WHO THOSE ARE WHOM CHRIST LOVETH. 103 the cat of hell ever clutched at her, and caught with his claws her heart head? Yes, truly; and drew out afterwards her whole body, with hooks of crooked and keen temptations; and made her to lose both God and man, with open shame and sin. A grievous enough loss! Always to her utter ruin has an anchoress thus peered out. "Egredere," saith he, in anger. "Go out, as did Dinah, Jacob's daughter, to utter ruin;" that is to say, "leave me and my comfort which is within the breast, and go, seek without the world's vile gratifications, which shall end in pain and sorrow. Take to it, and leave me, since thou preferrest it: for thou shalt not by any means have both these two comforts, mine and the world's-the joy of the Holy Ghost, and the gratification of the flesh together. Choose now one of these two; for thou must quit the other." "O pulchra inter mulieres!" "If thou know not thyself, thou fair among women," saith our Lord,--thou fair among women; nay, among angels, thou might add thereto; thou shalt surely be hereafter fair, not only among women, but among angels. "Thou, my dear spouse," saith our Lord, "shalt thou follow goats a-field, which are the lusts of the flesh?" Field is the wide range of the will. "Shalt thou in this wise follow goats over the field? Thou shouldest, in thy heart's bower, entreat me for kisses, as my beloved one, that saith to me, in the love book, 'Osculetur me osculo oris sui,' that is, kiss me, my beloved, with kiss of thy mouth, sweetest of mouths." This kiss, dear sisters, is a sweetness and a delight of heart, so immeasurably delicious and sweet, that every savour in the world is bitter when compared with it: but our Lord, with his kiss, kisseth no soul that loveth anything but him, and those things, for his sake, that assist us to obtain him: do thou, therefore, God's spouse, who might hear what has been said above, how sweetly thy spouse speaketh, and calleth thee to him so affectionately, and thereafter how he changes the strain, and speaketh most wrathfully, if thou goest out,-keep thee in thy chamber: feed not thou thy goat-kids without; but a Folio 26. 66 to him so luueliche, 7 ter after hu he went pene lof, 7 spekeð swuð 4. DE ODORE. Smel of neose is pe ucorde of pe vif wittes. Of pisse witte seið seint Austin, "De odoribus nimis non satago cum assunt, non respuo; cum absunt, non requiro." Of smelles, he seið, ne uond ich nout mucheles. Lif heo beoð neih, a Godes halue: if heo 20 beod feor, me ne recched. Vre Louerd, tauh, puruh Isaie, preated ham mid helle stunch habbed delit her ine ulesliche smelles. "Erit pro suaui odore fetor." per to zeines, heo schulen habben heouenliche smelles, pet habbed her swot of iren oder of heren, pet heo bered,foder of swoti hateren, oder of picke eirs in hire huse" stunch oder hwule and strong bred ine neose. mine leoue sustren, pet oder a wah oder wal þes gates opneð. T. d e Auch per of beod iwar,i hwile pe ueond makeð sum þing wach oder wal, openi ge naut ower geten. C. be hus beos uuele loked. T. ne forhoge ich ham nocht, 7 bach ha beon feor, naut I ne recche. C. e of irnes spat. C. hauen irnes swat her. T. f weonen. T. spatie clades, oder of þicke. C. of swati hattre oder of wikke air. T. hhus mulede pinges. T. hus 7 of uuele hinges. C. i warnede. T. keep thy hearing, thy speech, and thy sight within; and shut fast their gates-mouth, eyes, and ears. For in vain is she shut up within your wall who openeth those gates, except to God's messenger, and the soul's consolation." "Omni custodia serva cor tuum: "above every thing, then, as Solomon exhorteth thee, and as I said long since, in the beginning of this discourse, my dear sisters, guard well your heart. The heart is well kept, if the mouth, eyes, and ears are wisely kept. For these, as I said before, are the wardens of the heart; and if the wardens go out, the heart is illguarded. These are now the three senses which I have spoken of. Speak we now briefly of the other two: Speaking, however, is not a sense of the mouth, as tasting is, though they are both in the mouth. 