the soul is in full feeling of all these virtues before said for that time/ nevertheless it falleth often times that grace withdrawyth in party for corruption of man's freelte. & suffereth then the soul for to fall in to itself in flesshlyhede as it was before/ And then is the soul in pain & in sorrow: for it is blind & unsavoury & can no good/ It is weak & unmighty encumbered with the body & with all the bodily wits/ It se●heth & desireth after the grace of Ihu again & it may not find it/ For holy wry saith of our Lord thus postqm vultum suum absconderit non est qui contemplate eum That is: After when our Lord Ihu hath hid his face there is none that may behold him. When he showeth him the soul may not unsee him. for he is light. & when he hideth him it may not see him for the soul is dark/ His hiding is but a subtle assaying of the soul/ His showing is a wonder merciful goodness in comfort of the soul/ have ye no wonder though the feeling of grace be withdraw sometime fro a lover of Ihu/ For holy writ saith the same of the spouse that she fareth thus/ quesivi et non inveni illum. 
Cant. 3  vocavi et non respondit michi/ I seched & I found him not/ I called & he answered not/ That is: when I fall down to my frelte then grace withdraweth for my falling is cause thereof. & not his fleeng/ But then feel I pain of my wretchedness in his absence/ And therefore I sought him by great desire of heart: & he gave to me no feeble answering/ And then I cried with all my soul/ 
Cant. con  revertere dilect mi/ torn again thou my loved/ And yet it seemed as he heard me not The painful feeling of myself & the assailing of fleshly loves & dreads in this time & the wanting of my ghostly strength is a continual crying of my soul to Ihesu. And nevertheless our Lord maketh strange & cometh not cry I never so fast/ For he is siker enough of his lover that he will not torn again to worldly love fully he may no savour have therein. & therefore abideth he the longer  
But at the last when he will he cometh again full of grace & of soothfastness. & visiteth the soul the languyssheth in desire by sighings of love to his presence. & to wchyth it & anointeth it full softly with the oil of gladness. & maketh it suddenly hole fro all pine: and then crieth the soul to Ihesu in ghostly voice with a glad heart thus/ Oleum effusum nomen tuum/ oil yshedde is thy name/ Thy name is Ihesu. 
Cant. i  that is he'll/ Then as long as I feel my soul sore & sick for sin pined with the heavy burden of my body sorry and dreading for perils and wretchedness of this life. so long Lord Ihu thy name is oil speryd not oyleshed to me/ But when I feel my sou●e suddenly touched with the light of thy grace heeled & softed fro all the filth of sin. & comforted in love & in light with ghostly strength & gladness unspeakable. then may I say with lusty loving & ghostly might to the oil yshed is thy name Ihu to me/ For by the affect of thy grayous visiting I feel well of thy name the true expowning y● thou art Ihu heel. For only thy gracious presence healeth me fro sorrow & fro sin/ Blessed is y● soul that is ever fed in feeling of love in his presence. or is borne up by desire to him in his absence/ A wise lo●er is he & well taught y● sadly & revereutly hath him in his presence & lovely beholdeth him without dissolute lightness. and patiently & easily beareth him in his absence without venomous despair & over pynful bitterness/ This chaungabilyte of absence & presence of Ihu that a soul feeleth is not perfection of the soul. ne it is not against the grace of perfection or of contemplation but in so much perfection is the less/ ¶ For the more letting y● a soul hath of itself fro continual feeling of grace the less is the grace: and yet nevertheless is the grace in itself grace of contemplation/ This chaungabylyte of absence & presence falleth as well in the state of perfection as in state of beginning: but in another manner: for right as there is diversity of feeling in the presence of grace bytwex these two states. Right so is there in the absence of grace/ And therefore he that knoweth not the absence of grace is ready to be deceived/ And he that keepeth not the presence of grace is unkind to the visiting whether he be in state of beginner's or perfit/ nevertheless the more stableness that there is in grace vnhur●e & unbroken the lovelyer is the soul and more like unto him in whom is no chaungabylyte as the apostles saith And it is full ●emely that the spouse be like to Ihu spouse in manners & in virtues full according to him in stablynes of pe●fyre love/ But y● falleth seeldom now here but in the special spouse/ For he that perceiveth no chaungabylyte in feeling of his grace but ylyke hole & stable unbroken & unhurt as him thinketh. he is eytherful perfit or full blind/ He is perfit that is sequestyrde fro all fleshly affections & comoning of all creatures: and all means are broken away of corruption & of sin betwixt Ihu & his soul fully ooned to him with softness of love/ But this is only grace above man's kind/  
He is full blind that feigneth him in grace without ghostly feeling of God's inspiration. & setteth himself in a manner of stablynes as he were ever in feeling & in working of special grace: deming that all is grace that he doth & feeleth without & within. Thinking that what so ever he do or speak is grace: holding himself unchangeable in specyallyte of grace. If there be any such as I hope there be none: he is full blind in feeling of grace/ Bu● then might thou say thus that we should love only in truth. 
Heb. x.  & not covet ghostly feelings ne reward 'em if they come/ For the apostle saith/ justus ex fide vivit/ That is: The ryghtwysman liveth in truth. Unto this I say y● bodily feelings been they never so comfortable we shall not covet ne reward moche if they come/ But ghostly feelings such as I spoke of if they come in the manner as I have said before we should ever desire: that are sleenge of all worldly love opening of y● ghostly eye: puryte of spirit: pees of conscience: & all other before said/ We should covet to feel ever the lively inspiration of grace made by the ghostly presence of Ihu in our soul if that we might. & for to have him in our sight with reverence. and ever feel the sweetness of his love by a wondered homlynes of his presence/ This should be our life & our feeling in grace after the measure of his yefte in whom all grace is. to some more & to some less/ For his presence is feeled in divers manner wise as he voucheth saaf/ And in this we should live & work that longeth to us to work. for without this we should not ken live/ For right as the soul is the life of the body. Right so is Ihesu the life of the soul by his gracious presence/ And nevertheless this manner feeling be it never so much it is yet but troth as in reward of that y● shall be of these Il●hesu in the bliss of heaven/ Lo this feeling should we desire for everich a soul reasonable o with for to covet with all the mights of it nyghing to Ihu & ooning to him thorough feeling of his gracious unseeable presence/ How y● presence is feeled it may better be known by experience than by any writing. for it is the life & the love: the might & the light/ the joy & the rest of a chosen soul/ And therefore he that hath once soothfastly feeled it may not forbear it without pain he may not undesyre it it is so good in itself/ and so comfortable/ what is more comfortable to a soul here than for to be draw out through grace fro the vile noye of worldly belynesse & filth of desires and fro vain affection of all creatures in to rest & softness of ghostly love privily perceiving the gracious presence of Ihesu felably fed with savour of his unseeable blessed face/ soothly ne thing me thinketh/ No thing may make the soul of a lover full of mirth but the gracious presence of Ihesu as he can show him to a clean soul/  
He is never heavy ne sorry but when he is with himself in flesshlynes/ He is never full glad ne merry but when he is out of himself as he was with Ihesu in his ghostlynes/ And yet is that no full mirth. for ever there hangeth an heavy lump of bodily corruption on his soul: & beareth it down & moche letteth y● ghostly gladness. and y● must ever be whiles it is here in this life but neverthese for I speak of chaungabylyte of grace how it comy●th & goth that thou mistake it not. Therefore I mean not of the common grace that is had & felt in troth & in good will to god without the which having & lasting therein no man may be saaf. for it is in the least chosen so u●e y● liveth but I mean of special grace felt by inspiration of the holy ghost in the manner as it is before said/ The comen grace that is charity lasteth hole what so ever a man do as long as his will & his intent is true to god without the which having & lasting that he would not sin deadly. ne the deed y● he wilfully doth is not forbid as for deadly sin/ For this grace is not losts but for deadly sin/ And than it is deadly sin when his conscience witnesseth with a vysement that it is deadly sin/ & yet nevertheless he doth it or else his conscience is so blinded that he holdeth it no deadly sin all though he do the deed wilfully the which is forbade of god & holy church as deadly sin/ Special grace felt through the unseeable presence of Ihesu that maketh a soul a perfit lover lastyth not everylyke hole in the highness of feeling. but chaungably cometh & goeth as I have said before/ Thus our Lord saith/ 
joh. 3  Spūs ubi vult spirat & vocem eius audis & nescis unde veniat aut quo vadat The holy ghost spyreth where he will and thou hearest his voice but thou wost not when he cometh ne whether he gooth/ He cometh privily some time when thou art least waar of him: but thou shalt well know him or thou go/ For wonderfully he styryth & mightily turneth thin heart in to beholding of his goodness. and doth thin heart melt delectably as wax against y● fire in to softness of his love. and this is the voice that he soundeth/ But than he gooth or thou wot it for he withdrawyth him somewhat/ nought in all: but fro excess in to sobirte/ The highness passeth: but the substance & th'effect of grace dwelleth still/ And that is aslonge as the soul of a lover keepeth him clean/ & falleth not wilfully to recheleshede or dissolution in flesshlynes ne to outward vanity. as sometime it doth though it have no delight therein for frelte of itself Of this chaungabylyte in grace speak I of now/   

