¶ A book newly translated out of Latyn in to english/ called The following of Christ, with the Golden epistle of saint Barnard.  
  

The introductyon.  
HEre after followeth a book called in latin (Imitacio Christi that is to say in english/ The following of Christ/ wherein be contained four little books/ which book as some men affirm was first made & compiled in ●atyn by the famous clerk master johan Gerson Chancellor of Paris. And the said four books he now of late newly translated in to english in such manner as here after appeareth/ & though iii of the first books of the said iiii. books have been before this time right well & devoutly translated in to english by a famous clerk called master William Atkynson which was a doctor of divinity. yet for as much as the said translator for some cause him moving in divers places lift out moche part of some of the chapters/ & sometime varied fro the letter as in the iii chapiter & in the xviii & xix chapiter of the first book/ & also in divers other chapitres of the said iii books will appear to them that will examine the latin & the said first translation to guider/ therefore the said iii books be eftsoons translated in to english in such manner as here after followeth/ to the intent that they that list may at their pleasure be occupied with the one/ or with the other after as their devotion shall stir than to when they have seen them both. And after the said iii books followeth the four book which was first translated out of French in to english by the right noble & excellent princes Margarete late countess of Richemount & De●by mother unto the noble prince of blessed memory king Henry the vii father unto our sovereign lord the king that now is king Henry the viii And for as much as it was translated by the said noble princess out of french it could not follow the latin so nigh ne so directly as if it had been translated out of latin. And therefore it is now translated also out of latin/ & yet nevertheless it keepeth the substance & the effect of the first translation out of french though sometime it vary in words as to the readers will appear. And in the later end after the four book is a short & devout moral doctrine which is called the spiritual glass of the soul. And it is right good and profitable to every person oft times to look upon it.  
¶ Here endeth the introduction And here after followeth the imitation of Christ.   



¶ Of the imitation or following of christ/ and of the despising of all vanities of the world. The first chapiter.  
HE that followeth me saith Christ our saviour walketh not in darkness/ but he shall have the light of life/ these be the words of our lord jesus Christ: whereby we be admonished and warned that we shall follow his teachings and his manner of living: if we will truly be illumined and be delivered from all blindness of heart. Let all the study of our heart be therefore from henceforth to have our meditation wholly fired in the life/ & in the holy teaching of jesus christ: for his teachings are of more virtue & of more ghostly strength than are the teaching of all angels and saints. And he that through grace might have the inner eye of his soul/ opened in to the soothfast beholding of the gospels of Christ/ should find in them (Mamna) that is to say spiritual food of the soul. But it is often times seen that some people which oft here the gospels of Criste: have little sweetness therein/ & that is for they have not the spirit of Christ. Wherefore: if we will have the true understanding of Cristes' gospels we must study to conform our life to his life as nigh as we can. What availeth it a man to reason high secret mysteries of the trinity if he lack meekness whereby he displeaseth the trinity: truly nothing/ for high curious reasons make not the man holy nor right wise. But a good life maketh him beloved with god/ I had liefer feel compunction of heart for my sins/ than only to know the definition of compunction. If thou couldst all the Bible with out the book▪ and also sayings of all Philosophers by heart what should it profit the without grace & charity. All that is in this world is vanity: but to love god & only to serve him. This is the most noble and the most excellent wisdom that may be in any creature/ by despising of this world/ to draw daily nearer & nearer to the kingdom of heaven. It is therefore a great vain/ to labour mordinatly/ for wordly riches that shortly shall perish & to covet honour/ or any other inordynate pleasures or fleshly delights in this life whereby a man after this life shall be sore & grievously punished. How great a vanity is it also to desire a long life & little to care for a good life/ to hide things present: and not to provide for things that are to come/ to leave things that shortly shall pass away/ & not to haste thither where is joy everlasting. Also have this common proverb oft in thy mind that the eye is not satisfied ne fully pleased with the sight of any bodily thing/ ne the ear with hearing. And therefore study to withdraw the love of thy soul from all things that been visible and turn it to things that be invisible. For they that follow their sensuality hurt their own conscience/ and lose the grace of god.   

❧: Against vain secular cunning and of a meek knowing of ourself. The ii chapter.  
EVery man naturally desireth to know: but what avail the knowledge without the dread of god. A meek Husbandman that serveth god is more acceptable to him/ than is a curious Philosopher which considering the course of heaven/ wilfully forgetteth himself: he that well knoweth himself is vile and object in his own sight and hath no delight in the vain praisings of man/ if I knew all things that be in this world without charity/ what should it avail me before god that iugethe every man after his deeds/ let us therefore c●sse fro the desire of such vain knowledge/ for oftentimes is found therein great distraction and deceit of the enemy whereby the soul is much hindrede and let from the perfit and true love of god. They that have great cunning desire commonly to be seen and to be beholden wise in the world/ and there be many things that the knowing of them bring but little profit and little ●rute to the soul/ and he is very unwise that taketh heed to any other thing than to that/ that shall profit him to the health of his soul words feed not the soul/ but a good life refresheth the mind/ and a clean conscience bringeth a man to a farm and a stable trust in god. The more cunning thou haste/ if thou live not thereafter/ the more grievously shalt thou therefore be judged for the misusing thereof. Therefore rise not thyself in to pride for any craft or cunning that is given unto the but have therefore the more fear & dread in thy heart/ for certain it is that thou must hereafter yield therefore the straiter account/ if thou think that thou knowest many things and haste great cunning/ yet know it for certain that there be many more things that thou knowest not. And so thou mayst not ryghtwysely think thyself cunning/ but oughtest rather to confess thine ignorance & uncunning: why wilt thou prefer thyself in cunning before other/ sith thereby many other more excellent & more cunning than thou/ and better learned in the law? if thou wilt any thing learn and know profytablye to the health of thy soul/ learn to be unknown & be glade to be holden vile & nought and uncunning as thou art. The most high and the most profitable cunning is this. A man to have a soothfast knowledge/ and a full despising of himself. Also a man not to presume of himself/ and alway to judge and to think well and blessedly of other/ is a sign and a token of great wisdom and of great perfection and singular grace/ if thou see any person sign or commit any great crime openly before thee/ yet judge not thyself to be better than he. For thou knowest not how long thou shalt persever in goodness we be all frail but thou shalt judge no man more frail than thyself.   

❧ Of the teaching of truth. The iii Chapitre.  
HAppy and blessed is that person whom truth teacheth/ & informeth not by figures/ or by deceitful voices but as the truth is/ our oppinyon and our wit many times deceiveth us/ For we see not the truth/ what availeth us the knowledge of such things as shall neither help us at the day of judgement if we know them nor hurt us if we know them not. It is therefore great folly to be negligent in such things as be profitable and necessary to us/ and to labour for such things that be but curious and damnable. Truly if we do so we have eyen but we see not/ and what availeth us the knowledge of the kind and working of creatures truly nothing/ he to whom the everlasting word that is jesus speaketh: is discharged of many vain opinions/ and of that word all things proceed and all things openly show/ cry and believe that he is god. No man without him understandeth the truth ne rightfully judgeth/ but he to whom all things is one and he that all things draweth in to one and all things setteth in one/ and desireth nothing/ but one may anon be stabled in heart and be fully pacified in god. O truth that God art/ make me one with the in perfit charity/ for all that I read/ hear/ or see/ without the is a grievous thing to me for in the is all that I will or may desire/ Let all Doctors be still in thy presence: and let all creatures keep them in silence & thou only lord speak to my soul. The more that man is onede to thee/ & the more that he is gathered together in thee/ the more he undstandeth with out labour high secret mysteries/ for he hath received from above the light of understanding. A clean/ pure and a stable heart is not broken ne lightly overcome with ghostly labours/ for he doth all thing to the honour of god/ & for he is clearly mortified to himself/ therefore he coveteth to be free fro following his own will. What hindereth the more than thy affections not fully mortysied to the will of the spirit/ truly nothing more. A good devout man so ordereth his outward business that it draw not him to the love of it/ but that he compel it to be obedient to the will of the spirit and to the right judgement of reason. Who hath a strenger battle: than he that laboureth for to overcome himself/ and that should be our daily labour & our daily desire to overcome ourself/ that we may be made strengers in spirit/ & increase daily from better to better. Every perfection in this life hath some imperfection annexed unto it/ & there is no knowing in this world but that it is mixed with some blindness of ignorance. And therefore a meek knowing of ourself is more syker way to god/ than is the searching for highness of cunning. Cunning well ordered is not to be blamed for it is good and cometh of god/ but a clean conscience and a virtuous life is moche better & more is to be desired/ because some men study to have cunning rather than to live well. Therefore they are many times & bring forth little good fruit or none. O if they would be as busy to avoid sin & to plant virtues in their soul's/ as they be to move questions: there should not be so many evil things seen in the world/ ne so much evil example given to the people/ ne yet so much desolate living in religion. At the day of judgement it shall not be asked of us what we have read but what we have done ne how well we have said but how religiously we have lived. Tell me now where be all the great clerks & famous doctors whom thou hast well known. When they lived they flourisshed greatly in their learning/ and now other men occupy their prebends & ꝓmotions and I can not tell whether they think any thing on them. In their life they were holden great in the world/ & now is little speaking of them. O how shortly passeth away the glory of this world with all the false deceivable pleasures of it/ would to God their life had accorded well with their learning/ for than had they well studied and read/ how many perish daily in this world by vain cunning that care little for a good life/ ne for the service of god. And because they desire rather to be great in the world than to be meek/ therefore they vanysshe away in their learning as smoke in the heir. Truly he is great/ that hath great charity: & he is great that is little in his own sight & that setteth at naught all worldly pleasures as vile dung/ so that he may win christ. And that person is very well taught that forsaketh his own will and followeth the will of god.   

❧ That light credence is not to be given to words. The four Chapitre.  
IT is not good lightly to believe every word/ or instinct that cometh/ but the thing is avysedly and leisurely to be considered/ & ponddred that almighty god be not offended thorough our lightness. But alas for sorrow we be so frail that we anon believe of other evil sooner than god: But nevertheless perfit men be not so light of credence/ for they know well that the frailty of man is more prove to evil than to good and that it is in words very unstable. It is therefore great wisdom not to be hasty in our deeds/ ne to trust much in our own wits/ nor lightly to believe every tale/ nor to show anon to other all that we hear or believe. Take all way counsel of a wise man and covet rather to be instructed and to be ordered by other than to follow thine own invention/ a good life maketh a man wise against god and instructeth him in many things that a sinful man shall never feel ne know. The more meek that a man is in himself and the more obedient that he is to god/ the more wise & the more please full shall he be in every thing that he shall have to do.   

❧ Of the reading of holy scripture. The .v. chapter.  
charity is to be sought in holy scripture/ and not eloquence/ & it should be red with the same spirit that it was first made: we aught also to seek in holy Scripture ghostly profit/ rather than curyositie of style/ and as gladly shall we read simple & devout books of high learning and cunning/ let not the authority of thine author mislike thee/ whether he were of great cunning or little/ but that the love of the very pure troth stir the to read Ask not who said this: but take good heed what is said: Men pass lightly away/ but the troth of god ever abideth. almighty god speaketh to us in his scripture in divers manners without accepting of persons/ but our curiosity oft letteth us in reading of scripture when we will reason and argue things that we should meekly & simply pass over/ if thou wilt profit by reading of scripture read meekly simply & faithfully and never desire to have thereby the name of cunning. Ask gladly & here meekly the saying of saints: and mislike the not the parables of ancient father's/ for they were not spoken without great cause.   

❧ Of inordinate affections. The vi Chapitre.  
When a man desireth any thing inordinately: forth with he is inquyet in himself. The proud man/ and the covetous man never have rest: but the meek man and the poor in spirit liveth in great abundance of rest & peace. A man that is not yet mortified to himself/ is lightly tempted and overcome in little and small temptations. And he that is weak in spirit/ and is yet somewhat Carnal and inclined to sensible things may hardly withdraw himself from worldly desires. And therefore he hath oft great grief & heaviness in heart when he withdraweth him from them. And he disdaineth anon if any man resist him/ and if he obtain that he desireth: yet he is inquyeted with grudge of conscience for he hath followed his passion which nothing helpeth to getting of the peace that he desired. Than by resisting of passions is gotten the very true peace of heart & not by following of them/ there is therefore no peace in the heart of a Carnal man/ Nor in the heart of a man that giveth himself all to outward things/ but in the heart of a ghostly man or woman which have their delight in god/ is found great peace and inward quietness.   

❧ That vain hope and elation of mind are to be fled & avoided. The vii chapter.  
HE is vain that putteth his trust in man or in any creature be not ashamed to serve other for the love of jesus christ/ & to be poor in this world for his sake/ trust not in thyself/ but all thy trust set in god/ do that in the is to please him: and he shall well help forth thy good will. Trust not in thine own cunning: ne yet in the cunning or policy of any creature living but rather in the grace of god which helpeth meek persons/ & those that presume of themself he suffereth to fall till they be meek/ glorify not thyself in thy riches nor in thy worldly friends for that they be mighty/ but let all thy glory be in god only that giveth all things/ and that desireth to give himself above all things. exalt not thyself for te largeness or fairness of body/ for with a little sickness it may be soon defoveled/ joy not in thyself for the ability/ or rydenes of wit left thou displease god/ of whose gift it is all that thou haste/ hold not thyself better than other/ lest happily thou be thereby impeyred in the sight of god that knoweth all that is in man/ be not proud of thy good deeds/ for the iugementꝭ of god be other than the iugementis of man to whom it displeaseth oft times that pleaseth man. If thou have any goodness or virtue in thee/ believe yet that there is moche more goodness/ and virtue in other/ so that thou mayst alway keep the in meekness. It hurteth not though thou holdest thyself worse than any other/ though it be not so in deed/ but it hurteth moche if thou prefer thyself above any other be he never so great a syner. Great peace is with the meek man but in the heart of a proud man is alway envy and indignation.   

❧: That moche familiarity is to be fled. The viii chapter.  
Open not thy heart to every person but to him that is wise/ secret and dreading god/ be seldom with young folks and strangers flatter not rich men/ & afore great men do not lightly appear. Accompany thyself with meek persons and simple in heart that be devout and of good governance and treat with them of things that may edify & strength thy soul. Be not familiar to any woman. covet to be familiar only with god and his Angellis/ but the famylyarite of man as much as thou mayst look thou eschew/ charity is to be had to all/ but famylyarite is not expedient. Sometime it happeneth that a person unknown through his good fame is much commendable/ whose presence after liketh us not so much. We ween sometime with our presence to please other/ when we rather displease them through the evil manners and evil conditions that they see and will consider in us.   

❧ Of meek subjection and obedience and that we shall gladly follow the counsel of other. The ix Chapitre.  
IT is a great thing to be obedient to live under a Prelate/ and in nothing to seek our own liberty.: ♣ It is mochemore suerer way to stand in the state of obedience/ than in the state of prelacy. Many be under obedience more of necessity than of charity/ and they have great pain and lightly murmur & grudge: and they shall never have liberty and frydome of spirit till they holy submit themselves unto their superior. Go here & there where thou wilt/ & thou shalt never find perfit rest: but in meek obedience under the governance of thy prelate. The imagining & the changing of places hath deceived many a religious person/ truth it is that every man is disposed to do after his own will/ and beast can agree with them that follow his ways. But if we will that god be among us: we must sometime leave our own will though it seem good/ that we may have love & peace with other. Who is so wise that he can fully know all things: truly none. Therefore trust not much to thine own wit. But here gladly the counsel of other. And if percase the thing which thou wouldest have done be good and profitable/ and yet nevertheless thou leavest thine own will therein and foloweste other: Thou shalt find much profit thereby. I have oft times heard say that it is more surer way to here & take counsel than it is to give it. It is good to here every man's counsel/ but not to agree when reason requireth it is a sign of a great singularity of mind and of moche inward pride.   

❧ That we should avoid superfluyie of words and the company of worldly living people. The ten Chapitre.  
Avoid the conpany of all worldly living people as much as thou mayst/ for the creating of worldly matters letteth greatly the fervor of spirit/ though it be done with a good intent/ we be anon deceived with vanity of the world/ and in manner are made as thrall unto it: but we take good heed. I would I had held my peace many times when I have spoken/ and that I had not been so much among worldly company as I have been. But why are we so glad to speak & common together fyth we so seldom depart without some hurt of conscience/ that is the cause by our commyning together we think to comfort each other and to refresh our hearts when we be troubled with vain imaginations: & we speak most gladly of such things as we most love/ or else of things that be most contrarious unto us. But alas for sorrow all is vain that we do/ for this outward comfort is no little hindrance of the true inward comfort that cometh of god. Therefore it is necessary that we watch & pray that the time pass not away fro us in idleness: If it be lawful and expedient to speak/ speak than of god and such things as are to the edifying of thy soul or of thy neighbours/ & evil use and a negligence of our ghostly profit/ maketh us often times to take little heed how we should speak. Nevertheless sometime it helpeth right moche to the health of the soul/ a devout coming of spiritual things: specially when men of one mind & of one spirit in god/ do meet and speak and comen together.   

❧ The means to get peace/ and of desire to profit in virtues. The xi. chapiter.  
WE might have much peace if we would not meddle with other men's sayings & doings that belong not unto us/ How may he long live in peace that wilfully will meddle with other men's business/ and that seeketh occasions without fourth in the world/ & seldom or never gathereth himself together in god/ blessed be the true simple & meek persons/ for they shall have great plenty of peace/ why have many saints been so perfitly contemplative/ for they alway studied to mortify them fro worldly desires that they might frell with all the power of their heart tend to our lord But we be occupied with our passions/ & be much busied with transitory things and it is very seldom that we may over come any one vice. And we be nothing quick to our daily duties/ wherefore we remain cold and slow to devotion/ if we were perfitly mortified to the world and to the flesh and were inwardly purified in soul we should anon savour heavenly things and somewhat should we have experience of heavenly contemplation. The greatest hindrance of the heavenly contemplation is/ for we are not yet clearly delivered fro our passions and concupiscens/ ne we enforce not ourself to follow the way that holy saintis have go before us/ but when any little adversity cometh to us we anon cast down therein & turn us oversoon to seek man's comfort. But if we would as strong men and as mighty Champions fight strongly in this ghostly battle/ we should undoubtedly see the help of god come in our need/ for he is alway ready to help all them that trust in him. And he procureth occasions of such battle to th'end we should overcome & have the victory & in the end to have the greater reward therefore/ if we set th'end and perfection of our religion in these outward observances our devotion shall soon be ended. Wherefore we must set our axe deep to the rote of the tree/ that we purged from all passions may have a quiet mind. It we would every year overcome one vice/ we should anon come to perfection/ but I fear rather that contrary wise we were better & purer in the beginning of our conversion than we be many years after we were converted. Our fervour and desire to virtue should daily increase in us as we increase in age. But it is now thought a great thing if we may hold a little spercle of the fervour that we had first/ but if we would at the beginning break the evil inclination that we have to ourself & to our own will/ we should after do virtuous works easily & with great gladness of heart. It is an hard thing to leave evil custommes: but it is more herd to break our own will▪ But it is most herd evermore to lie in pain and endlessly to lose the joys of heaven. If thou overcome not small things & light how shalt thou than overcome the greater. resist therefore quykely in the beginning thy evil inclynacons: & leave of hole all thine evil customs lest haply by little and little they bring the after to greater difficulty. O if thou wouldest consider how great inly peace thou should have thyself & how great gladness thou shouldest 'cause in other in behaving of thyself well. I suppose verily thou wouldest be moche more diligent to profit in virtue than thou haste been before this tyme.   

❧: Of the profit of adversity The xii chapter.  
IT is good that we have sometime gryeffes and adversities/ for they drive a man to behold himself and to see that he is here but as in an exile/ and be learned thereby to know that he aught not to put his trust in any worldly thing. It is good also that we suffer sometime contradiccyon/ and that we be holden of other as evil and wretched & sinful though we do well and intend well/ for such things help us to meekness and mightily defend us from vain glory & pride: we take god the better to be our judge & witness/ when we be outwardly despised in the world/ & that the world judgeth not well of us/ therefore a man aught to stable himself so fully in god that what adversity so ever befall unto him he shall not need to seek any outward comfort. When a good man is troubled or tempted or is inquyeted with evil thought/ than he understandeth & knoweth that god is most necessary to him/ & that he may no thing do that is good without him. Than he sorroweth/ waylleth & prayeth for the miseries that he ryghtfuly suffereth. Than it irketh him also the wretchedness of this life and he coveteth to be dissolved from this body of death/ and to be with Christ. And than also he seethe well: there may be no full peace ne perfit sikerness in this world.   

❧ Of temptations to be resisted. The xiii Chapitre.  
AS long as we live in this world we may not be fully without temptation. ☞: ★: For as job saith temptation is the life of man upon earth therefore every man should be well anent his temptations and watch in prayers that the ghostly enemy find not time & place to deceive him/ which never slepethe but alway goeth about● seeking whom he may devout. There is no man so perfit ne so holy in this world/ that he sometime ne hath temptations/ & we may not fully be without them/ for though they be for the time very grievous and painful/ yet if they be resisted they be very profitable/ for a man by experience of such temptations/ is made more meek and is also purged and informed in divers manners which he should never have known/ but by experience of such temptations. All blessed saints that now is crowned in heaven grew & profited by temptations and tribulations and those that could not well bear temptations/ but were finally outcome/ be taken perpetual prisoners in hell. There is no order so holy ne no place so secret that is fully without temptation & there is no man that is fully syker from it here in this life/ for in our corrupt body we bear the matter whereby we be tempted that is our inordinate concupisbence wherein we were borne. As one temptation goth/ an other cometh/ and so we alway have somewhat to suffer/ & the cause is for we have lost our innocensy. Many folk seek to i'll temptation/ and they fall the more grievously in to it. For by only fleeing we may not have victory/ but by meekness and patience we be made stronger than all our enemies/ He that only fleeth the outward occasions and cutteth not away the inordinate desires hid inwardly in the heart shall little profit/ & temptations shall lightly come to him again and grieve him more than they did first by little and little with patience & with sufferance/ and with the help of god/ thou shalt sooner overcome temptations than with thine own strength/ & importunity. In thine temptation it is good that thou oft ask counsel/ and that thou be not rigorous to no person that is tempted/ but be glad to comfort him as thou wouldest be comforted. The beginning of all evil temptayons is in constance of mind and to little a trust in god. For as a ship without a guide is driven hither & thither with every storm So an unstable man that anon leaveth his good purpose in god/ is diversly tempted/ the fire proveth gold/ & temptation proveth the rightwise man/ we know not many times what we can suffer/ but temptation showeth plainly what we are and what virtue in us. It is necessary in the beginning of every temptation to be well aware/ for than the enemy is soon overcome if he be not suffered to enter in to the heart. But that he be resisted/ and shit out as soon as he ꝓfereth to enter for as a bodily medicyn is very late ministered when the sickness hath been suffered to increase by long continuance/ so it is of temptation. first cometh to the mind an unclean thought/ and after followeth a strong imagination: and than delectation and divers evil motions/ and in the end followeth a full assent. And so by little and little the enemy hath full entry for he was not wisely resisted in the beginning/ & the more floweth that a man is in resisting the more weak he is to resist/ and the enemy is daily the more stronger against him. Some persons have their greatest temptations in the beginning of their conversion/ some in the end: and some in manner all their life time be troubled therewith/ and there be many that be but lightly tempted and all this cometh of the great wisdom & rightwiseness of god which knoweth the state and merit of every person: & ordaineth all thyngiss for the best/ and to the everlasting health & salvation of his elect & chosen people. Therefore we shall not despyre when we be tempted but shall the more fervently pray unto god that he of his infinite goodness and fatherly pity vouch safe or help us in every need & that he according to the saying of saint Poule so prevent us with his grace in every temptation that we shall may sustain/ let us than meek our souls under the strong hand of almighty god/ for he will save all them and exalt all them that be here meek and low in spirit. In temptations & tribulations a man is proved how moche he hath ꝓfyted/ and his merit is thereby the great anent god/ & his virtues are the more openly showed. It is no great marvel if a man be fervent and devout when he feeleth no grief▪ but if he can suffer patiently in the time of temptations/ or other adversity/ and therewith all can also stir himself to fervour of spirit it is a token that he shall greatly profit hereafter in virtue and grace. Some persons be kept from any great temptations: and yet daily they be overcome through little and small occasions/ and that is of the great goodness and sufferance of god to keep them in meekness/ that they shall not trust ne presume of themself/ that see themself so lightly and in so little things daily overcome.   

☞ That we shall not judge lightly other men's deeds/ ne cleave moche to our own still The xiiii chap.  
Have alway a good eye to thyself: & beware thou judge not lightly other men. In judging other men a man oft laboureth in vain oft erreth and lightly offendeth god/ but in judging himself and his own deeds he alway laboureth frutfully and to his ghostly profit/ we judge often times after our heart and our own affections & not after the truth/ for we oft l●se the true judgement through our private love. But if god were alway the hole intent of our desire we should not so lightly err in our judgements/ nor so lightly be troubled for that we be resisted of our will/ but commonly there is in us some inward inclination or some outward affection that draweth our heart with them from the true judgement. Many persons through a secret love that they have to theyr self work undescretely after their own will and not after the will of god/ & yet they ween not so/ & they seem to stand in great inward peace when things follow after their mind: but if it follow otherwise than they would/ anon they be moved with impatience and be right heavy and pensive. By diversities of opinions be sprung many times dissensions between friends & neighbours/ and also between religious & devout persons. And old custom is hardly broken and no man will lightly be removed from his own will/ but if thou cleave more to thine own will or to thine own reason than to the meek obedience of jesus christ/ it will be long or thou be a man illumined with grace/ for almighty god will that we be perfitly subject & obedient to him/ and that we ascend & rise high above our own will & above our own reason by a great brenning love and a hole desire to him.   

❧ Of works done in charity. The xu chapter.  
FOR nothing in the world nor for the love of no creature/ no evil is to be done/ but sometime for the need comfort of our neighbour a good deed may be deferred or be turned in to another good deed/ for thereby the good deed is not destroyed/ but is changed in to better without charity the outward deed is little to be praised but what so ever is done of charity be it never so little or never so despisable in the sight of the worlds it is right profitable before god/ which judgeth all thing after the intent of the doer and not after the greatness or worthiness of the deed: he doth much that moche loveth god: & he doth moche that doth his deed well: and he doth his deed well that doth it rather for the commonalty than for his own will. A deed sometime seemeth to be done of charity & of love to god/ when it is rather done of a carnality & of a flesshhy love than of a charitable love/ for commonly some carnal inclination to our friends/ or some inordynate love to ourself/ or some hope of a temporal reward or a desire of some other perfect moveth us to do the deed/ & not the pure love of charity. charity seeketh not himself in that he doth: but he desireth to do only that shall be honour & praising to god/ he envieth no man for he loveth no private love: nor he will not joy in himself but he coveteth above all things to be blessed in god/ he knoweth well that no goodness beginneth originally of man/ & therefore he referreth all goodness to god of whom all things proceed & in whom all blessed saints do rest in everlasting fenition O he that had a little spercle of this perfit charity should feel sothefastly in his soul that all earthly things be full of vanity.   

❧ Of the suffering of other men's defaults. The xvi chapter.  
such defaults as we can not amend in ourself nor in other/ we must patiently suffer till our lord of his goodness will otherwise dispose. And we shall think that happily it is so best for to be for proving of our patience: without which our merits are but little to be pondered/ Nevertheless thou shalt pray heartily for such impediments that our lord of his great mercy and goodness vouchsafe to help us that we may patiently bear them. If thou admonysshe any person once or twice & he will not take it: strive not overmuch with him but commit all to god that his will be done and his honour in all his servants/ for he can well by his goodness turn evil in to good: study always that thou be patient in suffering all other men's defautis for thou haste many things in the that other do suffer of thee/ and if thou can not make thyself to be as thou wouldest/ how mayst thou than look to have an other to be ordered in all things after thy will. we would gladly have other perfit/ but we will not amend our own defaults/ we would the other should be straightly corrected for their offences but we will not be corrected. It mynslyketh us that other have liberty: but we will not be denied of that we ask. we would also that other should be restrained according to the statutes/ but we in no wise will be restrained. Thus it appeareth evidently that we seldom ponder our neighbours as we do ourself: if all men were perfit what had we than to suffer of our neygbours for god/ therefore god hath so ordained that one of us shall learn to bear another's burden/ for in this world no man is without default: no man without a burden/ no man sufficient to himself/ nor no man wise enough of himself/ wherefore it behoveth each one of us to bear the burden of other/ to comfort other/ to help other/ to inform other/ and to instruct and admonish other in all charity: who is of most virtue appeareth best in time of adversity. Occasions make not a man frail but they show openly what he is.   

☞ What should be the life of a true religious person. The xvii Chapter.  
IT behoveth the to break thine own will in many things if thou wilt have peace and concord with other. It is no little thing to be in monasteries or in congregations and to continue there without complaining or myssaing and faithfully to persever there unto th'end. Blessed be they that there live well & make a good end. If thou wilt stand surely in grace and moche perfect in virtue: hold thyself as an outlaw and as a pilgrim here in this life/ and be glad for the love of god to be holden as a fool and as a vile person in the world as thou art. The habit and tonsure help little/ but the changing of life & the mortifienge of passions make a person perfit and true religious/ he that seeketh any other thing in religion than purely god and the health of his soul shall find nothing there but trouble & sorrow/ & he may not stand long there in peace & quietness/ that labourethe not to be left & subject to al. It is god therefore that thou remember oft that thou cammeste to religion to serve and not to be served. And that thou art called thither to suffer and to labour/ & not to be idle ne to tell vain tales. ♣ In religion a man shall be proved as gold in a furnace and no man may stand long there in grace and virtue/ but he will with all his heart meek himself/ for the love of god.   

❧ Of the examples of holy fathers. The xviii Chapitre.  
Behold the lively examples of holy fathers and blessed saints in whom flourisshed and shone all true perfection of life and all perfit religion. And thou shalt see how little it is and welnyghe as nothing that we do now in these days in comparison of them O what is our life if it be to them compayred. They served our lord in hunger & in thirst/ in heat/ in cold/ in nakedness/ in labour: and in weariness/ in vygylles and fastings/ in prayers and in holy meditations in persecutions and in many repreffes. O how many & how grievous tribulatyons suffered the apostles martyrs/ confessors/ virgin's and other holy saints that would follow the steps of christ. They refused honours & all bodily pleasures here in this life: that they might always have the everlasting life. O how straight and how adiecte a life lead the holy fathers in wilderness: how grievous temptations they suffered/ how fiercely they were with their ghostly enemies assailed: how fervent prayer they daily offered to god/ what rygourous abstinence they used/ how great zeal and fervour they had to spiritual perfect/ how strong battle they held against all sin/ and how pure and hold intent they had to god in all their deeds/ on the day they laboured & on the night they prayed And though they laboured on the day bodily/ yet they prayed in mind/ and so they spent their time alway fruitfully & thought every hour short for the service of god/ & for the great sweetness that they had in heavenly contemplation/ they forget oft times their bodily refection All richesse honour dygnytes kinnesmen and friends/ they renounced for the love of god/ they coveted to have nothing of the world and scarcely they would take that was necessary for the bodily kind. They were poor in worldly goods but they were rich in grace and virtue: they were needy outwardly/ but inwardly in their souls they were replenished with grace & ghostly comforts. To the world they were aliens and strangers/ but to god they were right dear and familiar friends. In the sight of the world and in their own sight they were vile and abject/ but in the sight of god and of his saints they were precious and singularly elect. In them shone all perfection of virtue/ true meekness/ simple obedience/ charity/ and patience/ with other like virtues & gracious gifts of god. Wherefore they profited daily in spirit and obtained great grace of god. They be left as an example to all religious persons and more aught their examples to steer them to devotion and to perfect more and more in virtue and grace/ than the great multitude of dissolute & ydele persons should any thing draw them aback. O what fervour was in religious persons at the beginning of their religion/ what devotion in prayers/ what zeal to virtue/ what love to ghostly discipline/ & what reverence and meek obedience flourished in them under the rule of their superior truly their deeds yet bear witness that they were holy and perfit that so mightily subdued the world and thrust it under food. Now adays he is occompted virtuous that is no offender and that may with patience keep some little sparkle of that virtue & of that fervor that he had first. But alas for sorrow it is through our own sloth & negligence and through losing of time that we be so soon fallen from our first fervor in to such a ghostly weakness & dullness of spirit/ that in manner it is to tedious to us for to live/ but would to god that the desire to profit in virtue slept not so utterly in thee: that oft haste seen the holy examples of blessed saints.   

♣ Of the exercises of a good religious person. The xix. chapiter.  
THe life of a good religious man should shine in all virtue and be inward as it appeareth outward and that moche more inward for almighty god beholdethe the heart whom we should alway honour and reverence as if we were ever in his bodily presence and appear before him as angels clean and pure shynnyge in all virtue/ we ought every day to renew our purpose in god/ and to steer our heart to fervour and devotion: as though it were the first day of our conversion & daily we shall pray and say thus. Help me my lord jesus that I may persever in good purpose and in thy holy service unto my death and that I may now this present day perfitly begin for it is no thing that I have done in time paste. After our purpose & after our intent shall be our reward/ & though our intent be never so good yet it is necessary that we put thereto a good will and a great diligence/ for if he that oft times purposeth to do well & to profit in virtue yet faileth in his doing/ what shall he do than that seldom or never taketh such purpose. Let us intend to do the best we can/ and yet our good purpose may happen to be letted and hindered in divers manners/ & our special hindrance is this/ that we so lightly leave of our good excercises that we have used to do before time/ for it is seldom seen that a good custom wilfully broken may be recovered again with out great spiritual hindrance. The purpose of right wise men dependeth in the grace of god more than in themself or in their own wisdom/ for man purposeth but god disposeth/ ne the way that man shall walk in this world is not in himself but in the grace of god. If a good custom be sometime left of for help of our neighbour/ it may soon be recovered but if it be left of through sloth or negligence of ourself it will hinder us greatly and hardly will it be recovered again Thus it appeareth that though we encourage ourself all that we can to do well/ yet we shall lightly fail in many things. And nevertheless though we may not always fulfil it/ yet it is good that we alway take such good purpose especially against such things as hyndrethe us most/ we must also make diligent search both within us and without us/ that we leave nothing inordynate unreformed in us as nigh as our frailty may suffer/ & if thou can not for frailty of thyself do thus continually/ yet at the ●eest that thou do it once on the day evening or morning. In the morning thou shalt take a good purpose/ for that day following: and at night thou shalt discuss diligently how thou haste behaved the the day before in word/ in deed/ and in thought/ for in them we do oft offend god & our neighbour. Arm the as Christ's true knight with meekness and cha●ite against all the malice of the enemy. Refrain gluttony & thou shalt the more lightly/ refrain at carnal desires. Let not the ghostly enemy find the all idle but that thou be reading/ writing/ praying devoutly/ thinking/ or some other good labour doing/ for the commonalty. Bodily exercises are to be done secretly/ for that that is profitable to one is sometime hurtful to another/ and also spiritual labours done of devotion are more surely done in privity then in open place. And thou must beware that thou be not more ready to private devotions than ●o them that thou art bound to by duty of thy religion/ but when thy duty is fulfilled than add thereto as thy devotion giveth. All may not use one manner of exercise but one in one manner/ another in another manner as they shall feel to be most profitable to them. Also as the time requireth so divers exercises arr to be used/ for one manner of exercises is necessary on the holy day/ another on the feriall day/ one in time of temptation another in time of peace & consolation/ one when we have sweetness in devotion/ another when devotion withdrawethe. Also against principal feasts we aught to be more delygente in good w●rkes and devoutly to call for help to the blessed Saints that than be worshipped in the Church of God/ than in other times and to dispose ourself in like manner as if we should then be taken out of this world. And be brought in to the ever lasting feast in heaven. And sith that bliss is yet deferred from us for a time we may well thing that we be not yet ready ne worthy to come thereto. And therefore we aught to prepare ourself to be more ready another time/ for as saint Luke sayeth. ♣ Blessed is that servant whom our Lord (when he shall come at the hour of death) shall find ready/ for he shall take him and lift him up high above all earthly things in to the everlasting joy and bless in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.   

❧ Of the love of onlynes and silence. The twenty Chapter.  
Seek for a convenient time to search thine own conscience. And think oft on the benefits of God/ leave of all curious things. And read such matters as shall steer the to compunction of her●e for thy sins rather than to read only for occupying of the time/ if thou wilt withdraw thyself from superfluous words & fro unprofitable rennynges about & from hearing of rumours & of vain tales/ thou shalt find time convenient to be occupied in holy meditations. The most holy men & women that ever were: fled the company of worldly living men upon their power/ and charce to serve god in secret of their heart/ & one holy man said as oft as I have been among worldly company I have departed with less fervour of spirit than I came/ and that we know well when we talk long for it is not so hard to keep alway silence/ as it is not to exceed in words when we speak moche. It is also more light to be always solitary at home/ than to go forth in to the world and not offend. Therefore he that intendeth to come to an inward setting of his heart in god and to have the grace of devotion/ must with our saviour Christ withdraw him from the people. No man may surely appear among the people/ but he that would gladly be solitary if he might/ ne no man is sure in prelacy/ but he that would gladly be a subget/ ne none may surely command/ but he that hath learned gladly to obey/ & none joyeth truly/ but he whose heart witnesseth him to have a clean conscience/ ne none speak the surely/ but he that would gladly keep silence if he might. And alway the surety of good men and of blessed men hath been in meekness and in the dread of God/ and though such blessed men shone in all virtue/ yet they were not therefore lift up in to Pride/ but were therefore the more diligent in the service of god and the more meek in all their doings/ and on the contrary wise the surety of evil men riseth of pride and of presumption & in the end it deceiveth them Therefore think thyself never sure in this life whether thou be religious or secular/ for oft times they y● have been holden in the sight of the people most perfit: have been suffered to fall more grievously for their presumption/ also it is much more profitable to many persons that they have sometime temptations/ lest haply they think themself overmuch siker and be thereby lift up in to pride or run to seeking of outward consolation. Then that they be always without temptations. ♣ O how pure a conscience should he have that would despise all transitory joy/ & never will meddle with worldly business/ and what peace and inward quietness should he have that would cut away from him all business of mind and only to think on heavenly things/ no man is worthy to have ghostly comforts/ but we have first been well execrysed in holy compunction/ and if thou wilt have compunction go in to a secret place/ and put from the all the clamours noise of the world. ☞ For the prophet David saith Let the sorrow for thy sins be done in thy secret Chambre/ in thy cell thou shalt find great grace which thou mayst lightly lose without. Thy cell well continued shall wear sweet and pleasant to the and shall be to the hereafter a right dear friend/ and if it be but evil kept/ it shall ware very tedious and irksome to the. But if in the beginning thou be oft therein and keep it well in good prayers and in holy meditations it shall be here after to the a singular friend and one of thy most special comforts: in silence and quietness of heart a devout soul profit the moche and learneth the heed sentences of scripture and findeth there: also many sweet trees in devotion wherewith every night she washed her nyghtely from all filth of sin that she may be so much the more familiar with god/ as she is dysserued from the clamours noise of worldly business. Therefore they that for the love of virtue withdraw them fro their acquaintance and from their worldly friends/ our lord with his Angels shall draw night to them & shall abide with them. It is better a man be solitayre and well take heed of himself. Than that he do miracles in the world forgetting himself. It is also a laudable thing in a religious person/ seldom to go forth/ seldom to see other: & seldom to be seen of other why wilt thou see that is not lawful for the to have/ the world passeth away with all his concupisbence and deceivable pleasures. Thy sensual appetite moveth the to go abroad: but when the time is passed what barest thou home again but remorse of conscience and unquietness of heart. It is o●●e seen that after a merry going forth followeth a heavy returning/ & that a glad eventide causeth a heavy morning/ and so all fleshly joy entereth plesauntly/ but in the end it biteth & sleeth what mayst thou see with out thy tell that thou mayst not see with in/ lo heaven & earth and all the clementes whereof all earthly things be made/ and what mayst thou else where see under the son that may long endure/ & if thou might see all earthly things & also have all bodily pleasures present at ones before thee/ what were it but a vain sight: lift up thine eyen therefore to god in heaven and pray heartily that thou mayst have forgiveness for the offence/ leave vain things to them that will be vain/ and take thou heed only to though things that our lord commandeth the. Shyt●e fast the door of thy soul/ that is to say thine imagination and keep it warily from beholding of any bodily thing as much as thou mayst/ & than lift up thy mind to thy lord jesus & open thy heart faithfully to him/ and abide with him in thy Cell: for thou shalt not find so much peace without. If thou hadst not go forth so much as thou haste done/ ne have given hearing to vain tales/ thou shouldest have been in moche more inward peace than thou art/ but for as much as it delighteth to the here new things/ it be hoveth the therefore to suffer sometime both trouble of heart & unquietness of mind.   

