Richard Rolle - The Form of Perfect Living & Other Prose 1910

7/30/2019 Richard Rolle - The Form of Perfect Living & Other Prose 1910

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^be jform of iperfcct Hiving

otber prose ^Treatises,


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PRINTED BY W. C. HEMMONS,ST. STEPHEN STREET,

BRISTOL.


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fP LIBRARY^2/3^ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/9/0

SANTA BARBARA

Love is a life, joining together the lovingand the loved."

Truth may be without love, but it cannothelp without it."

Richard Rolle(The Form of Perfect Living, ch. x.).


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preface.

'T^HIS book is not intended for those whoare acquainted with Anglo-Saxon and

Middle English ; but for those who care forthe thought, specially the religious anddevotional thought, of our forefathers. Myone aim has been to make a portion of thatthought accurately intelligible to modernreaders, with the greatest possible saving oftrouble to them. When I could use the oldword or phrase, with certainty of its beingunderstood, I have done so. When I couldnot, I have replaced it with the best modernequivalent I could find or invent. In ex-tenuation of the occasional use of Rolle's

vii.


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viii. preface.

expression, " by their lone," I may urge itsexpressiveness, the absence of an equivalent,and the fact that it may still be heard inremote places. Where possible, I have re-tained the archaic order of the original Text.Such irregular constructions, as e.g., the useof a singular pronoun in the first half of asentence, and of a plural in the second half,I have left unaltered ; for the meaning wasperfectly clear. In short, I have endeavouredto make Richard Rolle as he was as significantas possible to English men and women ofto-day as they are, when they are not pro-fessed students of English language. In suchan undertaking, it is obvious that I must havepresented endless vulnerable places to thelearned. I can only repeat that the book wasnever meant for them, but for those whowill perhaps forgive me if I describe them


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preface. ix.

as specialists in religious thought rather thanin English Language.

The rendering is made from the textsprinted by Professor Horstman in his Libraryof Early English Writers : Richard Rolle ofHampole an English Father of the Church.

GERALDINE E. HODGSON.The University, Bristol,

S. Mary Magdalene, 1910.


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Contents*PAGE.

Preface vii.Introduction . . . . . . .

.

xi.The Form of Perfect Living . . .

.

iOur Daily Work (a Mirror of Discipline).

{From the Arundel MS.) . . . . 83On Grace. {From the Arundel MS.) . . 169An Epistle on Charity . . . . .

.

185Contrition . . . . . . .

.

190Scraps from the Arundel MS. . . .

.

192


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Jntvobuction-

RICHARD ROLLE of Hampole is theearliest in time of our famous English

Mystics. Born in or about 1300, he died in1349, seven years after Mother Julian ofNorwich was born. Walter Hilton died in1392.

An exhaustive account of Rolle's life isgiven in Vol. ii. of Professor Horstman'sEdition of his works, a book unfortunatelyout of print. The main facts are recordedin a brief " Life " appended to Fr. R. HughBenson's A Book of the Love of Jesus. There-fore, it will suffice to say here that RichardRoUe seems to have been born at Thornton,near Pickering, in Yorkshire, in or about

xi.


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xii. Jntrobuction.

1300 ; that, finding the atmosphere of OxfordUniversity uncongenial, he left it, and forsome four years was supported, as a hermit,by the Dalton Family. By the end of thattime, through prayer, contemplation andself-denial, he had attained the three stagesof mystical life which he describes as calor,dulcor, canor ; (heat, sweetness, melody.)The next period of his life was less easy.Having left the protection of the Daltons,and being without those means of sub-sistence which are within the reach of priestor monk, this hermit depended for his dailybread on other men's kindness. Not thathe was a useless person : apart from theutility of a life of Prayer, he could point tocounsel and exhortation given ; to theexistence of converts consequent upon hisministrations. To add to his difficulties, hepreached a doctrine of high pure selflessnesswith which, the average man, in all times,


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3ntrot)uction. xiii.

seems to have no abundant sympathy : andto crown all he was endowed by nature witha sensitive temper. His remarkable giftsforced him into public notice ; his cast ofthought and his temperament were notcalculated to win him ease or popularity.Professor Horstman is peculiarly severe tothose among his enemies and detractors" who called themselves followers anddisciples of Christ." The insertion here ofthis painful passage would introduce a jarringnote ; moreover, the raked embers of pastcontroversy seldom tend to the spiritualimprovement of the present. An interestingjudgment by Professor Horstman on Rolle'splace in mysticism is too long for quotation ;but the following sentence may be taken asthe pith of it : " His position as a mysticwas mainly the result of the development ofscholasticism. The exuberant luxuriantgrowth of the brain in the system of Scotus


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xiv. 3^tro^uctio^.

called forth the reaction of the heart, andthis reaction is embodied in Richard Rolle,who as exclusively represents the side offeeling as Scotus that of reason and logicalconsequence ; either lacking the correctiveof the other element."

It is consoling to know that Rolle's lastyears were passed in peace, in a cell, near amonastery of Cistercian nuns at Hampole,where the nuns supported him, while he actedas their spiritual adviser.

In the book mentioned above, Fr. HughBenson has translated some of Richard Rolle'sPoems, and certain devotional Meditations.In this Volume, four of his Prose Treatiseshave been selected from the rest of his works,in the behef that they may supplement thoseparts of Rolle's writings with which, thosewho are interested in these phases of thought,are already familiar.

The first, The Form of Perfect Living, is


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Sntrobuction. xv.

a Rule of Life which he wrote for a nun ofAnderby, Margaret Kirkby, of whom Pro-fessor Horstman writes : " She seems to havebeen his good angel, and perhaps helped tosmooth down his ruffled spirits. This friend-ship was lastingit lasted to their hves'ends."

This treatise was written of course to meetthe requirements of the " religious " life.It has seemed expedient, because supple-mentary, then, to put next to it his work onOur Daily Life, which was meant for thosewho are '* in the world " ; and which maygive pause to some who might otherwisecriticise the first hastily, perhaps condemningit as unpractical, or even objectionable in aworld where, after all, men must eat anddrink and live, and where some, thereforemust provide the necessary means. Mostintensely practical is this second treatise,and perhaps nowhere more so than when it


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xvi. Jntrobuctton,

meets the needs of those who are inclined tospHt straws over the definition of the word" good." What is a good action ?suchpeople love to inquire, and like " jestingPilate," sometimes do not " stay for ananswer." Richard Rolle has no manner ofdoubt about his reply. An action must begood in itself, i.e., so he would tell us, pleasingto God in its own nature. But the matterby no means ends there for him. This goodaction must be performed,-and it is thiswhich is, now palpably, now subtly, hardentirely for the sake of goodness, withoutthe slightest taint of self-seeking, of vanity,of secret satisfaction that we are not as othermen are, not even as this Pharisee or thisPublican.

Such a motive, inspiring each person'swhole work, would surely go far to removewhat is known as the Social Problem. Itwould make many a house the dwelling of


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Jntrobuction. xvii.

peace, many a business-place an abode ofhonour. If we could get back to RichardRolle's simphcity and to his unmovablefaith, then, his goal, even the acquisition ofperfect love, might seem to all of us lessdistressingly remote.

The present rendering has been takenfrom the longer and more elaborate of thetwo MSS. containing the Treatise. Theshorter form of his work On Grace and theEpistle have been added in the hope thatthey may meet the need of all, contemplativeor active as they may chance to be.

There is, among his voluminous writings,a curious and interesting Revelation concern-ing Purgatory, purporting to be a woman'sdream about one, Margaret, a soul inPurgatory. Amidst much natural horror,not however exceeding that described byDante, there are many quaint side-lightsthrown upon our forefathers' ways of thought


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xviii. Sntrobuction.

as e.g., when Margaret's soul is weighed inone scale, against the fiend, " and a greatlong worm with him," in the other ; theworm of conscience, in fact. But the workhas not been included in this volume, lest itshould prove wholly unprofitable to a genera-tion which if it be not readily disturbed bysin, is easily and quickly shocked by crudesuggestions concerning its possible conse-quences and reward. They will find enough,perhaps, in the treatise on Daily Work.

If any one should think that there, andin one portion of the treatise on Grace, Rollehas dwelt harshly on considerations of fear,rather than on those of love, he must notmake the mistake of concluding that theseadmonitions represent the whole of Catholicteaching on the point. Men's temperamentsdiffer, and teachers, meeting these varioustempers, differ in their modes of helpingthem. Side by side with Richard Rolle may


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3^tco^uctton. xix.

be put the words of S. Francis Xavier, inwhat is perhaps the most beautiful of Chris-tian hymns :

My God, I love Thee ; not becauseI hope for heaven thereby,Nor yet because who love Thee notAre lost eternally.