¶ A commendation of prayer offered to Ihu of a soul contemplative/ And how stablynes in prayer is a syker work to stand in/ And how every feeling of grace in a chosen soul may be said Ihu: but the more clenner the soul is the worthier is the grace/ Caplm.. xlii.  
THe soul of a man while it is not touched with special grace is blunt & boisterous to ghostly work & c● nought thereon/ It may not thereof for weakness of itself/ It is both old & dry. Undevoute & unsavoury in itself/ But then cometh the light of grace. & through touching maketh it sharp & suptyl ready & able to ghostly work: and giveth it a great freedom and an hole readiness in will for to be buxom to all the stirring of grace ready for to work after that grace stirreth the soul/ For by opening of the ghostly eye it is applied all fully to grace ready to pray/ And how the soul prayeth then shall I tell thee/ The most special prayer that y● soul useth and hath most comfort in I hope is the Pater noster. or else psalms of the sawter/ The pater noster for lewd men. and psalms & ympnes & other service of holy church for lettred/ The soul prayeth then not in manner as it died before in common manner of men by highness of voice: or by renable speaking out. but in full great stillness of voice & softness of heart/ For why. his mind is not troubled ne tarried with outward things but hole gathered together in itself/ And the soul is set as it were in a ghostly presence of Ihu. and therefore every word & every syllable is swooned savourly sweet & delectably with full accord of mouth & of heart/ For why the soul is turned then all in to fire of love/ And therefore every word that it privily prayeth is leek to a spercle springing out of a fire bronde y● chafeth all the mights of the soul & turneth hem in to love. & lyghtneth hem so comfortably that the soul list ever for to pray & do none other thing/ The more it prayeth the better it may the mightier it is/ for grace helpeth the soul well & maketh all thing light & easy that it list right well to psalm & sing the lovings of god with ghostly mirth in heavenly delight/ This ghostly work is food of the soul. & this prayer is of moche virtue/ For it wasteth & bringeth to nought all temptations of the fiend privy & a part. it slayeth all the mind & the liking of the world. & of fleshly sins. it beareth up the body & the soul fro painful feeling of wretchedness of this life/ It kepyth the soul in feeling of grace & working of love: & nourish it ever ylyke hot & fresh as sticks nourisheth fire/ It putteth away alyrking & heaviness of heart: holdeth it in smite & in ghostly gladness/ Of this prayer speaketh david thus/ Dirigat oracio mea sicut insensū in conspectu tuo. That is: Dressed be my prayer Lord as encence in thy sight/ For right as incense that is cast in the fire maketh a sweet smell by the reek styghing up to the air/ right so a psalm savourly & softly song or said in a brenning heart giveth up a sweet smell to the face of our Lord Ihu: and to all the court of heaven/ There dare no flesh fly rest upon the pots brink boiling on the fire/ Right so may there no fleshly delight rest upon a clean soul that is happened & warmed all in the fire of love boylytige and blowing psalms & lovings to Ihu/ This prayer is ever heard of Ihesu/ It yeldyth grace to Ihesu/ And receiveth grace again/ It maketh a soul homely & felowly with Ihu. and with all the angels of heaven/ Use it who so may. The work is good and gracious in itself/ And though it be not all fully contemplation. in itself ne the working of love by itself/ nevertheless it is a part of contemplation/ For why: It may not be done on this manner wise but in plenty of grace through opening of the ghostly eye/ And therefore a soul that hath this freedom and this gracious feeling in praying with ghostly savour and heavenly delight hath the grace of contemplation in manner as it is/ This prayer is a rich offering filled all in fatness of devotion: received by angels and presented to the face of Ihesu/ The prayer of other men that are busy in active works is made of two words. For they oft times formeth in her hearts one word through thinking of worldly business. & sownen in her mouth another word of the psalm song or said/ And not for that. If her intent be true yet is her prayer good & medeful though it lack savour & sweetness/ But this manner of a man contemplative is made but of one word. for as it is formed in the heart right so holy it soundeth in the mouth. as it were nought but one thing that fourmyth & soundeth/ And soothly no more it is/ For the soul through grace is made hole in itself so far departee fro the flesshlyhede that it is master of the body. and then is the body nought else but as an instrument & a trump of the soul in the which the soul blowith sweet notes of ghostly lovings to Ihu/ This is the trump that david spoke of thus/ 
P. lxxx  Buccinate in neomenia tuba in insigni die solempnitatis vestre/ blow ye with a trump in the new moan/ That is ye souls that are reformed in ghostly life through opening of the Inner eye. Blow ye devoutly swooning psalms with the trump of your bodily tongue/ And therefore for this prayer is plesa●nte to Ihesu and so profitable to the soul: Thenne it is good to him that is new turned to god what that he be that would please him/ And coveteth to have some quaint feeling of grace for to covet this feeling. That he might through grace come to this liberty of spirit. & offer his prayers & his psalms to Ihesu continually: & stably & devoutly with hole mind & brenning affection in him to have it near hand in custom when grace will stir him thereto. This is a syker feeling & a soothfast/ If thou may come thereto & hold it the dare not run about here & there: and axe questions of every ghostly man what thou should do how thou shalt love god: and how thou shalt serve god & speak of ghostly matters that passen thy knowing as perchance some done/ That manner of doing is not full profitable but if more need make it: keep y● to thy prayers stilly first with travail that thou might come afterward to this restful feeling of ghostly prayer: and that shall teach the wisdom enough soothfastly without feigning or fantasy. and keep it fourth if they have it & leave it not: but if grace come other wise & will remove it fro the for a time and make the for to work on another mane●. then may thou leave it for a time & after torn again thereto/ And he that hath this grace in prayer asketh not whereupon he shall set the point of his thought in his prayer whether upon the words that he saith or else on god or on the name of Ihu as some ask: for the feeling of grace teacheth him well enough/  
¶ For why the soul is turned in to the eye and sharply beholdeth the face of Ihu. & is made syker that it is Ihu y● it feeleth & seeth/ I mean not Ihu as he is in himself in fullness of his blessed godhead. but I mean Ihesu as he will show him to a clean soul holden in body after the cleanness that it hath/ For wite thou well that every ●he a feeling of grace is Ihesu & may be called Ihesu/ And after that the grace is more or less so feeleth the soul more or less Ihesu/ ye the first feeling of special gra●e in a beginner that is called grace of compunt yond & contrition for his sins is verily Ihu: for whythe maketh the contrition in a soul by his presence/ But Ihu is thenne full boistously and rudely felt. Full far fro his ghostly subtlety: for the soul can no better ne may no better for uncleanness of itself then/ nevertheless afterward if the soul profit & increase in virtues and in cleanness the same Ihesu and none other is seen and felt of the same soul when it is touched with grace/ but that is more ghostly near to the godly kind of Ihesu/ And soothly that is the most thing that Ihesu loveth in a foul that it might be made godly and ghostly in sight and in love like to him in grace to that y● he is by kind. for that shall be the end of all lovers/  
Then Mayst thou be syker that what time that thou felyste thy soul stirred by grace specially in that manner as it is before said by opening of thy ghostly eye thou seest and feleste Ihu/ hold him fast while thou may & keep the in grace: and let him nought lightly fro the look after none other Ihesu but that same by feeling of that self grace more godly that it might wax in the more and more/ And dread the nought though Ihu that thou felyst be not Ihesu as he is in his full godhead that thou shouldest therefore mow be deceived if thou leaned to thy feeling: but trust thou well if thou be a lover of Ihesu that thy feeling is true and that Ihesu is truly felt & seen of the thorough his grace as thou may see him here/ And therefore leave fully to thy feeling when it is gracious and ghostly. & keep it tenderly. & have great dainty not of thyself but of it. that thou might see: and feel Ihesu ever better & better/ For grace shall even techethe by itself if thou will fall thereto till thou come to the end/ But perchance thou beginnest to wonder why I say one time that grace worchyth all this. & on another tim that love worchyth or god worchyth. Unto this I say th● that when I say the grace worcheth I mean love. Ihesu: and god. for all is one. and nought but one/ Ihu is love Ihesu is grace. Ihesu is god/ And for he worcheth all in us by his grace for love as god therefore may I use what word of these iiii. that me list after my stirring in this writing/   

