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M.
KELLY LIBRARY
Donated by The Redemptorists of the Toronto Province from the Library Collection of Holy Redeemer College, Windsor
University of
St.
Michael
College, Toronto
A BOOK OF
THE
LOVE OF JESUS
Nihil obstat
C.SS.RJOANNES MAGNIER,
Censor deputatus
Imprimatur
%
Vie
3 Augusti,
FRANCISCUS
ARCHIEPISCOPUS WESTMONAST
1904
:
Cf
HOLY
REDDER
LIBRARY
mwnon.
From
A
8
F*r*e
M.A.
17
ST. LOUIS,
MO.
1915
PRINTED BY
SIR ISAAC PITMAN
&
SONS, LTD.,
ENGLAND
1o
[Preface
PREFACE
THIS devotions
which
to use.
it
book
is
would be
modern Christian?
The
how
deciding
has been in difficulty, of course, far the archaic words and phrases
were to be retained, and modern equivalents and criticised from either side
:
how
I
;
those
who
say that
it
is
certainly an error of
taste, to
the old vocabulary ; and on the other hand by those who say that an archaic flavour, however
slight, hinders the free reality
hasten co express
my
confidence that in
many
sweeping condemnation partly on the grounds ot the real difficulty of the task, and of my own
good intentions
;
and
still
yii
Preface]
that in questions of
this
kind definite
canons
For
it
has
been
my
who would
be incapable of praying in, and per haps even of understanding, the old English in
which they were written. It seemed a pity that modern Christians should be deprived of these spiritual treasures merely because they were un
able to appreciate their original literary form.
The
down
utmost that
extreme instances
current mould.
re-issue
it
in a
more
be
ress
This, superficially,
it is
may
romantic, but
scholars.
more
practical, than to
let
unknown
all,
And,
after
to a
few
wrote down their devotions, we may suppose, for the spiritual use, and not for the antiquarian ad
miration, of the generauons that should follow
them.
regards the adaptation of the poetry, the in deciding difficulty has been especially great between the often conflicting claims of the rhyme,
As
the
Nor have
attempts
arbitration.
viii
Sometimes
have
[Preface
sacrificed
while in
other places, where its meaning was obviously indicated by the context, I have allowed it to It has been found impossible, too, always stand.
to preserve the sequences of alliterative words,
a characteristic of
I
Richard
writings
and
tempted to retain the actual semi-rhythmical lines that occur here and there in his prose-medi
tations.
As regards the debt that I owe to the that have been the sources of this book,
possible to say
part,
volumes
it is
im
more than
But perhaps I they have been its sources. need not do more here than refer the reader to
the Notes,
which
will direct
him
to these books,
where he may
form.
The
munion
first set
owe
to a transcript
Walter Frere, of the Community of the Resur rection, from a Lambeth MS. ; at whose sug
gestion, indeed, the
progress I
Preface]
this connection, it is right to (Perhaps, too, in add that the book was practically finished while I was still a member of the Church of England.)
the book is published as a con ; not to antiquarian study, but to de tribution, it will be found, I believe, And votional life.
Briefly then
that these exquisite verses and meditations will fruitful material and inspiration especially afford for mental prayer, as well as forms for vocal com
[Contents
CONTENTS
Page
xv
Uebotions
AN INTRODUCTION TO PRATER
PART
THE LOVE
I.
OF JESUS
z.
Jews, Song of the Love of Jesus. . . who might thy sweetness see Richard de Castre s Prayer to Jesus.
Jesu, Lord, that madest
me
.12
15
3.
4.
lift
.
that
aye
s
.21
5.
Loving Song to
saint
Jesus.
Jesu Christ,
.
Mary
Son
.27
3
1
6.
The Comfort
my
of Chris: Jesus.
.
So bt
.
Jesu 9
as thou
me made
35
(ii)
Jesu Christ,
xi
God s Sen
35
Contents]
THE LOVE
OF JESUS
(iii)
continued
.
.36
thy
.
Page
(iv)
thou
.
canst
<
do
.
.
36
37 37
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
.
.
Jesu mine
.
:
.38
.
.
8.
Two
Prayers to Jesus
(i)
(ii)
39
41
Glory
PART
THE
PASSION OF JESUS
:
II
1.
An
Passion
...
:
and
45
72 82
2.
.
.
3.
A
A
4.
vernacle
87
101
5.
The Example
of the Passion.
.
.
Set what
.
,.
105
7.
Cantus Christi
(i)
(ii)
Unkind man
Sinful
man
w
.
.118 ,120
.
1
(iii)
Lo
/ sweet beloved
xii
20
[Contents
PART
DEVOTIONS FOR COMMUNION
1.
(i)
(ii)
:
III
Page
123
Receiving
.
.133
136
(iii)
2.
Before
After the Receiving of our Lord and After Receiving the Most
.
.
Holy Sacrament
.146
PART
GENERAL DEVOTIONS
I.
:
IV
The
Belief.
.
In
.
thee,
.
God
.
Father,
.
believe
z.
-153
.
A Hymn
Lady.
and our
156
!6i
3.
An
Intercession to Jesus.
Lord God of
might
4.
5.
Two
Commendations
of Doom. law do rin
for
Death
.162
The Day
out en
6. 7.
An
Epigram.
Heaven
:
ii
won
.167 .169
Al
Two
Thanksgivings
(i)
To To
the
mighty
Blessed
Trinity.
Trinity
.
God
xiii
in
.170
.
(ii)
Jesus.
Lord
Jem
Christ
170
Contents]
8.
A A
9.
Prayer of the Five Joys and Five Sorrows of our Lady . . . Hail be to thou^ Mary Song Mary.
:
P^
173
177
10.
A A
179
181
n. Of the Abbey
NOTES
.183
205
.......
.
.217
civ
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH
DEVOTIONS
^HERE
are
certain
characteristics
of
medieval
English
devotion
which are
They spring, easy to trace in this collection. for the most part, from an intense and passionate love for the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ.
Mother Julian
it,
had
I a proffer in
my
:
reason,
as if it
to
had been
friendly said to
Father
...
to Hii answered inwardly with all the soul, and said Nay ; / may not :
:
me
Look up
Heaven
...
would
liever
have
been in that pain till Doomsday than to come to Heaven otherwise than by Him. . . . Thus was
I
my
Heaven."
is
It
any
needed,
we
:
may
own
express words
XV
No man cometh
It is
me."
remarkable
how
has
disappeared from nonHumanity Catholic English devotion during the last three hundred years and the fact can only be attributed
Sacred
to the
But,
however this may be, these old fervent adjurations would be thought by many English people to-day to be uncharacteristic of what they would call the
"
spirit."
That
it
has survived,
some
quarters
is
as
evident by the marked popularity of such hymns Rock of Jesu, Lover of my soul," and
"
"
Ages
cleft for
me,"
phrasing alike,
modern dress. It will be remembered, too, that the book Mr. Shorthouse, in John Inglesant in which he treats so acutely of characteristics of
"
English religious thought represents the religion of his hero as chiefly consisting in this same
Inglesant s Christianity," he writes, concentrated itself altogether on what may be that is, a lively con called the Idea of Christ
devotion.
" "
ception of and attraction to the person of the Saviour. This idea . . . would, no doubt, be in
efficient
and
transitory,
were
xvi
it
un
of
The
life
highest
moments
"The
spiritual
are so
illustrated, cul
the hovel, so that the seamless coat He wore, and the marks upon His hands and feet were plainly seen, and the pale
all
in the hut.
halo
alluring face
so
much upon
the
bed and upon the monk as upon Inglesant him self, and the unspeakable glance of the Divine This conception of Mr. Shorteyes met his."
house
s is
the
more
a matter of literal history, too, this intense love of Jesus, so deep in the better and unspoilt
As
English nature, is illustrated by devotional works of the time of the Restoration. For example,
my
Jesus
am
thee
me
love thec,
me
that
my
purpose to love thee, I cheerfully resign my Love and Affection to thee ! I desire to love thee I
!
wish
for
that I
may ps$ionb
xv ii
Whom
And
there
have
is
in
Heaven
to
none on Earth
that
art
I desire to love
more than
thyself.
For thou
all
altogether lovely, and thy Love surpasses Love of Friends, and the dearest Relations
"
the
have.
O my
all
blessed
Redeemer
I
all
desire to love
thee with
my
my
this
Strength
Heart and
bestow
it
?
it
the Author of
Oh,
that
is
might be turned into Desires, and Inclinations, and Sighs, and Languishings, and
within
Breathings after thee
"
me
["
The
Crucified
Jesus."]
Or what could
"
"
suffer
thyselj
That
To away Why wouldest thou be bound ? To loose the bands of thy sins. Why wert thou denied of Peter ? To confess thee before my Father
xvm
blood f Wherefore diddest thou sweat of the spots wash thy sin
Why wouldest thm be accused ? To absolve thee. Why wouldest thou be spitted on To wipe away thy foulness.
Why
That thou mightest be
Why
That
wouldest thou
be
lifted
up upon the
Cross ?
thou mightest
.
be
lifted
up to
heaven
Why were thine arms stretched out ? To im brace thee, O fainting Soul. Why was thy side opened ? To receive thee in. Why didst thou die amidst two thieves ?
That thou mightest
angels.
live in
the midst of
Or again yet earlier, at the beginning of the Practice seventeenth century, in Lewes Baily s of Piety :
"
"
"But
from
my soul, humbly
with Emmauites
sweet Jesus, to abide with me because it draweth toward night. For the night of temptation, the night of tribulation, yea, my
intreat thee,
last
blessed long night of death approacheth. me with therefore now and ever, Saviour, stay
xix
go not home with me, carry Go with me, and live with
me, and let neither death nor life separate me from thee. Drive me from myself, draw me
unto thee.
Let
me
and
Set
in
my
wealcnesse
me
as a seal
be settled
upon thine heart, and let thy seal upon mine ; that I may be out of love
with
all,
that I
may
thee."
Such quotations, occurring, as some of them do, in books containing much sharp Protestant
controversy,
a devotion
must have
lain
English heart
so
when
much
else
unnecessary, of course, to adduce from Catholic writers: the unalterable quotations Faith retains its unalterable characteristics.)
From
this
distinctive
marks of English
(a).
An
Here, indeed,
no wonder that
;
in
our days
in
many
sincere
is
for such an
attitude
now
accompanied by an
But adequate or heretical view of His Person. of our the in case Catholic as forefathers, where,
the grasp upon His Divinity
is
xx
ing, there
for
these heights so near heaven none can tread safely but those who have clear and strong per-
On
of that rock that alone ceptionsof dogmatic truth can give stability to the pinnacles and spires of And therefore Richard Rolle can call prayer.
his
"
Lord
his
Dear
best,"
"
and
his
"Darling,"
and
his
without danger of undue he has such a profound because familiarity, just sense of Him as his Maker and his God.
Child
the
This English
of the Holy
sonal
familiarity with
the Saviour
is
especially illustrated
name
by the history of the Feast Name ; for the loving use of a per is the sign of personal intimacy.
in
England by
The Most Sweet Name Jesu," and was sanctioned and indulgenced bv Pope Alex
title
ander VI.
at
the
century, although
it
Roman
devotion
Rolle
s
England
it
writings t-ven
in
long before
Characteristics
of English Devotions ]
b)
A great
reverence
and
Virgin
Mary.
istic
This, it need hardly be said, is not character of modern Protestant devotion. Yet to the
was
she
and
is,
"
Mother of
God,"
was and
sist
their
Mother
them.
He in
upon the condescending humility of her Divine Son are always at pains to emphasise her own unique exaltation. To them she appears as a Mother bright indeed ; as a Mother of
"
so strongly
"
"
"
Mercy
woeful
as
a
;
"
Mother of
all
wretched and
souls"
Queen
as well.
too, of familiarity, we see in Mother Julian s vision of her as a simple maid and a meek,
little
the stature
"
that
as
she was
a
rule,
child,
con
is
ceived
but,
above her
no
thing that is made but the blessed manhood of she is the u well and wit of all wis Christ ;
"
dom
that
"
the
"
"
comely queen
found
"
the
"
fairest
ever
God
"
of
all
women
the
xx ii
and
flower";
the
"tabernacle
of
the
Trinity."
(c)
A deep
1&1
>e
In almost every mystic the details of the sufferings of our Lord form the ground from
which
spring.
acts of love
"
ruth
"
true mystic from his modern imitator, who mis takes vagueness for spirituality, and idealism for
intuition.
It is
and delicacy and spiritual instinct to despise Risen the to dwell upon shrink from realism Christ, the robed and crowned King, or upon the
;
stainless
His torn limbs. But the true mystic reads the awfulness of sin in the awfulness of the Cross
the story of his
own
life
of his Saviour
God
He so willingly
is
undertook
the
full
when He
the
is
bruised and
souls
"
And
therefore
medieval
of
still
Him
xxiii
and
"love-longing,"
step by
step
along the Way of Sorrows ; to finger gently each running wound ; to plunge their whole
side,
and there to
"
"
feel
Christ
them.
[An
Introduction to
Prayer
Introduction
to
Draper
thou orderest thyself to pray or to have any devotion, begin by having a privy place away from all manner of noise, and a time of rest without any interruption. Sit
there or kneel there, as is most to thine ease. Then, be thou lord or lady, think well that thou hast a God that made thee of nought, which
hath given to thee thy right senses, thy right limbs, and other worldly ease ; more than to some
others, as thou
great dis-ease
live in
Think
not
for
also
how
sinful
thou art
and, were
it
shouldst
fall
the keeping of that good God, thou into all manner of sin by thine own
as
wretchedness; and then thou mayst think sooth ly of thyself, that there is none so sinful as thou
art.
Also
if
good living, think it cometh of God and nothing of thyself. Think also
and
sending,
how
often
God
how
A
An
Introduction to Prayer]
till
:
for
what he bought
so dear
Also thou mayst think, for that he would not lose thee, he became man, and was born of a
maid
lived
in
he
and
he would
suffer
death to save thee by his mercy. In such manner thou mayst think of his great benefits ; and for the more grace to get to thee
his
When
there
is
time
own
need and
for all
other quick and dead that trust to thy prayer. Cast down thy body to the ground, and lift up thine heart on high with sorrowful cheer ; then
ning, and
In such manner thou mayst pray in the begin when thou art well entered into devotion
shalt,
thou
in
[An
Introduction to
Prayet
Good brother or sister, pray then for me which by the teaching of almighty God have written to thee these few words for the helping of thy
soul.
PART
THE LOVE OF
JESUS
31
&ong
of
tfte
^obe
of
f m*
who might
And JESU,
To
I
All earthly love should bitter be such, but thine, without leasing.
pray thee, Lord, that lore learn After thy love to have longing, And firmly set my heart on thee
me
is
;
heartily
To
For
love
greatest bliss
he.
With this true love I would, I wis, So firmly to him bounden be, That all my heart were wholly his,
And
by nature love
my
kin,
,
At him
that
made me
world
for
first
of nought.
My
And
As
me
he wrought
father true
my
love to
win
My
A
mother he
to
me
has been,
;
That ere my birth to me took heed With baptism washed the nature clean
All sin-defiled with
Adam
deed.
With
my
kind
For with
he would
me
feed
5
better food
lasting life
may no man
it
find
To
will us lead.
Brother and
sister
he
is
because
lore
That whoso
Sisters
laws
;
My
That he
But with
me
spill,
mercy
8
salve
my
sore.
When
For
me
full dearly bought ; was gone from him with wrong, from heaven to earth he sought
;
My
And
for
me,
Ere he
to bliss again
me
brought.
free
led,
When
was
thrall, to
make me
My
For
him
my
(And
love only have would he, that my soul should saved be)
his life
Therefore
he hazarded
full
me
His sides
all
His heart was pierced with a spear, His bloody wounds were ruth to see.
He paid, I wis, my ransom there, And gave his life for guilt of me His doleful death should grieve me And pierce my heart for pure pity.
;
dear.
my
two
was of
life
all his
woe
He
my
misdeed.
To
that I should
in his
go man-head
And, when he
He
Godhead.
bliss
my
foe will
me
assail.
And
Save
nothing he
my
Thus for my sake my spouse would fight, And wounded was for me full sore For love of me his death was dight What kindness might he do me more ?
;
:
To
love like
him
And work
his will
with works
aright,
As he taught me with
10
lovely lore.
Well should
I strive, if I
were kind,
By night and day to work his will, And have him evermore in mind.
And
For
mercy
take
me
find.
till,
none
No
better help
to his
is
there to
me
;
Than
mercy me
to take
Who
I
with
made me
free,
And me,
For
But give
me
That
in his love I
Ah
And guard me
safely
from
the fiend.
For mercy pardon all amiss^ From wicked works my soul defend^
And
bring
mey Lord^
With
thee to
Amen,
II
iayrr to
ipse posuit,
me
whom
all
my
trust,
That died upon the high rood-tree, Withdraw my heart from fleshly lust,
And
from
all
worldly vanity.
wounds smart
Thy
feet
wound
s
That
For
sin that so
root,
*
!
Grant
may
be
my
boot
Help
12
of might, thou me clean lest that I fall Keep In deadly sin by day or night.
And
never
may
do that thing
That should
Jesu, that art our heavenly king, Soothfast man and God also,
to.
for
my
guilt,
Jesu, for
them I thee beseech That anger thee in any wise Withhold from them thy hand of wreak, And let them live in thy service.
;
Jesu, most comfort for to see For thy dear saints both all and one, Comfort them that care-full be,
And
help
them
that be woe-begone.
13
them
that be good,
Amend them
earthly food
in his degree.
Jesu, that art the ghostly stone Of holy church in all the earth,
Bring thy folds and flocks in one, And rule them rightly with one shepherd.
Jesu, for
all
Bring,
if
bliss
From whom I have had any good, And spare what they have done amiss.
[The Love
of
Jesus
Firtues of
tfte
name
Introduction.
thou wilt to be with God, and to have grace and to come to the joy of
this
it
love
heart, that
name Jem fasten it so fast in thine come never out of thy thought. And
speakest
it
when thou
in
to him,
and sayest
Jesu^
through custom,
shall
For thou
thy mouth honey, and in thine heart melody. shalt think joy to hear the name of Jesu
named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song to think on it. If thou think on Jesu Continually
and hold
it it
stably,
it
purgeth thy
it
sin, it
kindleth
thy soul, thy heart, it doeth away slowness, it bringeth in love fulfilled of charity, it chaseth the devil, it putteth out
dread,
clarifieth
removeth anger,
it openeth heaven, it maketh contemplative men. Have Jesu often in mind ; For all vices and phantoms it putteth from the lover or it.
Mary
and night,
much
thou do after
this sort,
If joy and love shalt thou feel. thou needest not greatly
many books. Hold love in heart and in and thou hast all that we may say or write ; work, for fulness of law is charity ; in that hangeth all.
The Meditation.
O\LEUM
the
effusum
nomen
tuum.
That
is
in
English, Ointment outpoured is thy name. This name is ointment outpoured, for Jesu,
Word
:
man
nature.
Jesu,
thou
fulfillest
art called in
name
call
(in truth
he
whom we
Ah
!
Saviour,)
!
therefore Jesu
that wonderful
!
thy name.
