The Little Flowers of St. Francis

THE grace of God and the virtues are a road and a ladder to ascend to heaven; but vices and sins are a road and a ladder to descend to the depths of hell. Vices and sins are a deadly potion and a mortal poison but virtues and good works are a healing theriac. One grace accompanies and brings after it another; one vice brings after it another. Grace desireth not to be praised; and vice cannot endure to be despised. In humility the mind rests and reposes; patience is her daughter. And holy purity of heart sees God; but true devotion tastes Him. If thou lovest, thou wilt he loved. If thou servest, thou wilt be served. If thou fearest, thou wilt be feared. If thou shalt do good unto others, it is fitting that others do good to thee. But blessed is he who truly loves and desires not to be loved. Blessed is he who serves and desires not to be served. Blessed is he who fears and desires not to be feared. Blessed is he who does good to others and desires not that others do good to him. But inasmuch as these things are very high and of great perfection, therefore the foolish can neither know nor attain unto them. Three things are exceeding high and very profitable, and they who have acquired the same shall never be able to fall. The first is if thou bear willingly and with joy every tribulation which befalleth thee for the love of Jesus Christ. The second is if thou humble thyself every day in everything that thou dost and in everything that thou seest.

The third is that thou faithfully love that Highest Good, celestial, invisible, with all thy heart; the which no man is able to behold with the eyes of the body. Those things which are most despised and reviled by worldly men are of a truth most acceptable and most welcome to God and to His Saints; and those things which are most loved and most honoured and most pleasing to worldly men, are those which are most despised and reviled and hated by God and by his Saints. This foul contradiction proceeded) from human ignorance and wickedness; for wretched man loveth rather those which he ought to hate, and hateth those things hick he ought to love. Once Friar Giles asked another friar, saying: “Tell me, most dear brother, hast thou a good soul?” The friar made answer: “This I do not know”. Then Friar Giles said: “My brother, I would have thee know, that holy penitence, and holy humility, and holy charity, and holy devotion, and holy joy make the soul good and blessed”.

ALL those things which may be thought with the heart, or spoken with the tongue, or seen with the eyes or handled with the hands, are well-nigh nothing with regard and in comparison to those things which cannot be thought, or seen or touched. All the saints and all the wise men who have passed away, and all those who are in the present life, and all those who shall come after us, who have spoken or written or who shall speak or write concerning God, have never said nor shall ever be able to say so much concerning God as would be a grain of millet with regard and in comparison to the heaven and the earth, yea even a thousand thousand times less. For all the Scriptures which spake of God, speak of Him as it were babblingly, even as doth a mother who babbles with her infant, that would not understand her words if she spoke in any other way. Once Friar Giles said to a doctor of law, a layman: “Believest thou that the gifts of God are great?” The lawyer made answer: “I believe”. Whereto Friar Giles said: “I will show thee that thou dost not believe faithfully”; and thereafter he said unto him: “What is the worth of that which thou possessest in this world?” The lawyer replied: “It is worth perhaps a thousand lire”. Then Friar Giles said: “Wouldst thou give these possessions of thine for ten thousand lire?”

The lawyer replied without hesitation, saying: “Certainly I would give them willingly”; and Friar Giles said: “It is a thing indisputable that all the possessions of this world are as nothing in comparison with celestial things: wherefore then dost thou not give these possessions of thine to Christ that thou mayest therewith buy those which are celestial and eternal?” Then the lawyer, wise in the foolish science of the world, answered pure and simple Friar Giles: “God hath filled thee full of the foolishness of Divine wisdom,” saying: “Dost thou believe, Friar Giles, that there is any man whose visible and external works are proportionate to his inward belief?” Friar Giles made answer: “Behold, my dearest brother, it is certain that all the saints have striven to fulfil in their actions all that which they understood to be the will of God, to the utmost of their power; and all those things which they were not able to fulfil in their actions, they fulfilled with the holy desires of their wills; on such wise that with the desire of the soul they supplied that which was lacking in their actions, and so fulfilled the will of God”. Then said Friar Giles: “If any man had perfect faith, in a little while he would attain to a state of perfection, whereby he would be given full assurance of salvation. The man that with firm faith awaits that eternal and supreme and highest Good, what harm or what ill could any temporal adversity in this present life do him? And the wretched man who awaits the eternal evil, what shall any prosperity or temporal good in this world profit him?

