letted me but sin And so I beheld generally in us all and methought if sin had not been we should all have been clean and like to our Lord as he made us And thus in my folly before this time often I wondred why by the great foresaid Wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted for then thought me that all should have been well This stirring was much to be forsaken and nevertheless Mourning and Sorrow I made therefore without Reason and Discretion but Jesu that in this Vision Informed me of all that me needed answered by this Word and said Sin is * i. e. behoveful behovely but all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well In this naked Word sin our Lord brought to my mind generally all that is not good and the shameful despite and the uttermost Tribulation that he bear for us in this Life and his dying and all his Pains and Passion Bodily and Ghostly and the Pains of all his Creatures Ghostly and Bodily For we be all in part troubled and we shall be troubled following our Master Jesu till we be full purged of our deadly Flesh and of all our inward Affections which be not very good And the beholding of this with all the Pains that ever were or ever shall be And with all this I understood the Passion of Christ for the most Pain and over-passing And all this was shewed in a touch and readily passed over into Comfort for our good Lord would not that the Soul were afraid of this ugly sight but I saw not sin for I be-believe it had no manner of substance ne no part of being ne it might not be known but by the Pain that is caused thereof And this Pain is something as to my sight for a time for it purgeth and maketh us to know our self and ask Mercy for the Passion of our Lord is Comfort to us against all this and so is his blessed Will and for the tender Love that our good Lord hath to all that shall be saved he comforteth readily and sweetly meaning thus It is true that sin is cause of all this Pain but all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well These Words were shewed full tenderly shewing no manner of blame to me ne to none that shall be safe Then were it great unkindness of me to blame or wonder on God of my sin sithen he blameth not me for sin And in these same Words I saw an high marvellous privity hid in God Which privity he shall openly make and shall be known to us in Heaven In which knowing we shall verily see the cause why he suffered sin to come In which sight we shall endlesly have joy The xxxiij Chapter THus I saw how Christ hath Compassion on us for the cause of sin And right as I was before in the Passion of Christ fulfilled with Pain and Compassion like in this I was in party fulfilled with Compassion of all my even Christen for full well he loveth people that shall be saved that is to say Gods Servants Holy Church shall be shaked in Sorrow and Anguish and Tribulation in this World as men shaketh a Cloath in the Wind And as to this our Lord answered shewing on this manner Ah A great thing shall I make hereof in Heaven of endless Worship and of everlasting Joy Ye so far forth I saw that our Lord enjoyeth of the Tribulation of his Servants with Pity and Compassion and to each person that he loveth to his Bliss for to bring he layeth on him something that is no * i e. impediment lack in in his sight whereby they be | i e. humbled lowed and despised in this World scorned and mocked and cast out And this he doth for to * i e. hinder let the harm that they should take of the Pomp and of the Pride and of the vain Glory of this wretched Life and make their way ready to come to Heaven in bliss without end Everlasting For he saith I shall all to break you from your vain Affections and your vicious Pride and after that I shall gather you and make you meek and mild clean and Holy by | i e. uniting oning to me And then saw I that each kind Compassion that man hath on his even Christian with Charity it is Christ in him that each manner naughting that was shewed in his Passion it was shewed again here in this Compassion Wherein were two manner of understandings in our Lords meaning that one was the bliss that we be brought to wherein he will that we * i e. rejoyce enjoy That other is for Comfort in our Pain for he will that we | i e. know wit that all shall turn us to Worship and to profit by the vertue of his Passion And that we wit that we suffered right naught alone but with him and see him our ground And that we see his Pains and his Tribulation pass so far all that we may suffer that it may not be full thought And the well-beholding of this will save us from grudging and dispair in the feeling of our Pains And if we see verily that our sin deserveth it yet his Love excuseth us and of his great courtesse he doth away all our blame and beholdeth us with ruth and pitty as Children Innocents and * i e. unspotted unloathful The xxjx. Chapter BUt in this I stood beholding generally | ie darkly sweinly and mourningly saying thus to our Lord in my meaning with full great dreed Ah good Lord How might all be well for the great harm that is to come by sin to thy Creatures And here I desired as I durst to have some more open declaring wherewith that I might be eased in this And to this our blessed Lord answered full meekly and with full lovely cheir and shewed that Adams sin was the most harm that ever was done or ever shall be into the Worlds end And also he shewed that this is openly known in all Holy Church in Earth Furthermore he learned that I should behold the glorious * i e. satisfaction Asseethe for this Asseeth-making is more pleasing to the blessed God-head and more Worshipful for mans Salvation without Comparison than ever was the sin of Adams harmful Then meaneth our blessed Lord thus and in this Teaching that we should take heed to this For sithen that I have made well by the most harm then it is my will that thou know thereby that I shall make well all that is less The xxx Chapter HE gave understanding of two parties that one party is our Saviour and our Salvation This blessed part is open clear fair and light and plenteous for all Mankind that is of good will and that shall be is comprehended in this part Hereto we be bound of God and drawn and counselled and learned inwardly by the Holy Ghost and outward by
and another Ghostly This Word was shewed for the bodily Thirst And for the Ghostly Thirst was shewed as I shall say after And I understood by the bodily Thirst that the Body had feeling of moisture for the blessed Flesh and Bones was left all alone without blood and moisture The blessed Body dried all alone long time with wringing of the Nails and weight of the Body for I understood that for tenderness of the sweet Hands and the sweet Feet by the great hardness and grievousness of the Nails the Wounds waxed wide and the Body setled for weight by long time hanging and pearcing and raising of the Head and binding of the Crown all baken with dry blood with the sweet Hair clinging the dry flesh to the Thorns and the Thorns to the flesh drying And in the beginning while the flesh was fresh and bleeding the continual setting of the Thorns made the Wounds wide And furthermore I saw that the sweet skin and the tender flesh with the hair and with the blood was all raced and loosed about with the Thorns and broken in many pieces and were hanging as they would hastily have fallen down while it had kind moisture how it was down I saw not but I understood that it was with the sharp Thorns and the boystrous grievous sitting on of the Garland not sparing and without pity that altho brake the sweet skin with the flesh and the Hair