Scala perfecc[i]onis

¶How Ihesu shall be soughte. desyred: & foūde / ca xlvi (Book 46)

SEke thenne that thou hast lost that thou myghte fynde it / well I wote who soo myght ones haue an inwarde syghte a lityll of that dignytee and that ghostly fayrnes why¦che a soule had by kynde. and shall haue by grace / he sholde lo¦the and dispise in his hert all the blysse. the likyng: and the fa¦yrnes of this worlde as the stenche of a carion. and he shal ne¦uer haue wyll for to doo other dede nyghte & daye sauynge the freelte and the bare nede of the bodily kynde but desyre. mour¦ne. & praye and seke how he myghte come ayen therto / Neuer¦theles in as moche as thou hast not yet seen what it is fully / For thy ghostly eye is not yet openyd / I shall telle the oo wor¦de for all in the whyche thou shalt seke desyre and fynde it. for in that one worde is all that thou hast lost / This worde is Ihesu / I meane not this worde Ihesu paynted vpon y^e wal¦le / or wrytten by lettres on the boke. or fourmyd by lippes in soūde of the mowthe / or feyned in thy herte by traueyle of thy mynde / For in this maner wyse maye a man oute of charyte fynde hym. But I meane Ihesu crist that blessid persone god and man sone of virgin mary / whom this name betokenith that is all goodnes: endles wysdom / loue / and swetnes / thy Ioye. thy worshyp. and thyn euerlastyng blysse / thy god: thy lo¦rde. and thy saluacyon / Thenne yf it be soo that thou felyst a grete desyre in thyn herte to Ihesu. eyther by mynde of this na¦me Ihesu. or by mynde and sayenge of ony other worde / or in

prayer. or in ony dede y^t thou doost / whiche desire is soo moche that it putteth oute as it were by strength al other thoughtes and desyres of the worlde / & of the flesshe that they maye not reste in thyne herte / Thenne sechest thou well thy lorde Ihesu And whan thou felyst this desyre to god / to Ihesu. all is one holpen and comforted by a ghostly myghte / in somoche that it is torned in to loue and affeccōn / ghostly sauour and swet¦nes / In to lyght and knowyng of sothfastnes / somoche that for the tyme the poynt of thy thoughte is sette vpō noo thyn¦ge that is made / Ne it felyth noo stiryng of vaynglory ne of itself nother / ne none other euyll affeccōn / for they mow not appere that tyme / But oonly is enclosed. rested: softed. enoyn¦ted in Ihesu / thenne hast thou founde somwhat of Ihesu / Not hym as he is. but a shadowe of hym. For the better that thou fyndest hym / the more shalt thou desire hym / Thenne by what maner prayer or meditacōn or occupacōn that thou maye haue grettest and clennest desyre to hym. and haue mo∣ost felynge of hym / by that ocupacyon thou sechest hym best and beste fyndest hym / Therfore yf it come to thy mynde / as it were askynge what hast thou loste / and what sechest thou Lyfte vp thy mynde and the desyre of thy herte to Ihesu cryste though thou be blynde and noughte maye see of his godhede And saye that hym hast thou lost / and hym wolde thou haue. and noo thyng but hym / to be wyth hym where he is / None other ioye none other blysse in heuen ne in erth but hym / And though it be soo that thou fele hym in deuocōn or in knowin¦ge / or in ony other yefte what that it be / rest not there as tho¦ugh thou haddest fully founde Ihesu. But foryete that. that y^u hast foūde / and alway by desiryng after Ihesu more and mo¦re for to fynde hym better / as though thou haddest ryght no∣ughte founde in hym / For wyte thou well what that thou fe¦lyst of hym. be it neuer soo moche. ye though thou were rauis¦shed in to the thyrde heuen wyth poul / yet hast thou not foun¦de

Ihesu as he is in his Ioye / Know thou or fele thou neuer soo moche of hym / he is yet aboue it / And therfore yf thou woll fully fynde hym as he is in the blysse / of louyng cease y^u neuer whyle thou lyuest / ne of ghostly desyryng /