What thynge helpith most a mannys knowynge, and geteth him that hym wanteth, and
The Power of Spiritual Desire
The author identifies a singular, focused desire for God as the primary instrument for discerning good from evil and obtaining spiritual needs.
it destroys sin in him.1 You can do this more easily and effectively if you're diligent about focusing your heart on one thing above all else. That one thing is nothing other than a spiritual desire for God: to love Him, to know Him, to see Him, and to have Him here by grace in a small measure, and in the bliss of heaven, in His fullness.2 If you hold onto this desire, it will clearly show you what is sin and what isn't, and what is good compared to what is better. If you fix your thoughts on it, it will teach you everything you need and provide everything you lack.
Fighting Sin Through Grace
Victory over sin is achieved not by self-mastery, but by fixing one's heart on God, allowing Him to fight on the soul's behalf.
Therefore, when you rise up against the root of sin in general, or against any specific sin, cling to this desire and focus your thoughts more on the God you long for than on the sin you are rejecting; if you do this, God will fight for you and destroy the sin within you.✦ You'll come to your purpose much sooner if you do so than if you lose this feeling and this humble desire for God as the main thing, and set your heart only against the stirring of sin, as if you would destroy it by mastery of yourself. You'll never succeed by doing it that way.
Read the original Latin
distroieth synne in hym.
And thanne mai thou doo the more redili and betere, yif thou be besi for to sette thyn herte most upon oon thyng. And that thyng is not ellis but a gosteli desire to God for to love Him, for to knowe Hym, for to see Hym, for to have Him heer bi grace in a litil felynge, and in the blisse of hevene a ful beynge. This desire, yif thou kepe, it schal wele telle thee whiche is synne and whiche is noon, and whiche is good and whiche is bettere good. And if thou wilt festyn thi thought therto, it schal teche thee al that thee nedeth, and it schal gete thee al that thee wanteth. And therfore, whanne thou schal arise agens the ground of synne in general, or ellis agens ony special synne, hange faste upon this desire and sette the poynt of thi thought more upon God whom thou desirest thanne upon the synne whiche thou reprovest; for yif thou doo so, thanne feighteth God for thee and He schal destroie the synne in thee. Thou schalt moche sonnere come to thi purpos yif thou soo doo thanne yif thou lose this felynge and this meke desire to God principali, and wole sette thyn herte oonli agen stirynge of synne, as thou woldest destroie it by maistrie of thisilf. Thou schalt nevere brynge it so aboute.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.14.14 — The LORD will fight for you, and you shall keep silent.
Notes
- 1 ↩This section is a bare clause fragment in the source ("distroieth synne in hym."). It most plausibly continues the chapter heading's incomplete relative chain ("What thing helps most a man's knowing, and gets him what he lacks, and..."), but only the supplied clause is translated here.
- 2 ↩ME felynge keeps Hilton's sense of partial spiritual sense/experience now, contrasted with ful beynge (full being/possession) in heaven.
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