loosed it from the bone where through it was broken in pieces as a Cloath and sagging downward as it would hastily have fallen for heaviness and for loosness And that was great sorrow and dread to me for methought that I would not for my life have seen it fall This continued a while and after it began to change and I beheld and marvelled how it might be and then I saw it was for it began to dry and stint a part of the weight that was round about the Garland And so it was invironed all about as it were Garland upon Garland the Garland of Thornes was dyed with the Garland of Blood and that other Garland and the Head all was one Colour as clottered blood when it was dried The skin and the flesh that seemed of the Face and of the Body was small rimpild with a tawny Colour like a dry board when it is aged and the face more brown than the body I saw four manner of drying The first was bloodless The second Pain following after The third is that he was hanging up in the Aire as men hang a Cloath for to dry The fourth that the bodily kind asked Liquor and there was no manner of Comfort ministred to him Ah hard and grievous was that Pain but much more hard and grievous it was when the moisture failed and all began to dry thus clinging These were two Pains that shewed in the blessed Head The first wrought to the drying while it was moist and that other slow with clinging and drying with blowing of Wind from without that dryed him more and pained with Cold than my heart can think and all other Pains for which Pains I saw that all is too litle that I can say for it may not be told The shewing of Christs Pains filled me full of Pains for I wist well that he suffered but once but as he would shew it me and fill me with mind as I had before desired And in all this time of Christs presence I felt no Pain but for Christs Pains Then thought me I knew full litle what Pain it was that I asked and as a Wretch I repented me thinking if I had wist what it had been loath had me been to have prayed it for methought my Pains passed any bodily Death I thought Is any Pain in Hell like this and I was answered in my Reason Hell is an other Pain for their is Despair but of all Pains that lead to Salvation this is the most to see the Lover to suffer How might any Pain be more than to see him that is all my Life all my Bliss and all my Joy suffer Here left I stedfastly that I loved Christ so much above my self that there was no Pain that might be suffered like to that sorrow that I had to see him in Pain The xviij Chapter HEre I saw in part the Compassion of our Blessed Lady Saint Mary for Christ And she was so * i. e. united onyd in Love that the greatness of her Love was cause of the greatness of her Pain for in this I saw a substance of kind Love continued by Grace that his Creatures have to him which kind Love was most * i e. plenteous fulsomelie shewed in his sweet Mother and overpassing For so much as she loved him more than all other her Pain passed all other for ever the higher the mightier the sweeter that the Love is the more sorrow it is to the Lover to see that Body in pain that he loved And so all his Disciples and all his true Lovers suffered more Pain than their own bodily dying For I am sure by my own feeling that the least of them loved him so far above himself that it passeth all that I can say Here saw I a great * i e. union oning between Christ and Vs to my understanding for when he was in Pain we were in Pain and all Creatures that might suffer Pain suffered with him that is to say all Creatures that God hath made to our Service The Firmament and Earth failed for sorrow in their kind in the time of Christs dying for it longeth | i e. natural kindly to their property to know him for their Lord in whom all their vertue standeth And when he feeled then behoved needs to them for kindness to feel with him in as much as they might for sorrow of his Pains And thus they that were his Friends suffered Pain for Love And generally all that is to say they that knew him not suffered for feeling of all manner of Comfort save the Mighty privy keeping of God I mean of two manner of People that know him not as it may be understood by two Persons That one was Pilate that other Person was St. Dionise of France which was that time a Paynius for when he saw Wonders and Marveils Sorrows and Dreads that befell at that time he said Either the World is now at an End or else he that is Maker of * i e. nature kinds suffereth Wherefore he did Write on an Altar This is an Altar of the unknown God God of his goodness that maketh Planners and the Elements to work in their kind to the blessed man and to the Cursed In that time it was withdrawn from both Wherefore it was that they that knew him not were in sorrow that time Thus was our Lord Jesu Pained for us and we stand all in this manner of Pain with him and shall do till that we come to his bliss as I shall say hereafter The xix
deed the which the blissedful Trinity shall do in the last day as to my sight And what the deed shall be and how it shall be done it is unknown of all Creatures which are beneath Christ and shall be till when it shall be done The Goodness and the Love of our Lord God will that we | i e. know wit that it shall be And the Might and the Wisdom of him by the same Love will * i e. conceal hill it and hide it from us what it shall be and how it shall be done And the cause why he will we wit it thus is for he will we be the more eased in our Soul and peaceable in Love leaving the beholding of all Tempests that might | i e. hinder let us of true enjoying in him This is the great deed ordeined of our Lord God fro without beginning treasured and hid in his blessed Breast only known to himself by which deed he shall make all thing well for right as the blessed Trinity made all thing of naught right so the same blessed Trinity shall make well all that is not well And in this sight I marvelled greatly and beheld our Faith meaning thus Our Faith is grounded in Gods Word and it longeth to our Faith that we believe that Gods Word shall be saved in all thing And one point of our Faith is that many Creatures shall be damned as Angels that fell out of Heaven for Pride which be now Fiends and many in Earth that dyeth out of the Faith of Holy Church that is to say tho that be Heathen And also many that hath received Christendome and liveth unchristen Life and so dyeth out of Charity all these shall be damned to Hell without end as Holy Church teacheth me to believe And standing all this methought it was unpossible that all manner of thing should be well as our Lord shewed in this time And as to this I had no other answer in shewing of our Lord but this That that is unpossible to thee is not unpossible to mee I shall save my Word in all thing and I shall make all thing well And in this I was taught by the Grace of God that I should stedfastly hold me in the Faith as I had before understood And therewith that I should stand and | i e firmly sadly believe that all manner thing shall be well as our Lord shewed in the same time for this is the great deed that our Lord God shall do In which deed he shall save his Word in all thing and he shall make well all that is not well But what the deed shall be and how it shall be done there is no Creature beneath Christ that wot it ne shall wit it till it is done as to the understanding that I took of our Lords meaning in this time The xxxiij Chapter ANd yet in this I desired as I durst that I might have some fight of Hell and of Purgatory But it was not my meaning to take proof of any thing that longeth to our Faith