THE FIFTEENTH REVELATION

[1]"no lak (blame), no defaute."

[2]"as sothly as sin is onclene as sothly is it onkinde."

[3]S. de Cressy has "the loving soul."

[4]"Our fader bliss."

"Thou shalt come up above." "A very fair creature, a little Child—nimble and lively, whiter than lily"

Afore this time I had great longing and desire of God's gift to be delivered of this world and of this life. For oftentimes I beheld the woe that is here, and the weal and the bliss that is being there: (and if there had been no pain in this life but the absence of our Lord, methought it was some-time more than I might bear;) and this made me to mourn, and eagerly tolong. And also from mine own wretchedness, sloth, and weakness, me liked not to live and to travail, 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 distress[1]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 love and of bliss. And thou shalt never have no manner of pain, no manner of misliking, no wanting of will; but ever joy and bliss without end. What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, seeing that it is my will and my worship?

And in this word:Suddenly thou shalt be taken,—I saw that God rewardeth man for the patience that he hath in abiding God's will, and for his time, and [for] that man lengtheneth his patience over the time of his living. For not-knowing of his time of passing, that is a great profit: for if a man knew his time, he should not have patience over that time; but, as God willeth, while the soul is in the body it seemeth to itself that it is ever at the point to be taken. For all this life and this languor that we have here is but a point, and when we are 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 horrible,[2]without shape and form, as it were a swollen quag of stinking mire.[3]And suddenly out of this body sprang a full fair creature, a little Child, fully shapen and formed, nimble[4]andlively, whiter than lily; which swiftly[5]glided up into heaven. And the swollenness of the body betokeneth great wretchedness of our deadly flesh, and the littleness of the Child betokeneth the cleanness of purity in the soul. And methought:With this body abideth[6]no fairness of this Child, and on this Child dwelleth no foulness of this body.

It is more blissful that man be taken from pain, than that pain be taken from man;[7]for if pain be taken from us it may come again: therefore it is a sovereign comfort and blissful beholding in a loving soul that we shall be taken from pain. For in this behest[8]I saw a marvellous compassion that our Lord hath in us for our woe, and a courteous promising[9]of clear deliverance. For He willeth that we be comforted in the overpassing;[10]andthatHe shewed in these words:And thou shalt come up above, and thou shalt have me to thy meed, and thou shalt be fulfilled of joy and bliss.

It is God's will that we set the point of our thought in this blissful beholding as often as we may,—and as long time keep us therein with His grace; for this is a blessed contemplation to the soul that is led of God, and full greatly to His worship, for the time that it lasteth. And [when] we fall again to our heaviness, and spiritual blindness, and feeling of pains spiritual and bodily, by our frailty, it is God's will that we know that He hath not forgotten us. And so signifieth He in these words:And thou shalt never more have pain; no manner of sickness, no manner of misliking, no wanting of will; but ever joy andbliss without end. What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, seeing it is my will and my worship?

It is God's will that we take His behests[11]and His comfortings as largely and as mightily as we may take them, and also He willeth that we take our abiding and our troubles[12]as lightly as we may take them, and set them at nought. For the more lightly we take them, and the less price we set on them, for love, the less pain we shall have in the feeling of them, and the more thanks and meed we shall have for them.

[1]"disese."

[2]"uggley."

[3]a "bolned quave of styngand myre."

[4]"swifie" = agile, quick.

[5]"sharply."

[6]"beleveth."

[7]"full blissful ... mor than."

[8]i.e.promise, proclamation.

[9]"behoting."

[10]i.e.the exceeding fulness of heavenly bliss.

[11]See note 8 above.

[12]"diseases" = discomforts, distresses.

