Revelations of Divine Love

by Julian of Norwich

  And then our kind Lord answered by showing in very mysterious images a wonderful parable of a lord who has a servant, and he gave me sight to aid my understanding of both. And this sight was shown twofold in the lord and twofold in the servant: on the one hand it was shown spiritually in bodily likeness, on the other it was shown more spiritually with no bodily likeness.

  The first kind of vision was this: the bodily likeness of two people, a lord and a servant, and with this God gave me spiritual understanding. The lord sits with dignity, in rest and peace: the servant stands, waiting reverently in front of his lord, ready to do his will. The lord looks at his servant lovingly and kindly, and he gently sends him to a certain place to do his will. The servant does not just walk, but leaps forward and runs in great haste, in loving anxiety to do his lord’s will. And he falls immediately into a slough and is very badly hurt. And then he groans and moans and wails and writhes, but he cannot get up or help himself in any way. And in all this I saw that his greatest trouble was lack of help; for he could not turn his face to look at his loving lord, who was very close to him, and who is the source of all help; but, like a man who was weak and foolish for the time being, he paid attention to his own senses, and his misery continued, and in this misery he suffered seven great torments. The first was the grievous bruising which he received when he fell, which was a torment he could feel. The second was the weight of his body. The third was the weakness caused by these two. The fourth that his reason was blinded and his mind stunned to such an extent that he had almost forgotten his own love for the lord. The fifth was that he could not rise. The sixth was the most astonishing to me, and it was that he lay alone; I looked hard all around, and far and near, high and low, I could see no one to help him. The seventh torment was that the place where he lay was long, hard and full of difficulties. I marvelled at how this servant could humbly suffer all that misery. And I watched carefully to see if I could perceive any fault in him, or if the lord would blame him at all; and in truth there was no fault to be seen, for his good will and his great longing were the only cause of his fall; and he was as willing and inwardly good as when he stood before his lord ready to do his will.

  And this is how his loving lord tenderly continued to consider him, and now in two ways. Outwardly he regarded him gently and kindly, with great sorrow and pity, and this was the first way; the second was more inward, more spiritual, and this was shown when my understanding was led into the lord. I saw him rejoicing greatly because of the honourable rest and nobility to which he would and must bring his servant through his plentiful grace. This was the second kind of showing; and now my understanding took me back to the first, while keeping both in my mind. Then this kind lord said within himself, ‘Look, look at my beloved servant, what injury and distress he has received in my service for love of me, yes, and all because his will was good! Is it not reasonable that I should compensate him for his terror and his dread, his hurt and his injury and all his misery? And not only this, but would it not be proper for me to give a gift that would be better for him and give him more glory than if he had never been injured? Otherwise it seems to me that I would do him no favour.’ And then an inward, spiritual explanation of the lord’s purpose penetrated my soul. I saw that, given his own greatness and glory, it needs must be that his dear servant whom he loved so much should be truly and blissfully rewarded for ever, more than he would have been if he had not fallen; yes, and to such an extent that his fall and the misery it caused him should be transformed into great and surpassing glory and eternal bliss.

  And at this point the showing of the parable vanished, and our good Lord guided my understanding as to the appearance and meaning of the revelation to the end. But in spite of this guidance, I never lost my sense of wonder at the parable. It seemed that it was given me as an answer to my longing, and yet at that time I could not grasp it fully to my own satisfaction; for in the servant who represented Adam, as I shall explain, I saw many different properties which could in no way be attributed just to Adam. And so for the moment I was in a state of great bewilderment; for a full understanding of this marvellous parable was not given to me at that time.

  In this mysterious parable, three aspects of the revelation remain largely hidden; yet I saw and understood that each of the showings is full of mysteries, and so I ought now to enumerate these three aspects and the limited progress I have made in understanding them. The first is the early stage of teaching which I understood from it while it was being shown to me; the second is the inner learning which I have come to understand from it since then; the third is the whole revelation from beginning to end, as set out in this book, which our Lord God in his goodness often shows freely to the eyes of my mind. And these three are so united in my mind that I neither can nor may separate them.39

  And through these three, united as one, I have been taught how I ought to believe and trust in our Lord God: that just as he showed it out of his goodness and for his own purpose, so out of the same goodness and for the same purpose he will explain the vision to us when he so wishes. Because twenty years after the time of the showing, all but three months, I received inner teaching, as follows: ‘You need to pay attention to all the properties and conditions of what you were shown in the parable, though they may seem mysterious and insignificant in your eyes.’ I accepted this willingly and with great eagerness, looking inwardly with great care at all the details and properties which were shown at the time of the vision, so far as my wit and understanding would serve. I began by looking at the lord and the servant, and the way the lord was sitting, and the place where he sat, and then the colour of his clothing and the way it was shaped, and his outward appearance, and the nobility and goodness within; I looked at the way the servant stood and where and how, at the sort of clothing he wore, its colour and shape, at his outward behaviour and at his inner goodness and his readiness.

