(29) There be some who affirm, that a man, while in this present time, may and ought to be above being touched by outward things, and in all respects as Christ was after His resurrection. This they try to prove and establish by Christ’s words: “I go before you into Galilee there; shall ye see Me.”36 And again, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.”37 These sayings they interpret thus: “As ye have seen Me, and been followers of Me, in My mortal body and life, so also it behoveth you to see Me and follow Me, as I go before you into Galilee; that is to say, into a state in which nothing hath power to move or grieve the soul; on which state ye shall enter, and live and continue therein, before that ye have suffered and gone through your bodily death. And as ye see Me having flesh and bones, and not liable to suffer, so shall ye likewise, while yet in the body and having your mortal nature, cease to feel outward things, were it even the death of the body.” Now, I answer, in the first place, to this affirmation, that Christ did not mean that a man should or could attain unto this state, unless he have first gone through and suffered all that Christ did.

(6) Thou sayest, Christ is ascended into Heaven, how then can he be in this World? And when thou reachest furthest, thou thinkest that he is present only with his holy Spirit, here in his Testaments, and that the Testaments are only Signs of his Merits. What sayest thou then of thy new Man? When indeed the Soul is fed with the Holy Ghost, what [Food] has thy new Man then? For each Life feeds upon its Mother.

(1) NOW says Reason, If Christ ascended thus with his Body, which he offered up on the Cross, when was he glorified in his Body? Or how is his Body now? Is it now as his Disciples saw him ascend into Heaven? My beloved Reason, my earthly Eyes see it not, but the spiritual [Eyes] in Christ see it very well. The Scripture says; He is « glorified, and Lord over all; but we will open to you the Gate of the great Wonders, that you may see what we see.

(90) Secondly, we intimate also how Christ conversed upon Earth forty Days after his Resurrection, understand, in the Kingdom of this World, whereas yet he was in Heaven, yet he bore that Image without any outward Glory or Clarity before the Eyes of Men, and he had the Body wholly with every Essence, as it hung on the Cross, except the Source of the Principle, which he had not; but else he had all Essences in Flesh and Blood, and yet the outward Flesh stood in the Might [and Power] of the heavenly. This we see, by his going in to his Disciples, the Door being shut, and he passed with his Body through the Wood of the Door. Thus you may understand, that the World is as nothing to him, and that he has Power over all Things.

(96) 1 let it pass, and it is true, that she may be in Heaven with Body and Soul; but with such a Body as Moses and Elias had upon Mount Tabor, in the Apparition before Christ [at his Transfiguration,] viz. that new Body out of the Element; the transitory [corruptible Body] belongs to the Earth, for if we could have subsisted in God, with this [transitory and corruptible] Body, God would not have become Man, and have died for us. Even as all the Apostles of Christ are dead, and yet live; and so may it also be, that the Body of the Virgin was changed into a heavenly, and laid off the earthly. What does that avail us? She is no Goddess.

(80) When he was here upon Earth in the earthly Man, his outward Body was circumscribed and limited, as our Bodies are, but the inward Body is unlimited; for we also (in the Resurrection in the Body of Jesus Christ) are unlimited, yet visible and palpable or comprehensible, in the heavenly Flesh and Blood, as the Prince of Life himself is; we can in the heavenly Figure [or Shape] be great or little, and yet nothing be hurt or wanting in us; there is no Need of compressing the Parts of that Body. 81.0 dear Christians, leave off your Contentions about the Body of Jesus Christ; he is every where in all Places, a yet in the Heaven; and the Heaven (wherein God dwells) is also every where. God dwells in the Body of Jesus Christ, and in all holy Souls of Men, even when they depart from this outward Body; and if they be regenerated, then they are in the Body of Jesus Christ even while they are in this earthly Body. A Soul here in our Body upon Earth has not the Body of Christ in a palpable Substance, but in the Word of Power [or Virtue,] which comprehends all Things. In Christ indeed Body and Power is one [Thing,] but we must not understand [this of the four Elementary] Creature, [which is] in this World.

