(90) And after that I saw in my vision all the birds of heaven coming, the eagles, the vultures, the kites, the ravens; but the eagles led all the birds; and they began to devour those sheep, and to pick out their eyes and to devour their flesh.

(84) And now the angels of Thy heavens are guilty of trespass, And upon the flesh of men abideth Thy wrath until the great day of judgement.

(48) 1 say not that thou receivest the Wrath of God in the Bread and in the Wine, but in thy false Confidence; thou art with thy Body and Soul in the Anger, and wilt not go out from it. Why then dost thou approach often to the Covenant of God, seeing thou art captivated of the Devil? Dost thou think that he will adorn thy Hypocrisy, and will hang his Pearl on thee? Thou art a Wolf, and howlest with the Dogs; thy Mouth prays, and thy Soul is abominably wicked [and naught;] when it goes from the Testament of Christ, it enters into the Stall of Robbery again, and is a Murderer; it howls with the Dogs; it is a bGod. perfidious Whore; when it goes away from the Covenant, it steps into whorish Corners, into the Den of Thieves; and there they stand, and pretend great Holiness. O, this Day is a holy Day to me, I must not sin; and yet they think, Tomorrow or next Day, they will go thither again.

(3) ¶Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

(50) And every man who doeth any work thereon, or goeth a journey, or tilleth (his) farm, whether in his house or any other place, and whoever lighteth a fire, or rideth on any beast, or travelleth by ship on the sea, and whoever striketh or killeth anything, or slaughter- ed a beast or a bird, or whoever catcheth an animal or a bird or a fish, or whoever fastcth or maketh war on the Sabbaths :

(7) And after this they sinned against the beasts and birds, and all that moveth and walketh on the earth : and much blood was shed on the earth, and every imagination and desire of men imagined vanity , and evil continually.

(7) And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood.

(23) Their eyes and ears are open and the snare is in front, Yet they fly into the snare with their own wings! Comparison of the divine decrees to something that is hidden, yet whose effects are seen. Behold that king's son clad in rags, With bare head and fallen into distress; Consumed by lusts and riotous living, Having sold all his clothes and substance; Having lost house and home, utterly disgraced, If he sees a pious man he cries, "O sir, Aid me, for the love of God;

(1) AND, therefore, if thou wilt stand and not fall, cease never in thine intent: but beat evermore on this cloud of unknowing that is betwixt thee and thy God with a sharp dart of longing love, and loathe for to think on aught under God, and go not thence for anything that befalleth. For this is only by itself that work that destroyeth the ground and the root of sin. Fast thou never so much, wake thou never so long, rise thou never so early, lie thou never so hard, wear thou never so sharp; yea, and if it were lawful to do—as it is not—put thou out thine eyes, cut thou out thy tongue of thy mouth, stop thou thine ears and thy nose never so fast, though thou shear away thy members, and do all the pain to thy body that thou mayest or canst think: all this would help thee right nought. Yet will stirring and rising of sin be in thee.

(39) But these enlightened men keep the middle path, which is also the best; for a lover of God is better and dearer to Him than a hundred thousand hirelings. It is the same with all their doings. This is evidently an allusion to the “Brethren of the Free Spirit,” mentioned in the Historical Introduction. Furthermore, ye must mark, that to receive God’s commands and His counsel and all His teaching, is the privilege of the inward man, after that he is united with God. And where there is such a union, the outward man is surely taught and ordered by the inward man, so that no outward commandment or teaching is needed. But the commandments and laws of men belong to the outer man, and are needful for those men who know nothing better, for else they would not know what to do and what to refrain from, and would become like unto the dogs or other beasts.

