(3) And of the tother comforts and sounds and sweetness, how thou shouldest wit whether they be good or evil I think not to tell thee at this time: and that is because me think that it needeth not. For why, thou mayest find it written in another place of another man’s work, a thousandfold better than I can say or write: and so mayest thou this that I set here, far better than it is here. But what thereof? Therefore shall I not let, nor it shall not noye me, to fulfil the desire and the stirring of thine heart; the which thou hast shewed thee to have unto me before this time in thy words, and now in thy deeds.

(77) But behold! it is not I that have made way for this, but thy desire and highly raised lofty lust has moved the Deity to reveal to thee the desire of thy heart, in the highest simplicity in the greatest depth, that it may be a witness against thee, and a denunciation of the earnest severe day of God.

(3) And now when we consider our Mind, in the Light of Nature, and what that is, which makes us zealous [or earnest,] which burns there [in] as a Light, and is desirous [thirsty or covetous] like Fire, which desires to receive from that Place where it has not sown, and would reap in that Country where the Body is not at Home [or dwells not,] then the precious Virgin of the Wisdom of God meets us, in the middlemost Seat in the Center of the Light of Life, and says; The Light is mine, and the [Power or] Virtue and Glory is mine, also the Gate of Knowledge is mine, I live in the Light of Nature, and without me you can neither see, know, nor understand any Thing of my Virtue, [or Power.] I am thy Bridegroom in the Light; and thy Desire [or Longing] after my Virtue [or Power] is my Attracting in myself; I sit in my Throne, but thou knowest me not; I am in thee, and thy Body is not in me. I distinguish [or separate,] and thou seest it not. I am the Light of the Senses, and the Root of the Senses is not in me, but near me. I am the Bridegroom of the Root, but she has put on a rough Coat. I [will] not lay myself in her Arms till she puts that off, and then I will rest eternally in her Arms, and adorn the Root with my Virtue [and Power,] and give her my beautiful Form, and will espouse myself to her with my Pearl.

(5) But when we will speak of the Source [or Fountain,] and Joy of Paradise, and of its highest Substance, what it is, we have no Similitude of it in this World, we stand in Need of angelical Tongues and Knowledge to express it; and though we had them, yet we could not express it with this Tongue. It is well understood in the Mind, when the Soul rides in the Chariot of the Bride, but we cannot express it with the Tongue; yet we will not cast away the A, B, C, but prattle [or stammer] with the Children, till another Mouth be given us to speak with.

(22) Rise in Hotep , I arrive in thee, my soul is with me, and my provision is before the Mistress of the Two Earths, who maketh fast my Words of Power, which recall to mind that which I have forgotten. Let me live free from strife; and be there granted to me enlargement of heart

(146) Therefore I can bring it no further than from the heart into the brain, before the princely throne of the senses, and there it is shut up in the firmament of heaven; and it goeth not back again through the qualifying or fountain spirits into the mother of the heart, that it might come on to the tongue, for if that were done I would tell it with my mouth, and make it known to the world.

(2) But I pray thee, wherein shall that travail be? Surely not in that devout stirring of love that is continually wrought in his will, not by himself, but by the hand of Almighty God: the which is evermore ready to work this work in each soul that is disposed thereto, and that doth that in him is, and hath done long time before, to enable him to this work.

(152) O love, love, and heart's desire of love! Let thy first boon to me be this, Though thou knowest my condition clearly, O protector of slaves, listen to my speech. A thousand times, O prince incomparable, Has my reason taken flight in desire to see thee, And to hear thee and to listen to thy words, Thy inclining thine ear to my supplications The baseness of my heart's coin is known to thee, Thou art proud towards the arrogant and proud;

(1) LOVING Reader, I had need have an angelical Tongue for this Description, and thou an angelical Mind, and then we should well understand one another: But seeing we have them not, therefore we will express the great Deeds of God with the earthly Tongue, according to our [received] Gift and Knowledge, and open the Scripture to the Reader, and give him Occasion to consider further, whereby the Pearl might be sought and found at last; therefore we will work in our Day-labour, according to our Duty, till the Pearl of the Lily be found.

(44) And thy worldly Bravery, Glory, Beauty, and Riches, will not exalt thee before God, as thou supposest, nor yet thy Office which thou didst bear here, be it the kingly or priestly Office; if thou desirest to be in Heaven, then thou must (through thy Saviour) be new born; thou must endeavour to bring thy Subjects to Righteousness, and then thou wilt shine (with thy Office) as bright as the Luster of Heaven, and thy Works will follow thee. O Man! consider thyself in this.

