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XVI
%,Sr8LtA:TlO<NlS
OF
DIVINES LOVE
SHEWED TO
MOTH 61^ JULI^AN^A
OF NORWICH
1373
WITH A PREFACE BY
GEORGE TYRRELL, S.J.
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. L™
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1902
The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved
Printed by Ballantynk, Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFACE
" What ! Wouldst thou wit thy Lord's meaning in
this thing ? Wit it well : Love was His meaning.
Who shewed it thee ? Love. Wherefore shewed
He it thee? For Love. Hold thee therein, and
thou shalt wit it more in that same. But thou shalt
never wit therein other without end." This is the
key to the true interpretation and criticism not
only of Mother Juliana's Revelations, but also of the
Christian revelation and of every religion so far as
it reaches after the fulness of Christ. Nay, it is
the key to the riddle of Nature and to the riddle
of human life — all alike in their several ways are
" Revelations of Divine Love " — however hard at
times it may be for Faith, with tear-dimmed eyes
and trembling fingers, to unravel the knot. " Wit
it well : Love was His meaning. Who shewed
it thee ? Love. Wherefore shewed He it thee ?
For Love." Beneath the life of those senses which
reveal to us that world of appearances, which the
unreflecting so easily confound with the reality
v
which it only symbolises ; beneath the life of the
understanding, whose forms and frames (contrasting
in their permanence and universality with the un-
steadiness and uncertainty of that chaos of fleeting
phenomena which they but classify and set in order)
have seemed to some to merit the name of Reality ;
beneath even the life of the higher, though self-
centred and self-regarding emotions and sentiments,
aesthetic or spiritual ; deep down at the very basis
of the soul, is to be sought the only life that in an
absolute and independent sense deserves the name
of "real," because by it alone are we brought into
conscious relation with other personalities, and made
aware of our own. Whatever else we call real is so,
but in some secondary and derived sense. Only in
so far as it resembles a person can we think of it at
all, and only in so far as it affects a person, ourself
or another, can we desire it or care about it in
any way. It is precisely by love and its dependent
affections that we are brought into conscious and
active relation with the whole world of person-
alities outside our own, so as to make therewith in
some sort one many-membered spiritual organism.
It is love which at once saves and yet overcomes
that separateness and individual distinction which
is of the very essence of personality, and thereby
welds the several grains of corn into one living
vi
T%eFesfCG
bread. Loveless, self-centred, torn altogether from
its connection with the whole, the soul may still
live the surface-life of sense or thought or reason,
but its grasp on reality is relaxed, as it were,
in spiritual death : " Though 1 understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have
all faith, and have not love, I am nothing" — the
veriest nonentity, a withered leaf snatched by the
breeze from the living bough. In this deeper sense
it is true to say that union is the condition of dis-
tinctness ; and society, of personality. " We are
nothing else but wills," says Augustine, Nihil aliud
sumus quam voluntates. A man is, in his veriest
reality, what he loves ; with him " to be " is " to
love " ; if he have not love he is nothing — he is as
a sounding brass or tinkling cymbal compared with a
living cry from the heart ; appearance, not reality.
The fulness, therefore, of a man's life is to be
measured by the number of pei-sons and groups of
persons in whom his affections are interested — by
the nature, depth, and variety of those affections,
whether of sympathy or antipathy, of love or of
aversion ; and the whole movement and life of this
world of wills, like that of motes in a sunbeam, or
of the star-dust that swims in space, is one of cease-
less shiftings and mutual adjustments, whereby,
through a maze of seemingly lawless confu ion,
vii
each will finds at last its predestined orbit in the
spiritual universe. Hence it is that a man is
estimated chiefly by his relation to others ; by his
likes, his dislikes, and his indifferences, which make
him what he is, be it great or little, good or evil.
Hence, too, that sense of spiritual enlargement and
re-enforcement on the one hand, and on the other,
of impoverishment and contraction, according as
our will is drawn into closer communion with others,
or driven away into isolation and estrangement.
Hence, once more, the firm Non omnis mortar of
him who, by identifying himself with that " Living
Will which shall endure when all that seems shall
suffer shock," has laid hold of eternal life and
reality, and has embraced an imperishable cause.
As man lives his narrow bodily life in the bosom
of Nature long before he understands her at all
comprehensively, or rises to that belief in her unity
as a single system which so multiplies his power of
dealing with her and drawing on her bounty ; so too
he is bound by the bonds of a blind rudimentary
charity to the world of wills and personalities long
before he rises to a clear conception of that sovereign
and central will, over all and through all, by which
alone the rest are explained and brought into one
coherent self-sufficing system. When the law of
Love is thus discerned in its universality as the
viii
Alpha and Omega of all spiritual movement, con-
trolling the seeming chaos of conflicting wills to its
own irresistible purpose, then are the possibilities of
man's inward life multiplied in the same degi'ee as
those of his outward life have been multiplied by
the conceptions of physical science. Thus it is that
religion answers the problem as to the meaning of
man's deepest life — the life of those personal affec-
tions and sympathies by which we are endlessly
opposed and re-united, sorted and re-sorted, into
groups and sub-groups : " Wit it well ! Love is the
meaning" — a Divine Love which gives us a standard
and criterion whereby to discern between love and
love, and to guide our feet through the labyrinth
of warring affections into the way of peace.
It is in furnishing such practical guidance that a
doctrine or doctrinal system possesses religious truth
and value as distinct from that which is merely
scientific, historical, or ethical. For one reason or
another its coherence with the rest of our knowledge
and understanding may be at times, or in points,
hard to establish ; but eventually all our theories of
the world, visible and invisible, are but instruments
of life, practical ways of taking things so as to use
and control them to our profit. Nor should we ever,
in case of conflict, be swayed by mere reasoning to
disbelieve what experiment had proved true. At the
ix
T7{eF^ce
very least we should wait for some theory that would
include and not contradict our experience ; and we
should hold our own doctrine as even theoretically
truer in so far as evidently truer in life and practice.
As the blind man who feels his way to the fire tests
his conjectures according as they bring him an
increase or decrease of warmth and comfort, so in
his gropings after God man brings religious doctrines
and systems to the test of life and love ; nor does
he heed the rudeness of the earthen vessel so long
as it is sound enough to hold the treasure of religious
truth. For purposes of navigation the astronomy of
Ptolemy is as true as that of Copernicus; and many
a belief less accurately representative of the realm
of the outer senses and the understanding is far truer
to the facts of the spiritual order — far truer to the
ultimate realities — than one more consonant with
current fashions of thought.
Nor need this surprise us when we remember that
the outward and apparent world can never be repre-
sentative, but at most symbolic, of the inward and
real ; that it yields us at best a rude algebra, giving
results of practical sufficiency and possessing the cor-
respondence of a chart to the locality through which
it guides the traveller's wandering steps. Only
through the visible effects of their action in the
world of appearances are personalities revealed to
x
one another, and made aware of their mutual agree-
ments and disagreements in thought, aim, and affec-
tion. It is just in relation to the affairs of that outward
common world, subjected to our free control, that our
wills find occasion of harmonising with one another in
an infinite variety of ways and degrees. Besides its
effect in the realm of appearances, our every choice
and action causes a modification in the will-world,
loosening and strengthening innumerable bonds of
sympathy or antipathy : bringing access or deci-ease
of joy in heaven before the angels of God.
Hence it is that religion, whether viewed as a
doctrine or as a life — whether as a perception of
the nature and relations of that spiritual world
which flows from and centres round God and is
seized by faith, or as a vital reaction of love evoked
by that perception — embodies and expresses itself,
more or less sacramentally, in terms of that outward
world which is seized by the senses and the under-
standing. It identifies itself with a certain body
of statements — philosophical, ethical, historical— not
directly in the interests of the mind, but in those
of the heart ; not because they are coherent with
current conceptions of the order of phenomena, but
because they are practically true to the facts of the
real order, and guide us into closer will-union with
God and man.
xi
But though the religious and the mental values of
such statements are distinct, even as the spiritual
and the natural effects of sacramental bread or water
are distinct, yet, like these, they are tied together
within certain definable limits ; nor can religion
suffer the denial of any natural truth that enshrines
a supernatural value, unless when the earthen vessel
is destroyed only to be replaced by one more worthy
of her heavenly treasure. Still, she cares nothing
for the affairs of the mind, nor even for ethical
propriety of conduct, save as an expression and in-
strument of the life of the spirit, as furthering union
with the Divine Will. Love, Charity, Eternal Life :
this is her meaning in all that she says, this, the
inspiration under whose influence she chooses her
words and weaves her own garment from the
materials she finds to hand ; and it is for the sake
of such inward meaning that Faith clings to the
otherwise indiffei-ent beliefs of the natural order
in which that meaning is embodied — clings with
a certainty that is truly not of this world, but
supernatural.
These reflections are well illustrated by Mother
Juliana's " Revelations of Divine Love," where we
see Love in its double capacity as the revealed
and the revealer : "Love was His meaning. Who
shewed it thee ? Love." Nurtured in the rich
xii
TTiSFtACS
soil of medieval Christianity, she found in the
Catholic dogma of God incarnate and crucified for
love of His sinful creatures a conception of the
nature and relations of the spiritual world whose
fertility is simply inexhaustible, comparable in some
sort to those master-hypotheses of science which
receive overwhelming confirmation day by day,
through their success in co-ordinating previously
irreconcilable tracts of experience into a harmo-
nious unity. We can trace in these " shewings "
the development of the love which was wakened
in her own heart in response to that call from out-
side, by which the Church, as Christ's herald, rouses
men's souls from slumber: "Awake! thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will
enlighten thee." Once started, the process works
its way, light kindling love, and love thus kindled,
seeking further light that it may burn yet more
fiercely. The nearer she is brought to the centre
of the world of spiritual realities and subjected to
the influences and attractions that radiate from and
converge to that point ; the nearer, in other words,
she comes to Him in whom all spirits live and
move, from whom they proceed, to whom they
return, so much the more imperatively does the
affection, thus kindled to new ardours, seek to
understand and explain itself by fuller ideas and
xiii
TTiEF^CS
images of the felt but unseen realities ; and also
the more faithfully do these representations, created,
selected, or adapted under the inspiration of love,
correspond practically to the truth of the spiritual
world. Hence Love is the teacher, and Love is
the thing taught — in both cases, Love as incarnate
in Christ crucified, the revealer and the i*evealed ;
known, and therefore better loved ; loved, and
therefore better known. In hers, as in the case of
many saints and mystics, the process, viewed on its
psychological side, seems to have been accelerated
and intensified, and lifted into the plane of the
preternatural, or, at least, of the abnormal. Like
other acute and all-absorbing states of sensibility,
divine love, when it seizes hold of the emotions,
seems to bring together an independent system of
images, memories and reasonings, and thus to create
a sort of secondary personality, outside the normal,
whose utterances are not all untruly regarded by
the latter as proceeding from an external source.
But the particular process by which love in its
intensified form seeks self-utterance is of little
moment compared with the meaning and end of
that utterance.
It is curious and instructive to see how, in many
ways, Mother Juliana's spirit of Catholic-hearted love
was cramped in its efforts at self-expression by
xiv
certain current theological conceptions of the time,
whose subsequent Calvinistic developments caused
them, even in their more tolerable forms, to be
eventually abandoned by the Church ; how again
and again it is thrown back upon itself, as waves
from a cliff, in wild confusion, by the very force of
its onrush. She knows not how to roll away the
stone of a narrowly conceived predestination that
would bury Christ away from the perishing masses
of humanity outside the visible Church ; yet her
faith in the omnipotence and inventiveness of
Divine Love is never shaken for a moment, and
makes her prescient of kindlier views that had not
yet appeared above the theological horizon. One
who had entered, as she had, into the fountains of the
great deep which were broken up with the piercing
of Christ's heart, who had gauged, as she, the force
and measure of the pent-up torrents of love then
loosed upon the world, could not rest in views that
sought to confine the deluge of redeeming mercy
to this or that narrow channel, but cried out time
after time against a harshness that was in truth no
part of Catholic teaching, and against which the
Church herself, inspired by the same spirit, has also
cried out in her reprobation of every sort of Calvinism
counter to " the kindness and love of God our Saviour
toward man." But over and above the obscurities
xv
due to defects in our own power of vision, there are
others, more or less objective, that remain and must
remain so long as we view the world of spiritual
reality through a glass darkly, so long as we are
constrained to think and speak of it in enigmas
borrowed from things that appear, and to feel our
way through its mazes guided by our sense of an
increasing or decreasing vitality, of a waxing or
waning charity. Half-truths, broken away from the
unity to which they belong, present jagged edges
that will fray the mind and lacerate the heart until
we see them pieced on to their complementary
fragments. Yet of these even, Love is the meaning,
and they are shewn us by Love, and for the sake
of Love. For a mind so unprepared as ours, for a
capacity so limited, for a love so imperfect, the half-
truth may be relatively and practically truer than
the whole — may guide us for our present need
where a fuller light would but bewilder and blind
us. We have many things yet to learn, but we
cannot bear them now. Even could we compass
them with our mind, yet our will might be relaxed
and our effort unnerved owing to the alloy of self
which still vitiates our purest charity. Hence all
God's " shewings," be they clear or obscure, " homely
and courteous," or harsh and austere, are alike
"Revelations of Divine Love." " Wouldst thou
xvi
wit thy Lord's meaning in this thing ? Wit it well :
Love was His meaning." All alike are directed
to the more perfect adjustment of the human will
to the Divine — to the deepening of that bond of
affection which ties men to God, and through Him
to one another, into one spiritual organism of which
Love is the soul.
G. TYRRELL.
xvu
TO HIS
MOST HOxNOURED LADY, THE LADY
MARY BLOUNT, OF SODINGTON
Madam,
The just and grateful resentment which
I have of the unmerited kindness, and friendship
of your late most worthy and noble husband Sir
George Blount, of your Ladiship, and your whole
family, obliged me, impatiently to desire an occa-
sion, to make a public acknowledgement thereof.
Permit me therefore here, to offer to your Ladyship
this small present, in which notwithstanding, I can
challenge no interest or right, but only the care of
publishing it. The author of it, is a person of your
own sex, who lived about three hundred years since,
intended it for you, and for such readers as your self,
who will not be induced to the perusing of it by
curiosity, or a desire to learn strange things, which
afterward they will at best vainly admire, or perhaps
out of incredulity contemn. But your Ladiship will,
I assure myself, afford her a place in your closet,
xix
THE EPISTLE r DE r DIC^ c TOT{Y
where at your devout retirements, you will enjoy
her saint-like conversation, attending to her, whilst
with humility and joy, she recounts to you the
wonders of our Lords love to her, and of his grace
in her. And being thus employed, I make no doubt
but you will be sensible of many beams of her lights,
and much warmth of her charity, by reflection darted
into your own soul. Now that such may be the
effects of this book, is the desire of
(Madam)
Your Ladyships most humble,
and most obliged Servant
in our Lord,
H. CRESSY.
xx
TO THE READER
Devout Reader,
Whatsoever benefit thou mayest reap by this book,
thou art obliged for it to a more venerable Abbot of
our nation, by whose order and liberality it is now
published, and by consequence sufficiently approved.
I conceived it would have been a prejudice to the
agreeable simplicity of the stile, to have changed
the dress of it into our modeiTi language, as some
advised. Yet certain more out of fashion, words or
phrases, I thought meet to explain in the margine. 1
I was desirous to have told thee somewhat of the
happy virgin, the compiler of these Revelations :
but after all the search I could make, I could not
discover any thing touching her, more than what
she occasionally sprinkles in the book it self. The
postscript acquaints us with her name, Juliana : as
likewise her profession, which was of the strictest
sort of solitary livers ; being inclosed all her life
(alone) within four walls : whereby, though all
mortals were excluded from her dwelling, yet saints
and angels, and the Supream King of both, could,
and did find admittance. Moreover, in the same
postscript we find, that the place in a high manner
dignified by her abode, and by the access of her
[ l See list of words at end of volume.]
xxi
TO THE T&erfD&l
heavenly guest, was the City of Norwich. The time
when she lived, and particularly, when these celestial
Revelations were afforded her, she her self in the
beginning of the book informes us, was in the year
of grace MCCCLXXIII. that is, about three years
before the death of the famous conquerour, King
Edward the Third : at which time she her self was
about thirty years of age. And to conclude, in the
last chapter of the book she signifies, that more
than fifteen years after these Revelations had been
shewed her, how for resolution of a certain doubt of
hers touching the meaning of one of them, our Lord
himself was pleased to answer her internally in ghostly
understanding.
As for the manner of these Revelations, it was
the same of which we read innumerable examples,
both among ancient and modern saints. The objects
of some of them were represented to the imagination,
and perhaps also to the outward sight ; sometimes
they were represented in sleep, but most frequently
when she was awake. But those which were more
pure, intime and withall more certain, were wrought
by a divine illapse into the spiritual part of the soul,
the mind and understanding, which the devil cannot
counterfeit, nor the patient comprehend, though
withal it excluded all doubt or suspicion of illusion.
But the principal thing which I desire to recom-
mend to the reader's consideration, is the preceding
occasion, and subsequent effects of these divine
xxii
TO THE ^S^DS^
favours bestowed by Almighty God on his humble
devout handmaid.
She was far from expecting, or desiring such
unusual supernatural gifts. Matters stood thus with
her: she thought her self too much unmortified in
her affection to creatures, and too unsensible of our
Lords love to her. Therefore to cure the former,
she requested a sickness in extremity, even to death,
in her own and others conceit ; a sickness full of
bitter pain and anguish, depriving her of all outward
refreshments, and of all inward comforts also, which
might affect the sensual portion of the soul. And
for a remedy to the latter, she begged of our Lord,
that he would imprint in her soul, by what way he
thought best, a deep and vigorous conception, and
resentment of those most violent torments, which he
in his infinite love suffered for her on the cross, to
the end she might be even forced to return to him a
suitable affection.
Yet in making these requests, she expressed a
perfect resignation (as to the manner) to his heavenly
will. The only graces that she did, and might, and
so may we, desire absolutely, without any condition,
were a true spiritual hatred and contempt of her
self, and of all worldly, or sensual contentments ; a
perfect sorrow and compunction for sins past ; and a
cordial love, and reverential fear of Almighty God.
These were the gifts she desired : and as for the
means of procuring these graces, she proposed the
xxiii
TO THE TiEzATie^
best to her seeming : yet so, as being assured that
God knew what was best for her, she left them to
his Divine pleasure.
It was, no doubt, by Divine inspiration, that she
at first made such petitions, both for the substance
and manner, and therefore God granted them as she
desired ; yea, in a manner more extraordinary than
she durst pretend to, as the reader may observe.
And how wonderful the effects of them were, the
whole contexture of her discourses upon each Revela-
tion will excellently demonstrate.
And now, since she her self professes, that the
lights and torches which God was pleased to give
her, were intended not for her self alone, but for
the universality of God's true servants, for whose
benefit also she wrote them, the devout reader will,
I hope, think himself obliged not to content himself
with a fruitless admiring, but will, after her example,
aspire to a like affectuous, operative contemplation
of the meer nothingness of creatures, of the incon-
ceivable ugliness of sin, of the infinite tenderness and
indefectibility of God's love to his elect, and of the
omnipotency of Divine grace working in them ; to
which grace alone all good in us is to be ascribed.
XXIV
XVI
REVELATIONS OF LOVE
Here beginneth the First Chapter
THIS is a Revelation of Love, that Jesu Christ
our endless blisse made in xvi. shewing^ : of
which,
The Jlrst is of his precious crowning of thornes,
and therein was conteined and specified the blessed
Trinity, with the incarnation and the uniting be-
tween God and mans soul, with manie faire shew-
ings and teachings of endeless wisdom and love :
in which all the shewings that follow be grounded
and joyned.
The second, is of the discolouring of his faire face,
in tokening of his dear worthie passion.
The third is, that our Lord God Almighty, all
wisdom and all love, right also verilie as he hath
made all thinges that are right, also verilie he doth
and worketh all things that are done.
1 A
The fourth is, scourging of his tender bodie with
plenteous shedding of his precious blood.
The Jifth is, that the fiend is overcome by the
precious passion of Christ.
The sixth is, the worshipfull thanking of our Lord
God, in which he rewardeth all his blessed servants
in heaven.
The seventh is, oftentimes feeling of weale and
woe. Feeling of weale is gracious touching and
lightning, with true sikernes of endeles joy : the
feeling of woe is of temptation by heavines, and
wearines of our fleshlie living with ghostelie under-
standing, that we be kept also verelie in love, in
woe as in weal, by the goodnes of God.
The eighth is, the last paines of Christ and his
cruell dying.
The ninth is, of the liking which is in the blessed
Trinity of the hard passion of Christ after his rufull
and sorrowful dying : in which joy and liking he will
that we be in solace and mirth with him, till that
we come to the glorie in heaven.
The tenth is, our Lord Jesu Christ [shewing] by
love his blessed heart even cloven in two.
The eleventh is, an high ghostlie shewing of his
■deare worthie Mother.
The twelfth is, that our Lord God is all soveraign
being.
THE FI7{Sr CH^TTS^
The thirteenth is, that our Lord God will that we
have great regard to all the deedes which he hath
done, in the great nobletie of all things making,
and of the excellency of mans making, the which
is above all his works ; and of the precious amends
that he hath made for mans sin, turning all our
blame into endeles worship. Than meaneth he
thus, ' Beholde and see, for by the same might, wisdome
and goodness that I have done all this, by the same
might, wisdome and goodness I shall make well all that
is not well, and thou shall see it.' And in this he will
that we keep us in the faith and truth of Holie
Church, not willing to wit his privities, not but as
it longeth to us in this life.
The fourteenth is, that our Lord God is the
ground of our beseekinge. Herein was seen two
fair properties : that one is rightful praier : that
other is verie trust, which he will both be one like
[alike] large, and thus our praier liketh him, and he
of his goodness fulfilleth it.
The fifteenth is, that we should soudeinlie be
taken from all our paine, and from all our woe, and
of his goodnes we shall come up above, where we
shall have our Lord Jesu to our meed, and for to
be fulfilled with joy and blisse in heaven.
The sixteenth is, that the blessed Trinitie, our
maker, in Christ Jesu our Saviour, endleslie dwelieth
3
in our soule, worshipfullie rewarding and command-
ing all things, us mightilie and wiselie saving and
keeping for love, and we shall not be over-come of
our enemy.
The Second Chapter
This Revelation was made to a simple creature un-
lettered, living in deadlie flesh, the year of our
Lord, a thousand three hundreth lxxiij, the xiiij///
daie of Maie : which creature desired before three
gifts by the grace of God.
The, first, was mind of the passion.
The second, was bodilie sickness.
The third, was to have of Gods gift three
woundes. For the first, me thought I had some
deale feeling in the passion of Christ, but yet I de-
sired to have more by the grace of God. Me thought
I would have been that time with Magdalen, and
with other that were Christs lovers, that I might
have seen bodilie the passion that our Lord suffered
for me, that I might have suffered with him as
others did that loved him ; and therefore I desired
a bodilie sight, wherein I might have more know-
ledge of the bodilie paines of our Saviour, and of
the compassion of our Lady, and of all his true
4
THE SECOND CH^V?^
lovers that were living that time, and saw his
paines : for I would have bene one of them, and
have suffered with them. Other sight nor shewing
of God desired I never none, till when the soule
were departed from the body, for I believed to be
saved by the mercy of God. This was my meaning ;
for I would after because of that shewing have the
more true mind in the passion of Christ. For the
second came to my mind with contrition freelie,
without anie seeking, a wilfull desire to have of
Gods gift, a bodilie sicknes. I would that that
sicknes were so hard as to the death, that I might
in that sicknes have undertaken all the Rights of
Holie Church, my self weening that I should have
died, and that all creatures might suppose the same
that saw me : for I would have no manner of
comfort of fleshly, ne earthly life in that sicknes.
I desired to have all manner of paines, bodilie and
ghostlie, that I should have if I should have died :
all the dreads and temptations of fiends, and all
manner of other paines, saving the out-passing of
the soule. And this meant I, for I would be
purged by the mercy of God, and after live more
to the worship of God because of that sicknes.
For I hoped that it might have bene to my reward
when I should have died, for I desired to have
bene soone with my God and Maker.
5
sixree.^c ^veL^riotHS
These two desires of the passion, and of the sick-
nes that I desired of him, was with a condition : for
me thought this was not the common use of praier.
Therefore I said, ' Lord thou knowest what I would,
and if that it be thy will that I might have it ; and
if it be not thy will, good Lord, be not displeased,
for I will not but as thou wilt.'
This sicknes I desired in my youth, that I might
have it when I were thirtie years old.
For the third, by the grace of God and teaching
of Holie Church, I conceived a mightie desire to
receive three wounds in my life, that is to say, the
wound of verie contrition, the wound of kind compas-
sion, and the wound of willful longing to God.
Right as I asked the other twaine with a condi-
tion, so asked I this third mightilie without any
condition. These twaine desires before said, passed
from my mind, and the third dwelled continuallie.
The Third Chapter
And when I was thirtie yeares old and a halfe, God
sent me a bodilie sicknes, in which I lay three daies
and three nights, and on the fourth night, I tooke
all my Rights of Holie Church, and went [weened]
6
THE THI^D QHtATT&T^
not to have liven till daie. And after this I laie
two daies and two nights, and on the third night
I weened oftentimes to have passed, and so weened
they that were with me, and yet in this I felt a
great loathness to die, but for nothing that was
in earth that me liketh to live for, ne for no paine
that I was afraid of, for I trusted in God of his
mercy : but it was, for I would have lived to have
loved God better, and a longer time ; that I might
by the grace of that living have the more knowing
and loving of God in the blisse of heaven. For
methought all that time that I had lived here so
litle and so short in regarde of that endles blisse,
I thought, e Good Lord, may my living be no longer
to thy worshippe ? '
And I understood in my reason, and by the
feeling of my paines that I should die : and I
assented fullie with all the will of myne heart to
be at Gods will.
Thus I endured till daie, and by then was my
bodie dead from the middes downwarde, as to
my feeling.
Then was I hoi pen to be sett upright, undersett
with help, for to have the more freedome of my
heart to be at Gods will, and thinking on God
while my life lasted.
My Curate was sent for to be at my ending,
7
and before he came I had sett up my eien, and
might not speak. He sett the crosse before my
face, anil said, " I have brought the image of our
Saviour, looke thereupon and comfort thee there-
with." Me thought I was well, for my eien were
sett upright into heaven, where I trusted to come
by the mercy of God.
But neverthelesse I assented to sett my eien in
the face of the crucifix, if 1 might, and so I did ;
for me thought I might longer dure to looke even
forth than right up. After this my sight began
to faile, it waxed as darke about me in the
chamber as if it had bene night, save in the image
of the crosse, wherein held a common light, and
I wist not how ; all that was besides the crosse
was uglie and fearefull to me, as it had bene
much occupied with fiendes.
After this the over-parte of my bodie began to
die, so farre forth that unneath I had any feeling ;
my most paine was shortnes of breath, and failing
of life.
Then went [weened] I verilie to have passed, and
in this case sodenlie all my paine was taken from
me, and I was as whole, and namely in the over-
part of my bodie, as ever I was before. I marvailed
of this sodaine change : for me thought that it
was a privie working of God, and not of kind.
8
TH6 THIT^D CHtATTE^
And yet by feeling of this ease, I trusted never
the more to have lived ; ne the feeling of this
ease was no full ease unto me : for me thought
I had rather have bene delivered of this world,
for rav heart was wilful lie sett thereto.
Then came sodeinlie to my minde, that I should
desire the seconde wound of our Lords gift, and
of his grace, that my bodie might be fulfilled with
mind and feeling of his blessed passion, as I had
before praied. For I would that his paines were
my paines with compassion, and afterwards longing
to God.
Thus thought me, that I might with his grace
have the wounds that I had before desired. But
in this I desired never no bodilie sight ; ne no
manner shewing of God, but compassion, as me
thought that a kind soule might have with our
Lord Jesu, that for love would become a deadlie
man with him. I desired to suffer living in my
deadlie bodie, as God would give me grace.
Eije jftrst Eebelatton
The Fourth Chapter
AND in this, sodeinlie I saw the red blood
L running down from under the garland,
hott and freshly, plenteouslie and livelie, right as
it was in the time that the garland of thornes was
pressed on his blessed head, right so both God
and man the same that suffered for me. I con-
eeaved trulie and mightilie that it was himself that
shewed it me without any meane.
And in the same shewing, sodeinlie the Trinitie
fulfilled my heart most of joy : and so I understood
it shall be in heaven without end to all that shall
come there. For the Trinitie is God. God is the
Trinitie, the Trinitie is our Maker, the Trinitie
is our Keepei", the Trinitie is our everlasting
Lover, the Trinitie is our endles joy and our
blisse, by our Lord Jesu Christ, and in our
Lord Jesu Christ : and this was shewed in the first
sight, and in all. For when Jesu appeareth, the
blessed Trinity is understood as unto my sight.