(20) And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

(34) And it is here with the Image of Man, as St. Paul said; To whom you give yourselves as Servants in Obedience, his Servant you are, whether it be of Sin unto Death, or of the Obedience of God to Righteousness, that Driving [or Property] you have. If a Man yields his Mind up to Malice, Pride, Self-power, and Force, to the Oppressing of the Miserable, then he is like the proud, haughty Devil, and he is his Servant in Obedience, and loses the Image of God; and out of the Image comes a Wolf, Dragon, or Serpent to be, all according to his Essences, as he stands figured in the Mind. But if he yields up himself to another swinish and bestial Condition, as to a mere bestial voluptuous Life, to Gormandizing, Gluttony, and Drunkenness, and Lechery, Stealing, Robbing, Murdering, Lying, Cozening, and [Cheating] Deceit, then the eternal Mind figures him also in such an Image as is like an unreasonable ugly Beast and Worm. And although he bears the elementary Image in this Life, yet he has indeed the Image of an Adder, Serpent, and Beast, hidden therein, which will be manifested at the Breaking [or Deceasing] of the Body, and it belongs not to the Kingdom of God.

(2) Separately, however, he forbade the most contemplative of philosophers, and who have arrived at the summit of philosophic attainments, the use of superfluous and unjust food, and ordered them never to eat any thing animated, nor in short, to drink wine, nor to sacrifice animals to the Gods, nor by any means to injure animals, but to preserve most solicitously justice towards them. And he himself lived after this manner, abstaining from animal food, and adoring altars undefiled with blood. He was likewise careful in preventing others from destroying animals that are of a kindred nature with us, and rather corrected and instructed savage animals through words and deeds, than injured them through punishment. And farther still, he also injoined those politicians that were legislators to abstain from animals.

For as they wished to act in the highest degree justly, it is certainly necessary that they should not injure any kindred animal. Since, how could they persuade others to act justly, if they themselves were detected in indulging an insatiable avidity by partaking of animals that are allied to us? For through the communion of life and the same elements, and the mixture subsisting from these, they are as it were conjoined to us by a fraternal alliance. He permitted, however, others whose life was not entirely purified, sacred and philosophic, to eat of certain animals; and for these he appointed a definite time of abstinence. These therefore, he ordered not to eat the heart , nor the brain ; and from the eating of these he entirely prohibited all the Pythagoreans.

For these parts are of a ruling nature, and are as it were certain ladders and seats of wisdom and life. But other things were considered by him as sacred on account of the nature of a divine reason. Thus he exhorted his disciples to abstain from mallows , because this plant is the first messenger and signal of the sympathy of celestial with terrestrial natures. Thus, too, he ordered them to abstain from the fish melanurus ; for it is sacred to the terrestrial Gods. And also not to receive the fish erythinus , through other such like causes. He likewise exhorted them to abstain from beans , on account of many sacred and physical causes, and also such causes as pertain to the soul. And he established as laws other precepts similar to these, beginning through nutriment to lead men to virtue.

(32) Therefore, O Man! consider what thou hast received with thy bestial Body, to eat and to drink of Evil and Good, which God did forbid. Look here into the Ground of the Essences, and say not with Reason; It was merely for Disobedience, which God was so very angry at, that his Anger could not be quenched. Thou art deceived, for if the clear Deity was angry, it would not have become Man for thy Sake to help thee; look but upon the

(34) Or shall not the Spirit set it down before thy Eyes, thou lascivious filthy Strumpet? Behold, how hast thou broken the State of Wedlock, and opened a Door to Whoredom, so that no Sin is regarded; hast thou not ridden i upon thy Beast, when every one gazed on thee, and rode after thee [in thy Train?] Or art thou not that fine painted [adorned Whore?] Dost thou suppose we set thee forth in vain? The Judgment stands over thee, the Sword is begotten, and it will devour. Go out [from] Babel, and thou shalt live; though we saw a Fire in Babel, and that Babel was burning, yet it shall not burn those that go out from kit.

