3 1822024620460
 
 / 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIEGO 
 
 jr.
 
 Social Sciences & Humanities Library 
 
 University of California, San Diego 
 Please Note: This item is subject to recall. 
 
 Date Due
 
 3 1822024620460 
 
 COMFORTABLE WORDS 
 FOR CHRIST'S LOVERS
 
 COMFORTABLE WORDS 
 FOR CHRIST'S LOVERS 
 
 BEING THE VISIONS AND VOICES 
 VOUCHSAFED TO 
 
 LADY JULIAN 
 
 RECLUSE AT NORWICH IN 1373 
 
 TRANSCRIBED AND EDITED 
 
 FROM THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT 
 (Brit. Mus. Addit. 37,790) 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. DUNDAS HARFORD, M.A. 
 
 Vicar of Emmanuel, West End, Hampstead 
 
 LONDON : H. R. ALLENSON, LIMITED 
 RACQUET COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
 
 N.B. From the opposite table it will be readily 
 possible to refer to the parallel passages in Miss 
 Grace Warrack's Edition (based on the Sloane 
 manuscripts, sometimes in the notes referred to as 
 "B") or in Father Tyrrell's (based on the Paris 
 manuscript, referred to as " P.")
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sloane MSS. INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR . 7 
 
 and Paris MS. BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 14 
 
 CHAP, i, 2 INTRODUCTION BY THE COPYIST . 16 
 ,, 2* CHAPTER I. HER THREE DESIRES 17 
 
 ,,3 ,, II. SICKNESS AND LAST 
 
 BITES ... 22 
 
 ,, 3*, 4 ,, III. VISION OP THE CROWN 
 
 OF THORNS . 27 
 
 ,, 5 IV. THE LITTLENESS OF 
 
 THE KOSMOS . 30 
 
 ,, 7, 8* ,, V. Six THINGS SEEN . 35 
 
 >, 8 *i 9" VI. OF BROTHERLY LOVE 38 
 ,, 9*, 8* ,, VII. THREE METHODS OF 
 
 THE REVELATIONS . 43 
 
 10-13 VIII. THE POWER OF THE 
 
 PASSION - 46 
 
 ,, 14, 15 ,, IX. UPS AND DOWNS OF 
 
 WEAL AND WOE . 52 
 
 ,, 16-19" ,, X. "THE FELLOWSHIP 
 OF His SUFFER- 
 INGS" ... 67 
 
 19-21 XI. ON CHOOSING ONLY 
 
 JESUS ... 63 
 
 5
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 Sloane MSS. 
 and Paris MS. PAGE 
 
 CHAP. 22, 23 CHAPTER XII. THREE HEAVENS . 68 
 
 ,, 24-28 XIII. THE PASSION, AND 
 THE PROBLEM OF 
 SIN ... 71 
 
 > 29, 30 ,, XIV. OF CONTENTMENT IN 
 
 THE ATONEMENT . 78 
 
 31-33 ,, XV. ALL THINGS WELL . 82 
 
 34-37" > XVI. THE UNIVERSALITY 
 
 OF SIN ... 85 
 
 .. 37*- 39 XVII. THE SCOTTRGE AND 
 
 SALVE OF SIN . 88 
 
 ,, 40 ,, XVIII. CHOOSE PAIN RATHER 
 
 THAN SIN . . 93 
 
 41-43 ,, XIX. CONCERNING PRAYER 96 
 
 64, 65 XX. SURE AND CERTAIN 
 
 HOPE . . .104 
 
 ,,66 ,, XXI. REACTION AND NIGHT- 
 
 MARE . . . 110 
 
 ,, 67, 68 ,, XXII. THE SOUL CHRIST'S 
 
 HOMELIEST HOME . 114 
 
 69-73" )i XXIII. SHE DEFIES THE 
 
 DEVIL AND SIN . 118 
 
 > 73*i 7 2 * ,1 XXIV. LOVE THE ANTIDOTE 
 
 TO IMPATIENCE . 124 
 
 74. 73 ,, XXV. FEAR GOD: FEAR 
 
 NOUGHT ELSE . 128 
 
 GLOSSARY ... 133 
 6
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. THE MANUSCRIPT 
 
 i. A certain romantic interest attaches 
 to the MS. from which this version is 
 taken. It seems to have been seen by 
 Francis Blomefield before the middle of 
 the eighteenth century, and described 
 in his " History of Norfolk," vol. iv. 
 p. 81. By a curious mistake he gives 
 the date in the introduction (see below 
 p. 16) as "Mccccxlij," for "Mccccxiij," 
 thus giving the Lady Julian's age at that 
 time as 100, instead of 71. This error 
 has misled all later writers upon Lady 
 Julian. The MS. was then lost to public 
 notice till 1909, when it was bought 
 by the British Museum at Lord 
 Amherst's sale. 
 
 7
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 ii. Comparison with the Paris and 
 Sloane MSS. (see Bibliography, page 14) 
 shows the recovered version to be very 
 much shorter than the type of text 
 represented by them. In the opinion of 
 the present Editor it is what might 
 be called the " first edition " of the 
 Revelations, and the longer form is 
 the outcome of the twenty years' sub- 
 sequent meditation, thought and experi- 
 ence, referred to in the 51st and in the 
 last chapters of the later version. It 
 has been suggested that it was ab- 
 breviated from them : it is here main- 
 tained that they were expanded from it. 
 
 II. THE AUTHOR 
 
 i. Of external or historical evidence 
 for Lady Julian's life we have none that 
 can be relied on. All that we know 
 of her is drawn from her writings. 
 
 ii. From the internal evidence we 
 learn that she was born about 1342 ; 
 8
 
 Introduction 
 
 that she was a recluse, or anchoress, in 
 a cell attached to the church of St Julian, 
 Norwich ; fiaat in the year 1373, during 
 a serious sickness, from which she was 
 not expected to recover, she had vouch- 
 safed to her a series of visions, or revela- 
 tions, which were afterwards written 
 down and made public ; and that she 
 was still living in 1413. 
 
 iii. It is a fascinating personality 
 which is here revealed ; full of deep and 
 rich feeling : marked by singular fresh- 
 ness and naivete : strongly original and 
 individual : sympathetic and brimming 
 over with love : bold, even to rashness, 
 in thought and expression, while pro- 
 fessing loyal submission to Holy Church : 
 candid about her own defects : humble 
 as to her powers and attainments : full 
 of humanity, while caught up to wonder- 
 ful closeness to the Divine. Lady Julian 
 deserves to rank high amongst the great 
 mystics of the world. 
 9
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 III. THE VISIONS 
 
 Lady Julian gives two distinct accounts 
 of the manner of the revelations, both of 
 which deserve careful study. 
 
 i. In the first, twice set down, H she 
 describes three ways in which the teach- 
 ing was showed to her : (1) " By bodily 
 sight," as to which she says, "I have 
 said as I saw, as truly as I can": (2) 
 " By words formed in mine understand- 
 ing." She adds, "as for the words 
 formed, I have said them right as our 
 Lord showed me them" : (3) " By ghostly 
 sight. But the ghostly sight ... I may 
 never fully tell it." If an explanation 
 may be hazarded tentatively, she appears 
 to mean somewhat thus : ( 1 ) She seemed 
 to see visions with the outward eye : (2) 
 She seemed to receive in her quickened 
 
 Chap, vii., page 43, and chap, xxiii., page 
 122. (In the other Editions chaps, ix. and Ixxii. or 
 Ixxiii.) 
 
 10
 
 Introduction 
 
 reasoning faculties verbal messages, dis- 
 tinctly formed in her mind : (3) By 
 spiritual intuition, or the " inner 
 Light," she saw fresh Divine truths, 
 she touched reality, she was "oned to 
 God." 
 
 ii. In the second, a " twenty years 
 after the time of the showing," she 
 candidly owns to a process of " develop- 
 ment," by which the original revelations 
 were enlarged to the dimensions shown 
 in the longer (and later) versions. She 
 tells of three stages in the revelations : 
 
 (1) " The beginning of teaching that I 
 understood therein in the same time " ; 
 
 (2) " The inward teaching that I have 
 understood therein since " ; (3) " All 
 the whole revelation from the beginning 
 to the end, which our Lord God . . . 
 bringeth oftentimes to the light of mine 
 understanding. And these three be so 
 
 * Not in the Amherst MS., but in the other 
 MSS., chap. li. 
 
 11
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 oned, as to my understanding, that I 
 cannot nor may dispart them." a 
 
 iii. The Amherst MS., here for the 
 first time printed, would seem to the 
 Editor to represent more nearly the 
 first freshness of the original " sub- 
 liminal uprush " ; the other versions, 
 especially chapters xliv. to Ixiii., and Ixxv. 
 to Ixxxviii., to have in them far larger 
 elements of subsequent study and medita- 
 tion. Each of the two types has thus a 
 character and value of its own. 
 
 iv. No attempt is here made to sum- 
 marise the mystical teachings of Lady 
 Julian. They will bring their own 
 message to those who " desire to be 
 Christ's lovers." There are " hard say- 
 ings " among them, mingled with " words 
 of eternal life." The wise will know 
 how rightly to divide them. Lady 
 Julian will be best understood by those 
 described by the copyist of Sloane MS. 
 
 a The italics are ours. 
 12
 
 Introduction 
 
 3705, " whose hearts, like hers, do 
 flame in ye Love of our Dearest 
 Jesu." 
 
 IV. THE PRESENT EDITION 
 
 The Editor has tried to give the 
 original wording, wherever it would not 
 be positively misleading to the modern 
 reader. He has modernised the spelling. 
 For the punctuation, and the division 
 into paragraphs, he is alone responsible, 
 as there are few stops, and no breaks, 
 in the MS. He owes more than he can 
 say to Miss Grace Warrack's beautiful 
 edition of the longer version, which he 
 hopes that all readers will try to read 
 alongside of it. He has received kind 
 help from Miss Evelyn Underbill, Mrs 
 Graham Wilmot Brooke, Sir James 
 Murray, Mr J. A. Herbert, Professor 
 W. W. Skeat, and others, and Miss Grace 
 Warrack herself has given generous 
 encouragement. 
 
 13
 
 Introduction 
 
 He is profoundly conscious of the 
 complex difficulties of the task he has 
 rashly ventured upon, and would be 
 grateful for any corrections of mis- 
 takes on the part of more competent 
 scholars. 
 
 Figures in the text refer reader to the glossary 
 at end, page 133. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LADY 
 JULIAN 
 
 I. MSS. i. Brit. Mus. 
 
 (1) Addit. MS., 37,790. [Mid-Fifteenth 
 
 Century.] 
 
 (2) Sloane, 2499. [Late Seventeenth Cen- 
 
 tury.] 
 
 (3) Sloane, 3705. [Mid-Eighteenth Cen- 
 
 tury.] 
 
 ii. Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale. Fonds 
 anglais, 40. [Sixteenth Century.] 
 
 II. Printed editions, i. From the Paris MS. 
 
 (1) Dom Serenus de Cressy, 1670. 
 14
 
 Bibliography of Lady Julian 
 
 (2) Dom Serenus de Cressy, 1670 : Edited 
 
 by G. H. Parker, 1843. 
 
 (3) Ditto : Edited by Father Tyrrell. 
 
 (KeganPaul.) 1902. 
 ii. From Sloane MS., 2499. 
 
 (1) In " Mediaeval Library of Mystical 
 
 and Ascetical Works," Edition by 
 Rev. P. H. Collins (Th. Richardson), 
 1877. 
 
 (2) Miss Grace Warrack. (Methuen.) 
 
 1901. 
 
 (3) " Revelations de 1'Amour de Dieu. 
 
 Traduites par un Benedictin de 
 Farnborough." (Librairie H. Oudin. 
 Paris, 1909.) 
 
 (4) " All Shall be Well. " Selections from 
 
 the Writings of the Lady Julian of 
 Norwich, A.D. 1373. (Mowbray.) 
 
 15
 
 INTRODUCTION, BY THE 
 COPYIST 
 
 HERE is a vision, showed by the good- 
 ness of God to a devout woman, and her 
 name is Julian, that is recluse at Nor- 
 wich, and yet is on life, anno domini, 
 Mccccxiij. In the which vision are full 
 many comfortable words, and greatly 
 stirring to all that desire to be Christ's 
 lovers. 
 
 16
 
 COMFORTABLE WORDS 
 FOR CHRIST'S LOVERS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HER THREE DESIRES 
 
 I DESIRED three graces by the gift of 
 God. 
 
 The first was, to have mind (2) of 
 Christ's Passion. 
 
 The second was, bodily sickness. 
 
 The third was, to have of God's gift 
 three wounds. 
 
 As for the first, it came to my mind 
 with devotion. Methought I had great 
 feeling in the Passion of Christ ; but yet 
 I desired to have more by the grace of 
 God. Methought I would have been 
 at that time with Mary Magdalene, 
 B 17
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 and with others that were Christ's lovers, 
 that I might have seen bodily the Passion 
 of our Lord, that He suffered for me : 
 that I might have suffered with Him, 
 as others did that loved Him. 
 
