Walter Hilton
Overview
 
Walter Hilton was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Augustinian
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...

 mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

.
Hilton was born ca. 1340-45; he was first recorded in January 1371 as a bachelor of law attached to the diocesan court of Ely, and again in 1375. In some manuscripts, he is described as a commensor or inceptor decretorum -- that is, he may have completed the studies and examinations that would have entitled him to become a Master of canon law, but without undertaking the regency that would have given him the latter title.
Quotations

Regard yourself all the more as a sinner because you cannot feel yourself to be what you are.

Book I, ch. 19 (p. 21)

The purpose of prayer is not to inform our Lord what you desire, for He knows all your needs. It is to render you able and ready to receive the grace which our Lord will freely give you. This grace cannot be experienced until you have been refined and purified by the fire of desire in devout prayer. For although prayer is not the cause for which our Lord gives grace, it is nevertheless the means by which grace, freely given, comes to the soul.

Book I, ch. 24 (p. 28)

We therefore need to know the gifts given us by God, so that we may use them, for by these we shall be saved.

Book I, ch. 41 (p. 47)

Some people understand the charity of our Lord and are saved by it; others, relying on this mercy and kindness, continue in their sins, thinking that it may be theirs whenever they wish. But this is not so, for then they are too late and are taken in their sins before they expect it, and so damn themselves.

Book I, ch. 43 (p. 52)

There are many who are hypocrites although they think they are not, and there are many who are afraid of being hypocrites although they certainly are not. Which is the one and which is the other God knows, and none but He.

Book I, ch. 59 (p. 72)

What is humility but truthfulness? There is no real difference.

Book II, ch. 20 (p. 153)

I desire the love of God not because I am worthy, but because I am unworthy.

Book II, ch. 22 (p. 160)

 
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