  The lord who sat with dignity, in rest and peace, I understood to be God. The servant who stood in front of the lord, I understood that he represented Adam, that is to say, that one man and his fall were shown in that vision to make it understood how God considers any man and his fall; for in the sight of God, all men are one. This man’s strength was broken and enfeebled; and his understanding was numbed, for he turned away from looking at his lord. But in the sight of God his purpose remained undiminished; for I saw our Lord commend and approve his purpose, but the man himself was obstructed and blind to the knowledge of this purpose, and this causes him great sorrow and grievous misery; for neither can he clearly see his loving lord, who is most gentle and kind to him, nor can he see truly how he himself appears to his loving lord. And I am quite certain that if we really and truly see these two things, then we shall attain rest and peace partially here on earth and the full bliss of heaven, through his plentiful grace. And this was the beginning of the teaching revealed to me at this same time, through which I might come to know God’s attitude to us in our sin. And then I saw that only suffering blames and punishes, and our kind Lord comforts and grieves; he always considers the soul cheerfully, loving and longing to bring us to bliss.

  The place where our Lord sat was humble, on the barren earth, deserted, alone in a wilderness. His clothing was full and ample, as befits a lord; the cloth was as blue as azure, most sober and comely. His expression was merciful, the colour of his face a comely brown with pronounced features; his eyes were black, most comely and handsome, appearing full of tender pity; and within him there was a great refuge, long and wide and all full of endless heavens.40 And his tender expression as he kept looking at his servant, especially when he fell, I thought it could melt our hearts with love and break them in two with joy. The comely expression showed a handsome mixture which was wonderful to look at: it was partly sorrow and pity, partly joy and bliss. The joy and bliss are as far beyond sorrow and pity as heaven is above earth. The pity was earthly and the bliss was heavenly. The sorrow in the Father’s pity was for the fall of Adam, his most loved creature; the joy and
bliss was for his beloved Son, who is equal to the Father. The merciful gaze of his tender expression filled the whole earth and went down with Adam into hell, and this unending pity kept Adam from everlasting death. And this mercy and pity remain with mankind until the time we come up into heaven. But man is blind in this life, and therefore we cannot see our Father, God, as he is. And when, out of his goodness, he wants to show himself to man, he shows himself in a familiar way, like a man; nevertheless I saw truly that we should know and believe that the Father is not a man. But his sitting on the barren earth in a deserted place means this: he made man’s soul to be his own city and his dwelling-place, the most pleasing to him of all his works; and once man had fallen into sorrow and pain he was not fit to serve that noble purpose, and therefore our kind Father would prepare no other place for himself but sit upon the earth waiting for mankind, who is mixed with earth, until the time when, through his grace, his beloved Son had bought back his city and restored its noble beauty with his hard labour.

  The blue of his clothing signifies his steadfastness. The brown of his fair face with the handsome blackness of the eyes was most suited to showing his holy gravity. The fullness of his clothing, which was fair, glowing brightly about him, signifies that he has enclosed within him all the heavens and all joy and bliss. And a glimpse of this was given where I said, ‘My understanding was led into the lord’,41 when I saw him rejoicing greatly because of the glorious Resurrection to which he wills to bring and shall bring his servant through his plentiful grace.

  And yet I marvelled as I considered the lord and the aforementioned servant. I saw the lord sitting with dignity, and the servant standing reverently in front of his lord; and there is a double meaning in this servant, one without and another within. Outwardly, he was simply dressed, as a labourer might be who was ready to work, and he stood very near the lord, not right in front of him, but a little to one side, on the left. His clothing was a white tunic, unlined, old and all spoilt, stained with the sweat of his body, tight-fitting and short on him, only reaching about a hand’s breadth below the knee, threadbare, looking as if it would soon be worn out – in rags and tatters. And I was very surprised about this, thinking, ‘Now this is unsuitable clothing for such a well-loved servant to wear in front of such an honourable lord.’

  Love was shown deep within him, and this love which he had for the lord was just like the love which the lord had for him. His servant’s wisdom saw inwardly that there was one thing he could do which would be to the lord’s honour. And the servant for love, with no regard for himself or for anything that might happen to him, leapt quickly forward and ran at his lord’s command to perform his will and serve his glory. For it looked from his outer clothing as if he had been a labourer continuously for a long time; yet from the inward sight that I had of both the lord and the servant, it seemed that he was a new one, that is to say, newly beginning to labour, a servant who had never been sent out before. There was a treasure in the earth which the lord loved. I marvelled and wondered what it could be. And I was answered in my understanding, ‘It is a food which is sweet and pleasing to the lord.’ For I saw the lord sit like a man, and I saw neither food nor drink to serve him; this was one marvel. Another marvel was that this dignified lord had only the one servant, and him he sent out. I watched, wondering what kind of labour it could be that the servant should do. And then I understood that he would do the greatest labour and the hardest toil of all – he would be a gardener, digging and ditching, toiling and sweating, and turning the earth upside down, and delving deeply and watering the plants at the right time. And this would continue to be his work, and he would make fresh water flow, and noble and plentiful fruits spring up, which he would bring before the lord and serve him as he wished. And he should never turn back until he had prepared this food all ready as he knew it pleased the lord, and then he should take this food, with the drink as part of it, and carry it very reverently to the lord. And all this time the lord would sit in the same place, waiting for the servant whom he had sent out.

  And yet I wondered where the servant came from; for I saw that the lord has within himself eternal life and every kind of goodness, except for the treasure which was in the earth – and that had its origin in the lord in wonderful depths of endless love – but it was not entirely to his glory until this servant had prepared it nobly in this way, and brought it to him, into his own presence; and without the lord there was nothing but a wilderness. And I did not understand all that this parable meant, and that was why I wondered where the servant came from.

  In the servant is comprehended the second person of the Trinity, and in the servant is comprehended Adam, that is to say, all men. And therefore when I say ‘the Son’, it means the Godhead, which is equal with the Father, and when I say ‘the servant’, it means Christ’s Humanity, which is truly Adam. The servant’s nearness represents the Son, and his standing on the left side represents Adam. The lord is the Father, God; the servant is the Son, Christ Jesus. The Holy Ghost is the equal love which is in both of them. When Adam fell, God’s son fell; because of the true union made in heaven, God’s son could not leave Adam, for by Adam I understand all men. Adam fell from life to death into the valley of this wretched world, and after that into hell. God’s son fell with Adam into the valley of the Virgin’s womb (and she was the fairest daughter of Adam), in order to free Adam from guilt in heaven and in earth; and with his great power he fetched him out of hell.

  The wisdom and goodness in the servant represent God’s son. That he was poorly dressed as a labourer and standing near the left-hand side represents Christ’s Humanity and Adam, with all the consequent trouble and weakness; for in this parable our good Lord showed his own son and Adam as but one man. The strength and the goodness which we have come from Jesus Christ, the weakness and the blindness which we have come from Adam, and these two were represented in the servant.

  And thus our good Lord Jesus has taken upon himself all our guilt; and therefore our Father neither may nor will assign us any more guilt than he does to his own son, dearly loved Christ. Thus the Son was the servant before he came to earth, standing ready before the Father, waiting until the time when he would send him to do that glorious deed by which mankind was brought back to heaven; that is to say that in spite of the fact that he is God, equal with the Father as regards the Godhead, yet because of his providential purpose to become man to save man in fulfilment of his Father’s will, he stood in front of his Father like a servant, willingly taking all our burden upon himself. And then he leapt forward eagerly at the Father’s will and immediately he fell low into the Virgin’s womb, with no regard to himself or to his harsh suffering. The white tunic is the flesh; the single thickness shows that there was nothing at all between the Godhead and the Humanity; the tightness shows poverty; it was old because Adam wore it; it was sweat-stained from Adam’s toil; it was short to show the servant must labour.

  And this is how I saw the Son standing, and what he said inwardly was, ‘Look, my dear Father, I am standing before you in Adam’s tunic, all ready to leap forward and to run. It is my wish to be on earth to work for your glory whenever it is your wish to send me. How long must I linger?’ The Son knew very well when it would be his Father’s will and how long he had to linger, that is to say, in so far as he is the Godhead, for he is the Wisdom of the Father. Therefore what was conveyed was in respect of the Manhood of Christ; for all mankind who shall be saved by Christ’s precious Incarnation and blessed Passion, all are Christ’s Manhood. He is the head and we are his limbs; and these limbs do not know the day and the time when every passing grief and sorrow will come to an end, and everlasting joy and bliss will be accomplished, the day and time which all the company of heaven longs to see. And all those under heaven who shall come there shall do so by longing and wishing; and this wish and longing was shown in the servant standing in front of the lord, or, to put it differently, in the Son standing in front of the Father in Adam’s tunic; for the wish and the craving
of all mankind that shall be saved appeared in Jesus; for Jesus is all who shall be saved and all who shall be saved are Jesus; and all through God’s love, along with the obedience, humility and patience, and other virtues which pertain to us.

  Also this wonderful parable gives me some teaching, as if it were the beginning of an ABC, through which I may have some understanding of our Lord’s purpose, for the mysteries of the revelation are hidden in it, though indeed all the showings are full of mysteries. That the Father was sitting signifies his Godhead, in that it shows rest and peace; for there may be no labour in the Godhead. And that he showed himself as lord has meaning in relation to our humanity. That the servant was standing signifies labour; that he was to one side and on the left signifies that he was not quite worthy to stand right in front of the lord. His leaping up belonged to the Godhead and his running to Christ’s Manhood; for the Godhead leapt from the Father into the Virgin’s womb, falling when he took on our nature; and in this fall he was grievously hurt; the hurt he received was our flesh in which he soon felt deathly pain. That he stood in awe before the lord but not quite in front of him signifies that his clothing was not respectable enough to stand right before the lord; nor could or should that be his duty while he was a labourer; neither could he sit in rest and peace with the lord until he had justly earned his peace with his hard labour; that he was on the left side shows that the Father deliberately left his own Son in human form to suffer all man’s pains without sparing him. By the fact that his tunic would soon be in rags and tatters is understood the blows and the scourging, the thorns and the nails, the pulling and the dragging, tearing his tender flesh; as I saw in part, the flesh was torn from the skull, falling in shreds until the bleeding stopped; and then it began to dry again, clinging to the bone.42 And by the tossing and turning, groaning and moaning, it is understood that he could never rise again in his full power from the time that he fell into the Virgin’s womb until his body was slain and he died, yielding his soul into the Father’s hands with all mankind for whom he was sent. And at this point he first began to show his power; for he went into hell, and when he was there he raised up out of the deep depths the great root43 of those who were truly united with him in high heaven. The body was in the grave until Easter morning, and from that time he lay down no more; for then was truly ended the tossing and turning, the groaning and moaning; and our foul mortal flesh which God’s son took upon himself, which was Adam’s old tunic, tight, bare and short, was then made by our Saviour newly beautiful, white and bright and eternally pure, full and ample, fairer and richer than the clothing which I saw on the Father, for that clothing was blue, and Christ’s clothing is now of a comely, handsome mixture which is so wonderful that I cannot describe it; for it is all glory. Now the lord does not sit in a wilderness on earth, but sits in the noblest seat in heaven, which he made to his own liking. Now the Son does not stand in awe in front of the Father like a servant, plainly dressed and partly naked, but he stands immediately before the Father, richly dressed in holy munificence, with a crown of inestimable richness on his head; for it was shown that we are his crown, and that this crown is the Father’s joy, the Son’s glory, the Holy Ghost’s delight, and unending and wonderful bliss to all who are in heaven. Now the Son does not stand before the Father on his left, like a labourer, but he sits at his Father’s right hand in eternal rest and peace. This does not mean that the Son sits on the Father’s right hand, side by side with him, as one person sits by another in this world; for as I see it there is no such sitting in the Trinity; but he sits on his Father’s right hand, which is to say in the highest rank of the Father’s joys. Now the spouse, God’s son, is at peace with his beloved bride, who is the fair Virgin of eternal joy.44 Now the Son sits, true God and man, in his city in rest and peace, which his Father has eternally held in preparation for him; and the Father in the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the Father and in the Son.