!
Ah
all
ah
delightable
name
This
is
the
name name
all,
that
that
is
above
without which
is
no man hopes
ear
This name
in
mine
heavenly
sound,
in
my
mouth
honeyful
sweetness.
Soothly, Jesu, desirable is thy name, lovable and None so sweet joy may be con comfortable.
ceived,
none
so sweet song
may
so sweet and
delightable solace
mind.
Soothly,
nothing
so
slackens
flames
16
from
out
us.
This name
vices
;
by the root
pours in
;
plants
virtues
sows
;
charity
wastes discord
rest
;
forms again peace ; gives lasting does away grievousness of fleshly desires
;
turns
all
earthly things to
nought
fills
the loving
fail
him
name
of Jesu ?
;
Soothly he
for
we have
to love.
esurient^
known
God
)ui
stands in
such manner
that the
more we
it is
love the
Wherefore
et
said,
me adhuc sitiunt ; that is to say, me hunger yet^ and they that drink
itself delightable
me
the
Therefore
and covetable
it.
is
name
Therefore
him
whom
that covets busily for to love angels yearn for to behold. Angels
;
him
ever see and ever they yearn for to see are so filled that their filling does not
desire,
filling.
and they
their
and so their
away away
n
their
17
shall
they joy now by Soothly in time to come by the and pouring of grace, shall they joy, for therefore and sight of joy ; In sooth, were they not that they love thy name. not joy ; and they that love more loved, they might of love. shall joy more ; for why ? joy comes Therefore he that loves not, he shall evermore
name.
shall
with Christ, shall trowing that they shall joy and sorrow without end ; why ? For that they Whatsoever ye do, Jesu. loved not the name of
if
have unto the needy, except ye give all that ye in vain. They love the name of Jesu ye travail that love him in this in alone
y<
may
joy
Jesu
life;
and
they
that
fill
them with
vices and
venomous
out of joy.
Also
know
all
name
not
of Jesu
is
health
shall
shall
ful, fruitful,
and glorious.
it
Therefore
?
who Or who
flower
And
loved
joy not
before Christ, that has not the shall he not see that in his
the
name
of
see
Jesu.
The
be done
away, that he
18
and they find it in Jesu whom they love. I went about those covetous of riches, and
found not Jesu.
I ran
found not
Jesu.
I sat in companies of worldly mirth, and I found not Jesu. In all these I sought Jesu, but I found him not ; for he let me wit by his grace that he is not found in the land of soft living.
Therefore
turned
ran about by poverty ; and I found Jesu, pureborn in the world, laid in a crib and lapped in
clothes.
went by suffering of weariness, and I found Jesu weary in the way, tormented with hunger,
I
thirsty
I
and cold,
filled
by myself, fleeing the vanities of the I found Jesu and world, fasting in the desert, in the mount. alone praying
sat
I
found
drink,
Jesu bounden,
nailed
scourged, given
gall
to
to the cross,
hanging on the
cross,
and
not
among
Soorhly an evil man finds not Jesu, for where is he seeks him not. He endeavours to seek
shall he
Soothly therefore the name of Jesu is healthful, and need behoves that it be loved of all that covet
salvation.
He
him
busily in
Soothly I have no wonder if the tempted fall, who put not in lasting mind the name of Jesu.
Safely may he (or such as he) choose to live alone, that has chosen the name of Jcsu to his
own
possession
for there
is
Hobf
Of
OVE
is life it is
in Christ made Weal nor woe it loosen may, As have written men wisest.
Here
The
If thou wilt
do
as I thee say,
Thou
shalt then be
with the
best.
Love is light, and a burden fine, Love gladdeneth both young and Love is withouten any pine,
old
As lovers have me told. Love is ghostly, delicious as wine, That maketh men both big and
bold
*
To
Hold.
21
of
May
never more
;
And sorrowing
Their
They And
all their play, lust, their pride and that love thus are cast in care
Jem
thou art.
majesty,
my
hearty
covet thee !
my
My
may
be
son
;
with thy blood hast dearly bought Pierce my soul with thy spear anon,
Me
That much
love in
thy sight,
And fasten
That
all
there in thee
my
thought
In thy sweetness
[T/ie
Love
of
Jesus
My My
love
is
While
love
I linger in this
way.
:
And
Till I
king,
beside
him may,
And
In
I sit
That now within my breast is Jesu ! my king and my joying ! Why am I not before thee led ? Full well I wot in my yearning
In highest joy
Jesu ! bring
I shall
be fed.
me
to
thy dwelling,
to hang, food ;
he
all
bounden
stood.
His breast was blackened with beating, Not spilled was his blood
;
They thorn-crowned
That done was on
23
the rood.
naked
breast,
;
And
Wan
was
The Jews
From
His wounds were deep and wide then would not rest
paining him that tide
;
was wisest
His blood to
let
down-glide.
Death and life began to strive, Whether might be master there Life was slam and rose again
:
(Ma)
And
let
him
full
lead
it
to his lore
To
Christ
And
so to love
him evermore.
is is
hue
There nothing
my
heart
is
may
light,
so true.
his sight,
Or
in his heart
him knew,
His grief should turn to gladness bright, His longing into glee.
24
Anger
Jesu
it
will
Were
he ne er so wild.
forsooth to say,
is,
Of all mankind
my
When
is
I that fair
beloved behold
Love full fair where it is fast That never will be cold. Love robbeth us of nightly rest In grace it makes us wondrous
;
bold,
Of all men
As
There
none
alive
all
on earth may
tell
Of this
He
His joy
love
Ah
Or
God
That of
Or
25
is our longing. the turneth to day, Jesu night And darkness black into day-spring,
To
him alone
Jesu ! think on us
For
thee alone
Amen.
to
CHRIST,
saint
Mary
son,
meetly
pray thee
in
me,
thought.
And
of
all filths
cleanse thou
my
my God
Lady
and
That
I
died for
my
simple staven
Through
Jesu Christ, that on third day From death to life rose through thy might Give thou me grace thy due to pay,
And
27
whom
all
all
Whom
goodness springs,
to love
men ought
by right
Make me give heed to thy biddings, And them fulfill with all my might.
Jesu Christ, that bare for me Pains and angers bitter and fell
Let
me
For
I
all
me
forgiveness.
Jesu, to thee I
make my moan,
Jesu, to thee I call and cry ; Let never my soul with sin be slain, For the greatness of thy mercy. Jesu, that
is
my
dear Saviour,
My
help,
my
health,
my solace, my comforter,
And my
Jesu,
28
wound thou my
thought,
And
let
me
p ar
t.
And
And
Jesu, thy love into me send And with thy love do thou
Jesu, thy love aye to
me
feed
me
lend,
s
Thy
love be ever
my
soul
meed.
my
make me aye
And
All worldly joy, both day and night joy in thee alone to make.
Jesu, in
me
my
soul afire
May
Jesu,
thy love
Jesu,
Jesu,
2Q
my
dear and
my
one joy
!
Jesu,
me
bring.
Jesu, Jesu,
beat,
me
bring.
Jesu, with thy love wound my thought, And lift my heart to thee ;
Jesu,
bought
Now,
That
me
grace,
If so
I
be thy will,
And
may come into thy place dwell aye with thee still.
Amen,
<omfort
of
\]
Full soft and sweet, both flower and fruit To soul of man a savour sweet ;
Jesu, to
man
Mary
greet,
under foot
:
Of whom
So be
my
all
wisdom
full
wit,
;
Of God
thy Father
of might
For soul of man, to ransom it, In poor apparel thou wert pight.
in cradle knit, Jesu, thou wert
And wrapped
in
With
A bairn, and born of maiden bright, Thy comely kiss was full courteous
Through
So be
my
Jesu, that
wert
in years full
Fair and
fresh in face
When as
Tormented
many
When blood and water were out-wrung, Thy body beaten black and blue
;
As
And
dead in tomb then men thee threw, But great grace from thy grave up-grew
rose alive to comfort us.
this counsel
Thou
So be
knew,
my
Jesu, thou very God and man, natures knit in one person
Two
The wondrous work that thou began Thou hast fulfilled in flesh and bone
Out
of this world didst quickly win, Uprising of thyself alone.
3*
man thou wroughtest thus, And God with man is made at one
For sake of
:
So be
my
That maid was blessed, that brought At last for her when thou did st send
In
bliss
forth thee,
From
when
on high
Were
set
above
angels kind,
Enthroned before the Trinity. There may the son his mother see
In heaven on high to succour us
:
for
me,
Jesus.
my
sovereign Saviour,
From
!
me
not
fall,
!
Jesu my joy and my succour In my body and soul also God, do thou be the strengthening power ; c 33
And
me
But
see
and stay
my
deep sorrow,
And
be
my
pray
Thou wouldest bleed for mankind s need, And suffer many a fearful fray. In all my dread do thou me feed With perfect patience now and aye 5
My
As
life
to lead in
best I
may
And
Jesu
to die well
!
that died
Let
me
prey,
But be
my
Amen.
34
Sfiou Sbongs
to
as
thou
me made
love and
and bought,
all
JESU, Be thou my
And
my
thought
j
do nought
II.
Rhythm
CHRIST, God
King JESU My Lord
and
my God
).
And
Succour us
of
our wickedness
full
pardon.
full
remission,
35
And
Of thy
fair face.
to
mankind,
Amen.
Ill
at thy will
JESU,
All
I pray that I
may be
my
I
heart
fulfill
:
With
That
have done
ill,
me
spill,
And
let
me
never
Amen.
IV
since thou canst do thy will,
And nothing is that thee can JESU, With thy grace my heart fulfill,
let
My
36
TESU CHRIST,
As thou
art
king of majesty
all
And And
forgive
I
me my sins
That
have done, both great and small bring me, if it be thy will
to
To
heaven
dwell
still
Amen.
VI
TN
*
All
my
heavenly king
my heart
all
Great right
it is
With
worship thee. Jesu, blessed mayst thou be I from my heart give thanks to thee,
my will
hast
done
this
to
me.
me
That I may come unto thy bliss ; That with angels for to sing
This sweet song of thy loving
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Jesu, grant that
it
be thus.
Amen.
37
The Love
of
Jesus]
vii
mine, grant
me
thy grace,
space,
And JESU
To To
me.
Amen,
(The Love
o/
Jesus
to
OMOST Jesu;
in
sweetest spouse of
my
soul, Christ
Desiring heartily evermore for to be with thee, mind and will, and to let no earthly thing be
so nigh
mine heart
as thee, Christ
Jesu
And
go to
And
cheer,
that I
may evermore
God,
Saviour, my Christ Jesu ; I beseech thee heartily to take me, a sinner, unto thy great mercy and grace. For I love thee
My
Lord,
my sovereign
all
with all my mind, and with and my might ; nothing so much in earth, nor above the earth as I do thee, my sweet Lord,
with
all
mine
heart,
Christ Jesu.
And,
for that I
things, as
my
;
Lord,
my
God, and
my
39
me and all mankind, what time thou ofFeredst thy glorious body, God and man, unto the cross,
for
wounded
glorious heart a sharp spear, whence ran out plenteously blood and water for the redemption
and salvation of
me
and
all
mankind.
And
my
I
full nigh both bodily and ghostly with thy glorious presence ; And at the last bring me unto thine everlasting bliss, the which shall never
me
have end.
Amen.
40
Draper
for (State
anK
Saviour
sweet Jesu,
most courteous goodness and favour to be to me, most wretched crea benign favourable ture, my Lord, keeper and defender
;
and
in all
necessities
and needs
all
to be
my
shield
mine enemies
bodily
trust, hope,
:
nor succour, but in thee alonely, rny dear Lord sweet Jesu ; the which of thine infinite goodness
made me of nought,
image.
like
I
lost by my first fathei with thy precious blood, dear Lord, thou redeemedst me, and since then, ever daily,
And when
was
Adam
sin,
gifts
of grace
most
Grant me
therefore,
life,
and
without end.
Sweet Jesu.
Amen.
41
PART
II
THE
PASSION OF JESUS
[T/ie
Passion
Jmnofcucuoa
tfct
to
jffiU&ttation
on
THE
snares
:
fiend
it
the
mind
memory of his passion : I wot that shall so inwardly take thine heart to nothing,
in thine heart the
covet
God
love,
and
and to despise vanities of this world, as stedfast thinking on the hurts and the wounds, and on the
death of Jesu Christ.
It will raise thy thought above earthly pleasure, and set thine heart burning in Christ s love, and purchase into thy soul
delightability
"^
====^352^*v
Ai
*
*ro,
Wo.
Hoi UN
JttetJitatfon
of
tftf
on
tje
ILoiiJ
CWEET
Lord Jesu
yield thee grace for that sweet prayer and for that holy orison that thou madest before the
mount of
et
Olivet.
Adoramus
Pater
te
Christ e
Ave Maria.
I
thee grace for that great fearfulness that thou hadst for our sakes, when thou became so full of
anguish that an angel of heaven came to comfort thee, when thou sweatedst blood for anguish.
I pray thee, Lord, and beseech thee, for thy sweet mercy, that thou be mine help in all mine anguish and my temptations, and send me, Lord,
all
my
may
body into
life
and
health.
Adoramus &c.
Sweet Jesu,
for the
I
Pater.
Ave.
pains and
thank thee and yield thee grace anguishes and shames and
men
did thee, and that by treachery; thee as a thief, without binding mercy or I thank for thee those sweet and Lord, pity. that thou wentest us for love of piteous paces
felonies that
men
toward thine
I
own
own
death.
our
us.
sins, as
thou
bound
for love
of
Adoramus.
I
Pater.
Ave.
thank thee, sweet Lord Jesu Christ, for the pains and for the shames that thou suffered before
the high-priests and the masters of the
thine enemies
;
Law, and
nakedness,
suffered,
for that
for
buffets
and
for
many other shames that thou And, among other, I thank thee, Lord,
and for
look that thou looked to thy disciple that had forsaken thee, saint Peter ; thou looked to him
with a glance of mercy when thou wert in thy most anguish and thy most pain : openly thou shewed there the love and the charity that thou had to
us, that neither
may we through
turn to thy grace and repent us of our trespass and of our misdeed, so that with saint Peter we
may come
to thy mercy.
Adoramus.
I
Pater.
Ave.
the
thank thee, sweet Lord Jesu Christ, for all pains and torments and scornings and
slanderings and shames that men did and said to thee that night in that hard prison that they held thee in.
Lord, I pray and beseech that thou give me patience and strength for to withstand stedfastly
against
the assailings and temptations of of mine enemies ghostly and bodily. foes and
all
my
Adoramus.
Pater.
Ave.
Lord Jesu Christ, I thank thee for all the pains and shames that thou suffered before Pilate, and for all thy paces and thy steps that thou
wentest for
ward,
I
me
in
all
that sorrow,
now
hither-
now
thitherward,
now
now
all
before another.
thank
and
48
Adoramus.
Pater.
Ave.
I
thank thee
for the
us,
and
for the
sweet
so
is yet seen on the pillar. pray thee and beseech thee as my dear Lord that that sweet blood that thou bled so plenti
blood
I
fully for
me may
be
full
remission for
my
soul.
Adoramus.
Pater.
Ave.
Sweet Lord Jesu Christ I thank thee for the pains and shames that thou suffered for us of thy sweet will, when thou wert clad in purple for
to
shame
thee,
for
to pain thy sweet head, and when they kneeling in scorn called thee Lord, King, and Master and
:
withal that on thy sweet face spitted so foully, and so foully defiled thy fair face with the foul
of the foul cursed Jews, and buffeted and smote and beat on thy sweet head withal And for bitter wounds I thank for thee, thy thy pains
spittle
:
and
for thy sweet blood that ran streamed from thy blessed face.
down and D
49
sin.
Adoramus.
Pater.
Ave.
Sweet Lord Jesu Christ, I thank thee that thou wertsobe-bled then, so crowned with thorns before all the folk, and thy sweet face so spitted on and
so
smeared with the foul spitting of their cursed mouths. Then wert thou on each side forced and
hurried
to violent
death, and
doomed
to
foul
!
blessed and thanked be thou death of hanging I beseech thee, dear Lord, that of thy great
mercy thou give me grace and wisdom for to judge and doom myself, for the salvation of my
soul.
Adoramus.
Pater.
Ave.
Sweet Lord Jesu Christ, I thank thee for the pains and the shames that thou suffered so sweetly now for to drag thee, now for to and so gladly
;
now
now
back
for to
and
for to
bear thine
as
it
rood on thy sweet naked were a thief that bare his own gallows
own
hanged on it himself to the mount of men executed wicked men and where Calvary, whether thieves, they were thieves or murderers
for to be
50
Dear Lord Jesu, mercy thou that art the well of mercy, why will not mine heart burst and cleave
!
in
two
neth in
How shall it ever endure, when it run my mind how woe-begone thou wert at
!
thy stripping
when
the false
it
Herod
let
take thy
blood of that hard scourging to the flesh of thy body that sore was beaten and rawed, and rent
it,
and
was dried
to
it;
thy
was
it
so tender, so sick
and
so sore, that body piteously and painfully. ... Ah Lord, I see thy red blood run down thy cheeks, streams after each
!
they drew
off thy
stroke, before
and behind.
Thy crown
;
!
hath
all
of thine head
Alas that I to thy brain. is there pierceth should live and see my gracious Lord so suffering and so meek ; that never trespassed, so shame
The moaning and the groaning, ! the sorrow and the sighing, the pain of his face
fully bedight
!
would
it
were
and
my
all
is
death
The Crown
is
of
all
bliss,
that
crowns
King
by
of
all
kings,
Lord of
lords,
is
hell
all
that
is
that
is
in earth,
;
but
is
become
all
so poor, to
make
Ah
death
Why
were
it
not
my
Now
worm,
the tormentors about thee, and armed knights. The press of the people was wonderfully strong ;
they hurled thee about and harried thee so shame fully ; they spurned thee with their feet, as if
thou had been a dog. I see in my soul how ruefully thou goest ; thy body is all bleeding, so rawed and so bloodied ; thy crown is so sharp that
presseth on thy head ; thy hair, all stickied with the blood, moveth in the wind ; thy lovely face
so
wan and
so
beating, with
runs
down
it,
swollen with buffeting and with with spouting ; thy blood so that I shudder at the sight so
spitting,
:
loathely and so horrible have the Jews made thee, that thou art liker to a leper than to a clean man.
The
hard.
cross
is
hanged on
so heavy, so high and stark, that they thy bare back, and trussed there so
Ah
is
so sore
Lord, the groaning that thou made, it rest on thy bones Thy
!
body
so sick, so feeble
night
rest
with
beating, with
buffeting so greatly oppressed, that thou goest all stooping, and heavy is thy face : the flesh where
is
all
rawed
livid
the pain of that ; burden oppresseth thee so sore that each foot that
are
it
wan and
thou goest
groaning and in this greatpain thou out of goest Jerusalem towards thy death. The
in this
Thus
is
city folk
much,
;
that the
street
then stand
up the folk, and so great is the reek, that men may wonder that think thereon. With such a
procession of worldly wondering, was never thief led to death. Some there were of the common
that
people that sighed sore and wept for thy woe, knew thee so tormented, and that it was for
envy ; for the princes and the high-priests, that, burdened men with the law, did thee to death
for thy true sayings, when thou would reprove them of their errors. They knew it was outrage and wrong that thou suffered, and followed thee
weeping and sighing sore. Then thou said a thou bade thing that afterwards came to pass them weep for themselves, and for the great ven
:
fall
for
53
own
of their place.