 Notwithstanding that I believed 
 firmly a all the pains of Christ, as Holy 
 Church shows and teaches; and all the 
 paintings of crucifixes that are made, 
 by the grace of God, after the teaching 
 of Holy Church, to the likeness of 
 Christ's Passion, as far forth as man's 
 wit may reach; and notwithstanding 
 all this true belief, I desired a bodily 
 sight, wherein I might have more know- 
 ing of the bodily pains of our Lord and 
 Saviour, and of the compassion of Our 
 Lady, and of all His true lovers that 
 were believing His pains, that time and 
 since. For I would have been one of 
 them, and have suffered with them. 
 
 Other sight or showing of God I never 
 
 MS. sadlye. 
 18
 
 Her Three Desires 
 
 desired, till the soul were departed (6) 
 from the body; for I trust* truly that 
 I should be safe ; and this was my 
 meaning. For I wished because of that 
 showing to have afterwards the more 
 true mind (2) in the Passion of Christ. 
 
 As for the second [desire], there came 
 into my mind with contrition, freely 
 without any seeking, a wilful (8) desire 
 to have of God's gift a bodily sickness. 
 And I would that this bodily sickness 
 might have been so hard as unto death, 
 so that I might in the sickness receive 
 all my rites b of Holy Church, thinking 
 myself that I should die, and that all 
 that saw me might think the same. 
 For I wished to have no comfort of any 
 fleshly or earthly life. In this sickness 
 I desired to have all manner of pains, 
 bodily and ghostly, that I should have 
 if I should die : all the terrors and 
 tempests of fiends, and all manner of 
 
 MS. trayste. b JUS. ryghtynges. 
 
 19
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 their pains, save of the out-passing of 
 the soul. For I hoped that it might be 
 to me a speed (18) when I should die, 
 for I desired soon to be with my God. 
 
 These two desires of the Passion, and 
 of the sickness I desired with a con- 
 dition ; for methought that it passed 
 the common course of prayers ; and 
 therefore I said : " Lord, Thou knowest 
 what I would. If it be Thy will that I 
 have it, grant it me. And if it be not 
 Thy will, good Lord, be not displeased, 
 for I will nought but as Thou wilt." 
 This sickness desired I in my thought 
 that I might have it when I were thirty 
 years old. 
 
 As for the third [desire], I heard 
 a man tell of Holy Church of the story 
 of Saint Cecilia. In the which showing I 
 understood that she had three wounds 
 with a sword in the neck, with the which 
 she pined to her death. By the stirring 
 (1) of this I conceived a mighty desire, 
 20
 
 Her Three Desires 
 
 praying our Lord God that He would 
 grant me three wounds in my life time : 
 that is to say, the wound of contrition, 
 the wound of compassion, and the wound 
 of wilful (8) longing towards God. 
 Right as I asked the other two with a 
 condition, so I asked the third without 
 any condition. These two desires before- 
 said passed from my mind. And the 
 third dwelled continually.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SICKNESS AND LAST RITES 
 
 AND when I was thirty winters old and 
 a half, God sent me a bodily sickness, 
 in the which I lay three days and three 
 nights. And on the fourth night I 
 received all my rites of Holy Church, 
 and thought not to have lived till day. 
 And after this I (10) languored forth 
 two days and two nights. And on the 
 third night I thought ofttimes to have 
 passed [away] ; and so thought they 
 that were about me. But in this I 
 was right sorry, and loth to die ; but not 
 for anything that was in earth that 
 meliked (n) to live for, nor for any- 
 thing that I was afraid for ; for I trusted 
 in God. But it was because I would 
 22
 
 Sickness and Last Rites 
 
 have lived to have loved God better and 
 longer time, that I might by the grace 
 of that living have the more knowing 
 and loving of God in the bliss of heaven. 
 For methought all the time that I should 
 have lived here, so little and so short 
 in the regard of endless bliss. 
 
 I thought thus : " Good Lord, may 
 my living be no longer to Thy worship ? " 
 And I was answered in my reason, and 
 by the feelings of my pains, that I should 
 die. And I assented fully, with all the 
 will of my heart, to be at God's will. 
 
 Thus I endured till day ; and by 
 then was my body dead from the midst 
 downward, as to my feeling. Then was 
 I stirred (1) to be set upright, leaning 
 with clothes to my head, for to have 
 the more freedom of my heart to be at 
 God's will and thinking on Him while 
 my life should last. 
 
 And they that were with me sent for 
 the parson my curate to be at mine 
 23
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 ending. He came, and a child with 
 him ; and brought a cross. And by 
 then I had set mine eyes, and might (is) 
 not speak. The parson set the cross 
 before my face, and said, "Daughter, I 
 have brought thee the image of thy 
 Saviour. Look thereupon, and comfort 
 thee therewith in reverence of Him that 
 died for thee and me." 
 
 Methought then that I was well, a 
 for mine eyes were set upward into 
 heaven, whither I trusted for to come. 
 But, nevertheless, I assented to set mine 
 eyes on the face of the crucifix, if I 
 might, for to endure longer till the time 
 of mine ending. For methought I 
 might longer endure to look straight 
 for ward b than upright. 
 
 After this my sight began to fail, and 
 it was all dark about me in the chamber, 
 and murky, as it had been night, save 
 
 * i.e. that it was well with me as I was. 
 b J/&,evyn forthe. 
 
 24
 
 Sickness and Last Rites 
 
 that in the image of the cross there held 
 a common light ; a and I wist never 
 how all that was beside the cross was 
 ugly to me, as if it had been much 
 occupied with fiends. 
 
 After this the upper part of my body 
 began to die, as to my feeling. My 
 hands fell down on either side ; and also 
 for lack of power b my head settled 
 down on one side. The most pain that 
 I felt was shortness of breath and failing 
 of life. Then thought I truly to have 
 been at the point of death. 
 
 And in this suddenly all my pain was 
 away from me, and I was as c whole, 
 and especially in the upper part of my 
 body, as ever I was before or after. I 
 marvelled at this change, for methought 
 it was a secret d working of God, and 
 
 * Probably she means, "the daylight seemed 
 to linger," or, possibly, (t there held" may be Middle 
 English for " there poured." The other MSS. read, 
 " I beheld." b MS. " unpowere." 
 
 MS. alle. d MS. prive. 
 
 25
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 not of nature.* And yet by the feeling 
 of this ease I trusted never the more 
 that I should live. And the feeling of 
 this ease was not full ease to me, for 
 methought I had liefer have been de- 
 livered of this world, for my heart was 
 set thereon. b 
 
 * MS. kynde. b MS. wilfulle thereto. 
 
 26
 
 CHAPTER III 
 VISION OF THE CROWN OF THORNS 
 
 AND suddenly came into my mind that 
 I should desire the second wound, a of 
 our Lord's gift and of His grace: that 
 He would fulfil my body with mind (2) 
 and feeling of His blessed Passion, as I 
 had before prayed. For I would that 
 His pains were my pains, with compas- 
 sion, and afterward longing towards 
 God. b Thus methought that I might 
 with His grace have His wounds that 
 I had before desired. 
 
 But in this I desired never any bodily 
 sight, nor any manner of showing of 
 God, but such compassion as methought 
 
 * i.e. " compassion," or fellow-feeling, p. 21. 
 b i.e. the " third wound." 
 
 27
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 a kind (14) soul might have with our 
 Lord Jesus, that would for love become 
 mortal* man. With Him I desired to 
 suffer, living in mortal body, as God 
 would give me grace. 
 
 And in this suddenly I saw the red 
 blood trickle down from under the 
 Garland, all hot, freshly, plentifully and 
 lively, right as methought that it was 
 in that time that the Garland of Thorns 
 was thrust on His blessed head. Right so, 
 both God and man, He suffered for me. 
 
 I conceived truly and mightily that it 
 was Himself that showed it me without 
 any mean; b and then I said, "Bene- 
 dicite Domine." This I said reverently 
 in my meaning with a mighty voice. 
 And full greatly I was astonished for 
 wonder and marvel that I had, that He 
 would be so homely with a sinful creature, 
 living in this wretched flesh. 
 
 MS. dedly ; and so elsewhere. 
 h Or intermediary. 
 
 28
 
 Vision of the Crown of Thorns 
 
 Thus I took it for that time that our 
 Lord Jesus, of His courteous love, 
 would show me comfort before the time 
 of my temptation, for methought it 
 might be well a that I should, by the 
 sufferance of God, and with His keeping, 
 be tempted of fiends before I died. 
 With this sight of His blessed Passion, 
 with the Godhead that I saw in mine 
 understanding, I saw that this was 
 strength enough for me yea, for all 
 creatures living that should be safe 
 against all the fiends of hell, and against 
 all ghostly (9) enemies. 
 
 * Perhaps for " well be." 
 
 29
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE LITTLENESS OF THE KOSMOS 
 
 AND this same time that I saw this 
 bodily sight, our Lord showed me a 
 ghostly (9) sight of His homely loving. 
 I saw that He is to us all-thing that is 
 good and comfortable to our help. He 
 is our clothing : for love wraps us and 
 winds us, embraces us a and all betakes 
 us, b and hangs about us for tender 
 love, that He may never leave us. And 
 so in this sight I saw truly that He is 
 all -thing that is good, as to mine under- 
 standing. 
 
 And in this He showed me a little 
 thing, the quantity of a hazel-nut, lying 
 
 * MS. halses us. 
 
 '' MS. alle be teches us = lays hold of us. 
 
 30
 
 The Littleness of the Kosmos 
 
 in the palm of my hand ; and, to my 
 understanding, it was as round as any 
 ball. I looked thereupon, and thought, 
 " What may this be ? " 
 
 And I was answered generally thus : 
 " It is all that is made." 
 
 I marvelled how it might last, for 
 methought it might fall suddenly to 
 nought for littleness. And I was 
 answered in mine understanding : "It 
 lasts, and ever shall, for God loves it." 
 And so hath all-thing its being through 
 the love of God. 
 
 In this little thing I saw three parts : 
 
 The first is that God made it. 
 
 The second is that He loves it. 
 
 The third is that God keeps it. 
 
 But what is that to me ? Truly [that 
 He is] the Maker, the Lover, the Keeper ; 
 for till I am substantially oned to Him, 
 I may never have love, rest nor true 
 bliss that is to say, that I be so fastened 
 to Him that there be right nought that 
 31
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 is made betwixt my God and me. And 
 who shall do this deed ? Truly He 
 Himself by His mercy and His grace, 
 for He has made me thereto, and bliss- 
 fully restored me. 
 
 In this God brought Our Lady to mine 
 understanding. I saw her spiritually a 
 in bodily likeness a simple maiden and a 
 meek, young of age, in the stature that 
 she was when she conceived. Also God 
 showed me in part the wisdom and the 
 truth of her soul ; wherein I understood 
 [the] reverent beholding in which she 
 beheld her God that is her Maker, 
 marvelling with great reverence that He 
 would be born of her that was a simple 
 creature of His making. And this 
 wisdom of truth, knowing the greatness 
 of her Maker, and the littleness of 
 herself that is made, made her for to say 
 meekly to the Angel Gabriel, " Lo, me 
 here, God's handmaiden 1 " 
 
 a MS. gastelye. 
 . 32
 
 The Littleness of the Kosmos 
 
 In this sight I saw truly that she is 
 more than all that God made beneath 
 her in worthiness and in fulness. For 
 above her is nothing that is made but 
 the blessed manhood of Christ. 
 
 This little thing that is made, that is 
 beneath our Lady Saint Mary, God 
 showed it unto me as little as it had 
 been a hazel-nut. Methought it might 
 have fallen for littleness. 
 
 In this blessed revelation God showed 
 me three noughts, of which noughts this 
 is the first that was showed me of this 
 needs each man and woman to have 
 knowing that desires to live contem- 
 platively that it pleases him to [count 
 as] nought* all -thing that is made, 
 for to have the love of God that is 
 unmade. 
 
 For this is the cause why they that 
 are occupied wilfully in b earthly busi- 
 
 * MS. " that hym lyke to nought." 
 b i.e. set their hearts on. 
 
 C 33
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 ness, and evermore seek worldly weal, 
 are not here of His in a heart and in 
 soul, for they love and seek here rest 
 in this thing that is so little, wherein 
 is no rest, and know not God, that is 
 Almighty, All-wise, and All-good, for 
 He is true rest. 
 
 God willeth to be known, and it 
 pleases Him that we rest in Him. For all 
 that is beneath Him suffices not to us. 
 And this is the cause why no soul is 
 rested, till it be noughted b of all that is 
 made. When he is noughted b for love 
 to have Him that is all that is good, 
 then is he able to receive ghostly rest. 
 
 B. Sf P. MSS. " in ease of." 
 b i.e. emptied, or stripped. 
 
 34
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 SIX THINGS SEEN 
 
 AND in that time that our Lord showed 
 this that I have now said in ghostly 
 sight, I saw the bodily sight lasting 
 of the plenteous bleeding of the 
 head. And as long as I saw that 
 sight I said oftentimes, Benedicite 
 Dominus. 
 
 In this first showing of our Lord I 
 saw six things in mine understanding. 
 
 The first is the tokens of His blissful 
 Passion, and the plenteous shedding 
 of His precious blood. 
 
