The feerthe chapitre. Of the schortnes of this werk, and how it may not be comen to by the corioustee of witte, ne by ymaginacion.

The Shortness of the Work

The work of contemplation is the shortest possible, lasting only an atom of time and matched to a single stirring of the will.

But so that you won't go astray in this work and suppose it's other than it is, I'll tell you a little more about it, as it seems to me. This work doesn't take a long time before it's once truly done, as some people suppose; for it's the shortest work of all that anyone can imagine. It is neither longer nor shorter than an atom; which atom, by the definition of true philosophers in the science of astronomy, is the least part of time; and it is so little that, because of its littleness, it is indivisible and nearly incomprehensible.¹ This is that time of which it is written: All time that is given to you will be asked of you—how you have spent it. And it's reasonable that you give an account of it; for it is neither longer nor shorter, but exactly matched to one single stirring within the principal working power of your soul, which is your will.² For just so many willings or desirings—and no more nor fewer—may be and are in one hour in your will as there are atoms in one hour. And if you were reformed by grace to the first state of the human soul, as it was before sin, then you would always, by help of that grace, be lord of that stirring or of those stirrings; so that none went by unused, but all of them would stretch into the sovereign desirable and into the highest willable thing, which is God.³

The Soul's Capacity for God Through Love

God is incomprehensible to the knowing power but fully comprehensible to the loving power, and by grace the soul can comprehend Him entirely by love.

For He is exactly fitted to our soul by the measuring of His Godhead; and our soul is exactly fitted to Him by the worth of our creation in His image and His likeness.⁴ And He alone, by Himself, without anything else—and no one but Him—is fully sufficient and more than enough to satisfy the will and desire of our soul. And our soul, through this reforming grace, is fully enabled to comprehend Him entirely by love—He who is incomprehensible to every created knowing power, whether angel or human soul.⁵ (I mean by their knowing, not by their loving; that is why I call them 'knowing powers' in this context.) But understand: all rational creatures, both angels and humans, have within them—each one individually—one primary active power, called the knowing power, and another primary active power, called the loving power. Of these two powers, God, their maker, is forever incomprehensible to the first, the knowing power; but to the second, the loving power, He is fully comprehensible, though differently in each one—so much so that a single loving soul, by virtue of love, can comprehend in itself Him who is fully sufficient, and much more, beyond comparison, to fill all the souls and angels that could ever exist.⁶ And this is the endless, marvelous miracle of love, which will never come to an end; for he will always do it, and he will never cease doing it.⁷ See: whoever by grace can see—for the experience of this is endless bliss, and the opposite is endless pain.⁸

The Work as Man's Purpose and the Stewardship of Time

The work is the purpose for which man was made; failing in it leads to sin, while persevering leads to God, and time is precious and must be stewarded carefully.

And so anyone reformed by grace to keep attending to the stirrings of the will would never, in this life, be without some taste of that endless sweetness — just as by nature he can't be without those stirrings — nor, in the bliss of heaven, without the full feast of it.⁹ And so don't be surprised that I urge you to this work. For this is the work, as you'll hear later, in which a person should have continued if he had never sinned; the working for which he was made, and for which all things were made for him, to help him and further him toward it; and by which a person will be restored again.¹⁰ And because of failing in this working, a person falls deeper and deeper into sin, and farther and farther from God. And by keeping at it and continually working in this work alone — without anything else — a person always rises higher and higher out of sin, and nearer and nearer to God.¹¹ And so take careful heed of time, and of how you spend it. For nothing is more precious than time. In one brief moment, little as it is, heaven may be won or lost. It's a sign that time is precious: for God, who is the giver of time, never gives two moments together, but each one after the other. And He does this because He will not reverse the order or the ordained course in the design of His creation.¹² For time was made for man, and not man for time.^✦ And so God, who is the ruler of nature, will not, in giving time, outrun the natural stirring in a person's soul — which matches exactly one moment only.¹³¹⁴ So that no one will have any excuse against God at the Judgment, when giving an account of how time was spent, saying: "You give two moments at once, and I have only one stirring at once."^✦

The Disciple's Lament and the Comfort of Love

The disciple despairs over past misuse of time, but the author points to love of Jesus as the answer, through which all time is redeemed in communion with Christ and the saints.