(7) And now if we will speak of the Glorification of Christ, and of his Body, which he visibly (and in that Form in which he had conversed upon Earth) ascended with, then we must say, that as the Love of the Heart of God has reconciled the Anger of the Father, and holds it as it were captive in it, so also the Holy Ternary has comprehended the hard palpable Body of Christ, viz. the Kingdom of this World, as if it was wholly swallowed up, whereas it is not swallowed up, but the Source of this World is destroyed in Death, and the Holy Ternary has put on the Body of Christ, not as a Garment, but virtually [or powerfully] in the Essences; and he is as it were swallowed up (to our Apprehension and Sight) and yet is really, and shall come again at the last Judgment-Day, and manifest himself in his own Body which he had here, that all may see him, be they good or bad; and he shall also come in the same Form to keep the Judgment of the Separation, for in his divine glorified Form we cannot behold him, before we be glorified, especially the Wicked. But thus all Generations shall see him and know him, and the Unbelieving shall weep and wail, that they went so out of their Flesh and Blood into another Source [or Condition,] when they should and might in their own Essences have put on God, and yet put on the Kingdom of the Fierceness of the Anger of God with the Devils, and let the same into the Essences of their Souls, and caused themselves to perish.

(88) Speaking then of the true Resurrection of Christ, we will also show [somewhat] concerning his Conversation (those forty Days) after his Resurrection, before his Ascension. Because we know that he is become a real Lord over Heaven, Earth, and Hell, therefore we show you how the Kingdom of this World, with all the Essences and Qualities thereof, has been subjected to him. And though he did not always converse visibly with his Disciples, yet many Times he showed himself to them visibly, palpably, and staying with them, according to the Kingdom of this World, according to his Body which he had here, which was swallowed up by the new Body, which he must present again, as God would have it to be presented; for God is Lord of every Thing, and every Thing must be changed (as he pleases) that he might thus show his Disciples his real Body, and the Print of his Nails, which stand in the Holy Christ, in his holy Body in Eternity, as

(9) Thus his earthly Body is swallowed up in God, though indeed he never had such an earthly Body as we have, for he was not of the Seed of a Man; but we speak only of the Comprehensibility and Visibility of it to our Eyes, according to which he is our Brother; and he shall appear at the last Judgment-Day in our fleshly Form, in the Power of God, as Lord over all, for all Power in Heaven and in this World is subjected under him, and he is Judge over all; a Prince of Life, and Lord over Death.

(62) Therefore now if we will speak of our native Country, out of which we are wandered with Adam; and will tell of the Resting- Place of the Souls; we need not to scast our Minds far off; for far off and near is all one and the same Thing with God; the Place of the Holy Trinity is all over. Heaven and Hell is [every where] all over in this World, and the Man (Christ) dwells all over, for he has laid off the Corruptibility, and has swallowed up Death, as also that which is [fragile or] temporal, and he lives in God; his Body is the substance of the Element, which out of the Word of the Mercifulness, is from Eternity generated out of the Gates of the Deep; it is the Habitation, where the Sharpness of God breaks open the Darkness, where the eternal Virtue [or Power] appears in Wonders; and it is the Tincture of the Deity, which is before God, out of which the heavenly Virtues are generated; its name is wonderful; the earthly Tongue cannot express it.

(100) Now then says Reason, whither is he gone? Is he gone out of this World, aloft above the Stars into another Heaven? Hearken, my beloved Reason, incline thy Mind to Christ, and behold I will tell it thee; for we see it and know it; not I; for when And he is of Babel. Or the devouring Punishment. 1 say we, you must not barely understand it of my earthly Man, for the Spirit that drives this Pen is spoken of also; therefore I write and say we, when I speak of myself, as of the Author; for I should know nothing, if the Spirit of Knowledge did not stir it up in me, and there could be nothing found but such a Way; the Spirit would not be in any other Way, but he did hide and withdraw himself, and then my Soul was very much disquieted in me, with great Longing after the Spirit, till I learnt how it was.

(123) Nor must thou think that I have climbed up aloft into heaven, and beheld it with my carnal or fleshly eyes. O no; hear me, thou half-dead angel, I am as thou art, and have no greater light in my outward being than thou hast.