4. OF SMELL. Smell of nose is the fourth of the five senses. Of this sense Saint Austin saith, "De odoribus nimis non satago: cum adsunt, non respuo; cum absunt, non requiro." "About [fragrant] smells," saith he, "I do not concern myself much. If they are present, in God's name, [they are welcome;] if they are absent, I care not." Our Lord, however, by Isaiah, threateneth with the stench of hell those who take delight here in carnal odours. "Erit pro suavi odore fetor." "On the other hand, they shall smell celestial odours, who, in this life, had stench and rank smells of sweat from iron or from hair-cloth which they wore, or from sweaty garments, or foul air in their houses." But be warned of this, my dear sisters, that sometimes the fiend maketh something to stink that ye ought to use, because he would have you to avoid it: and, at other times, the deceiver maketh a sweet smell to come, as if it were from heaven, a The Eucharist. bi "E contra cœlestes odores sentient illi qui de cilicio, aut ferro, aut vestimento sudoroso, seu odore spisso, nunc sustinent pro Christo fætorem." MS. Oxon. f 10 stinken þet ze schulden notien, vor þi bet he wolde pet ze hit schulden schunien: and oder hwule pe wielare, of sum derne ping þe ze ne muwe nout iseon, ase dust of derne sedes, makeð a swote smel cumen, ase pauh hit were of heouene vor зе schulden wenen pet God, uor ouwer holi liue, sende ou his grace and his elne, and leten wel of ou sulf, q leapen into prude. Smel pet cumed of Godes half uroured pe heorte more pen pe neose. peos ant odre trufles pet he bitrufleða monie men mide, schulen beon ibrouht te nouht mid heale water ant mid pe holi rode tockne. Hwose pouhte hu God sulf was i disse witte iderued, heo wolde pet derf þuldeliche polien. pe munt of Caluarie, per ure Louerd hongede, was pe cwalmsteou, per leien ofte licomes iroted buuen eorde & stuncken swude stronge. He, ase he hongede, muhte habben hore bred, mid alle his oðre wo, amidden his neose. Also he was idoruen in alle his oðre wittes. In his sihde, peo he iseih his deorewurde moder teares, sein Johannes euangelistes, q te odre Maries: q po he bilcold hu his deore deciples fluen alle vrom him, q bileueden him alle one, ase ureomede, he weop himsulf pries mid his feire eien. He polede al puldeliche pet me hine blindfellede, hwon his eien weren pus ine schendlac iblinfelled, vor to giuen pe ancre brihte 20 sihde of heouene-pauh pu pin eien uor his luue, & ine munegunge herof, blindfellie on eorde, uorto beren him ueolauredden, nis nout Folio 266. muchel wunder. Amid þe muðe me gurde1 him sume cherre, inoh rede, ase me to beot his cheoken, 7 spette him a schorn ant on ancre is for o word ut of hire witte! Hwon he polede þuldeliche þet te Giws dutten, ase heo buffeteden him, his deorewurde muð mid hore dreori fustes pu, uor pe luue of him for pin owene muchele biheue, dute pinne tutelinde mud mit pine lippen. Teke1 pet he smeihte galle on his tunge, uorto leren ancren pet heo ne m abet hit were god. C. e trugles. C. f leoue. C. i smiten. T. to eken. C. 7 b to ou sulf. T. berof 7 of ou seolf. C. gremde. T. h eiderued. C. h feorreden. CALVARY A PLACE OF LOATHSOME SMELLS. 107 from something concealed, that ye cannot see, as from the dust of hidden seeds; in order that ye may think that God, on account of your holy life, sends you his grace and his comfort, and so think well of yourselves, and become proud. The fragrance that cometh from God, comforteth the heart rather than the nostrils. These and other delusions, with which he beguileth many men, should be rendered ineffective by holy water, and by the sign of the holy rood. Any one who reflected how God himself was annoyed in this sense would patiently bear that annoyance..The hill of Calvary, where our Lord hanged, was the place of execution, where bodies often lay rotting on the ground unburied, and loathsome to the smell. He, as he hanged, might, amidst all his other sufferings, have had their putrescent odour in his nostrils. In like manner he was hurt in all his other senses. In his sight, when he saw the tears of his dear Mother, and of Saint John the Evangelist, and of the other Maries; and when he beheld how all his dear disciples fled from him and left him alone, as a stranger, he himself wept three times with his fair eyes. He quite patiently suffered himself to be blindfolded, that, when his eyes were thus in derision blindfolded, he might give the anchorite a clear sight of heaven. Though thou, for his love, and in remembrance of this, shut thine eyes on the things of the earth, to bear him company, it is no great wonder. Upon one occasion, men with great cruelty hit him on the mouth, when they struck his cheeks and spit upon him in contempt;-and an anchoress is, for a single word, out of her wits! When he bore patiently that the Jews, as they buffeted him, closed up his dear mouth with their accursed fists,-surely thou, for the love of him, and for thine own great behoof, might close up thy tattling mouth with thy lips. Add to this that he tasted gall on his tongue, to teach anchoresses that they ought never more to grumble on account of either meat or drink, be it ever so stale; if it may be eaten, let her eat, and devoutly thank God for it; and if it may not, let her grieve that she must ask for more palatable food. But rather than that asking should give rise to any offence she ought to die, as a |