What profite cometh of the kepynge of the herte, and hou moche the soule is.
The Custody of the Heart
The author exhorts the reader to guard the heart against evil thoughts, noting that our inner life of thought and affection defines our spiritual state.
Then gather your heart and follow the wise man’s counsel: "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it life proceeds" (Proverbs 4:23).✦ With all your diligence keep your heart, for out of it comes life; and that is true when it is well kept, for then wise thoughts, pure affections, and burning desires for virtues and for charity and for the bliss of heaven come out of it and make the soul live a blessed life.✦ Conversely, if it isn’t well kept, then as our Lord says in the Gospel: "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, which defile a person" (Matthew 15:19-20).✦ Bad thoughts and unclean affections come from the heart, and as our Lord says, these defile a person. They either take away the life of the soul through mortal sin, or they weaken the soul and make it sick if they are venial.1 For what is a person if not their thoughts and their loves? These alone make a person good or bad.
The Measure of the Soul
The soul's true size is determined by its capacity for love, which is revealed through the focus of our thoughts.
As much as you love your God and your fellow Christian and know Him, so much is your soul; and if you love Him little, little is your soul; and if you do not love Him at all, your soul is nothing.2 It counts for nothing when it comes to good, but it counts for a lot when it comes to sin. And if you want to know what you love, look at what you think about; for where your love is, there your eye is, and where your liking is, there your heart is thinking most. If you love God much, you delight to think much about Him. Manage your thoughts and affections well, and you'll be virtuous.
Read the original Latin
Gadere thanne thyn herte togidre and doo aftir the conceile of the wise man, whanne he seith thus: Omni custodia serva cor tuum, quoniam ex ipso procedit vita (Proverbs 4:23). With al thi bisinesse kepe thyn herte, for out of it cometh liyf; and that is soth whanne it is wel kepid, for thanne wise thoughtes, clene affeccions, and brennynge desires of vertues and of charité and of the blisse of hevene comen oute of it, and maketh the soule for to lyve a blissid lif. Also upoun the contrarie wise, yif it be not wel kepid, thanne as oure Lord seith in the Gospel: De corde exeunt cogitaciones male, que coinquinant hominem (Matthew 15:19-20). Badde thoughtes and unclene affeccions comen oute of the herte, the whiche filen a man, as oure Lord seith. Thei owthere bynemen the liyf of the soule bi deedli synne, or ellis thei feble the soule and maketh it seek, yef thei ben venial. For what is a man but hise thoughtes and his loves? Thise maken a man oonli good or badde. As moche as thou lovest thi God and thyn even Cristene and knowest Hym, so moche is thi soule; and if thou litil love Hym, litil is thi soule; and yif thou nought love Hym, nout is thi soule.
It is nought as for good, but it is moche as for synne. And yif thou wolt wite what thou lovest, loke whereupoun thou thenkest; for where thi love is, there is thyne iye; and where thy likynge is, there is most thyn herte thynkynge. Yif thou moche love God, thee liketh to thenke moche upon Hym. Rule wel thi thoughtes and thyne affeccions, and thanne art thou vertuous.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.4.23 — Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.
- ↩Prov.4.23 — Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.
- ↩Matt.15.19-Matt.15.20 — For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, and blasphemies. Matt.15.20 — These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME 'deedli synne' rendered as 'mortal sin' (deadly sin); 'venial' kept as the technical counterpart for lesser sin that does not kill the soul's life but sickens it.
- 2 ↩ME 'even Cristene' rendered as 'fellow Christian'. The measure of the soul here is its spiritual stature in love and knowledge of God, not its metaphysical existence; the next section clarifies that 'nothing' means nothing as to good, though much as to sin.
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