"The Charity of God maketh in us such a unity that, when it is truly seen, no man can part himself from other"

And thus I understood that what man or woman with firm will[1]chooseth God in this life, for love, he may be sure that he is loved without end: which endless love worketh in him that grace. For He willeth that we be as assured in hope of the bliss of heaven while we are here, as we shall be in sureness while we are there. And ever the more pleasance and joy that we take in this sureness, with reverence and meekness, the better pleaseth Him, as it was shewed. This reverence that I mean is a holy courteous dread of our Lord, to which meekness is united: and that is, that a creature seeth the Lord marvellous great, and itself marvellous little. For these virtues are had endlessly by the loved of God, andthis may now be seen and felt in measure through the gracious presence of our Lord when it is [seen]: which presence in all things is most desired, for it worketh marvellous assuredness in true faith, and sure hope, by greatness of charity, in dread that is sweet and delectable.

It is God's will that I see myself as much bound[2]to Him in love as if He had done for me all that He hath done; and thus should every soul think inwardly of its[3]Lover. That is to say, the Charity of God maketh in us such a unity that, when it is truly seen, no man can part himself from other. And thus ought our soul to think that God hath done for it[4]all that He hath done.

And this sheweth He to make us to love Him and nought dread but Him. For it is His will that we perceive that all the might of our Enemy is taken into our Friend's hand; and therefore the soul that knoweth assuredly this, he[5]shall not dread but Him that he loveth. All other dread he[6]setteth among passions and bodily sickness and imaginations. And therefore though we be in so much pain, woe, and distress that it seemeth to us we can think [of] right nought but [of] that [which] we are in, or [of] that [which] we feel, [yet] as soon as we may, pass we lightly over, and set we it at nought. And why? For that God willeth we know [Him]; and if we know Him and love Him and reverently dread Him, we shall have peace, and be in great rest, and it shall be great pleasance to us, all that He doeth. And this shewed our Lord in these words:What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, sith it is my will and my worship?

Now have I told you of Fifteen Revelations, as God vouchsafed to minister them to [my] mind, renewed by lightings and touchings, I hope of the same Spirit that shewed them all.

Of which Fifteen Shewings the First began early in the morn, about the hour of four; and they lasted, shewing by process full fair and steadily, each following other, till it was nine of the day, overpassed.

[1]"wilfully."

[2]"bounden" = beholden.

[3]"his."

[4]"him."

[5]i.e.the soul.

[6]i.e.the soul.

"All was closed, and I saw no more." "For the folly of feeling a little bodily pain I unwisely lost for the time the comfort of all this blessed Shewing of our Lord God"

And after this the good Lord shewed the Sixteenth [Revelation] on the night following, as I shall tell after: which Sixteenth was conclusion and confirmation to all Fifteen.

But first me behoveth to tell you as anent my feebleness, wretchedness and blindness.—I have said in the beginning:And in this [moment] all my pain was suddenly taken from me:of which pain I had no grief nor distress as long as the Fifteen Shewings lasted following. And at the end all was close, and I saw no more. And soon I felt that I should live and languish;[1]and anon my sickness came again: first in my head with a sound and a din, and suddenly all my body was fulfilled with sickness like as it was afore. And I was as barren and as dry as [if] I never had comfort but little. And as awretched creature I moaned and cried for feeling of my bodily pains and for failing of comfort, spiritual and bodily.

Then came a Religious person to me and asked me how I fared. I said I had raved to-day. And he laughed loud and heartily.[2]And I said:The Cross that stood afore my face, methought it bled fast. And with this word the person that I spake to waxed all sober and marvelled. And anon I was sore ashamed and astonished for my recklessness, and I thought:This man taketh in sober earnest[3]the least word that I might say. Then said I no more thereof. And when I saw that he took it earnestly and with so great reverence, I wept, full greatly ashamed, and would have been shriven; but at that time I could tell it no priest, for I thought:How should a priest believe me? I believe not our Lord God.This [Shewing] I believed verily for the time that I saw Him, and so was then my will and my meaning ever for to do without end; but as a fool I let it pass from my mind. Ah! lo, wretch that I am! this was a great sin, great unkindness, that I for folly of feeling of a little bodily pain, so unwisely lost 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 I began to sleep. And in the sleep, at the beginning, methought the Fiend set him on my throat, putting forth a visage full near my face, like a young man's and it was long and wondrous lean: I saw never none such. Thecolour was red like the tilestone when it is new-burnt, with black spots therein like black freckles—fouler than the tilestone. His hair was red as rust, clipped in front,[4]with full locks hanging on the temples. He grinned on me with a malicious semblance, shewing white teeth: and so much methought it the more horrible. Body nor hands had he none shapely, but with his paws he held me in the throat, and would have strangled me, but he might not.

