An Epistle of saint bernard/ called the golden epistle/ which he sent to a young religious man whom he much loved. And after the said epistle/ followeth four revelations of Saint Birget.   

The golden epistle.  
¶ An epistle of saint Bernard/ which he sent to a young religious man whom he much loved/ that is called the golden epistle.  
THat the wilderness of thy religion may wax sweet & pleasant unto thee/ and that thou shalt not be found unkind in the sight of him that was most meekly crucified for the. I counsel the that now thou hast taken it upon the thou cast it not lightly away/ lest happily an other more acceptable to god than thou/ take it and occupy thy place/ & that thou be cast out as a stinking carrion. Consider therefore how moche thou art bound to the very true lamb/ that is Christ/ which was led to be offered in sacrifice for the upon the altar of the cross/ and suffered many repreffes and most hard scourgings of them/ of whom he had such compassion that he wept tenderly upon them. Therefore that thou mayst attain to like things/ call unto thy lord Jesus with devout prayer/ beseeching him that thou mayst as a true member be onyed through good virtuous works/ to the very true heed/ that is Christ. But thou mayst not come to that point without his grace do help them/ as well before as after. For without grace all thy working shallbe unprofitable & vain/ like as he watcheth in vain that believeth to keep a city without our lord  
Therefore if thou wilt find his grace and be truly solitary/ two things be necessary to the. The first is/ that thou so withdraw thyself fro all transitory things/ that y● care no more for than than if there were none such/ and that thou set thyself at so vile a price in thine own syzt/ that thou account thyself as nought/ believing all men to be better than thou art/ and more to please god. Also what soever thou here or see of religious persons think that they do it to a good intent though it seem not so/ for man's suspicion is oft deceived/ and therefore judge the nothing in certain/ speak never any thing that may sound to thin own praise/ but labour rather to keep thy virtue secret than thy vices. In no wise speak no evil of no man how true & manifest soever it be/ and more gladly give hearing when a man is praised than when he is dispraised Also when thou speakest ●et thy words be true/ sober/ apt/ weighty/ & of god. If a secular man speak with the & ask of the many questions/ as soon as thou canst break of the tale/ and set the to those things that be of god. what worldly thing of ever be hap to the or to any other/ how dete beloved soever he be unto thee/ care not for it/ if it be prosperous and liking joy not in it/ and if it be mistyking sorrow not for it/ but think all as nought/ and laud and praise almighty god. Seek solitariness asmuch as thou can/ so that thou mayst diligently take heed of thine own ghostly health. Fly talking & vain iangeling as much as thou mayst/ for it is more sure way to keep silence than to speak. After compline speak not till mass be done on the day following/ but it be for a great cause. when thou seest any thing that dyspleseth thee/ consider whether there be not like thing in the that displeaseth other/ & if there be cut it lightly away. And if thou see or here any thing that pleaseth thee/ consider whether it be in thee/ & if it be hold it warly/ and if it be not take it to thee/ and so it shallbe to the as a glass to look upon. Grudge at nothing toward no man/ but when thou belenest it may profynte his soul health/ how grievous so ever it be to thee/ never afterme nor deny any thing hedily/ but let thy denyenges & affirminges be always tempered with discretion Absteyn thyself always fro all mockinges and fro all dissolute laughinges/ In all thy sayings behave the so that thou have a certainty of all thy dedis and words that they be true/ & those that be doubtful/ let them go as things that be evil. The second that is necessary to the is/ that y● shalt so fully offer thyself to god/ that thou shalt say nothing nor do nothing/ but that thou believest verily will please him/ and take heed of thy service with great devotion/ so that/ that thou sayest with thy mouth be also in thy heart. Have these three things always in thy mind/ what y● hast been/ what thou art and what thou shalt be. what thou hast been/ stinking corruption. what thou art/ a vessel full of dung. what thou shalt be/ meat for worms. Also think on the pains of them that be in hell/ and that they shall never be ended. And that for a little delectation in this world they suffer though pains. And like wise think on the glory of the kingdom of heaven the which shall never have end/ & that lightly and in short time it may be won. And than remember how great sorrow and wailing shall be to them that have lost so great a glori for so little a thing Also when thou hast any thing that displeaseth the or grieveth thee/ think that if thou shalt come to hell thou shalt have always that dysplesur and all other also that y● most dredest/ when any principal feast cometh/ think on that saint that than is worshipped in the church of god/ what things he suffered for Christ for