 The second is the Maiden that is His 
 dearworthy Mother. 
 
 The third is the blissful Godhead, 
 that ever was, and is, and ever shall 
 35
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 be, All-Mighty, All-Wisdom, and All- 
 Love. 
 
 The fourth is all-thing that He has 
 made. It is great a and fair and large 
 and good. But the cause why it showed 
 so little to my sight was because I saw 
 it in the presence of Him that is its 
 Maker. For to a soul that sees the 
 Maker of all - thing, all that is made 
 seemed full little. 
 
 The fifth is that He has made all-thing 
 that is made for love, and through the 
 same love it is kept, and ever shall be 
 without end, as it is before said. 
 
 The sixth is that God is all-thing that 
 is good, and the goodness that all-thing 
 has is HE. 
 
 And all this our Lord showed me in 
 the first sight, and gave me space and 
 time to behold it. And the bodily 
 sight ceased b ; and the ghostly sight 
 dwelt in mine understanding ; and I 
 
 MS. mykille. b MS. stynted. 
 
 36
 
 Six Things Seen 
 
 abode with reverent dread, joying in 
 that I saw, and desiring, as far as I 
 durst, to see more if it were His will, 
 or [to see] the same for longer time. 
 
 87
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 OF BROTHERLY LOVE 
 
 ALL that I say of myself I mean [also] in 
 the person of all mine even- Christians a ; 
 for I am taught in the ghostly showing 
 of our Lord that He means so. 
 
 And therefore I pray you all for God's 
 sake, and counsel you for your own profit, 
 that ye leave the beholding of the 
 wretched, worldly, sinful creature that 
 it was showed unto, and that ye mightily, 
 wisely, lovingly and meekly behold 
 God, that of His courteous love, and of 
 His endless goodness, would show gener- 
 ally b this vision, to comfort us all. 
 
 And ye that hear and see this teaching 
 
 * i.e. " fellow-Christians," and so elsewhere. 
 b i.e. " to all alike," and so elsewhere. 
 
 88
 
 Of Brotherly Love 
 
 that is from Jesus Christ to edification 
 of your soul, it is God's will and my 
 desire that ye take it with as great joy 
 and liking (17) as if Jesus had showed it 
 to you, as He did to me. 
 
 Because of a the showing I am not 
 good, but [only] if I love God the better. 
 And so may, and so should, each man 
 do that sees it and hears it with good 
 will and true meaning. And so is my 
 desire that it should be to every man the 
 same profit that I desired to myself, 
 and thereto was stirred (1) of God in the 
 first time when I saw it for the profit 
 of many others. For truly it was not 
 showed unto me for that God loves me 
 better than the least soul that is in grace. 
 For I am sure there are full many that 
 never had showing nor sight but of the 
 common teaching of Holy Church, that 
 love God better than I. For if I look 
 singularly (16) to myself, I am right 
 MS. for. 
 89
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 nought ; but in general I am in oneness 
 of charity with all mine even- Christians ; 
 for in this oneness of charity stands 
 the life of all mankind that shall be 
 safe. 
 
 For God is all that is good, and God 
 has made all that is made, and God loves 
 all that He has made. And if any man 
 or woman depart (6) his love from any 
 of his even- Christians, he loves right 
 nought, for he loves not all. And so 
 at that time he is not safe, for he is not 
 in peace. 
 
 And he that generally (15) loves his 
 even-Christians, he loves all that is. 
 For in mankind that shall be safe is 
 comprehended all that is, all that is 
 made, and the Maker of all. For in 
 man is God ; and so in man is all. And 
 he that thus generally loves all his even- 
 Christians, he loves all. And he that 
 loves thus, he is safe. And thus will I 
 love, and thus I love ; and thus I am 
 40
 
 Of Brotherly Love 
 
 safe ; for I mean in a the person of my 
 even-Christians. 
 
 And the more I love of this loving 
 while I am here, the more I am like to the 
 bliss that I shall have in heaven without 
 end that is, God, that of His endless 
 love would become our Brother, and 
 suffer for us. And I am sure that he 
 that beholds it thus, he shall be truly 
 taught and mightily comforted, if he 
 needs comfort. 
 
 But God forbid that ye should say, 
 or take it so, that I am a teacher, for 
 I mean not so no, I meant never so. 
 For I am a woman unlearned, b feeble 
 and frail ; but I know well this that I 
 say I have it of the showing of Him that 
 is Sovereign Teacher. But truly charity 
 stirs me to tell you it. For I would God 
 were known, and my even- Christians 
 sped (is), as I would be myself, to the 
 more hating of sin and loving of God. 
 
 or, have in mind. b MS. leued. 
 
 41
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 But, because I am a woman, should I 
 therefore leave [it alone], that I should 
 not tell you the goodness of God, since 
 I saw in the same time that it is His will 
 that it be known ? And that shall ye 
 well see in the same matter that follows 
 after, if it be well and truly taken. 
 Then shall ye soon forget me that am 
 a wretch, and do a so that I let (21) you 
 not, and behold Jesus that is Teacher 
 of all. 
 
 I speak of them that shall be safe, 
 for in this time God showed me none 
 other ; but in all things I believe as 
 Holy Church teaches. For in all things 
 this blessed showing of our Lord I beheld 
 it as one in God's sight. And I under- 
 stood nothing therein that astonishes b 
 me, nor lets (21) me of the true teaching 
 of Holy Church. 
 
 MS. dose. b MS. stonez. 
 
 42
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THREE METHODS OF THE 
 REVELATIONS 
 
 ALL this blessed teaching of our Lord 
 God was showed to me in three parts a : 
 that is, by bodily sight, and by word 
 formed in mine understanding, and by 
 ghostly sight. But the ghostly sight 
 I may not, and can not, show it unto 
 you as openly and 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 you. And so may it be, 
 for we are all one in love. 
 
 cf. p. 122. 
 43
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 And in all this I was much stirred (1) 
 in charity to mine even- Christians, that 
 they might all see and know the same 
 that I saw, for I would that it were 
 comfort to them all, as it is to me. For 
 this sight was showed in general, and 
 nothing in special. 
 
 Of all that I saw, this was the most 
 comfort to me, that our Lord is so homely 
 and so courteous. And this most filled 
 me with liking (17) and security in 
 soul. 
 
 Then said I to the folk that were with 
 me : " It is to-day Doomsday with me." 
 And this I said because I thought to 
 have died. For that day that a man or 
 woman dies is he judged a as he shall be 
 without end. 
 
 This I said because I would they 
 loved God more, and set the less price 
 by the vanity of the world, for to make 
 
 MS. demed. 
 
 44
 
 Methods of the Revelations 
 
 them to have mind (2) that this life is 
 short, as they might see in ensample 
 by me. For in all this time I thought 
 to have died.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE POWER OF THE PASSION 
 
 AND after this I saw with bodily sight 
 the face of the crucifix that hung before 
 me, in which I beheld continually a part 
 of His Passion despite, spitting and 
 sowling a of His body, and buffeting 
 of His blessed face, and many languors 
 and pains, more than I can tell, and oft 
 changing of colour, and all His blessed 
 face at one time covered with b dry 
 blood. This I saw bodily and heavily 
 and darkly. And I desired more bodily 
 light, to have seen more clearly. And 
 I was answered in my reason that if God 
 would show me more, He should, but 
 I needed no light but Him. 
 
 * i.e. dragging about. b MS. closed e in. 
 
 46
 
 The Power of the Passion 
 
 And after this I saw God in a point, 
 that is, in mine understanding. By 
 which sight I saw that He is in all-thing. 
 I beheld with advisement,* thinking and 
 knowing in that sight that He does all 
 that is done. 
 
 I marvelled in this sight with a soft 
 dread ; and thought, " What is sin ? " 
 For I saw truly that God doth all-thing, 
 be it never so little. And nothing is 
 done by hap nor by chance b ; but [by] 
 the endless foresight of the wisdom 
 of God. Wherefore it behoved me of 
 necessity to grant that all-thing that is 
 done is well done. And I was sure that 
 God does nothing. [It] was not showed 
 me what sin is nakedly by itself, as I shall 
 tell afterward. 
 
 And after this I saw, beholding, the 
 body plenteously bleeding, hot and 
 
 a MS. vysement b MS. eventure. 
 
 " probably " no sin," as B. &; P. MSS. There is 
 a footnote in the MS. , showing some confusion in 
 the meaning. 
 
 47
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 freshly and lively, right as I saw before 
 in the head. And this was showed me in 
 the seams a of scourging. And this came 
 so plenteously to my sight that methought 
 if it had been so in reality b for that time, 
 it would have made the bed all on blood, 
 and have passed over the side. 
 
 God has made waters plenteously in 
 earth to our service and to our bodily 
 ease, for tender love that He has to us. 
 But yet it pleases Him better that we 
 take fully His blessed blood to wash us 
 with from sin. For there is nothing d 
 that is made that it pleases Him so well 
 to give us, for it is so plenteous, and of 
 our nature. 6 
 
 And after this, ere God showed me 
 any wounds, 1 He suffered me to behold 
 longer both all that I had seen, and all 
 that was therein. And then, without 
 
 i.e. scars. 
 8 MS. on about. 
 MS. kynde. 
 
 b MS. kynde. 
 d -JfS. no lykoure. 
 ' MSS.B. $ P. "words." 
 
 48
 
 The Power of the Passion 
 
 voice and without opening of lips, 
 was formed in my soul this word : 
 " Herewith is the fiend overcome." 
 This word said our Lord, meaning 
 [thereby] His Passion, as He showed 
 me before. 
 
 In this our Lord brought to my mind 
 and showed me a part of the fiend's 
 malice, and the whole of his weakness a ; 
 and for that He showed me that His 
 Passion is the overcoming of the fiend. 
 God showed me that he has now the same 
 malice that he had before the Incarna- 
 tion. And however b sore " he travails, 
 and however b continually, [yet] he sees 
 that all chosen souls escape him worship- 
 fully (12) ; and that is all his sorrow. 
 For all that God suffers him to do turns 
 us to joy, and him to pain and to shame. 
 And he has as much sorrow when God 
 gives him leave to work, as when he 
 works not ; and that is because he may 
 MS, " fully his unmyght." b MS. "als." 
 
 D 49
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 never do as ill as he would ; for his 
 might is all locked in God's hand. Also 
 I saw our Lord scorn his malice, and 
 set him at nought*; and He will that 
 we do the same. 
 
 For this sight I laughed mightily, and 
 that made them to laugh that were about 
 me. And their laughing was pleasing to 
 me. I thought I would mine even- 
 Christians had seen as I saw ; then should 
 they all have laughed with me. But I 
 saw not Christ laugh. Nevertheless, He 
 is pleased that we laugh in comforting 
 of us, and are joying in God that the fiend 
 is overcome. 
 
 And after this I fell into seriousness, 13 
 and said : "I see, I see three things 
 game, scorn, and earnest. 
 
 " I see game, that the fiend is overcome. 
 
 " And I see scorn, that God scorns him, 
 and he shall be scorned. 
 
 * MS. nought him. 
 
 b MS. in to a sadde hetc. 
 
 50
 
 The Power of the Passion 
 
 " And I see earnest, that he is overcome 
 by the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and by His Death that was done full 
 earnestly and with sad (4) travail." 
 
 After this our Lord said : "I thank 
 thee for thy service, and for thy travail, 
 and especially in thy youth." 
 
 51
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 UPS AND DOWNS OF WEAL AND WOE 
 
 GOD showed me three degrees of bliss 
 that each soul shall have in heaven, that 
 wilfully (8) has served God in any degree 
 here in earth. 
 
 The first is the worshipful (12) thanking 
 of our Lord God that he shall receive, 
 when he is delivered from pain. This 
 thanks is so high and so worshipful (12) 
 that it seems to him to fill him, a though 
 there were no more bliss. For methought 
 that all the pain and travail that might 
 be suffered of all living men might not 
 have deserved the thanks that a man 
 shall have that wilfully (8) has served 
 God. 
 
 * MS. hym thynke it fylles hym. 
 52
 
 Weal and Woe 
 
 The second is, that all the blessed 
 creatures that are in heaven shall see 
 that worshipful (12) thanking of our 
 Lord God ; and He makes his service 
 known to all that are in heaven. 
 
 The third is, that as new and as pleas- 
 ing as it is received at that time, right 
 so shall it last without end. 
 
 I saw that goodly and sweetly was this 
 said and showed to me, that the age of 
 every man shall be known in heaven, and 
 [he shall be] rewarded for his wilful (s) 
 service and for his time ; and especially 
 the age of them that wilfully (8) and 
 freely offer their youth to God is pass- 
 ingly (19) rewarded and wonderfully 
 thanked. 
 
 And after this our Lord showed me a 
 sovereign ghostly (9) liking (17) in my soul. 
 In this liking I was fulfilled with ever- 
 lasting sureness, mightily fastened with- 
 out any dread. This feeling was so 
 glad to me, and so goodly, that I was in 
 53
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 peace, in ease, and in rest, so 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 myself, and irksomeness 
 of my life, that scarcely I could have 
 patience to live. There was none ease, 
 nor any comfort to my feeling, but hope, 
 faith, and charity. And these I had in 
 truth, but full little in feeling. And 
 anon after* God gave me again the 
 comfort and the rest in soul, liking (17) 
 and sureness so blissful and so mighty 
 that no dread, no sorrow, no pain bodily 
 or ghostly that might be suffered, 
 should have distressed me. And then 
 the pain showed again to my feeling, 
 and then the joy, and then the liking (17) ; 
 and now the one, and now the other, 
 divers times, I suppose about twenty 
 times. 
 