Not for the hope of gaining aught,Not seeking a reward ;But as Thyself hast loved me,O ever-loving Lord

Moreover, no reader of the Epistle onCharity can entertain any doubt as to whetherour English Mystic understood the mysteryof limitless love.

It is no doubt, easy to complain, as weread certain passages, that Richard Rolle'srecommendations are neither new nororiginal : but if instead of dismissing themas familiar, we tried to put them into practice,we should perhaps have less leisure for idle


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criticism of others, and ourselves be less eviland tiresome people.On the other hand, the accusation may

be brought that he proposes an impossiblyhigh aim. No doubt, in such a pitch ofdevotion as is suggested, e.g., in ch. viii. ofThe Form of Perfect Living, some may thinkthey find extravagance : but no doubt itwas this same spirit which inspired SS.Peter and Paul, and the other Apostles ;which built up the Early Church ; whichmade Saints, Martyrs and Confessors ; whichsuggested such apparently forlorn hopes asthat of S. Augustine of Canterbury, when,to bring them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, hebearded the rough Men of Kent, and (accord-ing to Robert of Brunne) reaped, as hisimmediate reward, a string of fishtails hungon his habit, though later, the conversionof these sturdy pagans. It was doubtless,too, the spirit which inspired the best men


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and women in the English Church, beforethey began to confuse the spheres of Faithand Reason, and to disregard S. Hilary'swarning about the difficulty of expressing inhuman language that which is truly " in-comprehensible/'incomprehensible in theold sense, as in the Athanasian Symbol," Immensus Pater, immensus Filius, immen-sus Spiritus sanctus " ; till, indeed, menforgot, for all practical purposes that infinitytranscends the grasp of finite minds (in fact,as well as in placidly accepted and thenimmediately neglected theory) ; and can beapprehended only, and that imperfectly, bythe best aspirations of a heart, set of fixedpurpose on that high goal.

To the modern Englishman, immersed inbusiness anxieties, imperial interests anddomestic cares, the invitation repeated sooften by Richard Rolle, to love Godsupremely, may seem incalculably unreal and


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remote, even though he might hesitate toconfess it baldly. But what if the EngUsh-man who so loved God, were also the greaterEngHshman ? And what answer does his-tory return to that plain question ?" Richard Rolle/' Professor Horstmandoes not hesitate to write '* was one of themost remarkable men of his time, yea, ofhistory. It is a strange and not very credit-able fact that one of the greatest of English-men has hitherto been doomed to oblivion.In other cases, the human beast first crucifies,and then glorifies or deifies the nobler minds,who swayed by the Spirit, do not live asothers live, in quest of higher ideals bywhich to benefit the race ; he, one of thenoblest champions of humanity, a hero, asaint, a martyr in this cause has never hadhis resurrection yet-a forgotten brave. Andyet, he has rendered greater service to hiscountry, and to the world at large, than all


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3ntroDuction. xxiii.

the great names of his time. He rediscoveredLove^ the principle of Christ. He reinstalledfeeling, the spring of life which had beenobliterated in the reign of scholasticism. Here-opened the inner eye of man, teachingcontemplation in solitude, an unworldly lifein abnegation, in chastity, in charity .He broke the hard crust that had gatheredround the heart of Christianity, by formalismand exteriority, and restored the free flow ofspiritual life."

This passage, to those who feel that therehas been no age since the Birth of Christ whenthe great principles of religious life havebeen wholly lost, and who remember thatRichard Rolle lived in the age of Dante, mayseem overstated. But it shews sufficientlyat least, and for that reason is quoted here,what a great Englishman he was, and what adebt his unaware countrymen owe him ; adebt which they could pay in the way most


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grateful to him, by listening to his words.It may be remarked, by the way, that

Rolle is not inclined to substitute individual-ism for the authority of the Church ; achange which has been brought against somemystics. There is immense emphasis laid,all through his writings, on the importanceof conduct. The penetrating analysis, inch. vi, of The Form of Perfect Living, of thepossible sins humanity can commit on itsjourney through the wilderness of this world,hardly leaves a corner of the heart un-lighted ; lets not one possible shift, twist orexcuse of the human conscience go free.But it all has the Church as its immediatebackground ; the Mystical Body, not theindividual soul in isolation, is everywheretaken for granted. Man lives not to himselfnor dies to himself, even though he be RichardRolle the hermit, or Margaret Kirkby therecluse, that is the plain teaching of these


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plain-speaking pages. And all through themtoo is a tough common sense, and an unusuallyalert power of observation ; and there isperhaps an element of that business capacity,which some of the Saints and Mystics haveshewn, in his inclusion among '' sins of deed "of " beginning a thing that is above ourmight " ; for in that there is not only pride,but a kind of stupid incapacity surely.

It is quite possible that Rolle's tendencyto repetition may tire any one who readshim " straight on," as the phrase is. But itis doubtful whether that be the best meansof approach. If he be read in bits, he will /prove far more effective : and his ability tohit the right nail on the head, and to hit itwonderfully hard, may occasionally bringhis words home to our immediate circum-stances with an appositeness that may bemore than a coincidence.

In the past, the learned and ignorant


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alike have been guilty of the operation whichmay be described as cutting man up intoparts : i.e., they have been inclined to treathim now as if he were all intellect, then asif he were all feeling ; while to the will a kindof intermediate part has generally beenallotted, as if it were the handmaid insteadof the master of the other two. And thereis still, in some quarters, a tendency torelegate the will and the feelings to an inferiorplane, if indeed they be allowed any placeat ah. In other quarters, the onslaught ismade on intellect. Men are bidden to behumble, to become as little children ; as ifthere were any humility in thinking in-correctly or not at all ; as if the odd, thoughsuppressed, assumption that children haveno intellects had any ground in fact. It issurely a true apostrophe

" God ! Thou art mind ! Unto the master-mind,Mind should be precious."


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The Angelic Doctor himself paid a tributeto the importance and special difficulties ofintellect, and also to the necessity of unitingit with will :" the martyrs had greatermerit in faith, not receding from the faith forpersecutions ; and likewise men of learninghave greater merit of faith, not* recedingfrom the faith for the reasons of philosophersor heretics alleged against it." RichardRolle, following on the same lines as S.Thomas Aquinas, has nothing of this spiritof division : the whole being is what hewould fain see offered to God, whether it beso by Margaret Kirkby, or by those whoare " in the world," for whom Our DailyWork was written. In the image of Godwas man made, and therefore God suffices forall the needs of man's nature : that, at leastseems to be the underlying idea when Rollewrites :" God is light and burning. Light* Quoted by Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S.J., in Scholasticism, p. 121.


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clarifies our reason, burning kindles our will."May we not say here too ?" What God hasjoined together, that let not man putasunder."

Above all things, Rolle aims at a perfectbalance, culminating in a harmony ruled byone power, and that the greatest in theworld. Love. Real love, he asks ; not thedegraded things to which men give thatgreat name, as to every passing gust offeeling, to every unworthy untamed emotion :but the divine quality, when to the '* lasting-ness," which he requires, is also joined thatwhich is the inner essence of Love, viz.,sacrifice. " Love is a life," he writes, " join-ing together the loving and the loved."And then he remembers the other great giftto men, intellectual sincerity, which hasinspired all " who follow Truth along herstar-paved way " ; and he gives to that itsplace and due : " Truth may be without love :


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but it cannot help without it." Even then,the whole tale is not complete ; the way ofthe Saints is not " Primrosed and hung withshade." Love, with Rolle, is no easy senti-mentahty : it involves definite sacrifice inmore directions than one ; it demandsthought, perseverance, supernatural strength,natural strenuousness ; it is not a selfishenjoyment of a circumambient atmospherewrapping humanity, without responsibility oreffort of its own : " Love is a Life."

" Love," he writes, " is a perfection oflearning ; virtue of prophecy ; fruit oftruth ; help of sacraments ; establishing ofwit and knowledge ; riches of pure men :life of dying men. So, how good love is. Ifwe suffer to be slain ; if we give all that wehave (down) to a beggar's staff : if we knowas much as men may know on earth, all thisis naught but ordained sorrow and torment."Then, with that sound sense, which is not


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the least element in the sum of his attractive-ness, he utters a subtle warning against thatall too common sin, judging one another :" If thou wilt ask how good is he or she, askhow much he or she loves : and that no mancan tell. For I hold it folly to judge a man'sheart, that none knows save God."

