And in this I saw matter of mirth and matter of moaning: matter of mirth: for our Lord, our Maker, is so near to us, and in us, and we in Him, by sureness of keeping through His great goodness; matter of moaning: for our ghostly eye is so blind and we be so borne down by weight of our mortal flesh and darkness of sin, that we may not see our Lord God clearly in His fair Blissful Cheer. No; and because of this dimness[5] scarsely we can believe and trust His great love and our sureness[6] of keeping. And therefore it is that I say we may never stint of moaning nor of weeping. This "weeping" meaneth not all in pouring out of tears by our bodily eye, but also hath more ghostly understanding. For the kindly desire of our soul is so great and so unmeasurable, that if there were given us for our solace and for our comfort all the noble things that ever God made in heaven and in earth, and we saw not the fair Blissful Cheer[7] of Himself, yet we should not stint of moaning nor ghostly weeping, that is to say, of painful longing, till when we [should] see verily the fair Blissful Cheer of our Maker. And if we were in all the pain that heart can think and tongue may tell, if we might in that time see His fair Blissful Cheer, all this pain should not aggrieve us. Thus is that Blissful Sight [the] end of all manner of pain to the loving soul, and the fulfilling of all manner of joy and bliss. And that shewed He in the high, marvellous words where He said: _I it am that is highest; I it am that is lowest; I it am that is all_. It belongeth to us to have three manner of knowings: the first is that we know our Lord God; the second is that we know our self: what we are by Him, in Nature and Grace; the third is that we know meekly what our self is anent our sin and feebleness. And for these three was all the Shewing made, as to mine understanding. [1] That is: in the Shewing of Pity (Rev. ii) ch. x., in which it was shewed _darkly_. S. de Cressy has "in _party_" = _part_, but the word seems to be "_pite_" = _pity_. [2] halsith; beclosith. [3] levyn; tellen; thyn ken; stint; see. [4] "abiden, ne no wele fallen." [5] "myrkehede, unethes we can leven and trowen." [6] "sekirnes." [7] The words "Blissful Cheer" cannot be rendered by the more beautiful and familiar BLESSED COUNTENANCE, and even "_Blissful_ Countenance" might fail to bring out the reference to _one Aspect_ of the Divine Face, one part of the threefold Truth. CHAPTER LXXIII "Two manners of sickness that we have: impatience, or sloth;--despair, or mistrustful dread"