they were but short/ & what he wan thereby for they be everlasting. think also that as well the torments of good men as the joys of evil men in this world be past & gone/ & that nevertheless good men by their torments have received eternal glory/ and evil men by their short worldly joy eternal pain/ & though thou be never so slothful/ yet take this little writing & remember & imagine all these things diligently that I have said/ & at the lest bethink the on the time that thou thus lesest/ & that they that be in hell would give all the world for it. when thou hast any tribulations/ think that they that be in heaven want them/ & that they that be in hell have many more. Every day at the lest when thou goest to bed/ cramyn diligently what thou hast thought the day before/ what y● hast done/ & what thou hast said/ & how thou hast spent the precious time that was given thee/ to win therein the kingdom of heaven. And if thou hast passed it well/ thank god & laud him for it/ & if thou hast spend it evil & negligently be sori for it & defer not the next day to be confessed/ than I put this in the end/ to th'intent that thou shalt diligently imagine as it were two cities afore thee/ one full of all torments as hell is/ the other full of all consolation as is the kingdom of heaven/ & that it behoveth the of necessity to enter & come in to the one of them behold than what mixed draw the against thy will to the evil city/ and what mixed let the fro the good city/ & I trow that thou shalt find nothing that might do it (if thou wouldest with all thine heat turn the to god/ & putting away all negligence/ wouldest meekly call to him for grace & merci) the which he that is most blessed above all vouchsafe to grant unto us. Amen.   

¶ That nothing pleaseth god so much as that he be beloved above all thing/ as our lady showeth to saint Byrget by example of a pagan woman/ which obtained great grace for the great love she had to her creator/ as it appeareth in the vi book of saint Birgettes revelations/ the l. chapiter.  
THe mother of god our lady saint Mary speaketh to the spouse of her son saint Birgit/ saying thus. Nothing so much pleaseth god/ as that a man love him above all thing/ as I shall show to the by a similitude of a pagan woman/ which knowing nothing of the faith thouzt to herself thus. I know said she/ of what matter I am come in to this world/ & of what things I came in to my mother's womb. And I believe that it had been impossible that I should have had my body so knit together as it is/ and my reason & understanding/ but they had be given unto me/ and therefore I know well there is some creature & maker of me/ that hath made me a reasonable creature/ not deformed me like to worms or serpents. wherefore me thinketh that though I had many husbands & all they called me/ I would rather come at one calling of my creator/ than at the calling of them all. I have also many sons & many daughters/ and never the less if I saw them have meet in their hands/ & I knew my creator to want meat/ I would take the meat fro my children and would gladly give it to my creator/ I have also many possessions which I order after mine own will/ and nevertheless if I knew the will of my creator/ I would gladly leave mine own will & dispose them to his honour. But my daughter/ se what god did with this pagan woman. He sent unto her one of his elect servants that instructed her in the faith/ & god himself visited her heart/ as thou mayst well know & understand hereafter by the answer of the woman. For when that man showed unto her that there was one god without beginning and without ending/ that is the creator & maker of all things/ she answered & said. It is well to be believed that he that hath created me/ & all things/ that he hath no traitor above him/ & it is like that his life is everlasting that mixed gyne me life. And when the woman herd farther that the same creator took manhood of a virgin/ & that he preached in this world & tauzt the people in his own person/ she answered. It is to believe god in every thing and than she said further. I pray the show me what be the words that my creator did speak & command/ for I will wholly leave mine own will & fully obey to him/ & to every word that he hath spoken. Than when he declared unto her of the passion of our lord of his cross/ his death/ & of his resurrection/ The woman with great weeping answered & said. Blessed be my creator that so patiently showeth his charity in the world/ that be hath to us in heaven. And therefore if I loved hinfyrste because he created me/ I am now more bound to love him/ because he hath showed me the straight way to heaven & hath redeemed me with his precious blood/ & I am bound therefore to serve him with all my strength and all the parts of my body/ and I am bound also to remove all my desire fro me that I had first to my possessions & to my children & kinsmen/ & only to desire to see my creator in his glory that never shall have end Than said our blessed lady to saint Birget. Lo daughter. How great reward that woman had for her great love. So is daily given great reward to every man after the love that he hath to god while he liveth in this world.   