This horrible Shewing was made [whilst I was] sleeping, and so was none other. But in all this time I trusted to be saved and kept by the mercy of God. And our Courteous Lord gave me grace to waken; and scarcely had I my life. The persons that were with me looked on me, and wet my temples, and my heart began to comfort. And anon a light smoke came in the door, with a great heat and a foul stench. I said:Benedicite Domine! it is all on fire that is here!And I weened it had been a bodily fire that should have burnt 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 to tempest me. And anon I took to that [which] our Lord had shewed me on the same day, with all the Faith of Holy Church (for I beheld it is both one), and fled thereto as to my comfort. And anon allvanished away, and I was brought to great rest and peace, without sickness of body or dread of conscience.

[1]"langiren."

[2]"inderly" = inwardly; so de Cressy; (Collins has "drolly").

[3]"sadly" = solidly, soberly.

[4]"evisid aforn with syde lokks hongyng on the thounys" (or thowngs, or thoungs). Bradley'sDictionary of Middle English—thun(?)wange= temple,evesedp. ple ofefesian= to clip the edges (cf. eaves). The Paris MS. however reads: "His hair was rede as rust not scoryd afore, with syde lockes hangyng on the thouwonges." S. de Cressy gives this as: "his hair was red as rust not scoured; afore with side locks hanging down in flakes."

"The place that Jesus taketh in our soul He shall never remove from, without end:—for in us His homliest home and His endless dwelling." "Our soul can never have rest in things that are beneath itself—yet may it not abide in the beholding of its self"

And then our Lord opened my spiritual eye and shewed me my soul in midst of my heart. I saw the Soul so large as it were an endless world, and as it were a blissful kingdom. And by the conditions that I saw therein I understood that it is a worshipful City. In the midst of that City sitteth our Lord Jesus, God and Man, a fair Person of large stature, highest Bishop, most majestic[1]King, most worshipful Lord; and I saw Him clad majestically.[2]And worshipfully He sitteth in the Soul, even-right[3]in peace and rest. And the Godhead ruleth and sustaineth[4]heaven and earth and all that is,—sovereign Might, sovereign Wisdom, and sovereign Goodness,—[but] the place that Jesus taketh inour SoulHe shall never remove it, without end, as to my sight: for in us is Hishomliesthome and Hisendlessdwelling.[5]

And in this [sight] He shewed the satisfying that Hehath of the making of Man's Soul. For as well as the Father might make a creature, and as well as the Son could make a creature, so well would the Holy Ghost that Man's Soul were made: and so it was done. And therefore the blessed Trinity enjoyeth without end in the making of Man's Soul: for He saw from without beginning what should please Him without end. All thing that He hath made sheweth His Lordship,—as understanding was given at the same time by example of a creature that is to see great treasures and kingdoms belonging to a lord; and when it had seen all the nobleness beneath, then, marvelling, it was moved to seek above to the high place where the lord dwelleth, knowing, by reason, that his dwelling is in the worthiest place. And thus I understood in verity that our Soul may never have rest in things that are beneath itself. And when it cometh above all creatures into the Self, yet may it not abide in the beholding of its Self, but all the beholding is blissfully set in God that is the Maker dwelling therein. For in Man's Soul is His very dwelling; and the highest light and the brightest shining of the City is the glorious love of our Lord, as to my sight.

