Hou thu schal knowe whanne the schewinges to thi bodili wittes and the feelynge of
The Danger of Sensory Delusions
The author warns that extraordinary sensory experiences can be traps set by the enemy to lead the soul into pride and distraction from true spiritual work.
They are either good or evil. If it happens that you see any kind of light or brightness with your bodily eye or in your imagination, other than what everyone can see; or if you hear any merry or wonderful sound with your bodily ear; or feel in your mouth any sudden sweet taste beyond what is natural; or any heat in your breast as if it were fire; or any kind of delight in any part of your body; or if a spirit appears bodily to you as if it were an angel to comfort you and teach you; or any such feeling that you know well does not come from yourself or from any bodily creature — then be on your guard at that time or soon afterward, and wisely watch the stirring of your heart. If you are moved by that pleasure you feel to draw your heart away from beholding our Lord Jesus Christ and from spiritual occupations — such as prayer, thinking of yourself and your faults, the inward desire for virtues and for spiritual knowing and the feeling of God — and to set the sight of your heart and your affection, your delight and your rest, principally on that feeling, supposing that bodily feeling should be a part of heavenly joy and of the angels' bliss, and for that reason it seems to you that you should never pray or think of anything else, but give yourself wholly to it, to keep it and delight yourself in it: this feeling is suspect and comes from the enemy. Therefore, no matter how pleasant or wonderful it may seem, refuse it and do not consent to it, for it is a trick of the enemy. When the enemy sees a soul giving itself entirely to spiritual work, he becomes fiercely angry. He hates nothing more than to see a soul living in a body of sin truly tasting the savor of spiritual knowledge and the love of God—things he, though without a body of sin, lost by his own will.1 And therefore, if he cannot hinder him by open bodily sins, he will harm him and deceive him through such a vanity of bodily tastes or sweetness in the senses, in order to bring a soul into spiritual pride and into a false security about itself, thinking that by this it has a feeling of heavenly joy and is halfway in paradise because of the delight it feels all around it — when it is near hell's gates. And so by pride and presumption it might fall into errors, or into fantasies, or into other bodily or spiritual harms.2
Signs of Divine Consolation
True spiritual experiences from God are marked by increased humility, devotion, and love for God and neighbor.
Still, if this kind of feeling doesn't draw your heart away from spiritual work, but instead makes you more devout and fervent in prayer, and wiser in your spiritual reflections—even if it stuns you at first—it eventually turns and quickens your heart toward a greater desire for virtues, increases your love for both God and your fellow Christian, and makes you more humble in your own eyes.3 By these signs, you can know that it is from God, brought about by the presence and touch of a good angel, and that it comes from God’s goodness to comfort simple, devout souls. It is meant to increase their trust and desire for God, so that through this comfort they might seek the knowledge and love of God more perfectly. Or, if they are already perfect, this delight serves as a foretaste—a shadow, as it were—of the glorification of the body that the soul will experience in bliss.4 But I don't know whether there is any such person living on earth.5 It seems to me that Mary Magdalene had this privilege during the time she was visited—when she lived alone in a cave for thirty years, was carried into the air by angels each day, and was fed both body and soul by their presence. So we read in her legend.
Testing the Spirits
The author invokes the authority of Saint John to emphasize that any spirit that unknits the soul from Jesus is not of God.
Saint John speaks of this kind of testing the working of spirits in his epistle, teaching us: Every spirit that looses Jesus is not from God (1 John 4:3).6 Any spirit that looses Jesus, or unknits Him, is not from God.7 These words can be understood in many ways; nevertheless, I can interpret them in a way that serves the purpose I've already mentioned.
Read the original Latin
hem aren good or yvele.