Nevertheless, albeit a man is a sinner, he ought not therefore to despair, as long as he lives, of the infinite mercy of God; for where is no tree in all the world so thorny and gnarled and knotty that men cannot smooth it and polish it and beautify it and make it fair: and even so there is no man so evil, nor any sinner in this world so great that God cannot convert him and adorn him with singular graces and with the gift of many virtues.”

NO man may come unto any knowledge and understanding of God save through the virtue of holy humility; for the same straight way which goeth upwards is also that which goeth downwards. All the dangers and the great falls, which have happened in this world, have come from no other cause than the uplifting of the head, to wit of the mind, in pride; and this is proved by the fall of the devil who was cast out of Heaven, and by the fall of our first parent, to wit Adam, who was cast out of Paradise for the uplifting of his head, to wit for disobedience; and also by the Pharisee, of whom Christ speaks in the Gospel, and by many other ensamples: and so likewise, on the contrary, all the great benefits, which ever befel in this world, proceeded from the lowering of the head, to wit from the humbling of the mind; as is proved by the blessed most humble Virgin Mary, and by the Publican, and by the holy Thief upon the Cross, and by many other ensamples in the Scriptures. And therefore would it be well if we could find some great and heavy weight which we might keep continually tied to the neck, so that it might alway drag us down, to wit that it might ever make us humble. A friar asked of Friar Giles: “Tell me, father, in what manner may we flee from this pride?” Whereto Friar Giles replied: “My brother, be thou sure of this, to wit, that never wilt thou learn how to flee from pride until thou first put thy mouth where now thou hast thy feet; but if thou considerest well the benefits of God, then thou wilt know well that for duty’s sake thou art bound to bow thy head.

And again, if thou wilt give good thought to thy shortcomings and to the many offences which thou hast committed against God, thou wilt have great cause to humble thyself. But woe unto those which desire to be honoured for their wickedness! One degree of humility is in that man who knoweth himself to be the adversary of his own good. One degree of humility is to render unto another the things that are his and not to appropriate them to oneself; that is to say that every good thing and every virtue which a man findeth in himself he ought not to attribute unto himself, but to God alone, from whom cometh every grace and every virtue and every good thing; but every sin and every desire of the soul or whatsoever vice a man findeth in himself, he ought to attribute to himself, considering that it cometh from himself and of his own wickedness and not from others. Blessed is the man who knoweth himself and accounteth himself vile in the sight of God, and so also before men! Blessed is he who alway judgeth himself and condemneth himself, and not another; for he shall not be judged by that terrible and last eternal judgment. Blessed is he who shalt go diligently under the yoke of obedience and under the governance of others, even as did the Apostles both before and after they received the Holy Ghost!” Also Friar Giles said: “It behoves him who would gain and possess perfect peace and rest to account every man his superior, and it behoves him always to acknowledge himself subject and inferior to all.

Blessed is that man who desireth neither to be seen nor known in his words or ways, save only in that simple form and in that artless adornment wherewith God adorned and formed him! Blessed is that man who knoweth how to keep and to hide the Divine revelations and consolations! for there is no thing so secret that God reveals it not when it seemeth good unto Him. If a man were the most perfect and the most holy man in the world,- and accounted himself and believed himself the most miserable sinner and the vilest man in the world, in this man would be true humility. Holy humility knoweth not how to talk, and the blessed fear of God knoweth not how to speak”. Said Friar Giles: “Unto me it seemeth that humility is like unto a thunderbolt; for even as the thunder-bolt striketh a terrible blow, breaking, splintering and burning that which it encounters, and afterward naught can be found of that thunder-bolt; even so humility in like manner strikes and scatters and burns and consumes every wickedness and every vice and every sin; and afterward it is found to be nothing in itself. That man who possesseth humility, through humility findeth grace with God, and perfect peace with his neighbour”.