Ah
heart
Lord,
the
sorrow that
cast
fell
on
thy thy
when thou
!
thine
eyes
on
mother
the
Thou saw
;
her
a
follow after
among
great press
as
woman
out
of herself
wrung her hands, weeping and sighing she cast her arms about, the water of her eyes
she
feet for
she
fell
in dead
swoon
sorrow
The
and her great dolour, increased many-fold thine other pains. So when she wist that
this
was
thou
so,
also did
then was her sorrow worse again, and weep for her so was the sorrow of
:
you sorrow upon sorrow. The love of your hearts that above all other loves was surpassing burningkeen,
made you
to burn, either
for other,
with
sorrow unlike to any other woe ; as the love was it pierced surpassing, so was the sorrow peerless
to
your hearts,
as
it
were death.
!
Ah
Lady, mercy
nigh
it
Why wert
so
thou so bold
as to follow so
how was
that
for
it
was
But thou
had no care for the dread of any man, nor for aught else that could hinder thee, but, as if out of
s thyself for dolour and for sorrow of thy son The love passion, all thine heart was set firm.
burning-hot ; thy sighings were so the dolour of your faces was deadly woe
fervent
!
The love
and the sorrow that pierced thy breast, hindered thee from recking aught of bodily dread, and of
the world
s
shame, and of
all
Ah
for
Lady,
s
for that
thy son
passion
have been
mine own, for I had deserved it, and much worse ; I was the cause of it, and I was the guilty Since then the dear wounds are mine one.
own
a prick at
me one of them, for thy mercy mine heart of that same pain, a drop of that pity to follow him with. Since all that woe is my right, get me of mine own, and be Al not thou so wrongful as to withhold it all.
right, get
!
though thy woe be dear to thee, yet art not thou very rich ? share with this poor soul that hath
55
castles
nor towers, nor other world s \vealth, nor moon nor the bright stars, but
pity
is
wounds of
passion
all
my
desire, pain
and com
of
my
Lord Jesus
Christ.
Holding
myself worst and unworthiest of all men, I havt appetite for pain, to beseech of my Lord a drop
of his red blood to
make my
it
mercy, Lady, that art mother of mercy, succour of all sorrow, and cure of all ill, made the mother
of
all
souls,
!
hearken to
in
this
wretch and
that
is
thy child
sow
mine
heart,
hard as stone, one spark of compassion for that dear passion, a wound of that pity to supple
it
with
Lord, that pain that evil Jews, so cruel and so keen, at the mount of Calvary, without mercy pained thee with They cast the cross
! !
Ah
down
on the ground, and with strong ropes bound thine hands and thy feet, and laid thee thereon ; they drew and strained thee straight, on
flat
breadth and length, by hands and by feet ; and they drive in the nails, first in the one hand ;
then they
after
drive in that
The
nails
were blunt
they should burst the skin and the flesh ; they dug open thine hands and thy feet with the blunt
nails, for
the
more
pain.
et
pedes meos.
on the rood,
blood
that I
now
wide
and
;
see
wounds
on the
are so tender
cross
red, strained
the sharp crown on thine head that presseth thee so sore ; thy face is so swollen that first was so fair ; thy sinews and thy bones
start
bered
flood
out so stark, that thy bones may be num the streams of thy red blood run as the ;
;
thy
;
wounds
are bloodied
and
fearful
to
look
on
increaseth thy
woe
Lord, king of might, that wouldest leave thy might, and become as unmighty, my wrongs to right ; why do I speak thus and beat
!
Ah
the
find
wind ? no taste
is
I
;
that
all
blind
thy works.
57
The Passion
and the
filth
it
of Jesus]
of
my
sin, that
hath slain
all
my
soul
and choked
so that I
fully
therein, andstoppeth
feel thee, I that
the savour,
may not
have so shame
It
been thy
traitor
untrue.
might be a
the foul
soul, the
it
Godhead
ness of
filth
of
my shame, my mouth
:
the sorrow of
if I
my
look thereon,
in
defileth
may thy sweetness of thee, for I have lost through sin to have liking of such comfort ; for I blunder
gladly in lusts of
name
so
no manner
taste the
many
divers sins.
But thou,
glorious Lord, thou quickenest the dead, and hast converted many-fold, and brought them to
heavenly meed
ened, as I
read in the
Book
(it
betokeneth
Quicken me, Lord ghostly works, no doubt). and me Jesu Christ, give grace that I may feel
some of the savour of ghostly sweetness: lend me of thy light, that I may have somewhat of
sight in
I
my soul,
to
quench
my
thirst.
(But well
wot
this that I
have read,
yet hath he the love of thy Godhead, though he wot it This saying and others such set before us not.
that if a
self
man
find
no savour,
let
an outcast, rebuking and reviling and seeing his own weakness, and resigning himself as un58
Then
there
went
many Jews
enough, and raised it up, and lifted it up on high, with all the power that they had, and set it hard into the pit of the hole that was made before ; so
that thy
wounds
all
body hanged
shaken
burst and ran sore out, and thy woe-begone was thee
!
then,
with
the
sore
most tender, and that bare all the blessed of weight body that was so fair and so thy That sore sorrow thy mother beheld heavy.
s
men
that
fell
was so lovely and so meek and so mild down oftentimes, sighing now and then
she the
;
:
her sorrow pierced her breast, as it were death head she hanged down dolefully, her hands she
wrung, the
she wept.
tears
were
full
sighings and the sorrows that she made there were an increase of thy woe, and made it many-fold more. The place was so
The
Thus pained was carcases smote in thy nostrils. our tres to therewith heal five in thou senses, thy
pass that
we with
59
of the
hanged on the rood smote in thy nostrils, so that it was to thee full grievous. Against our tasting, thou tasted of the gall, so
great bleeding.
Against lecherous hearing, that we have grieved thee with, thou would hear with thine ears much
wrong
when men
sin,
shouting out at thy crowning in scorn and hatred, and said, Hail be thou^ king ! and spitted in thy
the hearing of the foul cry when they all cried, Do him on the rood ! the cross shall be his
face
;
doom
other
when they said, He could save him save himself now if he can ! ; the of these and of other wicked words, hearing By thou would in that sweet sense for us be pained.
!
and
also
let
men
evil goings,
thy hands and feet were pierced with hard nails, and from the head to the feet, with crowning
and scourging, with buffeting and beating, with spurning and thrusting, with hard cords knitting,
and on the cross straining, thou would, glorious
Lord, for me be hard pained. There hanged thou so poor and so woe-begone, that of all this world s goods, that were all thine own, thou had
60
that art
world are
all
thine
own
thou would in time of thy death be so poor for my sake, that thou had not so much earth that
it ;
but,
hanging
fully dight
more, that
pain
!
it
By
stood upon, and that was to thy thee it was sorrowfully said, glorious
Lord, that foxes have their dens, and fowls have their nests, but thou at thy death had nothing to rest thy head upon
I
me
the
when
think
in
my
thought
how
when thou
and
behold
way,
stay
that ever any suffered, or any like be the sorrow that I suffer for worldly woe, s sake ! man Nay, Lord, nay there was sinful if ever any pain
!
never none so hard, for it was peerless of all was never one found that ever so were, pains
:
hard.
And
is,
yet thou said, Lord, so sweetly and so electa, ego te plantavi, that
My
dear
chosen],
dear vineyard, saidst thou (that is, have 1 not myself planted thee?
My
61
Why
fed
thee
art
thou
is,
so
bitter
Popule
meus,
tibi
? that
My
sweet,
what have I
quid done to
? have I angered thee, that thou dost me this woe ? have I not given thee all myself; and all that
ever thou hast take
it
;
and
life
my
;
on the rood
and promised
or with
heart ?
for
the foul traitors, the tyrants, the tormentors, that he should forgive them thy death, and all that
they trespassed ; and thou said that the wretches and also to the thief wist not what they did
:
that hanged by thy side, that had done theft ever since he was able, that he should be in bliss with
Thou
said
have
for
God, and
his
own trespass,
at
have stolen thy good deeds, and used the virtues that thou thy grace amiss, the wits and
him
for I
62
Thou
woe
;
and so mild
that
him
that grace
bliss
thy greatest
is
now
grieveth (but our nought nor art thou misdeeds are what hinder thee) dangerous nor strange to seek a boon of, but
there
thee
manifold more gracious ; for seldom do men see any man that is not more gracious in his happi
ness than in his greatest woe.
Ah
for
and thou Lord, thy mother was woe When she should thee her also was woe
!
!
!
forego,
saint
John
and care
her
in
son !
token of
it
thou
said,
Woman,
behold
thy
and
to
John, Behold
herself, but
Ah
word
in thine heart
Lady, woe was thee when thou heard that that sorrow might have been
!
the sorrow of that leave-taking and woe. The tears of thine eyes ran
nigh with
thee
;
to thy
all
thy sighings and thy sorrows rested full heart ; thou fell down sorrowing,
thy limbs relaxed ; thine arms fell beside thine head hanged down thy colour waxed
;
63
son
woe
^Ammam
sword
shall
that
is,
the
Ah! Lady, no tongue may tell that sorrow that thou suffered there at that same exchange ; when
thou should take another instead of thy son, thy flesh and thy blood ; a mortal man for almighty
God, a
Christ
:
disciple
for
the master,
John
for Jesus
as doleful to thee as
a death-throe.
Lady, why had I not been by and heard what thou heard, and seen that same sight, and taken my part of thy much sorrow, if I might perchance have slaked thy woe ? For
then,
men
say so,
in pain.
that
it is
com
pany Lord, after that, thou cried so dolefully on the as was little rood, and said that thou thirsted
wonder.
Then
to thee
for
and
gall,
by them
thine heart-blood.
Ah Lord, thou took it and tasted thereof; for thou would be pained for us in each sense. That thirst was two-fold ; in body and in soul. Thou
1
thirsted
after the
amend
ment of them
thing in his
life
;
any
the love of thy name forsake wholly any fleshly lust, ghostly or bodily ; or may in any point follow thee with the shadow
world
shame
for
of the cross
that
is,
Ah
ought
Lord, the
to sink into
pity,
many
when
that
men
think on that
word
Lamazabatani
God,
why
me y that
thou
sparest
me nothing ?
forsaken
suffered.
Glorious Lord, thy manhood for us was allso vile a death and painful never man ;
Thy Godhead
willed
it
for sinful
man
sake, without any sparing of thee that was so woe begone never was martyrdom nor bodily pain
:
like
thine
Thy manhood
;
!
was
so tender, both
and the pain nevertheless bodily and ghostly above all pains The dignity so excellent, the
Father
s
Son, of heaven
thou hanged on the cross, and that in mid-world it was no As the chieftain of all privy shame.
thieves, in the
all
naked
was doleful to see. The sorrows of thy mother was to thee more pain than all bodily woe
that surpassed
all
other
!
the loss of
men s
souls
Lord, of thy much mercy heart may not think, nor that endless love and lovely pity that thou
settest
on the good that follow thy will when was so much for them that were thy sorrow thy
:
foes.
Lord,
I will in
my
mine arms,
as
thou
there
flat
upon the
:
ground with the stench of the dead men s bones that lay there, so dreadful under thy nostrils
nothing
shall grieve
it
heart, so that
me
will not
that sight.
I
would
lay
lie
me
flat
dead, that
there so foul, and, to keep the virtue and the grace of thy blood, never will I
rise
thence
till
with thy
66
become
all
red,
till
I be
marked
therewith as one of thine own, and my soul be So may it come softened in that sweet blood.
Lord, that mine hard heart may open therewith, that is now hard as stone, be coming all soft and quick in the feeling.
to pass, glorious
Lord, thy sweet passion raised the dead out 01 and they walked about ; it opened earth trembled therewith ; the the ; hell-gates
their graves,
sun
and
my
is
of
the devil
at
thy death, cannot feel one little point of thy passion, nor do I rise with the dead in pity of it,
nor
am
earth,
nor open
!
the
gates
are
so
hard
fastened
Lord, is now the malice of my evil heart more than the virtue of thy precious death that wrought such wonders and many an one more
My
and the
memory
my
heart
Why, Lord, a drop of thy blood to drop on soul in mind of thy passion may heal all
sore, supple
my my
so
and soften
in
is
hard
I
wot
my
heart
is
not worthy for thee to come and lie therein ; it is not of the dignity of thine holy sepulchre in
6?
and
in that
same manner
I ask thee
to
come.
I
know
was never
worthy
at
companion, to stand thy passion with her and with John ; but,
to be thy
s if in
mother
Lord,
that
manner
may
my
yet I hold
me worthy
for
my
great trespass to
hang by
if in
virtue of
my
I
ask in virtue of
my
so that
though
visited, yet
my
thou
set
it
right.
Come
and
visit
me
so soon as thou
knowest
my
need
kindle in
my heart a spark of thy passion, of love and of pity to quicken it with j so that all-burn
ing in love above everything, I may forget all Then the world and bathe me in thy blood.
shall I bless the
time that I
all
feel
me
so stirred
by
thy
grace,
that
worldly
the
weal and
of
fleshly
liking
contrary
to
thought
thy death
pleasure
me
not.
When,
68
and
hands, at the point of death, thy glorious said, Pater in manus tuas, &fV., that
into
Father,
thine hands
I commit my
soul
then, in true
all
tokening of our souls healing, that was fulfilled in the bliss of thy blood, thou
at
saidest
the
last,
Consummatum
fell
est,
that
is,
All
is
ended.
Then
down
Then
;
so that all-mirk
was the
weather, as it had been night ; the dead rose, in witness that they knew the Godhead ; then the
With temple was cloven, the rocks were riven. a sharp spear they struck thine heart ; the blood and the water went out thereof.
Thus, glorious Lord,
I see thy blood
it
stirreth in
my mind
pour out of hands and of feet, thy side pierced with the spear, thy wounds dried and all run out, thy body all be-bled, thy chin
th2 white of
is
cast
become
all pale,
fearful in
my
clotted
with the
oi
about.
The memory
death
!
would
were
my
Lord, I see thy mother stand by thy side ; she sobbeth and sigheth and falleth down John on
:
is
so full of sorrow.
They wring
The Passion of
their
*fesus\
much
dole.
When
they
look upward the sight of the rood pierceth to their hearts, as it were death. They fall down,
full sore
and
am
reason
all
that
my right grant me, of thy of a grace, sight thy sorrow, a particle of thy to me pain with, that I may in a particle occupy
feel somewhat, and which I have made
and
a part
!
of thy sorrow
all
of
Ah
the
lots
Book
man
suffered.
Then began
That
sight
is
way. thy Godhead full swiftly at hell, to glad the souls that looked for thy coming. The bliss
own home,
in
each his
own
thou
and the gladdening, the mirth and the liking, that they then had, no man may tell with tongue Thou opened hell-gates, Lord, through thy might, and took out of pain many that were
!
there
Adam and
Eve, and
all
that
were dear
to
70
of Arimathy took
down,
as
it
were
at
time of evensong, with help of Nicodemus, of thy mother and of John, that stood there sorrow
fully.
They
they straightened thine arms that were become stark, and stretched them down by thy sides. They bare thee to the place that thou were
buried in
;
made
that
thee clean
they washed off the cold blood and ; they laid thee in the sepulchre
for
; they anointed thee with ointment that The sorrow that thy mother smelled sweet.
himself
had,
is
as
and thy cheeks all wet. and kissed them full sweet, and ever, thou kissed, sore thou wept
!
Then was
Jesu.
Explicit
de
obiit
anno
domini
M.cccxLynr. &
c.
(Here endeth the meditation of Richard, Her mit of Hampole, on the passion of the Lord
who
sbon$
to
ti)e
thing.
Thou
Give
Sweet Jesu, mine heart s true light, art day withouten night ;
to
me
That
so I
Sweet Jesu, my master good, For me thou shedd st thy blessed blood
Out of thine
heart
it
Thy
mother saw
it
Sweet Jesu, of my soul the food, All the works of thee be good ;
Thou boughtest me upon the rood, And thereon sheddedst thy sweet blood.
72
Thy
love in
I
When
go
shall
he be
bliss shall see
;
thee in thine
own
draw me
Sweet Jesu, thou heavenly king, Best and fairest of all thing
:
Bring
me
To come
ending.
Thou
saidest
with
full
mournful cheer
a-fear,
As they were
little
all
were
were
Full of sorrow and heart-sore, And bade them bide a little there
s ear.
To him
thou said
st,
If it may
be,
My Father dear, I pray to thee, May this pain pass away from me !
But as thou
wilt, so
may
it be !
Jesu, with that thou prayed again ; The sweat of blood from thee down-ran
From heaven
To
Jesu, for love thou sufFredst wrong, Wounds very sore and torments strong
How rueful
I
were thy pains and long not tell in spell no song. may
Jesu, thy
crown
pressed
on thee sore
The
It
scourging
for
was
me
Ah
Jesu, hear
The
on
tree
Not
For
for
sins
!
Ah
; thy guilt but and guilt they injured thee Jesu sweet, forgive thou me
all for
me
74
when thou
all
strained were,
Thy pains they waxed more and more. Thy mother aye with thee was there,
With
sighings sorrowful and sore.
Jesu,
what
me
was to thee, That thou so hardly on rood-tree For me, a wretch, would pained be ?
that needful
Of aught
Jesu,
my
all
love,
That
thou didst
I
me
?
!
What Thou
can
me
Jesu,
my
God,
my
Lord,
my King,
thing
s
my true
longing
And
mourning.
Jesu,
I will
my
Make me
And
all
my
might
after thee
night.
Thou
canst
thou wilt
Love of my
heart,
my
life,
my
light
me
Jesu, although I sinful be, Full long time hast thou spared
me
The more
then ought I to love thee, Since thou with me hast been so free.
to sweet kissing
;
Open
Mary,
I pray, as
thou
art free,
Of thy
That
I
And
may
be.
alt
ye
by me,
see
That
way
My
dearest folk,
so
what may
art
to
it
be
That I have
That thou
offended thee.
so bitter
me ?
Mary, thou
that slak
st all
woe
me
fro*
And
give me
I
grace here to do so
That
Jesu,
my Lord, mine own sweeting me ever in thy keeping Make of me thine own darling,
Hold
:
That
I love
thee above
all
thing.
Jesu,
what
is
fair to see,
What
And
to fleshly ease
s
bliss,
flee
my
mind
to give to thee.
free,
By Jesu Christ beseech I thee, Make thou thy sweet son love me And make me worthy that so it be.
;
77
me,
What
come again
to
me.
Jesu,
my
soul
it
is
wed
to thee
Thy mercy
ready
is
for
me.
My
To
thought,
my
deed, and
my
mourning,
in love-longing.
Jesu,
my soul
it
Let
it
Clothe
with thine
own
love free,
With
Nor
for
Lands nor
bought
But hearty
7?
That he
will vouchsafe
wholly mercy.
To
grant to
me
his great
may
see
:
The much of good thou hast done me And I unkind again have been
!
free.