¶ How a soul through the opening of the ghostly eye receiveth a gracous love able to understand holy wryt And how Ihesu that is hid in holy wryt showeth himself to his lovers Caplm xliii  
THen the soul of a lover feeleth Ihu in prayer in the manner before said. & thinketh y● it would never feel otherwise/ nevertheless it falleth that sometime grace putteth silence to vocal praying: and stirreth the soul to see and to feel/ Ihesu in another manner/ And that manner is first to see Ihu in holy writ/ For Ihu that is all soothfastness is hid and heeled therein wounden in a ●ofte sendyle under fair words that he may not be know ne felt but of a clean h●rte/ For why: soothfastness will not show itself to enemies but to friends that love & desire it with a meek heart. for soothfastness and meekness arne full true sisters fastened together in love and charity/ and therefore is there no leaning of counsell betwyxe 'em two/ meekness presumeth of soothfastness and no thing of itself. And soothfastness trow with well on meekness: and so they accorden wonder well/ Then for as much as a soul of a lover is made meek through inspiration of grace by opening of the ghostly eye: and seeth that it is nought of itself/ But only hangeth in the mercy an● the goodness of Ihu lastingly is borne up by favour & help of him only/ & truly desiring the presence of him therefore seeth it Ihu/ For it seeth soothfastness of holy writ wonderly showed and opened above study and travail & reason of man's kindly wit/ And that may well be called the feeling and the perceiving of Ihesu/ For Ihesu is well of wisdom. and by a little heelding of his wisdom in to a clean soul he maketh the soul wise enough for to understand all holy writ. not all at ones in special beholding: but thorough that grace the soul receiveth a new ablynes and a gracious habit for to understand it specially when it cometh to mind. This opening and this clearness of wit is made by the ghostly presence of Ihesu/ For right as the gospel saith of two. disciples going to the castle of Emaus brenning in desire and speaking of our Lord Ihesu: 
Luc. xiiii.  our Lord appeared to hem presently as a pilgrim and taught 'em the prophecies of himself/ And as the gospel saith/ Apperuit illis sensum ut intelligerent scripturas/ He opened to 'em clearness of wit that they might understand holy writing/ right so the ghostly presence of Ihesu openeth the wit of his lover that it brenneth in desire to him: and bringeth to his mind by ministration of angels the words and the sentences of holy writ unsought and vnauysed one after another. and exponeth 'em readily be they never so hard ne so privy/  
The harder that they been and ferder fro man's reasonable understanding the more delectable is the true showing of 'em/ when Ihesu is master it is exponed and declared lytterally: morally: mystyly: and heavenly: if the matter suffer it/ By letter that is lyghteste and most plain is bodily kind comforted/ By moralte of holy writ the soul is informed of vices and virtues wisely to ken depart the one fro that other/ By mystyhede it is illumined for to see the works of Ihesu in holy church. Readily for to apply the words of holy writ to cryst our heed: and to holy church that is his misty body/ And the fourth that is heavenly longeth only to the working of love/ And that is when all soothfastness in holy writ is applied to love/ And for that is most like to heavenly feeling therefore I call it heavenly/ The lover of Ihesu is his friend. not for he hath deserved it: but for Ihu of his mercy full goodness maketh him his friend by true accord/ And therefore as to a true friend that pseyseth him with love. not serveth him by dread as a thrall: 
Ioh xv  he showeth his privity/ Thus he saith himself to his apostles/ I am vos dixi amicos qr quecunque audivi a patre meo nota feci vobis/ Now I say that ye are friends/ For I make known to you all things that I have herd of my father/ To a clean soul that hath the palet purified from filth of fleshly love holy writ is lifely food and sustenance delectable/  
¶ It savoureth wonder sweetly when it is well chewed by ghostly understanding/ For why. the spirit of life is hid therein that quyckenyth all the mights of the soul/ and filleth them full of sweetness of he●enly savour and ghostly delight/ But soothly him needeth to have white teeth and sharp & well picked that should bite of this ghostly breed/ For fleshly lovers and heretics may not touch y● inward flower of it/ Her teeth are bloody and full of filth. Therefore they been fasting fro feeling of this breed/ By teeth are understand the Inly wits of the soul/ the which in fleshly lovers and in heretics been bloody full of sin and of worldly vanities/ They would and they can not come by curiosity of her kindly wit to the soothfastness in knowing of holy writ. for her wit is corrupt by original sin and actuell also. And is not yet healed through grace. And therefore they do but gnaw upon the bark without speak they never so much thereof/ The Inner savour within they feel not of/ They been not meek they been not clean for to see it/ They been not friends to Ihesu. & therefore he showeth 'em not his counsel/ The privity of holy wryt is closed under a key sealed with a signet of Jesus' finger: that is the holy ghost/ And therefore withouten his love & his leave may no man come in/ He hath only the key of cunning in his keeping as holy wryt saith/ & he is key himself/ And he letteth in whom he wolby inspiration of his grace. & breaketh not the sell. & that doth Ihu to his lovers/ Not to alylyke/ but to hem that are specially inspired for to seek soothfastness in holy wryt with great devotion in praying. & with moche business in studying going before/ these may come to the finding when our Lord Ihu will show it/ See now thenne how grace openeth the ghostly eye & cleareth the wit of the soul wonderly above the freelte of corrupt kind/ It giveth the soul a new ableness whether it will read holy wryt or here or think it for to understand it truly & savourly that soothfastness of it in the manner before said/ And for to torn readily all reasons & words that are bodily said in to ghostly understanding. & that is no great marvel/ For the same spirit expownyth it & declareth it in a clean soul in comfort of it that first made it. & that is the holy ghost/ And this grace may be & is aswell in lewd as in lettred men as anenstes the substance & the true feeling of sooth fastness & the ghostly savour of it in general though they see not so many reasons in special: for that needeth not And when the soul is thus abled & lightened through grace. Than it list for to be alone sometime out of letting or comoning of all creatures that he might freely assay his Instrument that I call his reason in beholding of soothfastness that is contained in holy writ/ And then there fall to mind words & reasons & sentences enough to occupy him in full ordynate & full sadly/ And what comfort & ghostly delight: savour & sweetness a soul may feel then in his ghostly work through divers Illuminations: Inly perceyvynges: privy knowynges & sudden towchynges of the holy ghost by assay the soul may wite & else not/ And I hope that he shall not err be so y● his teeth that been his In ward wets be kept white & clean fro ghostly pride & fro curiosity of kindly wit/ I hope that david felt full great delight in this manner work when he said thus/ 
corum xiii  qm dulcia faucibꝭ meis eloquia tuasuper mel ori meo/ How sweet are thy spekinges Lord Ihu to my cheeks over honey to my mouth/ That is: Lord Ihu thine holy words endited in holy wryt brought to my mind through grace are swetter to my cheeks that are the affections of my soul than honey is to my mouth soothly this is a fair work without painful traueille for to see Jesus' thus/ This is one manner of sight of Ihu as I said before/ Not as he is: but clothed under likeness of works & of words/ Perspeculum in enigmate/ By a mirror & by a likeness/ As the apostle saith/ Ihesu is endless might wisdom and goodness: right wiseness: sooth fastness: holiness. and mercy/ And what this Ihesu is in himself may no soul seen here. But by effect of his working he may be seen through the light of grace. as thus/ His might is seen by making of all creatures of nought. his wisdom inordinate disposing of 'em: his goodness in saving of 'em his mercy in forgiveness of sins. his holiness in yefts of grace: his right wines in hard punishing of sin his softness in true rewarding of good works/ And all this is expressed in holy writ. And this seeth a soul in holy writ with all other accidents that fallen hereto/ And wite thou well that such gracious knowynges in holy writ or in other writing that is made thorough grace are nought else but sweet letters senden and made betwixt a loving soul and Ihesu loved/ Or else if I shall say sothlyer betwix Ihesu the true lover and the souls loved of him/ He hath full great tenderness of love to all his chosen children y● are here closed in clay of this bodily life/ And therefore though he be absent fro hem high hid above in the bosom of the father fulfilled in delyces of the blessed god heed yet notwithstanding he thinketh upon hem & visiteth hem full oft through his gracious ghostly presence & comforteth hem by his letters of holy wryt. & driveth out of her hearts heaviness & weariness: dowtes & dreads & maketh 'em glad & merry in him truly. Trowing to all his behetynges & meekly abiding fulfilling of his will saint paul saith thus/ 
Ro. v  Quecumque scripta sunt ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt ut per consolacionem scripturarum spe habeamus/ all the is written to our teaching it is written that by comfort of writing we might have hope of salvation/ And this is another work of contemplation for to see Ihu in scriptures after opening of the ghostly eye/ The clenner the sight is in beholding. the more comforted is the affection in tasting/ A full little savour felt in a clean soul of holy wryt in this manner before said should make the soul set little price by knowing of all the seven. Arts. or of all the world/ of all worldly cunnynges/ For the end of this knowing is salvation of a manes soul in everlasting life. & the end of that other as for himself is but vanity & a passing delight. but if they be turned through grace to this end/   