 * i.e. after a while. 
 54
 
 Weal and Woe 
 
 And in the time of joy I might have 
 said with Paul, " Nothing shall depart (6) 
 me from the charity of Christ." 
 
 And in pain I might have said with 
 Saint Peter, " Lord, save me, I perish." 
 
 This vision was showed me to teach 
 me, as I understand,* that it is needful 
 to every man to feel on this wise some 
 time to be in comfort, and some time to 
 fail and be left to himself. God will 
 that we know that He keeps us ever 
 alike secure in weal and in woe, and 
 loves us as much in woe as in weal. 
 And some time for the profit of his soul 
 a man is left to himself, although b 
 sin is not the cause ; for in this time I 
 sinned not wherefore I should be left 
 to myself ; and also I deserved not to 
 have this blissful feeling. But freely 
 God gives weal when He pleases, and 
 suffers [us to be] in woe sometimes ; 
 
 * MS. atte my undyrstandynge. 
 
 b MS. and to whethere = and nevertheless. 
 
 55
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 and both is of love, for it is God's 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 nought. Therefore it is not God's 
 will that we follow the feelings of pain 
 in sorrowing and in mourning, for they 
 but suddenly pass over ; and hold us in 
 endless liking (17), that is, God Almighty, 
 our Lover and Keeper. 
 
 56
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 "THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS 
 SUFFERINGS" 
 
 AFTER this Christ showed me a part of 
 His Passion, near His dying. I saw that 
 sweet face, as it were, dry and bloodless 
 with pale dying; then more dead pale, 
 languoring ; and then turned more dead 
 into blue ; and then more blue as the 
 flesh turned more deeply dead. For 
 all the pains that Christ suffered in His 
 body showed to me in the blessed face, 
 as far forth as I saw it, and especially 
 in the lips. There I saw these four 
 colours, those that I saw beforehand 
 fresh and ruddy, lively and pleasing to 
 my sight. This was a heavy change, 
 to see this deep dying. 
 57
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 And also the nostrils* changed, and 
 dried to my sight. This long pining 
 seemed to me as if He had been a seven 
 night dying, b always suffering pain. 
 And methought the drying of Christ's 
 flesh was the most pain of His Passion, 
 and the last. 
 
 And in this dryness was brought to 
 my mind this word that Christ said : 
 " I thirst." For I saw in Christ a double 
 thirst ; one bodily, the other ghostly. 
 This word was showed to me for the 
 bodily thirst ; and for the ghostly thirst 
 was showed to me as I shall say after- 
 ward. 
 
 And for the bodily thirst I under- 
 stood that [which] the body had through 
 failing of moisture. For the blessed 
 flesh and bones were left alone without 
 blood and moisture. The blessed body 
 dried all one d long time, with wring- 
 
 5 MS. nese. b MS. dede. 
 
 c MS. of. d Possibly, alone. 
 
 58
 
 " Fellowship of His Sufferings " 
 
 ing of the nails, and heaviness a of 
 the head, and weight of the body, with 
 a blowing of wind from without that 
 dried more and pined Him with cold, 
 more than my heart can think. And 
 all other such pains I saw that all is too 
 little that I can tell or say, for it may 
 not be told ; but each soul, after the 
 saying of Saint Paul, should feel in him 
 that in Christ Jesus [Phil. ii. 5. b ] 
 
 This showing of Christ's pains filled 
 me full of pains, for I knew well He 
 suffered not but once, but as He would 
 show it me, and fill me with mind [of it], 
 as I had desired before. 
 
 My mother, that stood amongst others 
 and beheld me, lifted up her hand before 
 my face to lock (6) mine eyes, for she 
 thought I had been dead ; or else I had 
 died. And this increased much my 
 
 * MS. paysynge. 
 
 b Wyclif : " and fele ye this thing in you : which 
 also in crist ihesus.'" c or close. 
 
 59
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 sorrow, for notwithstanding all my pains, 
 I would not have been letted (21) for love 
 that I had in Him ; and nevertheless a in 
 all this time of Christ's presence I felt 
 no pain but for Christ's pains. Then I 
 thought I knew fully for what pain it 
 was that I asked ; for methought that my 
 pains passed any bodily death. I thought : 
 " Is any pain in hell like this pain ? " 
 
 And I was answered in my reason 
 that despair is more, for that is ghostly 
 pain. But bodily pain [there] is none 
 more than this. How might my pain 
 be more than to see Him that is all my 
 life, all my bliss, and all my joy, suffer ? 
 
 Here felt I truly that I loved Christ 
 so much above myself, that methought 
 it had been a great ease to me to have 
 died bodily. 
 
 Herein I saw in part the compassion 
 of our Lady Saint Mary. For Christ 
 and she were so oned in love that the 
 
 * MS. and to whethere. 
 60
 
 " Fellowship of His Sufferings " 
 
 greatness of her love was the cause of 
 the muchness* of her pain, for so much 
 as she loved Him more than all others, 
 her pain passed all others. And so all 
 His disciples and all His true lovers 
 suffered pains more than their own bodily 
 dying. For I am sure by mine own 
 feeling that the least of them loved Him 
 more than they did themselves. 
 
 Here I saw a great oneing betwixt 
 Christ and us ; for when He was in pain, 
 we were in pain ; and all creatures that 
 might suffer pain, suffered with Him. 
 And they that knew Him not, this was 
 their pain that all creatures, the sun 
 and the moon, withdrew their service ; 
 and so were they all left in sorrow for 
 the time. 
 
 And thus they that loved Him suffered 
 pain for love, and they that loved Him 
 not suffered pain for failing of comfort 
 of all creatures. 
 
 * MS. mykille hede. 
 61
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 In this time [that] I would have looked 
 upon the Cross, I was secure and safe. 
 Therefore I would not assent to put 
 my soul in peril; for beside the Cross 
 was no sureness, but ugliness of fiends. 
 Then had I a proffer in my reason as 
 if it had been friendly. I said to me, a 
 " Look up to heaven to His Father ! " 
 
 Then saw I well, with the faith that 
 I felt, that there was nothing betwixt 
 the Cross and heaven that might have 
 distressed me. And either it behoved 
 me to look up, or else to answer. I 
 answered and said : " Nay, I may not, 
 for Thou art mine Heaven." 
 
 This I said because I would not. For 
 I had liefer have been in that pain till 
 Doomsday than have come to Heaven 
 otherwise than by Him. For I knew 
 well He that bought me so sore should 
 unbind me when He would. 
 
 * Probably in error for " as if it had been friendly 
 said to me," as in the other editions. 
 
 62
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 ON CHOOSING ONLY JESUS 
 
 THUS chose I Jesus for my Heaven, 
 Whom I saw only in pain at that time. 
 I liked no other Heaven than Jesus, 
 Who shall be my bliss when I am there. 
 And this has ever been a comfort to me, 
 that I chose Jesus to my Heaven, in all 
 time of passion and of sorrow. And 
 that has been a learning to me, that 
 I should evermore do so, and choose 
 only Him to my Heaven in weal and 
 in woe. 
 
 And thus saw I my Lord Jesus languor 
 a long time ; for the oneing of the God- 
 head for love gave strength to the man- 
 hood to suffer more than all men might. 
 I mean not only more pain only than all 
 63
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 men might suffer ; but only that He 
 suffered more pain than all men that 
 ever were from the first beginning to the 
 Last Day. No tongue may tell, nor 
 heart fully think, the pains that our 
 Saviour suffered for us, having regard 
 to the worthiness of the highest wor- 
 shipful King, and to His shameful 
 despiting and painful death. For He 
 that was highest and worthiest was 
 most fully noughted, most wittingly 
 despised. 
 
 But the love that made Him to suffer 
 all this, it passes as far all His pains, 
 as Heaven is above earth. For the 
 pains were a deed done in a time by the 
 working of love ; but love was without 
 beginning, and is, and ever shall be 
 without any end. 
 
 And suddenly, as I beheld in the 
 
 same Cross, He changed into blissful 
 
 cheer. The changing of His cheer 
 
 changed mine ; and I was as glad and 
 
 64
 
 On Choosing only Jesus 
 
 merry as it was possible. Then brought 
 our Lord merrily to my mind : " What 
 is any point of thy pain or of thy grief ? " 
 And I was full merry. 
 
 65
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THREE HEAVENS 
 
 THEN said our Lord, asking : " Art 
 thou well content,* that I suffered for 
 thee ? " " Yea, good Lord," quoth I : 
 " Gramercy, b good Lord : blessed mayest 
 Thou be ! " " If thou be content," 
 quoth our Lord, " I am content. It is 
 a joy and a bliss and an endless liking (17) 
 to me that ever I suffered Passion for 
 thee. For if I might suffer more, I 
 would suffer." 
 
 In this feeling mine understanding 
 was lifted up into Heaven ; and there 
 I saw three Heavens ; at which sight 
 I greatly marvelled. 
 
 MS, payde, and so throughout the chapter. 
 
 * *'.*. "grand merci/' many thanki. 
 
 66
 
 Three Heavens 
 
 I thought I saw three Heavens ; and 
 all through* the blessed Manhood of 
 Christ. And none is more, none is less ; 
 none is higher, none is lower ; but even- 
 like in bliss. 
 
 For the first Heaven, Christ showed 
 me His Father ; but in no bodily likeness, 
 but in His property and in His liking. 1 * 
 The working of the Father is this that 
 He gives meed (22) to His Son Jesus 
 Christ. This gift and this meed (22) 
 is so blissful to Jesus, that the Father 
 might have given no meed that might 
 have pleased Him better. 
 
 For the first Heaven, that is the 
 bliss of the Father, showed to me as a 
 Heaven ; and it was full blissful. For 
 He is made full of bliss d with all the deeds 
 that He has done about our salvation. 
 Wherefore we are not only His through 
 
 * MS. of: perhaps = due to. 
 
 b ? condition. The other MSS. read, " working." 
 
 MS. blyssynge. d MS. fully blywede. 
 
 67
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 buying, but also by the courteous gift 
 of His Father. We are His bliss : we 
 are His meed (22) : we are His worship 
 (12) : we are His crown. 
 
 This that I say is so great bliss to 
 Jesus that He sets at nought His travail 
 and His hard Passion, and cruel and 
 shameful death. And in these words, 
 " If I might suffer more, I would suffer 
 more," I saw truly that if He might 
 die as often as for every man once that 
 shall be safe, as He did once for all, 
 love should never let Him have rest 
 till He had done it. And when He had 
 done it, He would set it at nought for 
 love. For all [seems to] Him * but little 
 in regard of His love. 
 
 And that showed He me well soberly b 
 (20) saying this word, " If I might 
 suffer more." He said not, " If it 
 
 * MS. " alle thynge hym " : probably in error for 
 " alle thynkyth hym." 
 " B. ^ P. read, " sweetly." 
 
 68
 
 Three Heavens 
 
 were needful to suffer more"; but, 
 " If I might suffer more." For though 
 it be not needful, if* He might suffer 
 more, more He would. 
 
 This death and this work about our 
 salvation was [ordained] as well as He 
 might ordain it. It was done as worship- 
 fully (12) as Christ might do it. And in 
 this I saw a full bliss in Christ ; but this 
 bliss should not have been done fully, 
 if it might any better have been done 
 than it was done. 
 
 And in these three words " It is a 
 joy and a bliss and an endless liking (17) 
 to ME " were showed to me three 
 Heavens, as thus : 
 
 For the joy, I understood the pleas- 
 ance of the Father ; for the bliss, the 
 worship (12) of the Son; and for the 
 endless liking (17), the Holy Ghost. The 
 Father is pleased : the Son is worshipped : 
 the Holy Ghost is satisfied. 1 * Jesus wills 
 
 MS. "and." h MS. lykes. 
 
 69
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 that we take heed to this bliss, that 
 is in the blessed Trinity of our salvation, 
 and that we find as much satisfaction 
 in a His grace, while we are here. And 
 this was showed me in this word, " Art 
 thou well content ? " b By the other 
 word that Christ said, " If thou be 
 content, I am content," He showed me 
 the understanding as if He had said, 
 " It is joy and liking (17) enough to 
 me; and I ask nought else for my 
 travail, but that I might content thee." 
 Plenteously and fully was this showed 
 to me. Think also wisely of the great- 
 ness of this word " That ever I suffered 
 Passion for thee " for in that word 
 was a high knowing of love, and of 
 liking (17) that He had in our salvation. 
 
 * MS. lyke als mekylle with. h MS. payed. 
 
 70
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE PASSION, AND THE PROBLEM 
 OF SIN 
 
 FULL merrily and gladly our Lord looked 
 into His side, and beheld, and said this 
 word, " Lo, how I loved thee ! " as 
 if He had said, " My child, if thou 
 cannot look into My Godhead, see here 
 how I let open My side, and My heart 
 be cloven in two, and let out blood and 
 water, all that was therein. And this 
 pleases Me, and so will I that it do thee." 
 This showed our Lord to me to make 
 us glad and merry. 
 
