Hou a man schal knowe the worthinesse and the worschipe of his soule that it oweth to
The Soul as a Created Trinity
The soul was originally created in the image of the Holy Trinity, possessing mind, reason, and will in perfect harmony with God.
what we have by nature, and the wretchedness and misery we've fallen into through sin.1 A human soul is a life made of three powers—mind, reason, and will—in the image and likeness of the blessed holy Trinity, entirely perfect and righteous.✦ Because the mind was made strong and steadfast by the almighty Father, so that it might hold Him without forgetting, distraction, or interference from any creature, it bears the likeness of the Father. Reason was made clear and bright, without error or darkness, as perfectly as a soul in an unglorified body could have it; and so it bears the likeness of the Son, who is endless wisdom.2 And the love and the will were made pure, burning toward God without beastly lust of the flesh or of any creature, by the sovereign goodness of God; and so they bear the likeness of the Holy Spirit, who is blessed love. So a human soul, which may be called a created trinity, was filled in mind, sight, and love with the uncreated blessed Trinity, who is our Lord.3 This is the dignity, the state, and the honor of a human soul by the nature of its first creation.4
The Fall into Wretchedness
Through Adam's sin, humanity lost its original honor and fell from a divine image into a state of spiritual blindness and beastly likeness.
You had this state in Adam before the first sin; but when Adam sinned, choosing love and delight in himself and in creatures, he lost all this honor and his dignity. You also lost it in him and fell from that blessed Trinity into a foul, dark, wretched trinity—that is, into forgetting God and not knowing Him, and into a beastly liking of yourself. This happened for good reason, for as David says in the Psalter: Homo, cum in honore esset, non intellexit; comparatus est iumentis, et similis factus est illis (Psalms 48:21).56 When a man was in honor, he didn't understand it; and therefore he lost it and was made like a beast.
The Current State of the Soul
The soul now suffers from instability and disordered desires, requiring the restoration provided solely by the Passion of Christ.
Look at the wretchedness of your soul now: just as your mind was once stable in God, it has now forgotten Him and seeks rest in created things, moving from one to another, yet it can never find true rest because it has lost the One in whom full rest is found. And it is just the same with reason and with love as well, which were clean in spiritual taste and sweetness; now they are turned into foul beastly lust and delight in yourself and in creatures and in fleshly tastes—both in the senses, as in gluttony and lechery, and in the imagination, as in pride, vainglory, and covetousness—so much so that you can scarcely do any good deed without being defiled by vainglory, nor can you well use any of your five senses cleanly toward any delightful creature unless your heart is seized and stuck with vain lust and delight in it, which drives the love of God out of the heart as regards feeling and spiritual savor, so that that love cannot enter there. Anyone who lives in the spirit knows this well. This is the wretchedness of your soul and the harm resulting from humanity’s first sin, quite apart from all the other wretchedness and sins you have willingly added to it. Know this well: even if you had never committed any sin with your body, mortal or venial, but only this that is called original—which is the first sin, and is nothing else but the loss of the righteousness in which you were made—you still would never have been saved if our Lord Jesus Christ, by His precious Passion, had not delivered and restored you.
Read the original Latin
have bi kynde, and the wrecchidnesse and myschief that it is fallen in thorw synne.
The soule of a man is a liyf, made of thre myghtes - mynde, resoun, and wille - to the ymage and the likenes of the blissid holi Trinité, hooli perfight and rightwise. In as myche as the mynde was maad myghti and stidefaste bi the Fadir almyghti, for to holde Hym withoughte forgetynge, distractynge, or lettynge of ony creature, and so it hath the likenes of the Fader. The resoun was maad cleer and bright withouten errour or derkenesse, as perfightli as a soule in a bodi unglorifiede myght have; and so it hath the likenes of the Sone, whiche is endelees wisdom. And the love and the wille was maad clene, brenynge into God withouten beestly lust of the fleisch or of ony creature, bi sovereyne goodnesse of God; and so it hath the likenes of the Hooli Goost, the whiche is blissid love. So that a mannys soule, whiche mai be callid a maad trinyté, was fulfillid in mynde, sight, and love, of the unmaad blissed Trinité, whiche is oure Lord. This is the dignité, the state and the worschipe of a mannys soule, bi kynde of the firste makynge. This staat haddest thou in Adam bifore the first synne of man; but whanne Adam synnede, chosynge love and delite in himsilf and in creaturis, he loste al this worschipe and his dygnyté and thou also lostest it in hym and felle from that blissid Trinité into a foule merk wrecchid trinité, that is into forgetynge of God and unknowynge of him, and into beestli likynge of thisilf, and that skilefulli, for as David seith in the sautier: Homo, cum in honore esset, non intellexit; comparatus est iumentis, et similis factus est illis (Psalms 48:21). A man whanne he was in worschipe, he knewe it not, and therfore he loste it and was maad like to a beest.
See now thanne the wrecchidnesse of thi soule, for as thi mynde was sum tyme stable in God, right so now it hath forgeten Hym, and seketh his reste in creatures now froo oon to another, and never may fynde ful reste, for he hath lost Him in whoom is ful reste. And right so it is of the resoun and of the love also, whiche was clene in goostli savoure and suettenesse; now it is turned into foule beestli lust and likynge into thisilf and into creatures and in fleischli savoures, bothe in the wittes, as in glotonye and leccherie, and in the ymagynynge, as in pride, veynglorie and covetise - in so mykil that thou mai unnethes doo ony good dede but yif thou be defouled by veynglorie, ne thou may not wel use noon of thi five wittes cleenli in noon creature delitable but yif thyn herte be take and gleymed with veyn lust and likynge of it, whiche putteth oute the love of God from the herte, as in felynge and the goosteli savour, that it may not come therinne. Everiche man that lyveth in spirite knoweth wel al this. This is the wrecchidnesse of thi soule and the myschief for the firste synne of man, withouten al othir wrecchidnesse and synnes whiche thou hast put therto wilfulli. And wite thou wel, though thou hadde nevere doo synne with thi bodi deedli ne venyal, but onli this that is callid origynal - for it is the first synne, and that is not ellis but the loesynge of thi rightwisenesse whiche thou were maad inne - yit schuldest thou nevere have ben saaf yif oure Lord Jhesu Criste bi His precious passioun hadde not delyvered thee and restored thee agen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Notes
- 1 ↩This sentence completes the chapter title: 'How a man shall know the worthiness and the honor of his soul that it ought to have by nature...' ME 'worschipe' is dignity/honor owed the soul, not liturgical worship; 'myschief' is distress/calamity, not playful mischief; 'bi kynde' is by nature.
- 2 ↩"a bodi unglorifiede" is rendered "an unglorified body": a mortal body not yet raised in glory, so the soul's clarity has a creaturely ceiling even in its first integrity.
- 3 ↩"sight" renders ME "sight" parallel to the earlier faculty of reason/knowing; it is intellectual beholding, not bodily vision.
- 4 ↩"worschipe" here means honor/worth/standing, not liturgical worship.
- 5 ↩The "foule merk wrecchid trinité" is Hilton's inverted image of the soul's three powers: forgetting God (against mind), unknowing Him (against reason), and beastly self-pleasure (against pure will/love).
- 6 ↩Source cites Vulgate Psalms 48:21 (Hebrew/English Psalm 49:12/20). Latin quotation retained as in the source; English sense is given in the next sentence.
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A daily portion of stillness
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