❧ Of compunction of the heart. The xxi Chapitre.  
IF thou wilt any thing perfect to the health of thy soul/ keep the alway in the dread of god & never desire to be fully at liberty/ but keep the alway undersome wholesome discipline. Never give thyself to no undiscrete mirth/ for no manner of thing as nigh as thou mayst. Have perfit compunction and sorrow for thy sins and thou shalt find thereby great inly devotion Compunction openeth to the sight of the soul many good thing/ which lightness of heart and vain mirth/ some driveth away. It is marvel that any man can be merry in this life/ if he consider well how far he is exiled out of his country: and how great peril his soul daily standeth in/ but through lightness of heart/ and negligence of our defaults we feel not: ne we will not feel the sorrow of our own soul/ but oft times we laugh when we aught rather to weep & morn: for there is no perfit liberty nor true joy/ but in the dread of god and in a good conscience. That person is right happy that hath grace to avoid from him all things that letteth him fro beholding of his own sins/ and that can turn himself to gody by inward compunction/ and he is happy also that avoideth fro him all things that may offend or grieve his conscience. Fight strongly therefore against all sins and dread not overmuch all though thou be encumbered by an evil custom/ for that evil custom may be overcome with a good custom. And excuse the not that thou art let by other men/ for if thou wilt leave the familyaryte with other they will suffer the to do thy dedis without impediment Intrike the not with other men's goods ne busy the not in great men's causes/ have alway an eye to thyself and diligently inform & admonish thyself by fore all other. ♣ If thou have not the favour of worldly living people sorrow not therefore: but be this thy daily sorrow that thou behavyst not thyself in thy conversation as it beseemeth a good religious person for to do. It is much expedient & more profitable that a man sometime lack consolations in his life than that he have them always after his will namely fleshly consolations. Nevertheless that we have not sometime heavenly consolations or that we so seldom feel them as we do. It is through our own default: for we seek not to have the true compunctyon of heart ne we cast not fully away from us the false outward consolations: hold thy self therefore unwordy to have any consolation and worthy to have moche tribulation/ when a man sorroweth perfitly for his sins/ than all worldly comforts be painful to him. A good man findeth always matter enough why he oweth rightfully to sorrow & weep/ for if he behold himself or if he think on his neighbour/ he seethe well that none liveth here without great misery and the more thoroughly that he may consider himself The more sorrow he hath and always the matter of true sorrow and of true inly compunction is the remembrance of our sins wherewith we be so bylapped on every side that seldom we may behold any ghostly things. But if we would more often think on our death than we do on long life no doubt but we should more fervently apply ourself to amendment/ & I believe also that if we would heartily remember the pains of Helle & of Purgatoyre that we should more gladly sustain all labours and sorrows & that we should not dread any pain in this world with that we might avoid the pains that are to come. But for as much as these things go not to the heart & we yet love the flattering and the false pleasures of this world/ therefore we remain cold and void of devotion/ and oft it is through the weakness of the spirit that the wretched body so lightly complaineth. Pray therefore meekly to our lord/ that he of his great goodness give thee/ the spirit of compunction/ and say with the Prophet. ♣ Feed me lord with the breed of compunction/ & give me to drink water of tears in great abundance.   

❧ Of the considering of the misery of mankind/ and wherein the felicity of man standeth. The xxii. chapiter.  
A Wretch thou art where so ever thou be/ & where so ●uer thou turn thee/ but thou turn the to god/ why art thou so lightly troubled/ for it falleth not to the as thou wouldest and desirest/ what is he that hath all thing after his will/ neither thou nor I ne no man living/ for none liveth here without some trouble or anguish be he King or Pope. Who thinkest thou is in most favour with god/ truly he that suffereth gladly moste for god. But many persons week and feeble in spirit say thus in their hearts. Lo how good a life that a man leadeth how rich he is/ how mighty he is/ how high in auctori●e/ how great in sight of the people/ & how fair and beauteous in his bodily kind/ but if thou take heed to the goodness everlasting/ thou shalt well see that these worldly goods and worldly lykynkes are but little worth & that they be more rather grievous than pleasant/ for they may not be had ne be kept but by great labour and business of mind. The felicity of man standeth not in abundance of worldly goods? for the mean is best. And verily to live in this world is but misery: and the more ghostly that a man would be/ the more painful it is to him for to live: for he feeleth the more plainly the defaults of man's corruption/ for why to eat/ to drink// to sleep/ to wake/ to rest/ to labour/ and to serve all other necessytes of the body is great misery and great affliction to a devout soul. Which would gladly be fro the boundage of sin that it might without let serve our lord in purity of conscience and in cleanness of heart. The in ward man is greatly grieved through the bodily necessities in this world. ☞ wherefore the prophet David desired that he might be delivered fro such necessities. But woe be to them that know not their own misery & woe be to them that love this wretched and this corruptible life/ for some love it so much that if they might ever live were though they might poorly get their living with labour and begging yet they would never care for the kingdom of heaven. ♣ O mad and unfaithful creatures are they that so deeply set their love on earthly things that they have no feeling ne taste but in fleshly pleasures. Truly in the hour of death they shall know how vile & how naughty it was that they so much loved. But holy saints & devout followers of christ hedede not what pleased the flesh/ ne what was pleasant in sight of the world But all their hole intent and desire they held to things invisible & feared lest by sight of things visible they might be drawn down to the love of them. ♣: My well-beloved brother/ lose not the desire to profit in spiritual things/ for thou haste yet good time and space. Why wilt thou any longer defer the tyme. Arise & now this same instant begin and say thus/ now is time to labour in good works/ now is time to fight in ghostly battle/ & now is time to make amendss for trespass passed/ when thou art troubled than is best time to merit and get rewards of god. It behooveth the to go through fire and water or thou mayst come to the place of recreation/ ● but thou can full have the mastery over thyself thou shalt never overcome sin ne live without great tediousness and sorrow we would gladly be delivered from all misery and sin/ but because we have through sin lost our innocency. We have lost also the very joy and felicyte/ wherefore we must hold us in patience and with good hope abide the mercy of god till wretchedness be overpassed: and that this bodily life bechaunged in the everlastyge ♣ O how great is the frailty of man that is ever ready and prove to sin. This day thou art confessed and to morrow thou falleste again. Now thou purposeste to be way: and intendest to go forth strongly in good works & shortly after thou dost as thou never hadst taken such purpose/ rightfully therefore we aught to meek ourself and never to think in us any virtue or goodness: for we be so frail and so unstable. soon may it be lost through negligence/ that with much labour and special grace was hardly gotten/ but what shall become of us in the end when we so soon wax dull and slow. soothly sorrow and woe shall be to us if we fall to bodily rest now as though we were in ghostly sikerness. When there appeareth not as yet neither sign ne token of virtue ne of good living in our conversation. Wherefore it were expedient to us that we were it again instruct as novices to learn good manners/ if haply there might by that means be found here after any trust of an amendment and spiritual profit in our conversation.   

❧ Of the remembrance of death. The xxiii Chapitre.  
THe hour of death will shortly come/ and therefore take heed how ●ou or d●creste thyself for the common proverb for the common proverb is true: to day a man to morrow none. And when thou art out of sight thou art anon out of mind and soon shalt thou be forgotten. O the great dullness and hardness of man's heart that only thinketh on things present and little provideth for the life to come. If thou didst well/ thou sholdeste so be have thyself in every deed and in every thought as thou shouldst this instance die/ if thou hadst a good conscience thou shouldest not much fere death. It were better for the to leave sin than to fear death. ♣: O my dear brother/ if thou be not ready this day/ how shalt thou be ready to morrow. To morrow is a day uncertain: & thou canst not tell whether thou shalt live so long/ what profit is it to us to live long/ when we thereby so little amend our life/ long life doth not alway bring us in to any amendment: but oft times encreasethe more sin/ would to god that we might be one day well conversant in this world many rekyne their years of conversion/ & yet there is but little fruit of amendment ne of any good example seen in their conversation/ if it be fearful to die peradventure it is more perilous to live long blessed be to personns that ever have the hour of death before their eyen: and that every day dispose themself to die/ if thou ever savest any man die/ remember that thou must needily go the same way/ In the morning doubt whether thou shall live till night: and at night think not thyself sure to live till on the morrow. Be always ready & live in such manner that death find the not unprovided. Remember how many have died suddenly & unꝓuyded: for our lord hath called them in such hour as they least went And when that last hour shall come thou shalt begin to feel all otherwise of thy life passed/ than thou haste done before/ & thou shal●e than sorrow greatly that thou haste been so slow & negligent in the service of god as thou haste been. ♣ O how happy & wise is he therefore that laboureth now to stand in such state in this life/ as he would be found in at his death. Truly aperfyte despising of the world/ & a fervent desire to profit in virtue/ alone to be taught a fruitful labour in works of penance a ready will to obey/ a full forsaking of ourself/ & a wilful suffering of all adversities for the love of god/ shall give us a great trust that we shall die well. Now whilst thou art in health thou mayst do many good deeds/ but it thou be sick I can not tell what thou mayst do/ for why few be amended through sickness/ & in like wise they that go much on pilgrimage be seldom thereby made perfit/ & holy/ put not thy trust in thy friends/ & thy neighbours/ ne di●●er●e not thy good deeds till after thy d●th for thou shall sooner be forgotten than thou weenest/ better it is to provide for thyself betime & send some good dedis byfor thee/ than so trust to other that peradventure will lightly forget thee/ if thou be not now busy for thyself & for thine twne soul health: who shall be busy for the after thy death. Now is thy time very precious/ but alas for sorrow that thou spendeste the time so unprofitable: in the which thou shouldest win the life everlasting. The time shall come when thou shal●e desire one day or one hour to amend thee/ but I wots not whether it shallbe granted unto the. ♣ O my dear brother fro how great peril & dread mightest thou now deliver thyself/ if thou wouldest alway in this ly●e dread to offend god/ & alway have the coming of death suspect. Therefore study now to live so that at the hour of death thou mayst rather joy than dread/ learn now to die to the world that thou mayst than live with Christ/ learn also to despise at worldly things that thou mayst then freely go to christ/ chastity now thy body with penance that thou mayst then have a sure and a steadfast hope of salvation. Thou art a fool if thou think to live long▪ sigh thou art not siker to live one day to the end/ how many have been deceived through trust of long life: and suddenly have been taken out of this world or they had though/ how oft hast thou heard say that such a man was slain/ and such a man was drowned: and such a man fell and broke his neck/ this man as he eat his meat was strangled/ & this man as he played took his death/ one with fire: an other with iron: an other with sickness: and some by theft have suddenly perished/ and so the end of all men is death for the life of man as a shadow suddenly slideth & passeth away/ Think oft who shall remember the after thy death/ & who shall pray for thee/ and do now for thyself all that thou causte/ for thou wotrest not when thou shalt die nor what shall follow after thy death: whilst thou haste time gather the riches immortal/ think nothing abydingly but on thy ghostly health. Set thy study only on things that be of god and that belong to his honour. Make the friends against that time/ worship his saints & follow their steps/ that when thou shalt go out of this world they may receive the in to the everlasting Tabernacles. Keep the as a pilgrim & as a stranger here in this world to whom no thing belongeth of worldly business/ keep thy heart fire always lift up to god/ for thou haste no city here long abiding/ send thy desires & thy daily prayers always upward to god/ and pray perseverauntly that thy soul at the hour of death/ may blessedly depart out of this world and go to Christ.   

❧ Of the last judgement and of the pain that is ordained for sin. The xxiiii Chapitre.  
IN all things behold the end/ & oft remember how thou shalt stand before the high judge to whom no thing is hid: which will not be pleased with rewards: ne receive any manner excuses/ but in all thing will judge that is rightwise and true. O most unwise/ and most wretched sinner/ what shalt thou than answer to god/ which knoweth all thy sins and wretchedness/ sith thou dreadest here sometime the face of a mortal man/ why dost thou not now provide for thyself against that day/ sith thou mayst not then be excused ne defended by none other. But every man shall then have enough to do to answerere for himself. Now thy labour is fruitful/ thy weeping is acceptable/ thy morning is worthy to be herd and thy sorrow also is satysfactorye and purging of sins. The patient man which suffereth of other injuries and wrongs/ and yet nevertheless sorroweth more for their malice than for the wrong done to himself/ hath a wholesome and a blessed purgatory in this world/ and so have they that gladly can pray for their enemies/ and for them that be contrarious unto them/ and that in their heart can forgive those that offend them/ and tarry not long to ask forgiveness. And so have they also that more lightly he stirred to mercy than to vengeance/ and that can as it were by a violence br●ke down their own will and strongly resist sin/ and labour always to subdue their body to the spirit. It is better now to purge sin/ and to put away vice then to reserve it to be purged here after/ but verily we deceive ourself by inordinate love that we have to our bodily kind/ what shall the fire of purgatory devour but thy sin truly nothing. Therefore the more thou sparest thyself now/ and the more thou foloweste thy fleshly liking/ the more grievously shalt thou wail hereafter/ and the more matter thou reseruyste for the fire of purgatory. In such things as a man most hath offended shall he most be punished the slothful persons shallbe there pricked with brenning pricks of iron/ and glotens shallbe tormented with great hunger and thirst. The lecherous persons and lovers of voluptuous pleasures shallbe fulfilled with brenning pyche/ & brimstone/ and envious persons shall wail/ and howl as doth wood dogs. There shall no sin be without his proper torment. The proud man shallbe fulfilled with all shame & confusion/ and the covetous man shall be pined with penury & need/ one hour there in pain shall be more geenous than here a hundreth year in most sharpest penance. There shallbe no rest ne consolation to dampened souls. But here sometime we feel relief of our pains & have sometime consolation of our friends. Be now sorrowful for thy sins that at the day of judgement thou mayst be siker with blessed saints/ Then shall right wise men stand in great constance against them that have wronged them & oppressed them here. Then shall he stand as a judge that here submittith himself meekly to the judgement of man. Then shall the meek poor man have great confidence and trust in god & the obstinate proud man shall quake & dread. Then shall it appear that he was wise in this world/ that for the love of god was contented to be taken as a fool & to be despised & set at naught. Then shall it also please him much the tribulation that he suffered patiently in this world & all wyckidnes shall stop his mouth. Then every devout person shall be joyful/ and glad & the unreligyous persons shall wail & dread. Then shall the flesh that hath been with discretion chastysyde joy more Than if it had been nourished with all delectation and pleasure. Then shall the vile habit shall clear in the sight of god: and the precious garments shall war foul and loathsome to behold. Then the poor cottage shall be more allowed than the palace over guilded with gold. Then shall more help a constant pacyente/ then all worldly power & riches. Then shall meek obedience be exalted more high than all wordly wisdom and policy: & then shall a good clean conscience make us more glad some and me●y/ then the cunning of all philosophy. Then the despising of worldly goods shall be more of valour than all worldly riches and treasure. Then shalt thou have more comfort for thy devout praying/ than for all thy delicate feeding. Then shalt thou also joy more for thy silence kepyge/ than for thy long talking & ianglinge. Then good deeds shall plentyouslye be rewardyde/ & fair words shall little be regarded. Then shall it please more a straight life & hard penance here/ than all worldly delectation & pleasure. Learn now therefore to suffer the small tribulation in this world that thou mayst then be delivered from the greater there ordained for sin. first prove her what thou mayst suffer hereafter. And if thou mayst not now suffer so little a pain/ how shalt thou than suffer the everlasting torments/ and if now so little a passion make the inpacyent what shall then do the intolerable fire of purgatory or of hell. Thou mayst not have two heavens/ that is to say to joy here & to have delectation here/ and after to joy also with christ in heaven. Moore oue● if thou hadst lived always unto this day in honours and in freshly delectations▪ what should it profit the now if thou shouldest this present instant depart the world. Therefore all thing is vanity/ but to love god and to serve him/ he that loveth god with all his heart/ dredyth neither death/ tourmnt judgement ne hell/ for a perfit love maketh a sure passage to god/ but if a man yet delighteth in sin it is no marvel though he dread both death & hell. And though such a deed be but a thralle dread/ yet nevertheless it is good that if the love of god withdraw us not from sin that the dread of hell constrain us thereto/ he that s●t●yth apart the dread of god: may not long stand in the state of grace/ but son shall he run in to the snare of the fiend & lygh●ely shall he therewith be deceived.   

❧ Of the fervent amending of all our life & that we shall specially take heed of our own soul health before all other. The xxv chapter.  
MI sone be waking & diligent in the service of god/ and think oft wherefore thou art come/ & why thou hast forsaken the world/ was it not that thou shouldest live to god/ and be made a spiritual man/ yes trwely. Therefore stir thyself to perfection for in short time thou shalt receive the full reward of all thy labours/ and from thenceforth shall never come to the sorrow nor dread: thy labour shall be little and short/ and thou shalt receive therefore again everlasting rest and comfort: if thou abide faithful and fervent in good deeds without doubt our lord will be faithful & liberal to the in his rewardis Thou shalt alway have a good trust that thou shalt come to the palm of victory/ but thou shalt not set the in a full sykerners/ thereof lest haply thou war dull and proud in heart: A certain person which oft-times doubted whether he were in the state of grace or not/ on a time fell prostrate in the church and faith thus. O that I might know whether I should persever in virtue to the end of my life And anon he hard inwardly in his soul the answer of our lord saying/ what wouldest thou do if thou knewest thou shuldeste persever do now as thou wouldest do them/ and thou shalt be safe/ & so anon he was comforted and committed himself wholly to the will of god and all his doubtfulness ceased/ and never after would he curiously search to know what should be come of him/ but rather he studied to know what was the will of god against him/ and how he might begin and end all his deeds that he should do to the pleasure of god and to his honour. Trust in god & do good deeds saith the Prophet David/ inhabit the earth/ and thou shalt be fed with the riches of thy good dedis. But one thing withdraweth many from profiting in virtue & from amendment of life/ that is an horror & a falls worldly dread that they may not abide the pain and labour that is needful for the getting thereof. Therefore they shall most profit in virtue before all other that enforce themself mightily to overcome though things that be most grievous and most contrarious to them For a man profiteth there most & there winneth most grace where he most overcometh himself/ and wherein he most mortifieth his body to the soul. But all men have not in like much to mortify and overcome/ for some have more passions than some have. Nevertheless a fervent lover of god though he have more greater passions than other/ yet shall he be more stronger to profit in virtue than an other that is better mannered and that hath fewer possyons but he is less fervent to virtue. Two things help a man moche to amendment of life/ that is a mighty withdrawing of himself from those things that the body most inclineth him to/ and a fervent labour for such virtuous as he hath most need of. Study also to overcome in thyself two things that most mislike the in other men. And take away some special plofyte in every place where soever thou become/ as if thou see any good example enforce the to follow in/ and if thou see any evil example look thou eschew it as thy joy considereth the works of other/ right so and in the same wise thy works be considered of other O how joyous and how delectable is it to religious men devout and fervent in the love of god well mannered and well taught in ghostly learning/ and on the contrary wise how heavy and sorrowful is it to see them live inordynately not using to things that they have chosen and taken them to. Also how inconuenyente a thing it is a man to be negligent in the purpose of his first calling And to set his mind to things that be not commyttrd to him. Think often therefore on the purpose that thou haste taken and set before the eye of thy soul the mind of Cristes' passion/ and if thou behold well/ and delygentely his blessed life/ thou mayst well be ashamyd that thou haste no more conformed the to him then thou haste done/ he that will inwardly and devoutly exercise himself in the most blessed life and passion of our lord jesus christ/ shalt find therein plenteously all that is necessary for him so that he shall not need to seek any thing without him. O if jesus crucified were oft in our hearts and in our remembrance we should son be learned in all things that be necessary for us. A good religious man that is fervent in his religion taketh all thing well and doth gladly all that he is commanded to do. But a religious person that is negligent and slothful hath trouble upon trouble and suffereth great anguish & pain on every side/ for he lacketh the true inward comfort and to seek the outward comfort he is prohibiteth. Therefore a religious person that liveth without discipline is like to fall to great ruin. Also he that in religion seeketh to have liberty and relessing of his duty shall alway be in anguish & sorrow for one thing or other shall ever displease him. Therefore take heed how other religious persons do that be right straightly kept under the rules of their religion. They go seldom forth/ they live hardly/ they eat poorly/ and be clothed grossly/ they labour moche/ speak little/ watch long/ rise early/ make long prayers/ read oft and keep themself alway in some wholesome edoctryne. Behold the Chartusyenc●s and the Cysteur and many other Monks/ & nuns of divers relygyons'/ How they rise every night to serve our lord/ And therefore it were great shame to the that thou shouldest wax slow and dull in so holy a work where so many laud and peayse our lord. O how joyous a life were it if we should nothing else do but with heart/ and mouth continually to praise our lord/ now truly if we should never need to eat/ drink/ ne sleep but that we might all way laud him and only take to spiritual studies/ then were we much more happy and blessed/ than we are now when we are bounden of necessity to serve the body. O would to god that these bodily merits were turned in to spiritual refections which all as for sorrow we taste but seldom/ when a man is comen to that perfection that he sekith not his consolation in any creature/ then beginneth good first to saver sweet unto him/ and than he shall be contented with every thing that cometh be it liking or misliking. And than he shall not be glad for no wordly profit be it never so great ne sorry for the wanting of it for he hath set himself and established himself holy in god the which is to him all in all/ to whom nothing perisheth/ nor dieth/ but all thing liveth to him and serveth him without ceasing after his bidding. In every thing remember the end and that time lost can not be called again without labour and diligence thou shalt never get virtue If thou begin to be negligent thou beginnest to be feeble and weak/ but if thou apply the to fervour/ thou shalt find great help of god and for the love of virtue thou shalt find less pain in all thy labours than thou didst first/ he that is fervent and loving is always quick and ready to all things that be of god and to his honour. It is more labour to resist vices and passions/ then it is to swink and sweet bodily labours/ he that will not i'll small sins/ shall by little and little fall in to greater Thou shalt alway be glad at night when thou hast spent the day before fruitfully. Take heed to thyself and stir thyself always to devotion admonish thyself/ & what so ever thou do of other forget not thyself/ and so much shalt thou profit in virtue as thou canst break thine own will and follow ye will of god    


¶ Here beginneth the second book of inward conversation. The first chapter.  
THe kingdom of God is within you saith Christ our saviour. Turn the therefore with all thy heart to god/ and forsake this wretched world/ and thy soul shall find great inward rest/ learn to despise outward things & give thyself to inward things and thou shalt see the kingdom of God come in to thy soul. The kingdom of god is peace and joy in the holy ghost that is not granted to wicked people/ our lord jesus christ will come to the and will show to the his consolations/ if thou shalt make ready for him within forth a dwelling place/ and all that he desireth in the is withinforth and there is his pleasure to be. There is betwixt almighty god/ and a devout soul many ghostly vysytyngꝭ/ sweet in word speaking/ great gifts of grace many consolations/ moche heavenly peace & wondrous familiarity of the blessed presence of god. Therefore thou faithful soul prepare thy heart to christ thy spouse/ that he may come to the and well in the for he saith himself. Who so loveth me shall keep my commandment. And my father and I & the holy ghost shall come to him & we shall make in him our dwelling place/ give therefore to christ free entry into thy heart: and keep out all things that letteth his entry: and when thou art rich enough and he only shall suffice to thee/ and than he shall be thy provider and defender and thy faithful helper in every necessity so that thou shalt not need to put thy trust in any other without him/ man is soon changed/ & lightly falleth away/ but christ abideth for ever and standeth strongly with his lover to the end. There is no great trust to be put in man that is but mortal & frail though he be right moche profitable and also much beloved unto thee/ ne any great heaviness to be taken though he sometime turn and be against thee/ for they that this day be with the tomorrow may happen to be against the and may oft turn as doth the wind put thy full trust therefore in god/ & let him be thy love and dread above all things: and he will answer for the and will do for the in all things as shallbe most needful and most expedient for the. Thou haste here no place of long abiding/ for where so ever thou become thou art but a stranger and a pilgrim and never shalt thou find parfeyte rest till thou be fully oned to god/ why dost thou look to have rest here sith this is not thy resting place/ thy full rest must be in heavenly things/ and all earthly things thou must behold as things transitory and shortly passing away/ and be well were thou cleave not over moche to them: lest thou be taken with love of them and in the end perish thereby. Let thy thought be alway upward to God/ and direct thy prayers to Christ continually/ and if thou may not for frailty of thyself alway occupy thy mind in contemplation of the godhead? Be than occupied with mind of his passion: and in his blessed wounds make the a dwelling place/ and if thou i'll devoutly to the wound of Christ's side and to the marks of his passion thou shalt feel great comfort in every trouble. And shalt little force though thou be openly despised in the world/ and what evil words so ever be spoken of the they shall little grieve the. Our master Christ was despised in the world of all men/ and in his most need was forsaken of his acquaintance and friends and left among shames and rebukes. He would suffer wrongs and benought set by of the world: and he will not that any person do us wrong ne dispraise our deeds. Christ had many adversaries and backebytours/ and we would have all to be our friends and lovers. How shield thy patience be crowned in heaven▪ If no adversity should by fall to the in earth: if thou wilt suffer none adversity: how mayst thou be the friend of Christ. It behoveth the to suffer with Christ/ and for Christ if thou wilt reign with Christ. Truly if thou hadst once entered in to the bloody wounds of jesus: and hadst there tasted a little of his love/ thou shouldest little care for likings or myslykynges of the world/ but thou shouldst rather have great joy when wrongs and reproves were done unto thee/ for perfit love of God maketh a man perfitly to despise himself. The true inward love of god that is free from all inordinate affections may anon turn himself freely to god/ and lift himself up in spirit in contemplation & fruitfully rest him in Christ. Also he to whom all things be esteemed as they be/ and not as they be taken and thought to be of worldly people/ is very wise & is rather taught of god than of man And he that can inwardly lift his mind upwardly to god & can little regard outward things needeth not to seek for time or place to go to prayers: or to do other good deeds or virtuous occupations. For the ghostly man may soon gather himself together and fix his mind in God/ for he never suffereth it to be fully occupied in outward things. And therefore his outward labours and his worldly occupations necessary for the time/ hinder him not but little/ for as they come so he applieth himself to them and referreth them always to the will of god. Moore over a man that is well ordered in his soul/ forceth little the unkind demeanour of worldly people ne yet their proud behaviour. As much as a man loveth any worldly thing more than it should be beloved so much his mind is hindered and letted for the true ordinate love that he should have to god/ if thou were well purged from all inordinate affectyons/ than what so ever should befall to the should turn to thy ghostly profit and to the great increasing of grace and virtue in thy soul/ but the cause why so many things displease the and trouble thee/ is for thou art not yet perfectly dead to the world▪ ne thou art not yet fully severed from the love of earthly things/ and no thing so much defouleth the soul/ as an unclean love to creatures/ if thou forsake to be comforted by worldly things outwardly thou mayst behold more perfectly heavenly things/ and thou shalt than sing continually laudes and praisings to him with great joy and inward gladness of heart. The which grant the and me the blessed trinity Amen.   

❧ Of a meek knowing of our own defaults. The ii Chapter.  
Regard not much who is with thee: nor who is against thee/ but be this thy greatest study that God may be with the in every thing that thou dost have a good conscience and he shall well defend: and who so ever he will help aid defend there may no malice hinder ne grieve: if thou can be still and suffer a while thou shalt without doubt see the help of god come in thy n●de he knoweth the time and place how to deliver thee/ and therefore thou must resign thyself holy to him. It pertaineth to him to help and to deliver from all confusion. Nevertheless it is oft times much profitable to us for the more surer keeping of meekness/ that other men know our defaults and reprove us of them. When a man mekethe himself for his offences/ he lightly pleaseth other and lightly reconcileth himself to them that he hath offended. The meek man/ almighty god defendeth and comforteth: to him he inclynethe himself and sendeth him great plenty of his grace to him: also he showeth his secrets and lovingly he draweth him to him/ and after his oppressions he lifteth him up to glory. The meek man when he hath suffered confusion and reprove/ is in good peace: for he trusteth in God and not in the world. Moreover if thou wilt come to the highness of perfection: think not thyself any thing profited in virtue till thou can feel meekly in thy heart that thou haste less meekness and less virtue than any other hath.   

❧ How good it is for a man to be peaceful. The iii Chapter.  
first put thyself in peace/ and than thou mayst the better pacify other/ a peaceful man and a patient profytethe more to himself and to other also/ than a man well learned that is unpeacefull. A man that is passyonate turneth oft times good in to evil and lightly believeth the worse part. But a good peaceful man turneth all thing to the best: and hath suspection to no man but he that is not content is oft troubled with many suspicious: and neither is he quiet himself/ nor yet suffereth he other for to be quiet/ he speaketh often times that he should not speak/ and he omitteth to speak/ that were more expedient to be spoken: he considereth greatly what other be bounden to do/ but to that that he is bounden to himself he is full negligence/ have therefore first a zeal and a respect to thyself/ and to thine own soul/ and than thou mayst the more right wisely and with the more due order of charity have zeal upon thy neighbours. Thou art anon ready to excuse thine own defaults/ but thou wilt not here the excuses of thy brethren. Truly it were more charitable and more profitable to the that thou shouldst accuse thyself and excuse thy brother: For if thou wilt be borne? bear other/ behold how far thou art yet fro perfit meekness & charity: which can not be angry with none but with themself. It is no great thing to be well conversant with good men & with tractable men/ for that naturally pleaseth all people/ and every man gladly hath peace with them & most loveth them that follow their appetite/ but to live peacybly with evil men & with froward men that lack good manners & be untaught & that be also contrarious unto us/ is a great gracee and a manly deed & moche to be praised for it can not be done but through great ghostly strength. Some persons can be quiet themself & also can live quietly with other/ and some can not be quiet themself: ne yet suffer other to be quiet/ they be grievous to other/ but they be more grievous to themself. And some can keep themself in good peace/ and can also bring other to live in peace/ and nevertheless all our peace whiles we be in this mortal life: standeth more in meek suffering of troubles and of things that be contrarious unto us: than in the not feeling of them. For no man may live here without some trouble. And therefore he that cane best suffer shall have most peace/ & it is very true overcome of himself/ the lord of the world/ the friend of Christ/ & the true inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.   

❧ Of a pure mind and a simple intent. The four Chapitre.  
MAn is borne up from earthly things with two wings/ that is to say: with plainness and cleanness/ plainness is in the intent/ and cleanness is in the love/ the good true and plainne intent looketh toward God/ but the clean love taketh assay & tasteth his sweetness. If thou be free from all inordynate love there shall no good deed hinder thee/ but that thou shalt therewith increase in the way of perfection. If thou intent well and seek nothing but god and the profit of thine own soul and of thy neighbours/ thou shalt have great inward liberty of mind. And if thy heart be straight with god? Than every creature shallbe to the a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine/ for there is no creature so little ne so vile: but that it showeth and representeth the goodness of god. Also if thou were withinforth in thy soul pure and clean/ thou shuldeste than without letting take all things to the best. A clean heart pierceth both heaven and hell such as a man is in his conscience inwardly/ such he showeth to be by his outward conversation. If there be any true joy in this world/ that had a man of a clean conscience. And if there be any where tribulation or anguish/ an evil conscience knoweth it best. Also as iron put in to the fire is cleansed from rust and is made all clean and pure/ right so a man turning himself holy to god is purged fro slothfulness & suddenly is changed in to a new man. When a man beginneth to wax dull & slow to ghostly business/ than a little labour feareth him greatly/ and that he taketh gladly outward comforts of the world and of the flesh/ but when he beginneth perfitly to overcome himself & to walk strongly in the way of God/ than he regardeth the labours but little/ that before he thought were ryhhte grievous and as importable unto him.   

❧ Of the knowing of ourself. The .v. Chapitre. ♣  
WE may not trust moche in ourself ne in our own wit/ for often times through our presumption we lack grace: and right little light of true understanding is in us/ and that we have many times/ we lose through our negligence/ and yet we see not/ ne we will not see how blind we are. Often times we do evil/ and in defence thereof we do much worse/ and sometime we be moved with passion and we ween it be of a zeal to God/ we can anon reprove small defaults in our neighbours: but our own defaults that be much greater we will not see/ we feel anon and ponder greatly what we suffer of other/ butt what other suffer of us we will not consider/ but he that would well and ryghtwyselye judge his own defaults: should not so rygourously judge the defaults of his neighbours. A man that is inwardly turned to god taketh heed of himself before all other/ and he that cane well take heed of himself: cane lightly be still of other men's deeds Thou shulte never be an inward man and a devout follower of christ/ but thou can keep the from meddling of other men's deeds and can specially take heed of thine own. If thou take heed holy to God and to thyself/ the defaults that thou seest in other shall little move the. Where art thou when thou art not present to thyself/ and when thou hast all run about and moche haste considered other men's works. what hast thou profited thereby if thou have forgotten thyself: if thou wilt therefore have peace in thy soul and be perfitly oned to god in blessed love set a part all other men's deeds and only set thyself & thine own deeds before the eye of thy soul and that thou seest amiss in thee/ shortly do reform it. Thou shalt much profit in grace if thou keep the fire from altemporal cures/ and it shall hinder the greatly if thou set price by any temporal things. Therefore let nothing be in thy sight high nothing great nothing/ liking ne acceptable to the but it be purely good or of good. Think all comforts vain that come to the by any creature/ he that loveth god and his own soul for God? dispisethe all other love for he seethe well that god alone which is eternal inconprehensible and that fulfilleth all things with his goodness/ is the hole solace and comfort of the soul: and that he is the very true gladness of heart/ and none other but only he.   

❧ Of the gladness of a clean conscience. The vi chapter.  
THe glory of a good man/ is the witness of God/ that he hath a good conscience/ have therefore a good conscience & thou shalt always have gladness. A good conscience may bear many wrongs & it is ever merry and glad in adversities/ but an evil conscience is alway fearful and unquiet. Thou shalt rest the sweetly and blessedly? if thine own heart reprove the not. Be never glad but when thou hast done well. Evil men have never perfit gladness: ne they feel no inward peace. For our Lord sayeth: ☞ There is no peace to wicked people. And though they say we be in good peace there shall no evil come to us. Lo who may grieve us or hurt us/ believe them not: for suddenly the wrath of god shall fall upon them but they amend/ and all that they have done shall turn to nought/ and that they would have done shall be undone. It is no grievous thing to a fervent lover of god to joy in tribulation/ for all his ioy● and glory is to joy in the cross of our Lord jesus Christ: It is a short glory that is given by man: and commonly some heaviness followeth shortly after. The joy and gladness of good men is in their own conscience/ and the joy of rightwise men is in good/ and of god/ and their joy is in virtue & in good life he that d●syrethe the very perfit joy that is everlasting setteth little price by temporal joy/ and he that seeketh any worldly joy or doth not in his heart fully despise it/ showeth himself openly to love but little the joy of heaven. He hath great tranquylite and peace of heart that neither regardeth praises ne dispraises. And he shall soon be pacified and content that hath a good conscience. Thou art not the better for thou art praised: ne the worse for thou art dispraised/ for as thou art? thou art/ and what so ever be said of thee: thou art no better than almighty god which is the searcher of man's heart will witness the to be/ if thou behold well what thou art inwardly: thou shalt not care moche what the world speaketh of the outward. Man seeth the face/ but god beholdeth the heart. Man beholdeth the deed/ but god beholdeth the intent of the deed. It is a great token of a meek heart: A man ever to do well/ and yet to think himself to have done but little. And it is a great sign of cleanness of life and of an inward trust in God when a man taketh not his comfort of any creature: when a man seeketh no outward witness for himself/ it appeareth that he hath holy committed himself to god. ☞ Also after the words of saint Paul He that commendeth himself is not justified/ but he whom god commendeth and he that hath his mind alway lift up to god/ and is not bounden with any inordinate affection withoutforth/ is in the degree and in the state of a holy and a blessed man.   

❧ Of the love of jesus above all things The vii Chapitre.  
BLessed is he that knoweth how good it is to love jesus/ and for his sake to despise himself. It behoveth the lover of jesus to forsake all other love beside him/ for he will be beloved only above all other. The love of creatures is deceivable and failing/ but the love of jesus is faithful & alway abiding/ he that cleaveth to any creatures must of necessity fail as doth the creature/ but he that cleaveth abydyngely to jesus shallbe made stable in him for ever. Love him therefore & hold him thy friend for when all other forsake the he will not forsake the ne suffer the finally to perish Thou must of necessity be departed from thy friends and from all man's company whether thou wilt or not and therefore keep the with thy lord jesus living and dying and commit the to his fidelity and he will be with the and help the when all other forsake the. Thy beloved is of such nature that he will not admit any other love/ for he will have alonely the love of thy heart and will sit therein as a king in his proper throne If thou couldst well avoid from thee: the love of creatures: he would alway abide with the and never would he forsake the. Thou shalt in manner find it all as lost what so ever trust thou haste put in any manner of thing beside jesus/ put not thy trust therefore to such things as is but a quell full of wind or as a hollow stick which is not able to sustain thee/ ne to help thee/ but in thy most need will deceive thee/ for man is but as hay/ and all his glory is as a flower in the field/ which suddenly vanished & slideth away. If thou take heed only to the outward appearance thou shalt soon be deceived and if thou seek thy comfort in any thing but in jesus/ thou shalt feel thereby great spiritual loss. But if thou seek in all things thy lord jesus/ thou shalt truly find thy lord jesus/ and if thou seek thyself thou shalt find thyself/ but that shall be to thine own great loss/ for truly a man is more grievous and more hurtful to himself if he seek not his lord jesus: than is all the world/ & more than all his adversaries may be.   