 And with the same cheer and mirth 
 He looked down on the right side, and 
 brought to my mind where our Lady 
 71
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 stood in the time of His Passion, and 
 said : " Wilt thou see her ? " And I 
 answered and said : " Yea, good Lord, 
 gramercy, a if it be Thy will." 
 
 Ofttimes I prayed it, and thought to 
 have seen her in bodily likeness ; but I 
 saw her not so. And Jesus in that word 
 showed me a ghostly sight of her. Right 
 as I had before seen her little and simple, 
 right so He showed her then high and 
 noble and glorious and pleasant to Him 
 above all creatures. And so He wills 
 that it be known that all they that 
 joy in b Him should joy in b her, and 
 in the joy c that He has in her, and she 
 in Him. 
 
 And in that word that Jesus said, 
 " Wilt thou see her ? " methought I 
 had the most joy c that He might have 
 given me, with the ghostly showing that 
 He gave me of her. For our Lord showed 
 
 See note (6), p. 66. b M8. lyke in. 
 
 MS, lykynge. 
 
 72
 
 The Passion, and Problem of Sin 
 
 me nothing in special but our Lady Saint 
 Mary. And her He showed me in three 
 times. The first was as she conceived ; 
 the second was as she were in her sorrows 
 under the Cross ; and the third was as 
 she is now in liking (17), worship (12), 
 and joy. 
 
 And after this our Lord showed Him- 
 self to me more glorified as to my sight 
 than I saw Him before. And in this I 
 was taught that each soul contemplative 
 to which is given to look [for] and seek 
 God, shall see her, and pass unto God by 
 contemplation. And after this teach- 
 ing homely, courteous, and blissful, 
 and very life ofttimes our Lord Jesus 
 said to me : " I it am that is highest. 
 I it am that thou loves. I it am that 
 thou likes. I it am that thou serves. 
 I it am that thou longs for. I it am that 
 thou desires. I it am that thou means. 
 I it am that is all. I it am that Holy 
 Church preaches thee and teaches thee. 
 73
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 I it am that showed Me before* to 
 thee." 
 
 These words I declare not but for each 
 man after the grace that God gives him, 
 in understanding and loving [to] receive 
 them in our Lord's meaning. 
 
 And after, our Lord brought to my 
 mind the longing that I had to Him 
 before ; and I saw that nothing letted (21) 
 me but sin. And so I beheld generally 
 in us all. And methought if sin had not 
 been, we should all have been clean and 
 like to our Lord, as He made us. And 
 thus in my folly before this time oft 
 I wondered why by the great, foreseeing 
 wisdom of God sin was not letted (21). 
 For then methought that all should have 
 been well. 
 
 This stirring (1) was much to forsake ; 
 and mourning and sorrow I made for it, 
 without reason or discretion, of full 
 great pride. And nevertheless Jesus 
 
 MS. are, i.e, ere. 
 74
 
 The Passion, and Problem of Sin 
 
 in this vision informed me of all that 
 me needed. I say not that me needs 
 no more teaching ; for OUT Lord with the 
 showing has left me to Holy Church. 
 And I am hungry and thirsty and needy 
 and sinful ; and freely and willingly sub- 
 mit me to the teaching of Holy Church, 
 with all mine even-Christians, to the 
 end of my life. 
 
 He answered by this word, and said : 
 " Sin is behovely." a In this word " sin " 
 our Lord brought to my mind gener- 
 ally all that is not good the shameful 
 despite and the utter noughting that He 
 bare for us in this life and in His dying ; 
 and all the pains and passions of all His 
 creatures, ghostly and bodily (for we are 
 all in part noughted, and we should 
 
 * It is difficult to render satisfactorily this 
 phrase. Miss Warrack reads, " It hehoved that 
 there should be sin." 
 
 Compare Luke xxiv. 26, "Behoved it not the 
 Christ to suffer ? " In Lady Julian's mind sin and 
 suffering seem closely bound up. 
 75
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 be noughted following our Master Jesus, 
 till we be fully purged : that is to say, 
 till we be fully noughted of our own 
 mortal flesh, and of all our inward affec- 
 tions, which are not good ) ; and the be- 
 holding of this, with all the pains that 
 ever were, and ever shall be. 
 
 And this was showed me in a touch ; 
 and readily passed over into comfort. 
 For our good Lord God would not 
 that the soul were afeared by a this 
 ugly sight. 
 
 But I saw not sin ; for I believe 
 it has no manner of substance, nor 
 part of being ; nor it might not be 
 known but by the pains that it is 
 cause of. 
 
 And this pain, it is something, as to 
 my sight, for a time ; for it purges us, 
 and makes us to know ourselves, and 
 ask mercy. For the Passion of our 
 Lord is comfort to us against all this ; 
 
 MS. afford ede of. 
 76
 
 The Passion, and Problem of Sin 
 
 and so is His blessed will to all that 
 shall be safe. 
 
 He comforts readily and sweetly by 
 His words, and says : " But all shall 
 be well, and all manner of things shall 
 be well." These words were showed 
 well tenderly, showing no more a of 
 blame to me, nor to any that shall be 
 saved. Then were it a great unkind- 
 ness 15 of me to blame or to wonder at 
 God for my sins, since He blames not me 
 for sin. 
 
 Thus I saw how Christ has compassion 
 of us for the cause of sin ; and right 
 as I was before with the Passion of 
 Christ fulfilled with pain and compassion, 
 so in this I was in part filled with com- 
 passion of all my even-Christians. And 
 then saw I that each kind compassion 
 that man has for his even-Christians with 
 charity, it is Christ in him. 
 
 B. % P., " manner." 
 
 b i.e. a very unnatural thing. c ? natural. 
 
 77
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OF CONTENTMENT IN THE 
 ATONEMENT 
 
 BUT in this ye shall study, beholding 
 generally,* drearily and with mourn- 
 ing, saying thus to OUT Lord in my 
 meaning with full great dread : " Ah, 
 good Lord, how might all be well, for 
 the great harm that is come by sin to 
 thy creatures ? " And I desired, as I 
 durst, to have some more open declar- 
 ing, wherewith I might be eased in this. 
 And to this our blessed Lord answered 
 full meekly and with full lovely cheer, 
 and showed me that Adam's sin was the 
 most harm that ever was done, or ever 
 shall to the world's end. And also He 
 * '.. considering the matter at large. 
 78
 
 Contentment in the Atonement 
 
 showed me that this is openly known 
 in all Holy Church on earth. Further- 
 more He taught me that I should be- 
 hold the glorious Atonement*; for this 
 atonement-making is more pleasing to 
 the blessed Godhead, and more worship- 
 ful to man's salvation, without com- 
 parison, than ever was the sin of Adam 
 harmful. 
 
 Then means (7) our blessed Lord thus 
 in this teaching, that we should take 
 heed to this : " For since I have made 
 well the greatest harm, it is My will that 
 thou know thereby that I shall make 
 well all that is less." 
 
 He gave me understanding of two 
 parts : 
 
 (1) The first part is our Saviour and 
 our salvation. This blessed part is 
 open and clear and fair and light and 
 plenteous. For all mankind that is of 
 good will, or that shall be, is compre- 
 
 * JUS. asethe. 
 
 79
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 hended in this part. Hereto are we 
 bidden of God, and drawn and coun- 
 selled and taught inwardly by the Holy 
 Ghost, and outwardly by Holy Church 
 by the same grace. 
 
 In this will our Lord that we be 
 occupied, enjoying in Him, for He enjoys 
 in us. And the more plenteously that 
 we take of this, with reverence and 
 meekness, the more we deserve thanks 
 from Him, and the more speed (is) to 
 ourselves. And thus may we say, en- 
 joying : " Our part is our Lord." 
 
 (2) The other part is shut off a from 
 us, and hidden that is to say, all that 
 is beside our salvation. For this is our 
 Lord's privy counsels ; and it belongs 
 to the Royal Lordship of God for to 
 have His privy counsels in peace ; and 
 it belongs to His servants, for obedience 
 and for reverence, not to wish to know 
 His counsels. 
 
 ' MS. spared. 
 80
 
 Contentment in the Atonement 
 
 Our Lord has pity and compassion of 
 us, for that some creatures make them- 
 selves so busy therein [i.e. about God's 
 counsels]. And I am sure if we knew 
 how much we should please Him, and 
 ease ourselves, for to believe it, we would. 
 The Saints in Heaven will to know 
 nothing but what our Lord will show 
 them ; and also their charity and their 
 desire is ruled after the will of our Lord. 
 And thus ought we to will, and not* 
 to be like to Him. And then shall we 
 nothing will nor desire but the will of 
 our Lord, as He does ; for we are all 
 one in God's meaning. And here was 
 I taught that we shall only enjoy in our 
 blessed Saviour Jesus, and trust in Him 
 for all things. 
 
 MS. ne. 
 
 V 
 
 81
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ALL THINGS WELL 
 
 AND thus our good Lord answered to all 
 the questions and doubts that I might 
 make, saying full comfortably on this 
 wise : "I will make all things well : 
 I shall make all things well : I may 
 make all things well ; and I can make all 
 things well. And thou shalt see thyself 
 that all things shall be well." 
 
 Where He says, He may, I understand 
 for the Father. And where He says, 
 He can, I understand for the Son. And 
 where He says, " I will" I understand 
 for the Holy Ghost. And where He 
 says, " I shall" I understand for the 
 unity of the blessed Trinity, three 
 Persons in a truth. And where He says, 
 82
 
 All Things Well 
 
 " Thou shalt see thyself" I understand 
 the oneing of all mankind that shall be 
 safe into the blessed Trinity. 
 
 And in these iive words God wills 
 [that we] be closed in rest and in peace. 
 And thus has the ghostly thirst of Christ 
 an end. For this is the ghostly thirst 
 the love-longing. And that lasts, and 
 ever shall, till we see that Sight at 
 Doomsday. For we that shall be safe, 
 and shall be Christ's joy and His bliss, 
 are yet here, and shall be unto that Day. 
 Therefore this is the thirst the failing 
 of His bliss, that He has us not in Him 
 as wholly as He shall then have. 
 
 All this was showed me in the showing 
 of compassion ; for that shall cease at 
 Doomsday. Thus He hath ruth and 
 compassion of us, and He has longing 
 to have us. But His wisdom and His 
 love suffers not the end to come till 
 the best time. 
 
 And in these same five words before- 
 83
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 said : " I may make all things well," 
 I understand a mighty comfort of all 
 the works of our Lord that are for to 
 come. For right as the blessed Trinity 
 made all things of nought, right so the 
 same blessed Trinity shall make well 
 all that is not well. It is God's will that 
 we have great regard to all the deeds 
 that He has done, for He wills that we 
 know thereby all that He shall do. And 
 that showed He me in this word that He 
 said, " And thou shalt see thyself that 
 all manner of things shall be well." 
 
 This I understand in two manners : 
 one, I am well content* that I know 
 it not : another, I am glad and merry, 
 for I shall know it. It is God's will 
 that we know that all shall be well in 
 general ; but it is not God's will that we 
 should know it now, but as it belongs to 
 us for the time. And that is the teaching 
 of Holy Church. 
 
 MS. payed. 
 84
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE UNIVERSALITY OF SIN 
 
 GOD showed me full great pleasance that 
 He has in all men and women that 
 mightily and meekly and worshipfully 
 receive* the preaching and the teach- 
 ing of Holy Church. For He is Holy 
 Church. For He is the Ground : He is 
 the Substance : He is the Teaching : 
 He is the Teacher : He is the End : 
 He is the Midst, b for which each 
 true soul travails. And He is known 
 and shall be known to each soul to whom 
 the Holy Ghost declares it. And I am 
 sure that all those that feel thus shall 
 speed (is), for they seek God. 
 
 MS. take. b ? meed. MS. myddes. 
 
 * MS. wharefore. 
 
 85
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 All this that I have now said, and 
 more that I shall say after, is comforting 
 against'sin. For first, when I saw that 
 [God] does all that is done, I saw not sin. 
 And then saw I that all is well. But 
 when God showed me sin, then said He, 
 "All shall be well." And when God 
 Almighty had showed me plenteously 
 and fully of His goodness, I desired of 
 a certain person that I loved, How it 
 should be with her. And in this desire 
 I letted (21) myself, for I was not taught 
 in this time. 
 
 And then was I answered in my reason, 
 as it were by a friendly man : " Take 
 it generally ; and behold the courtesy 
 of thy Lord God as He shows it to thee ; 
 for it is more worship (12) to God to 
 behold Him in all, than in any special 
 thing." 
 
 I assented, and therewith I learned 
 that it is more worship (12) to God to 
 know all things in general than to like 
 80
 
 The Universality of Sin 
 
 in a any thing in special. And if I 
 should do wisely, after this teaching, 
 I should not be glad for anything in 
 special, nor distressed for any manner 
 of thing ; for " all shall be well." 
 