After this it cannot be necessary to say thatkolle is a true mystic. " Many," so he tellsus in this same chapter x., " Many speak anddo good, and love not God." But that willnot suffice his exacting demands. A man isnot " good " until his interior disposition beall filled and taken up with pure love of God.And as he analyses the Christian Character,there is a pleasant blunt directness aboutthis holy man :" he that says he loves Godand will not do what is in him to shew love,tell him that he lies."

It is possible that the alarming list of sinsof the heart, in chapter vi., may give the


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heedless and even the heedful matter forgrave thought, as each one finds himselfejaculating with spontaneous fear" Whocan tell how oft he offendeth ? Cleanse thoume from my secret faults."

Surely no one need fear that the outcomeof a study of Richard Rolle will be effeminacy.Not that that indeed is the special tempta-tion of the English : a chill commonplaceacquiescence in a convenient, if baseless,hope that somehow " things will come allright," is far more likely to lead them astraythan any '' burning yearning to God with a )wonderful delight and certainty." Is notGeorge Herbert's cry apposite still ?

" O England, full of sin, but most of sloth ! "Nor can any one argue fairly that this

absorption of the mystic is just selfish idle-ness. It is, so it seems, as we read Rolle'sinjunctions, of the nature of hard exactingtoil. No doubt, there must be those who do


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the material work of the world ; who gain,among other things, those '' goods " whichgo to support the Mystics. But there willbe no lack of such workers, through theinroads of religion ; the broad ways of dailylife are in no danger of contracting suddenlyin to the path to the strait gate. Moreover,natural life itself is a poor thing unsupportedby an unseen stream of spiritual refection.Here, as elsewhere in the ordered economy ofthings, two forms of life are found to be com-plementary. It is true, as Dr. Bigg oncewrote :" If Society is to be permeated byreligion, there must be reservoirs of religionlike those great storage places up among thehills which feed the pipes by which water iscarried to every home in the city. We shallneed a special class of students of God, menand women Jwhose primary and absorbinginterest it is to work out the spiritual life inall its purity and integrity."* It is indeed

* Wayside Sketches, p. 135.


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the idlest of criticism that condemns suchpeople as slothful or selfish.

There is one charm in our own Mysticswhich we may miss in S. John of the Crossor S. Teresa for example ; viz., that with alltheir zeal, there is also an amazing reality andsimplicity down at the bottom of it, whichmay seem to us not present in the rhapsodiesof more southern lovers ; though in allprobability such seeming is purely racial.Nevertheless, we may be thankful if we findthe antidote to our national prosaic ways inthe sane zeal of others of our nation.Lastly, as men read, they may be overcomeperhaps by despair. This pure untaintedselflessness of which Richard Rolle writesalmost glibly, how can it be possible here andnow ? How can men and women, fixed inand condemned to the dusty ways of commonhfe, unable as they are to leave the worldeven if they would, how can they so much


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as dream of such unattainable heights ? Isthere no help for them in the often quotedlines of a later English Mystic ?

" Who aimeth at the skyShoots higher much than he who means a tree."For plain men and women^ the key to the

problem may lie in the question put byRobert Browning into the mouth of InnocentXII. :

" Is this our ultimate stage, or starting placeTo try man's foot, if it will creep or climb,'Mid obstacles in seeming, points that proveAdvantage for who vaults from low to high,And makes the stumbling-block a stepping-stone ?

"

Even though the goal be not reached,to have willed deliberately here the first stepmay prove to have been not wholly un-availing.


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^be form of perfect living.


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XTbe jfornt of perfect %mnQTRicbarb IRoUe.

CHAPTER I.

IN every sinful man and woman that isbound in deadly sin, are three wretched-nesses, the which bring them to the death ofhell. The first is : Default of ghostly strength.That they are so weak within their heart,that they can neither stand against thetemptations of the fiend, nor can they lifttheir will to yearn for the love of God andfollow thereto. The second is : Use of fleshlydesires :for they have no will nor might tostand, they fall into lusts and likings of thisworld ; and because they think them sweet,they dwell in them still, many till their


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2 Zbc form of perfect Xivincj.lives' end, and so they come to the thirdwretchedness. The third is, Exchanging alasting good for a passing delight : as whosay they give endless joy for a little joy ofthis life. If they will turn them and rise topenance, God will ordain their dwelling withangels and with holy men. But becausethey choose the vile sin of this world, andhave more delight in the filth of their fleshthan in the fairness of heaven, they lose both

/ the world and heaven. For he that hath notJesus Christ loses all that he hath, and allthat he is, and all that he might get. Forhe is not worthy of life, nor to be fed withswine's-meat. All creatures shall be stirredin His vengeance in the day of Doom. Thesewretchednesses that I have told you of arenot only in worldly men and women, whouse glutton}'", lust, and other open sins : butthey are also in others who seem in penanceand godly life. For the devil that is enemy


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Zbc iform of perfect ativing.to all mankind, when he sees a man or awoman among a thousand, turn wholly toGod, and forsake all the vanities and richesthat men who love this world covet, andseek lasting joy, a thousand wiles he has inwhat manner he may destroy them. Andwhen he can not bring them into such sinswhich might make all men wonder at themwho knew them, he beguiles many so privilythat they cannot oftentimes feel the trap thathas taken them.

Some he takes with error that he putsthem in. Some with singular wit, when hemakes them suppose that the thing that theysay or do is best ; and therefore they willhave no counsel of another who is better andabler than they ; and this is a foul stinkingpride ; for such man would set his wit beforeall other. Some, the devil deceives throughVain-glory, that is idle joy ; when any havepride and dehght in themselves, of the


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penance that they suffer, of good deeds thatthey do, of any virtue that they have ; areglad when men praise them, sorry when menblame them, have envy of them who arespoken better of than they. They considerthemselves so glorious, and so far surpassingthe life that other men lead, that they thinkthat none should reprehend them in anythingthat they do or say ; and despise sinful men,and others who will not do as they bid them.How mayst thou find a sinfuller wretch thansuch a one ? And so much the worse is hebecause he knows not that he is evil, and isconsidered and honoured of men as wise andholy. Some are deceived bv over-great lustand liking in meat and drink, w^hen they passmeasure and come into excess, and havedelight therein ; and they know not thatthey sin, and therefore they amend them not,and so they destroy virtues of soul. Someare destroyed with over-great abstinence of


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Zbc form of perfect aLivino. 5meat and drink and sleep. That is oftentemptation of the devil, for to make themfall in the midst of their work, so that theybring it to no ending as they should havedone, had they known reason and had dis-cretion ; and so they lose their merit fortheir frowardness. This snare our enemylays to take us with when we begin to hatewickedness, and turn us to God. Then manybegin a thing that they can never morebring to an end : then they suppose thatthey can do whatsoever their heart is set on.But oftentimes they fall or ever they comemidway ; and that thing which they sup-posed was for them is hindering to them.For we have a long way to heaven, and asmany good deeds as we do, as many prayersas we make, and as many good thoughts aswe think in truth and hope and charity, somany paces go we heavenwards. Then, ifwe make us so weak and so feeble that we


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can neither work nor pray as we should do,nor think, are we not greatly to blame thatfail when we had most need to be stalwart ?And well I wot that it is not God's will thatwe so do. For the prophet says : " Lord, Ishall keep my strength to Thee," so that hemight sustain God's service till his death-day, and not in a little and a short timewaste it, and then lie wailing and groaningby the wall. And it is much more peril thanmen suppose. For S. Jerome says that hemakes an offering of robbery who out-rageously torments his body by over-littlemeat or sleep. And S. Bernard says : " Fast-ing and waking hinder not spiritual goods,but help, if they be done with discretion ;without that, they are vices." Wherefore,it is not good to torture ourselves so much,and afterwards to have displeasure at ourdeed. There have been many, and are whosuppose it is naught all that they do unless


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they be in so great abstinence and fastingthat all men speak of them who know them.But oftentimes it befalls that the more out-ward joy or wondering they have (on account)of the praising of men, the less joy they havewithin of the love of God. By my judg-ment, they should please Jesus Christ muchmore if they accepted for His sakeinthanking and praising Him, to sustain theirbody in His service and to withhold them-selves from great speech of menwhatsoeverGod sent them in time and place, and gavethemselves since entirely to the love and thepraising of that Lord Jesus Christ : Who willstalwartly be loved, and lastingly be served,so that their holiness were more seen inGod's eye than in man's. For all the betterthou art, and the less speech thou hast ofmen, the more is thy joy before God. Ah !how great it is to be worthy of love, and tobe not loved. And what wretchedness it is,


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8 Zbc form of perfect living.to have the name and the habit of hohness,and be not so ; but to cover pride, ire orenvy under the clothes of Christ's childhood.A foul thing it is to have liking anddelight in the words of men who can no moredeem what we are in our soul than they wotwhat we think. For ofttimes they say thathe or she is in the higher degree that is in thelower ; and whom they say is in the lower,is in the higher. Therefore I hold it to bebut madness to be gladder or sorrier whetherthey say good or ill. If we be trying to hideus from speech and praise of this world, Godwill shew to us His praise, and our joy. Forthat is His joy when we are strength-full tostand against the privy and open tempta-tion of the devil, and to seek nothing butthe honour and praise of Him, and that wemight entirely praise Him. And that oughtto be our desire, our prayer and our intent,night and day, that the fire of His love kindle


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^bc form of perfect UiPino. 9our hearts, and the sweetness of His grace beour comfort and our solace in weal and woe.Thou hast now heard a part how the fienddeceives, with his subtle craft, unknowingmen and women. And if thou wilt do bygood counsel and follow holy teaching, as Ihope that thou wilt, thou shall destroy histraps, and burn in love's fire all the bandsthat he would bind thee with ; and all hismalice shall turn thee to joy, and him tomore sorrow. God suffers him to tempt goodmen for their profit, that they may be thehigher crowned, when they, through Hishelp, have overcome so cruel an enemy, thatoftentimes, both in body and soul, con-founds many men.