❧ Of the familiar friendship of jesus. The viii Chapitre.  
When our lord jesus is present all thing is liking and nothing seemeth hard to do for his love/ but when he is absent all thing that is done for his love/ is painful and hard/ when jesus speaketh not to the soul there is no faithful consolation/ but if he speak but one word only/ the soul feeleth great inward comfort/ did not marry Magdalyne rise soon from weeping when Martha showed her that her master christ was nigh and called her: yes truly. ♣: O that is an happy hour when jesus called us from weeping to joy of spirit Remember how dry and how undevout thou art without Iesu/ and how unwise/ how vain/ and how cunning thou art when thou desirest any thing beside jesus. Truly that desire is more hurtful to thee: than if thou hadst lost all the world/ what may this world give thee/ but through the help of jesus. To be without jesus is a pain of hell. And to be with jesus is pleasant paradise: if jesus be with thee/ there may no enemy grieve thee/ and he that findeth jesus findeth a great treasure that is best above all other treasures/ & he that loseth jesus loseth very much/ and more than all the world/ he is most poor that liveth without jesus/ & he is most rich that is with jesus. It is great cunning to be well conversant with jesus/ and to keep him is right great wisdom/ be meek & paceful & jesus shall be with thee/ be devout & quiet & jesus will abide with the. Thou mayst anon drive away thy lord jesus & lose his grace/ if thou apply thyself to outward things/ and if through negligence of thyself thou lose him what friend shalt thou than have: without a friend thou mayst not long endure/ and if jesus be not thy friend most before all other thou shalt be very heavy and desolate/ & be left without all perfit frenshype/ & therefore thou dost not wisely if thou trust or joy in any other thing beside him/ we should rather choose to have all the world against us than to offend god/ and therefore of all that the to be lief and dear let thy lord jesus be the most lief and dear: and moste specially beloved to the above all other/ and let all other by beloved for him: and he only for himself. jesus is only to be beloved for himself/ for he is only proved good and faithful before all other friends. In him: and for him: both enemies & friends are to be beloved/ and before all things we aught meekly with all diligence to pray to him that he may be beloved and honoured of all his creatures. Never covet to be singularly loved or commended/ for that belongeth only to god which hath none like unto him/ and desire not that any thing be occupied with the in thy heart/ ne that thou be occupied with love of any creature but that thy lord jesus may be in the & in every good man and woman. Be pure and clean withinforth without letting of any creature as nigh as thou can for it behooveth the to have a right clean and a pure heart to jesus. If thou wilt know and feel how sweet he is/ and verily thou mayst not come to that p●e but thou be prevented & drawn through his grace/ and that all other things set apart thou be inwardly knife & on●de to him: when the grace of god cometh to a man that is he made mighty and strong to do every thing that belongeth to virtue/ and when grace withdraweth than is he made weak and feeble to do any good deed/ and is in manner as he were left only to pain and punishments. ★: And if it happen so with thee/ despair not overmuch therefore: nor leave not thy good dedis undone: but stand alway strongly after the will of god/ & turn all things that shall come to the to the laud and praisings of his name for after winter cometh summer/ and after the night cometh the day/ and after a great tempest/ showeth again tyghte clear and pleasant weather.   

❧ Of the wanting of all solace and contorie. The ix chapter.  
IT is no great thing to despise man's comfort when the comfort of god is present: but it is a great thing and that a right great thing a man to be so strong in spirit that he may bear the wanting of them both/ and for the love of god and to his honour to have a ready will to here as it were a desolation of spirit/ and yet in nothing to seek himself ne his own merits/ what proof of virtue is it if a man be merry and devout in god when grace cometh and visiteth the soul/ for that hour is desired of every creature/ he rideth right safely whom the grace of god beareth and supporteth and what marvel is it if he feel no burden that is borne up by him that is almighty and that is led by the sovereign guide that is good himself/ we be alway glad to have solace/ & consolation but we would have no tribulation/ ne we will not lightly cast from us the false love of ourself. The blessed martyr saint Laurence through the love of god mightily overcame the love of the world and of himself/ for he dyspyse● all that was liking & delectable in the world/ and Sixtus the pope whom he most loved for the love of god he suffered meekly to be taken from him/ & so through the love of god/ he overcame the love of man/ and for man's comfort he chose rather to follow the will of god: do than in likewise and learn to forsake some necessary/ and some well-beloved friend for the love of god: & take it not grievously when thou art left or forsaken of thy friend/ for of necessity it behoveth worldly friends to be dissevered. It behoveth a man to fight long and mightily to strive with himself or that he shall learn fully to overcome himself/ and or that he shall freely and readily set all his desires in god. When a man loveth himself & much trusteth to himself: he falleth anon to man's comforts: but the very true lover of christ & the diligent follower of virtue falleth not so lightly to them ne seeketh not much such sensible sweetness ne such bodily delights/ but rather is glad to suffer great hard labours & pain for the love of Christ. Nevertheless when ghostly comforts is sent to the of god take it meekly and give thankings meekly for it: but know it for certain that it is of the great goodness of god that sendeth it to thee/ & not of thy deserving/ & look thou be not lift up therefore in to pride ● ne that thou joy not much thereof ne pnsume not vainly therein: but rather that thou be the more meek. For so noble a gift and the more ware and the more fearful in all thy work/ for that time will pass away/ and the time of temptation will shortly follow after. When comfort is withdrawn despair not therefore/ but meekly and patiently abide the visitation of god/ for he is able & of more power to give the more grace and more ghostly comfort than thou hadst first. Such alteration of grace is no new thing/ ne no strange thing to them that have had experience in the way of god/ for in great saints & in holy Prophets was many times found like alteration/ wherefore the Prophet David saith. ☞ Ego diri in habundancia mea▪ non movebor ineternum) ♣ That is to say: when David had abundance of ghostly comfort he said to our lord that he trusted he should never be removed from such comfort/ but after when grace withdrew: he said. ☞ Auertisti faciem tuam a me: & factus sum conturbatꝰ. ♣ That is: O lord thou haste withdrawn thy ghostly comforts from me/ and I am left in great trouble and heaviness: and yet nevertheless he despaired not therefore/ but prayed heartily unto our lord and said. ☞: Ad te domine clamabo et ad deum meum deprecabor/ That is to say I shall busily cry to the lord/ and I shall meekly pray to the for grace and comfort. And anon he had the effect of his prayers as he witnesseth himself saying thus. ☞ Audi●it dominus et misertus est mei dominus fac●us est adiutor meus) that is to say/ our lord hath hard my prayer/ & hath had mercy on me/ and hath now again sent me his help & ghostly comfort. And therefore he saith afterward: lord thou haste turned my sorrow in to joy/ & thou haste belapped me with heavenly gladness/ and if almighty god hath thus done with holy saints/ it is not for us weak and feeble persons to despair though we sometime have fervour of spirit and be sometime left cold and void of devotion. The holy ghost goth and cometh after his pleasure & therefore the holy man job saith. ☞ Lord thou graciously visitest thy lover in the morrow tide/ that is to say in the time of comfort/ and suddenly thou provest him that is to say in with drawing such comforts from him/ wherein then may I trust or in whom may I have any confidence/ but oney in the great endless grace & mercy of god for why: the company of good mean/ ne that felyshype of devout brethren and faithful friends/ ne the having of holy bokis or of devout treatises/ ne yet the hearing of sweet songs: or of devout Impnes/ may little avail and bring forth but little comfort to the soul when we are left to our own frailty and poverty. And when we be so left there is no better remedy but patience with a hole resygning of our own will to the will of god I never found yet any religious person so perfit/ but that he had sometime absenting of grace or some minishing of fervour/ and there was never yet any saint so highly ravished/ but that he first or last had some temptation/ he is not worthy to have the high gift of contemplation/ that hath not suffered for god some tribulation. The temptations going before/ were wont to be a soothfast token of heavenly comfort shortly coming after And to them that be found stable in their temptations is promised by our lord great consolation/ and therefore he saith thus. ☞ He that overcometh I shall give him to eat of the tree of life. ♣ Heavenly comfort is sometime given to a man that he may after be more strong to suffer adversities/ but after followeth temptation that he be not lift up in to pride & think that he is worthy such consolation. The ghostly enemy sleepeth not ne the flesh is not yet fully mortified/ & therefore thou shalt never cease to prepare thyself to ghostly battle for thou haste enemies on every side that ever will be ready to assail thee/ & to let thy good purpose all that they can.   

❧: Of yielding thanks to god/ for his manifold grace. The ten Chapitre.  
WHy seekest thou rest here sith thou art borne to labour/ dispose thyself to patience: rather than to comforts/ to bear the cross of penance: rather than to have gladness: what temporal man would not gladly have spiritual comforts if he might always keep them: for spiritual comforts exceed far worldly delights and all bodily pleasures/ for all worldly delights be either foul or vain but ghostly delights are only jocund/ & honest/ brought forth by virtues & sent of god in to a clean soul. But such comforts no man may have when he would/ for the time of temptation tarrieth not long The false liberty of will/ and the overmuch trust that we have in ourself/ be much contrary to the heavenly visitations. Our lord doth well in sending such comforts/ but we do not well/ when we yield na● all the thanks therefore to him again. The greatest cause why the gifts of grace may not lightly come to us/ is for we be unkind to the giver and yield not thanks to him from whom all goodness cometh. Grace is alway given to them that be ready to yield thanks therefore again. And therefore it shall be taken from the Proud man that is wrute to be given to the meek man: I would none of that consolation that should take from me compunction/ ne I would none of that contemplation that should lift my soul in to presumption. Every high thing in sight of man is not holy ne every desire is not clean and pure/ ne every sweet thing is not good/ ne all that is lief and dear to man is not always pleasant to god/ we shall therefore gladly take such gyftis whereby he shallbe the more ready to forsake ourself and our own will he that knoweth the comforts that come through the gift of grace/ and knoweth also how sharp and painful the absenting of grace is: shall not dare think that any goodness cometh of him self but he shall openly confess that of him sel●e he is right poor and naked of all virtue/ yield therefore to god that is his/ and to thyself that is thine: that is to say/ thank god of his manifold grace's/ and blame thyself for thy offences. Hold in the always a sure ground and a sure foundation of meekness: and than the highness of virtue shall shortly be given unto the for the high turn of virtue may not long stand/ but it be borne up with the low foundation of meekness. They that be most great in heaven be lest in their own sight/ and the more glorious they be/ the meeker they are in themself/ full of truth and of heavenly joy/ not desirous of any vain glory or praising of man. Also they that be groundely stabled & confirmed in god may in no wise be life up in to pride/ and they that ascribe all goodness to god/ seek no glory ne vain praisings in the world/ but they desire only to joy and to be glorified in god and desire in heart that he may be honoured/ lauded/ and praised/ above all things both in himself and in all his saints/ and that is alway the thing that perfit men most covet and most desire to bring about/ be thou loving & thankful to god for the lest benefit that he giveth the and than thou shalt be the more apt and the more worthy to receive of him more great benefaites. Think the lest gift that he giveth is great & the most dyspysable things take a special gifts and as great tokens of love/ for if the dignity of the giver be well considered no gift that he giveth shall seme little. It is no little thing that is given of god for though he send pain and sorrow we should take them gladly and thankfully: for it is for our ghostly health all that he suffereth to come unto us. If a man desire to hold the grace of god be he kind and thankful for such grace as he hath received/ patient when it is withdrawn pray he devoutly that it may shortly come again/ & than be he meek & low in spirit that he lose it not again through his presumption and pride of heart.   

❧ Of the small number of the lovers of the cross. The xi chapter.  
Jesus hath many lovers of his kingdom of heaven but he hath few bearers of his Cross/ many desire his consolation/ but few desire his tribulation: he findeth many fellows at eating & drinking/ but he findeth few that will be with him in his abstinence & fasting/ all men would joy with Christ/ but few will any thing suffered for Christ/ many follow him to the breaking of his bread for their bodily refection but few will follow him to drink a draft of the chalice of his passion. Many marvel and honour his miracles/ but few will follow the shame of his cross: and of his other vilanyes/ many love jesus as long as no adversity followeth to them/ and can praise him and bless him when they receive any benyfayte of him/ but if jesus a little withdraw him from them/ & a little forsaketh them anon they fall to some great grudging/ or to over great dejection/ or in to open desperation/ but they that love jesus purely for himself and not for their own profit nor commodity/ they bless him as heartily in temptation and tribulation and in all other adversities: as they do in time of consolation. And if he never sent them consolation: yet would they always laud him and praise him. ☞: O how may the love of jesus do to the help of a soul/ if it be pure and clean not mixed with any inordinate love to himself truly nothing more: May not they than that ever look for worldly comforts/ and for worldly consolations be called worldly merchants and worldly lovers rather than lovers of god/ do they not openly show by their deeds that they rather love themself than god/ yes truly. ♣ O where may be founden any that will serve god freely and purely without looking for some reward for it again. And where may be found any so spiritual/ that he is clearly delivered and bereft from love of himself/ and that is truly poor in spirit and is holy avoided from love of creaturis. I trow none such can be found but if be far hens and in far countries/ if a man give all his substance for god/ yet he is naught and if he do great penance for his sins/ yet he is but little: and if he have great cunning and knowledge/ yet he is far from virtue/ and if he have great virtue and bre●ning devotion: yet moche wanteth him/ and that is specially one thing/ which is most necessary to him/ what is that? that all things forsaken and himself also forsake/ he go clearly out from himself & keep no thing to himself of any private love/ & when he hath done all that he aught to do that he feel in himself as he had nothing done ne that he think it not great that some other might think great: but that he think himself truly as he is an unprofitable servant. ☞ For the author of troth our saviour. Cryst saith. When ye have done all that is commanded you to do: yet say that ye be but unprofitable servants. Than he that can thus do may well be called poor in spirit & naked of private love/ and he may well say with the prophet David. ☞: I am onede in god and am poor & meek in heart. There is none more rich/ none more free/ ne none of more power/ than he that can forsake himself and all passing things/ and that truly can hold himself to be lowest and wyllest of all other.   

❧ Of the way of the cross/ and how profitable patience is in adversity. The xii▪ chapter.  
THe words of our saviour be thought very hard and grievous: when he saith thus ☞ Forsake yourself take the cross and follow me. ♣ But it shallbe much more grievous to here these words at the last judgement. ☞ Go ye from me ye cursed people in to the fire that ever shall last. ♣: But to that now gladly here and follow the words of Christ whereby he counceyleth them to follow him: shall not than need to dread for hearing those words of everlasting damnation. The sign of the cross shall appear in heaven/ when our lord shall come to judge the world/ and the servants of the Cross which confirmed themself here in this life to christ crucified on the Cross/ shall go to Christ their judge with great faith and trust in him/ why dost thou than dread to take this cross sith is the very way to the kingdom of heaven: and none but that. In the cross is health/ in the cross is life/ in the Cross is defence fro our enemies/ in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness/ in the Cross is the strength of mind/ the joy of spirit/ the highness of virtue/ and the full perfection of all holiness: and there is no health of soul nor hope of everlasting life/ but through virtue of the cross. Take therefore the cross and follow jesus and thou shalt go in to the life everlasting/ he hath go before thee/ bearing his cross/ and died for the upon the cross/ that thou shouldest in like wise bear with him the cross of penance and of tribulation/ and that thou shouldst be ready like wise for his love to suffer death if need require as he hath done for the. If thou die with him/ thou shalt live with him/ and if thou be fellow with him in pain: thou shalt be with him in glory. Behold than how in the cross standeth all and how in dying to the world lieth all our health and that there is no other way to life & true inward peace but the way of the cross & of daily mortifying of the body to the spirit. Go whether thou wilt and seek what the list & thou shalt never find about thee: ne beneath thee/ within thee: ne without thee/ more high/ more excellent/ ne more sure way to Christ than the way of the holy cross/ dispose every thing after thy will/ & thou shalt never find but that thou must of necessity somewhat suffer either with thy will or against thy will and so thou shalt always find the cross for either thou shalt feel pain in thy body or in thy soul thou shalt have troube of spirit. Thou shalt be sometime as thou were forsaken of god. Sometime thou shalt be vexed with thy neighbour/ and that is yet more painful/ thou shalt sometime be grievous to thyself: & thou shalt find no mean to be delivered/ but that it behoveth the for to suffer till it shall please almighty god of his goodness otherwise to dispose for thee: for he will that thou shalt learn to suffer tribulation without consolation but thou mayst thereby learn holly to submit thyself to him and by tribulation to be made more meek than thou were first. No man feeleth the passion of christ so effectuously/ as he that feeleth like pain as christ did This cross is always ready & every where it abideth thee/ and thou mayst not i'll it ne fully escape it where ever thou become for where so ever thou become thou shalt bear thyself about with the and so thou shalt alway find thyself. Turn the where thou wilt about the & beneath thee: within the and without thee/ & thou shalt find this cross on every side/ so that it shallbe necessary for the that thou alway keep the in patience/ and that it behoveth the to do if thou wilt have in ward peace/ and deserve the perpetual crown in heaven/ if thou wilt gladly bear this cross it shall bear the and it shall bring the to the end that thou desirest where thou shalt never after have any thing to suffer: And if thou bear this crossed against thy will/ thou makest a great burden to thyself/ and it will be more grievous to the and yet it behoveth the to bear it/ and if it happen the to pull away one cross/ that is to say one tribulation: yet surely an other will come and happily more grievous than the first was T●oweste thou to escape that never yet any mortal man might escape. What saint in this world hath been without this Cross and without some trouble. Truly our lord jesus was not one hour without some sorrow & pain as long as he lived here/ for it behoveth him to suffer death and to rise again & so to enter in to his glory/ and how it is than that thou sekeste any other way to heaven that this plain high way of the Cross. All the life of Christ? was cross and martyrdom/ and thou seekest pleasure & joy: Thou errest greatly if thou seek any other thing than to suffer: For all this mortal life is full of miseries and is all beset about and marked with Crosses/ and the more highly that a man profiteth in spirit the more painful crosses shall he find/ for by the soothfastness of Christ's lone wherein he daily increaseth daily appeareth unto him more and more the pain of his exile. But nevertheless a man thus vexed with pain is not sefte holy without all comfort/ for he seeth well that great fruit and high reward shall grow unto him by the bearing of his cross: And when a man freely submitteth himself unto such tribulation/ than all the burden of tribulation is suddenly turned in to a great trust of heavenly consolation. And the more the flesh is punished with tribulation/ the more is the soul strengthened daily by inward consolation/ and sometime the soul shall feel such comfort in adversities/ that for the love and desire that it hath to be conformed to christ crucified it wolbe not be without sorrow and trouble/ for it considereth well that there more that it may suffer for his love here/ the more acceptable shall be to him in the life to come. But this working is not in the power of man: but through the grace of god that is to say that a frail man should take and love that his bodily kind so much abhorreth and fleeth/ for it is not in the power of man gladly to bear the cross/ to love the Cross/ to chastise the body and to make it burn in to the will of the spirit/ to ●e honours gladly to sustain reprefes/ to despise himself and to covet to be despised/ patiently to suffer adversities/ with all displeasures thereof/ and not to desire any manner of profit in this world/ if thou trust in thyself thou shalt never bring this matter about: but if thou trust in god/ he shall send the strength from heaven/ and the world and the flesh shallbe made subject to thee: yea and if thou be strongly armed with faith and be merked with the cross of christ as his household servant thou shalt not need to fere the ghostly enemy for he shall also be made subject to thee: so that he shall have no power against the. Purpose thyself therefore as a true faithful servant of god to bear manfully the cross of thy lord jesus: that for thy love was crucified upon the cross/ prepare thyself to suffer all manner of adversities and dyscomodites in this wretched life/ for so shall it be with the where so ever thou hide thee/ & there is no remedy to escape/ but that thou must keep thyself always in patience/ if thou desire to be a dear and a well-beloved friend of christ: drink affectuously with him a draft of the chalice of his tribulation. As for consolations commit them to his will that he order them as he knoweth most expedient for thee/ but as for thyself/ and for as much as in the is/ dispose the to suffer & when tribulations come take them as special consolations. Saying with the Apostle thus. ☞ The passion of this world he not worthy of themself to bring us to the glory that is ordained for us in the life to come. And that is true though one man alone might suffer asmuch as all men do suffer/ when thou comest to that degree of patience: that tribulation is sweet to the and for the love of god is savoury and pleasant in thy sight/ than mayst thou trust that it is well with the and that thou art in good estate for thou haste found paradise in earth. But as long as it is grievous to the to suffer and thou sekeste to i'll/ so long it is not well with thee: ne so long thou art not in the perfit way of patience/ but if thou couldst bring thyself to that estate that thou shouldest be at/ that is to suffer gladly for god/ and to die fully to the world than it should shortly be better with the and thou shouldest find great peace/ but yet all though thou were rapt with Paul in to the third heaven/ thou shouldest not therefore be sure without all adversity. For our saviour speaking of saint Paul after he had been rapt in to heaven: said thus of him. ☞ I shall show him how many things he shall suffer for me.: ☜ To suffer therefore remaineth to the if thou wilt love thy lord jesus and serve him perpetually: would to god that thou wert worthy to suffer some what for his love. O how great joy should it be to the to suffer for him/ what gladness to all the saints of heaven/ & how great edifying to thy neighbour/ all men commend patience/ & yet few men will suffer. Right wisely thou oughtest to suffer some little thing for god that suffered much more for the world. And know this for certain that after this bodily death/ thou shalt yet live/ and the more that thou canst die to thyself here the more thou beginnest to line to god. No man is apt to receive the heavenly rewards/ but he have first learned to bear adversities for the love of christ for nothing is more acceptable to god/ nor more profitable to man in this world than to be glad to suffer for Christ/ in so much that if it were put in thy election/ thou shouldest rather those adversity than prosperity/ for than by the patient suffering thereof thou shouldest be the more like to christ/ and the more confirmed to all his saints. Our merit and our perfection of life standeth not in consolations and sweetness/ but rather in suffering of great grievous adversities and tribulations For if there had been any nearer or better way for the health of man's soul than to suffer/ our lord jesus would have showed it by words/ or by examples. But for there was not/ therefore he openly exhorted his disciples that followed him/ and all other that desired to follow him: to forsake their own will and to take the Cross of penance/ and follow him. saying thus, ☞: Who so will come after me: forsake he his own will: take he the cross & follow he me. ♣ Therefore all things searched and read/ be this the final conclusion/ that by many tribulations it behoveth us to enter in to the kingdom of heaven/ unto the which bring us our Lord jesus. Amen.    


¶ Here beginneth the third book Of the inward speaking of Christ to a faithful soul. The first chapter. ☜  
IS shall take heed saith a devout soul and I shall here what my Lord jesus shall speak in me. Blessed is that man which heareth jesus speaking in his soul and that taketh of his mouth some word of comfort/ and blessed be though ears that here the secret rownynges of jesus and heed not the deceitful rownynges of this world. ☞: And blessed be the good plain ears that heed not the outward speech/ but rather take heed what god speaketh and teacheth with inforth in the soul. Blessed be though eyen also that be shut from sight of outward vanities and that take heed to the inward movings of god. Blessed be they also that get them virtues and prepare them by god daily & ghostly work to receive daily more and more the secret inspirations & inward teachings of god. Also blessed be they that set themself holy to serve god and for his service set apart all lettings of the world. ♣ O thou my soul take heed to that is said before/ and shut the doors of thy sensualytes that are thy u wyttest that thou mayst here inwardly what our lord jesus speaketh in thy soul. Thus saith thy beloved. ☞: I am thy health/ I am thy peace/ I am thy life/ keep the with me/ and thou shalt find peace in me/ forsake the love of transitory things: and seek things that be everlasting. What be all temporal things but deceivable/ and what may any creature help thee: if thy lord jesus forsake the. Therefore all creatures & all worldly things forsagen and left: do that in the is to make the pleasant in his sight that thou mayst after his life come to the everlasting life in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.   

❧ How almighty god speaketh inwardly to man's soul without sound of words.: ☜ The second chapter.  
Speak lord/ for I thy servant am ready to here the. I am thy servant/ give me wysdomme and understanding to know thy commandments. Bow my heart to follow the words of thy holy teachings that they may distill in to my soul/ as dew in to the grass. ☞: The children of Israel said to Moses'/ speak thou to us & we shall here thee/ but let not our lord speak to us jest haply we die for dread. ♣: Nat so lord not so I beseech thee/ but rather I ask meekly with Samuel the prophet that thou vouchsafe to speak to me thyself/ and I shall gladly here thee/ let not Moses ne none other of the prophets speak to me/ but rather thou lord that art the inward inspirour and giver of light to all Prophets/ for thou only without them mayst fully inform me & instruct me. They without the may little profit me They speak thy words but they give not the spirit to understand the words. They speak fair/ but if thou be still they kindle not the heart. They show fair letters/ but thou declarest the sentence. They bring forth great high mysteries/ but thou openest thereof the true understanding they declare thy commandments/ but thou helpest to perform them. They show the way but thou givest comfort to walk therein. They do all outwardly/ but thou illumynest & informest the heart within. They water only without forth/ but thou givest the inward growing. They cry all in words but thou givest to the heres understanding of the words that he hard. ♣: Let not Moses therefore speak to me but thou my lord jesus that art the everlasting troth/ lest haply I die & be made as a man without fruit warned without forth and not inflamed within: and so to have the harder judgement for that I have heard thy word & not done it/ known it & not loved it/ believed it & not fulfilled it. Speke therefore to me thyself for I thy servant am ready to here the. Thou haste the words of eternal life speak them to me to the full comfort of my soul & give me amendment of all my life passed to thy joy honour and glory everlastingly. Amen   

¶ That the words of god are to be herd with great meekness/ and that there be but few that ponder them as they aught to do. The iii chapter.  
My son saith our lord hear my words and follow them for they be most sweet fare passing the wisdom and cunning of all philosophers & of all the wise men of the world. My words be spiritual and ghostly and can not be fully comprehended by man's wit ne they art not to be turned ne to be applied to the vain pleasure of the hearer/ but are to be heard in silence with great meekness and reverence and with great inward affection of the heart and also in great rest and quietness of body and of soul. O blessed is he lord whom thou enformeste and teachest so that thou mayst be meek and merciful lord unto him in the evil day/ that is to say in the day of the most dreadful judgement/ that he be not than left desolate and comfortless in the land of damnation. ❧: Than saith our Lord again. ☞: I have taught Prophets from the beginning: and yet I cease not to speak to every creature/ but many be deaf and will not hear/ and many hear the world more gladly than me/ & more lightly follow the appetite of the flesh/ than the pleasure of god. The world ꝓmiseth temporal things of small valour and yet he is served with great affection but god promiseth his things/ and things eternal and the hearts of the people be slow and dull. O who serveth and obeyeth god in all things with so great desire as he doth the world & as worldly princes be served and obeyed I trow none. For why? For a little prebend/ great iournayes be taken. But for the life everlasting the people will scarcely lift their feet once from the ground. A thing that is of small prise many times is busily sought/ and for a penny is sometime great strife/ and for the promise of a little worldly profit men eschew not to swink and sweat both day and night But alas for sorrow for the goods everlasting and for the reward that may not be esteemed by man's heart/ and for the high honour and glory that never shall have end. Men be slow to take any manner of pain or labour. Be thou therefore ashamed thy slow servant of god that they be founden more ready to work of death than thou art to work of life/ and that they joy more in vanity than thou in troth: & yet they be oft deceived that: that they have most trust in/ but my promise deceiveth no man ne leaveth no man that trusteth in me without some comfort/ that I have promised I will perform/ and that I have said I will fulfil to every person/ so that they abide faithfully in my love and dread unto the end/ for I am the reward of all good men/ and a strong prover of all devout souls: write my words therefore in thy heart diligently & oft think thou upon them/ and they shallbe in time of temptation much necessary unto thee/ that thou understandest not when thou readest it: thou shalt understand in the time of my visitation. I am wont to visit my servants two manner of ways/ that is to say with temptation and with consolation/ and two lessons daily I read unto them/ one whereby I rebuke their vices/ an other whereby I stir them to increase in virtues. And he that knoweth my words and despiseth them/ hath that that shall judge him in the last day.   

❧ A prayer to obtain the grace of devotion. The fourth chapter.  
O Lord jesus thou art all my riches/ and all that I have: I have it of thee/ but what am I Lord that I dare thus speak to the I am thy poreste servant/ and a worn most abject/ more poor/ and more dyspysable than I can or dare say. Behold Lord that I am naught/ that I have naught/ & of myself I am naught worth. Thou art only god/ rightwise and holy/ thou orderest all thing/ thou givest all thing and thou fulfylleste all things with thy goodness/ leaving only the wretched sinner barren and void of heavenly comfort Remember thy mercies and fill my heart with thy many fold grace's/ for thou wilt not that thy warkis in me be made in vain. How many I bear the miseries of this life: but thy grace and mercy do comfort me therein. Turn not thy face fro me: differre not thy vysiting of me/ ne withdraw not thy comforts from me/ lest haply my soul be made as dry earth: without the water of grace/ & as it were a thing unprofitable to the. Teach me Lord to fulfil thy will/ and to live meekly and worthily before thee/ for thou art all my wisdom and cunning/ and thou art he that knowest me as I am/ and that knewest me before the world was made/ and before that I was borne or brought in to this life.   

❧: How we aught to be conversant before god in troth and meekness. The .v. Chapitre.  
MI sone saith our lord jesus/ walk before me in truth and meekness/ and seek me alway in simpleness/ and plainness of heart. He that walketh in truth shallbe defended from all perils and dangers/ and truth shall deliver him fro all deceivers and from all evil sayings of wicked people. If troth deliver thee/ thou art very free: and thou shalt little care for the vain sayings of the people. ♣: Lord it is true all that thou sayest/ be it done to me after thy saying: I beseech the that thy troth may teach me and keep me/ and finally lead me to a blessed ending/ and that it may deliver me from all evil affections/ and from all inordynate love/ that I may walk with the in freedom of spirit and in liberty of heart.  
Than troth saith again I shall teach the what is acceptable and liking to me think on thy sins passed with great displeasure and sorrow of heart/ and never think thyself worthy to be called holy or virtuous for no good deeds that thou haste done/ but that thou think how great a sinner thou art belapped and bound with many fold sins and passions/ and that of thyself thou droweste to naught son fallest/ soon art overcome/ soon troubeled/ and soon art thou broken with labour and pain/ and thou hast nothing whereof thou mayst ryghtwysely glorify thyself/ but many things thou haste wherefore thou oughtest to despise thyself/ for thou art more unstable and more weak to ghostly works than thou knowest or mayst think: Let nothing therefore seem great to thee/ nothing precious/ nothing worthy any reputation/ ne worthy to be praised in thy sight/ but that is everlasting. Let the everlasting troth be most liking and most pleasant in the above all other things/ and thine own sin & vylete be most misliking and most dyspleasaunte to thee/ dread nothing so much ne reprove nothing so much: ne let nothing be to the so much hated/ ne i'll thou nothing so much as thy sins and wickedness/ for they should more displease thee: than should the loss of all worldly things. ☞: ★: Some there be that walk not purely before me: for they through pride and curiosity of themself desire to search & to know high things of my godhead forgetting themself and the health of their own souls. Such persons fall oft times in great temptations & into grievous sins for their pride and curiosity/ for the which I am turned against them: and leave them to themself without help or counsel of me. ☞: dread therefore the judgement of God and the wrath of him that is almighty and discuss not ne search not his secrets/ but search well thine own iniquities. How oft and how grievously thou haste offended him/ and how many good deeds thou haste neglygantly omitted and left undone/ which thou mightest well have done. Some persons bear their devotion in bokis/ some in images/ some in outward tokens and figures/ some have me in their mouth: but little in their heart/ but some ther● be that hath their reason clearly illumined with the light of true understanding. whereby their affection is so purged and purified from love of earthly things that they may always covet and desire heavenly things: in so much that it is grievous to them for to here of earthly things/ and it is to them also a right great pain to serve the necessities of the body/ and they think all the time as lost that they go about it. Such persons feel and know well what the spirit of troth speaketh in their soul's/ for it teacheth them to despise earthly things/ and to love heavenly things: to forsake the world that is transitory/ and to desire both day and night to come thither where is joy ever lasting. To the which bring us our lord jesus amen.   

❧ Of the marvelous effect of the love of God. The vi chapter.  
BLessed be thou heavenly Father: The father of my Lord jesus christ/ for thou haste vouchsafe to remember me thy poorest servant and sometime dost comfort me with thy gracious presence/ that am unworthy all comfort. I bless the and glorify the alway with the only begotten son and the holy ghost without ending. Amen. ♣ O my lord god most faithful lover/ when thou comest into my heart: all my inward parties do joy. Thou art my glory: and the joy of my heart/ my hope and my hole refuge in all my troubles. But for as much as I am yet feeble in love and unperfect in virtue: therefore I have need to have more comfort/ and more help of thee/ voutchesafe therefore oft times to visit me/ and to instruct me with thy holy teachynger/ deliver me fro all evil passions/ and help my sick heart from all inordinate affections/ that I may be inwardly healed and purged from all inordinate affections and vices and be made apt and able to love thee/ strong for to suffer for thee/ and stable to persever in the. Love is a great thing and a good/ and only maketh heavy burden light/ and beareth in like balance things pleasant & displeasant/ it beareth a heavy burden & feeleth it not/ & maketh bitter things to be savoury & sweet Also the noble love of jesus perfitly printed in man's soul maketh a man to do great things and stirreth him alway to desire perfection/ and to grow more and more in grace and goodness. Love will always have his mind upward to god and will not be occupied with love of the world. Love well also be free from all worldly affections that the inward sight of the soul be not darked ne let/ ne that his affection to heavenly things be not put from his fire liberty by inordinate winning or losing of worldly things. Nothing therefore is more sweeter than love/ nothing higher/ nothing stronger/ nothing larger/ nothing ioyfuller nothing fuller/ ne nothing better in heaven: ne in earth/ for love descendeth from god and may not rest finally in nothing lower than god. ♣ such a lover fleethe high/ he runneth sweftely/ he is merry in god/ he is free in soul/ he giveth all for all/ and hath all in all/ for he resteth in one high goodness above all things/ of whom all goodness floweth & proceedeth he beholdeth not only the gift/ but the giver above all gift/ love knoweth no measure but is fervent without measure▪ It feeleth no burden: it regardeth no labour/ it desireth more than it may attain/ it complaineth of none inpossibilyte for it thinketh all thing that may be done for his beloved possible and lawful unto him. Love therefore doth many great things and bringeth them to effect wherein he that is no lover fainteth and faileth. Kove waketh much and i'll yet little/ and sleeping? sleepeth not/ it fainteth: and is not weary: is restrained of liberty? and is in great freedom. He seethe causes of frre? and feareth not/ but as a quick bronde or sparkle of fire flameth always upward by fervor of love in to god/ and through the special help of grace is delivered from all perils/ and dangers. He that is thus a ghostly lover knoweth well what this voice meaneth which saith thus. ☞: Thou lord god art my hole love and my desire/ thou art all my and I all thine. Spread thou my heart in to thy love that I may taste & feel how sweet it is to serve the and how joyful it is to laud the and to be as I were all molten in to thy love. O am bounden in love and go far above myself for the great wonder fervour that I feel of thy unspeakable goodness I shall sing to thee: the song of love/ and I shall follow the my beloved: by highness of thought: where so ever thou go. And my soul shall never be weary to praise the with the joyful song of ghostly love that I shall sing to the. I shall love the more than myself/ and not myself but for the and all other in the and for thee/ as the law of love commandeth which ●s given by the. Love is swift/ pure meek/ joyous and glad/ strong/ patient/ faithful/ wise/ forbearing/ manly and never seeking himself ne his own will/ for when so ever a man seeketh himself/ he falleth fro love/ also love is circumspect meek/ rightwise/ not tender/ not light/ ne heding vain things/ sober/ chaste/ stable/ quiet/ and well stabled in his outward wits. And love is subject and obedient to his prelate/ vile and dispisable in his own sight: devout & thankful to god/ trusting and always hoping in him/ and that when he hath but little devotion or little savour in him/ for without some sorrow or pain no man may live in love/ he that is not alway ready to sussre/ and to stand fully at the will of his beloved/ is not worthy to be called a lover/ for it behoveth a lover to suffer gladly all hard and bitter things for his beloved/ and not to decline from his love for no contrarious thing that may befall unto him.   

❧ Of the proof of a true lover of god. The vii chapter.  
My son saith our saviour Christ thou art not yet a strong and a wise lover: for why? For a little adversity thou leavest anon that thou haste begun in my service & with great desire thou seekest outward consolations But a strong and a faithful lover of god standeth stable in all adversities and giveth little hed● to the deceitful persuasions of the enemy. And as I please him in prosperity: so I displease him not in adversity. A wise lover considereth not so much the gift of his lover as he doth the love of the giver/ he regardeth more the love than the gift/ and accounteth all gifts little in comparison of his beloved that giveth them to him A noble lover resteth not in the gift/ but in me above all gifts/ furthermore it is not all lost though thou sometime feel less devotion to me and to my saints than thou wouldst do/ and on that other side the sweet ghostly desire that thou feelest sometime to thy Lord jesus/ is the feeble gift of grace given to thy comfort in this life and a taste of the heavenly glory in the life to come/ but it is not good that thou leave overmuch to such comforts for they lightly come and go after the will of a giver/ but to strive always without ceasing against all evil motions of sign/ and to despise all the suggestions of the enemy is a token of perfit love and great merit and syneguler grace/ let no vanitis ne no strange fantysyes trouble the of what matter so ever they be▪ Keep thine intent and thy purpose alway hole and strong to me/ and think not that it is an illusion that thou art suddenly ravished in to excess of mind/ and that thou art soon after turned again in to thy first lightness of heart/ for thou sufferest such lightness rather against thy will than with thy will. And therefore if thou be disposed therewith/ it shallbe to the great merit and no perdition. ☞ I know saith ou● lord that the old ancient enemy the find will assay to let thy good will/ and to extinct the good desire that thou haste to me/ and to all goodness all that he can/ and he will also hinder the from all good work and devout exercises if he may: that is to say from the honour and worship that thou art bounden to give to me and to my saints/ and from mind of my passion/ & from the remembrance of thine own sins/ from a diligent keeping of thy heart in good meditations: and from a steadfast purpose to profit in virtue/ he will also put in to thy mind many idle thought to make ●he irk and to be soon weary with prayer and with reading & with all other good virtuous work. A meek confession displeaseth him much and if he can he will let a man that he shall not be howsyled. But believe him not ne care not for him though he assail the never so much/ make all his malice return to himself again and say to him thus. ❧ Go from me thou wicked spirit: and be thou ashamed/ for thou art foul and ugly that wouldest bring such things in to my mind. Go fro me thou false deceiver of mankind: thou shalt have no part in me/ for my saviour jesus standeth by me as a mighty warrior and a strong champion/ and thou shalt i'll away to thy confusion. I had liefer suffer the most cruel death than to consent to thy malicious styrrynges/ be still therefore thou cursed find and cease thy malice: for I shall never assent to thee/ though thou vex me never so much. Our lord is my light and my health whom shall I dread and he is the defender of my life/ what shall I fear. Truly though an host of men arise against me: my heart shall not dread them: for why? God is my helper & my redeemer. Than saith our lord again to such a soul. ☞: strive alway as a true knight against all the styrryngꝭ of the enemy: & if thou be sometime through thy frailty overcome rise soon again and take more strength than thou hadst first & trust verily to have more grace and more comfort of god than thou hadst before/ but beware alway of vain glory and pride/ for thereby many persons have fallen into great errors and into great blindness of soul so far: that it hath been right nigh incurable. Be it therefore to the a great example and a matter of perpetual meekness: the fall and ruin of such proud folks/ that foolishly have presumed of themself. And have in the end finally perished by their presumption.   