¶ Our lord Jesus Christ giveth to his spouse saint Birget a notable doctrine of the lives active & contemplative/ which he notably signified by Martha & Mary magdalen/ that is to say how a man shall begin & profit in the life spiritual & in grace & virtue that he may finally ascend to the high degree of the love of god & of his neighbour/ which doctrine appeareth in the vi book of the reverlations of saint Byrget/ the .lxv. chapter.  
THe son of god speaketh to his spouse saint Byrget/ saying thus. There be two lives which be likened to Martha & Mary Magdaleyne/ and who so ever will follow tho two lives/ must first make pure confession of all his sins/ taking very contrition for them/ having full will never after to offend. And the first life/ as I do witness myself in my gospel/ Marry magdalen did choose which leadeth a man to contemplation/ that is to say to the beholding of heavenly things/ and that is the best part & is the very way of the life everlasting. Therefore every man that coveteth to follow the life of Mary/ that is to say/ the life contemplative/ It sufficeth to him to have only the necessaris for the body/ that is to say clothing without vanity/ meet and drink in scarcity/ and not in superfluity. chastity without any evil delectation/ fasting & abstinence after the ordinance of the church/ and he that fasteth must take heed the he be not overmuch enfeebled & made week by his unreasonable fasting/ lest thorough that weakness he be enforced to lose his prayers & his counsel giving/ or other good dedis wherewith he might both profit himself and his neighbour also. And he must also diligently take heed that he be not through his fasting the more slow to justice nor more slacker to the works of mercy/ for why/ to punissh rebels & to bring infidels under the yoke of the faith is required great strength as well of body as of soul. Therefore every sick person that would rather to the honour of god fast than eat/ shall have like reward for his good will as he that fasteth of charity. And in like wise he that for obedience eateth/ desiring rather to fast than to eat/ shall have like reward as he that fasteth. second the contemplative man shall not joy of the honour of the world nor of the prosperity thereof/ ne sorrow for his adversity/ but he shall joy specially in this/ the wicked men be become devout men/ that lovers of the world be become lovers of god/ & that good men profit in goodness/ and be through good labour & diligence in the service of god made daily more devout than other. Of this also the contemplative man shall sorrow/ that sinners be made daily worse & worse/ that almighty god is not beloved of his creatures as he ought to be/ and that the commandments of god be despised and set at nought. Thirdly the contemplative man may not be idle/ ne no more may he that useth the active life/ but anon when he hath taken his necessary sleep/ he shall rise and thank almighty god with all his heart/ for that he hath created & made all things/ and that of his charity by taking out nature he hath reform and renewed man kind/ showing by his passion and death the love that he hath to man/ which is so great that none can be greater. Also the contemplative man shall thank almighty god for all them that be saved/ & for all them that be in purgatory/ and for them that yet be living in the world/ praying meekly for them unto our lord that he suffered them not to be tempted above their power. The contemplative man also must be discrete in his prayers/ and be well ordered in his laudes and praisings of god/ for if he have sufficient to live with/ with out labour or business he must make the longer prayers. And if he be weary and temptation rise in his prayers/ he may labour with his hands some honest and profitable work/ either for himself/ if he have need or for other. And if he be in manner irksome with both/ that is to say with prayer and labour/ that he may have some other honest occupation or here some good wholesome words or profitable counsels/ in all soberness/ all scurrilytic and unclean words set a part till the body and soul be made more apt/ and more able to the service of god. And if the contemplative man have not sufficient to live withal but through his labour than may he make the shorter prayers for his necessari labour/ and that labour shall be the perfection and increasing of his prayer/ and if he can not labour nor may not/ than let him not be a shamed/ ne think it not grievous to beg/ but rather that he be joyous for it/ for than he followeth me the son of god/ that made myself poor to make man rich/ and if the contemplative man be under obedyeuce/ than he must live after the obedience of his prelate and his reward shall be double/ more than if he were at liberty. Fourthly the contemplative man may not be covetous/ no more may the active man/ nor he may not be prodigal/ for as the active man distrybuteth temporal gods for god so the contemplative man must distribute his spiritual goods. Moreover if the contemplative man will have almighty god inwardly in his heart/ let him be ware to say thus as many do. It sufficeth to me if I can save mine own soul/ for if I can do so/ what have I to do with the dedis of other men/ or if I be good myself/ what is it to me how other live. O my daughter/ they that say or think so/ if they saw their friend dyshonested and troubled/ they should run with all their power to the death/ that their friend might be delivered out of his trouble/ so shall the contemplative man do/ he must sorrow that almighty god is offended that his brother which is his neighbour hath occasion to offend. And