The Cell of Self-Knowledge: Seven Early English Mystical Treatises | Page 9

study of wisdom, witnesseth and saith that two
mights are in a man's soul, given of the Father of Heaven of whom all
good cometh. The one is reason, the other is affection; through reason
we know, and through affection we feel or love.
Of reason springeth right counsel and ghostly wits; and of affection
springeth holy desires and ordained[26] feelings. And right as Rachel
and Leah were both wives unto Jacob, right so man's soul through light
of knowing in the reason, and sweetness of love in the affection, is
spoused unto God. By Jacob is understanden God, by Rachel is
understanden reason, by Leah is understanden affection. Each of these
wives, Rachel and Leah, took to them a maiden; Rachel took Bilhah,
and Leah took Zilpah. Bilhah was a great jangler, and Zilpah was ever
drunken and thirsty. By Bilhah is understanden imagination, the which
is servant unto reason, as Bilhah was to Rachel; by Zilpah is
understanden sensuality, the which is servant unto affection, as Zilpah
was to Leah. And so much are these maidens needful to their ladies,
that without them all this world might serve them of nought. For why,
without imagination reason may not know, and without sensuality
affection may not feel. And yet imagination cryeth so
inconveniently[27] in the ears of our heart that, for ought that reason
her lady may do, yet she may not still her. And therefore it is that oft
times when we should pray, so many divers fantasies of idle and evil
thoughts cry in our hearts, that on no wise we may by our own mights
drive them away. And thus it is well proved that Bilhah is a foul jangler.
And also the sensuality is evermore so thirsty, that all that affection her
lady may feel,[28] may not yet slake her thirst. The drink that she
desireth is the lust of fleshly, kindly, and worldly delights,[29] of the
which the more that she drinketh the more she thirsteth; for why, for to
fill the appetite of the sensuality, all this world may not suffice; and
therefore it is that oft times when we pray or think on God and ghostly
things, we would fain feel sweetness of love in our affection,[30] and
yet we may not, for are we so busy to feed the concupiscence of our
sensuality; for evermore it is greedily asking, and we have a fleshly
compassion thereof. And thus it is well proved that Zilpah is evermore
drunken and thirsty. And right as Leah conceived of Jacob and brought
forth seven children, and Rachel conceived of Jacob and brought forth
two children, and Bilhah conceived of Jacob and brought forth two

children, and Zilpah conceived of Jacob and brought forth two children;
right so the affection conceiveth through the grace of God, and bringeth
forth seven virtues; and also the sensuality conceiveth through the
grace of God, and bringeth forth two virtues; and also the reason
conceiveth through the grace of God, and bringeth forth two virtues;
and also the imagination conceiveth through the grace of God, and
bringeth forth two virtues, or two beholdings. And the names of their
children and of their virtues shall be known by this figure that
followeth:
Husband: Jacob temporally, God spiritually. Wives to Jacob: Leah, that
is to say, Affection; Rachel, that is to say, Reason. Maid to Leah is
Zilpah, that is to understand, Sensuality; and Bilhah maiden to Rachel,
that is to understand, Imagination.
The sons of Jacob and Leah are these seven that followeth: Reuben
signifieth dread of pain; Simeon, sorrow of sins; Levi, hope of
forgiveness; Judah, love of righteousness; Issachar, joy in inward
sweetness; Zebulun, hatred of sin; Dinah, ordained shame.
The sons of Jacob and Zilpah, servant of Leah, are these: Gad,
abstinence; Asher, patience.
The sons of Jacob and of Rachel are these: Joseph, discretion;
Benjamin, contemplation.
The sons of Jacob and Bilhah, servant to Rachel, are these: Dan, sight
of pain to come; and Naphtali, sight of joy to come.
In this figure it is shewed apertly of Jacob and of his wives, and their
maidens, and all their children. Here it is to shew on what manner they
were gotten, and in what order:--
First, it is to say of the children of Leah; for why, it is read that she first
conceived. The children of Leah are nought else to understand but
ordained affections or feelings in a man's soul; for why, if they were
unordained, then were they not the sons of Jacob. Also the seven
children of Leah are seven virtues, for virtue is nought else but an
ordained and a measured feeling in a man's soul. For then is man's
feeling in soul ordained when it is of that thing that it should