❧ How grace is to be kept close through the virtue of meekness. The viii chapter.  
My son: it is much more expedient: and moche more the surer way for thee/ that thou hide the grace of devotion/ and not to speak moche of it/ ne much to regard it/ but rather to despise thyself the more for it: and to think thyself unworthy any such gracious gift of god/ than to speak of it. And it is not good to cleave much to such affections that may be soon turned to the contrary. When thou hast the grace of devotion consider how wretched & how needy thou wert wont to be when thou haddest no such grace. The profit & increase of life spiritual is not only when thou hast devotion but rather when thou canst meekly and patiently bear the withdrawing/ and the absentinge thereof/ and yet not to leave thy prayers ne thy other good deeds that thou art accustomed to do: undone but to thy power and as far as in the is/ thou dost thy best therein and forgettest not thy duty therefore nor thou art not negligent for any dullness or unquietness of mind that thou feleste. Nevertheless there be many persons that when any adversity falleth to them they be anon unpacyent and be made thereby very slow and dull to do any good deed/ and they hinder themself greatly. For it is not in the power of man the way that he shall take/ but it is only in the grace of god to dispose that after his will and to send comfort when he will and as much as he will & to whom he will as it shall please him and none otherwise. Some unware persons through an undescrete desire that they have had to have the grace of devotion have destroyed themself/ for they would do more than their power was to do. And would not know the measure of their gift ne thy lytelnes of their own strength: but rather would follow the pride of their heart than the judgement that it of reason. And because they presumed to do greater things than was pleasant to god/ therefore they lost anon the grace that they had before/ and were left needy and without comfort/ which thought to have builded their nests in heaven/ & so they were taught not to presume of themself/ but meekly to trust in god & in his goodness. Also such persons as be begynners': & yet lack experience in ghostly travail: may lightly err & be deceived/ but they will be ruled by counsel of other. And if they will needily follow their own counsel and will in no wise be removed fro their own will/ it will be very perilous to them in the end And it is not lightly seen that they that be wise and cunning in their own sight will be meekly ruled or ordered by other It is better to have little cunning with meekness than great cunning with vain liking therein/ and it is better to have little cunning with grace/ than much cunning whereof thou shouldst be proud/ also he doth not discreetly that in time of devotion setteth himself all to spiritual mirth and as it were to a heavenly gladness: and forgetteth his former desolation and the meek dread of god. Ne he doth not well nor virtuously that in time of trouble or of any manner adversity or gravity beareth himself overmuch desperately and feeleth not ne thinketh not so trustfully of me as he aught to do/ he that in time of peace & of ghostly comfort will think himself over much siker/ commonly in time of battle and of temptation shallbe found overmuhe deject and fearful. But if thou couldst alway abide meek and little in thine own sight and couldst order well the motions of thine own soul/ thou shouldest not so soon fall into presumption or despair/ ne so lightly offend almighty god/ wherefore this is good and wholesome counsel/ that when thou hast the spirit of fervor thou think how thou shalt do when that fervor is passed/ and than when it happeneth so with thee: that thou think that it may soon come again/ which to my honour & to thy proving I have withdrawn for a time. And it is more profitable to the that thou shouldst be so proved than that thou shouldest always have prosperous things after thy will/ for why merits are not to be thought great in any person because he hath many visions or many ghostly comforts/ or for that he hath clear understanding of scripture or that he is set in high degree But if he be stably grounded in meekness and be fulfilled with charity/ & seek holy the worship of god and in nothing regardeth himself/ but fully in his heart can despise himself/ and also coveteth to be despised of other/ than may he have good trust that he hath somewhat profited in grace and that he shall in the end have great reward of god for his good travail. Amen.   

❧ How we shall think through meekness ourself vile and abject in the sight of God. The ix chapter.  
SHall I lord jesus dare speak to thee: that am but dust and ashes: verily if I think myself any better than ashes & dust/ thou standest against me. And also mine own sins bear witness against me that I may not with say it/ but if I despise myself and set myself at nought/ and think myself but ashes and dust as I am/ than thy grace shallbe nigh unto me: and the light of true understanding shall enter into my heart/ so that all presumption and pride in me shall be drowned in the vale of meekness through perfit knowing of my wretchedness. Through meekness thou shalt show unto me what I am/ what I have been and fro whence I came/ for I am naught and knew it not/ if I be left to myself than am I nought and all is feebleness and inꝑfection. But if thou vouchsafe a little to behold me/ anon I am made strong/ and filled with a new joy and marvel it is that I wretch/ and so soon lift up fro my unstableness in to the beholding of heavenly things/ and that I am so lovingly enhalsed of thee: that of myself fall down alway to earthly lykynges. But thy love lord: causeth all this which preventh me: and helpeth me in all my necessities/ and keepeth me warily from all perils and dangers that I am daily like to fall into. I have lost the and also myself by inordynate love that I have had to myself/ and in keeping of the again. I have found both the and me & therefore will I more deeply from henseforth set myself at naught and more diligently seek the than I have done in time passed/ for thou lord jesus thou dost to me above all my merits/ and above all that I can ask or desire. But blessed be thou in all thy work for though I be unworthy good things/ yet thy goodness never cesseth to do well to me and all so to many other/ which be unkind to the & that are turned right far fro the. Turn us Lord therefore to the again that we may hensforwarde be loving/ thankful/ meek/ & devout to thee/ for thou art our health/ thou art our virtue/ and all our strength in body and in soul/ and none but thou/ to the therefore be joy and glory everlastingly in the bless of heaven Amen.   

❧ How all things are to be referred to god as end of every work. The ten chapter.  
MI sone sayeth our saviour christ I must be the end of all thy warns if thou desire to be happy and blessed And if thou refer all goodness to me from whom all goodness cometh. Than shall be purged and made clean in thee/ thine in ward affections which else would be evil inclined to thyself & to other creatures/ if thou seek thyself in any thing as end of thy work/ anon thou failest in thy doing and waxest dry and barren from all moister of grace/ wherefore thou must refer all things to me for I give all. Behold therefore all things as they be flowing and springing out of my sovereign goodness: and reduce all things to me as to their original beginning/ for of me both small and great/ poor & rich as of a quick springing well draw water of life/ he that serveth me freely/ and with good will/ shall receive grace for grace. But he that will glorify himself in himself/ or will fully joy in any thing beside me/ shall not be stablesshed in perfit joy ne be dilated in soul/ but he shall be letted & anguysshed many ways from the true freedom of spirit/ thou shalt therefore ascribe no goodness to thyself ne thou shalt not think that any person hath any goodness of himself/ but that thou yield alway the goodness to me/ without whom man hath nothing. I have given all: and all will I have again and with great strains/ will I look to have thankings therefore. This is the truth whereby is driven away all manner of vain glory and pride of heart if heavenly grace and perfit charity enter into thy heart/ than there shall no envy ne unquietness of mind ne any private love have true rule in the. For the charity of god shall overcome all things/ & shall dilate and inflame all the powers of thy soul. Wherefore if thou understandest a right thou shalt never joy but in me: and in me only thou shalt have trust/ for no man is good but god alone/ which is above all things to be honoured and in all things to be blessed. Amen.   

❧ That it is sweet & delectable to serve god/ and to forsake the world. The xi chapter.  
How shall I yet speak again to the my Lord jesus/ and not cease. And I shall say in the ●ares of my Lord: my god and king/ that is in heaven. ★: O how great is the abundance of the sweetness which thou hast hide and kept for them that dread the. But what is it than to them that love thee: and that with all their heart do serve thee/ verily it is the unspeakable sweetness of contemplation that thou givest to them that love the. In this Lord thou haste most showed the sweetness of thy charity to me/ that when I was not thou madest me/ & when I erred far from thee/ thou broughtest me again to serve thee/ and thou commandest me also that I shall love the. ♣ O fountain of love everlasting what shall I say of thee/ how may I forget thee: that haste vouchsafe thus loungly to remember me. When I was like to have perished thou showdest thy mercy to me above all that I could have thought and desired/ and hast sent me of thy grace & of thy love above my merits. But what shall I give to the again for all this goodness. It is not given to all men to forsake the world and to take a solitary life & only to serve the. And yet it is no great thing to serve thee/ whom every creature is bound to serve. It aught not therefore to seem any great thing to me to serve thee/ but rather it should seem marvel and wonder to me/ that thou wilt vouchsafe to receive so poor/ and so unworthy a creature as I am into thy service/ and that thou wilt join me to thy well-beloved servants. Lo lord all things that I have: and all that I do the service with be thine. And yet thy goodness is such that thou rather servest me than I the. For lo? heaven and earth/ planets/ & stars with their contents which thou haste created to serve man/ be ready at thy bidding & do daily that thou haste commanded. And thou haste also ordained Angels to the ministry of man. But above all this thou haste vouchsafe to serve man thyself/ and hast promised to give thyself unto him/ what shall I than give to the again for this thousand fold goodness/ would to god that I might serve the all the days of my life/ or at the lest/ that I might one day be able to do the faylthful service for thou art worthy all honour service and praising for ever Thou art my lord and my god/ and I thy poorest servant most bound before all other to love the and praise thee/ and I never aught to wax weary of the praising of the. And that is it that I ask: that I desire/ that is to say/ that I may alway laud the and praise thee/ vouchsafe therefore most merciful lord to supply that wanteth in me/ for it is great honour to serve the and all earthly things to despise for the love of the. They shall have great grace that freely submitteth themself to thy holy service. And they shall find also the most sweet consolation of the holy ghooste/ & shall have great freedom of spirit/ that here forsake all worldly business and chose an hard and a straight life in this world for thy name. ♣. O fire & joyful service of god/ by the which a man is made fire and holy/ and also blessed in the sight of god. ♣. O holy state of religion which maketh a man like to Angels pleasant to god/ dreadful to wicked spirits/ & to all faithful people right highly commendable. O service much to be enhalsed and always to be desired/ by whom the high goodness is won & the everlasting joy and gladness is gotten without end.   

❧: That the desires of the heart aught to be well examined/ and well to be modered. The xii chapter.  
my sone saith our lord it behoveth the to learn many things/ that thou haste not yet well learned. What be they Lord that thou order thy desires and thy affections holy after my pleasure/ and that thou be not a lover of thyself/ but a desirous follower of my will in all things/ I know well that desires oft move the to this thing or to that. But consider well whether thou be moved principally for my honour or for thine own. If I be in the cause thou shalt be well contented what so ever I do with ●he but if any thing remain in thy heart of thine own will/ that is it that letteth the and hindereth the. Beware therefore that thou leave not much to thine own desire without my counsel/ lest haply it for think the and displease the in the end that first pleased the. Every affection and desire of man's heart that seemeth good and holy/ is not forhwith to be followed nor every contrarious affection or desire is not hastily to be refused it is sometime right expedient that a man refrain his affections & desires though they be good/ lest happily by his importunity he fall into unquietness of mind/ or be letted by other/ & so fail in his doing and sometime it behoveth us to use as it were a violence to ourself and strongly to resist and break down our sensual appetite and not to regard what the flesh will/ or will not/ but always to take heed that it be made subject to the will of the spirit/ and that it be so long chastised & compelled to serve till it be ready to all thing that the soul commandeth/ and that it can learn to be content with a little and can delight in simple things: & not to murmur ne to grudge for no contrarious thinger that may befall unto it.   

❧: How we should keep patience and continually strive against all concupiscence. The xiii chapter.  
O My lord god as I here say patience is much necessary unto me/ for many contrarious things fall daily in this life. I see well that how so ever I order myself to have peas yet my life can not be without some battle and sorrow. ☞: My son it is true as thou sayest/ wherefore I will not that thou seek to have such peace as wanteth temptations or as feeleth not some contradiction. But that thou trow and believe that thou haste found peace when thou hast many troubles & art proved with many contrarious things in this world and if thou say thou mayst not suffer such things/ how shalt thou than suffer the fire of purgatory. Of two euyl●es the less evil is to be taken. Suffer therefore patiently the little pains of this world/ that thou mayst here after escape the greater in the world to come. Trowest thou that worldly men suffer little or nothing? yes truly/ thou shalt find none without some trouble though thou seek the most delicate persons that be. But percase thou sayest unto me again they have many delectations and follow their own pleasures so much that they ponder but little all their adversity. I will well it be as thou sayest that they have all that they can desire/ but how long trowest thou that it shall endure. soothly it shall suddenly vanish away as smoke in the air/ so that there shall not be left any remembrance of their joys passed And yet when they lived they were not without great bitterness & grief/ for oftentimes of the same thing wherein they had their greatest pleasure received they after great trouble and pain: and ryghtewysely came that unto them/ that for asmuch as they sought delectations and pleasures inordynately/ that they should not fulfil their desire therein but with great bitterness and sorrow. ❧: How short/ how false/ and how inordynate be all the pleasures of this world/ soothly for dronkenshype and blindness of heart/ the worldly people perceive it not/ ne will not perceive it: but as a dombre beastes·s For a lytell pleasure of this corruptible life they run headlong into everlasting death. ♣: Therefore my son go not thou after thy concupycense/ but turn the lightly from thine own will: delight the in god and fix thy love strongly in him and he shall give thee/ the asking of thy heart. And if thou wilt have consolation abundantly and wilt receive the soothfast comfort that cometh of god/ dispose thyself fully to despise this world and put from the holy all inordynate delectation/ & thou shalt have plenteously the comfort of god. And the more that thou withdrawest the from the consolation of all creatures/ the more sweet and blessed consolations shalt thou receive of thy creature. But soothly thou canst not at the first come to such consolations but with heaviness and labour going before thy old custom will somewhat with stand thee/ but with a better custom if may be overcome. The flesh will murmur against thee/ but with fervour of spirit it shallbe refrained. The old ancient enemy the fiend will let the if he can but with devout prayer he shallbe driven alway/ & with good bodily and ghostly labours his way shallbe stopped so that he shall not dare nigh unto the.   

❧: Of the obedience of a meek subject after the example of our lord jesus Christ. The xiiii chapter  
My sone saith our saviour Christ he that laboureth to withdraw him from obedience withdrawethe him fro grace And he that seeketh to have private things loseth the things that be in common/ if a man can not gladly submit him to his superior/ it is a token that his flesh is not yet fully obedient to the spirit/ but that it oft rebelleth and murmureth. Therefore if thou desire to overcome thyself & to make thy flesh obey meekly to the will of the spirit/ learn first to obey gladly to thy superior. The out ward enemy is the sooner overcome if the inner man that is the soul be not feebled nor wasted. There is no worse ne none more grievous enemy to the soul: than thyself if thy flesh be not well agreeing to the will of the spirit. It behoveth the therefore to have a true despising and contempt of thyself/ if thou wilt prevail against thy flesh and blood/ but for asmuch as thou yet lovest thyself inordinately/ therefore thou fearest to resign thy will holy to an other man's will. But what great thing is it to the that art but dust and naught/ if thou subdue thyself to man for my sake/ when I that am all mighty and most high god/ maker of all things subdued myself meekly to man for thy sake. I made myself most meek and most low of all men/ that thou shouldest learn to overcome thy pride through my meekness/ learn therefore thou ashes to be tractable/ learn thou earth and dust to be meek and to bow thyself under every man's so●e for my sake/ learn to break thine own will/ and to be subject to all mean as in thy heart. Rise in great wrath against thyself/ and suffer not pride to reign in thee/ but show thyself so little and so obedient and so naughty in thine own sight: that as the thinks all men may ryghtwysely go over the and trede upon thee/ as upon earth or clay. O vain man what haste thou to complain. O thou soul sinner/ what mayst thou ryghtwysely say against them that reprove the sith thou haste so oft offended god/ and hast also so oft deserved the pains of hell. But nevertheless my eye of mercy hath spared the for thy soul is precious in my sight/ that thou shuldesse thereby know the great love that I have to the and be therefore the more thankful to me again & give thyself to perfit & true subjection and meekness/ and to ●e ready in heart patiently to suffer for my sake thine own contempts & dispisingꝭ/ when so ever they shall happen to fall unto the. Amen.   

❧ Of the secret and hid judgements of god to be considered: that we be not proved of our good deeds. The xu Chapter.  
Lord thou sowneste thy judgements terryblye upon me/ and fylleste my body and bones with great fear and dread/ my soul also trembleth very sore/ for I am greatly astonied for that I see that heavens been not clean in thy sight/ for sith thou foundeste default in angels and sparedest them not what shall become of me that am but vile and stinking careyne. Stars fell from heaven: and I dust & ashes what should I presume. Also some people that seemed to have great works of virtue/ have fallen full low. And such as were fed with meat of angels/ I have seen after delight in swines meat/ that is to say in fleshly pleasures/ wherefore it may be well said and verified that there is no holiness ne goodness in us: if thou withdraw thy hand of mercy from us/ ne that no wisdom may avail us. ★: If thou lord govern it not: ne any strength help/ if thou seize to preserve us/ ne no sure chastity can be if thou lord defend it not/ ne any sure keeping many profit us/ if thou lord be not wakery upon us for if we be forsaken of the anon we be drowned and perish/ but if thou a little visit us with thy grace: we anon live and be lift up again. We be unstable: but by the we be confirmed/ we be cold and dull/ but by the we be stirred to fervour of spirit. O how meekly and how abiectely aught I therefore to feel of myself/ and how much aught I in my heart despise myself/ though I be held never so good and holy in sight of the world/ and how profoundly aught I to submit me to thy deep and profound judgements/ sith I find in myself nothing else but nought and nought. O substance that may not be pondered. O see that may not be sailed/ in the/ and by the I find that my substance is nothing and over all nought. Where is now the shadow of this worldly glory/ & where is the trust that I had in it. Truly it is vanished away through the deepness of thy secret and hid judgements upon me. What is flesh in thy sight/ how may clay glorify himself against his maker/ how may he be deceived with vain praises/ whose heart in troth is subject to god: all the world may not lift himself in to the pride/ whom troth that god is: hath perfitly made subject unto him/ ne he may not be deceived with any flattering: that putteth all his hole trust in god. For he seethe well that they that speak be vain and naught/ and that they shall shortly fail with the sound of words/ but the troth of god alway abideth.   

❧ How a man shall order himself in his desires. The xvi Chapter.  
My son (saith our saviour christ) Thus shalt thou say in every thing that thou desyreste. Lord if it be thy will: be it done as I ask/ and if it be to thy praising/ be it fulfilled in thy name. And if thou see it good and profitable to me/ give me grace to use it to thy honour. ♣: But if thou know it hurtful to me: and not profitable to the health of my soul/ than take from me such desire. Every desire cometh not of the holy ghost though it seem right wise and good/ for it is sometime full herd to judge whether a good spirit or an evil spirit/ moveth to this thing or to that/ or whether thou be moved of thine own spirit: Many be deceived in the end/ which first seemed to have been moved of the holy ghost. Therefore with dread of god/ and with meekness of heart it is to desire and ask what so ever cometh to our mind/ to be desired and asked/ and with a hole forsaking of ourself: to commit all things to god and say thus. ★: Lord thou knowest what thing is to me most profitable: do this or that after thy will/ give me what thou wilt/ as much as thou wilt/ and when thou wilt/ do with me as thou knowest best to be done/ and as it shall please thee/ and as shallbe most to thy honour/ put me where thou wilt/ and freely do with me in all things after thy will: thy creature I am and in thy hands lead me & turn me where thou wilt. Lo. I am thy servant ready to all things that thou commandest: for I desire not to live to myself: but to the would to god it might be worthily and profitably and to thy honour. Amen.   

❧ A prayer that the will of god he alway fulfilled. The xvii chapter.  
most benign lord jesus grant me thy grace/ that it may be alway with me and work with me and persever with me unto the end And that I may ever desire & will that is most pleasant and most acceptable to the. ☞: Thy will be my will/ and my will always to follow thy will/ and best accord therewith. Be there always in me one will: and one desire with thee/ and that I have no power to will: or to not will: but as thou wilt: or will not. And grant me that I may die to all things that be in the world and for thee/ to love to be despised and to be as a man unknown in this world. Grant me also above all things that can be desired that I may rest me in thee: and fully in the to pacify my heart/ for thou lord art the very true peace of heart and the perfit rest of body and of soul. And without the all things be grievous and unquiet/ wherefore in that peace tha● is in the one high one blessed and one endless goodness shall I alway rest me/ so mo● it be. Amen.   

❧: That the very true solace and comfort is in god. The xviii chapter.  
WHat so ever I may desire or think to my comfort/ I abide it not here/ but I trust to have it hereafter/ for if I alone might have all the solace and comfort of this world and might use the delights thereof after mine own desire without sin. It is certain that they might not long endure/ wherefore my soul may not fully be comforted ne perfitly be refreshed but in god only that is the comforter of the poor in spirit and the embracer of the meek and low in heart. Abide my soul: abide the promise of god/ and thou shalt have abundance of all goodness in heaven. If thou inordinately covet these goods present thou shalt lose the goodness eternal/ have therefore goods present in ●se and eternal in desire. Thou mayst in no manner be satiate with temporal goods/ far thou art not created to use them and to resteth in them/ for if thou alone mightest have all the goods that ever were created & made thou mightest not therefore be happy: and blessed/ but thy blessed fullness and thy full felicity standeth only in god that hath made all things of naught/ and that is not such felicity as is commended of the foolish lovers of the world: but such as good christian men and women hope to have in the bleshe of heaven/ and as some ghostly persons clean and pure in heart sometime do taste here in this present life/ whose conversation is in heaven. All worldly solace and all man's comfort is vain and short: but that comfort is blessed & sothfaste that is perceived by troth inwardly in the heart. A devout follower of god beareth alway about with him his comforter that is jesus/ and saith thus unto him. My lord jesus I beseech the that thou be with me in every place and every time and that it be to me a special solace gladly for thy love to want all man's solace. And if thy solace want also/ that thy will and thy rightwise proving and assaying of me/ may be to me a singular comfort and a high solace/ thou shalt not alway be angry with me: ne thou shalt not always threte me: so mo● it be. Amen.   

❧ That all our study and business of mind aught to be put in God. The xix Chapitre.  
My son (hath our lord to his seruaunt●) suffer me to do with the what I will for I know what is best & most expedient to the thou workest in many things after thy kindly reason & after as thy affection and thy worldly policy stirreth thee/ and so thou mayst lightly err and be deceived. ☜ O lord it is true all that thou sayest/ thy providence is much more better for me/ than all that I can do say for myself. Wherefore it may well be said and verified that he standeth very casually that setteth not all his trust in thee/ therefore lord while my wit abideth steadfast and stable: do with me in all things as it pleaseth thee/ for it may not be but well all that thou dost/ if thou wilt that I be in light be thou blessed/ and if thou wilt I be in darkness: be thou also blessed. If thou vouchsafe to comfort me/ be thou highly blessed. And if thou wilt I live in trouble & without all comfort: be thou in like moche blessed. My son so it behoveth to be with thee/ if thou wilt walk with me/ as ready must thou be to suffer as to joy/ and as gladly be needy & poor as wealthy and rich Lord I will gladly suffer for the what so ever thou wilt shall fall upon me/ indifferently will I take of thy hand good and bad/ bitter and sweet/ gladness and sorrow/ and for all things that shall befall to me/ heartily will I thank the. Keep me lord from sin and I shall neither dread death ne hell/ put not my name out of the book of life/ and it shall not grieve me what trouble so ever befall upon me.   

❧ That all temporal miseris are gladly to be borne through example of Christ. The xx. chapiter.  
My son (saith our Lord) I descended from heaven/ and for thy health have taken thy miseries not compelled thereto of necessity/ but of my charity/ that thou shouldst learn to have patience with me/ and not to disdain to bear the miseries/ and the wretchedness of this life: as I have done for the for from the first hour of my birth unto my death upon the cross/ I was never without some sorrow or pain/ I had great lack of temporal things/ I hard great complaints made on me/ I suffered benignly many shames and rebukes/ for my benefits: I received unkindness/ for my miracles/ blasphemes/ and for my true doctrine many repre●es.: ★ O lord for asmuch as thou wert found patient in thy life/ fulfilling in that most specially the will of thy father/ it is sitting that I most wretched sinner bear me patiently after thy will in all things/ and as long as thou wilt that I for mine own health bear the burden of this corruptible life. ★: For though this life be tedious/ and as an heavy burden to the soul/ yet nevertheless/ it is now thorough thy grace made very meritorious/ and by example of the and of thy holy Saints it is now made to weak persons more sufferable and more clearer and also much more comfortable than it was in the old law: when the gates of heaven were shut and the way thitherward was dark & so few did covet to seek it And yet they that were than right wise and were ordained to be saved/ before thy blessed passion and death: might never have come thither. O what thanks am I bound therefore to yield to thee/ that so lovingly haste vouchsafe to show to me/ and to all faithful people that will follow thee/ the very true & straight way to thy kingdom. Thy holy life is our way and by thy patience we walk to the that art our heed and governor. And but thou lord hadst go before and showed us the way/ who would have endeavoured him to have followed. O how many should have tarried behind if they had not seen thy blessed examples going before: we be yet slow and dull/ now we have seen and hard thy signs and doctrines: what should we than have been if we had seen no such light going before us: truly we should have fired our mind and our love holy in worldly things/ from the which keep us lord of thy great goodness. Amen.   

❧ Of patient suffering/ of injuries and wrongs/ and who is truly patient. The xxi  
MI sone what is it that thou speakest why dost thou thus complain/ cease cease complain no more/ consider my passion/ and the passions of my saints and thou shalt well see that it is right little that thou dost suffer for me/ thou hast not yet suffered to the shedding of thy blood/ and truly thou haste little suffered in comparison of them that have suffered so many things for me in time passed/ and that have been so strongly tempted/ so grievously troubled/ & so many ways proved. It behoveth the therefore to remember the great grievous things that other have suffered for me/ that thou mayst the more lightly bear thy little griefs. And if they seem not little to thee/ look thy inpacience cause not that but nevertheless whether they be little or great/ study always to bear them patiently with out gruoging or complaining if thou may/ and the better that thou canst dispose the to suffer them the more wyselyer thou dost/ and the more merit shalt thou have and thy burden by reason of thy good custom and of thy good will shallbe the lighter/ thou shalt never say I can suffer this thing of such a person/ nor it is not for me to suffer it/ he hath done me great wrong/ and leyith unto my charge that I never thought/ but of an other man I will suffer as I shall think/ such manner sayings been of good/ for they consider not the virtue of patience nor of whom it shallbe crowned/ but they rather consider the persons and the offences done unto them. Therefore he is not truly patient that will not suffer but asmuch as he will & of whom he will/ for a true pacyente man forceth not of whom he suffereth: wh●ther of his prelate or of his fellow that is equal unto him: or any other that is under him/ nor whether he be a good man and a holy/ or an evil man and an unworthy/ but when so ever any adversity/ or wrong faileth unto him what so it be and of whom so ever it be/ and how often so ever it be/ he taketh all thankfully as of the hand of God/ accounteth it is a rich gift and a great benefayte of god for he knoweth well that there is nothing that a man may suffer for god that may pass without great merit. Be thou therefore ready to battle/ if thou wilt have victory/ without battle thou mayst not come to the crown of patience/ and if thou wilt not suffer: thou refusest to be crowned/ wherefore if thou wilt needily be crowned resist strongly and suffer patiently/ for without labour no man may come to rest/ nor without battle no man may come to victory. ☞: O lord jesus: make it possible to me by grace: that is impossible to me by nature. Thou knowest well that I may little suffer and that I am anon cast down with a little adversity/ wherefore I beseech the that trouble and adversity may hereafter for thy name be beloved and defired of me for truly to suffer and to be vexed for the is very good and profitable to the health of my soul.   

❧ Of the knowleginge of our own infirmities/ and of the miseries of this life. The xxii chapter  
I Shall knowledge against me all my unrightwiseness/ and I shall confess to the Lord all the unstableness of mine heart. oft-times it is but a little thing that casteth me down and maketh me dull and slow to all good warkis and sometime I purpose to stand strongly but when a little temptation cometh it is to me great anguishes and grief/ and sometime of a right little thing/ a grievous temptation riseth: and when I think myself to be somewhat syker/ and that as it seemeth I have the higher hand: suddenly I feel myself near hand overcome by a light temptation. Behold therefore good lord/ behold my weakness and my frailness best known to the before all other. Have mercy on me Lord and deliver me fro the filthy dregs of sin that my feet be never fixed in them. But this is it that oft grudgeth me sore and in manner confoundeth me before the that I am so unstable: and so weak and so frail to resist my passions. ★: And though they draw me not always to consent: yet nevertheless their cruel assautis be very grievous unto me/ so that it is in manner tedious to me for to live in such battle: but yet such battle is not all unprofitable to me/ for thereby I know the better mine own infirmytꝭ/ for I see well that such wicked fantasy do rise in me much so●er than they go away. But would ●o god that thou most strongest god of Israel the lover of all faithful soul's wouldst vouchsafe to behold the labour and the sorrow of me thy poteste servant/ and that thou wouldest assist me in all things that I have to do Strength me lord with heavenly strength so that the old enemy the ●ende/ ne my wretched flesh which is not yet fully subject to the spirit/ have not power ne lordeshype over me/ against whom I must sigh continually/ while I shall live in this miserable life. But alas what life is this: where no trouble nor misery wanteth/ where also every place is full of snares: and of mortal enemies/ for one trouble or temptation going away: another cometh/ & the first conslycte ye● during: many other suddenly rise/ more than can be bought/ how may this lyf● therefore be loved that hath such bitterness and that is subject to so many miseries/ and how may it be called a life that bringeth forth so many deaths & so many ghostly infections/ and yet it is beloved and much delighted in of many persons The world is oft reproved that it is deceitful & vain and yet it is not lightly forsaken (especially) when the concupiscences of the flesh be suffered to have reveal somthynges stir a man to love the world and some to despise it/ the concupyssence of the flesh/ the concupisbence of the eye/ and the pride of the heart: stir man to love the world. But the pains & the myseres that follow of it/ causeth hatred and tediousness of it again. But alas for sorrow a little delectation overcometh the mind of them that be much set to love the world/ and driveth out of their hearts all heavenly desires/ in somuch that many account it as a joy of paradise to live under such sensible pleasures/ and that is because they neither have seen ne tasted the sweetness in God/ in the inward gladness that cometh of virtues. ★: But they that perfitly despise the world and that study to live under holy disciplines be not ignorant of the heavenly sweetness that is promised unto ghostly livers/ and they see also how grievously the world erreth/ & how grievously it is deceived in divers manners.   

❧: How a man should rest in god above all thing. The xxiii chapter.  
Above all things & in all things rest thou my soul in thy lord God/ for he is eternal rest of all Angels and saints. give me Lord jesus this special grace for to rest me in thee/ above all creatures/ above all health and fairness/ above all glory & honour above all dignity and power/ above all cunning and policy/ above all riches and crafts/ above all gladness of body and soul/ above all fame and praising/ above all sweetness and consolation above all hope and repromyssyon/ above all merits and desire/ above all gifts and rewards that thou mayst give or send beside thyself. ★: And above all joy and mirth that man's heart/ or mind may take or feel. ☞ And also above all Angels and archangels/ & above all the company of heavenly spirits/ above all things visible and invisible/ and above all things that is not thyself. For thou Lord god ar●e most best/ most highest/ most myghtyeste/ most sufficient/ and most full of goodness most sweet/ most comfortable/ most fair most loving/ most noble/ most glorious above all thing/ in whom all goodness is together perfitly and fully/ hath been & shall be. And therefore what so ever thou givest me beside myself it is little and insufficient to me for my heart may not rest ne fully be pacified but in the so that is ascend above all gifts and also above all manner of things that be created. ★ O my lord jesus Christ most loving spouse/ most purest lover and governor of every creature/ who shall give me wrong of perfit liberty that I may i'll high and rest me in the. ★ O when shall I fully tent to thee/ & see & feel how sweet thou art/ when shall I holy gather myself together in the so perfitly that I shall not for thy love feel myself/ but the only above myself/ and abou● all bodily things and that thou visit me in such wise as thou dost visit thy faithful lovers. Now I oft mourn & complain the miseries of this life and with sorrow & woe bear them with right great heaviness/ for many evil things happen daily in this life/ which oft times trouble me and make me very heavy and greatly darken mine understanding. They hinder me greatly & put my mind from the and so encumber me many ways that I can not have free mind and clean desire to thee/ ne have thy sweet enbrasynges that to thy blessed saints be alway present. ♣ Wherefore I beseech the Lord Christ jesus that the sighings and the inward desires of my heart with my manifold desolations may somewhat move the and incline the to here me· ★ O jesus the light and brightness of everlasting glory/ the joy and comfort of all christian people that are walking & labouring as pilgrims in wilderness of this world my heart crieth to the by still desires without voice & my silence speaketh unto the & saith thus. ★ how long tarrieth my Lord God to come to me/ verily I trust that he will shortly come to me his poorest servant and comfort me and make me joyous and glad in him. And that he will deliver me from all anguish and sorrow. Come lord come/ for without the I have no glad day/ ne hour/ for thou art all my joy and gladness and without the my soul is barren & void I am a wretch and in manner in prison/ & bound with fetters till thou through the light of my gracious presence vouchsafe to visit me and to refresh me/ & to bring me again to liberty of spirit and that thou vouchsafe to show thy favourable and lovely countenance unto me. Let other seek what they will/ but truly there is nothing that I will seek nor that shall please me/ but thou my lord god my hope and everlasting health. I shall not cease of prayer: till thy grace return me again and that thou speak inwardly to my soul/ and say thus. Lo I am here/ I am come to the for thou haste called me/ thy tears & the desires of thy heart: thy meekness and thy contrition/ have bowed me down and brought me to the. And I shall say again/ lord I have called thee/ and I have desired to have thee/ ready to forsake all things for thee/ thou first haste stirred me to seek the wherefore be thou always blessed that hast showed such goodness to me after the multitude of the mercy/ what hath thy servant lord more to do or say/ but that he meeken himself before thy majesty/ and ever have in mind his own iniquity. There is none like to the Lord in heaven ne in earth: thy work be good thy judgements be rightwise and by thy providence all things be governed/ wherefore to the that art the wisdom of the father be everlasting joy and glory/ & I humbly beseech the that my body and soul/ my heart and ●onge/ and all thy creatures may alway laud the and bless the. Amen.   

❧ Of remembering of the great and manifold benefits of God. The xxiiii Chapitre.  
Open mine heart lord in to the beholding of thy laws & in thy commandments teach me to walk/ give me grace to know and to understand thy will and with great reverence and diligent consideration to remember the manifold benefits that I may fro henceforth yield to the due than kings for them again. But I know and confess it for truth that I am not able to yield to the condign thankings for the lest benefit that thou haste given me/ for I am less than the lest be ne fayte that thou haste given. And when I behold thy nobleness and thy worthiness my spirit dreadeth and trembleth very sore for the greatness thereof. ♣ O lord all that we have in body and in soul within forth and without forth naturally or supernatural/ they be they benefa●tes & show the openly to be a blessed and a good benefactoure of whom we have received such gifts and though one hath received more/ and an other less: yet they all be thy gifts and without thee/ the lest can not be had/ and he that hath more received may not rightfully glorify himself therein as though he had gotten it by his own merit/ ne exalt himself above other/ nor disdain other/ nor despise his inferiors therefore/ for he is greatest and most acceptable to thee/ that lest ascrybeth to himself & that is for such gifts the more week & the more devout in yielding thankings to the for them again. And he that through meekness can hold himself most vile and most unworthy of all other: is the more apt to receive of thy hand more larger gifts. And he that hath received the fewer gifts aught not therefore to be heavy ne to disdain at it/ ne to be envious against them that have received the greater/ but rather he aught to lift his mind upward to the & highly to laud & praise thy name that thou so liberally/ so lovingly/ and so freely without accepting of persons: departest thy gifts among thy people/ all things come of the & therefore thou art in all things to be blessed Thou knowest what is expedient to be given to every person and why one hath less and an other more/ it is not to us to reason to discuss: but unto the only by whom the merits of every man shallbe discussed. wherefore Lord I account it for a great benefayte not to have many gifts whereby outwardly and after man's judgement laud and praising should follow. And over that as me seemeth all though a man consider and behold his own poverty & the vileness of his own person he aught not therefore take grief or heaviness or dejection/ but rather to conceive thereby great gladness of soul/ for thou haste chosen & daily dost chose poor meek persons and such as be despised in the world/ to be thy ●●mylyer and house under hold servants/ witness thy Apostles whom thou madest Princes of all the world which nevertheless were conversant among the people without complaining or myssayge so meek and simple without all malice and deceit that ●hey joyed to suffer reproofs for thy name so farforth that such things as the world abhorreth and fleeth they coveted with great desire/ that it appeareth that there aught nothing so much to comfort/ & glad thy lover and him that hath received thy benefits as that thy will and pleasure in him be fulfilled after thy eternal disposition of him from the beginning/ wherewith he aught to be so well contented and pleased that he would as gladly beholden lest: as other would be holden most/ and as pacefull would he be & as well pleased in the lowest place as in the highest/ and as glad to be despised and abiec●e and of no name ne reputation in the world as other to be nobler: or greater/ for thy will lord & the honour of thy name aught to excel all things/ and more aught it to please and comfort thy lover than all other benefits given or that might be given unto him.   

❧ Of four things that bring peace in to thy soul. The xxv chapter.  
My son: now shall I teach the the very true way of peace/ and of perfit liberty. ☞: O Lord jesus do as thou saist/ for that is right joyous for me to here/ study my son rather to fulfil an other man's will than thine own chose always to have little worldly riches rather than much/ seek also the lowest place & desire to be under other rather than above/ and covet alway and pray that the will of god be holy done in the. Lo such a person enreth soothfastly in to the very true way of peace and in ward quietness. ♣ O lord this short lesson that thou haste taught me containeth in itself much high perfection. It is short in words but it is full of sentence and fruitful in virtue/ for if it were well and faithfully kept of me/ unrestfulness should not so lightly spring in me as it hath done/ for as oft as I feel myself unrestful and not contented/ I find that I have go from this lesson and/ from this good and sweet doctrine. ★: But thou Lord jesus that all things haste under thy governance/ & always lovest the healeth of man's soul increase more grace in me that I may from henceforth fully these teachings and that I may do alway that shallbe to thy honour and to the health of my soul. Amen.   

❧: A prayer against all evil thoughts. The xxvi chapter.  
My lord jesus: I beseech the be not far from me but come shortly & help me/ for vain thought have risen in mine heart & worldly dredꝭ have troubled me very sore/ how shall I break them down/ how shall I pass unhurt without thy help/ I shall go before the sayeth our lord: & I shall drive away the pride of thy heart/ than shall I set open to thee/ the yatꝭ of ghostly know league and shall show to the the privities of my secrets. O lord do as thou sayest and than shall i'll from me all wicked fantasies/ and truly this is my hope and my only comfort/ to i'll to the in every trouble steadfastly to trust in thee/ inwardly to call thee/ & patiently to abide thy coming and thy heavenly consolations: which I trust shall shortly come to me. Amen.   

❧: A prayer for the clearing of man's mind. The xxvii chapter.  
CLaryfye me Lord jesus with the clearness of the everasting light/ and drive out of my heart all manner of darkness/ and all vain imaginations and violent temptations/ fight strongly for me/ and drive away the evil beasts/ that is to say all my evil and wicked concupiscences that peace of conscience may enter and have full reveal in me and that abundance of laud and praising of thy name/ may sound continually in the chamber of my soul: That is to say. In a pure and a clean conscience in me. Command the winds and tempests of pride to cease/ bid the see of worldly covetise to be in rest/ & charge the northern wind/ that is to say: the fiends temptation that it blow not/ & than shallbe great tranquillity and peace in me. Send out thy light & thy troth of ghostly knowledge: that it may shine upon the earth barren and dry & send down thy grace from about & therewith anoint my dry heart. And give me the water of i●y devotion to moist therewith the dryness of my soul that it may bring for the some good fruit that shallbe liking and pleasant to the. Raise up my mind that is sore oppressed with the heavy burden of sin/ and lift up my desire to the love of heavenly things/ that by a taste of the heavenly felicity it may loath to think on any earthly things. Take me lord and deliver me from the vile consolation of creatures/ which must of necessity shortly perish and fail. For there is nothing created that may fully satisfy mine appetite. join me therefore to the with a sure bond of heavenly love for thou only sufficeth to thy lover. ★ Andrea without the all things be vain and of no substance.   

❧: That it is not good to search curyously an other man's life The xxviii chapter.  
My son saith our Lord: look thou be not curious in searching of an other man's life/ ne that thou busy not thyself with things that belong not to thee/ what is this or that to thee/ follow thou me/ what is this to the whether this man be good or bad. or whether he say or do this or that. Thou needest not to answer for an other man's deeds/ but for thine own dedis thou must needily answer. Why dost thou than me●ie where needeth not. I see and know every man/ and every thing under the son I see and behold/ and how it is with every person/ what he thinketh: wha● he willeth and to what end his work draweth is open to me. ☞: And therefore all things are to be referred to me. ♣ Keep thyself alway in good peace and suffer him that will algates search an other man's life be as busy as he will. And in the end shall fall upon him as he hath done and said/ for he can not deceive me what so ever be he if thou admonysshe any person for his soul health. Look thou do it not to get the thereby any name/ or fame in the world/ ne to have the familiarity or private love of any person/ for such things 'cause much unquietness of mind/ and will make and ca●se the also to loose the reward that thou shouldst have of god/ and will bring great darkness in to thy soul. I would gladly speak to the my words & open to th● the secret mysteries of fraternal correction: if thou wouldest prepare thy soul ready against him coming/ & that thou wouldst open the mouth of thy heart faithfully to me. Be thou provident walk diligently in prayer/ meken thyself in every thing/ and thou shalt find great comfort in god and little resistance in thine even christian.   