Dwell together, can they not As honey and gall together brought,
:
Sweet and
bitter,
accordeth not.
Jesu, though I be
Thee
to love,
Thy
goodness maketh
me
hardy,
My
Jesu, thy
mercy comforts me
so sinful be
flee to
For no
man may
If he leave sin
and
thee
?
he,
Mary
mild,
full
of pity,
may
Ever
in bliss
Jesu,
make me do thy
will
Now and
do
ill.
Jesu,
if
thou from
is full
me
dost go
Mine
heart
What may
When
thou,
my
me
fro*
To
Thou
hast
it
When
thy will
to thee
it
bring
80
[T/ie Passion
Jcsu, all fair, my lover bright ! I thee beseech with all my might,
of Jesus
Bring
my
Where
all is
Send
it
it
That
no ending,
:
There is no sorrow and no weeping, But peace and joy with great liking Amen. Sweet Jesu, us thereto bring
!
(Whoso
oft
saith this
Shall find
grace his love to fill; The Holy Ghost his heart shall till,
s
God
sin
ill.)
The Passion
of Jesut]
imitation
of
ti)e
jpibe ^Sounfcs of
gjmis Cjw*t
BEHOLD
in his blessed
especially the
five
most notable
and two
in
wounds, two
feet,
blessed
hands
and and
feet
(with
that
is
Thomas
fingers,
to say, thy
desires.
And
it is
in the
wound
of Christ
the largest and deepest, put in that is to say, all tny love and
feel
thine hand,
thy works
heart so hot, loving thee ; and there feel Christ s blessed heart-blood shed
s
and there
for thee
Christ
And
life
five well-springs.
And
the
wound
:
understand, see and behold and learn, that in Christ s right hand is the well of
the
wisdom
wound
:
in Christ
left
hand
is
the
well of mercy : the wound in Christ s right foot the wound in Christ s left is the well of grace foot is the well of ghostly comfort : the largest
is
in Christ s right
life.
Out
right
up the wholesome water of true learn ing and teaching. Learn there how much Christ, God and man, loved man s soul ; and how precious
hand, seize
is man s soul for, because man s soul, Christ Jesu (that
;
is,
Father of heaven), should and would, by the ordi nance of the blessed Trinity, suffer his righteous
right
cross.
seize
well of mercy, in Christ s left hand, up devoutly the sweet water of remission and forgiveness of our sins ; and learn busily here,
Out of the
thy salvation, this lesson of mercy. For not withstanding that the while mankind was enemy
for
to
God,
not his
own
83
Tfie
Passion of Jesus]
cross,
on the hard
more
than ever was sheepskin stretched on the wall or on parchment-maker s harrow to dry against the
sun
the cross for Jove of us, that the veins burst). Learn here then, in this well of mercy in Christ s
left
hand
(in
whose
left
ing, be
all
riches in heaven
and
is
in earth),
how
much
is
his love,
man, that suffered so dreadfully and grievously his blessed arms to be spread and nailed to the cross, to proffer his mercy and himself to
proffered to
us his
unkind enemies.
of nature, of custom and lasting good of might, to do mercy that may never cease nor hath
it
God
fail
(unless
God
may
never
all
fail
good
God
;
almighty,
knowing and
well-
therefore trustfully and stedfastly, out of this well of the wound of Christ s left hand,
willing)
seize
Christ.
Out
seize
in
would
suffer his
;
wounded
for it is
right foot so dreadfully to be the which foot holy writ speaketh (of
it
treadeth upon
is
worshipped,
and so hard
to be nailed to the
lightly seize
us
all.
Out
left
foot
of the well of ghostly comfort in Christ s seize up the joyful water of spiritual
comfort and gladness ; that the king of bliss loved our souls so heartily that for our salvation
through
was
so tender
(for
there
heart)
come
together there the veins from Christ s and thus suffered our blessed Jesu for
Here we may seize up out of helping of us. this blessed well water of ghostly comfort and joyful gladness of our souls without end.
Out
lasting life in
of the largest and deepest well of ever the most open wound in Christ s
bliss
of joy and
how Christ Jesu, God and man, to thee to everlasting life, suffered that hard bring and hideous death on the cross, and suffered hi
inwardly
85
Christ
to
ransom
water of
his side to
wash
us,
and
blood of his heart to buy us. For love of these blessed wounds creep into
this
bathe thee of
for there
was never
of
man
nor
woman, thought nor wrought, that was laved with lovely sorrow and hearty repentance, that
there
is
full
remission to buy
it,
and water of
Therefore
live in
to cleanse and
wash
it.
rest
s
Christ
Amen.
86
on
tije
^mnbols
of
His mouth, his nose, his eyen too, he did also ; His beard, his hair,
Shield
me
I
my
life
That
five,
Of false oaths and of backbiting, And made boast with tongue also, Of all the sins committed too,
Lord of heaven, forgive them me,
Through
sight
here see,
Cultellus circumcisionis
Thus
Of
die.
Pellicanus :
The
Therewith
This betokeneth on the rood How our Lord fed us with his blood, When he us ransomed out of hell In joy and bliss with him to dwell,
father
children
88
[T/ie
Passion of Jesus
Trlginta denarii
The
pence
also that
Judas
told,
For which Lord Jesu Christ was sold, Shield us from treason and avarice
Therein
to perish in
no wise.
Lanterna
The
lantern
light
;
When Christ was taken in the night May it light me from nightly sin
That
I
Gladil
et
fustes :
Swords and staven that they bare Jesu Christ therewith to fear ; From fiends, good Lord, do thou keep me, Of them afraid that I not be.
Arundines
still
he stood.
When
Be
it
wrong
any, or
any me,
1
QO
Manus
depillans ft alapans
The And
hand,
hair,
the hand that clapped thee on the ear, May that pain be my succour there That I have sinned with pride of ear ;
And
of
all
have
hearkened to
Judaeus spuens
in facie
Chrhti
s
The Jew
that spat in
God
own
face
For that he
What
For that
9*
Velamen ante
oculos :
The
To buffet
And with my
That
I
have with mine eyes done too, nostrils sins of smell have done when sick or well
!
Tunica
inconsutilis et vestis
purpurea
The garment white that had seam The purple they laid lot upon,
Be they my succour and my
For
none,
my
body
9*
Virgae
et
flageuat
With With
great reeds thou wcrt sorely dashed, scourges painful sorely lashed ;
that pain rid
May
me
of sins these,
!
Corona spinea
The crown
That
Shield
buist,
me
from
hell-pit s
agony
folly
1
That
I deserve
through
my
93
To
the
pillar,
Lord, also
With
The
a rope they bound thee too ; sinews from the bones did burst
fast
;
That bond
release
me
and unbind
!
Of that
The
cross behind
on
his
backbone,
I live
That he
me
for to shrive,
And And
94
Vestigia
Jerusalem,
distillanao
portando
crucem,
sic
corona?n
spineam
Thou
Out
s city-gate ; All thy footsteps sweet and good Were seen through shedding of thy blood
of Jerusalem
Thou met with women of Bethlehem And also of Jerusalem, And all wept for thine agony ;
To them thou saidest openly Now weep ye not for this my woe
:
Hut for your children weep also ; For them ye may lament full sore.
salt tears for them down pour $ For they shall Jiave great torment hard An hundred winters here-afterward. Those steps of thine give us pardon
And your
Help.
95
Clam:
The
nails
through
feet
and hands
also,
Help they
me
woe
!
That I have here in my life done, With hands handled, or on feet gone
Malleus
The hammer, Lord, both stern and great, That drove the nails through hands and feet,
Be
it
my
succour in
my
life
!
If any smite
me
with
staff or knife
The
vessel
it
May
That to the soul are venom dread, That thereby I be not poisoned
!
Spongea
Though thou thirsted sore withal They gave thee vinegar and gall ; From what I have drunken in gluttony May it save me when I shall die That, Lord, now I pray to thee For that grievance thou suffered for me
;
97
Lancea
Quench
Or in my heart have evil thought, And of my stout pride thereto, And mine unbuxomness also
!
Sca/a
The
ladder set
up by occasion
When When
me
98
Forceps
The
Of feet
all
about,
And loosed thy body from the tree, Of all my sins may they loose me
Sepulchrum Christi:
The
His blessed body all be-bled, May he send me ere that I die
tear or eye,
I be,
my
I
grave
betake
me
So that
To
And wend
Now
Amen.
Example
"
of
tfte
passion
"
See
suffered for
our sake
In Jesu
And lift ye up your hearts and see What our Lord suffered for our
As meek
any lamb was he, Ensample of him may we take,
as
suffer too in
To
our degree
aye to wake.
And
And
in his service
if
So that
Think we on Christ that bought us And to him make all our moan
:
we
learn
his foen
;
suffered
among
any wrong
to us be
wrought,
And
For
his
help us all at need : Jesus Christ us bought, for our sins his blood did bleed ;
own
For he
men do us defame, Think we how Christ was bought and For him to suffer is no shame, But him to serve look we be bold. And if men injure our good name,
If wicked
sold
We
must
forgive, both
For though
we
suffer so
much blame
Christ suffered
more
a thousandfold.
Of poverty
if
we
complain,
For that we lack some worldly good ; Think we on Jesu that Lord Sov reign,
How
And how
To
But ever was meek and mild of mood follow that Lord we should be fain,
we
stood.
And though we have sorrow on each And all about us wrong and woe,
Yet
suffer
side,
And think on Christ that suffered also And how he was in full great dread, Unto his pains when he should go He suffered more in his man-head Than ever did man or ever shall do.
:
to death be brought,
the surest
way
For love of Jesu that us dear bought, And died for us on Good-Friday ;
So think
we
And learn to set this world at nought, And suffer wicked men to say.
In Jesu Christ was meekness most ; And therefore he the mastery had,
And bound
Against
all his
boast,
;
so sore a-dread
and
all his
host
led,
Adam
in prison full
103
assail,
Do
after this
and thou
shalt
wit
avail
:
That meekness
will thee
most
despite,
And meekly
It will
And
If
any do
Or us in any wise offend, For love of Jesu have mind on this, And let meekness thy mood amend
With Jesu
Christ, as
one of
his,
And suffer meekly what God shall Then shall we be with him in bliss
That aye
shall last
send
withouten end.
Amen.
104
jlilttittation
on
t&e
passion
anfc
on
si nobs of
PEN
set
and
them
he suffered them.
;
How
how
kind
;
they defiled his holy face with spitting they buffeted the fairest face of all man
how with
cords they bound his fair hands, his fingers the blood out-burst
;
how
all
they beat
how
Do him
on
cross,
that he
any died , how he was stretched on the cross that was laid on the
as ever
;
earth
hands and
and drawn out with ropes, till they make feet accord with the holes that were So
strait
made
and
in the tree.
on the
cross that
men might
his
his
bones
to that cross
after
iron nails.
Think
the cross
how
lifted
up with
and smitten
into
it
the
men
105
The Passion
of
Jesus ]
!
smiting into the earth all his veins burst, so that out of all his sweet limbs the blood out
this
At
streamed.
pains,
that
every day
to
renews
Think
and
after
how
knights
kneeled
him,
!
said to
him
Jews
Thou that
self;
to,
helpest
many, thou
needest
now
help thy
come
down from
shall
and we
Son of
heaven.
Think on
the sharp crown of thorns that made stream with blood ; and on
the bitter vinegar mingled with gall that they gave him to drink when he complained him of
thirst, as
wine
nor after any other liquor, but only after the love of men that he so dearly bought. Think then,
when thou
dost anything against his will, that thou dost as the Jews did thou givest him gall to drink, as an unkind wretch
!
mother, and on saint John his dear cousin, that stood by him and saw all that he suffered ; no tongue may tell how
his
Think on
care-full
sorry they
were
at that time.
106
here thy
mother
What Serve thou her with all thy might. his heard she heart her when to came sighings
s son for God s Son, the the master, the servant for the lord, disciple for was given to tend her.
words,
when man
Think on that blessed body, naked and pale, hanging on the rood, so riven with scourges that naught was left whole. And yet so poorly was he furnished in that struggle that he had naught
to rest his
head on
his
and
s
as
naked
as
he was
mother
Think how
full
forgave his sins to the thief that hanged beside him, and that had mis-called him a while before, and promised him that he
hanged on rood,
who
should be with
him
When
thou art
soul that thou standest by him in that place and seest what they do to him speak then to thy
:
Lord the words of saint Bernard God, my sweet Jesu, what hast thou done that thou so
:
Lord>
bloody
107
Thee
guiltless, they
do
to
death
woe
is
me
is
therefore^
for 1
am
and
it
against
law and
let
reason
slay
amiss,
and
harm
Therefore ye wretches, ye Jews, take me, for I am the sinful one that has done evil and followed the
fiend s counsel.
I pray you
inwardly
let
and do me
to
trespassed !
Think
also
how
for it may stir before he yielded up the ghost thee to have sorrow for thy sins, and pity for his death that was so pained for thee, and so wreak
his death
on thyself
if
that he thus
est
;
on the rood
All
cried,
filled ;
Consummatum
as
that
he
said,
/ am
is,
both in body
In body, for all was pained from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot
and sou/.
through our unkindness, that gave him no thanks for his good deed, but who ever do what
in soul,
in us
all
is
to
renew
his pain
he suffered before.
at this
his
Father, Into thy hands my soul I yield. Think then on the wonders that then befell
creatures that
how
at his
death.
The
108
[772^
Passion of Jesus
became all mirk, and thus shewed that it sor rowed for Christ s death ; the hard rock was
riven
;
the dead
the earth quaked ; the graves opened, and men that were in them rose to life and
God
that the
Jews
and
tears.
Also
sorrows of his mother that was with him aye till he died, and beheld all that they did with
her
she
child.
Never
;
suffered
martyr so
soul that
much may
as in
suffered
were pained
body, and
die
;
God
mother
in
not
through her
for
Then sorrow, and no sorrow might slay her. was fulfilled the word of Simeon : Tuam ipsius
animam
pertransibit gladius
;
that
soul.
is,
The sword
of
Think
suffered,
also
inwardly what he
is
that thus
loved for
in
and how unworthy they were to be whom he died. For if thou have oft
these thoughts, they will hold thy heart
flee sin.
mind
in love,
the rood
how
him with ointments and wrapped his body white clothes and laid him in a tomb of rock.
109
of his wending to
hell
what
comfort they had that so long abode his coming, there in mirk state ; what sorrow and dread,
sighing and gnashing, the fiends of hell had at
that
time
how he bound
Satan
so
that he
how
bright,
how
fair
he rose in body that the Jews so loathely treated in intent for to have destroyed the memory of
him
for
ever
and
now
he
lives
in heaven,
them at his will. Think what joy all his disciples had when they saw him risen and to have the mastery of death before, they denied him and said they knew him
:
not, but then they repented that they had mis-said, as their Lord, and were so filled
of his love that they were ready to die for him, and requite him death for death.
To
tell
what joy
after
his
saw him
risen to life,
no man may
it
Think
almighty
how
his
on the
right
hand of
Father, and so fastened our nature in himself that they shall never part ;
God
and through
this
union,
if
we keep
us from sin ?
HQ
Think
wrought
evil.
that he shall
all
man
to the
man
according
as
is
he has
and
as gladful as his
coming
it
good, so aweful
and dreadful
shall
be to the
For God threatens the evil with THREE ARROWS and says, Congregabo super eos mala^ et
sagittas tres complebo in els
;
that
is,
shall heap
three
so
wound
The
rise
FIRST
ARROW
their
is
and come to
ad judicium
that
is,
Rise^
and come to your doom. Through might of these words all that were dead shall This is the arrow of which saint quicken.
said, Sive
ilia
Jerome
mortui^ venite
eat
ad judicium
whatever
that
is,
Whether I
ever
or drink
or
else
do,
I think
these
dreadful words
ring in mine
ill
Rise, ye that
are
dead,
and come
to
your
doom.
Since
is
this
words, need
lest
he
fall
in
fremitus
leonis,
For Solomon says, Sicut it a via ejus ; that is, The vengeance
sin.
of the judge at his coming is^&s the roaring of a The lion s nature is to fright all beasts lion. with his roaring, and yet dare they not flee : and
though this noise be dreadful to all beasts, yet it comforteth his own whelps and quickens them So shall Jesu Christ at the strait judg to life. ment do to all beast-like men that have lived in
sin
their
ill
at
mighty, that
shall
on no
And
as
remain, and receive as they have seived. he shall be wrathful to these wretches,
own
children that
have wrought his will here ; for they shall waken with joy at his calling, and wend with him to dwell in bliss.
But the
sinful
them, that they see not his dreadful face that wit : as Ysalah says, frights them out of their
Introibunt
terrae
in
cavernas
a facie formidinis
that
percutere terrain^
is,
tinful
112
into in
the
crevices
of the
to
rocks
earth, for from the vengeful face of God when he rises to that is, when he shall come smite the earth,
to judge
and
the
hide
them
Anselm and
accuse
side shall
men on earth. Of this coming speaketh says, On one side shall our sins bitterly On another us of the slaughter of our soul.
stand righteousness wherewith
is is
no pity.
and he
guilt.
is
wrathful mild here, stern there ; both judge and witness that knows all our
tender here
;
as
were born
is when God arraigns that they have mis-done since they and the judge shall shew his wounds
see
truly
;
what he,
this
and with
word
he arraign them. I took thee, and with my hands the earth Of made thee, in paradise that lovely place, there with
have dwelled, if thou had been buxom
to
out care to
me and kept my commandment : but soon thou brake and left me for mine enemy. Therefore righteous* it, ness damned thee to hell, there to be in sorrow and
woe.
When I saw
pity on thee,
had
113
and
where I was
for thee much
pained and
despised
and I
took
villainy in deed
sold me, the
and word. And after Judas had Jews took me and buffeted me and spit
me
;
face ; with sharp thorns they crowned with knotted scourges they beat me ; so loathely
in
my
they
treated
this
me
that
to
ought
to look
upon.
Ah
pity on
had
been kind.
my
thirst they
vinegar mingled with bitter gall ; they pierced my feet and hands ; and nailed me to the rood ; and
opened
my
side
to
on
thee
was
all
my
thou, as
an unkind man,
settest all
at nought f Now, thou unkind man, understand and look to me, and behold my side, feet and hands, how woeful I am made for thee, and to heal thy wounds : and
therefore thou should
wot
not
have loved me the more : for I what more I might have done for thee than
I have done. Therefore need behoves thee to shew what thou have done or suffered for me ; for now my righteousness wills that I fashion for each man
his meed, to dwell for ever in pain or in joy, accord ing as he has served.
How
when he
sinful
man
114
shewed
;
to
all
men
may
there be hid
save that
with here
Revelabunt
adversus eum
with
shrift.
says,
terra consurget
shall
that
is,
Heaven
shew
the
wickedness of the sinful, and earth shall rise ana stand against him and bear witness of his works.
And
det
science
says,
;
Testimonium redis,
conscientia
eorum
that
Their
con-
from
the
works
which man may not hide. And further his evil shall stand by him at the dreadful judg and ment, bitterly strive with him and say, We
are the works that thou, wretched man, has wrought in despite of thy good Lord ; for thou wrought us
against his will, that shed his heart-blood for thee.