But now you say sorrowfully, "What am I to do? And since what you say is true, how am I to give an account of each thing separately?¹⁵ I who until this very day — now twenty-four years old — have never paid attention to time? If I wanted to set it right now, you know well — by the plain sense of your words written above — that by the course of nature or of common grace I could never keep, or else make amends for, any more moments of time than those still to come.¹⁶¹⁷ Yes, and what's more, I know well by hard experience that of the times still to come I will in no way — because of my great frailty and the sluggishness of my spirit — be able to keep even one in a hundred; so I'm truly cornered by these arguments.¹⁸ Help me now, for the love of Jesus!" You've put it very well: "for the love of Jesus." For in the love of Jesus your help will be found. Love is such a power that it makes all things common.¹⁹ Therefore love Jesus, and everything He has is yours. By His Godhead He is the maker and giver of time. By His Manhood He is the true keeper of time. And by His Godhead and His Manhood together, He is the truest judge and the one who will call for an account of how time has been spent.²⁰ Therefore bind yourself to Him by love and by faith; and then, by the power of that bond, you'll be a partner in common with Him and with all who are so bound to Him by love—that is to say, with our Lady Saint Mary, who was full of all grace in the keeping of time, with all the angels of heaven who can never lose time, and with all the saints in heaven and on earth who, by the grace of Jesus, keep time fully and justly by the power of love.²¹

The Sudden Stirring of Love

The work is a sudden, blind stirring of love like a spark from coal, rising and falling, yet always able to rise again.

Look! Here is comfort; understand it clearly and take some benefit from it.²² But I warn you of one thing above all others: I can't see who may truly claim this common fellowship with Jesus and His righteous Mother, His high angels, and also with His saints, unless it is someone who does everything he can, with the help of grace, in the keeping of time—so that he is seen to be a contributor on his part, however little it is, to that fellowship, as each of them does on his.²³²⁴ And therefore pay close attention to this work and to the marvelous manner of it within your soul. For if it's truly conceived, it is only a sudden stirring, and as it were unbidden, swiftly springing toward God like a spark from the coal.²⁵ And it's marvelous to count the stirrings that may be wrought in one hour in a soul disposed to this work. And yet, in one stirring of all these, he may suddenly and perfectly have forgotten every created thing. But right after each stirring, because of the corruption of the flesh, it falls down again to some thought, or to some deed done or left undone. But what of that? For right after, it rises again as suddenly as it did before.

Warning Against Intellectual Striving and the Cloud of Unknowing

The work cannot be attained by cleverness or imagination; it requires humility, and the cloud of unknowing is not a physical cloud but a lack of knowing that stands between the soul and God.

And here people can briefly grasp the way this work goes, and clearly know that it's far from any fantasy, or any false imagination, or clever opinion—which come not from such a devout and meek blind stirring of love, but from a proud, curious, and imaginative intellect. Such a proud, curious intellect must always be borne down and firmly trodden underfoot if this work is to be truly conceived in purity of spirit. For whoever hears this work either read or spoken, and thinks that it can or should be reached by laboring with their wits (and therefore they sit and search in their minds how it might be done, and in this curiosity they strain their imagination—perhaps against the course of nature—and invent a kind of working that is neither bodily nor spiritual): truly this person, whoever he is, is dangerously deceived; so much so that unless God in His great goodness shows His merciful miracle and soon makes him leave off the work and humble himself to the counsel of experienced practitioners, he will fall either into madness, or else into other great harms of spiritual sins and the devil's deceits; through which he can easily be lost, both life and soul, without end. And therefore, for God's love, be careful in this work, and don't use your wits or your imagination in any way. For I tell you truly, it cannot be achieved by using them; so leave them alone and don't use them.²⁶ And don't think, because I call it a darkness or a cloud, that it's any cloud condensed from the vapors that float in the air, or yet any darkness like the kind in your house at night when your candle is out. For you can imagine such a darkness and such a cloud by the cleverness of your intellect, so as to hold them before your eyes on the brightest day of summer; and likewise, the other way around, on the darkest night of winter you can imagine a clear shining light.²⁷ Leave that kind of falsehood alone; that isn't what I mean. For when I say darkness, I mean a lack of knowing: just as everything you don't know, or else that you've forgotten, is dark to you, because you don't see it with your spiritual eye.²⁸ For this reason, it isn't called a cloud of the air, but a cloud of unknowing that stands between you and your God.