In three manners, the devil has power tobe in a man. In one manner, hurting thegood they have by nature, as in dumb men,and in others, staining their thoughts. Inanother manner, snatching away the good


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10 Zbc Jform of pertect Xiving.that they have of grace : and so he is in sinfulmen whom he has deceived through dehghtof the world and of their flesh, and leadsthem with him to hell. In the third manner,he torments a man's body, as we read thathe has done (to) Job. But wit thee well, ifhe beguile thee not within, thou needst notdread what he may do to thee without, forhe may do no more than God gives him leaveto do.


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CHAPTER II.BECAUSE thou hast forsaken the solace

and the joy of this world^ and takenthee to soHtary Hfe, for God's sake to suffertribulation and anguish here, and afterwardsto come to that bliss which never moreceases, I trow truly that the comfort of JesusChrist, and the sweetness of His love, withthe fire of the Holy Ghost, that purges allsin, shall be in thee, and with thee, leadingthee and teaching thee how thou shalt think,how thou shalt pray, what thou shalt work,so that in a few years thou shalt have moredelight to be by thy lone, and to speak tothy Love and thy Spouse Jesus Christ, Whois high in heaven, than if thou wert ladyhere of a thousand worlds. Men suppose


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that we are in torture and in penance greatbut we have more joy and more very dehghtin a day than they have in the world all theirlife. They see our body : but they see notour heart where our solace is. If they sawthat, many of them would forsake all thatthey have, for to follow us. Therefore, becomforted and stalwart, and dread no annoyor anguish : but fasten all thine intent inJesus, that thy life be good and convenientand look that there be nothing in thee thatshould be displeasing to Him that thou dostnot soon amend it. The state which thouart in, which is solitude, is most able of allother to revelation of the Holy Ghost. Forwhen S. John was in the Isle of Patmos, thenGod shewed him His secrets. The goodnessof God it is that He comforts them wonder-fully that have no comfort of the world, ifthey give their heart entirely to Him, andcovet not nor seek but Him : then He gives


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Himself to them in sweetness and delight, inburning of love, and in joy and melodyand dwells aye with them, in their soul,so that the comfort of Him departsnever from them. And if they any timebegin to err, through ignorance or frailty ;soon He shews them the right way ; and allthat they have need of, He teaches them.No man to such revelation and grace on thefirst day may come ; but through long traveland carefulness to love Jesus Christ, as thoushall here-afterward. Nevertheless, then hesuffers them to be tempted in sore manners,both waking and sleeping. For aye themore temptations and the grievouser theystand against and overcome, the more theyshall joy in His love when they are passed.Waking, they are sometimes tempted withfoul thoughts, vile lusts, wicked delights,with pride, ire, envy, despair, presumptionand other many. But their remedy shall be :


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Prayer : Weeping : Fasting : Waking. Thesethings, if they be done with discretion, theyput away sin and filth from the soul, andmake it clean to receive the love of JesusChrist, Who may not be loved, but in clean-ness. Also, sometimes the fiend tempts menand women, who are solitary, by their lovein a quaint manner and a subtle : he trans-figures himself in the likeness of an angel oflight, and appears to them, and says he isone of God's angels come to comfort them,and so he deceives fools. But they that arewise and will not quickly trust to all spirits,but ask counsel of knowing men, he can notbeguile them. Also, I find written of arecluse, that was a good woman, to whomthe ill-angel oft-times appeared in the formof a good angel, and said that he was come tobring her to heaven. Wherefore, she wasright glad and joyful. But nevertheless, shetold it to her Shrift-father, and he, as a wise


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Zbc Jform of iperfect Xiving. 15man and wary, gave her this counsel. Whenhe comes, he said, bid him that he shew theeour Lady, S. Mary. When he has done so,say Ave Maria. She did so. The fiendsaid : " Thou hast no need to see her ; mypresence suffices to thee." And she said byall means she would see her. He saw thatit behoved him either to do her will, or shewould despise him : so quickly, he broughtforth the fairest woman that might be asto her sight, and shewed to her. And sheset her on her knees and said, Ave Maria.And so quickly all vanished away, and forshame never after came he to her. This Isay not, because I hope he shall have leave totempt thee in this manner, but because I willthat thou beware, if any such temptationbefall thee sleeping or waking, that thoutrust not over quickly till thou knowest thetruth. More privily he transfigures himselfinto an angel of lightthat commonly all


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men are tempted with^when he hides illunder the likeness of good. And that is intwo manners. One is, when he eggs us on toover-great ease and rest of body, and soft-ness to our flesh, for need to sustain ournature. For such thoughts he puts in us :that unless we eat well, and drink well, andsleep well, and lie soft and sit warm, we cannot serve God, nor last in the labour that wehave begun. But he thinks to bring us toover-great pleasure. Another is, when underthe likeness of ghostly good, he entices us tosharp and over-great penance, for to destroyourselves ; and says thus : '* Thou wot'stwell that he who suffers most penance forGod's love, he shall have most meed. There-fore eat little, and feeble meat ; and drinkless, the thinnest drink is good enough tothee. Reck not of sleep : wear the hair-shirt and the habergeon. All thing that isaffliction for thy flesh, do it ; so that there


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Zbc jform of perfect OLtving. 17

may be none that can pass thee in penance.He that speaks thee thus, is about to slaythee with over-great abstinence ; as hethat said the other to slay thee with over-little. Therefore, if we will be rightly dis-posed, it behoves us to set ourselves in agood mean, and that we may destroy ourvices and hold our flesh under, and never-theless that it should be stalwart in theservice of Jesus Christ. Also, our enemy willnot suffer us to be in rest when we sleep, butthen he is about to beguile us in many man-ners. Sometimes, with ugly images, for tomake us afraid and to make us hateful ofour state : sometimes with fair images, fairsights and that seem comfortable; for tomake us glad in vain, and make us think weare better than we are. Sometimes, tells uswe are holy and good, for to bring us intopride ; [sometimes says we are wicked andsinful for to make us fall into despair.] But


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1 8 ^be iform of perfect Xiving,

He Who is Ordainer of all things, suffers notthat our sleep be without reward to us, if wedress our life to His Will. And wit thouwell, thou sinnest not sleeping, if wakingthou beest evermore without excess of meatand drink, and without ill-thoughts. Butmany a one the devil has deceived throughdreams, when he has made them set theirheart on them. For he has shewn themsome truth, but afterwards beguiled themwith one that was false. Therefore says thewise man that many cares follow dreams ;and they fell that hoped in them. Where-fore that thou beest not beguiled with them,I will that thou wit that there are six mannersof dreams. Two are, that no man, holy orother, may escape : they are, if their stomachbe over-empty or over-full ; then manyvanities, in sore manners, befall them sleep-ing. The third is of illusions of our enemy.The fourth is, of thought before and of


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Zbc JTorm of iperfcct Xiving. 19illusions following. And the fifth throughthe revelation of the Holy Ghost, that is donein many a manner. The sixth is, of thoughtsbefore that are due to Christ or Holy Church,revelation coming after. In thus manymanners, the image of dreams touches menwhen they sleep. But so much the lessshall we give faith to any dream, because wecan not wit which is truth, which is false ;which is of our enemy, which is of the HolyGhost. For where many dreams are, thereare many vanities. And many they maymake to err, for they set up unwise men, andso deceive them.


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20 Zbz form of perfect Xtving.

CHAPTER III.