¶ Of the pryvevoys of Ihesu swooning in a soul whereby it shall be known/ And how all the gracious illuminations made in a soul been called the speakings of Ihu/ Caplm.. xliiii.  
LO these are fair new feelings in a clean soul. & if a soul were fulfilled with such it myghe be laid. And soothly that is were reformed somewhat in feeling: but not yet fully/ For why: yet Ihesu showeth more and leadeth the soul Inner. And beginneth to speak more homely and more lovely to a soul then to follow the stirring of grace/ For the prophet saith/ quocunque ●hat spiritus illuc gradiebantur et rote sequentes cum/ 
Eze. i.  whether so go the spirit thither go the whiles following him/ By wheels are understand the true lovers of Ihu For they are round in virtue without angyle of frowardness. and lightly whirling thorough readiness of will to the stirring of grace/ For after that grace stirreth and teacheth. so they follow & work as the prophet saith/ But they have first a full siker assay and a true knowing of the voice of grace or they may do so that they be not deceived by her own feigning or by the myddaie fiend/ Our Lord Ihesu saith thus of his lovers/ Oues meevocem meam audiunt et cognosco eas et cognoscunt me me/ My sheep hearen my voice & I know 'em and they know me/ The privy voice of Ihesu is full true. 
joh. x  & it maketh a soul true/ There is no feigning in it ne fantasy ne pride ne hypocrisy/ But softness: meekness: pees: love: and charity. And it is full of life love & grace And therefore when it sownyth in a soul it is of so great might sometime that the soul ●odeynly layeth of hand all that there is. praying. Speaking: reading or thynkyn in the manner before said. & all manner bodily work and lystnyth thereto fully hearing & preceyving in rest and in love the sweet steven of this ghostly voice as. it were ravished fro the mind of all erdely things/ And thenne some time showeth Ihu in this pees himself as an hawtful master and sometime as a reverent father: and sometime as a lovely spouse/ And it keepeth a soul in a wonderful reverence & in a lovely beholding of him that the soul liketh well then. and never so well as thenne/ For it feeleth so great sickerness and so great rest in Ihu and so much favour of his goodness that it would ever be so and never do other work/ It think●th that it toucheth Ihu and through virtue of the unspeakable touching it is made hole & stable in itself reverently beholding only Ihu. as if there were no thing but Ihu oo thing and he another. borne up only by the savour & the wondful goodness of him y● is that thing y● he feeleth & seeth/ And this feeling is oft times without special beholding of holy wryt. ne but with few words formed t the heart. nought but thus among fallen in sweet words according to the feeling. Either loving or worshipping or wondering. or otherwise swooning as the heart liketh/ The soul is full moche departed fro love or liking of the world through virtue of this gracious feeling/ And also fro mind of the world moche in the mean time/ It taketh none heed thereof for it hath no time thereto/ But then sometime anon with this falleth in to a soul divers illuminations through grace. y● which illuminations I call the speakings of Ihu & the sight of ghostly things/ For wite thou well the all the business that Ihu maketh about a soul. is for to make it a true perfit spouse to him in the hynes & fullness of love. And that may not be done so suddenly therefore Ihu that is love & of all lovers the wisest assayeth by many wyses & by many wonderful means or it may come about/ And therefore that it might come to theffect of true spousage he hath such gracious speakings this manner of a wooer to a choose soul/ He showeth his privy jewels. moche thing he giveth & more he beheteth. & courteous dalyunce he showeth/ oft he visiteth with moche grace & ghostly comfort as I before said/ but how he doth this in special all fully can I not tell the for it needeth not/ nevertheless somewhat shall I say after that grace stirreth/ The drawing of a soul fully to perfit love is first by the showing of ghostly things to a clean soul when the ghostly eye is opened not that a soul should rest therein. & make an end there but by the seek him & love him only that is highest of all without any beholding of any other thing than himself/ But what are these ghostly things sayest thou. for I speak oft of ghostly things/ To this I auswere and say. that ghostly thing may be said all y● soothfastness of holy writ/ And therefore a soul that through light of grace may see the soothfastness of it. it seeth ghostly things as I have before said/   

¶ How through gracious opening of the ghostly eye a soul is made wise meekly & soothfastly to see the diversity of degrees in holy church as traveling/ And for to see angels kind & first of reproved/ Caplm xlv  
Nevertheless other ghostly things there been also the which through light of grace are showed of the soul. and are these/ The kind of all reasonable souls. & the gracious working of our Lord Ihesu in 'em/ The kind of angels blessed & reproved & her working and the knowing of the blessed trinity after the grace teacheth/ Holy writ saith in the book of songs of the spouse thus/ Surgan & circuibo civitatem & queran quem diligit anima mea/ I shall rise & I shall go about the city & I shall seche him that my soul loveth/ That is: 
Cant. ●  I shall rise in to highness of thought & go about the city/ By this city is understand the university of all creatures bodily & ghostly ordained & ruled under god by laws of kind of reason & of grace/ go about this city when I behold the kinds & the cause of bodily creatures the yefts of grace & the blyssis of ghostly creatures. and in all these I seek him that my soul loveth/ It is foyre looking with the Inner eye on Ihu in bodily creatnres for to see his might: his wisdom & his goodness in ordinance of her kind: but it is much fairer looking on Ihu in ghostly creatures/ first in reasonable souls goth chosen & reproved to see the merciful calling of him to chosen. how he turneth hem fro sin by light of his grace. how he helpeth hem teacheth 'em: chastyth hem. confortith hem. he righteth he cleanseth he feedeth. how he maketh 'em brenning in love & in light by plenty of his grace/ And thus doth he not to one soul only but to all his chosen after measure of his grace/ Also of all reproved how rightfully he forsaketh hem and leaveth 'em in her sins & doth 'em no wrong/ How he rewardeth 'em in this world suffering hem to have the fulfilling of her will & after to punish 'em endlessly/ Lo this is a little beholding of holy church whiles it is in traveling in this life to seen how black And how fowl it seemeth in souls that are reproved: how fair and how lovely it is in chosen souls/  
And all this ghostly sight is nought else but ●he sight of Ihesu. Not in himself but in his merciful privy works & in his rightwise domes every day showed & remembered and renewed to reasonable souls Also over this to see with the ghostly eye the pains of reproved: & the joy & the bliss of chosen souls it is full comfortable For soothfastness may not be seen in a clean soul without great delight & wonderful softness of blessed brenning love/ Also the sight of angel's kind: first of dampened & after that of the blessed. It is a full fair contemplation of the fiend in a clean soul when grace bringeth the fiend to the sight of the soul as a clumsid caitiff bounden with the might of Ihu that he may not dear/ Thenne the soul beholdeth him not bodily but ghostly seeing his kind and his malice. & turneth him up so down and spoileth him and renteth him all to nought. scorneth him & despiseth him and setteth nought by his malice. Thus biddeth holy writ when it saith thus Uerte impium et non erit/ torn the wicked: 
ꝓuer. xxii.  that is the fiend up so down and he shall be as nought. Moche wonder hath the soul that the fiend hath so moche malice and so little might. There is no creature so unmighty as he is. and therefore it is a great cowardness see that men dreaden him so moche. He may no thing do without leave of our Lord Ihesu not so much as enter in to aswyne as the gospel saith/ Moche less may he do then to noye any man/ ¶ And then if our lord Ihesu give 'em leave to tarry us it is full worthily & mercifully done that our Lord Ihu doth. & therefore welcome be our Lord Ihesu by himself & by all his messengers/ The soul dreadeth no more than the blustering of the ●ende than the stirring of a mouseth/ wonder wroth is the fiend if he durst say nay. but his mouth stopped with his own malyte. his hands are boside as a the if worthy to be demid & hanged in hell/ And thenne the soul accusyth him & rightfully deem him after that he hath deserved: 
corum. vi  word not omni this saying. for saint paul meaned the same when he said thus/ Frens nescitis qm anglōs iudicabimus/ brethren wot ye not well y● we shall dame angels that are wicked spirits through malice that were made good angels by kind/ As who saith yes/ This deeming is figured before the doom in coutemplatyf soul's/ For they feel a little tasting in likeness of all that shall be done afterward of our Lord Ihu openly in soothfastness shamed & shent is the fiend greatly in himself when he is thus fared with a clean soul. He would fain i'll a way & he may not for the might of the highest holdeth him still. & the grieveth him more than all the fire of hell. wonder meekly falleth the soul to Ihu then with heartily lovings that he somiȝtly saveth a simple soul fro all malice of so fell a enemy by his great mercy.   