10
THE FOURTH CH^TTS^
And I said, Benedicite dominus. This I said for
reverence in my meaning with a mightie voice,
and full greatelie was I astonished for wonder
and marveile that I had, that he that is so
reverent and so dreadful will be so homelie with
a sinfull creature living in this wretched flesh.
Thus I tooke it for that time that our Lord
Jesu of his courteous love would shew me comfort
before the time of my temptation : for me thought
it might well be, that I should by the sufferance
of God, and with his keeping, be tempted of
fiends before I should die.
With this sight of his blessed passion, with the
Godhead that I sawe in my understanding, I
knew well that it was strength enough to me, yea
and to all creatures living, that should be saved
against all the fiendes of hell, and against all
ghostlie enemies.
In this he brought our Lady Saint Mary to my
understanding; I sawe her ghostelie in bodilie
likenes, a simple maiden and a meeke, young of
age, a litle waxen above a child, in the stature
as she was when she conceived.
Also God shewed me in part the wisdome and
the truth of her soule ; wherein I understood the
reverence beholding that she beheld her God
that is her Maker, marvailing with great reverence
11
»
THE FIT{Sr 7{eV£L«fri02^
that he would be born of her that was a simple
creature of his making.
For this was her marvailing, that he that was
her Maker would be born of her that was made.
And this wisdome and truth knowing the
greatnes of her Maker, and the litlehead of her
selfe that is made, made her to saie full meekelie
to Gabriel, ' Lo me here Gods hand-maiden.'
In this sight I did understand verilie that she
is more than all that God made beneath her in
worthines and fullhead ; for above her is nothing
that is made but the blessed manhood of Christ,
as to my sight.
The Fifth Chapter
In this same time that I sawe this sight of the head
bleeding, our good Lord shewed a ghostlie sight
of his homelie loving : I saw that he is to us all
thing that is good and comfortable to our help.
He is our clothing, that for love wrappeth us,
and windeth us, halseth us, and all becloseth us,
hangeth about us for tender love, that he maie
never leave us. And so in this sight I saw that he
is all thing that is good, as to my understanding.
And in this he shewed a litlc thing, the quantitie
12
THE FIFTH CH^TTST^
of a hasel-nutt, lying in the palme of my hand,
as me seemed ; and it was as round as a ball. I
looked theron with the eie of my understanding-,
and thought, "What may this be?" and it was
answered generallie thus :
' It is all that is made.' I marvelled how it mi<rht
last : for me thought it might sodenlie have fallen
to naught for litlenes.
And I was answered in my understanding, 'It
lasteth, and ever shall : for God loveth it. And so hath
all thing being by the love of God.'
In this litle thing I sawe three propeties.
Theirs/ is, that God made it.
The second is, that God loveth it.
The third is, that God keepeth it.
But, what beheld I therein ? verilie the Maker,
the Keeper, the Lover. For till I am substanciallie
united to him, I maie never have full rest, ne verie
blisse ; that is to saie, that I be so fastned to him,
that there be right nought that is made betweene
my God and mee.
This litle thing that is made, me thought it might
have fallen to nought for litlenes.
Of this needeth us to have knowledge, that us
liketh naught all thing that is made, for to love
God, and have God that is unmade.
For this is the cause which we be not all in ease
13
THE F17(Sr TieVELiATIO^
of heart and soule : for we seeke here rest in this
thing that is so litle, where no rest is in : and we
know not our God that is all mightie, all wise, and
all good, for he is verie rest.
God will be known, and him liketh that we rest
us in him.
For all that is beneath him, sufficeth not us.
And this is the cause why that no soule is in rest
till it is naughted of all things that are made :
when she is wilfullie naughted for love to have
him that is all, then is she able to receave
ghostlie rest.
And also our good Lord shewed, that it is full
great pleasure to him that a seelie soule come to
him naked, plainlie, and homelie. For this is the
kind dwelling of the soule by the touching of the
Holie Ghost, as by the understanding that I have
in this shewing. ' God of thy goodnes give me
thy self, for thou art enough to me ; and I may
aske nothing that is lesse, that may be fullie
worship to thee ; and if I aske any thing that is
lesse, ever me wanteth. But onlie in thee I
have all.'
And these wordes of the goodnes of God be full
lovesome to the soule, and full nere touching the
will of our Lord ; for his goodnes fulfilleth all his
creatures, and all his blessed works without end.
14
THE SIXTH QH'^TTS'K
For he is the endlesse head, and he made us
onlie to himselfe ; and restored us by his precious
passion, and ever keepeth us in his blessed love ;
and all this is of his goodnes.
The Sixth Chapter
This shewing was given to my understanding, to
learne our soul wisely to cleave to the goodnes of
God, and in that same time the custome of our
praier was brought to my mind, how that we use,
for unknowing of love, to make many meanes.
Then sawe I verilie that it is more worship to God,
and more verie delight that we faithfullie pray to
himself of his goodnes, and cleave therto by his
grace with true understanding and stedfast beleif,
then if we made all the meanes that heart may
think.
For if we make all these meanes, it is too litle,
and not full worship to God : but in his goodnes is
all the whole : and there faileth right nought.
For thus as I shall saie, came to my minde in the
same time : we pray to God for his holie flesh, and
for his precious blood, his holie passion, his deare
worthie death, and worshipfull wounds ; for all
15
THE FITiST HeveLsJ'TIOO^
the blessed kindenes and the endles life that we
have of all this, it is of the goodnes of God. And
we praie him for his sweet mothers love that bare
him ; and all the helpe that we have of her it is of
his goodnes. And we praie for his holie crosse that
he died on ; and all the helpe, and all the vertue
of that we have of that crosse, it is of his goodnes.
And on the same wise, all the helpe that we have
to special saints, and of all the blessed companie
of heaven ; the deare worthie love, and the holy
endles friendship that we have of them, it is of
his goodness.
For the meanes that the goodnes of God hath
ordeined for to helpe us, be full faire and many.
Of which the chiefe and principall meane is the
blessed kinde that he took of the maiden, with all
the meanes that went before, and come after, which
be longing to our redemption and to our endless
salvation.
. Wherefore it pleaseth him, that we seeke him,
and worship him by meanes ; understanding, and
knowing that he is the goodnes of all.
For to the goodnes of God is the highest praier,
and it cometh down to us to the lowest partie of
our neede ; it quickneth our soule, and maketh it
live, and makes it to waxe in grace and vertue ; it
is nearest in kind and readiest in grace.
16
TH6 SIXTH CH^VTSIt
For it is the same grace that the soule seeketh,
and ever shall till we know our God verilie that
hath us all in himself beclosed.
A man goeth upright, and the soule of his body
is sparred as a purse full faire, and when it is time
of his necessity, it is opened and sparred againe full
honestlie.
And that it is he that doth this, it is shewed
there where he saith, 'He cometh downe to us to
the lowest part of our need.' For he hath no despite
of that he made, ne hath he no disdaine to serve
us at the simplest office that to our bodie longeth
in kind, for love of the soule that he made to his
own likenes.
For as the bodie is cladd in the cloath, and the
flesh in the skinn, and the bones in the flesh, and
the heart in the bulke, so are we soule and bodie
cladd and enclosed in the goodnes of God : yea,
and more homelie, for all they vanish and wast
away, the goodnes of God is ever whole and more
nere to us without any comparison.
For truelie our Lover desireth that the soule
cleave to him with all the mightes, and that we
be evermore cleaving to his goodnes : for of all
thing that heart can thinke it pleaseth most God,
and soonest speed eth.
For our soule is so preciouslie loved of him that is
17 B
THE FI1{ST 'TiSVSL^TIOChi
highest, that it over-passeth the knowing of all
creatures :
That is to saie, there is no creature that is
made, that may wit how much, and how sweetly,
and how tenderlie that our Maker loveth us. And
therefore, we may with his grace and his helpe,
stand in ghostlie beholding with everlasting mar-
vailing in this high over-passing unmeasurable love
that our Lord hath to us of his goodnes.
And therefore, we may aske of our Lover with
reverence, all that we will : for our kindlie will is
to have God, and the goodwill of God is to have
us : and we may never cease of willing, ne of loving,
till we have him in fulhead of joy.
And then we may no more will ; for he will that
we be occupied in knowing and loving, till the time
cometh that we shall be fulfilled in heaven.
And therefore was this lesson of love shewed
with all that followeth as you shall see ; for the
strength and the ground of all was shewed in the
first sight : for of all things, the beholding and the
loving of the Maker, maketh the soul to seem least
in his own sight, and most filleth it with reverent
dread and true meekness, and with plenty of
charity to his even Christian.
18
THE SEVENTH CH^ATTei^
The Seventh Chapter
And to learn us this as to my understanding, our
good Lord shewed our Lady Mary in the same
time, that is to mean, the high wisdom and truth
that she had in beholding her Maker.
This wisdom and truth made her to behold her
God so great, so high, so mighty, and so good
This greatness and this noblety of her beholding
of God, fulfilled her of reverend deed [dread] : and
with this she saw herself so litle and so low, so
simple and so poor, in regard of her God, that this
reverend dread fulfilled her of meekness. And
thus by this ground she was fulfilled of grace,
and of all manner of vertues, and passeth all
creatures.
And in all the time that he shewed this that
I have now said, in ghostly sight, I saw the
bodily sight lasting of the plentuous bleeding
of the head ; the great drops of blood fell down
from under the garland like pellots, seeming as
it had come out of the veins : and in the coming
out they were brown red, for the blood was full
thick, and in the spreading abroad they were
19
THE Fii{sr i{eveL*j?io^
bright red ; and when it came at the brows, there
they vanished.
And notwithstanding, the bleeding continued
till many things were seen and understanded ;
nevertheless, the fair-head, and the lively-head
continued in the same beauty and liveliness.
The plentuous-head is like to the drops of water
that fall off the evesing of an house after a great
shower of rain, that fall so thick, that no man
may number them with any bodily wit. And for
the roundness, they were like to the seal [scale] of
herring in the spreading of the forehead.
These three things came to my mind in the
time ; pellets, for the roundhead in the comming
out of the blood ; the scale of herring, for the
round-head in the spreading ; the dropps of the
evesing of an house, for the plentuous-head un-
numerable.
This shewing was quick and lively, and hideous,
and dreadful, and sweet, and lovely. And of all
the sight that I saw, this was most comfort to
me, that our good Lord that is so i-everent and
dreadful, is so homely and so courteous : and
this most fulfilled me with liking and sickerness
of soul.
And to the understanding of this, he shewed
this open example. ' It is the most worship that a
20
the seveoifH ch^tt^K.
solemn King or a great Lord may do to a poor servant,
if' he mil be homely with him; and namely, if he shew
it himself of a full true meaning, and with a glad
chere both in private and openly.' Then thinketh
this pooi' creature thus: f Lo, what might this
noble Lord do more worship and joy to me, than
to show to me that am so little this marvelous
homeliness ; verily it is more joy and liking to me,
than if he gave me great gifts, and were himself
strange in manner.'
This bodily example was shewed so high, that
this mans heart might be ravished, and almost
forget himself for joy of this great homeliness.
Thus it faireth by our Lord Jesu, and by us, for
verily it is the most joy that may be as to my
sight, that he that is highest and mightest, nobliest
and worthiest, is lowest and meekest, homliest and
courtesiest. And truly and verily, this marvellous
joy shall he shew us all when we shall see him.
And this will our good Lord, that we believe, and
trust, joy, and like [also] comfort us, and make solace,
as we may with his grace and with his help, into the
time that we see it verily ; for the most fulhed of
joy that we shall have as to my sight, is this marvel-
lous courtesie and homeliness of our Father that is
our Maker in our Lord Jesu Christ, that is our
Brother and our Saviour.
21
the Fmsr iieveL*Ario^
But this marvelous homliness may no man know
in this life, but if [unless] he have it by special shew-
ing of our Lord, or of great plenty of grace inwardly
given of the Holy Ghost ; but faith and belief with
charity deserve the meed, and so it is had by grace.
For in faith, with hope and charity, our life is
grounded ; the shewing is made to whom that God
will plainly teach the same, opened and declared
with many privy points belonging to our faith and
belief, which be worshipful to be known.
And when the shewing which is given for a time
is passed and hid, then faith keepeth it by grace of
the Holy Ghost unto our lives end.
And thus by the shewing, it is none other than
faith, no less, no more, as it may be seen by our
Lords meaning in the same matter, by that it come
to the last end.
The Eighth Chapter
And as long as 1 saw this sight of the plentuousness
of bleeding of the head, I might never stint of these
words, Benedicite Dominus. In which shewing, I
understood six things.
Tfotjirst is, the tokens of the blessedful passion,
and the plentuous shedding of his precious blood.
THE SigHTH C H ^ c P cr ^ ( K
The second is, the maiden that is his dear worthy
mother.
The third is, the blessedful God-head that ever
was, and shall be all mighty, all Wisdom, and all
Love.
The fourth is, all thing that he hath made : for
well I wote that heaven and earth, and all that is
made, is great, large, fair and good : but the cause
why it sheweth so litle to my sight, was, for I saw
it in the presence of him that is the Maker; for a
soul that seeth the Maker of all thing, all that is
made seemeth full litle.
The fifth is, that he [hath] made all thing that
is made for love, and by the same love it Js
kept, and shall be without end, as it is before
said.
The sixth is, that God is all thing that is good,
as to my sight ; and the goodness that all thing
hath, it is he.
And all this our Lord shewed in the first sight,
and gave me space and time to behold it ; and the
bodily sight stinted, and the ghostly sight dwelleth
in my understanding. And I abode with reverent
dread, joying in that I saw, and desiring, as I durst,
to see more if it were his will, or longer time the
same sight.
In all this I was much stirred in charity to mine
23
THE FF%ST ^SVSL^TIO.7^
even Christian, that they might all see and know
the same that I saw ; for I would that it were
comfort to them, for all this sight was shewed in
general. Then said I to them that were with me,
' It is this day, dooms-day with me.'
And this I said, for I went [weened] to have died :
for that day that man or woman dieth, is he deemed
particularly, as he shall be without end, as to my
understanding.
This I said, for I would they should love God the
better, for to make them to have mind that this life
is short, as they might see in example ; for in all
this time I weened to have dyed, and that was
marvaile to me, and wonder in party ; for methought
this vision was shewed for them that should live :
all that I say of me, I mean in person of all my
even Christian ; for I am learned in the ghostly
shewing of our Lord God that he meaneth so.
And therefore, I pray you all for God's sake, and
counsel you for your own profit, that you leave the
beholding of a wretch that it was shewed to ; and
mightily, wisely, and meekly, behold in God, that
of his courtesie, love, and endless goodness, would
shew it generally in comfort of us all : for it is Gods
will that ye take it with a great joy and liking, as
Jesu Christ hath shewed it to you.
24
me cHioifH CH^Trei^
The Ninth Chapter
For the shewing I am not good but if I love God
the better ; and inasmuch as ye love God the better,
it is more to you than to me.
I say not this to them that be wise, for they wit
it well, but I say it to you that be simple, for ease
and comfort ; for we be all one in love : for verily
it was not shewed to me for that God loveth me
better than the least soul that is in grace : for I am
sure, there be many that never hath shewing ne
sight but of the common teaching of Holy Church,
that love God better than I : for if I look singularly
to myself, I am right nought ; but in general I am
I hope in one-head of charity with all my even
Christian; for in this one-head standeth the life of
all mankind that shall be saved ; for God is all that
is good, as to my sight.
And God hath made all that is made, and God
loveth all that he hath made ; and he that generally
loveth all his even Christen for God [i.e. for God's
sake] he loveth all that is.
For in mankind that shall be saved, is com-
prehended all ; that is to say, all that is made,
25
and the Maker of all ; for in man is God, and in
God is all ; and he that loveth thus, he loveth all.
And I hope by the grace of God, he that be-
holdeth it thus, shall be truly taught, and mightily
comforted, if him needeth comfort : I speak of
them that shall be saved, for in this time God
shewed me none other.
But in all thing I believe, as Holy Church preach-
eth and teacheth ; for the faith of Holy Church,
[of] which I had before-hand understanding, and as
I hope by the grace of God will fully keep it in use
and custome, stood continually in my sight, willing
and meaning never to receive any thing that might
be contrary thereto. And with this intent, and
with) this meaning I beheld the shewing with all
my diligence ; for in all this blessed shewing, I
beheld it as in Gods meaning.
All this was shewed by three parts ; that is to
say, by bodily sight, and by words formed in my
understanding, and by ghostly sight ; but the ghostly
sight I cannot, ne may shew it as openly, ne as
fully as I would ; but I trust in our Lord God
Almighty, that he shall of his goodness, and for
your love, make you to take it more ghostly and
more sweetly than I can or may tell it.
26
8Ffje -ScconU Ertrclattcm
The Tenth Chapter
AND after this, I saw with bodily sight, in the
l face of the crucifix that hung before me : in
the which, I beheld continually a part of his passion ;
despite, spitting, sulloing and buffeting, and many
languring pains, more than I can tell; and often
changing of colour : and one time I saw how half
the face, beginning at the ear, over-yede with
dry blood, till it closed into the mid-face : and
after that, the other half be closed in the same
wise. And the whiles, it vanished in this party
even as it came.
This saw I bodily sweinly and darkly ; and I
desired more bodily light to have seen more clearly,
and I was answered in my reason, ' If God will shew
thee more, he shall be thy light, thou need none but him.'
For I saw him and sought him : for we be now
so blind and so unwise, that we can never seek God
till what time that he of his goodness sheweth him
to us. And when we see ought of him graciously,
27
THE secoD^p TieVELrJtriOO^
then are we stirred by the same grace, to seek with
great desire to see him more blessedfully. And
thus I saw him and sought him, and I had him
and wanted him : and this is and should be our
common working in this life, as to my sight.
One time my understanding was litle [ ? led] down
into the sea-ground ; and there saw I hills, and dales
green, seeming as it were most begrowing with
wrake and gravel : then I understood thus, that
if a man or woman were there under the broad
water, and he might have sight of God, so as God
is with a man continually, he should be safe in soul
and body, and take no harm, and overpassing he
should have more solace and comfort than all this
world may or can tell.
For he will that we believe that we see him
continually, though that us think that it be but litle,
and in the belief he maketh us evermore to get
grace ; for he will be seen, and he will be sought,
and he will be abiden, and he will be trusted.
This second shewing was so low, and so litle,
and so simple, that my spirits were in great travail
in the beholding, mourning, dreadful, and longing ;
for I was sometime in a fear, whether it was a
shewing or none ; and then divers times our Lord
gave me more sight, whereby that I understood
truly, that it was a shewing.
28
It was a figure and a likeness of our foul black
deeds, which our fair bright blessed Lord bare for
our sin. It made me to think of the Holy Vernacle
of Rome, which he protraid with his own blessed
face, when he was in his hard passion, wilfully
going to his death, and often changing of colour,
of the brown-head, and the black-head, rewlyhead
and lean-head.
Of this image many marvelled how that might
be standing, that he protraid it with his blessed
face, which is the fairest of heaven, flower of earth,
and the fruit of the Maidens womb. Then how
might this image be so discoloured and so far from
fair-head, I desire to see as I have understood by
the grace of God.
We know in our faith and in our belief, by the
teaching and preaching of Holy Church, that the
blessedfull Trinity made mankind to his image and
likeness : in the same manner-wise we know, that
when man fell so deep and so wretchedly by sin,
there was none other help to restore man but
through him that made man.
And he that made man for love, by the same
love he would restore man to the same bliss and
over-passing.
And right as we were made like to the Trinity in
our first making, our Maker would that we should
29
THE SECOND TZEVEL^TIOW^
be like to Jesu Christ our Saviour in heaven without
end by the vertue of our one-making [atonement].
Then between these two he would for love, and
for worship of man, make himself as like to man
in this deadly life, in our foul-head and in our
wretchedness, as man might be without guilt :
whereof it meaneth as is before said, it was the
image and the likeness of our foul black deeds,
wherein our fair bright blessed Lord hid his God-
head.
But verily I dare say, and we ought to believe,
that so fair a man was never none but he, till what
time that his fair colour was changed with travaile
and sorrow, passion and dying.
Of this it speaketh in the Second Revelation,
and in the xviii th chapter, where it speaketh more
of the same likeness. And there it saith of the
Vernacle of Rome, it meaneth by diverse changing
of colour, and either sometime more comfortable
and lively, and sometime more ruful and deadly,
as it may be seen hereafter.
And this vision was a learning to my understand-
ing that the continually seeking of the soul pleaseth
God much ; for it may do no more than seek, suffer,
and trust.
And this is wrought in every soul that hath it by
the Holy Ghost.
30
THE TSfJifH CH^TTei^
And the clearness of finding it, is of the special
grace, when it is his will ; the seeking with faith,
hope, and charity, pleaseth our Lord ; and the find-
ing, pleaseth the soul, and fulfilleth it with joy.
And thus was I learned to my understanding,
that seeking is as good as beholding, for the time
that he will suffer the soul to be in travaile. It
is Gods will that we seek into the beholding of
him ; for by that shall he shew us himself of his
special grace, when he will.
And how a soul shall have her in his beholding - ,
he shall teach himself; and that is most worship
to him, and most profit to the soul, and most
received of meekness and vertues, with the grace
and leading of the Holy Ghost ; for a soul that
only resigneth him to God with very trust, either
in seeking or in beholding, it is the most worship
that he may do, as to my sight.
These be two workings that may be seen in this
vision : that one is seeking, the other is beholding.
The seeking is common, that each soul may have
with his grace, and ought to have discretion and
teaching of Holy Church. (See Note, p. 32.)
It is God's will that we have three things in
our seeking of his gift. The first is, that we
seek wilfully and busily without sloath, as it may
be with his grace, gladly and merrily, without
THE secochp 7(eV€LvfriONi
unreasonable heaviness and vain-sorrow. The second,
that we abide him stedfastly for his love, without
grudging and striving against him, into lives end,
for it shall last but a while. The third is, that we
trust in him mightily of full and true faith : for it
is his will that we know that he shall appear
suddenly and blessedfully to all his lovers.
For his working is privy, and he will be per-
ceived ; and his appearing shall be sweet, sudden ;
and he will be trusted, for he is full homely,
curteous. Blessed mote he be.
Note. — The penultimate paragraph on the preceding
page may, perhaps, he interpreted thus : — The seeking,
which each soul may have, with his grace is common to
all ; and it ought to have discretion, &c, i.e. It only
needs common grace and the Church's ordinary guidance.
Not so, beholding.
32
EJje Ejjirfc Eebelation
77b Eleventh Chapter
AND after this, I saw God in a point ; that is to
L say, in my understanding : by which sight I
saw that he is in all thing. I beheld with advise-
ment, seeing and knowing in that sight, that he
doth all that is done. I marvelled in that sight
with a soft dread, and thought : what is sin ? For I
saw truly, that God doth all thing, be it never so
litle. And I saw verily, that nothing is done by
happ, ne by adventure, but all by the aforesaid
wisdom of God ; if it be happ or adventure in the
sight of man, our blind-head and un-fore-sight is
the cause. For those things that be in the foresaid
wisdom of God, been fro without be^inningr, which
rightfully and worshipfully continually he leadeth
to the best end : as it cometh about, falling to us
suddenly, our unwitting. And thus by our blind-
ness, and our unforesight, we say these things be
by happs and adventure.
Thus I understand in this shewing of love : for well
I wot in the sight of our Lord God, is no happ, ne ad-
33 c
THS mi c RT> 7{8VSL^TIO^i
venture. Wherefore me behoved needs to grant, that
all things that are done, are well done ; for our Lord
God doth all : for in this time the working of crea-
tures was not shewed, but of our Lord God in the
creatures ; for he is in the mid point of all things; and
all, he doth. And I am sure that he doth no sin.
And here I saw verily that sin is no deed; for in all
this, sin was not shewed. And I would no longer mar-
vel in this, but beheld our Lord what he would shew.
And thus as it might be for the time, the rightful-
ness of God's work was shewed for the soul.
Rightfulness hath two fair properties. It is right,
and it is full : and so be all the works of our Lord.
And thereto needeth neither working of mercy ne
grace : for they be all rightful, wherein faileth right
nought. And in an other time, he shewed for be-
holding of sin naked, as I shall say ; After when he
useth working of mercy and of grace. This vision
was shewed to my understanding ; for our Lord will
have the soul turned truly unto the beholding of
him, and generally of all his works, for they be full
good. And all his dooms be easie and sweet, and
two great eyes bringing the soul that is turned from
the beholding of the blind deeming of man, into the
faire sweet deeming of our Lord God. For man, he
holdeth some deeds well done, and some deeds evil :
and our Lord beholdeth them not so, for as all that
34
TH6 eLEVSHiJ'H QHiATTET^
hath being in kind is of God's making, so is all
thing that is done, in property of God's doing. For
it is easie to understand that the best deed is well
done ; and so well as the best deed that is done,
and the highest, so well is the least deed done :
and all in the property and in the order that our
Lord hath it ordeined to, fro without beginning.
For there is no Door [doer] but he.
I saw full truly, that he changed never his pur-
pose in no manner of thing, ne never shall without
end : for there was nothing unknown to him in his
rightful ordinance, fro without beginning. And
therefore all thing were set in order ere anything
was made, as it should stand without end ; and
no manner of thing shall fail of that point ; for he
hath made all thing in fulhead of goodness.
And therefore the blessed Trinity is ever full
pleased in all his works. And all this shewed
he full blessedly, meaning thus, 'See I am God:
See I am in all things : See I do all things : See I never
left my hands of my works, ne never shall without end :
See I lead all thing to the end that I ordaine it to, fro
without beginning, by the same might, wisdom, and love, that
I made it nith. How should anything be amiss ? ' Thus
mightily, wisely, and lovingly was the soul examined
in this vision. Then saw I verily that me behoveth
needs to assent with great reverence and joy in God.
35
Elje jFourtf) ^chelation
The Twelfth Chapter
AND after this I saw beholding the body plen-
l tuously bleeding, in seeming of the scourging,
as thus : the fair skin was broken full deep into the
tender flesh, with sharp smitings, all about the
sweet body : the hot blood ran out so plenteously,
that there was neither seen skin, ne wound, but as
it were all blood. And when it came where it
should have fallen down, there it vanished : not-
• withstanding the bleeding continued a while, till it
might be seen with advisement. And this was so
plentuous to my sight, that me thought if it had
been so in kind and in substance for that time, it
should have made the bed all on blood, and have
passed over all about.
Then came to my mind, that God hath made
waters plentuous in earth to our service, and to
our bodily ease, for tender love that he hath to us.
But yet liketh him better, that we take full
holsomely his blessed blood to wash us from sin,
36
THE TWELFTH CH^TTS^
for there is no liquor that is made that liketh him
so well to give us : for it is most plentuous, as it is
most precious, and that, by the vertue of the blessed
Godhead; and it is our own kind, and blessedfully
overfloweth us by the vertue of his precious love.
The dear worthy blood of our Lord Jesu Christ,
also verily as it is most precious, as verily it is most
plentuous. Behold and see the vertue of this
precious plenty of his dear worthy blood. It de-
scended down into hell, and brake her bonds, and
delivered them all that were there which belongeth
to the court of heaven. The precious plenty of
his dear worthy blood overfloweth all earth, and
is ready to wash all creatures of sin which be of
good-will, have been, or shall be. The precious
plenty of his dear worthy blood ascendeth up into
heaven in the blessed body of our Lord Jesu Christ : *
and there is in him bleeding, praying for us to the
Father, and is and shall be as long as us needeth.
And evermore it floweth in all heaven, enjoying
the salvation of all mankind that be there, and
shall be fulfilling the number that faileth.
37
Ejje JFtftfr Eebclation
The Thirteenth Chapter
AND after, or that God shewed any words, he
±\_ suffered me to behold him a conveniable
time, and all that I had seen, and all the under-
standing that was therein, as the simpleness of the
soul might take it.
Then he without voyce and opening of lips
formed in my soul these words, 'Herewith is the fiend
overcome. 1 This word said our Lord, meaning his
blessed passion, as he shewed before. In this our
Lord shewed a part of the fiends malice, and fully
his unmight, for he shewed that the passion of
Him is the overcoming of the fiend. God shewed
that the fiend hath now the same malice that
he had before the incarnation ; and also sore he
travelleth : and as continually he seeth, that all
souls of salvation escape him worshipfully by the
vertue of His pi'ecious passion, and that is his
sorrow, and full evil is he ashamed. For all that
God suftereth him to do turneth us to joy, and
him to shame and pain. And he hath as much
38
the THntfeewjH ch^ttei^
sorrow when God giveth him leave to work, as
when he worketh not ; and that is, for he may
never do as ill as he would, for his might is all
locked in God's hand ; but in God may be no wrath
as to my sight. For our good Lord endlesly having
regard to his own worship, and to the profit of all
them that shall be saved, with might and right he
withstandeth the reproved [i.e. the Devil, the repro-
bate], the which of malice and of shrewdness busie
them to contrary, and do against God's will.