HE who feareth not, showeth that he hath not aught to lose. The holy fear of God orders, rules and directs the soul, and maketh it to come into grace. If any man possesseth any grace or Divine virtue, holy fear is that which preserves it. And whosoever hath not yet obtained virtue or grace, holy fear maketh him obtain it. The holy fear of God is a guide which guideth us to the Divine graces, in that it maketh the soul wherein it dwells to speedily attain to holy virtue and to the Divine graces. All creatures which ever fell into sin, would never have fallen if they had possessed the holy fear of God. But this holy gift of fear is not given save only to the perfect, because as a man is more perfect so is he more fearful and humble. Blessed is that man who knoweth himself to be in a prison in this world, and who alway remembereth how grievously he hath offended his Lord! Much ought man to fear pride, lest it give him a push and cause him to fall from the state of grace in which he is, for a man may never be safe when he is among our enemies; and our enemies are the allurements of this miserable world, and our own flesh, the which, together with the fiends, is ever an enemy of the soul. Greater fear doth it behove a man to have lest his own wickedness should conquer and deceive him, than of any other enemy of his. A thing impossible is it that man can mount up and ascend to any grace or Divine virtue, or persevere therein, without holy fear. He who hath not the fear of God goeth in peril of death and much more of being utterly lost.

The fear of God maketh a man to obey with humility, and causeth him to bow his head beneath the yoke of obedience; and the greater fear a man hath the more fervently doth he pray; no little gift is that of prayer to him unto whom it is given. The virtuous actions of men, however great they seem to me, are not accounted or rewarded according to our judgment, but according to the judgment and good pleasure of God; for God regards not the quantity of the work done, but the greatness of the love and humility of the doer: and therefore the safest part for us is always to love and fear with humbleness, and never to trust in ourselves for any good, ever suspecting those thoughts which are born in the mind under the appearance of good.

HE who with steadfast humility and patience suffereth and beareth tribulations for fervent love of God, will soon come to great graces and virtues, and will be lord of this world and will have an earnest of the other glorious world. Everything which a man doth, whether good or ill, unto himself he doth it; and therefore be thou not offended with him who doth thee wrong; rather shouldst thou have humble patience, and for his sin alone shouldst thou grieve, having pity upon him and praying God effectually for him. In proportion as a man is strong to bear and to endure injury and tribulation patiently for love of God, even so is he great in the sight of God, and not more; and the weaker a man is to bear sorrow and adversity for the love of God, the less is he in the sight of God. If any man praise thee speaking well of thee, give that praise to God only; and if any man speak evil of thee or revile thee, do thou aid him, speaking the same evil of thyself and worse. If thou desire to make good thy cause, ever strive to make it bad; and make good that of thy companion, always accusing thyself, and always praising or excusing thy neighbour. When any man would contend or go to law with thee, if thou desire to win, lose, and thou wilt win; for if thou shouldst desire to go to law to win, when thou didst believe that thou hadst won, then wouldst thou find that thou hadst greatly lost. And therefore, my brother, believe me that of a surety the straight way of salvation is the way of perdition.

A far greater consolation is it. and a more meritorious thing, to bear injuries and reproaches patiently and without murmuring, for the love of God, than to feed, a hundred poor and to fast continually every day. But what shall it profit a man, or what shall it avail him to despise himself, and to grievously vex his body with great fasts and watchings and scourgings, if he cannot bear a little wrong at the hands of his neighbour? For the which thing a man shall receive a far greater reward and greater merit than for all the afflictions wherewith he may afflict himself of his own will; for to bear the upbraidings and abuse of his neighbour with humble patience and without murmuring much more quickly cleanseth from sin than doth the fountain of many tears. Blessed is that man who always keeps before the eyes of his mind the memory of his sins and the benefits of God! for he will bear with patience every tribulation and adversity; from which things he looks for great consolations. The man who is truly humble looks not for any merit or reward from God, but only strives continually how he may please Him in everything, knowing himself to be His debtor; and every good thing which he hath he knows that he hath only through the goodness of God, and not through any merit of his own; and every adversity which befalleth him he knows to have befallen him through his sins. A friar asked Friar Giles saying: “Father, if great adversities and tribulations shall come in our times, what ought we to do?”