if any fall in to sin/ the contemplative man shall endeavour him all that he can to help him out of his sin with all discretion. And if he have trouble or persecution for it/ set him leave that place and seek another place that is more quiet. For I myself that am very god/ said to my disciples thus. If they persecute you in ove city fly ye in to another: and so did Paul/ the which because he should be more necessary another time/ was let go by a wall in a basket. Therefore that the contemplative man may be liberal & piteous/ there be .v. things necessary to him. The first is a house/ in the which his guests may sleep. The second is clothing to cloth the naked. The third is meat to feed the hungry. The fourth is fire to warm them that be cold. The fifth is medisyns for them that be sick/ that is to say good comfortable words with the charity of god. The house of the contemplative man is his heart/ whereof the cuyl guests be all though things that trouble his heart/ that is to say/ wrath/ heaviness/ covetise/ pride/ and many other like. Therefore all though vices when the come/ they shall in manner lie as guests that be a sleep/ and as they that be at rest. For as an host receiveth evil guests & good with patience/ so the contemplative man must suffer all things for god through virtue of patience/ and in no wise to consent to vices/ not to them that seem least/ ne to delight in them/ but as moche as he may be little and little through the help of grace/ to remove them clearly out of the heart. And if he can not clearly remove them/ he must suffer them patiently against his will as enemies / and never to assent to them knowing certainly that they shall profit him to the greater reward in heaven & not to damnation. second the contemplative man must have clothes to cloth his guests/ that is to say meekness/ both inward and outward/ and compassion of mind for the affliction of his neighbour. And if the contemplative man be despised of the world/ let him think how I the god almighty being contemned and despised suffered patiently/ and when I was judged I held my peace/ and when I was scourged & crowned with thorns I murmured not. The contemplative man also must take heed that he show not to them that reprove him or rebuke him any signs of anger or impatience/ but that he bless them that persecute him/ that they that see it may bless god whom the contemplative man doth follow/ and almighty god shall give blessings for the maledictions. The contemplative man must be ware also that he do not speak evil of them nor rebuke them that do grieve him/ for it is damnable to backbite other and wilfully to hear them that do bachyte or through impatience to reprove or rebuke his neighbour. Than that the contemplative man may have perfitly the gift of meekness and patience/ he must study to admonish and warn them that do bachyte other/ of the great peril that they stand in/ and that he exhort them in all charity with words and with examples to perfit meekness. Also the clothing of the contemplative man must be compassion/ for if he see his neighbour do any sin/ he must have compassion of him/ praying to almighty god to have mercy upon him. And if he see him suffer any wrong or hurt or reprove/ he must be sori for him/ and help him with his prayers/ and with his aid and diligence and that if need be/ before the great men of the world/ for the true perfit contrition seeketh not that is his/ but that is his neighbours. And if the contemplative man be such one that he is not herd with princes/ and that it profiteth not that he go out of his cell. Than be shall pray heartily for them that be in trouble/ and almighty god that is the beholder of man's heart/ for the charytic of him that prayeth/ shall turn the hearts of the people to peace and quietness of him that is in trouble/ so that he shall either be delivered out of his trouble/ or he shall have patience sent him of god to suffer it/ and so his reward shallbe doubled. Therefore such clothing/ that is to say meekness and compassion must be in the heart of the contemplative man for nothing so mightily draweth god in to the heart/ as meekness and compassion of the neighbour doth. Thirdly the contemplative man must have meet and drink for his guests/ for sometime evil guests do lodge in the heart of the contemplative man that is to say/ when the heart is drawn fro be holding of itself/ and coveteth things delectable/ to see worldly things/ to have possession of temporal goods. And when the ears desire to here his own honour/ the flesh desireth to delight in carnal things/ the spirit layeth excuse of his frailness/ and that sin is but light/ and when there cometh a painfulness and a hardness to do good beads/ and a forgetfulness of things to come. And when he thinketh his good deeds great/ and forgetteth his evil deeds. Against all such guests it is necessary for the contemplative man to have good counsel/ and not to dissemble as though he were a sleep/ but that he armed strongly with true faith/ answer to such guests/ saying thus. I will have nothing of thtemporal goods/ but barcly for the sustaining of my bodily kind/ and I will not spend no hour nor time/ but to the honour of god/ nor I will not take heed what is fair or foul in the world/ ne what is pleasant or displeasant to the flesh/ or savoury or not savoury to the mouth/ but to the pleasure of god and health of my soul/ for I would not live one hour but to the honour of god. Such a will is meat and drink for the guests that come/ and that answer extincteth and putteth away all inordinate delights and pleasures of the world and of the flesh.  
