(9) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

(84) And the sharpness in the hidden secrecy is called God's WRATH; and the being of meekness in the Ternary or Trinity is called GOD. Here nothing goeth out of, or forth from, the sharpness which perishes, or which does kindle the wrath, but the spirits play very gently one with another, like little children when they rejoice one with another, where every one has his work, and so they play one with another, and lovingly caress one another.

(21) Now the question is, What in heaven is the wrath of God? And whether God be angry in himself; or how is God moved to anger? Answer. Here there are chiefly seven sorts of qualities or circumstances to be observed. I. Of the First Species or Circumstance.

(100) Against which the wrath, with its snarling in the astringent and bitter quality, at the hinder gums in the hollow on the tongue, struggles, and keeps its right to itself, and keepeth its seat in its place, and lets the meek spirit come forth from the heart, through itself [the wrath], and thundereth with its [the wrath's] snarling after the meek spirit, and so helps to form or frame the word, yet with its thundering cannot get away from its seat, but abideth in its hollow hole, as a captive prisoner, and appears terrible. This is a great Mystery.

(53) Behold! God the Father spake to the People of Israel on mount Sinai, when he gave the Law to them, saying; I am an angry, [Exod. xx. 5;Deut.9] zealous or jealous God to those that hate me.

(72) And though it is written in Moses, I am [Exod. XX. 5.] an angry, zealous God [Deut iv. 24], yet the meaning of it is not that God is angry in himself, and that there ariseth a fire of anger in the Holy Trinity.

(6) I cannot at all write it in thy heart, for it is not for every man's capacity, understanding and apprehension, especially where the spirit stands in the house of wrath, and does not qualify, operate or unite with the light of God. But I will shew it to thee in an earthly similitude, that thou mightest, if possible, get a little into the deep sense.

(60) They who stir up the wrath of God upon themselves, that wrath stands also in all the spirits of God, in that place where it is awakened, stirred up or provoked. On the other side, where the love of God is awakened or stirred up, there it also stands in the full birth or geniture of the whole Deity, of or in the place or thing wherein it is awakened.

(13) ¶Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

(63) And after that their faces shall be filled with darkness And shame before that Son of Man, And they shall be driven from his presence, And the sword shall abide before his face in their midst.

(5) And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven.

(4) And on this account it is written on the heavenly tables, " Cursed is he who smiteth his neighbour treacherously, and let all who have seen and heard say, So be it ; and the man who hath seen and not declared (it), let him be accursed as the other."

(2) They did not receive him; and his disciples James and John said, Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down and consume them, as Elias did? But he rebuked them, saying,

(69) Therefore it is that the wrath-fire of God is yet in the body of God which is in this world, till the end, and many a creature is swallowed up and devoured in the wrath-fire, of which much is to be written, but it is referred to its proper place.

(37) And he was filled with wrath and indignation on seeing that his sons were forcing him to go before (them) to lead them against Jacob his brother.

(4) If it be violence when he who suffers Co-operates not with him who uses force, These souls were not on that account excused; For will is never quenched unless it will, But operates as nature doth in fire If violence a thousand times distort it. Hence, if it yieldeth more or less, it seconds The force; and these have done so, having power Of turning back unto the holy place. If their will had been perfect, like to that Which Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held, And Mutius made severe to his own hand, It would have urged them back along the road Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free; But such a solid will is all too rare. And by these words, if thou hast gathered them As thou shouldst do, the argument is refuted That would have still annoyed thee many times. But now another passage runs across Before thine eyes, and such that by thyself Thou couldst not thread it ere thou wouldst be weary. I have for certain put into thy mind That soul beatified could never lie, For it is near the primal Truth,

(101) This spirit also came at first from pride, for pride thought and said to itself, Surely thou art beautiful, and mighty potent; and covetousness thought and said to itself, All must be thine; and envy thought and said to itself, All which is not obedient unto thee thou must kill with thy stinging; and thus it stung at the other gates of angels. But all was in vain, for its power and might reached no farther than the extent of the place out of which it was created. Of the Fourth Son, Wrath. [anger]

(38) But the devils cannot lay hold on the wrestling of the light, but only on the wrestling of the wrath, wherein they are executioners or hangmen, to execute the justice or law, which was pronounced in God's wrath against all wicked men.

(84) Just so 'tis your idea of your terrible foe O Moses, thy revelations shed glory on the mount, Be not too proud, but know that you must first endure The idea of the Truth, and thence come to the reality. No one is frightened by the mere idea of fighting, For "no courage is needed before fighting begins." In the mere idea of fighting a coward can imagine The pictures of Rustam on the wall of a bath Are similar to a coward's ideas of fighting. But when these ideas are tested by actual sight,

(15) And again he sent unto them another servant; they beat him also, and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and handled him shamefully, and sent him away empty.