Also I saw our Lord scorning his malice, and
naughting his unmight ; and he will that we do
so. For this sight I laught mightly, and that
made them to laugh that were about me, and
their laughing was a liking to me : I thought that
I would that all my even Christen had seen as I
saw, then should all they have laughed with me ;
but I saw not Christ laughing. But well I wot
that sight that he shewed me, made me to laugh :
for I understood that we may laugh in comforting
of our self, and joying in God, for the fiend is
overcome. And there I saw Him scorn his malice;
it was beholding to my understanding into our
Lord ; that is to say, an inward shewing of sooth
fastness without changing of cheere : for as to my
sight it is a worshipful property that is in God,
which is durable.
39
TH€ FIFTH ^EVEL^TIO^C
And after this I fell into a sadness, and said, ' I
see three things, game, scorn, and earnest. I see
raine, that the fiend is overcome : and I see scorne,
that God scorneth him, and he shall be scorned :
and I see earnest, that he is overcome by the
blessedful passion and death of our Lord Jesu
Christ, that was done in full great earnest, and with
sad travel.' And there I said that he is scorned ;
I meant that God scorneth him, that is to say, for
he seeth him now as he shall do without end ; for
in this God shewed that the fiend is damned. And
this meant I, there I said he should be scorned :
for I saw he shall be scorned at doomes-day gene-
rally of all that shall be saved, to whose salvation
he hath had great envy ; for then he shall see that
all the woe and tribulation that he hath done then),
shall be turned into encrease of their joy without
end. And all the pain and the sorrow that he
would have brought them to, shall for ever go with
him to hell.
*
40
E\}t Stxtij Eebelatton
The Fourteenth Chapter
AND after this our Lord said, 'I thank thee of
J~\. thy service, and of thy travel of thy youth.' And
in this my understanding was lift up into heaven,
where I saw our Lord God as a lord in his own
house, which lord hath called all his dear worthy
friends to a solemn feast. Then I saw the Lord
taking no place in his own house ; but I saw him
royally reign in his house, and all fulfilleth it with
joy and mirth, endlesly to glad and solace his dear
worthy friends, full homely and full curteously with
marvelous melody in endless love, in his own fair
blessedful cheer : which glorious cheer of the God-
head fulfilleth all heaven of joy and bliss. God
shewed three degrees of bliss that each soul shall
have in heaven, that willingfully hath served God
in any degree in earth. The first is, the worship
and thanks that he shall receive of our Lord God
when he is delivered of paine : this thanks is so
high and so worshipful, that him thinketh that it
41
the sixth TiereLvfrrowi
filleth him, though there were no more ; for me-
thought all the pain and travel that might be
suffered of all living men, might not have deserved
the worshipful thank that one man shall have that
wilfully hath served God. For the second, that all
the blessed creatures that be in heaven, shall see
the worshipful thanking: and he maketh his service
known to all that be in heaven. And in this time
this example was shewed : A king, if he thank his
subjects, it is a great worship to them, and if he
make it known to all the realm, then their worship
is much encreased. And for the third, that as new,
and as liking as it is undertaken that time, right so
shall it last without end. And I saw that homely
and sweetly was this shewed, that the age of every
man shall be known in heaven, and be rewarded
for his wilful service, and for his time ; and namely
the age of them that wilfully and freely offer their
youth to God, passingly is rewarded, and wonder-
fully thanked ; for I saw that when or what time
that a man or woman be truly turned to God, for
one dayes service, and for his endless will, he shall
have all these three degrees of bliss. And the
more that the loving soul seeth this courtesie of
God, the levir she is to serve him all her life.
42
STfje S&ebentij Eebclation
The Fifteenth Chapter
AND after this, he shewed a sovereign ghostly
J~\. liking in my soul : in this likeing, I was ful-
filled of everlasting sureness, mightily fastned with-
out any painful dread. This feeling was so glad and
so ghostly, that I was all in peace, in ease and in
rest, that there was nothing in earth that should
have grieved me. This lasted but a while, and I
was turned and left to myself in heaviness, and
weariness of my life, and irkeness of my self, that
unneth I could have patience to live : there was no
comfort, ne none to ease my feeling, but faith,
hope, and charity : and these I had in truth, but
full litle in feeling.
And none [anon] after this our blessed Lord gave
me again of the comfort and the rest in soul, likeing
and sureness, so blessedfully and so mightifully,
that no dread, ne sorrow, ne no pain bodily ne
ghostly, that might be suffered should have diseased
me. And then the pain sheweth again to my
43
feeling, and then the joy and the liking : and
now that one, and now that other, divers times ; I
suppose about twenty times. And in the time of
joy, I might have said with Saint Paul, ' Nothing
shall depart me fro the charity of Christ.' And in
the pain I might have said with Saint Peter, ' Lord
save me, I pei'ish.'
This vision was shewed to learn me, at [to] my
understanding, that it is speedful to some souls to
feel on this wise. Sometime to be in comfort, and
sometime to fail, and to be left to themself; God
will that we know that he keepeth us ever in like
[alike] sure, in woe, and in weale. And for profit
of mans soul, a man is sometimes left to himself,
although his sin is not ever the cause ; for in this
time I sinned not, wherefore I should be left to
myself, for it was so sudden. Also, I deserved not
to have had this blessedful feeling, but freely our
Lord giveth it when he will ; and suffereth us in
woe sometime ; and both is one love. For it is
Gods will that we hold us in comfort with all our
might; for bliss is lasting without end, and pain is
passing, and shall be brought to naught to them
that shall be saved. Therefore it is not God's will,
that we follow the feeling of pains, in sorrow and
mourning for them, but suddenly pass over, and
hold us in the endless liking that is God.
44
K\)t (Etgfjtfj Efbciatton
The Sixteenth Chapter
A FTER this, Christ shewed a part of his passion,
ii near his dying : I saw the sweet face as it
were dry and bloodless, with pale dying, and dead
pale languring, and then turned more dead into
blew, and after in brown-blew, as the flesh turned
more deep dead. For his passion shewed to me
most properly in his blessed face, and namely in
his lips ; therein I saw these four colours ; those that
were before fresh and ruddy, lively and liking to my
sight. This was a pittiful changing, to see this deep
dying; and also his most [? moisture] cloggering to-
gether and dried to my sight. And the sweet
body waxed brown and black, all changed and
turned out of the fair, fresh, and lively colour of
himself into dry dying ; for that same time that our
blessed Saviour dyed upon the roode, it was a dry
sharp wind, wonder could [wondrous cold], as to my
sight : and what time that the precious blood was
bled out of the sweet body that might pass therefro,
45
THE SigHTH TieVELtATIOD^
yet there was a moisture in the sweet flesh of
Christ, as it was shewed. Bloodshed and pain dried
within, and blowing of the wind and eold, coming
from without met together in the sweet body of
Christ : and these four dryed the flesh of Christ
by process of time. And though this pain were
bitter and sharp, yet it was full long lasting, as to
my sight. And the pain dried up all the lively
spirits of Christs flesh. Thus I saw the sweet
flesh dry in my sight, part after part drying with
marvellous pain ; and as long as any spirit had life
in Christs flesh, so long suffered he. This long
pain seemed to me as if he had been a sennet
dead, dying at the point of out-passing, always
suffering the great pain : and there I saw it seemed
as he had been a sennet dead, it specifieth, that
the sweet body was so discoloured, so dry, so
clongen, so deadly, and so piteous, as he had been
sevenight dead, continually dying. And methought
the drying of Christs flesh was the most pain, and
the last of his passion.
■16
The Seventeenth Chapter
AND in this drying, was brought to my mind
L. this word that Christ said, '/ thirst.' For I
saw in Christ a double thirst, one bodily, 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 moistui'e. 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 grievous-
ness 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 bind-
ing 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
47
THE U^IUifH TtSVSLtAriOCSt
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 sit-
ting on of the garland, not sparing, and without pity,
that altho [altogether] 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 ffarland. 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
48
skin and the flesh that seemed [showed] 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 clinsrinj)- and drvinjr,
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
49 n
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 there 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
[felt] I sted lastly, 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 Eighteenth Chapter
Here I saw in part the compassion of our blessed
lady Saint Mary, for Christ. And she was so onyd
[united] 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 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
50
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 oning [one-ing] between Christ
and us, 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 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 failing 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
51
THE JiJVifH 'JRSVSL^TIO^i
is now at an end, or else, he that is maker of kinds
suffereth." Wherefore he did write on an altar,
'This is an altar of the unknown God.' God,
of his goodness, maketh plannets and the ele-
ments 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 Nineteenth Chapter
In this time I would have looked fro the cross, and
I durst not ; for I wist well, whiles that I beheld
the cross I was sure and safe. Therefore I would
not assent to put my soul in peril, for besides the
cross, was no sureness for dreed of fiends. Then
had I a proffer in my reason, as it had been friendly
said to me, ' Look tip to heaven to his Father.' And
then saw I well with the faith that I felt, that
there was nothing between the cross and heaven
that might have diseased me. Here me behoved
to look up, or else to answer; I answered inwardly
with all the might of my soul, and said, ' Nay, I
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THE ^(T.?{£reS.7^TH £//<^Pr£7^
may not, for thou art my heaven.' This I said, for
that I would not ; for I had leaver have been in
that pain till dooms-day, than have come to heaven
otherwise than by him ; for I wist well that he
that bound me so sore, he should unbind me
when he would. Thus was I learned to choose Jesu
for my heaven, whom I saw only in pain at that
time : me liked no other heaven than Jesu, which
shall be my bliss when I come there ; and this
hath ever been a comfort to me, that I chose
Jesu to be my heaven by his grace, in all this time
of passion and sorrow. And that hath been a
learning to me that I should evermore do so, to
choose Jesu only to my heaven in weal and in woe.
And though I as a wretch hath repented me ;
as I said before ; if I had wist what pain it had
been, I had been loath to have prayed it ; here
I saw verily that it was grudging and frailty of
the flesh without assent of the soul, in which God
assigneth no blame. Repenting and wilful choise be
two -contraries, which I felt both at that time. And
those be two parts, that one outward, that other
inward. The outward party is our deadily flesh,
which is now in pain, and now in woe, and shall
be in this life : whereof I felt much at this time ;
and that part was that [in which] I repented. The
inward party is a high and a blessedful life, which
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THE OilV^TH c I{eV6L^ri0^i
is all in peace and love : and this is more privily
felt; and this party [it] is in which mightily, wisely,
and wilfully I chose Jesu to my heaven. And in
this I saw truly, that the inward party is master
and soveraign to the outward, nought charging
nor taking heede to the wills of that ; but all the
intent, and the will is set endless to be oned to
our Lord Jesu : that the outward party should
draw the inward to assent, was not shewed to me,
but that the inward party draweth the outward
party by grace, and both shall be oned in bliss
without end by the vertue of Christ, this Mas
shewed.
The Twentieth Chapter
And thus saw I our Lord Jesu languring long
time ; for the uning of the God-head gave strength
to the man-head for love to suffer more than all
men might ; I mean not only more pain than all
men might suffer, but also, that he suffered more
pain than all men of salvation that ever was from
the first beginning into the last day, might tell
or fully think — having regard to the worthiness
of the highest worshipful King, and the shameful
and despiteous painful death. For he that is highest
and worthiest, was foulest condemned and utterly
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THE TWEDiTierH C^^TTSTl
despised : for his passion is to think and to know
that he is God that suffered; seeing after, these
other two points which be lower; that one is
what he suffered ; and that other, for whom that
he suffered. And in this he brought to mind in
part the height, and the nobility of the glorious
God-head, and therewith the precious-head and
the tenderness of the blessedful body which be
together oned, and also the loathfulness that in
our kind is to suffer pain ; for asmuch as he was
most tender and clean, right, so he was most strong
and mighty to suffer : and for everv mans sin that
shall be saved he suffered ; and every mans sorrow,
dissolation and anguish he saw, and sorrowed for
kindness and love ; for in as much as our Lady
sorrowed for his pains, as much suffered he sorrow
for her sorrows, and moreover, in as much as the
sweet man-head of him was worthier in kind ; for
as long as he was passible, he suffered for us, and
sorrowed for us. And now he is up-risen, and no
more passible ; yet he suffered with us, as I shall
say after. And I beholding all this by his grace,
saw that the love in him was so strong which he
hath to our soul, that willingfully he chose it with
great desire ; and mildly he suffered it with great
joy ; for the soul that he beholdeth thus, when it is
touched by grace he shall verily see that the pains
55
the nj!}{th zteveLzjriocNi
of Christs passion pass all pains ; that is to say,
which pains shall be turned into everlasting joy by
the vertue of Christs passion.
The Twenty-first Chapter
It is Gods will as to my understanding that we
have three manners of beholding of his blessed
passion. The Jirst is the beholding the hard pain
that he suffered with a contrition and compassion :
and that shewed our Lord in this time, and gave
me might and grace to see it. And I looked after
the departing with all my mights, and wende to
have seen the body all dead ; but I saw him not
so. And right in the same time that me thought,
by seeming, that the life might no longer last, and
the shewing of the end behoved needs to be nigh,
suddenly I beholding in the same cross, he changed
in blessedful chear; the changing of his blessed
chear changed mine ; and I was as glad and merry
as it was possible. Then brought our Lord merrily
to my mind, ' Where is now any point of thy pain or
of thy anguish ? ' And I was full merry ; I under-
stood that we be now, in our Lords meaning, in his
cross with him — in our pains, and in our passion — ■
dying. And we wilfully abiding in the same cross,
56
the nvewrr-secoKP ch^ttsii
with his help and his grace into the last point,
suddenly he shall change his chear to us : and we
shall be with him in heaven ; between that one
and that other shall all be one time ; and then
shall all be brought into joy. And so meant he in
this shewing, ' Where is now any point of thy pain
or of thy grief? ' And we shall be full of bliss ;
and here saw I verily, that if he shewed now to
us his blessedful chear, there is no pain in earth,
ne in no other place, that should trouble us : but
all things should be to us joy and bliss. But for
he sheweth us the sad chear of passion, as he bare
in this life his cross, therefore we be in disease
and travaile with him, as our kind asketh. And
the cause why that he suffereth, is, for he will of
his goodness make us the heirs with him in his
bliss. And for this litle pain that we suffer here,
we shall have an high endless knowing in God,
which we might never have without that ; and the
harder our pains have been with him in his cross,
the more shall our worship be with him in his
kingdom.
The Twenty-second Chapter
Then said our good Lord asking, 'Art thou well
apaid that I suffered for thee ? ' I said, ' Yea good
57
the rNjoiTH TievsL^no^i
Lord gramercy ; yea good Lord blessed mote thou
be.' Then said Jesu our good Lord, ' If thou art
apaid, I am apaid : It is a joy, a bliss, an endless
liking to me, that ever I suffered passion for thee : and
if I might have suffered more, I would have suffered
more.' In this feeling my understanding was lifted
up into heaven : and there I saw three heavens ; of
which sight I was greatly marvelled, and thought
I see three heavens, and all of the blissedful man-
head of Christ ; and none is more, none is less,
none is higher, none is lower, but even like of bliss.
For the first heaven, Christ shewed me his Father,
in no bodily likeness, but in his property, and in
his working; that is to say, I saw in Christ that
the Father is. The working of the Father is this,
that he iriveth meed to his Son Jesu Christ : this
gift and this meed is so blissedful to Jesu, that
his Father might have given him no meed that
might have been liked to him better. For the
first heaven, that, is the pleasing of the Father
shewed to me as in heaven — and it was full blissed-
fully ; for he is well pleased with all the deeds
that Jesu hath done about our salvation : where-
fore we be not only his by his buying, but also by
the courteous gift of his Father we be his bliss,
we be his meed, we be his worship, we be his
crown; and this was a singuler marvaile, and a
full delectable beholding, that we be his crown.
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THE TfF£. e J^T2"-S6CO^(T> CH^TTET^
This that I say is so great bliss to Jesu, that he
setteth at naught his travel, and his passion, and
his cruel and shameful death. And in these words,
' If I might suffer more, I would suffer more,' I saw
truly, that as often as he might die, as [so] often he
would, and love should never let him have rest till
he had done it. And I beheld with great diligence,
for to wit, how often he would die if he might : and
truly the number passed my understanding and my
Avits so far, that my reason might not, nor could not
comprehend it, ne take it. And when he had thus
oft died, or should die, yet he would set it at naught
for love ; for all thinketh him but litle in regard of
his love ; for though the sweet manhood of Christ
might suffer but once, the goodness of him may
never cease of profer ; every day he is ready to the
same if it might be ; for if he, said he, would for
my love make new heavens, and new earths, it were
but litle in regard : for this might he do each day if
he would without any travel. But for to die for
my love so often that the number passeth creatures
reason, this is the highest profer that our Lord God
might make to mans soul, as to my sight. Then
meaneth he thus; 'How should it then be, that I
should not for thy love do all that I might, which deed
grieveth me nought, sithen that I would for thy love dye
so often, having no regard to my hard pains ? ' And
here saw I for the second beholding in his blessed
59
THE CNllJiTH TteveLrfttOnt
passion, the love that made him to suffer, it passeth
as far all his pains, as heaven is above earth ; for
the pain was a noble, precious, and worshipful deed,
done in a time by the working of love ; and love
was without beginning, is and shall be without end ;
for which love, he said full sweetly this word : ' If
I might suffer more, I would suffer more.' He said not
if it were needful to suffer more ; but, ' If I might
suffer more.' For though it were not needful, and
he might suffer more, he would. This deed and
this work about our salvation, was ordained as well
as God might ordaine it ; it was done as worship-
fully as Christ might do it ; and herein I saw a full
bliss in Christ ; for his bliss should not have been
full, if it might any better have been done than it
was done.
The Twenty -third Chapter
And in these three words: 'It is a joy, a bliss, and
endless liking to me,' were shewed three heavens, as
thus; For the joy, I understood the pleasaunce of
the Father ; and for the bliss, the worship of the
Son ; and for the endless liking, of the Holy Ghost.
The Father is pleased, the Son is worshipped, and
the Holy Ghost liketh. And here saw I for the
third beholding, in his blessedful passion ; that is to
say, the joy and the bliss that maketh him to like
60
THE TfVetKfT-rHIIiTD cH<JTreii
it : for our courteous Lord shewed his passion to
me in five manners ; Of which the first is, the
bleeding of the head; the second, discolouring of
his blessed face ; the third is, the plentuous bleed-
ing of the body in seeming of scourging ; the fourth
is, the deep drying; these four, as it is before said,
for the pains of the passion. And the fifth is, that
was shewed for the joy and the bliss of the passion ;
for it is Gods will that we have true liking with
him in our salvation. And therein he will, that
we be mightily comforted and strengthened. And
thus will hee merrily, with his grace, that our soul
be occupied ; for we be his bliss, for in us he liketh
without end, and so shall we in him with his
grace. All that he doth for us and hath done,
and ever shall, was never cost, ne charge to him,
ne might be ; but only that he died in our man-
head, beginning at the sweet incarnation, and last-
ing to the blessed uprising on Easter morrow : so
long dured the cost and charge about our redemption
in deed : in which deed he ever joyeth endlesly, as
it is before said. And Jesu wills we take heed to this
bliss, that is in the blissedful Trinity of our salva-
tion ; and that we desire to have as much ghostly
liking with his grace, as it is before said ; that is to
say, that the liking of our salvation be like to the
joy that Christ hath of our salvation, as it may be
while we be here. All the Trinity wrought in the
()1
THE UilNTH TiEVeLzAriO^
passion of Christ, ministering abundance of vertue
and plenty of grace to us by him, but only the
maidens son suffered, whereof all the blessed Trinity
enjoyeth. And this was shewed in this word, 'Art
thou well, apaid ? ' By that other word Christ said,
' If thou art well apaid, I am well apaid ; ' as if he had
said, ' It is joy and liking enough to me, and I ask not
else of thee of my travel, bid that I might appay thee.'
And in this he brought to my mind the property
of a glad Giver ; ever a glad Giver taketh but litle
heed at the thing that he giveth, but all his desire,
and all his intent is, to please him, and solace him
to whom he giveth it. And if the receiver take
the gift gladly and thankfully, than the courteous
Giver setteth at naught all his cost, and all his
travel, for joy and delight he hath ; for he hath
pleased and solaced him that he loved. Plentuously
and fully was this shewed. Think as wisely of the
greatness of this word, Ever. For in that was
shewed an high knowing of love that he hath in
our salvation, with manifold joys that followen of
the passion of Christ. One is, that he joyeth that
he hath done it in deed, and he shall no more
suffer : that other is, that he hath therewith bought
us from endless pains of hell : an other is, that he
brought us up into heaven, and made us for to be
his crown, and his endless bliss.
62
©ije Ezntl) Eebelation
The Twenty-Fourth Chapter
WITH a good chear our good Lord looked into
his side, and beheld with joy ; and with his
sweet looking, he led forth the understanding of
his creature by the same wound into his side within.
And there he shewed a fair and delectable place,
and large enough for all mankind that shall be
saved, and rest in peace and in love : and therewith
he brought to mind his dear worthy blood, and his
precious water which he let pour out for love. And
with the sweet beholding he shewed his blessed
heart cloven in two ; and with his enjoying he
shewed to my understanding in part the blessedful
Godhead, as far forth as he would at that time
strengthen the poor soul for to understand, as it
may be said ; that is to mean, the endless love that
was without beginning, and is, and shall be ever.
And with this our good Lord said well blessedfully,
' Loe, how I love thee ; as if he had said, ( My darhng,
heboid and xee thy Lord thy God that is thy maker, and
thy endless joy. See thine own brother, thy Saviour,
my child, behold and see what liking and bliss I have in
thy salvation : And for my love enjoy with me.' And
also to more understanding, this blessed word was
said : ' Loe, how I love thee ; ' as if he had said,
' Behold and see that I loved thee so much, or [ere] that
I died for thee, that I would die for thee. And now 1
have died for thee, and suffered willingfully that I may :
and' now is all my bitter pain, and all my hard travel
turned to everlasting joy and bliss to me and to thee.
How should it now be that thou shouldest any thing
pray me that liked me, but if [that] I should full gladly
grant it thee ; for my liking is thy holiness, and the end-
less joy and bliss with me.' This is the understanding
simply, as I can say of this blessed word, 'Loe, how
I loved thee.' This shewed our good Lord to make
us glad and merry.
(14
&\}t (fBlebentfj Eebelation
Tlie Tzcenty-fifth Chapter
AND with this chear of mirth and joy, our good
_/~"\ Lord looked down on the right side, and
brought to my mind, where our Lady stood in the
time of his passion, and said, "Wilt thou see her?"
And in this sweet word, as if he had said, ' I wot well
that thou wilt see my blessed mother : for after myself
she is the highest joy that I might shew thee, and most
liking and worship to me, and most she is desired to
be seen of all my blessed creatures.' And for the
marvellous, high, and singular love that he hath to
this sweet maiden, his blessed mother our lady Saint
Mary, he sheweth her bliss and joy ; as by the
meaning of this sweet word, as if he said, ' Wilt thou
see how that I love her, that thou 7night joy with me in
the love that I have in her, and she in me ? ' And also
to more understanding, this sweet word our good
Lord speaketh in love to all mankind, that shall be
saved, as it were all to one person ; as if he said,
' Wilt thou see in her how thou art loved ? for thy love I
have made her so high, so noble, so worthy : and this
lilceth me; and so will I that it do thee.' For after
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THE €L€VS.9(rH < B£VSL*A c riO0^
himself she is the most blessedful sight : but hereof
am I not learned to long to see her bodily presence
while I am here ; but the vertues of her blessedful
soul, her truth, her wisdom, her charity, whereby I
am learned to know myself, and reverently dread
my God. And when our good Lord had shewed this,
and said this word, ' Wilt thou see her ? ' I answered
and said, ' Yea good Lord, grant mercy, yea good Lord
if it be thy will.' Oftentimes I prayed this, and
I went [weened] to have seen her in bodily liking,
but I saw her not so. And Jesu in that word shewed
me a ghostly sight of her, right as I had seen her
before, litle and simple ; right so he shewed her then
high and noble, and glorious, and pleasing to him
above all creatures ; and so he will that it be known,
that all those that like in him, should also like in her.
And to more understanding he shewed this ex-
ample ; as if a man love a creature singularly above
all creatures, he will make all other creatures to love
and to like that creature that he loveth so much.
And in this word that Jesu said, ' Wilt thou see her ? '
methought it was the most liking word that he might
give me of her, with the ghostly shewing that he gave
me of her. For our Lord shewed me nothing in
special, but our lady Saint Mary, and her shewed three
times. The first was as she conceived ; the second
as she was in her sorrow under the cross ; and the
third was, as she is now in liking, worship, and joy.
66
E&e Eforlftjr ^chelation
7%£ Twenty-sixth Chapter
AND after this, our Lord shewed him more glori-
l fied as to my sight than I saw him before;
wherein I was learned, that our soul shall never have
rest till it come into him, knowing that he is full of
joy, homely and courteous, and blessedful, and very
life. Oftentimes our Lord Jesu said, ' I it am, I it
am, I it am that is highest, I it am that thou lovest, I
it am that thou likest, I it am that thou servest, I it am
that thou longed, I it am that thou desirest, I it am that
thou meanest, I it am that is All, I it am that Holy
Church preacheth thee and teacheth thee, I it am that
she/red me before to thee.' The number of the words
passeth my wits and understanding, and all my
mights ; for they were in the highest as to my sight :
for therein is comprehended I cannot tell what ;
but the joy that I saw in the shewing of them passeth
all that heart can think, or soul may desire. And
therefore these words be not declared here, but [let]
every man after the grace that God giveth him in
understanding and longing, receive them in our
Lords meaning.
67
E\)t Eijirteentjj Eebclatton
The Twenty-seventh Chapter
AND after this our Lord brought to my mind the
X\. longing that I had to him before ; and I saw
nothing letted me but sin. And so I beheld gener-
ally 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 never-
theless, 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 behovehj, bid 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 tribu-
lation that he bare for us in this life, and his dying,
68
ri-ie TJve^(fr-seve^(rH ch^ttst^
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 be-
holding 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 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
69
THE THHtreenCfH 7{£VeL^TI0^
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 Twenty-eighth 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 lack in his
70
sight ; whereby they be lowed and despised in this
world, scorned and mocked, and cast out. And this
he doth for to 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 [irholly] 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 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
[of] 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 enjoy. That other is for
comfort in our pain ; for he will that we 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 courtesie he
71
the THii(Tee^(TH i^eveL^iriou^
doth away all our blame, and beholdeth us with ruth
and pitty, as children, innocents and unloathful.
The Twenty -ninth Chapter
But in this I stood beholding generally, 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 Adam's sin was the most
harm that ever was done, or ever shall be into the
world's 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 as-
seethe ; for this asseeth-making is more pleasing
to the blessed God-head, and more worshipful for
man's 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.'
72
the THii^rierH CH^trrei^
The Thirtieth 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 in-
wardly by the Holy Ghost, and outward by Holy
Church in the same grace. In this will our Lord
that we be occupied and joying in him, for he joyeth
in us : and the more plenteously that we take of
this with reverence and meekness, the more thank
we deserve of him, and the more speed to our self.
And ^thus may we see and enjoy our part in our
Lord. That other is hid and sparred from us ; that
is to say, all that is besides our salvation ; for that is
our Lord's privy counsel, and it longeth to the royal
lordship of God to have his privy counsels in peace.
And it longeth to his servants for obedience and
reverence not to will to know his counsels. Our
Lord hath pity and compassion on us, for that some
creatures make them so busie therein ; and I am
sure if we wist how greatly we should please him,
and ease ourself to leave it, we would. The saints
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THE THI7{ree.?{?H 1{EVEL<ATI0^
in heaven they will nothing wit but what our Lord
will shew them ; and also their charity and their
desire is ruled after the will of our Lord : and thus
ouo-ht we, that our will be like to them ; then shall
we nothing will, ne desire but the will of our Lord,
like as they do ; for we be all one in Gods meaning.
And here I was learned, that I should only enjoy in
our blessed Saviour Jesu, and trust in him for all
thing.
The Thirty-first Chapter
And thus our good Lord answered to all the
questions and doubts that I might make, saying
full comfortably : ' / may make all thing well ; and I
can make all thing well; and I shall make all thing
well; and I will make all thing well; and thou shalt
see thyself thai all manner of thing shall be well.
There he saith, ' I may,' I understand for the Father ;
and there he saith, '/ can,' I understand for the
Son ; and there he saith, ' I will,' I understand for
the Holy Ghost; and there he saith { I shall,' 1
understand the unity of the blessed Trinity ; three
persons and one truth : and there he saith, ' Thou
shalt see thyself,' I understand the coming of all
mankind (that shall be saved into the blessedful
Trinity. And in these five words, God will that we
74
THE THI ( HfT-FI ( IiSr C^^TTSIl
be enclosed in rest, and peace. And thus shall
the ghostly thirst of Christ have an end ; for this is
the ghostly thirst of Christ, the love-longing that
lasteth and ever shall, till we see that sight at
dooms-day ; for we that shall be safe, and shall be
Christ's joy and his bliss, been yet here ; and some
be to come, and so shall some be into that day.
