And therefore are there so few contemplative, for that few can wholly withdraw themselves from things perishing.
2. To obtain this, there is need of much grace, to elevate the soul, and carry it away above itself.
And unless a man be uplifted in spirit, and be freed from all creatures, and wholly united unto God, whatsoever he knoweth, and whatsoever he hath, is of no account.
A long while shall he be little, and lie grovelling below, whoever he be that esteemeth any thing great, but the one only infinite eternal Good.
And whatsoever is not God, is nothing, and ought to be accounted as nothing.
There is great difference between the wisdom of a devout man, and the knowledge of a learned man.
Far more noble is that learning which floweth from above, from the divine influence, than that which is painfully gotten by the wit of man.
3. There are many that desire contemplation, but they practise not those things that are needful thereunto.
A great hindrance it is, that men rest in signs and in the things of sense, and take little heed to mortify themselves.
I know not what it is, by what spirit we are led, nor what we pretend, we that seem to be called spiritual, that we take so much pains, and are so full of anxiety about transitory things, and so rarely think of our own inward concerns with full recollection of mind.
4. Alas, presently, after a slight recollection, we
