And when the Taste has tried it, and if it be good for the Essences of the Soul, then it gives it to the Feeling, which must try what Quality it is of, whether hot or cold, hard or soft, thick or thin, and then the Feeling a sends it into the Heart, [presenting it] before the Flash of the Life, and before the King of the Light of Life; and the Will of the Mind pierces further into that Thing, a great Depth, and sees what is therein, [considering] how much it will receive and take in of that Thing, and when it is enough, then the Will gives it to the Spirit of the Soul, viz. to the eternal Emperor, who brings it (with his strong and austere Might) out of the Heart, in the Sound upon the Tongue under the Roof of the Mouth, and there the Spirit distinguishes according to the Senses, as the Will has discovered [or manifested] it, and the Tongue distinguishes it in the Noise.

There each spirit tasteth of the others, and getteth mere new strength and power, for the astringent quality grows now very pliable and yielding,...

From whence the senses and thoughts exist, so that one quality seeth the others, which are also in it, and tempered with itself, and proveth them...

For all powers are discerned or distinguished in the bitter, and the bitter receiveth the flash of the light, as if it were horribly terrified, and go...

This is thus in the original of the quality in itself; but in the midst, in the rising up of this fierce spirit, this [same] spirit is caught and...

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 firma...

But when the bitter flash, together with the astringent quality and the fire-spirit, tasteth this meekness, there is nothing else then but a mere long...

And the bitter quality is the separation and forming, and the heat is the spirit, or the kindling of the life, whereby the spirit existeth in the body...

When the astringent or harsh quality, as the father, formeth the word or son, or spirit, then it stands captive in the centre of the heart, and is...

Now as the Holy Ghost proveth all, so the tongue also proveth all tastes: and if the same pleaseth the spirit, then the spirit bringeth the same into...

And first the sweet. For in the sweet water the bitter spirit is refreshed, and therein it quencheth its great thirst; and its bitterness is therein m...

In the earth the heat of the sun kindleth the sweet quality of water, in all imaged or framed figures; and then through the heat the light cometh to...

In the meanwhile the loving Reader is to attend to the sense and meaning of the spirit, and then, if he has but any hunger in him, he will not fail...

And the bitter quality is now impregnated with the light, and trembleth in the astringent and hard quality, and stirreth therein, and is captivated in...

Each quality goeth forth from itself into the others, and toucheth or stirreth the others, that is, it affecteth the others, whereby the other...

But though the taste be pleasant to the tongue, and is a good taste, but yet is not serviceable and useful for the whole body, then it is rejected nev...

So also the tongue sharpeneth, articulateth and distinguisheth all that which the five senses in the head bring through the heart on to the tongue; an...

When the sweet quality thus flies from the bitter, and from the sour and astringent, then the astringent and the bitter make all the haste they can...

There the bitter quality penetrateth in the heat through the astringent, and the sweet in the water letteth it easily or gently through; and there...

But when the fire tasteth the mild, sweet and pliant taste, then is it mitigated and formeth itself into a meek warmth, very lovingly, and there riset...

Two things chiefly are to be eyed in all the qualities: If you look upon a body you first see the stock or pith, or the kernel of all the qualities,...