❧ In what thing peace of heart and greatest profit of man standeth. The xxix chapter.  
my sone saith our lord jesus/ I said to my disciples thus. ★ My peace I leave with you/ my pear I give you/ not as the world giveth/ but much more than it may give. All men desire peace/ but all men will not do that belongeth to peace/ my peace is with the meek & mild in heart And thy peace shallbe in more patience if thou will hear me & follow my words thou shalt have great plenty of peace. ♣ O lord what shall I do to come to that peace Thou shalt in all thy work take good heed what thou dost and sayest/ and thou shalt set all thy hole intent to please me/ and nothing shalt thou covet or seek without me/ and of other men's deeds thou shalt not judge presumptuously/ ne thou shalt not meddle with things that pertain not to the. If thou do thus it may be that thou shalt little or seldom be troubled/ but nevertheless to feel no time/ no manner of trouble nor to suffer in heaviness in body ne in soul/ is not the state of this life but of the life to come. ★: Think not therefore that thou haste foundeth true peace/ for thou fealeste no grief/ ne that all is well with the when thou hast none adversary/ ne that all is perfit/ for that every thing cometh after thy mind. Ne yet that thou art great in gods sight or specially beloved of him for thou hast great fervour in devotion and great sweetness in contemplation/ for a true lover of virtue is not known by all these things/ nor the true perfection of man standeth not in them (wherein than lord) In offering of a man with all his heart dooly to god not seeking himself ne his own will: neither in great thing nor in small in time nor in eternity/ but that he abide always one/ and yield always like thanks to god for things pleasant and dyspleasaunte: weing them all in one like balance as in his love/ and if he be also so strong in god that when inward consolation is withdrawn/ he can yet stir his heart to suffer more if God so will/ and yet he iustyfieth not himself ne praiseth not himself therefore/ as holy and right wise/ than he walketh in the very true way of peace and than he may well have a sure and a perfit hope and trust that he shall see me face to face in everlasting joy and fruition in the kingdom of heaven. And if he can come to a perfit and a full contempt & despising of himself: than shall be have full abundance of rest and peace in the joy everlasting after the measure of his gift. Amen.   

❧ Of the liberty/ excellency/ and worthiness of a free mind The xxx Chapitre.  
Lord it is the work of a perfit man/ never to sequester his mind from the beholding of heavenly things and among many cures: to go as he were without cure/ not in the manner of an idle: or of a desolate person/ but by the special prerogative alway of a free mind busy in god's service/ not cleaving by inordynate affection to any creature. ☞: I beseech the therefore my Lord jesus most meek/ and merciful that thou keep me from the business and cures of the world: and that I be not overmuch inquyted with the necessities of the bodily kind/ ne that I be not taken with the voluptuous pleasures of the world ne of the flesh/ and that in like wise thou preserve me from all hindrance of the soul/ that I be not broken with overmuch heaviness/ sorrow/ nor worldly dread. ♣ Andrea by these petitions I ask not only to be delivered from such vanities as the world desireth. But also from such miseries as grieve the soul of me thy servant/ with the common malediction of mankind: that is with corruption of the bodily feeling wherewith I an so grieved and letted that I may not have liberty of spirit to be hold the when I would O lord god that art sweetness unspeakable turn in to bitterness to me all fleshly delights/ which would draw me from the love of eternal things to the love of a short and a vile de●ectable pleasure/ let not the flesh and blood overcome me/ ne yet the world with his short glory deceive me/ nor the find with his thousand fold crafts supplant me/ but give me ghostly strength in resisting/ patience in suffering/ and constance in persevering. give me also for all worldly consolations the most sweet consolation of the holy ghost. ♣ Andrea for all fleshly love send in to my soul the love of thy holy name. Lo meat/ drink clothing/ and all other necessaries for the body be painful and troublous to a fervent spirit which if it might would always rest in god and in ghostly things Grant me therefore grace to use such bodily necessaries temporately/ and that I be not deceived with overmuch desire to them. To forsake all things it is not lawful for the bodily kind must be preserved/ and to seek superfluous things more for pleasure than for necessity/ thy holy law prohibitethe: for so the flesh would rebel against the spirit/ wherefore lord I beseech the that thy hand oh/ grace may so govern me and ●eache me that I exceed not by any manner of superfluity. Amen.   

❧: That private love most letteth a man from god. The xxxi. chapiter.  
My son (saith our Lord) it behoveth thee: to give all for all/ and nothing to keep unto the of thine own lout. ☞: For the love of thyself more hurteth thee/ than any other thing in this world/ after thy love/ and after thine affection/ every thing elevethe to the more or less. If thy love be pure/ simple and well ordered thou shalt be without inordinate affection to any creature. covet therefore nothing that is not leeful for the to have/ and have nothing that may let the from ghostly travail or that may take from the inward liberty of soul It is marvel that thou comytteste not thyself fully to me with all thy heart: with all things that thou mayst have or desire/ why art thou thus consumed with vain sorrow/ why art thou were with superfluous cures: stand at my will and thou shalt find nothing that shall hurt the or hinder thee/ but if thou seek this thing or that/ or wouldest be in this place or in that for thine own profit & for thine own pleasure/ thou shalt never be in rest/ ne thou shalt never be free fro some trouble of mind/ for in every place shallbe found some thing that will mislike the. Transitory things when they be had and greatly multiplied in the world do not always help man's soul to peace but rather when they be despised & fully cut out of the love and desire of the heart and that is not to be understand only of gold & silver and other worldly riches/ but also of desire of honours & praysingꝭ of the world: which shortly vanisheth & passeth away as doth the smoke with the wind/ the place helpeth little if the spirit of fervor be away. ☞ Also the peace that a man getteth outward shall not long stand hole if it be void fro the true inward peace of heart/ that is to say though thou change thy place yet it shall little amend thee/ but thou stand stable & steadfast in me: for by new occasions that shall daily rise thou shalt find that thou haste fled & percase much more perilous & much more grievous things than the first were)   

❧: A prayer to the purging of man's soul/ and for heavenly wisdom and the grace of god to be obtained and had. The xxxiii Chapitre.  
confirm me Lord by the grace of the holy ghost/ and give me grace be strong inwardly in soul: and avoid out thereof all unprofitable bubusynes of the world: and of the flesh that it be not led by the unstable desires of earthly things. And that I may behold all things in the world as they be/ transitory and of short abiding/ and me also to go with them/ for nothing under the son may long abide/ but all is vanity and afflictyon of spirit. O how wise is he that feeleth and understandeth this to be true that I have said give me Lord therefore heavenly wisdom that I may learn to seek the & to find the. And above all things to love the and all other things to understand & know as they be after the order of thy wisdom & none otherwise. And give me grace also wisely to withdraw me from them that flatter me and patiently to suffer them that grieve me. For it is great wisdom not to be moved with every blast of words nor to give ear to him that flattereth as doth the Mearmayde. The way that is thus be gone/ shall bring him that walketh in it to a good and a blessed ending.   

❧ Against the evil sayings of detractors. The xxxiii Chapytre  
My sone saith our saviour Christ Thou shalt not take it to grief: though some persons think evil or say evil of the that thou wouldest not gladly here/ for thou shalt yet think worse of thyself/ & that no man is so evil as thou art. If thou be well ordered with inforth in thy soul thou shalt not much care for such fleeing words. And it is no little wisdom a man to keep himself in silence and in good peace when evil words be spoken to him/ and to turn his heart to god/ and not to be troubled with man's judgement/ let not thy peace be in the hearts of men/ for what so ever they say of the good or bad thou art not therefore an other man/ for as thou art: thou art. ★ Where is the true peace/ and the true glory/ it is not in me? Yes truly Therefore he that neither desyrethe to please man: ne dredethe not to displease him shall have great plenty of peace. For of inordynate love and vain dread cometh all unquietness of heart and unrestfulness of the mind.   

❧ How almighty god is to be inwardly called unto/ in time of tribulation. The xxxiiii chapter.  
Lord thy name be blessed for ever/ that thou wouldst this temptation: and tribulation should fall upon me. ♣: I may not escapeit: but of necessity I am driven to i'll to thee/ that thou vouchsafe to help me/ and to turn all in to my ghostly profit.: ★ O lord I am now in trouble/ and it is not well wfth me for I am greatly vexed with this present passion/ and now most best beloved father what shall I say: I am now taken with anguishes and troubles on every side/ save me in this hour/ but I trust that I am come in to this hour that thou shalt be lauded and praised when I am perfitly made meek before thee: and that I am clearly delivered by thee/ be it therefore pleasant to the to deliver me/ for what may I most sinful wretch do or whether may I go without the. give me patience now at this time in all my troubles: help me my lord god/ and I shall not fear ne dread what troubles so ever fall upon me. And now what shall I say: but that thy will be done in me. I have deserved to be troubled and grieved/ and therefore it behoveth that I suffer as long as it shall please the but would to god that I might suffer gladly till the furious tempests were over passed/ & that quietness of heart might come again. Thy mighty hand lord is strong enough to take this trouble fro me and to assuage the cruel assaults thereof that I do not utterly fail as thou hast often times done to me before this time/ and the more herd that it to me the more light it is to the. And when I am clearly delivered by thee/ than shall I say. This is the changing of the right hand of him that is highest: that is the blessed trinity/ to whom be joy/ honour and glory everlastingly. Amen)   

❧: Of the help of god to be asked/ and of a full trust to recover through devout prayer our former grace. The xxxv Chapitre.  
my sone I am thy lord that sendeth comfort in time of tribulation/ come therefore to me when it is not well with the. This is it that letteth the most: that thou tourneste the over slowly to me/ for before thou pray heartily to me thou seekest many other comforts and refresshest thy spirits in outward things. And therefore it is/ that all that thou dost: little availeth the till thou can behold and see that I am he that sendeth comfort to all that faithfully do call to me/ and that there is not without me any profitable counsel ne perfit remedy. But now take a good spirit to be and after thy troubles be thou comforted in me/ and in the light of my mercy: have thou full trust/ for I am near to the to help the & to restore the again not only to like grace as thou hadst first/ but also to much more in great abundance. Is there any thing herd or inpossible to 'em/ or am I like to him that saith a thing and doth it not/ where is thy faith. Stand strongly and perseverently in me/ be steadfast abiding my promise and thou shall have comfort in such time as it shall be most expedient to the. Abide abide and tarry for me and I shall come soon/ and help them. It is temptation that vexeth the & a vain dread that feareth the much But what availeth such fere or dread for things that perchance shall never come but that the ghostly enemy would thou shouldst have sorrow upon sorrow. Bear therefore patiently thy troubles that be present/ and dread not overmuch those that be to come/ for it suffysethe to every day his own malice. ☞ It is a vain thing and an unprofitable to be heavy or glad for things that perchance shall never happen ne come. But it is the unstableness of man that he will be deceived and so lightly to follow the suggestion of the enemy for he careth not whether he may deceive be true suggestion or by false/ ne whether it be by love of things present: or by dread of thing a to come. Therefore be thou not troubled: ne dread thou not/ trust strongly in me and in my mercy have perfit hope/ for when thou weenest that thou art right far fro me oft times I am right near unto thee/ and when thou weenest that all is lost/ than oft times followeth the greater reward. It is not thehfore all lost thought some thing happen against thy will and thou shalt not judge therein after thy outward feeling/ ne thou shalt not take any grief so sore to heart/ but that thou shalt have good trust to escape it. ne thou shalt not think thyself all holy forsaken of me: though I send the for a time some heaviness and trouble/ for that is the sicker way to the kingdom of heaven and doubtless it is more expedient to the and to other my servants that ye sometime be proved with adversities/ than that ye have alway all things after your wills/ I know the hid thought of man and that it is much expedient to the health of the soul that he be left sometime to himself without ghostly savour or comfort: jest haply he be raised up into pride and think himself better than he is. That I have given I may take away and may restore it again when I shall list/ when I give a thing to any person it is mine own that I have given and when I take it away again/ I take none of his for every good gift and every perfit reward cometh of me. If I send to the trouble or heaviness in what wise so ever it be/ take it gladly and disdain it not ne let not thy heart fail the therein/ for I may anon lift the up again & turn thy heaviness in to great joy and ghostly gladness/ and verily I am rightwise/ and much to be lauded and praised when I do so with thee/ if thou understand a right: and behold thyself truly as thou art/ thou shalt never be so directly heavy for no adversity/ but rather thou shalt joy therein and think it as the greatest gift that I spare not to scourge the with such trouble and adversity/ for I said to my disciples thus ☞ As my father loveth me I love you. ♣ Andrea yet I sent them not forth in to the world to have temporal joys: but to have great battles/ not to have honours/ but dispytes/ not to be idle but to labour not to rest/ but to bring forth much good fruit in patience/ & in good works. My son remember well these words that I have spoken to ye for they be true & can not be denied)   

❧ How we should forget all creatures that we might find our creature. The xxxvi Chapitre.  
Lord I have great need of thy grace/ and that of thy great singular grace/ or that I may come thither where no creature shall set me/ ne hinder me fro the peryfte beholding of the for as long as any transitory thing holdeth me: or hath rule in me/ I may not i'll freely to thee/ he ●oucy●e● to 〈◊〉 with out let that said thus. ♣: Who shall give me wings like to a Dove: that I may i'll in to the bosom of my saviour ● and in to the holes of his blessed wounds/ and rest me there. I see well that no man is more restful: nor more liking in this world that is that man which alway hath his mind and his hole intent upward to god/ and nothing desireth of the world. ★ It behoveth him therefore that would perfitly forsake himself/ and behold thee/ to surmount all creatures and himself also/ and through excess of mind to see and behold that thou maker of all things hast nothing among all creatures like unto thee/ and but a man be clearly delivered fro the love of creatures he may not fully tend to his creature/ and that is the greatest cause why there be so few contemplatyves/ that is to say/ because there be so few that wilfully will sequester themself fro love of creatures. To contemplation is great grace required/ for it lifteth up the soul and ravysshethe it up in spirit above itself. And but a man be lift up in spirit above himself and be clearly delivered from all creatures as in his love: and be perfitly and fully oned to god/ what so ever he can or what so ever he havee it her in virtue or cunning it is but little worth afore god. Therefore he shall have but little virtue: and longr shall he lie still in earthily things that accomptethe any thing great or worthy to be prayesd but only god for all other things besides god are naught and for naught are to be accounted. It is great difference between the wys●ome of a devout man lightened by grace/ and the cunning of a subtle and studious clerk/ and that learning is much more noble & much more worthy that cometh by the influence and gracious gift of god: than that that is gotten by the labour and study of man. Many desire to have the gift of contemplation/ but they will not use such things as be required to contemplation/ and one great let of contemplation is/ that we stand so long in outward signs and insensible things and take no heed of perfit mortifyeng of our body to the spirit. I wot not how it is/ ne with what spirit we be led/ ne what we pretend/ we that called spiritual persons that we take greater labour and study for transitory things/ that we do to know the inward state of our own soul but alas for sorrow anon as we have made a little recollection to god we run forth to outward things and do not search out own conscience with due examination/ as we should do ne we heed not where our affection resteth/ ne we follow not that our deeds so evil/ and so unclean as they be. The people corrupted themselves with fleshly uncleanness and therefore followed the great flood/ and verily when our inward affection is corrupted/ it is necessary that our deeds folovinge thereupon be also corrupted. For a clean heart springeth the fruit of good life. It is oft times asked what deeds such a man hath done/ but of what zeal or of what intent he did them is little regarded/ whether a man rich strong/ fair/ able/ a good writer/ a good singer/ or a good labourer is oft inquired but how poor he is in spirit/ how patient & meek/ how devout/ and how inwardly turned to god/ is little regarded. Nature beholdeth the outward deed but grace turned her to the inward intent of the deed. The first oft deceived/ but the second putteth her trust holy in god and is not deceived.   

❧ How we should forsake ourself and thirst down all covetise out of our heart. The xxxvii Chapitre  
MI son saith our Lord/ thou shalt not have perfit liberty of mind/ but holy forsake thyself/ all propryetayres/ and all lovers of themself/ all covetous persons/ curious/ vain glorious/ and all renners about. And also such as seek things soft & delectable in this world/ and not of jesus christ/ oft feigning & greedily syking things that shall not long endure/ be as men fetered and bounden with chains & have no perfit liberty ne freedom of spirit/ for all things shall perish that be not wrought of God/ hold well in thy mind this short word/ forsake all things and thou shalt find all things/ for sake covetise and thou shalt find great rest/ print well in thy mind that I have said/ for when thou hast fulfilled it thou shalt well know that it is true. ♣ Lord this lesson is not one days work/ ne a play for children/ for it is contained the full perfection of a religion. Also my son thou oughtest not to be turned fro god ne to be any thing discouraged from his service when thou hearest the straight life of perfit men/ but rather thou oughtest to be provoked thereby to higher perfection and at lest to desire in heart that thou mightest come thereto. But would to god thou were first come to this point that thou were not a lover of thyself but that thou wouldst keep my commandments and the commandments of him that I have appointed to be thy father spiritual/ for than thou shouldst please me greatly & than all thy life shouldst pass forth in joy & peace. Thou haste yet many things to forsake/ which but thou can holy forsake (thou shalt not get that thou desyreste. And therefore I counsel the to buy of me bright shining gold/ that is to say heavenly wisdom that despiseth all earthly things/ and cast fro the all worldy wisdom and all man's comfort and all thine own affections/ and that thou chose to have vile things and abject/ rather than precious & high in sight of the word/ but the true heavenly wisdom seemeth to many to be vile & little & well nigh forgotten. Many can say with their mouth that it is good/ not to desire to be magnified in the world but their life followeth not their saying/ and therefore they desire it privily in their heart/ but yet that is the precious Margarete & the high virtue that is hid fro moche people for their presumption/ get it who so may.   

❧: Of the unstableness of man's heart and that our final intent in all things should be to god. The xxviiii Chapitre.  
My son/ look that thou believe not thine own affection/ for it changeth oft from one to an other as long as thou livest thou shalt be subject to change habilyte whether thou wilt or not/ as now glad/ now sorrowful/ now pleased/ now disposed/ now devout/ now undevout/ now lusty/ now slothful now heavy/ now lightsone. But a wife man that is well taught in ghostly travail standeth stable in all such things & forceth little what he feeleth/ ne of what side the wind of unstableness bloweth/ but all the intent and study of his mind is how he may most profit in virtue and finally come to the most fruitful & most blessed end. By such an hole intent fully directed to god/ many a man abide steadfast & stable in himself among many adversities/ and the more pure and the more clean that his intent is/ the more stable shall he be in every storm. But alas for sorrow the eye of man's soul is anon darked/ for it beholdeth lightly delectable things that come of the world and of the flesh/ in so much that there is seldom found any person that is free and clear fro the venomous desire of hearing of some tales or of some other fantasies/ and that be their own seeking. In such manner came the jews in to Bethany/ to Martha/ and to marry magdalene/ not for the love of our lord jesus but for to see Lazar whom he had raised fro death to life/ wherefore the eye of the soul is to be kept full bright that it be alway pure and clean/ and that it be above all passing things holy directed to god the which grant us to. AMEN.   

❧ How our lord God savoureth to his lover sweetly above all things: & in all things The xxxix Chapitre.  
over Lord is to me all in all/ and saith he is so/ what would I more have/ or what can I more desire. ☞: O this is a savoury world: and a sweet to say that our Lord is to me all in all. But that is to him that loveth the word and not the world. To him that understandeth this word/ is said enough but yet to repeat it oft is liking to him that loveth/ I may therefore more plainly speak of this matter and say/ lord when thou art present to me: all thing is pleasant and liking/ but when thou art absent all thing is grievous and greatly misliking/ when thou cōmes●e thou makest mine heart restful and bringest in to it a new joy/ thou makeste thy lover to feel and understand the truth & to have a true judgement in all things and in all things to laud the and praise the. ★ O lord without the nothing may be long liking ne pleasant/ for if any thing should be liking and savoury it must be through help of thy grace and be tempered with the spicery of thy wisdom. To him to whom thou savourest well: that shall not savour well. And to him that thou savoureste not well unto what may be joyful or liking. But worldly wise men and they that savour fleshly delights fail of this wisdom/ for in worldly wisdom is found great vanity/ and in fleshly pleasures is ever lasting death. Therefore they that follow the lord by despising of the shorde And by perfit mortifyenge of their fleshly lusts/ be known to be very wise/ for they be led fro vanity to troth/ and fro fleshly liking to spiryvall cleanness. To such persons God savoureth wonder sweet. And what so ever they find creatures/ they refer it all to the laud and to the praising of their creature/ for they see well that there is great difference betwixt the creature and creature eternyte and time: and betwixt the light made/ and the light unmade. O everlasting light far passing all things that are made. ★ Send down the beams of thy lyghtenyng/ from above and purify glad/ and clarify in me all the inward parties of my heart. quicken my spirit with all the powers thereof that it may cleave fast and be joined to the in joyful gladness of ghostly ravysshynges ☞: O when shall that blessed hour come that thou shalt visit me & glad me with thy blessed presence/ so that thou be to me all in all. As long as that gift is not given to me/ that thou be to me all in all/ there shall be no full joy in me. But alas for sorrow mine old man that is my fleshly liking/ yet liveth in me and is not yet fully crucified nor parfitely deed in me/ for yet striveth the flesh strongly against the spirit and moveth great inward battle against me/ and suffereth not the kingdom of my soul to live in peace/ but thou good lord that hast the lordeshype over all the power of the see/ and dost assuage the streams of his flovinges. Arise and help me/ break down the power of mine enemies which alway move this battle in me. Show the greatness of thy goodness/ and let the power of thy right hand be glorified in me for there is to me none other hope nor refuge/ but in the only my lord/ my god to whom be joy honour/ and glory everlastingly. Amen.   

❧: That there is no full surety fro temptation in this life The xl Chapitre  
Our lord saith to his servant thus/ thou shalt never be sicker fro temptation and tribulation in this life. And therefore armour spiritual shall always as long as thou livest be necessary for the. Thou art among thine enemies and shalt be troubled and vexed with them on every side: & but thou use in every place the shield of patience thou shalt not long keep the unwounded And over that if thou set not thy heart strongly in me with a ready will to suffer all things patiently for me/ thou mayst not long bear this ardour ne come unto the reward of blessed saints. It behoveth the therefore manly to pass over many things and to use a strong hand against all the objections of the enemy To the overcomer is promised Angels food and to him that is overcome is left moche misery. If thou seek rest in this life? how shalt thou than come to the rest everlasting. Set not thyself to have rest here/ but to have patience/ and seek the true southfaste rest/ not in earth but in heaven/ not in man ne in any creature but in god only where it is. For the love of god thou oughtest to suffer gladly all things/ that is to say: all labours/ sorrows/ temptations: vexations/ anguishes/ nedenes/ sickness/ injuries/ evil sayings: reprevynges/ oppressions/ confusions/ corrections/ and dispysynges. These help a man greatly to virtues: these prove the true knight of christ/ & make ready for him the heavenly crown/ & our lord shall yield him again everlasting reward for his short labour/ and infinite glory for his transitory confusion. Troweste thou that thou shalt have always spiritual comforts after thy will. Nay nay my saintis had them not/ but many great grefs and divers temptations and great desolations/ but they were all with patience & more trusted in me than in themself/ for they knew well that the passions of this world be not able of themself to get the glory that is ordained for them in the kingdom of heaven. wilt thou look to have anon that other before the might unneaths get: afore great weepings and labours. Abide patiently the coming of our lord/ do manfully his bidding/ be comforted in him/ mistrust him not/ ne go not back fro his service for pain ne for dread/ but lay forth thy body & soul constantly to his honour in all good bodily and ghostly labours. And he shall reward the again most plenteously for the good travail/ and shall be with the and help the in every trouble that shall befall unto thee/ so must it be. Amen.   

❧: Against the vain judgements of man. The xli Chapitre  
my son/ fire thy heart steadfastly in god/ and dread not the judgement of man where thine own conscience witnesseth the to be innocent & clear. It is right good and blessed/ sometime to suffer such sayings/ and it shall not be grievous to a meek heart which trusteth more in God than in himself/ many folk can say many things/ and yet little faith is to be given unto their sayings/ and to please all men it is not possible. For though saint Poule laboured all that he might to have pleased all people in god/ and did to all men all that he could for their salvation/ yet nevertheless he could not let/ but that he was sometime judged of other. He did for the edifying and health of other as much as in him was: but that he should not sometime be judged of other or not be despised of other/ he could not let. Wherefore he committed all to god that knoweth all thing and armed himself with patience and meekness against all things that might be untruly spoken against him. And nevertheless sometime he answered again lest that by his science hurt or hindrance might have grown to other/ what art thou than that dreadest so sore a mortal man. This day he is/ and to morrow he appeareth not dread god and thou shalt not need to dread man/ what may man do with the in words or injuries/ he hurteth himself more than thee/ and in the end he shall ne i'll/ the judgement of God what so ever he be/ have alway good before the eye of thy soul/ and strive not again by multiplyeng of words. And if thou seem for a time to suffer confusion/ that thou haste not deserved/ disdain thou not therefore/ nor through impatience/ minyshe not thy reward. But rather lift up thy heart to God in heaven for he is able forto deliver the from all confusion and wrongs/ and to reward every man after his desert and much more than he can deserve.   

get this freedom of spirit that I speak of pray for it/ study for it/ and alway desire it in thy heart that is to say that thou mayst clearly be spoiled/ and byratre of all property and of thine own will/ and that thou being naked of all worldly things mayst follow me that hongeked for the upon the cross/ and that thou mayst die to thyself and to all worldly things also/ as in thy love and blessedly to live to me. Than if thou do thus all vanyves and all vain fantasies/ and all superfluous cures of the world and of the flesh shall fail and fade/ and go away Than also immoderate dread and inordynate love shall die in thee/ and thou shalt blessedly live in me and I in the. Amen.   

❧: How a man shall rule himself in outward things/ and how he aught to call to god for help in all perils and dangers. The xliiii Chapitre.  
Our lord jesus saith to his servant thus. Thou oughtest to take heed diligently that in every place/ in every deed/ and in every outward occupation that thou dost: thou be inwardly free in thy soul and have the rule over thyself/ and that all things be under the as in thy son/ and thou not under them/ but that thou be the Lord and governor over thy deeds: not as a servant or a bondman but rather exempted as a true Hebrew/ that is to say As a true christian man going in to the number and into the freedom of the children of god/ which stand upon things present/ and look toward things everlasting/ and behold things transitory with their life eye: and things everlasting with their right eye/ whom worldly goods can not draw down to the love of them/ but they rather draw worldly goods to serve: in such wise as they be ordained to of god/ & as they be instituted to do by the high maker of all things which leaveth nothing inordinate in his creatures. Also if thou stand in every adventure/ and doubt that shall happen to the not to the judgement of thy outward appearance/ but anon in every such do●●● thou entreste in to thine own soul by devout prayer as Moses did in to the tabernacle to ask counsel of god. Thou shalt here anon the answer of our Lord which shall instruct the sufficiently in many things both present & for to come. It is read that Moses had always recourse to the tabernacle of god for doubts and questions to be assoiled and that he there asked the help of god through devout prayer for the perils and dangers aswell of himself as of the people. So shouldst thou enter in to the secret tabernacle of thine own heart/ and there ask inwardly with good devotion the help of god in all such doubts and perils. We read that joshua and the children of Israel were deceived of the Gabaonites because they give light credence to their sayings and did not first ask counsel of god as they should have done/ and so by the fair words of the Gabaonites and through a false pite joshua and the children of Israel were illuded and greatly deceived.   

❧ That a man should not be importune in his business. The xliiii Chapitre.  
My son saith our lord commit alway thy cause to me/ and I shall well dispose it for thee/ when time shall come/ abide mine ordinance and directyon/ and thou shalt find thereby great profit and help. ★ O lord gladly will I commit all things to thee: for it is little that I can do for myself/ would to God that I did not cleave to desires of worldly things/ but that I might always offer myself holy to thy will: and pleasure. ★: My son so it is good for the to do: for sometime a man that trusteth much in himself/ and in his own will setteth his mind much for to bring about this thing or that as he desireth. But when he hath attained that he desireth/ than he beginneth to feel all otherwise of it than he did before/ for the affections and desires of man be not always one/ but driveth a man oft fro one thing to an other. ☞ Therefore it is no small thing a man fully to forsake himself though it be in right little & small things. For truly the very perfection of man is a perfit denying and a full forsaking of himself. And such a man is very free and beloved of god. But the old ancient enemy the fiend which resisteth goodness all that he may. Ceaseth not long fro temptation but day and night he maketh grievous assaults: to see if ●e may catch any unware person in to his snare of deceit. Therefore wake ye and pray yet that ye be not deceived by temptation.   

❧: That man hath no goodness of himself/ and that he may not right fully glorify himself in any thing. The xlv Chapitre.  
O Lord what is man that thou vouchestsafe to have mind on him: or what hath he done for thee: that thou wilt visit him with thy grace/ and what may he complain although thou sometime forsake him/ or what may I right wisely say though thou grant me not that I ask/ truly I may well think and say thus. I am naught/ ne I have no goodness of myself but in all things I am of myself all in sufficient and go to naught/ and but I be helped of the and be inwardly informed and taught by thee: I shallbe all holy slothful and to all thing unprofitable O lord thou art alway one/ ever shalt be one/ alway good: alway right wise and holy/ well ryhhtwysely and blessedly disposing all things after thy wisdom/ but I wretch that always am more ready and more prove to evil than to good/ and not I always abiding in one/ for vii times be changed upon me. Nevertheless it shall be better with me when it shall please the to put to thy helping hand/ for thou only art he that without man mayst help me: and so mayst thou confirm me and stable me in the that mine heart shall not so lightly be changed fro thee/ but that it may be holy fixed in the and finally to rest in the. And verily if I could cast away fro me all man's comfort either for getting of devotion/ or for I am compelled thereto of necessity for that I find no comfort in man/ than might I well trust in thy grace to have of the new visitations/ and new heavenly consolations/ but I confess it for truth/ that I am unworthy to have any such consolations/ and I thank the as oft as any good thing cometh to me for all that is good cometh of the. I am but of all vanity and naught before thee/ a unconstaunte man & a feeble/ and therefore whereof many I rightwisely glorify myself or why should I look to be magnified/ truly vainglory is a perilous sickness: a grievous pestilence and a right great vanity for it draweth a man fro the true joy that he should have in god and roubeth him clearly of all heavenly grace. For when a man pleaseth himself he displeaseth the and when he delighteth in man's praysingꝭ he is deprived fro the true virtues/ for the true steadfast joy and gladness is to joy in the and not in himself/ in thy name/ and not in his own virtue/ ne in any creature. Therefore thy name be praised and not mine/ thy work be magnified and not mine/ and thy goodness be always blessed: so that nothing be given to me of the laud and praising of man. Thou art my glory: and the joy of my heart. In the shall I be glorified/ and always shall I joy in thee/ and in myself nothing/ but in my infirmytes. Let the jews seek glory among themself/ but I will none seek but that is only of the for all man's glory/ all temporal honour and worldly highness to thy eternal glory compared is but as folysshenes'/ and a great vanity. ♣: O troth/ oh mercy/ oh blessed Trinyte/ to the be laud honour and glory everlastingly. Amen.   

❧ How all temporal honour is to be despised. The xlvi Chapitre.  
My son take it not to no grieve though thou see other men honoured & exalted & thyself despised & set at naught if thou raise up thy heart to me in heaven/ the dispytes of man in earth shall little grieve the. O lord we be here in great darkness/ & soon are we deceived with vanities/ but verily if I beheld myself well I should openly so that there was never wrong done to me by any creature: ne that I have nothing whereof I may rightwisely complain. But for asmuch as I have oft sinned/ and grievously offended against the. ♣ Therefore all creatures be armed against me. To me therefore is due confusion and despite/ to the laud/ honour/ and glory. And but I can bring myself to this point that I would gladly be despised & forsaken of all creatures/ and utterly to seem as naught in the world/ I may not be inwardly pacified ne stabled in thee/ ne spiritually be illumined/ nor yet fully be oned to the.   

❧ That our trust is not to be put in wordly people. The xlvii Chapitre.  
My son if thou set thy peace with any person for thine own pleasure or worldly friendship/ thou shalt always be unstable/ and never shalt thou be contented/ but if thou have alway recourse to the troth everlasting that is god himself: than the death or going away of thy dearest friend what so ever he be shall little grieve the. The love of thy friend aught always to be referred to me/ and for me he is to be beloved how good and how profitable so ever he seem unto the in this life/ without me friendship is naught worth/ ne may not long endure/ ne that love is not true and clean that is not knit by me. Thou oughtest therefore to be so mortified to all such affections of worldly men/ that in as much as in the is: thou wouldst covet to be without all man's comfort. So much a man nigheth the more to God as he can withdraw himself fro the world and from all worldly comfort/ & so much the more he asscendeth the higher to god as he can descend lower in himself/ and as he can were vile and abject in his own sight/ he that ascribeth any goodness to himself ayenstandeth the gra●e of God and letteth it to live in him/ for the grace of the holy ghost seeketh alway a meek & an humble heart/ if thou couldst perfectly naughty thyself & holy avoid thy heart fro all created love/ than should I (saith our lord) come to the with great abundance of my grace. ★ But when thou lookest to creatures/ than is ryghtwysely withdrawn fro thee: the sight of thy creature. Learn therefore to overcome thyself/ for the love of him that made the like to himself/ and thou shalt anon come to great ghostly knowledge: how little so ever the thing be that a man loveth if he love it inordynately/ it hindereth him: and letteth him greatly fro the true and perfit love that he should have unto God.   

❧ That we should eschew vain secular cunning. The xlviii Chapitre.  
My son saith our Lord/ let not fair and also subtle words move thee/ for the kingdom of heaven standeth not in words/ but in good virtuous work. ☞: Take heed unto my words/ for they inflame the heart/ and lighten the understanding and bring in also compuntion of heart/ for sins passed/ and cause also oft times great heavenly comfort suddenly to come in to the soul/ read never in any scyente to the intent thou wouldest be called wise but study rather to mortify in the all styrrynges of sins as much as in the is/ and that shallbe more profitable in thee/ than the knowledge of many hard/ and subtle questions/ when thou hast rest and understand many doubts/ yet nevertheless it behoveth the to come to one that is beginning of all things that is god himself/ and else thy knowledge shall little avail the. I am he that teacheth a man cunning/ and give more understandynhe to meek persons/ than can be taught by man's teaching. ★ Andrea he to whom I speak/ shall soon be made wise: and much shall he profit in spirit/ when pain and woe shallbe to them that only seek for curious learning taking little heed of the way for to serve god. The time shall come when christ lord of Angels/ and master of all masters shall appear to here the lesson of every creature and to examine the conscience of every person/ and than shall jerusalem that is man's soul beserched with lanterns and lightness of gods high knowledge: and rightful judgements/ and than also shallbe made open/ the deeds and thoughts of every man and all excuses and vain arguments shall cease and utterly be set apart. ★ I am he also that suddenly at a point illumine/ and lift up a meek soute/ that it shallbe made able to take and to receive in short time more perfectly the true reason of the wisdom of God/ than an other that studieth ten years in scoles and lacketh meekness. I teach without sound of words without desire of opinions/ without desire of honour/ & without strife and arguments. ☞: ❧: And I am he that teacheth all the people to despise earthly things/ to loath things that he present/ to seek and to savour eternal things/ to i'll honours/ to bear patiently all evil words and speakings/ to put their trust holy 〈◊〉 me/ nothing to covet without me/ and above all thing brenningly to love me. And some folks through an inward love that they have had to me: have learned many great things and have spoken many high mysteries of my godhead. ★: They profit more in forsaking all thing/ than in studienge for high & subtle learning. But to some men I speak comen things/ to some special things/ to some I appear sweetly in signs & figures/ and to some I give great understanding of scripture & open to them high secret mysteries. There is in books one voice and one letter that is read/ but it informeth not all persons alike/ for I am within secretly hid in the letter the teacher of troth the searcher of man's heart/ the knower of thoughts the promoter of good work and the rewarder of all men after as my wisdom and goodness judgeth them to have deserved and none otherwise.   

❧: That we should not regard much outward things/ ne ponder but little the judgement of man. The xlix Chapitre.  
my sone it is profitable to the to be ignorant in many things/ and to think thyself as deed to the world & to whom at the world is crucified. And thou must also as with a de●e care let many things pass as thou neither heard them ne saw them & to think on such things as shall 'cause in the an inward peace in soul. It is also more profitable to the that thou turn the eye of thy soul fro things that displease the and to let every man hold his opinion therein as him seemeth best/ rather than to strive again with froward words. And truly if thou were well stabled in God and beheldeste well his judgements thou shouldst lightly be content to be judged of other and to be overcome of other as our lord jesus was for the in time of his passion. ★ O lord sith it is true that thou saist what shall become of us that heed ●o much worldly things & be weep so greatly a little temporal loss/ and we labour & run for worldly profit with all our myhht/ but our spiritual profit and the health of our own souls we little regard. Such things as little or nothing profiteth us in much set by/ but that/ that is most necessary to us is nigh forgotten/ for why all men run gladly to outward things. And truly but they shortly turn back again/ they shall gladly rest still in them/ which in the end shallbe to them great peril: and danger.   

❧ That men be not always to be beloved/ for that they so lightly offend in words. The. l Chapitre.  
Lord send help unto me in all my troubles: and vexations/ for man's help is little worth/ how oft have I not found friendship where I thought I should have found it. And how oft have I found it where I lest presumed to have found it/ where it is a vain thing to trust in man/ for the true and soothfast trust and health of rightwise men is only in the. Blessed be thou lord therefore in all things that happeneth unto us/ for we be weak and unstable: soon deceived/ and soon changed fro one thing to an other/ who may so wately and so assuredly keep himself in every thing that he ne shall sometime fall into some deceit or in to some perplexyte/ truly very few/ but he that doth trust in the and that seeketh the with a true & clean heart/ slideth not so lightly fro the. And if it happen him to fall in to any trouble or perple●ite what ●o ever i● be/ and how grievous so ever it be/ he shall anon either be delivered by thee: or be comforted by thee/ for thou didst never forfake him that trusteth in the. It is right hard to find so true and so faithful a friend that will persever with his friend in all his troubles/ but thou Lord art most faithful in all things and like to the none can be found. ☞ O how well savoured that holy soul in ghostly things that said thus. My mind is stablished in god/ and is fully grounded in christ. Truly if it were so with me the dread of man should not so lightly enter in to me/ ne other men's words should not so soon move me/ who may force all things/ or who may prevent all evils that are to come/ and if things for se●e do it oft times great hurt/ what shall than though things do that be not foreseen. But why ha●e not I wretch better seen to myself/ and why have I so lightly believed other men's sayings truly for we be men & that ●ut frail men though we be esteemed and thought of many to be as Angels in our conversation/ whom may I believe but only the. Thou art the troth that deceyveste no man: nor mayst not be deceived. And on the other side every man is a liar weak and unstable and sliding most especially in words/ so that unneaths it may be believed that seemeth openly to be true/ how prudently therefore haste thou warned us to beware of the lightness of man/ and that our familiar servants may be our enemies so y● it is not to be believed thought one will say lo here is thy friend/ or there is thy friend/ for I am taught with mine own heart: but would to god it might be as a warning to me & not to my more folly. ★ Some say to me beware/ beware/ keep close to thyself that I shall show to the. And when I speak it close and believed it to be secret: he can not be secret in that himself desired but anon he betrayeth both himself and me/ and goth his way fro such tales and fro such unstable men/ lord defend me/ that I fall not in to their hands/ ne that I never comyt any such things. A true word and a stable lord give in to my mouth/ and a deceitful tongue drive far away fro me/ for that I would not have done to myself/ I aught to be ware that I do it that to none other. O how good and how peaceful is it to keep silence of other men's words and deeds and not to give full credence till the troth be tried and not to report lightly to other all that we here or see. Ne to open our heart fully but to very few/ and to seek the all way that are the beholder of man's heart/ and not for to be moved with every flake of words/ but for to desire in heart that all thing in us inwardly and outwardly may be fulfilled after thy will/ how sure a thing is it also for the keeping of heavenly grace/ to i'll the conversation of worldly people all that we may and not to desire things that seem outwardly to be pleasant: and liking. But with all the study of our heart to seek such things as bring in fervor of spirit and amendment of life. It hath been truly a great hurt to many persons a virtue known and over timely praised/ and on the contrariwise it hath been right profitable to some: a grace kept in silence/ and not lightly reported to other in this frail life that is full of temptation and privy envy.   

