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Here begynnyth
a schort tretys and a comfortabyl for synful wrecchys, wherin thei
may have gret solas and comfort to hem and undyrstondyn the hy
and unspecabyl
mercy of ower sovereyn Savyowr Cryst Jhesu, whos name be worschepd
and magnyfyed
wythowten ende, that now in ower days to us unworthy deyneth
to exercysen hys nobeley
and hys goodnesse. Alle the werkys of ower Saviowr ben for ower
exampyl and
instruccyon, and what grace that he werkyth in any creatur is
ower profyth yf lak of
charyté be not ower hynderawnce. And therfor, be the leve
of ower mercyful Lord
Cryst Jhesu, to the magnyfying of hys holy name, Jhesu, this
lytyl tretys schal tretyn
sumdeel in parcel of hys wonderful werkys, how mercyfully, how
benyngly, and how
charytefully he meved and stered a synful caytyf unto hys love,
whech synful caytyf
many yerys was in wyl and in purpose thorw steryng of the Holy
Gost to folwyn oure
Savyour, makyng gret behestys of fastyngys wyth many other dedys
of penawns. And
evyr sche was turned agen abak in tym of temptacyon, lech unto
the reedspyr whech
boweth wyth every wynd and nevyr is stable les than no wynd bloweth,
unto the tyme
that ower mercyfulle Lord Cryst Jhesu havyng pety and compassyon
of hys handwerke
and hys creatur turnyd helth into sekenesse, prosperyté
into adversyté, worshep into
repref, and love into hatered. Thus alle this thyngys turnyng
up so down, this creatur
whych many yerys had gon wyl and evyr ben unstable was parfythly
drawen and steryd
to entren the wey of hy perfeccyon, whech parfyth wey Cryst ower
Savyowr in hys
propyr persoone examplyd. Sadly he trad it and dewly he went
it beforn. Than this
creatur, of whom thys tretys thorw the mercy of Jhesu schal schewen
in party the levyng,
towched be the hand of owyr Lord wyth grett bodyly sekenesse,
wher thorw sche lost
reson and her wyttes a long tym tyl ower Lord be grace restoryd
her ageyn, as it schal
mor openly be schewed aftyrward. Her werdly goodys, whech wer
plentyuows and
abundawnt at that day, in lytyl whyle after wer ful bareyn and
bare. Than was pompe
and pryde cast down and leyd on syde. Thei that beforn had worshepd
her sythen ful
scharply reprevyd her; her kynred and thei that had ben frendys
wer now hyr most
enmys. Than sche, consyderyng this wondyrful chawngyng, sekyng
undyr the
wengys of hyr gostly modyr, Holy Cherch, went and obeyd hyr to
hyr gostly fadyr,
accusyng hyrself of her mysdeds, and sythen ded gret bodyly penawns.
And in schort
tyme ower mercyful Lord vysytyd this creatur wyth plentyuows
teerys of contricyon
day be day, in so mech that sum men seyden sche mygth wepen whan
sche wold and
slawndered the werk of God. Sche was so usyd to be slawndred
and repreved, to be
cheden and rebuked of the world for grace and vertu wyth whech
sche was indued
thorw the strength of the Holy
Gost that it was to her in a maner of solas and comfort
whan sche sufferyd any dysese for the lofe of God and for the
grace that God wrowht
in hyr. For evyr the mor slawnder and repref that sche sufferyd,
the mor sche incresyd
in grace and in devocyon of holy medytacyon of hy contemplacyon
and of wonderful
spechys and dalyawns whech owr Lord spak and dalyid to hyr sowle,
techyng hyr
how sche schuld be despysed for hys lofe, how sche schuld han
pacyens, settyng all
hyr trost, alle hyr lofe, and alle hyr affeccyon in hym only.