for I believed | i e. assuredly sothfastlie that Hell and Purgatory is for the same end that Holy Church teacheth for but my meaning was that I might have seen for Learning in all thing that longeth to my Faith whereby I might live the more to Gods Worship and to my Profit And for ought that I could desire I ne could see of this right nought but as it is before said in the first shewing where that I saw the Devil is reproved of God and endless by damned In which sight I understand that all the Creatures that be of the Devils condition in this Life and therein ending there is no more mention made of them before God and all his Holy Ones then of the Devil notwithstanding that they be of Mankind whether they have be-Christened or not For though the Revelation was shewed of Goodness in which was made litle mention of Evil Yet I was not drawn thereby from any point of the Faith that Holy Church teacheth me to believe For I had sight of the Passion of Christ in divers shewing In the first in the second in the fourth in the eighth as it is before said wherein I had in part feeling of the sorrow of our Lady and of his true Friends that saw his Pains but I saw not so properly specified the Jews that did him to Death but notwithstanding I knew in my Faith that they were Accursed and Damned without end saving those that were Converted by Grace And I was strengthed and learned generally to keep me in the Faith in every Point and in all as I had before understood hoping that I was therein with Mercy and the Grace of God desiring and praying in my meaning that I might continue therein unto my lives end It is Gods will that we have great regard to all the deeds that he hath done for he will thereby that we know trust and believe all that he shall doe But evermore us needeth leave the beholding what the deed shall be and desire we to be like to our Brethren which be the Saints in Heaven that will right nought but Gods will Then shall we only enjoy in God and be well apaid both with hiding and shewing For I saw verily in our Lords meaning the more we busie us to know his privities in that or in any other thing the farther more shall we be from the knowing The xxxjv Chapter OUr Lord shewed two manner of | i e. secrets privities One is this great privity with all the privy Points thereto belonging And these privities he will we know thus hid into the time that he will clearly shew them to us That other are the privities which himself shewed openly in this Revelation for those are privities which he will make open and known to us for he will that we wit that it is his will that we know them They are privities to us but not only for that he will they be privities to us but they are privities to us for our blind-head and our unknowing And therefore hath he great ruth and therefore he will make them open to us himself whereby we may know him and love him and cleave to him For all that is | i e. profitable speedeful for us to wit and for to know full courteously our good Lord will shew us what it is with all the Preaching and Teaching of Holy Church God shewed full great pleasaunce that he hath in all men and women that mightily and wisely take the Preaching and Teaching of Holy Church for he it is Holy Church He is the Ground He is the Substance He is the Teaching He is the Teacher He is the End and He is the Meed Wherefore every kind Soul Traveleth And this is known and shall be known to each Soul to which the Holy Ghost declareth it And I hope truly all those that seek thus they shall speed for they
behooveth us needs to believe that he be ever in one Love meek and mild Which is contrary to Wrath for I saw full truly that where our Lord appeareth Peace is taken and Wrath hath no * i e place steede For I saw no manner of Wrath in God neither for short time nor for long for truly as so my sight if God might be Wrath a while we should neither have Life ne steede ne being for as verily as we have our being of the endless Might of God and of the endless Wisdom and of the endless Goodness Also verily we have our keeping in the endless Might of God in the endless Wisdom and in the endless Goodness For though we feel in us Wrath Debate and Strife yet we be all mercifully beclosed in the midhead of God and in his meekhead in his benignity and in his * i e. kindness buxomness For I saw full truly that all our endless Friendship our steed our life and our being is in God for that same endless Goodness that keepeth us when we sin that we perish not That same endless Goodness continually treateth in us a Peace against our Wrath and our contrarious falling and maketh us to see our need with a true dread mightily to seek unto God to have Forgiveness with a gracious desire of our Salvation for we may not be blissfully saved till we be verily in Peace and in Love for that is our Salvation And though we be Wrath and the contrariousness that is in us be now in Tribulation Disease and Woe as falling into our blindness and our pronity Yet be we sure and safe by the merciful keeping of God that we perish not but we be not blissfully safe in having of our endless joy till we be all in Peace and in Love that is to say full pleased with God and with all his Works and with all his Dooms and loving and pleasable with our selves and with our even Christen and with all that God loveth as love liketh And this doth Gods Goodness in us Thus saw I that God is our very Peace and he is our sure Keeper when we be our self at unpeace and he continually worketh to bring us into endless Peace And thus when by the working of mercy and grace we be made meek and mild than we be full safe Suddenly is the Soul oned to God when she is truly peaced in her self for in him is found no Wrath. And thus I saw when we be all in Peace and in Love we find no contrariousness in no manner of letting And that contrariousness which is now in us our Lord God of his goodness maketh it to us full profitable For contrariousness is cause of all our Tribulation and all our Woe And our Lord Jesu taketh them and sendeth them up to Heaven and then they are made more sweet and delectable than Heart may think or Tongue can tell And when we come thither we shall find them ready all turned into very fairness and endless Worship Thus is God our stedfast ground and shall be our full bliss and make us unchangeable as he is when we be there The L. Chapter ANd in this deadly Life Mercy and Forgiveness is our way that evermore leadeth us to grace And by the tempest and the sorrow that we fall in on our party we be often dead as to mans Doome in Earth but in the sight of God the Soul that shall be safe was never dead ne never shall be But yet here I wondred and marvelled with all the diligence of my Soul meaning thus Good Lord I see that thou art the very Truth and I know truly that we sin grievously all day and be much blame-worthy And I may neither leave the knowing of this | i e. truth sooth nor I see not the shewing to us no manner of blame How may this be For I know by the common teaching of Holy Church and by mine own feeling that the blame of our sins continually hangeth upon us fro the first man into the time that we come up into Heaven Then was this my marvel that I saw our Lord God shewing to us no more blame than if we were as clean and as holy as Angels be in Heaven And between these two contraries my Reason was greatly travelled by my blindness and could have no rest for dread that his blessed Presence should pass from my sight and I to be left in unknowing how he behold us in our sin for either me behooved to see in God that sin were all done away or