(2) Yet it seemeth that He would not leave thee thus lightly, for love of His heart, the which He hath evermore had unto thee since thou wert aught: but what did He? Seest thou nought how Mistily and how graciously He hath privily pulled thee to the third degree and manner of living, the which is called Singular? In the which solitary form and manner of living, thou mayest learn to lift up the foot of thy love; and step towards that state and degree of living that is perfect, and the last state of all.

(3) But wherein then is this travail, I pray thee? Surely, this travail is all in treading down of the remembrance of all the creatures that ever God made, and in holding of them under the cloud of forgetting named before. In this is all the travail, for this is man’s travail, with help of grace. And the tother above—that is to say, the stirring of love—that is the work of only God. And therefore do on thy work, and surely I promise thee He shall not fail in His.

(1) AND therefore I pray thee, lean listily to this meek stirring of love in thine heart, and follow thereafter: for it will be thy guide in this life and bring thee to bliss in the tother. It is the substance of all good living, and without it no good work may be begun nor ended. It is nought else but a good and an according will unto God, and a manner of well‑pleasedness and a gladness that thou feelest in thy will of all that He doth.

(12) The breath, when on the point of departing, tore up the other senses, as a horse, going to start, might tear up the pegs to which he is tethered 1. They came to him and said: 'Sir, be thou (our lord); thou art the best among us. Do not depart from us!'

(5) Then will He sometimes peradventure send out a beam of ghostly light, piercing this cloud of unknowing that is betwixt thee and Him; and shew thee some of His privity, the which man may not, nor cannot speak. Then shalt thou feel thine affection inflamed with the fire of His love, far more than I can tell thee, or may or will at this time. For of that work, that falleth to only God, dare I not take upon me to speak with my blabbering fleshly tongue: and shortly to say, although I durst I would do not. But of that work that falleth to man when he feeleth him stirred and helped by grace, list me well tell thee: for therein is the less peril of the two.

(1) I cleave the heaven, I open the horizon and I travel over the earth on foot. There come forward to me the Glorious and the Great ones, for I am furnished with numberless Words of Might

(11) And there the noble Grain of Mustard-Seed is sown, of which Christ says; That it is at first small, and afterwards groweth to be like a great Tree; so far [or so long] as the Mind perseveres in the Will. But the noble Virgin stays not continually, for her Birth is [of a] higher [Descent;] and therefore she dwells not in earthly Vessels; but she sometimes visits her Bridegroom at a Time when he is desirous of her: Although she always with Observance prevents and calls him, before he [calls] her, which is only understood in the Lily. This the Spirit speaks in a high and worthy Seriousness, therefore observe it, ye Children of God, the Angel of the great Council comes in the Valley of Jehosaphat with a golden Charter, which he sells for Oil without Money; W7hosoever comes shall have it.

(9) For she goes about, herself seeking those worthy of her (for knowledge belongs not to all); and in all ways she benignly shows herself to them." Now the paths are the conduct of life, and the variety that exists in the covenants. Presently he adds: "And in every thought she meets them," being variously contemplated, that is, by all discipline. Then he subjoins, adducing love, which perfects by syllogistic reasoning and true propositions, drawing thus a most convincing and true inference, "For the beginning of her is the truest desire of instruction," that is, of knowledge; "prudence is the love of instruction, and love is the keeping of its laws; and attention to its laws is the confirmation of immortality; and immortality causes nearness to God. The desire of wisdom leads, then, to the kingdom."

(47) Therefore it can only be done here in this Life (while thy Soul sticks in the Will of the Mind) so that thou breakest open the Gate of the Deep, and pressest in to God through a New Birth; for here thou hast the highly worthy noble Virgin of the divine Love for thy Assistance, who leads thee in through the Gate of the noble Bridegroom, who stands in the Center in the parting Mark, between the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of Hell, and generates thee in the Water and Life of his Blood and Death, and therein drowns and washes away thy false [or evil] Works, so that they follow thee not [in such a Source and Property,] that thy Soul be not infected therein, but according to the first Image in Man before the Fall, as a new, chaste, and pure noble Virgin's Image, without any Knowledge of thy untowardness [or Vices,] which thou hadst here.

(25) 'Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals, ask for them according to thy wish;--these fair maidens with their chariots and musical instruments,--such are indeed not to be obtained by men,--be waited on by them whom I give to thee, but do not ask me about dying.'