Sche knew and undyrstod
many secret and prevy thyngys whech schuld beffallen aftyrward
be inspiracyon of
the Holy Gost. And often tymes, whel sche was kept wyth swech
holy spechys and
dalyawns, sche schuld so wepyn and sobbyn that many men wer gretly
awondyr, for
thei wysten ful lytyl how homly ower Lord was in hyr sowle. Ne
hyrself cowd nevyr
telle the grace that sche felt, it was so hevenly, so hy aboven
hyr reson and hyr bodyly
wyttys, and hyr body so febyl in tym of the presens of grace
that sche myth nevyr
expressyn it wyth her word lych as sche felt it in hyr sowle.
Than had this creatur
mech drede for illusyons and deceytys of hyr gostly enmys. Than
went sche be the
byddyng of the Holy Gost to many worshepful clerkys, bothe archebysshopys
and
bysshoppys, doctowrs of dyvynyté and bachelers also. Sche
spak also wyth many
ankrys and schewed hem hyr maner of levyng and swech grace as
the Holy Gost of
hys goodnesse wrowt in hyr mende and in hyr sowle as her wytt
wold serven hyr to
expressyn it. And thei alle that sche schewed hyr secretys unto
seyd sche was mech
bownde to loven ower Lord for the grace that he schewyd unto
hyr and cownseld hyr
to folwyn hyr mevynggys and hyr steringgys and trustly belevyn
it weren of the Holy
Gost and of noon evyl spyryt. Summe of these worthy and worshepful
clerkys tokyn it
in perel of her sowle and as thei wold answer to God that this
creatur was inspyred
wyth the Holy Gost and bodyn hyr that sche schuld don hem wryten
and makyn a
booke of hyr felyngys and hir revelacyons. Sum proferyd hir to
wrytyn hyr felyngys
wyth her owen handys, and sche wold not consentyn in no wey,
for sche was comawndyd
in hir sowle that sche schuld not wrytyn so soone. And so it
was twenty yer and mor fro
that tym this creatur had felyngys and revelacyons er than sche
dede any wryten.
Aftyrward whan it plesyd ower Lord, he comawnded hyr and chargyd
hir that sche
schuld don wryten hyr felyngys and revelacyons and the forme
of her levyngs that hys
goodnesse myth be knowyn to alle the world. Than had the creatur
no wryter that wold
fulfyllyn hyr desyr ne geve credens to hir felingys unto the
tym that a man dwellyng in
Dewchlond whech was an Englyschman in hys byrth and sythen weddyd
in Dewchland
and had ther bothe a wyf and a chyld, havyng good knowlach of
this creatur and of hir
desyr, meved I trost thorw the Holy
Gost, cam into Yngland wyth hys wyfe and hys
goodys and dwellyd wyth the forseyd creatur tyl he had wretyn
as mech as sche wold
tellyn hym for the tym that thei wer togydder. And sythen he
deyd. Than was ther a
prest whech this creatur had gret affeccyon to, and so sche comownd
wyth hym of this
mater and browt hym the boke to redyn. The booke was so evel
wretyn that he cowd
lytyl skyll theron, for it was neithyr good Englysch ne Dewch,
ne the lettyr was not
schapyn ne formyd as other letters ben. Therfor the prest leved
fully ther schuld nevyr
man redyn it, but it wer special grace. Nevyrthelesse, he behyte
hir that if he cowd
redyn it he wolde copyn it owt and wrytyn it betyr wyth good
wylle. Than was ther so
evel spekyng of this creatur and of hir wepyng that the prest
durst not for cowardyse
speke wyth her but seldom, ne not wold wryten as he had behestyd
unto the forseyd
creatur. And so he voyded and deferryd the wrytyng of this boke
wel onto a fourth yer
or ellys mor, notwythstandyng the creatur cryed often on hym
therfor. At the last he
seyd onto hir that he cowd not redyn it, wherfor he wold not
do it. He wold not, he
seyd, put hym in perel therof. Than he cownseld hir to gon to
a good man whech had
ben mech conversawnt wyth hym that wrot fyrst the booke, supposyng
that he schuld