else me behooved to see in God how he seeth it whereby I might truly know how it longeth to mee to see sin and the manner of our blame My longing endured him continually beholding and yet I could have no patience for great fear and perplexity thinking if I take it thus that we be no sinners nor no blame worthy it seemeth as I should Erre and fail of knowing of this sooth And if it be true that we be sinners and blame worthy good Lord how may it then be that I cannot see this truth in thee which art my God my Maker in whom I desire to see all truth For three Points make me hardy to ask it The first is for it is so low a thing for if it were an high I should be | i e. fear adred The second is that it is so common for if it were special and privy also I should be adred The third is that it needeth me to wit as me thinketh if I shall live here for knowing of Good and Evil whereby I may by reason and by grace the more depart them asunder and love Goodness and hate Evil as Holy Church teacheth I cried inwardly with all my Might seeking unto God for help meaning thus Ah Lord Jesu King of Bliss How shall I be eased Who shall tell me and teach me that me needeth to wit if I may not at this time see it in thee The lj Chapter ANd then our courteous Lord answered in shewing full | i e. darkly mistely by a wonderful Example of a Lord that hath a Servant and gave me sight to my understanding of both which sight was shewed double in the Lord and the sight was shewed double in the Servant That one party was shewed Ghostly in bodily likeness That other party was shewed more Ghostly without bodily likeness For the first thus I saw two Persons in bodily likeness that is to say a Lord and a Servant And therewith God gave me Ghostly understanding The Lord sitteth solemnly in rest and in peace the Servant standeth before his Lord reverently ready to do his Lords Will The Lord looketh upon his Servant full lovely and sweetly and meekly he sendeth him into a certain place to do his Will The Servant not only he goeth but suddenly he starteth and runneth in great haste for Love to do his Lords Will. And anon he falleth in a * i e. precipice
in fulhead that is to say in his own Likeness For notwithstanding that our Lord God dwelleth now in us and is here with us and * i e. embraceth colleth us and becloseth us for tender Love that he may never leave us and is more near to us than Tongue may tell or Heart may think Yet may we never stint of mourning ne of weeping nor of seeking nor of Longing till when we see him clear in his blessedful chear For in that precious sight there may no Woe abide nor Weal fail And in this I saw matter of Mirth and matter of Mourning Matter of Mirth that our Lordour Maker is so near to us and in us and we in him by faithfulness of keeping of his great goodness Matter of Mourning for our Ghostly eye is so blind and we so boarn down with Weight of our deadly flesh and Darkness of sin that we may not see our Lord God clearly in his blessedful chear No and because of this Darkness scarce we can believe or * i e. think trowe his great Love and our Faithfulness of keeping And therefore it is that I say we may never leave off Mourning ne Weeping This Weeping meaneth not all in pouring out of tears by our bodily eye but also to more Ghostly understanding for the | i e. natural kindly desire of our Soul is so great and so unmeasurable that if it were given us to our joy and our comfort all the * i e. nobleness nobly that ever God made in Heaven and in Earth and we saw not the fair blessedful chear of himself yet should we never leave mourning ne of Ghostly Weeping that is to say of painful Longing till when we see verily the fair blessedful chear of our Maker And if we were in all the pain that heart may think or tongue may tell and we might in that time see his blessedful chear all this pain should us not grieve Thus is that blessedful sight end of all manner of pain to Loving Souls and fulfilling of all manner of joy and bliss And that shewed he in the high marvellous Words where he saith I it am that is highest I it am that thou lovest I it am that is all It longeth to us to have three manner of knowings The first is that we know our Lord God The second is that we know our self what we are by him in kind and in grace The third is that we know meekly that our self is against our sin and against our feebleness And for these three was all this shewing made as to my understanding The Lxxij Chapter ALL this blessed teaching of our Lord God was shewed by three parts that is to say By bodily sight and by Word formed in my understanding and by Ghostly sight For the bodily sight I have said as I saw as truly as I can And for the Words I have said them right as our Lord shewed them me And for the Ghostly sight I have said some deal but I may never full tell it And therefore of this Ghostly sight I am stirred to say more as God will give me grace God shewed two manner of sickness that we have That one is unpatience or slouth for we bear our travel and our pain heavily That other is despair or doubtful dreed as I shall say after Generally he shewed sin wherein all is comprehended but in special he shewed none but these two And these two are it that most travelleth and troubleth us as by that our Lord shewed me Of which he will we be amended I speak of such men and women that for Gods Love hate sin and dispose them to do Gods Will Then by our Ghostly blind-head and bodily heaviness we are most enclining to this And therefore it is Gods will that they be known and then should we refuse them as we do other sins And for help against this full meekly our Lord shewed the patience that he had in this hard Passion And also the joy and the liking that he hath of that Passion for Love And this he shewed in Example that we should gladly and easily bear our pains for that is great pleasing to him and endless profit to us And the cause why we are travelled with them is for unknowing of Love Though the Three Persons of the blessed Trinity be all even in the self The Soul took most understanding in Love yea and he will in all thing that we have our beholding and our enjoying in Love And of this knowing are we most blind For some of us believe that God is All mighty and may do all and that he is All wisdom and can do all But that he is All Love and will do all there we fail And this unknowing it is that most letteth Gods Lovers as to my sight For when we begin to hate sin and amend us by the ordinance of Holy Church yet there dwelleth a dread that letteth us by the beholding of our self and of our sin afore done And some of us for our every day sins for we hold not our promise nor keep our cleanness that our Lord setteth us in but fall oft-times into so much wretchedness that shame it is to say it And the beholding of this maketh us so sorry and so heavy that unneths we can see any comfort And this dread we take sometime for a meekness but it is a foul blindness and a wickedness And we cannot despise it as we do another sin that we know which cometh through lack of true Judgment and it is again truth For of all the properties of the blissedful Trinity it is Gods will that we have most Faithfulness and Liking in Love for Love maketh Might and Wisdom full meek to us For right as by the courtesie of God he forgetteth our sin after the time that we repent us So will he that we forget our sin as against our unskillful heaviness and our doubtful dreads The Lxxiij Chapter FOr I understood four manner of Dreads One is dread of a | i e. fright fray that cometh to man suddenly by frailty This dread doth good for it helpeth to purge man as doth bodily sickness or such other pain that is not sin for all such pains help man if they be patiently taken The second is dread of pain whereby man is stirred and waked fro sleep of sin For man that is hard of sleep of sin he is not able for the time to receive the soft comfort of the Holy Ghost till he hath undertaken this dread of pain of bodily death and of Ghostly Enemies And this dread stirreth us to seek Comfort and Mercy of God And thus this dread helpeth us as an entry and ableth us to have contrition by the blissedful touching of the Holy Ghost The third is doubtful dread Doubtful dread is as much as it draweth to despair God will have it turned in us into Love by true knowing of Love that is to say that the bitterness of doubts