 God brought to my mind that I should 
 sin. And for liking (17) that I had in 
 beholding Him, I attended not readily 
 to that showing. And our Lord full 
 courteously abode till I would attend. 
 And then our Lord brought to mind, 
 with my sins, the sin of all mine even- 
 Christians in general, and nothing in 
 special. 
 
 * i. take pleasure in. 
 
 97
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE SCOURGE AND SALVE OF SIN 
 
 ALTHOUGH* our Lord showed me that 
 I should sin, by me alone I understood 
 all. In this I conceived a soft dread. 
 And to this our Lord answered me thus : 
 " I keep thee full surely." This word 
 was said to me with more love and sure- 
 ness of ghostly keeping than I can or 
 may tell. For, as it was before showed 
 me, " That I should sin," right so was 
 the comfort showed to me sureness of 
 keeping for all mine even- Christians. 
 What may make me more to love mine 
 even- Christians than to see in God that 
 He loves all that shall be safe, as it 
 were all one b soul ? 
 
 W Iff alia. b MS. a. 
 
 98
 
 The Scourge and Salve of Sin 
 
 And in each soul that shall be safe 
 is a goodly will that never assented to 
 sin, nor ever shall. For as there is 
 an animal R will in the lower nature b 
 that may will no good ; so there is a 
 goodly will in the higher nature that 
 may will no evil, but ever good, no more 
 than the Persons of the blessed Trinity. 
 
 And this showed our Lord me in the 
 wholeness of love, that we stand in His 
 sight : yea, that He loves us now as 
 well whiles we are here, as He shall do 
 when we are There before His blessed face. 
 
 Also God showed me that sin is no 
 shame, but worship (12) to man. For 
 in this sight mine understanding was 
 lifted up into Heaven. And then came 
 verily to my mind David, Peter and 
 Paul, Thomas of India, and the Magdalen, 
 how they are known in the Church on 
 earth with their sins to their worship (12) ; 
 
 * MS. beitely. b MS. nether party. 
 
 ' MS. over party. 
 
 89
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 and it is to them no shame that they 
 have sinned. No more is it in the bliss 
 of Heaven, for there the tokening a of 
 sin is turned into worship (12). Right 
 so our Lord God showed me them in 
 en sample of all others that shall come 
 thither. 
 
 Sin is the sharpest scourge that any 
 chosen soul may be beaten with ; which 
 scourge altogether beats b man and 
 woman, and altogether breaks them, 
 and noughts them in their own sight, 
 so far forth that they think they are not 
 worthy but as it were to sink into hell. 
 But when contrition takes him by the 
 touching of the Holy Ghost, then turns 
 he bitterness into hope of God's mercy. 
 And then begin his wounds to heal, and 
 the soul to quicken, turned into the life 
 of Holy Church. The Holy Ghost leads 
 
 * i.e. that which betokens sin. 
 b MS. it alle forbettes. 
 
 MS. alle for broke*. 
 
 90
 
 The Scourge and Salve of Sin 
 
 him to confession, willingly to show his 
 sins, nakedly and truly, with great 
 sorrow and great shame that he has so 
 defiled* the fair image of God. Then 
 he takes penance for each sin, enjoined 
 by his doomsman b that is grounded in 
 Holy Church, by the teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 By this medicine it behoves every 
 sinful soul to be healed ; and especially 
 of sins that are mortal in themselves.* 
 Though he be healed, his wounds are 
 seen before God, not as wounds but as 
 worships (12). And so, contrary wise, 
 as he is punished here with sorrow and 
 with penance, he shall be rewarded in 
 Heaven by the courteous love of our Lord 
 God Almighty, Who will that none that 
 comes there lose his travail. 
 
 That meed (22) that we shall receive 
 there shall not be little ; but it shall be 
 
 * MS. dtfowled. b i.e. his confewor. 
 
 M8. dedely in the slfe. 
 
 91
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 high, glorious and worshipful (12). And 
 so shall all shame turn into worship (12) 
 and into more joy. And I am sure by 
 mine own feeling that the more each 
 kind soul sees this in the kind and 
 courteous love of God, the more loth 
 is he for to sin.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 CHOOSE PAIN RATHER THAN SIN 
 
 BUT if thou be stirred (i) to say or to 
 think : " Since this is true, then were it 
 good for to sin, for to have the more 
 meed," B beware of this stirring (i), 
 and despise it, for it is of the enemy. 
 For whatever soul wilfully takes this 
 stirring, 15 he may never be safe, till 
 he be amended [of it], as of mortal 
 sin. For if there were laid before me 
 all the pain that is in hell and purgatory, 
 and in earth death and other [pains] ; 
 and sin ; I had liefer choose all that 
 pain than sin. For sin is so vile, and so 
 much for to hate, that it may be likened 
 
 * Of. Rom. vi. l. 
 
 b t.a. willingly welcomes this temptation. 
 
 98
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 to no pain that is not sin. For all is 
 good but sin ; and nothing is wicked but 
 sin. 
 
 Sin is neither deed nor liking. a But 
 when a soul wilfully (8) chooses sin, which 
 is pain, as before b his God, at the end 
 he has right nought. 
 
 That pain I think is the hardest hell ; 
 for he has not his God. In all pains a 
 soul may have God, except in sin. And 
 as mighty, and as wise as God is to save 
 man, [even] as willing He is. 
 
 For Christ Himself is the ground of 
 all the laws of Christian men. And He 
 has taught us to do good against evil. 
 Here may we see that He is Himself 
 this charity, and does to us as He 
 teaches us to do. For He will that we 
 be like to Him in oneness of endless 
 love, to ourselves and to our even- 
 
 * Sir Jame* Murray sends this explanation : " i.e. 
 neither what one does nor what one would like to 
 do." 
 
 fc ? rather than. 
 
 94
 
 Choose Pain rather than Sin 
 
 Christians. No more than His love is 
 broken to us for our sin, no more will 
 He that our love be broken to ourselves 
 nor to our even- Christians ; but [that 
 we] nakedly* hate sin, and endlessly 
 love the soul, as God loves it. For this 
 word that God said is an endless comfort 
 that keeps us full surely. 
 i.e. simply. 
 
 95
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 CONCERNING PRAYER 
 
 AFTER this our Lord showed me con- 
 cerning Prayer.* I saw two conditions 
 [needful] in them that pray, according 
 to that b I have felt in myself. 
 
 One is, they will not pray for anything 
 that may be, but that thing that is God's 
 will and His worship (12). 
 
 Another is, that they set them mightily 
 and continually to beseech that thing 
 that is His will and His worship (12). 
 
 And that is as I have understood by 
 the teaching of Holy Church, for in this 
 our Lord taught me the same, to have 
 of God's gift faith, hope and charity, 
 and keep us therein to our lives' end. 
 
 MS. foure prayers. b MS. After that. 
 
 96
 
 Concerning Prayer 
 
 And in this we say Pater nosier, Ave, 
 and Crede, with devotion as God will 
 give it. 
 
 And thus we pray for all our even- 
 Christians, and for all manner of men 
 that God wills.* For we would that 
 all manner of men and women were in 
 the same virtue and grace that we ought 
 to desire for ourselves. But yet in all 
 this ofttimes our trust is not full ; for 
 we are not sure that God Almighty hears 
 us, as we think because of our unworthi- 
 ness, and because we feel right nought. 
 For we are 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 weakness for thus have I felt 
 in myself. 
 
 And all this brought our Lord suddenly 
 to my mind, and mightily and lively 
 and comforting me against this manner 
 of weakness in prayers, and said : 
 
 * MS. God es wille es. 
 G 97
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 " I am the ground of thy beseeching. 
 
 " First, it is My will that thou have it. 
 
 " And then I make thee to will it. 
 
 " And then I make thee to beseech it. 
 
 " And if thou beseech it, how should it 
 then be that thou should not have thy 
 beseeching ? " 
 
 And thus in the first reason, with the 
 three that follow after, our Lord showed 
 a mighty comfort. And the first, where 
 He says : "If thou beseech," there He 
 shows full great pleasance,* and endless 
 meed (22) that He will give us for our 
 beseeching. 
 
 And in the fourth reason, where He 
 says : " How should it then be that 
 thou should not have thy beseeching ? " 
 there He shows a sober b undertaking ; 
 for we trust not as mightily as we 
 should do. 
 
 Thus will our Lord that we both pray 
 and trust ; for the cause of the reasons 
 
 * i.e. kindness. b i.e. quiet, firm. 
 
 98
 
 Concerning Prayer 
 
 beforesaid is to make us mighty against 
 weakness in our prayers. For it is God's 
 will that we pray, and thereto He stirs 
 us in these words beforesaid. For He 
 will that we be sure to have our prayers, 
 for prayer pleases God. Prayer pleases 
 man with a himself, and makes him sober 
 (20) and meek that beforehand was in 
 strife and travail. 
 
 Prayer ones the soul to God. For 
 though the soul be ever like God in 
 nature b and in substance, it is oft un- 
 like in condition through sin on man's 
 part. Then makes prayer the soul like 
 unto God, when the soul will as God 
 will. And then is it like to God in con- 
 dition, as it is in nature. b 
 
 And thus He teaches us to pray, and 
 
 mightily to trust that we shall have 
 
 what we pray for. For all-thing that is 
 
 done should be done though we never 
 
 prayed it. But the love of God is so 
 
 ? within. b MS. kynde. 
 
 99
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 great that He holds us partners of His 
 good deed. And therefore He stirs us 
 to pray for what it pleases Him to do 
 for us. a For whatever prayer or good 
 will we have of His gift, He will reward 
 us and give us endless meed. 
 
 And this was showed me in this word : 
 " If thou beseech it." In this word God 
 showed me so great pleasance and so 
 great liking (17) as if He were much 
 beholden to us for each good deed that 
 we do (although it is He that does it), 
 and for that we beseech [Him] busily to do 
 that thing that pleases Him. As if He 
 said : " How might thou please Me more 
 than to beseech [Me] busily, wisely and 
 wilfully (17) to do that thing that I 
 will do ? " 
 
 And thus prayer makes accord betwixt 
 God and man's soul. For at what time 
 man's soul is homely with God, he needs 
 not to pray, but behold reverently what 
 
 MS. that hym likes us to do. 
 100
 
 Concerning Prayer 
 
 He says. For in all this time that this 
 was showed me, I was not stirred to 
 pray, but to have always this well in 
 my mind for comfort that when we 
 see God we have what we desire, and then 
 we need not to pray : but when we see 
 not God, then do we need to pray, because 
 of failing, and for attuning a ourselves 
 to Jesus. For when a soul is tempted, 
 troubled and left to itself by unrest, 
 then is it time to pray, and to make 
 himself simple and buxom to God. Unless 
 he be buxom (23), no manner of prayer 
 makes God supple to him, for He is ever 
 alike in love. 
 
 But in the time that man is in sin, he 
 is so unmighty, so unwise, and so un- 
 loving, that he cannot love God or him- 
 self. The most mischief that he has is 
 blindness ; for he sees not all this. 
 Then the whole love of God Almighty, 
 that ever is one, gives him sight to him- 
 MS. habelynge. 
 101
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 self. And then thinks he that God 
 were wrath with him for his sin. And 
 then is he stirred to contrition, and by 
 confession and other good deeds to slake 
 the wrath of God, until the time he 
 find rest in soul, and softness in con- 
 science. And then he thinks that God 
 has forgiven his sins. And it is true. 
 
 And then is God, in the sight of the 
 soul, turned to behold the soul, as if it 
 had been in pain or in prison, saying 
 thus : "I am glad that thou art come 
 to rest ; for I have ever loved thee, 
 and now love Thee, and thou Me." 
 
 And thus with prayers, as I have before 
 said, and with other good works, that 
 are customable by the teaching of Holy 
 Church, is the soul oned to God. 
 
 [Note. There is a great gap here in 
 
 our manuscript, as compared with the 
 
 Sloane and Paris manuscripts. All that 
 
 is contained in their chapters xliv. to Ixiii. 
 
 102
 
 Concerning Prayer 
 
 is omitted, and the manuscript proceeds 
 without any sign of a break having 
 occurred. These chapters seem to be 
 reflexions of the writer during the fifteen 
 or twenty years that followed the 
 Revelations. See Introduction, p. 10.] 
 
 103
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 "SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE" 
 
 BEFORE this time I had oft great longing, 
 and desired of God's gift to be delivered 
 out of this world and of this life, for I 
 should be with my God in bliss, where 
 I hope surely through His mercy to be 
 without end. For ofttimes I beheld 
 the woe that is here, and the weal and 
 the blessed being, There. And if there 
 had been no pain in earth but the 
 absence of our Lord God, methought 
 sometime it were more than I might 
 bear. 
 
 And this made me to mourn and 
 
 busily (24) long. Then God said to me, 
 
 for patience and for sufferance, thus : 
 
 " Suddenly thou shalt be taken from all 
 
 104
 
 "Sure and Certain Hope" 
 
 thy pain, from all thy distress, and from 
 all thy woe. And thou shalt come up 
 above ; and thou shalt have Me for thy 
 meed ; and thou shalt be fulfilled with 
 joy and bliss ; and thou shalt never have 
 any manner of pain, any manner of 
 sickness, any manner of misliking, a 
 any wanting of will, but ever joy and 
 bliss without end. What should it then 
 grieve thee to suffer a while, since it is 
 my will and my worship ? " 
 
 Also in this reason, " Suddenly thou 
 shalt be taken," I saw how God 
 rewards man of the patience that he 
 has in abiding of God's will in his time, 
 and that man lengthens his patience over 
 the time of his living, not knowing the 
 time of his passing away. b This is 
 a great profit, for if a man knew his 
 time, he should not have patience over 
 that time. 
 