Fourthly the contemplative man must have fire to warm his guests and to give them light/ this fire is the heat of the holy ghost/ it is impossible any man to leave his own will/ or to forsake the carnal love of his friends or the love of richesse but through the instynte and here of the holy ghost. Also the coutemplatyve man/ how holy and perfit so ever he be/ may not of himself begin nor continue in good life with out help of grace in the holy ghost. Therefore that the contemplative man may set a light before his guests/ first let him think thus: Almighty god hath created me/ that I should honour him above all things/ And in honouring him/ that I should love him & dread him/ and he was borne of a virgin/ to teach me the way to heaven/ and that I should follow that way in all meekness. And with his death he opened the yates of heaven/ that I should with great desire hast me thither. Also the contemplative man must examine diligently all his deeds/ all his thought and all his affections/ that is to say how he hath offended god/ and how patiently god suffereth man/ and how many ways he calleth man unto him such thoughts and such gh●stes of the contemplative man/ be in manner but as they were a sleep/ but they be illuminate with the fire of the holy ghost: the which fire than cometh in to the heart/ when the contemplative man thinketh how reasonable it is to serve god/ and when he thinketh that he had liefer suffer all pain/ than wittingly to provoke god to wrath/ by whose goodness his soul is create and made/ and is also redeemed with his precious blood. Than also the heart hath here of this heavenly fire/ that is the holy ghost/ when the soul thinketh & discerneth to what intent every guest/ that is to say/ every thought cometh. And whether it move the mind to covet joy perpetual or transitory/ and that he leave no thought undiscussed ne uncorrected with dread of god. Therefore that this fire may be gotten/ & when it is gotten that it may be safely kept. The contemplative man must lay to dry sticks/ that is to say he must diligently take heed of the motions of the flesh/ that it rebel not against the spirit. And he must put to all his diligence that the works of pity and good prayers may be devoutly increased/ wherewith the holy ghost may have delight/ but he must specially know and consider that where a fire is made in a close vessel that hath no avoidance/ anon the fire goth out and the vessel waxeth cold. So it is with the contemplative man/ if he would not live to no thing else but that he might do honour to god/ it is expedient that his mouth be opened/ & that the flame of his charity go forth. Than is the mouth opened when by his speaking which proceedeth of fervent charity he getteth spiritual children to god but the contemplative man must take good heed that he open his mouth to preach/ where good men shallbe made more fervent/ and where evil men may be a mended/ where right wiseness may be increased/ & evil customs may be put away: For the apostle Paul sometime would have spoken but the holy ghost did prohibit him/ and so sometime he held his peace/ and when time convenient came/ he speak/ and sometime he used soft words/ and another time more sharper words/ and always he ordered his words to the honour and glory of god/ and to the comfoting and strengthuing of the faith. And if the contemplative man may not preach/ but he hath good will and cunning to preach and lacketh good hearers/ he must do as the fore doth/ the which goth about many mountains and searcheth with his feet in many places/ and where he findeth the softest place and most apt for him there he maketh a den to rest him in. So the contemplative man must assay with words/ with examples/ and with good prayers/ the hearts of many people/ and where he findeth the hearts most apt to here the words of god/ theridamas he must tarry in counselling and in inducing the people to god all that he can. The contemplative man also must labour all that he can/ that convenient avoidance may be had for his flame/ for the greater that the flame is/ the more be illumined and made hot thereby. Than hath the flame convenient avoidance/ when the contemplative man neither dreadeth rebukes/ ne coveteth not his own praise/ when he neither dreadeth adversities/ ne delighteth him not in prosperities/ and than it is more pleasure to god that he do his good deeds openly than privily/ that they that see them may glorify god. And it is to understand/ that the contemplative man must put forth two flames/ one secretly/ another openly/ that is to say/ he must have a double meekness. The first must be with in forth in the hertis the second must be withoutforth to the world. The first is/ that the contemplative man think himself unworthy & unprofitable