Meditation I is entitled, 'The soul contemplates the Foreknowledge of God, and ponders the mystery of Predestination and of Reprobation.' Herein lies perhaps the most ferocious and powerful language that William of Saint-Thierry uses against a (hypothetical) soul (the 'earthen vessel') who is not only proud but who has misused her free-will. On pride, William comments, 'Pride, therefore, is at once the thing that merits reprobation and the sign of it, just as humility is that which both deserves election and denotes it.' And on free-will, 'Ask Me no more, "Why didst Thou not give me humility?" I gave you a greater gift than that—free-will. And you have waxed mighty in iniquity by the use of that very gift; you have loved malice more than kindness.' Pp. 16–17 (Mowbrays, 1954).

I read this closely several years ago and its impression stays with me. This is the Shewring translation of 1930. Nearly one-hundred years later, it is often laborious or difficult to find the correct sense or meaning of the text. Nonetheless, a few amenable passages of William manage to shine out with more clarity. Indeed, this must be due to the high quality of William of Saint-Thierry's writings, as attested by Gilson among others. William remains one of my favourites and the 1954 Mowbrays translation of his Meditations is at once satisfactory and memorable.

Tobin's translation is elegant, but multiple readings may be required because of the density of the subject matter. This is a fine instructive text.