 * dissatisfaction. 
 
 b for unknawynge of his time of passynge. 
 
 105
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 Also God will, while the soul is in the 
 body, that it seem to itself that it is 
 ever at the point to be taken ; for all 
 this life, in this languor that we have 
 here, is but a point. And when we are 
 taken suddenly out of pain into bliss, 
 it shall be nought. And therefore said 
 our Lord, " What should it then grieve 
 thee to suffer awhile, since it is my will 
 and my worship ? " (12) 
 
 It is God's 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 abiding 
 and our distress as lightly as we may 
 take them, and set them at nought. 
 For the lightlyer we take them, the less 
 price we set by them for love, a the 
 less pain shall we have in the feeling of 
 them, and the more thanks we shall 
 have for them. 
 
 In this blessed revelation I was truly 
 
 i.e. for love's sake. 
 106
 
 "Sure and Certain Hope" 
 
 taught that what man or woman wil- 
 fully (8) chooses God in his life, he may 
 be sure that he is chosen. Keep this 
 truly ; for verily it is God's will that we 
 be as secure in trust of the bliss in 
 Heaven, whiles we are here, as we should 
 be in security when we are there. And 
 ever the more liking (17) and the joy 
 that we take in this security, with 
 reverence and meekness, the better is 
 He pleased.* 
 
 For I am sure that if there had been 
 none but I that should be safe, God 
 would have done all that He has done 
 for me ; and so should each soul think 
 in knowing of his Lover ; forgetting, 
 if he might, all [other] creatures, and 
 thinking that God has done for him all 
 that He has done. And this, methinks, 
 should stir a soul to love and like Him, 
 and nought dread but Him. 
 
 For it is His will that we know that 
 
 likes hym. 
 107
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 all the might of our enemy is locked* 
 in our Friend's hand. And therefore 
 a soul that knows surely this, shall 
 nought dread but Him that he loves, and 
 set all other dreads among passions and 
 bodily sicknesses and imaginations. 
 
 And therefore, if a man be in so much 
 pain, so much woe, and so much distress, 
 that he thinks that he can think of right 
 nought but that that he is in, or that he 
 feels, as soon as he may, [let him] 
 pass lightly over, and set it at nought. 
 And why ? because God will be known. 
 For if we knew Him and loved Him, 
 we should have patience and be in great 
 rest, and we should be satisfied with 
 all b that He does. 
 
 And this showed our Lord me in these 
 words that He said, " What should it 
 then grieve thee to suffer awhile, since 
 it is My will and My worship ? " And 
 here was an end of all that our Lord 
 
 MS. loken. b it should be lykynge to us. 
 
 108
 
 "Sure and Certain Hope" 
 
 showed me that day. [See fuller note 
 of the time and order of the Revelations 
 at close of chapter Ixv. in the other 
 editions.] 
 
 109
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 AND after this soon I fell to myself, and 
 into my bodily sickness, understanding 
 that I should live ; and as a wretch I 
 heavied and mourned for the bodily 
 pains that I felt, and thought it great 
 irksomeness that I should longer live. 
 And I was as barren and dry as if I had 
 never had but little comfort before, 
 through falling into a my pains, and 
 failing of ghostly feeling. 
 
 Then came a Religious person to me, 
 and asked me how I fared. And I said 
 that I had raved that day. And he 
 laughed loud and heartily. b 
 
 And I said : " The Cross that stood 
 * MS. for fallynge to. b MS. entirely. 
 
 110
 
 Reaction, and Nightmare 
 
 at my bed's foot, it bled fast." And 
 with this word the person that I spoke to 
 waxed all sad (4) and marvelling. And 
 anon I was sore ashamed for my reck- 
 lessness, and I thought thus : " This 
 man takes it sadly (4), the least word 
 that I might say, though I say a no 
 more thereto." And when I saw that 
 he took it so sadly, and with so great 
 reverence, I waxed right greatly ashamed, 
 and would have been shriven. But I 
 could tell it no priest ; for I thought, 
 " How should a priest believe me ? 
 I believed not our Lord God." This I 
 believed truly for the time that I saw 
 Him ; and so was then my will and 
 my meaning ever to do without end. 
 But as a fool I let it pass from my mind. 
 Lo, wretch that I am ! this was a great 
 sin and a great unkindness, that for 
 folly of feeling of a little bodily pain, 
 I so unwisely left for a time the comfort 
 
 MS. that says. 
 Ill
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 of all this blessed showing of our Lord 
 God. 
 
 Here may ye see what I am of myself. 
 But herein would not - our courteous 
 Lord leave me. And I lay still till 
 night, trusting in His mercy. And then 
 I began to sleep. And in my sleep at 
 the beginning methought the fiend set 
 him at my throat, and would have 
 strangled me ; but he might not. 
 
 Then I woke out of my sleep, and 
 scarcely had I my life. The persons 
 that were with me beheld me, and wet 
 my temples. And my heart began to 
 [take] comfort. 
 
 And anon a little smoke came in at 
 the door, with a great heat and a foul 
 stench . a I said, " Benedicite dominus. 
 Is all on fire that is here ? " And I 
 thought it had been a bodily fire that 
 should have burned us to death. I 
 asked them that were with me if they 
 
 MS. styuke. 
 112
 
 Reaction, and Nightmare 
 
 felt any stench. They said, " Nay, 
 they felt none." I said, " Blessed be 
 God ! " For then knew I well it was 
 the fiend was come to tempest me. 
 
 And anon I took that that our Lord 
 had showed me on the same day with all 
 the faith of Holy Church, for I hold 
 it as both one ; and I fled thereto as to 
 my comfort. And all-soon all vanished 
 away, and I was brought to great rest 
 and peace, without sickness of body 
 or dread of conscience. 
 
 113
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE SOUL CHRIST'S HOMELIEST HOME 
 
 BUT then I remained awake ; and then 
 our Lord opened my spiritual eyes, and 
 showed me my soul in the midst of my 
 heart. I saw my soul so large as it were 
 a kingdom ; and by the conditions that 
 I saw therein, methought it was a wor- 
 shipful City. 
 
 In the midst of this City sits our Lord 
 Jesus, very God and very man ; a fair 
 Person, and of large stature ; worshipful, 
 highest Lord. And I saw Him clad 
 solemnly in worships (12). He sits in the 
 soul, even-right in peace and rest. And 
 He rules and guards a Heaven and 
 earth, and all that is. The manhood 
 
 " MS. zcmez. 
 114
 
 The Soul Christ's Home 
 
 with the Godhead sits in rest. And the 
 Godhead rules and guards a without any 
 instrument or busyness. 
 
 And my soul [I saw] blissfully occupied 
 by the Godhead, that is Sovereign Might, 
 Sovereign Wisdom, Sovereign Goodness. 
 The place that Jesus takes in our soul, 
 He shall never remove it without end ; 
 for in us is His homeliest home, and most 
 liking to Him to dwell in. 
 
 This was a delectable sight, and a 
 restful ; for it is so in truth without end. 
 And the beholding of this whiles we are 
 here is full pleasing to God, and full 
 great speed (is) to us. And the soul 
 that thus beholds it makes itfself] like 
 to Him that is beheld, and ones [it] in 
 rest and in peace. And this was a 
 singular joy and a bliss to me, that I saw 
 Him sit ; for the beholding of this 
 sitting showed to me the sureness of His 
 endless [in]dwelling. 
 
 MS. zemez. 
 115
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 And I knew truly that it was He that 
 showed me all before. And when I had 
 beheld this full advisedly,* then our 
 Lord showed me words full meekly, 
 without voice and without opening of 
 lips, as He had done before, and said 
 full soberly (20) : " Know it well, it was 
 no raving that thou sawest to-day ; 
 but take it, and believe it, and keep thee 
 thereto ; and thou shalt not be over- 
 come." 
 
 These last words were said to me for 
 teaching b of full true sureness, that 
 it is our Lord Jesus that showed me all. 
 For right as in the first word that our 
 Lord showed me, meaning His blessed 
 Passion, "Herewith is the fiend over- 
 come," right so He said in the last word, 
 with full true sureness, " Thou shalt not 
 be overcome." 
 
 And this teaching, 1 * and this true 
 
 MS. with fulle avisement. 
 b MS. lernynge. 
 
 116
 
 The Soul Christ's Home 
 
 comfort, is as generally to all mine even- 
 Christians, as I have before said ; and 
 so is God's will. And this word, " Thou 
 shalt not be overcome," was said full 
 sharply,* and full mightily, for sureness 
 and comfort against all tribulations that 
 may come. He said not, " Thou shalt 
 not be tempested ; thou shalt not be 
 travailed ; thou shalt not be distressed " ; 
 but He said, " Thou shalt not be over- 
 come." God will that we take heed to 
 His word, and that we be ever mightily 
 in sureness, in weal and in woe. For 
 He loves us, and likes us ; and so will 
 He that we love Him, and like Him, 
 and mightily trust in Him ; and all 
 shall be well. And soon after all was 
 closed, b and I saw no more. 
 ? distinctly. b MS. close. 
 
 117
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 SHE DEFIES THE DEVIL AND SIN 
 
 AFTER this the fiend came again, with 
 his heat and with his stench,* and 
 made me full busy, the stench was so 
 vile and so painful, and the bodily heat 
 also dreadful and travailous. And also 
 I heard a bodily (3) jangling and a 
 speaking as it had been of two bodies ; 
 and both, to my thinking, jangled at 
 once, as if they had been holding a 
 parliament, very busily ; and all was 
 soft muttering ; and I understood not 
 what they said. But all this was to 
 stir me to despair, as methought. And 
 I trusted busily (24) in God, and com- 
 forted my soul with bodily (3) speech, 
 JUS. stynke. 
 118
 
 She Defies the Devil and Sin 
 
 as I should have done to another person 
 than myself, that had been so travailed. 
 
 Methought this busy-ness might be 
 likened to no bodily busy-ness. My 
 bodily eyes I set upon the same Cross 
 that I had seen comfort in before that 
 time. My tongue I occupied with speech 
 of Christ's Passion, and rehearsing of 
 the faith of Holy Church. And my 
 heart I fastened on God with all the 
 trust and all the might that was in me. 
 And I thought to myself, saying a : 
 " Thou hast now great busy-ness. b 
 Wouldst thou now from this time ever- 
 more be as busy to keep thee from sin, 
 this were a sovereign and good occupa- 
 tion." For I trow truly, were I safe 
 from sin, I were fully safe from all 
 the fiends of hell and enemies of my 
 soul. 
 
 And thus they occupied me all the 
 
 MS. menande. 
 
 b i.e. thou art now much in earnest. 
 
 119
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 night, and in the morning till it was 
 about the prime of day. And then anon 
 they were all gone and passed ; and they 
 left nothing but stench, and that lasted 
 still a while. And I scorned them ; 
 and thus was I delivered of them by the 
 virtue of Christ's Passion, for " therewith 
 is the fiend overcome," as Christ said 
 before to me. 
 
 " Ah, wretched sin, what art thou ? 
 Thou art nought ! For I saw that God 
 is all-thing. I saw not thee. And when 
 I saw that God has made all-thing, I 
 saw thee not. And when I saw that 
 God does all-thing that is done, less and 
 more, I saw thee not. And when I saw 
 our Lord Jesus sit in our soul so worship- 
 fully, and love and like and rule and 
 guard a all that He has made, I saw 
 not thee. 
 
 " And thus I am sure that thou art 
 nought ; and all those that love thee, 
 * MS. zeme. 
 120
 
 She Defies the Devil and Sin 
 
 and like thee, and follow thee, and 
 wilfully (12) end in thee, I am sure they 
 shall be brought to nought with thee, 
 and endlessly confounded. God shield 
 us all from thee ! Amen, for charity." 
 
 And what wretchedness is all-thing 
 that is not good, the ghostly blindness 
 that we fall into in the first sin, and 
 all that follows of that wretchedness, 
 passions and pains, ghostly or bodily, 
 and all that is in earth, or in other place, 
 which is not good. 
 
 And then may be asked of this, " What 
 are we ? " And I answer to this : 
 If all were departed (6) from us that is 
 not good, we should be good. When 
 wretchedness is departed (6) from us, 
 God and the soul is all one, and God and 
 man all one. 
 
 What is all on earth that severs* 
 
 us ? I answer and say, In that it 
 
 serves us, it is good. And in that it 
 
 * MS. twynnes. 
 
 121
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 shall perish, it is wretchedness. And 
 in that a man sets his heart thereupon 
 otherwise than thus, it is sin. And for 
 that time that man or woman loves sin, 
 if there be any such, he is in pain that 
 passes all pains. And when he loves 
 not sin, but hates it, and loves God, all 
 is well. 
 