I KNOW that thy hfe is given to theservice of God. Then is it shame tothee, unless thou beest as good, or better,within thy soul, as thou art seeming in thesight of men. Turn therefore thy thoughtsperfectly to God, as it seems that thou hastdone thy body. For I will not that thoushouldest ween that all are holy that havethe habit of holiness, and are not occupiedwith the world. Nor that all are ill whodiscourse of earthly business. But they onlyare holy, what state or degree they be in,the which despise all earthly things, that is tosay, love it not ; and burn in the love ofJesus Christ ; and all their desires are set tothe joy of heaven, and hate all sin, and cease


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Zbc form of perfect %mm, 2not from good works, and feel a sweetness intheir heart of the love without end : andnevertheless, they think themselves vilest ofall, and hold themselves wretchedest, leastand lowest. This is holy men's life ; followit and be holy. And if thou wilt be in theApostles' reward, think not what thou for-sookest, but what thou despisest. For theywho follow Jesus Christ in willing poverty,and in meekness, and in charity, and inpatience, forsake as much as they can covetwho follow Him not. And consider withhow great and how good will thou presentestthy vows before Him : for on that He hasset His eyes, and if thou with great desireofferest thy prayers, with great fervourdesirest to see Him, and seekest no earthlycomfort, but the savour of Heaven, and incontemplation thereof hast thy delight.Wonderfully Jesus works in His lovers, thosewhom he reaves from the pleasure of flesh


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and blood through tender love. He makesthem to will no earthly thing, and makesthem rise to the solace of Him, and to forgetvanities and fleshly loves of the world, andto dread no sorrow that may fall : to diminishover-great bodily ease : to suffer for His love,seems to them joy ; and to be solitary theyhave great comfort : so that they be nothindered of that devotion. Now mayst thousee that many are worse than they seem, andmany are better than they seem, and namelyamong those that have the habit of holiness.Therefore force thyself, in all that thoumayest, that thou mayest be no worse thanthou seemest. And if thou wilt do as I teachthee in this short form of living, I hope,through the grace of God, that if men holdthee to be good, thou shaft be well better.


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^bc Jform of perfect Xiving. 23

CHAPTER IV.

AT the beginning then, bow thee entirelyto thy Lord Jesus Christ. That turn-

ing to Jesus is naught else but turning fromall the covetousness and the liking and theoccupations and business of worldly thingsand of fleshly lust and of vain love : so thatthy thought, that was ever downward,burrowing in the earth, whilst thou wert inthe world, now should be aye upward likefire ; seeking the highest place in heaven,right to thy Spouse, where He sits in Hisbliss. To Him thou art turned, when Hisgrace illumines thine heart ; and forsakes allvices, and conforms it to virtues and goodmanners, and to all manner of complianceand debonairness. And that thou mayst last


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24 ^be jform of perfect QLivino.

and grow in the goodness that thou hastbegun without slowness, and sorriness, andirking of thy Kfe ; four things shalt thouhave in thy thought, till thou beest in perfectlove. For when thou art come thereto, thyjoy and desire will aye be burning in Christ.One is : the measure of thy life here, that it isso short that scarcely is it anything. For welive but in a pointthat is the least thingthat may be. And soothly, our life is lessthan a point, if we liken it to the life thatlasts aye. Another is : uncertainty of ourending. For we wot never when we shall die,nor where we shall die, nor how we shall die,nor whither we shall go when we are dead ;and that God wills that this be uncertain tous, for He wills that we be aye ready to die.The third is : that we shall answer before therighteous Judge, for all the time that we havebeen here, how we have lived, what ouroccupation has been and why, and what good


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Zbc form of perfect %m\\Q. 25

we might have done when we have been idle.Therefore said the prophet : *' He has calledthee times again," that is every day He haslent us here for to spend in good use, and inpenance, and in God's service. If we wasteit in earthly love and in vanities, fullgrievously must we be condemned andpunished ; for that is one of the greatestsorrows that may be : unless we try man-fully in the love of God, and do good to allthat we may, while our short time lasts. Andevery time that we think not on God we maycount it as the thing that we have lost. Thefourth is : that we think how great the joy isthat they have who last in GOD'S love to theirending. For they shall be brethren and fellowswith angels and holy men, loving and thank-ing, praising and seeing the King of Joy inthe beauty and in the shining of His majesty.The which sight shall be reward and food,and all delights that any creature may think,


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26 ^be iform of perfect Xivtno*

and more than any can tell, to all His lovers,without end. It is much easier to come tothat bliss than to describe it. Also thinkwhat pain and what sorrow and tormentingthey shall have who love not God above allthings that one sees in this world, but defiletheir body in the pleasures and lusts of thislife, in pride and greed and other sins ; theyshall burn in the fire of hell with the devilwhom they served, as long as God is in heavenwith His servants, that is evermore.


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^be JTorm of perfect Xiving. 27

CHAPTER V.

I WILL that thou beest aye dimbing tojESUS-ward, and increasing thy loveand thy service to Him ; not as fools do ;they begin in the highest degree and comedown to the lowest. I say not that if thou hastbegun unreasonable abstinence that thou holdit ; but for many who were burning at thebeginning and able to (capable of) the loveof Jesus Christ, through over-great penancethey have hindered themselves, and madethemselves so feeble that they cannot loveGod as they should. In the which love thatthou mayest wax aye more and more is mycoveting and my admonition. I consider


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28 ZTbe iform of perfect Xivincj-

thee never of the less merit if thou beest notin so great abstinence ; but if thou set allthy thought how thou mayest love thySpouse Jesus Christ more than thou hastdone, then dare I say that thy reward iswaxing not waning.


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^be form ot perfect XiviriG, 29

CHAPTER VI.WHEREFORE, that thou may'st be

rightly disposed both for thy souland thy body, thou shalt understand fourthings. The first thing is : what thing defilesa man. The second thing : what makes himclean. The third : what holds him in clean-ness. The fourth : what thing draws him forto ordain his will entirely at GOD'S will. Forthe first, wit thou that we sin in threethings that make i^s foul : that is with heartand mouth and deed. The sins of the heartare these : Ill-thought : ill delight : assentto sin : desire of ill ; wicked will : ill sus-picion : undevotion : if thou lettest thineheart any time be idle, without occupationof the love, of the praising of God : ill dread :


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so Zbc Jform of IPcrfcct Xiving*ill love : error : fleshly affection to thyfriends or to other that thou lovest : joy inany man's ill-faring, whether they be enemyor none : contempt of poor or sinful men : tohonour rich men for their riches : unsuitablejoy in any world's vanity : sorrow of theworld : impatience : perplexity, that is doubtwhat to do and what not, for every man oughtto be secure (about) what he shall do andwhat he shall leave : obstinacy in ill : an-noyance (at having) to do good : sorrow thathe did no more ill, or that he did not havethat pleasure or that will of his flesh whichhe might have done : unstableness ofthought : pain at penance : hypocrisy : loveto please men : dread to displease them :shame of good deed : joy of ill deed : singularwit : desire for honour or dignity, or to beholden better than another, or richer, orfairer, or more to be dreaded : vain glory ofany good of nature, of happening, or of grace :


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^he form of perfect Xtvina. 31shame of poor friends : pride of rich or ofgentle kin, for all we alike are free beforeGod's face, unless our deeds make any betteror worse than another, in spite of goodcounsel and of good teaching. The sins ofthe month are these : to swear oftentimes :forswearing : slander of Christ or of any ofHis Saints ; to name His name withoutreverence ; gainsaying and strife againsttruthfulness ; murmuring against God forany anguish or trouble or tribulation thatmay befall on earth : to say God's Serviceundevoutly and without reverence : back-biting ; flattering : lying : abusing : cursing :defaming : quarrelling : threatening : sow-ing of discord : treason : false-witness : illcounsel : scorn : unbuxomness in speech :to turn good deeds to ill : to make them beholden ill who do them : (we ought to wrapup our neighbours' deeds in the best not theworst) ; exciting any man to ire : reprehend-


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32 Zbc iTorm of perfect Xlvinging in another what one does one's self :vain speech : much speech : foul speech :to speak idle words : or to speak words notneedful : praising : polishing of words : de-fending sin : shouting with laughter : makinggrimaces at any man : to sing secular songsand to love them : to praise ill-deeds : tosing more for the glory of men than of God.The sins of deed are these : gluttony : lechery :drunkenness : simony : witch-craft : break-ing of the holy-days : sacrilege : to receiveGod's Body in deadly sin : breaking of vows :apostacy : dissipation in God's service : toset example of ill deeds : to hurt any man inhis body, or in his goods, or in his fame :theft : rapine : usury : deceit : selling ofrighteousness : to hearken ill : to give toharlots : to withhold necessaries from thebody, or to give it to excess : to begin athing that is above our might : custom tosin : falling often into sin : feigning of more