seek God All this that I have now said and more as I shall say hereafter is comforting against sin For in the third shewing when I saw that God doth all that is done I saw not sin and then I saw that all is well but when God shewed me for sin then said he All shall be well The xxxv Chapter ANd when God Almighty had shewed so plenteously and so fully of his Goodness I desired to wit of a certain Creature that I loved if it should continue in good Living which I hoped by the Grace of God was begun And in this singular desire it seemed that I letted my self for I was not taught in this time And then was I answered in my Reason as it were by a friendful mean Take it generally and behold the courtesie of thy Lord God as he shewed to thee for it is more Worship to God to behold him in all than in any special thing I assented and therewith I learned that it is more Worship to God to know all thing in general than to like in any thing in special and if I should do wisely after this Teaching I hold not be glad for any thing in special ne greatly diseased for any manner thing for All shall be well For the full-head of joy is to behold God in all for by the same blessed Might Wisdom and Love that he made all thing to the same end our good Lord leadeth it continually and there to himself shall bring it and when it is time we shall see it And the ground of this was shewed in the first and more openly in the third where it saith I saw God in a Point All that our Lord doth is rightfully and all that he suffereth is Worshipful And in these two is comprehended Good and Evil for all that is Good our Lord doth and that is Evil our Lord suffereth I say not that Evil is Worshipful but I say the sufferance of our Lord God is Worshipful whereby his Goodness shall be known without end and his marvellous Meekness and Mild-head by this working of Mercy and Grace Right | i e Plenitude full-head is that thing that is so good that it may not be better than it is For God himself is very rightful head and all his Works be done rightfully as they be ordained fro without beginning by his high Might his high Wisdom his high Goodness And right as he hath ordained it to the best right so he worketh continually and leadeth it to the same end And he is ever full pleased with himself and with all his Works And the beholding of this blessed Accord is full sweet to the Soul that seeth it by Grace All the Souls that shall be saved in Heaven without end be made rightful in the sight of God and by his own Goodness In which rightfullness we be endlesly kept and marvellously above all Creatures And Mercy is a Working that cometh of the Goodness of God And it shall last working as long as sin is suffered to pursue rightful Souls And when sin hath no longer leave to pursue then shall the Working of Mercy cease And then shall all be brought into rightfulness and therein stand without end By his sufferance we fall and in his blessed Love with his Might and his Wisdom we are kept and by Mercy and Grace we be raised to manifold more Joy And thus in Rightfulness and in Mercy he will be known and Loved now and without end And the Soul that wisely beholdeth in Grace is | i e. wel contented well paid with both and endlesly enjoyeth The xxxvj Chapter OUr Lord God shewed that a deed shall be done and himself shall do it and it shall be Worshipful and marvellous and plentuous and by him it shall be done and himself shall do it And this is the highest joy that the Soul understood that God himself shall do it And I shall do right nought but sin and my sin shall not | i e. hinder let his Goodness Working And I saw that the beholding of this is a Heavenly Joy in a * i e. fearful dreadful Soul which evermore Godly by Grace desireth Gods Will This deed shall by begun here and it shall be Worshipful to God and plentuously profitable to all his Lovers in Earth And ever as we come to Heaven we shall see it in marvellous Joy And it shall last thus in Working to the last Day and the Worship and the Bliss of that shall last in Heaven before God and all his Holy Saints without end Thus was this deed seen and understand in our Lords meaning and the cause why he shewed it is to make us to enjoy in him and in all his Works When I saw the shewing continued I understood it was shewed for a great thing that was then for to come Which thing God shewed that himself should do it Which deed hath the Properties before said And this shewed he full blessedfully meaning that I should take it wistly faithfully and trustfully but what the Deed should be it was kept privy to me And in this I saw he will not we dread to know the things that he sheweth He sheweth them for he will we know them By which knowing he will we Love him and like in him and endlesly enjoy in him And for the great Love that he hath to us he sheweth us all that is Worshipful and Profitable for the time And those things that he will now have privy yet of his great Goodness he shewed them * i e. secretly close In which shewing he will we believe and understand that we should see it verily in his endless Bliss Then ought we to enjoy in him for all that he sheweth and all that he hideth And if we | i e. willingly wilfully and meekly do this we shall find therein great ease and endless thanking we shall have of him therefore And this is the understanding of this Word That it shall be done by me that is to say the general Man that is to say all that shall be safe it shall be Worshipful Marvellous and Plentuous and By me it shall be done and God himself shall do it And this shall be highest Joy that may be beholden of the Deed that God himself shall do it and Man shall do right nought but sin Then meaneth our Lord God thus as if he said Behold and see here hast thou matter of Meekness Here hast thou matter of Love Here hast thou matter of Knowing thy self Here hast thou matter of Enjoying in me And for my Love enjoy in me for of all thing therewith might thou most please mee And as long as we be in this Life what time that we by our Folly turn us to the beholding of the reproved tenderly our Lord toucheth us and blissedfully calleth us saying in our Soul Let me alone my dear worthy Child intend to me I am enough to thee and enjoy in thy Saviour and in thy