 And he that truly does thus, though he 
 sin sometime, by frailty or lack of know- 
 ledge,* [yet] in his will he falls not, for 
 he will mightily rise again and behold 
 God, whom he loves in all his will. God 
 has made them b to be loved of him or 
 her that was a sinner ; but ever He loves, 
 and ever He longs to have our love. 
 And when we mightily and wisely love 
 Jesus, we are in peace. 
 
 All the blessed teaching of our Lord 
 God was showed to me by three parts, 
 as I have said before, that is to say, 
 
 * MS. unkunnynge. b Probably for "Him." 
 
 c See page 43. 
 
 122
 
 She Defies the Devil and Sin 
 
 by the bodily sight, and by word formed 
 in mine understanding, and by ghostly 
 sight. 
 
 As for the bodily sight, I have said as 
 I saw, as truly as I can. 
 
 And as for the words formed, I have 
 said them right as our Lord showed me 
 them. 
 
 And as for the ghostly sight, I have 
 said somewhat a ; but I may never 
 fully tell it. And therefore of this 
 ghostly sight I am stirred to say more, 
 as God will give me grace. 
 MS. somdele. 
 
 128
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 LOVE THE ANTIDOTE TO IMPATIENCE 
 
 GOD showed me two manners of sickness 
 that we have, of which He will that we be 
 amended. The one is impatience, for 
 we bear our trial and our pain heavily. 
 The other is despair, of doubtful dread, 
 as I shall say afterwards. 
 
 And these two it is that most travails 
 us and tempests us, as by that our 
 Lord showed me, and [it is] liefest a to 
 Him that these be amended. I speak 
 of such men and women as for God's 
 love hate sin and dispose them to do 
 God's will : then are these two secret b 
 sins (and) most busy about us. There- 
 fore it is God's will that they be known, 
 
 * MS. maste lefe. b MS, prive. 
 
 124
 
 Love the Antidote to Impatience 
 
 and then shall we refuse them, as we do 
 other sins. 
 
 And thus full meekly our Lord showed 
 me the patience that He had in His 
 hard Passion, and also the joy and the 
 liking (17) that He has in that Passion 
 for love. And this He showed me in 
 ensample, 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 travailed 
 with them is for our lack of knowing a 
 of love. Though the Persons in the 
 blessed Trinity be all even in property, 
 love was most showed to me, that it is 
 most near to us all. And of this knowing 
 are we most blind. 
 
 For many men and women 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, 
 
 MS. unknawynge. 
 125
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 and will do all, there they stop 
 short. a 
 
 And this lack of knowing b it is 
 that most lets God's lovers. For when 
 they begin to hate sin, and to amend 
 them by the ordinance of Holy Church, 
 yet there dwells a dread that stirs them 
 to beholding of themselves and of their 
 sins before done. And this dread they 
 take for a meekness ; but this is a foul 
 blindness and a weakness, and c we 
 cannot despise it. For if we knew it 
 that, we should suddenly despise it, as 
 we do another sin that we know ; for 
 it comes of the enemy, and it is against 
 the truth. 
 
 For of all the properties of the blessed 
 Trinity, it is God's will that we have 
 most sureness in liking (17) and love. 
 For Love makes Might and Wisdom 
 full meek to us. For right as by the 
 courtesy of God He forgets our sins 
 
 * MS. stynte. b MS. unknawnyge. c ? if. 
 
 126
 
 Love the Antidote to Impatience 
 
 when we repent, ft right so will He that 
 we forget our sin, and all our heaviness, 
 and all our doubtful dreads. 
 
 " MS. for tyme we repent us. 
 
 127
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 FEAR GOD; FEAR NOUGHT ELSE 
 
 FOR I saw four manner of dreads. 
 
 One is dread of a fright* that comes 
 to a man suddenly by frailty. This 
 dread is good, for it helps to purge a man, 
 as does 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 
 a man is stirred and wakened from the 
 sleep of sin. For man that is hard 
 in the sleep of sin, he is not able for the 
 time to receive the soft comfort of the 
 Holy Ghost, till he has gotten this dread 
 of pain and of bodily death and of the 
 fire of Purgatory. And this dread stirs 
 
 MS. fray. 
 128
 
 Fear God; Fear Nought Else 
 
 him to seek comfort and mercy of God. 
 And thus this dread helps him as an 
 adventure/ and enables him to have 
 contrition by the blessed teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 The third is a doubtful dread ; for 
 though it be little in itself, if it were 
 known it is a species b of despair. 
 For I am sure that all doubtful dreads 
 God hates, and He wills that we have 
 them departed (6) from us with true 
 knowing of love. 
 
 The fourth is reverent dread, for there 
 is no dread that pleases Him in us but 
 reverent dread. And that is full sweet 
 and soft for greatness of love. And 
 yet is this reverent dread and love not 
 both one ; but they are two in property 
 and working ; and neither of them may 
 be had without the other. 
 
 MS. autre. ? entry, as de Cressy. Sir James 
 Murray suggests, " as a risk or peril." 
 b MS. spice. 
 
 I 129
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 Therefore I am sure, he that loves, 
 he dreads, though he feel but little. 
 All dreads other than reverent dreads 
 that are proffered to us, though they 
 come under the colour of holiness, they 
 are not so true. And hereby may they 
 be known and discerned, which is 
 wlrch. For this reverent dread, the 
 more it is had, the more it softens and 
 comforts and pleases and rests ; and the 
 false dread it travails and tempests 
 and troubles. 
 
 Then is this the remedy to know them 
 both, and refuse the false, right as we 
 would do a wicked spiiit that showed 
 himself in the likeness of a good angel. 
 For right as such a spirit, though he 
 come under the colour and likeness of a 
 good angel, his dalliance and his working 
 though he show never so fair, first he 
 travails and tempests and troubles the 
 person that he speaks with, and lets (21) 
 him, and leaves him all in unrest ; and 
 130
 
 Fear God; Fear Nought Else 
 
 the more that he communes with him, 
 the more he travails him, and the farther 
 he is from peace. 
 
 Therefore it is God's will, and our 
 speed (is), that we know them thus 
 asunder ; for God will ever that we be 
 secure in love, and peaceable and restful, 
 as He is to us. And right so of the same 
 condition as He is to us, so will He that 
 we be to our selves and to our even- 
 Christians. Amen. 
 
 EXPLICIT JULIANE DE NORWYCH. 
 
 131
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 1. Stir, move, prompt, encourage, incline, tempt. 
 
 2. Mind, memory, understanding, apprehension. 
 
 3. Bodily (adj. or adv.), outward, visible, audible, 
 physical. 
 
 4. Sad, sadly, (originally) firm, strong ; (later) 
 sober, serious. 
 
 5. Shewing, vision, revelation. 
 
 6. Depart (verb, active), separate, remove. (Cf. 
 Early Prayer Book, "Till death us depart.") 
 
 7. Mean, meaning, intend, signify. 
 
 8. Wilful, willing, purposeful, earnest. 
 
 9. Ghostly, spiritual. 
 
 10. Langoured forth, lay on in languor. 
 
 11. Me liked, him liked, etc., I liked, or cared ; 
 it pleased him ; he was pleased. 
 
 12. Worship (worshipful], glory, honour. 
 
 13. May, might, often stand for can, could. 
 
 14. Kind (noun, and adj.), nature, natural. 
 
 15. Generally, universally, in general, at large, to 
 all alike. 
 
 16. Singularly, particularly, in special. 
 
 17- Liking (noun), pleasure, joy, satisfaction, 
 favour. 
 
 133
 
 Lady Julian's Teachings 
 
 18. To speed, to help, further, benefit. (And simi- 
 larly with the noun " speed," and adj. "speedful.") 
 
 19. Passing, surpassing, abundant, overflowing. 
 
 20. Sober, quiet, steady. (Cf. " soberly, right- 
 eously, and godly.") 
 
 21. Let, hinder. (Of. " Sore let and hindered.") 
 
 22. Meed, reward. 
 
 23. Buxom, obedient, compliant, well disposed, 
 loyal. (In Norwich it was the ancient duty of the 
 Sheriff " to be buxom to the Mayor.") 
 
 24. Busily, earnestly, eagerly. 
 
 TUBKBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, KD1NBUHOH
 
 TWO STANDARD WORKS ON 
 CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM 
 
 436 Pages. Large crown Svt, handsome cloth, 6t. 
 
 The History and Life of the 
 
 REVEREND DOCTOR 
 
 JOHN TAULER 
 
 of Strasbourg 
 WITH TWENTY-FIVE OF HIS SERMONS (TEMP. 1340) 
 
 Translated by SUSANNA WINKWORTH and a Preface 
 by the late Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY 
 
 NOTE. This valuable book was for many years out of print, and as 
 much as twenty-five shillings has been paid for a second-hand copy. This 
 new edition at six shillings puts it within the reach of all interested 
 in its absorbing topic. 
 
 The Glasgow Herald. "Mr Allenson has conferred a service on all 
 lovers of the mystics and of Tauler in particular as the leading representa- 
 tive of German mysticism of the fourteenth century, by this re-issue of an 
 excellent work." 
 
 LUTHER says of TAULBR : " If you have a mind to read a book of pure, 
 thorough, Divine learning, get for yourself the sermons of John Tauler. 
 For nowhere, in Latin or in German, have I seen a more wholesome 
 theology or one which accords more with the Gospel. This is a book 
 wherein may be seen how the best learning of our times is not even brass, 
 but is mere iron compared with this learning of true blessedness." 
 
 500 Pages. Large crown 8vo, handsome cloth, 6s. 
 
 The Life, Religious Opinions, and 
 Experience of 
 
 MADAME GUYON 
 
 BY THOMAS C. UPHAM 
 
 The Spectator. "The story of Madame GOYON'S interior and exterior 
 experience is one of the few elaborately written histories of souls which can 
 never pall upon a reader of full intelligence. All her faults are freely for- 
 given her every time her case comes up again, because it brings in its train 
 the story and the incomparable life and character of the greatest of her 
 disciples, Fenelon." 
 
 Church Quarterly Review. " A most welcome reprint." 
 ''' Her letters make the heart glow." 
 
 LONDON: H. R. ALLENSON, LIMITED 
 RACQUET COURT, 114 FLEET STREET, E.G.
 
 USEFUL DEVOTIONAL QIFT BOOKS 
 
 Pott foolscap &vo, cloth, is. (>d. net; handsome paste grain leather, gilt 
 edges , zs. M. net ; very choice velvet calf,y.f>d. net 
 
 CHRIST IN DAILY LIFE 
 
 Being a Consecutive Narrative of the Life of our Lord, compiled 
 
 from the Four Gospels, and arranged in one continuous 
 
 story for Daily Reading 
 
 COMPILED BY ADELAIDE M. CAMERON 
 
 Scotsman. "A finely-printed little volume made up of extracts from 
 the several Gospels, so arranged as to tell chronologically the story of 
 our Lord. It marks a new departure that these daily readings give merely 
 the words of the Bible without note or comment, even the usual division 
 into chapter and verse being eliminated." 
 
 Glasgow Evening News. " This is a little book which will be widely 
 acceptable as an addition to devotional literature. The life of the Saviour, 
 as narrated in the four Gospels, has been arranged in consecutive order 
 for daily reading. The book is very nicely got up." 
 
 Dundee Advertiser. " An excellent plan. Her book should be popular 
 for gift purposes." 
 
 i6mo, cloth, is. net; paste grain leather, zs. net; ooze Persian, 
 at. 6d. net; velvet calf, y. 6d. net 
 
 THOUGHTS WORTH THINKING 
 
 IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 
 
 A Daybook of Encouragement and Cheer 
 
 COMPILED BY H. R. ALLENSON 
 
 British Weekly. "Mr Allenson has chosen short poems and prose 
 passages from many of the greatest writers, and has selected a charming 
 and suitable passage for every day. His admirably produced volume will 
 be helpful to many." 
 
 Dundee Advertiser. " The quotations will give impetus to the best that 
 is in every reader, and provide encouragement to face the difficulties of 
 life in a cheerful spirit. A pleasant volume to send a friend as a 
 reminder of good-fellowship." 
 
 Methodist Recorder. " Will make a delightful present." 
 
 Handsome cloth back, clouded paper sides, gilt top, is. net; 
 paste grain leather, gilt edges, zs. net 
 
 PRAYER, PROMISE, & PRECEPT 
 
 A Collection of Three Texts for Daily Use 
 BY JOHN JACKSON, F.E.I.S. 
 
 The subject-matter and style of binding combine to make a most 
 attractive and suitable gift book. 
 
 Expository Times. " Out of all the hosts of text-books choose 
 ' Prayer, Promise, and Precept.' Without and within it is a triumph 
 of art." 
 
 Sunday School Chronicle. "The use of this little book a quite 
 charming one would do much to fill the days with the spirit of religion. 
 The volume is to be commended as something altogether fresh and 
 stimulating." 
 
 LONDON : R R. ALLENSON, LIMITED
 
 University ol California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 CCT-07 
 
 OCT <3 REC8 
 
 Biomea/eal Lib|rary 
 5 199; 
 
 JAN 1 5 200;
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000676017 7
 
 Univ 
 So 
 
 I