Now
it
but,
And
therefore shall
we
to
shall
he shoot
when he
;
says these words, Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum that is, Go ye cursed into endless fire !
The
there saint
is
holy
man
in
says,
The
shall
eyes
in that fire
and smoke
water
This
fire,
as
so
s
mighty
waters
though
world
overflowed
fire
it,
at
all.
it
weep
and
is
there, as oil
would,
if it
were
The
holy
to his
man had mind of these tears, that said disciples when they had long cried on him
them some good word, we here ! so
the cursed
to say
My
that
dear
chll-
our tears
When
is
man
damned, and wits there is no returning nor mercy to find, then he says the words of Job, Oh that the day might perish in which I was born^
and
the night in
died I not In
sorry
which I was conceived ! Why my mother s wo?nb ? Alas ! that while that ever I was born ! IVherejore set
knee,
at her breast ?
lost
the
that nursed
me !
smoulder in
hell-fire /
But God
own
with angels to the bliss of heaven, there to be in joy ever without end. So great is that joy, as the apostle tells, that no
his will shall be led
116
think it, nor eye see it. in be that joy half-an-hour and might
may
If
man
feel that
heavenly pleasure, and were brought again to this middle earth, so strange pain it were to him
to live herein, that,
even
if all
world were
at his will,
he would
body were
win
Christ in
all
his
all his
to
passion-time and all the hardness that was done him ; and be a-wondered that so great a Lord
;
and
fall
down
to the
for
wounds
him
ever in mind.
all this together at one time as they stand in order, for fear of cooling of devotion, but now on one, now on another, as thou feel that God stirs thee of his dear grace.
Think not of
Thus many wounds God suffered for mankind ; five thousand and four hundred and sixty and
[
fifteen.
many
thou shalt say in the whole year as the year paternosters^ if thou say each day
And
of
fifteen.]
117
antus Ccmpasstorm
Hie
incipiunt
cantm
solationis aeternae*
to
me,
!
man, on thee
for
I cry,
I die.
Tis only
thy love
me down
thy
runs
Not
for
my
sins.
My
hands,
my
feet
with
Sinews and veins are wholly burst. The blood that flows from my heart-root,
Look
it falls
down
to
my
foot.
Of all
The
Alas
me more
tree.
unkindness
I find in thee,
Who
!
hanged on
why
lovest
thou
me
not
?
!
And
IKS
With hunger,
thirst, in
For thy love both bought and sold, Pained, nailed and done on tree,
All, man, for the love of thee Love thou me, as well thou may, And from sin withdraw away. I give my body with wounds sore
!
thereto I shall give thee more, Besides all this, also, I wis,
And
In earth
my
grace, in heaven
my
bliss.
Jesus.
Amen
119
O INFUL
I
see
how
ruefully
hung on
And on my
All
this,
;
penance have
I
pity,
with sorrowful
mood,
;
man,
all
my
;
flesh
was
riven
bled
my
:
blood
Lift
up thy
j
heart
call
tnou on
me
forsake thy
sin
LO That
What
now may
thou see
5
my life
for thee
?
And And
take thou
lay
mine alms
in
privily,
them
And
I ask
PART
III
ttjk
CJUmbrng
of out
Hold
Lord Jesu
devotion
to
our
inward
of desire ,
wouldest suffer so
death for love of
many man
kind, great and marvellous was thy charity, that thou vouchsafedst with thy precious blood to
sins.
me
said in
my
sins that I
in pride, in
commandments
in vice
;
thy broken, my time of life wasted neither have I followed virtue, nor done
my
123
Devotions for
Communion]
thou sheddedst on the rood-tree for our salvation, wash away all our sins that we have done in our
life
;
which thou
to be
heal and comfort us with the holy sacrament didst ordain and leave here in earth
life,
through which
we
thou in us. For, good Lord, thou didst speak of that holy work (which after thou madest and gavest to thine apostles) when thou saidst, The
bread that I shall give
life
to
you
//
is
my
flesh
for the
and
He
receiveth me, he
shall live
because of
with me and I with him. holy and mightful priest and bishop, who by thy divine might madest the worthy sacrament that is thy precious body in form of bread ; good Lord
shall dwell
this day with Jesu give of heart and cleanness of soul, with love, purity kind Jesu, I wot fear, and stedfast belief.
me
grace to receive
it
well and
am
not worthy to
so royal
come
as
is
meat
very
I For, good Lord, or to receive touch whom Peter presume thee, the prince of the apostles put from him with
how might
meek
am
saying thus, Go from me, Lord^ for I a sinful man ? Also, Lord, saint John the
fear,
124
was hallowed
in his
mother
womb,
and, even after that, holy and yet he trembled and quaked for fear of his great unworthiness, when he should baptize and touch
perfect in living,
Christ.
And
not
also,
Lord,
the
centurion
said,
Lord, I am
my
house.
is
Who
ready,
?
or prepare
him worthily
all
born of
of his
woman there is never an one who might own strength only, or of the righteousness
of his works, sufficiently prepare him to receive thee, even were it that a man had the natural
cleanness of
all
angels, or
all
earth,
these,
For
all
my
Lord
God,
worthy
to receive so great
mysteries as
O
sinner
dreadful,
!
how
Alas
it is
to
;
me, that
am
a
!
alas
good Lord
mercy
mercy
mercy since the angels be not clean in thy sight, and men of great works be not worthy by their
!
own
thou good
gracious Lord,
what
shall befall
me
125
what
I
fear
is
this to
!
me, that
may come
And,
to
truly,
may
fear lest
what should be
fall.
me
But, gracious Lord, me, that this sacrament of thine endless pity is ordained for a remedy against sin. And therefore
I will
comforteth
do what
in
me
is,
fitting
asleest
me
for
thy holy
grace.
not of
me what
thou wilt
thou sayest
And
not the death of a sinner, but that he turn and live ; and thou earnest down unto this earth for
sinners.
And, Lord,
hope
am one
of those
that thou earnest for, and therefore trusting in thy great pity and endless mercy, I, that am sick through sin, draw near to thee, Lord, that art the
physician
for sin.
And
that
am
spiritually
hungry
come
to thee, Lord,
And I that am needy that art the well of mercy. and poor, desire thee that art king of heaven and And I that of earth, and hast all in thy power.
am
my
for all dry and barren and would be sorrowful which art all sweetness sins, covet thee, Lord,
126
[Devotions for
and comfort and endless
to deliver
bliss
Communion
will,
and sovereign
me
of
my
things of nought
hast by thy divine might, and of what was sinful made rightful and holy in a moment of time.
Ah
draw
me
after thee
ointments, and so
reverence, with perfect meekness and holiness, with full contrition and tears of true devotion,
blessed
body
in
enter into
presence
my my soul may be
!
mouth and
Lord God, fulfil me with grace and strengthen me with thy might, that I may ever hereafter
govern my thou in me
life after
!
thy
will,
and
live in thee
and
Jesu, for thy great bounty save me from all perils ; teach and comfort my soul in all doubts
and dreads
to abide
art
my
vices ; suffer nothing but my heart, only thee, Lord, that soul s life and physician, that 1 may with
;
turn from
me all
in
127
my
soul by
Look
fold
not, Lord, on my wickedness and mani unkindness and great negligence, but rather,
For thou sayest thyself, Lord, that at what hour a sinner sorroweth for his sins, at that hour thou receivest him into thy mercy and into
goodness.
thy grace.
that I
Lord,
this
is
would be very
sorry,
and forsake
:
my
sins,
therefore
now
thy mercy descendeth into my soul. Also, Lord, thou sayest that if a sinner have
wilt never have
sins afterward.
mind of those
Lord, put
all
Now,
gracious
my
wretched
sins out of
thy mind,
so that they hinder not the fruit of virtues nor the influence of thy holy grace in needy soul.
my
For, soothly, Lord, thou art that holy lamb without spot or stain of sin that this day and every
of day art offered to thine everlasting Father heaven for the redemption of all the world, and for all them that apply them unto thy
specially
O joy
of
souls
endless
strength health
O O
precious body
most
pleasant
128
[Devotions for
Communion
ghostly drink ! bring into mine inward mouth that holy sweet taste of thine healthful presence :
kindle in
me the fervour of thy charity : shed into the plenteousness of virtues : increase in me the gifts of grace.
me
I
beseech thee,
to
bow
thine high
heaven and
be knit and
come down
(That
that
is
me,
so that I
may
made one
spirit
with thee.
to understand,
bow
me
that
of the highest heaven, and come down to am lowest of thy chosen souls ; thou
and
I that
am
low.)
thou worshipful sacrament, I beseech thee that all mine enemies be put away from me by strength of thee, and all my sins forgiven, and all
my
blissful
presence
of thee.
And, gracious Lord, do thou give me good purpose my wicked ways do thou correct and amend and all my works and deeds do thou dis
j ;
May my
will
and under
standing by thee, sweet Lord, here be made clear with a new light of thy grace ; and mine affec
tion inflamed
with
fire
and
my
this blessed
my
and
life
be perfect,
ever
amending
129
may from
this
a blessed
departing with thee, come to the life everlasting. For, merciful Lord Jesu, thus thyself thou
saidst,
caelo descendi
si
quis
manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum. / am the bread of life that from heaven descended :
whoso eateth of this bread shall live
saidst also,
endlessly.
Thou
my
Lord,
My
flesh
!
is
blood
is
!
very drink.
ment
Oh
Oh
cordial in
whom
is
all
delight and
all
suste
thou wretched soul of mine, whereto art Elsewhere be creatures, but here thou seeking ?
present the almighty Creator ; elsewhere be relics of saints, but here is present the Lord and
is
king and
maker of
all
saints
(they
may do
nothing but by the virtue of this good Lord). Other things must not be beloved and worshipped,
save for his love and his praise, his glory and his honour. Here is very God s Son Jesus, that took
flesh
and blood by the high workings of the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary, and suffered
on the cross, and rose from death to the third day, and after that ascended up to
s
death for
life
me
130
come
at the day of
doom
to
judge
me
and
In his power is both life and death ; that made heaven and hell and all the world of
mankind.
nought ; and that only by his mercy me, and by his righteousness may damn
out end.
may
save
me
with
to touch
it
and
much more
bchoveth
me
to hold
myself unworthy, and to be devout and clean, and weep with tears in mine eyes, and with my heart
to a thing.
tremble and quake for dread, to touch so holy For thou art my Lord Christ s very
:
and I shall body, perfect God and perfect man not only touch, nor shall I kiss thee, but I hope verily that I shall receive thee now into my sick
soul.
thou good Lord God, thou art all purity and cleanness and holiness ; and I am all sin, ftlth and
wretchedness, dust and ashes and worms From the earth I came, and to the earth
food.
I
shall
Thou art Lord alone, and I am all return again. death and how might these two great contraries
:
dwell together ? But, gracious Lord, this again comforteth me, that thy might and thy mercy may
in a
moment
of time cleanse
all
and forgive
me
offences.
Devotions for
Communion]
:
Lord, to be merciful to sinners therefore, gra cious Lord, as it were by right of thy holy virtues I crave and ask thy mercy and thy grace to receive thee now in the sacrament, in all cleanness and
purity, to the everlasting health of
my
sick soul.
!
it
me,
for
Amen.
Ps. Miserere met
Deus. R. Domtne non secundum actum meum. Hymnus, Vent creator spiritus. Ave Maria. Credo in Deum. Paternoster.
1J2
Lord
thus think or
say:
ALMIGHTY
unkind and
I yield
me
!
to thee,
blissful
mother.
Mercy
Blessed
mercy
Lord
mercy
!
dear-worthy Jesu
now
and man, the world of nought, and boughtest with thy precious passion, and with thy holy blood, and with thy bitter death : thou that art the same
that mayest save me by greatness of thy mercy, and the same Lord that mayest damn me by righteousness of thy judgement ; thou that art
that art here present, very God the same Lord that madest me and all
the
unkind
same Lord that I have been untrue and to, in my words and in my works and in
my
deeds and in
my
thoughts
with
all
the
33
the
Wherefore,
good
is
humanity
me, so
that
God thy Father for by the virtue of thy blessed body, all
the powers of my body may be made obedient, quick and ready in thy service, and be full recon ciled now to thy pleasure. And with the purity,
the holiness, the fairness, the cleanness and the brightness and the sweetness and the unspeakableness of thy sweet soul that is here present,
make therewith
thy Father
;
God
for that I
three powers of
my
soul, so that,
by the virtue of
be recon
my
soul
may now
thy likeness, with virtues and endued with grace, and inflamed with thy love, and be made thy habitation and thy resting-place. And with thine almighty Godhead that is here present, (to whom nothing is impossible, but
all
and so be inhabited
make
me,
for that I
folly,
have offended
by
my
feebleness, by
my
by
my
sin,
by
my
lack of grace ; that now, by thy divine might, by thy divine wisdom, by thy great goodness and the
134
\Devotionsfor Communion
plenteousness of thy grace, I
to thee,
may
be
be reconciled
and
full
satisfaction
;
made
for
all
and
now
perfect peace
made betwixt thee, almighty God, and my soul ; between mankind and my soul ; between
be
my
soul
rest in
may
peaceably
Jesu, grant it of thy bounty : and after this life that I may endlessly live in thy pre and there see thee face to face, and ever sence,
mortal
joy
in thy
goodness and
bliss
everlasting.
Amen.
135
Devotions for
Gommumon\
communion
ELCOME, my
gracious creator
victorious redeemer
endless
wisdom, sovereign and endless God, and blessed life of all things and incomprehensible save of
thyself!
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome,
high pontiff!
archbishop
!
high emperor
my my my my my my my
worthy prince
noble lord
!
sweet love
136
[Devotions for
Communion
my helper my teacher my castle and my tower, and my safe refuge and my defender Welcome, my very God that died on the
!
my my
homely brother
!
rood
Jesu, that for dedst thy heart-blood Welcome, son of the virgin Mary Welcome, my Lord of great mercy
!
!
Welcome, my sweet
me
shed-
Welcome, my
die!
rightful
judge when
shall
Welcome, thou very joy and food of angels Welcome, thou love and happiness of all
saints
!
Welcome, thou
Christian souls
!
desire
and comfort
of
all
Welcome,
all
my
felicity,
!
my
solace,
my
Welcome, now, my
art the life of
my
;
soul,
that I
would have
have
37
Devotions for
Communion]
;
thou
art
Good Lord,
grant
me
ghostly and inwardly, and array me with thy gracious virtues, and inflame me with thy holy for then have I all love, and give me them ail
:
all
that
desire,
and
all
that I
need.
For thou
endless joy,
art
my
my
full
excel
my
sovereign and
my
my
suffi
ciency in
all
Persons majesty ; unity and might, that made things of nought. Thy wisdom ordained all
thy divine
three
God
in
things
; thy goodness multiplieth and keepeth all things that thou mayest do with thy wisdom in
To heaven, in earth, in purgatory and in hell. thee is nothing impossible, for all things are possible ; for thou art all, and thou doest all that
is
done.
Therefore
ness
;
all
and
all
all
might, all wisdom and all good glory and all grace and all sweet
ness;
and
all
honours;
;
joys and
all
God
without end.
Amen.
Ps.
Nunc
meditation
after
communion,
to
with
y
mental
God
prostrate on
dear sweet Lord, how blessedful had I been sometime, if I might have received into my mouth one drop of thy precious blood
OMY
running out of the precious open wounds of thy But, sweet Lord, I have not only holy body.
received a drop or
two
but
now
have received
of the high Godhead, the glorious excellent soul, and blessed and holy and precious body, all whole, joined to my soul and body
!
move
the inward
affection of
What may
be shewed to
mine heart
than thus homely to knit desireth ? and thou sayest that it is to dwell with the sons of men and thy delight them that with meekness come to thee thou wilt
:
139
Therefore now,
forted
!
my
happy
soul, be
thou
com
for
whom
sought, thou
thou hast languored after and hast found and received Christ
this
bodily eye may not see here present with me, so thy humanity saint Symeon, bearing thee in his arms, might not see thy Godhead, but only with the eye of
my
true
belief,
as
see thee
is
now
verily
present.
bodily sight to me ? affirmed blessed by thee, since those eyes are which see not, as the scribes and pharisees, chosen disciples did, ghostly. fleshly ; but, as the
Therefore now,
thy Lord
to thee
ness, I
;
my
soul, taste
and see
For
is
sweet, soft
so that
now,
for
wondering
at his
good
might
:
faint in
and saying
Oh
the
the high might and worthiness Oh Oh the high high wisdom and riches
!
!
!
courtesy and
gentleness
O, my Lord God
that so abundantly givest thyself to me in this holy sacrament, that I may say and desire with
140
my
soul in
my
!
body rejoiceth
living
God
My
thy love
Saviour,
!
mine heart
is
inflamed within
May
lusts,
is
mine
and
ears
set
be set wide apart from fleshly Here for ghostly delights of thee
!
my
;
rest in the
world of worlds
Here
shall I
dwell
for
should
life
;
dread
Thou
art
the defender of
?
whom my
For
whom
should
I fear,
thou hast not despised thine unworthy servant nor turned thy face from me ; but of thy pure goodness hast visited me with thy glorious
presence,
the which, by union of glorious Godhead divine nature, hast made the body and the
endless
lights,
all
God
fires
of
whom
!
thou Trinity thou light above all other cometh all lights and fire passing
!
other
For thou
burneth
and wasteth not, but thou consumest all sin and natural love that thou findest in a soul. And
thou wastest yet even that
not painfully, but
14
Thou
fillest it,
yet
it is
not thus
O endless, sovereign
moveth thine
thine
infinite
God
who
stirreth thee or
goodness
to
illuminate
me,
unworthy
?
Thou
same
moved thee
for to
shew me mercy
me,
whatever side
the depth and
I turn
fire
Oh
Oh
of thy most flaming charity. thou goodness above all goodness Thou
!
brightness
Oh
melody thou
art
worthiest,
mightiest,
wisest,
richest
most
;
bounteous,
in love
most
in
homely
and
courteous
and
I
and
goodness without
measure
Oh
that
Trinity, beholding with undazzled eyes, strong charity ; love delectable ; love continual ; meek
est awefulness
; ; highest marvel; deepest search most mirth plenteous spending ing without measure ; and joy and felicity without
and
ending
142
[Devotions for
Communion
To come
very hope
;
to this unspeakable joy, thou art for thou hast given thine only true
my
Son Jesu
to
me
my salvation.
Oh
head
!
endless deepness
Oh
endless
God
deep sea What mightest thou give me more than thy self, that wastest not nor consumest in the heart
!
Oh
Thou
art
the
fire that
thou art the very light ; away so and of above nature, great abundance of perfec tion that thou makest clear the light of faith ; in
coldness
which
that
light.
my
soul hath
life.
And
in
light
hath received
of thee.
not
Whoso
searcheth
mine heart
findeth
my virtues, but only thy charity whereby I may purify both soul and body in thy holy blood.
Thou movest
with the same blood, opening the
gate of heaven to mankind.
O
sea, in
more
enter the
more
find
thou
art insatiable
for a soul.
is
He
filled
that
filleth
him
in thy deepness
not so
but
that he alway hungereth after thee, desiring with to thee in see endless For as the light light.