To whom Friar Giles made answer, saying: “My brother, I would have thee know that, if the Lord should cause stones and thunderbolts to rain down from heaven, they could not hurt us nor do us any harm, if we were such men as we ought to be; because were a man in truth that which he ought to be, every evil and every tribulation would be turned to good; for we know that the Apostle said that all things work together for good to them that love God; and so likewise for the man whose desire is evil, all good things are turned to evil and to judgment. If thou wouldst save thyself and go to the celestial glory, it behoveth thee never to desire any vengeance or retribution upon any creature; for the inheritance of the saints is always to do good and always to receive evil. If in very truth thou knewest in what manner and how grievously thou hast offended thy Creator, thou wouldst know that it is a right and just thing that all creatures should persecute thee and work thee pain and tribulation; inasmuch as such creatures would be taking vengeance for the offences which thou hast committed against their Creator. Very great virtue is it for a man to conquer himself; for he who conquereth himself shall conquer all his enemies and attain unto all good. Yet much greater virtue would it be if a man should permit himself to be conquered by all men; because then he would be lord of all his enemies, to wit of vices, of demons, of the world and of his own flesh.

If thou wouldst save thyself, renounce and despise every consolation which all worldly things and all mortal creatures can give thee; for greater and more frequent are the falls which come from prosperity and from consolations, than those which come through adversities and tribulations.” Once a Religious murmured against his Superior in the presence of Friar Giles by reason of a harsh obedience which he had commanded him; unto whom Friar Giles said: “Dearly beloved, the more thou shalt murmur, the more thy burden increaseth and the heavier will it be for thee to bear; and the more humbly and devoutly thou shalt put thy head beneath the yoke of holy obedience, the lighter will this obedience be and the sweeter for thee to bear. But to me it seemeth that thou art not willing to be reviled in this world for love of Christ, and yet desirest to be honoured by Christ in the world to come; thou art not willing to be persecuted and cursed in this world for Christ’s sake, and yet in the other world thou desirest to be blessed and received by Christ; in this world thou wouldst not labour, and in the other world thou wouldst rest and take thine ease. I tell thee, friar, that thou art badly deceived; for by the path of misery and shames and revilings man cometh to the true heavenly honour, and by patiently bearing derision and curses for love of Christ, man cometh to the glory of Christ; therefore well saith the worldly proverb: He who gives away nothing which he feels the loss of, receives nothing which he wants.

Excellent is the nature of the horse, because how fast soever he may run he allows himself to be ruled, guided and turned up and down, forward and backward, according to the will of his rider; and so likewise ought the servant of God to do, to wit he ought to allow himself to be ruled, guided, twisted and bent, according to the will of his superior, and also by every one else, for the love of Christ. If thou wouldst be perfect strive earnestly to be gracious and virtuous, and fight valiantly against vice, bearing patiently every adversity for love of thy Lord, who was tormented, afflicted, reviled, beaten, crucified and slain for love of thee, and not for His fault, or for His glory, or for His profit, but only for thy salvation; and to do this which I have told thee, above all it is needful that thou conquer thyself; because it profiteth a man little to lead and draw souls to God if he doth not first conquer and lead and draw himself.”

THE man who is slothful loseth this world and the next; for he bringeth not forth any fruit himself, and he is of no profit to his neighbour. It is impossible for man to attain unto virtue without diligence and without great labour. When thou art able to abide in a safe place, abide not in a place which is doubtful; he abided) in a safe place who is diligent and afflicts himself and works and strives according to the will of God and for God, and neither for fear of punishment nor for reward, but for God. The man who refuseth to afflict Himself and to spend himself for Christ verily refuseth the glory of Christ; and even as diligence is profitable and helpful to us, so carelessness is always contrary to us. Thus, even as sloth is the way which leadeth unto hell, so is holy diligence the road to heaven. Very diligent ought man to be to obtain and keep the virtues and the grace of God, ever using that grace and virtue faithfully; because oftentimes it befalleth to that man who laboureth not faithfully that he loseth the fruit for the leaves, or the wheat for the straw. To one God, of His grace, granteth good fruit with few leaves, and to another He gives fruit and leaves together; and others there be which have neither fruit nor leaves.

