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Chapter 48ScalePerfB1.1.48

Where and wherewith Jhesu schal be sought and founden.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

The author introduces the Gospel parable of the woman searching for her lost coin as a metaphor for the soul's search for Jesus.

Be like the woman in the Gospel, of whom our Lord says: What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one, doesn't light a lamp, turn her house upside down, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends together and says, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost." (Luke 15:8-9).✦ What woman is there who has lost a drachma and will not light a lantern, turn her house upside down, and search for it until she finds it?✦1 In other words, none.2 And when she has found it, she calls her friends to her and says to them: "Rejoice with me and make merry, for I have found the drachma that I had lost."✦3

Lighting the Lantern of Reason

To find Jesus, one must use the lantern of God's word and the light of reason to sweep the soul clean of worldly attachments.

This coin is Jesus, whom you have lost; if you want to find Him, light a lamp—which is God's word—as David says: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum (Psalm 119:105). Lord, Your word is a lamp to my feet. By this lamp you'll see where He is and how you are to find Him; and if you choose, with this light you may open another lamp, which is the reason of your soul, for our Lord says: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus (Matthew 6:22).✦4 The lamp of your body is your eye.✦ In the same way, you could say that the lantern of your soul is reason, which allows the soul to see all spiritual things. By this lantern, you can find Jesus, provided you hold it up from under the bushel, as our Lord says: Nemo accendit lucernam et ponit eam sub modio, sed super candelabrum (Matthew 5:15).✦ No one lights a lantern to put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. This means your reason must not be covered by worldly busyness, empty thoughts, or fleshly affections, but must always be lifted as high as possible above earthly things to behold Jesus Christ. If you do this, then by Him—for He is light—you will see all the dust, filth, and tiny motes in your house; that is, all the fleshly loves and fears in your soul.5 Not all of them, as David says: Delicta quis intelligit?6 (Psalms 18:13).✦ Who can know all his trespasses? As if to say, no one. You must cast all such sins out of your heart, sweep your soul clean with the broom of the fear of God, and wash it with the water of your eyes; in this way, you will find your drachma, Jesus.7

The Labor of Seeking and Finding

Finding Jesus requires persistent, humble effort, eventually leading to the joy of His presence within the soul.

He is the drachma, He is the penny, and He is your inheritance.✦8 This drachma will not be found as easily as it can be said; for this work is not a matter of one hour, nor of one day, but of many days and years, with much sweat and toil of the body and labor of the soul. If you don't give up, but keep seeking diligently—sorrowing and searching deeply, mourning quietly, and stooping low until your eyes water with anguish and pain because you have lost your treasure, Jesus—then at last, when He wills it, you will surely find your drachma, Jesus.✦9 And if you find as I have said—that is, if in clarity and purity of conscience you can feel the intimate and peaceful presence of Jesus Christ mercifully showing Himself to the face of your soul as a shadow or a glimmer—then you may, if you wish, call your friends to rejoice with you, for you have found your drachma, Jesus.✦10

Read the original Latin

Be thou like thanne to the woman of the Gospel, of the whiche oure Lord seith thus: Que mulier habens dragmas decem, et si perdiderit unam, nonne accendit lucernam, et evertit domum suam et querit diligenter, donec invenerit illam? Et cum invenerit, convocat amicas suas, dicens, congratulamini michi, quia inveni dragmam, quam perdideram

(Luke 15:8-9). What woman is that whiche hath lost a dragme, that sche ne wole lightne a lanterne and caste hir hous upsodoun and seke it til sche fynde it? As who seith, noon. And whanne sche hath founden hit sche calleth hire frendis to hire, and seith to hem thus: "Makith mirthe with me and melodie, for I have founden the dragme that I had lost." This dragme is Jhesu, whiche thou hast lost; yif thou wilt fynde Hym, light up a lanterne, whiche is Goddis word, as David seith: Lucerna pedibus meis verbum tuum (Psalms 118:105). Lord, Thi word to my feet is a lanterne. Bi this lanterne schalt thou see where He is, and hou thou schalt fynde Hym; and yif thu wilt, thou mai with this light opyn anothir lanterne, that is the resoun of thi soule, for oure Lord seith: Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus (Matthew 6:22). The lanterne of thi bodi is thi bodili iye.