And what may make us more to enjoy in God than to see in Him that He enjoyeth in the highest of all His works? For I saw in the same Shewing that if the blessed Trinity might have made Man's Soul any better, any fairer, any nobler than it was made, He should not have been full pleased with the making of Man's Soul. And He willeth that our hearts be mightily raised above the deepness of the earth and all vain sorrows, and rejoice[6]in Him.

[1]"solemnest."

[2]"solemnly" = in state.

[3]i.e.straight-set.

[4]"gemeth."

[5]"woning."

[6]"enjoyen."

"He said not:Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said:Thou shalt not be overcome"

This was a delectable Sight and a restful Shewing, that it is sowithout end. The beholding of this while we are here is full pleasing to God and full great profit to us; and the soul that thus beholdeth, it maketh it like to Him that is beheld, and oneth it in rest and peace by His grace. And this was a singular joy and bliss to me that I saw Himsitting: for the [quiet] secureness of sitting sheweth endless dwelling.

And He gave me to know soothfastly that it was He that shewed me all afore. And when I had beheld this with heedfulness, then shewed our good Lord words[1]full meekly without voice and without opening of lips, right as He had [afore] done, and said full sweetly:Wit it now well that 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 thou thereto: and thou shalt not be overcome.

These Last Words were said for believing and true sureness that it is our Lord Jesus that shewed me all. And right as in the first word that our good Lord shewed, signifying His blissful Passion,—Herewith is the devil overcome,—right so He said in the last word, with full true secureness, meaning us all:Thou shalt notbe overcome.And all this teaching in this true comfort, it is general, to all mine even-Christians, as it is aforesaid: and so is God's will.

And this word:Thou shalt not be overcome, was said full clearly[2]and full mightily, for assuredness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He said not:Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shall not be travailed, thou shah not be afflicted; but He said:Thou shalt not be overcome. God willeth that we take heed to these words, and that we be ever strong in sure trust, in weal and woe. For He loveth and enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and mightily trust in Him; andall shall be well.

And soon after, all was close and I saw no more.

[1]Seelxx."He shewed it all [the Revelation] again within in my soul."

[2]"sharply" = decisively.

"I was delivered from the Enemy by the virtue of Christ's Passion"

After this the Fiend came again with his heat and with his stench, and gave me much ado,[1]the stench was so vile and so painful, and also dreadful and travailous. Also I heard a bodily jangling,[2]as if it had been of two persons; and both, to my thinking, jangled at one time as if they had holden a parliament with a great busy-ness; and all was soft muttering, so that I understood nought that they said. And all this was to stir me to despair, as methought,—seeming to me as [though] they mocked atpraying of prayers[3]which are said boisterously with [the] mouth, failing [of] devout attending and wise diligence: the which we owe to God in our prayers.

And our Lord God gave me grace mightily for to trust in Him, and to comfort my soul with bodily speech as I should have done to another person that had been travailed. Methoughtthatbusy-ness[4]might not be likened to no bodily busy-ness. My bodily eye I set in the same Cross where I had been in comfort afore that time; my tongue with speech of Christ's Passion and rehearsing the Faith of Holy Church; and my heart to fasten on God with all the trust and the might. And I thought to myself, saying:Thou hast now great busy-ness to keep thee in the Faith for that thou shouldst not be taken of the Enemy: wouldst thou now from this time evermore be so busy to keep thee from sin, this were a good and a sovereign occupation!For I thought in sooth were I safe from sin, I were full safe from all the fiends of hell and enemies of my soul.

And thus he occupied me all that night, and on the morn till it was about prime day. And anon they were all gone, and all passed; and they left nothing but stench, and that lasted still awhile; and I scorned him.

And thus was I delivered from him by the virtue of Christ's Passion: fortherewith is the Fiend overcome, as our Lord Jesus Christ said afore.

[1]"made me full besy."

[2]i.e.gabbling.

[3]"bidding of bedes."

[4]see above, "made me full busy."