Therefore this is his thirst, and love-longing of us
all together here in him to our endless bliss, as to
my sight ; for we be not now fully as whole in him
as we shall be then ; for we know in our faith, and
also it was shewed in all, that Christ Jesu was both
God and man : and aneynst the Godhead he is
himself highest bliss, and was fro without beginning,
and shall be without end : which very endless bliss
may never be highed nor lowed in itself. And this
was plenteously seen in every shewing, and namely
in the xiith. where he saith, 'I it am that is highest.'
And as aneynst Christs manhood ; it is known in
our faith, and also shewed that he through the
vertue of the Godhead, for love to bring us to his
bliss, suffered pains and passion, and died.
And these be the works of Christs manhood,
wherein he enjoyeth. And that shewed he in the
ixth where he saith, 'It is a joy, a bliss, and endless
liking to me, that ever I suffered passion for thee.'
And this is the bliss of Christs works : and thus he
the THntreenifH i^evsL^riou^
meaneth ; there he saith in the same shewing, ' We
be his bliss, we be his meed, we be his worship, we
be his crown.' For as aneynst that Christ is our
head, he is glorified and impassible : and as aneynst
his body, in which all his members be knit, he is not
yet full glorified, ne all unpassible : for the same
thirst and longing that he had upon the roode-tree
(which desire longing and thirst as to my sight, was
in him from without beginning) the same hath he
yet, and shall into the time that the last soul that
shall be saved is come up to his bliss. For as truly
as there is a property in God of ruth and pity ; as
verily there is a property in God of thirst and
longing : and of the vertue of this longing in Christ,
we have to long again to him, without which no
soul cometh to heaven. And this property of long-
ing and thirst cometh of the endless goodness of
God ; right as the property of pity cometh of his
endless goodness : and though he have longing and
pity, they been sundry properties, as to my sight.
And in this standeth the point of ghostly thirst,
which is lasting in him as long as we be in need, us
drawing up to his bliss. And all this was seen in
shewing o f compassion, for that shall cease at dooms-
day. Thus he hath ruth and compassion on us ; and
he hath longing to have us ; but his wisdom and his
love suffer not the same to come till the best time.
76
ths THi^fr-secoD^p ch^vtst^
The Thirty-second Chapter
One time our good Lord said, ' All manner of thing
shall be well : ' and another time he said, ' Thou shall
see thy self, that all manner of thing shall be well.'
And in these two the soul took sundry manner of
understanding. One was this ; that he will, we wit
that not only he taketh heed to noble things and to
great, but also to litle and to small, to low and to
simple, and to one and to other. And so meaneth
he in that he saith, 'All manner of thing shall be
well;' for he will that we wit that th^ least thing
shall not be forgotten. Another understanding is
this ; that there be many deeds evil done in our
sight, and so great harms take, that it seemeth to
us that it were impossible that ever it should come
to a good end. And upon this we look, sorrow and
mourn therefore ; so that we cannot rest us in the
blLsedful beholding of God as we should do. And
the cause is this ; that the use of our reason is now
so blind, so low, and so simple, that we cannot
know the high marvellous wisdom, the might and
the goodness of the blissedful Trinity. And this
meaneth he where he saith, ' Thou shall see thy Hlf,
that all manner of thing shall be well' As if he said,
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THE lHI7{T88. e ^(fH 1{8V8L^riOD^
take now faithfully and trustfully, and at the last
end thou shalt be verily in fulhead of joy. And
thus in the same five words beforesaid, ' I may make
all thing well ; ' I understand a mighty comfort of
all works of our Lord God that are for to come.
There is a 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 wit that it shall be : and the might, and the
wisdom of him by the same love will 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 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 faitli, meaning thus ; Our faith is grounded in
Gods word, and it longeth to our faith, that we
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THE THIlifT-SeCOU^p CH^TTEl^
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, those that be heathen : and also many that
hath received Christendom e, 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 un-
possible 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 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 j shall
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the THiiiree.'MjH TteveLtAriou^
wit it till it is done, as to the understanding that
I took of our Lords meaning in this time.
The Thirty-third Chapter
And yet in this I desired as I durst, that I might
have some sight 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 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 endlessly
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.
80
me THntrr-rHiTtT) ch^ttet^
For I had sight of the passion of Christ in divers
shewing ; in the Jrst, 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 ever-
more 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 mean-
ing, the more we busie us to know his privities
in that or in any other tiling, the farther mere
shall we be from the knowing.
81 F
THS THJT{T88.?(fH ^EVSL^riO^
The Thirty -fourth Chapter
Our Lord sheAved two manner of 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 himseli
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 him-
self, whereby we may know him, and love him, and
cleave to him. For all that is 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
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the mrurr- fifth qh^tt&t^
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 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 Thirty-fifth Chapter
Axd 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 myself; 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 eourtcsie 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
83
special. And if I should do wisely after this teach-
ing, I shold 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 suffei'eth 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 worship-
ful, whereby his goodness shall be known without
end, and his marvellous meekness and mild-head by
this working of mercy and grace. Right-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
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THE THIJ{Tr-SIXrH £tf^P<r£^
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 endlessly
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 well paid with
both, and endlesly enjoyeth.
The Thirty-sixth 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
85
THS THI1if€€^(TH "REVeL^TIOD^
highest joy that the soul understood, that God him-
self shall do it. And I shall do right nought but
sin, and my sin shall not let his goodness working.
And I saw that the beholding; of this is a heavenly
joy in a dreadful soul, which evermore kindly by
grace desireth Gods will. This deed shall be begun
here, and it shall be worshipful to God, and plentu-
ously 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 [? wisely], faithfully, and trust-
fully ; 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 know-
ing, he will we love him, and like in him, and
86
THE THllirr-SrXTH CHcrfPTeil
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 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 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, ' Thai it shall be done by
me,' (that is to say, [as to] the general man ; that is to
say, all that shall be safe) ; it shall be worshipful, mar-
vellous, 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 riffht nouo-ht
but sin. Then meaneth our Lord God thus, as if
he said, ' Behold and see, here hast thou ?natter of meek-
ness ; 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 salvation.' And that this is
our Lords working in us, I am sure the soul that is
pearced therewith by grace, shall see it and feel it ;
and though it be so that this deed be truly take for
the general man, yet it excludeth not the special ;
for what our good Lord will do by his poor creatures,
it is now unknown to me. But this deed, and that
other aforesaid, it is not both one, but two sundry ;
but this deed shall be known sooner, and that shall
be as we come to heaven. And to whom our Lord
giveth it, it may be known here in party. But the
great deed aforesaid shall neither be known in
heaven nor in earth till that it be done. And
furthermore, he gave special understanding and
teaching of working, and shewing of miracles as
this ; ' // is known that I have done miracles here before
many, and full high and marvellous, worshipful and
great ; and so as I have done, I do now continually, and
shall in coming of time. It is known that before miracles,
come sorrows, and anguish, and trouble.' And that is,
that we should know our own feebleness and mis-
chief that Ave be fallen in by sin, to meek us, and
make us to cry to God for help and grace ; and
great miracles come after, and that, of the high
might and wisdom, and goodness of God, shewing
88
the THiT{rT-seveoirH ch^ttet^
his vertue and the joyes of heaven, so as it may be
in this passing life ; and that, for the strengthening
of our faith, and encrease of our hope in charity.
Wherefore it pleaseth him to be known and wor-
shipped in miracles. Then meaneth he thus, he
will that we be not born over-low for sorrows and
tempests that fall to us, for it hath ever so been
before miracles comming.
The Thirty-seventh Chapter
God brought to mind that I should sin : and for
liking that I had in beholding of him, I entented
not redily to that shewing. And our Lord full
mercifully abode, and gave me grace for to entend.
And this shewing I took singularly to myself: but
by all the gracious comforts that followeth as ye
shall see, I was learned to take it to all mine even
Christen, all in general, and nothing in special :
though our Lord shewed me that I should sin, by
me alone is understood all. And in this I conceived
a soft dread : and to this our Lord answered, ' / keep
thee fall surely.' This word was said with more love
and sureness of ghostly keeping, than I can or may
tell : for as it was afore shewed to me that I shoi Id
sin, right so was the comfort shewed, (sureness of
89
keeping) few all mine even Christen. What may
make me more to love mine even Christen, than
to see in God that he loveth all that shall be
saved, as it were all one soul ; for in every soul
that shall be saved, is a godly will that never
finally assenteth to sinn, ne never shall. Right
as there is a beastly will in the lower party that
may will no good ; right so there is a godly will
in the higher party ; which will is so good, that
it may never will evil endlesly, but ever good ;
and therefore we be that he loveth, and endleslv
we do that he liketh. And this shewed our good
Lord in the wholehead of love that we stand in his
sight, yea that he loveth us now as well while that
we be here, as he shall do when we be there before
his blessed face. But for failing of love in our
party, therefore is all our travel.
The Thirty-eighth Chapter
And God shewed that sin shall be no shame but
worship to man ; for right as to every sin is answer-
ing a pain by truth : right so for every sin to the
same soul is given a bliss by love. Right as divers
sins be punished with divers pains after that it be
grievous ; right so shall they be rewarded with
90
THE mi'RjY-EiqHrH CHvtTTEll
diverse joys in heaven for their victories, after as
the sin hath been painful and sorrowful to the
soul in earth ; for the soul that shall come to
heaven is so precious to God, and the place so
worshipful, that the goodness of God suffereth
never that soul to sin finally that shall come
thither : but what sinners they are that so shall
be rewarded, is made known in Holy Church in
earth, and also in heaven, by overpassing worships :
for in this sight my understanding was lifted up
into heaven. And then God brought merily to my
mind David, and other in the Old Law with him
without number. And in the New Law he brought
to my mind, first Magdalen, Peter, and Paul,
Thomas, and Jude, St. John of Beverley, and others
also without number ; how they be known in the
church on earth with their sins ; and it is to them
no shame, but all is turned them to worship. And
therefore our courteous Lord sheweth for them here
in party, like as it is there fulfilled ; for there the
token of sin is turned to worship. And St. John
of Beverley our Lord shewed him full highly in
comfort of us for homeliness and countrey sake :
and brought to my mind how he is a kind neigh-
bour, and of our knowing : and God called him
plainly St. John of Beverley, as we do, and that
with a full glad and sweet chear, shewing that he
91
THE THniTee.XfH 7{SVSL^TI0^C
is a full high saint in his sight, and a blessedful :
and with this he made mention, that in his youth,
and in his tender age, he was a dear worthy servant
to God ; full greatly God loving and dreading.
And nevertheless God suffered him to fall ; him
mercifully keeping that he perished not, ne lost
no time. And afterward God raised him to mani-
fold more grace ; and by the contrition and the
meekness that he had in his living, God hath given
him in heaven manifold joys, overpassing that he
should have had, if he had not sinned or fallen.
And that this is true, God sheweth in earth Avith
plentuous miracles doing about his body continu-
ally. And all this was to make us glad and merry
in love.
The Thirty-ninth Chapter
Sin is the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul
may be smitten with. Which scourge all-to beateth
man or woman, and all-to breaketh him, and purg-
eth him in his own sight : so far forth, that other-
while he thinketh himself that he is not worthy,
but as it were, to sink into hell, till when contrition
taketh him by touching of the Holy Ghost, and
turneth the bitterness into hope of Gods mercy.
And then begin his wounds to heal, and the soul
92
the THntrr-n(i3^rH ch^tts^
to quicken, turned into the life of Holy Church.
The Holy Ghost leadeth him to confession, wilfully
to shew his sins nakedly and truly with great sorrow,
and with great shame, that he hath so defouled the
fair image of God. Then undertaketh he penance
for every sin enjoyned by his domes-man, that is
grounded in Holy Church, by the teaching of the
Holy Ghost.
And this is one meekness that greatly pleaseth
God, and also meekly taketh bodily sickness of
God's sending : also sorrow and shame outwardly,
with reproof and despite of the world ; with all
manner of grievance and temptations that we be
cast in, ghostly and bodily : full preciously our good
Lord keepeth us, when it seemeth to us that we be
near forsaken, and cast away for our sin, and for we
see that we have deserved it. And because of the
meekness that we get thereby, we be raised full
high in God's sight by his grace. And also whom
our Lord will, he visiteth of his special grace with
so great contrition, and also with compassion, and
true longing to God, that they be suddenly de-
livered of sin and of pain, and taken up to bliss, and
made even with saints. By contrition, we be made
clean ; by compassion we be made ready ; and by
true longing to God we be made worthy.
These be three means as I understood, wherebv
93
the THinree^rH ^eveL^no^
that all souls come to heaven ; that is to say, that
have been sinners in earth, and shall be saved : for
by these medicines behoveth that every sinful soul be
healed ; though [after] that he be healed, his wounds
be seen before God not as wounds, but as worships.
And so on the contrariwise, as we be punished here
with sorrow and with penance, we shall be re-
warded in heaven by the courteous love of our God
Almighty, that will that none that come there leese
his travel in any degree : for he beholdeth sin as
sorrow and pains to his lovers, in whom he assigneth
no blame for love. The meed that we undertake [re-
ceive], shall not be litle, but it shall be high, glorious
and worshipful ; and so shall all shame turn to wor-
ship and to joy. For our courteous Lord will not that
his servants despair for oft failing, ne for grievous
falling ; for our falling letteth not him to love us ;
peace and love is ever in us, being and working ;
but we be not ever in peace and in love. But he
will we take heed thus, that he is ground of all
our whole life in love ; and furthermore, that he
is our everlasting Keeper, and mightily defendeth
us against all our enemies that be full fell, and full
fierce upon us. And so much our need is the more ;
for we give them occasion by our falling.
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the FO'RrierH c^^ttsti
The Fortieth Chapter
And this is a sovereign friendship of our courteous
Lord, that he keepeth us so tenderly whiles we be
in our sin : and furthermore, he toucheth us full
privily, and sheweth us our sin by the sweet light of
mercy and grace. But when we see ourself so foul,
then we wene that God were wrath with us for our
sin. Then be we stirred of the Holy Ghost by con-
trition into prayer and desire, amending of our self
with all our might, to slack the wrath of God, unto
the time we find a rest in soul and softness in con-
science. And then hope we that God hath forgiven
us our sin, and it is true. And then sheweth our
courteous Lord himself to the soul merrily, and of
full glad chear, with friendfully welcoming as if it
had been in pain and in prison, saying thus : ' My
dear darling, I am glad thou art come to me in all thy
woe ; I have ever been with thee, and now seest thou me
loving-, and we be oned in bliss.' Thus are sins forgiven
by grace and mercy, and our soul worshipfully re-
ceived in joy ; like as it shall be when it cometh into
heaven, as oftimes as it cometh by the gracious work-
ing of the Holy Ghost, and the vertue of Chrises
passion. Here understood I verily, that all manner
95
the rHiTiree^TH TtsveL^riont
of thing is made ready to us by the great goodness
of God ; so far forth, that what time we be our self
in peace and in charity, we be verily safe. But for
we may not have this in fullhead while we be here,
therefore it befalleth us ever to live in sweet praying,
and in lovely longing with our Lord Jesu, for he
longeth ever for to bring us to the ful-head of joy,
as it is before said ; where he sheweth the ghostly
thirst.
But now because of all this ghostly comfort that
is before said ; if any man or woman be stirred by
folly, to say or to think ; " If this be true, then were
it good for to sin, to have the more meed, or else to
charge the less to sin ; " beware of this stirring, for
truly if it come, it is untrue, and of the enemy :
for the same true love that toucheth us all by his
blessed comfort ; the same blessed love teacheth us
that we shall hate sin only for love. And I am sure
by my own feeling, the more that each kind soul
seeth this in the courteous love of our Lord God,
the lother is him to sin, and the more he is ashamed :
for if it were laid before us all the pain that is in
hell, and in purgatory, and in earth, to suffer it
rather than sin, we should rather choose all that
pain, than sin : for sin is so vile, and so mickle for
to hate, that it may be likned to no pain ; which
pain is not sin. And to me was shewed none harder
96
THS FORTIETH CH^TTEl^
hell than sin ; for a kind soul hateth no pain but sin,
for all is good but sin, and naught is evil but sin.
And when we give our intent to love and meek-
ness, by the working of mercy and grace, we be
made all fair and clean.
And as mighty, and as wise as God is to save man,
as willing he is. For Christ himself is ground of all
the laws of Christen men ; and he taught us to doe
good against evil. Here we may see that he is him-
self this charity, and doth to us as he teacheth us to
do : for he will that we be like him in whole-head
of endless love to our self, and to our even Christen.
No more than his love is broken to us for our sin,
no more will he that our love be broken to our self,
nor to our even Christen, but nakedly hate sin, and
endlesly love the soul, as God loveth it. Then
should we hate sin like as God hateth it, and love
the soul as God loveth it ; for these words that God
said, is an endless comfort, ' I keep thee full truly.'
97
Etyt jFourteentfj Ecbelattou
The Forty-first Chapter
AFTER this our Lord shewed for prayer : in
L which shewing, I saw two conditions in our
Lords meaning. One is rightful prayer. Another
is siker trust. But yet oftentimes our trust is
not full ; for we be not sure that God heareth us,
as we think for our unworthiness, and for we feel
right naught ; for we be as barren, and as dry oft-
times after our prayers as we were before. And
thus in our feeling, our folly is cause of our weak-
ness : for thus have I felt by my self. And all this
brought our Lord suddenly to my mind, and shewed
these words, and said, ' / am ground of thy beseeking.
First, it is my will that thou have it : and sithen I make
thee to will it, and sithen I make thee to beseelc it, and
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 bescek it : ' there he sheweth full great
98
THE FOTifT-FIliSr CH^TTST^
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 un-
possible 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, ' /
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 him-
self 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 [receive] our bliss, it shall be given
us for a degree of joy, with endless worshipful thank-
ing of him ; full glad and merry is our Lord of our
99
the FouTtreeJifH ^vel^tiod^
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, iu-
ivardly, 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 nice, though thou
think it savor thee not but title ; 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 shall have me to thy meed.' Also to prayer
longeth thanking : thanking is a true inward know-
ing, 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
100
THE FOTifT- SECOND CH^TTS'Jl
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 Avord turneth into the
soul, and quickeneth the heart, and entreth by
his grace into true working, and maketh it to pray
full blessedfully. And truly to enjoy in our Lord,
is a full lovely thanking in his sight.
The Forty-second Chapter
Our Lord will that we have true understanding, and
namely in three things that longeth to our prayer :
the Jirst is, by whom and how that our prayer
springeth ; by whom, he sheweth Avhen 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
101
THE FOWHjeeOiTH 1{eV€L^fTI0^
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 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 Ave 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 under-
standing be grounded with all our mights, and all
our intents, and all our meanings : and in this ground,
he will that we take our steeds [stand], and our
dwelling. And by the gracious light of himself,
he will that we have understanding of three things
that follow. The Jirst is, our noble and excellent
making. The second, our precious and dear worthy
102
th€ Foi(rr-secowT) qh^ptsi^
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 behold-
ing 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 is not his
worship. And if we see that doth it, and we pray
not, we do not our duty : and so it may not be ; that
is to say, so is it not in his beholding. But to see
that he doth it, and to pray forthwithall : so is he
worshipped, and we speed. All thing that our Lord
hath ordained to doe, it is his will that we pray
therefore, either in special or in general. And the
joy and the bliss that is to him, and the thank and
the worship that we shall have therefore, it passeth
the understanding of all creatures in this life, as to
my sight. For prayer is a rightwise understanding
of that fullhead of joy that is for to come, with true
longing, and very trust. Savouring or seeing our bliss,
103
THE FOU^ES^ifH ^SVEL^TIO^C
that we be ordained to, kindly maketh us to long.
True understanding and love, with sweet meaning
in our Saviour, graciously maketh us to trust. And
thus have we of kind to long, and of grace to trust :
and in these two workings, our Lord beholdeth us
continually. For it is our duty ; (and his goodness
may no less assigne in us,) that longeth to us, to doe
our diligence thereto: and when we do it, yet shall
us think that it is naught : and true it is. But doe we
as we may, and meekly ask merc}^ and grace ; and all
that us faileth, we shall it find in him. And thus
meaneth he, there he saith, ( / am the ground of thy
beseeching.' And thus in those blessedful words, with
the shewing, I saw a full overcoming against all our
wickedness, and all our doubtful dreeds.
The Forty-third Chapter
Prayer oneth the soul to God, which is ever like
to God in kind and in substance, restored by grace ;
but it is oft unlike in condition, by sin of mans
party. Then is prayer a witness that the soul will
as God will ; and comforteth the conscience, and
ableth man to grace. And thus he teacheth us to
pray ; and mightily to trust that we shall have it ;
for he beholdeth us in love, and will make us partner
of his good will and deed : and therefore he stirreth
us to pray that, that liketh him to do : for which
104
THE F01{Tr-THI1^D QH^AT'TE^
prayer and good will that we have of his gift, he
will reward us, and give us endless meed. And this
was shewed in this word, 'And thou beseekest it.' In
this word God shewed so great pleasance, and so
great liking, as he were much beholding to us for
each good deed that we do ; and yet it is he that
doth it : and for that we beseech him mightily, to
do that thing that him liketh ; as if he said, ' What
might thou please mee more than to beseech mightily,
wisely, and wilfully, to do that thing that I will have
done.' And thus the soul by prayer is accorded with
God. But when our courteous Lord of his special
grace sheweth himself to our soul, we have that we
desire : and then we see not for the time what we
should more pray ; but all our intent, with all our
mights, is set whole into the beholding of him. And
this is an high unperceiveable prayer, as to my sight;
for all the cause wherefore we prayer [pray], is to be
oned in to the sight and beholding of him, to whom
we pray marvellously, enjoying with reverent dreed,
and so great sweetness, and delight in him, that
we can pray right naught, but as he stirreth us for
the time. And well I wot, the more the soul seeth
of God, the more she desireth him by grace ; but
when we see him not so, then feel we need and
cause to pray, for failing, and for unableness of our
self, to Jesu. For when a soul is tempted, troubled,
and left to herself by her unrest, then it is time to
105
pray, to make her self supple and buxom to God ; but
she by no manner of prayer maketh God supple to
her, for he is ever one like in love.
And thus I saw, that what time we see need
wherefore we pray ; then our Lord God followeth
us, helping our desire : and when we of his special
grace plainly behold him, seeing none of other
needs, then we follow him. And he draweth us
to him by love ; for I saw, and felt that his marvel-
lous, and his fulsome goodness fulfilleth all our
mights. And therewith I saw that his continual
working in all manner of things, is done so godly,
so wisely, and so mightily, that it over-passeth all
our imagining, and all that we can mean or think.
And then we can do no more but behold him, and
enjoy with a high mighty desire to be all oned into
him, and entend to his motion, and enjoy in his
loving, and delight in his goodness. And thus
shall we, with his sweet grace, in our own meek
continual prayer, come into him ; now in this life,
by many privy touchings of sweet ghostly sights
and feelings, measured to us as our simplehead may
bare it — and this is wrought, and shall be by the
grace of the Holy Ghost, so long till we shall die
in longing- for love — and then, shall we all come into
our Lord, our self clearly knowing, and God ful-
somely having : and we endlesly be all hid in God,
verily seeing, and fulsomely feeling ; him ghostly
100'
THE FO ( BSY-FOU c R¥H C^TTS^
hearing ; and him delectably smelling ; [tasting, i.e.
1, seeing ; 2, feeling ; 3, hearing ; 4, tasting ; 5, smell-
ing] and him sweetly smelling : and there shall we
see God face to face homely, and fulsomely. The
creature which is made, shall see, and endlesly
behold God which is the Maker ; for thus may no
man see God and live after ; that is to say, in this
deadly life : but when he of his special grace will
shew him here, he strengtheneth the creature above
himself, and he measureth the shewing after his own
will, and it is profitable for the time.
The Forty-fourth Chapter
God shewed in all the Revelations ofttimes that
man worketh evermore his will and his worship,
duringly, without stinting : and what this work-
ing is, was shewed in the first, and that in a mar-
vellous ground : for it was shewed in the working
of the blissedful soul of our Lady Saint Mary by
truth and wisdom. And how, I hope by the grace
of the Holy Ghost, I shall say as I saw. Truth
seeth God, and wisdom beholdeth God ; and of
these two, cometh the third ; and that is, a mar-
vellous delight in God which is love : where truth
and wisdom is verily, there is love verily coming of
them both, and all of Gods making : for God is
endless soveraign truth, endless soveraign wisdom,
107
THS F0U7{Tee^TH iteveL^riou^
endless soveraign love unmade. And a mans soul
is a creature in God, which hath the same properties
made ; and evermore it doth that it was made for ;
[it] seeth God, it beholdeth God, and it loveth
God : wherefore God enjoyeth in the creature, and
the creature in God, endlesly marvelling. In which
marvelling he seeth his God, his Lord, his Maker
so high, so great, and so good, in regard of him that
is made, that unneth the creature seemeth ought to
the [it] self; but the brightness and clearness of truth
and wisdom maketh him to see, and to know, that he
is made for love ; in which love God endlesly keepeth
him.
The Forty-fifth Chapter
God deemeth us upon our kindly substance, which
is ever kept one in him, whole and safe without
end. And this doome is of his rightful-head. And
man deemeth upon our changeable sensuality, which
seemeth now one, now another, after that it taketh
of the parties, and sheweth outward. And this
doome is meddled ; for sometimes it is good and
easie ; and sometime it is hard and grievous : and
in as much as it is good and easie, it longeth to the
l-ightfulness ; and in as much as it is hard and
grievous, our good Lord Jesu reformeth it by mercy
and grace, through vertue of his blessed passion,
and so bringeth [it] to the rightfulness. And though
IOcS
THE FO%TY-FIFTH QH^TTei^
these two be thus accorded and oned, yet it shall be
known both [ = both shall be known] in heaven, with-
out end. The first doome is of Gods rightfulness,
and that is of his own high endless love ; and that is
that fair sweet doome that was shewed in all the fair
revelation, in which I saw him assigne to us no man-
ner of blame. And though these were sweet and
delectable, yet only in the beholding of this, I could
not be full eased : and that was for the doome of
Holy Church, which I had before understanded,
and was continually in my sight. And therefore by
this doome, me thought that me behooveth needs
to know my self a sinner : and by the same doome I
understood, that sinners be sometimes worthy blame
and wrath ; and these two could I not see in God :
and therefore my advise and desire was more than I
can or may tell. For the higher doome God sheweth
himself in the same time ; and therefore me be-
hooved needs to take it : and the lower doome was
learned me before time in Holy Church ; and there-
fore I might not by no way leave the lower doome.
Then was this my desire, that I might see in God,
in what manner that the doome of Holy Church
here in earth is true in his sight, and how it longeth
to me verily to know it, whereby they might both
be saved, so as it were worshipful to God, and right
way to me. And to all this, I ne had no other
answer, but a marvellous example of a lord, and of a
109
THE F0U1{TS£^(TH ^SVSL^TIO^
servant, as I shall say after, and that full mistely
shewed : and yet I stood in desire, and will, into
my lives end, that I might by grace know these two
dooms, as it longeth to me. For all heavenly things,
and all earthly things that long to heaven, be com-
prehended in these two dooms. And the more
knowing and understanding, by the gracious lead-
ing of the Holy Ghost, that we have of these
two dooms ; the more we shall see and know our
failings ; and ever the more that we see them,
the more kindly by grace, we shall long to be
fulfilled of endless joy and bliss, for we be made
thereto.
The Forty-sixth Chapter
And our kindly substance is now blessedfully in God,
and hath been sithens it was made, and shall be
without end. But our passing living that we have
here in our sensuality, knoweth not what our self is,
but in our faith. And when we know, and see verily,
and clearly what our self is, then shall we verily
and clearlv see, and know our Lord God in fulhead
of joy. And therefore it behoveth needs to be,
that the nearer we be our bliss, the more we shall
long ; and that both by kind and by grace. We
may have knowing of our self in this life, by con-
110
THS FO^T- SIXTH CH^TTSI^
tinual help and vertue of our high kind ; in which
knowing, we may encrease and wax by furthering
and speeding of mercy and grace. But we may
never full know our self into [until] the last point :
in which point, this passing life, and all manner
of woe and paine shall have an end. And there-
fore it longeth properly to us, both by grace and
by kind, to long and desire, with all our mights
to know our self. In which full knowing, we
shall verily and clearly know our God in fulhead
of endless joy. And yet in all this time, fro the
beginning to the end, I had two manner of be-
holdings : the one was endless continuant love ;
with sureness of keeping, and blissful salvation,
for of this was all the shewing. That other, was
the common teaching of Holy Church, of which
I was before enformed and grounded, and wilfully
having in use and understanding. And the be-
holding of this came [went] not from me ; for by the
shewing, I was not stirred, nor led therefro in no
manner point. But I had therein teaching to love
it, and like it ; whereby I might, with the help
of our Lord and his grace, increase and rise to
more heavenly knowing, and higher loving. And
thus in all this beholding, methought it behoved
needs to see and to know that we be sinners,
and do many evils that we ought to leave, and
leave many good deeds undone that we ought to
111
TH8 F0U ( Rjee3i?H lieVELzAriOO^
do : wherefore we deserve pain, blame, and wrath.