Meseemeth a greater thing to know well how to guard and keep secret the good gifts and graces of the Lord, than to know how to obtain them; for, albeit a man knoweth well how to earn, if he knoweth not well how to store up and keep, he will never be rich; but some there be who earn little by little and become rich, because they keep safe their earnings and their treasure. O what great quantity of water would the Tiber have collected, if it ran not away in any part! Man asketh of God an infinite gift, without measure and without end; and he desired) not to love God save with measure and with end. Whosoever would be loved of God, and would receive from Him merit boundless and measureless, must love God without measure and without limit, and must always render Him infinite service.

Blessed is he who loveth God with all his heart and with all his mind, and always afflicted) his body and his mind for love of God, seeking therefor no recompense under heaven, save only that he may know himself His debtor. If a man were exceeding poor and needy, and another man should say unto him: “I am willing to lend thee a very precious thing for the space of three days; and know that if, during this period of three days, thou shalt make good use of this thing, thou wilt gain an infinite treasure which will make thee rich for evermore”; it is certain that that poor man would be very anxious to use that precious thing well and diligently, and much would he study to profit thereby. So, in like manner, I say that the thing lent us by the hand of the Lord is this body of ours, the which the good God hath lent us for three days; for all our times and years are in comparison but as three days. If then thou wouldst be rich and enjoy eternally the Divine sweetness, study to use well this body of thine lent by the hand of God and to make it bring forth fruit, in this space of three days, to wit in the brief period of thy life; for if thou art not diligent to lay up treasure in this present life, while yet thou hast time, thou wilt not be able to enjoy those eternal riches, nor to rest for evermore in that holy celestial peace. But if all the estates in the world belonged to one person and he cultivated them not neither caused them to be cultivated by others, what fruit or what profit would he have from these things?

Certain it is that he would have no profit therefrom, nor any fruit. But well might it be that a man should have but few fields and, cultivating them well, should have much profit for himself, and for others ample fruit and abundant. A worldly proverb saith: Set not an empty pot on the fire to boil in the hope that thy neighbour will fill it; and so, in like manner, God willeth not that any grace shall remain empty; for the good God never giveth grace to a man that he may keep it empty; rather doth He give it to the end that he may fill it with fruit of good works; for good-will sufficeth not, unless a man seek to follow it out and to fill it with the fruit of holy works. Once a wanderer said to Friar Giles;” Father, I beseech thee give me some consolation”; to whom Friar Giles made answer: “My brother, seek to stand well with God, and forthwith thou wilt have the consolation whereof thou hast need; for if a man prepare not a spotless dwelling-place within his soul for God to live and rest therein, he will never find shelter, nor rest, nor true consolation in created things”. When a man is minded to do ill, never doth he ask much advice before doing it; but for doing well many take counsel and make long delay. Once Friar Giles said to his companions; “My brethren, meseemeth that in our day none is found who is willing to do those things which he seeth to be more profitable, not only for the soul but also for the body.

Believe me, my brethren, that I could swear in very truth that the more a man flees from and shuns the burden and the yoke of Christ, the more grievous doth he make it for himself, and the more weighty and heavy doth he feel it; and the more zealously a man taketh it, ever increasing the weight thereof of his own free-will, the lighter he feels it and the greater sweetness he hath in being able to bear it. Now would to God that man might obtain and have the good things of the body in this world, because he would also gain those of the soul; inasmuch as the body and the soul, without any doubt, must be joined together to suffer always or to rejoice always; to wit to suffer in hell for all eternity punishments and torments inestimable, or to enjoy for ever with Saints and. Angels in Paradise, delights and consolations unspeakable, through the merits of good works. Nevertheless if a man did well or forgave his enemies without humility, these things would turn to evil; for there have been many who have done many deeds which seemed good and praiseworthy, but, because they had not humility, it was made manifest and known that they were done through pride, and the works themselves have shown it, for things which are done with humility never become corrupt.” A friar said to Friar Giles: “Father, meseemeth that as yet we know not how to recognise what is good for us”.