Right so it mai be seid that the lanterne of thi soule is resoun, bi the whiche the soule mai see alle gosteli thinges. Bi this lanterne mai thou fynde Jhesu, and that is soth yif thou holde the lanterne up fro undirnethe the busschel, as oure Lord seith: Nemo accendit lucernam et ponit eam sub modio, sed super candelabrum (Matthew 5:15). There is no man that lighteth a lanterne for to sette it undir a busschel, but upon a candelstike; that is to seie, thi reson schal not be overleid with worldli bisinesse, ne veyn thoughtes and fleisschli affecciones, but ai upward above alle ertheli thynges, as mykil as thou may into biholdynge of Jhesu Crist; and yif thou doo soo, thou schalt thanne see bi Hym (for He is light) alle the mulle and the filthe and smale motes in thy hous, that is to seie, alle flesschli loves and dredis in thi soule. Not al, as David seith: Delicta quis intelligit? (Psalms 18:13). Who mai knowe alle his trespaces? As who seith, no man. And thou schalt cast oute of thyn herte alle siche synnes, and swepe thi soule clene with the besome of the drede of God, and with watir of thyn iyen wassch it; and so schalt thou fynde thi dragme Jhesu.

He is dragme, He is peny, and He is thyn heritage. This dragme wole not be founde so lightli as it mai be seid; for this werk is not of oon houre, ne of oon dai, but many daies and yeeris with mykil swete and swynke of the bodi and traveile of the soule. And yif thou cesist not, but sekest bisili, sorwe and seke depe, morne stille, and stoupe lowe til thyn iyen wateren for anguysche and for peyne for thou hast loste thi tresoure Jhesu; and at the laste, whanne that He wole, wel schalt thou fynde thi dragme Jhesu. And yif thou fynde as I have seide, that is, yif thou may in cleernesse and clennesse of conscience fele the hoomli and the peesful presence of Jhesu Crist mercifulli schewande Hym to the face of thi soule as a schadewe or a glymerynge, thou mai, yif thou wolt, calle thi frendes to thee for to make mirthe with thee, for thou hast founden thi dragme Jhesu.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.15.8-Luke.15.9 — Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Luke.15.9 — and having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost.'
  2. ↩Luke.15.8 — Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
  3. ↩Luke.15.9 — and having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost.'
  4. ↩Matt.6.22 — The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
  5. ↩Matt.6.22 — The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
  6. ↩Matt.5.15 — Neither do people light a lamp and put it under the basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
  7. ↩Ps.18.13 — From the radiance before him his clouds passed through, hail and coals of fire.
  8. ↩Luke.15.8-Luke.15.9 — Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Luke.15.9 — and having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost.'
  9. ↩Luke.15.8-Luke.15.9 — Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? Luke.15.9 — and having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost.'
  10. ↩Luke.15.9 — and having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost.'

Notes

  1. 1 ↩ME dragme renders Latin drachma (Luke 15); kept as drachma rather than generic coin because the allegory later identifies the dragme with Jesus.
  2. 2 ↩ME As who seith is an idiomatic glossing formula (as much as to say / that is to say); noon = none/no one, answering the rhetorical question.
  3. 3 ↩Makith mirthe with me and melodie expands the Lucan congratulamini; rendered as rejoice/make merry to keep festive force without archaism.
  4. 4 ↩resoun of thi soule = the soul's faculty of reason, which the next section names the lantern of the soul; kept as reason, not mind/intellect, to match Hilton's technical use.
  5. 5 ↩ME 'mulle' rendered as 'dust' (household refuse/dirt); pairs with 'filthe' and 'smale motes' as interior clutter exposed by light.
  6. 6 ↩'Not al' qualifies the previous claim that reason-in-Christ shows all interior filth: not every fault is fully known.
  7. 7 ↩ME 'dragme' kept as 'drachma' for continuity with the Luke 15 lost-coin allegory already in play.
  8. 8 ↩Dragme echoes the lost drachma (silver coin) of Luke 15:8–9; peny is the parallel small coin. Hilton names Jesus himself as the coin sought in the soul.
  9. 9 ↩morne stille may mean mourn continually or mourn quietly/in silence; the rendering 'mourn quietly' fits the interior, low-stooping search.
  10. 10 ↩hoomli presence is Hilton's term for Christ's familiar, near, intimate nearness (not 'homely' in the modern sense of plain or unattractive).

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