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Revelations of Divine Love · 124 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter LXXXIII

"Life, Love, and Light" I had, in part, touching, sight, and feeling in three properties of God, in which the strength and effect of all the Revelation standeth: and they were seen in every Shewing, and most properly in the Twelfth, where it saith oftentimes: [ It is I. ] The properties are these: Life, Love, and Light. In life is marvellous homeliness, and in love is gentle courtesy, and in light is endless Nature-hood. These properties were in one Goodness: unto which Goodness my Reason would be oned, and cleave to it with all its might. I beheld with reverent dread, and highly marvelling in the sight and in the feeling of the sweet accord, that our Reason is in God; understanding that it is the highest gift that we have received; and it is grounded in nature. Our faith is a light by nature coming of our endless Day, that is our Father, God. In which light our Mother, Christ, and our good Lord, the Holy Ghost, leadeth us in this passing life. This light is measured discreetly, needfully standing to us in the night. The light is cause of our life; the night is cause of our pain and of all our woe: in which we earn meed and thanks of God. For we, with mercy and grace, steadfastly know and believe our light, going therein wisely and mightily. And at the end of woe, suddenly our eyes shall be opened, and in clearness of light our sight shall be full: which light is God, our Maker and Holy Ghost, in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Thus I saw and understood that our faith is our light in our night: which light is God, our endless Day.
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Themes
Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

Light is a central metaphor throughout the passage, identified as God, the source of life, and the substance of faith.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

The three properties (Life, Love, Light) are described as existing in 'one Goodness,' hinting at the unity of divine attributes.

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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 text validates 'feeling' and 'sweet accord' as primary modes of knowing God alongside sight and reason.

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Evil As Privationtheology

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

The passage contrasts light (cause of life) with night (cause of pain and woe), framing evil as the absence or lack of divine light.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The author claims salvation and understanding come through direct 'sight,' 'feeling,' and 'touching' of divine properties rather than mere intellectual assent.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

Faith is explicitly defined as a 'light by nature' residing within the human person, derived from the divine Day.

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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 reality characterized by 'Life,' 'Love,' and active guidance ('leadeth us').

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The text explicitly identifies 'Reason' as grounded in nature and present in God, functioning as a mediating principle of understanding.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The passage expresses a desire for the human Reason to be 'oned' and 'cleave' to the divine Goodness.

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Related passages · 1 parallel
renaissance_hermeticism|Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XLIX — Of Light, Colors, Candles and Lamps, and to What Stars, Houses and Elements Several Colors Are Ascribed|Chapter XLIX, Section 1a
CHAPTER XLIX. Of Light, Colors, Candles and Lamps, and to What Stars, Houses and Elements Several Colors Are Ascribed . Light also is a quality that partakes much of form, and is a simple act, and also a representation of the understandin…”
Both passages explore the concept of divine light as a fundamental aspect of God and its manifestation in the world. They share a conceptual parallel in describing light as a representation of understanding and divine presence, though expressed in different theological frameworks.