43
my
thou
art.
shall
Lord God almighty, how long time thy glorious face be hid from mine eyes ? O thou most excellent beauty O thou worthy
!
O my
thou
art
who
art
all
wounded
in
love
Why
thou so wounded
in
in the love of
me
For often
my
conduct
have unkindly
seekest
!
forsaken
thee and
to
me
More
near
come than
to
send thine
only Son Christ Jesu thus lovingly into with light of truth of thy presence.
my
soul,
Wherefore now
with
given
that
all
me, for all thy gifts and great benefits thou hast done to me. And specially I
thee thanks, kindly
give
God, that this day with thy precious body, by the which I hope to have health of soul and everlasting life with thee, when I depart hence.
me
Oh
how
shall I, a
144
this
fervent charity
love
that
thou
is
hast
5
shewed
me
For
am one
that
nought
he that
me
inflame mine heart with the burning beams of love, that I may with virtuous sweetness con
tinually yield acceptable thanks to the glorious
Trinity.
ye three Persons and one God, glory and praise with all reverence be offered to you of afl good creatures, without end. Amen.
Ps.
Benedicite omnia opera
devotions).
45
stfttmfc /(farm
of Brisotion at
Communion
Before receiving the most holy sacrament
\
KNOW
!
well that
all
01
men, be they never so holy, are unworthy for the receiving of thee, Lord, who art so
worthy
as
so
mighty
all
so benign
so merciful
thou art in
need
Ah! ah! true merciful Lord! how much more then am I unworthy that sin every day,
and, as a
man
still!
good Lord, why thee as to cast thee, my Lord God so precious, into so foul a pit of my conscience ? For soothly,
!
Ah
do
such despite to
my sweet and gracious sovereign Lord, I acknow ledge to thee that there is no ditch more foul than my soul. Ah
!
meek, what
Lord, Lord, that art so humble and so shall I do with thee, kindly Lord ?
Shall I leave thee, Lord, in that
foul
Why
146
thy mercy.
But, sovereign mightful Lord, I trow that thy mercy is endless ; more than all mine horrible foul
and wretched
sin
therefore I
am
all
trusting in
thy goodness, merciful Lord. I venture to receive thee, sweet Lord, as a sick man receiveth a medicine. Thou art a true phy
sician,
am
sick
Therefore
And
I
be
my sweet Lord
more
to
call
and the
intently
thee.
more need
think
upon
Therefore, Lord, in the healing of my deadly sickness there shall well be shewed and commended
the greatness of thy goodness.
147
Devotions for
Communion]
(If communion
let
:)
see This doeth every sinful creature our merciful and gracious Lord to me, for to shew to me my wickedness, and for to overcome
EE,
my wretchedness
See, see
!
with the plenty of his goodness. Well may I be joyful, for he maketh
for to feel life
;
and me, a
foul
worm,
!
for to taste
!
in sin, what trow I he would do to me, if I fully offer myself to him ? In truth he would do much better than eye can see,
or
148
[Devotions for
Communion
be not followed by sensible devotion^ good that a man think that it is a token of great sickness or even of great death of sin, or else
it
is
(If communion
that
it is
But a man
permitted by God for to make him a man. should ever conceive that he is contin
AH
*>
what
now
?
full
merciful Lord,
my
bosom, and
full
I feel
none
sinful
Lo, lo wretches
I feel
Lord ever
I
merciful to
Christ, have pity upon the most unkind and froward wretch, for I me, have received a sovereign medicine, and yet I feel
Ah
149
PART IV
GENERAL DEVOTIONS
[General Devotions
Celuf
Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem
T
*-
thee,
God
Father,
I believe,
full
Who
all
art First
Person
of might,
That
of nought hast
made
to
move
And
in thine one-begotten
all
Son
And one
with
God
in
heaven being.
The
one same God that aye hath been, After conceived by the Holy Ghost, And born on earth of maiden clean
Became a man
in
meekness most.
And
Be Persons
Right
God,
body
General Devotions]
Under
Pilate thou sufPredst pain
free-will,
Of thy
And
mankind
to save,
slain,
down and
laid in grave.
In soul thou went deep hell within And took thy part (it was good right),
But up thou
rose in flesh
and
skin,
On
Thou
Godly might.
I
manhead
s
There
But over There
thy Father
side
hide.
Thence
shalt thou come us all to doom, Both quick and dead of Adam s seed, With open wounds and face of gloom ; This doctrine maketh true men dread.
I believe in the
Holy Ghost,
The Third Person in Trinity; Of which Three none is more nor most, But all one God in Persons three.
The Holy Ghost maketh holy church, Of faithful men, by communing
;
154
\General Devotions
Each
to other what they can work In holiness and good living.
Forgiveness
the
If
I believe
of
sin,
Or
else
himself
is
aye present.
Though
my
forgiveness.
And I believe with my whole mind The Holy Ghost shall knit again The soul to the flesh of all mankind
That
flesh shall rise
slain.
to all true
men
That we may
I counsel
we
amen.
General Devotions]
^gmn
to
tie
ui
SlesseB
an&
ATHER,
Lord
to thee I
make my moan
:
Stedfast king of
make
haste
To
pardon what
have misdone.
At mine
Thy
ending, when I shall dread ; grace I ask both night and day ;
;
Of mine
me
Hear thou
my
for
me was
still ;
156
[General Devotions
For
pains that
I sigh
me
Full oft
and weep
my
fill :
When
Let thou
my
deeds
ill.
Holy Ghost, I pray to thee Night and day with good intent In all my sorrows comfort me,
Thy And
let
In deadly
be shent ;*
Ruined
For Mary
love, that
maiden
free
On whom
I
wilt pray for my misdeed, For the love of that same child
That thou
to bleed.
been wild,
My
sinful soul
!
is
my
!
need.
fair
thou
me
157
General Devotions]
Pray
for
And
That
shield
hell.
know
Therefore
my foemen thou may fell ; my grief to thee I shew, With mournful mood my tale I tell.
Bethink thee, Lady, ever and aye, Of women all thou bears the flower For sinful man, as I thee say,
Our Lord
Thee
has done thee great honour Help me, Lady, as well thou may ;
behoves be
my
I
counsellor
Of counsel,
And
me ; my And be my shield against my foe, And keep me, if thy will so be, From deadly sin that me will slay
sorrow comfort
Mercy, Lady, fair and free That which is fallen take away, For thy mercy and thy pity.
!
At mine ending
When
from hence
and go
I Genera I
Devotion*
be,
When
And
I
I shall
all
Since aye
my my
in thee,
; pray thee, Lady, help All for the love of that sweet tree
me
there
Where
Jesu, by that long agony That thou would on the rood-tree bleed,
And And
me there of my death-wound, guard me there at all my need When death takes me and brings to ground,
heal
:
Lord, then
shall I
For
all
Before
my my
sins to
do penance,
me
And space for very penitence, With all my heart beseech I thee
Thy mercy
is
my
confidence,
:
My
And on me
Lord,
for
thy debonnairety
as
is
Lord God,
thou art
full
of might
;
Whose
love
159
General Devotions]
My life amend, my deeds set right, For Mary s love, the maiden chaste
And
(To
bring look on thee
me
!)
!
To
look on thee
Amen.
60
[Genera/ Devotions
8n
I to
Intercession to
fesu*
God
of
withouten end,
My
And
soul and
all
my
body,
;
my
friends especially
To
quick and dead grant thou a share, Lord God, of this thy bedesman s prayer
And
keep us that on earth are here, (For the prayer of thy mother dear
And all thy saints that are in heaven), From the deadly offences seven, And from snare of the evil wight, From sudden death by day or night.
Shield us
That
And
all,
:
And
As Grant
us,
Lord, that so
161
it
be
!
Amen, Amen,
for charity
General Devotions]
(Eummen&attons
for
(i)
A prayer
in
view of death
!
O GLORIOUS
I
Jesti
meekest Jesu
.
pray thee
may have
true confession,
see
Saviour of
mankind, Christ
sin.
wilt,
my
thy
my
that I
sins
for
passion.
And
may end my
holy church, and in perfect love and charity with my fellow-christians, since they are thy
creatures.
And
thy holy hands, of thy blessed Mother of mercy, our Lady, saint Mary, and all the holy company of heaven.
commend my
the
soul
into
through
glorious
help
162
[Genera/ Devotions
The
holy body of Christ Jesu be my salvation Amen. of body and soul. The glorious blood of Christ Jesu bring my soul
I
bliss. Amen. I God God I cry mercy mercy cry cry God mercy Welcome my maker Welcome my redeemer Welcome my saviour
cry thee mercy with heart contrite for my great wickedness that I have had to thee.
Amen.
(ii)
Father that art in heaven, I ask thee all that I have and trespassed
:
which
evil
Father, of thy goodness be betwixt me and mine And may the great merit of our deeds :
Lord Jesu Christ be pleasing to thee for all that I should have merited and done, and did not
:
And
also, merciful Lord, Father of heaven, if it be thy will, I beseech thee that all the benefits
that our
after
63
General Devotions]
here in earth for the salvation of mankind, stand betwixt me and thy wrath.
And, blissful Lady, Mother of mercy, saint Mary, queen of heaven, lady of all this world, and
empress of
hell, as
thou before
all
women
didst
merit, through the goodness of God, to bear, without loss of thy maidenhood, Jesu Christ,
Savioui
of mankind
so
all
me, my sins be forgiven. Lord And, almighty, Jesu Christ, since thy
that
holy gospel witnesseth that thou wiliest not the death of sinful man, but that he be turned from
sin
and
live
after
thy word
have mercy on me, a sinful wretch, and as thou blamedst Simon for ;
that
Mary Magdalen,
;
on
me
most
sinful
calledst
divers
; despise not me that come to without thee willingly, any such calling and though I have lain long in my sin, think, Lord,
from their
on the great mercy that thou hadst and shewedst to man, that he should not be ashamed nor despair
of thy mercy, although he had lain long in sin ; when thou hadst no disdain to raise Lazarus,
although he
corrupting.
had
lain
in
his
164
[General Devotions
And
art
therefore I trust to
in
Father almighty,
whose mercy
to
whose refuge
to thee
I
flee.
With
great desire I
in haste : Lord, despise me not, be wretched and sinful, for that I trust in all my great need. For I fully to thy help that I cannot help myself nor acknowledge
come
though
my
deeds
it
but stedfastly
to
in
sufficeth
make
full satisfaction to
my
sins.
Therefore, Lord, bring me out of care and have mercy on me. I trust not to my deeds,
but
I despise to trust
in
them
fully trusting to
For thy mercy, despising my wicked deeds. thou art my God in whom I trust stedfastly is
all
might and mercy and good-will, through which I hope to be saved. And therefore to thee,
that art full of mercy, I
acknowledge
my
sin the
I
have done through mine own fault. have mercy on me acknowledge my guilt
which
I
for
know
none
truly that thou deniest thy mercy to Arid in trusl that truly trust thereto.
all
my
heart this
life,
to
Into thine hands, Lord almighty and merciful, I commit my soul. For from the beginning of this world hath thy mercy been
with thee.
165
General Devotions]
ready to sinful men, and so I trust me in mine end.
it
shall
be to
Therefore,
God my
thine
!
Lord,
full
of truth, take
as it pleaseth
it
my
fare
soul, for
!
it is
Do thereto
thee
For
shall
it
it.
better
it,
than
for in
it
hath deserved.
Receive
and keep
Amen.
166
{General Devotions
of
THEY
For
that he
law
at that dreadful
is
doom
:
truly
shall
each have
That day
shall
of nothing
The
They
sinful shall
no mercy have
save
:
and nothing
that day
may them
nor shall have none for them to plead them to counsel at their need Nor any saint for them shall pray this may be
:
day day of great deliverance the day of wreak and of vengeance The day of wrath and wretchedness the day of
!
called a dreadful
The
bale
and bitterness
The
The
the day
of
the day of
General Devofions]
The day
everlasting
woe
The
affray
parting from
God
for aye.
est
vox
he
Vemte
vox
est
jucunda Venite.
Deo
Maria. Johannes. gratias. Jhtsus. Passio domlnl nostri Jesu Christi, &c. Humilitas.
Charitas.
Qbedieniia.
Labor.
[The word of life or death is short Go ; Come. Bitter is the word Go ; sweet is the word Come
Thanh
The
to
God.
Jesus.
passion
Humility.
&c.
168
[Genera/ Devotions
^Epigram
TUT
I
EAVEN
Hell
is
is won with woe and shame won with glee and game
:
two
On
woe
General Devotions]
(i)
To
\ LMIGHTY
-/IL
God
in
Trinity
From
all
my
And And
for all
O
Be
Lord God,
to thy
may thou
loving
be
all
name without
ending.
Amen.
(ii)
To
Jesus.
LORD With
And
Jesu Christ,
all
my
My
My
soul thou
made through
170
breath of thine,
[Genera/ Devotions
And
gave
a
me
limbs
all fair
and
fine
mirk dungeon brought me right, is (That my mother s womb,) to light ; And then begat me thy child new-born, Through baptism, that was the fiend
From
child
lorn.
And skill wherewith they ruled be. And though I have wrought against thy law, Thy good thou will not from me draw j
A traitor false against thee aye, Who sins against thee every day.
Thou
That
sends
me
Each day
is
my
to say
free
And all that needful is to me. Thou has borne with me, and venged
thee not
Of all my
And
wrought
To
yet thou bears, and gives me space turn to thee and take thy grace ; Aye, when in the fiend s power I fall
From final loss does me recall, Which I for sinning was worthy ; But thou has covered me with mercy ; And aye has spared me, and yet spares ; And keeps me from the devil s snares,
Against his darts has been
171
my
shield
General Devotions]
And has saved me in youth and eld, From many perils in many states, And from mischance and sudden deaths.
For
all
is,
And
for all
That thou to me, a sinful caitiff, Has graciously done in this my life,
I
And
thank thee, Lord, with all loving ; pray thou take me in thy keeping,
And
That
To mend my
I
and
may
Amen.
172
[Genera/ Devotions
fi
$ragn
of
!);
t{je
Jpibe
fop
of out l,abg, in
g>orrofos
anU
of tie jptbe
for
LA.DY, Teach me
Now
for
thy joys
the
five
way
of righteous
life.
Amen.
meekest and joyfullest Lady, saint Mary, the joy that thou had when thou conceived
thy dear son of the Holy Ghost in the greeting the which joy was so great that of the angel if the angel had abode longer than to make his
message, thine heart
had cloven
for great
joy
and love
God, and thou had died, if thou had not been strengthened of the Holy Ghost now,
in
Lady,
sinful wretch.
Paternoster.
Ave Maria.
Sweetest and joyfullest Lady, for the great joy that thou had in the birth of thy sweet son Jesu ; have mercy on me, a sinful wretch for as
:
thou conceived him of the Holy Ghost with great joy and without any sin, so thou bare him
73
General Devotions]
with great joy and without any sorrow.
Paternoster.
Amen.
As
the
sun
shines
through
the
glass
and
lightens the place within, and the glass is not broken nor stained of the sun when he shines, nor when he withdraws his beams, nor after, but
is
when
the
Godhead shone
in thy soul
but thou was hallowed of his presence, so that thou might never be stained. Paternoster. Ave
Maria.
Now blissfullest and joyfullest Lady, for the honour of the glorious passion that thy blessed
son suffered for us sinful wretches
;
have mercy
on me, a sinful wretch, for the bloody wounds that he suffered, and the precious blood that he shed for us on the glorious cross that he was
nailed on for us, and the shameful death, and all the bitter pains that he suffered ; and for ail the sorrows that thou had for his pains.
Now,
thou had
dear
Lady,
for
when Symeon
said,
The sword
of sorrow, he
soul;
own
pray
deliver
me
ill.
thy out of
dear
all
son
to
sins,
help
me
and to
my
174
and to keep
me
from
a.11
Amen.
Paternoster.
Ave Maria,
General Devotions
Dear Lady,
for
when
thy son was lost from thee three days, and thou sought him with weeping heart ; pray thy son to in the end of give me contrition of all my sins
my
life.
Amen.
Paternoster.
for
Ave Maria.
Dear Lady,
the
wist in spirit that thy son was taken and should suffer death ; pray thy son to deliver me out of all tribulation of body and of soul.
when thou
Paternoster.
Ave Maria.
Lady,
for
had
the
Now, when
his
dear
the
that thou
cross,
saw thy dear son hang on with fresh wounds new-made, red
blood
;
with
own
make me burning
forget him.
in
Paternoster.
for the
Dear Lady,
when
that thy dear son lay dead in thine arms ; pray thy son to save me from damnation and from
hard pains
when
life,
and from the great dread and the temptations or fiends, and from all mischiefs both bodily and
ghostly, and grant Paternoster. Ave.
me
Amen.
in
Dear Lady,
his
thou had
glorious
resurrection,
to
life,
risen
from death
75
General Devotions ]
angels and redemption of
his passion
;
Paternoster.
Ave Maria.
Now,
joy that thou had when that thou saw thy sweet son Jesus ascend into heaven from whence he
came, in the manhood that he took of thee, for to be king of heaven, lord of earth, emperor of hell, King of all kings, Lord of all lords, to
ordain thee a mansion above
all all holy angels and next to the saints, holy Trinity, and for to udge both dead and quick at his will ; have
Paternoster.
Ave
Joyfullest and graciousest Lady, for that great joy that thou had when thy blessed son Jesu
God in Trinity, crowned thee of heaven, lady of earth, empress of hell, queen lady and queen of all holy angels and all saints, Mother of mercy, succour and comfort to the
Christ, almighty
salvation of
sinful
all
;
mankind
and on
all
all
wretch
;
am bound
in
to pray for
and on
all
those
that trust
my
Ave
prayers
for,
and on
Amen.
Paternoster.
Maria.
176
\General Devotions
Jfeong to
HAIL Hail,
The Son
Hail,
be thou, Mary, the mother of Christ, thou most blessed that ever bare
!
child
of God, both
was
defiled
!
wisdom
!
Hail,
comely queen, comfort of care Hail, blessed Lady both fair and bright
!
Hail, the salvour of every sore Hail, the lamp of gleaming light
!
maid
in
whom
all
man
regis
both
and some
* Placed.
!
Hail, pinnacle in
Mater
177
General Devotions]
Hail, thou fairest that ever
to his
Hail, the lantern that aye is lightened To thee should bow both rich and poor.
Hail, spice sweetest of all savour
!
Hail, of
Hail, of
has
come
women
Hail, be thou goodly ground of grace Hail, blessed star upon the sea
I
God
own Son
I
Funde
preces
ad
filium /
May
!
may
For
me
[General Devotions
to
a Guartnau
my
folly.
Also
I
s
none
to do
God
wot well that strength have 1 service, but only of his gift and
of your busy keeping. The wisdom that I have cometh not of me, but of what God will send
me
Now, good
mercy,
can
busy-ness
;
but
full
now
with
keep me truly this day and evermore, sleeping and waking, with safe defending and your holy
teaching.
me and keep God s worship and the saving of my soul. Teach me and instruct me to use my senses most for God s worship and pleasure. ) Feed me
harms, defend
perils, to
is
need, against
my ghostly
179
General Devotions]
enemies
that
is
;
and suffer
granted
in
me
s
keep
me
God
not to lose that grace but, of your worthy office, service to my life s end. And
:
me
my
soul
day by mine
that ever I
own
:
frailty,
hope in mercy. Gladly would I thee and I to worship would, your liking there for and God fore, worship you ; you also in him,
I
this
holy prayer.