thou seekest it How should it then be that thou shouldest not have thy seeking And thus in the first Reason with the three that follow our good Lord sheweth a mighty Comfort as it may be seen in the same Words and in the first Reason there he saith And thou beseek it There he sheweth full great pleasance and endless meed that he will give us for our beseeking And in the sixth Reason there he saith How should it then be This was said for an unpossible thing for it is the most unpossible that may that we should seek Mercy and Grace and not have it For of all thing that our good Lord maketh us to beseek himself he hath ordained it to us from without beginning Here may we then see that our beseeking is not the cause of the Goodness and Grace that he doth to us but his proper Goodness And that shewed he verily in all these sweet Words there he saith I am Ground And our good Lord will that this be known of his Lovers in Earth and the more that we know the more shall we beseech if it be wisely take and so is our Lords meaning Beseeching is a true and gracious lasting will of the Soul owned and fastened into the Will of our Lord by the sweet privy Working of the Holy Ghost Our Lord himself he is the first Receiver of our Prayer as to my sight and he taketh it full thankfully and highly enjoying he sendeth it up above and setteth it in Treasure where it shall never perish It is there before God with all his Holy Saints continually received ever speeding our needs And when we shall undertake our bliss it shall be given us for a degree of Joy with endless Worshipful thanking of him full glad and merry is our Lord of our Prayer and he looketh thereafter and he will have it for with his Grace it maketh us like to himself in condition as we be in kind and so is his blessed Will For he saith thus Pray intirely inwardly though thee think it savour thee not yet it is profitable enough though thou feel it nought Pray intirely inwardly though thou feel nought though thou see nought yea though thou think thou might not for in Dryness and Barrenness in Sickness and in Feebleness then is thy Prayer full pleasant to mee though thou think at savor thee not but litle and so is all thy Living Prayer in my sight For the meed and the endless thank that he will give us therefore he is covetuous to have us Praying continually in his sight God accepteth the good Will and the Travel of his Servants howsoever we feel Wherefore it pleaseth him that we work in Prayer and in good Living by his Help and his Grace reasonably with Discretion keeping our Mights to him till when we have him that we seek in fulhead of joy that is Jesu And that shewed he in the xvth Revelation where he saith Thou shalt have me to thy meed Also to Prayer longeth thanking Thanking is a true inward knowing with great Reverence and lovely Dreed turning our self with all our Mights into the Working that our Lord stirred us to enjoying and thanking inwardly and sometime for plentuousness it breaketh out with Voyce and saith Good Lord grant Mercy Blessed mote thou be And sometime when the Earth is dry and feeleth naught or else by Temptation of our Enemy then it is driven by Reason and by Grace to cry upon our Lord with Voyce rehearsing his blessed Passion and his great Goodness And so the vertue of our Lords Word turneth into the Soul and quickeneth the heart and entreth by his Grace into true Working and maketh it to Pray full blessed fully and truly to enjoy in our Lord is a full lovely thanking in his sight The xlij Chapter OUr Lord will that we have true understanding and namely in three things that longeth to our Prayer The first is by whom and how that our Prayer Springeth by whom he sheweth when he saith I am Ground and how by his Goodness For he saith First it is my Will For the second in what manner and how that we should use our Prayers and that is that our Will be turned into the Will of our Lord enjoying And so he meaneth when he saith I make thee to will it For the third that we know the Fruit and end of our Prayer that is to be oned and like to our Lord in all thing and to this meaning and for this end was all this lovely Lesson shewed And he will help us and he shall make it so as he seeth himself blessed mote he be For this is our Lords Will that our Prayer and our trust be both alike large for if we trust not as * much mickle as we Pray we do not full Worship to our Lord in our Prayer And also we tarry and Pain our self and the cause is as I believe for we know not truly that our Lord is Ground in whom that our Prayer springeth And also that we know not that it is given us by Grace of his Love for if we knew this it would make us to trust to have of our Lords gift all that we desire for I am sure that no man asketh Mercy and Grace with true meaning but if Mercy and Grace be first given to him But sometime it cometh to our mind that we have prayed long time and yet it thinketh us that we have not our asking but herefore should we not be heavy for I am sure by our Lords meaning that either we abide a better time or more Grace or a better Gift He will that we have true knowing in himself that he is being And in this knowing he will that our understanding be grounded with all our Mights and all our Intents and all our Meanings And in this Ground he will that we take our * i e. resting place steeds and our dwelling And by the gracious Light of himself he will that we have understanding of three things that follow The first is our Noble and Excellent making The second our precious and dear worthy * i e redemption again being The third all thing that he hath made beneath us to serve us and for our Love keepeth it Then meaneth he thus as if he said Behold and see that I have done all this before thy Prayer and now thou art and prayest me And thus he meaneth that it longeth to us to wit that the greatest Deeds be done as Holy Church teacheth And in the beholding of this with thanking we owe to Pray for the Deed that is now in doing and that is that he rule us and guide us to his Worship in this Life and bring us to his Bliss and therefore he hath done all Then meaneth he thus that we see that he doth it and we pray therefore for that one is not enough for if we pray and see not that he doth it it maketh us heavy and doubtful and that
slade and taketh full great sorrow and then he groneth and moneth and walloweth and wrieth but he may not rise nor help himself by no manner of way And of all this the most mischief that I saw him in was failing of Comfort for he could not turn his face to look up on his loving Lord which was to him full near in whom is full Comfort But as a man that was full feeble and unwise for the time he entended to his feeling and enduring in Woe In which Woe he suffered seven great Pains The first was the sore brusing that he took in his falling which was to him much pain The second was the heaviness of his body The third was feebleness that followed of these two The fourth was that hew as blinded in his Reason * i e. astonished stonnyed in his mind so farth forth that almost he had forgotten his own Love The fifth was that he might not rise The sixth was pain most marvellous to me and that was that he lay alone I looked all about and beheld and far ne near ne high ne low I saw to him no help The seventh was that the place that he lay in was long hard and grievous I marvelled how this Servant might thus meekly suffer all this Woe And I beheld with avisement to wit if I could perceive in him any default or if the Lord should assign him any manner of blame And verily there was none seen for only his good will and his great desire was the cause of his falling And he was as unlothful and as good inwardly as he was when he stood before his Lord ready to do his Will And right thus continually his loving Lord full tenderly beholdeth him and now with a double chear One outward full meekly and mildly with great rewth and pity and this was of the first Another inward more Ghostly And this was shewed with a leading of my understanding into the Lord in restoring which I saw him highly enjoy for the worshipful resting and noble that he will and shall bring his Servant to by his plentuous