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tTbe Jform of ipcrfcct Xivincj. 32,

good than we have : for to seem hoher, morelearned and wiser than we are : to hold officethat we do not suffice to : or to hold one thatcannot be held without sin : to lead dances :to bring up new fashions : to be rebelliousagainst one's Sovereign : to insult those whoare less : to sin in sight, in hearing, in smell-ing, in touching, in handling, in swallowing :in means : in signs : in beggings : writings.To receive the circumstances, that is to saytime, place, manner, number, person, dwell-ing, knowledge, age, that makes thee sin moreor less. To desire a sin or to be tempted : toconstrain one to sin. Other many sins thereare of omission, that is, of leaving goodundone : when men leave the good theyshould do. Not thinking about God, nordreading, nor praising Him, nor thankingHim for His gifts : to do not all that onedoes for love of God : to sorrow not for one'ssins as one should do : not to dispose one's

D


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34 ^be jform of perfect Xiving.self to receive grace. And if one have takengrace, not to use it as one ought ; not to keepit : to turn not to the inspiration of God : toconform not one's will to God's will : to givenot attention to one's prayers, but mutteron and never reck save that they be said ;to do negligently what one was bound byvow to do, or by command, or else enjoinedin penance : to draw out at length whatshould be done soon : having no joy at one'sneighbour's profit as at one's own ; notsorrowing at his ill-faring : standing notagainst temptations : forgiving not thosewho have done one harm : keeping not faithwith one's neighbour as one would that hedid to one's self : and yielding not a gooddeed for another if one can. Amending notthose sins before one's eyes : not appeasingstrifes : not teaching them that are un-learned : not comforting them that are insorrow^ or in sickness, or in poverty, or in


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^be form of perfect ILiviua. 35penance, or in prison. These sins, and manyothers make men foul. The things that cleanseus of that filth, are three, against these threemanners of sins. The first is : sorrow ofheart against the sin of thought : and thatit behoves (thee to) be so perfect that thoubeest in full will never to sin more. And thatthou mayest have sorrow for all thy sins.And that all joy and solace, except of Godand in God, be put out of thine heart. Thesecond is : shrift of mouth ; against the sinof mouth. And that shall be hasty, withoutdelaying. Naked, without excusing. Whole,without parting. Also (not) for to tell onesin to one priest and another to another.Say all that thou wottest to one, or else thyshrift is not worth. The Third is. Satis-faction ; that has three parts. Fasting, Prayer,and Aims-Deed. Not only to give poor menmeat and drink : but to forgive them thatdo thee wrong and pray for them : and


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36 Zlbe jTorm ot perfect Xivina.inform them who are at the point to perishwhat they shall do. For the third thing,thou shalt wit that cleanness behoves to bekept in heart, in mouth and in work. Clean-ness of heart, three things keep : one is, watch-ful thought and stable about God. Anotheris, care to keep thy five wits, so that all thewicked stirrings of them be closed out of theflesh. The third, honest and profitableoccupation. Also, cleanness of mouth, threethings keep : one is that thou should'stbethink thee before thou speakest. Anotheris that thou beest not of great but of littlespeech ; and specially ever till thine heart beestablished in the love of Jesus Christ : sothat men think thou ever lookest on Him,whether thou speakest or not. But such agrace may'st thou not have on the first day :but with long travel and great care to loveHim from habit, so that the eye of thineheart be aye upward, shalt thou come thereto.


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Zbc form of iperfect Xiving. 37The third, that thou for nothing, not evenfor meekness, shaft fie to any man. Forevery fie is sin and iff : and not God's wiff.Thou needest not teff alf the truth afways,unfess thou wiifest. But hate aff iies. Ifthou sayest a thing of thyseff that seems tothy praise, but thou sayst it to the praise ofGod and heip of another, thou dost not un-wisefy for thou speakest truth. But if thouwiii have aught private, teff it to none butsuch a one that thou beest secure that it shouidnot be shewed (disclosed) but only to thepraise of God, of whom is all goodness, andwho makes some better than others, and givesthem special grace, not only for themselves,but also for them that will do well after theirexample. Cleanness of work, three thingskeep. One is : a careful thought of death :for the wise man says ; " Bethink thee ofthy last ending, and thou shalt not sin."The second : flee from ill fellowship, that


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gives more example to love the world thanGod, earth than heaven, filth of body thancleanness of soul. The third is : temperanceand discretion in meat and drink : that it beneither to excess, nor beneath suitablesustenance for thy body. For both come toone end : excess and over-great fasting : forneither is God's willand that many willnot suppose, for anything one may say. Ifyou take sustenance of such good as Godsends for the time and the day, whatever itbe, I take out no manner of meat that Chris-tian men use ; with measure and discretion,thou dost well ; for so did Christ and HisApostles. If you leave many meats that menhave, not despising the meat that God hasmade for man's help, but because thouthinkest thou hast no need thereof, thou dostwell : if thou seest that thou art stalwart toserve God, and that it breaks not thy stomach.For if thou hast broken it with over-great


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^be ifonn of {perfect Xivincj. 39abstinence, appetite for meat is reft fromthee : and often shalt thou be in trembhngs,as if thou wert ready to give up the ghost.And wit thou well, thou didst sin that deed.And thou may'st not wit soon whether thineabstinence be against thee, or with thee.For the time thou art going, I counsel theethat thou should'st eat better and more, asit comes, that thou beest not beguiled. Andafterward, when thou hast proved manythings, and overcome many temptations, andknowest better thyself and God than thoudidst, then if thou seest that it be to bedone, thou mayst take to greater abstinence.And meanwhile thou mayst do privy penancewhich all men need not know. Righteous-ness is not all in fasting or in eating. Butthou art righteous, if contempt and praise,poverty and riches, hunger and need ordelights and dainties be all alike to thee. Ifthou takest these with love of God, I hold


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40 Zbc Jform of perfect Xlvinothee blessed and high before Jesus. Menwho come to thee, they love thee becausethey see thy great abstinence, and becausethey see thee enclosed : but I may not lovethee so lightly for anything I see thee dowithout, but if thy will be conformed entirelyto God's will. And set not by their praiseand blame, and never give thou heed if theyspeak less good of thee than they did ; butthat thou shouldest be more burning in God'slove than thou wert. For one thing I warnthee : I hope that God has no perfect servantin earth without enemies of some menForonly wretchedness has no enemy. For todraw us that we conform our will to GOD'S will :are three things. One is, example of holymen and women, who were intent, night andday, to serve God, and dread Him and loveHim. n we follow them on earth, we mustbe with them in heaven. Another is thegoodness of our Lord, which despises none.


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Zbc jform of ipcrfect Xiving. 41but gladly receives all that come to Hismercy : and He is homelier to them thanbrother or sister, or any friend that they mostlove, or most trust in. The third is thewonderful joy of the kingdom of heaven,which is more than tongue may tell, or heartmay think, or eye may see, or ear may hear.It is so great that, as in hell nothing mightlive for great pain but that the might of Godsuffers them not to die ; so the joy in thesight of Jesus in His GoD-head is so great thatthey must die of joy, if it were not for Hisgoodness, who wills that His lovers shouldbe living aye in bliss : also His righteousnesswills that all who loved Him not, be ayeliving in fire, which is horrible to any manthat thinks : look then what it is to feel.But they who will not think of it and dreadit now, they shall suffer it evermore. Nowhast thou heard how thou mayst dispose thylife, and rule it to God's will. But I wot


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42 Zbc iform of perfect Xiving.well that thou desirest to hear some specialpoint of the love of Jesus Christ, and ofcontemplative life, which thou hast taken tothee in all men's sight. (According) As Ihave grace and knowledge, I will teach thee.


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Zbc JFonn of perfect Xiving. 43

CHAPTER VII.

AMORE LANGUEO. These two words^ are written in the Book of Love^ that

is called the Song of Love, or the Song ofSongs. For he that loves greatly, lists oftento sing of his love, for joy that he or she haswhen they think on that they love, speciallyif their love be true and loving. And this isthe English of these two words : "I languishfor love." Separate men on earth haveseparate gifts and graces of God, but thespecial gift of those who lead the solitary life,is for to love Jesus Christ. Thou sayest tome, * All men love Him who keep His com-mandments.' That is Truth. But all menwho keep His bidding keep not also HisCounsel. And all that do His Counsel arenot all fulfilled by the sweetness of His love,nor feel the fire of burning love of heart.


