Chapter 15
The seventh Revelation is of oftentymes felyng of wele and wo etc.; and how it is expedient that man sumtymes be left withoute comfort, synne it not causeing. Fifteenth chapter.
And after this He showed a sovereign spiritual delight in my soul.
I was filled with a lasting sense,
security, mightily sustained,
with no painful dread.
This feeling was so glad, so spiritual,
that I was all at peace and at rest,
as though nothing in earth should grieve me.
This lasted but a while,
and I was turned and left to myself,
in heaviness and weariness of my life,
in irritation with myself,
that I hardly had patience to live.
There was no comfort nor ease to me,
but faith, hope, and love.
And of these I had in truth,
but little feeling.
Then soon again our blessed Lord
gave me again the comfort
and the rest in soul,
delight and security
so blissful and so mighty,
that no dread, no sorrow,
nor bodily pain that might be suffered,
should have discomforted me.
And then I felt the pain again,
and then the joy and the delight,
now that one, now the other, many times,
I suppose about twenty times.
And in the same time of joy
I might have said with Saint Paul,
nothing shall separate me from Christ’s love.
And in the pain I might have said with Peter,
Lord save me, I perish.
This vision was shown me to my mind
that it is useful to some souls to feel this
sometimes to be in comfort,
sometimes to fail,
and be left to themselves.
God wishes us to know
that He keeps us equally safe
in woe and well-being.
For profit of man’s soul,
he is sometimes left to himself,
though sin is not ever the cause.
For in this time I did not sin
so as to be left to myself,
for it was so sudden.
Nor deserved this blessed feeling.
Our Lord gives freely when He will,
and sometimes lets us be in woe,
and both is one love.
God wishes us this comfort
to cling to with all our might,
for bliss is lasting without end,
and pain is passing,
and shall be brought to nought
to them that shall be saved.
So it is not God’s will that we dwell
in the feeling of pain,
in sorrow and mourning,
but suddenly pass over to His keeping
in endless delight.
anthonyinuk 