(5) 'Twas not to know the number in which are The motors here above, or if 'necesse' With a contingent e'er 'necesse' make, 'Non si est dare primum motum esse,' Or if in semicircle can be made Triangle so that it have no right angle. Whence, if thou notest this and what I said, A regal prudence is that peerless seeing In which the shaft of my intention strikes. And if on 'rose' thou turnest thy clear eyes, Thou'lt see that it has reference alone To kings who're many, and the good are rare. With this distinction take thou what I said, And thus it can consist with thy belief Of the first father and of our Delight. And lead shall this be always to thy feet, To make thee, like a weary man, move slowly Both to the Yes and No thou seest not; For very low among the fools is he Who affirms without distinction, or denies, As well in one as in the other case; Because it happens that full often bends Current opinion in the false direction, And then the feelings bind the intellect.

(1) LO, ghostly friend! to such wretchedness as thou here mayest see be we fallen for sin: and therefore what wonder is it, though we be blindly and lightly deceived in understanding of ghostly words and of ghostly working, and specially those the which know not yet the powers of their souls and the manners of their working?

(29) I write not here without Knowledge; but if thou, like an Epicure and fatted Swine of the Devil, from the Devil's Instigation, shouldst mock at these Things and say,

(100) O thou excellent angelical Kingdom, how comely dressed and adorned wast thou once? How has the Devil turned thee into a murderous Den? Dost thou suppose thou standest now in the Flower of thy Beauty and Glory? No! thou standest in the Midst of Hell: If thine Eyes were but opened, thou wouldst see it.

(80) Come on, brave Sir, upon thy brown Nag! who ridest from Heaven into Hell, and from Hell into Death, and therein the Sting of Death lies; view thyself here, thou worldly wise Man, that art full of base Wit, Cunning, and subtle Policy.

(173) O thou blind Man! How does the Devil Mock at thee? O! wherefore dost thou trouble Heaven? Dost thou think thou hast not have enough in this World? O blind Man! Is not Heaven and Earth thine? Nay, God himself too? What dost thou bring into this World, or what dost thou take along with thee at thy going out of it? Thou bringest an Angelical Garment into this World, and with thy wicked Life thou turnest it into a Devil’s Mask or Vizard.

(1) AND on this manner is this madness wrought that I speak of. They read and hear well said that they should leave outward working with their wits, and work inwards: and because that they know not which is inward working, therefore they work wrong. For they turn their bodily wits inwards to their body against the course of nature; and strain them, as they would see inwards with their bodily eyes and hear inwards with their ears, and so forth of all their wits, smelling, tasting, and feeling inwards. And thus they reverse them against the course of nature, and with this curiosity they travail their imagination so indiscreetly, that at the last they turn their brain in their heads, and then as fast the devil hath power for to feign some false light or sounds, sweet smells in their noses, wonderful tastes in their mouths; and many quaint heats and burnings in their bodily breasts or in their bowels, in their backs and in their reins and in their members.