Read the original Middle English

But forthi that thou schalt not erre in this worching, and wene that it be otherwise then it is, I schal telle thee a lityl more therof, as me thinketh.

This werk asketh no longe tyme er it be ones treulich done, as sum men wenen; for it is the schortest werke of alle that man may ymagyn. It is neither lenger ne schorter then is an athomus; the whiche athomus, by the diffinicion of trewe philisophres in the sciens of astronomye, is the leest partie of tyme; and it is so litil that, for the littilnes of it, it is undepartable and neighhonde incomprehensible. This is that tyme of the whiche it is wretyn: Alle tyme that is goven to thee, it schal be askid of thee how thou haste dispendid it. And skilful thing it is that thou geve acompte of it; for it is neither lenger ne schorter, bot even acording to one only steryng that is withinne the principal worching might of thi soul, the whiche is thi wille. For even so many willinges or desiringes -- and no mo ne no fewer -- may be and aren in one oure in thi wille, as aren athomus in one oure. And yif thou were reformid bi grace to the first state of mans soule, as it was bifore sinne, than thou schuldest evermore, bi help of that grace, be lorde of that stering or of thoo sterynges; so that none yede forby, bot alle thei schulde streche into the soverein desirable and into the heighest wilnable thing, the whiche is God.

For He is even mete to oure soule by mesuring of His Godheed; and oure soule even mete unto Him bi worthines of oure creacion to His ymage and to His licnes. And He by Himself withouten moo, and none bot He, is sufficient at the fulle, and mochel more, to fulfille the wille and the desire of oure soule. And oure soule, bi vertewe of this reformyng grace, is mad sufficient at the fulle to comprehende al Him by love, the whiche is incomprehensible to alle create knowable might, as is aungel and mans soule. (I mene by theire knowyng and not by theire lovyng, and therfore I clepe hem in this caas knowable mightes).

Bot seth: alle resonable creatures, aungel and man, hath in hem, ilchone by hemself, o principal worching might, the whiche is clepid a knowable might, and another principal worching might, the whiche is clepid a lovyng might: of the whiche two mightes, to the first, the whiche is a knowyng might, God, That is the maker of hem, is evermore incomprehensible; and to the secound, the whiche is the lovyng myght, in ilchone diversly He is al comprehensible at the fulle, insomochel that o lovyng soule only in itself, by vertewe of love, schuld comprehende in it Hym that is sufficient at the fulle -- and mochel more, withoute comparison -- to fille alle the soules and aungelles that ever may be. And this is the eendles merveilous miracle of love, the whiche schal never take eende; for ever schal he do it, and never schal he seese for to do it. See, who bi grace see may, for the felyng of this is eendles blisse; and the contrary is eendles pyne.

And therfore whoso were refourmyd by grace thus to continow in keping of the sterynges of the wille, schuld never be in this liif -- as he may not be withouten thees sterynges in kynde -- withouten som taast of the eendles swetnes; and in the blisse of heven withouten the fulle food. And therfore have no wonder thof I stere thee to this werk. For this is the werk, as thou schalt here after, in the whiche man schuld have contynowed yif he never had synned, and to the whiche worching man was maad, and alle thing for man, to help him and forther him therto, and by the whiche a man schal be reparailed agein. And for the defaylyng in this worching a man falleth depper and depper in synne, and ferther and ferther fro God. And by kepyng and contynowel worching in this werk only, withouten mo, a man evermore riseth hier and hier fro synne, and nerer and nerer unto God.

And therfore take good keep into tyme, how that thou dispendist it. For nothing is more precious than tyme. In oo litel tyme, as litel as it is, may heven be wonne and lost. A token it is that time is precious: for God, That is gever of tyme, geveth never two tymes togeder, bot ichone after other. And this He doth for He wil not reverse the ordre or the ordinel cours in the cause of His creacion. For tyme is maad for man, and not man for tyme. And therfore God, That is the rewler of hy kynde, wil not in the gevyng of tyme go before the steryng of kynde in a mans soule; the whiche is even acordyng to o tyme only. So that man schal have none excusacion agens God in the Dome and at the gevyng of acompte of dispendyng of tyme, seiing: "Thou gevest two tymes at ones, and I have bot o steryng at ones."

