HERE BEGINNETH THE TENTH CHAPTER
How a man shall know when his thought is no sin; and if it be
sin, when it is deadly and when it is
venial.
BUT it is not thus of the remembrance of any man or woman living in this life,
or of any bodily or worldly thing whatsoever that it be. For why, a naked
sudden thought of any of them, pressing against thy will and thy witting,
although it be no sin imputed unto thee--for it is the pain of the original sin
pressing against thy power, of the which sin thou art cleansed in thy
baptism--nevertheless yet if this sudden stirring or thought be not smitten
soon down, as fast for frailty thy fleshly heart is strained thereby: with some
manner of liking, if it be a thing that pleaseth thee or hath
pleased thee before, or else with some manner of grumbling, if it be a thing
that thee think grieveth thee, or hath grieved thee before. The which
fastening, although it may in fleshly living men and women that be in deadly
sin before be deadly; nevertheless in thee and in all other that have in a true
will forsaken the world, and are obliged unto any degree in devout living in
Holy Church, what so it be, privy or open, and thereto that will be ruled not
after their own will and their own wit, but after the will and the counsel of
their sovereigns, what so they be, religious or seculars, such a liking or a
grumbling fastened in the fleshly heart is but venial sin. The cause of this is
the grounding and the rooting of your intent in God, made in the beginning of
your living in that state that ye stand in, by the witness and the counsel of
some discreet father.
But if it so be, that this liking or
grumbling fastened in thy fleshly heart be suffered so long to abide
unreproved, that then at the last it is fastened to the ghostly heart, that is
to say the will, with a full consent: then, it is deadly sin. And this
befalleth when thou or any of them that I speak of wilfully draw upon thee the
remembrance of any man or woman living in this life, or of any bodily or
worldly thing other: insomuch, that if it be a thing the which grieveth or hath
grieved thee before, there riseth in thee an angry passion and an appetite of
vengeance, the which is called Wrath. Or else a fell disdain and a manner of
loathsomeness of their person, with despiteful and condemning thoughts, the
which is called Envy. Or else a weariness and an unlistiness of any good
occupation bodily or ghostly, the which is called Sloth.
And if it be a thing that pleaseth thee, or hath
pleased thee before, there riseth in thee a passing delight for to think on
that thing what so it be. Insomuch, that thou restest thee in that
thought, and finally fastenest thine heart and thy will thereto, and feedest
thy fleshly heart therewith: so that thee think for the time that thou covetest
none other wealth, but to live ever in such a peace and rest with that thing
that thou thinkest upon. If this thought that thou thus drawest upon thee, or
else receivest when it is put unto thee, and that thou restest thee thus in
with delight, be worthiness of nature or of knowing, of grace or of degree, of
favour or of fairhead, then it is Pride. And if it be any manner of worldly
good, riches or chattels, or what that man may have or be lord of, then it is
Covetyse. If it be dainty meats and drinks, or any manner of delights that man
may taste, then it is Gluttony. And if it be love or plesaunce, or any manner
of fleshly dalliance, glosing or flattering of any man or woman living in this
life, or of thyself either: then it is Lechery.