¶ How by the same light of grace the blessed angel's kind may be seen And how Ihu is god & man above all creatures after y● the soul image see him here/ Caplm.. xlvi.  
ANd then after this by the self light may the soul see ghostly the fayrhede of angels the worthiness of hem in kind. the subtlety of hem in substa unce: the confirming of 'em in grace. & the fullness of endless blise the soundryhede of orders the distinctions of persons how they live all in light of soothfastness endless. & how they brenne all in love of the holy ghost after the worthiness of orders. how they see and love & praise Ihu in blessed rest without ceesing/ There is no sight of body: ne no figure in imagination in this manner worching but all ghostly. & of ghostly creatures/ Then beginneth the soul to have great aqueyntaunce of the blessed spirits & a great fellowship/ They are full tender & full busy about such a soul to help it/ They are masters to teach it & often through her ghostly presence & touching of her light driven out fantasies fro the soul: & they Illymyn the soul g●acyously. they comfort the soul by sweet words suddenly swooned in a clean heart/ And if any disease fall ghostly they serven the soul & minister to it all that it needeth/ Thus 
Hebr. i  saint paul said of hem/ nun oens sunt administratorii spus missi propter eos q hereditatem capiunt salutis/ wot ye not well that holy spirits are ministers sent of Ihu for 'em that taken the heritage of health/ these are chosen souls: as who saith yes/ For wite thou well that all this ghostly working of words & of reasons brought to the mind. & such fair likeness are made by the ministry of angels when the light of grace abundantly shineth in a clean ●oule It may not be told by ●onge the feelings the light nynges' the graces & the comforts in special the clean souls perceive through favourable fellowship of blessed angels/ The soul is well at ease with 'em to behold how they done that it would tend to no thing else. But thenne with the help of the angel yet the soul seeth more for knowing riseth above all this in a clean soul/ And that is to behold the blessed kind of Ihu/ first of his gracious manhood how it is highed worthily above all angel's kind. & then after of his blessed godhead/ For by knowing of creatures is known the creature. & then beginneth the soul to perceive a little of the brevities of the blessed trinity▪ It may well enough for light of grace goth before. & therefore she shall not err as long as she holdeth her with the light/ Thenne is it opened soothfastly to the eye of the soul the only heed in substance & distinction of persons in the blessed trinity as it may be seen here. and much other soothfastness of the blessed trinyte pertinent to this matter: the which is openly declared & showed by writing of holy doctors of holy church/ And wite thou well the the same & the self soothfastness of the blyssyd trinity that these holy doctors inspired through grace written in her books in strengthing of our troth a clean soul may see in knowing through the self light of grace/ I will not express toomuch of this matter here specially for it needeth not/ word great love feeleth the soul with heavenly delight in feeling of this soothfastness when it is made through special grace. for love & light goth both together in a clean soul/ There is no love that riseth of knowing and of special beholging that may touch sooner our Lord as this love may/ For why: this knowing is worchiest & highest in itself only of Ihu god & man if it be specially showed by the light of grace/ and therefore is the fire of love flaming of this more brenning than it is of knowing of any creature bodily or ghostly. & all these gracious knowynges feeled in a soul of the university of all creatures in manner before said. & of our Lord Ihu maker & keeper of all this fair university. I call hem fair words & sweet speakings of our Lord Ihu to a soul that which he will make his true spouse/ He showeth brevities & proffereth rich yefts of his treasure: & arrayeth the soul with hem full honestly/ She need not be ashamed with the company of her fellows to apere afterward to the face of Ihu her sponse/ all this lovely dalliance of privy speech bytwyxe Ihesu and a soul may be called an hid word. 
job iiii  of that which holy writ saith thus/ Porto ad medcini est verbum scondi●um et ve●as susurru percepit auris mea/ soothly to me is said an hid word and the veins of his rownynges mine ear hath perceived/ The inspiration of Ihesu is an hid word. For it is privily hid from all lovers of the world and showed to his lovers through which a clean soul perceiveth readily the veins of his rowning that are specially shewenges of his soothfastness/ for everich gracious knowing of soothfastness felt with Inly saudur & ghostly delight is a privy rowning of Ihesu in the ere of a clean soul/ him behoveth to have moche cleanness & meekness & all other virtues/ & to be half deyf to noys of worldly jangling that should wisely perceive these sweet ghostly rownynges that is the voice of Ihu/ Of that which david saith thus/ Uox dni preparantis ceruos et revelabit con densa/ The voice of our lord ihu arraying hearts & he shall show thick/ That is: 
P.  the inspiration of Ihu maketh soul's light as hearts that sterten fro ther●he over bushes & briars of all worldly vanity. & he showeth to hem the thick that are his prenites that may not be perceived but by sharp eye/ these beholdinges soothfastly grounded in grace & in meekness maketh a soul wise & brenning in desire to the face of Ihu/ these be the ghostly things that I spoke of before: & they been called new gracious felinges & I do but touch hem a little for wyssinge of the soul/ For a so●le that is clean stirred by grace to use of this werking may see more in an hour of such ghostly matter than might be written in a great book/   
¶ this finsshyith this present book which exponeth many notable doctrines in contemplation/ which as me seemeth right expedient to those that setten their felicity in ocuping themseless specially for their soul health/   

This is a devout book compiled by Master Walter hylton to a devout man in temperal estate how he should rulen him/  

¶ How a man that will be ghostly must first usen moche bodily exercise in penance and destroying of sin: Capitulum/ Primum.  
Dear brother in christ two manner of states there are in holy church by that which christian soul's plese● god & getten 'em the bliss of heaven. that one is bodily: & that other is ghostly/ bodily working longeth principally to worldly men & women the which leefully usen worldly goods & wylfylly usen worldly business. Also it longeth to all young beginning men the which comen new out of worldly sins to the service of god: for to make 'em able to ghostly working & for to break down the unbuxumnes or the body by discretion usen bodily working that it might be supple & ready & not mickle contrarious to the spirit in ghostly working. for saint paul saith. as woman was made for man & not man for woman. Right so bodily working was made for ghostly. & not ghostly for bodily/ bodily working goth before & ghostly cometh after as saint paul saith/ ¶ Non prius quod spirituale. scilicet qd prius ainale deindespuale/ And this is a cause why it behoveth to be so. for we are borne in sin and corruption of the felesshe by the whyehe we are so blinded & so overlayed that we have neither the ghostly knowing of god by light of understanding. ne ghostly feeling of him by clean desire of loving & therefore we may not suddenly start out of this dark night of this fleshly corruption in to the ghostly light/ for we may not suffer it ne bear it for likeness of ourself no more than we may with our bodily eyen when they are sore behold the light of the sin. & therefore we must abide & work be process of tyme. first by bodily works bestly till we be discharged of this heavy burden of sin which letteth us fro ghostly working. & till our soul be some what ●ensed fro great outward synods & abled to ghostly work By this bodily working that I speak of mayst thou vnderst●●● almaner of god works y● thy soul doth by y● wits & y● men bris of thy body unto thyself as in fasting waking & in restraining of fleshly lusts by penance doing. or to thine evencrsten be fulfilling of the deeds of mercy bodily or ghostly or unto god be suffering of all bodily mischiefs for the love of rightwiseness/ all these works done in truth by charity plesen god: withouten which they are nought. Than who so desireth for to be occupied ghostly. it is siker & profitable to him y● he be first well asayed a long time in this bodily working for these bodily deeds are a token & a showing of moral virtues withouten which a soul is not able for to work ghostly/ break down first pride in bodily bearing & also within thin heart thinking. Boasting & praising of thyself vain liking in thyself of any thing that god hath sent to the bodily or ghostly/ break down also envy & ire against thine even-christian whether they be rich or poor good or bad that thou hate him not. ne have disdain of him wilfully neither in word ne in deed. Also break down covetise of worldly good y● thou for the holding. Getting or saving of it offend not thy conscience ne break not charity to god & to thine even-christian for love of any worldly good. but y● thou getyst to keep it: & spend it without love & vain liking of it as reason asketh in worship of god & help of thine even-christian. Break down also as mekil as thou mayst fleshly likings either of accidie or bodily ease gluttony or lechery. & than when thou hast been well travailed & well asayed in all such bodily works. than mayst thou by grace ordain the to ghostly working. the grace & the goodness of our Lord Ihu christ that he hath showed to y● in with drawing of thine heart fro lust & liking of worldly vanity & use of fleshly sins. & in that turning of thy will entirely to his service & his pleasance bringeth in to mine heart mickle matter to love him in his mercy & also it stirreth me greatly to strength the in thy good purpose & in thy working that thou hast begun for to bring it to a good end. If that I could & principally for god & sithen for tender affection of love that thou hast to me if I be a wretch & unworthy. I know well the desire of thine heart that thou desirest greely to serve our Lord by occupation all holy withouten letting or troubling of worldly business that thou myghtyst come by grace to more knowing & ghostly feeling of god & of ghostly things/ This desire is good as I hope & of god for it is set upon him in charity spiritually. Nevertheless it is for to refreyne & rulen by discretion as against outward working after the state that thou art in. for charity unrewled turneth sometime in to vice & therefore it is said in holy writ/ ¶ ordinavit in me carytatem. that is to say/ our Lord giving to me charity. set it in order & in rule that it should not be lost through mine undescrecyon/ right so this charity & this desire that our Lord hath yeven of his mercy to the is for to rule & ordain how thou shalt pursue it after thy degree asketh. & after the lining that thou hast used before time and after the grace of virtues that thou now hast. thou shalt not utterly followen thy desire for to leaven occupation & business of the world the which are needful to usen in rewling of thyself & of all other that aren underthy keeping & give the holy to ghostly occupation of prayers & holy meditations. as it were a frere or a monk. or an other man that were not bounden to the world by children & servants as thou art. for it falleth not to the. & if thou do so. thou keepest not the order of charity. Also if thou wouldest leaven utterly ghostly occupation. namely now after the grace that god hath yeven to the & set the holy to the business of the world in fulfilling of the works of active life as fully as an other man that never feeled devotion/ thou leavest the order of charity/ For thy state asketh for to do both. Each of 'em in divers times thou shalt meddle the works of active life with ghostly works of life contemplative/ And than dooste thou well. For thou shalt one time be busy with martha for to rewlen and governed thine household. Thy children Thy servants. thy neighbours. thy tenants. If they done well comfort 'em therein and help 'em/ If they done evil for to techen hem a mend 'em and chastise 'em/ And thou shalt also look & know wisely thy thyngiss & thy worldly goods be rightly kept by thy servants. Governed & truly spended y● thou might the more plenteously fulfil the deeds of mercy with hem unto thy even-christian/ Also thou shalt with marry leave business of y● world & sit down at the feet of our Lord by meekness in prayers & in holy thoughts & in contemplation of him as he giveth the grace. & so shalt thou go fro the one to the other medfully & fulfil hem both: & than keepest thou well the order of charity/   