And notwithstanding all this, I saw verily that our
Lord was never wrath, ne never shall : for he is God,
he is good, he is truth, he is love, and he is peace ;
and his might, his wisdom, his charity, and his unity
[i.e. oneness with the soul, see below] suffereth him
not to be wrath : for I saw truly that it is against the
property of his might to be wrath ; and against the
property of his wisdom, and against the property
of his goodness. God is that goodness that raav
not be wrath, for God is not but goodness. Our
soul is oned to him, unchangeable goodness : and
between God and our soul is neither wrath nor
forgiveness in his sight ; for our soul is so ful-
somely oned to God of his own goodness, that
between God and our soul may be right naught.
And to this understanding was the soul led by
love, and drawn by might in every shewing. That
it is thus, our good Lord shewed ; and how it is
thus verily of his great goodness ; and that he
will we desire to wit ; that is to say, as it
longeth to his creatures to wit it. For all thing
that the simple soul understood, God will that it
be shewed and known. For those things that he
will have privy, mightily and wisely himself hideth
them for love ; for I saw in the same shewing, that
much privity is hid, which may never be known
into the time that God of his goodness hath made
112
the Foi{?r-severNjH ch^t-tsii
us worthy to see it. And therewith I am well apaid,
abiding our Lords will in this high marvel. And
now I yield me to our mother Holy Church, as
a simple child oweth.
The Forty-seventh Chapter
Two points belonging to our soul are debt [due]. One
is, that we reverently marvel. That other is, that
we meekly suffer, every enjoying in God ; for he will
that we know that we shall in short time see
clearly in himself all that we desire. And notwith-
standing all this, I beheld and marvelled greatly,
what is the mercy and forgiveness of God. For by
the teaching that I had before, I understood that
the mercy of God shall be forgiveness of his wrath,
after the time that we have sinned : for methought
that to a soul whose meaning and desire is to love,
the wrath of God were harder than any other pain.
And therefore I took [saw], that the forgiveness
of his wrath should be one of the principal points
of his mercy. But for ought that I might behold
and desire, I could not see this point in all the
shewing. But how I saw and understood of the
working of mercy I shall say some deal, as God
will give me grace. I understood thus ; man is
changeable in this life, and by simpleness and un-
eunning falleth into sin : he is unmighty, and un-
113 H
me Fou^rse^TH ^eveL^rio^
wise of himself; and also his will is over-laid. In
this time he is in tempest, and in sorrow, and in
woe : and the cause is blindness, for he seeth not
God ; for if he saw God continually, he should have
no mischievous feeling, ne no manner stirring, nor
sorrowing that serveth to sin. Thus saw I, and felt
in the same time ; and methought that the sight
and the feeling was high, and plentuous, and
gracious, in regard that our common feeling is in
this life ; but yet methought it was but low and
small, in regard of the great desire that the soul
hath to see God : for I felt in me five manner of
workings, which be these ; enjoying, mourning,
desire, dreed, and true hope. Enjoying, for God
gave me understanding, and knowing that it was
himself that I saw ; mourning, and that was for fail-
ing ; desire, that was that I might see him for ever
more and more ; understanding and knowing, that
we shall never have full rest, till we see him clearly
and verily in heaven. Dreed was, for it seemed to
me in all that time, that sight should fail, and I to
be left to myself. True hope, was in the endless
love that I saw, that I should be kept by his mercy,
and brought to the bliss. And the joying in his
sight, with this true hope of his merciful keeping^
made me to have feeling and comfort : so that
mourning and dreed were not greatly painful. And
yet in all this, I beheld in the shewing of God, that
114
this manner sight of him may not be continuant in
this life ; and that, for his own worship, and for
increase of our endless joy. And therefore we fail
oftentimes of the sight of him : and anon we fall
into our self, and then find we feeling of right
naught but the contrarious that is in our self. And
that, of the old root of our first sin, with all that
followeth of our own continuance : and in this we
be travelled and tempted, with feeling of sin and of
pain in many diverse manner, ghostly and bodily, as
it is known to us in this life.
The Forty-eighth Chapter
But our good Lord the Holy Ghost, which is end-
less life dwelling in our soul, full truly keepeth us,
and worketh therein a peace, and bringeth it to
ease by grace, and maketh it buxom, and accordeth
it to God. And this is the mercy and the way that
our good Lord continually leadeth us in, as long as
we be in this life, which is changeable : for I saw
no wrath but on mans party, and that forgiveth he
in us : for wrath is not else but a frowardness, and
a contrariousness to peace and love. And either
it cometh of failing of might, or of failing of
wisdom, or of failing of goodness : which failing
is not of God, but it is in our party ; for we by sin
and wretchedness have in us a wrath, and a con-
115
the Fou^reeuifH nievei^frio^
tinuant contrariousness to peace and to love. And
that shewed he full oft in his lovely chear of ruth
and pity : for the ground of mercy is in love, and
the working of mercy is our keeping in love : and
this was shewed in such a manner, that I could not
perceive of the property of mercy otherwise, but as
it were all love in love ; that is to say, as to my
sight, mercy is a sweet gracious working in love,
medled with plenteous pitty ; for mercy worketh,
us keeping ; and mercy worketh turning to us all
thing to good : mei'cy for love suffereth us to fail
by measure, and in as much as we fail, in so much
we fall ; and in as much as we fall, in so much we
die : for us behooveth needs to die, in as much as
we fail sight and feeling of God, that is our life.
Our failing is dreadful, our falling is shameful ; and
our dying is sorrowful. But yet in all this the
sweet eye of pity and love departeth never from
us, ne the working of mercy ceaseth not : for 1
beheld the property of mercy, and I beheld the
property of grace, which have tiro manner of work-
ing in one love : mercy is a pitiful property, which
longeth to mother-hood in tender love : and grace
is a worshipful property which longeth to royal
lordship in the same love. Mercy worketh, keep-
ing, suffering, quickening, and healing, and all is
of tenderness of love : and grace worketh with
mercy, raising, rewarding, endlesly over-passing
116
THE FO'ltfT-UilSifH CH^TTST^
[all] that our loving, and our travel deserveth, spread-
ing abroad, and shewing the high plenteousness,
largeness of Gods royal lordship in his marvellous
courtesie. And this is of the abundance of love ;
for grace worketh our dreadful failing into plenteous
and endless solace : and grace worketh our shame-
ful falling into high worshipful rising ; and grace
worketh our sorrowful dying into holy blissful life :
for I saw full truly that ever as our contrarious-
ness worketh to us here in earth, pain, shame,
and sorrow, right so on the contrariwise, grace
worketh to us in heaven, solace, worship, and bliss ;
and over-passing so far forth, that when we come
up and receive that sweet reward which grace hath
wrought to us there, we shall thank and bless our
Lord endlesly, enjoying that ever we suffered woe ;
and that shall be for a property of blessed love that
we shall know in God, which we might never have
known without woe going before. And when I
saw all this, me behooved needs to grant that the
mercy of God and the forgiveness slacketh and
wasteth our wrath.
The Forty-ninth Chapter
For it was an high marvel to the soul, which was
continuantly shewed in all, and with great diligence,
beholding that our Lord God, aneynst himself, may
117
the FouiireeNjH i^eveL^irio^
not forgive, for he may not be wrath. It were im-
possible. For this was shewed, that our life is all
grounded and rooted in love, and without love we
may not live. And therefore to the soul, that of
his special grace, seeth so far forth of the high
marvellous goodness of God, that we be endlesly
oned to him in love : it is the most impossible that
may be, that God should be wrath ; for wrath and
friendship be two contraries ; for he that wasteth
and destroyeth our wrath, and maketh us meek and
mild ; it 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 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 mildhead of God, and in his meekhead, in his
benignity, and in his 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
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the Foiirr-vQOifH QH^Tre^
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
conti'arious 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 salva-
tion ; 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 herself; 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
119
THE FOU^TSSJ^TH 7{eV6L^fTIO^C
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 ti-ibulation, 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 unchange-
able, as he is when we be there.
The Fiftieth 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 1 know truly that we sin
o-rievously all day, and be much blameworthy : and
I may neither leave the knowing of this sooth, nor
I see not the shewing to us no manner of blame.
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THE FIFTISTH C//^?r^
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 be-
holding ; 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^Vs* is,
for it is so low a thing, for if it were an high, I
should be adred. The second is, that it is so
121
the Foui{reew?H tisvsl^tio^
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 Fifty-first Chapter
And then our courteous Lord answered in shewing
full mistely, by a wonderful example of a lord that
hath a servant, and gave me sight to my under-
standing 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 Jirst, 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
122
THE FIFTT-FI1{Sr QH^TTE^
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 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 1
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 he was
blinded in his reason, and stonnyed in his mind, so
far 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
123
the FouTtreewTH ^eveL^rioD^
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 un-
lothful, 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 [the] restoring, which
I saw him highly enjoy for the worshipful resting and
noble, that he will, and shall bring his servant to, by
his plenteous 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 ? Is it not reason
that I reward him, his 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 de-
scended into my soul, in which I saw, that it behooved
124
THE FIFTT-FI^ST QH^TrS^
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 under-
standing, 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 under-
standing 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 not-
withstanding this, I saw and understood that every
shewing is full of privities : and therefore me be-
hooveth now to tell three properties, in which I am
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 under-
125
THE FOUT^TEEOifH ^EVELzATIOU^
stood therein sithens. The third is, all the holy
revelation from the beginning to the end, which our
Lord God of his goodness bringeth ofttimes 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 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 de-
clare 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 con-
ditions 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 pro-
perties 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;
126
THE FIFrr-FI7{ST CH^Trei^
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 under-
stood 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
undei-standing ; for he was turned from the behold-
ing 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 fulsomness in the bliss in
heaven by his plentuous grace : and this was a be-
ginning of teaching which I saw in the same time,
whereby 1 might come to knowing, in what manner
he beholdeth us in our sin. And then I saw that
only pain blameth and punisheth. And our
courteous Lord comforteth and succoureth. And
ever he is to the soul in glad chear, longing and
127
the FouiireeovfH iisveL^'rio^c
loving to bring us to his bliss. The place that the
Lord sat on was simple, on the earth barren and
desert, alone in wilderness ; his cloathing was wide
and side, and full seemly, as falleth to a lord : the
colour of the cloathing was blew as azure, most sad
and fair ; his chear was merciful : the colour of his
face was fair, brown, white, with full seemly counte-
nance ; his eyen were black, most fair and seemly,
shewing full of lovely pity. And within him an
heyward long and broad, all full of endless heavenli-
ness : and the lovely looking that he looked on his
servant continually, and namely, in his falling ;
methought it might melt our hearts for love, and
burst them in two for joy. This fair looking shewed
of a seemly medelur, which was marvellous to be-
hold. That one was rewth and pity : that other joy
and bliss : The joy and bliss passeth as far the
ruth and the pity, as heaven is above earth : the
pity was earthly, and the bliss heavenly. The rewth
and the pity of the Father was of the falling of
Adam, which is his most loved creature : the joy
and the bliss was of the falling of his dear worthy
Son, which is even with the Father. The merciful
beholding of his lovely chear, fulfilled all earth, and
descended down with Adam into hell ; with which
continuant pity, Adam was kept fro endless death.
And this mercy and pity dwelleth with mankind,
into the time that we come up into heaven. But
l c 28 .
THE FIFTT-FIT^T CH^TTSTl
man is blinded in this life, and therefore, we may
not see our Father God as he is. And what time
that he of his goodness will shew him to man, he
sheweth him homely as may ; notwithstanding that
I saw verily, we ought to know and believe, that
the Father is not man. But his sitting on the
earth barren and desert, is this to mean : he made
mans soul to be his own city, and his dwelling place ;
which is most pleasing to him of all his works. And
what time man was fallen into sorrow and pain, he
was not all seemly to serve of that noble office.
And therefore our kind Father would have dight
him none other place, but to sit upon the earth ;
abiding mankind, which is medled with earth : till
what time by his grace, his dear worthy Son had
brought again his city into the noble fairness, with
his hard travel. The blewhead of that cloathing
betokeneth his stedfastness : the brownhead of his
fair face, with the seemly blackhead of the eyen,
was most according to show his holy soberness. The
largeness of his cloathing, which was fair flaming
about, betokeneth that he hath beclosed in him all
heavin[lin]ess, and all endless joy and bliss. And
this was shewed in a touch ; where I saw that my
understanding was led into the Lord, in which I
saw him highly enjoy, for the worshipful restoring,
that he will and shall bring his servant to by his
plentious grace. And yet I marvelled, behold-
129 i
TH8 FOLTRfee^TH RSVeL^TIO^C
inff the lord and the servant before said : I saw
the lord sit solemnly, and the servant standing
reverently before his lord : in which servant is
double understanding ; one without, an other within ;
outward he was clad simple, as a labourer which
was disposed to travel, and he stood full near
the lord, not even fore anenst him ; but in party
aside, and that on the left side. His cloathing was a
white kirtle, single, old, and all defaulted, dyed with
sweat of his body ; streit sitting to him, and short as
it were an handful beneath the knee ; bare, seeming
as it should soon be worn up, ready to be ragged
and rent. And in this I marvelled greatly, think-
ing, this is now an unseemly cloathing for the servant
that is so highly loved, to stand in before so worship-
ful a lord. And inward in him was shewed a ground
of love ; which love, he had to the lord, that was
even like to the love that the lord had to him. The
wisdom of the servant saw inwardly, that there was
one thing to do, which should be worship to the lord.
And the servant for love, having no regard to him-
self, nor to nothing that might fall of [befall] him,
hastily did start and run at the sending of his lord,
to do that thing which was his will and his worship ;
for it seemed by his outward cloathing, as if he had
been a continuant labourer, and an hard traveller of
lono- time. And by the inward sight that I had,
both in the lord and in the servant, it seemed that
130
the FiFrr-FH{sr CHtATre^
he was anaved ; that is to say, new beginning for to
travel ; which servant was never sent out before.
There was a treasure in the earth which the lord
loved ; I marvelled and thought what it might be :
and I was answered in my understanding, it is a
meat which is lovesome and pleasing unto the lord :
for I saw the lord sit as a man, and I saw neither
meat nor drink wherewith to serve him ; this was
one marvel. Another marvel was, that this solemn
lord had no servant but one, and him he sent out :
I beheld, thinking what labour it may be that the
servant should do ; and then I understood that he
should do the greatest labour, and the hardest travel ;
that is, he should be a gardner, delving and diking,
and sweating, and turning the earth up and down,
and seek the deepness, and water the plants in time :
and in this he should continue his travel, and make
sweatfloods to run, and noble plentuousness fruit to
spring, which he should bring before the lord, and
serve him therewith to his liking ; and he should
never turn again, till he had dight this meat all
ready, as he knew that it liked to the lord : and then
he should take this meat, with the drink, and bear it
full wor[ship]fully before the lord. And all this time
the lord should sit right on the same place, abiding
the servant whom he sent out. And yet I marvelled
fro whence the servant came : for I saw in the lord,
that he hath within himself endless life, and all
131
me FouT^ree^TH Tievei^frio^c
manner of goodness, save the treasure that was in the
earth : and that was grounded within the lord in
marvellous deepness of endless love. But it was not
all to his worship, till his servant hath thus nobly
dight it, and brought it before him in himself present.
And without the lord was right nought but wilder-
ness. And I understood not all what this example
meant ; and therefore I marvelled from whence
the servant came : in the servant is comprehended
the Second Person of the Trinity ; and in the servant
is comprehended Adam ; that is to say, all men. And
therefore when I say the Son, it meaneth, the God-
head, which is even with the Father. And when I
say the servant, it meaneth Christs manhood, which
is rightful Adam. By the nearhood of the servant,
is understood the Son ; and by the standing on the
left side is understood Adam. The lord is God the
Father : the servant is the Son, Jesu Christ : the
Holy Ghost is the even love that is in them both.
When Adam fell, Gods Son fell for the right oning
which was made in heaven ; Gods Son might not be
separate from Adam, for by Adam I understand all
man : Adam fell fro life to death into the slade of
this wretched world ; and after that into hell. Gods
Son fell with Adam into the slade of the maidens
womb ; which was the fairest daughter of Adam ;
and that was for to excuse Adam from blame in
heaven and in earth. And mightily he fetched him
132
THE FIFrr-FII^ST C^^TTET^
out of hell. By the wisdom and the goodness that
was in the servant, is understood Gods Son ; by the
poor cloathing as a labourer standing near the left
side, is understood the manhood of Adam, with all
the mischief and feebleness that followeth : for in
all this our good Lord shewed his own Son and
Adam but one man. The vertue and the goodness
that we have, is of Jesu Christ : the feebleness and
blindness that we have, is of Adam ; which tiro were
shewed in the servant: and thus hath our good Lord
Jesu taken upon him all our blame. And therefore
our Father may nor will no more blame assigne to
us, than to his own dear worthy Son Jesu Christ.
Thus was he the servant before his coming into the
earth ; standing ready before the Father in purpose,
till what time he would send him to do the worship-
ful deed by which mankind was brought again into
heaven ; that is to say, notwithstanding that he is
God even with the Father, as anenst the Godhead,
but [yet] in his fore-seeing purpose that he would
be man, to save man in fulfilling of the will of his
Father, so he stood before his Father as a servant,
wilfully taking upon him all our charge. And then
he start full readily at the Father's will ; and anon
he fell full low in the maidens womb, having no
regard to himself, ne to his hard pains. The white
kirtle is the flesh : the single-head is, that f here
was right nought between the God-head and the
133
■
ths Fou'zj'ee.'MjH lieveLtArio^t
Man-hood : the straitness is poverty ; the old is of
Adams wearinr : the defaulting; is the sweat of
Adams travel ; the shortness sheweth the servant-
labourer. And thus I saw the Son stand, saying in
his meaning : ' hoe my dear Father, I .stand before
thee in Adams Virile, all ready to start and to run ; I
would be in the earth to thy worship when it is thy
will to send me, how long shall I desire it ? ' Full
truly wist the Son when it was the Fathers will ;
and how long he should desire ; that is to say, as
anenst the God-head, for he is the wisdom of the
Father. Wherefore this meaning was shewed in
understanding of the manhood of Chi-ist : for all
mankind that shall be saved, by the sweet incarna-
tion and passion of Christ, all is the manhood of
Christ ; for he is the head, and we be his members :
to which members the day and the time is unknown,
when every passing woe and sorrow shall have an
end, and the everlasting joy and bliss shall be fulfilled.
Which day and time for to see, all the company of
heaven longeth and desireth ; and all that be under
heaven, which shall come thither, their way is by
longing and desiring. Which desiring and longing
was shewed in the servant standing before the Lord ;
or else thus, in the Son standing before the Father
in Adams kirtle : for the longing and desiring of all
mankind that shall be safe appeared in Jesu ; for
Jesu is in all that may be safe, and all that be saved
184
THE FIFTT-Fn{ST QH^Tre^
is in Jesu. And all of the charity of God, with
obedience, meekness, and patience, and vertues that
longeth to us. Also in this marvellous example, I
have teaching within me, as it were the beginning
of an A. B. C. whereby I may have some under-
standing of our Lords meaning : for the privities of
the revelation be hid therein ; notwithstanding that
all the shewings be full of privities. The sitting of
the Father betokeneth the God-head ; that is to say,
for shewing of rest and peace : for in the God-head
may be no travel. And that he sheweth himself as
lord, betokeneth to our manhood : the standing of
the servant betokeneth travel : and on the left side
betokeneth, that he was not all worthy to stand
even right before the lord. His starting was the
God-head, and the running was the Man-head ; for
the God-head start fro the Father into the maidens
womb, falling into the taking of our kind. And in
this falling he took great sore : the sore that he
took was our flesh, in which as soon as he took it, he
had feeling of deadly pains. By that he stood dread-
full before the lord, and not even right, betokeneth
that his cloathing was not honest to stand even right
before the lord ; nor that might not, nor should not
be his office, whiles he was a labourer ; nor also he
might not sit with the lord in rest and peace, till he
had won his peace rightfully with his hard travel.
And by the left side, that the Father left his own
135
<ths FovFjeeuifH iisveL^rioNi
Son wilfully in the manhood, to suffer all mans pain
without sparing of him. By that his kirtle was at
the point to be ragged and rent ; is understood the
roddes and scourges, the thornes and the nails ; the
drawing and the dragging, his tender flesh renting,
as I saw in some part, the tender flesh was rent from
the head-pann, falling on pieces, unto the. time the
bleeding failed: and then it began to dry again,
cleaving to the bone. And by the wallowing, and
writhing, groaning, and mourning, is understood that
he might never rise all mightily fro that time that
he was fallen into the maidens womb, till his body
was slain and dead, he yielding the soul into the
Fathers hand, with all mankind for whom he was
sent. And at this point he began first to shew his
misrht : for then he went into hell. And when he
was there, then he raised up the great root out of
the deep deepness, which rightfully was knit to him
in high heaven. The body lay in the grave till
Easter morrow ; and fro that time he lay never more,
for there was rightfully ended the wallowing, and
the writhing, the groaning, and the mourning. And
our foul deadly flesh that Gods Son took upon him
which was Adams old kirtle, strait, bare, and short,
then by our Saviour was made fair, new, white, and
bright, and of endless cleanness; wide, and side,
fairer and richer than was the cloathing which I saw
on the Father, for that cloathing was blew. And
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THE FlFTT-FTJ{Sr QHtAVT£%^
Christs cloathing is now of fair seemly medelour,
which is so marvellous that I can it no descrie, for it
is all of very worship. Now sitteth not the lord on
earth in wilderness, but he sitteth on his rich and
noble seat which he made in heaven most to his
liking. Now standeth not the Son before the Father,
as a servant before the lord, dreadfully cloathed, in
party naked : but he standeth before the Father
even right richly cloathed, in blissful largeness ; with
a crown upon his head of precious richness : for it
was shewed that we be his crown : which crown is
the Fathers joy, the Sons worship, the Holy Ghosts
likinff : and endless marvellous bliss to all that be
in heaven. Now standeth not the Son before the
Father on the left side as a labourer ; but he sitteth
on the Fathers right hand in endless rest and peace.
But it is not meant that the Son sitteth on the right
hand beside, as one man sitteth by another in this
life : for there is no such sitting as to my sight in
the Trinity; but he sitteth on his Fathers right
hand ; that is to say, right in the highest nobility of
the Fathers joy. Now is the spouse, Gods Son, in
peace with his loved wife : which is the fair maiden,
of endless joy. Now sitteth the Son very God and
very Man in his city in rest and in peace, which his
Father hath dight to him of endless purpose : and
the Father in the Son ; and the Holy Ghost in the
Father and in the Son.
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THS FOU^eEVifH "REVEL^TIO^
The Fifty-second Chapter
And thus I saw that God enjoyeth that he is our
father, and God enjoyeth that he is our mother:
and God enjoyeth that he is our very spouse, and
our soul his loved wife : And Christ enjoyeth that
he is our brother : and Jesu enjoyeth that he is our
Saviour. These be five high joyes, as I understand ;
in which he will that we enjoy, him praising, him
thanking, him loving, him endlesly blessing, all that
shall be saved, for the time of this life : we have in
us a marvellous medelour both of weal and of woe :
we have in us our Lord Jesu Christ up-risen ; and
we have in us the wretchedness and the mischief of
Adams falling, dying. By Christ we be lastingly
kept ; and by his gracious touching we be raised
into very trust of salvation. And by Adams falling,
we be so briken in our failing on diverse manners
by sin and by sundry pains. In which we be made
dark, and so blind, that unneths we can take any
comfort. But in our meaning, we abide God, and
faithfully trust to have mercy and grace. And this
is his own working in us ; and of his goodness [it]
openeth the eye of our understanding, by which we
have sight, some time more, and sometime less, after
that God giveth ability to take. And now we be
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the fifty-second c#c/fpr£^
raised into that one, and now we are suffered to fall
into that other. And thus is that medle so marvel-
lous in us, that unneths we know of our self, or of
our even christen, in what way we stand for the mar-
vellousness of this sundry feeling, but that [for] each
holy assent that we assent to God when we feel him,
truly willing to be with him with all our heart, with
all our soul, and with all our might. And then we
hate and despise our evil stirring, and all that might
be occasion of sin, ghostly and bodily. And yet
nevertheless, when this sweetness is hid, we fall
asrain into blindness, and so into woe and tribulation
on diverse manners. But then is this our comfort,
that we know in our faith that by the vertue of
Christ which is our keeper, we assent never thereto.
But we grudge there against, and endure in pain
and in woe, praying into that time that he sheweth
him asrain to us. And thus we stand in this
medelour all the dayes of our life : but he will we
trust that he is lastingly with us ; and that in three
manners. He is with us in heaven very man, in his
own person, us up-drawing : and that was shewed in
the ghostly thirst. And he is with us in earth, us
leading, and that was shewed in the third ; where I
saw God in a point. And he is with us in our soul,
endlesly wonning [uniting], ruling, and guiding us :
and that was shewed in the xvith. as I shall say. And
thus in the servant was shewed the blindness and the
139
me FowtreewSH ^veL^rion^
mischief of Adams falling. And in the servant was
shewed the wisdom and the goodness of Gods Son.
And in the lord was shewed the rewth and the pity
of Adams woe : and in the lord was shewed the high
nobility and endless worship that mankind is come
to by the vertue of the passion and the death of
his dear worthy Son. And therefore mightily he
enjoy eth in his falling, for the high raising and
ful head of bliss that mankind is come to, over-
passing that we should have had, if he had not
fallen. And thus to see this over-passing nobility,
was my understanding led into God, in the same
time that I saw the servant fall. And thus we have
matter of mourning; for our sin is cause of Christs
pains. And we have lastingly matter of joy ; for
endless love made him to suffer. And therefore the
creature that seeth and feeleth the working of love
by grace, hateth nought but sin; for of all thing, as
to my sight, love and hate be hardest and most
unmeasurable contraries. And notwithstanding all
this, I saw and understood this in our Lord's mean-
ing, that we may not in this life keep us from sin ;
all holy in full cleanness, as we shall be in heaven.
But we may well by grace keep us fro the sins which
would lead us to endless pain, as Holy Church
teacheth us, and eschew venial, reasonably up our
might. And if we by our blindness, and our
wretchedness any time fall, that we readily rise,
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THE FIFT2"-SSC0.'MJD QH^TTE^
knowing the sweet touching of grace ; and wilfully
amend us upon teaching of Holy Church after that
the sin is grievous ; and go forth with God in love :
and neither on that one side fall over low, enclining
to despair ; ne on that other side he over reckless,
as we give no force : but meekly know our feeble-
ness, witting that we may not stand the twinkling
of an eye, but with keeping of grace ; and reverently
cleave to God, in him only trusting. For otherwise
is the beholding of God, and otherwise is the behold-
ing of man. For it longeth to man meekly to accuse
himself; and it longeth to the proper goodness of
our Lord God courteously to excuse man. And
these be two parties that were shewed in the double
chear, in which the Lord beheld the falling of his
loved servant. That 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 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 asseth that our Lord hath made for man.
14-1
THE FOU^feSOifH ^SVSL^TIO^
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 [same], 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 Fifty-third 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 overpassing 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
142
the FiFrr-rmnj) ch^vts'K
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 : but evermore continually it will-
eth 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 [the] kind that heaven shall be
fulfilled with, behooved needs of Gods rightfulness so
to be knit and oned 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
143
me FouT{reeuirH T^evei^frio^c
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 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 undei'stood
that mans soul is made of naujjht ; that is to sav, it
CD ' y J
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
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THE FIFTT-FOU^TH Q H ^ rp ^ < K
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 oned 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 Fifty-fourth 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
14.5 k
of all the souls that shall be saved by Christ.
Highly 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 understand-
ing 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 God in substance : of which substance by God
we be that we be. And I saw no difference be-
tween God and our substance, but as it were all
God. And yet my understanding took, that our
substance is in God ; that is to say, that God is God,
and our substance is a creature in God. For the
almighty truth of the Trinity is our Father : for he
made us, and keepeth us in him : and the deep
wisdom of the Trinity is our mother, in whom we
be closed : and the high goodness of the Trinity is
our Lord, and in him we be closed, and he in us.
We be closed in the Father, and we be closed in the
Son, and Ave be closed in the Holy Ghost. And the
Father is beclosed in us ; the Son is beclosed in us ;
and the Holy Ghost is beclosed in us : all might,
all wisdom, and all goodness, one God, one Lord.
And our faith is a vertue that cometh of our kind
substance into our sensual soul by the Holy Ghost.
14(5
THE F IF TT- FIFTH CH^TTSI^
In which vertue all our vertues come into us ; for
without that, no man may receive vertues ; for it is
naught else but a right understanding, with true
belief, and sure trust of our being, that we be in
God, and he in us, which we see not. And this
vertue with all others that God hath ordained to us
coming therein, worketh in us great things ; for
Chi-ist mercifully is working in us ; and we graciously
according to him through the gift and the vertue of
the Holy Ghost. This working maketh that we be
Christs children, and christen in lyving.
