"All thing that is done, it is well done: for our Lord God doeth all."
"Sin is no deed"
And after this I saw God in a Point,[1] that is to say, in mine
understanding,--by which sight I saw that He is in all things.
I beheld and considered, seeing and knowing in sight, with a soft
dread, and thought: _What is sin?_
For I saw truly that God doeth all-thing, be it never so little. And I
saw truly that nothing is done by hap nor by adventure, but all things
by the foreseeing wisdom of God: if it be hap or adventure in the sight
of man, our blindness and our unforesight is the cause. For the things
that are in the foreseeing wisdom of God from without beginning, (which
rightfully and worshipfully and continually He leadeth to the best
end,) as they come about fall to us suddenly, ourselves unwitting; and
thus by our blindness and our unforesight we say: these be haps and
adventures. But to our Lord God they be not so.
Wherefore me behoveth needs to grant that all-thing that is done, it
is well-done: for our Lord God doeth all. For in this time the working
of creatures was not shewed, but [the working] of our Lord God in the
creature: for He is in the Mid-point of all thing, and all He doeth.
And I was certain He doeth no sin.
And here I saw verily that sin is no deed: for in all this was not sin
shewed. And I would no longer marvel in this, but beheld our Lord, what
He would shew.
And thus, as much as it might be for the time, the rightfulness of
God's working was shewed to the soul.
Rightfulness hath two fair properties: it is right and it is full.
And so are all the works of our Lord God: thereto needeth neither the
working of mercy nor grace: for they be all rightful: wherein faileth
nought.
But in another time He gave a Shewing for the beholding of sin nakedly,
as I shall tell: where He useth working of mercy and grace.
And this vision was shewed, to mine understanding, for that our
Lord would have the soul turned truly unto the beholding of Him,
and generally of all His works. For they are full good; and all His
doings are easy and sweet, and to great ease bringing the soul that is
turned from the beholding of the blind Deeming of man unto the fair
sweet Deeming of our Lord God. For a man beholdeth some deeds well
done and some deeds evil, but our Lord beholdeth them not so: for as
all that hath being in nature is of Godly making, so is all that is
done, in property of God's doing. For it is easy to understand that
the best deed is well done: and so well as the best deed is done--the
highest--so well is the least deed done; and all thing in its property
and in the order that our Lord hath ordained it to from without
beginning. For there is no doer but He.
I saw full surely that he changeth never His purpose in no manner of
thing, nor never shall, without end. For there was no thing unknown to
Him in His rightful ordinance from without beginning. And therefore
all-thing was 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
made all things in fulness of goodness, and therefore the blessed
Trinity is ever full pleased in all His works.[2]
And all this shewed He full blissfully, signifying thus: _See! I am
God: see! I am in all thing: see! I do all thing: see! I lift never
mine hands off my works, nor ever shall, without end: see! I lead all
thing to the end I ordained it to from without beginning, by the same
Might, Wisdom and Love whereby I made it. How should any thing be
amiss?_
Thus mightily, wisely, and lovingly was the soul examined in this
Vision. Then saw I soothly that me behoved, of need, to assent, with
great reverence enjoying in God.
[1] See below: "He is in the Mid-point," and lxiii. p. 158, "the
blessed Point from which nature came: that is, God." See also xxi. p.
45, "Where is now any point of thy pain?" (least part) and xxi. p.
46, "abiding unto the last point"; and lxiv. p. 161, "set the point
of our thought." These uses of the word may be compared with the
following:--From the _Banquet of Dante Alighieri_, tr. by K. Hillard
(Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.), Bk. II. xiv. 12, "_Geometry moves between
the print and the circle_"; as Euclid says, "the point is the beginning
of Geometry, and according to him, the circle is the most perfect
figure, and therefore may be considered its end.... The point by reason
of its indivisibility is immeasurable, and the circle by reason of
its arc cannot be exactly squared, and therefore cannot be measured
with precision." Notes by Miss Hillard: "This is why the Deity is
represented by a _point. Paradiso_, xxviii. 16: 'A point beheld I,'
'Heaven and all nature, hangs upon that point,' etc. Bk. IV. 6, quoting
Aristotle's _Physics_: '_The circle can be called perfect when it is
a true circle._ And this is when it contains a point which is equally
distant from every part of its circumference.' In the _Vita Nuova_ Love
appearing, says--'I am as the centre of a circle, to which all parts of
the circumference bear an equal relation' ('_Amor che muove il sole e
l'altre stelle_')." From _Neoplatonism_, by C. Bigg, D.D. (S.P.C.K.),
p. 122: "Thus we get a triplet--Soul, Intelligence, and a higher
Intelligence. The last is spoken of as One, as a point, as neither good
nor evil because above both."
[2] On this subject, with the "Two Deemings" and "the Godly Will," see
xlv., xxxv., xxxvii., lxxxii.
_THE FOURTH REVELATION_