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44 Zbc iform of perfect Xivino-Therefore, the diversity of love makes thediversity of hohness and of need. In heaven,the angels who are most burning in love, arenearest to God. Also, men and women thathave most of God's love, whether they dopenance or none ; they shall be in the highestdegree in heaven : they who love Him less,in the lower order. If thou lovest Himmuch, great joy and sweetness and burningthou feelest in His love, that is thy comfortand strength night and day. If thy love benot burning in Him : little is thy delight.For Him may no man feel in joy and sweet-ness, unless they be clean and filled with Hislove ; and thereto shalt thou come withgreat travail in prayer and thanking, havingsuch meditations as are all on the love andthe praising of God. And when thou art atthy meal, ever love God in thy thought, ateach moment, and say thus in thine heart :Loved be Thou, King : and thanked be Thou,


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^be form of perfect Xiving 45King, and blessed be Thou, King, JESU allmy joying, of all Thy good gifts : Who forme spilt Thy blood, and died on the rood. DoThou give me grace to sing the song of Thypraise. And think it not only whiles thoueatest, but both before and after, and everwhen thou prayest or speakest. Or if thouhast other thoughts, that thou hast moresweetness in and devotion than in those thatI teach thee, thou may'st think them. ForI hope that God will put such thoughts inthine heart, as He is pleased with, and asthou art ordained for. When thou prayest,look not how much thou sayest, but howwell : that the love of thine heart be ayeupward, and thy thought on what thou saystas much as thou canst. If thou beest inprayers and meditations all the day, I wotwell that thou must wax greatly in the loveof Jesus Christ, and feel much of delight, andwithin short time.


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46 Zbc jform of {Perfect Uivino.

CHAPTER VIILTHREE degrees of love I shall tell thee,

for I would that thou mightest winto the highest. The first degree is calledInsuperable. The second Inseparable. Thethird is, Singular. Thy love is Insuperable,when nothing that is contrary to God's loveovercomes it : but it is stalwart against alltemptations ; and stable, whether thou beestin ease or in anguish, or in health or in sick-ness : so that men think that thou wouldestnot, even to have all the world without end,make God angry at any time : and thouwert liefer, if so it should be, to suffer all thepain and woe that might come to any creature,before thou wouldst do the thing that shoulddisplease Him, In this manner shall thy love


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Zhc jform of (Perfect Xtvino. 47be Insuperable that nothing can bring itdown, but it may aye spring on high. Blessedis he or she who is in this degree : but yetare they blesseder who might hold to thisdegree and turn to the other, that is toInseparable. Inseparable is thy love, whenall thine heart, and thy thought, and thymight is so wholly, so entirely and so perfectlyfastened, set and established in Jesus Christ,that thy thought comes never from Him,never departs from Him, sleeping excepted :and as soon as thou awakest, thine heart ison Him, saying Ave Maria, or Gloria Tibi^Domine, or Pater Noster, or Miserere mei,Deus, if thou hast been tempted in thy sleep ;or thinking on His love and His praise asthou didst waking. When thou canst at notime forget Him, waking or sleeping, whatsothou dost or sayst, then is thy love In-separable. Full great grace have they thatbe in this degree of love. And methinks


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48 Zhc iTorm of perfect Xlvincj.that thou, who hast nothing else to do butfor to love God, mayst come thereunto ifany may get it.

The third degree is highest and mostwondrous to win. That is called Singular,for it has no peer. Singular love is whenall comfort and solace is closed out of thineheart, but of Jesus Christ alone. Other joyit delights not in. For the sweetness of Himin this degree is so comforting, and lastingin His love, so burning and gladdening, thathe or she who is in this degree can as wellfeel the fire of love burning in their soul, asthou canst feel thy finger burn if thou puttestit in the fire. But that fire, if it be hot, isso delectable and so wonderful, that I cannottell it. Then, thy soul is loving Jesus, think-ing of Jesus, desiring Jesus ; in covetousnessof Him breathing ; to Him singing : of Himburning ; in Him resting. Then the song ofpraise and of love has come. Then, thy


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Zbc Jform of perfect Xivmo. 49thought turns into song and into melody.Then it behoves thee to sing the psalmswhich before thou said'st. Then must thoube long over a few psalms. Then, thou wiltthink death sweeter than honey, for thenthou art full of sighs to see Him whom thoulovest. [Then mayst thou boldly say " Ilanguish for love."] Then mayst thou say" I sleep, and my heart wakes."

In the first degree, men may say " Ilanguish for love," or " I long in love." Andin the second degree also : for languishingis when men fail for sickness, and they whoare in these two degrees fail from all thecovetousness of this world, and from lust andliking of sinful life, and set their will andtheir heart to the love of Godthereforethey may say " I languish for love," andmuch more that are in the second degreethan in the first. But the soul that is in thethird degree is all burning fire, and like the


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50 Zbc Jfortn of {Perfect Xiving.nightingale that loves song and melody, andfails for great love : so that the soul is only-comforted in praising and loving God ; andtill Death come, is singing ghostly to Jesus,and in Jesus, and Jesus ; not crying bodilywith the mouthof that manner of singingI speak not, for both good and evil havethat song. And this manner of song havenone unless they be in this third degree oflove : to the which degree it is impossible tocome, but in a great multitude of love. There-fore, if thou wilt wot what kind of joy thatsong has, I tell thee, that no man wots, savehe or she who feels it, who has it, and wholoves God singing therewith. One thing tellI thee, it is of heaven, and God gives it towhom He will, but not without great gracecoming before. Who has it, he thinks allthe song and all the minstrelsy of earthnaught but sorrow and woe (compared)thereto. In sovereign rest shall they be who


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Zbc jform of ipcrfect Xiving. 51get it. Wanderers and brawlers, and keepersof comers and goers early and late nightand day, or any who are seized with any sinwitfully and willingly, or who have delightin any earthly thing, they are also farthertherefrom than heaven is from earth. Inthe first degree, are many : in the seconddegree are full few ; but in the third degreeare scarcely any : for aye the greater is theperfection the fewer followers it has. In thefirst degree, men are likened to the stars, inthe second to the moon, in the third to thesun. Therefore says S. Paul : " Others ofthe sun, others of the moon, others of thestars," so it is of the lovers of God. In thisthird degree, if thou mayst win thereto, thoushalt know of more joy than I have told theeyet. And among other affections and songs,thou mayst, in thy longing, sing this in thineheart to thy Lord Jesus^ when thou dostcovet His coming and th}/ going : " When


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52 Zbc Jform of perfect Xtvinci.wilt Thou come to comfort me : and bring meout of care, and give me Thee, Whom I maysee, having evermore ? My heart when shallit hurst ? for love then languished I no more.For love my thought has fast, and I am fain tofare away. I stand still mourning for the loveliestof lore ; ... * is love-longing ; it drawsme to my day ; The brand of sweet burningfor it holds me aye : From place and fromplaying : till I may get sight of my sweet One^Who never wends away. In wealth be ourwaking, without hurt or night. My love iseverlasting, and longs unto that sight.''

* The text is imperfect here.


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^be Jform of perfect Xtving. 53

CHAPTER IX.

IF thou wilt be well with God, and havegrace to rule thy life, and come to thejoy of love : this name Jesus, fasten it sofast in thy heart that it come never out ofthy thought. And when thou speakest toHim, and through custom sayst, Jesus, itshall be in thine ear, joy ; in thy mouth,honey ; and in thine heart, melody : formen shall think joy to hear that name benamed, sweetness to speak it, mirth and songto think it. If thou thinkest (on) Jesuscontinually, and boldest it firmly, it purgesthy sin, and kindles thine heart ; it clarifiesthy soul, it removes anger and does awayslowness. It wounds in love and fulfilscharity. It chases the devil, and puts out


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54 Zbc jTorm of IPcrfcct Xiving.dread. It opens heaven^ and makes a con-templative man. Have Jesus in mind, forthat puts all vices and phantoms out fromthe lover. And often hail Mary, both dayand night. Much love and joy shalt thoufeel, if thou wilt do after this teaching. Thouneed'st not covet greatly many books : holdlove in thine heart and work, and thou hastall that we can say or write : for fulness ofthe law is charity : on that hangs everything.