¶ Unto what manner of man longeth active-life/ Caplm two.  
Nevertheless y● thou ne have no word of this that I say therefore I shall tell that & declare to the a little more openly thou shalt understand that there is three manners of living one is active-life an other is contemplative the third is made of both & that is meddled. active-life above longeth to worldly men & women the which are lewd in knowing of ghostly occupation for they ne feel savour ne devotion by fervour of love as other men don. ne they cunne no skill of it. & yet nevertheless they have dread of god & of the pain of hell. & therefore they i'll sin & they have desire for to please god & for to come to heaven & a good will have to her even-christian: unto these men it is needful & speedful to usen the works of active-life as busily as they may in the help of himself & of her even christian: for they cunne not else done/   

¶ Unto whom longyth contemplatyflyf/ Caplm iii  
COntemplatyflyfe longeth alone to such men & women that for the love of god forsaken all open sins of the world & her flesh & albesynes charges & governance of worldly goods & maken himself poor & naked to the bare need of the dodyly kind & flen fro sovereynte of all other men to the service of god. Unto shise men it longeth for to travenylen & occupien hem inwardly for to get through the grace of our Lord cleanness in heart & pes in conscience by destroying of sin & receiving of virtues & so for ●o come to contemplation whanche cleanness may not be had without great exercise of body & continual travail of the spirit in devout prayers fervent desires & ghostly meditations/   

¶ Unto whom longeth meddled life/ Caplm iiii.  
THe third life that is the meddled life longeth to men of holy church as to prelates & to other curatis the which have cure & soveryute over other men for to teach & rule hem both her bodies & her souls principally in fulfilling of the deeds of mercy bodily & ghostly unto these men it longeth sometime to usen works of mercy in active-life in help & sustenance of henself & of her so getties & of other also. And sometime for to leave all manner of business outward & yeven hem unto prayers & meditations as reading of holy wryt & to other ghostly occupations after that they feelen hem disposed. Also it longeth to some temperel which han sovereynte with mickle aver of worldly goods. & haven also as it were lordship over other men for to govern & sustain hem as a father hath over his children & a master over his servants & a Lord over his tenants. the which men han also received of our Lords yeft grace of devotion. & in party savour of ghostly occupation. Unto these men also longeth meddled life that is both active & contemplative. for if these men standing the charge & the bond that they have taken wylen leave utterly the business of the world: y● which oweth skilfully to been used in fulfulling of her charge & holy given hem to contemplative life they do not well. for they keep not the order of charity. for charity as thou knowest wellyth both in love of god & of thine even-christian. & therefore it is y● he that hath charity to use both in working now to the one/ & now the other. for he y● for the love of god in contemplation leaveth the love of his even-christian & doth not to hem as he aught when he is bound thereto. he fulfyllyth not charity. also on the contrary wise who so hath so great reward to work of active-life & to business of the world that for the love of his eu●ncrysten he leaveth ghostly occupation utterly after that god hath disposed him thereto. he fulfyllyth not charity/ this is the saying of saint gregory. for though our Lord for to stir some to use this meddled life. Took upon himself the person of such manner men both of prelate's of holy chyr & of such other as are disposed thereto as I have said: & gave hem ensample by his own working that they should use this meddled life as he died y● time that he spoke with men & meddled with hem sheweng his deeds of mercy for hem taught the vncunnynge & unknown by his preaching. he visited the seek & healed hem of her dyseses. he fed the hungry & onforted the sorry neverthelesss other times he left the conversation of all worldly men & of his disciples & went in to desert upon the hills & continued all night in prayers alone as the gospel saith. Therefore this meddled lyt showeth our Lord in himself to ensample of all other men that have taken y● charge of this meddled life. that they should oo time give hem to business of worldly things at reasonable need & to the works of active-life in profit of her even crysten which they have cure of & an other time yeven hem holly to devotion & to contemplation in prayers & meditations/   

¶ How holy bishops used meddled life/ Caplm v.  
THis life leaden holy bishops which had cure of men's souls & ministration of temperel goods for these holy men leften not utterly the ministration & the looking & y● dyspending of worldly goods & yeven hem holy to contemplation as mickle grace of contemplation as they had/ but they leften full oft her own rest in contemplation when y● they had well ever have been still. for love of her even christian. & enter metyd hem with worldly business in helping of her so gettis & soothly that was charity. for wisely & discreetly they departed her living in two/ O time they fulfilled the lower party of charity by works of active-life. for they were bound thereto by taking of her prelacy. & an other time they fulfilled the higher party of charity in contemplation of god & of ghostly things by prayers & meditations: & so they hadden charity to god & to her even christian. Both in affection of a soul within & also in showing of bodily deeds withouten. Other men that were only contemplative. & were free fro all Cures & prelacy. they hadden full charity to god & to her even christian but it was only in affection of her soul: & not in outward showing. & in hap so mek ylit was the more full inward. y● they might not. ne it needed not: ne it fell not for hem to show it outward. but these men y● were in prelacy & other also y● were ho●y temper●● men hadden full charity in affection within & also in working & that is properly this meddled life. Both of active & of contemplative life. & soothly for such a man that is in spiritual sovereignty as prelatis & curatis been: or in temperel sovereynte as worldly Lords & masters are. I hold this meddled life best & most behovely to hem as long as they are bounden thereto/ But to other y● are free not bounden to temperel ministracyonne to spiritual I hope that life contemplative alone if they might come thereto soothfastly were best/ most skedful. most medeful. most fair. & most worthy to hem for to use & to hold & not for to leave it wilfully for any outward working of active-life. but if it were in great need at great relieving & comforting of other men either of her bodies or of her souls. & than if need ask it at the prayer & instance of other or else at the bidding of his sovereign: I hope it be good to show it to hem in outward works of active-life for a time & in helping of her evern christian/   