to all good works/ & that he prefer not himself in his own sight above no man/ ne that he covet not to be lauded nor to be scene in the world/ that he sly pride/ & desire god above all thing/ following his words & his techiges. And if the contemplative man put forth such a flame with good works/ than his heart shallbe illumined with charity/ and all the contrarious things that come to him shall lightly be suffered and overcome. The second flame must be openly/ for if perfit makenesse be in the heart/ it must also appear in his apparel without forth and be herd in his words/ and be performed in his deeds. True meekness is in th● apparel when the contemplative man concyteth, more to have clothing of small price/ which is profitable/ than clothing of greater value/ wherhy he may fall in to pride/ & in to a desire to be seen in the world/ for that apparel that is little worth/ & is called in the world vile and abject/ is very fair and precious before god/ for it provoketh meekness. And that apparel that is of great price and is called fair in the world/ is very foul and unsemly before god/ for it taketh away the fairness of angels/ that is to say meekness. But yet if the contemplative man for any reasonable cause be constrained to have an habit somewhat better than he would/ let him not be troubled therefore/ for his reward shall thereby be increased. Also the contemplative man must have meekness in his mouth/ that is to say in speaking meek things/ eschewing all ribaldry and superfluity of words/ not speaking subtly ne disceytfully/ ne preferring his sentence before other. And 〈◊〉 the contemplative man here himself praised for any good deeds/ let him not be lift up in his heart therefore/ but that he answer thus. All laud and honour be to god that giveth all things, what am I but dust in the wind/ or what goodness cometh of me/ that am nought else but as dry earth without water? And if he be reproved in the world/ let him not be moved there with/ but that he answer thus. I am worthy all this and moche more/ for I have so oft offended god/ and have not made amends therefore again. Therefore pray ye for me that by suffering of such temporal reproves/ I may escape the shames and reproves everlasting. And if the contemplative man be provoked to anger or wrath/ by the unskylfulnes of his neighbours/ let him be well aware & take good heed that he answer not undiscreetly/ for commonly pride followeth anger & wrath. Therefore it is good counsel that when anger or pride come/ that he hold his peace so long time/ till the will may ask help of god to suffer/ and to take good advisement/ how & what to answer/ that he may first overcome himself/ and thā●he wrath shall be abated in the heart/ so that he may answer wisely to them that be unwise. Thou shalt know also that the devil hath great envy to a contemplative man/ and if he can not hinder him by breaking of the commandments of god/ than he will stir him to be either lightly moved with wrath/ or to be disposed to some vain & undiscrete mirth/ or else to have some vain & unprofitable words. Therefore the contemplative man must always ask help of god/ that all his words & deeds be governed by him/ & be wholly directed unto him. Also the contemplative man must have meekness in all his works/ that is to say/ that he do no thing for worldly praise/ ne that he attempt no new thing of himself and that he be not a shamed of no work how vile so ever it be/ so that he may thereby please god/ that he fly singularyte/ that he do good to all that he can/ and in every good deed that he doth/ think that he might have do better Also he must choose to sit rather with poor men than with rich/ rather to obey than to command/ to keep silence rather than to speak/ to be solitary than to be with mighty men or with his worldly friends. Also the contemplative man must hate his own will/ oft remember his death/ fly curiosity/ all murmuring and grudging/ alway remember the rightwiseness of god/ and take heed of his own affections. Also the contemplatyne man must oft use confession/ be slable and diligent in his temptation's 〈◊〉 to desire to live/ to none other intent/ but that the honour of god & health of souls may be increased. Than if the contemplative man that hath such affections and such de●y●es/ as is said before/ be chosen in to the office of an sletyve man/ and of obedience & charity to god/ he taketh upon him the rule of other he shall have a double reward/ as it may appear by this similitude  
There was a mighty man that had a ship charged with precious merchandises/ which said to his servants thus. Go ye with this ship to such a port/ for there I shall have right great increase/ if the wind rise labour manfully and irk not at it/ for your reward shallbe great.  