Bot soroufuly thou seist now: "How schal I do? and sith this is soth that thou seist, how schal I geve acompte of iche thing seerly. I that into this day, now of foure and twenty yere age, never toke hede of tyme? Yif I wolde now amende it, thou wost wel, bi verrey reson of thi wordes wretyn before, it may not be after the cours of kynde ne of comoun grace, that I schuld mowe kepe or elles make aseeth to any mo tymes than to thoo that ben forto come. Ye, and moreover wel I wote, bi verrey proef, that of thoo that ben to come I schal on no wise, for habundaunce of freelté and slownes of sperite, mowe kepe one of an hondred; so that I am verrely conclude in theese resons. Help me now, for the love of Jhesu!"

Right wel hast thou seide "for the love of Jhesu." For in the love of Jhesu there schal be thin help. Love is soche a might that it makith alle thing comoun. Love therfore Jhesu, and alle thing that He hath it is thin. He by His Godheed is maker and gever of tyme. He bi His Manheed is the verrey keper of tyme. And He, bi His Godheed and His Manheed togeders, is the trewist domesman and the asker of acompte of dispending of tyme. Knyt thee therfore to Him bi love and by beleve; and than by vertewe of that knot thou schalt be comoun parcener with Him and with alle that by love so be knittyd unto Him; that is to sey, with oure Lady Seinte Mary, that ful was of alle grace in kepyng of tyme with alle the aungelles of heven that never may lese tyme, and with alle the seintes in heven and in erthe, that by the grace of Jhesu kepen tyme ful justly in vertewe of love.

Loo! here lith counforte; construe thou cleerly and pike thee sum profite. Bot of oo thing I warne thee amonges alle other: I cannot see who may trewliche chalenge comunité thus with Jhesu and His just Moder, His highe aungelles and also with His seyntes, bot yif it be soche one that doth that in hym is, with helping of grace, in kepyng of tyme; so that he be seen to be a profiter on his partye, so litil as is, unto the comunité, as ichone of hem doth on his.

And therfore take kepe to this werk and to the merveylous maner of it withinne in thi soule. For yif it be trewlich conceyved, it is bot a sodeyn steryng, and as it were unavisid, speedly springing unto God as sparcle fro the cole. And it is merveylous to noumbre the sterynges that may be in one oure wrought in a soule that is disposid to this werk. And yit, in o steryng of alle theese, he may have sodenly and parfitely forgeten alle create thing. Bot fast after iche steryng, for corupcion of the flesche, it falleth doune agein to som thought or to some done or undone dede. Bot what therof? for fast after, it riseth agen as sodenly as it did bifore.

And here mowe men schortly conceyve the maner of this worching, and cleerly knowe that it is fer fro any fantasie, or any fals ymaginacion, or queynte opinion; the whiche ben brought in, not by soche a devoute and a meek blynde stering of love, bot by a proude, coryous, and an ymaginatiif witte. Soche a proude, corious witte behoveth algates be born doun and stifly troden doun under fote, yif this werke schal trewly be conceyvid in pureté of spirite.

For whoso herith this werke outher be red or spoken, and weneth that it may or schuld be comen to by travayle in theire wittes (and therfore thei sitte and sechin in theire wittes how that it may be, and in this coriousté thei travayle theire ymaginacion, paraventure, agens cours of kynde, and thei feyne a maner of worching, the whiche is neither bodily ne goostly): trewly this man, whatsoever he be, is perilously disseyvid; insomochel that, bot yif God of His grete goodnes schewe His mercyful myracle and make hym sone to leve werk and meek him to counsel of provid worchers, he schal falle outher into frenesies, or elles into other grete mischeves of goostly sinnes and devels disseites; thorow the whiche he may lightly be lorne, bothe liif and soule, withouten any eende. And therfore, for Goddes love, beware in this werk, and travayle not in thi wittes ne in thin ymaginacion on no wise. For I telle thee trewly, it may not be comen to by travaile in theim; and therfore leve theim and worche not with theim.

And wene not, for I clepe it a derknes or a cloude, that it be any cloude congelid of the humours that fleen in the ayre, ne yit any derknes soche as is in thin house on nightes, when thi candel is oute. For soche a derknes and soche a cloude maist thou ymagin with coriousté of witte, for to bere before thin ighen in the lightest day of somer; and also, agenswarde, in the derkist night of wynter thou mayst ymagin a clere schinyng light. Lat be soche falsheed; I mene not thus. For when I sey derknes, I mene a lackyng of knowyng; as alle that thing that thou knowest not, or elles that thou hast forgetyn, it is derk to thee, for thou seest it not with thi goostly ighe. And for this skile it is not clepid a cloude of the eire, bot a cloude of unknowyng, that is bitwix thee and thi God.

