The Imitation of Christ | Page 3

processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional
cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form
(or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small
Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the net profits
you derive calculated using the method you already use to calculate
your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is due.
Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg
Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following
each date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your annual
(or equivalent periodic) tax return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, scanning
machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty free copyright
licenses, and every other sort of contribution you can think of. Money
should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association / Carnegie-Mellon
University".
*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
by Thomas a Kempis

Translated by Rev. William Benham

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The treatise "Of the Imitation of Christ" appears to have been originally
written in Latin early in the fifteenth century. Its exact date and its
authorship are still a matter of debate. Manuscripts of the Latin version
survive in considerable numbers all over Western Europe, and they,
with the vast list of translations and of printed editions, testify to its
almost unparalleled popularity. One scribe attributes it to St. Bernard of
Clairvaux; but the fact that it contains a quotation from St. Francis of
Assisi, who was born thirty years after the death of St. Bernard,
disposes of this theory. In England there exist many manuscripts of the
first three books, called "Musica Ecclesiastica," frequently ascribed to
the English mystic Walter Hilton. But Hilton seems to have died in
1395, and there is no evidence of the existence of the work before 1400.
Many manuscripts scattered throughout Europe ascribe the book to
Jean le Charlier de Gerson, the great Chancellor of the University of
Paris, who was a leading figure in the Church in the earlier part of the
fifteenth century. The most probable author, however, especially when
the internal evidence is considered, is Thomas Haemmerlein, known
also as Thomas a Kempis, from his native town of Kempen, near the
Rhine, about forty miles north of Cologne. Haemmerlein, who was
born in 1379 or 1380, was a member of the order of the Brothers of
Common Life, and spent the last seventy years of his life at Mount St.
Agnes, a monastery of Augustinian canons in the diocese of Utrecht.
Here he died on July 26, 1471, after an uneventful life spent in copying
manuscripts, reading, and composing, and in the peaceful routine of
monastic piety.
With the exception of the Bible, no Christian writing has had so wide a
vogue or so sustained a popularity as this. And yet, in one sense, it is
hardly an original work at all. Its structure it owes largely to the
writings of the medieval mystics, and its ideas and phrases are a mosaic
from the Bible and the Fathers of the early Church. But these elements
are interwoven with such delicate skill and a religious feeling at once
so ardent and so sound, that it promises to remain, what it has been for
five hundred years, the supreme call and guide to spiritual aspiration.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

THE FIRST BOOK

ADMONITIONS PROFITABLE FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE



CHAPTER I
Of the imitation of Christ, and of contempt of the world and all its
vanities
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,(1) saith the Lord.
These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must
imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and
deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study,
therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ.
2. His teaching surpasseth all teaching of holy men, and such as have
His Spirit find therein the hidden manna.(2) But there are many who,
though they frequently hear the Gospel, yet feel but little longing after
it, because they have not the mind of Christ. He, therefore, that will
fully and with true wisdom understand the words of Christ, let him
strive to conform his whole life to that mind of Christ.
3. What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the
Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the
Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and
upright; it is a good life which