God shewyth the privityes necessarye to His lovers; and how they plese God mekyl that receive diligently the prechyng of Holy Church. Thirty-fourth chapter.
God's Hidden and Revealed Secrets
Our Lord shows two kinds of secrets: the great secret that remains hidden until His time, and the secrets He wills to make known to us, revealing that our blindness and unknowing are the cause of their hiddenness, so He compassionately shows us what is helpful through Holy Church's teaching.
Our Lord God revealed two kinds of secrets.1 One is this great secret, with all the secret points that belong to it; and these secrets He wills that we know as hidden until the time when He will clearly show them to us. The others are the secrets He wants to make open and known to us, because He wants us to understand that it is His will for us to know them. They are secrets to us not only because He wills them to be, but because of our own blindness and ignorance. He has great compassion for this, and so He Himself chooses to make them clearer to us, so that we may know Him, love Him, and cling to Him.2 For everything that is helpful for us to understand and to know, our Lord will most graciously show us—and that is this, along with all the preaching and teaching of Holy Church.3
Delighting in Holy Church's Teaching and Comfort Against Sin
God shows the great delight He takes in those who receive the preaching of Holy Church, for He is its ground and teacher, and this knowledge is given by the Holy Spirit; all this is comforting against sin, recalling the third showing that God does all and all is well, and the promise that all shall be well.
God showed the very great delight He takes in all men and women who mightily, meekly, and willingly receive the preaching and teaching of Holy Church, because it is His Holy Church. He is the ground, He is the substance, He is the teaching, He is the teacher, He is the learning, He is the reward for which every natural soul labors.45 And this is known, and will be known, to every soul to whom the Holy Spirit declares it. And hope truly that He will further all those who seek this, for they seek God.6 All this that I have now said, and more that I will say later, is comforting against sin. For in the third showing, when I saw that God does all that is done, I saw no sin, and then I saw that all is well. But when God showed me about sin, He said, 'All will be well.'7
Read the original Middle English
Our Lord God shewid to manner of privityes. On is this gret privyte with al the prive peynts that longen therto, and these privites He wil we knowen hid into the tyme that He wil clerly shewen hem to us. That other arn the privytes that He wil maken opyn and knowen to us; for He wil we wetyn that it is His wil we knowen hem. It arn privytes to us, not only that He wil it ben privytes to us, but it arn privytes to us for our blyndnes and our onknowyng. And therof hath He gret ruthe; and therfore He wil Hymself maken hem more opyn to us wherby we may knowen Hym, and loven Hym, and clevyn to Him. For al that is spedeful to us to wetyn and to knowen, ful curtesly wil our Lord will shewen us, and that is this, with al the prechyng and techyng of Holy Church.
God shewid ful gret plesance that He hath in al men and women that mytyly and mekely and wilfully taken the prechyng and techyng of Holy Church, for it is His Holy Church. He is the ground, He is the substance, He is the techyng, He is the techer, He is the leryd, He is the mede wherfor every kynd soule travellith. And this is knowen and shall be knowen to every soule to which the Holy Gost declarith it. And hope sothly that al those that seke this, He shal spedyn; for they seke God. Al this that I have now seid, and more that I shal sey after, is comfortyng ageyn synne. For in the thred shewyng when I saw that God doith al that is don, I saw no synne, and than saw I that al is wele. But whan God shewid me for synne, than seid he, Al shal be wele.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME 'to manner' = 'two manners/kinds'; 'to' is the numeral two, not the preposition.
- 2 ↩ME 'ruthe' = pity/compassion; rendered 'compassion' for contemporary clarity while keeping the merciful force.
- 3 ↩Source has doubled 'wil... will' ('ful curtesly wil our Lord will shewen'); treated as scribal dittography and rendered as a single future 'will'.
- 4 ↩enm 'leryd' rendered as 'the learning' (what is learned/taught), completing the teaching–teacher–learning triad; some modernizations prefer 'what is taught'.
- 5 ↩enm 'kynd soule' rendered as 'natural soul' in Julian's sense of created nature, not 'kind' as in kindly disposition.
- 6 ↩enm 'spedyn' rendered as 'further' (help succeed / prosper); not modern 'speed' as hurry.
- 7 ↩enm 'for synne' rendered as 'concerning sin' (with respect to / regarding sin), not 'because of sin' as mere cause.
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