Scripture echoes

↩Mark.2.27 — And he said to them, 'The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.'
↩Rom.14.12;Matt.12.36 — So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Matt.12.36 — But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they will give an account for it on the day of judgment.

Notes

1 ↩ME athomus: the medieval astronomical/philosophical atom of time (smallest indivisible temporal unit), not a modern physical particle.
2 ↩ME skilful here means reasonable/fitting (from skill as reason), not modern 'skilled'.
3 ↩ME soverein desirable / heighest wilnable thing names God as the supreme object of desire and will; 'willable' preserves the technical sense of what the will can rightly will.
4 ↩ME even mete = perfectly proportionate/fitted; by mesuring of His Godheed means God accommodates the infinite Godhead to the soul's measure.
5 ↩create knowable might rendered as created knowing power (active faculty of knowing), not 'knowable' as passive object of knowledge; clarified by s4.
6 ↩ME 'might' here means an operative faculty or power (not physical strength). 'Knowable/knowyng might' and 'lovyng might' are the author's technical terms for the powers of knowing and loving; rendered as 'knowing power' and 'loving power'.
7 ↩ME 'he' most naturally continues the loving soul of the previous sentence (or Love itself as agent); left as 'he' to preserve the source's pronoun without over-specifying.
8 ↩ME 'felyng' here is experiential/spiritual sensing, not mere emotion; 'pyne' is torment/pain.
9 ↩sterynges of the wille: the will's loving impulses or movements toward God, a standing Cloud term; rendered as 'stirrings of the will'. fulle food contrasts with som taast: a foretaste now versus complete nourishment in heaven.
10 ↩reparailed agein: restored/repaired again after the Fall; rendered as 'restored again' rather than merely 'repaired'.
11 ↩withouten mo: 'without more' — i.e., this work alone, with nothing further required; rendered as 'without anything else'.
12 ↩ME "cause of His creacion" rendered as "design of His creation"; it may also mean the created order/scheme itself.
13 ↩ME "steryng of kynde" kept as "natural stirring": in this work, the sudden natural impulse of the will toward God, here timed one-to-one with each given moment.
14 ↩ME "hy kynde" read as "nature" ("high/his nature"); sense is God as ruler of created nature.
15 ↩seerly rendered as 'separately' (severally, item by item); the force is a detailed reckoning of each use of time.
16 ↩make aseeth to = make satisfaction/amends for (ME aseth); paired with kepe as alternative ways of dealing rightly with time.
17 ↩comoun grace kept as 'common grace' (ordinary assisting grace), set against the course of nature (kynde).
18 ↩verrely conclude = truly concluded/hemmed in by the logic; rendered 'cornered' to keep the sense of being shut in by the reasoning without archaic 'concluded'.
19 ↩ME comoun: held/shared in common, not merely ordinary.
20 ↩ME domesman: judge (doomsman); dispending of tyme: the spending/use of time.
21 ↩ME comoun parcener: joint sharer/partner in common (legal parcener sense transferred to spiritual communion).
22 ↩ME 'pike thee sum profite' means pick/gather some benefit for yourself; rendered as take some profit, not financial gain.
23 ↩ME 'chalenge comunité' = claim community/common share as of right; rendered 'claim this common fellowship' to echo the preceding 'comoun parcener' sense without inventing a legal claim.
24 ↩ME 'profiter on his partye … unto the comunité' = one who brings benefit on his side to the common fellowship; 'contributor' preserves that sense without modern business overtones.
25 ↩enm 'unavisid' = unadvised/unpremeditated; rendered as 'unbidden' to keep the sense of a stirring that arrives without deliberation.
26 ↩"theim" refers to the wits and imagination named in the previous sentence.
27 ↩coriousté of witte: rendered as 'cleverness of your intellect' (speculative curiosity/ingenuity of the reasoning faculty), matching the chapter's warning against reaching this work by wit or imagination.
28 ↩goostly ighe kept as 'spiritual eye' (the mind's interior faculty of knowing), not the bodily eye.

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