A Medieval Book for Today

Extract

During the 14th century, several books on the interior life were written in England. The most useful of these is, perhaps, the Scale of Perfection, composed by Water Hilton, a Canon of the Augustinian Priory of Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire.

It is as fresh in manner as though it had been written yesterday. We feel, while reading it, as though we were learning from some wise spiritual director of our own time. The style is easy, the sentences simple in construction. There is little that we may regard as archaic; the book is as applicable to any century as is the Imitation. The guidance along the road of the spiritual life is just that which we would hear today from an experienced confessor, or the skilled conductor of a Retreat. It is eminently practical Charity and humility are the two virtues on which men should build the structure of the contemplative life. The chief study and reading should be that of Holy Writ.