Grace and this was of the other shewing And now was my understanding led again into the first both keeping in mind Then said this courteous Lord in his meaning To my beloved Servant what harm and disease he hath had and taken in my service for my love yea and for his good will It is not reason that I reward him his | ie fright frey and his dreed his hurt and his maym and all his Woe and not only this but falleth it not to me to give him a gift that be better to him and more worshipful than his own heal should have been or else methinketh I did him no Grace And in this an inward Ghostly shewing of the Lords meaning descended into my Soul in which I saw that it behooved needs to be standing his great goodness and his own worship that his dear worthy Servant which he loved so much should be highly and worshipfully rewarded without end above that he should have been if he had not fallen yea and so far forth that his falling and all his Woe that he hath taken thereby shall be turned into the high over-passing Worship and endless Bliss And at this Point the shewing of the example vanished and our good Lord led forth my understanding in sight and in shewing of the Revelation to the end But notwithstanding all this forth leading the marvelling of the example went never from me for methought it was given me for answer to my desire And yet could I not take therein full understanding to my ease in that time for in the servant that was shewed for Adam as I shall say I saw many divers properties that might by no manner be direct to single Adam And thus in that time I stood mickle in three Knowings for the full understanding of this marvellous Example was not given me in that time In which misty Example the privities of the Revelation be yet much hid And notwithstanding this I saw and understood that every shewing is full of privities And therefore me behooveth now to tell three properties in which I am * i e somewhat somedeal eased The first is the beginning of teaching that I understood there in the same time The second is the inward Learning that I have understood therein sithens The third is all the holy Revelation from the beginning to the end which our Lord God of his Goodness bringeth oft-times freely to the sight of my understanding And these three be so oned as to my understanding that I cannot nor may depart them And by these three as one I have teaching whereby I * i e. ought owe to believe and trust in our Lord God that of the same Goodness that he shewed it and for the same end right so of the same goodness and of the same end he shall declare it to us when it is his Will for twenty years after the time of the shewing save three months I had teaching inwardly as I shall say It longeth to thee to take heed to all the properties and the conditions that were shewed in the Example though thee think that it be misty and indifferent to thy sight I assented wilfully with great desire seeing inwardly with avisement all the points and the properties that were shewed in the same time as far forth as my Wit and my understanding will serve beginning at my beholding at the Lord and at the Servant At the manner of sitting of the Lord and the place he sat on and the colour of his Cloathing and the manner of shape and his chear without and his nobley and his goodness within And the manner of standing of the Servant and the place where and how and his manner of Cloathing the Colour and the shape at his outward behaviour and at his inward goodness and his unlothfulness The Lord that sat solemnly in rest and in peace I understand that he is God The Servant that stood before him I understood that he was shewed for Adam that is to say one man was shewed that time and his falling to make thereby to be understood how God beholdeth all man and his falling For in the sight of God all man is one man and one man is all man This man was hurt in his Might and made full feeble And he was stonnyed in his understanding for he was turned from the beholding of his Lord but his Will was kept in Gods sight for his Will I saw our Lord commend and approve but himself was letted and blinded of the knowing of this Will And this is to him great sorrow and grievous disease for neither he seeth clearly his loving Lord which is to him full meek and mild nor he seeth truly what himself is in the sight of his loving Lord. And well I wot that when these two be wisely and truly seen we shall get rest and peace here in party And the
one was shewed outward full meekly and mildly with great ruth and pity And that other of inward endless Love And right thus will our good Lord that we accuse our self wilfully and truly see and know his everlasting Love that he hath to us and his plentuous Mercy And thus graciously to see and know both together is the meek accusing that our good Lord asketh of us And himself worketh | i e. where there it is and this is the lower party of mans Life And it was shewed in the outward chear In which shewing I saw two parts The one is the ruful falling of Man That other is the worshipful | i e satisfaction asseth that our Lord hath made for man That other chear was shewed inward and that was more highly and all one For the Life and the Vertue that we have in the lower party is of the higher And it cometh down to us of the kind Love of the self by Grace Between that one and that other is right naught for it all is one Love Which one blessed Love hath now in us double Working for in the lower party be Pains and Passions Ruths and Pities Mercies and Forgiveness and such other which be profitable But in the higher party be none of these but all one high Love and marvellous joy In which marvellous joy all Pains be wholly destroyed And in this not only our good Lord shewed our excusing but also the worshipful nobility that he shall bring us to turning all our blame into endless Worship The Liij Chapter ANd thus I saw that he will that we know that he taketh no harder the falling of any Creature that shall be saved then he took the falling of Adam which we know was endlesly loved and surely kept in the time of all his need and now is blessedfully restored in high over-passing joyes For our Lord God is so good so gentle and so courteous that he may never assigne default final in whom he shall be ever blessed and praised And in this that I have now said was my desire in party answered and my great fear some deal eased by the lovely gracious shewing of our Lord God In which shewing I saw and understood full surely that in each Soul that shall be safe is a godly Will that never assented to sin ne never shall Which Will is so good that it may never will Evil finally But evermore continually it willeth good and worketh good in the sight of God Wherefore our Lord will we know it in the Faith and the Belief And namely and truly that we have all this blessed Will whole and safe in our Lord Jesu Christ For that each kind that Heaven shall be fulfilled with behooved needs of Gods rightfulness so to be knit and * i e. united onid in him that therein were kept a substance which might never nor should be parted from him and that through his own good Will in his endless foresaid purpose And notwithstanding this rightful knitting and this endless oning yet the Redemption and the again buying of Mankind is needful and speedful in every thing as it is done for the same intent and the same end that Holy Church in our Faith us teacheth For I saw that God began never to love Mankind For right the same that mankind shall be in endless bliss fulfilling the joy of God as anempts his Works right so the same Mankind hath