Eerste deel — A. Een goet leven
The Three Pillars of a Good Life
The author introduces the concept of a good life as being defined by three essential points.
First: a good life. Of three points that make a good person. Now you should note three points that make a good person.1
Purity, Obedience, and Intention
A good life is built upon a pure conscience, obedience to God and Church, and a constant intention to please God.
The first point a good person must have is a pure conscience without the reproach of mortal sins.2 And for that reason, anyone who wants to become a good person must examine and watch himself with great discretion, from the time he was able to sin. And from that time on he must cleanse himself according to the ordinance and manner of holy Church.3 The second thing that makes a person good is that they must be obedient in all things to God, to the holy Church, and to their own sound judgment.4 They must be equally obedient to all three; then they'll live without doubt or anxiety, and they'll always remain free from inward reproach for all their works.5 The third point that applies to everyone is this: in all your works, you should aim first of all at God's honor. But if, because of busyness and the multiplicity of his works, he doesn't always keep God before his eyes, then at the very least it must be fixed in him that he intends and desires to live according to God's most pleasing will.67
The Grace of Conversion
The author concludes that embracing these three points immediately restores a person to God's grace.
Look: these three points, when held this way, make a good person; and anyone who lacks even one of these three is neither good nor in the grace of God. But when someone takes these three points into their heart to fulfill them—no matter how bad they have been before—in that same moment they become good, and are acceptable to God and full of the grace of God.8
Read the original Latin
Dierste: een guet leven. van drien punten die enen goeden mensche maken Nu suldi merken drie poente die eenen goeden mensce maken.
Dat eerste poent dat een goet mensche hebben moet, dat es eene suvere conziëncie sonder wroeghinghe van dootsonden. Ende hier-omme, die een goet mensche werden wilt, hi moet hem-selven proeven ende merken met groter besceedenheit, van dier tijt dat hi zonde doen mochte. Ende van dier tijt moet hi hem purgeren, na ordinancie ende na maniere der heiligher kerken.
Dat ander poent dat eenen goeden mensche maect, dat es dat hi ghehoorsam moet sijn in allen dinghen gode ende der heiligher kerken ende sijnre eyghender besceendenheit. Ende desen driën moet hi gelijc ghehoorsam sijn, soe leeft hi sonder twifel ende sorghe, ende hi blijft altoes omberespt van binnen van allen sinen werken.
Dat derde poent dat yeghewelcken mensche toebehoort, dat es dat hi principalijc gods eere meynen sal in allen sinen werken. Maer eest alsoe dat hi overmids onlede ende menichfuldichheit sire werke altoes gode voer oghen niet en hevet, ten alre minsten moet in hem staen dat hi meyne ende beghere te levene naden lieften wille gods.
Siet dese drie poente aldus beseten maken eenen goeden mensche, ende soe wien dat eenich poent ghebreect van desen driën, die en es niet goet noch inder graciën gods. Maer wanneer dat eenich mensche dese drie poente in sijn herte begrijpt te volbringhene: hoe quaet hi vore gheweest heeft, inden selven oghenblicke wert hi goet, ende es gode ontfanclijc ende vol der graciën gods.
Notes
- 1 ↩The source runs a heading-like rubric (van drien punten die enen goeden mensche maken) into the body sentence (Nu suldi merken...); both are rendered in order without collapsing the near-repetition.
- 2 ↩wroeghinghe is the conscience's sting or self-reproach; the sense is a pure conscience free of accusation for mortal sin, not indifference to sin.
- 3 ↩purgeren points to ordered purgation (confession and satisfaction under Church practice), not a private or free-form purification.
- 4 ↩Middle Dutch besceendenheit/bescheidenheid: discretionary judgment, discretion, or reasoned self-guidance—not mere caution. Rendered here as 'sound judgment' to keep the spiritual-discernment force.
- 5 ↩omberespt (onberispt) = unreproached/blameless; van binnen marks interior conscience. Rendered as 'free from inward reproach' rather than merely 'blameless,' to keep the inward moral quiet in view.
- 6 ↩Middle Dutch onlede covers busyness, unrest, and lack of leisure; rendered as busyness to capture the distraction of occupied life rather than mere emotional anxiety.
- 7 ↩lieften is superlative of lief: God's dearest/most pleasing will. Rendered as God's most pleasing will.
- 8 ↩begrijpt te volbringhene: rendered as resolves/takes into the heart to fulfill (grasp with intent to carry out), not mere intellectual understanding.
The Sparkling Stone (Vanden blinkenden steen) 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