CHAPTER XXVII

"Often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not hindered: for then, methought, all should have been well." "Sin is behovable--[playeth a needful part]--; but all shall be well" After this the Lord brought to my mind the longing that I had to Him afore. And I saw that nothing letted me but sin. And so I looked, generally, upon us all, and methought: _If sin had not been, we should all have been clean and like to our Lord, as He made us._ And thus, in my folly, afore this time often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of sin was not letted: for then, methought, all should have been well. This stirring [of mind] was much to be forsaken, but nevertheless mourning and sorrow I made therefor, without reason and discretion. But Jesus, who in this Vision informed me of all that is needful to me, answered by this word and said: _It behoved that there should be sin;[1] but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well._ In this naked word _sin_, our Lord brought to my mind, generally, _all that is not good_, and the shameful despite and the utter noughting[2] that He bare for us in this life, and His dying; and all the pains and passions of all His creatures, ghostly and bodily; (for we be all partly noughted, and we shall be noughted following our Master, Jesus, till we be full purged, that is to say, till we be fully noughted of our deadly flesh and of all our inward affections which are not very good;) and the beholding of this, with all pains that ever were or ever shall be,--and with all these I understand the Passion of Christ for most pain, and overpassing. All this was shewed in a touch and quickly passed over into comfort: for our good Lord would not that the soul were affeared of this terrible sight. But I saw not _sin_: for I believe it hath no manner of substance nor no part of being, nor could it be known but by the pain it is cause of. And thus[3] pain, _it_ is something, as to my sight, for a time; for it purgeth, and maketh us to know ourselves and to ask mercy. For the Passion of our Lord is comfort to us against all this, and so is His blessed will. And for the tender love that our good Lord hath to all that shall be saved, He comforteth readily and sweetly, signifying thus: _It is sooth[4] that sin is cause of all this pain; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner [of] thing shall be well._ These words were said full tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any that shall be saved. Then were it a great unkindness[5] to blame or wonder on God for my sin, since He blameth not me for sin. And in these words I saw a marvellous high mystery hid in God, which mystery He shall openly make known to us in Heaven: in which knowing we shall verily see the cause why He suffered sin to come. In which sight we shall endlessly joy in our Lord God.[6] [1] "Synne is behovabil, but al shal be wel & al shal be wel & al manner of thyng shal be wele." [2] Being made as nothing, set at nought. [3] S. de Cressy has "this" instead of _thus_. [4] _i.e._ truth, an actual reality. See lxxxii. [5] As it were, an unreasonable contravention of natural, filial trust. [6] See also chap. lxi. From the _Enchiridion_ of Saint Augustine:--"All things that exist, therefore, seeing that the Creator of them all is supremely good, are themselves good. But because they are not like their Creator, supremely and unchangeably good, their good may be diminished and increased. But for good to be diminished is an evil, although, however much it may be diminished, it is necessary, if the being is to continue, that some good should remain to constitute the being. For however small or of whatever kind the being may be, the good which makes it a being cannot be destroyed without destroying the being itself.... So long as a being is in process of corruption, there is in it some good of which it is being deprived; and if a part of the being should remain which cannot be corrupted, this will certainly be an incorruptible being, and accordingly the process of corruption will result in the manifestation of this great good. But if it do not cease to be corrupted, neither can it cease to possess good of which corruption may deprive it. But if it should be thoroughly and completely consumed by corruption, there will then be no good left, because there will be no being. Wherefore corruption can consume the good only by consuming the being. Every being, therefore, is a good; a great good, if it cannot be corrupted; a little good, if it can: but in any case, only the foolish or ignorant will deny that it is a good. And if it be wholly consumed by corruption, then the corruption itself must cease to exist, as there is no being left in which it can dwell." Chap. x. "By the Trinity, thus supremely and equally and unchangeably good, all things were created; and these are not supremely and equally and unchangeably good, but yet they are good, even taken separately. Taken as a whole, however, they are very good, because their _ensemble_ constitutes the universe in all its wonderful order and beauty."--_The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo_, (Edited by the Rev. Marcus Dods, D.D.), vol. ix.