Revelations of Divine Love · 105 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack
Chapter LXVIII
"He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted ; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome " This was a delectable Sight and a restful Shewing, that it is so without end . The beholding of this while we are here is full pleasing to God and full great profit to us; and the soul that thus beholdeth, it maketh it like to Him that is beheld, and oneth it in rest and peace by His grace. And this was a singular joy and bliss to me that I saw Him sitting : for the [quiet] secureness of sitting sheweth endless dwelling. And He gave me to know soothfastly that it was He that shewed me all afore. And when I had beheld this with heedfulness, then shewed our good Lord words full meekly without voice and without opening of lips, right as He had [afore] done, and said full sweetly: Wit it now well that it was no raving that thou sawest to-day: but take it and believe it, and keep thee therein, and comfort thee therewith, and trust thou thereto: and thou shalt not be overcome. These Last Words were said for believing and true sureness that it is our Lord Jesus that shewed me all. And right as in the first word that our good Lord shewed, signifying His blissful Passion,— Herewith is the devil overcome ,—right so He said in the last word, with full true secureness, meaning us all: Thou shalt not be overcome. And all this teaching in this true comfort, it is general, to all mine even-Christians, as it is aforesaid: and so is God's will. And this word: Thou shalt not be overcome , was said full clearly and full mightily, for assuredness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shall not be travailed, thou shah not be afflicted ; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome . God willeth that we take heed to these words, and that we be ever strong in sure trust, in weal and woe. For He loveth and enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and mightily trust in Him; and all shall be well . And soon after, all was close and I saw no more.
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 text emphasizes 'love and enjoy Him' and 'mightily trust in Him' as the primary mode of relationship with God, aligning with the path of loving devotion.
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 asserts that 'all shall be well' and that God actively orders the believer's experience of tribulation to ensure they are not overcome.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage describes the soul being 'oneth in rest and peace by His grace' and becoming 'like to Him that is beheld,' indicating a profound union with the divine.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The text explicitly states that beholding God 'maketh it like to Him that is beheld,' describing a transformative process where the soul becomes like God through grace.