"By the assay of this falling we shall have an high marvellous knowing
of Love in God, without end. For strong and marvellous is that love
which may not, nor will not, be broken for trespass"
And in our spiritual forthbringing He useth more tenderness of keeping,
without any likeness: by as much as our soul is of more price in His
sight. He kindleth our understanding, He directeth our ways, He easeth
our conscience, He comforteth our soul, He lighteneth our heart, and
giveth us, in part, knowing and believing in His blissful Godhead,
with gracious mind in His sweet Manhood and His blessed Passion, with
reverent marvelling in His high, overpassing Goodness; and maketh us
to love all that He loveth, for His love, and to be well-pleased with
Him and all His works. And when we fall, hastily He raiseth us by
His lovely calling[1][2] and gracious touching. And when we be thus
strengthened by His sweet working, then we with all our will choose
Him, by His sweet grace, to be His servants and His lovers lastingly
without end.
And after this He suffereth some of us to fall more hard and more
grievously than ever we did afore, as us thinketh. And then ween we
(who be not all wise) that all were nought that we have begun. But this
is not so. For it needeth us to fall, and it needeth us to see it.
For if we never fell, we should not know how feeble and how wretched
we are of our self, and also we should not fully know that marvellous
love of our Maker. For we shall see verily in heaven, without end, that
we have grievously sinned in this life, and notwithstanding this, we
shall see that we were never hurt in His love, we were never the less
of price in His sight. And by the assay of this falling we shall have
an high, marvellous knowing of love in God, without end. For strong
and marvellous is that love which may not, nor will not, be broken for
trespass. And this is one understanding of [our] profit. Another is the
lowness and meekness that we shall get by the sight of our falling:
for thereby we shall highly be raised in heaven; to which raising
we might[3] never have come without that meekness. And therefore it
needeth us to see it; and if we see it not, though we fell it should
not profit us. And commonly, first we fall and later we see it: and
both of the Mercy of God.
The mother may suffer the child to fall sometimes, and to be hurt in
diverse manners for its own profit, but she may never suffer that any
manner of peril come to the child, for love. And though our earthly
mother may suffer her child to perish, our heavenly Mother, Jesus, may
not suffer us that are His children to perish: for He is All-mighty,
All-wisdom, and All-love; and so is none but He,--blessed may He be!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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