"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 be meddling 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, that we 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 Nature and 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.
[1] That is: in the Shewing of Pity (Rev. ii) ch. x., in which it was
shewed _darkly_. S. de Cressy has "in _party_" = _part_, but the word
seems to be "_pite_" = _pity_.
[2] halsith; beclosith.
[3] levyn; tellen; thyn ken; stint; see.
[4] "abiden, ne no wele fallen."
[5] "myrkehede, unethes we can leven and trowen."
[6] "sekirnes."
[7] The words "Blissful Cheer" cannot be rendered by the more beautiful
and familiar BLESSED COUNTENANCE, and even "_Blissful_ Countenance"
might fail to bring out the reference to _one Aspect_ of the Divine
Face, one part of the threefold Truth.