If it be soo that thou see ony maner of light or brightnes with thi bodili iye or in ymagynynge, othir than every man mai see; or yif thou here ony meri or wondirful sowninge with thi bodili eere; or in thi mouth ony swete sodayne savour, othir than of kynde; or ony heete in thi breest as it were fier; or ony maner of deelighte in ony partie of thi bodi; or yif a spirit bodili appere to thee as hit were an angel for to conforte thee and teche thee; or ony swich feelynge which thu woost weel it cometh not of thiself ne of noo bodili creature - be thanne waar in that tyme or soone aftir and wisili bihoold the stirynge of thyne herte. Yif thou be stired bicause of that likinge that thu feelist, for to drawe oute thyn herte from biholdinge of oure Lord Jhesu Crist and fro goostli occupacions, as from preiers, and thenkinge of thisilf and of thi defautis, fro the inward desire of vertues and of goostli knowynge and the feelinge of God, for to sette the sight of thin herte and thyn affeccioun, thi delite and thi reest principali therinne, wenynge that bodili feelinge schulde be a partie of heveneli joie and of angilis blisse, and for thi thee thynketh that thu schuldest never pray ne thinke not elles, but al hooli tende therto, for to kepe it and delite thee therinne: this feelinge is suspect and of the enemye. And therfore, yif it be never so likinge and wondirful, refuse it and assente not therto, for this is the sleighte of the enemy. Whanne he seeth that a soule gyveth him entierli to goostli occupacioun, he is wondirful wrooth, for he hateth nothinge more thanne for to see a soule in bodi of synne feele verili the savour of gostli knowinge and the love of God, the whiche he withouten bodi of synne loste wilfulli. And therefore yif he may not lette him bi opyn bodili synnes, he wole dere hym and bigile him bi swich a vanité of bodili savoures or swettenesse in the wittis, for to bringe a soule into goostli pride and into a fals sikernesse of himsilf, wenande therbi that he hadde a feelinge of heveneli joye, and that he were half in paradise for delite that he feeleth al aboute hym, whanne he is neer atte helle gates, and so bi pride and presumpcion he myght falle into errouris or into fantasies or into othere bodili or goostli myschevys.
Neverthelees, yif it so be that this maner of feelynge lette not thyn herte fro goostli occupacion, but it maketh thee the more devoute and the more fervent for to pray, it maketh thee the more wise for to thenke goostli thoughtes; and though it be so that it stonyeth thee in the first biginnynge, neverthelees aftirward it turneth and quykeneth thyn herte to more desire of vertues and encreseeth thi love more bothe to God and to thyn evene Cristen; also it maketh thee more meke in thyn owyn sight. Bi thise tokenes may thu knowe thanne that it is of God, maad bi the presence and the touchinge of the good angil, and that is of the goodnesse of God in confort of symple devoute soulis for to encrese ther trust and there desire to God, for to seke therbi the knowynge and the love of God more perfightli for swich a confort, or ellis, yif thei be perfight, that thei fele suyche a delite: it semeth than that it is an ernest, and as it were a schadewe of glorifyynge of the bodi which it schal have in the blisse. But I not whether ther be ony siche man lyvande in erthe. This pryvylegie hadde Marie Mawdeleyn, as hit seemeth to my sight, in tyme whanne sche was visited, whanne sche was aloone in the cave thritti wyntir and iche day was born up with angelis into the eyr, and was feed bothe bodi and soule bi the presence of hem. Thus we reden in the legend of hire.
Of this maner of assayinge of wirkynge of spirites speketh Seynt Joon in his epistil thus, and techeth us: Omnis spiritus qui solvit Jhesum, hic non est ex deo (1 John 4:3). Eche a spirit that looseth Jhesu or ellis unknitteth Hym, he is not of God. Thise woordes may be undirstonde on many manerys; neverthelees upon oon maner I mai undirstonde to that purpos whiche y have seid.
Notes
- 1 ↩he/the enemy is the devil; withouten bodi of synne marks angelic nature that willfully forfeited the savor of God without inhabiting sinful flesh.
- 2 ↩dere rendered as harm (ME derian, to injure); sikernesse as false security/assurance, not mere safety.
- 3 ↩Middle English stonyeth: stun, daze, or astonish—here the initial shock of an unexpected sensory consolation, not physical petrifaction.
- 4 ↩ernest = earnest/pledge (foretaste), not moral seriousness; schadewe = shadow/foretaste of the body's future glorification in heaven, not mere gloom.
- 5 ↩Elliptical Middle English for 'I wot not whether' / 'I know not whether'; verb of knowing understood, not a corruption.
- 6 ↩Source quotes the Vulgate form of 1 John 4:3 with solvit ('looses/dissolves') rather than the common modern English 'does not confess'; rendering follows that reading, which Hilton glosses in the next sentence as loosing or unknitting Jesus.
- 7 ↩looseth / unknitteth expand Latin solvit: not only 'deny' but unbind the soul's fastening to Jesus; unknit keeps Hilton's knotting metaphor, continued in the next chapter.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent