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Revelations of Divine Love · 1 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter I-a

"A Revelation of Love—in Sixteen Shewings" This is a Revelation of Love that Jesus Christ, our endless bliss, made in Sixteen Shewings, or Revelations particular. Of the which the First is of His precious crowning with thorns; and therewith was comprehended and specified the Trinity, with the Incarnation, and unity betwixt God and man's soul; with many fair shewings of endless wisdom and teachings of love: in which all the Shewings that follow be grounded and oned. The Second is the changing of colour of His fair face in token of His dearworthy Passion. The Third is that our Lord God, Allmighty Wisdom, All-Love, right as verily as He hath made everything that is, all-so verily He doeth and worketh all-thing that is done. The Fourth is the scourging of His tender body, with plenteous shedding of His blood. The Fifth is that the Fiend is overcome by the precious Passion of Christ. The Sixth is the worshipful thanking by our Lord God in which He rewardeth His blessed servants in Heaven. The Seventh is [our] often feeling of weal and woe; (the feeling of weal is gracious touching and lightening, with true assuredness of endless joy; the feeling of woe is temptation by heaviness and irksomeness of our fleshly living;) with ghostly understanding that we are kept all as securely in Love in woe as in weal, by the Goodness of God. The Eighth is of the last pains of Christ, and His cruel dying. The Ninth is of the pleasing which is in the Blissful Trinity by the hard Passion of Christ and His rueful dying: in which joy and pleasing He willeth that we be solaced and mirthed with Him, till when we come to the fulness in Heaven. The Tenth is, our Lord Jesus sheweth in love His blissful heart even cloven in two, rejoicing. The Eleventh is an high ghostly Shewing of His dearworthy Mother. The Twelfth is that our Lord is most worthy Being. The Thirteenth is that our Lord God willeth we have great regard to all the deeds that He hath done: in the great nobleness of the making of all things; and the excellency of man's making, which is above all his works; and the precious Amends that He hath made for man's sin, turning all our blame into endless worship. In which Shewing also our Lord saith: Behold and see! For by the same Might, Wisdom, and Goodness that I have done all this, by the same Might, Wisdom, and Goodness I shall make well all that is not well; and thou shalt see it. And in this He willeth that we keep us in the Faith and truth of Holy Church, not desiring to see into His secret things now, save as it belongeth to us in this life. The Fourteenth is that our Lord is the Ground of our Prayer. Herein were seen two properties: the one is rightful prayer, the other is steadfast trust; which He willeth should both be alike large; and thus our prayer pleaseth Him and He of His Goodness fulfilleth it. The Fifteenth is that we shall suddenly be taken from all our pain and from all our woe, and of His Goodness we shall come up above, where we shall have our Lord Jesus for our meed and be fulfilled with joy and bliss in Heaven.
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The passage describes God with human characteristics such as a 'fair face,' 'tender body,' and a 'heart even cloven in two.'

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Bhaktisoteriology

The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. Distinct from mystical_union (the resulting state), fana_annihilation (the ego's unmaking at the path's end), ladder_of_love (eros staged toward Beauty), and prayer (the practice of address): bhakti names devotion as the soteriological road itself.

The entire text is framed as a 'Revelation of Love,' emphasizing loving devotion, trust, and the emotional bond with Christ as the primary path to salvation.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The passage explicitly states that God 'doeth and worketh all-thing that is done' and promises to make well all that is not well, emphasizing active divine ordering.

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Emotional Epistemologysoteriology

The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition.

The passage validates 'feeling' (weal and woe) as a mode of knowing God's presence and truth, stating that the soul is kept securely in Love through these feelings.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The text consistently portrays God as an active, personal agent who speaks, feels, rewards, and interacts dynamically with humanity.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The central theme of the 'Sixteen Shewings' is the oneness between God and the human soul, culminating in the promise of being fulfilled with joy and bliss in Heaven.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

Chapter Fourteen explicitly identifies the Lord as the 'Ground of our Prayer' and discusses the properties of rightful prayer and steadfast trust.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The text promises that believers will be taken from pain and woe to come 'up above' to Heaven, where they are fulfilled with the Lord.

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Related passages · 11 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 166
“Section 10 10. Under detailed investigation, many other tenets of this school- indeed we might say all- could be corrected with an abundance of proof. But I am withheld by regard for some of our own friends who fell in with this doctrine be…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVIII (part 5)
“If we consider the emotional nature of man as self-contained, as serving life and not serving knowledge we shall never understand its true content and significance. Emotions serve knowledge. There are things and relations which can be kno…”
Shared concept: Emotional Epistemology — The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XIX
“But neither does the cause [of the energies] of more excellent natures subsist as a certain middle instrument, nor does he who invokes operate through him who prophesies; for to assert these things is impious. And it is much more true to sa…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 161
“Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXVII-a
“Moreover, neither is it sufficient to assert, “ that nature, art, and the sympathy of things in the universe, as if they were the parts of one animal, contain premanifestations of certain 188 things with reference to each other; nor that bo…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus)|Chapter XIV (part 6)
“The second, symbolized by Eye, is the origin of feminine Grace, of Authority. We have seen that Power and Authority find their equilibrium in Love. Each man, a reflected molecule of humanity made in its image, contains in himself an Adam,…”
Shared concept: Anthropomorphism — Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery. (derived)
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat|Section 1a
“The Secret Sermon on the Mountain <This dialogue is in many ways the culmination of the whole Corpus, summing up the theory of the Hermetic system at the same time as it provides an intriguing glimpse at the practice. The focus of the dial…”
Shared concept: Prayer — Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 71 (part 10)
“There reside mankind along with Daityas and Danavas, as well as with spirits of Heaven ( Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kimpurushas, etc .) and gods. " ( Chapter iv. ) There is but one exception in the case of King Priyavrata, the son of the first…”
Shared concept: Emotional Epistemology — The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition. (derived)
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter VII, Section 1b
“Whichever form (of deity) any worshipper wishes to worship with faith, to that form I render his faith steady. Possessed Of that faith, he seeks to propitiate (the deity in) that (form), and obtains from it those beneficial things which he…”
Shared concept: Bhakti — The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. (derived)
hinduism|The Bhagavad Gita|Chapter X, Section 1a
“CHAPTER X. Yet again, O you of mighty arms! listen to my excellent words, which, out of a wish for your welfare, I speak to you who are delighted (with them). Not the multitudes of gods, nor the great sages know my source; for I am in ev…”
Shared concept: Bhakti — The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 55 (part 2)
“T HE Progenitors of Man, called in India "Fathers," Pitara or Pitris, are the creators of our bodies and lower principles. They are ourselves, as the first personalities, and we are they. Primeval man would be "the bone of their bone and…”
Shared concept: Bhakti — The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. (derived)