❧ That we shall put all out confidence in god when evil words be spoken unto us. The li Chapitre.  
My son saith our Lord/ stand strongly and trust faithfully in me what be words but wind/ they i'll in the heir/ but they hurt never astone on the ground/ and if thou know thyself not guilty/ think that thou wilt suffer gladly such words for god. It is but a hasty word sith thou art yet stable to suffer hard strokes. But why is it that so little a thing goeth so nigh the heart/ but that thou art yet fleshly and carnal and hedest to please men more than thou shouldest. And because thou dreadest to be despised/ thou wilt not gladly be reproved for thine offences/ and thou searchest therefore busily & with great study how thou mayst be excused. But behold thyself well and thou shalt see that the world yet liveth in the & a vain love also to please man. When thou refusest to be rebuked and punished for thy defaults/ it appeareth evidently that thou art not yet soothfastly meek/ ne that thou art not yet deed to the world nor the world to the net truly crucified But here my words and thou shalt not need to care for the words of ten thousand men. Lo if all things were said against the that might be most maliciously/ and untruly feigned against thee/ what should they hurt if thou suffered them to overpass and go away/ truly no more than a straw under thy foot/ and one hear of thy head they might not take fro the. But he that hath not a man's heart withinforth/ ne setteth not God before the eye of his soul/ is soon moved with a sharp word/ when he that trusteth in me/ and will not stand unto his own judgement shallbe free fro all man's dread for I am the judge that knoweth all/ secrets. I know how every thing is done and I know also both him that doth the wrong and him that it is done to. ☞: Of this thing is wrought and by my sufferance it is come about that the thoughts of men's hearts may be known/ and when the time cometh I shall judge both the innocent & him that is guilty. But first through my rightwise examination I will prove them both The witness of man oft times deceiveth but my judgement is always true and shall not be subverted/ and how be it: it is sometime hid and not known but to few/ yet it is true and erreth not/ ne yet may not err/ though in the sight of some unwise persons it seemeth not so. ★: Therefore in every doubt it behoveth for to rene to me/ and not to leave much unto thine own reason/ but with every thing that I shall send the to be content/ for a rightwise man is never troubled with any thing that I shall suffer to fall unto him. In so much that though a thing were untruly spoken against him/ he should not much care for it. Ne he should not much joy though he were sometime reasonably excused/ for he thinketh always that I am he that searcheth man's heart/ and that I judge not after the outward appearance/ for oft times it shall be found in my sight worthy to be blamed that in man's sight seemeth much worthy to be praised. O lord god most rightwise judge strong and patient/ which knowest the frailty/ and the malice of man/ be thou my strength and my hole comfort in all necessities/ for mine own conscience Lord sufficeth me not/ for thou knowest in me that I know not. And therefore in every reproof I aught always to meken myself/ and patiently to suffer all things in charity after thy pleasure/ forgive me lord as oft as I have not so done/ and give me grace of greater sufferance in time to come. Thy mercy is more profitable and more sure way for me unto the getting of pardon and forgiveness of my sins than a trust in mine own work through defence of my dark conscience. And though I dread not my conscience/ yet I may not therefore iustyfy myself: for thy mercy removed and taken away/ no man may be iustiyfyed: ne appear rightwise in thy sight.   

❧: How all grievous things in this life are gladly to be suffered for winning of this life that is to come. The lii Chapitre.  
my sone (saith our lord) be not broken by impatience with the labour that thou hast taken for my sake/ ne suffer thou not tribulations to cast the in despair nor in to unreasonable heaviness/ ne anguish in no wise/ but be thou comforted and strengthened in every chance by my promises and behestꝭ/ for I am able and of power to reward the and other my servants abundantly more than yet an think or desire/ thou shalt not labour long here ne alway be grieved with heaviness/ tarry a while my promises and thou shalt shortly see an end of all thy troubles/ one hour shall come when all thy labours and troubles shall cease and truly that hour will shortly come for all is short that passeth with tyme. Do therefore as thou dost/ labour busily and faithfully in my vineyard/ and I shall shortly be thy reward: write/ read/ sing/ mourn/ be still and pray and suffer gladly adversity/ for the kingdom of heaven is more worth than is all these things/ and much more greater things than they are: peace shall come one day that it is known to me/ and that shall not be the day of this life/ but a day everlasting with infinite clearness steadfast peace/ & syker rest without ending. And than thou shalt not say/ who shall deliver me from the body of this death ne thou shalt not need to cry. Woe is to me that my coming which is the kingdom of heaven is thus prolonged. For death shall than be destroyed & health shallbe without end of ●ody and of soul/ in so much that no manner of unrestfulness shallbe/ but blessed joy and most sweetness/ & most fairest company. O if thou sawest the everlasting crowns of my saints in heaven/ in how great joy and glory they are that sometime seemed to be vile persons & as mendispysable in the world/ thou shuldeste anon meken thyself low to the ground/ and thou shouldest rather covet to be subject unto all men/ than to have sovereignty over any one person/ and thou shouldest not desire to have mirth & solace in this world/ but rather tribulation and pain/ and thou shouldest then account it as a great winning/ to be despised and to be taken as naught among the people. O if these things savour well to the and deeply pierced in to thy heart/ thou shouldest not ones dare complain for no manner of trouble that should befall unto the. Are not all painful things and most grievous labours gladly to be suffrered for the joys everlasting? yes verily: for it is no little thing to win or lose the kingdom of heaven lift up thy face therefore into the heaven & behold how I and all my saints that be with me in heaven: had in this world great battle and conflict/ and now they joy with me and be comforted in me and be sure to abide with me/ & to devil with me in the kingdom of my father without ending. Amen.   

❧ Of the day of eternity/ and of the miseries of this life. The liii Chapitre.  
O Blessed mansion of the heavenly city. O most clearest day of eternity: whom the night may not darken/ but the high troth that god is illumineth and cleareth: the day alway merry/ always syker/ & never changing his state to the contrary/ would to god that this day might once appear & shine upon us/ and that these temporal things were at an end. This blessed day shineth to Saints in heaven with everlasting brightness and clearly/ but to us pilgrims in earth it shineth not but a far of as through a mirror or glass. The heavenly citizens know well how ioyus this day is. But we outlaws: the children of Eve weep and wail the bitterness and tediousness of this day that is of this present life short and evil full of sorrows anguishes: where a man is oft times defouled with sin/ encumbered with passions/ inquyeted with dreads/ bounden with charges/ busied with vanites/ blinded with errors/ overcharged with labours/ vexed with temptations overcome with delights and pleasures of the world: and grievously tormented sometime with penury and need. ♣: O when shall the end come of all these miseries/ and when shall I be clearly delivered fro the bondage of sin: when shall I only lord have mind on the & fully be made glad and merry in thee/ when shall I be free without letting and be in perfit liberty without grieve of body and of soul when shall I have sad peace without trouble/ peace within and without & on every side steadfast and siker. O lord jesus when shall I stand and behold the & have full sight & contemplation of thy glory/ and when shalt thou be to me all in all/ and when shall I be with the in thy kingdom that thou hast ordained to thy elect people fro the beginning. I am left here poor and as an outlaw in the land of mine enemies/ where daily be battles and great misfortunes. comfort my exile assuage my sorrow/ for all my desire crieth to thee/ it is to me a grievous burden what so ever the world offereth me here to my solace I desire to have inward fruition in thee/ but I can not attain thereto I covet to cleave fast thevenly things but temporal things and passions unmortified: pull me always downward in mind I would be above all temporal things/ but whether I will or not I am compelled through mine own default to be subject unto my flesh/ thus I most wretched man fight in myself/ and am made grievous to myself/ whiles my spirit desireth to the upward & my flesh downward. O what suffer I inwardly when in my mind I behold heavenly things: and a great multitude of carnal thoughts enter into my soul. Therefore lord be not long fro me/ ne depart not in thy wrath fro me thy servant▪ send to me the lightness of thy grace & break down in me all eternal thoughts Send forth the darts of thy love & break therewith all fantasies of the enemy. Gather my witness: and powers of my soul together in the. Make me forget all worldly things/ and grant me to caste away and holy to despise all fantasies of sin/ help me therefore thou everlasting truth that no worldly vanity here after have power in me. Come also thou heavenly sweetness and let all bitterness of sin i'll far fro me/ pardon me and mercifully forgive me when I think in my prayer of any thing but of thee/ for I confess for troth that in time paste I have used myself very unstably therein/ for many times I am not there where I stand or sit/ but rather I am therefore there where my thoughts lead me/ for there I am where my thought is and there as my thought is accustomed to be there is that that I love/ and that oft times cometh into my mind that by custom pleaseth me best/ and that most delighteth me to think upon. Wherefore thou that art everlasting troth saist openly/ there as thy treasure is: there is thy heart. ★: Wherefore if I love heaven: I speak gladly of heavenly things/ and of such things as be of god/ and that pertain most unto his honour and to the glorifyenge of and worshipping of his holy name. And if I love the world: I joy anon at worldly felicity and sorrow anon at his adversity/ if I love the flesh I imagine oft times that pleaseth the flesh/ and if I love my soul I delight much to speak and to here of things that be to my soul health. And so what so ever I love: of them I gladly here and speak/ and bear the images of them oft in my mind/ blessed is that man that for the lord forgetteth all creatures and learneth truly to overcome himself/ and with the fervor of spirit crucifieth his flesh// so that in a clean and in a p●re conscience he may offer his prayers to the and he worthy to have company of blessed Angels. All earthly things excluded fro him and fully set apart. Amen.   

❧: Of the desire of everlasting life/ and of the great reward that is promised to them that strongly fight against sin. The liiii Chapitre.  
my sone when thou feelest y● a desire of everlasting bliss is given to the & that thou covetest to go out of the tabernacle of thy mortal body/ y● thou might clearly without shadow behold my clearness. Open thine heart & with the desire of thy soul take that holy inspiration: & yield most large thanks to the high goodness of god that so worthily doth to thee/ so benyngly visiteth thee/ so brennyngly stirreth thee/ and so mightily beareth the up: that through thine own burden thou fall not down to earthly likings/ and think not that that desire cometh of thyself or of thine own working/ but rather that it cometh of the gift of grace/ and of a lovely beholding of god upon thee/ that thou shouldst profit thereby in meekness and virtue/ and that thou shouldest also prepare the to be ready against an other time for battles that are for to come/ and the more surely to cleave to god with all the desire & affection of thy heart and to study with all thy power how thou mayst moste purely and most devoutly serve him/ and take heed of this common proverbe· The fire doth oft burn/ but the flame doth not ascended without some smoke. So in likewise the desire of some men draweth to heavenly things/ & yet they be not all free fro the smoke of carnal affections/ and therefore they do it not always purely for the honour and love of god that they ask so desirously of him. Such oft times is thy desire that thou showest to be so importune for that desire is not clean & perfit that is mixed with thine own commodity. Ask therefore not that is delectable & profitable to thee/ but that is acceptable & honour to me/ for if thou do well and judge a right/ thou shalt prefer my ordinance & my will before all thy desires & before all things that may be desired beside me. I know well thy desire. Thou wouldest now be in the liberty of the glory of the sons of god now the everlasting house and the heavenly country full of joy and glory delighteth the much: but that time cometh not yet/ for there is yet an other time to come/ that is to say: a time of labour and of proof/ thou desirest to be fulfilled with the high goodness in heaven/ but thou mayst not yet come thereto. I am the full reward of man/ abide me until I shall come/ and thou shalt have me to thy reward. Thou art yet to be proved here upon earth/ and more thoroughly to be assailed in many things/ some comfort shallbe given thee/ but the fullness thereof shall not yet be granted. Be thou therefore comforted in me/ and be thou strong as well in doing as in suffering things contrary to thy will. It behoveth the to be clothed in my blood/ and to be changed in to a new man/ and thou must often times do that thou wouldest not do/ & that that thou wouldest do thou must forsake & leave undone. That shall please other shall go well forward/ & that shall please the shall have no speed/ that other men say shallbe well herd/ & that thou shalt say shallbe set at naught. Other shall ask and have their asking/ thou shalt ask and be denied. Other shallbe great and have great laud and praise of the people/ and of the no word shallbe spoken. To other this office or that shallbe committed and thou shalt be judged unprofitable in every thing/ for these things and other like: nature will murmur & grudge/ and thou shalt have a great battle in thyself if thou bear them secret in thy heart without complaining and myssaing. Nevertheless in such things and otherlike my faithful servants are wont to be proved/ how they can deny themself and how they can in all things breyke their own wills/ and there is nothing that thou shalt need so much to overcome thyself in/ as to learn to be contented/ not to be set any price by in the world/ and to suffer such things as be most contrary to thy will especially when such things as in thy sight seem unprofitable be commanded to be done. But my son consider well the profit fruit of all these labours the short end and the great reward/ and than thou shalt feel no grief ne pain in all thy labours/ but the most sweetest comfort of the holy ghost through thy good will/ and for that little will that thou forsakest here thou shalt alway have thy will in heaven where thou shalt have all that thou causte or mayst desire. There shalt thou have full possession of all goodness without dread to lose it. There thy will shallbe ever one with my will/ & it shall covet no strange nor private things. There no man shall resist thee/ no man shall complain on thee/ no man shall let thee/ nor no man shall witstande thee/ but all things that thou canst desire shallbe there present and shall fulfil all the powers of my soul unto the full. There shall I yield glory for reproves/ and a pall of laud for the heaviness/ and for the lowest place here/ a seat in heaven for ever. There shall appear the fruit of obedience▪ the labour of penance shall joy/ and the humble subjection shallbe crowned gloriously: bow the therefore meekly now under every man's hand/ and force little who saith this or who commandeth this to be done. But with all thy study take heed that whether thy prelate or thy fellow or any other lower than thou ask any thing of the or will any thing to be done by thee/ that thou take it away unto the best/ & with a glad will study to fulfil it/ let this man seek this thing and an other that/ and let this man joy in this thing and an other in that what so it be and let them be landed and praised a thousand times/ but joy thou neither in this thing nor in that/ but only in thine own contempt and dyspysinge/ and in my will for to be fulfilled and whether it be by life or death that I may alway be landed & honoured in the and by the. Amen.   

❧: How a man that is desolate aught to suffer himself holy unto god. The lu Chapter  
Lord holy father/ be thou blessed now and ever/ for even as thou wilt so it is done/ and what that thou dost is alway well/ let me thy poorest servant and most unworthy joy in the and not in myself ne in nothing else beside thee/ for thou lord art my gladness/ thou art my hope/ my crown/ my joy/ & all my honour. What hath my servant but that he hath of the and that without his desert all things be thine that thou haste given and made. And I am poor and have been in trouble and in pain ever fro my yoth. and my soul hath been in great heaviness with weeping & tears and sometime it hath been troubled in itself through many fold passions that come of the world & of the flesh. Where fore lord I desire that I may have of the joy of thy inward peace: and I do ask the rest of thy chosen children that he fed and nourished of the in the light of heavenly comforts/ but without thine help I can not come thereunto. If thou lord give peace or if thou give inward joy/ my soul shallbe anon full of heavenly melody and be devout and servant in thy laudes and praisings/ but if thou with draw thyself from me as thou haste sometime done/ than may not thy servant run the way of thy commandments as he did first/ but than he is compelled to bow his knees/ and to knock his breast/ for it is not with him as it was before when the lantern of thy ghostly presence shone upon his head/ & that he was defended under the shadow of thy mercy from all perils & dangers. ★ O right wise father ever to be praised/ the time is come that thou wilt thy servant be proved. And ryghtwysely is it done that I shall now suffer somewhat for thee/ now is the hour come that thou haste knowē●t● the beginning that thy servant for a time should outwardly be set at naught and inwardly to live to thee: and that he should a little be despised in the sight of the world and be broken with passions & sickness/ that he might after rise with the in to a new light & be clarified and made glorious in like kingdom of heaven ★ O holy father thou hast ordained it so to be/ and it is done as thou haste commanded/ this is thy grace to thy friend/ to suffer and to be troubled in this world/ for thy love/ how oft so ever it be/ & of what person so ever it be/ and in what manner so ever thou suffer it to fall unto him with out thy counsel and providence ne with out 'cause no thing is done upon earth. O it is good to me Lord that thou haste mekened me that I may thereby learn to know the rightwise judgements/ & put fro me all manner of presumption & highness of heart/ and it is very profitable to me that confusion hath covered my face that I may learn thereby to seek for help and succour to the rather than unto man. And I have thereby learned to dread thy secret & terrible judgements which scourgeste the rightwise man with the sinner but not without equity & justice. I yield thanks to the that thou haste not spared my sins/ but hast punished me with scourges of love/ and hast sense me sorrows and anguishes within & without/ so that there is no creature under heaven that may comfort me/ but thou lord god the heavenly leech of man's soul which strykeste and helest and bryngeste a man nigh unto bodily death and after r●storeste him to health again that he may thereby learn to know the lytelnes of his own power and the more fully to trust in the. The discipline is fallen upon me and thy rod of correction hath taught me/ and under that road I holy submit me/ strike my back and my bones as it shall please the and make me to bow my crooked will unto thy will/ make me a meek and a humble disciple as thou haste sometime done with me that I may walk all after thy will. To the I commit myself & all my to be corrected/ for better it is to be corrected by the here/ than in times to come. Thou knowest all things and nothing is hid from the that is in man's conscience. Thou knowest things to come before they fall/ and it is not needful that any man reach the or warn the of any thing that is done upon the earth. Thou knowest what is speedful for me and how much tribulation helpeth to purge the rust of sin in me/ do with me after thy pleasure/ and disdain not my sinful life to none so well known as it is to the. Grant me lord that to know that is necessary to be known/ that to love that is to be loved that to praise that highly pleaseth thee: that to regard that appeareth precious in thy sight & that to refuse that is vile before the Suffer me not to judge after my outward wits/ ne to give sentence after the hearing of vnconnynge men/ but in a true judgement to discern things visible and unvisible/ and above all things alway to search and follow their will & pleasure. The outward wits of men be oft deceived in their ingementes. And in like wise the lovers of the world be deceived through living only of visible things/ what is a man the better/ for he is taken better/ truly nothing/ for a deceitful man deceiveth an other/ a vain man deceiveth an other/ and a blind/ and a feeble creature deceiveth an other when he exalteth him/ & rather confoundeth him than praiseth him for why/ how much so ever a man be in sight of god/ so much he is and no more (saith the meek saint Frances) how holy and how virtuous so ever he be taken in sight of the people.   

❧ That is good that a man give himself unto meek bodily labours/ when he feeleth not himself disposed to high work of devotion. The lvi Chapter.  
My son/ thou mayst not always stand in the high fervent desire of virtue/ ne in the highest degree of contemplation/ but thou must of necessity through the corruption of the first sin sometime descend unto lowe● things/ and against thy will and with great tediousness to bear the burden of this corruptible body/ for as long as thou hearest this body of death/ thou must needs feel some grief of heart/ and thou shalt oft times bewype and mourn the burden of the fleshly feelings/ and the contradiction of thy body unto thy soul/ for thou mayst not for the corruption thereof persever in spiritual studies and in heavenly contemplation as thou wouldest do/ and than it is good to the to i'll to meek bodily labours and to exercise thyself in good outward work/ & in a steadfast hope & trust to abide my coming and my new heavenly visitations/ & to bear thy exile & the dryness of thy heart patiently/ till thou shalt be visited by me again/ and be delivered fro all tediousness and unquietness of mind/ when I shall come/ I shall make the forget all thy former labours/ and to have inward rest & quietness of soul. I shall also lay before the the flourishing meadow of holy scripture/ & thou shalt with great gladness of heart in a new blessed feeling/ feel the very true understanding thereof/ and thou shalt than ren quickly the way of my commandments/ and than shalt thou say in great spiritual gladness. The passions of this world be not worthy of themself to bring us to the joy that shallbe showed us in the bless of heaven. To the which bless bring us our lord jesus. Amen.   

❧ That a man shall not think himself worthy to have comfort/ but rather to have sorrow & pain and the profit of the contrition. The lvii Chapitre.  
Lord I am not worthy for to have thy consolation/ ne any other spytuall visitation/ and therefore thou dost right wisely unto me/ when thou leavest me very needy & desolate/ for though I might weep water of tears like to the see. Yet were I not worthy to have thy consolation/ for I am nothing worthy to have but sorrow & pain/ for I have so grievously and so oft offended thee/ and in so many things greatly trespassed against the. Therefore I may well say & confess for truth that I am not worthy to have thy lest consolation. But thou lord benign and merciful that wilt not thy works do perish/ to show the greatness of thy goodness in the vessels of thy mercy above all my merits or desert/ vouchsafe sometime to comfort thy servant more than I can think or devise. The consolations be not like to mentes fables/ for they be in themself soothfast and true/ but what have I done lord that thou wilt vouchsafe to give me any heavenly consolation. I know not that I have done any thing well/ as I should have done: but that I have always been prove and ready to sin: and slow to amendment/ this is true & I can not deny it/ for if I would deny it thou shouldest stand against me/ & no man might defend me. What have I than deserved but hell & everlasting fire. I confess for troth that I am worthy in this world all shame and despite/ and that it becometh not me to be conversant with devout people. And though it be grievous to me for to say thus (yet for the truth is so) I will confess the troth as it is/ and will openly reprove myself of my defaults that I may the rather obtain of thy mercy and forgiveness/ but what may I than say lord that thus am guilty and full of confusion/ truly I have no mouth ne taught to speak but only this word/ I have sinned lord/ I have sinned/ have mercy on me/ forgive me & unknown me trespass/ suffer me a little that I may weep & wale my sins/ or that I pass hence to the land of darkness covered with the shadow of death. ♣ Andrea what dost thou lord ask much of such wretched sinner/ but that he be contrite and meken himself for his sin/ for in true contrition and meekness of heart/ is faude the very hope of forgiveness of sign and the troubled conscience is thereby cleared/ and the grace before lost is recovered again. Man also is thereby defended fro the wrath to come/ & almighthy god and the penitent soul meet lovingly together in holy kissings of heavenly love. A meek concrition of heart is to the lord a right acceptable sacrifice/ more sweetly savouring in thy sight than brenning enscence. It is also the precious ointment that thou wouldest should be shed upon thy blessed feet/ for a meek & a contrite heart thou never dyspysest. This contrition is the place of refuge fro the dread & wrath of the enemy/ and thereby is washen and cleansed/ what so ever is before misdone or that is defouled through sin in any manner.   

❧ That grace will not be mixed with love of worldy things. The lviii Chapter.  
My son: grace is a very precious thing/ and will not be mixed with no private love/ nor with worldly comforts. It behoveth the therefore to cast away all lettings of grace if thou wilt have the gracious gift thereof. Choose therefore a secret place & love to be alone and keep the from seringe of vain tales and fables/ and offer to god devout prayers and pray heartily that thou may●e have a contrite heart and a pure conscience. Think all the world as naught & prefer my service before all other things/ for thou mayst not have mind on me & therewith all delight the● transitory pleasures. It behoveth the therefore for to withdraw the fro thy detest friends/ & fro all thine acquaintance/ and to sequester thy mind holy fro the inordinate desire of all worldly comfort as much as thou mayst. Thus prayed saint Peter that all christian people might hold themself as strangers and as pilgrims upon earth/ for than they should not set but little price by the comfort thereof. O how sure a trust shall it be to man at his departing out of this world/ to feel inwardly in his soul/ that no worldly love/ ne yet the affection of no passing or transitory thing hath any rule in him But a weak feeble person newly turned to god may not so lightly have his heart severed from earthly liking/ nor the beastly man knoweth not the freedom of a man that is inwardly turned to god And therefore if a man will perfitly be spiritual and ghostly: he must aswell renounce strangers as kinsfolk/ and specially before all other/ that he be most ware of himself if he overcome himself perfectly/ he shall the sooner overcome all other enemies. The most noble and the most perfit victory is: a man to have that victory of himself/ he therefore that holdeth himself so much subject/ that t●e sensuality obeyeth to reason: and reason in all things obeyeth to me/ he is the true overcomer of himself and the lord of the world. But if thou covet to come to that point: thou must begin man fully/ and set thy are to the rote of the tree/ and fully to cut away and to destroy in the all the inordinate inclination that thou haste to thyself or to any pryua●e or material thing/ for of that vice that a man loveth himself inordinately/ well nigh dependeth all that aught groundly to be destroyed in man/ and if that be truly overcome anon shall follow great tranquylite & peace of conscience. But for as much as there be but few that labour to die to themself/ ne to overcome themself perfitly/ therefore they lie still in their fleshly foling/ and worldly comforts/ and may in no wise rise up in spirit above themself/ for it behoveth him that will be free in heart and have contemplation of me/ to mortify all his evil inclinations that he hath to himself/ and to the world/ and not for to be bound to any creature by any inordynate: or private love.   

❧: Of the diversytes/ and divers movings between nature & grace. The lix Chapter.  
My son take good heed of the motions of nature: & grace for they be very subtle & much contrary the one to the other/ & hardly may they be known a sondre/ but it be by a ghostly man that through spiritual grace is inwardly lightened in soul. Every man desireth some goodness & pretendeth somewhat of goodness in all his words and deeds/ & therefore under pretence of goodness many be deceived. Nature is wy●e and full of decey●e/ and draweth many to her/ whom she oft times snareth and deceiveth and ●uer beholdeth her own wealth as end of he● we●. But grace walketh simply without deceit she declineth fro all evil she pretendeth no guile/ but all things she doth purely for god in whom finally she ●esteth. Nature will not gladly die/ ne gladly be oppressed ne overcome ne will not be gladly under other ne be kept in sub●●o but grace studieth how she may be mortified to the world/ and to the flesh ● she resisteth sensuality/ she seeketh to be subject/ she desireth to be overcome/ she will not use her own liberty/ she loveth to be held under holy discipline/ & coveteth not to have lordeshype over any one creature but to live and to stand always under the dread of god/ and for it love is always ready to bow herself meekly under every creature. Nature laboureth for her own profit and advantage/ and much beholdeth what winning cometh to her by other. ★: But grace beholdeth not what is profitable to herself/ but what is profitable to many. Nature receiveth gladly honour and reverence: but grace referreth all honour and reverence unto god. Nature dreadeth reprovings and dyspysynges/ but grace joyeth for the name of god to suffer them both and taketh them when they come as special gifts of god Nature loveth idleness and fleshly rest but grace can not be idle without doing some good deed/ and therefore seeketh gladly some profitable labours. Nature desireth fair things and curious and abhorreth vile things & gross/ but grace delighteth in meek and simple things/ she despiseth not hard things/ ne refuseth not to be glad in poor old clothing and simple garments/ nature beholdeth gladly things temporal: she joyeth at worldly wynnynge/ is heavy for worldly losings/ and anon is moved with a sharp word/ but grace beholdeth things everlasting and trusteth not to things temporal nor is not troubled with the loss of them/ ne she is not grieved with a froward word for she hath laid a treasure in god and in ghostly things which may not perish. Nature is covetous/ & more gladly taketh than giveth: and loveth much to have ꝓpetie and private things/ but grace is piteous and liberal to the poor/ she fleeth singular profit/ she is content with little & judgeth it more blessed to give than to take. Nature inclineth unto the love of creatures to the love of the flesh/ and unto vanites and rennyngꝭ about and to see new things in the world: but grace draweth a man to the love of god and to the love of virtues/ she renounceth all creatures/ she flieth from the world/ she hateth desires of the flesh/ restraineth liberty and wandrynges about/ and escheweth asmuch as she may to be seen among recourse of people. ★ Nature hath gladly some outward solace wherein she may feleably delight in her outward wits/ but grace seeketh only to be comforted in god/ and to delight her in his goodness above all things. ★: Nature doth all things for her own winning: and singular profit/ she may do nothing free/ but hopeth all way to have like perfect or better: or laud or favour of the people/ and coveteth much that her deeds & work be greatly pondered and praised/ but grace seeketh no temporal thing/ ne none other reward for her hire but only god she will no more of temporal goodness than shall need for the getting of the goods everlasting/ and ca●eth not for the vain praise of the world. Nature joyeth greatly in many friends and kynstolkes/ and is glorified much of a noble place of birth and of her noble blood and kynted/ she joyeth with mighty men/ she fl●tereth rich men and as merry with them that she thinketh like to her in nobleness of the world/ but grace maketh a man to love his enemies she hath no pride in worldly friends/ she regardeth not the nobleness of kin/ ne the house of her father/ but if the more virtue be there/ she favoureth more the poor than the rich she hath more compassion of an innocent than of a mighty man/ she joyeth ever in troth and not in falsehood/ and alway comforteth good men more & more to perfect and grow in virtue & goodness & to seek daily more higher gifts of grace that they may through good virtuous werkis be made like to the son of god. Nature complaineth anon for wanting of a right little thing that she would have: or for a little worldly heaviness/ but grace beareth gladly all neediness and wantinges of the world Nature inclineth all things to herself & to her own perfect as much as she may/ she argueth for herself: and striveth & fighteth for herself. But grace rendereth all things to god of whom all things floweth & springeth origynally/ she ascribeth no goodness to herself/ ne presumeth not of herself/ ne she striveth not. ne preferreth not her opinion before other men's/ but in every sentence she submitteth her meekly to the eternal wisdom & judgement of god. Nature coveteth to know & to here new secret things/ she will that her work be showed outwardly & will have experience of many things in the world by her outward wits/ she desireth also to be known and to do great things in the world where of laud and p●aysinge may follow/ but grace ca●eth not for any new things ne for any curious things: what so ever they be/ for she knoweth well that all such vanities cometh of the corruption of sin/ and that no new thing may long endure upon earth/ she teached also ●o restrain the outward wittis & to ●schew all vain pleasure and outward showing and meekly keepeth see re●e things that in the world were greatly to be marveled and praised. And in every thing and in every science she seeketh some spiritual profit to herself/ and laud & honour to almighty God/ she will not that her good de●es ne her inward devotion be outwardly known: but most desireth that our lord be blessed in all his works which giveth all things freely of his high excellent charity/ this grace is a light supernatural & a spiritual gift of God and it is the proper mark and token of elect people: and an earnest penny of the everlasting life/ for it ravysheth a man fro love of earthly things to the love of heavenly things/ and of fleshly liver maketh an heavenly person/ and the more that nature is oppressed and overcome the more grace is given/ and the soul through new gracious visitations is daily reform more/ and more unto the image of god.   

❧: Of the corruption of Nature and also of the worthiness of grace. The lx. chapiter.  
O Lord god which haste made me to thine image and likeness grant me this grace that thou hast showed to me to be so great and so necessary to the health of my soul/ that I may overcome this wretched nature which draweth me alway to sin/ and to thelesing of mine own soul. I feel in my flesh the law of sin fighting strongly against the law of my spirit: which leadeth me as a thrall or a bondman to obey to sensuality in many things and I may not resist the passions thereof/ but thy grace do assist me therein. I have therefore great need of thy grace and that of the great abundance of thy grace: if I should overcome this wretched nature which always fro my youth hath been ready and prove to sin/ for after that nature was vis●ate and defouled by the sin of the first man Adam/ the pain thereof descended in to all his posterity so that: that nature which in the first creation was good and rightwise is now taken for sin and for corruption (so farforth) that the movings that is now left unto nature draweth man always to evil. And that ●s for this reason for the little strength and moving unto goodness that yet remaineth in it is as a little sparkle of fire that is hid and over held with ashes/ that is to say the natural reason of man which is all about bylapped and overhylled with darkness of ignorance/ which nevertheless hath yet power to judge betwixt good & bad and to show the distance and the diversity betwixt true and false: how be it that through weakness of itself it is not able for to fulfil all that it approveth/ ne hath not sith the first sin of Adam the full light of troth/ ne the sweetness of affections to god as it had first. Of this it cometh most merciful lord that in my inward man that is in the reason of my soul/ I delight me in thy laws/ and in thy teachings knowing that they are good/ and rightwise/ and holy/ and that all sin is evil/ and to be fled: and eschewed/ and yet in my outward man: that is is to say: in my fleshly feeling I serve the law of sin/ when I obey rather to sensuality than to reason. And of this it followeth also/ that I will good/ but to perform it without thy grace I may not for weakness of myself. And sometime I purpose to do many good deeds/ but for grace wanteth that should help me/ I go backward and fail in my doing/ I know the way to perfection/ and how I should do I see it evidently/ but for I am so oppressed with the heavy burden of this corrupt body of sin I lie still and rise not to perfection. ★ O Lord how necessary therefore is thy grace to me: to begin well/ to continue well/ and to end well: for without the I may nothing do that good is. ★ O heavenly grace: without whom our merits are naught worth/ ne the gifts of nature no thing to be powdered/ ne crafts: or riches nothing to be regarded/ nebeaute/ strength/ wit/ ne eloquence/ nothing may avail/ come thou shortly and help me. The gifts of nature be comen to good men and to bad/ but grace and love are the gifts of the elect and chosen people/ whereby they be marked and made able and worthy to have the kingdom of heaven. ☞ This grace is of such worthiness that neither the gift of proph●ye/ ne thy working of miracles ne yet the gift of cunning & knowledge may nothing avail without it/ ne yet faith/ hope/ ne other virtues be not acceptable to the without grace and charity. O blessed grace that maketh the poor in spirit/ to be rich in virtue and him that is rich in worldly goods makest meek and low in heart/ come and descend in to my soul & fulfil me with thy ghostly comforts that it fail not ne faint not for wermes/ and dryness of itself. I beseech the lord that I may find grace in thy sight/ for thy grace shall suffice to me/ though I want that nature desireth/ for although I be tempted and vexed with troubles on every side/ yet I shall not need to dread whiles thy grace is with me/ for she is my strength/ she is my comfort/ and she is my counsel & help she is stronger than all mine enemies/ and wiser: then all the wisest of this world/ she is the master of troth/ the teacher in discipline/ the light of the heart the comfort of trouble/ the driver away of heaviness/ the avoider of dread/ the nourisher of devotion/ and the bringer in of sweet tears and devout weepings what am I than without grace/ but as a dry stoke to cast away. Grant me therefore that thy grace may prevent me and follow me and that it may make me ever busy and diligence in good work unto my death/ so more it be. Amen.   

❧: That we aught to forsake ourself/ and for to follow Christ by bearing of his Cross. The lxi Chapitre.  
My son asmuch as thou canst go out fro thyself and fro thine own will/ so much thou mayst enter in to me/ and as to desire nothing outwardly bringeth peace inwardly in to man's soul/ so a man by an inward forsaking of himself joineth him unto god. I will therefore that thou learn to have a perfit forsaking/ and a full resygning of thyself in to my handis without withsaing or complaining/ and that thou follow me for I am the way/ I am the troth/ and I am the life: without a way no man may go/ and without troth no man may know/ and without life no man may live ♣ I am the way which thou oughtest to go/ the truth which thou oughtest to believe/ and the life which thou shalt hope to have/ I am the way that can not be defouled/ the troth which can not be deceived/ and the life that never shall have end/ I am the way most straight/ the troth most perfit/ and the life most soothfast a blessed life/ and a life unmade that made all things/ if thou devil and abide in my way/ thou shalt know the troth/ and troth shall deliver thee/ and thou shalt come to everlasting life/ if thou wilt come to that life keep my commandments/ if thou wilt know the truth believe my teachings/ if thou wilt be perfit: cell all that thou hast/ if thou wilt be my disciple forsake thyself/ if thou wilt have ●he blessed life/ despise this present life/ if thou wilt be exalted in heaven meek the here in earth/ and if thou wilt reign with me bear the cross with me/ for truly only the servants of the cross shall find the life of blessedfulness and of everlasting light. O lord jesus for asmuch as thy way is narrow/ and straight/ and is also much despised in the world/ give me grace to bear gladly the dispisinges of the world. ★: There is no servant greater than his Lord/ ne no disciple above his master/ let thy servant therefore be exercised in thy ways for therein is the health/ and the very perfection of life/ what so ever I read or here beside that way/ it refresheth me not ne delighteth me not fully. My son for as much as thou knowest these things/ and hast read them all/ thou shalt be blessed if thou fulfil them/ he that hath my commandments and keepeth them/ he it is that loveth me/ and I shall love him/ and I shall show myself unto him and shall make him sit with me in the kingdom of my father. Lord as thou haste said and promised so be it done to me: I have taken the cross of penance of thy hand: and I shall hear it unto my death as thou haste put it to me to do. For the life of every good man is the cross/ & it is also the way and leader to Paradyse/ and now it is begun it is not lawful for me to go aback fro it ne it is not behoveful for me to leave it: have done therefore my well-beloved brothers/ go we forth together jesus shallbe with us for jesus we have taken this cross/ for jesus let us persever & he shall be our help that is our guide & leader. Lo our king goth before us that shall fight for us/ follow we him strongly dread we no perils/ but be we ready to die strongly with him in battle/ that we put no blot in to our glory: ne mynyshe not our reward by fleeing cowardly away from the Cross.   

❧: That a man shall not be overmuch cast into heaviness though he happen to fall in to some defaults. The lxii Chapitre.  
my sone patience and meekness in adversity please me more/ than much consolation and devotion in prosperity/ why art thou so heavy for a little word said or done against thee/ if it had been more thou shouldest not have been moved therewith/ but let it now overpass: it is not the first/ and it shall not be the last if thou live long. ★ Thou art manful enough as long as no adversity falleth to the and thou canst well give counsel and well canst thou comfort and strengthen other with thy words. But when adversity knocketh at thy door thou fayleste anon both of counsel and strength/ behold well therefore thy great frailty which thou hast daily experience of in little obiectꝭ. Nevertheless it is for thy ghostly health that such things and other like be suffered to come unto thee/ purpose thyself in thy heart to do the best that lieth in thee/ and than when such tribulations shall happen to fall unto thee/ although i● grieve y●/ yet let it not wholly overthrow the ne let i● not long ●a●y with the. And at the lest suffer it patiently/ although thou may not suffer it gladly. Moreover though thou be loath to here such things and that thou feel great indignacyō●herat in thy heart/ yet thrust thy s●lfe down low in thine own sight/ and suffer no inordinate word pa●●e out of thy mouth whereby any other might be hurted/ and than all such indignation shallbe anon assuaged and soon appeased in the. And than also that which before was taken to so great heaviness to thee/ shall anon be made sweet and pleasant in thy sight. For yet live I saith our lord ready for to help the and to comfort the more than ever I did before/ if thou wilt holy trust in me/ and devoutly call for help to me. Be quiet in heart/ prepare thyself yet to more he sufferance. For it is not all lost though thou feel thyself oft troubled or grievously tempted. Think thou art a man and not god/ a fleshly man: and no angel/ how mayst thou always stand in one state of virtue/ when that wanted to angels in heaven: and to the first man in Paradyse the which stood not long/ I am he that raise up them that be sorrowful to health and comfort/ and those that know their own unstableness: ♣ I lift them up to be stabled in the sight of my godh●ed for ever. ★: Lord blessed be thy holy word: It is more sweeter to my mouth than honey comb. What should I do in all my troubles & heaviness/ yet thou diddest not sometime comfort me with thy wholesome and sweet words: therefore it shall not force what trouble or adversity/ I suffer here for the so that I may in the end come to the port of everlasting health. give me a good end and a blessed passage out of this world/ have mind on me my lord/ my god/ and direct me by a straight and a ready way in to thy kingdom: I beseech the. Amen.   