The Fifty-jifth Chapter
And thus Christ is our way, us surely leading in his
laws. And Christ in his body mightily beareth us
up into heaven. For I saw that Christ, us all having
in him that shall be saved by him, worshipfully pre-
senteth his Father in heaven with us ; which present
full thankfully his Father receiveth, and courteously
giveth it unto his Son Jesu Christ. Which gift and
working is joy to the Father, and bliss to the Son,
and liking to the Holy Ghost. And of all thing
that to us longeth, it is most liking to our Lord that
we enjoy in this joy, which is in the blessed Trinity,
of our salvation. And this was seen in the nlntli
shewing, where it speaketh more of this matter.
147
And notwithstanding all our feeling, woe or weal,
God will we understand and believe, that we be
more verily in heaven, than in earth. Our faith
cometh of the kind love of our soul, and of the clear
light of our reason, and of the stedfast mind which
we have of God in our first making. And what
time our soul is inspired in our body, in which we
be made sensual, as soon mercy and grace begin to
work ; having of us cure and keeping with pity and
love. In which working the Holy Ghost formeth
in our faith hope, that we shall come again up above
to our substance into the vertue of Christ, encreased
and fulfilled through the Holy Ghost. Thus I
understood that the sensuality is grounded in kind,
in mercy and in grace : which ground ableth us to
receive gifts that lead us to endless life ; for I saw
full surely that our substance is in God. And also
I saw that in our sensuality God is ; for in the same
point that our soul is made sensual, in the same
point is the city of God ordained to him from with-
out beginning. In which city he cometh, and
never shall remove it ; for God is never out of the
soul, in which he shall dwell blessedly without end.
And this was said in the xvith. shewing, where it
saith, " The place that Jesu taketh in our soul, he
shall never remove it." And all the gifts that God
may give to the creature, he hath given to his
Son Jesu for us. Which gifts he onning in us hath
148
THS F1FTT-FIFTH CH^TTE^
beclosed in him, into the time that we be waxen
and grown, our soul with our body, and our body
with our soul. Either of them take help of other till
we be brought up into stature, as kind worketh. And
then in the ground of kind, with working of mercy,
the Holy Ghost graciously enspireth into us gifts
leading to endless life. And thus was my under-
standing led of God to see in him, and to wit, to
understand, and to know, that our soul is a made
Trinity, like to the unmade blessed Trinity, known
and loved from without beginning ; and in the
making oned to the Maker, as it is before said.
This sight was full sweet and marvellous to behold,
peaceable and restful, sure and delectable. And for
the worshipful oning that was thus made of God,
between the soul and the body, it behooved needs
to be, that mankind should be restored fro double
death : which restoring might never be into the
time that the second Person in the Trinity had
taken the lower party of mankind ; to whom that
highest was oned in the first making. And these
two parties were in Christ, the higher and the lower,
which is but one soul : the higher party was ever in
peace with God in full joy and bliss : the lower
party, which is sensuality, suffered for the salvation
of mankind. And these two parties were seen and
felt in the viiith. shewing ; in which my body was
fulfilled of feeling and mind of Clmsts passion, and
149
THE FOUI^TSe^CTH TiEVEL^TIOO^
his dying. And furthermore, with this was a subtile
feeling and a privy inward sight of the high parts.
And that was shewed in the same time ; where I
might not, for the mean profer, look up into heaven
[cf. c. xix] : and that was for that each [the] mighty
beholding of the inward life : which inward life is
that high substance, that precious soul, which is end-
less enjoying in the God-head.
The Fifty-shvth Chapter
And thus I saw full surely that it is ready to us,
and more easie, to come to the knowing of God,
than to know our own soul. For our soul is so
deep grounded in (rod, and so endlesly treasured,
that we may not come to the knowing thereof, till
we have first knowing of God ; which is the Maker
to whom it is oned. But notwithstanding, I saw
that we have kindly of fulhead to desire wisely and
truly to know our own soul, whereby we be learned
to seek it there it is, and that is into God. And
thus by the gracious leading of the Holy Ghost we
shall know them both in one. Whether we be
stirred to know God or our soul, it is both good
and true. God is more nearer to us than our own
soul ; for he is ground in whom our soul standeth,
and he is mean that keepeth the substance and the
sensuality together, so that it shall never depart :
150
THE FIFTT-SIXTH CH^TTSI^
for our soul sitteth in God in very rest, and our soul
standeth in God in sure strength : and our soul is
kindly rooted in God in endless love. And there-
fore if we will have knowing of our soul, and com-
moning, and daliance therewith, it behooveth to
seek into our Lord God, in whom it is inclosed.
And of this enclosing, I saw and understood more in
the xvith shewing, as I shall say. And as aneinst
our substance, it may rightly be called our soul : and
aneinst our sensuality, it may rightly be called our
soul ; and that is by the oning that it hath in God.
That worshipful city that our Lord Jesu sitteth in
it is our sensuality in which he is enclosed. And
our kindly substance is beclosed in Jesu, with the
blessed soul of Christ sitting in rest in the God-
head. And I saw full surely that it behooveth
needs to be, that we should be in longing, and in
penance, into the time that we be led so deep into
God that we verily and truly know our own soul.
And surely I saw, that into this high deepness our
good Lord himself leadeth us in the same love that
he made us, and in the same love he bought us by
mercy and grace, through vertue of his blessed
passion ; and notwithstanding all this, we may
never come to the full knowing of God, till we
know first clearly our own soul ; for into the time
that it is in the full mights, we may not be all holy ;
and that is, that our sensuality by the vertue of
151
the Foui(reetHSH i{eveL^rio^c
Christs passion, be brought up into the substance,
with all the profits of our tribulation that our Lord
shall make us to get by mercy and grace. I had in
party touching [teaching], and it is grounded in kind ;
that is to say, our reason is grounded in God, which
is substancially kindness. Of this substancial kind-
ness, mercy and grace springeth, and spreadeth into
us, working all things in fulfilling of our joy. These
be our grounds in which we have our being, our
encrease, and our fulfilling ; for in kind, we have
our life and our being ; and in mercy and grace, we
have our encrease and our fulfilling. It be three
properties in one goodness : and where that one
worketh, all worken in the thing that belongen to
us. God willeth we understand, desiring with all our
heart, and with all our strength, to have knowing
of them ever more and more, into the time that we
be fulfilled. For fully to know them, and clearly
to see them is not else but endless joy and bliss
that we shall have in heaven, which God will we
begin here in knowing of his love ; for only by our
reason we may not profit but if [unless] we have
evenly therewith mind and love : ne only in our
kindly ground that we have in God, we may not be
saved, but if [unless] we have, coming of the same
ground, mercy and grace. For of these three work-
ings, altogether we receive all our goods ; of which,
the first be goods of kind. For in our first making,
152
God gave us as much good, and as great good, as we
might receive only in our spirit : but his fore-seeing
purpose in his endless wisdom, would that we were
double.
The Fifty-seventh , Chapter
And against our substance, he made us so noble,
and so rich, that evermore we work his will and
his worship ; there I say, we, it meaneth man that
shall be saved. For truly I saw that we be that he
loveth, and do that him liketh, lastingly without any
stinting. And of this, great riches ; and of this,
high noble vertues by measure come to our soul,
what time that it is knit to our body : in which
knitting we be made sensual. And thus in our
substance we be full, and in our sensuality we
fail ; which failing God will restore and fulfill by
working of mercy and grace, plenteously flowing
into us of his own kind goodness. And thus
this kind goodness maketh that mercy and grace
worketh in us. And the kind goodness that we
have of him, ableth us to receive the working of
mercy and grace. I saw that our kind is in God
whole ; in which he maketh diversities flowing
out of him to work his will ; whose kind keepeth,
and mercy and grace restoreth and fulfilleth. And
of these none shall be perished ; for our kind v/hich
is the higher party, is knit to God in the making,
153
THE FOUTtfeSViTH liSVeL^TIO^
and God is knit to our kind, which is the lower
party in our flesh taking. And thus in Christ our
two kinds be oned : for the Trinity is compre-
hended in Christ, in whom our higher party is
grounded and rooted ; and our lower party the
second Person hath taken, which kind first to him
was a dight. For I saw full truly, that all the
works that God hath done, or ever shall, were
full known to him, and before seen fro without
beginning. And for love he made mankind ; and
for the same love himself would become man. The
next good that we receive is our faith, in which
our profiting beginneth ; and # it becometh of the
high riches of our kind substance into our sensual
soul ; and it is grounded in us, and we in that,
through the kind goodness of God, by the working
of mercy and grace. And thereof come all our
goods, by which we be led and saved ; for the
commandments of God come therein : in which
we owe to have two manner of understanding :
that one is, that we owe to understand and know
which be his biddings, to love them, and to keep
them. That other is, that we owe to know his
forbiddings, to hate them, and to refuse them :
for in these two is all our working comprehended.
Also in our faith come the seven sacraments, each
following other in order as God hath ordained
them to us, and all manner vertues ; for the same
154
THE FIFTr-S8VS.?{fH CH^PTST^
vertues that we have received of our substance
given to us in kind of the goodness of God, the
same vertues by the working of mercy be given
to us in grace through the Holy Ghost renewed :
which vertues and gifts are treasured to us in
Jesu Christ ; for in that same time that God knit
him to our body in the maidens womb, he took
our sensual soul. In which taking he, us all
having beclosed in him, he oned it to our sub-
stance. In which oning he was perfect man ;
for Christ having knit in him all man that shall
be saved, is perfect man. Thus our Lady is our
mother, in whom we be all beclosed, and of her
born in Christ ; for she that is mother of our
Saviour, is mother of all that be saved in our
Saviour. And our Saviour is our very mother,
in whom we be endlesly born, and never shall
come out of him. Plentuously, fully, and sweetly
was this shewed : and it is spoken of in the Jirst,
where it is said, " We be all in him beclosed,
and he is beclosed in us." And that is spoken
of in the xvith. shewing, where he saith, " He
sitteth in our soul;" for it is his liking to reign
in our understanding blessedfully, and sitteth [to sit]
in our soul restfully : and to dwell in our soul end-
lesly, us all working into him. In which working
he will we be his helpers, giving to him all our
intent, learning his laws, keeping his lore, desiring
155
THE FOUT^feeUifH "RSVeLtATIOU^
that all be done that he doth, truly trusting in him ;
for verily I saw that all our substance is in God.
The Fifty-eighth Chapter
God the 4 blessedful Trinity which is everlasting
being, right as he is endless from without begin-
ning ; right so it was in his purpose endless to make
mankind. Which fair kind was first dight to his
own Son the Second Person ; and when he would
by full accord of all the Trinity, he made us all at
ones [once]. And in our making he knit us, and oned
us to himself: by which oning, we be kept as clean,
and as noble as we were made ; by the vertue of
that each [the] precious oning, we love our Maker,
and like him, praise him, and thank him, and end-
lesly enjoy in him. And this is the working which
is wrought continually in each soul that shall be
saved : which is the godly will before said. And
thus in our making God Almighty is our kindly
Father. And God all wisdom is our kindly mother,
with the love and the goodness of the Holy Ghost,
which is all one God, one Lord. And in the
knitting, and in the oning he is our very true
spouse, and we his loved wife, and his fair maiden ;
with which wife he was never displeased, for he
saith, ' I love thee, and thou lovest me, and our love
shall never part in two.' I beheld the working of
156
THE FIFTT-SigHTH QHiATTE^
all the blessed Trinity. In which beholding, I
saw and understood these three properties ; the
property of the father-head, and the property of the
mother-head, and the property of the lordship in
one God. In our Father Almighty we have our
keeping, and our bliss, and, aneynst our kindly
substance which is to us, our making fro without
beginning. And in the Second Person, in wit and
wisdom we have our keeping : and aneynst our
sensuality, our restoring, and our saving ; for he
is our Mother, Brother, and Saviour. And in our
good Lord the Holy Ghost we have our rewarding,
and our yielding for our living and our travel, and
endlesly over-passing all that we desire in his marvel-
lous courtesie of his high plentuous grace ; for all
our life is in three : in the Jirst our being : and in
the second, we have our encreasing : and in the
third, we have our fulfilling. The Jirst is kind ;
the second is mercy ; the third is grace. [Cf. p. 152,
Nature, Redemption, Grace, from Father, Son, Holy
Ghost.] For \X\e first, I saw and understood, that
the high might of the Trinity is our Father, and
the deep wisdom of the Trinity is our Mother, and
the great love of the Trinity is our Lord. And
all these have we in kind, and in our substantial
making. And furthermore, I saw that the Second
Person which is our Mother substantially, the same
deer worthy person is now become our mother
157
ths FouTtreeu^jH T^evsL^frio^
sensual ; for we be double of Gods making ; that
is to say, substancial and sensual. Our substance
is the higher party which we have in our Father
God Almighty : and the Second Person of the
Trinity is our Mother in kind, in our substancial
making, in whom we be grounded and rooted : and
he is our Mother of mercy, in our sensuality taking.
And thus our Mother is to us diverse manner
working, in whom our parts be kept undeparted :
for in our Mother Christ we profit and encrease ; and
in mercy he reformeth us and restoreth, and by
the vertue of his passion, his death, and his upris-
ing oned us to our substance. This worketh our
Mother in mercy to all his beloved children, which
be to him buxom and obedient. And grace 'worketh
with mercy, and namely in two properties, as it
was shewed, which woi'king longeth to the Third
Person the Holy Ghost. He worketh rewarding
and giving. Rewarding is a gift of trust that the
Lord doth to them that hath traveled. And giving
is a courteous working which he doth freely of
grace, fulfilling and over-passing all that is deserved
of creatures. Thus in our Father God Almighty
we have our being. And in our Mother of mercy
Jesu Christ, we have our reforming, and our re-
storing, in whom our parts be oned, and all made
perfect man. And by yielding and giving in grace
of the Holy Ghost we be fulfilled. And our sub-
158
THE FIFTT-J(!DiTH CH^TTSTl
stance is in our Father, God Almighty : and our
substance is in our Mother God all wisdom : and
our substance is in our Lord God the Holy Ghost,
all goodness ; for our substance is whole in each
person of the Trinity, which is one God. And our
sensuality is only in the Second Person, Christ
Jesu, in whom is the Father and the Holy Ghost.
And in him, and by him, we be mightily taken
out of hell, and out of the wretchedness in earth ;
and worshipfully brought up into heaven, and
blessedfully oned to our substance ; encreased in
riches and nobly, by all the vertue of Christ, and
by the grace and working of the Holy Ghost.
The Fifty-ninth Chapter
And all this bliss we have by mercy and grace : which
manner bliss we might never have had and known,
but if [unless] that property and goodness which is
in God had been contraried, whereby Ave have this
bliss : for wickedness hath been suffered to rise con-
trary to that goodness ; and the goodness of mercy
and grace contraried against that wickedness, and
turned all to goodness and worship to all that shall
be saved : for it is that property in God which doth
good against evil. Thus Jesu Christ that doth good
against evil is our very Mother. We have our being
1 59
THE F0U7(T£€^(TH TiSVELtATIOJ^
of him, where the ground of Mother-head beginneth,
with all the sweet keeping of love that endlesly
followeth. As verily as God is our Father ; as verily
is God our Mother ; and that shewed he in all ; and
namely, in these sweet words there he saith, ' I it
am ; ' that is to say, ' I it am, the might and the good-
ness of the Father-head : I it am, the wisdom and the
kindness of the Mother-head : I it am, the light and the
grace, that is all blessed love : I it am, the Trinity : I it
am, the Unity : I it am, the high sovereign goodness of
all manner thing : I it am, that maketh thee to long : I
it am, the endless fulfilling of all true desires.' For
there the soul is highest, noblest, and worshipfullest,
yet it is lowest, meekest, and mildest. And of this
substancial ground we have all our vertues in our
sensuality by gift of kind, and by helping and
speeding of mercy and grace ; without which we
may not profit. Our high Father Almighty God,
which is being, he knoweth us, and loved us fro
before any time. Of which knowing in his full
marvellous deep charity, by the fore-seeing endless
counsel of all the* blessed Trinity, he would that
the Second Person should become our Mother, our
Brother, and our Saviour. Whereof it followeth,
that as verily as God is our Father, verily God is
our Mother. Our Father willeth, our Mother work-
eth. Our good Lord the Holy Ghost confirmeth ;
and therefore it longeth to us to love our God in
160
THE SIXTIETH CH^TTEI^
whom we have our being, him reverently thanking
and praising of our making, mightily praying to our
Mother of mercy and pity, and to our Lord the
Holy Ghost, of help and grace : for in these three
is all our life — kind, mercy, and grace : whereof we
have mild-head, patience and pity, and hating of
sin and wickedness, for it longeth properly to vertues
to hate sin and wickedness. And thus is Jesu our
very Mother in kind of our first making : and he is
our very first Mother in grace by taking of our kind
made ; all the fair working, and all the sweet kindly
offices of dear worthy Mother-head is impropred
to the Second Person : for in him we have this
goodly will whole and safe without end, both in
kind and in grace, of his own proper goodness. I
understood three manner of beholdings of Mother-
head in God. The Jirst is, ground of our kind making.
The second is, taking of our kind, and there begin-
neth the Mother-head of grace. The third is, Mother-
head in working : and therein is a forth-speeding, by
the same grace, of length, and bredth, of height
and of deepness without end, and all is one love.
The Sixtieth Chapter
But now me behooveth to see a little more of tnis
forth-spreading, as I understood in the meaning of
161 L
our Lord ; how that we be brought again by the
Mother-head of mercy and grace into our kindly
steed, where that we were in-made by the Mother-
head of kind love ; which kind love never leaveth
us. Our kind Mother, our gracious Mother — for
he would all whole become our Mother in all thing —
he took the ground of his work full low, and full
mildly in the maidens womb. And that shewed
he in the first, where he brought the meek maiden
before the eye of my understanding, in the simple
stature as she was when she conceived. That is to
say, our high God the sovereign wisdom of all,
in this low place he arraid him, and dight him all
ready in our poor flesh, himself to do the service
and the office of Mother-hood in all thing. The
Mothers service is nearest, readiest and surest.
Nearest, for it is most of kind ; readiest, for it is
most of love ; and sikerest, for it is most of truth.
This office, ne might, nor could never none done
to the full, but he alone. We wit that all our
mothers bear us to pain and to dying ? that [is], but
[except] our very Mother Jesu. He alone beareth
us to joy, and to endless living, blessed mote he
be. Thus he sustained us within him, in love and
travel, into the full time that he would suffer the
sharpest thornes, and grievous pains that ever were,
or ever shall be, and died at the last. And when
he had done, and so borne us to bliss, yet might
162
THE SIXTISTH CH^TTSTl
not all this make asseeth to his marvellous love.
And that he shewed, in these high over-passing
words of love ; 'If I might suffer more I would suffer
more.' He might no more die, but he would not
stint working. Wherefore him behooveth to find
us, for the dear worthy love of mother-hood hath
made him debtor to us. The mother may give her
child to suck her milk ; but our precious Mother
Jesu he may feed us with himself, and doth full
courteously, and full tenderly, with the blessed
sacrament ; that is precious food of very life, and
with all the sweet sacraments he sustaineth us full
mercifully, and graciously. And so meant he in
these blessed words, where he said, ' / it am that
Holy Church preacheth thee, and teacheth thee ; ' that
is to say, all the health and the life of the sacra-
ments ; all the vei - tue and the grace of my word ;
all the goodness that is ordained in Holy Church
to thee; ( I it am.' The mother may lay her child
tenderly to her breast ; but our tender Mother
Jesu he may homely lead us into his blessed bi'east
by his sweet open side, and shew us there in party
of the Godhead, and the joyes of heaven, with
ghostly sureness of endless bliss. And that shewed
he in the ixth. Revelation, giving the same under-
standing in this sweet word, where he saith, ' hoe
how I love thee;' behold into his blessed side enjoy-
ing. This fair lovely word, Mother, it is so sweet
163
the FounreeuiTH 7{eveL^rio^c
and so kind in it self, that it may not verily be
said of none, ne to none but of him, and to him,
that is very Mother of life and of all. To the
property of Mother-head longeth kind love, wisdom,
and knowing ; and it is God : for though it be so,
that our bodily forth-bringing be but little, low,
and simple, in regard of our ghostly forth-bringing,
yet it is he that doth it in the creatures by whom
that it is done. The kind loving mother that
wotteth and knoweth the need of her child, she
keepeth it full tenderly, as the kind and condition
of mother-head will ; and ever as it waxeth in age
and in stature, she changeth the works, but not
her love : and when it is waxed of more age, she
suffereth that it be chastised, in breaking down of
vices, to make the child receive vertues and grace.
This working, with all that be fair and good, our
Lord doth it in him by whom it is done. Thus he
is our Mother in kind by the working of grace in
the lower party, for love of the higher. And he
will that we know it ; for he will have all our love
fastned to him. And in this I saw that all debt
that we owe by Gods bidding, to Father-head and
Mother-head, is fulfilled in true loving of God :
which blessed love Christ worketh in us. And
this was shewed in all ; and namely, in the high
plentuous words, where he saith ; 'I it am that thou
lovest.'
164
me sixrr-Fi7{sr c u ^ cpcr ^ ( K
The Sixty -Jirst Chapter
And in our ghostly forth-bringing he useth more
tenderness in keeping, without any comparison ; by
as much as our soul is of more price in his sight :
he kindleth our understanding ; he prepareth our
wayes ; he easeth our conscience ; he comforteth
our soul ; he lighteth our heart, and giveth us in
party knowing and loving in his blessedful God-
head, with gracious mind in his sweet Man-hood,
and his blessed passion ; with courteous marvelling
in his high over-passing goodness ; and maketh us
to love all that he loveth for his love, and to be well
apaid with him, and with all his works. And when
we fall, hastily he raiseth us by his lovely beclip-
ping, and his gracious touching. And when we be
strengthened by his sweet working, then we wil-
fully choose him by his grace, to be his servants,
and his lovers, lastingly without end. And yet
after this he suffereth some of us to fall more hard,
and more grievous than ever we did before, as us
thinketh. And then wene we that we be not all
wise, that all were naught that we have begun ; but
it is not so : for it needeth us to fall, and it needeth
us to see it ; for if we fell not, we should not know
how feeble, and how wretched we be of our self,
165
the FouiireeoirH ^svel^tio.?^
nor also we should not so fulsomely know the
marvellous love of our Maker; for we shall verily
see in heaven without end, that we have grievously
sinned in this life. And notwithstanding this, we
shall verily see that we were never hurt in his
love, nor we were never the less of price in his
sight. And by the assey of this falling, we shall
have an high and a marvellous knowing of love
in God without end : for hard and marvellous is
that love which may not, nor will not be broken
for trespass. And this was one understanding of
profit. Another is the lowness and meekness that
we shall get by the sight of our falling ; for thereby
we shall highly be raised in heaven : to which
rising: we might never have come without that
meekness. And therefore it needed us to see it ;
and if we see it not, though we feel it, it should not
profit us. And commonly first we fall, and sithen
we see it, and both is of the mercy of God. The
mother may suffer the child to fall some time, and
be diseased in diverse manners for the [his] own
profit ; but she may never suffer that any manner of
peril come to her child, for love. And though our
earthly mother may suffer her child to perish, our
heavenly Mother Jesu may never suffer us that be
his children to perish ; for he is all mighty, all
wisdom, and all love : and so is none but he, blessed
mote he be. But ofttimes when our falling and our
166
the sixtt-fi^st ch^tts'K
■wretchedness is shewed us, we be sore ad read, and
so greatly ashamed of our self, that unneths we wit
where that we may hold us. But then will not our
courteous Mother that we flee away : for him were
nothing lother. But he will then that we use the
condition of a child : for when it is dis-eased and
afraid, it runneth hastily to the mother ; and if it
may do no more, it crieth on the mother for help,
with all the [his] might ; so will he that we done as
the meek child, saying thus : • My kind Mother, my
gracious Mother, my dear worthy Mother, have
mercy upon me ; I have made myself foul, and un-
like to thee, and I may not, nor can amend it, but
with thine help and grace.' And if we feel us not
than eased assoon, be we sure that he useth the
condition of a wise mother : for if he see that it be
for profit to us to mourn and to weep, he suffereth
with ruth and pity into the best time, for love.
And he will then that we use the property of a
child, that evermore kindly trusteth to the love of
the mother, in weal and in woe. And he will that
we take us mightily to the faith of Holy Church,
and find there our dear worthy Mother in solace and
true understanding, with all the blessed common :
for one singular person may oftentimes be broken,
as it seemeth to the [him] self, but the whole body of
Holy Church was never broken, ne never shal' be
•without end. And therefore a sure thing it is, a
167
THE FOUrffee^(TH r^evsL^rio^
good and a gracious, to will meekly and mightily
be fastened and oned to our Mother Holy Church,
that is Christ Jesu. For the flood of mercy ; that
is his dear worthy blood and precious water is
plentuous to make us fair and clean. The blessed
wounds of our Saviour be open and enjoy to heal us.
The sweet gracious hands of our Mother be ready
and diligent about us ; for he in all this working
useth the very office of a kind nurse that hath
naught else to done, but to entend to the salvation
of her child. It is his office to save us ; it is his
worship to do it ; and it is his will we know it : for
he will we love him sweetly, and trust in him
meekly and mightily. And this shewed he in these
gracious words, ' / keep thee full surely.'
The Sixty-second Chapter
For in that time he shewed our frailty and our
fallings, our breakings and our naughtings, our
despites and our chargings, and all our woe, as far
forth as me thought that it might fall in this life.
And therewith he shewed his blessed might, his
blessed wisdom, his blessed love, that he keepeth us
in this time as tenderly, and as sweetly to his wor-
ship, and as surely to our salvation, as he doth when
we be in most solace and comfort ; and thereto
168
THE SIXT2~-S£C0-KP CH^TTET^
raiseth us ghostly and highly in heaven, and turneth
all to his worship, and to our joy without end. For
his precious love he suffereth us never to lose time.
And all this is of the kind goodness of God by the
working of grace. God is kind in his being ; that is
to say, that goodness that is kind, it is God ; he is
the ground, he is the substance, he is the same thing
that is kindness : and he is very Father and very
Mother of kinds : and all kinds that he hath made
to flow out of him to work his will, it should be
restored and brought again into him by salvation
of man, through the working of grace. For of all
kinds that he hath set in divers creatures by party,
in man is all the whole in ful-head ; and in vertue, in
fair-head, and in good-head, in rialty and in noblety,
in all manner of solemnity of preciousness and wor-
ship. Here may we see that we be all bound to
God for kind, and we be bound to God for grace.
Here may we see that us needeth not greatly to
seek far out to know sundry kinds, but to Holy
Church into our Mothers breast ; that is to say, into
our own soul, where our Lord dwelleth : and there
should we find all now, in faith and in understand-
ing ; and after, verily in himself, clearly in bliss. But
no man, ne woman take this singularity to himself;
for it is not so, it is general : for it is our precious
Mother Christ; and to him was this fair kind dight, for
the worship and the nobly of mans making, and for
169
the joy and the bliss of mans salvation, right as he
saw, wist and knew from without beginning.
The Sixty-third Chapter
Here may we see that we have verily of kind to hate
sin ; and we have verily of grace to hate sin. For
kind is all good and fair in itself: and grace was
sent out to save kind and keep kind, and destroy
sin, and bring again fair kind into the blessed point
fro thence it came ; (that is, God,) with more noble-
ness and worship by the vertuous working of grace ;
for it shall be seen, before God, of all his holy [saints]
in joy without end, that kind hath been assaid in the
fire of tribulation, and therein found no lack, nor no
default. Thus is kind and grace of one accord ; for
grace is God, as unmade kind is God : he is two in
manner working, and one in love. And neither of
them worketh without other, ne none be departed.
And when we, by the mercy of God, and with his
help, accord us to kind and to grace, we shall see
verily that sin is worse, viler and painfuller than
hell, without any likeness : for it is contrarious to
our fair kind ; for as verily as sin is unclean, as truly
sin is unkind. And this is an horrible thing to see,
to the loving soul that would be all fair and shining
in the sight of God, as kind and grace teacheth.