"Above the Faith is no goodness kept in this life, as to my sight, and beneath the Faith is no help of soul; butinthe Faith,therewilleth the Lord that we keep us"

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 sign nor 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 may He be!—I believe that He is our Saviour that shewed it, and that it is the Faith that He shewed: and therefore I believe it, rejoicing. And thereto I am bounden by all His own meaning, with the next words that follow:Keep thee therein, and comfort thee therewith, and trust thou thereto.

Thus I am bounden to keep it in my faith. For on the same day that it was shewed, what time that the Sight was passed, as a wretch I forsook it, and openly I said that I had raved. Then our Lord Jesus of His mercy would not let it perish, but He showed it all againwithin in my soul[1]with more fulness, with the blessed light of His precious love: saying these words full mightily and full meekly:Wit it now well: it was no raving that thou sawest this day. As if He had said:For that the Sight was passed from thee, thou losedst it and hadstnot skill to keep[2]it. But wit[3]it now; that is to say,now that thou seest it. This was said not only for that same time, but also to set thereupon the ground of my faith when He saith anon following:But take it, believe it, and keep thee therein and comfort thee therewith and trust thou thereto; and thou shalt not be overcome.

In these six words that follow (Take it—[etc.]) His meaning is to fasten it faithfully in our heart: for He willeth that it dwell with us in faith to our life's end, and after in fulness of joy, desiring that we have ever steadfast trust in His blissful behest—knowing His Goodness.

For our faith is contraried in diverse manners by our own blindness, and our spiritual enemy, within and without; and therefore our precious Lover helpeth us with spiritual sight and true teaching in sundry manners within and without, whereby that we may know Him. And therefore in whatsoever manner He teacheth us, He willeth that we perceive Him wisely, receive Him sweetly, and keep us in Him faithfully. For above the Faith is no goodness kept in this life, as to my sight, and beneath the Faith is no help of soul; but in the Faith, there willeth the Lord that we keep us. For we have by His goodness and His own working to keep us in the Faith; and by His sufferance through ghostly enmity we are assayed in the Faith and made mighty. For if our faith had none enmity, it should deserve no meed, according to the understanding that I have in all our Lord's teaching.

[1]see ch.lxviii.

[2]"couthest not."

[3]i.e.learn, perceive, know for certainty by the conviction of reason and consciousness—grasp once for all the truth beheld.

"Three manners of looking seen in our Lord's Countenance"

Glad and joyous and sweet is the Blissful lovely Cheer[1]of our Lord to our souls. For He [be]holdeth[2]us ever, living in love-longing: and He willeth thatoursoul be in glad cheer to Him, to give Him His meed. And thus, I hope, with His grace He hath [drawn], and more shall draw, the Outer Cheer to the Inner Cheer, and make us all one with Him, and each of us with other, in true lasting joy that is Jesus.

I have signifying of Three manners of Cheer of our Lord. The first is Cheer of Passion, as He shewed while He was here in this life, dying. Though this [manner of] Beholding be mournful and troubled, yet it is glad and joyous: for He is God.—The second manner of Cheer is [of] Ruth and Compassion: and this sheweth He, with sureness of Keeping, to all His lovers that betake them[3]to His mercy. The third is the Blissful Cheer, as it shall be without end: and this was [shewed] oftenest and longest-continued.

And thus in the time of our pain and our woe Hesheweth us Cheer of His Passion and His Cross, helping us to bear it by His own blessed virtue. And in the time of our sinning He sheweth to us Cheer of Ruth and Pity, mightily keeping us and defending us against all our enemies. And these be the common Cheer which He sheweth to us in this life; therewith mingling the third: and that is His Blissful Cheer, like, in part, as it shall be in Heaven. And that [shewing is] by gracious touching and sweet lighting of the spiritual life, whereby that we are kept in sure faith, hope, and charity, with contrition and devotion, and also with contemplation and all manner of true solace and sweet comforts.