Whereto Friar Giles replied: “My brother, certain it is that each man practiseth the craft which he hath learned, for no man can do good work unless he first learn; wherefore, my brother, I would that thou shouldst know that the noblest craft which there is in the world is to do good work: and who can know it, if he have not first learned it? Blessed is that man whom no created thing can teach to do wrong! but more blessed is he who in everything which he sees and hears receiveth edification for himself.”

MANY griefs and many sorrows will that wretched man have who setteth his desire and his heart and his hope on earthly things, for the which he abandoneth and loseth heavenly things; and finally he will also lose these earthly things. The eagle flieth very high; but, if she had some weight tied to her wings she could not fly very high: and thus man by reason of the weight of earthly things cannot fly high, to wit cannot attain unto perfection; but the wise man, who tieth the weight of remembrance of death and of judgment to the wings of his heart, could not, by reason of great fear, go astray or fly among the vanities and riches of this world, which are the cause of damnation. Every day we see the men of the world labour and strive much, and risk great bodily perils to gain these transitory riches; and after they shall have laboured and gained much, in a moment they will die and will leave that which they shall have gained during their life: and therefore this deceitful world is not to be trusted, for it defraudeth every man which believeth it, since it is false. But whoso desireth and is minded to be great and abundantly rich, let him seek and love the riches and the possessions of eternity, which always satisfy and never cause satiety and never become less. If we would not err, let us take ensample from the beasts and birds, which, when they have fed are content, and seek nothing save their sustenance front one hour to another, when they have need thereof; and even so should man be content with the necessities of life temperately and without superfluity.

Friar Giles said that the ants pleased not St. Francis as did the other animals, by reason of the great care which they had to gather together and to lay by great store of grain in the summer time for the winter: but he used to say that the birds pleased him much more, because they gathered together nothing on one day for another. But the ant setteth us this ensample that we ought not to stand idle in the summer-time of this present life, to the end that we may not find ourselves empty and without fruit in the winter of the last and final judgment.

OUR miserable and weak human flesh is like unto the hog which ever delighteth to lie down in the mud and to befoul itself therewith, deeming the mud its great delight. Our flesh is the devil’s knight; because it wars against and resists all those things which are according to the will of God and for our salvation. A friar inquired of Friar Giles and said unto him: “Father, teach me in what manner we may keep ourselves from carnal sin”. Whereto Friar Giles made answer: “My brother, he who would stir any great weight or any great rock and move it into another place should study to move it more by skill than by strength. And so we, in like manner, if we would conquer carnal sins and obtain the virtues of chastity, may better obtain them by humility and by good and wise spiritual regimen than by our presumptuous austerity and violence of penance. Every sin troubles and obscures holy and resplendent chastity; for chastity is like unto a bright mirror which is obscured and bedimmed, not only by the touch of filthy things, but even by the breath of man. It is impossible for man to attain unto any spiritual grace as long as he continues to be disposed to carnal concupiscence, and therefore, turn and turn thyself again as thou wilt, never shalt thou find any other means whereby to attain to spiritual grace save only by subduing every carnal sin. Therefore fight valiantly against thy weak and sensual flesh, thy proper enemy, which would ever thwart thee by day and by night.

He who shall conquer our mortal enemy, the flesh, may be certain that he hath conquered and discomfited all his enemies, and that he will soon attain to spiritual grace, and to every good state of virtue and of perfection.” Friar Giles was wont to say: “Among all the other virtues I would give the first place to the virtue of chastity, for most sweet chastity path in itself alone some perfection; whereas there is not any other virtue which can be perfect without chastity”. A friar asked Friar Giles, saying: “Father, is not the virtue of charity greater and more excellent than that of chastity?” And Friar Giles said: “Tell me, brother, what thing in this world is there to be found more chaste than holy charity?” Oftentimes Friar Giles sang this song, to wit: O holy chastity, lo! how great is thy goodness! Verily thou art precious, and such and so sweet is thy fragrance, that he who savoureth thee not, knoweth not how rare it is. Therefore the foolish know not thy worth. A friar asked Friar Giles, saying: “Father, thou that so greatly commendest the virtue of chastity, I beseech thee declare unto me what is chastity”; whereto Friar Giles replied: “My brother, I tell thee that that which is correctly called chastity is diligent care and continual watching of the bodily and spiritual senses to preserve them pure and immaculate for God alone”.