Pater
noster.
Deo
gratias.
80
[Genera/ Devotions
|3rawi
to
tfte
SWEET angel,
Full
to
me
so dear, near,
Thanking, loving, love, praising, For his gifts all great and good ;
And know
Saying
it
st
my
life in
each degree,
in his presence.
Ask me
To
serve
my Lord
with
full
heart duly,
With my daily diligence. Keep me from vice and every peril, While thou with me dost daily travel
In
Set
this
world of wickedness
petitions granted,
me my
By
If
it
181
General Devotions}
Collect of
tfee
&nael
(ffiuartitan
The
SWEET angel
Bring
that keepest
me,
me
The
Collect.
MY
as
it
hath pleased
thee to assign an angel to wait on me, and daily nightly, with great attention and dili : gence so, I beseech thee, through his going
betwixt
clothe
us
that
thou
cleanse
me
from
vices,
with virtues, grant me love and grace to come, see and have without end thy bliss before thy fair face : that livest and reignest,
after
me
thy glorious passion, with the Father of heaven and with the Holy Ghost, one God and Persons three, without end in bliss. Amen.
182
\General Devotions
<SH
tf)e
&bbep
of
is
amt
Spirit,
rtjat
fs
in
a Dilate
!
tijat
ealleij
Conscience
I
be in religion that may not, either for poverty, or for dread of their kin, or for bond of marriage ; and therefore I make here
a
AH many would
book of the
sisters,
see that
religion of the
heart, that
is
of
the abbey of the Holy Ghost, that all those that may not be in religion bodily, may be so in
ghostly manner.
Ah
Jesu,
mercy
and
best be founded,
this religion
science
in a place that
will, let
called
Con
him be busy
to found
this
Christian
thereabout.
at the beginning,
place of this conscience be cleansed clean of sin ; to the which cleansing the Holy Ghost
AND
it
is
183
General Devotions]
shall
the one
is
called Righteousness^
is
called Love-
all
When
the
place
well
cleansed, then shall the foundation be made, large and deep, and this two maidens shall make ; the
one
is
make
the foun
dation deep through lowliness of herself: the other is called Poverty, that makes it large and
wide above
that
far
is
on each
to say,
earthly lusts
from the heart, so that if they hold earthly goods with love, they forget them for the time
and cast no love to them, and not and set not their hearts at
these are
called
for that
all
time have
on them
of
and
poor in
spirit y
whom God
speaks in the gospel and says that theirs is the kingdom of heaven by these words, Beati pauperes
spiritu^
quoniam
is
ipsorum
that
est
regnum
caelorum.
Blessed, then, religion that is founded in poverty and in meekness. This is the contrary
of
many
and proud.
river,
This abbey
as are set
on a good
[General Devotions
ease,
is
there,
On
Mary Magdalen
all
:
founded,
therefore grace and riches come And therefore said David thus
petus laetificat civitatem; that
is
at her will.
Fluminls im
for
it is
good merchandise.
And
that
is
so the river
of tears cleanses
that
it is
God
;
city
God
city
man s man
soul
says
brings out of the filth of sin the riches of virtues and of all g)od habits. And when this foundation is made, then shaL
come
a damsel Buxomness
on the one
side,
and
the walls one storey, and to make them stalwart ; with a free heart largely giving to the poor and to them that have need : for when we do any
good works of charity through the grace of God, as often as we do them in the love and the loving to
of
God and
lay
in
we
in good intent, so many good stones our mansion in the bliss of heaven,
joined together by the love of God and of our read that Solomon made fellow-christians.
We
house of great precious stones the precious stones are alms-deeds and works of mercy and
his
:
holy works, that shall be bound together with mortar of love and stedfast belief; and there-
General Devotions]
fore says
is
David, Omnia opera eius in fide; that to say, all his works be done in stedfast belief. And as a wall may not last without cement or
we work
are
worth
anything to
God nor speedful to our souls, except they be done in the love of God and in true
all is lost
!
Then
shall
damsel Sufferance and damsel Fortitude raise the pillars, and underset them so strongly
no wind of words, anger nor strife, fleshly nor ghostly, sour nor sweet, may cast them down. Ah dear brethren and sisters, whichever of
that
!
you
rest
will hold
and be
in
of soul and in sweetness of heart, hold thee within the cloister, and so bar thou the gates,
and so carefully keep thou the wards of thy cloister, that no other temptations nor evil stir
rings have entrance to
thee and
make
:
thee to
break thy silence, or stir thee to sin Fix thine eyes from foul sights, thine ears from
hearing, thy mouth from foul thine heart from foul thoughts.
foul
speech, and
Preaching shall
make thy chapter ; make thy frater ; Orison shall make thy chapel Contemplation shall make thy dorter,
Shrift shall
;
that shall
86
[General Devotions
love-quickening to God, and that shall be as far away out of worldly noise and of worldly angers
and business,
thou may be for the time, through time of prayer. (Contemplation is a devout rising of heart, with burning love to God to do well ; and in his
as
of that sweetness
shall
that
God s
chosen
children
have in heaven.)
;
Ruefulness shall make the infirmary Devotion shall make the cellar ;
the granary ; houses be made, then behoves it the Holy Ghost to ordain the convent of grace and of virtue ; and then shall the Holy Ghost, of whom this religion is, be the Warden
Meditation shall
all
make
the
And when
and
Visitor.
the
Father
founded through his power ; for thus says David, Fundavit earn a/tissimus t and that is to say,
high God the Father founded this religion ; the Son through his wisdom then ordained it, as sunt a Deo ordinata saint Paul witnesses,
the
>ut
sunt
rules
it
that
is
and ordains
visits it,
and
and
this,
that
we
is
when we
>ui
say
Veni
;
creator spiritus,
to say,
with,
thou
paracletus dicer is
that
Come
General Devotions]
God
the
fulfill
visit thou
thine
own, and
And then the good Lady Charity, since she is most worthy before all others, shall be Abbess
of this blessed abbey.
And
gift,
without
leave of the Abbess, so, spiritually, shall none of such things be done without leave of Charity ;
for
thus
commands
;
saint
Paul
Omnia
vestra
in caritate fiant
JFhatso ye do or say or is, think with your heart, ye must do all in charity. Ah ! dear brethren and sisters, what a hard
that
is
commandment
here
But
it is
for love.
say
for
many
are
in
yet but
religious have done the commandment of saint Paul, or the counsel of the good Lady
few
Charity that
is
and therefore they lose much time, and lose their reward and also their pains, greatly, unless they amend them. Wherefore, dear brethren and
sisters,
be evermore
in all
your works think deeply that whatso ye do, be it done in the love of God, and for the love of God. 188
[General Devotions
is
Nam
that
prior
is,
omnium
of all
that
creaturarum
is
est
:
first
wisdom made
and through
Prioress shall
we
do
in
all
we
David
say,
Omnia
sapientia fecisti
All that
thou hast
made
made
times
other,
wisely,
The
alike
shall
all
all
Ah
Jesu
blessed
is
is that religion that has so holy an Abbess as Charity, a Prioress as Wisdom, a Sub-prioress as
Meekness
Ah
dear
brethren
!
and
sisters,
blessed
and
that is to say, those souls are happy are they that hold the commandment of the Abbess happy
Lady Charity, and the teaching of the Prioress Lady Wisdom, and the counsel of the Sub-prioress Lady Meekness. For whoso are buxom to these
three
Ladies,
and rule
their
lives
after their
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghnst shall comfort them with many ghostly joys, and help and succour them in all tempta
teaching,
tions
General Devotions]
they dread no deceits nor wiles of the fiend, for why ? God is with them and stands aye by
them
meae
as a true keeper
fore says
;
David thus
a quo trepidabo ?
he
said,
God
is
my
is
champion, stalwart and true, that for me, that 10 weak and so unmightful, has undertaken for
fight against
to
mine enemy;
whom
then do
I dread?
book of
now
truly,
right none.
We
read
in a
Daniel that a mightful king there was, that men called Nebuchadnezzar, that set in his realm three
men
that should
all
settle,
as
the realm, so that the king should governours, hear no noise and no complaint, but that he
might be
realm.
in peace
And
joy and in rest in his right so the realm of the soul that
and
in
these governours are in, and the religion that these three prelates are in, that is, Charity, Wisdom, and Meekness, there is peace, rest and
life. is
Damsel
shall
Discretion, that
;
be Treasurer
she shall
keeping, and zealously look that all go well. Orison shall be Chantress, that with hearty
And what prayers shall travail day and night. Oratio est Deo Orison is, the holy man says
:
sacrificium, angelis
solatium,
diabolo
tormentum
190
[Genera! Devotions
that
is
to say, Orison
joy
to
is
lovely sacrifice to
God,
solace
and
It witnesses in
that
it is
him and
tuae
;
me
orationes
that
me.
burn
Austin witnesses
and
When we
dancing and playing, and bear our prayers up and present them to the Father of heaven ; the which in the book of prayers our Lord commands to write
life.
Further,
it
is
one of those that please him most, and therefore he asks it of us where he says thus : Sacrificium
laudis
honorificabis
me
that
is
to say,
Te
shall
worship me with
sacrifice
of lauding.
shall help. And what Jubilation, her fellow, it and says that Jubila Jubilation is, a saint tells tion is a great joy that is conceived in tears through
burning love of spirit, that may not be altogether As it falls some shewed nor altogether hidden.
God heartily loves that, after that they have been in prayer and orison, they are so light and so joyous in God, that whereso
time to those that
they go their heart sings morning songs of love-
longing to
their
love,
whom
they
yearn
to
191
General Devotions]
fold seemlily
kiss
with
spiritual
mourning over
his
goodness
and
words
far
yet, meanwhile, so deeply that they lack for love-longing ravishes their hearts so ;
forth
that
is Cellaress, that keeps the wines, both the white and the red, with deep thinking on the goodness of God, and on the pains and
the anguish that he bore, and on the joys and the delights of paradise that he has ordained for
his chosen.
Penance shall
be
busy-ness travails
and
oft
her sins.
bitter
for anger over She makes good meats, that is, many sorrows all for her guiltinesses, and these
toils
meats feed
the
soul
but
she
spares
herself
through abstinence and eats but little, for do she never so much nor so manifold good works, ever
sinful.
frater, and she so Temperance looks to each one that moderation be over all,
that
little.
none
eat
life
they
[Genera/ Devotions
led, for to
take good ensample to do as they did, like reward to win as they now
Pity
is
Dispenser that does service to do good may. And Mercy her sister shall
all
be
nought
The Lady Dread is Porter, that keeps busily the cloister of the heart and of the conscience, that chases out all wickednesses, and calls in all good
virtues, and so bars the gates of the cloister and the windows, that no evil have entrance to the
through the gates of the mouth, through the windows of the eyes nor of the
heart
nor
ears.
Honesty
teaches
is
them
courtesy,
how
and go and
stand, and how they shall bear them without and within, how to God,
and
how
to
man
so that
all
that see
them may
all
take
ensample of them
habits.
for all
goodness and
good
that
Damsel Courtesy shall be Hostler, and them come and abide she shall receive handily, so
one may speak good of
her.
that each
And
for
over-bold
General Devotions]
have a
allied
fellow-damsel
Simpleness,
for
they two
together through fellowship are safe and seeming ; for the one without the other is little
for over-great Simpleness : may the simple a fool or one over-nice, and over-great Courtesy may be some while either too
worth meanwhile
make of
in
light
cheer, or too
;
but
fair
finding of blame
together.
may
shall
they do their
both
Damsel Reason
Damsel
shall
about and busily serve the sick. therefore, seeing that in the infirmary of this religion are more sick than whole, more feeble
travail
And
over-great travail to serve by herself, therefore she shall have a fellow-damsel Largesse, that shall see full well to
it
is
them
all
damsel
is
Meditation
assemble
prudent and wise that is called Garnerer ; she shall gather and
good wheat and other good corn together, and that fully, with great plenty,
through the which all the good ladies of the Meditation bouse may have their sustenance,
194
[General Devotions
good thoughts ot God, and of his works and of his words, and ot his creatures, and of his pains that he suffered, and of his great love
is
in
that
he
had
and
has
to
them
for
whom
he
suffered.
This garnerer had the good king was he aye rich and in plenty therefore David,
;
and
therefore
he
says
in
the
psalter
In
omnibus operibus tuis meditabar . . . die ac node ; that is to say, Lord, in thy law I think night and This is the beginning of all perfection when day.
man sets and fixes his heart in deep thinking on God and on his works, for often a good thought in
holy meditation is better than many words said in prayer, for the holy thoughts in meditation cry in God s ears. Oft it falls that the heart is so
overtaken and so ravished in holy meditation that it wots not what it does, hears, nor says, nor
sees
;
so deeply
is
in his
to a
and the
that he
is
God
ears
tacui,
lo !
and therefore
htf>niam
dum
clamarern
said, Lord, mine heart was in deep thoughts in thee and of thy
he
works,
still,
it
and was
as being
dumb.
And
we
95
General Devotions]
great desires
and our great yearnings. And this saint that When the heart is Denis, says says. and ravished to the love God with lifted of jealous
it
yearnings,
may
not be uttered
This holy Meditation that is the Garnerer keeps year by year the wheat that is red without and white within, that has the side cloven, of the
which men make good bread that is called that without was red of his own Jesu Christ, and white within his own meek blood, through
:
ness
and cleanness of
life,
and has
with a spear ; this is that bread that we receive and eat in the sacrament of the altar. And wit thou well that the granary shall be above the also shall be meditation before devotion
: ;
cellar
and
therefore
Meditation
shall
be
Garnerer,
Of Cellarer, Pity Penitentiary. these three says the prophet David exf fructu frumenty vini et olei sui multiplicati sunt ; that is
Devotion
and
to say,
oil
Of
God
many
three
:
places
takes
to
chosen
these
and I shall give you says, wine wheat and and oil. plenty of Plenty of think is to on the cross and ever wheat, heartily
Serve me, he
to
have the
passion
of Jesu
Christ
heartily
\General Devotions
in
mind
is
this
is
meditation.
Plenty of wine ?
for
that
this
the well of
devotion.
tears, well
to
weep
Plenty of oil, that is for to have delight and savour in God: and this is comfort. For the oil gives odour to meats, and
is
lamp
when God
God and on
his
works, with
love-longing to them, then has God pity on them, and sends them pittance of comfort and of ghostly joy. And this gives them at the
is
God
plenty of tears and devotion that men conceive in meditation ; and, after the wine of s^veet tears, then sends he the oil of
consolation that gives
as
lightness
to
their
acknowledgment
and shews
them
of his heavenly secrets that are hid from them that follow fleshly desires and give themselves all to the wisdom of the world and his fantasy ;
bliss
of his love
he
all
is,
how good
I
he
is,
how
that
but not
it
fully.
wot well
none may
feel
fully,
but his heart should burst for pleasure of joy. Saint Austin tells of a priest that, when he heard
197
General Devotions^
anything of
God
in
would be
so
ravished
down and
that time
flesh,
lie as if
which was happiness, he in joy that he would fall he were dead ; and also if in
men
he
felt it
laid burning fire to his naked no more than does a dead corpse.
Saint Bernard speaks of the words of Job that he says : Abscondit lucem in mam bus ; that is to
say,
God
Thou wot
wel^ he that has a candle alight between his hands, he may hide it and shew it at his own will. So
does our
his
Lord
to his chosen.
When
he will, he opens
hands and lightens them with heavenly gladness ; and when he will he closes his hands and withdraws
the joy
and
the comfort
from them.
He
will not
that they always feel it fully, but here he gives them to taste and savour somewhat of how
sweet he
Gustate
is,
how good he
Be
is,
as
est
David
dominus
this
;
says
as
et videte
quoniam suavis
this comfort
if
God
said to us,
and
to
joy, that
sweet,
how
good,
I am
of the world without end : does for to draw us from worldly business and the
my
bliss
pleasure
thereof,
and
for
with
love-yearnings, for to
win and
to have the
pleasure of that joy all at the full, to be with in body and soul evermore without end.
him
198
[General Devotions
damsel wise and well-taught that men call Jealousy, that is aye awake and busy, ever the
same, to do well, shall keep the clock and shall waken the other ladies and make them early to
rise
There
town
that
waken men
:
to
rise to bodily travail, and that is the cock there are clocks in the city that waken the
and
mer
and
chants to
that
is
wend about
their
merchandise,
the watchman.
(And
religion,
of contemplation.)
this
And
this
is
is
the
watchman of
founded
of the Holy Ghost, namely, Jealousy^ and this is savour of perfection. And oft it falls in religion,
before that the clock strikes or
any
bell rings,
God s ghostly servants are wakened long before, and have wept before God and have washed them
with their
itself
tears,
and their
spirit
hath clothed
And
with devout prayers and ghostly comfort. why rose they so early and so timely ?
for
Truly,
the
hand-made clock
sisters,
struck.
Ah
dear brethren
and
happy
longing towards him awakens, and that slumber not nor sleep at all in sloth of fleshly
lusts
!
God and
Therefore he says
199
in the Canticle
Ego
General Devotions]
dormio
et
cor
meiirn
vigilat
to
that
is
to
say,
flesh,
When I
my
to
sleep bodily
is
for
ease
and
rest
my
heart
aye
awake
in jealousy
and love-yearning
to
God.
That
wakes
think, and that is this ; Jeo ay le quer a-loche, heart rauayle par amours ; that is to say, has started from me^ wakened with love. What
My
is
this that
flesh,
and
for to be, as
Truly, jealousy with love-tears and mourning, with love-longing conceived in devout uprising
of heart.
When
God
his
s
this
abbey was all well ordained and and in joy and in peace
power, and placed in this holy abbey four daughters that he had, that were loathely and of evil manners, for the fiend was father of these
daughters.
The
first
of this foul
litter
the second Pridey the third Grudging, the fourth Fa he -judging-of-oth er.
These
this
in
foul uncleanness
20O
[General Devotions
have grieved and harmed the convent, so that they may have no rest nor peace, night nor day, And when the good Lady nor joy in soul. saw this, and the Lady that was Abbess, Charity^
Wisdom
ness
was Prioress, and the Lady Meek Subprioress, and the other good ladies of
that
this holy abbey, that the abbey was at the point of becoming worthless through the wickedness of the four, then they rang the chapter-bell and
gathered them
all
what was
counselled
best to do.
And
them
that
prayer to the Holy Ghost, that is Visitor of this abbey, that he haste him for to come, as they
had great need of him, for to help and visit them with his grace. And they all at her counsel, with great devotion of heart, sang unto him with
a
sweet
stave
Fern creator
spiritus.
