(6) The water which thou seest springs not from vein Restored by vapour that the cold condenses, Like to a stream that gains or loses breath; But issues from a fountain safe and certain, Which by the will of God as much regains As it discharges, open on two sides. Upon this side with virtue it descends, Which takes away all memory of sin; On that, of every good deed done restores it. Here Lethe, as upon the other side Eunoe, it is called; and worketh not If first on either side it be not tasted. This every other savour doth transcend; And notwithstanding slaked so far may be Thy thirst, that I reveal to thee no more,

(82) For in those places where the sweet water in the standing wheel of God was chief or predominant, there much earthly, comprehensible or palpable water came to be.

(68) The Fountain of Fountains, and the boundary of all fountains.

(12) And in whomsoever the eye of the soul has been blinded by ill-nurture and teaching, let him advance to the true light, to the truth, which shows by writing the things that are unwritten. "Ye that thirst, go to the waters," says Esaias, And "drink water from thine own vessels," Solomon exhorts. Accordingly in "The Laws," the philosopher who learned from the Hebrews, Plato, commands husbandmen not to irrigate or take water from others, until they have first dug down in their own ground to what is called the virgin soil, and found it dry.

(107) Wheresoever one qualifying or fountain spirit in the divine power is touched or stirred, let the place be where it will or the thing what it will (except in the devils, and all wicked, damned men), there is the fountain of the divine birth or geniture directly at hand, and there already are all the seven qualifying or fountain spirits of God.

(3) Moreover, all was very bright and light therein, neither was there need of any other light; but the fountain or wellspring of the Heart of God enlightened all, and was a light in all, which did shine everywhere all over incessantly without any obstacle. For nature was very rarified and thin or transparent, and all stood merely in power, and was in a very pleasant lovely temper.

(39) And it is in the stars, as well as in all ends, corners and places, but not in any place comprehensible or palpable, and it at once filleth or replenisheth all alike. It is also in the body of man, and he that thirsteth after this water, and drinketh thereof, in him the light of life kindleth itself, which is the heart of God; and there [in that place] presently springeth forth the Holy Ghost. Now thou askest, How then do the stars subsist in love and wrath? Answer.

(35) And there appeared in it Virtue and Wisdom, and multiscient Truth.

(11) For although many thousand several Herbs stand one by another in one and the same Meadow, and one of them is fairer and has more Virtue than another, yet one of them does not grudge at the Form of another, but there is a pleasant Refreshment in one Mother: So also there is a distinct Variety in Paradise, where every Creature has its greatest Joy in the Virtue and Beauty of another; and the eternal Virtue and Wisdom of God is without Number and End; as you found before in the third Chapter concerning the Opening of the Centers of the eternal Life. You shall find no Book wherein the divine Wisdom may be more searched into, and found, than when you walk in a flowery fresh springing Meadow, there you shall see, smell, and taste the wonderful Power and Virtue of God; though this be but material; and God has manifested himself in a Similitude. But [this Similitude] is a loving Schoolmaster to him that seeks, he shall there find many of them.

(3) Beautifully then, the super-wise and Good Wisdom is celebrated by the Oracles, as placing a mystical bowl, and pouring forth its sacred drink, but first setting forth the solid meats, and with a loud voice Itself benignly soliciting those who seek It. The Divine Wisdom, then, sets forth the two-fold food; one indeed, solid and fixed, but the other liquid and flowing forth; and in a bowl furnishes Its own providential generosities. Now the bowl, being spherical and open, let it be a symbol of the Providence over the whole, which at once expands Itself and encircles all, without beginning and without end. But since, even while going forth to all, It remains in Itself, and stands fixed in unmoved sameness; and never departing from Itself, the bowl also itself stands fixedly and unmovably. But Wisdom is also said to build a house for itself, and in it to set forth the solid meats and drinks, and the bowl, so that it may be evident to those who understand things Divine in a manner becoming God, that the Author of the being, and of the well being, of all things, is both an all-perfect providence, and advances to all, and comes into being in everything, and embraces them all; and on the other hand, He, the same, in the same, par excellence, is nothing in anything at all, but overtops the whole, Himself being in Himself, identically and always; and standing, and remaining, and resting, and ever being in the same condition and in the same way, and never becoming outside Himself, nor falling from His own session, and unmoved abiding, and shrine,--yea even, in it, benevolently exercising His complete and all-perfect providences, and whilst going forth to all, remaining by Himself alone, and standing always, and moving Himself; and neither standing, nor moving Himself, but, as one might say, both connaturally and supernaturally, having His providential energies, in His steadfastness, and His steadiness in His Providence.

(67) When the sweet spring or fountain-water riseth up in the light, through all the spirits, then the one tasteth the other; and then the spirits become living, and the power of life penetrateth through all.