❧: That a man shall not search the judgements of God. The lxiii Chapitre.  
my sone beware to dispute of high matters and of the secret judgements of god/ why this man is so left/ and forsaken of God/ and why this man is taken to so great grace/ why also one man is so much troubled: and an other so greatly advanced. These things overpass all man's knowledge/ ne to search god's judgement/ no man's reason may suffice ne yet his disputation. Therefore when the ghostly enemy styret the unto such things: or if any curious men ask of the such questions: answer with the prophet David: and say thus. Lord thou art rightwise/ and thy judgements are true and be justified in themself/ my judgements are to be dreaded and not to be discussed by man's wit/ for they be to man's wit inconprehensyble/ beware also that thou search not/ ne reason not of the merits of saints which of them was holier than other or which of them is higher in heaven. Such questions oft times nourish great strifes & unprofitable reasonings and proceed of pride & vainglory whereby envy springeth and dissension/ that is to say when one laboureth to pfer this saint & an other this. And truly a desire to know such things rather dyspleseth saints than pleaseth them. For I (saith our lord) am not god of dissension and strife: but of unity and peace/ the which peace standeth rather in true meekness than in exalting of themself. Some men be more stirred to love this saint or that: & that with much greater affection/ but truly that affection is oft times more rather a manly affection than a godly: am not I he that have made all saints (yes truly) and over that I have given them grace/ and I have given them glory. I know all their merits/ I prevented them with the sweetness of my blessings. ★ I knew my elect and chosen people before the world was made/ ♣: I have chosen them from the world: they have not chosen me/ I called them by my grace/ I drew them by my mercy/ I led them through temptations/ I sent them inward comforts/ I gave them perseverance/ ★ I crowned their patience/ ♣ I know the first man and the last: I love them all with an unestimable love. Thus I am to be praised in all my saints/ and above all things to be blessed & honoured in all and in every of them whom I have so gloriously magnified and predestinate without any merits in them going before. Therefore he that dispraiseth the jest of my saints/ doth no honour to the greatest/ for I have made both the less and the more/ and he that dispraiseth any of my Saints/ he dispraiseth me and other of my saints in the kingdom of heaven/ for they be all one/ fast o●ed and knit together in one sure bond of perfit charity. They feel all one thing and they will all one thing/ & they love together all into one thing/ & they love me much more than themself/ or their own merits/ for they be rapt above themself and be drawn fro their own love/ and holy be turned in to my love in the which they rest by eternal fruition. There is nothing that may turn them from my love/ ne that may thrust them down out of their glory/ for they be full of eternal troth/ and bren inwardly in soul with fire of everlasting charity that never shallbe quenched. Let all them cease therefore that be carnal and bestly & that can not love but private joy to search the state of my blessed saints in heaven/ for they put away and add to their merits as they favour and not after the pleasure of the eternal truth of god. In many folks is great ignorance but most specially in them that have so little light of ghostly understanding: that they can not love any person with a clean love. Many also be moved by a natural affection or by a worldly frendeshype to love this saint or that/ & as they imagine in earthly things so they imagine of heavenly things/ but there is a distance incomparable betwixt things which inꝑfite men imagine by natural reason/ & which men truly illumined with grace behold by heavenly contemplation. Beware therefore my son to treat curyously of such things for they pass thy knowledge/ and endeavour thyself/ that thou mayst be worthy to be numbered with the lest saint that shall come to heaven. And if percase a man might know who were holier/ or who should be taken greater in the kingdom of heaven/ what should that knowledge avail him/ but if he would thereby the more meek himself/ & the more rise thereby into the laud & praising of my name/ truly nothing. Therefore he is much more acceptable to god that thinketh on the greatness of his sins/ & of the lytelnes of his virtues/ & how far he is fro the perfection of the lest saint that is in heaven/ than he that argueth of their greatness or of their litelnes or blessedness of life forgetting themself. It is better also with devout prayers & with weepings & tears meekly to pray to saints/ & to call to them for help/ than vainly to search for their perfection. They be very well contented with the joy that they have if men would refrain themself fro such vain arguments. They glorify not themself of their merits ne they a scribe no goodness to themself/ but they refer all goodness to me/ for they know well that I of my infinite goodness & charity have given all unto them. And they be so much fulfilled with love of the godhead & with our passing joy that no glory may want in them/ ne no felicity. And the higher that they be in heaven the meeker they be in themself/ & the more nigh/ & the more loving unto me. Therefore it is written in the apocalypse/ that saintis in heaven laid their crowns before god & fell prostrate on their faces before the meek lamb that is jesus and they worshipped him as their lord god/ that is and shall belyving evermore without ending. Amen. Many search who is highest in heaven that know not whether they shallbe worthy to be numbered with the lest/ that shall come thither/ for it is a great thing to be the lest in heaven/ where all be great for all that shall come thither/ shallbe called the sons of god/ and so shall they be in deed/ the lest there shallbe counted for a. M. & a sinner of a. C. year shall be set at naught. When the apostles asked among themself who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They heard this answer of Christ. but ye said he be converted fro your sin: & be made meek as little children/ ye may not enter in to the kingdom of heaven. He therefore that maketh himself as this little child/ he shallbe greatest in the kingdom of heaven Woe than be to them that disdain to meek themself with little Children: for the meek gate of heaven will not suffer them to enter in to it/ woe also be unto the rich proud men that have their consolation here. For when the good poor men shall enter into the kingdom of god/ they shall stand weeping and wailing without. joy/ ye than ye that be meek and poor in spirit/ for yours is the kingdom of god/ so that ye walk and hold your journey assuredly in the way of truth.   

❧: That all our hope and trust is to be put in God only. The lxiii Chapitre.  
O Lord? what is the trust that I have in this life/ or what is my most solace of all things under heaven. Is it not thou my lord God whose mercy is without measure/ where hath it been well with me without thee/ or when hath it not been well with me thou being present/ I had liefer be poor with ehe than rich without thee/ I had leaver be with the as a pilgrim in this world/ than without the to be in heaven/ for where thou art there is heaven/ and where thou art not/ there is both death and hell. Thou art to me all that I desire/ and therefore it behoveth me to fighe to thee/ to cry for thee/ and heartily to pray to thee/ I have nothing to trust in that may help me in my necessities but only thee/ for thou art my hope/ thou art my trust/ thou art my comfort/ & thou art my most faithful helper in every need/ man seeketh that is his/ but thou sekeste my health and profit/ and tourneste all thing into the best for me/ for if thou send temptations and other adversytes thou ordeynest all to my profit/ for thou art wont by a thousand ways to prove thy chosen people. ★ In which proof thou art no less to be lauded and praised/ than if thou hadst fulfilled them with heavenly comforts. In the lord therefore I put my trust: and in the I bear patiently all my adversities/ for I find nothing without the but unstableness and folly/ for I see well that the multitude of worldly friends profiteth not/ ne that strong helpers nothing may avail/ ne wise counsayler give profitable counsel: ne cunning of doctors give consolation/ ne riches deliver in time of need ne secreee place any thing defend/ if thou lord do not assist/ helhe/ comfort/ counsel/ inform/ and defend/ for all things that seem to be ordained to man's solace in this world if thou be absent/ be right naught worth ne may not bring to man any true felicity/ thou art the end Lord of all good things/ the highness of life and the profound wisdom of all thing that is in heaven and in earth/ wherefore to trust in the above all things/ is the greatest comfort to all thy servants. To the therefore I lift mine eyen/ and in the only I put my trust/ my lord my god the father of mercy/ bless thou/ & hallow thou my soul with thy heavenly blessings/ that it may be thy dwelling place/ and the seat of thy eternal glory/ so that nothing be found in me at any time that may offend the eye of the majesty/ behold me lord after the greatness of thy goodness/ and of thy manifold mercies and graciously here the prayer of me thy poorest servant/ outlawed and far exiled into the country of shadow of death/ defend: and keep me among the manifold perils: and dangers of this corruptible life/ & direct me through thy grace by the way of peace into the country of everlasting clearness without ending. Amen.   
FINIS   

¶ Hear after followeth the fourth book of the following of christ which treateth most specially of the sacrament of the altar.  

Prologus.  
COme to me (saith our lord) all ye that labour and be charged/ & I shall give unto you refection And the breed that I shall give unto you shall be my flesh/ for the life of the world. Take it & eat it/ for it is my body that for you shallbe given in sacrifice/ do ye this in remembrance of me for who eateth my flesh: and drinketh my blood/ he shall devil in me and I in him/ these words that I have said you be spirit and life.   

❧: With how great reverence christ is to be received. The first Chapter.  
O My lord jesus Christ eternal troth: these words aforesaid be thy words/ all be it they were not said in one self time/ nor written in one self place. ★: And for that they be thy words/ I will thankfully & faithfully accept them they be thy words/ and thou haste spoken them/ and they be now mine also/ for thou hast said them for my health/ I will gladly receive them of thy mouth to the end they may be the better sown: and planted in my heart/ thy words of so great pity full of sweetness/ and love greatly encyte me. But lord my sins fear me greatly/ and my conscyen●e not pure for to receive so great a mystery/ draweth me sore aback. The sweetness of thy words provoketh me/ but the multitude of mine offences charge me very sore. ★ Thou commandest that I shall come unto the faithfully if I will have part with the and receive the nourishing of immortality. And covet to obtain the glory and life eternal. Thou sayest lord/ come ye unto me that labour: and be charged and I shall refresh you. O how sweet and how amiable a word is it in the ear of a sinner that thou lord god will bid me that am so poor and needy to the communion of thy most holy body. But what am I lord that I dare presume to come to the. Lo heaven and earth may not comprehend thee/ and thou sayest come ye all to me/ what meaneth this most meek worthiness/ & this lovely & friendly bidding/ how shall I dare come to the which know not that I have done any thing well/ how shall I bring the into mine house which so oft have offended before thy face. Angels & archangel's honour thee/ & rightwise men dread thee/ and thou sayest yet come ye all unto me/ but that thou lord hadst said it/ who would believe it to be true. But thou hast commanded it/ who durst attempt to go to it. No that just man laboured an hundred year to make the ship to the end he might be saved with a few of his people/ how may I prepare me than in an hour to receive the with due reverence that art maker & creature of all the world. Moses' the servant & great familiar & special friend made the ark of timber not corruptible which he covered with right purer gold & put in it the tables of the law/ & I a corrupt creature/ how shall I so lightly dare receive the that art maker of the law & giver of grace & life unto all creatures. The wise Solomon king of Israel edified a marvelous temple to the praising of thy name in the space of vii years & by viii days hallowed the feast of the dedication of the same/ he offered a thousand peaceable hosts & put the ark of god in the place made ready for it with great melody of clarions & trumpets. How dare I than that am most poor among other creatures receive the in to my house/ which scarcely have well spent one hour of time or one half hour of my life. ★ O my lord how much studieth they to please thee/ & how little is it that I do/ how little time take I when I dispose me to be houseled seldom am I gathered together in thee/ & more seldom am I purged fro having my mind overmuch on worldly things and certainly no unprofitable thought aught to come into thy holy presence of thy godhead nor no creatures aught there to have place/ for I shall not receive an Angel/ but the lord of Angels in to mine heart/ Nevertheless there is a great difference between the ark of God with his relics & thy most pure & precious body with his virtues/ which are more than can be spoken/ & between the sacrifice of the old law/ that was but a figure of the new law/ & the true host of thy precious body that is the accomplysshement of all the old sacrifice/ why then am I not more inflamed to come to thee/ why do I not prepare myself with greater diligence to receive this holy & blessed sacrament sith the holy ancient fathers the patriarchs & prophets/ kings & princis with all the people have showed so great affection towards thy service in time passed ★ The most devout & blessed king the king David went before the ark of god & honoured it with all his strength always remembering the great benefits before given to the father's/ he made organs of divers manners & also Phalmes which be ordained to be song/ & he himself song them with great gladness/ and oft times with his harp he being fulfilled with the grace of the holy ghost taught the people of Israel to laud & praise god with all their heart/ & daily with their mouth to bless him & preach his goodness. And if there were showed than so great denotion & remembrance of laud & praising to god before the ark of the old testament/ how much reverence & devotion aught we than now to have in the presence of his holy sacrament & in the receiving of the most excellent body of our lord jesus Christ many run to divers places to visit relics of saints & marvel greatly when they here of their blessed dedis. They see great buildings of temples/ & behold how their bones & holy relyqns be covered with silk & lapped in gold. And lo thou my lord god thou art present here with me in the altar: the most holy saint of saints maker of all things & lord of Angels. Oft times there is great curiosity & vanity in the sight of all such things & little fruit & amendment is had thereby & that specially where there is so light recouse/ & wavering without any contrition goyne before. But thou my lord god my lord jesus Christ god & man art here hold present in the sacrament of the altar/ where the fruit of everlasting health is had plenteously as oft as thou art worthily & devoutly received. But if that shall be done fruytefully/ there may be no lightness/ curyously/ nor sensuality/ but steadfast faith devout hope and pure charity. ★ O god invisible maker of all the world how marvelously dost thou with us/ how sweetly & how graciously dysp●sest thou all things to thy chosen people/ so whom thou offerest thyself to be taken in this glorious sacrament. Certainly it surmounteth all understanding & it draweth the hearts & kindleth the affection of all devout men. The true faithful people that dispose all their life to amendment▪ receive oft times through this glorious sacrament great grace & devotion & great love of virtue. ♣ O marvelous & secretly hid is the grace of this sacrament the which the faithful people of Christ do only know/ for infidels & they that live in sin may have there of no manner of experience. In this sacrament spiritual grace is given/ & the virtue that was lost in their soul is repaired/ & the beauty that was deformed through sign returneth again/ & the grace of this sacrament sometime is so much that of the fullness ●f devotion that cometh thereby/ not only the mind but also the feeble bodies recover their former strength. ★: But very it is greatly to be sorrowed that we be so slow & negligent/ & that we be stirred with no more affection to receive Christ than we be/ for in him standeth all merit & hope of them that shallbe saved/ he is our health & our redemption/ he is the confortour of all that live in this world/ and the eternal rest of saints in heaven. And it is all so streately to be sorrowed/ that so many take so little heed of this high mystery which gladeth the heaven & preserveth all the world. Alas the blydnes & hardness of man's heart that taketh no greater heed to so noble a gift/ but by the daily using thereof is negligent & taketh little heed thereto/ if this blessed sacrament were ministered only in one place & consecrated by one priest in the world/ with how great desire thinkest thou the people would run to that place & to that pest that they might see there these heavenly mysteries. Now there be many pestꝭ & christ is offered in many places that the grace: and love of god to man may appear so much the more as the holy communion is spread the more abroad throughout the world/ thankingꝭ be to the therefore my lord jesus that thou vouch safe to refresh us poor outlaws with thy precious blood & to stir us with the words of thine own mouth to receive this holy mystery/ saying come ye all to me that labour & be charged & I shall refresh you.   

¶ That the great goodness & charity of god is given to man in this blessed sacrament. The ii chapter.  
O My lord jesus trusting in thy great goodness & mer●ye I come to the as a sick man to him that shall heal him: and as he that is hungry & thirsty to the fountain of life/ that is needy to the king of heaven as a servant to his lord a creature to his creature/ and as a desolate person to his meek and blessed confortour. But how is it that thou comeste to me/ who am I that thou wilt give thyself unto me/ how dare I a sinner appear before thee/ & how is it that thou wilt vouchsafe to come to so simple a creature/ thou knowest thy servant & seest well that he hath no godnꝭ of him self whereby thou shouldest give this grace unto him/ I confess therefore mine own unworthiness and I knowledge thy goodness/ I praise thy pite and yield the thankinges for thy great charity. Verily thou dost all this for thine own goodness/ and not for my merits that thy goodness may thereby the more appear/ & thy charity the more largely showed/ and thy meekness the more highly be commended. Therefore because this pleaseth thee/ and thou hast commanded that it should thus be done: thy goodness: also therein pleaseth me/ and would to god that mine iniquity resisted it not. O my lord jesus how great reverence and thankings with perpetual praisings of thy name aught to be given the for the receiving of thy holy body/ whose dignity no man is able to express. But what shall I think in this communion/ and in going to my Lord god/ whom I can not worship as I aught to do/ and yet I desire to receive him devoutly. But what may I think better or more healthful to me than holy to meek myself before thee/ exalting thy infinite goodness far above me. I laud the my lord god and shall exalt the everlastingly. I despise myself/ and submit me to the and sorrow greatly the deepness of mine iniquity. Thou art the saint all saints and I am the filth of all sinners/ and yet thou inclyneste thyself to me: that am not worthy to look toward the. Thou comest to me/ thou wilt be with me. Thou biddest me to thy feast/ thou wilt give me this heavenly meat & this Angel's food to eat which is plainly none other but thyself/ that ar●e the lively bread which discendeste fro heaven & givest life to the world/ behold lord fro whence all this love precedeth and how great goodness shineth upon us & how great thanks & praises are due to the therefore. O how healthful & how profitable a counsel was it when thou or daynest this glorious sacrament/ & how sweet/ & how ioyus a feast was it when thou gavest thyself as meat to be eaten. O lord how marvelous is thy work/ how mighty is thy virtue/ & how far unspeakable is thy troth. By thy word all things were made & all things were done as thou hast commanded/ it is marvelous thing and worthy to be believed and far above the understanding of man that thou lord that art god and v●●am art holy contained under a little likeness of bread and wine and art eaten with out consuming of him that taketh thee/ & that thou that art lord of all things and that needest nothing in this world wouldest by this glorious sacrament devil in us/ keep thou mine heart and my body immaculate that in a glad & a pure conscience. I may oft times celebrated thy misteres & receive them to my everlasting health which thou haste ordained most specially to thy honour & perpetual memory O my soul be thou merry & glad for so noble a gift and so singular a comfort left to the in this vale of misery/ for as oft as thou remember'st this mystery/ and takest the body of Christ: so oft thou workest the work of thy redemption/ & art made part taker of all the merits of christ Truly the charity of christ is never minished/ and the greatness of his mercy is never consumed▪ & therefore thou oughtest always with a new renewing of mind to dispose the to it/ & with a well advised and a deep consideration to think on this great mystery of health/ it should seem to the as new & as pleasant a joy & comfort when thou singest mass or hearest it/ as if christ the same day first entered into the womb of the virgin and were made man/ or if he the same day suffered & died upon the cross for the health of mankind.   

❧: That it is very profitable oft to be houseled· The third chapter.  
O Lord I come to thee: to the end that it may be well with me through thy gift/ and that I may joy at the holy feast that thou of thy great goodness hast made ready for me In the is all that I may or shall desire/ for thou art my health and my redemption/ my hope/ my strength/ my honour and glory. Make me thy servant this day merry and glad in thee/ for I have life my soul unto thee/ now I desire devoutly/ & reverently to receive the in to mine house that I may dese●e with zachees to be blessed of thee/ and to be accompanied among the children of Abraham/ my soul coveteth to receive thy body/ my heart desireth to be oned with thee/ betake thyself to me lord/ and it sufficeth/ for without the there is no comfort/ ne without the I may not be/ ne without thy visitation I may not live/ and therefore it behoveth me oft times to go to the and for my health to receive thee/ lest haply if I should be defrauded from that heavenly meat I should fail in the way. ☞ So thou saidest thyself most merciful jesus as thou were preaching unto the people and heleddest them of their sickness/ I will not let them return into their houses fasting lest they fail by the way/ do with me therefore in like manner/ that hast left thyself in this glorious sacrament for the comfort of all faithful people. Thou art forsake the true refection of the soul/ and he that worthily eateth the shallbe part taker: and heir of eternal glory/ it is necessary unto me that so oft do offend/ so soon ware dull & slow/ that by oft prayers and confessions I may renew myself/ purify myself/ and kindle myself to quyckes/ and favour of spirit/ jest haply by long obtaining I might all fro that holy purpose for the wits of man and woman be fro their youth proud and ready to evil/ & but this heavenly medicine do help/ man may anon fall to worse and worse: therefore this holy communion draweth a man fro evil and comforteth him in goodness if I now be oft times so negligent and slothful when I am commonde what should I be if I received not that blessed medicine nor sought not for that great help/ and though I be not every day apt nor disposed to receive my creature/ nevertheless I shall take heed to receive him in times convenyrnt/ so that I may be part taker of so great a grace/ for it is one of the most principal consolations to a faithful soul: that is to say/ that as long as he is as a pilgrim in this mortal body/ that he oft remember his lord God and receive him that is his only beloved above all things. It is a marvelous goodness of the great pity that thou lord hast avenste us/ that thou creator & giver of life to all spiritis vouchest safe to come to a poor creature/ and with thy godhead and manhood to refresh his hunger & need. O happy is that man and blessed is that soul that deserveth devoutly to receive his lord god/ and in that receiving to be fulfilled with a spiritual joy. ♣ O how great lord doth he receive / how well beloved a geste doth he bring into his house/ how joyous a fellow doth he receive/ how faithful a friend doth he accept/ how noble a spouse doth he embrace/ that receiveth thee/ for thou art only to be beloved before all other/ and above all things/ let heaven & earth and all the ornaments of them be still in thy presence/ for what so ever they have worthy laud or praise/ they have it of the largesse of thy gift/ and yet they may not be like to the honour and glory of thy name/ of whose wisdom there is no number nor measure.   

❧ That many commodities be given unto them that devoutly receive this holy sacrament. The four Chapter.  
O My lord God/ prevent thy servant with the blessings of thy sweetness that he may deserve for to go reverently and devoutly to this high sacrament/ stir up mine heart in to a full beholding of thee/ & deliver me fro the great sloth & idleness that I have been in time passed visit me in thy goodness & give me grace to taste inwardly in my soul/ the sweetness that is hid secretly in this blessed sacrament as in a most plenteous fountain. ☞ Illumyne also mine eyen to see and behold so great a mystery & strengthen me that I may alway faithfully & undoubtedly believe it/ for it is thy operation and not the power of man/ thy holy institution & not man's invention. And therefore to take and to understand these things no man is sufficient of himself and they also overpass the subtlety of all angels and heavenly spirits/ what may I than most unworthy sinner earth and ashes search and take of so high a secret but only that in simpleness of heart/ in a good stable faith and by thy commandment/ I come to the with meek hope and reverence and believe verily that thou art here present in this sacrament god and man. ★ Thou wilt therefore that I shall receive thee/ and knit myself unto the inperfyte charity/ wherefore I ask the mercy: and desire that thou give me thy special grace that I may fro hence forth be fully melted: and relented in to the and flow in thy love/ and never after to intermytte myself with any other comfort. This most high and most worthy sacrament is the life of the soul and body▪ The medicine of all spiritual sickness whereby all vices be cured/ passions be refrained/ temptations be overcome and demynysshed: the greatier grace is sen●e virtue is increased/ faith is stablished/ hope is strengthened/ and charity is kindled and spread abroad. Thou hast given and yet oft times givest many great gifts by this sacrament to thy beloved servants that devoutly receive thee: for thou thereby art the strong upholder of my soul/ the repairer of all the infirmities of man/ and the giver of all inward consolation/ and of comfort in tribulation and fro the deepness of their own de●ection thou lay●est them again into a strong hope of thy preservation/ and renewest them and lightest them inwardly with a new grace/ so that they that felt themself before receiving of that blessed sacrament heavy and without affection after when they have received it/ have found themself changed into great ghostly fervour/ and all this thou dost unto thy elect people of thy great goodness that they may see and know openly by experience that they have nothing of themself but that all grace and goodness that they have/ they have received of thee: for they of themself be cold/ dull/ and undevout and by the they be made fervent quick in spirit & devout followers of thy will/ who may go meekly to the fountain of sweetness but that he shall bring away with him great plenty of sweetness/ or who may stand by a great fire/ but he shall feel great heat thereof/ & thou lord art the fountain of all sweetness/ and the fire always brenning/ and never failing/ and therefore though I may not draw of thy fullness of that fountain ne drink thereof to the full. I shall never the less put my mouth to the hole of the heavenly pipe that I may take some little drop thereof to refresh my thirst so that I be not all dried away/ & though I be not all heavenly and all brenning in charity as the Seraphyns and Cherubyns be/ nevertheless I shall endeavour me to set myself to devotion/ & to prepare mine heart that I may get some little sparkle of the brenning of heavenly live though the meek receiving of this lively sacrament/ and what so ever wanteth in me I beseech the my lord jesus most holy and blessed that thou benignly & graciously supply in me: for thou haste vouchsafe to call all to thy saying. Come ye to me all that labour and be charged and I shall refresh you. ★: I labour in the sweet of my body: and am tormented with the sorrow of my heart/ I am charged with sins/ travailed with temptations intriked & oppressed with many evil passions/ & there is none that may help or that may delyurr me/ ne that may make me safe/ but thou lord God my only saviour/ to whom I commit me and all mine that thou keep me/ and lead me into life everlasting/ accept me and take me into the laud and glory of thy name that haste ordained to me thy body and blood into my meat & drink/ and grant me lord I beseech the that by the oft receiving of thy high mystery the fervor of devotion may daily increase in me.   

❧: Of the worthiness of the sacrament of the altar/ and of the state of priesthood. The .v. Chapter.  
IF thou hadst the purity of Angels and the holiness of saint Iohn Baptist: thou shouldest not for that be worthy to receive ne touch this holy sacrament/ for it is not granted for the merits of man that a man should consecrated and touch the sacrament of Christ and take to his meat the bread of angels/ it is a great mystery and it is a great dignity of priests to whom it is granted that is not granted to angels/ for priests only that ●e duly ordained in the church have power to sing mass/ and to cansecrate the body of christ/ for a priest is the minister of god: using the word of consecration by the commandment and ordinance of god/ and god is there the principal doer: & the invisible worker/ to whom is subject all that he willeth/ and all obeyeth to that he commandeth. Thou oughtest therefore more to believe almighty god in this most excellent sacrament/ than thine own wit or any other visible token or sign. And therefore with dread and reverence it is to go to this blessed work. Take heed than diligently and see fro whence this mystery and service cometh that is given unto the by the touching of the hands of the bishop. Thou art now made a priest and art consecrated to sing mass. Take heed therefore that thou faithfully and devoutly offer thy sacrifice to god in due time/ and that thou keep thyself without reproof/ thou hast not made thy burden more light▪ but thou art now bound in a straiter bond of discipline and of much more high perfection than thou were before A priest aught to be adorned with all virtues: and to give other example of good life/ his conversation should not be with the common people/ ne in the common way of the world/ but with Angels in heaven or with perfit men in earth that ●e most best disposed to serve god. A priest also clothed in holy vestments beareth the place of christ that he should humbly and meekly pray to our lord for himself: and for all the people he hath before him and behind him the sign of the cross of christ/ that he diligently should remember his passion/ he beareth before him the cross that he may diligently behold: and see the steps of christ and study fervently to follow them/ and behind him also he is signed with the cross that he should gladly and meekly suffer all adversities for the love of god/ he beareth the cross before him/ that he should bewail his own sins and he beareth it behind him that he may through compassion bewep the sins of other/ and know himself to be set as a mean between God and all the people/ and not to cease of prayer and holy oblation till he may deserve of almighty god mercy and grace/ when a priest saith mass/ he honoureth God/ he maketh angels glad/ he edifieth the church he helpeth the people that be on live/ & giveth rest to them that be deed/ and maketh himself part taker of all good deeds.   

❧: Of the inward remembrance and exercise that a man aught to have afore the receiving of the body of Christ The vi Chapitre.  
Lord when I think of thy worthiness: and of my great filthiness I tremble strongly and am confounded in myself/ for if I receive the not I i'll the eternal life/ and if I unworthily receive the. I run into thy wrath what shall I than do my good lord/ my helper/ my protector/ comforter/ and right sure counsayloure in all my necessities. ★ Teach me good lord the right way/ and purpose unto me some ready excercise covenable unto the receiving of this holy mystery/ for it is necessary unto me/ and greatly profitable to know how devoutly and reverently I ought to prepare mine heart to receive it/ or to consecrated so great and so goodly a sacrifice as it is.   

❧: Of the discussing of our own conscience/ and of the purpose of amendment. The. u.iii. Chapter.  
IT behoveth the above all things with sovereign reverence and profound meekness of heart and with full faith and humble intents to the honour of God to celebrated: take and receive this holy sacrament/ examine diligently thy conscience by true contrition and meek confession & make it clean after thy power: so that thou know nothing that grieveth: or biteth thy conscience or that may let the to go freely unto it/ have displeasure of all thy sins in general/ and for thy daily excesses and offences have sighings/ and sorowyngꝭ more special/ and if the time will suffer it/ confess unto god in secret of thine heart the miseries of all thy passions/ weep and sorrow that thou art yet so carnal and worldly/ so on mortified fro thy passions/ so full of motions of concupiscences so unware and so evil ordered in thy outward wits/ so oft intryked with vain fantasies/ so much inclined to outward & to worldly things so negligent to inward things/ so ready to laughing and dissolution/ so hard to weeping and compunction/ so ready to easy things/ and to that/ that is liking to the flesh/ so slow to penance and fervour of spirit/ so curious to here new things and to see fair things/ so loath to meek and abject things/ so covetous to have much/ so scarce to give/ so glad to hold/ so unadvised in speaking so incontinent to be still so evil ordered in manners/ so importune in deeds/ so greedy upon meat/ so deaf to the word of god so quick to rest/ so slow to labour/ so attentyve to fables/ so sleepy to holy vigels hasty to the end/ so unstable to take heed unto the way to the end/ so neclygente in the service of god so duly and so undevout to go to mass/ so dry in thy howsen/ so soon fallen at large to outward things so seldom gathered together to inward things/ so soon moved to anger and wrath/ so lightly stirred to the displeasure of other/ so ready to judge/ so rigorous to reprove/ so glad in prosperity/ so feeble in adversity/ so o●te purposing many good things: and so seldom bringing them to effect. And when thou hast thus confessed and bewepte all these defaults and such other like in thee/ with great sorrow & displeasure of thine own frailness/ set the than in a full purpose to amend thy life/ and to profit alway fro better to better/ and than with a full resygngne/ and a hole will offer thyself in to the honour of my name in the altar of thy heart as sacrafyce to me: that is to say faithful commytting to me both thy body and soul/ so that thou mayst be worthy to offer to me this high sacrifice and to receive helthfully the sacrament of my holy body/ for there is no oblation more worthy nor satisfaction greater to put away sin/ than a man to offer himself purely and holy to god with the offering of the body of christ in mass & in holy communion. If a man do that in him is and is truly penitent as oft as he cometh to me for grace & forgiveness. I am the lord that saith/ I will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be converted and live/ and I shall no more remember his sins/ but they all shallbe forgiven and pardoned unto him.   

❧: Of the oblation of christ in the cross/ and a full forsaking of ourself. The viii Chapter.  
Our Lord jesus saith unto his servant thus. ☞: ★: As I hanging all naked with mine arms spread upon the Cross/ offered myself unto God the for thy sins/ so that nothing remained in me/ but that all went in sacrifice/ for to please my Father: and to appease his wrath avenste mankind/ so thou oughtest forto offer thy sel●e freely to God/ as much as thou mayst in a pure and holy oblation daily in the mass with all thy power and affection. What require I more of the than that thou shouldest study holy to resign thyself unto me/ for what so ever thou givest beside thyself I regard it not/ for I look not for thy gifts: but for thee/ for as it should not suffice to the to have all things besides me: so it may not please me what so ever thou give but thou give thyself. Offer thyself to me and give thyself all for god/ and thy oblation shallbe acceptable. ♣: Lo I offered myself holy to my father for thee/ and I gave my body and blood to thy meat that I should be all holy thine/ and thou mine/ but if thou have a trust in thyself and dost not freely offer the to my will: thy oblation is not pleasant/ and there shall be between us no perfit oning. Therefore a free offering of thyself into the hands of god must go before all thy works if thou will obtain grace/ and the true liberty. Therefore it is that so few be inwardly ylluminate and free because they can not holy forsake themself (for my words be true) but a man renounce himself he may not be my disciple/ and therefore if thou covet to be my disciple offer thyself fully to me with all thing affection and love. Amen.   

❧ That we aught to offer ourself and all ours to god: & to pray for all people. The ix chapter.  
Lord all things be thine that be in heaven and earth. I desire to offer myself to the in a free and perpetual oblation/ so that I may perpetually be with the. ★ Lord in simpleness of heart I offer me this day to the to be thy servant in thy service and sacrifice of laud perpetual/ accept me with this oblation of thy precious body which I this day offer to the in presence of thy holy Angels that be here present invisible that it may be to my health and to the health of all the people/ and lord I offer to the all my sins and offences that I have committed before the and thy holy Angels fro the day that I might first offend unto this day/ that thou vouchsafe through thy great charity to put away all my sins and to cleanse my conscience of all mine offences & restore to me again the grace that I through sin have lost and that thou forgive me all things passed and receive me mercifully in to a blessed kissing of peace & of forgiveness/ what may I do than but meekly confess and bewail my sins/ and continually ask mercy of thee/ forgive me merciful lord now I beseech the for all my sins displease me much/ and I will never commit them again but sorrow for them ready to do penance and satisfaction after my power/ forgive me lord forgive me my sins & for thy holy name/ save my soul that thou haste redeemed with thy precious blood/ I commit myself holy unto thy mercy/ I resign me in to thy hands do with me after thy goodness/ and not after my malice and wretchedness. I offer also unto the all my good deeds/ though they be very few and imperfect that thou amend them & sanctify them and make them liking: and acceptable to thee/ and always make them better and better/ and that thou bring me thought I be a slow and an unprofitable person to a blessed and laudable end. ♣ I offer also to the all the desires of devout persons/ the necessity of mine ancestors/ friends/ brother/ sister/ and of all my lovers/ & of all them that for thy love have done good to me or to any other/ and that have desired and asked me to pray or to do sacrifice for them or for their friends whether they be on live or deed/ that they may the rather feel thy help of thy grace and the gift of thy heavenly consolation thy protection fro all perils/ and the deliverance fro all pain/ and that they so being delivered fro all evils may in spiritual gladness yield to the high laud and praisings. I offer to the also my prayer and my peaceable offering for all them that have in any thing hindered me or made me heavy/ or that have done me any hurt or grieve/ and for all them also whom I have at any time made heavy/ troubled/ grieved/ or slandered in words or deed wittingly or ignorantly: that thou forgive us all together our sins and offences against thee/ and of each of us against other/ and that thou lord take fro our hearts all suspicion and indignation/ wrath/ variance/ and what so ever may let charity or dimynisshe the fraternal love that each of us should have to other/ haven mercy lord have mercy on all them that ask the mercy/ and give grace to them that have need & make us to stand in such case that we be worthy to have thy grace/ & finally to come to the life everlasting. Amen.   

❧: That the holy communion is not lightly to be forborn. The ten Chapter.  
IT behoveth the to run oft to the fountain of grace and mercy/ and to the fountain of all goodness and purity: that thou mayst be heeled fro the passions and vices/ and be made more strongt against all the temptations and deceitful crafts of the enemy. The five knowing/ the greatest fruit and highest remedy to be in receiving of this blessed sacrament enforceth him by all the ways that he can to let & withdraw all faithful & devout people fro it as much as he can/ & therefore some men when they dispose than self to it have more greater temptations than they had before/ for as it is written in job the wicked spirit cometh among the children of god: that he may by his old malice & wickedness trouble them or make them over much fearful and perplexed/ so that he may diminish their affection/ or take away their faith/ if haply he may thereby make them either utterly to cease fro being houseled or else that they go to it with little devotion/ but it is not any thing to care for all his crafts and fantasies how vile and ugly so ever they be/ but all fantasies are to be thrown again at his own heed/ and he so far to be despised that for all his assau●es and commotions that he can stir up/ the holy communion be not omitted/ sometime over much curiousness to have devotion/ or over great doubt of making confession/ letteth much this holy purpose/ do therefore after the counsel of wise men/ and put away all doubtfulness & scripulousnes for they let the grace of god and destroy wholly the devotion of thy mind. Also it is not good that for any little trouble or grief that thou leave this holy work but go lightly and be confessed/ and forgive gladly all that have offended the. And if thou have offended any other meekly ask of them forgiveness/ and god shall right mercifully forgive thee/ what profiteth it long to tarry fro confession or to differ this holy communion. purge the first and quickly cast out thy venom & hast the after to take thy medicine: and thou shall feel more profit thereby than if thou taryeddest longer fro it/ if thou differre it to day fro this thing or that/ to morrow may happen to come a greater/ and so thou mayst be let long fro thy good purpose/ & be made afterward more unapt unto it. Therefore as soon as thou canst discharge thyself fro such heaviness and dullness of mind/ and fro all slouch/ for it nothing profiteth long to be anguysshed: long to go with trouble/ and to sequester himself: for such daily obstacles fro that divine mysteries/ but it doth great hurt: and commonly bringeth in great sloth and lack of devotion. But alas for sorrow some slothful and dissolute persons gladly seek causes to tarry fro confession/ and so defer the longer this holy communion and that they do to the intent that they should not be bound to give themself to a more sure keeping of themself in time to come than they have done before. But alas how little charity and slender devotion have they that so lightly leave of so holy a thing/ & how happy is he and how acceptable to God that so liveth and that keepeth his conscience in such a cleanness that he is every day ready and hath good affection to be howsled if it were lawful unto him/ and that he might do it without note or slander/ He that sometime abstaineth of meekness or for any other lawful impediment is to be praised for his reverence/ but if it be through slothfulness: he ougt to quicken himself & to do that in him is and our lord shall strengthen his desire for his good will/ for to a good will our lord hath alway a special respect/ and when he is lawfully let/ he shall have a good will & meek intent to it/ and so he shall not want the fruit of the sacrament. And verily every devout man may every day and every hour go helthfully & without prohibition unto the spiritual communion of Christ/ that is to say in remembering of his passion/ & nevertheless in certain days & times he is bound to receive sacramentally the body of his redemoure with a great reverence: and rather to pretend therein the laud & honour of god than his own consolation. For so oft a man is houseled mystically and invisibly as he remembreth devoutly the mystery of the incarnation of Christ & his passion and is thereby kindled into his love/ he that doth not prepare himself for none other cause but because the feast is coming or the custom compelleth him thereto/ he shall commonly be unready to it/ blessed is he therefore that as oft as he saith mass or is houseled offereth himself unto our Lord in holy sacrifice/ be not in saying mass over long nor over short/ but keep the good common way as they do that thou livest with/ for thou oughtest not to do that should grieve other or make than tedious but to keep the common way after the ordinance of the holy father's/ & rather to confirm thyself to that that shallbe profitable to other/ than to follow thine own devotion or private pleasure.   