After as the servant sailed/ a great wind rose/ the storms were great and the ship was tossed & broken grievously. Than the governor of the ship were weary & slow/ and all that were in the ship despaired of their lives/ & agreed to go to some other port/ whither as the wind would drive them/ & not to that port that their lord had appointed them to. And that hearing/ one of the most faithful servants & most fervent/ sorrowing through a great zeal and love that he had to his lord/ took upon him the governance of the ship/ and with strength brought the ship to the port that the lord assigned them to go to. Is not that man that so manfully brought the ship to the port/ worthy to have greater reward/ than any of his fellows? yes truly. So it is of a good ruler that for the love of god and health of souls/ taketh upon him the charge of governance of other/ and careth not for the honour/ & truly he shall have a double reward. First he shall be part taker of the good deeds of all them that he bringeth to the safe port second his glory shallbe increased without end. And contrariwise it shall be of them that come to honour & prelacy by their ambition/ for they shallbe part takers of all the pains and offences of all them/ that they took upon them to rule. second their confusion shall never have end for prelate's that covet honours/ he more like to strumpets than to prelate's/ for they deceive their subjects by their evil examples and their evil words/ and be not worthy to be called neither Contemplaryve men/ nor active men/ but they amend and do due pevaunce. fifthly the contemplative man must give medicyns to his guests/ that is to say/ he must comfort them with good words/ and to all things that come liking or misliking/ pleasant or displeasant/ he must say thus. I will every thing that it pleaseth our lord that I should will/ though I should go to hell. And truly such a will is a medicine to all things that come to the heart/ & is a delight in all troubles that come/ and a great temperance in all prosperity. But because the contemplative man hath many enemies/ therefore he must oft make confession/ for as long as he wilfully abideth in sin/ having time and opportunity to be confessed/ and is negligent or hebeth it not/ he is rather to be called an Apostata before god/ than a contemplative man. The active life. Also of the deeds of a man that liveth in the active life. Thou shalt understand that though the part of the contemplative man be best/ that yet the part of the active man is not evil/ but it is very laudable and much pleasant to god/ therefore I shall show the now how the active man must order himself. He must have as the contemplative man hath/ five things. The first is true faith of holy church. The second is that he know the commandments of god/ and the counsels of the evangelical truth/ and them he must perform/ in will/ word/ and deed. Thirdly he must refrain his tongue fro all evil words/ that are against god and his neighbour/ and his hands fro all unhonest and uniaufull deeds. And his mind fro overmuch desire of worldly goods/ & fro overgret delight of worldly pleasures and 〈◊〉 to be content with that god hath sent him and to desire no superfluous things. Fourthly he shall do the deeds of mercy reasonably in all meekness/ so that for trust of the good deeds/ he in nothing offend god. Fystly he must love god above all things/ & that more than himself as Martha did/ for she gave herself gladly to me/ folowyngeiny words & deeds/ and afterward she gave all her goods for my love/ and loathed all temporal things desiring only things everlasting/ & therefore she sustained all things patiently as they came/ and cared as well for the health of other as of herself/ thinking always of my charity and on my passion/ and she was glad in troubles/ merry in adversities/ & loved all people as a mother her child. She would also oft follow me/ when I was in the world desiring nothing but to hear me. She also had compassion of them that were in trouble. She comforted them that were in heaviness/ relieved them that were sick/ she cursed no man ne said evil to no man/ but dissimuled the evil manners of her neighbours all that she might/ & prayed alway for them. Therefore every man that desireth to live charitably in the active life/ must follow Martha/ loving his neighbour/ to the end that he may come to heaven/ but not to favour his sin or evil life/ flying his own praise/ and pride/ & doubleness of heart/ and wrath and envy he may not follow. But thou shalt understand/ that when Martha prayed for her brother Lazar that was deed she came first to me/ but her brother was not raised forthwith upon her coming/ but afterward Mary was called/ and when she came/ than at the prayer of them both together/ their brother was raised fro death. So it is spiritually/ for he that desireth perfitly to come to the life contemplative/ must first exercise himself well in the active life/ labouring all that he may to the honour of god in good bodily labours. And learn first to resist all fleshly desires/ & to with stand mightily the fiends temptations/ and than he may afterward with good deliberation ascend to the higher degree/ that is to say/ to the life contemplative/ for he that is not proved & well assayed with temptations/ and hath not yet fully over come the evil motions of the flesh/ may not wholly set himself to heavenly things. But who is the dead brother of thactive man/ and of the contemplative man/ but their undiscrete deeds/ for many times a good deed is done with an undiscrete intent and of an unpleasant mind/ and therefore it is but as it were deed wherefore that a good deed may be acceptable to god/ it is raised again and cometh to life by the active m● and by the contemplative man/ that is to say/ when the neighbour is purely loved for god & to god/ & god is only desired for himself above all things. And than every good deed of man or woman is pleasant to god. Therefore I said in my gospel/ that mary had chosen the better part. The life of the active man is good/ when he sorroweth for the sinews of his neighbours/ but his part is better when he laboureth all that he may that his neighbours may do well & persever well unto the end/ & that he do all that he doth for the love of god. But the part of the contemplative man is best/ when he only beholdeth heavenly things & the health of souls. when the mind is fulfilled with good affections/ and when he is well at rest fro the clamorous noise of worldly business/ and thinketh always god present unto him/ & setteth his meditations fully in the love of god/ and laboureth fruitfully therein both day and night.   