170
THE sixtt-thfj^p c^^tts^
But be we not adread of this, but in as much as
dread may speed ; but meekly make we our moan to
our dear worthy Mother, and he shall all besprinckle
us in his precious blood, and make our soul full soft,
and full mild, and heal us full fair by process of time,
right as it is most worship to him, and joy to us
without end. And of this sweet fair working he
shall never cease nor stint, till all his dear worthy
children be brought forth and born. And that
shewed he where he gave the understanding of the
ghostly thirst ; that is, the love-longing that shall
last till doomes-day. Thus in our very Mother Jesu
our life is gi*ounded in the fore-seeing wisdom of
himself fro without beginning, with the high might
of the Father, and the sovereign goodness of the
Holy Ghost. And in the taking of our kind he
quicked us ; and in his blessed dying upon the cross
he bare us to endless life. And fro that time, and
now and ever shall into doomes-day, he feedeth us
and fordreth us, right as the high sovereign kind-
ness of Mother-head will, and as the kindly need of
child-head asketh. Fair and sweet is our heavenly
Mother Jesu in the sight of our soul ; precious and
lovely be the gracious children in the sight of our
heavenly Mother, with mildness and meekness, and
all that fair vertues that long to children in kind ;
for kindly the child dispaireth not of the mothers
love; kindly the child presumeth not of it self; kindly
171
the FouiireeuifH i^evsL^rio^
the child loveth the mother, and each one of them
other. These be as fair vertues, with all other that
be like, wherewith our heavenly Mother is served
and pleased. And I understood none higher stature
in this life than child-hood in feebleness and failing
of might and of wit, into the time our gracious Mother
hath brought us up into that our Fathers bliss. And
there shall it verily be made known to us, his mean-
ing in the sweet words, where he saith, 'All shall be
well, and thou shalt see it thy self that all manner of
thing shall be well.' And then shall the bliss of our
Mother-head in Christ be new to begin in the joyes
of our Father God : which new beginning shall last
without end. New beginning thus, I understood,
that all his blessed children which be come out of
him by kind, should be brought into him again by
grace.
172
Efje JFtftrcntij inebriation
The Sixty-fourth Chapter
A FORE this time I had great longing and desire
jr\ of Gods gift to be delivered of this worlds
and of this life ; for oft-times I beheld the woe
that is here, and the weal and the blessed beinjr
that is there. J And if there had no pain been in
this life, but the absence of our Lord, methought
sometime that it was more than I might bear.
And this made me to mourn and busily to long.
And also of my own wretchedness, slouth and
weariness, that me liked not to live and to travel as
me fell to do. And to all this our courteous Lord
answered for comfort and patience, and said these
words : ' Suddenly thou shalt be taken from all thy pain,
from all thy sickness, from all thy dis-ease, and from all
thy woe. And thou shalt come up above, and thou shalt
have me to thy meed, and thou shalt be fulfilled of joy
and bliss ; and thou shall never more have no manner of
pain, no manner of sickness, no maimer misliking, no
wanting of will, but ever joy and bliss without end. What
173
THE FIFTEENTH ^EVEL^TIOO^
should it then grieve thee to suffer a while, sitken it is my
will and my worship f ' And in this word (suddenly
thou shall be taken) I saw that God rewarded man of
the patience that he hath in abiding of Gods will,
and of his time ; and that man lengeth his patience
over the time of his living ; for unknowing the time
of his passing. This is a great profit ; for if a man
knew his time, he should not have patience over
that time. And also God will that while the soul
is in the body, it seem to it self that it is ever at
the point to be taken, for all this life and this
longing that we have here is but a point. And
when we be taken suddenly out of pain into bliss,
then pain shall be nought. And in this time I saw
a body lying on the earth : which body shewed heavy
and fearful, and without shape and form, as it were
a swilge stinking myre. And suddenly out of this
body sprung a full fair creature, a little child full
shapen and formed, swift and lively, and whiter than
the lilly, which sharply glided up into heaven. The
swilge of the body betokeneth great wretchedness
of our deadly flesh: and the littleness of the child be-
tokeneth the cleanness and the pureness of our soul.
And I thought with this body bliveth no fairness of
this child, ne of this child dwelleth no foulness of
this body. It is full bliss-ful (for) man to be taken
from pain, more than pain to be taken from man ;
for if pain be taken from us, it may come again.
171-
TH6 SIXTT- FOURTH QH^PtS^
Therefore this is a sovereign comfort, and a bless-ful
beholding in a longing soul, that we shall be taken
from pain ; for in this behest I saw a merciful com-
passion that our Lord hath in us for our woe, and a
courteous benighting of clear deliverance : for he
will that we be comforted in the over-passing joy.
And that he shewed in these words ; ' And thou shall
come up above ; and thou shall have me to thy meed, and
thou shall be fulfilled of joy and bliss.' It is Gods will
that we set the point of our thought in this blissful
beholding as oft-time as we may, and as long time
keep us therein with his grace ; for this is a blissful
contemplation to the soul that is led of God, and
full much to his worship for the time that it lasteth.
And when we fall again to our self by heaviness and
ghostly blindness, and feeling of pains ghostly and
bodily by our fragility, it is Gods will that we know,
that he hath not forget us. And so meaneth he in
these words, and saith for comfort ; ' And thou shall
never more have pain in no manner ; nor no manner oj
sickness, no manner of mis-liking, no want of will, but
ever joy and bliss without end : what should it then
agneved thee to suffer a while, sithen it is my will and my
worship ?' It is Gods will that we take his behests
and his comfortings as largely and as mightily as we
may take them. And also he will that we take our
abidings and our dis-eases as lightly as we may take
them, and set them at naught : for the lightlier that
175
the FiFreeoifH i^evei^fTJO^
we take them, and the less price that we set at them
for love, less pain shall we have in the feeling of
them, and the more thank and meed shall we have
for them.
The Sixty-fifth Chapter
And thus I understood that what man or woman
wilfully choseth God in this life for love, he may
be sure that he is loved without end, with endless
love that worketh in him that grace ; for he will we
keep this trustily, that we be as sicker in hope of
the bliss of heaven whiles we are here, as we shall
be in surety when we are there. And ever the
more liking and joy that we take in this sickerness,
with reverence and meekness, the better liketh him.
For as it was shewed, this reverence that I mean, is
a holy, courteous dread of our Lord, to which meek-
ness is knit ; and that is, that a creature see the
Lord marvellous great, and her self marvellous litle :
for these vertues are had endlesly to the loved of
God. And it may now be seen and felt in measure
by the gracious presence of our Lord, when it is :
which presence in all thing is most desired ; for it
worketh that marvellous sickerness in true faith, and
siker hope by. greatness of charity in dread that is
sweet and delectable. It is Gods will that I see my
176
THE SIXTT-FIFTH QH^TrE^
self as much bound to him in love, as if he had done
for me all that he hath done. And thus should
every soul think in regard of his love ; that is to
say, the charity of God maketh in us such a unity,
that when it is truly seen no man can part him-
self from other. And thus ought each soul to think
that God hath done for him all that he hath done.
And this sheweth he to make us to love him, and
liken him, and nothing dread but him ; for it is his
will we know that all the might of our enemies is
locked in our friends hands. And therefore the
soul that knoweth this sickerly, he shall not dread
but him that she loveth. All other dreads she set
them among passions, and bodily sickness, and ima-
ginations. And therefore though we been in so
much pain, woe and disease that us thinketh, we
can think right naught but that we are in, or that
we feel ; assoon as we may we pass it lightly over,
and set we it at naught. And why ? for God will
be known ; for if Ave know him, and love him, and
reverently dread him, we shall have patience, and be
in great rest. And it should been great liking to us
all that he doth. And this shewed our Lord in these
words : ' What should it then a grieve thee to suffer a
while, seeing it is my trill and my worship ? ' Now
have I told you of xv. Shewings, as God witsafe to
minister them to my mind, renewed by lightnings
and touchings, I hope, of the same Spirit that
177 m
the FiFreeoifH iReveL^rio^
sheweth them all. Of which xv. shewings the first
began early in the morning, about the hour of
four ; and it lasted shewing by process full fair and
soberly, each following other till it was noon of the
day, or past.
178
Ejje Sixteenth Erbelatton
The Sixty-sixth Chapter
AND after this the good Lord shewed the xvith.
L Revelation on the night following, as I shall
say after. Which xvith. was conclusion and confir-
mation to all the xv. But first me behooveth to tell
you as anenst my feebleness, wretchedness and blind-
ness. I have said at the beginning where it saith
(And in this suddenly all my pain was taken from me).
Of which pain I had no grief, ne no disease, as long
as the xv. Shewings lasted in shewing. And at the
end all was close, and I saw no more ; and soon I
felt that I should live longer. And anon my sick-
ness came again ; first in my head with a sound and
a noise : and suddenly all my body was fulfilled with
sickness, like as it was before. And I was as barren
and as dry as I had never had comfort but litle, and
as a wretch, mourned heavily for feeling of my bodily
pains, and for faulting of comfort ghostly and bodily.
Then came a religious person unto me and asked
me how I fared ; and I said, ' I had raved to day,'
and he laught lowd and inwardly. And I said, 'The
cross that stood before my face, methought it bled
179
the sixreeuiTH ^svsl^ttoc^
fast.' And with this word the person that I spake
to waxed all sad and marvelled. And anon I was
sore ashamed, and astonished for my retchlesness.
And I thought this man taketh sadly the least word
that I may say, that saw no more thereof. And
when I saw that he took it so sadly, and with so
great reverence, I waxed full greatly ashamed, and
would have been shriven, but I could tell it to no
Priest ; for I thought, ' How should a Priest believe
me, when I by saying / raved, I shewed myself not
to believe our Lord God.' Notwithstanding, I be-
lieved him truly for the time that I saw him ; and
so was then my will and my meaning ever for to doe
without end ; but as a fool I let it pass out of my
mind. Ah, Loe how wretched I was; this was a great
sin and a great unkindness, that I for folly of feeling
of a litle bodily pain, so unwisely left for the time the
comfort of all this blessed shewing of our Lord God.
Here may you see what I am of myself. But herein
would our courteous Lord not leave me. And I lay
still till night trusting in his mercy; and then 1 began
to sleep.
The Sixty-seventh Chapter
And in my sleep at the beginning, methought the
fiend set him in my throat, putting forth a visage
full near my face, like a young man : and it was
180
the sixrr-SEveuifH qh^ttst^
long and wonder lean, I saw never none such. The
colour was red like the tile-stone when it is new
brent, with black spots therein, like frackles, fouler
than the tile-stone ; his hair was red, as rust not
scoured ; afore with side locks hanging down in
flakes ; he grinned upon me with a shrowd look,
and shewed me white teeth, and so my kill [mickle]
methought it the more ugly ; body, ne hands had he
none shapely ; but with his paws he held me in the
throat, and would have stopped my breath, and kild
me, but he might not. This ugly shewing was
made sleeping, and so was none other. And in all
this time I trusted to be saved and kept by the
mercy of God. And our courteous Lord gave me
grace to wake, and unnethes had [I] any life. The
persons that were with me beheld me, and wet my
temples, and my heart began to comfort. And anon
a little smoke came in at the door, with a great
heat, and a foul stinclv; and then I said, ' Bene-
dicite dominus, Is it all on fire that is here ? ' And I
went [weened] it had been a bodily fire, that should
burn us all to death. I asked them that were with
me, if they felt any stench, they said nay, they felt
none; I said, 'Blessed be God,' for then wist I well
it was the fiend that was come only to tempt me.
And anon I took me to that our Lord had shewed
me on the same day, with all the faith of Holy
Church ; for I beheld it as both in one, and fled
181
me SIXTSSD^TH 1{8VeL^TI0^i
thereto as to my comfort. And anon all vanished
away ,\ and I] was brought to great rest and peace,
without sickness of body, or dread of conscience.
The Sixty-eighth Chapter
And then our good Lord opened my ghostly eye,
and shewed me my soul in the midst of my heart :
I saw the soul so large as it were an endless world,
and also as it were a blessed kingdom. And by the
conditions that I saw therein, I understood that it is
a worshipful city. In mids of that city our Lord
Jesu very God and very man, a fair person and of
large stature, highest Bishop, most solemne King,
worshipful Lord. And I saw him clothed solemnly in
worship; he sitteth in the soul, even right in peace
and rest. And he ruleth and giveth [guideth] heaven
and earth, and all that is. The man-hood with the
God-head sitteth in rest : the God-head ruleth and
giveth without any instrument or business. And
the soul is all occupied with the blessed Godhead ;
that is, sovereign might, sovereign wisdom, and
sovereign goodness. The place that Jesu taketh
in our soul he shall never remove without end, as
to my sight : for in us is his homliest home, and
his endless dwelling. And in this he sheweth the
liking that he hath of the making of mans soul ; for
182
the spcrr-eigHTH CH^Tre%
as well as the Father might make a creature, and
as well as the Son might make a creature, so well
would the Holy Ghost that mans soul were made,
and so it was done. And therefore the blessedful
Trinity enjoyeth without end in the making of mans
soul : for he saw without beginning, what should
like him without end. All thing that he hath made
sheweth his Lordship, as understanding was given
in the same time by example of a creature, that is
led to see great nobleness, and kingdoms longing to
a Lord. And when it had seen all the nobleness
beneath, then marvelling, it was stirred to seek up
above to that high place where the Lord dwelleth ;
knowing by reason that his dwelling is in the
worthiest place. And thus I understand truly that
our soul may never have rest in things that is beneath
it self. And when it cometh above all creatures
into it self, yet may it not abide in the beholding of
it self; but all the beholding is blessedfully set in
God ; that is, the Maker dwelling therein ; for in
mans soul is his very dwelling. And the highest
light and the brightest shining of the city is the
glorious love of our Lord God, as to my sight. And
what may make us more enjoy in God, than to see
in him that he enjoyeth in us highest of all his
works ? For I saw in the same shewing that if the
blessed Trinity might have made mans soul any
better, any fairer, any nobler than it was made, he
183
the sixree^ifH ^eveL^no^c
should not have been full pleased with making of
mans soul : but for he made mans soul as fair, as
good, as precious, as he might make it a creature,
therefore the blessed Trinity is full pleased without
end in the making of mans soul. And he will that
our hearts be mightily raised above the deepness of
the earth and all vain sorrowes, and enjoy in him.
This was a delectable sight, and a restful shewing
that is without end : and the beholding of this
whiles we are here, it is full pleasant to God, and
full great speed to us. And the soul that thus be-
holdeth, it maketh him like to him that is beholden,
and oned in rest and in peace by his grace. And
this was a singular joy and bliss to me that I saw
him sitting : for the truth of sitting shewed endless
dwelling. And he gave me knowing truly that it
was he that shewed me all before : and when I had
beholden all this with advisement ; then shewed
our good Lords words full meekly, without voice,
and without opening of lips, right as he had done
afore, and said full sweetly; 'Wit it now well, it was
no raving that thou sawest to day : but take it and believe
it, and keep thee therein, and comfort thee therewith, and
trust thereto, and thou shalt not be overcome.' These
last words were said for learning of full true siker-
ness that it is our Lord Jesu that shewed me all.
And right as in the first w r ord, that our good Lord
shewed, meaning his blessed passion, 'herewith is
184
the sixrr-wiacfH QH^Treii
ihejiend overcome ; ' i-ight so he said in the last word,
with full true faithfulness meaning us all : ' Thou
shalt not be overcome.' And all this learning and this
true comfort is general to all mine even Christen, as
it is aforesaid ; and so is Gods will. And this word,
' Thou shalt not be overcome,' was said full sharply
and full mightily for sickerness and comfort against
all tribulations that may come : he said not, thou
shalt not be troubled, thou shalt not be travelled,
thou shalt not be diseased ; but he said, ' Thou
shalt not be overcome.' God will that we take heed
at this word, and that we be ever mighty in faithful
trusting in weal and woe ; for he loveth us, and
liketh us : and so will he that we love him and
like him, and mightily trust in him, and all shall
be well : and soon all was close, and I saw no more
after this.
The Sixty-ninth Chapter
The fiende came again with his heat, and with his
stench, and made me full busie. The stench was so
vile and so painful, and bodily heat also dreadful
and travellous. Also I heard a bodily talking, as it
had been of two bodies : and both to my thinking
talked at one time, as they had held a parliament,
with great business. And all was soft whistering.
And I understood not what they said. And all this
1S5
the sixreeuifH ^svsl^tio^
was to stir me to dispair, as methought, seeming to
me as they scorned bidding of beads, which are said
boystously, with much failing of devout intending,
and wise diligence, the which we owe to God in our
prayer.
The Seventieth Chapter
And our good Lord God gave me grace mightily
to trust in him, and to comfort my soul with
bodily speech, as I should have done to another
person that had been travelled. Methought that
business might not be likened to no bodily likeness.
My bodily eye I set in the same cross, there I had
seen in comfort afore that time ; my tongue with
speech of Christs passion, and rehersing the faith of
Holy Church, and my heart to fasten on God with
all the trust and the might that I thought to my
self, meaning, f Thou hast now great business to
keep thee in the faith, for that thou shouldest not
be taken of thine enemies. Wouldest thou now fro
this time evermore be so busie to keep thee from
sin, this were a good and a sovereign occupation.'
For I thought faithfully, were I safe from sin, I
were full safe from all the fiends in hell, and ene-
mies of my soul. And thus he occupied me all that
night, and on the morrow, till it was about prime
day. And anon they were all gone and passed, and
186
THE SSVe.7{ri£TH QHtATTE^
there left nothing but stinky and lasted still a while :
and I scorned him. And thus was I delivered of
him by the vertue of Christs passion ; for therewith
is the fiend overcome, as our Lord Jesu Christ said
afore. In all this blessed shewing our good Lord
gave understanding that the sight should pass.
Which blessed shewing the faith keepeth with his
own good will and his grace ; for he left with me
neither signe, ne token, whereby I might know it.
But he left with me his own blessed word in true
understanding, bidding me full mightily that I should
believe it, and so I do ; blessed mote he be. I
believe that he is our Saviour that shewed it, and
that it is in the faith that he shewed. And there-
fore I love it ever joying, and thereto I am bound
by all his own meaning, with the next words that
follow : c Keep thee therein, and comfort thee therewith,
and trust thereto.' Thus I am beholding to keep it in
my faith : for on the same day that it was shewed,
what time the sight was passed, as a wretch I for-
sook it, and openly I said that I had raved. Then
our Lord Jesu of his mercy would not let it perish,
but he shewed it all again within my soul with more
fulhead, with the blessed light of his precious love,
saying these words full mightily and full meekly ;
' Wit it 7W7V well, it 7vas no raving that thou saw this
day ; as if he had said, for the sight 7vas passed from
thee, thou lost it, and could or 7night not keep it : Bui
187
THE SIXTEENTH !{EVELtATIOU^
wit it now ;' that is to say, 'now thou seest it' This
was said not only for the same time ; but also to set
thereupon the ground of my faith, where he saith
anon following; 'But take it, and learn it, and keep
thee therein, and comfort thee therewith, and trust
thereto, and thou shalt not be overcome.'
The Seventy-jirst Chapter
In these six words that followeth, where he saith,
' Take it ; ' his meaning is to fasten it faithfully
in our heart; for he will it dwell with us in faith
into our lives end, and after in fulhead of joy,
willing that we have ever faithful trust of his
blessedful promises, knowing his goodness. For
our faith is contraried in diverse manner, by our
own blindness, and our ghostly enemies within
and without. And therefore our precious Lover
helpeth us with ghostly light, and true teaching,
on diverse manner within and without, whereby
that we may know him. And therefore in what
manner that he teacheth us, he will that we per-
ceive him wisely, receiving him sweetly, and keep
us in him faithfully. For above the faith is no good-
ness kept in this life, as to my sight. And beneath
the faith is no health of soul. But in the faith
there will our Lord we keep us : for we have by
188
the seveuifT-Fn{sr CHzATrETl
his goodness and his own working to keep us in
the faith. And by his sufferance through ghostly
enmity we are assaid in the faith, and made
mighty. For if our faith had not enmity, it should
deserve no meed, as by the understanding that
I have in our Lords meaning. Glad and merry,
and sweet, is the blessedful lovely chear of our
Lord to our souls ; for he beheld us ever living
in love-longing. And he will our soul be in glad
chear to him, to yield him his meed. And thus
I hope with his grace he hath, and more shall,
draw the utter [outer] chear to the inner, and make
us all at one with him, and each of us with other
in true lasting joy that is Jesu. I have meaning
of three manner of chears of our Lord : the first
is chear of passion, as he shewed whiles he was
with us in this life dying. And though this be-
holding be mourning and swemful, yet it is glad
and merry ; for he is God. The second manner
of chear it is pitty, and ruth, and compassion : and
this sheweth he to all his lovers, with sikerness
of keeping that hath need to his mercy. The
third is the blissedful chear as it shall be without
end. And this was oftenest shewed, and longest
continued. And thus in the time of our pain and
our woe, he sheweth to us chear of his passion
and his cross, helping us to bear it by his own
blessed vertue. And in time of our sinning, he
189
me sixreeo^rH ^svelzAtio^
sheweth to us chear of ruth and pity, mightily
keeping us, and defending against all our enemies.
And these two be the common chears which he
sheweth to us in this life, therewith medling the
third : and that is his blessed chear like in party
as it shall be in heaven ; and that is by gracious
touching of sweet lightning of ghostly life, where-
by that we are kept in true faith, hope, and
charity with contrition and devotion, and also with
contemplation, and all manner of true joyes and
sweet comforts. The blessedful chear of our Lord
God worketh it in us by grace. But now me
behooveth to tell in what manner that I saw sin
deadly, in the creatures which should not die for
sin, but live in the joy of God without end. I
saw that two contraries should not be together in
one steed. The most contrarious that are, is the
highest bliss, and the deepest pain. The highest
bliss that is, is to have God in clerity of endless
light, him verily seeing, him sweetly feeling, him
all peaceable having in fulhead of joy : and thus
was the blessedful chear of our Lord God shewed
in party [? pity]. In which shewing I saw that sin
was the most contrary, so far forth that, as long as
we be medled with any part of sin, we shall never
see clearly the blessed chear of God. And the
horriblier, and the grievouser that our sins be, the
deeper are we for that time fro this blessed sight.
190
me seve^i c rr-Fi c i{sr c^^ttIi^
And therefore it seemeth to us oftentimes as we
were in peril of death, and in a party of hell, for
the sori'ow and the pain that sin is to us. And
thus we are dead for the time fro the very sight
of our blessedful life. But in all this I saw faith-
fully that we be not dead in the sight of God,
ne he passeth never from us; but he shall never
have his full bless in us till we have our full
bless in him, verily seeing his fair blessedful chear,
for we are ordained thereto in kind, and getten
thereto by grace. Thus I saw how sin is deadly for
a short time to the blessed creatures of endless life ;
and ever the more clearly that the soul seeth the
blissful chear by grace of loving, the more it
longeth to see it 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 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 Lord our maker is so near to us, ai-.d in
us, and we in him by faithfulness of keeping of
191
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 trowe his great
love and our faithfulness of keeping. And there-
fore 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 kindly
desire of our soul is so great, and so unmeasur-
able, that if it were given us to our joy and our
comfort, all the 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 ;
f / it am that is highest ; I it am that thou lovest ;
I it am that is all.' It longeth to us to have three
1<)2
the ssve^cfr-ssco.KP Ch^ttsii
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 Seventy-second 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
1.93 N
THE SIXTEENTH TieVELzAriOU^
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 en-
clining to these, 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.
Thouffh the Three Persons of the blessed Trinitv l be
all even in the self, the soul took most understand-
ing 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 un-
knowing 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 be-
holding of our self and of our sin afore done ; and
some of us for our every-day sins, for we hold not
1 Father = might, Son = wisdom, Spirit — love.
1<B
the seveoi?r-THi < RT> ch^t-tsi^
our promise, nor keep our cleanness that our Lord
setteth us in, but fall oft-times into so much wretched-
ness, 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 [weakness]. And we cannot despise
it as we do another sin that we know ; which cometh
through lack of true j udgment, and it is against 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 for-
getteth our sin after the time that we repent us :
so will he that we forget our sin as against our un-
skillful heaviness, and our doubtful dreads.
The Seventy-third Chapter
For I understood four manner of dreads : one is
dread of a 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
1.95
the sixreeuiTH ^eveL^rioo^
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 in 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 be turned into sweet-
ness of kind love by grace ; for it may never please
our Lord that his servants doubt in his goodness.
The fourth is reverent dread; for there is no dread
that fully pleaseth God in us, but reverent dread,
and that is soft. For the more it is had, the less
it is felt for sweetness of love. Love and dread are
brethren, and they are rooted in us by the goodness
of our Maker, and they shall never be taken from
us without end. We have of kind to love, and we
have of grace to love ; and have we of kind to dread,
and we have of grace to dread. It longeth to the
lordship, and to the father-head to be dreaded, as it
longeth to the goodness to be loved : and it longeth
to us that are his servants and his children to dread
him for lordship, and fatherhead ; as it longeth to
us to love him for God-head. And though this
reverent dread and love be not both in one, but
1.Q6
the seveuirr-THn^p ch^ttsti
are two in property and in working, and [yet] neither
of them may be had without other. And therefore I
am sure, he that loveth he dreadeth, though he feel
it but little. All dreads other than reverend dread
that are preferred to us, though they come under
colour of holiness, they are not so true. And hereby
may they be known asunder. That dread that
maketh us hastily to flee fro all that is not good,
and fall into our Lords breast, as the child into
the mothers arme, with all our intent, and with all
our mind, knowing our feebleness and our great
need, knowing his everlasting goodness and his
blessed love, only seeking into him for salvation,
cleaving to with faithful trust : that dread that
bringeth us into this working, it is kind and gracious,
and good, and true. And all that is contrarious to
this, either it is wrong, or it is medled with wrong.
Then is this the remedy to know them both, and
refuse the wrong : for the kind property of dread
which we have in this life by the gracious working
of the Holy Ghost, the same shall be in heaven
afore God, gentle, courteous, full sweet. And thus
we shall in love be homely and near to God. And
we in dread be gentle and curteous to God, and
both in one manner like even. Desire we then of
our Lord God to dread him reverently, and love
him meekly, and to trust in him mightily : for when
we dread him reverently, and love him meekly, our
197
THE SIXTEENTH -I^EVEL^fTIO^
trust is never in vain ; for the more that we trust,
and the mightilier that we trust, the more we please
and worship our Lord that we trust in. And if us
fail this reverent dread and meek love, as God forbid
we [it] should, our trust shall soon be mis-ruled for
that time. And therefore us needeth much to pray
our Lord of grace that we may have this reverent
dread, and make love of his gift in heart and in
work, for without this no man may please God.
The Seventy-fourth Chapter
I saw that God may do all that us deedeth [PneedethJ :
and these three that I shall say, need, love, longing.
Pitty and love keepeth us in the time of our need.
And longing in the same love draweth us into
heaven ; for the thirst of God is to have the general
man into him. In which thirst he hath drawn his
holy souls that be now in bliss. And so getting his
lively members, ever he draweth and drinketh, and
yet him thirsteth and longeth. I saw three manner
of longings in God, and all to one end. Thejhst
is, for that he longeth to learn us to know him and
to love him ever more and more, as it is convenient
and speedful to us. The second is, that he longeth
to have us up into bliss, as souls are when they be
taken out of pain into heaven. The third is, to fulfill
198
us of bliss, and that shall be on the last day fulfilled
ever to last. For I saw, as it is known in our faith,
that then pain and sorrow shall be ended to all that
shall be saved. And not only we shall receive the
same bliss that souls afore have had in heaven, but
also we shall receive a new, which plentuously shall
flie out of God into us, and fulfill us. And those be
the goods which he hath oi-dained to give us fro
without beginning. These goods are treasured and
hid in himself; for into that time [the] creature is
not mighty, ne worthy to receive them. In this we
should see verily the cause of all the deeds that God
hath done. And over-more we should see the cause
of all thing that he hath suffered : and the bliss, and
the fulfilling shall be so deep and so high, that for
wonder and marvel all creatures should have to God
so great reverence and dread, over-passing that hath
been seen and felt before that the pillars of heaven
shall travel and quake. But this manner of trembling
and dread shall have no manner of pain ; but it
longeth to the worthy majesty of God, thus to be
beholden of his creatures, dreadfully trembling and
quaking : for much more of joy, endlesly marvelling
of the greatness of God the Makei - , and of the least
part of all that is made. For the beholding of this
maketh creature marvellous meek and mild. Where-
fore God will, and also it longeth to us both in kind
and in grace, to will to have knowing of this desiring
199
the sight and the working. For it leadeth us in
right way, and keepeth us in true life, and oneth us
to God. And as good as God is, as great he is : and
as much as it longeth to his God-head to be loved,
so much it longeth to his great highness to be dread.
For this reverent dread is the fairer courtesie that
is in heaven before Gods face. And as much as he
shall be known and loved, over-passing that he is
now : in so much he shall be dread over-passing that
he is now. Wherefore it behooveth needs to be,
that all heaven, all earth shall tremble and quake
when the pillars shall tremble and quake.
The Seventy-Jifth Chapter
I speak but little of this reverent dread : for I hope
it may be seen in this matter aforesaid. But well I
wote that our Lord shewed me no souls but those
that dread him ; for well I wote the soul that truly
taketh the teaching of the Holy Ghost, it hateth
more sin for the vileness and the horribility, than it
doth all the pain that is in hell. For the soul that
beholdeth the kindness of our Lord Jesu, it hateth
no hell ; but hell is sin as to my sight. And there-
fore it is Gods will that we know sin, and pray
busily, and travel wilfully, and seek teaching meekly,
that we fall not blindly therein ; and if we fall, that
200
THE SeVSUifT-FIFTH CH^TrEI^
we rise readily : for it is the most pain that the soul
may have to turn from God any time by sin. The
soul that will be in rest, when other mens sins come
to mind, he should flee it as the pain of hell, seeking
into God for help against that ; for the beholding of
other mens sin, it maketh as it were a thick mist
afore the eye of the soul. And we may not for the
time see the fair-head of God, but if [unless] we may
behold them with contrition with them, with compas-
sion on them, and with holy desire to God for them.
