CHAPTER XXXII

“There be deeds evil done in our sight, and so great harms taken, that it seemeth to us that it were impossible that ever it should come to good end.” “That Great Deed ordained . . . by which our Lord God shall make all things well”

ONE time our good Lord said: All thing shall be well; and another time he said: Thou shalt see thyself that all MANNER [of] thing shall be well; and in these two [sayings] the soul took sundry understandings.

One was that He willeth we know that not only He taketh heed to noble things and to great, but also to little and to small, to low and to simple, to one and to other. And so meaneth He in that He saith: ALL MANNER OF THINGS shall be well. For He willeth we know that the least thing shall not be forgotten.

Another understanding is this, that there be deeds evil done in our sight, and so great harms taken, that it seemeth to us that it were impossible that ever it should come to good end. And upon this we look, sorrowing and mourning therefor, so that we cannot resign us unto the blissful beholding of God as we should do. And the cause of this is that the use of our reason is now so blind, so low, and so simple, that we cannot know that high marvellous Wisdom, the Might and the Goodness of the blissful Trinity. And thus signifieth He when He saith: THOU SHALT SEE THYSELF if¹⁰³¹⁰³ "if"=" that." (Acts xxvi. 8.) all manner of things shall be well. As if He said: Take now heed faithfully and trustingly, and at the last end thou shalt verily see it in fulness of joy.

And thus in these same five words aforesaid: I may make all things well, etc., I understand a mighty comfort of all the works of our Lord God that are yet to come. There is a Deed the which the blessed Trinity shall do in the last Day, as to my sight, and when the Deed shall be, and how it shall be done, is unknown of all creatures that are beneath Christ, and shall be till when it is done.

[”¹⁰⁴¹⁰⁴ Inserted from Serenus de Cressy's version. The Goodness and the Love of our Lord God” will that we wit [know] that it shall be; And the “Might and the Wisdom of him by the same Love will” 64 hill [conceal] it, and hide it from us what it shall be, “and how it shall be done.”]

And the cause why He willeth that we know [this Deed shall be], is for that He would have us the more eased in our soul and [the more] set at peace in love¹⁰⁵¹⁰⁵ "pecid in love -- levyng the beholdyng of al tempests that might letten us of trew enjoyeng in hym." S. de C.: "let us of true enjoying in him." —leaving the beholding of all troublous things that might keep us back from true enjoying of Him. This is that Great Deed ordained of our Lord God from without beginning, treasured and hid in His blessed breast, only known to Himself: by which He shall make all things well.

For like as the blissful Trinity made all things of nought, right so the same blessed Trinity shall make well all that is not well.

And in this sight I marvelled greatly and beheld our Faith, marvelling thus: Our Faith is grounded in God’s word, and it belongeth to our Faith that we believe that God’s word shall be saved in all things; and one point of our Faith is that many creatures shall be condemned: as angels that fell out of Heaven for pride, which be now fiends; and man¹⁰⁶¹⁰⁶ S. de C., "many." in earth that dieth out of the Faith of Holy Church: that is to say, they that be heathen men; and also man¹⁰⁷¹⁰⁷ S. de C., "many." that hath received christendom and liveth unchristian life and so dieth out of charity: all these shall be condemned to hell without end, as Holy Church teacheth me to believe. And all this [so] standing,¹⁰⁸¹⁰⁸ "stondyng al this." methought it was impossible that all manner of things should be well, as our Lord shewed in the same time.

And as to this I had no other answer in Shewing of our Lord God but this: That which is impossible to thee is not impossible to me: I shall save my word in all things and I shall make all things well. Thus I was taught, by the grace of God, that I should steadfastly hold me in the Faith as I had aforehand understood, [and] therewith that I should firmly believe that all things shall be well, as our Lord shewed in the same time.

For this is the Great Deed that our Lord shall do, in which Deed He shall save His word and He shall make all well that is not well. How it shall be done there is no creature beneath Christ that knoweth it, nor shall know it till it is done; according to the understanding that I took of our Lord’s meaning in this time.