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Ebc jform of perfect Xtving. 55

CHAPTER X.BUT now, thou mayst ask me and say,

" Thou speakest so much of love ;tell me What is love, and where is love.And how I shall love GOD verily. And howthat I may know that I love Him. And inwhat state I may most love Him." These arehard questions to teach, to a feeble man andfleshly as I am. But nevertheless therefore,I shall not delay that I shall not shew mywit, and as I think it may be. For I hopein the help of Jesus, who is the well of loveand peace and sweetness. Thy first askingis : What is love ? And I answer : Love isa burning yearning after God,' with a wonder-ful delight and certainty. God is light andburning. Light clarifies our reason ; burn-


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56 ^he Jform of perfect Xiving.ing kindles our will, that we desire naughtbut Him. Love is a life, joining togetherthe loving and the loved. For meeknessmakes us sweet to God. Purity joins us toGod. Love makes us one with God. Loveis the beauty of all virtues. Love is thething through which God loves us, and weHim, and each one of us loves others. Loveis the desire of the heart, aye thinking onthat it loves ; and when it has that it loves,then it joys and nothing can make it sorry.(Love is yearning between two, with lasting-ness of thoughts.) Love is a stirring of thesoul for to love God for Himself, and allother things for God ; the which love, whenit is ordained in God, it does away all in-ordinate love in anything that is not good.But all deadly sin is inordinate love for athing that is naught : then love puts outall deadly sin. Love is a virtue which is theTightest affection of man's soul. Truth may


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Zbc form of perfect Xiving. 57be without love : but it cannot help withoutit. Love is a perfection of learning, virtueof prophecy, fruit of truth, help of sacra-ments, establishing of wit and knowledge ;riches of pure men ; life of dying men. So,how good love is. If we suffer to be slain ;if we give all that we have, (down) to abeggar's staff ; if we know as much as menmay know on earth, all this is naught butordained sorrow and torment. If thou wiltask how good is he or she, ask how much heor she loves ; and that no man can tell.For I hold it folly to judge a man's heart ;that none knows save God. Love is arighteous turning from all earthly things,and is joined to God, without departing, andkindled with the fire of the Holy Ghost :far from defiling, far from corruption, boundto no vice of this life. High above all fleshlylusts, aye ready and greedy for the con-templation of God. In all things not over-


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^bc Jform of IPerfcct Xivtng.come. The sum of all good affections.Health of good manners ; goal of the com-mandments of God ; death of sins ; life ofvirtues. Virtue whilst fighting lasts, crownof over-comers. Mirth* to holy thoughts.Without that, no man may please God ;with that, no man sins. For if we love Godin all our heart, there is nothing in us throughwhich we serve sin. Very love cleanses thesoul, and delivers it from the pain of hell,and from the foul service of sin, and from theugly fellowship of the devils ; and (out) ofthe fiend's son, makes God's son, and partnerof the heritage of heaven. We shall forceourselves to clothe us in love, as iron orcoal does in the fire, as the air does in thesun, as the wool does in the dye. The coalso clothes itself in fire that it is fire. Theair so clothes itself in the sun that it is light.

* Two MSS. substitute "arms" for "mirth."


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Zbc Jform o! perfect Xivin^, 59And the wool so substantially takes the dyethat it is like it. In this manner shall atrue lover of Jesus Christ do : his heartshall so burn in love, that it shall be turnedinto the fire of love, and be as it were all fire ;and he shall so shine in virtues that no partof him shall be murky in vices.

The second asking is : Where is love ?And the answer : love is in thine heart, andin the will of man ; not in his hand, nor inhis mouth : that is to say, not in his work,but in his soul, *' For many speak good anddo good, and love not God : as hypocrites,who suffer great penance, and seem holy inman's sight. But because they seek praiseand honour of men, and favour, they havelost their meed : and in the sight of God,they are devil's sons, and ravishing wolves.But if a man give alms-deed, and take himto poverty and do penance, it is a sign thathe loves God : but therefore loves he Him


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6o Zbc iforni of ipcrfcct Xivino.not, save when he forsakes the world onlyfor God's love, and sets all his thought onGod, and loves all men as himself : and allthe good deeds that he may do, he doesthem with intent to please Jesus Christ,and to come to the rest of heaven. Thenhe loves God : and that love is in his soul,and so his deeds shew without. If thouspeakest good and doest good, men supposethat thou lovest good : therefore look wellthat thy thought be in God, or else thoudeceivest thyself, and deceivest men.Nothing that I do without (outside) provesthat I love God.

For a wicked man might do as muchpenance in body, as much waking and fastingas I do. How may I then ween that I love,or hold myself better, on account of thatwhich any man may do ? Certainly, myheart, whether it loves my God or not, wotsno one but God, for nought that they may


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Zbc Iform of perfect Xiving. 6isee me do. Wherefore, love is in will verily,not in work, but in a sign of love. For hethat says he loves God, and will not do whatis in him to shew love, tell him that he lies.Love will not be idle, it is working some goodevermore. If it cease working, wit thouthat it cools and goes away.

The third asking is : How shall I verilylove God ? I answer ; Very love is tolove Him with all thy might, stalwartly : inall thine heart, wisely : in all thy soul,devoutly and sweetly. Stalwartly can noman love Him save he be stalwart. He isstalwart, who is meek ; for all ghostlystrength comes of meekness ;on whom reststhe Holy Ghost ? in a meek soul. Meek-ness governs us and keeps us in all ourtemptations, so that they overcome us not.But the devil deceives many that are meek,through tribulations, and reproofs, and back-bitings. But if thou beest wroth for any


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62 Zbc Jorm of perfect XtviuG.anguish of this world, or for any word thatmen say of thee, or for aught that men sayto thee, thou art not meek, nor mayst thoulove God stalwartly. For love is stalwart asdeath, which slays every living thing onearth, and hard as hell that spares not themthat are dead. And he who loves Godperfectly grieves Him not, whatever shameor anguish he may suffer ; but he has delightand covets that he might be worthy for tosuffer torment and pain for Christ's love :and he has joy that men reprove him andspeak ill of him. Like a dead man, what somen do or say, he answers not. Right-so,whoso loves God perfectly, they are notstirred for any word that man may say.For he or she cannot love, that cannot sufferpain or anger for their friend's love. Forwhoso loves, they have no pain. Proud menor women love not stalwartly, for they areso weak, and they fall at every stirring of


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Zbc jform of perfect Uivincj. 63the wind that is temptation. They seek ahigher place than Christ ; for they will havetheir will done, whether it be with right orwith wrong : and Christ wills that nothingbut well be done, and without harm to othermen. But who is verily meek, they will nothave their will in this world, but that theymay have it in the other fully. In nothingmay men sooner overcome the devil than inMeekness, which he much hates. For hemay wake, and fast and suffer pain morethan any other creature may : but meeknessand love may he not have. Also, it behovesthee to love God wisely, and that thou canstnot do save thou beest wise. Thou art wise,when thou art poor without desire of thisworld, and despisest thyself for love of Christ :and expendest all thy wit and all th}/ mightin His service. For some who seem wise aremost fools, for all their wisdom they spill incovetousness and care about the world. If


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64 Zbc ifonn of Iperfcct Xivincj.thou sawest a man have precious stoneswherewith he might buy a kingdom, if hegave them for an apple, as a child will do,rightly mightest thou say that he was notwise but a great fool. Just so, if we will,we have precious stones : Poverty andpenance and ghostly travail, with the whichwe may buy the kingdom of heaven. For,if thou lovest poverty and despisest richesand delights of this world, and boldest thy-self vile and poor, and thinkest thou hastnaught of thyself save sin : for this poverty,thou shalt have riches without end. Andif thou hast sorrow for thy sins, and becausethou art so long in exile out of thy country,and forsakest the solace of this life : thoushalt have for this sorrow the joy of heaven.And if thou beest in travail, and punishest thybody reasonably and wisely, by wakings,fastings, and in prayers and meditations,and sufferest heat and cold, hunger and


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Zbc jform of perfect Utving, 65thirst, privation and anguish for the love ofJesus Christ ; for this travail thou shaltcome to rest that lasts aye, and sit on a settleof joy with angels. But some there are wholove not wisely, like children who love an apple,more than a castle. So do many ; they givethe joy of heaven for a little delight of theirflesh, that is not worth a plum. Now canstthou see, that whoso will love wisely, itbehoves him to love lasting things, lastingly ;and passing things, passingly ; so that hisheart be settled and fastened on nothing butGod. And if thou wilt love Jesus verily,thou shalt not only love Him stalwartly andwisely, but also devoutly and sweetly. Sweetlove is when thy body is chaste and thythought clean. Devout love is ; when thouofferest thy prayers and thy thoughts toGod with ghostly joy, and burning heart inthe heat of the Holy Ghost ; so that menthink that thy soul is as it were drunken for

F


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66 Zbc form of perfect OlivinG.delight and solace of the sweetness of Jesus ;and thy heart conceivest so much of God's helpthat men think thou mayst never be departedfrom Him : and then thou comest into suchrest and peace in soul, and quiet, withoutt

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Richard Rolle - The Form of Perfect Living & Other Prose 1910

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