cun best rede the booke, for he had sum tym red letters of the
other mannys wrytyng
sent fro beyonden the see whyl he was in Dewchland. And so sche
went to that man,
preyng hym to wrytyn this booke and nevyr to bewreyn it as long
as sche leved,
grawntyng hym a grett summe of good for hys labowr. And this
good man wrot abowt
a leef, and yet it was lytyl to the purpose, for he cowd not
wel fare therwyth the boke
was so evel sett and so unresonably wretyn. Than the prest was
vexyd in his consciens,
for he had behestyd hyr to wrytyn this boke, yyf he mygth com
to the redyng therof,
and dede not hys part as wel as he mygth a do, and preyd this
creatur to getyn ageyn
the booke yf sche myth goodly. Than sche gat ageyn the book and
browt it to the
preste wyth rygth glad cher, preyng hym to do hys good wyl, and
sche schuld prey to
God for hym and purchasyn hym grace to reden it and wrytyn it
also. The preste,
trustyng in hire prayers, began to redyn this booke, and it was
mych mor esy, as hym
thowt, than it was beforntym. And so he red it ovyr beforn this
creatur every word,
sche sumtym helpyng where ony difficulté was. Thys boke
is not wretyn in ordyr,
every thyng aftyr other as it wer don, but lych as the mater
cam to the creatur in mend
whan it schuld be wretyn, for it was so long er it was wretyn
that sche had forgetyn the
tyme and the ordyr whan thyngys befellyn. And therfor sche dede
no thing wryten but
that sche knew rygth wel for very trewth. Whan the prest began
fyrst to wryten on this
booke, hys eyn myssyd so that he mygth not se to make hys lettyr
ne mygth not se to
mend hys penne. Alle other thyng he mygth se wel anow. He sett
a peyr of spectacles
on hys nose, and than wast wel wers than it was befor. He compleyned
to the creatur
of hys dysese. Sche seyd hys enmy had envye at hys good dede
and wold lett hym yf
he mygth and bad hym do as wel as God wold geve hym grace and
not levyn. Whan
he cam ageyn to hys booke, he myth se as wel, hym thowt, as evyr
he dede befor be
day lyth and be candel lygth bothe. And for this cause, whan
he had wretyn a qwayr,
he addyd a leef therto, and than wrot he this proym to expressyn
mor openly than doth
the next folwyng, whech was wretyn er than this. Anno domini
1436
A schort tretys of a creature sett in grett pompe and pride of
the world, whech
sythen was drawyn to ower Lord be gret poverté, sekenes,
schamis, and gret reprevys
in many divers contres and places, of whech tribulacyons sum
schal ben schewed
aftyr, not in ordyr as it fellyn but as the creatur cowd han
mend of hem whan it wer
wretyn, for it was twenty yer and mor fro tym this creatur had
forsake the world and
besyly clef onto ower Lord or this boke was wretyn, notwythstondyng
this creatur had
greet cownsel for to don wryten hir tribulacyons and hir felingys,
and a Whyte Frer
proferyd hir to wryten frely yf sche wold. And sche was warnyd
in hyr spyrit that sche
schuld not wryte so sone. And many yerys aftyr sche was bodyn
in hyr spyrit for to
wrytyn. And than yet it was wretyn fyrst be a man whech cowd
neithyr wel wryten
Englysch ne Duch. So it was unable for to be red but only be
specyal grace, for ther
was so mech obloquie and slawndyr of this creatur that ther wold
fewe men beleve
this creatur. And so at the last a preste was sor mevyd for to
wrytin this tretys, and he
cowd not wel redyn it of a four yere togedyr. And sythen be the
request of this creatur
and compellyng of hys owyn consciens he asayd agayn for to rede
it, and it was mech
mor esy than it was afortyme. And so he gan to wryten in the
yer of owr Lord a 1436,
on the day next aftyr Mary Maudelyn aftyr the informacyon of
this creatur. |