¶ What life most accorded to him that this was written to. Caplm vi  
By this y● I have said a party may thou understand which is one & which is other. & which accordeth most to thy state of living & soothly as me thinketh this meddled life accordeth most to thee. sithen our Lord hath ordained & set the in the state of sovereignty of other men as mickle as it is & lent the abundance of worldly goods for to rule & sustain specially all these y● are under thy governance. & thy lordship after thy might & cunning. & also therewith thou had received grace of the mercy of our Lord for to know thyself. & ghostly desire & savour of his love I hope that this life y● is meddled is best and accordeth most to the. & that for to depart wisely thy living. for wite thou well if thou leave needful business of active-life & be reckless & taken no keep of thy worldly goods how they are spended & kept ne makest no force of thy so gettis & of thine even christian by cause of desire & will y● thou hast only to give the to ghostly occupation. weening that thou art by y● excused. If thou do so. thou dost not wisely. For what are all thy works worth whether they be bodily or gostli. but if they be done rightfully & reasonably to the worship of god & after his bidding. soothly right nought. than if thou leave y● thing that thou art bound to by the way of charity of right & reason. & wilt holy give y● to an other thing wilfully as it were to a more pleasance of god which thou art not fully bound to: thou dost not worship discretely to him. thou art busy to worship his head & his face & to array it fair & curyously. but thou leavest his body with the feet ragged & rend & takest no keep thereof & there thou worshypest him not for it is villainy & no worship a man for to be curyously arrayed upon his head with peyrles & precious stones. & all his body naked & bare as it were a beggar. right so ghostly it is no worship to god to crown his head & leave his body bare. thou shalt understand the our Lord Ihu christ: as man his head of his ghostly body which is holy church. y● members of his body are all christian men. some are arms. some are feet. & some are other members after sundry werkynges y● they usen in her living. than if y● thou be busy with all thy might for to array his head that is for to worship himself by mind of his passion & of his other works in his manhood by devotion & meditation of him & foryetyst his feet that are thy children thy servants thy tenants & all thine even crysten. & letyst hem spill for default of keeping unarrayed unkept & not tent to as they ought for to be. thou plesyst him not. thou dost no worship to him thou makest the to kiss his mouth by devotion & ghostly prayer: but thou tredest upon his feet & defoulyst hem in as much as thou wilt not tent to hem for negligence of thyself. y● which thou hast take cure of. thus thinketh me. Nevertheless if thou think that this is not sooth. for it were a fair office to worship the head of him. as for to benial day occupied in meditation of the manhood. than for to go lower to other works & make clean his feet as for to be busy both in word & indeed about the help of thine even christian. Think not so for soothly he will more the thank for the meek washing of his feet when they are right foul & stynken upon thee. than for all the precious painting & arraying that thou canst make about his head by mind of his manhood. for it is fair enough & needeth not to been arrayed of the mickle. but his feet & his other members that are sometime evil arrayed & had need to be looked & helped by the namely sithen thou art bound thereto. & therefore will he ken the more thank than if thou wilt meekly & tenderly look to 'em. for the more lower service that thou dost to thy Lord for the love of him or to any of his membres when need & right asketh it with a glad meek heart: the more plesyst thou him: thinking that it were enough to y● for to be at the lest degree & at the lowest state sithen it is his will that it be so. for it seemeth sithen he hath put the in the state for to travail serve other men: that it is well done that thou sholdee fulfil it after thy might. this ensample I say to the not for thou dost not thus as I say. for I hope that thou dost thus & better: but I would that thou shouldest do thus gladly & not think both for to leave sometime ghostly occupation & entermete that with worldly business in wise keeping & spending of thy worldly goods in good reuling of thy servants & of thy tenants & in other good works working to all thine even christian after thy might. but that thou shouldest do both works in divers times & with as good will that one as that other if thou mightest. As if thou hadst prayed & been occupied ghostly thou shalt after reteyn time/ break of that & than shalt thou bestly & gladly occupy the in some bodily occupation to thine even christian/ And also when thou hast been busy outward awhile with thy servants or which other men profitably thou shalt break of & torn again to thy prayers & thy devotions after god giveth y● grace & so shalt thou put away by grace of our Lord sloth idleness & vain rest that cometh of thy flesh under colour of contemplation & letteth the sometime fro medful & speedful occupation in outward business & thou sha●●● be aye well occupied bodily or ghostly & therefore if thou would do well thou shalt do ghostly as Jacob did bodily. holy wryt saith that Jacob when he began to serve his master laban. he coveted rachel his masters daughter to his wife for her fair head. & for her he served seven year but when he wend for to have had her to his wife: he had first lya y● other daughter 〈◊〉 stead of rachel. & afterward he took rachel & so he had both at the last. By Jacob in holy wryt is understonden an overcomer of sins. by these two wives are understand as saint gregory saith. two lives in holy church active life & contemplative life. lya is as much for to say as travailous. & betokeneth active life. Rakehell is as much to say as sight of beginning y● is god. & betokeneth life contemplative. lya bare children. but she was sore yȝed. Rakehell was fair & lovely. but she was barren. than right as Jacob coveted rachel for her fayrhed & yet had her nought when he would. but first he took lya & afterward rachel. Right so each man traveling soothfastly in compunction by grace for sins of the world & of the flesh to serve god in cleanness of good living. hath great desire to have rachel y● is for to have rest in ghostly sweetness in devotion & contemplation. for it is so fair. & so lovely. & in hope for to have y● life only he disposed him to serve our Lord with all his might/ but often when he wend to have had rachel. y● is rest in devotion: our Lord suffered him to been asayed well in tryveyle with lya. y● is either temptations of the world or else of the devil. or of his flesh. or else with other worldly business bodily or ghostly in helping of his even christian & when he is well travailed with lya & nerhonde onercome. than our Lord giveth him rachel that is grace & devotion & rest in conscience & than hath he both rachel & lya. So shall thou do after ensample of Jacob take these two lives active & contemplative sithen god hath sent the both & use y● one with y● other. By that ●o life shalt thou bring forth fruit of many good deeds in help of thine even christian: & is that by active. & by the other thou shalt be made fair bright & clean. in the sovereign brightness that is god beginner & ender of all that is made: and than shalt thou be soothfastly Jacob & overgoer & overcomer of all sins. & after this by grace of god thy name shall be changed as Jacobs' ●ame was & turned in to isrl. Israel is as much for to say as a man seeing god. them if thou be first Jacob & discreetly wilt use these two lives in time thou shalt after be isrl y● is very contemplative either in this life if he will deliver the & make the fire fro chargys' & besyness is the which thou art 〈◊〉 de to: or else after this life full in the bliss of heaven when thou comest thither. A man shall desire contemplative for it is fair & medful. Therefore thou shalt I have it in thy mind & in thy desire: but thou shalt have in using active life for it is so needful & so speedful. Therefore if thou be put fro rest in devotion when thou hadst liefer be still thereat. Either by thy children or by thy servants or by any of thine even christian for her profit or ease of her heart is skilfully asked: be not angry with hem ne heavy ne dreadful as though god would be wroth with the that thou leavest him for any other thing. for it is not so. Leave of lightly thy devotion whether it be in prayer or meditation & go do thy deed & thy service to thine even christian as lightly as our Lord himself bad the. do so & suffer meekly for his love without grudging if thou mayst or disease or troubling of thine heart by cause of meddling of such business/   

¶ That a man shall sometime have the more devotion when he hath be letted by outward werkys'/ Ca/ seven.  
FOr it may fall sometime that the more troubling y● thou hast outward with active works: the more brenning desire thou shalt have to god & the more clear sight of ghostly things by grace of our Lord in devotion when thou comest thereto. for it fareth thereby as if thou hadst a little coal and thou wouldest make a fire therewith & make it to burn. thou wouldest first lay to styckis & overhyle the coal with the styckis nevertheless when thou hast abiden a while & afterward blowest a little. a none shall spring out a great flawme of fire for the styekis are all turned to fire. Right so is ghostly thy will & thy desire that thou hast to god. it is as it were a little coal of fire in thy soul. for it giveth to the somewhat of light & of ghostly heat. but it is full little. for often it waryth cold & turneth to fleshly rest & sometime in to idleness therefore it is good that thou put to sticks that are good works of active life & though it be so that these works as it seemeth for a time let thy desire that it may not be so clean ne so fervent as thou wouldest be not to dreadful therefore but abide & suffer a while & so blow at the fire that is first go & do thy works & after go than alone to thy prays & meditations. & life up thine heart to god & pray him of his goodness that he will accept thy works that thou dost to his pleasance. Hold hem as nought in thine own sight but only at his mercy be a know meekly thy wretchedness & thy feelte & arecte soothfastly thy good deeds to him in as mickle as they are good & in as mickle as they are bad & not done discreetly with all circumstances that are needful to a good deed for default of discretion: put hem to thyself. & than for this meekness shall all thy good deeds turn in to a flame of fire. as sticks is laid upon a coal. & so shall thy good deeds outward not hinder thy devotion but rather make it more And more over our Lord saith in holy wryt thus/ Ignis in altari meo semper ardebit et sacerdos surgens mane subiciet ligna ut ignis non extynguatur/ fire shall ever burn in mine altar & the priest rising at morrow shall put under sticks that it be not quenched this fire is love & desire to god in a soul. the which loveth for to be nourished & kept by laying to the sticks that it go not out. these sticks are so dovers matters some are of o tree & some are of an other. a man that is lettered & hath understanding of holy wryt if he have this fire of devotion in his heart. it is good to him to get him sticks of holy ensamples & devout prayers & nourish the fire with hem. another man unlettered may not so readily have at his hand holy writ ne doctors saying and therefore it needeth to him for to do many good deeds outward to his even christian & kindle the fire of love with hem And so it is good that each man in his degree after that he is disposed that he get him sticks of o thing or of other. Either prayers or meditations or reading in holy wryt or good bodily works for to nourish the fire of love in his soul. that it be not quenched for the affection of love is tender & lightly will vanish away but if it be well kept. & by good deeds bodily and ghostly continually nourished. Now chanue sithen our Lord hath sent in to thine heart a little spark of this blessed fire that is himself as holy writ saith/  
¶ Dominus noster ignis consumens est/ ¶ our Lord god is fire wasting/ for as bodily fire wasteth all bodily thing that may be wasted. Right so ghostly fire that is god wastith all manner of sin. & therefore our Lord is likened to fire wasting. I pray the nourish this fire. this fire is not else but love & charity. this hath he sent in to the earth as he saith in the gospel/ Ignen veni mittere in terram & ad quid nisi ut ardeat. I am comen to send fire into the earth. & whereto but that it should burn that is god hath sent fire of love & a good desire & a great will for to please him in to man's soul. & unto this end y● & man shall know it: keep it & noryssh it & strength it/ & thereby be saved the more desire that thou hast to him & for him/ the more is the fire of love in thee. & the less that this desire is in the. the less is the fire/ the measure of this desire how mekyl it is neither in thyself or any other knowest thou not. ne no man of himself but god only y● giveth it. & therefore dispute not with thyself as though thou wouldest know how mekyl thy desire is. be busy for to desire as mickle as thou mayst/ but not for to wite the measure of desire/   

