Of envie and ire and of here braunchis, and hou sumtyme instide of synne mannys
The Trap of False Righteousness
The author warns that hidden envy and anger often masquerade as righteous indignation against others.
The person is hated. Turn this image upside down and look carefully into it, and you'll find two members of envy and anger fastened to it, with many branches springing out of them, which hinder the love and charity you should have toward your fellow Christian. The branches of envy and anger are these: hatred, evil suspicion, false and unskillful judging, melancholy, rising of the heart against those who despise you or speak evil against you, gladness at their distress, and fierceness against sinful people who will not do as you think they should—when with great desire of your heart, under the color of charity and righteousness, you wish that they were thoroughly punished for their sin.12 This impulse seems good; however, if you examine it carefully, it's more about fleshly opposition to the person than spiritual opposition to the sin.3
Discerning Sin from the Sinner
True spiritual maturity requires the difficult task of hating sin while maintaining love for the person.
You must love the person, no matter how sinful they may be, and you must hate the sin in every person, whoever they are. Many are deceived by this, for they mistake the bitter for the sweet and take darkness for light, as the prophet says: Woe to you who call evil good and good evil, who put light for darkness and bitter for sweet (Isaiah 5:20).✦4 Woe to those who say evil is good and good is evil, who treat light as darkness and bitter as sweet.✦ This is what happens to all those who, when they should hate the sin of their fellow Christian and love the person, hate the person instead of the sin, all while thinking they are hating the sin. So it is a skill all its own for anyone who can do it well.5
Read the original Latin
persoone is hated.
Turne this image upsodoun and loke wel thereinne, and thou schal fynde two membris of envie and ire fastned therto, with many branches spryngynge ought of hem, the whiche letten the love and charité that thou schuldest have to thyn even Cristene. The braunchis of envie and ire aren thise: haterede, yvel suspecioun, fals and unskilful demynge, malencolie, risynge of herte agens hem that dispisen thee or speken yvel agens thee, a gladnesse of here disese, and a felnesse agens synful men that wole not doo as thee thenketh thei schulde doo, with gret desire of thyn herte undir colour of charité and rightwesnesse desirest that thei were wel ponysschid for here synne. This stirynge semeth good, neverthelees it is, yif thou ransake it wel, more fleischli agens the persoone thanne goostli agen the synne. Thou schalt love the man, be he nevere so synful, and thou schalt hate synne in everi man what that he bee. Manye aren bigiled in this, for thei sette the bittir instide of the swete, and taken myrkenesse instide of light, as the prophete telleth: Ve vobis, qui dicitis malum bonum, et bonum malum; ponentes lucem tenebras et amarum dulce (Isaiah 5:20). Woo bee to hem that seyn yvel is good and good is yvel, and setteth light as myrkenesse, and bittir instede of swete. Thus doon alle thoo that whanne thei schulden hate the synne of here even Cristene and love the persoone, thei hate the persoone instide of synne, and wene that thei hate the synne. Wherefore it is a craft bi hitsilf, whoso cowde doon it wel.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.5.20 — Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
- ↩Isa.5.20 — Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME 'felnesse' rendered as 'fierceness' (cruel bitterness/harshness of temper), not mere anger; 'undir colour of' is pretext/guise, not literal color.
- 2 ↩List structure is paratactic; the final wish for punishment is the content of the 'felnesse' branch under a false show of charity and righteousness.
- 3 ↩ME 'stirynge' kept as 'stirring' for an interior impulse/movement; 'ransake' = search thoroughly; 'fleischli'/'goostli' = fleshly/spiritual.
- 4 ↩Source embeds abbreviated Latin of Isaiah 5:20 (Ve vobis... amarum dulce); rendered into modern English for register; candidate awaits Moses resolution.
- 5 ↩ME 'craft bi hitsilf' = an art/skill in its own right (cf. next chapter's 'maistrie'); 'whoso cowde' modernized away from archaism per register policy.
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