THE great graces which man receives from God, man cannot possess in tranquillity and peace, because many contrary things arise and many troubles and adversities hostile to these graces; for the more pleasing a man is to God, the more grievously is he assailed and attacked by the fiends. Therefore man ought never to cease from fighting, that he may be able to keep the grace which he hath received from God: for the harder the battle, the more precious will be the crown, if he conquer in the fight. But we have not many battles, nor many hindrances, nor many temptations, because we are not such as we should be in the spiritual life. But very true it is that if man walked well and wisely along the way of God, he would have neither weariness nor toil in his journey; but the man who walketh in the way of the world, will never be able to avoid many toils, wearinesses, anxieties, tribulations and sorrows, even to the day of his death. Said a friar to Friar Giles: “My father, to me it seemeth that these two sayings of thine are contrary to one another, for first thou didst say that the more virtuous and the more pleasing to God a man is, the greater the obstructions and the battles which he will have in the spiritual life; and thereafter thou saidst the opposite, to wit that the man who walked well and wisely along the way of God would not feel either toil or weariness in his journey”.

To whom Friar Giles, explaining the contrariety of these two sayings, made answer thus: “My brother, certain is it that the demons make greater battle with strong temptations against those who have the will to do right than they do against others who have not good will, to wit after the mind of God. But to the man who goeth wisely and fervently along the way of God, what toil and what weariness and what harm can the demons and all the adversities of the world cause? since he knoweth and seeth that he is selling his merchandise at a price a thousand times greater than it is worth.

Moreover I tell thee certainly that he who hath been enkindled with the fire of Divine love, the more he is assailed by sins the more he bolded) them in hatred and abhorrence. It is the custom of the worst demons to run and tempt man when he is in some sickness and in some bodily weakness, or when he is in some trouble, or very cold or sorrowful, or when he is an hungered or athirst, or when he hath received some shame or wrong, or temporal or spiritual injury; for these wicked ones know that in such hours and moments as these, man is more prone to yield to temptation; but I tell thee that for every temptation and for every sin that thou shalt conquer thou shalt obtain a virtue; and if thou conquerest that sin which assaileth thee, thou shalt receive therefor so much the greater grace and fairer crown.” A friar asked counsel of Friar Giles, saying: “Father, often I am tempted by a very evil temptation, and many times have I prayed God to deliver me from it; yet the Lord taketh it not from me; counsel me, father, what I ought to do”. To whom Friar Giles made answer: “My brother, the more nobly a king doth furnish his knights with excellent and strong armour, the more manfully would he have them fight against his enemies for his love”. A friar asked Friar Giles, saying: “What remedy shall I use, that I may be able to go to prayer more willingly, and with more desire and with more fervour? For when I go to pray I am hard, slothful, dry and lacking in devotion.”

To whom Friar Giles made answer, saying: “A king hath two servants; and the one hath arms wherewith to fight, and the other hath not arms wherewith to fight, and both of them wish to enter into the battle and to fight against the enemies of the king. He that is armed enters into the battle and fights valiantly; but the other who is unarmed, speaks on this wise to his lord: ‘My lord, thou seest that I am naked without arms; but for love of thee, gladly would I enter into the battle and fight all unarmed as I am’. And then the good king, beholding the love of his faithful servant, saith to his attendants: ‘Go with this my servant and clothe him with all those arms which are necessary for him to be able to fight, so that he may enter into the battle with safety; and sign all his arms with my royal sign so that he may be known as my faithful knight’. And so oftentimes it befalleth a man when he goeth to pray, that he findeth himself naked, undevout, slothful and hard of heart, but nevertheless he compelleth himself for love of His Lord to enter into the battle of prayer; and then our gracious King and Lord, seeing the endeavour of His knight, giveth him by the hands of His attendants, the Angels, fervour of devotion and good-will. Sometimes it happens that a man will begin some great and toilsome labour, such as clearing and cultivating the earth or a vineyard, to gather therefrom fruit in due season.