The lord and the servant: is Adam's fall a fall in haste to serve, and does the godly will that never assented to sin deny the doctrine of original sin?

Julian of Norwich, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

Julian of Norwich answers

The servant does not wander off nor sin in his going; he starts suddenly and runs in great haste, for love to do his lord's will, and only then falls into a slade and takes full great hurt.¹ So the fall is a fall in haste to serve, and the Lord looks on him lovingly and sweetly before ever he is sent. But do not make the hurt small. He groans and moans and cannot rise nor help himself by any manner of way, and the worst of all is that he cannot turn his face to look on his loving Lord, who is full near and in whom is all comfort.

He is blinded in his reason and stunned in his mind, so far that almost he had forgotten his own love, and he lay all alone with no help far nor near.¹ That is Adam's woe, and it is the whole of mankind's. In the Servant was shewed the scathe and blindness of Adam's falling, and in the same Servant the wisdom and goodness of God's Son; in the Lord was shewed the ruth and pity of Adam's woe, and the high nobility that mankind is come to by the Passion of His dearworthy Son.²

So the example holds both at once: Adam fallen, and the Son who falls with him to raise him. As to the godly will, I did not take it to deny the faith. I saw and understood full surely that in every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, nor ever shall; it is so good that it may never will evil, but evermore continually willeth good, and worketh good in the sight of God.³

Right as there is a beastly will in the lower part that may will no good, so there is a Godly Will in the higher part.⁴ And I would not have you hear in this that we are saved by something of our own. That Will is kept whole and safe in our Lord Jesus Christ, for the Substance of mankind was knit and oned to God, and so kept that it might never be parted from Him.³

And in the same breath I was shewn that, notwithstanding this rightful knitting and endless oneing, the redemption and the again-buying of mankind is needful and speedful in everything, done for the same intent and to the same end that Holy Church in our Faith teacheth.³ So the fall is not made light of. Sin is the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul may be beaten with; it breaks a man and noughts him in his own sight, till he thinks he is worthy only to sink into hell, until contrition takes him by the touching of the Holy Ghost and he is led to confession and penance in Holy Church.⁵

And in our faith we know that by the virtue of Christ our Keeper we assent never to our sin but groan against it, and that we may not stand a twinkling of an eye but by keeping of grace.⁶ What I was shewn is that He taketh not harder the falling of any creature that shall be saved than He took the falling of Adam, who was endlessly loved and securely kept in all his need.⁷

That is not a denial of the fall, for the Servant lies in the slade. It is a seeing of how God looks on the fallen. How the Substance that was never parted from Him and the sensuality that fails are both ours in one soul, I cannot tell more than Christ has shewn me; I leave the rest to Holy Church and to Him.

The position in brief

A lord sits in peace; his servant stands ready, and when he is sent he does not walk but runs, for love, and falls into a slade and is hurt, and cannot rise or see his lord, who is close by.⁸ The lord sees no fault in him but good will, and means to reward him above what he had. The servant is Adam, that is, all mankind; and the servant is also the Son, who fell into the Maiden's womb to take Adam's fall on himself.⁹

In every soul that shall be saved there is a godly will kept in God that never assented to sin; our substance is whole in God and our sensuality is where we fail, and Christ has oned the two.¹⁰

Sources

The Servant not only he goeth, but suddenly he starteth, and runneth in great haste, for love to do his Lord's will. And anon he falleth into a slade, and taketh full great hurt.
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
in the Servant was shewed the scathe and blindness of Adam's falling; and in the Servant was shewed the wisdom and goodness of God's Son. And in the Lord was shewed the ruth and pity of Adam's woe
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
in every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, nor ever shall: which Will is so good that it may never will evil, but evermore continually it willeth good
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
Right as there is a beastly will in the lower part that may will no good, right so there is a Godly Will in the higher part, which will is so good that it may never will evil, but ever good.
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
Sin is the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul may be beaten with; which scourge altogether beats man and woman, and altogether breaks them, and noughts them in their own sight
Comfortable Words for Christ's Lovers, the Short Text
we know in our faith that by virtue of Christ which is our Keeper, we assent never thereto, but we groan there-against
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
He taketh not harder the falling of any creature that shall be saved than He took the falling of Adam, which, we know, was endlessly loved and securely kept in the time of all his need
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
And [also] that [treasure] was grounded in the Lord in marvellous deepness of endless love, but it was not all to His worship till the Servant had thus nobly prepared it, and brought it before Him in himself present. And without the Lord was nothing but wilderness. And I understood not all what this example meant, and therefore I marvelled whence the Servant came.
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
Which desire and longing was shewed in the Servant's standing afore the Lord,--or else thus in the Son's standing afore the Father in Adam's kirtle. For the longing and desire of all Mankind that shall be saved appeared in Jesus: for Jesus is All that shall be saved, and All that shall be saved is Jesus. And all of the Charity of God; with obedience, meekness, and patience, and virtues that belong to us.
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text
And these three are so oned, as to my understanding, that I cannot, nor may, dispart them. And by these three, as one, I have teaching whereby I ought to believe and trust in our Lord God, that of the same goodness of which He shewed it, and for the same end, right so, of the same goodness and for the same end He shall declare it to us when it is His will.
Revelations of Divine Love, the Long Text

Where the argument is made

Long Text 51 in full, the example of the lord and the servant and its understanding, given "twenty years after the time of the Shewing, save three months"
52 on falling and rising
53 and 37 on the godly will that never assented to sin
54-58 on substance and sensuality and on Christ who ones them
Short Text 17 on the goodly will and the animal will

How the argument was received

The centre of the Long Text and the place where she is most often said to part from Augustine; the texts keep the fall, its pain and its blindness, and change what it is seen to be in God's sight.