For without this it noieth, and troubleth, and letteth
the soul that behold them ; for this I understand in
the shewing of the compassion. In this blessedful
shewing of our Lord I have understanding of two
contraries. That one is the most wisdom that any
creature may do in this life. That other is the most
folly. The most wisdom is a creature to do after
the will and the counsel of his highest sovereign
friend. This blessed friend is Jesu, and it is his will
and counsel that we hold us with him, and fasten us
homely to him, evermore in what state soever we
bene : for whether we be foul or clean, we are ever
one in his loving. For weal, ne for woe he will
never we flee him ; but for the change-ability that
we are in our self, we fall often into sin. Than have
we this by the stirring of our enemy, and by our
own folly and blindness: for they say thus, "Thou
wotest well thou art a wretch, a sinner, and also un-
201
ths sixree^fH i^eveL^rioo^
true, for thou keepest not thy covenant. Thou
promisest oftentimes our Lord that thou shalt do
better ; and anon thou fallest again in the same,
namely in slouth, and leesing of time." For that is
the beginning of sin as to my sight ; and namely, to
the creatures that have "iven themself to serve our
Lord with inward beholding of his blessedful good-
ness. And this maketh us adread to appear afore
our courteous Lord. Than is it our enemy that will
put us a back with his false dread of our wretched-
ness, for pain that he threateth us by, for it is his
meaning to make us so heavy and so sorry in this,
that we should let out of mind the blessedful be-
holding of our everlasting friend.
The Seventy- sixth Chapter
Our good Lord shewed the enmity of the fiend,
whereby I understood that all that is contrarious to
love and to peace, it is of the fiend, and of his party ;
and we have of our feebleness and our folly to fall :
and we have of mercy and of grace of the Holy
Ghost to rise to more joy. And if our enemy ought
winneth of us by our falling (for it is his likeness)
he leeseth many times more in our rising by charity
and meekness. And this glorious rising it is so great
sorrow and pain to him, for the hate that he hath to
202
THE SSV6J(T2~-SIXTH Q^^P^^L
our soul, that he brenneth continually in envy. And
all this sorrow that he would make us to have, it
shall turn into himself. And for this it was that
our Lord scorned him, and shewed that he shall be
scorned ; and this made me mightily to laugh.
Then is this the remedy that Ave be a known of our
wretchedness, and flie to our Lord : for ever the
more needier that Ave be, the more speedful it is to
us to touch him ; and say Ave thus in our meaning ;
' I know Avell that I have deserved pain, but our
Lord is Almighty, and may punish me mightily ;
and he is all wisdom, and can punish me Avisely, and
he is all goodness, and loveth me tenderly.' And in
this beholding it is speedful to us to abide ; for it
is a full lovely meekness of a sinful soul wrought by
mercy and grace of the Holy Ghost : Avhen we
will Avilfully and gladly take the scourging and the
chastising that our Lord himself will give us, and it
shall be full tender and full easie if we will only
hold us pleased with him, and with all his Avorks.
For that penance that man taketh upon himself, it
was not shewed me ; that is to say, it Avas not
shewed me specified ; but this was sheAved specially,
and highly, and with full lovely chear, that we
should meekly and patiently bear and suffer that
penance that God himself giveth us, with mind of
his blessed passion ; for Avhen we have mind oT his
blessed passion with pitty and love, then Ave suffer
203
with him, like as his friends did that saw it. And
this was shewed in the xiiith. neer at the beginning,
where it speaketh of pity ; for he saith, ' Accuse not
thy self that thy tribulation and thy woe is all thy de-
fault : for I will not that thou be heavy, ne sorrowfd u?i-
discreetly ; for I tell thee, howsoever thou do thou shalt
have woe. And therefore I will that thou wisely know
thy penance which thou art in continually, and that thou
meekly take it for thy penance. And then shalt thou
truly see that all this living is penance profitable.' This
place is prison ; this life is penance, and in the
remedy he will that we enjoy. The remedy is, that
our Lord is with us, keeping us, and leading into
fulhead of joy ; for this is an endless joy to us in
our Lords meaning ; that he that shall be our bliss
when we are there, he is our Keeper while we are
here ; our way and our heaven, in true love and
faithful trust. And of this he gave understanding
in all, and namely, in shewing of his passion, where
he made me mightily to choose him for my heaven.
Flee we to our Lord, and we shall be comforted,
touch we him, and we shall be made clean ; cleave
we to him, and we shall be sure and safe from all
manner of perils ; for our courteous Lord will that
we be as homely with him, as heart may think, or
soul may desire. But be we ware that we take not
so retchesly this homely-head for to leave courtesie ;
for our Lord himself is sovereign homely-head, and
204
so homely as he is, as courteous he is ; for he is
very courteous. And the blessed creatures that
shall be in heaven with him without end, he will
have them like to himself in all thing ; and to be
like to our Lord perfectly, it is our very salvation
and our full bliss. And if we wote not how we
shall do all this, desire we of our Lord, and he shall
learn us ; for it is his own liking and his worship :
blessed mote he be.
The Seventy-seventh Chapter
Our Lord of his mercy sheweth us our sin and our
feebleness by the sweet gracious sight of himself.
For our sin is so foul and so horrible, that he of his
curtesie will not shew it us but by the light of his
mercy. Of four things, it is his will that we have
knowing : ihefrst is, that he is the ground of whom
we have all our life and our being. The second is,
that he keepeth us mightily and mercifully in the
time that we are in our sin, among all our enemies
that are full fell upon us. And somuch we are in
the more peril, for we give them occasion thereto,
and we know not our own need. The third is, how
curteously he keepeth us, and maketh us to know
that we go amiss. The fourth is, how stedfastiy he
abideth us, and changeth no chear ; for he will that
205
the sixreecKjH i^evsL^rro^c
we be turned and unied to him in love, as he is to
us. And thus by gracious knowing we may see our
sin profitable without despair: for soothly us needeth
to see it ; and by the sight we should be made
ashamed of our self, and breaken down as against
our pride and our presumption : for us behooveth
verily to see that of our self we are right naught but
sin and wretchedness. And thus by the sight of the
less (part of .sin) that our Lord sheweth us, the more
is wasted [? guessed], which we see not : for he of his
courtesie measureth the sight to us : for it is so foul
and so horrible, that we should not endure to see it
as it is. And thus by this meek knowing through
contrition and grace we shall be broken from all thing
that is not our Lord. And then shall our blessed
Saviour perfectly cure us, and one us to him. This
breaking, and this curing our Lord meaneth by the
general man ; for he that is highest and nearest with
God, he may see himself sinful and needy with me.
And I that am the least and the lowest of those that
shall be saved ; I may be comforted with him that
is highest : so hath our Lord oned us in charity,
when he shewed me that I should sin. And for joy
that 1 had in beholding him, I entended not readily
to that shewing. And our courteous Lord rested
there, and would no further teach me, till when that
he gave me grace and will to entend. And hereof
was I learned, though that we be highly lifted into
206
THE SEVEJ^fT- EIGHTH CH^fPTS^
contemplation by the special gift of our Lord, yet
us behooveth needs therewith to have sight and
knowing of our sin, and of our feebleness. For
without this knowing we may not have true meek-
ness ; and without this we may not be safe. And
also I saw we may not have this knowing of our self,
nor of none of all our ghostly enemies ; for they will
not us so much good : for if it were by their will, we
should never see it till our ending day. Then are
we much bound to God that he will himself for love
shew it us in time of mercy and grace.
The Seventy-eighth Chapter
Also I had in this more understanding, in that he
shewed me that I should sin. I took it nakedly to
my own singular person for I was no otherwise
stirred in that time : but by the high gracious com-
fort that followed after I saw, that his meaning was
for the general man ; that is to say, all man which
is sinful, and shall be into the last day : of which
man I am a member as I hope by the mercy of God ;
for the blessed comfort that I saw, it is large enough
for us all. And there was I learned that I should
see mine own sin, and not other mens, but if it may
be for comfort or help of my even Christen. And
also in the same shewing, there I saw that I should
207
the sixreeuiTH. ^vsl^tioc^
sin : there was I learned to be dreadful for unsiker-
ness of my self. For I wot not how I shall fall, ne
I know not the measure, ne the greatness of my sin :
for that would I a wist, dreadful ; and thereto I had
none answer. Also our courteous Lord in that same
time, he shewed full sweetly and full mightily the
endless-head, and the unchangeability of his love :
and also his great goodness, and his gracious in-
wardly keeping, that the love of him and of our
souls shall never be departed into without end. And
thus in the dread I have matter of meekness, that
saveth me fro presumption. And in the blessed
shewing of love I have matter of true comfort and
of joy, that saveth me from despair. All this homely
shewing of our courteous Lord it is a lovely lesson,
and a sweet gracious teaching of himself in comfort-
ing of our soul : for he will that we know by the
sweetness of the homely love of him, that all that
we see or feel within or without which is contrarious
to this, that it is of the enemy, and not of God ; as
thus, if that we be stirred to be the more retchlesser
of our living, or of the keeping of our heart, because
that we have knowing of this plentuous love ; than
needeth us greatly to beware of this stirring, if it
come. It is untrue, and greatly we owe to hate it,
for it hath no likeness of Gods will. And when [we]
be fallen by frailty or blindness, then our courteous
Lord touching us, stirreth us and keepeth. And
208
the ssve^crr-^iv^rH ch^tteii
then will he that we see our wretchedness, and
meekly be it a-known. But he will not that we
abide therewith, ne he will not that we busie us
greatly about our accusing, ne he will not that we
be too wretchedful on our self; but he will that we
hastily entend to him : for he stand eth all alone,
and abideth us continually, moaning and mourning
till when we come. And he hath haste to have us
to him : for we are his joy and his delight, and he is
our salve of our life ; there I say he standeth all
alone. I leave the speaking of the blessed company
in heaven, and speak only of his office and his
working here in earth, upon the condition of the
shewing.
The Seventy-ninth Chapter
By three things man standeth in this life : by which
three God is worshipped, and we be speed, kept, and
saved. The Jirst is, use of mans kindly reason. The
secojid is, the common teaching of Holy Church.
The third is, the inward gracious working of the
Holy Ghost. And these three be all of one God.
God is ground of our kindly reason ; and God is
teaching of Holy Church ; and God is the Holy
Ghost. And all be sundry gifts to which he will we
have great regard, and according us thereto : for
these work in us continually altogether, and those
209 o
the sixteenth ^evel^tioo^
be great things. Of which greatness he will we
have knowing here as it were in an A. B. C. that is
to say, that we may have a little knowing, whereof
we should have fulhead in heaven : and that is for to
speed us. We know in our faith that God alone
took our kind, and none but hee : and furthermore,
that Christ alone did all the great works that longeth
to our salvation, and none but he : and right so he
alone doth now in the last end ; that is to say, he
dwelleth here in us, and ruleth us, and giveth us in
this living, and bringeth us to his bliss. And thus
shall he do as long as any soul is in earth that shall
come to heaven : and so far forth, that if there were
none such soul in earth but one, he should be with
that all alone, till he had brought it up to his bliss.
I believe and understand the ministration of holy
angels, as clarkes tell ; but it was not shewed me :
for himself is nearest and meekest, highest and
lowest, and doth all. And not only all that us
needeth, but also he doth all that is worshipful to
our joy in heaven. And there I say he abideth us
moaning and mourning. It meaneth all the true
feelina: that we have in our self in contrition and in
compassion ; and all moaning and mourning, for we
are not oned with our Lord, and such as is speedful
it is Christ in us. And though some of us feel it
seldom, it passeth never fro Christ, till what time he
have brought us out of all our woe : for love suffereth
210
THS SigHTISTH C^TTST^
him never to be without pity. And what time that
we fall into sin, and leave the mind of him, and the
keeping of our own soul, then beareth Christ alone
all the charge of us. And thus standeth he moaning
and mourning. Then longeth it to us for reverence
and kindness to turn us hastily to our Lord, and let
him not all alone ; he is here alone with us all ; that
is to say, only for us he is here. And what time I
be strange to him by sin, despair, or slouth, then I
let my Lord stand alone, in as much as he is in me.
And thus it fareth with us all which be sinners.
But though it be so that we do thus oftentimes, his
goodness suffereth us never to be alone, but lastingly
he is with us, and tenderly he excuseth us, and ever
keepeth us from blame in his sight.
The Eightieth Chapter
Our good Lord shewed him to his creature in diverse
manner, both in heaven and in earth. But I saw
him take no place, but in mans soul. He shewed
him in earth in the sweet incarnation, and his
blessed passion, and in other manner he shewed him
in earth, where I said I saw God in a point. And
in other manner he 'shewed him in earth, thus as it
were a pilgrimage ; that is to say, he is here with us
leading us, and shall be till when he hath brought us
211
THE SIXTEENTH "REVEL^TIO^C
all to his bliss in heaven. He shewed him diverse
times raigning, as it is aforesaid ; but principally in
mans soul : he hath taken there his resting place,
and his worshipful city ; out of which worshipful see
he shall never rise, ne remove without end. Mar-
vellous and solemn is the place where the Lord
dwelleth. And therefore he will that we readily
entend to his gracious touching, more enjoying in
his whole love, then sorrowing in our often fallings.
For it is the most worship to him of any thing, that
we may do, that we live gladly and merrily for his
love in our penance ; for he beholdeth us so tenderly,
that he seeth all our living here to be penance. For
kind longing in us to him is a lasting penance in us,
which penance he worketh in us, and mercifully
helpeth us to bear it ; for his love maketh him to
long : his wisdom and his timh with his rightful-
head maketh him to suffer us here. And in this
manner he will see it in us ; for this is our kindly
penance, and the highest to my sight. For this
penance cometh never fro us, till what time that
we be fulfilled, when we should have him to our
meed. And therefore he will that we set our hearts
in the overpassing ; that is to say, fro the pain that
we feel into the bliss that we trust.
212
ths eigHTT-Fi ( i{sr ch^ttst^
The Eighty-first CJiapter
But here shewed our courteous Lord the moaning
and the mourning of our soul, meaning thus : ' I not
well thou wilt live for my love, merrily cmd gladly suffer-
ing all the penance that may come to thee : but forasmuch
as thou livest not without sin, therefore thou art heavy
and sorrowful. And if thou mightest live without sin,
thou wouldest suffer for my love all the woe that might
come to thee, and it is sooth : but be not too much
agrieved with sin that falleth to thee against thy will.'
And here I understood that the Lord beheld the
servant with pity, and not with blaim ; for this
passing life asketh not to live all without sin.
He loveth us endlesly, and we sin customably ;
and he sheweth it us full mildely, and then we
sorrow and mourn discreetly, turning us into the
beholding of his mercy, cleaving to his love and to
his goodness, seeing that he is our medicine, witting
that we do (nothing) but sin. And thus by the
meekness that we get in the sight of our sin, faith-
fully knowing his everlasting love, him thanking and
praising, we please him. ' J love thee and thou lovest
me, and our love shall never be departed in two ; and for
thy profit I suffer.' And all this was shewed in
ghostly understanding, saying this blessed word ; ' I
keep thee fill sikerly.' And by the great desire that I
213
THE SIXTEENTH 1{EVEL^TI0C^
saw in our blessed Lord, that we should live in this
manner, that is to say, in longing and enjoying, as
all this lesson of love sheweth, thereby I under-
stand that all that is contrarious to this, it is not of
him, but it is of enmity. And he will that we know
it by the sweet gracious light of his kind love. If
any such liver be in earth which is continually kept
from falling, I know it not ; for it was not shewed
me. But this was shewed, that in falling, and in
rising we are ever preciously kept in one love.
For in the beholding of God we fall not. And in
the beholding of our self, we stand not. And both
these be sooth, as to my sight. But the beholding
of our Lord God is the higher soothness. Then are
we much bound to him, that he will in this living
shew us this high soothness. And I understood
whiles we be in this life, it is full speedful to us that
we see these both at once. For the higher behold-
ing keepeth us in ghostly joy, and true enjoying in
God : that other that is the lower beholding keepeth
us in dread, and maketh us ashamed of ourself. But
our good Lord will ever that we hold us much more
in the beholding of the higher, and not leave the
knowing of the lower, into the time that we be
brought up above, where we shall have our Lord
Jesu to our meed, and be fulfilled of joy and bliss
without end.
214
THE EIQHTT- SECOND £//^Pr£^
The Eighty-second Chapter
I had in party touching, sight, and feeling in three
properties of God, in which the strength and the
effect of all the revelation standeth. And it were
seen in every shewing : and most properly in the
twelfth, where it saith oftentimes, ' / it am.' The
properties are these, life, love, and light. In life is
marvellous homelihead. In love is gentle courtesie :
and in light is endless kindness. These three pro-
perties were seen in one goodness ; into which good-
ness my reason would be oned and cleaving-to with
all the mights. I beheld with reverent dread, and
highly marvelling in the sight, and in feeling of
the sweet accord, that our reason is in God, under-
standing that it is the highest gift that we have
received, and it is grounded in kind. Our faith is 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 sud-
215
THE SIXTSe^TH ^EVELtATlOO^
denly 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 Eighty-third 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 speered from us ; but
it is such a light in which we may live meedfully
Avith travel, reserving the worshipful thanks of God.
And this was seen in the vith shewing, where he
saith, '/ 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 Jirst 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.
216
the eigHrr-FouTVH cm^prgz^
The Eighty -fourth Chapter
And in this sight I marvelled highly ; for notwith-
standing 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, and 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 or any thing was made.'
217
me sixreevifH "rsvsl^tioj^
The Eighty -fifth 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 mean-
ing, that he shewed it ; for he will have it known
more then it is. In which knowing he will give us
grace to love him, and cleave to him. For he be-
holds his heavenly treasure and solace in heavenly
joy, in drawing of our hearts from sorrow and dark-
ness, which we are in. And fro the time that it
was shewed, I 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 melt : love was his meaning. Who
sheweth it thee ? Love. Wherefore sheweth he it thee ?
For love. Hold thee therein, thou shall wit more in the
same. But thou shall 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,
218
THE SigHTT-FIFTH CH^TTS^
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 everlast-
ing ; in our making we had beginning : but the love
wherein he made us was in him fro without begin-
ning. In which love we have our beginning. And
all this shall we see in God without end.
Deo Gratias.
Explicit liber Revelationmn Juliane Anachorite Norwic.
cujus anime propicietur Deus.
219
NOTE
The present issue of Mother Juliana's XVI Revelations
of Divine Love is based upon the earliest printed edi-
tion of it, the one undertaken by Serenus de Cressv,
a Benedictine, and published in 1670. That edition
has been followed faithfully, except in a few cases
where obvious misprints, or the spelling, seemed
likely to lead to confusion for the reader. Incon-
sistencies of spelling, characteristic of the time of
its publication, have been retained, and a few expla-
nations which seemed of immediate importance, or
suggested additional words, which might make the
meaning more clear, have been inserted in square
brackets. Following this note will be found a list
of words, which may be referred to in case of
need : the list includes also a few queried words
which may be misreadings of the original. The
punctuation of Serenus de Cressy's edition has
been altered wherever it seemed needful. Perhaps
a general note may be made that the words 'whei'e-
fore,' and ' therefore/ ' where ' and ' there,' are often
given a sense easily missed.
Mother Juliana's work exists in two MSS. (sixteenth
221
and seventeenth centuries) one in the British Museum
and the other in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
The former was edited in a modernised form by Henry
Collins in 1877, and, later, in 1901 by Grace Warrack.
The latter was the basis of Cressy's edition, a reprint
of which, now very scarce, was issued in 1843.
The title-page of this last edition reads as follows :
XVI | REVELATIONS | of | Divine Love, |
Shewed to a Devout Servant | of our Lord,
called | MOTHER JULIANA, | an | Anchorete
of NORWICH: | Who lived in the Dayes of
KING | EDWARD the Third. | Published by
R. F. S. Cressy. j Accedite ad Deum et Illumina-
mini. Psal. 33. v. 5. Printed in the Year,
MDCLXX. | Permissu Snperio?'u?n.
Hugh Paulinus Cressy was born in Yorkshire,
in 1605. He was educated at Oxford, and, after
taking Holy Orders, became chaplain to the un-
fortunate Strafford. He held further clerical ap-
pointments in England and Ireland, and in 1646
was received into the Roman Catholic Church
at Rome. After spending some time in Paris he
joined the Benedictines at Douay, and was thence-
forward called Serenus de Cressy. After some
years he returned to his native land, and died in
1674 at East Grinstead in Sussex.
Of Mother Juliana herself little is known, and
222
that little is indicated in the address 'To the Reader.'
She was an anchoret of Norwich, and is said to have
been born in 1342. She seems to have been a
Benedictine nun belonging to Carrow, Norwich, and
the anchorage of the churchyard of St. Julian,
Norwich, was her chief home. She was 'yet in life/
in 1442.
The scribe of the British Museum MS. ends with
the following words, and they may, perhaps, be
reproduced here : —
Thus endeth the Revelation of Love of the blissid
Trinite shewid by our Savior Christ Jesu for our
endles comfort and solace, and also to enjoyen in
him in this passand journey of this life.
Amen Jesu Amen
I pray Almyty God that this booke com not but to the
hands of them that will be his faithfull lovers, and
to those that will submitt them to the faith of holv
Church, and obey the holesom understondying and
teching of the men that be of vertuous life, sadde
Age and sound lering : ffor this Revelation is hey
Divinitye and hey wisdom, wherfore it may not
dwelle with him that is thrall to synne and to the
Devill.
And beware thou take not on thing after thy
affection and liking, and leve another : for that is
the condition of an heretique. But take every thing
223
$(p re
with other. And, trewly understonden, All is ac-
cording to holy Scripture and groundid in the same.
And that Jesus, our very love, light and truth, shall
shew to allclen soulis that with mekeness aske profe
reverently this wisdom of hym.
And thou to whom this boke shall come, thank
heyley and hertily our Saviour Christ Jesu that he
made these shewings and revelations, for the, and
to the, of his endles love, mercy and goodness for
thine and our save guide, to conduct to everlastying
bliss : the which Jesus mot grant us. Amen.
224
LIST OF WORDS, Etc.
PAGE
xix. resentment, remembrance, regard.
xxi. a more venerable Abbot. The Abbot of Lamb-
spring.
xxii. ghostly, spiritual,
xxii. illapse, in-gliding,
xxiv. affectuous, sympathetic,
xxiv. operative, efficacious.
2 etc. sikernes, assurance, security.
3. to wit his privities, that we should pry into His
secret things [and elsewhere, to wit = to know].
3. one like, alike.
3. meed, reward.
4. deadlie, mortal.
4. some deale, somewhat, in some measure.
5. wilfull, earnest, will-directed.
5. weening, thinking, supposing.
6 etc. kind, natural, human.
6. went, weened.
8. even forth, straight forward.
10. meane, mediator.
11. so reverent and so dreadful, so to be revered and
feared.
225 p
LIST OF PFOT^DS
PAGK
12. litlehead, littleness.
12. hulseth, embraceth.
14. nuughted of, made nought as to, ignores.
14. seelie, simple, weak.
17- sparred, fastened, closed.
17. bulke, body.
18. even Christian, fellow-Christian*.
19. deed, dread (?)
20. fairhead, beauty, fairness.
20. lively head, life-likeness.
20. plentuoushead, plenteousness.
20. evesing, eaves.
21. like, also.
22. 1. 2. i/etc, unless.
23. stin teth, ceased, stopped.
24. deemed, judged.
24. in party, partly, somewhat.
27- sulloiny, sullying, smearing.
27. over yede, overspread, covered.
27. sweinly, dimly, obscurely.
28. wrake, seaweed.
29. the Holy Vernacle, the Handkerchief of S. Veronica,
wliereon Christ's face was imprinted as He
wiped the sweat from His brow, when carrying
the Cross, represented in one of the fourteen
Stations of the Cross.
29. protraid, portrayed.
29. rewlyhead, ruefulness.
29. leanhead, wastedness.
226
LIST OF WOBJIS
PAGE
29. overpassing, even more, surpassing.
33. point, in a, exactly, precisely.
35. Door, doer.
36. advisement, etc., carefully, with attention.
37. fulfilling the number that faileth, until the heavenly
mansions are full.
38 etc. travelleth, travaileth, laboureth.
39. sooth fastness, truth.
39. cheere, chear, etc., countenance, look.
40. envy, malice, ill-will.
42. levir, liefer, readier.
43. irkeness, irksomeness.
43. unneth, scarce.
43. none, anon.
44. in like, alike.
45. most (?) moisture.
45. cloggering, clotted, adhering.
45. roode, cross.
46. sennet, seven nights, a week.
46. clongen, shrunken, withered.
47. clinging, binding, causing to cling.
48. raced, rased, scraped.
48. boystrous, rough, violent.
48. altho, aflto, etc., altogether, wholly.
48. sagging, drooping, hanging heavily.
49. seemed, showed.
49. rimpild, shrivelled, wrinkled.
60. onyd, oned, united.
51. feeled, endured, suffered.
227
LIST OF WO < KT>S
PAGE
51. St. Dionise, S. Denis, the traditional apostle L of
France, believed to be Dionysius the Areo-
pagite.
51. Paynins, Paynim, pagan.
54. languring, languishing.
54. uning, oneing, uniting.
55. passible, capable of suffering.
57 apaid, content, satisfied.
60. liking . . . liketh, satisfying . . . satisfieth.
68. letted, hindered, prevented.
68. Sin is behovely, sin is necessary, it behoved that
sin should be.
71. lowed, humbled.
72. asseethe, satisfaction.
73. speed, benefit, profit.
75. aneynst, anempts, etc., anent, concerning.
78. hill, conceal.
83. friendful mean, friendly mediator.
84. suffereth, allows.
86. wistly, earnestly or (?) wisely.
88. intend, turn towards, attend.
89. entented, attended.
91. St. John oj Beverley, Archbishop of York. Born
at Cherry Burton, died 721, canonised 1037-
93. domes-man. Confessor.
94. leese, lose.
94. undertake, receive.
100. mights, faculties.
101. grant mercy, an exclamation of thankfulness.
228
LIST OF WO ( RT>S
PAGE
101. entreth, leads.
102. tarry, hinder.
102. steeds, stand, resting-place.
100. buxom, obedient, compliant.
106. fulsome, plentiful.
107. duringly, permanently, lastingly.
108. sensuality, physical nature.
108. meddled, mingled, mixed.
111. into, unto.
111. came, went.
113. debt, duties.
113. took, saw, understood.
119. pronity, frailty.
121. adred, afraid.
123. slade, ravine, valley.
123. stonnyed, astonished, shunned.
124. prey, fright.
125. direct, attributed, reckoned.
120. sithens, since.
126. nobley, etc., nobleness.
128. lieyward (?) high regard.
128. namely, especially.
128. medelur, medley, mixture.
129. blewhead, blueness.
130. even fore anenst, directly opposite.
130. fall of, befall.
131. anaved (?) new.
132. slade, pit, valley.
135. honest, seemly, comely.
229
LIST OF WOTiTiS
l'AGK
136. wide and side, wide and long.
138. briken, broken.
139. worming, uniting, dwelling within.
142. self, same.
143 etc. that each, the.
150. mean profer, friendly offer.
151. commoning, communion.
152. touching (?) teaching.
154. a dight, prepared, disposed.
156. ones, once.
161. impropred, assigned, appropriated.
165. beclipping, embraces.
165. wene, think.
166. assey, trial, test.
168. our breakings and our nuughtings, our chastise-
ments (afflictions) and our emptiness.
169. rialty, royalty.
171. fordreth, furthereth, nourisheth.
174. lengeth, lengthens.
174. swilge, hideous, foul.
174. bliveth, remains, abides.
175. behest, announcement, command.
175. behighting, promise, assurance.
180. sadly, soberly, earnestly.
180. retchlessness, recklessness, carelessness.
181. brent, burnt.
181. my kill, mickle.
181. shrowd, evil, malicious.
182. solemne, stately.
230
LIST OF WO ( RJ>S
PAGE
182. even-right, firm-fixed.
182. giveth (?) guideth.
185. sharply, swiftly, clearly.
185. whistering, mumbling, whispering.
189. swemful, troubled, grieved.
189. utter, outer.
191. colleth, embracetli.
195. wickedness (?) weakness.
196. longeth, belongs.
198. deedeth (?) needeth.
202. likeness, pleasure.
203. brenneth, burneth.
203. touch, draw close.
206. wasted (?) guessed.
216. speered, sparred, barred, shut.
THE END
Printed by Ballanttne, Hanson 6* Co.
Edinburgh &>. London
77
Ji ■