been in the foresight of God known and loved fro without beginning in his rightful intent And by the endless intent and assent and the full accord of all the Trinity the mid Person would be Ground and Head of this fair kind out of whom we be all come in whom we be all enclosed into whom we shall all goe in him finding our full Heaven in everlasting joy by the foreseeing purpose of all the blessed Trinity fro without beginning For * i e. before or that he made us he loved us and when we were made we loved him And this is a love made of the kindly substancial Goodness of the Holy Ghost mightily in reason of the Might of the Father and wise in mind of the Wisdom of the Son And thus is mans Soul made of God and in the same point knit to God And thus I understood that mans Soul is made of naught that is to say it is made but of naught that is made as thus When God should make mans body he took the slime of the Earth which is a matter medled and gathered of all bodily things and thereof he made mans body But to the making of mans Soul he would take right naught but made it And thus is the kind made rightfully oned to the Maker which is substancial kind unmade that is God And therefore it is that there may ne shall be right naught between God and mans Soul And in this endless Love mans Soul is kept whole as all the matter of the Revelation meaneth and sheweth In which endless Love we be led and kept of God and never shall be lost for he will that we know that our Soul is a Life which Life of his Goodness and his Grace shall last in Heaven without end him loving him thanking him praising And right the same that we should be without end the same we were treasured in God and hid known and loved fro without beginning Wherefore he will we wit that the noblest thing that ever he made is mankind and the fullest substance and the highest vertue is the blessed Soul of Christ And furthermore he will we wit that this dear worthy Soul was preciously knit to him in the making Which knot is so subtile and so mighty that it is owned into God In which oning it is made endlesly holy Furthermore he will we wit that all the Souls that shall be saved in Heaven without end be knit in this knot and oned in this oning and made Holy in this Holiness The Ljv. Chapter ANd for the great endless Love that God hath to all mankind he maketh no departing in Love between the blessed Soul of Christ and the least Soul that shall be saved For it is full easie to believe and trust that the dwelling of the blessed Soul of Christ is full high in the glorious God-head And truly as I understood in our Lords meaning Where the blessed Soul of Christ is there is the substance of all the Souls that shall be saved by Christ in their Exemplar and final cause Highly * ie ought owe we to enjoy that God dwelleth in our Soul and more highly we owe to enjoy that our Soul dwelleth in God Our Soul is made to be Gods dwelling place and the dwelling of our Soul is God which is unmade A high understanding it is inwardly to see and to know that God which is our Maker dwelleth in our Soul And a higher understanding it is and more inwardly to see and to know our Soul that is made dwelleth in
a Light kindly coming of our endless day that is our Father God In which Light our Mother Christ and our good Lord the Holy Ghost leadeth us in this passing Life This Light is measured discreetly needfully standeth to us in the Night the Light is cause of our Life the Night is cause of our Pain and all our Woe In which Woe we desire endless meed and thank of God for we with mercy and grace wilfully know and believe our Light going therein wisely and mightily And at the end of Woe suddenly our eye shall be opened and in clearness of sight our Light shall be full Which Light is God our Maker Father and Holy Ghost in Christ Jesu our Saviour Thus I saw and understood that our Faith is our Light in our night which Light is God our endless day The Lxxxiij Chapter THis light is Charity and the measuring of this Light is done to us profitably by the Wisdom of God For neither the Light is so large that we may see clearly our blessedful day ne it is all * i e. shut up speered from us but it is such a Light in which we may live | i e. meritoriously meedfully with travel reserving the worshipful thanks of God And this was seen in the vjth Shewing where he saith I thank thee of thy service and of thy travel Thus Charity keepeth us in Faith and in Hope And Faith and Hope leadeth us in Charity and at the end all shall be Charity I had three manner of understandings in this Light of Charity The first is Charity unmade The second is Charity made The third is Charity given Charity unmade is God Charity made is our Soul in God Charity given is vertue and that is a gracious gift of working In which we Love God for himself and our self in God and all that God Loveth for God The Lxxxjv. Chapter ANd in this sight I marvelled highly for notwithstanding our simple Living and our blindness here yet endlesly our courteous Lord beholdeth us in this Working enjoying And of all thing we may please him best wisely and truly to believe it and to enjoy with him and in him for as verily as we shall be in bliss of God without end him praising and thanking as verily we have been in the foresight of God Loved and known in his endless purpose fro without beginning In which unbegun Love he made us in the same Love he keepeth us and never suffereth us to be hurt by which our bliss might be lessed And therefore when the doome is given we be all brought up above then shall we clearly see in God the privities which now be hid to us And then shall none of us be stirred to say in any thing Lord if it had been thus it had been well But we shall all say with one voyce Lord blessed mote thou be for it is thus Thus it is well And now we see verily that all thing is done as it was thine Ordinance * i e before or any thing was made The Lxxxv. Chapter THis Book is begun by Gods gift and his grace but it is not yet performed as to my sight For Charity pray we all together with Gods working thanking trusting enjoying For this will our good Lord be praid by the understanding that I took in all his own meaning And in the sweet words where he saith full merrily I am ground of thy beseeching For truly I saw and understood in our Lords meaning that he shewed it for he will have it knowing more then it is In which knowing he will give us grace to Love him and cleave to him For he beholds his heavenly Treasure and Solace in heavenly Joy in drawing of our hearts from sorrow and darkness which we are in And fro the time that it was shewed I de-desired oftentimes to wit in what was our Lords meaning And fifteen Year after and more I was answered in Ghostly understanding saying thus What wouldest thou wit thy Lords meaning in this thing Wit it well Love was his meaning Who sheweth it thee Love Wherefore sheweth he it thee For Love Hold thee therein thou shalt wit more in the same But thou shalt never wit therein other without end Thus was I Learned that love is our Lords meaning And I saw full surely in this and in all that our God made us he Loved us which Love was never slacked ne never shall And in this Love he hath done all his Works And in this Love he hath made all thing profitable to us And in this Love our Life is everlasting in our making we had beginning But the Love wherein he made us was in him fro without beginning In which Love we have our beginning And all this shall we see in God without end Deo Gratias Explicit liber Revelationum Juliane Anachorite Norwic. cujus anime propicietur Deus FINIS