¶ What is desire to god for himself & how in cleanness of conscience is very comfort & sweetness/ Ca/ viii.  
Saint austin saith that the life of every good christian man is a contynuel desire to god. & that is of great virtue ●or it is a great crying in the ears of god the feruentlyer thou desirest. the higher thou criest the better thou prayest the wiselyer thou thinkest. & what is this desire. soothly no thing butlo thing of all this worlds bliss. of all fleshly liking in thine heart. a wonderful loving with a restful yearning of endless bliss & heavenly joy.. this thing may be called a desire to god for himself. If thou have this desire as I hope sickerly that thou hast. I pray y● keep it well & nourish it wisely. & when thou shalt pray or think make this desire beginning & ending of all thy work for to increase it. Look after none other feeling in thy bodily wits. ne seek after none other bodily sweetness neither swooning ne savouring/ ne wondfullyȝt ne angels sight ne though our Lord himself as unto thy sight would apere to the bodily charge it but a little but that all thy business be y● thou mightest feel soothfastly thy thought a loathing & a full forsaking of all manner of sin & of all manner of uncleanness with a ghostly sight of it how foul how ugly & how painful it is & that thou Mightest have a mighty desiring to virtues & to meekness & to charity & to the bliss of heaven: this thinketh me were ghostly comfort & ghostly sweetness in man's soul as for to have celennes in conscience fro wickedness of all worldly vynyte with stable troth meek hope. & full desire to god. how so ever that it be of other comfortis & swetnessis me thinketh that sweetness siker & soothfast that is feeled in cleanness of conscience by mighty forsaking & lething of all sin & with inward sight & fervent desire of ghostly things/ all other comfortis and swetnessies of any manner of feeling but if they help & lead to this end. that is to cleanness of conscience & ghostly desire of god: are not siker to rest on/ But now askest thou whether this desire be love to god: as unto this I say that this desire is not properly love. but it is a beginning & a tasting of love. for love properly is a full cowpeling of the lover & they loved together. as god & a soul in to one. this cowpeling may not be fully had in this life but only in desire & longing thereto as by this ensample. If a man love an other man which is absent: he desireth greatly his presence. Right so ghostly as long as we are in this life our Lord is absent fro us that we may neither see him ne here him ne feel him as he is: & therefore we may not have the use of this full love here in full liking. but we may have a desire & a great yearning for to be present to him for to see him in his bliss & fully for to be oned to him in love: this desire may we have of his yefte in this life. by the which we shall be safe. for it is love unto him as it may be had here. thus saint paul saith ¶ Scientes qm dum sumus in hoc corpore pegrinamur a dno per fide menim ambulamus & non pec spem. audemus & bonam voluntatem hemmus magis peregrinari a corpore & presences even add deum. & jon contendimus sive absentes sive presentes placere illi/ saint paul saith that as long as we are in this body. we are pilgrims fro our Lord that is we are absent fro heaven in this excile we go by troth not by sight. that is we live in truth not in bodily feeling. we dare & we ●●●ue a good will to be absent fro the body & be present to god. y● is we for cleanness in conscience & siker trust of salvation dare desire parting fro our body by bodily death & by present to our Lord. Nevertheless for we may not yet therefore we striven whether we be absent or present for to please him. y● is we strive ayens sins of the world & liking of the flesh by desire to him. for to bren in the fire of desire all thing that lettyth us fro him/ But yet askest thou me. may a man have this desire in his heart continually. y● thinketh nay as unto this I may say as me thinketh that this desire may be had as for virtue & profit of it in heart continually. but not in working ne using as by this ensample if thou were seek thou shouldest have as each man hath a kindly desire of bodily hele continually in thine heart what that thou diddest whether thou sleep or wake but not aye ylyke. for if thou sleep or wake & thinkest on some worldly things. than thou hast thy desire in heart only & not in working. but when thou thinkest on thy bodily sickness & on thine heel. than thou hast it in using. Right so it is ghostly of desire to god. he that hath this desire of the yeft of god if he sleep or else think not on god. but on worldly things: yet he hath this desire in heart in his soul till that he sin deadly. but anon as he thinketh on god or on cleanness of living or of joys of heaven: than worketh his desire to god as long as he keepeth his thought & his intent to please god either in prayers or in meditation or in any other good deed. that all his business be for to steer his desire & use it by discretion now in oo deed now in an other after he is disposed & hath grace thereto. this desire is root of all thy we●kynge if it be medeful. for wite thou well what good deed that thou dost for god. Bodily or ghostly. it is an using of this desire when thou prayest or thinkest doubt not than if thou desire god. & therefore when thou dost a good deed or thinkest on god: doubt not thinking in thine heart whether thou desirest or not. for thy deed showeth thy desire. Some are uncunning & ween that they desire not god but if they ever be crying on god with words of her mouth the heel. Liking ay lasting wisdom. Love. pees. Worship. sykernes. rest joy. & bliss enough ever withouten end/ the more fervently shalt thou desire the joy & the rest of that blessed life. Many men are covetous of worldly cattle & worships & earthly riches & think now dreaming now waking how & by what means they might come thereto. & therefore they foryeten the mind of henself. & the pains of hell & the joys of heaven. soothly they are not wis. they are like to children that rennen after butterflies & for they look not to their feet. they fall sometime soon down & breaken her legs: What is all the poop & the worship of this world in riches or in jollity but a butterfly. soothly no thing else. & yet mickle less. Therefore I pray the be thou covetous of the joys of heaven. & thou shalt have worship & riches that ever shall last. For at the last end when worldly covetous men bring no good in her hands for all her worships & all her richesses are turned into nought sa● sorrow & pain: than shall worldly men that forsake truly all vain worships & richesses of this world. or else if they have riches & worships they setten nought by 'em. ne they setten not her love ne liking in 'em but live ever in dread & in meekness & in hope & sometime in sorrow & abiden the mercy of god patiently they shall then have fully y● they he●e coveted. for they shall be crowned as Kings & sty up with our Lord Ihu in to the bliss of heaven/ Also there been many other meditations more than I can say which y● god putteth in to a manes mind for to stir the affection & the reason of man's soul to loath vanities of this world & for to desire the joys of heaven. these words I say not to the as I had fully showed the y● manner of meditations as they are wrought in a man's soul. but I touch hem to the a little y● thou Mightest by this have more understanding/   

¶ How a man shall do when he feeleth no savour ne comfort in his meditations/ Caplm xv.  
Nevertheless me thinketh it is good to the the when thou dysposyst the to think on god as I have before said or on otherwise & peradventure thou felyst no savour ne devotion in thy thinking but only a naked mind & a weak will: that thou wouldest fain think on god. but thou canst not than I hope it is good to the that thou strive not to mickle with thyself for thou Mightest so lightly fall it too more darkness but if thou were more sly in thy working: & therefore I hold it most siker unto y● for to say thy pater noster & thine Aue. or else thy matins or else for to read upon thy sauter. for y● severmore a syker standard that will not fail. who so may cleave thereto he shall not err. & if thou mayst by thy prayer get devotion. Look than this devotion be only in affection that is to say in great desire to god with ghostly delight. Hold forth than thy saying & break not lightly of. for often it falleth that praying with the mouth. getyth & keepeth devotion. & if a man cese of saying devotion vanisheth away/ nevertheless if devotion of prayers bring in to thine heart a devout thought of the manhood of our Lord or of any of the other before said: & this thought should be letted by thy saying than mayst thoncese of thy saying and occupy the with meditation till it pass away/   

Where of a man needeth ●o be ware in medytacon/ Caplm xvi.  
BUt of certain things the behoneth to beware in thy meditations some shall I tell thee. One is when thou hast had a ghostly thought or imagination of the manhood of our Lord or of such bodily things. & thy soul hath been comforted & fed there with. & it passeth away by themself. be not to busy to hold it still with mastery. for it is than turned to pain & to bitterness. also if it pass not away but dwell still in thy mind withouten any travail of thyself. & thou for comfort of it will not leave it. & therefore it reaveth the of thy sleep in nights. or else in days fro other good deeds. or else for great fervour of thy body: thy body or thine head falleth into great febylnes. than shalt thou wilfully break of when time cometh. sometime when thou hast most devotion & were loathest for to leaven it as when it passeth reasonable time or else it turneth to disease of thine enencrysten. But if thou do so thou dost not well as me thynkith ne wisely neither/ A worldly man or woman that feeleth not peradventure devotion twice in a year. If he feel by the grace of our Lord Ihesu great compunction for his sins. or else have mind on the passion of our Lord. If he were put fro his sleep & his rest o night or two or three until his head work. ●t is no force. for it cometh to hem but seldom. but to the or to an other man that hath the manner of working in custom as it were each other day. it is speedful for to have discretion in your working & not fully fall thereto for to follow it as mickle as will comen I hold that it is good to the to usen this manner in what devotion y● thou be that thou hang not to long thereupon either to put the fro thy meet or fro thy sleep in time or for to disease any other man unskilfully. the wise man saith thus/ oina tempus habent/ all things han time/ An other thing is this y● the behoveth to be ware of that is when thy thought hath been occupied in imagination of the manhood of our Lord or in any such other. & after this thou art busy with all the desire of thine heart for to seek knowing or feeling more ghostly of the godhead. press not to mickle thereon. ne suffer not thy desyrene thin heart tarry to long therein. as if thou were abiding after some quaint stirring or wonderful filing other than thou hast had before time/ thou shalt not do so it is enough to the & to me for to have a desire & a longing to our Lord & if he will of his grace freely over this desire send us of his ghostly light & open our ghostly eye for to know more of him than we han had before by common travail. Thank we him thereof. & if he will no● for we are not yet meek enough or else we are not disposed by cleanness of living in other sides to receive that grace. than shall we meekly know our own wretchedness & hold us paid with desire that we have to him & with other common thoughts that mow lightly fall under our imagination. as of our sins: or Christ's passion or such other. or else with prayers or of the sauter or some other. & love him with all our heart that he will give us any part of his grace/ And if thou do otherwise thou mayst lightly be beguiled by the spirit of error for thy presumption. for it is great folly a man