❧: That the body of Chryst/ and holy scripture are most necesary for the help of man's soul. The xi Chapter.  
O most sweteste jesus/ how great sweetness is it unto a devout soul when he is fed with the at thine heavenly feast/ where there is none other meat brought forth to eat but thou his only beloved: and that ar●e most desyrable to him above all the desires of his heart/ and verily it should be sweet & pleasant to me/ by an inward and meek affection to weep before thee/ and with the blessed woman (Marry Magdaleyne) to wash thy feet with the tears of mine eyen. But where is that devotion/ where is that plenteous shedding out of holy tears. Certainly all my heart ought to burn and to weep for joy in the sight of the and of thy holy Angels/ for I have the verily present with me/ though thou be hid under an other likeness/ for to behold the in thy proper & divine clearness mine eyen might not bear it/ nor all the world might not sustain to see the in the clearness and glory of thy majesty Therefore thou greatly help my waykenesse in that thou hydeste thyself under this holy sacrament. I have him verily and worship him whom angels worsshype in heaven/ but I only in faith and they in open sight and in thine own likeness without any converture/ it behoveth me to be content in the light of true faith and therein to walk till the day of everlasting clearness shall appear/ and that the shadow of figures shall go away when that that is perfit shall come all use of sacraments shall cease/ for they that be blessed in the heavenly glory have no need of this sacramental medicine: for they joy without end in the presence of god/ beholding his glory/ face to face/ and so transformed fro clearness to clearness of the godhead they taste the glory of the son of God made man as he was in his godhead fro the beginning and shall be everlasting/ when I remember all these marvelous comforts what solace so ever I have in this world though i● be spiritual: it is grievous and tedious unto me/ for as long as I see not my lord openly in his glory/ I see it at naught all that I see and here in this world Lord thou art my witness that nothing may comfort me ne no creature may quiet me but thou my lord God whom I desire to see and behold eternally. ♣ But that is not possible for me to do as long as I shallbe in this mortal life/ wherefore it behoveth me to keep myself in great patience/ and to submit myself to the in every thing that I desire/ for thy holy saints that ●owe joy with the abode in good faith and patience all whiles they lived here the coming of thy glory. ★ That they believed I believe/ that they hoped to have: I hope to have/ & thither as they by thy grace be come: I trust to come/ and till than I shall walk in faith and take comfort of the examples of the said holy saints. I have also holy bokis for my solace as a spiritual glass to look upon/ and above all these I have for a singular remedy thy holy body. I perceive well that two things be much necessary unto me in this world/ without which this miserable life should be to me as importable/ for as long as I shall be in this body: I confess myself to have need of two things/ that is to say of meat and light. These two haste thou given unto me/ that is to say. Thy holy body to the refreshing of my body and soul/ and thou haste set thy words as a lantern before my feet: to show me the way that I shall go without these two I may not well live/ for the word of god is the light of my soul/ and this sacrament is the bread of my life. These two may also be called the two tables set here and there in the spiritual treasure of holy church/ the one is the table of the holy altar/ having this holy bread that is the precious body of christ. The other is the table of the laws of god containing the holy doctrine of the law of god and instucting man in the right faith/ and in the true believe: leading him into the inward secrets: that be called Sancta sanctorum: where the inward secrets of scripture be hid & contained. I yield thanks to the my lord jesus the brightness of the eternal light for this table of holy doctrine/ the which thou hast ministered to us by thy servants/ prophets/ and apostles & other doctors/ and thankings also be ●o thee: the creature and redeemer of mankind that thou to show to all the world the greatness of thy charity preparedest a great souper in the which thou settest not forth the lamb figured in the old law but thy holy body & blood to be eaten/ gladding thereby in that holy feast all faithful people/ and giving them to drink of the chalice of health in the which be contained all the delights of Paradyse/ where Angels eat with us with much more plenteous sweetness. ☞ ★ O how great and how honourable is the office of priests/ to whom is given power to consecrated with the holy words of consecration the lord of all majesty/ to bless him with their lips to hold him in their hands/ to receive him in to their mouths/ & to minister him to other. O how clean should the hands be/ how pure a mouth/ how holy a body/ and how undefouled should be the heart of a priest: to whom so oft entereth the author of all cleanness. Truly there aught to precede fro the mouth of a priest that so oft receiveth the sacrament of Christ'S body/ no word but that is holy/ honest/ and hrofytable/ his eyen should be full simple: and chaste that use to behold the body of christ/ and his hands should be full pure and lift up in to heaven/ which use to touch the creature of heaven and earth/ and therefore it is specially said in the law to the priests Be ye holy for I your lord god am holy. O god almighty thy grace be with us & help us that have received the office of priesthood/ that we may serve the worthily & devoutly in all purety & in a good conscience. And though we may not live in so great innocency as we aught to do yet give us grace at the jest that we may weep and sorrow the evils that we have done/ so that in spiritual meekness and in a full purpose of a good will we may serve the here after. Amen.   

❧. That he that shallbe houseled aught to repair himself thereto before with great diligence. The xii Chapter.  
I Am the lover of all purety/ and liberal giver of all holiness. I seek a clean heart/ and there is my resting place make ready for me a great chamber strawed that is thine heart/ and I with my disciples shall keep mine Ester with thee/ if thou wilt that I shall come to the and devil with thee/ cleanse the of all the old filth of sin/ and cleanse also the habitacle of thine heart/ and make it pleasant and fair/ exclude the world and all the clamerous noise of sin/ and sit solitary as a sparrow in a house easing & think upon all thy offences with great bitterness of heart/ for a true lover will prepare to his beloved friend the best and the fairest place that he can/ for in that is known the love & affection of him that receiveth his friend/ but nevertheless I know that thou mayst not of thyself suffice to make this/ preparing fully as it aught to be in every point/ though thou went about it an hole year together and hadst none other thing in thy mind to think upon/ but of my mercy & grace only/ thou art suffered to go unto my table/ as if a poor man were called to the dinner of a rich man/ & he had none other thing to give him again but only to humble himself & thank him for it/ do that in the is with thy best diligence/ and do it not only of custom nor of a necessity only/ for thou art bound to it/ but with dread and reverence and great affection/ take the body of thy beloved Lord god/ that so lovingly vouched safe for to come unto the. ☞ ❧ I am he that hath called thee/ I have commanded that this thing should be done I shall supply that wanteth in the. Come therefore and receive me/ when I give the the grace of devotion yield thankinges to me therefore/ not for that thou art worthy to have it/ but for that I have showed my mercy lovingly to thee/ & if thou have not grace of devotion through receiving of this sacrament/ but that thou feleste thyself more dry and more undevout than thou were before/ yet continue still in thy prayer/ wail/ wept and call for grace/ & cease not till thou mayst receive some little drop of this healthful grace of devotion. Thou hast need of me and not I of thee/ ne thou comest not to sanctify me but I come to sanctify the & to make the better than thou were before Thou comest to be sanctified and be oned to me/ and that thou mayst receive a new grace/ and be kindled of new to amendment/ do not forget this grace but alway with all thy diligence prepare thy heart & bring thy beloved to the & it behoveth the not only to pmpayre thyself unto devotion before thou shalt be housled but that thou also keep thyself therein diligently after the receiving of the sacrament: and there is no less keeping requysite after than a devout preparation is needful before/ for a good keeping after is the best preparation to receive new grace here after/ & a man shallbe the more undisposed thereto/ if he anon after he hath received the sacrament/ give himself to outward solace/ beware of much speaking/ abide in some secret place and keep the with thy lord god/ for thou hast him that all the world may not take from thee/ I am he to whom thou must give all/ so that fro hens forth thou live not in thyself but only in me.   

❧ That a devout soul should greatly desire with all his heart to onyed to Christ in this blessed sacrament. The xiii Chapter.  
WHo shall grant unto me lord ye I may find the only/ & open all mine heart to the and have the as mine heart desireth/ so that no man may deceive me nor no creature move me nor draw me back but that thou only speak to me and I to the as a lover is wont to speak to his beloved/ and a friend with his beloved friend. That is it that I pray for/ that is it that I desire/ that I may be holy onyed to thee/ and that I may withdraw mine heart fro all things created and through the holy communion and oft saying mass to saver and taste eternal things. ★ Ah lord god when shall I be all onyed to the and holy be melted in to thy love/ so that I holy forget myself/ be thou in me and I in thee/ & grant that we may so abide always together in one/ verily thou art my beloved elect & chosen before all other in whom my soul coveteth to abide all days of his life Thou art the lord of peace in whom is the sufferayne peace & the true rest/ with out whom is labour and sorrow and infinite misery: verily thou art the hid god & thy counsel is not with wicked people/ but with meek men & simple in heart O how sweet and how benign is thy holy spirit which to the intent thou wouldest show to thy chosen people thy sweetness/ hast vouchsafe to refresh them with the most sweet bread that descendeth from heaven. Verily there is none other nation so great that hath their gods so nigh unto them/ as thou lord god art to all thy faithful people to whom for their daily solace & to raise their hearts into the love of heavenly things/ thou givest thyself as meat & drink. ★: O what people be there that be so noble as the christian people are/ or what creature under heaven is so much beloved as the devout christen soul into whom god entereth and feedeth her with his own glorious flesh and blood. ☞: O inestimable grace/ O marvelous worthiness/ O love without measure/ singularly showed unto man/ but what shall I yield again to god for all this grace and this high charity/ truly there is nothing that is more acceptable unto him than that/ I holy give him mine heart & inwardly join myself unto him and than shall all mine inward parts joy in him when my soul is perfitly oned into him. Than shall he say to me if thou wilt be with me I will be with thee/ and I shall answer to him again and say. vouch safe Lord to abide with me/ and I will gladly abide with thee/ for that is all my desire that my heart may be fast knit unto the without departing. Amen.   

❧ Of the brenning desire that some devout persons have had to the body of christ. The xiiii Cham  
O How great multitude of sweetness is it lord that thou haste hid/ for them that dread thee/ but what is it than for them that love thee: verily when I remember me of many devout persons that have come to this holy sacrament with so great fervor of devotion I am than many times astonied & confounded in myself that I go unto thy altar and to the table of the holy communion so coldly & with so little fervour & that I abide still so dry and without any affection of heart and that I am not so holy kindled before the my lord god/ nor so strongly drawn thereby in affection to the as many devout persons have been/ the which of the great desire that they have had to this holy communion/ and for a feeble love of heart that they have had thereto might not refrain themself from weeping/ but effectuously with the mouth of their heart and body together opened their mouths to the Lord that art the lively fountain because they could not otherwise assuage ne temper their hunger but that they took the holy body which they did with great joy and spiritual greediness. Truly the great brenuing faith of them is a probable argument of thy holy presence/ and they also know verily their lord in breaking of bread whose hearts so strongly brenneth in them by the presence of their lord jesus sacramentally then walking with them/ but verily such affection and devotion & so strong fervour and love be oft time far from me/ be thou therefore most sweet and benign lord jesus merciful and meek unto me and grant me thy poor servant that I may feel sometime some little part of the hearty affection of thy love in this holy communion/ that my faith may the more recover and amend/ & mine hope through thy goodness be the more perfit and my charity being once perfectly kindled/ and having experience of the heavenly Manna: do never fail. Thy mercy lord is strong enough to grant to me this grace that I so much desire/ & when the time of thy pleasure shall come benignly to visit me with the spirit of a brenning fervour to thee/ and though I do not bren in so great desire as such special devout persons have done/ yet nevertheless I have desire by thy grace to be inflamed with that brenning desire praying & desiring that I may be made part taker of all such thy fervent lovers & to be numbered into their holy company.   

❧: That the grace of devotion is gotten through meekness/ and forsaking of ourself. The xu Chapter.  
IT behoveth the abydyngly to seek the grace of devotion and without ceasing to ask it: patiently and fathfully to abide it: than fully to receive it/ meekly to keep it studiously to work with it/ & holy to commit to god the time & the manner of his heavenly visitation till his pleasure shallbe to come unto thee/ and principally thou oughtest to meek the when thou felyste but little inward devotion/ but thou shalt not be overmuch cast down therefore nor inordynately be heavy/ for our lord giveth many times in a short moment/ that he denied long time before/ he giveth also sometime in the end/ that in the beginning of the prayer he deferred to grant: if grace should always anon be granted & should anon be present after the will of him that asketh it/ it should not be well able to be borne by a week and feeble person/ and therefore in a good hope & meek patience the grace of devotion is to be abidden & tarried for/ & thou oughtest to arrecte it to thyself & to thine own sins when grace is not given thee/ or that it is secretly taken fro the. Sometime it is but a little thing that letteth grace or hideth it away/ if it may be called little/ and not rather great that letteth and prohibiteth so good a thing/ but whether it be little or great if thou amove it and perfitly overcome it/ it shall be granted unto the that thou desirest/ and forthwith as thou betakest thyself with all thine heart to god and desirest neither this thing nor that for thine own pleasure/ but holy puttest thy will to his will/ thou shalt find thyself oned to him & set in a great inward peace/ for nothing shall savour so well to thee/ nor so much please the as that the will and pleasure of god be fully done in thee/ who so ever therefore in a pure simple heart lift his intent up to god/ & void himself fro all inordinate love or displeasure of any worldly thing/ shall be more apt to receive grace and shall be best worthy to have the gift of devotion/ for there our lord giveth his blessing where he findeth the vessels empty/ and void/ and the more perfitly a man can renounce himself and all worldly things/ and can by despising of himself the more dry to himself/ so much the sooner grace shall come & shall the more plenteously enter into him/ and the higher shall lift up his heart into God. Than his heart shall see and abound & shall marvel and be delated in himself for the hand of our lord is with him/ & he hath holy put him into his hand for ever. Lo so shall a man be blessed that seeketh God with all his heart & taketh not his soul in vain. Such a man in receiving this holy sacrament deserveth great grace of the oning in god/ for he looketh not to his own devotion and consolation/ but to the glory and honour of god.   

❧ That we should open all our necessities to christ/ and ask his grace. The xxi chapter.  
O Most sweet lord whom I desire devoutly to receive/ thou knowest the infirmity & necessity that I am in/ in how many sins & vices I lie/ how oft I am grieved/ tempted/ troubled/ & defouled I come to the for remedy/ & I make my praiour to the for comfort/ & I speak unto him that knoweth all things: to whom all my secret and inward thoughts be manifest and open/ and the which only mayst perfitly counsel me & help me thou knowest what I need to have/ and how poor I am in virtue. Lo I stand before the poor & naked asking & desiring thy grace. refresh me therefore thy poorest servant begging for spiritual food kindle my heart with the fire of thy love & illumine my blindness with the clearness of thy presence/ turn all worldly things into bitterness to me/ and all grievous things & contrarious things into patience/ & all created things into despising & into forgetting of them/ lift up mine heart to the into heaven & suffer me not to live vainly ne to err in this world. Thou lord fro henceforth shalt be sweet to me for ever: for thou art only my meet & drink my love/ my joy/ my sweetness/ & all my goodness/ would god that thou wouldest kindle me: inflame me/ & turn me holy into the that I may be made one spirit with the by grace of inward oning and melting of brenning love into thee/ suffer me not to depart fro the fasting & dry/ but work with me mercifully as thou haste oft times marvelously wrought with thy beloved servants in time paste: what marvel were it/ if I were all inflamed into thee/ & failed in myself sith thou art the fire always brenning and never failing/ the love puryfyenge the hearts/ and lightening the understanding of all thy creatures.   

❧ Of the brenning love and great affection that we should have to receive christ. The xvii Chapter.  
WIth high devotion and brenning love/ & with all fervor & affection of the heart I desire to receive the lord as many saints & devout persons have desired the in their communion and that most specially pleased the in the holiness of their life & were in most brenning devotion to the. O my lord god my lover eternal/ all my goodness & felicity without ending. I covet to receive the with as great desire & as due reverence as any holy man ever did or might do: and though I be unworthy to have such felingꝭ in deuo●yon as they had/ yet nevetheles I offer to the the hole affection of my heart as verily as if I only had all the burning & flaming desires that they had/ & over that all that a meek mind may imagine & desire: I give & offer to the with high reverence & worship & inward fervour/ and I desire to reserve no thing to myself/ but me & all mine I offer to the in sacrifice freely & most liberally And also my lord god my createur & redeemer/ with such affection/ reuerē●/ laud and honour with such thanks/ dignity & love/ & with such faith/ hope & purity I desire to receive the this day as thy most holy & glorious mother the virgin Mary desired & received thee/ when she meekly & devoutly answered the Angel that showed her the mystery of thy incarnation & said. Ecce ancilla dni fiat michi secundum verbum tuum. That is to say/ lo I am the hand maid of god/ be it to me after thy word/ & as thy blessed precursour saint Iohn the baptist most excellent of all saints was glad & joyed in great joy in the holy ghost through thy presence when he was yet in his mother's womb/ & after when he saw the walking among the people very meekly & with devout affection he said the friend of a spouse that standeth & heareth: joyeth with great joy for to here the voice of the spouse/ & so covet I in great & holy desires to be inflamed & to present myself to the with all my heart & also I offer & yield to the all the laudes of devout hartis/ the brenning affections excessive thoughts/ spiritual illuminations/ & heavenly visions/ with all virtues & praisinges done or to be done by any creature in heaven or in earth for me & for all them that be committed to my prayer: that thou mayst be worthily lauded & glorified for ever/ except lord god my mind & the desires of the manifold laudes & blessingꝭ that by me are to the due of right after the multitude of thy greatness more than can be spoken: & all these I yield to the & desire to yield to the every day & every moment: & with all my desire & affection meekly exhort & pray all heavenly spirits & all faithful people to yield with me thanks & laudes to thee/ & I beseech the that all people tribus & tongis may magnify thy holy & thy most sweet name with great joy and brenning devotion/ and that all they that reverently and devoutly minister this most high sacrament/ or with full faith receive it may thereby deserve to find before the thy grace and mercy/ & when they have obtained the devotion that they desired & be spiritually onyed to thee: & be thereby well comforted & marvelously refreshed and be departed fro thy heavenly table/ that they will have me poor sinner in their remembrance. Amen.   

❧: That a man shall not be a curious searcher of this holy sacrament but a meek follower of Christ subduing always his reason to the faith. The xviii Chapter.  
THou must beware of a curious & an unprofitable searching of this most profound sacramnt if thou wilt not be drowned in to great deppeth of doubtfulness/ for he that is serchoure of God's majesty shallbe anon thirst out of glory: god is of power to work much more than man may understand. Nevertheless a meek & an humble searching of the truth/ ready always to be taught & to talk after the teaching of holy fathers is sufferable: blessed is that simplicity that leaveth the way of hard questions and goth in the plain & steadfast way of the commandments of god many have lost their devotion because they would search higher things than pertaineth to them. faith & a good life is asked of the & na● the highness of understanding nor the deepness of the mysteries of god/ if thou may not understand nor take such things as be within thee/ how mayst thou than comphende those things that be above thee/ submit thyself therefore meekly to god & submit also thy reason to faith: & the light of knowledge & of true understanding shallbe given unto the as it shallbe most profitable & necessary for thee/ some be grievously tempted of the faith & of the sacrament: but that is not to be reputed to them but rather to the enemy: therefore care not for him nor disput not with thy thoughts nor answer not to the doutꝭ that thine enemy shall say unto thee/ but believe the words of god & believe his saints & prophets & the wycken enemy shall i'll away fro thee: & it is oft times much profitable that the servants of god should feel & sustain such doubts for their more ꝓfe/ & commonly the enemy tempteth not unfaithful people & sinners whom he hath sure possession / but he tempteth & vexeth in divers manners the faithful & devout persons. Go therefore with a pure & undoubted faith & with an humble reverence precede to this sacrament/ & what so ever thou canst not understand commit it faithfully to god. For god will not deceive thee/ but he shallbe deceived that trusteth overmuch to himself God walketh with the simple persons he opened himself & showed himself to meek persons: he giveth understanding to them that be poor in spirit: he openeth the wet to pure clean minds/ & hideth his grace fro curious men & proud men. Man's reason is feeble & weak & anon may be deceived/ but faith is stable & true & can not be deceived/ therefore all reason & all natural working must follow faith without ferther reasoning for faith & love in this most holy & most excellent sacrament surmonte & work high in secret manner above all reason. O the eternal god & the lord of infinite power doth great things in heaven and in earth that may not be searched/ for if the works of God were such that they might be lightly understand by man's reason/ they were not so marvelous & so inestimable as they be.   
¶ Finis.   

❧: A spiritual glass.  
REde distynctely. ♣ Pray devoutly. Sigh deeply. ★: Suffer pacietly. meek you lowly. give no sentence hastily. Speke but rath and that truly. prevent your speech discreetly. Do your deeds in charity. temptation resist strongly. Break his head shortly. Weep bitterly. Have compassion tenderly. Do good work busily. Love perseverauntely. Love heartily. Love faithfully. love god alonely/ and all other for him charitably. Love in adversity. Love in prosperity ☞ Think alway of love. For love is none other but god himself. Thus to love bringeth the lover to love without end. Amen.   
❧: Here endeth the following of christ.   

HEre after followeth an epistle of saint Barnarde called the golden Epistle which he sent to a young religious man whom he much loved. And to the increase of the devotion of them it can read English & understand not latin tongue/ it is translated out of latin into english in such manner as hereafter ensueth. And it is in some books imprinted in the latter end of the book called in latin (Imitacio Christi) that is to say in english The following of christ.  
☞ Than after the said epistle follow four revelations of saint Birget whereof the first treateth that nothing pleaseth god so much as that he be beloved above all thing. The second treateth of the lives active and contemplative. The third showeth that there shall be in time to come so great devotion in gentiles/ that christian men spiritually shall be in manner their servants. ♣: The fourth declareth what things be necessary to him that desireth to visit the lands of the infideles.  

❧: Hhere beginneth the epistle of saint Barnarde/ which he sent unto a young religious man/ whom he much loved that is called the golden epistle.  
THat the wilderness of religion/ may were pleasant swear unto thee/ and that thou shalt not be in the sight of him found unkind/ that was most meekly crucified for thee: 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/ and that thou be cast out as a stinking caryens. Consider therefore how much 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 represses/ 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 thing call unto thy lord jesus with devout prayer beseeching him that thou mayst as a true member be onyed through good virtuous works/ to be very true heed/ that is christ. ☞: But thou mayst not cone to that point without his grace do help the as well before as after. For without grace all thy working shallbe unprofitable and 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 unto the. The first is/ that thou so withdraw thyself from all transitory things/ that thou care no more for them than if there were none such/ and that thou set thyself at so vile a price in thine own sight/ that thou account thyself as naught/ believing all men to be better than thou art/ and more to please God. ★ Also what so ever thou here or see of religious persons/ think that they do it of a good intent/ though it seem not so/ for man's suspicion is oft deceived/ and therefore judge thou nothing in certain/ speak nother any thing that may sound to thy own praise/ but labour rather to keep thy virtue secret than thy vices. ☞ In no wise speak no evil of no man/ how true and manifest so ever it be/ and more gladly give hearing when a man is praised/ than when he is dispraised. Also when thou spekeste: let thy words be true/ sober/ apt/ weighty/ and of god If a secular man speak with thee/ and 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 so ever be happen to the or any other/ how dear beloved so ever he be unto thee/ care not for it/ if it be prosperous and liking/ joy not in it/ and if it be myslyking/ sorrow not for it/ but think all as naught/ 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 and vain tangeling as much as thou mayst/ for it is more sure way to keep silence than to speak. After complain speak not till mass be done on the day following/ but it be for a great cause. ★ When thou seste any thing that displeaseth thee/ consider whether there be not like thing in the that displeaseth other/ and if there be cut it lightly away. And if thou see or here any thing that pleaseth thee/ consider whether it be in thee/ and if it behold it warily/ 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 believest it may profit his soul health/ how grievous so ever it be to thee/ never affirm nor deny any thing hedyly/ but let thy denyenges and affyrmynges be alway tempered with discretion. Abstain thyself alway from all mockings and fro all dissolute laughings. ☞ ★ ☜ In all thy sayings behave the so that thou have a certain of all thy deeds and words that they be true/ and those that be doubtful/ let them go as things that be evil. ☞: The second that is necessary unto the is/ that thou 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 alway in thy mind/ what thou hast been/ what thou art/ & 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 those pains. And likewise think in the glory of the kingdom of heaven the which shall never have end/ and that lightly and in short time it may be won. ☞: And than remember how great sorrow and wailing shallbe to them that have lost so great a glory for so little a thing. Also when thou hast any thing that displeaseth the or grieveth thee/ think if that thou shalt come to hell/ thou shalt have alway that displeasure/ and all other also that thou most dreadest 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 and what he wan thereby/ for they be everlasting. ♣ Think also that aswell the torments of goodmen/ as the joys of evil men in this world be paste and go/ and that nevertheless good men by their torments/ have received eternal glory/ and evil men by their short worldly joy eternal pain/ and though thou be never so slothful/ yet take this little writing and remember and imagine all these things diligently that I have said/ and at the lest bethink the on the time that thou thus leseste/ and that they that be in hell would give all the world for it. When thou haste any tribulations/ think that they that be in heaven want them/ and that they that be in hell have many more. Every day at the jest when thou goest to bed/ examine diligently what thou hast thought the day before/ what thou hast done/ & what thou hast said/ & how thou hast spent the precious time that was given the to win there in the kingdom of heaven. And if thou hast passed it well/ thank God and laud him for it/ and if thou haste spent it evil and negligently: be sorry for it/ and 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 before thee/ one full of all torments as hell is/ the other full of all consolation/ as is the kingdom of heaven/ and that it behoveth the of necessity to enter and come into the one of them/ behold than what might draw the against thy will unto the evil city/ and what might set the from the good city/ and I trow that thou shalt find nothing that might do it (if thou wouldst with all thine heart turn the to god/ and putting away all negligence/ would meekly call to him for grace and mercy) the which that is most blessed above all vouch safe 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 Birget by example of a pagan woman/ which obtained great grace for the great love she had to her creature/ as it appeareth in the vi book of saint Birgettes revelations. The l Chapter. ♣  
THe mother of god our lady saint Mary speaketh to the spouse of her son saint Birget/ saienge's 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/ though to her self thus I know said she of what matter I am come in to this world/ and of what things I came in to my mother's womb. ♣ Andrea I believe that it had been impossible that I should have had my body so knit together as it is/ and my reason and understanding/ but they had be given unto me/ and therrfore I know well there is some creature and master of me that hath made me a reasonable creaure/ not deformed me like unto worms or serpents/ wherefore me thinketh that though I had many husbands and all they called me/ I would rather come at one calling of my creature than at the calling of them all. I have also many sons and many daughters/ and ne nevertheless if I saw them have meat in their hands/ and I knew my creature to want meat/ I would take the meat from my children and would gladly give it unto 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 and dispose them to his honour. But my daughter see what god did with this pagan woman. He sent unto her one of his elect servants/ that instructed her in the faith/ and god himself visited her heart as thou mayst well know and 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 to say the creature and maker of all things/ he answered and said. It is well to be believed that he that hath created me & all things/ that he hath no creator above him/ and it is like that his life is everlasting that might give me life. ★: And when the woman heard ferther that the same creature took manhoude of a virgin/ and that he preached in this world/ and taught 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 creature did speak and command/ for I will wholly leave mine own will/ and fully obey unto him/ and to every word that he hath spoken. Than when he declared unto her of the passion of our lord/ of his cross/ his death/ and of his resurrection. The woman with great weeping answerered and said. Blessed be my creator that so patiently showeth his charity in the world/ that he had to us in heaven. And therefore if I loved him/ first because he created me/ I am now more bounden to love him/ because he hath showed me the straightly way unto heaven/ and hath redeemed me with his precious blood/ and I am bound therefore to serve him with all my strength and all the parts of my body/ and I am bounden also to remove all my desire from me that I had/ first to my possessions/ and to my children and kinsmen/ and only to desire to see my creature 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 unto 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 be notable signified by Martha/ and Marry Magdaleyne/ that is to say how a man shall begin & profit in the life spiritual/ & in grace and virtue that he may finally ascend unto the high degree of the love of god/ & of his neighbour/ which doctrine appeareth in the vi book of the revelations of saint Birget. The .lxv. Chapter.  
THe soon of god speaketh to his spouse saint Birget/ saying thus. ★: There be two lives which be likened to Martha/ & Mary Magdaleyne/ & who so ever will follow those two lives must 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 Magdaleyne did chose which leadeth a man to contemplation/ that is to say to the beholding of heavenly things/ and that is the best part and 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 necessaries for the body/ that is to say clothing without vanity/ meet and drink in scarcity/ and not insuꝑfluytye. Chastity without any evil delectation fasting and abstinence after the ordinance of the church/ and he that fasteth must take heed that he be not overmuch enfeebled and made weak by his unreasonable fasting/ lest thorough that weakness he be enforced to leave his prayers and his counsel giving/ or other good deeds/ 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 slaker to the works of mercy/ for why: to punish rebels/ and to bring infideles under the yoke of the faith is requisite great strength as well of body/ as of soul. ♣ Therefore every seek person that would rather to the honour of god: fast then 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 fastethe 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/ that wicked men be come devout men/ that lovers of the world be come lovers of God/ and that good men profit in goodness/ and be through good labour and 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 and worse/ that almighty god is not beloved of his creatures/ as he aught to be/ and that the commandments of God be despised and set at naught. ★ 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 and made all things/ and that of his charity by taking our nature he hath reform and renewed mankind/ 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/ and 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 suffer them not to be tempted above their power. ☞: The contemplative man also must be discrete in his prayers/ and well ordered in his laudes and praisings of God/ for if he have sufficient to live with without labour or business/ he must make the longer prayers. And if he be weary and temptatyon 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/ than he may have some other honest occcupation or here some good wholesome words/ or profitable counseyls in all soberness/ all scur●ylytie and unclean words set apart till the body and soul be made more apt/ and more able to the service of god. ★ Andrea if the contemplative man have not sufficient to live with all/ but through his labour/ than may he make the short prayers for his necessary labour / and that labour shallbe the perfection and increasing of his prayer/ and if he can not labour nor may not/ than let not him be ashamed/ 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 obedience/ than he must live after the obedience of his prelate/ and his reward shallbe 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 dystrybuteth temporal goods 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 beware 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 deeds 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 dishonest and troubled/ they would 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 into sin/ the contemplative man shall endeavour him all that he can to help him out of his sin with all digression. And if he have trouble or persecution for it/ let him leave that place and seek an other place that is more quiet. For I myself that am very good/ said unto my disciples thus. If they persecute you in one city fly ye in to an other: and so did Paul/ the which by cause he should be more necessary an other time/ was let go by a wall in a basket. Therefore that the contemplative man may be liberal and piteous/ there be five things necessary unto him. The first is a house in the which his gests 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 fift is medicines for them that be seek that is to say: good comfortable words with the charity of god. ❧: ★ The house of the contemplative man is his heart/ whereof the evil 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 they come/ they shall in manner like as guests that be on sleep/ and as they that be at rest. ☞ For as an host receiveth evil guests/ and 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 lest ne to delight in them/ but as much as he may be little and little through the help of grace/ to remove them clearly out of the heart. ♣ Andrea 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 and not to damnation. second the contemplative man must have clotheses to clothe his guests/ that is to say meekness both inward and outewarde/ 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: and 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 sins of anger or impatience/ but that he bless than 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 backbite/ or thorough impatience for 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 backbite 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 these his neighbours 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 sorry 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 compassion seeketh not that is his/ but that is his neighbours. ♣ Andrea if the contemplative man be such a one that he is not herd with princes/ and that it profytethe not that he go out of his self. ☞: Than he shall pray heartily for them that be in trouble and almighty god that is the beholder of man's heart/ for the charity of him that prayeth/ shall turn the hearts of the people to the 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 meat and drink for his gests/ for sometime evil gests do lodge in the heart of the contemplative man/ that is to say when the heart is drawn fro beholding of itself: and coveteth things delectable/ to see worldly things/ to have possession of temporal goods. ☞ And when the eeres desire to here his own honour/ the flesh desireth to delight in carnal things/ the spirit layeth excuse of his frailness/ and that sign is but light and when there cometh a painfulness and an hardness for to do good deeds/ 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 be armed strongly with true faith answer unto such guests: saying thus. I will have nothing of temporal goods but barely for the sustaining of my bodily kind/ and I will not spend 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 let one hour but to the honour of god. Such a will is meet & drink for the guests that come/ and that answer extyncteth and putteth away all inordynate 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 heart 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 riches/ but thorough the instinct and heat of the holy ghost. Also the contemplative man/ how holy and perfit so ever he be/ may not of himself begin nor continue in good life without 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 and 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 gates of heaven/ that I should with grenate 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 guests 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 no provoke God to wrath/ whose goodness his soul is created and made/ and it is also redeemed with his precious blood. Than also the heart hath heat of his heavenly fire/ that is the holy ghost/ when the soul thinketh and dyscernethe to what intent every guest/ that is to say/ every thought ●ommethe. ☞ And whether it move the mind to covyte joy perpetually or transitory/ and that he leave no thought undiscussed: ne uncorrected with dread of god. ★: Therefore that this fire may be gotten/ and when it is gotten that it may be falsely kept. ☞: The contemplative man must say 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. ♣ Andrea he must put to all his diligence that the words 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 goeth out/ and the vessel weareth cold. ♣: So it is with the contemplative man/ if he would not live to nothing else but that he might do honour to God/ It is expedient that his mouth be opened/ and 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 amended/ where rightwiseness may be increased/ and evil customs may be put away. For the Apostle Paul sometime would have spoken but the holy ghost did prohibit him/ and sometime he held his peace/ and when time convenient came (he spoke) and sometime he used soft words/ and an other time more sharper words/ and alway he ordered his words to the honour and glory of god/ and to the comforting and strengthening 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 serchethe with his feet in many places and where he findeth the softest place/ and most apt for him/ there he maketh a dene 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/ there he must tarry in counseling and 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 conuenyente avoidance/ when the contemplative man neither dreadeth rebukes ne coveteth not his own praise/ when he neither dreadeth adversities/ ne delighteth him not in prosperytyes: 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/ an other openly/ that is to say he must have a double meekness. ☞: The first must be within forth in the heart. the second must be without forth to the world. The first is that the contemplative man think himself unworthy and unprofitable to all good work. and that he prefer not himself in his own sight above no man/ ne that he covet not to be lauded nor to be seen in the world that he fly pride/ and desire god above all thing/ following his words & his teachings. And if the contemplative man put forth such a flame with good work/ than his heart shallbe illumined with charity/ and all the contrarious things that come unto him shall lightly be suffered and overcome. The second flame must be openly/ for if perfit meekness 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 the apparel/ when the contemplative man coveytet more to have clothing of small price which is profitable/ than clothing of greater value whereby he may fall in to pride/ and in to a desire to be seen in the world/ for that apparel that is little worth: and 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 unseemly before god/ for for it taketh away the fairness of angels/ that is to say meekness. ☞: But 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 superfluytye of words/ not speaking subtilely ne disceytfully/ ne preferring his sentence before other. And if 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 gyvech all things. ❧ What am I but dust in the wind/ or what goodness cometh of me that am naught else but dry earth without water? ☞: ♣ And if he be reproved in the world/ let him not be moved therewith/ but that he answer thus. I am worthy all this and much more for I have so oft offended god/ and have not made amendss therefore again. Therefore pray ye for me thereby suffering of such temporal reproves/ I may escape the shames and reproves everlasting. ★ Andrea if the contemplative man be provoked to anger or wrath by the ungodly dealing of his neighbours let him be well war & take good heed that he answer not undiscreetly/ for commonly pride followeth anger and 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 and what to answer/ that he may first overcome himself/ and than the wrath shallbe 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 and undiscrete mirth/ or else to have some vain and unprofitable words. ☞: Therefore the contemplative man must always ask help of god that all his words and deeds be governed by him and be wholly directed unto him. ♣ Andrea the contemplative man must have meekness in all his works/ that is to say/ that he do nothing for worldly praise/ ne that he attempt no new thing of himself/ and that he be not ashamed of no work how vile so ever it be/ so that he may thereby please god/ that he fly syngularytye 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/ always remember the ryhgtwysenesse of god/ and take heed of his own affections. Also the contemplative man must oft use confession be stable and diligent in his temptations/ and not be desire to live to none other intent/ but that the honour of God/ and health of souls may be increased. ★ Than if the contemplative man that hath such affections and such desires as is said before/ be chosen into the office of an active man/ and of obedience and 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 servant this. ★ 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 waxed great and the ship was tossed and broken grievously. Than the governor of the ship waxed weary and slow and all that were in the ship despaired of their lives/ and agreed to go to some other port whither as the wind would drive them/ and not to that port that their lord had appointed them to. And that hearing/ one of the most faithful servants and most fervent/ sorrowing through 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/ and 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 shallbe 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/ be more like to strumpettes than to prelate's/ for they deceive their subjects by their evil examrles and their evil words/ and be not worthy to be called neither contemplative men nor active men/ but they amend and do due penance. ❧ 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 mystyking/ pleasant or displeasant he must say thus. I will every thing that it pleaseth our lord that I should will/ though I should go unto hell. ☞ And truly such a will is a medicine to all things that come unto the heart/ and is all delight in a 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 neglyente or hedeth it not he is rather to be called an Apostata before god than a contemplative man. The active life. ☞: Also 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 vow 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 knoweth 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 from all evil words/ that are agannste god and his neighbour/ and his handdes from all unhonest and unlawful deeds. And his mind from overmuch desire of worldly goods/ and from overgreat delight of worldly pleasures/ and learn 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 though good deeds/ he in nothing offend god. fifthly he must love god above all things/ and than himself/ as Martha did/ for she gave herself gladly to me following my words and deeds/ and afterward she gave all her goods for my love/ & loathed all temporal things desiring only things everlasting/ and therefore she sustained all things patiently as they came/ and cared as well for the health of other as of himself/ thinking alway on my charity & on my possyon/ and she was glad in troubles/ merry in adversities/ and 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 dissymuled the evil manners of her neighbours all that she might/ and prayed alway for them. ☞: Therefore every man that desireth to live charytabely 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 and 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 forwith upon her coming/ but afterward Mary was called/ and when she came than at the prayer of them both together their brother was raised from 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/ and to withstand mightily the fiends temptations/ and than he may afterward with good delyberation ascend to the higher degree that is to say to the life contemplative/ for he that is not proved and well assayed with temptations/ and hath not yet fully overcome the evil motions of the flesh/ may not wholly set himself to heavenly things. But who is the deed brother of the active man and of the contemplative man/ but their undiscrete deeds/ for many times a good deed is done with an undiscrete intent & 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 man and by the contemplative man/ that is to say when the neighbour is purely loved for god and to god/ and 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 sorowethe for the sins of his neighbours/ but his part is better when he laboureth all that he may that his neighbours may do well/ and persever well unto the end/ and 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/ and the health of souls. ♣ When the mind is fulfilled with good affec●yons/ & when he is well at rest from the clamorous noise of worldly business/ and thinketh alway God to be present unto him/ and setteth his meditations fully in the love of God/ and laboureth fervent fully therein both day and also the night.   

❧ christ saith/ that the devotion of thinfideles in time to come shallbe much more than the devotion of the christian men/ and they shall all sing joy be to the father/ unto the son/ and to the holy ghost/ & honour to all his saints. Amen. The vi book of the revelations of saint Byrgete/ the lxxxiii Chapter.  
THe son of god speaketh unto his spouse saint Byrget/ sainge. Thou shalt know that yet there shallbe so much devotion in the infideles/ that christian men shallbe as their spiritual servants/ and scripture shallbe fulfilled that saith. ☞: The people not understanding shall glorify me/ and deserts shallbe builded again/ and they shall all joy be unto the father/ to the son/ and to the holy ghost/ and honour unto all the Saints. Amen.   

❧. What things be necessary to him that desireth to visit the lands of the infidels. The vi book of the revelations of saint Byrgette. The. xl●. Chapter. in the end of the said Chapter.  
THe son of god speaketh to saint Byrget/ and saith he that desireth to visit the lands of the infidels aught to have .v. things. The first is that he discharge his conscience with true confession & contrition/ as though he should forth with die. second that he put away all lightness of manners and of apparyll/ not taking heed to new customs or vanities/ but to such laudable customs as his ancestors have used before tyme. Thirdly that he have no temporal thing but/ for necessity and to the honour of god/ and if he know any thing unryghtwysely 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/ and so to dispose himself in laudable conversation that he may deserve to come to a good and a blessed ending. Amen.    
¶ FINIS.