And
so
soon the Holy Ghost came at their desiring, and comforted them with his grace, and chased out
the foul creatures, those loathely fiend s daughters, and cleansed the abbey of all the filth, and
ordained
before.
it
and restored
it
better than
it
was
Now
pray you
all
in charity of
God
that
all
they that read or hear of this religion be buxom with all their might, and suffer that the good
201
General Devotions]
ladies
before-namtd do their
within their hearts
;
office
each
day,
spiritually,
and
let
each one
look wisely that he do no trespass against the rule nor the obedience of this religion and of
And if through mishap it fall that of four these fiend s daughters seek on any any for wise to have any entrance for to dwell within
those rulers.
your hearts, or have won entrance and do dwell with you, do after the counsel of the Lady Discretion and give you to devotion with hearty
prayers, in hope of God s help and of his succour, and ye shall be delivered thereof through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed may he
be without end.
Amen.
202
NOTES
[Notes
An
Introduction to
is
Mental Prayer.
This extract
taken from
s
Wynkyn
;
de Worde
edition of R. Rolle
"
published in the Library of Early English Writers." It is of interest as giving, no doubt, Richard s own method of prayer.
works, 1506
I.
i.
These
the
"
from
poem
published in
It
is
Writers."
con
is
tained in
MS.
Thornton.
R. Rolle.
Stanza 5, in the original, begins as follows brother and syster he es by skyll,
"
My
For he saide
&
dide his fadyr will, Systers and brether till hym thay ware Stanza 14, in the original, is as follows :
sa
"
That wha
"
>
es,
;
wende
With
stedfaste trouthe
my
205
wittes wysse,
Notes]
And
defende
me
fra
the fende
For thy mercy forgyffe me my myssc, That wikkede werkes my saule ne schende
Bot brynge me, lorde, vnto thy blysse, With the to wonne with-owtene Ende.
I.
Amen,"
2.
to
Jesus.
: pub. Lambeth MS. Early English Text Society." No. 853, date about 1430 A.D. It is just possible that
"
From
Hymns
to
the Virgin
&
Christ
"
by
R.
de Castre
is
the same as
R. de Cirencester,
1401), but he is nure likely to have been a hermit like R. de Rolle. One stanza, the izth, is omitted. It runs
:
"
Benedictine
monk and
historian (d.
Almyghti god
in trynyte,
With
I.
lastinge loue
3.
The
from
itself,
The Meditation
is
mainly from
"Library
MS. Thornton,
published
It
is
in
the
of
Early English
Writers."
translation
from the
4.
The
original
is
long
306
[Notes
poem
It
is
of 35 stanzas.
"
The
authorship
is
unknown.
Society."
published by the
V. I. 2.
I.
5.
A Loving
Song
to
yes us.
;
From the MS. Thornton by Richard Rolle. One stanza, the i6th, is omitted. It runs as follows
"
Jhesu that all have made of noghte Jhesu that boghte me dere
Jhesu, Joyne thi lyfe in
my
thoghte
Swa
I.
that thay
neuer be
sere."
6.
iii.
1.
1.
knewe
"
i.e.
7.
Short Songs
to
Jesus.
These
short
are from
MS. Thornton.
to
R. Rolle.
(6)
"
xvii.
published in
The
Mass-Book
These
were
Sanctus.
(7)
To
From the same sources as the preceding lines. be said at the time of the reading of the Gospel,
207
Notes]
I.
(8) (a)
From
the
"
Processional of the
Nuns
ot
Chester,"
edited
by Dr.
Wickham
Henry Bradshaw Society. Published (b) From the York Hours, fol. clx. b. Canon Simmons in The Mass-Book." by Lay-Folks
"
II.
I.
An
Introduction
to the
Passion.
This, by R. Rolle, is from MS. Rawl. C. 285, pub lished in the Library of Early English Writers." The following Meditation of R. Rolle is published
"
in
fol.
the
same volume
from
MS. Cambr.
li.
I.
8,
20 1.
There
P. 70, 11. 19, 20. This is, of course, true, since the Divine Presence is everywhere ; but to avoid con Then was fusion it might have been better said,
"
full swiftly in
s
hell."
The
1
date of Richard
1
death
is
generally given
as
348,
as here.
2.
Song
to
in the Passion.
"
Chiefly from
MS.
Version
printed in the
Library
Writers."
Only
itself
hundred
lines.
As
it
the
many
materials.
At
story of the
208
[Notes
our Lady. Probably the additions were made by Parts of the poem appear in other MSS. R. Rolle.
II.
3.
Christ.
is
This Meditation, wrongly attributed to R. Rolle, It is taken from MS. of unknown authorship.
p.
"
Library of
Writers."
edited by the
"symbol"
These Devotions are from Royal MS. 17, A. 27, Each Early English Text Society."
"
is
represented
it.
in
same volume, also contain the verses. A few are omitted towards the end, for devotional reasons.
II.
5.
The Example of
is
the Passion.
This poem
the
"by
"
MS.
853, edited
Society."
II.
of Doomsday.
MS. Arundel
This Meditation, certainly by R. Rolle, is from 507, fol. 48, printed in the Library of
"
few lines are omitted the Early English Writers." here and there on account of their realism, which
7,09
Notes]
at the be quotation from Deut. xxxii. 23 should Arrows Three the ginning of the section on meas mala et eos run (for sagztfas Congregabo super
" "
The
:
"
"
tret
")
"
complebo
;
in
eis
"
will
heap mischiefs
"
upon them
(A.V.).
I will
The
"
last
as follows
In the original
suffird god for man kynde and sexti and fourehundreth and ffyue thousa(nd)
fiftene.
"
And
if
thou
sai
ilk
thou
I
pater nostres in the hale yere." have not an idea what this number of the wounds
sal sai als
many
signifies.
II.
7.
Cant us
Christi.
"Songs
(i)
(3)
These
of
the
Compassion of
R. Rolle, are from MS. Cambr. D. V. 64, Christ," by fol. 134-142, published in the Library of Early
"
English
(1)
Writers."
:
Lufe thou me, als the wele aw, And fra syn thou the draw."
original
(2)
man."
The
word
for
"
beloved
"
"
is
lem-
III.
i.
Communion
are from
Lam-
210
[Notes
beth Cod. 546, p. 37. I have omitted the Latin devotions and four prayers for a good end of life that follow the devotions. One or two unimportant
"
"
made
for devotional
e.g. in
Welcome,
my
noble
Lord," is
"
in the original
"
Communion. Wel
"
come,
my
worthy Duke
"Pape"
and
Pontiff"
has been
substituted for
2.
in the
set
same column.
of devotions consists of
fol.
extracts
"
223, published
in
The
IV.
Lay-Folks
i.
by Canon Simmons.
The
Beltej.
is
from Lambeth
MS.
853.
in
Society,"
is
"
preceded
by
the well-known
.
.
."
homo
Wednesday, and by two short Latin epigrams. Stanzas 1 1 and 12 refer to the truth that an act of
perfect contrition removes the guilt of sin immediately, if the sacrament of penance cannot be had.
IV.
2.
Hymn
to
from MS.
Thornton, published
Writers."
in the
"
is
omitted.
It is difficult to
211
Notes]
render well in modern English, and is unnecessary to the symmetry of the whole. It runs as follows
:
"
my
syne
And brynge me
Euylle to
I
ovvte of
all
my
care
doo
Thou rewe one me, bathe owte and In, And hele me of my woundcs And MS. Vernon, which also contains the poem,
sare."
adds
"
Lord that
Hele
at this
i
me
ar
fonde and
IV.
3.
An
Intercession to
Jews.
This prayer, probably by R. Rolle, is from MS. Thornton, in the Library of Early English Writers."
"
The
hande
My
And
saule
all
Bathe the quik and the dede Graunt them parte of my bede."
IV. 4.
(i.)
Death.
From
Processional of the
Nunsof Chester,"
edited by Dr.
Wickham
Henry
Brad-
shaw
Society.
(ii.)
Visitatio Infirmo
212
[Notes
rum,"
["
com health) schulde visite seeke ( = sick) folke of extracts from S. S. It and Anselm. posed Augustine
Library of Early English Writers," and has been wrongly attri buted to R. Rolle. The authorship is unknown. The
sick
is
= (
from
MS. Univ.
"
man, looking upon a cross or an image, is to remind himself that it is not God, but ymaad aftir hym, to
"
the
after
whom
and then he
follows.
"
He is first, however, if it is possible, to be exhorted not to complain, but to welcome death as the end of alle wykkednesses," and then to be examined
in his faith.
IV.
5,
Writers,"
authorship.
Line
"
1 1
in the original
is
as follows
The day
of cryinge
&
dulfull
dyne
The day
of
blyne."
IV.
6.
An
Epigram.
is
from
MS.
At the
side
is
Quod
(="Hold
that
which
is
good").
213
Notes]
IV. 7. Thanksgivings.
(i).
To
Possibly by R. Rolle
from
MS. Thornton
Writers."
in
the
"
Library of Early
English
Line
(2).
thanke
from MS.
Writers."
Thornton
"
in the
"Library
of Early English
:
of
vile
matere
sere."
in Joyntes
IV. 8. Prayer of the Five Joys and of the Five Sorrows of our Lady.
is
from MS.
Thornton, published
English
Writers."
in
the
The
without breaking or staining it, of the mystery of the Virgin-Birth is an old image of our Lord.
coming through
glass
IV.
9.
A
"
Song
to
Mary.
to
These
lished
in
verses
are
Hymns
Early English Text Society." lines at the end of the verses together
the
"
The
Latin
the
make up
the York bidding-prayer. The third antiphon stanza is omitted from the original, on account of
in
214
[Notes
the difficulties of rendering it in
modern
verse.
It
runs
"
as follows
Heil crowned queene, fariest of alle Heil that alle our blis in bradde
!
Heil that
alle
wommen
on doon
calle.
!
In temynge whanne thei ben hard bistadde Heil thou that alle feendis dredde,
And
schulen do
til
the day of
thi
doome
O
IV.
(i).
maria,Jlos
i
virginum."
o.
Devotions
to
the
Guardian Angel.
s
From Wynkyn
works, 1506
;
de Worde
edition
of R.
of
Rolle
published in the
"Library
Early English
(2).
Writers."
From
;
the
"
Processional
of
the
Nuns
of
Chester"
edited by Dr.
Society.
Wickham
Legg,
for the
Henry Bradshaw
IV. ii.
Of the
Abbey
of Saint Spirit.
is
This
attributed in
Rolle
in the
"
"Library
sequel,
The
the
Holy
Ghost,"
Several
other
MSS.
it
may
conjecture devout.
was once
popular
among
the
215
grtjort
!.tfc
ef litrfjarb HoIle,
tije
of
IT
is
pleasant to think
"
that
what
is
generally
known
tury
is
as the
"
history
of
it.
only the record of a very superficial part While kings and prelates wrangled, and
priests
men
in
poached in their bishops preserves, and general murdered and mutilated ; yet,
all
beneath
that recorded
stir,
the arms of their Saviour, and ardent souls lan guished and aspired towards His burning heart,
and wept at His streaming wounds ; in prayer and sacrament men and women, at least as much
as
then as in our polished days, found a peace such the struggling world could neither have not
give,
for
and counted it an easy thing to give up all which the world labours, if they might win
peace and the love of
that
Him
s
from
whom
it
flows.
Among
com
God
grace, familiar to
There was
a difference
between
The
enclosed cell
anchoret (or anchoress) lived in an which he never left. This cell was
two
windows, one looking on to the altar, so that the inmate might assist at the holy sacrifice, while
the other
was used
for interviews
with
visitors.
the anchoret, though enclosed, was far from But the hermit being without human society. was confined to no limited space. He was more
Thus
Though
his
was recognised by authority, and he himself set apart by a habit and a cell, yet he was less formal and regular in his life than the
anchoret.
Neither was under religious obedience, but the hermit was usually free even from any vow, except in the intention of his own soul.
both devoted
themselves wholly to the and glory of God, but the anchoret
They
direct praise
through which
soaring
silence
lark,
men might
free
look
the hermit as a
but
lonely.
This exterior
and
essential
solitude, however, were not altogether to the hermit s life, and might, if cir
It
is
impos
exaggerate the significance of such lives, and the effect that they must have had upon the
218
would need an
atmosphere of intense faith to produce such lives at all ; then there must be reckoned the actual
and objective
spiritual
persons lives, business of others might be digging or building); there would be the moral effect produced lastly,
in the
minds of those
who saw
such
lives in their
midst.
The
occupation or
prayer appears idle or grotesque, or at the best mistaken, to men of our day, is but one more
sign of
how
beginning
to
capable of of the the realm of appreciating higher reality over the of realm and of understand spirit sense,
less
and
the former.
Richard Rolle, the hermit of Hampole, from whose writings the greater part of the devotions in this book is drawn, was born at least sometime before the year 1300 A.D., at Thornton Dale, near Pickering, and was educated at Oxford, devoting
his particular attention to the study of divinity.
about nineteen years of age he became impressed with thoughts of the solemnity of life
When
219
God.
He
returned
begged from his sister two of her hood of his father s, adapted them
and a
for
his
own
purposes, and dressed himself in them as in a His sister, when she saw him, hermit s habit. cried out in terror that he had gone mad, and he,
fearing that his intention would be hindered by the family, quickly withdrew from the house and
neighbourhood.
On
came
to a
at Topcliffe to
down
whose name was John of Dalton, and who was a friend of his father s. Lady Dalton, on enter, ing the church, would not allow her servants to disturb him when they wished to make him give
place to her.
Her
sons, too,
who
had been at
Oxford with him, recognised him, and told their mother who he was. On the following day he
assisted,
preached a sermon that moved many to tears. After mass he was with difficulty persuaded to
dine with John of Dalton
;
he remained
silent
throughout dinner, and tried to withdraw before the end ; but after a conversation when the meal
that
his
father
friend
would
hinder a vocation
family.
and himself provided him with a proper habit, a cell on his estate, and daily provision.
Here, then, at Topcliffe,
towards
this
youth
"of
at
"draw
eyes
and
"endowed
with
eloquence,"
began a kind of
even more than
solitary novitiate,
life.
and
"
sighings,"
keeping
mind
fixed
in
and to be with Christ, his most sweet beloved/ During this time of probation, he relates, he was
visited
by
At
over,
last
fierce and fiery temptations. the rigour of the conflict with self was
rise to
and he began to
tell
pure contemplation.
Of
ings
us
much.
There
are,
he
relates, three
contemplation as he experienced it, which follow one another at first, and then com
stages
in
down.
These
stages,
or
elements,
221
The
first
in
contemplation at
it
any
seemed
to
be
combined with this was Sweetness. Then after nine months the Melody came to him. He first heard it, as it were, externally and from above, and then it entered in and remained with
physical
him, turning all his thoughts to music and his words to rhythm. This great gift, he says, is
granted only to those who especially love the holy name of Jesus. In this connection it is worth
recalling the instance of S. Francis of Assisi,
who
used to pretend fancifully to accompany, on a piece of wood used as a fiddle, the ideal music
that flooded his soul ; and, indeed, to remember too that a passionate devotion to music is, as M. Joly points out in his study or the psychology of
the saints, a frequent characteristic of the saintly
lire.
These
It
is
three stages,
it
and Hearing. a well-known principle of spiritual exercises, notably in those of S. Ignatius Loyola, that the
to the three senses of Feeling, Taste,
senses should be
employed
it is
in the assimilation of
of interest, too, to notice that in the Revelations of Divine Love given to Mother Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of
divine truth.
"
"
And
222
mystic was unlettered, and therefore would pro bably be unable to describe to others any percep tions of truth given to her that were not actually
visible or articulate
;
while
it
would require an
educated mind, such as was Richard s, to convey to others any sense of the significance of Warmth,
Sweetness, or Melody.
It
is
interesting, too, to
remark how Walter Hilton, who died fifty years after Richard Rolle, and who is sure to have had
some acquaintance at
in
least
gives advice as to these heavenly visitations that approach the soul through the senses may be distinguished from
his
"Scale
of Perfection
how
is
is it
a lover.
is
for
;
love
for
Jesus of
"
his
solitude
in
modest
all
lover
who embraces
but
the
world."
sits
;
noise,
glorying in Christ
he burns and
he rejoices and is glad ; wounded with ; to charity, melted by love, he sings a love-song his beloved, filled with the softest sweetness."
loves
223
special
life
is
gift,"
solitary
his
he says, "of those that lead for to love and all Jesu Christ
"
advance in holiness
love.
"
is
in
The
diversity
makes the
The
life
con
it is
the
of love,
is
and most
I
man
is
able to
grasp."
"
The
to be pitied.
He
though perhaps
The
were granted him, such as the putting to flight of demons from a death-bed (possibly that of Lady
his spiritual treatises at the
Dalton), and his power of continuing to write same time that he was
who came
him
Soon
for guidance.
after his
Anderby,
York, where
he relieved the bodily sufferings of an anchoress named Margaret, a spiritual friend of his. This
travelling about,
for the purpose
which he 224
deliberately undertook
slanders
of vice, brought against him, it need hardly be These said, without the smallest foundation.
slanders, moreover,
ships,
made mischief
him
shelter
in
his friend
those
who were
giving
in his troubles
he looked to
"I
God
alone.
In
this
he writes, dwelling," sought not dignity not human honour, not the praise of among men, not the of miracles, not high eminence lips, glory
;
God
and
for
this
greedily stretched forth my mind, aspiring un ceasingly towards the Author, that I might most
ardently embrace the love of the Most High." In all his sorrows and physical pains and discom forts he was divinely consoled. The Eternal
"
me
was
in
terrible pain,
troubled with unbearable giddiness, yet so abun dantly was I allured and lifted up with unceasing
solace, that I
always remained as
if I
were well,
to
however
sick I
might
be."
came
Hamto
a
where he became
225
spiritual
adviser
Cistercian nunnery.
P
Hampole is still
distant
from Doncaster. There has never been a parish church there, and in Richard s time the spiritual needs of the people would no doubt be
met by the convent chapel. Of the nunnery there are now no certain traces, except where a few mounds in the meadows by the stream below the hamlet mark its foundations, and beyond a
few of
its
The
few grey stone houses nestle together on the steep slope in a shallow nook in the hill, round an open space where the old village spring still runs.
There
is
no trace of Richard
s cell
but, in spite
of the railway line in the valley, the place has a curious detached air, lying, as it does, a complete
and self-contained whole, below the Doncaster road, fringed and shadowed by trees, and bordered with low-lying meadows rich, in early summer,
with daisies and buttercups, and dotted with numerous may-trees ; the farthest horizon from
the hamlet
is
Here, then, in this quiet retreat he continued his exuberant writings ; and it is to this period of
his life that his
restrained
works
must be attributed ; and here, above all, in the of the country, he kindly air and tender beauty rich his mellowed and perfected gifts of prayer 226
And
at last here
1349 A.D., most probably of the Black Death that raged in the North at this time.
Soon
after his death miracles
were reported
to
relics and by the and pilgrimages began to take place. So great was his reputation that an Office was composed for him in view of his probable
canonisation; but ultimately this did not take He had many imitators of his way of life, place.
sprang
into
existence
through
effects
his
example.
Such, then, was his
far as
life,
and the
of
it,
so
they are visible ; but as to the power of his prayers and merits before the Throne of Grace, both before and since the passing of his soul, can speak ?
who
Press of