(24) And thus there goes forth out of the earthly a Senses and Mind, Lies and Folly, Deceit and Falsehood, [also] mere Subtilty, [with Lust and Desire] to be elevated; many [to be elevated] in the Might of the Fire, as by Force and Anger; and many by human Art and Policy of this World, which is but a Knave in the Sight of God, yet wrestles [or holds fast] till it has prevailed; many in the Form of a tame and gentle Beast, very cunningly alluring, and drawing to itself, under a fair Pretence; many in Pride, and Stateliness of Body [in Carriage] and Manners, which is a right diabolical Beast, who contemns all that does not please him, and elevates himself above all Meekness and Humility, and over the Image of God; yea, there is so very much of false Untowardness, that I may not mention it; every one follows the Region [Rule or Dominion] of the Stars, even that which serves most to the Voluptuousness of the earthly Life.

(3) that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

(32) "But it is not the will of God to conceal anything from those that are His, and therefore in this last age, before the final judgment comes, all these things shall be manifested to those that are worthy: As He Himself (though obscurely, lest it should be manifested to, the unworthy) hath spoken in a certain place: There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known. We therefore being moved by the Spirit of God, do declare the will of God to the world, which we have also already performed and published in several languages. But most men either revile, or contemne that, our Manifesto, (the Fama and Confessio Fraternitatis) or else waiving the Spirit of God, they expect the proposals thereof from us, supposing we will straightway teach them how to make gold by Art, or furnish them with ample treasures, whereby they may live pompously in the face of the world, swagger, and make wars, turn usurers, gluttons, and drunkards, live unchastely, and defile their whole life With several other sins, all which things are contrary to the blessed will of God. These men should have learnt from those Ten Virgins (whereof five that were foolish demanded oil for their lamps, from those five that were wise) how that the case is much otherwise.

(30) Likewise they do not need that men should give them precepts, or command them to do right and not to do wrong, and the like; for the same admirable Master who teacheth them what is good or not good, what is higher and lower, and in short leadeth them into all truth, He reigneth also within them, and biddeth them to hold fast that which is good, and to let the rest go, and to Him they give ear. Behold! in this sense they need not to wait upon any law, either to teach or to command them. In another sense also they need no law; namely, in order to seek or win something thereby or get any advantage for themselves. For whatever help toward eternal life, or furtherance in the way everlasting, they might obtain from the aid, or counsel, or words, or works of any creature, they possess already beforehand. Behold! in this sense also it is true, that we may rise above all law and virtue, and also above the works and knowledge and powers of any creature.

(2) For if it so be, that they either read, or hear read or spoken, how that men should lift up their hearts unto God, as fast they stare in the stars as if they would be above the moon, and hearken when they shall hear any angel sing out of heaven. These men will sometime with the curiosity of their imagination pierce the planets, and make an hole in the firmament to look in thereat. These men will make a God as them list, and clothe Him full richly in clothes, and set Him in a throne far more curiously than ever was He depicted in this earth. These men will make angels in bodily likeness, and set them about each one with diverse minstrelsy, far more curious than ever was any seen or heard in this life. Some of these men the devil will deceive full wonderfully. For he will send a manner of dew, angels’ food they ween it be, as it were coming out of the air, and softly and sweetly falling in their mouths; and therefore they have it in custom to sit gaping as they would catch flies. Now truly all this is but deceit, seem it never so holy; for they have in this time full empty souls of any true devotion. Much vanity and falsehood is in their hearts, caused of their curious working. Insomuch, that ofttimes the devil feigneth quaint sounds in their ears, quaint lights and shining in their eyes, and wonderful smells in their noses: and all is but falsehood. And yet ween they not so, for them think that they have ensample of Saint Martin of this upward looking and working, that saw by revelation God clad in his mantle amongst His angels, and of Saint Stephen that saw our Lord stand in heaven, and of many other; and of Christ, that ascended bodily to heaven, seen of His disciples. And therefore they say that we should have our eyes up thither. I grant well that in our bodily observance we should lift up our eyes and our hands if we be stirred in spirit. But I say that the work of our spirit shall not be direct neither upwards nor downwards, nor on one side nor on other, nor forward nor backward, as it is of a bodily thing. For why, our work should be ghostly not bodily, nor on a bodily manner wrought.