[1]"Cher," in earlier chapters rendered bymanner of CountenanceorRegard.

[2]The word of the MS. might be: "he havith" (possibly "draweth"), or "behadith" or "behavith." There is a verb "bi-hawen"to behold—in other forms bihabben, bi-halden—; and "behave" had the meaning of tomanage, govern. Elsewhere in the MS. toregard, if notto fix the eyes upon, is expressed (e.g.inxxxix.) simply byto "holden"without the prefix. S. de Cressy has here "he beheld."

[3]"that have to"; S. de Cressy, "have need to."

"As long as we be meddling with any part of sin we shall never see clearly the Blissful Countenance of our Lord"

But now behoveth me to tell in what manner I saw sin deadly in the creatures which shall not die for sin, but live in the joy of God without end.

I saw that two contrary things should never be together in one place. The most contrary that are, is the highest bliss and the deepest pain. The highest bliss that is, is to have Him in clarity of endless life, Him verily seeing, Him sweetly feeling, all-perfectly having in fulness of joy. And thus was the Blissful Cheer of our Lord shewed in Pity:[1]in which Shewing I saw that sin is most contrary,—so far forth that as long as we bemeddling with any part of sin, we shall never see clearly the Blissful Cheer of our Lord. And the more horrible and grievous that our sins be, the deeper are we for that time from this blissful sight. And therefore it seemeth to us oftentimes as we were in peril of death, in a part of hell, for the sorrow and pain that the sin is to us. And thus we are dead for the time from the very sight of our blissful life. But in all this I saw soothfastly that we be not dead in the sight of God, nor He passeth never from us. But He shall never have His full bliss in us till we have our full bliss in Him, verily seeing His fair Blissful Cheer. For we are ordained thereto in nature, and get thereto by grace. Thus I saw how sin is deadly for a short time in the blessed creatures of endless life.

And ever the more clearly that the soul seeth this Blissful Cheer by grace of loving, the more it longeth to see it in fulness. For notwithstanding that our Lord God dwelleth in us and is here with us, and albeit He claspeth us and encloseth[2]us for tender love that He may never leave[3]us, and is more near to us than tongue can tell or heart can think, yet may we never stint of moaning nor of weeping nor of longing till when we see Him clearly in His Blissful Countenance. For in that precious blissful sight there may no woe abide, nor any weal fail.[4]

And in this I saw matter of mirth and matter of moaning: matter of mirth: for our Lord, our Maker, is so near to us, and in us, and we in Him, by sureness of keeping through His great goodness; matter of moaning: for our ghostly eye is so blind and we be so borne down by weight of our mortal flesh and darkness of sin, thatwe may not see our Lord God clearly in His fair Blissful Cheer. No; and because of this dimness[5]scarsely we can believe and trust His great love and our sureness[6]of keeping. And therefore it is that I say we may never stint of moaning nor of weeping. This "weeping" meaneth not all in pouring out of tears by our bodily eye, but also hath more ghostly understanding. For the kindly desire of our soul is so great and so unmeasurable, that if there were given us for our solace and for our comfort all the noble things that ever God made in heaven and in earth, and we saw not the fair Blissful Cheer[7]of Himself, yet we should not stint of moaning nor ghostly weeping, that is to say, of painful longing, till when we [should] see verily the fair Blissful Cheer of our Maker. And if we were in all the pain that heart can think and tongue may tell, if we might in that time see His fair Blissful Cheer, all this pain should not aggrieve us.

Thus is that Blissful Sight [the] end of all manner of pain to the loving soul, and the fulfilling of all manner of joy and bliss. And that shewed He in the high, marvellous words where He said:I it am that is highest; I it am that is lowest; I it am that is all.

It belongeth to us to have three manner of knowings: the first is that we know our Lord God; the second is that we know our self: what we are by Him, in Natureand Grace; the third is that we know meekly what our self is anent our sin and feebleness. And for these three was all the Shewing made, as to mine understanding.

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