¶ Christ saith/ that the devotion of thinfidels in time to come/ shall be much more than the devotion of the christian men/ and they shall all sing joy be to the father/ to the son/ & to the holy ghost/ and honour to all his 〈◊〉. Amen. The vi book of the revelations of saint Birgette the 〈◊〉. chapiter.  
THe son of god speaketh to his spouse saint Birget/ saying. Thou shalt know that yet there shall be so moche devoryon in the infidels/ that christian men shall be as there spiritual servants/ & scripture shall be fulfilled that saith. The people 〈◊〉 understanding shall glorify me/ and deserts shall be builded again and they shall sing all/ joy be to the father/ and to the son/ and to the holy ghost/ and honour to all his saints. Amen.   

¶ What things be necessary to him that desireth to beset the lands of the infidels, The vi book of the revelations of saint Birget/ the xli chapiter in th'end of the chapiter.  
THe soon of god speaketh to saint Birgette/ and saith. He that desireth to visit the lands of the infydyles/ ought to have .v. things. The first is/ that he discharge his conscience with true confession & contrition/ as though he should forthwith die. second that he put away all lightness of manners & of apparel/ not taking heed to new customs & vanities/ but to such laudable customs as his ancestors have used before tyme. thirdly/ that he have no temporal thing but for necessity & to the honour of god/ and if he know any thing unrightwysely gotten/ either by himself or by his ancestors that he restore it/ whether it be little or great. Fourthly that he labour/ to the intent that the unfaithful men may come to the true catholical faith/ not desiring their goods ne cattles/ or any other thing/ but to the only necessity of the body. fifthly that he have full will gladly to die for the honour of god/ & so to dispose himself in laudable conversation/ that he may deserve to come to a good and a blessed ending. Amen.  
¶ Here after followeth the .lxv. chapter of the first book of Scala Perfectionis.   

¶ That it is a great mastery to love men's persons/ & wisely hate their sins. Cap. lxv.  
IT is no mastery for to wake & fast till thine heed ache ne for to reune to Rome/ and to Iherusalem upon thy bare feet/ ne for to start about & preach/ as if thou wouldest turn all men by thy preaching. Ne it is no mastery for to make churches/ chapels/ and hospitals. But it is a mastery a man to love his evenchristen in charity/ and wisely hate the sin of him and love the man. For though it be so that all these dedis afore said are good in themself/ nevertheless they are comen to good men & to bad. For each man might do them if that he would and had whereof. And for to do that each man may do/ I hold it no mastery. But for to love his even christian in charity & hate his sin/ may no man it do but only good men which have it of the gift of god/ and not of their travail: as saint Paul saith. Ro. v. Caritas dei diffusa est in cordibus vestris ꝑ spiritum sanctum qui datus est vobis. Love & charity is shed & spread in your hearts by the holy ghost/ which is given to you. And therefore it is the more precious and the more dainty for to come by. All other good deeds withouten charity make not a man good ne worthithe bliss of heaven/ but this alone/ and only this/ maketh a man good and all his good deeds meedful. All other gifts of god & works of man are comen to good and to bad/ to chosen & to reproved. But this gift of charity is only of god and of chosen souls.  
Finis.   

¶ Printed of London by Thomas Godfray. Cum privilegis Regali.