Revelations of Divine Love · 50 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter XXXVIII

In Heaven "the token of sin is turned to worship."— Examples thereof Also God shewed that sin shall be no shame to man, but worship. For right as to every sin is answering a pain by truth, right so for every sin, to the same soul is given a bliss by love: right as diverse sins are punished with diverse pains according as they be grievous, right so shall they be rewarded with diverse joys in Heaven according as they have been painful and sorrowful to the soul in earth. For the soul that shall come to Heaven is precious to God, and the place so worshipful that the goodness of God suffereth never that soul to sin that shall come there without that the which sin shall be rewarded; and it is made known without end, and blissfully restored by overpassing worship. For in this Sight mine understanding was lifted up into Heaven, and then God brought merrily to my mind David, and others in the Old Law without number; and in the New Law He brought to my mind first Mary Magdalene, Peter and Paul, and those of Inde; and Saint John of Beverley ; and others also without number: how they are known in the Church in earth with their sins, and it is to them no shame, but all is turned for them to worship. And therefore our courteous Lord sheweth [it thus] for them here in part like as it is there in fulness: for there the token of sin is turned to worship. And Saint John of Beverley, our Lord shewed him full highly, in comfort to us for homeliness; and brought to my mind how he is a dear neighbour, and of our knowing. And God called him Saint John of Beverley plainly as we do, and that with a most glad sweet cheer, shewing that he is a full high saint in Heaven in His sight, and a blissful. And with this he made mention that in his youth and in his tender age he was a dearworthy servant to God, greatly God loving and dreading, and yet God suffered him to fall, mercifully keeping him that he perished not, nor lost no time. And afterward God raised him to manifold more grace, and by the contrition and meekness that he had in his living, God hath given him in Heaven manifold joys, overpassing that [which] he should have had if he had not fallen. And that this is sooth, God sheweth in earth with plenteous miracles doing about his body continually. And all this was to make us glad and merry in love.

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Themes

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 centrally illustrates God's active ordering of human affairs, specifically how divine mercy ensures that even a soul's fall is orchestrated to result in greater heavenly joy.

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Living Godtheology

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

God is depicted as a dynamic, personal agent who 'shewed,' 'brought merrily to my mind,' and acts with 'glad sweet cheer' to comfort the visionary.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The central teaching relies on the paradoxical reversal that sin, typically a source of shame, is turned into worship and rewarded with greater joy.

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Related passages · 7 parallels

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…”

neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 203 (part 1)

“Section 16 16. But if all this is true, what room is left for evil? Where are we to place wrong-doing and sin? How explain that in a world organized in good, the efficient agents [human beings] behave unjustly, commit sin? And how comes…”

western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 6 (part 1)

“PART I THE LITERATURE OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC Click to view THE SERPENT OF THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES. From a Greek Vase Painting. CHAPTER I The antiquity of Magical Rituals § 1. The Importance of Ceremonial Magic THE ordinary fields of ps…”

Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)

western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XX (part 1)

“p. 243 CHAPTER XX The sense of infinity. The Neophyte's first ordeal. An intolerable sadness. The loss of everything real. What would an animal feel on becoming a man? The transition to the new logic. Our logic as founded on the obse…”

Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)

western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIV (part 3)

“Therefore, the first emotion at the rising of the curtain on "that world"—i.e., this our world, but free of those limitations under which we usually regard it—must be of wonderment , and this wonderment must grow greater and greater accordi…”

Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)

Contrasts · where traditions diverge

jewish_mysticism|The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation)|Chapter XCVII

“XCVII. The Evils in Store for Sinners and the Possessors of unrighteous Wealth . CHAPTER XCVII. 1. Believe, ye righteous, that the sinners will become a shame And perish in the day of unrighteousness. 2. Be it known unto you (ye sinners) th…”

Both passages address the theme of sin and its consequences, but from opposite perspectives. Passage A emphasizes the transformative power of divine love, where sin is turned into worship and rewarded with bliss. Passage B, on the other hand, focuses on the judgment and punishment of sinners, highlighting their shame and destruction.

jewish_mysticism|The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation)|Chapter XCVIII

“XCVIII. Self-indulgence of Sinners: Sin originated by Man: all Sin recorded in Heaven: Woes for the Sinners . CHAPTER XCVIII. 1. And now I swear unto you, to the wise and to the foolish, For ye shall have manifold experiences on the earth.…”

Both passages deal with sin and its consequences, but they take opposite positions. Passage A emphasizes that sin can be transformed into worship and that even sinners can find redemption and joy in Heaven. Passage B, on the other hand, focuses on the punishment and woes that await sinners, with no mention of redemption or transformation of sin.