(6) And that it might do this, therefore the Heart of God became a human Soul, and slew (by his entering into Death) the Spirit of this World, and brought the Fulness of the Deity again into his human Soul, so that we also may altogether in his (as in our own) human Soul, through him, press into the holy Element before God. And now there is nothing to hinder us but our own vile sluggish Drowsiness, that we suffer ourselves to be so wholly and altogether led by the Spirit of this World, with Pride, exalting of ourselves to Honour and Esteem, and greedy Filling of the Belly [with Plenty;] and we look no further, [to consider] that we are but Pilgrims, and that as soon as the Spirit of this World has laid hold of us in the Mother's Body [or Womb,] we are then Pilgrims, and must travel with our Souls into another Country, where the earthly Body is not at Home.

(48) You must know, that Christ, while he lived upon the Earth, and all we that are new-born in him, have and carry the heavenly Flesh and Blood in the earthly [Man,] and we carry it also in the new Man, in the Body of Christ. And when we die thus in the old earthly Body, then we live (in the new Body) in the Body of Jesus Christ, and spring up in him out of Death; and our Springing up is our Paradise, where our Essences spring up in God, and the earthly is swallowed up in Death, and we put on our Lord Jesus Christ, not only in the Faith and Spirit, but in the Virtue [and Power] of the Body, in our heavenly Flesh and Blood; and so we live to God the Father in Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost confirms all our Doings; for all what we shall do, it is God does it in us.

(80) For Christ, after his resurrection, saith to Mary Magdalen, at the sepulchre in Joseph's garden, [John xx. 17.] Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my God and to your God. As if he would say, I have not now the bestial body any more, although I shew myself to thee in my form or shape which I had, otherwise, thou, in thy bestial body, couldst not see me.

(8) It hath been asked whether it be possible for the soul, while it is yet in the body, to reach so high as to cast a glance into eternity, and receive a foretaste of eternal life and eternal blessedness. This is commonly denied; and truly so in a sense. For it indeed cannot be so long as the soul is taking heed to the body, and the things which minister and appertain thereto, and to time and the creature, and is disturbed and troubled and distracted thereby. For if the soul shall rise to such a state, she must be quite pure, wholly stripped and bare of all images, and be entirely separate from all creatures, and above all from herself. Now many think this is not to be done and is impossible in this present time. But St. Dionysius maintains that it is possible, as we find from his words in his Epistle to Timothy, where he saith: “For the beholding of the hidden things of God, shalt thou forsake sense and the things of the flesh, and all that the senses can apprehend, and all that reason of her own powers can bring forth, and all things created and uncreated that reason is able to comprehend and know, and shalt take thy stand upon an utter abandonment of thyself, and as knowing none of the aforesaid things, and enter into union with Him who is, and who is above all existence and all knowledge.” Now if he did not hold this to be possible in this present time, why should he teach it and enjoin it on us in this present time?

(47) Here, ye beloved Sheep, observe: When Christ died, he did not cast away his Body (which he had here) and yield it up to the four Elements to be swallowed up, so that he must have wholly a strong Body; no, but zthe Source [or Property] of this World, which is in the Stars and Elements; and the a Incorruptible swallowed up the Corruptible, so that it is a Body which lives (in the Virtue of God) in God, and not in the Spirit of this [sour elementary] World; and Paul says concerning the last Judgment, That the Incorruptible (viz. the new Man) shall overpower the Corruptible, and shall swallow up the Corruptible, so that Death shall be made a Scorn, according to that Saying, [O Death!] where is thy Sting? O Hell! where is thy Victory?

(67) Therefore the Soul (when it departs from the Body) needs not to go far; for at that Place where the Body dies, there is Heaven and Hell; and the Man Christ dwells every where. God and the Devil is there, yet each of them in his own Kingdom. The Paradise is also there; and the Soul needs only to enter through the deep Door in the Center. Is the Soul holy? Then it stands in the Gate of Heaven, and the earthly Body has but kept it out of Heaven; and now when the Body comes to be broken, then the Soul is already in the Heaven; it needs no going out or in, Christ has it in his Arms, for where the four Elements break, there the Root of them remains, which is the holy Element, and therein the Body of Christ stands, and also Paradise, which stands in the springing Source of Joy; and that Element is the soft still Habitation.